Submitted by drmc • May 4, 2009
What is it called when a verb is no longer the process of doing, but the process of being something?
Is it still simply just a verb?
Sorry for the lack of example, it was troubling me late last night, if i still remembered the word, i probably wouldn’t be asking this question.
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by Dyske • April 27, 2009
This is one of the most common errors people make, and I frequently come across people arguing about it. The explanations of how to use them properly are easy to find, but the conceptual difference between the two does not seem to stick in people’s mind. The confusion comes from the fact that “effect” can be used as a verb, although it’s rare. If it didn’t, there wouldn’t be any confusion (i.e. “effect” = noun and “affect” = verb). To make it worse, “effect” used as a verb is pretty close in meaning to “affect”. And, if that’s not confusing enough, “affect” can also be used as a noun, and it’s also similar in meaning to “effect” as a noun.
So, the only way to get the hang of using them properly is to see actual examples. While I was arguing about this with a friend of mine, I came across this quiz that tests your ability to use “effect” and “affect” properly. I’m curious how well or badly everyone does on this quiz.
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by phil • April 11, 2009
So I frequently write headlines such as “Manchester United are in the quarter-finals” but I always wonder if it should actually be “Manchester United is in the quarter-finals”. I think I actually use them interchangeably depending on what mood I’m in. I guess the question is whether a soccer team is a group of players (”are”) or if it’s an entity (”is”). Which is it?
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by mel • February 25, 2009
I cannot stand when people say “sleep” instead of “asleep”. For example I’ve heard, “When I got home, he was sleep on the couch”.
What is this laziness of not saying ASLEEP?? I have lived in the North all of my life, and most recently moved to the south. This must be some sort of “southern dialect”, annoying to say the least....Has anyone else encountered this?
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by greenspark • February 22, 2009
Which would be correct?
There ARE progress and improvements.
There IS progress and improvements.
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by victoria • February 7, 2009
This is what I’d like to have engraved on a memorial brick, but the last line doesn’t look correct with the word “it” after “known”.
I’m glad most
folks let me know
they’re religious.
By their actions,
I wouldn’t have
ever known it.
9 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by richardg • January 30, 2009
My wife is a non-native speaker and came up with the phrase above. Rightly or wrongly - I gently suggested that I’d use OR instead of AND ie
“I didn’t sleep last night AND the night before”.
--> “I didn’t sleep last night OR the night before”.
That’s based on the sound of it (I’m no expert). The second sentence sounds better to me, but makes no sense really. Why is it “OR”.
In fact I’d probably use a slightly difference sentence in written English (after multiple hacks), and don’t really care re verbal use.
But that’s not my my question. I’ve been wondering about the use of ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ in similar contexts. For example:
“I don’t like chocolate OR ice-cream”
“I don’t like chocolate AND ice-cream”
“I don’t like chocolate OR vanilla ice-cream”
“I don’t like chocolate AND vanilla ice-cream”.
I think there’s two issues here... the grouping of words, and the way in which OR somehow acts like AND.
The AND vs. OR bit particularly bothers me... Can somebody explain this? In math/logic they are opposite terms.
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by shefali • December 21, 2008
I was wondering if Curriculum Vita is indeed the usage for a single CV. Is Curriculum Vitae not used in both the plural and singular formats?
18 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by mary • November 4, 2008
How do you refer to two people with the last name Valdez. Is it “the Valdezes” or “Valdez’s” are coming for dinner?
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by jessicajames • October 22, 2008
How do pronouns function with a collective noun? Today I was in my College Prep class and we read a sentence that used the pronoun “they” after the word class. The sentence was “The teacher, who was angry, told the class to do whatever they wanted to.”
Would ‘it’ be a better pronoun than that and if not, why?
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by magicrin • October 14, 2008
1. which one is correct? “i am glad to be of some help or i am glad to be of any help?”
2. what`s different between them?
2 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by phyllis • September 24, 2008
Ok I am always coming up against the following with non-native speakers:
disinterest vs uninterested
dissatisfied vs unsatisfied
disorganised vs unorganised
Any simple rule of thumb or guideline?
19 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by chris • September 16, 2008
“In this letter, we describe a practical method for sense tagging of Korean unit words in nominal compounds.”
In the above sentence, I’m curious if “sense tagging of” requires an article, as in “the sense tagging of”. Because of the “of” after “tagging” my instincts say yes, an article is necessary. But am I just adding unnecessary clutter into the sentence?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
1 comment
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by davidh • September 2, 2008
Why do Americans not use a preposition when talking about days of the week? “We’ll meet Monday” has an “on” “before” “after” or “during” missing. You can’t meet Monday unless it is a person or a thing; as it is a unit of time there should be a preposition; One doesn’t “meet 4 o’clock” but one may “meet at 4 o’clock” and so you do “not meet Monday” but “on Monday”.
11 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by nomad • August 21, 2008
“Some people may have doubt that why invest in these sectors during the economy slump?”
Is the above phrase grammatically correct?
Is it grammatically correct to use ‘doubt that’ when the ‘doubt’ is a NOUN?
For example:
1) VERB: I doubt that Fred has really lost 25 pounds ...
2) NOUN: Some people may have doubts that .....
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by josh • August 15, 2008
“May you please send me the...” Is this correct? It doesn’t sound right. I believe this person is using the same logic as asking permission to do something. Wouldn’t ” Will you please send me the...” or “Would you please...” be correct?
6 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by debra • August 13, 2008
Does the acronym ITS (Information Technology Services) take a singular verb or plural i.e.,
ITS is thinking of redoing the website.
ITS are thinking of redoing the website.
Since the last word is plural, wouldn’t it make sense to make the verb plural, even though it doesn’t sound good?
7 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by parsifal • August 12, 2008
Would you write ‘four day’s journey’ or ‘four days journey’?
I am having a tussle with a sub. I know it’s ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’ but surely the journey doesn’t belong to the four days, so it should be ‘four days journey’ - and presumably ‘a four-day journey’ would be even better?
What do you think?
6 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by nikkivinnriquemullencruz • August 10, 2008
Is the following phrase using correct grammar, why or why not? And how would you describe this phrase? It’s just weird to me:
“Hey, you’re that goofy kid Sandra makes do crazy stuff!!”
Basically Sandra makes this kid do goofy stuff and someone has spotted him, did they use correct grammar?
It just sounds weird to me, especially the “make do” part. Whether this is grammatically correct, what are the grammatical rules that would apply to a phrase like this? Thanks so much!
9 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by jentaylor • August 5, 2008
When I was in my linguistics class in college, my prof said using the verb be in this context was actually more grammatically correct than when we say “He calls me up all the time,” or “He’s always calling me,” etc. I can’t find my notes or any other info...can someone give an explanation? Thank you!
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Posted in Grammar
