I’m often quite confused when to use the’-ed” with such words. Is there fundamentally, any difference between “large-scale project” and “large-scaled project”?
Cheers Eva
8 comments • Posted in Grammar
I am trying to figure out if there is a definite pattern in when ‘th’ is voiced (as in ‘the’) or unvoiced (as in ‘thin’). Someone has commented that sounds are to a large degree determined by the sound that comes after them. This doesn’t explain to me why the ‘th’ in ‘with’ and ‘myth’ are pronounced differently as they have the same ‘sound’ preceding them and nothing after. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Thanks
18 comments • Posted in Etymology / History
A friend and I were discussing the most funnily named facets of grammar when I brought up the trio of hanging, dangling and squirting participles. When he inquired about the meaning of the third I realised it had escaped me. Neither of us have been able to find a definition in the following period and I suspect it may be obsolete. Can anybody set me straight in regard to the meaning and/or existance of such a term?
P.S Whilst this may be a bit off topic, any other contenders for ‘funniest part of grammar’ would be welcome too!
3 comments • Posted in Grammar
My friends and I were debating one day, and none of us could come up with a good answer:
What is the plural form of anonymous? Is there a plural form of anonymous?
Any help would be well appreciated.
33 comments • Posted in Grammar
In another language forum in which I regularly participate, the following debate ensued:
I am envious of his getting rich. I am envious of him getting rich.
American English speakers argue that the second construction (him getting rich) is impossible, given the fact that if the noun object were NOT a gerund, the construction would not make sense.
For example:
I am envious of his success. I am envious of him success.
Our BE friend argued that “him getting rich” was indeed correct because the gerund construction compliments the direct object pronoun.
Anyone care to chime in?
10 comments • Posted in Grammar
Consider the example: There’s a teacher that has two groups and basically he always teaches both groups the same thing. One day he asks his students, “Can you give me one example of a car that has sirens?” In one group a student answers, “A policeman’s car has sirens.” In the other group he gets this answer, “The car of a policeman has sirens.” My question is: Is there a possible difference in meaning between both answers? I think they are perfect equivalent, but my English professor says that when you use “apostrophe + S” you always establish a relationship of possession and when you use “OF” it doesn’t necessarily happen. She also says that there’s always a difference in meaning, though it’s not always a striking one. She just didn’t explain what her explanation meant, that is, she didn’t give any example using this explanation in a context. She gave some examples such as: * a woman’s scent * the scent of a woman And tried to explain this possible difference without giving a sentence (context) in which they occur. Again, my question is, is there a difference between these two structures: * The car of a policeman has sirens. * A policeman’s car has sirens. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance, Marcelo
14 comments • Posted in Grammar
Which one is correct? 1. Honey and milk are my favorite. or 2. Honey and milk is my favorite. My answer is number 1, but my friend said no.2 because both nouns are uncountable.
7 comments • Posted in Grammar
When CC: a person(s) in a business letter, is it necessary to fully type their business name after their name or is an abbreviation acceptable.
For example: CC; So-and-so FCCC or Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation
8 comments • Posted in Style
Is it possible to pronounce steak as the /ea/ in weak is pronounced? Or should it always be pronounced as the /a/ in bake?
I’m from Norway, and we’we got steakhouses here, it’s no word for this in Norwegian. So when people pronounce this as the /ea/ in weak, is this incorrect, or is this possible in English too?
Thanks in advance.
Silje
21 comments • Posted in Misc
Data was handled... Data were handled...
I have forgotten the proper verb conjucation with “Data” vs “Datum”
8 comments • Posted in Grammar
Can you use an ellipse thingu to sort of draw something out? Like if you were to say, “I think there was a turkey somewhere, but I’m not sure...” It’s bugged me, since there’s nothing about that in Wikipedia or on Websters online. ._.
3 comments • Posted in Punctuation and Mechanics
What does it mean when someone states that they were “read the riot act” or that THEY read someone else “the riot act”? Is there such a thing as a Riot Act. I haven’t been able to locate information on this.
9 comments • Posted in Expression
I am having a dispute with a colleague about the use of the word ‘Everyday’. Can you please clarify for me if the word has been used correctly in the following example:
Everyday over 50,000 pupils miss a day of school without permission and an estimated 7.5 million school days are missed each year through truancy.
8 comments • Posted in Grammar
“For all it’s worth” or “for all its worth”?
e.g. He rolled the R for all it’s worth.
10 comments • Posted in Expression
Hi All. Take a look at this if you will:
“And my tire flattened as I was riding it to work this morning. The leak was slow enough that I could limp to work by pumping it up along the way (not recommended procedure, but tolerable for very short distances.)”
Do you, or have you ever, used the expression (my/the tire flattened)?
It expresses an inchoative (bridging or transitional ) event. It focuses on the transition between “tyre is not flat” to “tyre is flat”. But would you, have you ever, or do you, use it?
Other examples:
I liked him within a minute.
The weather changed.
The car rolled down the hill.
My situation changed this morning.
Stevie is ripping his script up. (causative-inchoative)
9 comments • Posted in Grammar
Normally, the plural of mouse is mice when you are referring to those real rodents. However, in the case of a “mouse” used for the computer, can you still use the plural form “mice”, “computer mice” if you are referring to lots of computer mouse? “Computer mouses” i guess is not proper. What do you think?
107 comments • Posted in Grammar
I have a question on the following excerpt:
And that means taking some time to effectively communicate the “vision” throughout the organization and to train all members to “view for improvement through cooperative effort” rather than “hunker down and protect turf.”
Does the last period of the sentence belong inside or outside of the quotation mark? The sentence “hunker down and protect turf” isn’t complete, so...what do you think? This is on the website of the company I work for.
19 comments • Posted in Punctuation and Mechanics
Does anybody know what’s the lingustic term for the words like “wanna”, “gonna”, “outta”, “kinda” etc? Once I heard them being termed as “clitics” but I’m not sure if this term is really used in linguistic circles. So far I’ve come across the words like: gonna, wanna, outta, gotta, hefta (for “have to”), coulda, woulda, shoulda, needa, lotsa (”lot of”), kinda (”kind of”), betcha (”I bet you...”), gotcha (”got you”), supposta (”supposed to”) and also cuppa :) Any other ideas?
13 comments • Posted in Misc
In a compelte sentence, you need a Subject and a Predicate. But what about the sentences that are, “Okay.”, “Yes/No/Maybe”, “Hello.” etc. Are they considered a Complete Sentence or thought?
75 comments • Posted in Grammar
