Warsaw Will
Joined: December 3, 2010
Number of comments posted: 72
Number of votes received: 42
I'm a TEFL teacher working in Poland. I have a blog - Random Idea English - where I do some grammar stuff for advanced students and have the occasional rant against pedantry.
Questions Submitted
When “one of” many things is itself plural
There are all sorts of things I believed in then which I don...
Recent Comments
on: ye, yer, yers
My final comment: I'm interested in the real world of how mo...
on: ye, yer, yers
@Sigurd - Not only is an official change unlikely in the nea...
on: ye, yer, yers
@Sigurd - OK, I'm sorry for the last part; I was thinking of...
on: ye, yer, yers
@Sigurd - 'impoverished'? Ask a young French person how they...
on: Really happy or real happy
@Douglas.Bryant - I'll leave the 'real' stuff to you America...
on: Exact same
Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage: "The part of sp...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
@HairyScot - I totally agree with you that 'I've got' has e...
on: make it work
A couple of interesting things in Chris's comment. I had men...
on: make it work
Your initial instinct is right. We have lots of so-called ca...
on: ...ward/s and un...worthy
@Hacovo - I'll go with you half-way. Praise I think has to b...
on: ...ward/s and un...worthy
@sigurd - we are not saying you can't do it, but in your app...
on: Backward vs. Backwards?
I really don't see that 'in regards to' has any connection a...
on: ...ward/s and un...worthy
@sigurd - this might interest you - http://en.wiktionary.org...
on: “Me neither.” or “Me either”
I go with the general flow: 'me neither' is absolutely stand...
on: Semicolon between sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction
GrammarBook.com's rule is supported by several expert websit...
on: Had he breakfast this morning?
@Hacovo - No wrath incited. For me there is a difference in ...
on: When “one of” many things is itself plural
@Hacovo - Thanks for the comment. Just on the crowd, team th...
on: When “one of” many things is itself plural
Thanks Ing and JAC for confirming my thoughts. I had written...
on: Semicolon and omission of repetitive words
Sorry, that wasn't of course an appositive; I was obviously ...
on: Semicolon and omission of repetitive words
@nigel - “To err is human; to forgive, divine” - Sigurd was ...
on: “with the exception of” or “with the exceptions of”
@Everybody else - Sorry, this is off topic, but there are so...
on: “went missing/gone missing”?
@Nancy - if you had said in American English, you might have...
on: ...ward/s and un...worthy
-wards - If you can have skyward/s (which is in the same dic...
on: Interchangeability of possessive “s” and “of”
Goofy's examples and descriptions all come from the work of ...
on: Interchangeability of possessive “s” and “of”
Sorry, obviously a typo - tend to argue - but I better corre...
on: Interchangeability of possessive “s” and “of”
@goofy - Point taken, although I'd include 'Terry Pratchett'...
on: Interchangeability of possessive “s” and “of”
Just to add that this wider interpretation of possession is ...
on: Interchangeability of possessive “s” and “of”
@Sigurd - I too see your point, and part of it is no doubt, ...
on: Correct preposition following different?
@HairyScot - 'Glescaranto' - that's a new one on me, althoug...
on: “with the exception of” or “with the exceptions of”
Thanks Hairy Scot - Sorry if I've been a bit hasty elsewhere...
on: Interchangeability of possessive “s” and “of”
The word 'of' can indicate origin or position as well as pos...
on: “with the exception of” or “with the exceptions of”
Keep it as it is. Here are two examples from MWDEU, which sa...
on: What happened to who, whom and whose?
@Brus - 'Fill in the missing word from the ones on the list ...
on: Correct preposition following different?
@HairyScot - good joke about 'similar', but everything else ...
on: Had he breakfast this morning?
In support of Kyle, I had assumed he was meaning this as pas...
on: O’clock
'My lord, I was born about three of the clock in the afterno...
on: Specifying time duration without “for”
You can live a tranquil life, live life to the full, and liv...
on: What happened to who, whom and whose?
@Brus qui is the subject pronoun - for both people and thin...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
Despite our differences, this post has thrown up some really...
on: Had he breakfast this morning?
I think I gave you a logical explanation, but perhaps not th...
on: Correct preposition following different?
My understanding is that in both AmE and BrE, 'different fro...
on: Whom are you?
@Stavros K. - To me, yes, it sounds stilted. It's very unusu...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
@Hairy Scot - I wouldn't call you a pedant for using 'were',...
on: “by the time”
'By the time' is referring to 'arrived', not 'had finished' ...
on: Had he breakfast this morning?
Sorry - that should be "have a shower", obviously...
on: Had he breakfast this morning?
Hi. The verb 'have' has three main functions: As a main sta...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
Sorry, that should have been: - The ''were" construction...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
Wow, what a lot of issues to address! So I'll start with the...
on: “My writing books” or “Me writing books”?
There is an excellent discussion on this topic by prominent ...
on: Past Perfect vs. Past Tense
@BrockOhBMA - Sorry, but the function of the past perfec...
on: “8 inches is” or “8 inches are”
I don't think that group nouns (team, government, Facebook e...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
@Mediator - The most annoying thing about pedants is that...
on: “My writing books” or “Me writing books”?
@Goofy, Hannah - Also from MWDEU p753 - 'The gerund, or verb...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
According to the Bad Linguistics blog, all three candidates ...
on: attorneys general vs. attorney generals
To add to AnWulf ... nor in the British army. AnWulf is quit...
on: Correct way to omit words?
I think there's a lot of different stuff going on here: some...
on: Stood down
"stand (somebody) down - if a soldier stands down or is stoo...
on: want it that way
The line 'I want it that way' or a variation of it occurs th...
on: I dove my hat
Are you sure it's dove, not doffed. To doff your hat is when...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
@Jim - I've sent 4 dictionary references as well as some gr...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
@Jim - Hi. I think this is mainly British usage, which is wh...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
@Jackbox - my 'full stop' was meant to be an ironic reply to...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
"He's very lucky really. He's got a wonderful family and the...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
First, I suggest you do a little experiment. Say 'I have a c...
on: Rules for -ise and -ize
@sigurd, you are no doubt right on point one, and I rather r...
on: Past Perfect vs. Past Tense
Look at the preceding 'The problem now was that the car was ...
on: Rules for -ise and -ize
I can't answer your question (well maybe I can) , but I can ...
on: “I recommend that you do not” vs. “I recommend you not”
In British English we very rarely use subjunctive in this ki...
on: Past Perfect vs. Past Tense
(BrE) I think the original and your version are both grammat...
on: Whom are you?
@rj74210 'It should be, were one to express oneself in such...
on: Does “Who knows” need a question mark?
Why don't we ask Who? He'll know....
December 31, 2011, 3:34am • 0 vote
on: me vs. myself
Goofy has nailed it: it's a style issue rather than a gramma...