Warsaw Will
Joined: December 3, 2010
Number of comments posted: 527
Number of votes received: 172
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
You’ve got another think/thing coming
If you’re over a certain age, you will probably be familiar ...
When “one of” many things is itself plural
There are all sorts of things I believed in then which I don...
Recent Comments
on: “As per ....”?
@neilmac - 'with most contributors taking a prescriptive, if...
on: Not just me who thinks... or Not just me who think... or Not just I who think... or Not just I who thinks...
Sorry, forget the examples with 'person' - that's 3rd person...
on: Not just me who thinks... or Not just me who think... or Not just I who think... or Not just I who thinks...
I think Jasper is spot on for the first part, although the '...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
second slip - il n'y a aucun problème not aucune...
on: The use of “hey” in place of “hello”.
@Wellid - I think you're probably new here, at least as a co...
on: “while” adverb or conjunction?
@EnglishTeacherTimothy - nearly full marks, except for the s...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
A slip of the finger as usual - it's Varsovie, of course, no...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
@Brus - All three candidates for prime minister at the last ...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
Correction - I should have said modals have no person or num...
on: Someone else’s
When it comes to compound nouns, you can see some general pr...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
@Brus - Thanks for visiting my website. I don't think I unde...
on: Whom are you?
@Jasper - No need to aplogise. I think in the end it comes d...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
@Brus - The subjunctive is not a modal, it is a Mood, which ...
on: The use of “hey” in place of “hello”.
@Brus - just noticed something you said. British people virt...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
@Brus - except that, for many of us, especially in the UK, t...
on: Whom are you?
@Jasper - I know the - 'if it's him, it must be whom test' -...
on: He was sat
@Brus - innit? From you? I'm truly shocked! It's OK I know y...
on: He was sat
@Jackie - Are you sure 'which' is disappearing in 'internati...
on: He was sat
Correction - 'for example' should read 'such as'...
on: He was sat
@Brus & @Jackie - unfortunately I have to agree wholehearted...
on: The use of “hey” in place of “hello”.
@Brus = 'nuff said (if you'll excuse the colloquialism). But...
on: He was sat
@Jackie- the use of 'like' as a filler is nothing new. I'm o...
on: The use of “hey” in place of “hello”.
@Brus - I didn't think you were criticising me for being Bri...
on: He was sat
@Arthur - I do apologise for mispelling your name there. And...
on: He was sat
@Brus - who said anything about teaching foreigners 'who was...
on: The use of “hey” in place of “hello”.
@Brus - that was a bit personal, wasn't it?...
on: The use of “hey” in place of “hello”.
@Jackie - English English? Are you excluding the rest of us ...
on: The use of “hey” in place of “hello”.
@ Nick - I (also a Brit) totally agree, both on pronunciati...
on: He was sat
@Brus - you've changed your tune slightly - now you're sayin...
on: He was sat
I've been thinking about the use (admittedly formal) of 'sea...
on: Past tense of “text”
Sorry, that should have read - All regular verbs whose base ...
on: Past tense of “text”
@Ruthyphro - we are not actually discussing the past partici...
on: He was sat
@goofy - you've nearly convinced me, but both 'situated' and...
on: He was sat
@Brus - I think you mean run and flown, both past participle...
on: He was sat
@Arthur - This use of 'sat' and 'stood' is idiomatic, so ree...
on: Pled versus pleaded
@Brus and @D.A.Wood. As a Briton who regularly says 'the gov...
on: always wanted to be
As she most obviously is an author the present perfect versi...
on: Past tense of “text”
@Bart - Fascinated to know where you did your research. I've...
on: He was sat
Seeing some people want to try and analyse this from a gramm...
on: Farther/Further?
In the UK most of us use 'further' for everything, as Fowler...
on: Latest vs. Newest
@Les R - Being British, I was as surprised as you, but I thi...
on: “This is she” vs. “This is her”
As has been said above, the verb 'be' is a copular or linkin...
on: Latest vs. Newest
@Les R flat - apartment. Boot and bonnet are both to do wit...
on: Latest vs. Newest
Sorry I gave the wrong reference for Merriam-Webster. It sho...
on: “If I was” vs. “If I were”
@Perfect Pedant and DAW - except most of it's tosh - modals ...
on: Latest vs. Newest
@D.A.W. 2. you haven't actually answered my question: the l...
on: Latest vs. Newest
@D.A.Wood - a few links about using nouns as adjectives for ...
on: “all but” - I hate that expression!
'But' to mean 'except' has a long history - 'There but for t...
on: Latest vs. Newest
@D.A.Wood - Just in case you can remember what your original...
on: Titled vs. Entitled
@D.A.W. Wood - I 'dug back into the 14th century' because th...
on: Titled vs. Entitled
Both meanings are acceptable according to Oxford Dictionarie...
on: I’ve no idea
With 'have (got) to', it seems to me to depend on the surrou...
on: I’ve no idea
Can't see why any reason to think it's wrong. Here's an exam...
on: me vs. myself
Goofy has nailed it: it's a style issue rather than a gramma...
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...
September 4, 2012, 12:03pm • 0 vote
on: He was sat
Just heard on BBC Radio 4 'Just a minute', where the contest...