Discussion Forum
This is a forum to discuss the gray areas of the English language for which you would not find answers easily in dictionaries or other reference books.
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Latest Posts : Grammar
“Mercedes SL500. Acura NSX. BMW Z4. These types of cars are ...” Or “This type of cars” Or “This type of car” Or “These types of car” Or “These types of a car” In a situation where, by the word “type”, I mean to say “expensive sports car”, which is correct? It is one specific type of automobile that I’m trying to refer to, so “types” seems wrong, but to follow a list of cars with “This type of” seems wrong too. (What would “this” be referring to? It would not be the cars that I listed.)
“In a future, we’ll have...” Why is “future” a countable noun? In what situations do you use “futures”? Do you ever say, “In futures, we’ll have...”
Can I say “a lot of water”? Could “a lot of” be used for uncountable nouns? In other words, could “a lot of” be used to substitute both “many” and “much”?
“These are not what is going to bring us happiness.” Or “These are not what are going to bring us happiness.” Which is correct?
“I am a part of the team” or “I am part of the team” Which is correct? If both, then what’s the difference in implication?
“At the lecture yesterday, only a few of them knew who I am.” Is this correct or should it be “who I was”? “Who I was” sounds like they knew who I was 10 years ago.
I wrote “Multiple pages of recipes from the book, each page consisting of a photo and a text.” And, Manny pointed out to me that “a text” is wrong, that it should simply be “text”. But the plural form of the word “text” actually exists. If “texts” is legal, then “a text” must also exist. In what situation would one use “a text”?
In Wired magazine, I came across: “fast and furious Internet speeds”. Why “speeds”? Why plural? Why is “speed” countable in the first place? Speed is measurable, but you can’t really count the concept of velocity itself, like one speed, two speeds, three speeds.
Is it wrong to say, “The life of the people”? Or, do you have to say, “The lives of the people”? When you use “of” in this context do the numbers (pluralization) have to match between the first noun and the last noun?
For some reason I’ve always thought the word “news” had an article attached to it, i.e., “a news”. Like: “That’s a good news.” I always said. No one corrected me until today. Thank you Manny.
