Ask Me About Grammar!

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Why is English verb conjugation so complicated?

Verb conjugation in English is actually not very difficult at all, compared to many other languages. Where English falls completely apart (as a result of the many sources of our words) is spelling. That drives ESL students to the brink of madness.

"English" by T.S.Watt

I take it you already know
of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead; it's said like bed, not bead;
For goodness sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(they rhyme with suite and straight and debt)
A moth is not a moth in mother.
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there.
And dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose-
Just look them up-and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come, I've hardly made a start.

A dreadful language? Why, man alive,
I'd learned to talk it when I was five,
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn't learned it at sixty-five!

 

[Debater Slayer]

Verb conjugation in English is actually not very difficult at all, compared to many other languages. Where English falls completely apart (as a result of the many sources of our words) is spelling. That drives ESL students to the brink of madness.

"English" by T.S.Watt

I take it you already know
of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead; it's said like bed, not bead;
For goodness sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(they rhyme with suite and straight and debt)
A moth is not a moth in mother.
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there.
And dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose-
Just look them up-and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come, I've hardly made a start.

A dreadful language? Why, man alive,
I'd learned to talk it when I was five,
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn't learned it at sixty-five!

I used to confuse my I's with E's, but now they come to me with ease. It is what it is!

(I still find English spelling a lot easier than that of French, although Arabic spelling is far more consistent than both.)

 

[Subduction Zone]

I used to confuse my I's with E's, but now they come to me with ease. It is what it is!

(I still find English spelling a lot easier than that of French, although Arabic spelling is far more consistent than both.)

I wonder at times of how language may affect the way that we reason. Does the different order of subject, object, and verb cause a difference in how we relate to others?

 

[Debater Slayer]

I wonder at times of how language may affect the way that we reason. Does the different order of subject, object, and verb cause a difference in how we relate to others?

That's an age-old question, and it's quite complicated to answer because it's difficult even for researchers to conclude whether thought shapes language or the other way around. There are opinions that both influence each other.

How Language Shapes Thought

The languages we speak affect our perceptions of the world

www.scientificamerican.com

Language and Thinking – General Psychology

pressbooks.online.ucf.edu

The weird way language affects our sense of time and space

The languages we speak can have a surprising impact on the way we think about the world and even how we move through it.

www.bbc.com

Personally, I lean toward the view that language partially shapes thought because I've experienced that myself and seen it in others. Even people's sense of humor and immediate perception of a situation can be influenced by the languages they use, from what I've seen, although I don't know to what extent, nor do I know how much of it is due to having more familiarity with the cultures associated with another language as opposed to merely knowing the language per se.

 

[Vinayaka]

The one inside the parentheses? It is necessary in order to separate the introductory clause from the independent clause:

Since most RFers are native English speakers, I suspect there may be very few questions about English grammar, but we'll see.

The last sentence is also an independent clause, and since it starts with a coordinating conjunction, a comma before it is necessary to separate it from the preceding independent clause.

I meant in the first sentence. Sorry about that.

 

[anna.]

I love grammar and language in general, so I figured I'd make this thread. Ask me about English or Arabic grammar!

(Since most RFers are native English speakers, I suspect there may be very few questions about English grammar, but we'll see.)

Oxford comma or no Oxford comma?

 

[Debater Slayer]

I meant in the first sentence. Sorry about that.

Definitely necessary: they're two independent clauses separated by a coordinating conjunction, so a comma before the conjunction is necessary (as in this sentence too).

I love grammar and language in general, so I figured I'd make this thread. Ask me about English or Arabic grammar!

 

[Debater Slayer]

Oxford comma or no Oxford comma?

Oxford comma, every single time.

Oxford comma helps drivers win dispute about overtime pay

An overtime case that will delight language nerds everywhere hinges on the absence of an Oxford comma

www.theguardian.com

Also consider this sentence with the Oxford comma and without:

Last week, I visited my parents, Rebecca, and Jack.

Last week, I visited my parents, Rebecca and Jack.

The absence of the Oxford comma in the second sentence creates room for confusion because it is unclear whether "Rebecca and Jack" are two names on the list of visited people or appositives modifying "my parents," hence merely being the names thereof.

 

[anna.]

One space or two after a period?

Are There One Or Two Spaces After A Period?

It's the great generational debate: one space or two? Read on to learn where using two spaces after a period came from, and why that has changed (mostly).

www.thesaurus.com

 

[Orbit]

Verb conjugation in English is actually not very difficult at all, compared to many other languages. Where English falls completely apart (as a result of the many sources of our words) is spelling. That drives ESL students to the brink of madness.

"English" by T.S.Watt

I take it you already know
of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead; it's said like bed, not bead;
For goodness sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(they rhyme with suite and straight and debt)
A moth is not a moth in mother.
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there.
And dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose-
Just look them up-and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come, I've hardly made a start.

A dreadful language? Why, man alive,
I'd learned to talk it when I was five,
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn't learned it at sixty-five!

I’ve been noticing lately common things native English (U.S.) speakers do because they’re lazy. Like “gonna” for “going to” and “wanna” for “want to”. One I’ve been hearing more lately is “they’re’s” for “there are” which doesn’t make any sense grammatically. It’s just that the contraction for the singular is easier to say so people use it for the plural, too.

A language as spoken can be very different from a language written.

 

[anna.]

I’ve been noticing lately common things native English (U.S.) speakers do because they’re lazy. Like “gonna” for “going to” and “wanna” for “want to”. One I’ve been hearing more lately is “they’re’s” for “there are” which doesn’t make any sense grammatically. It’s just that the contraction for the singular is easier to say so people use it for the plural, too.

A language as spoken can be very different from a language written.

Guilty as charged. I use gonna a lot when I'm texting and sometimes when I'm posting partly because I can auto-complete it and partly because that's how I usually say it, anyway.

 

[anna.]

I love grammar and language in general, so I figured I'd make this thread. Ask me about English or Arabic grammar!

(Since most RFers are native English speakers, I suspect there may be very few questions about English grammar, but we'll see.)

Do all British say "different to?" Americans say "different from" and sometimes "different than"