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Are double negatives okay? Yes!
Posted by Genta on Saturday, October 20 @ 01:05:16 EDT (214 reads)
Topic English Grammar
| I'm going to go out on a limb here and contradict most of the books ever written on the subject of grammar. (Who said I wasn't brave?) Traditional advice has always been not to use double negatives. For example, sentences such as these are traditionally frowned on: I didn't do nothing!
Don't give me no lip!
There ain't no such thing.
Detractors will argue that such sentences involve a contradiction of the intended meaning. In the first sentence, if the speaker didn't do nothing then he or she must have done something. In the second sentence, the speaker seems to be asking to be given some lip and, in the third sentence, the speaker is arguing that there is such a thing.
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What’s in a Name:
Posted by Genta on Saturday, October 13 @ 01:14:15 EDT (145 reads)
Topic English Grammar
| Juliet’s Question Revisited
During the American Translators Association's Spanish Division Conference in San Antonio earlier this year, I was browsing through my favorite bookseller's offerings when he took my arm and quietly led me to a 225-page book by Virgilio Moya entitled La traducción de los nombres propios1 (The Translation of Proper Names). He sat me in a chair and then went about his business, catching my eye every now and then to throw me a crooked smile. A friend wandered by and glanced over my shoulder. "Vero," he said, "you're not going to buy a book that should never have been written, are you?" He was referring, of course, to one of translation's coziest fortresses: 'Proper names are not translated; not ever.' "This book must be nonsense," he added. And in one sense, he was right: Moya's siege engine gave the fortress a tilt, and then its portcullis buckled and its mighty ramparts tumbled down into the sea.
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Does Juliet's Rose, by Any Other Name, Smell as Sweet?
Posted by Genta on Saturday, October 13 @ 01:12:04 EDT (161 reads)
Topic English Grammar
| What is going on with Merriam-Webster, Mom?” 1 My daughter was boiling mad and in the middle of writing a restaurant review when she phoned me from New York. "Why on Earth," Andrea asked, "does Merriam-Webster not cap 'french fries' when it caps French beans, French bread, French pastry, and French toast? Is it that 'french fries'—alone amongst its French culinary brethren—has become a common noun much like 'frankfurters,' 'hamburgers,' and 'wiener schnitzels'?" Andrea's rationale sounded plausible, so I said that I would explore it and call her back with an answer.
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Comparative structures in English
Posted by Genta on Saturday, October 13 @ 01:07:15 EDT (211 reads)
Topic English Grammar
| A review of comparative and superlative forms in English, and ways of expressing degree of comparison. Depending on the person's own language, comparative structures do not generally pose too many problems for non-native English speakers. This is because the structures are often similar, with equivalents (in Dutch and French for example) for the English forms "more than", "-er than", and "as... as", by way of example.
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Stuck for words? A rough guide to Conversational Fillers
Posted by Genta on Saturday, October 13 @ 01:05:46 EDT (188 reads)
Topic English Grammar
| One of the grammar/vocabulary areas that causes most problems for students of English is phrasal verbs, and not surprisingly. Although discussed in previous columns, this difficult area (where the expression "you've just got to learn them" applies) is worthy of further attention. This time we turn the spotlight on phrasal verbs with the same base verb - "get".
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Understanding headlines
Posted by Genta on Saturday, October 13 @ 00:15:42 EDT (177 reads)
Topic English Grammar
| Many non-native English speakers wishing to practise their English comprehension will at some point pick up an English newspaper and read a few articles. Here are one or two pointers if you, too, decide to do this. Journalistic English has a style all of its own, and this is most evident in headlines. The body text of an article should simply describe an event or occurrence, giving the details in a clear, well-ordered, easy-to-understand way, yet using such typical "journalese" expressions as, for example, the passive structures "is known to..." (for a definite fact), and "is thought to..." or "is believed to..." to express what people think. For example: "The fire is thought to have started in the kitchen and then spread throughout the building".
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Conversation Starters: The Correct Way to Use ''Since''
Posted by Genta on Saturday, October 13 @ 00:14:21 EDT (192 reads)
Topic English Grammar
| Have you ever heard the expression "to make small talk"? Small talk is the kind of light social conversation people use to get to know each other. Like talking about the weather, it is meant to put people at ease. How good are you at starting up a conversation? At such moments, the last thing you need is to be unsure of your English. So there you are, faced with a complete stranger. You are racking your brains for something to say and your knowledge of English which is normally so fluent, goes right out the window. In a first conversation, you may want to ask how long someone has been in the country. This is a good way to "break the ice" or "get the ball rolling". So how would you phrase that in English?
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Also, As Well and Too: Three Ways to Say More
Posted by Genta on Saturday, October 13 @ 00:12:44 EDT (208 reads)
Topic English Grammar
| There is an expression in English, "Less is more", which means that brevity is sometimes the most meaningful style of expression. However, in the professional world, we often need to communicate a lot of information at once without losing the reader's attention. Finding the right way to link ideas and phrases is a crucial factor in organising what you want to say. This article will focus on the use of also, as well and too, some little words which go a long way. You are not going to find a chapter in your grammar book devoted to also, but this short word is worth studying for a moment. Also is deceptive because it seems so easy to translate it directly into other languages (aussi in French, ook in Dutch, etc.), but where would you place also in a sentence? Normally, it comes before the verb, as in "She also speaks French," or the verb may be implied, as in "She speaks French and also (speaks) Dutch." Placing also at the end of the sentence, though not absolutely incorrect, sounds unnatural.
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''Ise'' or ''Ize''?
Posted by Genta on Saturday, October 13 @ 00:10:24 EDT (160 reads)
Topic English Grammar
| Freedom of choice can be a terrible responsibility. Faced with two acceptable alternative spellings in English, how do you make up your mind? Do you work for an organisation or an organization? Last year, did your company realise profits or realize them? Is it simply a matter of choosing between "British" English and "American" English? This article should help you the next time you find yourself agonising or agonizing over this question. People who are trying to master English as a foreign language may find inconsistencies in the spelling rules to be one of the most troublesome aspects. In the case of the suffix "ise" or "ize", you have probably learned that this is one of those quaint distinctions between British and American style. Tony Blair is surely scandalised by Clinton's notorious womanizing and Cherie can probably sympathise with Hilary for feeling traumatized by it.
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Place Names in English
Posted by Genta on Saturday, October 13 @ 00:08:53 EDT (134 reads)
Topic English Grammar
| The names of cities or places may have a different spelling in English than in other languages. This article will present some examples which can cause confusion. I remember going to the library one time in preparation for a ski trip, looking for travel guides about the Swiss canton of Valais. Much to my dismay, there was hardly anything about Valais, all the books seemed to be about some place called Wallis! Later, of course, it dawned on me that Valais and Wallis were the French and German names for one and the same place.
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