Questions tagged [grammar]
This tag is for questions about morphology and syntax, the two elements of grammar. DO NOT USE THIS TAG IF YOUR QUESTION IS ABOUT WHETHER SOMETHING SPECIFIC IS GRAMMATICAL. For such cases use the 'grammaticality' tag. Also do not use this for punctuation or spelling (orthography); those are not about grammar, and they have their own tags.
13,730
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Where were "should", "shall", and "must" in the 18th Century?
According to the following Google Ngram, in the U.K. the modals should, shall, and must were virtually missing from English writing during the 18th Century (I've added will for a comparison modal ...
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6
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"It worths it", "it worth it" or "it is worth it"?
Which one is correct and why?
I think "worth it" is an adjective phrase. So what is "worth" then?
Example:
You should try spending money on her. It worths it.
You should try ...
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Why use "need not" instead of "do not need to"?
The header of psyco.sourceforge.net states:
High-level languages need not be slower than low-level ones.
Why use need not instead of do not need? What does it mean? Also, why no to before be?
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When do I use "I" instead of "me?"
From some comments in the answers for common English usage mistakes (now deleted, 10k only), there's confusion around the usage of I vs. me:
While the sentence, "the other attendees are myself and ...
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9
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Are there any simple rules for choosing the definite vs. indefinite (vs. none) article?
I can’t for the life of me figure out where to use a and where to use the — and where there is no article at all. Is there a simple rule of thumb to memorize?
The standard rule you always hear:
“...
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5
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Difference between "I have got" and "I have gotten"
I see these two expressions are used almost identically in different contexts. Is there a difference between I have got and I have gotten?
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Is it ever worth the time and effort to correct someone else's grating grammatical mistakes? [closed]
Whenever I hear statements like "It was a great deal for he and I" and "Call Karen and I in the morning," I die a little. Such solecisms, as Twain said in another context (Cooper's prose style), "...
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When should a verb be followed by a gerund instead of an infinitive?
Some verbs are followed by ing, e.g. I enjoy swimming. We can't say I enjoy to swim. Likewise, some verbs are followed by to, e.g. I decided to make a plan.
Which particular verbs are followed by ...
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1
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Is there an apostrophe in a master's degree?
The question asks it all really. When referring to a master's degree, do you use an apostrophe or not? That is, is it "a master's" or "a masters"?
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4
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"What would you with the king?" -From the book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves"
In the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves, in order to show how punctuation changes meaning and can be used for jokes, it says:
Instead of “What would you with the king?” you can have someone say in ...
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6
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Is “either” only used with two options?
Does “either . . . or” apply to only two options?
For example, can I say, “It can provide either 100, 150, or 400 amps of power”? Or should it just be “It can provide 100, 150, or 400 amps of power”?...
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1
answer
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"created at" or "created in"
I'm not sure which one I should use:
Created in ____
or
Created at ____
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2
answers
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"Have you got a chance to" vs "Did you get a chance to"
What is the difference between following two statements?
Have you got a chance to look into this?
Did you get a chance to look into this?
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10
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Grammatically correct sentence where "you're" and "your" can be interchanged? [closed]
Most grammar checkers are capable of detecting the the misuse of "your" and "you're"; providing the necessary correction.
I'm curious though, is there any sentence that can be constructed where ...
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What exactly is an "adverb"?
From comments to “Weekdays” used as an adverb", I learn that The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary says "open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.", shows the word weekdays is an adverb.
It seems to me ...
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9
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Why is there no plural indefinite article?
The takes either a singular or a plural subject. A/an only takes the singular.
When we pluralize a noun preceded by an indefinite article, we simply drop the article (sometimes replacing it with ...
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5
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Usage and origin of "sister" in expressions like "sister company, sister ship, sister site" etc
The term sister is often used figuratively to refer, for instance, to a “sister company” for a company within the same group, or to a “sister site” for sites that belong to the same family. This ...
user66974
46
votes
10
answers
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Around 1960 in Britain "Have you a camera?" or "Do you have a camera?"
Around 1960, when we began learning English in Japan, we were taught British English. To our great surprise, we were forced to change into American English in the next grade. Japanese English teachers ...
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votes
7
answers
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Is using passive voice "bad form"?
Whenever I create a document in Microsoft Word, it complains about a lot of my sentences being in passive voice. But, when I read that sentence aloud, it sounds fine to me. I am not sure if it is just ...
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5
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Is there an Extended Backus–Naur form (EBNF) that covers all of English?
Is there an EBNF (Extended Backus–Naur form) that covers all of English, and if so, what is it?
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"On a page" or "in a page" for a web page
Which is the correct usage:
Something on a page
OR
Something in a page
By page, I mean a web page, not a physical book page.
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Why "go off", as in "alarm went off"?
I was wondering why does something goes off, when it in fact does the opposite
bomb goes off - it blows up
alarm goes off - it turns on
Why not goes on?
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What does "it" refer to in "it's raining"?
I wanted to leave the question title as is so as not to take away from my amusement :).
Anyway,
It's raining.
What is raining? Is it the sky? The clouds? The weather? The rain? What is "it"? Any ...
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7
answers
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Why use "of" in the phrase "delivered of a baby"?
With all the "Royal baby" craze comes something that really confuses me. All the news media used pretty much the same sentence to make the announcement:
The Duchess of Cambridge has been delivered ...
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votes
7
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What is this strange sentence by Walt Whitman?
The future is no more uncertain than the present. —Walt Whitman
This is supposed to mean "The future is certain, just like the present."
But it means the opposite...
I learnt in school that no more ...
user231854
38
votes
9
answers
13k
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Why is 'Where's it' Grammatically incorrect? [duplicate]
I want to explain to the Spanish developers of a website why this text label sounds wrong:
If your column isn't country data, where's it?
IMHO, you have to say "Where is it?" - but I don't know ...
- 1,691
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votes
8
answers
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The hidden flaw in "singular they"—what to do about reflexive pronouns?
We have a highly regarded answer by nohat to a question about gender-neutral pronouns, in which he points to the "singular they" and its long history of use in English. (Note that he also advises ...
- 150k
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votes
2
answers
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When to use "rather than" versus "instead of"?
I never really gave a deep thought about this, but recently a teacher talked about language and there was an implicit question in it. Something like,
There is a difference between "rather than&...
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"None of us is" vs "None of us are", Which is Correct? [duplicate]
Background
We have a motivational poster in our office that says:
None of us is as smart as all of us.
I think that it's grammatically incorrect, and here is my reasoning:
All of the tigers have ...
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Is “the girls are want to gossip” correct?
Is this the correct use and placement of want?
The girls in the office are want to gossip.
Does anyone have a reference citing this use?
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comprise or comprise of [closed]
I have found a similar topic addressing the use of "comprise" but my question is not exactly in line with that one. I did ask this question there to keep the topic related to the use of "comprise" ...
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Correspond to vs. Correspond with
Is there any significant difference between Correspond to and Correspond with?
I only mean in the sense of "matching", here, rather than "communication".
I've looked at a few sources, but I can't ...
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What is the best way to explain how to choose between "its" and "it's"?
Probably one of the most frequent grammar mistakes in the English language is:
The dog sat on it's mat.
Since spelling checkers don't catch it, and it is even logical, since you would correctly ...
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"At/on (the) weekend(s)"
Which expression is better? Which is right? Why?
A. Sorry to disturb you at weekend.
B. Sorry to disturb you on weekend.
C. Sorry to disturb you at weekends.
D. Sorry to ...
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Can “due to” and “because of ” be used interchangeably?
Is it fine to use due to in place of because of ? How about the other way around? Are any of these sentences ungrammatical?
He was lost because of the storm.
He was lost due to the storm.
He lost his ...
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13
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"May" & "Might": What's the right context?
I may not be coming in tomorrow...
I might not be coming in tomorrow...
When should I use "may" and when should I use "might"?
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At Night or In the Night?
Why do we refer to morning, afternoon and evening as 'in the morning', 'in the afternoon', 'in the evening' but not 'in the night' instead we say 'at night.'
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When do you use "relate to" versus "relate with"?
I have a feeling that maybe you use one preposition with people, and the other with situations. For example, you might relate with a student who's nervous about an exam, whereas you relate to test ...
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"Too much pills and liquor" or "Too many pills and liquor"?
When you mix a mass noun with a plural, do you use "much" or "many"? I haven't been able to find any information about this.
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Is "et al." used as a singular or plural subject?
When referring to multiple authors by using the name of the first author and "et al.", is it correct to grammatically treat this as one person or multiple persons?
Gamma et al. are saying in their ...
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"Simply Not" vs. "Not Simply"
One simply does not walk into Mordor.
One does not simply walk into Mordor.
Intuitively I feel the first statement more strongly suggests walking into Mordor is impossible whereas the second just ...
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Sentence in which "its" and "it's" can be interchanged without changing the meaning? [closed]
A friend posed the following word puzzle to me:
Can you think of a sentence that keeps the same meaning whether you use "it's" or "its"?
He asserted that this puzzle does in fact have a solution. ...
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"Criteria" versus "criterion"
I came across several forums and articles saying that criteria is plural and criterion is singular. Some gave me the impression that criterion is used to denote a set of rules.
What is the correct ...
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13
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How can I reliably and accurately identify the passive voice in writing or speech?
How can I reliably and accurately identify the passive voice in writing or speech? I'm not interested in advice about whether or not to use it yet... I just want to know for sure what it is, so that I ...
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1
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which one is correct, "Master's student" or "Masters student" or "MSc student"? [duplicate]
I don't know exactly which one is more official and correct?
Master's Student
Masters Student
MSc Student
What is main difference?
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"Should I" vs. "Shall I" vs. "Do I" in AE
In colloquial prose, is there some difference to saying "Should I/we", Shall I/we", "Do I/we" to ask someone's advice?
E.g.
Should I call the police?
Sounds like I'm asking someone (or myself) if ...
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28
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2
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How to use "to + V-ing"?
I saw some scenarios that used the structure "to + V-ing", such as the following:
Looking forward to hearing.
Disposed to using few words.
I would like to apply what I learned in school to helping ...
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1
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Is it correct to say “I myself”?
I thought it was incorrect to say I myself as in:
I myself don’t like this idea.
However, last night I was watching the second Harry Potter movie, and one of the characters said:
In case you ...
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Why do you say "friend of mine" instead of "friend of me"?
I think friend of mine can be translated to my friend.
In that case, doesn't friend of me make more sense?
If we translate friend of mine to one of my friends then I guess friend of mine makes sense ...
- 381
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7
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"wanna" at the end of a sentence
I'm not a native speaker. A pupil wrote "wanna" at the end of a sentence:
You can go if you wanna.
It sounds odd to me, as if something had to follow wanna (as opposed to want to/ want, which ...
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