32
votes
Accepted
Is "one needs only" or "one need only" correct?
The most common use of need is as a regular catenative verb, taking a to-infinitive as its complement. In that use, it inflects normally (need/needs/needing/needed), can follow an auxiliary verb, and ...
- 14.4k
17
votes
Accepted
Is it wrong to use "Did you ever" in a sentence?
The ever in questions such as Have you ever flown a kite? can be understood as in your life to this present moment. The present perfect (have/has + past participle) is used because in your life is ...
- 32.2k
16
votes
"Wrote it I did" Is this grammatical?
Both are examples of hyperbaton. You can read more about it here, hyperbaton. In their current form, both sentences are ungrammatical. Correct them for tense as follows.
Write it I have.
should be ...
- 5,501
15
votes
What is the history of "may" being used to mean "must"?
The OED dates this sense of the word back to 1715:
Where a Statute directs the doing of a Thing for the sake of Justice or the publick Good, the Word may is the same as the Word shall; thus 23 H.6. ...
- 62.9k
11
votes
Accepted
Can the continuous form be combined with the passive voice?
The first site is wrong:
He has been being treated for imbecility for almost twenty years and has not yet recovered his wits.
In 2007 he had been being treated for imbecility for ten years and had ...
- 68.5k
9
votes
What is the question tag for: "They got the answers, ____?
Answering from Ireland. I would say "They got the answers yesterday, didn't they?", 'did' referring to 'got', meaning 'they did get'.
- 201
7
votes
Is it wrong to use "Did you ever" in a sentence?
Your German friend is wrong.
Did you (ever) mail that letter?
This question, without 'ever', is a simple enquiry about a specific letter, in the past. Using 'ever' here suggests that the ...
- 17.6k
7
votes
Accepted
Not your run of the ‘will’ question tag
A tag after a declarative is checking whether the sentence is true, and that's why you see the same auxiliary used in the sentence. We stress auxiliaries or move them to the front of the sentence when ...
6
votes
Difference between "should", "would" and "ought to"
The only one that fits grammatically is should.
Another idiomatic possibility is to insert no word at all - It is essential that the documents be destroyed immediately.
Ought to be, would and had ...
- 64.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Do I need to repeat the 'have' before the second verb?
I think it's a close call. If you leave it out, there can be no ambiguity because 'drawn' is the past participle and therefore can only belong with the previous 'have'. On the other hand the gap is ...
- 36.9k
5
votes
What is (do) for here?
Only often triggers "inversion", where the subject and verb switch places. A simpler example of that might be:
Only later are we told why.
(meaning "We aren't told why until later&...
- 14.4k
5
votes
Accepted
What Does He Do
The first and second uses of the verb do are different.
The first do ("what does") is an auxiliary verb, which doesn't have meaning on its own, except to properly phrase a question. The auxiliary do ...
- 7,468
5
votes
NICE Properties of Auxiliary Verbs
From a syntactic point of view, auxiliary verbs are verbs in that they conjugate (I am, he has, she did) and mark tense when necessary (i.e, in tensed clauses where they appear first), and auxiliaries ...
- 105k
5
votes
Accepted
Sentence start with auxiliary-verb
You can read "should the system crash in the middle, the information...can be found in the journal" as a conditional that would more commonly be expressed as:
If the system should crash in ...
- 32.2k
4
votes
"Wrote it I did" Is this grammatical?
Technically they are incorrect and should have been:
Written it I have. = I have written it.
Write it I did. = I did write it. = I wrote it.
It is the same reason we would say "Done it I have&...
- 2,103
4
votes
Accepted
Is there a more precise phrase for "can and should?"
In moral philosophy there is the concept "ought implies can" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ought_implies_can). In other words, you have no moral obligation to do something which you are not capable ...
- 456
4
votes
"Yes, I will be"
Hmmf, well the question used to ask if someone could prove if this phrase was grammatical but this response inspired a edit removing that request for a proof. So what follows now seems a bit silly. I ...
- 9,754
4
votes
Accepted
Why do we need different auxiliary verbs ("is", "are", "am") for different pronouns?
No why, no purpose; just history
First off, you’re mistaken to tie these verb-forms to pronouns rather than to what we call “grammatical persons”. Pronouns are but an ancillary matter that make it ...
- 133k
4
votes
“What I saw was…” vs “What I saw were…”
When you start with "What", you're referring to an incident or object that you've seen. So it seems more appropriate to use the pair what ... was
like you were answering a question What was it that ...
- 779
4
votes
Accepted
What topicalizing role does "do" play in "Only now do we have what we need to move forward"?
In the sentence
Only now do we have what we need to move forward
the word do clearly has some emphasizing meaning.
Let's clear the mud off the sidewalk first.
The final clause is irrelevant, so an ...
- 105k
4
votes
Accepted
Will vs Would? Can both of them be used for future
Both your sentences are grammatically correct and both have a future meaning: we understand that she hasn't done anything yet and that she is unlikely to do anything in the future.
Your other sentence,...
- 26.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Is there a term for, and what is the correctness of, splitting a verb with a nonrestrictive clause?
There are several terms, but verb splitting is not among them.
Oh, and there's only one clause and it's not non-restrictive.
Thankfully, you gave examples.
Our main participation will be, as usual, a ...
- 105k
4
votes
Accepted
"I'll have take contact you two about the details later"
In Japan, "Take" is a common name [[ Pronunciation : taa kay ]] with current usage.
In the Manga Picture, the text is "ALL CAPITALS" ; that is why you got confused.
"I'LL ...
- 4,496
3
votes
Accepted
"Are" or "Is" when linking two singular nouns in a sentence?
If the two are considered as a unit, you use the singular verb:
Where is the pestle and mortar?
Mumford and sons is my favourite band.
However, when each noun is considered to be a ...
- 617
3
votes
Accepted
"Wrote it I did" Is this grammatical?
Are the following two examples grammatical?
Write it I have.
Wrote it I did.
Consider as possible contexts:
They said that I have to write it, and write it I have. -- (for #1)
They said that I ...
- 6,158
3
votes
Question without auxiliary verb
It is a common English locution to report someone's words back to them in indirect speech with the rising inflection indicated by the question mark. It indicates some incredulousness: "I can't ...
- 44.3k
3
votes
Can we say "you can [not go] to school" or does it automatically become a negative sentence?
You can not go to school.
It's perfectly possible to use the sentence above to mean that not going to school is a possible option. Notice that usually the word cannot is written as one word. This ...
3
votes
Are modal verbs and auxiliary verbs actually verbs?
The English modal auxiliary verbs
can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must,
and sometimes need and dare
are, indeed, defective verbs in that they no longer inflect for anything and ...
- 105k
3
votes
Is "going to" an auxiliary verb?
Once again, piece by piece...
Oxford defines an auxiliary verb as
a verb used in forming the tenses, moods, and voices of other verbs
This definition is not restricted to English. English does, ...
- 105k
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