ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Help needed.

Marius Hancu — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 21:30:40 GMT

Not sure about your intention, but I think you wanted:

1. There was no point in doing the things you did.

(there was no clear rational motivation for trying to do them)

Re: Help needed.

Mahlon — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:46:30 GMT

I think Nona is correct on all counts, although I can see an instance, albeit an awkward one, in which you might see "no points for the things . . .."

And yes, although we hail from different sides of the Atlantic, whether to use "in" or "on" with reference to sitting depends on the chair. I make the distinction by whether the chair envelopes the sitter. I believe that in order to sit "in" a chair, the chair must have arms which enclose you, at least partially. I, too, must apologize for my language. It just doesn't make sense some times.

Re: Help needed.

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 17:58:06 GMT

Believer wrote:

1. Can you help me to clearly see in what situations I can use the likes of the phrases "no points" and "no point"?

There are no points for the things you did.

There is no point for the things you did.

"There is no point" means that there is no purpose. "There are no points" means that you do not score any points, perhaps in a game where people try to score points for certain achievements or behaviors.

2. Which is correct?

Look here or Look at here.

Look here is reasonable. Look at here is not.

2. Why did the sentence have the prepostional phrase "sitting on a chair" when normally you would use "in the chair" to describe the action/state of sitting in that object?

Please sit in the chair.

I was thrilled to see him sitting on a chair outside her house.

The prepositions on and in relate to relations in space. If the chair is envisioned as occupying a 2 dimensional area of space, as I typically do given that my chairs tend to be small, then I would use the preposition on. If the chair is envisioned as occupying a 3 dimensional volume of space, as I might if the chair were large or had arms on the side, then I would use the preposition in. Many people conceptualize chairs as occupying volumes of space, and not areas, and so use in and not on.

Re: Help needed.

nona the brit — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 17:50:25 GMT

1. It is always point and not points, regardless of how many 'things' were done.

2) Look here. I can think of a few odd contexts where you might want to say 'Look at here' but I don't think they are very natural. As an idiom, it is always 'Look here!'

2. Funnily enough it depends on the type of chair. If it is a hard sort of chair and you stay very much on top of it, you say on (i.e. wooden chair, dining chair, office chair). If it is a soft chair you 'sink into' comfortably, we say in. (i.e. armchair). We also say 'on' a sofa though, even a soft squashy one. confusing how I think about it. In fact, I think we are sitting on various sorts of chairs apart from armchair and dentist's chair, which both take in (even though a dentist's chair is hard). I give up. There isn't a rule. It is just a case of learning which is appropriate for each type of chair. I apologise for the awkwardness of my native language!

Help needed.

Believer — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 15:48:25 GMT

1. Can you help me to clearly see in what situations I can use the likes of the phrases "no points" and "no point"?

There are no points for the things you did.

There is no point for the things you did.

2. Which is correct?

Look here or Look at here.

2. Why did the sentence have the prepostional phrase "sitting on a chair" when normally you would use "in the chair" to describe the action/state of sitting in that object?

Please sit in the chair.

I was thrilled to see him sitting on a chair outside her house.