By Grammar, Contractions

When the question is phrased with the negative (don't you, doesn't he), it shows an assumption on the part of the speaker that he or she is correct. It can also be used to show surprise. I don't think the phrasing makes it "negative" in the emotional sense, but the assumption the person has made...

Grammar Geek wrote:Something's = something is, a contraction, not a possessive use. Something IS going to happen shortly. is going to = future I am going to go to the store tomorrow. You are going to be sick after eating all that candy. Something is going to happen (just what, I don't...

Hi Crazy-- I finally got here. I have added some comments in brackets after underlined 'problems':Do Sports and Drugs Mix? Since the dawn of time years while playing football and was the quarter back of our team. Everyone thought he was going to make it to the NFL but during our...

Emma wondered if it was correct grammar to say, "Isn't she pretty?" because it would sound strange if you said, "Is not she pretty?" Yes. It is perfectly grammatical. Grammarians think of questions as being transformed forms of statements. So, for example, the statement She is pretty can be...

Thank you, Mister M. I think your response is givng the impression of contraction by the fact of you are using the phrase "strictly speaking" and "I think" in the same response to a particular question. Anyway, why did you say a comma should precede the and, strictly speaking. Are there any...

He's right Chimera. You really don't need to keep knocking on his grammar. He's probably younger and is just trying to put his 2 cents in. I'm sure you could understand what he was trying to say anyways. Seriously, lay off a little. To put your two cents in means to offer your opinion. Please...

Grandmother's making me a new blue blanket. Can you tell me about the " 's " in Grandmother's? I'm confused about the use of the apostrophy. From the www.Dr.Grammar.org The apostrophe is used for three purposes: to indicate the omission of one or more letters (can't, don't) or figures...

Hello StarSThe three things you asked about are different each other from the standpoint of grammar.(1)"The person (who is) seated in front of me keeps turning back."This kind of relative-clause contraction is called "WHIZ deletion" in a grammatical term. "WHIZ deletion" is very common in...

Nona Nona The Brit wrote: Yes Paco I am perfectly aware that 200 years ago the construction 'is arrived' was acceptable. So what? If you are so, why did you give such a message as below? If you had written in previous post just that "is arrived" is not incorrect but rather an archaic collocation,...

Hello F-M Usage of English articles is really messy to us English learners. And what is annoying us is that we cannot find any good grammar book that explains in detail in which case we should use THE/A and in which case we shouldn't. I have a feel from my past experiences that even native...