By Nouns, Dialects

In formal English, it is a rule not to omit 'that' when it stands as the subject in the sub-clause. In the case 'that' stands as an object in the sub-clause, it is more natural to omit 'that'. JTT: I don't think it makes a difference for formal or any English, Paco. In all English, and all...

Hello Mav My understanding about the historical development of the English language is like this: English basically belongs to Teutonic languages along with German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages. The oldest form of English (Old English/Anglo-Saxon) had been quite similar to present day...

Yoko: Some of my dictionaries say that "deer" is both the singular and the plural form. Additionally, Yoko, There is one deer in the park. There are two deer in the park. "deer" doesn't take -s in the plural. It's a mass noun. But in my dialect, Canadian English, as I am sure American...

Yet, how can you say that "There are a lot of people" is correct? The noun phrase (a lot - singular) and the verb (are - plural) are at odds with each other. One does not use a singular article ("a") if it is meant to be plural, correct? The fact that "people" is plural is entirely immaterial as...

My understanding is that 'due to' in these examples is 'correct': 1. 'Cancellations due to the lack of a driver are all too common these days.' 2. 'The cancellation was due to the lack of a driver.' But 'incorrect' in these: 3. 'Due to the lack of a driver, the 1105 to Waterloo has been...

Another good find! It's a pity that neither Ora's nor Erika's paper looks at the history of 'too '. (For instance, if it is an ellipsis, we can then discount the admittedly remote possibility that 'a' isn't an indefinite article at all, but a Teutonic prefix of some kind, or a truncation of...

I sympathize with Jeff. When I was learning English--that's decades ago--I read a grammar book delineating the same rule as Jeff brought up. As years passed, I realized that's a rather weird rule. I checked it with native speakers, they said in unison to the effect that I should forget the...

English is a Germanic Language of the Indo-European Family. It is the second most spoken language in the world. It is estimated that there are 300 million native speakers and 300 million who use English as a second language and a further 100 million use it as a foreign language. It is the...

Hello MrP History of English Gerunds (quoted from OED) The most notable development of the verbal nouns in form of -ing is its use as a gerund, i.e. a substantive with certain verbal functions, particularly those of being qualified by an adverb instead of an adjective, and of governing an...

What i mean by 'linky' is a link, to a site online. 'violiny' i mean a violin, when i get my violin ill call it violiny because... i can. By 'nighty' i meant as in 'nighty night,' i use it when saying good night, not nightie, ive never used nightie as in a nightgown(nightdress, whatever). but i...