In Literature^x, Nouns^x

As to this, I'd like to put my two cents. When English retained cases explicitly, the subject noun and the complement noun linked by a linking verb were both in nominative cases. So, "I " in the normal word order. However, in Old English, inversion easily took place between the subject and the...

Hi, Khoff and all you native English speakers! I've always been sympathetic with English/American people trying to study my native language, Bulgarian. We are lucky, because it is easier for us to learn English. It doesn't sound strange that inanimate nouns do not have gender in English - it just...

Hello Pastel Your question is interesting. Yes, it's true the phrases 'stomach upset' and 'upset stomach' are both used with almost equal frequencies. A tentative Google search hit 433,000 sites for the former and 466,000 sites for the latter. The 'stomach upset' can be interpreted as...

Hello MrP Thank you for your compliment. But I need some literature material to prove my supposition. By the way, don't you think English is extraordinary among European languages in that they put an indefinite article even to predicate nouns? (English) He is a student. (German) Er ist...

Thanks, Eagle, Paco, and MisterM for all your painstaking posts! Much to chew on. 1. It's odd that both your and K's dictionaries give this structure, which I seldom if ever hear. Maybe it's more common elsewhere. Sorry, all: I should have been clearer. I meant the ‘Child as he was…’...

Morning, Non Con-- 'Better'? I would probably use the past perfect here if I were writing a thesis, a careful formal letter, or a piece of literature (and I think I would be overconservative in doing so). What would I say if I were talking about my wierd friend, Jack? 'Jack sang in the park...

We still have to stay with noun forms here, Yoko, either the (bare) infinitive or the gerund (-ing): 1.My mom is always asking me to do lots of jobs around the house, such as (mow) the lawn and (wash) the dishes after dinner. Here I think that the infinitive, as you have used, which reflects...

Hello. The sentences listed were composed by me except for the first one, so these might have incorrect expressions.... I just forcus on 'such as' and conjugate the verbs. 1.My mom is always asking me to do lots of jobs around the house, such as (mow) the lawn and (wash) the dishes after...

Perhaps one of you sent me this, or perhaps I have subscribed to this service and forgotten the fact, but at any rate the following serendipitiously arrived in my mailbox this morning: Possessive vs. Attributive Nouns ************************************************* If you enjoy this writing...

Dave, First of all, and even when everyone is surely aware of this, I must insist that even when I believe my knowledge of the English grammar is good, I'm not a grammarian or a linguist. It would be completely absurd for me to try and analyse a language that is not even my own in depth when I...