By Clauses, Contractions

Anon, Ok, I see you are a brave soul, making such a bold statement hiding behind an empty entity “Anonymous” calling people “ignorant”. Well, I tell you what, I think I have a couple of shots left in the barrel and I’d like you to have it. First, I am not sure what credential you have giving...

Hi Viceidol, Going strictly by ear, "must not" works fine in your example, but we seem to use the contraction only in cases where we're warning someone not to do something. I have no idea why. You mustn't be at home when they come. They're planning to kill you. I have...

Contractions which are a combination of a pronoun and a form of be or have or will or would cannot end a clause. I'm, I've, I'll, I'd, he's, he'll, he'd, etc. Use the uncontracted form instead. CJ

Jackson6612 wrote:1: I should not respect you. 2: Should I not respect you? 3: Shouldn't I respect you? The sentences 2 and 3 are the interrogatives made from the sentence 1. The sentence 3 is much more common than sentence 2. In grammar, a clause that is in the interrogative has its subject...

Jackson6612 wrote:In grammar, a clause that is in the interrogative has its subject following do, be, have, or a modal verb.The pronoun goes in the first possible position after do, be, have, or a modal verb. In a case where that verb is part of a contraction the first possible position is...

The first one seems wrong at the end. Let me change it a little. Make another post if you still have a question about that last bit of the first one, OK? 1 "If it hadn't have been for the accident, I wouldn't have had to report late for work." 2 "If it wouldn't have been for the...

If I go on bended knee to the boss, do you think she'd give me my job back? (Longman) Why "would give"? "going on bended knee" is real. Why isn't it "will give"? why is it imaginary? I take she'd give as she'll be willing to give -- in other words the "volitional" meaning of would, not the...

My question is "If a sentence contains 'didn't + something' in the if-clause, it should not be a subjunctive?"I'm lost by your use of "should". There's nothing to be done in terms of what one should or should not do. didn't is simply a non-standard substitute subjunctive for the standard...

GW, there are rules for these things (which unfortunately sometimes differ between AmE and BrE usage), and there is an over-riding guideline of clarity: if it gets too messy or iffy, reframe the sentence. With regard to your specific examples:The word 'and' can be used intermittently...

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...