Search results for 'tag:Difference between tag:Pronouns' matching tags 'Difference between' and 'Pronouns'

Re: The difference between 'who' and 'whom'

CalifJim — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:54:52 GMT

Anonymous
I donât like the boy to whom you are talking
I donât like the boy who you are talking to

They are both correct, right?

Yes. They are both correct.

Anonymous
I think "I don't like the boy who you are talking to" is incorrect.

Sorry. You think wrong. You can always use who instead of whom when you leave the preposition 'stranded' at the end. Use whom for very formal contexts.

It would be quite idiomatic to leave out the relative pronoun completely, thus avoiding the use of whom:

I don't like the boy you're talking to.

Re: Article for History

Avangi — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:35:05 GMT

Avangi
You need some kind of adjective/pronoun/article in front of "history." "American" serves the purpose. "History is an interesting subject" works, but "History of America is fascinating" does not. (must be "The history of America)

I must say in retrospect that this is not a productive way to look at the question of whether "history" requires a definite article. New2's point about "history" as an abstract ("first time in history"; "history repeats itself"; "the study of history"; etc.) is much more useful in explaining why sometimes the definite article is not required.

In my first post I was trying to focus on the difference between "American history" (no article) and "the history of America." I really screwed it up!

A doubt about "As she is a vegetarian, my grandma does not eat meat."

Viceidol — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:08:01 GMT

Hello, everyone,

I've asked a question in http://www.englishforums.com/English/BookWrittenHasteMistakes/gvrkh/post.htm about what's the difference between "As it was written in

haste, the book has many mistakes." and "As the book was written in haste, it has many mistakes." I knew from the thread that both of them are possible forms of

writing. But now I saw some similar cases which the above conclusion might not make sense. For example, we can say:

When an American woman meets someone for the first time, she may or may not offer her hand.

As my grandma is a vegetarian, she does not eat meat.

But I think it strange to say:

When she meets someone for the first time, an American woman may or may not offer her hand.

As she is a vegetarian, my grandma does not eat meat.

As for those two sentences, I think to put the pronouns before their referents are somewhat strange.

However, I do saw certain similar cases shows that no matter where the pronoun is, the meaning wouldn't be affected(Just like the two sentences in the thread

I've metioned in this post). Like the following pair of sentences:

When it is seen from the mountain, Tokyo looks beautiful at night.

When Tokyo is seen from the mountain, it looks beautiful at night.

For those two sentences, I don't think either of them are strange. But how could that be? What do you think? Thank you for your replies!

Re: The difference between 'who' and 'whom'

26TMNTJG2PG — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:01:29 GMT

I just joined this Forum a few days ago. I do not know what I going to tell you is still relevant.

I have come across an article "Who" or "Whom" (relative pronouns), careful perusal and digestion of which may be of great help.

Re: to infinitive or to gerund

Cool Breeze — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:42:14 GMT

Nddad

How do I tell the difference between " to infinitive and to gerund " ??

If you are asking how you can tell when to is a preposition and when it's part of an infinitive, the answer is simple. If you can put a noun or a pronoun such as it after to, to is a preposition:

I am looking forward to it.

I'll never get used to it.

I object to it.

Incorrect: I used to it. Consequently to is part of an infinitive in this sentence: I used to like her.

feel (subjective pronoun) VS feel (objective pronoun)

Anewcomer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:40:07 GMT

Hi Teachers

I'd like to know what the difference between feel/any verb + (subjective pronoun) and feel/any verb + (objective pronoun) is:

E.g: I feel he is telling me VS I feel him telling me

Thank you

Re: truncation possibly this but not that

Avangi — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:38:41 GMT

Hi Anon, I was intrigued by this issue, as I too could see no substantial difference between the examples.

I think it comes down to a simple misunderstanding. The Anon said, "The dilemma how to know what and how much to truncate, Mr.M."

When we say,"There is Superman, up in the air," there may be two stages of truncation:

"There is Superman, (1)~~who is~~ (2)~~flying / hovering~~ up in the air."

You added, "There is Superman, flying up in the air.

Mr. M. said, "Those are OK too-- but they're not necessarily truncated. If they were they could be: There is superman, hovering up in the air."

What is meant by "they're" and "they"?

Mr. M. goes on to compare Anon's original up in the air to I have a hole in my pocket, saying they're just phrases (no evidence they were once clauses and have been truncated.)

When you truncate "who is" (relative pronoun and linking verb) it's fairly obvious what you've truncated. It sounds to me like Mr. M. is saying that if flying had been truncated you would have no way of knowing the word had been "flying," and it could just as well have been "hovering."

I believe you're taking Mr. M.'s words to mean that Anon's "flying" addition is not a correct example of a word that might have been truncated, while "hovering" is.

So to answer your question, there is no grammatical difference between "flying" and "hovering."

Regards, - A.

Re: 'That' vs 'It'

Clive — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 05:24:23 GMT

Hi,

I've been asked to explain the difference between using 'that' and 'it' in a sentence, and give some examples, to my Japanese junior high ESL learners. Can anyone help me?

E.G. What is the difference between:
"Who owns that house?"
"Who owns it?"

I don't know if that's a good example or not, but that was what I was given.

"Who owns that house?" We are talking about a house, and indicating the house that we are talking about. eg we might be pointing at it. In other words, 'that' is a demonstrative adjective.

"Who owns it?" We are not necessarily talking about a house. We are talking about something that was previously mentioned or identified. eg Look at that nice car. Who owns it? In other words, 'it' is a pronoun.

I wonder if you are really being asked what the difference is between thefollowing statements.

"Who owns it?" I've already explained this.

"Who owns that?' Here, 'that' is not an adjective as above, but instead is a demonstrative pronoun. I suggest you begin to explain this by simply saying 'When you say this, you might point to the thing that you are talking about'.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Noun clauses Vs adjective clauses

Hoa Thai — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:09:24 GMT

Anonymous wrote:

I'd really appreciate your reply to my first letter. But in the sentence: "The news that he won surprised us all." that he won- is the noun clause;according to one of the website on the Internet. In the sentence "The fact that the earth is round is obvious." that the earth is round'-is a noun clause, according to you and many other refferences. What is the difference between the two sentences? Please expound clearly. In addition, I've come across some more difficult sentences such "It's a time that wars should cease." -that wars should cease is a noun clause used as an apposition to the word"time"; is it correct?- According to the high school grammar book from India.

Hi Sothy Sin,

I blew it royally! You are right. The clause 'that he won' is appositive clause because it is the news. The same goes for 'that the earth is round', which is the fact. Both clauses refer to the noun they follow.

1. "The news that he won surprised us all" - What is the news? 'He won' is the news. Both 'the news' and 'that he won' refer to the same thing (i.e., equivalent).
2. "The fact that the earth is round is well known" - What is the fact? 'The earth is round' is the fact. Both 'the fact' and 'that the earth is round' refer to the same thing.

In regard to the sentence "The news which we received last month was unbelievable," What is the news? Not sure! But it was which we received. We received the news. We received which. The relative pronoun which and the news are equivalent; thus, "which we received last month" is an adjective clause.

Finally, let's take a look at "It's a time when wars should cease." What's a time? 'when wars should cease'. Both 'a time' and 'when wars should cease' are equivalent. Therefore, 'when wars should cease' is an appositive clause.

Re: He insisted on my/me singing a song.

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:58:23 GMT

Hoa Thai wrote:
Goodman wrote:

You asked: Why canât I find insist on somebody doing something usage in any dictionaries?

Hi Goodman,

That was exactly what I asked.

Is 'She insisted on John speaking for us all' correct? I thought the dictionaries suggest that we should say, "She insisted that John spoke for us all' instead.

EDIT: The reason I raised the question is to point out the difference between 'insist on me singing' and 'insist on my singing'. In other words, 'me' is a pronoun that can stand on its on, while 'my' must accompany / pair with another word / phrase. In that sense, the 'somebody' goes well with 'me', not 'my'. 'My singining' should be considered as the 'doing' instead.

Hi Hao,

I think the confusion lies in the word "insist".

She insists that (not "on") you take the trip to China for the contract signing meeting (subjunctive) = She insists on your (not you) talking the trip to China for the contract signing meeting. Meaning is the same but structures are not.