In Expressions^x, Inflections^x

I think you mean the sentence Never listen to fear, right? Listen is an imperative and no inflection is ever used in English imperatives. Imperatives like this look like infinitives, which should make it easy for you to learn English. Except for certain fixed phrases and idiomatic expressions,...

Hi Anon, Your questions are excellent and show a good grasp of the issues. You're pushing me to the limit of my knowledge on the subject, which is a good thing. My opinions are based more on a long lifetime of listening to people use the expressions, and less on reading about them in text...

Hi ForbesThank you for your long reply. I do appreciate it. I would just like to say that I my opinion is based on the knowledge I have of the Germanic and Romance languages and it is of course very subjective. I fully understand that not everyone agrees with me and what I consider easy may be...

Hi allIt would be interesting to hear from nonnative speakers of English in particular what influence English exerts on other languages nowadays. What English words and expressions are used in your language? Does English grammar or syntax have an influence on your native language? Where is this...

Hi InchoI agree with the previous posters completely; I would just like to elaborate a little from a non-native speaker's standpoint to a non-native speaker. We're both foreigners, right?Since there are hardly any inflections in English, the word order is very rigid and certain phrases and...

To me, the use of plural (have) suggests that you have a personal involvement in the group: you are one of the students of which every second has been expelled. The singular 3rd person inflection is free of such connotations. If you ask me, in case of group noun-verb agreement, the verb form...

I never thought it was a puzzle. English is full of expressions where words don't mean what the dictionary says they do and the actual subject isn't necessarily the word that looks like the subject, and after most of the inflections disappeared in the Old English and Middle English period,...

"investigates" would be wrong. After certain expressions (require that ..., insist that ..., demand that ..., it is important that ..., etc.), the "s" inflection is not used. It's called the subjunctive. The link Paco gave you will explain it in more detail. CJ

Phrasal Verbs, A New Approach To Learning “I don’t understand” he said, “I just don’t understand”. These words from a student in early 2003 set me off on a quest to resolve a problem that has for centuries defeated teacher and student alike. My student, José García Bes, like millions before...

The monotonic quality of the standard (flat) American accent (my own) makes me long for the intonations and inflections of British (or Celtic) English. Much more amenable to dramatic or poetric expression. In the hands of the right speaker, music. I suppose you could say that about a few American...