Re: Grammar question "IS"

Yoong Liat — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 08:40:26 GMT

Anonymous wrote:
I saw this sentence in BARON IELTS text
"There is only my mother, father, and me."

Is the verb "is" correct? Shouldn't it be "are"? Please help

It's correct.

Grammar question "IS"

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 04:32:52 GMT

I saw this sentence in BARON IELTS text
"There is only my mother, father,and me."

Is the verb "is" correct? Shouldn't it be "are"? Please help

Re: good and well

Tam Sadek — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:07:42 GMT

There is a confusion amongst many native speakers as to when to use 'good' (the adjective) and 'well' (the adverb and adjective).

"He works good" is grammatically 'wrong' as here an adjective is modifying a verb which it 'cannot' do.

Therefore the only 'correct' choice is:

"He works well." with an adverb (well) modifying the verb (works).

However, in informal speech 'good' is used by many native speakers and is starting to gain some acceptability in some circles in spite of it being 'grammatically wrong'.

So my advice is... Observe it in use by native speakers in movies and TV series, but be careful not to use it in International English Exams such as TOEFL, IELTS, and Cambridge as they'll stick to the traditional rules and mark it as 'wrong'.

This is an example of when 'real' English clashes with 'grammatical correctness'...

Be warned...

Re: IELTS preperation essay (kindly of you to correct my essay)

julielai — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 15:21:54 GMT

Henbeibi wrote:

1: What's the meaning of parallel? I suppose you are telling me I should use "to use" instead of "using". Is it right?

- Yup.

Henbeibi wrote:
2: What's the meaning of agreement?

Radio seems the best way for them to know what are (agreement) happening in the world."

- It takes a singular verb.

Hope that helps!

Re: Informative essay

wumanfu — Thu, 02 Oct 2003 02:53:37 GMT

Hi, this post is a little long maybe. Sorry to those of you with limited time to get exactly the right information quickly. Next time, Iâll just post a typical college essay; no chat!

In my previous post, I wrote a short informative essay. Itâs maybe good enough for a middle-school student answer. However, for English 101 at college, Iâll have to do a little better. Here is a list of the issues Iâll consider to improve my essay.

1 analysing the title
2 organising notes and linking ideas together
3 planning the assignment
4 discussion and analysis
5 citations

1 analysing the title
The teacher asked me to write an informative essay. I went to the dictionary to find out what informative means. I discovered that I got the best information by reading about the verb âinformâ and also by understanding its synonyms (other words that mean approximately the same thing). To be cute, I decided to write my informative essay about being informative. This process helped me to organise my notes and link my ideas together in a logical way.

2 organising notes and linking ideas together
I used a quotation from Oscar Wilde as inspiration for my argument; my point of view. I said that itâs important to be interesting when I write or talk to people; thereâs no way Iâll communicate effectively if my writing is boring. I chose that quotation after reading the dictionary definition for âinformativeâ. Apparently, when the word âinformativeâ was first used (the Etymology reference), it meant âhaving the power to inform, animate, or vivify. OK, so Iâve found my line of argument for the essay. Now what I did was to just follow my curiosity and noted down what seemed important. I hoped that my curiosity was also putting ideas in a logical sequence.

3 planning the assignment
I looked for help about planning my assignment on the Internet. I used the www.google.com search engine. I looked for hits about essay writing. Iâm familiar with IELTS preparation so I looked for IELTS resources. The information I found gave me examples of college papers and some hints about achieving a better score in the exam. When I post the next version of my informative essay, you should notice an improvement.

4 discussion and analysis
What is there to discuss about being informative? What is communication? What are the barriers to effective communication; the factors that stop my words reaching their target? These are the sorts of issues I want to discuss. Also, Iâll try to find information written by experts. I expect that some experts will have already struggled with these ideas and Iâll bet that there has already been a couple thousand years of history about communication in various cultures and in some fascinating contexts. As I read more and ask more questions, I expect to find references to communication (being informative) in professions like anthropology, psychology, medicine, philosophy, educationâ¦. So, the sky is the limit. I could keep reading and asking questions till Iâd written a thesis!

5 citations
I referred to a style manual about writing citations (acknowledging the work of other authors). Sorry to just dump information here but maybe it will be helpful to read advice from a trusted authority.

Merriam-Webster Style Manual
âIn high-school papers and in popular writing, sources are usually identified only by casual mentions within the text itself. In college term papers, in serious nonfiction books published for the general public, and traditionally in scholarly books and articles in the humanities, footnotes or endnotes are preferred. In this system, sequential numbers within the text refer the reader to notes at the bottom of the page or at the end of the article, chapter, or book; these notes contain full bibliographic information on the works cited. In scholarly works in the natural sciences and social sciences, and increasingly in the humanities as well, parenthetical references within the text refer the reader to an alphabetically arranged list of references at the end of the article, chapter, or book. The system of footnotes or endnotes is the more flexible, since it allows for commentary on the work or subject and can also be used for brief discussions not tied to any specific work. However, style manuals tend to encourage the use of parenthetical references in addition to or instead of footnotes or endnotes, since for most kinds of material they are efficient and convenient for both writer and reader. In a carefully documented work, an alphabetically ordered bibliography or list of references normally follows the entire text (including any endnotes), regardless of which system is used. Though different publishers and journals have adopted slightly varying styles, the following examples illustrate standard styles for footnotes and endnotes, parenthetical references, and bibliographic entries. For more extensive treatment than can be provided here, consult: Merriam-Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors (2nd ed., Merriam-Webster, 1995) The Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed., Univ. of Chicago Press, 1993) MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (5th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 1999) Scientific Style and Format (6th ed., Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994) Back to top Home My Account Contact Us Privacy Policy Site Help Merriam-Webster Online home Â© 2003 by Merriam-Webster, Inc.

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Re: Grammar question "IS"

Grammar question "IS"

Re: good and well

Re: IELTS preperation essay (kindly of you to correct my essay)

Re: Informative essay