In Nouns^x, Conversations^x, Constructions^x

This is an example of a grammar issue that is made difficult because frequent usage of the "a lot" construction in informal conversation makes it tricky to say what is correct based on how it "sounds." Whether the nouns are countable/uncountable or singular/plural is beside...

Your instinct is right--the phrase refers to "last year's figure " but the word "figure" is understood and so dropped. So grammatically the spelling should be year's. However, it has become common especially in conversation to drop the 's, and that has slipped...

Kitkattail: "Hitchhiker: Yes, but that line of reasoning breaks down when you get to the verb "to be." People's ears will tell them that it is correct to say, "It is me," and so they will then also say, "It is Theodore and me." But since they were wrong in the first place, they will still be...

I guess you don't get out much, Anon. Here is a sampling of respectable online sources. Doing a bit of Google research yourself will turn up many, many more. The American Heritage Dictionary : Grammarians have sometimes objected to the so-called double genitive construction, as in a friend of...

I hope you don’t mind my writing in English. As you know, I am in an exchange program in Plymouth, Indiana . Even though I'm having a lot of fun, I'm starting to make plans for my future. I am absolutely sure about going in the academic direction. Since Plymouth High School is a fairly...

Hi, All these inversions of pronoun and verb are correct grammar. However, I would say they're not common at all. And they sound literary and rather arch, even more so when the pronoun is 'I'. I wouldn't recommend that you go around using this construction in everyday conversation.

CalifJim wrote: You are compounding the problem here, however, by using "number of" together with "there is/are", which, at least in relaxed style, can almost always be "there is" no matter what the grammatical number of the following expression. So, "there is" can be used, but not in very...

The only context I can think of for this construction is something like this: "The museum is closed. The ceiling is being painted." "The ceiling has been 'being painted' for six weeks now. How long is it going to take??!!" It's a very awkward construction, and would only be used in a...

Hello Roro Excellent writing! I believe you are an advanced English learner, at least a learner much more advanced than me. Anyway, what I feel about the problem you have now is that it rather come from your misunderstanding the tense relation in a sentence using the time connective word ....

In modern English, 'who' works as both a subject and an object. ++ http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/1994_01_24_thenewrepublic.html The first story was a nonpartisan analysis of supposed pronoun case errors made by the two candidates in the 1992 US presidential election....