In Nouns^x, Negatives^x, Commas^x

Hi May I quote an excerpt from M. Swan, 2005, Practical English Usage, 3rd edition . OUP. (para. 370.5 "Two negative ideas: not ... or / not ... nor") I posted some months ago in another thread? In the other thread, I think I learnt that: 1. neither ... nor ... / not ... or ... are...

Hi Tanit, sorry for the delay. I haven't been blessed by an inspiration. It looks like Swan is speaking of the deliberate, intentional use of not/nor to emphasize the second noun. I agree that when using "or" the first noun strongly predominates and the second simply trails...

Hi Avangi, I'm really glad you commented on my sentence. I look up to natives (and you are a native, if I'm not mistaken!) because they "feel" whether a sentence reads fine without having to double-check any grammar books. However, as I said, I'm not a native, so let me...

"The Change of the Characteristics in the passage from The Hours " The passage from the novel The Hours by Michael Cunningham is intriguing. The passage illustrates the difference between the character's characteristics in different time settings: past and present. This difference is...

Hi, 55.) Which sentence in correctly punctuated? a.) In connection with the tax cut of last year, we are now studying, its impact on middle-income families. b.) Now is the time for all good men, and women to come to the aid of their country. c.) Although the impact on humans is...

55.) Which sentence in correctly punctuated? a.) In connection with the tax cut of last year, we are now studying, its impact on middle-income families. b.) Now is the time for all good men, and women to come to the aid of their country. c.) Although the impact on...

Hi, I've read on another thread that "me neither"and "me either" are not grammatically correct. I assume the objection would be that the phrase should be 'I, neither'. This certainly is not wrong, but it's very formal. 'Me, too' seems to me to be common enough and clear enough to be...

Hello Eagle Yes, the commas are needed. As the Dickens example shows, 'Hero as he was...' means 'since he was a hero', or 'being a hero'. So that excludes 'as = though' in #4. Since 'as' as rel pronoun is nonsensical, #4 therefore is a '???'. We have to turn it into #5 by adding a...

Hi, this is my first post to the group. I’ve just pasted information from Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage. To be quite frank, I don’t really understand these definitions fully but I hope the information is useful to you. So, regarding the words 1 Than 2 that 1 Than is normally used to...