Search results for 'tag:Numbers tag:Nouns' matching tags 'Numbers' and 'Nouns'

Re: It ought to be me rather than you that sign the letter.

CalifJim — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:42:24 GMT

sitifan
What are the correct options to the above questions?

If I'm not mistaken, the rule for "rather than" says to make number agreement in the third person with the noun that precedes "rather than".

But I may be mistaken, so I can therefore only tell you how I would answer -- not what is truly "correct" from the viewpoint of the test maker.

1. A - is. (teacher -- singular - is)

2. A - signs (me -- singular -- signs)

3. A - signs (you -- singular --signs)

I could be wrong, though, so hopefully, someone else can confirm or deny.

Re: Is "jury"countable ?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:23:40 GMT

Jury is countable. Countable nouns can be either singular or plural: jury/juries.
Countable nouns can follow a, an, or one; many, few, these, and those; also can follow a number such as one, two, three...

Example:
A jury has been appointed to judge the trial in the Crown Court.
It took three juries to reach a verdict.
Few juries like to be present in a child abuse case.

Re: Parsing-- struggling to parse this, any help appreciated

AlpheccaStars — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:45:31 GMT

Communication is supremely important for all social animals.

Communication - subject
is supremely important for all social animals. - predicate
is - linking verb
supremely - adverb
important - predicate adjective modifying communication
for all social animals. - prepositional phrase (adverbial)

It is the glue that links numbers of individuals into a larger whole.

It - pronoun, subject
is the glue that links numbers of individuals into a larger whole. - predicate

is - linking verb
the glue - predicate noun phrase
that - relative pronoun (glue), subject of the dependent adjectival clause: links numbers of individuals into a larger whole.
links - verb
numbers - direct object of verb "links"
of individuals - prepositional phrase (adjectival)
into a larger whole - prepositional phrase (adverbial)

This is as true of ants and bees as it is of humans.
This - pronoun, subject
is as true of ants and bees as it is of humans. - predicate
is - linking verb
as - adverb
true - adjective (this)
of ants and bees - prepositional phrase, 2 objects (adverbial)
as - correlative conjunction, introducing the dependent adverbial clause "it is of humans"
it - pronoun, subject
is - linking verb
of humans - prepositional phrase (adverbial)

Some of the characteristics of complex society (organised communities, a hierarchical structure, and a division of labour) that bespeak the importance of communication in human life appear to have parallels in the animal world.

Some - pronoun, subject
of the characteristics - prepositional phrase (adjectival)
of complex society - prepositional phrase (adjectival)
(organised communities, a hierarchical structure, and a division of labour) - appositive noun phrases
that - relative pronoun (some), subject of the dependent adjectival clause: bespeak the importance of communication in human life

appear to have parallels in the animal world. - predicate
appear - linking verb in main clause
to have parallels in the animal world. - infinitive phrase, predicate nominative
parallels - direct object of infinitive (to have)
in the animal world - prepositional phrase (adverbial)

Re: import vs. imported

Avangi — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:26:04 GMT

I'm trying to remember how I went astray here. I'll just blame it on the Oops, which was going through a period of hyperactivity about then.

The sound of "import food(s)" bothered me from the beginning, but I knew I'd heard it a lot, and it seems like a good candidate for a compound noun. I should have pursued that issue first. There are many internet references to "import food safety," "government import food regulation number 1234 etc.," "Mrs. So-&-So's Import Food Mart," etc.

How do we know when these expressions rise to the level of legitimate compound nouns?

Anyway, I finally decided it was all a mistake. It looks like I copied from A.Stars, but I didn't see her post til afterward because of the Oops activity. How embarrassing! Sorry.

Re: not-s0-easy question on adjectives?

Mister Micawber — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:40:52 GMT

.
1. deep-clean cleaner
... is deep-clean

This particular coinage doesn't sound very good in either position.

Usually, you can use the same adjective or adjectives either in a pre-noun position or predicatively, but why not for this? -- A number of adjectives rest easily in only one of the two positions: elder, alive, live, afraid, etc.

2. Can I put some adjectives before a genitive? - Yes, as long as they don't cause confusion.

He is wearing a new white doctor's uniform. -- But of what racial origin is the doctor?
.

Re: Pronoun Case. Please Help.

CalifJim — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:39:41 GMT

Eddie88
here is a post which I thought slightly contradicted your point:

Yes. I thought you asked again because you were puzzled by my overly long reply the first time.

I didn't know which kinds of cases you wanted to know about -- the preposition immediately after the pronoun or the preposition after the pronoun with any number of words in between.

No words in between:

They threw him out the door. (Here him has nothing whatsoever to do with out.)

Words in between:

The man whom we bought the gift for is on the train. (Here whom goes with for because the uninverted form is for whom.)

The man [We bought the gift for him] is on the train. becomes

The man [We bought the gift for whom] is on the train. becomes

The man [whom we bought the gift for __ ] is on the train. becomes

The man whom we bought the gift for is on the train.

Only the specific word whom has this property.

Eddie88
could the pronoun ever be the subject of the sentence, but have a preposition preceding it?

Never, never, never!!

Eddie88
how is the contraction isn't written in full? For example, 'this is the right book, isn't it?

Is this written like this: 'this is the right book, is it not'? So, does it and not switch order in formal academic prose?

isn't = is not

However, in modern English a negation (not, n't), can only be moved to the left of the subject if it is expressed as n't. It must stay to the right of the subject if it is expressed as not.

It is. It is not. It isn't.

Is it? Is it not? Isn't it?

So you can't have forms (in modern English) such as Is not it? or Is it n't?

Same here:

It does. It does not. It doesn't.

Does it? Does it not? Doesn't it?

Not Does not it? or Does it n't?

It has nothing to do with academic prose.

Re: One of many problems faced by English learners is their own misconceptions.

Avangi — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:27:00 GMT

Jackson6612

Avangi
either "learners of the English language," or "English language learners."
Why is article the essential here? There is only one English language. e.g. I'm learning Chinese language these days. Is there any need to specify Chinese language using the? The use of the is justified in sentences as in ''I'm learning the Southern American English dialect nowadays. The article is required in all of these. I honestly have no idea why. My guess is that "language" is the object of the verb "to learn," and would require an article if it were used without "English" as a modifier. To qualify for standing without the article, a "subject of study" must be one of a few very well-established courses. "I'm majoring in Romance Languages at university." Here, Romance Languages is the recognized name of a well-established course of study, as is Chinese. In the case of a dialect, the indefinite article would be used if there were more than one. Avangi
<<One - - is their own misconceptions.>> IMO there should be number agreement here. Possibly, "One - - - is dealing with their own misconceptions."
Yes, there should be number agreement between verb and object. If I followed your suggestion then the sentence would read: One of many problems faced by learners of the English language is that they are dealing with their own misconceptions. Is that what you suggested? That would be fine. I was considering "that they are" to be optional, as the gerund "dealing" may serve by itself as predicate nominative following the being verb "is." Avangi
This is about "learners." You refer back five times with "they." At some point you might remind the reader who "they" are. Eg, "these learners," "the students," something else of your choosing.
Is choosing'' used as a present participle in the above context? I'd say functionally it's a gerund, serving as object of the preposition "of." The other option, "choice," would of course be a noun.
Avangi
<<During the learning process, they should stop taking the machinery of their native tongue for granted.>> As the final sentence of the first paragraph, this seems enigmatic. It's very well phrased, but the meaning is less than obvious (to me.) I feel like I want an additional sentence by way of (=as means of, as a type of) explanation, or clarification. Optionally, you could make your "machinery" image a little easier to connect up.
How can I make the machinery image a little easier to connect up? How did I know you were going to ask me that danged question?? During the learning process they should remind themselves that the machinery of their native tongue was a long time in [the] building and fine-tuning, and they must be willing to devote an equal effort to the new language. (I'm not sure I have your intention right.)
Avangi
In the second paragraph, at first blush (=when first thought of or considered) the antecedent (=a word or phrase which a pronoun refers back to) of "They" would seem to be "English speakers."
Yes, you are right. I will be more careful about such constructions in future.
Avangi
Have you verified that "idiomaticness" is a word? Or is it a "nonce (=occurring, used, or made only once or for a special occasion) word"?
It is a proper word according to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary.

Congratulations on your hard work. - A.

Edit. "Why is the article "the" essential here?"

Re: One of many problems faced by English learners is their own misconceptions.

Jackson6612 — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:13:32 GMT

Hi Avangi,

Avangi
either "learners of the English language," or "English language learners."

Why is article the essential here? There is only one English language. e.g. I'm learning Chinese language these days. Is there any need to specify Chinese language using the? The use of the is justified in sentences as in ''I'm learning the Southern American English dialect nowadays.

Avangi
<<One - - is their own misconceptions.>> IMO there should be number agreement here. Possibly, "One - - - is dealing with their own misconceptions."

Yes, there should be number agreement between verb and object. If I followed your suggestion then the sentence would read: One of many problems faced by learners of the English language is that they are dealing with their own misconceptions. Is that what you suggested?

Avangi
This is about "learners." You refer back five times with "they." At some point you might remind the reader who "they" are. Eg, "these learners," "the students," something else of your choosing.

Is choosing'' used as a present participle in the above context?

Avangi
<<During the learning process, they should stop taking the machinery of their native tongue for granted.>> As the final sentence of the first paragraph, this seems enigmatic. It's very well phrased, but the meaning is less than obvious (to me.) I feel like I want an additional sentence by way of (=as means of, as a type of) explanation, or clarification. Optionally, you could make your "machinery" image a little easier to connect up.

How can I make the machinery image a little easier to connect up?

Avangi
In the second paragraph, at first blush (=when first thought of or considered) the antecedent (=a word or phrase which a pronoun refers back to) of "They" would seem to be "English speakers."

Yes, you are right. I will be more careful about such constructions in future.

Avangi
Have you verified that "idiomaticness" is a word? Or is it a "nonce (=occurring, used, or made only once or for a special occasion) word"?

It is a proper word according to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary.

Re: What percentage/percent of the time is he there?

Grammar Geek — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:16:35 GMT

Based on the research I did for this question, it seems we use "percentage" as a noun when there is no specific number.

What percentage, a large pecentage, an increasing percentage, a smaller precentage.

And that we use "percent" when there is a number: More than 70% of the likely voters indicated...

However, just about all the sources acknowledged that the two words are often used interchangeably.

Re: grammar check!

AlpheccaStars — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:03:57 GMT

Ellisa:

This is a very long passage, and your other post seems to be even longer.

The editor at this web site makes it difficult to make corrections to long passages. Also, many teachers do not want to devote a long time working on a single post. If you post only one paragraph at a time, then different teachers can work on them and you will get your corrections faster.

Ellisa

Hello teachers!
I'm summarising a book which is about teaching methods.
I guess there are millions of errors.
Please ~~check those to right one~~ suggest corrections to my sentences.!
Thanks in advance!

13. Teaching grammar

There are two main ways to teach~~ing~~ grammar.(or you can say "ways of teaching grammar". The word "teaching" is a gerund, and must be used as a noun. In this example, it is object of the preposition "of")
One way is ~~both~~ planning grammar teaching in advance and relying on the coursebooks which can help us teach grammar. The other way is teaching grammar as a result of other work. In other words, it is ~~has~~ done as a peripheral activity. In this chapter, we will look at the various different ways to teach grammar. We will look at the range of activities which satisfy not merely efficiency but also ~~appropriacy~~ (not a word; you can use the adjective forms - a range of activities which are efficient as well as appropriate). . Lastly, we will discuss grammar books and their usages.

(You need to be consistent in using imperative versus declarative sentences)

A. Introducing grammar

The following ~~1 to 4~~ examples (, numbered 1 to 4,) are activities which represent a range of possibilities for introducing new grammar.

Ex1) It's making sentences using the present simple in the third singular. First, the teacher holds up a number of flashcards which are about a specific job. Then (? subject - the students )make sentences in ~~contained~~ present simple tense for ~~the~~ each pictures. It consists (or The exercise consists of) of three affirmative and three negative sentences. Then (? subject - the teacher )makes the students guess what kind of job it is. Once students are confident in ~~with~~ these sentences, the teacher asks them to think of one profession and make 6 sentences. Now, they can do activities guessing what profession is being described.

Ex2) It's using texts which contained (present tense) what the students are being taught (past simple irregular verbs). While the students read the text, they come across blanks that they must fill in with the past tense form of certain verbs. Then, (? subject - the teacher )makes them write these past tense verb forms down in the blanks and also write them phonetically using ~~which are shown~~ ~~their~~ phonemic symbols.

Ex3) This is aimed to show the differences between ~~reporting~~ direct speech and reporting things that were said in the past. The teacher draws ~~Draw~~ two people on the board. One, whose name is Jack, is holding a phone and smiling ~~whose name is Jack~~. The other is just standing. The teacher gives the ~~Give~~ students the information that Jack is talking to a girl who he met in the school canteen. Then, the teacher asks the students what Jack tells his friend while taking on the phone. The answers might be in the present form such as ' She says I'm really nice'. In this process, the teacher makes sure that the students understand how 'you' changes to 'I'. The teacher now tells the students that Jack is back home and he was spurned by the girl. He is telling to his mother that 'She said I was really nice' which is past form. The teacher can write both past and present forms on the board to help students.

Ex4) Here, the language which the students are ~~were~~ going to study is ~~was~~ embedded in the texts which they read. The teacher makes the students read the story first. After confirming that they ~~are~~ fully understanood the story by asking comprehension questions, the teacher asks them to make bad or insensible statements using the story. Then, the ~~get~~ students to come up to the board and write the sentences. ~~so that T~~he sentences have to use the modal auxillary "should," such as ~~ncluding~~ 'Should have p.p.' or' Shouldn't have p.p'.(especially here.)