Search results for 'tag:Question marks tag:Pronouns' matching tags 'Question marks' and 'Pronouns'

Re: subject of subordinate clause

Clive — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:28:21 GMT

Hi,

I have been trying to obtain a firm grasp of how to distinguish what can be deleted and what can't be deleted in a situation like the one below, What are you thinking about deleting?

John who took my pen is here. -- Would you say since 'who' is the subject of the subordinate clause 'who took my pen', Yes 'wjho' has to be there? Yes How would you know 'who' is the subject? Try dividing the sentence into clauses and then consider each one separately.

main clause John is here. 'John' is the subject.

subordinate clause who took my pen The pronoun 'who' is the 'person' that performed the action.

Looks to be a subject but can't be sure, to me.

John who is wearing my jacket is here. -- Here, would you say 'who' is not a subject of the subordinate clause 'who is wearing my jacket'? 'Who' is is the subject. It's the same situation a the one above. Why do you think it is any different? How would you know?

Please note also that 'who is wearing my jacket' is not a question, so you don't need a question mark.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: A FEW QUESTIONS

Tanit — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:55:26 GMT

Hi,

So many questions in one post only!!! I'm answering only some of them.

Newguest wrote:
Does the phrase I'm thinking of going to Vienna mean the same as I'm planning ~~on going~~ to go ..?

Roughly the same meaning. However, a plan is something more definite than a thought. If I am planning a trip, I might have decided when I want to leave, where I am going to stay etc.

Newguest wrote:

Oh yes, of course, I was forgetting: Luke's birthday is on Sunday. WHY "I WAS FORGETTING"? Why not "I forgot"? (by the way: shall I put the question mark before the quotation mark or after it?)

Because you didn't forget! A past continuous form is sometimes used to indicate that an action in the past was interrupted at a certain point in time. So, think of it as "I was forgetting that Luke's birthday is on Sunday, but luckily I didn't forget" or as "I was forgetting to tell you that Luke's birthday is on Sunday, but it came to my mind when ..."

As for the question mark, it must come after the quotation mark in both your questions (it comes before the second speech mark when the quotation contains a question).

Newguest wrote:

I know that I can omit the pronouns in this sentence: The man who/that I met last week....

However I don't know why I cannot omit the pronouns in this sentence: The man who/that met me....

In your first example, you can leave out who/that because it's the object of the relative clause. You cannot leave it out in the second one because it's the subject.

Newguest wrote:

Could you tell me what the difference in meaning is between these two sentences: (shall I put a question mark at the end of this sentence?)

a) My sister who lives in London is a lawyer.

b) My sister, who lives in London, is a lawyer.

In sentence a (defining relative clause) you have more than one sister. The relative clause specifies which sister you are referring to (the one who lives in London, not the one who lives in Cambridge).
In your sentence b (non-defining relative clause), you have only one sister, and you're adding a bit of extra information (i.e. the fact that she lives in London).

A FEW QUESTIONS

Newguest — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:00:41 GMT

I have a few questions.

What's the difference in meaning between these two sentences:

1. I shall be bringing Ben with me when I visit you on Friday, if that's all right.

2. I shall bring Ben with me when I visit you on Friday, if that's all right.

Does the phrase I'm thinking of going to Vienna mean the same as I'm planning on going...?

Oh yes, of course, I was forgetting: Luke's birthday is on Sunday. WHY "I WAS FORGETTING"? Why not "I forgot"? (by the way: shall I put the question mark before the quotation mark or after it?)

OK, now something related to relative pronouns.

I know that I can omit the pronouns in this sentence: The man who/that I met last week....

However I don't know why I cannot omit the pronouns in this sentence: The man who/that met me....

Could you tell me what the difference in meaning is between these two sentences: (shall I put a question mark at the end of this sentence?)

a) My sister who lives in London is a lawyer.

b) My sister, who lives in London, is a lawyer.

Thanks

Re: look forward to (be/being) ?

Avangi — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:44:08 GMT

Njjames wrote:
Hi all, its me again, I decided to sign up a screen name

Thank you guys very much for your helpful information.
Avangi, Thanks very much for correcting me. I corrected my signature in my profile, but I have a question regarding "help me to improve", is it also right to say "help me improve my English" ? I hear people at TV say it like this, but I'm not sure if they really are not saying "to" or if its just me who is not hearing the word "to"? Also, did I phrase my previous question correctly as native English (American or British) speakers would do ?

Thanks again for your helpful posts.
Regards,

Hi Njj,

I was kicking myself for sticking the "to" in there (to improve.) We used to say, "the 'to' is understood." When I look at something I've written a day before, I find [that] it reads much better if I take out all the junk (such as the "that" I just put in brackets.)

Re the "previous question," it sounds great to my ear, but I don't believe it's a question. Nix the question mark. "Its" wants an apostrophe. (The contraction takes one; the posessive pronoun doesn't .)

Regards, - A.

Edit. We say, "people on TV."

Re: who/that

Pioussoul — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 05:20:48 GMT

CalifJim wrote:
Pioussoul,

As mentioned above, the slash is a sign that you are to choose one item, not all of them.
The correct sentences are:
Mr. Lee, who you want to see, has come.
Mr. Lee, whom you want to see, has come.
Mr. Lee, that you want to see, has come.
On the other hand, it is not correct to use more than one of the choices:
*Mr. Lee, who that you want to see, has come.
The same logic goes for the girl-and-working-in-the-office sentence.Your last example does not use relative-pronoun that, but demonstrative that, so it has nothing to do with the structure who that has .... Instead it is an indirect form of the question Who is that?

Sorry, CJ, I was too sleepy to see clrarly if the examples matched exactly there, and your explantions were right.

Sorry, again.

___________

Marius,

Your examples are questions. Who that has seen it can forget ...? (Who can forget ...?)
Therefore, they cannot easily be rephrased as Whoever has seen it can forget ...? or He who has seen it can forget ...? I take this to be different from the structure which Pioussoul brought up, which is a statement, not a question: Who that has conscience will ...

Pioussoul,
Did you, by chance, forget to put the question mark on the end of that statement? Was there a question mark in your grammar book on that group of words? That could really change the discussion.

____________

This is really embarrassing that I did forget to question mark two of my samples thanks to sleepy mind and eyes. And this actually made the differences, I reckon.

Sorry, CJ, for all the troubles I caused. If they had question marks at the end, do you think of them as not English?

Re: who/that

CalifJim — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 04:27:56 GMT

Pioussoul,

As mentioned above, the slash is a sign that you are to choose one item, not all of them.

The correct sentences are:
Mr. Lee, who you want to see, has come.
Mr. Lee, whom you want to see, has come.
Mr. Lee, that you want to see, has come.

On the other hand, it is not correct to use more than one of the choices:
*Mr. Lee, who that you want to see, has come.

The same logic goes for the girl-and-working-in-the-office sentence.

Your last example does not use relative-pronoun that, but demonstrative that, so it has nothing to do with the structure who that has .... Instead it is an indirect form of the question Who is that?

____________

Marius,

Your examples are questions. Who that has seen it can forget ...? (Who can forget ...?)
Therefore, they cannot easily be rephrased as Whoever has seen it can forget ...? or He who has seen it can forget ...? I take this to be different from the structure which Pioussoul brought up, which is a statement, not a question: Who that has conscience will ...

.... unless ....
____________

Pioussoul,

Did you, by chance, forget to put the question mark on the end of that statement? Was there a question mark in your grammar book on that group of words? That could really change the discussion.

CJ

Re: Please check these sentences

Clive — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:06:20 GMT

Hi,

These functions are increasingly being outsourced to other corporations that can perform the activities better or more cost-effectively.
The effect has been to increase the number of companies involved in satisfying consumer demand, while reducing management control of daily logistics operations. (Do we need a comma after demand) A comma will change the meaning. With a comma, the following clause realtes to the 'effect'. Without one, it relates to 'companies involved in'.
The purpose of supply chain management is to improve trust and collaboration among supply chain partners, thus improving inventory visibility and inventory velocity. (Do we need a comma after partners) Yes
It is best to have a moderator who will take no oneâs side, a person who is a friend of both of you. (The last pronoun "you" doesn't sound correct) Seems OK to me if you are talking to the two sides.
This is the final and most probably the last chance for you to think that is that what you want. (Do we need a question mark here? No, there is no question in your main sentence. Also is the structure of the sentence is correct) 'Final' seems to make 'last' redundant. 'To think that is that what you want' is ungrammatical and hard to understand. You need to reword it.

Best wishes, Clive

Please check these sentences

Grammarian-bot — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:25:06 GMT

Please check the grammar and punctuation in these sentences.

These functions are increasingly being outsourced to other corporations that/who can perform the activities better or more cost effectively.
The effect has been to increase the number of companies involved in satisfying consumer demand, while reducing management control of daily logistics operations. (Do we need a comma after demand)
The purpose of supply chain management is to improve trust and collaboration among supply chain partners, thus improving inventory visibility and improving inventory velocity. (Do we need a comma after partners)
It is best to have a moderator who will take no oneâs side; a person who is a friend of both of you. (The last pronoun "you" doesn't sound correct)
This is the final and most probably the last chance for you to think that is that what you want. (Do we need a question mark here. Also is the stracture of the sentence is correct)

Re: English/ Spanish/ French/ German Phrases & Sentences!

Forbes — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 22:41:02 GMT

The reason is that many Spanish questions can have the same form as a statement and inversion of subject and verb is quite common in statements. Also subject pronouns are not usually expressed. In speech the difference between questions and statements is apparent from intonation. In writing the upsidedown question mark is to warn you a question is coming. I suppose they decided that if they were going to have upside question marks they may as well have upside down exclamation marks too.

Examples:

Usted es my amable. You are very kind.

Es usted muy amable. You are very kind.

Â¿Es usted espaÃ±ol? Are you Spanish?

Â¿Usted es espaÃ±ol? Are you Spanish?

Eres loco. You are mad.

Â¿Eres loco? Are you mad?

Punctuate your posts, says research

matthewg — Mon, 20 Sep 2004 19:21:03 GMT

Focus Magazine, September 04:

Correspondence is taking longer to read because of poorly punctuated email, according to optometrists at the University of Bradford. They discovered that missing fullstops and capital letters are behind the time-wasting trend.

View the full press release here.

By not punctuating your posts on the forums, you are also wasting everyone's time. It is very easy to capitalise letters on a PC keyboard, so while laziness is excusable for SMS messages, it isn't for posts. Common habits which are very annoying include:

Multiple question marks/exclamation marks, where one will do. Example here.
Converting the personal pronoun "I" to "i." Example here.
Dot overload. Example here.
No spaces after punctuation marks. Example here.
Minimalist punctuation. Example here.

Please add your own pet hates.