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message 1001:
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M
(new)
Nov 15, 2010 07:03AM
It looks as though the barometric pressure in that teacup may be pretty low, judging from the tempest that seems to be in progress.
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G N wrote: Now if I had some space in the teacup I could invite you to a simply scrumptious breakfast. Complete with croissant, eggs be..."
Ahhhhhh, a croissant after my own heart! Thank You!
I breakfasted on Italian Focaccia, Greek Yogurt, wild Maine Blueberries and Bananas. Ever since the bikini fiasco, I feel the need... :-)
If you are going to be entertaining....I think you're going to need a bigger boat!(teacup) :-D
Yes, and the problem with entertaining is that I have to invest in some decent china and silverware, as well. I'm sure M mentioned owning a collection...you don't suppose he'd consider parting with it?That breakfast sounds like a delightful way to start your day. How are the renovations progressing?
Something about a cat? Or was it a squirrel? As for our mutual acqaintance who laments a particular lack, perhaps you'd adjust the pronoun in your question to 'our friend', please? Otherwise we might have more than barometric pressure lows about which to concern ourselves :D
Mod
talking about Grammar questions, do you say "it is me" or "it is I",because though I usually hear the first, I've seen the latter somewhere too. If both are correct, then in which cases are they used?
Kitty wrote: " I can imagine the confusion English is to any one trying to learn it. "it is quite confusing in the beginning, but once it's understood it's quite easy ;)
(sneaks back into the room from the Kitchen...looks around. All is quiet in the auditorium except for a lone Stray...)Ha. While no-one's here to argue the toss....they'll be along, soon enough...
Let's look at the components of the sentence according to which parts of speech are being represented.
Go on, Stray. Off you go. You speak about 5 different languages and have had to study grammar. What are the parts of speech in this sentence?
grammar's a sneaky little fellow ;PGive me a sentece, GN
It's me is the only natural way to say it in English. It's I is grammatically correct but so stilted that it should never be used by a native speaker who has character and self confidence. If you aren't confident enough to be natural in a formal situation, or find yourself around others who suffer hypercorrectness and can't be natural, either, don't shock everyone by saying, "It's me." The planet, in embarrassment, might stop turning. Find some easy way to avoid artificiality without being unnatural: "Is that you?" "It is." When you're in the company of people who have no pretenses, "It's me" is perfectly all right. After all, you wouldn't say, "It's they or we." You'd say, "It's them or us." (At least, you should.)
It is I!Said the fly
and flitted up, looped around
buzzed down to the ground
before 'splat'
take that!
It's me,
stomped he.
I had a feeling you'd show up if I posted something like that. I can't explain why I had that feeling. Call it ESP.A wonderful response, by the way (as usual).
M wrote: "It's me is the only natural way to say it in English. It's I is grammatically correct but so stilted that it should never be used by a native speaker who has character and self confidence. If you a..."thank you :)
Oh, no! Thank you, but, Stray, you're not supposed to thank me or do as I do. That will lead you nowhere but trouble. Hypercorrectness is in and good English is out. Especially, don't use the verb get. I was bored and trying to start a conflagration.GN, set her straight.
A bonfire of the vanities?Stray, on behalf of M (he's chasing a fly that refuses to die), let me accept your grateful thanks for having received egalitarian instruction in the vagaries of English from one of our esteemed grammar equestrians.
I'm a perfectionist, I want to be grammatically correct. Besides, my friends have learned to ignore my remarks every time I correct them, in Portuguese or English.
Don't tell that to Jan! You're her knight in shining armour braving dragons, boldy resplendent and shining example of managing miscreants.
I mean in my other life, the one in which I'm supposed to be doing laundry. I'd better go.
Day after tomorrow "is" my final or "are" my finals?Which one is correct? I can always say "I have finals day after tomorrow." or " My finals are day after tomorrow." But that would be too easy.
Mod
And easy can be good.....No need to make it harder than it need be!!
Is it one final or two , if it is one it would be The day after tomorrow is my final."I have finals day after tomorrow."
This should be : I have finals the day after tomorrow.
Kitty wrote: "Is it one final or two , if it is one it would be The day after tomorrow is my final."I have finals day after tomorrow."
This should be : I have finals the day after tomorrow."
THE
A
AN
Thank you! You see I always put them where they don't belong and never where they do.
We just don't have them in my language.
And it is just one final. :)
I see , so you can say finals in that context. No wonder English is so confusing.
Jana, the actual sentence is My finals are day after tomorrow. Inverted, it would be Day after tomorrow are my finals. It's idiomatic to say it the first way but not the second, which is why the second sounds peculiar. In this sentence the verb means the equivalent of take place or occur, verbs that are intransitive but not linking, so the phrase day after tomorrow functions adverbially rather than as a subject complement.I mentioned this to my boss (my wife), who said I had given the wrong response. The right response is: If your exams are day after tomorrow, why are you here instead of studying?
The finals are (or occur or will take place) the day after tomorrow.
Then why are you here instead of studying? As far as the definite article goes, I used the example Jana gave. The finals are day after tomorrow is a better sentence than The finals are the day after tomorrow. It's shorter, just as idiomatic, and says exactly the same thing.
M wrote: "The finals are day after tomorrow is a better sentence than The finals are the day after after tomorrow. It's shorter, more idiomatic and says exactly the same thing."ROFL
it's shorter, more idiomatic, and says something.
Oh, sorry! I revised my post. It isn't more idiomatic, merely as idiomatic.
Definitely needs the definite article, the day after tomorrow...and if we keep discussing it much longer she will be able to simply say: My final is tomorrow. See you later!
Mod
so... "Ain't" and "Gonna" and "Wanna" and all of those words...what are they, grammatically?
Mod
Does that mean she's pregnant with a novel?
Mod
Mod
Gonna and wanna are merely transliterations of the slurred spoken words "going to" and "want to."
ok thanks. I don't use them anyway so... *shruggs*I just wanted to know
Thank you. Now I'm even more confused. I have a long way to go with this.
In most languages, there is a difference between how the language is spoken, which can sometimes be informal, and how it is written, which is usually more formal. Will not becomes won't and do not becomes don't. These contractions are perfectly acceptable in all forms of English...written, spoken, formal, informal. Now, sometimes in spoken English various ways of speaking appear which are not generally accepted in written English, even though they may be widely used in speech. "gonna" and "wanna" fall into this category. You will hear people say "I'm gonna see that movie next week." or "I wanna see it too." But they would only write it that way if a)they were in a casual chat forum like this where they might do it for funb)in a novel if they were trying to capture a conversation, in which case they would use speech indicators, such as inverted commas. Does that help at all, Jana?
Yes it does. It use to give me hard time. I learn English by listening to a conversations and when I started to write I had problem because of what you mention above and the fact that I sometime didn't hear things like the, a, an or I found out later on that something was made of 2 words and not an one word the way I heard it spoken. The other problem is that by learning English by listening to other people I picked up bad grammar and was not aware of it for many years. Now I'm trying to correct that and it is not so easy to re-wire the brain and re-learn everything again the correct way.
Jana I am a native English speaker and I have trouble with the same things you do.
Mod
He'd be completely at home in New Zealand!Jana, I am so impressed! I didn't even realise that you hadn't grown up in an English speaking household. Can I recommend doing a lot of reading? It really helps with getting the 'feel' for English. Try reading some passages aloud, as well. If you don't mind telling us, what was your background?
My backround is Slovak or back then it was Czechoslovakia. I do read a lot, between 20-50 books a year and I challenge myself by picking books that are more difficult than the ones I read. I started with Daniella Steel and her simple language help me start reading more and understand more. And then I moved from her to a more complex books. Now even the 18 century classics are easier for me to read. But I am still too far away to read and comprehand real classics (Homer....) or even Pynthon who is contemporary. And philosophy, forget it, which is why I have sometime hard time to figure out what M and GN say when they get too philosophical about things.
Mod
Newengland wrote: "Oh, those damn philosophical letters! I'm glad the "common people" (I guess I'm in that group) are more understandable, Jana!"you are safe NE ;) straight-forward I get, philosophical or the underline meanning not so much.
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