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The Grammar Logs # 171 |
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| QUESTION |
| Hello Grammar! I am orginally from Ethiopia.I speak good english but my pronunciation isn't good. How can I improve my pronunciation? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
Dallas, Texas  Thursday, July 23, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| The internet isn't a particularly good place to look for help with pronunciation. That may change soon, as computers and networks get faster and sound becomes more commonplace, but as of now an academic setting might be your best place to go for help. Does your local library have a collection of audiobooks you could borrow -- and read along with? The problem there is a lack of feedback, and that's what you probably need more than anything. I would ask at the community college nearest you if they have an ESL program with a pronunciation component you could take. Does this count as a question from Ethiopia? I guess not. Do you have an internet friend in Ethiopia who can send us a question? I'm collecting countries and Ethiopia hasn't made the list yet! |
| QUESTION |
| What is called when you insert a word within the prefix and suffix of another word? For example: incredible becomes in-bloody-credible, or, unbelievable becomes un-freaking-believable. The inserted word is usually an swear word or a word descriptive of the sentence or the context of the thought being expressed. Is it called an inflex? |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Menlo Park, California Thursday, July 23, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
I know what you mean (although the word is stuck between the prefix and the main part of the word, not the suffix), but I have no idea what it's called. ![[E-Mail Icon]](../gif/email.gif){kind=small} "Inflex" has a nice ring to it, although it's awfully close to that condition in which burning gases rise up your esophagus. I'll post an e-mail icon here in case some reader has a better idea.
Tim ________ suggests the following:
Jim ________ suggests that "tmesis" won't do "(even though it's a great word) because we're not talking here about shoehorning one word between parts of another compound word." Instead, he suggests INFIX.
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| QUESTION |
| I hope that you can help me.
When writing a business letter to a person and you are sending a copy to another person, what is the proper way to note this? Is the following at the end of the letter an appropriate format to show the recipient that "Q Cumber" also received a copy?
"... blah blah blah.
Sincerely,
Mister Ed
cc: Q.Cumber
If you cannot answer this for me, could you please point me to someplave where I could find the answer? Thank you for any and all assistance which you render!
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| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Fairfax, Virginia Friday, July 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I would put a space between Q. and Cumber, but otherwise it looks great to me (and conforms to the limited resources I have on business correspondence). |
| QUESTION |
Hello I am a Japanese.I am not sure whether the following phrasal expression is used in modern American or British daily life.
TO PUT A PERSON A QUESTIONI can certainly have a look at the above expression in OED (THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY). So maybe it is not incorrect. I, however, think "TO PUT A QUESTION TO A PERSON" is usually used. How about it? PLEASE let me know your opinion. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Tokyo, Japan Friday, July 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I think you're absolutely right. We can say "to put a question to a person" or "pose a question to someone," but "to put a person a question" doesn't make sense -- in my opinion. |
| QUESTION |
| I need information on proper format for identifying complete paragraphs in a policy statement which is detailed, long, and thus, for reference, needs numerical/alphabetical indentification.
The policy in question is a Selection Policy for materials being considered for inclusion in a library collection. Example: 1. abababababab a. ababababa b. abababababa or I. AAAAAA A. 1. 2. B. 1. 2. a. b. Where can I go for a generally accepted guide for full-text identification? THANKS! |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota Friday, July 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I'd go to the Chicago Manual of Style; in fact, I'd probably model my document on their way of numbering sections and paragraphs. It means double-indexing, probably -- by page numbers and by section-paragraph, but it surely makes things easy to find. |
| QUESTION |
| I'm a first-year middle school teacher and I'm putting together a lesson plan which teaches irregular verbs. Where can I find good, fun, easily digestable information about irregular verbs? Also, do you know of any games which use irregular verbs, which may make learning grammar (ack!) more enjoyable for the students? I've asked my mentor teacher and she is at a loss for anything than the old traditional (boring) lecture. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Friday, July 24, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| No, I don't know of any such games. You might try the Self-Study Quizzes for ESL Students site; ESL teachers are always coming up with ways to make that kind of learning fun. Let students make up their own verbs with their own crazy endings -- see if any patterns emerge. Make up a funny way of walking or looking and make up a verb for it, in different tenses. Or make up the sentence with a made-up verb and make students guess what it means and its tense -- like the verbs in the "Jabberwocky" poem by Lewis Carroll. |
| QUESTION |
| Use of "next Monday" versus "Monday" |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Unknown Saturday, July 25, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| I don't think I want to venture an opinion on this one. Whole families have been torn asunder over this, nations gone to war. If it's Thursday, I can say we'll do something on Monday, and to me that means four days from now; "next Monday" would mean the same thing. To my son, the phrase "next Monday" would mean eleven days from now. I don't know where, as a parent, I went wrong. I don't know of any authority that speaks to this. |
| QUESTION |
| When one is ailing, does one say "I don't feel good", or, "I don't feel well"? Thank you. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Brampton, Ontario, Canada Saturday, July 25, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| You can say either. The word "well," which is usually an adverb -- "It works well." -- can also serve as an adjective, meaning "fine," "in good health," which is appropriate after the linking verb, "feel." When you say, "I don't feel good," that tends to suggest something about your spirits, your emotional well-being: "I don't feel well" is more a statement about your physical state. |
| QUESTION |
| I always get confused when I have to use the words "further" and "farther". Could you help me understand when and where I need to use one word or the other. Thanks for your help. |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| Narrows, Virginia Saturday, July 25, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
| Some writers will argue that "farther" ought to be used when referring to measurable distance: "I walked farther than you did." "She lives farther from Dallas than my brother does." and that we should use "further" for metaphorical distance: "Let's look further into this tomorrow." "I have no further use for this book." It's probably wise to go alone with that distinction. Some dictionaries, such as the online WWWebster's, will contend they are only different spellings of the same word and list famous authors who have used the words interchangeably. |
| QUESTION |
I study english in the university and sometimes friends ask me questions. They asked me about something that they call "negative inversion"
Example: The Daves case was the first. There hadn't ever been a divorce case in which the custody battle was over frozen embryos (never...)answer: Never had there been a divorce case in which the custody battle was over frozen embryos. What I need is more examples so my friends can practice. I cant really think of any. Thanks |
| SOURCE OF QUESTION & DATE OF RESPONSE |
| San Jose, Costa Rica Saturday, July 25, 1998
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| GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE |
I can't see that "answer" as an answer to anything because I don't see a question. Wouldn't we say, as a question, "Had there ever been a case. . .?" And then, I guess, one answer could be, "There had never been a case . . . ." And the negative inversion of that statement would be "Never had there been a case . . ." where we take the negative adjunct, "never," and put it in the initial position, before the verb. A negative inversion such as this tends to be reserved for extremely formal or even literary prose. It can also happen with words that we don't always think of as negative, "little, scarcely, rarely, hardly."
Perhaps there is something else your friends have in mind and I'm missing the point altogether. If so, you'll have to write again and I'll give it another shot. Authority: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. p. 186-7. Used with permission.
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