Grammar Guru: Ugh, renovation!

I hate renovating, and try to avoid it every year. So both of these options are nothing I’d look forward to. But they might be necessary. Which one uses correct grammar? If we were to renovate our flat, I’d have to take a week off. If we would renovate our flat, I’d have to take […]

Grammar Guru: Watching an old film on TV

You watch an old film on TV for the first time. Afterwards, what do you say? “This is the first time I see this film.” You use the present tense because it’s true now. “This is the first time I saw this film.” You use the past tense because the film is over. “This is […]

Grammar Guru: will/going to

Further in my collection of posts you won’t find in a coursebook, and nastiness we could do without (if it weren’t funny): I’ve just finished writing a quiz on using future tenses, and have saved the most sexually incorrect joke I could find for you. “You’re ugly.” “And you’re drunk.” “Yes, but in the morning […]

Grammar Guru: 90′ x 90′

“The boat is very simple. It’s a 90 foot x 90 foot platform, trimaran, with three hulls, with a magic wing, close to 200 feet high.” Read “90 by 90“, “90 times 90” or “90 to 90“? In 1851, a boat named America won the 100 Guinea Cup in a race around the Isle of […]

Snowclones

I’ve just learned from Stan Carey what a snowclone is. Geoffrey Pullum developed the concept on Language Log back in 2004, for a clichéd phrasal template that gets repeated in innumerable variants. Geoffrey Pullum: “I was looking at things like “In space, no one can hear you X”, where the customizability is that you get […]

Grammar Guru: Look ____!

What do you say when you call out a warning? An essential phrase, don’t you think? Now, Lily Munster (Yvonne DeCarlo) sings the southern traditional “He’s Gone Away”, which uses another phrasal verb, “look _____!”, which is completely useless outside the realm of songs like this one, and “Dixie”: He’s Gone Away traditional He’s gone […]

Grammar Guru: I’m lovin’ it!

Is this ‘good’ or ‘bad’ English? Do you use it? If so, where and when and how? Do you think it’s ok if others use it? McDonalds. Ad. On my blog. I know. Sorry. But hey. I defended a traditional point of view here. Don’t miss Mike’s comment.