Grammar guru: since I have come/ since I came?
Last week things were very clear: at the age of 42 (92%, 23 Votes) in the age of 42 (8%, 2 Votes) However, Neal Chambers said that the Japanese have trouble with this, too, as there is only one particle in Japanese. (Comment) This week, the Grammar guru asks which one of these is correct: […]
Grammar guru: at/in the age of 42
Last week’s question caused me some worry. Up to the last day visitors to this website were split down the middle: Why did you change jobs? (52%, 11 Votes) = correct Why did you change the job? (48%, 10 Votes) = incorrect I asked my British colleagues, and they agree with me. More comments. This […]
Grammar guru: change jobs/ change the job?
Thanks to Markus’ very kind recommendation on Der Englisch Blog, last week’s Grammar guru question went off like a rocket: What’s the best alternative to “You don’t really need to register for the event”? “You don’t necessarily have to register for the event.” (86%, 36 Votes) “You mustn’t register for the event.” (14%, 6 Votes) […]
Grammar guru: must, have to, need to?
Last week’s question was What sounds better to you? This has to be done by Friday (88%, 7 Votes) This has to be done until Friday (12%, 1 Votes) If it is done until Friday, somebody is doing it day and night until Friday rolls around. By Friday just means it’ll be ready on Friday. […]
Grammar Guru: This has to be done until/ by Friday
Last week’s options were I especially like Indian summer. (7 votes) I like especially Indian summer. (0 votes) All votes were correct – so my students weren’t voting ;). Adverb placement is one of the trickiest issues in English grammar. As a rule of thumb, place them before the verb, but after an auxiliary verb […]
Grammar Guru: I especially like/ I like especially
Last week the Grammar Guru question was: Which two are correct? Many emails are written needlessly. (100%, 9 Votes) = correct Many emails are needless. (67%, 6 Votes) = correct Many emails are written needless. (0%, 0 Votes) = incorrect Many emails are needlessly. (0%, 0 Votes) = incorrect Why didn’t everybody choose “Many emails […]
Grammar Guru: Needless or needlessly?
Last week, 9 out of 11 chose “take a break” over “make a break”. In German “Let’s take a break” is “Machen wir doch mal eine Pause.” When pairs of words in different languages are very similar but have different meanings, they are called “false friends”. Similar collocations (or word partnerships) don’t always mean the […]
