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SoapFish

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From: Pacific Ocean

Joined: 2017-04-05

Posts: 290

English Grammar Lessons

Hello, and welcome to Soapfish's English Grammar Lessons!

▼Disclaimer

Please note that English is not my first language. Everyone can make mistakes, so excuse me whenever that happens.

In this topic, I will try to teach you about your inquiries regarding the English language's grammar. Just post your inquiry, and I will add it here as a simple lesson!

Lessons

▼Their, There, They're

Suggested by hummerz5
These three words may sound similar, but they have differences.
"Their" is a possessive pronoun that refers to either a possession of two or more people, or a possession of a person with unknown gender (although the latter is not widely accepted). "I talked to the children and gave them their toys."
"There" is a demonstrative pronoun that refers to an object that isn't near to the speaker and/or the receiver. "You can get food there in the store. There are a lot of choices for you to choose.
"They're" is a contraction of "They are." "They're going to buy some snacks for our camping trip."

▼Questions in Quotations

Suggested by hummerz5
Placing a question mark in or out quotation marks depends on the quoted material.
Placing a question mark inside quotation marks means that the quoted material is a question itself or a part of question. "'How many books have you read?' John asked Lily."
Placing a question mark outside quotation marks means that the quoted material is not a question itself. "How would you explain this so-called 'evidence'?"

▼"Then" or "Than"

Suggested by maxi123
"Then" is a word that refers to time or sequence of events. "We rode the Ferris wheel, then we ate our sandwiches."
"Than" is a word that is used when comparing two nouns, two verbs, or two groups of nouns. "That phone is more expensive than a laptop." "I would rather sell fish than eat fish." "Team Red proved themselves that they were better than Team Blue."

▼"Your" or "You're"

Suggested by maxi123
"Your" is a possessive pronoun referring to the receiver. "Have you checked your mail?"
"You're" is a contraction of "You are." "You're going to clean the house tomorrow."

▼Every/body, Any/body, Any/one

Suggested by Gosha
"Everybody" refers to all the people in a group or an entirety. "Everybody panicked when the earthquake occurred."
"Every body" refers to all the bodies in a place. "Luckily, every body of the people who died in the earthquake were recovered."
"Anybody" refers to one or more persons in a group or entirety. It is used as a subject. "Anybody could've killed him."
"Any body" refers to one or more bodies in a place. "Any body could have been discovered in the debris after the earthquake."
"Anyone" refers to one or more persons in a group or entirety. It is used as an object. "Does anyone here know how to cook lasagna?"
"Any one" can refer to "Anybody" or to "Whichever." "Choose any one you like."

▼Linguistic Enigmas

Suggested by Pingohits
As suggested by an Everybody Edits forum user who goes by their username "Pingohits", there are several questions regarding linguistics that have yet no solution to answering the questions. These questions have been asked by some linguistics (or sometimes other people), yet there is no logical explanation to answer them. These questions remain unsolved until someone or some people come up with a solution or solutions. Despite all the enigma, many linguists strive hard to find the answer; nevertheless, it really is a tough task to come up with a definite and exact answer. The cause of the said enigma can also be unknown; but an example of these causes is the thing that is being referred to, since it depends on the referral to determine the true nature of the problem.

The true answers to these problems, whether present or not, relies to the greatest of linguists. Although these problems are tough to answer, these linguists shall likely come up with a logical and exact answer in the future. Therefore, I conclude, that Pingohits has asked such questions no one can yet answer to a little fish who is not one of the greatest of linguists.

▼Order of Adjectives

Suggested by Mieaz; Co-answered by Tomahawk
The order of adjectives goes by: Opinion-Size-Age-Shape-Color-Origin-Material-Purpose. "Have you seen my awesome large new cubic grey Japanese metallic air-conditioning machine?"

▼Dashes and Hyphens

Suggested by Slabdrill
Hyphens (-) are used to combine two or more words together, such as: passer-by, dog-eat-dog, mother-in-law, co-worker, post-economic, up-to-date, twenty-five, 10-mile
There are two types of dashes: the em dash (—) and the en dash (–).
Em dashes (—) are used to replaces commas (except for lists), parentheses, and colons. "Helen picked the tomatoes—which have been in the farm for months—to cook the family favorite."
"The students who fail the test—those who get a score of 20 or below—will be taking the special tests." "I have four dogs—Rover, Fluffy, Kiki, and Sashimi."
En dashes (–) are used to indicate ranges, connections, and scores. "The pages 120–178 contain information about anatomy." "You need to ride the New York–Washington train to get here."
"Team Blue beat Team Red 49–37 in the semi-finals."

▼Oxford Comma

Suggested by Tomahawk
The Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma, is the comma added before some conjunctions such as and, or, and nor. Most people and publishers use the comma, but the AP Style Guide does not allow the use thereof.

The Oxford comma is often used (or  sometimes not used) to clarify statements."Max ordered rice, fish, and chips." It is clear that Max ordered fish separate from chips, and not fish and chips.
"My parents, Joseph and Mary are proud of me." This statement can either mean that Joseph and Mary are my parents (appositive phrase), or my parents, Joseph, and Mary (Joseph and Mary are separate people) are proud of me.
"My parents, Joseph, and Mary" When the Oxford comma is used, it is obvious that Joseph and Mary are not my parents.
"Add SoapFish, a mod, and Whirl." It is unclear whether you have to add SoapFish and a mod, or if SoapFish is a mod (appositive phrase), with an Oxford comma or not.

The debate between its usage has been long. For me, it all depends on the writer.

▼Importance of punctuation

Suggested by Tomahawk
"can you stop that brokendown lily cause shed kill you me and jim also make it quick thank you"
The above statement is difficult to understand. Why? It's because it lacks punctuation and capitalization.
"Can you stop that broken-down Lily? 'Cause she'd kill you, me, and Jim! Also, make it quick; thank you.
With added punctuation, the sentence is much clearer and has more meaning.
Adding punctuation is simple. Sometimes, even using only periods and commas can already clarify your sentences — but always remember that you can't always use commas as semicolons, or periods as exclamation marks or question marks!

▼No one, No-one, Noone

Suggested by Onjit
"No one" is a word that refers to zero persons in a group or entirety (also known as nobody).
"No-one" is a spelling variant of "No one." It has the same meaning as "No one."
"Noone" is not a real word.

▼Who, Whom, Whose, Which, That

Suggested by Latif
"Who" is a pronoun (or a question) that refers to one or more persons. It is used as a subject of a sentence. "Who took my suitcase and threw it in the bin?"
"Whom" is a pronoun (or a question) that refers to one or more persons. It is used as an object of a sentence, except before be-verbs. "For whom is that present, darling?"
"Whose" is a possessive pronoun (or a question) that refers to one or more persons. "Whose book is the one titled "Good Life"?
"Which" is a pronoun (or a question) that refers to one or more nouns or verbs.
"That" is a demonstrative pronoun that refers to an object that isn't near the speaker and/or the receiver.

▼Which or That

"Which" is used as an appositive phrase or as additional information.
"That" is used to specify a noun.
"The park near us, which has a fountain, has been closed for renovations."
"The park near us that has a fountain has been closed for renovations."
The first sentence tells that there is only one park near them, and that is has a fountain.
The second sentence tells that there are more than one parks near them, and it is the one with a fountain.

▼To, Too, Two

Suggested byXfrogman43
"To" is used for locations, ranges, and referrals. "How do you go to Chinatown?" "The mall is open from 9A.M. to 9P.M." "Can you give this note to Stephen?"
"Too" is used for excessive amount, or reciprocals. "I think I ate too much candy." "He feels bloated too."
"Two" is a number in between one and three. "I saw two ladies pass by me."

▼People or Persons

Suggested by maxi123; Co-answered by maxi123
"People" and "Persons" are both the plural forms of "person."
"People" is more commonly used, but "Persons" is used more often in formal context. "People" can mean a number of people, and also "Persons", but " Persons" may be used to be more specific in number.
"There are so many people at the mall today!"
"There were thirteen persons reported to be missing since Thursday."
The two are interchangeable, but " Persons" is more formal.

▼Less or Fewer

Suggested by Tomahawk
"Less" is used for things that can't be counted. "I drank less coke than her."
"Fewer" is used for things that can be counted. "You can only purchase ten items or fewer."

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Nebula

Guest

Re: English Grammar Lessons

Lessons

Currently, there are no lessons.

nice one

SoapFish

Member

From: Pacific Ocean

Joined: 2017-04-05

Posts: 290

Re: English Grammar Lessons

Lessons

Currently, there are no lessons.

nice one

I hope it won't stay like that for ever.

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HeyNK

Member

Joined: 2017-04-07

Posts: 1,318

Re: English Grammar Lessons

for ever is not forever

hummerz5

Member

From: wait I'm not a secret mod huh

Joined: 2015-08-10

Posts: 5,853

Re: English Grammar Lessons

obligatory:

what is the difference between "their" "they're" and "there"?

Also, is it acceptable to place my question mark outside the quotation marks, given that the quoted material is not itself part of a question?

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thanks HG, HG, HG, HG! anatoly, zumza! zoey!

TaskManager

Formerly maxi123

From: i really should update this

Joined: 2015-03-01

Posts: 9,465

Re: English Grammar Lessons

obligatory:
difference between "then" and "than"
difference between "your" and "you're"

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signature by HG, profile picture by bluecloud, thank!!
previous signature by drstereos

Nebula

Guest

Re: English Grammar Lessons

Lessons

Currently, there are no lessons.

nice one

I hope it won't stay like that for ever.

It will stay! http://i.imgur.com/z5jy3xu.png

Gosha

Member

From: Russia

Joined: 2015-03-15

Posts: 6,211

Re: English Grammar Lessons

everybody
anybody
anyone

Every body
any body
any one

Pingohits

Banned

From: aids lizard

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 7,591

Re: English Grammar Lessons

1. How are domains for phonological processes related to syntactic structure? Do prosodic domains deviate from syntactic constituent structure?

2. Can the elements contained in morphemes and the elements contained in syntactic constituents be shown to follow the same principles?

3. How does lexical substitution function given the potentially limitless number of different contexts, the limits of one's knowledge and the limits of one's understanding and usage of language?

Please answer in 2-3 coherent paragraphs.

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Mieaz

Member

Joined: 2016-10-14

Posts: 499

Re: English Grammar Lessons

when 2 or more adjectives describe the same thing, how do you order them?

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ee & eeforums gibs me depression

Tomahawk

Forum Mod

From: UK

Joined: 2015-02-18

Posts: 2,847

Re: English Grammar Lessons

when 2 or more adjectives describe the same thing, how do you order them?

I saw some educational memes about this, so here's one:

▼Image

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soniiiety

Member

From: peaceful dojo

Joined: 2016-02-10

Posts: 1,752

Re: English Grammar Lessons

can i have lesson soapfish? im bored and i think it would be good to learn something new and etc

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SoapFish

Member

From: Pacific Ocean

Joined: 2017-04-05

Posts: 290

Re: English Grammar Lessons

I'm updating the lessons, you'll be receiving them later. Just be patient

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Slabdrill

Formerly 12345678908642

From: canada

Joined: 2015-08-15

Posts: 3,402

Website

Re: English Grammar Lessons

appropriate usage of dashes and hyphens - -- ---

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suddenly random sig change

soniiiety

Member

From: peaceful dojo

Joined: 2016-02-10

Posts: 1,752

Re: English Grammar Lessons

I'm updating the lessons, you'll be receiving them later. Just be patient

thanks im hyped and excited

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SoapFish

Member

From: Pacific Ocean

Joined: 2017-04-05

Posts: 290

Re: English Grammar Lessons

UPDATE: Added the first five lessons.

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Tomahawk

Forum Mod

From: UK

Joined: 2015-02-18

Posts: 2,847

Re: English Grammar Lessons

How about a lesson on the oxford comma?

And, given than Soniiety's asked for a lesson, an emphasis on the IMPORTANCE OF PUNCTUATION!

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One bot to rule them all, one bot to find them. One bot to bring them all... and with this cliché blind them.

SoapFish

Member

From: Pacific Ocean

Joined: 2017-04-05

Posts: 290

Re: English Grammar Lessons

UPDATE: Added Oxford Comma and Importance of Punctuation.

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Onjit

Member

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 9,709

Website

Re: English Grammar Lessons

noone vs no one vs no-one

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:.|:;

Latif

Member

From: The Netherlands

Joined: 2015-03-13

Posts: 1,206

Re: English Grammar Lessons

Who, which, that, whom and whose

Xfrogman43

Member

From: need to find a new home

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 4,174

Re: English Grammar Lessons

to and too (maybe two if you want but thats a number so im not sure how people mess that up)

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thanks zoey aaaaaaaaaaaand thanks latif for the avatar

SoapFish

Member

From: Pacific Ocean

Joined: 2017-04-05

Posts: 290

Re: English Grammar Lessons

UPDATE: Added No-one, Who, and To

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TaskManager

Formerly maxi123

From: i really should update this

Joined: 2015-03-01

Posts: 9,465

Re: English Grammar Lessons

i've been reading your "who whom whose which that" lesson and stumbled upon the word "persons"
perhaps you could add a lesson explaining the difference between "people" and "persons"
you might just as well find this useful, i did a little of research myself

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signature by HG, profile picture by bluecloud, thank!!
previous signature by drstereos

SoapFish

Member

From: Pacific Ocean

Joined: 2017-04-05

Posts: 290

Re: English Grammar Lessons

UPDATE: Added Persons/People.

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Tomahawk

Forum Mod

From: UK

Joined: 2015-02-18

Posts: 2,847

Re: English Grammar Lessons

"Less" vs. "fewer".

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One bot to rule them all, one bot to find them. One bot to bring them all... and with this cliché blind them.