Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Username

jayles

Member Since

August 12, 2010

Total number of comments

748

Total number of votes received

228

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Latest Comments

mines

  • December 9, 2013, 10:32pm

nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10883450

From a sheer ESOL standpoint, the less terminology the better: 'my' is an adjective and needs a following noun. "Mine" doesn't need a following noun. KISS.
A 'determiner' is someone who determines something..... ;0}}

“Based out of”: Why?

  • December 9, 2013, 3:23pm

@WW Oh I'm not against "awesome"; just don't recall hearing it in UK on my last furlogh (although I was "gobsmacked" by "OTT" , which were new to me)

“Based out of”: Why?

  • December 8, 2013, 1:00pm

@WW "Awesome" is mainly a colonial or downunder word, or is it now widespread in UK?

“It is I” vs. “It is me”

  • December 8, 2013, 12:50pm

@WW I agree - and the whole scenario somewhat forced.

“It is I” vs. “It is me”

  • December 6, 2013, 5:41pm

"I think I know who stole the petty cash; it was Janice!"
"Really? Which Janice?
"John's secretary. It was only she who had time and opportunity to copy the key to the safe."
"But it could have been you yourself!"
"Are you saying that it is I who have time and opportunity to copy the key?"

Or would one say "It was only her who had time....."
Or "It was me who has time..." (and then why "has" not "have")

mines

  • December 5, 2013, 7:34pm

"The possessive pronoun mine, which becomes mines in AAVE, is also used quite frequently through AAVE as in The videogame is mines or The computer is mines."

grin.com/en/e-book/196234/african-american-vernacular-english-a-new-dialect-of-the-english-language

“feedback” and “check in”

  • December 4, 2013, 7:23pm

I found a copy of "The Stories of English" by David Crystal in the library, and there is a wealth of info about OE therein

Modal Remoteness & Tense

  • December 3, 2013, 7:41pm

@Jasper
"Remoteness" was put forward by I think Michael Lewis in the lexical approach. It was an attempt to bring together the two meanings of the "past simple" (eg went/sang/rode) - past time or unreal.
IMHO it doesn't cut it for serious study. Much better to understand that the subjunctive mood is usually unmarked in English, although it comes up in things like:
"The doctor recommends that she take the pills twice daily" (not takes)
"I wish she would go" (not will)
If you have a smattering of French you may recall: Je veux qu'elle aille
The other thing is some languages have "modal" endings to the verb:
in old Greek there used to be an optative mood; in Hungarian the verb can change endings to express "can" - no separate verb needed. It's just that in English the subjunctive is hard to distinguish.

Modal Remoteness & Tense

  • December 3, 2013, 7:21pm

@Jasper
' When the even was come,' says St. Matthew, viii. 16 (in the KJV)
In German the auxiliary verb that goes with the past participle for intransitive verbs of motion is "is/are/was/were" instead of "has/have/had". This happens in older English sometimes too. There are also twelve French verbs that do the same thing.
I only brought that in to show that what seems to be the past form is in fact an old subjunctive form - there is no difference in modern English outside the verb "be".