We all know that person who insists they are a grammar king or queen and corrects someone who uses 'me' at the end of a sentence. "You mean 'Grandma gave presents to my cousins and I,'" they say, with not an even inkling in their mind that their might be wrong.
Both 'me' and 'I' are pronouns, but that doesn't mean they are interchangeable. In fact, by the rules of English grammar there are specific times to use each one. So how do you know when to use which of these two pronouns?
In technical terms, as explained by the Oxford Dictionary, you should use 'I' when the pronoun is the subject of a verb and you should use 'me' when it is the verb's object.
Okay, great, that's the technical explanation, but when you're in the middle of a crowded bar trying to prove your correction-friendly acquaintance wrong, how do you explain it in a way other people will understand? Try this trick: remove the other people/subjects from the sentence. Let's look at a couple examples.
"My dog and me ate ice cream yesterday." Remove "dog" and what are you left with? "Me ate ice cream yesterday." It's pretty clear that's wrong! So this is an instance where you would need to change 'me' to 'I.' Let's look at another one:
"My mother joined my father and I for dinner." Remove "father" and what do you have? "My mother joined I for dinner." Nope. Make that a 'me!'
Use this simple deletion and substitution trick, and you'll find yourself becoming a pronoun usage expert in conversation and in writing.
22 May 2017 | grammar |
Latin abbreviations are quite common in standard English, but they are also commonly misused. Here are some popular examples, what they mean, and how to use them correctly.
1. etc.
Of course, etc. stands for et cetera, meaning "and the rest" or "and others." Use etc. to indicate a continuing list of things that don't need to be specified. When using etc., do not begin your list with a phrase like "such as," which already indicates that your list will be incomplete.
Examples:
"I packed sandals, towels, sand toys, etc., into the trunk."
"I packed the trunk with sandals, towels, sand toys, etc."
As shown above, use a comma before and after etc. when it falls mid-sentence. When using etc. at the end of a sentence, the period that ends etc. will also end the sentence, unless you want the end punctuation to be something other than a period:
"Did you bring sandals, towels, sand toys, etc.?"
Friendly note: The phrase is ET cetera. "ECK cetera" is incorrect and, frankly, a little embarrassing.
2. e.g. and i.e.
When you've named a broad category of things and wish to give an example or two, you may use e.g., which means exempli gratia, or "for example."
When you've used a word or phrase that the reader may not fully appreciate without clarification, use i.e. (id est) to mean "that is to say" or "in other words." Often, i.e. is used to impart an extra layer of meaning.
Examples:
"Karen hopes to enter a caring profession, e.g., nursing or psychology."
"Julia wants to be in real estate or finance, i.e., a profession with high earning potential."
3. a.m. and p.m.
We know these abbreviations indicate whether a time is before (ante) or after (post) the noon hour (meridian), but should they be capitalized, and should we use periods?
As with i.e. and e.g., the standard in American grammar is to use lowercase letters with periods after each. However, the standard in English grammar outside the U.S. is to omit the periods. When writing for an institution or business, find out if they have a preferred style. Consistency in usage is, in these cases, more important than personal conviction.
Confusion over whether "12 a.m." or "12 p.m." is correct is simply handled; use the words "noon" and "midnight" instead. This principle applies to the other abbreviations as well; when in doubt, feel free to use the English phrases they represent. In fact, when your writing task calls for formal language, the use of abbreviations may be discouraged.
The best way to internalize language rules is to consider many examples and explanations. Browse various grammar sites and visit this space often for useful usage tips, interesting insights, and learned language!
15 May 2017 | grammar |
Never has a punctuation mark been so feared as the semicolon. Semicolons are an excellent choice for writing if you give them half a chance. Consider them super commas ready to do the heavy lifting a comma cannot.
When There Are Two or More Independent Clauses
If you are writing a short sentence, and you put another short sentence about the same topic behind it, you can use a semicolon. It's grammatical freedom like none other.
I enjoy using advanced punctuation; it really elevates my composition game.
Use a semicolon in place of a comma and a conjunction or an end mark to impress your friends and family.
When There is Internal Punctuation
Not all independent clauses are created equally. Use a semicolon when punctuation appears internally in a sentence.
Lately, I've been feeling like my grammar is on point; I would like to flex my grammatical muscles with semicolons.
If a comma was used to separate these clauses, it would result in a comma splice. This is a perfect instance for a semicolon.
When There is a List of Items Separated with a Comma
Commas are wonderful for lists of small items, but sometimes writers need an option for lists of objects that contain commas within the list.
I have been to Houston, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and Lincoln, Nebraska.
I enjoy using semicolons in lists; using commas sparingly; and using proper grammar when I write.
Letting semicolons into your world will open up all kinds of possibilities. Use them with independent clauses, clauses with internal punctuation, and lists with commas. Go ahead and increase your composition skills today.
8 May 2017 | grammar, punctuation |
Spanish is a language spoken all over the world, in North America, South America, Europe, and hundreds of countries. It's estimated that over 400 million people speak Spanish worldwide. In schools in America, it's one of the most popular languages offered in schools.
But there are some words in Spanish that we don't have an English equivalent for. Words with deep, strong meanings that we cannot say as simply as they do.
1. Encantar
Encantar in Spanish means multiple things. It is often used to express charm, extreme like, and sometimes love. In English there are six similar words: love, enchant, delight, charm, captivate and bewitch.
2. Tutear
Tutear is a way to address someone, but while it is not completely informal, it is not as formal as it could be. There is no real was to say this English at all, only a way to describe it.
3. Te Quiero
Te Quiero is an in-between phrase- it does not literally mean "I love you" (that's Te Amo), but it does not mean "I like you" either. The closest translations are "I really like you" or "I desire you".
4. Sobremesa
Sobremesa is a word used to describe the period of time after dinner where all the food is all gone, everyone has finished eating, but the conversation is still flowing, so no one leaves the table.
There are many of other words Spanish speakers know but cannot translate easily into English. Hopefully someday English speakers will have words similar to these words, and many more we can't easily explain.
1 May 2017 | words english needs, spanish |
Democracy, Technology, Logic, Energy ... what do all of these words have in common? An ancestor in Ancient Greece. All throughout the English language, particularly in the realms of medicine, science, art, and politics, we find words built out of pieces of an ancient past.
Imagine you are a language archaeologist (there's another one!). You are digging through ruins, finding broken pieces here and there, and suddenly you discover there is a pattern to the pieces: they fit together. Even better, they fit together in hundreds of different ways, and each combination means something new and different.
That is what it is like to discover the Greek 'pieces' that combine to form so many English words. Here are just a few that a language archaeologist might find while digging through Ancient Greek:
- Philos: Love, affection
- Sophia: Wisdom
- Logos: Word, Study, Knowledge
- Bios: Life
- Graphia: writing
Pick up 'bios' and click it like a Lego brick to 'logos' and you have biology, the study of life. Take off 'logos' and click on the 'graphia' piece, and you have biography, 'writing of life.' Tack 'logos' to the end of 'psyche' (mind and soul) and you have psychology. Click 'philos' and 'sophia' together to make Philosophy, literally the 'love of wisdom.' Afraid of heights? Attach 'akro,' Greek for 'high,' to 'phobos' (the name of the Greek god of Fear), and you have a name for that: acrophobia. What do you call a government controlled by its people? Well, how about linking up 'demos' (the people) to 'kratia' (power or rule)? That works, right? Need a word for a sleepy trance? How about borrowing the Greek god of Sleep's name? He's called Hypnos.
Once you get started it's hard to stop, and you're finding the pieces everywhere, switching them around and trying new combinations until suddenly you're surrounded by thousands of words. Cardiology. Telephone. Thermal. Microscope. Automobile. Geology.
Because Ancient Greek isn't actually spoken anymore, it's called dead, or extinct (as is Latin, which is another abundant source of English words).
But is it? It's not used in conversation anymore (Modern Greek, even though it shares the same alphabet, is an almost completely different language), but we could say that it lives on in English, which has taken so many words from so many languages and made them its own.
So quick! What does 'philology' mean?
24 April 2017 | english history |
If you live in the English-speaking world, the odds are high that you've heard, or maybe even used, the expression, "Long Live the Queen." There's a special feeling to the phrase, isn't there? Not because of the content of the phrase itself, but because of its texture as it's spoken. It's as though it belongs to a foreign or earlier set of English rules, not quite your own. It just feels a little -- off.
After all, grammatically, it's a bit of a perplexity. Why "live," and not "lives?" If we were to reorder the phrase, we would certainly say, "The Queen lives long." So, what are we actually saying when we use this phrase? Is there a reason for this strange verb form?
It turns out that there is, and it's called "Subjunctive Mood." The Subjunctive Mood can be found in many languages. As its name may hint, it is a mood which expresses subjectivity. In other words, the Subjunctive is how we might express our own emotions, judgments, or uncertainties when discussing a situation. This may sound difficult to get a hand around, but in fact, English-speakers instinctively use this grammatical mood all the time, mostly to express strong desire for something.
An everyday example: "I would prefer that you be on time," as opposed to "I would prefer that you are on time." There are very few, if any, instances in which the latter would or could be used -- and you, as an English speaker, already knew this!
Often, in English, the Subjunctive mood is hidden. The form of the verb usually doesn't even change. Between "I call my mother daily," and "it is important that I call my mother daily," can you tell which is Subjunctive? Although the modified verb, "to call," looks the same in both, it's only in the second phrase that it is Subjunctive. An exception to this frequent pattern is the verb "to be," which when modified changes from "I am" to "I be," or "You are" to "You be," as in the example shown above.
One other common exception is the "he/she" form of most regular verbs. In the Subjunctive mood, "she gives" becomes "she give." "He calls" becomes "He call." At this point, you can probably see the pattern: With the Subjunctive mood, the 's' is dropped from the end of "he/she" verb forms.
Now that you know the basic rules, go out and use them freely! Long live the Subjunctive!
21 April 2017 | english quirks |
In any language, words both evolve and are created out of thin air. It is not unusual for a certain person or place to become associated with a trend, item, or invention and for that name to then become a common word in a language. These words are called 'eponyms' and the English language has several examples. Here are four:
Why not start with the most delicious of the eponyms? The Earl of Sandwich was an avid cardplayer (ahem, gambler), and he wouldn't leave the table for his meals. Instead, he would eat a piece of meat served between two slices of bread, an easy meal to hold in one's hands without a lot of extra silverware cluttering up the playing table. As the story goes, his fellow cardsharks came to so closely associate this meal with the Earl they started asking for a 'sandwich.'
A much less appetizing word than sandwich, 'gerrymander' is the process of apportioning legislative districts in such a way as to be politically beneficial to one party or another. The name results from legislation signed by Massachussetts Governor Elbridge Gerry that resulted in a salamander-shaped district in the Bay State. Combine Gerry + Salamander and you get both a compound word and an eponym!
It just sounds cool, right? Like the name just makes sense? The instrument's name didn't just appear out of thin air, though! It's named for its inventor, Adolphe Sax. We can just assume he was pretty hip.
Rudolf Diesel gives his name to this form of gasoline and engine. He invented the diesel engine in the early nineteenth century, and while he might not be widely remembered his name is widely used to this day.
If you dig further, you'll find plenty of other examples of eponyms in the English language. If you're interested in finding more, we recommend looking in the science sector, as inventions and discoveries lend themselves well to eponyms.
17 April 2017 | english quirks |
The English language is beautiful, complex, and sometimes unwieldy. Even with its nuance and vast selection of words, however, the English language has gaps where other languages don't. Sometimes the human condition and our complicated world just need a word that English doesn't have. Here are four words from other languages that we either need to adopt or establish our own version of:
What a novel idea - a word for a situation that nearly everyone has found themselves in!Tartle is that point in time where you forget someone's name, but you're supposed to be saying the name, most often in introduction. In English, we just call it awkward, but "tartle" has a much nicer ring to it, don't you think?
Ever been tired and had bags under your eyes? You're human, of course you have. But in France, you wouldn't need to use four words to describe the unsightly look of a night without sleep. The French simply call those dark circles "cernes."
Have a pile of books you've owned forever, keep adding to, but have never read? If you live in Japan, you'd be committing tsundoku, a very useful Japanese word for the book hoarders in the world.
April Fools Day must be wild in Indonesia. They have formal words for classic tricks! Mencolek is the Indonesia word for what in English we are forced to call "the lame prank where you tap someone on the wrong shoulder but are really on the other side so they look and don't see anything but immediately know what happened because that is literally the oldest trick in the book." Mencolek is much more efficient to say, don't you think?
English, for all your charm, you can make things just a little too complicated sometimes. These four words are only a few of the probably hundreds, if not thousands, of examples of words foreign languages simply do better than English.
20 March 2017 | words english needs |
The English language can be very strange indeed. In fact, it's so strange that there are many words which have two meanings (at least) and those meanings are the opposite of each other. How's that for confusing? This phenomenon is so common in English that it even has two words to describe it - auto-antonyms and contronyms. Here are four common contronyms that you've probably used:
1. Cleave
You can either "cleave to" something, or cleave something off. Think of a cleaver - a giant knife you use to cut something apart. If you come across a person discussing cleaving you, pay attention to the preposition they are using - they're either a stalker or a serial killer. Or, for all you optimists, maybe they're perfectly nice and just have an odd way of speaking.
2. Dust
When you dust the furniture you are removing the dirt and grime from it, right? But what if you're a baker and you're dusting a cake with powdered sugar? You're not taking it off, you're putting on a dust-like substance (albeit a much tastier one). Children's book character Amelia Bedelia was once famously thrown off by this contronym when she literally threw dust onto her employer's furniture.
3. Garnish
If you've ever had your wages garnished, you know its not a good thing. Your wages are certainly not being added to, rather money is being taken away from you. To the contrary, if you are garnishing a dish you are adding pretty features to it, perhaps a jaunty kale leaf or an orange peel. However, if your spouse has a dish that looks better than yours you might be excused for garnishing a chunk of that lobster from their plate...
4. Clip
A barber clips your hair, in fact he has a tool named after this action (clippers, naturally). In this sense, clip means to remove hair from you. You can also clip coupons to remove them from the newspaper inserts. But, because English is complicated, you can clip papers to hold them together. You can clip your hair back to make it stay in place, and you can clip a cellphone to your belt to look super cool.
English is strange, and it can be complicated. But it never ceases to be fun to explore - even if you have to pay special attention to context and prepositions to make sure words don't literally mean the opposite of their intended use.
6 March 2017 | english quirks |
Whether you are a native English-speaker or you learned it as an additional language, you'll have had plenty of moments where you just could not think of the right word. Maybe you ended up replacing it. Maybe you used a longer phrase instead. If you speak another language, perhaps the problem was not that you could not think of the right word, but that there is no English equivalent for it at all!
Here are a few of our favorite words from other languages that do not have an English translation, but that we think English should absorb as soon as possible!
Kummerspeck (German)
The German word kummerspeck translates literally as "grief bacon". It is the excessive weight gain suffered while emotional eating, particularly emotional eating to avoid negative feelings, such as after a breakup or because of stress.
Gattara (Italian)
The closest thing in English to the Italian gattara would be a "crazy cat lady". A gattara is an elderly lady who devotes her time to caring for stray cats. While our “crazy cat lady” generally takes in the stray cats, caring for them in her own home, a gattara feeds and cares for homeless cats on the streets.
L’ésprit d’escalier (French)
If you have ever walked away from an argument or discussion only to think of a great comeback a few minutes or hours later, the French have a word for that, l’ésprit d’escalier. The word translates as "staircase wit" and came about because philosopher Denis Diderot said he would think of a great response only by walking away and literally walking down the stairs.
Sobremesa (Spanish)
There must be a word for when people are done eating but they continue having a great conversation, right? Not in English, but the Spanish word is sobremesa.
Those are a few of our favorites, but how about yours? What do you feel the urge to express, but aren't able to because the word just isn't there?
28 February 2017 | words english needs |
