Preserved Topic: Can we just do this real quick? (Page 1 of 3)

THEY'RE

Use this when you're abbreviating "they are." The first thing you should do when determining which "there" word to use is to ask yourself, "could this be replaced with the words 'they are'?" If so, use "they're." You know this is correct because the apostrophe is there to replace the "a" in "are". When you pronounce "they're", try to separate out the "they" from the "re" to remind yourself of this.

THEIR

The next thing you should ask is, "am I talking about something which belongs to someone?" If you're trying to express that something "belongs to them", say that it's "theirs".

THERE

Otherwise, use this one. Typically, it's used to indicate a location ("over there"), although it has a few other uses. Use this word only when you have checked the other two and found that both of them were wrong.

Thank you.

Glad to see I am not the only one who has a problem with this common English mistake.

Quick test:
________ coming to take me away, haha.
________black pills are stronger.
________ is no rhyme or reason for such insanity.



[This message has been edited by Ramasax (edited 11-20-2003).]

I cought myself so many times by typing "you" when I meant "your". I know what the difference between the two is, but I often make this mistake. Lazzy typing or something.

Sasha »

Thank you Slime.

Now ... on to its/it's

Oh, by the way, they're's a new strongbad email which is relevant =)

[This message has been edited by Slime (edited 11-21-2003).]

*snicker*

[This message has been edited by Petskull (edited 11-21-2003).]

Next you should make a post on the appropriate use of "that" and "which".



:::11oh1:::

Bob the Angry Flower has already covered it's vs. its.

Cell 1250 :: alanmacdougall.com :: Illustrator tips

Someone help me with in/on/at. Thats the most problematic trouble on engrish for me ;P

__________________________________


Alevice's Media Library

Is they're an engrish language? when most pepole use that is it there enunciation their poking fun at?

just cyoriose...

Is this thing on?

A Work In Progress

quote:

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Someone help me with in/on/at. Thats the most problematic trouble on engrish for me ;P

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In a box on the table at my house.

Boy I bet that helped out a lot! Also you forgot the apostrophe on "That's"

also, I can't let Ramasax's quick test go:

They're coming to take me away, haha.
Their black pills are stronger.
There is no rhyme or reason for such insanity.

<edit>screwed up the top section </edit>

Later,

C:\


~Binary is best~

[This message has been edited by CPrompt (edited 11-21-2003).]

As a former English major, I feel obliged to follow up on krets' suggestion, especially since a lot of people seem to confuse "that" and "which". They can be especially difficult for non-native English speakers (in Korean, for example, there is no clear-cut distinction between "that" and "which").

The difference, really, is in whether the clause is restrictive (key to the meaning of the sentence) or non-restrictive (not key to the meaning of the sentence). A restrictive clause has no comma and generally uses that, while a non-restrictive clause has a comma and generally uses which. Since this is a lot easier shown than explained, here is an example:

• Suho ate the donut that Emps had been saving for a rainy day.
• Suho ate the donut, which was covered with chocolate frosting.

In the first sentence, the fact that Emps had been saving the donut for a rainy day is key to the meaning of the sentence--it makes my eating of the donut that much more tragic (and possibly dangerous). In the second sentence, however, the fact that the donut was covered with chocolate frosting is merely additional information, and not vital to understanding the sentence.

You'll notice that, in my explanation above, I said "generally" twice. That's because the restrictiveness/non-restrictiveness of a clause is determined by the presence or lack of a comma, not by the use of "that" or "which". "That" and "which" are used because they are easier to distinguish than a comma when spoken. Technically, Slime's sentence up there is a restrictive clause, and means the same thing as "There's a new Strongbad email that is relevant." In the interest of making things less confusing to most native English speakers (who are used to seeing "which" with a comma and "that" without), though, I would go with the second version.


___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org

That which donut that Suho stole from that they're Emps was a good thing because Emps didnt need all the calories that that donut had in it's ingredients. n' stuff.

=)

that was well said, Michael.

Now someone splain proper comma useage

Jason

quote:

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• Suho ate the donut that Emps had been saving for a rainy day.
• Suho ate the donut, which was covered with chocolate frosting.

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• Suho realised far too late where Emps had been hiding the donut all day.
• Suho realised far too late that there was no chocolate frosting.

___________________
Emps

The Emperor dot org

*sigh*

Well, at least we're having fun with grammar. And if all it takes is a little scatological humor to enjoy grammar, then I can deal with that.




___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org

Lose vs Loose.

That is all.

[edit: removed bold so links are obvious]

[This message has been edited by Raptor (edited 11-21-2003).]

WRONG:
John was talking to David and I.

WRONG:
John was talking to David and myself.

RIGHT:
John was talking to David and me.

WHY:
Remove "David and" and you'll see.

I'll let someone else tackle "who" and "whom."

I thought I could leave it at one lesson, but anyone who knows me shouldn't be surprised by a second post ...

SINGULAR: emu
PLURAL: emus / NOT emu's
(The same with "shortened" forms of words like photo and with proper nouns like Volvo.)

SINGULAR: one (As in "I need the one on the top shelf.")
PLURAL: ones / NOT one's (As in "I like the ones with lubrication.")

SINGULAR: Kennedy
PLURAL: the Kennedys / NOT the Kennedy's / DEFINITELY NOT the Kennedies

Whom cares, Wes..?

*snicker*


Code - CGI - links - DHTML - Javascript - Perl - programming - Magic - http://www.twistedport.com
ICQ: 67751342

Wes:

quote:

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SINGULAR: Kennedy
PLURAL: the Kennedys / NOT the Kennedy's / DEFINITELY NOT the Kennedies

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The counter example:

SINGULAR: a Teletubby
PLURAL: the Teletubbies



Sorry

Mathieu "POÏ" HENRI

[This message has been edited by poi (edited 11-21-2003).]

True, but you're referring to an invented proper noun, not a family name. (Besides, I imagine "Teletubbies" came first as the name of the show and the singular followed.)

Incidentally, I wonder why that example came to you so readily ...


Ooh, that reminds me of another one:

WRONG: I wonder why that thing is blue?
RIGHT: I wonder why that thing is blue.

WRONG: Guess what color my thing is?
RIGHT: Guess what color my thing is.

quote:

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RIGHT: Guess what color my thing is.

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Do we really have to answer that?


___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org

OK I have taken all that on board but what about calling women cute?

___________________
Emps

The Emperor dot org

To add to the "Lose vs Loose" ...

Choose vs Chose

Breath vs Breathe same link, just scroll down

I know, sometimes it is just an honest spelling mistake... but just in case it isn't!

we call it typos.......chubby fingers....typing faster then the brain.....my thought.. lickies mystic

http://www.geocities.com/mystic_colors32/MysticsNook2.html

quote:

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typing faster then the brain

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I don't know if I'm wrong or not, but I'd have written "typing faster than the brain".

Wes: I'm totally twisted. Beside that, I must admit that when I "accidentally" zapped on the Teletubbies, I literally stared at the show and watched it at the 7th degree. I can't resist to their pretty faces

Mathieu "POÏ" HENRI

Yup, you're right: it should be "than"

Although after that comment about the Teletubbies, I think I'm going to have to up the voltage in your shock treatments anyway...


___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org

Added to the :FAQ:

__________________________________________
"Art has to be forgotten. Beauty must be realized."
Piet Mondriaan

[This message has been edited by Rinswind 2th (edited 11-22-2003).]

quote:

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Emps: but what about calling women cute?

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I think we covered that... you can do it, but you take your life in your hands depending on what woman you're talking to at the moment!

OK can some explain the difference between:

peasants and pedants?

___________________
Emps

The Emperor dot org

ok...

Peasant: A member of the class including small farmers, tenants and herd-tenders in feudal England, or an uncouth or ill-bred person (just like me).

Pedant: One who puts on an air of learning; one who makes a vain display of learning; a pretender to superior knowledge.

Emperor - they're the same thing, it's just that one is said by a man with a speech impediment.

And wow, what a grammatical nightmare this thread on proper grammar has turned into...

I have to say, I've always had trouble with the "that/which" bit.

Who and Whom

Who is the subject form and whom is the object form.
Basically, turn the sentence into a question and answer it. If you can answer it with 'him' or 'her', you should use 'whom'. If you would answer the question with 'he' or 'she', you should use 'who'.
Examples:

Who ate Emp's donut?
Obviously, one would answer 'he' ate Emp's donut. 'Who' is correct.

To whom did you give the crumbs when you were finished?
I gave the crumbs to 'him'. 'Whom' is correct.

Whoever still has a question about this can ask and I'll try to explain more clearly.

[This message has been edited by mobrul (edited 02-04-2004).]

DL -- from http://www.ku.edu/~edit/ap15.htm ...

quote:

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Essential clauses, nonessential clauses: ... Essential clauses do not have commas and usually contain the word "that"; nonessential clauses are set off by commas and often contain the word "which."

Important: Essential and non-essential has nothing to do with the importance of the information contained in the words, but the importance of the words to understand the essence of the sentence.

For example: The house that was red burned down. (You need to know the color to know which house burned down.) The house, which was red, burned down. (If more than one house was red or you had no reference to what color each house was, then its redness is not essential to your understanding which house burned down. Therefore, that part, while it may be important to your story or description, is set off by commas and uses "which" because it's not "essential.") ...

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i love this stuff.

You're - contraction for YOU ARE.

Your - the possessive form of you.

Test:

"I know that _______ the culprit, suho - ______ fingerprints were all over the scene of the crime!" exclaimed the inspector.

Affect is a verb, meaning to have influence on.
Effect is a noun, meaning result.

For example: Those special effects can really affect the immersive nature of the movie.

Test:

What is the _______ of these tablets?
How will these tablets _______ me?

Farther denotes distance.
Further relates to time or amount.

If you will permit me to take this argument further, I'm sure that I can throw my father farther than you.

--Contractions and Abbreviations (and their respective punctuation) has been removed (it doesn't seem to be consistent between uk/aus and usa, best to remove it and avoid possible misinformation)--

If anyone wants to take on correct use of punctuation with acronyms, contractions and abbreviations in plural and possessive form, be my guest.

reitsma

edit: heh, spelling fixes of course.




[This message has been edited by reitsma (edited 02-05-2004).]

quote:

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For example: Those special effects had such a good affect on the immersive nature of the movie.

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The word "affect" in your example should in fact be "effect," since the word is being used as a noun (it's something which the special effects have.) You could say, however, that "Those special effects affected the immersive nature of the movie," where it is being used as a verb, so you want "affect."

quote:

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For example: "Dr", "Mrs", "Mr", "Ltd" are all contractions. ... They do not require any punctuation.

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I believe that's a British convention. In American English, you still use the period: Dr. Mrs. Mr. Ltd. Contractions are two words or more shortened into a single word, such as won't or o'clock.

And, incidentally ...

quote:

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"I know that _______ the culprit, suho, ______ fingerprints were all over the scene of the crime!"

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... is a run-on sentence.





[This message has been edited by Wes (edited 02-05-2004).]

I am not a native English speaking guy, learned English using books, and never had a problem with there, their, they're. Their meanings are so different, despite their similar sound. Maybe it's a native thing.

quote:

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I'm sure that I can through my father farther than you

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What can you put him through exactly?

ouch!

Thanks for you're thoroughness, guys - its always interesting to see the nuances in grammar changes around the world. Obviously, location was no excuse for some of those errors, however!

I think i'll fix the contentious one's.



I would love to do further language study - and really get into the meat of sentence structure, grammar, and all that cool stuff.

reitsma

[This message has been edited by reitsma (edited 02-05-2004).]