Grammar - ways to remember tricker stuff...

[User163639]

I loved the apostrophe thread.

Can we all pitch in some grammar rules that are often forgotten?!

I struggle with whose and who’s etc...educate me?

People make the mistake of using "disinterested" in place of "uninterested'. But their meanings are completely different.

brought = to bring (note the r)
bought = to buy

So you brought the cake to the picnic, but you bought the cake from the shop.

@Margotshypotheticaldog

Yes that was my mother's one to help us remember, Fewer in quantity, less in number.

Other way round: fewer in number, less in quantity.

Less flour; fewer flowers.

@tantamountto

But then you have The dog's here, and The dog's bone.

Because an apostrophe can indicate possession or it can indicate a contraction.

@User163639

millenium I’m still not getting it! I don’t know why I can’t seem to get that one in my head!

tanta totally agree!

"Whose" is related to the possessive, as is "its".

"Whose is this coat?"
"It's Sarah's."

"Your dog looks very healthy with its beautiful shiny coat."

Lots of people mix up "bring" and "take". It confuses me sometimes.

@WinterAndRoughWeather

For “I” or “me”, just take the other person out of the sentence:

Mum and I went shopping
Or
Mum and me went shopping

Take mum out - I went shopping.

Most importantly, there’s hardly ever a good reason to use the bloody reflexives - myself, yourself / yourselves. Estate agent speak.

That's how I learnt it too. But what about if the sentence doesn't make sense without the other person, Eg, there's a 3 year age gap between my sister and me? Or should it be my sister and I?

I could have gone to the park
I could of gone to the park

Remove the could

I have gone to the park
I of gone to the park.

For whose and who's:
Who's means who is. It is the same as it's (it is).
Whose is a possessive thing and your instinct is that it needs an apostrophe. So you go to who's. Except it is like his which doesn't get an apostrophe.
So whose is like his and who's is like he's.

@TheFormerPorpentinaScamander

If you change the sentence to one where you could remove your sister, but kept the same form, ie, mother gave a present to my sister and me, removing the sister gives

Mother gave a present to me
Versus
Mother gave a present to I.

The second sounds wrong, so I think my sister and me is correct.

@PastMyBestBeforeDate

For whose and who's: Who's means who is. It is the same as it's (it is). Whose is a possessive thing and your instinct is that it needs an apostrophe. So you go to who's. Except it is like his which doesn't get an apostrophe. So whose is like his and who's is like he's.

Who's on first?

I always use the following for practice/practise (I know it's c - noun, s -verb but this is just easier for me to be certain).

Substitute practic/se for advic/se and say the sentence in your head.

Eg:

Now practise your spelling by answering these questions.

Answer your spelling practice questions.

It works because advise/advice follow the same grammatical rule but sound different, unlike practise/practice, so even if advise doesn't make sense in the sentence one always sounds correct and the other not.

Thanks @Newjez. I thought it should be 'and me' but, like a lot of others, didn't learn much grammar at school. Most of what I know now I've taught myself mainly from Mumsnet

Necessary- it’s always necessary to wear a condom for safe sex

1 c. 2 ss

More estate agent speak:

The property comprises this, that and the other.
The property consists of this, that and the other.

Never “comprises of”.

I can never remember which is which out of continuous and continual. I always have to look them up.

Definitely.
It has in it, in it.

TheFormerPorpentina, you could also replace "my sister and x" with we or us, because those are much harder to get mixed up with!

If you'd say "we" then it would be "I", and "us" it would be "me".

Affect or effect?

@TheFormerPorpentinaScamander

Thanks *@Newjez*. I thought it should be 'and me' but, like a lot of others, didn't learn much grammar at school. Most of what I know now I've taught myself mainly from Mumsnet

I confess I did Google it to confirm

You lie down, you have a lie in. You lay a carpet and a chicken lays an egg.

Effect or affect, I never know which one to use.

@TheOrigBrave @SadiePurple

Effect is the noun. So you can remember that by thinking if you can say ‘the effect.’ ‘The’ ends in e and effect begins with an e.

Affect is the verb.

Thanks @SwanShaped
That's a good way to remember which is the verb and which is the noun, but I still struggle to know whether I'm meant to be using the noun or the verb.

e.g. Using your car will effect/affect the environment ??
I think affect looks right.

I grew up in Norfolk and should have been learning grammar in the mid to late 70s. Instead we were singing Simon and Garfunkel and the Beatles in assembly . It's no excuse, I've had plenty of time to teach myself, but some things I get stuck on.

It was a big problem when it came to learning foreign languages.
How can you understand the accusative, nominative etc in German when you don't know what it is in your native language?

@User163639

supermarket how can you have less cows? Wouldn’t that certainly be fewer cows as they can be specifically counted? Or have I missed something...

Yes, it should be fewer cows as you can count them (countable noun, so fewer is correct) but I've never heard anyone use that, most people would use less, which works but is grammatically incorrect. For example " shall we walk through that field as there's less cows in there than that field". Not many people would say " shall we walk through that field as there's fewer cows in there than that field". Less is replacing the correct use of fewer in a lot of situations, so I've read.