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?

In one year's time. In 2 years' time.

If you could answer the question with 'me' it should be whom. If you can answer it with 'I (did)' it's who.

@VanillaSpiceCandle

Some of these are great. The only one I struggle with is time. I’ve looked at every explanation. Where’s the apostrophe and why - In one year’s time we’ll be millionaires or In one years’ time we’ll be millionaires?

Because in the singular example it's the "time of one year", whereas any longer and it's the "time of several years" (plural). So the apostrophe goes after the length of time.

I've just needed to find out where to put speech marks - before the full stop or after the full stop.
And I found this great resource, which answers that question and lots of other ones:
www.nottingham.ac.uk/externalrelations/services/service-details/style-guide/punctuation.aspx

MyNameHasBeenTaken

My English teacher many years ago how to spell NECESSARY.
1 collar two socks, I’ve never forgotten it.

@lazylinguist That's what confuses me, why is not "Who did you see yesterday?" How do you tell?

Technically it's always 'whom' when the 'whom' is the object (i.e. the person having the action done to them). In that question, the "you" is the one doing the seeing. The "whom" i ls the one being seen.

However it's not really worth worrying about too much - whom is definitely dying out. "Who did you see?" is perfectly acceptable in modern, informal English.

In fact, I'd go further and admit that even I, as a language teacher and keen grammarian, am aware that I would sound like a bit of an arse if I went around saying "Whom did you see yesterday?".

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.

This also works for licence/license.

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

Affect is the Action.

With less vs fewer, always use fewer unless it sounds stupid. So if I try to say "fewer people in the room" it sounds reasonable and is correct, but if I say "fewer water in my drink" it sounds stupid and is incorrect.

With who vs whom, try rearranging the sentence and replacing it with hiM. If the sentence sounds correct you should be using whoM.
"to who(m) does this belong" -> "this belongs to him". Sentence sounds correct so it must be whom.
"who(m) owns this" - "him owns this". Sentence sounds correct so it must be who.

@katieJ82 what about licence/license, is it c for noun and s for verb there too?

I have a driving licence (noun), that's easy, but when is license (to license - verb) used?

Are you licensed for that firearm? Government licensing services.

License isn't really used much in everyday English.

How do I know when to use a hyphen in a sentence?

How do I know when to use a hyphen in a sentence?

Do you mean a hyphen or a dash? Hyphens are used to join hyphenated words like 'up-to-date'. Dashes are used as breaks in a sentence, or two together can be used like brackets.

Lay and lie.
You lie yourself down. You lay something else down.

Two useful spelling acrostics:

Rhythm
Helps
Your
Two
Hips
Move

and

When
Everything
Is
Really
Different

James Bond is Licensed to Kill.

Use the advice/advise trick that works for practice/practise for licence/license

However it's not really worth worrying about too much - whom is definitely dying out.

Except in undergraduate essays where it is increasingly used to refer to the subject. This really bugs me.

Can I just say that this thread is thoroughly enjoyable! Language teacher here, raised by a grammar pendant (AKA English teacher) mother.

My mum’s massive bugbear is when people misuse the verb “to mistreat”. You mistreat an animal, but you maltreat a person.

My question is, why do newspapers and politicians describe something as “an historical event”? Why on Earth is it “an”???

Any advice on while and whilst? I often see sentences that use while, which I think should instead use whilst. But I'm not sure.
E.g. the motorway signs near us sometimes say 'do not phone while driving' but I wonder if that should be whilst... 🤔

I think @Kate105 it's because historically, the h would not be sounded, and therefore using an rather than a would make the pronunciation flow better. I may have made this up, but I'm sure I once read it somewhere!

@LunchBoxPolice - sorry if others have answered, but similar to PP at start of thread I link to the fact that all three positional words end in ‘here’. I make up mini conversations like: “Are we there?” “Where?” “Here.”

Were just has the -ere ending.

Also, most of the questioning words are the ones starting ‘wh’- who? where? why? when? what?

I love ‘a rat’ in separate! I always second guess myself with that word.

Knowing prefixes/suffixes or etymology can help with spellings a lot. Using ‘definite’ as an example, I always assumed the spelling is Latin, and therefore a bit French, ie ‘de finite’ or ‘of/ relating to, finality’.

Sounds dumb but knowing the suffix -ly helped me spell quite a few words. It’s the whole stem (the only times it’s shortened is when it ends in ‘able’, e.g. probable/ probably) and then -ly e.g. regular- ly.

I always thought whom was used when a person wasn’t the subject of the sentence. ‘To whom are you sending that letter?‘

I’ve just thought of another ‘knowing the suffix/prefix is added to the stem’ word that’s dead easy to misspell.... well mis-spell for starters, and notice-able.

Whilst is just a pretentious version of while.

@tantamountto

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

What is the difference? They seem, if not identical, at least similar.

Who vs whom. To be honest although it's not extinct "whom" is becoming archaic. In modern English using "who" in all cases is common and I think most readers will find it more natural.

But traditionally if you would answer the question with he or she then you use who, they all end in vowels. If you would answer with him or her then you use whom, they all end in consonants.

I think.

I need something to help me remember:
Dependant v dependent