This thread has been introduced for Questions of English Grammar, Usage, Style, Spelling so on. All members are free to add anything relevant to account.




1. How do I know when to use different from, different than, different to?

Different is not a comparative word, but rather one of contrast. The word than should actually follow a comparative adjective. Thus, as a writer you should lean toward using different from, e.g., Apples are different from peaches. / My selection is different from yours. Different than cannot be substituted for different from and so therefore it is sometimes useful as an idiom or for beginning clauses if different from would be awkward, e.g., The event turned out different than what I expected. / The college is different than it was when I went to school. The construction different to is chiefly British. One other slight distinction is when a simple noun phrase follows different than and is regarded as elliptical for a clause. You could use this rule: When different is followed by a prepositional phrase, the preposition should be from. When it is followed by a dependent clause introduced by a conjunction (even if much of the clause is elliptical), the conjunction should be than.







2. How do I know whether to use less or fewer?

There is a basic rule that is used to guide the choice of less or fewer. Less is supposed to be used with uncountable nouns (mass nouns), such as paper and paint. Fewer is to be used with things that can be counted (plural count nouns), like books or days. So, according to this rule, we should write or say "fewer dollars" but "less money." According to this rule, supermarket checkout signs should say "ten items or fewer" but most say "ten items or less." However, in spoken English, people increasingly use less in certain constructions where fewer would be the choice if the rule was being followed. For example, you can use less than before a plural noun that denotes a measure of time, amount, or distance, e.g., less than two weeks /less than five percent / less than $2,000 / less than 10,000 miles. You can also use or less or no less than with plural nouns in constructions such as: Please explain why you want the job in 25 words or less. / No less than 2,000 people signed the petition. Fowler's Modern English Usage (first edition by H.W. Fowler, R.W. Burchfield, New York: Oxford University Press [3rd ed.], 2004) points out that less has not always been considered incorrect with countable things (its use was frowned upon starting in the 18th century). It really is a matter of the right idiom and not a matter of meaning. If you were to say "there are less than ten bookcases in this room," no one would misunderstand you - but your grammatical ears say "ouch" and ask for fewer.










3. When should I use continuously as opposed to continually?

Continual means frequently recurring or intermittent. Continuous means occurring without interruption or unceasing. Continuous refers to actions which are uninterrupted: The upstairs neighbor played his stereo continuously from 6: 00 PM to 3:30 AM. Continual actions, however, need not be uninterrupted, only repeated: My mother continually urges me to do my homework. / Rivers flow continuously, but the telephone is more likely to ring continually. A related mistake is to use continuous for something that happens at regular intervals. There are other adjectives that mean 'occurring repeatedly over a long period of time': "constant" (implying persistence, steadiness), "ceaseless" and "incessant" (referring to uninterrupted activity), "eternal" (lasting forever), "interminable" (seemingly endless, wearisome), "perennial" (going on year after year, with self-renewal), and "perpetual" (implying both duration and steadiness). So, try to remember to use -al for something which is either always going on or recurs at short intervals and never comes to an end, and -ous for something in which no break occurs between the beginning and the end.









4. Should I use a singular or plural verb with none?

None means 'not one' or 'not any' and it may take either a singular or plural verb. Writers are more or less free to decide which meaning is appropriate in their context. This grammatical construction, which is based on sense rather than form, is called notional agreement or notional concord, and is very common. So, consider none as singular when you want to emphasize a single entity in a group, but consider none to be plural when you want to emphasize more than one. Examples are: None of the books is/are worth reading. / None of us is/are going to the banquet. However, when none means 'no amount' or 'no part', it must be singular: None of the debris has been cleared away. / None of the forest is deciduous. So, if your meaning is 'none of them', treat the word as plural; if it is 'none of it', treat it as singular.





5. What are combining forms as opposed to prefixes and suffixes (general term affix)?


In English, many words have special combining forms which appear only in compounds or only in compounds and derivatives, e.g., electro-, the combining form of electric, appears in such compounds as electromagnet. A combining form can be distinguished from an affix (i.e., prefix or suffix) by one of the following: 1) its ability to occur as one immediate constituent of a form whose only other immediate constituent is an affix (as cephal- in cephalic), 2) its being an allomorph of a morpheme having another allomorph that may occur alone, or 3) is distinguished historically from an affix by the fact that it is borrowed from another language in which it is a combining form or a word. Another way to explain the three types of combining form is: 1) forms borrowed from Greek or Latin that are derivatives of independent nouns, adjectives, or verbs in those languages (for example, cardio-, -phile) and usually appear only in combination with other combining forms of Greek or Latin origin (for example, bibliophile, cardiology); 2) the compounding form of a free-standing English word where this type of combining form usually has only a single, restricted sense of the free word, and may differ from the word phonetically (for example, -land, -man, -proof, -wide); and 3) a form extracted from an existing free word and used as a bound form, usually keeping the meaning of the free word (for example, -aholic, heli-, mini-). In word formation, a combining form may conjoin with an independent word (mini- + skirt), another combining form (photo- + -graphy), or an affix (cephal- + -ic). An affix is different because it can be added to either a free word or a combining form but not solely to another affix.









6. What is a syllable and what determines syllables?

A syllable is a vocal sound or set of vocal sounds uttered with a single uninterrupted articulation and is larger than a phoneme (single sound). A syllable either forms a word or an element of a word. A syllable consists of a vowel, diphthong, or syllabic consonant alone, or by any of these sounds preceded, followed, or surrounded by one or more consonants. The word syllable was first used by Chaucer (c. 1384) and is derived from Latin syllaba 'take or put together', which came from an earlier Greek word. In modern English, word syllables are characterized as either accented or unaccented; in non-accentual languages such as classical Greek and Latin, syllables are classified as either long or short, depending on the quantity of time it takes to pronounce them, due to varying vowel lengths and consonant groupings. The general structure of a syllable consists of three parts: the onset, the nucleus, and the coda. The nucleus is usually a vowel or diphthong. The onset is what comes before the nucleus and the coda is what comes after it. The nucleus and the coda, together, are sometimes called the rhyme. Only the nucleus always exists. All languages seem to allow syllables with empty codas (no consonants after the nucleus) and most also allow empty onsets. A syllable of the form CV (consonant + vowel, with an empty coda) is called an open syllable, while a syllable that has a coda (CVC, etc.) is called a closed or checked syllable. As far as how syllables are determined, they are ascertained by sound. Like much of what people know about their native language, knowledge of syllables is implicit: one can follow the rules even though one cannot state them.










7. What is the predicate? Is it everything after the subject?

In grammar, the predicate is the statement made about a subject. The grammatical predicate is either a simple verb, or a verb with its complement or object. So, the predicate is the part of a sentence or clause that expresses what is said of the subject and that usually consists of a verb with or without objects, complements, or adverbial modifiers. The predicate ascribes a property to the subject. The predicates are underlined here: She wrote a book. The book is on the table. Art can be controversial. The earth trembled. So, in the simplest pattern, the predicate consists only of the verb. There are five patterns of predicates: 1) The earth trembled - verbs in this pattern do not require following words to complete their meaning and thus are called intransitive (from Latin meaning 'not passing over'). 2) The earthquake destroyed the city - the predicate consists of a verb followed by a noun that identifies who or what receives the action of the verb. This noun is a direct object. Verbs that require direct objects to complete their meaning are called transitive (from Latin meaning 'passing over'), i.e., the verb transfers the action from subject to object. 3) The result was chaos - the predicate consists of a verb followed by a single noun, but the noun renames or describes the subject. The verb is a linking verb, connecting the subject and the description. The word that describes the subject is called a subject complement (it complements, or completes, the subject). 4) I gave the museum money - the predicate is a verb followed by two nouns. The second noun is a direct object, identifying what was given. The first noun is an indirect object, identifying to or for whom the action of the verb is performed. The direct and indirect objects refer to different things. 5) The newspapers declared him the winner - the predicate again is a verb followed by two nouns but in this pattern the first noun is a direct object and the second noun renames or describes it. The second noun is an object complement; it renames or describes the direct object.












8. Are there different grammar rules for spoken and written English?

Spoken and written languages have important differences, even more than the obvious distinction in physical form. These other differences center around usage, and arise out of the fact that speakers and writers are functioning in different communicative situations. There are also differences in language structure: the grammar and vocabulary of speech is not the same as that of writing. The two modes of communication function quite differently and their status is not the same. Written materials can be legally binding and are also afforded a kind of respect which is rarely accorded to speech. Written English provides a standard that is valued by society. Its relative permanence and wider circulation also differentiate it from speech. Electronic mail has changed writing to become more interactive and there are also mixed media which overlap speech and writing. As far as grammar goes, the spontaneity and speed of most speech exchanges make it difficult to engage in complex planning. The pressure to think while talking means that speech contains looser construction, repetition, rephrasing, and comment clauses. Intonation and pause divide long utterances, but sentence boundaries are less clear. Facial expression and gestures help convey meaning in speech, as do nuances of intonation, contrasts of loudness, tempo, rhythm, and tones of voice. The lexicon used in speaking is often more vague and it also includes more slang, euphemism, and other informal language. The answer, then, to the question is that the grammar is different because of the different structure and function of speech as opposed to writing.