Tag Archives: grammar
English Superlatives Posted by Gary Locke on Jan 3, 2019
Pictured: The Grand Canyon. But, really, it’s the grandest canyon, don’t you think? In English, if you want to describe something, you use an adjective. There essentially are three types of adjectives – simple, comparative, and superlative. The most basic examples would be big, bigger, biggest. I ate a big sandwich, my sister ate a…
When English Offers Choices Posted by Gary Locke on Nov 29, 2018
This past week I witnessed a customer at a store point to something and say, “I’ll have two of those.” Before placing the items in a bag and finalizing the sale, the clerk said, “These ones?” That response by the clerk was a redundancy, the use of an extra word which wasn’t needed. Because the…
Basic English: Positively Negative Posted by Gary Locke on Oct 11, 2018
Some of the most common words in English are negatives. These words express the opposite of a positive statement. There are a lot of them. However, this is English after all, so not all negatives fit into the same grammatical category. Let’s take a little time to clarify which part of speech these negatives belong…
What is a Tag Question? Posted by Gary Locke on Aug 16, 2018
Sometimes we answer a question with another question or ask a question that can only have one answer. It is very common in English conversations, and can be deceptively tricky in some situations. We call it the tag question. A tag question is a grammatical structure in which a declarative statement is altered by use of an added interrogative (the…
How Can One be Many? Posted by Gary Locke on Jul 26, 2018
In English, some nouns can be both singular and plural. Yes, I know, that sounds like an impossible contradiction. But, this is English after all, and English is full of such maddening things. In fact, to add to the confusion there are several types of these nouns! There are irregular, non-changing nouns, which have the…
Up and Out on a Date in English Posted by Gary Locke on Jul 12, 2018
As regular readers of this blog know, the English language is full of confusing expressions and terminology which make life difficult for learners. Even native speakers can be excused for shaking their heads in bewilderment sometimes during a simple conversation. I heard a brief exchange between two people the other day which made me wonder…
The New Suffix Posted by Gary Locke on Jun 7, 2018
A suffix is a letter, or several letters, added to a word which then forms a new word. It is a tail at the end, wagging at us and saying, “Look at me! I’m something new!” A suffix can change a verb to a noun or an adjective. Add -ly to an adjective and you…