Grammar Thread #918347

1. google "irony"
2. 'An' is used if the beginning of the next word sounds like a vowel, 'a' is used otherwise (this is what I have been taught, maybe you should google?)
3. Avoid double negatives if you want to be taken seriously.

Other things I have noticed lately:
- People saying "off of" as in "he took the wheels off of his truck." Just say off.
-People claiming things are "very unique." If something is unique by definition there is only one. Nothing is very one. Just say unique.
-There is a difference between acronyms and initialisms . Acronyms are things you pronounce togther ... like AIDS or SCUBA. Initialisms are things that represented by their initials, like NBA, IRA and IRS

 

Isn't it ironic?

 

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony - explains it pretty well

2) I believe 'h' is the most frequent exception to the an + word beginning with vowel rule.

3) Technically, "I don't have no money" means you do have money, but frequently people say that meaning they don't have money, which is of course bad grammar. Double negatives can be correctly used though.

 

Check this site out for grammar issues. It is very comprehensive.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

If the word following begins with a vowel sound, the word you want is “an”: “Have an apple, Adam.” If the word following begins with a consonant, but begins with a vowel sound, you still need “an”: “An X-ray will show whether there's a worm in it.” It is nonstandard and often considered sloppy speech to utter an “uh” sound in such cases.


The same rule applies to initialisms like “NGO” (for “non-governmental organization”). Because the letter N is pronounced “en,” it’s “an NGO” but when the phrase is spoken instead of the abbreviation, it’s “a non-governmental organization.”


When the following word definitely begins with a consonant sound, you need “a”: “A snake told me apples enhance mental abilities.”


Note that the letter Y can be either a vowel or a consonant. Although it is sounded as a vowel in words like “pretty,” at the beginning of words it is usually sounded as a consonant, as in “a yolk.”


Words beginning with the letter U which start with a Y consonant sound like “university” and “utensil” also take an “a”: “a university” and “a utensil.” But when an initial U has a vowel sound, the word is preceded by “an”: it’s “an umpire,” “an umbrella,” and “an understanding.”

 

Oh and here is my new favorite phrase that may eventually lead to me killing someone or my own death.

Me: "Thank you."

Slack Jawed Idiot: "You welcome."

WTF!?

 

before the swoly-d post i am posting in

 

Is that more or less annoying than " 'preciate it?"

 

sounds like a cajun.

 

Is this a serious question? Then I don't got no comment.

 

You get far enough away from the coasts or the metropol you probably see politicians, lawyers, doctors, executives and teachers talking this way. Add that most grammar and vocabulary probably started as slang of its root language, it's probably not unreasonable to see intelligent people sincerely ask this.

 

Hope this helps somewhat.

 

For making me miss this thread, long commute, darn you.

I always wondered why so many natives cannot learn the English language, but most of us foreigners can. I don't know why, but I am always fascinated by this.

Irony is, in writing terms, the disconnect between what is expected from a situation or character and the outcome of an event. For example, a restaurant named "Economy Rocks" opens when the economy is not going so well and it closes [when?] right away... [for what reason?] because the economy does NOT rock.

That's correct! You are completely literally correct. "Literally" is used to describe something as true when someone wouldn't believe it, as in "I am literally typing a really long post for Lil Pun." I believe that if you use the word "literally", you would use it properly in a sentence where the exaggeration included is actually happening. Nobody would believe "Jimmy's head actually exploded" unless it really happened.

"Coincidence", in the other hand, is the occurrence of two events that are unlikely to happen at the same time. What if you didn't know your friend was in New York, but you said "I took a trip to see the statue of liberty... my best friend was waiting there for me!"

That was a coincidence.

"It would be a coincidence when in 2022, Mexico and the United States both advanced to the FINALS of the World Cup when they're sharing host cities." And it would be an irony if both countries would not make it past the group round."

The word "ironic" is just the ADJECTIVE which takes its root from the noun "irony." You can make adjectives for nouns. You can even make adjectives out of the other parts of speech, like verbs or nouns. All you have to do is tack on an ending like "-ic" or "-ish" or "-ary". For example, this boy can grow up to be a huge man – but still have a boyish face. "Boy" is a noun, but the ending "-ish" makes it an adjective - boyish. That describes the huge man's face, get it?

Your assessment is correct. Use or "put" an "a" when the following word starts with a consonant sound, not letter: "a word", "a bottle", "a yellow duck", and "a university" are right. Note that "university" starts with the "y" sound.

No. Do not use two negatives in a sentence. Besides sounding tacky, it is wrong to do so. Use ONE negative only, or none at all: "I have money" or "I don't have money" are incorrect. In Spanish, this is allowed, but not in English: "Nadie tiene nada" is correct but would translate to "Nobody has anything" in English, but notice there aren't two negatives. In English, however, you cannot use a negative word that re-voids the already removed void. You must use only one negating word: "I have no money" is correct, and so is "I don't have any money."

Pun, these threads are my cup of tea, sir. Thank you.

 

I am sorry that I am reviving an old thread, but I just had to honor this:

With this:
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:grin: AWESOME. He is me.

 

queue msn's outrage over an unjokable subject in , 3...2...

 

"I don't know nothing"

"I ain't done nothing wrong"


I think double negatives = ebonic

 

I thought "irony" was the correct term for what we usually refer to as "sarcasm," and the "sarcasm" was actually a synonym for cynicism and sardonism.

 

24 Things You Might Be Saying Wrong

this list includes:

You never mean: Could care less
You always mean: Couldn't care less

You might say: Mano a mano
You might mean: Man-to-man

You might say: Less
You might mean: Fewer

You never mean: Hone in
You always mean: Home in

You might say: Bring
You might mean: Take

You might say: Who
You might mean: Whom

You almost never mean: Brother-in-laws, runner-ups, hole in ones, etc.
You almost always mean: Brothers-in-law, runners-up, holes in one, etc.

You almost never mean: Try and
You almost always mean: Try to

You almost never mean: Different than
You almost always mean: Different from

You almost never mean: Beg the question
You almost always mean: Raise the question

You might say: More than
You can also say: Over

You almost never mean: Supposably
You almost always mean: Supposedly

You might say: All of
You probably mean: All

You might say: That
You might mean: Which

You never mean: Outside of
You always mean: Outside

You might say: Each other
You might mean: One another

leery, wary: suspicious
weary: tired

farther: for physical distance
further: for metaphorical distance or time

principle: rule
principal: of your school

compliment: nice thing to say
complement: match

continual: ongoing but intermittent
continuous: without interruption

stationary: stands still
stationery: paper

imply: to suggest a meaning
infer: to draw meaning from something

affect: typically a verb, meaning "to act upon or cause an effect"; as a noun, it's "an emotional response"
effect: typically a noun, meaning "something produced," like a special effect; as a verb, "to bring about," as in "to effect change"


personally, i would add "penultimate" being confused with "ultimate".

 

Spoiler tags just in case....

Spoiler

I helped my uncle, Jack, off the horse.