Comments

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  Trexxie July 18, 2015 13:59

  Hello oscar.. I'm new here but I'm almost want to start my English grammar.. How and what to do.. Than then
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  Bill the English Teacher January 14, 2015 17:51

  HI Oscar,

  You will be surprised that I have answered after almost a year.  I do sign on to English Club anymore. By chance I did sign on today because I got an e-mail from English Club and I was curious about it.  Yes, I remember you well. I am so proud of you becoming a lawyer. I wish all the best for you in that pursuit.  

    As far as your questions.  The best response to a person asking for money when you don't have it is "Sorry, I don't have any money on me."  If you have questions in the future send them to woolduck@comcast.net. I would be happy to answer them.  I miss so many people on English Club but my life became too busy to answer everyone.  But you are one of the special people.  I still do communicate with some of my English Club friends on Facebook.  Take care my friend.
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  Expector Smith July 4, 2014 0:25

  Hi Oscar,

  You are welcome. The word "no" can be so tricky, too:

  There were no letters for you.

  I've got no time.

  
  But you need to choose the single or plural according to what you're trying to say:

  He's got no children. (usually you have more than one child, so it's more natural than "no child")

  He's got no wife. ("no wives" may seem somebody has more than one wife)

  Hope it helps.
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  flowersong July 3, 2014 21:00

  Hello Oscar, It is my pleasure to extend my circle of friends with someone like you. Thanks for accepting my friend request. Have a good day :D
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  Expector Smith April 30, 2014 16:00

  Hi Oscar,

  Thanks for leaving such a great question on my page. I really enjoyed reading it and was so flattered. 

  You should use "any dollars" (plural) in that situation. But, "any" can mean "it doesn't matter which/what/who", for instance, "You could read any book (singular) here." So, you see, "any" can be so tricky. 

  "A lot of" and "lots of" are interchangeable. So, both of the sentences are correct.  More examples for you: "A lot of teachers want (plural) to help answer the question."  "lots of time is (singular) needed." 

  You could ask Alan on EC's "Grammar Help"forum. 

  Hope it helps.

  Expector
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  Bill the English Teacher September 21, 2009 20:34

  I must say that you have an excellent understanding of the English language in this area. Everything you said is true down to the very details. I am familiar with the Spanish and the English both and you nailed it. (to nail: to completely and successfully understand something or do something perfectly)
  
  Just to clarify one point:
  
  You said, "Had I a million dollars? should be considered incorrect?" Yes. As it stands this is incorrect. It is only correct if you add a consequence and are counting on the inversion “Had I” to replace an “if” statement. Had I a million dollars, I could quit my job. It has the exact same meaning as, "If I had a million dollars, I could quit my job." This more formal sounding way of speaking is actually used at times. I think we see it more in formal writing. But it makes sense to us Americans even though it sounds formal, stuffy or British. It can also sound quite educated or perhaps even over-educated and is not used by the average person on the streets in the USA.
  
  P.S : What´s the difference between "all of my friends" and "all my friends" ? Are they both correct?
  Both of these are correct. The second is just a reduction of the first. It can be used with "all my." However we don't reduce "some of my", "a few of my", "a bunch of my", " a lot of my" and "a little of my" (with a noncountable noun). So these are incorrect:
  Some my friends, a few my friends, a bunch my friends, a lot my friends, a little my sugar
  Yet, even further, we can reduce some of these if we do not use the possessive. Some friends, a few friends or a little sugar. But we cannot say a bunch friends, a lot friends. Who can keep track of this crazy language?
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  Bill the English Teacher September 21, 2009 0:26

  By the way, how do we ask an IF type question without using IF?
  IF I had a mjillion dollars I would buy a car. Had I a million dollars I would buy a car.
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  SARA SAR September 20, 2009 22:40

  hi oscar
  u very powerful in writing english and good analizing the topic for others.
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  Bill the English Teacher September 18, 2009 20:49

  Thanks for the thorough explanation of Papi Chulo. My son picked up this expression when he lived in Costa Rica. I think that different countries may use this term differently. He said in some contexts it meant a pimp. In English this is a man who is the boss of a group of prostitutes and they usually wear colorful, flashy clothes. But he said in a different context it means a "cool person" as in the English meaning of cool as someone who other people see as admirable because they never get over excited or upset. Knowing him, he probably means the first as a joke. But now it is my name in my family. Since my fellow gringos don't know what it means I don't worry too much.
  I did a little research on inversion and found several examples when it is used. I will also add my interpretation on to what I learned. We certainly do use it at times in certain common situations, but most of the time this is a very formal and little-used construction.
  It has a very simple definition. It is the switching of the normal noun/verb construction into a verb/noun construction. As you probably know, the order of words in English is extremely important and changes the meaning or emphasis of a thought. One small change of word order can totally result in a person being happy with your or not happy with you. If we switch the verb and the noun (subject) we are usually telling you something different. The obvious switch in English is questions. This is done in Spanish as well. Most of the other reasons for inversion are for emphasis of an adverb that normally would be placed after the verb. Using the adverb first, we emphasize it since it is the first thought in an inverted sentence and being first makes it more prominent in English word order. Letting the verb follow the adverb keeps it close to the verb it modifies and thus emphasizes the relationship of the two words. Letting the subject then follow the verb deemphasizes the subject since you want to emphasize the adverb. So the key to understanding inversion is that we try to preserve subject (noun)/verb order at all costs. If we change it we do it for a good reason to change the meaning or emphasis.
  This is the general explanation for everybody. I will send the detailed explanation to your email.
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  Bill the English Teacher February 23, 2009 7:14

  I like your sense of humor. Maybe I should name my PC, Billy Laptop. Actually the name of my computer is Papa Chulo, because that is what my son calls me. He says it is not offensive in Spanish, but I wonder. He lived in Costa Rica and Guatemala for a year and is practically fluent in Spanish.
  
  You have very good English, by the way. I am glad you can get good jobs without having to attend the university. I know lots of people who are good teachers without the university degree. They like to talk about a lot of nothing in the universities, but only the wise people know how to teach others. Now for your question.
  
  You have an excellent understanding of negative tag questions. And we do use these commonly. I think books should show better examples of how we use I am or I am not in tag questions. That is because there is an exception to the rules here. Let me explain in 4 steps.
  
  1. We can say, I am not or I'm not..... we NEVER say I amn´t .. nunca, nunca, nunca.
  
  2. A positive tag question for the pronoun “I” is am I? Example: Some people say I am a little crazy, am I? We want to hear from the other person about whether this is true or not. Is it true?
  
  3. A negative tag question for the pronoun “I” can be, am I not? It is used when we feel some doubt about something and want to be reassured that it is true. Example: I am a well-respected person, am I not? I want to believe I am well-respected. But I heard somebody say I was a fool. I have some doubt, so when I say, "am I not?", I am offering another person the chance to say, “No you are not.” Some people do think you are a fool.
  
  4. However, custom allows another way to say this, using a contraction, and it is much more common and informal. This alternate way of saying number 3, is aren't I?. Example: I'm a respectable person, aren't I. I am not sure of why we customarily do this, but it is not perceived as ignorance, lower class or incorrect. I would say it is more informal.
  
  So I hope this enlightens you. Remember one thing about English. We make lots of rules and then we immediately break them all and end up with many exceptions. I hope this gives you something to discuss with your fellow teachers. Tell them greetings from Papa Chulo, unless, of course, it actually is offensive. I think it depends upon which country.