English check

Nordic Viking said:
Seriously though, then it should be "Elliot and E.T. flew as high as a birds" not bird, IMO.
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should be:
"as high as birds". Drop the article "a"...

Munk is correct, #2 is an archiac phrase. Think: "Say, gee that's swell".
Very 1930s-50s.

#4 is a very awkward sentence.

Danny, I taught ESL for 12 years. For whatever reason, Japanese students often wanted to argue with native speakers over correct usage :rolleyes:
 
Nordic Viking said:
Yep, that was a typo (too busy trying to get a red s to check for grammar) ;)
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Please understand that I wish my Swedish was one tenth as good as your English:)

"High as a kite" is still sometimes heard in reference to intoxication...
 
I wish *my* English were as good as ya'lls...

1. Who because they are individuals as opposed to "Which is stronger, a giant fictional ape or a giant fictional made up dinosaur thing?"

2 &3. Over the and on stand...and agree with the comments regarding my travel to or upon arrival, into.

4. Agree that it's awkward, but common in *speech* as opposed to written communication.
 
For # 1, it's who because it's a subject pronoun, not an object pronoun. Godzilla and King Kong are both proper nouns. A simple substitution will show the correctness of this. We'd answer the question, if we substituted a pronoun, "He is stronger," not "Him is stronger." The difference is easier to see with him, an object pronoun, and he, a subject pronoun, with which we are generally more familiar than who and whom, but the same rule applies.

Ad's point is valid as well, but these are pretty well established characters.
 
Josh Feltman said:
For # 1, it's who because it's a subject pronoun, not an object pronoun. Godzilla and King Kong are both proper nouns. A simple substitution will show the correctness of this. We'd answer the question, if we substituted a pronoun, "He is stronger," not "Him is stronger." The difference is easier to see with him, an object pronoun, and he, a subject pronoun, with which we are generally more familiar than who and whom, but the same rule applies.

Ad's point is valid as well, but these are pretty well established characters.
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Now we're having fun. A great explaination, Josh:thumbup: . A bit of obscure English grammer of the kind that has always made its learning and usage such a joy;)

Ok, y'all got me gon agin an u don't b known:

#1) Properly "which", but by rules of usage, since they are infered as Proper
Pronouns, "who" is acceptable. Are they personalities or are they things?:D

#2) also could be: "above the", "soaring above the", "high above" etc.
Lotsa others, proley;)

#3) Americans usually keep their good friends "in their hearts". When we have someone "on our minds", we are either in love, worried or angry or sumthin :rolleyes:

#5) Awkward and wrong on so many different levels:thumbdn:

Audi primos :cool: :yawn:;)
 
1. "Who"
2. "into the"
3. "in"
4. Bad grammar the way you wrote it.
'Of all movies in the world, I was moved by the E.T.
 
One of the teachers was ready to argue with me today about the pronunciation of apple. His textbook said it had an "eh" sound instead of "a" like "Hat."
I said, "Sensei, even if that were true, and it isn't, this morning you came in and said "How big shoes?" You're so far from being ready to argue with me about the A sound it's not even funny."
 
DannyinJapan said:
One of the teachers was ready to argue with me today about the pronunciation of apple. His textbook said it had an "eh" sound instead of "a" like "Hat."
I said, "Sensei, even if that were true, and it isn't, this morning you came in and said "How big shoes?" You're so far from being ready to argue with me about the A sound it's not even funny."
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Have him try to say this:

"Reckless Rosalie runs red lights regularly":D

Ehpple? :rolleyes:
 
are you kidding? I cant get the English teachers to say "A,B,C" correctly.
Today I was arguing with them that the number 5 does not have a t shape at the top (like a kana or kanji)
I said" Sensei, all the books agree with me, the internet, all the worksheets, every poster in school, anything numbered, hell even your license plates agree with me, but you are going to teach these kids the wrong way because some teacher of yours taught you that way?"
"Yes"
 
DannyinJapan said:
everybody please give me input...

Would you "go to a forest" or "go into the forest" ?
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Both are correct, but have seperate meanings. Going to a forest is vague and only references a type of location, rather then a specific one, where as going into the forest implies that there is a specific forest being referenced.

They would be used at different times. "I'm tired of the city, I really need to go to a forest to get away from it all." vs. "okay campers, once we go into the forest you won't be able to use your cell phones."


I guess in that case I'd rather say "enter the forest" rather then "go into the forest"....
 
DannyinJapan said:
Sometimes the Japanese teachers dont believe me when I make corrections to their english textbooks.
Would you native speakers have a look at these sentences and fill in the blanks?
(If you feel other changes would be necessary to make these sentences as natural as possible, feel free to do so. they are not all fill in the blank.)

1 ________ is stronger, Godzilla or King Kong?

2 Elliott and E.T. flew as high as a bird and went ____ ____ forest.

3 Good friends will always be ____ our minds.

4 E.T. is the most moving movie in the world.
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The sentences should read:

1 Which smell is stronger, Godzilla's or King Kong's?

2 Eliot, T. S., flew as high as a bird and went bonkers in the forest.

3 Good friends will always be messing with our minds.

4 E.T. is the most moving documentary in the world!
 
DannyinJapan said:
But you saw ET, what did they do?
Did they go to a forest or go into the forest?
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lol, I didn't connect the two posts. They definitely went "over the forest".

You could say that they went "into the forests airspace" or "went to the outskirts of the forest", but there has to be qualifiers to help explain the spacial difference.
 
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