Grammar School Nsane Grammar School

[rudrax]

How about a little poetry and prose to enliven up the English Grammer School?

"What may a language be; devoid that of its soul."

For language be the body, Poetry turns it whole.

:coolwink:

Learn the skeleton first. Formation of body comes after that and about the soul; you can't see it, so let it be that way.

[rudrax]

WORD

The combination of letters make words. In more accurate sense, the word can be defined as the combination of letters which has an apparent meaning in the literature.

Combinations of vowel and consonant make different words. The longest word (probably) that can be pronounced without having a vowel in it is "Rhythm".

Capitalization of the words

The first letter of the word which starts a sentence should be in capital letter.

e.g, This is nsane.forums.

Name of any person, places, historical monuments, rivers, hills etc. should also start with capital letter.

e.g, John, England, Eiffel tower, Mississippi, Himalaya etc.

The first letter of the first word inside inverted comma or quotes (".......") should also start with capital letter.

e.g, He said to me, "Kick my butts!"

The surname of a person should also start with capital letter.

e.g, Sir. Issac Newton.

Concept is further refined by tezza

[tezza]

The first letter of the first word inside inverted comma or quotes (".......") should also start with capital letter.

e.g, He said to me, "Kick my butts!"

Capitalize the first letter of a direct quote when the quoted material is a complete sentence.

Mr. Johnson, who was working in his field that morning, said, "The alien spaceship appeared right before my own two eyes."

Do not use a capital letter when the quoted material is a fragment or only a piece of the original material's complete sentence.

Although Mr. Johnson has seen odd happenings on the farm, he stated that the spaceship "certainly takes the cake" when it comes to unexplainable activity.

If a direct quotation is interrupted mid-sentence, do not capitalize the second part of the quotation.

"I didn't see an actual alien being," Mr. Johnson said, "but I sure wish I had." ^_^ :D

[rudrax]

The first letter of the first word inside inverted comma or quotes (".......") should also start with capital letter.

e.g, He said to me, "Kick my butts!"

Capitalize the first letter of a direct quote when the quoted material is a complete sentence.

Mr. Johnson, who was working in his field that morning, said, "The alien spaceship appeared right before my own two eyes."

Do not use a capital letter when the quoted material is a fragment or only a piece of the original material's complete sentence.

Although Mr. Johnson has seen odd happenings on the farm, he stated that the spaceship "certainly takes the cake" when it comes to unexplainable activity.

If a direct quotation is interrupted mid-sentence, do not capitalize the second part of the quotation.

"I didn't see an actual alien being," Mr. Johnson said, "but I sure wish I had." ^_^ :D

Thanks a lot tezza for pointing this out. This counts as a help. These 3 sentences that you have stated comes in styling section too.

Yes, the sentence should be completed.

[jalaffa]

Another famous mistake that people make, like then/than and to/too, is your and you're. :P

Your: Of you or yourself.

You're: You are.

And some people know about it but still make these mistakes. :mellow:

Moral of the story? Punctuation marks are an important part of English language. ;)

With that in mind I had the Simple Port Forwarding description in the listing changed.

from:

So whether you don't understand how to forward ports, or your simply looking for an easier way to forward ports then this program is for you. Its port forwarding made simple.

to:

So whether you don't understand how to forward ports, or you're simply looking for an easier way to forward ports then this program is for you. It's port forwarding made simple.

[spidey]

How about a little poetry and prose to enliven up the English Grammer School?

"What may a language be; devoid that of its soul."

For language be the body, Poetry turns it whole.

:coolwink:

Learn the skeleton first. Formation of body comes after that and about the soul; you can't see it, so let it be that way.

Hehe.

Alright, bro.

:thumbsup:

[ck_kent]

A word that is started with vowel and pronounced completely like a vowel, in this case we will put a instead of an

e.g, This is a universal fact, There is a ice block.

P.S. Please feel free to ask any question/doubt/complaints regarding this lesson :)

Shouldn't this be "pronounced completely like a consonant?"

Also, I think it should be "There is an ice block" as "ice" is clearly pronounced as a vowel. :) "An" is used preceding a vowel if it is pronounced like a consonant, like "universal."

It should be noted as to what English grammar are we following, US or UK?

Say, for example, i believe UK English speakers say "herbs" with an "h" while US English speakers say it with a silent "h." This will affect the usage of "a" and "an." So, which one are we following? ;)

[rudrax]

A word that is started with vowel and pronounced completely like a vowel, in this case we will put a instead of an

e.g, This is a universal fact, There is a ice block.

P.S. Please feel free to ask any question/doubt/complaints regarding this lesson :)

Shouldn't this be "pronounced completely like a consonant?"

Also, I think it should be "There is an ice block" as "ice" is clearly pronounced as a vowel. :) "An" is used preceding a vowel if it is pronounced like a consonant, like "universal."

It should be noted as to what English grammar are we following, US or UK?

Say, for example, i believe UK English speakers say "herbs" with an "h" while US English speakers say it with a silent "h." This will affect the usage of "a" and "an." So, which one are we following? ;)

Thanks for sharing your doubt. :)

Actually, not the whole word should pronounce like a vowel, it requires just the starting vowel of the word to pronounce exactly like the vowel itself in order to avoid an for an a. Furthermore, this rule is not obeyed for the vowel a. For the rest of the vowels except a, they can't be pronounced as the way they individually do to get an an avoiding a.

And about UK and US, I guess, we will go with UK because US omits a lot. <_<

[dcs18]

The most common mistake I find (especially amongst Indians - not limited to the uneducated) at the intro. stage of spoken English is:-

I, myself - Mr. John Smith instead of I'm John Smith

[majithia23]

Mother of all Grammar Lessons ! 8)

[Alanon]

A very nice thread. Hopefully, it will lead to a more productive and grammar-conscious community. Speaking of consciousness, and delving into the field of semantics (my personal favourite) on a more enthusiast-oriented level - there are differences between conscious, conscive, consciousness, conscience... and so on, of which I probably shouldn't go into detail here.

Perhaps at a certain point it will also be included in the grammar studies? Grammar can only go so far, semantics and after a point, semiotics, continue the advancement of language study. Should the need ever arise to discuss these fields, nowadays attributed to linguistics, or for that matter etymology or archaic forms of English, do count me in as a part of the colegium! :lol:

[rudrax]

A very nice thread. Hopefully, it will lead to a more productive and grammar-conscious community. Speaking of consciousness, and delving into the field of semantics (my personal favourite) on a more enthusiast-oriented level - there are differences between conscious, conscive, consciousness, conscience... and so on, of which I probably shouldn't go into detail here.

Perhaps at a certain point it will also be included in the grammar studies? Grammar can only go so far, semantics and after a point, semiotics, continue the advancement of language study. Should the need ever arise to discuss these fields, nowadays attributed to linguistics, or for that matter etymology or archaic forms of English, do count me in as a part of the colegium! :lol:

Are you interested to be in Faculty? DKT27 suggested me to have you in his place because he thinks, you will do better than him.

[rudrax]

Form of verb after for and to

In a sentence, when we need to put a verb after for, continuous form of the verb should be used. (verb + ing)

For example, let us consider a sentence:

I am here for doing the work.

In a sentence, when we need to put a verb after to, simple present form of the verb should be used. (verb -> to its simple present form)

For example, let us consider the same sentence above:

I am here to do the work.

[dcs18]

An Indian visits Harvard University, and is lost. He stops a student and asks, "Do you know where the library is at?"

"I sure do," replies the student, "But, you know, you're not supposed to end sentences with prepositions."

"What?"

"Prepositions. You ended your sentence with an 'at', which you aren't supposed to do."

"Oh OK," says the Indian, "Do you know where the library is at, asshole?"

[rudrax]

An Indian visits Harvard University, and is lost. He stops a student and asks, "Do you know where the library is at?"

"I sure do," replies the student, "But, you know, you're not supposed to end sentences with prepositions."

"What?"

"Prepositions. You ended your sentence with an 'at', which you aren't supposed to do."

"Oh OK," says the Indian, "Do you know where the library is at, asshole?"

You are working on sentence, right?

[Alanon]

Are you interested to be in Faculty? DKT27 suggested me to have you in his place because he thinks, you will do better than him.

Well, with a referral like that, who can say no? :D

[Alanon]

A brief prolegomenon to sentence construction

Having applied to be in the faculty, a possible lecture has been imposed upon me by fate. While viewing this topic, the second sentence sticks out: "At least you have had one of this!" Without nitpicking, I'm going to outline the basic problems concerning the meaning, message and construction of this sentence. While I have nothing against the author of the info-graphic, he was clearly not a native speaker. While it is granted that everyday English has become over-simplified, that its message can be understood easily, more so than ever before, sentence construction is paramount to the educated user. It not only helps while writing any and all kinds of serious papers, but also attributes greatly to precision in expressing a thought. That, in turn, can make you look suave, eloquent, and get you laid. It can also make you look like a pompous ass, and get the alcoholic beverage of your choice thrown in your face. Your mileage may vary. Hopefully, you won't find me tedious. :P On we go!

Beginning from the obvious - "this" (the reason I place the word in quotation marks is to cater to the linguists in our merry bunch. I treat the sentence analysis as morphosyntaxic, the words are therefore lexemes.), is not the proper form of the lexeme required here. In all languages, one must take into consideration the forms, singular or plural (and in some languages the triple or five-fold constructions), that the lexeme in question refers to. In this case, the proper form is - "these".

The second misuse is inversion. While this is a nuance, in the English language, it is a powerful one. Namely, beginning with "At least", rather than "You've" or "You have", you (sub)consciously ignore that part of the sentence, as you stress what immediately follows it - in this case "you". From this, we conclude that the person saying those words has, in fact, had none of the phones. The person could, depending on the stress-position, mean one of the following:

While I've never had any of those, it's good that you of all people did. ("At least you have had one of these!")

While you may or may not have one now, at some point you at least had the one. ("At least you have had one of these!")

You had the good fortune to have in your possession one of these, while I was not so fortunate. ("At least you have had one of these!")

What are you complaining about? You were more fortunate than me, you had one of the phones! ("At least you have had one of these!")

Unlike me, you had one of these masterpieces, out of all the other possibilities. ("At least you have had one of these!")

These are only the most basic interpretations based on the stress of intonation a crazy linguist might infer from this sort of experiment (it is also one of the reasons linguistics is so unpopular. xD). What is certain is that, while these meanings are all more or less possible, "at least" is confined only to delivering the message of frustration - the person we're talking to is more fortunate than we - a connotation clearly opposite from the message the sentence was meant to deliver. Furthermore, choosing a formal way of expression "you have" instead of "you've", creates a dis-balance, as the recipient of the message becomes a person of higher status, requiring respect (a thing you are certainly not going to find in an info-graphic.). If we were to choose the informal lexeme, and invert the adjacent parts, however, we would change the basic meaning almost completely.

Suddenly, by placing "You've had" first, it becomes the "neglected" part of the message, the one with implied meaning. While it is extremely difficult to imagine either of these constructions standing on their own, by joining them together, we get a typical formulation in the English language - "You've had at least...". In this sort of sentence, the stress naturally falls on the part that will follow, because this construction almost always deals with quantity of some sort. The verb "to have" is fixed in the context of possession, "at least", being the tool of definitively stressing the quantity implied. The connotation, thus, becomes neutral, because the speaker focuses on the quantity, and his attitude towards the expressed message is not in question.

That's the linguistic logic with which we get the message that we've all at some point had a phone from that list. While all these interpretations are petty, pedantic, etc. they fulfil the task set by the title - being a prolegomenon towards an extrapolation of a few interesting issues in the English sentence. Advanced users may benefit greatly from this. They need only ponder the possibilities of constructing a sentence by analysing the steps they take. In other words, reading and writing properly are extremely important, but the final step (which I've tried to outline here) is thinking language - realising why you've just used this construction instead of that, and why you've chosen namely those words to say it.

[calguyhunk]

... prolegomenon ...

1. Ummm ... I had to look it up :O :P

2. Firefox thinks the word doesn't exist. It suggests 'phenomenon' instead :hehe:

[rudrax]

Are you interested to be in Faculty? DKT27 suggested me to have you in his place because he thinks, you will do better than him.

Well, with a referral like that, who can say no? :D

Welcome to the school :D

[rudrax]

A brief prolegomenon to sentence construction

Having applied to be in the faculty, a possible lecture has been imposed upon me by fate. While viewing this topic, the second sentence sticks out: "At least you have had one of this!" Without nitpicking, I'm going to outline the basic problems concerning the meaning, message and construction of this sentence. While I have nothing against the author of the info-graphic, he was clearly not a native speaker. While it is granted that everyday English has become over-simplified, that its message can be understood easily, more so than ever before, sentence construction is paramount to the educated user. It not only helps while writing any and all kinds of serious papers, but also attributes greatly to precision in expressing a thought. That, in turn, can make you look suave, eloquent, and get you laid. It can also make you look like a pompous ass, and get the alcoholic beverage of your choice thrown in your face. Your mileage may vary. Hopefully, you won't find me tedious. :P On we go!

Beginning from the obvious - "this" (the reason I place the word in quotation marks is to cater to the linguists in our merry bunch. I treat the sentence analysis as morphosyntaxic, the words are therefore lexemes.), is not the proper form of the lexeme required here. In all languages, one must take into consideration the forms, singular or plural (and in some languages the triple or five-fold constructions), that the lexeme in question refers to. In this case, the proper form is - "these".

The second misuse is inversion. While this is a nuance, in the English language, it is a powerful one. Namely, beginning with "At least", rather than "You've" or "You have", you (sub)consciously ignore that part of the sentence, as you stress what immediately follows it - in this case "you". From this, we conclude that the person saying those words has, in fact, had none of the phones. The person could, depending on the stress-position, mean one of the following:

While I've never had any of those, it's good that you of all people did. ("At least you have had one of these!")

While you may or may not have one now, at some point you at least had the one. ("At least you have had one of these!")

You had the good fortune to have in your possession one of these, while I was not so fortunate. ("At least you have had one of these!")

What are you complaining about? You were more fortunate than me, you had one of the phones! ("At least you have had one of these!")

Unlike me, you had one of these masterpieces, out of all the other possibilities. ("At least you have had one of these!")

These are only the most basic interpretations based on the stress of intonation a crazy linguist might infer from this sort of experiment (it is also one of the reasons linguistics is so unpopular. xD). What is certain is that, while these meanings are all more or less possible, "at least" is confined only to delivering the message of frustration - the person we're talking to is more fortunate than we - a connotation clearly opposite from the message the sentence was meant to deliver. Furthermore, choosing a formal way of expression "you have" instead of "you've", creates a dis-balance, as the recipient of the message becomes a person of higher status, requiring respect (a thing you are certainly not going to find in an info-graphic.). If we were to choose the informal lexeme, and invert the adjacent parts, however, we would change the basic meaning almost completely.

Suddenly, by placing "You've had" first, it becomes the "neglected" part of the message, the one with implied meaning. While it is extremely difficult to imagine either of these constructions standing on their own, by joining them together, we get a typical formulation in the English language - "You've had at least...". In this sort of sentence, the stress naturally falls on the part that will follow, because this construction almost always deals with quantity of some sort. The verb "to have" is fixed in the context of possession, "at least", being the tool of definitively stressing the quantity implied. The connotation, thus, becomes neutral, because the speaker focuses on the quantity, and his attitude towards the expressed message is not in question.

That's the linguistic logic with which we get the message that we've all at some point had a phone from that list. While all these interpretations are petty, pedantic, etc. they fulfil the task set by the title - being a prolegomenon towards an extrapolation of a few interesting issues in the English sentence. Advanced users may benefit greatly from this. They need only ponder the possibilities of constructing a sentence by analysing the steps they take. In other words, reading and writing properly are extremely important, but the final step (which I've tried to outline here) is thinking language - realising why you've just used this construction instead of that, and why you've chosen namely those words to say it.

Just start with basics. You might wanna read this notice. And, use these labels too :rolleyes:

Nice work :thumbsup:

[Alanon]

... prolegomenon ...

1. Ummm ... I had to look it up :o :P

2. Firefox thinks the word doesn't exist. It suggests 'phenomenon' instead :hehe:

Sorry for any trouble, it really is the most appropriate word. It just fits the text in such a precise way that it immediately popped in my head. I will try to keep the jargon down to a minimum. I'll start with the boring words. :D

Just start with basics. You might wanna read this notice. And, use these labels too :rolleyes:

Nice work :thumbsup:

Aaaah, got it. Will do from now on. ;)

Glad you liked the post. :D :D

[rudrax]

... prolegomenon ...

1. Ummm ... I had to look it up :o :P

2. Firefox thinks the word doesn't exist. It suggests 'phenomenon' instead :hehe:

Sorry for any trouble, it really is the most appropriate word. It just fits the text in such a precise way that it immediately popped in my head. I will try to keep the jargon down to a minimum. I'll start with the boring words. :D

>Just start with basics. You might wanna read this notice. And, use these labels too :rolleyes:

Nice work :thumbsup:

Aaaah, got it. Will do from now on. ;)

Glad you liked the post. :D :D

This school needs you. You weren't in my mind while selecting the Faculty, may be, the reason is you are not so active in the forum. Anyway, now that you are included in the faculty, come here with your spare time and contribute as per knowledge. And try to make the posts a little interesting (I mean, the examples and other stuff where you can modify. But use the simplest English as possible) because, I don't want this school to be boring like the old school grammar.

And yeah, use color and and bold fonts at the letter/word/sentence where there is weight according to the subject matter.

[shought]

I think it's funny to see that other forums are crowded by grammar nazis whereas we have people trying to teach other people proper grammar in a rather constructive fashion.

Proud :)

[rudrax]

I think it's funny to see that other forums are crowded by grammar nazis whereas we have people trying to teach other people proper grammar in a rather constructive fashion.

Proud :)

Pop up here like this sometimes. You are the principal of the school, after all. :D

[shought]

I do have to be honest: you really put some pressure on me :P

Now I have to be grammatically correct all the time, well, at least when I post here. It takes some effort at times :rolleyes: