Quirky Grammar & Other Obscure Things Good To Know

[Learning Partners]

ZXmum:

Hi, should we use \"was\" or \"were\" in the following sentence.


None of them _____ (was/were) happy with the information they received.

thanks

Hi ZXmum,

In the sentence that you quoted, the correct answer should be 'were'.

'None' can be used with both singular and plural verbs. So when deciding to use the singular or plural verb, we have to look at the context of the sentence.

None of them _____ (was/were) happy with the information they received.

The word 'they' in the sentence precludes the usage of the singular verb so the answer should be 'were'.



Learning Partners

[pixiedust]

Very useful ! Thank you !


I really like your clear explanations (better than many reference books/website) and examples of words children are confused with.

[ZXmum]

Hi Learning Partners,

Thanks for your reply.

[Learning Partners]

Hi pixiedust and ZXmum,


You are most welcome.



Learning Partners

[Learning Partners]

Hi parents,


It's good to be back. There has been a hiatus in our posts as we were busy with the opening of our two new branches - Ang Mo Kio and Bedok - but now that the dust has settled, we will resume our posts.

As the English Paper 1 examinations (compositions) are just round, we thought it would be timely and useful to share with you some words that are commonly misspelled. Run a checklist with your child(ren) to see how many they know.



Commonly Misspelled Words in English


Can you spot the spelling mistakes in the following words?

-Explaination
-Definately
-Wierd
-Recieve
-Theif
-Beleive
-Arguement
-Embarassment
-Moniter
-Acurate

Let’s see what the correct spelling of the following words should be...

✘--------------------------
Explaination------Explanation
Definately------Definitely
Wierd------Weird
Recieve------Receive
Theif------Thief
Beleive------Believe
Arguement------Argument
Embarassment------Embarrassment
Moniter------Monitor
Acurate------Accurate


You may have noticed that the common mistakes are with the sequence of vowels (especially ‘i’ and ‘e’) and the repetition of consonants (e.g. there are two ‘r’s in ‘embarrassment’ and two ‘c’s in ‘accurate’).


This is hardly a childhood problem. Many adults spell ‘definitely’ as ‘definately’, for instance. Just check out the comments on just about any YouTube video, many of which are written by adults!


Sometimes it may seem counterintuitive to spell some of these words the correct way. After all, ‘definitely’ seems to rhyme with ‘fortunately’.
The best thing to do is to get them right since young. Print out a comprehensive list of commonly misspelled words among children and practise with your child regularly.


One website you can refer to is http://www.alphadictionary.com/ww/misspelled_kid_words.html. But you really just have to conduct a Google search on ‘commonly misspelled words for kids’ and you'll get an avalanche of websites with similar lists. Of course, it also helps if your child is reading English books on a regular basis!



Learning Partners

[KRR]

Learning Partners:

Hi parents,


It's good to be back. There has been a hiatus in our posts as we were busy with the opening of our two new branches - Ang Mo Kio and Bedok - but now that the dust has settled, we will resume our posts.

As the English Paper 1 examinations (compositions) are just round, we thought it would be timely and useful to share with you some words that are commonly misspelled. Run a checklist with your child(ren) to see how many they know.



Commonly Misspelled Words in English


Can you spot the spelling mistakes in the following words?

-Explaination
-Definately
-Wierd
-Recieve
-Theif
-Beleive
-Arguement
-Embarassment
-Moniter
-Acurate

Let’s see what the correct spelling of the following words should be...

✘--------------------------
Explaination------Explanation
Definately------Definitely
Wierd------Weird
Recieve------Receive
Theif------Thief
Beleive------Believe
Arguement------Argument
Embarassment------Embarrassment
Moniter------Monitor
Acurate------Accurate


You may have noticed that the common mistakes are with the sequence of vowels (especially ‘i’ and ‘e’) and the repetition of consonants (e.g. there are two ‘r’s in ‘embarrassment’ and two ‘c’s in ‘accurate’).


This is hardly a childhood problem. Many adults spell ‘definitely’ as ‘definately’, for instance. Just check out the comments on just about any YouTube video, many of which are written by adults!


Sometimes it may seem counterintuitive to spell some of these words the correct way. After all, ‘definitely’ seems to rhyme with ‘fortunately’.
The best thing to do is to get them right since young. Print out a comprehensive list of commonly misspelled words among children and practise with your child regularly.


One website you can refer to is http://www.alphadictionary.com/ww/misspelled_kid_words.html. But you really just have to conduct a Google search on ‘commonly misspelled words for kids’ and you'll get an avalanche of websites with similar lists. Of course, it also helps if your child is reading English books on a regular basis!



Learning Partners

Hi Learning Partners,
This post has been so useful and that too when the English Paper 1 is fast approaching. Thank u very much.

KRR

[mama_g]

spot the error: http://www.relax.com.sg/relax/news/682788/Only_3_boy_has_flown_23_times.html

[Learning Partners]

Hi mama_g, when I opened the article, the first thing that caught my attention was the caption under the photo - ‘Above: Matthew Huang Jiaxuan holding onto his PPS card, and his passport, which has many chops from the countries he has visited.’



I believe you are referring to the word ‘chops’.


‘Chop’ is commonly used to refer to the action of cutting.


In this case, it would be more correct to use the word ‘stamps’.



Learning Partners

[24hr-mum]

hi


wats ur website and contact number?

[Learning Partners]

Hi 24hr-mum,



Our website is currently experiencing some technical difficulties but we are trying to fix it as soon as possible.


In the meantime, you could contact us at 6484 0680.


Best regards,
Learning Partners