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Breaking Down English Grammar’s Complexities
Grammar Sucks dives into the quirks, oddities, and contradictions of English grammar, challenging its necessity while uncovering its role in shaping how we communicate today.
AI wrote the above for me. Pretty ridiculous, huh? I’m here to help you communicate using proper grammar in writing and speech. Forget AI. He/she/it can help with research, but never rely on its writing ability, if that’s what we’re going to call it.
Actually, English is not that complex. It’s just that the teachers who tried to teach it to us used complex methods and explanations, or worse, they didn’t really understand English grammar themselves. I recommend you get my book, The Grammar Sucks Guide to Mastering English, but you will also find many articles here to help you along your way to making English work perfectly for you.
Uncovering the Truth About English Grammar
Here we go again. My AI-guided website builder came up with this topic. Does English grammar have a truth? All be told, it’s a weird combination of Germanic and Latin derivations (the Roman type of Latin). I honestly learned most of my grammar by studying Latin in high school.
That’s how, for instance, I learned the difference between nominative and accusative, or subject and object, which are crucial to many of the constructions in English. Let me give you a quick example. In the sentence, “I like eggs for breakfast,” I is the subject, or nominative, and eggs is the accusative, or object. That’s a pretty simple, straightforward sentence that very few of us would ever screw up.
It gets more confusing, or at least challenging, when pronouns become involved in the mix. You wouldn’t generally say, “Me likes eggs for breakfast.” However, when the first-person pronoun is used in the accusative sense as an object, people often get mixed up.
Take this sentence: “He showed great kindness toward my sister and I.” You probably wouldn’t bat an eye when you heard someone say you, and you’re probably figure that the English usage was spot on. However, prepositions such as toward take the accusative case, so the sentence should read, “He showed great kindness toward my sister and me.” Me is the accustive form of the first-person pronoun (i, me).
Now here’s something I see a lot, especially in forums and on social media. Someone who has been thanked (“thank you”) will respond, “Your welcome.” Oops, your is a possessive adjective. What should be written is “You’re welcome.” You’re is the contraction for you are, as in “You are welcome.”
These are some starters. Dig into the article base here for more tips, and I’d certainly be happy to say, “You’re welcome,” if you thank me for the help I provide.