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Xiaomei wrote to me with this question:
Is it grammatically correct to use structures like this “…, which is where I did something”. (My understanding is that one should say “…, where I did something”. )
I’ve seen this once in a native speaker’s essay written for an assignment. Just now I came across this again in an email. Is this just how American speak in everyday life?
I think you’re right. I searched the Corpus of Contemporary American English for the words “which is where”, and it’s 7 times more common in spoken than academic English, where it is very rare. E.g.:
* It was in the Cincinnati Enquirer, which is where your company headquarters is
* Let me tell you a story about western Michigan, which is where Huckabee’s is going to be campaigning
In academic English, many of the examples are from quoted speech. But very occasionally, it’s not exactly the same as “where” — e.g.:
* … should they begin assigning specific people and estimated hours to particular tasks, which is where most disagreements arise
To me, this form is a little more emphatic than “where”. Instead of saying “Here most disagreements arise…”, the writer is saying. “It is here that most disagreements arise.” (It is here –> which is where). It puts more focus on “here/where”, I think.
Any other opinions?
Thanks for your quick response, Nigel! Your explanation makes sense.
BTW, Nigel, can you tell us more about the Corpus of Contemporary American English? It looks like an very interesting and useful source.
The Corpus of Contemporary American English is a huge (385million words!) collection of recent texts (spoken and written), which you can use to examine patterns in modern, American English. If you go to the website and read the introduction notes and follow the tutorial (in the bottom window), you should see what you can do with it. I’m hoping to make an online video about using corpora some time this summer …
I stumbled upon the following website with a number of references to ‘fishes’:
http://australianmuseum.net.au/Fishes
Can someone please clarify whether this is correct grammar? I am certain that fish is the same singular as it is plural (as with sheep and salmon etc).
Thanks.
It’s an interesting question, Charlie. Fish has two plurals — fish and fishes, with the second usually meaning “different types of fish”. The new American Collins Cobuild gives both “fish” and “fishes” as possible plurals, with no difference in meaning. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (from the UK) notes: “Fish is the usual plural form. The older form, fishes, can be used to refer to different kinds of fish.”
Since an official publication uses it (the website of the Australian Museum), “fishes” is clearly “correct” grammar (although perhaps there is a small difference between Australian English and other varieties here?).
Remember that most non-count nouns (which have no plural) can be used in the plural to mean “different types.” So, if you were ordering at a restaurant which had two different salmon dishes, you could ask the server “which of the salmons do you recommend?”
Do I always need to put quotation marks around a question or can I do without them after the colon as in the following example?
This book has successfully addressed a perennial problem of the system: “How do we pay for services? “
Elizabeth,
I don’t think this needs quotation marks at all, unless it’s a direct quotation (the exact words from the book), in which case they are needed to indicate that they aren’t your words (and you’ll need to add the correct citation afterward). If this is your paraphrase and you’re not quoting any actual speech, I don’t think there’s any need for the quotation marks.
Nigel
Dear Nigel,
I can’t figure out why the second of these two sentences is incorrect ,although ‘The lady’ is not clear and needs defining because we don’t which lady and it’s like ‘The man or the woman… :
1.’The lady,whose window you broke accidentally,has complained.’
2.’The lady whose window you broke accidentally has complained.’
Thanks
Both these sentences are grammatically correct, but they have slightly different meanings. In sentence (1), we already know which lady you are talking about, and the relative clause just adds extra information. In sentence (2), you identify the lady by telling us it’s precisely the lady whose window you broke. I think sentence (2) is more likely to be used.
Dear nigel,
Your explanation does make sense but I realy had a problem when I came across this sentencec :’The car which is silver is racing down the road’,which was marked as incorrect for not using the relative clause non-definingly.Should not the same description of ‘the lady whose… ‘apply here as long as it’s not clear which car and we’re isolating a specific one?
Thanks
It all depends on your meaning. It is rarely “correct” or “incorrect” to use commas or not.
Dear Nigel,
Thank you for your quick reply.
Dear Nigel,
-Why is the present perfect and not the past simple used in the following:’We have had the championships here three times before,in1997,1998,1999?Does the comma play any role here?
_Does it make any difference if we use use ‘usually’ instead of ‘often’ in such a sentence as ‘I have often tried to read War and Peace but I always stop because it’s difficult’?Why?
Thanks
Nidal:
In sentence 1, I think the present perfect is used to suggest that the team hopes to win another championship! (The past simple would make their victories more distant.) The comma after before seems to be a marker of speech (it’s not strictly necessary in formal writing) — the speaker pauses here. It’s also probably used to separate the two prepositions (before in …).
In sentence 2, usually and often have different meanings. Usually is a habit; often suggests frequent attempts. So, usually doesn’t make much sense to me here.
Hi,
Why is it not possible to say ‘both of John and Carla’ while it’s possible to say ‘both of them’?
Thanks
There’s no particularly good reason here, except to say that we also use “both of” with pronouns and with “the + plural noun” (both of the hotels …). We just use “both” with names and zero article + plural nouns (both people …).
Hi Nigel:
Can one use a singular or a plural verb to agree with the word ‘percentage’?For example,’What percentage of emails (are,is) in English?’
Lots of thanks
According to “The Grammar Book”, when you use percent/percentage with plural count nouns, the verb is plural, so “are” is better in your sentence. However, I suspect actual use varies. I’d need to dig around in the corpus more.
Dear Nigel:
What justification can be given for not using ‘incredibly’ instead of ‘ablolutely’ in such a sentence as:’ I’m sure it’s an absolutely great idea’
Lots of thanks
I think this is probably a case of collocation: “incredibly” sounds more idiomatic to me. The problem is not really grammatical: it’s a question of what adverbs can intensify the adjective “great”. “Absolutely” is too strong here: when you say something is not an “incredibly great idea,” I feel you are hedging (softening) the impact of your criticism.
Hello!
In Steinbeck’s East of Eden, I read this sentence, p 553 :
« The two-line holograph will attracted him. »
Is that a typo mistake for “will have attracted him”?
Or does this grammar tense (will + participate) really exist?
Thank you very much for your answer!
I think this has to be a typo. I can’t imagine any context in which the sentence would be grammatical. I’d suggest checking another edition of the book.
Is there any differnece between ‘think of ‘and’think about’?
Hi,
What’s the difference in meaning between the following sentences ?
‘You look strange when you do that.’
‘You look strange when you are doing that.’
Can both of the tenses be used?
Thanks.
Hi,
How can one use ‘incident’ and ‘accident’ correctly?
Thanks
Is the following sentence grammaticall correct and
which grammatical sence does it belong to
‘Before the film begins all the tickets are being collected.’
‘Before the film begins all the tickets are being collected
it is cool in the hills?
it is cool on the hills?
which one is correct?
what does it mean the following sentence
befor the films begins all the tickets are being collected.
what does it mean
before film begins all the tickets are being collected
what does it mean the following sentence
befor the films begins all the tickets are being collected.