ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

How to read complex sentence?

Many of you have trouble reading complex sentences and identifying the grammar errors.  The trick is the method of peeling onions, layer by layer.

Usage of Comma (2 of 3)

E.  Use comma to set off expressions that interrupt sentence flow.  By the way, they are used mostly in verbal English.

Nouns:  Plural vs. Singular

Sometimes, you might wonder why we can modify a plural noun with a singular noun.

When to use a comma?

A. Use commas to avoid confusion. 

Common Grammar and Usage errors:

A run-on sentence (aka. fused sentence) is a sentence which joins two or more independent clauses without a conjunction or an appropriate punctuation.  Comma splice, which joins two independent clauses with a comma, is a type of run-on sentence. 

A run-on sentence is a grammatically incorrect sentence.  A sentence can be a run-on sentence if it falls under the above criteria, no matter whether it is a short sentence or a long one.   

Gerund vs. Infinitive :  何時使用動名詞 vs. 不定詞

(1) To pass the test is important.  (O)

請問要如何分辨何時要用不定詞何時用現在分詞來當形容詞?

不定詞及現在分詞當作形容詞來使用 are not always interchangeable.  It depends on the situations.  Usually infinitive is used to describe a future event, and present participle is used to describe a current or past event. 

A tag question is a statement turned into a question, when asking for confirmation or disconfirmation of that statement. They can be an indicator of politeness, emphasis, or irony. They may suggest confidence or lack of confidence; they may be confrontational or tentative.

These are the structures.

I saw this question at Yahoo Knowledge today.  I was about to answer but found out that there were people already providing pretty good answer.  Since it is too long for me to post this as a comment to that question, I decided to post it here for your reference. 

請問各位大大

Appositive - 同位語

An appositive is a noun, noun phrase, or noun clause which follows immediately right after a noun or pronoun and describes or renames it.

Elisa’s Grammar – Elisa的文法

Table of Content (Work in Progress) 

Causatives - 使役動詞

使役動詞大多要接不定詞. Let, make, have  例外.

What are Subjunctive Verbs?  假設法語句

When do we use subjunctive verbs and what is the difference between British English and American English around subjunctive verbs?

When “this” appears in front of an adjective, it is used as an adverb to modify the adjective, meaning: “to the extent or degree indicated, 如此的”

For example:

10.  Modifiers between a subject and its verb

Ignore the modifiers that get between a subject and its verb to determine whether the verb is singular or plural. 

7.  Compound subjects connected by “and”

(a) Verb is mostly plural for compound subjects connected by “and”. 

Conjunction: 連接詞 

We use conjunction to link words, phrases and clauses within the same sentence.  It is a word that connects parts of a sentence.

 一個句子裡連接單字,片語,或子句的字稱為連接詞 

 Subject – Verb Agreement: “Plural vs. Singular”

5.  Quantity / Measurement

Subject – Verb Agreement: “Plural vs. Singular”