Verbs and prepositions – or adverbs? The standard definition of a preposition, as I wrote about in a previous post, is that prepositions are used to connect nouns. But prepositions also play an important role when we use them with verbs. Consider these examples: to break: The plate broke into pieces when it was dropped.
It’s actually very simple: there are some pronouns that we use after prepositions, and some that we don’t. In technical terms, prepositions have an object, and we use the dative form of pronouns to show this. Now, since I won’t be explaining either objects or dative forms for a while yet, this may not make
Prepositions serve a similar function to conjunctions: they connect other parts of speech together. But while conjunctions connect clauses, or groups of words containing a noun and related verb, prepositions connect nouns (or pronouns) with other nouns (or pronouns). In addition, this connection is usually one that relates to space or time. (There is hint
An unrecognised function of adverbs: sentence adverbs Consider this paragraph, and the meaning of the adverbs used in it (I have used bold to show both the adverbs and verbs). It is exam time again. Happily, most students are prepared. Sadly, some students will underperform. Unfortunately, they think their results determines their entire future. Thankfully,
While other parts of speech have rules governing where they are placed – for example, verbs need to be the first or second element in a sentence – adverbs can float around quite happily. Often we use them at the start (as you can see where the adverb often is used in this sentence) to
I know: since I’ve tipped the trifecta for the last three years (go back and read the posts!), you want to know what I’m tipping this year. All I can say is that this is the hardest Cup in years, mainly because it is a very ordinary field (reminds a lot of the fields of
Hyphens and compound adjectives We know that we use adjectives to describe nouns, pronouns and other adjectives. But when we have a long string of adjectives before a noun, it is possible that some of them describe another adjective, rather than the noun at the end of the string. Consider these two sentences: The blacksmith
Yes: 31,800,000 people can be wrong From go to whoa is an old expression. Whoa is a word that is used by people who work with horses, where it is used to tell a horse to stop. Strangely, the word had two pronunciations: woo (rhymes with boo) and woe (rhymes with toe). Horses seem to
The parts of speech is simply the term used to describe the group of functions that words carry out in speech and writing. One of the hardest things to cope with in English is the fact that most of the ‘rules’ aren’t black and white, and it can hard to pin exact answers to any
In celebration of the world’s greatest horseracing festival here in Melbourne – just over a kilometre, in fact, from where I sit right now – I am taking an equine theme this month for commonly confused words. There is a third homophone (or word that sounds the same) for this pair: rain. For some reason,