Charming teacher on you tube explains past, present and future of various verbs such as rise

 https://www.facebook.com/EnglishClass101/videos/911696989374351

Punctuation: When Should I Use Full stops, commas and semi-colons?

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The comma is increasingly acceptable, after 'and'.

However, as an English teacher, I would not accept two whole sentences separated by a comma. You should have a full stop for two separate and complete sentences.

Alternatively, use a semi-colon for two related sentences, said with a briefer pause, like this:
'My surname is Wang. What's your last name?'  Alternatively,
'My surname is Wang; what's your last name?'

Few and A Few - a difference!

A few of you will be interested in the word few.

Many are called but few are chosen, says the bible.

Few means you can count them, refers to items you can count.

I read the description of a dress on Ebay. The seller said, It fits a few sizes. Her other description for another dress by the same designer said, It fits few sizes. I stared in amazement. By dropping the word a, probably because she typed fast, the meaning had changed. It fits few means not many. However, a few means several.

Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, ACG, CL, author, researcher, English and language teacher.

Why Grammar Matters - to a restaurant, hospital, job-seeker, mountain climber and pilot

Grammar, spelling and pronunciation are all essential tools in communicating messages. When all goes well, you get good food, arrive safely at a destination and stay healthy. Are you happy to be sent a bill for 30 people for a Christmas dinner when you asked the restaurant for thirteen? Are you happy to be given the wrong food in the restaurant?

PILOTS

Would you trust your life to a surgeon or pilot who cannot understand or communicate clear instructions? Can you understand the instructions on your washing machine, sewing machine, fast food?

I read on Facebook a link to somebody arguing that grammar does not matter. I would not even watch the video and give them the benefit of an extra viewer to increase their apparent popularity. I read the comments and added my own.

Sorry, but you are encouraging people to think that poor communication is good enough. Hospitals have deaths every year from carelessness in spelling and numbers. If you send an academic paper to a technical journal and your work is full of spelling and grammar errors your paper will not be published or you will be asked to re-submit it corrected. If two people apply for a job and one cannot write clear English and the other can, guess which one gets the job.

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Angela Lansbury "The policeman arrested the man using an illegal revolver." One of them is suing the newspaper for defamation of character. I read confusing newspaper reports all the time. In the UK a man was hanged because the jury was persuaded that "Let him have it" was intended to mean and interpreted by the co-accused as 'kill the policeman'' rather than 'give the policeman your gun'. Mountain climbers shouting instructions are taught to give clear instructions without negatives, which can be a matter of life and death. As soon as you start speaking to foreigners if you are not clear they get confused. In a Toastmasters International Speaking contest, marks are given for correct grammar. One person makes no errors - that could influence the tie-breaking judge, and give the better speaker lots of recognition including a certificate, the free trip to the USA and the chance to win money and a new career in public speaking.

Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, English teacher and tutor, coach for public speaking, author and speaker.

Toastmasters International ACG CL (Advanced Communicator Gold; Competent Leader.)

Only

The word only has many uses.
If only people would put 'only' in the right place.

Only in America
Book title and common phrase or catchphrase.

An only child
I am an only child. I have no brothers nor sisters. I am the only one. I admit I am sometimes 'lonely only'.

The word only also has many misuses.

"I only go shopping at weekends.' Does the word only apply to the shopping or the weekends? You might have said:
I go shopping only at weekends.
At weekends I do shopping only, nothing else.

Only read my rules on grammar, and I shall be happy.

Person that or person who?

On Facebook somebody commented that surely that refers to objects, but who refers to people. So why do so many writers speak of a person that ... ?

Here is what I wrote in reply:

That refers to one quality which defines the person. A famous newspaper headline about a murderer's girlfriend called her' The One That Got Away'. ' The woman who wore a red dress and black shoes was the one that got away.' totally different because who is followed by a clause of less significance. However, many people don't know the distinction. (See Fowler's or any grammar guide, including the biggest dictionary in a public library.)

You can see that wearing a red dress only applied as a description of the person on this one occasion. However, getting away applied to her for all time and was a unique quality attributed to her forever.

Angela Lansbury, English teacher and tutor, A A Hons, UCL

Comparatives Good, great, better, best

My colleague and friend Massimo (Italian for greatest) tells me my blog should be called Good, great, better and best.