Need Help with English Spelling, Grammar, Vocabulary or Pronunciation? Ask Here!

[seoulsearch]

Hey Everyone,

With all the talk about spelling, grammar, and vocabulary in the forums, I thought it might be helpful to have a thread where we could present our most puzzling questions about the English language, then have helpful, friendly, and more knowledgeable people answer here.

(I'm hoping I write this first post correctly so that we'll attract all the people who can help us! )

Don't feel you have to answer all the questions--just pick the ones you feel you can contribute to. Even if a question has been answered, feel free to share any additional information you may have been taught. Yup, I know I could probably just look these things up on a website somewhere, but as we discussed earlier, it's tough to find reliable information and I know we have several talented teachers and writers in our own CC community. Kudos to all of you and I'm hoping you can help the rest of us out!

I'll go first. Here are my questions:

1. Could anyone please explain why people use the word "eldest"? For instance, "Our eldest son..." I've always just said, "The oldest (sibling) in our family..." Can "oldest" and "eldest" be used interchangeable in this context, or is it absolutely necessary to use the word "eldest"?

2. In my last question, when is it proper to use "? (apostrophe, punctuation) or ?" (punctuation, apostrophe)? Which is correct: "eldest"? or "eldest?"

3. I've always been confused about [ ] and { }. What are the proper terms for these... two types of brackets? And when does one use them?

I'm looking forward to your answers and hope others will feel free to post their questions as well!

 

[wwjd_kilden]

{ } = curly brackets
I only use them for programming

 

[AAAPlus]

When do I use "who" vs "whom"?

 

[wwjd_kilden]

I don't know if this is a purely British thing, or if it occurs in American as well:

How can the word advice mean anything else than .... uh advice?

I mean.... I think of it purely as giving someone an advice (help, guidance, a tip ....)
but when working it the UK, we kept getting emails saying "Please advice the customer .... ", said in a way as if it meant "please inform" .... to me that isn't the same *confused*

 

[crosstweed]

I don't know if this is a purely British thing, or if it occurs in American as well:

How can the word advice mean anything else than .... uh advice?

I mean.... I think of it purely as giving someone an advice (help, guidance, a tip ....)
but when working it the UK, we kept getting emails saying "Please advice the customer .... ", said in a way as if it meant "please inform" .... to me that isn't the same *confused*

Okay... in America, you give advice, but if someone wants to let you know something (that is, inform you) or offer you counsel (that is, give you a recommendation about something, offer a warning, or give you advice) they will advise you of it. "I would advise you take his advice."

That's the way it works here in America. In the UK the spelling could be different -- I don't know.

 

[mar09]

Nice thread, seoul. I was up early and pondering on idioms and figures of speech, actually the past days. I look up both thier meanings, but still figuring out. We have dictio of idioms.. but how do they relate to these figures of speech.. how they overlap? thnx.

 

[Dino246]

2. In my last question, when is it proper to use "? (apostrophe, punctuation) or ?" (punctuation, apostrophe)? Which is correct: "eldest"? or "eldest?"

I will defer to the English experts among us (PoetMary?) but I believe that the punctuation normally comes before the closing quote, unless the punctuation actually is part of the "outer" sentence rather than the quoted part. So in your case, "eldest"? would be correct. Oh the exceptions!

When do I use "who" vs "whom"?

"Who is the subjective form, and "whom" is the objective form. So anytime there is a preposition is use, "whom" is appropriate. As in, "To whom did you address the package?" Another example is, "Who is going with whom?"

My question: in which cases is it appropriate to use "which", and in which cases is it appropriate to use "that"? I could google the answer, but this is more enjoyable.


As to {}, I had those once. My teeth look better now.

 

[NukePooch]

Hey Everyone,

With all the talk about spelling, grammar, and vocabulary in the forums, I thought it might be helpful to have a thread where we could present our most puzzling questions about the English language, then have helpful, friendly, and more knowledgeable people answer here.

Wow.
I guess you couldn't find enough people to reply with brutal demeaning comments in the Bible Discussion forum?

 

[seoulsearch]

Wow.
I guess you couldn't find enough people to reply with brutal demeaning comments in the Bible Discussion forum?

Don't worry if you feel as if you're missing out, Nuke.

Every now and then, some of them gravitate over here (apparently they aren't able to find enough fights in BDF, so they try to bring the party over here.)

Actually, we've been having a really great discussion here over a couple of threads about how to become better communicators, so I was hoping something like this might help.

 

[seoulsearch]

2. In my last question, when is it proper to use "? (apostrophe, punctuation) or ?" (punctuation, apostrophe)? Which is correct: "eldest"? or "eldest?"

I will defer to the English experts among us (PoetMary?) but I believe that the punctuation normally comes before the closing quote, unless the punctuation actually is part of the "outer" sentence rather than the quoted part. So in your case, "eldest"? would be correct. Oh the exceptions!



"Who is the subjective form, and "whom" is the objective form. So anytime there is a preposition is use, "whom" is appropriate. As in, "To whom did you address the package?" Another example is, "Who is going with whom?"

My question: in which cases is it appropriate to use "which", and in which cases is it appropriate to use "that"? I could google the answer, but this is more enjoyable.


As to {}, I had those once. My teeth look better now.

Awesome post, Dino... Thank you for your help!!

I get "who" and "whom" confused as well, so this was also a great refresher!

 

[Willie-T]

When do I use "who" vs "whom"?

This may sound a little too simple to understand, but you will catch on after you use it a few times.


I actually do know the correct grammatical rules for doing this, but it may just confuse you, so try this....

THE RULE OF "M".

In your head, substitute either "him" or "he" for the intended "Whom" or Who" that you're thinking of using.. It will be very clear which to use once you have one of these pronouns set in place in the sentence in your head.

For instance, say....... you are intending to write: "The man whom/who I saw was tall."

Think: Should it be.......... I saw 'HIM'. or I saw 'HE.' (Which pronoun is correct?)

It is easy to see that HIM is the right word. ( hiM ends with an M ).... So does whom. Consequently, WHOM would be the right word to use in our example sentence. (THE RULE OF "M") If you see that HE would work better, then since HE has no "M", you would use WHO.

The only tricky thing about this is that you may have to switch (reverse) the order of the sentence sometimes for a pronoun to fit properly.... but you will soon get the hang of that.

 

[Mitspa]

Be glad to help No ...wait that might not help much I would like to help if I could but I cant

 

[Willie-T]

The truth is that in today's world you can almost always get away with using WHO. Even if it is wrong, most people won't catch it.

 

[Willie-T]

I was blessed (cursed?) with being raised in a family just chock full of teachers and professors. Even married a Language Arts Major.

 

[Willie-T]

BTW, the accepted usage of a closing quotation mark (") is AFTER any associated punctuation.

," ----- ." ---- ?" ---- !"

 

[Willie-T]

Braces {} are very often also called "Curly Brackets" or "Curly Parentheses." Dumb, but that is what even professional people often use.

 

[seoulsearch]

2. In my last question, when is it proper to use "? (apostrophe, punctuation) or ?" (punctuation, apostrophe)? Which is correct: "eldest"? or "eldest?"

I will defer to the English experts among us (PoetMary?) but I believe that the punctuation normally comes before the closing quote, unless the punctuation actually is part of the "outer" sentence rather than the quoted part. So in your case, "eldest"? would be correct. Oh the exceptions!

BTW, the accepted usage of a closing quotation mark (") is AFTER any associated punctuation.

," ----- ." ---- ?" ---- !"

*Reads both posts.*

Ok... Now I'm confused...

I always thought that if an entire sentence is a quote, it would be, "This is our eldest son, John."

But, if I were quoting only part of what was said, wouldn't it be, John is the "eldest".

??????? (#@$^&$%!!!!)

 

[seoulsearch]

Braces {} are very often also called "Curly Brackets" or "Curly Parentheses." Dumb, but that is what even professional people often use.

I'm assuming this means that Curly Brackets {} can be used interchangeably with regular parentheses () ???

Ok, so then how and when would one use Brackets [] ???!!

(For anyone out there struggling with English... I hope it will encourage you to know that I am a native English speaker myself... and obviously, still have plenty of problems with proper usage myself!)

 

[Willie-T]

*Reads both posts.*

Ok... Now I'm confused...

I always thought that if an entire sentence is a quote, it would be, "This is our eldest son, John."

But, if I were quoting only part of what was said, wouldn't it be, John is the "eldest".

??????? (#@$^&$%!!!!)

You can get by with either, or both. But I expressed the most "accepted" usage in today's writing. Keep an eye peeled as you read various things these days.

 

[skylove7]

I never know the appropriate place to put dots lol.......is it a pause? After a comma........?
Do the dots have influential meaning in the over dramatics theatrics department?
Such as

Dahhhling........but uh.....I ya........Oh dahhhling....

What do the dots mean?
And why do I care in bed now lol