Not Sure About

From Twitter
I’m not sure _____ to class even if the Corona Virus State of Emergency ends. I prefer online study; it’s smarter, safer, easier and saves me money & time. (Both choices are grammatically correct, but one is useless and means something very different from the other.)

Choices:
to go
about going

In my opinion there are two reasons to offer here.

The answer is about going, because:
when we are or are not sure regarding something, we use ‘about’ as the preposition to connect the subject to the object we are discussing.

Examples:
I’m sure about this information. Trust me.
I’m not sure about this. We’d better check it on Wikipedia.
John is sure about the spelling; he looked it up in the dictionary.

Similarly, we use sure about with the ‘ing’ form of verbs as nouns (called gerunds).

Examples:
I’m sure about depending on this information. Trust me.
I’m not sure about trusting this information; we’d better check it on Wikipedia.
John is not sure about spelling this word; he couldn’t find a dictionary to use.

And the answer is about going because ② ‘not sure to’ means “not certainfrom the point of view of others, just as sure tomeans “certain” from the point of view of other people, not from the point of view of the speaker. Look:

It’s sure to rain.
Nature is not sure about rain coming–or happening. The situation is certain, or we are certain… that rain will come.

Bob is sure to be here on time. He is never late.
We are sure about it; Bob is not thinking about it.

We use about (meaning “regarding” or “concerning”, whereas sure to means “supposed to” or “expected to.”

After I’m not sure, we need a noun in this sentence, and about is the right preposition to precede a noun. We use about with true nouns and proper nouns all the time. Look:

I like books about traveling in space. Or... I like books to travel in space.

‘Traveling in space’ is not a verb, and it doesn’t look like a verb, either, but if we replace it with t0 travel in space, it looks like a verb and sounds like a verb and the whole meaning of the sentence changes to “I like books as a method of traveling in space. It’s like the speaker flies on books and not in spaceships!

So, About is used to mean regarding, “concerning” and “in the case of” and that is what we need after “I’m not sure.



Don’t Blow It!

From Twitter:
Dialog
Boy: Did you ace* your test?
Girl: No. I didn’t; I blew it.
Boy: Why?
Girl: I couldn’t study; my sister and brother were acting up!

Question:
A. To “blow it” means
to make it bigger
to do badly 
to cause it to explode

B. ”Act up” means
to be active
to be up-beat
to be bad
________

The answer to Question A is ② ‘to do badly.’
The answer to Question B is ‘to be bad’

*To ace something is to do it perfectly. Basically it is the opposite of “blow it.”

Smell.

From Twitter

Is that    I smell; is mom   , again?
Is there    here?; I smell   !

Choices:
cooking
fire
cigarettes
smell
someone smoking

The answers are below the images.

Photo: Kevin Elija O’Donnell
Photo: Kevin MCcuthin

Answers And Explanation
Is that ① cooking I smell; is mom ② cooking, again? Cooking is a noun and a verb.
Is there someone smoking here?; I smell cigarettes! Smell is a verb as well as a noun.

All Right

Bill: Let’s go to the game. C’mon; it’ll be fun.
Sara: You won’t take “no” for an answer, will ya?
Bill: Oh–I’m sorr-
Sarah: Oh, all right,* let’s go; I know this means a lot to ya.

* Here ‘all right’ means:
a. All’s okay
b. Sara wants to go
c. She doesn’t want to but will

Photo: Taylor Rooney

Go!

From Twitter:

Without a subject, what is the implied subject in a sentence?
What is the subject in this sentence?

“Go!”

a. I
b. you
c. we
d. no subject is implied


Photo: Nicolas Hoizey

Answer And Explanation:
The answer is b., you, because in an imperative (like a command), the implied subject is always the second person pronoun or proper noun; it is ‘you.’.

Clubs

The Boys Club of America teaches young men leadership skills, camping and social skills.

From Twitter:

Which is correct?
Boys Club
Boy’s Club
Boy Club
Boys’ Club

Answer And Explanation
Well, they are all correct except number 2, but they all mean different things:
First, number 2 is incorrect without an article, as in A Boy’s Club;

Boys Club means a place you can go to find boys
Boy’s Club means one boy’s club, owned by him.
Boy Club either means a club for boys or a club of boys or both.
Boys’ Club means a place of , for and owned by boys

I have no purpose except to teach you style (which includes punctuation). There is no inappropriate reference here. I thought of this, because all around Tokyo one sees ‘Girl’s Bar,’ which is incorrect. It means one girl owns a bar, and it is incorrectly written. I didn’t use the example of a “girly bar” (the correct usage), because I think these places are sad, exploit women, fleece lonely and incapable men and ruin relationships; tragically, they offer jobs to young women who deserve to be offered government education and training programs. I did not want to call attention to girly bars. Also, in America, the Boy Scouts is sometimes referred to as a “boys club.”

Photo: Kyle Glenn

Expecting

From Twitter:

I wasn’t _____ rain. That’s why I don’t ave an umbrella!

a. ‘Waiting for’ is not the answer, because only farmers and poets wait for rain.
b. ‘Waiting on’ is not it, because we wait on friends and it means wait for.
c. ‘expecting’ is the answer, because it means ‘thinking would come/be/”waiting for” (sort of).
d. ‘Expect’ is not right, because it doesn’t fit the grammar; we need the continuous tense.

Photo: Jack Finnegan

Allow Me…

From Twitter:

___ me to help you.

a. allow is the answer, because we allow + noun/pronoun/proper noun
b. Lets doesn’t fit the grammar; who or what allows “me?,” and no infinitive is needed.
c. Allows doesn’t fit the grammar; who or what allows “me?”
d. Let doesn’t fit the grammar; let doesn’t require an infinitive.

Some Ways We’re Not Free

We’re not free so long as:
a. we have free speech
b. fossil fuel is legal
c. the meat & dairy industry are destroying the air & sea
d. taxes are theft e.
e. we must serve in the army
f. smokers can give us cancer with 1 alpha particle

a & e
b & c
d
b, c and d
a ~ f

The answers are b, c and f.
a. is not a reason for lack of freedom; It’s a reason we are free.
b. Taxes aren’t theft; they are agreed upon by our representatives and many of them serve us.

e. Serving in the army is something people do in free countries. One could say that it is control of the citizens if they do not elect for it, but even in countries such as South Korea–a democracy–the people can elect to do away with conscription.

Sentence Tree: Do & What

From Twitter:

Do (.) Do is a statement; it means something like “go ahead.”
……・you (?) “Do you?” is a tag question, meaning “do you (+ an implied basic verb)?”
……….・know (?) “Do you know?” asks whether the listener(s) are aware.
………………..・what (?) “Do you know what?” is an interjection and audience.
……………………….・time (?) “Do you know what time?” asks an event time.   
……………………………….・it is? “Do you know what time it is?” (asks the given time or the time of an event.) 
……………………………………….・we should be there? “Do you know what time we should be there?asks about an expected or desirable arrival time.
………………………………………・it starts? “Do you know what time it starts?” asks about the time something begins, like a movie-start-time. 
………………………………………・where (?) “Do you know where?” asks a location.
…………………………………………………..・it is (?) “Do you know where it is?” asks about the placement or location of a third-person specific object.
…………………………………………………..・we are? “Do you know where we are? asks whether the listener(s) knows the location of the the speaker, him- or her-self and the listener(s).    
…………………………………………………..・should be ? “Do you know where we should be?” asks what location the speaker and listener(s) and (an)other(s) must be in or are expected at.
………………..・me? “Do you know me?” asks whether the listener(s) knows the speaker as a person or his or her identity.
………………..・the Ims?* “Do you know the Ims?” asks whether the listener(s) knows the Im family. *a family name
………………..・it? “Do you know it?” asks whether the listener(s) knows something that’s been referenced.
………………..・how (?) “Do you know how?” asks whether the listener(s) is aware of a method.
………………………….・to go? “Do you know how to go?” asks whether the listener(s) are aware of a way or path or route.
………………………………・do it? “Do you know how to do it? asks whether the listener(s) are aware of a specific method already referred to.

Photo: Monic Melton