Category: 英文法

From Twitter:

The answer is ‘who’.

‘Who’ should be used–not ‘that’–when referring to people.

However, ‘who’ can also be used to refer to nouns such as countries, like this:

The nation whose people respect laws more than ethnicity can be a republic.

And the answer to the question ‘who said “A democracy if you can keep it?”‘ is Benjamin Franklin. The question he was asked, by a crowd which saw him departing from the Constitutional Convention, was ‘what kind of government have you given us?’

From Twitter:

Get ready!

Choose!

#Astronauts are #resourceful. #BuzzAldrin _______ _______ a #ballpoint pen to start the spaceship engine–instead of a broken start switch… so that he and Neil Armstrong could leave the moon!

(a) even used (b) used even

_________________________________

EXPLANATION

In this sentence even is an adverb (meaning it is a word modifying, affecting, influencing a verb)–and in this way–even is used for emphasis. We should usually put an adverb or other modifying words before the word or words they modify–before the verb (NOT after). We are stressing how differently Buzz Aldrin used something–in this case a pen; we are not stressing the pen, even though the pen is the unusual tool used in this story. To emphasize that (the pen, itself), we can change our intonation and say pen!

Maria: We need to hire more staffs.

Tony: Yeah. There’s too much work.

Amber: Sticks?

Maria: Huh?

Tony: What?

Amber: You say we need staffs.

Maria: Right! T: Mmm.

Amber: Look: staffs are sticks.

Tony: “…”

Maria: No, they’re clerks.

Amber: No; ‘staffs,’ with an `s` means “sticks.”

And the reason? 

ANSWER:

‘Staff,’ as in “company staff” is a non-count noun, thus a company, restaurant or shop wanting to hire more workers must refer to them as staff, as not “staffs,” as in:

Sony Hiring Additional Staff

Hiring Additional Staff

Most companies and restaurants–as well as other shops which put signs in the windows simply write:

Now Hiring

So every time you see a shirt in Japan or Korea that reads “Staffs”, it can correctly only mean:

‘the entire body of employees at several companies’

or…

‘sticks’

…in the minds of the native English speakers who see them–or at least that is what they think for a moment!

Come to class and learn to speak proper English! Go to: http://sayinsei.com. 

CA

We use the the Past Perfect only when talking about an event in the past that occurred before another event in the past. We don’t use it to talk about one event in the past.

1. I had lived in Korea before I moved to Japan. (2 Past Tense Events Expressed)

2. Actually, I went home to America, first. (1 Past Tense Event Expressed)

3. So, I had lived in New York for five years before coming to Japan. (2 Past Tense Events Expressed)

NOTE to Number 3: In the second part of the sentence we use a gerund of come–which is the noun form of that verb; you can see it has ing  the end, with before providing the context of a simple past event.

Come to class and learn to speak proper English! Go to: http://sayinsei.com. 

CA

Which statement is correct — A, B, or C?

Answer: C

Welcome to English-only Q & A!

Weather:

1. Winter is different ____ summer.

2. Winter is colder ____ summer. Climate:

3. A difference ____ 2 to 4 degrees in global temperature will spell environmental disaster.

Choices:

A. than

B. with

C. from

D. of

Q & A ANSWERS for Today!

Weather:

1. Winter is different FROM summer. -C

2. Winter is colder THAN summer. -A

Climate: 3.

A difference OF 2 to 4 degrees in global temperature will spell environmental disaster. -D

Choices: A. than B. with C. from D. of