Zenith: ending with Z

I have reached the Zenith of my A-Z of my journey on Grammar and punctuation. It was a journey which I had begun with doubts but it has helped me learn tremendously. I am sure some of you might have found a few of my posts useful as well. Thank you for being with me on this journey.

So moving  to my last post on grammar and punctuation:

Are you confused about how to show the plural and the possessive of certain names that end with Z?

Like that of Lily Fernandez?

·         To show the plural of a name that ends with z sound, add es.

Example: The Fernandezes are on their way here.

·         To show singular possession of a name ending in  z, add ‘s on the end of the name.

Example: That is Mrs. Fernandez’s car.

·         To show plural possession of a name ending in z, form the plural first; then immediately use the apostrophe

Example:  Those are the cars of the Fernandezes’s.

This post is a part of the APRIL A-Z Challenge 

You words

You-the pronoun of the second person singular or plural, used of the person or persons being addressed, in the nominative or objective case.

Examples:

·         You are my inspiration.

·         Are you coming with us?

·         Do you think that I can win this competition?

·         Are you sure that he was behind this?

·         We lost the game when you dropped that catch.

Your - a form of the possessive case of ‘you’ used as an attributive adjective.

Examples:

·         Your dress is so beautiful.

·         Will you finish your story this week?

·         Do you have friends in your school?

·         I know your number.

·         Is your name on the list?

You’re – is a contraction for ‘you are’.

Examples:

·         You’re going to have fun at the party.

·         You’re always fun to be with.

·         You’re my best friend.

·         You’re so inspirational.

·         You’re my idol.

Yours - a form of the possessive case of you used as a predicate adjective.

Examples:

·         Is this pen yours or his?

·         Which dress is yours?

·         Yours was the first mail I received.

·         Yours faithful friend.

·         He was yours from the beginning.

Your’s – Many use this form of the ‘you’ word but it is incorrect. Though we use apostrophe to indicate possession, yours is an exception.

  This post is a part of the APRIL A-Z Challenge 

X-Bar theory

X-bar theory is a component of linguistic theory which attempts to identify syntactic features common to all those human languages that fit in a presupposed (1965) framework. It claims that among their phrasal categories, all those languages share certain structural similarities, including one known as the "X-bar", which does not appear in traditional phrase structure rules for English or other natural languages. X-bar theory was first proposed by Noam Chomsky (1970) and further developed by Ray Jackendoff (1977). An X-bar theoretic understanding of sentence structure is possible in a constituency-based grammar only; it is not possible in a dependency-based grammar.

The letter X is used to signify an arbitrary lexical category (part of speech); when analyzing a specific utterance, specific categories are assigned. Thus, the X may become an N for noun, a V for verb, an A for adjective, or a P for preposition.

The term X-bar is derived from the notation representing this structure. Certain structures are represented by X (an X with a bar over it). Because this is difficult to typeset, this is often written as X′, using the prime symbol. In English, however, this is still read as "X bar". The notation XP stands for X Phrase, and is equivalent to X-bar-bar (X with a double overbar), written X″, usually read aloud as X double bar.

Read more about this on Wikipedia page on X-bar theory.

Watch this video which explains about the linguistic nuances in a detailed yet easy to understand manner.

 This post is a part of the APRIL A-Z Challenge 

Who/ Whom usage

Who/ Whom usage often confuses writers.

So here is an easy method.

Use he/him method to decide whether who or whom is correct. Check what (he or him) comes as the answer to the question.

If he comes as answer, then use who.

If him comes as answer then use whom.

Examples:

·         Who/Whom doodled here?

He doodled here. Therefore, we should use ‘who’.

Correct usage: Who doodled here?

·         Who/Whom should I invite?

I should invite him. Therefore, we should use ‘whom’.

Correct usage: Whom should I invite?

·         We all know who/whom killed that dog.

This sentence contains two clauses: we all know and who/whom killed that dog. Who/ whom confusion comes in the second clause, so we need to answer that particular clause. He killed that dog. Therefore, we should use who.

Correct usage: We all know who killed that dog.

·         We understood who/whom the movie was about.

This sentence contains two clauses: we understood and who/whom the movie was about. Now we consider second clause because it contains who/whom. The movie was about him. Therefore, we should use whom.

The traditional rules are:

·         Use who as the subject of the verb.

Example: I know a person who lives in Park Street.

·         Use whom as the object of the verb.

Example: The actor whom we adore.

·         Use whom after prepositions.

To whom have you spoken?

Nowadays ‘who’ is replacing ‘whom’ in speech and less formal writing. Many avoid using whom altogether.

  This post is a part of the APRIL A-Z Challenge 

Verbal Noun

The present participle form of the verb used as a noun is called as a Verbal Noun. It is also called a ‘gerund’.

Example:

·         Smoking is not permitted here.

In this sentence though smoking is a verb, it acts like a noun.

·         I don’t like eating a lot at night.

Although the verbal noun is used as a noun, it also behaves like a verb. Let us analyse the second sentence.

                          

SUBJECT	VERB PHRASE	OBJECT
I	don’t like	eating	a lot	late at night
		VERB	OBJECT	ADVERBIAL

Because a verbal noun is partly a noun and partly a verb, it can raise questions when preceded by a noun or pronoun. For example, which of the following sentences is correct?

1.       She hates my doing that.

2.       She hates me doing that.

Traditionalists say that (1) is correct and (2) is wrong. In fact 90 percent of the time people follow the pattern of (2), and use of a possessive before a verbal noun as in (1) is largely confined to fiction and very formal writing.

This post is courtesy of Oxford A-Z of grammar and punctuation by John Seely.

 This post is a part of the APRIL A-Z Challenge

Relative Clauses

We use relative clauses to join two sentences, or to give more information about something.

Types of relative clauses:

The relative clauses can be roughly classified into two.

1.      Defining relative clause:

A defining relative clause tells which noun we are talking about:

·         I like the boy who paints.

(If I don't say ‘who paints '; then it is not clear know which boy I mean).

2.      Non-defining relative clause:

A non-defining relative clause gives us extra information about something. We don't need this information to understand the sentence.

·         I live in Bangalore, which has some amazing art galleries.

(Here the clause 'which has amazing art galleries' gives extra information about Bangalore, the place I am talking about).

Relative Pronouns:

who - subject or object pronoun for people

·         They hanged the lady who killed her husband.

which - subject or object pronoun

·         I read the book which is inside the drawer.

·         I visited the village which you told me about.

whom - used for object pronoun for people, especially in non-restrictive relative clauses (in restrictive relative clauses use who)

·         The boy whom you told me about won the race.

that - subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in restrictive relative clauses (who or which are also possible)

·         I like the painting that is covered with glitter.

Relative adverbs

where - referring to a place

·         The cafe where I usually have lunch is cozy.

when - referring to a time

·         There are times when I feel so empty.

why - referring to a reason

·         This is why I refused to accompany her.

 This post is a part of the APRIL A-Z Challenge 

Questions

There are seven types of questions in English.

1.      Yes-No Questions

Example:

·         Are you coming?

       

2.      Wh-Questions

Examples:

·         Why are you doing this?

·         Which of this is correct?

·         Who knows answers to this question?

·         What is your name?

·         Where are the kids?

               

3.     Tag questions

Examples:

·         He loves her, doesn’t he?

·         You are going to the movie, aren’t you?

·         Nobody saw the queen, did they?

4.     Choice Questions

Examples:

·         Would you like coffee or tea?

·         Are you sad or happy?

5.     Hypothetical Questions

Examples:

·         If you had the power to be invisible, what would you do?

·         What would you do if you could fly like a butterfly?

6.     Embedded questions

Example:

·         She asked me if I could drop her at home.

7.     Leading questions

We ask leading questions when we desire to get a particular answer. Used for investigations and research.

Example:

·         Were you near her when she boarded the train?