Jamal

Which sentence is grammatically correct?

a) The list of items are on the table.
b) The list of items is on the table.
c) The list of items were on the table.
d) The list of items have been on the table.

Singular Expressions with Plural Verbs

Groups of People: The team is/are …

In British English, singular words like family, team, government, which refer to groups of people, can have either singular or plural verbs and pronouns.

The team is/are going to lose.

Plural forms are common when the group is seen as a collection of people doing personal things like deciding, hoping or wanting. Singular forms are more common when the group is seen as an impersonal unit. Compare:

– My family have decided to move to York. They’re going in April.

The average family has 3.6 members. It is smaller than 50 years ago.

– My company are wonderful. They do all they can for me.

My company was founded in the 18th century.

If you could only ask me only ONE question, what would it be?

Yet
Yet comes at the end of a question or negative.
● Have you left yet?
● I haven't got up yet.

In mid position it is a little formal.
● We have not yet replied

Respectful ways to express your religious beliefs in English:

You should not ____.❎🤦🏻‍♂️
In my religion, we don't ____.✅🧏🏻‍♂️

____ is the greatest.❎🤦‍♀️
I believe in the greatness of _____.✅🧏‍♀️

___ is bad!🤮❎🤦🏽‍♀️
My religion prohibits me from eating ___.✅🧏🏽‍♀️

My religion is the religion of ____.❎🤦🏼‍♂️
My religion teaches ____.✅🧏🏼‍♂️

____ is wrong. It says so in the __📖__.🤦‍♀️❎
Some people in my religion believe that ____ is wrong.✅🧏‍♀️

How can you believe that?! That is wrong!❎🤦🏽‍♂️
That's an interesting idea. Can you help me to understand it.✅🧏🏽‍♂️

____ is the best religion. ❎🤦‍♀️
(Keep this idea to yourself).✅🧏‍♀️

Copied from: Teacher Mike English.

Simple conversations:
👨 Hi! What's your name?

👵 My name is Nancy. What's your name?

👨 My name is Kopernekoff. You can call me Kay.

👵 Nice to meet you, Kay!

SOME vs ANY for a quantity

SOME + plural or uncountable noun is equivalent to a/an + singular noun.
● You'll need some wood, a hammer, and some nails.

SOME is a positive quantity. We use ANY mainly in negatives and questions.
Positive: I've got some nails.
Negative: I haven't got any nails.
Question: Have you got any/some nails?

We use ANY with other negative words.
● I never seem to have any money.
● We've won hardly any games this year.

ANY is the usual choice in questions.
● Did you catch any fish? ~ Yes, lots. / No.

But we use SOME for a more positive tone, especially in offers and requests.
● Did you catch some fish?
● Would you like some cornflakes?

In an if-clause we can use either.
● If you need some/any help, let me know.

• An Oxford comma walks into a bar where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking ci**rs.
• A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.
• A bar was walked into by the passive voice.
• An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.
• Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”
• A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.
• Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.
• A question mark walks into a bar?
• A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.
• Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."
• A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.
• A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.
• Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.
• A synonym strolls into a tavern.
• At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.
• A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.
• Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.
• A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.
• An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.
• The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.
• A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned a man with a glass eye named Ralph.
• The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.
• A dyslexic walks into a bra.
• A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.
• A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.
• A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.
• A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.

Credit: unknown

Connecting Ideas:

We can use and to link two clauses.
● I've seen the film, and I've read the book.

Too/as well/also are more emphatic.
● Shakespeare wrote plays, and he was an actor too / as well.
● He wrote plays. He was also an actor.

With a negative we use either, not too.
● I haven't seen the film, and I haven't read the book either.
And we often use or rather than and.
● I haven't seen the film or read the book.
● I didn't have a coat or an umbrella.

We can use besides and what's more to make an extra point.
● I'm too tired to go for a walk. Besides, it looks like rain.
● It's dangerous to phone while driving. What's more, it's against the law.

Furthermore, moreover, and in addition are more typical of written English.
● Some people have no car. Furthermore, there is little public transport.
● Students must sit three exam papers, and in addition there is a practical test.

We can use the prepositions as well as, in addition to, and besides.
● He was an actor as well as a writer.
● Besides the rent, I have to pay for gas.

We use or to express an alternative.
● I'd like to study at Oxford or Cambridge.
● We can take a bus, or (alternatively) we can walk.

Either ... or is more emphatic.
● You'll have to go either right or left.
● Either we pay someone to do the job, or we do it ourselves.

Or can mean 'if not'. We can also use or else or otherwise.
● We must go now, or (else) we'll be late.
● Put the leaflet in your bag, otherwise you'll lose it.

With two things, we can use both ... and ... for extra emphasis.
● He was both a writer and an actor.
✘ He was and a writer and an actor.

Neither ... nor is more emphatic and can be a little formal.
● I had neither a coat nor an umbrella.
● Neither Steve nor Amy was/were there.
● The old man can neither read nor write.
We use a positive verb, e.g. can.