Which is correct?

What is the difference between "Reoccur" and "Recur" ?

Recur and reoccur mean the same thing; to happen again. However, there is a fine distinction. Reoccur is used to mean, to happen one more time, while recur indicates a repetition more than once, usually according to a schedule or pattern.

Source: Mortal Syntax by June Casagrande


Do we say "she need not.."or "she needs not.."?

'Need + verb' is considered to belong to a group of verbs called 'modals'. This group includes 'can', 'may', etc. This group does not inflect (we cannot say 'She cans') and the negative is formed by placing 'not' after the modal (as in 'cannot', 'may not'). These days, we usually only use this form of 'need' in negative sentences. Alternatively, 'need to + verb' follows the standard verb forms. It inflects and the negative is formed using 'do/does'.

Correct examples:
She need not pay for the damage to the glass door.
She doesn't need to pay for the damage to the glass door.

Sounding Right

Luxury Cars
Branded and luxury cars are much sought after and well appreciated for their fine craftsmanship. They usually cost more and generally have more detailed interior finishing. Let's look at some luxury cars available in Singapore and how they are pronounced.

Word Correct pronunciation
Mercedes Benz muh say deez BENTS
Audi OW di
Peugeot PURR zhoh
Chrysler KRAIZ luh or KRAIS luh
Volkswagen FORLKS vaa guhn or VORLKS vaa guhn

Enjoy!

"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously"

"Colourless green ideas sleep furiously" is a sentence composed by Noam Chomsky in 1957 as an example of a sentence whose grammar is correct but whose meaning is nonsensical.

Therefore in English grammar, there is no hard and fast rules that says it must be observed in a particular way. An example can be the use of "To". Most of us are taught in primary school that any verb that comes after "to" must be of no tense or rather be in its primary form. Example: to run, to eat , to sleep.
So what about "looking forward to seeing you"?
Spend some time to think about it. I will post the answer real soon.

When do we use has and have?

When do we use has and have?

Jacqline and Emerald have or has ?

Daniel and the men has or have?

'Have' is used after all plural subjects and 'I' and 'you' and 'has' is used after singular subjects. A subject can consist of one word (such as Sean, food, people) or of a group of words (such as the dog, the people, Hamizah and I). Where the meaning appears to be one thing i.e. is singular (except for 'I' and 'you'), we use 'has'. Otherwise, we use 'have'.

Singular Examples

Mr Lee has a new car.

The pupil has a new pen.


Plural Examples

They have many problems to deal with.

The boys have no idea what the girls are planning.

Siti and Risa have some solutions they can offer.

The boys and their father have a system that they follow.

2. Which should we use? Welcome or welcomed?

You are welcome!

His advice would be welcomed.

'Welcome' is used an adjective to describe something you are happy to receive or someone that you are happy to meet.

Examples

The money was very welcome.

Children are most welcome.

'Welcome' can also be a verb and we can use it very like any other verb.

Examples

She is welcoming the guests.

He welcomed his in-laws' visit.

His advice was welcomed.

Regards

Are the following sentences correct?

Question: Are the following sentences correct?

My brother is taller than I (am) .

I study as hard as he (studies) but my grades aren't as good as his (grades are).

He is older than me and yet he is shorter. Why is it me and not I?

This has been an area of controversy fought between those who follow prescriptive grammars and those who follow descriptive grammars.

Prescriptive grammars represent what some people think ought to be the case. (This is sometimes based on the rules of old languages such as Latin.)

Descriptive grammars are based on the usage of educated people.

There are some who say that the third sentence should be:

He is older than I and yet he is shorter.

However, many find this awkward and prefer to use 'me'.

Where there is a clause (a subject and verb) following 'than', we generally use 'I', 'He', 'We', etc (known traditionally as the nominative case). 'Than' is then a conjunction (like when).

Where there is no verb, 'than' is then considered to be a preposition (like 'at', 'over', 'to', etc) and is followed by 'me', 'him', 'us', etc. (known traditionally as the accusative case).

Thus we say

My brother is taller than I am

but

My brother is taller than me.

and

I study as hard as he does.

but

I study as hard as him.

What is the difference between while and whilst; amid and amidst and when do you use them?

What is the difference between while and whilst; amid and amidst and when do you use them?

There is no difference in meaning between the two items in each pair. The second item in each case is more formal. Some might find them old-fashioned.

What is the difference in the use of the words some and any in these two sentences?

What is the difference in the use of the words some and any in these two sentences?

Do you want any tea?
Would you like to have some lemonade?
Would it be possible to change the sentence to "Do you want some tea?" and "Would you like to have any lemonade?"

Traditionally, teachers have taught that we use 'some' in positive statements and 'any' in negative statements and questions:

There is some tea in the kitchen. (Positive statement)
There isn't any tea in the kitchen. (Negative statement)
Is there any tea in the kitchen? (Question)

Modern research, however, has shown that this distinction is not actually followed and the two are used fairly interchangeably as the question suggests. However, there does appear to be a slight difference in meaning.

'Some' seems to refer to a more specific item; 'any' to something less specific. Thus, if the tea has already been made, the speaker would probably say: 'Do you want some tea?'

However, this is not a hard and fast rule.

'Th' and 'T'

Singaporeans have been told to Greet, Smile and say Thank you, or apply G.S.T. in our daily dealings.

To do it well, we need to pronounce "th" properly when saying thank you. To get the "th" sound right, stand in front of a mirror, stick the tip of your tongue out between your teeth and then say the word.

If you cannot see your tongue tip, you're probably pronouncing "th" wrongly and thank you becomes "tank you" and three becomes "tree".

So don't be shy, stick your tongue out and be right.

What's the meaning of...? What's the meaning for...?

What's the meaning of...?
What's the meaning for...?

How should the above sentences be used?

A quick poll gave variations of the following: It should be "What's the meaning of...?" because there's no such thing as "What's the meaning for...?".

If one were to key in "What's the meaning for this?" at www.reference.com, one would get 11,100,000 results [Accessed 27 June 2007]. Going through the first 24 "pages" totalling 240 entries, one would find only one entry for "What's the meaning for this?"; the remaining entries are for "What's the meaning of this?".

The same search string on Google turned up only four entries, none of which give an indication of a credible explanation.

Thus, "What's the meaning of...?" is more appropriate.

Tallest building or Highest building?

We normally describe the height of a building and mountain as follows:

The tallest building.
The highest mountain.

Can we say the tallest mountain and highest building?

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English explains the use of high as "the distance above the ground" and tall as "the length from top to bottom". The word tall is commonly used to describe objects that are not only high but also narrow, such as people, trees, buildings and other objects of the same sort of shape.

What is the difference between spicy & hot?

What is the difference between spicy & hot? Can they be used interchangeably?

'Hot' has at least two meanings. One of those is the same as 'spicy'. Unfortunately, it also refers to temperature, so a meal can be 'hot' (temperature) without being 'hot' (spicy). Sometimes it is necessary to indicate which of the meanings is intended and then you might hear someone say:

'This chicken is spicy hot.'

Words that are commonly mispronounced.

There are many simple words that are commonly mispronounced.

Dove is pronounced DUV (u as in huff) not DOHV (which is the past tense of dive).

Their is pronounced exactly the same as THERE, and not thi-ar.

Flower has the same pronunciation as FLOUR. That's because "w" is not pronounced.

Correct Vowel sound

Singaporeans often confuse vowel sounds, replacing the short "eh" sound for "ay" in some simple words, such as:

Word - Incorrect - Correct
Bread - brayed - brehd
Bed - bade - behd
Red - raid - rehd
Head - hayd - hehd
Dead - dayd - dehd

Take care how you pronounce those 5 small words. The correct vowel sound makes all the difference between good and bad speech.

May this Christmas BRING or BRINGS? If it is BRING, why?

May this Christmas BRING or BRINGS? If it is BRING, why?

Can John eat or Can John eats?

The best way to explain this is for us to start with your sentence about John. Notice there is no need for ‘s‘ at the end of ‘eat‘ in the sentence ‘John can eat‘. The verb that agrees with the singular subject here is ‘can‘, which doesn‘t take ‘s‘. If we turn it into a question, we get: Can John eat?

Your sample sentence is not a question. It is a wish but it follows a similar rule. The verb that should agree with the singular subject is ‘may‘, which also does not take ‘s‘. Thus the correct form is: May this Christmas bring you great happiness.

"The reason is because ....."

Often when somebody tries to justify something, I hear them say, "The reason is because ....."

My question is: Is the word "because" needed in such cases?

You are correct. There is no need for the word 'because' in this sentence. In fact, this would be considered an error in schools. We can simply say:

The reason is there are already too many products on the market.

Stress on the penultimate syllable

Most mispronunciations are made because people often stress on the wrong syllable. Here's a rule to help you know which syllable to stress. Words ending in "tion" or "sion" have their stress on the penultimate syllable, like:

resoLUtion
occuPAtion
mediCAtion
teleVIsion
corRECtion
eduCAtion
conFUsion
qualifiCAtion
examiNAtion
proFUsion

See if you can add other words to the ones given. Remember, the main stress is on the second last syllable for words ending in "tion" or "sion".

"if he were to know" or "if he was to know"

Do we say:
"if he were to know" or "if he was to know",
"if I was an alien" or "if I were an alien"?

This is a more difficult question to answer briefly. Traditionally in 'if' sentences we have used the 'subjunctive' verb forms:

If I were you, I would sell the house and rent somewhere cheaper.

'I were' is a subjunctive form. However, the subjunctive is disappearing from English and more and more people are substituting the past tense form 'I was' which is now considered acceptable.

If I was you, I would sell the house and rent somewhere cheaper.

Thus both forms are now acceptable.

What is the difference between assume and presume?

What is the difference between assume and presume?

That is Jacqline, I assume?
The use of assume implies a guess awaiting confirmation.

That is Jacqline, I presume?
The use of presume implies a confident belief.

Pronunciation of "EN"

Pronunciation of "EN"

The past two years have seen many old buildings and flats torn down to make way for new development. We call this "en bloc". There are many such words of French origin beginning with "en".

As long as you don't pronounce it as "EN" but pronounce it as "ON" you'll be close to the original pronunciation. Look at these words:

En bloc - on BLOCK
All together as a single unit, rather than separately

En garde - on GAHD
On guard; starting position in fencing

En route - on ROOT
On the way

En suite - on SWEET
An en suite bedroom has a bathroom joined onto it

Entree - ON tray Appetizer; right or freedom to enter a place or join a social group

Entrepot - ON truh poh
A place where goods are sent for distribution

Pronunciation of "...age"

Pronunciation of "...age"

It's been said that English is an illogical language. When you consider that many words are not pronounced the way they are spelt you cannot agree more with that statement.

Take for example words ending with "...age". The words should not be pronounced with an "..age" sound but instead should be pronounced as "..idge" as in bridge. Apply this rule to these words:

Hostage	Hors tidge
Manage	Ma nidge
Damage	Da midge
Package	Pa kidge
Village	Vil lidge
Image	I midge
Mortgage	Mor gidge
Luggage	Lar gidge
Courage	Kar ridge
Carriage	Kare ridge
Message	Meh sidge