Your and You're

There are a lot of grammatical errors committed around the vast world of the internet. More often than not, we fail to detect them. Sometimes, we ourselves are guilty of doing so without even noticing until someone points it out or after reading it later when it is too late.

One mistake I encounter most of the time is the use of your and you’re.  Your  is the possessive form of you (refers to something that a person has). On the other hand, you’re is a contraction of the words you and are. These two are not interchangeable. 

 

Here are some of the funny examples I found. So be careful!

 

Reference: http://www.wikihow.com/Use-You%27re-and-Your

 

By the way, I posted this blog a little late because I had a hard time posting here on blogger. My original post earlier here .

 

Verb

I have always appreciated the word "verb". It connotes action. It reminds us that life is an active process.

On a more related note to our subject, I would like to point out a common mistake people make, saying "taken cared of". Since the main verb in the phrase is "take", it should only be that word's tense that should change. One should not say "She is well taken cared of." Instead, one could say "She is well taken care of."

-Jonathan Kenn S. Palo

Fill in? Fill up? Fill out?

I always get confused with these terms, so I usually end up not using any of them in my sentences. They all seem to mean the same thing but I know that they don't. I found a forum that tackled on the same topic. I hope this one will help. http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/26725-fill-fill-up-fill-out.html

~ANA MINELLE LAXAMANA

Good day block mates! Since we will be discussing about verbs, I think this information I have posted will be helpful in gaining more information about irregular verbs. We all know that it's easy to identify if it's a verb. Most verbs in English form their various tenses consistently: add -ed to the base of a verb to create the simple past and past participle: he walked; he has walked.

There are, however, a number of so-called irregular verbs, (including, unfortunately, some very common verbs such as to be and to have) whose various forms must be memorized. An alphabetized list of Common Irregular Verbs is available in the Guide that you can copy or print out and then try to memorize or at least use in practice sentences. You should take the quizzes on irregular verbs, below, after you've looked at this list.

Source: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm

In additional, you can also take quizzes about verbs in this site.

Four Verb Errors to Avoid

In order to prepare for our next discussion, I would like to share this link to everyone: http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/0219014VerbErrorsAvoid.htm.

The common verb errors that students write are the use of double-negative, the inclusion of 'd' or 'ed', and the interchange of the phrases ' could care less' and 'couldn't care less'

Let's all try how fast can we spot the errors for the four examples given. Explanations for the incorrect usage are posted just below the examples. Remember that we want to learn so try not to peek before answering!

References:
http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/0219014VerbErrorsAvoid.htm.
STEPHANIE BERNARDO

Their, They're, There

I found a site with cute comic strips about commonly misspelled words. For example, the picture above tells us the difference of their, they're and there. "Their" is used to denote possession. "They're" is a contraction for "they are". "There" refers to a location. Just be guided accordingly and you'll be on track.

(Reference site: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling)

Lie and Lay

Regular verbs create their past and past participle forms by adding "d" or "ed" to the stem of their infinitives but irregular verbs create past and past participle forms by altering their stems in unpredictable ways. A number of common irregular verbs give people trouble, particularly: dive, drown, fly, hang, lead, prove, sit, set and shrink.

Lie and Lay seem to give people more difficulty than all the other irregular verbs combined do. It is because the past tense form of lie is lay, so it's indistinguishable from lay in the present tense except in usage. The principal parts of lie are: lie(present), lay(past), lain(past participle). The principal parts of lay are: lay(present), laid(past), and laid(past participle).

As an aid in choosing the correct verb forms, remember that lie means to recline, whereas lay means to place something, to put something on something. Lie means the actor or the subject is doing something by himself or herself. It's what grammarians call a complete verb. When accompanied by subjects, complete verbs tell the whole story. Lay, on the other hand, means the subject is acting on something or someone else; it requires a complement to make sense. Thus lay always takes a direct object. Lie never does.

Here is a tip that i got from the reference site, always remember that lay is a transitive verb and requires a direct object. A transitive verb acts as a conveyor belt, transmitting action or influence from a subject to the object.

Reference site: http://web.ku.edu/~edit/lie.html

Verbs

Verbs moves along our sentences. It uses two voices: the active and passive voice, which is a transitive verbs. The second type is intransitive when it is not followed by an object. The third type is used to connect the subject to its complement is called linking verbs.

The popular Christmas song is "Joy to the World", but I observed that a line from its lyrics, written by Isaac Watts, confused me. "Joy to the World, the Lord is come!”- it should be sang as "Joy to the World, the Lord has come" or it can be "Joy to the World, the Lord is coming".  Mignon Fogarty found out that the phrase the Lord is come uses a kind of verb called an unaccusative verbs (see: http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/15836/).

References:
Fogarty, M. (2006, December 20). The Lord Is Come? Retrieved November 26, 2011 from the World Wide Web: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/unaccusative-verbs.aspx
Melyngoch, A. A. (2005). 100 Hour Board. Retrieved November 26, 2011 from the World Wide Web: http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/15836/

ANGENICA F. MARTIREZ

List of Irregular Verbs

Since our next topic is about verbs, I want to share this link to all of you. It's a list of 211 common irregular verbs. The list is consists of the base form, past simple, past participle, 3rd person in its singular form and the gerund. Hope it can help you.

http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/irregular-verbs/