Freddies English Teaching Course

[Kamuss]

Oh also,I don't know when to use the apostrophe...for example," Mika's shirt" (meaning <<that is his shirt>>) and "Mika's singing" (<<he is singing>>),so...when do I use apostophe and when not??

 

I think it's the same (correct me if I'm wrong..) I mean,the apostrophe can be used in both situation,it depends on the contest of the sentence..

am I right?

[leonita]

as in the word its vs. it's.

The difference is a meaning of possession vs. a state of being.

the apostrophe ' means the word is a contraction. the apostrophe represents the missing letter.

it's means it is . example: It's a nice day.

its stands for a possessive word, describing something that belongs to someone or something... example:

the dog wagged its tail.

If you said the dog wagged it's tail, it means "the dog wagged it is tail ", which doesn't make sense.

this is used improperly quite often.

In stores I often see signs that say " all CD's on sale"

this is incorrect! the CDs are not possessing anything.

hope this helps.

brilliant idea for a thread!

Leona

[leonita]

Oh also,I don't know when to use the apostrophe...for example," Mika's shirt" (meaning <<that is his shirt>>) and "Mika's singing" (<<he is singing>>),so...when do I use apostophe and when not??

 

sorry I didn't really answer your exact question.

In your case when describing a shirt owned by Mika, it would be Mika's.

Most singular possessives are formed by adding 's. (when the noun is representing only one thing)

if it is plural as in "the birds' singing" the apostrophe goes after the noun.

 

If the noun is plural but does not end in s, the possessive is formed by adding 's.

woman is singular, so " the woman's purse" is correct.

women is plural, so "the women's votes" is correct.

 

yes, English is very contradictory and confusing!

almost every rule has an exception!

[mercurygirl]

First I have to say - this thread is freakin' awsome,it helped me a lot.

 

Now,my 'problem' :

I always make mistakes with spelling "lie" and "lay"...is "lie" when someone is not telling the truth,and "lay" when someone is...on the bed?

 

This question got forgotten

 

That's right by the way.

[keti]

as in the word its vs. it's.

The difference is a meaning of possession vs. a state of being.

the apostrophe ' means the word is a contraction. the apostrophe represents the missing letter.

it's means it is . example: It's a nice day.

its stands for a possessive word, describing something that belongs to someone or something... example:

the dog wagged its tail.

If you said the dog wagged it's tail, it means "the dog wagged it is tail ", which doesn't make sense.

this is used improperly quite often.

In stores I often see signs that say " all CD's on sale"

this is incorrect! the CDs are not possessing anything.

hope this helps.

brilliant idea for a thread!

Leona

 

 

Well,I meant that I have seen on many places where doesn't write any apostrophe at all...like <<Mikas shirt>>. There doesn't stand any apostrophe...well,I suppose that's a slang.

 

But this helped a lot,thank you!

[mercurygirl]

Please explain these

 

"chav", "dress chavvy"

 

"your mom" (as an answer)

 

"you've been owned"

 

thanks! M:)

 

the first 1 means "nice" or "cool"... it's really slang and it can mean hundreds of different things, so it's kind of hard to explain, but in the examples you gave it means "dress nicely".... (I think it's a british thing, so correct me if I'm wrong....)

 

The "your mom" thing is a lame joke (I don't mean that offensively at all). If you watch a movie like Grease they say things like

"What car did you swipe this from anyway?" and they reply "your mother's"... same concept. it used to just be if someone was being cockey and you wanted to put them in their place... basically insulting their mother, but it sort of became a general joke about anything....

 

The last 1 is if someone beats you at something (say a contest or an argument) and you get really completely beaten and there was absolutely no hope of you winning at all they say "you've been owned"

 

Hope that helps

[keti]

This question got forgotten

 

That's right by the way.

 

Yes,thank you

[keti]

And what does 'giddy' mean?

[mercurygirl]

Well,I meant that I have seen on many places where doesn't write any apostrophe at all...like <<Mikas shirt>>. There doesn't stand any apostrophe...well,I suppose that's a slang.

 

But this helped a lot,thank you!

 

You only have an apostrophe if it belongs to someone. So Mika's shirt would be correct.

If there isn't an apostrophe then it means there are 2 of them...

 

People make spelling mistakes though, so you often see "Mikas shirt"...but they mean to write "Mika's shirt"

[mercurygirl]

And what does 'giddy' mean?

 

Dizzy...

[leonita]

re: question of lie vs. lay:

one meaning of lie is "to not tell the truth"

(past tense is lied " he lied to me for years.")

 

the other meanings of lie include:

to be in a horizontal position "to lie on the bed"

 

lay can mean:

to put down gently: "lay the baby in the crib"

to put something down in position for use "to lay carpet"

general rule:

lay means to put something down permanently, or for a long time

lie means to be in a horizontal position, usually to rest " I'm going to lie down for a nap"

past tense of lay is laid as in "they laid the carpet." or,

" he was laid to rest in the cemetery"

past tense of lie is lay as in " he lay unconscious on the floor"

 

yes, it is confusing, sorry!

[keti]

Thanks everyone!

[im_stuck_in_the_middle]

the first 1 means "nice" or "cool"... it's really slang and it can mean hundreds of different things, so it's kind of hard to explain, but in the examples you gave it means "dress nicely".... (I think it's a british thing, so correct me if I'm wrong....)

 

The "your mom" thing is a lame joke (I don't mean that offensively at all). If you watch a movie like Grease they say things like

"What car did you swipe this from anyway?" and they reply "your mother's"... same concept. it used to just be if someone was being cockey and you wanted to put them in their place... basically insulting their mother, but it sort of became a general joke about anything....

 

The last 1 is if someone beats you at something (say a contest or an argument) and you get really completely beaten and there was absolutely no hope of you winning at all they say "you've been owned"

 

Hope that helps

Thanks so much!

 

And yes, the "your mom" thing sounds lame...

[sienna]

It can be, yes, because of the silent letters we have in some words, because some of our letters sound the same, because some of our words sound the same but it's a different spelling....that's where context matters.

 

for example with the silent letters, you can have:

 

Knight (as in "Knight in shining armour") but also have night (as in "day and night"). This also links with with words that sound the same.

 

Another example is where I told my friend at college that she was a fool (don't ask ) and said said "fool?" and i said "yes..." and she was like "full, as in, full up?" and i was like "what?! no!! FOOL! F-O-O-L!" and she was like "fall, as in, fall over?" and i was like "NO, JOANNE!!! FOOL! F-O-O-L!!! IT MEANS STUPIIIIIIIIID!!!" and then she was like "ohhhhh!" :roftl:

So, fool/fall/full kinda sound alike, but if pronounced corretly you can hear the difference.

With fool, because of the double o's, you have an oooooooo sound in the middle.

with fall, even though it's an "a", it's still a kinda "o" sound (speaking from a British person, not American) but because it's short and doesn't have an oooooooo sound, it's therefore sounds shorter and slightly harsher.

with full, it sounds pretty much the same as fall, but again it depends on the context, so you should be alright on these words (unless you're my friend Joanne, that is)

Fool: "That was a stupid thing to do, I'm such a FOOL"

Fall: "There's a hole there, don't fall in it!"

Full: "I'm so full up!"

 

This can also link with "read" and "read". They look exactly the same but are pronounced differently. When speaking aloud it's fine, but when it's written down in a sentence, sometimes you have to read the rest of the sentence after the word, just so you know which one it is, because you can have:

Read ("Reed")

and

Read ("red").

 

"Reed" is the present/future tense one, "I will read that book"

"red" is used in the past tense, "I have read that book".

 

with "reading", it's only the "reed" sound. The "ing" at the end implies an action "I'm am reading a book"

 

goodness i could go on about grammar lmao!

 

whilst currently studying childcare, i get to do work experience at a school. I'm in the reception class at the moment (5-6 years) and sometimes it's difficult to teach them how to spell.

 

They have an ERP/ERR session (dunno what they stand for lol) but basically, the teacher says a word, chops it up (or vice versa) and the kids repeat.

E.g.: "Mad - M-A-D." "Cat - C-A-T"

That's how they start to learn, but sometimes it can get complicated with the C's and the K's, because it's the children's alphabet they learn the sounds, not the names, so we have to say "curly c and kicking k" as they're both pronounced as a "ker" sound.

There/They're/Their is complicated to teach at their age because they don't understand the differences (i wrote about this a few pages back).

 

Another complication are those "joining letters", such as "WHisp", "craSH", "blaDDer", "PHone", "THat" and those that make a sound of another letter.

I mean, "whisp"? Where did the "h" come from? Nevertheless, it's there. When teaching the the words, it gets a bit like Charades. Take "whisp" for example. Because the you have two letters that are meant to sound like one, you get two fingers to make the number two and place it on your arm, as if you're saying "two syllables" when playing charades, because this let's the children know that two letters are involved. With the other letters, you take the away the two fingers and add the other syllables the are left. So:

"Wh" (two fingers on arm) "I" (one finger/thumb) "S" (add another finger) "P" (add another finger).

Words like phone can sometimes be hard, but they won't learn about that till they go in the net year.

 

MEEEEEH.

 

It's friday morning, i'm tired, i need to get dressed. sorry if all this is majorly confusing!

 

No, not confusing at all, quite the opposite, really interesting!

 

You can explain difficult things in a simple way, I love it!

 

And thank you to all the others contributing to this thread I read it with great interest.

[PhotoJenic]

Dizzy...

 

I also know 'giddy' as happy, I didn't know it stood for dizzy too.

 

"elated: extremely happy and excited

giddy with anticipation"

[mercurygirl]

I also know 'giddy' as happy, I didn't know it stood for dizzy too.

 

"elated: extremely happy and excited

giddy with anticipation"

 

Oh yes... that's true!!! I always knew it as dizzy really... if you look at it that does make sense in your example... "dizzy with anticipation".... (ok maybe it's just me:wink2: )

[FREDDIESDOUBLE]

Awwwww

 

Thanks for keeping on top of this one

 

Btw ... I have something new , if someone says they will get something to you "top of the week" , that usually means you will see it within 10 years:naughty:

[silver]

Btw ... I have something new , if someone says they will get something to you "top of the week" , that usually means you will see it within 10 years:naughty:

 

:shocked:As soon as that?

[FREDDIESDOUBLE]

:shocked:As soon as that?

 

:sweatdrop:well within a few years

[Cintia_Jenny]

Awwwww

 

Thanks for keeping on top of this one

 

Btw ... I have something new , if someone says they will get something to you "top of the week" , that usually means you will see it within 10 years:naughty:

 

so that's what it means!! hahahhahahh :roftl:

[sienna]

Awwwww

 

Thanks for keeping on top of this one

 

Btw ... I have something new , if someone says they will get something to you "top of the week" , that usually means you will see it within 10 years:naughty:

 

 

Another question:

 

"eesh the cheek of it"

 

What does it mean?

[lollipop_monkey]

Please explain these

 

"chav", "dress chavvy

 

"Chav" refers to the chav subculture that's going on in the UK:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav

[Romis]

Hola!

Yes, i think your post about though/although was right!

 

To me or For me...that's a tricky question... You could just say "in my opinion" but if you don't want to use that, it totally depends on the context.

 

To me he's just a a singer, not an entertainer.

For me it was a difficult experience.

 

See what I mean? I hope this hasn't confused you more...

 

Sounds like "to me" is: 'the way I see it' or 'the way I think'

 

and "For me" , about me being thru that, like I'm doing that action and I feel about it that way

 

people you do a great job here:thumb_yello:

[mercurygirl]

 

Another question:

 

"eesh the cheek of it"

 

What does it mean?

 

Cheek as in cheeky: rude.

 

So it basically means: That's very rude

[babspanky]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS THREAD

IS MY THREAD

BECAUSE I DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH

 

but.. i don't need a knowledge of slang... i need a knowledge of basic and elementary english...

i am

you are

he/she/it is.....

 

so... what does it mean the word FREDDIESDOUBLE?

there is a meaning hidden for the word double?.. or double is just "a pair" "two"

 

and then... i think in this thread all english peple must correct the post of foreigners immediatly...

 

for example tell me all mistakes i made in this post, please... because i'm not always sure about what i write... i'm always not sure that people understand me

 

I love the way you write though, Allegra!