Grammar 101

Welcome to my first Grammar 101 lesson!

When I first asked for opinions on whether this would be a good idea or not, most of you were really supportive and even excited to learn more about grammar...or maybe just refresh what you already know.

I hope to have more of you contact me for assistance in the future, and in doing so maybe allow me to use some of your stuff (anonymously of course) as examples to teach from.

In the meantime though, I found a few fun & random examples to start us off:

1) I took a picture of this gem while drying my nails at the salon.

Move OUT of my hands, huh?
Wouldn't it be convenient if I could move out of my hands and then just go pick them up when my nails were done? 

{Gotta love it when Vietnamese try to speak Ingrish!  LMAO!}

2) A friend of mine, who will remain nameless put this as her FB status:

 

Don't you mean so MANY memories?
Many is used with countable nouns.
Much is used with uncountable nouns.

 

 3) One of our local high schools is offering free INGLISH classes.

Ok, really guys? C'mon!
Shame on you South Florida!!

*bows head in shame*

 

Now wasn't that fun?  Those were easy.  I think all of us can spot those errors a hundred miles away.  

Grammar Blunders & Tips:

Here is a more common grammar blunder that often slips.  This also happens to be a personal pet peeve of mine.

"I should have went..."

I cannot tell you guys how often I hear this and it's like shards of glass in my ears every single time. It will never be, "I should have went".  It will always be, "I should have gone."

This is a very common mistake and I'll go so far as to say that the vast majority of people have probably said this and not even realized it.  Most of us of know that this is wrong, but do we know why?

Lesson 1:  To say "I should have" is to use the Present-Perfect Tense.  This tense is used when combining the present tense and the perfect aspect meaning it's used to express a past event that has present consequences.  The present perfect is a compound sentence formed by the combination of an auxiliary verb (aka a "helper" verb) and an action verb.

In the case of "I should have gone," have is your auxiliary verb and gone is your action verb in past tense.

In modern English, the use of the auxiliary verb to have will always result in the present perfect which means you must use the appropriate 'version' of the action verb to accompany that tense.

Examples:

• I have eaten
• You have gone
• He has arrived

I think that's enough for today's lesson chitlens! 
I hope you all found it fun, informative or interesting...or better yet, all of the above :)

Next lesson in two weeks!

PS: Don't forget that you can email me any questions or proofing requests you may have.  I'm happy to help :)