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 :)

21 comments:

  1. *sigh* I love grammar. I'm a linguistics girl, so this kind of thing is awesome to me. Keep up the awesome posts! :)

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  2. Loved it! BTW, I totally saw when Hialeah High had that Inglish Gratis up and I almost peed my pants when I saw it. I also have a commemorative picture of it. lol

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  3. That was great! Thanks!

    I love that Inglish sign :)

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  4. Yayyy! Love it!! I also remember when that Hialeah High pic was circulating all over (Myspace?) Too funny!

    Great job mi amigita!!

    Love ya!

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  5. Awesome! I am not sure if I use "I should have went" but it will be on my radar now.

    Thanks Isalys!

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  6. Yeah!!

    My MIL says "It's all" and just can't understand why I respond with "It's all what?"
    I have issues - even my children correct the grammar of others. I'm not always grammatically correct but I do try to be.

    Thank you! I need all of the help I can get!

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  7. How about: "I should of gone"? I see that frequently. Or is it: "I should of went"? Great post!

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  8. Hi Sallie,
    To answer your question, "should of" is not correct in any form.

    The word "of" is a preposition and it's only used to indicate a relationship between two things/nouns in a sentence. Other prepositions are: on, with, to, in, for, and.

    Ex: That book is part OF a series. The word OF is indicating a relationship between the "book" and the "series".

    I think what's happened is that modern speech has become very lazy. People are tempted to say, "I should've" (which isn't correct either) and "should've" sounds like "should of". They are, in fact, very different!

    Hope the helps!
    ♥Isalys

    PS: I love this stuff! Keep 'em coming folks :D

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  9. Lol, the more time I spend online the worse my grammar becomes ;)

    But it's still good, and nothing like my Swedish, sheesh, it's a wonder I can speak my own language anymore

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  10. Great New Feature- I forget all the proper rules in grammar.

    Sometimes I feel like I need a good editor for my reviews. LOL well now I have Book (heart) Soulmates....:D

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  11. I love it! It's funny but oh so sad. And, I certainly hope the high school was being funny and not serious...

    Perhaps you can contact them and suggest your blog tips for grammar.

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  12. I tend to make some really stupid grammar mistakes, even though I know better. My fear is that I'll do this in some public online place. You have permission to make fun of me if I do this!

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  13. All those first examples that you took pictures of I would have seen a mile away! I'm probably using some incorrect grammar in this comment right now, but some things are more obvious then others. It seems like apostrophe's tend to get me. I know 'she is' becomes 'she's', for example, but it's when it's not combining two words like that that it's more difficult for me. So my point is, feel free to talk about apostrophe usage in the future ;)

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  14. Great Post Isa and to think I graduated from that school no wonder I suck at Grammer (LMBO)

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  15. Thanks for the grammar lesson! I work with a girl who says "should have went" and it makes me crazy.

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  16. hehehehehe

    Clearly, I should have went to your blog before attempting to speak Inglish! ;)

    Love this new feature. It is very helpful.

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  17. I love language and happy to accept some suggestions. Actually, I can't stand bad use of language.

    I did a post on the use of "it's" - that must be something that bothers you, too. http://leeswammes.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/its-awful/

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  18. Great post. Yes, this equates to finger nails on the blackboard. Another pet peeve I have, which seems to be prevalent here in Texas, is ideal used incorrectly as in "That's a great ideal."
    Ann

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  19. Oh my gosh, this is the perfect post for me!! I mean, I'm always afraid sounding dump considering english is so not my first language. I learned English (or shall I say Inglish) at school but forgot most of it. Then I started my PhD in a lab where we mostly speak english and I had to learn it all over again ...

    Now I'm here talking to you guys all every day and ... I'm always afraid when posting my reviews. I just hope it's not that bad!

    Two Thumbs Up!
    :))

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  20. Biggest conflict in my marriage - Driving with my husband and he says, "I should have went."

    GONE! GONE! GONE!

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