Thursday, October 6, 2016

Word Usage

Word usage is discussed by Mika Berones. 

she defines it as: Word usage is how a word, phrase, or concept is used in a language. Lexicographers gather samples of written or spoken instances where a word is used and analyze them to determine patterns of regional or social usage as well as meaning.

She differentiate different words from one another because there are some words that has the same or almost the same spelling but differs with their meanings. 





Word usage is really important since we are constructing different sentences or literary pieces, it a must for us to know the right word to use in a certain sentence for us to be able to convey our message effectively and properly. 

Words were indeed tricky but it is the most important thing in the world, it can help us in almost everything that we do and using it properly can help us improve ourselves in different aspects of life. 

So that's it you Guys, I hope I helped you with your Grammar Stuffs
Hope to see you on my next one. Bye :)

Diacritics

Marces, The Reported define Diacritics as a sign, such as an accent or cedilla, which when written above or below a letter indicates a difference in pronunciation from the same letter when unmarked or differently marked.  I am familiar with this thing but I don't know the real thing (hope that makes sense).


*The photo above can serve as a guide for us to identify a certain diacritic.

She discussed eight diacritics:

  1. Acute
  2. Grave
  3. Circumflex
  4. Caron
  5. Umlaut
  6. Cedilla
  7. Breve
  8. Macron 


So that's it you Guys, I hope I helped you with your Grammar Stuffs
Hope to see you on my next one. Bye :)

Punctuations

Kuya Joseph reported this topic he defines Punctuation as symbols that are used to aid the clarity and comprehension of written language. Some common punctuation marks are the period, comma, question mark, exclamation point, apostrophe, quotation mark and hyphen. we discussed this topic for two meetings since there are so many things that we need  to know about punctuation but mostly he thought us how to use those common punctuation properly. 



I was not expecting mush on this topic but I was wrong. this topic is really an essential one for us English majors since punctuation is in every work that we done it is a must for us to know the proper way on how to use them. 

PS: I also learned that ''sic'' used in pertaining someone in a quotation.

So that's it you Guys, I hope I helped you with your Grammar Stuffs
Hope to see you on my next one. Bye :)


Articles and Determiners

Articles 

English sometimes uses "articles" - the (the definite article) and a/an (the indefinite articles) - before nouns. Many languages do not use equivalent words, thus causing many problems for learners of English. If you use articles incorrectly, or don't use them at all, your tutors will probably understand your writing, but many will find the misuse extremely irritating, which in some cases could affect your mark. It is important, therefore, that you make an effort to use articles correctly.

Determiners

Determiners are said to "mark" nouns. That is to say, you know a determiner will be followed by a noun. Some categories of determiners are limited (there are only three articles, a handful of possessive pronouns, etc.), but the possessive nouns are as limitless as nouns themselves.

Quantifiers are words that precede and modify nouns. They tell us how many or how much. Selecting the correct quantifier depends on your understanding the distinction between Count and Non-Count Nouns. For our purposes, we will choose the count noun trees and the non-count noun dancing:

  • The following quantifiers will work with count nouns:
      many trees
      a few trees
      few trees
    
  • The following quantifiers will work with non-count nouns:
      not much dancing
      a little dancing
      little dancing
    
  • The following quantifiers will work with both count and non-count nouns:
      all of the trees/dancing
      some trees/dancing
      most of the trees/dancing


So that's it you Guys, I hope I helped you with your Grammar Stuffs
Hope to see you on my next one. Bye :)
     

Conjunctions

My classmates where somehow familiar with this topic since they already discussed this but sadly I failed my linguistics  class so that means I can't get the Pre-requisite subject which is Structures of English. but based on the reporter a conjunction is a part of speech that is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Conjunctions are considered to be invariable grammar particle, and they may or may not stand between items they conjoin.
  • Subordinating conjunctions –  Also known as subordinators, these conjunctions join dependent clauses to independent clauses.
  • Coordinating conjunction – Also known as coordinators, these conjunctions coordinate or join two or more sentences, main clauses, words, or other parts of speech which are of the same syntactic importance.
  • Correlative conjunction – These conjunctions correlate, working in pairs to join phrases or words that carry equal importance within a sentence.
  • Conjunctive adverbs – While some instructors do not teach conjunctive adverbs alongside conjunctions, these important parts of speech are worth a mention here. These adverbs always connect one clause to another, and are used to show sequence, contrast, cause and effect, and other relationships.

List of conjunctions commonly used in American English:
  • And
  • As
  • Because
  • But
  • For
  • Just as
  • Or
  • Neither
  • Nor
  • Not only
  • So
  • Whether
  • Yet
So that's it you Guys, I hope I helped you with your Grammar Stuffs
Hope to see you on my next one. Bye :)

Prepositions

Prepositions are words that is used with a noun, pronoun or noun phrase to show direction, manner, or to introduce a certain object.


  • A prepositional phrase is a group of words containing a preposition, a noun or pronoun object of the preposition, and any modifiers of the object.
  • A preposition sits in front of (is “pre-positioned” before) its object.


The following words are the most commonly used prepositions: (Preposition of Time, Place, Direction, manner, prepositions)

about
below
excepting
off
toward
above
beneath
for
on
under
across
beside(s)
from
onto
underneath
after
between
in
out
until
against
beyond
in front of
outside
up
along
but
inside
over
upon
among
by
in spite of
past
up to
around
concerning
instead of
regarding
with
at 
despite
into
since
within
because of
down
like
through
without
before
during
near
throughout
with regard to
behind
except
of
to
with respect to
                                     

* Avoid redundancy of Preposition
* BUT is very seldom a preposition. when it is used as a preposition it has the same meaning as except.

The reporter gave us hints that we can use in prepositions:

  1.  The word to is often a preposition but it is just as often part of an infinitive verb. 
  2. To find the preposition ask ''what'' after the preposition. 

So that's it you Guys, I hope I helped you with your Grammar Stuffs
Hope to see you on my next one. Bye :)

Dangling Modifiers

Dangling Modifiers is presented by Pamela, she defines it as a phrase or clause that is not clearly related to the word it modifies.

Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that add description. In clear, logical sentences, you will often find modifiers right next to—either in front of or behind—the target words they logically describe

She gave us different strategies unto how we can revise Dangling Modifiers.



  1. Name the appropriate doer of the action as the subject of the main clause or simply recreate the sentence.
  2. Change the phrase tat dangles into a complete introductory clause by naming the doer of the action in that clause.
  3. Combine the main phrase and the clause into one.
These strategies can help us improve our writing skills and practice writing and avoid using dangling modifiers.


Dangling modifiers are errors. Their poor construction confuses readers. Look at the samples below:

  • Hungry, the leftover pizza was devoured.

Hungry is a single-word adjective. Notice that there is no one in the sentence for this modifier to describe.
  • Rummaging in her giant handbag, the sunglasses escaped detection.

Rummaging in her giant handbag is a participle phrase. In the current sentence, no word exists for this phrase to modify. Neither sunglasses nor detection has fingers to make rummaging possible!
  • With a sigh of disappointment, the expensive dress was returned to the rack.

With a sigh of disappointment is a string of prepositional phrases. If you look carefully, you do not find anyone in the sentence capable of feeling disappointed. Neither dress nor rack has emotions! (c)

So that's it you Guys, I hope I helped you with your Grammar Stuffs
Hope to see you on my net one. Bye :)