That versus which

 Image from secondarysolutionsblog

A lot of second language speakers have trouble with this, so today I'd like to direct anyone who feels uncertain about it to listen to this very clear post by editor Kory Stamper.

Merriam Webster's "Ask the editor" is where you'll find her incisive and enlightening remarks. 

The bottom line is this. Although the "rule" concerns restrictive and non-restrictive clauses, actual usage is not as strict as the rule.

We can say the idea that I had a minute ago (restrictive clause) or the idea which I had...
In the case of non-restrictive clauses, though, we do need to restrict our use to which, bracketed by commas.

Like this:
The rule about always using that for restrictive clauses, which was made by grammarians, is not necessarily followed by all native speakers of English.

One or one of?

Image from Simply Cyn

Special idiomatic expression: If it's one of a kind, there is no other like it.

"I can't remember which one of these expressions to use," the student complained.

"As usual," I replied, "it's all about context."

Here's how it works:


If you say one day, you are not talking about a day among a group of days, but simply a day, any day.

On the other hand, if you use one of, you are speaking of the noun that follows in connection to a group of days; thus, you speak about one of the days you worked last month. 

If you eat one chocolate, you eat a single chocolate, not one from a specific group of chocolates.

If you decide to allow yourself only one drink, because you are planning on driving, the emphasis is on the number, one drink only, and not on the group of which that drink is a member.

It's also about grammar. One is followed by a singular noun. One day, one chocolate, one drink.
In contrast, one of is followed by the and then a plural noun. One of the days I worked last month, one of the chocolates I bought at Purdys, one of the drinks on the table.

As you see, the plural nouns above are followed by specifying modifiers that define the group and answer the question "which?" Answer: the one I worked last month, the one I bought at Purdy's, the one on the table.

Beware: the word one can sometimes be plural. In this case, one is preceded by the, and followed by specifying phrases or clauses, like this:

Which days? The ones I worked night shift.
Which drinks? The ones on the table.
Which chocolates? The ones from Purdy's.

Whether you use one or one of the, an adjective can precede the noun. One dark chocolate, one alcoholic drink, one sunny day. Or one of the cream-filled chocolates (if there are any left); one of the alcoholic drinks (as long as it isn't too strong); one of the busiest days we had at work last month.

Remember: one of is ALWAYS followed by the and a specifying modifier.

Anybody, somebody, everybody, nobody

 Image from The Geeks Club

Is anybody singular?

No, I am not asking whether anybody is without a partner, or if anybody is odd or strange.

I speak grammatically. And the answer is yes. This also applies to everyone, someone, no-one and anyone.

The pronouns anybody, somebody, everybody and nobody are all singular, grammatically speaking. Sentences using these pronouns use the verb forms that are used with singular nouns, like this:
     Tom was ready and so was everybody else.
     Mary was surprised, but nobody else was surprised.
     Was anybody home? No, there wasn't anybody there.
     As I walked down the dark street, I felt that somebody was following me. Then I realized that there was somebody behind me: my dog.

To read a fascinating short story about these interesting characters, follow this link.

Such a long journey

Book cover picture from Goodreads

It's the title of a book by Toronto author Rohinton Mistry. The phrase is a common one, and it emphasizes the length of the trip.

I had such a good time that I didn't want to leave the party. In this sentence, the emphasis is on how good the party was.

We use many similar forms:

I walked such a lot that...
It was such a good movie that....
Jane had such a good mark that....

The expression "such a long journey" follows the pattern such + a + adjective + noun. If the noun is plural, of course, the a is dropped (because a means one) and we get sentences like this:

She made such delicious croissants that they were all eaten within an hour.
Our neighbours are such good people that we hope they never move away.
I didn't expect to see such important people at the ceremony.
Dogs aren't such good pets as cats.

We can also say such a lot of + a plural noun or non-countable noun, like this:

Joe had such a lot of friends that he was out practically every evening.
Joe had such a lot of homework that there was no way he could finish it all.
He didn't expect the teacher to assign such a lot of homework.


The 'a' is also dropped when the noun is non-countable, like this:

I didn't expect to get such information (information of this type).
May didn't expect to experience such trouble at the border.
Such education is invaluable.


By the way, Such a long journey is a very good book. It's so good that when I read it a few years back, I remember that I stayed up nearly all night because I couldn't put it down.

In June 2012, Rohinton Mistry addressed the graduates of Ryerson University in Toronto.

It or this?

Photo: Texas A&M IT

A problem that often crops up for my ESL students is the difficulty they have in deciding when to use it and when to use this to refer back in a piece of writing to what has gone before.

This is an interesting problem. As a native speaker and an ESL instructor, I have to find ways to explain this. The first of these is the grammatical rule: the word it is allowed only a single word as an antecedent. The word this that appears at the beginning of this paragraph refers back to the fact that the students have difficulty in deciding; thus, since the word it cannot have a phrase or clause as antecedent, we must use this rather than it.

However, it is quite possible that this rule, like so many rules in English, does not always hold. Wait! The word it in the previous sentence refers to the fact that it is possible..., so why not change it to this?

The answer is that in addition to knowing the rule about antecedents, we must take idiomatic phrases into consideration.  The previous paragraph uses the common expression "It is possible that" and that expression always begins with it. In the same way, we would say, It is strange that...It is interesting that...and so on.

Also, in the above examples, this refers not back, but forward in the text. Is this as clear as mud? Or is it still confusing? Did you notice that the last it referred back to the word this in the previous sentence?

I have to stop trying to explain this. It's driving me crazy. (Same pattern as previous paragraph.)

Picture: This on Vimeo

Reported speech word order

"I didn't know."
"Oh. I thought you knew."

"We'll go soon."
"He said we'd go soon."

"What did Mary say?"
"She said Tom would be here soon."

"Mary saw you at Metrotown yesterday, but you didn't see me."
"Is that right?"

Later, to someone else:
"Joe said Mary had seen me at Metrotown but that I hadn't seen her."
"Really?"
 

Think you know this stuff? Do the quiz here.

Omitting relative pronouns

2013

Picture: desudjia.com

I was asked recently by a student whether, in a certain sentence, she could omit the relative pronoun that. Over my long teaching career, I've been asked the same question many times. Though I always know the answer, I can't always explain why.

The reason? My native-speaker grammatical knowledge is unconscious and ingrained. The rule about omitting relative pronouns is one I kept having to look up, and each time, I managed to forget it again.

Now I've done the research one more time, I've decided to post the rules and exceptions, along with some examples, for easy reference. Here they are:

1. If the relative pronoun is the object of the relative clause, it is usually omitted, as shown in the following examples:

     The girl (who/m) I was telling you about is the one sitting over there.
     Where is the food (that) you bought?
     The groceries (which) I bought are on the counter.
     This is the book (that) I lost last week.
     Do you have the same instructor (that/who/m) you had last term?

There are two exceptions to the above pattern. Both involve restrictive and non-restrictive clauses.* The first exception is when the relative pronoun begins a non-restrictive clause.

     The new coffee shop, which is near the corner of Broadway and Commercial, is nicer than the old one.
     The staff members, who were delayed by an interruption to SkyTrain service, were all late for work.    

The other exception is when the relative pronoun is the subject of a restrictive clause.

     The only man who got off the train at Metrotown stepped on my foot on his way to the door.
     It's a wonderful book, but I'm afraid I've forgotten the name of the author.
     Those who attend all the classes and do all the assignments usually pass the course.   

2.  If the relative clause contains the verb to be with a present or past participle, then both these verb parts can be left out.

     He's the man (who is) talking to our new neighbour.
     Anyone (who is) caught cheating will be given a zero grade and subjected to disciplinary action.
     Tom bought the necktie (which was) on sale.
     The delegates (who were) drinking coffee in the hall were asked to return to the conference room.

If you understand all these rules, try taking a quiz from the Frankfurt International School here. More detailed information on relative clauses here.

*Unclear on restrictive and non-restrictive clauses? Check back tomorrow.