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Given the discussions on the language used in subtitles that crop up from time to time, I was wondering how familiar those who comment are with English grammar. Most of these are relatively easy constructions, so even a perfect score doesn't guarantee that you're an expert on grammar ;) You get one point if you correctly determine whether or not the sentence is grammatical. You get an additional point if the sentence is ungrammatical and you correctly identify the problem. Note that the sentences are intended to stand on their own and should be evaluated as such.

His singing in the shower vexes me.
(click to show/hide)Grammatical
I'm visiting mom and dad over the weekend.
(click to show/hide)Ungrammatical—capitalize mom and dad.
No one is above using their power for personal gain.
(click to show/hide)Ungrammatical—no one is singular whereas their is plural.
Were it up to me, I'd do it myself.
(click to show/hide)Grammatical
Me having been to Japan made it easier for me to understand her.
(click to show/hide)Ungrammatical—should be possessive + gerund, i.e., "My having been to Japan" rather than "Me having been to Japan."
You need to be careful John.
(click to show/hide)Ungrammatical—direct address, so it should be "You need to be careful, John."
Jenny and I are going to the theatre.
(click to show/hide)Grammatical
Who do you love?
(click to show/hide)Ungrammatical—use the objective case, i.e., "Whom do you love?"
Having finished the job, we returned home.
(click to show/hide)Grammatical
There's a lot of Finns in Sweden.
(click to show/hide)Ungrammatical—compare there are.
There are less calories in this, though.
(click to show/hide)Ungrammatical—fewer calories.
He's performed well in the past, however I don't think it'll be enough tonight.
(click to show/hide)Ungrammatical—however cannot be used to join two independent clauses. A possible solution would be "He's performed well in the past; however, I don't think it'll be enough tonight."
I bought a beautiful Japanese small vase.
(click to show/hide)Ungrammatical—incorrect order of adjectives. Compare "I bought a beautiful small Japanese vase."
The house is different from how I remember it.
(click to show/hide)Grammatical
We took shelter from the storm in a small cabin, and were pleasantly surprised to find it rather comfortable.
(click to show/hide)Ungrammatical—don't separate a verb phrase from its subject. Remove the comma or reword the sentence using a participal phrase, e.g., "Taking shelter from the storm in a small cabin, we were pleasantly surprised to find it rather comfortable."
(click to show/hide)Five grammatical and ten ungrammatical sentences, for a total of twenty-five points.
P.S. I scanned through this quickly, but if there are any problems, feel free to point them out ;)

zougou1:
My gramma died many years ago, so I can't test her...   :(

newy:
(click to show/hide)1. ok

2. mom and dad -> Mom and Dad

3. above sounds awkward <- false

4. ok

5. Me -> My

6. careful, John

7. ok

8. ok <- false

9. ok

10. There are

11. ok <- false >_> stupid mistake...

12. ok <- false I was not sure about this one since I learned that however is normally at the beginning/end of a sentence seperated from the sentence with a comma

13. ok <- false

14. ok

15. I think the comma is unnecessary

macros74:
You'd better be right, Newy... ;D
(oops...)

harpy:
Well I can not manage grammar (commas, we have loads of them) in my native language (thou it is much more complex and so on...and I can never understand when you put a comma in English...well I can not do that properly in my native as well, but then again its still much more complex then English :D )

already sorry for my horrible grammar anyhow :D have been sorry for ages now... (got something like 8 points in this test :D me suck...)

oh oh oh - and why does Mom and Dad have to be with capital letters? It's not like mom and dad is proper noun, its just the title....em does all the titles in English have to be written with capital letters? Like - President Mambaza and not president Mambaza ???? We write things with capital letters only if they are proper noun or if you show a respect to a person like you and You (just that we have 2 different words to express this thing in English that is done by you and You :D )

and and and  - why does all the words in titles of books usually are written with capital letters?

AND why do one needs to write the name of the language with capital letter and citizenry with capital letters as well? Yeah you do write the name of the country with the capital, but why the citizens and the language should also be written with the capital letter? its not like its The Citizen, it's just a citizen or The Language but just language....

I mean I understand that in German you write all nouns with capital letter (always the same, kind of makes sense, at least its the same for all words), but English just do not make sense most of the time..... I don't even understand why "I" always should be written as capital letter.... it is just a pronoun, why is it so special that should be written with a capital letter? Is there some kind of meaning behind it. In my language you can do both way and if you actually write it with capital letter it means something


Can please someone explain to me what's the deal with the usage of capital letters in english ???

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