Daily Grammar – Week 3

(To “lend” is to give and to “borrow” is to receive. It would be correct in the example above to also say, “Please, may I borrow your book?” or “I want to borrow your book”. In other words, the giver lends while the receiver borrows.)

2. I like that student because he has a good manner. (No)

I like that student because he has good manners. (Yes)

(“Manners” appears usually in the plural form and attracts a plural verb. Other examples here include “remains”, “thanks”, “wages”, “regards”, etc. For example, remains are buried; thanks are given/expressed; wages are paid; and regards are given/accepted.)

3. Speak louder, I am not hearing you. (No)

Speak louder, I can’t hear you. (Yes)

(Stative verbs like “see”, “believe”, “love”, “hate”, “understand”, “suppose”, “mean”, “like”, “want”, etc. are usually used in the simple present form. *”I am seeing it”, *”I am hearing you”, *”I am understanding you”, *”I have been wanting to see you”, etc. are earthshaking grammatical howlers.)

Did You Know?

A pangram sentence is the one that contains every letter in a language. For example, “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is an English pangram.