DAILY GRAMMAR (DG) 06-10-2018
1a. Please, I want to drop at Tanke. (No)
Please, I want to alight at Tanke. (Yes)
Please, drop me off at Tanke. (Yes)
1b. The tourists enjoyed their trip in the luxurious bus. (No)
The tourists enjoyed their trip in the luxury bus. (Yes)
(To “alight” is to get down, descend or dismount. To “drop” is to fall. To “drop someone off” is to stop in order to allow them to get out of a vehicle. A “luxury bus” is a type of vehicle that has amenities that non-luxury ones do not have. It is correct for a noun to modify another noun; e.g., grammar teacher, not *grammatical teacher.)
2a. We don’t know if that politician will win the forthcoming election. (No)
We don’t know whether that politician will win the forthcoming election. (Yes)
2b. I’ll visit you whether it doesn’t rain this weekend. (No)
I’ll visit you if it doesn’t rain this weekend. (Yes)
(“Whether” expresses a condition where there are two or more options. “If” expresses a condition where there are no options or alternatives.)
3a. I urge you to well prepare for your exams this semester. (No)
I urge you to prepare well for your exams this semester. (Yes)
3b. You know that to properly prepare is better than to shamefully fail. (No*)
You know that to prepare properly is better than to fail shamefully. (Yes)
(At the risk of sounding traditional, the right place for an adverb is usually after the infinitive form of the verb. Though people spilt it, the rule is that you do not spilt the infinitive.)
Did You Know?
A “comma splice” describes a situation where a writer connects two things or clauses that could be two independent sentences with a comma. An editor, therefore, would replace the “comma splice” with a period and make two sentences out of one.
Mahfouz Adedimeji’s Blog
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