grammar | GuruEAP

As he says that..

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Pak Guru

As Ballard (2017) states that nicotine is more dangerous than alcohol.

OK so there is a group of reporting verbs that may be followed by that (+ independent clause), while there are others that don’t work with that:

Reporting verbs with ‘that’

Henderson (2013) writes that the double quantum matrix is a myth.
In 2015 it was discovered by Smith that elephants are more afraid of snakes than mice.
The findings of Jones et al. (2017) suggest that music education can lead to more general improvements in academic ability.

Reporting verbs without ‘that’

Henderson (2013) describes the double quantum matrix as a myth.
In his 2015 study of elephants, Smith identified a discrepancy between fear of mice and fear of snakes.
Jones’ research (2017) highlighted improvements in academic ability following music study.

As + that (?!)

This third category simply does not exist! As does not belong with that, so in our opening example we need either:

Ballard (2017) states that nicotine is more dangerous than alcohol.

OR..

As Ballard (2017) states, nicotine is more dangerous than alcohol.

But NEVER:

As Ballard (2017) states that nicotine is more dangerous than alcohol.

Helping and enabling + to + V1

Posted on October 1, 2018October 1, 2018 by Pak Guru

Older workers have built expertise to enable them coping with unusual circumstances.

With help + obj and enable + obj you need to + V1:

Older workers have built expertise to enable them to cope with unusual circumstances.
Older workers have built expertise to help them to cope with unusual circumstances.

And that’s all folks!

Japan earthquake – tenses

Posted on September 8, 2018September 8, 2018 by Pak Guru

There have been a lot of earthquakes recently, including this one on Japan’s Hokkaido island. Current news stories – although often tragic – are full of interesting grammar as they include past and finished, recently finished, as well as ongoing events and situations. See if you can choose the correct tenses from the news coverage. Continue reading →

Crime or crimes?

Posted on August 13, 2018September 6, 2018 by Pak Guru

Several posts on GuruEAP deal with nouns that can be either countable or uncountable but with slightly different meanings. Here’s a text packed with examples of one such word – Crime. Select either ‘crime’ or ‘crimes’ from the dropdown menus and then check the answer key for analysis and explanations!

Continue reading →

(A) few, (a) little

Posted on July 26, 2018September 12, 2018 by Pak Guru

Only some students hand in their homework on time.

Elsewhere on GuruEAP we’ve looked at alternatives to ‘some’, which tends to be overused by Indonesians translating from ‘beberapa’, or, in the example above – ‘hanya beberapa’.

In this post we look at other alternatives to ‘some’ that are especially problematic for Indonesians because they are awkward to translate: few, a few, little, and a little.

As with all quantifiers, we need to begin by deciding whether the noun we’re quantifying is countable or uncountable. Continue reading →

One family

Posted on June 4, 2018October 10, 2018 by Pak Guru

I have one wife, one child, one cat and one dog.

In the IELTS speaking test candidates often mention their families when talking about their homes. Sometimes they do this to justify only having a small home, or maybe they want to explain why they chose to live in a particular area.

But in any situation when you offer information about your family, your listener will make certain assumptions, in particular about numbers, and if the number is one then this is often best communicated without using the word ‘one’. Continue reading →

Each and every one of them

Posted on April 27, 2018April 27, 2018 by Pak Guru

Every people can access their own social media account with the touch of a finger.

This is partly forgivable. We know that millions of people (= millions of fingers) use social media, and this writer is making a statement that applies to all of these people. However, there is some faulty grammar: Continue reading →

Not ‘easy to be found’!

Posted on April 24, 2018 by Pak Guru

News from online media is easy to be found.

With easy and difficult you need active verbs:

News from online media is easy to find.
It is more difficult to find news from traditional sources.

..and with a different verb:

News online still has a negative side because it is not always easy to be verified.
News online still has a negative side because it is not always easy to verify.

So, that was easy to fix! (NOT ‘to be fixed’!)

Relying on reflexive pronouns

Posted on April 19, 2018April 19, 2018 by Pak Guru

Technology makes people rely themselves on instruments.

In this sentence, themselves is described by grammarians as a ‘reflexive pronoun’. Reflexive pronouns are used when the object of a sentence is the same as the subject. For example: Continue reading →

Giving to people for a purpose

Posted on March 31, 2018September 12, 2018 by Pak Guru

In recent times, the obligation of developed nations to give aid for developing nations has been widely discussed.

This grammar item is handled differently by different languages. Let’s take a look at some examples:

Several highly independent intelligence operations were given to him.
Eventually they gave the house to their eldest son.
Don’t give it to them! They’ll waste it.
In these examples, give..to is followed by a person or group. ( kepada)

So, ‘to’ + person or people. What about ‘for’?

Cool, huh?! My parents gave it to me for my birthday.
I normally give a tip for good service, but this time I was disappointed.
Here give..for is followed by a purpose. ( untuk)

Now try this practice activity. Continue reading →