I have some problems with english grammar and vocabulary

[Nessie]

Oh, sorry for this too long list of questions :P
Hope you don't find it disturbing :) Please just keep it in your "To Do" list but don't forget to answer them when you have time.
Long for your help.
Thanks :)
_________________
:(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Mister Micawber]

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It is better to ask each question, or a couple of related questions, in separate threads-- you will get faster and more thorough responses.


1/ He knows nearly everything there's to know about whales = He knows everything that there is to know about whales.

This is obviously a complex sentence with a relative clause, but what are the two sentences that it is made from? Are they these:
- he knows nearly every [fact]
- that exists about whales

Does that help?

2/ Does the word "complaintment" exist? It is not in the dictionaries, and its few on-line occurrences seem to be from disreputable sites or as a joke:

"You should make an attemptation at resoluting and resolvitizing your complaintment directlike to the bidness with whom lies the problematical situation..."

3/ There is a hotel in my province whose name is "The Queen Hotel". I wonder if it is all right to use "The Queen hotel" here, or may be just "The Queen" is ok. -- The proprietors have free rein in naming their establishment. It could be The Queen Hotel, The Queen's Hotel, Queens Hotel, The Queens, or anything else they like.

4/ I have seen this sentence right in our forum: "In this story will find many idioms with the word cool." => I think it must be "In this story you will find many idioms with the word "cool"", mustn't it? -- Yes, it should be in quotation marks or in italics: "cool" or 'cool' or cool.

5/ Is it true that the forms "used not to" and "daren't" are old-fashioned? I have heard that people often use "usen't to", but how about "usedn't to"?

Formal: I used not to or I used to not; used you to?
Informal: I didn't use to; Did you use to? (Also spelt 'I didn't used to', 'Did you used to?' but considered incorrect spelling by some)
Contraction in occasional use: use(d)n't. (from Swan, 'Practical English Usage')

6/
my befuddled brain, searching for air as the temperature soars, has turned to the use we make in English of expressions to do with the variations of hot and cold = my brain has been confused by the lack of cool air because the temperature is rising, and I have started thinking about how we use words related to 'hot' and 'cold' in English idioms and phrases.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Nessie]

Thank you very much, dear Mister Micawber :)
I have some feedback:
quote:

4/ I have seen this sentence right in our forum: "In this story will find many idioms with the word cool." => I think it must be "In this story you will find many idioms with
the word "cool"", mustn't it? -- Yes, it should be in quotation marks or in italics: "cool" or 'cool' or cool.

=> The trouble I mean is not that, it is the phrase "In this story will find" => no subject
_________________
:(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Mister Micawber]

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Oh, I see. The word 'you' seems to be missing. It is easy to make typing mistakes in on-line forums; I often do so.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Nessie]

Besides, I find it very difficult to understand this:"the use we make in English of expressions "
=> Why is it not "the use of English expression we make" or "the use we make in English expression"? I still feel so skeptical... (+_+)
_________________
:(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Yankee]

Hi Nessie

In that sentence, Mister Micawber basically made use of the idiom "to make use of (something)". However, rather than saying "make use of", he changed it to "the use (we) make of".

"The use we make of expressions" basically means "the way we use expressions".

For a definition, scroll down to make use of here
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Nessie]

Thanks for your help, dear Yankee :)
Actually I understand the usage of "make use of", and the phrase "The use we make of expressions", but I just find "English of expressions" here so strange . Why is it not "the use we make of English expression"?
_________________
:(... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know.. :(

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Torsten]

Hi Nessie,

The phrase reads "the use we make in English of expressions" so you could also say "the use we make of expressions" or "the use of we make of English expressions".

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