A place where I hope some of my students will share and improve their English knowledge.
22.10.12
Questions and Answers
This post is for anyone who wants to ask a question related to English classes, or English language in general. I will do my best to answer any questions you may have.
Joseph said... Hello friends, I'd like to ask a question concerning at name "t-shirt". Does someone know what the letter "T" means in this word? Thanks.
Hi Joseph and thanks for your post...As you see I have started a post for this type of questions and yours is the first!!
The Origin goes back to 1919 The T-shirt got its start as an item of men's underwear and got its name because when spread flat(Spa:extendida) it formed a stubby (Spa:gruesa)letter T. Its little sleeves and round collar distinguished the T-shirt from the standard sleeveless (Spa:sin mangas) undershirt of the day. The sleeves may also have helped bring the T-shirt out in the 1930s and 1940s, since (Spa: ya que) they offered a gesture towards modesty as well as a place for a pack of cigarettes.
Good question Aida, the answer is connected to a lesson we did in class one day, when I explained how there is a rhythm in English.
Basically English is a stress-timed language (Spa:idioma con acentuación regular), it is a language where the stressed syllables are said at approximately regular intervals, and unstressed syllables shorten (Spa:se acortan) to fit(Spa: para encajar en) this rhythm. So it doesn't need accents because accentuation is marked by rhythm and sentence intonation. In Spanish accentuation is marked by acute accents (Spa: tíldes)
I was wondering if you could solve a doubt that has been in my mind since I started studying English... Can you explain me the saxon genitive?? I know it seems a stupid question but I always hesitate when I'm writing in English.
No I can't! As if you hadn't had enough time to ask me all these years!! lol only joking... I'll answer tomorrow.. tonight there's a huge football match I can't miss!! PS: it's nice to hear from you again...
The Saxon Genitive, is normally used with animate nouns, like people (and known animals), to express the “have got” relation (possession) but it also expresses more kinds of meanings, like the fact that somebody did something: The student’s application – the student applied (also, the application of/by the student), or that something was done to somebody: The prisoner’s release – The police released the prisoner. SG is also use with: -Animals of major species; the elephant's tusks (Spa: colmillos) but not with minor species-The legs of the fly- -Countries or cities; UK's character,
Sometimes we don’t know whether to use the SG, the of-phrase or a noun phrase. Some useful ideas: When something is felt really important for us, we kind of personify that by using the Saxon Genitive, as in the train’s heating system is not working. But we can also say The heating system of the train... The local S.G. is common: I got this at Harrod’s. We love hanging around in the school’s playground In very formal written English sometimes the of-phrase is preferred! Can you find any examples below? Focus: the first item you mention is the theme, the focus, so sometimes we use the inflected genitive or the of-phrase genitive depending on this. (Find examples below) Expressions of time & distance take the Saxon Genitive, but these can be replaced by a noun phrase. Today's paper. A mile's drive. The of-phrase is used instead of the Saxon Genitive when the head noun is followed by a modifier: the girl in blue – I love the bicycle of the girl in blue, instead of I love the girl in blue’s bicycle. The of-phrase is often used for plural cases, for the sake of clarity: the trade unionists’ meeting becomes the meeting of the trade unionists, so it is clearer/to avoid confusion. The of-phrase is commonly replaced by a noun phrase with mass (oil) and abstract (freedom) nouns. The Saxon Genitive appears in fixed expressions: a 2-dollars’ worth of stamps, a stone’s throw
Some of this is mine, some is from grammar books of course! If you need further explanation just let me know and I'll try to help sooner thant this time, but with your chronic impatience I suppose it will always be too late!! xxx
I suppose this post is where we're supposed to post suggestions, so I think you could write about Aspas' future husband (more information here: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3557370602600766680&postID=2482993384102875613&isPopup=true) in order to have more people reading your blog. What's more, it is easier to write about what do we think about the couple than about our holidays (because I think most people in my class don't remember them). By the way, you could also speak about the strike and demonstration on 28th April (next Tuesday) or about how similar is Font de Mora with the bad character in D'artacan.
Joseph said...
ReplyDeleteHello friends, I'd like to ask a question concerning at name "t-shirt". Does someone know what the letter "T" means in this word?
Thanks.
Hi Joseph and thanks for your post...As you see I have started a post for this type of questions and yours is the first!!
ReplyDeleteThe Origin goes back to 1919
The T-shirt got its start as an item of men's underwear and got its name because when spread flat(Spa:extendida) it formed a stubby (Spa:gruesa)letter T. Its little sleeves and round collar distinguished the T-shirt from the standard sleeveless (Spa:sin mangas) undershirt of the day. The sleeves may also have helped bring the T-shirt out in the 1930s and 1940s, since (Spa: ya que) they offered a gesture towards modesty as well as a place for a pack of cigarettes.
I hope you write again soon!
why in english don't use accents??
ReplyDeleteaida!
Good question Aida, the answer is connected to a lesson we did in class one day, when I explained how there is a rhythm in English.
ReplyDeleteBasically English is a stress-timed language (Spa:idioma con acentuación regular), it is a language where the stressed syllables are said at approximately regular intervals, and unstressed syllables shorten (Spa:se acortan) to fit(Spa: para encajar en) this rhythm. So it doesn't need accents because accentuation is marked by rhythm and sentence intonation. In Spanish accentuation is marked by acute accents (Spa: tíldes)
I have supposed that it would be it, but for asking that it does not stay..
ReplyDeletethanx!!
aiD*
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you could solve a doubt that has been in my mind since I started studying English... Can you explain me the saxon genitive?? I know it seems a stupid question but I always hesitate when I'm writing in English.
Thanks!
No I can't! As if you hadn't had enough time to ask me all these years!! lol only joking... I'll answer tomorrow.. tonight there's a huge football match I can't miss!!
ReplyDeletePS: it's nice to hear from you again...
It seems as if you needed to look it up... :P
ReplyDeleteThe Saxon Genitive, is normally used with animate nouns, like people (and known animals), to express the “have got” relation (possession) but it also expresses more kinds of meanings, like the fact that somebody did something: The student’s application – the student applied (also, the application of/by the student), or that something was done to somebody: The prisoner’s release – The police released the prisoner.
ReplyDeleteSG is also use with:
-Animals of major species; the elephant's tusks (Spa: colmillos) but not with minor species-The legs of the fly-
-Countries or cities; UK's character,
Sometimes we don’t know whether to use the SG, the of-phrase or a noun phrase. Some useful ideas:
When something is felt really important for us, we kind of personify that by using the Saxon Genitive, as in the train’s heating system is not working. But we can also say The heating system of the train...
The local S.G. is common: I got this at Harrod’s. We love hanging around in the school’s playground
In very formal written English sometimes the of-phrase is preferred! Can you find any examples below?
Focus: the first item you mention is the theme, the focus, so sometimes we use the inflected genitive or the of-phrase genitive depending on this. (Find examples below)
Expressions of time & distance take the Saxon Genitive, but these can be replaced by a noun phrase. Today's paper. A mile's drive.
The of-phrase is used instead of the Saxon Genitive when the head noun is followed by a modifier: the girl in blue – I love the bicycle of the girl in blue, instead of I love the girl in blue’s bicycle.
The of-phrase is often used for plural cases, for the sake of clarity: the trade unionists’ meeting becomes the meeting of the trade unionists, so it is clearer/to avoid confusion.
The of-phrase is commonly replaced by a noun phrase with mass (oil) and abstract (freedom) nouns.
The Saxon Genitive appears in fixed expressions: a 2-dollars’ worth of stamps, a stone’s throw
Some of this is mine, some is from grammar books of course! If you need further explanation just let me know and I'll try to help sooner thant this time, but with your chronic impatience I suppose it will always be too late!!
xxx
I suppose this post is where we're supposed to post suggestions, so I think you could write about Aspas' future husband (more information here: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3557370602600766680&postID=2482993384102875613&isPopup=true) in order to have more people reading your blog. What's more, it is easier to write about what do we think about the couple than about our holidays (because I think most people in my class don't remember them).
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you could also speak about the strike and demonstration on 28th April (next Tuesday) or about how similar is Font de Mora with the bad character in D'artacan.
Mònica.