When does Y change to IE?

Most words with an "i" sound at the end end in -Y
The plural of nouns which end in -Y changes to -IES

a lady; many ladies
my family; many families
1 granny; both grannies
one city; all the cities
one fatality; many fatalities
the gallery; all the galleries
one theory; many theories
one pony; lots of ponies

If the -y is preceded by a vowel though, the plural is -ys

day; days
toy; toys
monkey; monkeys

You can put an ie at the ending of a word as a sign of affection

What a cutie!
She's a sweetie

Note - no apostrophes for plurals.

Comparatives and superlatives of adjectives which end in -Y

silly, sillier, silliest

funny, funnier, funniest

happy, happier, happiest

merry, merrier, merriest

Note - no apostrophes for comparatives and superlatives of adjectives!

Are you seeing a pattern here?

Apostrophe only 

1  for possession

Mary's brother

the pony's saddle

2 for a missing letter

Mary's late = Mary is late

don't be late - do not be late

More irregular verbs

Last time we looked at some irregular verbs. Although they are irregular they still have rules and many follow a similar pattern.

Principle parts: present/infinitive, simple past, past participle

swim swam swum
spring sprang sprung
shrink shrank shrunk
sink sank sunk
stink stank stunk
ring rang rung
begin began begun

No problem with these as the simple past is the same as the past participle.

fight fought fought
bring brought brought
find found found

here are some very common ones - practise saying the parts

go went gone
do did done
eat ate eaten
read read read - pronounced [reed]  [red]  [red
write wrote written
break broke broken
speak spoke spoken
see saw seen
fall fell fallen
run ran run
become became become

REMEMBER when using the past participle (the third part) you must have a helper verb with it.

Here are some wrong sentences. Can you say what is wrong and why?

1. Honey, I shrunk the kids.
2. He sprung into action.
3. The kitchen stunk of cabbage.
4. I seen them coming.
5. She has broke a tooth.
6. He has spoke too soon.
7. He has went and done it.

Complete the sentences

1. Several trees have f… in the storm.
2. I have wr… a letter of complaint to the manager.
3. He has bro… his arm.
4. I've … too many chocolates.
5. The bell has r….
6. My shirt shr… in the wash.

Scroll down for the answers……












Here are some wrong sentences. Can you say what is wrong and why?

1. Honey, I shrunk the kids. I know it is a film title. It should be I shrank the kids or I have shrunk the kids. Shrunk is the past participle and needs "have" in front of it.
2. He sprung into action. He sprang into action. Simple past tense.
3. The kitchen stunk of cabbage. The kitchen stank … Simple past tense.
4. I seen them coming. I saw them coming. Simple past tense.
5. She has broke a tooth.  She has broken a tooth. Past participle after has
6. He has spoke too soon. He has spoken too soon. Past participle after has. Or He spoke too soon.
7. He has went and done it.  He has gone and done it. Past participle after has

Complete the sentences

1. Several trees have fallen in the storm.
2. I have written a letter of complaint to the manager.
3. He has broken his arm.
4. I've eaten too many chocolates.
5. The bell has rung.
6. My shirt shrank in the wash.

Trouble with past tenses

Nowadays mistakes with past tenses of irregular verbs are so commonplace that I even have to sometimes stop and think myself. I'm talking about "the bell has went" "the ship sunk" "I have swam"





All verbs have 3 principal parts

to look - look,  looked, looked is a regular or weak verb

to sink - sink sank sunk is an example of an irregular or strong where the 3 parts are different
The 3 principle parts are
Present tense and infinitive:  sink
Simple Past:   sank
Past Participle:  sunk

The difference between sank and sunk:
"Sank" is often used when it should be "sunk"

sank 

the ship sank
he sank all his savings into a holiday home

sunk needs another "helper" verb in front of it, such as: have / has  /had or am/ is/ was /were

a small yacht has sunk
the trawler had sunk by the time the lifeboat arrived
the ship was sunk by a torpedo
we have sunk a well
I'm sunk
it hasn't sunk in yet
it could have been sunk by a wave

other verbs with the same vowel change pattern as to sink

drink, drank, drunk
sing, sang, sung
begin, began, begun
swim, swam, swum
ring, rang, rung

so

I have drunk gallons of tea
much tea was drunk
he has sung professionally
it has begun
they have swum
the bells were rung at midnight

TIP
Practice saying the principal parts to yourself.

Test yourself. Which is correct?
REMEMBER when using the past participle (the third part) you must have a helper verb with it

1. I have (sang/sung) in a choir
2. We all (drank/drunk) too much. 
3. The children (sang/sung) loudly.
4. Lots of coffee was (drank/drunk)
5. The church bells were (rang/rung) for the wedding.
6. The bells (rang/rung) out for New Year.
7. Tom (swam/swum) 30 lengths.
8. I could have (swam/swum) further.
9. The programme has (began/begun)
10. It (began/begun) to rain.

Scroll down for the answers ……

1. I have sung in a choir.
2. We all drank too much. 
3. The children sang loudly.
4. Lots of coffee was drunk.
5. The church bells were rung for the wedding.
6. The bells rang out for New Year.
7. Tom swam 30 lengths.
8. I could have swum further.
9. The programme has begun.
10. It began to rain.

More here

Which is right?

My ears pricked up in a clothes shop today. An assistant was replacing a promotional poster because of a "spelling mistake"!  It wasn't me who complained, honestly! Well done to Viyella/Country Casuals for reprinting and replacing.

Someone cost the company because they didn't know the difference between complimentary and complementary! I enjoyed a complimentary glass of shloer. They didn't offer me any styling tips though. I'm obviously a lost cause.

Confusing words ending in -s or 's

Compare: Plural - There are 2 churches in the village.
's standing for "is" - The church's at the top of the hill. 's standing for "of" or "of the"(possession) The church's steeple is in a dangerous condition. (The steeple of the church) Try this game for more examples

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Spot the mistakes

Planning a short break online has provided me with lots of material.

What is wrong with the following? There may be more than one error per item.

1
Double rooms are equipped with double bed, complimentry tray with coffee/tea and shortbread, TV, en suite bathroom with complimentry toiletries supplied from Arran Aromatics.

2
Twin/Double rooms have tea and coffee facilities free use of our spa facilities and hair dryer’s in each room Public parking is possible on site (reservation is needed please call to book)

3
We are located on Sauchiehall Street within easy reach of both Glasgow City Centre, close to Glasgow University and Glasgow’s Famous West End, within Walking distance of:

• Kelvingrove Art Gallery

 4
Situated just 50 yards from The George is the Paymasters House. Dating back to 1780 when it was the home of Provost James Campbell. It is now decorated and furnished to 4 star standard.
We are able to offer the individual apartments or rooms within the Paymaster's apartments on an accommodation only basis with breakfast available at The George if requested.

• The Paymaster Master Bedroom
• The Paymasters Annexe
• The Generals Master Bedroom
• The Cornals Master Bedroom
• Miss Marys Apartment
• Peggys Apartment

  

 



Answers
1
Double rooms are equipped with double bed, complimentry tray with coffee/tea and shortbread, TV, en suite bathroom with complimentry toiletries supplied from Arran Aromatics.

They got the tricky bit right complimentary (not complementary - see this post) but mispelt the ending.

2
Twin/Double rooms have tea and coffee facilities, free use of our spa facilities and hair dryer's in each room. Public parking is possible on site. (A reservation is needed. Please call to book.)

Lack of punctuation - I've corrected it.
hairdryer's (ugh) instead of plural hairdryers (see this post)

3
We are located on Sauchiehall Street within easy reach of both Glasgow City Centre, close to Glasgow University and Glasgow’s Famous West End, within Walking distance of:

• Kelvingrove Art Gallery

Random capital letters - see this post

 4
Situated just 50 yards from The George is the Paymasters House. Dating back to 1780 when it was the home of Provost James Campbell, it is now decorated and furnished to 4 star standard.
We are able to offer the individual apartments or rooms within the Paymaster's apartments on an accommodation only basis with breakfast available at The George, if requested.

• The Paymaster Master Bedroom
• The Paymasters Annexe
• The Generals Master Bedroom
• The Cornals Master Bedroom
• Miss Marys Apartment
• Peggys Apartment

The part beginning "Dating" is not a sentence. Fix it with a comma after Campbell and continue the sentence.
And lack of apostrophes denoting possession apart from one correct use in the third line! (See this post.)


I am happy to note that most websites I looked at were well done!

hopefully

My fiftieth post and a bugbear of mine.

Hopefully - I hate this word! It is overused in speech.

Hopefully the train will be on time. Why not say, "I hope the train will be on time."

Hopefully. On its own = I hope so.

hopefully has 2 meanings

1 in a hopeful manner eg It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.

2 it is to be hoped   This is the controversial one. A lot of people, myself included, find this bad usage. It is accepted widely in informal chat but you should avoid it in any kind of formal writing.

Here are some recent examples gleaned from the BBC news site.

Norfolk / 5 January 2012

Tim Phillips, head teacher at Acle High, said the damage at the school would hopefully be repaired later so it could reopen on Friday.

Oxford/ 9 January 2012 "Hopefully in the future I can make amends” Antony Worrall Thompson

Suffolk/ 8 January 2012  "Hopefully, these signs will prompt motorists who see anything suspicious to get in touch immediately, after finding a safe place to stop and make a call to us."

On the northern bottlenose whale:  They had their population significantly reduced by whaling, but are now a protected species and their numbers will hopefully recover.


Ho-hum! I think I am in a minority with this one.

off the wall

of or off?

I think this just boils down to carelessness since they are pronounced differently.

"off" pronounced with F sound, can refer to something detached or apart from something else

the picture fell off the wall
the island is off the coast of Cornwall
to start off
to finish off

some idioms use off: with explanations for foreign readers

to give someone the brush off  = to snub or disregard someone especially in boy/girl relationships
to knock off = to steal ( as well as the usual meaning)
off the wall = crazily unusual
push off! = go away (not rude)
a one-off = one of a kind  (I've never understood why it is not a one "of"!)

"of" pronounced withV sound, has many functions
a pint of beer
days of the week
to think of something or someone
people of America


Compare:

a round of golf
he rounded off the evening with a

a piece of cake
he knocked a piece off the statue

These mistakes were spotted recently:

                          xxxx Jimmy Carr rounds of the present series. xxxx

Well, one of them was right, M&S!


Test yourself

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