The English Manual

Purpose

Many a time have I had to repeat or reformulate an explanation given about a certain topic. This manual ensures I have a centralized location to store all the explanations I give about various English topics. I hope this will help your study of English as much as it has helped others.

Lies

Here is a list of common inaccuracies I see textbooks repeat. Again, these are all untrue or inaccurate:

• I is a plural pronoun.
  This is true in neither a semantic nor a syntactic sense. If it were, then why do we not say "I are"?
• You can add "out" or "up" to any verb to emphasize the meaning.
  This is not only false in general, but for many verbs the meaning drastically changes - compare, for instance hit (strike, beat) with hit up (contact, reach)
• Word-final T is silent in American English
  This stems from an unfamiliarity with English phonology. The T is indeed pronounced, but as a glottal stop. All natives can distinguish "caw" from "cot", for instance.
• In order to pronounce TH correctly, the tongue must be between the teeth.
  This is not only incorrect but potentially harmful. Interdental TH is often used to stereotype mentally challenged individuals, so might make you sound silly. The tongue only needs to touch the upper teeth.
• The only coordinating conjunctions are FANBOYS.
  While these are the most common coordinating conjunctions, these are far from all. A common coordinating conjunction not in FANBOYS is only.

Formality

There are many words and constructions that can make a sentence sound formal or informal. These are noted in their respective sections. This section, however, will focus on the importance of using the appropriate formality for the situation.

If you use too high a formality, people may think you're being sarcastic, insincere, or dismissive. This may come as a surprise to some learners, but many natives will switch to an excessively formal register in order to sound this way. Conversely, if you use too low a formality, people may think you're being dismissive, or don't care about what the other speaker has to say.

Questions

For questions, you move the auxiliary verb to the front of the sentence. If there is a wh-word, you also move that word in front of the verb. This is called inversion.

• I do run. → Do I run?
• You can see it. → Can you see it?
• I can do what. → What can I do?
• I have always driven a car before yesterday. → Have I always driven a car before yesterday?

Questions without Auxiliaries

If the original sentence uses do as an auxiliary, or doesn't use an auxiliary and uses a verb in the simple present, you need to use do:

• I run. → Do I run?
• You see it. → Do you see it?

Likewise, if the original sentence uses did as an auxiliary, or doesn't use an auxiliary and uses a verb in the simple past, you need to use did:

• I ran. → Did I run?
• You saw it. → Did you see it?

Preposition Stranding

For more complex wh-phrases, two forms are possible:

• What did you cook the meal with?
• With what did you cook the meal?

However, the latter form is seen as exceptionally formal, even archaic, and is inappropriate in all but the most formal writing.

Bad Questions

The following are examples of questions which break the guidelines set above, and are thus incorrect:

• I ran. → *Did I ran?
• You can see it. → *Do you can see it?
• You are going where. → *You are going where?
• You are going where. → *Are you going where?
• You are going where. → *Where you are going?
• You are going where. → *Where do you are going?
• You are going where. → *Where do you be going?

The Future

Many learners are taught the future is always expressed with will. This is false beyond false. Using will to express the future is actually less common than the simple present or present continuous.

Compound future tenses are even rarer. For every verb in the simple future, there are forty in the simple present. For every verb in the future perfect, there are a hundred in the present perfect. For every verb in the future perfect continuous, there are five hundred in the present perfect continuous. Now granted, not every verb in the simple present is a future action, but it illustrates the sheer rarity of using the future in compound tenses.

Consider the following sentences, which all sound better in the present:

• I hope he gets better. (versus the ungrammatical) *I hope he will get better.
• I go to Seattle Friday. (versus the still grammatical but slightly less natural) I will go to Seattle Friday.
• I am going to Seattle Friday. (ditto) I will go to Seattle Friday.

Counters

In collocations I list any noun with more than 5% frequency in order from most to least frequent.