Mixed English Grammar Thread

Best analogy is: Which is more proper vs. which is generally acceptable? "It is I.." is technically grammatically correct, but most everyone says "It's me.", without losing a moment's sleep over it-:)

Little Johnny made a mistake in his English homework. The exercise was on the past perfect. See if you can punctuate this:

Where Johnny had had had had had had been the right answer.

Where Johnny had had had, had had had been the right answer.
More or less?

Where Johnny had had "had had", "had" had been the right answer.

Where Johny had had "had", "had had" had been the right answer.

Antek_Stalich

You forgot one had ;>

Girls were better than I ;-)


No, all of us had 6 "had", count, please.

When I was at school we were told to avoid ending sentences with a preposition. How about this one. Dad goes downstairs to get a book for his daughter's bedtime story. Unfortunately, his choice was met with disapproval:

Daddy, why did you bring that book I don't want to be read to out of up for?

Makes sense to me.

I thought that the sense is that he should had "had had" instead of one "had". Everything sums up :)

Sorry Maaarysia. There are two Ns in Johnny.

Can someone translate it?


So Marynka won... but she hadn't had the "" ;)

i edited and binned my reply when i realized i might be wrong.

clever move, but you wasn't enough fast ;)


because you edited it you little cheater ;)

I think italic looks more elegant.

I understand the "book" sentence but after having sorted it out in 50%, I was still left with too many words.


No, pay attention: My "had" sentence was different from yours, probably wrong, still makes sense to me.

Excellent, Maaarysia! Italics are fine, of course, but how do you write them in longhand?

All of the words are needed. I don't know how to punctuate it though. I have no idea about it in English.

Here is the sense
Daddy, why did you bring that book up(stairs) for?
I don't want to be read to (by you=daddy) out of (the book).

Ok, so you also won :)

Maarysia and Marynka are 2 different female specimens. I have the number 11 at the end.

If I wrote by hand I would have used the quotation marks of course.

No punctuation needed.

There are no winners, them are all losers... :D

The sentences of yours and Marynka were probably correct by the author's intention.
Marynka got the "book" sentence right! I though it should be a single sentence? Ay, a comma and we are there! Bravo!

Why did you bring that book I don't want to be read to out of up for, Daddy?

Ziemowit, what do you mean? If I were is 'if + subject + past simple' in grammatical form.

Post 126 is almost perfect. He 'had had' had (meaning he selected had as his answer) but 'had had' WAS the right answer.

He 'had had' had implies that he changed it to sth else (from had) but let's not complicate it.

Seanus, could it be we had had some language-barrier in the "food" thread? It seems to me when you say the adjective "Polish" you only mean the original concepts or products of Poland. In Polish, we use the adjective "polski" for anything that is made in Poland, too, despite of the origin of the idea of the product. If I say, "Polski Fiat", I'm not saying Fiat cars were conceived or designed in Poland, If I said "Polish Fiat" you would probably correct me and said Fiat cars were Italian. Am I right? If yes, I should say: "Heinz here is Polish-made ketchup" and there would be no confusion, right?

The question is vital since the use of such adjectives appears to me one of the major "translator's false friends", so I'd better be assured.

Then:
Where Johnny had had had had, had had been the right answer.
Is such sentence wrong? Johnny had had selected had had while had had been the right answer...
Isn't the problem ambiguous here?

Finally: Are we being discouraged to use prepositions at the end of sentences? Make me sure of it.

So were we. I told the teacher, "This is bull.shit of the highest order, up with which I will not put"

You'd be better to say "Heinz products are made in Poland for the Polish market" to avoid confusion.

But yes, you're right - in English, just because it's made in Poland, doesn't make it Polish. For instance, VW cars are most definitely German - Polish-built, but the products themselves are German.

Exactly, delph. It's an important distinction.

If 'if I were' is 'if + subject + past simple', it should be 'If I was' as an affirmative sentence in past simple should use "was" rather than "were" with the first person singular. How would you expalain that you used "If I were taller..." rather than "If I was taller.." ?

Personal preference but I think was is far more to the point and correct.

Possession in questions

Ok, now I found a sentences like below:

- How much of the money is Adam's?
- How much of the money is yours?

How would you form a similar sentence using the word bank?

the bank's

theirs