You are right, the present perfect tense is more appropriate.

You don't normally use the past perfect tense (had had) unless you are talking about the 'past within the past' or you wish to refer to an earlier event at a point in time in the past.
'You had had your dinner when I asked you yesterday'.
But when I asked now, you say 'I have had my dinner'.(present perfect).

I find it so common for people to keep making the same mistakes in grammar without them realising it because there is nobody to tell them about it.

You can also say:

If an aquarium is filled with piranha, sharks, clownfish and so, there are many fish in that aquarium.

Both words can be used interchangeably.

Pinned thread in this forum on law - which is correct and why?

Guide to become a lawyer

OR

Guide to becoming a lawyer.

'Guide to become a lawyer' is wrong.

Here are some examples :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-Guide-Be...r/dp/1405157887
http://www.lawfirmchronicle.com/2011/05/a-...wyer-in-the-us/
http://books.google.com/books?id=uT2ExxJG0...ource=gbs_gdata

You say 'a guide to something, a subject (noun). You don't say 'a guide to do something(verb)'.
The subject is 'becoming a lawyer'. 'Becoming' is the noun, a gerund/verbal noun.

'To' after the word 'guide' is a preposition'. You have mistaken it for the infinitive 'to' which is followed by the root word - to eat, to play, to sing.

Another type of sentence which is similar:

I look forward to seeing you. (Not : I look forward to see you.)

You say you look forward to something(noun). 'Seeing you' is the something.

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Aug 12 2011, 08:38 PM

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Aug 12 2011, 09:45 PM

Still not convinced? The titles of books published in an English speaking country cannot be wrong.

Let me give you more examples to make it clearer.

You can have guides to different topics/subjects, e.g. a guide to photography, guide to sports, guide to careers, etc.

You can also have - guide to taking pictures, guides to playing badminton or guide to a career in law/becoming a lawyer.

The phrases underlined are different topics or subjects(nouns, not verbs) and are to be read together.

Probably, the phrase 'to becoming' per se may sound unfamiliar to you as you have been taught that 'to' should always be followed by a root word.

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Aug 13 2011, 03:00 PM

Informal education? As in home-schooling?
Care to elaborate?

Hope you don't mind but there is a very common mistake in the above sentence.

The sentence should be written as:

Do you mind telling us what your mother tongue is, how many languages you speak and how fluent you are in all (each) of them?

---

Added on August 13, 2011, 6:28 pmIt seems you spent most of your time on extra-curricular activities and didn't get to attend regular classroom lessons thoughout your school career. How come?

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Aug 13 2011, 06:34 PM

That's right, there are many usages of the word 'to'.

As a preposition - I go to school. Guide to (a subject).

bad - worse - worst
(positive - comparative - superlative) in grammar terms

They are the different degrees of adjectives. Adjectives are words to describe a noun/thing.
The comparative is used to compare two things.
The superlative is used to compare three or more things.

Other examples:

good - better - best
happy - happier - happiest
beautiful - more beautiful - most beautiful

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Aug 14 2011, 12:50 PM

This is an incomplete sentence.
A proper sentence consists of a subject and a predicate.
There is no subject here.

It's like saying:

How to go there?
How to solve this problem?

You can say:
How should I address you, Sir/mdm?

---

Added on August 16, 2011, 5:21 pmIf the call is for someone else, you can say:

Who should I say is calling, please?

(wrong)

Who am I speaking to?
May I know who I am speaking to?

'I am' is suiperfluous. Of course, you are speaking, who else?

May I know who is speaking, please?

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Aug 16 2011, 05:35 PM

My first language is......well I can't be sure which language it is!

This must be the commonest grammar mistake.

I have this fascination of Shakespearean English.

Do you mean 'fascination for'?

...I am - used as a noun clause
am I - used as a question

Read this: http://www.urch.com/forums/toefl-grammar/2...-noun-verb.html

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Aug 17 2011, 05:02 PM

What a question.
You can also ask:
Why forty is not spelt fourty? Why viscosity and not spelt viscousity?
Why the past tense and past perfect tense of cut is also cut.
There are always exceptions to the rule in English. That's what makes it difficult. You just have to remember the spellings as they are.

If you have further questions, you can ask them here:

http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/

You'll get answers from the experts.

http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2011/08/25/ele...waiting-for-psc

Even Lim Kit Siang frequently makes this common grammar mistake - wrong order of noun and verb. It should have been : what the electoral reforms are.

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Aug 26 2011, 01:02 PM

'Proper' means 'that which is socially acceptable'. I agree it is not the most apt term to use since it is rather subjective to say what is proper and what is not. I think 'proper' in this thread refers to 'correctness' of the use of the language. As mentioned over the thread, for the average Malaysian these days, it is already an achievement to write correct English free of grammar mistakes let alone writing with finesse, no thanks to our education system.

No, I don't agree that one can naturally pick up grammar. As I mentioned before, unless there is someone to point out the mistake that you make, you may keep making the same mistakes all your life. Unlike in school where your have your teacher to mark your written work and point out your mistakes, generally you do not have the benefit of or are amenable to such guidance after you leave school and during your working life. I say this based on my personal experience of working as an employee and an employer.

It makes no difference whether language is used formally or normally. It still has to be correct. Granted the typical Malaysian English may not always be grammatical and you tend to adjust your language to suit the situation. Being able to communicate with perfect English, which I believe this thread is about, would certainly put you ahead of most people.

I believe we are not talking here about linguistics which is an academic study of languages at university level. It is more like going back to school, relearning plain old English grammar.

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Aug 27 2011, 11:10 PM

Firstly, I would like to know about the term left.
Term is used for technical word. Use word.

Left can be used in this sentence, right ?:

I am left with nothing.

In this sentence, is left stand (BTW, stand or stands?) for the past tense of leave? If it is so, is this sentence correct:

Is left the past tense of leave?

I will be left with nothing soon. – I will lose everything soon


I thought after will, we need to use back the root word. But this sentence sounds weird:

I will leave with nothing soon. – I will go somewhere soon without bringing anything with me.

So, which one is correct?

They are sentences with different meanings

Second question:

When I want to say a sentence said by others, can I use:

As said by ABC, " ..."
As quoted by ABC, " ..." (ABC quoted from other sources)
As ABC said, "..."

Which is the best and any other better ones?

According to ABC
ABC opined that
ABC postulated that
ABC is of the view that
ABC hypothesized that

Another question about punctuation:

As ABC said, " Anyone or anyone hasn't get his bag?" Should I add full stop or comma at the end of this sentence to continue?

That is not a question. The question should be: Has anyone got his bag?

As ABC said, "we should take care of one another." , so....... Should I put full stop after another? is the usage of comma before so correct?

No, you put a full stop only once at the end of a sentence, not in the middle. The comma is OK

By the way, fullstops or full stop? Full-stop or full stop or period(American)

This post has been edited by tehtmc: Sep 3 2011, 11:51 PM

Yes. There are two versions:

As ABC said," We should take good care of our belongings." American English

As ABC said," We should take good care of our belongings". British English