English Language Learners Stack Exchange
English Language Learners Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [grammaticality]

Grammaticality refers to whether something obeys the rules of English grammar.

Grammaticality refers to whether something obeys the rules of English grammar.

Example questions

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Why is "Mary told the cake to be cut by John" ungrammatical?

Mary told the cake to be cut by John. A textbook says that this example is ungrammatical, but it seems to make sense to me: where does the sentence have its fault?
Listenever
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Canonical Post #1: When to Trust Your Grammar Checker

Canonical Post #1: When to Trust Your Grammar Checker This sentence looks right to me, but my grammar checker says it's wrong. I don't see any problem with it, so I'm not sure how to fix it. How can I tell where the error is? This is a Canonical…
WendiKidd
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Why is "He is the kind of person who, if he had lived ..., people would not have been able to categorise him." ungrammatical?

Could anyone explain why this sentence is considered ungrammatical? You often hear quite literate people saying hideously ungrammatical things such as: "He is the kind of person who, if he had lived in the 19th century, people would not have been…
FroztC0
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Is it wrong to say "You are smarter than me"?

You are smarter than me. You are smarter than I am. Is there any difference between these two? One of my friends told me first sentence is wrong, but the second one is correct. But he could not explain me the reason. So is it true? Iff so, why?
Mistu4u
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“I talk dog talk to the dog.”

I read a kids’ story book. In the story book, it says: I talk dog talk to the dog. [. . . .] I talk baby talk to the baby, and the baby talks back to me.Source: Talk, Talk, Talk, by Joy Cowley Is it grammatically correct?
bingo bin
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Analysing the "kind(s) of problem(s) are [ones]/[to be]" construction

A. These kinds of problem are to be avoided. B. These kind of problems are to be avoided. Are both A and B grammatical? If not, why not? If so, after having noticed the parallelism between A and C, and between B and D, could we say that C and D…
user114
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Could 'a' and 'single' be used together?

I wrote this sentence: How can a single photon be detected? I think it could mean one of the photons while emphasizing its singleness. But I feel something's wrong with it because a and single are the same meaning and redundant. Is the sentence…
hbadger19042
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"Is it proved that ...?" vs. "Has it been proven that ...?"

Searching The New York Times, I found 22,100 results for "is it proved" and, therefore, I argue that that phrase is likely correct English. But on History Stack Exchange a user edited the following sentence, written by me, "Is it proved that the…
user114
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Is "Call me when you are available to talk" correct?

Call me when you are available to talk Is that correct? Can I use it that way?
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Is this sentence grammatically wrong? (Using as)

As owning a car is helpful, it costs a lot. Is this sentence grammatically wrong? The answer key said 'As' can't be used in this situation. But I think as can be used in many different ways.
G.taehoon
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"To go to buy" or "to go buy"?

When I spoke with a friend of mine, I had noticed she used sentences similar to "I need to go buy food." Is it correct to say "to go buy," or should I say "to go to buy"? I know that I could say "I need to buy food," but I think that in "I need…
apaderno
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Meaning of 'What are they upto?'

I had heard this from someone who was saying this to her dogs. As 'upto' has different meanings and those meanings do not fit in this sentence. So what does it mean ?
Anu
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Is “It is I who decides.” correct?

Google Translator translates c'est moi qui decide as "it is I who decides." I'm confused about "decides" being correct, since there is I before who. Is decides right, or should decide be used?
Listenever
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Can we shorten explanatory "that is" to "that's" in speech and writing?

I've never seen or heard the explanatory "that is" shortened to "that's", but it wouldn't hurt to be sure if it's possible or not When you recount a story, you can either use past or present tenses, but consistency is key. That is, if you choose…
Sara
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How to say "on page x and the following pages"?

I want to refer to a certain page and the pages after that, but without giving the end as a specified number. Can I use these phrases? [...] can be found on page x and the following. [...] can be found on page x and the following pages. [...]…
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