I recently came across a reference to Betteridge’s Law. Not having heard of this before, I looked it up on the web. As Wikipedia explains, Betteridge’s Law of Headlines says the following: ‘Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.’ Ian Betteridge, a technology journalist, explained that journalists…… Continue reading Yes-no questions in headlines
Tag: Question
Doing work and playing roles in Italian
Several constructions in Italian use the verb fare (‘do’, ‘make’). Two of these constructions look very similar on the surface but syntactically they behave in very different ways. A short book Fare: Elementi di sintassi, by Nunzio La Fauci and Ignazio M Mirto (2003) analyses them. Here are 2 examples: (1) Adamo fa il medicoAdam…… Continue reading Doing work and playing roles in Italian
Scandinavian language challenge day 32
Today I worked through chapter 10 of Swedish in three months, covering: where in relative clausesquestion words in subordinate clauses compound verbs other words Where in relative clauses Where in question: var? (where?) / vart? (to where?) Where in relative clause: där (where) / dit (to where); Han vet en restaurang, där man kan äta fransk…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 32
Scandinavian language challenge day 12
Today I worked through the third chapter of Norwegian in three months, covering: commands and requestsquestion wordsmore negative wordsdemonstrativesnumbers to 100other words Commands and requests The imperative is the same as the stem of the verb. It is formed by removing the suffix -e from the infinitive.For verbs ending in a stressed vowel, the stem is…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 12
Scandinavian language challenge day 9
Today I worked through the second chapter of Norwegian in three months, which introduces: the genitive;adjective endings: indefiniteadjective endings: definiteinfinitive and present tensequestions and answersother words Genitive Nouns add the suffix -s to form the possessive (genitive). Examples: naboens hage (the neighbours garden)båtens eier (the owner of the boat)landets grenser (The borders of the country)myndighetenes ansvar…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 9
Scandinavian language challenge day 8
Today I worked through the second chapter of Swedish in three months, covering: object pronounsverbs: present tensesentence building: questions and answersnegativesquestion word: who, whatplural of the definitive articlethe preposition pånumbers 11-20other words Object pronouns MeYou (familiar)You (polite)HimHerIt (common)It (neuter)UsYou (pl. fam)You (pl. pol)They DanishmigdigDemhamhendedendetosjerDemdem SwedishmigdighonomhennedenDetosserdem Verbs: present tense There are 4 classes of verbs. Class…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 8
Scandinavian language challenge day 7
Today I worked through the second chapter of Danish in three months, covering: verbs: basic form and present tenseobject pronounssentence building: questions and answersquestion word: who, what Verbs: infinitive and present tense The infinitive of verbs ends in unstressed e or a stressed vowel. Examples: at høre (to hear); at stå (to stand). The present…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 7
Scandinavian language challenge day 5
Today I worked through the first chapter of Swedish in three months. This chapter introduces: the verbs to be and to havesubject pronounsarticles and nounsplurals of nounsnumbers from zero to tenquestion formseveryday expressionsother words The verbs to be and to have The infinitive of the verb to be is att vara (Danish is at være)…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 5