The Apostrophe S Lesson

Two pictures taken from the streets in the past couple of days....these are very good examples of how you do NOT use the apostrophe S (what Spanish speakers mistakenly refer to as "s anglosajón").

1. Only use 's when you refer to animals, people or groups of people:

- the cat's meow

- the nurse's purse

- Max's mice

"Alba's House Cooking" is incorrect because "Alba's house" is better for the actual living space of a woman named Alba. It does not refer to the dynasty of the Duchy of Alba. For that, you need the preposition OF. "The Cuisine of the House of Alba" is appropriate. As a native speaker, "Alba's House Cooking" makes me think that Alba's apartment has some kind of special powers. (Bad one, Westin Hotels.)

2. Don't use both 's and of together if you're not sure. If the person who owns this bar really is named Benjamín, it's enough to use the 's to show that this is his bar or his business.

We use 's to talk about:

- a person's possessions (Mike's bikes)

- where a person works (Dad's office)

- a part of a person's body (Bree's knees)

- personal relationships (my father's girlfriend, his sister's boss)

Items, things and buildings cannot, however "own" things (the front door of the block of flats, the back door of the car, the front page of the newspaper)

How to swear like a native, Part 1

True opinion: One of the things that most people want to learn first, when they learn a language, is the swear words. The academic part of me thinks that this is because swear words signify extreme emotions, which you usually want to avoid when you speak a language. The same problem exists here as with any other vocabulary: it's important to use it properly, to show what you mean.

"Shit" creates special problems for Spanish speakers of English for several reasons. First, it's not used as commonly in English as it is in Spanish; maybe it's because I live in Madrid, but I hear people here saying it a lot more frequently than I did back home...and, trust me, people where I come from swear a lot.)

Here are some basic guidelines that you can use when you're using this word:

shit - "a swear word that many people find offensive, used to show that you are angry or annoyed (OALD)". English speakers do NOT automatically use it to describe everything that works badly (Better: "This is useless" or "This is a useless piece of junk"), tastes bad ("This is disgusting/awful/horrible"), or as a countable noun. Similarly, if your boss lands you with a stressful, last-minute task, that is not called "a brown" in English.

There are various variations of the word that, when combined with the name of an animal, gives another idea of "extreme emotion", but be careful because they are used in very specific ways:

bullshit - a swear word that many people might find offensive, used to show that the person thinks the information is highly incorrect or deceitful. ("He told you that he's going on holiday with his grandmother? Bullshit!")

apeshit - (esp. to go apeshit) - to become extremely angry, especially when you receive bad or shocking news.

batshit - (esp. batshit crazy) - extremely irrational or crazy. (The politician may have some good ideas about the economy, but I'd never vote for her; she's batshit crazy.)

(One note: don't try looking up definitions for these words in either Wikipedia - which will direct you to "anger", instead; or UrbanDictionary, which has no filter process that eliminates useless or incorrect definitons.)

One way to remember participle adjectives

If you have problems remembering which participle adjective to use (bored or boring?), here's one trick that you can use.

-ING adjectives can be used to talk about the reason why you use something:
running shoes
frying pan
hiking boots
mixing bowl

-ED adjectives are used to describe what has happened to the thing. (This is why you see -ED adjectives used a lot in the names of foods:)
baked potatoes
fried fish
toasted almonds
roasted chicken
barbecued ribs
chocolate-dipped peanuts (like Conguitos)

And see the photo below to see a perfect example of how NOT to use participle adjectives to describe food.

Participle adjectives: One easy rule

Here's one easy rule that will help you remember the difference between past participle adjectives (bored, relaxed, satisfied) and present participle adjectives (encouraging, falling, irritating):

PAST PARTICIPLE ADJECTIVES are common when you talk about the way you prepare food:
fried fish, a chopped liver sandwich, roasted chicken, baked apples, sautéed mushrooms, Cajun-style blackened trout, stuffed eggplant, poached eggs, percolated coffee, well-steeped tea.

PRESENT PARTICIPLE ADJECTIVES are common when talk about functions or qualities:
working-class children, baking dish, hiking boots, biting sarcasm, sleeping bags, swimming suits.

These are shorter ways of providing defining relative clauses:
trout that has been blackened using a Cajun style
apples that have been baked
a sandwich made of liver that has been chopped
boots that are used for hiking
bags which are meant for sleeping
dishes which are used for baking food.

To blog or not to blog...that is the question (kind of)

Everybody who studies and uses English knows that there are some words, like contract, train, present and look that can be used as both nouns and verbs. However, there are times when it seems like there are no rules with neologisms - words that have recently come into use. Why is it that we can text someone, for example, but "Facebooking" someone sounds strange to say?

The Economist's Intelligent Life magazine has some insights on how verbing happens:

http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/ideas/anthony-gardner/youve-been-verbed