Did or Done?

My friend coaches a young football team.  Yesterday, said team had a match...they didn't win.

Before the match, he had written a few BlackBerry Messenger status updates of encouragement.  After the match, he had a status explaining that they didn't win, but they played against a team who were older than them.
I sent him a BBM Hug emoticon.   He replied with, "They done well."  I cringed.

Many people tend to misuse did and done.  They use did when they should use done and vice versa.

Both are forms of the verb to do.
However, we use did for the simple past tense and use done for the present perfect and past perfect.

Simple, perfect bla bla bla.  Yes, it does sound extra and quite unnecessary.  So it's not vital that one must remember all of the names.  Nevertheless, it is vital to remember the rules and how to use did and done.  So here are a few examples:

• She did her homework .  Simple Past tense
• She has already done the cooking.  Present Perfect tense.
• We have done so many things. Present Perfect tense.
• She had never done sit-ups before last week.  Past Perfect tense.

We use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.

• She did her homework.  You saw her doing it or you know when she did it, so you have a specific time in mind.

Use the Present Perfect to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now. The exact time is not important.

• She has already done the cooking. You can see the food that has been cooked.  However, you may not know when it was cooked.  Although, the time doesn't matter, because the cooked food is presented.

The Past Perfect expresses the idea that something occurred before another action in the past. It can also show that something happened before a specific time in the past.

• She had never done sit-ups before last week.  Last week is the specific time, prior to last week, she hadn't perfomed the action.  The action being sit-ups.

I did say that simple, past, present, perfect were not that important to remember.  However, remembering them will help a lot. 
So I'll be doing a blog highlighting this topic.

Toodles.

Apostrophes - How and when to use them.

What is an apostrophe?

- It looks like a comma (') but we place it above the line of writing.
- It takes up the space of a letter.
- It is used for various reasons.
















Why do we use them?

- To show who owns what (possesion).
e.g. This is Jane's cat.

- To fill in for missing letters (contractions).
e.g. She's gone to the cinema with her friends.

Contractions

- When two words are joined together in shorter form.
- The apostrophe takes the place of the missing letter(s).
e.g. I am - I'm
They are - They're
Do not - Don't

 

 

 

 

Didn't anybody proof read this before it went to print?  Oh! The shame.

Be careful!

Don't confuse:

 its and it's.
 - its (possessive - its edges were sharp)
 - it's (it is or it has)

whose and who's
- Whose book is this?
- Who's coming to dinner?













Many people put an apostrophe when they just need to add an s to make it plural.
e.g. PC's, 1940's, CD's.

An apostrophe is ONLY used to show possession or to show that you have missed out some letters.

A few seconds wasted to insert a redundant spostrophe.  *sigh*

Hello!

I'm an English teacher, so naturally, I'm concerned with the use of grammar within a sentence.  It's my job. 
However, with the growth of social media, I am beginning to think that the use of correct grammar and punctuation is redundant.

"It's only Facebook, so I don't need to write correctly."
The above statement makes no sense to me.
So, because it's 'only Facebook', one should spell their name incorrectly, because it doesn't matter?

People have become so used to writing incorrectly, I wonder if people actually know.
It is actually very frustrating to see adults inserting apostrophes all willy nilly. 
They use the excuse of it being 'only Facebook', however that redundant apostrophe has added just a tad more time to their typing.  The second it took to include that apostrophe, could have been used for something else.   Maybe it could have been used to have a quick skim read of what was about to be posted.

So, I will be using this blog as a place to rant about the incorrect use of grammar and punctuation...and possibly spelling.  Although, that doesn't bother me too much.