i who am

I, who am ...
Your Questions Answered by FADZILAH AMIN

DO we say “I, who am considered very important here ...”? Can we say “I, who am ...”?

2. What’s the English word for “ketua kelas’’? – Ahmad

1. Yes, we can say “I, who am ...” Here are two examples of such usage from the Internet:

“ ... I, who am unsporty and dislike football, had an uncanny knowledge of football teams.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crossword/update/story/0,,2116762,00.html

“... he’s trying to rush to the hospital, and he’s in a much bigger, more legitimate hurry than I am – it is actually I who am in his way.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/20/fiction

2. The term in English for “ketua kelas” is “class monitor”.

Subject-verb agreement

COULD you please explain why we have to use “has” instead of “have” for this sentence: “Darling, I’ve got news for you: Meltem, together with her husband and six children, has come to stay with us for a whole month”. – Hoe

In the structure “Meltem, together with her husband and six children, has come”, the two subjects, “Meltem” and “her husband and six children” are linked by the phrase “together with”. In such structures, the verb agrees only with the first subject, in this case “Meltem”, which is singular. “Has” is therefore used instead of “have”. If such a sentence has a plural first subject, the verb would be plural, as in: “The six children, together with their mother, have come ...”

The verb also agrees with the first subject when the following phrases link the first subject with the second: “as well as”, “along with” and “in addition to”.

The above phrases seem to make the second subject just an appendage to the first subject. So only the first subject is considered in deciding whether to use a singular or plural verb. The conjunction “and”, however, makes both subjects equally important, resulting in the use of a plural verb, as in: “The woman and her six children have arrived.”

Some grammarians would not even regard the second subject as a subject when those phrases are used, but as a prepositional phrase beginning with a compound preposition, as seen in this statement from a US university website:

“Prepositional phrases beginning with the compound prepositions such as along with, together with, in addition to, and as well as should be ignored, for they do not affect subject-verb agreement.

Example: Gladys Knight, as well as the Pips, is riding the midnight train to Georgia.”

http://www.uwf.edu/writelab/reviews/subjectverb/

The correct tense

COULD you tell me which of the following sentences are correct?

1. I saw him today.

2. I have seen him today.

3. I didn’t do any work today.

4. I haven’t done any work today.

5. We went to Singapore twice this week.

6. We have been to Singapore twice this week.

7. I didn’t have a holiday this year.

8. I haven’t had a holiday this year.

If all the sentences are grammatical, could you tell me what are the differences in meaning? – Daniel

1 & 2 – You can use both sentences, but in different contexts. Sentence 1) “I saw him today.” is more common. You can say that if you met a friend by chance or by prior arrangement earlier in the day, or you can say that in reply to a question like: “Have you seen Amin lately?” and you reply: “Yes, I saw him today, in the canteen.

Sentence 2) “I have seen him today.” is used only in certain contexts. For example, if a friend knows that you are in the habit of visiting your father who is in hospital, every day, he may ask you: “Have you seen your dad today?” and your answer can be:“Yes, I have seen him today. He seems much better than he was yesterday.” “I have seen him today.” is a confirmation that you have done what you habitually do every day.

3 & 4 – Since “today” is not over yet, you can’t use the simple past tense and say: “ I didn’t do any work today.”(sentence 3) because you might do some work later in the day. But you can say: “I haven’t done any work today.” (sentence 4) because it means that up to now (e.g. 2pm today) you haven’t done any work, but you may do some later.

5 & 6 – These two are similar to 3 & 4. “This week” is not over yet, and you may go to Singapore a third time, so “We have been to Singapore twice this week.” (sentence 6) is the correct sentence to use. It states the situation more accurately, i.e. up to now this week, we have been to Singapore twice. We may go again, who knows?

7 & 8 These two are similar to 3 & 4 as well as 5 & 6. You can’t say: “I didn’t have a holiday this year.” (sentence 7) because this year is not over yet. You can say “I didn’t have a holiday last year.” because last year is over and done with. So when talking about not having a holiday this year, you have to say “I haven’t had a holiday this year.” (sentence 8) Who knows, later in the year, you might have one.

Having said all that, I think it can still be argued that – if you are saying sentence 3 at 11.59pm today, or sentence 5 very late on Saturday this week, or sentence 7 very late on Dec 31 this year – you may be right!

Periods of time

CAN you please tell me which sentence is correct?

1. When we are home, it’s midnight.

2. When we are home, it’s going to be midnight.

3. When we are home, it’ll be midnight.

Do we say “I will arrive in 5 minutes time or 5 minutes’ time”? – Adam

The correct sentence is 3) “When we are home, it’ll be midnight.” But it would sound better if you wrote: “It’ll be midnight when we are/get home.”

We say: “I will arrive in 5 minutes’ time”. When we mention a period of time, followed by the word “time” and some other words, the “time” word (i.e. minutes, hours, days, years) has an apostrophe after it if it is plural and an apostrophe “s” after it if it is singular. For example, we say:

“I will go in two days’ time.”; “I will arrive in an hour’s time.”; “I’ve taken two days’ leave.” “Top professional footballers get paid more for a week’s work than most people for a year’s work.”