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Whom is the OBJECT. The object receives the action:
Bob gave the money to
whom
?
Bob = subject
gave = verb
money = direct object
whom = indirect object
Whom is always used after a
PREPOSITION.
My three brothers, one
of whom is a doctor, live in New York.
(of = preposition)
With whom did you go to the movies?
(with = preposition)
That’s
the employee at whom I yelled.
(at = preposition)
I
no longer speak to the person from whom I got this gift.
(from = preposition)
BIG EXCEPTION IN SPOKEN ENGLISH!
In
spoken English, we often use “who” not “whom,” and end sentences with
prepositions… even when it is technically incorrect:
Who did
Bob give the money to?
Who did you go to the movies
with?
That’s the employee
who I yelled
at.
I no longer speak to the person
who I got this gift
from.
will / would
Use will:
1. to talk about the future
Ex) The bus
will leave at 8:30.
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Ex) Elections are next month.
I think the president will be re-elected.
2. to make promises and offers – when in statement form (not in question
form):
Ex) Sorry I was late to class today. I
’ll be on time tomorrow.
(promise)
Ex) I
'll give you a ride home from work.
(offer – in statement form)
(offer – in question form): Would you like a ride?
Would is the past tense of
will. We use
would:
1. to talk about the past
Ex) Elections were held last week. I thought the president
would be re-
elected, but he wasn't.
Ex) Yesterday he said he
would give me a ride,
but he forgot to pick me up
and I had to take the bus.
2. to talk about hypothetical (imaginary) situations
Ex) If I had the money, I
'd buy a motorcycle.
Ex) If it was
sunny today, I
’d go to the beach – but unfortunately it’s raining.
We often use the short form, ‘d.
3. for politeness
Ex)
Would you like something to eat?
(offer in the form of a question)
Ex)
Would you mind turning down the volume?
(request in the form of a question)
Ex) I
’d like a small hot chocolate, please.
(“I’d like” is a more polite way to say “I want”)
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Ex) I
’d rather take a taxi, not the bus.
(a polite way to express a preference)
worse / worst
Worse is the comparative (comparing two things).
Worst is the superlative
(comparing 3+ things, or comparing one thing with everything).
I
thought the second movie was worse than the first one.
(comparing two movies)
That’s the
worst movie I’ve ever seen.
(always use “the” before “worst”)
(comparing one movie with ALL the others)
In fast spoken English, it’s often hard to hear the difference between them in
pronunciation.
year-old / years old
When you say the age of someone or something, you can say
subject + is + # years
old:
I’m thirty
years old.
That boy is fourteen
years old.
These houses are 200
years old.
When
you want to say the age before the subject, then use
#-year-old:
My
twenty-year-old sister
A
fourteen-year-old boy
The
200-year-old houses