*Questions about English*Help me Pleeeeeez

[yumyumtimtam]

thank you

can I use the word cob like this?

This boy, likes corns, especially grilled ones with the cobs(or on the cobs?)...

"He likes to eat corns on the cobs."
or can I say
"He likes to eat corn on the cob?"

hope someone can manage to understand what Im trying to say here!

oh and I have one more question!

When you explain what you like to do in general, maybe as a hobby or something...

"I like to play tennis."
but how about
"I like playing tennis."

any difference there?

"I like to play tennis" also means that you want to play tennis?

"to do" and "doing" are confusing.
like...
I stopped smoking.
I stopped to smoke.



have a good day everyone

[Koir]

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

thank you

can I use the word cob like this?

This boy, likes corns, especially grilled ones with the cobs(or on the cobs?)...

"He likes to eat corns on the cobs."
or can I say
"He likes to eat corn on the cob?"

The second statement is correct. "Corn on the cob" is a distinctive way of describing a food item that, to my knowledge, isn't used elsewhere in the English language. For example, you don't hear "ice cream on the cone" instead of "ice cream cone" in English speaking.

hope someone can manage to understand what Im trying to say here!

oh and I have one more question!

When you explain what you like to do in general, maybe as a hobby or something...

"I like to play tennis."
but how about
"I like playing tennis."

any difference there?

To my thinking, it differs in verb tense and context. The first sentence is used in conversation when the idea of hobbies is being discussed. I can see the second sentence being spoken by a person in a gym or other sports setting when discussing a choice of activity at the location.

"I like to play tennis" also means that you want to play tennis?

If the verb is changed to "would like", that interpretation is correct. It demonstrates the speaker's desire to play tennis at that point in time.

"to do" and "doing" are confusing.
like...
I stopped smoking.
I stopped to smoke.

In context, the first sentence is a declaration that the speaker has quite smoking as an activity. The second sentence describes a person who has stopped doing one activity (for example, walking) and begun another activity (smoking).

Hope this is of some use, yumyumtimtam!

[yumyumtimtam]

Hi,I was reading a text book about teaching Young Learners and I've got some questions.

Is anyone interested in teaching children(English or Japanese)?
I would love to exchange information and idea with you as well as
to help learning Japanese/English each other.

If you are a teacher (for young learners) or interested in teaching kids (Japanese/English), join me here!

"Communication skills are so important to children.
Without language and speech, they can't let others know what they want and need, and what's important to them.

But there's another reason why communicating is so critical to a growing child's development. There's more and more evidence suggesting that having a good command of language goes hand-in-hand with the ability to imagine and think up new ideas."

1) Is this "," necessary?
2)Is it OK to start a sentence with "But"? I remember my English teacher told us to use "However" instead of "But" unless it's a casual writing.

Im looking forward to talking with teachers (for young learners) here
If you are teaching Japanese and have got some questions, you are more than welcome! Please leave your questions!

[AwakenxBenihime]

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

thank you

can I use the word cob like this?

This boy, likes corns, especially grilled ones with the cobs(or on the cobs?)...

"He likes to eat corns on the cobs."
or can I say
"He likes to eat corn on the cob?"

hope someone can manage to understand what Im trying to say here!

oh and I have one more question!

When you explain what you like to do in general, maybe as a hobby or something...

"I like to play tennis."
but how about
"I like playing tennis."

any difference there?

"I like to play tennis" also means that you want to play tennis?

"to do" and "doing" are confusing.
like...
I stopped smoking.
I stopped to smoke.



have a good day everyone

It is generally pronounced "He likes to eat corn on the cob". Or "He enjoys eating corn on the cob."

Here are a few other examples:

My mom bought five ears of corn at the market. (When you want to say a certain number or amount of corn on the cob you would say "ears of corn" instead of corn on the cob or corns of cobs)

We are going to have corn on the cob for dinner. (Even though we are cooking more than one ear of corn we still say "corn on the cob".)


Now as for the tennis question.

Both "I like to play tennis" and "I like playing tennis" are correct.

If you want to play tennis right now or in the future you would say "I would like to play tennis."

Some other examples-

"I am going to play tennis this afternoon."

"Would you like to play tennis?" or "Do you want to play tennis?"

"I played tennis yesterday."

"Were you playing tennis earlier?" or "Did you play tennis earlier?"


I hope this is helpful! I'll keep checking back for more questions

[yumyumtimtam]

Originally Posted by AwakenxBenihime

It is generally pronounced "He likes to eat corn on the cob". Or "He enjoys eating corn on the cob."

Thank you, AwakenxBenihime.

Are these basically the same?

He likes to eat corn on the cob.
He likes eating corn on the cob.
He enjoys eating corn on the cob.

My mom bought five ears of corn at the market.

wow! ear??
Do you count anything else with ear?

We are going to have corn on the cob for dinner. (Even though we are cooking more than one ear of corn we still say "corn on the cob".)

Can I say
I want to have some corn on the cob. ?

mmm can I ask you some more?
It may sound like I am a big corn lover or something...to keep asking about corn!


Let's say...
There are 100 ears of corn to eat for 5 people.
One of them is going to cook and ask others

"How would you like your corn?"

" I like my corn on the cob boiled."

" I want my corn cut in 5 grilled."

make sense???

Can I call it "corns" when they are separated I mean like....
"corn" you can buy at KFC!?

Now as for the tennis question.
I hope this is helpful! I'll keep checking back for more questions

Thank you. I think I understand them.

AwakenxBenihime,can you give me some more good examples of how to count vegetables and fruits?

grapes
cherries
bananas
spinach
orange

Do you have any questions about Japanese?

[yumyumtimtam]

Originally Posted by yuko81

English grammar is difficult and simalar with Japanese. I'm teaching children but maths not EN or JP. I hope I can teach JP for children someday.

Do you think English grammar is similar with Japanese grammar?
How about Vietnamese grammar?

Good luck with your Japanese

[yumyumtimtam]

Originally Posted by yuko81

Thank you! I think JP gramar is more difficult than EN grammar. And VN grammar is too complex, i'm VNese but sometime i do not how to use it.

What "Thank you" in VNese?

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

Thank you, AwakenxBenihime.

Are these basically the same?

He likes to eat corn on the cob.
He likes eating corn on the cob.
He enjoys eating corn on the cob.

久しぶり、YYTT−さん！お元気ですか？
If you don't mind me jumping in

The first two are the same; they generally imply a habit. The third is very similar, but simply says that he likes eating corn, but doesn't say how often he does so.

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

wow! ear??
Do you count anything else with ear?

Sure do! Almost all cereals (こくもつ?) are counted in ears.
Ears of wheat, ears of barley, ears of rice etc.

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

Can I say
I want to have some corn on the cob. ?

Yes you can

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

Let's say...
There are 100 ears of corn to eat for 5 people.
One of them is going to cook and ask others

"How would you like your corn?"

" I like my corn on the cob boiled."

" I want my corn cut in 5 grilled."

100 ears is a lot! One or two is usually enough for most people, but otherwise, your dialogue is fine. I would say "I want my corn cut into 5 and grilled" though.

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

Can I call it "corns" when they are separated I mean like....
"corn" you can buy at KFC!?

Corn doesn't have a plural, so we don't say 'corns'. One corn-on-the-cob, 5 corn-on-the-cob, 100 corn-on-the-cob etc. When it's 'off the cob', all in little bits, then it's just called 'sweet corn'. Take a look at this;

The edible, yellow bit is the 'corn'. The hard, middle bit that you can't eat is the 'cob'. The whole thing is called the 'ear'. An individual piece of corn is called a 'kernel', which does have a plural. One kernel, 5 kernels, 100 kernels. Or just "some sweet corn". Actually, I never realized how complicated corn is! It's different to other cereals; with wheat, for example, you only have ears and grains. And then the bit you can't eat (asides from the stalk) is called 'chaff'.

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

can you give me some more good examples of how to count vegetables and fruits?

This type of word is a 'collective noun'. English has hundreds of them! You can tell it's a collective noun because it's almost always followed by 'of' and then whatever it is that's is being counted, like "ears of corn".

asparagus=bundle (individual stems of asparagus are called 'spears')
bananas= hand or bunch
barley= crop
corn= sheaf
flowers= bouquet
garlic = bulb (individual bits of garlic are called 'cloves')
grapes= bunch or cluster
grass = tuft (individiual stems of grass are called 'blades')
leaves= pile
onions= rope or bunch
plums= basket
strawberries= punnet
trees= grove or copse or stand or thicket

Are there collective nouns in Japanese too? I know there are lots of different counters for things, like 羽 and 匹 and 台 but do you have words for groups of things like this?

[AwakenxBenihime]

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

Thank you, AwakenxBenihime.

Are these basically the same?

He likes to eat corn on the cob.
He likes eating corn on the cob.
He enjoys eating corn on the cob.

You're welcome, I'm so glad I could help. ^^

Yes, all these sentences have the same meaning and are all correct.

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

wow! ear??
Do you count anything else with ear?

Well what Columbine said is true, however in everyday language I've never heard the word ear used to count or describe anything else. I'm not sure if it's different in the U.K. than in the U.S. From what I understand it seems that with wheat for instance when it's being grown it's referred to as ears but the only measurement I've heard after it's harvested is "bails of wheat". Even then unless you're the person that grows the wheat on your farm or buys and sells large amounts of wheat for your job, you won't come across this term in everyday conversation.

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

Can I say
I want to have some corn on the cob. ?

Yes
"I want to have some corn on the cob"
"Do you want some corn on the cob?"
"I only want one ear of corn."
"Would you like to share some corn on the cob?"

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

mmm can I ask you some more?
It may sound like I am a big corn lover or something...to keep asking about corn!

Yes! Please do ^^

Oh yeah, guess what I had for dinner tonight? I had corn on the cob! haha

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

Let's say...
There are 100 ears of corn to eat for 5 people.
One of them is going to cook and ask others

"How would you like your corn?"

" I like my corn on the cob boiled."

" I want my corn cut in 5 grilled."

make sense???

Can I call it "corns" when they are separated I mean like....
"corn" you can buy at KFC!?

I would say "I want my corn cut in five pieces and grilled."

You never call it corns. Even when you have a bowl of corn in kernel form you still say corn.

"I had corn for dinner tonight." or "Would you like some corn with dinner?"
"Corn is my favorite vegetable!"

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

Thank you. I think I understand them.

AwakenxBenihime,can you give me some more good examples of how to count vegetables and fruits?

grapes
cherries
bananas
spinach
orange

You're very welcome! I'm actually having so much fun explaining it.

Let's see:
grapes - The only time you don't add the "s" to the end is if you're talking about a single grape.
"I can fit five grapes in my mouth!" "My mom told me to always eat only one grape at a time." "Would you like some grapes?" "I had grapes with breakfast today."

cherries and bananas - Actually the same as grapes.

"Did you eat any cherries today?" "I like ice cream with a cherry on top." "How many cherries did you eat?" "I only ate one cherry."
"I try to eat a banana every day." "I bought some bananas at the store today."

orange- Okay now for oranges it depends on if you're talking about a whole orange or an orange cut in slices. (Which is common especially with children). I'll give examples of both ^^

"I bought a bag of oranges today." "I ate an orange for snack."

Now when you're talking about slices the "slices" are plural the "orange" is not. "Did you eat all of your orange slices?" "Yes, I finished my orange slices." You could say the same thing for apple slices or banana slices. "Did you see the apple slices I put in your lunch bag?" "The apples slices were sweet and juicy." "I like to put banana slices on my cereal." If you have only one apple slice then there is no plural either. "I have one apple slice left."

(I added this one myself)
With watermelon-
"My favorite fruit is watermelon." "Would you like some watermelon?" "I ate three slices of watermelon."

However, when you're talking about counting whole watermelons you would use the "s".
"There are five watermelons growing in my garden."

(oh boy, now I'm craving watermelon!) ^^;

Almost forgot, spinach.
No matter how much you are talking about it's always "spinach".
"Did you finish all your spinach?" "I don't like the taste of spinach." "Spinach is good for you!" "I bought a bag of spinach." "I found a piece of spinach on the ground."

I hope all that helps

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

Do you have any questions about Japanese?

Probably a million.. Actually my fiance and I just started attempting to learn it last night! I found what seems to be a great website and we just started learning pronunciation. But thanks so much for the offer! I will probably take you up on that in the future if you don't mind. ^^

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by AwakenxBenihime

Well what Columbine said is true, however in everyday language I've never heard the word ear used to count or describe anything else. I'm not sure if it's different in the U.K. than in the U.S. From what I understand it seems that with wheat for instance when it's being grown it's referred to as ears but the only measurement I've heard after it's harvested is "bails of wheat". Even then unless you're the person that grows the wheat on your farm or buys and sells large amounts of wheat for your job, you won't come across this term in everyday conversation.

Wheat's a really complicated example because it has different collective nouns depending on what ~part~ of the plant you're talking about. The 'ears' are just the top bit where the grain grows; you might count up to 10 ears, but above that, you'll likely use the collective noun for the whole plant, which is 'sheaves' here, or in your locality, 'bails'.