I RANDOMLY ASK YOU...

[arenofius]

I am working on my fake language right now and I have decided to try to make the grammar like English - only simplified. Cuz if I made it more similar to Japanese grammar- well I already know how to explain japanese grammar and how it works. THEREFORE I WONT REALLY LEARN ANYTHING. English grammar - on the other hand... I have no idea why some

Comments

[vavarazzi]

You're thinking too literally, like hearing "kaeru" in Japanese and thinking "IT MUST MEAN FROG!!" These are almost completely different words. "Who", "that", and "which" in that case are relative pronouns. They're used as subjects of subordinate clauses to make the verb agree with the noun or pronoun they're referring to.

Relative pronouns are something they don't have in Japan, at least in most cases. "a person who eats" is "taberu hito", etc.

As for "get" in that case, it's a colloquialism that's developed in our language, basically an easier way for us to say "become". I GOT SICK, for example. He became sick. Get it? (The word "get" has an infinite number of uses--notice that I just used it in the previous sentence to mean "understand".)

Part of why I'm so fascinated by other languages is because of how fascinated I've always already been with my own language! Teaching about the ways English works is fun. :D S'why I'm a writing tutor.

[robo_subaru]

Relaive pronoun is what most Japanese students hate. I suppose I gave up studying English when I had to study it.

English has too many words which have too many meanings. D:

[vavarazzi]

You can usually just use "that" for almost everything, and even if it's slighlty incorrect, it'll still be understood. If you use "who" or "which" in the wrong cirumstance you may be misunderstood. So just stick with "that" when you don't know which to use.

[robo_subaru]

I have taken a lot of English tests about relative pronouns in Japan. All of them say "Fill in the blanks with appropriate relative pronouns, but do NOT use 'that'!"

English teachers in Japan are really good at making students hate English.

[arenofius]

Ok.. I think I get it. THANK YOU WHY ARE YOU SO SMART?

But IF YOU WOULD BE SO NICE AS TO explain "that" "who" and "which" some more... (are those all the relative pronouns?)

...to put it simply - could you translate "They're used as subjects of subordinate clauses to make the verb agree with the noun or pronoun they're referring to." :D

I am fascinated with english right now. NAAHA!

[vavarazzi]

Aaahhhhh... it's tough to explain further than that. Um...I don't know how much you know of Spanish, but "que" is used as Spanish's relative pronoun. I don't think they have any different way of saying who and which. I DON'T KNOW WHY, but somehow thinking of it as the Spanish word que helps me.

For your own language, I would be like Spanish and just have one word like que mean that, who, and which. Otherwise you're following in the FOOLISH FOOTSTEPS of whoever invented this aspect of English!

I don't actually consider "which" a part of these, technically....here's an explanation of when to use "which."

But for the main two--"that" and "who"--I'm pretty sure the only difference is "who" is used for people-nouns and pronouns. Like "He is the man who loves dogs." Not "He is the man that loves dogs" I THINK. We use the latter example in spoken English, but I think in order to be correct, it has to be the first sentence.

As always when it comes to English....there are probably exceptions. \(o_O)/

[arenofius]

OMG I THINK I GET IT. Relative pronouns are used as a transitioner to extra information about the subject?

[vavarazzi]

Essentially, yes. It's more about subordinate clauses being joined to support independent clauses....but that's a simpler answer. XD

[robo_subaru]

Wait, in ESL classes, I learned that "He is the man that loves dogs" was correct too. The only situation that we can't use "that" as "who" is when you need a comma before the relative pronoun. For example, "I love Amber, who can speak all languages," not "I love Amber, that can speak all languages."

[vavarazzi]

Oh, I guess that's correct.

LISTEN TO FOREIGNERS!!! They know our language better than we do.

[robo_subaru]

You know Japanese better than I do, yes.

[arenofius]

Everyone loves meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :)

(only because I can speak languages T_T)

[robo_subaru]

That was just an example. Everyone probably loves you even if you couldn't speak any language. :)

[arenofius]

YOU LIEEEE!!!!!!!!!

[medaveon]

Amber, I shudder to think how you would act if you couldn't speak any language. IT WOULD BE LIKE THAT ONE DOG NOISE THAT WE COMMUNICATED IN IN THE CAR!

[arenofius]

omg... I would be... A WOOKIE!!!