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This video clears up the confusion between then and than once and for all. It explains when to use each one (one for time, one for comparison) and...
Prepositions 3645 Views
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Want even more deets on prepositions? Take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.
Transcript
- 00:01
Prepositions, a la Shmoop. The English language is weird, especially
- 00:09
when it comes to prepositions. Why do you say “I'm at Starbucks” instead of “I'm
- 00:14
in Starbucks”?
- 00:15
Why do you say “I'm in bed” instead of “I'm on bed”?
- 00:20
It's not like you're the stuffing in the mattress. Two phrases that are particularly screwy are
Full Transcript
- 00:26
“by accident” and “on accident”.
- 00:30
In our neck of the woods… “the United States”, in case you weren’t sure… “by
- 00:34
accident” is most commonly used by people over the age of thirty-five.
- 00:40
Folks between the ages of ten and thirty-five use both “by accident” and “on accident”...
- 00:44
...and kids under the age of ten prefer “on accident”.
- 00:47
Also, they’re the most likely ones to have… an accident.
- 00:53
Imagine how frustrating it must be if you're an English teacher over the age of thirty-five.
- 00:57
You want your students to use “by accident” when they write...
- 01:00
...as in, “Peter rear-ended the BMW with his jalopy by accident”...
- 01:04
...but many of your students have grown up saying “on accident”...
- 01:07
“Peter rear-ended the BMW with his jalopy on accident.”
- 01:12
Who knows why younger Americans prefer “on accident” to “by accident”.
- 01:15
Is it because “on accident” parallels “on purpose”, and young people like their
- 01:19
grammar neat and tidy?
- 01:20
Or, have millions of young people seen something on TV that all the old fogeys missed?
- 01:25
Come on, Bill Gates, throw some money at this so we can have an answer.
- 01:30
Whatever the reasons behind our odd use of prepositions, most of us are guided by the
- 01:34
little voice in our head that tells us a particular preposition either sounds right...
- 01:39
...as in, “John suffered from a serious case of the runs”...
- 01:42
...or sounds wrong...
- 01:44
...as in, “John suffered with a serious case of the runs”.
- 01:51
As for those folks who aren't native English speakers...
- 01:53
...and therefore lack a tiny English-speaking shoulder angel...
- 01:56
...well, you'll always have these videos to turn to for help.
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