-Kanrabat- wrote:cruizerdave wrote:Great list, but reading it I just kept hearing Samuel L. Jackson’s voice saying, “English mother f***er, do you speak it!?”
Lots of good ideas, but grammar is you friend.
English is not my primary language. So if you find any "shocking" mistakes, feel free to point them out and explain the correct way so that I can learn.
It will be much more helpful.
First the fun: This list rocks! There are so many garbage toys on it! I'm happy to say that I only have the Henkei and eHobby 3-pack crystal exclusive versions of that Galvatron. Because the decos are better and... crystal Scourge and Cyclonus are beautiful!
But one that I feel should be on this list, at least of toys that are utterly terrible, is the ROtF Skids/Mudflap Ice Cream Truck! Pink and white? Sure, it works for Arcee, but two utterly wretched-looking RotF designs? It shouldn't work! But it touches novelty just enough that I really regret selling the pair off.
Now the grammar: (Note: I saw the writing as a means of putting satire into the article. Kind of made the language match the zaniness of the article.) Now, the lesson (sorry all, 15 years as an ESL teacher coming out):
Subject/verb agreements. Subjects can be singular (exactly 1) or plural (0 and anything more than or less than 1. So "0 people" = plural. ".5 people" = plural. "EveryONE" = singular because "one". "Some ones" = plural because "oneS".
Verbs have to agree with the number there. There are 2 verb forms in the present simple in English: V1 and V5. Look at "Eat" V1 = eat. V5 = eats. "Buy" V1 = "buy." V5 = "buys." "To Be" is a little different, because there are 3 forms: is (the singular form for everything except "I"), am (only with "I"), are (the plural form). As you can see, singular forms require "-s" or "-es" at the end.
Now examples taken from text:
When it come to G1 toys... = When IT COMES to G1 toys. ("It" is singular, so the verb requires the "s")
...Machine Wars Soundwave to be superior because he have more "serious" colors and he got the big name. = Machine Wars Soundwave to be superior because he HAS more "serious" colors and he HAS got the big name. (The first is "he" so it is singular, and requires the "-s" ending for "To Have". The second is actually the Present Perfect tense, which is used to indicate that something was made in the past and is still true today. But that's neither here nor there.
But a few like Gauntlet101010 love the guy. = This is a tricky one, because the subject is actually "a few" and not Gauntlet's name. Anyway, "a" means "exactly one of many possible options" so "a few" is singular and should read as "A few, like Gauntlet 101010 LOVES the guy."
Last one:
...still, ShadowBlaze do love the damn thing. = ShadowBlaze is 1 person (exactly, I hope...) so it should read "ShadowBlaze DOES love the damn thing."
Otherwise, the language is great! Fun article!