Inverted Conditionals and Reflexive Pronouns

Inverted Conditionals

• Inverted conditionals are more formal than regular conditional sentences
• They remove 'if' and use the structure 'were' plus subject plus 'to infinitive'
• Example: 'Were Molly to resign, who'd replace her?'

Reflexive Pronouns

• Reflexive pronouns are used as the object of a sentence when the subject and the object are the same person or thing
• Example: 'Tim or I will lead the meeting today' - 'I' is the subject pronoun.
• Common Mistake: Using the reflexive pronoun 'myself' when the subject and object are different people
• Example: 'Tim or myself will lead the meeting today.' - 'Myself' is incorrect because 'Tim' and 'myself' (meaning the speaker) are different people.

Negative Adverbial Inversion

• Negative adverbials are placed at the beginning of a sentence and the normal order of the subject and auxiliary verb is switched
• Example: 'Not only did he wear mismatched socks, but he also forgot to brush his teeth.'
• Common Structure: 'Not only' followed by 'but also'

Collective Nouns

• Collective nouns refer to a group of people or things as one
• British English: Collective nouns can be treated as singular or plural
• American English: Collective nouns are usually treated as singular
• Example: 'The crowd is getting restless' (British English) - 'is' and 'are' can be used.
• American English would likely use 'is'.

Lay vs. Lie

• Lay: Means to put something in a flat position, often gently. It requires an object. Example: 'Please lay the dress on the bed.'
• Lie: Means to be in or get yourself into a flat position. It does not need an object.
• Example: 'Every evening, I like to lie in my hammock and look at the stars.'

'A' vs. 'An'

• General Rule: Use 'a' before consonant sounds and 'an' before vowel sounds.
• 'Historic': Starts with the consonant sound 'h', but many people say 'an historic'
• It's a matter of pronunciation, particularly for accents that drop the 'h'
• In writing, 'a historic' is generally considered more correct

'Who' vs. 'Whom'

• Formal Rule: Use 'whom' in relative clauses with prepositions
• Example: 'To whom does this jacket belong?'
• Modern English: Using 'who' in this scenario is much more common
• Example: 'Who does this jacket belong to?'

Habits with 'Will'

• 'Will' can be used to indicate a habit, either general or annoying
• Example: 'Our neighbour will play heavy metal all night long'

Phrasal Verbs

• Non-Separable Phrasal Verbs: Cannot have an object placed between the verb and the particle
• Example: 'get over' - 'It took me a long time to get over the flu.' - 'the flu' cannot be placed between 'get' and 'over'.

The Oxford Comma

• American English: Comma before the final 'and' in a list is preferred
• British English: Comma before the final 'and' is usually omitted, especially for short lists.
• Example: 'At the fair, I ate a toffee apple, brandy snap, and candy floss.'
• Example: 'At the fair, I ate a toffee apple, brandy snap and candy floss.'

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