Hi, I'm John Green, welcome to my salon, this is menopause. It's what many of you think I'm saying when I say "This is Mental Floss".
That's just one of many questions of grammar, spelling and usage that we will be exploring and correcting today.
Can I just start out with one, that no matter how many times I hear it, I always struggle with, even though I know I'm a novelist, "lay" vs. "lie".
Lay is transitive, it needs a direct subject and one or more objects, and the past tense of lay is laid (which slang makes confusing because it is also something that you can get).
So you lay down your copy of the brilliant and heartwarming novel, "The Fault in our Stars". If it happened in the past you laid down your copy of "The Fault in our Stars."
Lie does not require an object, and the past tense of lie is, of course, "lay". So if you need to get out gym class and if you're like me, you do, then you need to go to the nurse's office and lie down. Whereas Clark Kent lay down when he found that he could not save toad from the gigantic bear...skeleton.
Literally means something that 100%, for sure, no doubt is true. For example, you did not literally die when you fell down the stairs because you are telling me the story of your literal dying.
This is a bad sentence, "I wish One Direction would come to Indianapolis I think Niall Horan would like it here." If your sentence contains two independent thoughts you have a run-on sentence. If you put a comma in the middle, that just gives you a comma splice. Try using a semi-colon or even better, a period.
There's this band I like called the Avett Brothers, or possibly the Avett Brothers, and they have this song I like in which they sing, "I wanna have friends that I can trust, who love me for the man who I've become, not the man THAT I was." But it should be WHO, it should be three WHOs. I wanna have friends who I can trust, who love me for the man who I've become. "That" is for non-people, "who" is for people. And when you call a who a that you are dehumanizing the who. Don't dehumanize The Who, they already have enough problems, just with old age.
I am John Green, welcome to my Salon. This is Menopause, this is what many of you think I am saying when I say this is Mental Floss. That is just one of many questions of grammar, spelling and usage that we will be exploring and correcting today.
Let's just start one that no matter how many times I hear it I always struggle with, even though I know I am a novelist: lay versus lie. Lay is transitive, it needs a direct subject in one or more objects and the past tense of lay is laid, which slang makes confusing because it is also something you can get. So you lay down your copy of the brilliant and heartwarming novel "The fault in our stars" If it happened in the past, you laid down your copy of "The fault in our stars" Lie does not require an object and the past tense of lie is of course lay, so if you need to get out of gym class and if you are like me you do, then you need to go the nurse's office and lie down, whereas Clark Kent laid down when he found out that he could not save Toad from the gigantic bear
skeleton literally means something that one hundred percent for sure, no doubt is true. For example you did not literally die when you fell down the stairs because you are telling me story of your literal dying. This is a bad sentence, I wish one direction would come to Indianapolis. I think Nial Horne would like it here. If your sentence contains two independent thoughts you have a run on sentence. You put a comma in the middle, that just gives you a comma splice, try using a semi-colon or even better....
a period.
4)
There's this band I like called the Evett(?) Brothers, possibly the Avett(?) Brothers, and they have this song I like in which they sing "I wanna have friends that I can trust that love me for the man I've become not the man THAT I was". But it should be WHO, it should be three who's. "I wanna have friends WHO I can trust WHO love me for the man WHO I've become". 'That' is for non-people, 'who' is for people and when you call a 'who' a 'that' you are dehumanising the 'who'. And don't dehumanise the 'who'. They already have enough problems. Just with old age.
5)
Your delicious new chili red mini cooper is not 'for sell' it is 'for sale'.
6)
OK, 'who' and 'whom'.
'Who' and 'whom' are both pronouns. 'Who' is a subject, 'whom' is an object. So "Who is your favourite Spice Girl?" but "Whom do you like among the Spice Girls?". Easy trick if your answer would contain a 'he' or a 'she', use 'who'. If your answer would contain a 'him' or a 'her', use 'whom'.
7)
If you're using a singular noun, use a singular pronoun and if you're using a plural noun, use a plural pronoun. For example, "everyone in our office has their friends" but "everyone in our office has his or her favourite episode of Duck Dynasty".
8)
It's 'Catcher IN the Rye' but 'Sex AND the city'.
9)
You 'nip it in the bud'. Never nip anything in the butt.
10)
'You couldn't care less' and 'you could care less' implies that you care at least somewhat because you could reduce your level of caring.
11)
A lot is two words, as in I have a *space* lot of unwatched episodes of the Vampire Diaries on my DVLR.
12)
"Lose," as in "lose the game," has one O. "Loose," as in, "Hey, Justin Bieber, I haven't seen pants that loose since MC Hammer," has two Os.
13)
If you're referring to something you can count, use "fewer." If it's an uncountable quality, like love, use "less." For instance, there is now one fewer matryoshka doll on the wall of magic, and it is a little bit less magical.
14)
"Could of" is not a thing. Neither is "should of," neither is "would of." You get the picture. "Could've" is a contraction of "could" and "have." "Should've" is a contraction of "should" and "have." I'll leave it to you to figure out what "would've" means.
15)
Speaking of commonly said things that are not in fact things, "for all intensive purposes" is wrong. It's "for all intents and purposes."
16)
Subjects: I, you, he, she, it, we, they.
Objects: me, you, him, her, it, us, them.
So, I, you, he, she, it, we, they ate ice cream, but Henry VIII married and then decapitated me, you, him, her, it, us, them.
17)
Here's a quick tip for figuring out whether to use me or I: take away the other noun in the sentence.
For example:
Mark and me went to Starbucks,
or,
Mark and I went to Starbucks.
First, you have to remove Mark--I am sorry, Mark. "I went to Starbucks" makes sense, but "me went to Starbucks" sounds like Captain Caveman, so you use "I."
18)
"Anxious" means you are nervous. It comes from "anxiety." If you're excited for something, you're eager, not anxious.
19)
"Good" is an adjective or a noun. "Well" is always an adverb. So, you're not doing good because you're describing how you're doing; you're doing well, which is good!
20)
"If" implies a condition. "Whether" implies there are two options. So, we don't know whether to watch Full House or Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but watch Full House if it's the episode about Michelle getting amnesia.
21)
If it's coming toward the speaker, use "bring." If it's going away from the speaker, use "take." So, Mark is bringing me the laser cat. Thank you, Mark. This is so awesome. I am so--yes, do it, d--why did you take it away?
22)
"Historic" is something significant that happened in history, but "historical" is just anything that happened in the past. Of course, deciding what's significant is subjective. That's why we have Crash Course History.
All right, let's quickly go through some words that sound the same.
23)
"You're" means "you are"; "your" is something you possess.
24)
"It's" means "it is" or "it has"; "its" is something that it possesses. This is its eye. Its name is Cellophane, by the way. We can't tell you the story. It's too cute.
25)
You're going "there"; something they own is "theirs"; and "they're" weird.
26)
If you're trying to say "who is," contract to "who's"; "whose" indicates ownership or "of whom" or "which."
27) "Emigrate" with an E if you're moving away from your home country; "imigrate" with an I if you're moving to a new country. I mean, usually you're doing both at the same time; it's really a matter of which country's paperwork you're filling out. Pro-tip: Keep all passports.
28)
"Two" is the number that comes after one; "too" is "also"; and "to" is the only one you can use as an infinitive or as a preposition as in "I want to go to Disneyworld."
29)
"Allusion" is the noun form of the verb "to allude." "Illusion" is what Gob does on Arrested Development.
30)
A "bear" is what you don't want to encounter on your camping trip. It's also to carry or to tolerate as in "bear with me" or to stay in one direction: "bear right." "Bare" means exposed or naked as in how I feel when singing karaoke.
31)
"Elicit" is a verb, "illicit" is an adjective. You can think of it this way: Illicit drugs will make you ill.
32)
"Led" is the past tense of "lead." "Lead" is the kind of paint you shouldn't eat.
33)
You write notes on "stationery" (think "e" for envelope), and you remain "stationary."
34)
The "Weather" Channel is completely unnecessary because Siri whereas "whether"...I already explained.
35)
"Affect" is a verb implying change, "effect" is a noun meaning the result. Some people think you can use effect as a verb as well but those people are wrong.
36)
Use "than" for comparisons, otherwise use "then" to mean "next" or "later" like "One Tree Hill is better THAN The O.C. Well we can watch One Tree Hill then instead of The O.C."
37)
Speaking of my love for early two thousands TV Mr. Feeny was Cory Matthews principal. Principal with an "a" can also mean the highest in importance; the principal problem in this office for instance is that no one appreciates a good Boy Meets World reference. A "principle" is only a noun meaning a law or a rule.
38)
Accept is a verb as in you have to accept that we are back at the salon and therefore this video is almost over. "Except" is a preposition or conjunction like this video is over, except for the credits.
Thanks for watching Mental Floss which is brought to you with the help of these nice people. Every week we endeavor to answer one of your mind blowing questions. This week's question comes from user "IHate4Kids." (I hope not your four kids.)
"Why is the sky blue."
I don't know...Hank?
Thanks John, and great question IHate4Kids. Uh, I guess you probably hate kids because they keep asking questions like this that are seemingly obvious but actually ridiculously difficult to answer. The problem here is that we don't have to just understand why the sky is blue to understand why the sky is blue, we also have to understand what is "blue." Surprisingly this is a difficult question to answer, but if someone asks you what "blue" is, this is what you should say:
The light that we see is a very narrow band of the electro-magnetic spectrum. A spectrum of radiation wavelengths that stretches all the way from waves the size of buildings to waves the size of atomic nuclei. Visible light has wavelengths roughly the size of single celled organisms like protozoans; so, small, but not anywhere near as small as atoms. Our eyes are actually extremely sensitive wavelength detectors in the visible range. We can distinguish between the longer wavelengths of red light and the shorter wavelengths of blue light, and that is what blue is; an interaction between our eyes, our brains, and certain electromagnetic waves. Now as to what is actually happening in the atmosphere. Radiation can interact with particles in a few different ways: it can bounce off, it can reflect, it can be absorbed and re-emitted. But if it's interacting with particles much smaller than the wavelength of the radiation like molecules of oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere, the radiation is not absorbed or reflected, it's scattered. Because nitrogen and oxygen are particularly good at scattering blue light with shorter wavelengths rather than other colors, blue light is scattered out from the main beam of the sun's light and all around the atmosphere before scattering down to our eyes. The effect? A yellow tinged blueless sun and a beautiful shell of blue light from horizon to horizon.
Again thanks for watching Mental Floss. Remember to submit your own questions and DFTBA.
