PROFESSOR PANDA'S QUESTION CORNER

Hi! It's me again, Professor Panda, PhD. Today we have a question from one of our students so let's get right to it!

Recently I tried to buy at online shop of USA but there were many difficult English for me in the web page. Please look at the following English:”Express airmail delivery to most major European destinations within 1-2 working days and Worldwide within 2-3 working days.”I used dictionary and I tried to understand the meaning but I can't understand 100% because, I don't know where subject and verb are in this sentence.
Please tell me.
When I translate such sentence, is there good way?

Good Morning Lee-san!

This was a case when a dictionary could not be a complete help to anyone. “Express airmail delivery to most major European destinations within 1-2 working days and Worldwide within 2-3 working days”.

This is an incomplete sentence or sometimes called a “sentence fragment”. It does not have a verb! It is common in advertising, which some people think is a good excuse to use bad English! I have seen terrible English on signs and buildings here in Gifu Prefecture and it makes me a bit nuts!!!!! Also it makes me laugh. They should ask me for proper English for their signs – I won’t charge them much! (hee hee)

Ok, as to the meaning of the “sentence fragment” or incomplete sentence.

It means that they can provide airmail delivery of items purchased from them to most places in Europe within 1 or 2 working days. A working day in the West typically means, Monday through Friday, when businesses are generally open. They, except for many stores, tend to be closed on Saturday and Sunday.

It goes on to say that they can provide “Worldwide”, meaning that they can provide worldwide delivery, to places other than most places in Europe, within 2-3 working days.

So, if you were in Europe, and it was Monday, you might get your package Tuesday or Wednesday. If it was Friday when you made your order, then you might get your package on Monday or Tuesday, because Saturday and Sunday do not count.

By the way, my experience is that you need to add an extra day!

Anou…there is no rule or good guidelines for finding the meaning of incomplete sentences or “sentence fragments”. To get the meaning one needs to understand basic English grammar, have a good vocabulary, and some experience in using English. The key is, practice, practice, practice. Read everything you can get your hands on, from USA magazines to The Japan Times!

Ok, watch out for the flu.

-P. Panda

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Hi everybody! I thought it would be fun to begin to study the basic "parts of speech": all the words we use to speak and write English well. They are like our basic tools and we can't do a good job on something unless we know our tools well. So let's get started!

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Words in English or divided into eight parts of speech, each one different, according to their “job” in a sentence. Oh yes indeed, there are different kinds of words and each kind of word has a specific function in a sentence. They are:

Adjectives
Adverbs
Conjunctions
Interjections
Nouns
Pronouns (No, these are not nouns that have given up amateur status to become professionals!)
Prepositions
Verbs

These are some of the “nuts and bolts” (the basic parts) that make up English, and to speak and write English well, we must have a good understanding of them and their jobs. I say “some”, because there are other parts of speech, but I do not want you to go running away into the night, screaming in terror, so I will keep them to myself for a while until you are comfortable with the parts I have mentioned above.

So, let’s get started!

NOUNS

A noun is simply a word that names a person, place, or thing. A good way to remember nouns is this:

NOUN = NAMAE

A noun is a name and they come in different varieties; and just like names, there are some what we like, some that maybe we don’t like so much, and some that we are stuck with no matter what. The varieties of nouns are:

Common nouns
Proper nouns
Compound nouns
Collective nouns.

Don’t panic! It’s not as complicated as in sounds, as you will soon see. For today’s lesson, we will explore two types of nouns: common nouns and proper nouns.

Common nouns – nouns that name any one of a group, or class, or type of person, place or thing.

girl
city
food

Easy right?

Proper nouns – nouns that name a specific or certain person, place, or thing.

· Mitusko
· Osaka
· California Roll

Until next time, look through your favorite magazines or books, and see if you can pick out common nouns and proper nouns. I am sure you will find lots of them and suddenly you will discover that you have a new way of thinking about the words you see.

Ok, now let's relax and have some tea!

LET'S STUDY ENGLISH!

Hi! I'm Professor Panda!

For the last couple of years I have been providing informal lessons and discussions about English Grammar, usage, spelling, and composition for our friends in Japan! We decided to expand things just a bit, and provide a place where all our "pupils" can find the lessons we have published in Japan, in case they missed or lost one, as well as a place to discuss "Western English" as is spoken in the US and Canada, rather than the UK. Here we can discuss problems, find solutions, and practice, practice, practice. So please join us - young and old - boys and girls - and we will have lots of fun along the way!

Oh! And coming in 2009, we hope to be providing actual "up close and personal" English lessons and practice for all of our friends in Gifu Prefecture! Stay tuned for more information!

Now - let's study English!