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- "Кого вы видите?"
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I heard some American people use who instead of whom in these cases, but is that grammatically correct? I mean, is there any kind of educational standard of English in America? And the usage is in the standard? I want to know that because sometimes 'usually used' doesn't mean correct. There are a lot of these cases in my language, Japanese, as well so I only want to know if it's really correct in US educational standard.
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It depends what you mean by "educational." Certainly if you were taking a basic grammar test and were asked which is correct, they'd expect you to answer "whom." But if you were actually being graded on university-level writing that wasn't meant for academic publication (say, a journalism class), you may well get a note that "whom" in any but the most formal contexts sounds stiff and unnatural.
There are exceptions, such as "to whom" where "to who" just sounds wrong even colloquially. But they are few.
People often confuse pedantic/academic English with correct English; it's a common failing
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Oh Yes, that is why it is quite difficult (especially for non natives), to learn other languages with English. I'm missing the old words all the time, while learning Russian, Hungarian, Italian and Hindi.
no, "good" is better than "well". the well known claim that "good" isn't an adverb is a fallacy. but careful who you tell. some people aren't terribly receptive to the good news!
"good vs. well: Adverbial good has been under attack from the schoolroom since the 19th century. Insistence on well rather than good has resulted in a split in connotation: well is standard, neutral, and colorless, while good is emotionally charged and emphatic. This makes good the adverb of choice in sports."
623
Sorry, friend Vortarulo, but "both" is a plural word and ought to be followed by a plural verb (even in "contemporary grammar.")
Hm... it seems to me that there are some instances where you can say "Both is", but I can't think of examples on the spot. I do remember however, that whether or not you state what nouns "both" is referring to, that can change some words you use later. (Like if you say "both of us" or "both of them")
See is a verb that is not used in progressive tenses, it is also called "stative verb", unless it is in its "dynamic sense", what does not seem to.
Take a look at here: http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/stative-verbs.html
You can use the present continuous with see. Just imagine you're on the phone and you're describing to the person you're talking to "seeing" someone or something at that same exact time.
There are other possibilities (be seeing a doctor, on a regular basis, for instance).
Does видеть cover that usage?
"На кого вы смотрите". In this particular case Russian and English closely match, i.e. you use "look at" and "смотреть на".
We use смотреть without на with television, photos, videos etc or for browsing stuff to find something of interest. You can, in principle, use it with persons if you mean their show, youtube channel or something like that.
I'm having trouble understanding when I am expected to pronounce г like "g" or "v". Is there a standard pattern, or is it something to be picked up on as the language is acquired?
623
I’ve found an easy way to know when to pronounce the Russian “г” as a “в” without worrying about whether you are dealing with a current or past genitive case, is as follows: When you encounter the letter combination of “его” or “oгo”, AND the emphasis IS NOT on the first letter of that combination (as in сегодня), then it is pronounced as a “в”. Otherwise, it remains a “г”. I read this somewhere, and it has held true for me, so far.
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Unfortunately, this rule doesn't work. All these words are pronounced with г: Егор Переговоры Ежегодно Категория Негодяй Негодование Перегородка / Перегородить Береговой Категорически / Категория Перегонять / Перегнать / Перегон Егоза / Егозить Реголит
Late reply, just in case somebody else is wondering the same.
Кого is accusative. It's the object of the sentence, not the subject/related to the subject. For example: "who are you?" is nominative - кто ты/вы?; in "who do you see?", you is the subject, «вы видите», who is referring to the object, so it's accusative: «кого».
"Actually, whenever a verb, like "read", "cut" or "want" acts directly on some noun, the latter is a direct object. Such nouns take the Accusative case." So it is a direct object because it acts on the noun? I don't know where i read something about motion being required to use accusative then... I must be confused.
I will have to reread the details of Prepositional case. I think it is used only with в and на and maybe one more preposition or something + depending on some things... I just learned it recently. I'm sure I will get all the 6 cases at some point haha, but it's like with German: You know when to use each case, but what is difficult is to remember all the endings and specificities of each one of them...
The direct object of a transitive verb is generally in the accusative case (though sometimes in the genitive if the verb itself is negated), never in the nominative.
However, it's worth noting that for inanimate objects of either the masculine or neuter gender, or in the plural, the accusative case resembles the nominative case exactly. It's not the nominative case, though, it's just rendered the same way.
Actually, formal English retains exactly this distinction. "Who?" = Nominative, "Whose?" = Possessive/sort of Genitive, "Whom?" = Accusative (Direct Object, in English), and "To/[whatever other preposition] whom?" = every case I haven't mentioned.
But we've nearly lost "whom"/"to whom" in everyday usage, so it's not something we're used to thinking about. In fact, I literally did not understand what the purpose of "whom" was until I studied German for the first time.
Can someone help me with the difference between "kto" and "кого" as well the difference between who and whom?
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Could you say 'Кто' even if it is not grammatically correct? Similar to American English using 'who' even when 'whom' should be used? Would you be understood?