3 Quick Grammar Fixes

"Robin, come in." "Robin here." Hi. James, from EngVid. Sorry. Reading "Batman: Black

and White". I almost wanted to say "Blackman: Black and White", but I didn't. Hi. So what

am I doing today besides joking with you? Look, I want to teach a lesson today -- and

already, the naysayers -- the "naysayers" are the people who say "no" before you finish.

So you teachers out there that watch these lessons, I know you'll go, "Oh, well this

rule isn't right because --." This isn't about that. I'm telling you now there are lessons

on the video -- and actually on EngVid -- that go into greater detail and explain very well

what I'm about to teach. This lesson is very specific. It's a quick way and a short way

for you to remember some grammar problems which are very common among many students.

If you teach English, you know exactly what I mean. If you're a student, you know what

I mean. And if you're somebody who is studying English on your own, when people look at you

strangely, and then they explain to you, you know what I mean.

So this is JamesESL's 80 percent rules. Three quick rules for grammar. And the 80 percent

-- who could possibility forget the best guy in the world? Because he's going to be our

percent sign today. Mr. E! Okay. Mr. E is the percent sign. So it's our 80 percent rules.

What do I mean by that? There are many exceptions to everything I'm going to tell you. I'm saying

this up front so you don't get confused later on. But you will be correct 80 percent of

the time without thinking if you master these rules. And the exceptions -- go to the other

lessons on the site, and there's a lesson for each one of these. I'm telling you. I

did this because it's easier for you to read, write, and do well when you know these rules,

okay? So let's start with No. 1. Very often, students

say, "I say him." And I go, "What?" "I say him, 'I go home, now.'" I go, "What?" "I say

him." You can't "say" him. Remember: "Say" by itself means "single". S equals "single",

right? "Single" means "one". "I say all the time." "He said to me." Right? Say and said,

past form of "say". It's for "one". One person is speaking. So when you just say "say" by

itself, think "single". And you'll notice I've got S and S. But then you say, "James,

I want to say -- I want to say two people or more. I say him all the time." Okay. Okay.

I'll help you. This is the James 80 percent rule. Say "to" him. "What?" Say "to" him.

"To" indicates a subject and an object -- a person is speaking to another person. "What

did you say to him?" "Oh!" See? Right? You add the magic "to", and now, you can talk

to more than one person and address it. "What did he say to him?" Got it? But if you say

something, "I say", "he says", "they said" -- single "say". If you want to add an object

or a person you're referring to, then we say "say to". And the "to" gives you the idea

of two or more. You like that? I got more. Okay. I don't even like saying "to". It's

so five-letterish. Why don't we just stick with four letters? "Tell". Think T in "tell"

means "two". You know how you say "say to", two words? You can combine that and just say

"tell". "I told" -- tell and told. So we'll put "told" here because it's the same thing,

really. Past tense, just like "said" is here, right? "I told him." Right? Subject and object.

"What did he tell you?" Subject and object. T stands for "two". So whenever you see "say"

or "tell", if you have "say" and "to" -- "to" means "two", right? You like that? And "tell"

-- T means "two". You keep getting this T thing, and you know it's "two" -- an object

and a subject is speaking to an object. Quick and easy. Dirty, clean -- I don't care. It's

yours. All right? You like that? I got more. See this sleeve? Are you looking up the sleeve?

Boom. Back to the board. Okay. No. 2: third person

singular. "Hablar -- hablar en español." You know, when you say "you", you use S. "Hablas",

"tienes" -- that's all the Spanish I know. You watched my other video where I say "bro"?

See? I told you to look for ten. Here's one video where you've got "bro", okay? Try and

find nine more. Anyway. So you think third person, like "work". Well, "it" means "one".

"He" means "one". "She" means "one". S stands for "single". We're going to go back up here

again. S stands for "single". I told you, it's James' 80 percent rule. One word rules

them all. Or as my friends who like The Hobbit say, "And one ring shall control them all.

The lesser S means 'single' forevermore. Forevermore. Forevermore." That means "from now on", okay?

So you see S; you know this is a "single" thing. So it's got to be a "he", a "she",

or an "it". Not a "them". Not a "they". That's plural. There's no P in this. So "it works."

"She works". "I works?" No. Only for the third person singular, okay? And to help my Spanish

friends out there -- mis amigos and amigas! Okay. Think second person. The "you". It's

the same thing. Add an S. Okay? When I learn other languages -- Ruski or Urdu -- I will

teach you other rules, okay? I'm working on it. One lesson at a time. So S means "single",

just like we had up here. All right? So we use it for our single "he", "she", "it". Add

S; "It work?" No. "It works." "She works." "He works." I am special. So I have "am".

You like that? You should. Third one. "No, Teacher. This no work for

me. This is very difficult." I'm trying to think. "I not a good boy. No." Yeah. You know

you say this. You know you do. You know you do. We've worked on this. So I'm going to

work on something: the "no" words. Now, many languages have one word "no". "No hablar con

tú!" Yeah. I'm taking Spanish. Okay. "Non parler." All right. French, Spanish, you have

"no". In English, we have this crazy thing -- or we have two words which mean "no". Sorry

about that. Once again, it's the 80 percent rule. So all you guys getting up and going,

"Oh, James, adjectives, and --." I know. But we're going to keep it simple because it's

quick when you have time -- sorry, when you don't have time to think. You need something

you can rely on. Here we go. See the word "no"? See the word "noun"? No noun, noun no,

no, no, no noun, no, no, no. No. "No money." "No one." "No food." No, no. Okay? It's a

product that they sell called a "No No" that gets rid of hair. That's another story. Okay.

But "no" goes with nouns. "No one came yesterday." "No person on the planet likes English" except

me and Mr. E and you because you're studying. "Not" is usually for verbs. Notice the T on

the end of this means "tense", "verb tense". "Not going", "not working", right? Now, there

are other little rules, and I did say to you: Go through EngVid, and you'll find it because

there is a rule that actually is not quite the same as this. All right? But master this

first because the reason I'm teaching this lesson, if you understand the very basic things,

when you study the other lessons, you'll find that it's easy to understand them because

you have the basics down. This is the core, what we say, "the root". Okay? The start.

And from there, you get the little exceptions here and there.

So this is JamesESL teaching you a quick grammar lesson with three -- oh, gosh! You don't know

-- very common mistakes. Okay. Mr. E and I are going to get out of here. He's helping

with the 80 percent rule thing. So remember: "say" -- "say to". "Say to" equals "two".

"Tell" -- T equals "two". Third person singular -- S on the end of the verb means "he", "she"

or "it". "No" is for nouns. "Not" is for verb tense -- T for "tense". You're good to go.

All right? Listen. It's been a pleasure once again. Please

go to www.engvid.com, "eng" as in "English" and "vid" as in "video", where you can see

me and Mr. E and do the test. Don't forget to hit "like". Chao.