Summary: What you are going to learn is probably one of the many secrets in English: the method of going left. That is, first, you learn why ‘Tomorrow will go to office’ is wrong, through a sense of humor. Then, you get the method of making good sentences. Whenever you see a verb, go left and see if there is a match between the verb and the subject and you know the sentence is right.
A. Learning English the Wrong Way:
If you think there is nothing wrong with ‘Tomorrow will go to office’, then think again. It is something like English, but not English.
But aren’t people telling you that as long as you can communicate, it is okay? No it is not, absolutely not. Why? It is because there is something hidden in English sentences, a hidden secret that does not allow you to do so.
B. A Hidden Secret in English: A Match between Verbs and Subjects
To get the hidden thing in English, you have to go back to ‘Tomorrow will go to office’ again, asking yourself 3 questions:
- Which word is the verb (in the sentence)?
- Which word is the subject (in the sentence)?
- Is there a match between the verb and the subject?
So the first two questions are pieces of cakes. The verb is ‘go’ and the subject is ‘tomorrow’. But what does ‘a match’ mean?
Before you know what a match is, you have to learn what it is not from the sentence. There are questions for you to work on:
1. How can ‘tomorrow’ go to office?
2. Does ‘tomorrow’ have legs?
3. Can ‘tomorrow’ take a bus or drive?
In other words, in ‘Tomorrow will go to office’ you treat tomorrow as a living thing, a person, or an office worker. But actually it is not. When you use ‘will go to office’ you are referring to a real person. But obviously, ‘tomorrow’ is not a person’s name (well, unless you change your name to ‘tomorrow’ now). So, in a word, ‘Tomorrow will go to office’ doesn’t make any sense in English as it breaks a rule: a match between verbs and subjects.
C. Learning English the Right Way: Going Left
So there is an easy way to check if you write (or speak) good English or not: Going left.
How?
1. Locate the verb in a sentence.
2. Go to the left of the verb to find the subject.
3. Check if there is a match.
So let’s check the sentence below with the three steps:
At last month’s meeting our CEO discussed the difficulties in hiring new technicians.
|
Step 1
|
Verb
|
discussed
|
|
Step 2
|
Subject
|
(our) CEO
|
And about step 3, is there a match between ‘CEO’ and ‘discussed’? Yes, there is a match.
But what about this:
Last month’s meeting discussed the difficulties in hiring new technicians.
There is a mismatch between ‘meeting’ and ‘discussed’. Why? A meeting is not a living thing, so:
How can a meeting discuss anything?
I guess you have got the secret, right?
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