Help me with my English!

Guile

I've just visited a website that has the world's most famous jokes and the most famous joke in America goes something like this. It shows the differences in grammar between people with northern upbringing and the people from the south:

Southern girl: Where did you come from?

Northern girl: I've come from a place where people speak proper English and don't end their sentences with a preposition.

Southern girl: OK then. Where did you come from b*tch?

__________

The joke is funny but I don't see anything wrong with the statement of the southern girl.

Paano natin ire-rephrase sa tama yung sinabi nya. And also, bakit mali yung sinabi nya?

_____________

Tsaka idadagdag ko na rin. I tend to interchange (occasionally) the use of "in", "at", "to", "on". Bigyan nyo naman ako ng tips on the proper use of these prepositions.

sayuri

I don't see anything wrong with the Southern girl's grammar - I think the joke is on the girl's being Southern and her accent, as there are tendencies for Northerners to discriminate against Southerners.

About the prepositions - that's a constant problem of mine, too. You get better at that with practice.

Here are some pointers I can give you on use of prepositions (from the top of my head):

1) When using dates, use "on" when the date is in the future. Use "in" pag tapos na.

2) Remember na "on" means "over." So, ang literal na ibig sabihin if you say X is on Y, nakapatong yung X sa Y. "In" means inside. Just remember this pag naco-confuse mo ang "in" at "on."
There are exceptions, though. Sometimes, I hear the term "in bed" rather "on bed."

3) Ginagamit din ang "on" bilang "about." (e.g. Let me comment on the issue...)

4) Usually ang "to" has an explicit or implied "from" - just look at the sentences like "I'm going to school", etc.

Plus, Read "Elements of Style" by Strunk and White. This is considered as the bible of writers. Alam ko may tips sila roon on preposition use and on just about anything on grammar. Sobrang helpful yung book na iyon.

achtung_baby

hi!

ganito kasi yon. from is a preposition. strictly speaking (using the old english grammar rules), the correct question should be "from where do you come?" instead of "where do you come from?" (which is acceptable nowadays). the other girl replied with sarcasm so the other girl rephrased her question and ended it with "b*tch". so at least her question didn't end with a presposition anymore.

gets mo na?

kios_01

Yup, the book by Strunk & White, Ok daw yun. Pinapabasa sa amin yun nung English prof namin.

Sabi nung prof namin regarding prepositions: oo nga, meron mga general rules on how & when to use the particular prepositions, pero napakaraming loopholes daw na nagiging useless na alamin ang mga general rules.

So she implied na case to case basis talaga ang use ng prepositions. Mahirap daw talaga. Pero it's in the sense naman daw of the sentence.

She recommended to me a book about these loopholes. Nkalimutan ko na ang title eh. Teka, aalamin ko.

wunderkind

regarding prepositions. i saw this book from a friend. it's all about prepositions. i forgot the title, though. i think it's from Webster or something.