DATE FORMAT IN ESSAY WRITING

1) ...4 November 1982...
2) ...the 4^th of November, 1982...

3) November 4, 1982...

The following date formats are not acceptable in written essay.
4/11/1982
04-11-1982

to 'scrap off' or to 'scrap out' things??

Actually, it is 'scrap' without 'off' or 'out' as 'scrap' is a verb not a phrasal verb.

So, just scrap that understanding in your mind.

"NOT TO" or "TO NOT"?

reason not to...or reason to not?

I'd say that it supposed to be 'reason not to'

e.g. There must be a reason for them not to speak English.

Other similar example:
There must a reason for not doing it.

However, there is a slight change in meaning between 'not to' and 'to not'

1) They forced me not to do it

(I was going to do it but they forced me to give up the idea)

2) They forced me to not do it

(I was doing it but they stopped me forcibly)

P/S: But I have never come across any book or statement that explains about this. DO COMMENT IF YOU FIND ANY. THANKS.

'Sir' - it's a common misused word among male English teachers.

'Sir' can be used to address a male teacher or as a polite form to address a man but definitely NOT AS A TITLE (which people used to create themselves).

For e.g.,
Good morning, sir. (to address your teacher)
but
It's is wrong to say
You can call me Sir Hafidz. (as a title)
(*I myself misused it before because I was introduced by the principal to all the teachers and all the students by 'Sir Hafidz' and everybody seemed couldn't stop calling me with that title as they got so used to it.)

Instead, it should be
You can call me Mr Hafidz. 

Do you know why?

It's because 'Sir' carries a very big title that we do not have that qualification and not even eligible enough to carry that title like Sir Elton John.
(kindly check your dictionary for the definition of 'Sir')
So, you'd better think carefully if you intend to introduce yourselves as "Sir <your name>"

It's even a shame if your English is not even up to that level to be called by "Sir <your name>"

Someone has stolen my spectacles. How many of 'THEM' actually?

Recently, my precious Prada spectacles were stolen.  What a bad sad experience! :( I'm still hoping to get them back.

Anyway, someone asked me 'How many spectacles have been stolen?' since I've used the word 'them'.
Only then I realised that he didn't know that 'spectacles' is a plural noun.
So, when I said 'them', I was actually refering to 'a pair of spectacles'.

They were also people who were confused when I used the word 'glasses' instead of 'spectacles' as they thought I had lost my drinking glasses.

Actually, 'spectacles' is rather formal. It is more usual to talk about my 'glasses' or 'specs'.

FUTURE TENSES are not only consist of 'will' and 'shall'...

Try this one:
"The class ________ at 9 o'clock tomorrow." (will start, will be starting, is going to start, starts)
The answer is; "The class starts at 9 o'clock tomorrow."


Even though 'tomorrow' indicates something that happens in the future but we use 'starts' because the class is fixed or scheduled at 9 o'clock everyday (habitually).


How about this?:
"I bought the ticket yesterday. I __________ to London next week."
Instead of using "I shall go", we should use "I'm going" to show something that has been planned or sth that is certain will happen, e.g. "It's going to rain" not, "It will rain."

'Please take out A PAPER' - Surprisingly, that's a common bad command by teachers.

When it refers to the material that you write on,
'paper' is an uncountable noun.

So, it should be "Please take out a piece of paper."
or "Write your name on the back of the piece of paper."

Same goes to 'music' (a piece of music) and 'clothing' (an item of clothing)