BRING versus TAKE

Parent: Please bring the books to school tomorrow. (WRONG)
Parent: Please take the books to school tomorrow. (CORRECT)
(*SITUATION: You're not at school and the parent is not going to school with you tomorrow.)

Teacher: Please take the books to school tomorrow. (WRONG)
Teacher: Please bring the books to school tomorrow. (CORRECT)
(*SITUATION: Both the teacher and the student are at school. The books are with the student but are not with the teacher.)


TIPS!
-BRING means 'come with somebody/something'  (NOT 'go')
-TAKE means 'go with somebody/something' (NOT 'come')

Other examples:
- When you come to my house this Sunday, bring (NOT take) your sister with you so I can meet her. 
(*come to my house)
- Whenever I go sightseeing, I take (NOT bring) my camera with me. 
(*go to any places for sightseeing)
- Would you like to take (NOT bring) me home?
(*go back home)
- Can I come to your party and bring (NOT 'take') a friend with  me? 
(*come to my party here)

'ANY' for singular or plural?

Do you have any questions? 
OR 
Do you have any question?

The correct one is;
Do you have any questions?

Any is usually used with uncountable nouns and plural countable nouns (NOT with singular countable nouns). 

Here are some other sentence examples:

> Do you have a pen? (singular countable)
> Do you have any pens? (plural countable)
> Do you have any money? (uncountable)

OMG! What????? You don't know what countable, uncountable, singular and plural are??
You'd better check it out yourselves! hahahaha

MIND OUR SPELLING! One word or two words?

Here are some confusing words in terms of spelling.
These also happen to be some of the common errors in pupils' English.

ALL RIGHT or ALRIGHT? - Both correct 

ALL TOGETHER or ALTOGETHER - It depends...
A) There are five of us altogether. (in total)
B) The classroom has been cleaned altogether. (completely)
C) Can you put us all together in a group. (used when people/things are brought together)


EVERY DAY or EVERYDAY? - It depends...
A) I go to school every day. (each day)
B) Forgetting my bag is an everyday event for me. (daily - an adjective used to describe the noun 'event')

EVERY WHERE or EVERYWHERE? - Everywhere (One word. 'Every where' is wrong)

ANY ONE or ANYONE? - It depends...
A) You can choose from any one of these books. (means 'one of the books', usually used with the word 'of')
B) I will reward anyone who answers the question correctly. (any person)

ANY BODY or ANYBODY? - anybody (one word, means 'anyone')
*same goes to ANYTHING, ANYWHERE, ANYWAY - all one word.

EXCEPT!...
ANY MORE, ANY TIME (two words, one word is considered wrong in British English)

STORY BOOK or STORYBOOK? - Storybook (one word)


*newly added
MAY BE or MAYBE - It depends...
A) I may be short, but I'm taller than you. (means 'it's likely to happen', used after pronouns like I,she,he,they,etc.)
B) Maybe I'm taller than you. (means 'perhaps', used as an adverb)
C) This may be a coincidence, but maybe we should find out more before we decide what to do. 

"PACK YOUR BAGS" versus "PACK YOUR BELONGINGS"

One of the meanings for 'pack up' is to put things in a suitcase, bag or other container so that you may take them with you when you're leaving.
Therefore, when I'm going for a holiday, I'd prefer to say;
"PACK UP MY BELONGINGS" 
instead of
"PACK MY BELONGINGS"
or 
"PACK MY BAGS".

This is because 'pack your/my/his/her/etc. bags' could mean to leave a place or a job and not return (permanently).

*So, are you packing up or packing your bags? ;)

"DAY BY DAY" versus "DAY AFTER DAY"

A)
I get fed up with listening to complaints day by day. - WRONG
I get fed up with listening to complaints day after day. - CORRECT

B)
Day after day the pupils are getting more disrespectful. - WRONG
Day by day the pupils are getting more disrespectful. - CORRECT.


NOTE:
Day after day = repeatedly or continously
Day by day = gradually

"What a beautiful scenery!" - Don't say that!

"What a beautiful scenery!" - may sound correct to most of us but it's grammatically wrong.

"What beautiful scenery!" - may sound awkward but it's actually correct.

 

Do you know why?

So, we cannot say '...a scenery' or 'sceneries'. ;)

*It's simply because 'scenery' is an uncountable noun, just like 'furniture', 'information' and 'bread'.

family is/are? (Singular or plural?)

The family _______ (is/are) cleaning the house.
Which answer is correct? Is or are?

In American English, family is always considered as a singular noun.
Therefore, the answer is 'The family is....'

HOWEVER;

For British English, 'family' can be a singular noun or a plural noun.
When you are referring 'family' as a single unit or think of them as a group, you use 'is'.
When you are referring 'family' to the individuals (family members), it's more common to use 'are'.

For example;
1) My family is big. It consists of 10 members. (singular)
2) My family are having lunch. They are having lunch at the restaurant. (plural)
*you cannot say 'It is having lunch at the restaurant' (singular)

Another example;
1) My family is big. (That means it consists of many family members.)
2) My family are big. (That means the family members are all fat/big.)

BACK TO THE QUESTION ABOVE, WHICH ANSWER IS CORRECT? IS OR ARE?