Dutch treats the broad concept of pyrotechnics as a singular noun, “vuurwerk”. English doesn’t: fireworks are in the plural.
Category Archives: Grammar
“Proud to be a PSV-fan”
A typical Dutch hyphen, except that this one was big (and I mean BIG) – several metres in length, in the backdrop to a Europa League game.
Year before subject
The 2021 report, 2012 Olympics, the 2017 Conference, the 1986 Displaced Persons Act… The year comes first if there’s no other small word in between.
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Dutch authors have a big tendency to use the preposition “on” in phrases like these.
The difference between both…
Unlike Dutch, English uses “the two” or “the two of them” and not “both” for comparisons and differences.
The most awarded beer in the Netherlands
Oh really? Who have they awarded it to?
Only if…
Starting a full sentence with those two words is pretty much guaranteed to get your knickers in a twist, grammatically.
Usage and abusage
In contrasting pairs like this, the form without the prefix comes first. You can’t say “abusage and usage” of word order.
Using “a” and “an” with digits
As a greeting or introduction, it’s always “welcome to” rather than “welcome at” or “welcome on” or any other such preposition.
A word of welcome
As a greeting or introduction, it’s always “welcome to” rather than “welcome at” or “welcome on” or any other such preposition.
