Question Mark With Quotation Marks

The question mark can appear inside quotation marks or outside. When the entire phrase is a question, the question mark goes outside. With a quotation that is a question, the question mark goes inside the quotation marks. Let us provide examples.

In the following example, the quotation is a question. Did the teacher say "You have to study harder"? The teacher's exact words were "You have to study harder". As a result, the question mark goes outside the quotation marks.

However, in this example, the quotation contains a question. He whispered "Do you need this book?" Since the quotation contains a question, the question mark must go inside the quotation marks.

With quotations that contain a question, the question mark is written inside the quotation marks. However, with quotations that do not contain a question, the question mark is written outside. The placement of the question mark is important because it conveys a difference in meaning.

German Suffix Variants

The German suffix -heit is very productive. It is added to adjectives to derive nouns. The word schön (beautiful) combines with -heit to produce Schönheit (beauty). Likewise, neu (new) combines with -heit to produce Neuheit (novelty) and Rein (pure) with -heit to produce Reinheit (purity). However, the suffix also has the variant -keit. This variant occurs after words with the affixes -bar, -ig, -lich and -sam.

The variant -keit occurs in words such as Arbeitslösigkeit (Unemployment) Einsamkeit (loneliness), Möglichkeit (possibility) and Sichtbarkeit (Visibility). The word Einsamkeit consists of the root Ein and the affixes -sam and -keit. Here we call illustrate the meaning of the three units:

ein (one)

einsam (lonely)

Einsamkeit (loneliness)

The suffix variant -heit has wider distribution than -keit. It is the underlying form from which -keit is derived. The suffix variants can also be classified as allomorphs.

In other Germanic languages, the German suffix -heit/-keit is very similar. Here are examples with three words:

freedom

Freiheit (German)

vrijheid (Dutch)

frihet (Swedish)

frihed (Danish)

frihet (Norwegian)

possibility

Möglichkeit (German)

mogelijkheid (Dutch)

möjlighet (Swedish)

mulighed (Danish)

mulighet (Norwegian)

safety

Sicherheit (German)

zekerheid (Dutch)

säkerhet (Swedish)

sikkerhed (Danish)

sikkerhet (Norwegian)

In contrast to German, the other languages only have one form for the underlying suffix -heit. Many Norwegian dialects use the suffix -heit rather than -het. The German suffix -heit is very productive and often corresponds to -ity/-ty in English. 

Six Types of Animals

Animals can be classified in many ways. However, scientists classify them into six main groups. They are mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and fish.

The group of mammals includes humans. All mammals have hair or fur, and they produce milk through their mammary glands. Mammals and birds are the animal classes that are warm-blooded.

The group of birds is very diverse. However, all birds have two legs and can lay eggs. Most of them can fly.

Unlike mammals and birds, reptiles are cold-blooded. They are often covered in scales and rely on their surrounding environment to regulate their body temperature. They have a spine and are thus vertebrates.

Amphibians have moist skin with no scales. Because they are permeable, they are very sensitive to toxins. One key characteristic of amphibians is a life cycle that include larval stages.

The animal kingdom can be divided into two large groups, vertebrates and invertebrates. Invertebrates are animals that have no spinal cord. This includes jellyfish and insects.

Fish are aquatic animals. Their main characteristic is the presence of gills that enables them to breathe underwater. They all have fins that help them to swim.

All animals can be classified into six main groups. Two of these, birds and mammals are warm-blooded. The group of invertebrates lacks a spinal cord. The other five groups, however, all have one.

Small Units of Length and Time

Length can be measured in units such as metres and kilometres. They are part of the metric system. In the imperial system, units such as feet and miles are used. Time can be measured in units such as minutes and hours, and they are neither part of the metric nor the imperial system.

In the metric system, units such as centimetres and millimetres are used for small lengths. However, smaller units can also be expressed. A micrometre is a very small unit, one millionth of a metre, and a nanometre is one billionth of  a metre.

Time can also be measured in very small units. A millisecond is one thousandth of a second. The time of 9.375 seconds consists of nine full seconds and 375 milliseconds. A microsecond is one millionth of a second and a nanosecond is one billionth.

Very small units of length and time can be expressed with the prefixes -micro and -nano. The prefix -micro is used in microseconds and micrometres and means one millionth. For even smaller units, the prefix -nano can be used as in nanoseconds and nanometres. This means one billionth.

Contronyms

Contronyms are words with opposite meanings. The meaning of these words can be understood from the context. Ten words which are contronyms are the following:

bill

dust

left

off

out 

rent

sanction

screen

seed

transparent

The following sentences illustrate that these words have opposite meanings.

1) The smallest American bill is $1.

     I'll send you the bill.

2)  I need to dust the kitchen cupboards.

     The last step is to dust the cake with icing sugar.

3) There are few people left.

    Everyone has left the party.

4) Please turn off the light.

    The alarm went off.

5) The moon is out.

    The candle has gone out.

6) I want to rent an apartment.

    He agreed to rent him the apartment.

7) If he continues the violate the agreement, he will be sanctioned with a heavy fine.

    Everyone sanctioned his efforts to reduce crime.

8) You should screen your face from the sun.

     The movie theatre will screen the movie this evening.

9) I need to seed the tomatoes.

    The farmer plans to seed his field tomorrow morning.

10) Her lie was transparent.

      He has a transparent bottle.

Contronyms are words with opposite meanings. Though the meaning is usually clear from context, this is sometimes not the case with a single sentence In the sentence He was sanctioned, more context is needed to clarify if the person was punished or supported. Contronyms are also known as antagonyms and auto-antonyms.

Consonant Clusters in English Onsets and Codas

English permits many consonant clusters in the syllable onset and coda. This is in contrast to many other languages. However, the consonant clusters in the onset and coda are not identical.

English allows a maximum of three consonants in the onset. Examples include scream, splash, spray, square and stripe. In these words the first consonant is always /s/, the voiceless alveolar fricative.

The coda also allows many consonant clusters. Here the maximum number of consonants is four. This is the case in the word twelfths.

The following words have three consonants in the coda:

asked

barked

darts

eighths

faults

hands

parks

shelves

shields

tastes 

In non-rhotic varieties of English, words such as barked and parks have only two consonants in the coda. However, if one classifies the vowel as an r-coloured vowel, the number of consonants is also  two. The final consonant in the illustrated words is either the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ or the voiceless alveolar plosive /t/.

It is clear that English allows many consonants in both the syllable onset and the syllable coda. If the onset has three syllables, the first consonant must be /s/. However, this is not the case in the coda. The permissible consonant clusters in the onset and in the coda are different.

Verbs Negated With Not

Most English verbs are negated with the auxiliary verb do and the adverb of negation not. They can be contracted to don't. However, a few verbs follow a different pattern. They are negated in the same manner as modal verbs. The verb is followed by the adverb not.

The adverb not is used to negate modals. Examples include can not, may not, might not, must not and should not. This is also the pattern with verbs such as guess, hope and suppose. Compare the sentences I do not know and I hope not. The second sentence is negated in the same way as modal verbs.

The sentence I am afraid can be negated in two different ways. If the meaning is the equivalent of I have no fear, the negation is I am not afraid. On the other hand, if the sentence has the meaning of I regret it, the correct negation is I'm afraid not..

Examples can be given to illustrate the difference. In response to the question Are you afraid of heights, the answer might be No, I'm not afraid of heights. However, in response to the question Can you attend the meeting?, the answer might be I'm afraid not. This expresses regret that the response is negative.

Though English verbs are usually negated with do and not before the verb, not all follow this pattern. Verbs such as guess, hope and suppose are negated in the same manner as modal verbs. They are thus negated with the adverb not following the verb.