Which is Which, Joe?

[hill roberts]

Which is which, Joe?
1. "He threw the bottle out the window." or,
2. "He threw the bottle out of the window."

3. Some people say, "She smiled at me." others say,
"She smiled to me."

4.Read yesterday in one of the online major papers:
"Mang Pepe, who I chatted with for a bit..."  or should it be,
"Mang Pepe, with whom I had a chat..."

Now, I'm rather confused...

[Joe Carillo]

Which is which, Joe?
1. "He threw the bottle out the window." or,
2. "He threw the bottle out of the window."

The second construction is correct: "He threw the bottle out of the window." In that sentence, the preposition "of" is a must to link the noun "window" properly as the object of the preposition in the sentence. The first construction without the preposition "of" fails to establish that link--although some people to tend to use this construction colloquially in their conversations.

3. Some people say, "She smiled at me." others say,
"She smiled to me."

The first construction is the grammatically correct one: "She smiled at me."

The second construction is grammatically defective and might give people the impression that the speaker is uneducated.

4.Read yesterday in one of the online major papers:
"Mang Pepe, who I chatted with for a bit..."  or should it be,
"Mang Pepe, with whom I had a chat..."

It should be "Mang Pepe, with whom I had a chat..." Here, the relative pronoun "whom" is the object of the preposition "with." One way to avoid using "whom" (some people are allergic to using it or don't know how to use it properly) is to put the sentence in the nominative case: Mang Pepe and I chatted for a bit..."

The form "Mang Pepe, who I chatted with for a bit..." is grammatically defective because it wrongly uses the subjective form "who" instead of its correct objective form "whom."

[hill roberts]

Thank you, Joe. A common error really of the use of "who" and "whom".
Strangely enough, there are times when I "think" in Spanish to get the
grammar right.
"A Mang Pepe, con quien hablaba..."  (con is Spanish for "with")

Back to: "Dacer wrote Estrada..." literally in Spanish, it would be:
"Dacer escribio a Estrada..."
The UK writers and speakers would say/write:
"Dacer wrote to Estrada..."
Don't get me wrong, Joe. I don't get the chance to speak Spanish 24 hours
a day since my British husband doesn't speak it at all. Shame! hahaha...

[hill roberts]

More examples:
1. She's a lot younger than her. or, should it be:
She's a lot younger than she is.

2.Less people have died in 2008 than this year. or, should it be:
Fewer people have died in...(I normally use "fewer")

3. Maria is angry at the way Paco does his...
or, should it be: "...angry with the way Paco..."
(Literal Spanish translation: "enfadar con" = angry with)

4. They divided the cake between Manolo, Jose and Maria. or, should it be:
They divided the cake among....