Help me with some English syntax

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

My daughter had to come up with a sentence from a bunch of mixed up words. This is grade 3.

The words were

holidays summer finally here are

 

She came up with

Finally summer holidays are here.

 

The solution has

Summer holidays are finally here.

 

I'm pretty sure her answer is valid too. I would have written it that way myself. It's grammatically correct. But would an English speaking child tend to say it the way the solution has it?

[Jen500]

I'm not a grammar expert, but-

My kids would most likely say "Summer holidays are finally here".

I think the first version, when written, should have a comma after Finally-

Finally, summer holidays are here.

 

But I would think that either answer is fine.

[LinRTX]

My third grade girl would have said it the way your daughter wrote it. Of course the finally would have been said dramatically with a huge sigh.

 

Linda

Edited March 24, 2009 by Linda in TX
spelling or actually typing

[Storm Bay]

As the other posters said, both are correct, and you would need something after that first finally. However, I wouldn't add that huge sigh after the first finally ;)--that depends on the speaker. I might do it more adamantly, depending on my mood (my old theatre roots coming out here. The first assignment I aced in university was taking one dramatic scens and writing it so that the same scene with the very same words could be played very differently.)

[Nan in Mass]

There is a shift of emphasis. They are both correct, and my children would have said either (except, being from the US, they would have said used the word vacation, probably, instead of holiday. Holiday in the US means you are celebrating something. Vacation means you don't have to go to work.) As you know, in English, you can emphasize things by dragging out your voice or raising it (Summer vacation is finally here.), or by doubling the word (Summer vacation is finally, finally here.), or by placement (Finally summer vacation is here.) They also might say, "Summer vacation is here finally." In this case, the emphasis is on the finally also. It is more like "Summer vacation is here. Finally." Put another way - if you bury the finally inside the sentence, and you want people to notice it, you would need to change your voice during the word finally. If you don't change your voice, going from least emphatic to most emphatic:

Summer vacation is finally here.

Summer vacation finally is here.

Summer vacation is here finally.

Finally summer vacation is here.

Finally, summer vacation is here.

Summer vacation is here. Finally.

 

And the first two are very close. I think probably that they put the "finally" between the "are" and the "here" because in spoken English, you often contract the noun and the verb. So the most common in US English is probably: Summer vacation's finally here.

 

And that is probably way, way more than you want to know GRIN.

 

-Nan

[jellogirl]

Yes, most kids would think the solution answer because that is what they are fed by kid-books...

[Renai]

There is a shift of emphasis. They are both correct, and my children would have said either (except, being from the US, they would have said used the word vacation, probably, instead of holiday. Holiday in the US means you are celebrating something. Vacation means you don't have to go to work.) As you know, in English, you can emphasize things by dragging out your voice or raising it (Summer vacation is finally here.), or by doubling the word (Summer vacation is finally, finally here.), or by placement (Finally summer vacation is here.) They also might say, "Summer vacation is here finally." In this case, the emphasis is on the finally also. It is more like "Summer vacation is here. Finally." Put another way - if you bury the finally inside the sentence, and you want people to notice it, you would need to change your voice during the word finally. If you don't change your voice, going from least emphatic to most emphatic:

Summer vacation is finally here.

Summer vacation finally is here.

Summer vacation is here finally.

Finally summer vacation is here.

Finally, summer vacation is here.

Summer vacation is here. Finally.

 

And the first two are very close. I think probably that they put the "finally" between the "are" and the "here" because in spoken English, you often contract the noun and the verb. So the most common in US English is probably: Summer vacation's finally here.

 

And that is probably way, way more than you want to know GRIN.

 

-Nan

 

Nan, have I ever mentioned I love how you explain things? This is perfect. The placement of "finally" will put the emphasis either on "finally" or here." But your (Cleo's) daughter is certainly correct. I'd say it that way, with big emphasis on "finally," especially since I'm looking forward to summer finally being here (we got snow last night!) :001_smile:.