English Matters

You are looking good or You look good.

If I just want to generically compliment them, I say "you are/were looking good!". If I want to point to something specific, I say "You look good in a saree", "That red lip stick looks good/looked good on you"

Of course I do use "You are/were looking beautiful in that saree". confused already!

Shel, I trust Confused211 has addressed your question with her example. We use the more exotic collective nouns just as we would use more pedestrian ones

A shoal of sardines close to the shore attracts sharks.

A troupe of acrobats flung themselves across my living room.

I have no personal experience with grammar books - I was a very, very bad student! As a teacher, I got my information from various sources. However, I did some Google research for you and this book

Amazon.com: A Grammar Book for You and I (Oops, Me): All the Grammar You Need to Succeed in Life (Capital Ideas) (9781892123237): C. Edward Good: Books

has great reviews, and seems to be accessible, modern, and practical, which most grammar books are not (in my opinion). I'm not sure where you are, but Amazon delivers everywhere.

Let me know if you want more recommendations.

Smrithi, you raise a very good question. A verb with -ing at the end is usually present continuous tense - it describes an action happening at the moment of speaking:

Are you talking on your cellphone while you are driving?

So, "looking" is present continuous, while "look" is present simple tense. So, which do we use in your example?

WaitingforTej is on the right track about context (which you choose depends on what you mean), but if you really want to get pedantic about it, here's the technical explanation (close your eyes now if grammar scares you!)

Present continuous tense is used for actions (as in the example above), while the simple present is used for something that is ongoing or habitual, and when there is no action taking place. Here is an example of a non-action, simple present tense construction:

The song sounds good. (no action)

NOT

The song is sounding good. (this is wrong)

I would classify your sentence, then, as having a non-action verb. It is an opinion you are expressing; to your eyes, the person looks good. So, the correct form would be

You look good.

The problem with the verb "look" is that it can be both an action and a non-action (stative) verb. In this example, the same verb "look" takes the -ing form (present continuous tense):

Are you looking for a new car to buy?

This is because in this sentence, there is an action involved (looking for a car). Here is another example, except this time the verb "look" is stative (the same as your example):

Does this car look good to you?

NOT

Is this car looking good to you? (this is wrong)

If you buy the above line of reasoning, you will see how "You are looking good" is not grammatically correct, even though it is used a lot by both EFL and ESL speakers.

Make any sense?

Thank you Confused and Anusya.
Thank you Anusya for the link.

Thanks Ansuya and waitingForTej for the nice explanation...

Someone asked me what is the difference between a caretaker and a caregiver. The basic difference is that a caretaker is someone who looks after an office or some property; a caregiver is someone who looks after the needs of someone who is sick or needs attention - like a child. I just wanted to share this with you all.

I have a question about the usage of word "GOT".How is this word used in the following sentences.

I got used to it.
Our flight got confirmed.
Tickets got booked.
My contract got over.

Could you please explain me in what context or for what words do we use the word "GOT".

Smrithi.

Jyothi, thanks for explaining the difference between "caretaker" and "caregiver". I did not know this, and hadn't even thought about it before.

Smrithi, you ask great questions about tense that are making me think and research and learn too, so thank you!

"Got" is the past tense of "get", and because it is one of those irregular verbs, it is misused often. These are its most common meanings and usage (there are many, but I will concentrate here on just a few):

1) in place of "became"

I got seasick as soon as I stepped on board the ship.

2) to mean that something has been received, obtained, etc.

He got his driver's licence yesterday.

I got my full deposit back when I vacated my apartment.

Here is a link to a page that discusses the many uses of "get" (but not "got" specifically, so don't look at it if it will confuse you).

How to get to grips with the verb “get” - Englishonthe.net

Now, to your sentences:

1. I got used to it.
This is correct usage - "got" here is used to describe an action that is performed upon oneself. Another similar example in this category would be

I got married at a very young age.

2. Our flight got confirmed.
This sounds okay, but to be on the safe side, I would rather say

Our flight was confirmed

3.Tickets got booked.
I'm not really sure whether this is correct or not - it sounds wrong to me (even though it's exactly the same as the example above). I would rather say

Our tickets were booked

4. My contract got over.
This one, I can emphatically say is not correct usage. You should rather say

My contract is over

OR better yet

My contract has ended.

"Got over" seems to be colloquial Indian usage.

So, that's my trick for getting around language issues I can't resolve definitively - I just find another way to say the same thing that "sounds better" to my ear. If anyone else has a better understanding of the uses of "got", feel free to jump in.

To my ears, "tickets got booked", sounds like: Somehow, tickets got booked in someone's name; without said someone's knowledge or intervention. Or, "Silly tickets! Went and got themselves booked when I specifically told them not to do so".

Ansuya thanks for explaining the correct use of word "GOT".I always had this bad habit of using GOT in every other sentence I speak. You are right its used much in India like "My mascara got over":). Mistakes like these make me think twice before I speak. I am really having a tough time.

The other day I was sending some funny pictures to a friend of mine and wanted to write something below that. So I wrote "Hope this brings smile on your face" and before sending it I had this question in my mind "on your face" or "to your face" then I had to google and find out that the correct one is "to your face".This is just an example of how I think and rethink before saying or writing something.My native language is Hindi so when I am conversing in english I try to replace every hindi word with English and then speak/write:) which I hate.But slowly trying to overcome this by talking to my DH.Its really working now.

Confused211 --Without knowing what it means I was using it in wrong way all these days.Your example cleared everything.Thanks.