title: Southeastern United States

text: These are the combined statistical areas of the Southeastern region which exceed 1  million in population according to the United States Census Bureau's 2016 estimates. Note that the metropolitan areas of Tampa and Richmond are not included in any CSAs, so they are included in the table without constituent areas.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The predominant culture of the Southeast U.S. has its origins with the settlement of the region by European colonists and African slaves during the 17th to 19th centuries, as large groups of English, Scottish, Scotch-Irish, Germans, Spanish, French, and Acadians migrated to the region. Since the late 20th century, the "New South" has emerged as the fastest-growing area of the United States economically. Multiculturalism has become more mainstream in the Southeastern states. African Americans remain a dominant demographic, at around 30% of the total population of the Southeast. The New South from a Southeastern standpoint, is largely built upon the metropolitan areas along the Interstate 85 (I-85) corridor. Cities along this corridor from north to south include Raleigh-Durham area, Greensboro, Charlotte, Spartanburg, Greenville, Atlanta, and Montgomery.


title: Southeastern United States

text: Most of the southeastern part of the United States is dominated by the humid subtropical climate (Cfa/Cwa). As one nears the southern portion of Florida, the climate gradually becomes tropical, as the winter season and all months have a mean temperature above (the defined coldest monthly mean temperature of tropical climates).


title: Southeastern United States

text: Seasonally, summers are generally hot and humid throughout the entire region. The Bermuda High pumps hot and moist air mass from the tropical Atlantic Ocean and eastern Gulf of Mexico westward toward the southeast United States, creating the typical sultry tropical summers. Daytime highs are often in the upper 80s to lower 90s F. Rainfall is summer concentrated along the Gulf Coast and the South Atlantic coast from Norfolk, Virginia southward, reaching a sharp summer monsoon-like pattern over peninsular Florida, with dry winters and wet summers. Sunshine is abundant across the southeastern United States in summer, as the rainfall often comes in quick, but intense downpours. The mid-South, especially Tennessee, and the northern halves of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, have maximum monthly rainfall amounts in winter and spring, owing to copious Gulf moisture and clashes between warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cold, dry air from Canada during the cold season. In this area, December, March, or April are typically the wettest months; August to October, the driest months (for example, in Tupelo, MS, Huntsville, AL and Memphis, TN).


title: Southeastern United States

text: Winters are cool in the northern areas like East Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, and western North Carolina, with average highs in the range in January. Farther south, winters become milder across interior eastern North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, with average January highs in the range. As one nears the Gulf of Mexico, coastal plain, and coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas, winters become warm, with daytime highs near or over , until far enough south in central Florida where daytime highs are above . Winters tend to be very dry and sunny across Florida, with a gradual increase in winter rainfall with increasing latitude, especially west of the Appalachian Mountains.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The Southeast economically has changed dramatically since the late 20th century. There has been a boom in its service economy, manufacturing base, high technology industries, and the financial sector. Examples of this include the surge in tourism in Florida and along the Gulf Coast; the numerous new automobile production plants such as Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa; Hyundai in Montgomery; Toyota Motors in Blue Springs, Mississippi; Kia in West Point, Georgia; BMW production plant in Greer, South Carolina; Volkswagen in Chattanooga; GM manufacturing plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee; with the Nissan North American headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee; Mercedes-Benz USA; and Porsche North American headquarters in the Atlanta area; the two largest research parks in the country: Research Triangle Park in the Triangle area of North Carolina (the world's largest) and the Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama (the world's fourth largest); and the corporate headquarters of Verso Paper and FedEx in Memphis, Tennessee as well as the corporate headquarters of the Coca Cola Company, Delta Airlines, the Home Depot and United Parcel Service in Atlanta, Georgia. Dillards, along with Heifer International, is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Walmart is also headquartered in Arkansas.


title: Southeastern United States

text: In 2020, Fortune 500 companies having headquarters in the Southeast region include: 22 in Virginia, 18 in Georgia, 18 in Florida, 13 in North Carolina, and 10 in Tennessee. This economic expansion has enabled parts of the South to have of some of the lowest unemployment rates in the United States. In Alabama, there is the large-scale manufacturing project owned by the German steel megacorporation ThyssenKrupp, which operates a massive, state-of-the-art facility in Mobile.


title: Southeastern United States

text: Even with certain states and areas in the Southeast doing well economically, many Southeast states and areas still have a high poverty rate when compared to the U.S. nationally. In 2017, seven Southeast states were in the top ten nationwide when it came to having the highest poverty rate.


title: Southeastern United States

text: Research Triangle Park in the Raleigh–Durham urban area of North Carolina, has emerged as a major hub of technology, governmental, and biotechnological research and development. The Cummings Research Park in the Huntsville, Alabama area, is the second-largest research complex in the nation. Located in Huntsville is the Redstone Arsenal, United States Army Missile Command, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and other key government, military, and aerospace agencies. Tullahoma, TN contains the Arnold Air Force Base. The base is home to the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida, is the largest laboratory in the world devoted to the study of magnetism. The University of South Carolina is currently constructing a research campus in downtown Columbia, and the university is the nation's only National Science Foundation-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The region includes a number of notable universities, public and private, whose research exert influence globally. Chief among public universities are:


title: Southeastern United States

text: The region is home to the greatest number of historically black colleges and universities in the nation. The three largest in the region are:


title: Southeastern United States

text: Although American football is prevalent across the United States, it is especially pervasive in the Southeast. There are nine National Football League (NFL) franchises across the region: Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, and Washington Commanders. The NFL maintains a stronger commercial presence than any other major North American professional sports league.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The Southeast has seven National Basketball Association (NBA) franchises: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, Orlando Magic, and Washington Wizards.


title: Southeastern United States

text: Major League Baseball (MLB) maintains six teams in the Southeast: Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, and Washington Nationals.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The Southeast has five National Hockey League (NHL) franchises: Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Washington Capitals.


title: Southeastern United States

text: Major League Soccer currently holds six clubs: Atlanta United FC, Charlotte FC, DC United, Inter Miami CF, Nashville SC and Orlando City SC.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The majority of NASCAR teams are headquartered in the Charlotte area along with the sports operations headquarters and media outlets. Tracks in the region include Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Daytona International Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Richmond Raceway, and Talladega Superspeedway.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The southeast also hosts two of the three legs of the American Triple Crown: the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, and the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. The Derby is considered the western leg of the crown and the Preakness is traditionally considered the southern leg.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The Atlantic Coast Conference is an NCAA Division I conference with many Southeastern college teams, including the: Clemson Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Louisville Cardinals, Miami Hurricanes, North Carolina Tar Heels, NC State Wolfpack, Virginia Cavaliers, Virginia Tech Hokies, and Wake Forest Demon Deacons.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The Southeastern Conference is also an NCAA Division I conference made up of Southeastern college teams, including the: Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs, Kentucky Wildcats, LSU Tigers, Ole Miss Rebels, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Missouri Tigers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Tennessee Volunteers, Texas A&M Aggies, and Vanderbilt Commodores.


title: Southeastern United States

text: The Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Citrus Bowl are notable college football bowls held in Southeastern cities.


title: Japanese idol

text: An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements by talent agencies, while maintaining a parasocial relationship with a financially loyal consumer fan base.


title: Japanese idol

text: Japan's idol industry first emerged in the 1960s and became prominent in the 1970s and 1980s due to television. During the 1980s, regarded as the "Golden Age of Idols", idols drew in commercial interest and began appearing in commercials and television dramas. As more niche markets began to appear in the late 2000s and early 2010s, it led to a significant growth in the industry known as the "Idol Warring Period." Today, over 10,000 teenage girls in Japan are idols, with over 3,000 groups active. Japan's idol industry has been used as a model for other pop idol industries, such as K-pop.


title: Japanese idol

text: Sub-categories of idols include gravure idols, junior idols, net idols, idol voice actors, virtual idols, AV idols, alternative idols, underground idols, idols, local idols, bandols, and Japanese-Korean idols.


title: Japanese idol

text: An idol is a type of entertainer whose image is manufactured to cultivate a dedicated consumer fan following. Talent agencies commercialize idols by recruiting preteens and teenagers with little or no experience in the entertainment industry, and market them as aspiring stars. Idols are marketed for their image, attractiveness, and personalities. An idol's main objective is to "sell dreams", offering fans a form of escapism from the troubles of daily life. Idols are predominantly singers, but are also often trained in acting, dancing, and modeling. This style of recruiting and training was pioneered by Johnny Kitagawa, the founder of Johnny & Associates, and has since been used in other pop idol industries such as Korean idols in K-pop.


title: Japanese idol

text: Idols often spend time isolated from family and friends while enduring busy work schedules, with some agencies withholding job assignments from their talents and notifying them of work on short notice to prevent them from taking time off. Some talent agencies do not rigorously train their idols and market them as amateurs who will gain experience over the course of their careers and with support from their fans. Despite being trained in multiple roles in entertainment, idols in Japan are not expected to meet the high standards of performances that professionals in their fields do. Because of their manufactured image, idols are generally not regarded as authentic artists. Likewise, many young Japanese artists pursuing careers in acting or music reject the idol label in their bid to be seen as professionals.


title: Japanese idol

text: Music from idol singers is generally categorized under J-pop, though talent agencies may label them under the sub-genre "idol pop" for further distinction. Many idol singers find success as groups rather than individually. Within each idol group, the members are sometimes given distinct roles. One example of a role is the center, who occupies the center position in the group's choreography and thus receives the most focus. Another example is the leader, usually relegated to the oldest or most experienced member in the group, who acts as an intermediary for the members and the staff.


title: Japanese idol

text: Idols are seen as role models to the public, and their personal lives and image can sometimes be tightly controlled by their talent agencies. Common restrictions include not being allowed to smoke or drink in public, or pursue romantic relationships.


title: Japanese idol

text: Idols generally perform in elaborate costumes for specific performances. Costumes are created for each song in their promotion cycle, as well as graduation events, and some groups have their own in-house costume designer. AKB48, in particular, has had over 1,102 costumes created for the group since 2017. The outfits worn by female idols are generally described as "cute", while outfits worn by male idols are described as "cool."


title: Japanese idol

text: Among many idol groups, school uniforms have been used as a standard costume. The integration of school uniforms in the idol industry originated from Onyanko Club, who debuted in 1985 with a concept based on school. Following their disbandment in 1987, other groups began adopting school uniforms as costumes, such as CoCo and Ribbon, two groups put together by Fuji TV's audition programs, followed by in 1992 and Morning Musume in the early 2000s. When AKB48 debuted in 2006, the group used a school concept and the members have performed in various stylized school uniforms. Since then, other groups have used stylized school uniforms as costumes, such as AKB48's sister groups, Sakura Gakuin, and Sakurazaka46, with some modifications to suit the groups' image and choreography.


title: Japanese idol

text: In 2017, "Nihon Tarento Meikan" noted that stylized school uniforms being used as costumes gained popularity through AKB48 due to their unique designs, the short skirts, and the neatness of the uniform. The uniforms found popularity with men, as they represent their "eternal longing" and nostalgia for high school, while only gaining popularity with women in the 2010s through anime.


title: Japanese idol

text: Idols are typically expected to change careers after aging out of the industry, with female idols typically changing careers at age 25 and male idols at ages 30–45. Idols who leave a group are often given a farewell concert known as . The term originated from the idol group Onyanko Club, as the group's youthful concept drew similarities to an after-school club, and the fact that Miharu Nakajima's final single before retirement was released around graduation season in Japan. Prior to the 1980s, the terms "retirement" and "disbandment" were used. "Graduation" saw usage again in the 1990s during the revival of idol groups when Tsunku, who produced the group Morning Musume, used the term as a euphemism regarding one of the members leaving the group. An idol having a "graduation" ceremony is seen more favorably than terminating a contract or voluntarily withdrawing, as the latter two terms are negatively connoted with scandals.


title: Japanese idol

text: The diversity of Japan's idol industry has created several sub-category markets, each with a specific concept appealing to certain audiences.


title: Japanese idol

text: The popularity of young female singers can be traced back to Sayuri Yoshinaga in the 1960s, as well as the Takarazuka Revue and theater shows from the Meiji era. In 1962, Johnny Kitagawa founded Johnny & Associates and created the group Johnnys, which is retroactively considered the first idol group in Japan. He is also credited with pioneering the idol trainee system, where talents would be accepted in the agency at a young age and train not only in singing, but also dancing and acting, until they were ready for debut. However, the concept of an idol wasn't defined by mainstream Japanese media until in November 1964, when the 1963 French film "Cherchez l'idole" was released in Japan under the title . Many Japanese audiences took interest in Sylvie Vartan, whose song "La plus belle pour aller danser" from the film sold more than a million copies in Japan. Vartan was heralded for her youthful, adorable looks and musical talent, leading the Japanese entertainment industry to assign the word "idol" to singers who shared a similar aesthetic.


title: Japanese idol

text: Television greatly impacted the popularity of the idol phenomenon, as beginning in the 1970s, many idols were recruited through audition programs. In addition, the availability of having home television sets gave audiences greater accessibility of seeing idols at any time compared to going to theaters. Momoe Yamaguchi, Junko Sakurada, Saori Minami, and Mari Amachi, some of the idols recruited through television, were some of the more popular figures of this era, along with groups such as Candies and Pink Lady. Saori Minami, who debuted in 1971, was noted by scholar Masayoshi Sakai to be the turning point of when teenage stars became popular in mainstream media. Music was produced by a shared climate of songwriters and art directors seeking a step towards a depoliticized youth culture. Idols grew in popularity over the 1970s, as they offered audiences escapism from political violence and radical student movements.


title: Japanese idol

text: Idols at the time were seen as ephemeral because of how short-lived their careers were, and how they would disappear from the public after retirement. In public, idols took steps to play a distinct character and uphold an illusion of perfection, such as maintaining a virginal image. Other examples include being told not to use restrooms in public and answering interview questions about their favorite food with feminine-sounding answers such as "strawberries" and "shortcake."


title: Japanese idol

text: The influence idols had on television led the 1980s to be known as the "Golden Age of Idols", in part due to Japan's economic bubble and growing commercial interest in them. Several figures who defined the Golden Age of Idols are Seiko Matsuda, Akina Nakamori, Kyōko Koizumi, and Onyanko Club. Television programs in which idols appeared often enjoyed high viewer ratings. Dentsu also created the "CM idol" business model, where idols were able to gain fame by singing and appearing in commercials.


title: Japanese idol

text: Onyanko Club, in particular, shifted public perception of idols from professional stars to ordinary schoolgirls who would gain experience throughout their career. They were also the first group to introduce a "graduation system", where older members would eventually leave the group while newer inexperienced members would join, with the system being named such as the group drew similarities to a school club. Onyanko Club also led to idols becoming closely associated with television, as the visual component became important to the overall enjoyment of their music.


title: Japanese idol

text: At the same time, male idols gained popularity, with acts from Johnny & Associates normalizing idols singing and dancing at the same time. However, fewer male idol acts from other companies achieved the same success as Johnny's idols due to the company's CEO, Johnny Kitagawa, controlling the media and pressuring certain programs not to invite male idols from competing agencies, as he would continue to until his death in 2019.


title: Japanese idol

text: Around 1985, idols soon became unpopular after the public became disillusioned with the idol system. By the 1990s, public interest in idols began to wane, as audiences lost interest in singing and audition programs, particularly due to a shift in attitudes caused by Japan's economic collapse. The media coined the term to describe the stagnation of the idol industry beginning in 1990.


title: Japanese idol

text: More young people yielded aspirations to be defined as an artist instead of an idol. During this decline, public perception of idols again shifted from inexperienced amateurs to strong, independent women, in part due to a rehaul in Seiko Matsuda's public image. Namie Amuro, who gained fame as the lead singer of Super Monkey's, found popularity among young girls who emulated her appearance. At the same time, Speed also found a fan following. However, neither Amuro nor Speed referred to themselves under the idol label. Because of the lack of publicity over idols on television, many turned to the Internet.


title: Japanese idol

text: Johnny & Associates observed the popularity of former Shibugakitai member Hirohide Yakumaru's success as an MC on variety shows, which prompted them to develop and market their current acts with distinct public personalities. Groups from the company began gaining more attention, drawing in fans from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and their marketing success led to many other idols doing the same.


title: Japanese idol

text: In the mid-1990s, there was an increase in young idols in the elementary school age, which the media described as the "Chidol (child idol) Boom." The term "chidol" was coined by journalist Akio Nakamori in the magazine "Weekly Spa!" In the 2000s, "chidol" saw fewer usage, and it was eventually replaced by the term "junior idol" to legitimize them as part of the idol industry as well as removing the focus on their age.


title: Japanese idol

text: The 2000s saw the rise in popularity of idol groups again after Morning Musume's debut in 1997 and the formation of their musical collective, Hello! Project. Around the same time, there was an increase in gravure idols, who competed in magazine and photo book sales. In addition, anime voice actors, such as Yui Horie, Nana Mizuki, and Yukari Tamura, were also marketed as idols to promote both their activities and singing careers.


title: Japanese idol

text: While idols briefly experienced another decline after 2002, AKB48 debuted in 2005 and later became known as nation's idol group. The public image of idols had diversified, with each idol group having a specific concept appealing to different audiences. To celebrate the diversity of idols, AKB48, Shoko Nakagawa, and Leah Dizon performed a medley called "Special Medley: Latest Japan Proud Culture" at the 58th Kohaku Uta Gassen in 2007, introduced as " idols" with each act described as a different sub-genre of idols.


title: Japanese idol

text: The idol industry experienced a rapid growth in the beginning of the 2010s, and the media coined the nickname to describe the phenomenon. Lawyer Kunitaka Kasai cited the Internet as a reason for the rapid growth of idols, as anyone can upload videos onto websites, and AKB48's business model encouraged this even further through creating more opportunities for fan interactivity. The 2013 television drama "Amachan" also inspired more idol groups to appear, the majority of them being "local idols" who performed in specific rural communities. Several independent idol groups also crossed over into mainstream, such as Dempagumi.inc, Dorothy Little Happy, and Rev. from DVL, the latter of which gained mainstream popularity after a photo of then-member Kanna Hashimoto went viral.


title: Japanese idol

text: Since 2010, the biggest idol concert festival, Tokyo Idol Festival, has taken place. More than 200 idol groups and about 1500 idols performed, attracting more than 80,000 spectators in 2017. During 2014, about 486,000 people attended AKB48 and Momoiro Clover Z's live concerts, which was the highest record of all female musicians in Japan. Momoiro Clover Z has been ranked as the most popular female idol group from 2013 to 2017 according to surveys by "The Nikkei", There were more than 10,000 teenage girls who performed as idols in Japan in 2017. In 2019, there were over 3,000 female idol groups.


title: Japanese idol

text: In the early 2010s, alternative idols, a sub-category of Japanese idol came about. Pioneered by Bis and Seiko Oomori, alternative idols are known for mixing idol pop music with heavier genres such as alternative rock and heavy metal. They have also been known for utilising shock value to gain public and media attention and making use of a darker image than that of the idol scene norm.


title: Japanese idol

text: From 2013 to 2018, boy band Arashi was ranked as the most popular artist overall in Japan according to Oricon polls of 20,000 people. Other male idols also found success as underground idols, as well as anime media mix projects and 2.5D musicals.


title: Japanese idol

text: Beginning in the mid-to-late 2010s, the Japanese idol industry crossed over with K-pop with the third Korean wave in Japan, which was sparked partially from positive reception of the Japanese members of the South Korean group Twice. In the years that followed, several Japanese and South Korean companies collaborated to form K-pop influenced groups for a global consumer base, such as Iz*One, JO1, and NiziU.


title: Japanese idol

text: Passionate male fans of idols are colloquially referred to as , derived from the word "." Beginning in the 1980s, they formed cheering groups known as to support idols at concerts and public appearances. During these events, the perform , an organized sequence of fan chants and dancing to show appreciation for the idols. Fan chants where an idol's name is called after each bar is sung was popularized by Mari Amachi's fans in the 1970s, referencing her appearance in the 1971 television drama "".


title: Japanese idol

text: Because mainstream Japanese media exercises self-censorship over taboo, controversial subjects, fans are influential in circulating under-reported news through social media.


title: Japanese idol

text: A notable trait of idols that sets them apart from typical celebrities is their relationship with fans, and they are marketed intentionally by talent agencies to have a high emotional connection with their consumer fan base. Fans are built as active supporters into the narrative of the idol's journey to become a professional entertainer, viewing them as siblings, daughters/sons, or girl/boy next door types due to how easily they can relate to the public. One documented example are fans of female idols, typically consisting of men from 30 to 40 years of age, who seek interactions with them as a way of having a long-term relationship without the prospect of supporting a family or dealing with awkwardness outside of a controlled environment. The idol fan culture idealizes the idea of , where vulnerability is seen as an attractive trait.


title: Japanese idol

text: Using idols from Johnny & Associates as an example, male idols appeal to female fans by representing a pseudo-romantic ideal for them. However, there are some female fans, particularly in Japan, who prefer to put themselves in the role of an external observer. For them, the absence of other women is a way of watching the male idols interact with one another and imagining their interactions to be similar to .


title: Japanese idol

text: Fans spend money on merchandise and endorsed products to directly support their favorites, comparing it to spending money on "loved ones"; some express feeling happy that they were able to make someone they admired happy. Dedicated fans may give up their careers and devote their life savings to supporting and following their favorite members. To foster a closeness between idols and fans, some talent agencies offer meet-and-greets in the form of handshake events, where fans have the opportunity to shake hands, take a photograph, and speak briefly with the idols. AKB48's business model created more opportunities for fan interactions with their "idols you can meet" concept. An example of this are their elections, where fans can vote for their favorite member, thereby including the fans directly into the members' individual success. Because idols share an intimate relationship with their fans, fans may feel "betrayed" if idols reveal unfavorable parts of their personal lives that are different from the image they present, or break the illusion that they are there exclusively for fans.


title: Japanese idol

text: Idols often appear in advertising, with 50-70% of commercials in Japan featuring an idol. The "CM idol" business model, conceptualized by advertising agency Dentsu in the 1980s, uses idols' public image as a marketing asset. As the career of idols are dependent on their image, contracting offices create their image based upon trends in the market and with the intent of generating as much revenue as possible. Along with promoting products, commercials are also a cross-platform to promote idols at the same time by keeping both brand and idol product in the forefront of the consumers' minds. Pitches for commercials are often made with a specific idol who matches the company's image in mind. Idols contracted to particular brands are expected to uphold the brand's image and may not work for competing brands or networks; the agreement extends to magazine advertisements, online videos, and appearances in dramas. Idols may also provide the music or jingle for commercials. The idol industry makes approximately $1 billion a year.


title: Japanese idol

text: Beginning in the 1980s, companies would compete to secure contracts for idols in dramas, which led to the current four-season television cour in Japan. Variety, talk, and music shows also became popular, in part for featuring idols as guests or the stars of the show.


title: Japanese idol

text: The idol industry has crossed over to anime and video games. Using a media mix strategy, various multimedia projects have used fictional idols to market Japanese pop culture and music. The series "Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel" was the first notable anime series to use a media mix marketing strategy, where Takako Ōta would provide the voice to the main character and portray her at music events; the series was used as a vehicle to launch her singing career. The first fictional idol to cross over to mainstream media is Lynn Minmay from "Macross", whose 1984 single, "Ai Oboete Imasu ka", charted at #7 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. In the late 2000s, Vocaloid software Hatsune Miku was received positively among amateur music producers, who used her as an avatar to perform their compositions, influencing music.


title: Japanese idol

text: In the early 2010s, idol-themed multimedia projects, such as "Love Live!", "The Idolmaster", and "Uta no Prince-sama", became popular. Professor Marc Steinberg suggested that the popularity of idol-related media mix projects may stem from the managerial aspect found in life simulation games, with "The Idolmaster" being the first notable idol franchise to include this. These franchises set the fans in the active contributing role of the "producer" and regularly involved interactivity, as input made by the players were crucial to the idols' success. The growth of idol-related media mix projects in anime and video games was also seen as an attempt from the Japanese government to market Japanese pop culture overseas through the Cool Japan initiative. Music produced by voice actor idols and fictional idols have crossed over to mainstream music charts, with Billboard Japan launching the Billboard Japan Hot Animation Chart on December 1, 2010 exclusively for anime and video game music releases. Fictional idols have been treated like real-life celebrities. Idol-themed anime and video game series have been compared to the sports genre in anime due to a similar competitive nature and team-building the characters face, as well as being linked to the Odagiri effect for featuring attractive people of the same gender interacting with each other.


title: Japanese idol

text: The idol fan culture is heavily tied to anime and manga, and most fans of anime are also fans of idols. The idea of "", which was popularized by anime, can be projected onto both idols and fictional characters, linking the two. Some may prefer fictional idols due to them never disbanding, leaving groups, or getting into scandals. A 2005 study by the Nomura Research Institute revealed that idol fans were the third largest group of interests, following comics and anime.


title: Japanese idol

text: In the late-2010s, the idol agency influenced the business model of VTuber agencies such as Hololive and Nijisanji—which focus on a mix of video game livestreaming, entertainment, and music.


title: Japanese idol

text: The idol system has been criticized for its strict rules, intense work schedules, and offering idols little control over their personal lives. The system has been likened to salarymen in Japan who are unable to disobey their employers. Labor rights activist Shohei Sakagura stated that idols get very little revenue and are ill-prepared for the work force after leaving their groups, as many of them spend their academic years learning poor job skills. In addition to this, Rob Schwartz from "Billboard" addressed that Japanese mainstream media outlets rarely bring attention to controversies and allegations of power harassment due to self-censorship on what they are allowed to write. Sasetsu Takeda of "GQ Japan" wrote that talent agencies dismiss idols regardless of their popularity, sometimes intentionally blocking job offers in order to pressure them to leave, all while declaring that they are "resting from illness" to the public. Independently managed idol groups offer even less protection, with idols given ambiguously-worded contracts that keep them in their companies for years, while offering almost no pay and compensation for transportation and costuming fees. Lawyer Kunitaka Kasai stated management may be poor, especially among independent idol groups, because they were established by people with a lack of experience to fill a demand for idols over the industry's growth.


title: Japanese idol

text: Work schedules for idols have been criticized for being excessive, as idols are expected to work even when sick. Miki Gonobe from "Nikkan Sports" noted that idols generally do not have a labor union and agencies see no need for one, as they view idol activities akin to extracurricular activities at school. She voiced concerns about young girls becoming idols at an early age, especially elementary school students. In addition, Sasetsu Takeda of "GQ Japan" criticized some idol managements for intentionally preventing their talents from taking time off, mentioning it "strange" that idols are only notified of their assignments the night before. He also condemned the idol industry for not providing talents access to better mental health resources, as idols are often suspended or dismissed for publicly showing they are stressed out of concern that they may cause fans to feel worried or upset.


title: Japanese idol

text: In March 2018, Ehime Girls member Honoka Omoto committed suicide, with her family launching a lawsuit against her talent agency in October 2018. Allegedly, Omoto was working 10 hours a day at the expense of her studies and when she had asked to leave the group, a staff member threatened her with violence while Takahiro Sasaki, the head of her managing company, told her she would have to pay a penalty fee of . In June 2018, a former member of Niji no Conquistador filed a lawsuit against Pixiv representative director, Hiroaki Nagata, and the group's management companies for voyeurism and sexual harassment during her time with the group, and Nagata filed a counter lawsuit for libel and resigned several days later. On February 10, 2020, the Tokyo District Court dismissed his claims and ordered him to pay to the woman in damages.


title: Japanese idol

text: Most idols are not allowed to form romantic relationships or must obtain permission from their agencies to get married. Yasushi Akimoto, the producer of AKB48, likened the group's dating ban to similar dating bans for baseball teams competing at the , where dating is seen as a distraction from preparing for tournaments. On the other hand, critics have suggested a dating ban is implemented in order to sell a fantasy of idols being accessible to their fans and disagreed with them for being inhumane. "The Japan Times" noted that aside from talent agencies, idol fan culture has contributed to this, especially with male fans of female idols; male fans buy into the idea of "", which fetishizes weakness and submissiveness while asserting "complete control" over the girls' sexual independence.


title: Japanese idol

text: Several idols who were confirmed to have been dismissed, suspended, demoted, or forced to leave their groups following reports of them dating or having sexual relations include Mari Yaguchi, Ai Kago, Aya Hirano, Rino Sashihara, and Minami Minegishi. Minegishi, in particular, caught international media attention after her apology video went viral, causing international criticism over the management of her group, AKB48, as well as the Japanese idol industry. A talent agency filed a lawsuit against a 17-year-old former idol singer for accepting an invitation to a hotel room from two male fans, which had caused her group to disband within the first 3 months of their debut. In September 2015, Judge Akitomo Kojima, along with the Tokyo District Court, ruled in favor of the talent agency and fined the woman to pay , stating that the dating ban was necessary for idols to "win the support of male fans." In January 2016, a similar lawsuit filed with the Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of a 23-year-old former idol, with Judge Kazuya Hara stating that the dating ban "significantly restricts the freedom to pursue happiness."


title: Japanese idol

text: Since handshake and other related events allow fans to be in close proximity with idols, critics also believe that marketing the idols' accessibility may cause fans to be unable to distinguish between fantasy and real life. Talent agencies have also been criticized over offering inadequate protection towards idols after several incidents of violent attacks on female idols such as the saw attack on Anna Iriyama and Rina Kawaei, the stabbing of Mayu Tomita, and the assault of Maho Yamaguchi.


title: Japanese idol

text: Idols are often sexualized, especially female idols, some of whom also work as gravure idols and have suggestive swimsuit photo shoots that are published in magazines targeted towards adults. With the idol system commodifying youth, the industry is criticized for putting minors at risk, most particularly junior idols, who are aged 15 years and younger. Idol swimsuit photo books are often sold in the same sections as pornographic titles. In 1999, Japan banned production and distribution of sexually explicit depictions of minors, which outlawed photo books depicting nude junior idols. Multiple junior idol distributors closed after possession of child pornography was made illegal in Japan in 2014. However, junior idol content currently stands on legally ambiguous ground due to open interpretations of child pornography laws in Japan.


title: Japanese idol

text: In 2017, through a survey conducted by the Japanese government, 53 out of 197 women stated that they had been asked to take part in pornographic photo or video shoots of which were not previously disclosed nor included in their contracts. 17 of the women stated that they had performed the request anyway.


title: Jesse Jane

text: Cindy Taylor (born July 16, 1980) is an American retired pornographic actress and model best known by her stage name Jesse Jane. She is the recipient of numerous awards and nominations over her career in the adult industry, including induction into the AVN and XRCO Hall of Fame. Jane is also the "Australian Penthouse" magazine Pet of the Month for November 2010. She was an exclusive contract performer for Digital Playground between 2002 and 2014. In January 2015, she signed an exclusive, two-year performing contract with Jules Jordan Video.


title: Jesse Jane

text: Jane was a military brat who grew up on various military bases in the Midwestern United States. She did extensive dance training as a child. She graduated from Moore High School in Moore, Oklahoma in 1998.


title: Jesse Jane

text: Jane read an article on Tera Patrick that said that Patrick worked for adult film production company Digital Playground. She contacted them and was quickly signed to a contract. Her first scene was with Devon in "No Limits". Within months of winning the contract, she appeared on Showtime Network's "Family Business", where she was filmed at the Adult Video News awards show and convention. The films in which Digital Playground cast Jane, such as "No Limits", "Beat the Devil", and "Loaded", proved popular enough to warrant her own line of sex toys, as well as secure nominations for several awards. She starred in the "Pirates" series of erotic films.


title: Jesse Jane

text: In March 2006, Jane and Kirsten Price became the hosts of Playboy TV's most popular live show, "Night Calls". In addition, Jane also hosts Playboy TV's "Naughty Amateur Home Videos" and has been the sex columnist for "Chéri", with contributions since the January 2007 issue. With fellow Digital Playground contract performers Devon and Teagan Presley, Jane co-hosts the live, Internet-based adult industry talk show "DP Tonight". The show features industry gossip, adult film star guests, and audience/host interactivity.


title: Jesse Jane

text: In January 2007, an article in "The New York Times" stated that Jane intended to have her breast enhancement surgery re-done for high-definition movies. On her official website, she wrote that she had her surgery on February 12 that year.


title: Jesse Jane

text: In 2015 interview, she announced she no longer goes by the name "Jesse Jane" but rather simply "Jesse". The reason was that she was in a dispute with her former employer of 12 years, Digital Playground, who owns the rights to her former stage name.


title: Jesse Jane

text: In January 2017, Jane announced that she would retire from the adult industry and that the 2017 AVN Awards would be her last.


title: Jesse Jane

text: On June 26, 2019, Xbiz announced that Jane had come out of retirement and shot her first interracial scene for Blacked.com.


title: Jesse Jane

text: In 2004, Jane made a cameo appearance in the film "Starsky & Hutch" and appeared on the cover of Drowning Pool's album "Desensitized".


title: Jesse Jane

text: On the July 25, 2006 episode of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", during the "Jay Walking" segment, she gave her name as "Cindy" and said that she currently worked at Hooters. An adult magazine cover featuring her as Jesse Jane was then shown onscreen. In 2005, she was featured as UnRated Magazine's Vixen, to launch the music review magazine's new edition of "Vixens".


title: Jesse Jane

text: She was a guest star on the HBO dramedy series "Entourage", in the ninth episode of the second season, "I Love You Too", which features the main characters making a trip to Comic-Con, where they get some help from the "Pussy Patrol", led by Jane.


title: Jesse Jane

text: On February 28, 2007, she featured on the Danish late-night show "den 11. time" during which she was interviewed by seemingly three Mads Brüggers.


title: Jesse Jane

text: In 2009, Jane appeared in the reality series "The Bad Girls Club". In a 2009 CNBC documentary titled "Porn: Business of Pleasure", Jesse is the focus of the final 10-minute segment, which details her career and her life outside the porn industry.


title: Jesse Jane

text: In January 2011, she was named by freelance journalist Chris Morris as one of the 12 most popular stars in porn. Morris stated that she is "for many, the face of modern porn", noting her roles in the popular porn "Pirates" films, and her Performer of the Year nominations by both AVN and the XBIZ Awards. And again in 2014, Jane was on Morris's list of "The Dirty Dozen: Porn's Most Popular Stars".


title: Jesse Jane

text: In 2000, Jane gave birth to a boy. She stated in 2007 that she was married to fellow porn star Rick Patrick. They live in Oklahoma City. On March 1, 2012, Jane announced on her official Twitter account that she and Patrick were divorced.


title: Jesse Jane

text: Jane has described herself as bisexual. In 2004, she stated on the "Howard Stern Show" that she had a hysterectomy due to now dormant cervical cancer.


title: Belphegor

text: In Christian demonology, Belphegor (or Beelphegor, "Báʿal-pəʿór" - Lord of the Gap) is a demon. In later Kabbalah Belphegor is a demon who helps people make discoveries. He seduces people by suggesting to them ingenious inventions that will make them rich, stagnating that which could not be accredited to it.


title: Belphegor

text: Auxiliary Bishop and witch-hunter Peter Binsfeld believed that Belphegor tempts by means of laziness. Also, according to Peter Binsfeld's Classification of Demons, Belphegor is the chief demon of the deadly sin known as Sloth in Christian tradition.


title: Belphegor

text: The novella by Italian diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli was first published in 1549, and regales how the demon comes to earth to find a mate.


title: Belphegor

text: According to the 1818 by Collin de Plancy Belphegor was Hell's ambassador to France. The same claim was repeated by Victor Hugo in "Toilers of the Sea" (1866).


title: Belphegor

text: In the grimoire "Key of Solomon" translated into English by S.L. Mathers in 1889, Belphegor is listed near the end of the book as an Assyrian idol, now destroyed.


title: Belphegor

text: The novella by Machiavelli became the basis for the opera "Belfagor" by Ottorino Respighi, which premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1923.


title: English grammar

text: English grammar is the set of structural rules of the English language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and whole texts.


title: English grammar

text: This article describes a generalized, present-day Standard English – a form of speech and writing used in public discourse, including broadcasting, education, entertainment, government, and news, over a range of registers, from formal to informal. Divergences from the grammar described here occur in some historical, social, cultural, and regional varieties of English, although these are more minor than differences in pronunciation and vocabulary.


title: English grammar

text: Modern English has largely abandoned the inflectional case system of Indo-European in favor of analytic constructions. The personal pronouns retain morphological case more strongly than any other word class (a remnant of the more extensive Germanic case system of Old English). For other pronouns, and all nouns, adjectives, and articles, grammatical function is indicated only by word order, by prepositions, and by the "Saxon genitive or English possessive" ("-'s").


title: English grammar

text: Eight "word classes" or "parts of speech" are commonly distinguished in English: nouns, determiners, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. Nouns form the largest word class, and verbs the second-largest. Unlike nouns in almost all other Indo-European languages, English nouns (with a few uncommon, non-mandatory exceptions) do not have grammatical gender.


title: English grammar

text: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs form open classes – word classes that readily accept new members, such as the noun "celebutante" (a celebrity who frequents the fashion circles), and other similar relatively new words. The others are considered to be closed classes. For example, it is rare for a new pronoun to enter the language. Determiners, traditionally classified along with adjectives, have not always been regarded as a separate part of speech. Interjections are another word class, but these are not described here as they do not form part of the clause and sentence structure of the language.


title: English grammar

text: Linguists generally accept nine English word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, and exclamations. English words are not generally marked for word class. It is not usually possible to tell from the form of a word which class it belongs to except, to some extent, in the case of words with inflectional endings or derivational suffixes. On the other hand, most words belong to more than one-word class. For example, "run" can serve as either a verb or a noun (these are regarded as two different lexemes). Lexemes may be inflected to express different grammatical categories. The lexeme "run" has the forms "runs", "ran", "runny", "runner", and "running". Words in one class can sometimes be derived from those in another. This has the potential to give rise to new words. The noun "aerobics" has recently given rise to the adjective "aerobicized".


title: English grammar

text: Words combine to form phrases. A phrase typically serves the same function as a word from some particular word class. For example, "my very good friend Peter" is a phrase that can be used in a sentence as if it were a noun, and is therefore called a noun phrase. Similarly, adjectival phrases and adverbial phrases function as if they were adjectives or adverbs, but with other types of phrases, the terminology has different implications. For example, a verb phrase consists of a verb together with any objects and other dependents; a prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and its complement (and is therefore usually a type of adverbial phrase); and a determiner phrase is a type of noun phrase containing a determiner.


title: English grammar

text: Many common suffixes form nouns from other nouns or from other types of words, such as "-age" (as in "shrinkage"), "-hood" (as in "sisterhood"), and so on, although many nouns are base forms not containing any such suffix (such as "cat", "grass", "France"). Nouns are also often created by conversion of verbs or adjectives, as with the words "talk" and "reading" ("a boring talk", "the assigned reading").


title: English grammar

text: Nouns are sometimes classified semantically (by their meanings) as proper nouns and common nouns ("Cyrus", "China" vs. "frog", "milk") or as concrete nouns and abstract nouns ("book", "laptop" vs. "embarrassment", "prejudice"). A grammatical distinction is often made between count (countable) nouns such as "clock" and "city", and non-count (uncountable) nouns such as "milk" and "decor". Some nouns can function both as countable and as uncountable such as the word "wine" ("This is a good wine", "I prefer red wine").


title: English grammar

text: Countable nouns generally have singular and plural forms. In most cases the plural is formed from the singular by adding "-[e]s" (as in "dogs", "bushes"), although there are also irregular forms ("woman/women", "foot/feet", etc.), including cases where the two forms are identical ("sheep", "series"). For more details, see English plural. Certain nouns can be used with plural verbs even though they are singular in form, as in "The government were ..." (where "the government" is considered to refer to the people constituting the government). This is a form of synesis; it is more common in British than American English. See .


title: English grammar

text: English nouns are not marked for case as they are in some languages, but they have possessive forms, through the addition of "-'s" (as in "John's", "children's") or just an apostrophe (with no change in pronunciation) in the case of "-[e]s" plurals and sometimes other words ending with "-s" ("the dogs' owners", "Jesus' love"). More generally, the ending can be applied to noun phrases (as in "the man you saw yesterday's sister"); see below. The possessive form can be used either as a determiner ("John's cat") or as a noun phrase ("John's is the one next to Jane's").


title: English grammar

text: The status of the possessive as an affix or a clitic is the subject of debate. It differs from the noun inflection of languages such as German, in that the genitive ending may attach to the last word of the phrase. To account for this, the possessive can be analysed, for instance as a clitic construction (an "enclitic postposition") or as an inflection of the last word of a phrase ("edge inflection").


title: English grammar

text: Noun phrases are phrases that function grammatically as nouns within sentences, for example as the subject or object of a verb. Most noun phrases have a noun as their head.


title: English grammar

text: An example of a noun phrase that includes all of the above-mentioned elements is "that rather attractive young college student to whom you were talking". Here "that" is the determiner, "rather attractive" and "young" are adjectival pre-modifiers, "college" is a noun adjunct, "student" is the noun serving as the head of the phrase, and "to whom you were talking" is a post-modifier (a relative clause in this case). Notice the order of the pre-modifiers; the determiner "that" must come first and the noun adjunct "college" must come after the adjectival modifiers.


title: English grammar

text: Coordinating conjunctions such as "and", "or", and "but" can be used at various levels in noun phrases, as in "John, Paul, and Mary"; "the matching green coat and hat"; "a dangerous but exciting ride"; "a person sitting down or standing up". See below for more explanation.


title: English grammar

text: Noun phrases can also be placed in "apposition" (where two consecutive phrases refer to the same thing), as in "that president, Abraham Lincoln, ..." (where "that president" and "Abraham Lincoln" are in apposition). In some contexts, the same can be expressed by a prepositional phrase, as in "the twin curses of famine and pestilence" (meaning "the twin curses" that are "famine and pestilence").


title: English grammar

text: A system of grammatical gender, whereby every noun was treated as either masculine, feminine or neuter, existed in Old English, but fell out of use during the Middle English period. Modern English retains features relating to natural gender, namely the use of certain nouns and pronouns (such as "he" and "she") to refer specifically to persons or animals of one or other genders and certain others (such as "it") for sexless objects – although feminine pronouns are sometimes used when referring to ships (and more uncommonly some airplanes and analogous machinery) and nation-states.


title: English grammar

text: Some aspects of gender usage in English have been influenced by the movement towards a preference for gender-neutral language. Animals are triple-gender nouns, being able to take masculine, feminine and neuter pronouns. Generally there is no difference between male and female in English nouns. However, gender is occasionally exposed by different shapes or dissimilar words when referring to people or animals.


title: English grammar

text: Many nouns that mention people's roles and jobs can refer to either a masculine or a feminine subject, for instance "cousin", "teenager", "teacher", "doctor", "student", "friend", and "colleague".


title: English grammar

text: Often the gender distinction for these neutral nouns is established by inserting the words "male" or "female".


title: English grammar

text: Rarely, nouns illustrating things with no gender are referred to with a gendered pronoun to convey familiarity. It is also standard to use the gender-neutral pronoun (it).


title: English grammar

text: English determiners constitute a relatively small class of words. They include the articles "the" and "a[n]"; certain demonstrative and interrogative words such as "this", "that", and "which"; possessives such as "my" and "whose" (the role of determiner can also be played by noun possessive forms such as "John's" and "the girl's"); various quantifying words like "all", "some", "many", "various"; and numerals ("one", "two", etc.). There are also many phrases (such as "a couple of") that can play the role of determiners.


title: English grammar

text: Determiners are used in the formation of noun phrases (see above). Many words that serve as determiners can also be used as pronouns ("this", "that", "many", etc.).


title: English grammar

text: In many contexts, it is required for a noun phrase to be completed with an article or some other determiner. It is not grammatical to say just "cat sat on table"; one must say "my cat sat on the table". The most common situations in which a complete noun phrase can be formed without a determiner are when it refers generally to a whole class or concept (as in "dogs are dangerous" and "beauty is subjective") and when it is a name ("Jane", "Spain", etc.). This is discussed in more detail at English articles and Zero article in English.


title: English grammar

text: Pronouns are a relatively small, closed class of words that function in the place of nouns or noun phrases. They include personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and some others, mainly indefinite pronouns. The full set of English pronouns is presented in the following table. Nonstandard, informal and archaic forms are in "italics".


title: English grammar

text: The personal pronouns of modern standard English are presented in the table above. They are "I, you, she, he, it, we", and "they". The personal pronouns are so-called not because they apply to persons (which other pronouns also do), but because they participate in the system of grammatical person (1st, 2nd, 3rd).


title: English grammar

text: The second-person forms such as "you" are used with both singular and plural reference. In the Southern United States, y'all (you all) is used as a plural form, and various other phrases such as "you guys" are used in other places. An archaic set of second-person pronouns used for singular reference is "thou, thee, thyself, thy, thine, "which are still used in religious services and can be seen in older works, such as Shakespeare's—in such texts, the "you" set of pronouns are used for plural reference, or with singular reference as a formal V-form. "You" can also be used as an indefinite pronoun, referring to a person in general (see generic "you"), compared to the more formal alternative, "one" (reflexive "oneself", possessive "one's").


title: English grammar

text: The third-person singular forms are differentiated according to the gender of the referent. For example, "she" is used to refer to a woman, sometimes a female animal, and sometimes an object to which feminine characteristics are attributed, such as a ship or a country. A man, and sometimes a male animal, is referred to using "he". In other cases, "it" can be used. (See Gender in English.) The word "it" can also be used as a dummy subject, concerning abstract ideas like time, weather, etc.


title: English grammar

text: The third-person form "they" is used with both plural and singular referents. Historically, singular "they" was restricted to quantificational constructions such as "Each employee should clean their desk" and referential cases where the referent's gender was unknown. However, it is increasingly used when the referent's gender is irrelevant or when the referent is neither male nor female.


title: English grammar

text: The possessive determiners such as "my" are used as determiners together with nouns, as in "my old man", "some of his friends". The second possessive forms like "mine" are used when they do not qualify a noun: as pronouns, as in "mine is bigger than yours", and as predicates, as in "this one is mine". Note also the construction "a friend of mine" (meaning "someone who is my friend"). See English possessive for more details.


title: English grammar

text: The demonstrative pronouns of English are "this" (plural "these"), and "that" (plural "those"), as in "these are good, I like that". Note that all four words can also be used as determiners (followed by a noun), as in "those cars". They can also form the alternative pronominal expressions "this/that one", "these/those ones".


title: English grammar

text: The interrogative pronouns are "who", "what", and "which" (all of them can take the suffix "-ever" for emphasis). The pronoun "who" refers to a person or people; it has an oblique form "whom" (though in informal contexts this is usually replaced by "who"), and a possessive form (pronoun or determiner) "whose". The pronoun "what" refers to things or abstracts. The word "which" is used to ask about alternatives from what is seen as a closed set: "which (of the books) do you like best?" (It can also be an interrogative determiner: "which book?"; this can form the alternative pronominal expressions "which one" and "which ones".) "Which", "who", and "what" can be either singular or plural, although "who" and "what" often take a singular verb regardless of any supposed number. For more information see "who".


title: English grammar

text: In Old and Middle English, the roles of the three words were different from their roles today. "The interrogative pronoun "hwā" 'who, what' had only singular forms and also only distinguished between non-neuter and neuter, the neuter nominative form being "hwæt."" Note that neuter and non-neuter refers to the grammatical gender system of the time, rather than the so-called natural gender system of today. A small holdover of this is the ability of relative (but not interrogative) "whose" to refer to non-persons (e.g., "the car whose door won't open").


title: English grammar

text: All the interrogative pronouns can also be used as relative pronouns, though "what" is quite limited in its use; see below for more details.


title: English grammar

text: The main relative pronouns in English are "who" (with its derived forms "whom" and "whose"), "which", and "that".


title: English grammar

text: The relative pronoun "which" refers to things rather than persons, as in "the shirt, which used to be red, is faded". For persons, "who" is used ("the man who saw me was tall"). The oblique case form of "who" is "whom", as in "the man whom I saw was tall", although in informal registers "who" is commonly used in place of "whom".


title: English grammar

text: The possessive form of "who" is "whose" (for example, "the man whose car is missing"); however the use of "whose" is not restricted to persons (one can say "an idea whose time has come").


title: English grammar

text: The word "that" as a relative pronoun is normally found only in restrictive relative clauses (unlike "which" and "who", which can be used in both restrictive and unrestrictive clauses). It can refer to either persons or things, and cannot follow a preposition. For example, one can say "the song that" [or "which"] "I listened to yesterday", but "the song to which" [not "to that"] "I listened yesterday". The relative pronoun "that" is usually pronounced with a reduced vowel (schwa), and hence differently from the demonstrative "that" (see Weak and strong forms in English). If "that" is not the subject of the relative clause, it can be omitted ("the song I listened to yesterday").


title: English grammar

text: The word "what" can be used to form a free relative clause – one that has no antecedent and that serves as a complete noun phrase in itself, as in "I like what he likes". The words "whatever" and "whichever" can be used similarly, in the role of either pronouns ("whatever he likes") or determiners ("whatever book he likes"). When referring to persons, "who(ever)" (and "whom(ever)") can be used in a similar way.


title: English grammar

text: The word "there" is used as a pronoun in some sentences, playing the role of a dummy subject, normally of an intransitive verb. The "logical subject" of the verb then appears as a complement after the verb.


title: English grammar

text: This use of "there" occurs most commonly with forms of the verb "be" in existential clauses, to refer to the presence or existence of something. For example: "There is a heaven"; "There are two cups on the table"; "There have been a lot of problems lately". It can also be used with other verbs: "There exist two major variants"; "There occurred a very strange incident".


title: English grammar

text: The dummy subject takes the number (singular or plural) of the logical subject (complement), hence it takes a plural verb if the complement is plural. In informal English, however, the contraction "there's" is often used for both singular and plural.


title: English grammar

text: The dummy subject can undergo inversion, "Is there a test today?" and "Never has there been a man such as this." It can also appear without a corresponding logical subject, in short sentences and question tags: "There wasn't a discussion, was there? There was."


title: English grammar

text: The word "there" in such sentences has sometimes been analyzed as an adverb, or as a dummy predicate, rather than as a pronoun. However, its identification as a pronoun is most consistent with its behavior in inverted sentences and question tags as described above.


title: English grammar

text: Because the word "there" can also be a deictic adverb (meaning "at/to that place"), a sentence like "There is a river" could have either of two meanings: "a river exists" (with "there" as a pronoun), and "a river is in that place" (with "there" as an adverb). In speech, the adverbial "there" would be given stress, while the pronoun would not – in fact, the pronoun is often pronounced as a weak form, .


title: English grammar

text: The English reciprocal pronouns are "each other" and "one another". Although they are written with a space, they're best thought of as single words. No consistent distinction in meaning or use can be found between them. Like the reflexive pronouns, their use is limited to contexts where an antecedent precedes it. In the case of the reciprocals, they need to appear in the same clause as the antecedent.


title: English grammar

text: Other pronouns in English are often identical in form to determiners (especially quantifiers), such as "many", "a little", etc. Sometimes, the pronoun form is different, as with "none" (corresponding to the determiner "no"), "nothing", "everyone", "somebody", etc. Many examples are listed as indefinite pronouns. Another indefinite (or impersonal) pronoun is "one" (with its reflexive form "oneself" and possessive "one's"), which is a more formal alternative to generic "you".


title: English grammar

text: The basic form of an English verb is not generally marked by any ending, although there are certain suffixes that are frequently used to form verbs, such as "-ate" ("formulate"), "-fy" ("electrify"), and "-ise/ize" ("realise/realize"). Many verbs also contain prefixes, such as "un-" ("unmask"), "out-" ("outlast"), "over-" ("overtake"), and "under-" ("undervalue"). Verbs can also be formed from nouns and adjectives by zero derivation, as with the verbs "snare", "nose", "dry", and "calm".


title: English grammar

text: Most verbs have three or four inflected forms in addition to the base form: a third-person singular present tense form in "-(e)s" ("writes", "botches"), a present participle and gerund form in "-ing" ("writing"), a past tense ("wrote"), and – though often identical to the past tense form – a past participle ("written"). Regular verbs have identical past tense and past participle forms in "-ed", but there are 100 or so irregular English verbs with different forms (see list). The verbs "have", "do" and "say" also have irregular third-person present tense forms ("has", "does" , "says" ). The verb "be" has the largest number of irregular forms ("am, is, are" in the present tense, "was, were" in the past tense, "been" for the past participle).


title: English grammar

text: Most of what are often referred to as verb tenses (or sometimes aspects) in English are formed using auxiliary verbs. Apart from what are called the simple present ("write", "writes") and simple past ("wrote"), there are also continuous (progressive) forms ("am/is/are/was/were writing"), perfect forms ("have/has/had written", and the perfect continuous "have/has/had been writing"), future forms ("will write", "will be writing", "will have written", "will have been writing"), and conditionals (also called "future in the past"), so forms equivalent to future ones but with "would" instead of "will". The auxiliaries "shall" and "should" sometimes replace "will" and "would" in the first person. For the uses of these various verb forms, see English verbs and English clause syntax.


title: English grammar

text: The basic form of the verb ("be, write, play") is used as the infinitive, although there is also a "to-infinitive" ("to be", "to write", "to play") used in many syntactical constructions. There are also infinitives corresponding to other aspects: "(to) have written", "(to) be writing", "(to) have been writing". The second-person imperative is identical to the (basic) infinitive; other imperative forms may be made with "let" ("let us go", or "let's go"; "let them eat cake").


title: English grammar

text: A form identical to the infinitive can be used as a present subjunctive in certain contexts: "It is important that he follow them" or "... that he be committed to the cause". There is also a past subjunctive (distinct from the simple past only in the possible use of "were" instead of "was"), used in some conditional sentences and similar: "if I were" (or "was") "rich ..."; "were he to arrive now ..."; "I wish she were" (or "was") "here". For details see English subjunctive.


title: English grammar

text: The passive voice is formed using the verb "be" (in the appropriate tense or form) with the past participle of the verb in question: "cars are driven, he was killed, I am being tickled, it is nice to be pampered", etc. The performer of the action may be introduced in a prepositional phrase with "by" (as in "they were killed by the invaders").


title: English grammar

text: The English modal verbs consist of the core modals "can", "could", "may", "might", "must", "shall", "should", "will", "would", as well as "ought (to"), "had better", and in some uses "dare" and "need". These do not inflect for person or number, do not occur alone, and do not have infinitive or participle forms (except synonyms, as with "be/being/been able (to") for the modals "can/could"). The modals are used with the basic infinitive form of a verb ("I can swim, he may be killed", "we dare not move", "need they go?"), except for "ought", which takes "to" ("you ought to go"). Modals can indicate the condition, probability, possibility, necessity, obligation and ability exposed by the speaker's or writer's attitude or expression.


title: English grammar

text: The copula "be", along with the modal verbs and the other auxiliaries, form a distinct class, sometimes called "special verbs" or simply "auxiliaries". These have different syntax from ordinary lexical verbs, especially in that they make their interrogative forms by plain inversion with the subject, and their negative forms by adding "not" after the verb ("could I ...? I could not ..."). Apart from those already mentioned, this class may also include "used to" (although the forms "did he use to?" and "he didn't use to" are also found), and sometimes "have" even when not an auxiliary (forms like "have you a sister?" and "he hadn't a clue" are possible, though becoming less common). It also includes the auxiliary "do" ("does", "did"); this is used with the basic infinitive of other verbs (those not belonging to the "special verbs" class) to make their question and negation forms, as well as emphatic forms ("do I like you?"; "he doesn't speak English"; "we did close the fridge"). For more details of this, see "do"-support.


title: English grammar

text: Some forms of the copula and auxiliaries often appear as contractions, as in "I'm" for "I am", "you'd" for "you would" or "you had", and "John's" for "John is". Their negated forms with following "not" are also often contracted (see below). For detail see English auxiliaries and contractions.


title: English grammar

text: A verb together with its dependents, excluding its subject, may be identified as a verb phrase (although this concept is not acknowledged in all theories of grammar). A verb phrase headed by a finite verb may also be called a predicate. The dependents may be objects,complements, and modifiers (adverbs or adverbial phrases). In English, objects and complements nearly always come after the verb; a direct object precedes other complements such as prepositional phrases, but if there is an indirect object as well, expressed without a preposition, then that precedes the direct object: "give me the book", but "give the book to me". Adverbial modifiers generally follow objects, although other positions are possible (see under below). Certain verb–modifier combinations, particularly when they have independent meaning (such as "take on" and "get up"), are known as "phrasal verbs".


title: English grammar

text: For details of possible patterns, see English clause syntax. See the Non-finite clauses section of that article for verb phrases headed by non-finite verb forms, such as infinitives and participles.


title: English grammar

text: English adjectives, as with other word classes, cannot in general be identified as such by their form, although many of them are formed from nouns or other words by the addition of a suffix, such as "-al" ("habitual"), "-ful" ("blissful"), "-ic" ("atomic"), "-ish" ("impish", "youngish"), "-ous" ("hazardous"), etc.; or from other adjectives using a prefix: "disloyal", "irredeemable", "unforeseen", "overtired".


title: English grammar

text: Adjectives may be used attributively, as part of a noun phrase (nearly always preceding the noun they modify; for exceptions see postpositive adjective), as in "the big house", or predicatively, as in "the house is big". Certain adjectives are restricted to one or other use; for example, "drunken" is attributive ("a drunken sailor"), while "drunk" is usually predicative ("the sailor was drunk").


title: English grammar

text: Many adjectives have comparative and superlative forms in "-er" and "-est", such as "faster" and "fastest" (from the positive form "fast"). Spelling rules which maintain pronunciation apply to suffixing adjectives just as they do for similar treatment of regular past tense formation; these cover consonant doubling (as in "bigger" and "biggest", from "big") and the change of "y" to "i" after consonants (as in "happier" and "happiest", from "happy").


title: English grammar

text: The adjectives "good" and "bad" have the irregular forms "better, best" and "worse, worst"; also "far" becomes "farther, farthest" or "further, furthest". The adjective "old" (for which the regular "older" and "oldest" are usual) also has the irregular forms "elder" and "eldest", these generally being restricted to use in comparing siblings and in certain independent uses. For the comparison of adverbs, see Adverbs below.


title: English grammar

text: Many adjectives, however, particularly those that are longer and less common, do not have inflected comparative and superlative forms. Instead, they can be qualified with "more" and "most", as in "beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful" (this construction is also sometimes used even for adjectives for which inflected forms do exist).


title: English grammar

text: Certain adjectives are classed as ungradable. These represent properties that cannot be compared on a scale; they simply apply or do not, as with "pregnant", "dead", "unique". Consequently, comparative and superlative forms of such adjectives are not normally used, except in a figurative, humorous or imprecise context. Similarly, such adjectives are not normally qualified with modifiers of degree such as "very" and "fairly", although with some of them it is idiomatic to use adverbs such as "completely". Another type of adjective sometimes considered ungradable is those that represent an extreme degree of some property, such as "delicious" and "terrified".


title: English grammar

text: An adjective phrase is a group of words that plays the role of an adjective in a sentence. It usually has a single adjective as its head, to which modifiers and complements may be added.


title: English grammar

text: Adjectives can be modified by a preceding adverb or adverb phrase, as in "very warm", "truly imposing", "more than a little excited". Some can also be preceded by a noun or quantitative phrase, as in "fat-free", "two-meter-long".


title: English grammar

text: An adjective phrase may include both modifiers before the adjective and a complement after it, as in "very difficult to put away".


title: English grammar

text: Adjective phrases containing complements after the adjective cannot normally be used as attributive adjectives "before" a noun. Sometimes they are used attributively after the noun, as in "a woman proud of being a midwife" (where they may be converted into relative clauses: "a woman who is proud of being a midwife"), but it is wrong to say *"a proud of being a midwife woman". Exceptions include very brief and often established phrases such as "easy-to-use". (Certain complements can be moved to after the noun, leaving the adjective before the noun, as in "a better man than you", "a hard nut to crack".)


title: English grammar

text: Certain attributive adjective phrases are formed from other parts of speech, without any adjective as their head, as in "a two-bedroom house", "a no-jeans policy".


title: English grammar

text: Adverbs perform a wide range of functions. They typically modify verbs (or verb phrases), adjectives (or adjectival phrases), or other adverbs (or adverbial phrases). However, adverbs also sometimes qualify noun phrases (only the boss"; quite a lovely place"), pronouns and determiners (almost all"), prepositional phrases (halfway through the movie"), or whole sentences, to provide contextual comment or indicate an attitude ("Frankly, I don't believe you"). They can also indicate a relationship between clauses or sentences ("He died, and consequently I inherited the estate").


title: English grammar

text: Many English adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding the ending "-ly", as in "hopefully", "widely", "theoretically" (for details of spelling and etymology, see "-ly"). Certain words can be used as both adjectives and adverbs, such as "fast", "straight", and "hard"; these are flat adverbs. In earlier usage more flat adverbs were accepted in formal usage; many of these survive in idioms and colloquially. ("That's just plain ugly.") Some adjectives can also be used as flat adverbs when they actually describe the subject. ("The streaker ran naked", not **"The streaker ran nakedly".) The adverb corresponding to the adjective "good" is "well" (note that "bad" forms the regular "badly", although "ill" is occasionally used in some phrases).


title: English grammar

text: There are also many adverbs that are not derived from adjectives, including adverbs of time, of frequency, of place, of degree and with other meanings. Some suffixes that are commonly used to form adverbs from nouns are "-ward[s]" (as in "homeward[s]") and "-wise" (as in "lengthwise").


title: English grammar

text: Most adverbs form comparatives and superlatives by modification with "more" and "most": "often", "more often", "most often"; "smoothly", "more smoothly", "most smoothly" (see also comparison of adjectives, above). However, a few adverbs retain irregular inflection for comparative and superlative forms: "much", "more", "most"; "a little", "less", "least"; "well", "better", "best"; "badly", "worse", "worst"; "far", "further" ("farther"), "furthest" ("farthest"); or follow the regular adjectival inflection: "fast", "faster", "fastest"; "soon", "sooner", "soonest"; etc.


title: English grammar

text: Adverbs indicating the manner of an action are generally placed after the verb and its objects ("We considered the proposal carefully), although other positions are often possible ("We carefully considered the proposal"). Many adverbs of frequency, degree, certainty, etc. (such as "often", "always", "almost", "probably", and various others such as "just") tend to be placed before the verb ("they usually have chips"), although if there is an auxiliary or other "special verb" (see above), then the normal position for such adverbs is after that special verb (or after the first of them, if there is more than one): "I have just finished the crossword"; "She can usually manage a pint"; "We are never late"; "You might possibly have been unconscious". Adverbs that provide a connection with previous information (such as "next", "then", "however"), and those that provide the context (such as time or place) for a sentence, are typically placed at the start of the sentence: Yesterday we went on a shopping expedition." If the verb has an object, the adverb comes after the object ("He finished the test quickly). When there is more than one types of adverb, they usually appear in the order: manner, place, time ("His arm was hurt severely at home yesterday).


title: English grammar

text: A special type of adverb is the adverbial particle used to form phrasal verbs (such as "up" in "pick up", "on" in "get on", etc.) If such a verb also has an object, then the particle may precede or follow the object, although it will normally follow the object if the object is a pronoun ("pick the pen up" or "pick up the pen", but "pick it up").


title: English grammar

text: An adverb phrase is a phrase that acts as an adverb within a sentence. An adverb phrase may have an adverb as its head, together with any modifiers (other adverbs or adverb phrases) and complements, analogously to the adjective phrases described above. For example: "very sleepily"; "all too suddenly"; "oddly enough"; "perhaps shockingly for us".


title: English grammar

text: Another very common type of adverb phrase is the prepositional phrase, which consists of a preposition and its object: "in the pool"; "after two years"; "for the sake of harmony".


title: English grammar

text: Prepositions form a closed word class, although there are also certain phrases that serve as prepositions, such as "in front of". A single preposition may have a variety of meanings, often including temporal, spatial and abstract. Many words that are prepositions can also serve as adverbs. Examples of common English prepositions (including phrasal instances) are "of", "in", "on", "over", "under", "to", "from", "with", "in front of", "behind", "opposite", "by", "before", "after", "during", "through", "in spite of" or "despite", "between", "among", etc.


title: English grammar

text: A preposition is usually used with a noun phrase as its complement. A preposition together with its complement is called a prepositional phrase. Examples are "in England", "under the table", "after six pleasant weeks", "between the land and the sea". A prepositional phrase can be used as a complement or post-modifier of a noun in a noun phrase, as in "the man in the car", "the start of the fight"; as a complement of a verb or adjective, as in "deal with the problem", "proud of oneself"; or generally as an adverb phrase (see above).


title: English grammar

text: English allows the use of "stranded" prepositions. This can occur in interrogative and relative clauses, where the interrogative or relative pronoun that is the preposition's complement is moved to the start (fronted), leaving the preposition in place. This kind of structure is avoided in some kinds of formal English. For example:


title: English grammar

text: Stranded prepositions can also arise in passive voice constructions and other uses of passive past participial phrases, where the complement in a prepositional phrase can become zero in the same way that a verb's direct object would: "it was looked at"; "I will be operated on"; "get your teeth seen to". The same can happen in certain uses of infinitive phrases: "he is nice to talk to"; "this is the page to make copies of".


title: English grammar

text: Conjunctions express a variety of logical relations between items, phrases, clauses and sentences. The principal coordinating conjunctions in English are: "and", "or", "but", "nor", "so", "yet", and "for". These can be used in many grammatical contexts to link two or more items of equal grammatical status, for example:


title: English grammar

text: There are also correlative conjunctions, where as well as the basic conjunction, an additional element appears before the first of the items being linked. The common correlatives in English are:


title: English grammar

text: Subordinating conjunctions make relations between clauses, making the clause in which they appear into a subordinate clause. Some common subordinating conjunctions in English are:


title: English grammar

text: Subordinating conjunction generally comes at the very start of its clause, although many of them can be preceded by qualifying adverbs, as in "probably because ...", "especially if ...". The conjunction "that" can be omitted after certain verbs, as in "she told us (that) she was ready". (For the use of "that" in relative clauses, see above.)


title: English grammar

text: Although English has largely lost its case system, personal pronouns still have three morphological cases that are simplified forms of the nominative, objective and genitive cases:


title: English grammar

text: Most English personal pronouns have five forms: the nominative and oblique case forms, the possessive case, which has both a "determiner" form (such as "my", "our") and a distinct "independent" form (such as "mine", "ours") (with two exceptions: the third person singular masculine and the third person singular neuter "it", which use the same form for both determiner and independent ["his car", "it is his"]), and a distinct "reflexive" or "intensive" form (such as "myself", "ourselves"). The interrogative personal pronoun "who" exhibits the greatest diversity of forms within the modern English pronoun system, having definite nominative, oblique, and genitive forms ("who", "whom", "whose") and equivalently coordinating indefinite forms ("whoever", "whomever", and "whosever").


title: English grammar

text: Forms such as "I", "he", and "we" are used for the subject ("I kicked the ball"), whereas forms such as "me", "him" and "us" are used for the object ("John kicked me").


title: English grammar

text: Nouns have distinct singular and plural forms; that is, they "decline" to reflect their grammatical number; consider the difference between "book" and "books". In addition, a few English pronouns have distinct nominative (also called subjective) and oblique (or objective) forms; that is, they decline to reflect their relationship to a verb or preposition, or case. Consider the difference between "he" (subjective) and "him" (objective), as in "He saw it" and "It saw him"; similarly, consider "who", which is subjective, and the objective "whom". Further, these pronouns and a few others have distinct possessive forms, such as "his" and "whose". By contrast, nouns have no distinct nominative and objective forms, the two being merged into a single "plain case". For example, "chair" does not change form between "the chair is here" (subject) and "I saw the chair" (direct object). Possession is shown by the clitic "-'s" attached to a possessive noun phrase, rather than by declension of the noun itself.


title: English grammar

text: As noted above under , a finite indicative verb (or its clause) is negated by placing the word "not" after an auxiliary, modal or other "special" verb such as "do", "can" or "be". For example, the clause "I go" is negated with the appearance of the auxiliary "do", as "I do not go" (see "do"-support). When the affirmative already uses auxiliary verbs ("I am going"), no other auxiliary "verbs" are added to negate the clause ("I am not going"). (Until the period of early Modern English, negation was effected without additional auxiliary verbs: "I go not.")


title: English grammar

text: Most combinations of auxiliary verbs etc. with "not" have contracted forms: "don't", "can't", "isn't", etc. (Also the uncontracted negated form of "can" is written as a single word "cannot".) On the inversion of subject and verb (such as in questions; see below), the subject may be placed after a contracted negated form: "Should he not pay?" or "Shouldn't he pay?"


title: English grammar

text: Other elements, such as noun phrases, adjectives, adverbs, infinitive and participial phrases, etc., can be negated by placing the word "not" before them: "not the right answer", "not interesting", "not to enter", "not noticing the train", etc.


title: English grammar

text: When other negating words such as "never", "nobody", etc. appear in a sentence, the negating "not" is omitted (unlike its equivalents in many languages): "I saw nothing" or "I didn't see anything", but not (except in non-standard speech) *"I didn't see nothing" (see Double negative). Such negating words generally have corresponding negative polarity items ("ever" for "never", "anybody" for "nobody", etc.) which can appear in a negative context but are not negative themselves (and can thus be used after a negation without giving rise to double negatives).


title: English grammar

text: A typical sentence contains one independent clause and possibly one or more dependent clauses, although it is also possible to link together sentences of this form into longer sentences, using coordinating conjunctions (see above). A clause typically contains a subject (a noun phrase) and a predicate (a verb phrase in the terminology used above; that is, a verb together with its objects and complements). A dependent clause also normally contains a subordinating conjunction (or in the case of relative clauses, a relative pronoun, or phrase containing one).


title: English grammar

text: English word order has moved from the Germanic verb-second (V2) word order to being almost exclusively subject–verb–object (SVO). The combination of SVO order and use of auxiliary verbs often creates clusters of two or more verbs at the center of the sentence, such as "he had hoped to try to open it". In most sentences, English marks grammatical relations only through word order. The subject constituent precedes the verb and the object constituent follows it. The Object–subject–verb (OSV) may on occasion be seen in English, usually in the future tense or used as a contrast with the conjunction "but", such as in the following examples: "Rome I shall see!", "I hate oranges, but apples I'll eat!".


title: English grammar

text: Like many other Western European languages, English historically allowed questions to be formed by inverting the positions of the verb and subject. Modern English permits this only in the case of a small class of verbs ("special verbs"), consisting of auxiliaries as well as forms of the copula "be" (see subject–auxiliary inversion). To form a question from a sentence which does not have such an auxiliary or copula present, the auxiliary verb "do" ("does", "did") needs to be inserted, along with inversion of the word order, to form a question (see "do"-support). For example:


title: English grammar

text: The above concerns yes-no questions, but inversion also takes place in the same way after other questions, formed with interrogative words such as "where", "what", "how", etc. An exception applies when the interrogative word is the subject or part of the subject, in which case there is no inversion. For example:


title: English grammar

text: Note that inversion does not apply in indirect questions: "I wonder where he is" (not *"... where is he"). Indirect yes-no questions can be expressed using "if" or "whether" as the interrogative word: "Ask them whether/if they saw him."


title: English grammar

text: Negative questions are formed similarly; however, if the verb undergoing inversion has a contraction with "not", then it is possible to invert the subject with this contraction as a whole. For example:


title: English grammar

text: The syntax of a dependent clause is generally the same as that of an independent clause, except that the dependent clause usually begins with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (or phrase containing such). In some situations (as already described) the conjunction or relative pronoun "that" can be omitted. Another type of dependent clause with no subordinating conjunction is the conditional clause formed by inversion (see below).


title: English grammar

text: The clause structure with an inverted subject and verb, used to form questions as described above, is also used in certain types of declarative sentences. This occurs mainly when the sentence begins with adverbial or other phrases that are essentially negative or contain words such as "only", "hardly", etc.: "Never have I known someone so stupid; Only in France can such food be tasted".


title: English grammar

text: In elliptical sentences (see below), inversion takes place after "so" (meaning "also") as well as after the negative "neither": "so do I, neither does she".


title: English grammar

text: Inversion can also be used to form conditional clauses, beginning with "should", "were" (subjunctive), or "had", in the following ways:


title: English grammar

text: Other similar forms sometimes appear but are less common. There is also a construction with subjunctive "be", as in "be he alive or dead" (meaning "no matter whether he is alive or dead").


title: English grammar

text: Use of inversion to express a third-person imperative is now mostly confined to the expression "long live X", meaning "let X live long".


title: English grammar

text: In an imperative sentence (one giving an order), there is usually no subject in the independent clause: "Go away until I call you." It is possible, however, to include "you" as the subject for emphasis: "You stay away from me."


title: English grammar

text: Many types of elliptical construction are possible in English, resulting in sentences that omit certain redundant elements. Various examples are given in the article on Ellipsis.


title: English grammar

text: The first published English grammar was a "Pamphlet for Grammar" of 1586, written by William Bullokar with the stated goal of demonstrating that English was just as rule-based as Latin. Bullokar's grammar was faithfully modeled on William Lily's Latin grammar, "Rudimenta Grammatices" (1534), used in English schools at that time, having been "prescribed" for them in 1542 by Henry VIII. Bullokar wrote his grammar in English and used a "reformed spelling system" of his own invention; but much English grammar, for much of the century after Bullokar's effort, was written in Latin, especially by authors who were aiming to be scholarly. John Wallis's "Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae" (1685) was the last English grammar written in Latin.


title: English grammar

text: Even as late as the early 19th century, Lindley Murray, the author of one of the most widely used grammars of the day, was having to cite "grammatical authorities" to bolster the claim that grammatical cases in English are different from those in Ancient Greek or Latin.


title: English grammar

text: English parts of speech are based on Latin and Greek parts of speech. Some English grammar rules were adopted from Latin, for example John Dryden is thought to have created the rule no sentences can end in a preposition because Latin cannot end sentences in prepositions. The rule of no split infinitives was adopted from Latin because Latin has no split infinitives.


title: Climate of India

text: The climate of India consists of a wide range of weather conditions across a vast geographic scale and varied topography. Based on the Köppen system, India hosts six major climatic sub types, ranging from arid deserts in the west, alpine tundra and glaciers in the north, and humid tropical regions supporting rain forests in the southwest and the island territories. Many regions have starkly different microclimates, making it one of the most climatically diverse countries in the world. The country's meteorological department follows the international standard of four seasons with some local adjustments: winter (December to February), summer (March to May), monsoon (rainy) season (June to September), and a post-monsoon period (October and November).


title: Climate of India

text: India's geography and geology are climatically pivotal: the Thar Desert in the northwest and the Himalayas in the north work in tandem to create a culturally and economically important monsoonal regime. As Earth's highest and most massive mountain range, the Himalayas bar the influx of frigid katabatic winds from the icy Tibetan Plateau and northerly Central Asia. Most of North India is thus kept warm or is only mildly chilly or cold during winter; the same thermal dam keeps most regions in India hot in summer. Climate in South India is generally warmer, and more humid due to its coastlines.