[ti:The Grammar of 'Share:' Social, Economic Uses]
[al:Everyday Grammar]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-01-12]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Consider a time when you heard or read news about business, investments, or politics.
[00:08.74]Now consider a happy time when you gathered with friends or family.
[00:15.18]You ate food, had something to drink, and perhaps smiled and laughed.
[00:22.00]What word might appear often in discussions about our two situations - the news and the family meal?
[00:31.20]The answer is one word that comes in a verb or noun form: share.
[00:37.58]Share will be the subject of today's Everyday Grammar. 
[00:43.59]You will learn about the word's meanings as well as commonly used structures in everyday situations.
[00:51.95]Let's start with some definitions.
[00:55.00]As we said before, the word "share" has both a noun and verb form.
[01:02.31]We can compare it to a superhero. 
[01:05.50]Consider Peter Parker. 
[01:07.99]He is a normal young man. 
[01:11.05]But sometimes he becomes Spiderman - and Spiderman is all about action!
[01:18.14]Just as Peter Parker has a normal side and an active side, the word "share" has a noun form and an active verb form.
[01:27.36]Let's start with the noun form.
[01:32.17]When you read business or even political news, you are highly likely to see the noun form.
[01:39.24]Share suggests the idea of division or splitting something.
[01:43.80]So, a share can involve value, interest or ownership that has been divided into parts.
[01:50.52]For example, a person might buy stock shares in a company. 
[01:58.50]This means that a person is buying partial ownership of a business.
[02:03.89]Any time you read news about the stock market, for example, the value of the shares of businesses is a central point of interest.
[02:15.24]Now consider a story about a political dispute.
[02:19.65]A scandal might happen, and one politician might be forced to accept his or her share of the blame for something that went wrong.
[02:31.17]In this usage, the politician is getting an amount of something - blame - that he or she deserves or is responsible for.
[02:41.00]You might use the noun form of "share" when you talk about gatherings with family and friends.
[02:49.14]For example, friends might get together and decide to pay their share of the bill for a meal at a restaurant.
[02:58.32]In this case, the friends might divide the bill and pay what they owe individually.
[03:04.81]What about the verb form of share, you might ask?
[03:08.94]We often use it to talk about politics.
[03:12.66]Political parties might share power in a country, for example.
[03:17.38]We also might use the verb "share" to describe social gatherings.
[03:23.22]Family or friends might share food. 
[03:26.83]In this case, the family or friends are coming together and dividing or splitting food among themselves.
[03:36.03]Everyone gets to eat and drink.
[03:39.04]Now we can ask the question: What are the most commonly used structures with both the noun and verb forms of share?
[03:48.40]The most common words that come before "share" are "to" and "a." 
[03:55.43]That is what Google's Ngram Viewer tells us. It is a database that contains information from thousands of books.
[04:04.35]But Ngram Viewer also gives us an important finding: "to share" is far more common than "a share."
[04:13.28]So, we are very likely to read a sentence like this:
[04:17.57]The two sides agreed to share power.
[04:21.16]Or
[04:22.26]The children decided to share the toys.
[04:26.33]We are somewhat less likely to read a sentence like this:
[04:31.31]He bought a share of Microsoft stock.
[04:34.97]What words are likely to come after "share?"
[04:39.66]The two most common structures, Google's Ngram Viewer tells us, are "share of" and "share the."
[04:48.35]So, think back to our earlier examples:
[04:51.74]He bought a share of Microsoft stock.
[04:56.09]The children decided to share the toys.
[05:00.98]Let's end this lesson with a quiz. Fill in the blank with the correct word or words.
[05:08.59]The countries agreed ___________ the profits made from the shipping canal.
[05:17.93]Here is one possible answer:
[05:20.38]The countries agreed to share the profits made from the shipping canal.
[05:25.68]I'm John Russell.