FrutZle

The Netherlands is, or at least was when I last heard about it, the number one producer of XTC (extacy), as well as the country from which most of those pills in the USA come from. They're said to be "better" than those made in other countries, meaning nothing more than that they have a stronger effect but cause as much, if not more damage. There used to be a special bus at those large parties for some time, where people who bought XTC could have the pills tested. One thing I remember they said on TV was that they found several pills with rat poison in them. Imagine taking one or two of those pills... Oh, and XTC in combination with alcohol can be deadly. Several people have fainted, had strokes, and some have been in coma from that. The effect of XTC is that it gives you a boost of energy, making is easier to keep dancing all night long. The side effect is that your body temperature rises so you burn a lot of energy and tend to dry out, meaning you need to drink a lot (that's where the alcohol comes in). That's why you often see people who attend those kinds of parties with candy, such as lollipops.

You're right that Dutch and German are related, but so are most Northern European languages. However, the rules in building sentences are a lot stricter in English than they are in Dutch. When we say "I ate that apple yesterday" we can also put it like this: "I have yesterday eaten that apple", which sounds like utter poop, but the point is that we can juggle with words and stick them where we want as long as it doesn't sound stupid (which makes it a lot harder for non-Dutch speakers to learn the language). But what I really meant to ask was if there are any rules for when to use a hyphen, or if there's just a set of words that are hypenated, meaning I'll have to use my English dictionary more often.

When is a word, or combination of words hyphenated (connected with a -) and when are they simply two seperate words? I always mess that up and hyphenate like crazy because in Dutch we can form words pretty much the way we want because we don't apply grammar as strictly as in English.

I have to remember that one... It's almost like an infomercial where they try to sell you a set of kitchen knives and say "These knives are so sharp that you can even use them to cut something" ;)

They is missing name is singluar because you're talking about a group, not the individuals as in "their names are Tom, John and Annie" Because you're talking about whales (more than one) you say their and are