texts:
THE PLAINS OF south-west Kansas are so flat that, looking towards the horizon, it sometimes seems possible to detect the curvature of the Earth. This is a place of mile-long freight trains, cathedral-like grain silos, occasional tornadoes and homages to “The Wizard of Oz”. The town of Liberal is said to have been named for an early settler famous among travellers for being free with drinking water. Liberal is conservative in a moderate Midwestern kind of way. It is also changing fast. Its big National Beef Packing plant relies on Hispanic migrants. Four-fifths of the children in Liberal’s public-school system are Hispanic. This should make the town receptive to Democrats, but Mr Trump easily won the county of which it forms part.
Hello.
What is the meaning of the selected part. Can you paraphrase this please?


texts: "Paingry" can be only used as an adjective?

texts:
Can the word paingry be used only as adjective?

  "I was too paingry to react"

  I am paingry, ha!


texts:
Who can calculate the losses left by Sept. 11? [There were] so many
  wounds to the hearts of the families, so many wounds to the souls of
  New Yorkers, so many wounds to the peace of Americans

Source: Six months later

On a Youtube video an instructor added [There were] to the article in the newspaper but not [and] as I did below.
The pattern above looks like: There were A, B, C, [and] D
Why does not he add the conjunction and too to showcase a complete English sentence?


texts:
"You have used a cumbersome method to solve this question.I would not / will not use it."

Which of above two(would and will) is preferrable to use?
Can would not be used above to politely refuse?


texts: Do I need a comma in the following case?

texts:
Nanase fetched her bento, her chair(,) and sat across from
  Masao.

Do I need the second comma or not?


texts:
As I know, odds are a numerical expression. But when come to this sentences, does it sounds other meanings ?

  If you’re working on a Flutter app, odds are you’re going to need to
  implement login.

I get this sentences from Flutter Login Tutorial with “flutter_bloc”.


texts:
The following is from a grammar book:

  1) a. She was still working.  b. Was she still working?

  The contrast in (1) is one of clause type, with （a）declarative and （b） interrogative.

Questions:

Does "one" stand for "contrast" and it could be substituted with "that"？
Isn't "type"a count noun, which requires an article？


texts: Can "Et cetera" make a separate sentence?

texts: Will it be legitimate to say something like "We did nothing much this evening. John drank beer. Bob and I played cards. Et cetera."


texts: Do Native Speakers Learn Vocabulary by Active Memorization in Order to Understand More Challenging Texts?

texts:
I am an English Teacher in China, and recently I've heard more and more parents and students in China complaining about word memorization when learning English. They feel that kids would be more motivated if they could learn words "naturally", say, through reading or using them in real life contexts. Well, personally I am entirely for the movement of making English Education more function-geared and less test-oriented, and I am really happy to see that Chinese people are changing their mentality towards English learning. However, I am also concerned that people might be in danger of swinging into the other extreme through ignoring the role of active leaning and memorizing in language learning.

So my questions are:

1) Do native speakers need to memorize new vocabulary when they are reading more challenging texts (e.g. an eighteenth century novel or some founding documents);

2) Have you ever done rote memorization for standardized tests, such as SSAT, SAT, ACT, GRE, and so forth?


texts:
Is there a proverb which can be used to tell someone that it's OK that the weather is so hot because it won't do them any harm (heat stroke and sunstroke are out of the question)?

For example, Oh, it's so hot today! - It's OK! ... (the proverb)


texts: Is it okay to say?: I'm going to go to the movies with him today, so I could've returned his pen then

texts:
This is what I saw in a movie.

I borrowed his pen yesterday
I promised this morning to go to the movies with him this evening
I had a business near his house at around lunch, so I tried stop by and return his pen along with it.
But I couldn't see him
I returned home and was reminded of that I had promised to meet him this evening
So I decided I'm going to give his pen to him when we meet at the movie place. And I say myself...

  "Oh, right... I'm going to go to the movies with him today, so I could've returned his pen then"

Here, the thing bugs me is that why did 'I' use 'could have pp' instead of just 'could return'? Shouldn't it refer to the future event?


texts: Can we refer to a bar of soap as a "bath accessory"?

texts:
Is it correct and natural to refer to a bar of soap as a "bath accessory"?

If not, what would you call it?

I'm considering a sentence like:

  The hotel offers free bath accessories/bathing products.

I'd appreciate your help.


texts: Difference between the vacated position and the vacant position

texts:
Is there some difference between the vacated position and the vacant position?

I googled both words and seems vacant is used more. But I couldn't find the information if there is a difference between them.


texts:
Where do you come?

Is this sentence acceptable to say?

  I come to Dhaka Chawbazar.

  Where do you come?

The sentence "Where do you come from" is correct but my question is if it is possible to use the sentence without "from" with a different meaning.


texts: ends up getting taken ,why the gerund is being used "getting"?thank you so much

texts: Indecision is a decision. Ignorance, when we know we should act, doesn’t suddenly stop the world from spinning. It goes on, and the path with the favorable odds ends up getting taken.


texts:
Let's imagine we meet a scientist who has just invented a robot which according to him is a pretty great achievement. However, when we see it, it looks simple and doesn't look like someone has to do a great amount of analysis and modelling to make it. How do we ask the scientist about how this robot, which he claims to be one of his masterpieces, is so special when it doesn't look like a big deal to us? We could try:

  Is this really difficult to invent?

  Is this really such a big deal?

This sounds as if we are disparaging his efforts. What would be the right way to ask the same? I would like to know the challenges he faced while making it and why his product was noble. The question is not just limited to a scientist, it could be applicable to almost anyone who is in some or other profession and has done something great.


texts: Can I use the passive voice when talking about sending things?

texts:
Which sentence sounds/looks better, and why:

  You will be sent something.

or

  You will get something.

I'm not a native speaker. The first option in my opinion looks silly, and I have had a problem finding it anywhere on the internet, but maybe I'm wrong.


texts: Why do you say, 'go to the hairdresser' instead of 'go to a hairdresser'?

texts:
Why do you use the definite article with words like 'hairdresser' or 'barber'? Does it imply that each person in English-speaking countries has their own personal hairdresser so you each time go to one particular specialist? Articles usage, it seems, sometimes reflects the culture and history of the UK and US. For example, I heard that you say 'go to the cinema' (not 'a cinema') because formerly a city had only one movie theater (if any). Now, what if a person doesn't go each time to the same man or woman to get their hair cut? Is it acceptable to just say 'go to a hairdresser' or 'go to a hairdresser parlor'?

Besides (I'm not sure whether I should create a new question for this), why do you also say 'go to the hairdresser's' (I mean, use the possessive case)? I believe it's a contraction of 'the hairdresser's parlor' but no parlor has only one hairdresser! Who's that 'THE hairdresser'? The owner? But the owner doesn't cut hair personally (usually). It would be more logical if it were 'a hairdressers'' or 'a hairdressers' parlor'. Please explain why it's the way it is.


texts: Why does it not use "is heard asking" but "heard asking"?

texts:
He is then heard asking: "Is it just me?"

I can't  understand that sentence meaning.
Does that mean that he heard about asking or he heard and asking?
And is it possible "He heard asking"?
I think "is heard" is uncorrected in grammar...  please teach me!


texts:
As a variation of the comparison construction "Different between A and B", can I say "Different between for A and for B", or use other prepositions preceding the items being compared?

For example:

  The heat-retention time with this mug differs between with coffee and with tea.
  Data loading time with the computer differs between for USBDisk and for RAMDisk.

Thank you in advance.


texts:
Once they were young men of esprit, young men of élan. A quarter of a
  century has passed and they are grey or balding, flabby or paunchy,
  gone in the fetlock or missing some fingers, but still as arrogant as
  satraps and with the mental refinement of a gatepost.

  Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

What is the meaning of the bold phrase? No foot? Or limping?


texts:
I have just watched a movie and inside the movie a character(A) is telling the other character about a conversation between him and his rich friend. Character(A) said “ “ I’m asking him(the rich friend), I said”Mr, broke have you ever heard of Humphrey Davy?”. And he says”No”. I say”Have you ever heard of Joseph Swan or Alexander Kosygin?” “No clue.” So I say “okay, what about thomas Edison?” “Well, of course. Who hasn’t.”
He’s using direct speech to tell the whole conversation, but I wonder why except the first direct speech he used the past tense said and the others are all using says which is a present tense.
I’m very confused when to use said and says when I want to tell people a conversation between me and others in the past


texts: Which one is correct between "chain of email" and "chain of emails"?

texts:
What is the correct usage between "a chain of email" and "a chain of emails"? Why?

By "a chain of email" I mean an email thread where many people have chimed in from time to time and that has grown very large over time.


texts:
This process should keep going, to keep you growing.

Is the use of "keep you growing" grammatical?


texts: What is the difference between"dry oneself off" and "dry off"?

texts:
Is there any difference between

  I dried off

And

  I dried myself off

Also would it change the meaning if we removed "off"?


texts: What is your course or what was your course?

texts:
Which is grammatically correct?

  What is your course back then?

or

  What was your course back then?


texts: Is "had been reached since" proper usage?

texts:
A quote from The Guardian:

  Last year, a paper in Nature co-authored by Sir David King, the UK
  government's former chief scientific adviser and currently the
  government's climate change envoy, concluded that a "tipping point" in
  the global oil supply had been reached since 2005, with global
  conventional production hitting a ceiling of around 75 million barrels
  per day (mbd) despite price increases of 15% a year.

Is that proper grammatical usage of tense? "Had been reached" seems to stand for Past Perfect; yet since, to my taste, implies an ongoing process and hence seems to call for Present Perfect Continuous (as in "The reactor has been in operation since 2005" or "I've been trying to understand English grammar since God knows when").


texts: I have "a doubt" about whether this phrase is acceptable English

texts:
To my (British) ear, it never sounds correct to say you have a doubt about something.

I expect that doubt to be pluralised, even if there's only one specific thing that I'm doubtful of, in one specific way, so I would always say "I have doubts about something".

Answers to this ELU question say that using doubt as a synonym for question is "Indian English". That seems to be the case in this ELL question which starts with "I have a doubt on my construction", because the OP really is saying "I have a question" (which he goes on to actually ask). Okay, it should have been a question/doubt about something, not on, but I'm not concerned with that detail here.

But in another ELL question the OP says "...there is a doubt that can I use [some construction]". In that case it's not easy to see how the word doubt can be replaced with question.

I don't have a problem with, for example, "The reason for my doubt is [some reason]", because there I interpret it as doubt=uncertainty (a state of mind, syntactically equivalent to words like happiness, agitation, sorrow, etc.). But you certainly can't "have a happiness about something". So my question is...

  Is it acceptable today to use singular noun doubt in any contexts where it means something other than state of mental uncertainty? If so, what are those contexts?


texts: What does "essentially developed the assertion that" mean?

texts:
The original text is:

  His address, delivered through an interpreter, essentially developed the assertion that, in Gram's words, "There is but one religion, and but one way to serve... ...".

My question is what does "that" here mean?


texts: My pencil keeps breaking or my pencil lead keeps breaking?

texts: My pencil keeps breaking / my pencil lead keeps breaking? Which one of these two is very common among native speaker of English language?


texts: There are some web page elements. Let's call them "sprites". There are also two kinds of animations (two pieces of code). For each mentioned above web page element, I use one kind of animations. Can I use the phrase: "set an animation for each sprite"? Is the animation an abstract noun?


texts:
Is there an idiom to replace 'tangential association'in this sentence ?

  " She pictured this man, Jared, with the woman, Lisa, but failed to connect the two in any way but tangential association. "

Not really, what I'm looking for is the phrase that describes connecting two things without any 'normal' or objective, clear association

Thanks.


texts: Equal importance of terms when using "in addition to" and "as well as"?

texts:
Please consider the sentence below:

  This section contains some numbers as well as a description.

In this case it feels like both terms (numbers and description) are of equal importance. The numbers arguably slightly more importance since they are mentioned first.

Now consider this:

  This section contains some numbers in addition to a description.

To me this implies that the numbers are now supplementing the description, making the description the most important term.

Since 'as well as' and 'in addition to' are often listed as synonyms, I would like to know if they both assume the terms are of equal importance, or if the latter indeed implies a more important part?


texts: how to join a dependent clause or a phrase with an independent clause properly?

texts:
Example 1:

  Because when Jack reaches his truck he does not climb in but leans over the slide and fiddles around with something.

In the above example which i had picked from a novel, the independent clause in bold has been connected with the dependent clause "Because when Jack reaches his truck" without a comma. Is this correct? Is it necessary to put a comma between them?

Example 2:

  The guards strolled inside with their torch lights only to be stopped by their limitations inside the ocean of nothingness.

Is the second example even correct?  I have connected the prepositional phrase "with their torch lights" to an infinitive phrase "only to be stopped" to the phrase "by their limitations" to the prepositional phrase "inside the ocean of nothingness" without using commas in between them. Is this grammatically correct?


texts:
In the following examples, the world "talk" was used as a verb and as a noun:

  I look forward to talk to you more soon, enjoy your day!

  I look forward to talking to you more soon, enjoy your day!

Which sentence is correct gramatically? If both are correct, what is the difference in the usage of talk vs talking in the previous two sentences?


texts:
The sentence is "This was the first time the provision of services in general through Irish by the state system was placed on a statutory footing."
I just saw this sentence on a list and it doesn't provide any context. What do "in general", "through Irish", "by the state system" describe? Do they describe the provision or the services or the first time? Please try to give an easy explanation.


texts:
Definition of get started in https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/get%20started

1: to begin doing or working on something
You (had) better get started if you want to finish on time.

My question is: Why we do not say "got" instead of "get"?


texts:
Your son feels shy and don't want to play with the children the he meets for the first time, but after a while he starting to play with them more.
Can we use "get used to + someone"?
For example,
Is it correct to say "are you getting used to your new friends now?" or "do you know them better now"?


texts:
Look at this text please:

Eventually, I lowered the window of the car and he said "Could you help me?"
I took the risk. He explained that while he was driving he had had a terrible argument and had decided to get out of the car.

I understand both past perfect: The man explained something that had happened before he lowered the window. But why "was driving"? This action is also "past of the past", even it was not finished at the time of explaining. He was not driving, because he was out of the car.


texts: Attack + (to / on) (someone / something)

texts:
I was wondering which preposition works with the verb "attack"?
1.a- Army forces have been attacking the town since dawn.
1.b- Army forces have been attacking to the town since dawn.
1.c- Army forces have been attacking on the town since dawn.
2.a- I condemn that country for its attacks to civilians.
2.b- I condemn that country for its attacks on civilians.
Personally, I think technically we can use it in the following way:

Attack somewhere (without any preposition)
Attack on someone (without any preposition)
Also I think an animal attacks another animal, without any preposition.
Accordingly, in my view, the correct choices would be #1.a. and #2.b.
I was wondering if I am right? If not, please do me a favor and clarify that to me.


texts:
In post meaning of "practice test notice", I called this thing "answer sheet", then I realized it might be test paper rather than "answer sheet".

In contrast, the following one is an "answer sheet", though there are some blanks for completion.

Is my understanding correct?


texts: Why "would be" put in ”quell the rage of would be wordsmiths“

texts:
In general understanding the proper usage can help dispel confusion or quell the rage of would be wordsmiths.

I can understand if the sentence has been written as:

  In general understanding the proper usage can help dispel confusion or quell the rage of wordsmiths.

I am not sure what "would be" is doing here?

The full source.


texts: Conditional sentence where both clauses are in the simple past

texts:
Which conditional is this?

If John did not come to work yesterday, he was probably ill.

I would hazard a guess that it is a first conditional as there is a fair probability that John being ill was actually the reason for not coming to work - however, all the references I have indicate that the first conditional is for the future only.
Thanks for any comments / explanations!


texts: “Canberra is to the south of Sydney” vs “Canberra is to Sydney’s south”

texts:
Are these sentences interchangeable?

“Canberra is to the south of Sydney.”
“Canberra is to Sydney’s south.”

I know that the structure in the former is correct, but I wonder if I can use the latter to mean the same thing. I am not sure if it is correct or not. I feel like the latter might be wrong, but I think it is more likely that it is correct. What I mean is that Canberra lies to the south of Sydney.


texts:
I know that in a salutation, it's preferable to use Dear Mr/Ms/Mrs 'last name'

Is it correct to use Hi "last name" in official email?

I am trying not to be too formal but I was told that it's not proper English.


texts: What's the difference in meaning between "You surprised me" and "You took me by surprise"?


texts: Replacing "adverse" with "averse" and "not adverse" with "not averse"

texts:
1.A. They said they were not adverse to examining proposals for modifying the lobbying law, though they [...].
1.B. They said they were not averse to examining proposals for modifying the lobbying law, though they [...]
2.A. They said they were adverse to examining proposals for modifying the lobbying law, though they [...].
2.B. They said they were averse to examining proposals for modifying the lobbying law, though they [...]

The first sentence is quoted from The New York Times while the others are its modified versions in which "adverse" is replaced by "averse", with and whitout the "not".
The questions are: Are "adeverse" and "averse" generally interchangeable? If so, how does the use of "not" influence the possibility of interchanging these words?


texts:
These items don't look the same as the ones in the phots.

  These items don't look the same as in the photos.

  These items don't look as the ones in the photos.

Are there any differences in sense between these sentences? Are all of them grammatical?


texts:
it is clear to me that it is possible for a text to be cohesive while it is not coherent.
But is it possible for a text to be coherent but not cohesive? if so, can you give some examples


texts:
The word 'oblige' is tricky to me.

My dictionary says "You will oblige me by taking them" but here I worry that this is another example influenced very much by Japanese culture.. Do you say something like this when you give a thanking present to someone?
I found a sentence in a native dictionary, "He obliged her with a willing attitude", but is it right to think that at least the writer thinks he was nice to her to get something from her in return?


texts:
In the below sentence, we have once used "Their" and then used "his or her". Why?

"Since age is not necessarily an indication of lower ability , treating a person less favorably on the basis of their age alone is just as unreasonable and unfair as doing so on the basis of his or her sex , race or religion"


texts:
I came across this sentence in an article by John McPhee but I'm unable to parse it. Could you please help me parse it?
The sentence reads

By the end of 1945, I had passed the point of no return. I was in the soup now good.

Basically, I can't figure out what good is doing there.


texts:
1. Is “billions of dollars worth of satellites”(without apostrophe of dollars) grammatically incorrect?

In “billions of dollars’ worth of”
Syntactically right below?
[billions of dollars]’ worth of
•[billions of dollars] : np
•[billions of dollars]’ : determiner of ‘worth’ =adjective phrase?


texts: In American English, does "the first floor" necessarily refer to "the ground floor"?

texts:
I know people in England usually call the second level of a building "the first floor".

But Americans tend to call the first level above the ground "the first floor".

Is that always so?

I am wondering if there would be serious misunderstanding on some occasions because of the semantic difference, especially at some critical moments of emergency.


texts: Can I use one preposition for two adjectives that take different prepositions? -- "Conscious (about) and critical of.."

texts:
Ironically, people will become more conscious about, and probably critical of, your informal speech when it comes off as uptight.

Can I drop about?
Is the setting off of the part in bold correct?
Does uptight capture showing excessive adherence to rules?


texts: Harmonization of two simple sentences in the future tense

texts:
I want to say in one phrase:

We'll be back.
Then rain will start.

To my oppinion this should be like:

  We'll be back before the rain will start.

According to the google translator:

  We'll be back before the rain starts.

Which of us is more right? Why?


texts:
From a book called Access 2013: The Missing Manual:

  Queries let you quickly perform an action on a table. Usually, this action involves
  retrieving a choice bit of information (like the 10 top-selling food items at Ed's
  Roadside Diner or all the purchases you made in a single day). However, you
  can also use queries to apply changes.

What do you think the author means by a choice bit of information? And of course, I'm most interested in understanding the choice bit part.


texts: past simple/continuous with a specific time

texts:
I was driving too fast last night.

I drove too fast last night.

I want to know if the past simple and continuous can both be used in this case, because usually the past continuous is used for actions occurring at a specific time, but the past simple sounds good to me.


texts: How should "to + verb + to + verb" be interpreted?

texts:
Do not attempt to adjust, repair, or try to fix the device.

I think it's somewhat ambiguous. Which interpretation is correct for the example above?

  Do not attempt to adjust to fix the device.

  Do not attempt to modify to fix the device.

  Do not attempt to try to fix the device. or  Do not try to fix the
  device. (which one is correct among two?)

Or

  Do not attempt to adjust the device.

  Do not attempt to modify the device.

  Do not attempt to try to fix the device.


texts: The usage of some phrase to express speaker's uncertainty and sort of figurative sense

texts:
When I want to show my uncertainty in a sentence, for all I know, I can use, such as seem, as if, appear to, look like, seem like, sound like. is there any difference in these words or phrases.
saying 'it sounds like he is annoyed', 'it seems that he is annoyed' and 'it is as if he is annoyed', does these sentences express the same meaning?

Additionally, if I'd like to assume an untrue situation, that I think will be the second or third condition, can I use anyone above freely or some of them can't be used in this way?

for example, I feel like/as if I were a bird, can I use like that?


texts: What's the difference between what I was hoping would happen? vs. What I was hoping that would happen?

texts:
The sentence "What I was hoping that would happen?" is possible? If possible, what is the function of that? Is it one of relative pronouns or what?
My understanding for "What I was hoping would happen?" is that the question type of an affirmative clause of the sentence.

Please let me know about the details of grammar related to tricky "that" thing.


texts:
In accordance with the Oxford's explanations:

  give-and-take
  - willingness in a relationship to accept what sb else wants and give up some of what you want:
  - If the dispute is to be resolved there must be some give and take.
  Example: Marriage is a give-and-take relationship.

and

According to the Longman Dictionary:

  give-and-take
  - a willingness between two people or groups to understand each other, and to let each other have or do some of the things they want.
  Example: In any relationship there has to be some give-and-take.

Would it be possible to use this phrase in the ways below:

  1) We have a give-and-take together (meaning that we are dealing with each other OR we are working with each other.

  2) This is a give-and-take world. (A bit philosophic :) and complicated, but this is another way we use this term in our language; which alludes to the Karma)

I would really appreciate it if you confirm these usages of the same phrase in English or let me know what should I say in the cases above?


texts: Correct usage of "oversighted" and "oversighting"

texts:
A spokesperson for Victoria police said: “We are aware that Ms C*** has asked the UN human rights committee to investigate the matter further. If they choose to do so, then we will of course co-operate and provide all appropriate assistance.
  “The investigation of this sad event was conducted by the homicide squad on behalf of and at the direction of the coroner. That investigation was oversighted by the Victoria police ethical standards department and was reviewed by the Office of Police Integrity, the organisation charged with oversighting Victoria police. The death and investigation was the subject of an open and transparent coronial inquest.”

Is it proper, or commonly accepted, to use "oversighting" and "oversighted" in spoken English like the spokesperson does in the above reported speech?


texts: What is the meaning of "how" in the following sentence?

texts:
What is the meaning of "how" in the following sentence,
( Source:SMALL BAD WOLF written by SEAN TAYLOR illustrated by JAN LEWIS )

  "He's going to grow up bad to the bone, just like his father!" "He
  won't unless you teach him how," huffed Mother Wolf. "I thought
  growing up a big bad wolf was going to be full of nippy, zippy
  adventures like it is in the stories," complained the Small Bad Wolf.

  ?

Does it mean " "if he grow up, he may be bad boy, just like his father!" "He will not be bad boy unless you teach him that way," huffed Mother Wolf. "
?

Does "He's going to grow up bad to the bone" mean "He's going to grow up and He's will be bad to the bone(bad boy)" ?


texts: was vs had been unemployed for seven months

texts:
My friend gave me three sentences and asked me to explain the difference. I have written them below.

(1) Ten months ago, John was unemployed for seven months.

(2) Ten months ago, John had been unemployed for seven months.

(3) Since ten months ago, John had been unemployed for seven months. The next month, he found a job.

I think (1) and (3) mean the same thing. I think (2) suggests that he got a job in the eighth month. Please give me your feedback. Thanks.


texts: About the idiom in Hindi (चुल्लू भर पानी में डूब जा) that literally translate 'Go, commit suicide"!

texts:
There's an idiom in Hindi

  चुल्लू भर पानी में डूब जा

This literally translates - go, die/commit suicide!

The context where it is used -

This phrase is always used in a sarcastic way advising someone to go, die or commit suicide because they could not perform at all in the field they master.

Example -

If I am a pro at the language English and if I cannot explain what is verb, you will say, "चुल्लू भर पानी में डूब जा".

The closest phrase I can think of is Couldn't you explain what is verb? Shame on you. But this is much milder than the idiom in Hindi. What else it could be? Go, hang yourself? Is it valid and understood in the context?

Any suggestions?


texts: "Why the long face?" or "Why a long face?"?

texts:
I learned that when someone looks unhappy, then you can ask him/her "Why do you have a long face?".
And I also learned that the expression can be shortened into "Why the long face?"

My question is, why not "Why a long face?"? Why "the"?
What's the logic behind choosing "Why the long face" over "Why a long face?"?
Google search results numbers show a huge preference of using the over a.

If it is an example of an ellipsis, shouldn't it be "Why a long face"?

My best guess is that we use "the" to indicate that we are using a shortened version of a common expression "why do you have a long face". "The" implies "You know the expression, right?"

Is it correct?

Thanks in advance.


texts: What does "Took a bit of me with him" mean here?

texts:
“Why, yes…there was Rosier,” said Karkaroff hurriedly. “Evan Rosier.”

  “Rosier is dead,” said Crouch. “He was caught shortly after you were
  too. He preferred to fight rather than come quietly and was killed in
  the struggle.”

  “Took a bit of me with him, though,” whispered Moody to Harry's right.
  Harry looked around at him once more, and saw him indicating the large
  chunk out of his nose to Dumbledore.

I figure "Took a bit of me with him" probably mean Moody sacrificed something while dealing with Rosier. According to the later context, it probably refers to the large chunk on his nose(I don't understand "out of nose" here either). How should we understand it in this context?

-- From Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire


texts: How to find letters exemplifying high-quality, heightened, or highly educated letter-writing styles?

texts: I am not a native English speaker and want to improve my letter writing skills. I'm not looking for letters written at an ordinary academic level, but for those that might exemplify the abilities of writers at high professional or educational levels. Therefore I am looking for well written English letters (written for a wide range of purposes) and having a wealth of English (complex, sophisticated, or artful sentence patterns, super verbs, and words). I googled, but found only ordinary letters. Please let me know of any resource.


texts:
Which one is correct? And if both of them are correct, what is the difference?

Life is a mystery
Life is one mystery


texts: What does it mean to change tense to past in precis writing

texts:
I read the rules of precis writing. One rule states:

  It should be written in the third person and past tense.

(Source : https://uogenglish.wordpress.com/english-lecture-notes/eng-102/precis-writing/)

Can someone explain this point to me? How to change into past tense. I went through different precis writing examples(in a book) but tense was same as that in original paragraph.


texts:
Is it correct to write

  This often is done for something.

rather than

  This is often done for something.


texts: What's the difference between "anyway vs anyways" and "a lot vs lots"?

texts:
I  have noticed that in a movie they said "anyways" and also "have  lots of time".

Why didn't they say "anyway" and "a lot"  instead of  "lots" ?


texts:
I play games now. I want a chocolate now.

Why not I am playing/wanting?

What is the tense of such these sentences?

Are they grammatical?

Are they formal?

Edit: If that was a simple present tense, how come we use “now” with it?
As far as I know “now” indicates an instant state not  a mere fact or a routine as the simple present indicates!.


texts:
I was reading a blog and I'd read:

  I am involved with way too many languages and I am a mess lmao. I guess I can speak English and Cantonese (?)

I know what lmao means, but what means in this case with mess lmao?


texts: What kind of grammar is it? "You may see me struggle, but you will never see me quit"

texts:
Could you tell me what kind of grammar is it?

I mean how can the object me can be concatenated with the verb struggle? This kind of grammar looks new to me.

Is there any difference with the following?

  You may see my struggle but you will never see my quit.


texts:
What is the exact definition of the literary device assonance?

This web site Literary Devices explains it as:

  Assonance takes place when two or more words, close to one another
  repeat the same vowel sound, but start with different consonant
  sounds.

Example:

   “Men sell the wedding bells.”

The site says that the assonant words should begin with different consonants.

As per this definition, I think,  this line 'I have no rest, nor joy, nor peace' (W B Yeats) is not an example of assonance.
Am I right?


texts: Significance of inversion: 'Here comes Bob' vs 'Bob is coming here'

texts:
Here comes Bob.

Bob is coming here.

Would anyone please explain what is  the difference between these?


texts: "it is at 5 minute and 40 second" or "it is at 5 minutes and 40 seconds"?

texts:
Tell me please which sentence is correct.

  The part where he is saying it is at 4 minute and 45 second.

  The part where he is saying it is at 4 minutes and 45 seconds.

Or is this one better?

  The part where he is saying it is at the 4th minute and 45th second.


texts:
I read somewhere

  When driving a 2 lane road for a long period of time with very few places to pass other vehicles, a line of cars tends to develop behind the “slow” vehicle.

When using the verb "drive" transitively, can you say "drive the road"? Shouldn't it be "drive down that road"?


texts: "but is not actually apparent in any of them"

texts:
It is true that the table always gives us a sensation of hardness, and
  we feel that it resists pressure. But the sensation we obtain depends
  upon how hard we press the table and also upon what part of the body
  we press with; thus the various sensations due to various pressures or
  various parts of the body cannot be supposed to reveal directly any
  definite property of the table, but at most to be signs of some
  property which perhaps causes all the sensations, but is not actually
  apparent in any of them.

[Problems of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Chapter I]

I don't understand the bold text. Could you explain it for me?
Does "them" refer to the sensations?


texts: is "I have x years of experience in ABC shop" equal to "I have x years of experience in a particular job in ABC shop"?

texts:
I am a shop assistant in ABC shop. I have been working there for several years.

Given that situation, when I want to tell people about my work experience,

Is it alright to use the shorter sentence 1 instead of sentence 2 in a conversation?
Will people understand what I mean?

Sentence 1:

  I have several years of experience in ABC shop.

Sentence 2:

  I have several years of experience as a shop assistant in ABC shop.


texts:
In one of my posts I said

  There are 15 teams in each league in MLB regular season games, and 7 teams in each league in post season games.

I guess I said it clearly. How do I say it succinctly? Is this still clear?

  There are 15 teams in each league in MLB regular season games, and 7 in post season.

Could someone please give a hint about the rules/conventions of it? Thanks in advance.


texts: Can 'superior' alone have the schwa sound?

texts:
The news caster pronounces ‘superior’ as /səˈpɪər i ər/.
And I can find his pronunciation in the Random House Dictionary. But the other major dictionaries show /suːˈpɪriər/ or /sjuːˈpɪəriə/. So I can’t decide ‘superior’ alone can be pronounced /səˈpɪər i ər/, when it is pronounced by itself not in the sentence?

[audio]


texts:
1: The reference of the above study.
2: The reference of above study.
Will there be 'the' in first sentence and if yes, then what particular meaning it gives?


texts: Congratulations to those whose hard work have paid off

texts: Should it be have/has paid off in the above sentence? What is the reasoning for this?


texts: When to use past progressive for repeated/ habitual actions?

texts:
Some grammar books say that the past progressive is possible to use for repeated or habitual actions.

For example:

I was practising every day, three times a day.
she was meeting him twice a week.

My question is, If I rewrite the above two sentences by using the past simple(like 3 and 4), what is the difference between them?

I  practised every day, three times a day.
she met him twice a week.


texts: What is the part of speech of this "supreme" after a subtle "as"? Is it a noun or an adjective?

texts:
The sentence I came across,

  The Qing regime still saw itself as supreme on the planet.

I might regard the word "supreme" as a noun because it follows a preposition word "as". But if it's a noun, I think it should be "a supreme". What's more, I find the word "supreme" is rarely used as a noun nowadays.

Then I pay attention to "as" here. Now I am not sure if it is a preposition.

Help me.


texts: is it ok to use "is" with past participle?

texts:
I prefer using "is" sometimes with past participle.
ex-
Your screen is frozen.
Your case is picked.
your device is repaired.
in both the examples, I consider frozen, picked as an adjective instead of a verb.


texts: Should I say, where are you going to or where are you going?

texts:
On my way home, I met my friend on train.
I was curious to know where she was heading to, so I asked her

  Where are you going to

I am not sure if it is correct to omit the preposition, to, by simply asking this instead

  Where are you going

Please help me. I am suddenly confused with it.

Thank you.


texts: Word order in the sentence with the pr.perf

texts:
The sentence:

  It is now a year since we have last discussed your future.

Is it common to insert an adjective between the auxilliary and the main verb? I just got used to constructing sentences with the pr.perf in the way (to have) + (verb) and nothing between them. Couldn't you clarify?


texts:
I read this sentence,

  ...to leave print and take the leap into a digital future.
  (Tina Brown.A New Chapter.Newsweek.Dec 31,2012.5)

I haven't found the phrase "take the leap" in my dictionaries. Does "take the leap" have the exactly same meaning as "make a leap"? I surmise "take the leap" has something to do with "stride over the obstacle", but I'm not very sure.


texts: enable or activate an option of computer program?

texts: If I want to turn on an option on the settings menu to for example turn the wifi on or on another computer program should I use enable or activated and after it has been turned on should I say that it's enabled to activated?


texts: Difference between Metonymy and Synecdoche

texts: "One thousand hands made the pyramids of Egypt." How is the word 'hands' used in the sentence? Is it metonymy or synecdoche?


texts:
Can one be "interested with" something?  As an example, I have a co-worker that asks:

  "Are you interested with this position?"


texts: "have a think, think about, consider", are these all idiomatic for the beginning of a discussion?

texts:
My another post (It seems that using **even** sounds more idiomatic and natural in lots of situations, is it true?) starts with

  Consider these 2 sentences

I guess I could also use these beginnings

  think about these 2 sentences

  have a think about these 2 sentences

Are these all idiomatic for the beginning of a discussion?


texts:
I know subject-object agreement do not actually exist. However, it is causing me some problems when I write.

I read an article that said

  Consider these sentences: "All the people in the audience raised their hand." "Homeowners should check to make sure that the insurance policy they choose has a low deductible." "In the United States, very few teenagers own a motorcycle."

  Clearly, people don't share a single hand, homeowners don't share a single policy with a single deductible, and teenagers don't share a single motorcycle. But what happens when we try to make these more logical?

  "All the people in the audience raised their hands" sounds as though every person there raised two hands into the air.

So with this in my mind, I wrote this sentence.

  The ranch workers were destined to live a horrible life, for they were
  haunted by loneliness.

Because, if I say horrible lives, it will sound as if they have more than one life to live, like cats with nine lives!

Or am I wrong? When does the logic provided in the article work with objects? Do I just have to use singular every time there is a plural subject?

Also, if it is lives, what is the difference between my example and the examples in the article?


texts: Do you say "I like apple" or "I like apples"?

texts:
When stating a general fact/preference on countable nouns, singular or plural is more suitable and natural?
Example 1 :

I like apple.
or
I like apples.

Example 2:

I like eating apple.
or
I like eating apples.


texts: ' to run out of sth' vs 'to be out of sth'

texts:
As an English learner it's quite confusing when to use these two forms of "out".
For example, have a look at the following sentences:
1) We have run out of this T-shirt model.
2) We are out of this T-shirt model.
How do native speakers differentiate these two concepts?


texts: infinitive and noun as object in a sentence

texts:
Is this possible to use a noun and an infinitive as objects in one sentence?

Example:
Is this a correct sentence: 'I love animals and draw'? A person means that she likes animals and also she likes to draw smth. In Russian it'd be an understandable phrase, but I'm not sure about English.


texts: Is an article used before a noun that references a variable?

texts:
I illustrated two examples because it is difficult to formally explain my question. Can someone tell which ones of the examples below are correct?

We denote the position of a node v by xv, and a set of the locations of all nodes in a set V by XV.
We denote the position of node v by xv, and a set of the locations of all nodes in set V by XV.

The reward function for a mission m is defined as [ f_m := ~~~~ ].
The reward function for mission m is defined as [ f_m := ~~~~ ].

Note that I know that articles should be used if mathematical variable symbols are not used.


texts: Year so yearly, hour so hourly but then what for minute and second?

texts:
Suppose I have software that generates a report every year. So, what I get is a yearly report. Likewise. . . Weekly report and hourly report.

What can we use for the report generated every minute? And every second? Minutely? Secondly? :-D

Looking for those two adverbs that shouldn't mean microscopically and at second place respectively.


texts: Is there an idiom that means it's possible and not impossible? I could only think of "within the realm of possibility", which is a mouthful, and I am wondering if there's any good idiom I might have missed.


texts: Usage of the preposition "in" in the sentence “I will come back in two minutes”

texts:
Can this sentence be rephrased as "I will come back after two minutes"?

  I will come back in two minutes.

What's the difference between in and after in this context?


texts: What noun categorizes jealousy and what verb acts on it?

texts:
Jealousy is the easiest feeling to provoke ... invoke ...

Okay, I'm a bit confused here. Even though the thought is pretty clear, the phrasing seems a bit strained to me. Please tell me the best descriptor of jealousy and what verbs might act on that descriptor.


texts:
I am just studying present tense where I am reading the use of have, I read this sentence

  I have seen that film

For the thing which happened in past, but can I write it as "I had watched that film"? Is it right to use it like this? I am not understanding the difference between these two sentences. I can use "had for that past, but I am also using "have been" as well so what is the difference ?


texts: Why is "on the season" used in this sentence?

texts:
The 5-foot-8 midfielder scored a goal and notched an assist for three total points on the season. (The San Diego Union Tribune)

I thought the preposition in usually collocates with season. Why is it on the season here instead of in the season?


texts:
Silvina continued to work after she had had her baby. (Longman Contemporary)

When seemingly identical words linked together, I’m wondering the way to pronounce them. Especially /a/ in had is not in my own language, making double /a/’s is like Sisyphus’s rolling a heavy stone up a hill. So even natives would have made a less hard pronunciation skill, I think. For example, auxiliary had, the former one, would be weakened into /həd/, and lexical had be pronounced strong from, /had/. But it still left a question: isn’t /həd-had/ more difficult than /had-had/? Can you show me how to pronounce the two had’s consecutively?


texts: Can the indefinite article be omitted in this sentence?

texts:
Consider

  The variables show low correlation.

vs

  The variables show a low correlation.

Is one version simply wrong? Is one more idiomatic than the other?


texts: Redundancy: 'than they otherwise might be in its absence'?

texts:
Source: Bob Tarantino, LLB, LLM (York University),  BCL (University of Oxford)

  So ... Canada's "override" ... clause might actually have the opposite effect from what one might expect: it may prompt Canadian courts to actually be MORE bold and robust in taking positions than they otherwise might be in its absence, because it always leaves them the option of arguing "Look, if you really disagree with our decision, feel free to use the notwithstanding clause to override it," ...

I guess: its = Canada's "override" clause, aka the Notwithstanding Clause. Abbreviate it as NC.

  [This helpful answer enlightened me:] The word otherwise means "without NC". There is no grammatical rule to tell us what X is in a sentence. We need to understand from the context.

Based on the context, otherwise means "without NC." The dual use of both otherwise and in its absence: is it redundant? What happens if either one (but not the other) were omitted?


texts:
Americans uses glottal stop in spoken English.

It sounds like the video is saying (a video link with a time stamp)

  British explorer Bear Grylls is best known to TV audiences for Discovery's Man vs. Wild

where "British" sounds "brish", is this a glottal stop or just the presenter's accent?


texts: Is it correct to say, "I did it first thing" instead of "I did it first"?


texts:
loos‧en /ˈluːsən/ ●○○ verb     1 [intransitive, transitive] to make
  something less tight or less firmly fastened, or to become less tight
  or less firmly fastened OPP tighten

  You’ll need a spanner to loosen that bolt.

  The screws have loosened.

  Harry loosened his tie.

And It seems that only 1 dictionary mentions this, other dictionaries don't have this meaning:

  come out (of something)

  (of an object) to be removed from a place where it is fixed

  This nail won't come out.

Look at the picture

Do we say "the bolt is coming out" or "the bolt has loosened"?


texts: Term for bed sheet that embraces and partially encapsulates the mattress

texts:
I went to IKEA and got me a new sheet. It's awesome on the bed because instead of being "sheety", it's got those rubber parts so one doesn't fold it under the mattress to keep it in place but rather skewers it or maybe embraces it onto it.

What's that kind of sheet called?
What's the traditional, foldy, kind called?
What's the right verb to describe the thing you do with the new kind of sheet?


texts:
It is more wary or warier ?
If more wary is correct (I reckon it is because I read it in a test) is it common ?


texts:
What is the difference between

1.He became a star by 1990's.

2.He had become a star by 1990's.

Is the first sentence correct? If yes, then please tell me the difference between the two.

Thank you.


texts: Is the preposition 'of' used for living-persons or not? Are these following  sentences correct -1."Name the children of uncle Podger." 2."I can't find the book of yours."


texts: How should I use the "in-", "im-", "il-", and "ir-" prefixes?

texts:
Consider the following words:

  impossible;
  incorrect;
  impatient;
  illegal;
  irregular;

The meaning of the prefixes is the same (negation the adverb), but they are still different prefixes.

How do I know which one to use? In other words, for an arbitrary adjective, how do I choose between "in-", "im-", "il-", and "ir-"?

The relevant discussion at ELU does not provide with any guideline.


texts: Which one is correct: "I'm average in height", "I'm average height" or "I'm an average height"?

texts:
Could you tell me which one is correct:

I'm average in height
I'm average height
I'm an average height

meaning I'm neither tall nor short.


texts:
Below, you can see the middle part of page 25 of Common Methodology for Information Technology Security Evaluation document:

  The CEM recognises three mutually exclusive verdict states:
  a)
  Conditions for a pass-verdict are defined as an evaluator completion
  of  the  CC  evaluator  action  element  and  determination  that  the
  requirements for the PP, ST or TOE under evaluation are met. The
  conditions for passing the element are defined as:

  1)  the constituent work units of the related CEM action, and;

  2)  all evaluation  evidence  required  for  performing  these  work  units
  is  coherent,  that  is  it  can  be  fully  and  completely
  understood by the evaluator, and

  3)  all  evaluation  evidence required  for  performing  these  work  units  does  not  have  any
  obvious  internal  inconsistencies  or  inconsistencies  with  other
  evaluation  evidence.  Note  that  obvious  means  here  that  the
  evaluator  discovers  this  inconsistency while performing the work
  units: the evaluator  should  not  undertake  a  full  consistency
  analysis  across  the  entire  evaluation  evidence  every  time  a
  work  unit  is  performed.

My problem is understanding the paragraph that is in bold.

Actually I wonder which one of the following interpretations is correct:

First interpretation:

Conditions for a pass-verdict are:

An evaluator must complete CC evaluator action element. and
It must be determined that requirements are met.

Second interpretation:

Conditions for a pass-verdict will be defined just after that:

An evaluator  completed CC evaluator action element. and
It is determined that requirements are met.

As you see above , in the first interpretation, I considered "as" equal to "as following"; and in the second interpretation, I considered it equal to "just after". Which one is correct?

If the first interpretation is correct, then what are the conditions 1, 2 and 3 in the end of quoted text?


texts: What does this sentence mean "Let me have your report by Friday"?

texts:
I don't understand the phrase "to have your report" in "Let me have your report by Friday".

Does it mean "to hold your report"?


texts: Present perfect for situations before another past event

texts:
This is a conversation from the exercise from the Advanced Grammar in Use by Cambridge University Press:

  A: How was your weekend?
  B: Not great, actually. I'd really been
  looking forward to a relaxing couple of days. But early on Saturday
  morning Mom phoned to say that Dad had been taken ill.
  A: Oh no! What had happened?
  B: She had just heard that he had been flown by
  helicopter to hospital in Edinburgh from a village called Contin he
  had been fishing with my Uncle Mark.
  A: And is he okay? What's wrong
  with him?
  B: Well, Uncle Mark said that Dad had been complaining of a
  bad headache most of yesterday, but he hadn't wanted to go back to the
  hotel and spoil the day. But then in the evening, just as they had
  stopped fishing for the day, he had collapsed...
  A: Has he had [1] any health problems recently?
  B: Well, he's been suffering [2] from stress for some
  time, but we had thought a holiday in Scotland would be relaxing for
  him. He has worked [3] too hard for months, and we'd been trying to
  persuade him to have a break for ages before he agreed.
  A: So did you
  go up to Scotland when you heard?
  B: No, Mum has gone up to be with
  him, but the doctors have checked him over and have said that it's not
  too serious. They have given some medicine to bring down his blood
  pressure and have told him that he needs complete rest for a couple of
  months. So Mum's driving him back in the car tomorrow.
  A: Well, send
  him my best wishes when you speak to him.
  B: Thanks, I will do.

Here I can't figure out the use of present perfect (simple and continuous) in places [1], [2] and [3]. Regarding the context, the question given in place [1] seems to be about Dad's recent health problems but not including a period of time since he last fell ill as it would make no sense. In my view, this suggests that the past perfect might be a better fit here because the question is all about the past situation or activity before another past event. But the answer key of the book suggests that the present perfect probably is the only option here. Isn't it? Similarly the same applies to [2] and [3].

So my questions are:

How can we justify the use of the present perfect here?
Would the past perfect be an equally good fit here?


texts: "We prove a theorem that ..." or "We prove the theorem that ..."?

texts:
One of my papers proves a theorem. And in the abstract I want to introduce what I do in this paper, so I began with "We prove A theorem that ...". But then I was aware of this: Could it be "We prove THE theorem that ..."?

Which one is the correct one?


texts: Why 'should' is used in "Most unfortunate that it should happen on Christmas day"?

texts:
"Most unfortunate that it should happen on Christmas day."

I'm wondering why 'should' is used in the sentence. Any difference from: Most unfortunate that it happened/happens on Christmas day.?


texts:
I have prepared a report and don't want to show one piece of information to the client. I want to tell my friend this. If I say...

  We don't show this in the report. Otherwise xyz will happen.

...is my sentence formation correct?

I don't want to use should not / need not / can not / will not in the sentence.


texts: Is this statement construction correct? -- "I do understand [w], [x] and [y] much better than I do [z]."

texts:
Is this statement construction correct?

  "I do understand [w], [x] and [y] much better than I do [z]."

I just wanted to know if this statement is correctly constructed. Here w, x, y and z variables are plurals. Suggest me better options.


texts:
An all-knowing God would know that evil exists; an all-powerful God
would be able to prevent it occurring; and an all-good God would not
want it to exist. But evil continues to occur. This serious challenge
to belief in the Theists’ God has been much discussed by philosophers.
It is known as the Problem of Evil. In a later section we will examine
it in some detail, together with several attempted solutions to it.
Here it should at least make us wary about claims that the Design
Argument provides conclusive evidence for the existence of a supremely
good God.

How should I understand "attempted solutions"?
Is it "attempts to solve" or "failed solutions"?
Many thanks


texts: Take sth into account vs. take into account sth

texts:
Regarding the idiom "take into account", when is it appropriate to put something between "take" and "into", and when is it best to place something at the end of the idiom?

For example, consider these sentences:

We should take money into account in order to make a good decision.
We should take into account money in order to make a good decision.
We have to take into account the fact that money cannot be created out of thin air.
We have to take the fact that money cannot be created out of thin air into account.
We should take his decision into account.
We should take into account his decision.


texts: Describe the difference(s) between A and B

texts:
When writing an exam question, are the followings imply very different things? Does (1) imply there is only one difference? I think (2) implies there may be multiple differences, but describing only one of them is fine. I am not sure the role of the definite article here. (5) seems wrong, but one can argue for it by interpreting "difference" in a particular way?

Describe the difference between A and B.
Describe a difference between A and B.
Describe the differences between A and B.
Describe differences between A and B.
Describe difference between A and B.


texts:
I am very ticklish

What is the antonym for ticklish?

Is it "I am not ticklish"?


texts:
The earliest traceable specimens of this class are certain
  counterstruck imitation silver drachms of Phraates IV,... (Source)

What does "counterstruck" mean?


texts: ...had been caused by rebels out to discredit - out - meaning?

texts:
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-scrambles-fighter-jets-above-rebel-positions-missile-100357229.html

  Vladyslav Seleznyov, main spokesman for the "anti-terrorist operation", said the violence there had been caused by rebels out to discredit the Ukrainian armed forces.

How should one understand that out?


texts:
Which modal verb do I use in the first blank? I know that “may” is for asking permission, but “can” is for showing capability. So throwing a peel is somewhat a capability.

  Some people can/may throw banana peels on the ground. When a
  person who is walking briskly, steps on it, he will slip ending in a
  fractured bone or even some more dangerous eventualities.

Fill in the blanks.

MY ATTEMPT

can


texts:
I cannot understand how the word only was used in the following sentence.Can you explain to me please? Is it conjunction ?

  We are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble only by
  the perpetual instilling and drenching of the reality that surrounds
  us.(Spinoza, Ethics, 1673).

Can I rewrite in this way? I mean did I get its meaning right?

We are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble but by the help perpetual instilling and drenching of the reality that surrounds us.


texts: Is there an idiom that means "we're doing something without having all the necessary information"?

texts: I am looking for an idiom or phrase used in informal speech that means "we're doing something without having all the necessary information" or something alone that line. Is there any such idiom?


texts:
I have come across both the phrases - 'on the internet' and 'over the internet.'

I'm pretty sure that both are correct but then which to use when?

Please note, I'm well aware of all over the Internet which I'm not concerned about.


texts: American equivalents of "repeat on" to describe food?

texts:
repeat
  verb
  3 British [no object] (of food) be tasted intermittently for some time after being swallowed as a result of belching or indigestion.
  ‘that cucumber repeated on me for hours’
  (source)

The Oxford Dictionaries marks this usage British, and so does Longman. However, there are other dictionaries that don't specify it or don't include this meaning. Is this a Britishism? Do Americans also say "the food is repeating on me"? If not what do Americans say to describe the continued aftertaste of food?


texts: How to understand "if the base image is already in the cache it is reused."?

texts:
If the base image is already in the cache it is reused.

Is that means

"if the base image is already in the cache, then it is reused."?

Which grammar knowledge should I learn further?


texts: Can you paraphrase the highlighted part of passage please?

texts:
Writing to the woman who would become his third wife, Hermann Hesse
  complained: “Life for me now holds almost no pleasures any more, in
  fact I am living in Hell.” The event that had reduced Hesse to this
  state of near-despair was that his wife-to-be Ninon Dolbin had moved
  some of his books without his permission. For him this was an
  intolerable disruption of the orderly existence he believed essential
  to a writer who had detached himself from the world. His independence
  required that he hold all of humankind, and even his closest
  companion, at a rigorously policed distance. Accordingly, although the
  two of them lived under the same roof, he communicated with Ninon
  mainly in writing. As his latest biographer, Gunnar Decker, relates:
  Their day-to-day communication with one another was conducted by
  “house letters”, like in a Trappist monastery, where one has to stay
  silent most of the time and jot down essential communications to one’s
  fellow monks on pieces of paper. This was the way Hesse managed to
  tolerate the presence of another person in his vicinity; he had to be
  sure he wouldn’t suddenly be spoken to. “How was it,” Decker asks,
  “that Hesse believed himself to be ‘living in Hell’…when he had a
  female friend who loved him more unreservedly than any before her, and
  who placed herself entirely at the service of his needs?” As he
  comments: “His note sounds positively hysterical.” It is a reasonable
  judgement. Decker is a scrupulous biographer with an unrivalled
  knowledge of his subject, and this is undoubtedly the definitive
  account of Hesse’s life and work. It is less clear what Decker
  finds of intrinsic interest or value in his subject. The most
  striking fact about Hesse is how he was embraced by the counterculture
  in the early Sixties – a development that secured him a posthumous
  reputation as an exponent of the hippie “drop out” philosophy and made
  him the most widely translated 20th-century German author.

I need to translate this passage into a different language. Can you paraphrase the highlighted part please? My interpretation is : Decker was kind of biographer who pays attention to detail and had a great knowledge of his subject (Hesse) and his work regarding Hesse is the ultimate work a biographer can do on Hesse life, and this is a clear fact, but it is less clear to us ( audience of Decker) what values he found in Hesse.


texts:
what is the difference between the toner and the ink toner?

I really don't understand,  is the ink toner the same meaning as the ink?

please help me! thanks in advance!


texts:
May I use "on" on bottom surface? Like, I want to stick a sticker at the bottom side of a mouse. May I use "I stick a sticker on a mouse"? Or do I have to use under?
Also, stick a sticker sounds weird and redundant. I bet there is a better verb for a sticker. What is it? Thank you very much.


texts: Please, Help me understand one phrase he says

texts:
I'm watching Tony Robbins video and there's a phrase I can't understand in the whole video. Can anyone help me out? Here's the link
https://youtu.be/kVKZSatIEng?t=35m55s
He says "If you gonna master something ...blah-blah..where you don't think about it and just do it." What does he say next at 36:05? Master is .... I can't get what he says in the next one. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance!


texts: "My English is good" is this grammatically correct?

texts: Is "My English is good" grammatically correct? My friend says it is grammatically incorrect. Correct form would be "I am good at English."


texts: Omitting subject in formal business letters: "We thank you for.." vs. "Thank you for.."

texts:
Which is better in a formal letter?

  Dear Sirs,
  Thank you for the information contained in your letter dated 18 September of this year, and also for the catalogue enclosed with your letter.

or

  Dear Sirs,
  We thank you for the information contained in your letter dated 18 September of this year, and also for the catalogue enclosed with your letter.

or

  Dear Sirs,
  Our company thanks you for the information contained in your letter dated 18 September of this year, and also for the catalogue enclosed with your letter.

I was told by a (Russian-native) English business writing teacher that we should not drop subjects in formal business letters. Is this true?

Regarding the comment:

  I would get a better definition of "formal" from your teacher.

I believe that by 'formal' she meant 'any kind of letter between two business entities'. Any letter on business matters.


texts: different meaning between these two sentences based on the position of 'yet'

texts:
Are they exactly same or somehow different?

(1) The places contain many forms of life that have not yet been discovered.

(2) The places contain many forms of life that have not been discovered yet.


texts: Why does this sentence have "to be sold" instead of "to sell"?

texts:
What he did was he translated stories from all of the major European
  papers to be sold to other papers.

Why the phrase "to be sold to other papers," not "to sell to other papers"?


texts: Are feelings always a noun? For example, "headache" or "nausea". Why I am asking this question is because I always have a problem with countable and uncountable nouns. First job is identify the nouns. Thus, I am asking is feeling a noun always.


texts:
This objection has become questionable in view of the
fact that, in advanced industrial society, the technical apparatus of production and distribution functions, not as a sum total of mere instruments
which can be isolated from the social and political context without losing
their identity, but rather as an apparatus which determines a priori
the product as well as the individual and social operations of servicing and
extending it, that is to say, determines the socially needed demands,
occupations, skills, attitudes – and thus the forms of social control and social
cohesion.

I have tried referring to https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a%20priori, the closest possible definition I got is

2 b: formed or conceived beforehand

Thus, can a priori in the aforementioned text be interpreted as:

... determines beforehand the product as well as the individual...

Edit:
Source of aforementioned text: Towards a Critical Theory of Society Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse, specifically from the paper The Problem of Social Change in the Technological Society


texts: I don't understand the structure of this sentence

texts:
What does this sentence mean?
Especially the "the process that today is long" part.

The agency said that the procedure it set back in the 1970s for revising rules for older drugs "was not rapid, but there were many fewer steps to the process that today is long."

(Source)


texts: When somebody makes you sustain a financial loss

texts:
What verb do you use about the action of someone who causes you to suffer from a financial loss.

  I.e. 1) imagine you know nothing of cars and someone who pretends to be knowledgeable about automobiles and their technical issues, wants to give you a hand to find a healthy automobile to purchase. When you buy the car, after a while you come across some mechanical disorders with your vehicle and find out that the guy had known nothing about the technical aspects of cars and he just lied to you.

Or

  2) Let's suppose that you have a six-figure job and every moment is like gold for you. Something happens to you or someone drops by to you at your office and  as a result you miss one day which you could gain at least thousands of dollars.

Or

  3) when you eat something very detrimental to your health. I.e. you have some digestive problems i.e. an ulcer and you drink lemmon juice or vodka etc.

What these people or conditions or things do to you?
How can I describe that?

Is it possible to say that:

  He/it has caused a loss to me.

I wonder if you help me with it.

Thank you in advance.


texts: I don't understand this sentence: I realized I had far from enough for the fare only after I reached the ticket box

texts:
I don't understand this sentence, especially the highlighted part

  I realized I had far from enough for the fare only after I reached the ticket box

If you guys understand it please explain to me, thank you!


texts:
In the musical "Be More Chill", one of the characters, at 1:10, says the following:

'cause a Halloween party is a rad excuse to put our bodies through mad abuse... (source)

Do Americans use this expression often?


texts: Do native speakers use the collocation of “ in result of” or "in the result of"?

texts:
When I am looking some academic papers, there are some sentences like:

"In result of the Fukushima accident, a large-scale diffusion of radioactivity took place. "

"In the result of these operations, X n points are shrunk (become smaller) to the center point X c. "

I am not sure whether they are right.


texts:
Sentence:

  What's it mean that the review is now a criminal probe?

The sentence has two verbs, the is in What's and mean.

Is this right?

Why can it be written this way?

Source: "News Brief: DOJ Investigates Russia Probe, Impeachment Latest, Iraq Protests"


texts: What's the meaning of "system" in ecosystem?

texts:
Ecosystem is defined as

  a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment.

Does system in this context mean sense 1 from Dictionary.com: an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole? and/or sense 1 from AHDE: a group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole?


texts: Is it correct to name "domino" a single domino tile?

texts:
I was reading an article Euroland: Will the Netherlands be the next domino to fall? and got surprised by the usage of domino in the title, since it is used to mention a single piece of this game.

I had always assumed that domino is the game, while every piece of it is called domino tile.

Dictionaries say:

  domino. noun, plural dominoes.

  1. a flat, thumbsized, rectangular block, the face of which is divided into two parts, each either blank or bearing from one to six pips or dots: 28 such pieces form a complete set.

  2. dominoes, (used with a singular verb) any of various games played with such pieces, usually by matching the ends of pieces and laying the dominoes down in lines and angular patterns.

So both definitions seem to be valid. However, is there any "default" meaning of it or will it be determined by the context?


texts:
A passion for books and the words inside them saved me from ever
knowing a moment’s loneliness during library hours.
-- The Power of Words by Benita Porter

What do I have to pick up for the ‘ever’ on OALD or Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary?


texts: Why it is "Task due date" and "Company name" but not "Task's due date" and "Company's name"?

texts:
When one should add 's and when not?

Examples:

Task due date / Task's due date
Company name / Company's name
Form field / Form's field
Customer service / Customers' service


texts:
"The boy went to his house."
Is 'house' from the above sentence a 'noun' or 'Adverb of place' ?
I know the word 'house' is noun but the definition of adverb of place is to answer the question 'Where'


texts: He is picky about food(,) so he only eats what he likes

texts:
He is picky about food so he only eats what he likes.
He is picky about food, so he only eats what he likes.

Which one is correct? Do we have to put a comma before 'so' or not?


texts: Can I use auxiliary "be" for expressing period

texts:
I was in Canada for a year.

I am in Japan for two days.

I know present/past perfect sounds better but I'd like to know these are correct.


texts:
What does it mean to "parade wind its way through ...(a location)"?

Also, What is another usage for "to wind its way through" in general?


texts: Should I say "I've never heard someone say it" or "I've never heard someone saying it" or both are acceptable?

texts:
I asked a question in which I said "I've never heard someone saying it", and one of our fellow ELL users corrected it to "I've never heard someone say it". Can I say "I've never heard someone saying it" or not? if not why?

The context is

  This is one of the things that I don't really know the proper name for, because I've never heard someone say it, but I know how to explain it.

Any explanation is appreciated!


texts:
Major Burns looked Major Houlihan squarely in the eye. (from military English)

I feel the verb 'looked' generally needs prepositions like 'for', 'at', or 'after' before objects.
The example sentence has preposition 'in' and object 'the eye' but also another person object Houlihan right after the verb 'looked'.
Though I understand the sentence, this type of usage of 'look' is rare to me.
Question: grammarly wrong but idiomatic?


texts:
What's the correct to name a process that controls my book collection?

For example: This software works like a ___________

Books management
Books manager
Books' manage


texts: meaning of "Well I think in many cases less is more"

texts:
From the Oxford dictionary

Well I think in many cases less is more.

Is "well" here just a filler or part of a phrase? If latter, what does that mean?
If "well" here is just a filler, "I think" just means "in my opinion".
I could even consider "I think" and "in many cases" fillers as well. The whole sentence is just "less is more" without any other meaningful information.
Is my understanding correct?


texts:
I was studying the difference between "except" and "except for" and noticed that in different sources they use them interchangeably in similar examples.

"Everyone was tired except for John."

"Everyone was ready except John."

"Except for Louisa, who away in Berlin this weekend, we'll all be at the party."

"We all went except Tom."

If "except for" is used when what is excluded is different from what is included then why don't they use "for" in sentences #2 and #4?
But in #4 it is required. Perhaps it's according to this definition: "If "except for" is used when what is excluded is different from what is included." As in Louisa is different by not being with the group.


texts:
Perishable  foodstuffs, quick  frozen  fruit,  vegetables  and  meat  are  kept  in  refrigerated self-service  cabinets.
  Perishable  foodstuffs  and quick  frozen  fruit,  vegetables  and  meat  are  kept  in  refrigerated self-service  cabinets.

I found theses two sentences on google.
Are there difference in meaning in sentence 2, using "and" in stead of "comma" in the phrase"perishable foodstuff and quick frozen fruit"?


texts: What do you call income and fixed expenses in a single word?

texts:
Every month we all have got income (e.g. salary, dividends) and fixed expenses (e.g. rent, transport). I am a programmer and in this domain these two entities are the same, except the income is a positive value while the expenses are negative ones.

My question is: what word can be used to characterize both concepts of income and fixed expenses? For example the word animal might mean a dog and a cat as well. And what single word does connote both income and fixed expense?

In other words, what do you call the income and fixed expenses you have got monthly in a single word?


texts: Should we Islamize with a capital i or islamize with a small i?

texts:
I am wondering about the correct spelling of the word

  to islamize

which I met right now in a research paper on distribution of conspiracy theories by a colleague (not important here, just to give you the context why I deal with that word).

The author chose to write "to Islamize" with capital i. I found that weird and suggested to write it with a small initial i like ordinary verbs. That's where I noticed that Mircosoft Word's spell checker by default suggests capital i (and I suppose that my colleague just accepted this suggestion). Now, I am totally not a person who obeys the law of Microsoft, and I know very well how to adjust Word's spell checker to what is good and right. Anyway, there seems to be a dispute about how to spell "to islamize".

Of course, I know that mayor religions, nationalities and names of groups of all sorts are usually spelled with a capital letter: the German government, the history of Christianity, the golden age of Islam, the Republican party, and so on.

On the other hand: do we really transfer the capitalized initials to verbs? So, are we going to Christianize the pagans in the hotter countries (if we happen to live with such a mindset, of course)? Or would we rather be a bit more reticent and not try to christianize - nor islamize - anybody?


texts:
What is the actual meaning of the sentence "Where are you located?". Is it referring to the place where the person living now (home) or his/her current location?(like asking where are you?).

Is it correct to use it for asking the current location (same as where are you?),  Like in a situation when I ask someone "Where are you?" few times but he/she did't understand or did't hear the question properly so using the sentence to asking the same question with emphasizing the Location part.


texts: meaning of "an official word-for-word translation on business letterhead"

texts:
I'm planning to study at the US and I found a sentence which I can't not sure about.

  Educational credentials in a language other than English must be accompanied by an official word-for-word translation on business letterhead

Does it mean that I should get an official translation on my transcript? What does it refer by on business letterhead?

Please Help!

Thanks!


texts:
Is the "-ney" in "hackney" a diminutive suffix?

What are some other words with the same suffix? Honey, Whitney,...?


texts: What 'got in yourself' means? It's a phrasal verb?

texts:
Context: Quote from First episode of the British series 'Fleabag':

Fleabag: You know that feeling when a guy sends you a text at two
o'clock on a Tuesday night asking if he can come and find you and
you've accidentally made it out like you've just got in yourself so
you have to get out of bed, drink half a bottle of wine, get in the
shower, shave everything, dig out some Agent Provocateur business,
suspender belt the whole bit and wait by the door til the buzzer goes?

What's the meaning of "you've just got in yourself"?
Which kind of grammar construction it's?
Source: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fleabag


texts:
Is there any difference between the following sentences?

What is the difference in meaning between those words?
What is the difference of meaning between those words?


texts:
Translation from Mongolian ... English

In official translation, should I use "To" or "Into"


texts:
Here's the explanation of head out, and with 2 examples,

Attention, everyone: we're heading out at 10 AM.

Mom is headed out for Sacramento tomorrow afternoon.

I can't understand the 2nd, "be headed out". Something like you can say "I'm leaving" but can't say "I'm left". How do I understand "I'm headed out"?


texts: "very beautiful" vs. "totally/absolutely beautiful"

texts: Can I say "very beautiful" or is it incorrect? My English teacher (actually she's not a native English speaker) says it's a mistake. I've seen examples of this usage on the internet, though.


texts:
How do I say that something was decreased and became X times less? In a sentence like: The new file is 20K while the old file was 100K, that's a decrease in 5 times? Or: The file was 100K and it decreased by 5 times, becoming only 20K?

For instance, I found this topic where someone said:

  "Decreased by 8 times" doesn't mean anything to me at all.

What are the most used and naturally sounding constructions for this types of sentences?


texts: What clause elements are in "That doesn't sound like him."?

texts:
I've been struggling to analyse this sentence in terms of its clause elements.

That doesn't sound like him.

What I mean by the clause elements are the following: verb, subject, object, subject complement, object complement, adverbial and postmodification.
I'm particularly concerned about what words of the sentence are included in the element Verb. Is it just "doesn't sound" or is it "doesn't sound like"? I've read something about the prepositional copular/linking verbs, but unfortunately, it's still not clear to me, especially when I come across a sentence like this one.


texts: the use of word 'guard' as a verb and a noun

texts:
A guard is supposed to guard.
  Guards used to guard.

Are these two sentences correct?

Is it necessary that we place the word 'security' before the  word 'guard' when it is already mentioned in the text that we are talking about protection and security?

Can we use a word that is a verb as well as a noun in one sentence?


texts: "experiences aligns" or "experiences align"

texts:
I'd like to share how my experiences aligns with your requirements.

Is that a correct sentence? Or is it supposed to be "experiences align"?


texts: What is the grammatical points in these sentences?

texts:
I'd like to know the grammatical points of the  phrases  "when children have a job" and "due to their age" in these sentences and how I can find more details about building sentences ( a common pattern) like these ones:

  1- However, one problem when children have a job is that it
  potentially leads to exploitation of them.

  2- They work full time but due to their age are not protected by
  law.


texts:
We say: She put up the umbrella.

Can I say: When it stopped raining, she put down the umbrella.

Is it correct?


texts:
It is from an article entitled "I stopped drinking coffee for a week — and it made me physically ill"

I love coffee—black coffee, specifically. Cream or sugar only interfere with the flavor of my beloved drink.

Before this experiment, I usually had three or four cups a day. This usually consisted of two before I left the house, another one or two at work, and then maybe one later in the afternoon if I needed a pick-me-up. My office is right above a coffee shop, so you could say I wasn't exactly set up for success.

I am confused why the writer used the bold phrase. Does the writer want to quit drinking coffee? But, it doesn't mention in the sentences. Could anyone explain to me?


texts:
All (of) my visits to the house were solitary.

Do I need that of? Why or why not? (Or maybe they are both acceptable?)


texts:
Conspiracists have  long speculated that these individuals are part of a secret “world  order”, with ties to the Illuminati and satanic cults. Debunking these  theories is relatively easy, but in his new book John Dickie goes much  further. Based on years of research into the archives of the Grand  Lodges, he has produced a global history of the organisation, explaining how the brand spread far beyond Europe. “The Craft” is a fascinating  tale of imperial trade, warfare and scientific progress which presents  the Masons as a response to the broader development of the modern world.

I found in dictionary a definition : [social/political order] - the political, social, or economic situation at a particular time
But how can individuals be part of a situation, what does "world order" mean?
article link :　https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2020/08/29/a-global-history-of-the-freemasons


texts:
A: I don't like oranges.

  B: I don't like oranges either.

This is the right way to express this idea.

question 1: But why can't it be written like this:

  B: I too don't like oranges.

question 2: What is the actual meaning of this???


texts: Is it unnecessary to put an "a" in this sentence "It’s very challenging work"?

texts:
To describe my job, I could say

  it’s very challenging work

Is unnecessary to put an "a" in this sentence

  It’s a very challenging work

In a different context, my boss gives my a very difficult task, I need to finish it in a very short time. Should I say

  It’s very challenging work

or

  It’s a very challenging work


texts: How do I ask a question distinguishing between "X" and "Y"?

texts:
I am not sure how to ask questions to find differences between two matters or distinguish them from each other with many similarities that they have as much as many differences. For example:

  I want to find how to recognize "X" of "Y".

These questions come in my mind:

How can you recognize/distinguish "X" of "Y"?
How can you recognize/distinguish "X" and "Y"?
How can you recognize/distinguish "X" from "Y"?
What differences/similarities "X" and "Y" have?
Which differences/similarities "X" and "Y" have?


texts: Is my example the same case as the link I gave?

texts: Does "She went into the home and left shoes on the floor" equal "she went into the home, leaving the shoes on the floor". Plus, many people of this site said it was not the same thing. But I wish you guys could check the link below out.


texts:
Note: This post is discussing a specific example, which is different to the posts that just give some general rules which might not applicable here, such as some posts that just talk about event but don't even mention a word about building.

Is the Statue of Liberty a historic building, a historical building or both?
I've gone through an ELL post, which gives a general answer, that is, a historical building.
I also went through a tutorial on English Grammar Today, which is informative though doesn't answer the question directly.

Historic means ‘important or likely to be important in history’ ... Historical means ‘related to the study of things from the past’

From Wikipedia

The monument was expanded to also include Ellis Island in 1965. The following year, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were jointly added to the National Register of Historic Places

Which seems to indicate that the Statue of Liberty is a historic building.
Which one should I go with?


texts: What's the meaning of 'without dimension' here?

texts:
Beyond the city to the north, a mountain emerged slowly into the dawn. Its base was blue and featureless, a shape without dimension against the brightening sky. But on the distant summit, the snow and ice glowed golden pink in anticipation of sunrise.

it's a quote from a novel and as far as I know dimension is a particular aspect of something or a property of space.. then what's without dimension here? I really cannot understand this sentence.


texts: including but not limited to - explain this sentence

texts:
You will not be permitted to bring any personal items to the test centre, including but not limited to wrist-watch, cellphones, calculators, etc.

I think it means a candidate will not be permitted to bring any items. Is this right or wrong? Please explain with some examples.


texts:
Do you mind me to sit here?
Do you mind my sitting here?

I know the second sentence is right, but can you tell why the first sentence is wrong?


texts: A comparison between "Illustrate" and "exemplify"

texts:
I was wondering if you let me know in which one of the self-made sentences bellow, the bold part sounds redundant:

  Could you please exemplify it with an example?

  Could you please illustrate it with an example?

Based on the definitions in the most of the online dictionaries I visited , both of the verbs above mean to clarify or explain something using examples. But:

  1) I'm not sure if they can always be freely exchanged.

  2) Meanwhile, I don't know if they require the object "example" at all or it is implied by itself.


texts: Is it ok to use "would" for future reference?

texts:
Is the below sentence correct:-

we would be using these spices from next time onwards.

Probably, would is used as past tense for will, but if the above sentence is correct, than why are we using it even for the future reference?


texts: Meaning of "And I came her majestic reflections to know"?

texts:
One stood among them, I remember most clearly
  Her sorrows were heavy, and her laughter was slow
  I courted her gently, for I loved her most dearly
  And I came her majestic reflections to know

I have seen this sentence in a music, but I really can't understand it, because I never saw such construction before.

That equals to "I knew her majestic thoughts" or "I came to know her majestic thoughts"?


texts: Questions on the difference between "you can do it the same way as she does" and "As she does, you can do it the same way"?

texts:
Can I change this sentence "you can do it the same way as she does" as "As she does, you can do it the same way"?
What is the difference in meaning between them?
I just got an answer that both are grammatically correct, but the latter just sounds old-fashioned, so people wouldn't normally write that way. Is this answer really right? and I have no idea why the latter sounds old-fashioned unlike the former. Can you explain it?


texts: Does the second text "Shops selling everything from..." mean the same as "Shops that sell everything from..."

texts:
So, I was reading an article today, and I came across a sentence that went

  Keep walking, and you will find yourself walking past shops that sell everything, from steel trunks to conch shells.

And I was wondering, if I changed the sentence to

  Keep walking, and you will find yourself walking past shops selling everything, from steel trunks to conch shells.

would it mean the same as the original sentence? Or would there be a difference in the meaning?


texts:
Example with a context (Tiny wind- and solar-powered 'Ecocapsule' promises ultimate getaway):

  It's as if science fiction and all the biggest tiny-living trends came together and laid an adorably tricked-out egg: Behold the Ecocapsule, a self-sustaining, low-energy, portable dwelling that allows users to live off-grid anywhere in the world (that gets at least a decent amount of sunlight).

What does that actually mean?


texts: Why is there no article in "We are Family"?

texts:
Sister Sledge - We Are Family - YouTube
I've searched on YouTube a song named 'We are Family'

Why use the sentence without an article 'a' or 'the'?


texts:
which sentence is correct?  and why?

  The Shakespeare is rarely born.
  A Shakespeare is rarely born.

would you please clear the meaning and grammar rule?


texts:
Is it okay to use "to start" in passive voice , if not how can we make it sound more natural?

For example :

  The question was started to be asked among scientists.

What I mean is that some people started to ask a question.

More context could be

  After the doctors revealed the King suffers from Alzheimer's, the question
  of "if he is still eligible to be king" was started to be asked secretly
  among his servers.


texts: Swapping the first parts of two words (e.g. Taylor Swift -> Saylor Twift)

texts:
I'd like to know the name of the process in English in which you swap the first letters of two words. I can't explain it well but see the examples below:

Taylor Swift -> Saylor Twift
London Town -> Tondon Lown
Central Bedfordshire -> Bentral Cedfordshire

And so on.

What are these called in English?


texts: How to avoid repeat a noun that is mentioned previously

texts:
In this sentence: The birth rate in the USA was higher than the birth rate in China.
If I wanna replace "the birth rate" before "in China", I would use "that" or "one"?
Actually, I have already referred to some sample essays, the authors always use "that", but I do not know why they do not use "one"?
Thank you so much!


texts: Is there an omission in: 'or hushed calls to send the military'?

texts:
The announcement that Canberra-based Aspen Medical will step into the front line of Australia's response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been widely welcomed.
  The health provider will get $20 million from the Abbott Government to staff a 100 bed hospital in Sierra Leone.
  Australia is now spending over $40 million to combat the deadly virus, but it hasn't silenced the critics, who say the response has been underdone and tardy, or hushed calls to send the military.
  The plan comes with a guarantee that Britain will treat any volunteers who get sick. But as political correspondent Louise Yaxley reports, the European Union gave a similar guarantee last month.
  (Aussie ABC)

Before the boldfaced part, is there an omission: ‘the response has been’?


texts: present perfect with 'since' vs present perfect continuous with 'since'

texts:
I have painted 2 rooms since tuesday
or
I have been painting 2 rooms since tuesday

I have washed the dishes                                                                                or
i have washed the dishes since morning
i have been washing the dishes since morning
i was told we can't mention time with present perfect in some cases. which of these sentences are correct?


texts: The phonetic transcription of the word 'copies'

texts:
I checked more dictionaries and the phonetic transcription (IPA) for the word: 'copy' is [ˈkɑp i]. It's two syllables with stress on the first syllable.

I know that the plural of "copy" is "copies" and we add that -es suffix. As far as I know the -es suffix phonetically looks like [ɪz]. However, this doesn't make sense to me:

copy [ˈkɒp i]

copies [ˈkɒp i ɪz]

There is a long "i" vowel in the singular and the ɪ in ɪz is a short vowel.
Can someone explain me what is the phonetic transcription of the word "copies" more exactly?


texts: I have two concerns on the highlighted part of this text

texts:
I have a miniature Australian shepherd who is my world and my baby, her name is Whiskee. Most of the time when I am at home we are outside running around or going for walks. I love to workout and stay in shape. I am currently going back to school to obtain my second bachelors in Nurse in hopes for one day to become a Nurse Practitioner. I am a very strong independent woman who also needs to her alone time. I admire love and cherish every moment of my life with the special people in it . I will do anything for my family for family is a very important aspect in my life. I am looking for someone who is down to have fun, watch football together, and is just wanting to take things slow.

When she says " ...I admire love and cherish every moment of my life eith the special people in it" ,

Do "admire" & "love" refer to the affection of speaker towards other or affection of other towards the speaker?
Who the word "people" refers to? family and relatives or a group of friends?


texts: going to or will if there are evidences that something is going to be done

texts:
Florence: Oh, look at that mountain of dirty dishes! Who is going to wash
   all of those?
  Jack: I promise I will do them when I get home from work.

Why "going to" and not "will "is it because there are evidences that the dishes is going to be done or is it because it has been planned before. I think the first solution is right, there are a mountain of dirty dishes so I can conclude that the dishes is going to be done soon
Am I right?
//www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs23.htm


texts: When do you use "is accusing of" ? Is this correct?

texts:
I thought "accuse" is used as below

1) A accuse B of something

2) B is accused of something

then I read a newspaper saying "Condo owner is accusing of splitting~"
I googled if this is a correct usage and found other sentences of using "B is accusing of something"

there are many other sentences using "B is accusing of something" but the dictionary doesn't say anything about this usage,
so I am wondering if this usage is just an expression in newspaper, or special usage or something


texts: Would you please help me to understand the difference between “just then” and “that’s when”?

texts:
Consider the following examples:

Just then he saw the fish.
That’s when he saw the fish.

Is there any difference in meaning between these examples?


texts:
Among the biggest changes prompted by the scandal was political morality.

Is this omitted here?

  Among the biggest changes that had been prompted by the scandal was political morality.


texts: What is the difference between by self and alone?

texts:
I have seen  in a book

was she with friends?
no, she was by herself.


texts:
I've heard people saying "I'm not too sure" on the internet. I guess it means the same as "I'm not very sure".

Is such a usage of the word "too" actually colloquial or could you also use it in a formal text?


texts: "children were sold to sweep the chimney" is it a valid structure

texts:
During that time children were sold to sweep the chimney.

Here, the two works-- 1. selling, 2. sweeping are being done by two different people / group of people.

  The pencil is used to write something.

Here in the second example, both of the  works-- 1. using, 2. writing are being done by the same person.

I'm confused about the first sentence and
I heard the it from someone. Is the sentence valid?

Thanks in advance.