texts:
Is there an idiom to say "You were right", in a regretful way, when for example you didn't listen to what someone kept telling you and now he's proven to be right.
As in:

You were right about it. I shouldn't have done that.


texts:
When talking abouts facts should we use would or will ?

  There would/will be no life without water.
  There would/will be no women without men.
  There would/will be no theft without thieves.


texts: When describing a ratio, should 'between' or 'of' be used?

texts:
When describing a ratio, should ratio between or ratio of be used? Example:

The ratio between floor area of smallest rectangle to the enclosed contour area of a polygon is tested with a defined threshold.

The ratio of  smallest rectangle's floor area to the enclosed contour area of a polygon is tested with a defined threshold.


texts:
Is it possible to omit "of" in such sentences.

  1- It wasn’t that nice of a host family after all.

  2-  It wasn't that nice a host family after all.


texts: "As an IT guy, please use both backups and version control.." Which guy is meant here?

texts:
As an IT guy, please use both backups and version control for all important files, especially anything for clients or your business. Please, please, please.

Is the speaker announces himself as an IT guy or calls the addressee an IT guy?

Note: the original text is a comment under this post if it helps.


texts:
I would like to use the expression "raison d'etre" in my writing. What I would like to express is a lack of thinking or mental activity when someone doesn't question a process — they just follow it. They do not look for the essence of the activity (why was it created? how  can it help? etc). This attitude can be positive or negative; in my case it is positive.

What I wrote is

  They do not question the raison d'etre of the process, they just follow it.

I don't know whether this is correct, and whether it means what I want to say.


texts:
I'm not sure how to read this line:

  See the child. He is pale and thin, he wears a thin and ragged linen shirt. He stokes the scullery fire. Outside lie dark turned fields with rags of snow and darker woods beyond that harbor yet a few last wolves.

(From Blood Meridian: or The Evening Redness In The West by Cormac McCarthy)

Is it something like this:

  Outside, lie dark turned fields, with...


texts: Is "mopping a sidewalk" okay in English?

texts: Would it be okay to say "mopping a sidewalk" when a sidewalk is being cleaned with water and mops or is there a better and a more common way of describing this action?


texts: Singular or plural verb in subordinate clause?

texts:
In  a book that I am reading (The Great Conversation) I found the following sentence:

  What is just in this social world is that each person receive the
  honor that is due, given that person's status and position.

Is receive correct?
Should not it be receives?


texts: Past Simple VS Past continuous in this context

texts:
In Cambridge dictionary I saw a sentence:

  They sat in the back row of the cinema kissing and cuddling.

As a basic learner I always would use:

  They were sitting in the back row of the cinema kissing and cuddling.

Like:

  I was sitting there doing nothing.

Can I use:

  "I sat there doing nothing."

Instead?

Please explain.

Thank you.


texts:
Difference between ‘put’ and ‘leave’

Leave the apricots to soak for 20 minutes.
Put the apricots to soak for 20 minutes.


texts: Changing reported speech into direct speech

texts:
The boy pleaded that he had not stolen the book.

The Options given are

  The boy said "I don't steal the book".
  The boy said "I didn't steal the book".
  The boy said "I haven't stolen the book".
  The boy said "I hadn't stolen the book".

I am aware of that the simple past, past
perfect and present perfect in direct speech change into the past perfect in reported speech, if the reporting verb is in the past tense.
         So, here it seems that second, third and fourth options can be correct answers.

But a book(by a non native speaker) says only third option is right. Is it right? Could you explain to me what the correct answer is?


texts: What does "an exposed nerve in her head" mean?

texts:
"Toothache?" I asked, not too gently.  "You deserve it.  A woman of
  your age, who would rather go around with an exposed nerve in her head
  than have the tooth pulled!  It would be over in a moment."

The above is from 'Circular Staircase' by Mary Roberts Reinhart. (1908)

The expression itself is not an idiom or slang, and I can't simply understand the meaning of this sentence at all.


texts: Colloquial English listening comprehension

texts:
I'm trying to improve my listening comprehension especially with those colloquial/slang style every day English, please lend me a ear on these tricky parts.

And so, it's a CustomerModel and we'll look at that ??? minute. Just like the PhysicalProductModel ??? position
??? six properties position
I'll pull (it?) over here. It says Simulating shipping the Nerf football to Tim, (he's???) in Scranton position
and we (gonna??) have a same
type of thing, we (gonna??) have a title  ??? a title for now.  OK, so (got a?) title position
and that might work, except for if we have things that aren't even or ??? even less equal position
So, an interface, let's talk about that ??? and then we'll actually see it in action position
Now, a naming convention ??? the naming convention position
first thing (you/we/???) do position
So ??? physical product model. position
otherwise, there's no point ??? in the contract if no one can see it. position


texts:
I want to say to people to rank up or down my work.
What words should I use?


texts: What is the meaning of "would" and why the past tense is used in these examples?

texts:
Thank you for showing interest in this post. Please have a look at the would in the following excerpts from The Economist:

  Conveniently for politicians, some of the pain of high inflation would
  be borne by foreign investors, whose share of public debt exceeds 30%
  in many rich countries. “In a crunch, will Chinese debt-holders be
  treated as senior to us pensioners?” asks Mr Rogoff. But less foreign
  investment in years to come would need to be set against that
  advantage. A perception that a nominally independent central bank was
  in fact a creature of politicians would create a risk premium on
  investment that would slow growth throughout the economy.

  Inflation would bring arbitrary redistributions of wealth to the
  disadvantage of the poor, just as Keynes observed it to have done in
  the late 1910s. Richer people are more likely to hold the houses and
  shares that rise in value with inflation, not to mention mortgages
  that would be inflated away alongside government debt. Higher
  inflation would also provide a bail-out that favoured more indebted
  companies over the less indebted.

I suppose all the would here are used more or less in the same way, but I would like to know what their exact meaning is. (I found Why "that would be me"? (part 2) relevant.)

Threads seemingly related to such usage of would: Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3

Another thing that came to my attention is that, when a main clause has would as its modal auxilliary, the verb of the dependent clause bound to the main clause tends to take the past tense form, as illustrated by was and favoured above, and I cannot fathom why. Below is another example:

  The first sign of any debt trouble in the rich world would probably be
  rising inflation. At first, that might be a relief, given the present
  deflationary risk and the recent history of persistently insufficient
  inflation. It would be a sign that the economy was recovering.

Yet another example in another context.

  A vaccine would not just save lives; it would change the course of the
  pandemic in two separate, if related, ways. It would protect those who
  were vaccinated from getting sick; and by reducing the number of
  susceptible people it would prevent the virus from spreading, thus
  also protecting the unvaccinated.

The examples should suffice for you to notice the pattern.

On comments: It is not really about irrealis, because clearly there are subject-verb agreements in the above examples, as illustrated by the contrast between was and were.

Updated: There are at least two sources putting forward rules but shying away from enunciating the logic behind.

One is Michael Swan's Practical English Usage (p. 232):

  Past instead of would...

  Would, like will, is avoided in subordinate clauses; instead, we
  generally use past verbs. This happens in if-clauses, and also after
  most other conjunctions.

  If I had lots of money, I would give some to anybody who asked
  for it. (not If I would have... who would ask for it.)

  Would you follow me wherever I went? (not ... wherever I would
  go?)

  In a perfect world, you would be able to say exactly what you
  thought. (not .. .-what you would think)

  I would always try to help anybody who was in trouble, whether I
  knew them or not.

Another source is Wikipedia.

See further Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3 Thread 4

If you would like to go academic, please refer to Conditionals: A Comprehensive Empirical Analysis (Declerck and Reed, 2001)

The rationale behind using the past tense seems to be that it can creat a sense of being distant from the reality to amplify the impression that what is being taked about is merely hypothetical. But it still strikes me as odd.

Please pitch in and share your thoughts.


texts:
For these two sentences:

"People affect the law in the way it affects people."
"People discuss the law in the way it affects people."

, could "in the way" have different meanings in the two sentences?

EDIT ADDITION:

But "in the way" appears to be often suggested as a definition for "as" when "as" is used in my original sentences like this:

  1a. "People affect the law as it affects people."
  2a. "People discuss the law as it affects people."

What do the "as" in 1a and 2a mean?  Are the as's in 1a and 2a different?


texts: My question is simple. Isn't "rural" redundant in "rural village"? However, there are 6,78,000 Google results for this phrase.


texts: How to find out what people say when you cannot make out the words?

texts:
Are there some online resources to help with understanding the audio when transcript is not available?

For example, here the host replies: 'Yeah, you might get caught ...... people', and I cannot make out what is between 'caught' and 'people' even after listening dozens of times. How can I find it out?


texts: "How much do you pay" vs "How much you pay"

texts:
How much do you pay for it?
How much you pay/paid for it?

What's the difference between the two ?


texts: Individual + plural or individual + singular?

texts:
I have a sentence like:

  Morphological and statistical features of individual heartbeats are
  used to...

I'm not sure whether it's correct or I should use individual heartbeat.

I googled it and it seems individual comes with both singular and plural nouns.


texts: How write about personal achievements? (tense choice)

texts:
Let's say I have  to describe my personal achievements during my work in some project. What tense should I use - the simple past or the present perfect?

The past simple

  Achievements:

  Developed a whole software component
  Proposed a new way to solve some problem
  etc

or the present perfect

  Achievements:

  Have developed a whole software component
  Have proposed a new way to solve some problem
  etc


texts:
What exactly does it mean "a few weeks into"?

I've seen such translations into my L1 where it meant both

right after starting sth Two weeks intothe job, we had that vortex in the east river.
and right before the end of sth She left schooltwo weeks intothe semester. though here, it could as well mean "right after starting the semester"

Can it mean both depending on the context?


texts: Does the English language have a grammatical gender?

texts:
If we are talking about animate objects, like people and animals, defining a gender is easy in most cases.

But for inanimate objects, like a chair, a tree, the sky and so on, gender can be a built-in language feature or can be absent from a language.

Is grammatical gender applicable to English or is it not? I am asking whether a chair has no gender at all or is it of neutral gender?


texts:
If I am looking at a list of tasks and I want to say "names of the tasks", is it wrong to say "tasks names" ? I usually see "task names", but how do you know that that means "the names of the tasks" instead of "the names of the task" (a task can have more names) ?

The choice of "task" and "name" here is just an example, it could be anything.


texts:
I could have included the question in the title actually. I was wondering how I should use ''looking forward to'' when I want someone else to do something. Namely, which one is correct?

I am looking forward you to solving the problem?

I am looking forward to you solving the problem?

Google and Cambridge translators give no difference between them (I have translated them to Spanish), and on-line Cambridge dictionary says nothing about this. And neither does a quick search on Google.


texts: "Off hand" as a synonym for "nondominant hand"

texts:
I heard someone in a video using the phrase "off hand" when referring to the left hand of a right-handed person.

Is this a common thing to say?


texts: Why do some language learners often omit the verb "BE"?

texts:
Many language learners miss out the verb BE when they are speaking English. This happens even if they know how the verb BE agrees with the Subject. They very rarely do this with other verbs.

Some examples:

"Yesterday I very happy because my sister came to London to see me."
"London very large city."
"It doesn't matter what I do, they never nice to me."

There may be many other completely different and unrelated sentences where learners may omit the verb BE too. This question isn't meant to only be about these examples.

Why do so many language learners do this?


texts:
1) “They are very happy to get lucky money from them.” In this sentence, “They” refers to ”children” while “them” refers to “parents”.

2) “They like different Chinese clothes.” In this sentence, “They” refers to “dad and mom” while in previous lines, it refers to Wendy and Bob.

Are there any personal pronoun reference errors in underlined parts in these 2 texts? Do they sound natural?


texts:
1) Capital punishment could be a crime reduction tool.
  2) Capital punishment could be a crime-reducing tool

What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?

In other words, can they be used interchangeably?

First sentence: Reduction is an attributive noun, which acts like a modifying noun for the word tool.

Second sentence is a hyphenated adjective.


texts: What is the difference between "was going every day" and "would go every day"?

texts:
What is the difference between these two phrases?

  "He was going for a morning walk every day"

vs

  "He would go for a morning walk every day"


texts:
Alan runs a business not only in China but also in Thailand

Or is this better?

  Alan runs a business in not only China but also Thailand?


texts:
I sometimes see or hear "a member to" while in a couple of dictionaries that I've checked there's only "a member of". Examples of the former are as follows,

The SBS is a member to the Health and Human Services (HHS) ...

EACO is a Member to the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People.

25 original ITA countries are members to the ITA extension...

Are they considered correct usage of the word member? If so, is there a rule regarding when to use "to" and "of"?


texts:
A term to act in the same way

  You are you; I am I,
  Neither I nor you're less,
  We're to obey friend's friendship.
  O my darling, tipple, o My sweetheart tipple.

The passage above is a translation of :

  तुम तुम हो; हम हम हैं.
  ना तुम कम हो न हम कम हैं.
  यार की है यारी निभानी.
  पीले पीले वो मोरे राजा.
  पीले वो मोरे जानी.

That's from a Hindi movie. In this song two friends say that their position is the same by using 'less’ कम:

  Neither I nor you're less

I want to know that less here works be in the same position or acting in the same way – if it does not, provide some idioms


texts:
He forced all Pixar employees to give up their options as part of his
  agreement to add another round of personal funding in 1991.

What does "options" in this sentence mean?


texts: "Call a taxi" and "Call for a taxi" is the same?

texts:
I want to make a question sentence like the below
"Is calling a taxi is the only way to take a taxi here? (Or from here?)"

and wonder if 'calling for a taxi" would mean same as "calling a taxi".
Also, would it have any slight difference if I use 'from here' instead of just 'here' at the end of the sentence?


texts: Could it be a structure of "How many -singular noun- is there?"

texts:
We had an argument in our collage if it's possible to have such structure:

  "How many -singular noun- is there?"

For example:

  How many chair is there?

The claim of the supporters: This structure should be used in case that t is not known whether there is one one or more chairs there. While just in case that it is known certainty that there are more than one chair, it should be "how many chairs are there".

The claim of the opponents: This structure cannot be since using the phrase "how many" always should be with a plural noun.

Both sides are not native English speakers, then I would like to know what is the truth.


texts: Should I change "nevertheless" in this sentence?

texts:
For the sentence below could you tell me that I should change nevertheless to however or change lent to had lent or change something else?

My sister lent me some money; nevertheless, I couldn't have afforded the trip to France.


texts:
Someone has posted somewhere that an Egyptian man had been arrested and jailed in USA around 1996. At the time, a crime took place in New York, and the criminal ran by him, telling him to run. Out of fright, he ran while not knowing what was going on. He was caught instead of the real criminal. He was later found not guilty and set free. The woman then reports the guy has been suffering a psychological trauma ever since and wanted to know if it was possible to seek compensation. I posted the following in reply:

  The man will probably not be entitled to any compensation because there is no legislation requiring states to compensate a defendant who has been found not guilty. States in the US have prosecutorial immunity against such claims. However, compensation might be possible if there had been a serious breach or misconduct on the part of the judge, prosecuter or police. Examples of such misconduct would be holding the defendant in custody for an excessively long period of time, forced confession, battery or any other blatantly illegal practices. So unless the said psychological trauma that the man experienced was the direct result of misconduct capable of being proven, he won't be able to win a lawsuit against the city of NY, neither will he manage to "mobilize" public opinion or excite media outlets.

When I read my reply again, I felt proved might actually be just as good or even better. But I'm not sure.


texts: What does "Don't bother asking it" mean?

texts:
I am reading this post,
where I see a yellow highlighted part in BrenBarn's answer:

  My first semester in grad school, my M.A. advisor laid it out for to me: "If you get a B in a grad school class, you should ask the professor whether you should consider dropping out of the program. If you get a C, don't bother asking."

I suddenly find it difficult to understand the clause, "don't bother asking".

Can you help me please?

Which of the following sentences (1) or (2) is correct for the given situation?

(1). Do not bother yourself to ask the professor, because you know the answer.
(2). Do not bother the professor because he won't tell you the answer.


texts:
What will be the correct choice in the following sentence

_______ he is kept away from me at all times, I am ready to come home again

Options are

As much as
Insofar as

I was given the following question in my exam. But I don't understand the meaning of this sentence, I think its wrong.


texts:
I have a question concerning the meaning of the preposition over in this news article:

  The sprawling townhouse has 6,800 square feet of space over five floors, including the ground level, which opens to a meticulously landscaped tiered garden in the back that can also be viewed from a Juliet balcony on the parlor floor.

I checked this dictionary and found definitions 9a and 9b under prepositions over:

  9a:  so as to cover the surface of (something)
  9b:   in every part of (a place)

It seems both definitions work well for the usage in the news article.  What do native speakers think?


texts: Is the part ".... and these courts he placed under the jurisdiction of the King alone" grammatical?

texts:
Availing himself of the early legal constitution of England, he placed
  justice in the old local courts of the "hundred" and "shire," to which
  every freeman had access, and these courts he placed under the
  jurisdiction of the King alone. In Germany and France the vassal owned
  supreme fealty to his lord, against all foes, even the King himself.
  In England, the tenant from this time swore direct fealty to none save
  his King.

Parmele, Mary Platt. A Short History of England, Ireland and Scotland (p. 15). Kindle Edition.

To me, the bolded part of the sentence is equivalent to "... and he placed these courts under the jurisdiction of the King alone"... but I don't understand how could "and these courts he placed under the jurisdiction of the King alone" seems incomplete.

Could someone please explain to me the grammar of this sentence?


texts: Is "no similar event have previously occurred" correct?

texts:
In a paper, I met the following passage:

In conclusion, there is little consensus on whether and when AGI will be created, and what will happen after its creation. Anything else would be highly surprising, given that no similar event have previously occurred.

According to Oxford dictionary, the word "event" can be used only as a countable noun.
Is the last sentence grammatically incorrect, or do I miss something?


texts:
Zhou unveiled details of the space station during a ceremony in which the reentry capsule of China's manned spacecraft Shenzhou X was given to the Hunan provincial government.

This is an attributive clause. I can't understand why "which" should add an "in" before? How to rephrase the sentence? Where to put "in"?


texts: What does" issue''mean in this sentence?

texts:
What a morning-fresh as if issued to children on the beach

from 'Mrs Dalloway'Virginia Woolf

I checked the meaning in the dictionary,
It says'to officially make a statement, give an order,warning'


texts: What do you call the science of determining the location of a geographical feature from pictures? By that any geographical features, or for that matter any element shown in pictures? I know some mathematical formulas allow you to do that, but I don't know the name of the discipline.


texts: Can the word "Vote" & "Rate" be interchanged?

texts:
I am building a system in which user can vote up/down point for a product (just like Facebook Like function) besides voting up/down, user can give a comment on it.

But I am not sure which word should I use? Should I use the word "Vote" or "Rate"?

In dictionary, Vote: is you set a preference to something & Rate: is you rank something.


texts:
Can I use the term "Big boys" to describe large companies like Google and Facebook? Can I use it to mention managers and employers?

Is it a general sentence that describe high position in any field?

And How to know who is the referred to in some context?


texts: "There are neither" or "there are no neither"?

texts:
If I'm a seller and someone asks me: "Are there rice and beans in your store?" and then I could answer in one of the following options:

  a) There are no neither.

  b) There are neither.

  c) There are neither, rice or beans.

  d) There are no neither, rice or beans.

What is correct English among the above options?

(there are two points in my question: 1. if I have to add the word "no" after neither. 2. If I have to complete the sentece after "neither", or it's enough to say neither).


texts: What would a correct sentence to say when power/electricity cut is "done"?

texts:
First, I'm confused whether I should use word power or electricity.

The thing is, I want to say is this:

I feel sad/excited/etc. when the electricity/power is cut/goes/goes off/cuts off.

In simple words, I want to use this sentence when someone (or due to a fault) cuts the electricity supply of a city/area.

How should I say this?

Please let me know if this detail is not clear.


texts: "The Dancing Queen" is using dancing applicable here?

texts:
I was watching a movie last night and It was a musical one. The movie involved a song named "The Dancing Queen".
Now, I know that the word "Dancing" is not an adjective. For instance, we say Dance music rather than Dancing music. I'm writing this to know if the name of the song was just to draw attention or there is some exception that makes it work as an adjective .


texts: My stuff keeps getting stuck between the little space (backrest and where you sit on the sofa)

texts:
There is a little space between the backrest and cushion of the sofa (where people sit), and things might slip into that little region. So what will be a natural way to describe that?

  My things keep slipping into the sofa.

My question is different because the linked question was about "what's the crack called" But my question was about  "something fallen into it and expressing that idea naturally... "


texts: "Yet at the end of the day, Mr. Guaidó fell short of the prize he sought" meaning

texts:
Does the sentence :

  Yet at the end of the day, Mr. Guaidó fell short of the prize he sought.

mean that :

  Even though a whole day went by and now its the evening, Mr. Guaidó failed to reach his goal.

?


texts:
Does it mean "organized by Redpoint Ventures" or "Redpoint Ventures invested the most money in this startup"?

The company recently wrapped up a $3.5 million seed round led by Redpoint Ventures and joined by Kimbal Musk, Figma CEO Dylan Field, AngelList cofounder Naval Ravikant, The Chainsmokers, Tinder cofounder Sean Rad, and others.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/ceo-founder-profitboss-landed-seed-round-investment-2020-10


texts: A student of mine is writing about her experience when she opened a Baggie of lima beans that had begun to rot. The smell was gross, like rotten garbage. A few sentences she wrote are "When we opened our Baggies. Our senses exploded! ¨Hear¨ are some of the _______________ my senses experienced!" What word could she use in the blank?


texts:
I need to ask my colleague to get the approval from his manager for something to process further.. Which of the below sentences are appropriate in this scenario?

Please get the approval from Donald to proceed.
Please get this request approved from Donald to proceed.
Please get this request approved by Donald to proceed.


texts:
I have come across in the seventh episode of the seventh season of Friends. Here is the context:

  Joey: Yeah—Hey, don’t worry, she’s a terrific girl. And hey listen,
  could you do me a favor? When she comes out could you just mention
  that I’m not looking for a serious relationship; that’d be great.

  Rachel: Why?! What?! Are you kidding?!

  Joey: Just casually slip it in, y’know lay the groundwork. Tell her
  uh, I’m a loner—No! An outlaw! Tell her she doesn’t want to get mixed
  up with the likes of me.

  Rachel: Y’know what? That’s a lot to remember, can’t I just tell her
  you’re a pig?

  Joey: Hey, I’m gonna call her later! Honest! Oh come on, Chandler used
  to do it! He’d even make the girl pancakes! Plus, he’d make extras and
  leave ‘em for me.

  Rachel: Well forget it, I’m not telling that girl anything. That is
  not my responsibility.

  Joey: Fine! (Pause) Now, where’d we land on those pancakes? (She
  chases him out the door as his date emerges from the bathroom.)


texts: Does "least two weeks to complete" mean it will be done in 2 weeks or more than 2 weeks?

texts:
We are in the process of updating your account. These updates take at least two weeks to complete.

Please clarify this... does this mean that it will be done in 2 weeks or 2 week or more ?


texts: "Will" and "Going to", in negative sentences. Interpretation of future plans

texts:
I hope you can help me clarifying.
I've watched this video that explains the difference between "Will" and "Going to" (with referring to future plans specifically). With reference to such video the teacher says the use of "Will" is bounded to instant decision, while "Going to" is used to refer a future planned before the moment of speech. The examples made however are in positive, for example it covers case like

  I'm going to eat out this evening

which means that in the future I'll eat out, but that such event has been previously planned. While

  I'll eat out this evening

means that in this moment I'm kind of planning my future. It makes perfectly sense to me that the meaning of

  I won't eat out this evening

means that I'm planning now to don't eat out, but what about

  I'm not going to eat out this evening

Is this suppose to suggest in general that I have other plans for the evening?


texts:
I should translate a couple of phrases and don't know how to use articles in them.

1 To search (a/the) private ownership (a/the) policeman must have a warrant.
2 To prove the guilt of (an/the) accused is the aim of (a/the) prosecutor.

Which of the articles should I use? Where can I read grammar rules about that?

Edited: I would like to use 'a'. But there are rules: we use the definite article 1) because there is only one in that place or in those surroundings 2) when we to talk about groups of people.


texts: What's the difference between "to get used to something" and "to be used to something"?

texts:
to get used to something

to be used to something

These two expressions seem to be the same. Please tell me what the difference is and in what situations i can use each of them. I only know that after these expressions we can use either a noun (as a subject) or gerund (as an action).


texts: "Love for rent" does this phrase have two meanings?

texts:
"Love for rent" could mean two things:

That love is available for rent.
The love for renting things.

Am I right with my interpretation? Which interpretation is more likely to be chosen?


texts:
What is the correct and more-native  position of the word 'are' in the following sentences?

*someone asked me what are my plans for halloween

*someone asked me what my plans for halloween are


texts: What does "one and all" mean in this context?

texts:
Looking at a dictionary, I found that "one and all" means "everyone", but in the excerpt below from Schopenhauer's On Human Nature, it doesn't seem to make much sense. Also note that the verb maintain doesn't have an s, which seems to imply that "one and all" isn't used to refer to "everyone".

Excerpt:

  To say that the world has only a physical and not a moral significance
  is the greatest and most pernicious of all errors, the fundamental
  blunder, the real perversity of mind and temper; and, at bottom, it is
  doubtless the tendency which faith personifies as Anti-Christ.
  Nevertheless, in spite of all religions—and they are systems which
  one and all maintain the opposite, and seek to establish it in their mythical way—this fundamental error never becomes quite extinct,
  but raises its head from time to time afresh, until universal
  indignation compels it to hide itself once more.


texts: Is it correct to say "to hail his hand"?

texts:
I thought it was a common construction. However, a quick Google search told me the contrary: "hail his hand"

Why is this?


texts: Will have started by the time we get there. Tense options?

texts:
How about catching a movie tonight? It starts at 9pm. Our working day
ends at 8:50 pm. The movie will have started by the time we get to the
theater as it'll take us 20 minutes to get there.

One resource says that with phrases such as "before" and "by the time" you can often use future simple and future perfect interchangeably.
Can I use Future Perfect and Future Simple interchangeably in the above example?
I realize now that you can use future simple if you assert something or, in other words, intend to do something by some time in the future, as in:
"I will do my homework by 9pm"


texts: Can a head noun be in a subordinate clause or an adverbial phrase of a relative clause?

texts:
It is kind of uncommon for me to see a head noun belong to a subordinate clause or phrase of a relative clause. I don't know if the usage is wrong or correct.
So, are the examples below grammatically correct? These examples are restrictive relative clauses I came up with (I don't know whether they are correct or not).

(1) This is a car which I sold my old stuff in order to buy.

(2) Knowledge which I solved this problem with was learned in school.

(3) The technology which I sent this file via is called email.


texts: Why is "will" used in a time clause with "when"?

texts:
When it will be ready, it will get out.

Why is it not

When it is ready, it will get out

Future with clause time is rarely used: so why is it used in this clause,"when it will be ready"?
I think the first sentence means that I will tell you now when the  merchandise will be ready (may be a fixed date) but it is not ready now. The second means that I will let you know as soon as the merchandise is ready.
It is the same problem for these sentences

It will take up to 72 hours until it will be ready.
or
It will be 72 hours until it is ready

I think the first one is only possible in this case.


texts: Meaning of the phrasal verb "hold over" in context

texts:
I have stumpled upon it in this video. It is at 37 seconds

  Here are three sunken lands that might hold you over until the fish people turn up.

I have looked it up in a few dictionaries, but I still cannot make head nor tail of what it means in the sentence.


texts: Is "is" pronounced "ɪs" or "s" before the unvoiced sounds?

texts:
My dictionary says "is" is pronounced /ɪs/ or /s/ when it's before the unvoiced sounds except two unvoiced sounds /s/ and /ʃ/. (Also, It says "is" is pronounced /ɪz/ or /z/ when it's before the voiced sounds except two voiced sounds /z/ and /ʒ/.)
Is this really true?


texts: Is the question "people from what other countries are you in touch with?" grammatically correct?

texts:
Is the question people from what other countries are you in touch with? grammatically correct? For example:

  You said you talk to people from a lot of different countries except Brazil. People from what other countries are you in touch with?

If doesn't sound good, could you tell me how you would ask that?


texts:
Words for Evil is the title of a game combining word game and RPG elements.

But what does this title mean? I'm not sure I understand how the word for has been used here.

And this fragment from an article about the game has confused me even further:

  Upon meeting strangers I sometimes describe my job as "conjuring up words for evil". It's for this reason that Dylan Loney's Words for Evil speaks to me.

Source: http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Android/Words+for+Evil/news.asp?c=60431

It looks like "conjuring up words for evil" is the reference to the title of the game, but I don't get it either. Has the author of this article used the phrase "words for evil" in the same sense as the developer of the game?


texts: I haven`t learned it for one year VS I haven`t learned it in a year

texts:
there~
I hope you could help me with these^^

I haven`t learned it for one year.
I haven`t  learned it in a year.

What is the differece??

I haven`t practiced playing basketball for one year.
I haven`t practiced playing basketball in a year.

What is the differece??
Actually, the original sentence I heard is "I haven`t had sex  in a year."

I haven`t had sex for one year.
I haven`t had sex  in a year.

What is the differece??


texts: How can I refer documents characterised by technical jargon?

texts:
I was wondering if there is any word or expression to refer documents characterized by technical jargon, such as clinical reports or patents.

I could use "technical reports" but, for example in the case of clinical reports might sound not appropriate. So, what term or expression might be more suitable?


texts:
People say "I've never thought about it" when they don't have experience of thinking about something.

Then, few hours later, How can I say to describe at that moment?

For example,
1 PM : I said, I've never thought about it.

10 PM : I already thought about it 9 hours ago but I want to describe at that moment. I suppose it should be "I had never thought about it". Is it correct? I've never heard about this sentence, though.


texts: The role of the preposition "in" in this sentence

texts:
The moment he received the approval, Montgomerie began to look for his first collaborator, whom he found in Mahomed-i-Hameed, better known by his code name, the ‘Moonshee’. (source)

Mahomed-i-Hameed appears to be the name of a person, not a place, and the antecedent noun of the pronoun "whom". Then why is in used before the name of a person? What does it mean to "look for a person in a person"? I thought you could only look for a quality/attribute in a person.


texts: How often is the expression "get on well" used? Is there any difference with "get along"?

texts:
I have been talking with a person from US and when I said something like this:

  They do not get on well with others

She didn´t understand me at first, but later she said that was a funny sentence and they do not used to say like that.

Another example with this expression:

  Choose people who are likely to be with the CMC for some time, who are steady and reliable and get on well with others.

I know there is another phrasal verb used for this purpose: get along

  Now almost everybody likes to play and get along with each other

Is the expression "get on well" used with the same meaning in UK and US?
Is there any different shade of meaning between both expressions?
How often are both expressions used in UK/US?

Note: There is the chance that she said something different because this happened time ago and I do not remember very well.


texts: How to understand "A wise man will only be useful as a man...but leave that office to his dust at least"?

texts:
Others, as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and
  office-holders, serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they
  rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the
  devil, without intending it, as God. A very few, as heroes, patriots,
  martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the state with
  their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most
  part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it. A wise man will
  only be useful as a man, and will not submit to be "clay," and "stop a
  hole to keep the wind away," but leave that office to his dust at
  least...

Can I literally understand the first clause as "if a wise man is a man, then he will be useful"?

Does the second clause make the "not...but..." construction? What does "office" and "dust" mean?


texts:
According to the Urban Dictionary:

to toodle pip a dear friend means to say goodbye in a very friendly way.

How common is this expression? Can  I use it without any fear to be misunderstood?


texts: Are "in her stead / in her shoes" interchangeable?

texts:
Can I use "stead" in the same context as

  What would you do if you were in her shoes?

  What would you do in her stead?

Or what's the best way to ask this question ?

Thanks


texts: Using the idiom "the sky is falling down" in a hopegiving sentence

texts:
How should I use the idiom the sky is falling down when I'm going to say to someone in an understated way to that the situation is bad, but not too bad?

In other words, I need to make a similar sentence like that's not the end of the world, just using this structure.

Does the following sentence sound natural to you?

  It's not as if the sky is falling down.

Thank you.


texts: Correct phrase: "registered under the scheme" or "registered in the scheme"

texts: I want to write that "children can be registered (in/under) the scheme, provided certain eligibility criteria are satisfied". Which would be the correct preposition to use?


texts:
What is the difference between the two wordings and which one is correct?

  (1) Why is past tense not used?

  (2) Why is not past tense used?


texts: What does "solidify" meaning in this sentence?

texts:
I read this passage from my reference book. There is a sentence being bold below :

  The standard SSI and MSI parts that have served as “bricks and mortar”
  in the building of digital systems for over 40 years are now obsolete
  and becoming less available. Many of the techniques that have been
  taught over that time have focused on optimizing circuits that are
  built from these outmoded devices. The topics that are uniquely suited
  to applying the old technology but do not contribute to an
  understanding of the new technology are being de-emphasized. From an
  educational standpoint, however, these small ICs do offer a way to
  study simple digital circuits, and the wiring of circuits using
  breadboards is a valuable pedagogic exercise. They help to solidify
  concepts such as binary inputs and outputs, physical device operation,
  and practical limitations, using a very simple platform. Consequently, we have
  chosen to continue to introduce the conceptual descriptions of digital circuits
  and to offer examples using conventional standard logic parts

What does "solidify" meaning in this sentence ?


texts:
What are the polite ways to remind people of things that they have apparently forgot? Is it Ok/normal to say "please be reminded that ..."?

I know generally speaking, it's better to use "I" instead of "you", but even so, say to use something like "I'd like to remind you...", sounds too "accusing" to me.

What are the better alternatives for a friendlier reminder? Thanks


texts:
Let's say you are describing a house. And you say:

  ”As you enter towards the 2-storey house, there is a cobblestoned pathway which makes your walk easier.

Is this the same as:

  While you are entering towards the 2-storey house, there is a cobblestoned pathway which makes your walk easier.

Are they the same? Googling doesn't have any result in this query unfortunately.

(Edited)

As you enter the 2-story house, there is a cobblestone pathway which makes your walk easier.
While you approach the 2-story house, a cobblestone pathway before the house will make your walk easier.


texts: What does the phrase "He held that a man who can observe is a man apart" mean?

texts:
I knew this game. Lundist held that a man who can observe is a man apart. Such a man can see opportunities where others see only the obstacles on the surface of each situation.

This is a quotation from Prince of Thorns, chapter 11.
How does this sentence work?
Is "he held that a man" equal to "he is a man"?
I've googled that "a man apart" = "standing apart because he has different traits" but I can't make any sense of the sentence. Why is there "is a man apart"? What kind of grammar is it?


texts: Is it legitimate to simply say "Something lies in that ..." instead of "Something lies in the fact that ..."?

texts:
I found it inconvenient to repeatedly use "the fact that", and I even feel that the phrase "the fact" may be redundant.

So can I simply say, for instance, "The reason why we choose you lies in that you can do this well" instead of "The reason why we choose you lies in the fact that you can do this well"? Since a sentence preceded by "that" is already an object, there seems to be no need to introduce "the fact"?


texts: Should I say "I am caught" or "I have been caught" in this situation?

texts:
I am playing Subway Surfers and the police officer catches me.
What do I say now?

  I am caught by the police officer.

Or

  I have been caught by the police officer.


texts: What does it mean "to have a crush on somebody"

texts:
I've heard in many movies that one character says "I have a crush on him/her".

I'm not sure what it means. Somewhere, i read that it means that person A likes person B but A cannot tell B. Somewhere else, it was written that it means person A is with someone he/she shouldn't be. ( Like an older person ). One of my friends told me that it means that person A doesn't love person B but somehow A likes B. I'm confused about what it means.

My questions are :

  What does it exactly mean "to have a crush on somebody"?
  Is it a bad thing? Should someone be ashamed because he/she has a crush on somebody?
  Is it a rude thing to say?


texts:
If I want to say that I like painting,  but I am not a professional artist can I use the sentence below?
"I am not an artist. It's only my hobby."


texts: C as "c" in all abbreviations or acronyms

texts:
Does letter "c" read as [c] in all abbreviations or acronyms?

BBC - company [k]
PC - computer [k]
RC - compiler [k]

Are there any abbreviations or acronyms where the letter C doesn't read as [c]?


texts:
Which of the following sentence is the correct one:

    Police found all the pieces of evidence against John. Thus, by suspecting that Mr. John was responsible for Rachel's death, Police arrested him.
    Police found all the pieces of evidence against John. Thus, due to their suspicion that Mr. John was responsible for Rachel's death, Police arrested him.

Both of the above sentences appear correct to me. However, many of my colleagues suggested that the second is the better one.


texts:
What is the difference between the following? Also, if both:

in the other hand and
on the other hand

are correct. And what is the reason?


texts: What's the meaning of "all but unsuring runs by publicity-hungry outsiders" ? Thanks!

texts:
Here is the entire phrase : "As the 2020 race, the party deferred to measures of popular sentiment to determine who should make the cut for the debates, all but unsuring runs by publicity-hungry outsiders"

I'm also uncertain about the expression "make the cut" ; here, does it mean participate to the debates or win the debates ?

Thanks you,


texts:
I came across several usage of would and will in a news article, but it is of pretty much confusing use. I picked a few sentences in the article with would or will in.

  According to No 10, the new plan would allow the UK the freedom to set its own tariffs on goods arriving into the country.

  Downing Street says it is confident the arrangement would be partly in place by the end of the proposed transition period in December 2020 - with the system being fully operational by the next general election.

  However, the arrangement has not been explained in full - and it is not clear whether the cabinet will back the plan, or whether the EU would agree.

  Technology would be used to determine where the goods will ultimately end up - and therefore whether UK or EU tariffs should be paid.

Can I exchange will for would or the other way around?

And especially the last two. would was used just next to a will, but I think they express the same thing, why writer used like this way.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44719576


texts:
What does the word dial mean in this sentence? It doesn't make sense to me with definitions I found in dictionaries.

  “Conversely, when you have your habits dialed in and the basics of
  life are handled and done, your mind is free to focus on new
  challenges and master the next set of problems. ”

From: James Clear. “Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results.”


texts:
The buried treasure has never been found.

If I change this sentence into active,

  1.Nobody has ever found the buried treasure.

  2.Nobody has found the buried treasure.

Should I change "never" into "ever" for the given sentence?


texts: Active and passive voice usage for gerunds and infinitives

texts:
I saw him go.

What is the passive voice of this?

My book is saying:

  He was seen to go by me.

Why can’t it be :

  He was seen going by me.


texts:
It is from a video of the the YouTube channel TED-ed. Here it goes:

  He galloped through his home in a frenzy, handling each item until it took on a lustrous sheen. Soon the palace heaved with gold.

I have cheched all the meanings of heave, but It seems to me none fit there.


texts:
I would like to turn the following sentence into passive voice.

  Most people think he was responsible for the problems.

What I infer from the sentence is that people still think so and the problems were experienced in the past.

First of all, I'd like ask if the first sentence is grammatically correct?

  1.He is believed to was responsible for the problems.

or

  2.He was believed to have been responsible for the problems.

  3.He was believed to be responsible for the problems.

( can I stress the past tense "was" in the original tense by saying " he was believed to..." , if they make a sense )

or

Should I have to stick to present perfect or bare infinitive as follows but in this case I doubt they may not convey that problems were in the past.

  4.He is believed to has been responsible for the problems.

  5.He is believed to be responsible for the problems.

Could you compare these 5 sentences above in terms of meaning they convey please?


texts:
Which sentence is correct ?

Each one of you must make up his mind.

Or

Each one of you must make up your mind.

From the knowledge I have , Each is followed by his but since here we have one of you so will it will take your instead of his ?


texts: Noun phrases without participles as absolutes: behind those high twigs, their leaves leathery green on top

texts:
My earliest childhood memory is of the swaying limbs of Golden
  Delicious apple trees. Rows of them stood next to a dirt road that
  separated our orchard from the front yard.

  The Kentucky summer sky hung hot behind those high twigs, their leaves leathery green on top, soft as down underneath.

Frank Browning,“Sweet Temptation,” Reader’s Digest

The word in the sentence is: high twigs

The effective word in the phrase is: their leaves

I think the phrase, without a participle, is still absolute. Do you agree?


texts: What is the meaning of "it" in the sentence, "What makes it rain"?

texts:
What is the meaning of "it" in "What makes it rain" ?
What is the exact difference in meaning between "What makes it rain" and "What makes rain"?
Does "What makes it rain" mean "What makes rain" ?
If so, why is "it" used ?


texts: How to mention more relations in a single sentence?

texts:
Uncle Frank & his mother Evelyn fighting each other in court to get
  custody of Mary.

Here Frank's relation to Mary is Uncle & Evelyn relation to Mary is Grandmother.

I am facing difficulty in phrasing the sentences because of single person having more than one relation.


texts:
From NPR (describing how the honeybees keep warm):

  They (honeybees) actually kind of cluster together and form a bee ball around the queen and then vibrate their wings and that keeps the whole nest up and warm in the 90s.(Source)

Generally, "in the 90s" means a time, just as "the 1990s", but it seems that here the phrase doesn't represent a time, it's more like a temperature or something else. Can anyone give a reasonable interpretation of it? Thanks!


texts: Can we say “Turn the scooter away / outward / off”?

texts:
away: to a different place or in a different direction

  Go away!

  Put your toys away.

  The bright light made her look away.

Look at the picture below

Your child was riding a scooter and the scooter ended up facing the wall.

Is it natural to say Turn it ‘away’ or ‘outward’ or ‘off’ so that you can continue to ride"?

Note: As long as the scooter won't face the wall, that is fine. We might turn it at about 90 degrees (i.e, the scooter and the wall are now parallel), not necessary at about 180 degrees (i.e, the back of the scooter and the wall are facing each other).

I heard some native speakers say this:

  When it’s used intransitively, ‘to turn around’ means to turn either
  180 degrees or a full 360 degrees, depending on the context—at least,
  it does in North America. If we’re driving a car and realize we should
  have gone in the other direction, for example, then we turn around,
  meaning 180 degrees. Brits would probably say ‘turn round.’


texts: eLearning writing: Beginning with “while”

texts:
I am aware that using While to begin a sentence brings in a dimension of time to it.

Could you please tell me if this sentence is grammatically correct?
Thank you.


texts: "factory for producing aluminium strips" VS "factory to produce aluminimum strips"

texts:
A initiates discussions with B to build a factory for producing aluminium strips.
  A initiates discussions with B to build a factory to produce aluminium strips.

I am not certain whether this is a question well asked, or ever worthy of being answered. Is it a matter of which preposition should be used to modify factory?

Could you tell me which preposition is better here and why.


texts: "To pay slightly more is..." vs "Paying slightly more is..."

texts:
Could I say both of the sentences below?

To pay slightly more is a necessary evil for motorists...

vs

Paying slightly more is a necessary evil for motorists...

When should I use infinite and when gerund?


texts: What do you call a flexible diving platform? I just realized this, but in international competition the diving platform isn't always elastic and flexible, but I doubt they are called a diving platform since they protrude out of the platform. You can see four of them in the lower platforms. What are they called?


texts: What is the difference between "give something to someone" and "give something away to someone"?

texts:
What is the difference between give something to someone and give something away to someone in the sense giving that thing for free or as a present? For example:

I'm going to give the phone to Kate. I don't use it anyway.
I'm going to give the phone away to Kate. I don't use it
anyway.


texts: present perfect or past simple?!/Third conditional or mixed conditional

texts:
which one of these sentences is correct?!

  1)You shouldn't have gone to the cinema yesterday.
  2)you shouldn't went to the cinema yesterday.

To me sentence 1 sounds better than the second one,but the fact that when we are refering to a specific time( here yesterday) we must use past simple kinda made me confused;and the other thing is that as far as I remember I've never heard using should/shouldn't with the past form of the verbs.
What if I want to use conditionals for expressing the same thing:which one should I use?!

  1)It would have been better if you hadn't gone to the cinema
  2)It would have been better if you didn't go to the cinema

To me third conditionl(first sentence) sounds more logical than the mixed conditional but I'm still not sure


texts:
When you hectically visit multiple places in a short span of time (when you need to buy something, for example), what do you call it? Is it called "running around [places]"? Like

She was [running around] shops trying to find the best present for her fiancee for Christmas.


texts:
I have a problem with understanding the bolded sentence below, extracted from a marketing book:

  Currently, margins are tight and turnover is dependent on inclusive tours and business travel respectively, with other services bringing far smaller contribution. The concept of the experience curve, i.e. an increased market share relative to competitors which leads to the creation of economies of scale, is appropriate in this context. Not only is it a matter of increasing the volume of sales of tourism offerings across branches that improves commercial return, but also the wider experience applied across all activities of the business, which leads to greater profitability.

Would you please paraphrase it? I know the meaning of every single word but the meaning of the whole sentence is vague.

I think tourism offerings =  tourism products. But, what does "the wider experience applied across all activities of the business" mean? Is "experience" applicable?


texts: What does "abuse" and "gnashing teeth" mean in Charles Darwin's letter?

texts:
In a letter by Charles Darwin to his friend, J.D. Hooker, he said the following at the end of the letter:

  In a year or two's time, when I shall be at my species book (if I do
  not break down), I shall gnash my teeth and abuse you for having put
  so many hostile facts so confoundedly well.

I wish to understand what Darwin meant by "gnashing his teeth" and
"abusing" his friend. I don't think that he meant illtrating or
scolding him, knowing that they were close friends, and due to the
fact that people were so polite in addressing each other back then.


texts: How does using "not" differ from using a negative word?

texts:
How does using "not" differ from using a word with a negative prefix?

For example:

  It's unwise to vote down this question.
  It's not wise to vote down this question

I know semantically (or literally), they're the same. However, I want to know grammatically, how do they differ?


texts: Is there any known pronunciation rule that justifies the p in "receipt" not being pronounced, does it have to do with the origin of the word or something or how it is? Why the p in "receipt" is not pronounced?


texts: Question about those/these and if my sentence makes sense

texts:
...

  Are the university's tutors officially involved in those groups?

  If yes, how active those groups are and what I could be
  potentially missing compared to when not using those groups?

My question is about Facebook study groups. It doesn't really matter for the person I'm sending it to if my grammar is on point, but it does matter to me to be correct, so that in future I would not make similar mistake. Does the quoted sentence make sense?


texts: Idiom that means “to do something that yields no result”

texts:
Is there an idiom that means “to do something that yields no result?”
I don’t know if the idiom “to carry water to fill up a dry well” exists in English.


texts: the difference between the present perfect simple and continuous - She's been playing tennis since she was eight

texts:
She's been playing tennis since she was eight.

Does the meaning of the sentence above change if I use the present perfect simple as below?

  She's played tennis since she was eight.


texts: Is it correct to say "... away from X a few Y"?

texts:
I ask because I found very few hits on Google.

Example sentence:

  Our knees almost touched, so I wriggled myself away from her a few
  centimeters.


texts:
I'm not sure but I think the following sentences are related to the certainty or uncertainty of the fact that he will come or not.Or I think would come indicates some kind of uncertainty than will come.so, If the speaker were certain he would use 'will'. for examples :

1.Do you think he'd come? | I'm sure he would. (Here the speaker isn't sure that he will come)shows uncertainty

Do you think he will come? | I'm sure he will. (Here the speaker is sure that he will come ) shows certainity

Am i right here in my opinion?

If first sentence indicates uncertainity( if my openion is correct), But why there is the use of 'would' with 'sure' in first sentence?

context: is there the 'if clause' hidden in those sentences? What about if I already invited him(Tom) at my home and he haven't come yet to my home and i'm talking with one of my friend Ram about weather Tom will come or not.


texts: How to distinguish between 2 things owning another thing and a list of 2 things?

texts:
Consider this example phrase:

  Bob and Martha's dog

This could mean one of two things:

(Bob) and (Martha's dog)
(Bob and Martha)'s dog

How do I know which one is the right one, and how do I clarify that in my own writing?


texts: Sentence Meaning: “Both of us have made a mistake”

texts:
Both of us have made a mistake.

What does this sentence suggest? Does that suggest that two people have contributed in the same mistake, e.g., “spilling milk in the kitchen”, or does that suggest that two people have made two different mistakes, e.g., one has spilled milk in the kitchen and another one broke the vase?


texts:
What is the difference between 'remind someone of' and 'remind someone about'?

Some examples:

  Let me remind you of the document you signed several weeks ago.

  You asked me to remind you about the Earl of Rochester.

  It reminded Meg of the Cheshire Can.


texts:
Do all of these make sense?

He was the only chosen person out of a hundred others.
He was the only chosen person of a hundred others.
He was the only chosen person among a hundred others.
He was the only chosen person in a hundred others.

It's just that I've seen all four in, among, out of and of used with choosing and selecting:

Two shots in ten tries hit the target.
The house was among the trees.
Only three of five songs were recorded today.
They were out of a bigger group of animals.

Are they all correct?


texts: "That man was I." or "That man was me." - How to choose the pronoun after linking verbs?

texts:
How to choose the pronoun after linking verbs?

We must put the same word after the linking verb that we would put before the linking verb, mustn't we?

  Do you know who was the man under the mask? that man was I.

Another example:

  But not one of them knew or guessed that if there was a man on this earth who knew better than everyone else that I was ridiculous, then that man was I, and that what I found all the more annoying was that they didn't know ... The Gambler and Other Stories

But I found a lot of examples where people had used it as following:

  There was no way to prove — actually prove, really prove — that that man was me. The Illustrated Man

So, what are the rules and exceptions?


texts: Incorporate or subsume?This is the main question

texts:
In my office bio-data form I added three more points. I requested:

  "Please incorporate these points and make these points effective."

"Incorporate" or "subsume"? Which one is correct?This is the main question.

     As per New oxford advanced learners dictionary, Incorporate means to include something  that it forms a part of something examples [1} many of your suggestions have been incorporated.[2] the new car design incorporates all the latest safety features [3]we have incorporated all the latest safety features into the design.
          And subsume means to include something in a particular group and not consider it separately example[1]all these different ideas can be subsumed under just two broad categories.

As per compact oxford dictionary and thesaurus Incorporate means include some thing as part of a whole [ synonyms- absorb,include,blend] But subsume means[usually passive] to include something in a particular group and not consider it separately.

But subsume means include or absorb something in something else.                                In subsume separate identity of  what is subsumed is not lost and can be  separately shown when required .

"please  include this,thanks"  is sufficient.


texts:
My boss asked me the send him some documents, I immediately attached the documents and  send him an email with the following body:

 Dear Thomas,

 I hope all is well with you. Thank you very much for your
 message. Here it is.

 Best,
 Linkho

My question:

Was it impolite to say him "here it is" ? Was it too informal?

How I could answered him politely? ( Politely and formally)


texts: I was wondering if some one could help me with the title 'evolutionary baptism' in a book called "Before Atlantis" by Frank Joseph on 20 million years of human and pre-human cultures. I want to know what exactly the title stands for? Does it suggest the evolution of all the views towards the subject? Thank you.


texts: Is it wrong to say: He occupies the bathroom

texts:
Is it wrong to say:

  "He occupies the bathroom, so I cannot come in"

I heard the phrase:

  "The bathroom is occupied, so I cannot come in."

So I wondered if I also can say it the other way.

Thank you


texts: How to parse: That is {adjective} which + {verb} + {object} (1904)?

texts:
I was reading this Etymonline entry which cited the following, whose syntax confuses me:

  [1.] That is common which pertains equally to two or more persons or things.
  [2.] That is mutual which is freely interchanged: mutual love, affection, hatred. [...]
  [J.H.A. Günther, "English Synonyms Explained & Illustrated," Groningen, 1904]

3. In both [1], [2.], does the relative pronoun which refer to the demonstrative pronoun That?
I'm guessing that    That is {adjective}    is the main clause.
The subordinate clause starting with which   is a relative clause.

4. Should  That  be replaced with:  ALL That  ?


texts:
I heard a lot people omit the "in" while saying "in a right way".

for example

if a kid play with a knife, someone would told him/her "you are not using the knife a right way"

is it grammatical and idiomatic?


texts:
Living in a country with a lot of incorrect "english-like" expressions, I am in doubt. Is "NG" correct english?  (meaning the opposite of "OK")
If not, what is the opposite of "OK"?


texts:
Should I say:

I've made a huge mistake by accepting this offer
I've made a huge mistake in accepting this offer


texts: How is "parking" split (hyphenated) at the end of the line?

texts: How should be the word parking correctly split at the end of the line? Should it be par- king or park- ing? The latter is suggested by my word processor, but I would say the former is correct. Which one is it?


texts: Which parts of this sentence needs "had" and which don't?

texts:
As the detective (had) said, the man (had) left no explanation for his death--but he (had) left something more important.

This is past-tense narration. The detective talked in a previous time (e.g. a previous chapter).

My common sense tells me I need had, but at the same time, adding so many makes the sentence sound cluttered, so I'm not sure. Where do I need "had" and where I don't? (Or maybe I can omit all the had's and still make the sentence valid?)


texts:
This sentence is struck in my head for almost 2 days now.

Should someone say "Speaking in English is not a problem to me" or "Speaking in English is not a problem for me"?


texts: What do I call a coat that is light-weighted and usually worn in spring and autumn?

texts:
What do I call a coat that's light-weighted, usually worn in spring and autumn. The coat extends just above the knee or a little over the knee.

The terms come to my mind are - Dust coat? Over coat? Top coat or spring coat


texts: Meaning of "bummed to hear she thought so poorly of it"?

texts:
Kindly forgive me when I left once SE in a radical manner.
My question is, I uploaded a music at a site.
It was Cyndi Lauper's Goonies r Good Enough.
And I got a reply saying,

Love this song, and was bummed to hear she thought so poorly of it.

According to an unban dictionary, "bummed" is defined as,

Feeling knocked onto the butt, or bum, by circumstances. Synonym of down, dejected, sad or disappointed.

So my question is, is the reply trying to say, "She(Cyndi) created the whole music with paying not enough attention to it"?
Thank you in advance(m_m).


texts: The phrase order to convey the order of events

texts:
I have this sentence:

  When (or As?) a node matching the anchor “Results” is visited, the subsequent nodes will be regarded in the scope of the context which begins with this anchor.

I doubt if I can say it as

  When a node is visited which matches the anchor “Results”, the subsequent nodes will be regarded in the scope of the context which begins with this anchor.

In the second sentence I want to imply that matching occurs after visiting, while I think the first sentence doesn't imply this.

Am I right?

By the way my original sentence was:

  By visiting a node which matches the anchor “Results”, the subsequent nodes will be counted in the scope of this context.

But I wasn't sure about its structure.


texts:
I'm not an expert at grammar, but I'm a native English speaker. I'm trying to help a Spanish speaker learn English. She confuses when to use "to" with "want" or "can". For example, she will say, "I can to use..." and "I want use...". I instinctively know that the word "can" does not use "to" before a verb, while "want" does.

I want find rules governing this. If you can to help me, I'd appreciate it. (Please excuse the illustrative pun).


texts: Why has the writer used "where" in the sentence in bold?

texts:
Sometimes his wife got this look where she pinched her brows together and bit her lower lip and stared down at something.when he saw her like this he knew he should keep his mouth shut, but he never did. Actually it made him talk more. She had that look now.

I think it sould be written:...when she pinched her brows...

It is new to me to use "where" in such a sentence like this one.

Thank before hand for your help.

This context is from a short story named: Say Yes by Tobias Wolff.


texts:
I’ll finish the work in the next few days. You can pay me then.

Although you can visit these places, you’re welcome to stay in the hotel if you are tired.

You can buy a ticket from the Tourist Information Center.

Can I use "may" in place of "can" in (1), (2) and (3)?


texts: How to use while and when in one sentence?

texts:
When a traffic light changes to yellow, while approaching an
  intersection, you should slow down.
  While approaching an intersection, when a traffic light changes to yellow,
  intersection, you should slow down.

I want to use "while" and "when" in one sentence, but am not sure which of the two sentences above I created is better.


texts: Do you 'greet' someone if you are coming to them?

texts:
Can 'greet' be used when someone is 'saying hello' to someone they are coming up to. I have seen it used in the opposite order, as in greeting a visitor. Can it also be used for the visitor?

Examples:

Said by someone with people coming to him:

  The pub-owner greeted his guests when they came though the door.

Said by someone going to others:

  Lisa had just moved in and went next door to greet her neighbors.


texts:
I would need help with shortening this sentence as much as possible without making it sound strange.

He was surrounded by the maliciousness of all, but he had no strength to defend himself against their groundless accusations. The only thing left (for him) (to do) was to cry his heart out.

Is it correct to just say

The only thing left was to cry his heart out?

or do I need to do? Can I leave for him out?


texts: An expression to describe a place that is very accessible and convenient

texts:
is there a phrase/expressions/idiom that is related to nearby distances and/or easy accessibility? For example,

Within reach
A stone's throw away
At your service

I'm creating a title for a property that has an excellent location - it's right smacked in the middle of everywhere, near to public transportation, other shopping malls, offices etc.


texts: present simple or present continuous? "Her boyfriend is always taking/takes her out for movie on Friday"

texts: in sentence "Her boyfriend always taking/takes her out for movie on Friday" I've got confused. "taking" or "takes"?


texts: Use of the indefinite article instead of the definite one before the nouns derived from verbs

texts:
I was watching Crash Course Astronomy and I came across a sentence with the use of the indefinite article that I am confused with. ( It is at around 5:00). Here is the sentence:

  Galaxies probably formed from huge clouds of gas billions of years ago. As a cloud collapses, small eddies in the gas would get amplified, and would create an overall spin. This naturally leads to a flattening of the cloud.

Why was the indefinite article used before the word flattening instead of the? Does a mean that it leads to some flattening? if not, then would it be correct to use the in there?


texts: "John and I are friends" vs. "John and me are friends"

texts:
I was corrected in the middle of a conversation because I used "John and I are friends" as opposed to  "John and me are friends."

I think the former sounds correct, but am not sure. Could someone help?


texts:
Is there a difference between "can't you" and "don't you"? As in:

  You just can't behave properly, can't you?

vs.

  You just can't behave properly, don't you?

I don't understand their difference (if there is).


texts:
It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of
  something peculiar — a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley
  didn’t realize what he had seen — then he jerked his head around to
  look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet
  Drive, but there wasn’t a map in sight. What could he have been
  thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley
  blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove
  around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive — no,
  looking at the sign; cats couldn’t read maps or signs. Mr. Dursley
  gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he
  drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills
  he was hoping to get that day. (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

If Mr. Dursley could see the cat in his mirror, his car needed to stay at the road it was going on. So when there isn’t ‘and’ in the dependent clause, I may understand that the car is near the corner that is going to up the road, not changing its course. Is there some misunderstanding? If it is, what is that?


texts:
I have got some questions about a and any?

Which are correct?

  I have not got any/a meeting?
  I have not got any/a problem?


texts:
I was reading a novel and found that in the situation when A had a phone call,
B was standing next to him and asking him repeatedly, "Is it C?", A tried to
wave B off, but B said

  "I'm not over it."

and kept bothering A.

I wonder what does the phrase "I'm not over it" mean? Thanks.

FYI, here's the excerpt from the fiction:

  Tony fumbles opening the phone. "Hello?"

  The person on the other end clears their throat. "Is this Tony Stark?"

  "Yeah," Tony answers, then swallows. He tries to shoo Peter away, but
  the kid doesn't take the hint so he stands up instead.

  "Tony?"

  "Steve?" Tony replies. He sounds like an idiot.

  "That's him?" Peter calls. "I'm not over it."

  Tony waves Peter off but there's only silence on the other end of the
  line.


texts: What are some examples of "general or abstract principles" of a body of fact, a science, or an art?

texts: I do not have an English-medium education but most of the books that are recommended for my programme and field of study are in English. With great difficulty I managed to learn the literal meaning of "general or abstract principles". However, I need some real examples to make my grasp of the term more solid. Thank you.


texts: What is the difference of "can" and "may" in this case?

texts:
https://careers.jobscore.com/jobs2/bustle?sid=68 -> This is a media website and I occasionally opened its jobs page. I noticed that some of the jobs are with "can work remotely" while one is "may work remotely":

EDITORIAL (BUSTLE)

Books Feature Writers (can work remotely)   New York, NY
Entertainment Writers (may work remotely)   New York, NY
Fashion/Beauty Writers (can work remotely)  New York, NY
Freelance Writers/Reporters (can work remotely) New York, NY
Lifestyle News Writers (can work remotely)  New York, NY

And there is another job:

News Writer (can be remote) New York, NY

Does can be remote 100% equals to can work remotely?

What is the difference of can and may here?

Hopefully to get some detailed information on this.

Thanks,


texts:
Helen Merrill - You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To - live 1960

You'd be so nice to come home to
You'd be so nice by the fire
While the breeze on high sang a lullaby
You'd be all that I could desire
...

What's the meaning of "You'd be so nice to come home to"? Does that mean "It would be so nice if you came home."?


texts:
The Oxford dictionary says that it means plentiful.
Can it be used to express a connotation like "Very talented and prolific singer"?


texts: What does "cloaked by NDA" mean in this context?

texts:
While reading an article about web design, I came across the sentence about the NDA that confused me. Please help to clear out the meaning.

  "That was an open ended brief, and it led to some of the most interesting periods of exploration and pondering in my career. As far as I’m aware the workings of the preexisting typography system are still cloaked by my NDA, but it was essentially human-specified. As a reaction to this I defined my own brief as “a system that can understand, select & apply typography with the nuance of an expert human designer”. No biggie."     -- http://www.jon.gold/2016/05/robot-design-school/

Does the author mean that the works that existed before he had been hired were protected by HIS non-disclosure agreement? Does "cloaked by NDA" mean the preexisting works were PROTECTED and he still can't share the details?


texts: Should "to" be used after "appeared" in this sentence?

texts:
In 2006 he organised the wedding of the daughter of the then leader of Myanmar's junta, in which guests appeared draped in diamonds and drunk on cascades of champagne.

This sentence is from an article, I'm little confused about the bold part, it seems that it should be "...guests appeared to drape...and drink.."


texts: Meanng of past-tense "wished" in "If I bought that apartment, we'd have a place to party whenever we wished"

texts:
Both these conditional sentences are grammatical:

  If I bought that apartment, we'd have a place to party whenever we wish.
  If I bought that apartment, we'd have a place to party whenever we wished.

Is there a slight difference in meaning between wish and wished though? Does the preterite form signal a reduced likelihood? Or does it simply comply to the overall "past tense" of the apodosis?


texts:
Do we always use "more" to compare two things?

  Among the various and conflicting interpretations of Aristophanes’
  works, there is a general admiration for the
  poet’s seemingly boundless imaginative power and his
  habit of allowing the creative human spirit to triumph over
  all constraints of reality. Critics and scholars across the
  centuries have equated Aristophanes with the best of the
  Old Comedy, ignoring other representatives of this particular
  art, such as Cratinus or Eupolis, partly because only
  Aristophanes’ comedies have survived in complete form.
  Aristophanes’ fame eventually waned after his death,
  but he quickly became central to the Western literary
  canon. Among the early authors who wrote commentaries
  on Aristophanes were Photius, the erudite patriarch
  of Constantinople, and John Tzetzes, the noted encyclopedist.
  Plato’s attitude toward the comic poet was more
  ambivalent, but this was probably because of Aristophanes’
  devastating portrayal of Socrates in The Clouds.

  Source: GALE CONTEXTUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD LITERATURE

Does this context compare Plato with other people who criticize Aristophans?
Or does "more" here just come to emphasis and means very?

Which paraphrase is better?

1: Plato’s attitude toward the comic poet was more
ambivalent than other.

or

2: Plato’s attitude toward the comic poet was very
ambivalent.
??

Source: GALE CONTEXTUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD LITERATURE


texts: Why does the addition of a letter modify the sound of the beginning of this word?

texts:
Take these three words:

Soup

Super

Supper

The first two words, Soup and Super both begin with the same sound: soo. However the addition of a p in supper changes the pronunciation from soo to suh (short-u). Is there a "rule" in the English language that defines that the double letter modifies the preceding vowel pronunciation? Or is this just one of those "because English is complicated" things?


texts: What does the word 'catch' mean in this context?

texts:
'Go on, then!' roared Hagrid, slapping the Hippogriff's hindquarters.

  Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of
  Harry; he just had time to seize the Hippogriff around the neck before
  he was soaring upwards. It was nothing like a broomstick, and Harry
  knew which one he preferred; the Hippogriff's wings were beating
  uncomfortably on either side of him, catching him under his legs
  and making him feel he was about to be thrown off; the glossy feathers
  slipped under his fingers and he didn't dare get a stronger grip;
  instead of the smooth action of his Nimbus Two Thousand, he now felt
  himself rocking backwards and forwards as the hindquarters of the
  Hippogriff rose and fell with his wings.

It seems to me that "catching him under his legs" means "hitting him under his legs". I can picture that the Hippogriff's wings hit him under his legs and made him off the balance(feels about to be thrown off). But I'm not sure if my understanding is correct? Can the word 'catch' mean 'hit'? What does it mean exactly in this context?

-- From Harry Potter.


texts: "characteristic" or "characteristic feature"?

texts:
That is characteristic of this method.
  That is the characteristic of this method.
  That is the characteristic feature of this method.

Are all of the above sentences correct? Which is the most idiomatic one?


texts: Can the word recipient be used to refer to objects?

texts:
The reason why I'm asking this question is because all the main online dictionaries provide the same meaning for this word, that is: a person who receives something. They don't mention objects used to store something, like water, for example.

Isn't a bottle a recipient used to store liquids?

If we go to Google images and type "water recipient" it shows us a lot of bottles.

Cambridge definition for recipient:

  a person who receives something

  a person or organization that receives something, such as money, a prize, etc.


texts:
He came out onto the roof with a bottle of whisky in his hand. He took a gulp from it, then accidentally dropped it on the ground where it shattered.

Is "ground" okay if he is on a roof or would you avoid it?


texts: Sometimes I come across constructions like "site's header" or "site's navigation", but as I know the possessive case in most cases shouldn't be used with inanimate nouns. So my question is – are those correct collocations and might they be used in some more formal contexts?


texts:
How do I understand the phrase "next up is the solar system"? Literally, it appears to mean "the next step is flying in the solar system."  But Mars is exactly part of the system. So I wonder whether the phrase is logically acceptable.
What does the phrase mean?

Scientific American tweeted:

First in flight: NASA just proved flying on Mars is possible—next up is the solar system

Source: Scientific American


texts: "never did before" vs. "has never done before"

texts:
What is the difference between these two phrases:

something he never did before

something he has never done before


texts: "It had to be" vs. "it had to be" in the sense of being likely

texts:
In the 12th episode of the 9th episode of The Office Jim said the following.

Jim: The Dunder Code! I completely forgot about that prank. That had to be like six or seven years ago. Stayed late every night for a month. Had a lot more free time back then.

Obviously he used had to be in the sense it's likely that it was six or seven years ago, but it doesn't make sense to me. Wouldn't it be more correct to say it has to be. If both possible, could you tell me what the difference is?


texts:
I have a question about the use of the subjunctive in if clauses.
I usually use grammarly as a grammar checker and ran into following problem:

I wrote: If he stay at home, he would die.

Grammarly corrects me to: If he stays at home, he would die.

I remember that I learned in school to use the simple present/past for if clauses (depending on how likely a condition is).

But then, you say "If I were you", not "If I was you", which is clearly subjunctive.

Doesn't that mean the subjunctive form would be grammatically preferable to the simple present? So "stay" is correct, while "stays" isn't?

Or where am I wrong here?


texts: Which one of the options would be more accurate to use?

texts:
In natural science, there were nearly as many women [approximately 200] as men [approximately 240] . This was also true in / for / of / when it comes to psychology.

or This also holds true to/for psychology

which one of the prepositions in bold or sentences would be more proper(or you'd prefer) to use in the sentence above?


texts:
I have a question about nuance.

Often a question like "Have you run today"? is used to encourage someone to do something or to express you want them to do something.

"Have you been running?" is used when you see the results, for example the person is sweating, panting, etc.

I want to know which one I should use if I want to ask the person if running has taken place today by him/her. The person isn't panting and I don't want to encourage them. It is just a question out of curiosity, nothing more.


texts:
What is the meaning of the phrase "What it is to be"? in sentences like "What it is to be a man?" or "what it is to be a leader?" or in a sentence like this:

It might have been hoped, Up until the middle of the 19th century or so, that we could account for the world completely in terms of the motions of sort of Newtonian material particles. Towards the end of the century, with the development of Maxwellian electromagnetism, it became clear that, that wasn't the case. And that the fundamental architecture of the world includes at least one other thing, namely fields. The big thing that's happened in physics, since the end of the 19th century, that affects these debates a great deal is quantum mechanics. And there is a debate going on now, about what the appropriate sort of ontology of quantum mechanics is, what we ought to read quantum mechanics is telling us fundamentally exist. So at the moment, we are hoping we can get along with an ontology of particles and fields. But of course, science develops and changes and is full of surprises. And we'll have to see. Other old questions are whether there are altogether different kinds of entities in the world. Entities like God, mind, or The good. And I think that the physical project has been committed from the beginning to, at least, seeing what extent to which we can get along with just recognizably physical fundamental entities, like particles and fields. But exactly what it is to be a fundamental physical entity, is itself an open question.

Source: closer to truth


texts:
I read this example sentence in the link: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/queasy?q=queasy.

Now she’d arrived she felt queasy inside.

I think there is a comma or a full top needed between "arrived" and "she ~".
But Oxford dictionary doesn't show any of them. So what is the meaning of this sentence?


texts: What is the active voice of "might be affected"?

texts: I was reading about poisonous gases then I read there if this gas affects the insects now so humans "might be affected" by this toxic gas in coming time and one more thing in this sentence I think author wants to speak about future chances, so what is active voice of this "might be affected" in this sentence referring to future probability?


texts: Did the author forget to use 'if' or I'm missing some literary style

texts:
I completed reading a short novel "A Little Princess" written by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The servant, "Ram Dass" says the following while planning to change the protagonist's(Sara Crewe) room from its shabby state(page 131, 4th paragraph, fifth line):

  The vision she related told what this miserable room might be in it
  had comforts in it.

In my opinion, the correct usage should have been:

  ... might be in if it had comforts in it.

I'll quote the whole conversation here in case one has not yet read/heard-of the novel:

  "It is true that the first thought was mine, Sahib," he said, "though
  it was naught but a fancy. I am fond of this child; we are both
  lonely. It is her way to relate her visions to her secret friends.
  Being sad one night, I lay close to the open skylight and listened.
  The vision she related told what this miserable room might be in it had comforts in it. She seemed to see it as she talked, and she grew
  cheered and warmed as she spoke. Then ...


texts: which one: "so and such" or "Bla Bla Bla ..."?

texts:
friend has said something, that is, something which is not true. I want to talk about what my friend said, but I won't actually say those words. I know I can use a sentence with following form:

  My friend said so and such.

  My friend said Bla Bla Bla.

I want to know: Is using so and such better than Bla Bla Bla ...? Or is there a better expression would we use?


texts: What exactly the expression "make an argument" means?

texts:
I wonder what exactly the expression "make an argument" means on this phrase: "Machiavelli makes the argument that in a strictly military sense a fortress is invariably a mistake."

I'm not sure if it is a idiomatic expression. Does it mean that Machiavelli advocates that this point is a mistake, or that he does not advocate this idea?


texts: Would to express habitual actions in past

texts:
In Portuguese, there is a specific verbal form in past tense for when one expresses habitual actions in past tense. In English, however, we must use Would. Its usage is more a matter of "how we speak" rather than "how we should speak", i.e: idiomatic usage rather than grammatical usage.

This is what tricks me. In Portuguese, when we express such actions, we keep the same structure all the way to the end, ex:

  When I was younger, my father would take me to a skate park. While we would skate around, he would clean the car, and then we would go home.

As far as I'm concerned, this is gramatically correct, though tiring...
My question is: Is this how a native speaker would normally say a repeated past action? Or could I simply take out the Would's, and replace them for simple past forms:

"When I was younger, my father would take me to a skate park. While I skated, he cleaned the car, and then we went home"

Does it maintain the same meanings: repeated actions, or somehow, change it?


texts: What does it mean to say 'to by' and 'up at'?

texts: I understand 'dictated by' but what does it mean by 'dictated to by'?Secondly,'lot at the mansion' is understood but 'up at the mansion' again confuses me.


texts: What is the meaning of the bold part here?

texts:
Content

  Was Gurgaon’s ‘Millennium City’ tag that successful? Did the words ‘Millennium City’ make your follicles turn all futuristic and make you want to take your Millennium Falcon out for a warp drive with your incredibly tall and hairy eye-candy Wookie spouse in the next seat (with the driver driving in front)?

What is the reason of capital 'w'?Is it a metaphor?

I don't understand what he is referring to.


texts:
How do you address more than one person?

If there was one person, you would say

  You are awesome!

and if there was 2 male people/animals, you could say

  You guys are awesome!

and same with the female.

But what if there was a male and a female? Would you just say you are awesome? Can 'you' be used to address a group? Any help would be appreciated.


texts:
A small mercy, that, thought Barristan Selmy, as he rode into the market square inside Meereen’s great western gate. When Daenerys had taken the city, they had broken through that same gate with the huge battering ram called Joso’s Cock, made from the mast of a ship. The Great Masters and their slave soldiers had met the attackers here, and the fighting had raged through the surrounding streets for hours. By the time the city finally fell, hundreds of dead and dying had littered the square.

These lines have been taken from A song of Ice and Fire.
Shouldn't the bold part be something like by the time the city had finally fallen?


texts: What is the meaning of the word "cast" in 'a cannon can dominate us without an iron-monger to cast it'?

texts:
Since it has lots of meanings in the English dictionary, I couldn't figure out which meaning is implied in the following context. Please help me out here to comprehend the meaning of the word cast.

  After all, all law is made by people and interpreted by people and applied by people. It can no more rule us by itself, without human assistance, than a cannon can dominate us without an iron-monger to cast it and an artilleryman to load and fire it.

Also, it would be very nice if you can give me synonyms of the word cast


texts:
Often, nouns have a corresponding verb form. For example, analysis / analyze.

According to Oxford Dictionary, the noun "harmony" can mean:

  the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce a pleasing effect
  the quality of forming a pleasing and consistent whole
  the state of being in agreement or concord

I'm interested in the verb form of this noun "harmony" carrying its 3rd meaning (i.e. the state of being in agreement or concord).
An example sentence: "In this remote place, man were in perfect harmony with nature."

However, according to Oxford Dictionary, the verb form "harmonize" means:

  add notes to (a melody) to produce harmony
  produce a pleasing visual combination
  make consistent or compatible

My question is, does the 3rd meaning of the verb "harmonize" actually correspond accurately to the 3rd meaning of the noun "harmony", or is there a better word in verb form that corresponds and carries the 3rd meaning of the noun "harmony".

For example, would it sound right and comprehensible to say, "In this remote place, man were perfectly harmonizing/harmonized with nature."


texts: Meaning of “... those who call the time to them or other things connected therewith?”

texts:
We will not [says Socrates] then allow our charges, whom we expect to prove good men, being men, to play the parts of women and imitate a woman young or old wrangling with her husband, defying heaven, loudly boasting, fortunate in her own conceit, or involved in misfortune and possessed by grief and lamentation – still less a woman that is sick, in love, or in labor . . . Nor may they imitate slaves, female and male, doing the offices of slaves . . . Nor yet, as it seems, bad men who are cowards and who do the opposite of the things we just now spoke of [things done by men who are “brave, sober, pious, free”], reviling and lampooning one another, speaking foul words in their cups or when sober and in other ways sinning against themselves and others in word and deed after the fashion of such men. And I take it they must not form the habit of likening themselves to madmen either in words nor yet in deeds. For while knowledge they must have both of mad and bad men and women, they must do and imitate nothing of this kind . . . Are they to imitate smiths and other craftsmen or the rowers of triremes and those who call the time to them or other things connected therewith?

The phrase "call the time to..." is new for me and really I haven't got any idea about its meaning.

This passage is from a book named: on literature.


texts:
In a English classroom, each student has 2 minutes to talk about themselves like their hobbies, their hometown etc.
I am trying to invite one classmate to practice with me. Is it clear and natural to say it like this?

Hi, Richard, let's do some talking to practice the new phrases we just learned.

I guess it is more natural than this one

Hi, Richard, let's talk to practice ...

Is my understanding correct? If yes, "do some talking" and "talk" don't mean the same thing, what's the difference?


texts:
"it could be. Madame 's got a gallery somewhere filled with stuff by students from when they were tiny. Suppose two people come up and say they're in love. She can find the art they've done over years and years. She can see if they go. If they match. Don't forget, Kath, what she's got reveals our souls. She could decide for herself what's a good match and what's just a stupid crush."

A passage form Never Let Me Go. Does it means if they(the Madame people) can go to check the arts? or if they(the lovers) are really in love?


texts: Which preposition goes better on the given statement?

texts:
Patricia, you will receive the Medicare Enrollment Worksheet at/to your mailing address 90 days prior from your eligibility date.

Which preposition goes better on the above statement?


texts: Meaning of "exploiting the fact that" in this sentence?

texts:
I have copied this sentence from OXITEC

  Before release, male and female pupae are separated mechanically, exploiting the fact that they are naturally significantly different in size.

Does this means that "Using the fact that they are different in size, they can be separated without any thinking."?


texts: "Rather ugly guys" or "guys rather ugly"?

texts:
Rather ugly guys came into the line.
  Guys rather ugly came into the line.

The first one sounds fine to me but the second one sounds off to my ear.


texts: A fan that idolizes someone because he is hot at that momment and many people idolize him

texts: I want a single word  to describe a person who became a fan of somebody just because that one is very famous at that time and many people admire him, but not because she loves him.