texts: The meaning of 'over' in 'Over at the cash desk'

texts:
I'm reading a conversation between a customer and an shop assistant. It goes like this:

  C: Excuse me. Where do I pay for these?
  A: Over at the cash register.

I can't figure why he said that.

Or these examples:

  'Bill lives over on the other side of town.'
  'She was standing over by the window.'

How is 'over' contributing to the meaning in all these sentences?! I feel if I drop 'over', nothing changes, is that so?


texts: Politely refusing being walked to the door

texts: Imagine you are at the doctor's office and at the end when you are done you are leaving the office and the doctor comes with you to the exit door and you want to say thank you to doctor and you say "doctor I am leaving please do not bother yourself by staying there. Ok it might take half a minute for me to be gone from the entrance of the door, okay? so there is no need you stay there for half a minute, probably you have something to do and that is very kind of you to stay there until I am gone. What can I say instead of saying "do not bother yourself doctor" ? Leave me here and I have gone in minutes, do not waste your time by staying here and showing respect to me. Close the door and go inside please" .


texts:
Are you going to be sick if you eat that? This clause "are you going to" is a future prediction so shouldn't it be better to use will

Is going to used as the event "being sick" is about to happen very soon
this sentence was alone no context it is an example

http://www.grammar.cl/Notes/Going_To.htm


texts: Replying with "neither" in passive for active sentence

texts:
For example: They don't allow you to enter the room. How to say that they don't allow me to enter too? What is the shortest way to say it? Is it possible to use neither in such situation? Neither do me?
Is it possible to replay on sentence in an active voice with a passive sentence?


texts: The difference between "risk" and "threat"

texts:
Constant threat of attack makes everyday life dangerous here.

  In certain regions of the world, there is a constant risk of hydrocarbon pollution.

Both risk and threat mean the possibility of something bad. I'm looking for the right explanation of the difference between the two concepts. Would it be correct to say that threat is more urgent, probable than risk?


texts: What do we call a person who designs the architecture or armors of a medieval fantasy film?

texts:
I heard character designer, mechanical designer so I am wondering if the term used for someone who designs architecture would be called an environment designer and a person who design armors a costume designer.
What are the proper terms used by the film industry?


texts:
I’ve heard that [noun] [adjective] equals [noun] [that is] [adjective]. But, then can every adjective be after a noun?

  She is a girl cute.
  This is a book interesting.
  The dog black is mine.
  France is a country famous for its beautiful sights.


texts:
We work in a decentralized organization, where each Product Area sets its strategy and is responsible for its profit & loss.
We work in a decentralized organization, where each Product Area sets its strategy and is responsible for its profits & losses.

I have seen more "profits". But I am confused about when to go for plural. Is this case, which is better?


texts: There are a couple of sentences that I'd like to compare

texts:
There are sentences that I'd like to compare.

  If you try to take pictures of restricted exhibitions, a member of the staff will ask you to put your camera away.

I'm not sure if you will or want to try it, but you may do this because you are not informed about it or this visit is your first time. Anyway what I'd like to talk about is you will be asked to put you camera away if you try to take pictures. (just giving information)

  If you tried to take pictures of restricted exhibitions, a member of the staff would ask you to put your camera away.

I know you are not going to try because you are considerate person or you are not able to do it be cause you don't have a phone or something to take pictures, but if you tried to do it, you would be asked to put your camera away. (giving information more politely)

Am I right to put it this way?
Do these sentences have the same meaning?


texts:
I replied to my friend's question like this:

  It's something I do every Sunday.

But now that I think about it I think there should've been "on" before every. But still I'm not sure because the version without "on" sounds more natural to my ears.


texts: Which one is correct, "brothers" or "brethren"?

texts: I read a text in which "brethren" was used instead of "brothers". Is that common to use or it is an older plural form for "brother"?


texts:
I've gone through many threads here trying to find the answer, but to no avail.

Cambridge dictionary states: We use time to refer to what is measured in seconds, minutes, hours and years as a whole. In this sense it is uncountable:

Ex: Children nowadays spend more time watching TV than playing. (spent many hours)

So my questions is, how is the meaning in the sentence above different from, say, "I've spent a long time doing that"? (spent many hours) Can't we say "much time" in that sentence?. Which would mean the same, but then it'd be uncountable.

I just can't understand why "time" considered to be "countable" in a sentence like that.

"I've been there many times" = on many occasions. Here, it's clearly countable. So it is in "I've played football for a long time", but we can't really say "I've played football for a long occasion", can we?
Hopefully I'm not asking something stupid..


texts: Expressing possible inspiration by a work

texts:
I am asking a professor to share an article with me which has not become public yet. In the email, I am trying to say:

  I am very eager to read your new paper and get inspirational ideas.

or something like

  I am very eager to read your new paper and become inspired by it if possible.

But I think both of the above sentences are somewhat strange for a native English speaker. It would be kind of you if you could help me to express what I mean correctly.


texts: Can I use "they" for an inanimate subject?

texts:
Example sentence: "They/these were subjected to intensive use during geomorphological evolution."

I'm talking about "deltas". Can I use "they" here?


texts:
Came across this site. Under pt. 3 they say:

  Look for bleeding from the eyes, nose, or ears. This doesn't have to be bright red blood; it can be something like brown discoloration around the rims of the eyes. This bleeding can be a sign of internal hemorrhaging. Keep the injured person in a prone position, face up.

If I read this correctly it does not sound particularity healthy.

– Keep on turning that face up, nearly there! Do not worry, it is to help with your head injury.

What is: "prone position, face up"?

Could it be that they mean "supine position"?


texts:
"Straight As" question...
If someone got a B in one subject in the last term, but earned all As in all the subjects at the end of the school year, can they say "I got straight As"? Or do they have to earn all As throughout the school year to be able to say "straight As"?


texts: Successfully with, or with successfully?

texts:
I'm new to this forum and have a question. I was reading a book last night and a sentence jarred with me a little. As this is my 'go to' website for grammar, I thought I would join the network and ask for feedback (I feel that my grammar has gone to pot as I've got older!).

The sentence described how the narrator had worked with someone previously as follows:

  'I had a brief meeting with the features editor, a busy, somewhat tightly wound, impossibly chic older woman who I'd worked successfully with before.'

I was wondering if it should/could have read:  "... worked with successfully before ..."

If both are correct, why might you choose one over another?


texts:
I hear some people read days in names as non-ordinal numbers. Not sure if that is correct.

For example,  25 October is read as "twenty five October" or "twenty fifth October"? Or both?

I am looking for official rule, not slang or casual talk.


texts:
Are both versions natural?
1.
He came out onto the roof with a bottle of whisky in his hand. He was about to take a gulp from it when it slipped out of his hand and shattered.
2.
He came out onto the roof with a bottle of whisky in his hand. About to take a gulp from it, it slipped out of his hand and shattered.


texts: How to express the comparative degree of being in the south?

texts:
How to express the comparative degree of being on the south?

  -- Why is it not snowing now? Isn't it winter?

  -- Because we are not in New-York. We are in Miami! It's much lower down south!

I guess "It's much lower down south!" is not idiomatic. So, what would be the usual way of expressing that thought?


texts:
What is the difference between Urgent and Immediate?

  This letter needs an urgent reply.
  This letter needs an immediate reply.

When should I use Urgent and When I use Immediate?


texts: What sort of use is this: ".. it is now clear that a number died"

texts:
Recently France witnessed a terror-strike. On Sky News, the news has a following line:

  It was initially hoped that all hostages in the shop had been saved - but it is now clear that a number died.

Now, I wonder that, shouldn't it be: "number of them died" or "a few died"?

I am confused about this usage-"a number died".


texts:
Is the use of “flashing about” correct in this sentence?

  He hanged the animal’s heads on the walls, flashing about the heads to his hunter friends in the luxurious parties he held.


texts:
I want to know if a phrase can be a part of a clause.  For instance :

Atul did not come to the class yesterday.

Did come is verb phrase in this sentence. But Atul did not come is a clause because it has subject and also a verb in it.
I want to know if this is right way. Is it correct if I pick some words from a clause and identify it as some kind of phrase?


texts: What is the right sentence ,'play on the ground' or 'play in the ground'?

texts:
What is the right phrase?
1. I play on the ground.
2. I play in the ground.

If you pick any of these sentences, what is the reason?


texts: Is there an idiom or a phrase people use at work one needs to fully focus on a specific task? Thought I've heard it at work before, but can't think of it right this second..


texts:
My dictionary says
thing /θɪŋ/
thought /θɔːt/

but when listening to native speakers, I hear it like
thing /fɪŋ/
thought /fɔːt/

Do I hear it wrong?


texts: Is there a noun that means "non-fictional summary/description of a specific topic supported by external references"?

texts: Basically the summary or description of one specific topic, where the description is non-fictional, backed by 3rd party references, and does not describe new ideas but instead only summarizes a topic using trusted references.


texts: It was the first Sunday of / in December

texts:
It was the first Sunday of December.
  It was the first Sunday in December.

To me 'of' seems like: 'possession' and
'in' seems like: 'containing'.

Sometimes we get to see:

  Buildings in this city are so tall.
  Buildings of this city are so tall.

This has always been a matter of confusion to me.

Please explain.

Thank you.


texts:
I'd love to hear your opinions. Please tell me which one is correct or incorrect.

the original sentence:
You all must have played this game at least once.
You don't have to take specific context into account. Just grammatical rules matter.

You all must have played at least once this game.
You all must at least once have played this game.
You all must have once played this game at least.
You all must have played this game once at least.
You all once must have played this game at least.


texts:
I ask this because it's underlined in red in most word processors (even here). Example sentence:

  Unattaching my ear from the door, I slipped into the elevator and
  punched the button to the first floor.

If this is the case, what other word can I use?


texts:
I want to express that something prevents somebody to do an activity. Is a proper way to use keep from? Is there another suitable synonym?

When I use it in the sentence, is it correct?

  Nothing had kept you from uploading before the deadline came.

I am still improving my English, benevolence please :)


texts:
I asked a question just now.

  I am trying to get a better understanding about this procedure of Python code to be generated.

similarly people may say these

get a better understanding about calculus, get a better understanding about the mechanisms of memory, ...

Is "get a better understanding about some concept/mechanism" a grammatical, idiomatic and clear expression?


texts: What is the difference between "copy something onto a piece of paper" and "copy something out onto a piece of paper"?

texts:
What is the difference between copy something onto a piece of paper and copy something out onto a piece of paper speciically by hand. For example:

  We were told to copy a few passages from the book onto a piece of paper.

  We were told to copy out a few passages from the book onto a piece of paper.


texts: What is the difference between the following sentences? (know to // vs. // know how to)

texts:
Sentence 1. I didn’t know to drive.
Sentence 2. I didn’t know how to drive.

Actually I'd like to know what does a native speaker understands when hearing "I didn't know to drive."
I know the meaning of the second sentence but I'm not sure about the meaning of the first.


texts:
How can I determine what's the correct way to use the possessive 's in cases like the following one?

  "Body tissues"

or

  "body's tissues"?

I'm always confused in that and I would like to know a way how to determine correctly whether to use possessive 's or not.


texts: her vs she usage after the word "except"

texts:
Sentence in concern:

  I ordered the sort of dessert that no one except her could finish.

Should her be she because the person is doing an action instead of serving as an object or being done on?


texts: What the difference between 'make me' 'get me' 'has me' in meaning 'to force'

texts: In many cases 'make me' 'get me' 'has me' doing something mean 'to force'. What is the difference between them in this meaning? Is there any sense to use one or the other?


texts: What is the definition of "creative press"?

texts:
What is it supposed to mean in this context?

  During analysis of creativity, the following four themes emerged:
  Production, creative process, creative press and creative person.

Consulting this dictionary, didn't find any heplful meaning which would fit to this context.


texts:
How could I properly write this statement in a formal way:

  Whenever I ask him to stop, he does, but continues again 5 minutes later.

I am not sure if "but continues again 5 minutes later" is correct.

I am wondering if I could replace it for:

", then continues it again 5 minutes later"
", then continues again 5 minutes later"

Perhaps should I rewrite the whole sentence?

Thank you!


texts:
Consider a simple to-do list:

To make exercises.
To call Jane.
To buy wine.

or

Make exercises.
Call Jane.
Buy wine.

Which version is correct/better? Does they have a difference in their meaning?

Edit: I don't ask about how to write to-do lists. The metaphor of to-do list is used just for convenience. I ask about the difference in the meaning of these short sentences.


texts: Do verbs change form when you turn tag questions into non-tag questions?

texts:
When changing a tag question, for example:

  It's only you who have that book, isn't it?

to a non-tag question:

  Isn't it only you who have that book?

Does the verb stay the same?


texts: Can 'in' be omitted in the phrase "be employed in doing..."

texts:
Harry thought he'd be much better employed doing Snape's  punishment essay than sitting here trying to find meaning in a lot of made-up dreams.

  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

According to dictionaries, be employed in doing is a set. But I'm not sure if we could omit the word in here. Any thoughts?


texts:
However, if people used their own cars, the amount of harmful gases would be much more than it would if they depend on public transformation system

I am not good at using would and than. Is the sentence above correct?


texts:
Consider these expressions:

The moment you walk out of the building, you will see various cabs parked outside.
The moment you get out of the building, you will see various cabs parked outside.

Is there any difference between these two expressions? How do "get out" and "walk out" differ in meaning?


texts: Short text classification vs short-text classification

texts:
I wonder which form is correct amongst short text classification vs short-text classification.

I have encountered both versions:

https://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~cjlin/libshorttext/:

  LibShortText is an open source tool for short-text classification and analysis

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=10167494598594398915&hl=en&as_sdt=0,22:

  Transductive learning for short-text classification problems using latent semantic indexing

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=2551566654157015825&hl=en&as_sdt=0,22:

  Short text classification in Twitter to improve information filtering

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=13964840928079120889&hl=en&as_sdt=0,22:

  Short text classification improved by learning multi-granularity topics


texts:
I have a question about the minor differences between "run" and "stretch".  Both have the "extend" sense, but it seems that "run" denotes linear extension and "stretch" denotes 2-D extension:

  The path runs for miles.
  The corn field stretches for miles.

So, for the two sentences above, would it be wrong if "run" and "stretch" are switched:

  The path stretches for miles.
  The corn field runs for miles.

?


texts: What is the difference between the structure "should do" and "should be doing"?

texts:
What is the difference between the following sentences.

  No one should live in this house, as it is decrepit.

  No one should be living in this house, as it is decrepit.

  You should help your mom. She can't do all the work.

  You should be helping your mom. She can't do all the work.

Does the use "should do" feel more urgent?


texts:
I have another question about the verb "see".  According to dictionaries, "see" loosely means "become/be aware of something by using the eyes".  Yet, on the web, I found sentences along the lines of this:

  Security cameras saw the suspects breaking into the building.

Cameras don't have eyes.  So, could this be technical jargon or journalistic usage?


texts: What does the author mean by "to deposit data"?

texts:
Researchers depositing data from their project that were obtained from another source should identify the original source as well as the researcher's right to distribute the data.

I have often seen the verb deposit with money referring to "to put money into a bank account" and several other similar meanings. But, I am wondering what the author means in the above-mentioned paragraph by depositing data.


texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  This function takes/accepts/expects integer for the first parameter, not string.

Should I use "as" in place of "for"? Any other way around?


texts: past simple vs. past perfect in the past

texts:
I learned that you can use Past simple even if something happened before the statement in the past if you are talking about specific time (such as year, month etc.). But is it possible to say something like:
"The whole process was so energetic as it was never before"? Or you can say only "The whole process was so energetic as it had never been before"?
Also, why do you use past perfect in the following sentence
"Unfortunately, he commenced speaking before all the guests had finished eating"?
Can you say
"Unfortunately, he commenced speaking before all the guests finished eating"?

I know that perfect tenses are used when the action is complete, but I feel that you can say either way in the above sentence.

Thank you in advance.


texts:
I saw this news on the site, I would like to understand why this or that article is used. Grammarly also highlights the error " ̶a̶  credit"
 The first option was used on the site.

  Pete Rosenberg claims G.O.O.D. Music “forgot” to give him a credit for his melody on the hook.

  Pete Rosenberg claims G.O.O.D. Music “forgot” to give him a credit for his melody on a hook.


texts:
The list below is taken from Barbara Abbott's 'Definiteness and Indefiniteness.' Why do you think the is used before 'personal pronouns' but not before 'demonstrative pronouns' or 'demonstrative determiners'?

I cannot exactly reproduce her list here. If you would take the trouble of going to the actual site and see Table 1, it would be much appreciated.

Best,

Sssamy

  NP type: Pronouns
  More details: the personal pronouns
  Examples: I, you, she, them

  NP type: Demonstratives
  More details: demonstrative pronouns; NPs with demonstrative determiners
  Examples: This, that, this chair over here


texts:
Is it possible to write

  I wanted to know if you are going to...

Or shall I say

  I wanted to know if you were going to...

in the case the event is still to happen.


texts: Telling someone don't or telling someone not to

texts:
I told Jim not to shout.
I told Jim don't shout.

Could anyone possibly tell me what is the difference between these? And which one would you rather use?


texts:
I want to know your schedule for tomorrow.
I want to know your schedule tomorrow.

What is the part of speech of 'for tomorrow'? Is it an adjective phrase? What is the difference between the two sentences? #1 means that I want to know your tomorrow's schedule right now, at this moment. #2 means that I want to know your schedule not today, but tomorrow.
Is that right?


texts: When you talk to/ you talking to.. do both parts mean the same thing in the given context?

texts:
I don't like it when you talk to other people more than you talk
  to me.

  I don't like you talking to other people more than you talk to me.

Are both the sentences grammatically correct?
What's the difference in their meaning?


texts: 'Upright' meaning in "Please store upright below 25°C"

texts:
I read the sentence on the tag of a honey container.

  Please store upright below 25°C.

I looked it up. Upright as an adjective can mean:

  adj

  vertical or erect
  honest, honourable, or just

It seems the sense just is fit, but I'm not sure. What does it truly mean?


texts: Do you say "the pillow is stained with some substance" when you don't know if it is sweat, water, milk or tea, etc stained it

texts:
stain 1 /steɪn/ ●○○ verb     1 [intransitive, transitive] to
  accidentally make a mark on something, especially one that cannot be
  removed, or to be marked in this way

  Be careful you don’t stain the carpet.

  This tablecloth stains very easily.

  Her fingers were stained yellow from years of smoking.

  stain with

  a cowboy hat stained with dust and sweat

There are some stains on your pillow. It could be your child poured water or milk or sweat on the pillow, but you don't know what substance stained it.

Do you say "the pillow is stained with some substance"?

or do you use a better word instead of using "substance"?


texts:
What's the correct preposition in this case?

Example sentence:

  He was as nervous of/about selecting a woman as they were of/about being selected.

I searched on Google: "nervous of selecting." Only two results.
I also searched for: "nervous about selecting." 40K results.

So I think "about" is more correct. But I'm not very sure ...


texts: "Long have we waited for this day "Long we have waited for this day."

texts: Which one is correct? Normally its subject verb and this is not a question but I still think the first option is correct and possibly even better.Why?


texts:
How you say "thanks for clarification" in a formal way?

For instance, is it OK to say:

  Thank you for clarifying this?

I want to include this in a formal letter about a scholarship.
This why I am trying to be as polite as it is possible.


texts: "Cut off a slice of cake", "cut out a slice of cake" or "cut a slice of cake"?

texts:
Which one do I say when I want someone to remove one slice of cake like that
Do I cut it out or cut off or just cut? For example:

Could cut/cut out/cut off one slice of cake for me?

Anyway, is that something a native English speaker would sat?


texts:
I am not sure how to word the sentence correctly:

This book may be used both as a text and reference book.
This book may be used both as a text and a reference book.
This book may be used as both a text and reference book.
This book may be used as both a text and a reference book.

Which one(s) are correct?


texts: What is the preposition that I should put after the verb "recommend" and before object pronoun?

texts:
What is the preposition that I should put after the verb "recommend" and before an object pronoun?

For example:

  "I have a friend who learns English, but the problem is that he uses
  "google translate" which is full of mistakes. I would like to
  recommend (to?) him about a better dictionary that he can use.


texts: Can "among" mean "for" in a mathematical context?

texts:
Suppose the following self made example in the mathematics context:

The slop is identical for all the cases of n = 1,2,3, ... , 10.

Can I reword this as

  The slop is identical among all the cases of n = 1,2,3, ... , 10.


texts: Why the author used 'their hand was forced' instead of 'their hands were forced'?

texts:
I am reading an article here.

http://www.davemanuel.com/2008/03/14/why-doesnt-berkshire-hathaway-split-its-stock/

Quote:

  You may say, "Well why did Berkshire Hathaway institute their B shares then?" If it were up to Buffett, the company never would have
  done this, but their hand was forced. Buffett did this move
  "reluctantly" and only to thwart the creation of unit trusts that
  would have marketed themselves as Berkshire Hathaway look-alikes.

How can they share one hand?


texts:
Let X be the age of John.

  Let X is the age of John.

Explain the difference and use of "be" form.


texts: Tell me please if it is natural to say lie to me to a person when someone wants them to go up and lie with them in the bed, or would it be better to say lie next to me?


texts: Comma after "of course" at the beginning of a sentence?

texts:
I just wrote this sentence (shortened, so not literally) on a different StackExchange site:

  Of course it's very easy to purge the exact packages which have been
  installed by that if you still have the output.

Should the be a comma after "Of course"? Had I written something like "Evidently, it's very easy to ...", I'd feel like there should be a comma in there. But the above sentence doesn't feel right with a comma nor does it feel right without one.


texts:
I have questions about the difference between "would" and "would have".

"Would you do a tattoo?"
"A few years ago I would have said 'no'. Now I would say 'maybe'."

Is the answer “A few years ago I would have said” correct or I should have only used would?
And the next one.
I'm talking about the past, let's say I’m thinking about the 90s.
And is it correct when I say: “If I had been a singer I would have been famous?”
I wanna say it about the past, about the 90s.


texts: A friend has a lot of trouble with when to use 'the'. E.g. he will say: 'I'm going to gym', or 'I'm going to city'. Both of these examples need the definite article.  However, it is fine to say 'I'm going to school' or 'I'm going to Woolies'. How can I explain this to my class? Is there a rule? Is there an already developed worksheet??!


texts: Ho to call this person serving wedding registrations?

texts:
In some countries, they have secular weeding registration ceremonies, in which the groom and the bride are supposed to put their signatures on some official paper and exchange their wedding rings. The ceremony is not religious; however, it is just as solemn. Parents of both newly-weds, of course, are present.

Usually, there is a person, it is typically a lady, who would firstly say some speech about marriage and about the newly-weds' parents. That lady is the representative of the state and she has that very paper that the newly-weds have to sign, after which the marriage is considered to be officially registered.

So, on one hand, that lady is representing the state, but on the other hand, her big function in this ceremony is to give a speech that would reflect on newly-weds' and parents' lives and refresh the listeners' understanding of the importance of marriage.

My question is: how would this lady (her office) be called in English?


texts:
The sentences is:

  All the children here stopped. They fawned over the young man, flattery spilling out everywhere.

Is there any good replacement for "spilling"? The idea is that suddenly the young man came in and the air was overflowed with flattery. Or is there any other good way to put it?


texts: What does "supa doopa titus"mean in this sentence?

texts:
My answer is 7, is 7 the right answer?
Absolutely Supa Doopa Titus! You win the prize.

These lines are from a Children's book called Murderous Math published by Scholastic. I just realized Titus is a name. This is one person speaking here.
What does "supa doopa titus"mean in the context?


texts: Use of the past perfect instead the past simple

texts:
I have come across a sentence, in Crash Course Astronomy, which puzzles me because, as I think, the past perfect has been used in there instead of the past simple.(The sentence is at around 5:40.)

  That all changed in 1999. A planet called HD 209458 had been discovered on a very short orbit around its star.

There is a time mark, and there was no any past event that went after the sentence linked to it. I guess the presenter have used the past prefect for emphasis. Tell me please if I am wrong.


texts: How to understand "even to look them over" here?

texts:
From The Outlet:

  Why, they had the nerve to question our right even to look them over.

I'm not sure who to look them over.

My thoughts, from the sentence, there are 3 possible subjects for "look them over":

right(It's weird to say "right look over something")
nerve(nerve look them over? sounds strange)
they(then it will be "look themselves over")

So I get confused about the "look them over" here, could anyone please give me some hints?


texts: What does "if I was to work/travel" really mean in these two sentences

texts:
I've come across these two sentences, and I was wondering what they really mean in this particular context :

The first phrase:

  I was wondering if I was to work for you for free, could you
  teach me what you know. I'm the owner of a small business, also manage
  real-estate. I know my abilities can do more, just looking for that
  extra piece of information/skill set to get me where I'm going to be.
  Source

The second phrase:

  If I was to travel with a 2 year old in the late spring/early summer, are there activities that are family friendly beyond the
  pool?
  Source

My thoughts:

  The first phrase gives me the impression that in case of he(I in
  the phrase) worked for him for free, he should teach him(me in the
  phrase) what he know.

  The second one gives me the feeling that he decided to travel in the
  late spring/early summer along with a 2 year old, and he doesn't know
  if there are any family activities over there.

Am I wrong ? (A yes or no answer would be more than enough for me).


texts:
Which of these sentences is correct?

It was while recovering from the disease that he wrote his first novel.

It is while recovering that he writes his first novel.

It was while recovering that he writes his first novel.


texts: Is "what would I give or not to prove myself" a right sentence?

texts:
What would I give or not to prove myself

Is this a proper sentence in English?
Does this question make any sense?
Does this sentence exist in English?


texts:
Can I use article " the"  in this blank.

Fill the tumbler with  ___ water.

I have researched a lot and I found that "the"  can be used with some uncountable nouns but I am still confused with this blank given above.
Everybody is telling me that in this blank we have to use "the" before water.
Please help me with this


texts: A stays to something as B stays to something

texts:
I need to use a sentence to describe a young talent. If I had to translate it literally from my language it would say "John stays to Chess as Mozart stays to Music". (Obviously meaning a basic equation).
Is that correct in English?
Thanks


texts:
... The positive charges of these calcium ions in turn alter the
  electrical state of the channel protein itself, in this way
  altering the voltage level required to open the sodium gate. (Guyton and Hall Textbook of Physiology)

Can I rewrite the sentence as in:

  ... The positive charges of these calcium ions in turn alter the
  electrical state of the channel protein itself, altering the
  voltage level required to open the sodium gate in this way.


texts: listening comprehension - I didn't think what?

texts:
I'm doing some listening practice.
I hear the sentence to be "I didn't think quill could ...", and I don't understand.
Could you help me listen to it?

https://soundcloud.com/xi-zhang-819295156/i-didnt-think


texts:
What should I do in making a sentence consists of time as follows:

The observation is done from 10 AM until 03 PM.

Can I call the 10AM-03PM as midday or day?

Can I rephrase the original sentence as:

The observation is only done during the day, from 10 AM to 03 PM.


texts: Is there an article in: "down memory lane"?

texts:
I am racking my brains on the correct usage of the phrase.
Is  "down memory lane" or "down the memory lane" the right one to use?

All my searching points to the former, but I am unable to come to grips with it because of the usage in a nursery rhyme "Baa, baa, black sheep" where one of the lines is "... little boy who lives down the lane".

Can you please clarify?


texts:
Next morning I woke at my usual hour, feeling like a bottle of champagne. I put out my feet and invented a long conversation in which Mrs. Right talked of the trouble she had with her own father till she put him in the Home. I didn’t quite know what the Home was but it sounded the right place for Father. Then I got my chair and stuck my head out of the attic window. Dawn was just breaking, with a guilty air that made me feel I had caught it in the act. My head bursting with stories and schemes, I stumbled in next door, and in the half-darkness scrambled into the big bed. There was no room at Mother’s side so I had to get between her and Father. For the time being I had forgotten about him, and for several minutes I sat bolt upright, racking my brains to know what I could do with him. He was taking up more than his fair share of the bed, and I couldn’t get comfortable, so I gave him several kicks that made him grunt and stretch. He made room all right, though. Mother waked and felt for me. I settled back comfortably in the warmth of the bed with my thumb in my mouth. "Mummy!" I hummed, loudly and contentedly.
  "Sssh! dear," she whispered. "Don’t wake Daddy!"

Dose it refer to the Sun and means:The sun comes up so slowly as if it has done something wrong? Or does it a metaphor and the boy see the Sun as himself?

This context is from a short story named:"My Oedipus Complex" by Frank O'Connor


texts: You may get shocked vs you may get an electrical shock

texts:
Which one of the following sentences sound more natural to you:

  Don’t touch the wire! You may get shocked.
  Don’t touch the wire! You may get an electrical shock.

For me both sound natural and mean the same.


texts: Should the pronoun 'our' be used in this sentence?

texts:
In the following sentence, should the possessive adjective 'our' be used?
And I'd like to know other possible adjectives.

  ××× When the mosquito bites a human, she injects saliva into our skin before drawing blood.


texts: 'I liked them' 'i like them' do they pronounced the same way?

texts:
'I liked them.' vs 'i like them.'

are they pronounced the same way?

And

  'I learnt them.' vs 'I learn them.'

Do you pronounce the 't' at the end of learnt?

If no, are they pronounced same?


texts: "haven't got ANY apples" vs. "haven't got apples"

texts: Is the phrase "We have not got apples." correct, or we must use  We have not got any apples. instead?


texts: What part of speech is the word "King" in this sentence?

texts:
The sentence I'm trying to understand is:

  King David came to battle with his army.

Is King an adjective or a noun? Kingly David would clearly be an adjective and "The King came to battle" would be a noun, but when used as "Title Given-Name" is the title part of the noun, a proper-noun or just an adjective?


texts: Meaning of "Noun Phrase + Infinitive" grammatical structure

texts:
I came up with some sentences like the ones below:

  1) What does it mean for a survivor to forgive the gunman?

  2) What does it mean for Christians to get involved in politics?

  3) what does it mean for an object to be fake?

It seems that instead of the above sentences we could simply write:

  1') What does it mean that a survivor forgives the gunman?

  2')What does it mean that Christians get involved in politics?

  3') what does it mean that an object is fake?

Question#1:
Are the both groups equal in terms of their communicated meanings?

Question#2:
Can somebody grammatically analyze the first group of sentences?


texts: The difference between present simple and future simple usage in expressing a future event?

texts:
What is the difference between when I said:

  They come, when they are ready.

and

  They will come, when they are ready.

?


texts:
In order to hit the ball higher, you can play it just a little farther forward in your stance. Try to set your wrists a little sooner on your backswing. Make sure you allow your wrists to reset all the way in your followthrough and keep it nice and high.

In the above sentence, how does it differ from just saying keep it high?


texts:
Should the term ice cream, in the sentence below, be countable or uncountable?

  The bowl consists of mini scoops of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream.

  The bowl consists of mini scoops of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice creams.

What if I were to delete mini scoops from the sentence? Would that change anything?

  The bowl consists of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice creams OR ice cream

Which is correct?


texts: Is it correct to say "Consumption of alcohol is injurious to health"?

texts:
I have written the two sentence,

1) Consumption of alcohol is injurious to health.
or
2) Consuming alcohol is injurious to health.

please tell me which one is correct and if the two sentences are correct then please tell me which should I use while speaking?


texts: What's the meaning of "mad" in "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad!"?

texts:
A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as
  they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're
  mad...."

What's the meaning of "mad" here?

Oxford definitions of mad:

  4 US informal Great; remarkable.

  2.1 British Very exciting.

Since the text is British, the first option is ruled out, but the second option does not make sense too. What does it mean for a liver to be exciting?


texts:
What "subzero temperature" mean? Is it below zero F or below zero C?
Is it different from "freezing"?


texts: The use of the word "startle" in context

texts:
Let's say I am creeping up on my friend who is in his chair leaning far back. And then what I do is I tilt his chair way back to make him believe that he is going to fall over just to scare him. Is it natural to use the word startle to describe a prank where you scare someone that they are going to fall over? For example:

  I startled Mike making him believe that he was going to fall over.


texts: Why is 'neither' (without 'nor') singular?

texts:
I ask about 'neither' as a determiner. I want to dredge below the last 5 paras under 'Tip 2' , which don't explain. Neither does p 90, A Student's Introduction to English Grammar (2005).
Consider: 2. Neither of the parties ?IS? concerned.
= 3. Both two or more parties are NOT concerned
Does the plurality of the verb in 3, prove that  'neither' should be plural? Why or why not?
I edited the nouns in the original below to simplify.

You need to be careful, because there are two separate situations.
[I omit the second situation here, which I ask NOT about.]
(1) "Neither" withOUT "nor", as in "Neither of the ... parties
is concerned with Egypt."
If it is "neither" only, then it is singular and takes a singular verb
even though the plural verb might sound better to us.


texts:
I am wondering if which of the following could be correct?

A. Mathematics occurred to develop all sciences.

B. Mathematics arouse  to develop all sciences.

Thanks


texts: Is it possible to use “next” between subject and verb?

texts:
When we next see Alex and Max, who are presently parents of two
children, they will have had a new baby in their family.

Source: English Grammar Digest by Trudy Aronson.
I know Only a few adverbs of time (recently, finally, eventually and previously) can be placed in this structure: Subject + Adverb of time + main verb + object.
So, this sentence seems odd to me!


texts: If you decrease the AC; does the room become cooler or hotter?

texts:
This happens with me many times. And people misinterpret it. But then I thought for a while and now think that I should have some unambiguous sentence to convey my message.

  Could you decrease the AC please?   Sure, why not.  Fifteen minutes later - Hey, it is chilling. Didn't you lower down the AC?   I certainly did. It was 22 degrees and I made it 18!   Ah, I mean decrease - make it less effective/intensive. The AC was too much.

Does increasing AC (Air Conditioning) means moving the degrees from 18 to 22 or 22 to 18? Both are right! The former is increase in AC as it's increasing in temperature and the latter one is correct in a way that it increased the intensity (like, increase the volume, it's not audible).


texts: present continuous for a temporary habit

texts:
So now David is studying in the USA he is not coming back very often
  So now David is studying in the USA he won't come back very often
  So now David is studying in the USA he does not come very often

So what is the best solution : Is it "he is not coming back"? I think it is the best  since  studying in the USA is very recent, so it is  a very new changement which will last only two or three  years but may be present will be ok too because present continuous is already used for study so may be it is not obligatory to use present continuous for come


texts: I will turn the AC on vs i am going to turn the AC on

texts:
I am reviewing tenses right now: there are some really good worksheets online. It is often confusing to know what tense you have to apply, especially while talking. Anyhow, what's confusing me now is the really subtle difference between "will" and "going to".

  A: I can't hear the television!
  B: I (turn) will turn it up so you can hear it.

  Ted: It is so hot in here!
  Sarah: I (turn) will turn the air-conditioning on.

Both times "will" future is used, but i wonder why not " going to "? Because from my understanding is, that "going to" is used when you plan to do sth, and "will" for a prediction or an assumption.

Isn't it sure that you turn it on, same as in "I am going to college after i graduate "?

Also, could you say ... turn on the aircon or does it have to be.... turn the aircon on? Where do prepositions that come with a verb go?


texts: Does the definition and usage of 'booze' include wine and beer? Does it depend on the geography?

texts:
Does the word booze generally refer to ALL alcoholic beverages, or mostly 'hard' liquor? Do the differences depend on geography?

Some badly needed context:

I am a native speaker living and working in Latin America for the last 35 years.

For the sake of argument...let's say that recently we hosted a reception/dinner party at our home for colleagues from around the world.

Participants asked if they should bring anything: I half-jokingly texted, "Yeah...bring some booze."

Everyone brought beer, or some imported Chilean plonk, but an American brought a bottle of Johnny Walker.

I said to her, "You did not need to go to the expense; some wine or beer would have been great."

And she said, "You said "booze".

When I left the US 35 years ago, the term mostly applied to cheap liquor intended for the consumption by homeless alcoholics (read "street bums").

However, it now  seems that there has been some kind of semantic shift over the last 4 decades...

Defining 'booze'

Cambridge online says:

  alcohol

...and Lexico says:

  alcoholic drink.

On the other hand, Farlex Free Dictionary has it as:

  1.
  a. Hard liquor.
  b. An alcoholic beverage.

...and a learner's website says:

  an alcoholic beverage that is distilled rather than fermented

Urban Dictionary (sorry)

  An alcoholic beverage, specifically any type of beer. It doesn't matter which.

Merriam Webster says

  especially : hard liquor

Dictionary.com

  any alcoholic beverage; whiskey.

There is a pretty wide divergence in the primary meanings of the word, and it is quite confusing to someone depending on a single dictionary definition.

Does the usage of the word refer mainly to cheap alcohol, and does it depend on the origin of the English speaker?

Has the meaning changed over time? Or is it universally understood to mean ANY type of alcohol, including fine wine or even sacramental wine. (sorry if I offend for the reductio ad absurdum)


texts: How to differentiate the pronunciation of it, eat, eight and ate?

texts:
I'm trying to refine my spoken English from scratch, and one of the biggest issue for me are the pairs of vowels: tense /i/ and lax /I/. I really can't tell the difference between them. I know that /i/ sounds longer than /I/.

So what the key difference between it and eat? And maybe even eight and ate? How do you handle this issue?


texts:
Today in my writing class I wrote: a desultory conversation, then I was told the word desultory is so rarely used and I should avoid using these kind of words in my academic writing.

I want to ask if I can use this word in my writing or my essay at all?


texts: What does the phrase "to a shot of yourself" mean here?

texts:
Please help me figure out the meaning of the phrase "to a shot of yourself" in the following sentence (this is not available online):

  Do you want to cut from your screencast to a shot of yourself
  speaking?

I have never seen the structure of "cut from something to a shot of oneself".

The quoted sentence describes a function of the video editing and screencast tool, ScreenFlow.


texts:
I understand that when we use the past continuous tense, our listener usually understands what time we are talking about. Like, "I was working at 10 pm last night."

However, I saw a sentence in a textbook it wrote that "I was in bed asleep at 4.30 this morning."  I wonder why it didn't use past continuous tense; can we say "I was being in bed asleep at 4.30 this morning" or not?  Plus, I'm not sure if the verb to be can be continuous or not for this case.

Moreover for verbs that can't be continuous, if I write a specific time, I have to use past tense not continuous tense, right? For example, "I saw a very big bird at 10 am this morning."  Is it correct to use past tense "saw" in this case?


texts: What is the meaning of "The smartest way to graduate and business school"

texts:
I browsed to The GRE Tests  website and saw this sentence on the homepage which I did not understand what it means.

  The smartest way to graduate and business school

What does it mean?


texts: Difference between “May” and “Let” in prayers

texts:
Is "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" a short form of

“Let praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ----“?
“May praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ----“?

Likewise, “Thanks be to God.”

Let thanks be to God.
May thanks be to God.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

May the God (and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) be blessed
Let the God (and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) be blessed.

If my guess is right, is there a meaning difference between “May” and “Let”?


texts: Is there any difference between Arabic and Arabian? It's sound same though for me. Any help will be greatly appreciated.


texts:
When a person got a cold, but he didn't want to have any medicine as he believed that it could be got well after having a rest. In this situation, does this sentence below sound natural? Or how would you express this?

  He wanted to cure it by himself after he got a cold.


texts: Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I COULD/CAN pass the exam

texts:
Let's say you have passed an exam, and then you can't believe it, it seems surreal. And you say:

  ''Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I COULD/CAN actually pass the exam''

Which is the correct tense here? I'm thinking about if I have to make it a parallel sentence by using ''could'' but ambivalent coz' I am talking about the ability of passing the exam.


texts: "The total value of orders we were forced to cancel as a result of the pandemic was closer to £200k for stock."

texts:
The total value of orders we were forced to cancel as a result of the pandemic was closer to £200k for stock.

This sentence seems like simple sentence as because there is no connector. Is "as"  the connector of this sentence? If as is the connector then the first clause of this sentence uses more than one finite verb. How we use more than one finite verb in a clause?


texts:
Sometimes I need to change y to ies but for survey, it's not. So far as I know there are some other cases too.

Is there any "formula" I can follow for the plural form of words with -y?


texts:
I want to say in passive voice that in our days the sience knows more than 200 types of something.

Is the following sentence correct?

  "To the science is known about 200 types of E-coli"


texts:
I came through a question that is given below

In comparison, We use "like" for noun and noun phrase and "as" for preposition phrase and clause that has a verb. So the word "as" is followed by "bacon," which is a noun. Can anyone help me? Thanks in advance.

Incorrect: Many are confused that the Atkins Diet, which permits such seemingly less healthy foods like bacon, forbids bread.

Correct: Many are confused that the Atkins Diet, which permits such seemingly less healthy foods as bacon, forbids bread.


texts: What is the correct way to ask someone to take a photograph of us?

texts:
What is the correct way to ask someone to take a photograph for us

  Excuse me, can you take a picture of us?

OR

  Excuse me, can you picture us?


texts: why isn't there a "to" before "the" in "confidential treatment will be accorded the Confidential Information"?

texts: I checked on google and it seems that there are a lot of usages like the quoted but is this grammatically right?


texts: Word for someone trying doggedly to befriend someone

texts:
How is called this word when someone is trying doggedly to be a friend of someone especially when their efforts is annoying?

Tell me please what verb, adjective or adverb I can use to mean someone is constantly trying to become a friend of someone and that someone doesn't really want to see that person in their circle.


texts:
Confusing  and Confused can be used to describe the same nouns.   I have looked up the definitions of both of the terms only to find that they are indistinguishable.
In Oxford Learner's Dictionary, confusing defines as difficult to understand; not clear. Confused defines as not clear or easy to understand. You can use either confused or confusing in the following sentence.

  Confusing/confused speech/information/instructions/situation.

Any difference in meaning?

I am quite aware of words that end with -ed to talk about a person's feelings and -ing to talk about the situation or thing that cause a person's feelings.

But it looks like you can say "confused speech" or "confused information", which I only know that to describe these nouns we use "confusing" not "confused". We can say "this is a confusing situation" or "this is a confused situation", both of which can mean that the situation is unclear. I don't know if there is a difference here.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to use full sentence when answering questions instead of using only auxilliary verbs?

texts:
Is it correct and natural to reply to the question

  Do you have any cars?

by saying the following?

  Yes, I have some cars.

Does it always have to be the short form?

  Yes I do


texts: What is the nuance of "Pick yourself up a copy!"?

texts:
An American guy introduced a book, written by himself and published this year, and then said like this in an online video.

  "If you're interested, if you want to hear more like this, definitely pick yourself up a copy!"

Actually, he said this in Japanese and showed this English sentence in the subs. My native language is Japanese, so I know what he meant. He was suggesting to the audience that they read the book, if my understanding is correct.

However, the English sentence makes me confused. I know the meanings of "pick something up," "pick up something," "pick someone up," and "pick oneself up," because they are all in dictionaries. But I've never learned this pattern, "pick oneself up something," and can't find how to understand this pattern of the phrase.

Here are my questions.

How is "yourself" working in this phrase? Why aren't "pick a copy up" and "pick up a copy" enough to express the speaker's intention?
Is "pick yourself up a copy" a common way to say in this kind of situation? If not, what do people usually say instead of using this phrase?
What is the nuance of "pick yourself up a copy"? Does this phrase imply "have the book," "buy the book," or just "try reading the book?"
What is the impression? Is this a nice way to say? Is it cool, cheerful, polite, funny, creative, young or cute?
Is this guys' speaking? Don't women say "pick yourself up a copy"?
Is this American English? Is it okay to use this phrase in British English communication?


texts: Are these grammatical? The simpler the better?

texts:
"He was washing the dishes while she was watching football"
"He said that he had been washing the dishes while she had been watching football"
"He said that he had been washing the dishes while she was watching football"
"He said that he had been washing the dishes while she watched football"
Are these all grammatical?


texts: Difference between "made" and "had made"?

texts:
As a non-native English speaker, I'm a little bit confused. Should I say:

  when we were children we made our own toys

OR

  when we were children we had made our own toys

What is the difference between the two sentences ?


texts: The meaning of 'congressmen have principle' in the context

texts:
This is the part from a novel 'Baker's blue-jay yarn' by Mark Twain.
The sentence in bold is what I don't exactly understand.

  You may call a jay a bird. Well, so he is, in a measure - because he's got feathers on him, and don't belong to no church, perhaps; but otherwise he is just as much a human as you be. And I'll tell you for why. A jay's gifts, and instincts, and feelings and interests, cover the whole ground. A jay hasn't got any more principle than a congressman. A jay will lie, a jay will steal, a jay will deceive, a jay will betray; and four times out of five, a jay will go back on his solemnest promise.

Does that sentence literally mean that congressmen normally have a lot of principles to follow while blue-jay doesn't have many of them?
Or is there any connotative meaning?


texts: Is subject omission allowed here? "He was wrestling when [he] hurt his ankle"

texts:
What is the difference between the following sentences.

  He was wrestling when he hurt his ankle.

  He was wrestling when  hurt his ankle.

Is it okay not to repeat the  same subject, he in this case, after the word when or is it necessary?

Which one is more idiomatic?


texts:
When I say

  My friends and I went snowboarding.

somebody said to me there is a grammar mistake in my sentence but I could not figure out what it is. What is the grammar mistake in the sentence? Should it be

  I and my friends went snowboarding.


texts:
Let's suppose I'm drawing up a list of characteristics that will help me in deciding which books I'll get rid of (not that I'm really going to do that, it's just a made-up example).

We will consider those books that:

have green covers
are paperback editions
have been read more than a certain amount of
time ago (the exact period of time will be defined later.)

Is the expression more than a certain amount of time ago correct? What I mean here is that at the moment, we still haven't agreed upon an exact criterion (3 months, 2 years, whatever).
It's like saying "more than X [days/months/years] ago".


texts: What's an umbrella term for academic articles, theses, reports, etc.?

texts: If I want to refer to all the different articles, theses, essays, books, etc. – published as well as unpublished/not yet published – that a scholar has produced, what word should I use? Can I use "academic works"? Or is there a better word here?


texts: Why do I not find enough results with "you're interested in me"?

texts:
I've tried to find the results of

  "you're interested in me"

or

  "you're interested me".

I want to use this phrase, for example, in the case where I know a girl and I want to ask her this question in meaning of, "Does it interest you to be my girlfriend?"


texts:
The structure is of the form of X.
  The structure is in the form of X.

What is the difference in meaning and which one is grammatically correct?

I think 1 means the structure is united with the form of X and 2 means the structure is shaped in the form of X

So, as for 1, I don't think the entire shape of the structure must look in the form of X (maybe ,part of it is united with the form of X?), but as for 2, I do think the entire shape of the structure must look in the form of X.

I wonder whether my thinking is correct.


texts:
Can I say the sentence in the following context?

Now it's 7 pm, my friend Jane said " The train leaves at 8 pm"

Can I say

Jane said that the train left at 8 pm.(becauses now it is just 7 pm)


texts: What will be a natural way to describe something someone has already sipped or eaten

texts:
If some takes a sip of a juice or any other liquid and another person drinks that from the same glass, what will be a natural word in English for that?

And of someone eats something that a person has already taken a bite of, what will be a natural way to express this?

I read a word "Ort". But it was archaic and old and was used for "food leftovers" and not describing something that is not a leftover bit something another person has already eaten a bit and might eat later on.


texts: Is the particle 'up' redundant in phrases like 'to pick *up* berries'?

texts:
Is the particle up redundant in phrases like this one?

  to pick up berries (flowers, fruit)

Or is it acceptable and doesn't change the meaning 'to gather' (update: I mean, to gather in the woods, in the garden)?


texts: Meaning of 'very detail' in the given context

texts:
Can someone explain the meaning of 'very detail' in the following sentence?

The very detail of the questions shows the wide range of issues
involved.

Does it mean 'exact detail' or 'every detail' or 'small details'? Or did the writer mean to emphasize on something else with the term 'very' here?


texts: Why is this so that some consonants take final or front position in words?

texts:
I noticed this in many words e.g. puLP, the cluster /lp/ can take place in final position but not front.
e.g. 2. paRT but /rt/ can't take first place why?


texts:
The examples:

What killed the Prince of Persia series?

What did kill the Prince of Persia series?

Is the meaning the same in both questions? Are they both grammatical? Why or why not?


texts: How to pronounce "little" "button" "cotton" etc

texts: Is it [lɪtl], [lɪdl] or [lɪ?l]? I think this question applies to some words with double t in them such as "rotten" "cotton" "button". (Standard American English pronunciation)


texts:
Although googled these terms, I'm pretty confused between the two. Also, how do they differ in the following sentence?

  "I prefer dad's objurgation to Mom's berating me over the condition of my room"


texts: Is the usage of articles correct in 'The reality is infinitely complex, we all face the life with imperfect understanding'?

texts:
'The reality is infinitely complex, we all face the life with imperfect understanding.'

The articles is always a struggle for me. If the articles are correct in the above sentence, is there any other mistakes, except the meaning of the sentence?


texts:
Can I say:

  "Have you got something that you always forget to do?"

Or should I use "have got" only with tangible objects that I can possess?


texts: Which of these three expressions works to ask somebody how late he was for school?

texts:
I want to ask somebody how late he was for school.
How should I ask him?

How late were you for the school?
How much were you late for the school?
How much time were you late for school?

Are these three expressions natural in conversation?
If we can use all these three expression in the situation, what is the difference in meaning between these three expressions?


texts:
I see in a movie this expression, but i'm not understand in the context scene.

In the scene the character gives to another a book. The first one says something that leaves the person who got the book angry. After that the character says "Fill your boots"


texts:
What would the correct grammar be for making statements plural?

Such as They showered her in "I'll miss you's."


texts: What does "entertain in their service" imply?

texts:
I read a sentence in a chapter in my history book which was:

  A century ago the British arrived in Hindostan and gradually entertained troops in their service and became masters of every state. Source

Now, I'm unable to figure out what "entertained in service" imply here.


texts:
Today my english teacher insisted that the possessive adjective in the following sentence is THEIR pens! while I was trying to convince her that the correct answer is YOUR pens so which one of it is correct?
the sentence goes like this:

Sara and you have pens. ________ pens are red.


texts:
I want to write a sentence that conveys the following meaning:

  If I am able to do XYZ, it would be like a dream come true for me!

examples of do XYZ are: "have dinner with your favorite athlete", "click a selfie with the rockstar", "study physics together with your maths professor", etc. To generalize, it could be any action that one has been hoping to do for a long. Through this sentence, they're expressing their wish as to how their dreams would come true if they were finally able to perform their desired action.

I wish to know what different idioms/phrases/words there are that will help me convey this desire in written English. I wish to use these different idioms/phrases/words to bring greater variety to my essay.

Thank you!


texts:
I see this sentence:” He is never punctual going to work; he is always late.
Why not use “punctually”? go is a verb, so punctually may be right. That is my opinion.


texts:
He gave me his room number just in case I change my mind.

Why doesn't the rule of sequence tenses use in this sentence?

PS At the same time, why is it written as "room number" instead of "room's number"/"number of his room"?


texts: Is there a better way to say "There are many people poorer than you."?

texts:
Our manager has recently hired a new assistant. She is a good woman, but she likes to complain to me when she can not afford to buy something new. She told me she wanted to buy some Chanel fashion accessories but the wages were way not enough. There are lots of things she wants to buy, too. Then one day, I thought I should stop her, or I would go crazy, so I said,

  Stop it please, (her name)... There are many people poorer than you. They can not even afford healthy food but you just always want to spend all your money on luxuries.

I want to make the quote better by replacing poor with some other words, because it is not appropriate (it is offensive to the poor).

Can you help me please?


texts: What do you call the chain mail around the helm? I am talking about the chain mail that's supposed to protect the lower face of an armor wearer as seen in the picture. I am pretty sure there's a generic or specific term for it.


texts: Is there some accent pronounces "I'm going to do" as "my do"?

texts:
It sounds like the tutorial is saying

  put in all your tops. my do this all the way down ...

The autogenerated transcript gives

  put in all your tops. I'm going to do this all the way down ...

which makes more sense. although I listened over and over again, it does not sound like that.

I would like to know what he exactly saying. Could someone help?


texts: What is the subject when it's omitted after the comparison?

texts:
As market forces penetrate firms and bid up the value of attributes of labor that are more measurable than is the knowledge born of experience, it can be expected that trends in wages will not favor those whose main value lies in such experiential knowledge.

What is the subject after "than" for "is the knowledge born of experience"? How to complete this sentence? Here's my own try:

"As market forces penetrate firms and bid up the value of attributes of labor that are more measurable than (the value of) the knowledge born of experience is, it can be...."

Am I right when completing it in this way? Thanks!


texts: What does it mean by "reach for a banana"?

texts: In this video one of the panel said "he is reaching for a banana" after seeing the robot got down on the desk. I thought this would be an idiom or some phrase that would be found in the urban dictionary, but I cannot find any hints on the Internet. Could anyone please tell me if it means something special in colloquial English?


texts: Should we add an article in the phrase "by return owl" in this case?

texts:
what do you think you are playing at, walking off into the forest with Viktor Krum? I want you to swear, by return owl, that you are not going to go walking with anyone else at night. There is somebody highly dangerous at Hogwarts.

I'm wondering if we should add an article in "by return owl", like "by a return owl". Why does it not take any articles here? How should we understand it?

Excerpted from Harry Potter


texts: Is this possible: 'I’ll never forget my country being invaded'?

texts:
forget (somebody) doing something (OALD)

What examples are there for the above construction? Can the case below be possible?

  I’ll never forget my country being invaded by the empire.


texts:
How correct is to ignore using the verb if it is repeated.
example:

  A traditional teacher can teach hundreds, another one who uses technology thousands.


texts:
having next sentence

  The amount of people who are concerned about reforestation is nearly as twice as much (many?) as those who don't care.

I've got next question:
How is more correct to say - much or many? On one hand, we have amount - so it looks like we should use much, on other hand people - and many. Or we have no difference in this case and can choose any?


texts: "on the part of " : What does it mean in the sentence?

texts:
When I say,

He expressed appreciation on the part of himself and his colleagues,

Does it mean he expressed appreciation on behalf of  himself and his colleagues?

or

Does it mean he appreciated himself and his colleagues?.


texts: Do native speakers say 'get on' instead of 'continue'?

texts: Today I was talking about something important with our manager, but then another guy came and interrupted our conversation. As soon as that guy finished talking and went away, I said 'Let's continue' to the manager, and he chuckled a bit. Then I realised that I must have said something awkward. As far as I can remember, I've never heard any native speaker say 'Let's continue'. It seems that they say 'let's get on...' or something. So how do native speakers say 'continue'? Is it really 'get on', or is there any other expression? Could you show me some examples?


texts:
I would like to know if these structures share the same meaning:

  If I were to do it, I would...

  If I had to do it,I Would...

  you are to finish doing the Washin up by..

  you have to finish...

These are examples.


texts: meaning of the phrase "T plus" in context?

texts:
That is from Crash Course Astronomy. The sentence it was used in is at 5:41. Here it goes:

  Then at T+20 minutes the universe cooled enough that fusion stopped.

I have looked it up in the internet, and what appeared is that it is an abbreviation meaning to think positive, but I cannot make head or tail of the sentence with this definition.


texts: What word is used when some elements split two related parts? Interleaving?

texts:
For example, suppose some words comes between two parts of a compound verb

  I turned the radio on

Which sentence describes this better? (in fact I want it for a Persian construction, but couldn't bring my own example)

My description sentence is:

  An example of a compound verb with interleaving elements.

But as I checked the meaning of interleaving in google translate:

  insert pages, typically blank ones, between the pages of (a book).
  "books of maps interleaved with tracing paper"

  mix (two or more digital signals) by alternating between them.

Then I am doubtful about my usage of "Interleaving"!


texts: Is there a word for someone who is very good at starting wars among friends?

texts:
There is no specific word for it in my mother tongue. Imagine the situation when he meets a group of people, maybe he just met them, with few words he can start a fight among them and the turn against each other.
Any word for that?


texts:
SOURCE   (One of scores)

I often see an educational website using the phrase "less applied" but can't find out what does that mean actually. One sentence comprising this phrase is as follows:

  1st Selection List of Undergraduate Programmes (Less Applied
  Biosciences) has been uploaded.


texts:
In technical document in English, I read sentence of "more than 2". I usually just understand it as "two or more" since we generally translate it as similar sentence in Korean. (in Korean, there are separated single words for 'greater than or equal to' and 'greater than'.)

But in this case, I feel it means "greater than 2" because the technical context of the document need '> 2' not '>= 2'. So my question is, which is right understanding for "more than two". Is it "> 2" or ">= 2"? And more, if I need to write for ">= 2", which is clear way to write?

I think "two or more" is clear but is there any clear expression?


texts:
Is the order of adjectives correct?

"Delicate golden body"
"Then something small, golden and fierce jumped on Allen’s body"


texts: What does it means by "proving the prosecution's case."?

texts:
A and B are innocents in the case, but B hired a fake lawyer, who acts crazy in the court.

  A: He thinks you should give it to him? What was he before he was a
  lawyer, a comedian? (give it means handing over the case.)

  B: How can it hurt? If he doesn't ask the right questions, your lawyer
  will, right?

  A: He could still fu*k things up.There's more to cross-examination
  than knowing what to say. It's knowing what not to say.Look, let's say
  he asks all the possible questions, right? And the witness has all the
  answers. He ends up proving the prosecution's case.

Does it means that A and B have done the crime?


texts:
How can I explain to my younger brother (and more importantly, to myself) that it's OK to drop about in:

  Go ahead and ask the clerk (about) the price of the car.

That it would be wrong to include it in:

  May I ask your name/date of birth?

And that it would be wrong to drop it in:

  The doctor asked about the history of my illness.

In all three sentences, a request is being made, and information is expected to be given or shared:

  What is the price of the car? (= give it to me)

  What is your name? (= give it to me)

  What is the history of your illness? (= give it to me)


texts: The role of "IS" in "What would my family and friends say is the driving force of my life?"

texts:
What would my family and friends say is the driving force of my life?

The sentence above, I'm not really familar with this specific construction, especially with the position of is.

I guess that means : What is the driving force of my life would my family and friends say?

But how can it be of that position possible?


texts: When does the interjection "absolutely" mean a negation per se?

texts:
In my English classes, a long time ago, I remember the teacher giving examples of the interjection absolutely as a synonimus to 'not at all'. Example: Are you angry at me? Absolutely! Have you ever used drugs? Absolutely! Obviously, the intonation for this was the same of indignation, and not affirmative.
Is this correct?


texts: Tense agreement when one recent activity is interrupted by another

texts:
I wrote this sentence but I'm not convinced the tenses are correct.

I've been waiting for this book for a few weeks, and it has just come out

In the first clause, I used present perfect continuous because it's an action that lasted for some time and finished recently. However, the activity is definitely finished - it got interrupted by the book's release - which makes me question it.
As for the second clause, you could argue that "just" in "it has just come out" refers to a specific point in the past and so past simple should be used. However, the fact that it came out is relevant to the present ("... so I'm about to go buy it"); therefore, I used present perfect simple.
Honestly, I'm not sure if either of them is correct. It almost seems like the whole sentence should be in the past

I had been waiting for this book for a few weeks, and it was just released

But that doesn't sound right to me. It sounds like a neutral statement of fact that doesn't have bearing on the present.


texts: What's the meaning of 'off' in this context?

texts:
"But we don't feet like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food
  and you still seem to have some."
      Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron - Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a
  horrible yell.
      Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle - Crabbe and Malfoy backed away
  as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbets
  finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at
  once. (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

Scabbers the rat still attached to Goyles’s hand. And yet why the preposition off, that means coming off the finger, is used?


texts:
I am thinking there must be something wrong with the usage of "this" here:

  The video made its debut on Aug. 27, and as of this writing, more than 600,000 people have seen it.

"Writing" is the uncountable activity of, well, writing.  Using the determiner "this" with "writing" suggests that "writing" is countable.  Is the sentence wrong, or is my analysis wrong?


texts: active voice for the phrase "is formed of"

texts:
The earth is formed of layers.

Can I change this sentence into active?

  Layers form the earth.

The Oxford advanced learner Dictionary says the word form is:
" [T, often passive] to produce sth in a particular way or make it have a particular shape]"
So I can't decide whether it is suitable to transform the phrase "formed of"  into active verb.


texts: what do Present Perfect and due soon mean together?

texts:
I read this sentence:

i didn't get as much for those photos as i hoped, and we have got the mortgage due soon.

I can't understand what is passing due soon here?
The offer talks about a past event(we got a mortgage ) but as i understand it, due soon passes the value of soon, about to, i.e. something closer to the future event .So what is it for in this sentence?
I would be happy to help


texts: 1 Why can't "who played the mini-golf were the guests" be used to emphasize? 2 When no emphasis, it's grammatical, isn't it?

texts:
Oxford Guide to English Grammar; John Eastwood; Oxford University Press 1994-09

Page 63

  b Look at these examples.

  A technical fault caused the delay.

  The guests played mini-golf after tea.

  We can emphasize different parts of the sentence.

  What caused the delay was a technical fault.

  What the guests played after tea was mini-golf.

  What the guests did after tea was (to) play mini-golf.

  What happened after tea was (that) the guests played mini-golf.

  NOTE

  a We cannot use who in this pattern. We must put a noun in front of it.

  The people who played mini-golf were the guests.

  NOT Who played mini-golf were the guests.

1 Why can't "who played the mini-golf were the guests" be used to emphasize? What's the difference between it and "The people who played mini-golf were the guests"?

2 When no emphasis, it's grammatical, isn't it? We can make such sentences, can't we?


texts: How can I write a relationship among the objects in a sentence?

texts:
For instance, let’s say that I want to establish an association among 3 objects. In this case, let the objects be “Roses”, “Violets”, and ”Tulips”.

Then, if I want to say, for example, that in my garden there was an anthill among those three categories of flowers, how should I write it?

• There was an anthill among my roses, violets, and tulips.

or

• There was an anthill between my roses, violets, and tulips.

Another example could be:

• Here, I will explain the difference between roses, violets, and tulips.

or

• Here, I will explain the difference among roses, violets, and tulips.


texts:
What is the difference in meaning between ...

  "I saw him again last year, I thought he was tall"

and

  "I saw him again last year, I had thought he was tall"


texts: How to overcome comprehending the words we don't know while listening

texts:
Well, It happens to me time to time while listening musics, the singer uses some words I have no clue beforehand, So I was looking for a solution to tackle this. I listen to rap musics mostly, and the first time I heard Eminem said

  fa sheezel, ma wizzel

I was like what could it mean? By the way I listen to rap musics because I believe they come handy while improving listening comprehension, causal and informal contexts do the same. Not going off a tangent, Is there any method or way to kind of find out the meaning by understanding the whole context?


texts: What's the term for telling the DMV that your vehicle isn't in use?

texts:
In Sweden, when we don't use a vehicle, we tell our local DMV that it's not going to be on the road. Then, they sign it as such and we can pay less or no insurance (although we're extremely limited in terms of the permitted usage).

I want to tell that to someone about a vehicle and initially I said that it might be unregistered but that's not correct terminology. The vehicle is registered, it has plates and an owner.

What's the correct term for it in English? As it's a legal term, I wouldn't be surprised if it's different on the different sides of the oceans.


texts: “Friday I am in love” or “On Friday I am in love”?

texts: The question itself is wider. If I am not mistaken, putting “Friday” in the song title by the Cure means “On Friday”. Can we use it everyday and not only with days of the week but other time markers, like “February, she is gone to Australia”?


texts: While talking and describing a person, can we use the phrase "our own "

texts:
Can one use the phrase "our own" while describing a person or a place. For example:

  Our own Charles Dickens has written novels on industrial revolution.

Or

  Our own Mr. Gandhi is a symbol of non violence.

Or

  Our own Bombay is a crowded city.


texts: What is the meaning of "confirming the screen lock on your old phone"? To me "to confirm" means "to support or establish the certainty or validity of; verify", but does it make sense to apply this definition in this context?


texts:
We can think about future.
But can we say some of these ways?:

We should ruminate about future
We should ponder about future
We should contemplate about future

Do any some of them make a sense?
Or they are not usual?


texts:
I have requested an agent to cancel my tickets in email as shown below

  It helps if I get a confirmation once the request to cancellation of the ticket has been updated.

But, my Outlook (this is Microsoft email application, which uses the dictionaries and rules from Word) shows an error prompt for grammar correction.

It says "Passive voice (consider revising)"

So, what is wrong here? What is "passive voice"?


texts: How can I express 'teaching something to myself'?

texts:
I know the verb "to learn". I also know "self-learn" as a noun. But can it be used as a verb? Like

  I self-learnt something.

If not, how could I say I 'learnt' myself something in the past?


texts: What is wrong with you? how to change this into embedded question can someone helps me, please?


texts: Can I make a order shift from A of B to B of A?

texts:
The original sentence I encountered in my reading is shown as below:
1962RR is a 70-year-old right-handed man with 18 years of education.
What is strange for me is the chunk '18 years of education'.
Can I replace 18 years of education with the education of 18 years in this context?
Are both of them acceptable English expressions?


texts:
What should I use Became or become? Why?

a) The “poor man”, who became/become so, due to the therapeutic circumstances.

Become past tense is became. But sentence is referring to present truth. so I feel Become is correct.
But, Became describe completed action of becoming poor.

Context:

  A doctor, due to his professional proximity, has a higher chance, to grasp three of The Buddha’s four noble sights—the sick man, the old man, the dying man! Those with additional introspection may also record, the fourth—the “poor man”, who became so, due to the therapeutic circumstances.


texts:
I couldn't understand this explanation even though I know what relative clause is:

Omission of the relative pronoun whom is particularly common when the
verb is linked to a preposition. Compare the following 'defining'
relative clauses:

'The friend who I went out with last night is anorexic.' (Grammatically incorrect, but sometimes/often heard.)

'The friend I went out with last night is going to have a baby.' (Omission of the relative pronoun would be the most common occurrence in these sentences.)

'The friend with whom I went out last night has bought a new car.' (Quite improbable, almost impossible, because, as conversational English, it is far too clumsy.)

However, in this statement, which is much more formal, it is possible to link the preposition with 'whom':

'The senator, with whom I dined last night, will be the next President of the United States of America.'

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv47.shtml

In example of 'The friend who I went out with last night is anorexic', relative clause is defining relative clause and the relative pronoun is the object. So relative pronoun could be omitted but even if it is not but why is the first sentence grammatically incorrect?
can we say "we use whom instead of who when the relative pronoun is the object " if we can  I think this is only accurate form "The friend whom I went out with last night is anorexic" ?


texts: For example, "The faucet is leaking water." Is the word "water" using with leaking here okay or redundant ?


texts: Difference between who are you? & who you are

texts:
I am in confused that When I ask to unknown person, then how to ask: Who are you? or Who you are..

Other examples:
What is he doing? or what he is doing..
How are you? or how you are..

What is the reason behind that? In which condition we use them separately ?


texts: Is using "were" or "are" better in the conversation

texts:
May I know which of the following two sentences is grammatical?

From what I’ve described which aspects would you say were the “must haves”?

From what I’ve described which aspects would you say are the “must haves”?


texts: Why "wear to a funeral"? Is "wear at a funeral" OK?

texts:
I'm reading a book about the commonest mistakes foreign learners make, either in written form or while speaking. Now, some particular words are listed that give the most trouble, like this one:

  suitable – for (doing something) (never *to do)

    Her dress was not very suitable for wearing to a funeral.

Why is it to, and would the meaning be different if I replaced it with at?


texts:
I am talking about a hilly region.

I was driving up the road and first I get to see a Salon and next a grocery shop.

If someone ask me about the salon who knows the grocery shop, can I say:

  The salon is down the grocery shop.

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I have read a sentence on line. In the sentence, is the word 'so' an intensifier? Please explain it.

  If their number increased at all, it did so very slowly; indeed, sometimes it may have even decreased.


texts:
What does but mean in the following sentence taken from Bertrand Russell's Problems of Philosophy?

  Such questions are bewildering, and it is difficult to know that even the strangest hypotheses may not be true. Thus our familiar table, which has roused but the slightest thoughts in us hitherto, has become a problem full of surprising possibilities.


texts:
Was it not his Self, his small, fearful and proud Self, with which he had wrestled for so many years, but which had always conquered him again, which appeared each time again and again, which robbed him of happiness and filled him with fear? Was it not this which had finally died today in the wood by this delightful river?

Would you please in a more readily way tell me if I have properly explain the following?

From my point of view, such a usage of using the adverb not-- that is, after subject-- shows emphasis or the context is literary. S, the following could mean the same thing:

does not he go there?

does he not go there?

The specific question: what is the difference between the following, and would you refer me to a accredited-- autharetive-- site in order that I could get it better?

was it not something...?

was not it something...?

Thanks in advance


texts: "as was just mentioned" or "as just mentioned"?

texts:
A couple of lines earlier: for this reason one can say that the subjects in questions have been influenced by X.

  .

  .

  .

  A survey of that kind would show how, as was just mentioned, the
  subjects have been  influenced by X.
  A survey of that kind would show how, as just mentioned, the
  subjects have been influenced by X.

I have frequently seen sentences in the form of sentence 2. That is, they just drop "was/were". But that doesn't sound correct to me, because sentence 2 does not give the passive meaning required.

So are both 1 and 2 equally correct, or 1 prefered?


texts: Help to understand: “The apology was not offered to the right,”

texts:
Bee later apologized for “using an expletive” to describe the first
  daughter. “It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and
  I deeply regret it,” she said.

  The wording of the statement was “very
  specific,” she told The Daily Beast.

  “The apology was not offered to
  the right,” she said. “It was not offered as a concession to their
  demands, at all. It was offered in a very specific manner and I don’t
  regret putting it out there. I think it was the right thing to do.”

I don't quite understand “The apology was not offered to the right,”. What is "to the right" referring to?

Also, what does she mean by "offered in a very specific manner"? What kind of a specific manner is it?

The full source.


texts: What kind of "effect" is it when something has ended but temporarily affects still?

texts:
Consider a situation where a circumstance causes an effect. Once the circumstance changes or vanishes, the effect is expected to cease. In certain cases, the observable effect continues to transpire, which, for an ignorant observer may appear contradictory.
What can be used as short expression that most people can relate to and recognize the delay as merely temporary phenomenon surely bound to end shortly?
I'm thinking about the term butterfly effect, which most people understand referring to a seemingly insignificant event that by an unexpected and non-obvious extension becomes the root cause to a dramatic outcome.
What kind of "effect" could the situation in question be described as?
An example would be a room that's cold as a duck due to an open window during winter. The circumstance here is the window is open and the effect accordingly it's cold as duck. Once someone shuts the window, the room will become warm but it takes a few minutes of intensive heating before the duckly coldness vanishes. Someone might claim that closing the window didn't help and then, I'd like to counter by saying it will but you need to consider the what-what effect.


texts: Phrasing a sentence "Do you know any people whom I could combine my efforts with?"

texts:
I'm composing a sentence and I have doubts on whether it's correctly formed.
First I wrote

  "Do you know any people whom I could combine my efforts with?"

than I thought nah, that's not right, and wrote

  "Do you know any people that I could combine my efforts with?"

but that "that" also didn't feel right so I went with

  "Do you know any people I could combine my efforts with?"

What would be the proper way to phrase it? Thank you.


texts: Word/Phrase for mother who accuses her children to defend herself?

texts:
She blames me when the fault is hers. This happens usually when we are in front of our relatives. She twists statements and/or exaggerates when she wants to complain about me to my father or to our relatives.

When neighbours say something negative about my appearance or my behaviour, she lectures me instead of telling that person to stop commenting. Reason she states is that it is embrassing for her to hear all this, so I should mend my behaviour.  She doesn't want to hear logic or any counter argument.

Yet, she wonders why I don't love her.

So, the question is what the word to describe such a mother?

In hindi the word is Kumata*. What is it in English?

*NOTE: Mata means 'mother'. Ku mata means 'bad mother'. Similarly there is putra for 'son', and kuputra for 'bad son'. These are Sanskrit words.


texts: Appropriate usage of the word "legislate"

texts:
Which of following sentences make sense better?

This law have been legislated for regarding of worker's rights
This law have been legislated to regard worker's rights


texts: The process of determining a patient's prognosis

texts:
We can say for instance about patients diagnosed with tuberculosis that the X-ray tells the physician something about the disease progression in the near future:

  An X-ray is essential to determine the prognosis in tuberculosis patients.

But is there a single word to describe the act of determining the patient's prognosis? I have seen the word "prognostication":

  An X-ray is essential for prognostication in tuberculosis patients.

Although it appeals to me as a German, because the German language has the word "Prognostizierung", the word "prognostication" is seemingly not frequently in use. And from some sample sentences I conclude that this word also has an esoteric connotation, think Macbeth's witches and crystal balls.
So, should I stick with the first version or is there a noun to describe this process?


texts:
A teacher gave us a challenge to solve an equation , we spent hours and hours trying to solve the equation without any result , and in a late time my friend called me and told me that he solved the equation , I said to him :

“how could you have solved this equation? “

Is this sentence could be used to express astonishment ?


texts: Is it right to say, "I have wanted to make this cake since so long"

texts: Say you make a cake after having wanted to make it for a long time. You say, "I finally got around to making this cake." and then you say "I have wanted to make this cake since/for so long." Has the sentence in boldface been constructed correctly? What about, "I have been wanting to make this cake for so long?"


texts:
I am trying to learn if i can use possessives in a chain.
Are my sentences correct and if not how can i make them so?
"Father of John's pen is an antique."?
(what i meant: "John's dad has a pen and it's an antique")
"Dio's voice actor is also Shirogane's father's"
(what i meant: "Dio's voice actor also does the voice of Shirogane's father")
I want to use the second sentence with "father of Shirogane" like the first one but i can't seem to work it out.


texts: Why can't l chose much or far instead of quite?

texts:
I solved a problem in which l picked  wrong answer and the question is the part of text which has blank to be filled . Text is very long so l want to give a part of the text .

"I don't like reading financial  pages because they tend to be very long.l like reading arts pages  and l find that (quite) interesting.


texts: How should I assimilate an unusual usage of a word?

texts:
From "Gone with the Wind":

  Tom and us left home early this morning before she got up, and Tom's laying out over at the Fontaines' while we came over here.

As an English learner, I feel unfamiliar with the phrase "lay out over" in this sentence. After searching on the web for the usage of "lay out", I don't think any of the meanings matches the usage here. I would like to know if a native English speaker will feel uncertain about the meaning when coming across this sentence. How do you feel about it?


texts:
(1)
  can:
  used in the negative for saying that you are sure something is not true
  That can't be Mary—she's in New York. (OALD)

When the complement of be-verb is not specifying one as in OALD’s case, but ascriptive as below (2) and (3), can this be meaning the same?

  (2) You can’t be a good shepherd.
  (3) You can never be a good shepherd.

I guess (2) and (3) both can denote negating your future possibility of becoming a good shepherd. But can both denote presently you are not a good shepherd?


texts: Why this sentence "You should worry" meaning has been "You don't worry"?

texts:
I think that "You should worry" meaning is to be "It is good for you to do worry", But in dictionary defines "You should worry" meaning is "You don't worry".
How is the meaning to be "You don't worry"?
I've been thinking it seems an irony sentence.


texts:
How to express and action of a person in which he/she tries to move 1 corner of his/her upper lip up high. It could be a smile that you disrespect someone or you give some negative attitude to someone or something. Or you do it when you feel bad about your life, for example, you lost your job or got a divorce.

Is it correct to say "he stretched his lip corner up"?


texts: What is the difference between 'at a conference' and 'in conference'?

texts:
Here's how the Longman dictionary distinguishes the two senses of the noun 'conference'.

  1 a large formal meeting where a lot of people discuss important matters such as business, politics, or science, especially for several days [for this sense, I assume, it's 'at a conference']

  [...]

  2 a private meeting for a few people to have formal discussions

  [...]

  Mr Dickson is in conference.

(from here)

I find this distinction quite subtle and hardly significant at all. Please explain the difference in usage. In addition, I have no idea why there's no article in the second example given the fact that it's a countable noun. Even my spellchecker Grammarly objects.


texts: What is the role of "It" in this two sentences?

texts:
1.It rains quite often here in the summer.
2.It is hard to believe that he is dead.
Some clarification will help me to identify the parts of speech of "it" in both sentences.


texts: multiple adjective clauses and prepositional phrase used as adjective

texts:
Sentence:

  You should apply the cream which was prescribed by the doctor who has a better reputation to your skin.

Question:
I am wondering if it's okay to have multiple adjective clauses in one sentence, and does adjective clause have any effect on the structure of the sentence(in terms of grammar).

Also, if the sentence will be grammatically correct if I change it into:

  You should apply the cream which was prescribed by the doctor of/with better reputation to your skin.

In this case, I am  wondering if the prepositional phrase is used correctly, and which preposition (with or of) works better in the context.


texts: "My mother reads Ramayana every morning" - Is this correct grammar?

texts:
I noticed the following statement to correct the sentence in an university question paper.

"My mother reads Ramayana every morning."

or

"My mother reads Bible every morning"

Is there anything wrong with the above sentence?

The above statement looked perfectly fine for me.


texts: We are blessed to have you in/at our workplace

texts:
Let's say a friend of yours has been transfered to your workplace/department, and then you say:

  Welcome my friend, we are blessed to have you in/at our workplace.

Both of them make sense, that's why I'm not sure which is which? Help.


texts:
She focusses on/in developing the four language skills.

Which preposition is the correct one to use? Do was focus on something, or focus in something?