texts:
They are talking about her.

Assuming we have this sentence that needs to be made passive, what do we get?

My variant is:

She is being talked about.

But I'm guessing this isn't right and there is no passive for "talk about".


texts: Is it correct to say "Children in Asia often have private tutorials after official school to help them pass exams to get to higher grades"?

texts:
This happens in many Asian countries.
Say, students study math, chemistry, physics etc at school (primary/secondary or High school). But, a lot of them don't understand these subjects well enough.
And in order to "pass exams to get to higher grades" (I am not sure I am saying it correctly, these students need to pass the final chemistry/physics/etc exam at the end of each year to get to higher grade), they need to "attend some private tutorials / private lessons after official school".
In these private tutorials / private lessons, their tutors may not teach them the theory of these subjects because the students learned them in their official school. The tutors may focus on helping doing exercises of these subjects in stead.
Is it correct to say "Children in Asia often have private tutorials/lessons after official school to help them pass exams to get to higher grades"?


texts: What phrase could be used in place of "threw out their nets" or "threw their nets"?

texts:
The fishermen threw out/threw their nets.

For fishing, which phrase should be used, "threw out their nets" or "threw their nets"?


texts: error correction :Ankita is disgusted _____ the habit of her brother

texts:
Ankita is disgusted _____ the habit of her brother.

a) at

b) with

which will be used here, and please explain other contexts too where "disgusted at" and where "disgusted with" is used. I am quite confused about it.

My book says answer is "at"

thanks in advance.


texts: Help choose past or past continuous tense

texts:
I'm confused about this one. Please help choose past or past continuous tense and explain your answer. Thanks.

  When I came home yesterday, all the cats were sleeping. But at night,
  while I was sleeping, they played/were playing loudly and
  disturbed/were disturbing us all.


texts: what "of the Dunedain" modifying in the sentence?

texts:
In the westlands of Eriador, between the Misty Mountains and the Mountains of Lune, the Hobbits found both Men and Elves. Indeed, a remnant still dwelt there of the Dunedain, the kings of Men that came over the Sea out of Westernesse; but they were dwindling fast and the lands of their North Kingdom were falling far and wide into waste.

I'm not sure what "of the Dunedain" modifies. It seems to me that it modifies 'remnant'.  If so, why is it put at the end, not close to the word? What does the author try to convey?
Any thoughts?


texts: Bonk's English course book states that they didn't at all. Where could someone obtain this necessary knowledge? Do you soften the first letter of DID rather than first of DO?


texts: "We all love the good quotes, especially love ones." vs. "especially about love."

texts:
We all love the good quotes, especially love ones.

or
We all love the good quotes, especially about love.

The idea is to express in a short way that we love good quotes about love. Do these sentences have the same meaning? I'd rather use the first sentence because I wanted to use an adjective, though I'm not sure which one sounds more natural.


texts: Americans are puzzled vs Americans puzzled

texts:
Americans are puzzled
  Americans puzzled

Which one is correct? I believe 2nd one is grammatically correct, but I see the usage of 1st also.


texts: Is it wrong to say "when I was a child, I have eaten a lot of sweets"?

texts:
I think we need to say "when I was a child, I ate a lot of sweets"

Similarly, is it wrong to say "frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon"? (The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, emphasis added)

I think we need to say "frequently I feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon"

Thanks for the example--- "I have recently seen a lot of bad behavior by teenagers when I went to the beach."

Present perfect means the past action still happening now, so "have seen" means both "saw" and "see". The narrator still sees a lot of bad behavior by teenagers now, that's for sure, but does the narrator still sees it when he or she goes to the beach? Or somewhere else?

I understand  "Recently I saw a lot of bad behavior by teenagers when I went to the beach."

But I am disconcerted about "I see a lot of bad behavior by teenagers when I went to the beach."


texts:
I wonder how to explain this regular zero article in such constructions:

Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrentheit 451.
Karl Marx, creator of Marxism.

I can see that the second example may be explained as a title or something like this. But what is the first one?


texts:
I'm trying to make a sentence:

  I basically work in/at/on cold-iron development field

I mean that I explaining to someone my professional field (what I do for living), but not sure about the preposition. What would you say?


texts: "Rather"' 's usage before or after a verb

texts:
I would like to inquire about the accurate usage of the word "rather". I Googled "i suggest rather" and "i rather suggest". They both were used before or after a verb. I am not sure if the usage after a verb is correct. For example:

  Sam: I'd like to take this exam next year. John: I'd rather suggest
  that you take it this year.

  Sam: I'd like to take this exam next year. John: I'd suggest rather
  that you take it this year.

Rather is adverb:

Quote from Cambridge dictionary: "We can put adverbs and adverb phrases at the front, in the middle or at the end of a clause".

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/about-adjectives-and-adverbs/adverbs-and-adverb-phrases-position

I feel both sentences are correct, but the second usage of "rather" is not bold, it is lighter?


texts:
This past week, I was conversing with a senior friend (not a colleague) of mine and in his text, he sent me something which suggested that he could help me out with making my resume, with his texts being in quite a zealous mood.

I replied with the following (with a little tone of hesitation):

  "Actually I'm preparing myself for an exam before I start working on my
  resume. Thanks for offering me to help though :) "

.. Right after I sent the text, I realized my text feels a little cold cause I didn't reciprocate the good vibe. The first line feels a little meek or something just doesn't feel right. How may I change the wording to make it sound better? Any better alternative way to convey the same thing with a little more energy? I think that adding a "well" before "actually" does make it better(makes it a little more polite), but it still steals the enthusiasm from his comment.


texts: What does "affect...with a lag" mean in this context?

texts:
Does it mean Fed's policy makes the US economy slow down?
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lag

  In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said, "I'm not one who would like to see inflation be at 2 percent before we continue on the path" of rate hikes because policy affects the economy with a lag.

  Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-Fed-minutes-idUSKCN1AW2AW


texts: "oversight of genetic testing" or "the oversight of genetic testing"?

texts:
The following sentence is from Oxford dictionary:

  Who has oversight of genetic testing?

Now, my question is why the article "the" hasn't been used here. In other words is it wrong to say

  Who has the oversight of genetic testing?

?

Is there any difference in meaning between them? Which sounds more natural to native English speakers?


texts:
I want to write a title for an article, it is

  On-line system for detecting defects in traveling grate based on machine vision

I don't know if I should use articles like (An online system) or (a/the traveling grate) or not?

I feel if I use article it miss the generality, on the other hand I know countable objects need an article. Are titles exception, because I feel I have seen such titles?


texts: I can understand the grammar but can not understand the meaning of sentences

texts:
I've started learning English at secondary school. First topic I learned is the grammar rule. I did a lot of assignments about it likes doing the math. I think that I can do it well(I got a 600 points for TOEIC reading & listening test).
I just realize that there are a lot of English sentences I know the grammar is using but I still can not understand the meaning and sometime It made me stressful. I have read some emails at work and didn't understand anything. The tweet below is one of the example:

"The Mueller Witch Hunt is a total disgrace. They are looking at supposedly stolen Crooked Hillary Clinton Emails (even though they don’t want to look at the DNC Server), but have no interest in the Emails that Hillary DELETED & acid washed AFTER getting a Congressional Subpoena!"

I can not understand what Trump meant. To be honest I do not understand a lot of well-known person tweets. Do you have any suggest for me to improve my understanding skill? What should I learn to improve?

Thank you for sharing with me!


texts:
Which is correct?

  None of us are getting out of here alive.

or

  None of us is getting out of here alive.


texts: Does "expect" and "expected" make any different sense?

texts:
Please help me figure out this two expressions:

"What do you expect to know?" and "What are you expected to know?"


texts:
As per merriam-webster, the word "conformity" means

  action in accordance with some specified standard or authority

There are two meanings of "action" related in Cambridge Dictionary

  as an uncountable noun: the process of doing something, especially when dealing with a problem or difficulty

  as a countable noun: something that you do

Which meaning should I go with for my first quoted sentence at the beginning of this post?


texts: the structure "like for somebody to do something"

texts:
I ran into this in the novel The Old Man and the Sea,

  “I do not like for him to waken me. It is as though I were inferior.”

What has happened in the first sentence "I do not like for him to waken me"?
The structure seems unfamiliar to me. Is it normal for instance to say, "I don't like for you to leave the country"? It seems unnatural. I normally would say, "I don't like you to leave the country" or "I don't like him to wake me up".

Links for my further studying would be appreciated.


texts: Which tense should I use: "I was" / "I had been" / "I were"?

texts: Which one is grammatically correct : I wish I was born in 1900 / I wish I had been born in 1900 / I wish I were born in 1900 ? And why ?


texts: What is the use of using preposition 'of' to talk about possessions with *ANIMATE* countable nouns?

texts:
In the coursebook 'New Round-Up 3' by Virginia Evans, Jenny Dooley and Irina Kondrasheva (Pearson, 2010) I have come across a title "A Day in the life OF a Farmer'.

Michael Swan in his fully revised 'Practical English Usage' (third edition, OUP, 2013) says that 'we use the 's structure most often to talk about possessions, relationships and physical characteristics, especially when the first noun refers to a person or animal, or to a country, organisation or other group of living creatures'.

My question is: will it mean the same if we used 's with it?


texts: I'm writting something like this "A help at/in the most difficult time/moment", and I don't know what is correct, at or in... and the same thing with time or moment, I don't know what word I should use.


texts: Does this sound right? "We don't have a Beta fleet at present"

texts:
We don't have a Beta fleet at present.

In this sentence, should at present be at the beginning? Should at present be used at all?

I'm trying to say that right now we don't have it or support it, but we might have it later.


texts: Can the word Alibi used in positive context or for a masquerading adjective

texts:
Mostly I see the usage of word Alibi in a negative context especially in the legal parlance. Following is the definition from Oxford Dictionaries:

  NOUN

  1 a claim or piece of evidence that one was elsewhere when an act, typically a criminal one, is alleged to have taken place.
  'she has an alibi for the whole of yesterday evening'

  1.1 informal An excuse or pretext.
  'a catch-all alibi for failure and inadequacy'

  VERB
  [with object]

  informal
  Provide an alibi for.
  'her friend agreed to alibi her'

Idea of usage is, where internal quality of a human being / noun is depicted via another masquerading quality:

  "Ambitious" is a convenient alibi for the "Ruthless"

Note: Two answers were based on a previous version of this phrase that read "Playful is an alibi for the Smart."


texts:
He barely can't open one of his eye.

"Sand" he told me.

  "Is your eye has sand in it?"

  "Sand got in your eye?"

Do they sound natural to a native speaker?

When we have no idea the quantity of the sand. We normally use singular or plurar?


texts: I'd like to understand what does it mean "trimming of poorly performing workers" - Does it mean firing them or some type of punishment?


texts: Should I put a comma after a phrase "given ..."?

texts:
I have the following sentence:

The result can be phrased as the statement that given an integer n the equation x^n = y has a solution.

I was wondering is it better to put a comma like "given an integer n, [...]" or keep it like this? Any comments are appreciated. Thank you.


texts: Can I say: "When was your train leaving?" if the train leaves in the future?

texts:
The context of this sentence is that I know that I had asked before what the departure time is of the train that my friend was going to take. Unfortunately I had forgotten it, so my brain decided that a past tense would make sense and ask:

  "When was your train leaving?"

instead of

  "When is your train leaving?"

Is using the past tense in this situation correct and/or common?


texts:
When I look for "hold" on dictionaries, Longman says

  hold somebody responsible/accountable/liable (for something)
  to say or decide that someone should accept the responsibility for something bad that happens

  If anything happens to her, I’ll hold you personally responsible.

  He may have had a terrible childhood, but he should still be held accountable for his own actions. Longman

But Oxford says

  17 [transitive] (formal) to consider that something is true

  hold that… I still hold that the government's economic policies are mistaken.

  hold somebody/something + adj. Parents will be held responsible for their children's behaviour.

Then here, in Oxford's sentence, "Parents will be held responsible for their children's behaviour.", can I interpret it in two ways?

Parents will be considered that they are responsible for their chilrdern's behaviour. (=so parents are acknolwedged that they are already responsible.)
Parents should be responsible for their children's behaviour.

Did I get it correctly?


texts: Which answer to a negative question is called positive?

texts:
In the following (toy) dialogs which answers are positive/negative (I really need to know)?

Q: Won't you marry me?
A: Yes, I will.

Q: Won't you marry me?
A: Yes, I will not

Q: Won't you marry me?
A: No, I will.

Q: Won't you marry me?
A: No, I will not.


texts: What does "force oneself" mean in this context?

texts:
I read this in in the book, "Word Power Made Easy" which was:

  As in the case of the charitable-looking dowager who was approached by a seedy character seeking a handout.

  'Madam' he whined, "I haven't eaten in 5 days." 'My good man,' the matron answered with great concern, 'you should force yourself!'

What does "force yourself" mean in this context? Does it mean to force yourself to eat (with pun intended) or force to do some work to be able to get money to buy food?


texts: Is "I would rather hadn't bought these pants" acceptable?

texts:
I know that we say

  I would rather read a book than go out now.

How about in a case in which you went out last night but you feel regret about it? Is using "would rather " grammatically correct or common in these situations?

  "I would rather hadn't gone to party. It was terrible."

or can we can only use the word "wish" for these situations?

  "I wish I hadn't gone to the party. It was terrible."


texts:
What is Abstraction in OOP?

There is a video in the above address. Here it is on YouTube at :40.

  Some of the information that would be useful would be

  Full Name
  Address
  ...
  Favorite Band

  and I am sure you are wondering what the heck I am talking about.

Then there is a character with "WTF" written over his head.

What does "WTF" mean in that video? I found that "wtf" stands for "what the fuck", but I can't understand what does "what the fuck" mean? and I want to know what phrase I can use instead of "what the fuck" because I don't like to use unpleasant words.

I would also like some simple examples of using "what the fuck?". In this way I think I can understand the meaning of that rude phrase better.


texts:
Life on board ship was not (such as/as?) I had expected it to be.

Which is better from as and such as to use in the above sentence ?


texts: Apostrophe. Is it correct to use it here?

texts:
Where’s John? - He’s gone to the baker’s.

Why is an apostrophe used here? What does it mean after putting an apostrophe? Please explain. I am talking about the last one.


texts: What is the meaning of "volume reduction unit"

texts:
Clutter is the ponderous euphemism that turns a slum into a depressed socioeconomic area, garbage collectors into waste disposal personnel and the town dump into the volume reduction unit.
  --On Writing Well by William Zinsser, page 13 (via IVP - Andy Unedited)

I couldn't understand the meaning of "volume reduction unit" in this sentence.


texts:
Can indicates certainty regarding the future:

    I can see [=I will see] you tomorrow – what time shall we meet?

  Page 85, A. Wallwork, English for Research: Usage, Style, and Grammar

Is Wallwork right about making this point? I feel there is still uncertainty in this example. That equals sign sounds a bit iffy to me.


texts: I have always been pushing vs. I have always pushed?

texts:
A mother and a daughter are talking about studies.

Then the mother says that the daughter has just got well in the exams because this:

"But that's only because I have always pushed you to do something."  (Sentence 1)

The year is not finished yet and the daughter is still on school.

If the important action is pushing the girl to do her homework, why not use:

"But that's only because I have always been pushing you to do something."
 (Sentence 2)

Does the word always create a continuous sense?

What are the differences in sense between the two sentences?


texts:
When did you eat in this restaurant the last?

  When did you eat in this reasturant most recently?

Are there any difference between two sentence in meaning ? Especially I am not sure whether first one is correct or not . When I say one of these sentence The one who I spoke to understand the same ? And should I use “the” before “last”?


texts: What's the difference between "peeing on the streets" and "peeing in the streets"?

texts: For instance, I know that "being on the street" means being somewhere on the streets, while "being in the street" means being in the streets where cars are being driven. However, I am not sure if the same thing can be said with the verb "pee". So is "peeing on the street" equivalent to "peeing anywhere on the street" and "peeing in the street" equivalent to "peeing in the middle of the street"?


texts: Doing that wouldn't do you any harm vs Doing that wouldn't harm you

texts:
I got a question. Let's say two people are talking about riding the rollercoaster:

Person1 says to person number two:

Let's ride the rollercoaster, it's quite fun!

Then, person2 says:

I'm afraid of rollercoasters.

Then person2 replies to person1:

Come on, it won't (do you any) harm you!

Do I have to have (do)  before harm for it to sound natural or can I just say "it won't harm you"?


texts:
I read somewhere that when you visit someone you go to their place that they're at. I'm not sure if it applies to a doctor, too.

Considering that you were supposed to go to the doctor's office, is this sentence right?

'The doctor has cancelled your appointment. He won't be able to visit you today.'

If not, when the doctor is supposed to see you at home, can we say he's going to visit you?


texts: Can I say: She looks so perfectly happy?

texts:
Can I use that structure: SO + ADVERB + ADJECTIVE.
Does it make sense? Is it grammatically correct?


texts: How to use who vs whom in a complex sentence

texts:
In these sentences how do I know whether I should use who or whom?

Sentence 1:

  This is the lady who/whom you said lives in the next house.

Sentence 2:

  This is the lady who/whom you say everybody respects a lot


texts: find something applies -- grammatical construction

texts:
Example:

  To work through this book in its entirety, you should have access to a computer with Microsoft Access installed. The programs in this book were written in Microsoft Office 2007, specifically Access 2007. Those readers using older versions of Microsoft Access, such as Access 2002 or Access 2003, will find many of the VBA programming concepts still apply.

Is this arrangement of words typical as a grammatical construction in English? So, could I, for example, say something like this using this construction: you will find many mathematical concepts developed as long as 600 years ago still apply for a great multitude of modern-day technology-related problems?


texts:
What is difference between "be known as" and "be known to"?

I think the meanings are same.

is there any difference in usage or syntax..?


texts:
Is "to be a better one" in the following sentence grammatical?

  I need to train my English to be a better one


texts:
I wonder if it is normal in English to compare an extremely gorgeous girl / woman to the Greek goddess "Venus" as a complement.
If so, then what would you normally say?

She's a Venus.
She's the Venus.
She's like a Venus.
She's like the Venus.


texts:
1) Having faster computers would make for a more efficient system.

  2) Having faster computers will make for a more efficient system

What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?

Does the first question means that if we had computers (we don't have them now), it would make for a more efficient system?
And does the second sentence mean that we have computers and they are going to make our system more efficient?


texts:
Is there any difference in terms of meaning?

  Hey, have you heard? Famous chain kebab shop has launched a new branch in the town. The restaurant itself is pretty big and the prices
  are 50% off for today. So I am going to try it out today.
  Hey, have you heard? Famous chain kebab shop has launched a new branch in the town. The restaurant itself is pretty big and the prices
  are 50% off for today. So I am going to check it out today
  Hey, have you heard? Famous chain kebab shop has launched a new branch in the town. The restaurant itself is pretty big and the prices
  are 50% off for today. So I am going to try it today

I think  this example sentence a "meeting point" for try out and check out in this sense

I would like to ask you to check my other sentences if they are ok in this sense

  Situation 1:

  A: I think I have lost my car key.I have been looking for it for 15
  minutes but I can't find yet.

  B : Have you checked out your hand bag ?  or
      Have you checked your hand bag?

  B : Have you looked into your hand bag? ( if it has the same meaning)

  Sitaution 2:

  I have sent you a mail with an attachemnt in which there is quate we
  will send to X firm.

  Could you check your mail(s) urgently
  Could you check out your mail(s) ?
  Could you check out your mail box?
  Could you check your mail box?

Thanks in advance!


texts:
I miss out on so many words when I'm writing something.

I miss out so many words when I'm writing something.

I miss so many words when i'm writing something.

The second and third and sentence probably mean the same thing and are grammatically correct, but is the first one grammatically correct?
My searches indicate we use miss out on, talking about missed opportunities, which is why I post this question.


texts: Is this grammatically correct - "I miss to swim"

texts:
I read this article and here it is mentioned that "I miss to swim" is grammatically incorrect. However, I do not see any issue with it.

Could some language expert please clarify.


texts: Usage of adjectival form versus nominal form

texts:
If I am right, in 'an English phrase' 'English' is an adjectival form while in 'a phrase in English', 'English' is a nominal form.

Should I say 'An English overview of this topic' or 'An overview in English of this topic' ?


texts: what is the meaning of 'if remote' in the following context?

texts:
However, S.B. Chaudhuri observes, the revolt
was “the first combined attempt of many classes of people
to challenge a foreign power. This is a real, if remote,
approach to the freedom movement of India of a later age”


texts: "They always went to the bar." or "They would always go to the bar."

texts:
I'm writing a story. I wanna tell that they(friends) were close and they used to go to the bar frequently. Should I say;

They always went to the bar.

OR

They would always go to the bar.


texts: Are the phrasal verbs have same meaning as the verb are redundant?

texts:
Source

  I fell down and hurt my knee.

  I fell and hurt my knee.

Source

  Now add up the number of calories you have eaten.

  Now add the number of calories you have eaten.

How would I know if the phrasal verb should be used or not when in fact the sentence with the verb means the same? Is it just a matter of choice?


texts:
"I went to the station to fetch my wife and was greeted by the press like a rock star - landslide president - first moonwalker all in one".

I know what a landslide is, but I have absolutely no idea what it means in this context... I also tried googling this expression to see if it's some sort of idiom but I couldn't find anything. Does anyone know what it means?


texts:
Many people living in that area are farmers

vs

  Many people who live in that area are farmers

And

  The man standing there is a driver

vs

  The man who is standing there is a driver


texts: I watched a video on https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-pronounce-JSON and read some sites, but don't understand, what letter is emphasized (accentuated, stressed): jAy sawn or jay sAwn?


texts: Did you take your food / did you eat your food

texts:
Did you take your food?
  Did you eat your food?

Which is more correct?


texts:
When I just finished some work, which one below, A or B, is better to say and why?

A. It's done!
B. It's been done!

To me, A might sound simpler and more natural. But considering the grammar, I'm not sure if the simple present tense is appropriate here.


texts: How to naturally ask someone about the time length of military service in one's country?

texts:
Whereas the rules of military service differs from country to country, I was wondering if someone could let me know which one of the following self-made sentences sounds more natural in this sense:

  How many months do you do your military service in your country?
  How long is your military service is your country?
  How many months do you do your military service in your country?
  How many months is your military service in your country?

I doubt if they are natural. They were what came to my mind to translate into English. How shall I bring it up?


texts: Present Perfect with Past Simple or Past Perfect

texts:
Which tense suits here?

A: Have you ever used the things I lent you?

or

B: Have you ever used the things I had lent you?


texts:
I have a question about the sentence pattern ([subject] [non-ing verb clause], [ing verb clause]) illustrated by the following:

  Bill Gross’s email included a 10-point outline of what he saw as major problems at the Newport Beach, Calif., firm, blaming specific executives, according to a person familiar with the situation.

If I write the following:

  The report describes the problems at the firm, blaming specific employees.
  The report describes the problems at the firm and blames specific employees.

, how are sentences 1 & 2 different?  Does sentence 1 contain meanings not found in sentence 2?


texts:
I wonder what’s the grammatical function of “all” in the following sentence?

  “We all felt ill after the meal.”

“All” can function as four different grammatical roles, I mean: adverb, determiner, predeteminer, and pronoun. But in the sentence it comes after a pronoun so it cannot be a determiner, predeterminer, or pronoun. So is it an adverb in the sentence?


texts:
I know that when something changes (whether it increases or decreases in size, number, or whatever) along with another change, it can be expressed with
 " the+ comparative, the+ comparative" form.
ex) the more, the better / the higher the salary is, the happier the workers get

But I wonder if the ones below are also allowed..

Is it more difficult (Does it get more difficult), the larger the number is?
Do the workers get happier, the higher their salaries are?


texts:
"I was about to email you why I have not received the parcel when..."

I was wondering if present perfect  for receive is a good choice since at the time of writing the parcel has not arrived or should I use past perfect to match tenses. I don't think so because the situation is still the same.


texts: What (if any) article should I use in constructions like '(the/a) (famous) journalist/actor/writer John Doe'?

texts:
No article is used with official titles, like 'President Clinton', but the rule does not apply to all professions, right?

I know that in postposition it goes with an indefinite article, like

  John Doe, a (famous) writer, announced that he's going to write a new book.

But I don't have a clear idea about prepositional cases (I mean when such words are before a name).


texts:
I came across a question in ACT English:

Despite a growing recognition of this ecological threat, ____ for seafood continues to rise.

Using demand or demanding?
Why demanding is not right? I can not use gerund here?


texts: What does "nothing the director Paul Greengrass could have shown later on would have made me regret watching the film" mean?

texts:
There's an action sequence in Jason Bourne that is a thing of such cinematic beauty that nothing the director Paul Greengrass could have shown later on would have made me regret watching the film. (Source.)

Help me understand the portion that is in bold.


texts:
1 Being students, they didn't have much money and they usually worked as waiters at weekends.

Why do we need to use the  past simple?

  2 While they were studying, they were working as waiters at weekends.

Is it right to use the past continuous in this case?

  3 I worked from 09-00 to 18-00.

This  means that I worked only from 09-00 to 18-00, right?

  4 I was working from 09-00 to 18-00.

This means that I was in the process of working from 09-00 to 18-00, but I started work before 09-00 and is not a fact that I finished my work at 18-00. I am right?


texts:
Let's assume that someone says, "I shall do this" to me. As a response or a teasing way,
Can I use, "You shan't..!" ?

Well, I used this once - when a friend of mine replied: "Huh?" Is it OK to use "shan't" in speech?

I don't think it's only declared for writing purpose. But, are we using this (in speech)..?


texts: Need an Idiomatic expression of the English language

texts:
I need an idiom

  रस्सी जल गयी लेकिन उसकी बल नहीं गयी

literal translation

  The rope burnt but its strength didn't vanish!

We use this expression in Hindi for anyone's arrogance. despite kneeling down and no status remaining, they didn't become unconceited and the attitude didn't vanish too!


texts:
Is it correct to use "Are you having got dinner at the moment?"
 (instead of "Are you having dinner at the moment?")
I want to know if it is possible to change have to have got in such questions


texts: Is it acceptable to use in the word "opening" in the following context?

texts:
In my university there is Psychology course in English medium, can I tall them the next sentence?

What do you think about the using of "opening" in this case. Also, what do you think about the tense that I have used it in this sentence (present progressive).

"In case that you are opening a new discipline in English Medium , kindly let me know about it."


texts:
Googling "men's shavers" gives results that look like this

Which contain both phrases like "men's shavers" and "shavers for men", do they mean the same thing? If yes, why doesn't Ngram Viewer even have the latter?


texts:
I am looking for a source which is considered 'the' authority on semicolon usage in the English language. I aim to compare semicolon usage in two parallel corpora, one of which is in English. For the other language I have already found the rules used by most newspapers etc. I found the oxford dictionary definition so far, but was wondering if there are other/more appropriate sources. Furthermore, is there a difference in semicolon usage between US English and en-GB English?

Thanks in advance!


texts: "The group looked at tissue from people who had any of five diagnoses" - why isn't there "the" before "five diagnoses"?

texts:
From a news report:

  The group looked at tissue from people who had any of five diagnoses: autism-like conditions, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and alcoholism.

Why isn't there a definite article before "five diagnoses"? They are listed, so it's a definite word. I would have used the:

  The group looked at tissue from people who had any of the five diagnoses: autism-like conditions, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and alcoholism.'


texts: Will there be multiple main verbs in any sentences?

texts:
Short sentences like:

  She is a girl.
  She writes composition.
  She will be killed by him.
  She loves to shop in the mall.

The main verbs are obvious.

But I am wondering will there be any cases that there are multiple main verbs? If yes, can you please give me examples too? (they should strictly be sentences, not paragraphs.)


texts: I have doubt in forming sentence on summarizing the work progress status

texts:
I have to summaries verbally about  my visit to vendor's work place for seeing the current status of the work in progress to my boss. I have doubts in forming the forming below sentence

"I visited vendor's work place last week" Or "I had visited vendor's work place last week" -- Which is correct??
"I saw the panel box and metal works were all half way through"  -- is it correct sentence?
"they are yet to get the motors and controllers"  -- Doubtful sentence, is this conveys, that the vendor is waiting for the motors and controllers to arrive?


texts:
ContextReverso website, when I input "со всех флангов" returns an English translation "white-side" (possibly as adverb), which they state means "from all flanks".

Is it a special military term or is it complete rubbish?

What is the correct term for "from all flanks" or what does military use in such case?

P.s. "on/from all flanks" is correct?


texts:
I still remember during my English class, my English teacher taught us that we should always put ourself at last when referring to a group of people.

  Eg. Ali, Ahmad and me instead of me,Ali and Ahmad.

Why would the first sentences sounds grammatical but the second is not ?


texts:
I wanted to make a sentence with the words discipline and succeed.

  While preparing for TOEFL I realized that if I don't have discipline, I won't succeed.

Or

  While preparing for TOEFL I realized that if I hadn't had discipline, I couldn't have succeed

For instance, I took the test 3 years ago and 10 months before the test I realized

  Unless I have discipline I will fail.

In this situation I think the first sentence is correct but I am a little confused because I realized it in the past so that's why I should make this sentence for past so it's like the second one.
Thanks for answers


texts: A question about comma usage: should it be "me," or "me", in this case?

texts:
I am reading an article here:

https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/12/what-makes-you-you.html

  When you say the word “me,” you probably feel pretty clear about what that means. It’s one of the things you’re clearest on in the whole world

I noticed a very detailed point: the , in the sentence is inside the ". Is that a typo of the original post or it's a legal usage?


texts: "How many coins here" vs. "How many coins are here"?

texts:
What is the correct form of the following sentence? Do I need to add auxiliary verbs?

  How many coins are here?

or

  How many coins here?


texts:
Almost all animals that hibernate prepare to do so by eating large amounts
  of food,which they convert to fat.

  Among birds that forage in tree trunks, nuthatches are the only ones
  that regularly feed with their heads facing downward.

Why is the usage of 'that' in the following sentences correct. These involve plural sentences and shouldn't 'which' be used instead.

Also if there is any rule which differentiates the usage of 'that' for humans and animals, please do post that too.

PS : I've generally seen that used in singular sentences while those used in plural. Any examples involving the contrary would be deeply appreciated.


texts:
1. ____________, the party's current spokesman is very frank.

2. She tore up the letter and started ____________.

These two blank spaces should be filled with a derivative form of the word Fresh.
Does anyone know the word? Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad English.


texts:
I have a question related to grammar. I saw a memorable goal in 2015. I told my friend "It was the best goal I had ever seen"? In this case, I wanted to say that the goal was my favourite goal till then.

Now, If I want to say the goal is still my favourite goal, 'is' or 'was' : What form should I use in the sentence "It is/was the best goal I have ever seen" ?

I have seen in my grammar book that tenses should match and therefore I think it may be right to write “It is the best goal I have ever seen”. But I am not sure. Can you please make it clear?


texts:
They knew each other well, the Captain and his wife. They had in
common a certain way of life, an order of priorities and concerns. Their
shared experience of death when they were young had drawn them close
and in their marriage had made precious for them the sense of family that
the birth of a child allowed.

Dose it mean: having only one child was right and good in their family?
Source: The Story of Lucy Gault by William trevor


texts: Should the word while be capitalized in a title?

texts:
This is the title of a session at a conference:

  Capturing Innovation while Maximizing Performance: Technological and Financing Choices That Shape Market Impact

Should while be capitalized or not?


texts:
For example: "Syreeta Myers tells me on this dreary Sunday afternoon."

I looked up a dictionary and it meant "boring and making you feel sad." How is it different from being just sad? What is the tone of the word? Is it formal or informal? When exactly do you usually use this word?


texts:
I read a sentence in a book, Word Power Made Easy, which was:

  Sometime in your dim past, you were crossed, scorned and deeply wounded by a woman (a mother, or mother figure, perhaps?). So now you have a carefully constructed defence against further  hurt - you hate all women.

Does it mean that the "you" has started hating all the women including his mother just because she once scorned him. I am asking this because I don't think anybody would start hating his or her mother just because she once scorned them.

I know this is less of an English question if anything. But I'm asking this because I suspect my understanding of the text could also be wrong.


texts: "A friend of one" vs "a friend of one's"

texts:
Tell me please of there is any difference between the following sentences?

  A friend of Kate came over for my birthday party.

  A friend of Kate's came over for my birthday party.

Are both sentence correct? If so, is there the smallest difference in meaning?


texts: What do you call this place where various goods are sold?

texts:
What do you call the establishment where you buy things, like on the picture?

Should I call it shop, store or market? I am in total confusion. I am asking for a generic term for a place where they sell things (maybe non-edible), not just a place where only food and drinks are sold.


texts:
Throughout my academic career, I'd given some pretty good talks. But being considered the best speaker in a computer science department is like being known as the tallest of the Seven Dwarfs. And right then, I had the feeling that I had more in me, that if I gave it my all, I might be able to offer people something special. "Wisdom" is a strong word, but maybe that was it.

Source - The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

What is the meaning of "that was it"? And why it is "was" instead of "is"?


texts:
The role of "of" in "we may speak of a vast, soulless corporation or describe an athlete as the soul of his team"

What is the role of the first "of" in the sentence above?
What's the difference between "speak of" and "speak about"?

Any explanation would be appreciated.


texts: what is the difference between these? or in which way these has been used?

texts:
...because the floors and roof have strong enough beams to span.

...because the floors and roof have enough strong beams to span.

...because the floors and roof have  strong beams enough to span.

Would you please freely or readily help me, so that I can find the difference between these?

Thanks in advance


texts:
‘Cremuel,’ he says, ‘I note the duke’s comments. About your person.
  About your position.’ He clears his throat. ‘For what it is worth, I
  am myself a man of humble origins. Though not perhaps so low…’

  He knows Chapuys’s history. His people are petty lawyers, two
  generations away from the soil.

  Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

What is the meaning of the phrase 'from the soil' here?


texts: How do I say to express giving a definite value/choice to a variable/possibilities in math or physics?

texts:
In math or physics, there are some variables or possibiliies to be specified. I wonder how to express giving a definite value/choice for a variable/ possibilities. In the following I just give a few examples to clarify what I intend to ask.

The simplest example is a function, say, y=f(x)=x+3, which is a variable (y) varying with another variable (x). When I want to say "I give x a certain value to get a value for y", how can I say in a concise way? Can I say, for instance, "I fix/take/set x to be 2 to get 5 for y."?

Another example is the gauge condition, which is a condition which can be adjusted without affecting physics. Can I say "I fix/take/set the gauge condition to be the Lorentz gauge (a gauge choice in electromagnetics)."?

Still another example is coordinate systems, which are the reference frames one takes to describe what (s)he observes. Can I say "I fix/take/set the coordinate system to be the Lorentz frame (a reference frame in relativity)."?


texts:
It was difficult for me to complete the project with Drek because he is one of those persons who think he is always right.

Is the sentence above right?

I think it's not correct since one of those persons is singular. So, we have to use singular verb thinks.

So, the sentence would be

  It was difficult for me to complete the project with Drek because he is one of those persons who thinks he is always right.

Am I right about my thinking? Or is it referring to only group of persons?

Consider other sentences like

He was one of those who goes to work by bike.

And

He was one of those who go to work by bike.

Which sentence is correct grammatically?

Could you please tell me which one who refers to in the sentences and grammar regarding this usage?


texts: What's the usage of "slip" in this case?

texts:
Step 1: After the water has drained out, check to ensure the power has been restored before you enter. Ensure you are wearing footwear and be careful so as to not slip on glass or sharp objects.

As per my knowledge slip is nothing but sliding for short distance.
But what is meaning of slip here?


texts: "if so" or "if yes" which one is correct?

texts:
Is there any difference between "if so" and "if yes"? Is "if yes" correct? Sounds like native speakers never use "if yes".

An example of "if yes":

  Since the announcement of STM32L4 MCUs on last September, more than 45 specific training modules are available online.
  Did you got the opportunity to watch some of them?
  If yes, we will be thankful to know your feedback on this offer.


texts: 'I couldn't get up at 4:00 tomorrow.' is this sentence wrong?

texts:
Today, I(non native speaker) read a question on a Q&A in my nation. The question is 'what is difference between A and B?'

A. I can't get up at 4:00 tomorrow.
B. I couldn't get up at 4:00 tomorrow.

everybody(we are non native speaker) said 'could' is the past form of 'can' so you can't use "couldn't" with tomorrow. Because 'tomorrow' means future tense not past tense. so B is wrong in grammar.

Of course 'could' is the past form of 'can' but also 'could' includes 'possibility' so I think B is possible.

I wonder B is wrong and absurd? (especially in grammar)


texts: "I never saw it before" vs. "I have never seen it before"

texts:
Is there any difference in meaning between I never saw it before and I have never seen it before when talking about life expriences? For example:

I never saw such a big fish in real life before. This is the first time.
I have never seen such a big fish in real life before. This is the first time.

Until recently, I would have thought that the first sebtences was incorrect. But, in the 11th episode of the 10th season of Friends,  one of the characters used the Past Simple instead of the Present Perfect. Here it is:

Roy: What's the matter? You never saw a 50 year old stripper cry
before?

Would the meaning be exactly the same if he said you have never seen a 50 year old stripper cry before?


texts: Confusion in usage of "of" in a sentence

texts:
I read the below statement today.

  "Muhammad Ali was born in the small town of Louisville."
  Here Louisville is described as a small town.

Normally when we use "small town of XXX", are we decribing

XXX as a small town, or
a small town inside something bigger called XXX(Let's say, a country)

Can someone please explain how does one interpret such statements?

Thanks in advance.


texts: How would you interpret the meaning of "green wars" in this poem?

texts:
This is the relevant part of the poem I'm gonna ask a question about:

  Those who prepare green wars,
  wars with gas, wars with fire,
  victory with no survivors,
  would put on clean clothes
  and walk about with their
  brothers
  in the shade, doing nothing

One of the souces that I looked described the green wars as wars wherein people utilize nature – to hide (conceal) themselves among the foliage of forests or make use of the environment. But what my teacher was telling was that it meant waging war against the nature. So I want to ask who is right?


texts: A shorter way to indicate “living in luxury”

texts:
I hate......... I exercise moderation…It will be easy to forget your vision and purpose one you have fine clothes, fast horses and beautiful women. [In which case], you will be no better than a slave, and you will surely lose everything. [Genghis Khan.]

a) luxury
b) luxurious life
c) luxurious lifestyle
I was wondering which choice conveys the message of “living in luxury” best in my provided context.


texts: Does she steal, kill and hide the body? - Clarification

texts:
Check out these two examples of each construction:

  Does she steal people, kill them and hide the body?

  Does she steal people, kills them and hides the body?

Which one is the right one between these two above? And why?

  Doesn't she steal people, kill them and hide the body?

  Doesn't she steal people, kills them and hides the body?

Which one of these above is the right one? And why?

I must have skipped this lesson, the impressive thing is that I must have never come across such sentences, and it went through my mind. Which one of each example is the right and why? And what English rule talks about it?


texts:
Matthew speaks to Michael, weed dealer:

  Matthew: Run the numbers by me again.

  Michael: 200 million gross p.a., 100 million net. But your people know
  this already. They've swept the numbers for months now. The bottom
  line is I'll sell it to you for 400 million.

What does it mean, "swept the numbers for months now"?

I find these line in The Gentlemen 2019


texts: What is the difference between ‘red’ and ‘redness’?

texts:
Do ‘red’ and ‘redness’ mean the same thing? That is, color red is quality redness?
Red: red color
Redness: the quality or state of being red


texts:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/noun-phrase

(I don't think we can really say that an NP is equal to a noun because nouns represent a category on a lower level than a noun phrase.

A noun phrase always contains a determiner (whether visible or not) and a noun.
Sometimes a noun phrase can look like it contains only  a noun but we then assume that there is a zero determiner before that noun that functions as a head word of that noun phrase.

This is the case when we have uncountable nouns or nouns in plural.
For example, "I drink [NPcoffee] every morning."

The noun phrase "coffee" consists of a zero determiner, and a head noun "coffee".)

What is meant by zero determiner and the nature of it being visible or not?

Where would it be in this example: The students in the class listened carefully to the teacher

Head word is students, right.


texts:
I know that it's usually "on team" in AmE. So is it the same with "group". Like if I have to ask someone about his/her group:

  I: Which group are you in/on?

  Person: I'm not in/on any group.

So should "in" be used or "on" ?


texts:
Is it okay if I open the door?
Is it okay to open the door?
Is it okay opening the door?

Are the three sentences grammatical? In each sentence what does 'it' refer to?

It refers to 'if I open the door'.
It refers to 'to open the door'.
It refers to 'opening the door'.

Is this explanation correct?


texts: What does "The results speak for themselves" mean?

texts:
The late Sam Schlosser, the S of F & S, had praised Mr. Martin at a staff meeting several years before for his temperate habits. "Our most efficient worker neither drinks nor smokes," he had said. "The results speak for themselves."

What does The results speak for themselves mean? Could you paraphrase it please?


texts: Do we use adjective "off" for virtually all bad actions (such as weird or eccentric behaviors) in American and British English?

texts:
It seems that British people often use "Off" to mean "not polite or friendly" or "not acceptable".

Off (adj)
-off (with somebody) (informal, especially British English) not polite or friendly
He was a bit off with me this morning.
-(informal, especially British English) not acceptable
It's a bit off expecting us to work on Sunday.

But "not acceptable" is ambiguous because any bad thing can be unacceptable. Weird or eccentric behaviors or crazy actions can be unacceptable. For example,
She's a bit off today. She's wearing warm clothes on a hot day
My wife's a bit off today. She's been shouting at me all morning
This man is very off. He is running around naked in his garden
Also, Do American people say like that?
Do we use "off" for virtually all bad actions (such as weird or eccentric behaviors) in American and British English?


texts: The difference between "I am" and "My name is" in a face-to-face meeting

texts:
Not all my English language teachers are native speaker, but they told me that "never use I'm FirstName LastName when you introduce yourself".

Instead they told me that when trying to introduce yourself to new people, I may say "Hi, my name is FirstName LastName, you can call me Kitty..."

I wonder under What circumstance I can say "I am ..." ?

Is it informal and incorrect for one to say "I am FirstName LastName"  in a face-to-face meeting ?

If, when I meet with my favourite pop singer in the street, I will probably say to her / him "I am FirstName LastName. I am a big fan of yours"

Edited:
I remembered that they had also told me not to say "I am nickName" when telling someone else who you are on the phone.


texts:
As I try to find a word to refer to "interaction" here, I am afraid that people can mistake it with other plural nouns in the sentence.

  Interactions by email, phones or videos are as good as face-to-face ones.


texts: difference in meaning - "Do you ever" vs "Do you"

texts:
What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?

  Do you ever go to the movies?

  Do you go to the movies?


texts:
One girl tells me about her trip to one city.

She says:

  Collections in art museums are really great.

Shouldn't it be:

  The collections in the art museums?

I mean, I already know where she is, so she's not talking about all museums and all exhibitions of the world.

Am I right?


texts: Meaning of “we’ll cut him down as for the border he rides”

texts:
Welsh History 101B:

  My neighbour from England has come across raiding,
  Slain six of my kinsmen and burned down my hall.
  It cannot be borne, this offence and injustice:
  I’ve only killed four of his, last I recall.
  I’ll send for my neighbours, Llewellyn and Owain;
  We’ll cut him down as for the border he rides.
  But yesterday Owain stole three of my cattle,
  So first I’ll retake them, and three more besides.

I didn’t get the meaning of “we’ll cut him down as for the border he rides”. Please can anybody explain?


texts: In American English, can we flap the /d/ in the phrases "Where did", "Where do", "Where don't" and "Where does"?

texts:
I am 99% sure Americans quite often flap the /d/ sound which comes right after /r/ in the phrases "Where did", "Where do", "Where don't" and "Where does" (I am talking about the initial /d/'s), and I always flap the /d/ in those phrases; but now I somehow couldn't be completely sure that Americans do that.  Do Americans do that?

I know that when "did" follows a vowel, the first /d/ can be pronounced as a flap sound. For example in "Who did you go with". But it is wrong to flap it if you say "Yes, I did" since "did" is stressed there. So, I am asking if I can flap the first /d/ of "did" when I say "Where did" as well. Also I am asking about the other phrases I gave which start with "Where".

Example sentence:

  "Where did she go?"

I would always flap the first /d/ of "did" in this sentence.

Another example:

  "Where does she go?"

I also would always flap the /d/ in this sentence.

One more example:

  "Where do you live?"

I would always flap the /d/ here as well.

And the final example:

  "Where don't you want to go?"

I would flap it here too.

Update:

You can see what I mean by the "flap sound” in this YouTube video, or in this YouTube video, and at this ELL question (please look at Peter Shor's comments who is quite knowledgeable in this topic).


texts:
From the article:

  It still remained a mystery why it had happened.
  There was a wall of secrecy surrounding the whole affair which it was
  virtually impossible to break through. One reporter on the local paper
  however was determined to break down the barriers and get to the
  bottom of the matter.

I'm a little confused by the meaning of break down here. I'd say that it has something to do with starting communicating with people involved in the affair and put out some details about it.


texts:
We spent  last weekend in the amazing city of Mumbai.

vs

We spent  last weekend in the amazing city 'Mumbai'.

Is sentence 1 correct here?
I have seen people use the city of New York, but New York is a state by itself and New York city is its capital,but Mumbai is the capital of Maharastra and not a state by itself, so can we use 'of' here ?


texts: How does 'according as' = 'Depending on whether' ?

texts:
I've read the definition and am not asking about it:

  according as = 'Depending on whether'

Instead, I'd like to learn how to anatomize/unravel according as to determine/deduce this definition on the right hand side: 'Depending on whether'.  Please explain the steps or thought processes? It was used here.
What part of speech is as here? It appears to be used specially and unusually. Does it accord with any  definition at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/as?


texts:
I would like to know the exact meaning of forthcoming. Is it denotes for something will happen in hours, days or months?
For example:

This piece of music is from my forthcoming album.
How can I view my Forthcoming Projects?

How long it takes forthcoming in the first and second sentences? Is it depends on the meaning of sentence?


texts: Can we say "I have culture shock here" to exactly mean "I experience culture shock here"?

texts:
Are these two sentences interchangeable?

"I have culture shock here."
"I experience culture shock here."

I know that "have" can be used to mean "experience" before some words including "shock"; but in this case, the use of "have" kind of bugged my ears. When I say "I have culture shock here," it sounds kind of like I own the culture shock instead of experiencing it to me.


texts: Grammatical structure: She was furious and with reason

texts:
She was furious and with reason.

Can you explain the grammatical anatomy of the sentence above, in particular about the need for the use of and?
To me, the sentence appears to be divided into these two parts: She was furious.; and she was furious with reason. Essentially, the sentence can be shortened to "she was furious with reason," right? Why and for what effect is the conjunction "and" used?


texts: He prefers hot weather like.... "in the south - Why are there two prepositions?

texts:
I just joined after a few years of coming to your boards for advice as I need help with a specific sentence.
"He likes warm weather LIKE IN SPAIN / LIKE IN THE SOUTH"
Is "Like" being used here as a preposition? If so, how is the prep "in" being used? I can see it is forming a noun but can't explain it.
Thanks! I am looking forward to being an active member of the site.


texts:
I'm a German native speaker and sometimes I'm confused about how to use the above-mentioned  words.

For example,

  This idea is good, and that idea is good too

Is this OK, or should I use, instead of too,  the word also?

Please give some examples and explanations.


texts: Massive congratulations to France ON/FOR(?) beating Iceland AT/IN(?) Euro 2016 Quarter-Final

texts:
Massive congratulations to France ON/FOR(?) beating Iceland by 5-2 AT/IN(?) Euro 2016 Quarter-Final.

Should "by 5-2" be replaced by "by the score of 5-2"? (and should the word "by" in this question be replaced by "with"??)

Also, is there any need to put "The" before the word "Euro"?

Last question --> should this kind of question be placed on somewhere else (other tags)? If yes, what tag would suit best?


texts: Meaning of "literary techniques" in "In Search of Lost Time"

texts:
Excerpted from chronicle.com:

  Henri Bergson argued that the relentless flow of time captures the essence of reality, and that, therefore, all concepts being static, distort reality. Proust channeled this conclusion into the literary techniques of In Search of Lost Time. But while we evaluate Bergson on the merits of his arguments, argumentative validity has no bearing on the accomplishment of Proust.

Why is Bergson's conclusion "literary techniques"?

I found "literary technique" be defined as "an identifiable rule or structure employed in writing which can be identified and used for literary analysis." but Bergson's conclusion to me is a philosophical, even scientific statement, not anything related to analysis in writing.


texts: "How can that happen" vs "How could that happen"

texts:
How can that happen?

  How could that happen?

  How could that have happened?

In what situation can each of the above sentence be used?


texts: how to use these sundry determiners: a, another, the other, some, the others

texts:
Next cases are the ones I translated from a Korean sentnece: “어떤 장사꾼은 칼을 가지런히 벌여 놓았고 또 다른 장사꾼은 여러 가지 그릇을 벌여 놓았다.” What I’d like to know is if (1.1)~(2.2) all can be proper in English.

  1. A seller placed his knives neatly, (1.1) another/ (1.2 ) the other placed various pottery in disorder.
  2. Some sellers placed their knives neatly, (2.1) some/ (2.2) the others placed various pottery in disorder.

Are the above all be used right? If any ones can’t, how should the ones be corrected?


texts:
a. What scientist invented the steam engine?
b. What man invented the steam engine?
c. Which scientist invented the steam engine?
d. Which man invented the steam engine?

Which are grammatically correct?
I use (c) and (d), although we have an unlimited number of scientists and men to choose from. I think (a) and (b) have disparaging connotations.
What man would do such a thing?'
But I am not sure I am right.


texts: Which is right? "In last section" or "in the last section"

texts:
Should I use"In last section" or "in the last section"?
Also which one is correct when "section" is plural. "In last sections" or "in the last sections"?


texts: How could I explain these simple mistakes to my students?

texts:
How can I explain these simple mistakes to young learners?

I no speak English.
(instead of don’t)
You be my teacher?
How long are you knowing my friend?
I have twenty years.


texts: Difference between this and that as a demonstrated adjective

texts:
Two people talking about a man which is not present at that moment. One of them said how will you find this man?
Why did the people use this instead of that?


texts: The definition of the words "Word Up!" and "code word"

texts:
I like and liked this song for a long time since I heard when it was sung by Melanny B ( Spice girls ). However, I am afraid, what does the word "word up!" mean and its lyric says it's a "code word" and what on the earth does it mean ( I mean, in the context of the entire "meaning" of the song ). Let me thank you in advance.

Cameo's song with its lyric
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_fGgNs_PcM

I checked any dictionary and have surfed throught the net, but the result of the meaning of the word "word up!" is, "listen to me" or "it's cool! ( or nice )". Could anyone help me please.


texts: What is a better word than "trouble" in "The trouble of something"?

texts:
I receive a lot of non-junk emails each day, and most of them are not important and they are sent to everyone in my workplace, and the important ones are buried and hard to find.

Can this problem be called "The trouble of too many emails"?

I remember that I have seen some books that are titled with something similar to "The trouble of ...", but instead of "trouble", they use some better and more sophisticated or neutral words which I can't remember now. Do you happen to know some better word than "trouble"?

Thanks.


texts: Word or phrase for warming your eye after accidentally poking your eye

texts:
A person accidentally poked his eye with his finger. So he had to warm his eye by covering his eyes with a cloth that was warmed(cloth) by bringing it close to the mouth and breathing on it:

So what is to be used?(while telling someone how to do it)

  A cloth has to be warmed by bringing it close to your mouth and warming it with your breath and then do the warm compress.

Is there a shorter way to express the bold line that sounds more natural in everyday English?


texts: (for five lunches) vs (five days of lunch) vs (lunch for five days) vs (for five meals)

texts:
I have made up the sentences below.
(1) There is enough food for us for five lunches.
(2) There is enough food for us for five days of lunch.
(3) There is enough food for us for lunch for five days.
(4) There is enough food for us for five meals.
I am not sure which way makes sense.


texts: Keep away from your phone or keep away your phone?

texts: I'm trying to transmit this message, but I'm not sure what is the correct way to do so. In short words I'm trying to give an order.


texts:
He used his disability in order to win our votes, which is an evil way to win the election.

This is a sentence which I submit for an English class assignment, but my teacher crossed out in order, which leaves the sentence to be:

  He used his disability to win our votes, which is an evil way to win the election.

I asked the teacher why in order is crossed out, since it tells the purpose in this sentence structure, having in order should be right and does not affect the meaning of the sentence.

But my teacher told me it sounds odd and doesn't flow well in her opinion, and also has nothing to do with redundancy.

Must in order be omitted in this case and Why?


texts:
I have more confusing sentences that were written by native Americans that seem to mix tenses. I'm not sure why these can be correct.

  We noticed that you have created a return label for this order.

Does this make sense? Isn't it wrong like the sentence that was determined wrong in my previous post ("She has agreed to my terms, so I only did my part yesterday")?

  You don't want to do this. Trust me, I wish I hadn't.

Why not use "I wish I didn't"?

  We enjoyed peace. If only it had lasted.

Why not use "if only it lasted" when this hopeful sentence took place after the peace they enjoyed was gone?

  "It has been a long time since all of us have been gathered in one place."

Why not "since all of us gathered in one place"? Don't people usually say "Ever since I read that, I've become smarter" instead of saying "Ever since I have read that I have become smarter"?

  "I had been told that anyone who did that becomes a bad person."

Why should I use "had been told" when somebody doing something bad isn't relevant to what I've been told?

  "People who have had their belongings taken will turn into miserable people."

Why not say "people who have their belongings taken will turn into miserable people"?


texts: An adjective for the time that is excited by Christmas?

texts:
The time leading to Christmas festival is kind of exciting, cheerful, active, etc.

Is "Christmas-excited time" a correct phrase when we mean to say the above point?

Example:

  During this Christmas-excited time, I like to be alone.

Or other suggestion?


texts: Is it okay to say "the light is shining twice brightly"?

texts: Is it okay to say "Now the light is shining twice brightly"? While Google Word gives multiple results for "twice brightly" (there is even a novel with such name, it surprisingly gives only one result for "shining twice brightly", which makes me have some doubts.


texts:
It is stated within my grammar textbook that, "for things, ideas etc., we normally use of to show possession". So for example:

The temperature of the water. (Not the water's temperature)

But I heard in a lecture delivered by a native speaker the following:

Clementine didn't orbit only around the moon's equator.

Here, we have "moon's equator", but based on the rule stated by my grammar textbook, it should be "equator of moon". So did the lecturer make a grammar mistake?


texts: I should only add a noun behind the "of which", right? or am I wrong?

texts:
Recently, I saw a definition describing "blind copy:"

  A copy of a letter or the like, the original of which bears no evidence that the copy was sent to some other person.

In the expression above,is it correct to place a verb behind "Of which?"

I also saw a former example about "Of which" that writes like

  The restaurant of which service satisfied me

At any rate,i just cannot get first definition sentence.  I mean, why they use verb behind it rather than a noun. or the word behind the "of which" can be either a verb or a noun?


texts:
This question asks about when until and by are interchangeable: in which situation such a prepositions "until" and"by" could be interchangeable?
The comments and answers there suggest that they aren't ever interchangable. However, I am wondering whether not until and by have the same meaning in the following examples. If they don't have the same meaning, what is the difference?

The report doesn't have to be ready until Friday.

The report has to be ready by Friday.


texts:
Do

  They visited Brighton, after which they went to Northern Ireland

and

  They visited Brighton, which they went to Northern Ireland after

have the same meaning?

And does it mean, visiting Brighton, they went to Northern Ireland?


texts: How to express analogy between two pairs of entities?

texts:
What is the correct way of expressing analogy? I am looking for the general pattern of something like this:

  Kitten is to cat what a puppy to a dog.

I have seen as being use sometimes instead of what. Analogy grammar is a bit confusing for me. What are the general patterns of expressing analogy?


texts: what is the grammatical function of 'those' and 'who' in the phrase 'those who live in urban areas'

texts:
I want to know the part of speech of the words 'those' and 'who' in the following phrase:
those who live in urban areas.
because some of  my students make mistake and write 'who live in urban areas', which is most probably because they think the pronoun 'who' is  enough and they should not use the word 'those'.


texts: What does 'of' mean in "that most precious of gifts"?

texts:
I don't know the meaning of 'of' in this sentence (also in the picture):

  My job: to take that most precious of gifts you give me -

I think that 'to take that most precious gifts you give me.' is good enough.
But why does the sentence above obstinately include the 'of' in the sentence?
What is the difference in meaning?


texts: The difference between "lots of" and "much"

texts:
What is the difference between much and lots of to express large quantity of uncountable noun.

NOAD defines lots as:

  a great deal; much

and defines much as:

  to a great extent; a great deal

so it's obvious the two can be used as synonyms. But are there any differences?


texts: What is the difference between "gull" and "seagull"?

texts: I'm Spanish and we have the word gaviota to describe the marine bird. Searching for the translation I have found that can be translated as gull and seagull. Is there any difference in the meaning between both?


texts: A phrase for witnessing something that happens every day

texts:
One wrote:

  We can see that many devices are being produced every day.

The aim of this sentence is to address something that regularly happens these days, but I am looking for more formal and idiomatic ways to say such a sentence

Maybe:

  Nowadays, we are observing the production of new devices on daily basis ..

What is the pattern to witness something currently happens around us...
Do we usually use present continues tense for these sentences like:

  These days, we are seeing an increasing amount of violence on television, and this is having a negative impact on children’s behaviour.


texts: using two relative clauses sharing the same noun

texts:
Context:

Jenny and Jack got married in 1956.
On October 22nd, 1959 Jack got sick and doctor prescribed some pills for him. Later that night Jack took those pills, chewing thoroughly before swallowing them. Jenny saw that and was very much surprised, because she herself had always only swallowed medicine, without any chewing.
Some time in the year of 2003 they are reflecting on their marriage life together. Jenny is recalling her surprise that happened on October 22nd, 1959:

And here I am puzzled over how to express Jenny's sentence correctly.

You were the first person that I saw chewing medicine!

-- This one may mean that it was Jenny who was chewing medicine.

You were the first person that I saw as chewing medicine!

-- This one may also mean that it was Jenny chewing medicine. And it may also mean that it only looked like Jack was chewing medicine.

You were the first medicine-chewing person that I saw!

-- This one may mean that Jack was chewing medicine every day.

You were the person that I saw that was chewing medicine!

-- Perhaps, this one is okay, but it's kind of clumsy to me.
So what would be the idiomatic way of expressing this thought in English?


texts:
I went through the questions, but I didn't find an answer to this kind of sentence. Would you tell me what would be the correct sentence A or B? I had 2 beta readers and 2 answers. Thank you.

A) It was one of those last beautiful days of an Indian Summer, and the universe — or fate, you decide what to call it — had other plans for her.

B) It was one of those last beautiful days of an Indian Summer, and the universe — or fate, you decide how to call it — had other plans for her.


texts:
I came across a sentence in a recent NYT article.

  In recent days, Page Six reported that the former CBS anchor Charlie Rose, accused by employees of acts ranging from groping to walking around naked in their presence, is shopping a return to television.

It appears that shop here means to plan, and the author is saying Charlie Rose is planning a return to television. But I can't find any dictionary evidence to back that up. Neither the ODO nor Merriam Webster's definitions of shop have such a meaning. Is this a correct usage?


texts: Semi colon usage - for situation and conclusion

texts:
I think I correctly wrote this sentence, but I wanted to double check.

I was thinking about this; I think I was confused.

I barely use semicolons, and wanted to make sure this was right.


texts: Does the word 'never' go with 'as well'?

texts:
Say - I never do it. He never does it as well.

I am not comfortable using 'never' with 'as well'. While 'as well' means 'also', in most of the negative sentences, I think 'also' fits better over 'as well'. Because I think 'as well' has a little hint of 'positivity'. So, in above sentence, 'He also never does it' seems better. Am I right?

Thank You.


texts:
I was talking to friend about breeding animals and I told her "it doesn't makes me mad anymore." Later I read out msgs and "makes" looks just weird.

So should it be..?

  It doesn't make me mad anymore

or

  It doesn't makes me mad anymore


texts: is there any difference between "as early as "and "as beautiful as"?

texts:
I am so sorry if this is too wordy, but I have to show them.

Most of them are explained by a friend, and I have tried to bold parts that I cannot get. I have problem with the nature of the problems below. what are them? what is the point? could you please show me the concept or solution of the problem more simply?

........................................................

I think we have come across a language problem. Compare the following sentences.

1 The princess was as beautiful as the sun.
2 The manufacture of pottery seems to have begun there as early as AD 40. - BNC as early as, 1278

In 1 we have a normal comparison. The princess's beauty is compared with the beauty of the sun and found equal.
In 2 we have something else. I have known such formulas ever since my student days and intuitively I can handle them,
but I have never tried to clarify the difference between 1 and 2.

At first glance we see that in 1 we have the verb to be and a be-complement (as beautiful as the sun).
In 2 "as early as AD 40" is a when-indication. "in AD 40" would do it as well, but "as early as AD 40"
contains an additional information. Here I feel I have to think about how to formulate this additional
information.

I think it contains a kind of surprise, one would have thought that manufacture of pottery began at a much later time.
Or one could say the idea of the "earliness" is emphasized.

In any case 2 does not contain a normal formula of comparison, but a special idiomatic formula used for when-indications
or indications of distance.
There are more of these formulas: as early as, as soon as, as far as, as far back as and I think one can find some more.

End of quote

Any comment or feed-back would greatly be appreciated


texts: what's the meaning of "run" in this context?

texts:
I would like to know if run in this context means organize (like organize an event).

"I watched four volleyball games running simultaneously"
Thanks


texts: A problem of the use of prepositions "at", "in" in certain contexts

texts:
The patterns:

I work at the kitchen in a restaurant.
I work at the kitchen in the restaurant.
I work in the kitchen at a restaurant.
I work in the kitchen at the restaurant.
I work at a kitchen in a restaurant.
I work at a kitchen in the restaurant.
I work in a kitchen at a restaurant.
I work in a kitchen at the restaurant.

What is the difference between these sentences in meaning? Which of them are ungrammatical and must be crossed off?


texts:
I have often seen in software sentences like "Feature is not supported."

What about using "unsupported"?
Are they differences of meaning / usage between these two?

EDIT: Sorry for people who answered already, I did not mean to write "yet" at the end of the first sentence. The question was actually about "not supported" and "unsupported".


texts: I like knowing / to know things in advance

texts:
There is a very small difference in meaning between the two forms. The -ing form emphasises the action or experience. The to-infinitive gives more emphasis to the results of the action or event. We often use the -ing form to suggest enjoyment (or lack of it), and the to-infinitive form to express habits or preferences. Cambridge Dictionary

I couldn't understand what they mean by "emphasises the action" and "emphasis to the results". as example, which of the following sentence is correct?

  I don't like surprises. I like knowing things in advance.
  I don't like surprises. I like to know things in advance.


texts: Differences between to get up and getting up

texts:
What's the difference between
Kids hate getting up early in the morning.
and
Kids hate to get up early in the morning.


texts:
All five newspapers rely the same data source, so all are _______ subject to the same filtering.

Is it really "likewise" I have to stick with? It sounds odd...


texts: I came across the word "punchline", so I looked up its meaning in the dictionary http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/punchline. Nevertheless, there seems no such word in current usage. Thus, I began to wonder whether it is usual in modern English? Then, I came across this word again in this dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=punchline, and I am wondering whether the explanation is correct?


texts: Error in the sentence "I am waiting for a phone call from John at three o'clock"?

texts:
What is the error in the following sentence?

  "I am waiting for a phone call from John at three o'clock"

is it about 'am waiting' being wrong. and that 'have been' is to be used due to  time clause.


texts: {With/Besides/Despite of} all his wealth ... which version of this sentence is correct?

texts:
With all his wealth, he has no joy in his life.
  Besides all his wealth, he has no joy in his life.
  Despite of all his wealth, he has no joy in his life.

Actually it appeared in an exam and their answer key is showing the first one as the correct answer, but I don't think so. Please clarify.


texts: What do you call a cover that changes the lyrics of the song?

texts: What do you call a cover that changes the lyrics of the song, for example for a humorous effect (comedians or American late show hosts occasionally do that)? Is there a special term for that?


texts:
What is the difference between these initialisms vs acronyms vs abbreviations?
As I understand from SO:

initialisms are like BOA,USA(i.e. letter by letter).
acronyms are like NASA, AIDS(i.e. words).

  than what is abbreviations?


texts:
Which sentence is correct,

  These accusations of plagiarism has to stop
  These accusations of plagiarism have to stop

The reason that I ask is because I believe the first sentence is correct, the singular one, because one is guided by the noun after of since the subject "accusations" is plural, and the noun "plagiarism" is singular. Someone said that that's not correct and that I should use the plural version. Which is it?


texts:
What is the difference in the meaning of the following two sentences with different pronouns

  You must be cautious and make a few discrete enquiries about the firm before you sign anything.

  You must be cautious and make a few discrete enquiries about the firm before you sign something.

Is the first of the two wrong?

Also I think instead of discrete discreet would be more appropriate


texts: What do English-speaking actors usually say to give the audience the impression of speech as a background noise?

texts:
It's known that to give the audience the impression of a lively talk in crowd scenes (as a background noise), actors mumble something. For example, in Russia - it's widely known here - they may reiterate the phrase which may be translated into English as "What we should say is that there's nothing to say" or something alike.

It goes without saying that something like this exists in the English language and is exploited by English-speaking actors, and I'd very much like to know what it is.


texts: What is English equivalent for Russian "я хочу" in the meaning "я хочу посмотреть их сегодня вечером"?

texts:
The context is:

  Have you looked my links?
  я хочу (я хочу посмотреть их сегодня вечером).

Is it possible to use short answer? (i want, i wish)

and also is it possible to say "i will" in some cases.


texts:
Someone wished me a great year on my birthday, and I wanted to reply like that:
Hope it'll be a great year like the past one where I've known such a beautiful inside-outside soul, thanks, dear.
Is this sentence right? I used present perfect because he still my friend and the past year is the time we met together, and also is it right to use where instead of when for the year?


texts: How to explain myself in such a situation in a concise way?

texts:
The situation as follows:

  Somebody was supposed to contact me by now and they were supposed to guide me to book a room in their guest house, no one one did.

Question:

How can I say it in a concise way?

For example, I tried

  Nobody has contacted me regarding a reservation at the guest house.

But regarding a reservation does not sound natural in a way that native speakers would tell it.


texts: What does this sentence mean: "He had his hand in her hair, and his gun in her face"

texts: While I'm reading my book I saw a sentence like this: "He had his hand in her hair, and his gun in her face" What does it mean ?


texts: What is the difference between "girl, lady, and woman?"

texts: When can we use them? Are they the same or different? Are they used in different situations?


texts: Wording a phrase: Explaining opinion, relativity, and perspective

texts: What is a good way to word an after thought pointing out that, "what one person might view as being art, another might not"?


texts: The Chrome Web Store does not allow extensions to download from YouTube

texts:
The Chrome Web Store (i.e. Google) does not allow extensions to
  download from YouTube.

This message appeared when I tried to download video clips from YouTube.

I can understand what this says, but confused whether which of the following is correct for the grammatical structure of this sentence:

  The Chrome Web Store prohibits/prevents extensions from downloading from YouTube.
  The Chrome Web Store does not allow extensions that download from YouTube.


texts:
In the book "The Shanghai Free Taxi", there is a sentence that I don't quite understand:

  "Nice to meet you," said Ray's daughter, Dora, who addressed me in English and seemed remarkably poised for six.

What does "for six" mean in this sentence? Does it mean "quite a bit"?


texts: Past simple or past perfect the reason why

texts:
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
Please take a look at the sleeve notes of the revolving paint dreams lp "off to heaven"creation lp a great record by the way.

" The last story I heard was that label boss Alan McGee had tried to organise a come-back concert, in a last desperate attempt at giving the band back some confidence. After hearing about the plans, however, the band had gone to the studio and burned all the tapes they had ever recorded, then demolished everything in the studio. By the time McGee got there, the studio was a smouldering ruin. After that ...silence

"Silence, that is, until late last year when two seperate reports reached me about the same time.

Are "burned" and "demolished" past perfect or are they past simple? Note "had" is not written, but I think it might be left out to avoid repetition.

So if they are past perfect: is it because the destruction happened before McGee arrived (the time reference)?

And if they are not past perfect but past simple, I dont see the necessity of the first past perfect "had gone over."

Is it be possible to write

the band went to the studio, burned all the tapes they had ever recorded and then demolished everything in the studio. So, again, if it is past perfect to emphasize their intention to destroy what they did. Or may be is it because the time reference is "burned." As the arrival in the studio was before the destruction I would understand the use of past perfect "had gone over."


texts:
I'm native to a country where the expression "thanks before" is widely used. Is it grammatically correct?

Does "thanks in advance" really sound rude to (some) native English speakers?

Can you suggest other expressions to be used as alternatives?

Is there anything (grammatically) wrong with the way I write my questions?


texts: Why should there be a use of perfect to make this statement grammatical?

texts:
In a week's time I will complete my work.
In a week's time I will have completed my work.

Option 2 is given as the correct answer which is future perfect tense. The first sentence is simple future tense, but why first is not true? Grammatically I do not find any error in it.


texts: What is the part-of-speech of the word "O" in the exclamatory sentence?

texts:
The sentence I'm considering is this:

  The boy said, "O King, live for ever."

Is the word "O" in the above sentence an adjective?


texts: Use of Since with Present & Present Perfect Tense

texts:
I am confused about where we can use "since" with the present tense.

Which of the following examples would be correct?

We are involved with Telecom Industry since 2015
We have involved with Telecom Industry since 2015
We have been involved with Telecom Industry since 2015


texts: How to use a lot of "different" in one sentence?

texts:
"Different people, the same people with different mood or emotion... all will make the same type of tea has different smelling and flavour."

Does this sound wired? Could you help me to do anything to improve this?


texts: What does "get personal" mean in this article?

texts:
Does it mean "have personal relationships", "getting to know them more", or something like that?

  "Get personal.
  Lauren Mauro, the director of both consumer PR and influencer relations at Dell, echoes Hartman’s statements. In the past six years, she’s developed a multi-tier influencer approach for Dell that scales from celebrity name brands to small regional bloggers. With all of them, she puts the relationship at the heart of the tactic.

  “You must invest in introductory calls, face-to-face meetings, follow-up emails, planning and more,” Mauro said. “It is a full-time job and difficult to do well if you have another full-time role. If you are looking at starting a program, I suggest investing in dedicated headcount and even a team if budgets and resources allow.”

  While a full team may not be achievable for a fledgling company, ensuring that a member on the team has at least partial time to allocate specifically to growing and creating relationships can help your business exponentially in the long run."

Source: Coca-Cola, Dell and PayPal Share Their Influencer Marketing Secrets


texts: If a noun can be plural or singular, which one should I choose?

texts:
How does brain atrophy lead to sleep impairment?
How does brain atrophy lead to sleep impairments?

I am writing a medical paper. And this is a problem that has troubled me every times when it concerns the plural or singular forms of some relatively abstract words in my article.

The question is: since the noun "impairment" can be uncountable or countable, is to choose either is depended on the meaning I want to present in certain context?

If I want to use it as a mass concept, then I should use (1).
If I want to explain several sleep impairments following, then I should use (2).


texts: How to say what has happened to leaves in autumn time

texts:
Imagine a situation: It's autumn time, my little son asks me: "Daddy, why is that tree without leaves?"  What is a correct way to answer him in this situation?

Please, choose one or few variants which are fine and explain why.

a) The leaves are fallen on the ground.
  b) The leaves was fallen on the ground.
  c) The leaves have fallen on the ground.
  d) The leaves had fallen on the ground.

Edited:

The purpose is not to find the best way to answer the question. The purpose is to understand which variant is fine in that context.


texts: Do we use "He is angry. He looks as if he is going to explode" or "He is angry. He looks as if he was exploding"?


texts:
What does "a whole mood" mean? I know the means of whole as well as mood, but I don't know when they are connected. I also looked both of them in the dictionaries and can't find this usage. It's from a comment under this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtTUsOKjWyQ

Lmao the dude who looked up then sat back down is a whole mood. He's like
"The hell-?  Oh Ok"


texts:
Should I use present perfect or past perfect in the following context? Are they both correct?

Jason, did you see yesterday's match between Liverpool and Chelsea? What a match it was! I have never/had never seen a match like that before.

I think both are correct but I am not sure. I think If I use past perfect it mean "before yesterday's match" and If I use present perfect it brings my experience to the present day.


texts: What does "give their right hands to" mean exactly?

texts:
I will allow you to perform an essential task for me, one that many of my followers would give their right hands to perform....

The closest phrase I can find is "give a hand" meaning "help someone". But I'm not sure what "give their right hands to" means exactly.


texts: Can remembered be used with present tense?

texts:
I just remembered
I've got to buy the cake

As far as i think i can't say I just remember to buy the cake

Because I remember would mean that is in my memory(that won't mean to recall, it would mean to retain or keep in memory)

(the process of remembering is now done and now I know that i have to buy the cake)


texts: How grammatically sound are letter valedictions like "Best regards"?

texts:
My question is specifically about how we close letters. Let's start with fairly archaic valedictions:

  Sincerely,
  John Smith

  With regards,
  Jane Smith

Here, "sincerely" describes John Smith and the valediction can be seen as a somewhat grammatically sound fragment. The same applies to "yours truly" or "with best regards". All of these endings are adverbs or adverbial clauses if I'm not mistaken.

Now, let's look at more modern valedictions:

  Regards,
  John Smith

"Regards," is a standalone fragment by itself, with no connection with the name of the letter's author. "Regards", unlike "with regards" above, is not an adverbial clause describing the state of who/what follows the comma.

Is this construct still grammatically sound?

If we insist on using "Regards!" or "Thanks!", shouldn't we rather be writing the following?

  Regards!
  - John Smith

  Thanks!
  - Jane Smith


texts: how to catch the names in audio materials?

texts:
I'm learning English via listening to audio materials, such as "A murder is announced" BBC radio program recorded. However, I'm quite bad at remember the names. After 3 to 5 minutes, I'm soon lost at a "who is who" status.

For this piece itself, I could "do the homework" get all the characters from wiki. But in general, how could I improve my "name recognition"? In everyday life, I'm also quite bad at remembering names.


texts:
Mha (have) to revise. The exams are about to start. (Correct the verb between the brackets)

I'am confused what should  I write between these two answers
 Ali has to revise. The exams are about to start.
or
Ali should revise. The exams are about to start.


texts: What is the difference in meaning between "be going to be doing something" and "will be doing something"?

texts:
Is there any difference in meaning between be going to be doing and will be doing? For example:

  I can't go to the party as I am going to be working on my project.

  I can't go to the party as I will be working on my project.

Does the first sentence imply that the speaker had more agency in their decision making?


texts:
I want to write this paragraph in my project proposal:

  I have the intention of improving this paper and I want to do this Improve in one of these 3 subjects:
  1) modelling
  2) simulation
  3) ....

I want these text to seem more sophisticated and I have some questions about what I've got so far:
1) Is the word "subject" appropriate here?
2) Can I use "have the intention of..." or it is supposed to use only in the negative form?
3) Can I replace "I want to do this Improve..." with a better phrase


texts:
"She peoples her fiction with the eccentric, comic, but vital inhabitants of rural Mississippi."

What does peoples mean in that phrase?


texts: What is the exact meaning of "Not like you hold me" in Michael Jackson's song "Love never felt so good"?

texts:
Baby, love never felt so good
And I doubt if it ever could
Not like you hold me, hold me

I interpret the "Not like you hold me" part as
It's not like you hold me.

as same usage in "It's not like I've done anything wrong."
But a friend said to me that it is the abbreviation of
I'd not like you to hold me.

So I thought word 'like' is a conjunction, and a friend thought it is a verb.
Who is right? or Is neither of us wrong?


texts:
Which of the two following sentences is more appropriate to say:

  You must write fast.
  You must write quickly.

I know the answer, but I need to explain it to somebody. It would be of great help to get expert inputs here.


texts: What is the meaning of "command its obedience" in this context?

texts:
This is the context:

  There are physicists like Lawrence Krauss who think, “Ah, just put in the laws of physics, quantum
  field theory, and this plus nothing equals the world.” But then one is left with the question
  of, “Well, what are those laws? Do they somehow exist outside of physical reality and command its
  obedience?”

Does it mean command to her obedients? and if not, can you explain the meaning?


texts: what's the meaning of "stretch before working out"?

texts:
What does that mean?

  "How often do you stretch before working out?"


texts: "In" and "on": How can I decide which one to use for vehicles?

texts:
Examples:

In a car, van, etc.
On a bus, boat, motorcycle, etc.

How can one decide which preposition to use? Is memorization the only way or is there a better way?

Note: People generally explain this by either distinguishing between open and closed vehicles or between large and small vehicles. However, the examples I've given defeat both explanations.


texts: Can "I am taken care of by her" be rewritten as "I am taken care by her" ?

texts:
"I am taken care of by her."

The above sentence has two prepositions: "of" and "by".

For me to learn English, using both "of" and "by" simultaneously is very hard to understand.

Are these necessary for grammar in the sentence?

Is the following incorrect:

  "I am taken care by her."


texts:
I know that in Western culture, when there is a cake, mom will cut it in half and give them to her 2 sons each. So, the big brother will get one and the little brother will get one.
But in other cultures, mom will cut it into 2 pieces. One is big and one is small. She will give the big one to the little brother and smaller one to the big brother.
Is it correct to say "a bigger brother should concede a bigger piece of cake to his younger brother" in everyday English?
Or,  "a bigger brother should give away a bigger piece of cake to his younger brother"?


texts:
Recently I received an email in which I am asked whether I have time for a short call. I want to say that I am available every day, but I am not available from 3 till 5 PM.

Can I say "I am available every day except from 3 till 5 PM" or "I can be reached at everyday except from 3 till 5 PM"?

Are there any better ways to say it?


texts:
I cannot distinguish if "could" in the following sentences shows "possibility" or "hypothetical situation".

A study published last week in the journal Cell found that antibodies
in llamas’ blood could offer a defense against the coronavirus. The
hope is that the llama antibodies could help protect humans who have
not been infected.

I would be happy to receive your replies.


texts: How to understand "As much money and life as you could want!" in this context?

texts:
"...After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all -- the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them." (said by Dumbledore)

As I understand, "As much money and life as you could want!" can be paraphrased as the Stone can do as much money and life as you could want!. "The two things" in the next sentence refers to Life and Money. The last part is saying that Life and Money are the worst for humans, but they have knack of choosing them precisely.

Is my understanding correct? Especially, I'm really not sure if I'm right about "As much money and life as you could want!" in this context.