texts: Third Conditionals: "If I knew..." instead of "had known..." in casual register

texts:
I know that in the following sentences "If I had known" has to be used in the place of "If I knew" to form the grammatically right sentences. What I really want be sure of is that as a native if all the 3 examples given below sound natural to you though or do you find it odd using it that way and so on? cause I've come across this to be used that way pretty often and it makes me wonder.

Please mention sequences of verb tenses in your responds too..(e.g, In the first example Subject wishes to be informed of the object's coming as s/he was on the way. looks like same time action)

  If I knew you were coming, I would've arrived from work earlier
  If I knew you would/were gonna come, I would've arrived from work earlier
  If I knew you had come, I would've arrived from work earlier


texts:
What is the difference between "education program" and "educational program"?

For example, if the government of a country has a plan to give children from poor families a classical music education for free,
do you call it "education program" or "educational program"?


texts:
Given the fact that "use up" already means to use everything, can you formulate sentences like this and not sound weird at all?

  What happened to your toothpaste? I used everything up.

is it like saying "sufficient enough"? maybe too redundant?


texts: The figure of speech 'It's your party ' meaning

texts:
What does 'It's  your party' mean as a figure of speech?
After reading the book Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows one doubt remained with me.

  In the chapter King's cross there is this dialogue between Harry and Dumbledore .

  “Well, where do you think we are?” asked Harry, a little defensively.
  “My dear boy, I have no idea. This is, as they say, your party.”

  Actually this was the only thing that didn't make sense to me.What did Dumbledore mean by 'his party'?


texts: Usage of "inciting/instigating against" in a sentence

texts:
Can I rewrite this sentence:

    "Ronald thought that Tom is inciting/instigating hatred against him in John."

as:

    "Ronald thought that Tom is inciting/instigating John against him."


texts:
I want to say that electronic news media proved better than traditional newspapers. Does the following sentence mean that?

Electronic news media has proved its worth over the traditional
published newspapers.


texts: "Where Amazing Happens", is this poster slogan a grammatically correct expression?

texts:
China's Guangzhou Evergrande FC set up a mouthwatering FIFA Club World Cup semi-final against European champions Bayern Munich after seeing off Egypt's Al Ahly 2-0. And Guangzhou Evergrande FC challenges Bayern Munich on their newly released posters with this slogan: Where Amazing Happens.

I am wondering if this slogan is a right expression. Amazing is an adjective without doubt, then how could it be used alone as a subject? I have thought this over and now I guess maybe it is acceptable using some simplified, less-grammatical expressions for news titles and slogans, isn't it?


texts:
— I'm reading a book by Richard Hughes, The Fox in the Attic.
In the first page, chapter one "Polly and Rachel" there is a phrase that I didn't get it.

"and here in a sodden tangle of brambles the scent of a fox hung, too heavy today to rise or dissipate."

— What does that mean?
A smell of a fox that has been hung?

— I found in the dictionary that hung can be used as: (be hung with) be adorned with. the walls of her hall were hung with examples of her work

— In that way I might understand that a scent of a fox was in the air, not a scent of a fox hung.

Could you clarify it to me? Thanks.


texts:
Today, in "#BBCAskThis" session of BBC news some questions about "School Reforms" were flashed. I am unable to have understood the question structure in this question:

"Surely the curriculum should be the same in each school to ensure equality?"

Notwithstanding the absence of any question word, it is a question.  Could you explain what type of question is this, please?


texts:
Does the following text mean that Plato found some remedies caused several disorders in his days while those remedies had no side-effect at the Siege of Troy?

  Such at least was the opinion of Plato, who concluded from certain remedies made use of or approved by Podalyrus and Macaon at the Siege of Troy, that several disorders, which these remedies were found to bring on in his days, were not known among men at that remote period.

  -- from Rousseau's “Discourse on Inequality”


texts: "My X is to be Y-ing Z" Is this gramatically correct?

texts:
For example:
"My goal is to be leading a team of people that are skilled in construction."
Is this gramatically correct or not?

edit: I know "My goal is to lead a team" is better, but is the above sentence still correct or not?


texts: Past perfect vs past simple in decision making and consequences

texts:
I came across the following exercise:

complete with one word

  There was a man who ____ ice-skating so much that he ____ to make a crude skate with wooden wheels to use during the ____ (unrelated but warm or warmer?) months

I chose the verbs "love" and "decide" respectively however I felt like I should say "had loved *** so much he decide to.." because one action (or rather state of mind) later affects the other

Is it correct or a completely unrelated use of the tense?
Is "love" a stative verb?


texts: 'if', meaning 'even if'. Why would ommision occur in some cases?

texts:
From Michael Swan's Practical English Usage 261.10: If, meaning 'even if'

  We can use 'if' to mean 'even if'.

    I'll finish this job if it takes all night.

    I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man in the world.

I wonder if we can omit 'even' in any other 'even if' clauses. If not, when is the omission acceptable without causing any misunderstanding?


texts:
Which is correct  to use- is or are-

  Five kilometers is/are hard to travel.
  sixty miles is/are good distance.
  20 minutes is/are remaining .


texts: Is there an adjective that means "does not emit CO2 or cause pollution"?

texts:
I am not sure if there's an adjective for it. I know people use the word "green", but "green" doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't emit CO2 or cause pollution.

For example:

  The green electric car burned and crashed down the road, but the green flying saucer flew by.


texts: You're causing more problems for yourself than you're solving (problems) for me

texts:
Someone is trying to solve problems, but the number of problems they're causing is more than that they're solving.

Can you say either of these?

  (1) You're causing more problems than you're solving.

  (2) You're causing more problems than you're solving problems.

I think (1) is grammatical, but is (2) grammatical as well?

Now, how about these sentence?

  (3) You're causing more problems for yourself than you're solving for me.

  (4) You're causing more problems for yourself than you're solving problems for me.

I think (3) is grammatical, although not terribly natural.

Is (4) grammatical?


texts: Is "a lot" a kind of pleonasm with "has been raining"?

texts:
It has been raining a lot since you have been here.

Is it OK to add a lot to this sentence because been raining almost constantly? Is it not a pleonasm:  the use of more words than are necessary to explain the concept.


texts:
I've already seen threads like this, but I still can't decide if it's meaningful to say:

  The art and language of a country represent its history, so it is
  important that they are both preserved.

Source: Writing Skills

Shouldn't it be:

  so it is important that they be both preserved.


texts:
Someone wrote:

  At one point a funny story happened to me.

It continues:

  I'm studying English in the private English language school called SPEAK UP. Several days ago one teacher invited the students to a pub quiz, right. When I got there, they had already settled down in the pub....

I changed the first sentence  to:

  Some time ago/ once a funny story happened to me.

I think "At one point" is used to begin a story like :

  At one point we stopped at a gas station....

Before describing an event, but not a good choice for the sentence above. Right?

In general, what's its usage?

Beside I think the right in the continuation of the story doesn't sound good and is extra. Right?


texts: Saying that I’m a good self-learner and that I have a high self-discipline in resume

texts:
I’m trying to translate my resume to English and English is not my native language.
In the section where I described myself I want to say that I’m a good self-learner and that I have “high” self-discipline, but I don’t know how to put it.
First of all, should I write self-learner? self-taught? Autodidact?
Also, I wrote “An excellent self-learner with high self-discipline”, but something there doesn’t seems right to me.
How should I put this line into my resume?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
My decision to resign is in response to your attacks on core values of the United States.

Do you find the usage of in "response" in the above sentence OK? I would use these alternatives; but of course I am not a native speaker:

In response to your attack…, I decided to resign.
My decision to resign is the response to your attack.


texts:
The original sentence:

  Those who believe in capital punishment may have arguments for its
  retention, but surely no reasonable argument can be found for
  retention of the sickening mumbo-jumbo that accompanies it from the
  moment that the judge dons the black cap with what looks like a
  pen-wiper balanced on the top of his wig, to the reading of the burial
  service over the condemned man before he is dead.

Three questions:

Does 'it' refer to 'capital punishment'?
Is "that accompanies it from the moment that the judge dons the black cap with what looks like a pen-wiper balanced on the top of his wig" the restrictive attributive clause for "the sickening mumbo-jumbo"? If so, which syntactical function does "that" serve in the dependent attributive clause? It's kind of hard to understand it as an adverbial of time in this case.
Is it fine to replace "that" with "when"?

  Those who believe in capital punishment may have arguments for its
  retention, but surely no reasonable argument can be found for
  retention of the sickening mumbo-jumbo that accompanies it from the
  moment when the judge dons the black cap with what looks like a
  pen-wiper balanced on the top of his wig, to the reading of the burial
  service over the condemned man before he is dead.


texts: now I decide, now I decided, now I have decided

texts:
As I understand it, Past Simple (the second sentence) is possible here only as the simplest version of Present Perfect (the third sentence), isn't it? But why is Present Perfect more common here than Present Simple?
Decide
now I decide
In general, "decide" is used often than "have decided", but not with a phrase "now I...".

I didn’t use to go jogging, but now I decide to start.
I didn’t use to go jogging, but now I decided to start.
I didn’t use to go jogging, but now I have decided to start.


texts: "In a town. The village, tho it can scarce be called one, of X" - meaning

texts:
Reading a story by A.C. Smith, I am unsure of the meaning of the following:

Three days later found me at the railway station of my cousin's native
town. The village, tho it can scarce be called one, of X.

At first, I thought that Smith just expresses that it is rather a village than a town, but the wording (to me) conveys the following meaning to me: "The village, although it can be rarely called one, of X".
So what is the meaning? Also I assume the "X" is simply a placeholder - some of his works were not finished or were transcribed from manuscripts.


texts: How to interpret "5 weeks into my degree"?

texts:
I was wondering whether it meant:

I started my degree 5 weeks ago
I finished my degree 5 weeks ago (I found this in an online dictionary)
I will be finishing my degree in 5 weeks


texts:
I saw the needle and wanted to play with it.

  "Don't play with the needle. You'll hurt yourself."

  "Don't play with the needle. You will get stab by the needle."

Is stab used correctly?


texts: How to correct this construction "despite still weak results"? I want to fix the word 'still'

texts:
Is this sentence correct, and if not, how would you correct it?
"Sales are better despite still weak margins"


texts: Restrictive or nonrestrictive "who" in this sentence?

texts:
Should there be a comma before "who" in the second sentence? I feel that "Mary, my strong, best friend" might be the subject and the who clause is nonrestrictive here as additional information. Am I right in thinking this?

As soon as the mouse showed its face, Mary started screaming. This was Mary, my strong, serious best friend who didn't know what to do when chased by mice.


texts: Is it correct to use 2 plurals together?

texts:
Attendees will learn practical solutions to employee benefits challenges confronting plan sponsors.

Please help me with this phrase. Employees have benefits, so is it correct to say "employees benefit challenges" ? or "employee benefits challenges"?


texts: He was so sure that he "has" or "had" scored a home run?

texts:
Which of the two is correct?

  He was so sure that he has scored a home run, but he failed.

Or

  He was so sure that he had scored a home run, but he failed.


texts: Is there a gender-neutral pronoun that can replace “his” or “her”?

texts:
This post has two parts: (a) a question and (b) a proposal.

(a) Often, particularly while writing technical papers or user's manuals, I have come across a situation where I need to say:

  A user of this software may not need to use it from his personal computer. He can use it from a phone or even from his tablet.

I have seen many authors use female pronouns (i.e. “she” and “her”), but lately this trend seems to have ebbed somewhat.

I, and (I suspect) many other authors, do not want to use passive voice to avoid this.

Is there a gender-neutral way to describe the same situation?

(b) If there is none, I would like to propose using “ze” (for “he” or “she”) and “zir” (for “his” or “her”, rhyming with “fir”) as gender-neutral pronouns. I want to know how you feel about these words.


texts:
Yesterday he told me he was gonna become a singer.

Yesterday he told me he is gonna become a singer.

Since what he told me is definitely going to happen in near future, then is it "is" or "was"?


texts:
Let's suppose there is a cinema house called 'Dream'.
How to refer to it?

In cinema 'Dream'
In the cinema 'Dream'
In 'Dream' cinema

Or

In band 'Abba'
In the band 'Abba'
In 'Abba' band
In the 'Abba' band.

Or

With books and their titles

Or

at the intermediate level
At inter. level
At the level Inter
At level Inter.

Thanks!


texts: Do native speakers distinguish well the pronunciations of "L" and "R"?

texts:
Sometimes I have a problem in distinguishing "L" and "R" in spoken English.
I wonder if native speakers distinguish well the pronunciations of "L" and "R".

For example, how about "leave" and "reave" or "elect" and "erect"?


texts: One of the meanings of "get on" is to mount a car or to mount a vehicle or to mount etc. But there is not this meaning in the Longman dictionary and Oxford dictionary. Why?


texts:
Turkeys are grown in many areas across the United States. Last year, nearly 70% of the birds came from one of seven states. They were Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia, Missouri, Indiana and California.

Here, what does "one of seven states" mean? Does it just mean seven states, or one seventh of all the states in the United States?


texts: Do we use them when we don't know the gender of the speaker?

texts:
If I see an old person, I will help (him - them - both are correct).

This could be silly. However I don't know whether to choose him or them or both.


texts: Difference between As for, As to, About, Related to

texts:
I think they have the same meaning but I am not sure, because I found people who have higher social statuses, such as, my former school principal, and my teachers, like to use "As to" and "As for", for example,

  "As for the cooking course on this Saturday, no student is allowed..."
  "All students must be on time as to ..."

Please correct me if I am wrong, teachers!


texts: Is "If it was, then I did" a real English conditional?

texts:
If it was not important enough to be on the exam, then I did not teach it

It's been written here: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/147451/how-to-politely-reply-and-educate-students-with-unreasonable-requests .

I wonder if it's correct English because I've never seen such a phenomenon in any situation. An obvious correct way to say it is: If it wasn't important enough to be on the exam, then I wouldn't have taught it/ I wouldn't teach it.

If it's correct, then why + when can I form such sentences without being considered incorrect?

Please, consider AmE-BrE-AuE differences in your answers.


texts: Which one is right: "My dream has started ~" or "My dream was started ~"?

texts:
My dream has started by ~

  My dream was started by ~

I want to know which one is the correct one.


texts: Is the following sentence grammatically incorrect and is it used colloquially?

texts:
(1) I don't know what graph theory is.

According to the grammar, I believe it should be:

  (2) I don't know what is graph theory.

But is it spoken colloquially the way I wrote it in (1)?

Grammar note:

We don't find subject-auxiliary inversion if the wh-word is the subject:

Who killed Cock Robin?
Who is coming to dinner?

We could assume the same is true for:

What is graph theory?

So it seems that we might assume that the embedded questions look like this:

I don't know who killed Cock Robin.
I don't know who is coming to dinner.
I don't know what is graph theory.


texts:
I have the word peer-reviewed. I need to use non before it. Is it:

  non-peer-reviewed

Or

  non-peer reviewed


texts:
What do you call the particular accent the secondary characters have? I am looking for the right word that refers to the accent of the secondary characters, they have what I would call a "peasant" accent, but I doubt that's what it's referred to by the people who are in the voice-acting community. I am not talking about the Witcher's accent, because he has a normal American English accent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2IZYce-WxU


texts:
I just want to confirm the usages of the phrasal verb "improve on" and the word "improve". My understanding is that one improves his skills, abilities and one improves on results, a numbers. Am I right? or both are interchangeable?

  I will need to improve on my English.

  I will need to improve my English.


texts:
I am a beginner for English grammar.
I read following paragraph in my grammar book.

  I got your long email about two weeks ago and have been trying to find time to write you back ever since. I have been vary busy lately. In the past two weeks, I have had four tests, and I have another one next week. In addition, a friend has been staying  with me since last Thursday. She wanted to see the city, so we have been spending a lot of time visiting some of the interesting places here. We(be) _________ to the zoo, the art museum, and the botanical gardens.

I answered 'were', but right answer from answer key was 'have been'.
Why is the answer "have been", not "were"?

Dose anybody help me?

Thanks


texts:
I was looking through some English books and I found that in a dialogue one person ask another

  "What are you?"

And answer was

  "I'm policeman."

I first time saw this way to ask about occupation. Can this question be used in this sense?


texts:
They add a new wing to** the building.

I wanted to know whether  ''the building'' is indirect object or not?

If I change this sentence into passive,

  1.The building is added with a new wing.

  2.The building is added a new wing.

  3.A new wing is added the building.

Which is correct ?


texts:
"Now we are side by side on the sofa, a spun-soft blanket over us, because Desi had cranked up the air-conditioning so that it is autumn in July". Firstly, I'd like to ask if spun soft is the same as soft spun, because the latter is the only version I can find online.

Secondly, can somebody think of a reason why this adjective was chosen rather than ring spun, is there a notable difference?


texts: to TA a course vs. to be the TA for a course

texts:
In the academic language, do we say "to TA a course" or "to TA for a course"? (TA = Teaching Assistant, and when verbalized it means to serve as a TA)

I have read both:

http://web.stanford.edu/~siegelr/taapplication2003.html :

  Thank you very much for your interest in TAing the M&I 201 course.

http://cee.illinois.edu/node/3042 :

  Response to students that expressed interest in TA position for CEE 202

Are both forms correct?


texts: Can I write the amount before the word "cheaper"

texts:
The book is $2 cheaper at our shop.

  The book is $2 costlier at our shop.

Are the above two sentences fine to native speakers?


texts: Various types of citing preference in AmE

texts:
In the following sentences, the italic ones do not sound idiomatic to me. Please have a look on them and let me know if I was not right:

1a - I don’t like basketball. I prefer playing football.
2a - I don’t like basketball. I prefer to play football.
3a - I don’t like basketball, I’d prefer playing football.   ==> Here we are talking a bout something in general, while the implication of this sentence is a specific occasion.
4a - I don’t like basketball, I’d prefer to play football.   ==> (The same reason goes here)
5a - I don’t like basketball, I’d rather play football.   ==> (The same reason goes here)

1b - I like football, but I prefer playing basketball today.   ===> (Contrary to '1a', here we are talking about particular preference and whereas 'prefer' is used for general topics, then this sentence has a syntactic problem and sounds incorrect to me.)
2b - I like football, but I prefer to play basketball today.   ===> (The same reason goes here)
3b - I like football, but I’d prefer playing basketball today.
4b - I like football, but I’d prefer to play basketball today.
5b - I like football, but I’d rather play basketball today.

PS. I would be grateful if the honorable AmE members could tell me if these are common in AE speech / written language. If yes, then which ones are the commonest ways?


texts:
Could you tell me what type of subordinate clause it is: predicative or object?

  I felt (or had a feeling) that they had no objections.

I know that if we have such construction: "I felt as if they had no objections" - the subordinate clause is predicative, but the sentence structure and meaning are different from my sentence,right?


texts:
The following is taken from Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's English Dictionary, an American dictionary. I'd like to know whether it's also correct in British English.

  They would all have died except for [=but for] her and her quick thinking. [=it was only because of her that they did not die]

I'd appreciate your help.


texts: Use of word "stuffy" to mean "not easily digested" (or word suggestion)

texts:
Scenario:

  I only had a cup of smoothie for lunch so I'd get hungry pretty soon
  afterwards. This is because smoothie is not very stuffy. It
  digests easily and fast so that my stomach becomes empty very soon.

Question, does the word make sense here? If not, what's the word for a food which does not digest easily and remains longer in your stomach so that you wouldn't feel hungry for a longer period of time?

(Note: "Hard" is not precise)


texts:
I have the following doubts regarding usage of articles in a sentence.

First Question :
I found the given below sentence in a book

  There were a number of pretty girls in the party but it was ragini
  who remained the center of attraction

As per Wren & Martin's book explanation "Use definite article, Before a proper noun when its qualified by an adjective or defining adjectival clause" so would it be right to say that,

  There were a number of pretty girls in the party but it was the ragini
  who remained the center of attraction

Second Question :

  The principal asked the girls to return to the hostel before the
  sunset

As per book's explanation the above sentence is erroneous since it is wrong to use "The" before "Sunset". I am at a loss as why we cant use "The" before "Sunset".

Thanks in advance :)


texts:
I am a bit confused about using tenses with 'today'. Which tenses we can use with 'today'?

Are these sentences grammatical?

I have eaten all the food today.
She washes clothes today.
I am watching TV today.
I will study today.


texts:
I want to ask if this sentence is correct, especially the part about would in the clause after wish

  I don't wish life would be easy for me, but rather it teaches me as
  many lessons as it can


texts: Is there no object in the passive voice?

texts:
As the object of active voice becomes the subject of passive voice and the subject of active voice comes after preposition by.(and sometimes dropped)
I dont think there is an object there. Right?


texts: Is it natural to use "difficult" about a person?

texts:
This is said by an idiot husband in a story I'm writing:

Don't mind her. She's just got her period. That's why she's a little difficult.

Is it perfectly natural to use "difficult" about a person?


texts:
With so much on her mind, she can hardly sleep.
With so much to do, she can't afford to waste any time.
With that said, I'll wait to see if you have any follow-up questions.

I'm not familiar with such kind use of with. I'll appreciate it if anyone discuss this special usage of with, and suggest me the alternative ways to rewrite the above sentences.


texts:
It is difficult for me to understand how to make the sentence with degree.
Please say if the following sentences I made are grammatically correct:

She started talking with such a loud voice so that my ears began to ache.
She is drilling the wall with such a loud that the windows begin trembling.
She was studying such hard so that she was able to pass the exam.
(i.e. She studied hard and she passed the exam).


texts: does "in a ... fashion" mean using such a ... method?

texts:
i am learning this paper in which page11 says

  Last, as classifying each pixel in a sliding window fashion results in
  orders of magnitude of redundant calculation, fCNNs, as used in
  Wolterink et al. (2016), are important aspect of an object detection
  pipeline as well.

does "in a sliding window fashion" mean "using a sliding window method"?


texts:
I know that "These" can only be followed by plural nouns.
ex: These flowers are beautiful.

My questions are:

Can I use multiple uncountable nouns after "These"?
ex: These milk, butter, and bread are beyond their sell-by dates.
Can I mention uncountable nouns together with countable ones after "These"?
ex: These evidence and witnesses prove him guilty.


texts: What is the difference between "Home" and"House"?

texts:
[1] *  I'm going to my friend's home*

  [2 ]*   I'm going to my friend's house*

Which of the two sentences is correct?


texts: "I wish I won't be late." VS "I hope I won't be late."

texts:
If I know I will be late for a meeting, I can say "I wish I won't be late." to someone, right?
If I am not sure if I will be late for the meeting, I can say "I hope I won't be late." to someone, right?
There are English teachers claiming "I hope I won't be late." is the only correct sentence, but I doubt it.


texts: How can you put an extra opinion in a sentence?

texts:
I've seen this video about the grammar of writing commas and I'd like to write a sentence of this type:

  I think this will be a good year, I'm sure of it. (wrong)

But I know you can't just put two sentences together without a linking word. What is the best way to write the sentence, to make a sentence as clear as possible for the reader?

  a) I think this will be a good year. I'm sure of it.

  b) I think this will be a good year - I'm sure of it.

  c) I think this will be a good year, and I'm sure of it.


texts:
I can't describe it well so I'm going to tell you a sequence so that you can understand me and complete this sequence:

  Next bill --> current bill --> the last/previous bill --> the bill before
  the last bill --> ???

What do you call "the bill before the bill that is before the last bill"? Maybe "the third bill from the current bill in the past"?


texts: "Which is the ..." or "Which the ... is"?

texts:
I don't know which is the language.

Or

  I don't know which the language is.

Note that this is, of course, a positive sentence and not a question.


texts:
We read through the documents on construction of an office building near the village N.

Help me please to sort out difficulties with the sentence above. Does the sentence have an ambiguous meaning? We did not read the documents near the village N. The office building must be constructed near the village.


texts: hit the NHL’s media day on Monday to field the usual questions - to field - meaning?

texts:
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/alex-ovechkin-spinning-his-instagram-comment-on-russian--ukraine-140054207.html

  Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals hit the NHL’s media day on Monday to field the usual questions: “How’s the new coach? What did you think of the players that weren’t invited back? So, about eventually winning that Stanley Cup …?”

What does to field mean in this sentence?


texts: Correct or colloquial and grammatically wrong? My dictionary says got got the same meaning as have in american english and I have often used it instead. Would I make people correct me if I were to use this in a conversation? How bad does this sound to natives? I know "What have we got here?" is perfectly fine. Do people even use this in english speaking countries or is this foreign slang?


texts:
I understand the phrase "it was every country for itself" as "(the situation is) that every European country was fighting against the pandemic alone within its own borders, (rather than fighting for the European Union - which is what a member state of the Union should do)." Am I on the right track?

The New York Times tweeted:
In Opinion

"When the pandemic reached Europe in the early months of 2020, it was every country for itself," writes Chris Bickerton, a lecturer in politics at Cambridge University. "That was not how the European Union was supposed to work."
Source: Twitter


texts: What is the opposite of 'followers'? And the context is NOT social networking sites

texts:
I'm not talking about twitter or facebook followers. Here, I'm concerned about calling a person who is not a follower of any great personality.

For instance,

  Lee is a follower of Dalai Lama

but what could fill in the blank here? Tsung does not like Dalai Lama and is not a follower.

  Tsung is ________ of Dalai Lama

I don't want to use 'not' in the sentence.

My homework: The opposite of 'follower' as searched on authentic sources ends up in the word 'leader' but as you clearly see, that does not answer my question.


texts: Can I remove a repeated word in this sentence?

texts:
I have a sentence, say:

  He has worked in banking industry and manufacturing industry for more than 15 years.

My question is the first "industry" could be omitted? If done, we should use "banking and manufacturing industry" or "banking and manufacturing industries"? Which one is correct.


texts: The table is not parallel to the wall. Is it correct to say "The table is angled towards the wall. Push it straight back." in everyday conversation?

texts:
The table in my living room is not parallel to the wall as shown in the above picture.
Is it correct to say "The table is angled towards the wall. Push it straight back." in everyday conversation?


texts: “Cultural” vs. “culture” in this context

texts:
I wrote this:

  Cultural exchange is very important for societies in order to get benefits from each other. One form of cultural exchange is creating  good connections between academic institutions.

I don't know if I have to replace the bold words with “culture”.

I mean is it correct to use “cultural” in this context? or it would be more correct to use “culture”?


texts:
I know that most of the fairy tales end up with 'they lived happily ever after,' and here the phrase happily ever after is an adverbial phrase which modifies verb lived. But I read the sentence 'So much for happily every after' on page 87 of the book The Year of Billy Miller.

Is the phrase 'happily ever after' here working as a noun? And why is it used after the preposition 'for'? I assume that the phrase 'happily ever after' derives from 'lived happily every after' which means a happy ending, and it can be used as a noun phrase which means happy ending, is that right?


texts:
Can I omit any in the following sentences with uncountable nouns? Do they still sound natural without it?

If philosophers were made presidents instead of politicians, there would not be (any) war.
If we keep on wasting drinking water like this, in future there will not be (any) drinking water.

Can any teacher or expert please answer this?


texts: This is an example from a book: "I had been teaching English in Japan when the earthquake hit." To me this means that I had been teaching for a while at the time the earthquake hit. If I just want to express that at the time of the earthquake I was employed as a teacher in Japan, regardless of how long I had been working there can I say "I taught English in Japan when the earthquake hit"?


texts:
Cambridge Dictionary grammar tutorial says

  We use between to refer to two things which are clearly separated. We use among to talk about things which are not clearly separated because they are part of a group or crowd or mass of objects

Imagine that, Chollet and Schmidhuber are friends, Schmidhuber is aware of the difference among A, B and C while Chollet is not.

Chollet asks about that and Schmidhuber replies

  the difference among A, B and C

So far so good. If Schmidhuber says

  the difference between A, B and C

is it grammatical? If not, is it idiomatic in everyday speaking?


texts:
I am aware that we alway treat the police as singular when we refer to it as social instutution. But what about if are refering to police as a group of people who are policemen? For example:

  There is/are a lot of police around the crime.


texts: Is "We decided to repeat the monologues in turn one after another" right?

texts:
I was practicing English with a friend. The conversation we were working on was the monologues of a person on one end of the phone, we could not hear the voice of the other speaker. Therefore We decided to repeat the monologues in turn one after another.
Is this sentence right?

I mean to say the speaker in the audio said a sentence, we paused and one of us repeated. Then we resumed the track, the speaker said a sentence and this time the other of us repeated. How should I put this in a sentence?


texts:
What is the meaning of second clause in this sentence ?

  She was an only child who had been very welcome.

I read this sentence in various online dictionaries.
I understand the meaning of first part that the girl we are talking about was the only child of her parents but what does the second part means ? Does it mean that since she was the first and only child of her parents she was welcomed very well, her birth day was celebrated very well, all in all she was the apple of her parent's eye

Or

Does this means that she had been very generous / humble who welcomes everyone, ( amiable, friendly etc)

If the meaning of the sentence is somewhat like what I suggested in first part then its fine no further questions but if it's like the meaning of second explanation which I gave then isn't the use of the better than use of  an in the sentence before  only child in the sentence ? By using the we will imply that she was the only child ( among others) who was amiable, the sounds better to me as we are talking about a specific child.


texts: What does after the wisest mean in this context

texts:
This is a quote from "The Tempest" by Stephano:

  He's in his fit now and does not talk after the
  wisest.

What does "after the wisest" mean in this context? According to most of the sources of translation, the sentence means

  He’s having a fit, and saying things that don't make sense.


texts: meaning of "although I can see where it might be"

texts:
I'm reading an article in which the author writes about his experience of walking a pilgrimage route. And it goes:

"Everybody got lost now and then.  I don’t know that it’s an inevitable part of any pilgrimage, although I can see where it might be.  I do know it was part of ours."

Does "I don’t know that it’s an inevitable part of any pilgrimage" mean that "I don't know if every pilgrim gets lost on the way"? If so, what does he mean by "although I can see where it might be"? I'm at a complete loss of understanding this sentence.


texts: There are some benefits to have/having an experience

texts:
Can you help me with this rule?
I have no idea about its name (maybe gerund?).
But Word offers me to change "have" to "having".
Why should (or shouldn't) I do it here?:

There are some benefits to have / (having) an experience in a part-time job before starting working full time.


texts:
A long heavy chain connected the steel ball to a ship above.

Would you possibly show me what the bold part would mean?

It could be useful if someone could teach me it through an image.


texts: Using the article "the" before a first reference to a specific person and their profession

texts: Do I need to use "the" if I first reference a specific person and their profession? For instance: "In 1990, the historian John Johnson stated that [...]". I know i wouldn't use "the" if it was just the name and that I would use it if it was only the profession. What about the combination?


texts:
Is this sentence grammatical for example:

"When you set some specific rule in the (computer) program for example, there emerges a specific pattern, which is not unlike a fractal."


texts:
SCIENCE MAGAZINE

  “If you say, ‘We have evidence for Planet X,’ almost any astronomer will say, ‘This again? These guys are clearly crazy.’ I would, too,” Brown says.

Does it, “I would, too, mean that I “would also you are crazy”?


texts: This screenshot is taken from Python Documentary. I wanted to know what does earliest point mean here? (I have marked it with a red line). Does it mean the first point where an error was detected?


texts:
I work in an international company and my project manager told me that he will give me a pin(d) in my time log so I can register my working hours (a row in my timelog that refers to the project that I've worked on). I just wonder if I've heard him correctly and if it is right in English since he is not a native speaker.

I've searched the word and found this.

to put (stray cattle) in a pound

But then I don't know if it can be applied in the computer world


texts: when we say "I want to go to the beach", does it refer to a specific beach?

texts:
This site says:

  We also use the definite article:

  • to say something about all the things referred to by a noun:

  The wolf is not really a dangerous animal (= Wolves are not really
  dangerous animals)

  The kangaroo is found only in Australia (= Kangaroos are found only in
  Australia)

  The heart pumps blood around the body. (= Hearts pump blood around
  bodies)

Now, when we say "I want to go to the beach / the lake", does it refer to a specific beach?

How does it differ from "I want to go to a beach / a lake" & "I want to go to beaches / lakes"


texts: I came across the phrase "do not ask for normality, as postmodernism often offends", in a book I am reading. If I am reading this correctly I think it is drawing some kind of equivalency between normality and postmodernism? Is this a correct reading, and if so, is there a relation between the meaning of the two?


texts: Does "to John and Henry" mean to each separately, or to both together?

texts:
a. She gave John and Henry seventy dollars.

  b. She gave John and Henry a knife and a flashlight.

  c. She gave twenty dollars to John and Henry.

  d. She gave a knife and a flashlight to John and Henry.

Can we tell if

John and Henry each received seventy dollars/a knife and a flashlight

or if

John and Henry together received seventy dollars/a knife and a flashlight

?

I asked a similar question a couple of days ago, but I think these sentences are
different from those in that question.


texts: A translation for "propper" (promotor) in Dutch to English

texts:
I'm trying to explain with a metaphor what a recruiter is.

In Dutch a propper would be a good fit. A "propper" is a nightclub / disco promoter. Someone who is paid to lure people inside often with false promises an slick talks.
What would be a good single word to convey this exact same profession?
I feel like promotor might not have the same "load" / negative association as it's Dutch counterpart has.

edit: They are not the same as hustlers, as hustlers do something illegal and both recruiters and proppers do not (although they show annoying behaviour).

(The wikipedia page exists only in Dutch (no links to other languages))


texts:
I thought I could use muse like this:

  I must have been musing for too long because my
  stomach began to groan.

But it doesn't seem to be the right usage.

What's a better word? (To avoid writing "... been musing on these thoughts ...)


texts: Can these plural and singular forms be exchanged?

texts:
Do you work on Sundays? What do you usually do at the
  weekend? (Essential Grammar in Use)

Can the plural and singular forms be exchanged like these?

  Do you work on the Sunday?
  What do you usually do at weekends?


texts:
Color one side of the plate in blue and the other side in red, and
  then draw a picture on the one side.

I would like to know whether the usage of "the one side" in the sentence above I created is correct, although it seems that using "front side/back side" instead of "one side/the other side" may be better.


texts: Make sure you have somewhere to go / somewhere to work / something lined up etc

texts:
Please consider someone who is working in a company and is not satisfied with his working conditions and decides to open his heart to one of his co-workers. The colleague notices that he is thinking about resigning; therefore he is going to sympathize with him and wants to give his advice and say "First, find another job and then quit working there." Does the self-made sentences below sound natural to you:

  First, make sure you have somewhere to go then quit working there.
  First, make sure you have somewhere to work then quit working there.
  First, make sure you have something lined up then quit working there.

Note: In my mother language, we have a simile. In such conditions we refer to a hiking or mountaineering in rocky places / mountains when a mountaineer wants to go up the rocks, first they must make sure that they have stepped on a solid and confident peace of stone and then step forward; otherwise, they may fall down the rocks. So, this is the expression we use in these situations and say:

  You have to make sure that you've put your foot on a confident place on a rock and then step forward

Meaning:

  You have to find a job and then quit working there.

This is the fixed expression which I am looking for its equivalent in especially AE


texts: whay has there been used the construction"would have past participate"?

texts:
Modern archaeological finds can still contribute much to the study of ancient literature. For example, forty years ago a survey of the early Greek dramatist Aeschylus’ plays would have started with The Suppliant Women. Many factors internal to the play, but perhaps most especially the prominence of the chorus (which in this play has the main role), led scholars to consider it one of Aeschylus’ earlier works.

Although I know what the conditional structures almost are and mean, in fact, I wonder the reason why there has been used such construction-- the bold part. In other words, I wonder why there has been used the construction:would have started".

enter link description here

Thanks


texts: "Permission of translate" or "permission of translating"

texts:
Someone wrote:

  It seems this book is worth reading; however, I doubt it has the permission of translating and publishing in Iran.

Which of the following is correct/incorrect and why?

permission of translate and publish
permission of translation and publish
permission of translate and publishing
permission of translating and publishing


texts:
The following is a passage from an article on the idiom kill two birds with one stone:

  Some people feel that this term is a bit negative, given the association with hunting and death, and they prefer more positive twists on the saying. Several organizations have even sponsored contests to come up with a new and more animal-friendly version of “to kill two birds with one stone.”

What does sponsor mean here? Is it sense #1 from OALD:

  (of a company, etc.) to pay the costs of a particular event, programme, etc. as a way of advertising Sports events sponsored by the tobacco industry.

or sense #2:

  to arrange for something official to take place
  The US is sponsoring negotiations between the two sides.


texts:
Can I use the following expressions?
What are the differences between them?

  The stick is fixated on the table.
  The stick is fixated at the table.
  The stick is fixated to the table.


texts:
What does it mean to be mailing it in? Can you guys give me example phrases so I can get what it means?

Ex: He's just mailing it in at work today.


texts: "we have green light..." or "we have the green light..."?

texts:
"We have green light to print"

or

  "We have the green light to print"

Can someone please explain to me which one is better grammatically?


texts: Why can't we say "take sadness/dissatisfaction in something"?

texts:
Why is it that we can say

  I take pride/pleasure/satisfaction/joy in being a successful man.

But can't say

  I take sadness/dissatisfaction/unhappiness in being an unsuccessful man.

The definition of this meaning: to have or experience a particular feeling. But it looks like the word take is only limited to collocate with "pity, offence, pride, joy, delight, satisfaction,comfort, pleasure"


texts: I don't understand "have lost none of their relevence"

texts:
I'm reading an article about Spinoza.

There is a sentence that I don't understand,

  Spinoza’s views on God, religion and society have lost none of their relevance.

From what I know, 'relevance' here seems meaning "appliances, utilities", so the whole sentence becomes "Spinoza's views on God, religion and society didn't lose their appliances, however I still don't understand it.

Checking the dictionary, 'relevance' means 'pertinence', I'm still confused about the exact meaning of the sentence, "relevant to what?" "pertinent to what?"

I google about the word, there are many sentences like "lost its relevance", does that means "lost its appliance"? or "No longer applicable"?

The whole paragraph is as:

  Spinoza’s views on God, religion and society have lost none of their   relevance. At a time when Americans seem willing to bargain away their freedoms for security, when politicians talk of banning people of a certain faith from our shores, and when religious zealotry exercises greater influence on matters of law and public policy, Spinoza’s philosophy – especially his defence of democracy, liberty, secularity and toleration – has never been more timely. In his distress over the deteriorating political situation in the Dutch Republic, and despite the personal danger he faced, Spinoza did not hesitate to boldly defend the radical Enlightenment values that he, along with many of his compatriots, held dear. In Spinoza we can find inspiration for resistance to oppressive authority and a role model for intellectual opposition to those who, through the encouragement of irrational beliefs and the maintenance of ignorance, try to get citizens to act contrary to their own best interests.


texts: Omitting "did" and making the verb to past tense

texts:
Did Americans invade our country or something? What's happening?
Americans invaded our country or something? What's happening?

I know the statement one is correct. Is statements like 2 allowed in causal spoken English?


texts: Is this shortened sentence correct compared to the origin one?

texts:
Sentence:
    This seems a justification for neglect of those in need and a rationalization of exploitation , of the superiority of those at the top and the inferiority of those at the bottom.

Origin: This seems an exceedingly heartless comment, a justification for neglect of those in need, and a rationalization of exploitation and abuse, of the superiority of those at the top of the pile and the inferiority of those at the bottom.

I have boldened the part that confuses me. My thought is that “exploitation of the ” should be right in the first sentence if it is unambiguous.The comma is redundant and makes its meaning unclear to me.

So I want to be sure whether I misunderstood it. Many thanks to you guys.


texts: Is the meaning of "travel company", "travel firm" and "travel agency" the same?

texts: I wonder whether the meaning of "travel company", "travel firm" and "travel agency" is the same. Can we use them interchangeably to vary the language in a paragraph?


texts:
In the following example, can I use the truck, it, and one interchangeably? Are they all correct?

  Yesterday my friend told me someone had parked a truck in our playground but when I got there I could not see the truck.
  Yesterday my friend told me someone had parked a truck in our playground but when I got there I could not see it.
  Yesterday my friend told me someone had parked a truck in our playground but when I got there I could not see one.


texts:
Me and my friend, Tim, are gonna predict the winners of the next dancing with the stars!

I found this sentence from a book.

I wonder why we don’t use “I and my friend” since I think it must be the subject of “are gonna predict”


texts: How to tell a person that they can come/go through a door before you...

texts:
One thing that comes to my mind is "Please, come in" or just "Please" (this is what I use mostly). Come in suggests me that you are standing in a room, but what if you are in a corridor?

What do you say in these cases? Formal or informal. Would be great if you could bring a few examples of what you say to your friends jokingly, like is it possible to say something like "fly in" or something along these lines? :)
Thank you.


texts: Does versus will--Can "does" be followed by an ing verb and "will"?

texts:
Such as :

 does staring at this will hurt my eyes?

 does teaching will make me more patient?

Is it that we can use only one helping verb in a verb phrase?

I am not technically sure, but the sentences appears and sounds better with "will" omitted from the above examples.


texts:
I was watching a movie in which the hero expressed his feelings to the lady he loved. Signaling towards his chest he used the word 'area'. His words were something like this:

I feel something for you right in this area.

It was the first time I heard this word for some body part. We use the word 'area' in math or for locations on maps. Though it is understandable yet I need a consent over this from some natives. Is this a right use? Actually the point that has made me raise this question is that movies often have informal speech and I am a writer thus I have to establish my writings on the basis of some formal grounds.


texts: Is the highlighted area grammatically correct? "[...] has recently shown to hold great promises."

texts:
Is the highlighted area below grammatically correct? If not, how would you modify it?
"Improving conventional imaging techniques especially through combining them with molecular biology methods has recently shown to hold great promises."


texts: Usage of "that" to specify quotation marks in speech

texts:
Is it correct to use “that” in the sentence “I have watched the film that Star Wars.”

What I mean is: can I use “that” to specify the use of quotation marks, especially in speech?


texts: Is there any difference in meaning or usage between "four weeks from today" and "in four weeks"?

texts:
Could you tell me if there is any difference in meaning or usage between "four week from today" and "in four weeks"? For example:

  What are you guys doing four weeks from today?

  What are you guys doing in four weeks?

I cannot see any difference between the two. If there is any, could you tell me which one is more common?


texts: variations of the phrase 'I want to', 'I wish to' and 'I hope to'

texts: I am currently writing a cover letter and noticed that I am using the three phrases to express that I want to do something if I join a company. It would be great if you can suggest some other ways to express 'I want / hope / wish to'.


texts:
Why do we use "kitchen-sink" to tell that something is made of a great detail, at the best quality etc.? Here is a part from Wikipedia article on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (emphasis mine):

As a comprehensive simulator that steadily guides players to aviation from square zero, combined with kitchen-sink graphics, The Guardian concluded that Flight Simulator "captures the wonder of flight, and the spiritual and emotional rush of seeing the world in a different way."

Kitchen-sink seems to be a fairly simply, usually not rich in details and usually not of the best quality device or object.


texts:
To accommodate for the fact that two developers were required to
  concurrently make changes to a component and thus, serial update of
  the component would have been too restrictive.

I'm not sure why they use would have been but not would be. Can anyone  clarify?


texts:
What is the meaning of the phrase 'have you down to'?

In the movie, "As Good as It gets",

I found the line like this,

  'Even then, don't come knocking. If it's election night, and you're
  excited and you want to celebrate because some fudge-packer was
  elected the first queer president of the US and he's going to have
  you down to Camp David, and you want someone to share the moment
  with. Even then, don't knock"

What does "have you down to" mean here?

Does it consist of parts "have you" and "down to".

Maybe Camp David is homosexual, and 'have you down to' means bring you to Camp David?


texts: Til, Till or 'Til? Which one should I use?

texts:
Til, Till or 'Til?
Which one should I use if I want to say in a letter:

(Until) next time!


texts:
Stay hungry Stay foolish
That [is/was] what Steve Jobs said on a commencement speech.

Which is proper? Is or Was? Or both?


texts:
In Italian, we use the expression Sei scemo o mangi sassi? which can be literally translated as "Are you stupid, or do you eat rocks?" It is a way of saying "You are stupid."

What is the more idiomatic way of translating it?


texts: What is the meaning of "as far as problems go"?

texts:
Here is a paragraph from a book (Zero to One):

  But in February 2000, Elon and I were more scared about the rapidly
  inflating tech bubble than we were about each other: a financial crash
  would ruin us both before we could finish our fight. So in early March
  we met on neutral ground—a café almost exactly equidistant to our
  offices—and negotiated a 50-50 merger. De-escalating the rivalry
  post-merger wasn’t easy, but as far as problems go, it was a good one
  to have. As a unified team, we were able to ride out the dot-com crash
  and then build a successful business.

I didn't understand the sentence written in bold. I know what is the meaning of its words and phrases, but I couldn't understand the meaning of the whole sentence.


texts:
This system is good, but one issue/concern with this is the cost.

I would like to know which of "issue" and "concern" is better for the above sentence I created. That is, I am searching for a word that can be used in a situation where using "problem" is too serious.


texts:
"Today is Sunday and I don't feel well because I have been drinking three days in a row: Thursday, Friday and Saturday."
  "Today is Sunday and I'm not feeling well because I drank three days in a row: Thursday, Friday and Saturday."

What is the difference in meaning between these sentences? "Don't feel" seems to be more general.

And would it be possible to write:

"Today is Sunday and I'm not feeling well because I have drunk  three days in a row: Thursday, Friday and Saturday."

or

"Today is Sunday and I don't feel well because I have  drunk three days in a row: Thursday, Friday and Saturday."?

I think the present perfect tense can be used in this case because the action recently stopped.


texts:
I am currently writing an essay about our national hero but I am not sure whether to use 'had' or 'have' in this sentence:

  He may have died early, but he sure have/had contributed a lot for our country.


texts: Have I correctly changed these statements into reported speech?

texts:
I want to report these sentences beginning with the sentences in brackets:

Your shoes will be ready tomorrow. (the shoemaker told Mary)
Did you go to the cinema yesterday?  (Andrew asked Ali)
That letter was posted ten days ago. (the postman told Adams)

My answers:

the shoemaker told Mary that her shoes would be ready tomorrow
Andrew asked Ali if he has went to cinema yesterday
the postman told Adams that letter has been posted ten days ago


texts:
Have you not seen this movie?

I'm confused as to what to say, my first reply was: No, I haven't seen it.
Is this answer correct for this question or do I reply by answering the following:

a. No, I haven't seen it.
b. No. I haven't seen it.
c. Yes, I haven't seen it.
d. Yes. I haven't seen it.


texts: In front of the air conditioner's blown air

texts:
Could you possibly let me know whether the bold part below sounds idiomatic to you? If not, I would appreciate if you could tell me how would a native speaker phrase it in a natural way?

That was very hot out there! I had a quite hard working day and just got home. I felt a little drowsy. I lay on the couch and stretched myself out in front of the air conditioner's blown air and say: [Phewwwww!]


texts:
Classical Latin was the literary standard dialect of Latin "spoken by higher socioeconomic classes, as opposed to the Vulgar Latin which is the generic term of the colloquial sociolects of Latin spoken across the Roman Empire by uneducated and less-educated classes.

Why there is no auxiliary verb before spoken?


texts:
Man: Sometimes when I'm not feeling well or the doctor tells
me I need certain drug or medication, I go around the corner to the
family drugstore or pharmacy and I get what I need. Excuse me miss.

What does "family drugstore" mean?


texts: What is the meaning of 'hostage' in this sentence?

texts:
It's from

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/11/pain-brain-regions-also-active.html

  Consequently, the concept of dysfunction is systemically hostage to
  political dynamics and social power

Thanks,


texts: Help to understand this exchange from comment of Yahoo article

texts:
A: I don't agree with Omarosa on much, but 'difficult to watch' is as spot on as it gets

  B: " . . . spot on . . . ", one of the most annoying phrases in the
  English language.

I saw this exchange in a comment from this Yahoo article. I particularly don't quite understand the part in bold. I think "spot on" means "exactly correct or accurate". And also, why B said "" . . . spot on . . . ", one of the most annoying phrases in the English language."?

Can someone help to spell it out?


texts: Is there a word for "undissolved flour" when mixing with water?

texts:
When you try to mix any kind of liquid with some dry powder, they don't mix well and you can see those unmixed powder form into sort of bubbles!

Is there any good word to describe those? If there is no such word, what would be a concise and clear way to describe those?

I was calling it 'unmixed powder clutters' and did not like it much.

It does not have be formal. Any kind of expression that would be clear enough would be fine.


texts:
From the sport article.

  But they struggled to find a way through the resolute Portugal
  backline, however, and it was not until the final quarter of the match
  did the game really spring into life, with both sides almost snatching
  the game at the death.

I found that snatch means to try to take hold of something. But it sounds terrible in the context. What might snatch at the death stand for?


texts:
"a proud and very profane yonge man."

This quote is from here. What does yonge mean in this context? A search to the dictionary came up with:

  Charlotte M(ary). 1823–1901, British novelist, whose works reflect the
  religious ideals of the Oxford Movement. Her best-known book is The
  Heir of Redclyffe (1853)

I can't seem to relate a word used to describe a person in the quote to be explained by naming a person (definition as given in the dictionary).

What does yonge mean?
Could you paraphrase this quote too?


texts: "we will discontinue the feature" vs. "we will be discontinuing the feature"

texts:
From the Poetry Foundation website's Favorites page:

  Due to needed upgrades to our website, we will be discontinuing our Favorites feature and user accounts effective Sunday, March 27, 2016. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Why is it "we will be discontinuing" and not "we will discontinue"? What is the difference in meaning, if any?

Google Ngram fails to return any results for "we will be discontinuing", although the phrase is fully legit, as Google Books Search attests.


texts: adjective order: clean, treated water or treated, clean water?

texts:
I'd like to know which order of adjectives is correct in the following sentence.
If both are OK, what's the difference?

Finally, the wastewater flows into the last tanks, where the chemical chlorine is added to kill
the remaining bacteria. After the bacteria are destroyed, the chlorine is eliminated from the water, and the
treated clean water is discharged into a river or the ocean.


texts: In most cases people say stand in the rain, I can understand it but can we say stand under the rain, will it make any sense?


texts: "I made it my prime objective settling the matter." - unacceptable extraposition

texts:
Just saw this sentence marked as unacceptable in Quirke's Comprehensive Grammar (18.35 Extraposition of a clausal object):

  *I made it my prime objective settling the matter

The full bit:

I don't understand why this construction was deemed unacceptable. What's so different between it and 'I made it my objective to settle the matter' ? Both 'to settle...' and 'settling...' are clausal objects, no? And it says right there that -ing clauses can undergo extraposition. No further explanation is given in the chapter, so I'm a bit confused here. Any help? Thanks.


texts: What's the meaning of "be broker than the Ten Commandments"?

texts:
The meaning of "the Ten Commandments" is clear (see Wikipedia for example). Also, Oxford Dictionaries show "broke" means "Having completely run out of money".

But I don't understand the meaning of the phrase. So, could you please tell me what is the meaning of

  "be broker than the Ten  Commandments"

The text is here:

  When the semester ended I returned to Buck’s Peak. In a few weeks BYU
  would post grades; then I’d know if I could return in the fall.
  I filled my journals with promises that I would stay out of the junkyard. I
  needed money—Dad would have said I was broker than the Ten
  Commandments—so I went to get my old job back at Stokes.

Educated by Tara Westover


texts:
With the onset of the spring snowmelt, the area serves up prime-time Whitewater rafting. Rafters flock to two rivers in particular: the forest-hemmed Skykomish and the wide-open, sundrenched Wenatchee.

What is “the forest-hemmed”?


texts:
What are the difference between the following orders

I would like to have some salad

( I think people do not use it anymore)

I would like some salad.
I will have some salad.
I will take some salad.
I will get some salad.
Can I have/take/get some salad?
Could I have /take/get some salad?


texts: Can the past simple or the present perfect fit in this example with yet

texts:
Two days ago I tried to order a book but could not pay because your system  did not accept/ has not accepted paypal payments yet.
if I choose to add  yet with past simple it means that at the time of writing  they still don't accept paypal payment but it has been planned . Past simple because it is a precise moment in the past.
Would it be possible top use present perfect because the situation has not changed yet even if it also
been planned .


texts:
Which of the following sentence sounds natural and correct and why?

  I can help you practice English.
  Vs
  I can help you practicing English.
  Yesterday, I saw the dog bark.
  Vs
  Yesterday, I saw the dog barking.

Would this sentence be regarded as correct or wrong?

  I saw Tom helped her yesterday.

Can anyone explain me the structures of the objects of the verbs? Is ‘you’ in the object clause of sentence 1 acting as subject of the gerund or infinitive phrase?
Also, can anyone explain to me when and how to use bare infinitive verbs as a object of verb phrase?


texts: 'The Finale' or 'The Final' when it's NOT about a music event

texts:
I know the word finale. Almost all dictionaries define this word as the final event of a musical event or competition. Say, the grand finale of American Idol.

But then, can it be used for a sport event? Say football?

  The grand finale between Germany and Argentina?

I read it on International Business Times, The Times of India, the USA Today and Orange News but frankly don't agree! :)

The grand finale happens of some musical competition, quiz or the like. For sports, it should be 'The Final'.

I'll be thankful if you all enlighten me on this.


texts: Which meaning of the word 'flay' has been applied in "flay him to within an inch of his life"?

texts:
... He(Uncle Vernon) shooed the shocked Masons back into the dining room, promised Harry he would flay him to within an inch of his life when the Masons had left, and handed him a mop. ...

I think "flay him to within an inch of his life" is figurative. But I'm not sure about what sense of 'flay' has been used from the following dictionary-suggesting definitions:

  When someone flays an animal or person, they remove their skin, usually when they are dead.
  If you flay someone, you criticize them severely for their beliefs, policies, or actions.

What does this phrase convey exactly?

-- Excerpted from Harry Potter.


texts:
I am currently reading this article, a paragraph says,

  The bill was then sent to the House of Lords and will return to the Commons by Friday evening, the Press Association reported, after an earlier plan to get unelected peers to filibuster was dropped.

Could someone help me understand what this bold and italic line is trying to say?


texts:
Should it be:

  "laboratory tests results" or "laboratory test results"

for doing different types of tests, not just one?

I feel the first one sounds weird, although I think it's correct grammatically.


texts:
In the Wikipedia article "Death of Azaria Chamberlain" it reads:

  In 2012, some 32 years after Azaria's death, the Chamberlains' version of events was officially confirmed by a coroner.

What does the "some" mean here?

What is the difference to "In 2012, some 32 years after Azaria's death, […]"?


texts: What does it mean 'to have a day for someone'?

texts:
Need to quit the sipping syrup, 'fore you in the dirt

  Remember that's why they said they got a day for Yams

As you can see it's from a rap song, and I can't find the meaning of 'to have a day for someone' execpt to have one's day. Can you please explain me what does it mean?


texts:
What is breaking on the shore? The sea foam or the waves?

  We watched the sea foam made by the waves breaking on the shore.


texts: I have a doubt, is the use of "do" together to another verb correct?, And if it is what is the difference if I do not put "Do" and just the other verb.


texts: Question about meaning of "closely held" in this context

texts:
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue. (Wikipedia)

Could you please explain the term "closely held"?


texts: How to describe a person 'who's got firm opinion in life which is independent of others' and confident!"

texts: Is "She is her own woman" typically used to deliver what I wrote in the title means? Or is there any better expressions?


texts: What does "penny roll" mean in this sentence?

texts:
In the self help book 'Pushing to the front' by Orison Swett Marden, under chapter 30 (Self Help) it is said:

Franklin was but a poor printer's boy, whose highest luxury at one time was only a penny roll, eaten in the streets of Philadelphia.

Does it mean something like "he bought a cheap sandwich or candy from a corner of the street"?


texts: Is it correct to say "the color" when describing a multi-colored object?

texts: For instance, "the color of the watermelon is red and green", or should one say "the colors of the watermelon are red and green"?


texts: Two word compounds ( type file or file type )

texts:
I'm looking for the rule for compound nouns. Do I say:

phone number or number phone
file type or type file
bag school or school bag


texts: Main Clause + [; vs .]+ Conjunctive Adverb + , + Main Clause

texts:
I have read on more that a website that a conjunctive adverb is preceded by a semicolon. As far as I remember, however, I have seen more often than not a period used instead of the semicolon. Even on the same Web page below a period is used when a semicolon, they claim, is called for,

  Notice, however, that you need a semicolon, not a comma, to connect
  the two clauses:

  Main Clause + ; + Conjunctive Adverb + , + Main Clause.

  ... The cat ate a bowlful of tuna; then, to the squirrels' delight,
  the fat feline fell asleep in the rocking chair.

On the same page you find an example at odds with their advice or the rule they set.

  At 10 a.m., Paul was supposed to be taking his biology midterm.
  Instead, he was flirting with the pretty waitress at the coffee house.

Source: The Conjunctive Adverb. Recognize a conjunctive adverb when you see one


texts: Differences between 'territory', 'domain', 'realm', etc

texts:
Please help me to find the best choices for each sentences from my listed options:

American black bears in order to define their ………. and as a form of communication with other bears mark trees using their teeth and claws.

  1)    Territory

  2)    Domain

  3)    Realm

At the time of The Achaemenid Empire, the Persian empire had the largest ….. all over the world.

  1)  Territory

  2)  Domain

  3)  Realm  --> I think in this sense it is used only in literary English.

This question can be answered in the …………. of psychology.

  1)    Territory

  2)  Domain  --> I think in this sense it is used only in formal English.

  3)  Realm  --> I think in this sense it is used only in written English.

In that web page, you can easily find all the new and ever-increasing discoveries in the …………. of medicine.

  1)    Territory

  2)  Domain  --> I think in this sense it is used only in formal English.

  3)  Realm  --> I think in this sense it is used only in written English.

We widened the ......... of our investigations, but as usual political issues limited us to do more.

  1)    Territory

  2)  Domain  --> I think in this sense it is used only in formal English.

  3)  Realm  --> I think in this sense it is used only in written English.

  4)    Scope

  5)    Range

  6)    Spectrum

PS. for me all the bold choices work for their related sentences and where I defined e.g. tow choice, I think both of the choices can be swapped together and mean exactly the same thing in that specific sense and at the same time, no one of the other choices work for that particular sentence. Anyway I would appreciate it if you could correct me if I make mistake.

Added:

In accordance with what has written in the Longman dictionary, I edited my question; here is my understanding from the dictionary and all the needed information (just based on the dictionary), but whereas I do not believe all the written points of a dictionary cannot always work, and whereas language changes, I brought all of the notes here to make it clear why I think only the bold choices work and the others do not work at all (or at least using them would make the sentence sound awkward and perhaps unidiomatic.)

Territory: 1) land that is owned or controlled by a particular country, ruler, or military force. 2) The area that an animal, bird etc regards as its own and will defend against other animals.

Domain: 1) Formal: An area of activity, interest, or knowledge, especially one that a particular person, organization etc deals with. 2) An area of land owned and controlled by one person or government, especially in the past.

Realm: 1) Written: a general area of knowledge, activity, or thought. 2) Literary: a country ruled by a king or queen.

Scope: The range of things that a subject, activity, book etc deals with.

Range: Spectrum: A complete range of opinions, people, situations etc, going from one extreme to its opposite.


texts:
to quell means:

to stop something that you do not want to happen

to subdue means:

to start to control someone or something, especially by using force

source : cambridge dictionaries


texts:
Q1. Which sentence is more appropriate here to or at?

  I don't want them to come to my house.
  I don't want them to come at my house.

The first sentence feels natural to me. But I was wondering if we can use at here.


texts: Can anybody explain the meaning of "from things to experiences" in this context?

texts:
"Global travel continues to be an attractive investment area," Sandra
  Horbach, cohead of Carlyle Group's US buyout team, told Business
  Insider. "Consumers are increasingly shifting their spending from
  things to experiences. Travel will also benefit from rising
  discretionary incomes in many emerging markets.

source: "Wall Street's big investors are piling into tourism,"
 by Rachel Butt, Business Insider


texts:
What is the meaning of the following phrase;

Due cognisance is taken of you reticence regarding item 2

I can not understand anything.


texts:
Would you explain the difference between the following?

  I know of somebody/something.
  I know about somebody/something.


texts: How to use "bring [somebody/something] back"?

texts:
Can I use "bring [somebody/something] back" in either way as follows:

  His music always brings me back to last winter.
  His music always brings memories in last winter back.

Can I use a phrasal verb "bring [sb/sth] back" in both of these ways?

And do sentence 1 and 2 deliver the same meaning?


texts:
Can I use it to refer to everything. An example:

I took everything out of the washer and put it in the dryer.


texts:
Source: In Russia, 'Lots of Scientists, Little Science'

Example:

  In 2009, after nearly two decades of benign declarations, the Russian government spearheaded efforts to improve the situation drastically. Several signature projects were announced in the field of science: mega-grants to fund cutting edge laboratories, the establishment of the Skolkovo innovation center and the creation of national research universities.

Can anybody tell me what exactly a signature project is?


texts: What is a word for someone who always has to be thinking something or messing with something?

texts: This has been bothering me lately and I need to know. So for me if I'm not thinking something I'm messing with something(like a piece of paper in my hands), and if I'm not doing that I'm thinking(making up stories in my head). I always have to be doing something, I can't just do nothing. What's the word for that?(If their is a word)


texts:
I was searching for difference between a lot of and Much and came across following rules(See here)

  We usually use a lot of and lots of rather than muchand many in
  informal affirmative clauses:

  There are a lot of monuments and a lot of historic buildings in
  Rome.

  Not: There are many monuments and many historic buildings in Rome.

  She gave me a lot of information.

  Not: She gave me much information.

But it is not clear to me where to use a lot and where to use much/many. Why much or many is wrong in above sentence.


texts: Which sentence is used to convey this concept in AmE?

texts:
Son: Hey daddy, I need 10,000 dollar by tomorrow!
Father: (He begins to think about the fact that this is a big money and I don't have such amount of money 'at least for now'! He says:)

But from where should I procure all that money?
But from where should I attain all that money?
But from where should I obtain all that money?
But from where should I gain all that money?


texts: Can i use the following interchangeably?

texts:
Can I say the below expression instead of   " when you are placed in difficult situation"

(When you are put in difficult situation)


texts:
Is this phrase-adjective grammatically correct?

  This push-onto-the-core network sends packet onto its core and then
  the core sends it to the destination after reading the packets. This
  is highly inefficient, but allows the government to get all the data
  that circulates inside its network.

I am wondering if the phrase-adjective "push-onto-the-core" is correctly used here. The question is whether we can use transitive verbs like push as in push something. You would think only intransitive verbs like crouch as in crouch down would be used in such a way, but is it the case or not? Are there any rules?


texts: "I wish I got..." versus "I wish I had got..."

texts:
Are these sentences grammatically correct and do both possess almost the same meaning?

  I wish I got good marks.

  I wish I had got good marks.


texts:
I am reading a text as follow:

Oh, yes, and Copacabana Beach. Wilbur didn’t like that very much. He got so badly sunburned. Wow, was his face red! It’s the hole in the ozone layer, he figures.

Why in the above text there is "was his face red" instead of "his face was red"?
I guess it is a way to emphasis, but I am not sure.


texts: Would rather/had better in reported speech

texts:
Does there have to be a backshift of the infinitive used with WOULD RATHER/HAD BETTER in reported speech? I mean this:

I would rather {meet} him at 7 PM today.

reported speech

a) I said that I would rather {meet} him at 7 the same day.

or

b) I said that I would rather {have met} him at 7 the same day.

another example

2 I was getting used to that, I suppose, but I would rather {kiss}
her for the rest of the evening.

2a I was getting used to that, I suppose, but I would rather {have
kissed}  her for the rest of the evening.


texts: Difference between learn with/from my major

texts:
This summer, I sought to engage myself in experiences that I felt were
  relevant to what I have been learning with my art history major.

  https://www.southwestern.edu/live/news/13558-curating-the-arts

What is the difference between “learn with my major” and “learn from my major”?  Are they interchangeable here?


texts:
Could someone please help me to understand the following sentence from wren and martin.

  It is a common mistake to use I for me, when the pronoun is connected
  by a conjunction (and, or) with some other word in the accusative
  case.

  Study the following correct sentences :-
  The presents are for you and me (Not, I)
   My uncle asked my brother and me(Not, I)  to dinner

I did not understand how the examples follow the reasoning given by the book.


texts: Is "My neighbor Mr. Lee is 70 years old who plays basketball every day." grammatical?

texts:
My neighbor Mr. Lee is 70 years old who plays basketball every day.

My teacher said that pronoun "who" is too far from the subject, so this is a grammatical error. But Grammarly told me that this sentence has no grammatical errors. Who is right?


texts: Is the term " a lot of amount " correct? Since ," a lot of "implies a quantity,  "a lot of amount " is hardly in use.


texts: Is "as what...." a short from of "...so +adjective +that..." structure?

texts:
In a british movie, a boy is asking an old military man about his sword:

-Boy: Is that the sword you used in battles Mr.Poulter. Could I see it?

-The man(Mr.Poulter): Very dangerous weapon, my lad. An edge as what you could shave with.

The structure "...as what..." in the sentence caught my attention. I have never seen such a structure for comparison. We were taught at school that we should use "so+adjective+that" structure for such comparisons.

I think the man means "The edge is so sharp that you could even use it for shaving".(Or The edge is as sharp as a razor).

If what I understand is correct, then can we say "..as what..." structure is a short form of "...so+adjective+that..." structure, which we were taught at school.

Thanks.


texts: What does "Whether it's 2026 or 2028 or 2030 matters less" mean here?

texts:
Does it mean Whichever year, 2026 or 2028 or 2030, is not important?
Yifan Zhang, an associate professor of economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, didn't have an exact guess for the year China's economy will become the world's biggest. "Whether it's 2026 or 2028 or 2030 matters less," Zhang said. "On the day when China becomes the largest economy again, it signals there's a shift of power between the East and West."
Source:https://fortune.com/2021/01/18/chinas-2020-gdp-world-no-1-economy-us/


texts: “Verb1 preposition1 and verb2 preposition2” VS. “Verb1 and verv2 preposition2”?

texts:
When we have two verbs followed by a preposition separately, should we omit the first one?

  I am addicted to and pleased with the new drug.
  I am addicted and pleased with the new drug.

In what cases do we omit the first preposition and what cases we keep them both?


texts: What does recourse mean in this sentence

texts:
What does recourse mean in the following sentence:

Here in Brazil we like games and have little recourse.

I don't know what that means in that sentence because according to the Cambridge Dictionary recourse means:

using something or someone as a way of getting help, especially in a difficult or dangerous situation.


texts:
Which one is the meaning of 'a theory of political human nature'?

a theory of the political nature of humans
a theory of the nature of political humans

I myself guess the first one is meant.

The phrase in context, from Political Ideals (1917) by Bertrand Russell:

  It may be said that the power of officials is much less dangerous than the power of capitalists, because officials have no economic interests that are opposed to those of wage-earners. But this argument involves far too simple a theory of political human nature—a theory which orthodox socialism adopted from the classical political economy,...


texts: When do we use the plural form of infrastructure?

texts:
I looked up the dictionary and it seems there's no plural form for the noun. However, some people use the word infrastructure with an s at the end. Is there a reason for doing this or is it just a mistake?

Source:

  NIC governments continue to focus the financial and entrepreneurial resources of the private sector to
  realize national visions, learn new competencies and build advanced
  infrastructures.


texts: Is it being faced, faced, or having been faced with the increasing unemployment?

texts:
In writing the following sentence, I am hesitating which one (Being faced, faced, having been faced) I should use at the beginning:

_____ with the increasing unemployment, many people went on strike in most of the European countries.

Syntactically speaking, I think all of them are correct. Are there any nuances among these three?

I have corrected a typo "having faced" to "having been faced"


texts: Does "be remembered for" have another meaning that is similar to "worth remembering"?

texts:
The lecturer is saying

  in the
  following exercise I'm either going to
  show you some data, or describe a concept
  to you and you're going to have to
  select a function which you think might
  be used to represent it.

  this is not
  intended to be a difficult exercise but
  what I would like you to understand is
  that selecting a function is the
  creative essence of science.

  this process
  of selecting a candidate function or
  hypothesis to model a world is what the
  great geniuses of science are remembered for.

Cambridge gives this explanation

  to be kept in people's memories because of a particular action or quality:

and this example

  She will be remembered for her courage.

Which seems to be different to the meaning the lecturer meant.


texts: help to understand "the other extreme where his hair was concerned"

texts:
Hagrid was sitting at his table, where there were two large mugs of tea. He looked a real mess. His face was blotchy, his eyes swollen, and he had gone to the other extreme where his hair was concerned; far from trying to make it behave, it now looked like a wig of tangled wire.

I'm not sure if I understand that part correctly. In my opinion, the word 'concern' here means 'worry'. So, it can be rephrased as: he had gone to the other extreme at which his hair was worried.

But I really don't know if I get it correctly?


texts: What should be used here? Me too or me either?

texts:
Seems like people have previously asked somehow a question like this, but the answers to me don't seem convincing because the source of the answer is not mentioned that's why I've decided to ask it one more time.
We all know that we use 《Me too》 when we want to respond to a positive sentence like:

I like pizza.
Me too

We use me neither( me either) when we want to respond to a negative sentence like:

I don't like pizza.
Me either

Now my question is: What is the right thing to use when the structure of your sentence is not negative or in other words it doesn't include (not) but its meaning is negative like:

I never have breakfast at 8 o'clock.

I hardly ever go to school.

What should we use when we want to agree with these two sentences?!


texts:
I have a bit of confusion regarding "sb/sth. has/have been adjective./noun". For example, "I have been ill." "This festival has been great." "He has been a smart person." I am wondering about the time frame of them; I am not sure whether they mean "I have been ill in the past and I am still ill now"/"This festival is great from the past to the present"/"He was a smart person and still is", or "I was ill in the past but I have recovered now"/"This festival was great but now it's over or no longer great"/"He was smart but now is not".

I have consulted Google but there are many versions of explanations and I am a bit lost.


texts:
Basically is a compliment for a speech, here are the phrases:

  That was a tight one minute, Brian. You're ready for Jack Paar.

I know who Jack Paar is but what's "you are ready for"?

I also don't know the meaning of "tight" and the second phrase


texts:
In an English High Court case in 1977, the late Lord Denning summed up the gist of the
  principle of the rule of law when he said:

    To every subject in this land, no matter how powerful, I would use Thomas Fuller’s
    words over 300 years ago: ‘Be you never so high, the law is above you.’

Source: P7, How the Law Works, Gary Slapper

I know that Thomas Fuller lived in the 1600s, but still want to learn about the grammar and structure.

What form is be in; it looks the English present subjunctive?
How to anatomize/parse/unravel Be you never?
I can guess the meaning here as "Even if you were so high..."


texts: "We sat, talked and 'spilt'(=drinking?) two pitchers of beer"

texts:
We sat, talked and spilt two pitchers of beer.

Does "spill" have the meaning of drinking?


texts: Can we use two negative words in a sentence?

texts:
One told me that, we can not use two negative words in a sentence.

For instance, as far as I know

  There is not any book here.

is a true statement. It means

  There is no book here

So please clear my mind about having two negative words in a statement (not and any).


texts: Passivizing causative "make" - 'be made shudder'?

texts:
Rewrite it in the passive:
"These odds would make a professional  player shudder"
I would do it as follows:"A professional  player would be made shudder by these odds". This sounds clumsy to me, so I'm not sure if I rewrote it correctly. Could you check it?
Rewrite these sentences using suitable forms of make:

1."We were obliged to clean up the mess we had made";
2."The prisoners-of-war were obliged to build roads across the Burmese jungle".

I would write:"We were made to clean up the mess we had made" and "The prisoners-of-war were made to build roads across the Burmese jungle", but in the example there's no "to" when "made" is used (When we were children, mother obliged us to take a bath every day - When we were children, mother made us take a bath every day). But to me it doesn't sound right without to. And take "bullies were threatening little boys" as an example how on earth would that change? What am I doing wrong?


texts: On the difference in pronunciation between "dessert" and "desert"

texts: Is it true if I would say that the difference between dessert and desert is in the stress (grammar), it means that in the word 'dessert' the stress is on the second part of the word (dessert) while in the word 'desert' the stress is on the first part (desert)?


texts: What is the plural of "brother", "brothers" or "brethren"?

texts:
In English books, I read  that the plural of brother was given as brethren, but I hear people in movies or serials using brothers.

Which one is correct?

Is it the difference due to difference in American and British English?


texts: "I feel stress easily" vs. "I feel stressed easily"

texts:
I am informed that "feel" could be a linking verb and that "stressed" is an adjective. So, "feel stressed" would be grammatically correct. Are these two both correct?

I feel stressed easily.

I feel stress easily.

Are the sentences made up by myself? No, it's adapted from some learning material.


texts: What do you call the static elements in an interface? By that, I mean, the bottom part which shows you the health and mana and also the top part and the inventory window. What do you call these elements in the user interface, and what do you call the dynamic part that shows the world and the character, and what do you call these two combined (if there's a word for that)?


texts: What does it mean by a "multicultural classroom" in ESL context?

texts:
What does it mean by a "multicultural classroom" in the ESL context?

Is it a classroom comprised of students from different cultures?

Is it a class that is taught a syllabus that includes resources from various cultures?

I need authentic references.


texts:
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-48339080

  There have been seven weeks of protests outside the site from which
  "hundreds" of pupils were kept away on Monday.

Why does the sentence say “have been” not  simply “were”?
I think that indicates that the protesters are still protesting untill the moment of writing. Am I correct here?


texts: "To be back to/at work", which preposition is the correct one?

texts:
I am studying with the "Grammar in Use" (2019) by Murphy, going through phrasal verbs. I found this example at pag. 275.
"My holidays are nearly over. Next week I´ll be back at work". Is it a mistake?
I´ve only just heard "to be back to work". The Coca corpus agrees with me.
What do you think and why?

My holidays are nearly over. Next week I´ll be back at work
My holidays are nearly over. Next week I´ll be back to work


texts: “He is smart as/for/to be a country person”, which preposition should I use to express the impression that - he’s a countryman but smart?


texts: Is would ok in for this sequence of tense

texts:
I had not seen that film when I was a kid, even if at that time it was
  very popular, I would see it later when I would be an adult

Just would like to know if would  is correct, I think so: when i was a kid it was future but now that I am an adult it is not future any more it was future in the past .
But if  the author  was still  a kid he would say  I will see it when I am an adult not when  I will be an adult so was may be better


texts: What's the difference between "scarce", "rare" and "uncommon"?

texts:
According to a dictionary, all these words are quite synonymous. Is there any subtle difference in meaning?

I consulted the Free dictionary and found that:

  scarce: Hard to find; absent or rare.

  rare:  Infrequently occurring; uncommon.

  uncommon:  Not common; rare.


texts:
During my studying English, I thought about how we learn our native language.

Mine is Russian. At school we learn a lot of poetry, different poems we learn by heart.

So my question is, how often English children in school learn verses? Could it be helpful in my learning?


texts:
I'm going to work and my 10-year-old son is staying alone at home until I come back.

So before leaving I say to him:

  Do not play video games nor eat ice cream.

Or,

  Neither play video games nor eat ice cream.

I have always used the second structure but today I heard the first one from someone.

Which one of the two is more natural and grammartical?

  Note: I can simply say "no video games and no ice cream".

Thanks in advance.


texts:
"Alice was deeply hurt that she hadn’t been invited."

Could you please explain this sentence to me grammatically, particularly the usage of "that"?

Note: This is a sample usage sentence from Longman. I just want to know:

Can I say "Alice was deeply hurt that she hadn’t been invited" is equal to "Alice was deeply hurt because she hadn’t been invited"?


texts: Which of the following words will be suitable to name the bonus? recommendation, recommending and recommender

texts:
The following is the translation draft of a part of description about a bet game website.

  In this bet game website, a member can share a recommending link of a
  bet game (or a code added after the original link), and if he/she
  attracts the most credits placed from others than other recommenders
  in a game, he/she will win some bonus.

  In "badge collection", there is a series called "Best recommender".
  It counts on times of sharing a recommending link and attracting
  the most credits placed from others in a game.

"referral link" has already been used to refer to the link used to build downlines. To make it clear and not ambiguous, I hope to use different words; that is to say, "referral bonus" and "recommendation(?) bonus".

Regarding the word family of recommend, I would like to ask word choice as follows.

Which one is better when name the bonus?

recommendation bonus

recommending bonus

recommender bonus

˙

Which one is better when name the link? (PS. The "referral link" has already been used to refer to the link used to build downlines.)

recommendation link

recommending link

recommender link

˙

Is the name "Best recommender" good? Won't it be ambiguous with "best recommender system"?

˙


texts:
Do the following sentences mean the one after "=" ?

  I haven't worked for 20 years = It has been 20 years since I worked last.

  I haven't worked for only/just 20 years = I have worked for a period longer than 20 years.


texts: The word "be" which used with infinitive

texts:
I have questions about the verb to be as in

  He was never to return
  You are to follow these orders

To me, they seem to be verb rather than auxiliary verb, but according to Oxford Dictionary of English, they are auxiliary verb.

Can't they be taken as normal verb? If the answer is no, please tell me the reasons.


texts: "would," "will," and "be [verb]ing" in context

texts:
What are the differences among these three sentences?

Who would most likely be listening to this talk?
Who will most likely be listening to this talk?
Who is most likely listening to this talk?


texts:
While writing a cover letter, I wrote a following a sentence.

"I am confident that I possess the pertinent skills to successfully complete this course and am one opportunity away to making a significant contribution to the community in upcoming years."

Is it correct?

or should have I written the following?

"I am confident that I possess the pertinent skills to successfully complete this course and am one opportunity away from making a significant contribution to the community in upcoming years."

Which one of the above is correct?


texts: Is there a certain word to shorten this sentence?

texts:
"I consume less sugar and salty foods but consume more fatty foods."

Is there a word to shorten this sentence?
Can I say , "I consume less sugar and salty foods but fatty foods, otherwise?


texts: Is the adjective order "sunny, secret, green" correct?

texts:
I went to Sarah's house, and she showed me her sunny, secret,
  green yard.

I'm quite sure green goes at the end. And doing a search on ngram I found more results with sunny, secret than secret, sunny, so the one above should be correct. But I wanted a confirmation.


texts:
What is meant by the sentence:

  She manhandled the posts into place.

I found it as an example of the usage of the word manhandle at Merriam-Webster website.

I think the sentence should be:

  She manhandled the posts at their right place.

  or

  She manhandled the posts into their place.

if it is meant that she moved the posts at some place. I have never heard: something is moved into place.


texts: "esse" vs "este", portuguese, and "this" vs "that" in English

texts:
In Portuguese I have the pronouns "esse" and "este", the first to abstract and not touchable themes, the following for objects or people, how should I use in the corresponding English words?

For example:

esse <-> this

  "Esse assunto não é adequado a este forum" <-> "this subject is not consistent with this forum"

este <-> this/that

  " Este movel deveria estar naquela sala" <-> This mobile should be in that room


texts: Should I put "the" in the following sentence?

texts:
Which one is correct?

  "She is in eighth grade."

vs

  "She is in the eighth grade."


texts:
-Do you speak German?

  -I speak it quite well.

Is the usage of it as a substitute for german grammatical?

Does providing context make a difference?

Does it sound off to the native ear?

Is there a special category of verbs that accept the word it after them?