texts: "such that" & "such as to", "so...that" &"so...as to", "such...that" &"such ...as to"

texts:
If the subjects of the main clause and the subordinate clause are the same,
we could simplify "such that" to "such as to", for example

1a Her voice was such that it made everyone stare. →
1b Her voice was such as to make everyone stare.

But we can't simplify

2a His anger was such that he lost control of himself. ↛
2b *His anger was such as to lose control of himself.

Am I right?
I also think this rule also applies to "so...that" and "so...as to", and "such...that" and "such...as to".
For example:

3a Her voice was so loud that it made everyone stare. →
3b Her voice was so loud as to make everyone stare.
4a He was such a fool that he believed him. →
4b He was such a fool as to believe him.

Am I right?


texts: Spelling of noun for 'absorb' - 'absorption' or 'absorbtion'

texts:
Can anyone tell me which noun should I use for absorbing; is it absorbtion or absorption?

I read some articles in which (in my opinion) both words were used interchangeably. Or maybe it was a typo.


texts: What does "murder tax-wise" mean in this context?

texts:
Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon stock all ended the day in the red with Amazon down 2%. Trump has specifically claimed that "Amazon is getting away with murder tax-wise," and could try to take action to change that.

source:http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/09/technology/Trump-Silicon-valley/index.html


texts:
What do you usually say when your teeth are covered by plaque? Or what a doctor would say to you in order to suggest you to get a teeth cleaning:

What comes to my mind is:

  I have a bad case of plaque.

Or

  My teeth have been covered with plaque.  [this sounds to be more correct to me in English, but I doubt.]

If no one is naturally correct, then please tell me what to say to the doctor or what to say to the patient as a dentist?


texts:
There is no month in calendar that does not have a festival.
  There is not a month in calendar when there is not a festival.

Do the two sentences mentioned above mean the same thing?
Why or why not?


texts: Usage of Article "The": "The" Son of Austrlian Immigrants

texts:
I have questions, both general and specific, on the definite article "the."

He grew up in New York as the son of Australian immigrants, the oldest
of three boys.

In the sentence above, there are three sons in the family, and the person in question is the oldest of them. But he is described as the son of Australian immigrants instead of a son. I wonder what kind of logic is at play.
I first thought, that if someone is the son of, say, an American husband and a British wife, then they have only one son. But I have found, according to my English usage book, they may have actually more than one son, something counterintuitive to me given the underlining logic of "the"--"you know which one I mean"--that implies there should have been no son other than the son in question that the reader can only identify.
The section "the son of Australian immigrants, the oldest of three boys" in the sentence above, is even more peculiar to me because the writer makes it clear that there are three boys, but still uses the definite article "the" in front of "son of Australian immigrants."
Why and how do native speakers use "the" when it is impossible for the reader/listener to tell which person(s) or thing(s) in several similar possibilities?
In the first place, what is the difference between the two sentences below?
(1) He is the son of Australian immigrants.
(2) He is a son of Australian immigrants.
My usage book says that sentence (1) may or may not have more than one son, then is there any difference between the two sentences? Does "a" son in sentence (2) strongly suggest the possibility of more than one son?
In a similar vein, such phrases as "the wrong answer" are often used even though there are apparently numerous possible wrong answers, but "the wrong answer" seems to be more natural and standard than "a wrong answer"
Please explain these uses of the definite article "the" when the reader/listener has no means or it is impossible to specify which one(s) is/are the writer/speaker is discussing?


texts:
From the Coach Carter movie:

  I have a sister, her name's Diane. She was always on my case about
  every little thing. Matter of fact, she still is. "Turn down that
  radio. You eat the last piece of cake?..."

So what does it mean here?


texts: Sometimes I find native speakers use "have got" and other times "have". I want to know what "have got" here is? an auxiliary verb or what?


texts:
Consider this sentence

  there are many verbs in English
  that can be followed either by a gerund
  or the to-infinitive.

I am aware that the main structure of the that clause is a passive voice, "followed ... by".

I am also aware that the use of "either ... or"

I don't know which one should I use, "either by" or "by either".

I searched a bit, "either by" got 140 hits and "by either" got 110 hits.

Is there some kind of rule applicable here?


texts: Is there anything wrong with "Relation between smoking and academic achievement"?

texts:
Is it grammatically correct?
I'm not sure because smoking is verb and academic achievement is a noun.
If it's not what is the correct sentence?


texts: Immaterial vs nonmaterial which one to use?

texts:
Is there a difference in using immaterial vs nonmaterial?
Do both of them have the same meaning ?

Besides, is it:

non material
nonmaterial
or
non-material?

I have found nonmaterial in the Merriam Webster dictionary.


texts: why don't we use "-'s" for some nouns that belong to other nouns?

texts:
I was wondering why we do not use 's for some nouns that belong to other nouns?
For example:

  book cover or book's cover

and

  house's door or house door

Which one is right ?


texts: "Better either of the other ways" (meaning)

texts:
In the movie the avenger:endgame, valyrie said to hulk as the "talking hulk" -a combination of bruce and the green hulk in one- seeing him again.

Valkyrie said:

  "I think I like you better either of the other ways"

What does this phrase means?


texts: What does the phrase "as necessary" refer to in this context?

texts:
Ma and his ruling Kuomintang Party have promoted the pact, which faces a final review in parliament on April 8, as necessary to maintain Taiwan's competitiveness and status as an export powerhous.

Does it refer to the pact or the review of the pact?

Could you also simplify the following part: to maintain Taiwan's competitiveness and status as an export powerhouse.


texts: A classic example is provided by a model solved rigorously by Smith four decades ago. - Is the use of "is" in this sentence correct?

texts:
I am writing a scientific paper. Is the sentence below right in the tense?

  A classic example is provided by a model solved rigorously by Smith four decades ago.

The problem is, is the verb 'is' in contradiction with the 'four decades ago'?


texts: "Wrap up in" alternatives in this context

texts:
When I was a child my mother used to wrap me up in heavy clothes.

  When I started going school she   used to [gap] my uniform.

I know the phrasal verb put on, can I use put me on in the gap.

Please explain.

Thank you.


texts: Can we use "would" to talk about the future?

texts:
For example:

  I would join your party tomorrow, but I am busy in something else.


texts: "Our" class teacher or "my" class teacher?

texts:
I have to write this in my project acknowledgment:

  I am sincerely thankful to my class teacher ...

But, the class teacher is not mine alone, she's of all the students of the class. But then, this project is mine alone, not everyone's.

I am not able to grasp this. What should I write: "my" or "our" ? Both the above facts have equal weightage too. Please help me overcome this confusion.

I saw this question on duplicate list but it isn't related in this context.

Thanks!


texts: What is the difference between "important for" and "important in"?

texts:
The Independent: maintaining independence is important in relationships.
  The Telegraph: Protein intake is also very important in building muscle.
  BBC: Meals are also important for building business relationships.
  The Guardian: Personalised content is increasingly important for building brand relationships.
  The Guardian: She says the course is especially important for building the confidence of teenagers who lack support at home.

I think there is a difference in meaning between "important in" and "important for", but I don't know what it is.


texts:
A stripe shirt.
A stripes shirt.
A stripy shirt.
A striped shirt.

Which one sounds natural? What are the differences between them and when would you say #4 instead of 1,2, or 3?


texts: "the Book, the Qur'an, is without a doubt revealed from Allah." What is the meaning of this sentence?

texts:
The Book, the Qur'an, is without a doubt revealed from Allah.

It can be understood in two ways:

There's no doubt that Quran is from Allah.
Quran doesn't contain any doubt and is revealed from Allah.

Which is the correct meaning? And how would the author have written it if he meant the other meaning?


texts: "Flourish" or "flourishing" (or something else?)

texts:
The negotiation was not successful until 70s but the British government eventually accepted to release the areas in exchange for other areas.
  Hence, the transportation and financial developments are implemented quickly in Admiralty, making our city more flourish. ... (flourish? flourishing?)

"Flourish" can be a verb or a noun instead of an adjective. Should I turn "flourish" into "flourishing"? I am not familiar with this word and it is not easy to pronounce. Can another word be used to replace it?


texts:
In this sentence,

"Two rooms near mine were empty",

is it acceptable to place "the" in front of "two rooms"? I think that placing the "the" will result in making "two rooms" appear more specific. In that case, are both uses acceptable?


texts: Can we use dash to connect two independent clause?

texts:
The most famous among these are the still-relevant Olympic games. These games tested the strength of warriors from different provinces who gathered in front of cheering crowds to represent their hometowns.

Can I use a dash here to connect them? If the second clause explains the first clause and both of them are independent, can we use then? Please me the rule of the dash?


texts:
What is compound gerund and how would I separate them from perfect participles? Like

I heard of his having gained a promotion

He went away having forgotten it


texts: Why we use country side instead of rural side

texts:
We often compare our rural and urban life. But discussing this matter, we use the city and country life. But why use country life.

We live in a country like Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, there have many rural areas. We can use rural life.

Why we use country life?


texts:
I don't know if here is adjective or passive form

  They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or
    mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.

Involved has the role of adjective or passive form?


texts: Is there a specific name given to the leaflet which only has job vacancies on it?

texts:
When I was buying some food in a supermarket, an assistant gave me a leaflet in A5 size.

There is some information about the job vacancies in this supermarket.

Can you tell me the name of this kind of leaflet which has job advertisements on it please?

Is it called job advertisement leaflet?

Thank you.

Kitty


texts: "Wishing you a Happy Holiday season from the team at Xyz Ltd."

texts:
May I kindly ask you whether below text is literally acceptable (I would use phrase "from Xyz Ltd team").

Cheers to the New Year!
Wishing you a Happy Holiday season  from the team at Xyz Ltd.


texts: Is “serves” a verb or noun in this complex sentence? (“...and serves as a tool for communication...“)

texts:
Project scheduling provides a detailed plan that represents how and when the project will deliver the products,
  services, and results defined in the project scope and serves as a tool for communication, managing stakeholders’
  expectations, and as a basis for performance reporting.

In the above sentence, is the word serves a verb or a noun?

And how can I understand the whole sentence? Project scheduling provides a detailed plan and serves (NOUN). Is it correct?
or  Project scheduling provides a detailed plan and serves as tool...(If it is VERB).


texts: In what aspects are the Opponents disjointed? The team they followed?


texts:
It is necessary that she work on the weekend.
  She working on the weekend is necessary.

I kmow first sentence is subjunctive and second sentence has gerund.

But, Are both sentences correct? If yes, what is the difference in meaning between them?


texts:
In a series I'm watching at the moment, someone said 'Here is fifty bucks.'

I would've guessed that it is called 'Here are 50 bucks'.

Is the sentence above correct? If so, why?


texts:
This is the quote from the email I receive after New Year.

  "I would like to wish you a good 2020. I hope you had a good Christmas
  and New Year’s eve."

What is the best and formal way to reply to this?
I have difficulties replying without sounding that I copy-paste from the original messages.

This is my not-so-good-plan:

  "Thank you, I also wish you a good 2020. I hope you had a good Christmas and holidays as well."

EDIT:
This is an email from someone whose position is above me.
In the same email, there is other information as well that I need to reply.


texts:
He led the team to win the competition without support from the instructors.

Infinitive clause tells purpose most of the time ,
but can infinitival clauses sometimes tell the result?

Like the example sentence above, the infinitive doesn't seem to tell the purpose,
so does it explain the result?

Or neither options are wrong for this sentence and the infinitive clause provides a different meaning?


texts:
Which is more natural in English? "when considering all the indirect effects" or "when consider all the indirect effects"?

Those are some pretty sobering statistics – and they indicate that a true solution to hearing problem is needed now.And the problem gets worse when consider all the indirect effects that are associated with hearing loss.

Source: (Advertorial) Hearing Enhancers Revolution in The USA New Device Slashes Prices by over 90%


texts:
The main contributions of this book are as follows.

  The main contribution of this book is as follows.

In the above context, which one between contributions or contribution is correct?


texts:
What's the difference between these would an should, for example in these sentences?

  Why would I open an account to insult you?

  Why should I open an account to insult you?


texts: Help with Collocation #2: "time for caution" vs. "caution time"

texts:
This is to break my original question into three parts.

I really need your help with this. I get extremely frustrated when I don’t know how to know the right use of these cases. Please extend your help by providing me any websites or tips to fully understand and explore this.

This is a time for caution

Why can’t you form a collocation here and say “This is a caution time”?

Please help me as much as you can with sources/websites/ tips/ anything that might help me know how to know the difference and use the right form.


texts: 'the aim of something ... was to' does it mean 'the responsability of something ... was to'?

texts:
Context:

The fifth organ of the United Nations is the Trusteeship Council. It
was responsible for monitoring the decolonization process of the 11
colonies remaining in the world. Its operations formally ended after
the liberation of Palau.

According to this paragraph, is it true that:
The aim of the Trusteeship Council was to liberate colonies that were present around the world.
I feel that the above affirmation is wrong because what I understand from it, is that the Trusteeship Council was responsible for liberating the colonies at that time, which is wrong because its responsibility was only to monitor the decolonization process.


texts:
I've been taught to avoid using same words in English. But why do native people sometimes use such things below?

  It's mine and mine alone.

  Listen to me, and listen well.

Comparing to using "It's mine alone" or "Listen to me well", what kind of vibes(?) do they give?


texts:
1.He was so angry, but he couldn't say anything .
2. He was so angry, therefore he couldn't say anything. Which one I must choose?


texts: Does "the ground give way" mean there is no ground, only cliff?

texts:
It sounds like the video is saying (link with a time stamp corresponds the following)

  "We were in the first stage of the Everest ascent when the ground gave way, leaving me
  swinging on the end of this rope, clutching at these black and glassy walls."

cambridge gives this meaning about "give way"

  to break, especially when under pressure from strong forces

Does that suggest there is no ground, only cliff?


texts: When you become disheartened to continue your job due to some reasons

texts:
Please imagine two intimate friends who have been close growing up, have been working together for a long time. One of them passes away in a car accident. The other one hangs up his hat and sits at home and loses his enthusiasm to continue that work. One of his wife's close friends who is not posted about all the story asks her "If you don't mind why he is not working anymore"? The wife replies:

  The loss of his friend made him lose his will to continue working.
  With the loss of his friend he became disheartened to continue working.

Which one of the following sentences is more probable to be said by a native speaker?
For me, they both sound quite natural, but I need a native speaker's confirmation.

As far as I know the first one seems to be better, but why the second one doesn't sound natural to the native speakers' era?

[My AmE native speakers told me.]


texts: What does 'representation' mean in this context？

texts:
There are plenty of reasons to cheer for the new romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, which opened in theaters on Aug. 15. For starters, the Jon M. Chu-directed adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s blockbuster novel is the first major Hollywood feature since 1993’s The Joy Luck Club to feature an ensemble almost exclusively of Asian heritage — a significant, and overdue, step forward for representation.

I saw it from this article. The article made a hyperlink for "step forward for representation" to another article, where they put:

  Constance Wu is fully aware of the lack of representation in the entertainment industry.

I don't quite understand what 'representation' means in both contexts. They probably denote the same sense I guess.

A side question: why do they put commas for "a significant, and overdue, step forward for representation", instead of "a significant and overdue step forward for representation"?

I can get the basic meaning of representation from dictionaries. But I am not sure how it can fit in the context above.

  the act or an instance of representing or the state of being represented


texts: Why is it a present sense in the sub-clause, not the same past tense as in main-clause?

texts:
American Airlines confirmed that it would slash 19,000 jobs in October, when the requirement to retain staff ends under the conditions of the federal bail-out of the aviation industry. The government was said to be considering a new rescue package for America’s biggest airlines.

Why is it a present sense in the subordinate clause, not the same past tense as in main clause? Is it because "when" equal to "if" thus the sense do not have to in accordance with main clause?


texts: How to tell a child that he is not right or that he did something wrong

texts:
When my little son is doing (did) something and I want to praise him or tell him that he is doing (did) it right I can use the following phrases:

that(it) is right(correct)!
you are doing well!
that is the way!
way to go!
well done!
success is yours!

But the question is what phrases are opposite of these. What do you think about following phrases?

that(it) is wrong
that(it) is not right
that(it) is incorrect
that(it) is not correct
you are(were) wrong
you are doing (you did) wrong
you are not doing (you did not) well
that is not the way
you are(were) mistaken

Please let me know which of these phrases are incorrect, correct or correct but uncommon. And give me your common versions. Thanks!


texts: If a comma were to be put before "when", does it change the meaning?

texts:
"So what happened to you two?" said Harry.  "Well, I got back all
  right," said Hermione. "I brought Ron round - that took a while - and
  we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met
  him in the entrance hall - he already knew - he just said, 'Harry's
  gone after him, hasn't he?' and hurtled off to the third floor."
  (Harry Potter)

If a comma were to be put before when, does it change the meaning?


texts: Does " whether nothing can be done to solve crime problems is debatable." sounds odd to you

texts:
I'm writing an IELTS practice essay now.

In the example essay, there is a transition sentence saying "Nevertheless, whether nothing can be done to solve crime problems is debatable. " I know it is grammatically correct, but it still sounds a little bit odd to me.

What do you think? And how would you write it?


texts: What does "book-length" mean in this context?

texts:
I read every word of Judge Koh's book-length opinion, which portrays Qualcomm as a ruthless monopolist.

via: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/05/how-qualcomm-shook-down-the-cell-phone-industry-for-almost-20-years/

I'd like to know what is the meaning of book-length?

Thanks,


texts:
The sentence is：
Raw results give a cloud of points where the main tendencies can already be seen, but which is hardly interpretable.

Should I remove the "which" or the "which is", by which I assume it will be more simple.


texts: Using "e.g." to introduce another clause

texts:
I always used e.g. to introduce a non-exhaustive list, as in the following sentence.

  He was the school champion of many activities (e.g., chess, badminton, 110m hurdles, and high jump).

Can e.g. be used to introduce a clause?

  This can be used by other modules to act accordingly, e.g. field_ui uses it to add operation links to manage fields and displays.

  This is what the former CEO's did too, e.g. John Doe did it when he was CEO between 2001 and 2006.


texts: "Not exist in your industry" vs. "your industry does not exist"

texts:
What is the meaning of "industry" at first place?

Is it about "working","producing" or what?

Here is the text where I encountered the phrase:

  First-mover advantage isn’t automatically bestowed unto the first product in a category. It’s not even guaranteed to exist in your industry

Here is another text includes the phrase:

  If you accept that your industry doesn’t exist anymore and your consumer is actually in charge, you will be able to build a relevant and meaningful brand.

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I wrote this sentence:

  In conclusion, the reading claims that minimum wage is harmful to the companies, which the lecturer contradicts by providing three points –which form a compelling argument, to illustrate his viewpoint.

I don't know if it is grammatically correct to use - before which and I don't know if I should replace the , with -.


texts:
This is sentence from novel 'the Death of the heart'

  From the business, and from interest on the residue of his mother's
  capital, Thomas derived, at present, an income of about two thousand
  five hundred a year.

The novel's time period is 1930s in London.
I thought two thoudand five hundred means £2500...
But that is so little as a year income + interest...
Thomas is rich busniessman.
Is that money is big money that time or I misunderstood the amount of money?


texts:
When we use "later", we have to establish a time point.
Do we need to establish a time point when we use "after"?

Examples I came up with:

(1) My mom will go to the mall, and after 3 hours, she will visit my grandmother's home.

Does this mean

(2) My mom will go to the mall, and 3 hours later, she will visit my grandmother's home.

Examples I came up with:

(3) Dad is going to watch the movie, and he will come back after two hours.

Does this mean

(4) Dad is going to watch the movie, and two hours later, he will come back.

Do (1) and (2) have the same meaning?
Do (3) and (4) have the same meaning?
Do we need to establish a time point this way so that I can use "after" to tell the listener how long later another action happens?


texts:
If someone just told me about some celebrity I didn't know about all my life. would it be natural to express this in past perfect tense.
For instance:
Someone tells me about me about Mohammed Ali and that's my first time of ever hearing about him.
 When he's finished, would it be right to say 'I hadn't heard about him all my life.'
in a nutshell, could past perfect tense also express the past of the just past event/just finished event?

could anyone explain this to me elaborately?


texts: "I'll go wherever you **will** go" & "**Wherever** you go, I'll be with you"

texts:
Sentence 1: I'll go wherever you will go.

Sentence 2: Wherever you go, I'll be with you.

Do the above sentences sound natural?

Thank you very much


texts: Possessive 's with inanimate nouns (e.g. programming languages)

texts:
It has bothered me for a while. I am a software developer and I keep noticing things like

  the features of the Java 8's release

  during C++'s development period

  This method is one of the Java 8's Stream API's terminal methods.

  How the Use of Scala's Features Affects Compile Time?

I am totally confused because all the examples seem grammatically wrong to me. Even though they originate from well educated and trusted sources, I never thought of describing the possession in that way.  I was taught we never use 's to indicate the possession of an inanimate object (or any other thing that can't, by nature, own/possess something).

  Java 8's release

  a Java 8's release

  the Java 8's release

  the Java 8 release (the one I fully agree with)

  the release of Java 8 (also looks fine to me)


texts: Interpretation of 'I will help you with a boat'

texts:
I want to know how to interpret a sentence "I will help you with a boat".
I know that there is an expression 'help sb with N' where N refers to something that sb needs help on/with.

However, because there is an 'a' before the word 'boat' it feels weird to understand it that way.

What is the correct way to understand the sentence? Thanks in advance.


texts:
How would you explain why there is no definite article before the noun "language"?
Examples to compare the pattern with:

Do you know what the capital of Peru is?

Do you know what the longest river in Asia is?

Do you know what language is spoken in Mexico?


texts: Is it possible to forget your mother tongue?

texts: Is it possible to think in English without translating? Someone who learned English, Is it possible to think in English this person? to be like mother tongue or like a baby born in America.


texts:
If sunshine is the best disinfectant, the opposite is also true: Dark,
  hidden corners are great places to grow something truly horrible. Few
  problems improve with age, and public health crises are no exception.
  Transparency is “job one” for leaders in a crisis. Be clear what you
  know, what you don’t know, and what you’re doing to learn more. You
  can’t manage a secret, as the old saying goes.

What does this sentence mean?


texts: "Proceed to interview" vs "Proceed to an interview"

texts:
Which of the two is correct or are both of them correct?

I would like to "proceed to interview" vs.
I would like to "proceed to an interview"

Is there a difference between them?


texts: What does "worth a google" really means?

texts:
Joker reveals all his team before the pilot whose plane hijacked by him.

  Joker: Orca, Killer Motharch Harriet, Zodiac Master,Gentleman
  Ghost,Clock King, Calendar Man, Kite-Man, Catman, Zebra-Man, and the
  Condiment King

  Pilot: Okay, are you making some of those up?

  Joker: Nope, they're all real. Probably worth a Google.


texts: "our important customer" vs. "important customer of ours"

texts:
Any difference between:

  "He is an important customer of ours"

and:

  "He is our important customer"


texts: Which form is suitable: "fall" "falling" or "a fall"?

texts:
I hear a book fall.
I hear a book falling.
I hear a fall of a book.

Which version is most natural?


texts: Is it correct to use "to where" as an equivalent for "in order to" or "so that"?

texts:
a podcast recording goes as follows:

  I came across this really funny website the other day. it is designed, um, to where people can anonymously send an e-mail to an annoying co-worker...

Is to where an informal phrase meaning in order [for someone] to or so that?


texts:
In heist-comedy movie Logan Lucky (2017), nurse said to Joe Bang, who was admitted to infirmary from
prison because of nausea:

Nurse: A lot of you guys coming in here like that. It's that business
with the water. Say you can't  drink it but it's okay to shower in it.
I don't know about all that. Hmm. More barf than we saw after that
one Thanksgiving when everything had gone bad. It'll put  a girl off
of turkey forever.

What does "It" in "It'll put" refer to? Does it refer to water used for Turkey or is it refer to the Thanksgiving that caused all the barf?


texts:
A situation in the courtroom. The prosecutor is delivering his final speech. Which sentence is correct?

1. I am demanding the death penalty for the defendant.

2. I demand the death penalty for the defendant.

Is it possible to use the continuous form of the verb?


texts: What 'appears' to be or what 'appear' to be?

texts:
Which of these is correct?

  A student has posted what appears to be the images of X and Y

  A student has posted what appear to be the images of X and Y

I would appreciate if you can also explain which one is correct and why


texts: The usage of do not (don't) and does not (doesn't)

texts:
This sentence is bugging me:

Just because you have an opinion, it doesn't mean you are right.

Why is doesn't used instead of don't? Shouldn't it be:

Just because you have an opinion, it don't mean you are right?


texts:
They plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.
  "I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and stalactite?"
  "Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid.

I was wondering what the meaning of the sentence "I never know something" is? Does it mean "I have never been able to know something", or does it mean "I will never know something"? Why has the present simple tense been used in the sentence?


texts:
Let's say that someone is awarded a monetary grant to study in an University X for 3 years.

Is it correct to say, for instance in a CV, "Winner of a grant for a period of study of 3 years at University X"? That "winner" word doesn't sound completely right to me.


texts: have on someone or something - is this an expression?

texts:
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/latvia-coalition-holds-power-pro-putin-force-tops-073931046.html

  Concern is also running high over the impact that tit-for-tat sanctions between Moscow and Brussels over the Ukraine crisis could have on this tiny Baltic state, which is heavily reliant on trade with Russia.

Is that an expression? I tried to find the meaning of that phrase by doing a Google search but I really came up with nothing.


texts: What preposition is better: "Christmas celebrations at (in) the International Space Station"?

texts:
I was browsing a set of photos from the ISS, with the crew celebrating Christmas, and decided to post a link on my Facebook page.

Which preposition is it better to use in this caption to the picture:

  Christmas celebrations at (in) the International Space Station?

Or maybe it's on the ISS?

(from Gordonua.com)


texts: Is it correct to say I am thinking of going to the beach or should I say I am thinking on going to the beach?


texts: Different verb foms in "not only … but also"

texts:
As far as I know, words following both parts of this conjunction (not only and but also) should belong to the same parts of speech. For example, if a verb follows "not only" , then a verb should also follow "but also" .

  1- The car not only is economical but also feels good to
  drive.

After I have seen this sentence, I am wondering that do I have to use same verb form in both parts of this conjuction. For example: If I use a verb in past simple form after "not only", does that mean do I have to use another verb in past simple after "but also" ?

  2- She not only sued him, but also wants money from him.

  3- He not only has won the last Eisner, but he is also working for
  another.

Are these examples grammatically wrong?


texts: Why has "strangely" been used instead of "strange" in the sentence "Harry felt strangely"?

texts:
Isn't "feel" a linking verb here? If so, shouldn't "strange" be used in lieu of "strangely"?

  A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.


texts:
Is this call a conveyor or an escalator in a supermarket?
If it is called an escalator, then there are 2 opposite escalators: one moves down and the other moves up.
Which of these are correct expressions?
-go up/ down the escalator
-ride up/ down the escalator
-ride the up / down escalator
-ride up/ down by escalator
-go up/ down by escalator
-take up/ down the escalator
-take the escalator up/ down


texts:
Explain me please whan did the speaker mean saying:
Please explain to me what the speaker meant by saying:

  I have been for drinks and chatted with my friends

Is it correct? In the beginning of the sentence he uses Present Perfect Continuous and in the end Past Simple? Could you please explain the grammar?


texts: You are going the wrong way / on the wrong way

texts:
You are going the wrong way.
You are going on the wrong way.

As a learner I commonly use the second one to remind someone who has taken the wrong road to get to his destination.

But today I came across the first one, which has been used to express the same meaning.

Is "the wrong way" an adverb here?

Which is more correct to use? Explain.

Thank you.


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

  However, there may be times when you need to share your data with people who are using truly ancient copies of Access. Versions before Access 2007 use a different database format, called .mdb (which stands for "Microsoft database"). And, as you can see in Figure 1-14, the .mdb format actually comes in two versions: a really, really old version that supports Access 2000, and an improved that Microsoft introduced with Access 2002 and reused for Access 2003.

As you can see, it really should be an improved version or at very least an improved one. So, why do you think the author has left them out? You think that's because he wanted to make that part sound a little bit terser for the purpose of a nicer grammar flow? Would you do the same if you had to write that sentence?


texts: Is "more ... prices" an appositive phrase?

texts:
Profit margin decreased due to a change in product mix, more products of higher cost of sales but with relatively lower selling prices.

Is the above sentence grammatical? Is the phrase in bold ("more ... prices") an appositive phrase?


texts:
I've been studying English for 1 year and I'm good at it. Anyway, I would like to know how to greet in some ways.
I greet in 2 ways usually:

Hi, What's up?/How are you?/What's about you? Not bad, You/I'm not good/I 'm very good. (Informal)
Hello, How are you? I'm good, thanks, and you? (Formal)

Are there different ways to greet formally? I would like someone list me some ways most common to greet formally (Example: When you're speaking to your boss or teacher), thanks!


texts: Is it strange to say I couldn't get out of my bed?

texts:
I remembered that when I was sick, I was lying in the bed all day.
All the things I saw were spinning around me, so

  I could not get out of my bed

Is it strange to say this?


texts: Difference between 'café' and 'cafeteria'

texts:
Is there any differences between 'café' and 'cafeteria'?

When can we use "café"?

What is the difference between these two words?

Are they the same or not?


texts: Analyzing "This was the long way, which we had to go"

texts:
This was the long way, which we had to go.

I think this sentence is grammatically correct and which is referring to the long way and there is no need to use that to restrict the long way because as in the sentence, this already clearly specify which one is indicated by the speaker, so I guess which can work as a non-restrictive pronoun and which is modifying go adverbly as well as referring to the long way.

Is my thinking correct?


texts:
My father and I we're discussing about the third conditional. The sentence is:

  "If I didn't studied before, I wouldn't know anything of this".

The construction of the 3rd conditional is:

  if + past simple + would/wouldn't + *infinitive

My father says the correct sentence is:

  "If I hadn't studied before, I wouldn't know anything of this".

And I say the correct sentence is:

  "If I didn't studied before, I wouldn't know anything of this".

What's the correct sentence?


texts: Why can you "put on clothes" but can't "take them on" and "take them off" but can't "put them off"?

texts:
I thought since you can "put on clothes" you can "put them off" too but apparently no one says that so it must be wrong whereas you can "take them off" but not "take them on".

Ngram

Is there an explanation for that or is it something you just have to accept the way it is?


texts: What does "out of" mean in this context?

texts:
Does it mean "MicroTech was outside Auburn City" or "besides his time for studying at Auburn college, he ran MicroTech?"

  "For eight years Zalik ran MicroTech Information Systems out of Auburn, Alabama. Like many tech success stories, Zalik was so successful so soon, he eventually dropped out of Auburn. In 1996 he sold the company, moved to Atlanta and founded two more companies — Phoenix and Outweb — using the MicroTech sale proceeds, which numbered "in the millions," Zalik told Bloomberg last year. (He actually first invested the proceeds in commercial real estate, a well-timed bet, before founding the additional companies.)"

Source: CNBC


texts: Difference between 'regarding' and 'according to'

texts:
While I was answering some grammar tests, I came across this :

  (Blank) the patient's condition, the doctor decided to operate .

Our teacher says 'regarding' is the correct choice but I can find no reason as to why 'according to' might be incorrect.
Please explain the difference between 'regarding' and 'according to' ? Is it always possible to use these two interchangeably ?


texts: What should be used here. Besides or despite?

texts:
When I corrected my friend's grammar in a comment he said

  Thanks for correcting me. I guess I need some grammar lesson despite studying for CPA.

I think he was supposed to say
besides, not despite.

Grammar has nothing to do with CPA


texts: Help me understand this phrase from a novel.

texts:
The stranger came early in February, one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow, the last snowfall of the year, over the down, walking from Bramblehurst railway station, and...

According to OALD, down (n) means very fine soft feathers of a bird or fine soft hair; which I don't think is true in this context.

The excerpt is from the beginning of the novel, "The Invisible Man" by "H.G. Wells".

I'm learning English as a second language, and this book is a part of my school syllabus and has countless other similar phrases. Any suggestions would be helpful.


texts: "May (might,can) could have" and "Must should have/should must have" impossible?

texts:
My colleague and I were discussing Auxiliary Verbs and Modal Verbs when we came to a point where we started experimenting and we came to "May (might,can) could have" and "Must should have" whereupon we started arguing whether they are possible or not in English. While I'm saying they are, he states they are not. I would really like a native speaker's answer on this!

He's somewhat pointing to that two auxiliary verbs and modal verbs can't stand together. I doubt though that "can could (might, may) have" and "should must have" are possible so far.

For instance:

If it weren't for the rain, the fire may (might) could have spread further.
I could might (may) have (or might (may) could have) seen this movie, still I can't say for sure.
She couldn't look straight into his eyes after all those lies. She must should have told him the truth. - I think even "must need have told him" or "should need to have told him" are possible.

So can we or can we not place two modal verbs or (and) auxiliary verbs together?


texts:
Here is a paragraph I wrote a couple days ago:

  So if you are a person who can learn by himself/herself (which is a must-have trait if you are going to be a good programmer) then other tools that you have the control of the learning pace are way more useful than college.

I wonder if the usage of "which" here is correct or not? When a friend read it, he said that "which" must be "who" because I am talking about a person. But for me, the "which" relates to the "ability of being able to learn by yourself"

Maybe I'm thinking in my own language and this is creating a syntactic mistake?


texts: what's the difference between did and was doing?

texts:
Here are examples of the sentences.  What is the difference between them?
They seem to be almost the same to me so I don’t exactly understand the difference.

  We worked from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm yesterday.
  We were working from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm yesterday.

  When we came home, she talked with her friends.
  When we came home, she was talking with her friends.

  I slept when the cat came in through the window.
  I was sleeping when the cat came in through the window.


texts: What is the difference bettween "Now I will stop check somethings" and "I will stop check somethings now"?

texts:
What is the difference between the following two questions?

  "Now I will stop check {somethings}."
  "I will stop check {somethings} now."

I don't know the correct position of the word "now".


texts: An idiom or phrase that means "make the enemy remember this defeat"

texts:
Can someone translate this phrase from Urdu to English

  "Hum Dushman ko maza chaka dain gy"

  ہم دشمن کو مزہ چکھا  دیں گے

The literal English of this phrase is "We Will let the enemy enjoy the taste of his defeat", but there should be a proverb of it in English which I am unable to find.

It is used in battle field by the leaders to encourage their soldiers for war and make them passionate to win.

It can also be used in daily life to let someone know that we can defeat our enemy for sure in a way that the enemy will remember his defeat forever and he will not be able to fight or even think of fighting against us.

Thanks


texts: Could I spell 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 as one billion billion?

texts: I'm trying to understand numerals spelling. So, could I spell 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 as "one billion billion"?


texts: Word for loading/unloading shipments for cargo delivery

texts:
Let's say I have a cargo company like FedEx. I have warehouses in some city, which I use to load shipments.

What is the term for those places in English? Can I use loading location? And what would be the term for the "unloading" location?


texts: Synonyms to 'so' in this structure: so + adjective + that

texts:
Example: The turnips had been so {adjective} that they were coveted.

I tried http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/so?s=t but these don't denote defn. 1 of so as a submodifier, to mean 'to such a great extent'.  I want to preserve this sentence structure and avoid rewrites like:

The turnips had been {adjective}   to a degree/an extent/a manner  that they were coveted.


texts: The event name is "Excellence Awards Winners Celebration" are we using the correct wording? We have multiple winners of awards in different categories.


texts: Does anyone know which of the following sentences is more used by native English speakers?

texts:
Which of the following sentences is more used by English native speakers verbally and in writing?

Do you know where Susan works?
Do you know, Where does Susan work?


texts: What does the sentence "When you swipe your card at the checkout line, you'll be asked if you want to pay by debit or credit." mean?

texts:
I found this as an example sentence using the word "debit"; and I understand its grammar and everything, but I have no idea what "paying by credit" or "paying by debit" mean.

Another sentence example for the word "debit" was "I had lost the original invoice but I still had the debit receipt."; and once again, I have no idea what is meant by "debit receipt".


texts:
Does "Are the libs still coping?" mean "Are the liberals still dealing with their problems?"
I've checked up the word "coping" - cope means "struggle" or "deal", hence the guess above.

...just my luck to get into an accident right after the 2016 election. Of course the first thing I'm going to do is check in with my MAGA bros! So how's it been?! Are the libs still coping? Oh man, what a bunch of pussies. Your candidate lost! Get over it! (source)


texts: What is this goodbye hand gesture called?

texts: I’ve seen this gesture in movies and my friends use it sometimes. You use it when you say goodbye to someone and you kinda tap on the side of your forehead with two fingers. I’ve attached an image with Brad Pitt doing this in once upon a time in Hollywood. Does anyone know what this gesture is called? Where it comes from, and what it means? Thanks!


texts:
I thought by myself I (wish\wished) never had I started that match.

1- In the above sentence, which tense is correct for "wish"?
2- Instead of "I thought by myself", what another sentence can I use?
3- It was said that the whole sentence is grammatically incorrect, could someone tell what is its problem?


texts:
The context is when you take a taxi and want to ask the driver to go to city center, Which one is correct :

  1) Get me down to city center.

  2) Take me down to city center.


texts: Sentence correction- Which one is correct and Why?

texts:
What should be the answer to the below question? And please explain the reason for the answer as well.

According to me, in place of 'that', 'who' should be there, making the answer option B.

  Q. She is the same girl that complained about the food in the mess.

  a. She is the same girl
  b. that complained about
  c. the food in the mess
  d. no error


texts: Should I say a question is "very long" or "large" or "big" or "huge"?

texts:
Someone asked a question with lots of content, and I said wow a very long question after hearing his question. Was that OK? Later I was wondering which one I should use:

wow a very long question
wow a large question
wow a big question
wow a huge question

Which one is correct?


texts:
I discovered recently that in England (where I live for the last 12 years) the more standard way to pronouns "poor" is pɔː rather than pʊə. It was a real shock to me since I was certain that one should say pʊə. So I would like to know how common is pɔː/pʊə pronunciation in UK, are there regional differences? Also, are there English speaking countries where one is supposed to say pʊə?

Oxford dictionary says that both are Ok  and puts pɔː the first https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/poor


texts: Paraphrasing and integrating information

texts:
I know that when we paraphrase, we typically paraphrase the whole sentence. After that, we integrate the paraphrased information into our paragraph as a separate sentence.

My question is: Can we make the integrated information part of the sentence in the paragraph?

  Although some people think that learning English takes 6 months, some experts proved that one needs seven-eight years to be become fluent (in-text citation).

I want to know:

1) is it possible to integrate information into a part of a sentence?

2) how can I signify the reader that the bold part of the sentence is integrated, and the first part is mine?


texts: How can I tell what the past participle of a word is?

texts:
How can I tell what the past participle of something is- especially if the past participle is usually different?
Ex: Drink = have drunk, choose = had chosen, and bring = have brought. If these are all past participles, how can I know how to figure out the past participles of other words?


texts:
According to GrammarBook.com, "the placement of question marks with quotation marks follows logic. If a question is within the quoted material, a question mark should be placed inside the quotation marks."

She asked, "Will you still be my friend?" is correct. However, do we need a period after closing the quotation?

"Will you still be my friend?". No, I will not.

or

"Will you still be my friend?" No, I will not.

Do you agree with the saying, "All's fair in love and war"? I know we don't need a period for this sentence because the question mark needs to be on the outside, but I'm not sure about the previous example.


texts: What is the correct preposition between these? "I am all ears TO? what you want to say

texts: I hope it is not a phrase that can only be used without preposition because I can not see any sense in such a case. why we cannot? to sounds to me correct does it?


texts: Are there different idioms for these two different kinds of scratches?

texts:
I don't even know if "scratch" applies to both cases:

I slice a (slightly) harder object on a (slightly) softer surface. It leaves an inwards scratch. The harder object is not damaged at all, but some material from the softer one is lost or merely displaced. Ex: a putty knife on putty, or a metal object on a potato, etc.
I slice a softer object on a harder surface. It leaves a mark on the harder object, and the softer one "grinds" thus getting slightly damaged. Ex: Chalk on a chalkboard, a metal knife on a porcelain dish.

So, what should word these phrases?

The putty knife made a __________ on the clay block.
The knife made a __________ on the porcelain dish.


texts:
A1. I was both unhappy with your work and your time keeping.
A2. I was unhappy with both your work and your time keeping.
B1. We were both unhappy with your work and your time keeping.
B2. We were unhappy with both your work and your time keeping.

I have some doubts on the use of both in both sentences under the letter A and under the letter B.
Can anybody explain what are the differences and what is the "correct" way to use both in these cases?


texts: meaning of "betraying no evidence of nerves"

texts:
The man’s eyes stayed hidden under the shadow of the hood, but his jaw
was set and his hands, particularly the one holding the knife, were
rock-steady, betraying no evidence of nerves.

What does this betraying no evidence of nerves means? does it mean that he's nervous but his firm grip of the knife showing it?


texts: Wondering what the last sentence of this piece of news mean

texts:
Turkey’s energy minister says there is less and less hope of finding new survivors in one of the country’s worst mining accidents.
  Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cancelled other commitments to travel to the site of the disaster.
  The blast is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault which then triggered a power cut making the lifts unusable and leaving miners stranded some two kilometres underground.
  There are calls on social media for protests in front of the Istanbul headquarters of the company operating the mine.
  Rescue workers immediately pumped oxygen down the mine to keep those trapped by the blaze alive .. however the operation to reach survivers was briefly stopped after a second fire in the ventilation system.
  Nearly 800 workers had been in the mine in Soma, which lies around 120 kilometres north east of the coastal city of Izmir.
  Anxious relatives rushed to the pit head, with all those who could trying to help.

I have to say, the last sentence is fifficult to understand. I wonder what the wordsv"those" & "could" & " who" refer to!
With all those ? With all those who could ?


texts:
Which tense should be used after "once"?
E.g.:

  Once it is completed,I will submit the documents.
  Once it completes, I will submit the form.
  Once it has been completed, I will submit the documents.

Which sentence is correct? What are all the ways we can use this?


texts: How could I have the thought or say this vulgar synonym for "crap" in a more sophisticated or mature way?

texts: I regularly have thoughts with the word "shit", examples he/she has shit character, not that shit or I'm sick of this shit, etc. How could I have the thought or say  "shit" in a more sophisticated or mature way?


texts:
I lower myself to show humbleness.

I lower myself, in order to show my humbleness.
To lower oneself is a way of showing humbleness, and I lower myself.

  I don't lower myself to show humbleness.

I don't lower myself, in order to show my humbleness. (????)
To lower oneself is a way of showing humbleness, and I don't lower myself.

  I don't lower myself not to show humbleness.

I don't lower myself, in order not to show my humbleness.
To lower oneself is a way of showing humbleness, and I don't lower myself.

The first sentence is no problem, but when I make the negative version of that, I am confused. I find this ambiguity when the sentence structure is (not VERB to VERB). Is the second sentence considered correct?


texts:
What is correct?

  painting by Leonardo

or

  Painting of Leonardo

Can the two propositions in this particular context be used interchangeably?

Added Context:

In a book I have found: the four portraits of Leonardo were painted on wooden panel, where the name of the book is Paintings of Leonardo da Vinci.

What if the name of the book would have been Paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci. Then should it be

The four portraits by Leonardo were painted on wooden panel

?


texts: "All without" vs. "All except" vs. "All but"

texts:
I have a PC application which can receive different types of messages. Those messages can be filtered. One filter is named

  All without online messages

which is not an appropriate choice IMHO, but I don't exactly know why. Probably because I wouldn't use the words like that in German

  Alles ohne Online Meldungen

Better choices could be

  All but online messages

  All except online messages

After checking dict.leo.org, all but means something like almost or nearly, so I would even exclude that version and stick with except.

Is it correct that

all without is wrong or at least rare, maybe used by children only
but can have same meaning as except but not if used together with all
except is the best choice here


texts:
What does "Implies each other" or "Implying each other" mean?

The context is from:

  "My body and I are not, therefore, mutually exclusive; rather, each implies the other."


texts: Is there a difference between tomatoes got red and brown and tomatoes got red and got brown?

texts: Is there a difference between tomatoes got red and brown and tomatoes got red and got brown, and if so, what is the difference?


texts: When to use "is" and when to use "was" in this sentence?

texts:
I don't know if it is legit to ask this. English is my second language and I always have this tenses questions on how to use present or past tense in the same sentence.

  All properties were sold on 25th May, 2011, the selling price is $500,000.00.

For the first part of the sentence, because all properties were sold on 25th, we should use "were". But in the second part, should we use the selling price "was" or "is"? Is it grammatically correct to use "is" because the sold properties are still $500,000 today or should we use "was" because the price was in the past?


texts: Help to understand sentence from this Yahoo news article

texts:
First, some context: Before the closing credits roll, Rachel and Nick have
  just overcome the numerous hurdles placed in their way by his snooty
  Singapore-based friends and family en route to him popping the
  question and her saying a thousand times yes. Rather than fly back to
  New York right away, they celebrate their engagement with one last
  shindig.

  It may be a happily-ever-after ending for them, but not
  everyone in their orbit is so well-off… at least emotionally, anyway.
  Take Nick’s cousin, Astrid (Gemma Chan), an ultraglam fashion expert
  whose seemingly perfect marriage to Michael (Pierre Png) falls apart
  during the course of the movie — the result of his deep-seated
  insecurity at having married into such a prominent family.

I have a few questions about the second paragraph.

What does happily-ever-after mean?
What does in their orbit mean?
What's the meaning of ultraglam? I can't find this word in dictionaries.
The last sentence starting from "Take Nick's cousin,... ..., a prominent family." doesn't look like a complete sentence to me. Maybe it just takes Nick's cousin as an example?

The full source.


texts: Does "your typical day" include the evening too?

texts:
In answer to the question, "What's your typical day like?", can I include the evening or perhaps night activities, too?

I had an interview the other day and the interviewer asked me this question and I just answered, "I go to work at 9 and come home at 2." Then it came to me when someone asks you this question, are they interested in your daytime activities (mainly your job) and they're wondering what you do for a living or is it a casual question and you can include anything you mainly do in 24 hours.


texts: It is on Tuesday at 10:30AM. vs It is at 10:30AM on Tuesday

texts:
A question about time order. Which one is more natural?

  1) It is Tuesday at 10:30AM.
  2) It is at 10:30AM on Tuesday.

I thought #2 is the correct one, but I received an e-mail like #1 from a native, saying I will meet you on Tuesday, August 15th at 10:30 AM.


texts:
Is there any difference between A and B?

A: How the GRH movement led to acceptance of Ivermectin as a COVID-19 therapy in Peru?

B: How the GRH movement led to THE acceptance of Ivermectin as a COVID-19 therapy in Peru?


texts:
I have the following sentences:

  Line segments shorter than to a certain threshold are removed by assuming that have been formed by noisy data.
  This significantly improved the result.

I want, if possible, to combine these two sentences. Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

  Line segments shorter than to a certain threshold are removed by
  assuming that have been formed by noisy data, which significantly
  improved the result.


texts:
I am creating a report for my internship and have to write an introduction for my internship report.
What would be the appropriate word in the following sentence

"An internship was conducted", "An internship was done" or "An internship was performed"

which one should I use if I am referring to myself in the report ?


texts:
"Mastering Regular Expressions is the definitive guide to the subject, and an outstanding
  resource that belongs on every programmer's bookshelf. Ten out of Ten Horseshoes."—Jason Menard, Java Ranch

What does that mean?


texts: What does ' you have heart' mean or imply in this sentence?

texts:
I am very confused by this sentence in the novel/movie of The Avengers I:

"You have heart."

My question is :

1) Why not "a heart" but "heart"?

2) If one has heart, which normally means kind/nice emotions/feelings, then how could one with heart turn to be bad guy? (shouldn't it be someone with a bad heart is more prone to turn bad?)

3) I feel like 'heart' here means something negative, but I could not find a match in the dictionary, as in the dictionary it means: the organ in your chest; deep feelings and beliefs; love; the most central and important part; bravery or determination or hope;(from the Collins). I am not sure which one fits the context?

4)Any other explanations?

The context is:

The stranger, Loki，jabbed his magic powerful spear at agent Hawkeye, said the above sentence, and then, he got Hawkeye under his control. Fury is the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., a secret intelligence aim to protect the world.

Here is the sentence:

  Also, the stranger held a kind of spear in his right hand. Set into
  its head, a gem glowed the same icy blue as the energy that had
  spilled from the Tesseract.

  “Sir,” Fury called as armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents closed nearer, “please
  put down the spear.”

  The man looked at the spear as if he had only just noticed he had it.
  Then, slowly, he looked back up at Fury, and a vicious smile spread
  across his face.

  He jabbed the spear in Fury’s direction, and a blast of energy from it
  knocked Fury and Hawkeye back through a bank of monitors and
  instruments. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents opened fire, but the bullets
  didn’t seem to hurt the man. He leaped, spear held high, and cut a
  path through the agents. In a very short time, the only people left
  standing in the lab were him and Hawkeye, who had just scrambled back
  to his feet. Before Hawkeye could unholster and aim his gun, this
  strange enemy was somehow already across the room. He caught Hawkeye’s
  arm and said softly, “You have heart.”

  The tip of his spear touched Hawkeye’s chest, not hard enough to hurt
  him. The gem glowed, and a strange expression came over Hawkeye’s face
  for a moment. He and the stranger looked each other in the eye, and
  Fury was amazed to see Hawkeye put his gun away.

  Now Nick Fury really knew he was up against something . . . unusual.
  The only thing he could do was get the Tesseract and try to keep it
  safe while S.H.I.E.L.D. finished the evacuation and called in some
  special reinforcements. Tony had to hear about this.

  Fury had the Tesseract in a steel carrying case and was taking a step
  toward the door when the stranger turned to him and said, “Please
  don’t. I still need that.”

  “This doesn’t have to get any messier,” Fury said. He glanced quickly
  around, trying to figure the quickest way out.

  The Avengers I

Could someone help please?


texts: What determines what can be pied-piped and what not in wh-movement?

texts:
A wh-expression without wh-movement, where the wh-word is the object of the preposition “about”:

You are talking about what?

A sentence that has undergone wh-movement:

What are you talking about?

⸺with a pied-piped “about”:

About what are you talking?

A question — This doesn’t seem acceptable; why can’t the “talking” get pied-piped as well? Or, can it?

Talking about what are you?

Similarly (I find),

A wh-expression without wh-movement, where the wh-word is the object of the preposition “of”:

Chills and headache are symptoms of what?

That above, with wh-movement applied:

What are chills and headache symptoms of?

⸺with a pied-piped “of”. A question — Is this structure acceptable? Why, or why not?

Of what are chills and headache symptoms?

The entire wh-clause has gotten pied-piped:

Symptoms of what are chills and headache?

Why can’t “-ing about” get pied-piped in wh-movement when “(noun) of” can be? What exactly determines what can be pied-piped and what cannot in wh-movement?


texts:
She is very popular among/with/between her friends and relatives.

Between is used when we refer to any two persons.
Among is used when we need to mention more than two people.

So, if I say,

  She is popular between the two sisters.
  She is popular among her friends.

I believe there should be no grammatical error in the above two sentences. If yes, please correct me.

Secondly in my main sentence my answer book says it is: with her friends and relatives.  How do we use with in this sentence.

Suggestions please. Thank you.


texts: Meaning of "Land of five figure" and "the wheels are turning upstairs"

texts:
From the book Rainmaker:

  Simple Rudy. This is Tennessee. Land of five figure.

I don't get the meaning of five figure.

And I couldn't find the meaning of the bolded phrase:

  In spite of the hangover, the wheels are turning upstairs.


texts:
I dont think I have ever heard this contruction ( can + be + participle of get), so I assume it's either wrong or sounds bad. In my opinion, similar verbs seem to work fine such as obtain or acquire.

For example:

  This item can be obtained from this market.

but not:

  This item can be got/gotten from this market.


texts:
In a written paper, my teacher pointed out a mistake I made, which was using

  ... problems which flourish ..

Apparently problems can't flourish , I forgot to ask why but I'm assuming because flourish has a positive connotation.

So my question is: What is the pejorative counterpart to the word flourish (which would be appropriate for my example of course)?


texts:
If I had had more time, I would have solved the puzzle. [Past unreal/Past+Past]
(I did not have more time so I did not solve the puzzle.)
If I had more time, I would have solved the puzzle. [Mixed conditionals/Present+Past]
(I do not have more time so I did not solve the puzzle.)

I want to know when & which context these sentences are used in conversation. Do the both sentences have same meaning? Can we use them interchangeably?


texts: "the retailer would get twelve or more" is this the final price?

texts:
I’d like to ask about the sentence from Six Napoleons by Conan Doyle.

Their wholesale price was six shillings, but the retailer would get
twelve or more.

Does this mean the retailer sells this product (sculpture) for 18 shillings?  6 plus 12, which is retailer’s gain.
Or the retailer sells the sculpture 12 for each?
If it was “put” as in “but the retailer would put twelve or more”, I would take it the final price being 12 or more, but “get” is used here. “get” means “take, gain, grasp..” right?  So I thought this “twelve or more” to be the retailer’s profit and end customers have to buy this at 18 shillings, I don’t know. Could someone tell me?  Thanks.


texts: "be seen playing" or " be seen to play"?

texts:
Should I say:

Jack loves sport. He is often seen playing basketball on the school playground.

Or?

Jack loves sport. He is often seen to play basketball on the school playground.

Which one is correct?
I think both are grammatically correct, but there may be some nuances between the two that I don't comprehend.


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

texts:
What is the meaning of "out back" in the sentence, "Somebody quieted the dogs out back" ?

Does it mean "Somebody made the dogs quiet. and somebody took the dogs out again" ?


texts:
Imagine a police officer spots the boy who is mentioned in the following sentence and reports or calls another related police officer.When the first police officer said this sentence,

  The boy driving the BMW is underage, unlicensed and over the limit.

Because he/she used reduced relative clause and because it is not clear whether or not the boy   was  driving the car and stopped or still driving the car,isn't there an ambiguity in the meaning ?

I mean  I can understand in two way the original sentence.

  The boy who is driving the BMW is underage, unlicensed and over the
  limit. (he couldn't be stopped)

  The boy who was driving the BMW is underage, unlicensed and over the
  limit.( he was stopped)

To avoid from ambiguity , can we say  native speakers do not use reduced relative forms in this case?


texts: Referring to just one person in an audience

texts:
NOTE: I am not asking whether "audience" is a singular or plural word.

I am writing critical analyses of essays written by influential people. So, a sentence in my analysis could be: (in an essay protesting against governmental policies)

  The reader at this point feels guilty for supporting his government.

Now, what if I am critically analysing a speech? Surely, a speech has an audience and not just one reader. But, I still wish to refer to just one person, the same way as I did in the above sentence. One possible approach in my mind is:

  Every person in the audience at this point feels guilty for supporting his government.

But, it's a bit verbose imo. I hope there might be more elgant or entirely different expressions.


texts: How to fix this sentence without adding more words?

texts:
"In recognition for being a great host, sharing experience in X."

I think it's supposed to be "In recognition for being a great host and sharing their experience in X."

But if I'm not allowed to add more words, would the original sentence still kinda make sense?


texts:
What does the sentence for the native English speaker mean?

The dog has stood there for a year.

Does it mean that it is still standing there? Or it means that it has been there for a year and now it is gone, dead or else?


texts:
Could it be that this sentence using "type":

  1a. A cat belongs to a type of animal.

is less common than similar sentences using "class" or "category" like the following?

  1b. A cat belongs to a class of animal.
  1c. A cat belongs to a category of animal.


texts:
Do we use the word 'heavenly' for a person who is in paradise? Or should it be 'paradise-dweller'?
Like, can we say: He is a heavenly man. We mean: This person is destined for being in paradise.
Look, when one dies we hope he is in paradise. We fear he is in hell. We guess. We're not sure. So in this case which is the suitable choice:

Paradise-dweller

Heaven-dweller

heavenly man

This [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79421.The_Heavenly_Man] seems to say that 'heavenly man' is supernatural person, is this so?
Does the phrase "heavenly man" refers to a 'supernatural person' or 'a person living in paradise'?


texts: A crow is never whiter for washing itself often

texts:
There is a proverb in my language which says: "Finally, a wolf's cub, would be grow up as a wolf, although it is rised along with a human being." For more clarification, please consider the following story:

  It was a winter morning. Cold wind was blowing heavily. A farmer was going to his field. He found a snake half dead with cold, laying by the side of the road. He took pity on the of the road. He took pity on the wretched snake. He put it in his basket and brought it home. He warmed the snake with fire and gave it warm milk and made it fresh. It was all right with it and it got quite well very soon. It began to play with the children of the farmer. For the time being, it behaved well but afterwards it showed its actual behaviour and forgot the sympathy of the kind farmer. One day while playing with the children of the farmer, it spread out its fang and bit one of them. The farmer realised his mistake. He understood that an evil always remains an evil. So he became very angry and killed the snake with a stick, saying: ...................

I need to discover whether there is an equivalent for this proverb in English or not so that it could work in my story too and fill in the blank!

I have found a similar saying which I'm not confident about its origin and its prevalance among the people of the English spoken countries!

  "a crow is never whiter for washing itself often"

Please help me to find the closest English equivalent for this comcept!


texts: Intonation difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive relative clauses

texts:
He had four sons who became doctors. He had four sons, who became
  doctors.

Is there any difference in intonation between restrictive and nonrestrictive relative clauses?


texts: 1) What is the right sentence or both are accepted? and 2) Why is the sentence right in terms of grammar?

texts:
1) It made their feeling of security more match the reality

2)  It made their feeling of security more matched the reality

from the video


texts:
How many legs does an octopus have?

  How many legs does an octopus has?

If octopus is singular, why do we use "has" instead of "have"?


texts: My grandson shows his mother’s current partner’s name in round brackets on a genealogy site.  What does the bracketed name mean?


texts:
Is the following sentence incorrect?

  If it sounds familiar, it's time to make some subtle changes to your daily life to make it easy to lose some extra weight and keep it off for good.

I think it is correct, but my answer key says it should be easier instead of easy.


texts: Usage of apostrophe within the words to distinguish substantives from verbs

texts:
Consider the following statements:

There has been a 10% decrease in the value.
The value may decrease 10% next month.

In the first sentence, decrease is a substantive while it's a verb in the second one. There's no way to distinguish their class other than by the context.

That's what I thought until a friend insisted that, in these cases, susbtantives must be written as 'decrease and verbs de'crease, which, in over 8 years of study, I've never seen before. He just won't accept it doesn't exist. Therefore, is it even right? If not (I'm confident it's not!), how can I prove him it's not a thing?


texts:
What "She was standing on the moon" means in the passage:

“So,” Clee said loudly. I stopped. “I don’t really know a lot about health
and stuff? But I figure you probably know what I should be eating. Like
vitamins or whatever.”
I turned and looked at her from my bedroom door. She was standing on the
moon and if I responded I would be on the moon too, right next to her. With
her and away from everything else. It looks so far away, but you can just
reach your hand out and touch it.


texts:
I'd like to know "what someone hopes for is" should be followed by a to-infinitive or a gerund:

What Peter hopes for is to buy/buying a sports car.


texts: Which of these modals are used to express certainty, probability, possibility, and remote possibility (with pictures)

texts:
The modals in use are will, may, might, can, and could.
Expressions: It is probable, it is likely, it is possible, certainly.
The functions: certainty, probability, possibility, and remote possibility.

I am using a textbook to teach grammar, and this grammar lesson is presented in a few examples followed by two tasks. I also have answers to these tasks which may be correct. It is not clear for me how to express probability correctly. In fact, even the case with the other functions of modals has become confusing when I discussed this with other colleagues. I need a clear-cut answer that gives accurate rules on when to use what and how to clearly and correctly present it to the learners.

Here are all the pictures that are related to the lesson:


texts:
Please, take a look at this website: https://bibletalk.tv (a Christian website dedicated to Bible study)

There are four main sections on that website: Home, Sermons, Series which are multi-lesson Bible courses for personal, group or church bible studies and the last one called Devos. What do you think this word means?


texts:
You and I go way back, have I ever let you down?

It's from a dialogue from House of Cards. Frank was trying to persuade someone to give him more time to deal with an issue at hand. My guess is "go back" means the two of them understand each other pretty well because the have a long history, and in this case the "someone" understands the capability of Frank from the past the have been through. Is this correct?


texts:
From NPR: Wheels On The Bike Go Round And Round (To Make Music)

The story tells that Baber--a music writer, create music out of bikes.

  BABER: For instance, when you pluck a spoke on a wheel, you're not just hearing one, you're hearing all of them. They all ring out from sympathetic vibration. So the way to solve that was to tune every single spoke to the exact same pitch, which takes forever.

What's the meaning of "take forever" here? Forever to the same pitch after tuning?


texts: What is the meaning of"it make the thing living" in this context?

texts:
he was a young man about thirty. I never had him in class, but I used to go to him. He’d read aloud and we’d talk, he was very pleasant that way. He’d smoke honey-scented tobacco, and read Baudelaire and Shakespeare and Hopkins—it made the thing living—and he’d read his own poems. I wrote very badly at first, but he was encouraging and enthusiastic. That probably was decisive, that there was someone there whom I admired who was engaged in writing poetry.

I think it probably wants to say it gives life to some thing, am I right? Actually my question is what is the thing refer to??


texts:
By Friday morning, markets the world over were in full retreat.

Does it omit an "of" behind the "markets"?


texts: How to understand `authentication and authorization permissions`?

texts:
When I read this toturial:

in the 0:11/10.07 point, the author says:

  authentication and authorization permissions with Django ...

I want to know does he means the authentication permissions and authorization permissions or authentication and authorization permissions?


texts: Why does this website use present continuous here?

texts:
I just bought a record from rough trade website. After I completed the order, I saw the sentence:

  "Where we are sending it"

Why is this present continuous and not present simple?
Is it because  it is an arrangement  or is it because they are already sending it? I don't think so as I ordered it on Sunday and very often Sunday is a closed day. Or is it a commercial way to say that they are very efficient?
The customer has barely completed his order that it is already sent.


texts:
Are these sentences correct:

1) I am thinking about a car for driving to work.

2) I am thinking about a car to drive to work in.

3) I am thinking about a robot for cleaning the house.

4) I am thinking about a robot to clean the house.

5) I am thinking about a car for us to go to work in.

Do they mean:

a) I am thinking about which car/robot to get for the purpose mentioned

or:

b) I am just considering the possibility of getting a car/robot for the purpose mentioned

or:

c) I am making my mind up to get a car/robot for the purpose mentioned
 or....

Gratefully,

Navi.


texts: "I wish I could stay" vs "I wish I stayed"

texts:
I have to work tomorrow but I would like to stay in bed. I wish I ...

stayed in bed tomorrow
could stay in bed tomorrow

This is a test and the answer is number 2 but why is number 1 wrong?

It implies: unfortunately I won't stay in bed tomorrow so I'm unhappy about it.


texts:
Here are two examples from a dictionary ( Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s Dict)

  Now that he has become president, many people once again have hope for genuine changes in the system.

  Kevin hasn’t given up hope of getting in shape

Can we interchange the two collocations, ‘hope of sth.’ and ‘hope for sth.’ in the above examples? And why?


texts:
Is there any difference between the two idioms back in the day and back in the days? Most of the free online dictionaries only give the version with day, but I have certainly seen native English speakers use both versions--with day and days.
An example from Cambridge Dictionary:

Back in the day, we had an apartment with a swimming pool.

Is this sentence interchangeable with:

Back in the days, we had an apartment with a swimming pool.

?


texts: Should I say "a normal form of a game" or "a normal form game"?

texts:
The standard definitions in game theory read "normal form game" and "extensive form game", or "game in normal form" and "game in extensive form".

Is there a lack of "of a" in the following phrase, in the place of the blank:

  Example of a normal/extensive form _______ game with probabilistic players?

So, could we say:

  Example of a normal/extensive form of a game with probabilistic players.

Would you write that? Or is omitting "of a" a better variant?

  Example of a normal/extensive form game with probabilistic players.


texts: What grammatical terms do you use for this so?

texts:
Hermione let out a great sigh and Harry, amazed, saw that she was
  smiling, the very last thing he felt like doing.
  "Brilliant," said Hermione. "This isn't magic –– it's logic –– a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic,
  they'd be stuck in here forever."
  "But so will we, won't we?"
  "Of course not," said Hermione. "Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will
  get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through
  the purple."
  "But how do we know which to drink?"
  "Give me a minute."  (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

How do you call ‘so’ in grammatical terms?


texts:
I'm familar with this sentence.

  When I play basket ball, I'm happy.

Then, How about 'where'? Can I use 'where' as I do 'when' like the following?

  Where I play basket ball, there are a lot of people.


texts:
Restaurants aim to please.

In the sentence, "please" is used as an intransitive, meaning "to make someone happy or satisfied". Does the sentence make sense to you?


texts: How can the expression "as quickly as " be rewritten as noun expression?

texts:
This is an example sentence:

  My old computer starts up as quickly as his latest computer.

I would like to rewrite this using the word "quickness".  My draft is:

  My old computer has as much quickness to start up as his latest computer.

Could anyone give me advice?


texts: What do you call a long "chain" of a repeated character?

texts: What do you call a very long line of the same character, which happens when the button is being continuously pressed? It may be accidentally or on purpose (for a visual effect). I've tried googling long chain of characters or stack key but neither is correct.


texts:
The song "Chałupy welcome to", about a nudist beach near the seaside village of Chałupy was the hit of summer 1985 in Poland, with catchy, positive, light text for the dark times, and fun melody. Still, outside of the title of the song I've never seen the phrase used in that form. Normally, I think one would write "Welcome to Chałupy", as a greeting to the village.

Is this alternate order acceptable or is it one glaring grammar error in the title?


texts:
Which option fits best in the following question?

  The movement's ideas are not merely absurd; they are __________ dangerous.

  a. formally
  b. perfectly
  c. absolutely
  d. positively

Some of the options can have more than one meaning, so I list the most possible meanings below:

formally:  Officially (= in an official way)
perfectly:   In a manner or way that could not be better  (also: used for emphasis, especially in order to assert something that has been challenged or doubted)
absolutely:  totally (also: used to emphasize a strong or exaggerated statement)
positively: with certainty (also: used to emphasize that something is the case, even though it may seem surprising)

The first option, formally, is out of picture because the official opinion doesn't necessarily have any relevance to the nature of the movement's ideas. We have to decide between the remaining three options.

There are two sentences:

  1 The movement's ideas are not merely absurd;
  2 they are __________ dangerous.

In the speaker's mind it's not enough to say that the movements ideas are merely absurd. Something stronger is needed. So they continue: they are dangerous, and for emphasis, they add an emphasizing adverb too: they are .... dangerous. You can see from the Oxford Dictionary definitions that all the options b, c, and d can be used for emphasis.

My question is: which emphasis fits the context of this question the best?


texts:
Is this idiomatic?

I'm not so much of a drinker, so when I get out I always look for good service and cheap food.


texts:
The difficulty is going to be finding enough supply to meet the demand.
  Source: Skills for Success, published by Oxford

I know after going to  we need a simple verb but also I think it should've been like below

  The difficulty is going to find enough supply to meet the demand.

And also find is always a verb.

Are there more examples?


texts: The accident "to" somebody or the accident "of" somebody?

texts:
Which sentence is correct? Or are both or neither correct?

The accident to my child was traumatic.
The accident of my child was traumatic.

Maybe the first one is correct as in English we say an injury to the knee, much damage to the house, amputation to her fingers, and so on.


texts: Galois Theory -- an implied genitive or not genitive at all?

texts:
In the field of mathematics there are many concepts named after certain individuals: the Pythagoras's theorem, Galois theory, Hilbert space and so forth. In my native tongue of Finnish the person's name in the preceding examples would usually be seen in its genitive case: e.g. "Galois'n teoria", that is "the theory by Galois". One never encounters the non-genitive "Galois-teoria", meaning "the theory called Galois" or "...of type Galois".

Now, I've noticed that in English the names mentioned with these concepts aren't always explicitly genitive. True, "Pythagoras's theorem" has genitive but then you don't have "Galois's Theory" or "Hilbert's space". What I would like to know is that do native English speakers still think these being genitives or not. When one sees the name "Galois Theory", does she automatically think that the theory is of Mr Galois's doing or that the ownership is his? Or does she feel "Galois" is more like a name for the theory? That is, are the person's names in these examples somehow implicitly genitive or are they not genitive at all?


texts:
Set 1:

  My all efforts ended in smoke.
  All my efforts  ended in smoke.

Set 2:

  My both friends are honest.
  Both my friends are honest.

My grammar book says sentence one in both the sets is wrong and it should be sentence two. Why so? What is the difference between sentence one and sentence two in both sets?


texts: Wondering what the difference is between passive and active in these two examples

texts:
His trial was / is adjourned until April.
His trial adjourned until April.

The program is canceled.
The program canceled.


texts:
I came across a sentence that read
'It was the first to be sold online'. It used the passive voice. Why not 'first sold online'? Why is to be used here and when do we use to be in the passive?
Thanks


texts: I didn't get the essence of the highlighted sentence mentioned down below because of the way sentence is formulated. I found it difficult

texts:
“We all said to each other in camp that there could be no earthly happiness which could compensate for all we had suffered. We were not hoping for happiness—it was not that which gave us courage and gave meaning to our suffering, our sacrifices and our dying. And yet we were not prepared for unhappiness. This disillusionment, which awaited not a small number of prisoners, was an experience which these men have found very hard to get over and which, for a psychiatrist, is also very difficult to help them overcome. But this must not be a discouragement to him; on the contrary, it should provide an added stimulus.”
Excerpt From: Viktor E. Frankl. “Man's Search for Meaning.”


texts: Why I can't go with option (d). Without 'by you' in the passive voice of the sentence , it is still having the same meaning without any ambiguity.Please explain.


texts:
Could you please tell me what the following phrase mean?

Does it mean: I wasn't expecting it or something else? What would you use it for?

What does : "I wasn't planning on it." Mean?


texts: What does "dance with hotdog" mean here?

texts:
I guess Snap's investors will be happy in the future because of Snap's partnership with Apple. Is that correct?

  From my vantage point, Apple’s shoutout Tuesday, which immediately sent SNAP stock soaring 2%, will give Snap some much-needed breathing space. And to the extent that Snap, which arguably introduced AR to the mainstream with its lenses and filters, can leverage Apple’s ARKit to innovate, Snap’s base of disappointing investors will be dancing with its hotdog in the quarters and years ahead.

Source: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/Apple-aapl-and-Snap-Snap-friends-or-enemies-cm844775


texts:
I am counting the number of questions about Drupal asked on Stack Overflow, and for my convenience I consider a question about Drupal if it contains one of the following tags:

drupal
drupal-5
drupal-6
drupal-7
drupal-8

I don't consider, for example, questions tagged drupal-views without one of the previous tags; also, I don't consider the questions tagged, for example, drupal-7 and drupal-8 but not drupal.

I give the number of questions using:

drupal
drupal-5 but not drupal (since the questions using drupal and drupal-5 are already counted in the first group)
drupal-6 but not drupal
drupal-7 but not drupal
drupal-8 but not drupal

I wrote the following sentence, but it seems too verbose.

  To make a comparison, the questions tagged drupal (and not using drupal-5, drupal-6, drupal-7, drupal-8) on Stack Overflow are 7,474; to those, you need to add 2 questions tagged drupal-8 but not drupal, 2,062 questions tagged drupal-7 but not drupal, 1,116 questions tagged drupal-6 but not drupal, and 4 questions tagged drupal-5 but not drupal.

I could use "the questions tagged drupal," but that would not mean "questions about Drupal"; I could not say the questions tagged only with drupal" since those questions use also other tags, for example drupal-views. If I say "2,062 questions tagged drupal-7" it could not be clear if the questions are also tagged with drupal.

Is there a way to rephrase it using less words, and avoiding any ambiguity? For example, would the following sentence be without ambiguities?

  To make a comparison, the questions tagged drupal on Stack Overflow are 7,474; to those, you need to add 2 questions tagged drupal-8, 2,062 questions tagged drupal-7, 1,116 questions tagged drupal-6, and 4 questions tagged drupal-5.


texts:
we have waged a war against smog.
  we have waged a war on smog.

If I want to figuratively convey the message we have started to tackle air pollution, smog in particular, which preposition should I choose?

Another question: if the war is fought to ensure we can always see blue skies, can I say we have staged a war for blue skies?


texts:
This abbreviation MA ACA often appears after names on letters. What does it stand for?

I have seen it next to the signature on formal letters in this format: [First Name] [Surname] MA ACA.

The last time I saw it was on a letter from someone working for Deloitte.


texts: How to express an increase in sth during some years?

texts:
I want to express an increase in annual sales of my company from 2013 to 2018. I have written the following sentence. I don't know why, but I feel that it's somehow strange, isn't it? If so, any suggestion.

I am proud to announce that the annual sales volume of my company in the 2018 financial year is(or has become) seven times(or sevenfold) as high as(or higher than) that in 2013.


texts: What is a term for the man who is ready to do everything to get money?

texts: I am in search for a term that describes someone doing anything to get money. For this, he or she may compromise his or her moral or ethics. Thank You in advance.


texts:
We say every other day/week/month.

Is every other second/minute/hour or every other year/decade/century correct?


texts: "They asked if I would take..." vs. "they asked if I would have taken..."

texts:
Could you tell me if there is any difference in meaning between the following sentences?

I was on a job interiew yesterday and they asked me if I would take on more responsibiity if I was asked to.
I was on a job interiew yesterday and they asked me if I would have taken on more responsibiity if I had been asked to.


texts:
Why do we say "to invite someone for _ dinner" without any article whereas in "to go for a walk" we use one?
Is there any general rule covering the cases or should they just be remembered?


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say that “Nothing remains of the old, abandoned house but pieces of old furniture?”  My gut feeling tells me that there have to be some structural tweaks being made about it.  What does the original sentence look like?  And what kind of grammatical rules does it follow?


texts:
Hi please tell me which one is correct?

  "when you click on this button a new window will open" or "when you click on this button a new window will be opened"


texts:
Do we put an interrogation mark inside a quote? I've heard you shouldn't put a dot, but I feel like you should put an interrogation mark inside a quote, because otherwise you wouldn't know if it's a question or not. What do you think?

For example:

  He asked him "Are you deaf?" in Justin Timberlake's voice.

  He told him "You're cool" in Justin Timberlake's voice.

As you see the second doesn't look odd, but if you remove the interrogation mark it looks odd.


texts:
Let me show you what makes life at this resort tick.

It's an introductory video that shows the behind the scenes of a resort. All the definitions I found from dictionary.cambridge.org don't fit in this context. What does "tick" mean in this context?


texts: "...one of the best movies of my childhood" or "...one of the best movies from my childhood"?

texts:
Are these sentences interchangeable?

  It is one of the best movies of my childhood.

  It is one of the best movies from my childhood.

Context: Let's say someone mentioned the name of a movie and I am commenting on that movie.

My opinion: I usually prefer to say "from", but "of" is also usable I guess.


texts: What is the subject of this sentence to which the complement is related?

texts:
In this sentence, what is the subject to which the subject-complement is referring to?

  This instruction provides the rules for sharing information originated by the Purchasing Department.

Are we talking about the rules issued by the Purchasing Department, or the information issued by the Purchasing Department?


texts:
Let's say you have brought a friend over to your grandma's birthday. But he's behaving very rudely.

Can you say "I am sorry for him" to mean "I am sorry for his misbehaving"?


texts: How to use the expression "throw oneself into something"

texts:
I have recently learned the expression "throw oneself into something", but I am kind of confused about how to use it in daily conversation. Could anyone explain me this, with some examples?

For example,

  I've thrown myself into learning English.

Is this sentence grammatically correct? If yes, then what does it exactly mean?


texts:
I'm looking for an expression that describes an unconscious physical reaction to an extremely stressful event where one would put both hands on the top of their head.

My phrase would look something like this:
"Fred, growing frantic, holds his head between his hands."

The bold part is the expression in question.


texts:
This bus is for the use of US residents only

or

  This bus is for the use of the US residents only?

Should I add a the before US in this sentence?


texts: 'It is necessary for job interviewees being punctual': Why isn't this grammatical?

texts:
It is necessary for job interviewees ______ punctual because it will make a great impression.
a. to be
b. being
c. are
d. will be

The answer is 'a'. But I wonder why 'b' is wrong? (I know why 'c, d' are not the answer.)


texts:
I would like to learn how can I rewrite the following sentence in the causative form.

" Mary asked Jamie to get her car to repaired"

Can we say

" Mary had Jamie have/had her car repaired "

Thanks :)


texts: I never thought that I would fall in love like I do or like I am?

texts:
I never thought that I will fall in love like I am or like I do?

1)I never thought that I will fall in love like I am.

2) I never thought that I will fall in love like I do.


texts:
We have a sentence:

  "I have been out for two hours!"

Is "for" necessary here? Can we say:

  "I have been out two hours!"

I am asking because we can either ask "How long have you been out?" or "For how long have you been out?" as far as I know. And probably even "How long have you been out for?".

Does "for" change the meaning?


texts: What does 'still every little difficulty was solved' mean?

texts:
A chapter having been read through twice, the books were closed and
  the girls examined.  The lesson had comprised part of the reign of
  Charles I, and there were sundry questions about tonnage and poundage
  and ship-money, which most of them appeared unable to answer; still
  every little difficulty was solved instantly when it reached Burns:
  her memory seemed to have retained the substance of the whole lesson,
  and she was ready with answers on every point. (Jane Eyre)

What do ‘still,’ ‘little,’ means respectively, and what does the highlighted part all mean?


texts: What tense after "I've never met ... who"?

texts:
I have some troubles with tenses after "I've never met  ...". Should it be in past or present? Or it doesn't really matter and I can go with whatever I feel like?

Some examples from Google:

  I've never met a Haitian who isn't strong

but

  I've never met a funny person who wasn't smart


texts: available on this Friday vs available this Friday

texts:
I usually add preposition after "available". For example, "I'm available on this Friday". But, I saw some people say 'I'm available this Friday'.

What is a difference between the sentences below? Is the meaning same?

I'm available on this Friday
I'm available this Friday.


texts:
I am going to create the next situation, I am working in a web development company...:

  Boss: What are you doing?

  Me: I am working with Angular, I developed a simple project to see how
  it works.

  Boss: Ok.

Well, I have a question: when I say "how it works", is it correct? Or I should say "how does it work?" or something like that. Because I am not asking him about Angular, I am telling him an assertion that I am working with it.

I get confused with this.