texts:
Both Government of India and State Governments are working in tandem
  to make subsidies in electric vehicle segment available.

My doubt is that 'both' phrase is used to convey two things!

But, in the above sentence even though there are two things, one is Government of India and the other is State Governments, since State Governments is plural, I feel there are more than 'two' things. So, both is wrong here!

Is 'both' appropriate in this sentence?


texts: the elephant and elephant - proper and common noun?

texts:
"I saw the elephant at the zoo."
"I saw elephants at the zoo."

In sentence 1, is the word the elephant denote a proper noun and in sentence 2, is elephants denoting common noun?

Note: Please visit the link (Definite article section) -https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/


texts: How can I repeat things (fall in the same category) using a comma

texts:
Suppose I have many things that are fall in the same category. Suppose further that I need to use a bracket ( ) to add further information. Then, how can I repeat these things correctly?

  The scatter plot (top), the density plot (middle), and the contour plot (bottom).

In this sentence, I tried to mention (with additional information) some plots. Scatter, density, and contour are all fall in the same category (plot). I feel that I should not repeat the pronoun the as I am talking about the same thing. In addition, I think I should not repeat the word plot for the same reason. I am not sure about this. However, by doing so, then I will have the following sentence, which I feel it is not correct.

  The scatter (top), density (middle), and contour plots (bottom).

What I learned:

I learned that when I am talking about the same thing, then I do not need to repeat the same word or proposition. For example,

  The type and color of the car are similar to mine.

So here, I do not need to repeat car and the preposition the.


texts: Do I need to add "one" in the following sentence?

texts:
Once we moved out from home, I didn't have my privacy problem
  anymore. But now I had another (one): finding a job.

Do I need that one in there? Why or why not? What are grammatical reasons to use or not to use 'one' in this example? What function would the word 'one' serve in this sentence, if used?


texts:
Is it idiomatic and grammatically correct to say "these are just basic math"? When looking at a bunch of math scribbles on a chalkboard, is it correct to say "These are just basic math"? I did so one day at a mathematics class while I was at my local university, and someone implied that it wasn't correct English and it made no sense.

Here's what I mean by "math scribbles" (arguably not basic math):


texts: past tense vs present perfect vs past perfect

texts:
These are the words spoken by a cinema hero, about fight sequences in a newspaper interview

  But I have done riskier action scenes in my prime.

Why "have done (present perfect format)" is used here? Can we use past tense or past perfect formats as given below? If so, what is the difference in meaning in these three forms?

  But I had done riskier action scenes in  my prime

  But I did riskier action scenes in my prime


texts: "Well, you look really pretty, wearing that red dress." - Should there, or should there not be a comma following the word pretty?

texts:
Well, you look really pretty, wearing that red dress.

  Well, you look really pretty wearing that red dress.

Should there be a comma after the word pretty?

Or should it be the way I punctuated my second sentence?


texts: Why do the nouns in these phrases have -s?

texts:
I have some questions related to these phrases

  admissions policy;
  materials design/writing

Why do "admissions" and "materials" have -s? Shouldn't they be in the singular form because they stand before another noun/gerund?

In this article, we have "letter writing", not "letters writing"

  https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/26/from-me-with-love-lost-art-letter-writing

How can this be explained? What is the rule here?


texts: Difference between car brand and car make?

texts:
I am creating a system that needs car information. What is the difference between the car brand and car make?
If for example I have a Toyota Corolla with plate number AAA 123 that is color red, how do I know the brand and make of it?
This forum states:

A "brand" is a name used by a manufacturer of any product.
Franco-American is a brand of canned pasta (it happens to be one of
several brands Campbell's uses to sell its products).
"Make" is used almost exclusively for cars, and usually in conjunction
with the word "model." Ford Taurus, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Toyota
Celica--the "make" is the first word in the pair, the "model" the
second word. Just as a single company can produce products under
several "brands," an automobile company can produce many makes of
cars; for example, Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln are all makes produced
by Ford Motor Company; General Motors produces Pontiacs, Chevrolets,
Saturns, GMCs, among many others.
You would never ask a person "What brand of car do you drive?" You
would ask, "What make of car do you drive?" For most other products,
you would never ask for them by "make," you would ask for them by
"brand."

I am still confused. Is it just by the way we used the words or does it really have a difference in their meaning?


texts: When to use "of"? "noun1 noun2" vs. "noun2 of the noun1"

texts:
When I want to compound two nouns, I often don't know whether I should simply concatenate the nouns, or use of. For example:

measurement location vs. location of the measurement
figure source vs. source of the figure

Is there any rule to decide which option is correct? When both options are correct, how to decide which option is the best choice?


texts: Which verb form to use after "had better do that it

texts:
What is the right verb form for "had better" sentences? For example:

She had better remember that she has to leave the city soon.
She had better remember that she have to leave the city soon (subjunctive).
She had better remember that she had to leave the city soon.

Thanks.


texts: Is there any ambiguity in this sentence?

texts:
Similar to ROS, reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are by-product of
  cellular metabolism, primarily generated from mitochondria, and plays
  a fundamental role in aging

When I am typing this sentence, it occurs to me whether this past participle structure "primarily generated from mitochondria" here will cause ambiguity? I don't know normally how native English speakers use this structure. Is it more typical to write like this:

  Similar to ROS, reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are by-product of
  cellular metabolism which are primarily generated from mitochondria, and plays
  a fundamental role in aging

Thanks!


texts:
As a native speaker or an educated one, would you show me if you feel or distinguish any difference between these?-- although I know well that both rise and rise up mean the same thing.

Lush green hillsides rising ahead of us...
Lush green hillsides rising up ahead of us....

Any help would be greatly appreciated


texts: Could you fetch me my bag vs could you fetch me the bag?

texts:
Could you fetch me my bag?

  Could you fetch me the bag?

Which one is correct?

Is it okay to say ' me my' together?


texts: Do we have a term that is a combination of "sitting / standing side by side" and "sitting / standing back to back"?

texts:
if two people stand or sit back to back, they stand or sit
  with their backs facing or touching each other

  The children sat back to back so they couldn't see each others'
  drawings.

  side by side close together and facing in the same direction

  There were two children ahead, walking side by side.

  The two sat side by side on the bench.

Eg: The couple is sitting back to back

Eg: The couple is sitting side by side

Now 2 people are facing 2 opposite directions and the left side of the woman may close to the left side of the man as the below picture

How to express it?


texts: Do people really use "which's" in Of Which and Whose Clauses?

texts:
I had only known "whose clauses".

  I love the car whose lines are beautiful.

When I came to this kind of sentence, I always be awkward since the clause subject is inanimate.

I just know the second way "of which". This expression is good.
Unexpectedly, there is the 3rd way - "which's" - given by the same website.

  The car which's lines are sleek is beautiful.

I had thought "which's" is a wrong way, never thought there is such a way.
And I rarely see much of this usage. Did you see it in somewhere?


texts:
Why is it wrong to say:

  My new PC has cost twice the price of my old one.

The answer key says

  My new PC has cost twice as much as my old one.

If I can say

  Texas is twice the size of Montana -- twice plus noun

why can't I say

  My new PC has cost me twice the price of my old one.


texts: I know who my friend is / who is my friend

texts:
I know who my friend is.

I know who is my friend.

Could you tell me what is the difference between these?


texts: "it happens" or "that happens" in context?

texts:
Which pronount will be more appropriate to use in the following context?

  If you neglect technique during the squate, it may cost several days weeks off because of a high possibility of injury. It/that happens pretty often.

I have asked similar question and there is a good answer to that, but I am still confused which pronoun to use in the context. With wich pronoun does the sentence sound more natural and why?


texts: When speaking, my 'V' sounds like 'B.' What can I do to properly pronounce 'V' and 'B'?

texts:
Can someone please guide me in the direction where I can learn to properly pronounce 'V' and 'B' so that each letter I pronounce is clear?

I have a slight Spanish accent, in case anyone needs to know.


texts:
How is the following sentence structured and to me it does not seem idiomatic

  The door burst open and in they came.

I have a confusion regarding the use of adverb in and according to me it should be

  The door burst open and they came in.

Am I right?


texts: "There is ... on the road" vs "the road has..."

texts:
I came across the sentence:

  there is more traffic on the road

Could I build up a sentence like this one below

  the road has more traffic

being sure that the meaning is still the same?

If yes, could you explain me this in detail?


texts:
I am reading this euler project question and found this sentences.

  70 colored balls are placed in an urn, 10 for each of the seven
  rainbow colors.

My understanding about this sentences is

  There are 70 colored balls in an urn and every 1 of 10 balls have a color in seven rainbow colors.

Is my understanding correct? else what is the correct meaning of this. Actually the second sentence is the one confused me.


texts:
Right in the center of this record are two songs that rank among the best of 2015, had I heard them that year. I didn’t.

I don't understand why this sentence is past perfect here, since rank is present. Will it be better to write ranked so that past perfect would be justified? But as rank is present, heard should be past or is it conditional?

  If I had heard this record, I would have ranked them as my best of 2015


texts:
What does "arrangements" refer to in this context?

  You have returned from a holiday with an English-speaking tour company. You spent two weeks travelling by coach but were unsatisfied with the arrangements, the itinerary and the accommodation.


texts: meaning of "I don't know" and "suffer for"

texts:
I'm reading Lawrence Block's memoir, in which he recalls his experience of writing rapidly. And it goes:

  "Some of us are apt to describe a book as having virtually written itself, but that’s not really what happens; if it did, one wouldn’t feel so utterly exhausted at day’s end.  But, tiring or not, I’ve had books that were written very rapidly, and I don’t know that they ever suffered for the speed of their composition.  Some of the work I’ve liked the best, and that was the most favorably received, had a very short gestation period and an easy birth."

I'm confused about what "I don't know" and "suffer for" mean here. Is he actually saying that "I don't think writing rapidly did any harm to my work"?


texts:
A)'She left school and went off with a group of people who were against the war'

B)'She left school and went  with a group of people who were against the war'

what is the difference in meaning between sentence a and sentence b ?

''WENT'' VS ''WENT OFF''


texts:
I'm a non-native English speaker. I don't understand this sentence fragment. I suppose it means independent people or head of industries. Please help me.

  Most American industries, everything from oil and airplanes to cars
  and computers, began with a vast collection of wildcat operators, a
  few of whom eventually became big, established companies. Movies and
  radio started much the same way. In their early years, anyone could
  get into the business and the hand of censorship was light to
  nonexistent.


texts: For which verbs is past perfect necessary?

texts:
When the brothers were reunited, Hans explained how it was that he was still alive. After having been wounded towards the end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit. The hospital had been bombed(1) and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed. Hans returned to his family home, but the house had been bombed(2) and no one in the neighborhood knew what had become of the inhabitants. Assuming that his family had been killed during an air raid, Hans settled down in a village fifty miles away where he had remained ever since.

In the above paragraph, there are nine verbs in past perfect tense. I think I understand why past perfect is necessary for having been wounded, had been bombed(2), had become of, had been killed, and had remained. However, is past perfect necessary in had been sent, had been bombed(1), had made his way, had been destroyed? Can we use simple past instead?


texts: "Don´t play on the grass boys. She said" in a reported speech mode - possible?

texts:
Is it possible to say:

  "Don't play on the grass boys," she said.

In a reported speech mode?


texts:
can I put nowadays  at the end of the sentence in this case?

  Next, the most widely used Android applications are shown, which work based on crowd sourcing, nowadays .


texts: When "If you have any questions" refers to the future, why isn't it "if you would have any questions"?

texts:
There are several questions here on ELL that refer to the idiom "if you have any questions", but none of them touches upon why is it "you have" and not "you would have", when that sentence refers to the future.
As an example:

Teacher: Please finish this task until next Sunday.
Student: No problem. If I (would) have any questions, I'll ask you by email.

Is the student in this example correctly using would?
If not, why is it? Assuming the student doesn't have questions now, and would only have questions once they start working on the task, shouldn't there be a would?
Related:

If I had/have any questions, I'll ask
If you have any question(s)
If you have (any) questions
“If I have some questions I will write you”


texts: When you like someone but you can't tell why you like them

texts: What is a word or good phrase for when you like someone, but there are no specific attributes you like about them? The reason you like them is just unknown.


texts: How do North American people pronounce "wants us to ..." in a linked way?

texts:
Paul wants us to go over ...

I heard it to

  Paul wants to screw over ...


texts: Move your table or move your tables. For plural

texts:
When I'm in a class with my colleagues, I have noticed that some teachers say "move your tables"
and others say "move your table" without s.
all of them talk to us as a group, their talking is not for one student.
So which one is correct? I think without s as each one of us has one table in front of him/her, but I'm not really sure.


texts:
What does "drive in" mean in football (soccer) context?
RANGERS 1-1 ANTWERP (5-4 AGG)
45: CLOSE! Jordan Lukaku is dragging Antwerp back into this tie. This time he drives in from the left, beats Balogun as he fakes to shoot and fires a shot into the side-netting at the near post.
Steven Gerrard's men need half-time.


texts:
The ascent of Mount Everest was first conquered nearly sixty years ago, but it nevertheless remains a symbol of […] struggle in the popular psyche, demanding incredible determination and physical endurance.

What word should be used instead of […]?

arduous
daedalean
colossal
adamant
herculean
gordian

I selected the first and the fifth options because these two refer to physical hard work, but the answer is given as third and fifth. How can the third option be better than the first?


texts:
In reality I completed my graduation in 2008.
 Which line is correct?

  I have completed graduation in 2008

or

  I had completed graduation in 2008


texts: Are both of these sentence correct? Why or why not?

texts:
These Sentences Are Tips On How To Do A Handstand. Are they both correct?

Tip: Kick too hard, and you'll flip over; kick too softly and you'll barely do a handstand at all.

Tip: Kick too hard, and you'll flip over; not hard enough, you won't get all the way up.


texts: From 'rise again' to ' a stock or supply'

texts:
The definition of 'resource' in Oxford Dictionaries

  A stock or supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively. synonyms with 'assets, funds, wealth, money, riches, capital, deep pockets

Nevertheless, its origin is 'rise again':

  Early 17th century: from obsolete French ressourse, feminine past participle (used as a noun) of Old French dialect resourdre ‘rise again, recover’ (based on Latin surgere ‘to rise’).

Literally, its a big leap from 'rise again' to 'asset'.  How to understand it?


texts: Can I use the word 'which' when I am referring the subject in the previous part of the sentence?

texts:
Lets see this sentence:

  My mom told me I shouldn't go there, I think I should do what my mom told me.

In this case we are using the word what because my mom told me only one thing about the topic we are talking about. (This is the same as we do in my native language.)

But should I use which when I am referring only one thing from a collection?

  But when I am typing something which is not a predefined question then Cortana doesn't even try to answer it

Here I have a lot of possibility to type what I want, but I typed one particular sentence. Is this grammatically right or in English we always refer with the word what?

In my language if we would use the word what then the sentence would mean that I can type only one not predefined question (because only one exist) and Cortana doesn't want to answer that one for me. With the word which it would mean that there are more than one not predefined question, and I typed one of them.


texts: First or Zero conditional? Setence-usage

texts:
I know that:

  0 Condition - For facts that always happen;

Whereas:

  1st Conditional - For specific facts;

So, why People use Zero conditional in these sentences, even though is a one-time thing?

  If I find lava in this game, this video ends (even though is just this time that  I am going to end this video if I find lava)

  If you are reading this, I'm at the library by now (That does not mean that I will always find you at the library if I read this)

  If you read this, you're strange (that doesn't mean I'll always be strange if I read this)

Please, correct if I'm wrong

I thank you in advance


texts:
In these sentences:

  "I'm kinda sad toward those comment"
  "I'm kinda 'meh' toward it"

What's the usage of "toward" in this context? Is it even grammatically correct?


texts: Is the adjective "free" non-restrictive in “Their campaign mounts in fury as a free Europe crumbles”?

texts:
From The Imitation Game (2014), more specifically, from a WW2-era newsreel snippet inserted into the movie to keep the viewer up to date with the events:

  "The German Army has fanned out across Europe, From Poland to Serbia, Lithuania to Denmark, Norway to France. The Nazi flag now flies from more than two dozen national capitals. Their campaign mounts in fury as a free Europe crumbles". (The newsreel is in an "old newscaster voice", clearly framed as contemporary with the events; there is some black-and-white historical footage being shown while this voice pronounces the words.)

Is this adjective free restrictive or non-restrictive? That is, can we take it out without affecting the meaning in a radical way:

  "The German Army has fanned out across Europe, From Poland to Serbia, Lithuania to Denmark, Norway to France. The Nazi flag now flies from more than two dozen national capitals. Their campaign mounts in fury as Europe crumbles". (Has the meaning changed radically compared with the previous sentence?)

I'm asking this on the heels of my previous question about article usage that concerns this same passage. I failed to find an explanation in Quirk et al's (1985) chapter on article usage, but Snailboat mentioned a note in the book's Unit 17.3:

  Note: In popular narrative style, there is a nonrestrictive use of premodifying adjective in cases like the following (cf cleft sentences, 18.26 Note [b]):
   - 'Reporters hounded an embarrassed Ben Miles over his TV gaffe last week and in reply to one questioner the unhappy Miles made things still worse by ...'

So I'd like to know whether this free feels non-restrictive to native speakers of English. If it does, it could help me understand the use of the indefinite article there.


texts:
If I want to express the date: 1/1/17 can I say "on January first"?

For example:

  I'm going to meet him on January first.

I know that I can say also: "the first of January", but my question is about the style that I showed.


texts:
guys!
Can you please explain the use of two perfect tenses in one sentence with 'since'? The sentence is original and is taken from R.J. Palacio's book 'Wonder': "It had been a long time since I'd been out without my hearing aids, and it felt like I was miles under the earth."
According to traditional rules we would have to use past simple after 'since'? Is that any special case?
Thanks in advance!


texts: however, no matter how beautifully crafted your CSS, it is pretty useless on its own -- why is there no "is" after "your CSS"?

texts:
However, no matter how beautifully crafted your CSS, it is pretty useless on its own.
  Applying styles to well-formed (X)HTML is the first step that may seem arbitrary to you, but
  this vital procedure is very often the first stumbling block for newcomers. Many seasoned
  developers still fail to exploit the true flexibility of CSS at this stage, and never fully embrace the glory of the cascade.

I don't understand why there's no is after how beautifully crafted your CSS. I asked a native speaker, he said the sentence sounded alright to him.


texts:
does "simpering" implies a bad quality in this context?

  John Page Hopps describes her at this time as "a small, thin, very
  intelligent, but rather simpering little woman, with nice, gentle
  manners and a quiet enjoyment of her experiments which entirely saved
  her from the slightest touch of self-importance or affectation of
  mystery."

from http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301051h.html


texts: meaning of the phrasal verb "run to" in context

texts:
It is from this article.

  Amongst its findings, the survey reveals that close to half of all households cannot run to a week's annual holiday, even staying with friends or family.

Does that mean that the housholds cannot afford a holiday lasting a week?


texts: Substitute for "prospection of" something

texts:
I'm doing a comparative analysis to determine the best device to be used in an academic project, and this analysis shall be recorded in a document.

For example, from all wireless keyboards available at Amazon, we should choose the best one, based on some requirements.

What is the correct term for this kind of study/analysis?

At first, I considered titling the document as "Prospection of device X" (e.g., "Prospection of Wireless Keyboards").

However, this term does not seem to be the best one.


texts: Can I use "to verb" form instead of "that clause" form in this sentence?

texts:
Eating good food ensures that we stay healthy.

This is the example sentence of "ensure" in my dictionary.

I am curious if the sentence below is possible and have the same meaning.

  Eating good food ensures us to stay healthy.


texts:
Would you mind if I followed you?
Would you mind if I follow you?

Is there any difference in meaning? Would both be said by a native speaker?


texts: "It's the second country I live in" vs. "it's the second country I'm living in"

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

It's the second country I live in and I don't think I'll leave it anytime soon.
It's the second country I am living in and I don't think I'll leave it anytime soon.


texts:
Why is it grammatically wrong to say:

  She told me if I wanted to come.

  She said if I wanted to come.

I have been told that in this context we must use ask rather than tell or say.


texts:
Should I use use 'swum' or 'swam' in sentences such as

  He swum across the river.

-OR-

  He swam across the river.

Which is correct? What's the difference?
Thanks


texts:
The robbers guarded/watched the hostages extra attentively/carefully/closely/observantly/alertly to make sure that they would stay quiet till the police officers had left.
Which word fits the context better? I don't want it to sound like the robbers do it to protect the hostages.


texts: Is there a particular reason to use the -ing form of "ending" in this sentence?

texts:
Abolishing debt-based currency isn’t a new idea, but it could hold the
  secret to ending our economies’ environmentally damaging addiction to
  growth

Is "ing" used in order to make "ending" a noun? And is it correct saying a secret to [noun]? For example the secret to the [something] defeat of the enemy was...

Thank you


texts: What does "tea ring" mean in this sentence and why "ring"?

texts:
I could not understand what is "tea ring" in this sentence, all I searched resulted in a "Swedish tea ring", as bread or cake, and I am pretty sure it is not.

My guess is : it refers to some kind of tea marks/stains left on the mugs? ? But WHY use the word 'ring'? I could not find any explanation in the dictionary referring 'ring' as a stain or mark or something. Could any one help me to get a glimpse of the sentence?

Here is the sentence in the context:

  I had finally begun to understand the consolations of cleaning. I
  mopped, cleaned windows and changed duvets. I was a constant whirl of
  activity. No dust mote escaped my eye, no tea ring my forensic
  attentions. I was dislodging the limescale on the bathroom taps using
  kitchen roll soaked in vinegar (my mother’s tip) when I heard Will’s
  chair behind me.

  Me Before You by Jojo Moyes


texts: I have a cd that accompanies an English textbook. This cd contains the audio of the conversations and the listening exercises. Can I call this cd the book's audio as in I don't have the book's audio?


texts: "like to be..." vs. "like being..." (and why?)

texts:
What is the difference between the following?

A) She likes to be looked at.
B) She likes being looked at.

Could you please elaborate your explanations? The more detail, the better.


texts: Choice between past perfect vs simple past

texts:
John:Why did you not ask your father for money?

  Paul:I did not ask him because  I
  had asked him before for money and (he had become very angry/he became very
  angry) at that time.

Which option is correct ?


texts:
"You and I" is supposed to be used in the subject of the sentence.

If the sentence starts with "It's you and I", does that mean it's supposed to be "you and me" because "It" is the subject and "you and (I/me)" is the object?


texts: Syntax: subject + verb + noun + {adjective or adverb}

texts:
I already understand and so ask NOT about the meaning of the examples below; I instead ask about the syntax. In the following, it refers to kohlrabi, a more obscure vegetable that I purposely chose to generalise this question.

  1. subject + verb + noun + adjective
  Example Sentence: 1.1. I deem it palatable. (= I deem that it's palatable).

  2. subject + verb + noun + adverb
  Example Sentence: 2.1. I cook it well-done.

Although 1 is grammatically correct, 1 still sounds wrong, but I can't pinpoint why. Yet 2 sounds less wrong to me, but again, I don't know why.  Please help attune me  to syntax 1?
Please explain how I can overcome my angst?

Afterword: This ELU question postdates, but answers my original post here.


texts:
Can I use "a lot of" at the end of my sentence?

I don't know how many inches of rain we get. I think a lot of.

Or

I don't know how many inches of rain we get. I think a lot.


texts:
Look at this sentence

  A third single was recorded. The band had run out of money and had hoped that a big label would release it, but after several months and no success the impetus had been lost and the band disbanded the following year.

Would it have the same meaning if I wrote

  A third single was recorded but the band did not have any more money to release it and did not expect to release it any more and after several months the impetus was lost and the band disbanded

In fact my question is past perfect in that case  working as a kind of explanation why the band disbanded:
No money, no hope to release the single, no more impetus -- that is why the band disbanded


texts: How to understand "to be an ambassador to some country"?

texts:
I found the sentence:
She's a former ambassador to the United States.
Does it mean she was some country's ambassador in the US or she was the US ambassador?


texts: Help to understand "It drives Mum mad" in this passage

texts:
“What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic, anyway?”

  “He works in the most boring department,” said Ron. “The Misuse of
  Muggle Artifacts Office.”

  “The what?”

  “It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you know,
  in case they end up back in a Muggle shop or house. Like, last year,
  some old witch died and her tea set was sold to an antiques shop. This
  Muggle woman bought it, took it home, and tried to serve her friends
  tea in it. It was a nightmare - Dad was working overtime for weeks.”

  “What happened?”

  “The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place
  and one man ended up in the hospital with the sugar tongs clamped to
  his nose. Dad was going frantic - it's only him and an old warlock
  called Perkins in the office - and they had to do Memory Charms and
  all sorts of stuff to cover it up—”

  "But your dad ... this car ..." (Harry said)

  Fred Laughed. "Yeah, Dad's mad about everything to do with Muggles, our shed's full of Muggle stuff. He takes it apart, puts spells on it and puts it back together again. If he raided our house he'd have to put himself straight under arrest. It drives Mum mad. "

As I understand, Fred is saying that his dad takes Muggle stuff apart, puts spells and puts it back together again and If anyone broke into their house, he would be put straight under arrest. But I don't understand why it drives Mum mad?

Maybe I just got something wrong from the original passage?

-- Excerpted from Harry Potter.


texts: How would you characterize the gerunds in these cases?

texts:
I have these sentences / phrases and am trying to figure out how to characterize the gerunds is each:

(a) First on Clark’s list is Japan’s well-known propensity for putting the group before the self, and by extension following orders from one’s superiors.

(b) Honesty in dealing with others

(c) Soon after arriving in Japan, when I was still getting used to commuting by train instead of car, I left my bag on the Yamanote Line.

I can see that (a) somehow modifies the subject ("propensity (Sb) for putting... is first (V)"), but I am confused about the terminology. (b) is not even a full sentence. As about (c), both clauses are clearly subordinate, but again, I can't seem to figure out just what to say about these gerunds. Can you help me out?


texts: The logic behind present perfect/infinitive + present perfect

texts:
May I ask what the logic is behind using present perfect/infinitive + present perfect in "present perfect + since + present perfect" sentences?

  it has been a while since I have enjoyed a party this much.

and

  It's been a long time since I have read an interesting book.

Why is it not present perfect + past simple? I understand the "it's been" part, since it's something that is still relevant or going on. But if I'm referring to a specific past event, why should present perfect even be considered?

2) Also, I've seen people replace infinitive forms with present perfects:

"You must be surprised to receive a letter from me" = "You must be surprised to have received a letter from me"

Is there such thing as an infinitive present perfect? How is this construction possible?

Please help me understand!


texts: using "who" when referring to things: is it okay?

texts:
I was doing some problems sets and came across the sentence, "I used to work for a company who manufactured automatic processing machines." I need to find errors in this sentence and I think one of them is to change "machines" to "machine."

Also, I thought maybe "who" shouldn't be used because it's the company it's referring to, but am I right? This is not the first time I came across sentences that use "who" for other than human beings.

So, is using "who" to refer to something other than human grammatically correct?
Thank you.


texts: I think the title says all! To make someone eat is feed. What is the word for to make someone hear? Now tell or say will not do, because they do not make someone hear; whether to pay heed to the speaker or not is up to the person being talked to. So I need a word that sort of forces someone to hear what I say (kind of shouting near the ear to make him listen, eh?)


texts: Use of "as" to mean "like" -- "nothing occurs if I click on the button as there is no button there"

texts:
I wrote:

  the button doesn't get highlighted as the mouse hover it and nothing occurs if I click on the button as there is no button there/as it is not a button

By the bold phrase I want to say, the button doesn't respond as you expect, so you may think it is not a button or it is disabled. Am I correctly used "as"? What are other ways to say such sentence?


texts:
Context : A teacher in the class has been addressing the same thing to the students for over a week. One of the students feel bored and disgusted and he speaks this:

  Isn't it healthy to, like, move on?

What's the meaning of healthy in this context.

According to me, it should be "a good decision". Isn't it?


texts:
I found this sentence in my textbook:

  "The motorcycle rider has done many amazing things in the past, but tomorrow he will try to pull off his most dangerous jump yet."

My dictionary says,"YET is used for saying that somebody or something is the most extreme ever." Then, can you also say " his most dangerous jump ever" instead of using "yet"in this sentence ?


texts: Is it correct to say "Can I use your help....?"

texts:
Is it correct to say "Can I use your help.....?" E.g Can I use your help with fixing the radio?

It'll be a scenario where I need help with something. For the radio example, it'll be either to help figure out something technical or fix it together with me. It's basically asking for help and getting a response if he/she can or can't help me.


texts: "With knowing" grammar checking AND/OR synonyms

texts:
I have this sentence that forms a disaster for me. I know what is wrong with it but I can't find some suitable fixes.

The sentence is:

I'm actually wondering why did the chef keep silent all that time, with knowing the slightest details about me and her boyfriend?

1- I feel like it would be more proper for keep silent to be kept silent, but it is in a question form, so it won't fit.

2- With knowing, I find it improper English. So, I tried to replace it with "With her knowing","despite her knowing", and "although knowing". But I find them having the same problem in common.


texts:
I saw this sentence on BBC news website, but I don't understand what it means:

  "Gone, too, are the days when interviews with figures of the stature of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Jimmy Carter made the magazine  so culturally and politically significant."


texts:
I wrote a little poem about a snake. The last verse reveals that the snake had eaten itself during a particular night. A night I am describing before.
"I ate myself - at that night"
I really like the number of words, their sound and the context, referring to that night. But I have doubts: is that good English? Is there a better way?

...
The sirens are singing
The tail speaks to me
Try, try, try, try me
I devour the life
Full of Lust and delight
I ate myself
At that night


texts: zero degree fahrenheit vs zero degrees fahrenheit

texts:
The frozen foods are kept at zero degree fahrenheit.

  The frozen foods are kept at zero degrees fahrenheit.

Which one is correct?  Which i use degree or degrees
as adjective ?


texts: "Substitute player" VS "Reserve player" VS "Backup player"

texts:
Please let me know that what do you normally call a bench player who is stand-by for playing whenever the coach finds them needed? Let's say soccer in American English.

I know three options:

  a. a reserve player / goalie etc.

  b. a backup player / goalie etc.

  c. a substitute player / goalie etc.

I would be grateful if you could let me know what is the difference between these three choices.


texts: Generalization of sentences/ generic noun phrase and articles usage

texts:
Take a few examples of generic noun phrases:

  A) Tigers are big.
  B) A tiger is big.
  C) The tiger is big.

All the above three represent a group of Tigers as a whole or all tigers in general.

Today I was looking up the definition of 'definite article' and it reads like this:

  We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe the readers knows exactly what we are referring to.

Since this definition is a general one and the nouns used are generic nouns so is there any difference in the sentences given below ?

  We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe 'readers' know exactly what we are referring to.
  We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe the 'reader' knows exactly what we are referring to.
  We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe 'a reader' knows exactly what we are referring to.
  We use the definite article in front of 'nouns' when we believe 'the reader' knows exactly what we are referring to.

Do all mean the same or they mean differently ?


texts: He travels (the) fastest who travels alone

texts:
Some people write,

  "He travels fastest who travels alone."

Other people write,

  "He travels the fastest who travels alone."

Which one do you think is correct?
The definite article 'the' is supposed to be necessary in this sentence or not?
Sorry for this silly question and thank you for reading.


texts: what's the meaning of "hard copy folders"?

texts:
The sentence is "Instruct staff assistant to create hard copy folders of employment files"
what does the "hard copy folders" here mean? I don't understand "hard" at all.
Does it mean the duplicate documents from copier?


texts: how to use the word by in the following sentence

texts:
I was taught that both present participle(doing something) and prepositional phrase (by doing something) can act as adverbial modifies the verb in the main clause, and can indicate in what(which) way or method something was done or achieve. Does it mean that they are interchangeable in this kind of situation?

For example:

  1) You can avoid a lot of problems giving in to her, and you can also
  cause a lot of problems giving in to her.

  2) You can avoid a lot of problems by giving in to her, and you can
  also cause a lot of problems by giving in to her.

Is there any differences between 1) and 2)？
How will you understand the first sentence when you see it?
How to decided when we need the word by to make present participle ?

My understanding is if the meaning still clearly expressed after the word by was dropped. Then we can left it out, but if the meaning of the sentence will be ambiguous, and then we have to keep the word by.

As for the sentence:

He celebrates the Chinese New Year by playing fire works.

Can I drop the word by?


texts:
Which of the following sentences is correct?

Sentence A : Why are you shouting so suddenly like that ?
Sentence B : Why are you shouting all of a sudden like that ?

Which one is correct? If both are correct, which one is more idiomatic?


texts:
Is it correct to say for sure that we use "just" with Present Perfect and "just now" with Past Simple and it's incorrect to do it vice versa?
For example:

I've just done it.
I did it just now.


texts: 'Consolidating figure' is a non-existent phrase. What could I use instead?

texts: What could I use to denote a person who manages to gather around himself people of every hue to, say, fight for some common cause despite differences? I need some two-word phrase but, unlike mine, one that is actually in usage and not some made-up nonsense. I believe 'figure' is okay, I can keep it, can't I?


texts: 'Which country are you going to' or 'Which country are you going to go to'

texts:
Which country are you going to?
  Which country are you going to go to?

What's the difference?


texts: Regarding the usage of "at" in "A chance at that dream"

texts:
I went through the Wiktionary as well as Webster's dictionary, and I still couldn't find what definition of at is being used in:

  The great debts we pay for a desperate chance at that dream.

Source: This Youtube video.

EDIT: The second definition from Webster's dictionary doesn't really help in the context above, aiming a "chance" at a "dream" seems rather ambiguous to me.


texts: How much performance is left on the table?

texts:
I'm reading a paper and I don't understand what's the meaning of the following sentence:

  It is unclear how much performance is left on the table given the extra layers of abstraction and indirection in the contract library.

So which one does it mean?

the performance is good, so we cannot further improve the performance.
we cannot further improve the performance.

for the entire paragraph:


texts: A class has particularly enjoyed a film and want to see it again. Could they ask their teacher: "Could you play it again please?"


texts:
I am trying to improve my English writing skills. I want to say the following sentence to my friend on phone. Is the below sentence grammatically and logically correct?

  Yesterday late night rain made the playing area so wet that umpires have to call off today’s play.

Is "umpires have to call off today’s play" considered a subordinate clause? Will the clause starting from relative pronoun is always used as an adjective clause?


texts: "he is out of touch and incapable of rescuing Russia from crisis" -- why not "from a crisis"? -- which is grammatically more correct?

texts:
Example with a context:

  Putin and his allies blame the economic problems on what they call external factors, principally the West. Others, including former allies who worked with him, say he is out of touch and incapable of rescuing Russia from crisis.

I don't understand why there is no article a preceding crisis. This word is not a mass noun, so it really should have one. Clear things up for me a little bit, please.


texts: Why does 'wilful' = 'willful' connote negativity?

texts:
Definition 1 is negative. I'm guessing so is Definition 2, because of 'stubborn' and 'regardless of the consequences'.

1. I'm flummoxed: Why? Doesn't the noun will connote positivity (its etymology: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=will&allowed_in_frame=0)?

From http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=willful&searchmode=none:

  wilful = ...c.1200, "strong-willed," usually in a bad sense,...

2. What's the term for this phenomenon, where the noun is positive but the adjective is negative, and vice versa?

3. Are there other words subject to this paradox?


texts:
Up close, the scene was more chaos, enchantingly so.  (From ACT)

Why adverb enchantingly is used here when it is modifying the subject "the scene"? I think enchanting would be more preferable.


texts: Playing the piano...[with his eyes closed] vs [closing his eyes]

texts:
I was wondering if these two sentences have the same meaning.  I'd be grateful if any native speaker could help me with this.

  He was playing the piano with his eyes closed.

  He was playing the piano, closing his eyes.

Do they mean the same? If not, what's the difference between the two?


texts: What is the meaning of "But no last trump" in following sentence?

texts:
Bang, thud, and clank. Grim sounds to preface an evening’s amusement. But no last trump could have so galvanized the weary attendants on Thespis and Terpsichore standing in patient column of four before the gates of promise. Here and there, of course, there was no column.

(Source: The Man in the Queue, by Josephine Tey)

What is the meaning of the sentence?


texts: Can "The month of December" be seen as an appositive structure?

texts:
We all know that an appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it.
When I saw this line "The law will take effect starting the month of December", somehow I felt the line can also be thought of as "The law will take effect starting the month December" where month and December are in an appositive relation.

That bears the question of this post: Is "The month of December" a type of appositive?

Here is another example on the Internet:

  Following the acquisition of Specialty Fasteners & Components (“SFC”)
  by Clarendon in 2014, the business will now trade under the unified
  name of Clarendon Specialty Fasteners, with effect from February
  1st, 2017.

,where "the unified name of Clarendon Specialty Fasteners" can be thought of as "the unified name Clarendon Specialty Fasteners" or "the unified name, Clarendon Specialty Fasteners", in which case the word "of" can be omitted.

But I got confused because I thought the only way to use the word "of" is something like these lines:

  The function of screws.  (Screws and function are not the same thing)

  A friend of mine.

"The month of December" (where December and month are the same thing) feels like something different from the above two lines and I could only understand it by thinking of it as an appositive structure.
Am I thinking this right?

And how do you explain this sentence:

  The company follows the guideline of "Customers First".

Is that an appositive structure, or the same structure as in "The function of screws"?


texts:
Mary and her husband Dimitri lived in the tiny village of Perachora in southern Greece. One of Mary's prize possessions was a little white lamb which her husband had given her. She kept it tied to a tree in a field during the day and went to fetch it every evening. One evening, however, the lamb was missing. The rope had been cut, so it was obvious that the lamb had been stolen.

When Dimitri came in from the fields, his wife told him what had happened. Dimitri at once set out to find the thief. He knew it would not prove difficult in such a small village. After telling several of his friends about the theft, Dimitri found out that his neighbour, Aleko, had suddenly acquired a new lamb. Dimitri immediately went to Aleko's house and angrily accused him of stealing the lamb. He told him he had better return it or he would call the police. Aleko denied taking it and led Dimitri into his back-yard. It was true that he had just bought a lamb, he explained, but his lamb was black. Ashamed of having acted so rashly, Dimitri apologized to Aleko for having accused him. While they were talking it began to rain and Dimitri stayed in Aleko's house until the rain stopped. When he went outside half an hour later, he was astonished to find that the little black lamb was almost white. Its wool, which had been dyed black, had been washed clean by the rain!

Why in the first paragraph, the author used a field, but in the second paragraph, the author used the fields？


texts:
I think in spite of many other similar question like:

  What / how about this plain shirt?
  What do you think about this plain shirt?
  and so on.

the sentence: "How do you like this plain shirt?" implies that the question maker has a semi-positive opinion about the shirt in his / her question, but they doubt about it and need to know about the second person' opinion.
Do you confirm it?


texts: Are "done" and "made" interchangeable in this context?

texts:
I was writing an abstract of an article and started highlighting the advances in a field of knowledge, so I wrote:

"Over the last 10 years, huge advances have been done in the areas of..."

Then, when I was proofreading, I thought that I should use made instead. But searching in the internet, both forms are found.
Are they interchangeable in this context?


texts: usages of although and having past participle

texts:
would you possibly show me if I have grammatically or properly rephrased the sentence above? if no, could you please correct me?
Having remained a mystery until today, however, Maya hieroglyphs are really a bible for modern man,
ANSWER:
I'd say you'd need:
Although having remained a mystery until today, Maya hieroglyphs are really a bible for modern man.
as you have to stress the subordinate with the reservation, not the main.

Teachers Matter: Connecting Work, Lives And Effectiveness - Page 74
Day, Christopher, Sammons, Pam, Stobart, Gordon - 2007
Although having remained highly committed to the school and to the students, Darius's level of motivation had decreased.
....
My specific question: as you see one of my friend has answered me above. But, I have never seen such a usage of having or although. Could anyone please show me a grammar source or how does it work?
Although having remained a mystery until today, Maya hieroglyphs are really a bible for modern man.
Any help would greatly appreciated


texts:
I have a question about hypernym/hyponym concerning the word (or meaning) of 'event'.

Suppose Glastonbury 2014 is an event. During that Glastonbury 2014 there can be sub-events happening across shorter timespan.  E.g., a gig by someone on day 2; a poor woman fell into toilet on day x; clash between security and a group of people; long waiting queue to get out on the last day...

My question is what's the best choice of terms to describe the two levels of 'event'? I have thought about a few below but I don't know if they are ok or if there are any better ones?

'Glastonbury 2014': event 'sub-events mentioned above': sub-event

or
'Glastonbury 2014': macro-event 'sub-events mentioned above': micro-event

or
'Glastonbury 2014': event 'sub-events mentioned above': incident (doesnt sound right to refer to a gig)

Any suggestions much appreciated!


texts: Is "She broke the dishes when she washed them" really incorrect?

texts:
(1) She broke the dishes when she was washing them.

  (2) She broke the dishes when she washed them.

My textbook says (1) is correct and (2) is incorrect.
But I found some sentences similar to (2). For example

  When she washed the dishes, plates and bowls clattered as if they were breaking to pieces.

This is from Corpus of Contemporary American English.

Is (2) really incorrect?


texts: What does "everything is all MoonPies and salted peanuts" mean in this context?

texts:
Please help me to understand the meaning of "everything is all MoonPies and
salted peanuts" in this context:

“Toby.” A brief pause. “Don’t even try. You really expect I would give that sorry excuse to Jason? The
software patch we sent out to fix the frame- rate problem made everything worse and now people are raisin’hell ’cause they got weapons malfunctioning and dragons flying ass- backward. You’d better come up with some kinda brand- new patch to fix it, or . . . hold on.”
Another cell phone went off, and she grabbed it out of
a bag slung over her shoulder. “Yeah,” she said into the
second phone. “I got the asshole on the other line, trying to convince me everything is all MoonPies and salted peanuts.”

Excerpt from "Crystal Cove" by Lisa Kleypas
Is it something like everything is as nice as unicorns and rainbows?


texts: Can anybody help me with these sentences?

texts:
I have read a book about prosecutors and justice and I am wondering what the following means.

  We maintained our right to argue for the twenty-year sentence, which we thought was just. We were merely giving up our ability to mandate such a sentence by requiring a plea to the mandatory minimum charge.

Please make it clear for me.


texts: when do I use "do / does + base verb " & "base verb + s ,es , ies" for instance , ( does use) & (uses)?

texts:
I am always confused when it comes to this type of sentence:

  She does use her car rarely.
  She uses her car rarely.

So, what is the difference?


texts:
what is the right collocation?

Monkeys hang down the tree from/by/on their feet/legs/toes.

If more than one collocation is possible in this sentence please point it out.

Thanks


texts: Can the Subject agree with both singular and plural forms in one sentence?

texts:
Contextual sentence:

  Legatus Sollemnis arrived on the Wall at the Rock with the Sixth
  Legion’s cavalry detachment shortly after darkness fell two nights
  later.

Problematic sentence (follows the previous one):

  The rest of the legion was more than thirty miles back down the road
  to Yew Grove, encamped after a day slogging their way north at the
  forced march, and still a day away.

(The source)

Question:

Could someone kindly give me the explanation of how come that in one sentence, the Subject "the rest of the legion" agrees with both the singular "was" and plural "their"? Why it's not "slogging its way"?

An addition:

Also, reading the "after a day slogging their way north at the forced march" part I had the feeling that the preposition "of"  before "slogging" is missing. Should it be "after a day slogging north" (like "a walk during the whole day") it wouldn't draw my attention, but the pronoun "their" to me personally made that part read somewhat oddly. Please explain to me why there is no preposition there.


texts:
How can I answer a question within a question? Which should be answered first; the former one, or the latter one? For example:

  Can you tell me, who is PM of India?

Answer 1:

  Yes I can tell you.

Answer 2:

  Mr. Narendra Modi.

Which is more accurate?


texts:
When you sing the happy birthday song, do you say

happy birthday dear (person's name)

or

happy birthday (person's name)


texts:
If you say the aim of Ben, you can also say Ben's aim.

If you say the objective of the project (which is not a person but an object), do you say the project's objective or the projects objective?


texts:
What the right way to make 4 types of question with "has" in the sentence?

My take on this, though it's really wrong I'm pretty sure:

She has to get up early.

Has she to get up early?
Has she to get up early or not?
She has to get up early, hasn’t she?
When has she to get up?


texts:
I am wondering if the meaning of "they were alone" can be interpreted in two different ways.

One, they, the people, were alone in a place like a room, but as a group, meaning they were in the same place, but no one beside them were there/

Two, they, the people, were alone individually in different rooms, meaning they were all in a room of their own, each had a room and they were the only person occupying their respective rooms.


texts:
The killer who preys.

I saw this on a  picture of a cheetah.
Shouldn't "preys" be "prays"?
Is the grammar right?


texts: What does the saying “Don’t feel pregnant” mean?

texts:
My dad sometimes says “Don’t feel pregnant” when I tell him how I’m feeling. For instance, I’ll tell him “I feel like all I do is work”, he’ll say “Don’t feel pregnant”. I think it may mean “ Don’t feel like you’re the only one” or something similar. I’ve looked the saying up online and can’t find a true meaning or etymology of it. My fiancé says he’s never heard that saying. Does anyone know?
My dad is 69, we are American, and speak English, for reference. I am unsure of our nationality. I know his grandfather (maternal) was a  full-blooded Cherokee Indian, last name Barton.


texts: "This is the first time my sister has given me affirmative" is this the correct expression?

texts:
This is the first time my sister has given me affirmative.

Is the above sentence correct? I am a little confused that given me is not a correct word.

With the given sentence I mean to say that this is the first time my sister has given me approval or has approved me. Have I used the correct expression here? Or could I have used a better expression?


texts: Doubt in a particular newspaper extract with regard to the COVID-19 vaccine

texts: Here to quote from the newspaper "The Hindu",it says that,"They assume that the vaccines which are gene based agents will 'remain entrapped in the circulation, and may be taken up by endothelial cells particularly at the sites of slow blood flow i.e,in small vessels and capillaries...It must be expected that endothelial damage with subsequent triggering of blood coagulation via platelet activation will ensue at countless sites throughout the body." Also with regard to this what do they mean by "Diffused Intravascular Coagulation"? A detailed insight into both will be most certainly welcome.


texts:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta
"Constitutionally, the Magna Carta of Edward I is the most important". This version remains in Statute today (albeit with ...

Does "Magna Carta" take the definite article?


texts: "...a pen to write with" or "a pen to write"

texts:
So, I have come across a sentence:

1.He brought a camera to take photographs.

Then I wondered, Can I use this format and say :

He brought a pen to write.

However, it doesn't sound right to me when I used "a pen to write". It sounds more right to say

"I brought a pen to write with."

What is the grammar rule behind this? May I also say

4."I brought a camera to take pictures with." ?


texts: "What you've been doing?" and "What have you been doing?" Are they both the correct way to ask?

texts: Can I ask someone: "What you've been doing?" with proper intonation? Will it be considered ok the same as "What have you been doing?"?


texts: What's better? it's not accidentally there or it's not there accidentally?

texts:
What's better?

  a) It's not accidentally there.

or

  b) It's not there accidentally.

The context:
She saw the spark in my eyes, and I told her that it's not accidentally there.


texts: For “yesterday”, what are the other forms we can use?

texts:
For yesterday, what are the other forms we can use?

E.g.: previous day, day before, last day, etc. . . .

Here's the sentence that started this discussion:

  I have bought a book last day from an online site.

I wrote it in another question, and it was changed to yesterday.  But I think last day is right.

Here are a couple more examples:

  Last day I went to hospital.
  Last day I was so happy.

Is the usage last day wrong?


texts: I can't find a definition for this word, but aren't all workers technically temporary? Do English speakers use this word often or another word that has a similar definition?


texts: I know this post might be silly but, I want to ask if the word or better yet the question "what's?" can be used as interjection. Well, I'm asking this question. Because, I used to live in the U.S. and I remember that when I texted with friends they would sometimes reply; "Whats?" or "What's?" I never paid attention to it until now that I was chatting with a friend of mine who is an English teacher and she said to me it's not "What's" is just "What" the S and the apostrophy aren't needed but I told her. I wrote that as in "what's that?" she said that if that was the case then yes it was fine. But, that just the word "what's" by it self is just wrong. So here I am wondering if she is right and my friends back in the U.S. are wrong or if it's her who is wrong. Worth to say that my friends back in the U.S. are native speakers but my teacher friend isn't.


texts:
Some aren't as nice.

I don't understand subtle difference btw nice and as nice.
In context, I'm pretty sure the meaning are not much different from "Some aren't nice." But he said "as nice."

Is there any difference or intense?


texts: Why is there no subject in 'Consider these markets when looking for...'?

texts:
Consider these markets when looking for places to sell your work.

shouldn't it use a subject such as you?


texts: How would you interpret the meaning of "suck" in this phrase "onion of suck"?

texts:
I came across a sentence in Word by Word by Kory Stamper which was:

  This complaint was an onion of suck, layer after layer of problems.

As the sentence is authored by a lexicographer, I hoped some dictionary would surely help me out. But most of the dictionaries seem to converge in this definition:

  an act of sucking or drawing in

But I don't think I can figure out the word's meaning in that context using this definition. Help me out.


texts:
Many people have interpreted this short story from the religious perspective.
or
Many people have interpreted this short story from religious perspective.


texts:
“Bookend the Future” is the title of the tenth chapter in the book Decisive by the Heath brothers.
This is the writer's explanation of the concept:

Penstock uses a method he calls “bookending,” which involves estimating two different scenarios: a dire scenario (the lower bookend), where things go badly for a company, and a rosy scenario (the upper bookend), where the company gets a lot of breaks.(Source)

Although I fully understand the concept, I couldn't define a meaning for the word “bookend” and put it into words so I can recall it easily.
According to the Oxford online dictionary,

Bookend: as a verb means “to be positioned at the end or on either side of (something).”

But I think that this definition doesn’t apply here.
As far as I understand it, this concept is a kind of guesstimation.
I want to know what a native speaker would understand by the phrase “bookend the future”. (I don’t want to have to recall the whole concept every time to interpret the phrase.)
Can you help me with a simple definition for the phrase “bookend the future”?


texts: Forms of lives? Is it correct to say that?

texts:
I was doing a listening exercise for an English Test, then i saw the written answer (which coincided with the audio) and it said this:

"Despite their differences, all forms of lives share the same characteristics"

As you can only listen once,i wrote "forms of life". Because for me "forms of lives" sounds weird..

So my question is a simple one, is "forms of lives" correct? i used a site called ludwig.guru which searches for specific phrases on the internet, and i didn't got a single exact match with that particular phrase.

Thanks!


texts: What would you call a public transport ticket you can make a transfer with?

texts:
Is there a term for a public ticket you can make a transfer with?

"Transferable ticket" is wrong, I suppose, because it is a ticket more people can use (it is not bound to a single physical human being).

What is the correct term?


texts: Some issues that are bothering me about the following sentence

texts:
The sentence is:

Intrigued by its success, I wanted to deepen my knowledge of the language’s history and of the unique culture that sprang around it.

I wrote it as a part of a project I have to submit, and there are two distinct aspects of this sentence that make me doubt its grammatical correctness:

Is the use of the word "of" (in bold, in both instances) appropriate here? I'm conflicted between using it and "about".
According to  Google, the definition of the verb "to spring" is "to originate or arise from", and in my sentence, the unique culture sprang around the language and not from it. Is the usage here correct?  Should I replace it with "grew" or something like that?

Help will be much appreciated :)


texts: Implication between "to ensure" vs "ensure"

texts:
Would you help explain the difference of "ensure" between:

Seventeeth-century views of scientific discovery combined with social class distinctions to ensure that laboratory technicians' scientific work was never publicly acknowledged.

Seventeeth-century views of scientific discovery, together with social class distinctions, ensured that laboratory technicians' scientific work was never publicly acknowledged.

For the 2., it's clear that the technicians' scientific work was never publicly recognized. Does 1. also mean or imply the same meaning?
Thank you very much for your time.


texts: "Do I need "has" in the following sentence?

texts:
There’s only one feeling that (has) never helped anyone: hate.

Do I need the "has"? Why or why not?

Note: On Google I find more versions without the "has", but I'm still not very sure ...


texts: "Since the 1980s it has become known as horizontal gene transfer" - when exactly?

texts:
From an article on biology

  The discovery of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) can be traced to 1928 when Fred Griffith reported the transfer of genetic material from heat-killed virulent Streptococcus pneumoniae to an avirulent form of the bacterium by a process he described as transformation (Bushman, 2002). It wasn’t until 1946 that other forms of non-reproductive gene transfer between organisms were identified and variously described as conjugation, transduction, recombination, rearrangement, linkage disequilibrium, etc. (Bushman, 2002). Since the 1980s these different examples of gene transfer have become known collectively as either horizontal or lateral gene transfer (Gogarten et al., 2002; Koonin et al., 2001; Ochman et al., 2000; Syvanen, 1994).

When exactly did they become known as HGT? In early 1980s? Or at some undefined point between the 1980s and today? Were they known as such on 1 January, 1990?

The use of become for some reason seemed strange to me. I'm not sure though.

Why "become", and not "been"?

  Since the 1980s these different examples of gene transfer have been known collectively as either horizontal or lateral gene transfer.


texts: 2 Relative Clauses at once in a sentence

texts:
I want to ask about using Double Relative Clause in one sentence.

To go straight to the question, I will show the sentence right away:

  'Patients have to treated by people who have qualified
  clinical skills which are continuously monitored and evaluated.

Is this a recommended way to put 2 relative clauses in one sentence.

Thank you!


texts: How to say something that will happen at X minutes every hour?

texts:
I am coding a task scheduler. One of the options allows the user to select a task to be performed every hour at X minutes (ie. 00:45, 01:45, 02:45... 23:45).

Since I don't want to clutter the UI, I would like to know a short way of expressing this.

Assuming the user wants the task to be performed every hour at 45, these are the ways I have thought about, but they all sound weird to me.

  Perform at 45 minutes (hourly)
  Perform every 1 hour at minute 45
  Perform at 00:45 (every hour)
  Perform at minute 45 (hourly)

Is there a better way to express this?

EDIT: Another way may be "Perform hourly at :45 mins"


texts: Is the preposition “from” optional for “resign”?

texts:
I have visited Google Ngram for “resign from” and “resign”. I found out that the use of “resign” alone is more common than “resign from”.

Does this mean that the preposition from becomes more optional?
If it doesn't, which of these two sentences is more correct using the verb resign?

I resigned from the position as worker of Fishy Company.
I resigned the position as worker of Fishy Company.


texts:
For Kant, feelings simply cloud the issue, making it more difficult to
  see that someone is genuinely doing the right thing, rather than just
  seeming to. Or to put a more positive spin on this: Kant made morality
  available to every rational person, whether or not they were fortunate
  enough to have feelings that motivated them to act well.

What does "put a more positive spin on this" mean?

and I don't understand the expression "Kant made morality available to every rational person" Is it right to say "Kant supplied every rational person with morality"?

Thank you!


texts:
I need to know if as a sportsman can say:

  I am going to dope?

I need to know how (especially) the Americans use the verb dope.


texts: Why is this not a pronoun error? "To those of us who had heard the principal [..] the news of the staff cuts was not surprising."

texts:
From the SAT:

  To those of us who had heard the principal of the high school talk about the budget, the news of the staff cuts was not surprising.

Why is it had and not have? Because isn't those plural?


texts: The developed approaches can be applied or can be used

texts:
I would like to know the correct way to express that the new methods can be applied to different areas and not to a specific filed.

For example,

  The developed approaches can be applied to several applications and not restricted to a specific area.

or

  The developed approaches can be used in several applications and not restricted to a specific area.

Which one is explain my idea better?


texts:
In general I do not understand the usage of "is its own" in a sentence. For example how should I understand "is its own" in the following sentence?

  Since the hand of a clock is its own clearly definable concept, it is a good idea to create it an own class – BoundedCounter – for the sake of human readability.

Because I do not understand "is its own" I cannot rephrase the above sentence so it is not clear to me how to intepret the meaning of the sentence


texts:
In one of American Dad's episodes (cartoon), there's a closing scene where Dad commands to his CIA colleagues to follow his daughter (who used to be a strip dancer) and then responds to one of them:

  Yes, I know she's got a great ass. Stay on it.

Stay on means to remain doing something, but I think natives will understand it better whether Dad is asking his operatives to remain following her or just threatens them to stop talking about his daughter's body's nice parts (hm, there should be a special word for 'nice parts of a human body', any ideas?)
Thank you for your help :)


texts: Do "rudiment", "fundamental", and "foundation" have any shades of meaning when they refer to the learning of a discipline?

texts:
I read from the free dictionary that the three words "rudiment", "fundamental", and "foundation" are listed as synonyms in thesaurus, with their individual meanings in regard to the learning of a discipline being

  rudiment: a fundamental element, principle, or skill, as of a field of
  learning; the first principles or elementary stages of a subject.

  fundamental: a basic principle, rule, law, or the like that serves as
  the groundwork of a system; essential part.

  foundation: the basis or groundwork of anything.

Despite the definition of each word, I am still not quite sure whether these words can be used interchangeably or have some shades of meaning when they refer to the learning of a discipline. For example, do:

"I have acquired the rudiments of quantum mechanics."
"I have acquired the fundamentals of quantum mechanics."
"I have acquired the foundations of quantum mechanics."

sound the same or slightly differently? Does "rudiments" suggest less comprehensive knowledge, which may be anecdotal, of quantum mechanics than "fundamentals" and "foundations"? I make this speculation on the basis that "rudiment" also has other meanings:

  a mere beginning, first slight appearance, or undeveloped or imperfect
  form of something

and

  an organ or part in its earliest recognizable form, esp one in an
  embryonic or vestigial state.

That being so, is there any difference between "fundamentals" and "foundations" in this context? It's like the both suggest essential knowledge for having an adequate understanding of quantum mechanics.


texts:
I wrote:

  This may be important in the context of anionic complexes extraction from water because the positive potential on the interface attracts anionic complexes to the interface, thereby increases/increasing their concentration at the interface and facilities transfer of them to the IL phase via an ion exchange mechanism.

Is it "increases" or "increasing" after "thereby"? The sentence may seem too long, however, I don't know how to shorten it. Moreover, I am not sure about "transfers of them". Could it be "their transfer" or just "transfer"?


texts:
Encouraged by her teacher, Vanessa decided to enter the short story contest with a story about her experience growing up in Canada.

Are "her experience" and "growing up in Canada" in apposition? Is "her experience growing up in Canada" is the same as "her experience of growing up in Canada" ?

If they are not in apposition, I don't understand what kind of relation they are in. If we take "growing" as a present participle, then its subject should be "her experience". But, "her experience is growing" is nonsensical.

EDIT:I corrected the error "from her teacher".


texts:
[...] emotions—some positive and helpful (I’ve worked hard and I can
  ace this presentation;...), others negative and less so (He’s
  purposely ignoring me;...).

I searched online dictionaries and find just the definition below:

  less so Contextual comparative. Modifies another adjective (to
  which the "so" is a direct anaphoric reference), indicating a lesser
  degree of the quality in question.

So, Does the sentence above means some emotions are negative and less nagative?

https://hbr.org/2013/11/emotional-agility


texts: Don't bring nothing vs Don't bring anything

texts:
My friend came to visit me and asked  If I wanted something. I wanted to tell him to not bring anything. In this context what is the the right sentence to tell him among two of the following:

a) Don't bring nothing!

b) Don't bring anything!


texts: An uncountable noun can be counted when the context is clear?

texts:
Questions:
(a) In a clear context, especially when telling the listener that there are types or versions of it, any uncountable noun can actually be counted, no matter what the uncountable noun is, like, it can be a mass noun, an abstract noun, or a liquid, or whatever, you name it. Is this idea correct?
(b) Uncountable nouns can be counted when talking about how many servings. Is this right, too?
Examples I came up with for my question (a):

(1) Today, I am going to introduce you guys three happinesses. The first one is ....

(2) Do you know there are three insanities? You don't know? Let me explain ...

(3) There are two approvals in this office. The first type is... and the second one is....

(4) This store provides funitures. Chairs, tables, you name it.

(5) This website give me informations! Sports, games, and many!

(6) Today she gave me a humor. Let me say it more clearly. It is a humor that I heard and then bursted out laughing.

Example I came up with for my question (b):

(7) In this magical world, you can buy happiness, yes literally. Look, that guy out there is buying three happinesses from that shop. And you can sell your happiness, too. How many do you have?


texts: What do you call the main area in an auditorium below the balcony? I am thinking "main floor" or "first floor", but it sounds not specific enough and I think there might be a better word for it. What would you call it?


texts: What does the phrase "I wish I could meet you so bad" mean?

texts:
Can you help me to understand this phrase:

  I wish I could meet you so bad.


texts:
Spongebob asked Patrick: is this the real life?

  Patrick replies: No, this is Patrick.

What is so funny about this?? Is it Spongebob content only??


texts: "indicate" and "reveal", which is better in this statement?

texts:
Between "Indicate" and "reveal", which is better in this statement?

Whether it's curled up in the fetal position, flat on the stomach or stretched out across the bed, the way people sleep reveals their personality, a British sleep expert said.
Whether it's curled up in the fetal position, flat on the stomach or stretched out across the bed, the way people sleep indicates their personality, a British sleep expert said.


texts: Meaning of 'firehouse' & 'pour forth from' in this news article

texts:
What do firehouse and pour forth from mean in this sentence?

  But according to recent polling, even the stellar economy can't save
  Trump from the firehouse of irredeemable qualities that pour forth from him on a daily and, indeed, hourly basis.

Here's the link of the article in which I saw this sentence:
Trump is so abhorrent, even a stellar economy can't save him


texts:
Which one of the following two choices is correct?

  The ticket window/ticket counter remained closed throughout the day.

I think both are correct.


texts: If it is Saturday/Sunday, would the up coming Friday be called ‘next Friday’ or ‘this Friday’? Also would the Friday that had just passed be called ‘this Friday’ when talking past tense?


texts: According to the Cambridge dictionary send back means: "to return something to the place it came from" and according to the same dictionary "feed back means: "to put something back where it came from"


texts: Generalizing or theorizing or abstracting?

texts:
Consider the following statement:

He has blood on his hands and a knife, he must have stabbed somebody.

Now if I change the above statement to:

If a man has blood on his hands and a knife, he must have stabbed somebody.

What am I doing? Am I theorizing, or abstracting, or generalizing, or something else?
Thank you in advance.


texts: Is the reason of not omitting 'to' because of ing?

texts:
All Harry could think of doing was to keep Quirrell talking and stop him from concentrating on the mirror.
  (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

In a different phrase containing all and do, I see the infinitive complement starts without to. Is it the same when do is replaced from doing, or is the infinite marker required in the latter case?


texts: Just want to confirm that policeman & policemen (plural) were pronounced the same right?

texts:
I checked the dictionary & found that Policeman & Policemen both get their pronunciation as /pəˈliːsmən/.

That is weird because I thought  Policemen should be pronounced as /pəˈliːsmen/

And that applies for postman & postmen /ˈpəʊst.mən/ & fireman & firemen /ˈfaɪərmən/ as well


texts:
I'm looking specifically for the meaning in this sentence:

  But I would say the biggest advantage of Optional syntax in Java isn't in readability: the advantage is its idiot-proof-ness.


texts:
Currently reading this article, there is a line,

Student debt is not a “crisis”; most students graduate with manageable levels of debt, and those with extremely high debt burdens tend to be the folks who got postgraduate degrees or chose to attend expensive private schools. Moreover, if someone has a high debt burden and a low income, he can already, under current law, choose an “income-based” repayment option that forgives the debt after he makes affordable payments for a period. There are certainly sympathetic cases where students were suckered in by colleges’ fraudulent claims, or where students attended school but didn’t graduate, gaining some debt with no degree — but blanket forgiveness, even limited to $10,000, does not target such cases, much less prevent them from continuing.

What does "sucker in" mean?
Googling or dictionaries didn't help.
Thank you.


texts:
Is it correct to say I eat dinner at 8 at night? I want to show that 8 in in night not in the morning or some thing else.

For example:

  I go to school at 8 in the morning.

  I eat dinner at 6 at night.


texts: Use of indefinite article with chained nouns combining singular and plural forms

texts:
Which sentence is correct?
1. Get a team's iterations
2. Get team's iterations

I think it's 2. My reasoning is: "team's iterations" is a noun group where "team's" is an adjective to the noun that is plural, and indefinite articles are not used with plural forms.

My opponents say that without the "a" article the sentence "doesn't sound natural". I believe they think that the article belongs to the "team" in this case.


texts: What is the omitted word in this sentence? (do or make?)

texts:
There is a sentence below,

I don't want to make anyone do anything that I don't want to.

What is the omitted word at the end of the sentence above? 'do' or 'make'?
And Is there any regulation to omit words? or should we decide what word is omitted in the sentence depending only on the context?
please give me the answer.


texts: I understand English well, but have trouble writing/speaking it. Are there techniques I can use to improve my ability to construct sentences?

texts:
Considering the following:

I'm okay at listening and very well at reading, but not good at writing and speaking (input is open,output is closed) mainly because I've forgotten some Grammar and other things like prepositions, phrasal verbs etc. I know the words I need to make the sentence I want, but can't glue them together to make the sentence in right format or find which word is best for specific sentence. However, I understand and remember the format and its meaning when I see it. Also, English is considered "foreign language" here so it isn't spoken much except at English classes.

What are some effective techniques for someone in my situation to improve their ability to construct sentences? Are there any things I should avoid doing?

Should I keep saying and writing the wrong (maybe not) sentences?
Is there a good method to recover the things I know, but have forgotten?
Do I need teacher/tutor or are there some things I can do on my own with books/other things?
Should I start studying from the beginning as forgotten parts are spread across the learning courses?


texts: simple past continuous combined with "for"

texts:
I am going to make up three sentences below.

(1) Three weeks ago, I was writing a short essay for five days.

(2) John was scoring a lot of goals for many years.

(3) During Tim's one-week stay in my home, I was working on my project for five days.

I am using the past continuous tense because the action mentioned in each sentence happened over a period of time. Does this tense work in my examples?


texts:
"How to rigorously calibrate and validate the model?"
What is wrong with the question? Can anyone guide me please?


texts:
I'm writing a book in English. Not my main language, but I'm doing this for fun mostly and love writing in English. I usually find words or descriptions on the internet if I'm not sure how to word something, but now I have to describe a sitting position, and I just can't find anything. It's the position of the girl on the left.

It has been driving me a bit crazy. Is there any native English speaker out there that can help me describe this posture in such a way that it's easy to visualize for the reader?


texts: What part of speech is the word 'to' used before verb infinitives?

texts:
E.g. to write, to ask, to come and so on.
Can it be considered a preposition in this situation? I know many languages allow prepositions before verbs. If it isn't a preposition, then I wonder what part of speech it can be.


texts: Does "the diameter of each of them" mean that they have the same diameter?

texts:
The diameter of hole A is smaller than the diameter of each of holes
      B and C.

I would like to know whether the above sentence I created means that holes
 B and C have the same diameter.


texts:
Where are we?
  Where we are?

Which one of the above QUESTION is correct?

  I want to know where in the hell are we.
  I want to know where in the hell we are.

Which one of the above STATEMENT is correct?

In the internet, I see both usages in both cases (statement and question). All of them are correct? If not, why?


texts:
Don't call me after 7,I_____my studying(finish).

I think the answer is will finishing or I had finished, but I'm not sure.


texts:
I have been watching some episodes of the British TV series Peaky Blinders. It is set just after WWI in Birmingham, and the main characters are criminals (of the namesake gang and others).

My ESL doesn't allow me to understand how much of the difference among how they speak and present-day Standard British English is due to local variation (out of London), how much to temporal variation (almost one century ago) and how much to sociolinguistic variation (the character not being too educated).

If someone were to address a modern average British speaker (say, from London), speaking exactly like those characters (take Thomas Shelby, the character played by Cillian Murphy, if the differences among the characters matter), what could the modern average speaker guess about him? Where would they place this Shelby-sounding person? Would the latter mostly sound from out of town, or also old-fashioned? Or even stranger?

For a concrete example, in this sample you can hear Thomas Shelby addressing his men. I notice that some vowels and diphthongs are different from standard English (for instance /pʊb/ rather than /pʌb/, I'd say), and the general prosody of the sentence as well, but I cannot pin it down precisely, nor say how it “sounds like” globally.


texts: Difference between "for the bad weather" and " because of the bad weather"

texts:
I can't go on a picnic for the bad weather.
  I can't go on a picnic because of the bad weather.
  I didn't go on a picnic for the bad weather.
  I didn't go on a picnic because of the bad weather.

As for me, all above sentences seem to be right.
However, I have read only the number 3 is wrong in a grammar book before.
As a nonnative speaker, I'm not able to understand the difference.
I'd appreciate it if any of the native speakers could explain the difference.


texts: Why does Bill Gates say "reduce global health equity" in his TED talk?

texts:
In Bill Gates' TED talk in 2010, 7:50 of The next outbreak? We're not ready,
he says that

  "The primary healthcare, the R&D, those things would reduce global health equity and make the world more just, as well as more safe.".

What does "global health equity" mean here? Does it mean it is fair for all people?
If it means fair/equal for all, why should we reduce it instead of improve it?


texts: is "Apple is good." grammatically correct?

texts:
Apple is good. (Here Apple is referred to as a kind of fruit, not a company.)
The subject is without "the" and "an", nor is it in plural form. Is this correct? What does it mean when a noun is used like this? Thanks.


texts: "suffer from the tragedy of perfection" meaning

texts:
There's a line I saw on a movie.

The scenario is on a funeral, and one of the deceased's family members said that the deceased "did not suffer from the tragedy of perfection."  What does it mean?

Based on the translated subtitles, I roughly know it means the deceased was not a perfect person. But why?


texts: What's the meaning of "around" in these sentences?

texts:
"What's working around communication? What's not?"

  "What's working for you around influence? What's not?"

Please tell me the meaning of these sentences. I have problem with the word "around" and so I can't understand the meaning of these sentences.

These questions were found in a leadership coaching blog:

  Coaching Questions to Explore with Clients:

  What's working around communication? What's not?
  Thinking about your team, what are their preferences around communication? What are your preferences around communication?
  What are the strengths you bring to communication?
  What are your communication blindspots?
  What difficult conversations need to happen?

  Coaching Questions to Explore with Clients:

  What does influence mean for you?
  What does influence look like?
  Where is influence most important to you in your role/team/department?
  What's working for you around influence? What's not?


texts: Understaning construction was + infinitive

texts:
From the Godfather book:

  Maranzano's refusal touched off the great war of 1933 which was
  to change the whole structure of the underworld in New York City.

What is this grammar construction about? I could guess that it's something close in meaning to Future-in-the-past. But why didn't we use would here instead of was to?

Or that's something completely different?


texts:
The bourgeois in Germany, like Saxony Frederick, initially had quarrels with church.

My question:
"Like Saxony Frederick" is extra information in the sentence, I always thought you could put commas around the extra Info and it would work. Like ,Extra info, is this correct or should use parentheses or some other method.


texts: Can "Madame" be used instead of "Madam"?

texts:
In President Trump's letter to Speaker Pelosi, he addressed Pelosi as "Madame Speaker".

  The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
  Speaker of the House of Representatives
  Washington, D.C. 20515

  Dear Madame Speaker:

However, in an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Colbert mentioned that "Madame" with the "e" is incorrect.

  "Trump made a mistake in the very first line by misspelling Pelosi's name. He wrote 'Dear Madame Speaker'. Nancy Pelosi is actually 'Madam Speaker' without the 'e'".

Personally, I am accustomed to using "Madam" but is "Madame" with the 'e' still correct? And is it commonly used in the United States?


texts: Which one is more grammatical and idiomatic, "view something is" or "view something as"?

texts:
The lecturer is saying

  Something hits you really hard and then goes away, and then
  nothing happens for a very long period of time.
  And you'll learn this in the future, you can kind of view
  this is an impulse.

Is it more grammatical to rewrite the last part "you can kind of view
this is an impulse" as "you can kind of view this as an impulse"?


texts:
The Source

  These people—who may well include you and me—are eating bread made of air, and so, in a sense, are made of air as well.

Isn't this supposed to be "made from air" because the air is not visible from the product "us."

Like, "This desk is made of wood."・・・This is OK because wood is visible.
"Cheese is made from milk"....This is OK because milk is not visible.

But the sentence above goes against this rule.
Why?


texts:
I'm trying to understand all the lyrics of this song. At 2:20, the song goes "but she says no scratch no snatch". I understand the meaning of these words separately, but I don't get the meaning of the expression.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts:
I loved talking to him, but over the last year, he hasn't been very pleasant to talk to.

I loved talking to him, but in the last year, he hasn't been very pleasant to talk to.

Are both sentences grammatically correct? Is there any difference between these sentences in terms of their meaning? I would probably use the first sentence myself, but I can't tell why.


texts:
This excerpt belongs to the short story "Feathers", contained in 'Cathedral' by Raymond Carver.

We turned right like the map said and drove exactly three and
three-tenths miles. On the left side of the road, I saw a field of
corn, a mailbox, and a long, graveled driveway. At the end of the
driveway, back in some trees, stood a house with a front porch. There
was a chimey on the houses. But it was summer, so, of course, no smoke
rose frome the chimney. But I thought it was a pretty picture, and I
said so to Fran.
“It’s the sticks out here,” she said.

“It’s the sticks out here”
I wonder if this response (nuance) means it's indeed attract attention or it's just country house (sarcastic remarks).


texts: How to convey that the doctor has asked his patient to perform certain medical tests?

texts:
Arvind went to his family physician. He asked Arvind to "perform" a couple of tests.Is this usage correct?

  Since the past few days Arvind has been feeling a little unwell and as a result had consulted his family physician. He was given a couple of medical tests to perform.

Will this imply that Arvind is the pathologist himself and would conduct the tests or would this mean that Arvind will seek help from one of the medical centers which would conduct the medical tests for him? How do I convey the latter meaning in this context?


texts: Is it possible to use **already** without **have/had** in front?

texts:
Is it possible to use already without have/had in front?
For example,

I already eat/ate

?


texts: Close or Close to, a special relationship

texts:
I heard on an American English language learners App a sentence where the girl said she was close to her grandad. From the context this was meant to mean a "special relationship". My understanding is that you cannot use "to" in this instance as this means close proximity unless you have already defined the subject is the relationship.
"My grandfather and I are close".
"My brother and I have become much closer over the years".
"Her relationship isn't good with her father, but she's very close to her mother".
Is my understanding correct and is there any difference between US and UK English?


texts: Do I need to use "have" or "has" for two inanimate actors?

texts:
Do I need to write "have" or "has" in the following sentence:

Her genuine interest toward the subject and readiness to share her
input in the lesson have served her really well over this year.

According to my knowledge of English grammar, it must be "have" because I have two actors: interest and readiness. However, the "Word" keeps changing it to "has". Why is it so? Is it because neither of the actors are living persons?


texts:
what is the meaning of “concentric rings round the world” in this context?

  In his spiritual vision Davis saw an arrangement of the universe which
  corresponds closely with that which Swedenborg had already noted,
  and with that afterwards taught by the spirits and accepted by the
  Spiritualists. He saw a life which resembled that of earth, a life that may
  be called semi-material, with pleasures and pursuits that would appeal
  to our natures which had been by no means changed by death. He saw
  study for the studious, congenial tasks for the energetic, art for the
  artistic, beauty for the lover of Nature, rest for the weary ones. He saw
  graduated phases of spiritual life, through which one slowly rose to the
  sublime and the celestial. He carried his magnificent vision onward
  beyond the present universe, and saw it dissolve once more into the
  fire-mist from which it had consolidated, and then consolidate once
  more to form the stage on which a higher evolution could take place, the
  highest class here starting as the lowest class there. This process he saw
  renew itself innumerable times, covering trillions of years, and ever
  working towards refinement and purification. These spheres he
  pictured as concentric rings round the world, but as he admits that
  neither time nor space define themselves clearly in his visions, we need
  not take their geography in too literal a sense. The object of life was to
  qualify for advancement in this tremendous scheme, and the best
  method of human advancement was to get away from sin—not only the
  sins which are usually recognized, but also those sins of bigotry,
  narrowness and hardness, which are very especially blemishes not of
  the ephemeral flesh but of the permanent spirit. For this purpose the
  return to simple life, simple beliefs, and primitive brotherhood was
  essential. Money, alcohol, lust, violence and priestcraft—in its narrow
  sense—were the chief impediments to racial progress.


texts: What is the question form of this sentence?

texts:
The Finance major is for those students with career objectives in the financial management of business firms.

I'm trying to turn this into a question; is this form correct?

  What students is the finance major for?


texts: Sentence Transformation of "Not only ... but also"

texts:
Myanmar is a beautiful country. It is rich in natural resources.

If I rewrite this sentence as

  Myanmar is not only a beautiful country but also rich in natural resources.

Will it be grammatically correct? And does the given sentence make sense?


texts: Why is "schematics" used in its plural form for a single item?

texts:
I am a visitor from Electronics.SE, where we often discuss the schematics for various devices. Mostly asking a user to post the schematics, because it is impossible to follow someone's thoughts without it.

Since English is not my native language, I have had a hard time understanding the difference between schematic and schematics. Initially I assumed that schematics is the plural form of schematic, but it did not take long to realize that schematics is being used even when there's only one page or circuit.

What are the rules governing the usage of this word? Does it belong to a specific type of words with a fancy name that I can search for?


texts:
Is this sentence correct?

I'd like 5 pounds top up for lyca mobile, please.


texts: Either Jack or you ......... doing this - Fill in the blank

texts:
Either Jack or you _____ doing this

Options:

1) was

2) were

3) is

4) had

My approach:

According to the subject verb agreement rule. 'Either' in the sentence should be followed by a singular form of the verb. So, according to my logic the answer should be "was".

Am I correct?


texts:
Does "distinction" mean "the quality of being excellent"?

NOAA, one of the country’s premier climate-focused agencies, held a dubious distinction under former President Donald Trump: It went his entire term without an administrator who had been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Yesterday, Biden moved to end its string of acting leaders, nominating Rick Spinrad, an oceanographer at Oregon State University (OSU), Corvallis, and a longtime NOAA hand, as the agency’s next head.

Source:  Science


texts: Which type of adverbial is “ about this policy”?

texts: “I will think again about this policy.”  In my view, “about this policy” is a preposition phrase, functioning as an adverbial. But I don’t know which type of adverbial this phrase is.