texts:
(1) I tried snails three years ago.

(2) I've tried snails.

These two sentences are used in one text to make the difference between reference time, speech time and event time clear. In the text is given this explanation: "It is clear that-the key difference is in the subjective focus (reference time). In (1) the focus is on the event, so reference time coincides with event time (R=E). In (2) it is on the present relevance (the speaker now knows what snails taste like), so reference time coincides with speech time (R=S)". I think that I understand event time and speech time but I have failed to understand what is meant by the term reference time. Could you explain to me in a dumbed way what reference time is.


texts:
Which one is correct? Why?

"As I said before"
OR
"As I told before"


texts:
"There are two apartments fitting you perfectly." Is this a correct sentence? or even a good sentence construction?

Using the word "fitting" as a present participle in this sentence seems grammatically sound but it just sounds weird or uncommon, at least for me. So, is it a good sentence?


texts: "Have" Vs "Has" when using with name of a team

texts:
Which of the two sentences are grammatically correct?

  Ferrari has been struggling this season.

Or

  Ferrari have been struggling this season.

According to my understanding, 'has' is what I should use because 'Ferrari' is a name of a team. But, I've been listening to a lot of YouTubers using 'Have'. One of such examples is Charles Leclerc Escapes Penalty And MORE | Jolyon Palmer On The 2019 Italian Grand Prix. At 16:04, he says

  Ferrari, since the summer break, have hit hard.

I'm not a native English speaker. Am I missing something?

P.S: Is it something to do with collective-nouns? It's one topic I have a difficult time with. If so, I don't want you to spoon-feed me the entire concept. You can post a link where I can read it and understand it myself.


texts:
If "jealousy is when you worry someone will take what you have ... envy is wanting what someone else has" So I think only the second sentence is correct. Am I right?

  1) My girlfriend is jealous of my success.

  2) My girlfriend envies my success.


texts:
What does “finger in the wind” mean in this quote is from James Comey’s book - A higher Loyalty

  this phrase came out in regards to Vice President Dick Cheney’s opinion for the Stellar Wind program and that he didn’t want to change his opinion on legal frame of the program.  The context is that in healthy organization, doubt is wisdom, but in political sphere doubt is considered as weakness. the phrase used here is “I am not talking about finger-in-the-wind, I’m afraid-to-make-a-decision kind of doubt.”

What I found out so far is meaning of “making a decision that the crowd will most likely like it” but I do not think this is the use case in this sentence.


texts:
Which one is correct :

  Now let’s hear Marco tell his story.
  Now let’s hear Marco tells his story.

And why?


texts:
When making an order, is it correct to say the following? If so, Why?  If not what is the correct way?

  Can I get one onion rings?

In case you want two servings,

  Can I get two onion rings?


texts:
Are both of this sentences right? Do they mean exactly the same thing? If no: What is the difference or which of them is wrong. And which version is wrong, if there is?

  The old walls of this castle tell stories of love and revenge.

  The old walls of this castle tell stories about love and revenge.


texts: Meaning of "the awesome sweep of the scenery"?

texts:
What's the meaning of this statement:
"the awesome sweep of the scenery"?
I know meaning of awesome, sweep, scenery but I can't understand this sentence at all!
Is it an idiom?


texts: What does "practice" mean in this context?

texts:
Consider this quote:

DROP OF A HAT - Acting readily or on some single signal. In the 19th century it was occasionally the practice in the United States to signal the start of a fight or a race by dropping a hat or sweeping it downward while holding it in the hand. The quick response to the signal found its way into the language for any action that begins quickly without much need for prompting.

Looking up OALD, there are three definitions that seems relevant to the context, but I'm not sure which one is the most appropriate, they are:

1 [uncountable] action rather than ideas
the theory and practice of teaching
She's determined to put her new ideas into practice.
2 [uncountable, countable] a way of doing something that is the usual or expected way in a particular organization or situation
common/current/standard practice
guidelines for good practice
a review of pay and working practices
religious practices
child care policy and practice
3 [countable] a thing that is done regularly; a habit or a custom
the German practice of giving workers a say in how their company is run
It is his practice to read several books a week.


texts: Can 'niggard' be confused with n-word in speech?

texts: Is the word niggard (~ cheap person, miser) popular in speech? My concern is that it can be confused with the derogatory n-word, especially when uttered by someone who has an accent.


texts: What does “I'm nowhere near ready” mean?

texts:
What does the phrase

  I'm nowhere near ready

mean?

For example:

  A:So, are you all packed for your trip?

  B:No, I'm nowhere near ready.

I know the meaning of nowhere near is far from; not nearly but I don't know what I'm nowhere near ready
means.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


texts: What does "a recent iteration" mean here?

texts:
I've been wondering what "a recent iteration" mean here in the following? I think the word "iteration" generally mean a repetition, a different form or version of something, and so on. I've been trying to translate the first sentence below into my language and understand it, but I can't.

  We take books and mass literacy for granted, but in reality, they are a recent iteration, going back not even a millennium. Less than four hundred years ago—barely a century and a half after Gutenberg—John Milton could still pride himself without exaggeration on having read every book then available, the entire history of written thought accessible to a single mind.

—From the the fourth paragraph of the article "Is Literature Dead?" at the Paris Review, as excerpted from The Lost Art of Reading by David L. Ulin.


texts: How can I politely give my opinion in a group discussion?

texts: If I am in a group discussion, how can I give my opinion with out hurting others? Is it good to use the phrases "I think" or "personally speaking"?


texts: Other expressions for "Receive a phone call"?

texts: I use "receive a phone call from someone", but always have thought other simple phrases instead of that. What is it ?


texts: What are the stairs before the door called in English?

texts: There is a specific word that describes the stairs before the door  like in the picture here.


texts:
generally "survival" is uncountable, however "struggle" is countable.
In my guess and definitions in dictionaries "survival" is a state and continuing sense.
struggle is a fact or a unit. does it make sense to understand the difference? or is there a fast-track to distinguish them?
i am wondering whether mass noun generally has stronger meaning as well. For example "I like food" ,"I like a biscuit". food can include biscuits, cookies and etc. is there any sense for a native speaker to figure out the mass noun?
thank you!


texts: Are any possessive apostrophes needed here? "...headphones for their iPhones"

texts:
I am a new English learner and need some assistance with understanding when to properly use an apostrophe for showing possession.

I have an example sentence:

  Sophie, Brock, and Hannah all own separate headphones for their iPhones.

In this sentence I am unsure whether to place an apostrophe at the end of headphones, iPhones, or if I even need one at all.

I would just like a little clarification on this topic.

Thanks!


texts: Meaning of "receiving end of her tongue"

texts:
The following is a part of Claire North's book, "Game House".
Her clothes are not so much worn as wrapped all about her, great twists and barrels of cloth in faded blue and brown, spun around her chest, her waist, her head, her feet, and we can feel perhaps a moment of sympathy for the man **who is on the receiving end of her tongue, as forked as her cargo, sympathetic as a fang.
'Her cargo' means snakes.
In this context, what is the meaning of receiving end of her tongue?
I also wonder what the shape of her clothes is in the previous sentence...


texts:
What can I say to describe a dropped phone call:
1- The phone call just dropped.
2- The phone call just cut out.
3- The phone call just disconnected.


texts:
It is too early to tell whether [Martin Schulz's] popularity is a “soap bubble” destined to pop, says Manfred Güllner of Forsa, another polling firm. As the former president of the European Parliament, Mr Schulz is well-known in Brussels, but he is still fresh in Berlin, untainted by domestic politics.

  Yet his effect has been to awaken the base of a party that, like its centre-left cousins elsewhere in Europe, seemed to have lost its way. The SPD last won an election in 1998, when Gerhard Schröder became chancellor.

Here is my question.

The phrase "has been to" here is in present perfect tense, but this phrase is more commonly used equally as "has gone to" in sentence like “I have been to visit my mother twice this month”. So, to express an "effect " which has already happened, why bother the writer using the phrase “has been to awaken ” rather than using the more common expression "has awakened" to indicate a present perfect tense?


texts: Is it correct to say "circle your temples with your fingers/knuckles"?

texts:
When people have a headache, they put their fingers or knuckles on 2 spots on their temples each. Then, they move the 2 spots around with their fingers / knuckles around without lifting the fingers / knuckles off or moving the fingers / knuckles away from those spots.
Is it natural to say "circle your temples with your fingers/knuckles" or "rub your temples with your fingers/knuckles"?
I don't think we say "rub", because when you rub something with your finger, the finger will not be fixed on just one spot but on many spots around it.
But, for this action, the finger stays in contact with the fixed spot all the time.


texts: threat to do something or threat that you do something

texts:
Someone trains a dog by setting it on neighbours. Neighbours tell him a threat so that the abuser will be scared of being arrested.

Neighbours express a threat that they will go to the police.
Neighbours express a threat to go to the police.
Neighbours express a threat that they go to the police

I wonder whether all the sentences are grammatical.


texts: The condition that {something} be {something} . .

texts:
When I read a math textbook, I encountered:

  The condition that a function be continuous is...

I don't know why I need to use "be" instead of "is".

Is it inappropriate if I use "is"? Is there any other word other than "condition" that I need to use "be"?


texts: What does 'for the reasons for the sake of which' mean?

texts:
Source: Bekker Number 1106B, Line 20, Nicomachean Ethics (2012) by Aristotle, translated by Joe Sachs

    I am speaking of virtue of character, for this is concerned with feelings and actions, and among these there is excess and deficiency, and the mean. For instance, it is possible to be afraid or be confident or to desire or be angry or feel pity, or in general to feel pleasure [20] or feel pain both more and less, and on both sides not in the right way; but to feel them when one ought,
  and in the cases in which, and toward the people whom, and for the reasons for the sake of which, and in the manner
  one ought
  is both a mean and the best thing, which is what belongs to virtue.

I suspect this complex English syntax to originate from the Ancient Greek syntax; but I have tried to clarify it by adding space, to indicate one ought as the subject in the relative clauses.
I know, and so ask NOT about, the meaning of sake (= the Germanic synonym for 'purpose').

reasons and sake are Referring Expressions; so to what do they refer?
1, 2. Reasons/sake for/behind/of what?


texts:
In the sentence below:

  The Republican presidential debate earned Fox News record ratings, and despite the clash, no outlet has done more of late to present Donald Trump as a serious thinker than Fox.

What does do more of in the last clause mean?


texts:
We students who had not studied were at a disadvantage.

Or

  Us students who had not studied were at a disadvantage.


texts: Singular vs. plural in the object of this sentence

texts:
These two sentences appear on the same page of an online dictionary.

  Possessive pronouns are pronouns that demonstrate ownerships.

  Possessive pronouns include my, mine, our, ours, its, his, her, hers, their, theirs, your and yours - all words that demonstrate ownership.

It makes me wonder which form--plural or singular--makes more sense in this situation per se. I would go with plural. I am assuming the rational for the singular use is that the author takes ownership as an abstract concept here. But is this usage common enough to make sense/make the sentence sound natural?

Some more examples, as mentioned in a comment:

Oxford Online Dictionary:

  ‘Whenever press ownerships have been allowed into commercial television ownership, the situation has been favourable to the emergence of media moguls.’

Wikipedia pages (not Wiktionary):

  The company has evolved through several corporate ownerships since its establishment in 1960 in North Carolina.


texts: The use of the preposition "OF" in a sentence

texts:
While I was reading news, I came across a sentence in which I couldn't  understand the use of the preposition 'of'.

  A state owned cooperative society has been accused of having defrauded
  scores of unsuspecting students of sizeable sums of money as tution
  fee by enrolling them in vocational training course.


texts:
What is the difference in meaning between:

Two score of books.
Two score books.


texts:
I heard a native English speaker said:

  I am severely in need of it.

It sounds much better than

  I am severe in need of it.

to me.

But thinking more deeply, isn't need a noun here hence it should be an adjective severe? Like "I'm good in shape."

But using adverb still sound more natural to me in many cases(but not the shape case above), for example "They inherently in genes are cute."

So what should it use actually?


texts:
I was trying to write a sentence but not sure if I’m using the word correctly.

Can I say “with feelings abandoned” when I’m trying to explain that we abandoned these feelings. I try not to use “abandoned feelings”
I was hoping “with feelings abandoned” works.

Thank you :)


texts:
And then had come the unlooked-for tidings of the imminent
  proceedings for divorce. And such a divorce! There were cross-suits
  and allegations and counter-allegations, charges of cruelty and
  desertion, everything in fact that was necessary to make the case one
  of the most complicated and sensational of its kind. And the number of
  distinguished people involved or cited as witnesses not only embraced
  both political parties in the realm and several Colonial
  governors, but included an exotic contingent from France, Hungary, the
  United States of North America, and the Grand Duchy of Baden.

  from The Unkindest Blow, a short story by Saki

Does "political parties" mean the members of political parties?


texts:
What is pine country as used in the following sentence:

  The choice was limited. To go north into the empty pine country
  and shoot myself, or to go south in the faint hope that a bunch of
  strangers might help me with my drinking problem.

Source: THE MAN WHO MASTERED FEAR


texts: Why is it right to say you die "from" an illness instead "of" an illness?

texts:
I just found this sentence in an article in Nature:

  Lovelace died in great pain at 36, from uterine cancer.

And I'm confused about the use of "from". I know "from" is used to express physical origin (e.g., He moved from Paris), but in this case the preposition is used to state the cause of something (the death of somebody). Is this use valid?


texts: Usage of past continues tense in describing evidences

texts:
I wrote the following sentence to describe my evidence of how some users used a system.

  They first showed difficulties in discriminating phonemes, especially short vowels, as they frequently requested to listen the word again.

In Persian we have a special continues past tense for such sentences as they were doing somethings when we were observing. It seems the English doesn't have such tense or maybe I can use past continues like "they first were showing ... as they were requesting ...."?


texts: Is "leaving some skin on the pavement" an error in this sentence? If not, where is the error?

texts:
Hello can you help me with this one? I can't seem to find the error in this sentence. My teacher told us to correct the grammatical error here.

  That runner on the track team always wins races because he has no fear of leaving some skin on the pavement.

Is it the "leaving some skin on the pavement"? Because I can't understand this phrase and I think it doesn't have a connection with the first independent clause, so I just guess perhaps this is really the error here. I'm not sure. Can you help me?


texts: English idiom or a phrasal verb I could use to express that something can't be counted with money?

texts:
Is there an English idiom or a phrasal verb I could use to express that something can't be counted with money ?
For example when something is so risky or important that it can't be counted with money.
For context: "The risk is very high however many women agree to be surrogate mothers.They are well-paid but I think pregnancy and delivery can't be counted with money."
I've added the before pregnancy and delivery but removed it because I think that articles are unnecessary.


texts: Meaning of this context about drug and death penalty

texts:
Excerpted from aldaily.com

    For some years now, the principal challenge to the practice has been the argument that this or that particular method of execution is cruel and unusual. So states are kept in perpetual quest of the impossible, as death-penalty opponents and skeptics push to restrict ever more tightly the range of methods that can be plausibly passed off as humane. This pressure has in turn compelled representatives of American prisons to virtually reproduce the very behavior of the criminalized drug users they are in the habit of imprisoning: lurking around with bags of untraceable cash, looking to buy lethal compounds from shady operators in Britain, India, and elsewhere. And now we see what seems, in a plot sense, much like a showdown: the Drug Enforcement Administration has begun raiding prisons to crack down on their importation of illegal drugs, intended for the execution of death-row inmates.

Does this article says, since many people oppose cruel execution of death penalty, in order to make execution efficient, faculties of prisons(representatives of American prisons) secretly allow prisoner (who had been sentenced to death) to buy drugs, and then catch them doing this, so they can make them more guilty, hence put them to death quicker?


texts: How to break this sentence to smaller sentences

texts:
Consider:

  OMINI data extraction method builds on the hypothesis (assumes) that there is a unique data region, which is the largest region in the web document, that this region contains multiple data records, that some tags are more likely to be data record separators based on their type and their occurrences, and that counting on an ontology helps identify data records.

It includes several assumptions that all refer back to "It assumes that ...". I want to break these sentences to separated sentences. Something like:

  It assumes that there is a unique data region, which is the largest region in the web document, that contains multiple data records separated by certain tags. It also assumes that counting on an ontology helps identify data records.

First, I am not sure about using the second that. Moreover, it is still long. If I want to shorten it further I may lose the connections between them or be forced to repeat "It assumes". I need some guide to overcome this issues.


texts: impounded attachments -- what exactly are those?

texts:
Source: The Illustrated Network—How TCP/IP Works in a Modern Network by Walter Goralski (2009)

Example:

  The modern email explosion has produced on-line ads, do-not-contact lists, spam, spam blockers, evil attachments, impounded attachments, and dozens of other moves and countermoves that make the email experience at once essential and yet daunting for many.

Not really sure what those are. Any idea?


texts:
She could be very unkind.

In the above sentence, what is this "could" usage?
I mean, this could has a similar meaning to "would"(would do something used for talking about things that often happened in the past), hasn't it???
According to YBM dictionary, this sentence means there was a time when she was very unkind. But I am not sure this translation is correct or not.
Note - YBM is a Korean company that publishes English books, dictionaries and so on. So I cannot completely trust it more than Oxford or Longman.


texts:
Is it natural to say "Unparse"? Sounds scratchy, and weird, but I've seen such kind of words...

Is it normal to put un before to any word to make it opposite?
And if a word can't take un as a prefix, how can we render such word to mean its reverse or reversing, opposite, not, etc., as un normally does?


texts:
As mentioned, which is the correct one?

  "I'm going to finally start" or  "I'm going to start finally"?

It's not only this particular sentence/phrase I'm worried about. I want to know, just like the question asked, which word should come before/after another word. Are there any grammar rules which dictate the correct way to place certain words/verbs before/after other words?


texts: Do native speakers use double negatives in order to mean positive situations REALLY

texts:
I stumbled upon VOA (Voice Of America)'s video about the use of the combination of either/or and neither/nor.

Well, the guy in the video says, the double negatives, as he says, the sentence such as

  Neither Adam nor his friend cannot swim.

But I rarely or never met a person this kind of double negatives spoke
in order to mean the positive situations.

I know for sure that double negatives should mean positive, but how rare in the real word is is? Or am I dead wrong?

Thank you for your answer, JavaLatle,

However, will you kindly "break into parts" of your example according to which such double negatives turned positives can be used particularly in formal situation so that I can understand the English 1819's parliament quote? The part, especially after had they ~ is making difficult for me to grasp what this decree or statement is trying to say.

  The executive government assuredly would not not have done its duty, had they not made use of all lawful means to thwart the designs of such confederacies... The parliamentary history of England, 1819


texts: What does "fame had fallen short of the truth" mean?

texts:
It is from Pride and Prejudice.

He had not been long seated before he complimented Mrs. Bennet on having so fine a family of daughters, said he had heard much of their beauty, but that, in this instance, fame had fallen short of the truth ; and added, that he did. not doubt her seeing them all in due time well disposed of in marriage. This gallantry was not much to the taste of some of his hearers ; but Mrs. Bennet, who quarrelled with no compliments, answered most readily,—


texts:
This comes from The Life of John Wesley, Volume 2 by Robert Southey

  With all this, the zeal of this extraordinary man was such, that, as he truly said of himself, the sword was too sharp for the scabbard.

I am not sure why there's a comma between such and that. I would have personally rewrote it like this:

  With all this, the zeal of this extraordinary man was such that, as
  he truly said of himself, the sword was too sharp for the scabbard.


texts:
I want to tell someone about the same day [current day]. For instance:

I've worked out at the gym 2 hours ago and feel good as a result [now]. Now I'm listening to music and surfing the Internet.

Are my sentences correct?


texts:
'To give a lift'
Is it a collocation or an idiom?
How can we call it?


texts: Meaning of "Please call free on 000-000-000"

texts:
I am a IELTS learner.
I am wondering about this sentence:

  Please call free on 777-777-7777

It means "call me anytime you want"?
Or "you are not charged for the call on the number"?


texts:
What is the meaning of and difference between the following sentences?

  We get engaged.

  We are getting engaged.


texts: Is it okay to use "Thank you" in both body and closing of an email?

texts:
I want to send this email.
Hi xxx,

It is duly noted. Thank you.

Thank you,
xxx

Is this correct? Is it okay to use thank you twice like that?


texts:
Which one is correct: "It doesn't matter" or "It don't matter"?
I think the first one is correct but in the lyrics of Adele's song, "Hello", the second one is written.


texts: What is the phrase used here: He wore his arms off grabbing things first

texts:
I read an article and there are two sentences in it:

  "He wore his arms off grabbing things first. He wore his legs off pushing in every place first."

I look up "wear off " in the M-W dictionary, and it says:
"gradually decrease, disappear, or stop". But in my opinion, it doesn't make sense here.

What is the meaning of "wear off" here?


texts: Error Correction : He being the eldest son his father expects him to take care of several things besides his regular studies

texts:
He being the eldest son (A)/  his father expects him to take care of several things(B)/ besides his regular studies.(C)

Is the above sentence correct ? Usually I have heard/read sentences which have possessive form being used  before being e.g.

  He turns a blind eye to my being late every day.

So I think the he used in first part is wrong.


texts: grammar subject verb agreement- people like me who is happy all the time" or "people like me who are happy all the time"? Is it is or are?

texts:
Do I say "people like me who is happy all the time" or "people like me who are happy all the time"? Is it is or are?

Seems like it should be are as people are plural.


texts: How to ask politely to my lecturer requesting for a make up class?

texts:
I am an undergraduate student in Indonesia. I would like to ask for a make up class to my lecturer because the day that the class is supposed to be is a day between two holidays (it's called as "Harpitnas" in Indonesia, one working day sandwiched between two holidays). Is the below word already okay?

  Good day, Mr. X. Most of my friends in SLA 205 class can't seem to
  make our next Monday class. Next Monday will be a so-called
  "Harpitnas" day. I am afraid if most of them will be absent because of
  the day. I am wondering if you'd be glad to make the class off for
  another time, Sir. Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience, Sir.

I appreciate every answer that is inside the topic. Thank you very much.


texts: Can somebody explain "$40 per share of a $110 stock" for me, please?

texts:
Repatriation of the dollar. Apple has a mountain of cash overseas which it hasn't been able to bring back to the U.S. because it would be hit with a 40 percent tax rate. As of the end of September, Apple had $237 billion in cash and marketable securities, and 91 percent of that was outside the U.S., which amounts to roughly $216 billion, or $40 per share of a $110 stock.

source: www.cnbc.com


texts: What does the sentence "haptic feedback on your device gives the game a satisfying analogue feel" mean here?

texts:
Please help me figure out the meaning of the following sentence from the description of the game Infinity Pinball:

While the game has familiar flippers and bumpers – and the haptic
feedback on your device gives the game a satisfying analogue feel –
each section of the never-ending table is a gateway to the next level.

Here is a description of the game from Google Play:

Infinity Pinball delivers a revolutionary twist on the pinball genre -
so the fun never ends! Served up in a nostalgic retro-style, these
infinitely long procedurally-generated pinball tables live inside a
virtual Pocket Game. You can continually play your ball up the table
levels for endless fun as you win coins, collect unique balls and
unlock new tables.


texts:
And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. (Genesis, Chapter 7: 17)

What does "bare up" mean in here? And why?


texts: "Made out of", "made of" and "made with"

texts:
I understand the phrases made of and made from from the questions and answers provided here and here.

Yet I came across three more phrases: made out of, made of, and made with which I think are related to the subject in question.

Would you please help me understand how to differentiate these phrases too? And how is their usage?


texts: What’s the meaning of the phrases “It came as” or “It comes as”?

texts:
I came across the expressions "It came as" and "It comes as" in the BBC News article, but I couldn't find the meaning of it in dictionaries. What do they mean?

1) He also said employers should be sympathetic to workers who do not have access to childcare.
It came as new rules said people in England can soon meet one person from outside their household, at a distance.

2) "If people find themselves in conditions that they think are unsafe, then they should immediately report it and we will take action, and that goes for all work."
It comes as a further 210 people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths recorded to 32,065.

3) Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have devolved powers over their own lockdown restrictions.
It comes as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy released new guidance for UK employers on how to implement social distancing measures, with eight separate documents published for sectors which can now reopen.

BBC News, ‘Coronavirus: PM 'not expecting' flood of people back to work,’
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52626822


texts: Which one is a correct sentence 'classes has started' or 'classes have started'

texts:
When I asked why not the classes has started, one of my friend suggested a correction: "have started"

My question is: which one is correct?


texts: What does this sentence mean? "Lisp has attracted some of the brightest minds in the history of computer science."

texts:
folks.
I would like to get your help.
Please accept me as your obedient student.

I wonder what the sentence mean.
Below is the sentence which is from a computer programming book about programming language LISP.

"Lisp has attracted some of the brightest minds in the history of computer science."

Does "brightest minds" mean some good programmers?
Does that sentence mean that Lisp succeeded to attract attentions from some, famous, good computer programmers?

Any explanations will be appreciated greatly. Thanks.


texts: How do I understand Yvonne Strahovski's accent in an interview with Craig Ferguson?

texts:
Source

At 3:45, I really found it very difficult to understand her accent. The youtube transcript shows the very out-of-world things.

Should I practice with BBC documentaries for both Aussie and American accents?


texts:
I've made a sentence:

  I wouldn't grow in my career if I didn't continuosly ask myself for
  new challenges.

I tried to say that the fact I found a new challenge everytime I've done with the current one gave me opportunities to grow in my carrer. Does it sound OK?


texts: A sentence in THE ECONOMIST "Only about 0.1% of true stories were shared by more than 1,000 people, but 1% of false stories managed between 1,000 and 100,000 shares." Is “managed” the synonym of "shared"?  But I cannot find this meaning in dictionary... Thanks.


texts:
A scene in the movie The Departed:

  Billy (to Trooper Brown, with a gun to Colin's head): Look, he's Costello's rat, all right? I got boxes of tapes! Evidence! Other documents proving it!

  Trooper Brown (has his gun trained on Billy): Maybe you do. But right now I need you to drop the weapon!

  Billy: I have evidence cold-linking this prick (referring to Colin) to Costello, all right?

Context: Billy is an undercover state trooper working with crime boss Costello. Colin is a mole inside the state police force working for Costello. Costello has just been killed by Colin prior to this scene of a confrontation between Billy, Colin, and Brown.

It doesn't appear to be idiomatic or commonly used at all--Google and Google Books have literally nothing relevant to "cold-linking". It seems "linking" would do the job. Is "cold-linking" a wordplay on something else? Or is it police slang?


texts: How do you refer to people in a statement?

texts:
When reading articles like magazines and newspapers, we see a lot of people's names there, but how people are referred to varies. The following are some of the most common ones.

First name alone
First name + Last name
Last name alone
Title (Mr/Mrs/Ms etc.) + Last name
Title (Mr/Mrs/Ms etc.) + First name + Last name

And below are some actual examples. (US President Donald Trump's case)

Donald Trump is a man who prefers plain speaking to the language of diplomacy. (BBC)
Trump says there's no question the coronavirus 'will go away'(CNBC)
Mr Trump arrived for his first visit to the UK as president on 12 July.  (BBC)
President Trump Said He’s Considering Defunding The World Health Organization Over Coronavirus Response (Forbs)
President Donald Trump reiterated Wednesday that the coronavirus will "go away," (CNBC)

Are there any commonly-accepted rules about how we should refer to people in a statement?


texts:
I found thrice as many entries for the version with "in". Is that the correct or at least generally preferred preposition or should I use something else?

Example phrase:

  Are you going for 1st place __ the singing contest?


texts: Can you explain 'but that's beside the point'?

texts: Does it mean, but that is not what I am trying to point out? That is only a trivia, what I am trying to say is something else.


texts: "worthy of mention(ing)" or "worthy of a mention(ing)"?

texts:
That kind of happening would have definitely been worthy of mention.

or

  That kind of happening would have definitely been worthy of a mention.

or

  That kind of happening would have definitely been worthy of mentioning.

or

  That kind of happening would have definitely been worthy of a mentioning.

?


texts:
Should insect in the following sentence be in a plural form?

  It is a dragonfly. It is a kind of insect (or insects?).

Shouldn't we always use plural noun after a type/kind of ?


texts: which usage of phrase "work of art" is the correct one

texts:
so my problem is which phrase is correct
this one: "Donuts, work of art"
or this one: "Donuts, works of art"

These are meant to be one sentence ... what it means is that these donuts are so satisfying. My problem is with the plural of the word "works" should it be "work" or "works"

I want to use the phrase in more poetic manner like figure of speech i want the reader of the phrase to make his/hers own jugment about the donuts ... but i would like to emphasize the fact that the donuts are pleasing to your tongue like the artwork is pleasing to the eye.


texts: Use of "considered" in "May I be considered"

texts:
Someone was giving something away for free and I asked the below...

  Hello Kristian, may I be considered please, I can collect tonight after work

I am asking for clarification as I was told I used the word "considered" in the wrong context.

Thank you in advance.


texts: ... does the cat see in the tree? — must the question word be 'who', 'whom' or 'what'?

texts:
It's an exercise for kids from a textbook. The book actually provides the answer as well:
— ... does the cat see in the tree?
— Two birds.
My question is as follows. What should we use at the place of ellipsis: 'who', 'whom' or 'what'? The textbook says the correct answer is 'what'. Why? I'd like to use 'whom', but I've already heard plenty of times it's so terribly obsolete that modern people don't use it anymore. Unfortunately I do not have a live person nearby who speaks English and thus could help me.


texts:
Being more precisely, I just don't even know what "end up" means.

I saw this sentece in a forum. Is use of "being" here correct? I would write it this way:

  To be more presicely, I just don't even know what "end up" means.


texts: Is the usage of the word 'resounding' correct here?

texts: I awkwardly used the word 'resounding' a while ago as follows. Your argument is resounding. I meant you raised a good point there, although at the time I went for that strange statement. Anyway, was that, by any means, correct? Thanks in advance.


texts: "As I told you," vs "as I have told you."

texts:
What's the difference between the two? Is the latter more formal? Example:

  As I (have) told you before, I didn't know the victim.

Both have many results in Google Books: As I told you before. As I have told you before.

So I'm sure they're both grammatically correct.


texts: Does a word exist for using a reservation on another date?

texts:
Let's consider a situation in which you had a reservation of a tennis court. It was already paid for, but for some reason you could not come and play. So instead of giving you money back, the tennis club offers you to play on another date.

How would you call the act of playing on another date in this situation? Is there a single word in English to describe it?


texts: Will the following sentence still be grammatical if I remove the "of them"?

texts:
I explored every inch of the beach: its rocks, its reefs, its shoreline,
  all (of them) coated with green moss.

Can I omit that "of them"? Why or why not?


texts:
What does "on the spot" mean in football (soccer)?

  Aubameyang places the ball on the spot. He takes a few paces back. He strolls up to the ball, sidefoots it feebly to his right, and having gone the right way Ederson can hardly fail to save it!


texts: Finding the appropriate word (related to selling and buying)

texts:
I'm trying to find a verb that means "To persuade the seller to sell something with a lower price"

For example, John went to buy a new phone. He had 200$. The phone was 240$. So he tried to buy the phone with 200$.


texts:
Death had been more pitiful to them than longer life would have been.
  It had taken the one in the loyalty of love, and the other in the
  innocence of faith, from a world which for love has no recompense and
  for faith no fulfilment.

This is from a novel "A Dog of Flanders". I read the translation of this sentence "Death had been more pitiful to them than longer life would have been." and it says it means "The death was better for them than longer life would have been.". But when I looked a word "pitiful" up in dictionaries, it means "sad, pity", so does it mean "The death was worse for them than longer life would have been.", doesn't it? When I read following sentences, I think it can be interpreted either. Could you teach me?


texts:
Is "in doing so" a fixed phrase or can it be changed? Are any of the following sentences possible?

You shouldn't need to have killed that person while being in that time, because of doing so you changed the present.
You shouldn't need to have killed that person while being in that time, doing so you changed the present.
You shouldn't need to have killed that person while being in that time, upon doing so you changed the present.
You shouldn't need to have killed that person while being in that time, with doing so you changed the present.


texts: "I was locked in an elevator for five hours" vs. "I have been locked for five hours"

texts:
In a hypothetical situation, I was in a lift and suddenly it stopped and I got stuck in it for five hours.

So in this situation what would I say?

  "I was locked in it for five hours."

  OR

  "I have been locked for five hours."

According to me, if something started in the past and is still happening, then one should use present perfect continuous but my confusion is that if we use present perfect continuous here, then it may also mean that someone locked me in the elevator (Passive form).

e.g. "I have been locked by someone."

So please tell me which sentence would be appropriate here to say that I was inside an elevator for five hours.


texts:
Can a noun modify a gerund?

car repairing/door painting/room cleaning

It seems to me if it's possible it sounds ambiguous.

How is it going with your car repairing?

Does it mean that I repair cars and I am ask how good it is going? (your repairing of cars)
or
Does it mean that someone is repairing my car and I am asked how it is going? (your car's repairing)


texts: Relative Pronoun Who/That in this sentence

texts:
I've come across this type of sentence:

  I'm asking the name of person was speaking to us.

Could I use "That/Who" here? Like:

  [...] Of the person who/that was talking to us

Is it stuffy or grammatically incorrect?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
Excerpt from Bookworm IV: Full Circle by Christopher Nuttall:

  Now, as darkness hung over the land, she knew what it cloaked. Farms
  destroyed, towns burnt, men conscripted, women raped, children
  butchered...

There's no article before darkness, should I understand it as "the darkness" or "a darkness"? Also what difference does it make in this context, I feel like regardless of whether it's a darkness or the darkness it doesn't make much of a difference, but I feel like it should be "the darkness" is there a reason why the author ommitted the article and what figure of speech is he using?


texts: is this expression "what does a panda look like" too childish?

texts:
Assume I've never seen a panda before. When people mention this animal, I ask

  What does a panda look like?

I googled this sentence, there are only "1,020 results".

Is this expression too childish?


texts: What is the subject of a sentence with "name, who..."?

texts:
Name, who studies medicine, hopes to help a lot of people in the future.

If a sentence is like above, is the name or who the subject?


texts: Which is correct "sandwiches with ham", "sandwiches and ham", or "ham sandwiches"?

texts:
Which version is correct?:

  I have ham sandwiches for breakfast.

  I have sandwiches with ham for breakfast.

  I have sandwiches and ham for breakfast.

Of course, I mean that I eat sandwiches with ham inside them.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "the smartest thing I have done is stop junk food"?

texts:
Could you tell me if it's correct and natural to say the following?

The smartest thing I have done is stop eating junk food.

If it's not, thend would it be more natural if I said this way?

The smartest thing I have done is stoping eating junk food.


texts: Does the word "challenge" here mean something more than its regular meaning?

texts:
Does the word challenge here has a latent meaning of anger and obstinacy? If so is that a common expression or something Jumpa Lahiri came up with as a writer?

  ...He offered these details as if responding diligently to questions I was not asking. “I don’t ask you to care for her, even to like her,” my father said. “You are a grown man, you have no need for her in your life as I do. I only ask, eventually, that you understand my decision.” It was clear to me that he had prepared himself for my outrage—harsh words, accusations, the slamming down of the phone. But no turbulent emotion passed through me as he spoke, only a diluted version of the nauseous sensation that had taken hold the day that I learned my mother was dying, a sensation that had dropped anchor in me and never fully left.
  Is she there with you?” I asked. “Would you like me to say something?” I said this more as a challenge than out of politeness, not entirely believing him. Since my mother’s death, I frequently doubted things my father said in the course of our telephone conversations: that he had eaten dinner on any given night, for example, and not simply polished off another can of almonds and a few Johnnie Walkers in front of the television. “They arrive in two weeks. You will see them when you come home for Christmas,”my father said, adding, “Her English is not so good.”...


texts:
I was seeking for a funny pun because it was for a grade.
I'm confused because I think the sentence is correct, but Grammarly says the for between seeking and a is unnecessary. Is this true? Why is that?


texts:
Tom grabbed an armchair, dragged it to the middle of the room, and motioned for her to sit. Then took a stool for himself and sat down across from her.

Is "took a stool for himself" correct? Is it what a native speaker would write in this context?


texts: What are the differences between "their country" and "their own country"?


texts:
I have the following sentence:

  The following research topics will be studied and expected to be finished
  by the end of Fall 2015

I know I can study a topic, or analysis a topic, but I am not sure I can say I finish a topic.. should I use some other words like completed? Which one is more formal?

Also, does this sentence sound ok?

PS: I want to say:

I will study the following research topics.
I wish/expect to finish the study(obtain result) by the end of Fall 2015

Thank you!


texts: Is `is` correct in this sentence? Or it should be `was`?

texts:
Here's a context. A person has changed his main Facebook email address to example@gmail.com. His previous email address is/was foobar@gmail.com. Assuming that the person will never change his Facebook email address anymore, I have this sentence:

The email address that was associated with his Facebook account is foobar@gmail.com.

I was thinking that is foobar@gmail.com can be correct since the previous email address will never change (i.e., in the future, the previous email address would still be foobar@gmail.com). On the other hand, using was foobar@gmail.com sounds natural but I don't understand why it would be correct because I thought that was is used to refer to a past event and foobar@gmail.com is not an event.

I appreciate if someone could help me with my confusion. Thanks.


texts:
What if figures like
  Gandhi, Martin Luther
  King, Jr., or Lech Wałesa
  had been more
   prominent parts of our
   political history and not
   the latter-day entries –
   thanks in part to classic
  India – to it that they
  have been? Would a
  doctrine of divine right of kings have developed,
  and all that followed in
   reaction to it, had there
   not been already in place
   an equally absolute and
  competing theory of the
   divine right of popes – as
  secular rulers

I'm being challenged by my teacher as to what the above text means. It's not his own writting but I'm guessing it's an excerpt from a book or something. I wish I had any more context to help with decoding its meaning. What baffles me most is the part in bold. I understand latter-day to mean contemporary or modern, but what does entry mean? I looked it up and none of the definitions could help make a straight sentence. I also don't understand the to it that they have been part, it what and they who?

I'll be grateful to anyone who can help.


texts:
Meaning of "Many of those despicable wretches does my present acquaintance with infamy and wickedness enable me to number among the heroes of debauchery."(Johnson's Rambler No. 170) I cannot find out the subject and the main verb of this sentence, so I cannot understand the meaning of this sentence at all. Could anyone help me grasp this sentence, by paraphrasing into easy English? The following is the context of this sentence.
Many of those despicable wretches does my present acquaintance with infamy and wickedness enable me to number among the heroes of debauchery. Reptiles whom their own servants would have despised, had they not been their servants, and with whom beggary would have disdained intercourse, had she not been allured by hopes of relief.


texts: What's the meaning of "get something to someone"?

texts:
I can understand "get something from someone", but am confused about the meaning of "get something to someone".
For example, an excerpt from a NBC interview of Mr. Ron Klain:

Well, the president-elect had a conversation with Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer on Friday and they talked about the need to get urgent action. I mean, we need action during the lame duck. There's a lot of things that are going to have to wait until Joe Biden is president, but this is not one of them. Getting help to people, getting help to state and local governments, I mean, it’s not -- obviously, we need urgent help to individuals, but we're going to see layoffs of police, of firefighters, of teachers in the next month in a lot of states and localities unless these local governments get the aid they need.

Another example from: link

“It’s about getting livelihoods to people who have lost everything and doing it the right way to ensure inclusive growth,” Johnson said.

I couldn't locate the usage in any of my dictionaries. Is it an idiom?


texts: Is "I haven't seen the college in a year" natural sounding?

texts:
We're making sentences with present perfect and I wonder if "I haven't seen the college in a year" sounds natural to native English speakers.
The idea is due to covid, I haven't been to college in a year.
Also, the college means the one I go to.
Thanks


texts:
As far as I understand, you are more likely to say "don't waste your time with" when referring to a person. But can you only use it in the context of persons?
Or is it valid to say:

  Don't waste your time with this book

vs

  Don't waste your time on this book


texts: "no A and B" or "no A and no B" or "no A or B" or "no A or no B"?

texts:
If I mean "it does not contain A or B", which one of the following is correct?

It contains no A and B.
It contains no A and no B.
It contains no A or B.
It contains no A or no B.

I think 2 is correct, but I am not sure about others.


texts: Meaning of "to the stars and beyond with someone"

texts:
“to the stars and beyond with someone”

I dont remember the full context of it. All I can recall is that a person was making a toast to another one. I just heard someone saying that
What does this phrase mean? I have been trying to google the meaning but couldn't find any.


texts: What's the meaning of "my hand has been played"?

texts:
What is the meaning of "My hand has been played"? And is it similar to "I've been played?"
This is the context:

"How did you get my phone number?"

"...She told me your name and that you are a professor at NYU. You are listed as Dr. Martin Rose. There are 3 Martin Rose listings in the telephone directory but none with the title of Dr. There you have. My hand has been played."

Lonely Man Full of Love by Mauro Mevlud Martino


texts: Getting acquainted with people by observing?

texts:
Let's say your in your family reunion, and it has been really a long time since your last show up(like 20 years and over) Can you say....

  ''I am still in a process of getting acquainted with the others by observation''.

P.s: Google answers can't just answer this. It says get acquainted with each other(get to know each other by talking or doing something together). BUT what if you are just observing?


texts:
I'm wondering if "you can say so if you must" can be used as a concession in the following.
A: I sold everything and moved to Canada with John because I loved him.
B: No, you didn't really love him. You thought you loved him; at that time, you mistook desire for love.
A: OK, you can say so if you must (= if you must say so).


texts: Is it possible to "not mind" doing something, but still dislike it?

texts:
Usually when I hear people ask: "Do you mind doing [task]?", they are expecting one of two responses:

"No, I don't mind." Which means I would like to do the task.
"Yes, I do mind." Which means I would not like to do the task.

What if I am willing to do the task (I don't mind), but I would actively dislike doing it (I do mind)? Neither of the above responses seem to cover that middle ground.

How do I express my begrudging acceptance in this case?


texts: Can I use a preposition followed by "next"?

texts:
As an example

  Where do you want see you in next 5 years .

Is it correct? Are there any rules regarding the use of prepositions? If anyone knows please be kind enough to attach related links.


texts: Is "did you" pronounced /di ju:/, /di dʒju:/ or /di dju:/?

texts:
There are 3 types of pronunciation of "did you" I've heard, /di ju:/, /di dʒju:/ and /di dju:/.

When a speaker, usually an American, doesn't pronounce the second 'd', that would be /di ju:/.

When a speak pronounces the second 'd', an American like pronouncing /di dju:/, and a British like pronouncing /di dʒju:/.

Is my understanding right?


texts: What does the "c" add to the word "aquire" when it already sounds correct meaning the verb "to gain; to possess"?


texts:
Which sentence is better?

I have been trying to contact you for 4 weeks but did not get any answer and was disappointed.  But today got one at last.....
I tried to contact you for 4 weeks, did not get any answer and was disappointed. But today got one at last ......
I have been trying to contact you for 4 weeks but have not received any answer and have been disappointed.  But today got one at last .....

I think the first one is not possible because have been trying is present perfect progressive so get should be present perfect as both actions are more or less simultaneous.
I think the  third is the best one because the action of getting an answer have been recent


texts: "It's not a problem at all TO do that" vs. "It's not a problem at all do that" (without TO before do)

texts:
Which of these is correct?

  It's not a problem at all TO do that

vs.

  It's not a problem at all do that (without TO before do)


texts:
My question is about I wanna say to anyone about - i have not take shower for three days. What will be the correct form?

I have not taken shower since three days.
I didn’t take shower for three days.


texts:
The rumor that she has something to do with the crime turned out true.
  The rumor that she had something to do with the crime turned out true.

Which is correct? If both are correct, is there any difference in meanings?

Thanks for your help in advance.


texts:
I'm having trouble understanding this phrase as it is used here:

In some ways our definition of local compactness is not satisfying.

and the dictionaries do not help. Could you help to understand the uses of it?


texts: Is there an idiom that means "to be doing something at all time"? Like the antonym of the expression "stay in the backseat (at all time)", something that means "be proactive at all time"?


texts: Is "Sausage sizzle" only used for charity events?

texts:
In Australian or New Zealand English, is the term "Sausage sizzle" only used for charity events, as opposed to a BBQ that you're having with friends?

Wikipedia has an entry on sausage sizzle, but I don't trust it, as it describes a food item, as opposed to the event, as being the sausage sizzle, which I've never heard before. (Perhaps they're thinking of sausage sandwich - ironically, that page seems to have a more accurate definition of a sausage sizzle!)


texts:
In everyday spoken language when you, as native English speakers, say "glass" and "cup" are they considered as a synonym for you or you have a special meaning for each one of them?

As a non native English speaker I don't find a difference between

  "I would like to have a glass of water."

or

  "I would like to have a cup of water."

Then my question is:

Is the name of the vessel - in the spoken language - determined by the beverages which is going to be inside (e.g. cold and hot, alcoholic and non alcoholic), or by its shape (e.g. tall or short, flat or deep), or by the size of the capacity (e.g. 6-12 oz or more)  or by the material which it is made of (i.e. glass for glass only rather than for porcelain, plastic, paper cups etc.)?


texts: Shall I use better understand or understand better?

texts:
I want to say

  by reading 'name of the book', I better understand the concept of '...'

is this correct as far as grammar is concerned?


texts: What is the meaning of "all being well"?

texts:
After lunch I usually review my cases then visit the patients in the TB ward. All being well, I'm out of the clinic by 6pm. We eat dinner around seven. Unfortunately, there's often a power-cut at this time, so we quite often have to eat in the dark. Still, I guess that's all part of the adventure!

[Source]

What is the meaning of "all being well" in the above context?


texts: Words to describe boredom without sounding negative

texts:
I work as a developer and currently in my department, we do not have any projects going on. Therefore my supervisor asked me to do some training on X. I personally like learning X. However I have been learning X for about few weeks and I started to feel bored and sick of X. I want to tell my supervisor about it and then change my training subject to Y, or Z, etc.

Basically, what I want to say is:

  I am bored learning X for so long. Can I learn something else like Y or Z?

Of course, 'bored' looks really negative in a work environment, but I could not find better words for it.

I found these words but it looks negative as well:

  fed up, tired, weary, exhausted, have had enough

What words can I use to describe 'bored' without sounding so negative?


texts: Are 'by the time' and 'when' interchangeable?

texts:
Let's say I am missing my novel and I think that my friend might have taken it after I left the place.

1: By the time I left my apartment, my friend was still there, so he might have taken it.
2:When I left the apartment, my friend was still there, so he might have taken it.

I know what 2nd expression means, but not so sure about the first expression. Does it convey the same meaning as the 2nd expression?


texts:
I have a task to make a research paper about Russian loan-words in English and can't find any informative material. Could you help me, please? I spent hours googling and got almost nothing. Is this topic so unknown? I know that the opposite topic is covered rather well, there are many work about English loan words in Russian.. but unfortunately i have another topic - about Russian words in English.
Thank you beforehand.


texts: I need some new "clothes" for the summer

texts:
“I need some new clothes for the summer.” (Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s)

If the word, clothes, is plural, don’t you include a skirt into the clothes category? Can the speaker have in his mind for something singular, e.g.skirt; or just plural, e.g. pants, trousers?


texts: Tense used when describing the object of a past tense action

texts:
I want to join the following two sentences into one sentence, and I'm not sure what tense to use.

  I joined a site. The site is focused on learning English.

Should I use present tense for describing the site, that is:

  I joined a site which is focused on learning English.

Or should I use past tense for describing the site, that is

  I joined a site which was focused on learning English.

(This is a question a friend asked me)


texts: What is the difference between "subject" and "object" of study/research?

texts:
Let's say that I collected data on a person: his favourites, character, attributes, behaviour, etc. Was he the subject or object of my study/research?
Next, I collect data on an ethnic community: their culture. Is this ethnic community the subject or the object of my study/research?
Finally, I will collect data on a mountain (non-living): it's height, it's history, etc. Will this mountain be the subject or the object of my study/research?
I looked up the two words in an Oxford dictionary and I found similar meanings:

Subject:
a person or thing that is being discussed, described, or dealt with.
"I've said all there is to be said on the subject"
Object:
a person or thing to which a specified action or feeling is directed.
"disease became the object of investigation"

Thank you in advance.


texts:
Let's say Jason Statham is speaking to Arnold Schwarzenegger, then Jason Statham is asking a lil' consideration for his raspy voice, what is the correct preposition:

  Jason: forgive my voice, it's a lil bit raspy, it is a natural thing of me.

Or

  Jason: forgive my voice, it's a lil bit raspy, it is a natural thing for me.

Which is correct? Thx.


texts:
I am under the impression that the word staff is uncountable/singular when referring to a collection of employees in a company. This is corroborated by some online sources I have found: Macmillan and this article.

However, I just heard this in a YouTube video (at 1:36):

  These non-litigious companies typically have much smaller legal staffs.

It seems the person in the video uses the plural form to talk about departments at different companies, thus using staff in a way similar to I'd like two waters, please. But is this usage common?

Edit:

I clarified which usage of water I was talking about. As one of the answerers CJ Dennis said in a comment, "It's the classification of individual words that drives grammar." I very much agree with this opinion and wonder if the connection I loosely made in my line of thinking is part of the classification at issue. Of course answers don't have to address the pluralization of water.


texts: What does "for about a month" in "for about a month of European festivals" mean in this sentence?

texts:
You're all going on tour for about a month of European festivals this summer.

What does "for about a month" mean in this sentence? That they're going on tour in a month or that this tour will take a month?

Thanks. :)


texts: When answering someone what does a company take? Whose/which/what?

texts:
I just had conversation with my friend and got stuck in answering.

  Hey, do you know? I bought a 4K 3D TV  ~Wow, which company's?  ~Sony, whose else?

Is that correct? Since the question was asked with apostrophe, I had to answer with 'whose.'

Are 'which and what' also possible? Though I don't think so!


texts: Which most closely reflects the author’s view of the strategic plan? - Test 3, Q11, p 137, by Mark Shepherd

texts:
The following only involves certain paragraphs here: everything under the heading The Challenge (but nothing aout the picture) and the first two paragraphs under The Enterprise. See question 11 here.

(a) CORRECT. In talking about the strategic plan, the writer begins by offering
praise: ‘The scientifi c strategic plan of the Enterprise is spot- on in identifying the
major roadblocks in HIV vaccine development, as well as in establishing the key
scientifi c priorities as we see them today.’ He then goes on to consider whether
there are any potential downsides to the plan by looking at its limitations. These
two components make up a substantial part of the article, and the majority of the
other material is ancillary to them. Taken together, these suggest that his purpose
is neither solely to attack nor defend the plan, but rather to indicate that it may
not be the only solution.
(d), (e) INCORRECT. See (a).

  Why's (e) wrong? The first paragraph under The Enterprise states that the 'plan...is spot-on'. The second right under the first, discusses 'potential downsides'. Yet overall, isn't the author's view of the plan 'good'?
  Where does the passage even imply the italicised? Isn't this overinterpreting and overreading?


texts:
I have read this sentence in an English course textbook:

  I have just been to the bank.

What we know about the person who says that sentence is:

He went to the bank in the morning.
He was there, doing some paperwork.
In the present time, he is at home.

I don't really know if been to is equivalent to:

I have just been in the bank.
I have just gone to the bank.
I just went to the bank.


texts: What's the meaning of this sentence, "Americans aren't going to accept that this is the new normal" in this context?

texts:
This video is a debate about gun control after mass shootings in Florida. (5:32)

  Alison: And I don't doubt that they(Paul ryan, and the leaders of Repuplicans) are interested (in the issue, which is gun control and regarding regulation). But do you sense that there will be something that happens in this week in terms of action, in terms of taking a vote?

  Curbelo: I think that Republican leadership is starting to realize that Americans aren't going to accept that this is the new normal. Americans aren't going to accept that we may drop off our kids at school one day and one day they may not come home because someone slaughter them.

There isn't any words that I don't know in this sentence, but it's hard to understand.

Is Curbelo saying that,

This (issue, or all these debate about gun control) has always been a controversial issue in American society, thus Americans never think it's a new normal? So, they think politicians should've already discussed this issue long while ago?

And Republican leaders are starting to realize all these only now?


texts:
I wrote:

  Figure 4 shows the adjoining of a subtree with root S to the projection chain at node V.

Should it be:

  Figure 4 shows the adjoining of a subtree with the root S to the projection chain at the node V.


texts: What is the term used for adding an 's onto a name?

texts:
I realise the title doesn't make much sense, it's a hard one to ask, so I will describe the situation...

The other day my ex's mother was sending me texts and said "it's always Dannies world". Of course when referring to a person, you don't add ies onto the name, it would be Danny's.

I wanted to reply explaining that isn't how it's done whilst feeling smug, but couldn't think of the term used for that. I know it's not plural, so I couldn't say "the plural of Danny isn't Dannies".

What could I have said?


texts: In my language we have separate words to chase off each (common) animal, like "tchibe" for dogs, "sheetz" for cats, and "ish" for birds. I can think of only one corresponding word in English: one time I saw Marge from "The Simpsons" telling her cat to "shoo". Is that the word I'm looking for? Could you use it as a mildly insulting slang (more fun than insulting) to address another person?


texts:
I’ve learned to use present perfect continuous for an action that began in past and is still continuing and past perfect continuous for an action that began in past and ended in past too before something else happened. So my question is that how precise one would have to be if he were to use it in sentences:

  I’ve been waiting to drive the car since morning, I’m glad I’m driving it now
  I’ve not been watching since morning, I’ve just switched it on
  I had not been studying since morning, got back on it an hour ago/few minutes back.”

So the usage is correct here.?


texts:
Yesterday I was playing a board game with a friend and got lost in thought so much I didn't notice it was my turn.
"Sorry, I fazed out", I mumbled, and moved my piece.

Did I use "phaze out" in the example above correctly?
Is this phrasal verb universally understood?

The phrase came naturally to me, but when I looked it up on the Internet I found a surprisingly scant amount of results, and no dictionary whatsoever seems to mention it.


texts: The use of the grammar structure "as being"

texts:
It was used in Crash Course US history. It is at 6 minute and 17 second.

  This appears to be photograph of wounded solders in a hospital. I am going to go ahead and call it as being by Mathew Brady.

I cannot quite get the grammar. Could the speaker omit the as being there? I feel the sentence would do fine without it. If am wrong, tell me please why.


texts: Is this sentence grammatically correct? (compare the social life in x neighborhoods with those in y neighborhoods)

texts:
I am working on my personal statement for grad school, and I am wondering whether this sentence is grammatically correct:

  I then conducted eight sets of observation to compare the social life and daily interactions in Hispanic neighborhoods with those in non-Hispanic neighborhoods.

I am concerned about the usage of "those" before "in non-Hispanic neighborhoods".

I think

  compare X in A with X in B

is the right structure, but in the sentence I used X is relatively long. Therefore, I think I may not want to restate X after the word "with", and instead I use the pronoun "those".

I am wondering whether it is OK to use "those" here to substitute "social life and daily interactions".


texts:
Could you please explain me why  past perfect in  this sentence? I think past simple can fit too?

Is it to emphasize the completion of the playing?

The reference time is now so play should be past simple

A year ago Rhodes had played just a handful of live shows. Now, 12 months later, he is something of a veteran, having supported Sam Smith, London Grammar, Laura Marling, Nick Mulvey and Rufus Wainwright.


texts:
At night in the summer it tends to get cold.

Is it possible to change into 'at summer night'?


texts: pay for the library card vs pay (without for) the library card

texts:
Happy New Year my friends!
I have just received a letter from my school librarian on the stroke of 00:00.
He asked me if I had paid for the library card.
Given that context, what is the difference between these two:
(1) You can pay for this library card via ABC Web.
Vs
(2) You can pay this library card via ABC Web.
I am confused of the 2nd sentence because I had heard some people say these:
"I forgot to pay for the gas bill","I forgot to pay the gas bill".
"Mum and Dad paid for my driving lessons", "Mum and Dad paid my driving lessons"
It is wrong to say "pay for the card fee".
Is it wrong to say "I have made the payment for the card fee" either?


texts: What is the meaning of "I could pretend you were his"?

texts:
In Thriller/Drama Faster (2010) film, Driver thinks that his father involved in his brother Gary death,
so his mother corrects him:

  Mother: Because he loved your brother too much. I'm sorry. And that's
  the truth and that's not your fault. It wasn't like I could pretend
  you were his. He was reminded of that every time he looked at you. You
  never stood a chance. Sorry that I couldn't That I didn't protect
  you.

  Driver: Gary was the only one who ever cared for me.

  Mother: Why'd he pull you in on that job?

Sentence stopped at "his" word, So How to understand it?


texts: What does "in ten-second chunks" mean in this sentence?

texts:
I came across this sentenece and I am not sure what the exact meaning of it, especially the expression "in ten-second chunks".

  This snapchat story depicts the life of a modern-day Lydia Bennet in ten-second chunks.

Would anybody like to interpret for me?


texts: Which usage is better?: "the beautiful voice of a woman" or "a woman's beautiful voice"

texts:
Are both of these sentences grammatically correct?

a. He heard singing from the other room. It was a woman's beautiful voice.
b. He heard singing from the other room. It was the beautiful voice of a woman.

Is there any difference in their meanings?
I find b perfectly natural. In theory there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with a, but it sounds strange. To me it suggest that the woman has many voices and she's using the beautiful one. But that interpretation is so far-fetched that it wouldn't cross anyone's mind unless they were overthinking matters, as I am!


texts:
How large is a thimble of brandy? The size of the thumb?
The definition from New Oxford American Dictionary seems irrelevant:

n. a metal or plastic cap with a closed end, worn to protect the finger and push the needle in sewing.  SPECIAL USAGE:  a short metal tube or ferrule.

I see it being used for much larger things, e.g. here

At £11 for a thimble of whisky, who in their right mind uses a hotel minibar

and here.


texts:
Suppose there is a situation that can be expressed in two sentences:

  They will have come by the time the bell rings. I will have finished before that.

Is it possible (grammatically correct) to put it in one sentence like this:

  I will had finished here before they have come back by the time the bell rings.

If yes than what the tense is it?


texts:
I am trying to describe the positional relationship among objects A, B, and C with reference to direction X. The relationship may be described as follows when it is literally translated from my language to English:

  Object A is located on (located closest to) one side of direction X.
  Object B is located between objects A and C in direction X.
  Object C is located on (located closest to) the other side of direction X.

I think the second is acceptable, but the first and third do not make sense. I would like to know how to describe the positional relationship with reference to direction?


texts: Is there an adjective that means "far-deviating"?

texts:
There are adjectives that are synonymous with deviating, but I'm wondering if there are synonyms for the compound adjective "far-deviating", which can be useful to express certain ideas. It's not often used, but I feel there's something here that could be useful in everyday speech.

For example:

  His intelligence was extremely high. In fact, it was far-deviating
  from the average of his age group.

  She was deeply deranged. Her derangement was far-deviating from the
  norm, so that they decided to seclude her from other patients.


texts:
Is this construction correct? It sounds good but slightly ungrammatical to me. However, I'm not a native English speaker so I'm not very sure.

Example:

  When anxious, better drunk than full.


texts:
My friend had a few presentations and I would like to say him:

  I wish you did well [with] your presentations.

Should I use with or maybe 'of' in the sentence?


texts: Is 'to avoid company' a correct expression?

texts:
I am trying to convey the next message:

  Being an introvert doesn't mean [avoiding company/to avoid company].

Is it correct to use 'to avoid company' in the meaning of 'to be alone, to keep yourself away from company'?
Should I use an article before 'company'?

Since it's uncountable, I am supposed to not use an indefinite article to describe a general idea.

  company (U) - the fact of being with a person or people, or the person or people you are with


texts: "Everyone working on this together has come to a different conclusion" or "conclusions"?

texts:
Everyone working on this together has come to a different conclusion.

Since everyone work on this come to a different conclusions, why "a different conclusion" instead of "different conclusions"?


texts:
In the dictionary, the word "critical" has two relevant meanings: to criticize or to examine and judge it carefully. My question is which meaning is critical used with in the phrase "critical attitude"?
For example, does

The author holds a critical attitude towards the proposal

mean that the author is thinking about the proposal fairly and carefully judging it or just criticizing it?


texts: appropriate preposition to use in the given sentence(s)

texts:
People say he's a great chess player. As true as that might be, i think i can school him at chess.

People say he's a great chess player. As true as that might be, i think i can school him in chess.

People say he's a great chess player. As true as that might be, i think i can school him in a game of chess.

What preposition is the most appropriate to use there?
I looked up the idiom "school somebody", and in the examples the site had, they'd used in.


texts:
I have a question about two phrases:

You're in lucky
You're lucky

What's the difference between these sentences?


texts: Can we count an uncountable noun to mean that it is a type of something

texts:
Can we count an uncountable noun (or an usually uncountable noun) to mean that it is a type of something?

Examples:

  1
  This thing is a food. (to mean that this is a type of food.)

  2
  This thing is an air. (to mean that this a type of air.)

  3
  This thing is a water. (to mean that this a type of water.)


texts:
Is there any rule of where to place the name of a brand/movie/book (before or after the noun)?

I would usually put it before the noun if the name has only one word. Examples:

The "Apple" brand is worth billions of dollars.
The "Cambridge" dictionary is very good.

But I am not sure when the name has more than one word. Examples:

The movie "The Untouchables" / "The Untouchables" movie is great!
The website "Stack Exchange" / "Stack Exchange" website is popular.


texts:
I know, for a specific date, it is used on: On 16 May 2016.

I also know, when you refer to a month or year alone you use in: In June, In 2000

But I saw in internet some sources that when you put together a month and the year, they use both "on" and "in". I suppose that the correct form is In May of 2000.

Which form is correct? On May of 2000 or in May of 2000?

Also, is it necessary to put "of" or not? For example: May 2000 or May of 2000


texts: What's the omitted subject in sentence "I noticed that you like A and would like to recommend B for you"?

texts:
I noticed that you like A and would like to recommend B for you.

What I'm trying to say is "I noticed that you like A, and I would like to recommend B for you".

But if I read the sentence like this:

  I • noticed that • you like A and would like to recommend B for you.

It becomes a little confusing to me, looks like the omitted subject could be "you". Am I doing anything wrong here?


texts:
Are phrases like "after that", "after the last update" or "after that week" considered specific points in time, and therefore the present perfect can't be used? Are these sentences correct?

After the last update, the game has stopped working, randomly crashing every now and then.

After that week in the mountains, he has never been the same.


texts:
I met a coworker at a bar and I said "I saw you last week at the gas station".

He replied with "I have seen you too but didn't want to bother you."
Why didn't he use "I saw you too..."?


texts:
I just saw a sentence:

  Men protesting the law were bare from waist up.

I would write it as:

  Men protesting the law were bare from above their waist.

How would native speakers say it?

Thank you.


texts: What is the meaning of "Take my advice with this much salt"?

texts:
What is the meaning of this sentence?

  Take my advice with this much salt.

There was an image of a lot of salt being attached to this sentence. I guess some kind of humor is being involved but I cannot fully understand it. Would appreciate any help :)


texts:
Could somebody please  tell me that which sentence is correct?

To me, Italy is the best place to go on vacation.

For me, Italy is the best place to go on vacation.


texts: Can I replace 'Year 6' with '6-year' in this sentence?

texts:
Year six children are children in the sixth grade. But do you say or write 6-year children as an another option?

Storytelling is a skill that can be used with small groups or large
groups, with adults, with children of any age or with individuals. How
you tell a story will vary depending on your audience and the purpose
for which you tell it. However, as you develop as a storyteller, you
will learn to make these adaptations almost without thinking. You can
tell a story to calm down a group of children or to stir them up, to
comfort them or to challenge them. You can tell a story to a timid
group of three-year-olds and then adapt the same story to startle and
scare a group of cool Year 6 children. The only limit to
storytelling is your own imagination.

Classroom Tales: Using Storytelling to Build Emotional, Social and Academic Skills across the Primary Curriculum


texts: Indirect Question: "How different they are" vs. "How they are different"

texts:
Which sentence is correct?

  How different they are

or

  How they are different

I think both are right because one is intended as the meaning of "degree" and the other as the meaning of "way".

What do you think about this?


texts:
1). His dance was unbelievable! I don't know if I can do do it.
2). His dance was unbelievable! I don't know if I could do it.

What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?


texts: discerning between "racism" and" supremacist "

texts:
Do anyone know what is the difference between the two?

racism

supremacist

Any help would greatly be appreciated


texts:
I wrote :

  Hezbollah might carry out some terrorist attacks 40 years ago against a known enemy to them. But what about now.

I meant that is possible (however not surely). Which tense of verb should I use.


texts: What's the meaning of "The wind had been knocked out of me"?

texts:
Could you please explain  meaning of the phrase generally and meaning of "wind" in this case.

Full text:

My back struck iron: the trailer’s wall. My feet snapped over my head and
I continued my graceless plunge to the ground. The first fall was seven or
eight feet, the second perhaps ten. I was relieved to taste dirt.
I lay on my back for perhaps fifteen seconds before the engine growled to
silence and I heard Dad’s heavy step.
“What happened?” he said, kneeling next to me.
“I fell out,” I wheezed. The wind had been knocked out of me, and there
was a powerful throbbing in my back, as if I’d been cut in two.


texts: How to understand 'means of...' in this sentence

texts:
Today I read a sentence in an answer choice of a GRE Reading passage:

(E) The structure of male cycad cones is consistent with a certain
means of cycad pollination, but that means is inconsistent with the
structure of most female cycad cones.

I am confused to understand the meaning of ...means of，I checked the Merriam-Webster online dictionary and found no clue. Please help. Thank you!


texts: When does the plural have to be used for words for numbers like "millions"?

texts: For example, I understand in English I have to say 100 million persons. But the word "millions" also exist. In Spanish I would have to use the plural for million in the first sentence. Then when the plural for words for numbers like "millions" has to be used?


texts:
I have some difficulty understanding the meaning of the following sentence

  The tailor said to him, "Will you have the suit ready by tomorrow evening?"

It is a sentence given in my exercise. No other context is provided


texts: How do you call the gesture where you point at your head and make a circle or a few with your extended finger - when you want to imply someone, or some idea is "nutters" - something so ridiculous it's insane?


texts: What is the ungrammatical sentence among those?

texts:
This is my grammar quiz of finding out the ungrammatical.

  Elephants are large land-dwelling mammals characterized by their long snouts and ivory tusks. Only three of the hundreds of elephant species that once existed remain at this time, namely, savanna, forest, and Asian elephants. The only two continents which these surviving species can be found are Africa and Asia. Climate change, habitat loss, and human intrusion have contributed to the elephant's status as an endangered animal.

My non-native teacher said the answer should be (C) for not placing 'In' before 'Which'. Is she correct? And the free grammar checker in the web also pointed out (C) but for different reason. It suggested to switch 'Can be found' to some other verb in active voice, which I don't get it at all.


texts: What is the word that means Singular OR Plural?

texts:
In the questions I see over and over people ask, "Is this word or noun plural or singular?"

Is there a single word that can be used instead of "plural or singular"?

Is it plurality or singularity?

How about "plingular", "singlural"?

Then someone can say, "What is the plingular of the word geese?" and someone else can say, "It's plural". Or "What is the plingular of the word moose?" and the reply would be, "It's singular".


texts: What is the meaning of work in this sentence?

texts:
The following sentence is one among a list of recommendations in an architectural text:

  Consider separate access to the ground floor in higher density development to provide work from home opportunities.

I have problem understanding what author means by "work" and "home opportunities" and the paragraph does not have a specific context to make it clearer except the fact that it is about architecture and housing design.


texts:
How can we differentiate between adjectives and past participles?

For example if we say:

  The project is excited

excited in this example would be the adjective, but:

  The project excited us

excited here would be the past participle.

So, my question is:
How can I differentiate between past participles and the adjectives in a sentence?


texts: Undiscovered meaning of the verb "to fold to"

texts:
I have found the following passage on a neighbour site of the SE network (https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/56997/22315):

  Your boss might try to haggle. Never fold to that.

As I might suggest, the verb "to fold to" in the context means:

  do something, being not able to withstand the outside pressure

but I haven't found this meaning in the dictionary. Am I wrong in my understanding of the word meaning in that particular context?


texts:
What is meant by "set bang" in the following sentence:

The tasteful and triangular green is set bang in the middle of the large village.

Thank you.


texts: Difference between "run-of-the-mill" and "garden-variety"?

texts:
The "run-of-the-mill" (average or ordinary / etymologyy) entry on Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary contains a reference to "often disapproving". The "garden-variety" (not unusual; ordinary or common / etymology) entry doesn't, but mentions "always used before a noun US". The latter can be found as a synonym of the former; and vice versa, but to a lesser extent.

Are those differences correct and generally acknowledged by the native speaker and are there further differences between "run-of-the-mill" and "garden-variety" I should be aware of (intensity, usage, register, categories of objects it can relate to etc.)?


texts: "Get back on his rocker" what does it mean?

texts:
I have met this phrase watching The Big Bang Theory TV-series. The full scene is: Sheldon took offence at Leonard and got freaked out (as it was called in the movie) because he has called Sheldon's mother. All characters except Sheldon prepared to eat, and mother is praying before start to lunch:

  Oh, Lord, we thank you for this meal and for all your bounty. And we
  pray that you help Sheldon get back on his rocker.

No one literal meaning of rocker I have found doesn't seem to fit the situation. Though I have found an idiom off your rocker.
So is get back on his rocker means here something like that he needs to get back to a normal state?


texts: Switching from Past Simple to Present Perfect in consecutive sentences

texts:
Let's imagine someone writing to his buddy:

  Yesterday, I read an article in a newspaper.
  I learned that our town became the first in a list of towns ranked by quality of life.

The Simple Past in sentence 1 is understandable: a particular time (yesterday) is mentioned.
Should one retain the Simple Past for "learned" and for "became"?

Or is it okay to switch to Present Perfect, and go on with the Present Perfect, since the information is new and has relation to the present moment:

  I've learned that our town has become the first in a list of towns ranked by quality of life.
  It has outstripped even Moscow and St. Petersburg!

Or is it better to keep "learned" in Simple Past, since the learning occured within the same timeframe as the reading mentioned in sentence 1, but switch to Present Perfect after it:

  I learned that our town has become the first in a list of towns ranked by quality of life.
  It has outstripped even Moscow and St. Petersburg!

I'm curious to know from which moment is it allowable to break loose of the use of the Past Simple commanded by the existence of a particular timeframe in sentence 1 and to start relaying novel information in Present Perfect.


texts: What is he to/ for you? ---- Which of the two, to/ for, should i use?

texts:
Person 1- What is he to you?
  Person 2- He's my husband.

  Person 1- What is he for you?
  Person 2- He's my husband.

If one wants to know how someone is related to someone else, what should they use "What is he to you?" Or "What is he for you?"


texts: Meaning of "A bigger boy ran in the back door, and kicked it to"

texts:
‘I’ll go and get him,’ said Dexter. ‘Athena – Vicki must be sat near the
warmth. She’s from sunnier climes, aren’t you, Vicki.’ He rounded her up,
sidling and dancing with his arms out in their big curve. Vicki scowled with
embarrassment, but obeyed. Elizabeth abandoned her plan to watch ‘Sale of
the Century’, and allowed herself to be shuffled to a chair. She drew off her
gloves.
A bigger boy ran in the back door, and kicked it to. He had the same
home-cut hair as Billy’s, a helmet of blond silk.

Does it mean:

A bigger boy ran through the back door, and kicked the door shut?

A bigger boy ran toward the back door, and kicked it to someone open it for him?

Source: The children's Bach by Helen Garner


texts: How to understand "even" and "that" in the sentence?

texts:
https://macropolo.org/reluctant-stakeholder-chinas-highly-strategic-brand-revisionism-challenging-washington-thinks/

  And in that particular aspect, they are joined by some democracies, including, I would argue, even democratic India, that do not view it as the singular organizing principle of international statecraft.

1 Why not "even including, I would argue, democratic India"?

2 Can "that" introduce a non-restrictive attributive clause? I think the introducer should be "which".

Edit: I first thought the that-clause was a non-restrictive attributive clause modifying the noun which "that" immediately followed, i.e. "India". After reviewing, I noticed the verb is "do" not "does", so what the that-clause modifies is not "India" but "some democracies", and the that-clause is  restrictive.


texts:
This is a passage taken from an article:

  My last job was in an air-conditioned office in a business park in Woburn, Mass., as a draftsman designing laboratories. It was like being a kitchen designer but even more boring. Every day I went into work I contemplated suicide. Was this to be the rest of my life? I finally got fired, the combination of poor job performance, a ruined economy and good old-fashioned New England insularity.

What does good mean in the sentence I bolded above?


texts: Is second one passive form of the first one?

texts:
I am to deliver the money .

The money is to be delivered .

Thank in advance


texts: Brazil: the Once and Future Country - how do you understand the word "once"?

texts:
This is the title of a book.

  Brazil: the Once and Future Country

How should I understand the word once in that line?


texts: How to ask about the last night sleeping, out of the following options - idiomatically?

texts:
In case of a couple lovers that slept together at night. Which phrase is more idiomatic to ask each other at the morning while waking up?

  Good morning honey:) How was your sleep (at night)? (sleep as a noun)

or

  Good morning honey:)  How did you sleep (at night)? (sleep as verb)

or

  Good morning honey:) How have you been sleeping (at night)?

or

  Good morning honey:) How have you slept (at night)?


texts: "Take a whole day up." What does it mean

texts:
What is the meaning of:

  to take a whole day up.


texts: "At {schools/school}, teachers won't use chalk on a blackboard" - should school be plural or singular?

texts:
At schools, teachers won't use chalk on a blackboard.
  At school, teachers won't use chalk on a blackboard.

Are above two sentences both grammatically correct? The only difference is the second one is using singular form school.

If the intention is to express the meaning in any school, teachers will not need to use chalk any more in future, which one is better?


texts: Put someone in a class/make someone join a class

texts:
X's mother got her child enrolled in a personality development class because she was very shy,so what should be used:

  She put X in a personality development class.

  She made X join a personality development class.

What should be used :"put in" or "join" or either of them can be used?


texts:
Which one is correct:

  He's really easy-going.

OR

  He's really easy going.

As per my understanding, hyphen comes between compound adjectives if they are before noun; so the correct one is second one. But as per BBC website correct one is first one with hyphen.


texts:
He arrived on __ train and was ready to put his plan into action.

1. The 11.30;

2. A 11.30;

3. 11.30 the;

4. 11.30 a.


texts: What is the usage of the tailing hyphen without connecting to the second word?

texts:
The paper I am reading says,

On the other hand, the side of the split comes from challenges made in the 1970s to the primarily white, non-disabled, heterosexual, and otherwise privileged mainstream feminist movement- challenges to the ability and appropriateness of a privileged subgroup of women dictating the interests of all women (Hines, 2018).

What is the usage of the hyphen tailing after 'movement'? And why there are two verbs ('...the side of the split comes from...' and '...movement- challenges to...') in this sentence?
The screenshot of the paper:


texts: What is the word term paper called in Britain?

texts:
I checked term paper on OED and it shows that it is AmE.
So what is the British one for it?


texts:
When you refer to a generalized part of a generalized plural noun, should I use "a part" or "parts"?

  do you have to use " city names" as "a part/parts" of " commercial addresses"?

This is the only example I could come up with using the "generalized  part of a generalized plural noun" formula, so if you have better examples, please help!

EDIT:

Can you help me with the example below,  where plural nouns should be used (or at least I think they should be used in this context)?

  Please use color names as a part/parts of design titles?

It sounds weird to me, but I can't pinpoint why . Am I misusing plural nouns in this case?


texts:
Can we use this expression in informal discussion as "because of"? For example

  I was late in the view of helping my mother to do laundry.


texts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_BtlAw4trg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9MvdMqKvpU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9MvdMqKvpU
Do these songs fit in the same genre, and if so what is it, because it says pop music, but pop music is too broad, because Britney Spear pop songs for instance are much different.


texts: "New setup resulted in a(?) much better performance." - is it correct?

texts:
Is it correct to put the article "a" after "resulted in"? example:

  The new setup resulted in a much better performance.

  The new setup resulted in much better performance.

is it correct?


texts: Meaning of "educational showcase" and surrounding sentence

texts:
Our teacher gave us this line in the end of our assignment (Project):

  "As part of an educational advisory team you have been asked to create
  an educational showcase about an emerging technology."

But as I am not a native speaker, I am just taking it as like they ask us questions about technology and about our project and our topic related questions.

How to interpret it?


texts: You mustn't have done anything vs You must have not done anything (Negative deductions)

texts:
Which structure in the second paragraph below is grammatical? I provide the first paragraph to contrast with a familiar but opposite structure.

Positive deduction

  I didn't get the results I expected. I guess, you must have done
  something wrong somewhere in the code.

Negative deduction

  I asked you to fix the code, but I do not see it working. I saw you
  playing with the Play station last night. [You must have not done
  anything / You mustn't have done anything] to fix it.

Source: contrived examples


texts:
He stomps on my foot intentionally.
He stomps on my foot deliberately.
He did it intentionally.
He did it deliberately.

When should we use intentionally and deliberately?


texts: Ambiguity of what the Gerund "taking" refers to in Sentence

texts:
Sentence in question:

  "The committee requested that there be input from all the staff before taking a vote".

Isn't "taking a vote" ambiguous because "taking" could also refer to the committee instead of referring to the staff?

I think the sentence should be corrected as the following

  "The committee requested that there be input from all the staff who would take a vote".

Is my correction correct?


texts: Terminology about cooking meat on a rod over a fire

texts:
If you "poke" a beef steak in a "long metal rod" and then you hold it by hand on a fire to cook it, this is called what?

It's grilling in BrE and you could say: I was grilling the steak. The verb is to broil in UK, and according to Cambridge's dictionary it is "to broil" in AmE, but I never heard "I was broiling the steak"; I don't mean it doesn't exist, just telling you I don't know. What do you say in the scenario above, "I'm broiling the steak, and I like to eat it broiled"? or use a different verb and expression? And by the way, I'm interested in informal speech not formal one.

Could you also rewrite poke and give the name of "long metal rod" in your everyday AmE language?


texts: "I left" vs "i am leaving it for tommorow"

texts:
What is grammatically correct:
I left it (a job task) for tomorrow
or
I am leaving it (a job task)  for tomorrow ?

Isn't it strange that we use past tense to describe an action that will happen in the future?


texts:
She is a credit to her family.

Probably it means that her family respect and feel proud of her now.

I was curious to know if it could also mean that her parents have high expectations for her in the future. Like, she isn't that person her parents want her to be now, but they hope she will become the one in the near future.

Correct my thoughts, please.


texts:
I'm translating a Statement of Work for design of a warehouse, and it specifies that a door should have an air curtain and/or strip curtain. This strip curtain consists of numerous plastic lamellae:

Should I use the singular or the plural form to describe it? It consists of numerous elements, but they comprise a single "curtain" so I think I should use the singular form:

  To avoid the inflow of hot air from the street, the door should have an air curtain and/or strip curtain made of flexible plastic lamellae.