texts: "switch something to something" or "switch something for something"?

texts:
Tell me please which preposition I have to use in the following context, to or for:

  If you come home and realize that the jeans you bought doesn't really fit you, then you can easily take them back to the shop and switch to other ones fitting.
  If you come home and realize that the jeans you bought doesn't really fit you, then you can easily take them back to the shop and switch for other ones fitting.


texts: Is there any expressions related to eyes which means extremely tired in English?

texts:
In Chinese, we use an expression which literally  "I'm so tired and my eyes could only focus on one point (or my eyeballs can not move anymore)" after a long workday to express that we are extremely tired.

I want to know whether there are similar expressions related to eyes to express tired?

EDIT:
I also want to know if I can say 'I've got two glazed eyes after finishing all my work' to express  my tiredness? And can a native speaker understand what I want to express after hearing this？


texts: What does "he" refer to in "He allows Lou to beat him up..."?

texts:
Here word "he" referring to whom: narrator or Joon Kim?

  With the narrator, he holds a college dropout (Joon Kim) at gunpoint
  and  threatens to kill him if he doesn't pursue his dream of becoming
  a veterinarian.  He allows Lou (Peter Iacangelo), the owner of the bar
  where their fight club is held,  to beat him up before coughing blood
  all over him and demanding to stay in the basement.

(Source: IMDB)


texts: Gerund (being sick) at the end of the sentence

texts:
I have doubts about the argument that it is impossible to express two independent facts by means of a gerund form, as I was told in my previous thread. That thought does not give me the rest. :)

He went to work, being sick. (the physical state does not depend on the other action.)
He went to work, getting sick

If I put the gerund at the beginning of the sentence, then the whole statement does not make sense. BUT! If I put the gerund at the end of the sentence, the sentence does make sense and is logically correct, imho.
Am I mistaken?


texts: Word Request: Something that is garbage but looks very valuable on the surface

texts:
I need to used this in context of information technology phrase "garbage in - garbage out".   Except I'm trying to describe a situation where garbage out looks very convincing and useful to a human analyst (but it might as well be garbage)

How would I say this?  Garbage in _____ out

The word garbage doesn't fit because garbage is easy to spot,   ____ is not easy to identify as garbage.


texts: Adverbial Phrase, Parenthetical Phrase, or Something Different?

texts:
“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.” ― Edward Bulwer-Lytton

In this, I maybe thought except at occasional intervals seemed like maybe an adverbial phrase maybe placing information on how it fell. Maybe it doesn't seem to place information on how it falls, it may place information on how it may not fall. So then I guess I thought maybe it seemed like a parenthetical? May except at occasional intervals seem like an adverbial phrase, parenthetical phrase, or maybe something different?


texts:
I want to say. Couple did marriage on 1 April and after 5 years they taken divorce.
How should is say?

A) They were married on 1 April 2014 and taken divorce after 5 years.
B) They had married on 1 April 2014 and taken divorce after 5 years.
C) or any other way to say?

Two questions:

Q1) Are the above sentence constructions correct? If so, What do they mean?
Q2) Is the word Married a verb or an adjective?


texts: What was the intention of the speaker when she said with a rising tone in the below audio?

texts:
When the sentence I went to the theatre last night was said with a rising intonation at the end,...

  What was the speaker trying to convey or What kinds of situation could she
  use that type of rising intonation?


texts:
Let's say you guys are setting up a plan to catch a burglar redhanded. Then you say:

  I had/have a plan to be able to catch the burglar redhanded.

This is kinda confusing for me, it's like ''I wanted to go for a holiday'' to ''I want to go for a walk'' kind of thing... help, is it had or have?


texts:
I want to know which is the correct use of as well as structure:

The devices have more security than before as well as mitigate their risks
The devices have more security than before as well as mitigating their risks

I think the former is correct, because: The devices mitigate their risks, but my teacher told me the latter is correct.


texts: Meaning of "The dresses were a spray of light. The men’s trousers hit the shoe just right."

texts:
‘People danced there, in the daytime, in the middle of the morning, down
the aisle between the two long rows of tables. The songs they favoured
were South American ones with titles the Australians passed over in
ignorance, thinking them Italian: the songs were more passionate, more
driven, more intellectual than anything we know of here. They danced in
each other’s arms, with their elbows up high and no expression on their
faces: it was all form and precision. They did the tango, the rhumba, the
samba. They knew the steps. They never stumbled. Their arms and legs
were long and sinewy. The dresses were a spray of light. The men’s trousers
hit the shoe just right.

maybe it was dark and because of the lights that were there their dresses seemed to be a spray of light. and the man trousers hit the shoe straight. Am I right?
Does "just right" mean: regularly in rhyme of songs.
Source: The Children's Bach by Helen Garner


texts: 'That way' means something I didn't expect

texts:
Arthur: So, once we've made the plant, how do we get out? I'm hoping
  you have something more elegant in mind than shooting me in the head?

  Cobb: A kick.

  Ariadne: What's a kick?

  Eames: This, Ariadne, would be a kick. [kicks Arthur's chair; Arthur flails but manages to right himself]

  Cobb: It's that feeling of falling that jolts you awake. It
  snaps you out of the dream.

  Arthur: Are we going to feel a kick with this kind of sedation?

  Yusuf: Well, that's the clever part. I customize the sedative to leave inner ear function unimpaired. That way, however deep the sleep, the sleeper still feels falling, or tipping.

I want to understand the sentence starting with That way. This is the meaning provided by The Oxford Dictionary, but it seems totally nonsensical to me. There's no any homosexual context in Inception, I'm a little confused.


texts: Is it grammatical and idiomatic to simplify this expression "the amount of that function that increases in this interval" this way?

texts:
The lecturer is saying

  we can then say that the gradient of this line is equal to the amount of that function that increases in this interval
  divided by the length of the interval

where the expression

the amount of that function that increases in this interval

is a little bit complex.

Is it grammatical and idiomatic and reasonable to simplify the expression as this

the increased amount of that function in this interval


texts:
If he had joined the meeting, he could have learned many things, ______?

I am hesitating between two probable answers —
'couldn't he have' and 'couldn't he'.

Which one is correct or what else might be the correct answer?


texts:
https://www.guru99.com/java-strings.html

A string in literal terms is a series of characters.

What is the meaning of "in literal terms"? What can be used instead of that phrase. Please answer with some examples.


texts:
Is it correct to refer to an apartment block as a "house"? What is the semantic relationship between the words 'building', 'house', and 'apartment block'? House and apartment block are two types of buildings, right? A house hosts only one family in contrast to an apartment block that accommodates multiple households, right?
Perhaps, my question is specifically about what 'house' means and whether an apartment block is also a house (in other words, whether you can point to an apartment block and say, "It's my house").
I have read the definitions and they didn't clarify things.

A building for human habitation, especially one that consists of a ground floor and one or more upper storeys.

Does it mean the term 'house' covers apartment buildings? It seems so (judging strictly by the definition), but one of the comments suggests it's not entirely the case.


texts:
Inharmonious is defined as follows in Oxford dictionary:

  inharmonious ADJECTIVE
  Not forming or contributing to a pleasing whole; discordant.
  ‘an inharmonious, negative state of mind’

Disharmonious is defined as follows:

  Disharmonious ADJECTIVE
  Lacking harmony

So as per the above definition, can I deduce the following:

  The statement " She always makes situation disharmonious." is a more suitable statement than "She always makes situation inharmonious.", because the situation can be said of lacking harmony; it can not always be said to be contributing to harmony, as people in a situation are more involved in contributing as compared to the situation itself.

  Similarly, "She is a disharmonious girl." is incorrect. It should rather be  "She is an inharmonious girl."


texts: Which one is correct: 'Chemotherapy should be the first call of treatment for cancer' or Chemotherapy should be first call of treatment for cancer'?


texts:
I used these links but they have different meanings, so I was not sure what "on a Hot Streak" means

Urban Dictionary: hot streak

Oxford Dictionaries: hot streak

M-W: hot streak

Here are some sentences from the article:
"Japan’s Economy Is Growing, but Don’t Call It a Hot Streak"

"Is the Economy on a Hot Streak?"

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/business/japan-gdp.html?ref=business


texts: Would you please let me know what dry rust is?

texts:
I know what means rust and also what means dry.

From the context I think it is some substance which coats a surface and acts like a rust inhibitor for a rust protection purpose.

Here is the context:

  High corrosion resistance of the cast iron boilers due to application of the dry rust to prevent expansion of corrosion.

I thank you in advance for your help!


texts:
I was wondering which preposition works here properly?

You need to save money Tamara! I think you as a divorcee who has got a kid should put a little aside ....... a deposit every once in a while. Even seemingly these small amounts of cash can come in handy someday.

a. as
b. for
I think that "as" is the correct choice although I need your confirmation.


texts: Conditional 2nd type, with might; what tense is it referring to?

texts:
If I tell this to someone:
If you asked me nicely, I might get you a drink.
Do I mean 'Please ask nicely, and I get you a drink' or am I emphasizing that 'you have already asked me but it was not nicely' ?


texts:
What is the correct form in the following sentences, "both" and "both of them"?

  a) "Both of them are unique."

  b) "Both are unique."

If "both" by itself already contains "both of them", so I can conclude that the first option is not correct. Isn't it?


texts: What would this guy/woman mean in a line by a phrase "to avoid cherrypickers" in a context?

texts:
I made a question at History about a month ago.

And I received a new answer ( the second one ).

In that, he/she says,

  Although most people don't care about it too much nowadays, still it is very hard to avoid cherrypickers nowadays. So if you prefer to keep it simple and afraid of making mistakes, JUST SHAKE HANDS, it's much easier that way.

What would it mean? ( There seems to be no appropriate definition according to my dictionary. )

  1 A piece of equipment consisting of a large basket at the end of an extensible boom, often mounted on a truck body, and used by workers to reach inaccessible places such as power lines and tall trees.

  2 A person or group that picks the best for themselves; one who cherry-picks.

  3 A person or group that picks only evidence which supports an argument and ignores evidence which contradicts it; one who cherry-picks.

  4 A person or device that harvests cherries, or that aids in the harvesting of cherries.

Probably I guess he would mean something by the definition of 2?

But I'm afraid I don't understand what he/she would mean by "to avoid cherrypickers" in this context.


texts: What is the real meaning of this stanza?

texts:
I have read the poem “Opportunity” by Walter Malone, but I could not understand the real meaning of the third stanza:

Dost thou behold thy lost youth all aghast?
Dost reel from righteous Retribution's blow?
Then turn from blotted archives of the past
And find the future's pages white as snow.

Could anyone paraphrase this for me.


texts:
Am I able to use the word it twice in a row properly? If not what is a way to avoid doing that? An example sentence would be:

  When you select an option and save it, it does update the database.

I added the comma but it still feels incorrect to me.


texts: Why seperate such interlinked and indispensable words so far apart in a sentence?

texts:
On BBC News, there was news about royal wedding preparations. During the coverage, the text at the bottom of the screen was as follows:

  "Rehearsals have taken place in Windsor for wedding."

When I read it, it seemed a little bit odd to see "...for wedding" at the very end of the sentence. The expression "For wedding" belongs to "Rehearsal", but it seems very much separated from what it is connected.

To sum up, why is it not

  "Rehearsals for wedding have......"?

Would it not have been the correct sentence structure, if they had not disconnected "Rehearsals" and "for wedding" so far apart?


texts:
I'm currently doing a job of designing a website.
Here, can I say like this?

Designing a website is what I spend most of my time at.

Designing a website is what I spend most of my time doing.

which one is more proper?


texts: How can I deduce long sentences and find their meaning easily

texts:
How can I deduce long sentences to find their meaning. I am facing this problem when I am preparing for GRE . As I am not a native English speaker, I feel lost while I am reading those long convoluted sentences, like

  It would seem unlikely that evolution should discriminate against
  sinistral snails if sinistral and dextral snails are exact mirror
  images, for any disadvantage that a sinistral twist in itself could
  confer on its possessor is almost inconceivable.

Though I don't have problem with vocabulary, but I feel lost. Is there any technique to understand them easily?


texts: How can I decide when to use “for” + “-ing” or “to” + [infinitive] in a sentence?

texts:
Example:

  I have nothing to do for now.

  Nothing for doing for now.

Another one:

  I have some things to study.

  I have some things for studying.

New Examples: (QUESTION UPDATED)

  I don't know if you use XXX, but I was wondering if it could be useful
  for sharing knowledge among us.

  I don't know if you use XXX, but I was wondering if it could be useful
  to share knowledge among us.

Another one:

  So, we could create a group to share any kind of technology
  knowledge.

  So, we could create a group for sharing any kind of technology
  knowledge.


texts: Where to find X-ray videos of the vocal track for all the English vowels?

texts:
I've found this web page that makes a convincing case for teaching/studying the cardinal vowel quadrilateral in language learning. Apparently it is taught to improve the accent to actors, and in some advanced language courses.

So, I was wondering where to find videos with the English vowels (and maybe some difficult consonants), showing the vocal track in X-ray, so I can have a better idea where the "real" position of the tongue is when visualizing the quadrilateral.

What I've found so far is this video showing only the vowels used in Spanish. And these other videos that I guess are mostly oriented to phoneticians.


texts:
Is the following sentence ambiguous?

If I say to my 10 classmates:

  Did anyone download the file?

Does it mean that I'm asking (a) if all of the 10 downloaded it, or does it mean that I'm asking (b) if one of the 10 downloaded the file, or (c) it is ambiguous?

Looking at the dictionary, unfortunately couldn't help me to solve my question.


texts:
I've recently learnt about relative clauses from reading two websites. I see a conflict between them

From the first source :https://www.ef.com/ca/english-resources/english-grammar/non-defining-relative-clauses/ ( about non-defining clauses )

The last sentence of the small above passage means that defining clauses will never stand after commas, and you can't leave out the relative pronoun in non-defining relative clauses

From the second source :https://www.thoughtco.com/reduced-relative-clauses-1211107 ( about reductive relative clauses )

These are examples showing how to reduce a relative clauses. In the first example:
"The product, which seemed perfect in many ways, failed to succeed in the market. Reduced: The product, perfect in many ways, failed to succeed in the market"
In the origin sentence, the relative clause "which seemed perfect in many years" stands after commas, so in the knowledge from the first source => it is a non-defining clause. In the first source, however, the author also says that you can't leave out the relative pronoun in non-defining relative clauses, you can see in the "reduced sentence", the pronoun "which" has been removed.
So Are two sources contradictory ?. I'm looking forwards to your help. Thank you.


texts: "Due to" vs. "As a result of " in this sentence

texts:
I wrote :

  English language learners (ELL) are likely to experience more difficulties as a result of problems in auditory discrimination of speech sounds.

But I feel it may sound better with

  English language learners (ELL) are likely to experience more difficulties due to problems in auditory discrimination of speech sounds.

Am I right? As I found in this question due to versus as a result of due to could be traditionally used as adjective, and here it may play the adjective role of difficulties. Is there any difference here?


texts:
I don't know what this type of words are called in Linguistics?  I guess its a metaphor. But I come across many types of these words when I read online articles. Now its the biggest challenge to me. Here is one of them. I will post many these words in future.

  Internet Explorer is an odd beast. Treated like an application, it’s also considered a Windows component. In fact, it’s such a component of Windows that you may be able to make the shortcuts and icons related to IE go away, but you can never really get rid of everything. Some components simply are parts of Windows.


texts:
His tradition-bound attitude was a constant source of dissatisfaction among or to the younger members of the family.

I believe that among is used in a correct form in this sentence. Among is used when referring more than two persons. So , why to is the correct form here because if I mark the answer as among it is wrong.
Suggestions please.


texts: What does "In keeping with the rationale of reconciling..." mean?

texts:
Excerpt:

  In keeping with the rationale of reconciling environmental protection, economic development and the fight against poverty in a sustainable manner, as formulated by the United Nations in 1992 at the “Earth Summit” of Rio de Janeiro and expressed in Agenda 21, adopted on that occasion, (from Preamble of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism)

I understand the bold part as:
we agree to the necessity of reconciling ....

what does keep with and rationale mean here? keep with means pursuing?


texts: What does " as determined" mean in this context?

texts:
The speed of the vehicle shall never exceed the safe speed
  set forth by the manufacturer or which may endanger the safe handling
  of the vehicle or safe operation of the arm as determined by the
  driver.

What does the bold part exactly mean? I asked the same question today: What does "as" mean in this context?

But if "as" is interpreted into "like", I'm not sure if "arm" is determined by the driver or "safe handling or safe operation" is determined by the driver. I think the latter makes sense, but I want to be sure. What is exactly determined by the driver in the sentence above?

Does the italic part mean that "if the safe speed is exceeded, safe handling of the vehicle or safe operation of the arm, which is determined by the driver, may be endangered"?


texts: Could I put a that after "thought" ( "Not as good as I thought that it would be.") or would the sentence no longer be grammatical? If I could it would probably be redundant anyway but I just want to know whether this is a that omission or not.


texts: Does "review over" mean go through every keywords in the context of classroom?

texts:
A kindergarten teacher starts her lesson with

  To help us to review over antonyms, we're going to do an antonym rap. I want you to move from side to side, all right? Are you ready?

Let's say they've learned 5 pairs of antonyms previously, does review over here mean "they will go through each of those 5 pairs"?


texts:
If I'm at the red light on the traffic lights and the light turns green in this exact moment could I say: The traffic light just got green? Is there a better way (or more common) to say this?

Besides that if I run on the yellow light and while I'm crossing the road the light turns red,   is there any expression specific to say that?


texts:
I am confused on how to frame a question.

  Is the patient aware of the procedure?

or

  Does the patient aware of the procedure?


texts: Who or Whom? Which is the right one here?

texts:
I read this sentence:

  "One of the women whom dislikes me made it"

I was wondering whether 'whom' is the right word in the sentence above or it should have been "who". I think "who" is the right one. Am I wrong?


texts: Is it common to use: come first in the exams

texts:
Is it natural to use : " I came first in my exams " to mean: "I achieved first rank in my class", or does this sound dated?

https://www.wikihow.com/Come-First-in-Exams

I read it here, so I just thought if it sounds natural.


texts: You have your own particular, specific problems — financial, intimate, psychological, and OTHERWISE

texts:
You have your own particular, specific problems — financial, intimate, psychological, and otherwise.

"otherwise" is usually put to make a contract, to show that something is different from what was previously mentioned. In this sentence, though, it looks like it's conveying the meaning of "and so on"/"and so forth"/"and the like".

I've never encountered this usage before. It seems strangely unfamiliar, and it doesn't fit into my understanding of the word.

The quote is from the book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by John Peterson. Here is the full context:

  Be cautious when comparing yourself to others. You're a singular being, once you're an adult. You have your own particular, specific problems — financial, intimate, psychological, and otherwise. Those are embedded in the unique broader context of your existence.


texts:
what is the meaning of "if words have any meaning" in this context?

  In some ways Kane's position is hopelessly illogical. He was on most
  intimate and affectionate terms with the mother and the two girls,
  although if words have any meaning he thought them to be swindlers
  living on the credulity of the public. "Kiss Katie for me," he says,
  and he continually sends love to the mother. Already, young as they
  were, he had a glimpse of the alcoholic danger to which they were
  exposed by late hours and promiscuous company. "Tell Katie to drink no
  champagne, and do you follow the same advice," said he. It was sound
  counsel, and it would have been well for themselves and for the
  movement if they had both followed it; but again we must remember
  their inexperienced youth and the constant temptations.

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


texts: What's the meaning of "daylight" in this sentence?

texts:
Below is a briefs of the Secretary of State, Pompeo in NYC recently and I really have no idea what this means.

  (Pompeo)
  What I can say is this. I have been in the Secretary of State now for 30 odd days. I think there is no daylight between the South Koreans the Japanese and the United States with respect to our approach to how we resolve this issue with respect to North Korea. I've spoken to my counterparts there. I've spoken to a Mr. Moon there. We understand their concerns. We understand the risks that could be posed to them and an agreement that we reach will provide an outcome that each of those countries can sign on to as well.


texts: What it is called when a TV channel is no longer available?

texts: When broadcasting of some TV channel is cut off (for example, as part of censorship), what do you call that action? 'TV channel is [past participle]' — fill the blank, please. Can I say, for instance, 'brought off the air'?


texts: Is the question "Where is it the map of?" correct?

texts:
How can I say "Where does this map belong to" that asks about where the map is showing, using the "Where". Is this sentence below right?:

  Where is it the map of?

I create the question above following the form of the question below:

  What do you think of?


texts: "The paper lies" vs. "The paper is lied"

texts:
1- The paper lies before me on the desk.
  2- The paper is lied before me on the desk.

What is the difference between these two sentences in using the two forms of the verbs?

Second, when could we use "verbs" in active form after things such as papers or things that can't move?


texts:
Each person has 24 hours a day, so you better make a choice about how you will spend your time in a day.

My question is, If the bold letters here grammatical?


texts: "tree.. Room opening upon it." - meaning?

texts:
I would like to understand the following sentence, as the meaning of "opening upon" is not clear to me:

There was a compound adjoining, filled with rank reed and a solitary
pipal tree. Nicholson said that the ghost generally appeared in one of
the rooms opening upon it, and this I selected as the one in which to
spend the night.


texts:
I want to know about the word desire used in religious texts. Does the word 'desire' alone represents 'sexual desire'? Supposing, if we say:

  Those who refrain from desire, God is pleased with them.

In this the word desire is meant the sexual desire. Does this suffice? Is this understandable that the writer means sexual desire by writing only the word 'desire'?


texts:
What's the difference between "much of" and much of "a/an"?

For example:

  Not much of India is barren.

  You can’t see much of a country in a week.

I would like to know the difference(s) between "much of" and "much of a/an", if there are any.


texts: "The number (or numbers?) of potatoes they each peeled would be recorded."

texts:
The sentence is as follows:

  The number of potatoes they each peeled would be recorded.

I know that something plural like "have" should go after "they each", but why not numbers in this case? If "they each" is like a group of people, then why "number" should be singular? Correct my understanding of "they each" if it's incorrect since it's closely related to the question.


texts: How to use "acceptable" in response to a question

texts:
Suppose someone asks how I'm doing. Which form of the word "acceptable" is grammatically correct to use for a response? Is it "Acceptable", "Acceptably", "I'm acceptable", "I'm acceptably", "I'm doing acceptable", "I'm doing acceptably", or something else?

(I do understand that it's probably unnatural or even impolite way to answer this question.)


texts: Usage of the word 'ones' when referring to children

texts:
I'm marking some student writing and I came across the following sentence.  The sentence uses the word 'ones' to refer to children.  It sounds wrong to me, but am not sure how to go about fixing it.

  As children get older, the percentage of ones who own mobile phones rises.

Is this sentence technically correct?


texts: "He is good looking" vs "He is looking good"

texts:
He is good looking.
He is looking good.

How to understand "looking" in the first sentence? Is it exactly the same meaning as in #2?


texts: "I will shoot you a message, if you ___ available, we can play!"

texts:
I will shoot you a message, if you ___ available, we can play!

So, what verb should I use here? "were" or "are"?


texts: Are declarative sentences of "to be" should have time inside?

texts:
Should declarative sentences of "to be" have some expression of time inside or it isn't necessary?

For example:

  I was a student. I was there. They were there. They were workers. She
  was a cashier. She was crazy. They were happy.
  Are such sentences fine or in any case and necessarily I should add some expression of time such as yesterday, one week ago, one hour ago etc.?


texts: Something await someone was yet ... ahead

texts:
Saint Odd

  Alone in the vastness of the Mojave, at two o’clock in the morning,
  racing along at seventy miles per hour, I felt safe and believed that
  whatever terror might await me was yet many miles ahead. This would
  not be the first time in my strange life that safety proved to be an
  illusion.

I don't understand

  whatever terror might await me was yet many miles ahead.

That might means

  I was being surrounded by something terror. I felt safe because if I ran
  another "many miles", I could escape from the terror.

It doesn't duplicate with "have yet to", because it doesn't have a "have" here.


texts: People might think that something is risky. Eg. burning the fire close to a forest. Then is it proper to say "It might be considered risky" or "It might be found risky"?


texts: Understanding "aggressively retiring" and "planes will be parked"

texts:
[13]Delta airlines have a poorer record. Delta said it has been
  aggressively retiring inefficient planes, such as 8 DC9s (average age:
  38 years) that will be parked this year. In addition, the airline says
  its mpg is impacted by having one of the industry’s highest passenger
  and cargo load factors, which results in heavier aircraft, and having
  a high percentage of short fights. In addition, Delta has a
  significant presence on the East Coast, where delays are more
  frequent.

What does "Delta said it has been aggressively retiring inefficient planes ... that will be parked this year" mean (in particular, the words "aggressively" and "park")?


texts: Do all these sentences sound natural to you? Or do you see any differences in meaning?

texts:
I am a Japanese and studying English again to be a teacher of English.
However, since I am not a native English speaker, I don't have any "intuition" to judge whether these sentences sound natural or not.
English phrases and words we learn for the exam to get into universities in Japan are often quite unnatural.

I would like to know whether these sentences sound natural to you.
Or do you see any difference in their meanings?

  "The boy is more shy than timid"
  "The boy is shy rather than timid"
  "The boy is not so much shy as timid"


texts:
Imagine in a party you notice a man is looking at your friend's ex-girlfriend in a manner that sounds she has some sexual attractions for him and you want to show that guy's look when he has focused on that girl to your friend (who is your and the girls last boyfriend's mutual friend.) I would appreciate it if someone could let me know which one of the following sentences work properly here:

  Look at him. He is looking at Maria intentfully.
  Look at him. He has an intent look on Maria.

If they both do not work here, then please let me know how a native speaker would say the same thing. (I think the message in my question is clear.)


texts: What's the meaning of "cornered" in this paragraph?

texts:
The "Boston Massacre" occurred in 1770 when a few
British soldiers were cornered by a large number of
colonists who were throwing snowballs, rocks, and
oyster shells at them. No one knows exactly who
yelled, "Fire," but the British fired and killed a few
Americans. (5 of them total).


texts:
1) She was in a good position now, with time on her side.
  2) The painting was reframed and hung on the wall, more stunning than ever.
  3) The painting was reframed and hung on the wall, a stunning work of art.

You can place a coordinating conjunction in these. Sometimes you may see them with a conjunction, not sure about 3). But not all of these types of phrases work like that.

I just wondered what the difference was if any.


texts:
The movie Michael Clayton has a line:

  Michael Clayton: OK. Look, it's very simple. Arthur has a chemical imbalance. He's fallen behind on his medication. He's back on the mend. He's gonna be fine. Now, I wanna make this crystal clear. What happened here stays in this room. This is not information that you wanna be out in front of. Anybody has a problem with that, I need to know right now.

How can one be out in front of a piece of information? The phrase appears to mean "to leak," but I haven't found anything online that shows it is idiomatic. Is this idiomatic language?


texts: What is the subtle difference between "I hope" and "I'm hoping"?

texts:
What is the subtle difference between I hope and I'm hoping? For example:

I'm going to the park tomorrow, so I hope it won't rain.
I'm going to the park tomorrow, so I'm hoping it won't rain.
I hope I'll get the job. I really need it.
I'm hoping I'll get the job. I really need it.


texts: They seem to be close to each another. - is it right here?

texts:
There is a picture of a family. There is a group of 4 people talking to one another pleasantly. In this situation, can I say like this?

They seem to be close to one another.

They seem to be close all together.

They seem to be close to each another.

I think #1 and 2 are good, but #3 is not right grammatically because there are more than 2.  Am I right?


texts:
I encountered this formulation, but I don't know what it means, and the online dictionary does not help me. So ...

What does "pull a story" mean?

Does it mean that some story is made up? Or rather the opposite, that something confidential is revealed?

Thanks.


texts: How can "start" be used in past continuous?

texts:
Another multiple-choice question:

What were you doing when Lucy phoned you?
I had just finished my work and _____ to read a book.

The answer is "was starting." I think the answer is wrong by itself. Since "start" is a transient verb, it can't be used in past continuous.

I've made a mistake, which is not the focus of the question, by writing present continuous instead of past continuous.

"The action of starting a car continues until the car has started and you release the starter." but I think it happens too fast to be considered a continuous event.


texts: Can I use the simple past tense twice in a sentence?

texts:
Is it correct to say

  She saw Henry when she turned on the television

Or should I say

  She saw Henry when she was turning on the television?

And should I say

  I met Anne when I went to the supermarket?

Or will it be

  I met Anne when I was going to the supermarket?


texts: Is the phrase "didn't miss the target by too far" grammatical/idiomatic?

texts:
I thought this was a common phrase, but it has 0 Google results.

Example sentence:

  He was wrong about calling her mentally sick. However, he hadn't
  missed the target by too far.

If the phrase isn't grammatical/idiomatic, what's a better option?


texts: "Surprise or surprising" What word choice would be correct here?

texts:
I came across this question and I should decide which of these two answers is correct.

  The spectators showed _____ at the unexpected victory of the local
  basketball team.

  a) surprising

  b) surprise

I am told that the correct answer is "b".

  The spectators showed surprise at the unexpected victory of the local
  basketball team.

But I don't think that's right, because if 'surprise' is an answer, it would be 'a surprise', or 'their surprise'. Of course, "surprise" could be also used as an uncountable noun.

Which answer is correct and why?


texts: "One of the tools I use is/are magnet/magnets"

texts:
I'm trying to wrap my head around whether any of the following are correct (apart from #3):

1) One of the tools I use is magnets.

2) One of the tools I use are magnets.

3) One of the tools I use is the magnet.

For #1, I'm not sure if it's correct or not. The assumption I'm making here is that "magnets" could be a collective, but I could be wrong.

For #2, since "one" is the subject, I'm fairly certain it's wrong.

For #3, I'm sure it's correct, but it doesn't have the same effect of plurality that I want to convey.

Any ideas or advice? Would greatly appreciate it.


texts: What does "The moment I’d been sure would come." mean in "Swimming in the Dark"?

texts:
I would like to know what "The moment I’d been sure would come." means in the following sentences:

I wiped my face and thanked her.
She stood still, looking down at me.
‘You love him, don’t you?’
She said it softly, neutral, almost as if it wasn’t a question. I
closed my eyes to say ‘Yes’, and looked at her, saw that she’d
understood. Then a shadow flickered across her face, a trace of doubt.
The moment I’d been sure would come. She remained still and looked at me intently, scanning me for reassurance, begging me for it with
her eyes.
‘You and Janusz …’ she began, but I interrupted her.
‘He doesn’t know,’ I said, slipping the wet ball of tissue into my
pocket, trying not to tremble, to keep my voice steady. ‘Don’t say
anything to him.’
She nodded, her fear dissolved. ‘Of course not,’ she said, trying to
cover her relief. ‘I won’t.’

Tomasz Jedrowski, Swimming in the Dark, Chapter 7

In this novel which is set in the 1980's in Poland under the socialist regime, where homosexuality was socially unacceptable, the protagonist Ludwik left Poland in 1981 to live in the United States of America. And he remembers what it was like back then in Poland, where he decided to leave the country after trying hard to stay in the country. (The main reason that Ludwik decided to leave the country was the fact that his lover Janusz constantly tried to straddle between Ludwik and a girl named Hania, the daughter of some high Party officer. But Hania didn't know about their relationship.) But the Passport Bureau wouldn't give him the passport, blackmailing him with the fact that he was a homosexual. So Ludwik took another route, by visiting Hania's house and telling her about his situation and asking her for help so that he could get the passport. But Hania said she needed to know what it was that they were blackmailing Ludwik with, in order to know how to best approach the situation, so Ludwik came out for the first time in his life, confessing that he was a homosexual. To his confession, Hania asked him whether he loved Janusz, and Ludwik said "Yes." At this, Hania began to doubt the friendship between Ludwik and Janusz for the first time, wondering whether they had been actually lovers, not friends.
In this part, I wonder what this boldfaced part means. I thought that it was a complete sentence, like this:
The moment (subject) [that] I’d been sure would come (verb).
And guessed that he was saying that the moment (probably the moment he had been expecting that Hania would ask about his relationship with Janusz) would come now.
But is it really a noun phrase, everything after "the moment" modifying "the moment," like this?
[This was] The moment (noun) [that] I’d been sure [that it] would come (modifying phrase).


texts: Various + (Uncountable noun) is acceptable?

texts:
When proofreading a paper, I saw a sentence as follows:

  SSDs consist of various hardware (e.b., NAND flash, DRAM, CPU) and complicated software (e.g., flash translation layer).

Sometimes I also carelessly use various to modify uncountable nouns such as hardware in this example, but I am not sure whether this usage is acceptable in an official academic paper.


texts: X-and-Y-lined streets or X and Y-lined streets?

texts:
My intuition told me it should be written, for example, as:

  restaurant and bar-lined streets.

However, after a Google Book search, I found this format:

  shop- and restaurant-lined streets

What the correct or at least common way of formatting this?


texts: Proper yet different pronunciation of "domicile"

texts:
According to the google search I've done the pronunciation of domicile might differ and be either ee or ay on the last syllable.

Is it a tomayto versus tomaato kind of situation, or is it geographically (or otherwise, in which case how) dependent?


texts:
The "mmm" I'm referring to, is the sound you make when you're thinking. Can that be described as humming? If not, what word to use?

Here is an example sentence:

  She hummed like a phone line going dead, then she said, "I know!" (meaning
  that she was saying mmmmmm before she spoke.)


texts: Does "somehow" mean "for some reason" here?

texts:
She suddenly smiled, somehow amused by this.

Does "somehow" here mean "for some reason"?


texts: "And" in negative sentences with "haven’t got"/ "hasn’t got"

texts:
Are these sentences correct?:

  I haven’t got freckles and glasses.

  She hasn’t got straight, blond hair and freckles.

  He hasn't got glasses and freckles.

Can I use "and" with negative sentences with "haven’t got"/ "hasn’t got"?

Is it correct?
Or should I use "or"?


texts: Can no more choose something than something?

texts:
For them, one can no more choose one’s sense of obligation to a group,
  or the lack of it, than one can choose one’s personality.

  The Moral Foundation of Politics by Ian Shapiro

I don't understand the connection between no more and than.
What does no more choosing something than something means?
Or am I getting this sentence wrong? Can please someone explain this sentence to me?


texts: Is "when" grammatically necessary in "at the same time as when?

texts:
"The militia was formed when demons and monsters appeared on the
  island, at the same time as when the Stormwall formed."

Should "when" be left out in this sentence because there is semantically a overlap between "as" and "when"? Or Could "When" be put after "as" of the phrase "at the same time as" in order to intensify the moment? If so, what is "when" considered as in the grammar aspect?


texts: Clearer and beautiful way to express this phrase “quality of life”

texts:
I am writing a personal essay and reach writer's block on this part

A simple app that could help save time for my father convinced me of the potential of technology to not only improve the industry's productivity but also the quality of life - precious time saved that could be spent with family.

Grammatically is it correct?
How to further improve on the "... quality of life ..." to drive the sentence more expressive and impactful to the reader? Any adjective or words to replace or add?


texts:
I often encounter statments where "ing" form isn't used. I wonder if "ing" form is incorrect in that context. For Example:

  Watch me play.(i.e Piano)

instead of

  Watch me playing.

I see it usually but couldn't understand what's the difference between them or if anyone is wrong.
More examples

  You are going to hear me roar.

  I grew up watch his movies...

  I saw birds do these kind of things on hill.


texts:
I have previously learnt Have + Verb ing is possible. I'd like to know if Ing is possible with other causative verbs.

Allow me to give examples:

  Her mom lets her listening to music at the moment.

  Her mom makes her mowing the lawn.

  She gets her assistant to finding a solution for her at the moment.

If this is not possible, how could I say that something is happening at the current present time?


texts:
I've been watching a TV show that its story line goes back to the sixties, and I encountered a weird sentence being spoken in the TV show.

The court magistrate is determined that you will live out your remaining days in here.

The problem with aforementioned sentence is that it lacks the required 3rd person auxiliary verb, Has, and instead it is filled with a non-sense 3rd singular verb, is. Is it a legit sentence? If so why is it used like so?

UPDATE:

Both of the answers are great and if the system allowed me, I would pick both of them as the best answer. I have chosen the first answer because it was published earlier than the second one and it includes more information. I appreciate both of you, well done!


texts: Is it still "you are" in this specific situation?

texts: I know one says "you are" regardless if "you" is used as plural or singular, but what happens if you use it in "you, my friend, (...). Is it changed into "you, my friend, is..." or "you, my friend, are..." Please help.


texts:
I have an issue with how can I distinguish between attributive nouns and compound nouns especially with separated words of compound?
What are the similarities and differences between them?
As you know compound nouns have three types:

separated words: bus stop, apple tree
closed or single words: firefly
hyphenated: dry-cleaning

Some sites says apple tree is an attributive and other says is compound, but I've read in a website that both compound and attributive nouns don't accept s plural to the main word as a general rule
and in compound nouns the main word is stressed but in attributive nouns both words is stressed.
Am I right?


texts: Meaning of "Dip the old wick in a vat of bad wax."

texts:
I came across this phrase when I was reading a detective novel An Innocent Client by Scott Pratt.

A policeman found the dead body of a priest with his penis cut off and said this to himself.

"What'd you do to get yourself killed, Rev?" Lander said to the photo as he turned into the parking lot at the Purple Pig. "Dip the old wick in a vat of bad wax?"

I'm not Christian. And that makes it even confusing.

Thank you so much.


texts: I have read this sentence in a newspaper " Reality Winner pleaded guilty in June". Why is an adjective "guilty" following a verb "plead"?

texts:
I have read this sentence in a newspaper

  Reality Winner pleaded guilty in June to a single count of
  transmitting national security information.

[Handout via Reuters]

Why is an adjective "guilty" following a verb "plead"?


texts: small / little poodle & bark at all / bark at everything & It’s / That’s my mom’s dog

texts:
As I understand, there are interchangeable these sentences, aren't they?

I have a small poodle. / I have a little poodle.

They bark at all. / They bark at everything.

It’s my mom’s dog. / That’s my mom’s dog.

P.S. Some phrases were taken from one English dialogue. (in Bold)


texts: What is the difference between "in time" and "on time"?

texts:
We reached the station on time.

  We reached the station in time.

I think first one means we reached at particular point of time when we are required to reach.

And second means we reached before the required time.

Am I right? Or is there any other difference or meaning?
If so, Please explain to me. And please explain me the points of grammer related to this.


texts: Does "He might be getting ruder" make sense?

texts:
When my son acts up to me, I see it in two ways.

  First, "did I do something wrong with him?" and the other is that he might be getting ruder.

I'm not sure "he might be getting ruder" makes sense.

Do that have the same meaning with: "he might become ruder"?

English is not my first language. I hope you understand.


texts:
What is the best way to say the sentence:

  I tried to recollect some grammar rules that I had  learned before.

or I should say:

  I tried to recollect some grammar rules that I learned before?


texts: Negating sentences - " If I had not ..., I would ..."

texts:
I want to make negative sentences from positive sentences.  For example:

If I had a car ..., I would ... 　　 ←　positive
If I had not a car, I would ...　　←　negative

But I'm not sure about it would be correct edited as well?

Also what is the difference between these two negative sentences?

If I had not a car, I would ...
If I did not have a car, I would ...

And is there any other option to another expression?
Edit: I do not just tell about question and positive, negative structure grammar.


texts: Is it natural to say "it snowed for the first time yesterday" meaning the first snow fell this year yesterday?

texts:
Could you tell me if the sentence below sounds absolutely natural?

It snowed for the first time yesterday, so it's wet today.

What I'm trying to say is that the first snow fell this year yesterday. Would it be more natural to say it like this

It was snowing for the first time yesterday, so it's wet today?


texts: It is correct to avoid mention explicity the subject here?

texts:
Is it better to use Despite she received or Despite receiving here? I am trying to add variety to my writing by avoiding repeating so many times the subject. However, I am not sure whether excluding the subject in sentences like this could be confusing or annoying to the reader?.
Despite receiving secondary education in a vulnerable region in the countryside with low educational performance, she graduated from one of the most academically demanding universities in the capital city of our country with an excellent thesis.
Despite the secondary education she received in the countryside is below the national average, she graduated from one of the most academically demanding universities in the capital city of our country with an excellent thesis.


texts: What is the difference between "twice as much" and "twice as much as"?

texts:
I saw two examples describing this kind of usage

Americans are sending more than twice as much trash to landfills than the government estimates
My worth is twice as much as he has. (This is my own example, I cannot find the OP, so I just made another one similar to OP's)


texts: "Ways to prevent (a) Cold/Colds" Correct?

texts:
Which of these are more proper and why?

  Ways to prevent a cold

or

  Ways to prevent colds

I learned in high school that "cold" is singular and plural and  at the time.


texts: Why would the word "hooked" end with a "t" sound?

texts:
On the Cambridge dictionary website, if you search "hooked", the US IPA given is /hʊkt/.
and if you click the audio button, it does indeed end with a "t" sound,
I know the spelling and actual pronunciation isn't always a perfect match in English, but I don't recall ever seeing an exception where a "d" is pronounced as a "t", or maybe I've just been illiterate my whole life
Is this a special case or something?


texts: I don't understand the meaning of the sentence in bold clearly

texts:
When the Lahardane sheepdogs were poisoned Lucy suggested that this
dog should be a replacement for one of them, since it had never really
become the O’Reillys’; but the suggestion met with no enthusiasm and
within a week Henry began to train two sheepdog pups that a farmer near
Kilauran had let him have at a bargain price. Although devoted to both her
parents – to her father for his usually easygoing ways, to her mother for
her gentleness and her beauty – Lucy was cross with them that summer
because they didn’t share her affection for the O’Reillys’ dog, and cross
with Henry because he didn’t either: all that, in retrospect, was what that
summer should have left behind, and would have if there hadn’t been the
trouble in the night.

Dose it mean: it would be better if  that event had not happened and if there was no trouble they agreed with her.
Source: The Story Of Lucy Gault by William Trevor


texts: What's the difference among "lights went out" , "lights went off" and "lights went down"?

texts: Hi everyone I'm just a beginner so  sorry for my bad english. I bumped into a question on instagram onto a page created for people who want to improve their english skills. The question was " All the lights in the building suddenly went...? A) off B) out C) down " The correct answer was A but I didn't get it. So I was just wondering what is the difference between went out went off and went down. Thank you if you answer.


texts: Which one should I start the sentence with, “What are” or “What is”?

texts:
I have a question. If you are asked to form a question about the part in bold as in the sentence

  There are many flowers in the park.

are you going to say “What is in the park?” or “What are in the park?

Are they both OK?


texts:
What is the part of speech of going in the following sentences?

  I hate going shopping.
  Do you like going sightseeing when you are on holiday?

Update:

  All words belong to categories called word classes (or parts of speech) according to the part they play in a sentence.

  The main word classes ...: Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Pronoun, Preposition, Conjunction, Determiner and Exclamation

  Oxford Dictionaries

I have some understanding of gerund and participle, but I don't know what they are exactly

anyway, each part of speech has some rules you can apply on it. so if I can determine what is the part of speech of the word then I can know how to use the rules.

as example, if the word "going" in the above sentence is verb, so I can change the tense of the statement by changing it. In the other hand, if it is noun so I can use adjectives with it ... and so on.

Assume it is Noun (compound noun), so I can add adjective to it as following:

  I hate virtual going shopping.

Assume it is verb, so it should be continuous tense and continuous tenses need auxiliary verb (be). So I will assume that auxiliary verb is omitted. and I can change it to other tense as following.

  I hate (I am) going shopping (now). >> I hate I was going shopping and ... .

Note: maybe the examples and assumptions are wrong, and I have misunderstanding of some topics of English grammar, but I'm trying to find point that I can start from it.


texts: Is it idiomatic to say "grammatical and idiomatic"?

texts:
In my other post ("time adverbs" vs. "adverbs of time") I use these two examples

  The word already is a kind of time adverbs.

  The word already is a kind of adverbs of time.

and suggest that both sentences are "grammatical and idiomatic".

I found lots of people also use the expression a lot.

Google Ngram might also justify that.

So, is it idiomatic to say "grammatical and idiomatic"?


texts: What is the notebook of marks (school/uni) called in English?

texts: In some school and universities in the world there are a small notebook in which the marks of the exams are written by the teachers. What is this notebook called in English?


texts: Is "shared on demand of a friend" a good title?

texts: A friend of mine asked me to share a clip. I did so and wrote Shared on demand of a friend above it. Is it OK? What are the best ways to put this?


texts: Please, review my paraphrase and tell me what is wrong

texts:
So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.

This is the original phrase

  that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them

This part is particularly confusing to me .

  Before they(those uninitiated) learned the method which he obtained, his results would be so surprising to those who don't know anything about them. After learning, they will think of him weird.

And I tried constructing a paraphrase.
I'll give you additional information about this, in case the context is not clear.

  Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life,” and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be far fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thoughts. Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.

Source: A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle


texts: Could you help me understand "the extent to which" in this sentence precisely?

texts:
The sentence:

  Despite dramatic increases in trade worldwide, countries still differ substantially in the extent to which they engage in trade.

It is a fill-in-the-blank question in our recent exam. Although my answer is correct, I did not understand what is meant by "extent to which they engage in trade". Could you please articulate this phase ?


texts: Does 'in 20 years' indicates time in the past or future

texts:
ABC city sees a doubling of air pollution in 20 years.

does this 'in 20 years' mean the past 20 years or the next 20 years to come?
I have found a similar structure in news titles, see quoted:

With Covid surge, Karnataka sees cases doubling in 10 days

It seems the indicated time refers to the past. But 'in' can also mean time in the future right?


texts:
What, according to the functionalist, is the difference between things which merely have functional roles and things whose functional roles amount to their having a mind?
Different people may interpret identical events or stimuli differently due to their having a mind that differs from your own.

Which part of English grammar stipulates using their in these sentences? For me it should be either "to them having a mind" or "to their having of a mind."


texts: 'By Now' with Past Tense or Conditional Mood

texts:
As far as work goes, maybe instead of changing jobs, I should be changing the way I am doing my job. I'd probably have a better position by now if I did.

On the above paragraph, we can see the sentence, 'I'd probably have a better position by now if I did.'

Now questions,

In 'I'd probably have a better position by now', is 'would probable have' Conditional mood or Past tense?
In 'if I did', is 'did' Conditional mood or Past tense?

I really thank everyone in advance.


texts:
What is the positive statement of the question "Whose frying pan is this?"

I mean How can I transform from question to the positive statement. What would it look like? I hope I explain myself understandably.


texts:
I looked the meaning for wrench. There are so many meaning for the same word based on the context. Also I found below sentence in the dictionary. What does this sentence means? I'm not getting it. Does it mean - He was holding the girl tightly with both hand and she pushed his hands away forcefully to escape?

I mean whether the man was holing the woman like in this image but forcefully and tightly and she pushed his hands away forcefully to escape?

  I tried to wrench myself free from his grip.


texts: Why "on television", but "on the radio?"

texts:
Why do we say on television but say on the radio? I saw these two mentioned in Cambridge dictionary entry.

  We often hear and use it both in private and in public settings and in films, on television and on the radio.

Source


texts: Does "she has been watching TV" imply starting in past and continuing to present?

texts:
Mom! She is not giving me remote, it has been her limit now, she has been watching TV and you are not saying anything.

  She has been watching TV, that's why the TV looks hot.

Does my first sentence imply that she started watching TV in past and she is still watching TV? Can I use "you have not been saying anything to her" rather than "you are not saying anything to her"?

Does my second sentence imply that she started watching TV in past and has stopped watching it?


texts: Can I use the word "brevet" as a synonym for "patent"?

texts:
I have to write a text where the word "patent", referring to various inventions published in Germany, UK, US and France, appears so often that I need synonyms for it in order to make the text less annoying. Can I use sometimes the word "brevet" instead? Are there other synonyms for "patent"?

I looked for the synonyms of "brevet" and this is what I have found.


texts: "You've earned the 'Nice Answer' badge" vs. "You've earned a 'Nice Answer' badge"

texts:
From the StackExchange notification system:

Can we use a instead of the here?

  You've earned a "Nice Answer" badge (Answer score of 10 or more) for "In English literature" or "In the English literature"?

or would this use of "a" will be strange in some way?


texts: My request letter sounds awkward and I'm not sure how to end it

texts:
I'm not a native English speaker, and formal letter writing classes from my school days involved archaic grammar and language. When I write a formal letter to a native speaker, I'm constantly second guessing myself to make sure I don't come off as overly groveling.

Long story short I need help to make my request letter complete. How would you suggest ending it? Any other grammatical errors? (The letter is addressed to my former supervisor)

  Dear Dr. *****

  I hope you are doing well.

  As you may recall, I am a graduate of the ******** residency program
  at ****** Hospital (July 201* - June 20*5  ) I am to writing to
  request a letter of experience ( listing job duties, title, and dates
  of employment ) which is required as a part of my visa application.


texts:
The chemical element Hydrargyrum (Hg) has two names in English: Quicksilver and Mercury.

Can these two words be used interchangeably? Is one of them more appropriate for a professional context?


texts: Past perfect or past simple?which one is grammatically correct?

texts:
1-He was very excited to have been invited to Matt's party.The last time he was at a party, he had (got-BE)/(gotten-AE) so drunk that he was unable to get back home.

2-He was very excited to have been invited to Matt's party.The last time he was at a party, he got so drunk that he was unable to get back home.

3-He was very excited to have been invited to Matt's party.The last time he had been to a party he had (got-BE)/(gotten-AE) so drunk that he was unable to get back home.

4-He was very excited to have been invited to Matt's party.The last time he had been to a party he got so drunk that he was unable to get back home.
Could someone elo


texts:
The first technique is prevention of distraction.  I remember at the
  age of 15, I got my first computer. I was so fascinating for it, I
  spent so much time on my computer until my stomach growls, my eye
  hurts, and my finger numbs.

This is a part of the speech I will be given. Is it grammatical to use present tense here: "my stomach growls, my eye hurts, and my finger numbs", so that it sounds more vivid?


texts: The World Wide Web or World's Wide Web which is correct

texts:
World Wide Web and World's Wide Web
which is grammatically correct.
which is proper. please kindly answer me.
i want to know the difference between them.


texts: Are possessive nouns with apostrophe plural?

texts:
The center's much-hyped attempt to privatise Air India by disinvesting 74 percent equity has come a cropper.

I am still not able to understand how "attempt" is considered as noun rather then verb.

Any tip on how to figure out if a word is a verb or noun.

Here, attempt seems to be subject's action and in simple present tense.
So attempt is satisfying both conditions of a verb i.e action and timing.

The above sentence is a line from news paper editorial.


texts: Rapid speech pronunciation of  call a whopper

texts:
I'd like to know why in the audio clip here what sounds like /hu/. Is it because what could oddly enough be pronounced as /hwʌt/ that starts with /h/. I'd like to add that I don't remember I've heard it pronounced that way with /h/ before.

My main problem is that I expect "what do they" to begin with a /w/ not /h/.

How do you explain that?
If it is common could you come up with another example sentence
    where what starts with a /h/ sound not /w/?

  [laughs] What do they call a Whopper? Vincent: I dunno, I
  didn't go into Burger King. But, you know what they put on French
  fries in Holland instead of ketchup?

Source: here


texts: What does "where" and "to every other objection" mean in the clause?

texts:
I could get the general sense of this sentence, but I'm so confused by the wording.

Does "where" mean "in which" or "to which", or something else?
And what does "to every other objection" mean?
If to rephrase the clause, should it be:

a.  in addition to other objection, the family would be added in an alliance and relationship of the nearest kind with the man / whom he so justly scorned

b. the family would be added an alliance and relationship of the nearest kind with the man whom he so justly scorned to every other objection

But , if b. is right, then why use "where", not "which"?

The context is that:

Wickham and Lydia got married; Elizabeth, the sister of Lydia,  was sad, for she knew that from now on there is no chance for her and Darcy, because Darcy hated Wickham.

Here is the sentence:

  Elizabeth was now most heartily sorry that she had, from the distress
  of the moment, been led to make Mr. Darcy acquainted with their fears
  for her sister, for since her marriage would so shortly give the
  proper termination to the elopement, they might hope to conceal its
  unfavourable beginning from all those who were not immediately on the
  spot.

  She had no fear of its spreading farther, through his means. There
  were few people on whose secrecy she would have more confidently
  depended, but at the same time, there was no one whose knowledge of a
  sister’s frailty would have mortified her so much. Not, however, from
  any fear of disadvantage from it individually to herself, for at any
  rate there seemed a gulf impassable between them. Had Lydia’s marriage
  been concluded on the most honourable terms, it was not to be supposed
  that Mr. Darcy would connect himself with a family, where to every
  other objection would now be added an alliance and relationship of the
  nearest kind with the man whom he so justly scorned.

  From such a connection she could not wonder that he should shrink. The
  wish of procuring her regard, which she had assured herself of his
  feeling in Derbyshire, could not in rational expectation survive such
  a blow as this. She was humbled, she was grieved; she repented, though
  she hardly knew of what. She became jealous of his esteem, when she
  could no longer hope to be benefited by it. She wanted to hear of him,
  when there seemed the least chance of gaining intelligence. She was
  convinced that she could have been happy with him, when it was no
  longer likely they should meet.

  From Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen


texts:
I need some help with sentence grammar and I hope you can help me.

  What is your biggest goal in life? Is it to write a book, find a fulfilling job or find a love of your life?

Can I start second sentence like this? ("Is it to write....")


texts:
a.— I'd sooner we travelled by plane.
  b.— I'd rather we travelled by plane.
  c.— I'd prefer we travelled by plane.

Is there any difference between the following constructions?
I've seen that I'd sonner and I'd rather slightly mean the same, but I'm not sure if the above three convey the same meaning.


texts: In Persian we have a phrase, whose translation would be "in the bed of disease". It means when you are ill and resting in bed. Can we use the same in English? What are equivalent phrases?


texts:
Some YouTubers upload “life update”. What does it mean?
Is it like “I made a big decision about my life” or “I show you my daily life” or “I’ve grown so much”?


texts: between thumb, forefinger and middle finger -- why no articles?

texts:
Source: Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold

Example:

  Despite the fancy appearance, this was just a switch designed for maximum speed. The most comfortable way to use the key for long periods of time was to hold the handle between thumb, forefinger and middle finger and tap it up and down. Holding the key down for a short period of time produced a Morse code dot. Holding it down longer produced a Morse code dash.

First of all, why do you think there is no definite article at least before the word thumb? And secondly, how do you think the sentence would be different in meaning or style if we had placed one there? Would it be grammatically plain wrong or just constitute a bad writing style?


texts: Are words like "well-known" spelled with a hyphen in dictionaries?

texts:
There are compound words in English like well-known, ill-mannered and so on. The rules tell us that they are spelled with a hyphen (well-known)  if they are attributes (attributive adjectives), but without hyphen (well known) if they are predicates (predicative adjectives).
It's all right. But what if they are dictionary entries? I think these words may be present in dictionaries. Will they have a hyphen in this case?


texts: Is "to be" unnecessary in this sentence?

texts:
Which is the correct usage here?
This

Final location of these holes are to be to suit at  field.

Or this

2  Final location of these holes are to suit at field.


texts:
"the vain notion that there could ever be an easy, painless catholicon for obesity…"
  from Webster

What is this ever?


texts:
Is the second part of this sentence redundant?

  He was acquitted of and absolved from all the charges of corruption

Since acquit and absolve mean almost the same thing, why use both in the sentence?


texts: (have+something+past participle) Vs (have+past participle+something)

texts:
I have a confusion about word-order in present perfect tense and past perfect

tense.(The tenses that have auxilary verb)

A) I have cleaned all the carpets.

B)I have all the carpets cleaned.

C)I have read the book.

D)I have the book read.

it seems to me that when the sentence has a determiner like ''all''

( all the carpets), A and B both possible but when the sentence does not

have a determiner (like ''all'') just sentence c is correct ,sentence d is

incorrect.

Am I right about it ?

Which one is correct and more idiomatic, is there any difference between

sentence A-B and C-D?


texts:
There are many sites explaining the rules of backshifting in the reported speech but I am not able to find the one for backshifting of "had to".

  I had to do it, he said.

Which is the correct form in the reported speech:

  He said that he must have done it.
  He said that he had had to do it.
  He said that he had to do it.


texts:
I have read the following sentence in a language learning tool (the Italian course in Duolingo) :

  Next Thursday is vacation.

What does it mean?

It sounds odd to me, either in US English or UK English. I think it might be a bad translation. I'd rather say:

the holidays are next week/month (holidays = "festivities of the end of the year" or holiday = "day in which most schools, stores and offices are closed because of a public celebration" )
the holiday is next Thursday ( holiday = "day in which most schools, stores and offices are closed because of a public celebration")
the holiday(s) (UK) / vacation (US) start(s) next Thursday (holiday(s)/vacation = "rest period given to a specific student/worker or group of those")


texts: Can I say "I got to be reluctant to go to school"

texts:
Can I say

  I got to be reluctant to go to school.

In the morning, I thought I wanted to go to school (for evening class). But after lunch, now I don't want to go to school. My feeling changed. I've come to be reluctant.

In this context, which is correct in order to express my current changed feeling?

  I got to be reluctant to go to school

or

  I became reluctant to go to school.

I'd like to ask expression using "get" and "become". Or both is inapropriate for this situation.

Thank you


texts: Which is formal; "In this paper I argue" or "This paper argues"?

texts:
In this paper I argue that small incentives can lead to greater participation in surveys.

OR

  This paper argues that small incentives can lead to greater participation in surveys.

According to Unit 1: An approach to Academic Writing (Page: 22), the first one is informal and should be avoided in the academic writings; I'd agree to it too. However, the second one seems to be odd as the inanimate subject of it (This paper) is followed by an action verb (argues).

Can action verbs be sometimes used with inanimate subjects/topics? Because, otherwise, the second sentence would not be formal either.


texts: I had never been here before or I have never been here before?

texts:
I had never been here before?

  I have never been here before?

Which one from these two is correct? The one in present perfect or the other in past perfect?

I came across both.

The "before" in the end confuses, so i think i have to use past perfect.

Thanks.


texts:
Passage:

  A great deal of the time you were expected to make them up out of your head. For example, the Ministry of Plenty's forecast had estimated the output of boots for the quarter at 145 million pairs. The actual output was given as sixty-two millions

(George Orwell 1984)

Additional information:

  According to this source in this context the word 'million' should be used as singular

Question:

  Is the plural for the word 'million' wrong in this context?

Link to the book (page #52)


texts: What’s the difference between “cartoon” “animation” “animated cartoon”?

texts: I see that anime is short for animation which refers specifically to Japanese style of cartoon. But I also learn that cartoon are usually aimed at children. Then how do you call cartoon works like Gravity Falls or Steven Universe which are not aimed only at children? And what is an “animated cartoon”? Isn’t this phrase sort of a tautology?


texts: Why {you did not / did not you} drink that juice?

texts:
Which of the followings is correct?

  1) why you did not drink that juice?

  2) why did not you drink that juice?

I think both of them are correct but I don't know which one is more formal! Any further explanations will be appreciated. :)


texts: How can I use "pretend" in negative way?

texts:
I played the game called "SPY". There were one spy out of ten. Nobody knows who is the spy except the spy. After the game, I wanted to say "He pretended to be a spy." and "He pretended not to be a spy."

He pretended to be a spy.
I think this sentence is right.

Then "He pretended not to be a spy." is right? I mean, he tried to hide the fact that he is a spy.

And one more question.
Can I say like this?

He pretended a spy.
He pretended not a spy.

If I cannot say, could you give me right grammar sentence? And I wanna know why I'm wrong.

Plus, I want to learn how I can say this in other way using the other verb or expression.

Thank you in advance.


texts: Question mark in a sentence that does not start with WH

texts:
I needed to ask someone why something was redirected to a different team. I want to use 'Not sure' along with my question to leave a bit of skepticism. My question is,can we use the question  mark if we don't start our question with Do, Does, or Wh questions?

Not sure why this was redirected to EBOSS team?.

Also should this question be rephrased as "Not sure why was this redirected to EBOSS team"?


texts: Why does it have to be 'scissors' and not just 'scissor'?

texts:
I'm wondering why I need to say scissors instead of just 'scissor'. Are there any rules about it?

I would think that I only have one scissor, meaning it would be singular and not plural. (That's at least how it is in my native language.)

This would only be one scissor in Danish.

Can anyone tell me why it needs to be plural?


texts:
I have come across both of the verbs "pass" and "hand" when people want to ask each other something.
For instance, I have heard both sentences below at the table:

1- Please hand me the saltshaker.

2- Please pass me the saltshaker.

I was wondering whether both of these two verbs mean "give"?
If so, are they just more formal than "give"?
Please let me know how these words differ in meaning?


texts:
"BBC news" YouTube channel published a video about Kashmir. It was titled as:

Kashmir: How old it the fight ?

Does that make sense or there was "is" instead of "it"?


texts: Does the "buck" of a line simply mean the U.S dollar aka public funds?

texts:
Reading this article, there is a line,

The coronavirus could still be contained, Hotez claimed, but that would require “leadership at the federal level, and there was never an interest or curiosity for the federal government to lead this,” a reference to Trump’s passing of the buck to governors

Would that mean simply the money, US dollar(1)?
If so, why wouldn't it be the plural form but the singular?


texts:
see this Video, at 0:51, it seems that the lady said
"but down in the middle there’s a path they’re not touching"

It is very hard for me to translate that saying.

so, Am I translating correctly?


texts: What's the difference between modifiers and determiners?

texts:
From The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, page 519:

  Genitives, such as Christ’s in [4iv], we take to be modifiers not determiners. They occur readily in names that are themselves functioning as modifier within a larger construction, as in a Christ’s College don: this is a construction which accepts nominals but not full NPs in modifier position. Such genitives cannot normally contain a determiner — compare King’s College, Women’s College, etc.

I don’t see what is the clear difference between modifiers and determiners. Aren’t the latter just included in the modifiers’ category?


texts:
In this context which is more correct:
A: We've found him. He's dead.
B: What happened?/What has happened?
A: We think he fell down the stairs/We think he's fallen down the stairs.


texts: Which tense to use in a sentence describing past, present and future at the same time

texts:
Today is Monday.  I'm off from Wednesday last week to Wednesday this week.
Which tense should I use describing this situation?

  1) I've been off since last Wednesday till this Wednesday.  2) I was off from last Wednesday till this Wednesday.  3) I'm off from last Wednesday till this Wednesday.

Which one is most appropriate to say?   Could you help me?


texts: Should we use an or the with the following?

texts:
Ray went to visit his friend who lives in the next street, he went through an alley beside his place. ... Pretty soon, he came upon trash bins beside a building wall ...

Should we use an or the?
for second article (a), can we use the?

Notes: we don't know if he as more than one alley beside his place.

Is the above sentence correct?


texts: Difference between Present Perfect and Past Simple ( I am not a beginner )

texts:
I have been learning English for 7 years now, and I have read so many grammar books with rules, telling the difference between Present Perfect and Past Simple and I still find it hard to distinguish them.

On paper, it is easy, if it is not a certain (exact) time in the past without any time markers (yesterday, a month ago, etc) it is past simple. Yes, but outside the classroom it is really harder than this . I have heard many people speaking how they want to, mixing the tenses.

So, I will give these sentences which i have heard to be constructed differently, please, if someone can explain the difference to me.

  Have you enjoyed the party? / Did you enjoy the party?

  I have given the documents today. / I gave the documents today.

  I have done this when I have revised it. / I did it when I revised it

  What did you do today? / What have you done today ?

Is it possible to use past simple without mentioning a definite time in the past  (without the time markers)?

  It has been 3 years since we moved house. / It has been 3 years since we have moved house.

  I know him since we met each other/ I know him since we have met each other

Correct me if some of the sentences are grammatically wrong!


texts:
What is the proper use of "do" versus "are" in the phrases:

  Do you like me?
  Are you like me?

Is there any difference between them?


texts: "Name the file after each of which parent folder" Does this sound right?

texts:
I am trying to say that I want to name all files after each file's parent folder. Is this construction acceptable:

  Name the file after each of which parent folder.

As a non-native speaker, I am worried if this might sound too complicated. If not, what will be the natural way of saying to deliver my intention? Also, please feel free to edit my post, if this post itself contains any grammatical mistake.


texts:
I was watching the bridge and the African looking country of the Ebro Delta and wondering how long now it would be before we would see the enemy, and listening all the while for the first noises that would signal that ever mysterious event called contact, and the old man still sat there.

Source: “The Old Man at the Bridge” by Ernest Hemingway
I am wondering what the bold part would mean or how to analyze it, so that I get it better.
Any help would be greatly appreciated


texts: When your appetite makes you feel that you want to eat

texts:
When someone is off their food would probabely say something like:

  I lost my appetite.

But how about the situation in which they feel they want to eat? What would you usually say here?

The only sentence I've found is:

  I got a heck of appetite.

But I'm not completely sure if it is the way usually native speakers would say it. Please let me know how would you imply such a message?

Added: Meanwhile, could you please tell me if it would be possible to say: I feel hungry or I don't feel hungry instead of all these sentences here?


texts: What kind of word is HOW here? ---> "We will look at how this is used"

texts:
Sentence: We will look at how this is used.
My question is here,
1. Is  a word "how" subordinator in this sentence? If not, then what is it?
2. We will look at and this is used, are these two independent clauses?
3. Are these independent clauses connected by a word "how"?


texts: "Can you do this" or "Can you please do this" or "Could you please do this"?

texts: Which is the correct response to someone if they want you to do this?


texts: What is the meaning of "a sense of failure over never..."

texts:
Logue is a man who must cure his own demons – a sense of failure over never having made it as a professional actor – and who is everywhere patronised as a colonial.

Sense of failure didn't allow him to become an actor or he didn't become an actor and it oppresses him now?


texts: Use perfect or simple past in this paragraph?

texts:
I am not sure which tense I should use in the following paragraph. I put double () the parts. Should I change this to past tense, and if so, why? Thank you so much.

  A breaking news about a car accident has just come in. According to the reporter, a commercial truck and an automobile ((had crushed)) head on, causing a gas leak and fire.
  Surprisingly, it seems like one of the drivers, although injured, had made a call to the police before another driver passed the scene of the accident and called 911. Although one of the drivers ((has suffered)) severe injuries, all drivers and passengers ((have survived)) the accident. They had already been transported to the nearest hospital for medical attention when the reporter Jacobs arrived.
  The fire department ((has succeeded)) in putting out fire rather quickly and there was no further spread of fire nor explosion.


texts: I'll watch some TV vs. I'll watch some movie

texts:
I know and have used this phrase many times.

  I'll watch some TV

But when I told this to my daughter, she asked a question that confused me a bit. Her concern was how this phrase is different from the below one?

  I'll watch some movie

She asked if I had said, "I'll watch some program on TV" could have made more sense.

How do I make her understand the use of some + noun in the same context where both the sentences mean different!

Furthermore, can you come up with some examples of some + noun as in some TV here? The noun should not mean 'any'.


texts: What does "you could have" mean exactly? (I'm confused)

texts:
First, I understood that "you could have" = "you should do that in the past"
as:
 "You could have done better on your exam."
But, in these sentences, I see that it means "you shouldn't do that in the past"
as:
"You could have blown your chance."
"You could have upset her by saying that."
Now, I'm confused, what's the right meaning?


texts:
*That feeling you get when your kid won't let you do your housework.

Me stressed at the thought of tonights traffic.*

What do we call these types of sentences that commonly come with a picture or something that exaggerates a given situation.

And would the information after the comma be an absolute phrase here?

Sarah was miserable untill she met Steven, a salesman who visits a company that makes your dreams a reality in this fantasy story which takes place on another planet.


texts: What does "to put one's feet to sleep" mean?

texts:
The Wall Street (1987) movie features the following line from Gordon Gekko (played by actor Michael Douglas) around 00:53:30 (YouTube):

  My wife tells me you made a move on Darien. Here's some inside info for ya. That Euroflash GQ type she's going with? He's got big bucks, but he's putting her feet to sleep. Exit visas are imminent. I don't want you to lose your place in line.

I can roughly understand the idea from the context, but what exactly does the expression "to put one's feet to sleep" mean, and when it can be used?


texts:
The word turnover at least has two meanings in the dictionary. Without context, is the following sentence ambiguous?

The company has a high turnover.

Supposing it's ambiguous, if the word rate is inserted at the end, is it still ambiguous? I'm entertaining only two possibilities here: the company receives substantial revenues, or many employees come and go.

I'd appreciate your help.


texts:
He wanted to take off his shoes.

He grabbed the end of shoes but can't take off.

"Pull your band off first." I told him.

What do we call the highlighted part in the image?


texts: Past continuous or present perfect continuous?

texts:
If you see two people talking and then they stop. One of them comes up to you and you ask:
1 What were you (just) talking about?
or
2 What have you been talking about?


texts: What does title mean as in "mobile titles"?

texts: I think it isn't the title of a book that kind of thing.


texts: should 'do' be used in this type of interrogative sentence below?

texts:
Can you tell me how do you/people feel about...?

Should auxiliary "do" be used in the sentence ? if shouldn't, then why? is there any general distictive rule to determine it easily. For example, it may be that there's a rule preventing the use of two auxiliary verbs(can and do) in one interrogative sentence, and that's why we cannot use "do" or there's another thing related to it? Please if possible, explain it by providing examples that looks like the same question patterns. Thanks in advance for all for your time and help.


texts:
I came across the following two sentences, but I can't find out the reason or different meaning in two sentence for using on and in before the deal. Could I switch them around?

  There is talk that Airbus could snatch even more market share in that deal.
  They have made a killing on the deal


texts: Difference between "sorts" vs. "kinds" vs. "types"

texts:
I am Brazilian and I often read the terms "sorts," "kinds" and "types."

To me, they each have the same meaning. Is there a difference for the native English speakers?

Context:

  Does NAG develop the same sorts of products as our local Boston area
  company MathWorks (e.g., MATLAB)? And why/how is XML important to math
  software products?

Source: https://tug.org/interviews/carlisle.html


texts: Does "stray off" equal "stray away from"?

texts:
For example:

  Carelessly roaming around the public square, I strayed off the way home.

Can I paraphrase it like this:

  Carelessly roaming around the public square, I strayed away from the way home.


texts: Using the phrase "from X to X" versus using "between Xs"

texts:
I want to say that physicians differ on the diagnosis of an illness for patient Joe. What is the difference between:

The diagnosis differs between physicians
The diagnosis differs from physician to physician

Is the latter more informal (or simply incorrect)?


texts: Can I say 'around the 1800s'? How do I read '1800s'?

texts:
Tasmanian wolf died out around the 1800s.

Q1. Is the above sentence correct? (I'm not sure whether I can use 'around' here.)

Q2. How do I read 'in the 1800s' aloud?

Thank you!


texts: When is it specific enough for 'the' to be used (e.g. [potential article] + [noun] + [prep.] + [another noun])?

texts:
I asked a very similar question before, but sorry, I still don't fully get it. For example

He mocked the use of sanitizers (during the pandemic).

Would it be specific enough for 'the' if there's no 'during the pandemic' (like, in that imaginary person's opinion, using sanitizers is funny generally speaking)? Would it be specific enough if there is 'during the pandemic'? Or would it be specific enough only if some particular instance is implied (for example, using sanitizers in a certain establishment during the pandemic, not generally)? I mean, you always say 'If it's specific, use 'the''. But there are multiple "layers" or "levels" of specificness. At which one is it specific enough for the definitive article? It's not all that obvious for a non-native speaker.
Edit: Some objected to using 'usage' so I replaced it with 'use'.


texts:
In this movie clip, starting at 41 seconds, Maui says:

  When you use a bird to write with, it's called tweeting.

Does the to-infinitive clause modify "a bird"?


texts: "which soldier is me!” or “which soldier I am!”

texts:
I can’t accurately tell what is the subtlety of the use of “which” in this sentence:

  “But even my own parents won't be able to tell which soldier is me!”

If "which" is considered as a conjunction, then why isn't it put like this:

  “But even my own parents won't be able to tell which soldier I am!”

Is this "which" a conjunction or a determiner here?


texts: Article usage - is it "in a landfill", or just "in landfill"

texts:
The sentence:

“It costs more to recycle plastic than to bury it in landfill.”

sounds wrong to me because it is missing an article before “Landfill” (it should be noted, however, that I am not a native speaker and the sentence comes from a popular English textbook).


texts:
Today my English teacher(not a native) used the sentence below to introduce the idea of relative clause:

  People will buy the classics based on her recommendation but sales won't reach the kind of numbers  achieved in the first book club.

My teacher explained that the sentence above is a relative clause because which were is originally placed before achieved , and numbers is modified by "which were achieved in the first book club."

  People will People will buy the classics based on her recommendation but sales won't reach the kind of numbers (which were) achieved in the first book club.

My teacher said that which were is omitted in the sentence because grammar rule allows, and the omitted which represent numbers.  So, the relative clause part of the sentence can be seen as : Numbers were achieved in the first book club.

But my friend told me that the teacher is partly wrong because there is no such thing as omitting which were or that "numbers which were achieved" is transformed into "numbers achieved",
the term for this is called participle phrase. But my friend said that relative clause performs the same function as participle phrase, and the meaning does not differ, so the teacher isn't completely wrong.

So I am really confused because I was given two different thoughts,
at this point I don't know whom to trust, which one is right and which is wrong?


texts:
How can I understand if sentences as for example

  You have to/must be strong

are observation or advice?
Is it entirely up to the context?


texts:
Bipedalism would have allowed early hominids to see over tall grasses,
  helping them to locate food and to detect and avoid predators.
  However, substantial advantages upon early hominids who never left the
  forest-in gathering food found within standing reach of the forest
  floor, for example- debate continues concerning its origins. It may
  even have evolved, like the upright threat displays of many large
  apes, because it bettered an individual's odds of finding a mate.

I cannot understand the last sentence, especially because of the part "like the upright threat displays of many large apes". Can someone explain what this sentence means?

I am having trouble with "upright threat displays". Does this mean "any threats that are made because of upright posture of large apes"?


texts: subject-verb agreement: the dependency of A and B on C ... (to be) taken into account

texts:
Considering the sentence

  The dependency of the length and electrical conductivity on temperature ... taken into account,

since 'dependency' as the head of the noun phrase 'The dependency of the length and electrical conductivity on temperature' is singular (or uncountable; I'm not sure.) we should use the verb 'is', rather than 'are', here. Am I correct?


texts: Past progressive and past simple with while

texts:
I have a confusion regarding this Grammar rule, it's all about these two examples. I'm totally confused not because it's hard, but because the two answers are supposed to be the same, but they are different according to my teacher.

  While the professor was giving his lecture, the students _____(take) notes. They wanted to remember everything he said.

a. were taking b. took

  While the professor was giving his lecture, I _______ (send) a message to my friend.

a. sent b. was sending


texts:
I'm trying to translate the Czech word mezivýsledek - the result of a part of calculation used to come up with the final result. E.g. gcd is an (unknown word) in the calculation of lcm, since lcm(a,b) = |a*b|/gcd(a,b).

According to my dictionary, the expression I'm looking for is intermediate result, but I failed to find any usage. Should I use intermediate result, or is there a more suitable term?


texts: Offensive word for people, who offend others

texts:
I wonder, is there an offensive English word (or phrase) for people who offend others?  I mean a word that translates literally as "a guy who offends people" and can not be applied to other circumstances, and anyone would see more than this simple meaning in it and would not like to hear it about himself or herself.

There is no such thing in my language, so I can not use translators here unfortunately.


texts: May I end a sentence with "between the two", or must I use a pronoun, "between them" or "between the two of them"?

texts:
The case in point is:

  If we need to think about a module while we design another, then this
  characterizes a dependency, even if there is no direct connection
  between the two.

Is this grammatically correct? Do I need to change the sentence to end it with "between the two of them" or "between them"?


texts: Is there a word for a skeptical thought?

texts:
We have:

critic: a person giving criticism
criticism: the practice of judging the merits and faults of something
critique: one specific item of criticism

And we also have:

skeptic: a person giving skepticism
skepticism: the question attitude or doubt towards a putative knowledge or belief

So I wonder whether we have something like skeptique – a skeptical thought – or not. As my spell checker notes, this word doesn't exist. Obviously it has a skepticism towards the word.

See more: Criticism, skepticism in Wikipedia


texts:
A: What's wrong?

B: I just had a long day.

A: I thought you liked your job?

B: I do. Though sometimes it can get tiring having to interact with customers all day.

Is the last statement phrased idiomatically, in particular "though sometimes"?


texts:
How to spell correctly?

On the internet write with and without an article.

  Open in new tab

  Open in a new tab

Examples:
Open a URL in a new tab

How to open link in new tab on html


texts:
In China, there is such "saying" -- mixed-bloods are smarter. This may be right, may be not. Whatever, this is a kind of opinion and popular and people talk about it.

In Chinese we call it's a kind of 说法, literally it means

  way of saying

But, in English saying means proverb. So it might be not right. And google translator gives this,

  This statement is very popular.

I don't think statement is right here.

How do you think about this?


texts:
I have already searched this but couldn't find anything helpful. So finally, I need to ask it here. Recently, I have come across the following sentence:

  I want a paper.

And it should be:

  I want a piece of paper.

Why do we use "a piece"?


texts:
He walked onto the roof.
He climbed onto the tree.
She walked into my room.

Does my first sentence mean same as "he went and walked on the roof?

Does my second sentence mean that he climbed on the tree or he climbed to the top of the tree and he was on the tree.

Does my third sentence mean that she went and entered in my room?


texts: Put through vs get through ( on the phone )

texts:
I'd like to ask if I can :

  Can you get me through to the accounts department, please?

in order to mean

  Can you put me through to the accounts department, please?

  The lines were so busy but at last I managed to put through to one of
  the consumer service workers.

in order to mean

  The lines were so busy but at last I managed to get through to one of
  the consumer service workers.


texts: How to parse "Prince Andrew shook his head, laughing as a man laughs?"

texts:
"Prince Andrew shook his head, laughing as a man laughs." I guess it might be a participle clause about two actions happen at the same time in the past. So it could be "Prince Andrew shook his head when he laughed as a man laughs" but why there is comma before "laughing"?

As I saw on the grammar website, the comma should be placed if the sentence is like "emerging from the cocoon, moth swings the wings" (it's my one example). But if you wanna leave out the comma, then sentence should be like "moth swings the wings emerging from the cocoon", shouldn't it?


texts:
What's the difference between the two? Example:

  The classrooms had only students. Had the school a shortage of
  teachers?

  The classrooms had only students. Was the school having a shortage of
  teachers?

(Or maybe one of them is ungrammatical?)