texts:
Consider:

  The ﬁrst layer might provide indemniﬁcation for losses between $50 million and $60 million, the next layer might cover losses between $60 million and $70 million.

I think "for" here fits the 3rd definition (concerning someone or something) in OALD.

  The most obvious risk for an insurance company is that the policy reserves are not
  sufﬁcient to meet the claims of policyholders.

I think "for" here fits the 12th definition (used after some nouns, adjectives, or verbs in order to introduce more information or to indicate what a quality, thing, or action relates to.) in Collins.

  The European Union is working on Solvency II which assigns capital for a wider set
  of risks than Solvency I.

I think "for" here fits the 1st definition (used to show who is intended to have or use something or where something is intended to be put) in OALD.

However, I wonder why sometimes to is used instead. You don't need to explain by using simple examples like "give/sing/explain sth to sb", or "get/buy/bring sth for sb" because I think "for" here does not fall into this category.

  Sometimes pensions are adjusted for inﬂation. This is known as indexation.

I think "for" here fits the 9th definition (used to show a reason or cause) in OALD.

  Deﬁned contribution plans involve very little risk for employers.

I think "for" here fits the 8th definition (used when you make a statement about something in order to say how it affects or relates to someone, or what their attitude to it is.) in Collins.

  A combination of negative equity returns and declining interest rates is a nightmare for all managers of deﬁned beneﬁt plans. This combination created a “perfect storm” for deﬁned beneﬁt pension plans.

I think the first "for" fits the 8th definition to say how it affects sb, and the second also fits this to say how it affects sth.

I quote these examples from Risk Management and Financial Institutions, 3rd Ed. written by John Hull.

Am I correct in understanding all the "for" above? Plz go through them one by one.

I have got the designation of Financial Risk Manager, so you don't need to explain any financial terms to me.


texts: Which word fill in the blank properly (about flow evenly/straightly)

texts:
Which word fill in the blank properly?

  For giving a speech, change the words until they flow ..... and easily.

  evenly    \ 2. straightly \ 3. flexibly \ 4. emotionally

I know we can say the water flows evenly but I don't know is it safe to say it for words? Is it good (for a speech) that the words flow evenly? What does evenly means in this sentence? What about straightly? what does it mean in this sentence?


texts: Help to understand: "Ron and Hermione joined Neville, Seamus, and Dean the West Ham fan up in the top row."

texts:
Ron and Hermione joined Neville, Seamus, and Dean the West Ham fan up in the top row. ... ...

I don't know how to parse the sentence correctly, hence I'm not sure what it means.

-- Excerpted from Harry Potter.


texts: What does "in more than two years" mean exactly in this sentence?

texts:
In the following sentence

  The ceasefire's one of the agreements that was reached this past week in Sweden where the two sides fighting Yemen's war have been meeting. They've been having their first direct talks in more than two years.

What does the "in more than two years" mean exactly? Does it mean "in the next two years" or "in the past two years", or something else?


texts: laid down his goose...used literally or figuratively?

texts:
The following is the beginning paragraph of "The Social Triangle" by O Henry:

At the stroke of six Ikey Snigglefritz laid down his goose.  Ikey was a tailor's apprentice.  Are there tailors' apprentices nowadays?

I wonder if the expression in bold "laid down his goose" should be interpreted literally or figuratively.


texts:
It seems that corporations have no choice but to create an infrastructure which otherwise would be public. The world is becoming a "company town".

That's a comment I read on an article on futurism website. What is the meaning of "otherwise" in this context?
https://www.facebook.com/futurism/posts/859206647591869


texts: what is the passive voice form of the question?

texts:
1 John likes  drinking water.

this is what i tried "drinking water has been liked by john".
 what is the passive voice form of the above sentence?


texts:
I heard in the media:

  Russia was behind the Syrian regime since day one: arming him,...

I am confused if I should refer to regime as it or him or her.

What about other words like machine, country, nation.. when can we use he or she for referring to them?


texts:
What India needs today are/is more scientists, technicians and planners.

I think both ways (is/are) the sentence is correct.


texts:
I understand the need to quote someone without using your hands. Example:

  Alice said Bob quote intervened unquote.

This, I understand. Her use of the word "intervened" was a direct quote.

My question:

Some times, someone will say

  quote unquote

in the middle of a sentence, with no word in between. What's the purpose of this?

PS. The word "quote" just lost all meaning in my head. Sorry if my post has the same effect on you.


texts: What's the meaning of the expression "get handed" in this phrase?

texts:
What's the meaning of the expression "get handed" in the following passage?

  I only told my wife a few days ago that the reason I bought the house we now live in was because of the building I saw in the garden. How often do you get handed a recently-built, high quality brick building on your land that is structurally sound and ripe to be turned into a studio?


texts:
I have a decent house to live.
  I have a decent house to live in.

Which one of these sentences is correct?


texts: What is the verb or phrasal verb do describe the action when someone persistently wants to be friends with someone especially when they aren't wanted?

texts:
What is the verb or phrasal verb do describe someone's action when they persistently wan to be friends with someone especially when they aren't wanted and welcom and their behaviour isn't of sexual nature? They just want to hang out with someone for unknown reasons. Does force onself onto someone sound natural? For example:

  That guy is such creep. He is always forcing himself onto me.


texts:
Is it non-grammatical / incorrect to say:

I just received a call from my friend.
I just got your email.
I just read your email.
I just came from a store.

Compared to:

I have just received a call from my friend.
I have just got your email.
I have just read your email.
I have just came from a store.

I looked this up as well before asking the question and learned that "have just" usage is often a British English usage. However, I am not completely sure if it is okay to omit the 'have' or not in American usage or, it is incorrect.


texts: What is the feminine equivalent of "guy"?

texts: Is there a word that is the feminine equivalent of guy? I thought of gal, but I think it is used for a girl, or a young woman. I am looking for a word that can be used to generally mean woman, and similar to guy.


texts: Why is the answer "most of them" instead of "most of whom"?

texts:
In this sentence:

  During the American Revolutionary War, about 14000 British
  loyalists returned to Britain, _____ in 1783.

  A. most of whom.
  B. most of them.

I know the answer is B, but I can't understand why it's B, what is the diference between them. Could you explain it to me?


texts:
Im very confused about the answer provided by a grammarbook.
This is a exercise regarding adverbs.

In the exercise, I am supposed to rewrite the sentence in a correct order.

Case 1

My answer: Please gather here at 5 sharp on Tuesday morning.

Answer provided by the book: Please gather here on Tuesday morning at 5 sharp.

Case 2
My answer is the same as the one provided by the book.

Answer provided: She is going to meet him near the coffee lounge at noon on Wednesday.

I just don't understand why in case 1 it is wrong to put "At 5 sharp" before "Tuesday" ,but in case 2 it is fine to put "at noon" before "Wednesday".

Thank you!


texts: Gramatically speaking, should there be a comma before "or at least"?

texts:
Browsing Google books, I found out that "or at least" is almost always preceded by a comma.

Example:

  [...] it is recommended to make the beds at right angles to the hill,
  or at least oblique.

A few texts omit the comma:

  In addition, any city with at least 250,000 population or at least
  100,000 people [...]

I can't think of any grammatical reason to add a comma. Since the second part of the sentence starts with "at least," it can't count as a complete sentence/independent clause.

Or maybe I'm wrong, and there's a grammatical reason to add a comma?


texts: What does 'reduced the importance' mean in context?

texts:
What does 'reduced the importance' mean? Is it good or bad? Good probably if it is an ad but why?

  Apple has already reduced the importance of iTunes on the iPhone and
  iPad and will now do the same on Mac computers too. iTunes will still
  be available on Macs using older OS versions, as well as on machines
  running Microsoft’s Windows system.

VOA article: Apple to Add New Software, Privacy Tool, End iTunes


texts:
What does "pinned down" mean in football (soccer) context?
60 min GOAL! Manchester United 0-2 Manchester City (Balotelli)
Outstanding work from City! Silva looks to be pinned down in the area, but releases James Milner with a sumptuous back-heel. Milner whips the ball across the face of goal, and Balotelli has the simplest of finishes at the back post! This is getting slightly surreal, no? United are getting caned. Not by Chelsea, not by Liverpool, not by Arsenal, but by Manchester City. The team of Richard Edghill and Ian Brightwell. Baffling.


texts: The verb "to know" followed by a bare infinitive

texts:
Some grammars say that KNOW should be followed by a bare infinitive.
I never knew a fellow work so indefatigably.
However, some natives say that it should be
I never knew a fellow to work so indefatigably.
Any advice? Any rule on the issue?


texts: Which sentence is more common and idiomatic of the following?

texts:
She got angry with what I said
  She was angry with what I said

I think first one sounds more idiomatic
Because she was angry to me, sounds like her past state

And she got angry sounds more idiomatic. As it means she became angry with what I said


texts: How do you describe an anomaly in the car body! deformation? Sunken?

texts:
Suppose you had a very slight car accident and a point of the car's door looks as if it's pushed in, something like this

However, without any scratches, just a simple anomaly that can be easily fixed. How do you describe the door?

I came up with:

  The car's left door is now a bit deformed
  The car's left door is now a bit pushed-in
  The car's door looks concave

I am not sure about any of these sentence. Would you help with this?

Photo Reference: https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/16774/fiat-punto-door-dent (The owner of this picture can ask me to delete his/her photo)


texts:
Does it mean "therefore, when Emerging market debt is removed, Norges Bank really cannot afford to lose such a significant source of demand"?

Norges Bank "is a huge player in global bonds, and as such, many sovereign wealth funds follow the allocation lead of Norway," said Nicholas Glinsman, chief investment officer at financial advisory firm Evo Capital. "Emerging market debt is one asset class so removed, and it really cannot afford to lose such a significant source of demand."

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/06/the-worlds-biggest-sovereign-wealth-fund-wants-to-change-its-strategy--and-the-effects-could-be-global.html


texts: how should I use present tense with infinitives?

texts:
which one is correct?

1- to perform the prescription naturally removes tartar.

2- to perform the prescription naturally remove tartar.


texts: In a family of six(how many in all including you)

texts:
This is a useful phrase. Let's say you want to say that you are the eldest amongst your sibling. Then we include your parents. You say:

  I am the eldest in a family of six.

When you say that, is your family's total number is 6 or 7?


texts: A cryptic sentence containing "so ... as to"

texts:
I am reading Roger Scruton's Kant, A Very Short Introduction. The following sentence, in the first page, makes me pretty confused (I include the context to make it clearer):

  (The greatest modern philosopher was moved by nothing more than by duty. His life, in consequence, was unremarkable.)

  For Kant, the virtuous man is so much the master of his passions as scarcely to be prompted by them, and so far indifferent to power and reputation as to regard their significance as nothing beside that of duty itself.

  (Having confined his life so that he could act without strain according to this ideal, Kant devoted himself to scholarship, entirely governed by congenial routines.)

I need an analysis for this sentence. I don't understand the phrase "so much ... as (scarcely) to do ...". I wonder the meaning and the usage of this kind of construction, explained in the context, not merely a translation, and I don't understand "so far ... as to do ...".

Incidentally, what's the meaning of "itself" here in the phrase "beside that of duty itself".

I need your help to understand this sentence well.

EDIT:
Related: The usage of 'so...as...'


texts:
If possible always pay the balance in full every month or pay more than the minimum amount.

What part of speech is ‘more’and which word it is modifying?


texts:
1. Last night she was wearing seductive stocking.

2. Last night she was wearing seductive stockings.

Will you tell me which sentence is correct? Of course I mean that she had one pair of stockings. It seems to me that first sentence suggests that her dress was incomplete whereas the second one that she was wearing many items on her feet.


texts:
I think the following sentence is correct.

  The box can be put down there if it/the box does not block the way.

I am wondering if it is grammatical to say

  "The box can be put down there if not blocking the way."


texts:
What is more correct:

  How did you solve the problem?

or

  How you solved the problem?

When I use the first variant, people tend to skip the initial word and treat is as if I asked "Did you...".  Why?


texts: What do you think of my choice (past simple or present perfect)

texts:
I'm staying in my friend's house because we have made an house exchange.I am leaving tomorrow and I wrote a little note of what I had done during my stay.
Here it is

  Time to get back. I have very much enjoyed my stay. I have been 5 times in "Praha", each time  (was/ have been) great!Slappy was a nice place for swimming. I visited the Karlstein castle but (I've preferred/ preferred) the Cesky Steinberg  because they were not many people and my visit was in Italian.

Have I made good choices?

So I would choose have been great  because I still feel the memory of it with thrills and I've preferred  because it is my feeling now after visiting both castles.


texts:
What does handsome as hell means? I heard it in Wildest Dreams sung by Taylor Swift. The wording of the song goes like:

  He's so tall and handsome as hell.
  He's so bad but he does it so well

Is this phrase good to use?


texts: why is this answer choice (C) wrong — an SAT problem

texts:
Toni Morrison is one of America's outstanding authors, she is known for her critical essays, her novels, and her frequent appearances on television.

  A. NO CHANGE

  B. authors; she is known

  C. authors famous

  D. authors. Known

This is a practice problem for SAT. Quite clearly, A and D are incorrect, and I chose B for the answer (which is correct), but part of me still thinks that C could be correct as well. Could anyone clarify why C isn't correct?


texts: Meaning of "bother" used as a single-word sentence

texts:
I know the verb bother as in "I didn't bother testing" or the noun bother as in "it's no bother", but this is the first time I encounter this word as a kind of interjection or single-word sentence, written by a native:

  Note that in casual testing this 'worked', because backspace deletes the pawn and  together. Bother.

What is the meaning of "Bother."? What nuance does it add to the paragraph, which would be missed if it had not been added?

I can't find this usage on Wiktionary.

The context is the following: He is the guy who is managing bugs, so this bug might bother him, or maybe he now regrets that he did not bother writing a more complete test.


texts: Meaning of "Military Cuts Our Specialty" in a barbershop window

texts:
A Navy man and new to town, I found a barbershop with a sign in the window that read "Military Cuts Our Specialty." I walked in and told the barber exactly what I wanted: "A standard Naval Aviator. Do you know what that is?"
I don't understand the meaning of "Military cuts our specialty".


texts:
The wild flowers and herbs get cut before they have a chance to flower
  and propagate.

I think the sentence is in the passive voice. Why does the writer use get instead of are ? When we have to use get not verb to be?


texts: What is meant by 'I got the needles in my leg'?

texts:
I heard two phrases in the tv serial Three's Company like

My leg fell asleep.
I got the needles in my leg. (Needle is not a pin here.)

What is meant by the second sentence?
What is the difference in those two?


texts:
'

  Our Fathers of Old'
       Excellent herbs had our fathers of old--
       Excellent herbs to ease their pain--
       Alexanders and Marigold,
       Eyebright, Orris, and Elecampane,
       Basil, Rocket, Valerian, Rue,
       (Almost singing themselves they run)
       Vervain, Dittany, Call-me-to-you--
       Cowslip, Melilot, Rose of the Sun.

This is 'Our Fathers of Old' by Kipling.
https://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/our_fathers_of_old.html
I can not understand the meaning of the sentence below.
Almost singing themselves they run
I am glad if somebody kindly teach me.


texts: How to ask for an item that is behind the shop window?

texts:
You are just passing by a shop and an item catches your eye. You want to ask the shopkeeper about that item. What do you say? is "in the window" an appropriate phrase for that?

  Could you show me the jacket in the window?


texts: "out and out, all in all" are they formal or informal?

texts:
Can someone confirm if the below adjectives are formal or informal?

  out and out, all in all


texts:
I didn't go to party.
  I didn't went to party.


texts:
In Kaluga, south of Moscow, the strike began when trains headed from Moscow to Kiev failed to appear.

Does it mean that trains departed Moscow station but they did not arrive in Kiev station?

And is the snipped before trains?


texts: What is group of word having same meaning but meaning varying in degree called?

texts: The word satisfied, happy, elated etc all refer happiness with varying intensity. I want to learn more of such groups but I am unable to search on internet. Does such group have any specific names?


texts: What do you call the information attached to an artwork?

texts:
In an art gallery or art book, there's a "label" alongside each piece that holds the information about the artwork like name of the artist, date, genre, ...

Does this label has a specific word in English?


texts: "Boot cop buddy movie with some stupid animal sidekick"

texts:
I'm trying to understand the meaning of the sentence in the title. The frame is the following: a novel and screenplays writer is talking about his loss of creativity due to some personal situations and he seems to say the sentence in the title.

I said "he seems to" because I'm not fully sure, anyway here is the audio I got it from.

I hope some of you can help me understanding what does the writer mean.


texts: Is this right sentence without 'and'? (ran to her room pounced on him)

texts:
I think that this sentence needs 'and' after the word 'room'.
Am I wrong?
See this picture below.
I think that 'pounced'is the past form of the verb 'pounce' in this sentence.
Could you Please tell me why there is no 'and' in this sentence.
And can I use 'comma' here instead of 'and'?


texts:
Oh that the treasure had remained with the Phaeacians where it was, so had I come to some other of the mighty princes, who would have entreated me kindly and sent me on my way.
   —The Odyssey

I have a feeling that this is "I wish these things had remained with them and I had come to ..."

So, is "so had I..." the same as "so did I!"
Is it a variation?


texts:
Sentence 1.

  All works of creative writing have aesthetic appeal.

Sentence 2.

  All work of creative writing have aesthetic appeal.

Which one is/are correct?


texts: What is the difference between 'what you waiting for' and 'what are you waiting for'?

texts:
What is the difference between

What you waiting for?

and

What are you waiting for?


texts: "He gave me the sharpness to penetrate for truths, but not the braveness to face them."

texts:
He gave me the sharpness to penetrate for truths, but not the braveness to face them.

or should it be

He gave me the sharpness to penetrate for truths, but didn't give me the braveness to take them.


texts: Basketball equivalent to soccer's "goal"

texts: You say "goal" in soccer when the ball gets into the net. How about basketball, When the ball gets through the hoop?


texts:
Which is correct?

  If you were going to bet on that horse

or

  If you are going to bet on that horse


texts: Where do you think you are going VS Where do you think is the best place?

texts:
Where do you think you are going?

  Where do you think is the best place?

Why are the word orders in the main clauses different while they are both the same "Where + do you think + main clause"-structure? In other words, why

  Where do you think are you going?

  Where do you think the best place is?

are wrong?


texts:
I don't understand the meaning of the following sentence taken from a lesson in by Jenny Tabakoff.
"I have yet to come to terms with the video cassette recorder"


texts: "Sometimes when I click sleep, the screen turns dark but the fan will start spinning at high speed and the light is still blue"

texts:
Is this sentence grammatically correct? There are two conditionals

Sometimes when I click sleep, the screen turns dark but the fan will start spinning at high speed and the light is still blue (supposed to be orange).


texts: Meaning of 'yet' in "I hope yet to live..."

texts:
On 9 June 1942, Lord Wedgwood opened the debate in the British House of Lords by alleging that Britain had reneged on its commitments and urging that the League of Nations mandate over Palestine be transferred to the USA. He stated with bitterness: "I hope yet to live to see those who sent the Struma cargo back to the Nazis hung as high as Haman cheek by jowl with their prototype and Führer, Adolf Hitler". (Source)

How does yet change the meaning of this sentence? I don't perceive any difference if it be omitted?
Which definition does it match? Here, yet modifies 'hope' so it functions as an adverb. Yet, definitions 1, 2, 3 all look correct to me.


texts: Are the commas with the word additionally correctly placed? and what article should I use in the end of the sentence?

texts: Despite these drawbacks, this may be a well-accepted and, additionally, environmentally-friendly solution in a/the close future.


texts:
I saw an ad regarding Stack Overflow Careers on meh, Stack Overflow. The sentence

  Have you joined yet?

evoked a thought in my brain that it isn't sounding good. But that may be because I ain't a native English speaker.

What is it trying to convey?

  Have you joined?

Or

  Haven't you joined still?

Or something basic which I'm missing. Why is yet used here? If but is used instead of yet, I'm pretty sure that it will be grammatically wrong.

So, what is yet doin' up there?


texts: "I should have been writing..." or "I will have been writing"

texts:
"I should have been writing..." or "I will have been writing..."

I'm writing a book. There is a deadline for it. My sentence is:

"Until the deadline, two months from now, I should have been writing at least twenty-three pages."

Is there  anything better to say:

  "Until the deadline, two months from now, I will have been writing at
  least twenty-three pages."

EDIT:

Thanks to FumbleFingers I edit my sentence to:

  By the time of the deadline, which is two months from now, I should
  have written at least 23 pages in total.


texts: Is natural and correct to say "something passed over me" meaning it didn't affect me in any way?

texts:
Is natural and correct to say something passed over me meaning it didn't affect me in any way? For example:

  The economic crisis passed over me. I didn't lose my job.

If doesn't sound good, could you tell me what you would say to communicate it.


texts:
The following quote is from the movie Coach Carter. The basketball team is in a locker room after a game they lost. They're arguing with each other and one of them says:

  We had nothing but 32 points. I got 12 of them. What did you get,
  Kenyon?

Another team member answers him:

  Just shut up, dog. The Crane swooped down on you and delivered a
  basket of beat-down. He clowned you, dog.

What does swooped down on you mean here?


texts: Can "identify" be properly used in this sentence?

texts:
Before asking I searched both on Oxford Dictionary Online and on Wiktionary, but I found no answer to this question, which arose reading a today news article published on The New York Times.

  President Giorgio Napolitano began a new round of consultations on Friday to identify a candidate for prime minister who would be able to count on the backing of Italy's fractured political parties and be able to form a government.

Is "identify" a proper word to express the Giorgio Naplitano's activities? Online dictionaries I cited above says no. Reading them it seems that "identify" is a word related to police's work or to one's process of identifying themselves.

If I am right, can anybody suggest a better word for replacing "identify" in the above sentence?


texts: Do I use the past simple or the present perfect after "I've been meaning" as in "I've been meaning to do something, but I've always forgotten/forgot"?

texts:
Could you tell me if I have to use the past simple or the present perfect after I've been meaning in the context below?

I've been meaning to watch the movie, but I always forgot to till now.
I've been meaning to watch the movie, but I've always forgotten to till now.


texts:
There are two ways of negating a modal sentence:

A) negation of modality: you [need not] go there

B) negation of proposition: you must [not go there]

With deontic modality we can either deny a permission to do something:

(1) You [may not] stay with us

or give a permission not to do something:

(2) You may [not stay with us]

Example (2) is not an idiomatic way to express propositional negation. How do you do it?


texts:
The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't
  there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't
  understand them, like a slug. (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
  Stone)


texts: Word describing creation if not pre-existing and fetching from memory if existing already

texts:
Yeah, the title isn't the smoothest, sorry about that.

I'm programming a property and I want to name it in the most intuitive way. Extra bonus if it's a short one. Please note that there's no emphasis whatsoever on the term being broadly known, self-explanatory nor trivially interpreted. It's good if some or all of the properties are possible to achieve but it's by no means a requirement.

There's a method for computing an area to a polygon and it's called Area. However, it's being accessed very frequently so I've improved it so it doesn't need to compute the area every time. Only if the area hasn't been computed (or needs being recalculated), the actual calculation will take place. In every other occasion, I retrieve it from the pre-computed storage.

And here's the linguistic issue. Naturally, I'd call the method

  ComputeIfNeededThenStoreAndAfterwardsRetrieveArea

but that's only nice to the eyes of a computer, not a human. I could, of course, be vague on the actual implementation details and go

  ComputeArea

or maybe even

  ComputeCacheableArea

but it seems to me plausible that there might be a verb conveying that precise message with a fewer and shorter words. Is there such a verb, please?


texts: What is the difference between `their own` and `themselves`?

texts:
There are several different types of buses with their own dedicated lanes like a network in the city.

VS

  There are several different types of buses with themselves dedicated lanes like a network in the city.


texts: "Let me complete, please" vs "Let me finish, please"

texts:
Let's suppose that someone is being interrupted while speaking and, therefore, having to ask another person to stop interrupting them:

  "Let me complete, please."

  "Let me finish, please."

Do both phrases sound natural? Are there any differences in meaning?


texts: You cannot do something to yourself; how are you going to advise me?

texts:
Imagine someone who is unable to do his own affairs is trying to advise you in your problems which are exactly the same as what they have no idea how to deal with in their own life. Is there a proverb in modern AmE to ask / tell the adviser guy: "mind your own business. Because if you could do something, you have already done for yourself"?

I've found two proverbs, which although I'me sure they can be indicative in AmE, but they cannot be considered natural:

  a) Physician, heal yourself.

  b) He tells me my may, but doesn’t know his own.

Am I right? If yes, then please let me know how an American would say the same thing?


texts: What is the Difference between of something and of the something?

texts:
I have doubt what to use for making correct sentence like something bellow:

Name of school is xyz
Name of the school is xyz

Which one/both is correct ?

OR

do they have any difference in its usage ?


texts:
Harry swallowed.

  Mr. Ollivander : "I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, he-who-must-not-be-named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."

  Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much.

It's from Harry potter and I completely understand the sentence without "too much". But the full sentence including that word sounds so awkward to me, because "too much" isn't really needed(necessary?) here if what the author wanted to say was just that harry wasn't sure if he liked Ollivander or not.

Does "too much" here literally means very much, so "Harry wasn't sure if he liked Ollivander VERY MUCH or not"(which sounds very weird to me) is what the author is saying, thus it basically means "Harry didnt like him very much", am I right?
Or is there any other role of "too much" here?


texts: What is the right pattern of the answers for the questions of the specific kind?

texts:
Recently, I was asked at the forum by one of the participants:

  "A.D., you are not Swedish?"

  I answered "Yes, I'm not."

But now I think I should have answered "No, I'm not."

Which is right? The first or the second variant? Or are both wrong?


texts:
I’ve been reading online that people who purchased that record have not received it so I’m assuming he is being slow to ship

this is an email I received: my enquiry was about a record I bought but have not received .

I'd like to know why the author of this email used the continuous form, why not the simple form ? Is it because every time he has gone on line he has read it, I don't think so


texts:
Consider the following two examples,

In the post "is difficult for me" vs. "is difficult to me" ... src

An ELL post demonstrates the usage of "preface" ... src

The first example uses "the" because the title of the post follows immediately while the second one uses "an" because it is not already known to the readers.
Is my understanding correct?


texts:
Nor was he the first person to be remembered more as the name of his code than as himself.

I think this sentence's main idea is: he is not first person whose name of his code famous than himself. But why use as…as?


texts: What is "shut" in "close the door shut"?

texts:
I have heard the sentence "close the door shut" a lot. However I am not sure about the function of "shut". Is it an adverb or an adjective here? How do I parse this sentence?
I am not concerned about whether the sentence is natural or idiomatic. I only want to know its grammar. Can anyone please parse it? By "parse", I mean what category of speech does each word belong to (adverb, determiner, adjective etc).


texts:
I know there could be a difference in meaning because of a comma as below

1.I have a daughter, who is a doctor.
(I have only one daughter and she is a doctor)

2.I have a daughter who is a doctor.
(I have more than one daughter and one of them is a doctor)

  This is a unique situation for me being a first year student at IWU.

So I think that as in "This is a unique situation for me, being a first year student at IWU", there must be a comma between "me" and "being" to make the sentence in the yellow box grammatical because there can be only one "me" in the world. Without the comma, the sentence sounds like there is one more than "me", and one of them is being a first year student at IWU, so I think the sentence without a comma is grammatically wrong.

I wonder whether I'm right in thinking this way.


texts: What do you call a person who add records to a log?

texts: I have a log with records. How do you call a person who adds records to this log? a Logger maybe?


texts: Can lexical need be used for epistemic meaning?

texts:
[i] He needn’t have told her.   [epistemic or deontic]
[ii] He might have killed her.   [epistemic or dynamic]
In [i] the perfect is internal in the epistemic reading (“It isn’t necessarily the case that he told her”), external in the deontic (“He didn’t have to tell her”). Similarly with [ii]: "It might be that he killed her" (epistemic), "His killing her was a possible but unactualised consequence of what he did" (dynamic).
(The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, p204)

The latter meaning, need's deontic, is somewhat familiar to me. But I don’t find any source yet how the word, lexical need, makes the epistemic sense. Would you let me know about it?


texts: What are the differences among "go on a trip", "take a trip", & "make a trip"?

texts:
In the dictionary

  go on a trip (=go somewhere and come back)

  I’ve been on a coach trip to France.

  take a trip (=go somewhere for pleasure)

  Take a trip on the Santa Fe railway or cruise on a Mississippi paddle
  boat.

  make a trip (=go somewhere, and perhaps come back)

  I couldn’t see him making the long trip to Minneapolis alone.

I don't understand what they mean.

Could you explain it more clearly?


texts: Proper words to utter when shaking hands with others?

texts:
I want to know what might be proper ways to express our regards to others when shaking hands with others in occasions such as church?

I found that when shaking hands with others, often I do not get any reply from others if I say "how are you doing" or "how is it going". So I am wondering why and what are the proper words to say in this context?


texts:
I wonder which of the following questions is grammatically correct:

  What country is this flag?
  What country is this flag of?
  Of what country is this flag?

How would you ask this?


texts:
What is the meaning of "Are you into club today"?

If someone (girl that she's not an English native speaker) asked me that question, then I believe that she meant to ask me if I'm into it, like if I want to go there, but I'm not sure if it's the correct meaning or it means that I'm inside the building.


texts: Guest workers, many from South Asia, who spend years

texts:
I have a question about the meaning of some sentence fragment in this NY Times article:

  There is a broad consensus that the Saudi ideological juggernaut has disrupted local Islamic traditions in dozens of countries — the result of lavish spending on religious outreach for half a century, estimated in the tens of billions of dollars. The result has been amplified by guest workers, many from South Asia, who spend years in Saudi Arabia and bring Saudi ways home with them.

Does the part "who spend years in..." apply to "guest workers", or to "many from South Asia"?


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

texts:
We'll just hang around the bridge, not (in) the actual residence.

Why or why not?


texts:
From the movie The Sacrament:

  — How is it going, man?
  — Patrick: Man, I got some amazing pictures so far, dude. I can make a whole book out of this. Look at these faces, man.
  — Jesus.
  — You know, I can make something really cool out of this and it'd be great for me, 'cause then I could set up a show with Milt when I get back.
  — Can I see 'em?
  — Oh, no, that's what my ticket out of fashion looks like. What have you guys been up to?
  — Well, we talked to a bunch of the locals.

What does that really mean?


texts: The more uncontroversial vs Uncontroversial as might seem?

texts:
Uncontroversial as these particular examples of Mill’s might seem, they divert attention from a profound ambiguity in Mill’s definition of harm that his reliance  on  the  term calculated  encapsulates.

  The Moral Foundation of Politics - Ian Shapiro [pp. 62]

What does - Uncontroversial as these particular examples of Mill’s might seem means?

Does it mean - The more uncontroversial these examples are, the more the divert attention.?
Help me please


texts: My son doesn't want to take a nap in the afternoon. What should he say to ask for my consent?

texts:
I am learning English and so I am also trying to teach my son to speak English in daily life. He doesn't always want to take a nap in the afternoon on weekends. I told him to ask me

  "Can I skip the nap in this afternoon?"

Do native speakers say it this way? Or what would a native speaker say in this case? I would appreciate it if you give more forms or even more sentences in this dialog. Thanks a million!


texts:
Is it correct to say "you have an innovative approach to something” or "an approach for"? (The recruitment and management of personnel.)
Trying to finish English assignment.
Thanking you in advance.


texts:
Which is the correct preposition here ?

The shop is (at/on/in) the road.

I would think at/on are possible, but do they give the same meaning for the sentence ?


texts: An idiom for “Until you punish the offender, they will not give up offenses”

texts:
In writing I've come across an idiom of my language that means:

  Until you punish the offender, they will not give up offenses.

What is the English idiom for this?

Let me add some explanation to this: there is a child who is really mischievous, you make him understand but doesn't understand. He doesn't give up bad things. Now you're fed up and thus feel he should be punished so that he leaves bad things.


texts: Difference between already and previously

texts:
Is there any difference between already and previously in the context of this sentence?

We present only updates of news without repeating the facts that the user has already/previously read.


texts: Do these sentences literally refer to the same meanings?

texts:
'Nothing is a puppy'
'A puppy is nothing'

Can these two all mean there's no puppy?


texts:
A learner's dictionary gives the following definition and sentence. Do you think the definition is accurate? It bothers me to find it different from other dictionaries' definitions, which don't contain the "again."

  realign yourself with somebody: to begin to support and work together with someone again:

  They have tried to realign themselves with the communists.

I'd appreciate your help.


texts:
From my understanding, in affirmative sentences, the thing we want to mainly talk about can be fronted. as in 'strange people they are'.

I wonder if such structure is possible with questions. If so, which (kinds) of the following are, either grammatically or idiomatically, acceptable?

Good or bad is this plan?
Good or bad this plan is?
Good or bad do you think this plan is?
A good or bad plan this is?
A good or bad plan is this?
A good or bad plan do you think this is?


texts:
Which one is correct plural or singular for result in negative sentence?

  He did not expect any result.

or

  He did not expect any results.


texts: "like every morning" x "as every morning"... are both correct?

texts:
She was going to school 'like' every morning when her mother called her on the phone.

She was going to school 'as' every morning when her mother called her on the phone.

Are both correct to indicate habit?


texts: (To take / Taking) the subway often makes me feel like I'm trapped in an aquarium

texts:
A. To take the subway often makes me feel like I'm trapped in an aquarium.
B. Taking the subway often makes me feel like I'm trapped in an aquarium.

I want to know which sentence is correct.
Some say 'To take' can't be the answer but some say the two words are interchangeable each other in this sentence.

What is the answer in this sentence?

Sometimes It is very difficult for us (non native speaker) to understand the difference between infinitive form and gerund form.


texts: In the last post I have written about... or "I wrote about"?

texts:
Inspired by a lang-8 text I've been proofreading:

  In the last post I have written about my first summer internship.

I know that it is a no-no to use the Present Perfect with a specific time expression:

  On 12 May 2014 I have written about.. (ERROR: must use "I wrote")

Do constructions like "the last letter" or "the last post" qualify as something akin to specific time expressions? I mean, do they unequivocally put the event in the "completed past"? Should we always substitute for:

  In the last post I wrote (not "I have written"!) about my first summer internship.


texts: Is "Global Financial Crisis" the most common term in American English?

texts: I came across a Japanese person using "Lehman shock" when writing English, and I'd like to know what the most common American English term is. Do Americans use the term "Global Financial Crisis"? Or do they more commonly use the term Great Recession?


texts: Describing one's doing several things at the same time

texts:
Suppose a person is walking the streets, he's talking on the phone, and he's smoking a cigarette. All at he same time.

So, could we mean the same by saying

"He was walking the streets talking on the phone, smoking a cigarette."

Would that imply he was doing all three things at the same time?
And i'm trying to avoid having to use conjunctions.
What other ways could we imply he was doing all three things without using words that are not used in the original text, and conjunctions?


texts:
Option A and Option B are used as a verb/the verb/verbs.

In the above sentence, will we use "used as a verb", "used as the verb", or "used as verbs"? I want to know if "used as a verb" or "used as the verb" is correct or not, because both options A and B indicate towards the same thing that is "a verb".


texts: If Edward Snowden were a Russian citizen who was born in Russia, became a professional spy and later infiltrated the US, could I still say that he betrayed the USA?


texts: "Take something from someone" vs. "take something away from someone" in the sense of depriving someone of someting by force, authority or stealing

texts:
Could you tell me if there is any difference in meaning between take something from someone and take something away from someone in the sense of depriving someone of someting by force, authority or stealing? For example:

My mom took my phome (away) from me. She won't give it back until my homework is done.
Robbers tried to take my wallet (away) from me, but a police officer showed up and busted them.
The government is out to take the freedoms of its people (away) from them.


texts: Is a comma after a verb and before an infinitive phrase acceptable?

texts:
Examples:

I strive, to get success to me.
The old man with a beer bottle ran, to learn to run without spilling.
An apple fell, to adhere to gravity.

If commas don't work can you recommend what I should use instead.  I want to make it clear that the 2nd to (used as a preposition) is only referring to the infinitive and not anything left of the comma.


texts: help to understand some present simple examples

texts:
These examples i am taking from a grammar book. I want to know why we use past particle from in this instead verb first foam and also mention which type of sentences is it.

1)the garden is filled with men, women and children in the evening.
2)New York is the busiest city in USA. it is always crowded with people.


texts:
Did you play tennis? - Yes, I played.
Did you play tennis? - Yes, I did.

Which one is correct? Both seem fine to me. But answer is saying that second one is correct.


texts:
She was more excited about getting candy than seeing Santa.

How is 'seeing' functioning here?
How to analyse 'than seeing Santa', is it a phrase or clause?


texts: What does the word "dispensation" mean in sentence?

texts:
I read a sentence in my book which was:

  Since 1969, the Congress party had started shedding its character as an umbrella party which accommodated leaders and workers of different ideological dispensations and viewpoints.

The word "dispensation" doesn't seem to make much sense to me in the context. Instead I think the word "inclination" would have made much more sense. Am I right?


texts: What do we call glasses with thick lenses that people use when they are very near-sighted? Here is a picture of what I mean:


texts: What is the difference between "find" and "determine" as an instruction in mathematics?

texts:
I want to write a question in Math. as below but I don't know the difference between them:

  Determine the solution of the differential equation?

or

  Find the solution of the differential equation?


texts: How may native speakers ask to 'validate' a ticket on the train other than using 'validate'

texts:
As many non-native speakers know the general expression is to validate the ticket, but it can't be the only way to say it.

How do native AmE, BrE and AE speakrs play with this expression? What are more informal or maybe archaic but still used forms to say it?
Will, say, semantically close pierce, punch or prick also work?


texts:
Is there a phrase that means "open like a swing door"?

By "open like a swing door" I mean both door panes open up without sliding open and remains open like we see in the picture. I am not sure if we say "swing door" or "swing doors", because I am not sure if a swing door is a door with two door panes that opens up in the middle.

  The garage opened like swing doors.

  The floor opened up like swing doors and sent John sliding inside a tunnel.


texts:
What does 'work with' mean?

  Penguins are not the only animals that have used tablet computers. At Zoo Atlanta, in the American state of Georgia, orangutans, gorillas, and sun bears have also worked with the technology.

Animals Like Video Games, Too


texts: When do we choose 'on bicycle' vs. 'by bicycle'?

texts:
Which is more appropriate or grammatical to use:

He is coming on a bicycle.

He is coming by bicycle.


texts: Why "Section, Chapter, Table, Figure" are capitalized in articles

texts:
The goal of this section is to analyse the features introduced in Section 3 for boilerplate detection.

In books and papers, we see "Figure 1", "Chapter 2", "Section 1", "Table 2". Why are they capitalized?

From my searching, this is recommended by academia, but what is the grammar for it - why no article? Can such things be regarded as proper names? For example we don't say Page 10. I don't think it's a duplicate as I asked for the reason for it.


texts: Is it acceptable to use "etc." in IELTS Writing Exam?

texts:
Someone told me that "etc." is not formal. However, based on my research in internet, some people said that it is acceptable to use "etc." in academic paper.

How about IELTS writing exam then? Is "etc." acceptable in there?


texts: "...arrive at the moment where/when it come it would come to fruition."

texts:
"...arrived at the moment where/when it would come to fruition."
Normally, I would opt for "when" in this case because "the moment" refers to a point in time, not a location. However, the usage of "arrived at" raises the question as to whether one is able to arrive at a moment in time rather than a location. Idiomatically speaking, they most certainly can, for one can arrive at a conclusion, an agreement, etc.
In this case, though, does "to arrive" call for the usage of "where," or must it remain "when?"


texts:
Are these two sentences interchangeable?

  There is nothing wrong with that you are fat.

  There is nothing wrong with the fact that you are fat.


texts: Unreal uses of past tenses "Would you rather we took the bus?" vs "Would you rather take the bus?"

texts:
Do you want to take the bus or would you rather ______ the bus?
  (Choose TWO correct answers)

  a. to take
  b. take ✔
  c. we take ✘
  d. we took ✔

I found this in an online test here.

● What is the difference between these two sentences?

  Do you want to take the bus or would you rather we took the bus?
  Do you want to take the bus or would you rather take the bus?

● Are their meanings different?

● & I know why d is correct (because we use would rather+subject+past simple to refer to the present or future), but what about the option b. Why is this option correct?


texts:
From VOA Special English:

  Growers get industry news along with advice and information from experts.

Why is it "industry" instead of "industrial"? I know that "news" is a noun, and generally in front of a noun is an adjective. But "industry" is just a noun, too. So I think "industrial" may be more agreeable. Can someone tell me why does it use "industry"? Thanks!


texts:
I have confusion about using did in questions ?

a ) Let me know when did we change this ?

b ) Let me know when we changed this?

Both sound correct to me .

Is there any rule about useing did in english questions?


texts:
Dennis came down from the roof, grinned at Quoyle. There was nothing
  in him of Jack Buggit except eyes darting to the horizon, measuring
  cuts of sky.

  “Great bread,” said Quoyle, folding a slice into his mouth.

  “Yeah, well, Beety makes bread every day, every day but Sunday. So.”

-The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

What is the 'cuts of sky'? Is it like some portion of sky?


texts: What is a word that is a little bit slower than "instantly" but faster than "over time" and "sooner or later"

texts:
I am trying to find a word that can be used in this context and that is a little bit slower than “instantly” but faster than “over time” and “sooner or later”:

[insert time that is slower than instantly but faster than over time and sooner or later], I am fascinated.


texts:
Source: Beginning Databases with PostgreSQL: From Novice to Professional

Example:

  Today, just about every useful database system supports SQL to some extent. In theory, SQL acts as a good unifier, since database applications written to use SQL as the interface to the database can be ported to other database systems with little cost in terms of time and effort. Commercial pressures however, dictate that database manufacturers distinguish their products one from another. This has led to SQL variations, not helped by the fact that the standard for SQL does not define commands for many of the database administration tasks that are an essential part of using a database in the real world. So, there are differences between the SQL used by Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and other database systems.

I have a little bit of a hard time understanding what exactly that's trying to say. I presume that this is an adverbial type of clause which explains why the situation mentioned above has led to different versions of the SQL language being available on the market instead of just one, but I'm not one hundred percent sure about that though. Plus, I don't think I understand what the actual words actually mean.


texts: What do they call a small piece of tactics in chess that involves several moves?

texts:
Imagine you are a professional chess player and you contrive a plot, in which you will get your foe's valuable piece, say, the queen, within more than one move - say, within  3 or 4 moves (each one, of course, followed by your adversary's move). Is there any idiomatic expression or a term in English to refer to such a smart multiple-moves plot in chess?

For example,

  That's another Fisher's brilliant ____________, the target of which we
  get to realize only now.


texts: What is the meaning of "I would not now have exchanged" in this sentence?

texts:
That night, on going to bed, I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper of hot roast potatoes, or white bread and new milk, with which I was wont to amuse my inward cravings: I feasted instead on the spectacle of ideal drawings, which I saw in the dark; all the work of my own hands: freely pencilled houses and trees, picturesque rocks and ruins, Cuyp-like groups of cattle, sweet paintings of butterflies hovering over unblown roses, of birds picking at ripe cherries, of wren's nests enclosing pearl-like eggs, wreathed about with young ivy sprays. I examined, too, in thought, the possibility of my ever being able to translate currently a certain little French story which Madame Pierrot had that day shown me; nor was that problem solved to my satisfaction ere I fell sweetly asleep. I examined, too, in thought, the possibility of my ever being
able to translate currently a certain little French story which Madame
Pierrot had that day shown me; nor was that problem solved to my
satisfaction ere I fell sweetly asleep.
 Well has Solomon said -- “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and
hatred therewith.”
 I would not now have exchanged Lowood with all its privations for Gateshead and its daily luxuries.
-- Chapter 8, Jane Eyre

Does the last sentence mean that the decision in the past has a relation with the present, that is, I haven’t changed my mind still now?

Or is it just a recollection, in the present, that I came to that decision in the past?

If the first is right, the original sentence is different in the meaning from this sentence, isn’t it?

I decided then I would not exchange Lowood with all its privation for Gateshead and its luxuries.

If the second is right, there’s no difference between the original and the above sentence, isn’t it?


texts:
I know that "known" can be used as an adjective or a verb (past participle of know) but I'm not sure what word class it is in the following sentences.

A place known for its beautiful scenery.

She is known for being smart.


texts: How to understand "when to do it" in grammar

texts:
I am confusing of the sentence

I don't know when to do it.

I have opinion of it but I don't know it is right.
I think 'I' is subject, 'don't know' is verb, 'when' is object and 'to do it' is adverb phrase. is it right?
someone said it can be idiomatic expression.... and someone said

when to do it

is noun phrase which roles object....
What is the answer...?


texts:
I understand "and fast" as "and act quickly."  Am I on the right track?
The phrase "fossil fuels, and fast" appears to be a typical alliteration, which explains why "fast" rather than "quick" is used.  I am not absolutely sure.

The New York Times tweeted:

The world’s leading energy agency said nations must drop fossil fuels, and fast, if they want to avert catastrophic climate change.
Source: Twitter


texts:
I'm trying to transcribe a video about modern Irish emigration, but I can't catch a little phrase from 1:43 to 1:48 ('I like the ?'). Would you be so kind as to tell me what exactly he's saying?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8BCCFT2nv4


texts: Do you use Got (Past Tense) instead of Have (Present Tense)?

texts:
Do you use Got (Past Tense) instead of Have which is I think present tense ?

I know both sentences have same meaning :

  I "got" some good news for you.

  I have some good news for you.

We know Got is past tense form & Have is present tense
 ... I think when we want to say "I have some good news for you." we should say :

  I "get" some good news for you.
  Why we change the tenses ...?


texts:
Is the phrase "preventing threatened atrocities" correct in English?  The quesiton arises because the definition of atrocity is "an extremely cruel, violent, or shocking act" - Such an act is usually threatening rather than (being) threatened.  So the phrase should have been "preventing threatening atrocities". I am not absolutely sure.

United States support for regime change and the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi in Lybia on the pretext of preventing threatened atrocities reeked of hypocricy when stacked against the prolonged US inaction in the face of actual atrocities being perpitrated by governments in Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere or fierce internal repression in Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabi extremists continued to fund Al-Qaeda and global jihadis.

Source: The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone (page 600)


texts: Contextual meaning of 'just so you're safe'

texts:
[DISCLAIMER] I asked this question on english.stackexchange already but can't get along with the answer that was given to me and they also suggested to try ell.stackexchange for my needs.

There was this dialog in Don Delillo's Cosmopolis and I couldn't figure the construction in the last sentence.

(A little context, the main character Eric talks to his female bodyguard Kendra, who he had sex with just before, Torval is Eric's chief of security.)

  "What's he going to say to you about this?"

  "Torval?  Is that who you're talking about?'  She was amused.  "Say
  his name."

  "What's he going to say to you?"

  "Just so you're safe.  That's his job," she said.

I can rule out that Kendra continues some thought or speech she began before the quoted part.

Is she answering the question directly, does the 'just so you're safe' correspond to 'what?'  Or is this more a kind of indirect answer?  It would seem natural to me to answer 'just so you're safe' to some kind of why question.

Or is the 'just so you're safe' contributed to Torvald, does she mean that he will answer something like 'just so Eric's safe?'


texts:
What does it mean "a while ago"? For how much time in the past it is said to be definite?

I saw it in the context of a video on Youtube (0:36)

Paraphrasing, the conversation was

  Rakesh: Hi, Darren. Do you remember me? You took my sister out on a date. She's slightly larger.
  Darren: Maybe. I think so. A while ago?
  Rakesh: Yeah, it was a little while ago, right. I know, it's been a little while.


texts: In Longman Dictionary of American English, a sentence reads: "This shows you which are the most important words to know." Shouldn't it read: "This shows you which the most important words are to know?"


texts: What differences are between "What's that?" and "What is it?"

texts:
What do you imagine when you hear

  "What's that?"

vs.

  "What is it?"


texts: "Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, disproves the modern belief that dictatorship is merely a myth."

texts:
Context:

Venezuela is a country located in South America that has been
suffering from an ongoing crisis. The crisis started during the reign
of its president Hugo Chávez, although most of its situation is blamed
on its current president Nicolás Maduro. Nicolás Maduro, the president
of Venezuela, disproves the modern belief that dictatorship is merely
a myth. Due to Maduro’s corrupt cabinet, Venezuelans are suffering
from widespread hunger, electric blackouts, medicine shortages, and
rampant crime.

What I understood from this paragraph is that the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, is regarded as a dictator. However, it is said in the passage that he disproves the modern belief that dictatorship is merely a myth , which I find confusing because if he disproves this belief, then he thinks dictatorship is not a false idea (myth).


texts: "Percy directed the girls through one door": does Percy move along with the guided?

texts:
"Password?" she said.
"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it -- Neville needed a leg up -- and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.
[1] Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase -- they were obviously in one of the towers -- they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.
. . . . . .
[2] A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall.
–– Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

[1] and [2] has the same structure and gets me puzzled. In [2], there obviously seems that the goblins are not going to move along with their guests. But in [1]. does Percy move along with the girls and then boys? It’s very likely he doesn’t move but just tell them the way they have to pass through. Is this right? If yes, is there no chance this expression be used when he moves along with the guided?


texts:
corps

It's known that this word, corps has the same form for singular and plural forms but the pronunciation is different: singular /kɔː(r)/ and plural /kɔːrz/
Is there any particular, distinct type of usage for this word as singular and plural?
Edit: the pronunciation is really different when it's singular or plural?


texts: Question about meaning of "very own" and "one yourself" and one more word in this text

texts:
Dealing with the office Kanye
Are you working with your very own Kanye West?
Here’s how to deal with talented colleagues who steal the limelight at work. Plus, avoid this response if you don’t want to look like one yourself .

My first concern has to do with the word office . why did they say office kanya? Why they didn't say Kanye West? Is office here an adjective. I know of course it is a noun and I am confused.
I have  no idea what very own and one yourself here mean.
Here is source: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150212-dealing-with-the-office-kanye


texts: What's the difference between 'most', 'most of', and 'almost'?

texts:
What's the difference between most, most of, and almost?

Which one should I use in the following sentence?

  Most students passed the test.

or

  Most of students passed the test.

or

  Almost students passed the test.


texts:
In French, we have the word "dessinable" which is an adjective for something that can be "dessiné" or in English that can be drawn.
However, when I search the term "drawable" in Cambridge dictionary I don't find any input. Same for "drawnable"
Surprisingly, on Google, my result for drawable is:

A Drawable is a general abstraction for "something that can be drawn."
Most often you will deal with Drawable as the type of resource retrieved for drawing things to the screen

With the part "something that can be drawn" matching the adjective that I'm looking for but the website is related to a Java Class Object for Android which is quite restricted to programming langages!
Does English have not a word for "something that can be drawn"?


texts: Global name for plumber, electrician, mason, etc

texts:
Is there a name that collectively designates plumbers, electricians, masons, carpenters, locksmiths etc.?
In French, the colloquial term would be "artisans du bâtiment".
In English, I've seen "building tradesman" and "building craftsman" but it does not seem to be very popular or very colloquial.


texts:
What's the difference between them, and I know that their meanings or the same but I don't know how they both are grammatical.

I have no car.
I don't have a car.


texts:
What is the meaning of typical in below sentence?

A renko chart is a type of financial chart of Japanese origin used in technical analysis that measures and plots price changes. A renko chart consists of bricks, which proponents say more clearly show market trends and increase the signal-to-noise ratio compared to typical candlestick charts.


texts: What does the word "but" mean in this sentence?

texts:
It is our view that the Assembly has the authority to decline
to accept findings of the Tribunal and has also the unquestionable authority to accept
the findings of the Tribunal but to vary the awards the Tribunal has made.


texts: Does "like" in the middle of talking play a pause to produce a very short period of time to think the next part

texts:
This video (https://youtu.be/_nRtCVJIToA?t=431) is saying

  "make way" also means to progress.
  So the boss comes to me and, like, my team, and he goes:
  "How's the project coming along?"
  And I say: "Oh, you know, we're making way."
  It means we're getting ahead, moving forward.

Does "like" here play a pause to produce a very short period of time to think the next part? similar function as "well"


texts:
Jim did x but didn't do y, despite being just as capable of doing so.

I want the italic part of the sentence to mean that "Jim is as capable of doing x as of doing y." Does it mean so?


texts: Why write "does" instead of "is" "What time does/is the pharmacy open?"

texts:
General question about when to use "is" and "does" as I keep interchanging both of them.
In the sentence

"What time does the pharmacy open?"

Why can't I write this:

"What time IS the pharmacy open?"

I know that

"when is the pharmacy open?"

is correct so does

"When does the pharmacy open?"

work as well?

I am having trouble learning the difference of when to use "is" instead of does. Are there any instances of when they are interchangeable such as "When is the pharmacy open" and "When does the pharmacy open?" mean the same thing? Should I always assume that they are never interchangeable?


texts: Why do we use “listens” instead of “listen” in this tag question?

texts:
I have found the use of audience in tag question which confused me. The  sentence is

  The audience listens to the bagpipes.

Then it has to be changed into tag question. The answer key said: "The audience listens to the bagpipes, don't they?"

Is it correct? If the audience is considered as a group of people, why does the sentence use "listens" instead of "listen"?


texts:
Ever heard or used the noun va-va-voom? It is labelled informal and I wonder whether most of native speakers understand it if I use it.

Cambridge Dictionary:
va-va-voom
noun [ U ]   informal humorous
the quality of being exciting, attractive, or full of energy:
He was elegantly dressed but he just did not have that va-va-voom.


texts: "I did not see him yesterday" vs. "I had not seen him yesterday"

texts:
(1) I did not see him yesterday.
(2) I had not seen him yesterday.

Do they both mean exactly the same thing? Should (1) be chosen (as it almost always is, except for third conditionals) because it is simpler, in a sense?
EDIT: what I think the sentences mean is "at no point in time in yesterday did I see him". Am I wrong?


texts: Is the expression 'To have no care of someone's tender feelings' wrong?

texts:
I recently read a text wherein the female protagonist cried:

  'You have no care of my tender feelings!'

The preposition 'of' struck me as unusual. Is it wrong, or merely old fashioned?

I am aware of this post, which explains the familiar usage only and is therefore of little help.

Edit:

I know that we would normally use 'for', or 'about' and no 'have'. That is precisely what prompted my question. I am not asking for help with rephrasing this. I am asking whether or not this particular usage is wrong. If it is correct, I am very much interested in the implications of using 'of', as well as in any flavour (archaic, regional...).


texts: How to correct: My mother tends to take too many things with us when go a travel

texts:
Question: My mother tends to take too many things with us when go a travel.

Book Answer: when go a travel --> when go on a travel

In my opinion, shouldn't it instead be "when going on a travel"? I'm not sure if the answer in the book is correct.


texts: Any difference between "That would be mine" and "It would be mine"?

texts:
In a movie scene, a lady is with 3 others and are chatting. Suddenly, the lady finds a piece of hair on the ground. She picks it up and holds it in her hand and asks 3 others. - "Hmmm, whose hair is this?

One of the other ladies says: "That would be mine".

In this sentence, the word "that" catches my attention and because it refers to piece of hair. I have wondered why the answering lady did not say "It would be mine" instead of "That would be mine"?

So, I began to think about is there any difference "That would be mine" and "It would be mine"? And I can't find a difference.

And what we taught at school that the pronoun "It" is used for objects, animals, and things. But now, in the sentence "that would be mine", we see the word "that" is used instead of "It" and it functions as a pronoun.

So, I can put my question like this: Is there any difference between "It" and "That", when referring to objects which can normally be referred to by the pronoun "IT"?

Thank you.


texts:
Could you tell me the difference in meaning of these questions please?
When and in which situations can we use them?

He seemed to have felt very tired.

He seems to have felt very tired.

When we say:

He seems as if he knew the answer.

It means like we think he does not know the answer. Can we keep on implying this meaning by using:

seem + infinitive form

For example can we say:

He seems to knew the answer.


texts: meaning of the phrase "be all" in context

texts:
Here is the context:

  You would not catch me wearing a suit in my job - it is all t-shirts and jeans for us!

Was the word all used there as a synonym to the word only?


texts:
Make (one account) consistent with another, especially by allowing for
transactions begun but not yet completed.

Since this sentence is using "reduce clause" and "allow for" is idiom, I suppose its meaning is as follows:

Make (one account) consistent with another, especially by allowing for
transactions [that have] begun but [that are] not yet completed.

Taken from "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary"


texts: What does "Given my reverence for, but ignorance of, the Bible, …." mean?

texts:
Can someone please explain the meaning of the passage below?

  "Bruce could quote the Bible at will, and did so to an amazing degree. Given my reverence for, but ignorance of, the Bible, it all sounded completely convincing."

Whose Word is It?: The Story Behind who Changed the New Testament and Why


texts:
1) I wish you were there to share the snacks with us.

I have 2 minds to this sentences. I'm not sure how to say it, but I was thinking about the second one below.  Or, the sentence could has both meanings.

1)He brings his snack and comes over to share with us

2)He comes over to share the snack we have.


texts: "... which influenced me ..." or "... which was what influenced me"

texts:
Q: How did you learn to play the guitar?

A1: My mom was a guitarist, which influenced me.
A2: My mom was a guitarist, which was what influenced me.

What's the difference? Thanks in advance :D


texts: "Runes: Letters used for cutting" - Meaning of "used for"

texts:
I've read The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien in Spanish but trying to answer a question about a possible typo in another StackExchange forum, I've found this text in its English original preamble

  Runes were old letters originally used for cutting or scratching on
  wood, stone, or metal, and so were thin and angular. At the time of
  this tale only the Dwarves made use of them, especially for private or
  secret records.

I thought that in "use for", the verb use means

  to put something such as a tool, skill, or building to a particular purpose

So if we used a knife to cut the steak, that knife was used for cutting. But I don't get how a letter can be used for cutting or scratching.
I know that Tolkien was pointing that runes were carved on those surfaces using tools, something like

  Runes were old letters that originally used to be cutted or scratched on
  wood, stone, etc.

but I haven't found evidence of that equivalence in online dictionaries. Maybe you can offer me some links or extra information about this.


texts: The present perfect/the present perfect continuous and the past simple

texts:
Would it be wrong to use the past simple, the present perfect, and the present perfect continuous in these sentences after changing   "now" into "today" to say that   I am standing outside the house right now and I am leaving it?

"I'm moving to a new house today I lived here for twenty years! I'll really miss it."

2."I'm moving to a new house today. I have lived here for twenty years! I'll really miss it."
3."I'm moving to a new house today. I have been living here for twenty years! I'll really miss it."
Or
"I am moving to a new office today. I have been working here/I have worked here/I worked her for twenty years. I'll really miss it." In this situation as well can I change "today" into "now" to mean that I am leaving the office building right now?  I am standing outside the office and I am leaving it.


texts:
If a boy is very clingy to his mom, does the following sentence sound natural?

The boy is attached to his mom all day.

I'd appreciate your help.


texts: What is `that it needs` in this sentence?

texts:
I am looking this paper deep_image_prior :

There is a sentence :

  Our approach does not require a model for the image degradation
  process that it needs to revert. This allows it to be applied in a
  “plug-and-play” fashion to image restoration tasks, ...

It is easy to understand without that it needs :

  Our approach does not require a model for the image degradation
  process (that it needs) to revert

Easy to understand the main meaning is does not require a model to revert .

But by adding that it needs, I don't understand what is it indicate and what it needs. that it needs to revert can also be a clause.


texts: 'Extreme high temperatures'- Is this usage correct?

texts:
I read an article on climate change which used the expression 'extreme high temperature'

  Extreme high temperatures set to break records: ANU expert

I understand that 'extreme' can mean extremely low or extremely high. But since the article is using the word 'high', isn't the usage 'extreme high' redundant? So I figured that it must have been a typo, and that the author probably meant 'extremely high'. But just to be sure, I did a Google search and was surprised to find that this usage is quite common.

MWD defines 'extreme' as:

  a :  existing in a very high degree extreme poverty b :  going to great or exaggerated lengths :  radical went on an extreme diet c :  exceeding the ordinary, usual, or expected extreme weather conditions

  2 archaic :  last

  3 :  situated at the farthest possible point from a center the country's extreme north

  4a :  most advanced or thoroughgoing the extreme political leftb :  maximum

  5a :  of, relating to, or being an outdoor activity or a form of a sport (such as skiing) that involves an unusually high degree of physical risk extreme mountain biking down steep slopesb :  involved in an extreme sport an extreme snowboarder

Now, the 'extremely low' aspect is not given anywhere in this definition, but TFD does define it as

  Either of the two things situated at opposite ends of a range: the extremes of boiling and freezing.

What I want to know is whether the usage 'extreme high' is correct, and if it is, how is it different from 'extremely high'.

Thanks


texts: What do you call someone who uses equipment made by someone else to run a business?

texts:
Suppose that I acquired the rights to run a little booth in a theme park for selling ice creams to kids. I cannot run my business if I don't have the machine that makes ice cream, so I buy one of these machines and start earning money.

I am not the "manufacturer" of the machine, I probably got it from a "reseller". What word describes the fact that I use this machine to run my business? I am looking for more specific word that "final user". (I am looking for the equivalent of the French word "exploitant", if this helps)


texts: Does using "Like something" in a sentence sound formal in British English?

texts:
I've recently noticed a lot of people use "like + something" in their sentences even in formal speech. By way of illustration look at the following sentence from a Harvard health blog:
"To say we’re living through challenging times sounds like both a cliché and an understatement."
Is it good English, if use "like" in this way in a formal writing? isn't it better to rewrite it like this:
"To say we’re living through challenging times sounds both a cliché and an understatement."


texts:
It was a hot day yesterday.

I went out all the day afternoon to send a parcel, paid bill and picked up my son.

When I went to home.

  My face is greasy.

  My face is oily.

What word should I used if my face emmited too much oil?


texts:
In the sentence
“I went jogging” am I correct in thinking “went” is the verb? And jogging a gerund?
In the sentence
“David jogs for a mile every day”
Jogs is the verb?
In the sentence
“David had jogged yesterday”
Had and jogged are both verbs


texts: "I have ridden a rollercoaster and now I'm dizzy" - correct or not?

texts:
I am not a native English speaker, and the sentence in the title came up yesterday when I was talking with my friend (who is a native English speaker) about English grammar.

Consider the sentence

  I have ridden a rollercoaster and now I am dizzy.

(where the intended meaning is that I'm dizzy because of the rollercoaster). In my understanding of present perfect tense, it's use is justified here because I am relating an event of riding a rollercoaster by implying it is the reason I am dizzy right now. However, my friend has said for him this situation is a perfect example of when past simple tense should be used.

I would like to just take his word on that, but I don't see why present perfect is being misused in this sentence. Could anyone clarify why past simple should be used here?

PS. This friend has also mentioned this might be a matter of difference between BrE and AmE (he is American). If this is so, could someone briefly explain how the two are different when it comes to present perfect/past simple distinction?


texts: What does "They don't come much bigger than this." mean?

texts:
In a Facebook post:

  They don't come much bigger than this ... Our guest singer this Tuesday tunes is a blue whale. Just click on the link below to hear its song. #BiodiversityMonth

–Australian Department of the Environment and Energy, 20 September 2016

In Collins Dictionary:

  I like a big challenge and they don't come much bigger than this.

–Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's Dictionary | 8th ed (En-En), "challenge"

My understanding: This sentence is used for emphasizing something.
In the first example, they refers to other whales.
In the second example, they refers to other challenges.

Is my understanding correct?


texts: Wondering what the expression " I am about to"

texts:
Many times I have heard it while natives are speaking, specially Americans. I can not recall the contexts, perhaps they are very fast speaking. I wonder if any body here could give some hints in some contexts and provide some authentic examples they use in their speech evey day.
Many thanks in advance.


texts:
Can I use a clause after Than?

  You are better than when you were yesterday.

  People have more chances of dying when they don't fasten their seatbelts than when they do.

  You're faster than I am


texts: Can “take”, “took”, and “would take” all be correct in “as long as I ___ care of it”?

texts:
She said I could borrow her camera as long as I ___ care of it.

  Take / Took / would take.

We had this question answered in class and I think my teacher's answer was incorrect. (as he states that only “took” is right)


texts:
McDonald's is trying to convince us that it's not a psychopath for
putting poison in their drinks to save money.

Can you use it even when using personification like in the sentence above? What's the consensus on this?


texts: Is it "I slipped through the cracks" or "I fell through the cracks"?

texts:
One of my friends said to me:

"You have such a good job though."

And I responded by saying:

"I slipped through the cracks."

I was trying to imply that my interviewers went easy on me. He corrected me and said it is:

"I fell through the cracks."

Is he right?


texts:
From the book Thinking in Java:

  OK, I’ve only read about 40 pages of Thinking in Java, but I’ve already found it to be the most clearly written and presented programming book I’ve come across...and I’m a writer, myself, so I am probably a little critical. I have Thinking in C++ on order and can’t wait to crack it—I’m fairly new to programming and am hitting learning curves head-on everywhere. So this is just a quick note to say thanks for your excellent work. I had begun to burn a little low on enthusiasm from slogging through the mucky, murky prose of most computer books—even ones that came with glowing recommendations. I feel a whole lot better now. Glenn Becker, Educational Theatre Association

What does he really mean by that? I don't think I understand that part. Does it mean that he's struggling because he's new to programming?


texts: Meaning of "has any installments pending till date"

texts:
Is it correct to write:

  'The organization has any installments pending till date.'

Does the sentence convey the meaning that

  'the organization does not have any installments pending as on date'?


texts:
When a passenger gets off a bus, would I say:

The rider dismounted the bus
The rider left the bus.
The rider got off the bus.
The rider exit the bus.?


texts: Is it correct to use gerund in these sentences?

texts:
"A woman speaking to the TV channel said that it seems nearly impossible to find a retirement home."

My question is if it is the same as "a woman who is/was speaking to ...."

Same question here: "They only admit patients requiring urgent care" = "They only admit patients that is requiring urgent care." ?


texts: Which one is the subject in this sentence?

texts:
With courage came determination, and Sucheng was determined to walk again.
My question is Which one is the subject in "with courage came determination"?


texts:
It sounds like the video is speaking (00:00:40)

  Global minimize has been reached.

I understand its meaning. I cannot understand the grammar. Is it grammatical to use the word "minimize" as a noun?


texts: "the last time you saw him" vs "for the last time"?

texts:
What's the difference between the following sentences:

1 When was the last time you saw him.

2 When did you see him for the last time.


texts: Mesh box? Lattice box? barred box etc.? Which one(s) of these to use for a flashcard?

texts: I'd like to create a flashcard for that thing below. But the longer I try to do so, the more confused I get. None of the words suggested for this box (mesh box, lattice box, barred box, skeleton container, iron-barred box) appears in a monolingual dictionary on the web (I got the English terms from ENG-GER dictionaries and tried to look them up via OneLook Dictionary search). There is no entry in the English version of Wikipedia for this type of box (strangely, only the German Wikipedia seems to have one, "Gitterbox"). But which of these words should I know as a learner? And what would be a good definition for this box?


texts: What's the meaning of “spike” in the context of “adrenaline spike”? how does it relate to the meaning of “dump” in the context of “adrenaline dump”? and which of the two is the correct version?


texts: singular or plural? - "an additional five words" vs " additional five words"

texts:
Why do we need "an" in these sentences below?

I run an additional three-tenths of a kilometer.
I write an additional 5 words.

As an English learner, I would omit "an," because it's illogical for me. I see plural forms, so my first reaction is to omit the articles. I would say:

  I run additional three-tenths of a kilometer.
  I write additional 5 words.

Please explain me the differences between these sentences, because my all grammar knowledge has just fallen.

I found a semi-explanation here, does it make any sense?


texts:
However, on landing all was well and the group set out for Athy having had an enjoyable, interesting and fun weekend. https://www.lexico.com/definition/fun

This sentence is an example listed as one of adjective "fun". I cannot understand the part after "and". Before "and", the subject is "all" and the verb is "was". 1) After "and", what is the subject?
[The group]subject [set out]verb [for Athy]prepositional phrase [having had an enjoyable, interesting and fun weekend]
If this analysis is right, the meaning is "the group started a journey to look for Athy"??(Does "set out" mean "to start a journey", doesn't it?) Then, 2) who had an enjoyable, interesting and fun weekend?? The group or Athy? 3) If Athy is the one who had an enjoyable, interesting, and fun weekend, aren't we supposed to put a comma before "having"?
Or, is it just "the group" who had an enjoyable, interesting and fun weekend? I cannot identify 4) what is the grammatical role of "having had an enjoyable, interesting and fun weekend". adverbial participle clause? postmodifying participle clause? gerund clause?
Thanks in advance:)


texts: Does a “slightly shopworn body” mean one is getting old, or getting fat?

texts:
I read a sentence:

  He looked at his brown but slightly shopworn body in the mirror.

I wonder if it's saying "his body is getting old" or "his body is getting fat"?

Which understanding is more reasonable?

The sentence is from a dictionary, under the word shopworn, which is defined as:

  shopworn (adj.) made dirty or imperfect by being displayed or handled in a store:
  he brought out some shopworn lettuce

  figurative
  he appraised his brown but slightly shopworn body in the mirror


texts: Whether every noun needs one article to describe one person

texts:
He was an exceptional planner, an amazing teacher and friend

Well, I have little doubts about the articles in this sentence.It has articles before two of the nouns and the third is left out. Doesn't seem right.

He was an exceptional planner, an amazing teacher and a friend

or

He was an exceptional planner,amazing teacher and friend.

When we say The manager and the CEO we mean two people and to mean one person we write The manager and CEO.

In this case, we're meaning one person so should not it be just one article, just one a  or  an ? What would be the correct sentence?


texts: Take part in making of something: Should there be "the" article before "making"?

texts:
Taking part in making of the Vogue video was great.

  Taking a part in the making of a Vogue video was great.

Should there be "the" article before "making"?


texts:
My question might be a duplicate, but I've tried to find an answer, searching this site, - haven't succeeded, though.
Is it correct to put a comma in the following sentence?

I spent the next three years recovering from a severe injury.
I spent the next three years, recovering from a severe injury.

Whether the comma is needed or not, please, explain to me why as I thought we put a comma if either participle or a participle phrase is separated from the word it is modifying. And in the example, the phrase is actually separated from "I spent".
I appreciate any help.


texts: Had never been done or had never been done before

texts:
I watched a video about Singapore's Marina Bay yesterday. And the reporter said:

  "This was a great design that had never been done.''

My question is: would it be incorrect if I add ''before'' at the end? Like this:

  ''This was a great design that had never been done before.''

Is there any difference?


texts: Why is it that no articles have been used in "He was more monster than man"?

texts:
He was more monster than man.
  Source

Why is it that no articles have been used here?


texts: How to convert this second conditional sentence into third one (conventional definitions)?

texts:
expression about unreal situation without any time marker (second conditional)

1) if you could see him would you say him?

Question:

How to convert foregoing second conditional sentence into third one?

if you had could see him yesterday, would have you said him?

OR

If you could have seen him yesterday, would have you said him?


texts: What's the verb for "color commentator"? What verb do you use to say that a color commentator is commenting on a sports game? Sometimes, I want to avoid using the word "color commentator" and I want to use the verb variant of the term "color commenting" or "color commentator".


texts: What is the meaning of "stool” in the context of getting a job?

texts:
A biography of David Hume says

  David Hume left the University of Edinburgh around 1733. Hume chose the job as a stool in a merchant's office in Bristol.

What is a stool?


texts:
I bought a face cream yesterday. It had small note about how to apply that cream.  I got confused about following sentence on that note.

  Apply this cream on your face in circular way.

My question is why they use “in circular way”.   If I write that following way, is it wrong?

  Apply this cream on your face using circular way.

Why they use in? can someone please explain me, thank you.


texts:
I struggle on how to use the word “contagion” in a sentence that I want to construct; and I cannot seem to find what I am looking for elsewhere.

In economics you can use a term such as

  default contagion

Which essentially means that in a group of companies that are owned by the same parent company, it is contagious to the rest of the companies if one goes into default. That is if one company defaults the rest of the companies are hit by ‘default contagion’, meaning from a risk perspective they are all defaulted.

The sentence that I am struggling to put together is something like:

  Company A is not really at risk because it “contagioned” the default rating from Company B

I don’t know the grammar of contagion, so I am not sure which word to put in instead of “contagioned”. I don’t want to use “caught” because I would then need to follow up with something like “..due to default contagion” and I want to keep it short (and readers already understand the concept).
Obviously I can reconstruct/rephrase the entire sentence - but that is not what I am after. Just curious about which word/conjugation would be correct to replace “contagioned” with - if such exists; or if the entire phrase is not how anyone would ever say it?

Hope my question makes sense.


texts: is versus are: "One in eight Denver residents is clinically depressed and most aren’t getting treatment, new study says"

texts:
A headline reads "One in eight Denver residents is clinically depressed and most aren’t getting treatment, new study says"

"One in eight Denver residents is clinically depressed" I think is would be fine. Or "One in eight Denver residents is clinically depressed and are not getting treatment, new study says" would make sense.

But since it's a plural noun + "clinically depressed and most aren’t getting treatment" shouldn't it be are?


texts: Are there grammatical etiquette guidelines as to whether to refer to a person from Great Britain as a British person or an English person? Is referring to a person as a Brit insulting, even if no insult was intended?


texts:
This is the context:

  Kahneman:
  [To Schiff] It could be that your research could isolate an area in the brain that is associated with
  consciousness. I’m speculating. And then if we found animals that don’t have that area of the brain, we
  would have some reason to say they don’t have consciousness. But that would really conflict with the
  intuitions associated with a robot that certainly doesn’t have those areas of the brain but can generate in
  us the intuition that it has consciousness. So, I don’t really see a way out of this.

  Schiff: The problem with the robot as an analogy, I think, is that it typically isn’t the case that most intuitions
  about consciousness come from observing other people; importantly, they also come from introspective aspect of examining natural language and having—or at least taking the attitude that we have—subjective
  experience, and then acting accordingly and sharing it, as you would say.

  Kahneman: But you could surely program a robot to do all of the above . . .

  Schiff: You could; but if you knew it was a robot, then that might be the reason why you wouldn’t
  attribute consciousness to it; and that wouldn’t be a bad reason. Unless we have a mechanistic understanding
  of consciousness and then instantiate that mechanism in the robot, we wouldn’t likely attribute
  consciousness.

  source: The enigma of human consciousness.New York Academy of Sciences.

What is the meaning of "instantiate" in this context? I searched the word and find out that the meaning of this word is:

  To represent (an abstract concept) by a concrete or tangible example

But I can't figure out this meaning have anything to do with the sentence in context. So, Can anyone explain the meaning of this word in this context?


texts: Are "irresistibly" and "overwhelmingly" interchangeable?

texts:
Computer games are extremely attractive to teenagers so they play them irresistibly day and night.

Are the two words "irresistibly" and "overwhelmingly" interchangeable in this sentence?


texts: What is the meaning of (oh) in following phrases?

texts:
I was reading following sentences on a teaching English telegram channel as " important phrases" :
(oh)Be prepared!
(oh)Be careful!
(oh)Watch out!
(oh)Look out!
(oh)Look sharp !
(oh)Hit the deck!
(oh) Caution!
(oh)Take care!
(oh)Safety first !
(oh)Play it safe !
As we can see, all the phrases start with (oh)  I wonder what does that mean (or what is the porpuse of writing it) in those sentences?
I looked up for the word "oh" in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. But I don't know which one of these for usage we should consider:


texts: They asked me where I live. Is that question correct?

texts:
I know in reported speech we have to change the present simple to the past simple but this question really makes me wonder if I can write it like
They asked me where I live.
Since it's something always true.


texts:
Source

  They take back the valuable item -- kept in a briefcase, it glows
  warmly and transfixes whoever looks at it.

What does mean by glows warmly and transfixes in this sentence?


texts: numbers of the nouns = the noun numbers?

texts:
1. The average patient numbers at Bangkok Hospitals this mouth was much higher . . .

2. The average number of patients at Bangkok Hospitals this mouth was much higher . . .

a. The average patient numbers using Bangkok Hospitals this mouth was much higher . . .

b. The average number of patients using Bangkok Hospitals this mouth was much higher . . .

Which are better, 1. or 2. and a. or b.?


texts: "You are next" vs "It is your turn". Do they have the same meaning?

texts:
You are next.
  It is your turn.

These sentences seem to have the same meaning. Is there any difference?


texts: Adjective describing a room where when little fresh air left

texts:
Imagine a room, for example a classroom, where many people have been sitting and listening to their teacher for two hours while no windows is open or no air-conditioner like machine works.So as you can guess the fresh air in the room getting less and less gradually and the  odor in the room turns to be a bit bad odor because of lacking fresh air or oxygen.

What are the adjective we can use to describing this room.

For example :

  Coming into the classroom I felt it was..........So I asked if they
  would mind if I opened the window.


texts:
Which one is correct?

the evidence can be used to falsely incriminate someone.
the evidence can falsely be used to incriminate someone.


texts:
Is it  okay  to ask:

  Are you are having a lecture now?'

Or:

  Are you at lecture now?

would that be more correct?


texts: what is the opposite of the word 'flat'?

texts:
The surface of the colony* is flat and rugged.
The surface of the colony* is not flat and rugged.

*(a colony of fungi)

Flat is in this case refers to the elevation of the colony. From the side view, it's flat, like a computer disc.

What is the opposite of flat, for this context? Is it non-flat?


texts: How frequent is "for" used to mean "because"?

texts:
In this question is the sentence

  The city must have been prosperous, for it enjoyed a high level of civilization.

Although I understand the meaning, I must admit I never realized "for" could be used as "because", which I discovered in an online dictionnary. I also don't remember any lesson about it in school (but I basically only had a few hours a week in secondary school and then learned by myself, so this might explain that). Therefore I was wondering if it can replace "because" in any occasion and any level of speach or if there were "rules" indicating you should use one rather than the other (or even forbidding to use it)?


texts:
In this sentence:

Jane's roof was destroyed in the tornado.

The roof is not actually Jane's, it is the roof of Jane's house.

What does grammar tell us?


texts: Can adverbs modify auxiliary verbs such as may, can, will, must, shall, should, would, could, do, and need?

texts:
For example, "You always can trust me"

According to my grammar book, "You can always trust me" is always the correct form, but I'm not sure whether "You always can trust me" is wrong and whether "always" can modify "can".

If so, is there a difference in meaning between "You always can trust me" and "You can always trust me"?
I believe there is, because in the second sentence, "always" modifies "trust", unlike in the first sentence.


texts: Whether "I" takes singular or plural verb?

texts:
I'm confused with this especially in english grammar exams.
What should I use while answering concepts like Tenses and Subject Verb Agreement?  Will "I" takes singular or plural verb?


texts:
Please, tell me how I should use these phrases:

"make yourself at ease"
"make yourself comfortable"
"make yourself at home"