texts: How do you like..." VS "What do you think of..."

texts:
I was wondering whether the two phrases "How do you like..." and "What do you think of..." mean the same in the following examples. If the don't, then please kindly explain their nuances to me:
1- How do you like him? --- What do you think of him?
2- How do you like this plain shirt? --- What do you think of this plain shirt?
3- How do you like going to the movies tonight? --- What do you think of going to the movies tonight?
I think they exactly mean the same thing, and can be utilized to ask listener's opinion about someone, something or doing something. Please correct if I'm mistaken.
In addition to that, I have my doubts if both structures can be used with asking someone's opinion about "someone else" or "something" or "doing something"!
Please do me a favor and elaborate on them.
Thank you in advance.


texts:
A car went and the smoke flew in our house.

  "The car smoke is stink."

  "The exhaust smoke is stink.

He told me.

It should be car smoke or exhaust smoke when we telling someone the stink was came from the a car's exhaust?


texts:
"we did not know about national skinheads; they did not exist yet"

"we did not know about national skinheads; they have not  existed yet"

I know what means the first: it means that  we did not know about skinheads because they did not exist but skinheads were going to exist  after this time (when we did not know) and that they  still exit.

Does the second sentence mean the same, the "yet" means that it will happen,does it mean that skinheads were going to exist very very shortly after this time (when we did not know)and that they still exist.

Is this sentence possible?

I know I already asked for it but not with present perfect


texts: reduced causal adverbial clauses in the second part of a sentence

texts:
Can we use a causal adverbial clause in the second part of a sentence? if so, I wonder if I want to use an adverbial clause of causality in the second part of a sentence, should I use a comma before the adverbial clause?
For instance, can contract this sentence

  Individuals sometimes find themselves drowned in a mountain of tasks since they procrastinate their non-essential yet needed-to-be-done-someday duties to the last minute.

to:

  Individuals sometimes find themselves drowned in a mountain of tasks procrastinating their non-essential yet needed-to-be-done-someday duties to the last minute.
  I would also really appreciate it if you could provide me with some explanation.


texts: How to pronounce the American "em'" in "them"?

texts:
I just can't pronounce it properly..

How to pronounce the AmE's "em" in "them"? I always pronounced it like the "un" in "fun" or the "um" in dumb.


texts:
In the US I hear people saying "I took a test" more often than "I did a test". Usually when someone says that "they took a test" it either means that they had their abilities tested by someone else or they had something of theirs tested such as their blood at a hospital for example, and usually when someone says "I did a test" they're talking about something they tested themselves like a car, a computer, or a video game, for example "I did a test with the car". I was wondering whether or not you could use both words interchangeably for any type of test you do yourself or take by someone else, such as in the example phrases below:

  I took a blood test at the hospital.

  I did a blood test at the hospital.

  I took a math test in school.

  I did a math test in school.


texts: Which one is correct ─ "on time" or "in time"? Are both correct? If so, when is one or the other used? This has been very confusing to me. I have tried to thrash out a simple rule when one or the other could be used: "in time" could be used when you are able to take a one-off action (say "x") within due time; but, when "x" is not a one-off action ─ that is to say, is a continuous-kind of action ─ you use "on time" (or, in certain cases, even "before time") to say that "x" has been done within due time. The rule could be further explained by taking example of a train. When you refer to the running of a train, you say that the train is running "on time"; but when refer to the reaching of the train a particular station, you say the train reached the station "in time". I do not know if I am correct. Can anyone tell me if I am correct?


texts: Describing the physical condition of a man: Can an aged man wear well?

texts:
Some aged, even old people, due to their breed and healthy, active lifestyle, not only look  very well, but sometimes are also able to compete with much younger ones in some activities requiring agility, physical strength, and stamina.

I've been thinking about the best way to describe such people in general and came up with the expression "to wear well/greatly". I haven't been able to find the proofs that this expression is valid for human beings, though, and if it is, whether it can be used as in this sentence:

  Tom's grandfather wears greatly —  not only he looks much younger his
  age,  he also seems to be stronger than most of his grandson classmates' dads.

Are there words and expressions to describe such people in English like I tried to do it  in this sentence? What may be some of them, the most commonly used ones?


texts:
NJC Surveys recently determined that, despite advances in audio technology, it is still ...(predominant/predominantly)... through radio broadcasts that listeners are exposed to new music.

The answer in my textbook is predominantly.
Could you please explain?


texts: How should I pronounce "live" when I mean, for example, "live broadcasting" or "live music"? Is it "laiv" or "liv"?


texts:
Google NGram shows the usage of 'Someone else' way above the phrase 'Somebody else' especially when searched for the results of a past few decades.

Is there any difference? Do we use somebody in a special case? Does it sound 'ungrammatical' or 'off' to natives these days?


texts: A mother, father or the parents who are very strict toward their children

texts:
What do you call a mother, father, or parent who is very severe in punishing their children or sets very strict curfews for them?

The adjectives that come to mind are "strict", "stern", and "severe".On the other hand Google Ngram has taught me the following:

For "father": "stern" is the best choice.For "mother": "strict" sounds best.And, for "parent(s)": "strict" again sounds best.

These differences made me doubt whether the adjective "stern" works as well as "strict" when used in the combination with nouns like "mother", "father", and "parent(s)". Please let me know what is the most natural word in everyday and written English for the aforementioned nouns?
Are there any better combinations in English?

P.S.In my language there is only one word that is used to describe —
 as strict/severe — nouns like mother, father, and parent.

affordable paper services


texts:
pull 1 /pʊl/ ●●● S1 W1 verb     1 MOVE SOMETHING TOWARDS YOU
  [intransitive, transitive] to use your hands to make something or
  someone move towards you or in the direction that your hands are
  moving OPP push

  Mom! Davey’s pulling my hair!

  pull somebody/something into/away from/over etc something

  He pulled her down into her seat.

  pull something open/shut

  She pulled open the door and hurried inside.

Say, there are 2 bottles, you put the bigger one on the smaller one in a way that the inner neck of the bigger bottle fitly contact the outer neck of the smaller one as in this picture (the white one is a bit bigger than the green one).

To take the white one off the green one, you have to hold the green one with a hand and use the other hand to pull the white one up.

could I say "you can pull it open to separate them" in this specific situation?


texts:
Native speakers of Japanese have the Japanese phrase "[X]を知っていますか?", which they often say in English as "Do you know [X]?". It means something like "Have you heard about [X]?"

For example

  Do you know the slogan "social coding?"

Is this natural English even when not used about people, or does it sound a bit strange?


texts: What are some alternatives to the sentence "I've recently suffered an injury"?

texts:
I myself was thinking of a few sentences, but wasn't sure if they were grammatically correct.

"I've recently incurred an injury"

"I've recently sustained an injury"


texts: "learn something superficially" - different way of saying it?

texts:
Can we say "Learn something lightly?"
The other day my brother told me to learn some stuff not thoroughly and it made me wonder about the actual adverb that comes with learn which gives this meaning. I found some words like "learn superficially" and "on the surface" (though I still can't figure out how to combine it with learn) but I was hoping to get some word that I could use in my daily conversations like "lightly". Saying "Learn this [whatever topic] superficially" to my friends seems kind of awkward.


texts:
How to say table was the thing I kicked into using stub?

Is it one of these?

  A. I stubbed my toe by the table?

  B. I stubbed my toe onto the table?


texts:
I told my (very young and friendly) professor via email that I found a potentially great, reputable paper to base my research on, and she responded with, "that would be great ^^"

Please let me know what his response is."

What does ^^ mean?

Is that something that shows...excitement / curiosity ...or more like it shows doubt / second-guessing?

Not sure whether this is relevant, but she is French, and we are at an American university.

My guess would be that somehow ^^ is the equivalent of this !! but I've never seen this before at all...

Thanks,


texts: What is the difference between "yet", "as yet" and "so far" in negative sentences?

texts:
Could you tell me what the difference is between yet, as yet and so far in negative sentences For example:

I have a whole cake, but I haven't touched it yet.
I have a whole cake, but I haven't touched it as yet.
I have a whole cake, but I haven't touched it so far.


texts: Why does the missing word in this passage(only one word for each blank) have to be "would", and what's the logic of the sentence?

texts:
…I used to run with them, and had great fun; we used to gallop all together round and round the field as hard as we could go. Sometimes we had rather rough play, for they _____ frequently bite and kick as well as gallop.

I googled for the original text and I got the answer that the missing word is "would". But I am not quite convinced of it as the only answer, and I think "might" is also acceptable here grammatically.

What's more, I find the sentence itself not very logical: I don't think "They(they are horses) would frequently bite and kick as well as gallop" can be the reason for "had rather rough play". The horses preferred to play in a violent way because they tended to bite and kick? I can hardly understand the logic here.

Can you help me?


texts: Does "The crowd acclaims for one more song" make any sense?

texts:
I'm using this sentence: "The crowd acclaims for one more song".

My concerns are:

If "crowd" represents "they", should I be saying "acclaim" instead?
Does "acclaims for" makes sense? Should I be saying "The crowd acclaims one more song" instead?


texts: How make salutation to multiple recipients `Dear Sussane, David & Joshua`? (and other queries)

texts:
For an exam answer, I was required to write a letter to invite my friends to my city. I have some specific queries about it, but I've put the whole thing for some context. The problem phrases are in bold.

  Dear Sussane, David & Joshua

  I am excited to receive you all on Sunday next week at Hyderabad Airport Central.
    Therefore, there isn't any need to worry about logistics from airport to my home.

  Let me share the vacation plan that you would think of spending here. This city
      has an history of Nizam Royal Family, whose heritage is left behind 400 years
     ago. Some of the obvious destinations that has to be visited are Charminar, Golconda
     Fort, Falaknuma Palace & Ramoji Film City.

  Hyderabad hosts a Zoological park. Therefore, You could think of coming with
    children for this trip. Children can have some learning experience at Salarjung museum. >   For a comfortable trip this would not consume more than 4 days.
     Therefore, Please plan accordingly and make me informed before starting from
     there.

  Yours lovely,

  Rebecca

My question:

1) Can i address the recipients with multiple names, when i write a letter? by saying Dear A, B & C

2) Could i use a better phrase than saying left behind?

3) Can the heritage destinations be mentioned with Initial Capitalise letter? for example: Charminar Zoological

4)  Can i better the wind-up statement at the end of the letter? Looks like I did not phrase it concisely before starting from there.


texts: What is the difference between just, almost and quite?

texts:
I have a problem understanding the use of these adjectives: just, almost and quite.
What is the difference between them? What is the fine line that separate uses of these adjectives?


texts:
Am I using the correct adjectives and is this construction grammatically correct?

  It can also be characterized as a vertically dominated object.

The idea is the object that I am focusing on can also be described using its dominant shape i.e. verticality.


texts: Which is correct: 'were concentrated' or 'concentrated were'?

texts:
Which of sentence fragments is correct?

Tests which were concentrated on ...
Tests which concentrated were on ...

Thank you in advance for your help.


texts: What is the difference between these sentences (usage of "upload")?

texts:
I am unable to upload a file in my computer, what i want to upload.

I am unable to upload a file in my computer that i want to upload.

What is the difference between these sentences written above?


texts: I am unintersted / disinterested in English?

texts:
I am uninterested in English.

  I am disinterested in English.

Some grammar books say that the use of disinterested is wrong in the context as it means  unbiased or impartial

But Michael Swan in his Practical English  Usage did not say that it was wrong but said that some people  consider it wrong.

My question is

is I am disinterested in English Right or wrong? do native speakers use disinterested  in the context?


texts: Using plural or singular form of "be" in this sentence

texts:
Consider this sentence:

  Using this method and applying the mentioned principles ...is/are...
  able to improve the performance.

I'm confused which verb to use. Since I'm talking about two things it seems that I should use plural form of be, but isn't it possible to consider "Using this method and applying the mentioned principles" as one thing and use the singular form of be?


texts:
I have been reading Men With Brooms for a few days. I read a sentence which did not make any sense to me, so I landed here to get some help on it. I have pasted the sentence from the novel. Please go through it and let me know your valuable feedback on it.

An excerpt from the novel (Men With Brooms: A Sweeping Epic, paperback 2002, a novelization by Diane Baker Mason):

  Gordon was about to walk away from the Impala when he saw it stop and his son get out. So it was real the boy had come.

As per my opinion it should have been:

  Gordon was about to walk away from the Impala when he saw it stopped and his son got out. So it was real the boy had come.

I have two questions here:

Why did the writer use stop and get instead of stopped and got? As she is telling us a story which happened in the past.
Let's say the writer is telling us her mind's situation and she used the present tense for it but why did she use stop and get instead of stops and gets?


texts: Comma with OR in a verb list containing in an introductory phrase

texts:
Here is a sentence from the New York Times.

Every time a person runs a Google search, watches a YouTube video or sends a message through Gmail, the company’s data centers full of computers use electricity.

The initial pharse in the sentence has a list of verbs: runs, watches, and sends. And in American English, we often add the oxford comma in a list. So, why the comma is missing before "or?"
NYTimes writes in American English, so there must be an oxford comma.
Any thoughts on it are welcome.


texts:
I want to ask this:

What is that all civil engineers do understand that all software engineering better understand also?

My question to you is if the following sentence makes any sense:

  What is that all civil engineers do understand that all software
  engineers might as well do?

Or:

  What is that all civil engineers do understand that all software
  engineers might do as well?

Or are both wrong and sounding weird?

thanks in advance

Edited to add more clarity:

Sorry, I'm not an english native speaker, so I make a lot of confusion.
Basically, what I want to say:

  What Software Engineers can learn from Civil Engineers.

But I want to use the format:

  What is that all civil engineers do understand that all software
  engineers might do as well?

Maybe is, in the end, would better for me to keep it simpler by just saying:

  What Software Engineers can learn from Civil Engineers.


texts:
According to the following figure, is usage of  "sharp increase and sharp decrease" correct? If it is not , please suggest ways to make it clearer.

Sentences:

  As the value of K decreases from 0.16 to 0.105, the sharp increase in the value of G and the sharp decrease in the value of D could be due to the high effect of interaction between the wake of upstream blade and the boundary layer on the suction surface of the blade as expressed previously.

In other words, I want to explain that there is a high effect of an interaction in low values of K. In fact, low values of k caused the high effect of interaction. And also, this high effect makes that parameter of D decrease and parameter of G increase with decreasing in the value of K=0.16 to 0.105. my intention is to describe interaction, rather than describe the graph. I don't want to explain graph features (slope).


texts: "identify" vs "distinguish" to seperate two things?

texts:
How to Identify Difference Between True Lover and Fake Lover
How to distinguish Between True Lover and Fake Lover

Are they the same?


texts:
Please imagine you leave the company where you work. At the same time, a colleague does the same and quits working there. (The CEO of the company (Terry) was a close friend of you.) A couple of years later you and the colleague run into each other out of the blue walking down a street. You are involved in greeting and your bumping friend tends to ask you whether you have been in touch with your ex-company during this gap. I wonder what can he ask?

1.a- Have you heard from the company?
1.b- Do you have any news from the company?

The problem is that I'm not quite sure if these expressions both mean the same and whether both of them are normally used for someone / something (e.g. a company.)
I am wondering which sentence below sounds natural here?

2.a- Have you heard from Terry?
2.b- Do you have any news from Terry?

To me, in either case, both sentences work equally and idiomatically.
I was wondering if you could help me with this question.


texts: What's the meaning and grammar of "who had gone for it of theft"?

texts:
Machiavelli "TO FRANCESCO VETTORI, FLORENCE, DECEMBER 10, 1513"

  And Frosino in particular sent for a number of loads without telling me anything, and on payment wanted to hold back ten lire from me, which he said he should have had from me four years ago when he beat me at cricca at Antonio Guicciardini's. I began to raise the devil and was on the point of accusing the driver who had gone for it of theft; but Giovanni Machiavelli came between us and brought us to agree.

Mansfield employed the letter as an appendix to his translation of "The Prince".

I guess Machiavelli might be joking that the driver had stolen something (wood? lire?). Why was it expressed in that way?

I mistook the bold part as a whole. It should be "accuse sb of sth". Then "who had gone for it" means:

1 who had run the transport business, i.e. "it" refers to delivering the cargo;

2 who had disappeared because he/she feared his/her wrong-doing, i.e. "it" refers to the thieving.

I incline to the second, am I right?

At first, I hold the first understand, but then I thought "Tim may have gone to get milk or may not", whereas a driver is normally, even if not definitely, someone who does such business, so only "the driver" is enough. Thus to make the attributive clause not superfluous, I figured out the second meaning. However, the right expression to the latter one should be "who was gone for it", according to my humble knowledge. Therefore I'm not sure. Perhaps I think too much.


texts: Can we use how many times the way it's been used in the first sentence?

texts:
She's talking on the phone about how her neighbor died, as if how many times she's talked about the incident so far isn't enough.
  She's talking on the phone about how her neighbor died, as if the number of times she's talked about the incident so far isn't enough.

Is the first sentence grammatically correct, and does it mean the same as the second sentence means?


texts: does any change in the meaning of the context?

texts:
Before considering the latest advances in mass spectroscopy, it could be helpful for the readers not accustomed with this field to briefly define what mass spectroscopy is.

Does the above sentence give the same meaning as that given below:

  Before considering the latest advances in mass spectroscopy, briefly defining what mass spectroscopy is could be helpful for the readers not accustomed with this field.

If it is not, how I could change the first sentence with minimal changes to give the meaning of the second sentence


texts: Are the two "tos" the same in "worked ... *to* identify" and *came home *to* find"?

texts:
But Stephen, who is not a scientist, had his family’s genomes
   sequenced and worked with geneticist Ryan Taft at the University of
   Queensland in Australia to identify a mutated gene. Taft linked
   the gene to a class of neurodegenerative disorders involving the
   myelin sheath, which protects neurons.
  Nature

Can this to be interpreted as "and identified a mutated gene..."?
As in

  He came home to find his mother dead?


texts: Why do I have to say “want you to do” instead of “want you do”?

texts:
I'm confused about 'want you to do (something)' and 'want you do (something)'.

Example:

  "I want you to eat fish" instead of "I want you eat fish" or "I want that you eat fish".

Can anyone explain what is the grammar rule for this?


texts:
Is this a set phrase? Can it be changed to laugh? Or does that sound weird?

Almost died laughing

  Almost died laugh


texts: How to understand “there” following “on the wall”?

texts:
It is Sunday afternoon. There are two boys in the candy shop. They are
  looking at the candy. A clerk is cleaning the desk. There is a clock
  on the wall there. It is five thirty. A sign is next to the clock. It says, “Don't drink here.” A woman and a man are taking
  pictures in front of the beautiful shop. They are happy.Source: In the Candy Shop, Page 5 here

Is “there” a postpositive attribute or an apposition of “on the wall”?


texts: What is the verbs for book pages? For example, can we say that someone turns a book from page 3 to page 4? Or turn the pages? Thank you very much!


texts: Is a question such as 'What to (do) ...?' grammatically correct?

texts:
I'm confused if questions starting with 'What to ...' are grammatically correct or not.  For example:

  What to do if I reached there?


texts: Should I say "I saw the same products in 'another' / 'other' place for half cost"

texts:
What would be better in the next sentence? To use other or another?

  "I don't want this product because I saw the same products in another
  place for half cost"


texts:
If someone interrupts your speaking and shows the sign of impatience or superiority or thinking you being incomprehensible or whatever, what would you say? Is it good to reply

Let me try again.

If you are trying your best to communicate, and they interrupts repeatedly which you think is unreasonable, will you say:

Could you please listen and let me finish?
Do you understand how to respect others when they are speaking?

I saw this sometimes happens between some Americans and some foreigners in U.S., either on TV shows or in real life. I personally have some similar experiences in arguing about questionable bills with customer services


texts:
Mrs. Carey in her even voice read the opposite page. It was a romantic
  narrative of some Eastern traveller of the thirties, pompous maybe,
  but fragrant with the emotion with which the East came to the
  generation that followed Byron and Chateaubriand. In a moment or two
  Philip interrupted her. (Of Human Bondage)

Does the bold mean that the Eastern writer has elaborate style as that of Byron and Chateaubriand?  Thank you.


texts: i got a strange sentence watching a movie

texts:
boy : Wait, but half the guys in this school are shorter than you are.
girl : Hence my conundrum.
boy : Oh, ho, ho. I would love nothing more than to hence your conundrum. All I'm saying is let your freak flag fly.

a conversation from a movie, 'tall girl'. and I've never seen a sentence structure like this in bold.
I don't understand why a verb don't used after 'more than to'. and one more.
so what is the meaning of this sentence?? please let me know!!


texts: What does 'as' mean in 'Lawyers write as they see other lawyers write'?

texts:
I asked this question, but still having a problem understanding this sentence.

  'Lawyers write as they see other lawyers write, and, influenced by education, profession, economic constraints, and perceived self-interest, they too often write badly.'

I am having problem with the first part (lawyers write as they see other lawyers write). For me, this sounds like 'lawyers write in the way they observe other lawyers' which sounds ridiculus(I just approached this sentence grammatically). However, someone told me this sentence means 'lawyers write in the way other lawyers write, and they could know how other lawyers write by seeing them write.' Could someone please explain how this sentence is structured grammatically and how it delivers that meaning?


texts:
Is it correct to say:

  I thought you were already gone

I've heard this phrase but I think that it's not correct to use "were gone" here.  How could I say the same thing in a correct way?


texts: What are the meanings of the phrases or the sentences in bold? And how to parse them?

texts:
(1.1)EDGEWOOD-Every morning at Dixie Heights High School, customers
pour into a special experiment: the district's first coffee shop run
mostly by students with special learning needs.
(2.1)Well before classes start, students and teachers order Lattes, Cappuccinos and Hot Chocolates. (2.2)Then, during the first period, teachers call in orders on their room phones, and students make deliveries.
(3.1)By closing time at 9:20 a.m., the shop usually sells 90 drinks.
(4.1)"Whoever made the chi tea, Ms.Schatzman says it was good,"
Christy McKinley, a second year student, announced recently, after
hanging up with the teacher.
(5.1)The shop is called the Dixie PIT,which stands for Power in Transition. (5.2)Although some of the students are not disabled, many are, and the PIT helps them prepare
for life after high school.
(6.1)They learn not only how to run a
coffee shop but also how to deal with their affairs. (6.2)They keep a
timecard and receive paychecks, which they keep in check registers.
(7.1)Special-education teachers Kim Chevalier and Sue Casey introduced
the Dixie PIT from a similar program at Kennesaw Mountain High School
in Georgia.
(8.1)Not that it was easy. (8.2)Chevalier's first problem to overcome was product-related. (8.3)Should schools be selling coffee? (8.4)What about sugar content?
(9.1)Kenton County
Food Service Director Ginger Gray helped. (9.2)She made sure all the
drinks, which use non-fat milk, fell within nutrition guidelines.
(10.1)The whole school has joined in to help.
(11.1)Teachers agreed
to give up their lounge in the mornings. (11.2)Art students painted
the name of the shop on the wall. (11.3)Business students designed the
paychecks. (11.4)The basketball team helped pay for cups.


texts: Is it okay to use "wherein" more than once in a sentence?

texts:
I am wondering if one sentence can have multiple uses of the word "wherein". For example, can a sentence be like the following?

  XXX, wherein ........., wherein ........., and
  wherein ......... .

Or does it have to be like the following?

  XXX, wherein ........., ........., and ......... .

I have done searches on Google many times, but in some of the results, the first form is used while in others, the second form is used, and I cannot figure out which one is the correct way to use "wherein".


texts: Does this sentence have a clear antecedent?

texts:
Does their in the following sentence refer only to Chandler and Monika, or is it one of those sentences with an unclear antecedent?

  In order to celebrate their anniversary, Chandler and Monika
  are going to Apple Bees with Ross and Rachel.


texts: Can "should have done" express supprised truth?

texts:
A young man asked a girl hanging out in a beautiful afternoon after work. But she trotted away with an old man in his 40s to play Golf. Below is the article:

He remembered those weeks of timid indecision, during which he had
looked and longed and despaired of ever having the courage to ask her.
　　Dared he face the risk of being humiliated by a contemptuous
refusal?
　　But if she were to say yes, what rapture!
　　Well, now she had said it and he was still wretched–wretched that
she should have thought it such a perfect afternoon for Obstacle
Golf, that she should have trotted away to join Henry Foster, that
she should have found him funny for not wanting to talk of their most private affairs in public.

Here are 3 "should have done", but the things had happened, not an assumption. In the Chinese translation, it "should have done" express the boy unexpected / surprised those things and thought it was not fair.
I looked up this What are all possible usages of “Should have done”, seems not one mentioned this useage of "should have done".


texts:
I hope, I will be understood cause I'm beginner in English.
My old (former) teacher of English told me that when I wanna construct an alternative questions with the negative form of the verb that I must to put the negative form near the positive form the verb and separate with "or". Like this

  Has or hasn't encapsulation made it easier to work with complex classes?

but I can't find this case in the Internet, even Cambridge dictionary

Just

  Do you want to go to the cinema or not?

So I even don't know which question I should to ask in google?
Please, can You explain to me?
Can I do this, or not? :)


texts: Alternative to an idiom fall on deaf ears

texts:
Is there any alternative for the idiom fall on deaf ears in the context of the following sentence:

Far from letting the matter fall on deaf ears, I shall give effect to the principle established by the Supreme Court on the subject under consideration

I find an article saying that the phrase sounds offensive to deaf community. I attach the link below:
Fallingondeafearsoffensive


texts: How do you tell when a phrasal verb ends with a preposition?

texts:
For example:

I looked up the word in the dictionary.

I understand that "up" isn't a preposition, but what is the procedure to determine whether a phrasal verb ends in a preposition?


texts: School was fun. vs There was fun at school

texts:
Could you say please there is any difference? Are both sentences common?

School was fun.

There was fun at school.

Are "fun" and "funny" interchangeable here?


texts: Why "envy the fact that..." is right, but not "envy that ... "?

texts:
A sentence I wrote:

They envy that celebrated people lead far more interesting and colorful lives than their ordinary lives.

My teacher corrected it as:

They envy the fact that celebrated people lead far more interesting and colorful lives than their ordinary lives.

I learn from dictionary that a noun is supposed to follow "envy", but I think a object clause could be considered as a noun. So I think my original sentence is right


texts: Is there an equivalence to “steal a glance/look at” for the word “love”?

texts:
Obviously, I know “steal a love” doesn’t work, and “love secretly” doesn’t have the same dramatic feeling.

I’d like to make my point clear: “steal a glance/look at” is a dramatic way of saying “look secretly at”. So what is the dramatic way of saying “love secretly”?

Here’s sentence by sentence comparison:

  He looks at her.

  He loves her.

  He looks at her secretly.

  He loves her secretly.

  He steals a glance at her.

  What’s the “equivalence” here?


texts: Usage of "could" in "could account for as much as 7.0%"

texts:
“College Factual ranks Northwestern U as 46th out of a total 1,059
  colleges and universities for sheer popularity with students from
  China. Chinese students could account for as much as 7.0% of the
  entire student body and as much as 41.1% of the international student
  body at Northwestern U.”

  From
  https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/northwestern-university/student-life/international/

This text seems to be generated automatically instead of "written".

I originally asked a related question here. https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/could-account-for-as-much-as.3584373/#post-18238805 We have figured out the intended meaning of this sentence is in 2017, when the survey was taken, Chinese students accounted for 7.0% of the entire student body.  This is a fact.

How to understand "could" here? Is "could" here the past tense of "can"?


texts: I would like to ask the meaning of the following phrase

texts:
"There are also people, he said, who want to keep their meal off the books — if they're having an affair, for example." What does that mean?

This is one phrase of NPR programmes.


texts: The time will come when your dream (will?) come true

texts:
According to Swan Practical English Usage (Don't say it! 130 common mistakes, page:xxvi);

Don't say / write:

  I will phone you when I will arrive.

Say / write:

  I will phone you when I arrive.

Q: Is that always the case, or there is more to it?

See for example the following, which I (a non-native English speaker) find to be fine;

  The time will come when your dream will come true.


texts: How to identify the correct pronunciation for letter "g" before "i" or "e"

texts: It's really confusing when to be sure if the letter g is to be pronounced like giraffe or like girl. Both are followed by i. So how can we know the difference? On the other hand, we have gender and general. So is there a rule?


texts: What's the word for qualifying something that conforms to one or several musical conventions?

texts:
I am thinking "melodic" might be one of them, but there are probably many words, because melody is only one aspect of musical conventions, so please tell me if you know one, and also I think there's a word to qualify something that conforms to all conventions, or some of them, but I have no idea what it might be. I think conventional is too general and doesn't really pertain to music specifically.

For example:

  Her musical composition was ____.


texts: "I can help", "I'm of help", "Be of Use"

texts:
I would like to ask you to answer the difference between "I can help" and "I'm help of". Besides, explain the meaning of this idiom: "be of"

"I'm of help"
"I can help"
"I can be of use"


texts: Differences between "mandatory" and "compulsory"

texts:
What is the difference between mandatory and compulsory? Are they synonyms? Can they be used interchangeably especially with regard to something you must do?

Writing the essay is a mandatory task.

Writing the essay is a compulsory task.


texts: Difference between "did save" and "saved"

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

  1) Where did you save that file?

And

  2) Where you saved that file ?


texts: Question about "interior" when talking about house in this context?

texts:
Other room

  laundry: community
  rooms: living room

  Interior features

  2 story
  security features: gated community

Interior? Is it refering to inside of the building ( complex) and separate stories in a complex? Or is it about two floors inside one house you live in?


texts: Can "few" be used as a subject? If so, what is the rule?

texts:
I took a test with the following question:

  __________has changed at work since the last employee survey was carried out.
  a. Little
  b. Some
  c. Few.

Now, I know that the correct answer is little, but why specifically can't I use few here? What is the rule for this?

Also, it seems to me that we could make a sentence like

  Few have survived fighting polar bears barehanded.

So, could someone kindly explain why we can't use few in the example?


texts:
I am reading a book titled  " The man who loved only numbers", the author is : Paul Hoffman. I encounter a problem in understanding some lines, would some one help me ( I think there is an indirect meaning behind these lines)

There was a young man who said "God

Must find it exceedingly odd

To think that the tree

Should continue to be

When there's no one about in the quad."

"Dear Sir: Your astonishment's odd;

I am always about in the quad.

And that's why the tree

Will continue to be

Since observed by, Yours faithfully, God.”

Note that, by googling, I find this is a quote for  Ronald Arbuthnott Knox.


texts:
The protagonist butted and kicked a stranger who had called him an insulting name in the deserted street. And the beaten guy lay on the asphalt, moaning. Seeing it, the protagonist was disgusted and ashamed. Feeling he was like a drunken man, he wavered about on his weakened legs. Then he was amused.

  Then I was amused: Something in this man's thick head had sprung out
  and beaten him within an inch of his life. I began to laugh at this
  crazy discovery. Would he have awakened at the point of death? Would
  Death himself have freed him for wakeful living? But I didn't linger.
  I ran away into the dark, laughing so hard I feared I might rupture
  myself. The next day I saw his picture in the Daily News, beneath a
  caption stating that he had been "mugged." Poor fool, poor blind fool,
  I thought with sincere compassion, mugged by an invisible man! (Ralph
  Ellison, Invisible Man)

I don’t understand the highlighted part, and so it’s puzzling me why the protagonist was amused. Would you explain the sentence?


texts: Why is "need not" incorrect while "do not need" is correct in this context?

texts:
My English grammar books says:

  You need not come unless you want to. -Incorrect

  You don’t need to come unless you want to. -Correct

It does not provide the reason for (it) or cause of it though. I wonder why.


texts:
What do you call the previous version of a plane?
I am not sure if I am imagining things, but I feel like the word version isn't used at all to refer to previous versions of the planes.

I saw the word "variant" being used a lot, but I rarely see the word "version" and they rarely give the versions a name.
Is there a reason for it? What are the various ways to refer to the different "versions" of a plane?


texts: Difference between "such things as" and "things such as"?

texts:
I read a lot of English books, and I have noticed that when authors need to list examples of something, they tend to use "such things as" rather than "things such as", although they both sound correct. The latter even seems to have a better structure, since it doesn't split the "such as" (a phrase commonly used to indicate examples).

Is there any subtle difference in meaning between the two? Why is the former preferred?

For example:

  Eventually, the device becomes stable, but its final state is unpredictable since it is based on such things as construction differences and thermal noise.


texts: Reaction: usage as countable and uncountable

texts:
The noun reaction in chemistry is a countable/uncountable noun. In what sentences can I use it as an uncountable noun? For example, do the sentences below use it correctly?

  Reaction was allowed to proceed to synthesize substance X.
  Substance X was used in reaction.
  The temperature was adjusted at 100F so as to carry out reaction.

And, in what sentences can I use it as a countable noun?

English is my second language, and my first language doesn't have articles.


texts: Do we say "improvement in precision" or "improvement to precision"?

texts:
Engineers made several improvements in precision in recent years.

I think "in" sounds more natural, but I would also be inclined to use "to". Are both phrasing equivalent, and why?


texts: What does this verb mean in this context?

texts:
The horses laid into the collar.

What does this mean?


texts: The implication of "the most significant source"

texts:
I've read this sentence from one of the LSAT prep tests.

The power plant is the most significant source of fossil pollution.

I wanna know what can be implied by the sentence with the use of "the most significant source." Does the sentence imply the following?

The power plant creates most fossil pollution.
The power plant is the primary source of fossil pollution.

I felt the phrase is so vague that I cannot know for certain what does it try to express.
Any helps would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Leon


texts: Whats is this grammar of: is/are to be +p.p?

texts:
In some standards this structure  is commonly used:

is to be

or

are to be

Ex)

Where external piping are to be connected to the vessel: ( to be continued).

Why don't we say simply:

Where external piping are connected to the vessel: ?

Ex)

Where the PLANT is to be constructed... (and we don't say:  is constructed) ?

And regarding this issue the second question is :
Copied sentences from STD :
1. Only to be used for instrument.  (  and not it is used or should/shall/will be used)
2. All carbon steel bolting to be zinc coating (does it mean should be zinc coating???)-this sentence is mentioned as a note in certain code.


texts: what does "belt up" mean in "He could belt up to tenor high F (F5)"

texts:
In the Wikipedia article of Freddie Mercury, we read:

  He could belt up to tenor high F (F5).

link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Mercury

I found nothing useful in the dictionary, all dictionaries says "belt up" means something like "be quiet", but that makes no sense here.


texts:
The only way to know you've done the job is if I go in with you.

I guess the sentence describes that only if I go in with you, I can know that you've done the job or not. But is the sentence correct? Can "if" be used like that?


texts:
As I would like to use "like to" ( which I've read somewhere that is a semi-modal verb) in different tenses I encountered some problems to use it. What I mean "like to" as a modal verb similar to "be to" (I am to do sth. etc.) Is the meaning of "like to" close to "I want" in this case?
The third sentence doesn't sound good for me or am I wrong?

Please look at the sentences below.

Present simple:

I like to read.

Past simple:

I liked to read.

Future simple:

I will like to read.

Or should like to be used in different example to be a semi-modal?


texts: What do we call this pocket of fabric in which we put tent poles when assembling a camping tent?

texts:
When assembling a camping tent, we sometimes have to put the tent poles through a kind of tunnel created using a strip of the same fabric of which the tent is made.

The Russian term for this channel (tunnel? pocket?) is kuliska (кулиска). I wonder what the English term is for this.

On the image, you can see a tent pole that creates the camping tent's frame (каркас). This tent pole emerges from a "kuliska" and then dives into another "kuliska".

Multitran offers several translations but I'm not sure they fit.

The same word is used in Russian for the channel in which we put a decorative band or a belt or string to support a piece of clothing:


texts: They can take our lives, but they will never take our hats!

texts:
"They can take our lives, but they'll never take our hats"

What is the meaning of this? Is this an idiom?


texts:
Are positive, comparative and superlative adjectives considered as modes?

Can I call each of them as mode? For example: positive mode, comparative mode, and superlative mode?


texts: "future problems" or "problems of future" - which phrase should I choose and how should I place the articles?

texts:
Sentence with "future problems"

  Mahatama Gandhi didn't solve

  all the future problems but he did solve problems
  all future problems but he did solve problems
  all the future problems but he did solve the problems

  of his own age.

Sentence with "problems of future"

  Mahatama Gandhi didn't solve

  all the problems of future but he did solve the problems
  all problems of future but he did solve problems
  all the problems of future but he did solve problems
  all the problems of the future but he did solve problems

  of his own age.

Considering formal English usage which of the above sentences is correct ? I searched for the above sentence in google books and found various versions so couldn't get a clear idea which one is correct.


texts:
I'm little confused about this. How to know should we use himself or by himself?

  ex. Hi will do it himself/by himself.

I know this is a stupid example but this is first what I remembered. What are the differences between them?


texts:
I used to use it (example) with "a" but in this video
Link 1 (at 7:07)
Link 2
I watched an another variant (exemple). Is it a correct usage or a mistake?


texts: The use of the definite article before nouns when talking about things in general

texts:
Tell me please if there is any difference in meaning between the following sentences.

  In America the food is delicius and caloric.

  In America food is delicious and caloric.

In the first sentence, I am not talking about a specific food, but food that is made in the US in general. Is the article optional in the sentence? If it is not, then what does it add to the meaning?


texts:
I've found all alternatives and wonder which one is grammatically correct?

I should have never told you that.
I should never have told you that.
I never should have told you that.


texts:
While editing a manuscript, I came across the following sentence.

  However, Li–S batteries also show several serious defects, including poor conductivity, the large volume expansion (about 80%) of sulfur as cathode, and the shuttle effect of intermediate products (lithium polysulfides) during charge/discharge processes.

In the above sentence, do we need to add an article before "cathode", as it is a countable singular noun, or shall we leave it as such, because the emphasis is on "large volume expansion"?


texts: Why Past Perfect in "He had persuaded himself that the festivities were barbaric, and he made up his mind that he..."?

texts:
The result was that Philip had nowhere to go, and he spent Christmas Day in his lodgings. Under Hayward's influence he had persuaded himself that the festivities that attend this season were vulgar and barbaric, and he made up his mind that he would take no notice of the day; but when it came, the jollity of all around affected him strangely.

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

First question :Why "had persuaded"  and not "persuaded"? it seems obvious that this sentence happens before christmas .I don't see the necessity of past perfect here. I must be wrong, but why?

Second question: Why persuaded and made up are not both Past perfect or past simple, that seems also obvious that the persuasion is before the decision. That's because he was persuaded that he made his decision. I must be also wrong but why?


texts:
This ongoing tragedy cannot be blamed (on/for) any lack of aggressiveness on the part of law enforcement link

I want to know what's the correct word for the bracket.
I think that either of them is correct to use there but "for" seems to be way more natural as I've lots of times come across only "blame someone or something" for something"


texts: Which one is correct to use question sentence?

texts:
Which one is correct sentence?

Does most Amazon people doing well at English like you?
Are most Amazon people good at English like you?
What else?


texts:
In the correct use of volunteer should I always use preposition?

Example:

  I volunteered Calculus classes to the first year students of my school

or

  I volunteered for (giving) Calculus classes to the first year students of my school.

The examples above should mean "I have willingly offered calculus classes for the first year students of my school"


texts:
Can I use plural nouns after any in the following sentences?

1- We don't have any options except to go there.

2- I don't have any friends except John.

3- I didn't meet any officers except him.


texts: Should I use "am" or "I'm" after already saying "I'm" in a sentence?

texts: For example, "I'm looking forward to attending, and am excited to join" vs. "I'm looking forward to attending, and I'm excited to join."


texts:
Example (A Russian Soldier Story):

  One fresh-faced youth in a photograph hikes his pants onto his waist in a white tent where young soldiers sleep while on base. He looks hurried and anxious, as if he is late for a drill and knows full well the repercussions.

What exactly does it mean to say that someone hikes his or her pants? Although I looked the term up in the dictionary, it's still very difficult to say exactly which meaning is used here.


texts:
Which article should I use and why, both seem correct to my senses.

Here I'm talking only about a leg of mine not both.

  a) I have the leg of a footballer.

OR

  b) I have a leg of a footballer.

Here a person only can have a single body.

  a) I have the body of a supermodel.

OR

  b) I have a body of a supermodel.


texts:
"In almost all of the studies to date, when alcohol was utilized in engine, it showed a trend of decreasing."

In above sentences: Can I use "when" here? after the "In almost all of the studies to date" ?


texts:
From the Cambridge Dictionary

I've told you before, sweetie, there's no such thing as ghosts!

Which uses the plural form of ghosts following the phrase "no such thing as".
From the Merriam-Webster dictionary

There is no such thing as a unicorn.

Which uses the singular form of unicorn after the phrase "no such thing as".
I'm trying to make up a sentence with the phrase. Are there some kind of rules about which one I should use for this particular situation?

there’s no such thing as an easy job.

there’s no such thing as easy jobs.

Ngram Viewer shows only the singular form has been used in printed books.


texts: What's the difference between /ɒ/ and /ɑ/?

texts:
He nearly swallowed it.
  (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

Jim Dale’s audio
Stephen Fry’s audio

How does Jim Dale pronounce the a in swallowed: /ɒ/ or /ɑ/?
Considering his nationality, it seems more likely /ɒ/. But it doesn’t sound like how Stephen Fry pronounces. I want to know which one Jim Dale pronounces and what the difference between the two is.


texts: When and how to use the words 'Maybe' and 'may be'?

texts:
I read this tip

  Use 'maybe if 'perhaps' works'. But is this correct?

Are they both adverbs? Or one is an adverb and the other is a verb phrase? This is still not clear to me.

I would appreciate the answers with examples. Please let me know the simplest way to identify which to use when.

Grammar Monster uses this sentence -

  If you trust Google more than your doctor, then maybe it's time to switch doctors

But then this also makes sense to me -

  If you trust Google more than your doctor, then may be, it's time to switch doctors

Am I missing something?


texts:
What are the most common American English interjections for unpleasant surprise?

I am particularly interested in finding out their correct spelling.


texts: is believed to grammar sentence, which one is correct?

texts:
Which one is grammatically correct?
He is believed to be awarded the prize at the age of 17 when he was in London.
or
He is believed to have been awarded the prize at the age of 17 when he was in London.


texts: In which case(s) we should address sb. his "last name" vs "first name"?

texts:
I read this news article, where 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts went missing. Her name is Mollie Tibbetts. If I get it correct, Mollie is her first name and Tibbetts is her last name or surname. As we can see from the article, most of time the author uses Tibbetts, like:

  Laura Calderwood, Tibbetts' mother, told ABC News there are ...

  Tibbetts, who was the middle child in her family, ...

There is one time her mother uses Mollie:

  Calderwood said. "As that date gets closer, it's like closing in on me, because I'm thinking about these two people that are getting married that were also really close to Mollie. [It's] supposed to be the happiest day of their life."

Also, her mother's name is Laura Calderwood, but the author uses Calderwood all the time in his article, instead of Laura.

From my observation, in our daily speech, we tend to use people's first name to address someone. For example, I address one of my American friends as Brain, which is his first name.

So, I'm wondering if there is a rule or something? In other words, in which case(s) we should address someone's last name/surname or his first name?


texts:
Which sentence is correct?

  They get a high salary

or

  They get high salaries.

Can I use either?


texts: Is "further" really used as synonym of "farther"?

texts:
The OALD, for the meaning of further says:

  (comparative of far) (especially BrE) at or to a greater distance SYN farther

Is further really used as synonym of farther?
As far as I recall, there is a slightly different meaning between those words. I don't recall  that exactly, but I think I was taught that further is used figuratively, such as in "I cannot go any further into this discussion."


texts:
At the end of the party, no one
 was happier than Sarah and Tim as they
 found each other after 2 years.

I answered "had found" but I think my solution is good if I want to emphasize the finding was the cause of their happines, furthermore they found then they were happy

englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=414


texts: Confusing exercise question about modal verbs

texts:
I found this question in an exercise on modal verbs.

Find the mistake:

Yesterday; I think he travelled last week.

Where is the mistake and what does (yesterday & last week) refer to?


texts: How do I express the idea that at a buffet some food is being taken by people at a quick rate

texts:
Image I'm at a buffet and some kind of food is really popular so that the food is being taken by lots of people and soon they will be gone.

So should I express the idea that some food are being consumed quickly?

I was trying to use run out of but I realized the subject of run out of seems like it can only be people, or the owner. What if I want the subject to be the food?


texts: What does "which " refer to in the sentence?

texts:
Any help with understanding this sentence would be really appreciated. Here is the sentence:

  No one could have predicted a new offshore race for natural resources, or changing alliances in which Turkey would abandon its long-time friend, Israel, which in turn would seek a partnership with the Republic of Cyprus.

What I haven't understood from this sentence is who was going to seek a partnership with the Republic of Cyprus? Is there a relative clause in the sentence that I didn't get and what does "which" refer to?


texts: 'Finish in first place' v. 'finish in THE first place'

texts: Why is there no 'the' before the numbers in expressions like 'finish in first place'? Even Grammarly underlines it. What is the grammatical explanation?


texts: Does it feel natural to use 'several' to mean starting from 'two'? Can 'several' be 'two'?

texts:
My question is based on this post: Using 'several' and 'some'

Anyway, my question is this:
Does it feel natural for native speakers to use several to mean starting from two? Do you expect that it can be two when you hear several?

Sometimes learning English (or any languages, I think) leads us to this kind of situation, and we just want confirmations from native speakers, even over dictionaries' definitions. This is what I want some of this site's users to know who like to close our questions very much.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to consider "A + adjective" as a noun (phrase)?

texts:
From grammarly

In most cases, the subjunctive form of a verb is usually the third-person form of the verb with the ‑s dropped, but the verb to be is a special case. The subjunctive is used after certain expressions that contain an order or a request, a hypothetical, or a wish.

The phrase "a hypothetical" being used as a noun phrase there.
According to Cambridge Dictionary, "hypothetical" is an adjective and the noun form of it is "hypothesis".
Is that a typo or some kind of grammar rule?


texts: the population "doubled from one million"

texts:
I have a quick question. could you please tell me what exactly this sentence means?

"The population of St Petersburg doubled from just over a million."

Was it one million after it was doubled or was it doubled for million and became two millions?

(I know it might sound a bit funny, but I can't quite get it  out of my head and it's important.)

Thanks a lot in advance!


texts: Is "walk" in this sentence correct? Could it be replaced with walks or will walk?

texts: Almost every creature you see, besides the elephants, walk on two legs, like me.


texts:
(Said about a suicide attempt)
Luckily nothing happened, but it was a scare.
Is it natural to use "scare" as shown above? Is it formal/informal? Is it used in both North America and the UK? Is there another word that would be more natural to use here than "scare"? Thank you.


texts: What is the difference between using "yet" in this sentence and omitting it?

texts:
Although he jumped aside, but the stone hit him.

My instructor told me, that the mistake is "but", it should be:

  Although he jumped aside, yet the stone hit him.

Is it possible to say:

  "Although he jumped aside, the stone hit him."?

Is there a difference in meaning in the above two sentences?


texts: what is the meaning of train to exhaustion?

texts:
what is the meaning of "train to exhaustion"?

  We had trained to exhaustion every day for many years to be ready for game.

Does "train for" equal to "train to"?

and here after "to" should we have verb or noun? to exhaust or to exhaustion?

thank you


texts:
In a mathematical question it is stated as follows.

  On Monday I sold 15 cows and today 5 more than on Monday. How many did I sell today?

The question is one of ambiguity. Does 5 more refer to a separate sale thus only the 5 or does more than mean a total of what is sold today and on Monday?

What would be the best way to phrase the question so that it clearly refers only to the 5 sold today.


texts:
____ does this bag belong to?

  A. Whom

  B. Who

Which one should I choose?


texts: Should it be "it's our birthday today" or "it's our birthdays today"

texts:
If two people were born on the same day, does one say to the other "it's our birthday today" or "it's our birthdays today"?

If they were born on different days, does one say to the other "we should meet on our birthday" or "we should meet on our birthdays"?


texts:
In the movie Monsters Inc. there is this conversation between Randall and Wazowski:

  Randall: Sh sh sh! You hear that? It's the winds of change.
  Wazowski: You hear that? It's the winds of ch... what a creep.
  Wazowski: One of these days I am really gonna let you teach that guy a lesson.

video

The highlighted part is when Wazowski imitated Randall by using a funny voice. My question is: Is there a term for this kind of action?
I tried to find the answer myself but I don't even know what to search.


texts:
Are all the four correct grammatically and in usage? Any difference?

That that I have told you is a secret.
That what I have told you is a secret.
What I have told you is a secret.
That I have told you is a secret.

I mean to say that the thing I said to you is a secret.


texts: Distinguishing past participle and adjective when spelled the same

texts:
Past Participles

  A past participle often ends in -ed, but there are also many irregular past participles.  For many verbs, including -ed verbs, the simple past and the past participle are the same and can be easily confused.  The -ed form of the verb can be (1) the simple past, (2) the past participle of a verb, or (3) an adjective.

  She painted this picture.
  She has painted this picture.
  The picture painted by Karen is now in a museum.

Can you explain these three examples?

In particular, example 1 didn't specify a time because it is a past simple? And in example 3 I can't understand the difference in meaning between passive and adjective.


texts: Why, if clear describes the way in which "it" became more obvious, so we use an adjective (clear) instead of an adverb (clearly)?


texts:
Despite a strong consumer economy, physical retailers closed more than 9,000 stores in 2019 — more than the total in 2018, which surpassed the record of 2017. Already this year, retailers have announced more than 1,200 more intended closings, including 125 Macy’s stores.

Is it only because of comma there that "which" can not refer to the number in 2018?


texts:
This is the context:

  She seemed to Hartley almost an ethereal presence and he could not imagine for a second that in Plato’s attic of perfect forms there could exist a prototype of phibba that was better than the copy he loved.

— The Family Mansion: A Novel by Anthony C. Winkler

Is attic means attics in the houses and it’s a metaphor for the philosophy of Plato or is it a term?


texts: How to call the chairs whose back will bend backwards when you rest against it?

texts: I am sorry if my description is not clear enough. You know there are certain office chairs (unless the wooden chairs or steel folded chair) whose back can bend backwards when you lean against them. Is there a special term for this feature? How to call such chairs?


texts:
What does captured in the passage? I assume it to mean expressed, but I am not sure.

By the beginning of the 20th century psychology as science had
barricaded itself against any liaison with culture. The focus on
experimental psychology of lower psychological functions was expected
to make psychology a real science. Linkages with history in general
and cultural history in particular would have been obstacles on the
royal road to scientific purity. The result was another century of no
serious work on complex cultural phenomena by psychologists. Music — a
favourite topic for early psychologists in the 19th and early 20th
century — has not been a prominent research field as the discipline
enters the 21st century. The story is similar in the case of religion,
which in its various forms frames social and personal lives all over
the world. It had mostly been abandoned by psychologists as a research
field by the 1920s. Nearly a hundred years later, our lives are filled
with ever re-emerging spiritual sentiments that are easily
captured by new religious organizations. Psychology as science has little to say about the profound importance of religious
sentiments in human lives.

An Invitation to Cultural Psychology


texts: 'Strong' presence, but ________ absence?

texts:
What would be a good collocation to emphasize the absence of something. A 'strong absence' sounds a bit oxymoronic to me.

I want to talk about the absence of certain important aspects in someone's critique of something. Sorry, the context is kind of complex. I think 'striking' may do


texts:
Is the following sentence correct?

  Another main interest is political philosophy, especially questions of private property, authority, and capitalism.

Should I replace "questions of" with "questions on"?


texts: "He changed his mind." vs "He had a change of heart."

texts:
He changed his mind.
He had a change of heart.

I think these two sentences are confusing for me.

As far as I know, the first sentence seem to be used in the following situation.
For example,  one day he planned to go to New York, but he changed his mind because of his family stuff.

What about the second sentence?
For example, one woman in America went to Korea for volunteer work for 2 years.
She had a boyfriend in America. For the first several months, she kept touch with him. But one day she couldn't talk with him on the phone  because he blocked her number. In two years she came back home, and she found he had another girlfriend. He seemed to ditch her. In this situation, I think both "He changed his mind" and "He had a chage of heart." would be used interchangeably. Am I wrong?  Which sentence would be better?


texts: How to remove the ambiguity in this sentence?

texts:
Let's see a dialogue between a father and a son :

  (1) Son : Dad, I've got the job.

  Father : I know you didn't get the job because of your qualification. It's due to the recommendation of the minister that you got the job.

  (2) Son : Dad, I haven't got the job.

  Father : I know you didn't get the job because of your qualification. It's really difficult for you to get a job with such a poor result in graduation.

From the two dialogues given above, the sentence "I know you didn't get the job because of your qualification." means (1) he got the job for a completely different reason, or (2) he didn't get the job and his qualification (which is quite low) was the reason.

Is there any way to remove the ambiguity in this sentence ?


texts: What's the difference between shrewd, cunning and sly?

texts:
If, for example, one girl exploits her appearance to cheat around some males and I want to say that she is "smart" in a "bad" way can I say she is shrewd?

Which one of this words fits more  this kind of "smart" people?

What's the difference between that words? (my dictionary see them as synonyms)


texts: Is there any expression/word for "almost inaccessible"?

texts: Inaccessible means, with respect to a place -"unable to be reached". But I want a word or expression that signifies that a place is "almost inaccessible but can be reached ultimately with great effort"—like the North Pole or the hill area around Mount Everest. It is not like they can't be accessed at all; they can only be accessed with great difficulty. So what can I say these places are?


texts:
Can I use "little" meaning the age?

For example:

  You are still little to do it. Wait until you are 10.

If yes, are there any situations when "little" is preferable over "young"?


texts:
In the following sentence, "whose" represent Nadal or a family?

  Nadal was born in Manacor, Spain, in 1986 to a family of athletes whose physical talent he inherited.

The last part of the sentence seems to mean he inherited his talent from a family of athletes. So is it correct if I add "from" behind "inherited" in the sentence?


texts: What's the difference between "a lawyer" and a "solicitor"?

texts:
What's the difference between a "lawyer" and a "solicitor"?

A type of lawyer in Britain and Australia who is trained to prepare cases and give advice on legal subjects and can represent people in lower courts:


texts:
I know that for stairs, the preposition 'on' is much more correct and suitable than 'in'. However, if I try to form a sentence like the one below:

He suddenly stopped dead ON/IN the middle of the stairs.

Which one should I use? Although 'ON' would be the logical choice, 'IN' sounds much more pleasing to the ear in that phrase. Google Ngram supports that:


texts:
-ing co-ordination

He returned and closed the front door, making sure it was unlocked.

We play a fun game, trying to remember the day’s coaching tips.

The bullet missed, passing over his head

How do these types of clauses 'coordinate' and why doesn't this one work the same way.

The finished painting, stunning than ever


texts:
The Komodo dragon was the driving factor for an expedition to Komodo
  Island by W. Douglas Burden in 1926. After returning with 12 preserved
  specimens and 2 live ones, this expedition provided the inspiration
  for the 1933 movie King Kong.

Does it means "died Komodo dragons"?


texts:
Here we use the meaning of  "Something like an excel sheet" for table.

I want to describe "make something into a table" with one word.

Then I think I need to find the verb version of "table."

My instinct tells me that I should use -ize to made it a word, but I tried "taburize" and "tablize." Both failed.

Is there a single word that is the verb version of "table" or "tab"?


texts: Can I use: "We only have known them for a short time"?

texts:
Can I use a sentence with this structure?

  We only have known them for a short time

or needs to be?

  We have only known them for a short time


texts: Assuming yesterday I met your brother, I would say

texts:
Person A: What is the meaning of "bump into someone"?

Person B: If I met your brother somewhere unexpectedly, I would say, "I bumped into him yesterday."

Here I'm only interested in sentence (1).
Is this a valid second conditional where the sentence in quotes uses "real" past tense (bumped into), with yesterday referring to the time of meeting? (Both "met" and "would" are unreal)
Or
Does the condition clause of (1) assume a real past situation where the speaker met your brother, and the result clause talks about a present or future unreal time? ("met" and the sentence in quotes are real, but "would" is unreal)
Something like: Assuming yesterday I met your brother somewhere unexpectedly, I would say, "I bumped into him (yesterday)."


texts:
I was wondering if it correct to use drive when speaking of trains, tanks, ships, spaceships, airplanes, boats?

To drive a tank
To drive an airplane
To drive a train
To drive a boat
To drive a spaceship
To drive a ship

Are they correct? Or should some other verb be used?


texts: There (be) said to have been: past vs present

texts:
I don't know whether "are" or "were" should be used in this sentence as I can't recognise this sentence to be in present tense or past tense

  There are / were said to have been lots of plants and animals in this area in the past.


texts:
I want to describe someone who is tired and is going to bed dragging his feet on the ground. A google search of "shuffled to bed" or "shuffled to his bed" gave me very few hits (at first I got thousands of them, but when I scrolled down the page to see them all they were reduced to only a few)
Are there more common verbs or expressions that I can use to write this action?


texts: What is meant by a certain Point of view

texts:
Look at the following conversation:

  Luke: Ben! Why didn't you tell me? You told me that Darth Vader betrayed and murdered my father.

  Obi-Wan: Your father... was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be the Jedi Anakin Skywalker and "became" Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So, what I told you was true... from a certain point of view.

  Luke: A certain point of view? From another certain point of view, it could be a blatant lie.

I am confused about how 'from a certain point of view' is being used above. How is it that one point of view makes one thing true and another makes it a lie? I understand point of view to mean as viewing something from a vantage point. But, I fail to understand what that vantage point is in the above context. Please shed some light on this usage.


texts:
I was reading a short story "WHAT'S IN ALASKA" by Raymond Carver and came across two instances of "turn" of which meanings I'm not sure about.

  (1) “When we lived in the city,” Mary said, “people said you could see who'd turned on the night before by looking at their kitchen in the morning. We had a tiny kitchen when we lived in the city,” she said.

I checked the all the definitions of turn in dictionaries but none seems to fit.
Or should I regard "turn on" as a phrase meaning to get intoxicated by a drug ? (Though, if so, it still eludes me how you can tell who used drugs by looking at the kitchen, or why you have to look at the kitchen at all.)

  (2) Just as he started to turn off the lamp, he thought he saw something in the hall. He kept staring and thought he saw it again, a pair of small eyes. His heart turned. He blinked and kept staring.

I've heard of someone's stomach turning, but never their heart. Does it convey the similar sense of to be upset/disturbed ?


texts: I "thanks for all" correct/meaningful/grammatical? It was said by a student thanking their teacher after a course. That was the whole sentence. It used as an alternative for "thanks for everything".


texts: "I grabbed him by the arm, hard, and herded him into the car, slammed the door" p.401 Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Now, isn't the whole meaning of the verb to herd to move animals or people somewhere as a group? I don't understand the choice of verb in this context. What am I missing?


texts:
How should I use "amuse" with prepositions in phrases? Is following examples correct?

Amused by something: Being entertained by something
Amused with something: Being entertained with something
This part is from a music album named "Amused to Death". Does it mean being entertained so much with something that you can't pay attention to anything else? Put it another way, does it mean extremely amused?


texts: The sentence that starts as imperative one and ends in passive voice

texts:
There is a following passage in the technical manual I'm working on:

To replace invalid characters, complete the following steps:

...
...
...

The problem is that writing the steps themselves in the 2nd person would be very awkward. Compare the following versions of the first step:

Colons, dashes, commas that can be replaced by dashes, periods that separate sentences, semicolons that can be replaced by periods, ellipses, question marks, exclamation marks, and parentheses are replaced by hyphens. (3rd person, passive voice)
Replace colons, dashes, commas that can be replaced by dashes, periods that separate sentences, semicolons that can be replaced by periods, ellipses, question marks, exclamation marks, and parentheses with hyphens. (2nd person, active voice)

For the reason that steps will be written in the 3rd person, the sentence that introducing the list need to be changed.

To replace invalid characters, the following steps should be completed:
For invalid characters to be replaced, the following steps should be completed:

The second version seems to be grammatically safe, but -- from my own perspective, and since I'm not a native speaker of English, this perspective might be wrong -- is awkward.
The first sentence is shorter and probably better, but I'm not sure it is correct. Is it?


texts: What's the role of "if" in these sentences

texts:
His style, if simple, is pleasant to read.

  The profits, if a little lower than last year's, are still extremely
  healthy.

I'm curious, what's the function of "if" in these sentences.

Does it mean 'although'?

If it does, do these sentences sound native?

Thank you!


texts:
I wrote

  In this formula, the number of nodes is multiplied to (P + A), because each node must  be checked against the list of anchors, and if it matches any of them, a pattern must be retrieved from the list of patterns.

Could it be written as

  In this formula, the number of nodes is multiplied to (P + A) because for each node it (the node) must  be checked against the list of anchors, and if it matches any of them, a pattern must be retrieved from the list of patterns.


texts: Use of "will be taking" instead of "will take"

texts:
The moment you put your soda can down you will be taking better care

I read this sentence in a newspaper article and I would like to know why she used "will be taking" instead of "will take"


texts: What should I use after 'detected': 'me steal', 'me to steal', or 'my stealing'?

texts:
Which of these sentences are correct:

  Sensors detected me steal something.

  Sensors detected me to steal something.

  Sensors detected my stealing something.

The situation is in the mall when you're trying to leave the building and suddenly the sensors triggered with a loud voice


texts: How should we understand "very handsomely so" in this context

texts:
Sirius stared around at the students milling over the grass, looking
  rather haughty and bored, but very handsomely so.

  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I feel "very handsomely so" here means in a very handsome way.  But I don't know if my understanding is correct.


texts: Problem understanding the word “collect” in this sentence

texts:
I began to read the original version of Harry Potter recently. But I got stuck at the very beginning: I don't understand the meaning of the following line which appears in the first chapter of The Philosopher's Stone:

  this was probably some silly stunt — these people were obviously collecting for something

After checking it out in several translations, I found that even translators don't have a consensus about its meaning! One translation tell me it means "these people were gathering together for some special and silly purpose", while for another translation, "these people were collecting money for some strange charitable purpose".

The thing is, both translation are compatible with what I get when looking up "collect" in dictionaries. It seems that 'collect' has the following 2 meanings applicable here as an intransitive verb: 1)to assemble, as in " A crowd soon collected at the scene of the the accident"; 2)to obtain (money or contribution) from a number of people or places, as in "He's collecting for famine relief".

How can one exclude one of the above explanation, leaving the other the only possibility?

EDIT: @Adam has pointed out that the text two paragraphs below:

  He'd forgotten all about the people in coats until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin.

implies that here "collecting" should mean "collecting money or contribution". That's a good point, but is there any more direct way that we can turn to decide the meaning of this sentence?


texts:
Source: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/delete-photo-folders-iphone-54223.html

Tyson Cliffton has been writing professionally since 2001. His work has been published at thealestle.com and KMOX.com.
Cliffton earned a Bachelor of Science in mass communications from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

What could I understand here? Is Cliffton’s work still being publishing up to date? or the writer just uses the present perfect to only highlight the fact that Cliffton’s work just got published (does not mean until now)?


texts: Can the dictionary definition have two different modifiers?

texts:
The following excerpt is the definition of ‘no’

no
not any

But, here’s a problem. Can ‘not’ modify determiner ‘any’? If not, does ‘any’ modify a noun, and ‘not’ modify a verb (that is, there are two  different modifiers)?


texts: What is the term for a person whose job is to place products on shelves in stores?

texts: What's called a person whom his work is to put products on shelves in stores (for example in supermarkets)? For example, if one of the products is missed,  then he adds it again. I was told (by non native English speaker) that "merchandiser" works here,  but some dictionaries (Cambridge, Collins) say that merchandiser is someone who sells products. So I doubt it.


texts: What is the purpose of "that" in "I wonder how close that I came"?

texts:
This is from the song "Worthless" by Van Dyke Parks from the movie The Brave Little Toaster.

I once ran the Indy 500
I must confess I'm impressed how I did it
I wonder how close that I came

What is the purpose of "that" here? I think it is unnecessary because "wonder" usually takes a regular interrogative clause.


texts:
Abbie: Lee, John, have you guys asked yourselves what you're doing
here?
Lee: Every day.
Abbie: You're a give-back. They give the jury a couple of guys they
can acquit so they feel better about finding the rest of us guilty.

What does "give-back" mean in court context?
Source: The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)


texts: "For A to ..." - moving around the subject of an infinitive phrase

texts:
Another implicit process that probably affects women is the tendency for people to select those whom they will feel comfortable working with.

I am wondering the reason why there has been written the bold part. Or, is there any necessity to state it, so that it could help to understand the meaning of the sentence better?

What is more, could we change its position to another place?

Any comment would be appreciated.


texts:
I am going to make up an example below. Galore means a lot.

(ex) John asks me,"Do you have any disposable forks and spoons at home?"

(1) I reply,"I have a lot of them."

(2) I reply,"I have lots of them."

(3) I reply,"I have them galore."

Can I use the word "galore" in (3)?


texts: What does "to fill my days of rise and fall" mean?

texts:
I have several questions about the sentence in bold from the novel The Fire-Eaters by David Almond.

  And she took my hand and hurried me forward. “Come on!” she said. “Let's ride a lift up to the sky!” The lift was inside the stone column of the bridge. We stood in the shade of the bridge's great steel arch. I spread my hands across its huge rivets. Traffic roared high above us. Nearby, a herring gull ripped at something bloody in a brown paper sack. A river bell rang, a distant ship hooted.

  When the lift came down, there was a little man inside sitting on a stool.

  “Come in, madam,” he called. “And you, young sir!”

  He pressed his buttons and pulled his levers. I saw how he couldn't keep his eyes off her as we shuddered up toward the sky. On a shelf at his side were a Thermos flask, a sandwich box, and a notebook and a pen. He saw me looking.

  “I keep a note of everyone,” he said. His eyes sparkled. “All my customers. Just for memory's sake.”

  I wanted to reach out, lift the book, look inside, and he knew it.

  “Ah, to you it would be simply boring,” he said. “It's nothing but dates and descriptions and weather reports.” He shrugged. “I must do something to fill my days of rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall.”

  He took the coin she handed him and opened the door with a flourish.

  “Here we are, then. Farewell, madam. Farewell, young sir!”

  We stepped out onto the platform of the bridge. As the doors closed, he was already writing.

  “Beautiful bright lady,” I heard him say. “All dressed in red. Her quiet boy. September 2nd, 1962. Sunshine after rain.”

  The lift door closed. [...]

Below is the sentence about which I have several questions about.

  "He shrugged. “I must do something to fill my days of rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall.”"

Does the word "fill" mean "to make (something) full"?
Does the word "of" have the same meaning as the word "with" in the phrase "fill a glass with water"?
Does the word "rise" in "to fill my days of rise and fall" mean "the achievement of importance, success or power"?
Does the word "fall" in "to fill my days of rise and fall" mean "a situation in which someone or something loses their position of power or becomes unsuccessful"?

Thanks a lot for everyone's help in advance.


texts:
Let's you are playing COC(Clash of clans). Then you have just made 2 powerful attacks in clan war(2 different bases in just 1 clanwar), hence your clanmate complimented you on that.

  What a powerful attacks you have just done there dude! Exceptional!

I am aware of how to use ''articles'' BUT not quite, coz' I have included the ''what a'' at the very beginning +attacks(plural form as you have done 2 different attacks but within just 1 day)

Moreover, is the highlighted sentence grammatical?


texts: comma+noun+ relative clause VS comma + nominative absolute

texts:
From an ACT English test:

Now, the site is visited by thousands of scuba divers every year, those ____ for an unusual dive in what might be called an underwater mining museum.

Why inserting "looking" to make it a nominative absolute is more acceptable than inserting "who look"?


texts: Usage of present perfect with When?, Where? and Who?

texts:
SOURCE

I'd like to say in my native language we don't have present perfect tense (we use past simple only, no matter if the time is specified, if it's about result etc.), so it's really hard for me to get used to that time.

I've recently read that we don't use present perfect with "When?, Where? and Who?" or when we want to answer these questions, but I've seen examples like "Who's been using my toothbrush" and now, I don't know which rules should I follow. Also, I've seen that many people don't use the perfect tense even if it's correct to use it, especially native English speakers, who use past simple much more often, e.g. "I saw examples" instead of "I've seen examples" even if they don't mean specific time or place. Why do they do that? And, would it be okay if I did same thing in cases like these? Wouldn't that sound strange?


texts:
I have 4 bags. In each bag, there is a same book.

I tried to rewrite this as one sentence, but I don't know if it is grammatically correct and  if it conveys the same meaning.

I have 4 same books each in 4 bags.
I have 4 same books each in bag A, bag B, bag C , bag D respectively.

How would you normally say it?


texts:
How to understand the phrase "believe in" in the sentence "We believe in investing in scientific research."?

I find the example sentence under the specification of the word `scientific' from  Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.

Here is the quote (just partly copied):

  scientific

  1 [no comparative] about or relating to science, or using its methods

  We believe in investing in scientific research.

Interpretations under believe in:

  believe in somebody/something

  2 to think that something is effective or right

    believe in doing something

Does it mean "We believe it right to invest in scientific research"? It is somewhat strange for me to believe in a thing rather than a person.


texts: Is there a passive construction for 'I have a pen.'

texts:
I have a pen.

How to make its "passive voice"?
Actually, I was looking for this sentence on different sites, but I got an answer like

  A pen is had by me.

When I got this answer I was shocked.
I thought how it can be like this.
It really confused me, and I got these remarks:

  "I have a pen." is transitive.

  "A pen is had [by me.]" is passive.
  If "have" were not transitive, we
  couldn't make the passive transformation.

I have never ever read this passive sentence in my books.
So,  you are all respectfully requested to spell it out.

Thanks in advance.


texts:
Sentence 1: You are as good as you think you are.

Sentence 2: You are as good as you think.

Thank you very much!


texts: What did he say in this video ( 1:45- 1:55)

texts:
He said " It's perfect, we have so many people wanna to get on rage with you. In a play of you two if you just put your headphones." I am not 100% he is saying the last words IN a play of you too ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIgNHUMzKbA&t=124s


texts: Do you call a/the taxi or "call in a taxi/the taxi when you want a taxi pick you up and take somewhere?

texts:
Tell me please which one of the following sentences sounds the most natural.

  I won't be in time if I take the bus, so I will call a taxi.

  I won't be in time if I take the bus, so I will call the taxi.

  I won't be in time if I take the bus, so I will call in a taxi.

  I won't be in time if I take the bus, so I will call in the taxi.

What I am trying to say is that I will call a taxi so that it can pick me up and take somewhere. I don't mean a specif taxi just a taxi.


texts: Why do we say the sun is out? We don’t say the candle is out or the light bulb is out. Why don’t we say the sun is visible?


texts: "Have you done a poo?" vs. "Did you poo?"

texts:
Pretend that I have a 10 year old son. He doesn't drink much water at school. So he usually has difficulties at poo.

I care about his health, so when I get home from work I often ask him

  "Did you poo today?"

or

  "Have you done a poo today?"

Which one should I use to care about his health rather than worrying he poo in bedroom?

I suppose the simple past is the one. Is it idiomatic? Does that sound natural?


texts: Using question mark in a sentence connecting a question and a statement

texts:
Edit On second thoughts, and after reading the answers, I realised that I had misinterpreted the statement from the book. As such, in hindsight, this wasn't a good example for the question. Regardless, my original question is still not answered, so I will try with a new example.

Is it correct to connect a question with a statement (as in below example), and if so, should the sentence end with a question mark or a full stop?

  Do you want to have some ice cream and your English homework is due tomorrow?

The point I am trying to make is that "question part" has no connection to the statement which follows.

I found this question/statement in a book.

  What is the running time of BFS if we represent its input graph by an adjacency matrix and modify the algorithm to handle this form of input?
  This connects a question (What is the running time of BFS if we represent its input graph by an adjacency matrix) and a statement (modify the algorithm to handle this form of input). Is it correct to place the question mark at the end?

Note: Despite the similar sounding title, this question is different from Question and a sentence in the same sentence.


texts: Is there any difference in meaning in between "I don't understand." and "I can't understand."?

texts:
I wonder if there are any differences in meaning between the two sentences below.

  I don't understand your explanation.

  I can't understand your explanation.

I am not a native English speaker, and whenever I watch american dramas and other stuff, people in those seem to use either "I don't understand..." or "I can't understand..." in similar situations. So that led me to ask this question.


texts: "How do I look?" vs. "What do I look like?"

texts:
http://www.myanmar-network.net/m/discussion?id=3423487%3ATopic%3A759759

  The earrings were screwed in. "How do I look?" We said, "Beautiful."

This sentence is from"Dreams do come true" by Jim Bishop.
In this sentence,I want to know the sentence "how do I look?"  is the same in meaning "what do I look like?.


texts: Can I say "Hoping for good"? And some other songwriting problems

texts:
I'm writing a song with the following draft lyrics:

My little soul, don't be so blue
This little song is made to be happy,
My tall body, don't be so shy:
There are just two of us here: you and I.
There are just two of us waiting for something,
There are just two of us hoping for good,
There are just two of us secretly dancing,
There are just two of us misunderstood
There are just all of us waiting for something,
There are just all of us hoping for good,
There are just all of us secretly dancing,
There are just all of us misunderstood

I believe there are some problems:

This little song is made [for you] to be happy — is it acceptable to omit 'for you' here? Does it make any sense?

You and I — I know that it's not grammatically correct yet widely used. But is it critical or totally normal?

Hoping for [something] good [to happen] – again, is it understandable without the words in brackets?

There are just all of us — is it possible to say so?

Many thanks!


texts:
Had you read Betty Azar carefully, you were able to persuade your tutor.

Is this sentence correct? or should it be:

  Had you read Betty Azar carefully, you would be able to persuade your tutor.

I mean a mixed conditional. If so , can we bring mixed conditionals with had?


texts:
The phrase "No Country for Japanese Seafood" is on a sign apparently written by South Koreans.  Is it natural in English? Does it mean "no country will accept Japanese seafood"?

Source: Nature

Scientists OK plan to release one million tonnes of waste water from Fukushima
Neighbouring nations have denounced Japan’s plan to release water used to cool the nuclear plant's melted reactors into the sea, but researchers say the dangers are low.


texts: Help me to understand correctly this sentence "She sounded very eager to meet you."

texts:
when someone says "She sounded very eager to meet you." it means that

  She said exactly "I'm really eager to meet him" (him refer to me).

or

  Her saying or expression implied that she really wants to meet me.


texts: Is "Who has Hamlet been written by?" a grammatically correct sentence?

texts:
I'm practicing active to passive voice transformation and trying to determine the best way to transform the following sentence  - "Who has written Hamlet?"
My answer is: By whom has Hamlet been written?
I got a suggestion that "Who has Hamlet been written by?" may also be a correct passive form. But it doesn't sound grammatically correct to me.


texts: Why is there a comma before the participial constructions?

texts:
I read the following sentence in a book:

In war, leaving a single enemy alive to tell the story allows fear to spread.

Why is there a comma after in war?  As I understand it, there is a participial turn, but since it comes after, we should not put a comma. Or am I wrong and this is not a participial turn?


texts:
Can simplify have already <past participle> to already <past participle>

e.g., are the following sentences both grammatical and idiomatic (with and without have)

  I've already taken the clothes into the house, as it is going to rain.

  I already taken the clothes into the house, as it is going to rain.


texts:
Does this sentence:

  He looked shabby, though he was just as a good man as ever underneath.

make sense? I can't clearly understand the part that says "ever underneath". Could you teach me?


texts:
I have read a sentence which I can't interpret exactly. The context is as follows:

Good morning. The program is about music. The word "music" comes from the Greek word "muse". The Muses are the goddesses of the arts. Music is only one of the arts. It is like the spoken language, but it uses sounds. Today's program brings together music from different corners of the world. Who invented music? Who sang the first song? No one knows exactly the answers to these questions. But we know that music plays an important part in almost everyone's life. Babies and young children love to hear people singing to them. When they are a little older, they like to sing the songs they have heard. When children go to school, their world of music grows. In the middle grades students take music lessons.When they reach high school, they become interested in listening to pop music.
The records we have chosen for you today are from American country music, Indian music, pop music and so on. Music has meaning for everyone. It can make people happy or it can make them sad. In this program we shall study the language of music. We shall be trying to find out more about how music works. We shall try to find out how music says what people feel.
Now, here comes the music today. I shall explain why they are all good music…

What is the exact meaning of "Now, here comes the music today" in the last paragraph?
Does it mean "Now, I will play the music I chose today" or "When it comes to the music" or "Now, we are talking about the music..."? Which one is more appropriate?


texts: We have [some things or something] in common

texts:
Jan and I have [some things / something] in common.
  First, we like Sailormoon
  Second, we like cats
  Third, we have long hair

I think some things is the right choice,
because I have listed three things that both Jan and I have,
but "have something in common" is here:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/have_something_in_common

Does this mean that I am wrong if I pick some things?


texts:
It is from this video. It is at 7 minute and 13 second. Here is the context:

  So, you should add as much high quality salt as tastes good on your next meal.

Does the speaker mean that one should add as much salt as they wants provided that if tastes good, or one should add it because it tastes good? Anyway, why did he omitted the pronoun it?


texts: What is the meaning of wizard words here?

texts:
SOURCE (Script of the film August Rush)

Wizard is trying to put a new name to his boy Evan who is already has a name.

  We're gonna need to get you a new name. Something with a little more pop.
  I mean, in the whole world, what do you want to be? Close your eyes and
  think about that. Found. Doesn't have enough "yin". Little more
  "yang", you know?


texts: In what ways, a person could be considered as getting **over** the river?

texts:
I am a bit confused about the usage of "across/over" involving river.

Note: I am not confusing across with over in general. For instance, I am pretty sure that both those prepositions could be used in the following situation.

  We drove across/over the bridge.

When talking about bridge, we would say "a bridge across/over the river". Both prepositions could be used to describe a bridge.

My another post gives lots of means of crossing the river. No matter which way I choose, my action/movement is getting across the river.

Is it reasonable to say someone is getting over a river? In particular, jump over a river in a car?

How about a human cannonball?

I am sure it definitely reasonable to use over when I in a helicopter.

I've also posted another question (Does bridge actually refer to the part on which pedestrians and vehicles move on in everyday English?) to make sure my understanding about the bridge is right.


texts: "Titan Dahl's hedge fund's website" vs. "Titan Dahl hedge fund's website"

texts:
Titan Dahl's hedge fund's website"
or
Titan Dahl hedge fund's website

Methinks the second is correct. I need to know which of the sentences above is correct as I add plenty of references to an online encyclopedia. In this case, it's the website that belongs to a hedge fund that belongs to Titan Dahl that is being referenced.