texts: “the deed” “the mortgage” can they convey general meanings?

texts:
I reckon there are three types of general meanings in English using the definite article:

  The iPhone is a popular gadget nowadays.
  The steel industry is the business of producing steel.
  The Mediterranean (Sea) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean.

Then, in which category would these examples below fit?

  A. The deed is the basic document used to transfer an estate or other interest in land during the owner's lifetime.

  B. The mortgage is viewed as the transfer of an interest in real property.

Both of the words convey general meanings, but how? My guess is that these are similar to (3): there were other words after 'deed' and 'mortgage' but we often omit them.


texts: What does the author mean by "foot soldiers, lieutenant, competition" here?

texts:
Does the sentence in bold mean "When we are in our best state/condition, our salesmen are the most important because they decide the result of our business. Meanwhile, our competitor operates in the opposite way"?

  The company relies on acculturated “Nordies” to induct new employees into customer service the Nordstrom way. Newcomers begin in sales, learning traditions from the ground up:“When we are at our best, our frontline people are lieutenants because they control the business. Our competition has foot soldiers on the front line and lieutenants in the back”

(Spector and McCarthy, 1995, p. 106).

(Source)


texts: Can anyone help me about this phrase: "had I not + V_pII/V_ed"?

texts:
I'm learning English, but my English is very bad.
I have a question about this sentence: The principal approached me and asked me that why had I not brought the book?
When I translate the sentence I don't understand that. Because I searched on the internet about "had I not + V_pII/V_ed" structure, I see that it likes "If I had not + V_pII/V_ed" structure. It is a Condition Clause, and I can't translate it. I'm so confused.
Can anyone help me? Thanks!


texts: An adjective that shows a "rule" is for eveyone

texts:
Please suggest an adjective that shows a "rule" or "law" is true for everyone and there is no exception.

I thought it might be "a public rule/law" but I am not sure if it's a good choice.

Thanks in advance.


texts:
They believe that steady appreciation for nearly
a decade, coupled with higher inflation in China than in America,
has left the yuan overvalued against the dollar.

Is "coupled with.....America" a participle phrase ? If yes, what does it function as ?

or

"coupled with" = a conjunction


texts: A comic or comics? (About one comic strip)

texts:
Which grammatical number should be used when speaking about one comic strip consisting of several pictures?

I would use "comics" in both cases:

  This comics is very interesting (about one comic strip).

  These comics
  are very interesting (about several comic strips).


texts: What is the exact meaning of “You're half a click from your location”?

texts:
I've got a sentence from the film Black Hawk Down:

(around about 2:04:38 -- 2:04:50)

  -- C-2, this is 64. Where the hell is convey? We're getting fucked here. Over.

  -- You're half a click from your location. Hang in there.

  -- Shit.

My question is: The meaning of the bold sentence is like "You're almost successful."?


texts: In the sentence 'the students and instructors *each* hope for a new facility by next year, why is the subject considered to be plural?

texts:
I understand that it is an English rule that when 'each' or ' every' comes after a compound subject, a plural verb is used. What I cannot get my head around is that the sentence is still, in fact, talking about a singular subject.
Is this just one of the quirks and anomalies of the English language, or is the sentence logically talking about a singular subject?


texts: My heart has been made up - what does it mean?

texts: If a person says "my heart has been made up and I choose you" when talking about someone he likes - what exactly does the part "my heart has been made up" mean? What has happened to his heart and feelings? What kind of emotions is it related to and in which order?


texts: What is the word (if any) that describes one's overall body movement?

texts:
Is there a word in the English language that refers to the manner in which one moves one's body around?

Similar to 'gait' as one's manner of walking, but referring to the overall movement of the body, and not necessarily while walking only, or 'posture' as the position of one's body while at rest, but rather describing the way it behaves regardless of whether it is active or not.

'Demeanor', on the other hand, seems to involve one's attitude as well, the way one behaves toward something/in a particular situation,  and not just the mechanical movement of the body which is unique in every individual.


texts:
There was the Hero of the North, whose partner was Michael.

I am wondering if this sentence can be turned into:

  There was the Hero of the North whose partner was Michael.

I am wondering if the comma is right after "North" to tell the reader that "whose" is associated with the word "Hero" and not "North", and thus should not be removed. I forgot the rules, so can someone remind me of the reasons why there might be a comma there?


texts:
The question is about the sentence used in the "story" about the UFO;) Please let me know which is grammatically ok:

When I was thinking then what might happen when they land, suddenly, to my great regret, they flew away.
When I was thinking then what might have happened when they landed, suddenly, to my great regret, they flew away.
When I was thinking then what might have happened when they would landed, suddenly, to my great regret, they flew away.


texts:
I would like to ask you if the expression "It is not easy that much." is correct.

I know, instead, I can use "It is not that easy.".
But out of curiosity, I wonder if that one is also able to be used.(<-Also, is this a correct sentence? Sorry for asking one more question.)

Thank you. :)


texts: How to convey to a person what they think is correct

texts:
If someone says it seems there is a lot going on your mind.
And I agree with it and feel that this person really has an insight into my mind.
How do I express this feeling to him ?

Should I say I agree with you
Or
I too think the same
Is there a better way to convey this ?
I relate with it?


texts: What's the shortest way of saying "$20 billion worth of U.S. bonds"? I was thinking it was "$20 billion of U.S. bonds", but I am thinking worth is necessary. Is it? Can we shorten it even more and why?


texts: The usage of "from" in "stop somebody from doing something"

texts:
stop somebody from doing something

Why should we use the preposition "from" here? What is it for? Why not use "stop somebody to do something"? This really confused me.


texts: Can I use 'was' instead of 'came' in this sentence?

texts:
After studying for three years they were considered proficient in their respective subjects, and the time came to say good-bye to their professor.

In the sentence, is 'the time came to say good-bye' an idiom?  And can I use 'was' instead of 'came'?


texts: What is a person who carries information between two people called?

texts:
What  is  a person  called when he carries  information between the two people  who  are  not on talking terms.

He  is not  a broker  or  a gossipper.


texts: Is word "interlocutor" used in casual conversation?

texts:
To me, as a non-native speaker, word "interlocutor" sounds more like
a technical term from linguistics than something used in a casual
conversation. Is this impression wrong? I can't seem to find any
other synonym. I am looking for something less formal that can replace "interlocutor" in the following sentences:

  My interlocutor on the phone said that...
  His interlocutors all expressed an opinion that...


texts: meaning of "That old Artaxerxes evening had never done ringing in my fancy"

texts:
The following is a part of the SAT sample questions (questions 5-8 of Passage-Based Reading section)

  After the intervention of six or seven years I again entered the doors
  of a theater. That old Artaxerxes evening had never done ringing in my fancy. I expected the same feelings to come again with the same occasion.

At the age of six the author visited a theater for the first time. He was strongly impressed by the theater itself and Artaxerxes which was performed there. The quoted sentences above describes his second visit to a theater six or seven years later. In the rest of the passage he recounts how he was disappointed with the second visit. In the end he concluded that this change was caused by his growth.

I cannot understand the second sentence in bold type. I would be grateful if someone could help me understand it.


texts: to infinitive vs happen + to infinitive difference

texts:
Is there any difference between the following sentences, respectively?

  “It so happens that today is my birthday.” -- Today is my birthday.

  “I happen to have exactly what you need.” -- I have exactly what you needed.

  “I happen to know that it is 15 miles to the train station.” -- I know that it is 15 miles to the train station.

If yes, what is it? If no, why is there a structure like that?


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

  The ship was loaded with/laden with cotton?

Is anyone grammatically wrong?


texts:
Here is the passage:

While teaching PTE, I came across the passage, and couldn't find green's relevant meaning.

  Orville and Wilbur Wright were brothers living in Dayton, Ohio. The two had started making bicycles during the 1890s and had a successful small business selling their Wright Specials for $18 each ($475 in today’s green). This experience with building light, strong machines would prove valuable in the coming years after the brothers’ interest turned to flight.

My guess: it's today's currency notes in green color? Not sure though...


texts:
I'd like to fully understand how to use 'too..to..' sentence pattern.
Here are 2 examples.

You are too pretty to be my girlfriend, because I'm ugly.

You are too pretty for me to ask out, because I'm ugly.

Here, 'you' is used as a doer(subject) of 'be my girlfriend' in sentence #1, and used as an object of 'ask out' #2. right?


texts: How to express idiomatically in this situation: please slide in the middle of the slide or stay away from the edge?

texts:
Look at this picture

The kid seems to slide on the edge of the slide, which is dangerous as she may fall off. I want her to slide in the middle of the slide.

What should I say "please slide in the middle of the slide or stay away from the edge"?

But, do we have a common expression that can be used in other situations?

For example, a kid may sit on the edge of a table or a chair, which is dangerous.

Or, someone walks on the edge of a bank which may fall into the river.

DO we say, "please do/go in the middle of... & stay away from the edge"? or Do we have an idiomatic way to express them?


texts: "studied hard on" vs. "studied hard for"

texts:
I found one sentence while I was reading a book:

  He did not study hard on the test.

Is this sentence correct in reference to the preposition 'on' ?

I think the better version is:

  He did not study hard for the test.


texts: I got confused by learning the wrong Grammar terms. What are the real ones and where to learn them?

texts:
When I started to learn English, I did it with half a century old Soviet book called The Practical English Grammar by Izrailevich and Kachalova (Практическая грамматика английского языка. Израилевич и Качалова).
There are sections in the textbook about the Syntax and the Morphology of the language. As far as the Morphology section is concerned everything's looked spot on so far.
But I started learning the Syntax which explores not the parts of speech as units but a whole sentence. And there I began to see problems.
It's just that some terms in the book which break sentences into components don't seem to align with the ones people use around here, on this site. But, oddly enough, those terms try to be analogous to the Russian terms in the Syntax of the Russian language. So my point is that the textbook tries to make me learn the English Syntax through the Russian terms.
I've done some googling and found out that all the other Russian English learning resources offer those Russian-like terms too. But the real English speaking world seems to use a different taxonomy, as it were.
On this site I find terms such as Prepositional Phrase, Complement, Adverbial Phrase and many others, but I don't find them in my textbook. Instead, I find there the following:

I (The subject) gave (the simple predicate) the letter (the direct
object) to them (the prepositional indirect object).
I (the subject) gave (the simple predicate) them (the indirect object)
the letter (the direct object).
A boy (the subject) feeds (the simple predicate) the dog (the direct
object) with pleasure (the adverb of manner) in the yard (the adverb
of place) every day (the adverb of time).

To my surprise, people here get confused when I use the term the indirect prepositional object referring to to them.
I've never seen anybody use the term the simple predicate or simply predicate referring to the verb of a sentence here. If someone used it, they meant the whole sentence, I guess, after the subject.
So, I've been wondering if anybody knows what's wrong with the terms which have been taught in Russia so far? Why, at least, some of them differ from the ones used by native speakers of English? And by which resources I can learn the proper ones?


texts: What's the meaning of "tip" in this context?

texts:
This video is a debate about gun control after mass shootings in Florida. And I don’t understand the meaning of tip in this congressman Carlos Curbelo’s remarks (1:44)

  We also have to strengthen the background check because we know there have been failures there, and hold the FBI accountable and make sure that threat assessment teams are paying attention to the tips that they are getting, because this tragedy could have--it seems--could have been prevented had the FBI paid attention to two different tips they receive.

The definition of tip as a noun that I knew was "a useful piece of information, especially about how to do something or about the likely winner of a race or competition" (Cambridge Dictionary), so at first I understood this sentence as “threat assessment teams should pay attention to the useful information(such as list of names of people who’ve committed crimes before) they get" so that they are aware of the potential criminals, and thus take special care of them.

But then, he also says 2 different tips again, and it doesn’t make sense if I understand ‘tip’ here as a definition above. The only things I can guess as 2 tips in this video are "lifting minimum age to 21" and "strengthening background check" because after their conversation the woman also says

  OK. It does sound like there are some common grounds here, ...... it seems like there's at least two points here.

So do "tips" and "points" mean the same here?
But how can FBI receive("FBI paid attention to 2 different tips they receive.") two tips, which are just policy plan, or bill they are trying to introduce in the future ?


texts: What's the correct spelling of 'shmare'?

texts:
I've heard this expression several times in TV shows, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Is it like a small "piece" of some spread? Can I say for example:

  "Shmare me some Nutella"?

Or

  Can I have a shmare of Nutella on my toast?


texts:
I'm not a student with English as my mother tongue. I'm analysing an English text. I looked up in the dictionary the verb "to increase" and the noun "increase".
I found these examples:

Japan's industrial output increased by 2%
Our cross margin increased to 24%

What is the difference between these two sentences?
Does "by" in the first sentence show that 2% is the maximum percentage of the increase?
Does "to" in the second sentence show that there has been a progress in the action?
Has the level of the increase started hypothetically, for example, from5%, then 10%, then 15% and now is 24%?
Concerning the noun 'increase' I found these examples:

An increasing number OF customers shop online.
Any increase in production would be helpful.

Why is the preposition "of" used in the first example and "in" in the second?


texts: "English accent" vs "Accent of English" vs "Accent in English"

texts:
Can these phrases be used interchangeably?

"English accent"

"Accent of English"

"Accent in English"

Context: What I try to mean is, pronunciation of English. I don't try to mean a particular British accent by, "English accent." For example, let's say some nonnative English speaker speaks English a lot like Americans, can I say those three phrases interchangeably to refer to his English? Like in "I like his English accent/accent of English/accent in English" I think 1, and 2 are okay, but 1 can be ambiguous depending on the case. I am not as sure about 3. I am not very sure about 2 either actually.


texts: Relative clause with infinitive verbal form and "from" preposition ("{subject} from whose {element} to get something")

texts:
Let use have a subject, which will refer to as the "parent".
This parent can have sub-elements, which will refer to as "child".

Now let us say I want to describe the action of getting something from a children with an infinitive verbal form in a relative clause, with the parent being the subject of the phrase.

Is it correct to do it like so?

  The parent from whose children to get something

or maybe (which I believe would be equivalent to the first):

  The parent, the children of which to get something from

Or is such a relative clause incorrect?

Edit: My question is not really about the difference between whose and which. I use of which in the second phrase, which I believe can be used in place of whose (the "parent" and "children" actually don't refer to people but objects). Granted, the use of of which in the original second phrase was probably wrong, and the new one is at best cumbersome.

My question is more about the correctness of creating a relative clause with an infinitive verbal form and the from preposition.

To clarify, the context I want to use this phrase in is programming: I want to describe a parameter of a function, which is usually done using infinitive phrases (e.g. "the stuff to update", "the thing to delete"...)


texts:
We can't be reminded too often to do or say the right things.
  We can't be reminded too often that relationships are valuable or that reconciliation is worth pursuing.

What does this "can't be reminded too often" combination mean?
Is this an idiom?


texts: What does "Keep your bodily fluids to yourself" mean?

texts:
You’re a crazy Feeling Brain– piloted meat robot just like the rest of
  us. Keep your bodily fluids to yourself, please.

I know the main structure is: keep something to yourself and it means do not tell anyone about something.

But I still don't understand the meaning of the sentence.

So, could you please explain it to me?

The fuller text is:

  This is the Classic Assumption, the belief that our reason is
  ultimately in control of our life and that we must train our emotions
  to sit the fuck down and shut up while the adult is driving. We then
  applaud this kidnapping and abuse of our emotions by congratulating
  ourselves on our self-control. But our Consciousness Car doesn’t work
  that way. When his tumor was removed, Elliot’s Feeling Brain got
  thrown out of his moving mental vehicle, and nothing got better for
  him. In fact, his Consciousness Car stalled out. Lobotomy patients had
  their Feeling Brains tied up and thrown in the car’s trunk, and that
  merely caused them to become sedated and lazy, unable to get out of
  bed or even dress themselves much of the time. Meanwhile, Tom Waits
  was pretty much all Feeling Brain all the time, and he got paid
  copious amounts of money to be drunk on television talk shows. So,
  there’s that. Here’s the truth: the Feeling Brain is driving our
  Consciousness Car. And I don’t care how scientific you think you are
  or how many letters you have after your name, you’re one of us, bucko.
  You’re a crazy Feeling Brain– piloted meat robot just like the rest of
  us. Keep your bodily fluids to yourself, please.


texts:
Which one of the following three sentences is correct

It is time to immediately put the work in hand.

It is time to put the work immediately in hand.

It is time to put the work in hand immediately.


texts:
What does to be "woo'ed away into" means ? Especially in this sentence :

  would he be woo'ed away into the society?

The context is to come to a pilgrimage without really knowing if the organisation is a tendentious and proselyte one.

I don't grab it because first by looking for synonyms I guess that "to be woo" means to be charmed, attracted ... Then I guessed that wooed away would be quite the reverse ?


texts:
I saw this sentence in the dictionary

  We are ahead by six points.

I am wondering what the opposite meaning of this sentence is?


texts: How do we distinguish between a finite clause and a non-finite clause?

texts:
Source

  I had something to eat before leaving.

  I had something to eat before I left.

Do they mean the same, just differ in the sense that the former is a non-finite and the latter is a finite clause?

  Having played on computers all day, they were pale and hungry.

In this sentence, the introductory is non-finite and the latter is finite?


texts:
The phrase "rejecting  argument trial is unconstitutional", even in a headline, sounds a bit odd to me without "that" leading the clause "trial is unconstitutional."  Does it sound odd to you too?

6 Republicans join Democrats in rejecting  argument trial is unconstitutional
After dramatic appeals by House Democrats, the former president will be the first to undergo an impeachment trial after leaving office.

Source: Washington Post


texts: "She refuses to pay the fine, and she took the matter to court." Is the sentence correct with two different tenses?

texts:
Is this sentence from an English Learning magazine grammatically correct  with two different tenses in one sentence?

She refuses to pay the fine, and she took the matter to court.

My opinion is she still refuses to pay the fine, so she took the matter to the court in the past. I don't see any contradiction.  We are confused with the sentence consisting of two opposing verb tenses and had a debate about it on another site. I feel it does make sense somehow. Because she refuses to pay the fine, still as well, she took this matter to the court.


texts: What's the word for the backup person for an anchor

texts:
Let's say Tom is the anchor for a news program. His colleague Jane is his backup for that program during his absence. I heard on a radio something like:

  This is Jane 'info' Tom.

I could not catch the exact word from that radio. It just sounds like the word 'info'.

Questions: What the word is most likely used in this setting? If this could not be figured out by the information I provided here, what would be the proper word(s) which is likely to be used for this scenario?


texts: How to properly insert a question in a statement

texts:
How to frame this sentence properly with adherence to all grammatical rules?

Example:

  Until yesterday, Men had never asked God, "What is the meaning of life?".

I'm trying to embed a question in a statement. How to achieve this properly?

In addition, Should the quotation marks come before question mark or after?

"What ... life?"
"What ... life"?

Please explain with everything from grammar, word order, commas, quotation marks, etc. Can this also be made in reported speech?


texts: Which tense should be in the following context?

texts:
Situation:
The electricity was cut off at 9 am. Now it's 11 am. It will be supplied at 12 o'clock.
How to describe the situation?

The electricity was cut off until 12 o'clock.
The electricity will be cut off until 12 o'clock.


texts: What are the differences between the nouns, "shoot" and "shot"?

texts:
I am confused about the difference between photo shoot and photo shot.

Here are a few examples of what I mean:

In a publishing house, the director talking to an assistant:

  We have a photo shoot.

An app name:

  Instant photo shot

  Alice met a guy on Tinder last week who showed her a boob shot of a girl his roommate hooked up with, and it was her very own boob.

  A: I'm gonna steal your cell phone for a second.

  B: Wait a minute. Why?

  A: Just relax, scaredy-cat.

  B: What are you doing?

  A: I'm taking a picture of my junk. No. I'm adding myself to your calendar right here, next Thursday.

  B: Are you asking me on a date? Is that a yes?

  A: I don't know. Let me see that junk shot first.


texts:
Can someone tell and explain to me which sentence uses the definite article correctly?

Force is denoted by the symbol F.
Force is denoted by symbol F.

When we talk about proper nouns like the name of a person after the title, we don't use the definite article.

For example,

  He is President Trump.

We don't say "he is the President Trump." Is it true in the above case?


texts: Should I pause before "that" or after "that"?

texts:
We often use that to connect two sentences. I want to pause somewhere when the sentence is long and complicated. Where do I pause in the following sentence? Before that or after that?

  The Pythagorean theorem states that given a right triangle the square of the side opposite the right angle is equal to the sum of squares of the other two sides.

Moreover, I want to add commas.

  The Pythagorean theorem states that given a right triangle, the square of the side opposite the right angle is equal to the sum of squares of the other two sides.

I want to add a comma around that, but somehow it seems weird. Is it OK to put one there? On the other hand, if I don't put comma it seems also weird, because the above sentence is basically the combination of two sentences before that and after that.

[Edit]:
Thanks for many answers. It's hard for me to choose best one, so I guess it's better to leave it to users. Still I am not sure if I can pause around that, but it seems it's after that if it's allowed. And for commas, is it correct to think that I may pause even if there is no comma, but I must pause at a comma?


texts: Does the phrase "to get something done" have different meanings?

texts:
https://www.tofluency.com/english-phrase-have-get-something-done/

To have / get something done means that someone does something for you.
...
Here are more examples:
“I need to get my hair cut soon.”
...

I can understand what the above text means. but there are somethings like:

https://www.wikihow.com/Get-Things-Done

Have you ever wanted to get something done but you can't seem to finish? Maybe you just have a lack of motivation, or maybe distractions are getting the better of you.

I guess in the above context "to get something done" has a different meaning. Am I right or not?


texts: What's the role and meaning of 'pin' in this context?

texts:
In yesterday’s central committee meeting of the opposition New
  Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), party members approved an
  initiative for nomination reforms, which embattled Chairman Moon
  Jae-in pinned his position on. With the committee decision, Moon
  passed a first confidence vote. But another one is supposed to be
  coming up. The party’s internal schisms are anything but fixed.Ahn
  Cheol-soo didn’t attend the meeting after his demands for the
  postponement of the meeting and the withdrawal of a public poll for
  the confidence vote were not met. The nonmainstream faction of the
  party walked out in protest of Moon’s decision not to allow a secret
  ballot vote. That translates into a demonstration of political
  distrust of Moon.

I'm struggling to understand the role and meaning of 'pin' in the bold line.

I guess the sentence means Chariman Moon can prepare for the battle(obviously the national election), maintaining or keeping his position as a chairman on.

As to my personal syntax analysis,

An initiative embattled Chairman Moon (being) pinned his position on.

S             V           O

'Chairman Moon is pinned his position on '

can be paraphrased as

'His position pins on Chairman Moon.'

I searched the meaning of pin in Merriam dictionary.

  1  a :   to fasten, join, or secure with a pin b :   to hold fast or
  immobile c :   to present (a young woman) with a fraternity pin as a
  pledge of affection

  2  a :   fasten
   b :   to assign the blame or
  responsibility for  c :   to
  define or determine clearly or precisely —usually used with down

  3 a :   to make (a chess opponent's piece) unable to move
  without exposing the king to check or a valuable piece to capture b of
  a wrestler :   to secure a fall over (an opponent)

It is a transitive verb, so I don't understand how 'pin' works in the sentence in the perspective of both gramar and meaning in context.

Thank you in advance!


texts:
Man: I have seeing you with more ladies a lot lately.

Meaning of sentence: Man is asking another man that Now a days he is roaming with more ladies.

What is the correct way to express this sentence?


texts:
Let's say I spill some coffee or soda on my laptop, and that makes is very sticky and impossible to work with,

So my friend asks me

  What is wrong with your laptop, why is it so sticky?

So what should I say about the coffee or soda?

  There is coffee sticking on my keyboard or screen.

Is the last phrase natural or idiomatic? If not, can anyone suggest me a corrected version?


texts:
I saw the following isolated sentence in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, and there is a paraphrase inside the parentheses:

  The baby was a week overdue (it was expected to be born a week ago).

Is "a week ago" correct? Should it have been "a week before"?

The sentence uses the past-tense "was," so it describes a past event. The time adverbial should be relative to that point, not the present. If the sentence were "The baby IS a week overdue," then "a week ago" would be correct, right?


texts:
I was wondering if it's correct to say "to the East", as in "regions to the East", meaning East Asia?

The complete sentence is:

  The Catholic Monarchs of Spain decided to finance the adventure of direct access to the sources to get rid of the onerous chain of intermediaries and resellers which hoarded the spice trade, as well as that of tropical plants, mousseline and cutting weapons that came from the mysterious regions to the East.


texts: Is the sentence "A and B are interchanged" grammatically correct or not?

texts:
An answerer gives an example

  If I won a million dollars I could buy a Ferrari.

and explains

  "would" and "could" can't be interchanged. That doesn't mean I necessarily am going to buy a Ferrari, it's just an option. If I said "If I won a million dollars I would buy a Ferrari", I mean that I necessarily am going to buy a Ferrari. I will buy a Ferrari.

I could have said

  If "would" and "could" are interchanged, the meaning changes ...

or

  If "would" and "could" are interchanged with each other, the meaning changes ...

The last 2 sentences are my own version. I am concerned with whether the first is grammatical. If it is, is the second a bit wordy?

In other words, is "with each other" required, optional or unnecessary in this context?

Not important but necessary:

I've looked that up on Cambridge Dictionary and Collins and didn't got an answer.


texts:
What does "two Tuesdays ago" mean in the following?

John met Bill two Tuesdays ago.

I'd appreciate your help.


texts:
Children and spouses of people who prefer music that was popular twenty years ago are idiots.

Here the pronoun who refers to what? Is it children and spouses of "people who prefer music that was popular...." are idiots? How should i break the sentence. The who is referring to children and spouses or is it "people who.."?


texts: What is the relation between "dark side" and "mic check" in these lyrics?

texts:
I just listened to The Hills (Remix) by Eminem. People in the Youtube comment section were saying this line was great.

  I let you see my dark side, but like a mic check, you got one too.

  Lyric video is available here.

I don't understand what Eminem is saying here. What is the relation between dark side and mic check?


texts:
I read a sentence in a book, but I don't understand how I am supposed to understand this:

  I've never written someone off so quickly.

Is it in a good way? Or is it some irony?


texts:
Watching movies or playing video games for too long during the day may
  also keep you from getting a good night's sleep. Doing these kinds of
  activities before going to bed can stimulate your brain too much,
  making it more difficult to rest.

What does 'it' refer to here? Isn't it 'your brain'?


texts:
I am just practising some english grammar related questions.

Question: Identify the one bold word or phrase that must be changed in order for the sentence to be correct.

Newtonian physics accounts from the observation of the orbits of the planets and moons.

A) accounts

B) from

C) observation

D) orbits

Its correct answer is "B) from". But why should we select "from" as wrong word that must be changed to "for" in order for the sentence to be correct. what's the logic or rule behind it?


texts: Is the sentence "A father of mine is ill." correct?

texts:
Is this sentence correct?

  A father of mine is ill.

Please explain.


texts:
There's a line in the movie Mystic River:

  We never got along. I flat out didn't like him. And he cut out on his wife when she was pregnant with that little mute of hers.

The phrasal verb cut out has many meanings, but what does cut out on mean here? Does it mean "to exclude" as in "We need to cut them out of future deals"?


texts: there aren't any apples/any apples aren't

texts:
I read on a webpage that we can use this sentence :

An apple is in the fridge

instead of this one:

There is an apple in the fridge.

I wonder what can we say instead of this sentence:

There aren't any apples in the fridge

My guesses are two following sentences. Which one is correct, and why?

Any apples are in the fridge
Apples aren't in the fridge


texts:
May I know if I want to refer to a pptx file (powerpoint file - of course there are multiple slides within), should I refer it as deck or decks? What if they are multiple pptx files?

Recording and decks of the tech talk session, with Paul and John,
are now available at this link.

Above sentence I want to refer as one pptx file, is the usage of decks correct?


texts: Comma use in split subject/predicate phrase

texts:
Should we use a comma in a sentence like "My failure to appreciate what it was, was the result of me being arrogant"? Or is it redundant here?
I know that the comma splits the subject from its predicate here, but two "wases" don't look nice either.


texts: How do I decide which of two past events took place first?

texts:
The people had taken shelter under a tree until the rain stopped.

took shelter will be the 1st action

  The people took shelter under a tree until the rain had stopped.

rain stop will be the 1st action

My teacher said the 2nd one is correct because it had rained (1st) before they took shelter (2nd) but I still strongly support the 1st one since they should have taken shelter first before waiting for the rain to be stopped.

I would like to hear the professionals' views on this.


texts: Do I need two or three "to's" in the following sentence?

texts:
He prayed to God to not (to) have an accident.

Do I have to omit the last to? Why or why not?

The reason I suspect this is because the version with only two to's has more Google results. I'm not sure if that's a good grammar check, though.


texts:
If I have two passives:

The car needs fixing.
The car needs to be fixed.

Which is the better choice in a test where you need to put, "Somebody needs to fix the car" into the passive?

Are they both valid and equally correct?


texts: Does present perfect with "stolen" mean it is not stolen for ever?

texts:
By the way, will you get other copies of the new lumpy releases as the
  first batch [have been stolen / was stolen]?

If I choose present perfect does it mean that there might be a possibility that the items in the stolen batch might be recovered?

If I choose past simple, does that mean that I don't hope for the records to be recovered?

What is the best choice here and why?


texts: What are the meanings of the participial phrase and the verb-less clause?

texts:
From you have I been absent in the spring, When proud-pied April
  dress'd in all his trim Hath put a spirit of youth in every
  thing That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him. Yet nor
  the lays of birds nor the sweet smell Of different flowers in
  odor and in hue Could make me any summer's story tell. Or
  from their proud lap pluck them while they grew; Nor did I wonder
  at the lily's white, Nor praise the deep vermilion in the
  rose; They were but sweet, but figures of delight; [C]
  Drawn after you [A], you pattern of all those.[B] Yet
  seem'd it winter still, and, you away, As with your shadow I with
  these did play. (Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, p.132; Sonnet
  98, William Shakespeare)

I guess participial phrase [A] is selected to say the condition of previous clause [C], and comma and verb-less clause [B] is to say the reason of [C]. Is this right?


texts:
I heard the sentence in a movie:

  I'm kind of slammed.

My guess is that I'm kind of overwhelmed by lots of work. But I am not quite sure. What does it truly mean? Under what circumstances would it possibly be used?


texts: best phrase or sentence to cheer up/celebrate somebody

texts:
At work, your colleague got back his sales revenues, or promotion.
Then, in this situation, you could say "what".

I want to know more expression when you have to celebrate, not the word "congratulation". Of course, it's the situation that happily saying.


texts:
This is the clip blowing up the elevator from The Matrix (1999).

Agent Brown and Agent Jones walk back into the office where Agent Smith is 'questioning' Morpheus.
Agent Smith stands up hastily and looks shocked by their sudden entry.
Agent Jones : What were you doing?!
Agent Brown : He doesn't know (what's going on outside)...
Agent Smith : Know what?
Agent Smith plugs his earpiece back in, and looks at the other two agents.

I wonder whether he can say "What did you do?" or "What have you done?" instead in this particular situation?
"What were you doing?" implies it is a process in which something is clearly or implictly stated.(like, I was reading a book when it began to rain. I was reading it at six), but I cannot find an implicit signifying thing here.


texts:
Is it possible to remove "which is" in this sentence?

  Our method is implemented on Ubuntu LTS operating system (which is)
  running on a virtual machine.


texts:
In the night of 22 to 23 August 1791, men and women, torn from Africa and sold into slavery, revolted against  the slave system to obtain freedom and independence for Haiti, gained in 1804.
On the night of 22 to 23 August 1791, men and women, torn from Africa and sold into slavery, revolted against  the slave system to obtain freedom and independence for Haiti, gained in 1804.

Which one is suitable?


texts:
He will have had the operation by may and should be a lot fitter then.

Have I phrased the sentence correctly? By this sentence, what I understand is -He probably will do the operation- in future- by the time which is mentioned.

In addition, what does the following mean?

  ....should be a lot fitter then.


texts:
Which variant is correct?

She is being thought about by not him.
She is being thought about not by him.


texts: What's an adjective for excessively hand gesturing while talking?

texts:
Suppose you are being interviewed for a job, and while you're making a presentation, you find yourself (in a fit) excessively hand gesturing to the obvious inconvenience of the interviewer. Now you would like to apologize for that:

  I'm sorry for making too much gestures.

  I'm sorry for being excessive with my hands.

Are the above OK? Is there a one-word adjective that can capture the meaning?


texts: What is the meaning of "complacent acceptance"?

texts:
From what I understand by "complacent acceptance", is that, someone accepts something without a doubt or without any cross questioning.
Is my understanding correct or is there more to it?


texts: Which relativizers may be used in modifying clauses and phrases?

texts:
If a relative clause modifies a noun or a pronoun in a main clause, then we could use relative pronouns such as that, which, who, whom, whose, and relative adjectives such as where, why.

During reading, I find that sometimes people use a non-restrictive relative clause introduced by "which" to give more information about phrases in the main clause, or comment on part of the main clause or the main clause. Please refer to the following examples.
So I am wondering whether we should only use non-restrictive clauses introduced by "which" in these situations (i.e. giving more information about phrases in the main clause, commenting on part of the main clause or the main clause).

Example:
1: He likes climbing mountains, which is a good exercise.

("which is a good exercise" gives more information about "climbing mountains")

2: He said that he had never seen her before, which was not true.

("which was not true" is a comment on "he had never seen her before")

3: Tom was late, which surprised me.

("which surprised me" is a comment on "Tom was late")

Please help me. I really need your help. Thank you in advance!


texts: Which is correct? How did it all began/begin?

texts:
I'm confused between these two. Which is correct to use between

  How did it all began? or
  How did it all begin?


texts:
Are below expressions correct to refer to people from the same region?

The Asians people

The Cameroonians people

The Canadians people

The Colombians people

The Chadians people

The Croatians people

The Ecoadorians people

The Egyptians people


texts:
To balance this abbreviated pathway for development and approval of biosimilar and interchaneable products with incentives to develop innoative new products, the BPCI Act also provides exclusivity to manufacturers of certain biological products. FDA

Hi again, I have two questions, and since they are in one sentence, I would like to post it once. If I cannot, please let me know.

In this sentence, does balance mean the following definition?

  [transitive] to create or preserve a good or correct balance between different features or aspects Macmillan

Does exclusivity mean the right to monopolize here?
When I looked for the word, it only says

  the state of being the only person, group of people, or organization that is allowed to have or do somethin Cambridge


texts:
Is it correct to ask:

  "Am I correct?"

The context is checking mathematical reasoning.

I typed it down and is haunted by an odd feeling that there is some mistake with it! Should I prefer "Am I right?" to the above?


texts:
In the movie "Equalizer" (2014), the co-worker addressed Denzel Washington, "Yo, Pops, bet you didn't have to push dollies at your old job." and Denzel Washington replied, "Guilty as charged."
I just don't understand the meaning of "Yo, Pops" and why past tense "did" was used. Can anybody help, please.


texts: I heard on a TV show that sex with some particular woman is so good, it will melt your face. I could find the explanation for this expression.


texts: What does it mean when cops pull someone over?

texts:
When someone says the cops pull someone over, what does it mean? Does it mean the person was running away from the cops and the cops moved the car in front of the driver's car and the driver had to stop the car on the side of the road?

I searched in the dictionary but the meaning is limited to stopping a car on the side of the road. But what does it mean when cops pull someone over?


texts:
I have a translation problem, and maybe somebody can help me with this.

After someone had said a stupid sentence, I heard somebody reply:

  Well, he was making a point, I guess, to some distant star.

I'm almost sure this was some kind of insult, but I'm just not able to translate it, or to really understand the meaning of this expression.


texts: use of ''as '' in sentence below while evaluating something

texts:
Is use of ''as'' correct in sentence below:

  Authorized person evaluated my appeal as out of scope .


texts: What is the meaning of "falling off the end"?

texts:
I am reading the book The C Programming Language. At the end of page 26 the paragraph that comes is,

  A function need not return a value; a return statement with no expression causes control, but no useful value, to be returned to the caller, as does "falling off the end" of a function by reaching the terminating right brace.

What does "falling off the end" mean in the above written paragraph and also in general?


texts: beer by the six-pack -- why "BY THE six-pack"?

texts:
Source: C++ For Dummies, 7th Edition by Stephen R. Davis (2014)

Example:

  The numbers we’ve been familiar with from the time we could first count on our
  fingers are known as decimal numbers because they’re based on the number 10.
  (If beer by the six-pack had been invented early enough, our number system
  might well be based on the number 6.) In general, the programmer expresses
  C++ variables as decimal numbers. Thus you could specify the value of var as
  (say) 123, but consider the implications.

Almost sounds like the name of a company. The whole thing by the six-pack is confusing to me.


texts: It is correct to use the word "they" here?

texts:
The sentence I've constructed is

  "My boss doesn't need to tell everyone what they has to do".

It is correct to use the pronoun "they" here?


texts:
I have a child who learns how to match blocks and gets them through shaped holes on a toy box. When a block is not aligned to the hole, I need to tell them to "twiddle/tilt/turn/etc" the block a bit right or left so the block would get into the hole.

Is "twiddle the block a bit right/left" correct?

Whether or not, what would native speakers usually tell the child in idiomatic phrases or words in case the:

child is a toddler
child is a preteen-assuming the preteen would play with the toddler, and so you need to communicate with both.

Ideally I think the parent should use both parentese and everyday language with focus on the age appropriate language. Regardless of parenting, I would like to learn the language of all age groups if possible.

Sample Picture of Toy in Question


texts:
When do we use "Many of people"? and When do we use "Many people"?

  Amusement park rides are stressful but also exhilarating and enjoyable to many of people. Victim Assistance book

  Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging other mayors to enroll as many people as possible in the ... USA Today


texts: Present Perfect vs. Past Simple with unfinished time periods: this week

texts:
I ____ (read) six books this week.

The correct answer is:

  I have read six books this week.

Why are we using Present Perfect since we specify when we did the activity? Is it wrong to say (Past Simple):

  I read six books this week.


texts: Why did Ed Sheeran say this in his song?

texts:
I'm listening to this song for Ed Sheeran and he said the following:

  I don't deserved it

Is that a grammatical error or he did that for a purpose? The subtitle, however, tells that he said

  I don't deserve this

But I listened to it many times and I'm quite sure that he said what I heard at the beginning.


texts: Why is the adverb "often" treated differently?

texts:
In many dictionaries, such as Merriam-Webster, the adverb "often" is defined as follows:

often (adverb): many times

However, this adverb can be used in some ways different from the other adverbs of frequency such as frequently, sometimes, and rarely. For example,

How often do you call your mother?
He travels more often than I do.
He calls home that often.

I know the meaning of the adverb in such examples; however, I wonder why the other adverbs of frequency cannot be used in such ways. Is there any specific grammatical point here?


texts: Americans/Americans'/American mistrust in the world?

texts:
This research shows the Americans mistrust in the world.
  This research shows Americans' mistrust in the world.
  This research shows the American mistrust in the world.

What is the difference between the meaning of the aboves? Are all correct? Related information: Chrome proof-check says mistrust is problematic in 1 and 2 but not 3.


texts:
I want to say this following sentence.

  The decisions in making a project plan that are affected by variable X
  are presented in Table 4.1

However, the grammarly, a grammar software, says that my sentence should be

  The decisions in making a project plan that is affected by variable X
  is presented in Table 4.1

The software argues that the "be" explain the word "plan". Meanwhile, I want to explain the word "decisions" instead of "plan".

How should I write the proper sentence?

Thank you


texts: Tenses in the relative clause with "would"

texts:
SOURCE

  Certainly I don’t want to tie it to simple possession of a central
  nervous system, for that would rule out lobsters and octopi and many
  other things I think we would generally accept were clearly sentient.

Would it be wrong to put it we would generally accept are clearly sentient?


texts:
Jamie Ryan, willowy 6´ Fab Radio DJ, is more confident predicting scores than scoring, and when it comes to girlish pursuits she prefers to kick to touch. (Blurb on Amazon page)

I am not sure how to understand the parts in bold in the sentence above. Shall I understand the first one literally or is it some sort of a wordplay? And what about the second one? Does it mean that that woman has masculine tendencies and that she is quick to lash out?

PS: She prefers to kick to touch. I would write "she prefers to kick to to touch". I prefer something to something else…


texts:
Please help me construct the correct sentence?

should I say: In the manner of a;

  I decided to wake-up at this moment and begin to end its existence in the manner of a true permanent death, denying it the rest of its life.

Or should it be: In the manner of;

  I decided to wake-up at this moment and begin to end its existence in the manner of true permanent death, denying it the rest of its life.

True permanent death is a specific action and not among many actions possible i.e. there is only one way to kill someone/something.


texts: What exactly here is getting permeated in Maggie words?

texts:
Source is St Vincent (2014) comedy movie.

Context: At Saint school, Principle and Brother Geragathy talking to
Maggie about her son Oliver's behavoir.

  Maggie: We're in the middle of a divorce. Oliver's father was  having
  an affair with his assistant, and our accountant, and my hairdresser,
  while she was still doing my hair, so that was fun. And now he's filed
  for custody of Oliver, full custody. And he won't pay any support
  until he gets  what he wants. Plus, he's a lawyer. So I just had to
  get  out of there as fast as I could, and I took Oliver with me, and I
  got a job at Mission Hills. I'm a CAT scan tech. So I just see...
  really rough stuff all day. You know, cancer and tumors and cysts and
  clots, and I see  what I'm looking at, but I can't tell, you know, the
  people that are laying there, so that's... miserable all day. And I
  work really late, because I'm trying to get our act together. That's
  why he's here, so he can have a good education, and I'm  trying to
  just give him a semi-normal life, and I'm dealing with this shit from
  David and... custody. I'm sorry about swearing. I know he didn't even
  want kids. He didn't want them. He's just  doing this so I'm not
  happy. You know Oliver's adopted. I don't  know how you would, but he
  is. And... I cannot have... kids. You know, something about my
  fallopian tubes being twisted. I think, what I really think, is that
  they were just recoiling from David's sperm. Can I...

  Maggie: Can I just have one? (Asking for tissue to clean her face)

  Maggie: Thank you. Thank you for that. (Brother Geragathy gave her
  tissue) So I just think that all of this has kind of permeated,  you
  know, Oliver's whole little being, right? I mean, it has to. He's like
  a little, like a little sponge.

I know the word permeate means It means to spread through something and be
present in every part of it. For example:

  A foul smell of stale beer permeated the whole building.

Foul smell of stale beer is occupied whole building. So in Maggie words what is occupied what exactly?


texts: What is the subject of "helping" in this sentence?

texts:
Researchers suspect that early exposure to pets carrying bacteria on their fur may encourage the proper functioning of the immune system, helping it to attack only harmful things.

I'm really confused about these.

What is the subject of "helping"? If one thing is right, why are the others not? I cannot refute the ideas myself.
a) early exposure to pets carrying bacteria on their fur
b) early exposure to pets carrying bacteria on their fur may encourage the proper functioning of the immune system(the whole of the previous clause, if this is the subject we can rephrase the sentence as follows: "~ immune system, and this(or it) helps it to attack only harmful things")
c) the proper functioning of the immune system

What does "it" after "helping" indicate? Is it "the immune system"? Am I right?


texts: Third conditional with modals in both sentences - can it look the same?

texts:
2nd conditional:

  I would leave if I could.

3rd conditional:

  I would have left if I could  --the same form of "could"

but

  I would have left if I could have used the car.

Is that correct? Is the first example of 3rd conditional correct, i.e. using the same form of the modal as the second conditional?


texts:
In Comedy-Fantasy movie Death Becomes Her (1992), Lisle Von catch Madeline's hand and said this words:

  So warm, so full of life. And already it ebbs away from you. This
  is life's ultimate cruelty. It offers us the taste of youth and
  vitality and then makes us witness our own decay.

There are two it are there in above sentence, I want to know what is the meaning
of first "it"?


texts: "Stretched too thin": Would the meaning of the phrase change without "too"?

texts:
My colleague, a native-English speaker, in his message apologized for not replying to my emails right away.

I know that he is an awfully busy person and besides his professional activity and family, he has his old mother to look after, his children born during his first marriage to support, and so on and so forth.

What I want is to ask him, both politely and idiomatically, not to apologize and, as soon as I understand his situation, I’d like to add a phrase that would show my understanding.

I was thinking of the phrase:

  I know you're stretched too thin on several fronts.

But “be stretched too thin” means that a person who tries to do many things at the same time, can’t give enough time or attention to any of them.

With my friend, it’s totally different:

He does many things at the same time, giving enough attention to them all. The matter is that he has to temporally sacrifice one or two of his responsibilities for carrying out the others, thence he may be a little late with carrying out those others.

In this regard, the phrase “stretched too thin”
to me, seems somewhat not matching the real situation perfectly.

I thought, what if I use the phrase “you are stretched thin on several fronts” (without "too")? Would this hit the bull's eye?

Could you kindly suggest a couple of phrases of the same meaning?


texts:
I found such a sentence:

We had not reached the station yet when it began to rain

And as I see the logic of English people, it's so:

The action of "not reaching" happened firstly and only then happened the action "it began to rain".

Oooookay, but!

What if we will add the word "already" to the rain part to make a hint that it should be Perfect, too:

We had not reached the station yet when it had already begun to rain

Is it correct? It's a problem, because both parts have some word which hints at using "Past Perfect". For the first part of the sentence it's "yet" and for the latter one is "already". What to do? Which action happened firstly then if both of them are in Past Perfect? Paradox...


texts: I was wondering which is correct. 20% percent of the population is a man or 20% of the population is men. I understand that a singular verb is to be used but...


texts: What is the grammar while using "what is…" that way in the TV show "Jeopardy"?

texts:
In the popular TV quiz show "Jeopardy!" , I always hear the contestants respond to the question by "What is…", many times in a certain or uncertain tone. (When the key word is a person, they say "Who is…")

Since I started to learn English as a little boy, I have learnt that "What is…" is a question to ask for particular information about something. For instance, "What is that?","What do you have?",etc. Also, "what" can be used to make a suggestion, like "What about…?", or to introduce a clause.

But I can't explain why those contestants use "What is…" that way. And the host, Alex, judges their "What is…" by "that's it" ,"correct","you are right" ,"yes"or "no".

Why don't they say "That is…" ,"What about…,"or "Is that…", which sounds more grammatically correct to me?

Since there are all native speakers in that TV program, I believe they say "what is…" for a reason and this expression must be correct. I do want to know what is the grammar while using "what is…" that way?


texts: An idiomatic expression for the situation when a punisher in fact punishes himself rather than the one he intended to punish

texts:
The context:

Someone wishes to punish somebody, and the wish is so strong that whatever they think will do a lot of harm to the one planned to be punished, they do it obviously at the expense of their own welfare, much higher than the prognosticated result of the punishment.

For example, in Russia, famous for its frosty winter, there's a saying which may be translated into English as "To spite my mom I'll frostbite my ears".

Is there an English idiom, maybe a couple or so idiomatic expressions, exactly or approximately matching the above-mentioned Russian saying?


texts: may have for a past action is it possible

texts:
I want to know if I can use "may have" when talking about a past action. For example:

  He may have lost it when he was walking

Is it correct, or shall I write might as it refers to a past action:

  He might have lost it when he was walking


texts: Should there be an article 'the' before 'dengue virus'?

texts:
In the following sentence, should there be an article 'the' before 'dengue virus'?

  According to WHO, 2.5 billion people are at risk from the four major types of dengue virus, which is transmitted to people from infected mosquitoes.


texts: American English equivalent for 'principal' and so on

texts:
What is the equivalent for school principal (including either primary school, guidance school or high school) in AmE? Is it usable for all of these grades? What about the words 'headmaster' and 'headmistress'?
Note: I am only looking for AE terms.


texts:
Either his parents or Pheroze is going to come today.

The author of the book suggests as :

Either Pheroze  or his parents are going to come today.  = OK

We know with ( either \ or and neither\ nor ) the last verb agrees with the closer noun to ( or \ nor)
So, it is correct on its original pattern.
Pheroze = singular and using ( is ) = correct
My question " Why to move the singular noun ( Pheroze) to be directly after either "
Is this a technique or a new technique?


texts: to infinitive vs gerund, which one is more widely used in SPOKEN language?

texts:
A man and a woman is sitting on the bench, and the guy asks her,

  "You like being here with me too, right?"

  "You like to be here with me too, right?"

which one is more natural and widely used when speaking English?
I don't know why, but the first one (being) feels a bit unnatural and I'm not sure if natives will actually say like that in real life.

In real life when natives speak with each other, which one between infinitve and gerund is more commonly used? It depends on the context?

Or if this whole expression "You like ~ here with me too, right?" is not likely used, is there any other expression that has the same meaning?


texts:
When I am describing a figure caption in a technical paper, I think it should be concise.
So what should I say if I am describing a poly line whose irregularities are preserved by the technique that we adopted.
So, if I write:

  A poly line edge having preserved major irregularities
  A poly line edge with preserved major irregularities

What would be most appropriate?


texts: "You've called the wrong number" or "You called the wrong number"

texts:
A while ago I wrote this sentence:

  Sorry to interrupt you, sir. But I think you called the wrong number.

Something felt wrong so I Googled: I think you've called the wrong number. To my surprise, That phrase has more hits on Google than I think you called the wrong number.

So my question is, which version is more common. And why?


texts:
I have always thought that painting was pretty bad.

Why can he use 'always' in  present perfect tense？ I think 'always' was used only in present tense.


texts:
Are "advise somebody doing something" and "suggest somebody doing something" grammatically correct?

For example:

  I suggested us (rather than "we") going in my car.
  I advised us (rather than "we") going in my car.


texts: What is the meaning of "spoken of" in the last of a sentence?

texts:
I am reading a book, in which there is the following sentence.

  Some 150 of them are in the native Army, and beyond being quoted as somewhat dull, are very highly spoken of.

What does spoken of mean, in that sentence?


texts: What's the grammar of "rescued" in "may the Heaven rescued land"?

texts:
"The Star-Spangled Banner" the 4th stanza

  O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
  Between their loved homes and the war's desolation.
  Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
  Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
  Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
  And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
  And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Why is the verb "rescue" in the ed-form? (simple past or past participle?)

Why not "may sb do sth", like "may God bless you"?

By the way, "the land" is shortened to "land" for the sake of rhythm, no?

Edit: 1 I mistook "Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
/ Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! " as two separate sentences, just because it is divided into two lines.

2 If there were a hyphen between "Heaven" and "land", I would have viewed "the Heaven-rescued land" as a whole. The text in Wikipedia doesn't have.


texts:
What is the difference in meaning of Track and Trace. Are both similar in meaning? Please give some examples related with that.

I have lots of confusion with this, like tracking mobile phone or tracing mobile phone, tracking location or tracing location etc.


texts: How to say that you know someone but without telling what is the relationship between you?

texts:
I want to say that someone and some other person are both know each other, but without exposing the relationship between them.
I found that all the words are with a "taste" about the relationship.
For example, you can say they both friends, acquaintances, buddies etc. But every choice will have some taste. And it is not necessarily true that they both friend, acquaintances etc.
I don't want to say Alice and Bob are both know each other. It is wordy and it giving the feeling like I have something to hide, which is partly true but I don't want to give this feeling.
Can you help me with this?


texts:
I'm currently reading a tutorial of graphQL from graphcool, and came across the word "opionated".

  The Graphcool Framework is a self-hosted BaaS to develop serverless
  GraphQL backends. It offers an opionated [sic] backend setup, including
  GraphQL database mapping, subscriptions and permission system. Simply
  install Graphcool’s command line tool to get started:

I then searched from Google "define" as well as various dictionary, but found no meaning for opionated. I did find some pages that do use that word (like this), but still can't conclude the exact meaning of opionated. I'm torn between "simplified", "shortcut", and "pampered" (like, a very dumbed down version to make it very simple for even a newbie, like "opium" cmp. "opion"). But other websites (like this) use "opionated" in different way, which can mean "exchange" or "little by little". Can somebody help explain?


texts:
My question is, how to categorize words as a noun, adjective, verb or adverb on the basis of  suffix. Are there any common endings specific to these parts of speech?
For example-

Kingdom (N)
Wisdom (N)
Extensive (Adj)
Wooden (Adj)

If yes, what about this example? Is -en an exception?
Words ending with -en

Brighten (V)
Soften (V)
Wooden (Adj)

I read few articles about suffix and its implications, but unfortunately, I did not find a convincing explanation.


texts:
Read the conversation below (taken from a chapter of my book)

  Ram: Just look at these T-shirts I bought recently.

  Sham: They're oddly specific, dude. (He started laughing and giving odd expressions)

What does "oddly specific" mean here? Does it mean "Something strange, peculiar, unusual"?


texts:
He pulled up at a busy street corner. Jen got out of the car and headed down the street.
Jen is heading down the sidewalk. Do I have to make that clear or is "headed down the street" enough?


texts: When should one use Present Perfect Continuous Passive?

texts:
For example, if the law has begun to be regarded as the main document for resolving such issues somewhen in the past, and is still regarded suchwise, should one use Present Perfect Continuous Passive or just Present Perfect Passive writing about it, or Present Participle is nice? So, indicate the incorrect versions, please.

  (Having been being || Being || Having been) regarded as the main document for resolving such issues, the law must be applied.


texts: Describing something which exist in one month and doesn’t exist in the next!

texts:
I wanted to describe to my friend a situation where i wanted to mention that something exist in January, but doesn’t exist in February, exist in March, but not in April, exist in June but not in July, and so on.

How can I describe this in English using exact words. I tried to use intervals but i think it doesn’t work in this situation.


texts: What is the difference between "to entail" and "to bring about"?

texts:
Cambridge dictionary shows that

To bring sth about  - to cause something to happen.
He brought about his company's collapse by his reckless spending.

And

To entail - to make something necessary, or to involve something.
Such a large investment inevitably entails some risk

But when I translate it into my language(I know it's not a good idea), it seems to me, that these words are synonyms. So what is the difference?


texts: She don't love you no more! (Toy Story 3)

texts:
Why did Lotso say

  She don't love you no more!

instead of "She doesn't love you anymore" in Toy Story 3?

Does he speak unusual English?


texts: What do we call machines used in banks to take a number and wait for turn to come ?


texts: What is the meaning of "ur-peeve" in this sentence?

texts:
I read this in Word by Word by Kory Stamper:

  Lexicographers and linguists claim to be peeveless- we are, after all, objective scholars of language - but that is disingenuous. Emily Brewster confesses to caring about the distinction between "lay" and "lie" and even after all these years stumbling across "impactful" in prose makes me blanch, and this is after I have had to goddamn define impactful but there is one ur-peeve, one particular and incredibly minor complaint that lexicographers and linguists indulge in with all the zeal of a convert defending the one true faith: everyone but them uses the word "grammar" wrong.

What does the term "ur-peeve" mean in this context?


texts: How to use the past perfect tense with 'until'

texts:
Which one is correct? (Or both of them are?)

  I did not understand until you had explained.
  I had not understood until you explained.

Also,

  We did not disturb him until he had finished his job.
  We had not disturbed him until he finished his job.


texts: Shouldn't it be "Milo Yiannopoulos–endorsing activists"?

texts:
I came across a sentence in a fresh Buzzfeed article:

  At the California College Republicans Convention this spring, a war was brewing between loud, unapologetic, Milo Yiannopoulos–endorsed activists and moderate, policy-focused nerds. Guess who won?

I thought this is a mistake, because the context makes it clear that the article talks about students who support the conservative commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, not the other way around. Since a robber who brandishes a gun is a gun-brandishing robber, and a samurai who wields a sword is a sword-wielding samurai, shouldn't people who support Yiannopoulos be Milo Yiannopoulos–endorsing activists?


texts: "Under the bright but faded lights". Why "faded" other than "fading"?

texts:
Alan Walker's "I'm Faded":

  Under the bright but faded lights

music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ItHLz5WEA

lyrics: https://genius.com/Alan-walker-faded-lyrics

Why was "faded" other than "fading" used?

@JasonBassford got my point. I thought the lights could not be both "bright" and "faded" at the same time.

It was my fault not to express my confusion explicitly & completely.


texts: Zero article before adjectival nouns with the word "or" between them

texts:
Tell me please why the speaker ommited the in the following sentence.

  I want all to have a share of everything, and everything be in common. There will no longer be either (the) rich or (the) poor.

Was the ommitted because of the word or? If it was, then would the following sentences be correct?

  We want to build a country wherein everyone is equal no matter if it is rich or poor.


texts:
I have to correct this sentence :
I gave up drinking coffee. I don't drink it for a year.
An answer should be at present perfect or present perfect continuous.
I think the answer is "I gave up drinking coffee. I haven't been drinking coffee for a year." but the right answer is "I gave up drinking coffee. I haven't drunk." by the book's keys at the end of this book.
What is difference of these sentences and are they correct both ?


texts: What is the difference between "strong personality" and "strong character"?

texts:
Tell me please what is the difference between strong personality and strong character? For example:

  Kate has a strong personality.

  Kate has a strong character.


texts:
I saw a comment to this question that says:

  There is a running joke in English that when a child is misbehaved, they're "your child", when they're being a good child, they're "our child" or "my child". – AJFaraday Jun 27 at 8:15

It prompted me to wonder if the commenter had a typo and actually meant "has misbehaved", or a person can actually be misbehaved. I know "misbehave" can be used transitively as in

  Students shouldn't misbehave themselves.

But can it be used in passive voice or used predicatively, as in the comment? What does "that kid is misbehaved" mean?

I found a handful more examples of "misbehave" in passive constructions in Google Books:

  The misbehaved user is still able to achieve better success probability than normal users by accessing the slot with greater probability than the agreed value. (as opposed to misbehaving, note: this paper doesn't seem to be penned by native speakers of English)

  A Not-Trusted node is a misbehaved node and should be avoided and deprived of services.


texts: "{In / For} the first few days after we'd been done" -- which one would you choose?

texts:
We'd been dating for more than a year until we broke up 3 weeks ago.

In the first few days after we'd been done, I had a hard time figuring out what was wrong with us.

For the first few days after we'd been done, I had a hard time figuring out what was wrong with us.

Here, I'm perfectly comfortable using "for" instead of "in". But I've seen a couple of times that some people use "in".  Which one is right or better?


texts: What is the word for a collection of "adverb", "verb", "noun", etc...?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that means a set of words such as "noun", "adverb", "adjective", "verb", "preposition", "conjunction", etc...

What is the proper word to mean that? If I search for it in my native language I got "a part of speech", but feel that there is a word.


texts: Gerund vs -ation suffix: preserving vs preservation

texts:
I want to say:

  The end of Modernist era's characteristic is preservation/preserving of historic buildings.

Which is more appropriate?
Do they have very different meanings?
I think they could be replaced by the other since the meanings are not that different as it seems to me.

Thank you very much :)


texts: "in a given factors" or "in given factors"

texts:
I would like to ask about these words. Which one is grammatically correct?

"The decision will vary in a given factors" or "The decision will vary in given factors" ?

Since the word "factors" refers to more than one thing, I  think it should be plural. I have searched in google, but  the result shows both of them exist.

thanks


texts: The correct preposition to use with 'holiday'

texts:
This is a two-part question:

Part one: What's the difference between these two sentences below.

Where are you going for holiday.
Where are you going on holiday.

What exactly does 'On' and 'For' mean in the context above, and what is the difference in their implications?
In addition, if I want to use the preposition 'for' do I have to put a pronoun/article after it for the construction to be grammatically correct?
E.g. Where are you going for YOUR holiday?/ I went to Italy for A holiday.

Part two: Is the sentence 'Tell me a good place for holiday' correct? Is so, why isn't it as common as 'Tell me a good place to go on holiday'?
If it isn't correct, can I change it to 'Tell me a good place for A holiday' or 'Tell me a good place for holidaying'?

Many thanks in advance.


texts: What does it mean by 'draw in the feelers' here and what's the role of 'in'?

texts:
She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder.

  Harry potter and the chamber of secrets

Does draw here mean 'to pull or drag (something such as a vehicle) so as to make it follow behind'?
So it means the plant pulled out its feelers?

Then what's the role of 'in' here? feel like it's not necessary here.. Or does this phrase have completely different meaning?


texts: Using "will" after "if" in order to make a polite request

texts:
I've read somewhere that the "if + will" construction may be used to formulate a polite request but I can't recall the exact way as to how to use it correctly.

I've tried to find solutions on the web but I wasn't successful.
Could someone please clarify this for me or point me to an article?


texts: Question about sentence structure of following sentence

texts:
I have a question about the sentence structure of following sentence.

  Company A shall:
  (a) not engage in actions that are, or include the Products, Marks or Company B's name in any material, that is:
      (i) publicly sexual, pornographic, . . .  or
      (ii) tortious, defamatory, . . .

I can't understand the part "or include the Products, Marks or Company B's name in any material".
For the first half, I assume it means "Company A shall not engage in actions that are publicly sexual, pornographic, . . ."


texts: Does English have this idiom "fire raining/falling from the earth and sky"

texts:
Suppose you want to describe a war scene. In Persian, there is a phrase like

  There were fire raining/falling from the earth and sky

What is an equivalent in English?


texts: (..) You should have stopped your car and come/came?(..)

texts:
if you had seen me, you should have stopped your car and come to help me.

Is the above sentence correct or do I need to replace come with came?


texts: Is there any difference between "sideways" and "to the side"?

texts:
Is there any difference between sideways and to the side? For example:

  Stop leaning sideways/to the side!

  The car in front of us suddenly moved sideways/to the side.

I feel that in the examples above sideways and to the side are interchangeble, I am not sure though. Could you give some examples where only one of the phrases is possible?


texts: What something for / What for / For what

texts:
What is the difference? Which one is correct?

  what do you need it for?

  what for do you need it?

  for what do you need it?


texts: Appropriate Word to denote shorter time interval

texts:
Suppose Robin buys an ice cream at 5 p.m. and Harry buys another same ice cream at 5:08 p.m (8 minutes later than Robin buys). Robin finishes eating his ice cream at 5:15 p.m and Harry finishes eating his ice cream at 5:20 p.m.

Robin actually finishes eating his ice cream in 15 minutes and Harry in 12 minutes.

If I want to refer who finishes first, then it is Robin.

But if I want to refer who eats in a shorter time, then it is Harry.

What is the appropriate word to refer who finishes first?

What is the appropriate word to refer who eats in a shorter time?

If I say "fastest", will it refer to who eats first or who eats in a shorter time?


texts:
If I hadn't got up early, I wouldn't have been tired.

I am not sure how to write this sentence in the third conditional by using a modal verb "must".

Is it:

  If I didn't have to get up early, I wouldn't have been tired

or

  If I hadn't had to get up early, I wouldn't have been tired?

(In the first alternative there is in its first part used just the second conditional. The second one mechanically transforms the pattern for creating of the third conditional but it looks weird.)


texts:
I want to cite some information I received by asking the transportation agency in Halle. My supervisor said I should write it as with communication with

So I have the following sentence:

  Based on personal communication with the transportation company in Halle,  65% of the buses are not equipped with WiFi.

Is that correct in this way?


texts: The difference between "in many games" and "in as many games"?

texts:
What is the difference between in many games and in as many games?

I saw this in a news article:

  The Reds usurped champions Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table with a convincing 3-0 win at Turf Moor on Saturday evening.

  The Senegal international, who scored his fourth goal in as many games, became annoyed after apparently failing to receive a pass from Mohamed Salah late on.


texts:
Days ago I came across this idiom "know better" and I found out that this could be used with "than that / than to do sth", but I recently found this sentence with this expression followed by "with". Do you usually use this supposed idiom with "with" when it is followed by a name? I found this sentence in the book "39 clues - The maze of bones"

  If it had been anybody else, Dan would've hit back, but he knew better
  with the Holts.


texts: Is this "copper" a verb or a noun? -- "[The ideal choice] would seem to be copper itself."

texts:
what is the place of this word "copper" in the following sentence?

  The ideal choice, when isotopic composition is used to investigate the source of copper ore, would seem to be copper itself.

verb or noun? Copper word in the Oxford Dictionary is a verb and noun.

text source


texts:
Based on dictionary definitions, all of the following bold verbs should work properly in my self-made sentence. Which one of the following words doesn't sound idiomatic in English and why? (For me they all seem to be normal, but I need to know which one would be preferred by a native especially in AE). Meanwhile, I have no idea if one of them in this specific sense would sound too formal or unnatural:

  The jewelry in the shops window tempted her.
  The jewelry in the shops window enticed her.
  The jewelry in the shops window tantalized her.


texts:
Which ones are grammatically correct in the following?

The city is in east Germany.
The city is in eastern Germany.
The city is in (the) east part of Germany.
The city is in (the) eastern part of Germany.


texts:
Check the box office for great seats!                                               The smash hit musical based on the songs of ABBA
MAMMA MIA! A mother. A daughter. 3 possible dads. And a trip down the aisle you’ll never forget!


texts:
Suppose after a meeting among a company's board of directors, a member who missed the session and arrives e.g. one hour later, asks one of the presented members:

  What was the meeting outcome?

and the second person answers:

  The outcome was somewhat acceptable.

I need to know if it's possible to use "result" instead of "outcome' here or not?


texts:
Being non-native speaker and English being 2nd language, I always stumble upon discrete thoughts about English grammar.
I don't know, how obvious this question is to native speaker, but I wonder:

Why "are", "is", "were" "am" etc. are called to-be verbs?

What's to-be about them? My concern is, why they are called to-be verbs and not just verbs? I don't understand the word "to-be".
I would appreciate, if you can explain me with fundamental thought behind it.


texts: Can "something I see" mean "I see something"?

texts:
In ABBA's I have a dream song there's a part like

  I believe in angels
  Something good in everything I see

When I first read it I though it means something like

  I believe in angels [which are] something good in everything [what] I see

But now it occurred to me that it could in fact be something like the following, but expressed in Yoda style:

  I believe in angels. I see something good in everything.

For a native† English speaker, is the latter version consistent with the original lyrics?

†I know that ABBA are not native English speakers


texts:
A: Rita's sneezing again.

B: Yes, she _________ a terrible cold.

(must have / must be having / must have had)

My answer for this is: Yes, she "must have" a terrible cold.

In my opinion, "must be having" shouldn't be used here because "having" in this sentence is a stative verb/non-action verb and it has no continuous (progressive) form.

On the other hand, "must have had" is in Present Perfect Tense and can't be used here because it'll imply that the action begun in the past that has already
been completed.

The thing that makes me confused is the adverb "again." I hope someone can help me with my sentence. Thanks a lot!


texts: To ask someone to prepare something for you which is illigal

texts:
Please imagine someone is going to ask someone else to prepare or find something which its buying and selling is considered as illegal; (i.e. a sort of drug/narcotics - medicine - a type of alcoholic liquor in some religious countries.) Which word would work better in informall language in the self-made sentence bellow:

  1) Can you handle a bottle of wine for me tonight?
  2) Can you hook me up with a bottle of wine tonight?
  3) Can you fix me up with a bottle of wine tonight?
  4) Can you line me up with a bottle of wine tonight?

For me, numbers 2-3-4 work, but I have heard once someone used "handle" in this sense in a friendly and informal manner.


texts:
In this sentence:

  A friend of mine likes ________ on picnic at weekends.

Is it "to go" or "going"?

I reckon to + verb is usually used for a habit or preference.


texts: throughout / during / over / in the course of

texts:
Some dictionaries say "the course of" can be used with "over," "in," "during," and "throughout."
I'm wondering if there's any difference among these options.

For example, if event A happened throughout the course of event B, does that mean event A lasted as long as event B (or happened at various parts of event B), or event A happened at some point in the course of event B?

What about the other combinations, i.e. "during the course of, "in the course of," and "over the course of"?


texts: Which of the two is correct, as (clause) or by?

texts:
(1) The teacher's attribution for a child's behavior is obtained AS filtering the child's behavior.

(2) The teacher's attribution for a child's behavior is obtained BY filtering the child's behavior.

Which of the two is correct, as (clause: "the teacher is" omitted) or by?
Could you help me clarify it?  Thank you always.


texts: Use of preposition in relative pronoun or relative adverb

texts:
Please see the following sentences;

1-1. This is the house which I was born in.

1-2. This is the house I was born in. (after cancellation of the relative pronoun 'which')

2-1. This is the house where I was born.

2-2. This is the house I was born. (after cancellation of the relative adverb 'where')

According to the above thinking process, can I say both 'This is the house I was born in' and 'This is the house I was born'?

If both sentences are correct grammatically, which sentence sounds more natural to you native speakers?

Thank you.


texts: Can I combine present perfect tense with past perfect tense?

texts:
For example:

  I have gotten a bad stomach because I had eaten a wrong food earlier.

Is that sentence grammatically correct?


texts: Can I use the adjective “modest” to describe the simplicity of something?

texts: I have a profile on GitHub and I want to say that there is nothing special or extra-ordinary in my code. My code is not simple but there are small examples, and not real big projects. So I want to say "My profile on GitHub is ...". Can I say "my profile is modest?" Or is there a better way to say that? It's a direct translation from my native language, so I'm not sure that it's the same in English.


texts: Using an indefinite article with a word in the plural: "She was found in a woods"

texts:
Could you please explain to me why we can use the indefinite article with plural words in the case with woods?
I'm puzzled because I have come across this in The Times.

  She was found in a woods near...


texts:
Beside some of them he had jotted the letter A for Anstis, and if it had crossed Strike’s mind that it might be considered arrogant or deluded of a private detective with no authority in the investigation to imagine he had the power to delegate tasks to the police officer in charge of the case, the thought did not trouble him.
  (The Silkworm, by Robert Galbraith)

At first, it’s a place for ‘for’ not ‘of', I thougt. Is it a pattern that if an adjective before ‘of’ has the property of of’s complement, and this of-pp denotes the agent of to infinitive as well, you use ‘of’ instead of ‘for,’ without exceptions?


texts:
What is the meaning difference between below sentences

Are you believing in GOD and Do you believing in GOD


texts: is this sentence from "baby honey(the Pastel's song),an example of good english grammar

texts:
There is magic in her beautiful eyes
  Justify the tears I’ve cried

found this sentence in the pastel's song" baby honey " ,I know that songs are not always the best example of "good grammar" but the sentence I think should be

  There is magic in her beautiful eyes
   That  Justify the tears I’ve cried

I know in some sentences that is not necessary : is it the case ? Or is it another reason

here are the final lines of the song:

  There is magic in her fingertip
  There is magic in the lips I kiss
  There is magic in her beautiful eyes
  Justify the tears I’ve cried

i think he gave all the reasons justifying the tears he has cried I don't think it is an independant sentence


texts:
Which part gets a higher stress? The off, or the it?

  Come OFF it!

  Come off IT!

Or the three words are equally stressed?

  COME OFF IT!

Is there a fixed intonation pattern for exclamations, especially three-word ones like this and lay off it?


texts: What is the right preposition when you shoot?

texts:
What is the right preposition when you shoot somebody with a gun or a camera?

You should always shoot to/in/at/for/into the legs.


texts:
I want to express at the beginning of the lesson that I hope that all my listeners will enjoy my speech. Can I use the causative structure?
I hope I will have you enjoying this lecture.
And what about this sentence: I hope I will have you enjoy the lesson.
What is the difference between have somebody doing something and have somebody do something? Thanks for your answer.


texts:
If you are well-organised, you (manage OR will manage) your time.

Everyone in my test was saying "will manage" is the correct answer, but the way I understand it is this sentence is talking about a general truth in the present, or it's just explaining the former sentence.

If it were worded "If you become organised" I think the answer would be "will manage" then.

What is the correct answer?


texts: What is the meaning of "be good to beat the White Cloud" in the following sentence?

texts:
What is the meaning of "It would be good to beat the White Cloud" in the following sentence,

  The Rainbird sailed away from New York Harbor, bound for California.
  Captain Murdock stood by the wheel giving orders to the crew. Mrs.
  Murdock stood beside him. "Pray for good weather, Mary Elizabeth," the
  captain said. "It would be good to beat the White Cloud." Jamie
  and Meg said good-bye to their home in New York. "Maybe we will find
  gold in California," said Meg. (Source: CLIPPER SHIP BY THOMAS
  P.LEWIS)

Does "It would be good to beat the White Cloud" mean "He predicted the weather. He said that white cloud is likely to occur"?


texts: Is it correct and natural to use the present continuous after "hope" to refer to the future?

texts:
Could you tell me if it is correct and natural to use the present continuous after hope to refer to the future? For example:

I hope it's not raining when we go out this time tomorrow.

I've only seen the present simple or future simple used to refer to the future.


texts:
An example sentence in a grammar book says:

  You've drunk about ten cups of tea since you've been sitting here. (M. Swan, Practical English Usage, §522.3 since-clause: since we were at school)

Is this colloquialism, actually meaning 'since you (have(?)) sat down here'?

The use of progressive form in the since-clause is confusing to me. Doesn't it make the 'since' sound like saying 'because'? But it doesn't make sense as 'because' here. I believe the since is supposed to express a starting point of what the main verb says.

The book says

  The tense in the since-clause can be perfect or past, depending on the meaning.

But actually I don't get the need for not only this perfect progressive but also the rest with the perfect:

  I've known her since I've lived in this street.
  We visit my parents every week since we've had the car.

Is it because 'live' has been chosen as the verb? Can't it be 'since I lived in this street'? Isn't it more natural to say 'since I moved in this street'?

It also shows "We visit my parents every week since we bought the car." Do you think it's because M. Swan just tried to make a comparison, he's chosen 'have' and said "since we've had the car", but actually it's more natural to say "since we bought the car"? Can't it be "since we had the car"... well, I suspect 'have' is not used like this, is it?


texts:
As we can see in
https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfect.html

  If the past perfect is not referring to an action at a specific time, past perfect is not optional. Compare the examples below. Here past perfect is referring to a lack of experience rather than an action at a specific time. For this reason, simple past cannot be used.

  She never saw a bear before she moved to Alaska. Not Correct

  She had never seen a bear before she moved to Alaska. Correct

But I found the next sentences in the textbooks:

I never was in such a difficult situation before.

And

Before I went to the university, I worked as a carpenter for 5 years

So, is the quotation in the beginning wrong? And may we write "She never saw a bear before she moved to Alaska." by analogy with "I never was in such a difficult situation before ?"


texts: He's not very good. - What does "very" do to the statement?

texts:
He's not good. 2. He's not very good.

What does "very" do to the statement? Does it make him sound less or more good compared to the first sentence?


texts: Is it strange to say 'beautify something'?

texts:
I wish to say something like:

  Bright colour has the ability to beautify objects like drawings and flowers.

Does this sound strange? Is there a better expression which conveys the same meaning?

Thanks in advance for your help!


texts: How to define when a single apology or apologies are to be used in the case of a singular personal mistake? Is using my sincere apologies valid if there are multiple recipients or if you want to reiterate on a single apology. If the conversation is one to one should it be "my apology" for a single instance of a mistake.


texts: How many years in this context relating to the word "relative to"?

texts:
Today, when discussing this topic, I saw a comment

By "7 years surrounding the event" they mean the effects in the 2
years before and the 5 years after the event date. The periods are
"relative to" the first adoption year.

I am wondering whether the commenter said that "7 years surrounding the event" is 8 years, including two years before, 5 years after, and the event year?


texts: They do something for 20 years. Isn't the phrase grammatically wrong?

texts:
I heard Matt Damon say:

  Anyway, for 20 years now people ask, what happened to Loki at the end
  of Dogma?

How do you explain the usage of Present Simple here with 20 years? Could you reference to some rule?

Isn't it correct to say "For 20 years people have been asking..." or "Have asked..." meaning some action which began in the past and continued up to the present?


texts:
I'd like to know what"you've seen yesterday" means in this context:

  If you can talk with your friend who you haven't seen for a long time
  as if you've seen her/him yesterday, you're best friends.

I thought we can't use "have seen" with "yesterday" because this "have" means experience.


texts: Does "I've temporarily suspended" mean that I did it?

texts:
I use "I've temporarily suspended activity on SOru" in my profile description. And I've thought that it means that "I'm not active on site anymore".

But one guy said that I'm wrong, and told me that it means that "someone banned the account".

I've thought that if he is correct there should be passive voice and the sentence will look like "My activity has temporarily been suspended on SOru".

So, what's the correct form?


texts: In Diablo 3 (PC game) there is a weapon class called "heaven hand" (other weapon class names are more ordinary like "wand", "long sword" etc). I understand, being fictitious as it is, the name can be arbitrary. However I am under the impression that "hand of heaven" is the natural way of saying it while "heaven hand" may be an attempt to sound exotic or artificial. I wonder how the phrase sounds to native speakers.


texts:
In an interview, Taylor Swift says

I watch endless Friends marathons for comfort.

What does that mean?
Googling it just returns similar expressions without any further explanation.
What does "endless" mean? There are 236 episodes in total. There is an end, why is it called "endless"?


texts: What is the meaning of “you should know what the help says on link only answers”?

texts:
I'm a member of stackoverflow. And I find a below comment under a answer posted.

  As a 2year+ member you should know what the help says on link only answers

What do they mean by you should know what the help says on link only answers

PS: The answer has a link to a quora answer.


texts: Recognition - acknowledgement - best word

texts: In some cities around the world people like to have other people recognize that they have done good deeds and are therefore worthy of other people's approval and esteem. I would like to know if there is a word in English for recognition as in small-scale fame for doing good things. I am looking for a word that does not also have the recognition meaning as in say, looking at the a picture of the sun and saying to oneself, "yes, this is indeed the sun", as this is not the form of recognizing I'd like to deal with.


texts:
My first language is Norwegian, and even in my own language I'm always slightly uncertain if I'm using semicolons correctly. I think I know the rules, but there's always a niggling doubt whether I apply them correctly (if that makes sense).
Here are a few examples where I've used them:

NATO’s intervention in Libya was authorised by the UNSC; in Kosovo it was not.

Such a claim is obviously politically motivated, and borders on legal absurdity; the ban on the use of force is accepted as jus cogens binding all states, not simply a treaty obligation between two parties where one breach excuses another.

I don’t know which parts might be relevant, but check the other sections when you’re done writing to see if there are theories, facts etc. that you don’t use in your analysis; if there are, consider leaving them out.

As I understand it, a semicolon can be used in place of a full stop, when the latter part points to something in the first. E.g. "They weren't hungry; I was starving". Is this the case or have I got it wrong? If it is, and some of the examples are wrong, what am I missing?
Thanks for any feedback


texts:
I am not altogether convinced.

Does that mean that I am not completely convinced?  Or that I am not convinced at all (=not at all)?