texts: Active voice and passive voice in Present tense and Present Continues tense

texts:
Passive voice in the present tense:

  I am proved wrong.

Here we are using past participle of the verb "prove".

Why did we do that, given that the sentence is in the present tense? And how can we use the passive voice with the present and present continuous tense?


texts: How to say something is not a joke, meaning it is true, but it's a joke, meaning it's ironic, using the word joke?

texts:
Egypt, UK study finds, is second happiest nation.

Suppose you want to tell your reader this statement is true, but it's ironic that a country like Egypt ranks 2nd (given the immense suffering of its people on all levels), would the following capture this:

  This is not a joke, but almost one.


texts: What does the word instrument represent in this context?

texts:
"Man, when I was younger I shoved my ignorance in people’s faces. They beat me with sticks. By the time I was forty my blunt instrument had been honed to a fine cutting point for me. If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you’ll never learn." p.135 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

What does the instrument the author is referring to in the given passage represent in this context?


texts: How verb can be used after the preposition?

texts:
Could someone please explain this sentence to me

  I am sick of being called "Excuse Me"

This line was said in the 8th episode of friends.

I recon this is a passive voice.  And "being" is a helping verb(ing form) and "called" is main verb(third form). It is just like

  I am being called "Excuse me".

But the problem is that we are using a proposition(of) in the first sentence. And propositions are being followed by noun,pronoun or gerund.
for example

  Sorry for being late.

I think "being" is gerund here. But in the first sentence "being" doesn't seem a gerund.

So can someone please explain the structure of first sentence and how we can use verb after a preposition.


texts:
If I am in front of a shop and a guy tells me the shop is closed, which of the following is correct?

  He tells me the shop is closed
  He is telling me the shop is closed

In the simple past it would be "he told me", right?


texts:
in these sentences i can't spot a difference, to me they both have the same meaning:

  It is late to do that

  I am good to be here

  I am good for being here

  It is late for doing that


texts: Answering the "What is ?" question with using only a class noun or a noun phrase

texts:
-- What is "The Catcher in the Rye"?

  -- It's a novel by the American writer J. D. Salinger.

In the example above, the answer is given with using the class noun ("novel") and the identifying specification ("by the American writer J. D. Salinger").

I wonder what option would be best to give an answer with using only the class noun (or a noun phrase), that is, without the identifying specification?

Should it be like:

  -- What is "The Catcher in the Rye"?

  -- It's a novel.

or

  -- What is "The Catcher in the Rye"?

  -- It's a kind of novel.

or

  -- What is "The Catcher in the Rye"?

  -- It's one novel.

or

  -- What is "The Catcher in the Rye"?

  -- It's one such novel.

or

  -- What is "The Catcher in the Rye"?

  -- It's one specific novel.

or what?


texts: My question is about names of the institution where in some new words are coined and used?

texts: I came across 2 signboards at 'the English Speaking Tutorials'. The names are SPEAKWELL ENGLISH and SPEAKON ENGLISH. Such words dont exist in dictionary or in usage.Are such usages appropriate?  can we lable such usage by any such names?


texts: When it comes to 'I move my hair back and forth,' it doesn't mean 'I move my hair back and forth at the same time.'


texts:
I have a question about the usage of the phrase "continue into".  Let's say there is a fist fight.

  The fight continued into the afternoon.
  The fight continued into the parking lot.

Definition 1 of this dictionary have an example similar to sentence 1 but none similar to sentence 2.  So, could sentence 2 be a bad usage?


texts: I never knew/have never known my grandmother as she died before I was born

texts:
Turns out the correct way of saying this is:

  I never knew my grandmother as she died before I was born.

Am I right that the reason past simple is used here is because my grandmother is dead and there is no way for me anymore to know her?

And if I said

  I've never known my grandmother.

it would imply the existing opportunity to know her (did I use "know" correctly here or should I have used "get to know"?), i.e. that she is still alive?

Or maybe the better way to explain this is that the time period (before I was born) is already finished? If that is the case, then could I say

  I've never known my grandmother

(without specifying a time frame), even though my grandmother is dead?

Maybe you know where I could find more details about the particular rule that applies here?


texts: What is the difference between 'east Indian' and 'eastern Indian'?

texts:
I read the following line in NYT:

  A surging crowd near a Hindu temple killed at least ten people and injured 25 others in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand on Monday, police said.

Now, my questions regarding this line are:

Can we write 'the east Indian state' instead of 'the eastern Indian state'? What is the difference between them?
Which one is more preferable? In India, I have come across many sentences with 'east Indian state' clause.


texts:
I came across a sentence, which struck me a bit unusual. My question is regarding the order of the words. Why does "for me" go after "would be" in this case? Is it correct? "The best thing for me" sounds more natural for me.
Here's the sentence: The best thing would be for me to take Amy and go where no one will ever find us.


texts: How to say "many hours before something" in simpler words and make it sound less formal?

texts:
They let me check in many hours before the official checkin time.

This phrase sounds a bit formal to me. I'd like to simplify it, but the only other option that comes to my mind is "long before". However, as by the Longman dictionary, the "long before" phrase sounds like when one has a much longer period in view:

  This all happened long before you were born.

Ideas?


texts: "The opportunity for [x]" or "the opportunity to [x]"?

texts:
I am qualified to have the opportunity for this beautiful journey for many reasons.
I am qualified to have the opportunity to this beautiful journey for many reasons.

Which is more correct in formal English?


texts:
In "The Song of Flying Fish" by G. K. Chesterton, the author was describing a house, saying:

  Father Brown looked rather earnestly at the house, which was high and narrow, and carried rows of striped sun-blinds of gay but already faded colours. The chinks or crannies that gave glimpses of the interior looked all the darker; indeed, they looked almost black in contrast with the facade thus golden in the morning light.

Does "gay" here mean "dark"? I saw this makes more sense in this context, but I found it as "colorful" in thesaurus.com: https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/gay?s=t

And what would make it "golden" in the morning light?


texts: "He threw around a slipper" -- Meaning of "threw around"?

texts:
In the context of a young Singaporean boy having a temper tantrum, does this sentence mean the boy threw the slipper and picked up the slipper then threw it again?

  He threw around a slipper.

From Boy throws tantrum on train, flings slipper around -- and even spits on man


texts: A variation to the phrase "hanging over my shoulders"

texts:
I couldn't find the exact definition of "hanging over someone's shoulders" online. I am not referring to the literal meaning, when, for example, you feel there is a ghost hanging over your shoulders.

How would you explain the idiom "hanging over someone's shoulders", and are there any other variations to the phrase?


texts: Opioid VS narcotic in a pharmacology context

texts: Whenever I come across the above words , I miss take them. How could I distinguish between them in a simple manner?


texts: Grammaticality: appears/looks/seems the same

texts:
B appears/looks/seems the same as C

B appears/looks/seems TO BE the same as C

My intended meaning: B seems to be identical to C, but I'm unsure of this.

I guess that 1 is simply 2 with verb phrase ellipsis, but is 1 wrong in any way?
Somehow, it just  sounds wrong to me. Might anyone know how or why? 2 sounds fine to me though.
Also, I guess that the same here is a pronoun.


texts:
I know how to change the following sentence into another by using present participle:

  Correct: The man who was driving the car wasn't injured.
  Correct: The man driving the car wasn't injured.

Why the following sentence is supposed to be wrong:

  Correct: The boy who passed the exam was very happy.
  Incorrect: The boy passing the exam was very happy.


texts: Should I use "besides" or "apart from" in the following sentences?

texts:
She couldn't talk with other people besides/apart from Mom and Dad.
He wasn't an expert in anything besides/apart from math and history.

Should it be "besides" or "apart from?" Or maybe both are correct since they mean the same thing?


texts:
Travelling in Angel Gabriel (a ship) was grim, even for a boy from the slums of St. Petersburg. There was only one class, steerage, and the passengers were treated as so much more cargo.

I understand the meaning of this passage. It means that people are treated like cargo.

More in this expression is a determiner, and means a greater or additional amount or degree.. so much is also determiner.

So by so much more cargo, it means a lot of cargo.

What difference does it make if people are treated like one cargo or more than one cargo?


texts:
I was looking for an English equivalent of the child's game in which two people are involved while one hides a small object in his hand and the other should guess the right hand holding the object.

So far I've found handy-dandy but I couldn't find many links about this game even when I look up the related images they're irrelevant to the game! Is it an obsolete word? What are the modern words people normally use to describe this game?


texts: Which tense to use for a permanent change?

texts:
Some activities may change or resume, Which tense is better to use in such cases? Here are some examples.

  I used to smoke but I don't smoke now. or ... I am not smoking now.
  I know you never smoked before... Do you smoke now? or ... Are you smoking now?

What if an activity resumes?

  You hadn't smoked for 5 years until yesterday. Are you smoking now/again/again now? or Do you smoke now/again/again now?


texts: Can I replace "it is common to be sleepy" with "it is common that one is sleepy"?

texts:
What is the difference between "it is common to be sleepy" and "it is common that one is sleepy"?

I am not sure whether the sentences are equal.

In all likelihood, the first sentence ("it is common to be sleepy") is more similar to "it is common that everybody can be sleepy", isn't it?


texts:
What's the difference in the meaning between "you could say" and "you would say"? when something is in specific context and If that (something) is usual, we use would instead of could? I'm not sure but I think "you would say" is used to speculate, imagin something or instead of may/might and "you could say" is used to refer the possibility of happening something or to give suggestion. I'm quite a bit stuck in the meaning of "you would say", could you please interpret its meaning and in which situations or context it's ("you would say") used?

For some example:

1.You would say "I wished I had been back..." in a suitable context.
2.If you never drink a cup of tea in the morning, you would say "I never drink a cup of tea in the morning"
3.If you Speak English well, you would say "I'm a native speaker of English."


texts:
I don't see things will improve anytime soon.
I don't see things improving anytime soon.
I don't see things are improving anytime soon.
I don't see things are going to improve anytime soon.

So I'm wondering which one of those above is correct? (From my understanding, 2 sounds nature the most)

I came up with the question when I came across this sentence on a forum:

  "I probably should have mentioned it being a terrible idea"

The thing is, I can't find any differences between it and this:

  "I probably should have mentioned it was a terrible idea"

I find this really confusing, when to use "Subject + Be" or "Subject + Being", such as:

  "I didn't remember the traffic was this bad" VS. "I didn't remember the traffic being this bad"


texts: Is there an implication not said in: What would you like?

texts:
What would you like?

In the sentence above, is there some implication that is not said, which definitely be shared between by the speaker and hearer? That is, when they are in the dining table for having breakfast, it would be one of a couple of options to have--What would you like to have?. When they are in Over the Shoulder Boulder Holders, a bra shop in J. K. Rowling’s novel, it would be ‘What would you like to get?’ In a cafe, the previous bra-shop’s father-in-law’s, it would be ‘What would you like to drink?’ Is it really so? Or do I have to think otherwise?


texts: Use of the verb "extract" with the adverb "as"

texts:
Can I use the verb "extract" with the adverb "as"?

My example would be the following sentence:

  A reference type is extracted as an EClassifier.

Is this sentence correct? The context is that I describe a model extraction process where every reference type leads to an EClassifier in the extracted model (technical paper).


texts:
From an ELL post

  However, after I'm exposed to a lot of youtube videos made by native English speakers, I somehow have a tendency to favor the first one. The first one seems to instantly come out of my mind. But I can't convince myself to accept the former when it comes to conscious reasoning.

From another post

  To make it seem less terrible, many of the lies that come out of my mind, are either so that I don’t have to explain when someone misunderstands me, or to make fun of myself.

I googled it but got neither definition nor explanation of the phrase. What's the meaning of "come out of my mind"?

From Ngram Viewer

"comes out of my mind" gets 13,500 hits in Google Books.


texts:
From the Wikipedia page for New York City:

  New York – referred to as New York City or the City of New York to distinguish it from the State of New York, of which it is a part – is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York metropolitan area, the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States[6][7][8] and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world.

Does it simply means premier place? I know the meaning of both words separately but I am not sure about the combined meaning that I interpret.


texts: Should I say "started to" or "started by"?

texts:
I recently asked a question on the SE website vi and vim and my question was edited to correct my grammar mistakes.

I wrote:

  I started to yank the declaration of var.

And it was corrected to:

  I started by yanking the declaration of var.

To remove the technical content of this sentence, I guess we can replace it by:

  I started by copying the text of the file.

My question is: why should I use started by instead of started to?

According to this answer:

  Begin and start can be followed by infinitives or -ing forms.

So, I guess the way I wrote the sentence is correct. But there is no information about the "started by -ing" construction so I'm wondering if there is a subtility with this form.


texts: The meaning of the word caser in the following context:

texts:
While I was trying to solve this crossword I came across definition #57, down: Bank robber’s advance man.

Obviously I couldn’t figure out the word so I asked to solve it. The result is caser.

The online dictionaries don’t help me too much in understanding its meaning, that’s why I’m asking for help.


texts:
(1) The body may then begin to attack itself, as suggested by the rising incidence of autoimmune diseases with advancing age.

(2) The planting tree lines within roadside landscape may naturally force birds to fly higher above roads, as was shown in the Netherlands.

My questions are
First, What is the grammatical use of 'as' in each of two sentences? Both of them are conjunctions? Or . . .? ?

Second, can i replace 'suggested ' with 'was suggested ' so that the part could be ' as was suggested ' in (1)? And how about 'as shown ' in (2)?


texts:
What does the word "public worker" mean? I have searched through Internet and there was no definition for the word public worker. However, i found a definition for the word "public works" which according to the dictionary it means projects set up by the government for public use such as roads, bridges, schools and etc. Based on what "public works" mean, i have thought public worker could mean someone who is involved with public works. I am not sure if i am right or not, so i just wanted to ask here.

Please help me.

Thanks.


texts:
Is it possible to use the present perfect to describe an action that happened earlier today and lasted for some time? As in:

I've slept for 16 hours today and that alone made me happy.
I've been on hold for four hours today! You just lost a frequent customer.

Wouldn't the simple past be more appropriate here, since these actions took place some considerable amount of time before the moment of speaking and are not quite linked to the present?
During my reaserch I only got more confused, as I've even encountered sentences like:

I've been playing the guitar for two hours today.

Which, I believe, is not correct at all?


texts: Adjectives and adverbs: "continuously marked footpath" or "continuous marked footpath"

texts:
I have a question about when we should use adjective or adverb in the following sentences. Does it depend on what we want to say or we just can not use one of the following expressions?

Authentically stained glass is colored while the glass is in a liquid state.
Authentic stained glass is colored while the glass is in a liquid state.

In the sentence above can we use "authentically" to describe the adjective "stained"? Or we only can use "authentic" to describe glass.

The Appalachian Trail, extending approximately 2020 miles from Maine
to Georgia, is the longest continuously marked footpath in the
world.
The Appalachian Trail, extending approximately 2020 miles from Maine
to Georgia, is the longest continuous marked footpath in the
world.

And the same question about the second example and words "continuously" (continuously marked) and "continuous" (continuous footpath).


texts:
This is from The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant

  Although we have harbours and pineries not one whit inferior to
  theirs... they, having so much the start of us, have thoroughly
  established trade, whereas we have to a great extent yet to make
  ourselves known abroad.

I have seen the idiom 'have a head start on/over someone'  So my logic goes that the 'of' in the italic part above can be replaced with on/over. Would it be natural to your ears?


texts: Is "make [smth] up" an unambiguous way to say "put make-up on [smth]"? (Phrasing)

texts:
I don't think there's a single word for "to put make-up on", is it?

I'm trying to translate a line from a song, and I'm afraid that the translation will be very ambiguous, because of the many meanings of "to make something up".

The line is the following (translated):

  She makes her soul up with lies

I would have used "she puts make-up (on her soul)" but I can't because of the part about lies.

Is the line clear? I don't feel like it means what I want it to mean. How else could I phrase it?


texts:
I would like to use the verb realize  in a sense of " to become real" or "to happen" in active voice. Nonetheless, dictionaries use it in passive voice in this sense.

Although global warming does not happen by itself, I wonder if I could use the word to realize in active voice just as the word to happen.

  Global warming is realizing at such a slow pace that we only began to
  notice it years later it began.

  Global warming is happening at such a slow pace that we only began to
  notice it years later it began.

Another sentence could be :

  Unfortunately imminent fiscal crisis is realizing but there are a few
  things we can do about it.


texts: What do "that I will" & "dish it" mean here?

texts:
I'm optimistic and bubbly yet laid back and down to earth. I've definitely got a sense of humor... if you're not laughing you're not living! I try not to take life too seriously.

  Fitness is a huge part of my life, my future partner should have a love for fitness as I do. I stay active and am always on the go! I love cooking, a good book and going on adventures. I want to see the world, and that I will!

  Huge sports fan, especially football. Sunday's are for family and football of course!
  Also, my family and my faith are everything to me!

  I'm a very independent woman, who knows where she is going in life, and I would hope my future partner did as well. As far as what I'm looking for I'd have to say someone who has a positive and happy outlook on life, who can appreciate sarcasm and dish it right back.

In the second paragraph, she says: "that I will" , What is the meaning of this phrase? If she means "I will see the world" , what is the use of that? **that I will.

In the last paragraph she says ...dish it right back. What does it mean?

Thanks a lot.


texts:
She worked quickly but without hurry. She put an old apron to cover her clothes. In the basement she found a jelly jar with a top and carried it out to the carriage house where the tools were kept. In the chickenyard she caught a little pullet, took it to the block and chopped its head off, and held the writhing neck over the jelly jar until it was half full of blood. Then she carried the quivering pullet to the manure pile and buried it deep. Back in the kitchen she took off the apron and put it in the stove and poked the coals until a flame sprang up on the cloth. She washed her hands and inspected her shoes and stockings and wiped a dark spot from the toe of her right shoe.
(John Steinbeck, East of Eden)

When I encounter the type of structure, I rather feel deep is an adjective – Predicative adjective over the object - than an adverb. Is this right reading?


texts: What's the difference between "dressing" and "seasoning" when it comes to the ingredients of cooking?

texts: I'm often confused with the two words when expressing the ingredients that adjust flavor of dishes, such as garlic, vinegar, basil, curry... Which are dressings and which are seasonings? And how to classify them? or it's just different expression of British English and American English?


texts:
Regarding Difference-in-Difference, I saw a lot of discussions saying that the treatment will receive the value of 1 if on the event day. However, from this paper of Dasgupta,2019, I am wondering if they use the data of the observations on the event day.
I asked this question because in their paper, they did not mention clearly whether they use the data on event day in their study.
What they said from section 3.1 is

Figure 1 plots the mean of the mean change in asset growth of treated
firms and control firms in the same industry, 2 years before and 5
years after the adoption of a leniency law in a country. Thus, the
control firms are all firms in the same industry in countries that had
not passed a leniency law in the 7 years surrounding the event date.

I am wondering why they say "7 years surrounding the event"? Whether "surrounding the event date" includes the event date?
For clarifying the question, for example:
If Korea passed the law in 1997, so the treatment including Korean firms in 1995,1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001 and the Korean firms in 1997,1998,1999,2000,2001 will receive the value of 1 (post x treatment)
or
the treatment including Korean firms in 1995,1996,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002 and the Korean firms in 1998,1999,2000,2001,2002 will receive the value of 1 (post x treatment)


texts: What does "do more than one's fair share of ..." mean?

texts:
A sentence I read on New Oxford Dictionary, under its entry for share:

  She's done more than her fair share of globe-trotting.

What does fair mean here?

I can't tell what does "fair" means in that sentence. I am confused because it can mean "good", or "ideal", or "cheap", or "within the buget", or "reasonable"... so, "do more than her fair share" is really vague to me. What does done more than her share mean, and what's a good paraphrase for this sentence？


texts: "I'm at home all of the day" vs. "I'm at home all the day"

texts:
What's the difference or which one is more idiomatic, if any?

  I'm at home all of the day.
  I'm at home all the day.


texts: Why is “so that” improper in “I was tired so that I couldn't sleep”?

texts:
d) I was so tired that I couldn't sleep
e) I was tired so that I couldn't sleep
Of these two examples d) is perfect and e) simply doesn't work.
d) is the correct form of e) or an alternative would be I was too tired to sleep.

One of my friends has explained this to me. Nevertheless, I couldn't get why E is incorrect.
there -- at the link-- has been written tow kinds of "so that", hasn't been written? if so, we could use them interchageably by the meaning both result and purpose.
I have underlined what I mean:
enter link description here


texts: What's the word meaning “normal-temperature” water?

texts:
When I intend to buy a non-cold bottled water in a grocery, the seller often gives me a chilled one. I have to express myself again by saying something like "I need a non-cold normal temperature one", then they'll get it.

This is really a heavy sentence that I’d rather avoid, so what”s the word meaning “normal temperature” bottled water?


texts:
I do not have to wait for bus.

Which one does it mean?

I am under obligation (e.g. to leave the bus station and go and) not to wait for the bus.
I am under no obligation to wait for bus and I am free to choose waiting or not.

If the answer is the first, then it will be equal to

  I must not wait for bus.

and if not it means that "must" and "have to" are similar in positive meaning but different after negation.


texts: Is that correct. Can we use sentense THE use like this

texts:
We have forwarded the hard copy of the document; kindly confirm to us once you receive the document

Please advise the correct grammatical sentence


texts:
"Yesterday I should help him do the dishes"

I'm pretty sure that using "should" here is wrong and "had to" would have to be used instead (Yesterday I had to help him do the dishes) but why?


texts: Is there any concise expression for love between a man and a woman?

texts: Love may be understood as the strong feeling between a man and a woman, as in the case of Romeo and Juliet, but it can also be interpreted as the feeling between a man and another man, or a man to an animal, or parents to their kids, etc, if I  want no misunderstanding and an exact meaning, is there any alternative expression which is not too wordy? Can "erotic love" serve the purpose?


texts: What does the phrase "when the way you get around" mean here?

texts:
Please help me understand the meaning of the phrase "when the way you get around" in the following text from the description of the game "Bomb Chicken":

It can double as a barrier to keep enemies away, too. But these aren’t smart bombs – your payload is as deadly to you as anyone else.
When the way you get around is also the biggest danger you face, exploring becomes thrillingly tense and tricky.
But as long as you’re careful, you’ll never cry fowl – and there’s little more satisfying than mastering the ‘lay and punt’ technique, where you boot a freshly-fabricated bomb down a tunnel to clear it out, or at a distant switch to open a door. source

The lexical meaning of the phrase "get around" is "to succeed in something." However, I am not sure if it fits here.


texts: "I intend to cast my vote is person...." Meaning in this context

texts:
In an application to an officer:

  Sir,

  I intend to cast my vote is person at the ensuing election to the Legislative assembly.....

What's the meaning of "is person" in this context?

Thank you.


texts: Is that correct to say "It is so snowy today. I haven't seen to much snow here before."?

texts:
Canada was so snowy today and I saw too much snow and I used a sentence about that and I wasn't sure if it was true or not.

  It is so snowy today. I haven't seen to much snow here before.

I'm oftenly confusing about how to use perfect tenses. Can I say that or what's the better sentence for that?


texts:
Can we use causative have with modal must.
Suppose

you must have had those document published by you.
you must have the documents prepared by someone.

Are these idiomatic and grammatical. actually i am experimenting with these.


texts:
When I use relative pronoun position. I wonder which position like 1,2 below are grammatically or commonly proper sentence.

Situation:

There are easy words for Jim to understand without using a dictionary.

Jim is a native English speaker.

  1.These are easy words for Jim to understand without using dictionary who is a native English speaker.

  2.These are easy words for Jim who is a native English speaker to understand without using dictionary.


texts: Is "a factor of K-fold" a idiomatic saying?

texts:
This book "Deep Learning and Convolutional Neural Networks for Medical Image Computing" uses an expression "a factor of K-fold".

  As we learned about the current state of research on deep learning, I
  was surprised to find that other investigators had used convolutional
  neural networks, one type of deep learning, in the past [22, 23]. But
  there seemed to be something different about the most recent crop of
  deep learning algorithms. They routinely used GPU processing to
  accelerate training by as much as a factor of 40-fold. They also used
  multiple convolution layers and multiple data reduction layers.

It seems that "a factor of 40-fold" means "×40 faster than before".

Is "a factor of K-fold" a idiomatic saying to express this meaning?


texts:
Just after reading an unanswered (though pretty interesting) question in French Language, I thought that the reason it didn't get answers was that it actually asked several questions at once.

Then I formulated automatically this reflection in my head:

  It's too broad

But immediately after I wondered if I shouldn't rather say:

  It's too wide

Hence my question: as dictionaries seem to globally propose the same sense for both words, are there some contexts where one should be preferred to the other?

Time to write the above, I thought I identified the begin of a difference: "wide" would apply to somewthing concrete (such as a place, an object, a point of view... anything measurable), while "broad" woud rather be used for more abstract things (for example a domain of knowledge).

Note: I could find a related question, but it (and its answer too) is strictly focused on a specific context.

My own question is more [broad | wide] :)


texts: Why is the quick sound of "took" like "chee"?

texts:
Track source

  It took me nearly 20 minutes to go through the browser History on your
  computer to see what movie times you looked up.

I can only hear

  It chee me ...


texts:
Which is correct?

Please Guide us on what is possbile?

Or

Please Guide us with what is possbile?

Actually I am asking someone, "I want to do this. If the first option is possible, do that way. If the second option is possible, do in that way. Please guide us (with/on) what is possible"

Grammarly says both are correct. If so, what is the difference between these both?


texts:
the following sentence shall I add "will"?

  People who (will) attend party tonight will take part in the party tonight.

Besides:

  The girl who will be my girlfriend will take part in my party.

  The man who was killed at 6 P.M. will be found at 10 pm.(now is 3 pm)


texts: Can a verb be an object complement like the verb "boil" in this sentence?

texts:
Could someone please parse this sentence?

She watched the pot boil slowly.

Also, does slowly here refer to the process of boiling or "her" act of watching the pot boil?


texts: Is this sentence grammatically correct? Beginning a sentence with 'with'

texts:
I am unsure about the following sentence:

  With research being an important milestone for the faculty, I hope to increase the output of my publications in the future.

I'm unsure about starting the sentence with 'with'. Is the above grammatically correct?


texts:
Can we use 'did come' in statements instead of 'came', like this sentence:

  She did come from Italy.


texts: How to express "to raise your left shoulder up while lowering your right shoulder down and do the other way round repeatedly"?

texts:
When people dance, sometimes they raise their left shoulders up while lowering their right shoulders down and do the other way round repeatedly as shown in the picture.
What is the common term to express that movement, for example, She raised her left shoulder up while lowering the right one and do vice versa repeatedly when singing?


texts: Is there any difference in meaning between "give" and "give away"?

texts:
Is there any difference in meaning between give and give away. For example:

  The old man gave all his money to the people in need.

  The old man gave away all his money to the people in need.

I am not a native English speaker, but it feels like the second sentence means that the man didn't need the money or that the money isn't such a big deal for him, so he decided to get rid of them. Tell me please if am at all right.


texts:
I see that an article "the" is needed to describe the headquarters of the US Department of Defence: The Pentagon.

From my grammar book to show the usage of articles, I found that "the" is not necessary with companies, e.g., Microsoft, nor with major landmarks, e.g., "Central Park". However, "the" is necessary with building names, "the Hilton".

So, "the Pentagon" uses an article "the" to symbolize the building?
In general, is there any good logic behind the usage of "the" with proper nouns?


texts:
three times as long as sth
  three times longer than sth
  three times the length of sth

Do the three above mean the same?

Editor of OECD told me that these 3 expressions mean the same. I am confused.


texts:
Anyone who’s seen The Onion’s video “Prague’s Kafka International Named Most Alienating Airport”, in which an airline official played by a Slavoj Žižek soundalike tells confused travellers, “If there is a problem, fill out a complaint form, and place it in an envelope addressed to the name of the hospital in which you were born”, will recognise a kernel of truth about customer service buried in the absurdist humour. (Source)

How do you determine/deduce the right definition of kernel? Please explain the steps or thought processes; I’d like to try to resolve this myself in the future? Is it:

  1. A softer, usually edible part of a nut, seed, or fruit stone contained within its shell:

which implies 'a seed of truth', or

  The central or most important part of something:

which implies 'a central part' of truth?


texts: Usage of connecting phrases like "because of"

texts:
What type of connecting phrase makes my sentence clearer and more grammatically correct?
(At the moment, I'm using because of.)

  It is reasonable to conclude that the negative contribution done by the adopted growing step is higher than the other defects because of the incidences where the entire objects were mis-classified as terrain which we cannot expect by the segmentation.


texts: 'I hope this helps' vs. 'I hope this will help'

texts:
An English expert at the end of his answer to a question, which is published online, wrote

  I hope this helps.

Would the meaning be (slightly) different if he had written "I hope this will help" instead?


texts: How to understand this grammatical explanation about infinitve and participial

texts:
[52] i a. I like to stay home at weekends.   b. I like staying home at
  weekends.         ii a. I’d like to be a
  politician.          b. I’d like being a politician.

  With [i] there are many contexts where [a] and [b] would be equally
  appropriate, but there are also some favouring one or the other.
  Suppose you ask me to go bushwalking next week-end but I wish to
  decline: [a] would here be more appropriate than [b]. Conversely if I
  am currently enjoying a week-end at home [b] is more appropriate than
  [a].      The infinitival is more associated
  with change, the gerund-participial with actuality. Thus someone who
  has recently turned forty or got married might say I like being forty
  or I like being married. An infinitival would be strange here,
  suggesting repeated changes from not being forty or married to being
  forty or married. In this case the meaning is close to that of enjoy,
  which only allows gerund-participials. Would like, by contrast,
  projects into the future and resembles a verb of wanting, with a
  strong preference for the infinitival, as in [iia]; [iib] is possible,
  but the interpretation is roughly “I’d like/enjoy the life of a
  politician”. If we change the examples to I’d like to start the
  meeting a little earlier this week the gerund-participial becomes
  quite implausible: I’d like starting the meeting a little earlier
  suggests that the starting is itself something to be enjoyed, which is
  an odd idea.

    Hate with a to-infinitival has an idiomatic use seen
  in

  [53] I hate to tell you this, but your battery is flat.

  This can be thought of as involving projection into the immediate
  future: “I’m going to tell you, though I hate having to do so”. What
  is special about this use (virtually confined to the 1st person) is
  the combination of simple present tense in the matrix and single
  dynamic event in the complement - constrast [52ia], where we have
  repetition of staying home; other verb of liking and not liking do not
  allow this pattern, though it is found with adjectives: I am happy /
  ✲like to tell you that you’ve passed your test (cf. also regret in
  [56] below). (The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language)

Question 1) “suggesting repeated changes from not being forty or married to being forty or married” -> what does this mean?
Question 2) “In this case the meaning is close to that of enjoy” -> What ‘case’ does this sentence indicate? Is it an infinitival (I like to be forty, I like to be married) and the infinitival means ‘enjoy’?


texts:
can someone tell me which of following questions is correct or tell me if both are correct?

"In which level are you?"

"Which level are you in?"

A little more information about is that the question is regarding school courses levels.

Any help resolving this little puzzle will be appreciated.


texts:
What is particular meaning of the verb "pitch" here? Are there any appropriate synonyms of it?

  In the process of writing this article I came across one email from 11
  years ago. It turns out I pitched this exact piece— the one you are
  reading right now — as a commentary to NPR, under the title “Mining My
  Own Data”.

It has a very wide definition: www.thefreedictionary.com/pitch.


texts: Is the grammatical construction of this sentence correct?

texts:
I read a sentence in The Hindu which was

Does he regard only Hindus as "the people of India" to the exclusion of other communities?

I think it's fine until India. But the next part "to the exclusion of other communities" does not seem to make much sense to me.
Is this grammatical construction right?


texts: Should I use in, on or at for locations like this: "I am {on/at/in} the railway station"?

texts:
Which prepositions are correct?

  I am {on/at/in} the railway station.
  I am {on/at/in} square.


texts:
Do need to write "is" twice?

  if the number IS less than 0 or IS equal to 1

or single "is" is enough:

  if the number IS less than 0 or equal to 1


texts: Why is it "change" rather than "have changed"?

texts:
It is clear that ever greater volumes of information are going to be
stored digitally and there is a danger that when formats change,
data will be lost.

According to a rule of time expressions, we can use only present tenses with time expressions such as when, before, after, etc. to talk about the future. Can't I use "have changed" instead of "change" here in this case?


texts: What does "realizing you never want to be like him is a kind of whiplash that you can't prepare for."mean?

texts:
I'm just a reader for a book named 'Ego is the enemy' by Ryan Holiday.
I was reading it, and I couldn't understand this sentences.

The wheels were coming off, or so it felt. To go from wanting to be like someone your whole life to realizing you never want to be like him is a kind of whiplash that you can't prepare for.

-in "ego is the enemy", Ryan Holiday.
Before this paragraph, he has been talking about his failure and his mentors's failure in several company where he devoted himself to work.
My question is, What is 'wheel'? and who is 'someone'? and what does 'your whole life' mean in 2nd sentence?
And why can't we prepare for whiplash(realizing)?


texts: What is the correct way to use "as" to explain a reasons in English sentence

texts:
Problem:

Assume that I have a reason and I would like to express it in my sentence using the word as. What is the correct way to construct my sentence?

Example:

As the main idea of this section is in introducing a new estimation method, then, the work is limited to a simulation study.

Is this a good way to use As? Is my sentence correct?

Any help, please?


texts: Can you help me define parts of the sentence in these sentences?

texts:
Some of them don't even have predicates. I simply don't understand how to distinguish parts of speech here.

  What a still perfect day!
  No sound! A lovely evening. Then the first stars.


texts:
Superfluous

My family is not superfluous to me.
Is my presence here getting to be superfluous ?

Do the above sentences make sense ?


texts: Is this Nick guy's phrases common(real)?

texts:
This video features an American (speaking Japanese well) called Nick is showing us what kind of slang is used in the U.S. But he said the U.S is so large that it depends on where you come from, (Nick is from California) so I would like to confirm with you if the below phrase is used in reality where you come from.
What interested me are,
1 Break a leg
Meaning wish something good happen.
2 Knock on wood
Meaning the same above
3 Crash
So drunk or tired etc that someone is going to borrow another's bed to sleep.
4 Jack someone
Meaning, steal something from someone.
Are the above 3 used everywhere in the U.S?
Thank you.


texts: "One should respect the {religion / religions} of others."

texts:
One should respect the religion of others as much as one's.
  One should respect the religions of others as much as one's.

One behaves as singular and takes singular noun/pronoun and helping verb.
So, we should be using religion in the sentence. But the answer to the question is religions. Is there any rule I am missing?


texts: experiment data vs experimental data vs testing data

texts: As said like the title, this question haunted me for a long time, I would usually use the phrase experimental data, but I have ever been told experiment data has the identical meaning when referring to the data which was obtained by doing some experiments, I am not sure which one is right and Does testing data have any different meaning than experimental data？


texts: Conditional Sentences where it's not known whether the condition with if clause got fulfilled or not

texts:
As far as my knowledge goes, the third conditional is used in cases where we're talking about a past condition for example

If she had come home early , she would have got to meet him.

Well the person didn't get home early so she didn't get to see whoever she wanted to see.
But what about the cases where it's not certain whether the condition with 'if' clause got fulfilled or not?
In the above sentence if it wasn't known whether she came home early or not. What should be used instead of If she had come early? It clearly implies that she didn't come home early .


texts: Is the word to arbitrate too formal for daily life

texts:
I would like to know is the verb to arbitrate used only in very formal situations (related to law)?

If so, which word can we use for more casual situations like scenarios below.

  Situation 1: In a semi-formal meeting with workers from the same
  company. In a case possible dispute between colleagues, does another
  colleague mediate or arbitrate?

  Situation 2: A trivial dispute between neighbors because of dogs, or a quarrel between friends at a school

  Situation 3: In a bar brawl. I think it would sound funny if somebody
  says "I tried to arbitrate the brawlers/fighters but they kept on."


texts: Is there a difference between "working environment" and "work environment"?

texts: Are working environment and work environment interchangeable, or is there a difference between them? If so, what is the difference?


texts: Is there a single word for "very likely"?

texts:
I want to say:

  They are very likely to be different.

But I find it a bit wordy, so I was wondering is there a single word that can be used like:

  They are _______ different.

I know maybe I can use basically here, but that seems to change the original meaning a bit to me, is that right?

Edit:
Is there a word that is stronger than "probably" in terms of probability?

Edit:
The context could be imagined as, I have asked some people from the streets to fill a questionnaire, but I can't be 100% sure if I have asked the same person twice, though it is very unlikely to happen.
So I want to say something like "These people are very likely to be different from each other."
Sorry for the terrible explanation.


texts: Usage of "would" and "could" in If clause

texts:
I wonder, whether it is grammatically correct to say "it would be great if you could do this for me"? I'm aware of the second conditional's existence, though I don't want to imply the meaning "it is very unlikely you can do this", just ask for a favour very politely. So, here is the list of possible options:

(1) It will be great, if you can do this
(2) It would be great, if you can do this
(3) It would be great if you could do this for me

I, personally,  don't trust that much in the second one, and it seems ungramamtical for me, but I can remember for sure the line from "Lion King" movie (1994) that is: "I would if you just tell me" (as a respond to " Listen, you think you can just show up and tell me how to live my life? You don't even know what I've been through!", if it is important), and that confuses me a bit. As for the first one,  I'm pretty much sure that it is correct, but I'm not satisfied with its meaning, because I want to give "more freedom" to the person and emphasize that any choice  is equally acceptable.

So, I will be very glad if someone can comment the grammatical correctness of the last two items.

Any suggestion will be helpful! Thank you in advance!


texts:
2016.04    Unity Games

  Personal Projects which help gain an insight into modern game engine

Adding "which" in a subtitle seems not concise. I am wondering if I can substitute it with

  Personal Projects helping gain an insight into modern game engine

The following item has the same problem.

  2015.08    3D Movie Generator

  Project which is conducted during my internship and finally becomes my graduate design

Can I substitute the above subtitle with the following one?

  Project conducted during my internship and finally becoming my graduate design


texts: Does saying "have good holidays" sound weird?

texts: When you wish someone to have a good weekend, you say, "Have a good weekend!". But what about wishing someone to have good holidays? Does "have good holidays" sound weird? I'm just asking because I have never heard it before. I have only heard "Happy holidays!".


texts:
Othello, as with any other play by W. Shakespeare, is much of the savour of human complexity. He presents a diversity of psychological specimens, through which can we, if ever so inclined, essay to plumb the consciousness of the era, age, epoch in which we happen, at a given time, to find ourselves.

What does the bolded part mean?


texts: Synonym for "overclock" for general electrical appliances

texts:
When a CPU is running with performance exceeding its spec, it is said to be "overclocked". I'm looking for a word with a similar meaning that could be applied to general electrical appliances or power tools. The word overclocked sounds clumsy when applied to a hair drier or a toaster.

The word overpowered sounds right from the physical point of view, but that means "too powerful" by design (thanks @AricFowler) or "defeated" by something more powerful, rather than "running over the spec".

Then there's the word overdriven and overdrive. Can it be applied to things like a toaster? Or does it only work with appliances which have an actual drive?


texts: When and How to use *We are to* and *We have to* in Sentence?

texts:
Please explain how to use We are to and We have to in Sentence.

e.g.

a) We are to pay him amount.

And

b) We have to pay him amount.

a) If we are to teach real peace in this world then....

And

b) If we have to teach real peace in this world then....


texts: Is 'rather + pronoun + root-verb' pattern possible?

texts:
I had much rather we not stay. (Random House) I'd rather you
  didn't go out alone. (Longman)

If the first sentence is possible, I guess, the second one can be re-write as “I’d rather you not go out alone." Is this really possible?


texts:
I remember hearing that if and would should never be in the same sentence. I however don't know what is actually considered the same sentence, so here are to examples.

  If he would only stop bothering me..

I'm assuming this is incorrect

  It would have been better if I had the roof repaired yesterday rather than leaving it until today.

I'm assuming that this is actually correct, even though would and if are in the same sentence.

Is this correct?


texts: Are "kind" and "sort" synonym in "all kinds and sorts of people"?

texts:
I am reading Norman Lewis's book Word power made easy. At one place the author says,

  "Words that describe all kinds and sorts of people..."

Here if "kind" and "sort" mean the same thing then the above sentence literallg means,

  "Words that describe all kinds and kinds of people.."

This is quite confhsing. Please explain.


texts: Discerning between in a way that, in such a way that, and in doing so?

texts:
Would any one possibly show me what is the exact difference between these, taking example?

As I am not a native speaker, and I am learning English, especially in such circumstance, I couldn't think of any situation or sentence to clarify the. They are too complex for me.

in doing so

in such a way that

in a way that

Any help would be appreciated


texts: Why are some past participles listed in dictionaries as a single word, while others are not?

texts: My question is when a past participle can be thought of as a single word, not a inflectional form of verbs?


texts: "Develop a feel for something" or "develop the feel for something"?

texts:
Could you tell if I have to use "a" or "the" before feel in the following sentences?

If you don't use the word correctly, don't be frustrated as you will develop a/the feel for when to use it.

I feel that both articles can be used there without any difference in meaning. If I am wrong, I would like to know why I can use one, but not the other.


texts:
I often don't know whether I should repeat the "to". E.g.:

  To enable the car to perform jumps between blocks or simply to go
  faster, accelerator blocks can be placed, which as the name
  indicates increase the car's speed.

vs.

  To enable the car to perform jumps between blocks or simply go faster, accelerator blocks can be placed, which as the name indicates increase the car's speed.

Is there any general rule to decide between those two options?


texts:
I've found an interesting sentence and I'm trying to figure out whether it is correct or not.

The sentence is:

  When we arrived the forest, it was getting darker.

As far as I know, it is not allowed to use the verb without a preposition.

So, it should be

  When we arrived in the forest, it was getting darker.

shouldn't it?


texts:
I know when comparing two things using multiplicative numerals, some usages like the following sentences are possible.

  This book is twice the price of that book.
  This book is twice as expensive as that book.

I wonder if this rule also applies to fractions such as one-third or one-tenth.

  This book is one-third the price of that book.
  This book is one-third as expensive as that book.


texts: A, and hence A^3, is positive. Is or are?

texts:
Here A is a number.

  A, and hence A^3, is positive

  A, and hence A^3, are positive.

which is right? I prefer the first.


texts: "I would have liked to come" and "I would like to have come" - difference?

texts:
Please read the following:

I would like to come with you.
I would have liked to come with you.
I would like to have come with you.

Another example:

I would prefer to drink coffee.
I would have preferred to drink coffee.
I would prefer to have drunk coffee.

I perfectly understand the first sentence in both the groups. What I would like to know is the difference between second and third sentences. Could you please explain that?


texts: Meaning of "a couple of bucketfuls that had been discoloured in the accident taken away"

texts:
When daylight came on the morning after the shooting, blood could beseen on the sea pebbles of the turn-around in front of the house. Two petroltins were found behind a tree. The pebbles were raked, a couple of bucketfuls that had been discoloured in the accident taken away.

Dose "a couple of bucketfuls" refer to pebbels and mean a lot of, so  the whole sentence mean: a lot of pebbles were discolored in the accident that had happened?
can bucketful means as a bucket? I searched but I did not find it means as a bucket.
Source: A Story Of Lucy Gault by William Trever.


texts: What does "cast light on the shadow" mean?

texts:
At a seminar I recently attended, one of the speakers (apparently an American with a native English American accent) frequently used the expression, "to cast light on the shadow". I am sorry that I cannot quote exactly how she used it, but it seemed to mean something like, after she described a negative situation, she was going to highlight a positive aspect; or perhaps she meant that she gave an unclear teaser of something to come, and then she was about to explain it more clearly.
I have never heard that expression before and cannot find it from searching the Web (other than in some song lyrics, where the meaning is not clear from the context). Could someone please help clarify its meaning?


texts: "levy a tax on all imported goods", why is "a tax" singular while "goods" are plural?

texts:
I found a expression in my text book "levy a tax on all imported goods.".

As far as I know taxes are charged for each products, why in this case you use singular form "a tax"?

Is it also OK, if I use "levy taxes on all imported goods."?


texts: What does it mean to have 'an offensive ceiling'?

texts: As mentioned in title,I couldn't figure out what the writer intends to say by this.


texts:
In this sentence:

  She has too many students in the class to give them individual attention.

I wonder if the object 'them' is necessary to be inserted in the sentence as 'them' refers to 'many students'.


texts: Which preposition to use after “statistic”?

texts:
Which preposition should one use after statistic when one wants to say what object this statistic describes? Consider, for instance, the following sentence taken from Google Translate:

  He quoted a government statistic that suggests foreign coverage has gone down on British television by 40% in the last decade.

If one was to say what he quoted, would one say

“a government statistic about foreign coverage on British television,”
“a government statistic for foreign coverage on British television,”
“a government statistic of foreign coverage on British television,” or
“a government statistic on foreign coverage on British television”?

Personally, I want to use about, but then I was corrected for doing so. Google Ngram also disagrees with me.

I originally phrased this question focusing primarily on the singular form, statistic, as I assumed there would be no difference with respect to the plural one, statistics. However, according to the comments, there is a different. Since I’m equally much interested in the plural form, I’m extending this question to cover statistics as well.

Regarding statistics, I’ve found the following examples:

  If all the industries belong to one economic area over which, so far as we can tell from general statistics of wages and prices, and other information, fairly homogeneous conditions prevailed, we may be able to reach some useful conclusions as to the operation of the act.

  The statistics of civil proceedings vary considerably from province to province.

  The Trans-Caspian railway has been an important factor; almost all the cotton exported passes over this line, and the statistics of this trade indicate the progress made.

  Statistics of offences, including contravvenzioni or breaches of by-laws and regulations, exhibit a considerable increase per 100,000 inhabitants since 1887, and only a slight diminution on the figures of 1897.

So which preposition should one use after statistics?


texts: What's the difference between "if she should win the race" and "if she wins the race"?

texts:
I would like to know the difference  between

  If she should win the race, congratulate her.

and

  If she wins the race, congratulate her.

I would like to know if there is a difference in the meaning or if one is more formal than the other.


texts: Is the following sentence grammaticaly correct?

texts:
I read a book about how to become rich, and I came across this sentence.

  I want tough men that gargle the blood of their victims not like women get melted when the door slams.

Is that sentence grammatically correct?


texts: When to use 'the' in front of a country?

texts:
Citizens of the Lithuania, sounds wrong. Citizens of the Russia too. However, citizens of the Ukraine, sounds right. Also of the United States (of America) as well as of the United Kingdom.

What is the proper usage of 'the' to name a country?


texts: What's the correct order of negated adjectives?

texts:
Do adjectives with "not" go before or after the noun they refer to?
For example:

A not funny guy
A guy not funny

Which of these is correct?


texts:
1.There is no student in this school who does not wear a school uniform.

  2.There is no student in this school who does not wear the school uniform.

Which article should be used before the word "uniform " in this sentence, a or the?


texts: How do I quote a word that ends with a possessive apostrophe?

texts:
What is the correct way to enclose within double quotes a word that ends with a possessive apostrophe?

For example:

  The "professionals'" confidence was badly shaken by the market crash.

I used quotes around professionals' to emphasize that they are merely self-proclaimed "professionals" as opposed to real professionals. Did I use double quotes correctly? Should it be "professionals'", "professionals"', or "professional"s'?


texts: "He made them to be the most understood" Vs."He made them be the most understood"

texts:
I wrote the sentence about written exams:
"He made them to be the most understood", but my automatic grammar corrector shows me that it's a mistake to add the preposition 'to' in this sentence, and it should be instead: "He made them be the most understood".
To my eyes, as a non-native English speaker, it doesn't seem to be natural, but I'm afraid I'm wrong in that.


texts: Slowly running watch or slow running watch

texts:
My question is:

  "The Egyptian Calendar was like a -------watch."

I think the answer "slowly running watch" is grammatically right. But on the other hand, "slow running watch" is most common in use nowadays. I would like to know which answer you prefer.


texts: Does "Change my registration" make sense?

texts:
I'm an international student. I'd like to drop one of my courses and sign up for another one instead. In that case, is it okay if I email my advisor as follows:

"I want to talk about my registration. I signed up for the * course this semester with your approval, but I would like to take another course instead."

I don't want to make any mistake when it comes to the email to my professor.


texts: Phrase "before pausing and raining again"

texts:
Excerpted from Writers in the Storm- How weather went from symbol to science and back again.

  Six years later and two hundred miles to the southeast, Dickens summoned vastly drearier conditions for “Bleak House”—which, outside of the Book of Revelation, might have the most consistently dreadful weather of any work of Western literature. “It rains for the first twelve chapters,” Harris notes, “before pausing and raining again.” The skies are further blackened by soot and smoke—in Dickens’s words, “gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun.” Fog smothers the city. The mud is so abundant that it is “as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth”; in what may be the only dinosaur cameo in Victorian literature, Dickens imagines a forty-foot Megalosaurus slogging through it up Holborn Hill.

I can see "before pausing and raining again" means it's non-stop, but I can't understand the logic behind, before pausing = not yet paused, how can rain started again if it has never paused before?


texts: I know there is difference between "grow" and "grow up", but it is hard for me to tell when it comes to an example

texts:
It is said in some dictionaries that "grow" means to increase in amount, size, number, or strength, while "grow up" means one changes from being a child into being an adult or to stop behaving in a silly or childish way.

I want to write a sentence that means if one does something he has never done before, he will become mature. But I don't know which is correct after I compare "grow" and "grow up" in the following sentences.

To do things you have never done before is called growing.
To do things you have never done before is called growing up.


texts:
Example with a context:

  This week’s alleged kidnapping of 90 Syrian Christians sent shock waves around the world, but the young men of the Islamic State have been flagging for months now a simple idea: They follow an interpretation of Islam that blesses a 7th-century Quranic war strategy (9:5) to “capture and besiege” anyone who is a mushrikun, or “polytheist,” and Christians, in the world view of the Islamic State, fall into that category.
  In gruesome video of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians released last week, Arabic writing flashes over the image of the Christians in captivity (in 3:28 — 3:40 of the video), reading, “They call upon their God and die as al-mushrikun.”

I'm wondering why there is no article in front of gruesome video. Obviously, according to the most basic English grammar rules, it really should be in the gruesome video of or in a gruesome video of. Am I right or is there something I'm missing?


texts:
What is the difference between no even a and not even a?
Are they both interchangeable and equally correct?
[EXAMPLES]:

There is not even a single pen.
There is no even a single pen.
I have not even a single pen.
I have no even a single pen.


texts: Difference between gerunds and nouns ending in -tion

texts:
As we know, gerunds have the same function as nouns and can be substitute in noun phrases. Additionally as far as I know, meaning of them would be the act of doing that verb. (I don't know whether this is correct or not, this is my intuition though.)

Creating : An activity in which we are creating something.
Cleaning : An activity in which we are cleaning something.

In the other side, we have noun "Creation" with meaning:

the act of creating something, or the thing that is created:
Source: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary 4th edition

However, we don't have noun "clean + tion = cleanation". My questions:

Why don't some verbs have "-tion" nouns?

What is difference of meaning between gerund and "-tion" nouns? (for example: transformation and transforming)


texts: Present perfect vs. past simple (hidden meaning)

texts:
It is known that present perfect is used when it is actual for somebody now. So, my examples with possible meanings:

  I lost my key last week. (Meaning: at now it is not my problem. I have another one.)

>

  Ben went home ten minutes ago. (Hidden meaning: at now I don’t await him. I can do my hobby, for example.)

  I have lost my key. (Meaning: at now it is my problem. I don’t have another one.)

  Ben has gone home. (Hidden meaning: I miss him. I think about him, for example.)

Am I right with possible meanings?


texts:
What does it mean when someone says  "keep your worms warm" in the following context?

I came across this when I was reading the following:

  A fisherman had out-fished his companion all morning long. They used the
  same live bait, the same equipment and fished together in the same
  mountain stream. But he had almost caught his limit of fish while his
  friend had yet to catch even one.

  “What's your secret?” asked the friend. “I haven't even gotten a bite!”

  The angler mumbled an unintelligible answer, causing his companion to ask
  again.

  The successful fisherman emptied the contents of his mouth into a cupped
  hand and replied: “I said, 'You have to keep your worms warm.'”


texts: How do you say them with the implication that it's one or the other?

texts:
An angel and demon appeared and they tried to convince the man to
support them instead.

Them instead doesn't make sense, so

An angel and demon appeared and they tried to convince the man to
support one or the other

One or the other sounds odd, so I am not sure what's the correct wording for this.


texts: Is there an "alt-left" since there is the word "alt-right" in English?

texts:
The word "alt-right" is everywhere to see on TV and social media.

Does "alt-left" also exist in English language? Why is "alt-right" widely used while "alt-left" seldom used or seen?


texts: Which would you say "I love sweets the best" or "I love sweets the most"?

texts:
"I love sweets the best"
  "I love sweets the most"

Which sounds more natural? Is there a small change in meaning, or am I imagining it?

Does it sound fine to add "of all food" at the end? For example

  "I love sweets the best of all food"

I think it would be better to say

  "Sweets are my favorite food"

but I'm still curious about saying it the other way.


texts:
Our own identities were simply given to us complete.

Why doesn’t the adverb ‘completely’ comes, but adjective ‘complete’ to the end of the sentence above? Is it because that ‘complete’ modify the subject ‘our own identities’?


texts: Meaning of "Sod rebounded from the lid" in Camus' The Plague

texts:
In Camus book "the plague",  the narrator is describing burial ceremonies.so after placing coffin in the grave,There is sentence which I don't understand

  "No sooner had the priest begun to sprinkle holy water than the first sod rebounded from the lid".

I know sod is a part of turf.but how is it rebounded when priest sprinkle holy water. Is sod on the coffin so when water is sprinkled, it falls off. TIA


texts: Dilemma about tense in Second Conditional question

texts:
I came across the following question:

  "If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living?"

Is "would die" the only correct option, or could I also say "will die"?

If "would die" is the only possibility, what's the reason behind it?


texts: What is the correct sentence: “Who are we?” or “Who we are?”

texts:
I searched the Internet to find which of the following is correct:

  Who are we?
  Who we are?

And I found that both are used. What is the correct sentence?


texts:
Math terminology:

uniformity → uniformizable

proximity → proximizable?

or proximitizable?


texts:
What is the structure of the following bolded sentence? And what is the equivalent phrase for it?

  Student: Aha, that's one thing I did know to do. I just copied an
  article, but I still need three more on my topic from three different
  journals.

  Librarian: Let's get you going on looking for those then. We have
  printed versions of twenty or so psychology journals in the Reference
  Section. These are the ones published within the last year. Then I
  think about it... there's a journal named Sleep and Dream.


texts: Is it incorrect to use "whether" in these cases?

texts:
Could you tell me if it's incorrect to say:

  I don't know whether I watch ABC or NBC.

  I don't know whether to watch ABC or NBC.

I know they both are weird and if I add a modal verb such as "should" it'd solve the problem, but I'd like to know what exactly is sintatically unsuitable here? Is there any rule?


texts:
I understand "but don’t hold your breath" as "but don’t hold your expectations too high."  Am I on the right track?

New Scientist tweeted:

Unexpected results from the Large Hadron Collider might point to new physics – but don’t hold your breath.

Source: New Scientist


texts:
This question came in my exam and answer was (c)

  No sooner ...... than the police handcuffed him.

  (A) he came

  (B) did he came

  (C) did he come  (Ans)

  (D) had he come

But i dont know why teacher rejected 4th option.


texts:
"This confirms that we rely on goods made overseas for products that
  Japanese consumers buy," adding that "despite the weak yen, Japanese
  manufacturers are not coming back."

I think "for products" is redundant, and it should be omitted.
I parse this sentence as following:

  This confirms that we rely on goods( made overseas) (that
  Japanese consumers buy)," adding that "despite the weak yen,
  Japanese manufacturers are not coming back."

I think two parts in bold above are modified "goods".


texts:
I need a word to describe the smell of medicine found in hospital's patient room. Please fill the blank.

I don't like the _ smell of the hospital.


texts: One word substitution for 'A woman who shows tantrums to attract men's attention"

texts: What is the one word substitution for 'A woman who shows tantrums to attract men's attention"? Is it 'Coquette', or is there some better word?


texts:
I came across these example sentences on Cambridge Dictionary :

  They view things differently, having experienced a blinding light.

  I am delighted to see that the blinding light has struck home in this
  instance.

  Staring into the unknown may just be the most blinding light of all.

what does "blinding light" mean?


texts:
the lecturer is saying clear

  the gradient of this line is equal to the amount of that function that
  increases in this interval divided by the length of the interval that
  we're considering this description is often just condensed to the
  expression rise over run where rise is the increase in the vertical
  direction and run is the distance along the horizontal axis so both
  rise here and runed down here

merriam-webster confirmed it is a legitimate word, without giving more explanation, so, what does "runed" mean? can anyone give another example sentence?


texts: Definition of a question with a fixed answer

texts:
I often come across the situations where I need to answer questions that were asked by the superiors. There questions are somehow not the real questions as the answers are fixed by the persons who ask them. For example, in a meeting; my boss asks me that

  Do you like other people to criticize you?

If I answered that

  No, I don't.

Then I would get punished by the boss for not saying

  Yes, I do.

by saying negative things to me and trying to humiliate me to make sure that she is still in charge. People should answer what she expects them to answer. If not, punishments will be conducted. I was the example for scaring the others for keeping them in her control. It was like a witch hunt, burn who ever doesn't say or act what they are expected to say or act.

Is there an idiom for this act, the witch hunt? And do we have a name for this kind of question in English?


texts: What's the difference between "There's no car." and "There are no cars."?

texts:
What's the difference between these two?

a. There's no car on the street.

b. There're no cars on the street.

or

a. There's no possible explanation for that.

b. There're no possible explanations for that.


texts: Can we trust phrases on T-shirts as valid and sensible English sentences?

texts:
Someone asked me about the meaning of

  I love second rate of sun

He says he saw it on a T-shirt (in Iran)

What could be the meaning of it?! Should we trust such sentences or they are more some cool phrases on T-shirts which may have not a sensible meaning?!

Update: some says that people do mistake and we can't trust any sentence, I know! but my main question is that is it possible that people (even native) deliberately use some irregular or even non sensual phrases as fashion (on cloths or etc.)!

To me, it is important to know because when I see some weird styles, I wonder if my English is not that good to understand the phrase, but if I doubt it could be a deliberate out-standard sentence I less question my knowledge of English!


texts: 'At the battle' or 'in the battle'? Why?

texts:
Here is a source in which I read the following para:

  That made her the 40th monarch in a royal line that traces its origin back to Norman King William the Conqueror who claimed the throne in 1066 with victory over Anglo-Saxon Harold II at the Battle of Hastings.

Now my questions are:

Can we write 'in the battle' instead of 'at the battle'? I used to write 'in the battle', 'in the war', etc. Is it correct?
If 'at the battle' is correct then what is the reason behind putting 'at' before 'the battle'?


texts: why do you add a s with some verbs in the 2nd person singular?

texts:
I would like to know why you write a s with the 2nd person singular.
Like: What gives you wings?

thanks in advance.
Simone


texts: "It is almost the reverse that is true" - Weird?

texts:
Once American films looked slick and commercial compared to European
imports; ...
(A) now, almost the reverse is true
(B) now it is almost the reverse that is true

Another similar question to what I've just asked. Clearly, A is correct. As far as I can see the other choice looks grammatically fine, but does it sound weird? Ambiguous? I don't know.
A comma is also missing, but I guess that might be a typo.


texts: Meaning of the word "FINE" in "100% FINE JAMAICAN RUM"

texts:
If a label says:

  100% FINE JAMAICAN RUM

What sense the word "FINE" is used here?


texts: What is the right phrases verb? So many or such

texts: She is very glamorous. She always wears so many or such  nice dresses.


texts:
What is the meaning of out in the following sentence?

Thus, along with the global inequity in accessing vaccination, India is seeing a version of it play out three months since vaccinations began.


texts: backshifting past simple in that clauses

texts:
Let' say someone tells you the following about another person called George:

  George was a good guy.

If this person means that George was a good guy but he no longer is, do I have to backshift the sentence when making it into indirect speech?:

  He told me George had been a good guy.

or can I also say

  He told me George was a good guy.

I suppose I can't because in this discussion, someone says saying

  No matter what you say, I assure you I think that the evening we spent together had been fantastic.

is wrong, and that we should say:

  No matter what you say, I assure you I think that the evening we spent together was fantastic.

I thought we had to backshift past simple in that clauses. Is this exclusive to the verb 'be', or is it optional to backshift?


texts: Error correction : Our soldiers were better trained than that of enemies

texts:
Our soldiers (a)/ were better trained (b)/ than that (c)/ of enemies. (D)

This sentence is from an error spotting exercise. A friend of mine suggested to me to change that to those  in part C but isn't the part D also wrong? I guess it should be possessive of enemies that ie either enemy's or enemies'.


texts:
in a body  = All together; as a group

I already understand and so ask NOT about the above definition.
Instead, my problem is: As a preposition, in confuses me. Why was as not used instead?

Am I right that this prepositional phrase is an idiom? Even if so, what are some right ways of interpreting it so that it feels reasonable and intuitive?

Footnote: I encountered this  while  reading Etymonline for 'drove {noun}'. I had been stuck for 5 mins before I suspected a figurative meaning and tried the dictionary.


texts:
He preferred to die ------.

  a) than to be punished

  b) rather than be insulted

  c) than be insulted

  d) rather than to punished

This is quite perplexing, as both A and C feel correct to me. I googled and
found sentences with both structure. Is there a grammatically correct or incorrect structure between them?


texts:
I'm currently participating in a class to practice English by speaking only in it.
But there is a person who always talks too much for other people to get a chance to speak. Here, I'd like to say like this.( there are 3 people in a group.)

It has to be guaranteed that we can speak the same amount.

It has to be guaranteed that I can speak the same amount as the others do

Are these two sentences the same meaning?


texts: "Did the Austrian man [...] when he did the highest skydive?" or "Did an Austrian man [...]"

texts:
I was solving some English tests when I stumbled upon this. I said "the" but my English teacher insisted on "an". I was unable to find anything similar in a corpus.

Should it be "the" or "an"?

The full sentence:

  Did the/an/a Austrian man fly faster than light or sound when he did the highest skydive?


texts: High school student vs. high-school student

texts:
I thought high school should have an hyphen in the middle when used as an adjective. Therefore:

  I'm in high school (noun)

  I'm a high-school student. (adjective)

But after a Google Book search, I realized that the non-hyphenated version is more common.

Why is this? And when should the hyphenated version be used?


texts:
Do my analyze is correct? If don't then correct it.

Sentence: The tsunami and the undersea earthquake which triggered it, the largest ever recorded in the region, killed nearly 20,000 people, destroyed over 100,000 homes and threw the lives of tens of millions into turmoil.

Subject: The tsunami and the undersea earthquake
Principal verb: triggered
Adjective clause of subject:the largest ever recorded in the region, killed nearly 20,000 people, destroyed over 100,000 homes
Use of parallelism:threw the lives of tens of millions into turmoil.


texts:
Why is crime proceeded by a, while murder is not?

  1) Commit murder/rape/suicide/adultery

On the other hand

  2) commit a robbery/a crime/an offense

Why do robbery, crime, and offense have an article before, where in the case of suicide, rape.... the article isn’t placed?

Does that have to do with the words’ ability to be countable or uncountable, or the collocation take a role in determining whether it is should get a determiner or not?


texts: How can I make the statement about combinations of multiple items a little less boring?

texts:
this question is based on this post.

there are 4 items about Bob's mood (happy and grumpy) and weather (sunny and rainy).

this expression is clear but a little bit boring (same structure).

  On a rainy day, Bob is grumpy with a 60 % chance and happy with a 40 % chance.

  On a sunny day, Bob is grumpy with a 20 % chance and happy with a 80 % chance.

how can improve this?

is it following expression still clear and readable?

  On a rainy day, Bob is grumpy with a 60% chance and happy with a 40% chance.

  On a sunny day, the corresponding chances are 20% and 80% respectively.


texts: What are the transcripts (about 5 lines) of this Jimmy Kimmel Live show?

texts:
I would like to know what are the transcripts at 00:40~00:49, 01:51~01:54 and 04:51~04:53 of this Jimmy Kimmel Live show(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75b2hTl2T2E).

These are what I heard:

00:40~00:49
And we mixed up a very special concoction
of these loser organic juices that they appear to be
but we used Fun Dip instead
that's the ? stick

01:51~01:54
yeah, like little refreshing,
like you dip into a pool of juice

04:51~04:53
Are you gonna take the kale, obviously?

Many thanks.


texts:
He was holding a handtowel.

  He dropped it by accidentally.

Would "drop" indicate the mean of slip from hand on purpose?

Would it make people misunderstanding of using the word "drop"?


texts:
Consider the following sentence : Tom is as tall as Mary. This sentence uses comparative, as ... as. Here, Tom and Mary are evenly matched.

In the following sentence, we used as ... as. But I want to know a grammartical structure.

  I was but five years old when my mother died, but her image is as
  fresh in my mind, now that twenty years have elapsed, as it was at
  the time of her death.

That is, we must find evenly matching between her image and it was
at the time of her death. How can we do this ?


texts: What's the difference among these wish sentences?

texts:
I would like to know the difference among the following sentences.

  I wish I had a car.
  I wish I would have a car.
  I wish to have a car.


texts: How to understand "quantifiable" and "disproportionate" in the context

texts:
For most of us adults, the adolescent years occupy a privileged place
  in our memories, which to some degree is even quantifiable: Give a
  grown adult a series of random prompts and cues, and odds are he or
  she will recall a disproportionate number of memories from
  adolescence.

I encountered this sentence when I was doing sentence equivalence practices. The original question had a privileged and a disproportionate missing:

  For most of us adults, the adolescent years occupy ______ place
  in our memories, which to some degree is even quantifiable: Give a
  grown adult a series of random prompts and cues, and odds are he or
  she will recall ______ number of memories from
  adolescence.

    A. a peripheral | B. a privileged | C. an arbitrary

    D. a disproportionate | E. a modest | F. an uncertain

I thought if memory can be quantified instead of being continuous and hard to count, the size must be relatively small, so I picked up A and E as my answer but it's wrong.


texts: Can "recommend" be followed by an infinitive?

texts:
In weblio's entry about recommend (note: I can't understand the Japanese content), an example is given of "recommend" being followed by an infinitive:

  She recommended me to try this oil for sunburn.

Is this valid English?


texts: Is it considered a mistake to use "I will not agree" instead of "I will disagree"?

texts:
Is it considered a mistake to use "I will not agree" instead of "I will disagree", or it's just a matter of taste or emphasis.

Examples:

  I'll not agree with them.

  I'll disagree with them.


texts: What does affine mean in human relationship and interaction?

texts:
I've seen an article mentioning the term affine when speaking about humans. I'm familiar with it from mathematics and in geometry it's precisely defined relation between objects.

I've tried to figure out how it reflects on the interaction or relationship between people but I'm not totally certain I see it entirely correctly. Goolearching drowns in math noise, regrettably.

What would an intuitive impression be when mentioning affine relation in social context?

Please note that I'm not looking for an explanation of what was meant in the article - that's perfectly clear based on the rest of the text. I'm trying to get a general understanding of that specific term.


texts: the difference "I hate it if..." between "I hate it when..."

texts:
1)Mike would hate it if he lost Jane again. 2)Mike would hate it when he lost Jane again.

Supposing Jane came back to Mike again after two years of estrangement, Mike would never let Jane go.

Which sentence should I pick, 1) or 2)?


texts: Can we use 'by the then' and 'of the time' in a sentence?

texts:
Is it right to use both 'by the then' and 'of the time' in a sentence like this:

  by the then Department of General Statistics of the time


texts:
Here's definition #5 of the word "positive" in Longman:

5 SURE [not before noun] very sure, with no doubt at all that something is right or true
['Positive' - Longman Dictionary]

Can I add a comma after "all"? Because "with no doubt at all" is a parenthetic expression, before and after which I think a comma is needed.
Thanks!


texts:
In Dickensian, Mrs. Gamp doesn't like the Midlands, as they are rampant with cracksmen, oysters  and dippers.

I managed to find cracksman and dipper in Merriem-Webster, but who is an oyster?


texts: Which is correct, to my knowledge. or for my knowledge.?

texts:
I was studying prepositions and stumble upon these phrases:

First

to my knowledge.
for my knowledge.

Second

Go for a ride
Go to a ride

Third

He went to England to a Sales Conference.
He went to England for a Sales Conference.

Which one from these two is correct and why?


texts:
I've read this sentence somewhere on the Internet and I'm wondering if it's correct:

  I would be surprised if it makes any difference.

Shouldn't it be:

  I would be surprised if it could make any difference (Second conditional.)?


texts:
First I thought its considerable, but seems there's no such meaning after I consulted the dict.

Is there a single word for "worth to consider"?

Context:

This tool looks promising, its considerable? to introduce into our current tech stack


texts: Object pronoun usage in imperative structure

texts:
Why do we use  object pronouns in this imperative statements and what is the name of this kind of structure conveying kindness, hate and other emotions?:

Kindness: Thank you!, Bless you!

Hate: Damn you!, Kill you!


texts: Can we say "He began to talk 30 minutes ago and never stopped" in stead of "have not stopped"

texts:
He began to talk 30 minutes ago and never stopped

I have known that adverb "never" is usually used in present tense with meaning that the action hasn't ever happened and will never happened, but does it have meaning " the action has not happened but may happen"?


texts:
In "The Vampire of the Village" by G. K. Chesterton, Father Brown was talking about a fake parson who was a stage actor, saying:

‘All this time there was a subconscious notion running in my head; something I couldn’t fix in my memory; and then it came to me suddenly. This is a Stage Parson. That is exactly the vague venerable old fool who would be the nearest notion a popular playwright or play-actor of the old school had of anything so odd
as a religious man.

What's meant here by "anything so odd as a religious man"?
Are the religious men odd?


texts: tense mismatch "pseudo-continuous" and future

texts:
He's just a kid. As he grows up, he will stop doing it.

I am wondering if this sentence is grammatical. "He will stop doing it" implies he will stop at one point, but "as he grows up" refer to a large lapse of time, so there's a mismatch. How would you fix this sentence?


texts: What is the meaning of "out of the blue"?

texts: Please I wanna know what the phrase "out of the blue" means. I've heard this phrase in Adele's song and I don't know what she meant


texts: "that" vs "which" usage and change of meaning in context

texts:
Sentences in question:

Our house, which has four bedrooms, is located in Ocean City.
Our house that has four bedrooms is located in Ocean City.

I don't understand or see the difference between the two sentences.
May I receive an explanation?


texts: When does one write a number as words and when as digits?

texts:
I think I heard somewhere a rule that says "numbers up to twelve should be spelled out, numbers above can be written numerically" but not only do I not remember if that was exactly how the rule went, I'm fairly sure the source wasn't really reliable.

So, can you tell me whether - in a common text, not legalese, not calculations, nothing unusual - I should use digits or letters? Is it true you should write "eleven" but "13" in a literary text?

Also, I'm pretty sure that, even if it's true, there must be exceptions. If I'm right, can you name them?


texts: Can I use " Okay, got it. Thanks!" to respond a message?

texts: My supervisor texted me a message assigning tasks for me to do tomorrow as he will not be in the office. Can I respond to his text saying" Okay, got it. Thanks."


texts: Using the verb "let" at the beginning of a sentence

texts:
According to the Oxford dictionary the word let is a verb.

I would like to know if it acts as verb in the following sentence:

  Let's go to see him on Tuesday.

It seems to me that the main verb here is go.  Does let also act as a verb?  If so, how?


texts:
I search and I found the meaning of Self-policing that:

"The act or action of supervising the activities or policies of one's own group in order to prevent or detect and address violations of rules and regulations without outside enforcement."

Here one word is about the whole group but the single word SELF means only one person or we can say it is about one person. Why self-policing is used for the whole group not for the one person?


texts:
Do I have to use a/an articles before singular nouns, always or can I eliminate them?
Is this true?
    I saw dog yesterday.


texts:
After the handshake, it is easier to talk to each other than otherwise.

After the handshake, it is easier to talk to each other than in a situation where we don't shake hands.

It is easier to talk to each other in a situation where we've done handshake than in a situation where we haven't.

Whenever I try to make sentence that involves comparative grammar, I have no idea what I'm doing. So If you could help me get out of this tight spot, I would really appreciate it. Which one is the most common and right one?


texts: "Area of interest": a physical area or a research area?

texts:
....will help me to explore in my area of interest.

By "area of interest", I mean a research area, something like quantum physics or fluid dynamics. Is this right, or is there a better expression? Because I know area of interest can mean a geographical location.


texts:
I'm confused with whether I should use "these" or "those" in the context of writing a paper or report in the specific example below. I don't know how I can do it differently:

  1) To detect abnormal features in a patient's organs, a health provider can tap a patient's body parts to cause sound waves. _____(These/ Those) sound waves will be reflected by a patient's organs and heard by a health provider.

  2) Unsuccessful interaction can lead to a patient's negative health outcomes. ______(This/ That) is because unsuccessful communication...

  3) Herbs can be used to make medicine. Because of (this/that).......

  4) Tapping is a good technique for abnormal findings. _____(This/That) technique can also be used to.....

Every time I'm in the situation above. I don't know what to do.

On one hand, I feel that "this" and "that" (or the pair "these" and "those") can be interchangeable in the case of writing a report or a paper as:

"This"/"These" can be used to refer to something mentioned in the previous sentence

"That"/"Those" can be used to refer to something that happens in real life or in the outside world.

On the other hand, I think there should be rules when this,that,these, and those are being used in an essay/ report/ paper.


texts: master the U.S. SAT English vocabulary book VS master U.S. SAT English vocabulary book

texts:
I mastered the U.S. SAT English vocabulary book in less than two months.

I mastered U.S. SAT English vocabulary book in less than two months.

I mastered a U.S. SAT English vocabulary book in less than two months.

Do we need the article 'the' or 'a'?
'SAT English vocabulary book' is just an ordinary book which I can buy at a bookstore.


texts:
My mom told me to add one spoonful of sugar less than amount in recipe into cake batter.

The word ''less'' always confuses me.  Is the way "less" is used in the sentence correct? If so, is it an adjective or adverb?


texts: What does this mean: "Going to be something doing in the >humidity line< to-night"?

texts:
There's a line in the "Girl" story of O Henry saying, "Going to be something doing in the humidity line to-night." What does this mean? I didn't get the "humidity line" part.

... A puff of red-hot air flavoured with lemon peelings, soft-coal smoke and train oil came in through the half-open windows.
   Robbins, fifty, something of an overweight beau, and addicted to first nights and hotel palm-rooms, pretended to be envious of his partner’s commuter’s joys.
   “Going to be something doing in the humidity line to-night,” he said.  “You out-of-town chaps will be the people, with your katydids and moonlight and long drinks and things out on the front porch.”
   Hartley, twenty-nine, serious, thin, good-looking, nervous, sighed and frowned a little.
   “Yes,” said he, “we always have cool nights in Floralhurst, especially in the winter.”


texts: Unable to understand what the phrase means in this excerpt

texts:
"He is still watching, however" - she sighed - "and his gaze is
  stronger. Not on us, but on the world. How much longer before he is
  strong enough to..."
  Nynaeve hunched her shoulders; suddenly she
  could almost feel someone staring at her back. It was one
  explanation she would just as soon the Aes Sedai had not given her.
  Lan scouted their path down the river, but where before he had chosen
  the way, now Moiraine did so, as surely as if she followed some unseen
  track, footprints in air, the scent of memory. Lan only checked the
  route she intended, to see that it was safe.

    The Wheel of Time: Book One - The Eye of The World (Chapter 28 - Footprints in Air)

The phrase in bolds is what I am having a trouble understanding. Why does it feel like there is some part of the phrase missing? I'm thinking that the author intends to mean the following:

  It was one explanation she would have arrived at had the Aes Sedai not done so.


texts:
Is this sentence construction right?

  "You were intensively involved in doing a project or a research work during that semester, and hence was not focusing much in your course work"

Should the second part of the sentence have 'was' even though the subject is 'you'?


texts: "IT IS supposed" and "IT IS TO BE supposed". What's the difference? Thank you in advance!

texts:
In particular, it is supposed that the Federal budget will provide over 800 millions of rubles for the completion of plant's technical re-equipment.

If it is to be supposed that the stock market crashes soon, then . . .


texts:
As far as I know those two examples below considered wrong because of dangling participles.

  1- For the interview, William borrowed Grandpa's old suit,
  draped neatly on a hanger.

  2- Do you know my brother Ben, living in Hong Kong.

To make them correct, I should rewrite them as:

  1'- For the interview, William borrowed Grandpa's old suit, which
  was draped neatly on a hanger.

  2'- Do you know my brother Ben, who lives in Hong Kong.

My question is that why those sentences below aren't considered wrong?

  3-  Did you read Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare? (which
  was written)

  4- The critic used "spins out", meaning to lengthen,
  adjacent to the resulting length, thus emphasizing the number of
  pages. (which means)


texts:
Let them stay here

What is the correct question tag for this

  1) will they?  2) will you?

My grammar book is suggesting first question tag, but I think second is correct. Please, help me with this.


texts: meaning of "that (adjective) thing going"

texts:
I'm reading a story in English: it's not my native language. Two guys are spending time in a hot tub and talking and joking, and one guy says to the other

  "Oh, uh huh.  So, is this where I get to kiss him?” He teased.  “He does have that Shakespearean England thing going with the accent."

What does “He does have that Shakespearean England thing going with the accent.” mean?


texts:
I've been wondering if I can use this sentence ?

"I wasn't expecting you here." - the character is approching after he says that. (original version)

I thought that using present perfect continuous would be more proper.

"I have't been expecting you here." - emphesis the duration up to now that she suddenly appeared

I found those examples while watching John Wick 2.
I heard that my version doesn't suit it.
How the situation should look like if I want to use my example ?


texts: What does prove too much and end up mean in this context?

texts:
The heat proved too much for a few people who'd gone off too fast for their capabilities and ended up suffering from exhaustion.
Does prove mean this to show a particular quality after a period of time like in this example The new treatment has proved to be very effective or this is a special phrase which you should use with too much?
end up doing something What does it mean? I read the definition in the dictionary but still can't get what it means when we use with the ing form. Does it have only one meaning?