texts: Is the sentence "COVID-19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation" illogical?

texts:
National Institute of Health (NIH) says

  COVID-19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation.

Obvious it makes sense. But is it a bit illogical?

"situation" might mean

  a. The combination of circumstances at a given moment; a state of affairs. See Synonyms at state. b. A critical, problematic, or
  striking set of circumstances: We don't want this minor gaffe to turn
  into a situation.
  The way in which something is positioned vis-à-vis its surroundings: the town's situation on the river.
  Position or status with regard to conditions and circumstances: Their family's situation deteriorated during the recession.
  A position of employment; a post: found a nice situation with a software company.

However, COVID-19 is a virus or a kind of virus, is it a bit illogical to call a virus a situation? Could someone please give a hint? Thanks in advance.


texts:
In the following contexts:

Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world. It is a city of
great contrasts. The streets are noisy and full of people.
Istanbul is a beautiful place to visit. The streets are full of people buying and selling.

Does 'full' mean 'crowded', or it doesn't need to be so?

Thank you.


texts:
Is this sentence correct with a 'a little before or after' meaning of 'about'?

  I will return about autumn.


texts: How can I parse this subordinate clause?

texts:
Aureliano Jose could not get to sleep until he heard the twelve-o’clock waltz on the parlor dock, and the mature maiden whose skin was beginning to grow sad did not have a moments’s rest until she felt slip in under her mosquito netting that sleepwalker whom she had raised, not thinking that he would be a palliative for her solitude.
(One Hundred Years of Solitude, translated by Gregory Rabassa)

Would you parse the highlighted part? (It seems that syntactically slip is in equal with that sleepwalker, but it doesn’t make sense to me: first I don’t know what slip means in this case.)


texts: Are they exactly same? is + verb, is + to + verb, is + verb + ing

texts:
All you have to do is ask the question.
  All you have to do is to ask the question.
  All you have to do is asking the question.

The first sentence is what I saw on the tv show and the other things I made.

I thought that the first sentence pattern was wrong before.

Do they have exactly the same meanings?


texts:
Can I say:

  There has had...

instead of

  There has been...

Can you explain to me the difference between both?


texts: difference between get + adjective and grow + adjective

texts:
What is the difference between these two sentences  :

  The passengers grew angry about the delay.

  The passengers got angry about the delay


texts:
I wrote:

  When I try to open an "avi" file, I get an/the exception "Failed initializing decompressor".

Which should I use, the or an, why?! Do I need other words to relate exception and the exception message


texts: Can the adjective phrase describe the object of a sentence like this?

texts:
Could you please tell me if the sentences I have written are grammatically correct? Can I use adjectives to describe the object of the sentence like this:

He hung the flowers on the wall, dried and hanging upside down.
Kelly's aunt gave her the cake, frosted and fresh out of the oven.

Are the adjectives correctly referring back to the "flowers" and the "cake"?


texts: "I am cooking", "I have to cook", "I am going to cook", and "I will cook"

texts:
I have a situation. I am watching the TV at noon, then I make a telephone call with my husband for a while, then it is time to cook. Which of these is correct?

I am cooking (now), bye.
I have to cook (now), bye
I am going to cook (now), bye.
I will cook (now), bye.


texts:
I was wondering if someone could tell me if using the word "course" instead of "class" in the sentences below makes sense and if "course" sounds natural or not:

  We used to always skip math class in school.
  I go to a language class on Thursdays.


texts: Can anybody explain this for me, please?

texts:
"Earlier this year, Sam Stovall, U.S. equity strategist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, noted that the S&P 500  has a fairly good record of predicting election results.
Since 1944, the incumbent person or party was reelected 82% of the time when the S&P 500 rose between July 31 and Oct. 31, according to Stovall. The only exceptions were in 1968 and 1980, when there were popular third-party candidates in the picture."

source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-stock-market-has-already-picked-the-next-us-president-2016-08-29


texts: A construction "of the" and the usage of "take a rest" + articles

texts:
1)"This place is an opportunity to take a rest in THE uniqueness OF THE local nature where you can feel Russian hospitality."

2)"You will have an opportunity to take a rest in the uniqueness of the local nature enjoying Russian hospitality. (Can I write “where you can feel Russian hospitality” instead?)"

Can I write: "in the uniqueness of the local nature"?

Is number 1 not correct? What about the second version? Its meaning, grammar, articles, the usage "of" in a sense of belonging to something?

Thanks!


texts:
McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive.
  (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

Is the infinitive the result of the previous act or the object of it?
Dictionaries say that transfigure means "to change the appearance of something or someone" (Merriam-Webster), "to change the appearance of a person or thing so that they look more beautiful" (OALD). Does the sentence mean McGonagall just changed the appearances of chessmen that are already alive, or does the word means "changing the property of something"?


texts:
If I want to ask question, how should I ask?

Answer is given below;

Akbar was the third king.


texts: Is taking things on 'rent' be called 'shop'?

texts:
There is an abstract paragraph talking about ski products. And, the website is all about giving ski products on rent.

There is a button after abstract clicking on which takes us to the product page. I am naming the button as 'shop now'.

So my question is: Can I say 'shop now' for the products we give on rent? I am afraid that 'shop' means to purchase a product and own it, but here it is for rent.


texts: If you really want or wanted to get rich

texts:
Let's say you are talking to your friend into getting him rich. And you say:

  "You know what, if you really want to get rich, you have to make your way to it, it's not instant."

Or

  "You know what, if you really wanted to get rich, you have to make your way to it, it's not instant."

Is this all about the ''if'' clauses, then a past verb tense? I'm just so annoyed, I just usually say want and not wanted help.


texts: We wound up on the shore of our own subconcious

texts:
What does the phrase in the title mean?

Source:

  We were working together, we were exploring the concept of a dream
  within a dream. I kept pushing things. I wanted to go deeper and
  deeper, I wanted to go… further. I just didn’t understand the concept
  that hours could turn into years down there. That we could get trapped
  so deep that when we wound up on the shore of our own subconscious we
  lost sight of what was real. We created, we built the world for
  ourselves. We did that for years. We built our own world.

I presume "wound up" means completely the same as "ended up" would mean. But what's that got to do with shores?


texts: What is the correct question (as a reaction) to a shocking or unexpected incident?

texts:
Assume someone does something so unexpected. Eg: Taking a sip from your coffee mug without your permission and leaving. Consider the following reactions.
Q1: Did you just drink my coffee?
Q2: How can you drink my coffee?
Q3: What did you just do?
I have seen a number of times people using something like the first one. To me, the second and third ones are more meaningful. Any reason to prefer the first one to the other two? Which is more idiomatical?
I personally prefer the third one. Is that correct idiomatically?


texts:
My understanding that negating a negation is proof.

like:

  They are not uncooperative = They are cooperative.

I understand that the use of the negative statement could slightly change the meaning or give more info, but in the end, they have the same major meaning.

Now, sometimes I see this is not the case.

for example:

  I don't know nothing

which I guess from the context it means:

  I don't know anything

or

  I know nothing

So, what am I missing here?


texts:
If you say, "George, this is Joan" have you just introduced George to Joan or have you just introduced Joan to George?  I've seen this sort of thing many times and it has never been clear who is the introduced and who is the introduced to.

EDIT: All of the answers so far are too complicated.  I just need a simple answer.  Have you just introduced George to Joan or have you just introduced Joan to George?


texts: Is it possible to use pronouns before prepositions?

texts:
I have a parts of speech worksheet where it asks to use a pronoun before a preposition in a sentence and I don’t think it is possible.
Here is the problem:
Pronoun / Preposition / Pronoun-Adjective / Noun / Verb / Adjective.


texts: How does the conjunction "that" affect the meaning of a sentence?

texts:
She said (that) she was satisfied.
  We are the strongest team (that) Konoha village has to offer.
  Would you like to know why I did that?
  What do you think (that) I am?
  I thought (that) I would help you.
  It's about time (that) you woke up.

Have seen sentences in which the conjunction is being omitted.Why is that?


texts: You are a failure of (a) human. -> why 'a'?

texts:
You are a failure of human.

  You are a failure of a human.

Well, first, is putting 'a' in there grammatical? If so, what's the difference from when there's no 'a' there?


texts: Is there a word that conveys a dark meaning for protective?

texts:
I'm currently trying to find a few words, which are more dark versions of words I know. Thus words that convey a dark version of these words.

In this case I'm trying to find something for protective and I don't find anything that is truly fitting there. If I take rulership as example something more darkly associated would be tyranny there. So I'm looking for something similar for protective.

Is there such a word?

Added (after request for more specifics): I'm trying to give players in a online chat rpg the possibility to choose between different "archetypes" that all convey something dark there. Thus instead of a benevolent ruler they choose a tyrant as archetype. Instead of a warrior a destroyer,... the only word where I'm not sure about where there exists a good one as a "dark version" is protective. So sort of a paladin and a dark paladin, if you want


texts: What's the meaning of: "what does X mean for Y?"?

texts:
What does the sober scientific view mean for man’s self-image?

It seems that the meaning of the sentence above depends on understanding the structure below:

  "what does X mean for Y?

Could you please tell me what it means? And how can I rewrite it?

The fuller text is here:

  Nietzsche was keenly interested in this new view of life. ‘All we
  need,’ he later wrote, ‘is a chemistry of moral, religious, aesthetic
  ideas and feelings, a chemistry of all those impulses that we
  ourselves experience in the great and small interactions of culture
  and society, indeed even in solitude.’ In the last third of the
  nineteenth century, numerous scientists and philosophers were hard at
  work on this ‘chemistry,’ a biological theory of existence without
  God. But the questions on Nietzsche’s mind were altogether different:
  What does the sober scientific view mean for man’s self-image? Does it render man larger or smaller? Does man stand to lose everything,
  or is something to be gained from seeing things more clearly? These
  questions formed the backdrop for his transcendent essay ‘On Truth and
  Fals

ehood.’


texts: Explain the grammar of "have had" in the sentence

texts:
In a book A Clash of Kings from the series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, I found this sentence and can't understand the meaning of have had in it.

  I should have had him killed after he did the others.

I understand the meaning of the sentence, but I can't understand the grammar.
Please explain it to me.


texts:
Usually the question "How did you sleep today?" is about the quality of the sleeping or about the position of the sleeping?

In other words, if I read or hear “how did you sleep last night”, what should I understand?


texts: How would you like your coffee? and How do you like your coffee?

texts:
How would you like your coffee?
  How do you like your coffee?

Like in sentence 1, if I'm asking what kind of coffee the person wants, I think "how" is modifying coffee, but like in sentence 2, if the person already has the coffee and I'm asking if they enjoy it, "how" would be modifying "like".

So, in sentence 1, is "how" an adjective modifying "coffee" and in sentence 2, is "how" an adverb modifying "like"?


texts: What is "heavy print" and where can I find a definition?

texts:
From here

  September Vogue weighs in with 734 pages of heavy print, Bazaar with 488.

What does "heavy print" mean?

Other examples:

  Old habits die hard. Respondents ages 65 and over were almost three times more likely than the average respondent to be heavy print newspaper readers.

  The use of different media has changed dramatically over time. It is a cliché that reading is in decline. But on the other hand we get considerable information from the Internet, which is a heavy print medium.

Google and Wikipedia searches return nothing concrete.

I found a similar question asked here, but not really of use to finding the definition.


texts:
I created a problem on GitHub but the developers are too busy. I want to told them not to rush.
Are the following sentences OK and natural?
Also, What should I use if "at your convenience" is wrong?

Please take a look at report at your convenience.
Please fix report at your convenience.
You can fix report at your convenience.
Fix report at your convenience.


texts: The meaning of the word "constituencies" in this context

texts:
What does constituencies mean in this phrase:

  The design of the used implementation of the software is distributed
  over different design constituencies, sometimes located in two or more
  organisations.

The dictionary specifies that the word constituency reffers to a group of voters in a specified area who elect a representative to a legislative body.

But the phrase above has nothing to do with politics.


texts:
Is it not necessary to use the indefinite article an before e-mail in the following sentence?

  " ... Six months later you find a name and e-mail address on a card or an old piece of paper."

It's clear why a second on has been left out before an old piece of paper, but since a/an are used in different ways, I can't understand why it has been omitted there.


texts: Pronunciation of adjectives ending with "-ate"

texts:
Legitimate

How should I pronounce it?
It's confusing me. There are so many vocabularies of adjectives ending with "ate"

as in meet or as in "it" : like "tim -it"
as in a boy :    (a boy, a book), not amphasis of a
as in mate:     ei


texts:
Can I use  "much" before any adjective in the meaning of "very" ?

  I'm not much good at knitting

  I'm very much aware of the problem.

  (Cambridge Dictionary)

If this sentences above are correct, why the following sentences are considered to be wrong?

  He is a much interesting person.

  You are much welcome.

  His face is much red.


texts: formulate an expression meaning "oversimplification approach"

texts: What would be the appropriate expression to define a "oversimplification approach"?


texts:
What is meant by the underlined part

There is no equivalence between the ranks of the defence forces and the police forces since there is no government established relativity in terms of rank. (source)


texts:
What "make it through" means? I heard it in a speech.

I googled it and found out "not die as a result of an illness or an accident, get better after an illness, recover, survive, respond". Is it right?


texts:
The sentence below is from a journal.

  In the first research
  study using the four categories it was found that the
  construct’s content validity and the instrument assessing
  it were valid.

My question is , can the bolded part "instrument assessing it" be rewritten into:

1) instrument which were used to assess it
2) instrument which assessed it
3) instrument which were assessing it

Do they all still remain grammatical and convey the same meaning?

And in all three cases, is it correct to assume the relative pronoun "which" represents "instrument"?


texts:
I have heard the following usage of 'so' quite frequently in Indian schools:

  He was sick so he did not come.

Isn't this incorrect? I prefer this usage:

  He was sick, and so he did not come.

My first part of the question is some kind of attestation on whether the first usage is even remotely correct.

My second part is: Could we improve upon the first sentence using some punctuation? Would a comma before 'so' make it correct if it is wrong? Or, should it be a semicolon before so and then a comma afterwards? I am writing them below:

  He was sick, so he did not come.
  He was sick; so, he did not come.

Please give your valuable inputs, people.

PS: I would also like your comments on whether 'so' is a coordinator in itself. Or should it be 'and so'? I would like answers in formal English, as I need this information as a teacher of English and a writer.


texts:
I am not able to comprehend the meaning of "almost a lifetime since" used in the following sentence:

Almost a lifetime since, he had been elected an MLA twice and an MP four times from Hyderabad, a seat that his father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi represented six times. He has recast the archetype for Muslim leadership. Does he regret giving up law to be a lawmaker? “Regret…? I don’t know... It is a very subjective thing. I don’t regret things in life, you look at the good side of it and go ahead,” Mr. Owaisi said.

 Link of the full article


texts: Is "What a big heart" structure valid when inserted within the speech?

texts:
I read a similar question  which is "What big cheeks!" and "What a big cheek!" (I have rephrased the question according to the answer it received).

As I, now, know that the phrasing is correct, I want to inquire about its validity when inserted within the speech as in the example:

  She can see what a big heart and a charming personality you have.


texts:
Will "soggy" only be used when a food item is wet that liquid is dripping from it or can it be used when it loses its crunch due to moisture?

Like  chips kept in open  catch moisture and lose their crunch.
So can it be :

  It has gone soggy.

  It has gone moist.

What will be a natural way to describe that?

What about a cookie kept in open?  Does it "go soggy" Or does it "go moist"?

In my country we have "Parathas" (Stuffed flatbread), which catches moisture and goes kind of moist?  (Can it be called "soggy"?)


texts:
You would say 'I have a bit of the English in me' to say 'I have a bit of English 'blood/heritage/temperament.'

Would the following be also used?
I have a bit of Englishman in me.


texts: Is this an independent clause? Should I use comma here?

texts:
I hope that you have a good time with her and everything is going
according to your plans.

I am asking this question because I have an English test. I wonder whether I should put comma in both sentences, and I didn't put a comma before "and" in the first sentence because I thought if I did I would have to write it like this.

I hope that you have a good time with her, and I hope everything is going
according to your plans.


texts: Does "gone astray" mean the same as losing the way?

texts: If I walk along a hiking path and I lose my way somehow, can I say that I am gone astray?


texts: Why are some possessive pronoun not categorized as possessive adjectives?

texts:
In a book(Wren and Martin updated Indian edition) I am reading it is said:

  The forms my, our, your, her, their are called Possessive Adjectives because they are used with nouns and do the work of Adjectives; as,

  This is my book.
  Those are your books.
  That is her book.

My understanding is that my, your and her can be replaced with adjectives in the above sentences as:

This is the red book.
These are better books.
That is a small book.

In the book I am reading, it further says mine, yours, hers are possessive pronouns, as used in following sense:

  This book is mine.
  These books are yours.
  That book is hers.
  That idea of yours is excellent.

But my question is that mine, yours, hers are infact taking the position of Predecative adjectives as:

This book is red
These books are better
This book is small

So, can mine, yours, hers be considered as Possessive adjectives? If not then why?


texts: Informal way of asking someone to make a PC screen window bigger

texts: Imagine your 5–7 year son is watching a movie for children on a small window on the computer, and you want him to make it full screen. How would you ask him for that, using everyday language and in the least words? Is there a phrasal verb for this scenario with an "up", "out" or similar?


texts:
What does "turned up halfway" exactly mean?
For example

  Why is the heating often suddenly turned up
  halfway through a flight?


texts:
I'm very confused about this sentence now. It's one of answer choices of GRE test. The question is:

Q: The passage suggests that Glass’s work displays which of the following qualities?

Choice B: An attempt to elevate rock music to an artistic status more closely approximating that of classical music.

What does the usage of "that" here mean? Which is correct if I complete the full sentence here?

Does it mean "the attempt"? Seems like not sensible.

An attempt to elevate rock music to an artistic status more closely
approximating the attempt of classical music.

Does it mean "an attempt to elevate rock music to an artistic status"? But this would seem to redundant.
Does it mean "An attempt to elevate rock music"? Then it should be "that to" instead of "that of", right?


texts: words or phrases to describe people who value relationships

texts: What are any vocabulary or phrases to describe the kind of people who value relationship (with family, friends, colleagues...)  more over other things, work, success, etc. ?


texts: “From behind” prepositions followed by adverbs. Is it grammatically acceptable?

texts:
he cracked his friend’s skull from behind.

“From” is a preposition
And.... behind is an adverb
.
As I know, preposition must be followed by objects.

So, how is it possible that “from” in this sentence to be followed by an adverb.

Importantly, I looked for the word “behind”, And I found out that it cannot come as a noun.


texts:
What do you call the apparatus you use to raise a flag?

Here we see a dummy person raising the flag with an apparatus, what is the apparatus called? Is there a word for it?


texts: I work in / at Google's office. // I work in / at Google office?

texts:
I know it might sound unnatural but I'd like to know which one is correct in terms of grammatical structure...

I work in Google's office
I work at Google's office
I work in Google office
I work at Google office


texts: Which is correct in this instance - "meaning that I got" or "meant that I got"?

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  "I was seven time zones away meaning that I got few disturbances."
  or
  "I was seven time zones away meant that I got few disturbances."

Thanks in advance for helping me out!


texts:
Is this phrase correct?

  Do you want me continuing?

I usually use that phrase to ask my boss if he needs more support from me in a specific activity. But obviously I'm not quite sure if it's the correct way.


texts: The definite article before nouns derived from verbs

texts:
Tell me please which of the following sentences is correct.

  1 "His actions have raised concerns about monopolization of the industry."
  2 "His actions have raised concerns about the monopolization of the industry."

I think the second is correct because "monopolization" is modified by "industry", but I have noticed sometimes people drop "the" before such sentences that is why  I am confused by the usage of "the" before nouns from verbs and "of phrase".


texts: Subject verb agreement question: AND or ARE?

texts:
Getting hired by a well-known company OR getting enrolled at a famous college ARE good examples of this.
  Good examples of this ARE getting more easily hired by a well-known company OR getting enrolled at a leading university.

Are these two sentences correct or should we change the "or" to "and"?

While we are at it, would you omit the second "getting" before the word "enrolled"?


texts:
I'm feeling nostalgic as I pen these words to you.
I'm feeling nostalgic as I am penning these words to you.

I feel that the first sentence is correct. Could you point out which sentence is correct and why?


texts:
I suggest that he go to the doctor as soon as he returns from taking examination.

Book says because the sentence involves suggestion so there should be go instead of goes. What kind of rule is this?


texts: "I've known her very well" vs. "I know her very well"

texts:
Jane and I are friends. (I know / I've known) her very well.

The answer is 'I know'. I want to know why 'I've known' cannot be the answer in this short question.


texts: Confusion regarding Simple, Complex and Compound sentences

texts:
My English teacher recently covered simple, complex and compound sentences in class. She told us that:

A simple sentence has one clause.
A compound sentence has two clauses.
A complex sentence has three clauses.

Quick research on the internet proved that either she was dead wrong or she was trying to teach me some "baby rules". I am very confused, and since I have my exam coming up I don't know what to do. I have tried to learn online but have found this to be quite a confusing topic. For example, how is this sentence a simple sentence:

"Despite a lot of difficulties, we succeeded in reaching the base camp for the final trek."

From what I have gathered, a simple sentence has one clause but this appears to have two. What is the basic definition of these three types of sentences? Am I going wrong somewhere? Any help with explaining this clearly and simply will be appreciated.


texts:
Lift the device or system should the stunt person become
  misaligned during the fall.

What does it mean? "fall" means the stunt action of falling. Does it mean that "Lift the device or system that could make the stunt person become misaligned during the fall"?


texts: Is "who or what a thing or person is" correct?

texts:
identity: who or what a thing or person is

Is this sentence correct? shouldn't there be an "a" before the word "person"?

I mean it's either definite or indefinite, but in this sentence it's neither this nor that.

Somebody told me there is an "a" before "thing" and the one before "person" is just removed and the sentence is ok.


texts: what does ''abundant intentionality'' mean?

texts:
There was an argument between a boyfriend and his girlfriend in a series(The Sopranos). because the boy had taken out his suitcase and his girlfriend saw the suitcase and thought he was going to leave and this boy was trying to say he didn't actually want to leave.

The man said:

  There was no abundant intentionality in me getting out the suitcase.

I can understand ''There was no intentionality in me getting out the suitcase''. but I get confused when it adds abundant as an adjective. I thought it may be a phrase or something.


texts:
This evil demon thought experiment is Descartes’ way of pushing doubt
  to its limits. If there was one thing that we could be sure the evil > demon couldn’t trick us about, that would be amazing. It would also > provide a way of answering those people who claim that we can’t know
  anything at all for certain.

[A little history of philosophy, Nigel Warburton, Chapter XI]

What does the word "that" refer to? Is it the thing that we could be sure the evil demon couldn’t trick us about?


texts:
But like the male mosquito, females feed only on nectar for their food source.

If I rephrase  this sentence,

  female mosquitoes are compared to male mosquitoes in feeding.

But I have a doubt that I can use "in feeding" instead of "food source".


texts: Is this the relative non-restrictive clause?

texts:
I don't think that this the relative non-restrictive clause, but why is there the comma before which?

  Hobby drones appear in all shapes and sizes, which sometimes makes the
  process of finding the right drone for your needs difficult.


texts: Who have done the act laughing in the sentence "The girl came to her mother laughing"?

texts:
The girl came to her mother laughing.

Here who have done the act laughing? I mean whether it the girl or mother


texts:
what is the meaning of " had she been so inclined" in this context?

  In these letters Kane continually reproaches Margaret with living in
  deceit and hypocrisy. We have very few of her letters, so that we do
  not know how far she defended herself. The compiler of the book,
  though a non- Spiritualist, says: "Poor girl, with her simplicity,
  ingenuousness and timidity, she could not, had she been so inclined,
  have practised the slightest deception with any chance of success."
  This testimony is valuable, as the writer was clearly intimately
  acquainted with everyone concerned. Kane himself, writing to the
  younger sister Kate, says: "Take my advice and never talk of the
  spirits either to friends or strangers. You know that with all my
  intimacy with Maggie after a whole month's trial I could make nothing
  of them. Therefore they are a great mystery."

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


texts: (I've always known) Which sentence is correct

texts:
I don't know which sentence is grammtically correct

1.I've always known that he's a good person

I've always known that he has been a good person
I've always known that he was a good person

Just to be more specific that person is still a good person


texts: What is Proper Format for a Numbered List (Series) within a Sentence

texts: I know there a lot of ways to format a numbered series or list within a sentence.  My question pertains to the proper use of parentheses when writing the list continually without hitting the return key between list items. Specifically, should the numbers be written as (1), (2), (3), etc., or is 1), 2), 3), etc. acceptable?


texts:
I was reading "The stranger" in which a person is guilty of a murder.

What is the meaning of the sentence:

  But here in this court the wholly negative virtue of tolerance must give way to the sterner but loftier virtue of justice.

Below is my research

give way: to break or fall down

stern: serious and difficult

lofty: deserving praise because of its high moral quality


texts: Word meaning "with light shining behind"?

texts:
Say, you are in a P.E. storeroom. Someone opens the door. So the light comes from behind the person, making the front part black. How do you call this physical phenomena (in colloquial words)?

Example sentence:

  Fumiko thought the P.E. storeroom was the best place to hide. At least until the door creaked open and a __ figure.


texts:
A. If you're scared, snuggle with that doll, baby.

  B. If you're scared, snuggle that doll, baby.

  C. If you're scared, snuggle up to that doll, baby.

Which ones do you think it is correct to you English native speaker?

Please rank them in order it sounds natural more and works best.

A is the one used in a certain movie, by the way. I doubt the prepostion "with" is necessary in this phrase. So I've been thinking B works best.

I found the verb "snuggle" is used with the addition "up to" in some examples.

That's what I am a little confused about. What do you think about it?


texts: Does the adjective 'good' justifies its meaning in 'Good Friday'?

texts:
I'm putting this as a separate question though I already asked it here. That's because either I will learn more about using the adjective good or I'll know more about how a phrasal noun which refers to some grief takes a positive adjective?

What is good in Good Friday? An adjective, isn't it? But then if it's really good, how does it justify its meaning? As Good Friday is certainly a very sad day to lose such a person of God. Where's the goodness in that? Is there any positive adjective that's used this way forming a noun-phrase which actually means exactly opposite to that (A bad Friday?, indeed a bad day as we lost him). I'm choosing the tag 'Word Choice' here.


texts:
Talking about possessive pronoun, which one is correct?

Don’t eat Margaret’s pizza, it’s her.
Don’t eat Margaret’s pizza, it’s hers.
Don’t eat Margaret’s pizza, it’s her’s.


texts: Figurative meaning of "to hose something" (not watering)

texts:
I have found some sentences where "hose <something>" is not used as literally watering.
Examples of this use I don't know:

Ghostery completely hosed Firefox and I had to delete Firebox [and] download a fresh copy sans Ghostery
Hosed my Firefox after Hardy install (more context here)
I hosed my website (more context here)

So, what does it mean that something get hosed in this context?


texts: What's in-between silence and clamor? Sometimes, in a room for example, there's no sound except 1 person talking at times, do we still refer to that as silence. If not, what is it called? I suppose it's something between silence and clamor, but I can't think of a word? Is there a word that means almost-silence or the state of being able to hear a sound distinctly while hearing nothing else?


texts: How to use "to be" at the end of a sentence

texts:
I have some confusion about this; for example:

Where is the bank?
I don't know where the bank is.

I don't know how to be is used at the end of sentences.


texts: how do we normally greet when some one meet around 2pm to 3.30pm?

texts:
How do we normally greet when some one meet around 2pm to 3.30pm ?

I know normally after 12.00pm, we called "Good Afternoon",
But what if the time is around 2pm to 3.30pm ?

Usage : When I'm greeting at the meeting.


texts: Worked on finding errors on server : Is my sentence correct

texts:
My manager asked me what have you done last 15 days. Please send me document.

In that document I have written one point

  Worked on finding errors on server.

I am not sure this sentence is correct grammatically. I am confuse at Worked and Finding.
Could you please help me?


texts: Difference in meaning between four arrangements of "not", "both", "either", and "neither"

texts:
I have four sentences:

  John and Joe are not both in the room.

  John and Joe are both not in the room.

  Either John or Joe is not in the room.

  Neither John nor Joe is in the room.

I want to know the difference in meaning between these sentences.
Specifically I want to know the difference between sentences A and B, and C and D.


texts: Is it correct and natural to say "what chance do you give to..."?

texts:
Could you tell me if it's correct and natural to say what chance do you give to... meaning what do you think is the chance of something happening? For example:

Person A: What chance do you give to the pandemic being over by the summer?
Person B: I give it a 100 percent chance.

If that is not the most natural way to ask that, what is most natural then?


texts:
He played 1 home game every 3 days with an average attendance of 5,000.

I think I should put a comma after "3 days", but I'm not sure.


texts:
I read an article in "The Hindu" which was  titled as -

  An appeasement budget

Should not budget be preceded by "appeasing" instead of "appeasement"?


texts: Word to describe a person who spends extremely little money

texts: What do you call a person who spends extremely little money, and is careful in spending each and every dollar? Note, I'm not saying he has little money. He spends very, very little money, but he has lots more money than he spends. For example, he can easily afford to have a $25 dinner, but he never spends more than $8 for dinner. He can afford to buy a shirt for $30, but he has never bought a shirt for more than $10. What do you call this person? What are all the different words available? I'm looking for a word that's kind of insulting also. The word should also insult the person's behavior.


texts:
This Wikipedia article states:

  Noun adjuncts can also be strung together in a longer sequence preceding the final noun, with each added noun modifying the noun which follows it, in effect creating a multiple-word noun adjunct which modifies the following noun.

It says following and not final noun. Does that mean if we had a construct like :

  A B C final word.

, where A, B and C are noun adjuncts, then all of the following are true:

A modifies B,

[ A and B ] modifies C,

[ A and B and C ] modifies the final word.

.


texts: make active sentence into passive "He doesn't disturb him."

texts:
I am having trouble turning these sentences into active/passive voice. I have tried but the active/passive meaning contradicts with the main meaning.

  1.He doesn't disturb him.(Passive)


texts: "He could get a new job if he really tried."

texts:
He could get a new job if he really tried.

It's the second condition of if clause but why we used "could"?

I know that could is the simple past form of can so in this case we have 2 past simple and the rule for the second condition of if clause is that we should put past simple in if clause sentence and present simple in the other sentence. For example: "If he came we would win the game."

So in the first sentence why we put "could"?


texts: "I saw john the other day" ,What is "the other day"

texts:
Please take a look at the sentence

  I saw john the other day

I know the meaning of "the other day"  But is it a object (noun phrase). because "day" is a noun,"other" is adjective, and "the" is article. So i think it could be a object (noun phrase)

But the other day is just similar to every day which is an adverb

For example

  I see him everyday

  I runs everyday

I think everyday is adverb here because it describing the verb. Similarly in first sentence  "the other day" also works in same way.

So in first sentence what is "the other day" ? is it a object(noun phrase) or an adverb ?


texts: "It was nice meeting you or it was nice talking to you", What's the grammar?

texts:
I'm not sure about this thing, but it has been tormenting me for a while. I can't really understand the grammatical structure of it was nice meeting you.

I mean, if nice in itself is an adjective, then how is it modifying meeting?

But if we remove nice, then the sentence It was meeting you doesn't make much more of the sense of what we are trying to express, instead it just forms a past continuous tense.

However, this thing it was nice meeting you holds the ground if we consider meeting as a noun i.e. a  gerund. Can anyone explain to me what's actually happening over here?


texts: What is the opposite of "spread something (out): to move your arms, legs, fingers, etc. far apart from each other"?

texts:
spread: [transitive] spread something (out) to move your arms, legs,
  fingers, etc. far apart from each other

  She spread her arms and the child ran towards her.

Ok, my toddler often spreads his legs so far out like this when sitting, which is not nice.

I want to find a word that express the opposite. That word means "to move your arms, legs, fingers, etc. close to each other".

"fold up"? or "close"?

Can I say:

Please don't spread your legs so far out like that, fold them up?


texts: Can the word "once" in the sense of doing something at some time in the past with the present perfect?

texts:
Can the word once in the sense of doing something at some time in the past with the present perfect? As this dictionary states once can be used to talk about something that happened at some point in the past. It, as other dictionaries, gives examples with it only in the past simple. For example:

  I was once in New York.

Does it mean that it cannot be used with the present perfect? If so, then I find it strange as it is known that when are talking about past experiences without mentioning the time, the present perfect is used. Taking that in consideration shouldn't it be

  I have once been to New York?

If both sentence are possible, then what is the difference in meaning?


texts: What is this action called? He is teasing me?

texts:
tease [intransitive, transitive] tease (somebody) | tease (somebody) + speech to laugh at somebody and make jokes about them,
  either in a friendly way or in order to annoy or embarrass them

  Don't get upset—I was only teasing.

  I used to get teased about my name.

A child often sticks out his/her tongue to others to look down on them. See the picture

What is that action called: "He is teasing me"?


texts: Should I use out/from/off in following case?

texts:
Example:

  I had to pluck the remaining glass [...] the window frame.

What's the correct choice and why?


texts: Is it OK to say "And I begin" for current action?

texts: Some person is about to begin some process. Can he say "And I begin" when he's ready to start?, like "And I'm starting it" or "And here we go".


texts:
I have a question regarding the usage of can, could, would. I know can Is less polite when it is used to request people to do things. I know would and could also be used in a more polite way. But can I interchange would and could when making requests to people.

Here are some examples:

1a- Helen, would you please be quiet? I am trying to concentrate?

1b- Helen, could you please be quiet? I am trying to concentrate?

1c- Helen, can you please be quiet? I am trying to concentrate? (I know this one is not so polite.)

2a- Hello sir, can you please tell me where the bank is?

2b- Hello sir, could you please tell me where the bank is?

2c- Hello sir, would you please tell me where the bank is?

3a- Could you please email me the directions to your house?

3b- Would you please email me the directions to your house?

So when making requests in a polite manner can I use would and could interchangeably in sentences like these ?


texts: What does "We've all got to worry some." Worry some what?

texts:
What does this mean:

  We’ve all got to worry some. Just don’t let it conquer you. Instead, let it alarm you.

Worry some what?


texts:
I want to know country of some person.

What's right question?

What country is he from?
OR
From what country is he?

Or maybe the both options are wrong, aren't?


texts:
How would I say, "much much more" in a formal manner?
I need to write a report and cannot come up with a more formal way of saying, much much more. This is to be placed at the end of a list:

  Yearly thousands upon thousands of animals are rescued, £150,000 was raised over 43 “walkies events” in 2016 and much more.

This is a list of successes by the RSPCA


texts: Use/nonuse of articles in 'a state of residual charge of battery of a microphone at a...'

texts:
I know you put 'a', 'an', or 'the' for countable nouns.

But I sometimes see some phrases without the articles when they are supposed to be included.

For example,

  a state of residual charge of battery of a microphone at a ..

I think that the battery is a countable noun so it should be like
"a state of residual charge of a battery of a .."

But readability is much better without 'a' in front of the battery.

So my question is, do you omit articles when there are too many "of" in one sentence?


texts:
are the following sentences synonymous with each other?(Google's example sentence)

  "What woman would consider a date with him, less so than a marriage?"

To

  "What woman would consider a date with him, much less a marriage?"


texts: Why is "and so" often followed by a comma even though it's a conjunction?

texts:
From this website, I found the following advice:

  If you have an introductory word (or two) that is being used as an
  adverb (usually answers the question of when, where, why, or to what
  degree), then no comma.

They give this example: "Tomorrow I’m going to get my hair done."

I thought this was the reason "and so" is often written without a comma. This is from the fraze.it search engine:

  And so your ending will be sort of a reflection back on how you saved
  the world.

But then I remembered that "and so" isn't an adverb but a conjuction ...

Why do people often omit the comma after "and so"? Is there any grammatical rule?


texts: Meaning of "down in the street" in this context

texts:
I encountered a question in a paragraph of the novel " Nineteen Eighty-Four ".

https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/o/orwell/george/o79n/chapter1.1.html

The paragraph is below.

  Outside, even through the shut window-pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere. The black-moustachio’d face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house-front immediately opposite. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston’s own. I encountered questions in the sentence " Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere ".

Does the word "down" mean "along the path of (something)" in the sentence "Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals"?

Why the word "in" is put between "down" and "the street" in the sentence "Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals"?


texts: Getting in the arms or Getting on the arms?

texts:
This is not about getting a hug. It is about
picking up the baby and holding her in/on the arms.

What's the correct usage?


texts: Word for "stickiness due to viscous liquids"

texts:
My friend gave me a chocolate. It was melted and, as a result, my hand was sticky with chocolate in an unpleasant way.

Which word can I use to describe the unpleasant stickiness of this viscous liquid?


texts: I vs I will, following introductory phrase

texts:
Which of the folllowing is correct?

  Sometimes when I'm feeling sleepy, I take a nap.

or

  Sometimes when I'm feeling sleepy, I will take a nap.


texts:
please tell me about the meaning of this sentence:

How satisfying it might be, momentarily, to have a direct receptacle for some lashing belt of her rage.


texts:
I tried to make a sentence:

  The job I'm working at doesn't give me a chance to solve sophisticated
  problems and I have too much free time there.

To me, the subclause I have too much free time there doesn't sound naturally (especially there at the end of the sentence). In fact, I tried to express that the job is simple and I have too much free time. Is my sentence correct? If not, how could I remake it properly?


texts: How to understand the usage of 'face' in "the face of an immigration debate"

texts:
But Tibbetts' father said his daughter wouldn't want to be the face of an immigration debate and he begged for the family to be allowed to grieve privately.

This usage of 'face' is unusual to me. Does it mean 'she wouldn't want to face this kind of immigration debate' or 'she wouldn't want to be the arguing point of an immigration debate'?

How should we understand 'face' in this context?

The full source.


texts: The usage of "only": Could someone please explain this example of conjunction or give another example?

texts:
Note:  as @Acccumulation pointed out, the video mentioned in this post is using a bad example, plz consider the example in the answer.

This video (https://youtu.be/gvG713JZPL4?t=264) says

  only can be a conjunction

and gives this example

  you just
  started learning English only
  you sound fluent because you're so confident

Although I did see "only" connects 2 parts of the sentence, I cannot understand the meaning of that. I cannot even understand the meaning of whole sentence.

Pretend that I started learning English a few days ago and my teacher said that to me. I guess she is trying to encouraging me though, I still get the meaning clearly.

I guess "only" here means, but or however, with which

  you just started learning English but you sound fluent ...

makes more sense. and I cannot yet get the point.


texts:
If one was meaning to say that their weight was the double of mine / twice mine, could this expression be acceptable: my weight is doubled yours?
I don't think so, but I need to settle some internet argument :D


texts:
I have a few difficulties to use the verb "To come up" or "To come up with". Could anyone be able to give me an explanation and some English examples how to use this phrasal verb?

Thanks in advance!


texts:
According to grammar that we don't put any preposition before next week, year, month etc. but in one of the Outcome books I found this sentence:

Passengers who are flying IN the next few days should ring their airline.

Could you please someone explain it to me?


texts: What is the correct way to interpret the expression " Fall over each other with doing something"? Not sure if this question should be posted to English Learners our Chinese Stack Exchange, asI found this definition as the explanation of the meaning of the Chinese character 争 (zheng1) in a bilingual dictionary. Thanks.


texts: Do a demonstrative and a possessive pronoun make it offensive (if so, what is the alternative)?

texts:
In a Japanese Language question, I was informed that English construction such as

That son of yours
These cats of hers

would have an extra offensive connotation outside of a neutral combination of determinatives.

Is that generally true, or when (collocation or situation) can it be? And if possible, how come?

Edit: In a comment I got an observation about my examples:

  since the "standard" versions are your son / her cats, native speakers automatically assume the "marked" forms convey some specific sense or nuance

It actually adds to this question:

Doesn't English have an neutral way to add both information carried by "this/that" and "my/your/their" to a noun?
Isn't such a manner of specification meaningful in English?


texts: Perfect past or Perfect Present. Has had vs had had

texts:
Which one is correct?
"He decided that he has had enough and now he regrets it."
or
"He decided that he had had enough and now he regrets it."

In idea is that a person decided a couple of days ago and today he regrets that decision.


texts: How do I refer to an entity from which some other entity depends on?

texts:
So I have A and B.
B depends on A, which is why B is a dependent entity or a dependant.
In this case what do I call the A entity? A defining entity?
What is the right way to express that it is something which something else depends on?

UPDATE:

I apologize for not mentioning the lack of any specific context which people are asking about. Well, it is so very abstract and there is simply no context defined at all. All we know is that A only exerts some influence over B making it dependent. Let me be even more precise, all we known is that the existence of B doesn't make sense if A doesn't exist.

I cannot accept following alternatives, because they imply some context which we don't have and thus can be misleading:

provider (A provides something to B), sorry, nothing is being provided
controller (A controls B), sorry, no controlling is involved
parent/child relation (A is a parent of B), sorry, no inheritance is involved

There were "precedent" and "antecedent" which imply a cause/outcome relation between things. They are pretty abstract and seem like almost what I was looking for except for the unwanted time substance being involved.

I really like the answer from StoneyB who suggested "governing" or "determining". Out of all I think determining works the best in a very abstract sense of the matter in question.

Also it was brought up that there is a similar question at EL&U: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/36033/if-a-person-depends-upon-you-what-are-you-for-him


texts:
Is this phrase idiomatic?

  "Let's start where we stopped"

If it isn't then what is the right phrase?


texts: Which one is right "I must or mustn't be back home before 8pm"?

texts:
On weekdays I must get up early because I have to take the school bus at 7.10. When I get up at 6.15, I have lots of time; I can take a shower and eat breakfast. But I usually get up at 6.45, so usually I must hurry to catch my bus. I come back from school at 2.30. Usually I needn't make lunch because my mom cooks for us. But I must wash the dishes and tidy up the kitchen afterwards. After lunch I must do my homework. But when I've finished my homework, I can do whatever I like - watch TV, go outside or meet my friends. However, I ....must or mustn't.... be back at home before 8pm.

  I love weekends because I can sleep as long as I like. Also, I needn't go to school! However, I must help my mum at home. I must clean the bathrooms and wash the car. Luckily, I needn't work in the garden - that's my sister's job.

This is a part of an exercise and I think that must is correct, but the answer in the key was mustn't. Can somebody explain why it is mustn't?


texts: Does past perfect tense 'had been allowed' suggest it's not allowed now?

texts:
A 1982 agreement between Singapore and Malaysia reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump into the Johor Strait.

Does the above sentence suggest that municipalities are no longer allowed to dump into the Johor Strait?

If one were to express that municipalities is still allowed to dump, but the amount was reduced by the agreement, is it correct to say:

  A 1982 agreement between Singapore and Malaysia reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities are allowed to dump into the Johor Strait.


texts:
The sentence is said to appear in a textbook.
I feel this is a cleft sentence to emphasize 'them,' but then it's omitting 'who are' before the 'waiting,' but is this way of expression common?


texts: Given sentence 'Dogs are my choice', can I use singular verb form for any reason?


texts:
Is there a word for “that’s not my fault”?

Sometimes it’s easy to be associated with something negative, but it is not your fault but the wrongly association. Would the word innocent describe it correctly?

Let me give a more vivid example for better understanding. Suppose you were walking down the sidewalk, and all of the sudden, the car besides you started to sound the alarm sound. Out rushed a big fellow, and since you are the only one around the car, he shouted at you “what have you done to my car?”. This is a fake example (what’s the better word for fake here?), but illustrates my point very well.

I’m thinking “I’m innocent” does not quite describe the situation, does it? And not even “that’s not my fault”; “It has nothing to do with me” would be more appropriate. Is there any words or phrases that is suitable for such situation?


texts: Which of these perfect continuous constructions is different from the others?

texts:
In my opinion, the present perfect continuous shared among the following sentences expresses the same idea, i.e an action started in the past and is still happening now. However, the rubric emphasizes that one of them is different from the others. Could you help me find it and explain why?

It’s been snowing all afternoon. When it stops, we’re going to build a snowman.

Why are you standing here? I’m waiting for the bus. I’ve been waiting for it for 45 minutes!

She’s been learning English since she was 5 years old.

Where’s Harry? He’s still watching TV. He’s been watching it all afternoon.


texts: Using 'although' and 'nevertheless' in the same sentence

texts:
Is this sentence correct?

  Although I would like to start, nevertheless it is not possible.

Or should it be:

  Although I would like to start, it is not possible.
  I would like to start, nevertheless it is not possible.


texts: I needn't have done for an action that wasn't done

texts: Would it be wrong (in BrE) to say that when something was done but it wasn't necessary only "needn't have done" is used but it is not used for an action that wasn't done? For example, "I needn't have bought another loaf of bread. We already had one." (I bought it). If I didn't buy a loaf of bread or even if I bought it but it wasn't necessary I can use either "I didn't need to" and " didn't have to". Am I right?


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

texts:
Source

  This is why your character is still on the bed, oblivious to
  the world.  After you roll over, you are greeted again, then your partner cleans up your room a bit.

No meaning of roll over correctly matches with this sentence.


texts: Is "to be concerned with" always equal to "to be interested in"?

texts:
I've just checked the dictionary about the meaning of the idiom "concerned with" and I found it as a synonym of "interested in". Then I can use "concerned with" in any place of "interested in", or there are some exceptions that I should know?

For example, if I want to buy a nice car, can I say "I'm concerned with this car"? or "I'm concerned with this girl" and so on?

In the same topic, I'd like to know if I can use "concern with" in the past form without "to be" before. (e.i. instead of using "he was concerned with this car", I would omit the "to be" auxiliary verb and I'd say "He concerned with this car")


texts:
Mumbai city is marooned in rains.

Is this sentence grammatically correct?
I have read some sentence formations in Collins dictionary but couldn't understand how to use it in a sentence. There were many forms:

1) He spent twenty-four hours marooned in the cab of his vehicle. (marooned is here followed by preposition in)

2) I was temporarily marooned at home by my injured knee.(marooned is here followed by preposition at)


texts:
Here is the piece from one of the books from the video game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion:

  However, a guild is different than a band. A guild implies an organization with membership rolls. It would have a financial structure, which would include member dues or some other means of securing funds. It would have rules of conduct or behavior.

What does "would" mean in this case? According to the official Russian translation, it appears to be something like "must".


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "be keyed upon something"?

texts:
It is from this video. It is at 6 minute and 40 second. Here is the context:

  But for those who have been, maybe, keyed upon this stuff or heard us discuss it before, or kind of tracking this concept of pain as output of the brain instead of input to the brain.


texts: Based on "I would have stayed", did Edward stay or leave?

texts:
Normally if I hear somebody say "I would have stayed", I would expect a "but" coming along stating the reason why instead the speaker did not stay. Or I would expect subsequently there will be an adverbial phrase/clause of time as in 'I would have stayed there for 3 months by the time he arrived.'
However, consider this scene, where Edward answers to Jacob's question about how he was doing while being away from Bella:

For over six months I was able to stay away, to keep my promise that I wouldn't interfere again. It was getting close—I was fighting but I knew I wasn't going to win; I would have come back ... just to check on her. That's what I would have told myself, anyway. And if I'd found her reasonably happy... I like to think that I could have gone away again.
But she wasn't happy. And I would have stayed. That's how she convinced me to stay with her tomorrow, of course.
— Eclipse: Stephanie Meyer, pub 2007 Hachette UK

The novel is written in the past tense.
Edward had come back to Bella by the time of utterance. He did choose to stay. So, what would the difference be between "I stayed" and "I would have stayed" in this situation?
It's the same issue with "I would have come back": why the perfect tense?


texts: "available in the store" Or "available in-store"

texts:
Suppose that you are showing a store clerk a picture of a particular computer. You have a question for him:

(1) Is this computer available in the store?
(2) Is this computer available in-store?

Which one is correct?


texts:
According to dictionaries karaoke is an activity in which people sing a song while a karaoke machine plays the music.As we know in some of the books especially for kids after each song there's a part called as karaoke If we want to ask them wether they want to sing along to the karaoke or not is it wrong to say:

  1) Do you want to sing with the karaoke or without the karaoke?

  2) Do you want to sing with the karaoke song or without the karaoke song?

  3) Do you want to sing with the karaoke version or without the karaoke version?


texts:
Where to use "must/should/might/may/could/shouldn't  have "in a sentence?

We had in our book that "must+perfect infinitive" is used when we feel sure about sth in the past.And "might/may/could+perfect infinitive" should used when we think sth was possible but we aren't sure.And we should use "should+perfect infinitive" when we talk about past events that did not happen.

Now we had exercises about choosing them.Now I have some question.

  1.How can we decide which one is  "may/might/could+perfect infinitive" when they are the same?

  2.We had an exercise "Nobody answered the phone at the clinic.It................ closed early"

  Here the answer written is "must have" instead of being probable we aren't sure then why did we use it?

  And also we had "Sarah looks really pleased with herself.She ...............passed her driving test this morning" which gives the answer "must have"but we aren't sure.


texts: "How long have you been working?" vs. "How long you have been working?"

texts: I think "How long have you been working?" and "How long you have been working?" are both questions, so, could you tell me what is the difference between them?


texts: What does "show up or cancel" mean in this sentence?

texts:
A credit card number will be needed to hold the reservation, but will
  not be charged unless you do not show up or cancel in advance of the
  tour.
  (https://gocity.com/san-antonio/en-us/attractions/texas-hill-country-lbj-ranch-tour)

The bold part is confusing. Does it mean:

  There are two instances where the card will be charged, which are:

  when you do not show up on the day of the tour
  when you do not cancel in advance of the tour


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

texts:
She glanced around nervously, apparently worrying (that) the customers would
  overhear.

Someone told me that you can omit "that" when using reporting verbs:

  I realized (that) she was a good person.

I'm not very sure about my first example, though.


texts:
I commented on Stack Overflow, and someone replied "that's too fine" to me.

What does this sentence mean?


texts:
I was reading God save the mark by Donald Westlake when I came across this line:

On the way, the operator—green uniform, possibly a passed-over captain in the Merry Men Brigade—said, “You the nephew?”

I just want to know who are these merry men brigade?


texts: Is there another time that would/will work better for you?

texts:
Are these sentence grammatically correct?

Is there a time that would work better for you?

Let me know if there is a time that would work better for you.

Should these sentence use will instead?


texts:
"Her eyes are beautiful."

I want to ask about her eyes, to put a question to the attributive. What is the correct wording of my question? Thanks.


texts: What is the word-building of "health aware" and "autonomy-supportive"?

texts:
I have seen such patterns several times but don't know what the pattern is. For instance this title: Autonomy-Supportive Teaching: What It Is, How to Do It and this also this one: Health-Aware Model-Predictive Control of a Cooperative AGV-Based Production System. They don't only appear in titles. For example in Heidi Grant Halvorson's book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals "autonomy-supportive" occur 12 times. I would like to quote one of those as follows:

  Students perceive their teachers to be autonomy-supportive when those
  teachers focus on the students' needs,...

And I find more words elsewhere:
need-blind, need-based

Such compound words are intuitive. "Health aware" means being aware of health and "autonomy supportive" connotes being supportive regarding to autonomy.

What are the restrictions, if any? Can I combine words, by the same token, like "health supportive" and "autonomy aware" and "welfare supportive" and "crime aware" and etc?


texts: "She never saw a bear before she moved to Alaska." Why incorrect?

texts:
The rule says if the order of two actions/events is clear then the past perfect is not necessary, i.e. you can use past simple. So if the sentence has before or after then the order is clear and therefore the rule applies. The site here says the first sentence is incorrect. Is he/she right? If so, how do you explain what appears, to me, to be contradictory?

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

  Examples:

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

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

They say "a lack of experience rather than an action". Saying that just does not solve the problem I have which is the past simple fits the rule of order of events. Not seeing is a negative event with the verb "to see".

I hope the answer won't be this is how we speak or this is how English works or since when languages are logical!


texts:
Jeff: So what do you think of our new coach?
The new coach steps into the locker room. Unaware, Jeff goes on --
Jeff: What an idiot, huh? I mean, who the hell does he think he is?
Question: Is "unaware" the most appropriate adjective to use here? What about "unknowing"?


texts: What's an idiom for intentional misinterpretation (of an agreement etc.)?

texts:
In Swedish, we have the expression for intentional misinterpretation of the intended content. An example is we have between two and three million dollars and someone saying that two dollars isn't much. The expression is he reads the text like Satan reads the Bible.
What's an English correspondent to that?


texts:
"Refugees climb atop trains as blockades pepper European borders" is the title of this news article.

What does pepper mean?

Edit: this is the verb definition of pepper from Google definitions

  1.sprinkle or season (food) with pepper.
  "peppered beef"
  synonyms:   add pepper to, season, flavor
  "salt and pepper the potatoes"

  2.cover or fill with a liberal amount of scattered items.
  "the script is peppered with four-letter words"
  synonyms:   sprinkle, fleck, dot, spot, stipple; More

  3.hit repeatedly with small missiles or gunshot.
  "another burst of enemy bullets peppered his defenseless body"
  synonyms:   bombard, pelt, shower, rain down on, attack, assail, batter, strafe, rake, blitz, hit
  "a burst of bullets peppered the tank"

  archaic
  4.inflict severe punishment or suffering upon.

Edit: meaning of blockade from OALD

  the action of surrounding or closing a place, especially a port, in order to stop people or goods from coming in or out
  a naval blockade
  to impose/lift a blockade
  an economic blockade (= stopping goods from entering or leaving a country)
  blockades of roads by truck drivers protesting over pay
  a barrier that stops people or vehicles from entering or leaving a place
  The police set up blockades on highways leading out of the city.


texts:
According to a dictionary 'act out' means to show the events that happened in a situation by doing them again or by doing the same things as the people involved.
I was talking about a wedding and said:
Both the bride and the groom danced together. They also acted out how they met and fell in love and finally ended up marrying each other.
Was my sentence correct? They were showing us how they met by acting. It was like a stage show.


texts: Is the word "project" the only such stress-depending word in English?

texts:
Is the word "project" the only word in English that has two different meanings depending on where the stress falls?

  I like your prOject.

  We need to projEct this idea on his program.


texts:
Which one is correct?

How many days do it take?

or

How many days does it take?


texts:
The original text:

  [...] For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a
  holiday, and ordinary holidays, when they come, are grudged as
  enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes,
  the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a
  diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed, it may well be that
  those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means
  of banishing it at intervals from their minds.

What does the first "it" refer to here? I think the second "it" refer to "work."


texts: Correct word order. Is it correct to say "read and write" or "write and read"?

texts:
I was reading some literature from an English language school when I came across the phrase "children learning to write and read..."
As a native speaker, "read and write" sounded better. I even thought it may be a form of reduplication so took it up with one of the teachers. I was told that as it wasn't a compound form it could be written in any order as it was just a sequence of words separated by a conjunction.
Yet I remember being taught that "eee" sounds in these combinations always come first and before "eye" sounds and that there was a relationship with adjective word order. I looked at some websites and noted that "read and write" is definitely in the majority but have been unable to find a ruling  as such on this word order.


texts:
I'm confused about commas in English language.

German : <main clause>  and <main clause>.
English: <main clause>, and <main clause>.

In German I know two main clauses combined with "and" or other conjunctions do work on their own and there must be no comma like in you and me. you, and me would be wrong, wouldn't it ?

Example (source):

"In order to keep her attention focused on class activities, the student turned off her phone's ringer, and she put her ear buds in her backpack."

"the student turned off her phone's ringer" = main clause ?
"she put her ear buds in her backpack" = main clause ?

(I don't even know how to ask)
Can someone please explain to me what's behind it in English language ?
And what commas can I leave away ? That's another mystery to me.

Thanks!


texts: Is "beyond your comprehension" an offensive phrase?

texts:
In the following sentence does "beyond your comprehension" have an offensive connotation?

When a large population of tourists swarm the city during the tourism season, it's beyond your comprehension.


texts: Can I used "though" to express counterexpectance?

texts:
We were opposites sides, though of the same coin, the same moon.

Would but been more appropiate?


texts: What is the meaning of "taken from between the two collectors is"?

texts:
What is the meaning of "taken from between the two collectors is" in the following sentences?

Like the input signal, the output signal is also balanced and since
the collector voltages either swing in opposite directions or in the
same direction the output voltage signal, taken from between the two
collectors is, assuming a perfectly balanced circuit the zero
difference between the two collector voltages.

(Source: https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/opamp/opamp_1.html)
Does "the collector voltages either swing in opposite directions or in the same direction the output voltage signal, taken from between the two collectors is" mean "the collector voltages either swing in opposite directions or in the same direction the output voltage signal that is taken from between the two collectors " ?
Is "is" inverted, omitting the relative pronoun that?


texts:
In a scenario, if you met someone a few days ago for the very first time and then you met again today and after spending time together, you feel lucky to know him/her because you think you will get on well  with him/her in the future and help each other.
How would you tell him/her it today. Note that, it is not important to meet at a specific time. This sentence could be said in tenth meeting or even one year later after the first met.

I am/feel so lucky to have met you.
I am/feel so luck to met you.
I am feel so lucky to meet you.


texts:
One wrote

  I've heard about this thing this morning and I don't know anything more than a Polish trucker is said to be killed in Germany.

I changed it into

  I've heard about this thing this morning and I don't know anything more than this that a Polish trucker is said to have been killed in Germany.

Is this that required?

What is the grammar for "said to have been killed"? Is it different from the original phrase?


texts:
Consider the following exchange:

  A: How are you getting to Seoul?
  B: I'm taking the train.

Note B's use of the. Usually, we use the when the listener knows which one. So, why doesn't B say a?


texts: I could hardly believe it but(when?) I found their tallest player was shorter than I

texts:
I could hardly believe it but I found their tallest player was shorter than I.

Generally in sentences  with inversion the pair of conjunction with hardly is when e.g.  Hardly had I arrived home when my phone rang. So going by this isn't the but in above sentence incorrect and its better to use when here or it's an exception here ?


texts: "There are not people like you at my school" vs "There are not any people like you at my school"

texts:
Let's say I am a high school student and I am talking to a group of students from another high school, and I think they are nicer than people at my school. So I want to let them know that. Can I say,

"You guys are really nice. There are not people like you at my school"

instead of

"You guys are really nice. There are not any people like you at my school"

The reason I am asking this is, I think I am used to seeing or hearing "any" in negative sentences that include "there" (sentences that include "there is not/are not" such as "There is not any hope", "There are not any breads left" etc.). So I wonder if it can be okay not to use "any" in this sentence.


texts: Can a preceding vehicle mean a vehicle ahead?

texts:
When driving, you should keep a certain distance from a vehicle ahead of you (or in front of you)

I would like to use "a preceding vehicle" instead of "a vehicle ahead of you" because "a vehicle ahead of you" is longer.  Is it acceptable?


texts: What doesn vintage mean in "1980-vintage person"?

texts:
What does vintage mean in "1980-vintage person"?
I lookup up in dictionary, but still cannot find one meaning or usage that fits here.


texts: Are subjects joined by "and" singular or plural?

texts:
Please, explain me should we refer to the subject as singular or plural, when there are multiple subjects in one sentence joined by the conjunction "and".
I have the sentence as an example. Can we consider the subjects an individual or refer to unite element? It has confused me:

  Problem resolution and elimination of root cause help to lower the
  number of incidents.


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "staring at starvation"?

texts:
I read a sentence which was:

  A lack of dignified employment, non payment of adequate wages on time
  and insufficient food mean that the family of four is in a dicey
  situation and staring at starvation.

What is the meaning of staring at starvation in the sentence?


texts: Why can one say (got this out of some lyrics): "I am the dangers that never sleeps"?

texts:
Maybe it's because my native language is Dutch. I heard this sentence sung: "I am the dangers that never sleeps".

This sounds very strange to me. Shouldn't it be:

-I am the danger that never sleeps
-I am the dangers that never sleep

It seems that the line I cited is a combination of the two. Or is this just a manner of speaking (like "He don't")?
The line is from a great song I am the virus by Killing Joke.


texts: I am wondering if this adverb is ever used or if you would restructure to "Their performance today was average." or something similar. Which adverb could I use in the above sentence?


texts:
In "The Secret of Father Brown" by G. K. Chesterton, the author was describing a Spanish man, saying:

He was fond of his wife and family; he never went farther afield than was needed for a little shooting; and he seemed, to his American globe - trotter neighbour, the embodiment of that cult of a sunny respectability and a temperate luxury, which the American was wise enough to see and admire in the Mediterranean peoples.

What's meant here by "cult of a sunny respectability"?


texts: "Keep up the good work".. could this hurt?

texts:
When I feel grateful about someone, I sometimes use the phrase

  keep up the good work

after I have thanked them.

I only use this when my feeling is that they:

are doing good things and/or
have just been doing a good thing.

However, I sometimes worry when they:

have been working for free, so they are somehow sacrificing themselves and/or
have been doing something good just because I asked them as a service.

In any or both of the latter two cases, is it still a good phrase to use? Or can it be hurting?
My worry is that, when understood litteraly and not like an idiom, this phrase actually means:

  I want you to keep on.

Which sounds rude to me if the person has been kind enough to volunteer. What I actually mean is:

  I am glad that you did/are doing this. There should be more and more of people like you in the world.

Is my feeling correct?
Is this phrase idiomatic enough to be simply understood as "thank you", or should I stop using it in the last two cases?
If so, what would be an alternative?


texts: policed him up -- meaning? (military context)

texts:
From the movie Saving Private Ryan:

  We're here looking for a Private James Ryan. He's part of your outfit. Any chance at all you policed him up?

What does that mean?


texts: "There are five basic types of adverbs in the English language, namely that of ...", what does that refer to here?

texts:
A post explains adverbs in this way

  Adverbs provide a deeper description of a verb within any sentence. There are five basic types of adverbs in the English language, namely that of Manner, Time, Place, Frequency, and Degree.

What does that refer to here?


texts:
Which option fits best the followings question?

  I intend to put into practice some of the techniques ..... in the
  seminar.

  A. Supported

  B. Expresses

  C. Advocated

  D. Performed

For me B and D looks ok.They all have very close sense.


texts: Is it right to end the sentence with the preposition WITH, in the given example?

texts:
Killing people is not a crime you can commit and get away.

  Killing people is not a crime you can commit and get away with.

Do both the sentences mean the same thing? Are both of them grammatically correct?
Is with at the end of the sentence necessary?


texts: am I allowed to use "D'you" in everyday American conversation?

texts:
This site says:

D'you is a shortened form of 'do you' or 'did you', used in spoken English.
⇒ What d'you say?

It would seem that more British people say like that. Not sure about American.

Am I allowed to use "D'you" in everyday American conversation?

Is this kind of saying popular in America?


texts: Does the word "self-study" exist as a noun?

texts:
When I sit down and dive into a topic on my own, outside of a course or educational environment, with books and online resources that I find, then I have a noun for that in my native language:

  Et selvstudie / selvstudium

This literally translates into:

  A self-study

The act of studying something on your own. Now, while I am aware that the word study is a noun, I cannot find the combined word self-study as a noun in dictionaries. The closest I have found is:

  A self-study course

Other than that its seems that to self-study is only used as a verb.

My question is if I can use self-study as a noun and how the proper use of the word would be in a sentence such as:

  We believe in the effectiveness of self-study, which is a large part of our teaching.


texts: "The violence on TV shows are bad for childrens" or "The violence on TV shows is bad for childrens"

texts:
I'm confused with these two. Which of them is grammatically correct?

"The violence on TV shows are bad for childrens"
"The violence on TV shows is bad for childrens"

My teacher said that I am wrong for answering "The violence on TV shows is bad for childrens." I answered this because I thought the bad thing was the violence, not the TV shows.


texts:
I encountered a question at the end of a unit about how to use “think about” and “think of”. It’s stated that we use “think about” when we consider an idea or concentrate on it, and we use “think of” when an idea comes into our mind. The question is a fill-in question:

“I don't really want to go out with Tom tonight. I'll have to … an excuse.”

I think we have to put “think about”, because we have to consider or concentrate on an excuse. But in the answer section, “think of” is stated as the answer. Which one is grammatically correct? Isn’t “think of” wrong? Why?


texts: "I like being home" or "I like being at home" when talking about spending time in one's home country?

texts:
Do I have to use the preposition at with home when saying that someone is in one's country? For example:

  I like being (at) home.

If both are possible, then which is more common?


texts: This would be entirely appropriate if her not having come had strained their relationship

texts:
While answering a certain question, someone (a native speaker) writes:

"My sister came over last night. She'd been promising to come for
weeks, and she finally came."
"My sister came over last night. She's been promising to come for
weeks, and now she's finally come."
In both cases, her coming did take place in the past. The first
expresses her coming as a past event. The second refers instead to a
currently existing state produced by her having come. This would
be entirely appropriate if, for example, her not having come
had strained their relationship, while her having come has produced a current state in which the relationship had been
mended. That's not explicitly stated of course, but to my mind some
continuing change in state as a result of her having come is implied
in the use of the progressive. That may be what would cause a person
to say "she's been promising", but I'm speculating. Anyway, it doesn't
sound awkward or incorrect to me. (source)

Q) What type of conditional is it? Is it a mixed conditional? Does the condition clause refer to a counterfactual situation?


texts: The process of identifying the parts of speech: Grammaring? Tagging?

texts:
Sometimes occupied by life, others kept forgetting, I have always wondered what the process of identifying the parts of speech in a text is called? Grammaring? Tagging?

Tagging seems to be linked to corpus linguistics, and grammaring is by far a rare term- My Firefox spell checker marked it with a squiggly line.

Would you say I am teaching my son how to identify the parts of speech? I feel I'd catch my breath saying it!
At any case, what do students and teachers use at school?


texts:
does second "lights" refers to "candles" or to the first mentioned "light"?
does "lit" means "ignited" or "being ignited"?

  Many interesting and touching messages were conveyed to me by the
  usual writing of Mrs. Jencken. We were directed to put out the light.
  Then commenced a series of manifestations such as I have not often
  seen equalled, and very seldom surpassed . I removed a small handbell
  from the table and held it in my own hand. I felt a hand take it from
  me, when it was rung in all parts of the room during at least five
  minutes. I then placed an accordion under the table, whence it was
  removed, and at a distance of three or four feet from the table round
  which we were seated, tunes were played. The accordion was played and
  the bell was rung in several parts of the room, while two candles were
  lit on the table. It was not, therefore, what is termed a dark
  sitting, although occasionally the lights were put out. During all the
  time Mr. Stack held one of the hands of Mrs. Jencken and I held the
  other—each frequently saying, "I have Mrs. Jencken's hand in mine."
  About fifty flowers of heartsease were placed on a sheet of paper
  before me. I had received some heartsease flowers from a friend in the
  morning, but the vase that contained them was not in the sitting-room.
  I sent for it and found it intact. The bouquet had not been in the
  least disturbed. In what is called "Direct Writing" I found these
  words written in pencil in a very small hand, on a sheet of paper that
  lay before me, "I have brought you my token of love." At a sitting
  some days previously (when alone with Mrs. Jencken) I had received
  this message, "On your birthday I will bring you a token of love."

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


texts: Which one is correct: "As far as we are concerned too" or "as far as we are concerned as well"?

texts:
What I'm trying to express is "as far as we're concerned___________, that is indeed his biggest work".
How do I phrase it correctly?


texts: "be verb" is followed after an "action verb"

texts:
I have found in this website that the "state of being" or "be" verb (is) is followed by an "action verb" (say). What is the rule behind this? Please explain.

  What we can say is that this is an important issue, which the MoD should be looking at.


texts: Stative verbs with present perfect simple

texts:
First of all,

1. Can I use stative verbs with the present perfect simple? For example, know is a stative verb, Can I say:

  Have you known my real name is John?

In sentence about I meant to ask, *“Have you heard about my real name?” (if yes it means you know my name) i.e. when you was born until now and if not, you can still know about that (present perfect).

I found that I must to use present tense (Did you know my real name is John?).

Why? (Grammatically perspective)


texts: Why did the author use past perfect as the actions are in chronological order?

texts:
Here is the paragraph

  The following year Mr Luggs had returned to Scotland and had joined with his brother again in a new band. Mr Luggs stuck to drums with this band.

I would have written:

  The following year Mr Luggs returned to Scottland and joined with his brother again in a new band. Mr Luggs stuck to drums with this band.

In the same text I've found this. It's the beginning of the text...

  Mr Luggs began his musical career as a teenager when he joined his brother's band in the early eighties, but he had already musical experience , with his own...

I would have written but "he had already had" because the musical experience were before he began (already) or am I wrong to think that? Maybe "he began..." then had musical experiences and joined (both actions were roughly at the same time).


texts:
I heard it was possible to make a noun from an adjective like:

  They are poor and live there. All the poors live there.

We mean "poor people" by the adjective "poor" + "s", like the plural form of the adjective.

But can I say just "poor" meaning then only one poor person? Or I can but only with "the" like:

  The poor is there.

But wouldn't it be taken for "poverty" or "poorness"?

But What to do if the adjective is "homeless"?

  They are homeless and live there. All the "homelesses" live there.
  This way?

And just "the homeless" would mean a single homeless person?

I hope you see what I mean


texts: «The more that farther data are correlated, the higher L is» Is this correct?

texts:
I've wrote the following sentence:
«The more that farther data are correlated, the higher L is»
I mean to say that the farther data points are correlated, and the more correlated they are, the higher the value of L.
How would I write the above in a short sentence just like in the quote?
Edit: There are far and close points. L gives the intensity of correlation of points. As L increases, that intensity increases, but its change is more noticeable on the far points.


texts: Is it idiomatic to say "**nice** answer"?

texts:
In one of my posts (Are "found" and "discovered" interchangeable in context?) I said

  In my review queue, I received a nice answer

I guess different people have different standards for good answer. This post is not meant to discuss that standards.

Suppose an answer is clear and helpful, is it idiomatic to refer to that as a "nice answer"?


texts:
He had had a house when he met her.

I think the sentence sounds fine and grammatically correct.

I think the sentence below sounds a little bit unnatural with the when clause.

  He had bought a house [ when / before ] he met her.

Which of the two, when or before, sounds more grammatically correct?  Could you help me clarify it?  Thank you always.


texts: I appreciate "you trying" or "your trying"?

texts:
You said the names wrong. But I appreciate you trying.
  You said the names wrong. But I appreciate your trying.

I saw the first sentence in a TV-show. Is it grammatical? I thought sentence 2 was the correct one.


texts: Why is the definite article used in this paragraph?

texts:
Consider the bold phrases in this prograph:

  Spotts et al. [5] performed a CFD study of the compressible flow through convergent–conical nozzles to investigate the effect of the nozzle pressure ratio and nozzle angle on the nozzle performance. They confirmed that for smaller nozzle angles, the discharge coefficient increases and the choked nozzle pressure ratio will be reduced.

From this paper:

I have some questions about these bold word/phrases:

Why doesn't "convergent–conical nozzles" have the definite article? Surely, Spotts et al. must have investigated some specific countable convergent–conical nozzles and the author of the paper is talking about those nozzles which is not generalized for us at least in this paper then Why?
Why has "effect" got the definite article? Because we're talking about a specific effect. Am I right?
The author has used the definite article before "nozzle pressure ratio" and "nozzle angle" because we are talking about some nozzle pressure ratios and nozzle angles which are used in that investigation. Is it right?
The "nozzle performance" has got the definite article because we are talking about a kind of nozzle performance or the nozzle performance in that investigation. Which reasons is the correct answer? or is the both correct?
Why doesn't "smaller nozzle angles" have the definite article? We are talking about the smaller size of those nozzles of the investigation. Aren't we? if not, then how "discharge coefficient" and "choked nozzle pressure ratio" have got the definite article?


texts: Can I say: "This teacher is going to cut us loose from the class"?

texts:
I'm asking about the usage of the phrase "cut someone loose" that I saw which its meaning is "to free", but I'm not sure if it's appropriate in this context. Is it?

An example:

  "This teacher is going to cut us loose from the class"?

meaning the teacher is going to cancel the class today.


texts: commas in conjunction with a prepositional phrase (with...)

texts:
a. In the photo you see her with Dave standing on a rock.

  b. In the photo you see her, with Dave standing on a rock.

  c. In the photo you see her, with Dave, standing on a rock.

In which of the above sentences is each of these conclusions correct:

  1.She is standing on a rock.

  2.Dave is standing on a rock.

  3.They are both standing on a rock.


texts: When you ___ at the course, you ___ straight to the registration desk

texts:
When you __ at the course, you __ straight to the registration desk.

A) will arrive / have to go

B) have arrived / had to go

C) arrived / will have gone

D) arrive / are to go

E) had arrived / could go

I'm confused between the options "A" and "D". Can anyone explain every option whether it is true or not?


texts: What's the meaning of 'smile and shake his/her head'?

texts:
Does that just mean

"someone is smiling and shaking his/her head"

or

"someone is laughing out loud?"


texts: Can I say "This is the best song from Chris Brown." instead of "This is the best song by Chris Brown."?

texts: When I say "This is the best song from Chris Brown." instead of "This is the best song by Chris Brown.", it sounds kind of wrong to me. Can I use "from" instead of "by" in that sentence? I know that "by" is correct there but I wonder if "from" is also correct. I think native speakers can use it but I wonder about your opinions. If I used "from" there, would it sound awkward?


texts:
Can the word view be a good synonym for survey in the following context?

  A man does right, as a rule, to have his thoughts more occupied with the interests of his own nation than with those of others, because his actions are more likely to affect his own nation. But in time of war, and in all matters which are of equal concern to other nations and to his own, a man ought to take account of the universal welfare, and not allow his survey to be limited by the interest, or supposed interest, of his own group or nation.

Oxford Dictionary has defined survey as "A general view, examination, or description of someone or something".


texts: Meaning of "rock" in "rock your meeting."

texts:
This is a passage from a novel:

  He checked his watch. "We'll be fine--don't worry about us. Just do what you have to do. Rock your meeting."

Neal said the above. He is Georgie's husband. The setting is outside their home. Neal is about to leave with the kids to vacation, but Georgie can't come because something came up at work. Their about to leave and Neal said to Georgie to "rock your meeting". What does that mean?


texts:
From the Cambridge Dictionary

myth: an ancient story or set of stories, especially explaining the early history of a group of people or about natural events and facts

With the definition, a myth doesn't have to involve a god like Thor, Prometheus or Athena.
So, is the story about Archimedes of Syracuse a myth? If not. Is there a noun to refer to this kind of story which is about someone who lived long time ago?


texts: If sentences like "make me understand", "makes me walk" is correct, then how "It makes me motivated to die" is correct?

texts:
First I like to say that I am not a native speaker and I beg pardon for my ignorance. Usually, I have seen a lot of examples like,
"It makes me walk", "Make me understand" etc.
This indicates that make/makes + pronoun + Verb(main form).
Today I have seen two sentences which are, "It makes me motivated to die" and another one, "It makes me excited". On those sentences, they used the Past Participle form.
Can somebody please explain in detail the explanation of it? I would be grateful to him. Thank you.


texts: 24 × 7 service store is a store which provides the 24 hour service and 7 days for the whole week. I am wondering how native speakers read 24 × 7 service store? For example, we provide 24 × 7 service. Thanks!


texts: Why are the poor duck and the goose targetted in a derogatory sense In English?

texts:
He is a lame duck

  Becoming  a doctor is a wild goose chase.

  you bloody goose

  He was out for a duck or golden duck.

These are some of  the  terms associated with  duck  and
geese  which are used in a derogatory sense..

Why  aret  the poor duck and the goose targetted in English  for derogatory  use?


texts:
Consider the following scenario:
     My friend just took an exam and I want to ask him how long before the exam did he start his preparation. How will I say this?

How long before the exam did you start your preparations?

Please give different ways of structuring this sentence, especially formally.
     I'm trying to figure out the way to ask about the period of time before an event. Some other examples to understand what I'm trying to ask:

How long before the party do you want me to arrive?
How long before the match did it start raining?


texts: What's the meaning of this clause: "losing it that"?

texts:
I was looking at sentences in COCA. I was confused by this one:

  Was it a fall into real time? That last year, when life became so intensified by the prospect of losing it that she would once again experience the beauty of the world as a child does?

I could hardly get the meaning of the "lose it that" clause. Could anyone tell me the meaning?

Thanks in advance.


texts: As commonly done vs As is commonly done vs As it is commonly done

texts:
Which of the following three is the correct usage of the phrase?

As commonly done
As is commonly done
As it is commonly done

To me, 3rd one seems to be most appropriate from a grammatical perspective, however I'm not sure.


texts: How can I know whether verb+ing is a main verb or a gerund or an adjective?

texts:
He is coming.
Working is earning.

In the first sentence, coming is a main verb and earning in second sentence is a gerund, aren't they?

If the matter is that how could you explain the misleading in the sentence like,

The report that the Island is under the water is misleading??


texts:
I am sure that he passed the exam. (What's the "that clause"?)
Is that clause "the ojbect" of the adjective "sure"?
the same as in "I am afraid that I can't go there."


texts:
I'd like to know if a number before a noun is considered as a pronoun as well. For examples,
"2 persons", "5 cars", and so on.


texts: Where in UK do people speak neutral easy to understand accent?

texts: E.g. I hardly can understand Scottish accent. Need a region where people speak so that I can understand them.


texts:
On the landing between the 11th and 12th floors.

On the landing between the 11th and the 12th floor.

Is 'floors' correct in the first sentence and 'floor' correct in the second?
Is one more common than the other?