texts:
I guess I understand the rules in subjunctive mood.

I am aware that this expression is giving some advice.

  If I were you, I would....

I'd just like to get some double confirm about the usage.

I also learned an ELL post

  The only context where were is appropriate after I is when the sentence is in the subjunctive mood

Some friend told me:

in American English, people use "I wish I was" to form a subjunctive mood sentence.

  "I wish I was rich."

in British English, people use "I wish I were" to form a subjunctive mood sentence.

  "I wish I were rich."

Is it that true?


texts:
He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with -- with a person called -- but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows --" "Who? " "Well -- I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."  "Why not?"  "Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..."  Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.  "Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.  "Nah -can't spell it. All right -- Voldemort." Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this -- this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too -- some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry.
  (Harry Potter, book 1)

What does the highlighted part mean?

I don't dare spell it, for doing so is dreadful or unpleasant.
I don't know how to spell the name.

Could both the meanings be possible?

(The reason I wonder is that Hagrid looks up some books for keeping a dragon in the book, and he also was a boy in the Magician's school. So it would not be quite right to estimate him as an ignorant person.)


texts: Order of words in interogative sentences

texts:
I was afraid to ask this question since I couldn't find any reference online and it kind of breaks the rules of grammar, but I'm curious to know if it can have any meaning and may be possible in casual speech since I doubt it can be applied anywhere in writing or formal English.

The normal order in an interrogative sentence is:

What does this day mean to you?

But what if we remove the helping verb and invert the verb and object:

What means this day to you?

I'm researching, so it's interesting to know whether this is possible.

What if we have this sentence:

What does it change if we tell him about this?

If we remove the helping verb and invert the words we get:

What changes it if we tell him about this?

But "it" kind of sounds strange now. And is it a dummy it or an object? What if we remove it?

What changes if we tell him about this?

Will this sentence mean the same thing as the one with the helping word?

What if we use other question words such as "How" or "Where" for instance?

How helps this get him out of jail? (How does this help to get him out of jail)
Where comes this from? (Where does this come from?)

I wouldn't want to be accused in any way so this is just a curiousity. I'm trying to study good and correct English.


texts: What is the proper usage of "also","too" and "as well"?

texts:
When I want to talk to someone and the sentence I am using has "too" or "also" or "as well" in it, I get confused and feel like I am using the wrong structure.

For example:

  Friend: It's raining here

  Me: I wish it was raining here too ( or I wish it was also raining here OR I wish it was raining here as well)

or

  Friend: I read books

  Me: I read books too (I also read books OR I read books as well)

I would appreciate it if you could tell me the correct structure or suggest an alternative for this


texts:
I taught my students that they can use any in questions with abstract countable nouns. Was I right? For example:

  Do you have any idea? (idea = abstract but countable)
  Do you have any reason to do it? (= reason = abstract but countable)

And I also taught them that they can use no even with abstract countable nouns / countable nouns.

  I have no reason to do it.
  I don't have any reason to do it.

I can use both of these interchangeably?

But what about

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

Can I use both of these interchangeably too?  Or there is a difference between them?  Like no emphasizes the status of not having the thing?

  I don't have a car - a normal sentence

  Take your car, Tom.
  But I have no car!! How many times do I have to tell you?!

Thanks a lot!


texts: The usage of the articles 'a' and 'the' for describing natural things

texts:
Putting the proper article before a noun is really complex. To be frank, I'm still learning this! I don't remember the source, but I had read somewhere that even students of English Literature make mistakes in placing proper articles in their sentences.

Even more confusing is the usage of these articles while describing natural things. I am taught to put the article the for natural things (the sun, the moon, the earth etc.), as they are the only ones.

Now why does Harvard describes it as The Himalaya here whereas Britannica calls it Himalaya here? Smart Wiki calls it both here in its main article and about Ecology of The Himalaya here!

My question is:

  Do we have to place the while describing the natural things like mountains and rivers? And if the answer is no, why? When I talk about Mount Everest, it's the Mount Everest, the only one. It's definite and so the is needed.

Does it have something to do with being 'plural' (as in the range of Himalayas so it's The Himalayas)? But then I watched The Nile on Discovery!

A request: Please point out mistakes in placing articles in this question as well. This'll be the bonus for me! :)


texts:
There is a high platform and a slide, and to join them together we have to put the tiny sticking-out bit of the slide into the hole of the platform as shown in the picture.
That tiny bit occupies about 5 or 10% of the slide.
Do we use "into" or "onto", for example, "put the slide into/onto the platform" when there is only 10% of the slide getting in?
Note:
If we use more specific terms like "tab" and "slot", then then it is obvious that we say “into”, for example, “put the tab into the slot”.
However, if we use general terms “slide” and “platform”, then we say “put the slide into the platform” or “put the slide onto the platform” when only 10% of the slide getting in?


texts:
Our holiday was cost a lot of money because we stayed in an expensive hotel.

  vs

  Our holiday cost a lot of money because we stayed in an expensive hotel.

What sentence is correct?
If the first one is not correct, please explain me why Passive Voice is not appropriate here.
Thanks!


texts: What is the interface between a floor and a wall called: a corner, too?

texts:
corner: a part of something where two or more sides, lines or edges
  join the four corners of a square

  I hit my knee on the corner of the table.

  Write your address in the top right-hand corner of the letter.

  the left/right corner

  the north-west/north-east/south-east/south-west corner

  A smile lifted the corner of his mouth.

  in the corner of something a speck of dirt in the corner of her eye

  He scored with a shot into the bottom corner of the goal.

  She tucked the ball into the corner of the net.

A corner is often the interface between 2 adjacent walls. What is the interface between a floor and a wall as shown in the picture called: a corner, too?

Note: If I translated literally from Vietnamese (my mother tongue) to English, it would be "wall-foot".


texts:
What's the difference between two phrase:

  Would they have the recipe?
  Do they have the recipe?


texts: Is the idiomatic "didn't bat an eye" losing its sense if used slightly differently?

texts:
The expression didn't bat an eye is well recognized. As an idiomatic such, one has to be careful not to tamper with it too much risking its integrity. However, I did use it in a bit different grammatical form and people were surprised. They, sort of batted the eyes.

  Oh, this was definitely an eye batting moment, won't you agree?

My view is that's both obvious and a bit witty. However, I'm known to be rather inventive when it comes to grammar and vocabulary so I keep humble as a non NSE to verify whether the reality agrees with me.


texts: Subject-verb agreement with genre and novels

texts:
Which is correct:

  The most popular genre is romantic novels

or

  The most popular genre are romantic novels?


texts: Is it correct to use the words "execution" here?

texts:
I need to make a list of ways how kids can complete a task at a lesson (different ways of execution) but I'm not sure how to call it correctly:
Exercise execution options? Exercise performance otions? Exercise completion alternatives? All of these sound somewhat incorrect to me.
It should look like this:
Exercise execution options:
1. ........
2. ........
3. ........
etc
What is the best way to express this idea?


texts: the difference between by -ing form and -ing form

texts:
This question involves the difference between -ing form and by -ing form.

The passage below is from a few steps guided on Microsoft's website as to how to renew a one-year subscription of Microsoft Office 365.

  Go to Office.com/setup and, if prompted, sign in using the Microsoft account that’s associated with your Office 365 subscription.

I am wondering whether the sentence would be still correct and mean the same thing with using changed into by using as follows.

  Go to Office.com/setup and, if prompted, sign in by using the Microsoft account that’s associated with your Office 365 subscription.


texts:
I saw this sentence on a grammar test but I don't understand why we cannot use the word "congratulated". I checked and saw "congratulated" also uses the same structure ( congratulate somebody for doing something) but according to the book the answer is "praised".

  Everybody ___ her for saving the old man from drowning.

From the discussion in the comments:

For me congratulate something you get after a long term phase effort..and there may be another phase in the future. For example, being admitted to Yale. But maybe at the end of a relatively smaller effort you can be praised. You can also be praised because of your manner. So maybe the guy who was saved is the one who should be congratulated, but on the other hand you can be congratulated when you won something like a contest.


texts: What does 'saw myself going' mean in the context?

texts:
What does 'saw myself going' mean here?

  I saw on the door surgery began at 8:30 and I ought to have guessed
  there would be a lot of people as usual, but for some reason I just
  saw myself going in and seeing the doctor straight off.


texts:
“I will be leaving for France tomorrow”-1
“I will leave for France tomorrow”-2
What’s the difference in two sentences?, Which is statement is better?


texts:
If we go by the dictionaries like OALD and MacMillan, the word is adjective and used for a person who is in between male and female.

But, I often read 'transgender man' or 'woman'.
Here, transgender is again an adjective. MM dictionary says transgender=transgendered.

My question is: How this word takes men and women because the word means someone between two genders. Does it mean that 'transgender woman' has more features of a woman?


texts: "go store to store" - meaning of the phrase?

texts:
The textbook by Mankiw.

  The consumer price index is a single number that measures the overall cost of living, but it is based on thousands of prices for individual
  goods and services. To collect the raw data with which the index is
  constructed, hundreds of government workers go store to store every
  month. They check prices, write them down, and then send their reports
  into a central office, where the CPI is computed.

Explain please what the phrase 'go store' means. Maybe the government workers are officials whose duties are to check prices in shops and take account of them.


texts: Do these two questions mean the same? "Did you not want to gain weight?" and "Didn't you want to gain weight?"

texts:
A couple of months ago a friend of mine told me she wanted to gain some weight before her wedding. Yesterday, seemingly looking the same to me, I asked her:

  Did you not want to gain some weight?

She did not understand what I was asking her, and told me the correct question should be

  Didn't you want to gain some weight?

I said they both meant the same. Five more people sided with her saying the two questions were opposites. (Also, please comment on the grammar of my writing). Thank you.


texts: What verb do you use with the word "drain blaster"?

texts:
I am not sure if there's an idiomatic way of using the word "drain blaster". I am thinking of several verbs: blasted, unclogged, pushed air into.

However, I am not sure

  "He blasted air with the drain blaster on the toilet"
  "He unclogged the toilet with the drain blaster"
  "He pushed air into the toilet with the drain blaster"

sound very idiomatic.


texts: How to formally say looking forward and keep me updated in email

texts:
I emailed the repepient if they can call me. And received email from the recipient saying that their place is closed till February due to covid. But they has forwarded my request letter to higher authorities.
I want to reply them saying "thank you very much and looking forward or keep me updated" but don't know how to phrase this all formally.


texts:
The following line is from the Charles Dickens' novel, "Nicholas Nickleby":

"Each boy keep his place", said Squeers, administering his favourite blow to the desk, and regarding with satisfaction the universal start which it never failed to occasion. "Nickleby! To your desk, sir."

What does "administering his favourite blow to the desk" mean here?


texts:
Administrative procedures relating to border crossings whether they fall within the competence of States or result from international agreements, such as visas or health and customs formalities, should be adapted, so far as possible, so as to facilitate to the maximum freedom of travel and widespread access to international tourism; agreements between groups of countries to harmonize and simplify these procedures should be encouraged; specific taxes and levies penalizing the tourism industry and undermining its competitiveness should be gradually phased out or corrected; (Source)

Would you tell me what the competence of States mean here? Does it equal National rules?


texts: questions about expressions in this real conversation

texts:
man: Yeah, like, my interpretation of that, my gut feeling, is these are people who don’t care about the truth, the truth is irrelevant. What coin did they flip? Doesn’t matter. If they they want heads, so they say, they, they make their reality,
woman: Right. Like it’s beyond even, I’m going to try to trick you.
man: Yeah.
woman: It’s that I’m going to invent reality. In a lot of ways it speaks to this fundamental kind of philosophy, which is, reality is what I make it, and I need to do everything that I can to induce a reality that serves me the best. So I would be interested – and they did not study this in this particular investigation – to see if certain personality traits like narcissism would feed into a radically dishonest group, for example.

Q1) does that 'invent' mean 'fabricate'?
Q2) In a conversation above, I don't understand what the first sentence in bold means..
Q3) second sentence in bold, "reality is what I make it" is the same as "reality is what I make"?


texts: and so on (and so forth) repeated in OALD

texts:
I was reading Idioms for the word "forth" on OALD (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary) and I faced this:

As you can see in the image They put phrases. first one is "and so forth" and second one is "and so on (and so forth)".
I don't understand why they repeat "and so forth" in the parentheses for the second one. what do they mean?


texts: What is the meaning of verb "court" in this sentence?

texts:
I read a sentence in a chapter named "Indigo" which was:

  Then he took a piece of paper and divided the group into pairs and put down the order in which each pair was to court arrest.

I can't really figure out which context has the verb "court" been used in here. Most of its definitions didn't help.


texts: 'make any kind of go of sth' is this a fossil expression?

texts:
… as if the percentage of artists who made any kind of go of the lousy business was one to four.— F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter, Spring 1939

What is 'make any kind of go sth' meaning?


texts: Should it be 'is' or 'are' after a number with a unit?

texts:
What would be the right form of to be in the examples below?

  Five miles [is/are] a long way to walk.

  Preliminary results [is/are] better than no results at all.


texts: I have some reservations about reservations

texts:
The Indian constitution provided  reservations to  some weaker  sections in the society.

Once  I used the sentence on Linked In and  an English  scholar  said that  the use of reservations in the sentence is wrong and  I went on explaining  its meaning. He understood the word in the sense of  doubt

India is a country of reservations like  women's reservation bill. In India  there are reservations for  the  scheduled castes, backward  castes, physically  handicapped. Even  women are fighting  for  reservations  in  the  parliament. The bill has been  pending  because of male  dominance. Reservations  means special  priveleges  provided  to some  sections of  people  because  of  birth, gender, handicap etc.

I would like to know whether the usage in the above sentence is right or wrong.

If it is wrong,  what  is  the  proper word here?

I herewith provide the link too.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reservation

I have  provided the Wikipedia too

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_in_India

https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/tag/reservations/


texts: "I felt calm and more composed than I had in a long time" interpretation

texts:
"I felt calm and more composed than I had in a long time"
What does this sentence mean, especially in terms of "in a long time"? The meaing of "in a long time" and what does it modify?


texts: Why is there an indefinite article in the phrase "English as a second language"?

texts: Usually we use the definite article before "first", "second" and so on.


texts: "which has been" or "which is" in a comparison

texts:
It is the comment on YouTube describing Japanese anime called Naruto:

  Danzo is still a saint,compared to orochimaru who has ruined a lot of innocent life

In this comment, does the second half of sentence (parenthesis) equal "who was compared to…" or "who has been compared to…"?


texts: How to speak about future unreal conditional statement?

texts: How can I speak suppose I want to ask a gentleman, "If there had a dress code tomorrow, it would be better". Is this the right way to talk about the future possibility?


texts:
You made a journey by train, where the ticket cost $100 and no additional costs arose.

Afterwards somebody (who is in no way liable to give you a cent for the journey) is so kind as to give you some amount of money nevertheless. Consider the following cases:

  a. You get $200, because you had all the labour travelling from A to B.
  b. You get $100, because that is the sum which you did pay yourself.
  c. You get $80, because you probably had some fun travelling, which is rated as $20.
  d. You get $10, because more money is not available for this.

(The reasons are just examples. The relation between actual cost and contribution is of greater importance.)

Is this in all four cases called "travel allowance", or what are the correct terms? Although travel allowance is an accounting term, this question is not about accounting. I just do not know the right term for it.


texts: What does "complete" mean in this sentence?

texts:
Complete authentication using Face ID.

It's a UI, and does it mean "please complete authentication ..." or "Authentication using Face ID is completed"?


texts: Pronunciation of "finite" and "infinite"

texts:
What is the correct way to say both of these words?

finite
infinite

Is finite pronounced as fai-nai-te with the long i, and infinite as in-fih-nih-te with the short i sound?

By the way, English is not my mother tongue :)


texts:
What is the meaning of the word shade in the following sentence. The word has a few meaning as a verb but it does not fit completely. Can I say it means " to hide"?

  She’s smoking either crack or meth, one or the other. I’m not going to
  shade it,

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/10/21/lindsay-lohans-dad-says-shes-smoking-meth-or-crack.html


texts:
I am not sure that I would receive any workload allocation for this.

I heard a university professor said the above to someone. What that means? I searched on the Internet and I got the idea that it means something like "salary".
Does it?


texts: Meaning: "waiting for 6 hours" vs. "6 hours since I was waiting"

texts:
Do the following sentences denote the same thing?

I have been waiting for you for 6 hours.
It's been 6 hours since I was waiting for you.


texts:
Is the first "when" necessary?

  I still like listening to the songs when I used to listen to when I was teenage.

  I still like listening to the songs  I used to listen to when I was teenage


texts: factory-direct -- is it an adverb? -- context: "a few products are supplied factory-direct, a few are made in-house..."

texts:
An excerpt from a book on database technologies:

  A few products are supplied factory-direct, a few are made in-house, and a few may have been bought in a warehouse sale. In other words, a product is not necessarily supplied by a vendor. Therefore, VENDOR is optional to PRODUCT.

It seems that no single dictionary out there has this word listed. A simple Google search has not revealed anything about the word and its usage. But, given the context, I assume this word is being used as an adverb and must mean that products are bought right from their manufactures without the help of a third-party organization such as a retailer or someone like that. Am I correct?


texts:
According to the image below

  My cat, Shadow, is always being naughty.

in my opinion, it's a temporary situation so why gerund form?
and also in the last line

  Why doesn't Shadow learn?

Is it wrong?


texts:
He wants very badly for everyone to like him.

Can we leave out "for" in this sentence? If not, is it because of the adverb "badly",its position in the clause or the following pronoun?

  He wants everyone to like him very much.

Here we can use "everyone" without "for". I am sure both sentences are correct and have the same meaning. When should we use "for" with the infinitive clause? Thank you.


texts: is it okay to say "push somebody/something over" when your action is "pulling"?

texts:
push somebody/something over

  to make somebody/something fall to the ground by pushing them

  Sam pushed me over in the playground.

  pull somebody/something  over

  (of the police) to make a driver or vehicle move to the side of the
  road

can we say "to push the chair over" when you made a chair fall to the ground by pulling it towards you, not pushing it away from you?

Or can we invent the structure "to pull the chair over". But, it means something else because most people know what "pull over" means?


texts: Question about use of the words 'than' and 'revise' in this context

texts:
Very confusing.  Why did the writer use the word than here? We usually say more than. I do not have problem with it.  That is comparative.  But my two concerns:

Is this comparative in this case? If the answer is yes, then why on earth the writer has put the " application received" between " more" and "than"?
Does the word revise in this text just refer to study again or is about study and changing?

  Claims for the week ended March 15 were revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits rising to 325,000 in the week ended March 22. ................ Taken from Reuters


texts:
I cannot realize the structure and the meaning of this sentence that says: something is of something else". For example, it's of great use, or something is of great value.

It would be great if one let me know the structure and the meaning.


texts: Is there an abbreviation for "have a nice lunch"?

texts:
Is there a short form of "have a nice lunch"?
I'd guess there should be one for an informal occasion like between friends.
How would you say "have a nice lunch" in situations like:

to your toddler
to your co-worker
to your spouse

Would it be the same "have a nice lunch"? or would you say it differently per situation?
Thanks in advance


texts:
ok,

  to distract: to prevent (someone) from giving full attention to
  something.Source

So, can I say "I was distracted by a distracting sexy girl", "I was distracted by a distracting car", & "I am a distracted person  because I suffered attention disorder"

so, Is it ok to say "a distracting person / thing" & "a distracted person"?


texts: ‘The turkey won’t fully cook’ needs to use passive voice?

texts:
I found this sentence in an English leaning material:

  The temperature needs to be 220 at the minimum or else the turkey won’t fully cook.

The subject of the latter half is ‘turkey’. Do we need to use passive voice in here:

  or else the turkey won’t be fully cooked?

Thank you in advance.


texts:
This is from an article in the CBC news:Is there a path to redemption for any of the high-profile men accused of sexual misconduct?

  Marcus has a point. That's not to suggest men like Harvey Weinstein,
  who embody a particularly heinous sort of sexual predator — those who
  not only victimize prey, but implicate all those around by terrorizing
  them into silence — deserve any shot at redemption. Nor do men who
  prey on children.

I tried to apply different entries of 'implicate' to the sentence to figure out the context, but am confused.
'3. to affect as a consequence' seems to work. But one of the synonyms 'incriminate' seems to fit the context as well. What is your take on it?


texts:
I wonder:

Authorized user will be given access to this terminal as well
Access to authorized user will be given to this terminal as well

Which one is correct? I have heard the first phrase "user will be given access" already but I have a problem that he is not an actor but subject. If the first is correct, why?

Edit

Scenerio: new user will have access to his terminal. Other users like managers may have been granted access right too.


texts: Can we use “performing” instead of “enactment” in this text?

texts:
There was an unearthly quality to the atmosphere inside the Frieze New York art fair, like the air in a plane—still but pressurized, with an unsettling hum—when the fiction writer Ottessa Moshfegh visited to speak about her work one afternoon in May. “I hate this fair already,” she said when she walked in, handing her ticket to a very tall, very pale man dressed entirely in black lace. Almost immediately, she was lost in the labyrinth of works for sale: Takashi Murakami’s lurid blond plastic milkmaids with long legs and erect nipples; the words “any messages?” spelled out in neon tubing. It was like an enactment of the world inhabited by the protagonist of Moshfegh’s forthcoming novel, “My Year of Rest and Relaxation,” who works at a gallery in Chelsea, amid objects like a quarter-million-dollar “pair of toy monkeys made using human pubic hair,” with camera penises poking out from their fur. “Did I do this?” Moshfegh said, only half kidding. She sometimes gets the sense that she has the power to conjure reality through her writing.

Does the person imply that words coming out of neon tubing are like enactment or the whole fair is like an enactment ? Does enactment here can be replaced by the word “performance” ? Possibly if you can paraphrase that part I can get the idea. Thank you.


texts:
I am making a video game and I need to explain to the user how a skill tree works.

Basically, when you increase the level of the "up" skill, the skill "below" becomes unlocked, however "up" and "below" is not correct since it can be on the right side like this:

So, when the user presses the locked skill, I need to use a little phrase that explains it.

I was thinking something like this "Unlock the previous skill united by the line."

However, that sounds very bad to me.

How do you refer to [something] that is united/joined to [another thing] by [something]?


texts: about "that that" where "that" is repeated with the first being a pronoun and the second being a relative pronoun

texts:
I would like to ask if the that that expression can be used and correct. The only that that expression I can think of is the case where the first that is a pronoun and the second that is a relative pronoun.

For instance:
You and your friend Adam are in a car on the road. Your friend Adam told you a while ago that he was seeing a weird car with all people inside dressed up as clowns. And right now, you see the car is passing by.

  The car you talked about is that that is going right past us.

Surely, the first that means  that car and the second that is a relative pronoun.

I think this is a legitimate expression grammatically, but somehow I also feel it can be wrong as the repetition of the same word that might provoke confusion.


texts:
I want to say that something can be enabled or disabled.
Is there a single word or a phrase to describe this?
I found the word "enableable" on Urban Dictionary , but i'm still not sure if this word exists and frequently used.


texts: Tense usage in an imaginary discussion in the past

texts:
This is a very similar question to the last one(see here:Tense usage in an imaginary discussion), but this time I have problems with imaginary situations in the past

When I chat with my friends, we often come up with imaginary situations. What if the situation happened in the past, should I use past perfect subjunctive mood?

    Question:

    Can I just keep everything in simple present tense like "will", "can", ....?

    or

    I have to use "would have", "could have" and verbs in the form of “had + past perfect form” because of past perfect subjunctive mood or something?

    or

    I have to use "would", "could" and verbs in past tense?

Down below are two examples.

(My friend and I are talking about a training I did two days ago, but he didn't go with me.)

I say:

    At the time, you would find me to be very strong.

or

    At the time, you would have found me to be very strong.

Or simply just say it in the present tense.

    At the time, you find me to be very strong.

The second example: (My friend and I are talking about Arnold)

I say:

    Imagine you had trained with Arnold during his peak career time in 1970. You had had difficulties to lift heavier weights. He had shared his experiences with you to help. Wouldn’t it have been so lucky to have the best bodybuilding legend as your training partner?

Should I write sentences like that, or it is ok to use simple past tense or present tense instead?


texts:
Is the following sentence grammatically correct? Is it correct to say "demand somebody that something be done"?

He demanded her that the books she borrowed from him be returned.


texts: difference between WILL, BE GOING TO and the present continuous

texts:
when we can use WILL, BE GOING TO or the present continuous.
and what is the difference between situations we use each of them?


texts: Can the word itinerary be used in context of an event schedule

texts:
What does the word itinerary mean? Can it be used in context of an event?

I looked up in dictionary and found its meaning as:

  the places you go to or plan to go to on journey

and also

   a document in which the places you will be going to are listed

But one of my friend is arguing me that it can be used as schedule for an event.


texts:
I have to put the decimal number 10% in a sentence as a statement of comparison.

Can I say:

10% out of all number of caves. (?)


texts:
I want to get the message across that I'm not even going to worry about step B, unless I've gotten step A all figured out, and I still don't have a clue what step A is. I figure there are at least ten different ways to convey it, but I'm only interested in something conversational or idiomatic. Below are four sentences I've come up with. Could you correct them, if wrong?

1.Step B is way ahead (of where I am) right now.

2.Step B is too far ahead (of where I am) right now.

3.Step B is far too ahead (of where I am) right now.

4.Step B is much further ahead (of where I am) right now.


texts:
He was a man who would have made a success of life a century and a
  half ago when conversation was a passport to good company and
  inebriety no bar.

  "I ought to have lived in the eighteen hundreds," he said himself.
  "What I want is a patron. I should have published my poems by
  subscription and dedicated them to a nobleman. I long to compose
  rhymed couplets upon the poodle of a countess. My soul yearns for the
  love of chamber-maids and the conversation of bishops."

  Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

Does the 'no bar' here mean 'bar none'?


texts:
a) He continued to mark his papers when student Sarah entered the room.
Without the context of say: *his favourite student or a specific description such as the student with the red hair can commas be omitted?
If we just say they are in apposition and require commas that doesn't account for the context or how many students are present or are not? As written, I'd assume he has the one student Sarah, but some may suggest they are in apposition and require commas and Sarah is parenthetical.
Something like:
The dog, Charlie, chased the cat.
No context can changed and there is no ambiguity, but in a) the commas may change how the sentence may be interpreted.


texts:
I am writing a blurb about my photography book that I have dedicated to my late father.

I am looking for a word to complete the sentence.

Here is the sentence:

"I dedicated the book to my late father in … that he could see these places with me."


texts:
Below is a sentence from a grammar book.

  I have nothing of which to complain.

The book says the phrase "of which" is used as part of a relative pronoun clause.
Suddenly this came confusing to me as I felt I had heard other many similar expressions like that in its shape but with different interpretation of meaning. For example I made up a sentence as follows.

  I have to make a decision of which to choose.

Is also the second sentence right above part of a relative pronoun clause?
Or is it totally different grammatically?

Thank you very much.


texts: Is an article needed in these opening statements?

texts:
I have some opening statements like:

  From programming perspective, ...

And,

  From application development perspective, ...

Not sure whether I should add definitive article for them to become:

  From a programming perspective, ...

And,

  From an application development perspective, ...

Which ones are correct?


texts: Error spotting : Maya wasn't promoted to the post of a manager till for a few months of her resignation

texts:
Maya wasn't promoted to (A) the post of a manager (B) till for a few
  months of her resignation. (C) No error (D)

What's the error in the above sentence ?
My book says error is in part C but isn't the B part also wrong ? Shouldn't the  correct form be the post of manager ?

What's the error in part C ? Do we need to remove for from it to correct the sentence ?

So the overall correct form should be

Maya wasn't promoted to the post of manager till a few months of her resignation.


texts: Is "Shark is chasing the blood" Correct?

texts:
When sharks smell blood in water, they follow the blood to find the source. How would I describe this action? I came up with:

  A shark is chasing the blood.

Would a usage like this be correct?


texts: than any one of use would like -- I don't understand that

texts:
Source: Networking Bible by Barrie Sosinsky (2009)

Example:

  There is a considerable amount of product information in this book, and I’ve tried very hard to make this information both accurate and up to date. Unfortunately, product information ages faster than any one of use would like, and many times in the course of writing this book, I’ve encountered products and companies I’ve known that are no longer with us.

Particularly, I don't understand this: any one of use. Is he talking about people? People of use?

Just dawned on me. Could it possibly be a typographical error? Sounds like it should be "us" instead of "use".


texts: Present Perfect Tense vs Past Perfect Tense

texts:
1).  Something has happened in the past twenty years that surely must transcend anything that has happened before.

2). Something has happened in the past twenty years that surely must transcend anything that had happened before.

Which one is correct ? If both are correct, what is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?


texts: "would have v3" vs "must have v3" (guess or speculation about a possibility in the past)

texts:
I watched a program on ITV channel (British TV channel), in which people call in and ask a psychologist questions about their family problems such as "why is my son doing this", "why is my daughter behaving like this, etc."

While listening one case, one grammar issue caught my attention. It is the use of "would have v3" instead of "must have v3" for a strong guess about the past.

Here is how the native speaker lady used it: One mother is calling the show and complaining the the psychologist that her son does not want to talk to them, avoids them, does not want to visit them even when she was at a hospital after she (the mother) said she did not like his girlfriend a few months ago. So, the mother asks why has her son been behaving like this since then.

And, after she stops, the psychologist lady is making some guesses about what might have happened and why has he been behaving so weird.

In her answer, the lady refers to mother's not liking his girlfriend and says: - "He would have taken that as a rebuke".

I find it interesting, because at school, we were taught that we should use "must have v3" for making guesses or speculating about a past case. However, I see "would have v3" is often used for making guesses about things in the past. Also in this example, the British lady on the TV does not use it and instead she uses "would have v3".

So, is it all right to use it this way? In other words, can we use "would have v3" for strong guesses about the cases that happened in the past?

Thank you.

Note: The link of the video(See 03:08): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEgikcBGE1E


texts: What would you call this type of news: Worst Passwords of 2014? I guess we could still call it news, but I'm curious if there's a special term for this because it's a little bit different from the format of news we're used to seeing on television.


texts:
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeuxluumV5s#t=1m26s

  I've got a wife and two daughters. We're all huge Disney fans. In fact, in the year 2000 we all moved down to Florida where I was one of five network designers at Walt Disney World which, by the way, at that time was an all Cisco shop when it came to routers and switches.

What exactly does this expression mean?


texts: What do the words " deep" and "off" in this context mean?

texts:
New French satellite images show possible debris from a missing Malaysian airliner deep in the southern Indian Ocean, Malaysia said on Sunday, adding to growing signs that the plane may have gone down in remote seas off Australia.
From reuters
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSBREA2701720140323?irpc=932

My conception is that both"deep" and "off" means away from.  The word " deep" does not necessarily mean " deep in the water" . It says it went down. It is confusing. Previous satelite pictures has identified debris on the water not in the water.  Why the writer has written deep in the ocean.


texts: How to understand "how glad I am I came here instead"?

texts:
My name was down for Eton, you know, I can't tell you how glad I am I came here instead.

I can probably get its meaning, but I'm not sure about its structure. I can easily understand: I can't tell you how gladly I came here instead. Why do we need to add "I am" in the middle? It doesn't look so grammatical to me. What kind of structure is it?

~ From Harry Potter.


texts: Different mechanisms in isolation is/are not effective?

texts:
Should I use "is" or "are" in the following sentence?

  Different mechanisms in isolation is/are not effective.


texts:
Mary and her husband Dimitri lived in the tiny village of Perachora in southern Greece. One of Mary's prize possessions was a little white lamb which her husband had given her. She kept it tied to a tree in a field during the day and went to fetch it every evening. One evening, however, the lamb was missing. The rope had been cut, so it was obvious that the lamb had been stolen.

When Dimitri came in from the fields, his wife told him what had happened. Dimitri at once set out to find the thief. He knew it would not prove difficult in such a small village. After telling several of his friends about the theft, Dimitri found out that his neighbour, Aleko, had suddenly acquired a new lamb. Dimitri immediately went to Aleko's house and angrily accused him of stealing the lamb. He told him he had better return it or he would call the police. Aleko denied taking it and led Dimitri into his back-yard. It was true that he had just bought a lamb, he explained, but his lamb was black. Ashamed of having acted so rashly, Dimitri apologized to Aleko for having accused him. While they were talking it began to rain and Dimitri stayed in Aleko's house until the rain stopped. When he went outside half an hour later, he was astonished to find that the little black lamb was almost white. Its wool, which had been dyed black, had been washed clean by the rain!

Sometimes use find, sometime use find out, even if it is followed by that.
What is the difference between them？


texts: Is "only as a hint" being used correctly in the following sentence?

texts:
Not sure what did it but he made up his mind to complain to her about
  this issue. Only as a hint, of course, because he was too coward
  to solve the problem up-front.

Is this usage correct? If not, what's a better alternative?


texts:
Would it  be correct (and why?) to use a plural form in a sentence like:

  The data shows the increases in traffic for different things.

I would think that a singular noun may be better, because we are talking about one thing (the increase) many different times. Also if I had to use a plural, I'd say:

  The data shows increases in traffic for different things.

Without the "the"


texts: Win by default: looking for an Alternative idiom

texts:
I'm looking for a word or an idiom expressing the fact that  an agent (Athlete, Company, Country, etc.) suddenly ranks first, not because he performed better but because the former champion's performance slumped.

(Something other than winning by default/forfeit)

Here is the context:

  Many think that soon enough the USA is going to produce more oil than Saudi Arabia. But others think that it's going to be because SA's production is going to decrease.  It's like saying your country is going to bring renewable energies from 10% to 50% of the national energy mix. If you reduce overall energy consumption while keeping the same volume of renewables, then statistically you become a much more eco-friendly country.

See what I mean?


texts: The types of written exams or questions at the university / collage

texts:
Usually in the most of the collages there are two types of written exams:

1) Multiple choices questions - you have just to mark the correct answer that exist already among the options.

2) Questions without choices (in my native language we call them "open questions") - you don't have any choice and therefore you have to write by yourself the whole answer without any clue.

What is the second type ('open questions' in my native language) actually called in English? Is it the same as my language - 'open questions'?

I checked the dictionary in my language and there's no reference to this term.


texts: Meaning of "Studying electronics as long as I could pick out my own books"?

texts:
Somebody told me:

  Studying electronics as long as I could pick out my own books.

but I didn't understand what he means.

I can guess that studying electronics takes too long time. Am I right?


texts: "On it" or "by it" when referring to travelling by subway?

texts:
Could you tell me which one I have to use: on it or by it when referring to travelling by subway? For example:

The Kyiv subway is very convenient. You can get practically everywhere on it/by it.

Are both perfectly natural?


texts:
I have in an article a sentence similar to:

  High stakes in surgery call for great care

My supervisor says "high stakes" is too colloquial. Is this really so and if it is, what is a more formal way to say the same?


texts: Motto meaning: Whenever you are, we're already then

texts:
I wondering about meaning of The Echo Park Time Travel Mart's motto. Which is:

  Whenever you are, we're already then.

The Mart is selling funny things, so I could guess it a little bit, but not quite.


texts: When to use 'one' instead of indefinite article 'a'?

texts:
I'm confused about using the word one or a at times.

  I was walking down the street and saw one person climbing the building.
  I was walking down the street and saw a person climbing the building.

Which one is correct? Why?


texts:
We had a small news van while they had a large _______________.
Is there a vehicle larger than a van that is used about a news station vehicle? Is a news truck basically the same as a news van? What about a news bus? Is that used?


texts:
Once I listened to a song and there were some strange words that I can't understand. I have searched for the lyrics and found various results:

  My nervous system is shot all right.
  My nervous system is shut all right.

Which one is right? Is it an idiom? How could I better understand it, and what does it mean?


texts:
For teachers making important instructional decisions, and when
  student responsiveness to instruction is of key importance for
  educational decision-making, relying on the measure in which slope is
  more clearly related to overall outcomes may be paramount.

There are two "is"s in this sentence, and I don't know what the "subjects" are in here.

Thanks!


texts:
Henry looks carefully into the telescope which lets him see far, far away, as far away as the distant nebulae on the far edges of the Milky Way ... The Birth of a Star

The above is the first sentence in the story. the writer use the indefinite article (The) three times, I understand one use of them which is last one (the Milky Way) because it is universally known.

Why does the writer use the (not a or nothing) with telescope,  nebulae and edges?


texts: His new song is English vs His new song is an English song vs His new song is in English

texts:
If I am talking about a song in English by a musician who is not English, can I use these sentences interchangeably to mean the song is in English?

  His new song is English.

  It is an English song.

  His new song is in English.

I know the third one can be used, but how about the first two? The second one doesn’t sound that bad to me even though I think it could be wrong. I feel like there could be a stronger possibility the first sentence, “His new song is English”, is the one that is wrong if you mean the language by “English,” because that structure doesn’t sound very familiar to me.


texts: What does 'of' mean in 'consider of secondary importance'?

texts:
Confusion about adjunct and complement induced me to check the meaning of 'adjunct':

  adjunct = 2. (Grammar) A word or phrase that constitutes an optional element or is considered of secondary importance in a sentence, for example on the table in we left some flowers on the table.

1. Somewhy, of sounds strange and wrong to me. Which ODO definition corresponds?
I ask NOT about the meaning of ' 'consider of secondary importance', because I know that it means 'consider as being of secondary importance'. Perhaps this ELU question of mine figures here?

2. Which other prepositions could be used? Why not write 'is considered WITH secondary importance'?


texts: Does "I gotta watch my figure" mean being careful not get obese?


texts: Has been fixed to "be held" / "take place"

texts:
In a leave application to school headmaster which is better:

  Dear Sir,
                   My elder sister's marriage has been fixed to be held / take place on 18th of February.......

Which, in a native speaker's opinion, is the best to use for a high school student?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
After asking about “me” for answering a question. at Answering a question with "Me" instead of "I" + <auxiliary verb>, I think I understand how to use “me” for answering a question.

However, I just remembered reading a children book, The Little Red Hen, many months ago and I found some sentences from that book.

  “Who will help me to plant this wheat?”  the little red hen asked her friends.
  “Not I,” said the cat.
  “Not I,” said the rat.
  “Not I,” said the pig.

I don’t understand why those animals say “Not I.” I think they should say “Not me.”

Or is it that for speaking we should say "not me", but for writing "not I" is more appropriate?


texts:
Example:

  The A-League is a national competition with 10 teams, including 9 from around Australia and 1 from New Zealand. There are two teams from each of Sydney and Melbourne and one team from each of Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Newcastle and the Central Coast of New South Wales. Finally, there is a team from New Zealand, being Wellington Phoenix. The regular season games are played in the Australian summer, from October to April, when each team plays each other team 3 times.

Obviously, all this means is that all the soccer teams in the Australian soccer league are from their respective places. But why not just simply say there are two teams from Sydney and Melbourne? What's the implication of using each of in this particular case? As for the second example, the use of each of can be, I guess, somewhat justified because if we get rid of it, then the sentence may sound like there is only one team representing all those cities altogether which is of course wrong—there is always one team per city. Even though I perfectly understand what it says, I still have a problem comprehending it in terms of grammar. Could you please clear things up for me a little bit?


texts:
I've just been told my current understanding of possessives is ungrammatical, it was noticed in this sentence

  The iPhone has been the most successfully sold Apple 's product

and I was advised to use it this way

  The most successfully sold of Apple’s products.
  The most successfully sold Apple product.
  The most successful of Apple’s products.
  The most successful Apple product.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get my head around it but I was told it might be due to the absence of cases in English in comparison to my primary language(Latvian).

So, why is it ungrammatical to use possessive in this example?


texts: Is "I see my freedom restricted" correct?

texts:
Could you please tell me whether the following sentence is really grammatical and why?

  I see my freedom restricted.


texts:
"Which students in the class are allowed to go to the party will be decided by the teacher."

I am not sure whether the sentence "Which students in the class are allowed to go to the party" can be the subject of the entire sentence.

Could you please explain why this expression may be wrong?


texts: "Don't go breaking my heart" versus "Don't go break my heart"

texts:
What is the difference between:

  Don't go breaking my heart

and

  Don't go break my heart

I can only think "breaking" to me might be speaking to a pattern of behavior - and so the ongoing sense. But grammatically I think both could be one event or ongoing. I'm interested in learning from others if there is a strong consensus or historical convention. This is motivated by use in music, on the occasion of the new Backstreet song.


texts: what is the difference between how many years and how long years

texts:
for example
1- how many years you lived in this house ?

or
2- how long years you lived in this house ?

which one is right ?


texts: Troubles with black american slang - what does "yellow bones" mean?

texts: I'm stuck with some troubles. I've just watched videos on YouTube and found Trevor Noah on "Naw Mean?". At 00:00:26 that guy starts to make a parody of black American slang, and I can't understand what he says. Could someone explain, why that guy named Trevor "B"? And what does "yellow bone" mean in this context? Because books don't teach us that kind of speaking.


texts: Does "I've got the following macro in the code" sound OK?

texts:
I wrote a question a few days ago starting like this:

  I've got the following macro in the code:

I was meaning the code of a whole program. I also provided the code of the macro (kind of a function in the program) below.

Someone's corrected my sentence like this:

  I have the following macro:

I'd like to know why this sentence is better than mine? While I agree that "in the code" maybe somewhat redundant, but what's wrong with "I've got"?


texts:
Is there a difference between “no place to go” and “no place left to go”?

e.g.

  There is no place to hide.
  There is no place left to hide.


texts: I've come across an exercise in a workbook of the American English. It requires to write the words given in the box next to their definitions. The words in the box are wife, rock, row, whirlpool, tear, hero. Can "pull into pieces" be similar to "tear" by meaning? Thanks


texts: " on the example of the Equation" or "using the Equation as an example"

texts:
Which of the following is more correct?

  "we show our results on the example of the Duffing equation"

or

  "we show our results using the Duffing equation as an example"

I am very thankful for any help.


texts: could vs might (for expressing the future possibility)

texts:
Could vs might(for the future possibility)
I could go there.
I might go there.
I know that these two sentences talk about less possibility to go there.
but, I can’t know their slight difference.
When you want to tell future possibilities, how do you determine to use could or might?
-------------------------------and-------------------------------------------------------------
There is an example sentence.
-> He asked me last night if you could/might be willing to talk to Margaret for him.
I saw this sentence on other website.
On the website, the writer explained that 'could' could mean internal possibility and 'might' could mean
external possibility.
Internal possibility indicates whether the person is shy, not fluent, or which is related to his ability.
External possibility indicates whether there are some obstacles like that the person has no time to meet Margaret.
How do you think about that?
Thanks :)


texts:
The American has dwindled into an Odd Fellow (17) — one who may be
  known by the development of his organ of gregariousness, and a
  manifest lack of intellect and cheerful self-reliance; whose first and
  chief concern, on coming into the world, is to see that the almshouses
  are in good repair; and, before yet he has lawfully donned the virile
  garb, to collect a fund for the support of the widows and orphans that
  may be; who, in short ventures to live only by the aid of the Mutual
  Insurance company, which has promised to bury him decently.  -Thoreau

What does "before yet" and its sentence mean?
How to paraphrase "in short ventures"?


texts: "get unexpected responses" vs. "get unexpected response" vs. "get an unexpected response"

texts:
Which of the following three sentences would be correct? What are the differences between them?

You don’t have to check the correctness of the database table unless you get unexpected response for your test cases.
You don’t have to check the correctness of the database table unless you get unexpected responses for your test cases.
You don’t have to check the correctness of the database table unless you get an unexpected response for your test cases.


texts: A positive alternative to the adjective "plain"?

texts:
I need to know if the adjective "plain" sounds neural or negative in some manners? If the latter is true, can you give me a better, positive alternative to the word? "Simple" would not work either, I guess. Or maybe "unadorned" could work but it is too long a word to use in a casual way.

addition: sorry, I totally forgot to mention the context. The context is the overall decoration of a place such as restaurant or cafe. Also, the context could be food-related too. e.g. "a plain birthday cake"

Thanks in advance!


texts: How to address both males and females in a letter

texts: How to write the address in a letter when the recipients of the letter are a combination of  males and females? Imagine that you had a meeting with a couple of your colleagues,  males and females and then you draft minutes and you wanna send the letter to each one of the participants.  So what do you put in " CC" in the letter Mr.A, Mrs. B, Mr. C etc


texts:
Definition of scrawl by Dictionary.com:

  to write awkwardly, carelessly, or illegibly.

Definition of scribble by Dictionary.com:

  to write or draw in a hasty or careless way.

The definition of scribble is actually exactly the same as the earliest definition of this question. You use "scribble" to describe something that is written awkwardly, carelessly or illegibly. Likewise, the word scrawl also shares the meaning of writing hastily or carelessly.

So what is the difference between them? I can't differentiate them by dictionary definitions or Google search.

EDIT: Definition of scrawl by Merriam-Webster:

  :  to write or draw awkwardly, hastily, or carelessly scrawled his name


texts:
Then one night, some villain sneaked into my chamber, and carved a
  device by the window …’ And next morning, a shaft of early sun,
  creeping through mist and rain, had picked out a gallows, from which
  dangled a cardinal's hat.

  — Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

What is the meaning of "to carve a device" here?


texts: "to be one to be successful" does this mean to be alone to be successful? or to be the one to succeed

texts:
"to be one to be successful".
Does this mean you need to be alone to get success? or to be the one to succeed


texts: What does "he is said to have assumed" mean?

texts:
I found the following sentence very difficult to understand. There are actually two parts I didn't understand.

Since Christopher Columbus began his journey to America with the intent of finding an alternate route to Southeast Asia, he is said to have assumed that the people he came into contact with upon reaching land were Indians.*

The link of this sentence is, http://www.wisegeek.org/why-are-native-americans-called-indians.htm. See first paragraph of the essay.

Does **he is said to have assumed* mean that people say that Christopher Columbus assumed that. I asked this question because the usage of this term is very difficult to understand since this usage behavior does not exist in my native language.

Does upon reaching land mean India (a nation) or South East Asia?


texts: Correct approach of politely reply back with strong oppose

texts:
I asked for some details to one of my colleague. He replied and mentioned a special note in the reply mail. Something like this:

  Please find the detail below
  1>aaaaaa
  2>bbbbbb

  Please Note: we should not do that blah, blah, blah

so I want to reply back him on this mail politely but want to make sure that he should clearly understand that I am not happy for this special note and he should not put any special note (Suggestion) in future.

How can I say that. I am thinking to write something like ...

  Kindly do not put any special note instead of that.....

Is this ok? If someone can suggest me the tricky way to reply on this mail politely it will be very helpful for me.


texts: Expressing a range that excludes the two outermost members of the range

texts:
I have a number of calibration standards (solutions that contain binding antibodies in exact quantities). The lowest-concentration standard is 200 ng/mL, the highest is 5000 ng/mL. Between them, there are standards with concentrations of 250, 300, and so forth.

The permitted deviation of concentration for the highest and lowest standards is 25%, while the permitted deviation for the other standards is 20%.

How do I indicate in writing that the range I'm describing in sentence 2 (below) excludes the two "outermost" standards?

  The measured concentration of binding antibodies in the calibration standards (concentrations: 200 and 5000 ng/mL) should not deviate by more than 25 % from the nominal concentration.

  The measured concentration of binding antibodies in the calibration standards (concentrations: from 200 to 5000 ng/mL) should not deviate by more than 20 % from the nominal concentration.

Should I write "concentrations: above 200 but below 5000 ng/mL"? This looks a bit out of style for technical writing. There must be some elegant way of expressing this.

Could "concentrations: between 200 and 5000 ng/mL" be a suitable choice?


texts:
This girl is more intelligent than the rest of the class.
  This girl is the most intelligent than the rest of the class.

Which one is the right one? As far as I know, we use "than + comparative adjective" for comparison, but "the rest of the class" makes me confused.


texts: Why do people say "sports shoes" but not "sport shoes"?

texts:
In oxford dictionary:

  Sport: [uncountable] (British English) (North American English sports
  [plural]) activity that you do for pleasure and that needs physical
  effort or skill, usually done in a special area and according to fixed
  rules

  There are excellent facilities for sport and recreation.

  I'm not interested in sport.

  the use of drugs in sport

  [countable] a particular form of sport

  What's your favourite sport?

  team/water sports

  a sports club

It seems that US people only use "sports" not "sport".

But why do people (both American & British) say "sports shoes", "sports club", "sports team", "sports bar", "sports facilities", etc?

But "apple juice", "orange juice", "book club"

Why don't they say "sport shoes", "sport club", "sport team", "sport bar", "sport facilities", etc?


texts:
A thief walks into a bank, puts a gun to the head of one of the customers,
  and announces that he will shoot unless the teller hands over all
  the money in the drawer. The teller does nothing. The thief shoots the
  customer, runs off, and never is seen again. The customer dies of his
  injuries, and his estate brings a lawsuit against the bank, complaining
  that the teller should have given the money...

Source: p 18, The Legal Analyst, Ward Farnsworth

Here, I guess that estate refers to a human, so none of the definitions befit. Definition 4 doesn't because this sort of thief isn't necessarily related to nobles.

I also tried the legal dictionary but to no avail.


texts:
I was reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and then I happened to notice something like this:

  The mountains around the school became icy grey and the lake like chilled steel.

I understood it as "the lake was like chilled steel" though the auxiliary verb had been omitted. I remembered catching several other occasions of this. One example is:

  'I'll be back at dawn,' said Filch, 'for what's left of them,' he added nastily, and he turned and started back towards the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.

The auxiliary verb seemed to be missed intentionally in the last phrase of the sentence, as I read it as "his lamp was bobbing away in the darkness."

I just wonder if this is grammatically correct? Is there any difference between having the auxiliary verb and omitting it in these cases? Is there any special meaning by omitting the auxiliary verb in these scenarios?


texts: I want to know what does "with" in this passage means

texts:
I took a practice exam for the entrance exam for Tokyo University, made by one company.
I had to translate a sentence I am going to talk about into Japanese.
But because of the word "with", I still have trouble in understanding the italic part of this sentence.
(I changed the format of the word "with" to show which "with" I am talking about.)
"This little girl, looking at the complicated piece of reality we call a tree, with all its color, shapes, light and shade, did not know which of these qualities to represent with a pencil, nor how to do it."
This is a part of one passage, so I attach a picture of it.

I understand this passage in this way:
Drawing a picture of something which looks real is not so simple as just copying it as it is.
To draw such a picture, you decide what is important and what is not, and then draw the important things properly.
The girl knew this (at least that it is not so simple), but when she was looking at the piece of reality we call a tree, she couldn't ignore any of its qualities (paid attention to all of its qualities), and then she couldn't draw such a picture.
So, I think the word "with" modifies the verb "was looking".
The answer the company gave was like this.
When the girl was looking at the piece of reality we call a tree, which has colors, shapes, light and shade, she didn't know which of these qualities to represent with a pencil, nor how to do it.
So, the word "with" modifies the noun "the piece of reality".
I don't know whether what I think or the answer is true.
If the company says is true, why "with all its", not just "with"?
I'm just studying English, so I cannot solve this by myself.
Could you give me some answer, please?
I'd be happy with any kind of answer, like "The company is right just because we say so."
P.S.
If you don't mind telling me the mistakes in grammar or usage, would you?
I'd be  so happy.


texts: can you ask my question about conditional?

texts:
I'm not sure if the tense of 'would' is present simple in sentence below.
: If you went to see him, he would be delighted.
reference number 4(https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/would?q=would)
You can look it up on web-dic above.


texts: Difference between “I thought Ron a mad guy” and “I thought Ron to be mad”?

texts:
I thought Ron to be mad.

Here, Ron is working as an indirect object and 'to be mad' as a direct object.

I thought Ron a mad guy.

Here, Ron is working as an indirect object and 'a mad guy' as a direct object.
What's the difference then?


texts: What is the meaning of "athletes of color"?

texts:
In the following sentence, what does mean the bolded phrase?

  The annals of sports are filled with great athletes of color.


texts: The past simple versus the present perfect tense

texts:
I've got the difference between that tenses on a basic level (remembering the appropriate time markers helps me). But in some cases, I can't get the picture which the tense is more appropriate.
Let's have a look at some example.

  You have already received our letter, haven't you?

  Yes, we received it last week and our specialists have studied it very carefully

Why should I employ the present perfect in the second part of the sentence (it is emphasized by italic)? Isn't it more reasonable to use the past simple there as in the first part? (mentioing by that that the specialists stydied it last week too).


texts:
I ran into an expression "to do back that far" and I couldn't understand the meaning from the context. I tried to find similar ones, but it seems that such expressions are not very common. So, I've found only one example:

  "These songs, they're like mystery stories, the kind that Shakespeare saw when he was growing up. I think you could trace what I do back that far. They were on the fringes then, and I think they're on the fringes now. And they sound like they've been on the hard ground."

What does it really mean?

P.S.
Another example:

  He's absolutely out there, you know, with his theories. Some of them do
  back far but this deuterium thing that he's nailed at the moment
  really really does interest me.


texts: Using "I am writing to..." with "request"

texts:
I have encountered the phrase "I am writing to inform..." several times in an E-mail.  However, I have never seen this phrase used with any verb other than "inform" before.  Thus, I am not very confident in the validity of the following sentence:

"I am writing to request your permission to organize an interview..."

I would appreciate if anyone could tell me if the sentence above is within the norm of polite business language and if I could use the phrase with any verb other than inform.  Thank you in advance for your help.


texts: Use of 'from' in 'scared from something'

texts:
Is it wrong to use 'from' in this sentence:

  He is scared from something

And what about this sentence:

  I'm scared from something

Must I use 'of' in these sentences?


texts:
I was shocked to discover that or rather is used with and without comma in a dictionary:

https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/or-rather

  It is fear, or rather fears, that I want to speak about in this book.

  But he'd had that last night - or rather, in the small hours of the
  morning.

And it's the same on Google.

Does this mean the comma is optional for or rather?


texts:
I would like to say that when I get my first salary, I will buy/get a cat. Which preposition should I use with 'salary' and is it correct to say 'buy a cat'? Or shouldn't I use the word 'salary'?

I will spend my salary on getting a cat. (But I am afraid this makes it sound as if the cat will cost me 100% of my salary, which is not something I want to say)
I will buy a cat with/on/from my first salary.


texts: "He went ill and came back healthy" is it correct

texts:
I heard a man say:

  He went ill and came back healthy.

Here ill and healthy are adjectives and qualify the subject, he.

And the sentence structure is:

  sub + verb + adjective

Is it grammatically correct and how native speakers express this?

Thank you.


texts: What do you call something you can use twice and not just once?

texts:
I know there's the word "single-use" as in "single-use plastic bag", but the word "dual-use" is never used to mean "can be used twice", correct me if I am wrong, so is there a word that means that?

For example:

  They invented a ___ syringe that allows a person to use a syringe
  safely twice without risk of transmitting disease.


texts: Can the past perfect be replaced by the past continuous in this case?

texts:
Someone in the news died today and the following line was used:

  He had been suffering from ill health throughout 2017.

Is it possible to say he was suffering from ill health throughout 2017?


texts:
I know that open is an ergative verb and it can be used transitively and intransitively and open is also an adjective.

  The school opens at 10 A.M  and closes at 5 P.M.

  The school is opened at 10 A.M  and is closed at 5 P.M.

  The school is open from 10 A.M to 5 P.M.

I think all the sentences are possible and grammatical.If they are wrong, why are they wrong?

I would like to know if any one of these sentences is wrong or is there any difference among them?


texts: whenever we drive we are contributing to global warming

texts:
I am trying to figure out what the difference is between:

  whenever we drive, we are helping the automobile company and are basically ruining the environment.

how would the meaning change if I said:

  whenever we drive, we "help" the automobile company and basically "ruin" the environment.

I am trying to compare "we are helping" and "we help" as well as "we are ruining" and "we ruin".


texts: What do 'hisself' and 'nuff money' mean?

texts:
He got hisself kicked out cause he couldn't cough up nuff money to pay the rent.

What do 'hisself' and 'nuff' mean? It maybe looks like the nuff money is type of money. But how he can cough up money?


texts: What is the difference between “say” and “tell”?

texts:
I really get confused when to use say and when to use tell.
Which is appropriate in the following:

What did he tell? / What did he say?
What are you saying? / What are you telling?


texts: too surprised to say something vs too surprised to say anything

texts:
Could you explain which sentence is more correct?

As I know in positive sentences we use "something" rather than "anything". But in the key to exercises I saw the second sentence.
I was surprised about it.

  I was too surprised to say something.

  I was too surprised to say anything.

TIA


texts: Normally I heard people say a case of beer more than a box but what differentiate the terms of use? Is the picture attached a case or a box?


texts: Can I refer to someone as "elder member" in internet forums?

texts:
Questions:

Can I refer to a person who has been using SE for a longer period of time than me as an elder member?

Is the usage of senior member correct?

Note:
Thanks for the good answers. I asked this assuming the word elder is applicable in terms of seniority as well, not necessarily physically older as written in The Free Dictionary.

elder
adj.

Greater than another in age or seniority.

Archaic Superior to another or others, as in rank.


texts:
Olivetti’s whisper was cold. “You sure this time?” Langdon didn’t bite. “We need a map. One that shows all the churches in Rome.”
—Angels & Demons

Bite has a meaning of taking the bait fish-wise but I don't see it fit in here. It just seems it mean Langdon just hold his tongue and turn the attention to other stuff in this context. What does it mean actually?


texts: Based on the context of the story, could this sentence be literal or figurative?

texts:
A story named The Centipede, written by Rony V. Diaz is used as the basis for some English lessons. You can read and analyze the story here at this link. There is also a summary and review here. For the purposes of this question, a contextual summary is as follows:

  Delia and Eddie are siblings. Delia is the elder sister, and Eddie is the younger brother. Their mother died on the same day that Eddie was born, (possibly from childbirth complications). It appears that Delia resents her brother and sees him with contempt due to the loss of their mother. Delia mistreats her brother badly due to her resentment toward him. (She possibly attributes her brother as the cause of her death.) The story is written from Eddie's point of view, where he recounts how his sister mistreats him, and how he attempts to get revenge but regrets it afterward.

An excerpt from the story that is relevant here:

  MY sister was the meanest creature I knew. She was eight when I was born, the day my mother died. Although we continued to live in the same house, she had gone, it seemed, to another country from where she looked at me with increasing annoyance and contempt.

One of the questions asked is as follows:

  Determine whether the statement below is literal or figurative.

  Delia's resentment toward Eddie could be traced back to their mother's death.

I tried looking for a definite answer, but couldn't find any. I could only find this explanation:

  Could be both. Literal since their mother could've really died and Eddie could've been a part of it. Figurative since their mother could've died, but Eddie wasn't a part of it and Delia could've resented him due to the fact Eddie wasn't there or he didn't do anything.

It doesn't answer the question because Eddie was part of his mother death by being born of her at the same moment. But he couldn't also be held responsible for his mother's death since he was only a newborn baby.

What would be the correct answer, and why?


texts: "I cut it by hand" - what is "by hand"? (Grammatically)

texts:
I cut it by hand.

Does it (vaguely) make sense to call it a transitive verb?


texts: Sentence construction in reported speech

texts:
Is the sentence construction below correct for reported speech?

  A woman has complained to the police that her husband had mailed her
  an instant triple talaq on a Rs 100 stamp paper after months of
  harassment for dowry.

I am confused because the present prefect tense (has + past participle) and the past perfect tense (had + past participle) appear in the same sentence.


texts:
A cookie in the shape of a foot.
A cookie in the shape of foot.

Is foot without an article OK? If so, what does it mean exactly?


texts:
What is the difference between at the age of and at the ages of?
singular noun and plural noun?
Please tell me the difference.


texts:
I learnt that one of this is officially accepted, is there any difference between I am fine, thank you,  and I am very well, thank you ?.

I was preparing for an interview, and a friend of mine interviewed me just to be sure I'd prepared enough for the interview. The pre-interviewed question was below.

  Friend: Hi, how are you?

  Response: I'm fine, thank you.

He said in most context,  it is better to say I'm very well, thank you.


texts:
I have the following sentence.

  The system must be scalable so it will remain effective when there is a significant increase in data and the number of users.

I don't know if it is grammatically correct; I used and between data which is uncountable,  and "the number of users" which is countable.

Am I right? Is there any better situation that sentence will be?


texts: What's the difference between /ɜ/ and /ə/?

texts:
Someone said, one is k.k sound mark, and another is international sound mark.
Then, I find this

They are both in one phonetic system. Why?


texts: Does 'how do you like something' ask the state of it or the way of listener's how to dealing with it?

texts:
“How do you like your new school?”
  “I like it very much.”

When I first heard the dialogue, I thought how is used to denote to what extent, and this draws the answer of very much. But there’s none of this kind of usages in the dictionaries. So I got this second thought: (A) how denotes in what way, and this is matched with the whole answer I like it very much.

However it doesn’t explain these words: “used to ask if something is good, bad, etc - How do you like the soup? (Webster’s). If this is applied, the 'I like it very much’ would be meaning I’m on the state of liking it very much or it’s very good on me.

How do I have to understand the how?


texts: What is the word for "inflation of in-game money as the player gets to higher levels of the game"?

texts:
What is the word that describes inflation of in-game money as the player gets to higher levels of the game?

I know this word exists because I seen it before as someone had told me, but now I can't find it any more.

The meaning of the word is that the higher the level of the player is, the more resources the player will make in-game.

This is bad because it will not make things fun for new players, and will cause hyperinflation of all resources. This usually happens in massive multiplayer online games.


texts: What does web-mistress imply as a job title

texts:
I love that none needs my permission to take my code and do something
  cool with it, and someone else can do the same with that code. I love
  that an "end user" is usually only a few hours work away from being an
  active documenter, bug-reporter, web-mistress or coder in most
  projects.

  As a result, I despise anything which artificially raises barriers to
  entry for programmers and users. Everything from stupid software
  patents, to bad user interfaces, cabalesque knowledge and crummy
  code.

  ~ Rusty Russell

I went through the above quote, and basically have three questions:

documenter: Why does this word show as having a spelling mistake? I think I can write it similar to a "writer" being "one who writes". Why can't a "documenter" be "one who documents"
web-mistress: I have no clue exactly what this job title means? What are the roles and responsibilities of a "web-mistress", and what are the activities they are involved in routinely? Even though a quick google shows web-mistress to be a female webmaster, I believe this is hardly the job title any company would be giving to its employees. It sounds and implies slang use of "Mistress".
cabalesque: This is another word which even Google can't find. I guess it's Spanish (from cabales which means "not to be in one's right mind", masculine plural noun) or a derived word from other languages. Can you help me understand the probable meaning of this word as used in the context above?


texts: Huge computation cost or large computation cost? which one should I use?

texts:
I see this huge or large. Which one should I use?

I got

  However, something huge is surprisingly large or excessively large. If something is large, but about as large as can be expected, then it is not huge.

I have some doubt as

Due to huge computation cost, this method is not widely used.

Due to large computation cost, this method is not widely used.

Need some suggestion.


texts: What does "the proverbial middle finger" mean?

texts:
I read the following line on a certain book:

We've given the proverbial middle finger to the society

I know that proverbial means something to do with a proverb. But, how the middle finger has anything to do with proverbs? Isn't it more suitable to say:

We've given the figurative/metaphoric middle finger to the society?

Is there any famous proverb that involves giving the middle finger to the society in English.
Sorry about the language, but I really need to know.


texts: Is *Trivial* a common word in spoken English?

texts:
I'd like to know whether the word "Trivial" is commonly used by native speakers in spoken English, if it isn't. What other options are out there that could replace trivial in the sentence above?
I've thought of:

  "My boss keeps giving me a hard time for unimportant things".

  "My boss keeps complaining about silly things".

  "My boss keeps complaining about insignificant things".

The word Trivial is kind of a cool word, but I never really hear anyone say it in spoken English. What are your thoughts on that word? Am I gonna get any weird looks if I use it in spoken English?


texts:
Should I use:

  This picture was taken for the very first time.

or:

  This picture was taken for a very first time.


texts: Is it correct to say "Do you have facebook?"

texts:
I often see people using "Are you on facebook?", but in Portuguese, for example, we say "Você tem facebook", which literally translated to english would be "Do you have facebook?".
Both "Are you on facebook?" and "Do you have facebook?" translated to portuguese is okay.
But what about in english?


texts:
Hello everyone:

Are the following sentences grammatically correct?

Situation: A friend of mine has come to me for advice:

a.  I would prefer it if you would come on another day; I am really busy today.

b.  I would have preferred it if you had come on a different day; I am really busy today.

c.  I would have preferred it if you came on another day;........

Thanks


texts: In this sentence, "for one night" vs "for that night"?

texts:
Here's a sentence written in my textbook.

  The food was delicious and the service was briliant, but making my wife the center of attention for one night was the most important 'thing' of all.

It sounds like he was only concerned about making her happy only that single night. After that night, he is not likely to treat her as he did at that night. So, what if I use 'for that night' like a following? Or does 'one' have another meaning other than 'singular thing'?

  The food was delicious and the service was briliant, but making my wife the center of attention at least for that night was the most important 'thing' of all.

Plus, can I omit 'thing' in last sentence without making any difference or error?


texts: They have been doctors. [Where to put 'both'?]

texts:
In order to express the same meaning as "Both of them have been doctors," are these grammatical?

  (1) They both have been doctors.

  (2) They have both been doctors.

  (3) They have been both doctors.

If these are grammatical, which is the most natural?


texts:
Can I say "To facilitate doing something"? Should I use "task, process" or something?

  To facilitate specifying anchors, the page elements are highlighted as the user hover the mouse over them.


texts:
Why phrase 'He's bound to be suspicious' can be translated by two opposite meanings?

He simply has to be suspicious. (look like a suspicious character)
He will probably suspect something.


texts: Choose appropriate preposition when talking about feelings "To" vs "With"

texts:
How do I know when to use “ to “ or with” when talking about feelings?
For example

  “ She is rude to me”

and

  “ Are you upset with me”?


texts:
We can say "the toy is in here" when we see the toy in the box.

Can we say "the toy is on here" when we see the toy on the box?
Is "on here" as common as "in here"?


texts: I'm having difficulties to decide whether there's a possibility to use Present Simple and Present Perfect. What I mean is that there is a graph and I have to describe it: the economy ___ at the moment (improve). The correct answer is is improving, of course. However, if the sentence didn't contain "at the moment", would it be the correct way to say the economy improves (like a general fact) or the economy has improved (the graph shows data from 2000 till today, for example)? Thank you!


texts:
This book is based upon a recognition, myths to the contrary notwithstanding, that judical processes do not take place in a social void; that judges are men, not gods; that strict observance of legal forms does not necessary assure the accused of a fair trial; and that judges and court systems are themselves judged by the society they are designed to serve.

Source: https://books.google.cz/books?id=-Gt9BgAAQBAJ&pg=PR11&lpg=PR11&dq=How+this+situation+arose+the+present+volume+graphically+sets+forth,&source=bl&ots=v2jfwNQjbd&sig=S8Z3HrGxT7RidIHK4WbqtWYfyp4&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=How%20this%20situation%20arose%20the%20present%20volume%20graphically%20sets%20forth%2C&f=false

I would like to ask about the phrase "to the myths contrary notwithstanding". Is this a form of the concession? Is not the usage "the contrary" and "notwithstanding" a little bit redundant. The boths terms mean the same after all. Os is it because the phrase shall emphasize the contrast of facts in a statement?


texts: Is it correct to write: "what does a writer, a soldier and, a tourist guide have in common?"

texts:
I have a question regarding the correctness of the following sentence:

  What does a writer, a soldier and, a tourist guide have in common?

Should I use do or does?


texts: Can explain the difference between twilight and dusk please?


texts: The verb "consider" + noun + (to be) noun

texts:
I made up a sentence:"A considers B the best singer."
I tried to make questions related to my sentence:

Who considers B the best singer? Answer: A.
Who does A consider to be the best singer? Answer: B.
Who does A consider B to be? Answer: the best singer.

Are these questions correct? If so, can "to be" be omitted in questions 2 and 3 without change in meaning?


texts:
Expanse: a large, open area of land, water, or sky (Cambridge)

  Stretch: a continuous area of land or water (Cambridge)

  Expanse: a very large area of water, sky, land etc (Longman)

  Stretch: an area of land or water, especially one that is long and
  narrow (Longman)

What is the difference between an expanse of sea and a stretch of sea? How do I know when to use which?

Does "expanse" mean the sea stretches out as far as your eyes can reach?

Does "stretch" mean an area of sea that is narrow and long, which is enclosed and bounded by the land?


texts:
tell sb to do sth (Cambridge Learner's Dictionary)

When I look in dictionaries, I often see the words sb and sth. Are these proper words? What do they mean?

Can I use these words in my essays, for example?

Can I use these words in my posts on Stack Exchange?


texts:
I was wondering if you could tell me what the difference is between two verbs:

become familiar with
get familiar with


texts: Why does ‘much’ sometimes sound incorrect but not ‘so much’?

texts:
Example

  I love this so much.

  I love this much.

There should be more cases, but I cannot think of anymore.


texts: "Your child can/may/could/might do better with a different teacher"

texts:
Your child can do better with a different teacher.
Your child may do better with a different teacher.
Your child could do better with a different teacher.
Your child might do better with a different teacher.

Are they all correct/natural? (not asking about the differences between them)


texts:
Spread peanut butter evenly onto one side of bread.   Spread peanut butter evenly on one side of bread.

Which is the correct preposition in the sentence above?

I have found the definition of onto and on.
Onto is about moving something from one location to another.
Are on and onto both correct, which is the more common sentence?


texts:
Source: Obama again gets the last laugh against Putin

Example:

  The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman wrote two months ago, “[T]oday’s reigning cliche is that the wily fox, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, has once again outmaneuvered the flat-footed Americans, by deploying some troops, planes and tanks to Syria to buttress the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and to fight the Islamic State forces threatening him. If only we had a president who was so daring, so tough, so smart…. Putin stupidly went into Syria looking for a cheap sugar high to show his people that Russia is still a world power.”

In Urban Dictionary, it says that a sugar high is the high one gets after consuming large amounts of sugar, but I'm not sure I fully understand how they use this expression in this news article.


texts: Is it correct to say "all at no avail" in a sentence? or must I say "all to no avail"?


texts: "Is it okay for you?" Is this phrase considered formal in school/college setting?

texts:
If I emailed my teacher:

  I've said that I can stay after school to make up the test, but I found out that I have a band rehersal tomorrow. Is it okay for you if I take it on wednesday after school instead?

is the phrase is it OK for you formal in a student-teacher correspondence?

I feel like asking your teacher "is that okay for you?" is not formal and sounds like I'm talking to my friends.

and maybe any grammatical mistakes?


texts:
Source

  It's just about impossible to find a matter of justice he hasn't tackled and someone who isn't more uniquely qualified to lead the FBI.

Isn't this sentence strange?
I think this is supposed to be "...impossible to find someone who is more uniquely qualified to lead the FBI."

But this is coming from Obama...so it's strange.


texts: Do you "intentionally" boost your bad morale?

texts: Let's say your morale is bad and you want to have a good morale. In this case, could bad morale be something that you want "to boost" or do you just want to fix/improve it?


texts: Difference between "not a", "no" and "not any"

texts:
I wonder what differences a native speaker could point out between these three sentences.

1) There is not an apple on the table.

2) There is no apple on the table.

3) There is not any apple on the table.


texts:
I came across the sentence "They have set watch to kill you." but I wonder if the word "watch" need to change to "watches" or "a watch". Isn't noun plural form like "es" always necessary?

  Then he pulled him out of the river, and said to him, as he got upon the bank, 'Your brothers have set watch to kill you, if they find you in the kingdom.' So he dressed himself as a poor man, and came secretly to the king's court, and was scarcely within the doors when the horse began to eat, and the bird to sing, and princess left off weeping.
  The Golden Bird by Brothers Grimm


texts:
Later the car encountered a similar obstacle at another railroad crossing, this time in Matfield, where a more determined guard planted himself by the tracks and held up a stop sign to block the car from the path of another oncoming train. “[T]hey did not seem to want to stop . . .,” the guard said. “[O]ne of them in the automobile asked me, ‘What to hell I was holding him up for?’”

Can you please tell me what the passage in bold in the excerpt could excatly  mean. The phrasal verb "hold sb up" has a few different meaning but none of them makes the sense in the context to me.


texts:
Is there a common way to ask a person to put his/her shirt in his/her pants because it looks more polite?
Some people say "to tuck one's shirt in", for example, "could you tuck your shirt in to make you look better and more polite?".
But, I am not sure "tuck" is a common word, do we have a common word for it?


texts:
I don't understand the full meaning of below phrase. Could you help me to understand it?
I suggest that the first sentence is about the speaker name who does a call back, isn't it? On the other side another person says: "Just one minute, please. I will call her." And it means that the call back from Ann is waiting some other person: "she". Am I right?

(on the phone) It’s Ann you want to speak to. Just one minute, please. I will call her.

Thank you for explanation.


texts: How can I refer to an object that has been replaced by a new one?

texts:
I was on another SE forum and I wanted to speak about the fridge I was using before the new one I bought, I referred to it like this:

  my old fridge

Is that a good way to do it? Whether it is or not, are there other ways to say it ?


texts:
Let's look at the following sentence.

I don't like barking dogs. Here 'barking' is an adjective called perticipial adjective. The sentence is a reduced form of ' I don't like dogs that bark'.
So a present perticiple form can be used as an adjective.

Now let's look at the sentence.

People curse on the oppressing king.
Is the word 'oppressing'  an adjective here. Is it correct to use here. Though we can use here 'oppressive' instead of 'oppressing'.

If the sentence is correct it should be a reduced form of 'People curse on the king that oppresses'.
Does it make sense?


texts: Is "for a soon-clear reason" a correct phrasing?

texts:
I a part of my paper I am going to call this thing I am talking about "XYZ". The reason why I call it XYZ would be clear very soon in the paper. So can I say the following?

  For a soon-clear reason, I call this XYZ.

Or "for a soon-obvious reason"? Or there are other way of phrasing for that purpose.


texts: Is there any English spelling reform schemes that employs diacritics to represent more accurate pronunciations?

texts:
I've seen the list of English spelling reform from Wikipedia. However all the reforms listed there are inclined to reestablish the whole orthography and sever the relationship to the current traditional spelling. I don't think it's a good idea because it also sever the natural link to the Greek/Latin/French origins of a large amounts of words. Then I think there are many diacritics that may help learners to pronounce correctly, and not only used for indicate accents.

For example, we may use diacritics as in "máke", "fàt", "âny", "örthògraphy" -- like the French/Italian orthography -- and save the traditional spelling as well. There is no new thing under the sun, so maybe someone has already invented such a scheme.


texts: Is "come off the programme" (meaning was removed from the programme) idiomatic English?

texts: I am a health care staff and on our unit everything is computerised. So when doctors prescribe it goes up on the program. However, there was this prescription that suddenly stopped on the program. So I asked the doctor if they had discontinued the medication as the medication had “come off” the program. They understood what I meant though, in fact I’ve heard others use “fall off”. Is “come off” alright to use in this case?


texts:
In dictionary

  Much adv. more, most

  To a great degree or extent: much smarter.
  Just about; almost: much the same.
  Frequently; often: doesn't get out much.

But, does adverb "much" modify an adjective?

Ex: I have never heard anyone say "This house is much clean" but "This house is much cleaner" is ok.

SO, "much" can not modify "adjective" but "comparative adjective"?


texts:
The discipline by which an enterprise in any industry assesses, controls, exploits, finance, and monitors risk from all sources for the purpose of increasing the enterprise's short and long term value to its stakeholders.

I can understand the latter half of the sentence from "for the purpose of ... to its stakeholders." For the first half, does it mean an enterprise risk from all of these aspects? How should I cut the sentence so that I can understand it more easily?


texts:
Do the following words: (Tension), (Nervous), (Stressed) carry the same contextual meaning? Can they be used interchangeably?

This is what (Online Cambridge English Dictionary) states:

nervous
 worried and anxious:
Do you feel/get nervous during exams?
I was too nervous to speak.

stressed
worried and nervous:
The kids are sick, I just lost my baby-sitter, and our toilet doesn’t work – no wonder I feel stressed-out!

tension
a feeling of nervousness before an important or difficult event:
You could feel the tension in the room as we waited for our exam results.

Is there any difference in using these words grammatically vs. in real life?


texts: "Politics is a principal dynamic in our individual, social and national lives."

texts: Is the above sentence equivalent to saying "Politics influences our individual, social and national lives."? Would it be appropriate to use the word "dynamic" there since Merriam-Webster defines it as "a force or factor that controls or influences a process of growth, change, interaction, or activity"?


texts:
There are different types of problem.

or

  There are different types of problems.

I easily get confused when I make such sentence(s). Look, still I am not sure whether I should use sentence or sentences.


texts: What do you call a certificate from a college or university that shows you have been admitted?

texts:
What do you call a certificate that a college / university gives you as a sign of an agreement with your entrance to that specific academic institute? I need the most common fixed-term.

  Letter of admission
  Letter of admittance
  Admission letter
  Admittance letter