texts: "cannot" or "can not"? -- "As I am at the dentist. I obviously ____ sign for the package."

texts:
In this exercise we have to complete the space with 4 potential correct answers:

As I am at the dentist. I obviously ____ sign for the package.
a) cannot b) can not c) could not d) did

I have chosen "can not" because of the present conjugation in this sentence. Because your English is better than mine, you might choose "cannot" and that's the reason I want to ask you this question. Why and how?


texts:
The verb "hate" sometimes is cofusing. If we form a tag question, for instance, we consider it to be negative, because it's negative semantically and that fact influences grammar. We say

  He hates mushrooms, does he?

But what about agreement? If someone says

  I hate mushrooms.

Should I agree "So do I. Me too"? Do we take the negative meaning into consideration or only the form?


texts: How can we identify that "It's freezing", freezing is an adj not verb+ing?

texts:
It's freezing.
I noticed there are many sentences that have a construction with a [verb] + ing, but the word is not a verb but actually is an adjective. How can we know? There're some sentences like "It's prepared." It's an adjective!  How can we know?


texts: At first, you may find that tough Verbal problems—especially Critical Reasoning and Reading Comp—seem arbitrary and subjective. But, they’re less subjective than they seem. GMAT Verbal problems all go through an experimental stage, where they aren’t counted towards your score. A problem is only used on the real GMAT if, during that experimental stage, high scorers consistently get it right and low scorers consistently get it wrong.


texts: What verb to use with the word 'breach'? 'Seal'?

texts: If you put an end to a breach (in the sense of "unauthorized access", for example to a computer server), what verb could I use? Maybe, 'seal'? Or maybe simply 'close'?


texts: Does 'will have p.p' include futurity, only when added time adjunct?

texts:
[i] If he had stayed in the army he would have become a colonel. [remote]
[ii] If he stayed in the army he will have become a colonel.  [open]
In [ii] the possible staying in the army and the consequential becoming a colonel are in past time, whereas in [i] only the former necessarily is: the becoming a colonel is simply subsequent to staying in the army and this includes the case where it is still in the future.
(The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, p203)
We’ll have lived here for ten years by next July.
(Angela Downing, English Grammar, p360)

Consulting Downing’s example, I guess [ii]’s becoming a colonel could include the futurity, when time adjunct is added. As in: “Call me in the morning and I’ll have selected your living quarters.(Invisible Man)”. Is this right, or does [ii] by itself include the futurity?


texts: Are dummy subject and impersonal subject the same?

texts:
It is sunny. (impersonal subject)
It is difficult to learn English. (dummy subject or place holder)

In Korea, we learn that dummy subject and impersonal subject are different.
But, I don't think so.
I think that dummy subject and impersonal subject are same.
For example, 'It is hot in the room.'can transfer to 'In the room is hot.'
Is this an example of 'dummy subject'?
But we learned that this is 'impersonal subject'.
What do you think about that?


texts:
Consider the following sentences

  "brain drain" refers to a situation in which large numbers of educated and skilled people leave their own country to live and work in another one.

  "brain drain" refers to the situation in which large numbers of educated and skilled people leave their own country to live and work in another one.

In this particular example, which one should I use and why? Thanks in advance.


texts:
"The researchers suggested, for example, that 20 percent of heart disease deaths among American women could be averted if the highest consumers of processed meat would cut down to the equivalent of less than a half strip of bacon a day."

Is it correct to say that the author has used "would" in the if clause to make it polite, and that it should be translated in present tense?

"Should I Use Will or Would in an If-Clause?" on grammarly.com doesn't mention "would".

Thanks a lot! :-)


texts: Introduced us to humanity Vs Introduced Humanity to us

texts:
We were introduced to the concept of humanity by Ron.

Vs

  The concept of humanity was introduced to us by Ron.

What's the difference? Introduce us to humanity vs introduce humanity to us? Which one of the above sentences is more common, and why?


texts:
I used to study at Cambridge School.

I am used to studying at Cambridge School.

If the verb is continuous tense, it need to be added "verb to be" before used to?


texts:
I am a English learner. When I read an article in English, some sentences are confused me. Can anyone explains the sentences for me?

The whole paragraph I have questions is below:

  More than 750,000 have graduated from the Space and Aviation Center(SAC), with many seeking employment in engineering, aviation, education, medicine and a wide variety of other professions. They come to camp, wanting to know what it is like to be an astronaut or a pilot, and they leave with real-world applications for what they're studying in the classroom.

There are two sentences I am confusing:

1) More than 750,000 have graduated from SAC, with many seeking employment in engineering...

I got stucks on "with many seeking employment". Does this sentence mean over 750,000 students have graduated from SAC and they are looking for a job in engineering, aviation, education...? Or it means these students who graduated from SAC do have job but they want to know what it is like to be an astronaut or a pilot?

2) ...they leave with real-world applications for what they're studying in the classroom.


texts: Difference between has to be, was to be, had to be, and should be

texts:
What are the differences in meaning between the following sentences?
All of the sentences below convey the meaning of compulsion of exercise to be carried out in three months.

a) This exercise has to be carried out in three months.
b) This exercise should be carried out in three months.
c) This exercise was to be carried out in three months.
d) This exercise had to be carried out in three months.


texts: 'The information entered' or 'The entered information'?

texts:
Regards.. I would like to discuss about the comparison of the following two sentences :

  We provide the information entered to the management.

  We provide the entered information to the management.

I am confident that the word 'entered' here acts as an adjective for the object information, so the second sentence is correct and more appropriate than the first one.

But I also had found the first sentence in an official organization and company website.

The grammar rule in particular but not limited to it, may I have some view on this?


texts: What's the difference between "I do know" and "I know"?

texts:
I'm curious about the difference between "I do know" and "I know".

  I am an almost newbie at electronics but I do know a few things

Here the OP has used "I do know". Why?


texts: What do "moosie" and "cheesebread" mean in this context?

texts:
The first time I went to testicular cancer, Bob the big moosie, the big cheesebread moved in on top of me in Remaining Men Together and started crying.

Source: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

I didn't find the definitions of the words not in the Cambridge Dictionary not on the https://wordnik.com site.

I understand that "moosie" is some derivative from "moose". But I didn't see such an affix before and do not know what additional sense it adds.
"Cheesebread" is obvious a concatenation of 2 words cheese and bread but I struggle to understand this metaphor too.


texts: Are the sentences grammatically correct?

texts:
Are the following sentences grammatically correct?

The elements of the rule of law include “no one is above the law”, “everyone is equal before the law”, “judicial independence” and “protection of human rights”.

The elements of the rule of law include “no one above the law”, “everyone equal before the law”, “judicial independence” and “protection of human rights”.

If they are both grammatically correct, which is better? Thank you.


texts: "Our house gets really cold when the wind is blowing/blows from the east"

texts:
I know about the grammar rule that says, when A happens while B is happening (as a longer background situation), you use the simple tense for A and the progressive tense for B.

According to this rule, the title should read:

  Our house gets really cold when the wind is blowing from the east.

But I listen to a lot of native speakers and pay attention to what tenses and aspects they tend to use in different situations, and based on that, I think a native would more naturally say:

  Our house gets really cold when the wind blows from the east.

because these are two slow-pacing events that begin and end at the same time, and none forms a time background for the other.

My grammar suggests that the progressive (is blowing) should be used, which is obviously not wrong. But I want to ask natives whether they'd use the second construction as well, in their natural day-to-day speech.

Another example:

  You look lovely when you smile/are smiling.


texts:
Does he has store key?
  Does he have store key?

Please tell me which one is correct. Also, please explain briefly difference between 'have' and 'has' and when they are used.


texts:
Recently I was doing exercises from my textbook. There was a question that asked me to write a letter. I was thinking about the beginning of the letter, but I can't determine which sentence was correct or the best. Here are three sentences I thought:
1. It's been a long time since I wrote to you.
2. It's been a long time not to write to you.
3. It's been a long time not writing to you.

If all of them are incorrect, please help give me a correct one. And the main question is I don't know the difference between 2 and 3, that is 'to write' and 'writing', as I know they can interchange in most cases. Thanks!


texts: Is there any difference in meaning between “doing something for 10 times” and “doing something 10 times”?

texts: Help me please.I’m still trying to brush up my English.And does the word “for” change the meaning of the statements,just like “have been” and “has been”(note that “have been” and “has been” have nothing to do with the question but to give all of you an idea of any difference that might occur using the word “for”.


texts: What does this sentence's comparison mean?

texts:
The Arabic of "Frozen" is frozen in time, as "localized" to contemporary Middle Eastern youth culture as Latin quatrains in French rap. (Source)

Is French rap filled with Latin quatrains?
Is this what this is saying?


texts: I remember my father "taking" me to the zoo when I was a child

texts:
I remember my father taking me to the zoo when I was a child.

the above sentence has three clauses:

I remember.
My father taking me to the zoo.
I was child.

What is the tense of the second clause? and can we replace it with used to or simple past? which one of the following is close in meaning to the above sentence?

  I remember my father used to take me to the zoo when I was a child.
  I remember my father took me to the zoo when I was a child.

Update:

Why do I think there should be tense and verb in this sentence:

First,

  A clause is the basic unit of grammar. Typically a main clause is made up of a subject (s) (a noun phrase) and a verb phrase (v) ... Cambridge Dictionary

So, if I'm right and the above (my father taking me to the zoo) is clause, so I presume that there is a verb and the verb should has a tense.

Second,

  We can form passive structures with verbs that are followed by an object (transitive verbs) and some clauses where the verb is followed by a preposition ... Cambridge Dictionary

And I can convert the above clause to passive voice as following. So, What do I convert? Isn't the verb? and Doesn't this verb has a tense?

  I remember being taken to the zoo when I was a child ...


texts:
In my sons' English textbook (they are in 4th grade, and we are Italians) there are some sentences about the family of a kid: the last one is "I've got a brother".

When I was a kid, in the late '70s, I was told that "to have got" had a hint of possession; I could have said "I've got a brother" only if I was the elder brother. Is it true that nowadays it's use is so widespread that it is felt as equivalent to "to have"?


texts: Is “You rank 12 out of 50 participants” the way you should say and write that?

texts:
How do I correctly describe somebody’s position within a ranked list for a competition when their position is not yet final because the competition hasn’t finished yet and so I am showing only the preliminary results right now?

Which of these options are better, and why? Are any of them wrong?

You rank 12 out of 50 participants.
Your ranking is 12 out of 50 participants.
Your position is 12 out of 50 participants.
You are the 12ᵗʰ out of 50 participants.
You are ranked #12 out of 50 participants.

Should those be written out in full as actual English words the way you’d actually say them like twelve and fifty and twelfth and number twelve, or should they instead be written using figures and symbols as I have originally shown in the list? Could the context ever influence how these are preferentially written? For example, a short, rapidly changing scoreboard versus embedded in a longer prose paragraph for a book?


texts: Is "We'll see" an okay sentence to close a conversation?

texts: When I was talking to a native American English speaker, he seemed to use this sentence "we'll see", if I am not mistaken, to signal a closure of our conversation. The conversation was amusing, no sign of hostility or anything negative. And I did not raise any question. According to the context then, I understand it as something like "we will meet sometime somewhere again". But as I searched about the sentence, I only found definitions that are not relevant to the my context. So I would like to know what happened?


texts:
What would you say call devices which could be picked to display some video in one generalized word?

The context is

  In this application you can switch video sources and destination screens.

There are a few video sources: a laptop and a camera. And several "destinations" that could display an image from those sources - they are projector, display 1 and 2.

What could I call them in one word? Or probably destination screens is understandable?


texts:
Normally, people stick a label or some instruction to/on the outer side of a bottle wall.
Say, you accidentally drop some food on the innter side of a bottle wall of a bottle.
Is it natural to say "The food is sticking to the inner side of the bottle wall, get it out/off"?
or do we just simple say "The food is sticking to the inside of the bottle, get it out/off"
But "the inside of a bottle might refer to the empty space inside the bottle" but I want to talk about "the inner side of the bottle wall"


texts:
First of all when you search how to form a question, in english in every grammar site it is written: subject verb inversion and wh forms and possible do forms.

WH forms are listed as interrogative pronouns;

However no one underlines these types of questions;

Whose book is this?
Which pen will they give us?
What CD Sarah likes most?

I guessed they can refer as interrogative adjectives and searched it on Google.Thus found some resources that are belonging to foreign sites that are built to teach English to whom that are not natives.

In Cambridge Dictionary sites the examples I gave considered as using wh forms as noun heads.

Furthermore I have found that there are also interrogative adverbs!
How cool is that?

So anyone can explain about this unofficial dilemma?

Ps:To cut it short I have listed like that are they correct?

1.What do you do? What is interrogative pronoun

2.What Cd does Sarah like? ..........  adjective

3.How cool is that? ................ adverb


texts:
Consider a sentence:

  A document was shared with me.

Can I turn it into a sentence with Passive voice (me being a subject)? This doesn't sound right:

  I was shared with a document.

Is this even possible?


texts:
In my language chance means “şansă” (from French, chance) and always has a positive sense.

If we need to use the negative sense the word changes, taking the prefix “ne” and becomes “neşansă”, kind of “not chance”.

According to this quotation of Peter Benchley’s Jaws “bad luck, like a flash of lightning that hits a house.(…) It was pure chance.”, (page 65), it seems that in English “chance” can be understood in both senses positive and negative, which for me as a non-native is quite odd.

Is there another word in English that can express the negative meaning?

Note:

Taking into account helix’ helpful answer, the word “mischance”, I’m wondering what if the author had used it?


texts: How to parse the future tense of "Driving on the highway, you will see a big sign"?

texts:
OP"Participle clause doesn't indicate a specific tense; instead, we should look at the main clause to understand it.

  Driving on the highway, one must be careful. (present)
  Driving on the highway, he had an accident. (past)
  Driving on the highway, you will see a big sign. (future)"

Does the future tense part mean

  While you drive on the high way,you will see a big sign.


texts: His insistence "to see" OR "that he see" something?

texts:
I know that the verb "to insist" has to be followed by a subjunctive in sentences like "I insist that he do it.". However, I do not know if the noun "insistence" behave in the same way.
I am not sure which of the two choices listed below is the correct one.

1) His continuous insistence, to see the new apparatus, was quite annoying.

2) His continuous insistence, that he see the new apparatus, was quite annoying.


texts:
To chat means both:

to talk in a friendly and informal manner
to exchange text messages online in real time

How do I remove this ambiguity in a medium such as Skype where both make sense?

If I type "Can we chat when you have a moment" does that imply text messaging or a voice call?


texts: present perfect how to construct interrogative sentences?

texts:
For me the following two are identical.
Are there difference or they can be used interchangeably?

  How long you have been teaching English?

  How long have you been teaching English?


texts: usage of ' indeed to me ' vs to me indeed

texts:
The gift is very useful  indeed to me .
The gift is very useful to me  indeed.
Where I place  ' indeed ' ?
Can I use ' indeed ' in this sentence ?


texts: My sister is two years old. Which are the nouns in this sentence?

texts:
As far as my understanding goes, the nouns in this sentence are-
sister and years. But my daughter's teacher says 'years' is not a noun and 'two' is a noun. But I think 'years' is a noun as it denotes a time period and 'two' in this sentence will be an adjective as it qualifies 'years'.


texts: What's the grammatical structure of "All is number" by Pythagoras

texts:
I heard Pythagoras's this saying in Korean several times before but I didn't know actual English sentence was "All is number".

Does this 'All' used as a noun? (but some dictionaries don't list noun form meaning)

Just a poetic writing meaning "Everything is number"?


texts:
Do you think the verbs to saddle with and to stuggle overlap in terms of usage even though their definitions are slightly different.Can I replace with each other in the following examples?
to saddle with definition:

Burden (someone) with an onerous responsibility or task
He’s saddled with debts of $12 million

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/saddle
to struggle definition:

Strive to achieve or attain something in the face of difficulty or
resistance (1.2)
Have difficulty handling or coping with (1.3)
Many families on income support have to struggle to make ends meet
In light of this, it was a shame to learn that the resort is struggling with financial difficulties.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/struggle


texts: When adjectives become predicatives, do they also become adverbs?

texts:
Optional depictive predicatives as adjuncts

  Obligatory predicatives are clearly complements, dependent on the occurrence of an appropriate verb.  With optional ones, however, there are grounds for saying that while the resultatives are complements, the depictives are adjuncts. Resultatives are either obligatory (as in the He talked himself hoarse construction) or else need to be licensed by the verb.  Optional depictives, however, are less restricted in their occurrence.  One manifestation of this has just been noted: they can occur in transitive clauses with either S or O as predicand.  Another is that they can occur in combination with an obligatory predicative or in the ditransitive construction:

29  i) They look even more fantastic naked.
   ii) They served us our coffee black.

  We will therefore regard such predicatives as adjuncts, so that the predicative/non-predicative contrast cuts across that between complements and adjuncts.

  Like numerous other kinds of adjunct, predicatives may be integrated into the structure as modifiers, or detached, as supplements:

30  i) They left empty-handed.                                 [modifier]
   ii) Angry at this deception, Kim stormed out of the room.  [supplement]

  The supplements are positionally mobile and are set apart prosodically.  The modifiers are of course more like the complements, especially in cases where they occur very frequently with a particular verb, as with leave in [i], die in He died young, bear in the passive He was born rich, and so on.

  (CGEL, p.262)

I don’t find this modifier explanation except on this part. So it’s not clear to me whether the book says empty-handed is the predicative for they, and this enters not into CGEL’s but into the traditional category of adverbs as a modifier. When I say ‘it sounds clear’, this adjective clear is both a predicatve (for it) and an adverb (for sounds) is what the book says?

This is the answer that I've got from Linguistics Beta which is written by Tim Osborne:

  The adjectives in question do indeed behave in a unique way. They are
  dependents of the verb, but they are predications over the subject (or
  object), e.g

 He died young.

  The adjective young is a direct dependent of the verb died, but it
  is a predication over the subject he, i.e. it assigns the property
  of youngness to he. In other words, young is behaving like an
  adverb/adjunct syntactically because it is a direct dependent of the
  lexical verb died, but it is definitely an adjective insofar as it
  looks like an adjective and is assigning a property to a (pro)noun.

  As Jlawler points out, the terminology used to denote these words
  varies. Some call them depictive adjuncts or participant-oriented
  adjuncts. Depictive adjuncts are stage-level predicates; the
  property that they assign is not an intrinsic characteristic of the
  noun, but rather its applicability is transient. Adjectives that
  assign intrinsic properties cannot occur in this use, e.g.

 *Bill died interesting.

  Unlike young, which is a transient state because we all get older,
  interesting is intrinsic and inalienable. The distinction between stage-level and individual-level predicates is discussed at the bottom
  of the article here:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predicate_%28grammar%29.

  The direct answer to the question is therefore as follows: predicative
  adjuncts modify the verb if one interprets modify to mean 'be
  syntactically dependent on', or they modify the subject or object if
  one interprets modify to mean 'assign a property to'. Note that
  typical attributive adjectives unify both of these meanings of
  modify, e.g.

 the young man

  In this case, young is both syntactically dependent on man and it
  is assigning a property to man.


texts:
I have two sentences.

With no electric charge and slight mass, the neutrino does not work together with other particles.
It was not a hasty and extreme alteration of the political organization.

and I found the phrases with "no" and "not" mean that

Without electric charge and with slight mass ~
it was not a hasty and not(nor) extreme alteration ~

My question is what makes the differences when it comes to interpretation of "no" and "not"!

In the first sentence, the "no" is linked to only electric charge, but in the second, the "not" is linked to both a hasty and extreme alteration.

Is is only the differences between the words "no" and "not" or is there any sentence structure matters with them? :)


texts: Transitive/Intransitive Verbs in a sentence

texts:
I want to know which  object (verbal transitivity)  is coming first

  I gave her / the ball
                      Or
  I gave the ball / to her

  I denied A piece of cake / to her
                       Or
  I denied her / a piece of cake

I have a serious doubt about using 2 objects with only a verb. I want to know which object is coming first.

For example: The verb to give; I want to know if I should say "He gave me the ball" or "He gave the ball to me" . I want to know if the object pronouns comes first or not

Or I can say these 2 forms,  both being grammatically  correct?


texts: What does this pronunciation 'yeh'll' imply?

texts:
"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm
  Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts -- yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o'
  course.    "Er -- no," said Harry.    Hagrid looked
  shocked.    "Sorry," Harry said quickly.    "Sorry?" barked
  Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the
  shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer
  letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer
  cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents learned it
  all?" (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

It’s not like ‘yeh’ll’ is a future tense, because of the next reply, ‘no.’ So it seems a dialect for ‘you all’ or ‘you already’ ,etc. What does the pronunciation imply?


texts:
My confusion stems from the fact that both forms seem to be used for unreal hypothesis.

For example:

"If I were taller, I would buy those shoes"
"If I had been taller I would have bought those shoes"

Both seem correct to me. What's the difference?


texts:
What do we call the thing [slid in eyes to apply khol] lying with the kohl bottle in the picture?

  Stick

  Twig

  scion


texts: Looking for a word to replace "separatableness"

texts: Is there a word to refer to the quality of an object (or person) to distinguish other distinct objects?


texts:
I’d like to know when it comes to the meaning of adjective phrase in a sentence, what’s the difference between the addition of as and the standard application of adjective phrase without as?
For instance, “The house price is guided by the base rate (as) determined by the central bank.”  There has got to be slight differences between them.
Beg while pool insightful knowledge from everyone!  Thanks!


texts: Best expression for 'hesitation towards sharing'

texts:
Can someone suggest some good expressions or simple sentences to express to someone when he's hesitating to share knowledge, especially when he already possesses adequate amount of information on the matter concerned?
I can think of

'Oh, stop being such a miser'

. But I don't think 'miser' is the right word for it.
Any suggestions?


texts: Is "shutting down X off of Y" grammatical?

texts:
I know for a fact that "shutting down X" is grammatical, but I am not sure if you can add the verb complement "off of Y" after it. We already have the adverb "down", so I don't think we can add a verb complement starting with another adverb "off". We can say "remove X off of Y", but I don't think the former phrase is grammatical.

For example:

  They were right about shutting down the Infowars channel off of
  YouTube.


texts: The meaning of "It was a wonderful show"

texts:
It was a wonderful show.

Are the following two meanings both possible and intuitivily right?

The show ends before this sentence is said, and the speaker think it is wonderful while saying this sentence.
The show was wonderful before, but it is no longer wonderful now.


texts:
Can I say" in case of cleaning your room, it will look nice." ?
Or should" in case of " be only followed by a noun?


texts:
What does "right by" mean in the following sentence?

  His company pulled up near the bridge, right by the White House.


texts: Question about meaning of "get a big picture"

texts:
The other thing is our hand position when we’re driving. It’s nice, soft hands are very important in learning to drive. We don’t want a death grip on that wheel. We want nice, soft hands, like pretty much anything that you do in sports, your hands have to be nice and soft. If your hands are soft and you’re not real tense, you’ll find that you have the ability to steer a car much, much better.
You also want to be able to get the big picture when we’re driving. We don’t want to stare at anything because when you drive, you will follow your eyes. Okay? So if you’re looking to the right or you’re looking to the left and you’re staring at that portion of the vehicle, that’s the way the vehicle will move. When people drive a car for the first time, they have a difficult ability to understand how far they are away from the vehicle to the right, and that’s because the right side of the vehicle is a little further away from you than the left. So invariably what they usually do is they stare down to the right side, and what happens when you stare to the right, your car will go to the right. So you want to pick your eyes up. You want to keep your eyes ahead of you looking out ahead and you’ll find that you follow your eyes. So if your eyes are straight ahead the car will have a better chance of going straight.

What does it mean to get a big picture in a driving context?


texts:
what is the meaning of a sequel to match in used in the following sentence

The U.S.-China talks started with a bang but ended with a whimper as Chinese officials left the site of the talks in Anchorage without a press conference on Friday and the rancour and sparring evident in Thursday’s opening session did not have a sequel to match.


texts:
This sentence is excerpted from Sophie's World, an Norwegian novel:

  Sophie lived on the outskirts of a sprawling suburb and had almost twice as far to school as Joanna.

I looked into many dictionaries, like Oxford, American Heritage, Merriam-Webster, which all list far as either an adverb or an adjective. So I think almost twice as far to school as Joanna is an adverbial phrase. I think have would usually be followed by a noun phrase in English, and this sentence is translated from Norwegian, so maybe the translator is just trying to keep the style of the original language.

But then I remember I have seen this thread(please click the link) about the 'have until X to do something' structure in English Language and Usage Community on Stackexchange. In that thread, many native speakers find 'have until X to do something' a structure correct and natural to them. Someone even provide an article by a scholar to prove it.

So I wonder whether or not this sentence had almost twice as far to school as Joanna sounds correct and natural to native English speakers?


texts: What is the correct tense of a verb in a subordinate clause of the if-clause of a conditional sentence?

texts:
I would like to know which is the correct one of the two (incomplete) sentences below:

a. If we decided to use a genuinely neutral notation in which the symbols did not carry any information, then we could not [...]

b. If we decided to use a genuinely neutral notation in which the symbols do not carry any information, then we could not [...]


texts:
YouTube video (just click the link and it will automatically fast-forward to the right time mark for you which is located at about 9 minutes 50 seconds)

Transcript:

  More of an astonishing nature. Here is a cork stopper. Here is a cork stopper with a pin in it and there's the head of the pin. Here's another cork stopper with a pin in it and that's the point of the pin. And if I put these point to head in this position, if I can find that position here, and let go, obviously it will not stay stably. It will tip over.

I'm not sure what he exactly means by that.

Still picture from the video:


texts: "think up a sentence", make up a sentence" or "make a sentence"?

texts:
Tell me please which phrasal verb is the most appropriate for the following sentence.

  Now that I have already learnt these words, I want you to think up/make up/make a few sentence with them.

I guess it is obvious that think up and make up mean the same in the sentence, but what about make?
Is there a difference between the phrases in the context? Which fits the context the best?


texts: zero article in 'at time of crisis' and 'led to disaster'

texts:
A paragraph in a Reuters article:

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter that “human error at time of crisis caused by U.S. adventurism led to disaster,” citing an initial armed forces investigation into the crash of the Boeing 737-800.

My question is why it is not 'at the time of crisis' and not 'led to the  disaster' since 'time' and 'disaster' here refer to a specific period and an incident respectively.

Thanks!

More about the word 'disaster'. Following is a sentence in Oxford Dictionary:

Disaster struck when the wheel came off.

This sentence appears in the second entry of the word in the dictionary, in which it is classified as both countable and uncountable noun. It will appear that the 'disaster' in the sentence is uncountable. But why? Because I will understand that the 'disaster' here means a very bad situation, hence countable?


texts: Am I using "in the background" correctly?

texts:
I want to say I am working on this problem in my free time and it won't affect my daily tasks. Is the following correct?

  I am working on this problem in the background.


texts: What's the meaning of "at employer's election"?

texts:
What's the meaning of "at employer's election" in the phrase:

  Side artist shall perform as a vocalist on the master embodying the performance of main artist for inclusion, at employer's election, on a record to be released for sale to the public.


texts: Using "who your brand is" versus "who is your brand" in questions

texts:
I am working with my friend who is from a  Spanish-speaking country. We got stuck. We are trying to communicate a specific message and want to see if it is conveying that message in a way that sounds right to native speakers.

We want to know which of these two sentence makes more sense and why that sentence is better?

Do you know exactly who your brand is?
Do you know exactly who is your brand?


texts: Words meaning "aggressively cut down" and "very large number of trees"

texts:
Those are some notices (in parenthesis) for the mistake (in bold) I made in a sentence. But I don't know how to fix it.

  Due to the lucrative profit from this practice, people and companies don't hesitate to intensely (wrong word) cut down myriad trees (wrong form) and become more violent.

I know I was using the wrong word but for "intensely cut down", I meant people become harsh and more aggressive/hunger in cutting down trees, so I use the adverb "intensely". And for "myriad", I meant a very large number of trees.

Please help me find the correction to them and if you can give me some explanation, that would be great!


texts:
A little child ties a collar around his dog's neck and asks his mother:

  Did I tie it well?

Does it sound natural? Will it be ever used? I'm asking this because "well" sounds a bit formal. Or should it simply be : Is it okay? But if "tying" has to be emphasized what will a natural word for that?

So is "well" used in such sentences in daily life conversations natural?


texts:
In the USA and the UK, What is the acceptable word for a person who is mentally abnormal? For instance, I've read that 'lunatic' is now considered to be offensive. Which of the following is acceptable in those societies, especially when used in the formal writings?

Mentally ill

Mentally disabled

Intellectually disabled

Mentally retarded

CP


texts:
I'm reading Lawrence Block's memoir, in which he mentions about volunteer travel opportunities offered by Earthwatch. He explains that for a not-too-steep fee, one might join an expedition in aid of some environmental goal, such as to save the endangered red pandas. Then he says:

  Lynne and I weren't sufficiently high-minded to sign up for one of their trips. We’d be eager to inoculate villagers in the Cameroun against dengue fever instead of, say, knocking back on a cruise of the South Pacific.

What does "knocking back on a cruise" mean here? I tried to look up the dictionary for "knock", "knock back", or "knock back on". But their definitions don't seem to fit this context.


texts: Which phrase does not match the others about ratios?

texts:
Which ratio does not belong w/the other three?

  2 parts to 5 parts

  2 out of every 5

  2 for each 5

  2 for every 5


texts: Should I write {from that torment called "prison"} or {from the prison of torment}?

texts:
I was reading an article where I saw Frank, John and Anglin three friends were released from a prison after 3 years. They were tortured brutally everyday while in prison. After reading that article I was thinking if I could also get rid of my bad luck like they were freed from that painful life! Because, I was comparing my misfortune or bad luck with a prison and I want to get rid of it. So, if I summarize the whole thing, can I say these sentences :

  At last Frank, John and Anglin are released from that torment called "prison", but will I ever be released from this prison called "bad luck"!
  At last Frank, John and Anglin are released from the prison of torment, but will I ever be freed from this prison of bad luck !

NB : Actually I want to make a sentence that fit the context. I would be grateful if you could correct my mistakes and also tell me the natural way of saying those sentences.


texts: Can I use "trickle" and "pour" for data streaming?

texts:
Is this sentence OK if I want to say that the sensors collect the information slowly then send them to the phone quickly? These are new words for me, and I wanted to use them in a sentence.

  The information trickle to the sensors then pours to the phone.

Can I use "trickle" and "pour" for data streaming or just for people?


texts:
I see configure everywhere from fields like computer science to marketing, but what exactly does it mean originally? In what day-to-day scenario would one say "configure"?

  Dictionary.com says: to design or adapt to form a specific configuration or for some specific purpose

but what does that mean? "from a specific configuration"? configuration? This is such a recursive question.


texts: Meaning and alternatives for "at the same time"

texts:
I wrote this sentence:

  In this paper, we propose a wrapper generation system for extracting main content from web pages which is easy to use and understand by an average user. At the same time, it is expressive and powerful enough to cover most tasks in content extraction scenarios.

I don't know my usage of "at the same time" is correct or what are alternative words and sentences for my purpose? I mean when you count a benefit of something, but you want to say while it has this benefit, it also has that benefit too which could be a bit in contrast of the first benefit.  For example X Software is an easy to use software but ..... covers most advanced tasks.


texts: Why to go to work and school, without "the"?

texts: Why does one say "I'm going to work. / I'm going to school." without "the"; but says "I'm going to the hospital. / I'm going to the museum."? Why doesn't one say "I'm going to the work. / I'm going to the school.", just like other sentences?


texts:
How do you use the possessive (apostrophe) with a company's name that consists of 3 words? For example,

Barnacle Caribbean Cruises' complaint

Is this correct?


texts:
While infinitive clauses don't have any noun before themselves, can they have any prepositions just as in the following examples?

That topic is difficult to talk about.
She is hard to be with.
I love that car because it is safe to travel in.
So on.

What do you think?


texts:
How should we use the word age in the quote below ?

  Friendship never age, it just deepens.

Or

  Friendship never ages, it just deepens.

I'm not that strong with grammar.


texts:
He wrote in the evening – standing up in front of his desk surrounded
  by candles. One of his quirks was to show up at the interval of a play
  so that everyone thought he’d been out enjoying himself when he’d
  really not watched the play at all but had been busy at home writing
  for most of it.

I don't know the the meaning of the word "it" there. Could you explain this to me?
And, the word "out" in "he’d been out enjoying himself", I don't understand it too. Is it referring that he'd been outside and enjoyed himself?
Thanks


texts:
I sometimes read the adjective armchair used together with some scientific discipline. For example, armchair physics, armchair biology, armchair chemistry.

From the usage I've seen I get at least some vague idea what it is intended to convey. Often it is used for somebody who gain his "expertise" without moving from his armchair, so basically they talk about something they do not know much about. But in some instances I've seen this might be simply interpreted as differentiating between experimental and theoretical science.

Question: What does this phrase mean? Is this always used in a disparaging way?


texts: Difference between "has + verbed" and "had + verbed"

texts:
This is something which came up in my last question.

As far as I know "had + verb" is done (started & finished) in the past. What's about "has + verb"?
Can anyone please explain me the difference?


texts: Okay, I admit it, I don't know what a noun is

texts:
My brain is broken now. I admit defeat. I do not know what a noun is. My current understanding was a person place or thing and the vocabulary book I'm working through has broken me.

Penurious is an adjective. One could say that a student is penurious. This makes sense.

Penuriousness is a noun. But why? I'm missing a link and it is rattling my brains.


texts: is it better to use past simple in this example

texts:
after ordering a second copy of a book that I have already in my collection I said to a friend
"this book is so good that I needed or need a second copy of it"
think past is better because as it is ordered, I don't need another new copy


texts: Repeat "let" and/or "be"? Example: Let A be a line and (let?) B (be?) a plane

texts:
While fixing my notation in a research article, I want to write something like this:

  Let A be a line and (let) B (be) a plane.

Question: Do I have to write the second let and be or can I omit one or both of them?

(The context is a research article in mathematics, if this should matter. In fact, I do not talk about lines and planes there, but use these terms here in the hope to make the phrase more accessible to non-mathematicians.)


texts: How does this change in sentence not change the meaning?

texts:
My question concerns a particular way that meaning in English can survive what one might think are meaning-modifying changes to the way it is written. Here’s a simple scenario I’ll use for illustration purposes.
John is Lisa’s boyfriend. Recently, they had a fight for which John was solely to blame and which was serious enough that it jeopardized their relationship. Fortunately, John saw his error, accepted responsibility, and apologized.
So I now want to assert the proposition that their relationship was saved because Lisa accepted John’s apology. To that end, consider the following three sentences:

Lisa accepting John’s apology saved their relationship.
Lisa’s accepting John’s apology saved their relationship.
Lisa’s accepting of John’s apology saved their relationship.

Now I am a native English speaker, and while that has no bearing on the correctness of the above, I can say with confidence that: a) I wouldn’t flinch on hearing any of the above—-in other words, none are jumping out at me as obviously wrong; and b) I would interpret them all to mean exactly the same thing—i.e. the proposition I originally said I wanted to assert. So, my questions are:

Are any of the three forms grammatically incorrect, strictly speaking? And if so, why?
If more than one are correct, could anyone elucidate as to how that works? For example, is the possessive s in form 2 effectively transforming the next portion from being a verb into being a noun? And so on.

Finally, for completeness: I purposely omitted another form, namely, ”Lisa’s acceptance of...”, but that’s because changing “accepting” to ”acceptance of” is a far more significant change than the others, and there’s no mystery to how it works.


texts:
He robbed a woman just hours earlier.

  He robbed a woman of her bag.

Why not say "He robbed a woman her bag"?  Why should "of" be used here?

Likewise, it seems that the usage of "fine" is similar to

  He fined the woman $ 100.

Why not say "He fined the woman of $100"?


texts:
We usually say

  Cook it for 10 to 12 minutes

But is the following correct?

  Cook it for 10 minutes to 12


texts: 'Habitation' related words and the slight nuances between their usage

texts:
'Habitation' related words and the slight usage nuances between them
1) What do you call the people living activity somewhere:

a) residence
b) habitation
c) dwelling

P.S I think ‘a’ doesn't work here and the only word for this concept in English language which can be used in both written and spoken English is ‘habitation’; though it sounds a bit stilted and scientific. If so, is there any word which can be used instead which is more neutral?
Also, for me 'dwelling' is too formal and a legal term which is used very rarely in everyday English.
2) What do you call the place where someone lives:

a) residence
b) habitat
c) domicile

Added: for me the only choice which is correct here is ‘a’; as far as I’m concerned ‘b’ is used only for animals and plants; although it is too scientific and if one uses it in everyday conversations and for an individual, it would sound odd and unnatural.
3) What do you call a place where is suitable for people to live in:

a) residable place
b) habitable place
c) inhabitable place

added: I guess ‘a’ doesn't exist in English vocabulary at all, and both ‘b’ and ‘c’ work in this sense.
4) What do you call a place where is ‘not’ suitable for people to live in:

a) unresidable place
b) uninhabitable place

Added: in my view, the only usable word in this sense could be ‘b’; for me ‘a’ is incorrect.


texts:
If I say this guy claims that something is true.

Would he be offended by that? Should I use: asserts, beleives? instead.


texts: What is the other name of a triangular prism? (sound like "retch")

texts: As an ELL, I heard my boss said "retch" a few times. (Note: "retch" is just what I think how the word is spelled). My boss was talking about a triangular prism. What is the correct word? Thanks


texts: How to refer to the correct noun in the following case?

texts:
Here is the sentence I'm mentioning:

"The fire was occasioned by a short circuit on electric wires of the three-phase electric motor on the tank..."

In this case, I mean electric wires were on the tank, not electric motor. So is it correct to use like the above sentence?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I wrote this sentence:

The probability distribution changes with time.

Then, someone edited the sentence for 'changes over time' instead of 'changes with time'.
What is the difference between the two phrases?
I found a similar question but it doesn't have a suitable answer.


texts:
I was being in a class. The professor was lecturing. A friend sent me a WhatsApp message

What are you doing? I need your help.

I replied

Is it Urgent? I'm being in a class which is gonna finish in 20 minutes.

Should I have said it this say?

... which is finishing in 20 minutes.

Is it more natural in this context?


texts: unbalanced structure for comparison sentence

texts:
It is not as cold in January as in December.

What kind of comparison it is?
Is it an unbalanced structure or not?


texts: Difference between ‘of’ and ‘in’ with ‘own life’

texts:
I saw the expression 'he is a tourist of his own life' in
a Paul Auster's book. On the other hand, I also read the
sentence 'I am a stranger in my own life'

So are these preposition used in a different way?

Or are they exchangeable?


texts:
The police will be here any minute now, so I'll advise you to let her go.
When I search Google I can see that I'd is much more used than I'll before advise, but will it sound unnatural to native speakers to use "I'll advise..."
I'm asking because in my example I feel that using I'd would sound to polite in the context?


texts: What's the right form of verb in this sentence?

texts:
I found this sentence in the delivery note.

  Above mentioned Goods received in good condition.
  We are not responsible for the Goods after the delivery.
  Receiver's signature.

My question why do we use the verb "received" and not "were received" or "have been received"?


texts:
The film is another thriller that mistakes surface coolth for depth.

What exactly does the expression trying to say?


texts:
Let's say your nephew has gone missing inside a mall while being with you, because you are picking out an item in a jewellery shop. Then, you went to an announcement desk asking for some help, and the employee on post said:

  Ok, I'll PUT an announcement out for her.

What does this phrase mean? All I know are "to post an announcement" and "make an announcement", but this is new to my ear...


texts: Which one should I use: fell off/ have fallen

texts:
Situation:  I am sitting in my class and seeing that magnetic pin is falling off the board down on the floor! Now I’d like to describe what just happened!

  The magnetic pin have fallen from the board!

or

  The magnetic pin fell off the board!

Which one I need to use and why?


texts:
If you sent out to climb a mountain, however you climb, you have failed if you cannot reach the top.

In this sentence, I wonder what does "have failed" mean
Please explain it specifically


texts: Is "Where lies the problem?" grammatical?

texts:
Is this question without the verb to do valid:

Where lies the problem?

or does it have to be

Where does the problem lie?

These questions should require the to do, but this particular one doesn't sound horribly wrong. I wanted to check its correctness as I hear it sporadically. If it is grammatical I would also like to know which other verbs don't require the auxiliary to do.


texts:
We had two departments, the Department of English and the Department of Mathematics.

In this sentence, I can't decide the usage of comma is "appositive" or not. I don't think it is not appositive structure as it says only the lists,not the quality.


texts:
Is the phrase "there's this + noun" as in "There's this girl I met yesterday ..." a discourse marker?
If not, what is it considered to be in grammar terminology?


texts:
Traditionally, information in Russian textbooks on history, geography is given in "paragraphs". But this word in Russian has the meaning different from that in English - in fact, those paragraphs are chapters.
Is it possible to use the word "paragraph" speaking of the structure of textbooks? I personally would use the word "chapter".


texts:
Compute Engine manages the hardware behind persistent disks so you can
  add and resize your disks without handling striping or redundancy.

What does this "striping" mean?


texts:
Is using "know" instead of "find out" idiomatic here?

Know who did this to him and bring them to me!


texts: It is quite possible to say "We can see from the text that ...." But,  is it possible to say "We can notice from the text ..." ? The latter just doesn't sound correct to me, and I'm not sure why.


texts:
Please take a look at this internet chat between a seller and a buyer;

Buyer:Already paid 19,75 +16,75 = 36,6 So I have a credit of about 11 USD, if you could add the watermelon split 7" it would be fine, if not paypaled 10,5 to me.
Seller:Sounds good, let's hope that it doesn't push the weight to much.
Seller answered after he had checked the split's weight :I WILL be including the watermelon split7".

My question is why future continuous ? Why not simple future or present progressive  It is a kind of arrangement as I asked for it first.


texts: Which is correct usage? "...in connection with/to the crime."

texts: Which is correct?  Jones was arrested in connection with the crime.  or  Jones was arrested in connection to the crime.


texts: What part of speech is the first "command" word in the following sentences that have a quote:

texts:
Consider the following sentences:

  The guard said, "Roll the stone away from here."
  The King said, "Bow down before me."
  Tell my soul, "Flee like a bird from the mountain of sorrow."

What part of speech are the words roll, bow and flee? Are they nouns or verbs?


texts: What's the meaning of 'slay somebody to a man'?

texts:
In the book This Country of Ours, I ran into the idiom slew them to a man several times. For example:

  He was soon undeceived. For he was led away among the bushes, and his hands were tied behind his back. As his followers came over they, too, were bound and led away. Then as trumpets blew and drums beat the Spaniards fell upon their helpless prisoners and slew them to a man.

I know what slay means. But what does to a man mean?


texts:
I was reading a short story that contain these sentences:

The moon said she was stronger.
The sun did not agree with her.

Do we always use "she" and "her" for moon? what is the general rule about using pronoun for something like animals, sun, moon,...?


texts:
I need a title that will introduce only one of several projects I'm currently working on :

Will it be correct to write this title :

  One of the current projectS:

Note: the title needs to show that I'm working on several projects even if only one will be listed.


texts: Is "The players had finally united as a solid team" an incorrect sentence?

texts:
My English book says 'be' as a helping verb is missing in that sentence.
But since the verb 'unite' can perform both intransitive and transitive, i thought there is nothing wrong with that sentence.

The players had finally united as a solid team.

The players had been finally united as a solid team.

Are both sentences correct?


texts: the or zero article in the given context?

texts:
Prejudice is still prevalent in this generation, and it is one of the
  engines that fuels the novel to transcend time with such popularity,
  affecting (the) people who suffered similar discrimination presented in the
  story.

I just do not know if I have to use the definite articles in the given position.

The use of definite article seems justified, for it is people who suffered similar discrimination out of all usual common people.

However, the use of zero article seems more adequate when I consider that I am referring to all people who suffered similar discrimination.

I think it is just from which perspective we frame this people.

But which one should I use?


texts: Is the following sentence correct - "usage of apprehending"?

texts: Thus, you reduce the risk of any software changes by apprehending the possible cause.


texts:
I have read various opinions on this subject, and my English professor told me that:

When the definite article is used, it indicates the period itself, like:

  I will do it in the next week

= in the seven days from now (might be from Tuesday till Tuesday).

Next year - 2019. In the next year: in 12 months from now, so in April 2019.

  I will meet you next week.  //next week, might be tomorrow if today is Saturday
   I will meet you in the next week. //in the next 7 days

Is that correct?


texts:
This vase, made in China in the 14th century, is very valuable.

"made in China in the 14th century" is a dependent sentence.

Then, is "This vase, is very valuable." an independent sentence or dependent sentence?


texts:
The passage is a part from Barron's 6 GRE Practice Tests.

  Yet if Coupland and his compatriots do not recognize their place in Canadian literature, Coupland does recognize himself as a Canadian writer who is intent on investigating the culture of his country through his art. Dedicating his book 'Souvenir of Canada' to his father, a more Canadian man is hard to imagine, Coupland adds, and to follow in his foot-steps is the deeplest of honors.

I don't know the exact meaning of this passage in that

What does 'yet if' mean in the first sentence?
What does "a more Canadian man is hard to imagine", "Dedicating his book to his father", or "the book 'Souvenir of Canada'" mean?
Coupland adds what? :( I hardly understand what the last sentence means.


texts: "I was thinking you might’ve missed my message"

texts:
I have a question regarding the use of “might’ve”
Here I was thinking you missed my message.
vs
Here I was thinking you might’ve missed my message.
Would there have been any difference between using “here I was thinking you missed my message” vs “here I was thinking you might have missed my message”?


texts: these organizations or those organizations?

texts:
Consider a hypothetical quote:

  Each day we gather information from manufacturers, distributors,
  Russian and foreign vendors, research centers. The reliability of the
  sources is ensured by our contacts with employees in those
  organizations.

Those is used to describe objects that are more distant, either physically or in the abstract sense. But could we say "these organizations" here, since they have been introduced in the first sentence and hence made somewhat "closer" to the reader? Or would that be a mistake?


texts: Placement of conjunctival adverbs, after or before “is, are...”!

texts:
Placement of conjunctival adverbs.

  1 John is a student. He, however, is a worker.
  2 John is a student. He is, however, a worker.

Where the conjunctival adverbs should be placed when interrupt a sentence : after or before Verb-be.


texts: I am preparing a letter for the board of directors

texts: Where can I find a website that will teach me how to prepare an informing letter for the board of directors regarding starting of a construction?


texts: Is the sentence "I'd like to hear your input on this matter" correct?

texts:
I'd like to hear your input on this matter.

I'm really unsure whether the above sentence makes sense. If not, what is the correct version of the sentence; and if it does make sense, are there any other formats of the same sentence? (I'm really keen on keeping the word "input" in the sentence, instead of using the word "thoughts")


texts:
If you are using a desktop computer, simply click A icon followed by
  the B Icon from your browser.

Does it mean "On your browser, click A, and then click B" or "On your browser, click A which is located right next to the B icon"?


texts:
Is the following sentence grammatical?

  To provide the key insight of this method, we make use of an example
  to illustrate it.


texts:
Can I say

  I left the documents on your desk, take them

Or should I say

  I left the documents on your desk, take it

Thanks in advance


texts: Looking for polite common ways to say that a baby had a defecation

texts:
I found some ways to say that a baby had a defecation, but I'm not sure which of them common and which of them will cause immediate laughing or to raise eyebrows.

As I understand, while seeing a physician he may ask it in a formal way: Did the baby had a defecation?

While mother or father may say to each other about their baby: "I think she pooped". I also found "I think Dillon did a doodie", "See if she made a stinky".

I am looking for the common but polite ways (=not rude) to ask a little child  or about him if he had a defecation.


texts: The sentence structure "it is because of... that..."

texts:
I read the following sentence:

Indeed, it was precisely because of its futuristic storyline that Star Trek was able to address many of the contemporary social problems that other programs shunned.

I am aware of the emphatic structure, "it is .... that..." and I think this structure "it was because of ... that" sort of resemble the "emphatic structure." Nevertheless, I still figure there are differences.
Could anyone explain why it is constructed this way?


texts: "I will come within 2 hours." or "I will come in 2 hours."

texts:
I will come within 2 hours.
I will come in 2 hours.

What's the difference?


texts: Can I used "meet" in "Patients can meet a doctor"?

texts:
I tried to translate directly from my native language and the word was meet though I highly doubt it.

The sentence is:

  Patients can meet a doctor by scheduling an appointment or visit the clinic and wait until the doctor is available.

Could you help please?


texts:
For and to are both confusing preposition  in English.As I know we use to with moving verbs and for with stative verb.
For example, give a pen to ayesha.
This pen is for Ayesha.
But  It's like a dream to me .Here why to come instead of for??


texts:
What kind of construction should I use to succinctly communicate to someone that I did a total of four tests in the time period of yesterday and today? If I just say:

I did four tests yesterday and today.

It will be interpreted as meaning that I did a total of eight tests across the two-day period. So how can my idea be expressed? Would the preposition ‘between’ work? As in:

Between yesterday and today, I did a total of four tests.

What if I want to state the time frame int terms of days of the week?

Between/over Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I did four tests.

Of course, all of above is just my own attempt at an expression. If it’s not idiomatic please suggest better constructions.

Many thanks in advance.


texts:
I have a question regarding using present perfect and simple past within the same sentence. Does it make sense to say the following sentences?

"He has agreed to help me, so I did not do my homework."
"She has suddenly decided to go back, so I decided to go alone."

And I'm curious about which tense comes first. When you use present perfect and simple past in the same sentence, did simple past take place first and is present perfect more recent? Or does it depend on context?
Another question:
I read the following sentence in a news article: "[she] quietly slipped away today from the hospital where she has been staying since being freed..."
It seems like this sentence is using simple past and present perfect at the same time. Is this a different case? I know that tenses have to match, but are there exceptions?
I also saw this sentence: "If you have just registered,  you received your CURRENT bill via USPS."


texts: About punctuation: why did the author use double apostrophe in can't?

texts:
EDUCATION CAN"T WAIT

I have come across the aforementioned title somewhere on a newspaper. Why did the author use double apostrophe  (") in can't...


texts: delegate(verb) vs depute (difference in meaning)

texts:
The two verbs, delegate and depute seem to be very similar. I am not a native English speaker, though, when I looked carefully at the definitions and example sentences in the dictionary for the two words, I was not able to tell the difference.

The definitions and the example sentences for delegate and depute according to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary are as follows.

  delegate v.

  [intransitive, transitive] to give part of your work, power or authority to somebody in a lower position than you, e.g. "Some managers find it difficult to delegate."
  [transitive] delegate somebody to do something [usually passive] to choose somebody to do something, e.g. "I've been delegated to organize the Christmas party."

  depute v.

  depute somebody to do something [often passive] (formal) to give somebody else the authority to represent you or do something for you, e.g. "He was deputed to put our views to the committee."

I see that the first definition of delegate described above is different than depute in three respects:

delegate can be used as intransitive.
delegate can take the delegated task as the direct object, whereas depute only can take the person as its object.
When a task is delegated to a person, the person is in a lower position than the person who delegated it, whereas there is no bound like that for depute.

But when seeing the second definition of delegate, the differences I listed above totally disappear. To check whether there is any difference, I can transpose the verbs in the two example sentences.

  (original) Sentence A: I've been delegated to organize the Christmas party.

  Sentence B: I've been deputed to organize the Christmas party.

  (original) Sentence C: He was deputed to put our views to the committee.

  Sentence D: He was delegated to put our views to the committee.

When the sentence A and C are changed into the sentence B and D, is there no difference and error?

Thank you.


texts:
I was given homework to transform direct speech into indirect, starting with a phrase “One person maintained that there …” in the following sentence:

“I don’t see the need to recycle anything!”

My version: “One person maintained that there was no need to recycle anything”

Textbook version: “One person maintained that there is no need to recycle anything”

Am I wrong to accuse the textbook of ignoring the sequence of tenses?


texts: Send me a picture of hers vs Send me a picture of her? Send me a picture of him vs send me a picure of his?

texts: What exactly is happening? Hers and His sound correct; but why?


texts: Is it fine to say “Tell me your name/your opinion/your favorite team/your hometown” etc?

texts:
Is it fine to say sentences like

“Tell me your name.”
“Tell me your opinion.”
“Tell me your favorite team.”
“Tell me your hometown.”

etc to mean
“Tell me what your name is.”
“Tell me what your opinion is.”
“Tell me what your favorite team is.”
“Tell me what your hometown is.”

etc?

I know we can use this structure with some nouns like “lie” or “truth” or “secret” like in “Tell me the truth” or “Tell me a lie” or “Tell me a secret”, but when it is used with some other nouns or phrases, it sounds like it might be wrong to me. So I wonder if the sentences I gave are wrong or not.
I feel we can probably say them since as far as I know we can say, “He asked me my name/my opinion/my favorite team/my hometown” etc.


texts: Is it possible to omit 'so' in 'so that' phrase?

texts:
This is a lyrics of an ccm song.

  This is amazing grace
  This is unfailing love
  That You would take my place
  That You would bear my cross
  You would lay down Your life
  That I would be set free
  Jesus, I sing for
  All that You've done for me

When you see the third line, is it right that'That You would take my place' means
'in order that you would take my place'?
And if I'm right, then is it possible to omit 'so' from 'so that' phrase?


texts: of the right color vs in the right color

texts:
Are all constructions below correct?

  This shirt is the right color
  This shirt is in the right color
  This shirt is of the right color

The context may be someone saying that the color of a shirt is ideal for somebody, for a certain event, eg for a party or New Year's Eve, or that a shirt is the ideal match with other garment (eg a pair of pants).


texts: Preposition "to" at the beginning of a sentence

texts:
Is this usage of to at the beginning of the sentence correct?

  To whom is she writing a letter all day long?

Is there another way to construct this sentence?


texts: The meaning of "corruption of the best is the worst of all"

texts:
I have searched the web and found out that the proverbial sentence the corruption of the best is the worst of all has some Latin roots:

  Corruptio optimi pessima.

Which apparantly is prevalent in English (possibly in the US)!

Please let me know the meaning and usage of these phraees; also, please tell me if they are in common use or not?


texts: How to improve in writing? My comprehension abilities are fairly good.

texts:
I've been on the internet for quite a while now, I can safely say. I've come across countless of interesting threads from sites like Quora, Reddit, or here. I've also encountered many users who are really good in their English, judging from how they present their opinions or questions.

This is one of the examples (first answer by Ben Kovitz or the question by Canada Area 51 Proposal, they display abilities of good writing)

How to overcome sequences of negative words which still cripple my comprehension?

In general, I can grasp what they're trying to say. But, when in comes to writing, I just can't. I have many ideas, in fact, great ideas. But, the problem is that I can't put them all in sentences and paragraphs coherently, let alone writing good essays.

I would like to write very naturally and fluently like how people on the internet do.


texts:
I have a wooden bed with four legs. When I get up in the morning I put it up on it's side and when I go to bed I put it down.

Can I say:

  After getting up in the morning, I put up (erect) my bed.

  At bedtime I place it down so that I can sleep on it.

Are these correct words to express this?

I am sorry if it is not quite clear.

Thanks in advance.


texts:
Regarding the present perfect tense: suppose my friend and I have made a plan today that we are going to go shopping today before evening, but at the moment we are still in the office and I am telling to my friend, If we have finished our job by 3 o'clock, then we can go shopping.

Is this sentence OK? Can this be said like this in English or there are other ways to express the same thing?


texts: What does "reel in" mean in "Together with the fishing industry, tourism reels in about $6 billion annually"?

texts:
I found this sentence while reading Great Barrier Reef.

  Together with the fishing industry, tourism reels in about $6 billion annually and supports some 69,000 Australian jobs.

Would anyone guide me reel in meaning in this sentence? I tried Cambridge which have different phrasal verbs for reel in. I also tried Macmillan dictionary. I understand it giving the sense of overall or pull overall. Although this is not exactly mention in dictionaries. Here are the entries

  reel in (Cambridge)
  to get control of something or someone, sometimes by offering something in exchange: The article offers tips on how computer users can avoid being reeled in by internet scams.
  reel in (Macmillan)
  to bring a fish toward you by turning the reel of a fishing rod

Please suggest the meaning of reels in related to context in aforementioned sentence.


texts:
Is the word "government" singular or plural? My grammar book tells me government is plural. And if you search on the web, it is not so unusual to be confused. So which of the following two sentences is correct?

  The government have been taking necessary steps with a view to alleviating poverty.

Or,

  The government has been taking necessary steps with a view to alleviating poverty.

Edit:

My grammar book says that

  Some nouns apparently look like singular, but they are actually plural and the verbs after those are also plural. These type of noun are: Peasantry, poultry, cattle, majority, people, public, mankind, government.

My grammar book is written in the native language, so I cannot give the reference.


texts:
In this video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/22/us-special-forces-free-kurdish-hostages-isis-iraq

The video on top from the time 2:11 to 2:15

Does he say "played out across the rock"?

I could not find the meaning anywhere..


texts:
If I write:

  Only a few of his friends were are at this side

is this correct? Or should 'were' be 'was' as a few is singular?


texts: Is the second sentence a correct one? It doesn't have a verb!

texts:
Another sentence written by my son：

  Why don’t we open up two special areas at our school? One for PE activities and the other for casual activities.

The boldface part looks incorrect to me——it doesn't have a verb！Is it a wrong sentence? How to correct it?


texts: Appropriate word for a specific situation

texts:
I am trying to translate a word into English. (More details at the end, but please read this first, so that your judgment is not influenced by my bias).

What I am trying to find is a word for this situation:
Say, I have a machine that gives packages of candy. Let's say I can get 10 packs of candy. At the end, the machine will print in the last package "Hello from the candy machine" or whatever. So the initial state is that this printing is done always at the end. Let's call this "Print at the end mode"

But I want another mode, in which I can indicate the machine that I want the message to be printed every 2 packs... or every three packs... or every five packs...

You see, I can customize at will at what point I want my event (the printing) to happen.
How can I call this mode?

The word I am trying to translate is the Japanese 任意, which according to dictionary means "at your discretion" "voluntary" "any" "arbitrary" "optional" "discretion" "free will".

I don't think one of this would be appropriate for the problem above.


texts: How to express this action in English: "The 2 children are competing with each other for the toy"?

texts:
Look at this picture.

The two children are competing with each other for the toy.

How to express this action in English?

Could I say "The 2 children are scrambling for the toy"?


texts:
I found some examples online.

Single White Female

  “You shared your good news,” she said, “I thought I might share my
  bad—tempered with some good news, though.”

Some parents are monsters, not saints

  "Love your parents" might be a good message sometimes. But it has to
  be tempered with an understanding that not all parents deserve that
  love.


texts: Quote from a book published in 1899- Incorrect grammar or change in language over time?

texts:
I have the following quote from The Theory of the Leisure Class, published in 1899:

  The close-cropped lawn is beautiful in the eyes of a people whose inherited bent it is to readily find pleasure in contemplating a well-preserved pasture or grazing land.

Shouldn't the it not be present in the expression above? My grammar is quite weak so I cannot argue one way or the other on a technical basis, but I feel that the phrase sounds more natural without the it.

Anyone willing to enlighten me here?


texts: Difference in the meaning and the grammar between "take a bite out of the stings" and "take the bite out of the stings"?

texts:
What is the difference in the meaning and the grammar between

  Take a bite out of the stings

and

  Take the bite out of the stings

in the sentence,

  The jellyfish are still here. There are millions of them and they're stung me all over! I'll make a mixture of seawater and baking soda. That'll take the bite out of the stings

When I search a dictionary, "take a bite ouf of Sth" is searched, but "take the bite ouf of Sth" is not searched. Why?


texts:
I have read this paragraph in the Economist.

If retail banks were sucked dry of funding, someone else would have to do the lending that fuels business creation. This raises the queasy prospect of bureaucrats influencing credit allocation. In a crisis, a digital stampede of savers to the central bank could cause bank runs.

I was able to find out "suck something adjective."

But I am not sure what the meaning of "dry of something". Of course, I looked up the usage of dry as an adjective in the Oxford dictionary. [https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/dry_1?q=dry]
Only I could know is dry is used as an adjective, but there is no pattern of "dry of something".
Please help me out.


texts: Is "The way we are learning English is not good" a clause?

texts:
Can I call the following a clause?

  The way we are learning English is not good.

Here, what kind of clause is "The way we are learning English"

I think it's a noun clause because it sits before the auxiliary "is" here. Am I right? If I am correct what is "The way" in that clause?


texts: Is there a term for people pooling money to invest it?

texts: is there a term for a group of 15 persons, which collecting small amount of  money every month from each one of the group to open small business  ?


texts:
Can someone tell me the logic behind it?

For example-

  This is the best gift anyone has ever given to me.

I can't figure out why perfect is epecially used in this sentence.
On Google there is said that perfect should be used with ever but reason is not clearly given.


texts: "Subject" and "predicate" in sentences starting with "there"?

texts:
A third grade student has been asked to find out the subject and the predicate in the sentence:

There are a book and a pen on the table.

Here,  it says that the real subject is "a book and a pen" but I know that "there" can also be called a "dummy subject".
What should be the most suitable subject and predicate in this context?


texts:
Lalwani, who is much younger to Mallya, had met him when she was hired
  as a flight attendant for Kingfisher Airlines in 2011.

Is the above sentence construction is correct spcially use of "had met him"?

Can use of simple past like "she met him when" make sense?

Is there any specific rule of using below perfect tense?

  Known and had known

  Accompanied and had accompanied


texts:
An extract from an article:

  For global climate change, as for hunger, the countries that experience the worst problems have the fewest resources to address them.

What does as for mean here?

Dictionaries say it means: with regard to.

(By the way that is the first sentence of a new topic.)

Thanks in advance.


texts: I looked at all the assignments before October 3rd vs until October 3rd

texts:
I looked at all the assignments before October 3rd.

I looked at all the assignments until October 3rd.

Can somebody tell me the difference between these two sentences?


texts:
What is the difference between control on and control over? Which of the below sub-sentences is correct?

  In order that the user has more control on the execution process,

  In order that the user has more control over the execution process,


texts:
Is the phrase miss someone by something an actual phrase as in the song Cups?

  When I’m gone
  When I’m gone
  You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone
  You’re gonna miss me by my hair
  You’re gonna miss me everywhere, oh
  You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone

I understand it as "you'll recognize you miss me when you recall my hair".


texts: Do slippers and slides (sliders) mean the same thing?

texts:
I wanted to know if slippers and slides mean the same thing, so I did a search and the following is what I found. It doesn't really say if they are one and the same.

Are slides and slippers the same thing?

A slide, also known as a slide sandal, is a backless, open-toed shoe that gets its name from being easy to slide on and off the foot. ... The slide is a type of sandal, but not all sandals are slides. For example, flip flops might be easy to slip on, but they aren't slides.
Shoe Glossary: Slide - LiveAbout


texts: What does "He speaks with a driving if shambolic wit" mean?

texts:
In New York Times articles The Great A.I. Awakening, Part I, Section II, The Unlikely Intern:

  He (Geoffrey Hinton) has tousled yellowed-pewter hair combed forward in a mature Noel Gallagher style and wore a baggy striped dress shirt that persisted in coming untucked, and oval eyeglasses that slid down to the tip of a prominent nose. He speaks with a driving if shambolic wit, and says things like, “Computers will understand sarcasm before Americans do.”


texts: Why is there an article before an abstract noun?

texts:
if there is a shortfall in something, there is less of it than you
  need or expect (Oxford)

There is an article before shortfall, an abstract noun. We don’t use the article in my own language and the word is an abstract, so it’s hard to understand why the article is on the position. Would you let me know?


texts:
My grammar reference book says that I can't use preposition "to" with adverb "home":

  I'm tired. Let's go home now.

not

  I'm tired. Let's go to home now.

But what if I want to specify whose home it is? Should I also drop "to" then?

In short, should it be

  You know what?! I have an idea. Let's go to your home now.

or rather

  You know what?! I have an idea. Let's go your home now.

?


texts:
I was pleased as/after/when/whenever I heard the news.

Could you please tell me if they are all correct? If yes what is the difference between them?


texts:
That may be just the beginning of Russia’s growing presence. In addition, Iran is worried that Syria will fall to Syrian rebels backed by Saudi Arabia, Tehran’s enduring rival in the region, and so has extended a $1 billion credit line to Assad’s regime to help it import critical goods and commodities. Iran’s escape from sanctions—and its ability to earn more revenue by producing an additional one million barrels of oil per day by late next year—suggest there’s more where that came from.

Source: http://time.com/4039940/these-5-facts-explain-bashar-assads-hold-in-syria/

I am not able to  figure out the meaning of the bold part of above text. Not sure which noun the pronoun "that" represents in the clause. Can you tell me what does exactly Iran’s escape from sanctions suggest?


texts:
Woman: Would you like to hear about it?   (it=the woman's day.)

Man: ...Okay.

Woman: You sure? You don't have to.

Man: No, but I can sense you'd like to tell me about it.

Is sense perfectly natural here? Or is there a better alternative?


texts: University life is one of the best parts in {anybody's/everybody's} life

texts:
University life is one of the best parts in anybody's life.

Should I use anybody's life or everybody's life? and should I use part or parts of life. I am confused. Can anyone help me with that?


texts:
My phone is dead

It means cellphone's battery is totally ran out.

  My phone is about to dead.

Can I say this way if the battery is around 5-10%?


texts: Is it correct to say "zip the front pocket of the back pack all the way to the end"?

texts:
Your child was  trying to zip the front pocket of a back pack but he did it halfway as shown in the picture.
Is it correct to say "zip the front pocket of the back pack all the way" or "zip the front pocket of the back pack all the way to the end, not halfway"?


texts: Can strong adjectives have comparative and superlative?

texts: I learnt that strong adjectives are "ungradable" so for example the adjective enormous can't be used with intensifiers such as very, slightly, a little, a bit, extremely, terribly, etc. So I wonder if this kind of adjectives can have comparative and superlative?


texts: Which preposition should I use? "until", "through" or "as of"

texts: If I want to say, please send me the forecast until July next year. Can I replace "until" with "through" or "as of"? Thanks in advance.


texts:
Please explain the meaning of "get the thrill out of them" in this sentence:

  the main reason why people go for dangerous sports is that they get the thrill out of them


texts:
the diplomatic origins of the Great War and its aftermath Versailles, which carried away four empires and an entire generation of young men; the personal summitry behind the night Stalin and Churchill divided Europe, which foreshadowed the coming of the Cold War; the asymmetrical diplomacy behind the making of ANZUS – or the Australian–New Zealand–United States Security Treaty, which has endured for over fifty years; and, finally, the diplomacy of the global economic system, comprising, inter alia, the activities of transnational corporations and intergovernmental organizations, as well as the diplomacy of civil society organizations, which opened up new
pathways for the conduct of diplomacy while facilitating the involvement of new participants.

carry out means:this and meaning of words are clear, but what is themeaning of phrase? what did "the diplomatic origins" do?


texts: Can we use an adjective after a preposition? - "We found it difficult to judge from wrong"

texts:
I saw a sentence on the internet like this:

  We found it difficult to judge from wrong.

Is it right to use adjective wrong after preposition from?

I wonder about that. Because I learned that noun only can be used after a preposition.

Can adjective be used after preposition?


texts:
Nature bestowed all her gifts with a smile
  The emerald, the shamrock, the Blarney
  When you can buy all these wonderful things
  Then you can buy Killarney
  (How Can You Buy Killarney?)

What is the proper name ‘Blarney,’ a wonderful thing for the singer?


texts: Does the sentence sound "I am an introvert with a bit pessimistic views of things" natural?

texts:
I am an introvert with a bit pessimistic views of things.

As pointed out by @Tᴚoɯɐuo in this thread, the part "with a bit pessimistic views of things" doesn't look idiomatic.

I am an introvert, right. But I am not a pessimist to the extent of seeing only bad parts of a situation/thing. That's why I used 'a bit'.

I ponder over the negatives of an issue before moving to its positive sides. That's why I introduced a subordinate clause (not sure how the part ', with...' is called) instead of directly saying

  I am an introvert and pessimist.

It seems too direct and inaccurate, isn't it?

I was wondering how we could improve it.
Thank you a lot.


texts: Doubt about backshift (reported speech) for events that are still on going

texts:
I have a doubt about using backshift in this following situation:

Peter: "I have a good job now."

Peter said that he had a good job now.............or................Peter said that he has a good job now.

I appreciate that a similar phrase without the addition of 'now' would be changed to had:  "Peter said that he had a good job", but surely the inclusion of 'now' demands that has should remain in the present and not get backshifted.  It just seems to make more sense like this
Thanks for any advice or comments


texts:
In my native language the point of and the sense of may be translated in the same way. Is there any difference between them in English? I would like to look at examples. For instance,

  What is the point of the feature?

and

  What is the sense of the feature?

Are these two sentences correct at all?


texts:
I searched online dictionaries for the word dare but I don't understand the meaning of sentence below:

  As he dared only to hope in that great book, light has been cast upon
  not just the worlds of plants and animals, but on ourselves and our
  origins.

Being together "dare" and "only" makes me puzzled.
So, Could you please explain it to me?

The fuller text is here:

  A century and a half after The Origin, Darwin can be seen to have been
  triumphantly right about almost everything. Evolution is now no more
  “just a theory” than is chemistry and, like all other sciences, it
  provides a logical way of looking at the world. As he dared only to
  hope in that great book, light has been cast upon not just the worlds
  of plants and animals, but on ourselves and our origins.

  Darwinism makes sense of what was once no more than a jumble of
  unconnected facts, and in so doing unifies biology. Modern psychology,
  ecology and more find their birthplace in the pages of his greatest
  work. A century-and-a-half on, evolution is as central to our
  understanding of life as gravity is to the study of the universe.

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427343-400-origin-of-species-revisited-recapitulation-and-conclusion/#ixzz67QsnuQIa


texts: was knocked his tooth out or was knocked his tooth out of

texts:
She knocked out his tooth.

If I change this sentence into passive,

  1.He was knocked his tooth out.

  2.He was knocked his tooth out of.

Which is suitable and grammatical?


texts:
what does ''the way in which'' exactly mean or equal to?

  You might not call it pacifist necessarily, but a way in which many people, not
  necessarily following the Iraq War, but that's one example of it, came to see that war is no longer a legitimate part of the political life of a nation. It may be an existential part of it. Weapons of mass destruction could threaten us all.


texts:
I have a question about the usage of the verb "carry".  On the web, I found usages of "verb" like this:

  He is disappointed that the women seem unable to carry a conversation.

But dictionaries suggest that the correct usage involves the phrase "carry on":

  He is disappointed that the women seem unable to carry on a conversation.

Is the usage in sentence 1 wrong, or is the usage in sentence 1 another standard English usage not recorded in dictionaries?


texts:
What does it mean 'doctor on theme'? (YouTube -03:19) - according to listening as well as YouTube subtitles.

I have found nothing about it on google.


texts: Why can we say "drink" but we can't say "drinks"

texts:
Why can we use the first sentence and not the second one?

after take off, we will have food and drink
after take off, we will have food and drinks

Which is more correct?


texts: "Interrupt one's sleep", "disturb one's sleep" or "disrupt one's sleep"?

texts:
Could you tell which one of the following sentences sounds the most natural?

  The dog has been interrupting my sleep for the past two months, so I bought earplugs.

  The dog has been disturbing my sleep for the past two months, so I bought earplugs.

  The dog has been disrupting my sleep for the past two months, so I bought earplugs.

If none sounds particularly natural, could you tell me what you would say instead?


texts: What does "approach" mean in the context of social science research?

texts:
I came across the following paragraph in a social science book:

An approach, in simple terms, may be defined as a way of looking at
and then explaining a particular phenomenon. It also covers within its
fold every other thing related to the collection and selection of
evidence followed by an investigation and analysis of a particular
hypothesis for an academic purpose. Thus, an approach "consists of
criteria of selection - criteria employed in selecting the problems or
questions to consider and in selecting the data to bring to bear; it
consists of standards governing the inclusion and exclusion of
questions and data."

I'm trying to figure out the meaning of "approach" in social science research from the above paragraph, and having studied only very basic English my entire life, I'm not sure if I have understood the text in bold correctly or properly.
The line "collection and selection of evidence followed by an investigation and analysis of a particular hypothesis for an academic purpose" is confusing because I thought collection and selection of evidence happens after a hypothesis is proposed and not before that as suggested by the line.
Also what does "in selecting the data to bring to bear" mean?
Further, could you please paraphrase the text in bold in simple English as that will really facilitate my effort to fully and correctly understand the word "approach"?


texts: "To feed smb smth" vs "to feed smb on smth"

texts:
Is there any difference in meaning between "to feed the dog biscuits" and "to feed the dog on biscuits"?
Are the following sentences correct?

Biscuits are fed to the dog.
The dog is fed with biscuits.
The dog is fed biscuits.
That cat feeds on little birds.
What is the dog fed with?
Who are biscuits fed to?


texts:
Is there a difference between "gonna have to" and just "have to"? For instance, in the following two sentences:

  You’re gonna have to be completely honest.

and

  You have to be completely honest.


texts: What is the difference between Precipitated Calcium Carbonate and Calcium Carbonate?

texts: I don't know what  precipitated calcium carbonate is. So anybody who knows the answer let me know.


texts:
You know when you get runny, bunged up, or stuffy nose, you tend to blow it but sometimes it can be so frequent that you're not up to it anymore and simply try to breathe it in. Or another example is when a co-worker standing next to you who has a cold, too, looking at the blueprint with you and continuiusly is making this wierd sucking slurpy noise with his nose which is really disgusting, too (at least to me, no offence). Technically it's blowing your nose just the other way around.

What do you call it in English? And if there are some informal words to describe it, please bring them up, too.

    (In my native language we say "pull up the nose")

What do you call a person who's always like this, I mean, a person who has stuffy nose almost always and doesn't like to blow his nose and instead just breathe it in.

    (In my native language we call the person informally "snotty", although in English they use snotty to describe a thing dirty with mucus)

Thanks


texts: Should I use "is" or "are" after "conclusion"?

texts:
Conclusion is as follows:

  Conclusion are as follows:

Should it be is or are?

Does this use of conclusion have an irregular plural like aircraft or series?

Are there any other problems with the grammar here?


texts: How to understand "bomb the expletive out of something"? Is that an idiomatic expression?

texts:
I came across this sentence with a strange use of the word "expletive",

  Trump has variously expressed enthusiasm for outsourcing the fight against the Islamic State to Vladimir Putin and for bombing the expletive out of its oil fields.

The word "expletive" doesn't seem to have anything to do with "oil fields" in terms of its meaning. How to understand "bomb the expletive out of something."? Is that an idiomatic expression?


texts: What is the meaning of 'scare eases' in this headline?

texts:
Today I have come across the following headline on the main page of the Premier League website:

  Salah scare eases for managers.

I did not understand what the writer means by 'scare eases'. So I looked up the meaning of this combination in all dictionaries, but I couldn't find anything. What makes me confused is the word 'scare'. Is it a noun, an adverb or a part of a verbal phrase? Can anyone help me, please?


texts: Can "though", "although", "if" and "even if" be followed by an adjective?

texts:
I am trying to say the following thing : "Even though this font is my favourite, it will not be used anymore".

Is any of the following four sentences correct?

  This font, although my favourite, will not be used anymore.

  This font, though my favourite, will not be used anymore.

  This font, even if my favourite, will not be used anymore.

  This font, if my favourite, will not be used anymore.

My guess is that the first two sentences are correct and make sense, that the third one is incorrect but could be understood (as in "this foreigner does not speak English very well but I understand him"), and that the fourth one is not only incorrect but also has a meaning opposite of the one I want to convey.

However, I am not sure that though or although can be used without being followed by a verb. Can anyone enlighten me on this point?


texts: How to say don't leave the door open when you leave!

texts:
Basically, I want to say something like

Don't leave the door open when you leave the office.

However, this sounds a bit awkward in my opinion because it has two leaves in a row. So, I thought about the other possible ways and came up with the following sentences.

  Don't leave the door open if you are not going to be inside the office for a while.

  Don't leave the door open if you are not going to be here for while.

They look to me as a bit wordy. I am wondering what is the common or idiomatic ways to say this.


texts:
I have two sentences, given below, and I need your help to identify if there is any error in any one of them and if there is then What it is?

  He was absent from the meeting.
  He absented himself from the meeting.


texts: Should I use "nag" or "nag at" in the following example?

texts:
I'm confused about the difference between the two.
I know that "nag at" can refer to a problem that's nagging at you.
How about in this example?

One day, I nagged (at) you, and you snapped.


texts:
For words that we say to God asking for help I've found that two phrases are used.

make prayer
say prayer

I've usually seen that natives don't much use the first one. Is there any error in this or is it unusual? Although to me second is more natural and I prefer it but still I've got this perplexity in my mind that "What wrong is there in the first one?"


texts: "Otherwise" usage and Sentence Structure

texts:
I have a hard time understanding this sentence,

  How could it be otherwise with so strange and masterful an artist?

This sentence confuses me in two points,

What's the meaning of otherwise here, I tried to substitute otherwise with alternative and similar words. But it didn't work so well.
The sentence structure is somehow reverted here and I had a hard time to revert it back. If I can revert it, I think I can have a better chance understanding the meaning of otherwise here.


texts: Which is the plural of "forum": "fora" or "forums"?

texts:
I'm active on many discussion fora, but I see that people more often use the form forums.

Are both forms correct and adequate?

If so, why are there two forms for the plural of such a short word?


texts: I look forward to a resubmission or I look forward for your resubmission

texts:
Which is one correct of the above sentence?
OR
Can I say' I'm looking forward for your resubmission or I'm looking forward to your resubmission


texts:
I wouldn't mind something to eat. - is correct
I wouldn't mind him to cook something to eat. - is not correct.
It's clear that the two sentences have the same structure. Why is that the first one is correct and the second one is wrong?
Is this one correct as well?
I wouldn't mind a house to possess.