texts: What does the "to" mean in this phrase and when to use it after verb

texts:
I've started learning English a few months ago. I still have some doubts regarding the use of "TO" after verbs. For example, in this sentence:

  If you’d like to visit me some time, you’re welcome to

What does the "to" mean? What role is it playing in the sentence and when to use it in the sentence?

I've got a message right now which says,

  I have about couple of mails to read through and respond to!

Is not it enough to just say "To read and respond"?


texts: Would you use the phrase "restoring relationship" meaning getting back in touch with friend you had a fight or is it wrong?


texts: What are some examples of Anonyms with "An-" prefix

texts:
I teach science to high school students. The other day I was teaching respiration to a class and the topic was Aerobic and Anaerobic Respiration. And I said Aerobic respiration is the kind of respiration that takes place in presence of oxygen. Anaerobic respiration is the kind of respiration that takes place in absence of oxygen. Here 'an' is the prefix used to denote the opposite of Aerobic. So one of my students asked me what other opposite words can be made by prefixing 'An-'. I tried googling but didn't find any such pair of opposites.

Is this the only case where An prefix makes an opposite of a word or are there others. If you could list some pairs it would be helpful.


texts: What is the structure and meaning of this sentence?

texts:
[Discussing the word dis-eate in Macbeth, amended by various editors to disseat, disease, disseizes and defeat. ]

  . . . you may say that Shakespeare actually intended, by putting down something a little removed from any of the approximate homonyms, to set the reader groping about their network. One must consider, before dismissing this second idea as absurd, that the Elizabethans minded very little about spelling and punctuation; that this must have given them an attitude to the written page entirely different from ours (the reader must continually have been left to grope for the right word); that from the comparative slowness, of reading as of speaking, that this entailed, he was prepared to assimilate words with a completeness which is now lost; that only our snobbish ability of spelling imposes on us the notion that one mechanical word, to be snapped up by the eye, must have been intended; . . .

From Seven Types of Ambiguity by William Empson.

I'm trying to figure out the structure and meaning of the bolded part of this sentence.


texts: What is "cultural capital" and what role does it play in learning the language?

texts:
My English teacher once jovially remarked that if I were to ever fully understand literature texts by native English writers, I would have to have cultural capital. He went on to add that I wouldn't exactly understand what the term means precisely because I don't have some in the first place.

A quick Google search led me to a Wikipedia article on the term. From whatever I can sense from the article, I figured it refers to the cultural background that a native speaker gets from their upbringing. It seems to me that without cultural capital, one cannot pickup inside-jokes and other little nuances that require cultural immersing.

How close am I in the understanding of the term and what good does it provide in terms of better learning the language?


texts: Which mouth form is the close one to pronounce the R

texts:
I am trying to learn American R, I have a problem, which is the R becomes like "O" in the begging of the word like

Reall-> I say: "Oreally" with a very very very small "O".

So I tried to change my lips, and I found that there are two situation for the lips,

The first one is

and if you look from side, it looks like this:

The second one is when you make your lips as you open them a little bit

I know probably neither of them is correct, but which one is more closer to the correct " American R"


texts: What's the meaning of "spinning" in "spinning fairy tales"?

texts:
The context is: "Santato wasn't spinning fairy tales.".

It means "fantasy"?

Thank you in advance!


texts: and/or? - "Only positive integers are categorized as prime and/or composite"

texts:
Which statements are correct?

  Only positive integers are categorized as prime and composite.
  Only positive integers are categorized as prime or composite.
  Only positive integers are categorized as either prime or composite.

I use the 2nd statement always but I think the third one is the most appropriate.


texts: Can I call any book a sequel of any other book based on my personal opinion?

texts:
If I personally think that book B would be a great read for those who have already ready book A, am I able to call book B "a great sequel" to book A?

For example, can I say the following?

  I love the book Tortoises in the Caribbean by John Murphy. A great sequel to that book is The Ecology of Tortoises by Christopher Sampson.

Is this legitimate use of the word "sequel", even though the two authors don't know of each other?


texts: How to describe wearing a T-shirt in a opposite manner?

texts:
Let's say I put on a T-shirt with back in front and front in back. Is there any word to describe the state of the t-short similar to how upside down means that up and down have been reversed?. The sentence where I am trying to use it is something like this:

  First the I wore the T-shirt the right way round. Then I put it on […].

Additionally, if my friend does the same thing (i.e. wearing the T-shirt in the reverse manner), and I want to tell him to fix it. Can I say "Take it off and reverse it"?

Does reverse make sense in this context?


texts:
English is not my native language. I read much more than I speak or hear. In fact, the only time I hear English being spoken is when I'm at my lectures in college or watching a movie.

However, I read a lot, and I know how to words are spelt but don't know how they are enunciated.

For example, I have long know  the word "lingerie", having come across it in my reading, but only recently knew that it was pronounced "lawngzere" and not "lingerie".

So how do I know how a word in pronounced just by looking at it's letters on a page?


texts: What does the man mean by saying this statement?

texts:
I read this NYP article about a Volvo car breaking Guinness word record. However, at the end of the article the man said this sentence which I don’t understand:

  “I don’t see my ex-wife or my kids. I can’t say if that is because of the driving,” he said.

Does he mean he loves the car more than his family?


texts: which sentence is correct when I speak about future?

texts:
Which one is correct and why is it correct?

I'm sure he's going to win.
I'm sure he will win.

another question, please:
a)Which one is correct and why is it correct?
1-Look at the dark clouds. I think it’s going to rain.
2-look at the dark clouds. I think it will rain.
3-Both of the above sentences are correct.
B)Which one is correct and why?
1-Look at the dark clouds. I'm sure it’s going to rain.
2-look at the dark clouds. I'm sure it will rain.
3-Both of the above sentences are correct.


texts: What does this mean "good to know that he ever did anything as friendly as smile"?

texts:
I came across this while reading Harry Potter. Here I attached the paragraph I've taken this from.

Moody’s magical eye spun around to stare at Ron; Ron looked extremely apprehensive, but after a moment Moody smiled — the first time Harry had seen him do so. The effect was to make his heavily scarred face look more twisted and contorted than ever, but it was nevertheless good to know that he ever did anything as friendly as smile. Ron looked deeply relieved.

It seems to me that harry feels good to know that Moody in his life apart from all the unfriendly things had done something friendly i.e, the smile.


texts: Omitting 'the' in "chlorine can oxidise the bromide ions (in, for example, potassium bromide solution)"

texts:
From Chemguide:

  In each case, a halogen higher in the Group can oxidise the ions of one lower down. For example, chlorine can oxidise the bromide ions (in, for example, potassium bromide solution) to bromine.

Can we omit the here, or does the parenthetical phrase force the use of the definite article before bromide ions?

My edit without the:

  In each case, a halogen higher in the Group can oxidise the ions of one lower down. For example, chlorine can oxidise bromide ions (in, for example, potassium bromide solution) to bromine.

Is this okay? Or will such parenthetical phrase always force the use of the where it otherwise could\would have been omitted?

P.S. After posting the question, I read further, and there's a sentence right after the quoted one:

  As you have seen above, chlorine can also oxidise iodide ions (in, for example, potassium iodide solution) to iodine.

Here, there's no the before "iodide ions". So the use of the appears to be in free varation. Even if a parenthetical construction allows one to use the, the definite article still could be omitted. Am I right?

Or maybe the use of the definite article here is unrelated to the content of the parentheses?


texts: Construction of “females representatives”

texts:
In a Guardian article, I stumbled over this sentence:

  These kind of men deter women from entering politics, when more females representatives is exactly what America needs.

I would have expected to read female representatives here (like green leaves, not greens leaves). Why is it females? Isn’t it used as an adjective here?

It doesn’t seem to be a typo, since I found a few similar cases in a Google search, such as this one in a 2005 book:

  As a result of (…), Wales has one of the highest proportions of females representatives in the world, (…)


texts: Can i use the word guys in virtual learning session? Example: Thank you Guys!

texts: Can i use the word "guys" in virtual learning session? Example: Thank you Guys! Because, this is the first time i am speaking with him and it is dificult to call his name and other person also there. I want to thank both of them. which is correct form?


texts: Present or Present Perfect in this sentence

texts:
To illustrate this, suppose we want to eliminate the navigation bar from the page sidebar. We may create a rule in which the link density feature (is or has been ?) employed to distinguish such a part. However, when this rule (is or is being ?) applied to the page, all such elements are removed regardless of their locations, even if they are within the main content (e.g. Table of Contents).

When we want to say for example we may create or want to create X in which Y (is or has been or was) used for this purpose?

Example from web:

  Peaceable school programs seek to create schools in which conflict resolution has been integrated at every level.


texts: Is there a semantic difference between advisor and adviser?

texts:
I was trying to make a semantic difference like between Russian words советник (one who occupies the position where he gives advices) and советчик (someone who made an advice) and used advisor for the first and adviser for the second. Yet my dictionary says there is no semantic difference between the two.

I wonder whether indeed there is no semantic difference and if so, what words to choose to indicate the difference (like between asker and questioner).

PS. This is not about -ter- vs -tor- and it seems the -ter- vs -tor question had been answered wrongly so I made a new answer to that question.


texts: Is there a substantial difference between the adjectives "cranial" and "cerebral"? Are these ones interchangeable in a not-so-medical context?


texts:
I was listening to the song "You not like me" by 50 cent. 50 uses the phrase in the hook many times,

  If you get shot and run to the cops you not like me
  You ain't got no work on the block, you not like me
  It's hot, you ain't got no drop, you not like me
  Like me dude, you not like me

I think The sentence should be

  You are not like me.

I guess the original version is peculiar to AAVE. Please tell me what does it mean, when and where is it used? Etc etc.


texts: a critic since the killing -- he wasn't a critic before the killing?

texts:
Example with a context:

  Her comments echo that heard from Kremlin critics since the killing such as activist Alexei Navalny, who accused "the country's political leadership" of ordering a hit on Nemtsov.

I actually have two questions about this paragraph.

echo that (which is) heard from - is that how you should understand that part?
I don't really understand what exactly they mean by since the killing. Is it like he wasn't a Kremlin critic before the killing took place and became one only after it had happened?


texts: Generic phrases for connecting something to power supply

texts:
What are the most common generic phrases for connecting something into a power supply? I'm translating a description of a lab procedure, and there's a lot of phrases like this:

  Connect the microplate reader to a power supply.

The Russian phase actually says "to the power grid" (в сеть), but that's not important, the main purpose here is to indicate that the unit is to be connected to a source of power. "Включить в сеть" (connect to the power grid/network) is just a stock phrase in Russian; the "grid" may be a battery-based autonomous power source just as well (while, of course, it's a power grid 99.99% of the time).


texts:
Can last and past be used interchangeably? I have done some research but I cannot find the proper answer and I am still confused.

He was working for the past 2 months.
He was working for the last 2 months.


texts: The use of the present perfect followed by the past simple

texts:
Is the use of the past simple correct in the following context?

  Person A: Have you ever argued with your girlfriend?

  Person B: Yes, I have.

  Person A: what did you argue about?

Should have I used the present perfect as well in the second question.


texts: Is there a single word to define a bag thief?

texts:
Searching a meaning of a Japanese word okibiki.
I have found a definition:

  walking away with another's bag

But you can call someone a okibiki. Analyzing it, the person is a bag thief. Then in English, there is another single word to define it?

If not, is usual to say "bag thief"?


texts: the correct way to name a system that help find something

texts:
Hi I want to do a promo spot for a system that helps people find services online,
I want to use the word "Finder", but some people tell me that is only valid when referring to a person not to a "software system" so I am somewhat confused.
I want to use a sentence like : PlumNet (software system) the finder of plumbers
Would that be correct?


texts:
Do you use pass for talking about the courses that you have successfully finished? For instance,

  ...while at the same time passing intensive courses ...


texts: How to dissect/parse 'a two-horse policy of stimulating renting and owning'?

texts:
Foreword: Please beware that I already asked about my angst over 'albeit that' on ELU.
Source: p 5 of 16, Where is housing
heading?,  by Dr Peter Williams. 2014 June

  What we have seen in recent years is a degree of caution by ministers in both pronouncements and policy
  regarding homeownership, with the coalition clearly backing a two-horse policy of stimulating renting and
  owning albeit that, as housing moved higher up the political ladder, there has been a clear shift towards
  the latter.

Does this excerpt truly reveal what is the specific two-horse policy here? I'm confused because the latter seems to refer back to owning in stimulating renting and
owning ? But then this alleged reference implies that stimulating was gapped as an ellipsis => stimulating renting and [stimulating]
owning. In other words, the latter truly means [stimulating]
owning.

Per contra, this excerpt concerns homeownership by the general UK public. A layperson can only rent or own; so nothing here resembles a horse race? Was two-horse used correctly and aptly here?


texts: Why using [a] and not [an] in "a user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it's not that good"

texts:
I've found this phrase across the internet and everywhere they use "A user interface" instead of "An user interface".

Is it an error that has been propagated or is it correct? If it's correct, why?


texts:
Suppose we are talking about someone's schedule of things to do

  There is a management meeting in his schedule.
  There is a management meeting on his schedule.

Should it be "in" or "on" when talking about what is in someone's schedule?


texts:
Tell me please if have to use "a" or "the" in the following dialogue:

  Person 1: what did that tablet cost you?

  Person 2: It costs 200 dollars. But I must say it is an/the approximate sum. My dad bought it me.

I think "the" should be used, but not sure. And Could I say it is an/the around sum?


texts: "Road" when referring to an unphysical thing

texts:
Can "road" be used in the following situation:

The original sentence:

  They got angry that they were not willing to hear any excuse.

The shortened version:

  They got angry unwilling to hear any excuse.

And the update summary was written like this:

  Shortened the road for you.

Its intended meaning is that there were many unnecessary words that could be omitted in order to get to the consequence of that group anger faster.

("you" refers to the readers)

So, is that considered as an acceptable and correct usage of "road"? Can it be used in a sarcastic or humorous way? If not, what would the substitute word be?

I have searched for the possible usages of "road" and looked for example sentences but found nothing that supports my usage above.

Here is what I found in Cambridge Dictionary

P.S.

For future visitors, the shortened version above is NOT correct, and this is how it can be written correctly:

They got angry, unwilling to hear any excuse.

(Notice the comma)

Or

They got angry and were unwilling to hear any excuse.


texts:
Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day.
A classmate and I were practicing speaking

He: "I like traveling, cooking and watching movies."
I: "I like watching movies too and I also like playing Go."
He: "what go?"
I: "The game of Go, a Chinese board game"

Should I have said "Go game" there, are there any other expression more natural or easier to hear I could use in this context?


texts: what does " get caught up with somebody." mean?

texts:
http://www.englishtown.com/community/channels/lesson2.aspx?ptn=memb&hash=bGVzc29uX2lkPTY4OSZ0YWI9MSZwdG49bm9uZSZzaWQ9MTk4MDE1NTImbGlkPTY4OSZlZD0yMDE0LTEyLTMwVDE3JTNhMzAlM2EwMCZjdHI9dWsmbG5nPWVuJmNjPSZldGFnPUUxMTM4ODBfbWVtYiZlZXZlcj000&etag=E113880_memb&eever=4

I get really caught up with the people I write about.

What does " get caught up with somebody." mean? What is the meaning of the above context?


texts: Is this sentence correct? “House that i lived in for the first year of my life”

texts:
I am not a native english speaker. Can somebody please tell if this is correct sentence
House that i lived in for the first year of my life


texts:
Thinner and Dinner.

I have problems pronouncing these two words.

To me they sound exactly the same; I do not know if the first should be pronounced like an f ("finner") or not.

Google Translate does not help me, so what are their correct pronunciations?


texts:
I have never seen any use of 'passive voice' in a conditional sentence before.

I was reading a story book and found one of  the story characters saying,

  What would have happened if the bridge had broken.

Is this sentence grammatically correct? A bridge cannot break itself, it gets broken. So shouldn’t it be,

  What would have happened if the bridge had been broken.


texts:
What is the difference between

  A) By then, you will have shown what you meant to do since the beginning.
  B) By then, you will show what you meant to do since the beginning.

Is B grammatically correct at all?


texts: how do I use repeated action in past tenses

texts:
What's the difference between :
1- I played football for 5 years
2- I was playing football for 5 years


texts: Unleashing dogs into the crows or onto or on? Are all of these grammatical? I think I see on most often, and then onto and sometimes into, but I think into is not grammatical. Am I correct?


texts: Does "it" refer to the bacterium or a desireable chemical?

texts:
What does the bold "it" in the italicized line refer to, the bacterium or a desirable chemical?
Anyway the sentence containing it evades me. What does the sentence mean?
A bacterium is so small that its sensors alone can give it no indication of the direction that a good or bad chemical is coming from. To overcome this problem, the bacterium uses time to help it deal with space. The bacterium is not interested in how much of a chemical is present at any given moment, but rather in whether that concentration is increasing or decreasing. After all, if the bacterium swam in a straight line simply because the concentration of a desirable chemical was high, it might travel away from chemical nirvana, not toward it, depending on the direction it’s pointing. The bacterium will swim in a straight line as long as the chemicals it senses seem better now than those it sensed a moment ago. The bacterium solves this problem in an ingenious manner: as it senses its world, one mechanism registers what conditions are like right now, and another records how things were a few moments ago. If not, it’s preferable to change course.
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness


texts: Past Perfect and Past Simple (looking for the correct answers)

texts:
I have one sentence:

We were late for the theater because ___ .

Possible variants:

she had left the tickets at home
we had gotten lost while driving
he had wanted to watch an action flick

Perhaps it sounds awkward to natie, but why the last two answers are incorrect (according to the resource I've taken this example from)?


texts: Wondering if "delegation" has some hidden meaning

texts:
The BBC's Bethany Bell says there is "widespread" support at the OSCE's headquarters in Vienna for the need to agree a long-term monitoring mission in Ukraine, but that Russia's delegation insists it has no mandate to deploy.

Source: BBC News

What do the words "that" and "delegation" here mean? I know the delegation refers to a group of people who are represent some region, but does it mean something more in this context?


texts: Difficulty in finding structure of "So ... that " or "... that..." as relative pronoun

texts:
I have a sentence:

  So admired were these pieces that they encouraged the development of earthenware made in imitation of porcelain and instigated research into the method of their manufacture.

I can't find structure of it. Does "So" in here mean 'too/so much/many'? or is it part of 'so..that'?

What is the structure of "admired were these pieces"? Adj+verb+noun!?


texts:
The following is from an article in the New York Times: What Congressmen Are Hiding

  It’s sobering to recall that the 1995 law was passed three years
  after another congressional scandal, in which House members of both
  parties were censured and prosecuted for abusing accounts with the
  House bank, in some cases writing checks for tens of thousands of
  dollars they didn’t have. The same environment of entitlement, secrecy
  and lax rules led to the current situation.

Some dictionaries define 'sobering' 'making you think about things in a serious way' but after seeing the synonym of 'sobering' as 'depressing, discouraging, daunting, saddening, dispiriting, disheartening' I am not so sure of my understanding.

I feel the definition seem to fit better, but I am not sure because the synonyms, especially 'saddening' or 'disheartening' seems to work in the context as well. The writer is disgusted that politicians made a bad law when they had a chance to make a better one.


texts: A verb for dividing a system into stages or levels?

texts:
Is there a verb with a meaning close to "split" or "break", but for layers or a hierarchy? As in "making a system/team/... layered"?

For example:

  If we ________ the tech team, their performance will deteriorate.

  The system is ___________ and the changes propagate from the top level to the bottom.


texts: Could anybody explain the sentence in simple words?

texts:
When these proposals are considered out of context both
  interpretations are tenable and find parallels in Indo-Parthian
  coinage.  - Mitchiner, Michael. Indo-greek and indo-scythian coinage
  (vol 8), p713)

Is the sentence kind of conditional sentences? Does "when" mean "whereas"?


texts: recount to the other vs recount to each other

texts:
They recounted to the other what  had happened to them.
They  recounted to each other what had happened to them.
They recounted  each other what had happened to them.

Which sentence is more correct?


texts: all you need to do is figure out - if "figure out" is changed to "to figure out", how does the meaning change?

texts:
Like most programming problems, if you understand the logic behind what you’re trying to accomplish, all you need to do is figure out a way of representing that logic with programming code. So let’s think for a moment about the problem we have to solve.

How would the meaning of the sentence change if figure out was changed to to figure out?


texts:
Do you say you feel pride 'for' something or you feel pride 'in' something?
'For' feels right to me, but 'in' seems to make more sense.

There are two statements where I need it. One is 'pride __ country' and the other is 'pride __ army'

I want to talk about pride as a feeling; as a noun. For example "Nationalism is excessive pride of/in one's country'. I don't want to say "Nationalism is feeling excessively proud of one's country" or "Nationalism is taking excessive pride in one's country" as those unnecessarily complicate the sentence. Just to clarify, is the sentence "The parade instilled in them a pride in their country" wrong?


texts:
I need to figure out how a native would describe this situation?
Let's suppose someone is packaging current or old ideas and practices in a way which makes them appear to be modern/innovative, particularly with the intention of pretending that they are "new" or keeping them alive or making them look more attractive to audiences who are unfamiliar with them or have some objection to them.

  E.g. Scenario 1) Please imagine a situation in which someone (the boss of a company, a salesman) is promoting something as being all new, "but it isn’t really new" and at closer examination it seems to be the same as before just "rebranded", "repacked", "got a new name "or a fresh label. So they are selling an existing product just with another appearance!
  A customer who can grasp the identity of the prodoct and just was presented, tells his wife softly: It is the same old wine is new bottle!
  Scenario 2) In a country the president changes; ordinary people believe all the elections propaganda and exagerated media advertisements about the upcoming president! They believe that by changing the president the current situation would be changed into a better one! Unaware of the fact that all the politicians of one regieme are working under the same flag, observe same regualtuons and fight for the same target in that country!
  A wise person who is a witness of all the happenings mumbles:  It is the same old wine is new bottle!

I need to know if the bold sayinga work properly and idiomatically in these cases of mine?


texts: Participle clause as sentence without conjugated verb?

texts:
I've recently come across a sentence in an essay I proofread that went something like "Focusing on these experimental and statistical strategies."
I thought it wasn't really a sentence and suggested sth. like "I will now focus on ...", "Now I focus on ..." or "We shall now focus on ...".

Now I've stumbled across this sentence starting a paragraph (it's not a heading or something like that) in a British textbook (Hogg & Vaughan, 2013: Social Psychology):

  Muzafer Sherif (1936) explicitly linking this convergence effect to the development of group norms.

Is this some participle use I've never heard of to introduce a topic or something like that?


texts:
What does that mean?

I heard someone say, "he gettin more bread at the new company"

Does it mean more food, more salary, vacation or something entirely different?

Does it really mean he's getting a lot of ...bread?

Thanks


texts: The main contribution is (proposing / to propose) a new method

texts:
The main contribution of this paper is (proposing/to propose) a new method.

I'm confused about using gerund or infinitive in this sentence.

I searched for this sentence on the internet, but I didn't find anything that solves my problem.

Which one should I choose?


texts: Is forming phrasal verbs using names rather than lexical verbs commonly accepted?

texts:
The Lunar Module separated the descent stage and fired the ascent engine to climb back into orbit.

After reading the above sentence I began wondering if forming phrasal verbs using names rather than lexical verbs is commonly accepted; so, in order to describe what the Lunar Module did, one could say "The Lunar Module mooned out."

I know that moon is also a verb, but its meaning has nothing to do with the event I described.

Can anyone explain?


texts: 1. What GB hard disk do you need ? - and similar wordings

texts:
If i am a shop-keeper and someone walks into my shop asking for a hard disk. And i want to ask him 'how many gb hard disk does he need' How should i ask it ?

What GB hard disk do you need ?
How many GB hard disk do you need ?

My questions are -

Which is the correct way to ask this question ?
Are there any instances where 'how many' is used like in this example (Because GB is a number)

And if i am a customer and i want to know what is the highest gb hard disk that is available in the market. Would you please also frame this question for me ?


texts: Adverbial Phrases in linking verb sentences

texts:
The weather during summer can be very hot in Libya.
During summer, the weather can be very hot in Libya.
The weather can be very hot in Libya during summer.
The weather can be very hot during summer in Libya.

I thought that the adverbial phrase during summer acts as an adjective that in:

it modifies weather
it modifies weather
it modifies Libya
it modifies weather

Am I right? or is there the possibility that the adverbial phrase modifies the whole sentence?


texts: Can *is* be used without taking another word after it?

texts:
I was at a conference and a speaker said this at a keynote. He started the keynote with this following sentence

  ... (company name) is about what is and what isn't. ...

I think the context is they're a DNA testing company, and they're talking about the importance of fast, accurate DNA test. I would assume by that he means (company name) is about what is [true] and what isn't [true] but I'm dubious. Is this grammatically correct?


texts: Diffrences between "told" and "have told"

texts:
What are the differences between "told" and "have told"?

  How do you know that?
  Jack told me so.

Can we use "Jack has told me so" instead, since it is related to the present?

  Why are you fighting?
  Because he hit me.

Why cannot I use "because he has hit me", since it is related to the present?


texts: Is it correct my use of "Of which" in this sentence

texts:
I'm using it in a sentence like this one:

"there were "X" reports of which "N" were founded"

where I'm talking about Investigated reports of complaints or denunciations.


texts:
These examples are taken from the MacMillan Dictionary:

1. For all his complaining, I think he actually enjoyed the day.
2. For all the trouble he's caused her, you'd think she'd be happy to see him go.
3. With all this uncertainty about jobs, it's difficult to make plans.
4. With all its faults, democracy is still the best system we have.

Are these "with all" fixed collocations?
And I'm wondering whether "with all" has a broader scope of meaning than "for all" does as I think "for all" in the first two examples could be easily substituted with "with all".


texts: "...to stay safe." Who will stay safe here?

texts:
Here is a sentence:

Alax feed the dog every day to stay safe.

My question is that who is expected to stay safe here.
Is Alex feeding his dog to stay safe himself or is he doing so to keep his dog safe?
Can it mean the both and I should understand from the context?
Thanks in advance.


texts:
Let me thank you in advance.

I am writing a blog for my business purpose and hit upon a word "op-ed".

From the article,

  The incident led University of Colorado ecology professor Marc Bekoff to write in an op-ed for the Huffington Post: “Killing ‘in the name of conservation’ or ‘in the name of education’ or ‘in the name of whatever’ simply needs to stop. It is wrong and sets a horrific precedent for future research and for children.”

When I looked up to dictionaries, all the explanations are "Opposite to editorials".

So, am I correct to understand whereas "editorials" are the articles or sentences you can name, but the dictionaries also say, it is not an "open letters" to the editors ( = newspapers ).

Is it correct if I assume this "op-ed" thing is kind of a post from anybody unrelated with the newspaper company with the criticisim or that kind of sort  to the newspapers? ( so that they can "be fair"? ).

Let me thank you in advance again. Sincerely.


texts: Which tense is the correct one hear when describing something that could or will happen in the future?

texts:
I am intrigued by people using different tenses when talking about the future.
I heard native speakers use tenses differently. I will try to give an example using an example sentence:

"The good thing about Spotify is that you get to know a lot of new music because the program starts playing music which is like the one you chose and you get to know music that you never heard!"
"The good thing about Spotify is that you will get to know a lot of new music because the program starts playing music which is like the one you chose and you will get to know music that you have never heard!

First, there is no usage of the will future in the first sentence. Shouldn´t it be used here? Can you really use the simple present only?

In the second version, the "because sentence" doesn´t use "will" as well as the "that sentence" in the next sentence that follows. I was told you shouldn´t use "will" in a dependent sentence when it has already been used in the independent one that comes before or after the dependent one? Is that right?

Second, the first sentence uses the simple past at the very end: "...you have never heard!" while the second one uses the present perfect.

It should be the present perfect, shouldn´t it? Music that one has never heard until that point in time.

Or is the future perfect ("...will have never heard before!"?

I am bit confused about this!


texts: simple tense and time and composite sentence

texts:
If the eating meal starts at 7:00 AM and finishes at 8:00 AM. the drinking liquor starts at 8:00 AM and finishes at 9:00 AM.

can I say that :

I drank the liquor after I ate the meal.
I drank the liquor for 60 minutes after I ate the meal for 60 minutes.

moreover If the eating meal starts at 7:00 AM and finishes at 8:00 AM. the drinking liquor starts at 8:10 AM and finishes at 9:10 AM. how do I say ?


texts: She was so angry (that) she couldn't speak & There was such a lot of rain (that) we couldn’t go out

texts:
In the sentence "She was so angry that she couldn't speak", can I omit "that"?
Does "She was so angry she couldn't speak" sound natural to you?

In addition, in this sentence "There was such a lot of rain that we couldn’t go out", can I omit "that"?
Does "There was such a lot of rain we couldn’t go out" sound natural to you?


texts: The indefinite article applied to a group of things

texts:
What does applying the indefinite article to a group of things signify?

Inside the box was a pen, pencil and eraser.

Inside the box was a pen, a pencil and an eraser.

Or, perhaps #2 is ungrammatical and you can only use #1?


texts:
Is it okay to contract were as 're?

  I was not here when you're saying I'm sorry.

Is it okay? Or at least okay for informal use?

Also, should I use quotation marks with I'm sorry


texts: "In house" instead of "in/at the office"?

texts:
Is it legit to say

  Mr. ... is not in house today.

, when meaning

  Mr. ... is not in/at the office today.

?

Because in german you can basically say

  Herr ... ist heute nicht im Haus.


texts: What is the verb for making objects on a plate jump up and down?

texts:
A plate contains some objects of variety shapes. These objects could be dice or any stones.
You hold the plate with your hands and rotate your wrists up and down and thus make the plate moves up and down accordingly, which make the objects jump up and down.
DO you say "I am tossing the objects in the plate"?


texts: Understand the use of 'raise the stakes of'

texts:
I am reading a book Blue Ocean Strategy. There was this sentence in the book:

  Placing the kingpins in a fishbowl greatly raises the stakes of inaction.

The problem with sentence is that everywhere in the book it is mentioned that it is a positive activity. But this particular sentence is completely opposite. What I have understood from the sentence is that placing the important people (kingpins) in a fishbowl (transparent meetings) increases the chances of inactivity. Help me if my interpreting it correctly. Below is the link to the paragraph.

link to the paragraph


texts: The correct name for those who work in IT

texts:
We name the person who works in development "A developer".
What is the equivalent for a person who works in Network, Security or IT domains?

Usually I use Network guy, Security guy, or IT guy..., but I don't think it is the correct word.


texts: what does * in light of ...* refer to in the following sentence?

texts:
What does "in light of ..." refer to in the following passage (emphasis added)? Is it a reason for " concentrating on domestic financial development and regulation against"? Or it is complementing "against the backdrop of the...".

  The report concentrates on
  domestic financial development and regulation against the backdrop of the
  financial crises that were a worrisome feature of the decade and in light of
  the increasing mobility of capital that the other reports encouraged by calling for an easing of capital controls.

Development Economics through the Decades: A Critical Look at 30 Years of the World Development Report, Shahid Yusuf, page 31


texts: What's the difference between "I love that" and "I like that"?

texts:
What is the difference between "I love that" and "I like that" in American English?

Say, I am a guy, and want to say  I like another young man's shirt because it is from a popular college.

Should I say: "I like that" or "I love that"?


texts: A suprising usage of the present simple tense: "Why do you ask?" vs. "Why are you asking?"

texts:
Here is an extract from a TV series:

  [P1] - Did your husband have a physical disability?

  [P2] - He had a bad knee.[...] Why do you ask?

I was taught at school that when I'm talking about an action which is in progress, I should use the present continuous tense. The first person (P1) asked the question a few seconds ago, but still if I wanted to use a present tense, the present continuous seems to be the only one appriopriate.

Why did the second person (P2) used the present simple tense? Would it be correct to use the present continuous tense instead?

Edit: I'm asking why the person used Why do you ask? instead of Why are you asking?.


texts:
I bought this from market
  I bought this by market

"From market" sounds idiomatic. But what would by market mean?


texts:
What do we call a male domestic servant?

Maid is a female domestic servant. I don’t think “butler” is the equivalent term for a male, as butler is considered as the most important servant serving in a large house and who is also in charge of other employees.


texts: Cannot understand the grammar used in the sentence "I'd love to have lived in the 19th century"

texts:
I came across this sentence in the one of the English knowledge tests, and it really confused me. It turned out that I cannot say "I'd love to live in the 19th century" because of some grammar rules related to the past tense.
I searched about this, but all I got were only more questions and misundestanding.
Some sources said that I can use the "I would have loved" construction, but I'm not sure whether I can use it in this case.
So, which of these examples are correct and what sense do they convey?

I would love to have lived in the 19th century
I would love to live in the 19th century
I would have loved to have lived in the 19th century
I would have loved to live in the 19th century

And what about continuous tense?

I would love to be living in the 19th century
I would love to have been living in the 19th century


texts: How can I make a sentence to connect two seperate things?

texts:
I'm trying to land a summer job at this company and I did a group project on electricity as an alternative fuel so I was wondering how should I connect both of these things

I was thinking :

  As I have worked on the perspectives and challenges of electricity as
  an alternative fuel, I was excited to learn that your company recently
  decided to purchase electric cars and reduce its emissions

is this one correct ?

Thank you for your help


texts: Classification of the terms according to the ranges of the years

texts:
This has always confused me. While I'm pretty aware of who's infant, baby, toddler, the word young always bowls me out!

How the age is classified based on the range of the years? For instance,

  How many years a very young child will be? Any range? It's even confusing when you remove child from there - That's her! In her very young age. - What's the age now? In her adolescence? Childhood? Early childhood?

An answer with a good reference will be helpful. I hope it's not something an opinion based.


texts: What does "Gig gamification" and "divide" means in this sentence

texts:
today I received an email with topic like this:
Gig gamification, a broader digital divide + the fast track to transformation.
Microsoft finds a broader digital divide
Microsoft recently released the results of an analysis of US high-speed internet usage, finding that the Federal Communications Commission has grossly understated the number of Americans who lack access to broadband service.

I am not sure what exactly meaning do they mean in this context


texts: Which would be the better choice – "film" or "infomercial"?

texts: Which would be the better word to use for short, informative "films" made to attract students to a university – film or infomercial? Or something else entirely? Perhaps I could use promo? But I need it for a semi-formal text, so perhaps promo is too informal?


texts:
Is it correct sentence below?
And what does it mean? Also, how is it working grammatically?

  I made him a cake.

I made a cake for him.
I baked a cake using him. (Sounds so horrible!)

To me, 1 is more natural but I am not sure.
I've never seen that kind of sentence before.
Is "I made him a cake" a common sentence used by native speakers?


texts:
Neighbors pooled their resources, planting different kinds of foods and forming
cooperatives.

i think it should have written "planted different kinds of foods and formed cooperatives". what do you think?


texts: Why does a commentator say "she goes" when talking about a man?

texts:
I've watched a video of the snowboarder Ayumu Hirano winning the gold medal in Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe at the 2018 X Games in Aspen.

At 0:51 one of the commentators says:

  Awww, she goes she goes she goes!

And I don't understand why he says "she". Ayumu Hirano is a man. This is Men’s Snowboarding. What does "she" refer to here? And what does it mean? I suppose it means "He did it successfully", is it right?

For context, this is what they say from 0:38, if I understand correctly:

  Ayumu Hirano has a cab 1440 double we haven't seen yet.
  If he tosses it in, his run will be right up to this -
  Frontside 1440 double.
  He's going!
  Awww, she goes she goes she goes!
  He does it!

On a side note, what does "If he tosses it in, his run will be right up to this" mean? That if he can make it the cab 1440 double will be the most important part of his run?


texts: What does the word "credit" mean in the sentence, "Let things drift and you are likely to default and be blacklisted for future credit."?

texts: I found this sentence in a website without any more context to the sentence. I can't really tell what it means; and I assume with the limited amount of context it could mean more than one thing. I'd appreciate it if you'd help me figure out the sentence's possible meanings.


texts: Meaning of "instead of a fallible extract for a book of miscellanies"

texts:
source: https://archive.org/stream/menbooksmountain00step/menbooksmountain00step_djvu.txt

The really significant anecdote is often all that survives of a life; and such anecdotes must be made to tell properly, instead of being hidden away in a wilderness of the commonplace; they should be a focus of interest instead of a fallible extract for a book of miscellanies.

According to the above sentences, "Anecdotes should be a focus of interests instead of a fallible extract for a book of miscellanies."
I don't understand why a book of miscellany has falliable extract，and why anecdotes could become a fallible extract for a book of miscellanies. What's the meaning of the part in bold?


texts: What does 'laugh about how competitive we are' mean?

texts:
ONE-UPPING
My girlfriend and I often laugh about how competitive we are. But I laugh more.

Source:reddit.com

What is the point of the joke? Please explain it to me.


texts:
I looked in the Cambridge Dictionary and mess is an uncountable.
I wonder why mess is used with 'a'?

  He makes a terrible mess when he's cooking.

  I look a mess


texts:
For example if I would like to say that something will happen in the near future such as in this sentence:

"I am about to leave"
will it mean the same as "I am to leave soon" or "I am to leave?"
It is unclear, because I have read that the construction of "is to do" or "is to be done" can be used to convey something happening in the near future which always is responsible by people in a way that it must have been planed by someone in order for such and such to happen as a plan for somebody else or something that is like an order.
Could it be that this construction is ambiguous?


texts: The proper way of asking this “would you mind...” question

texts:
I know this is not properly written:

  “Would you please mind a minute to answer my messages?”

Is this the correct way?

  “Would you mind taking a minute to answer my messages please?”

Or where should the “please” word go?


texts: "give full scope to" VS "give full play to"

texts:
we will be able to give full scope to the advantages of A, B and C and further strengthen their cooperation and enable the three to draw on each other's strength.
  we will be able to give full play to the advantages of A, B and C and further strengthen their cooperation and enable the three to draw on each other's strength.

A, B C refer to three provinces of China. Is it legimate to use the phases "give full scope to" and "give full play to" in the above sentences.

And is "give full scope to" have the same meaning as "give full play to"?


texts:
In the Coldplay song The Scientist, there are some idioms that I'd like to know the meaning of.

The first one is in the following stanza:

  I had to find you

  Tell you I need you

  Tell you I set you apart

What does the phrase "to set apart" mean in this case? My hypothesis is that the singer says he wants to find a special for the lady in his heart. Am I correct?

The second idiom is in the following stanza:

  Running in circles

  Coming up tails

  Heads on a science apart

I assume that "come up tails" usually means to definitively decide the way. But I can't put this phrase into the context of the song.

I always like to know the meaning of the songs so that I could remember the phrases every time I listen to them. Thanks.


texts: What does "I have got some time on my hands" mean?

texts:
My shift at work's kinda long, so I've got some time on my hands to, you know...whatever. Think, I guess.

What does "I have got some time on my hands" mean in the above quote?


texts: Is "be brought up sharp by..." a very tricky expression?

texts:
I found this sentence very tricky. It's under the entry of "sharp" in a dictionary:

  he was brought up sharp by Helen's voice

The related definition of "sharp" is:

  in a sudden or abrupt way

What is this sentence talking about? I at first decipher it as "He suddenly grew up in Helen's voice", which I myself found very weird. Then I consult the dictionary and find "bring sb.up" can mean "to rebuke sb“. I am still confused and not very sure about the meaning. Help me.


texts: Is "down to presentation" an idiom? And what does this line mean?

texts:
I just heard this line in a movie.

  "So much of fine cuisine's down to presentation, don't you think, son?"

Context is father talks to son at a dining table at breakfast, as the mother fills their plates. What does the father mean?

The script can be found here.


texts: what is the meaning of "kick the tires"?

texts:
DevStack is the quickest way to get started with OpenStack if you want to kick the tires.

I read a post here, but I don't know the meaning of kick the tires.

I use our country's translation tool, the result is not satisfied.


texts:
Which actors do you admire most?
  What actors do you admire most?

Which of the two sentences sounds more natural to native speakers?


texts:
Meaning of  Broadsheet

When the meaning of broadsheet already contains newspaper then why in the following sentence

 My focus is restricted to serious broadsheet newspapers alone.

the term broadsheet newspaper.  Isn't it redundant?


texts: "Stand up to your work" in an essay by Hilaire Belloc

texts:
This is a passage from "The Mowing of a Field" by Hilaire Belloc. In the essay, he describes in detail the right way to make hay.

  So great an art can only be learnt by continual practice; but this much is worth writing down, that, as in all good work, to know the thing with which you work is the core of the affair. Good verse is best written on good paper with an easy pen, not with a lump of coal on a whitewashed wall. The pen thinks for you; and so does the scythe mow for you if you treat it honorably and in a manner that makes it recognize its service. The manner is this. You must regard the scythe as a pendulum that swings, not as a knife that cuts. A good mower puts no more strength into his stroke than into his lifting. Again, stand up to your work. The bad mower, eager and full of pain, leans forward and tries to force the scythe through the grass. The good mower, serene and able, stands as nearly straight as the shape of the scythe will let him, and follows up every stroke closely, ...

The meaning of "stand up to (something/someone)" that I'm familiar with is to confront, to challenge, or to resist. But I don't know if that meaning fits well in the context.

And because I'm not sure about the meaning of the expression, I am also confused about the use of "again". I didn't think he said anything prior to this sentence that's relevant enough to emphasize that he's re-stating his point (by saying "Again,").


texts:
I want to make a word ‘eatable,’ but the problem is I cannot make ‘eatenable.’ Does it mean just ‘-able’ can cover from a passive form to an active form?
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/eatable
As you see the definition in the site, ‘eatable’ can mean ‘able to be eaten,’ but it’s an active voice. How does it mean ‘able to be eaten,’ not ‘able to eat something’?


texts: Is it possible to use "my" instead of "am I" in "Where am I going to put my belongings?"?

texts: Instead of "Where am I going to put my belongings?" is it possible to say "Where my going to put my belongings?"


texts: Your grandmother! - do British say that?

texts:
-- It were in February - second week in February.
-- February your grandmother!

This is from "1984". It's probably a realistic dialogue from the times when book was written, but do Brits still say it? Is there a specific group of the British (children, the youth, football players, angry people, Northern Englishmen, I don't know) who uses this expression?
If not, is there a modern equivalent? Are there any equivalents of this expression? I know in America teenagers say "your mum" (or rather "your mom"), but I'm interested in the British version.


texts: What is the meaning of highlighted part in the paragraph given down below?

texts: “But there is another group of observable phenomena, more subtle, that you can't study in fact, you can't even tell they're there at all unless you suspend or bracket your skepticism and try every way possible to perceive them.”


texts: "In order to provide (the) necessary and adequate protection for their employees" - is definite article necessary?

texts:
Employers should ensure the safety of their employees who are sent
  abroad on assignment. In order to provide (the) necessary and
  adequate protection for their employees, employers should provide
  executive buy-in.

In this instance, how would you decide to use it or not?


texts: what do the words "bargain mile image" and " quirkiest" and " shadiest" mean?

texts:
Harwin has many strip malls with discount shops and wholesale warehouses.
Allison Wollam said that the street has a "bargain mile"  image among Houstonians (Houston citizens).The Houston Press stated that Harwin was "Houston's shadiest  and quirkiest  shopping hot spot."

What do these superlatives refer to? could you paraphrase the meaning of them in simple English, please?
My last concern has to do with the expression bargain mile . what does it mean?
Thank you in advance.


texts:
From The Folded Leaf By William Maxwell

Mr. Peters was described:

  Time is probably no more unkind to sporting characters than it is to
  other people, but physical decay unsustained by respectability is
  somehow more noticeable.

Does the bold part here mean that he has not maintained respectable behavior or he has not gotten the respect from people?


texts:
I'm wondering what the name is for a piece of firewood which one half or piece is red hot burning and the other half is not and you can use the part that is not burning as handle to move it around or to hold it to light up cigarettes or to light up fireworks.

Can someone please tell me? This is a word I would like to add to my English vocabulary.

A little extra information: My native language is Spanish and I'm from El Salvador and here we call those things "tizon" but I can't find a translation for it since that particular word is Spanish slang and the real meaning of it is "smut" which is a disease for vegetables.

I would appreciate any help figuring this out.


texts: Why are different articles used before the same words?

texts:
Joad looked at him with drooped eyes, and then he laughed. "Why,
  you're the preacher. You're the preacher. I jus' passed a
  recollection about you to a guy not an hour ago." "I was a
  preacher," said the man seriously.  (John Steinbeck, The Grapes
  of Wrath)

There is the before preacher in the former sentence, but a in the latter. To what end are different articles used?


texts: How to refer to an entity composed of multiple persons (it or they)?

texts:
Suppose you have a team composed of several persons. If I want to designate this team without repeating "team", which word do I have to use ? "it" or "they" ?
In other words, which one of the following sentences is correct ?

The team decides whether it wants to work on this project or not.
The team decides whether they want to work on this project or not.

Maybe both are correct.

In the first one, "it" stands for one single entity but associates
the human sensation "I want to work on this project" whereas a team
is not a human.
In the second one, "they" implicitly stands for
the members of the team but I am not sure of the correctness of "The
team ... they ...".

I would very appreciate to have some feedback on those 2 formulations.


texts:
When Riley moves into her new room, Anger says

  "Get out the rubber ball, we're in solitary confinement"

referencing The Cooler King, who passes the time in solitary confinement by bouncing a ball against the wall.
What is the meaning of "Get out" here I thought it should imply on "leave here or go away" ???


texts: "This were all" or "all this were" a dream

texts:
Which is correct or more common:

  I wish

  this were all a dream
  this all were a dream
  all this were a dream


texts:
A year on from Arsenal's Villa humiliation there is, once more, only one Arsene Wenger.
A Year From Now You'll Wish You'd Started Today.

Is there any difference in meaning ? Are they interchangeable ?


texts: How to ask for the meaning of a word or phrase?

texts:
I'd like to ask about the meaning of something, but I'm confused between these two sentences:

  What is the meaning about "~~~~"?
  what does it mean "~~~"?

Can I use both expressions when I am asking for the meaning?


texts: Is it fine to use "who" for non-human "parent"?

texts:
I come across this question: In “h2, h3 a {}”, who is a's parent element?

So as "parent" here is not a human, is it fine to use "who" in here?


texts:
I've just read this sentence in a English vocabulary book:

  a) I'm very pleased you are going to visit next week

The context: This person is very pleased to receive the visit of a friend.

So, mustn't be added the object pronoun me?

  b) I'm very pleased you are going to visit me next week.

Or, is a) also valid?


texts:
To me, both the concepts "dirtiness" and "being dirty" mean exactly the same thing and I have always used them interchangeably; but I have my doubts now whether I can switch between them whenever I want or not. To make sure, please have a look on the following self-made sentences and let me know which choice suits better in which sentence and why:

  1- There was a very dirty fast food restaurant last year. Once, an undercover officer of Ministry of Health went there and asked them for a sandwich; when they were preparing the food for the officer in their quite unhygienic place, he entered their kitchen and caught them red-handed and that day the ministry closed their restaurant. You know! The ministry is obliged to do that! Aside from the fact that normally nobody likes....................... such things are detrimental for people. [the surrounding environment]

a) dirtiness
b) to be dirty

  2- He rarely takes a bath! Sometimes even I think he likes......................(said as a joke) [personal  hygiene]

a) dirtiness
b) to be dirty

  3- He never minds whether his house is neat or not, everything is tidy or not. Also, he hardly takes a bath! I think he enjoys........................ [both personal hygiene and the surrounding environment]

a) dirtiness
b) to be dirty


texts: I heard "Kick your ass on the road" in a movie. The context is that there were two people in a truck. One guy said it to the driver. From the context, I guess it probably means he had asked the driver to start off. I can't find it on the web. So, I want to ask if "Kick your ass on the road" is a common phrase? If so, what does it mean?


texts: "it's not always so easy to get a thought out"

texts:
From WIkipedia

  The actor Cary Grant said of Stewart's acting technique, "He had the
  ability to talk naturally. He knew that in conversations people do
  often interrupt one another and it's not always so easy to get a
  thought out. It took a little time for the sound men to get used to
  him, but he had an enormous impact. And then, some years later, Marlon
  came out and did the same thing all over again—but what people forget
  is that Jimmy did it first."

What does "get a thought out" mean?

Is it and how is it related to

his ability to talk naturally,
that in conversations people do often interrupt one another, and
it took a litle time for the sound men to get used to him? (what is "sound men"?)

Thanks!

Btw, I am interested in learning acting skills about talking, body language, etc. If you have good materials to learn about, feel free to let me know.
Thanks.


texts: More confusion about by/until - starting a question

texts:
How should I write the following sentence like a native does:

  By what time did you stay up for work last night?   Until what time did you stay up for work last night?

I think both of them are incorrect.

Please note that this question has nothing to do with my previous threads. I am asking about the structure of until/by + "what time" at the beginning of the sentence.


texts: Is it correct to say "Is this test of any use to me ?"

texts: I am inquiring about a test called HAT. Since I have no information about the test, therefore, I am sending an email to the organization conducting this test. So, can I write "Is this test of any use to me?". I want to ask whether I can use the result of this test for scholarships and/or admission.


texts:
Member of the Polaris Scientific student circle.
Member of Polaris Scientific student circle.

First, is there any difference b/w the use of "member of" and "member of the"?

Second, if I'm not using a name, saying for example "electronics" instead of "Polaris", how does this affect the use of the article?


texts: What does penetration mean in this context?

texts:
Washington mind was great and powerful, without being of the very
  first order; his penetration strong, though not so acute as that of a
  Newton, Bacon, or Locke; and as far as he saw, no judgement was ever
  sounder. It was slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion. Hence the common remark of his officers, of the advantage he derived from councils of war, where hearing all suggestions, he selected whateever was best; and certainly no general ever planned his battle more judiciously.

These three bolded parts perplexed me, I can't imagine the figurative meaning. Could anyone help me to understan these three parts.


texts: What's the difference between "when" and "while" in this context?

texts:
What's the difference between "when" and "while" in the following context?

Examples:

In present progressive tense:

  I'm writing when I'm eating now.

  I'm writing while I'm eating now.

In present simple tense:

  I write when I eat.

  I write while I eat.


texts:
Source -With May’s Government Teetering, Trump Gives It a Shove

  President Trump put his brand of confrontational and disruptive
  diplomacy on full display Thursday, unsettling NATO allies with a
  blustering performance in Brussels and then, in a remarkable breach of
  protocol, publicly undercutting Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain
  in an interview published hours after landing in her country.

I looked it up out 2 means:

to sell goods or a service at a lower price than another company
to make something weaker or less effective

I think here "undercut" is an extended meaning.


texts:
In a conversation, a man said, "my parents got me a bad guitar 'cause they did not think I was gonna stick with it."

I am a little confused about why that sentence is correct, because if I were to say the same thing I would have said, "my parents got me a bad guitar 'cause they thought I was not gonna stick with it."

Please tell which one of the sentences sounds more correct and native, or if there is any other way of saying the same thing.


texts: Why are the pronunciations of 'bicycle' and 'recycle' so different?

texts:
It is obvious that both 'recycle' and 'bicycle' have a common element 'cycle'. 'Cycle' on its own is pronounced with a long 'I' sound /aɪ/. 'Cycle' in 'recycle' is pronounced how 'cycle' is normally pronounced. That is, with a long I /aɪ/. But the 'cycle' in 'bicycle' is pronounced with a short 'I' sound /ɪ/ (like kit, hit, sit). In phonetic notation:

Recycle → /riːˈsʌɪk(ə)l/
Bicycle → /ˈbʌɪsɪk(ə)l/

Why does this happen? Can someone give some information?


texts:
Considering the phrase

  "to deepen offence"

I mean to say "to increase offence". Is that correct? Can I use it in a sentence?
For example:

  "This situation may even deepen his offence."


texts:
We learn in English grammar class to use 'a' before words starting with consonants and 'an' before words starting with vowels.

Since for the word 'user' which starts with a vowel, are we supposed to use 'an' or 'a'.

'A user' feels more meaningful than 'an user'.
Which is the correct usage?


texts:
While we need to know a relations between two people, we usually say:

  What is the relation between X and Y?

Can we also say this in the following way?

  What is X to Y in relation?

  By relation what is X to Y?

  What relation is of X to Y?

Why these three occurred to me is because we may say [in affirmative sentence]:

  X is brother to Y.


texts: What's the verb for swinging the skipping rope so that people can skip over it? For example: "They were ___ the skipping rope so that their sisters could skip over it." I am not sure, but swinging is too general, because it doesn't imply a rotating motion.


texts:
What must google do to keep the competitors AT BAY?

I know a prepositional phrase can act as  an adverb by modifying the finite verb in the sentence, or act as an adjective by modifying the noun/pronoun just before it. My question is about how I know prepositional phrases used are modifying verb or noun/pronoun before it. I'm confused that In the sentence above, Whether "AT BAY" modify the verb DO or noun The COMPETITORS. For example, I like the books on the table. Here *on the table * have modified the table not like. how could I be able to know it is acting as an adjective or an advern. Thank you.


texts: Is there a usage like "feel done" in English?

texts:
I saw a sentence like:

  "Have you ever felt done by blablablah?"

What does it mean?


texts:
Does "and hundreds like them" refer to "and hundreds of questions like these questions of this sort"?

Is there anything else that we can infer about him on the basis of his behavior? Was he popular in school Was he rich or was he poor? Was he of low or high intelligence? His actions leave no clue at all. Did he have a college education? Did he have a bright future as a mechanical engineer? His behavior is simply mute on questions of this sort, and hundreds like them.

Source: The End of Faith by Sam Harris page 12


texts: This case falls into usage, not grammar?

texts:
punch1 /pʌntʃ/ ●●● S3 verb [transitive]
1 HIT to hit someone or something hard with your fist
If I don't hit someone on my fist but I hit someone far from my fist with the other means (for example, with a gun), isn't it against grammar but is it just against usage?
I quoted the definition to restrict the meaning of 'punch.'


texts:
I watch the Friends show and there Rachel says the following phrase: 'I was kinda hoping that wouldn't be an issue.' She says it right after Monica says that Rachel didn't invite her to the wedding. I have several questions about this phrase:

In the sentence hoping is a verb, isn't it? So it's the past continues tense, right? If yes is it normal way to use 'kind of' with verbs?
If the first is true, so does it mean that Rachel before the wedding thought about Monica and decided not to invite her to the wedding, because it's not a big problem?


texts:
An ELL post uses a term "past infinitive"

  If the speaker uses the past infinitive here (to have started) they are setting the temporal focus later than the time the lesson should have started.

I am aware of the concept of past simple, present perfect, etc. I am also aware of the concept of infinitive.

I understand that the "past infinitive" refer to "to have started" in the original discussion. I just did't know the term before, and I googled it. top results link to something like French grammar.

Is "past infinitive" a canonical name in English grammar?


texts: Why can we say "Enough money to do something" but not "a ready machine to do something"?

texts:
We can say:

  I have enough money to go to Italy.

Which means:

  I have money which is enough to go to Italy

But why does the following sentence not work?

  I have a ready machine to run for 10 hours.

Why is it not the same as:

  I have a machine which is ready to run for 10 hours.


texts:
At the end of the movie Rise of the Guardians the guardians say to Jack Frost:

  Then is time you take the Oath.

I have two questions concerning this sentence.

The first one is if then is time is identical to it is time.
And the second is if the verb take is present simple or present subjunctive.
What would be the verb if the subject were he, I.e. Take or takes?


texts: What does the line We have to get this release out the door means. Did that mean to complete a task by EOD?


texts:
I have a question about some sentence in this Economist article:

  Reserve prison for the worst offenders. Divert the less scary ones to drug treatment, community service and other penalties that do not mean severing ties with work, family and normality. A good place to start would be with most of the 2.6m prisoners in the world...who are still awaiting trial.

How would the bold part be different if the "with" after "would be" is dropped:

  A good place to start would be most of the 2.6m prisoners in the world...who are still awaiting trial.


texts: What is the difference between "have" and "have got"?

texts:
I am confused between the following sentences:

I have a pen. and
I have got a pen.

What is the difference between them?


texts:
Work starts to pile up when approaching a year's end.
Is this correct usage?

When something always happens towards the end of the year.


texts:
I see an alignment issue in one of the Stack Exchange site, I want to report the same in the Meta Stack Exchange. When compose the content for the issue in the end, I'm writing the content below:

  Is it for any purpose or is it a bug?

The repeating of is it is fine, or can I use any better sentence?


texts: The meaning of "to make it on their own so young"

texts:
What is the meaning of the bolded expression in the following sentences?

  Professor: Now when they emerge in the spring from hibernation,
  the mating process begins. For them, well, they come together to mate
  and then they go their separate ways. Then about six to eight weeks
  after birth, the offspring leave their mothers. Student: Really? Just
  six weeks? Is that possible for the offspring to make it on their own
  so young?


texts:
Is it correct to say "understood question" as well as "understandable question"?

Someone wrote me it and I'm not sure if it is mistake or another variant.

The context is: " It is an understood sentence."


texts: Correct preposition in "unfit for/to this post"

texts:
You are unfit for this post.
You are unfit to this post.

Which sentence is correct? It would be helpful if someone explained where to use "for" and where to use "to".


texts:
I was reading an article on the sepoy mutiny in India which says,"In Britain and in the West, it was almost always portrayed as a series of unreasonable and bloodthirsty uprisings spurred by falsehoods about religious insensitivity."
The author of the article is an English, by "religious insensitivity" does he mean that the mutiny was against Christians?


texts:
When I search Google, "where did you get the black eye?" is almost as common as "how did you get the black eye?"
Is the question with "where" natural to you? And if yes, why?


texts:
There is the brother and the sister

vs

  There are the brother and the sister

If they were brothers and sisters would it be is or are?


texts:
I have to go to sleep because I have a class [-----] at 7:30 A.M.

In the above sentence, which of the following fits correctly in the blank, and why?

begin
begins
is beginning
began


texts: meanings of "A of B who" (without comma) and "A of B, who" (with comma)

texts:
Q1. If someone says "Bob is a father of a singer who is tall.", can it mean both of the following?

Bob is a tall father of a singer.
Bob is a father of a tall singer.

Q2. If someone says "As a father of a singer, who is tall, Bob is ....", can it imply both of the two suggested interpretations above?

Aside from these two main questions, a related side question of mine is, is there a word for expressions of the form "A of B"? I don't know what to put in search engines when I have questions about such expressions.


texts: Grammatical mismatch in wordplay-based joke

texts:
In the following joke:

  How do you hire a horse?

  Stand it on four bricks.

The humor seems to come from the homophones hire and higher. Is that so? Because this is grammatically incorrect (to higher is not a verb, so how do you higher a horse has no grammatical meaning), and usually jokes using this kind of wordplay at least respect a syntactically valid structure.

Is this just a bad joke that does not respect the grammatical structure of the phrase, or is there another meaning? Looking at the collection of jokes at the end of the this page (which includes the horse joke) they all seem to respect grammaticality. I was not able to find a "joke explainer" site with the exact details of how a native English speaker is supposed to understand it.

(The reason I am asking is because this kind of joke has some educational value, e.g. at the end of a course when students are tired; such jokes may help introducing some extra vocabulary, or with memorizing phonetic rules. But if the joke is ungrammatical, this may actually confuse the students.)


texts:
https://ell.stackexchange.com/a/248902/115654 says

  As you say yourself, the first example is using present tense. Not a very common construct, but perfectly valid - the 'narrator' is basically doing a 'flashback' to the actual events.

"As you say yourself" seems to be a common expression, as Ngram Viewer shows About 9,770 results.

However, I can't find its definition or meaning, could someone help?


texts:
In the novel, when narrator tells about his support group visits and the character Bob he met there. He says that Bob told him that he had a gym and appeared on t.v for chest expansion programme.Then he says and I quote:

  "Strangers with this kind of honesty makes me go a big rubbery one, if  you know what mean."

I honestly don't know what he means by that, "rubbery one". TIA


texts: Dr. Who says, "be my pal...". What does this mean in this context?

texts:
In a teaser for the new series of Doctor Who the Doctor asks Clara :

  Clara, be my pal and tell me... am I a good man ?

My problem is that in French it simply doesn't have any other sense than the fact that he wants Clara to be his friend, which doesn't make that much sense in this sentence.
So what does "be my pal" mean in this context? Is it an idiom ?


texts: “Which is to” or “What to” - which one is more accurate?

texts:
Between the two sentences, which one is more accurate and why?

Grammarly vs Prowritingaid – Which is to Choose?
Grammarly vs Prowritingaid – What to Choose?


texts:
What's the difference between

  I have been playing tennis for five years.
  and
  I have played tennis for five years.

Are they grammatically correct? If yes, how are they different in meaning/nuance?


texts: Does "the other side of the receipt" sound natural in American English

texts:
Kindly, look at the other side of the receipt. You will find a link
  through which you can rate our service.

The aim of this sentence is to make a customer pay attention to the link because it is written on the other side of the receipt. Is the sentence correct, polite, and expressing the required meaning?

Is the expression "The other side" accurate? I mean what do you call the golden side of the shown picture? Is it called back, back-side, flip the paper, or something else?


texts: Complicated sentences in past perfect regarding hypothetical situations with reflection on the past?

texts:
Would have had to have been doing, e.g.:

  For him to have become a threat in the teachers eyes, he would have had to have been exhibiting severely bad behavior all the time.

Would have had to be doing, e.g.:

  If I hadn't finished my work at school, I would have had to be doing it at home, whilst everyone else could have been doing something fun.

Are these grammatically correct despite being so clumsy?
Keeping in mind that in both sentences there should be maintained a sense of progression. So it is an ongoing action.


texts: Is it grammatically correct and natural to say 'This dress IS amazing on you'?

texts:
I know we can say "This dress looks amazing on you." but can we also say "This dress is amazing on you"?

I have always come across the verb 'to look' in reference to clothes. I wonder whether one can use the verb 'to be' here and sound natural and correct.


texts: Using intransitive verbs with passive voice

texts:
I saw the definiton of apply on cambridge dictionary and I saw two example sentences under more exapmles section of the second definition that defines the verb as intransitive:

  apply (definition) [I]: (especially of rules or laws) to have a connection or be important  (example 1) The legislation must be applied irrespective of someone's ethnic origins. (example 2) It is intended that these guidelines should be applied flexibly and pragmatically.

I am a bit confused with the examples. Can we use intransitive verbs as passive?


texts: How can I address a teacher when I don't know his or her name? Can I say "excuse me sir" or "excuse me teacher"?


texts:
Example:

  DOUG (DAGI) YUDOVICH is the Director of Business Information Applications for UW
  Physicians in Seattle. The department’s primary responsibilities range from developing
  enterprise-level Web-based reports and OLAP objects to developing database
  applications in support of various business needs for managing data. The applications
  vary in scope, from stop-gap applications, to bolt on tools, to mission critical–level
  applications that support up to 250 users.

What does that exactly mean?


texts:
I've stumbled upon Ray Bradbury's odd way of using prepositions in his book "Death is a lonely business".

  Cal, of course, had done that awful job. So I had several reasons to
  go visit. Cal, the worst barber in Venice, maybe the world, but cheap,
  called across the tidal waves of fog, waiting with his dull scissors,
  brandishing his Bumblebee Electric clippers that shocked and stunned
  poor writers and innocent customers who wandered in.
  Cal, I thought. Snip away the darkness.
  Short in front. So I can see.
  Short on the sides. So I can hear.
  Short in back. So I can feel things creeping up on me.

The way he asks the barber to cut his hair "short in front" and "short in back" maybe me really wonder if it is correct.

I'm used to "short at the front" and "short at the back".

Can someone explain this to me?


texts:
Can I write like this:

  The same article, talking about the engines made by the manufacturer Glenn Hammond Curtis, reads:
  "They are one of the most practical air-cooled motors built in this country."


texts: Is this constuction common/usual? present perfect + until + present simple

texts:
I have not noticed this construct until now. All what I was taught in ELL books was related to the moment now but not as a verb in the simple present form.

I understand that "until" seems to be used as follows:

present perfect + until + present simple

I have given some examples of this below. My questions are:

is my understanding of this construction correct?
is this a common construction? Does it apply to other words besides "until"?

  In recent years, Metro officials have been conservative in improving
  bus services. For example, before scheduling evening bus runs, they
  have waited until demand surges for the latest bus on that route.

Title: Ambitious Metro plan seeks to ride new wave; Project targets once and future passengers. Author: JAMES ROBINSON; Staff. Source: Houston Chronicle

  Influenced by Iris Murdoch's claim that choices are what you do when
  everything else has been lost, I became increasingly convinced that
  what we do is not what destroys us. Rather, our fate rests on how we
  describe what we do. Indeed, we do not know what we have done
  until we get the descriptions right.

Title: Learning from others. Author: Stanley Hauerwas. Source: Christian Century

  Film, meanwhile, is single-use. You make a permanent image on the film
  once you expose it. If you want to take more pictures, you carry more
  film. And you don't know for sure what you have shot until after
  the film is processed. With digital cameras, images can be
  displayed on a tiny screen. Don't like one? Erase it and shoot again.

Title: Picture perfect. Author: Jay Dickman. Source: Boys Life


texts: change the word order in "confer a degree on him"

texts:
When I looked up the word "confer" I found these example sentences:

"The university conferred a degree on him"
"A degree was conferred on him by the University"

What if I need to say about "him" first? I couldn't find if the following is correct:

"He was conferred with a degree by the university"

Is it correct? If not, what verb should I use to keep the sense and the order of the words in the sentence above?


texts: What's the name of the place where you can exchange waste material for money?

texts: What's the name of the place where you can get money for every kilo of iron, copper or aluminum you bring in? Collecting yard?


texts: Use of "As" to mean 'considered to be or thought to be'

texts:
I have read in http://www.dictionary.com/browse/as?s=t

'As' can be used to mean "thought to be or considered to be"

  the square as distinct from the rectangle; the
  church as separate from the state.

I don't understand how as has been used to mean Thought to be or considered to be in above sentence.
 Could you please make it clear to me?


texts: AS IT IS and AS IS (AS as a conjunction and a pronoun)

texts:
Looking at the idiom "as is", I see that it's used for damaged goods on sale, but Collin's examples are not used in this manner.

  It's a way of shaping the new year according to our will, as is the    practice of making predictions. Wired (2004)
  Detectives are investigating the man's death, as is standard. Seattle    Times (2004)
  The researchers gave baboons and monkeys the same amount of the drug as is often taken at all-night rave parties. Chicago Sun-Times
  (2002)

So.. when it's 'as it is' (OK. It was my bad assumption.) you omit the 'it'? For example,

  We were hoping to finish it by next week—as it is, it may be the week
  after. (Oxford Learner's Dictionary)

Can I omit the 'it' and say "…as is, it may be the week after"?

As suggested:

Collin's definition for 'as is': (US)(informal) just as it is; without any changes (said of damaged goods being sold) [the source]

But Wikipedia says it's a legal term. [the source]

Oxford Learner's Dictionary talks about 'as it is': "considering the present situation; as things are". [the source]


texts:
I would have to believe that the only logical way for my life to
  go after the riots in 2001 was to dream-up a non-profit called
  InkTank, to encourage anybody who ever wanted to set things on fire to
  write down the deepest, most hidden part of their hearts. (Kathy
  Holwadel)

Is would have to the back-shifted form of will have to, or the non-past modal remoteness?


texts: "expand operations" VS "expand business"

texts:
The company is preparing to expand operations.
  The company is preparing to expand business.

In my translated dictionary, operation and buiness overlap in certain meanings. I want to know whether they are identical and exchangable.


texts: make money substantially, considerably or gainfully

texts:
I am going to make up a sentence.

  With a great business mind and excellent financial skills, Mary makes a lot of money every year.

Does it make sense to use an adverb to mean "a lot of" as in my revised sentence below?

  With a great business mind and excellent financial skills, Mary makes money substantially (or considerably or gainfully) every year.

Please give me your feedback.


texts: What does "I wanna be who I couldn't say I'd ever been" mean?

texts:
I was asked to translate a song. I tried to understand the lyrics but I couldn't seem to get it right. The lines are:

(Say Amen, Panic at the Disco)

  And every morning when I wake up
  I wanna be who I couldn't say I'd ever been

Context (lines that follow):

  (But it's so much more than I ever was
  If every night I go to sleep knowing
  That I gave everything that I had to give
  Then it's all I could've asked for)

Do the two lines mean that he wants to be a better person but can't say he has ever been (in the past)?

I am trying to translate it to German!


texts:
This book reads very well.

The usage of the verb read is unusual. Because it doesn't say here that the book reads something, but someone reads the book. Can you give me a hint what is this grammar point called?
Can I say these?

This story tells very well.
This wine drinks smoothly.
This show watches well.


texts: Asked that he be careful vs. Ask him to be careful

texts:
I understand that the sentence

  I asked him to be careful.

is indirect speech and

  I asked that he be careful.

is subjunctive. What I don't understand is if there is any differences between them in meaning. When I say either of these sentences what comes to a native speaker's mind.

Are there any differences in meaning? Can I use each interchangeably? When does a native speaker tend to use either of these sentences?


texts: What is a difference between "speed up" and "speed on"

texts:
In a book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" there is a expression "The boat sped on."

Is this expression is exactly same as "The boat sped up."?

I couldn't find definition for "speed on" by googling.


texts:
I don't know how to use "none" as a pronoun. For example :

  "I drank all the coffee. There are none left."

Why "none" here is a pronoun? What noun did it replace?


texts:
By which vehicle is it more safety to travel , a plane or a train ?

  Which vehicle is more safety to travel , a plane or a train ?

Does “it” change the meaning in the sentence below? Or Is there a little difference ? I really couldn’t understand .


texts: Can we combine Future Continuous with Present Simple into grammatically correct sentence?

texts:
While learning English grammar I noticed that we can combine Past Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect and Past Continuous tenses with following actions (also in past) described in Past Simple.
e.g.: “We were swimming when it started to rain”
Similarly we can combine Future Perfect Continuous and Future Perfect with Present Simple.
e.g.: "How long will John have been working at the company by the time he retires?"
Does this rule apply also to Future Continuous and we can create grammatically correct sentence with Future Continuous + Present Simple? If so, could you please give some example?


texts:
"But this small gravitative power of the moon would prevent its retaining on its surface any of the gases forming our atmosphere, which would all escape from it and probably be recaptured by the earth. By no process of external aggregation of solid matter to such a relatively small amount as that forming the moon, even if the aggregation was so violent as to produce heat enough to cause liquefaction, could any such long-continued volcanic action arise by gradual cooling, in the absence of internal gases. There might be fissures, and even some outflows of molten rock; but without imprisoned gases, and especially without water and water-vapour producing explosive outbursts, could any such amount of scoriae and ashes be produced as were necessary for the building up of the vast volcanic cones, craters, and craterlets we see upon the moon's surface."
  From Is Mars Habitable? by ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE F.R.S., ETC.

I am not a science expert at all, so I don't think myself fully understand the content of the excerpt above. But I cannot bring myself out of doubt that the highlighted part is positive sentence, considering the preceding sentence which is in negation. So the cluase in the highlighted part should be also negative, I guess. What I mean is not based on syntax, but semantics. What I undertand as follows: Volcanic activity cannot occur without internal gases(imprisoned gases), and no matter how  powerful external aggregation is, it cannot make volcanoes on the moon. Please help me.


texts: Should I use "with" or "from" in the following sentence?

texts:
“I might be light, but I’m strong. Thanks to the exercise I get with/from
  my weight vests.”

What's the correct option and why?


texts: Could "siblings-in-law" word or "relatives up to the second degree" sentence also means my wife's grandmother?

texts:
Could "siblings-in-law" word or "relatives up to the second degree" sentence in the following sentence also mean my wife's grandmother?

  Relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity and siblings-in-law.


texts: Is it natural to say "xxx sports contain a, b, ..."

texts:
According to Cambridge Dictionary, "include" means

to contain something as a part of something else, or to make something part of something else

while "contain" means

to have something inside or include something as a part

According to an ELL post

The distinction between 'includes' and 'contains' is a bit more subtle. 'Contains' is used when there is something else that is doing the containing. The box is a container, and contains the hats. You would not, generally, say that the box includes the hats. Inside the box is a set of objects, and that set (which 'contents' refers to) includes (and consists of) the hats.

From Wikipedia

Common combat sports include mixed martial arts, boxing ...

Is it still natural if I substitute "contain" for "include"?

Common combat sports contain mixed martial arts, boxing ...


texts: the particular term from the area of social security

texts: In our country, there is an institute within the social system that forces the unemployed persons to work about 20 hours in a month in order to get social benefits. It is a work as sweeping up the streets and so on. Is there in English a particular term for this work. The literal translation from our language is Public Service but it means something different.


texts:
Which sentences are correct please ?

"I'd had my camera for 3 weeks before I sold it yesterday."

"I had my camera for 3 weeks before I sold it yesterday."

"I had my camera for 3 weeks when I sold it yesterday."

"I had my camera for 3 weeks. Yesterday I sold it."

I think 1,2 and 4 are correct


texts: Is it correct to use the word "videos" as plural of "video"?

texts:
I.e. in the sentence:

  I'm searching for gardening related videos.

or:

  You may download the two videos at this link...

Thanks.


texts:
Stack Exchange is testing new close reason banners and say:

  Closed. This question is opinion-based. It is not currently accepting answers.

I do not speak English natively but this sounds strange in my ears. Would it not be better to say:

  Closed. This question is opinion-based. It is currently not accepting answers.

or even

  Closed. This question is opinion-based. Currently it is not accepting answers.

Putting currently on either side of not does not feel right.


texts: What does something is a security mean here?

texts:
Can somebody explain the phrase in bold for me, please?
Does it mean In terms of security?
Regulation. Last week, new Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler suggested that the agency may be gearing up for a long-awaited crypto crackdown, telling CNBC: “To the extent that something is a security, the SEC has a lot of authority, and a lot of crypto tokens—I won’t call them ‘cryptocurrencies’ for this moment—are indeed securities.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/05/10/ethereum-dogecoin-cardano-cryptocurrencies-propelling-the-market-to-25-trillion/


texts:
Sentence 1： I was told my work was unsatisfactory, at which point I submitted my resignation.

Sentence 2：Sometimes you may feel too frail to cope with things, in which case do them as soon as it is convenient.

I am confused with "which" in the above two sentences. Does it serve relative determiner, rather than relative pronoun?
Does "which point" in the first sentence stand for "I was told my work was unsatisfactory"?Does "which case" in the second sentence stand for "sometimes you may feel too frail to cope with things"?

Thank you in advance!


texts: "be in love" vs. "fall in love" in a perfect construction

texts:
Which one is correct grammatically?

  I've been in love with you ever since I saw you
  I've fallen in love with you ever since I saw you


texts: Meaning of "productivity hacker's wet dream"

texts:
In the following sentence, I don't understand the meaning of the second part (productivity hacker's wet dream):

  Depending on your perspective, the philosopher Immanuel Kant was either the most boring person who ever lived or a productivity hacker's wet dream.  For over 40 years, he woke up every morning at 5:00 AM and wrote for exactly three hours. [...] From blog article

Thank you.


texts: Contrasting ‘for a shade’ and ‘to a shade’ in DIckens

texts:
‘How now!’ said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. `What do you want with me?’
   ‘Much!’ -- Marley’s voice, no doubt about it.
   ‘Who are you?’
   ‘Ask me who I was.’
   ‘Who were you then?’ said Scrooge, raising his voice. ‘You’re particular, for a shade.’ He was going to say ‘to a shade,’ but substituted this, as more appropriate.

What is the difference between for a shade and to a shade? I believe shade means ghost.


texts: How to refer to a young woman without insulting her

texts:
Another question brought up something that I have long wondered about.

How do you refer to a young woman, probably unmarried, and around eighteen to twenty-five years old?

I do not want to insult her by calling her "girl", but "woman" sounds too old to me -- like I should use that for women over thirty, married, with kids in tow, with a career.

I have a tendency to prefer "gal" in those situations, but I am not sure that is right and it sounds too informal for some settings.

For additional points: am I showing a gender bias? I think I would mostly refer to male friends of that age as "the guy over there" instead of "the man over there". I think that I reserve "man" for someone past similar milestones in life: over thirty, married, with kids, in a career.


texts: What does "reproved" mean in this context?

texts:
And unto Sa'rah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a
  thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the
  eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was
  reproved. (Genesis 20:16)

Webster:

  2 : to express disapproval of (as conduct, actions, or beliefs) : indicate disapprobation of especially by contrast or implication : CENSURE, CONDEMN *it is not for me to reprove popular taste— D.W.Brogan

  3 obsolete   : to prove (as an idea or statement) to be false or erroneous : DISPROVE, REFUTE *reprove my allegation, if you can— Shakespeare

  4 obsolete   : CONVINCE, CONVICT will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness— Jn 16:8 (Authorized Version) intransitive verb   : to express rebuke or reproof came ...to to reprove and exhort— Mary E. Braddon

Was she proved as a guilty or a righteous?


texts: Is there any difference between "ability or not to be counted" and "ability to be counted or not"?

texts:
many nouns that can be made plural are obviously able to be counted, and many that cannot be plural are obviously unable to be counted. The problem, however, is that there are also many nouns whose ability or not to be counted is unclear.

is there any semantic difference between saying "ability or not to be counted" and "ability to be counted or not"?


texts: Why "Windows market share", not "Windows use share"?

texts: When reporting on operating systems market share, the news sites refer to "Windows market share", even though it is evident they discuss the installed base of the operating systems, even old versions that are not sold any more. Why they do not say "Windows use/usage share" as we do in Russian?


texts: Can you clear my confusion between "very" and "much"?

texts:
My English book, Dr P Prasad's "Communication Skills" says:

  Incorrect: It is very much surprising.
  Correct: It is very surprising.
  Incorrect: He was very surprised by the news.
  Correct: He was much surprised by the news.

Can you tell why the correct ones are correct and incorrect ones incorrect?


texts: What "otherwise " means in this context?

texts:
It can be helpful to read your own essay aloud to hear how it sounds, and it can sometimes be even more beneficial to hear someone else read it.  Either reading will help you to hear things that you otherwise might not notice when editing silently.  If you feel uncomfortable having someone read to you, however, or if you simply don’t have someone you can ask to do it,you can have your computer read your essay to you.

How the word 'otherwise' can be restated?
In this context,  [otherwise= if you do not read aloud or had someone else read] ,right?

Confusing matter to me..


texts:
Another product of the eighteenth century was the invention of "English grammar". As English came to replace Latin as the language of scholarship, it was felt that one should also be able to control and dissect it, parse and analyze it, as one could Latin. What happened in practice was that grammatical description that applied to Latin was removed and superimposed on English. This was silly, because English is an entirely different kind of language, with its own forms and signals and ways of producing meaning. Nevertheless, English grammars on the Latin model were worked out and taught in the schools. In many schools they are still being taught.

This is an excerpt from A Brief History of English, written by Professor Paul Roberts. I am curious about the Latin grammar, and what is the situation now about its use in English.

In China, students think it’s normal to learn English grammar, and use the grammar to analyze the components of long sentence. So my questions are

What is the Latin grammar? More precisely, what does Latin grammar in English learning look like? Is it same as the grammar in our school teaching now in China?
How do American students study English? Do they learn English grammar? If not, what do they learn?