texts: Sentence construction with however and nevertheless

texts:
Psychostimulant medication, such as methylphenidate, is a first-line
  pharmacological treatment for children with attention deficit
  hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and its short-term efficacy is well
  established (1). However, the long-term benefits of
  methylphenidate use remain unclear (2); current treatment
  guidelines for ADHD state that there is only evidence for
  effectiveness of up to 2 years of treatment with methylphenidate and
  recommend that the need for continued treatment be reviewed
  annually (3). Nevertheless, 60% of children who start stimulant
  treatment continue to use it beyond 2 years(4) . (from American
  Journal of Psychiatry)

I have enumerated the marked parts as 1,2,3 and 4.

So I was reading an article and something bothered me. I don't see any contrast between 2 and 3 even though they are in the same sentence with "however". As far as I understand, there is contrast between 1 and 2 as well as 3 and 4. I don't get it why the writers used 2 and 3 in the same sentence with a semicolon between them? If I were to rephrase it, I would choose among the versions below:

  1- Psychostimulant medication, such as methylphenidate, is a
  first-line pharmacological treatment for children with attention
  deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and its short-term efficacy is
  well established; however, the long-term benefits of methylphenidate
  use remain unclear. Current treatment guidelines for ADHD state that
  there is only evidence for effectiveness of up to 2 years of treatment
  with methylphenidate and recommend that the need for continued
  treatment be reviewed annually; nevertheless, 60% of children who
  start stimulant treatment continue to use it beyond 2 years.

  2- Psychostimulant medication, such as methylphenidate, is a
  first-line pharmacological treatment for children with attention
  deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and its short-term efficacy is
  well established; however, the long-term benefits of methylphenidate
  use remain unclear. Current treatment guidelines for ADHD state that
  there is only evidence for effectiveness of up to 2 years of treatment
  with methylphenidate and recommend that the need for continued
  treatment be reviewed annually. Nevertheless, 60% of children who
  start stimulant treatment continue to use it beyond 2 years.


texts: About “them” in “Well, Alibaba had them forty thieves”

texts:
A song in Aladdin, “A Friend Like Me” starts with this line:

  Well, Alibaba had them forty thieves

In this line, does the word “them” function as an apposition?
Does the “them” indicates the thieves in the animation at that time? (I mean the thieves Genie make appear as he sings)


texts:
In front of him opens a magnificent view on mountains.

Is such a subject-dependent inversion possible? Or should I use

there opens a magnificent view on mountains in front of him?


texts: proper parts of speech and analysis of structure

texts:
Find the wrong one(S)

  I saw injustice happen.
  I saw injustice happening.
  I saw injustice happened.

This is from a grammar competition. Now from my little knowledge. I can only break it down as, I - subject, saw- verb, injustice-object. I am not sure about which parts of speech the word 'happen' is used in different sentences. My guess is in 2 it is a participle but I have no solid basis of saying it. It's just have +ing form and to me, it looks like it is qualifying the obj - injustice in a sense. Hence, participle. But again, I may be wrong about my analysis. I have no idea about the other sentences.


texts: Regarding a certain definition of the verb "lock up"

texts:
The Wiktionary defines the verb lock up in the second entry as:

  to invest in something long term.

Does it mean:

  to invest in something that will become apparent later.

or:

  to invest in something that will stand for a long term.

?


texts: Sea creatures (not fish) that have the suffix 'fish'?

texts:
I think of two sea creatures of which their names end with the suffix 'fish': Cuttlefish, shell-fish, although by definition they aren't real fish.
Are there more names of sea creatures (which aren't real fish) that have the suffix 'fish'?


texts: Correct preposition to use in "To enter letters with/in lowercase"

texts:
Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

  To enter letters in lowercase.

OR

  To enter letters with lowercase.


texts:
I ran into an unfamiliar phrase in a news article

They have also faced increased scrutiny over their power, including "calls for them to do" more to combat misinformation and abuse.

I know "call on sb to do sth" means "to ask someone in a formal way to do something".
Does this have a same meaning?


texts: Best actor, it is best to go there early..why “the” is omitted?

texts:
In many sentences I cannot find a reason why the definite article is omitted in superlatives, eg.:

It's best to get to the supermarket early.

He won the award for best actor, and deservedly so.

In thr first I guess it is because I do not compare “goings” to the supermarket, I simply describe one variant of that.
But in the second, I do not know.


texts: Are "sounds natural" and "is natural-sounding" interchangeable?

texts:
Consider these sentences

  this expression sounds natural

  this expression is natural-sounding

I guess both mean exactly the same.

However, I found "sounds natural" is more commonly used than "natural-sounding" on ELL.

Are "sounds natural" and "is natural-sounding" interchangeable in any cases?


texts: Plasma can be sustained from many types of gases. Is this dictionally right?

texts:
In one of my textbooks, there is a line that reads 'Plasma can be ignited and sustained from many types of gases.'

Is this usage correct? I would have rephrased this sentence as 'Plasma can be ignited from and sustained by many types of gases' (which also sounds a little 'unusual'). I have seen the expression 'sustained from' used in association with accidents (as 'injuries sustained from...') .MWD defines 'sustain' as:

  Definition of sustain

  transitive verb

  1 :  to give support or relief to

  2 :  to supply with sustenance :  nourish

  3 :  keep up, prolong

  4 :  to support the weight of :  prop; also :  to carry or withstand (a >weight or pressure)

  5 :  to buoy up sustained by hope

  6a :  to bear up underb :  suffer, undergo sustained heavy losses

  7a :  to support as true, legal, or justb :  to allow or admit as valid >the court sustained the motion

  8 :  to support by adequate proof :  confirm testimony that sustains >our contention

What I want to know is if this usage( in this context) is valid and if it is, what does the author mean?


texts:
Is there any preposition I can use instead of same as or like in sentences below? I mean Can I say ;

  1) I wish to buy a car of/from yours.

Or should I say ;

  2) I wish to buy a car of the same as yours.

But I want to learn especially if first sentence correct or not .


texts: Can "foolish" and "folly" be used interchangeably?

texts:
On StackOverflow, answering a question I introduced a badly written piece of code by saying

  To make it clear, let's have some folly examples.

I wanted to say that the examples the reader is going to see are not sensible and show a lack of good judgment.

I am now having doubts whether folly was the right word and whether it conveys the meaning of foolish.

My questions are

Is my sentence correct?
Can foolish and folly be used interchangeably? If not, provide some examples, please.

UPDATE

I discovered folly a few months ago in Collins:

  If you say that a particular action or way of behaving is folly [or a folly], you mean that it is foolish.

I missed the part "or a folly". I inaccurately believed folly is an adjective (a synonym for foolish) and didn't recheck it before asking the difference between those two. My bad, sorry.


texts: had had already read before vs. had already read before

texts:
Situation: Warren Xxx is storytelling his college life to business students. The topic is the subject's collage.

  Warren Xxx: There was this collage, it had its name of teachers who were teaching it, and I was amazed at what I saw because some of the teachers were the authors of the books I had had read before I met them in person.

Or

  Warren Xxx: There was this collage, it had its name of teachers who were teaching it, and I was amazed at what I saw because some of the teachers were the authors of the books I had read before I met them in person

What I wanted to clarify is Warren Xxx had read some books first, before he saw the collage. Moreover, is it had had read or just had read?

  (With all respect, please focus on the bold letters, this is a grammar/tenses question) I maybe wrong with the grammar, that is why I'm asking it and not to damage someone else's reputation.


texts:
Today I learned that the device used for weighing people at home is called 'bathroom scale' because it is kept in a bathroom in the U.S..

For me, who come from an environment where it wasn't kept in bathroom, It sounds awkward that the device is called 'bathroom scale'. I'm just saying...

By the way, I have a question about this. Even if their 'bathroom scale' is not in bathroom actually, nonetheless they still call it 'bathroom scale'?

I think I should have asked this question first.
Are there people(American) who keep it in a different place where is not a bathroom?


texts: Definite article vs. no article in front of plant names used generically

texts:
There's a rule that when we use a noun generically, we either put the definite article in front of it or use the plural form:

  The tiger is in danger of becoming extinct.
  Tigers are in danger of becoming extinct.

However, I applied this rule to plant names in one of my posts on Lang-8, and it didn't work. Here's a native speaker's correction; marked with an underscore is the place I had originally put the definite article.

  In contrast, a compound called myrcene, abundant in _ dill and wild rosemary, was harder for bees to pick up.

I've already seen this omission before. You could google, for example, the Wikipedia article about garlic mustard — it doesn't use any articles in front of the species name.

Why is it so? Is there no article because it's considered a proper name of sorts? Why doesn't that work in the tiger example, then?


texts:
In the following sentence what does 'Custom' actually mean?

  Three times a day for many months I had witnessed this performance, but custom had not reconciled my mind to it.

I know custom means usual practice and tradition but it doesn't seem to mean that here.

Reference:
This sentence is taken from the first chapter, second paragraph of Sherlock Holmes: Sign of Four.


texts:
I would like to know if I should use following or according to when referring to some guidelines, such as in the following example:

  Stunting was diagnosed when a patient’s height was smaller than 1.40m,
  for men, or 1.30m, for women. These cut-off points were defined
  following / according to World Health Organization guidelines on
  anthropometry.


texts:
You are always complaining about me driving your car.
  You are always complaining about I driving your car.
  You are always complaining about my driving your car.


texts: What is the appropriate phrase for your mind not being clear enough, scrambled, foggy or fuzzy?

texts: When you are tired or distracted, you sometimes feel that your brain is not functioning well because of lack of focus.   Many years ago I said that I'm absent-minded, but a native speaker of English said that it sounds like I have something wrong with my mind. But that is what a dictionary says. Then I have found these phrases, "My mind is scrambled." "My mind is foggy." "My mind is fuzzy." However, I don't know if these phrases are appropriate. Can I use one of these phrases to express what I want to say in a daily conversation? Or if there is a good phrase for this, I'd like to know.


texts: am I obliged to backshift if I believe but am not sure that the situation is still true

texts:
"please do not send the parcel until the record(vinyl) has been out"
reported speech

I told you not to send the parcel until the record had been out

This is the message I received, so could the buyer have written "has been " instead of "had been" because  he could think that the situation might still  be true (the record is not out) at the time he sent this message


texts:
Example with a context (Introduction to Graphical User Interfaces with Java Swing by Paul Fischer, 2004) (From the page that comes at the very beginning of every book and contains copyright and publisher information, see the picture down below):

  The right of Paul Fischer to be identified as author of this work has
  been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
  Patents Act 1988.

Why do you think there is no definite article in front of author? Is it used like a title or something like that?

======================================================================


texts:
I've made this sentence, but it doesn't seem good. Can you explain to me why it's not good and how I should fix it?

  In a society where their achievement or performance is more valued and welcomed and in a society where those who make great efforts can become or have what they have wanted to the extent they had hoped, people would more likely to do their best in their lives.


texts: How to understand "with a snap in her voice like a mousetrap" in this context?

texts:
Mrs Weasley did not seem entirely satisfied with Mr Weasley's answer. As her husband leaned over to shake Harry's hand, she peered at the bandaging under his nightshirt.

  "Arthur," she said, with a snap in her voice like a mousetrap, "you've had your bandages changed. ..."

  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I don't quite get the idea of "with a snap in her voice like a mousetrap" in this context. How should we understand it?


texts:
What is the difference between the two sentences given below?

  a) We do not have time to watch the squirrels hiding their nuts in grass.
  b) We do not have time to watch the squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

Other examples:

  I watched her dance/dancing gracefully on the stage.
  I saw you pack/packing the bag in hurry
  I watched her graceful dance/dancing on the stage.

My question is with reference to the verb forms.


texts: Subtle difference between following words:

texts:
1.Brief, Concise, Succinct

2.Detailed, Thorough, Lengthy

I know #1 are derivatives of short
and #2 are of long

but there is some subtle difference between them

• Brief= short; not containing too many words

• Concise= giving a lot of information clearly, to the point and in few words.

Now a concise thing can be lengthy , however, it'd be still briefer than what it could have been. As all the unnecessary details are omited

• Succinct= briefly and clearly explained but may or may not contain all the main details

• Detailed= Having many details, showing attention to details.
Details are given priority but some of them can be omitted

• Thorough = complete, not even a single detail has to be ruled out

• Lengthy = it can either be detailed or thorough or even long-winded (wordy, having unnecessary details, tedious)

Am I right with my interpretations?

Can't trust the googled definitions since it also lists sentimental as synonym for nostalgic. Lol


texts: Is it colloquial to say "You like to wear Elsa, don't you?"?

texts:
Your child likes to wear shorts or Tshirts that have pictures of Elsa on them (see the picture).

Is it colloquial to say "You like to wear Elsa, don't you?" or "You are in Elsa now" the same way we say "You are wearing blue" or "You are in blue"?

Note: Elsa is the name of a character in the movie “Frozen”


texts: Subordinate clauses: Use of "in case" to replace inside a sentence

texts:
I have this sentence I'm struggling with, it's from the "subordinate clauses" subject:
You should never sleep on a mattress that is too hard. It can give you back pain.

I have to use "in case" inside the sentence, but I don't know if my tries are correct:

Try 1: In case you sleep on a mattress that is too hard, it can give you back pain.

Try 2: You should never sleep on a mattress that is too hard in case it gives you back pain.

My mother language is Spanish, but I get along with English pretty well.


texts: Can "immortal" be used to describe someone that lives forever, yet can be destroyed?

texts:
I am aware of the dictionary definition of the word "immortal": (source)

Or in words:

  living forever; never dying or decaying

However, that does not directly imply "can't be destroyed", as far as I can see. My logic (which might be wrong!) tells me that someone might live forever by not aging or ever being sick, i.e. never die of natural cause but still, can be killed by unnatural causes.

This logic is supported by numerous mythology related films I've watched over the years, where gods of all kinds (and a God should be immortal, right?) are killed and destroyed, e.g. it's even mentioned in this question on a sister site on SE.

So my question is: can the word "immortal" in plain speech or writing, be used to describe something that still can be killed or destroyed? If not, how do you explain this inconsistency, language-wise?


texts:
I am getting confused with what form of the verb to use:

Anyone who knows him, also know her.
Anyone who knows him, also knows her.

Out of these sentences, which one is correct?

Singular nouns are attached to plural verbs. So, I'm thinking the second sentence is correct.

I'm getting confused because the first one is also sounding right!


texts:
I am learning this document, which says

For 8-bit (bytes) patterns:

Matches any decimal digit; this is equivalent to [0-9].

I would like to express a similar meaning by saying

  a is equivalent to b in some situation

is this an appropriate expression?

should I say

  a is equivalent to b for some situation ?


texts: "if you had caught" vs "if you were caught"

texts:
If you had caught the train in time, you would have reached there.

  If you were caught the train in time, you would have reached there

Which one is correct, and what is the difference between them?


texts:
1．________ by his look, he doesn't think much of our plan.

A．Judging   B．Judged
C．To judge  D．Being Judged

Which one is correct ? Why?


texts: Is "however" used correctly in "However, Life is not that easy cake..."?

texts:
This is my basic sentence :

  .... They try to make his life better.
      However, Life is not that easy cake which turns to what we want...

My research shows that I can do  :

Using ‘however’ to mean ‘in whatever manner’, ‘by whatever means’ or
‘to whatever extent’

Is it really my case here ?


texts: What is the right question?I played football at the weekend 1-Where did you play? 2-where did you played?


texts: 'One person to another' or 'one another'

texts:
Our likes are different from one person to another.
  Our likes are different from one another.

Which phrase is suitable, one person to another or
one another?


texts: Is the name of a disease considered a proper noun?

texts:
I've never really thought about it before now, but is the name of a disease considered a proper noun, and thus, should the first letters be capitalized?

For example: Would it be "celiac disease" or "Celiac Disease"? I've seen it capitalized in some places and not in others.


texts:
Which one of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

Why do you have added this tag?
Why have you added this tag?

In my opinion the second one is correct and I use it for my writings, but today I have seen the first form and I am in doubt if the first one is correct or not?


texts: If you had to welcome the writer J K Rowling, would it be appropriate to say "Lady Rowling / Lady J K Rowling, welcome in our school!" or just "Mrs Rowling / Mrs J K Rowling, welcome in our school!". Is Lady specific to female members of the House of Lords, or wives of lords?


texts: Past perfect vs past simple-- had been asleep/ was asleep

texts:
It was 5 in the morning, I had been asleep for 5 hours.

It was 5 in the morning, I was asleep for 5 hours.

What's the difference in their meaning?


texts:
A significant decrease in the score was observed 1 and 2 months after the intervention.
  Significant decreases in the scores were observed 1 and 2 months after the intervention.

Which of the above is grammatically correct?
Would the latter correct because the decreases observed from different time points are apparently different kinds of things?
+ Should I put 'at' and make the sentence '~~ observed at 1 and 2 months ~~'? Or is it alright without 'at'?

Thank you in advance!


texts: How do I pluralize a proper noun that is also an English word?

texts:
There is a card in Magic: the Gathering called Rally the Ancestors. My friends and I refer to the card by its shortened name, "Rally".

The plural form of rally when used as a regular word is rallies. Do I follow the same rule for the proper noun, Rally, or do I just add an "s" to the end (e.g., "the Kennedys")?

Used in a sentence:

  He chained together multiple [Rallys/Rallies/?].

In general, is there a formal rule for pluralizing proper nouns that are also English words?


texts: Can "buy" be understandable when used intransitively?

texts:
The smart phone buys well all over the world among teenagers

I want to convey similarly with the sentence that the smart phone is bought well all over the world among teenagers.

For me to read, it could be understandable because no one would think the smart phone buys something like a human, so the only possible translation is the above.

Though such an usage isn't registered on any dictionaries, and so unnatural, I think it could be acceptable If someone started to use it.


texts: I want to ask about the difference betweeen "Grab Someone by the Arm" and "Grab Someone's Arm"

texts:
I'm learning English as my second language, and what one of my college teacher explained seems not quiet right.

He said that these words, such as 'grab, pull, etc', whenever they are used, it has to be like this:

  He grabbed her by the arm, or He took him by the collar.

Not like:

  He grabbed her arm, or He took his collar.

He said the person that comes after the verb always has to be objective, never possessive, and preposition has to follow them.

I've already googled these words and saw many usages like:

  'My boyfriend grabbed my arm.Is that abuse?'

I know saying like 'he grab her on the arm' is not wrong, but is it wrong to say or write 'he grab her arm'?


texts: "until such time as he would have finished"

texts:
We decided to wait until such time as he(our son) would have finished college, before asking him to take over our law firm.

If that is correct, is this OK as well?

  I will wait until such time as you will have contemplated all the implications of your action.


texts:
Here's the question that I uploaded yesterday. And I'd like to know if I understand right after reading the answers.

A girl talked to John yesterday.

I met a girl in the library today.

The two girls are the same person.

  The girl who talked to John yesterday is the same person as the one that I met in the library today.
  I met the same girl in the library as the one who talked to John yesterday.
  The same girl as the one who talked to John yesterday is the person that I met in the library today.

Here, these 3 sentences are too wordy for anyone to use in real life. And after checking into the answers, I've corrected in a way that I think they are all right.

  The girl who talked to John yesterday is the same person (as or that or who) I met in the library today.
  I met the same girl in the library (as or who or that) talked to John yesterday.
  The same girl (as or who or that) talked to John yesterday is the person that I met in the library today.

I think we use
'that' or 'who(m)' here to modify a noun 'girl' , but when it comes to a situation where we use an adjective 'same', we can also use 'as' because the basic form is like this : the same one as the one (who / that). we don't use this form because it is too wordy to use though. So, I think 'the same (noun)' can be modified by using***'as'***, 'that', 'who(m)'..., while just a noun can not be modified by using 'as'


texts:
Is use of "a bit" in the following sentences correct grammatically and conceptually? Is the following sentences correct grammatically?If it is not , kindly suggest ways to make it clearer.

  Further, this type of interaction inconstant thickness blade is a
  bit more than variable thickness blade. This could be due to more
  thickness of constant thickness blade at the hub.


texts:
I have two questions.
(1) I know that we should say "Dogs are a type of animal". I wonder why we don't say "Dogs are a type of an animal"? For some reason, we have no article before animal. Is that just idiomatic?
(2) I'm confused as to when a noun is countable or not. For example, if you read the beginning of this Wikipedia page:

Equality of outcome, equality of condition, or equality of results is a political concept which is central to some political ideologies and is used regularly in political discourse, often in contrast to the term equality of opportunity.

I know that outcome could be a countable noun. For example, we say "these are two different outcomes." However, equality of outcome treats outcome as an uncountable noun (or a mass noun). Why can't we say, then, "equality of result"? "Outcomes" and "results" are essentially the same thing, right?


texts: Is there any difference between "for one's birthday" or "on one's birthday"?

texts:
Tell please if there is the slightest difference between the following questions?

  What did you get for your last birthday?

  What did you get on your last birthday?

If there is no difference at all, which one do you think is more common?


texts: What would be the correct 's if the name ends with an X?

texts:
Assume someone's name ends with x. If we want to refer to one of his belongings, should we say ---x's or ---x'es?

The problem here is that if the pronunciation follows spelling.


texts:
Here is an exercise from English Grammar in Use.

You're usually very patient, so why _________ so unreasonable about waiting ten more minutes? are you

The answer key says "are you being". Why the answer "are you" is incorrect ?

Why isn't Steve at work today? He ______ ill. is being

The answer key says "is". I think Steve is still ill when the speaker ask this question. Can I use "is being" ?


texts: What is the exact terminology for the four basic mathematical operations?

texts:
In my native language we have clearly defined and official terms for the operands involved in mathematical calculations. I am talking about the basic four arithmetic operations addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

I know some of the terms but am unable to find equivalent translations into English for them all. For example, when performing addition, the stuff being added is called "addend" and the result "sum" in Danish:

  addend + addend = sum

In English I realize that we have the word "sum" but I can't in my dictionary nor on Wikipedia find the English equivalent of "addend". Same goes for the other three operations.

In Danish:

  addend + addend = sum

  minuend - subtrahend = forskel

  faktor or multiplikand × faktor or multiplikator = produkt

  dividend / divisor = kvotient

In English:

  _____ + _____ = sum

  _____ - _____ = difference

  factor × factor = product

  _____ / divisor = fraction or quotient

I would appreciate help with filling out these empty spots of my English knowledge with the formal and correct terminology.


texts:
A sport activity or a sports activity?

  a sport activity
  a sports activity

Are these phrases both correct?


texts:
Susan：Good night, Harry. Have a safe trip home.
  [She closes the door. A moment later there is a loud sound in the hall. Susan opens the door.] Are you all right?
  Harry：[He fell over the umbrella stand, and now he is picking it up.] Sorry.
  Susan：[She smiles.] I never liked that umbrella stand. Good night, Harry.

What does "I never liked that umbrella stand." mean?
As I know, never has two meanings:
1.not ever;
at no time;
not at any time:
2.not at all;
absolutely not:

These confuse me a lot. To my understanding, this sentence could have several meanings.

  1.I never like that umbrella stand.(never = not at all)
  I don't like that umbrella stand at all.

  2.I never liked that umbrella stand.(never = not at all)
  I didn't like that umbrella stand at all.(I don't know if the past simple could be used here, if so, what does it mean in the above context? )

  3.I have never liked that umbrella stand.(never = not ever)
  I haven't liked that umbrella stand at any time before.

  4.I never liked that umbrella stand.(never = not ever)
  Same as No.3 but express the present perfect tense in the AE way.

Especially for the No.2 and the No.4, I don't know which one is correct.


texts: Which is correct 'Thanks are due' or 'Thanks is due'?

texts: What is the correct usage, 'Thanks are due' or 'Thanks is due' and why? Does it have to do with singular or plural?


texts: We sign on a power of attorney or We write a power of attorney

texts:
If there are two people that are going to notary in order to give one of them a power of attorney, then what's the idiomatic way to refer to it?

  We are going to write a power of attorney.

  We are going to sign on a power of attorney.

  We are going to do a power of attorney.


texts: 'greater understanding' without the preceding article 'a'

texts:
I'm aware that by default it is ...a greater understanding. However, I would like to know if I could leave the indefinite article out in the following case:

The goal of this programme is simple: better health, greater understanding, deeper connectedness.


texts: What is the correct name for the meal for friends or extended family members?

texts:
The only word I can think of is "extended family meal" or "friend meals", but since this is a common activity I think there should be a more general word. Most of the time it is home-cooked, and sometimes it's for a special event meaningful only to those people.

In the Vietnamese language we don't have a generic word. We just say "eat at X's home."

As an unrelated information, "family meal" seems like "nuclear family meal" to me, and in restaurant terminology, it means "a group meal that a restaurant serves its staff outside of peak business hours", aka staff meal.


texts:
In "as of last month" and "as of next month", "as of" has a different meaning?

cambridge cambridge

  As of next month, all the airline's fares will be going up.

chinadaily

  As of last month, Huaye had produced goods worth almost 1.5 billion
  yuan this year, recording about 1.1 billion yuan in sales, according
  to data from the company.


texts: The correct word to use in "the time that / in which / when"

texts:
In this sentence:

  It shows the time ...that/in which/when... the job processing is
  finished.

what is the correct word to use in instead of ...?


texts: What does the word "recognize" mean in this sentence?

texts:
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/02/05/us/ap-us-state-of-union-text.html

  This year, America will recognize two important anniversaries that show us the majesty of America's mission and the power of American pride.

What does it mean by recognize an anniversary? I looked the word up in dictionary but still can't understand. I don't know which meaning can be used here. Hope someone can give me some help. Thanks in advance!


texts: Have a picnic vs make a picnic vs go on a picnic vs go for a picnic

texts:
I quite often come across the following phrases:

  Have a picnic
  Make a picnic
  Go on a picnic
  Go for a picnic

But I can't distinguish between them. Are they the same or do they have different meanings?


texts:
Every day Kino went out to sea to look for the pearl.

In this sentence, is there any collocation? Thanks in advance.


texts: Meaning of sentence with and without auxiliary?

texts:
Please explain use of the auxiliary (helping verbs) in English?
Q a) Which sentence is correct in the examples below?
Q b) If all sentences are correct then what are the meanings?

1 Your eyes become red.
2 Your eyes are become red.
3 Your eyes have become red.


texts:
I came across a sentece while I was reading a novel,It says that:

  It wasn't much of a park,some trees and benches and a bronze statue of some former mayor or someone who would have been embarrased to have this image in a park that had gone as crummy as that one.

So my question is that how would the meaning of the sentence change if used who would be embarrased instead of who would have been embarrased and what is the exact meaning difference between those 2?
Thanks in advance.


texts: Question about the meaning of a particular sentence

texts:
The following sentence is from Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) by the psychologist Daniel Kahneman:

  Questioning what we believe and want is difficult at the best of times, and especially difficult when we most need to do it, but we can benefit from the informed opinions of others.

I'd like to know how the last clause connects semantically to the rest of the sentence. Is it true to rephrase it as follows?

  Although questioning what we believe and want is difficult..., we can benefit from the informed opinions of others.


texts:
What are the uses of ed at the end of word?

e.g.

Named

Unprecedented

chaired

loved

annoyed

Dreamed

Also which sentence is correct? Using ed or without ed?

Please let me know which input to be considered

Or

Please let me know which input to be consider


texts:
Report
Woman1: I mail the letters. Sometimes I mail parcels to my friends may be in China or in the USA.
Woman2: I find the post office very useful to me. I go there most, almost everyday.
Woman3: Um, well, the only ones that I've used are sending parcels.
Woman4: You can send letters priority post. You can send them registered mail so you can always know where your letter is.
Woman5: Everything; I mail letters; I mail parcels; and use it money orders.

What does "priority post" mean?
Express or first class or registered mail?


texts:
What situations are more suitable for each of these adjectives?

  Insulting
  Offensive

Are they similar in what they imply, or is "insulting" much stronger?


texts: Change of number with addition of "seems to" e.g. "this MEANS" vs. "this seems to MEAN"

texts:
The "number" (not sure what the appropriate term is; plurality?) of the verb matches the subject, so we say

This means. or These mean.

But why does the former change to singular when you add "seems to", as in:

This seems to mean. ?


texts: Do "correspondence" and "correspondents" have the same pronunciation?

texts:
When I hear how correspondence and correspondents are pronounced, I can not distinguish which word it is, without any context.

Do these two words have the same pronunciation?


texts: What's the meaning of 'how' in the context?

texts:
Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the
  Potters? If it did... if it got out that they [the Dursleys] were
  related to a pair of [wizards] - well, he didn't think he could bear
  it.   The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but
  Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last,
  comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters
  were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs.
  Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about
  them and their kind.... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get
  mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned
  over - it couldn't affect them....  How very wrong he was. (Harry
  Potter)

‘How’ is one of the most difficult words in reading English. Does it mean ‘the reason’ in the context: ‘He couldn’t see the reason he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on’?


texts: "I want him arrested." Is "arrested" a participle that act as an adjective modifying "him"?

texts: A participle act as an adjective. But adjective mostly come before noun. This sentence only has pronoun. And "arrested" comes after pronoun. If "arrested" does not act as an adjective, What is its function in this case?


texts: I am confused by what seems to me to be the more frequent use of the word awoken. During my reading, I have usually come across "He awoke" or "He was awakened". Now I am reading "He was awoken" and "He waked". (I would say "He was awakened" or "He woke/awoke to the sound of....") Would somebody please help me in my total confusion? Is there a verb here that I just can't conjugate? Has awoken become more common?


texts:
In some of the literature, I've gone through while doing my research I came across a weird combination of the verb 'perform' with names of things. As for my knowledge, we use the verb 'perform' with a noun indicating an action. Such as, we can say:

perform an activity,
perform a pilgrimage,
perform an act [polishing, brushing, etc]

but, can we say:

perform a bat,
perform a brush,
perform a polish,
perform a vacuum cleaner

I never believed so, but I need to have the consent of natives/ English users on this, please.


texts:
What could be the best fitted word here?

  Is it good to keep fasting continuous days?

The word continuous might mean here everyday or a day and the other day and follow by that.


texts: "What" plus the infinitive form of a verb in rhetorical questions

texts:
Here is the context:

  Person 1 - You are going to break it if you handle the phone like this.

  Person 2 - What to break? The screen is already cracked.

Tell me please if the question is grammatically correrct and natural. If not, then could you tell the right way to construct a rhetorical question?


texts: "What else it could be?" vs. "What else could it be?" - which is correct?

texts:
What else it could be?
What else could it be?

I saw both of these sentences have been used in English. Are they both correct? If so, what is the sentence structure of them.


texts:
From Oxford Languages

  motion picture: a cinema film

According to the definition, some types of video are not motion pictures, such as screen recording, animation, is my understanding correct?


texts:
The scenario is: I have started my job in a company a few weeks ago. Now I am telling someone that I am doing this from a short time only, that is only from a while.

The sentences that come in my mind for expressing my view are:

  I am been, from a short time an employee of that company.
  I have been, from a short time an employee of that company.

I think first sentence(am been) is correct because the second sentence(have been) gives a sense that I no longer work for that company which  is false.

Another sentence that comes in my mind is:

  3 I am been, for a short an employee of that company.

this 3rd sentence express my intention even worse. The for implies that I am currently doing the job but will soon resign from that job.

So should I use "have been" or "am been"? Please do not explain grammatically(or technically). I learn English by just reading it and by watching movies.


texts: Past Simple vs. Past Perfect (question about two sentences)

texts:
In the sentences below, would it be correct to use Past Simple instead of Past Perfect and retain the same meaning? Is it possible, for example, in American English because, as far as I know, Americans are known to rarely use Perfect tenses?

  I wish he had let me know that he was coming.
  I wish now I hadn't splashed out so much money on that car.


texts: Difference between wear makeup and put on makeup

texts:
Do the following sentences have the same meaning?

  She put on  makeup.
  She wore  makeup.


texts:
I sent an e-mail to a customer, but he still hasn't answered me. Now, in order to reinforce, should I say:

Were you able to check out the attached settlement proposal?

or

Could you check out the attached settlement proposal?


texts:
I've heard many people say that

I am going to study tonight for tomorrow's test

Is the usage of 'study' in that sentence correct? If so, why? Would the usage of revise be better in that sentence?
I have done a little of definition finding as came out with this:

Study: Application of the mind to the acquisition of knowledge, as by reading, investigation, or reflection
Revise: To review (previously studied materials) in preparation for an examination.

Sources:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/study
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/revise


texts: What's the difference between something and some thing?

texts:
I was reading my English textbook and found written "some thing" in a sentence. Is there any difference between "something" and "some thing"? Is it a misprint or true? Here is the sentence:

  Hunger means, when you have had some thing to eat at least as much
  again.

(from essay: Hunger and Population Explosion by Anna Mckenzie)

Which one will be correct in this context? Some thing or something


texts:
1- It more than doubles during these day rather one year ago.
2- they have reached 50 or more doubles in a season.

Are they adverb?


texts:
Can I say "I prefer texting to talking to someone in-situ"?

I feel like I heard someone say that before. But I am not able to find the source.


texts:
They've taken 10 hostages at a supermarket.

They've taken 10 people hostage at a supermarket.

Could some please tell me if there is a difference between the two sentences?


texts:
I was watching this interview on TV, I've heard listening helps a lot when you're learning a new language, and this guy said "A sprinkle of sass early in the morning never hurt anyone.", and it was pretty apparent he was just joking around.

I'm just curious, is it a correct grammatical construction? Can we use sprinkle (noun) that way? Does, here, sprinkle mean- a little?


texts: Be-conditional for hypothetic past, present or future

texts:
Is it right that the "Be-conditional" can be used to speak about hypothetic past, present or future?

Be it my car I would have sold it.
Be it my car I would sell it.
Be it my car I will sell it.


texts:
I was wondering which whether using the modal verb "would" in the following sentence is necessary or not.

She was going to start her independent life with her husband before long. That was she why wanted their wedding...... quickly.

a. to take place
b. would take place
I think whereas the tense of the sentence is future in the past, using "would" is necessary. Please do me a favor and correct me if I am mistaken.


texts:
The background-attachment property is little used, but very effective. On the web site for top rock combo Dirty Pretty Things (www.dirtyprettythingsband.com), a fixed background image was declared in the body selector, ensuring the background image stayed stationary while the main container and everything inside it scrolled as would be expected (see Figure 5-19).

I suppose the word top in that phrase means something like the best but what exactly does rock combo mean?


texts: What is the difference between "I've come to realize" and "I have realized"?

texts:
I've come to realize.

I have realized.

Could you simplify the meaning of each sentence in very very simple English so that I can get the difference easily.  Could you clarify with more examples?


texts:
I wonder if we can use 'besides+to+verb' or if it is only 'besides+verb+ing'

  Besides to get such data, we must also ...

  besides getting such data, we must ....

Which one is correct ? What is the most formal sentences among the two ? Is 'besides' adapted here ?


texts:
I am a civil engineer and I'm a MSc student. I want to introduce myself. Which one will describe my position correctly?

MSc student in civil engineering at ... University
MSc student of civil engineering at ... University
MSc civil engineering student at ... University

I'm not sure about using in/of/at.


texts: "5 hours earlier than local time" VS "5 hours ahead of local time"

texts:
"That timezone is 5 hours ahead of ours" clearly means a difference of +5 hours (relative to us), but I came across a different wording of it: "that timezone is 5 hours earlier than ours". If I'm not mistaken, both of these statements do mean the same thing, right?

To me, however, the first statement makes much more sense and is less ambiguous.


texts: Why is it not correct to write, "The boy, who has a limp, was in an auto accident"?

texts:
1.The boy who has a limp was in an auto accident.
We do not know which boy is meant without further description; therefore, no commas are used.

2.The man, knowing it was late, hurried home.
We used comma as the phrase/clause knowing it was late is not necessary to get the meaning of sentence. That means knowing it was late is not restrictive here.

My question is why the sentence #1  is not correct without  the clause who has a limp although the sentences have the same categorised subject  the man ** and **the boy in the first and second sentence respectively.

Why is it not correct to write  by using comma The boy, who has a limp, was in an auto accident? and  by not using comma The man knowing it was late hurried home?
I'm confused about the defination of restrictive and non-restrictive here.


texts: "no escaping his influence" or "no escaping of his influence"

texts:
There will be no escaping his influence on the English language.

I think since escaping is functioning as noun, it would be better to use "of" between "escaping" and " his influence" to add details to the gerund as opposed to linking them together. Please clarify me doubts.


texts: How to correctly express "Under all the assumptions but this one"?

texts:
I would like to express "under all the assumptions, except a certain one (call this certain one A), of the theorem, we construct...". If it can be shortened, then the first thought that came to me was "under all but the A assumptions of the theorem, we construct...". However, this seems not grammatical and confusing.

Is my evaluation true? If not, what would be a better option out there? Thanks.


texts: Having + past participle or Having been + past participl

texts:
Please help me get to know these. I am not able to differentiate the usage between these two having + past participle and having been + past participle
For instance(just to give a clearer vision of what my question is):

After having your arm broken, you should go to a doctor.

After having your arm been broken, you should go to a doctor.


texts: How can we encourage someone to do somethings

texts:
As our discussion at this question, we got out a result that Try what you can't and Do what you can't is contradiction, then how can we encourage someone to try/do something that they can't/don't do in the pass?

Edit:

I meant encouraging somebody to try, maybe they failed in the past or the fails now, but something sometimes may success after a serval tries, not everything total fails when you failed once.


texts: "Initially moving" or "moving initially"

texts:
It seems correct to say

  The casualty count was initially reported to be 50.

But while “The box was initially moving to the left” sounds correct, what about this sentence?

  The box was initially moving.

And which of these is correct?

  The casualty count was initially reported to be 50.    OR
  The casualty count was initially reported as 50.


texts:
I'm a (an old style) basketball fan and when I was reading this article

And I encountered this line,

  Walton inherited a team that was ripped to the studs by Kobe Bryant's retirement tour and propped up by a pair of the NBA's worst contracts — Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov, one of whom is still cashing checks not to play for the Lakers and the other of whom cost them their No. 2 pick from 2015 in a salary dump. Starless and cap-strapped is not the best starting point, but Walton built the crop of draft picks who followed into a team attractive enough to lure LeBron to Los Angeles.

What would this phrase "follow into" mean in this context?

I can not find any definition either by paid or free dictionaries.


texts:
When I corrected my friend's grammar in a comment he said

  Thanks for correcting me. I guess I need some grammar lessons despite
  studying for CPA.

I think he was supposed to say besides, not despite.

Grammar has nothing to do with CPA (certified public accounting) as Despite would mean that studying cpa wasn't enough to prevent him from making some mistake that needed to be corrected,

and Besides would simply mean

in addition to studying for CPA I need some grammar lessons

Despite makes sense too, but the idea is off as CPA has nothing to do with grammar

But wait. What if he meant I guess I need some grammar lessons despite being involved in a process that requires an advanced understanding of grammar clearly an advanced understanding of grammar is required to understand the questions in the exam.

hey but hasn't it got ambiguous?

now technically besides and despite work the same way in this sentence

Damn I'm confused


texts: "Sharp" (openings, games) in chess: meaning, register, is it related to or different from general usage?

texts:
It's about sharp (Dictionary.com, Merriam Learners, Merriam-Webster, American Heritage Dictionary). Only Wiktionary mentions a chess context with the meaning "tactical; risky". On Chess SE, the top voted question is about very aggressive [chess] openings: the person discusses an opening and says it "makes for a sharp tactical game" and requests further information about "very aggressive, tactical, sharp open games". There are some 14 other instances of the adjective sharp being used in the answers and comments throughout that Q&A. One answer discusses another opening and says it's "sharp, but sound and deep", seemingly implying it's possible to have a sharp yet unsound opening, and if it's unsound to begin with then it that can't be so keen in intellect or even that much tactical for that matter. Also if it means tactical then why would the person asking say "sharp tactical..."?

The notes about sharp, keen and acute in the AHDotEL are also very interesting:

  Figuratively they indicate mental alertness and clarity of
  comprehension. Sharp suggests quickness and astuteness. [...] Keen
  implies clear-headedness and acuity. [...] Acute suggests penetrating
  perception or discernment.

  [ American Heritage Dictionary of the English language, sharp. ]

Especially since Merriam-Webster lists as second and third meaning for sharp many shades of keen in (...intellect, perception, attention, spirit).  Merriam Learners is also interesting when they refer to "having or showing a quick ability to notice and understand things" with an example like sharp questions, which makes me think that the product of a sharp mind may be sharp too...

More broadly speaking, there are other phrases/adjectives such as cutting edge (technology), tip of the spear (?), state of the art (device?), contemporary (time based), or things like focused, precise, which I tend to associate one way or another with some of those many meanings sharp can have. More typically I'm used to sharp being used to mean clever or cunning to describe someone, especially when they say something sharp, and I wasn't really aware this could be informal or that it could be used for  stylish (informal) or expert (informal).

Is there a chess specific usage for sharp, what does it mean, is it "tactical; risky", are those just different use cases from books separated by a semicolon; has the word sharp become more popular over time, along the lines of stylish/cool, or has it replaced bright for quick-witted/intelligent (Dictionary.com) in modern casual English i.e. is the chess usage adapted from general usage, or different from it; when it modifies other adjectives and qualifies inanimate things and abstractions, or figuratively, is sharp just an intensifier, like the adverb "very", or do you pick up the nuances from context so that you feel it's one of aggressive, complex, modern, vetted by pros, popular, or stylish, depending: which one was it in the chess question (sharp tactical game/very aggressive sharp open games)?


texts: Fewer people in the streets vs. fewer people on the streets

texts:
What's the correct or at least the most common option?
Someone told me that "in the streets" means being literately in the middle of the street.
On the streets means on the sides of the street.
However, "fewer people in the streets" and "fewer people on the streets" have more or less the same numbers of results on Google.


texts:
Is it possible to shorten these kind of sentence structures?

  The title of the event, that will be tomorrow is XY.

Is any of these correct?

  The title of tomorrow's event is XY.

  The title of the event tomorrow is XY.


texts: What it means to look like ' a bit of a chop'?

texts:
From dnaindia:

  Chappell and Flintoff, former captains of Australia and England respectively, were among those to criticise Gayle's conduct.

  But Gayle, in an extract from his autobiography published in The Times on Monday, said of his remarks during the Melbourne Renegades' match against Hobart Hurricanes: "I meant it as a joke. I meant it as a little fun. I didn't mean to be disrespectful and I didn't mean it to be taken serious."

  Flintoff responded on Twitter by saying Gayle had made himself look a "bit of a chop".

  But Gayle, in his autobiography, said: "The only chop Freddie (Flintoff) knows is when he used to bowl short to me and I would chop him past backward point for four."

More to read.


texts:
during Notting hill movie script.

 Anna : it was nice to meet you
 William : and you

I do not understand the meaning behind the expression 'and you'
is it right expression?
or it does use  only in  England


texts: Can anyone explain why we say on a strictly cash basis (and not strict)?  Is cash here an adjective?  Is cash basis a noun phrase or compound noun?


texts: Why is the present perfect simple used in this sentence (and not the present perfect continuous)

texts:
I'm looking for some advice on why this sentence (from a FCE book) is in the the present perfect simple: I have spent ages preparing for the party.

This sentence requires the use of the present perfect continuous: I've been waiting ages to read the book.

Both sentences use ages, but why is one in the PP simple and the other in the PP continuous.


texts: "At this time" vs. "at that time" vs. "at the point of time"

texts: What is the difference between "at this time", "at that time" and "at the point of time"? In what cases should we use these phrases? Could you give me examples?


texts: what is meant by "appetite of fifteen" in Sense and Sensibility?

texts:
This is from the part of Sense and Sensibility where the Dashwood daughters moved to Barton Park.

  He [Mr.Middleton] was a blessing to all the juvenile part of the neighborhood, for in summer he was for ever forming parties to eat cold ham and chicken out of doors, and in winter his private balls were numerous enough for any young lady who was not suffering under the insatiable appetite of fifteen.


texts: Using the single verb "extinguish" in modern English

texts:
I wonder if in the following context I can substitue the bold sentence with the further sentence of mine:

  In the 1980s, father-and-son scientists Luis and Walter Alvarez discovered in the geological record a distinct layer of iridium–an element found in abundance only in space that corresponds to the precise time the dinosaurs died. This suggests that a comet, asteroid or meteor impact event may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

I need to know if the substitution of the above and below sentences would change the meaning of the paragraph or something like its formality degree or not.

  ...have extinguished the dinosaurs.

I need to use a single verb to convey this message and dictionaries confirm that the verb "extinguish" can serve it right, but I doubt whether it is common in modrn English or not.

P.S. I've read the similar page on the forum.


texts: Can we use different tense verbs after an "and"?

texts:
If I say

  They won and pass the title to the successor.

Will it be correct?


texts:
The secretary informed Mr.Wallaby that the Merlin Restaurant ____ to provide a dining room that seats 100 people.

  (A) to contract
  (B) contracting
  (c) contracts
  (d) has been contracted

First, the answer is (d), but I think 'd' is not correct. I think that 'had been contracted' is the correct answer by the sequence of tense.

ex)
He said that she had been happy.
He said that she has been happy. (X)

I want to know why d 'has been contracted' is correct? and what is diffrence 'had been contracted' with 'has been contracted' in this sentence?


texts: by trading in this table scheme for the two schemes -- in what sense is "in" used here?

texts:
Usage example with a context:

  As we mentioned earlier, the process of changing a database design to produce table schemes in normal form is called normalization.
  As a very simple example, the table scheme:
  {ISBN, Title, Authors}
  is not in first normal form because the Authors attribute might contain more than one author and is therefore not atomic. By trading in this table scheme for the two schemes:
  {ISBN, Title, AuID} and {AuID, AuName}
  we have normalized the database into first normal form.

I don't quite get how in is used in that sentence. I suppose, in this context, trading simply means exchanging. So, we exchange the previous table scheme for the two new ones, but I don't understand why we have to trade in the table to do that.


texts: Who can tell me should I use "the" in these sentences and why. Thank you

texts:
there:

I generally understand that "the" would be used when the subject or object is mentioned again in a sentence to replace the subject or object. For example: He is an office worker. The guy goes to office every day.

Today, I write an email to my teacher telling him: I will follow your instructions in class to improve my math.  I am therefore confused whether I need to use "in the class" or "in class".

Another example is: We see the/a possible recession in (the) economy. I am wondering shall we need to use "the" in this sentence.

Thank you for your reply and explaination.


texts: If there are 5 boys, 4 boys eat chicken, and 1 boy doesn't eat chicken, is saying just 'boys eat chicken' wrong?


texts: Difference between "Could" and "Could've" in the given sentence

texts:
You're everything I could've ever asked for.
  You're everything I could ever ask for.

What's the difference in the meaning of these two sentences?


texts: What is the situation that this sentence says?

texts:
Several lines had been deleted from her speech.

It is an example sentence of "delete" above.
What situation would be this sentence referring to?

  Several lines had been deleted when she scanned her speech before she began.
  Someone wrote down her speech and missed several lines by mistake.
  Your opinions..

Thanks for your help in advance.


texts:
Which sentence is correct 1 or 2 ? First sentence is correct in English Grammar In Use Book at Unit 41. But i didn't understand why they didn't use heard instead of hear.

  I hear the party was great. I wish I could have gone.
  I heard the party was great. I wish I could have gone.


texts:
This passage is from my textbook:

  We use have you? / isn't she? / do they? etc. to show interest in what somebody has said or to show surprise.

  1): 'It rained every day during our holiday.' 'Did it? What a pity!'

  2) 'Jim and Nora are getting married.' 'Are they? Really?'

As you see in those short statements of surprise the verb goes before the subject (Did it? Are they?) But in my real life experience I think I have always heard the subject before the verb (It did? They are?)

I can remember two situations:

  'People are carnivores.' 'They are?' (conversation)

  'George doesn't work, he is a bum. That's why he lives with us.' 'He does?' (Seinfeld show)


texts: Looking for a term that describes a system that favors rich over poor

texts: What term describes a system that favors rich over poor?


texts: Do I need to include "in it" in the following situation?

texts:
“The cause of the disease is not well understood. We only know that genes
  and the environment play a major role (in it)”

Do I need the in it at the end of the second sentence? Why or why not?


texts: Difference between "by November" and "in November"

texts:
"Gurman previously said the first Apple Silicon Mac would be announced
"by" November, but today's wording narrows this down to "in" November,
making it unlikely that we will be hearing about Apple Silicon Macs at
next week's Apple event."

Could somebody explain to me the difference between "by November" and "in November"?


texts: "the set of elements >whose each< pair is ... " - Is this acceptable?

texts:
I have written the phrase:

  "The set of elements whose each pair is ...".

Is the 'whose each' acceptable?

Context:
I was trying to ask this question in Quora, and the phrase I would like to write is "I would like to know sets of at least 3 words, whose each pair of words are false friends".

EDIT: (By FumbleFingers)

I was hoping for something like this answer to the same question on ELU. I can't fully endorse any recent answers here, so unless anything changes today, default bounty assignment will apply...

  the highest voted answer created after the bounty started with a minimum score of 2 will be awarded half the bounty amount. If two or more eligible answers have the same score (i.e., their scores are tied), the oldest answer is awarded the bounty. If there's no answer meeting those criteria, the bounty is not awarded to anyone.


texts: My dogs would have already barked, if it really HAD BEEN A BURGLAR

texts:
I know a bit how to use 3rd conditional, but not quite.

Situation: You suddenly heard sound from the lower ground of your house, which made you nervous about a burglar might be sneaking into your house. You almost forgot that you have got not-so-friendly dogs that bark when they see strangers. And you said:

  Nah, my dogs would have already barked, if it really had been a burglar.

Is this correctly constructed? Because I've included the "be verb" specifically "been" in the sentence.

P.S.: The sentence above is a hypothetical thinking about a past event.


texts: Interpeting 'She could not care less about him' and 'She could not care more about him'

texts:
Consider the following two sentences:

  (1) She could not care less about him.

  (2) She could not care more about him.

On the one hand, (1) seems to mean that she does not care about him at all, so there is no way for her to care less than having the minimum level of care. But (2) could also mean a similar thing, that there is no way for her to increase the low level of care for him.

On the other hand, it seems that we can interpret (2) to mean that she cares so much about him that there is no way for her to care more than having the maximum level of care. But then (1) could also mean a similar thing, that there is no way for her to decrease the high level of care for him.

How do we really interpret and understand these two sentences?


texts: Is it fine to say that something is a "good listen " or a "good watch" similar to the occasions we one says some written thing being a good read?

texts:
I am wondering if it's idiomatic to describe something as "good listen" and "good watch"? For example,

That song, the other night you introduced me to, was a good listen.
The movie 1917 was a good watch, I recommend that you watch it.


texts:
Might there be a context in which "He walked out on me" is meant for "He walked out to me", not "He walked out from me" ?

For example,

  While I was preparing for my daughter's birthday party, my husband was
  doing his work in his room, and after he was done with it, he walked
  out on me to help me.

(I made this sentence)

I know "walk out on someone" usually means "leave someone", but I think that could mean different according to context, as shown above.

If my thinking about "walk out on" is right, can these expressions mean different according to context?

Rush out on
Run out on
Go out on
Move out on


texts: Is there a word that means you are doing things pragmatically and as efficiently as possible as opposed to doing it the traditional way?

texts:
This man is * because he doesn't waste his time doing things the
  traditional way.

I think the adjective "efficient", "pragmatic" are too general, at least in my opinion. Are there any other adjective that can be used to mean something similar to "being pragmatic and seeking to be as efficient as possible"?


texts:
The Anglo-Saxon navies, he might argue, have
  a certain code of rules for use at sea; they let women get first into
  the boats, for instance, when ships are sinking, and they rescue
  drowning mariners when they can: no actual harm in all this, he would
  feel, though it would weaken you, as Hindenburg said of poetry; but if
  all these little rules are tyrannously enforced on those who may think
  them silly, what is to become of the pirate?

This is from "Tales of War" by Lord Dunsany.

I can not understand what does the sentence below means.
....though it would  weaken you, as Hindenburg said of poetry;

Does it mean "as Hindenburg(poet?) said about poetry"?
Poetry would weaken you?
Or
as Hindenburg(Disaster) was sung in some poem?

I am glad if some one kindly give me some advice.


texts: Why can you put an adjective at the end of this sentence?

texts: I just watched a Youtube video of Conan O'Brien and there's a comment below saying "He(Conan)'s so much funnier than Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Ellen Degeneres and Seth Meyers combined.". I know that the "combined" is in fact an adjective here,  and I also know adjectives can be put after nouns like "something" and "nothing", but what is the rule that allows this "combined" to be put at the end? Or like, why can you do this?


texts: What does "parts like the Red Sea" mean?

texts:
This video (https://youtu.be/_nRtCVJIToA?t=416) is saying

  "Make way" basically means move. "Make way".
  Okay? "I'm coming through, make way!"
  So I'm coming through a large crowd of people, and I'm running, and I shout:
  "Make way!" and everybody sort of parts like the Red Sea.

Although "parts like the Red Sea" seems to be an idiom, google results does not give any explanation. So, what does "parts like the Red Sea" mean?


texts:
Why can't we use helping verbs like do/does of present simple and did of past simple in positive sentences of present simple tense and past simple tense?

Such as:

  She makes tea.

  They went to park.

If we convert them into negative or interrogative sentences, we use helping verb; but in case of other tenses we use helping verb in all formats of sentences i.e. positive, negative, and interrogative.


texts: What is difference between have/get/make someone do something?

texts:
What's the difference between:

  Have someone do something
  Make someone do something
  Get someone do something.

To have someone do something means to cause someone to do something.
To make someone do something means to force someone to do something.
To get someone do something means to persuade someone or trick someone to do something.

This is what the dictionary says but I saw they're sometimes interchangeably used, so dictionary definitions are not enough.


texts: Singular or plural for word "state" in the following sentence

texts:
I am confused if "state" should take an "s" or not in the following sentence:

  ... at a given time-slot, the knowledge of the state(s) of all the machines in ...

Each machine has one 'state' at each time-slot. This 'state' can change from machine to machine at the same time-slot and from slot to slot for the same machine.


texts:
Is there a word for the front view of a car from the driver's perspective? i am not sure if there's a word, but the only word or phrase I can think of is "through the windshield" or "front", but using these words sound very awkward.

For example:

  The driver looked through the windshield and saw a giant monster 5km
  from his current position.


texts: "If you were to do" compared to "If you did"

texts:
If they were to cancel the deal, I would be devastated.
If they canceled the deal, I would be devastated.

My thextbook says, the "if ... were to" construction gives much less probability for something to happen. But an American said to me that it is not, he does not perceive it when he hears it.


texts: When to use "Me" and "I" in comparative sentences?

texts:
He is taller than me/I?

Also, what is the difference between the two:

1 - I love you better than him.
2 - I love you better than he.


texts: meaning of "punching sb right in the GD mouth"

texts:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/pagesix.com/2017/12/01/chris-pratt-warns-fans-about-potential-predator-imposter/amp/

Apparently , somebody is impersonating Chris Pratt. He has warned his fans about this.

One part I am not 100% sure.

He says:"If I found out who it is , I'll have their account shut down and would like to punch them right in the GD mouth".

I searched GD. Does it mean "God damn"? I am not 100% sure.


texts: Why does the lecturer think the Famous Panda is **delicious**?

texts:
The lecturer is saying

  you
  do face the same problem of missing
  context in any language like the famous
  Panda who goes to a restaurant and eats
  shoots and leaves and they were both
  delicious.

The context is this piece of formula, which seems not to be delicious

Here is the story

  A panda walks into a restaurant, sits down, and orders a sandwich. He eats the sandwich, pulls out a gun, and shoots the waiter dead. As the panda stands up to go, the manager shouts, "Hey! Where are you going? You just shot my waiter, and you didn't even pay for your sandwich!""Hey, man, I'm a PANDA!" the panda shouts back. "Look it up!"The manager opens his dictionary and reads: "Panda: a tree-dwelling mammal of Asian origin, characterized by distinct black and white coloring. Eats shoots and leaves."

Why does the lecturer think the Famous Panda is delicious?


texts:
My teacher told me that the word "Run!" is a sentence.
Can anyone explain why this is considered a sentence?
Does it mean any action verb can become a sentence?
Like dance, eat, or jump?


texts: The use of "with" in the sentence "The tone with which he spoke drained Rhonin of all animosity"

texts:
The tone with which he spoke drained Rhonin of all animosity - Warcraft: War of the Ancients #1

Why did "with" placed in the position like this? As my personal's knowledge the word "with" can be deleted, without any change in the meaning of the sentence. Am I right?


texts:
He said, "I was asleep when the postman came."

He said that he was asleep when postman came.

Can you clarify to me why the sentence in the reported-speech form is not transformed in the past perfect? The information was given in the past. The very event about which we are informed than in the more distant past so why is there no tense change? Why do not we apply here the rules for backshifting?


texts: At or in? What's the difference? Which is more preferable?

texts:
Which one is correct and what's the difference?

What would you say if someone asked you what you were doing yesterday:

  I was shopping at a convenience store yesterday.

  I was shopping in a convenience store yesterday.

  I was doing the shopping at a convenience store yesterday.

  I was doing the shopping in a convenience store yesterday.

or what you did yesterday:

  I did the shopping at a convenience store yesterday.

  I did the shopping in a convenience store yesterday.


texts:
With formal writing

Should we keep or omit "that"? or Is it optional?

  Is there anything  (that) happened (that) you particularly remember?


texts: the food the church cooks vs the church-cooked food

texts:
The church in my neighborhood cooks and gives free food to everyone every Sunday. I am going to make up two similar sentences below.

(1) I like the church-cooked food more than home-cooked food.

(2) I like the food the church cooks more than home-cooked food.

Which one is idiomatic or neither?


texts:
I had an english exam (multiple choice) recently and there was a question which was something like this:

  A. He was so tired that he couldn’t do the homework

  B. He was too tired that he couldn’t do the homework

  C....

  D.....

I had to choose the answer which is grammatically correct, the answer that my school marked was A, however I think both A and B sound natural.

Do you agree?


texts:
A: I work as a teacher.
B: You good at it?
A: I do okay, for the most part/mostly.
Questions:

Is "I do okay" natural here?

Is "for the most part" and "mostly" interchangeable here? Which is the more natural choice according to you?


texts:
I want to write a sentence and say something like this:

  After these, X, Y and Z are respectively preferred.

The main purpose is to say that these are the things which are preferred :
1. A
2. B
3. C
4. X
5. Y
6. Z

Which  is correct?  "preferred respectively" or "respectively preferred" ?

More Context:

For A, B and C I used this sentence: The research showed that most coaches prefer A, B and C.


texts: "I'll play your game, you rogue." What does this mean?

texts:
I'll play your game, you rogue.

  I'm on to you, Trebek!

  Come on, you nancy boy!

I found these used as some kind of meme. So I googled them but only to have found that those came from SNL Celebrity Jeopardy! which I've never seen once. Could anyone be kind to tell me what are those meaning and why they are funny and when to use them, please?


texts: Which of the following sentence is/are correct

texts:
He like me is an engineer.
  He likes me as an engineer.
  He as I am is an engineer.

I am pretty confused with these sentences. Which of these make sense? What's their meaning?


texts:
In the following sentence, can I use the zero article before 'important means' instead of 'an'?

  Newspapers are still (an) important means of communication.


texts: "can not show up" v. "can not to show up"

texts:
You don't get that choice. Yeah, you can not show up, and you might have a flexible work environment, but there's still the social pressure of, 'My desk is sitting empty while everybody else's in the office.'”
  Source

Methinks the latter is correct. I cannot find anything with regards to using to after can not in any dictionary.

Is there any rule with regards to the usage of to with not after a modal verb? If so, does it apply in the same manner to can not and cannot or can't? With respect to the quoted sentence there would a semantic difference between can not show up and cannot show up, and this difference, in turn, makes me think that I should use to after can not.


texts:
I have some confusion about the grammar of the following sentence:
"He was performing the same steps like her/hers/as she/her/hers.
What should be the actual correct sentence structure here?

He was performing the same steps like her.
He was performing the same steps as she
He was performing the same steps like hers.

My intuition says it could be either "He was performing the same steps as she(was)"  or "He was performing the same steps like her" since I read  somewhere that "as" is used whenever there is some hidden verb in a sentence. In this case, it's "perform". For example: "He can't play cricket as he used to". And "like", a preposition, is always used whenever there is a comparison between things/people etc.
Please help me get rid of this confusion.
Thank you very much.


texts: What is the word that describes the absence of bureaucracy?

texts: What is the word which describes the absence of formless, of long procedure with bureaucrats? I was thinking about formsless but it sounds weird...


texts:
I encountered the bold (see below)  here.  Google Books attests to its use in the 21st century.

Source: p 191, Lord Chesterfield and His World, 1935, by Samuel Shellabarger PhD (Harvard)

  One likes to think of him especially in the little village
  of Spa, installed at the Court Of London or the Golden Sun,
  treated with the deference due his rank, but mingling affably with
  the genteel throng of Bobelins depicted by Baron von Pöllnitz in his
  diverting book."36

I can't pinpoint why, but the bold sounds wrong grammatically. I am guessing that here, due is an adjective (and NOT an adverb).    Shouldn't a preposition be placed between due and his rank
(eg due FOR his rank)?

I read the totality of the OED entry for due, but it didn't resolve my confusion.


texts: a word for "not in a satisfactory standard, but bearable"?

texts:
I have a laptop bought five years ago, though it gets very slow and has many unnecessary programs running, it can still work.
How am I supposed to describe this?
Can I say "it can barely work"? Does that sound more like I can not live with it?

Edit:
Sorry for the ambiguity, but actually I'm looking for an expression that's more like "thought it has such problems, but I can still live with it".


texts: Do Americans pronounce "do you" as something like "dia" or "d'ya"?

texts:
I heard some Americans talking and they said something like dia/d'ya instead of do you.

For example:

  What time do you have

was said something like

  what time dia/d'ya have

is that correct please?


texts:
I think I have seen both

Our space is three dimensional.
Our space is of three dimensional.

Are these both correct? If so what is the difference between them?


texts:
I came across a TV show dialogue.

I couldn't find lots taken in any dictionaries. I guess it means I care and I was insulted but my Chinese subtitle means I don't care, it's okay.

None taken is generally used to reply to No offense. I believe None taken is an antonyms of Lots taken. Could you please correct me? Thanks.

**NO OFFENCE** - A phrase added to an otherwise insulting statement.

You say "no offense" right before or after you say
something that is insulting.

"No offense" allows you to say just about anything you want about anyone.

It is sometimes followed up by "none taken."

The recipient of the original comment says "none taken"
to signal that they were not insulted.

Context: Kelsey and Liza are friends. Thad is Kelsey's boyfriend. Josh is Liza's boyfriend

  Kelsey: We're gonna see that guy that Liza's been seeing, Josh. We're
  gonna go see Josh at his tattoo parlor in Brooklyn, and we're all
  gonna get tattoos.

  Thad: Babe, you know I don't do Brooklyn. No offense.

  Liza: Lots taken.


texts: Which verbs call for "to" and which don't?

texts:
What is the rule which explains the next differences:

I offer (without "to") somebody to do something
I promise (without "to") somebody to do something

Yet, we'll say:

I'm talking to you

Where can I check the list of verbs which call for "to" and which don't?


texts: "He blew it on packing" - what does "blow" mean here?

texts:
"He blew it on packing"

What does "blow" mean here?

I tried to locate a dictionary that would make sense in this context, but I failed. It is a sentence a character in a TV show said, meaning that her husband did not really pack what was needed.

Could you please explain the meaning and most importantly, point me to the right dictionary entry?

EDIT: I guess I cannot use that with a verb, so "on" is used here to express what exactly he blew? I have always seen that only with nouns (as in, He blew his chance, or He blew the game).


texts:
Are these quoted sentences grammatically correct?

  That is why the businesses attach great importance to the
  possibility of using ...
  Many IT companies in their applications appreciates the benefits of
  using cloud computing.

I am wondering if "businesses", "firms" and "companies" can be used interchangeably? Which one sounds better?


texts:
What is the difference in meaning between "have a seat" and "get a seat" in the following sentence

:: source :  Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by JUDITH VIORST

  In the car pool Mrs. Gibson let Becky have a seat by the window.
  Audrey and Elliott got seats by the window too.

?

What is the difference in meaning between "Mrs. Gibson let Becky have a seat by the window" and "Mrs. Gibson let Becky get a seat by the window" ?

What is the difference in meaning between "Audrey and Elliott got seats by the window" and "Audrey and Elliott had seats by the window"


texts:
Could someone please help me with the meaning of this sentence?

"Nate shivered like they’d just been hit by a blast from a quick-freezer."


texts: "Maybe", or "may be"? What is the correct one in this sentence?

texts: "She maybe/may be the principal, but I have a job to teach you," said Mr. Brown in a conversation to his foreign students in an old TV program, Mind Your Language, regarding a call from his principal, Ms. Courtney. I am not sure what he said, maybe (probably) or may be (could be). In this case, he knew exactly who she was, so no doubt to Mr. Brown is guessing her position. So, which one is the correct one? And what is the reason for saying so?


texts:
And then had come the unlooked-for tidings of the imminent proceedings
  for divorce. And such a divorce! There were cross-suits and
  allegations and counter-allegations, charges of cruelty and desertion,
  everything in fact that was necessary to make the case one of the most
  complicated and sensational of its kind. And the number of
  distinguished people involved or cited as witnesses not only embraced
  both political parties in the realm and several Colonial governors,
  but included an exotic contingent from France, Hungary, the United
  States of North America, and the Grand Duchy of Baden. Hotel
  accommodation of the more expensive sort began to experience a strain
  on its resources. "It will be quite like the Durbar without the
  elephants," exclaimed an enthusiastic lady who, to do her justice, had
  never seen a Durbar.

from http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/UnkiBlow802.shtml

What is "the Durbar without the elephants"?


texts: In English we use the adjective "saltless" to describe a food with "no salt"; but I need to know whether there is a particular adjective for a food which doesn't have "enough" salt? (i.e. intentionally for diet / or when a cook forgets to sprinkle enough salt etc.)


texts:
I am making a test where I am asked to add the missing words.

  [...] chair is [...] useful piece of furniture.

I would have said that a is the missing word in both the cases, but the test says the words I should have added are the and a respectively.

  [...] last time I saw [...] bear, I was travelling in [...] Europe.

I would have added: nothing, a, nothing. The correct answer is: the, a, nothing.

Why is the the correct article to use in both the sentences?


texts:
"when was he a teacher?"

"when wasn't he a teacher?"

"when is he a teacher?"

"when isn't he a teacher?"

Are these questions grammatical and idiomatic?


texts:
(1) Do you know any friends of hers?
  (2) Do you know those friends of hers?
  (3) Do you know a friend of hers?

Both in (1) and (2), ‘hers’ seems to be ‘her friends.’ But in (3), is it ‘her friend’ or ‘her friends’? If ‘of hers’ has a meaning of ‘among the set of her friends,’ it would be the latter. While if it has a meaning of ‘that is her friend’, it would be the former. But this so called double genitive (CGEL,p.46, fn. 63) makes me wondered.


texts: Is there a difference between "with time" and "over time"?

texts: Student's vocabulary knowledge is a building process which occurs ______ (with time/over time). Which one is correct here? Or the both is correct?


texts: Does the expression "there's a while" exist?

texts:
This doubt have been bugging me for a while.
Does the expression "there's a while" exists? The meaning of it would be something like "it have been happening for a few minutes" or "for some time" but a short time, examples:

1 - There's a while he is staring at me. = He has been staring at me for a few minutes.
2 - There's a while she's playing with the dog. = She has been playing with the dog for some time.

I searched everywhere, but couldn't find anything about it. I swear I saw/listened to it somewhere. Does anyone know anything about it?


texts: How to find out whether an adjective is for one or two words after it?

texts:
Scholars of religion have traced the cross-pollination of modern Hindu and Buddhist traditions with the language of “experience”. (Source)

Is modern an adjective for both Hindu and buddhist traditions or only for Hindu tradition? How can one know that?


texts:
He has never experienced joy, sadness and anger with such a great passion.
  He has never experienced joy, sadness, nor anger with such passion before.”

What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?


texts:
I want to enroll in college.

  I want to enroll myself in college.

Enroll or enroll myself if I want to study at a college when I talk to the receptionist?


texts: Should I say "I don't know" or "That I don't know"?

texts: When someone asks a question, is the reply, "That I don't know" correct? Or is the simpler "I don't know" a more correct or proper response?


texts: Am I interpreting the difference correctly? "being + [past participle]" vs. "[past participle]" in context

texts:
Consider these two self-made sentences below.

Being armed with previous experiences, I decided to check the map at every crossroad.
Armed with previous experiences, I decided to check the map at every crossroad.

My interpretation
I think inserting "being" before the past participle just adds a sense of momentariness to the participle clause. I mean it gives a sense of being a continuous action at the moment. I am confused about the difference between the two :(
Would you tell me what is the difference?

I've also checked the Q&A Past participle vs being+past participle, but I cannot come up with a solid answer about my question after reading the long answer there.


texts: First conditional or second conditional?

texts:
Which is more correct to combine the following two sentences with 'if': first or second conditional?

He won't study hard, so he won't get high marks.

Thanks.


texts: Which sentence is better between “I’m OK.” and “That’s OK.”

texts:
I'd like to know the simple expressions without offending others when I'm offered some help by friends, acquaintances or stangers. This is one example. Someone offers me help when I'm carrying a bag saying " Can I help you with your bag?" Another example is when I'm doing the preparation for the party, someone says " Do you need any help?"
 When I think I can manage, what sentence can I use?  There seem to be several possible phrases as follows.  Could you tell me the difference of these phrases?

  Thank you, but I’m good.
  Thank you, but I’m OK.
  Thank you, but I’m fine.
  Thank you, but that’s OK.


texts: Is it natural to say "If I WROTE this" right BEFORE you write it?

texts:
I've seen someone quoted this (here) from CGEL:

  As with open conditionals, all combinations of protasis and apodosis times are possible.
  3) "If I went tomorrow, I would have more time in Paris." [a future remote conditional]

Since it says 'remote', I can assume the use of this past form with 'tomorrow' is to say something can't be fulfilled anymore, which means the 'closed/unreal/ conditional, so I have no problem with this.

Now I've seen a native speaker wrote this:

  (......) if I wrote this sentence: "What if I drew (......)" You would interpret it as me (......)

I want to know if it's common to use the past form in your if-clause (grammatically in the form of the so-called 'closed/unreal' conditional) even when you mean to show doing it right after saying it. (I am wondering if it's because s/he was explaining the use of the past form with the if-clause, the writer simply attempted to use the same form even though it's not natural and actually very much causing us learners confused.)

All I want to know is if it's natural and common to you, native speakers.
Thank you.


texts:
What is the another way of to express "in the amount of"?

Especially while use in the money case

ie. I spend my money out of my pocket in the amount of 100 dollars.


texts:
I'm pretty clear about using subject or object version of pronouns.
While writing a line, I naturally wrote it in this way -

Your and my grandparents had grown listening to this piece of music.

But then, as I read, it looked incorrect. Then I tried this:

Yours and mine grandparents had grown . . . "

It looked even worse!
These are possessive cases, but still I'm confused what to use and why?
What confuses me is my own rule of breaking the sentence in two and decide what fits. If I break, it appears that . . .

Your grandparents + my grandparents = *Your and my grandparents had . . . *

What if I use possessive pronoun 'yours' this way?

"The grandparents of yours and mine had grown up . . . "

'yours' is used when the speaker refers to 'your things'. But then this particular sentence is baffling me! Because I'm the speaker and the sentence includes my possession as well!

Okay, we have 'our' as 'you' and 'I', but then the question is about using proper pronouns.
What if you tried this:

Your and her grandparents...

Or...

Yours and her grandparents...

Or...

Yours and hers grandparents...


texts:
Would you tell me what does "had to do with something" mean?

I know what does "have to do with" mean but I can not get the meaning of ""had to do with"".


texts:
I have read this news about a cyclone in "The Hindu"  news paper of India

Officials at the regional Meteorological centre in Kolkata on sunday issues warnings that squally winds of 40_50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph are very likely to prevail over North Bay of Bengal and along and off Odisha WestBengal Bangladesh coasts from the evening of May24. "It would gradually increase further becoming 90_100 gusting to 110 kmph from 26th morning and increase thereafter becoming 155_165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph at the time of landfall till 26th afternoon" a special bulletin issued by the IMD late on Sunday evening said.

My doubt here is why would is used there??  Shouldn't we will there?? So what  is the difference between usage of will and would usage???


texts: how can I use both of them correctly (dismal vs hapless)

texts:
dismal is sad and without hope
hapless is out of luck

how can I use both of them correctly ?


texts: Is it natural to say "Most Americans loving baseball is a stereotype"

texts:
Consider the conversation.

A: "Most Americans love baseball."

B: "It's a stereotype."

I suppose they are natural. Is it still natural if I combine them into one sentence like this.

Most Americans loving baseball is a stereotype.


texts:
Are there, between these two forms, different meanings ?

They are split up into small pieces.
They are splitted up into small pieces.

If they are the same, which is more common ?

EDIT - Google ngram for "splitted up":
https://goo.gl/hsftzC


texts: What is the grammatical function of "for" in "For it breaches countless generations of human social arrangements"?

texts:
Yet it is amazing that this deal works at all – however imperfectly. For it breaches countless generations of human social arrangements.
  ––Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari, pg. 359-60
  (via: http://www.words-and-dirt.com/words/quote-10-30-2015/)

What grammatical function does "for" in the sentence have?
And I'm not sure what the last sentence is talking about also.


texts: She fell off her bike three times this week vs She has fallen off her bike three times this week

texts:
The book I'm studying gives as the correct answer the following sentence :

She fell off her bike three times this week.

Is present perfect simple incorrect in this case? (She has fallen over three times this week)


texts:
If I have to say the following idea,

  I am pleased to submit our manuscript entitled “ABC” for consideration of publication in PQR Journal.
  I wish to submit this manuscript under the theme issue of XYZ.

in a complete sentence, is the following construct acceptable?

  I am pleased to submit our manuscript entitled “ABC” for consideration
  of publication in PQR Journal under the theme issue of XYZ.

I am in doubt because I've omitted the clauses.


texts: does it make sense to say: "you can add more if it was needed"

texts:
I was talking about cooking in my English class and then realized that one of my sentences sounds weird to me.

Later you can add more salt if it was needed.

Does it make any sense to say "if it was needed"? Is that correct?


texts: How to use the word "cabin" and make sure you're referring to the sleeping place in a boat/ship?

texts:
Example sentence:

  He rented a __ room in a Japanese Internet cafe.

If you write cabin, there could be two way of seeing it: that the room was shaped like the sleeping place of a boat (which is the intended meaning) or that it's shaped like the room in a cabin in the forest.

Is there a less ambiguous word or a clearer way of phrasing it?


texts: Alluding to already Narrated Past Simple events in Past Perfect

texts:
Please, read the following quote:

  I finally finished tidying about 3 a.m. (after I moved the furniture) and a few minutes later I
  was fast asleep. I woke up suddenly at 8 a.m.  I had arranged to meet my parents at the airport at 8.30 a.m. but I hadn't set the alarm!

If moving the furniture which was already narrated in the story was one of the causes of the current distressing state, can I still refer to it using the past perfect tense? i.e something like "I hadn't set the alarm and had moved the furniture"? or it is a choice because it's already mentioned in the story in clear order?

This was a comment on my previous post "Reference Time, Coordinating Conjunctions and Past Simple/Perfect Tense" which was answered gratefully by @StoneyB, but it is a different question.


texts: The difference between "an old, old vine" and "an old vine"

texts:
The following sentence is from "The Last Leaf" by O. Henry.

  An old, old ivy vine, gnarled and decayed at the roots, climbed half way up the brick wall.

Why did the writer use "an old, old vine" instead of "an old vine"?


texts: The name of a bike from a dockless bike share company?

texts:
I need a word that means the bike I ride, and the bike is one provided by a dockless bike-share company like Ford Gobike or something.
The context would be:

I ride a ** bike.
I prefer the ** bike by company A to that by company B

And etc.
I have searched the Internet but can only find the bike share program and don't know if there exists an exact name for such bikes. Maybe shared bike?


texts: "Did you pay to have the Screecher beat up?"

texts:
I'm a little bit confused with this phrase.
i understand the meaning but I can't understand it grammatically.
What is the rule in English of this part "to have the Screecher beat up?"
I thought it can be related with "have smb to do smth" but looks like it is not...

Thank you a lot.


texts:
In my country, when conditions of a bet (a dare) are sealed, the two parties shake hands. If there's a third, neutral party serving as a witness/judge of the bet/dare, they "cut" it - lower extended hand like a blade (chopping motion) onto the two connected hands, "cutting the bond", breaking the handshake.

How is this act called in English? Is such custom even practised in any anglophone countries?


texts: Is there any difference in pronunciation of 'wore' and 'were'?

texts:
'Were' and 'wore' sound the same to me.
Is it true at native english users' ears?
from dictionary: [wɔ:r] for wore and  [wə́:r] for were


texts: "remediate an issue" vs "remedy an issue"

texts: Are the phrases "remediate an issue" and "remedy an issue" both correct, and are they synonymous?


texts:
I am reading the book The Story of Philosophy and came to this sentence describing Socrates' nose as "a broad and flowery", I have no idea what a flowery nose looks like, I know Socrates looks not very pleasing though. The book made that quite clear.

Thank you very much.

Below is the complete sentences:
If we may judge from the bust that has come down to us as part of the ruins of ancient sculpture, Socrates was as far from being handsome as even a philosopher can be. A bald head, a great round face, deep-set staring eyes, a broad and flowery nose that gave vivid testimony to many a Symposium—it was rather the head of a porter than that of the most famous of philosophers.


texts:
Is this sentence redundant?

The same goes for me as well.

Since we are already using "the same," I feel like "as well" is unnecessary.


texts: Is there an idiom that means that you are set up to be very successful? If there's no such idiom can you think of an idiom that means something similar related to success or something else? I am thinking of using the idiom in an essay about business success.


texts:
"Emma, please, some funds." "How much, Jack?" she said. He
  turned to me. "Do you owe much rent?" "Too much," I said.
  "Make it three hundred, Emma," he said. "Never mind," he said as
  I showed my surprise at the sum. "This will pay your debts and buy you
  clothing. Call me in the morning and I'll have selected your
  living quarters. For a start your salary will be sixty dollars a
  week." (Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man)

‘Would’ can be used for talking about either an incident that will happen after speech time or after a past reference time. In the example, ‘I’d have selected’ can be used instead of ‘I’ll have selected,’ if we ignore the semantic difference between the two –– I guess the former puts some more psychological distance from the future event when they are saying. Is there some wrong in this?


texts: Help me understand these sentences - warned them....or warned about

texts:
I don't know whether these 2 sentences have any differences and which of them is right?

The first sentence is:

  I warned them not to cross the river

The second one is:

  I warned about crossing the river.

Would you mind explaining me clearly please?


texts: What is the difference between "He was good at Geography" and "He is poor in Geography"?

texts: Why it can't be "He is poor at Geography"


texts: Root for the underdogs or Root for the underdog

texts:
She likes to root for the underdogs

She likes to root for the underdog

I'm confused to decide which form to use here, plural or singular !


texts: Should I say "It's better for me to talk BY / ON / IN English"

texts:
What's better for you as a native English speakers?
If for example you see someone who knows 2 languages, but you understand English only. Then you want to talk the language that's considered understandable for you. Here are the options:

  "It's better for me to talk by / on / in English"

or to say simply

  "It's better for me to talk English" (without any prepositions)