texts:
in a Persian to English translation exam, I wrote "a fictional tale" but the answer was "a fanciful tale".

I searched the meaning of "fictional" and "fanciful". I couldn't find the difference between them. So, do "a fanciful tale" and "a fictional tale" have the same meaning? If they have not, what is the difference?


texts: Active sentences with an immediate passive insertion

texts:
I am confused about the usage and the correctness of the passive structure here. My question is if the sentence sounds ok. If there is anything wrong with the sentence, please highlight that so that I don't repeat the mistake.

  It will also be one of my duties that I make sure that customers are getting satisfied with the financial advice being given to them.


texts:
I am writing an essay and would appreciate a little help with the language.

  Social science is the knowledge (about the world) that would not have existed had human not existed.

  Social science is the knowledge (about the world) that would not have existed if human does not exist.

Are they both grammatically correct? How to phrase it better?


texts:
Here are some interrogative statements which are right/wrong (both in American and British English).

Right-

  What took you so long?
  Who killed my friend?
  What disease took away my dog?
  Who committed treason against his country?
  What language has the vowel 'oe'?
  What language does not have the vowel 'oe'?

Wrong-

  What did take you so long?
  Who did kill my friend?
  What disease did kill my dog?
  Who did commit treason?
  What language does have the vowel 'oe'?

Correct me if I am wrong. What grammatical rule each of these interrogative sentences falls into? Hold on a second, I suddenly realized something.

  6) Right- What rule each of these sentences falls into?
    6) Wrong- What rule does each of these sentences fall into?

  7) Right- Which one of you wants to go to prison?
   7) Wrong- Which one of you does want to go to prison?

Is this rule called third person “wh” question? What is this rule?


texts: what is releation between Bolded text and "our capacity to..."?

texts:
According to Jim Whitman, ‘the weight of evidence is that our capacity to produce unwanted and sometimes dangerous conditions on a global scale is running greatly in excess of our deliberative and control mechanisms’.
Human societies are ‘manufacturing’ new global security risks at a faster rate than existing institutions can cope.

what he wants to say? does he wants to say that our dangerous capacity is more than our deliberative capacity for world?


texts: Meaning of the word "blue" in song lyrics

texts:
Can anybody tell me what the word "blue" means here?
And how can it make the protagonist get high/low?

Little girl, little girl
You should close your eyes
That blue is getting me high
And making me low

I found out that there is an English verb "to blue" which doesn't really make sense here. Maybe it refers to her blue eyes and getting high has to do with love.
That's what I thought so far.
Find source here.


texts: Meaning of a sentence from Not About Angles

texts:
We know full well there's just time.

I can't understand the meaning of this sentence.

Does it mean there's only one time or there just remains a little time?

Is this phrase common?

Another question is about the adverbs full and well coming together after the verb know.

Is it exclusive to the verb to know? Can they come after any verb?

And what do they mean mean?


texts:
What are the rules regarding the use of too and also? I have read some relevant answers, but none made it clear.

If someone says "my phone is working", what should I reply?

Mine is working too
Mine is working also


texts:
When trying to substitute “subconscious, conscious” with the word “selves” in the following definition:

Meditation- the art of becoming one with your subconscious & conscious.

...become one with yourselves
...become one with yourselfs’
...become one with your-selves
Or none of the above ::smh::

Also, is one capitalized?

My thought process: We want to show that we have ownership of our varying lvls of multiple states of  consciousness. Does the compound vs hyphenated vs no hyphen really make a big difference?


texts: Why do we say I have receding gum instead of saying I have recessed gum. I know receding is acting as a gerund, but if we have recessed , why do we have receding? Could you give more than one example, please?


texts: Is it approperiate to use months abbreviations in academic writing?

texts:
Is it appropriate to use months abbreviations in academic writing? For example:

  As of Aug. 2015, the program usage hit 50%


texts:
Assume that P(A) >0. Can one express this as follows?

The event A has positive probability;
The event A is of positive probability;
The probability of A is positive?


texts: I have seen subjects names like "Cognitive Sciences" are wrote both with and without capitals, like "cognitive sciences". Are there a criteria to this respect?


texts: Why does "will" go before a noun in this sentence?

texts:
Why does "will" go before the word "Twitter" while there's no question?

  Under no circumstances will Twitter be liable in any way for any Content...


texts:
The road is quite uphill / upslope all the way between A and B.

(here A and B are name of two places)

Are the words uphill and upslope and their opposite downhill and downslope respectively fine?

Thank you.


texts: Never give up on your hope vs Never give up your hope

texts:
Never give up on your hope, whatever hardships you face.
Never give up your hope whatever hardships you face.

What's the difference between the two sentences in meaning? Are both 2 grammatically correct?


texts:
I've just learnt about inversion and I'm not sure if it can be used in sentences which are in present simple or past simple. Can the two following sentences I made be inverted?

Original sentence:

  1a. The lawn was mowed yesterday.

Inverted sentence:

  1b. Yesterday was the lawn mowed.

Original sentence:

  2a. The streets are cleaned at night in Germany.

Inverted sentence:

  2b. In Germany are the streets cleaned at night.

I also think that my problem can be that I'd like to invert passive sentences. I'm quite confused.


texts: is the sentence I have posted in the body a complete sentence?

texts: May will be the first month post-board match messaging, updating on the state of NYC jobless rates and the conditions that are still being seen today.


texts:
For example:

  I shall clean the room today.

or

  I will clean the room today.

I am thinking "will" and "shall" are used differently when asking someone to do something. For e.g. Will you do the dishes? "Shall" cannot replace in this context.


texts: Let's say it is the end of a class and the teacher wants to dismiss the students. Is natural to say you are free? Would it be more natural to say you can go? Anyway what would a native English teacher say?


texts: What does 'through a mouthful of nails' mean here?

texts:
Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot. "See" he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up." "I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon"

It's from Harry potter, and I'm not sure if 'mouthful of nails' here means 'Uncle Vernon's mouth was full of nails' or.. Does it have something completely different meaning? Cause I thought it's strange if someone is stuffing his mouth with nails.


texts: Is "I will back myself up myself" correct?

texts:
Can I say "I will back myself up myself". I want to use the first myself to refer to "I" (myself) and want to use the second "myself" to emphasize "I" as the subject of a sentence.

I want to say that no one backed me up and I backed myself up myself (on my own). Is that sentence correct?

As cambridge english dictionary has given definitions of "myself".


texts: No "to" for "second" infinitives? Use "bare" infinitive after another infinitive?

texts:
In the following sentence, why is the crossed-out
"to" unnecessary? Would it be wrong to include to?

  It seemed all they could do to survive was to run to the bridge.


texts:
What is the acceptable phrase?

No have enough seats
Don't have enough seats


texts: A specific sentence makes me confused on Singular and plural

texts:
a.1) John and Sam are friend.
  a.2) John and Sam are friends.

Now if you say (a.2) is correct and (a.3) then what about (b.1),

  b.1) John and Liza are couple.

Consider another example,

  c.1) John and Sam both are smart.

I want to ask you about the correct rule for such sentence construction.

  If I made any grammatical mistake in the question then please mention it in comment


texts: Is it fine to say "completely" to lay stress on relativity of something

texts:
Please note the wording bellow.

  It seems completely relatively great but actually its final impact is
  not that great.

Or

  Relatively speaking, It completely seems great but actually its final impact is
  not that great.

Do they sound natural?


texts: Why article are different, "to have the sniffles" and "to have a cold"

texts:
As far as I know "the" is used something already mentioned.

Why do you use "to have the sniffels"?
I don't get why these two expressions use different articles.


texts:
Hermione gasped. Harry and Ron wheeled round.  Snape was
  standing there.  "Good afternoon," he said smoothly.  They
  stared at him.  "You shouldn't be inside on a day like this," he
  said, with an odd, twisted smile.  "We were ––" Harry began,
  without any idea what he was going to say.  "You want to be more
  careful," said Snape. "Hanging around like this, people will think
  you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any
  more points, can it?"
      Harry flushed. They turned to go outside, but Snape called them back.
      "Be warned, Potter –– any more nighttime wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you."   (Harry
  Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

Why is the be verb is plain form?


texts:
Lucky, she thought, that he was not aware of it.

This sentence is from a Korean grammar text that I read in my old school days. It’s translation - 그가 그것을 눈치채지 못한 것은 다행이라고 그녀는 생각했다 - is just like this pattern: [She] [thought] [him / kind and generous] (OALD).
Is it really “[She] [thought] [that he was not aware of it / lucky]” structure?
Or “It was lucky, she thought, that he was not aware of it” something?


texts:
I thought this was absolutely brilliant on the Salvation Army’s part! People are more willing to support the men and women who protect us, no matter what line of work they are in. And who doesn’t like hearing bagpipes play on Christmas – there’s just something very Christmas-like about them. While not exactly an ad, this probably helped bring in more donations for the Salvation Army.

I know that  is  a Christmas-themed album fro,enter link description here

but here I can understand it in this sentence.


texts: do/ conduct a physical examination (I'm the patient, which verb should I use?)

texts:
In order to apply for a working visa, I need to _____ a physical
  examination and send the results to the department of immigrantion.

Which verb should I use?

I think the doctor perform/ do the physical examination, not me, I'm the patient.

So I don't know which verb I should use in the above sentence.


texts:
Between on and upon, which word better suits in the context of the following sentence.

The impression the victim made on / upon me when he testified was that of a witness of truth

I intend to impress a statement that the witness is a truthful witness.


texts: "It's two kilometres" or "It's two kilometres far." Are they both correct?

texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "It's two kilometres far" or "town B is two kilometres far from town A?" Usually, we just omit the 'far.' But if we keep it in there, it's still correct right? My students are learning this grammar, and I want to teach it correctly!


texts:
I have a question regarding 'any' as   'it's not important which one'.

While i can say:

  I can recognise any mushroom in the forest

or:

  I can heal any dog you bring me (a vet!)
  I can drive any car

It just doesn't seem to work with the verb 'know'  e.g.:

  I know any kid in the school.
  I know any colour on the pantone.

It's driving me crazy... do you know why? And if so would you be so kind as to tell me?


texts: Is "to and fro" a more general way of saying "from side to side"?

texts:
I feel like saying:

  "The old ship swung to and fro, because of the billowing waves."

is almost synonymous to:

  "The old ship swung from side to side, because of the billowing
  waves."

Of course the difference being "swung to and fro" can mean "back and forth" or "from side to side", but aside being a little more general, it can be "synonymous" in certain context? Am I wrong to say this? What are the other differences I haven't picked up?


texts:
I made these sentences.

I lived in northeast US.
I lived in northeastern US.
I lived in the northeast of US.
I lived in northeastern area.
I lived in northeast area.
I lived in the northeast part of the country.
I lived northeast.
I lived northeastern country.

Are the sentences correct? Sometimes, I am not quite sure about how to use northeast vs northeastern, and also various forms of these. And are there any other possible forms besides those above?


texts: "As of now", is it possible to distinguish between the meanings?

texts:
I am quite puzzled as not even native speakers can agree whether "as of now" means "currently" or "from now on".
Looking in the dictionaries:

(Oxford) As from (of) - Used to indicate the time or date from which something starts.
(Cambridge) As of/from - starting from a particular time or date.

However, when I look up just "as" in the Cambridge dictionary, one of the entries reads:

As of: at a particular date or time. The following examples are provided:

  The data is correct as of May 13. (also it might be invalid on the previous and the next day, but it represent the situation as it was on May 13)

  This issue may need attention later
  but, as of now, we are happy with the decision that we have taken. (I think here it is clear from the context that "at present" is meant).

So apparently, both meaning can be correct but I am not sure if the listeners always interpret it the same way. My examples:

The new policy is effective as of now. (I mean from now on)
As of now, we have three suspects (I mean presently, at this moment - not sure it can be even understood differently)
As of now, you can use tools as I will not be needing them. (I mean from now on).

I suspect maybe the position in the sentence matters, but not sure. How should I know what the speaker means?


texts:
There’s currently four hundred and twenty-three post-employed people
living inside it, eighty-six of them children.

Does it mean unemployed or fired or something else?
Fuller text:

‘We’re protesting the proposal to clear the Oxford Building. There’s
currently four hundred and twenty-three post-employed people living
inside it, eighty-six of them children. Neither Lexdell nor the city
have offered any reasonable plan regarding their relocation.’

This is taken from Klara and the Sun a science fiction novel by  Kazuo Ishiguro  which can be found on google books)


texts:
He puts his administration at risk if he doesn't come through on these promises for reform.
  He puts his administration at stake  if he doesn't come through on these promises for reform.

I am wondering whether at stake can replace at risk in this scenario to express the administration will be in danger of losing its credibility and been overturned.


texts: What does "... somebody who's gonna call you out " mean?

texts:
I am trying to understand the meaning of the following sentence, but I don't find in the dictionary what "call somebody out" means in this case, since the only meanings given from the OALD are "to ask somebody to come, especially to an emergency" and "to order or advise workers to stop work as a protest" which don't seem to be the correct meaning in this case.

  In a relationship, you need somebody who's gonna call you out, not someone who's gonna let everything slide.

As side question, Google Translate translates "who's gonna" with che ha intenzione di ("who intends"). Is gonna ever used with that meaning, or is always another way of saying "going to"?


texts: "One knows not whether to laugh or cry" is it correct grammar?

texts:
I was reading the News and confused about this sentence : One knows not whether to laugh or cry

  Reading Justice Mahesh Chandra Sharma’s recent judgment, one knows not
  whether to laugh or cry. It is certainly a first in judicial history.

Is this sentence correct or not? If yes, what is the rule applied here?

I mean it should be : No one knows or One does not know.

Please explain.


texts:
I was reading this short article on "A Tour of Edinburgh" when I came to "The Royal Mile" and "John Knox's House".

As the article had not offered very much details about those places, I decided to go online to get some more information where I found out that both "John Knox House" and "John Knox's House" are acceptable forms.

My question is, why the one that doesn't use an apostrophe is still grammatically proper?


texts: Which is correct: "I would rather not" or "I would rather not to"?

texts:
Could you tell me if I need to include to in the following context?

Person A: How about you tell me how you managed to ruin my shirt?
Person B: I would rather not (to).

Is the use of to optional there?


texts:
He looks back at her, refusing to shrink from her very direct gaze.
  “David Paley,” he says, waiting for it. She’s a journalist, after all.
  They have no compunction about anything. He knows his weekend is about
  to be ruined.

What does the word "they" refer to? Does it generally refer to journalists? Or refers to Guen  and Riley?

The fuller text is:

  “You’re a defense attorney,” Gwen says, when the silence verges on
  becoming awkward. “Yes,” he says. Oddly, he can’t think of anything
  else to say. He finds that he’s tongue-tied. He’s not usually, but he
  can feel her friend[Riley] oozing barely veiled hostility, and it’s
  disconcerting. “That must be interesting,” Gwen says gamely. “And
  challenging. Although probably exhausting too.” “Yes,” he
  agrees[...]“Riley and I were at journalism school together. She’s with
  the New York Times.” He flicks a nervous glance at Riley, inwardly
  dismayed. “But I never actually worked as a journalist,” Gwen
  confides. “Is that right,” David says, his mind drifting from the
  conversation. “What do you do instead?” “I work in public relations
  for a small firm in New York City.” “And do you enjoy it?” But he is
  already thinking of an exit strategy. “For the most part,” she says.
  “It can be exciting, but it can also be a grind. Like a lot of jobs,
  it sounds more glamorous than it is.” They talk for a while, about
  nothing much. When they are about to start on coffee and
  dessert—English trifle and chocolate brownies have appeared on the
  long buffet table—Riley, slurring her words slightly, turns and looks
  directly at him and says, “I’ve been trying to place you—what did you
  say your name was again?” He looks back at her, refusing to shrink
  from her very direct gaze. “David Paley,” he says, waiting for it.
  She’s a journalist, after all. They have no compunction about
  anything. He knows his weekend is about to be ruined.


texts:
Most South Asians have a Toyota/Toyotas.
All of them have a red car/red cars.
It put a smile in their face/faces.
Both of them have a baby boy/baby boys.

In these sentences I'm not sure if I should use singular or plural. I've looked it up and most answers are mixed. Some say that both are possible and some prefer singular.
Which one's more natural in conversational English?


texts: "you didn't even start" or "you don't even start", when to use which?

texts:
My sister lost one of my books somewhere in the house a few days ago. Then I asked her to get it back.

I asked her just now about the book. She answered she didn't find it. I guess she didn't even start searching. Should I say

  you didn't even start searching, right?

or

  you don't even start searching, right?

I guess the first one is, if so, when should I use the last one?


texts: Phrase usage: Dipping ones toe (into sth.)

texts:
You start to grow by first dipping your toe.
Can this sentence be used as a motivational quote?
If dipping your toe into sth. means testing it out, carefully approaching it and growth is considered personal growth. Is it a legitimate sentence or dipping your toe can't go without into sth. in this context?


texts: Finger tips to add "es" and "s" to an action verb to convert a base form into a third person singular form

texts:
Please let me know, when we should add es or s to an action verb to convert a base form into a third person singular form? I meant to ask are there any finger tips we can follow?

Examples:

go = goes

Walk = walks


texts: What do you want us to do? / What do you want we should do?

texts:
Man 1: We need to do something.
Man 2: What do you want us to do? We can't do anything.
Is the emboldened response/question natural and does using "us" include Man 1? If not, would "What do you want we should do?" work better to include both of them?


texts: How do I find out if something is an initialism or an acronym?

texts: How do I find out if an abbreviation is an initialism, which means I need to put "the" before it, or an acronym, for which I don't need to? (If I don't know how it is pronounced)


texts:
Macmillan has only the entry Home Town.

Oxford also has only the entry Home Town (although all examples suggested have hometown written).

VERSUS

Cambridge has only the entry Hometown.
Microsoft Word keeps correcting me (I use BrE dictionary). It underlines Home town: I should write Hometown.

1) Which is the word I should use: Home Town or Hometown?

I've read here that:

Home town is used for “My home town is Flower Mound.” Home is modifying the noun, town.

Hometown is an adjective, as in “My hometown memories.”

2) Is this all right? Do both words exist, one as a noun and the other as an adjective? If it is the case, why the dictionaries don't have both entries?


texts: "has" vs "has been" or "have" vs "have been"

texts:
Could you please tell me the difference between "has" vs "has been".

For example:

  1) the idea has deleted

vs.:

  2) the idea has been deleted

What is the difference between these two?


texts: Lifted its hind leg on or lifted its hind leg towards?

texts:
The dog lifted its hind leg towards the fire hydrant.

I am not sure I like using the preposition "towards" in this sentence. I prefer "on", because it sounds nice, but I am not sure if it's correct at all. Is it correct? Why?


texts:
1）Tom went to the party with Mary yesterday.

2）It was Tom who/that went to the party with Mary yesterday.

3）It was Mary who/that Tom went to the party with yesterday.

Sentence 2 and 3 are emphatic sentences. In sentence 2, both "who" and "that" are appropriate. In sentence 3, some books say that only "that" is appropriate because we could use "who" if the emphatic element is a person and also functions as the subject of the original sentence (sentence 1), while some books say both "who" and "that" are appropriate.

I am wondering in sentence 3, whether "who" is correct or not.


texts: Present perfect or simple past, which one to use when a specific time is not mentioned?

texts:
Is there a specific time mentioned?

The Simple Past is used when the time is CLEAR:
They met on Sunday.
My birthday was last week.
John started his business after he graduated.
(We know exactly when.)

The Present Perfect is used when the time is NOT SPECIFIC:
They have met already.
I have celebrated my 20th birthday.
John has started his business.
(We don't know exactly when.)

I found the above info here and in some other books.

I concluded that there is a difference between using simple past and present perfect when the exact time is not specified, i.e. using simple past in this case is not considered correct form. The reason I concluded this way is that if they were interchangeably usable in the case of indefinite time in past, it should have been mentioned both tenses are usable. But there is not any such thing here.

Is this conclusion wrong, according to American English?


texts: Can the preposition 'in' be omitted here?

texts:
Here are two sentences.
1. What are you doing in here?
2. What are you doing here?

What is the difference between the two sentences? (between No,1 and No,2 sentences)

Is there any grammar to omit preposition like above?


texts: What are the differences between response and answer?

texts:
I have to mail-back someone and I wonder if I should rather say "Thanks for your quick answer" or "Thanks for your quick response".

Can you tell me what are the differences between answer and response? Which one is the right for me and when am I supposed to use the other one?


texts: "normal sleep","good night's sleep" or "night's sleep"

texts:
Given sentence:

  Researchers  say  that  normal  people  may  have  four  or  five  REM  periods  of  dreaming  a night.

  Question:

  Four or five REM periods of dreaming take place during a ................ sleep.

  Possible answers:

  normal
  night's
  good night's sleep

In my personal opinion, I will go for No.2#.
I think the word "normal" is only for "people" in the given sentence . The word "good night's sleep" is more natural, but the word "good" is not used in the given sentence.So I prefer No.2# to others.

Please share your possible answers with  me. Thanks in advance.


texts: Is the expression "sealed in" grammatically correct?

texts:
Three 100 dollar bills were placed in an envelope, and then the envelope was
  sealed.

I want to know whether it is possible to combine the two sentences above as follows:

  Three 100 dollar bills were sealed in an envelope.

I looked up some dictionaries, but I couldn't find the answer. It seems that this is grammatically incorrect as with the expression "water filled in a glass".


texts:
This is from an article in the New York Times.

  When I was in high school, we had a program called Alphabetization.
  High school seniors would volunteer to teach how to read and write to
  illiterate elders from the community. I participated in it during my
  senior year and taught many elders to joys of reading and math.
  Some of them were octogenarians, yet still had the desire to learn.

Is the 'to' a typo or right usage? I thought you can say 'I taught many elders joys of reading and math' or 'I taught joys of reading and math to many elders.'


texts: Which one is correct, "the attribution" or "an attribution"?

texts:
The attribution falls into two categories, the internal and the external.
An attribution falls into two categories, the internal and the external.
Attributions fall into two categories, the internal and the external.

Here the attribution means, according to Oxford dictionary that "the action or saying of regarding something as being caused by a person or thing."

Which of the three is correct when speaking IN GENERAL? Could you help me clarify it?


texts: Is "The customer experiences that the connection has been failed by unknown factor." grammatically correct?

texts:
For this sentence:

  "The customer experiences that the connection has been failed by unknown factor."

the following sound unnatural to me – but is it still grammatically correct?

  a. "The customer experiences that..."
  b. "...has been failed by..."


texts:
What is the meaning of "Tab" here?

Usage:  I seem to have mislaid my wallet; can you put this on my tab?

I researched on the word "tab" but none of them fits here.


texts:
Callie used to live in juvie. Recently she has been staying with her foster
  parents. On the first night, her foster Mom and she had the following
  conversation:

  Foster mom: I left some towels for you in the bathroom and do you have
  a toothbrush?
  Callie: No, I don't have a toothbrush. How would I
  have gotten a toothbrush?

  (from the TV Show Fosters)

I want to know if the bold part is a third conditional or not. I don't understand the use of would+have+p.p here.


texts: They followed their natural {bent | bents} - which word should be used?

texts:
They followed their natural bent/bents and their specializations are different.

In the sentence, which word should be used, bent or bents? In some dictionaries, "bent" is defined as singular usually. But I found "bents" in practical usage.


texts: What is the difference between done and finished?

texts: What is the different between "I am done" and "I am finished"? I mean, which of these phrases means "My life is finished" - the former or the latter? Or maybe none of them has such meaning? Can some of them mean "I am lost"?


texts:
How should I say:

  Why there is only one student there?

or

  Why is there only one student there?


texts: when in this expression "it has been a long time since "can we use present perfect"

texts:
why can't we say
it has been a long time since you have released a record (it has been a long time since you released a record is much better)
Actually you're talking about a point of time when the last record was released. Otherwise, your sentence won't make much sense - why would you say "It's been a long time since you released a new record" if you didn't imply the most recent one? that is what I was answered
why can i say
it has been a long time since you have eaten noodles or I have seen you, for me the point of time is the same, it was when I last ate noodles or when I last saw you  so it would be better to write since with past simple
when we say it has been a long time since the point of time is always when we last did something


texts:
I have a friend who values perfect attendance at school above all else. Even if she knows it by heart the class is so boring that she can't possibly learn anything from it, she will still show up in class and stick to the very end, instead of doing something else that produces a greater utility for her. I want to help her "get rid of the mindset of valuing perfect attendance too much". Is the expression in bold idiomatic (NATURAL)?
Here's my two cents for what it's worth:

get out of the mindset that overvalues perfect attendance.

or

change the mindset that overvalues perfect attendance.


texts: Where is the emphasis in "as well as" sentences?

texts:
"You cannot distrust your intuition as well as you cannot trust your ego."

which part of the 2 the writer here wants to stress out the importance more to the reader? that you should be careful of your ego or you should listen to your intuition? as well as stresses the precedent or the following parts?

thx


texts:
Look upon this sentence please:

"But again, truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you only need to look into a mirror."

Why "be"?
The sentence isn't in the subjunctive mood, because there's no appropriate verb/adjective needed to make a subjunctive mood in advance in the sentence. (like verbs, say, suggest, recommend, insist and adjectives like important, essential, imperative, crucial)
It's not an imperative one either.


texts:
What is meant to use "self" before a gerund or a verb?

for example self-writing, or self-reading, self-teaching or self-taught, self-learning?

I specifically want the meaning of self-reading, and to know how much it's common. I found a meaning for it in Merriam Webster as capable of being easily read. I would like the word if it means as mentioned and if not which work could have the same meaning?


texts: The difference in usage between "also" and "as well"

texts: What's the difference between "also" and "as well"? Is the difference just in that fact that as well is often used in the end of a sentense?


texts:
I would like to know which one is right and more common to use?

"I woke up at 6am" or "I waked up at 6am"?


texts:
I picked the one that was immersed in water.
I liked the one that was painted yellow.

Are these examples of participial phrases acting as predicate adjectives?


texts:
I read 2 quotes written by Victor Hugo by change like this:

  Life is the flower of which love is the honey.
  Life is the flower for which love is the honey.

Which of the sentence is correct?

Assume that the sentence 1 is correct, so can I rewrite that sentence like below?

  Life is the flower which love is the honey of

But It sounds weird for me?


texts: I’ve seen the word “purge” used in conjunction with “of” and “from” or being used on its own. However, would it be appropriate to say something like “I purged the information out from my brain?"


texts: "an idea ___ what I need to do"? (How to fill in the blank)

texts:
What sort of linking word should I use in the following sentence:

  "I thought you might have an idea ___ what I need to do"?

I have always thought that the best linking word in the above sentence would be "on" but now I'm having second thoughts. Is "on" an appropriate linking word to use here? and if it is, is it the only appropriate one to use?


texts: I think "Thank you for letting me knows" is incorrect. Am I right?

texts:
Microsoft Word corrected my text to read

  Thank you for letting me knows

so now I'm a little unsure that know is correct and knows is incorrect.

I usually work it out by the ‘which sounds right’ method.
And the phrase "Thank you for letting me knows" just sounds wrong.
Shouldn't it be "Thank you for letting me know"?

What am I missing here?


texts: I want a word like "Assure" but on the other way around

texts:
When someone says: Prepare (by wearing nice clothes) for tonight's date. Over and over again, whenever that person sees you, he tells you that, not to annoy, harras, or bully you, but to make sure that you understand how important is your preparation for that special night.

So, we say: He ______ to get prepared for tonight's date.

I thought of:

He "assured me" to get prepared for tonight's date.

And

He "made sure/confirmed" that I get prepared for tonight's date.

But I found that their meanings are reassure which is like the other way around of the word I want.

The text I have that needs that word (and some correction in its construction, I think) is:

  I'm not sure of how Nathan would react to my preparations. He ______
  that I get prepared for our only and last night.

That sentence is what a girl says about Nathan, her husband, with a neutral tone, after she didn't have the time to get prepared as she was being told.


texts:
Can someone help me understand the correct grammar please?

Where are you flying or where are you flying to?


texts: What does "all" in "It all started last night" mean?

texts:
Dr. Jones is examining Alex. He has a bad stomachache.

  Dr. Jones: Good morning. What's the problem?
  Alex: I have a terrible stomachache, doctor.
  Dr. Jones: I see. When did it start?
  Alex: It all started last night.

What part of speech is all: a pronoun, an adverb, or a determiner? And what does it mean in this context?


texts:
I would like to ask as to the difference between "bereft of" and " wanting in" in terms of meaning, formality and connotation they have.

For example:

  He was bereft of all hope.

can I say

He was wanting in all hope.

or

  He was wanting in confidence / common sense.

Can I say

He was bereft of confidence/common sense.


texts:
Having saw the sentence”needless to say”, I thought it was kind of leaving out, and the original form, in my guess, was like “(conjunction + it is) adjective(needless) to intransitive(say)”.
Then I thought up sentences upon the abstract above, yet don’t know if they are correct or natural. I know whether they are depends, so please tell me if there is a context the sentences below fit naturally.
“Important to say”
“Weird to say”
“Strange to think”
Or are they just idioms to memorize?


texts:
Which ones we should use:

the global population
global population


texts: How to develop sense of humor/wit as non-native speaker?

texts:
As in topic, I'm advanced in English, I'm looking for simple tricks how to smoothly extricate oneself from situations like awkward silence, when starting conversation with a stranger fails or being misunderstood etc. and I plan to use humor/wit.

I'm already learning idioms and I use them daily, some local(Glasgow/scottish) slang(it's probably interesting to hear a foreign using local slang), watching comedy movies and listen to some comedy podcasts from bbc, but I’m still looking for new ideas.

Thanks in advance.


texts: Is this sentence grammatically right? ("I mean, now we have Lizzie ,and Cobie are both in it.")

texts:
I saw the sentence in the movie "I mean, now we have Lizzie ,and Cobie are both in it."

I think that this sentence is grammatically wrong.
I can disassemble this sentence like this.

now we have Lizzie and Cobie.
Lizzie and Cobie are both in it.

Is my 'idea' right?


texts:
I have a query about the mind boggles? It's too hard to understand for English learner.
so what does mean the mind boggles?


texts: Why does something "belong to someone" and not "belong someone"?

texts:
The confusing language lesson bewildered John.
  Detective Frey believed the suspect's story.
  You're trying to befriend someone who doesn't trust you.

If the examples above are correct, this one should be as well, right?

  *The car keys belong him.

But it's not. The correct sentence would be "The car keys belonged to him.". In fact, this is a very common mistake for ESL learners to make, especially considering the fact that the equivalent of the verb "belong" tends to take an object in their native language.

Why is this?


texts:
As far as I know I can use this structure(how + adjective + a/an + noun)  with singular countable nouns. (The plural form is not possible, nor is using the definite article “the.” )

  1- No matter how bad a mood you were in, you shouldn't have
  gone there. (okay)

  2- How soft a pillow do you need? (okay)

  3- How long the story is it going to be? (wrong)

But I have seen these following sentences on a journal website and now I am really confused. (I have just learnt the rule I wrote above. Before not knowing it these following sentences would be okay to me but now I don't get it.

  4- I can't describe how bad the situation was all night. (I don't know why this one is okay according to the rule)

  5- Waiting to hear just how bad the news is. (I don't know why this one is okay according to the rule)


texts: Two digit written numbers: hyphen or space?

texts:
As a curious learner, today I asked myself about the spelling of one number, because this, in particular, confuses me a lot. I typed twenty two in Google, and I observed that form but twenty-two was there as well.
Why does it happen? Moreover, which one is the most grammatical?

  Twenty two

Or

  Twenty-two


texts:
Should I use happen or happens in the following sentence:

  Everything in life, even events that seem insignificant when they occur, happens/happen for a reason.

I am confused because everything is singular, but events is plural.


texts: "What bad if" or "what's bad if" in rhetirical questions?

texts:
Could you tell which one of the following sentences is coreect?

What bad if I don't have a degree! I can always obtain it.
What's bad if I don't have a degree! I can always obtain it.

What I'm trying to say is that there is nothing wrong with the fact that I don't have a degree.


texts:
This sentence is from the biography of Helen Keller.
A baby girl was born to Captain Keller and Kate Keller.

  What is the meaning of (to) in this sentence?
    Does  it  means,
  by or for ?


texts: Should you add an hyphen with un + foreign word?

texts:
I'm aware that you should add an hyphen in un-American and not add a hyphen in unstylish.
How about when it's a foreign word and, therefore, you're creating a new usage?

Talking to my parents is the only un-hikikomori part of me.

Note: hikikomori is a Japanese word meaning recluse.


texts:
Now consider the final scene of the Fargo season finale, in which Department of Homeland Security Agent Gloria Burgle sits in front of V.M. Varga. Several years have passed since the two last crossed each other’s paths, but Gloria never forgot the one that got away. As much as Varga tried to hide it, neither did he. He may have needed a refresher, but the main reason he played dumb was to take the alpha role and show her he didn’t even think about her after the events in Minnesota.

Source: https://www.outkickthecoverage.com/review-fargo-year-3-finale/

I am not sure how to understand the passage in bold.

The first part "As much as Varga tried to hide it". Does it mean that Varga tries to hide the mentioned fact as well as Gloria Burgle does not hide it?
In what sense is the question tag used here? I am familiar with the function of the question tag (for example: 'They aren't very good at sports.' 'Neither are we.'), but here there are two subjects: "they" and "we." In my sentence, there is just one subject, Varga.


texts: grammatical usage of "had" and "that" in this sentence

texts:
Occasionally had members that have been roundly censured in the national press.

I tried to make this sentence simple to understand. Like this,

"Had members that have been censured."

If I could remove 'had' and 'that', it would be "members have been censured." I can understand this sentence. But I'm pretty sure I cannot omit them. They look essential components in this sentence.

If so, I cannot even find what is a verb of this sentence.

"Had members that have been censured."

What is the "had" and "that"???

The whole article link is here (the sentence is the first sentence in 5th paragraph) : http://www.ielts-mentor.com/reading-sample/academic-reading/28-ielts-academic-reading-sample-3-zoo-conservation-programmes


texts: Preceding means before the step I am on?

texts:
I have a question about the term preceding. When the term is used in a sentence like the follow:
turn off light only when the preceding light is on.

Does the preceding mean if the light before the position I am on is on? Say that there are 5 light switches in a row and I am at the second switch. I can turn off second switch I am at only if the first switch is on? That is what it means when the definition of preceding says "coming before something in order"?


texts:
What's the difference between "sort of" and "a sort of"? Are they interchangeable or they have some differences?
For instance:

  It's a sort of horror film;

  He gets sort of nervous.

Why do we put the article in the first sentence?


texts:
I am supposed to correct this sentence:

  I waited there for five minutes; that seemed so many hours to me.

The answer in the book says:

  that seemed as many hour to me.

I think this is plainly wrong. First, it should still be "hours" and not "hour." Also, "seem as" sounds weird to me. Any suggestions? How about replacing it with "seemed like" or "seemed many hours"?


texts: Difference between "How had he lost weight?" & "How did he lose weight?"

texts:
What is the difference between the following?

  How had he lost weight?

and

  How did he lose weight?

In what situations, both has to be used?


texts: Queen - We are the champions (Present Perfect)

texts:
French L1 speaker here.

I have a few questions related to the use of the present perfect and the simple past in this song. Would someone be so kind as to explain why certain verbs are in the simple past?

1)
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime.

Q1. Why isn't it "but I've committed no crime?" After all, the time is unspecified. What am I missing?

2)
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face

Q2. Same question here. Why not "I've had my share of sand that has been kicked in my face?"

3)
You brought me fame and fortune, and everything that goes with it.

Q3. Why not "You've brought me fame and fortune?". Here, I'm guessing it's because the individuals aren't going to bring him fame and fortune anymore. (finished action) Am I correct?

4)
Unrelated Bonus question

And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end.

Q. Why not "And we're gonna keep on fighting 'til the end?" After all, "going to" is used for plans related to the future. While "will" is for when someone makes a decision on the spot.

Thank you for helping me better understand.


texts: A secretary with ____ good knowledge of English: "a" or no article?

texts:
I'm trying to pass a test on "Articles exercise" as they call it on the EnglishGrammar site.
Reviewing my answers I got stuck about the two I posted on the picture below.

As I understand both words are uncountable (according to the Cambridge Dictionary), so it looks like (or said for example here in a guide to learning English from Frankfurt International School) I can't say a/an with an uncountable noun.

But this test says the opposite. Is there some trick? Or am I just dumb? Please help me to understand why I need to use "a" article in these cases?

  We need a secretary with ____ good knowledge of English.

  a  (marked as the correct answer)
  the
  a / the
  no article is needed (the answer I think is correct)

  We're having ____ terrible weather.

  a (marked as the correct answer)
  the
  a / the
  no article is needed (the answer I think is correct)


texts:
Which is more frequent or correct?

1.John is my brother. or My brother is john.

2.John is the doctor. or The doctor is John.


texts:
And people where making fun of Kim because she missed a hail of opportunities

What does "hail of opportunities" mean? I thought it meant to grab opportunities but I was not correct as my teacher gave me a zero for it in the exams. I have tried searching web and collecting information from other sources (like dictionaries) but could not find its meaning. Can you help me make out its meaning?


texts:
Does "used to" refer to a specific time frame?

  I became close friends with Tim in 1999. Although he lived in New York at the time, I used to pay him a visit whenever I traveled New York. This one time in 2000, I was even invited to his house for dinner.

When I state events in their chronological order and throw in "use to" somewhere between, is that grammatically correct? I'm not sure if "used to" refers to specific events like simple pasts do.


texts: "Among the most significant challenges can be found in the EI Program." - Is this idiomatic?

texts:
Question: Is the following sentence idiomatic?

  [B] Among the most significant challenges can be found in Canada’s Employment Insurance Program.

Details:

This is related to my other question here. This is from the same source: Employment Insurance: Next Steps on the Road to Renewal (page 2, second paragraph).

  ... Canada’s social infrastructure is crumbling. But there are cracks in the foundation and signs of neglect throughout ...

  Short term fixes have been favoured over major renovations, deferring costs but not escaping consequences. A 2015 inspection by the Mowat Centre pointed out
  the “large gaps that now threaten the well-being and economic prosperity of
  Canadians.” Among the most significant challenges can be found in Canada’s
  Employment Insurance Program. {Let's call this sentence "B"}

I don't understand B. This sentence seems to be missing something essential. For example, a complete sentence would read like this:

  (a) Among the most significant challenges [identified in the 2015 study], some can be found in Canada’s Employment Insurance Program.

or

  (b) Among [the large gaps* identified in the 2015 study], the  most significant challenges can be found in Canada’s Employment Insurance Program.

Is sentence B correct?

I can't bring myself to believe this is a writing error. The acknowledgement section mentions how the paper was reviewed and that there were editors - "Editing assistance from Sally McBeth (Clear Language and Design) was invaluable."

*Does anyone feel this "large gaps" term is just very irritating?


texts: How to change reported speech referring to the quality of a person to indirect speech

texts:
Direct speech - He said to me, "You are honest."

I've read from many sources where this narration is written in indirect speech as...

  Indirect speech - He told me that I was honest.

So as a learner, my question is simple - since being honest is a quality and not an action or something like it, is my doubt valid that the indirect speech in the above example saying that the first person is not honest now?


texts:
If something is coming into my possession temporarily, and then I would like/have to relinquish ownership of it for whatever reason, is it then grammatical to say: "I'm owning it for two months only"?

Notes:

I understand there could be better ways to express this.
I understand there are other dynamics meanings for 'own'.


texts:
I want to describe how to blow and explode a balloon so do  we say balloon will explode or burst if you over blow it?
Which describe it better: "explode" or "burst"?
I checked online some sources say we can say "blow out" for both entering air to balloon or exploding it.


texts: The definite article before superlative degree

texts:
What are the special cases when we can't use "the" before superlative degree?
I'd like the answers with proper explanations.
Some of the examples:

He is most likely to succeed.
It is fairest of all methods.
I have read many books. "Against all odds" is best of all.


texts: "I will not be coming" Vs. "I am not coming"

texts:
Is there a difference in meaning and usage between the two sentences below?

(Both are happening in future)

  A) I'm not coming in for work today.

  B) I will not be coming in for work today.


texts: Is "Paginator" part of the English lexicon?

texts:
I have searched in oxford dictionary online and I didn't find Paginator word there, I only found Pagination word and I can find Googling there.

So my questions are:

What should we call a something* that manage pagination?
Is it possible to use it in formal letter?

(*) Let say a script file that manage or generate pagination for a website.


texts:
X had invited person Y on Saturday to have a discussion on a topic on
Sunday (the discussion will happen on Sunday).

Is the above sentence correct? How can this be written effectively?


texts:
1)

  …, so he tried to find a qualified pilot to guide him.

The "d" sound  in "tried" is dropped so if there was no context provided, It might be perceived to be,

  He try to find a qualified pilot to guide him.

2)

  He went ashore.

This might be understood as,

  He went to shore.

3)

In some cases, contraction can also be ambiguous. This "d" can mean either "had" or "would."

  She'd cut the loaf into five slices.

How to interpret liaisons like those in a right way?

Original listening material of example(1) and example(2): A Qualified Pilot.


texts:
Jim is able/capable to do A.

  Jim is able/capable to do B.

Now I want to say, in a more brief way, that Jim is as able/capable to do A as he is to do B.

Which of the following is better? Or maybe an even better way you may suggest?

Jim is equally able/capable to do A and B.

Jim is able/capable equally to do A and B.


texts: interrogative sentence with two clauses?

texts:
There is this question and it is confusing me:

Has the applicant completed, or is currently enrolled in any other studies or training outside XYZ (country name)?

The answer is:

Yes or No

Actually, I have completed. So what should be the answer (yes or no) and why?


texts:
can we contract "The dog across the street is big." to "The dog across the street's big."?

I think we can't because I felt weird  when saying "The dog across the street's big."


texts: What is the object sold in this paragraph?

texts:
Coupons allow instructors to promote their Udemy courses to students on and off the platform. Coupons are allowed only in promotional announcements and the Bonus Lecture. They cannot be used anywhere else on the Udemy platform, because once students enter a course, they expect a safe learning environment where they will not be “sold” to.

I cannot make sense whether in the above paragraph the learning environment is being sold to students or students are being sold to someone/somewhere.


texts:
Which one is correct and what is the difference? Are they interchangeable? Should I use "for" with a while?

I understand that some time means for a long period of time but I mean about a description a period of time of an unknown length.

  I liked it for some time. For some time he wanted to be a doctor.

  I liked it for a while. For a while he wanted to be a doctor.


texts:
We split bamboo poles into two and sometimes more to make a variety of things.

Does English like my native language have specific words and phrases for split bamboo poles?

Thanks in advance.


texts: What does "the closest it was expected to be" mean in context

texts:
*Tapah = A typhoon.

*Busan = The country’s second-largest city.

  Tapah was expected to pass about 130 kilometers southeast of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, at around 6 p.m. Sunday and 170 km south of Busan at around 9 p.m. The closest it was expected to be to the country’s second-largest city was 50 km at around 10 p.m. It would then pass about 60 kilometers northeast of Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo in the East Sea at around 6 a.m. Monday, according to the weather agency.

What I was wondering is the bolded phrase.

The closest what is 50 km? A distance? And 50 km of what? In a 50 km radius, or 50 km to the southeast?

I'm not a native speaker so I'm not sure you could omit some parts like this in a official written paper. Inform me please if this is written well or not. If it is done correctly, how could a native speaker notice what is omitted or not and interpret this naturally? Just from background knowledge and the context?


texts:
What are you doing?
What you are doing?

Are both sentences correct? If so, then what is the difference between them?


texts:
It’s recommended that you take zinc by mouth.

It is from this article. What I think the author means by that is taking zink orally, but Although I am not a native, the use of by mouth feels akward to me. Perhaps it had a different meaning I am not aware of.


texts:
The lack of data available puts the researcher in a position in which he has to rely on the internet to gather materials for his thesis.

I am having trouble trying to interpret this sentence, the relative clauses with the preposition "in which" should go to which part of the sentence?

He has to rely on the internet "in the position" to gather materials for his thesis.
He has to rely on the internet to gather materials for his thesis "in the position".


texts:
There was a sense of mystery in the air.

Since "to be in the air", at least according to the dictionary I use ("i Garzantini"), can be translated using the verb "to hover", in order to make the above sentence, as to say, "more erudite", is it appropriate to rephrase it this way "It hovered a sense of mystery"? Or, maybe, "to hover" cannot be used in reference to abstract concepts?


texts: What's the meaning of "you look like a prune"

texts:
In the TV drama 'Boston Legal', Denny Crane says "you look like a prune" to his workmate.

What's the meaning of it?


texts: When calling a company in the united states, how do you start a conversation?

texts:
How do you initiate the conversation? Should you use the phrase "How are you?" after or before introducing yourself? I assume it is after you introduce yourself?

"Hi, this is ... calling, how are you?"

However, I've seen some indication that you might as well omit the "how are you" altogether.

1: Where do you put this "how are you?" question in the introduction? Is it even acceptable to ask this when you are the one calling, or is it reserved for people answering the phone?

2: What is the most common in the united states, these days? To omit it, or include it? What about UK? Is there any difference?


texts: Is “orderly existence” in this passage just a common expression?

texts:
Writing to the woman who would become his third wife, Hermann Hesse complained: “Life for me now holds almost no pleasures any more, in fact I am living in Hell.” The event that had reduced Hesse to this state of near-despair was that his wife-to-be Ninon Dolbin had moved some of his books without his permission. For him this was an intolerable disruption of the orderly existence he believed essential to a writer who had detached himself from the world. His independence required that he hold all of humankind, and even his closest companion, at a rigorously policed distance. Accordingly, although the two of them lived under the same roof, he communicated with Ninon mainly in writing. As his latest biographer, Gunnar Decker, relates:....

My question has to do with “orderly existence” , I am going to translate this article to a different language and I am not sure if this really means simply organized life for any person or it is a technical philosophical expression?


texts:
I just saw an sentence from here:

  But the problem grows and the next thing you know your maven build is checking 50 repos for every artifact and build time is a dog

What does xxx is a dog mean here?


texts: Do I understand correctly that 'a day before' and 'the day before', essentially, mean the same thing? The first answers the question "how many days earlier?", the second one "when?", but at the end of the day both mean "yesterday" if the reference point is "today", right?


texts: Constructions "as good as", "as weak as", etc

texts:
I'm not quite familiar with the constructions "as good as...", "as weak as..." as they are used below.

  The fact that the metanotation of derivability made every bit as good as a claim as material implication to be an explication of implication seems to have been overlooked by believers and unbelievers alike.

  As weak as the grounds for introducing the new operator may seem to have been, its translation into modal terms returned modal notions to logic [...].

What do these constructions mean? Could you restate those sentences in different words?


texts: What does " Victorian orphans" mean in the sentence?

texts:
Why did the man in following sentence refer his hair style as "Victorian orphans"? what does Victorian orphan look like? Is there any cultural gap I am missing, or is it a slang or something?

‘My hair. I’m only half done. I look like one of those Victorian orphans. "


texts: Is 'is' correctly placed here: "Is X..., and if it is what the reason?"

texts:
I would like to know if this sentence is clear, correct and sounds as native speaker sentence (I'm putting the doubtful words in bold):

  Is honey better than sugar, and if it is what the reason


texts: What does this figurative usage of "swampy" mean?

texts:
Not to pooh-pooh the Doobs and their smooth, aged take on swampy, countrified soul, but this show belongs to Steely Dan. (source)

I have checked several dictionaries but haven't found one listing a figurative usage of "swampy". As far as I know the word is only used to describe terrain. What does it mean in this sentence? What does it mean for soul music to be "swampy"?


texts: What does "adverse decisions" mean in this context?

texts:
Institutionally, consensus democracy has proven its worth in stormy
weather. Surveys show that consensus democracy gets rising popularity
and is even more appreciated by ordinary citizens than by the Swiss
elites (MIS Trend 2008; Credit Suisse 2018). Here, however, we may
identify the real weak spot of Swiss consensus democracy today.
Polarisation, stimulated by the political parties of the right and of
the left, leaves its traces in political culture. Pluralism, positive
belief in compromise and cooperation, tolerance towards differences,
and willingness to accept adverse decisions are declining among parts
of the political elite, and parts of the electorate as well.
- Swiss Democracy by Wolf Linder

According to Cambridge Dictionary adverse means:
going against something, or causing harm;
But I don't understand What this decisions are adverse to?


texts: "I go to school tomorrow" to imply that I will attend school tomorrow. Is the aforementioned expression within inverted commas correct?


texts: Is the word "shun" the right one to be used in this context?

texts:
I read an article which was titled as:

Fans shun AR Rahman's Marvel Anthem, deem it cringeworthy

I'm still pondering over which context has the verb shun been used in here? I think it means "to dislike" here. But it means "to avoid from" as per the most of dictionaries. So, I wanted to ask if it is the right usage of the verb.


texts: How to parse "Harry had once before had the experience of seeing something..."

texts:
Harry had once before had the experience of seeing something that Ron could not, but that had been a reflection in a mirror, something much more insubstantial than a hundred very solid-looking beasts strong enough to pull a fleet of carriages.

  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I'm not quite sure how to parse "Harry had once before had the experience..." correctly. Maybe, it could be paraphrased as: Harry had once before he had the experience.... But it looks a bit odd. How should we understand it?


texts:
1)

  A: We went fishing at a pond last night.
  B: oh have you? I tried it before.

I think 'have you' doesn't sound correct because the former sentence is told in the past tense. But I'd like to know if it is natural for you to say 'have you?' instead of 'did you' in the daily conversation and sounds ok to native speakers.

2)

  A: I caught a big fish with my hands.
  B: Sounds fun. Did you do something else?

Does this conversation sound natural to you or somewhat awkward?

What do you think about the two conversations above?


texts: Shark attack - Streamline English book. Use past tense or presense tense

texts:
'I had swum about 13 miles and I was about a mile and a half out when suddenly something came straight up out of the water, knocking me off my surfboard and into the air.

'I didn't know it was a shark until I surfaced again. Then I saw this big fish swimming around with my surfboard in its mouth.

'I could see its long grey dorsal fin and I thought, "Oh, my God, it's a Great White Shark." The next thought was, "Nobody gets this close to a Great White and lives to tell the tale."

'You just don't know what you're going to do in a situation like mine. I saw the shark coming towards me with my surfboard in its jaws. I grabbed the tail of the surfboard and climbed back on it. I don't know why. Then I was afraid that if the shark let go of the board he'd go for me.

'I got on my knees on the tail of the board, trying to keep my balance because all the time he's shaking the board - trying to get me off it.

Question:
A man who had been attacked by a shark told about it. I dont understand why in the first sentence, they use "got on" is in past tense, but then "trying" and "he's shaking..." are in presense tense. The actions are in the past so I think they must be "tried" and ", tried to keep my balance....all the time he shaked...-tried"

Please help me to explain why they use present tense!


texts:
I was requested to write that [A/the clinic(s) that open(s) out of regular official hours of a hospital] as a noun phrase, supposedly a concise and natural-sounding one.

There are several issues for me to come up with the noun phrase.

Singular vs. plural: This is a clinic (or clinics?) run by a hospital (let's say the hospital's name is Springfield). I'm not sure if I should think of the clinic as a singular or plural noun. Physically, there are several such clinics located all over the hospital. However, I think it's possible to think of all of them collectively as a clinic.

Out of regular official hours sounds somewhat awkward to me. I thought of a few alternatives such as non-standard hours or non-regular hours, but I'm afraid that the terms might be non-standard, and they might not convey the intended meaning precisely.

The use of apostrophe s: Supposed that I could come up with such a noun phrase (I currently use An out-of-regular-official-hours clinic), can I use the [X's Y] pattern? Or it has to be [Y of X]?

For example,

N1: Springfield's Out-of-Regular-Official-Hours Clinic
N2: A Springfield's Out-of-Regular-Official-Hours Clinic
N3: The Springfield's Out-of-Regular-Official-Hours Clinic

I think N1 might work, but both N2 and N3 are risky. The genitive case (Springfield's) seems not to get along with the articles (a/the) quite well.

How should I phrase it (the noun phrase)?


texts:
Can someone please tell me what the difference is between the two phrases: Have not and Have never?

As far as I know, "have not" is usually used to mean that something has not happened in a period while "have never" means that it happened at no time in the past.

However, I am wondering if we can use "have never" when the time period we use is the entire period of an event.

Example 1:

A: Have you ever seen any beggars in this neighborhood?
B: No, I have never seen one in this neighborhood in the past 25 years. (B has been living in this neighborhood for 25 years.)

Example 2
The defeat of Japan in 1945 was something the country had never experienced in the past 2500 years. (It's the length of the whole history of the country)

Example 3
The appearance of humans was something that had never happened on this planet in the previous three billion years.

However, when it comes to a period of time that is short or not the whole time span of an event, we should use "have not".

Example 4
A: Have you seen this guy in the past six months?
B: No, I haven't seen anyone like this in the past six months.

Example 5
I have not played basketball for a month.

I have two questions here

Do I distinguish the two phrases correctly?
Can we ever use "ever" in a sentence that states a period of time: For example, can we change Example 4 to "A: Have you ever seen this guy in the past six months?" B: No, I have never seen this guy in the past six months"

Thanks in advance. Any advice is welcome!


texts: What is the difference between these two sentences in Past perfect continuous and past continuous?

texts:
I have learned English tenses but I get confused sometimes when I use them. And now I would like to know the difference between these two sentences.

I was playing football when Ali came to join me.

.2 I had been playing football when Ali came to join me.


texts:
I am very impress the way he explained the perfect infinitive. I tried to contact him but found no email. Could any one kind enough to explain the gerunds as he explained perfect infinitive?
Perfect infinitive

I'm new here. If I'm not following any rules please pardon me.


texts: Is there a usage of "subject" as adjective meaning "mentioned"?

texts:
In my company, in some documents, "subject" is used in the same meaning as "mentioned".

The following is an example of how it is used in my company:

  "Subject change is applicable to them (specific automotive models)."

I looked up the meaning of "subject" as adjective but I didn't see any definition saying "subject" means "mentioned".

Can I use "subject" instead of "this" and "mentioned" in the sentences below:

  This modification affects certain car models.
  Mentioned modification affects certain car models.
  Subject modification affects certain car models.

Or, can I use subject to refer to things that I mentioned or will mention about?


texts: Are the tenses in this sentence inconsistent ("was being" versus "had been")?

texts:
Here is the original sentence:

  In 2001, with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, that assumption was, as they say, no longer operative.  By that time, more than twice as much money was being spent on each student, after accounting for inflation, as had been spent when NCLB's direct ancestor, the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965, had been enacted and, though some progress had been made on student achievement, it was hardly commensurate with the size of the additional investment.

The simplified version of the part of the quotation I have question on is:

  More than twice as much money was being spent on each student as had been spent when the ES Act had been enacted.

Instead of using "had been", I would say:

  By the time the NCLB Act was passed, more than twice as much money was being spent on each student as was being spent by the time the ES Act had been enacted.

What confuses me is that "had been" is used to denote an event that happened, up to the point when the "was being" event happened. But what I think they are trying to say is that

  by the time the ES Act of 1965 was passed, the money spent on each student is only half the money spent per student by the time the NCLB Act was passed.


texts:
I found out that the word "migration" can be countable and uncountable according to oxford, but I didn't find any source explaining when to use countable or uncountable form.

For example, is it correct to say:

  This problem may lead to frequent migrations.

?


texts:
I have read a film review and i'm confused now with the word "handsome" and "a clever anti-Pygmalion" in this sentence:

  Blockquote This handsome movie about the abdication crisis and George VI's stammer is a clever anti-Pygmalion

Could you please paraphrase and explain me


texts: Is there the difference between 'jump you' and 'jump at you'?

texts:
Is there the difference between jump you and jump at you? I am asking since I see the same translation  of them from the context.

  She looked at him, scowling with an anxiety she did not like to admit
  to herself, at the fresh rips in the knees of his blue jeans, the
  streaks of dirt grained deep in his shirt, a darkening bruise on the
  cheekbone under his left eye. “Okay, did the big boys jump you in the
  schoolyard this time, or when you got off the bus?”

A WIND in the DOOR by Madeleine L’Engle

and an another example:

  Maybe you were surprised that I didn't jump at you


texts: What is the difference between 'it's no time', 'it's not time' and 'it's not the time'?

texts:
Examples.

It's no time to stop believing. It's no time to be unsure.
It's not time to make a change, just relax, take it easy.
I don't think it's the time to start talking about the future, it's not the time to be talking contracts. We have lots of games between now and the end of the season [...]


texts: I wondered what are your plans? & I wondered what your plans are

texts:
Are Both

"I wondered what are your plans?"

&

I wondered what your plans are."

Correct?

There is a little difference in the the existence of quotation mark.


texts: (In) no way? - She will agree to you leaving early in no way

texts:
A manner adjunct - (in) no way. It can move freely in a sentence.

  (In) no way will she agree to you leaving early.

But when (in) no way change its position, we can't drop in.

  She will agree to you leaving early in no way.

It seems very strange to me. How does grammar explain it?

What I learned so far -

From Jim and Fumble's comment what I learned is that my initial opinion was wrong. That manner adjunct here is not that free-moving. Now that they demonstrated it so well, I can clearly understand that my second sentence is really odd. Based on the position it shows the manner.

I want to edit my answer to provide another example sentence, and that doesn't seem as odd as my previous sentences was.

First Edit -

  (In) No way was it good. [CORRECT - with or without in]

  It was good in no way. [We can't drop in here]

  It was in no way good. [We can't drop in here]

  It in no way seemed strange. [We can't drop in here]


texts: What does "A man cannot be too careful in his choice of enemies" mean?

texts:
I just ran into this quote

  I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects. A man cannot be too careful in his choice of enemies. I have not got one who is a fool. They are all men of some intellectual power, and consequently they all appreciate me. Is that very vain of me? I think that it is rather vain.

what does "A man cannot be too careful in his choice of enemies" mean? does it mean "a man should be as careful as possible to pick his enemies"?

P.S.

Heed this quotation by Sigmund Freud:

  The Brothers Karamazov is the most magnificent novel ever written: the
  episode of the Grand Inquisitor, one of the peaks in the literature of the
  world, can hardly be valued too highly.


texts: What does "a weighing room" mean in this sentence?

texts:
The woman who said the following sentence is a waitress in a restaurant in a horserace course. Did she mean that the room is normally for kitchen use, like weighing  and preparing for food, and the working staff like her just  use this place as their own relaxing area? or does "a weighing room" mean something else?

here is the sentence:

‘I’m afraid the Weighing Room, our relaxed dining area, is being refurbished right now, but there are stalls along the stands where you can get something to eat.’


texts: adding "ness" always make an adjective to a noun

texts: Is it always possible to add ness at the end of adjective to make them noun?


texts: difference between did have to and had to

texts:
Do these two sentence mean the same? must/should in past

I did have to play football.
I had to play football. - And here after 'had to' to comes infinitive ?

Are these two sentences the same and are they both correct?


texts: What pronoun should we use here: men are encouraged to be more open with "our" feelings

texts:
Here is a paragraph from the Cambridge Dictionary blog:

As men are now being encouraged to talk more and be more open with our feelings, there seems to be a correlation with the rise of the ‘mancom’. That’s a male romantic comedy, as if you didn’t know.

Source: https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2020/11/09/new-words-9-november-2020/

The use of "our" there rings the bell in my head. I think it should have been:

As men are now being encouraged to talk more and be more open with their feelings...

Can the reason behind the use of "our" in the original sentence be that the author is a man? The author might be a woman or a man.
But, at the end of the day, I don't think the use of a pronoun has anything to do with what sex the author is.
Can somebody explain this to me? Thanks.


texts:
I read the following form in some source code comments:

  Someone requested we not relay stuff

Though it is usually not a source of inspiration for literary English, it got me wondering whether this was actually acceptable or just a short-hand to get the idea. Shouldn't it rather be something like

  Someone requested that we do not relay stuff

or

  Someone requested from us not to relay stuff

?


texts:
Let's say your are contented with your current room's decoration, simple yet easy to move around. Can you say:

  "I am contented with the way it is"

Is this the correct phrase for that? Let's not mention the other aspects of my introduction...


texts:
I am really confused about the meaning of 'should be' sentences. Please check the below sentences and their meaning (my version)

He should be there - It is about a future thing. He is not there yet.There will be a discussion tomorrow. And we are telling him to go there. Because it is very important to him.

By now, he should already be there - It is not about future. We are assuming that he arrived there in time.

There should be a law against it - At present there is no law against it. But we understand a law is necessary against it, and we are expressing our opinion that there must be a law against it.

I shouldn't be so rude if I were you - Here we are talking about past. You were so rude at that time. If I were you, I would not be like you.

He should be married - He is not married now. We are saying it is already late for him. He need to be married soon.

The roads should be less crowded today.  We don't know about the situation. We are expressing our opinion that it will be less crowded today

I should be delighted.- If you do that thing (something) I will be very much happy.
Are these meaning correct?


texts: How do you use the phrasal verb 'rip off'?

texts: Can I say 'rip someone off of [a sum of money or possession]'? Is this the right way to specify what exactly has been "ripped off" (if the object is a person or group of people)?


texts: Does "across from" mean necessarily facing each other?

texts:
My textbook says that the post office and the hospital are next to each other. Shouldn't they be across from each other since there's a street between them?

Does across from mean they have to be facing each other?


texts:
why it's grammatically incorrect to use this sentence

“I am feeling vomiting"

I know this sentence is wrong but i don't the reason.


texts: question about two sentences in present perfect form

texts:
They are coming after they have had dinner.

  They are coming after they have eaten their dinner.

what is the difference between the two sentences and when we use each one of then


texts:
I'd like to know which relative clause is used to when I want to speak about an incident.

For example, I've seen this sentence

"we've had countless incidents where cattle and animal stock have become diseased"

If is it correct, why do you use where?

Thank you


texts: What could "in an oil slick" figuratively mean here?

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

  In an oil slick

Now, the article talks about ending of waiver on sanctions to India by U.S on import of Iranian oil and India giving in to U.S bullying at the cost of its traditional ties with Iran. But, I'm having trouble figuring out what being "in an oil slick" could figuratively mean. I am not able to link the literal meaning of "slick" here.


texts: What's the Meaning of “An Exercise in Stating the Obvious”?

texts:
I’m wondering about the meaning of “an exercise in stating the obvious” in the following passage:

  However, the ethnographic cartography of Macedonia, as even a cursory glance at Wilkinson’s compilation will reveal, is so transparently political that any attempt at its iconographic deconstruction is essentially an exercise in stating the obvious.Source: İpek K. Yosmaoğlu, Identity in Ottoman Macedonia


texts: What's the role and meaning of "of" in "It happened in a flash of steely talons"?

texts:
It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak (A magical creature which has talons) back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass. blood blossoming over his robes.

  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Does the sentence mean "Steely talons suddenly(happened in a flash) attacked Malfoy"?

So in a sentence like "It happened in a flash of ~", what is followed after "of" functions as a subject  of the sentence?
I'm just guessing and not quite sure if this is right.

What's the exact role of "of" in this sentence?


texts:
Is the word "being" used here as a gerund? If so, can I use infinitive (to be) here?

  She has a conception of people as being basically good.


texts:
Rude comparative ruder superlative rudest

But the most rude is applied in the following title:

The Most Rude, ill-Mannered, and Humiliating Plays in NBA History!

Can we use both forms for any circumstance?


texts:
I am very happy to have helped you.
I'm very happy to be helped you.
I'm very happy to help you.
I was very happy to had helped you.

By the first sentence, I wanted to mean that I've helped someone right now, and I am happy for this.

By the second sentence I meant that I helped someone before, now I'm happy for this.

By the third sentence, I wanted to mean that I'll be happy if I get a chance to help you. Can I rewrite the third sentence in the following way without changing its meaning?

I'll be very happy to will have helped you/I will be very happy to help you/I'll be very happy to have helped you.

By the fourth sentence, I mean, I helped someone before, and in past I was happy for this.

Please tell what you think about my examples and about my explanation. If any correction is needed, please prescribe me.


texts: Is 'where' used as a noun or pronoun in question?

texts:
1.(a)He is coming from London.

  (b)Where is he coming from?

2.(a)He went to London.

  (b)Where did he go to?

I think here 'where' is the object of preposition.Therefore,

(1)Is 'where' considered as pronoun or noun here?

(2)What are the other preposition used like 'where...from?,where...to?'?


texts:
For the people who their cups are full, it's so much easier to give without getting anything in return.

What I want to say is that, for those people who have cups that are full, it's easier to help others without getting anything in return. Is the bold section in the example above correct or is there a problem (maybe with the relative clause)?
If there is a problem, what grammar rule is being broken here?


texts: Is there a difference between wrongly delivered and delivered by mistake?

texts:
In my opinion, I think wrongly delivered can mean both something that you didn't order got to your house and something you ordered went to your neighbors. And delivered by mistake means that it is delivered but it's not something you ordered, the point in this phrase is that it's delivered.Is this understanding right?
I don't if I am clear, but I do feel like I can say it's wrongly delivered when a customer find out the package was delivered to their neighbor by mistake.
Is it ok to say that? And is it going to be weird?


texts: An Adjective for being happy vs an adjective to being happy

texts:
I am wondering which one of those are right in the case of the given dialogue or if both of them are so but with a slight difference in meaning.

It's an Adjective for being happy.

It's an adjective to being happy.

Dialogue:

Speaker A: What does merry mean here? I thought it was an adjective!

Speaker B: Actually it is an adjective and it means happy.

Speaker A: I understand that it's an adjective for being happy but look it functions as an adverb in that sentence. Maybe it means sth else here.

By the way I know that without 'being' only the first sentence would sound good but I wonder if with being that would change.


texts: Why is there no article before "British author" in "...novels written by British author J. K. Rowling..."?

texts:
"Harry Potter is a series of fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the life of a young wizard, Harry Potter,.."

I don't understand why there isn't an article before the phrase "British author". Is it because there isn't a comma between the word "author" and the name? So is it okay to write "The novels chronicle the life of young wizard Harry Potter"?

Being a British author isn't something unique and there are many British author there. So I don't think you can omit the article.

By the way, I got the sentences from Wikipedia.


texts: Is it right expression meaningwise? (Overestimate the value of the flat?)

texts:
The expression:

She overestimates the value of her flat.

  Context:

Actual highest price of her flat is $50

According to her assessment, the price is $100

  Question:

Is it right expression according to the description?


texts: How do you say the order of magnitude related to a specific value?

texts:
I have to explain a range of measures affecting a specific value, so I think writing this sentence:

  response time is limited to units of second in order of magnitude

Is it correct?


texts: What's the difference between "I'm gonna be moving out" and "I'm going to move out"

texts:
In season 6 of friends TV series, episode 2, in 4:03 Chandler says:
"I'm gonna be moving out." My question is, what's the difference between that sentence and the "I'm going to move out." Is there any difference between them?


texts: I have a question about the sentence "year by year when there is heavy rain in the mountains far away south"

texts:
Year by year when there is heavy rain in the mountains far away south, the River Nile rises and floods the fields.

Does the sentence "in the mountains far away south" mean the location of the mountains is on the south?


texts: Does "It is worth studying english" mean "Studying english is worth"?

texts:
Does "It is worth studying english" mean "Studying english is worth" ?

Which one is real subject in the sentence? "It" or " studying english" ?

If "It" in the sentence is the real subject,
does "It is worth studying english" mean "It is worth. therefore, you should study english"?

If "studying english" in the sentence is the real subject,
does "Studying english is worth" mean "To study english is worth" ?
Does "To study english is worth" mean "It is worth to study english" ?
So, does "It is worth studying english" mean "It is worth to study
english" ?


texts:
If X lies upstream from Y, then is X a result of Y?

Examples:

Social justice lies upstream from charity.
Everything good lies upstream from us.
Tonak Pokhari, or simply the Fourth Lake lies upstream from the sacred lake of Gokyo in the Himalays.
The firm's capability lies upstream from the end-product -- It resides in skills, capabilities, and resources which find a variety of end-uses. Excess physical capacity leads to related diversification if the capacity is end-product specific.

Now, I Understand -geographically- it means positioned at a higher height in a water stream.


texts:
1)There were several street vendors selling snacks by the
footpath.

2)Having warm tea by the tea cart ear my  university was my favorite pastime.


texts: Is "for any" needed in "We dont want to stay here for any longer than we have to."?

texts:
"We don't want to stay here for any longer than we have to."

Is this sentence correct? And does it mean the same as "We don't want to stay here any longer than necessary." ? I am unsure about the need of "for" and "any" maybe they can or should be left out to simply

  "We don't want to stay here longer than we have to."


texts: Why would "is seeking" coerce a reading of "because he is seeking a fourth term"?

texts:
Oracle Corp., the primary developer responsible for setting up
Oregon’s Obamacare health-insurance exchange website, sued the state
claiming it’s owed $23 million.
The lawsuit escalates a dispute with Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber,
who in May asked the state attorney general to take legal action
against the company in an attempt to recoup the state’s payments.
Kitzhaber, a 67-year-old Democrat who has come under political attack
on the issue as he seeks a fourth term, has been trading blame with
Oracle over the failure to create a website that Oregonians could use
to enroll in health coverage under President Barack Obama’s Affordable
Care Act.
Technical flaws in the Cover Oregon website, the portal to a $305
million state-run insurance exchange, caused thousands of consumers to
file paper applications until the state gave up in April and directed
enrollees to the federal website.
-- Oracle Sues Oregon for $23 Million Over Health Exchange Claims Source

I think as means at the same time as... here.
But if we used "is seeking" instead of "seeks", it would coerce a reading of "because he is seeking a fourth term". See Dan Getz's answer which states:

The way it is written in the article, it means "at the same time as he is seeking a fourth term". With "is seeking", it means "because he is seeking a fourth term".

Why is this?


texts:
Can we say: a year/month/week of activity to express all of the activities happened in a particular time?

I think a year/month/week of doing something may have the same function.

But the meaning may change sometimes:

Like a year of harvesting.(it may refer to a particular time, not harvesting）， Am I right?


texts: Are these adjectives coordinate or cumulative

texts:
I'm designing a board game and I've run into an issue regarding a string of adjectives that come up frequently in the game. Sadly, I'm a non-native speaker, so I thought it best to reach out and be sure.

The sentence is "target 1 other willing living creature within 5 squares."

As far as I understand, you seperate coordinate adjectives with commas while cumulative adjectives aren't seperated by anything (except for a space).

My question comes down to whether the above adjectives - "other," "willing," and "living" - are coordinate or cumulative? Where, if anywhere, should I put commas?


texts:
Need this sentence to be clarified:

Operation and Maintenance of Boiler and Turbine, and it's/ their accessories.

Should I use "it's or their"?


texts: What is the meaning of "All of my parts don't add up to one me" ?

texts:
In Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), After injected by the drug from Justin, Andy say
this words to Justin:

  You know, the thing about real estate accounting is that you can, you
  can  head down the page or across the page, and everything works out.
  So, every day, everything adds up. Well, the total is always the sum
  of its parts. It's clean, it's clear, neat, absolute. But my life, it
  It doesn't add up. It's Nothing connects to anything else. It's I'm
  not the sum of my parts. All of my parts don't add up to one me, I
  guess.


texts: The meaning of "if I could get past the crusty edges"

texts:
What is the meaning of "if I could get past the crusty edges" in this context:

  There on the counter sat a scrumptious-looking pan of freshly baked brownies. Well, they looked good if you could get past the crusty edges, which I was okay with at the moment. Without bothering to say hello to my mother, I dug in.

This passage is from the book Fire in Frost.

I want to know what does the phase exactly mean here. What is meant by "get past the crusty edges"?


texts: If somebody calls you "Hello Trouble", what does it mean?

texts:
What does it exactly mean if somebody says "Hello, Trouble" to you?

One of my colleagues said "Hello, Trouble" to me this morning.  I just replied "Hi", as I was not sure what to say.

So just wanted to check what exactly Trouble here means...


texts: What does the word "grafting" mean here?

texts:
Please help me figure the meaning of the word "grafting" in the following sentence from a description of the game "Love Island The Game":

You'll choose outrageous outfits, play cheeky challenges, and get grafting.

I know the lexical meanings of the word graft, but am not sure it they fit here.

For more context, here is another text from a different source:

Then the boys arrive. First up is generic hunky whiteboy Jake, who has nothing about him, so I refuse to make eye contact with him. Next in is Mason, a musician and underwear model from Romford, who looks like Marcel from last year’s show, so I get grafting on him and use all the flirt options.


texts: What does the sentence mean and its subject?

texts:
Sammy watched his mom as she put a brush into the water and painted water over the chalk on one of his pictures, careful to stay inside the lines
What is the subject of "careful to stay inside the lines"?


texts: would in "The barrel would hold 20 gallons"

texts:
My question is about sense 9 of the word 'would' in M-W.

https://merriam-webster.com/dictionary/would

9: could 'The barrel would hold 20 gallons.'

Does 'could' here indicate ability or possibility? Also is this sentence in the past tense or present?

Thanks. :-)


texts: "For a few minutes" or "for a few more minutes" in context?

texts:
Could you tell me if the use of the word more adds anything to the meaning in the following context?

If you chopped off the head of a venomous snake, be careful: its head can stay alive for a few minutes.
If you chopped off the head of a venomous snake, be careful: its head can stay alive for a few more minutes.


texts: Should it be names of places/name of places

texts:
I can't figure which one is grammatically correct.

  The names of the places I visited in the country are...
  The name of the places I visited in the country are...


texts: The correct preposition with name of office

texts:
There is a company which has many offices, every office has a specific name, for example, "Mercury", "Earth", "Sun" etc. How do I say?

  " See you later on Mercury"

or

  "See you later at Mercury"

or

  "See you later at the Mercury"
  "See you later on the Mercury"


texts: What is the range of 'that' clause for this sentence?

texts:
In the sentence below,

  It also contains code to support a specific type of processors, drivers, and other functions that might need updating occasionally.

Is the target of 'that' clause 'a specific type of processors' + 'drivers' + 'other functions'
or
only 'other functions'?

How can I identify the target of 'that' clause if there are more than two candidates before 'that' clause?

Thank you in advance.


texts:
What does YMCA stand for?  It doesn't seem to stand for Young Men's Christian Association that I Googled.
Kaitlan Collins tweeted on Nov 8:

“The crowd outside the White House celebrating Joe Biden’s projected victory is blaring YMCA — the song President Trump closed out his latest rallies with.”


texts: Regarding usage of 'are' with 3rd form of verb along with specific time

texts:
Let us suppose I am talking to a thief who steals cars daily.
I ask him

  Yo!, at what time do you steal cars?

To which he replies

  Cars are stolen at 1 am.

Now I think that the sentence is valid grammatically but I am not sure if he used it 'right'.
By 'right' I mean right with respect to the question.
Also I suspect it has something to do with 'Active/Passive Voice'.


texts: I mention some project and I say, “It is not finished.” Is adding the adverb “yet” provide anything extra (perhaps, implying that some people are still working on it, versus it is abandoned; or perhaps it is expected to be finished sometime relatively soon, versus some indefinite time in the future), or is it redundant?


texts: "We have a game today" vs. "We have the game today"

texts:
When I tell people about the football/baseball/soccer/basketball game they are supposed to have today, I say

  We have a game today.

which I think is strange. It is strange that it sounds idiomatic and even grammatically correct.

But this is the specific game we have today at some specific place at some specific time. And there is only one game that I am talking about. So why is it not 'we have the game today?'

Side thought: Also should  I say 'the specific game we have today' or 'a specific game we have today'? I think both are acceptable, but have slightly different meaning. Can't explain the difference though.


texts:
I found this sentence -

  That I couldn't identify her was no more a surprise than that she should know me.

What is the meaning of this sentence?

Source - The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh


texts: "People with messy handwriting have brain working faster than their hands" Why no determiner?

texts:
I've found the following meme/caption/poster/whatever-it's-called on Twitter and I don't get why there's no determiner before "brain". I would normally assume it is one of those situations where you just don't need one but there is a determiner before "hands". I mean, I would either use a determiner before both nouns or not use it at all (more precisely, I would use it with both), but I don't get why someone would use a determiner only before "hands".

So why is it? In what way are brains different from hands in this sentence? Finally, would it be OK if I added "their" before "brain", or would that sound unnatural to a native speaker ear?


texts:
The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense
  Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit
  of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone
  said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid
  would be coming back to get him one of these days. (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

The subject of the highlighted part would be ‘the vampire.’ If this were a dialogue, I wouldn’t have been confused that there is no explicit subject. What permits this to happen?


texts:
Which one of the following two sentences is more correct

I went yesterday to the bank to collect the passbook.

Yesterday to collect the passbook I went to the bank.

I think the second one is correct because in the first sentence position of yesterday is not correct. As a rule I studied that adverbs of time like yesterday come at the end of the sentence.
so the most appropriate sentence would be

I went to the bank yesterday to collect the passbook

But this sentence was not given in the options I had to choose the corrects answer from.


texts:
In an interview, someone was asked why they think something happened to them but not the other and their reply was:

  I have mold that over in my head a lot.

What does that mean?


texts: Can someone explain the structure of "It's what we were all worried we'd do"?

texts:
The following sentence is from a test (answer 42) (pdf)

  It's what we were all worried we'd do

and this is the problem 42 (pdf)

I don't understand the grammatical structure, could some explain it? Thanks


texts:
I need help to analayse the structure of noun phrase in bold letters:

"The fact that they came back with the geolocators was supposed to be the great success of this season"

Any suggestions? I'm quite lost, and everything I try seems wrong...


texts: Meaning of "I had a dream it would end this way"

texts:
I’m watching a show, Community, and I have a question about a line of it.

Please watch it: Community.

The guy says “I had a dream it would end this way”. What does it mean?

Does “a dream” mean a dream in the night? or a hope?

And why did he use “would” here?


texts: "What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" meaning

texts:
"What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" said Ron, watching her as though fearful for her sanity.

  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

What does the sentence truly mean? Is "in the name of Merlin" an idiom? I get the meaning of "in the name of": as someone else’s official representative, but I am not sure about the meaning of the whole phrase.


texts: Is it 'election account', 'electoral account', or 'campaign account'?

texts: What do you call an official banking account for expenditures incurred due to the person's election campaign (buying TV ads, printing campaign materials, transportation costs, etc.)? Google News doesn't give a significant number of results for both 'election account' and 'electoral account'. (by the way, what is the difference between 'election' and 'electoral' when it's used as a modifier? you can refrain from answering this additional question)


texts:
This is an example from a grammar book:

  When I was learning to drive I was living with my parents.

Is it possible to say:

  When I was learning to drive I lived with my parents?

Usually living with your parents is not a temporary situation.