Hi, Zonzon—None of them works. You need a possessive pronoun instead of "the." Then you can use the - ing form "visiting": That was my first time visiting the U.S. That was his first time visiting the U.S. That was their first time visiting the U.S. That was our first time visiting the U.S.Read More...

The sentence is correct as is. In the original sentence, "didn't try" is not unreal but real past. Therefore, - It isn't embarrassinng to fail if you didn't try means: - If you fail, you don't feel embarrassed if you didn't actually try. The sentence you propose is hypothetical. With this, the protagonist of the comic is confirming that she didn't even make the slighest attempt or effort: she didn't try, she didn't fail, and there's no reason to feel embarrassed.Read More...

I'd definitely use "exports" there. I'd use "Fe exports" if reference is being made, as I suspect, to the volume of iron exported. I'm not sure that "Si" can be used alone. How about this?: - Exports of Fe show contrasting trends to those of Si. or - Fe export trends contrast with those of Si.Read More...

Thanks 💖Read More...

Hello, Empathy, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. Thank you for sharing some details of your life with us. At GE we try to dispel doubts about grammar and are eager to discuss any grammatical issues our members can submit to us, but we don't do proofreading. If you have any specific doubts, you can ask us about them. Just this once I will highlight some things that, in my opinion, you could consider improving:Read More...

so "spend" is not wrong to use, right?Read More...

Thanks 💖 Could you please explain what "serve" means in that sentence?Read More...

There are a number of possibilities, including the six-word sandwich you began with. Without compound nouns, perhaps " LA bank term deposit repayment advice " means " LA Bank's advice on how to repay the deposit for the term ." But feel free to use whatever business jargon your company likes to use.Read More...

Hi, Ilko, That sentence does not sound right. I'd say: - Before I said / could say anything, he left.Read More...

Thanks again for such a great answer. You confirmed what my instinct was telling me.Read More...

Thanks 💖Read More...

I see. Thanks a lot.Read More...

David, thanks for that, I like the use of a half-assed jobRead More...

Hi, Muhammad, This question has been answered before. See here: https://thegrammarexchange.inf...1#627604737984562441Read More...

David, thank you million times with note, Best RGDSRead More...

Syntactic factors are questions that have to do with syntax, that is, with the position of the words or phrases, with what precedes or follows them, etc.Read More...

When used as a subject, "the amount of" implies that you have already mentioned it before, while "an amount of" is used to introduce new information. When used as an object, "the amount of" can be used to refer to known or new information (although the indefinite article may sound better to refer to new information): - LA Bank paid the/an amount of $5,000.Read More...

I edited your question above because it was a mess. As I said, "when" is a conjunction in the sentence above.Read More...

Thanks GustavoRead More...

Hello, Cristi, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. Where you wrote "operation" above, I guess it was a typo — it should be "operate." Both sentences are correct, but while the first one presupposes that "you" only needs one computer to operate, the second one may imply that "you" needs more than one computer, or that there are no computers out of which one could be assigned to the operator.Read More...

I think you meant to say: In their tax return(s), people need/are required to disclose their types/sources of income separately. " as distribution" sounds better (you don't need to repeat "trust"). Both "as" and "in" work when what follows is a more concrete item: compare as/in assets/liabilities/earnings/expenses with as compensation/distribution . - In his tax return, Donald T has declared an amount of $10K as distribution from the Trump family trust.Read More...

Hi, Mooninsky—You're using "facilitate" incorrectly. Use "help" instead.Read More...

I think they can both mean the speaker started to eat nothing (with this meaning, "anything" seems more usual to me), or started to be selective: the speaker started to eat only certain things, not just anything or everything. I think the same ambiguity stated above applies here.Read More...

I agree with Gustavo that the intended meaning, represented by the first (1), is possible. Of course, the other meaning, represented by the second (1), is also possible. To disambiguate in favor of the intended meaning, you could say: c. He refused to let the pandemic, or the government's response to it, prevent him from keeping his bar open.Read More...

Hi, bear_bear, The correct options are: 1(b), because independent sentences are separated by periods, not commas. 2(a), because after vocatives we use commas. 3(a), for the same reason stated for 1(b). Help! is, in fact, an independent sentence. (You don't need to leave a space before exclamation marks: Call 999! ) 4(c), because vocatives are set off by commas, and "but" also needs to be preceded by a comma.Read More...

Hello again, Ahmed—Cooking supper and watching TV are both activities that are engaged in for a period of time. When the duration of the supper-cooking time period is compared with the duration of the TV-watching time period, there are three possibilities: no overlap, partial overlap, or complete overlap. Since "while" (or "as") is being used as the coordinating conjunction, we can rule out there being no overlap; it is a question of whether the TV-watching period overlaps partially or...Read More...

The version with "it" might be more usual in conversation. There is a significant grammatical difference: In: Talking about Rima, it reminds me she sent me a friend's request a few months ago "talking about Rima" is an adverbial clause of time, and "it" refers to something mentioned in the context, or to the situation (now that we are talking about Rima, what you just said/this situation reminds me ...) In: Talking about Rima reminds me she sent me a friend's request a few months ago...Read More...

Hi, Toaha, The sentence is grammatical, but the adjective "purposive" is, to the best of my knowledge, rather unusual. I think this could be more usual: - It's a great initiative, no matter what its (real) purposes are / may be.Read More...

Dear 'Gustavo', I completely agree with you. 'An' seems unnecessary here. Also, 'based' is the correct word to use in such a context.Read More...

Hello, Mooninsky, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. I agree with Ahmed that you should NOT say "was graduated" or "am graduated." It doesn't matter whether it's American or British English; the sentence is quite bad nowadays with "was graduated" or "am graduated." Although you can say, "I have graduated from XYZ with a B.A.," such a sentence would normally be used to announce a recent graduation. On a job application, it would be more normal to use the simple past: I graduated from ABC...Read More...

Hello, Abo—Whether you choose "don't" or "doesn't," the sentence will be ungrammatical. "Her" is the pronominal subject of the question. As subject, that pronoun must be in subjective (nominative) case: "she." The correct question is " Why doesn't she? " You can say, " She doesn't because . . . ,"not " She don't because . . . ," " Her doesn't because . . . ," " Her don't because . . . "Read More...

My native ears only accept plural agreement there: "The vast majority of them have arrived." The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) confirms that "majority" is usually found with plural agreement when it functions as a quantifier, as here.Read More...

Hi, Toaha—If it is "again" that doesn't make sense to you, it signals that the speaker is asking the interlocutor to tell him something that he had told him before. If it is the construction "How was it that you convinced me to . . . ?" that doesn't make sense to you, that is a (clefted) rearrangement of "How did you convince me to . . . ?" Similarly, instead of saying, "You convinced me to jump out of this plane by giving me a hundred dollars ," we can say, " It was by giving me a hundred...Read More...

Thanks for removing my confusion 💖💖💖Read More...

Hello, Tony—Both (a) and (b) incorrect because they are run-on sentences. Can you spot where the first sentence ends and the second begins in each example? "It might have been doubled up" speaks of a process as having possibly occurred in the past; "it might be doubling up," of a process as possibly occurring now.Read More...

Thank you, David.Read More...

Thanks 😇Read More...

Hi, Toaha—The image you posted was inappropriate (even more inappropriate than your "rape" post from yesterday), so I deleted it.Read More...

Yes, you're right.Read More...

I see. Thank you very much.Read More...

I agree with Gustavo's answer. I see that both are possible and grammatically correct. I feel happy whenever / during the time that I'm with my family.Read More...

You're right. As you can see, leaving out "necessarily" results in a sentence that does not reflect the truth: when we yawn, it usually means we are tired.Read More...

Hi, @youknowwhowantstolearn, and welcome to GE. And thank you, Ayman, for your contribution. Both answers are possible (provided that Himel , which is a name, is properly written with a capital letter). With the adjective "important," I think that the present indicative ( completes ) can mean that the person usually completes his tasks (this is something he does, and that is important: (The fact) that he completes his tasks is important ), while the present subjunctive ( complete ) means...Read More...

Hi, Tony, I'd use what you said at the end, She keeps changing her story . Speaking about the evolution of her explanation sounds like too much.Read More...

Hi Gustavo, first of all my apologies for the typo, and second thanks for your reply. I though about them as some kind of conditional, since one sentence is a consequence of the other one. But I couldn't find any specific information related to them. Thanks again for answering my question.Read More...

Great job, Gustavo. Just so Nousher is clear about what you've explained, I'd like to clarify that "eating as much chocolate" and "eating chocolate as much" are not different ways of saying the same thing but have totally different meanings. In the second formulation, in which, as Gustavo points out, "as much" is adverbial, "much" can be replaced by "often": " Jim doesn't each chocolate as often as I do. " But this does not work: * " Jim doesn't eat as often chocolate as I do ." In "eat as...Read More...

Hi, Joshua, I'd go for (a) and (e) with a minor addition: a'. Please find my feedback as an attached file. e'. My feedback is enclosed as an attached file. I suggest: f. Please find attached a file with my feedback / Attached you may find a file with my feedback.Read More...

Hi, Toaha—Rape, as you know, is a sensitive issue. Unless there is a very good reason to take rape as an example in a grammar discussion, it would be better to use less sensitive topics. Soon I hope to post forum guidelines to which we can link members when threads like this get posted. Regarding the sign, I don't think it's well written; the meaning is not obvious to me. The sign's use of English strikes me as nonnative. As to the meaning of "leap ahead," the phrase calls to mind the first...Read More...