As I told you, you transcribed sentence (4) incorrectly. This is what appears in the video: Absolute clauses actually allow the change of subject. They are formed by a subject, different from that of the main clause, which may be introduced by "with" and is usually followed by a non-finite verb such as a participle. For you to understand how they work, imagine that the sentence above comes from: - As it was too late to get a train, we took a taxi ⇒ It being too late to get a train, we took a...Read More...

This is an excellent explanation, David! Precisely what I was hoping to find. Mille mercis!Read More...

Hi, Meriem, You should have written those two sentences instead of just inserting the image of their page. In sentence 3, 'hurrying' is the only correct answer. It means 'while/because' she was in a hurry/hurrying to go to school, she forgot ..... . Both are simultaneous actions. 'A' in 6 is totally ungrammatical. 'Feeling' gives the impression that there was no time span between her feeling and her sharing the news with her parents.Read More...

I got it. Thank you.Read More...

Hi, Moon Le, You should use the symbol "%" at all times if you are referring to a percentage. Also, please note that "enrolling" is written with double "l" in AmE. You can use "proportion," but not "rate," because you are comparing males and females, and "rate" expresses an absolute value. Instead, "percentage" and "proportion" refer to a portion within a whole.Read More...

I agree with Ahmed. Additionally, if we intend for the clause to sound like a polite request (rather than just a question about the availability of an expert), we could use the conditional: - I was wondering if you 'd have an expert who could ... In this case, the speaker does not only want to know whether the interlocutor has an expert, but is asking for help.Read More...

I mean that, when a noun like "prices" functions as a noun, not as an adjective, the "-s" should not be dropped (see the last sentence below): - I am creating a price list. OK (here "price" modifies the noun "list," so it is adjectival and does not take an "-s") - ... for different services types ... NOT OK (similarly to the sentence above, you should say "service types") - ... and the corresponding price . NOT OK (you should say "and the corresponding price s ," because the different...Read More...

Hi, Andrew—I agree with Gustavo that there is nothing grammatically wrong with the sentence you have asked about. As Gustavo says, "how hard this is" is an extraposed clause. It's what's known as an extraposed exclamative clause. Extraposed WH-clauses, including extraposed "how"-clauses, come in two varieties: extraposed interrogatives (" It 's hard to know how much this costs ") and extraposed exclamatives (" It 's outrageous how much this costs ").Read More...

Thanks, Gustavo. Yes, your "wine" example is something that all learners should understand, especially if they one day decide to pay a surprise visit to a friend, who just happens to be eating lunch at that time!Read More...

Hi, all, From 'The New Fowlers English Usage', page 350: 2 hardly... than. This, and the parallel constructions barely ... than and scarcely ... than, which have arisen by analogy with no sooner than, are labelled by the OED (s.v. than conj. 3d) with the condemnatory sign ¶ The examples cited are: He had scarcely won for himself the place which he deserved, than his health was found shattered- Froude, 1864; Hardly had the Council been re-opened at Trent... than Elizabeth was allying herself...Read More...

Yes, we'll have to use a "light" verb: - We will gladly do whichever you prefer, exchange your goods or refund your money.Read More...

Hi, Azz, I think they are all ambiguous depending on whether the novelty is attributed to "the/their method to learn/which allows you to learn five languages simultaneously" (there was a former method, or there were former methods to learn five languages simultaneously that worked differently) or to the possibility of learning five languages simultaneously by means of the new method (the old one/s did not allow it). The two ideas could perhaps be more easily understood by enclosing the...Read More...

Gustavo, I really appreciate your kind response. Learning is a never-ending journey!Read More...

Ray and David, I want to express my sincere gratitude for your kind response. Learning something new always feels great, and thanks to both of you, I have gained a new understanding.Read More...

Thank you, David. Here is the passage in question:Read More...

Hi, Janice—ESL students are standardly advised not to use infinive phrases as sentence subjects. In subject position, gerund phrases tend to sound much more natural. As Ahmed has indicated, infinitives tend to have a much more formal sound in that position. An infinitive can be naturally and correctly used in a variation of your second sentence. This one uses expletive "it": It is not acceptable in my culture to hug. In that sentence, "to hug" is an extraposed subject. "It" doesn't mean...Read More...

Hi, Hossam Nigm, It seems that you are in a hurry. You have forgotten to insert 'before' in the title of this thread. 'Have you bought bread you come here?' is ungrammatical and meaningless. It doesn't sound natural. You can say: - Will you bring bread before you come home? (Indicating future incident) - Do you bring bread before you come home? (Indicating a habit) You can see Rachel's reply for a similar question here: https://thegrammarexchange.inf...r-before-i-come-here No, 'came' here is...Read More...

This speaker of American English, given a choice between the present perfect or the simple past with "already," does prefer to use the present perfect. At the same time, I do not deny that I commonly hear the simple past. The robot is speaking natural, if a bit unfortunate, English here, at least in American English.Read More...

Thank you Gustavo, Co-Moderator and f6pafd .Read More...

If the words which follow "said" and which are not enclosed in quotation marks rephrase—in your own words—aspects of what he said, without changing the meaning or adding or subtracting from it, then what you have done is to use a combination of quotation and paraphrase. That is quite different from what you did in your opening post. In that post, you did not paraphrase at all. All you did was take some quotations and omit some words from them. What I want to make sure you understand is that...Read More...

Hi, Gustavo, appreciate your clarification. Also, thanks for your nice explanation with ". . . a large request (attending an out-of-town concert), then asking them for something smaller . . .".Read More...

Hello, Izzat Hannah—When you ask, " DO these two sentences have the same meaning?," do you mean, " CAN these two sentences have the same meaning?" If so, the answer is, yes, they can. They can both be indirect-speech versions of: Hellen said, "I love visiting New York." But if you mean, " MUST these two sentences have the same meaning in all possible contexts?," the answer is, no, they need not have the same meaning. Ahmed has clarified how it is possible for them to have different meanings.Read More...

Thank you so muchRead More...

Hi, Andrew, According to The Chicago Manual of Style Online: Hyphenation Table , it should not be hyphenated when used inside a prepositional phrase ( in the near term, in the long term ) and should be hyphenated when used as a compound adjective ( near-term proposal, long-term plan ):Read More...

Hi, Essam Nasr, and 'Happy Ramadan', No, the past simple tense is the one that's normally used in this case. I think you miss the point here. When you mention the pharaohs or Graham Bell, the time frame is already established in the past, especially with verbs that happen only once. It is something that happened a long time ago. You can't say 'Naguib Mahfouz has written many great stories. Many people still enjoy reading them.' Naguib Mahfouz passed away many years ago. However, you can...Read More...

You can have a look at 'Collins COBUILD English Grammar'.Read More...

Hi, Andrew, I agree with David. One thing is to live in an environment (according to your paraphrase), and quite another is to grow up in an environment—the latter verb, which is the one used in the original text, entails an evolution from childhood to adulthood. A 5th grader would be around 10, and will finish high school at around 18. By the time the girl turns 18, the decisions made during this period will have determined the conditions of the world in which she has grown up.Read More...

Thank you so muchRead More...

Hi, Tony, Yes, that is correct. Being a collective nominalized adjective, "the poor" means "(all) the poor people." If you say "poor people" (without the article), the collective sense is lost.Read More...

Thank you for this clarification, Gustavo!Read More...

Hi, Gustavo, Sorry, Gustavo. This happened because of my mobile phone. I tried many times to fix it, but it didn't work.Read More...

To add to David's answer above, I think the reason underlying the unacceptability of the first sentence is related to the general restrictions of using "(very) much" as a pronoun in the affirmative: *This is much. *This is very much. - This is a bit much. - This is so much. - This is too much. The same restriction may apply when "(very) much" is used as a determiner in the affirmative: *He has much money. *He has very much money. - He has so much money. - He has too much money.Read More...

Hello, Magdy Hamza, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. I'm sorry if this disappoints you, but the Grammar Exchange is not a homework-completion service. Please visit our Guidelines page and revise your question.Read More...

Hi, Subhajit, I understand you have made up the sentences yourself, haven't you? I won't revise them and will instead focus on your question. In the affirmative, "a person" is the same as "someone": (a) I'm interested in talking to someone/a person who loves grammar. In the affirmative, "anyone" carries the meaning of "no matter who": (b) I'm interested in talking to anyone who loves grammar. Depending on the context, in the negative anyone can combine with "not" to form "no one," or can...Read More...

Hi, Ahmed Imam Attia, There is a phrase that needs to be hyphenated and a sentence that needs an exclamation mark. Could you identify them?Read More...

Source : https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=harsha%20bhogleRead More...

Again, your assumption is wrong. Stranding is NOT necessary in that sentence. The following sentence is perfectly grammatical: He asked me to whom I gave the message. No. "On" and "to" commonly go and function together syntactically. Indeed, the one-word preposition "onto" represents the morphological matrimony of their syntactic love affair. When you try to follow "on" with "to" in such a way that "to" has absolutely nothing to do with "on," you tear the two asunder and do violence to the...Read More...

Hi, Subhajit, "It" and "to" are necessary in those sentences. "It" is not a dummy but a cataphoric pronoun in sentences (1) and (5): in (1), it refers to the speaker's going out, and in (5), to the speaker's being a spy. To be dummy, "it" has to merely fulfill a grammatical function, while in the mentioned sentences "it" has a referent, so it is a full pronoun there. Now, sentences (3) and (4) are not good sentences. You should use "like" instead of "want" in those sentences. For "want" to...Read More...

Hello, Ahmed Mancy, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. Please have a look at our guidelines and revise your question and title. Thanks.Read More...

Hi, Subhajit, After checking the Internet, I've found out that the fertilizer consists of a compound made up of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, so I don't think the comma before "and Potassium" is correct. It would if the three chemical components were each a fertilizer in its own right. Since it is the mixture that counts as a fertilizer, you should use "a fertilizer." You should also use the singular here. "Weapons" would be used if different, separate weapons were mentioned. The...Read More...

Hello, Izzat Hannah—Like Gustavo, I think that "am feeling" is the best choice, a normal context being assumed. The present progressive conveys the right meaning, of a process or development that is unfolding. The present perfect progressive ("have been exercising regularly") leads the listener to assume that the regular exercise is ongoing even at the present time, and that the bodily development it has led to may be expected to continue. But perhaps the speaker is an astronaut who has been...Read More...

Hi, Treasure—I think Gustavo has made a good argument for choosing "who" in this particular sentence. As usual, I don't feel obligated to confine myself to a fill-in-the-blank task, rejoicing in my freedom to revise a sentence at will. (1) It's a chance for people of all the different nationalities in Dublin to share their culture . (2) It's a chance for all the different nationalities of Dubliners to be shared . I'd say that saying a person of a certain nationality lives somewhere is...Read More...

Hi, Subhajit, You should always remember to use the past participle in passive constructions like the one above. In Table 5-7 Prepositions of Place on page 138 of Azar & Hagen's Basic English Grammar, we can find a very good summary of how the different prepositions of place should be used mainly when speaking about people's locations (I have extracted the ones of interest to answer your question): Then, on page 139 there is Exercise 25, where students are expected to complete the...Read More...

Hi, Andrew—From a grammatical standpoint, I agree with Gustavo that the clause is ambiguous. Syntax permits the clause of attribution ("Stokes adds") to be adjoined either to the sentential relative clause ("which is one reason why the coronavirus wreaked havoc") or to the matrix clause containing it. HOWEVER, if the clause of attribution adjoins only to the sentential relative, then what was added by Stokes is that the referent of "which"—namely, the U.S.'s already having had a crisis of...Read More...

Hi, Izzat Hannah, As you know, the future perfect is used to refer to a future action or state previous to another future action or state which, if expressed in the form of a subordinate clause, cannot be stated in a future tense. These sentences taken from "The grammar of the English tense system" by Renaat Declerck which combine future perfect in the main clause with future in the before -clause are defined by the author as ungrammatical: Adverbial before -clauses, page 725, item 14.8.3:...Read More...

Thanks for explaining. I thought you might be worried a "mixed" conditional. I personally do not think such conditionals as these—conditional requests—are even candidates for being blacklisted by prescriptivists as "mixed" conditionals, because the part of the sentence with "could" is nonpropositional in nature; the question with "could" simply realizes the speech act of a request. Yes, it isn't ungrammatical. By crossing it out in red, I didn't mean to indicate that it was ungrammatical,...Read More...

You don't need to physically work with somebody, or to be legally related, to say that you work with them. Also, the choice of the adjective ( excited, happy, pleased... ) depends on what you want to express. Alternatively, you can say: - I am very excited about our business relationship because, among other mutual benefits, we can refer our clients to each other.Read More...

I'm not saying that "do" cannot be placed at the end. I just feel that, with those postmodifiers "in the private sector" and "in the general public," those two sentences flow better as they are.Read More...

Hi, Andrew, Perhaps you should have opened two different threads because your posting above deals with two different questions, the only element in common being the sense of expectation on the part of the reader at some point in the text. Suspense should not be a problem as long as it does not deviate the reader's attention (what Fowler describes as leaving a "false scent"). My advice would be to avoid suspense if a reader other than the writer—who knows what to expect—feels at a loss, for...Read More...