Simply because there is no second action here. When it had been raining, what happened?Read More...

Hi, Emad, You have asked that same question before. See its answer here: https://thegrammarexchange.inf...c/present-perfect-15Read More...

Hi Gustavo. Thank you for sharing with me your great knowledge. “Noun-based participles” is a subversive, thought-provoking name to me and I like it, subversive because I suppose participles by definition derive from verbs. So if I understand this correctly, “able-bodied” is a modified -ed adjective and “blue-eyed” a bare -ed adjective, which has brought me a new question: How are they different? They both look the same to me as adj + N + -ed, and the root words are “able bodies” and “blue...Read More...

Interesting, thank you. I can see how the "chef's hats" plural means something like we, as non-chefs, sometimes wear the hats owned by our chef. I guess it seems odd to me because chef's hat is a thing like buyer's remorse. There are many ways a buyer can have remorse like they paid too much, the product broke, etc. So we could have multiple remorses (although my grammar checker highlighted remorses here), and hence buyer's remorses, or buyers' remorses. Here, I can see that if we have one...Read More...

Hello again, John—You're on the right track in your thinking here, but a little off the mark. Most budding writers of English don't need an alternative to the semicolon, since most budding writers of English have no idea how to use a semicolon in the first place. It's the least common punctuation mark. What budding writers of English do need is the ability to differentiate between dependent and independent clauses. As you know, in conversation, we often hear utterances beginning with...Read More...

Please provide some of the surrounding sentences, Windward. Thanks.Read More...

Thank you very much. I think I understand now. So it's nothing to do with the verb "damage“. No matter if the verb “damage” can last for a while or not.Read More...

Hello, Clem, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. The example you have asked about is correct; however, it would be good to add a comma before the second independent clause and place "physically" (which clarifies the respect in which you felt awful) at the end with a comma: (1) I've attended festivals like Coachella, and I always felt awful, physically. It is actually the change in tense that does create a logical relationship between the two independent clauses. The sentence has the same...Read More...

Yes, like Navi, I’d like to hear David point out the ambiguity he sees in sentence (1) too.Read More...

Thanks, Gustavo. I'm not a lawyer and not studying law. I was trying to learn about rules for determining the antecedent when I ran across the supposed legal rule online. My understanding is that the rule is intended for use in cases where a document is poorly written, it is not guidance for how documents should be written. I found on Wikipedia this morning that the rule is a little less stringent than the post I saw lead me to believe --- the rule is not intended to override obvious...Read More...

How would you feel if your dog attacks someone? ---> 'if your dog attacks anyone, how would you feel?' You think the person wants the dog to not ever attack but is training the dog in a way that could lead it to attack a person. You are not allowing any exceptions, even for robbers or murderers. You donʻt think the dog will always attack; rather, you believe the owner thinks or should think that one attack is an attack too many, and the person attacked would be that one "someone". How...Read More...

Hello, Wrow, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. To add to what the others have said, I think it really comes down to what one means by grammatical correctness. As a sentence, "The time is quarter past three" is faultless. As a reply to the question "Would you take the bins out, please?," it is what many would call a non sequitur . When I place ungrammaticality asterisks (*) before sentences on this forum, it is because I judge the sentence ungrammatical because of its violation of...Read More...

Hello, Ahmed Imam Attia—The better word to use there is "sign": "The result of the election is a clear sign that voters are unhappy." The word "signal" would work nicely, however, if the sentence were rephrased: "The result of the election signals that voters are unhappy." I omitted "clearly" there; it could be placed in a few different places: before "signals," before "that," or after "are."Read More...

Thanks both of you 💖Read More...

Hi, Fujibei, I agree with Kinto that using the future perfect here is grammatically correct. It simply means that Trump is going to do something concerning this issue at some point in the future. After this point, this man's death or the reasons behind his death will no longer be in vain.Read More...

Hello, Robby zhu—The answer to both your questions here is no. In "such that"-clauses, "that" does not introduce a relative clause, as may be seen by the fact that (a) there is no "gap" in the clause it introduces (namely, "they have the same reference") and (b) "that" cannot be replaced by "which": " a relation between two noun phrases such which they have the same reference ." The correlative "such . . . that . . ." structure you have used in (2) does exist, as you probably already know;...Read More...

Hi, Fujibei—You raise an interesting point. I agree with you that topping or exceeding double digits means surpassing double digits, which I suppose means going into triple digits, contrary to the writer's intended meaning. It would have been better if the writer had used "has topped the double-digit mark," "has exceeded the double-digit mark." That is the intended meaning. The double-digit mark is ten. The number of new cases surpassed ten.Read More...

Hi, Zonzon, The most reasonable answer here is: 'hole'. For more information, see "LDOCE" here: https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/holeRead More...

The sentence above, where the phrase in question is in apposition to the head of the subject, also sounds fine. Some might argue that, being somewhat long, it separates "Mental Health First Aid" from the verb a bit too much, but I find it nice too. It is, as you said, a matter of preference.Read More...

Thanks ahmed_btm 💖Read More...

Hi, Ilko, Yes, it is.Read More...

Hi, Angelica—The "sentence" you have asked about is actually two sentences. There is a period at the end of the first sentence. The second sentence begins with "Even." Those two sentences are OK, though the use of "Even" is a bit awkward. I recommend deleting "Even": I want to dance. My spirit is dancing within. The problematic sentence is the one you used to ask your question: " Considering current lockdown situation which prevents you from clubbing is the following sentence correct? " You...Read More...

Thank you very much, Gustavo.Read More...

Hi, Moon Le, "fauna" and "flora" are uncountable in the sense that you cannot say *two faunas, *three floras , but can take an "s" to refer to the fauna and flora of different places or times.Read More...

Thanks 💖Read More...

Wow! thanks for this informative explanation, Gustavo 💖😇Read More...

THANKS DAVID 💖Read More...

Thanks David. Your examples have clarified everything and answered all my questions I had in my mind. I really appreciate that.Read More...

Ok, I don't want to waste anything, thus I will not write in this thread anymore. Soon, I will create a new one, though, asking about the different types of verb phrases. I'm curious about them, and maybe this knowledge will help me understand English tenses better. Thank you, everyone, for contribution to this long thread.Read More...

Thanks 💖Read More...

Helllo, Hobapop, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. Both answers are correct. Would you like to ask a question?Read More...

Hello, Nastassia, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. When you ask questions here concerning example sentences, please include the example sentences in the body of your post, so that readers do not have to refer to the title in order to understand your question. Thank you. Both sentences are correct, though you have "always" in an awkward place in "She always is letting me down." You should place "always" after "is" (the auxiliary verb): "She is always letting me down." There is a...Read More...

Thanks 💖Read More...

Hi, Ahmed—Only (b) is correct. "For two years now" tells you that the action of building this school is ongoing. The progressive is needed to show that the action has not been completed.Read More...

Thanks a lot David 💖Read More...

Yes. Unlike "wanted," which can point to the future within the past ( he wanted to have a meeting/meetings ), "liked" expresses a habitual past, and then "so he could not bear to listen" could only be used to express result. This is another possible sentence: - Jim didn't like long meetings so (as a result) he left in the middle of the boring presentation. Note 1: couldn't bear can also be followed by V-ing ( couldn't bear listening to... ) Note 2: Your comment further above should have been...Read More...

THANKS 💖Read More...

Thank you very much.Read More...

Hello, Moon Le, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange: Both "governments" and "the government" are correct, but using one or the other will depend on what you want to refer to (governments in general or some specific government).Read More...

Hello, Navi—Yes, (1) is ambiguous in that way. Nice observation. On reading (b), "swearing" is a gerund, i.e., a noun. (Compare: "He has grown accustomed to the swearing in that film, he has seen it so many times.") The sentence says that swearing is something to which he is accustomed. On reading (a), "swearing" is a verb. (Compare: "He is accustomed to swear .") "Swearing" is not a true gerund on this interpretation. It could even be modified by an adverb ("He is accustomed to swearing...Read More...

Hi, Ilko, I am afraid it is meaningless.Read More...

I agree this makes far more sense. I do not like the dichotomy of 'simple/compound'. A child should not be greatly faulted for confusing complex sentences with compound sentences when attempting to infer a relationship from the fact that 'simple' and 'complex' are antonyms. To a child, a 'simple complex sentence' is a lexical nightmare even though the concept is perfectly valid.Read More...

Thank you!Read More...

Hi, Ahmed, Sometimes they are used interchangeably. 'Relating to' is a preposition meaning 'concerning' or 'about' . On LDOCE, you can see: - Documents relating to immigration laws. - Other particular provisions allow parents to be given special information relating to their child. 'Related to' is an adjective meaning 'connected to' or 'caused by'. - Poverty is often directly related to unemployment.Read More...

Thank you, Gustavo. Great help!Read More...

@ahmed_btm @Gustavo, Contributor Thank you very much! Thank you very much!Read More...

Also, "the players' list" would likely be interpreted as "a list belonging to the players" rather than as "the list of players."Read More...

Hi, Ahmed, See David's answer here: https://thegrammarexchange.inf...c/topic/each-vs-bothRead More...