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Regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic

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David, Moderator
Dear Grammar Exchange members, As we continue our grammar discussions, I want you to know that I am aware that we are all struggling in various ways as a result of the current pandemic and that my heart goes out to all of you. I hope that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. Although we may not know each other personally, we all know that there is much more to us than the English grammar issues we discuss here. This post is devoted to the dimensions of you and your lives that I know...Read More...
Nina WD
Hi Gustavo, Thank you very much for your advise and guidance!!!! I sincerely appreciate it! ~Nina~Read More...
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.... and ....

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Who is Clinton's wife? As I know Clinton's wife is Hilliary. Clinton walked out arm-in-arm with his wife and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before greeting hospital staff and giving a thumbs-up when asked how he was feeling. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/17/politics/bill-clinton-released-hospital-infection/index.htmlRead More...
Gustavo, Co-Moderator
No. If two people were involved, there would be another "with" or another determiner for "former Secretary of State": - Clinton walked out arm-in-arm with his wife and (with) a former Secretary of State. Imagine this analogous example: - On this forum, I work with my colleague and grammar expert David Evans. It is clear that David is both my colleague and a grammar expert.Read More...
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Much more and many more

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Hi, Swan said, ''When 'more' modifies a plural noun, it is modified by 'many' instead of 'much'.'' Yet, Swan had mentioned, in the same page, the following sentence too: ''There are much nicer shops.'' Why did he use ''much'' before the plural noun ''shops''? Mustn't it be ''many''?Read More...
ahmed_btm
HI, Ahmed, 'Much' here precedes the comparative adjective 'nicer', not the noun 'shops'. A similar example is: - I have to work much longer hours these days.Read More...
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Rather than being

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Rather than be engaged actively in the lesson, he may have been preoccupied with trying to imagine pumpkin pie. Is <Being> possible instead of <be>? How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and SchoolRead More...
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Why is "friendly-looking" hyphenated?

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1. Our dog needs a pet-friendly place to stay. 2. Our dog needs a perfectly friendly place to stay. 3. Our dog needs a friendly-looking place to stay. 4. Our dog needs a large, friendly and comfortable place to stay. From skimming through grammar websites, I believe the punctuation (including hyphens) above are correct on all accounts. However, I'm confused as to why "friendly-looking" is hyphenated. If the word, "looking" isn't a noun, then wouldn't that make "friendly" an adverb in that...Read More...
Gustavo, Co-Moderator
Hi, Gary, Hyphenation is typical of compounds. In the case of adverbs preceding adjectives, the adverb modifies the adjective — they do not form a compound word, but a phrase, as in extremely friendly . In compound words, the components lose their independence to form a new lexical unit, and this is marked by a hyphen. While "extremely friendly" is an adjective phrase, "friendly-looking" is a compound adjective. This compounding mechanism is recorded by Quirk and Greenbaum in "A University...Read More...
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Inquiry

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Can I use SINCE and FOR with HAVE GONE and HAVE BEEN as the past participle of GO? Can I say, for example, "My uncle lives in Paris. He has gone there since 2015 " ? For me, I see it is incorrect. Instead, we should use BEEN as the past participle of BE. "My uncle lives in Paris. He has BEEN there since 2015 " ? However, I still need your confirmation. Thanks in advance 🙏Read More...
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(have watched - have been watching)

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Hello. Could you please help me choose the correct answer? Why? - I (have watched - have been watching) all the weight lifting competitions this year. Thank you.Read More...
ahmed_btm
Hi, Ahmed Imam Attia, I prefer 'have watched' . I see that the usage of ' all ' here requires the present perfect. It means that you are at the end of the year and the action is complete. The focus (emphasis) is on the result, not the duration or the activity. - I have watched all the weightlifting competitions this year. I am tired of them.Read More...
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How to interpret " by a parent"

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Hi, everyone. 1. Children must be accompanied by a parent. Does it have two possible interpretations: 2. Each child must be accompanied by a parent. 3.A parent is required to accompany all the children. I think the natural reading is the former but I'm not sure about the latter. Thanks in advance.Read More...
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amounts of

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Cyanotype Toning: Using Botanicals to Tone Blueprints Naturally Blue is a quiet color that encourages consensus and order. go - dyed fabric is washed, tiny a mounts of dye are washed away , and the thread comes with them . What I don't understand is why <amounts> is plural, not singular, though <Amount> is uncountable. Can you help me with this?Read More...
GBLSU
Thank you.Read More...
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dogs know it when...

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Hello, In the following sentence is the "it" obligatory? Dogs know it when they are not treated fairly. appleRead More...
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reason for/reason that

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Hi, everyone on the GE. I think that asking the question " So why was he punished? " would be the most correct way of eliciting the reason for someone's punishment. Would (1) and (2) below be good alternatives to this question? Are they correctly worded? (1) So what was the reason for his punishment? (2) So what was the reason that he was punished? Thanks for your help.Read More...
gilbert
Hello, David. Thanks for the reply and for pointing out to me that my alternative sentences (1) & (2) would mean that only one (form of) punishment was meted out to this poor fella. I would never have thought of that. You have an uncanny ability to see these things in sentences, David. Thanks a lot for your help.Read More...
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Use of the Apostrophe

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Hi, everyone. Could you tell me whether the apostrophe is correctly used in the sentence below: Modality is about a speaker’s or a writer’s attitude towards the world. I can't explain it in a grammatical way but I think that the word speaker shouldn't carry the apostrophe. Am I right? I found the sentence in the link below: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/modal-verbs-and-modality Thank you.Read More...
gilbert
Hi, David and thanks for your response. Your explanation makes a lot of sense. Hmm...English can be so confusing sometimes! I remember learning that if there were two names in a sentence and if they were co-possessors of something, only the second name would carry the 's , like so: [That's John and Mary's restaurant.] How is this different from Modality is about a speaker’s or a writer’s attitude towards the world? Please help clear my confusion, David. Many thanks for your help.Read More...
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a pet animal, he she it

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Hello, We use "he" or "she" for someone's pet animal. Does using "it" somehow sound a bit rude? I think "rude" is a strong word, but most owners prefer having their beloved dog referred to as "he" or "she". What do you think? appleRead More...
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Fore granted and for granted

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Hello Grammar Exchange members. This is my first post on the forum. I do not consider myself to be a grammar expert, however, I am grammar-curious. Here's my consideration: for years I have thought the term "for granted" was actually "fore granted". This afternoon while reading I noticed the spelling error (as I saw it) yet again. Which lead me to search for the term in a dictionary and dictionary of etymology only to find that neither use the term "fore granted". With the meaning of the...Read More...
Erin
David, thank you for the response.Read More...
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Full stop or comma after No?

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Hello, everyone. I was poking around grammar websites when I chanced upon a discussion on whether we should use a full stop (period) or a comma after the word No. Here's the link to that forum: [https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/300421/comma-or-period-after-no] And this is what I read: According to Margie Wakeman Wells: Court Reporting Resource, Books and Seminars on Good Grammar and Punctuation , period should be placed in this case: When the words after yes and no “echo” the...Read More...
gilbert
Hello there, Gustavo. Ah, okay, now I get it! That was a perfectly clear answer to my question. Thank you so much.Read More...
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prepositional phrases

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These are questions about the sentence "A." 1) Is "sitting in my desk" an appositive phrase that gives more information about the pronoun "I?" 2) "in my desk" is a prepositional phrase. Does this have any importance to the sentence or is this an appositive that is made up from a prepositional phrase? 3) I assume that "wire tap" is the phrasal verb (main verb) of the sentence and even though there isn't an auxillary verb, is "sitting" the main verb that's governed by the prepositional phrase?Read More...
clueless
Thanks again, Gustavo!!Read More...
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subject-verb agreement

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The Accessibility of Information For many centuries European science , and knowledge in general, was recorded in Latin—a language that no one spoke any longer and that had to be learned in schools. Very few individuals, probably less than 1 percent, had the means to study Latin enough to read books in that language and therefore to participate in the intellectual discourse of the times. Moreover, few people had access to books, which were handwritten, scarce, and expensive. Can I use...Read More...
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A wide array of

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Hello, 1. Which of the following is correct? a. We are familiar with a wide array of business structure b. We are familiar with a wide array of business structures 2. What is the difference between a wide range of and a wide array ofRead More...
David, Moderator
Hi, Tony—The plural is needed ("structures"). "Range" & "array" are synonyms.Read More...
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to be-pp

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I stood there, waiting for the door to open. I came up with this sentence based on the situation on the subway. What I'd like to know is whether "to be opened" is acceptable instead of "to open" in this context. Plus, I think in this situation "opened' sounds 100 % not right.Read More...
David, Moderator
Hi, Dude—Both of the following sentences are perfectly fine: (1) I stood there, waiting for the door to open. (2) I stood there, waiting for the door to be opened. Their meanings differ. In (1), "open" is intransitive. Perhaps the door is an automatic door; the speaker was waiting for the door to swing open by itself. In (2), "be opened" is passive; the speaker was waiting for the door to be opened by someone else, i.e., he was waiting for someone to open the door.Read More...
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sentential which?

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1) They ate everything they killed, for which Shermer's stepfather also displayed culinary skills. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shermer Is '1' grammatical? If it is, what does 'which' refer to? Gratefully, NaviRead More...
David, Moderator
Hello, Navi and Gustavo—Like both of you, I find the relative clause to be problematic in (1); and like you, Navi, I think Gustavo has given an excellent analysis of why that is. I think that the following revision, though a bit cumbersome, would make the connection between the two clauses clearer: 1a) They ate everything they killed, for the cooking of which Shermer's stepfather also displayed culinary skills.Read More...
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Singular or Plural?

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I brought up the previous thread. I happened to read this sentence, and wondered why the verb is not plural. Which one is desirable, singular or plural? Thanks in advance. The size, shape and location of transmitter loops is of fundamental importance in the design of both surface and drillhole TEM surveys.Read More...
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juxtaposition

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The great explosion of scientific creativity in Europe was certainly helped 1. by the sudden spread of information brought about 2. by Gutenberg’s use of movable type in printing and by the legitimation of everyday languages, which rapidly replaced Latin as the medium of discourse. READ Creativity FREE online full book. Page books 45 I am a little bit confused about which is in juxtaposition with the third <by> after <and>, the first one or the second one. I think the second one,...Read More...
GBLSU
Super clear!Read More...
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turn out

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I posted the question about the <prove to> in previous thread. I have a similar question. In the case of <Turn out to be>, does it work the same as <prove>? Are both correct? 1 The design turned out successful. 2 The design turned out a success.Read More...
GBLSU
Thank you for teaching a new thing. Always grateful!Read More...
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