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IN a prepositio or adverb

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The following is a quote from Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens: ‘Ah! poetry makes life what light and music do the stage—strip the one of the false embellishments, and the other of its illusions, and what is there real in either to live or care for?’ What part of speech is the word "IN" in the above quote, the adverb or preposition? What is its object if it is a preposition? Your help will be very much appreciated.Read More...
f6pafd
Thank you both for the detailed explanations. And something else, what is the function of "to live" and "care for"? Are they functioning as postmodifiers of "what"?Read More...
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Is this a subordinating clause or a prepositional phrase?

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I was wondering if someone here would be able to clarify something for me. I'm currently analysing a sentence from 'Hound of the Baskervilles', and I've come across this: "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night , was seated at the breakfast table." My first thought was to regard it as a subordinate clause modifying the previous non-defining relative clause, but I now think that the word 'save' is a...Read More...
Posted
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Past participles vs gerunds

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Hello, Are the following bold words present participles or gerunds ? - Sam was having a hard time adjusting to the long hours of his new job. - They found him watching TV downstairs. - I spent years studying for my post-graduate degree. - The crowd just sat listening to the music all afternoon.Read More...
Posted
New4 replies

[ Sit / stand / lie + expression of place + gerund ] verb pattern

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Hello, I have a question regarding the verb pattern [ Sit / stand / lie + expression of place + gerund ]. In my English book (Mac Millan Open Mind upper intermediate level) I've found some examples explaining the lesson, and this one was one of them: E.g. "The crowd just sat listening to the music all afternoon." It does not use the expression of place*. I found it a bit confusing since it has already been explained in the lesson that these verbs follow this pattern: [ Sit / stand / lie +...Read More...
Meriem
Hello Raymond, You found me thinking about that and I was thinking as well to post a question regarding this fact. (gerund vs present participle) Thank you for mentioning.Read More...
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New5 replies

it;they

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When spores from the fungus land on an ant searching for food in the forest, it infects the ant... This is from an English textbook. Does 'it' refer to 'spores'? If so, shouldn't 'it infects' be 'they infect'? Thanks!Read More...
raymondaliasapollyon
Try restoring the -ing part into an independent sentence: Something secretly enters your body and controls your behavior , turning you into one of those zombies from science fiction movies. The participial construction headed by "turning" is an adverbial , and it indicates the consequence of the event referred to by the verbs in italics. No "and" is necessary to link the "turning" phrase to the preceding predicate headed by the italic verbs. The next step is to combine "something secretly...Read More...
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New4 replies

Bored with vs bored by

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Hello, What is the difference between bored with and bored by ? If you are bored by exercising alone you might enjoy a competitive sport like football or tennis. Do you get bored with doing repetitive activities or do you feel happy about doing routine things?Read More...
Meriem
Oh, yes. I didn't notice that Ahmed who answered. Thank you so much, Ahmed. I appreciate your explanation.Read More...
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New8 replies

Where

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Success The Psychology of Achievement: A Practical Guide to Unlocking You I don't understand why ' where ' was used in the sentence. Does it means 'by which ' or ' from which ' ? I don't know why 'the parts' is related to where. Could you explain it, please? Wald, however, saw that the important thing was that these bullet holes had not destroyed the planes, and what needed more protection were the areas that were not hit. Those were the parts where , if a plane was struck by a bullet, it...Read More...
deepcosmos
Hi, David and Gustavo, how wonderful explanations both of you did make! My sincere respect to you.Read More...
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semicolons, hyphens, and commas

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This type of credit is dangerous—it’s not always secured; it can have sky-high rates, and to add to that, you only have to tap a card reader in a store to use it. I've sometimes seen the double hyphen used stylistically similarly, but I don't know if it's correct. It seems like a colon could also work as it explains that the type of credit is dangerous, then lists dangerous things. This type of credit is dangerous: it's not always secured; it can have sky-high interest rates, and to add to...Read More...
Posted
New7 replies

’whatever the first impression you develop’

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Hello, everyone, Anchoring bias describes the cognitive error you make when you tend to give more weight to information arriving early in a situation compared to information arriving later — regardless of the relative quality or relevance of that initial information. Whatever data is presented to you first when you start to look at a situation can form an “anchor” and it becomes significantly more challenging to alter your mental course away from this anchor than it logically should be. 　 A...Read More...
deepcosmos
Hi, Gustavo, appreciate again.Read More...
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Expressions of desire: the will to, the desire for/ to

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Hello, In a task, it has been required to put the expressions (1) & (2) in the right gap. (1) the will to (2) a desire to A- I definitely have the warrior gene. As a child, I always had a feeling of anxiety and dread before my football matches, and now, before a big presentation, I always feel ____________ run away. B- I'm not a worrier, but I hate contests and competitions I guess I just don't have ____________win. My answer was both (1) & (2) could be used in both (A) and (B). But...Read More...
Meriem
Hello, Yes, it was a mistake. A. 2 B. 1 But I can't understand the reason. For me, both (1) and (2) could be used in (A) and (B) interchangeably. Except if it is because of the articles A and THE : 1. A desire to (a general and not specific desire that can happen every time before a presentation) 2. THE will to (we are precising which will - THE will to win)Read More...
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Semicolons needed here (to avoid being too "busy" in a comma-based list)?

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All organisms respond to their environment. And there are different categories of response: plants and bacteria exhibit tropisms ; other organisms exhibit simple reflexes where there’s a single preprogrammed response to a specific stimulus; and still other organisms have emotions that don’t dictate any stereotyped response but instead set a goal to pursue.Read More...
David, Moderator
Hi, Andrew—Why not use separate sentences? All organisms respond to their environment. And there are different categories of response. Plants and bacteria exhibit tropisms . Other organisms exhibit simple reflexes where there’s a single preprogrammed response to a specific stimulus. Still other organisms have emotions that don’t dictate any stereotyped response but instead set a goal to pursue. I deleted the "and" in "and still." All the other changes are to punctuation.Read More...
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ellipsis

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What is the words omitted after 'it is'? And I do understand a) but what does b) mean? a) Two things are similar by virtue of their difference from another b) Two things are different by virtue of one’s similarity to a third. Two things are similar by virtue of their difference from another; or different by virtue of one’s similarity to a third. So it is with individuals. — Matt RidleyRead More...
David, Moderator
Hi, GBLSU—" So it is with individuals" is " It is so with individuals" rearranged.Read More...
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as

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Could you tell me why 'just as' are inserted in this sentence? While I agree with you that some of the books on the list are of questionable quality and taste, I also feel just as strongly that no one person or organization has the right to determine what is ‘suitable’ literature for other people.Read More...
GBLSU
Thank you.Read More...
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OK for bold ("it") to refer back to a previous paragraph?

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Suppose that we put aside the politics and look at decarbonization in purely analytic and policy terms—from that nonpolitical perspective, it’s “entirely realistic” that we could get emissions to net zero by 2050. Pollin’s “higher-end estimate” is that it would take “an average level of investment spending throughout the global economy of about 2.5 percent of global GDP per year”. This investment would go mainly toward energy efficiency and making clean—and competitively priced—renewable...Read More...
Andrew Van Wagner
Thanks! Sorry for piling up a bunch of questions in this forum, by the way; I hope to be able to resolve them all eventually if you guys are generous enough!Read More...
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New7 replies

Does the bold in each of these two cases link to "professor"? How does one know?

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he’s a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Toronto who’s a professor of both philosophy and neuroscience at Georgia State UniversityRead More...
Andrew Van Wagner
Thanks! I want to clarify that in this case (and other cases where I ask questions with the same basic gist) I'm not worrying about ambiguity so much as wondering if the ambiguity is resolved thanks to (1) common sense and semantic context or (2) grammar/syntax.Read More...
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INTO or ONTO

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"A small , shiny metal or plastic disc sewn onto clothes for decoration ." Dear Sir Why did use "onto" in the above sentence? What are the major differences between "onto" and "into" in English? Thanks in advance SundaranRead More...
Sundaran
Wowww!!! Gustavo, You hit the nail on the head! Both are masters in English grammar. I wish I had an English teacher like both of you in my schooling days!!! Thank you so much for a well explanation 🙏Read More...
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Should "But"/"And" sequences be turned into their own paragraphs?

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See the two below examples of this; in each case, the bolded paragraph could be merged with the paragraph above. The issue in each case is that the bolded paragraph comprises a "But"/"And" sequence where the "And" sentence refers back only to the "But" sentence; the danger in each case is that included the bolded sequence with the preceding paragraph (1) makes things quite "busy" and (2) might create ambiguity as to whether the "And" sentence refers back only to the "But" sentence.Read More...
Andrew Van Wagner
A related quick question too, if that's OK. Is it clear which sentence the bold "And" links back to? Pollin’s “higher-end estimate” is that it would take “an average level of investment spending throughout the global economy of about 2.5 percent of global GDP per year”. This investment would go mainly toward energy efficiency and making clean—and competitively priced—renewable energy abundant, but it would also go toward stopping deforestation and supporting afforestation . And this...Read More...
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Do I need semicolons to separate this list's units?

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See here: That’s the strategy—it’s much more effective than “reeling off distant facts”. Bond with them over a value that you already share that’s “already near and dear” to your hearts; connect “ who we are to why we care ”; and inspire them to take part in solutions. I currently have semicolons for two reasons. First, I feel like the nature of these units is such that it gets a little "busy" if you have only commas; the second unit says to connect X to Y...that preposition might get messy...Read More...
Posted
New1 reply

How do ", and then" constructions work?

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See the bold below: Enter the conversation with respect, bond over a value you genuinely have in common with them , and then connect that shared value to global heating. The reader doesn't see the ", and then" until they get to that part of the sentence . So is it all bad or odd if the ", and then" then retroactively signals to the reader that the previous units are all to be understood as a sequence ? Why not add the bold below? Enter the conversation with respect , then bond over a value...Read More...
Andrew Van Wagner
Note that I happen to have a sentence that emphasizes the sequential nature of the process as the reader moves through the sentence: We build efficacy, and then we act, and then we build others’ efficacy through our action’s example.Read More...
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Subject-verb agreement

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Hi Grammar Exchange members! It's been a while since I posted a question last time. The following sentence is from an article in the Washington Post. a. Teen mental health is a major concern for today's parents, and for good reason: More than 1 in 3 high-schoolers say they've felt persistent sadness or hopelessness, and roughly 1 in 5 reports having seriously considered suicide. As far as I know, '3 high-schoolers' in the phrase 'more than 1 in 3 high-schoolers' is a subject in the sentence,...Read More...
KDog
Thank you for enlightening me! You're right in thinking that "in 3 high-schoolers" and "in 5 high-schoolers" are prepositional phrases. I didn't think about that. Thanks again for your reply! KDogRead More...
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usage of prepositions "after" and "before"

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The following is an excerpt from The Guardian of Sept. 8. All four of her children 〈had rushed to Balmoral after Buckingham Palace announced〉 in a statement at 13.32pm that she was under medical supervision at Balmoral after her doctors said they were " concerned for her health". If what happened is Buckingham Palace announced… and then all four of her children rushed to Balmoral, I think the article should read “All of her children rushed to Balmoral 〈after〉 Buckingham Palace (had)...Read More...
Gustavo, Co-Moderator
Hello, Norifuji, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. Yes, the sequence is correct: 1) announcement, 2) rush, 3) death. What seems to be confusing you is not the use of "after" (they rushed after the announcement, i.e. (2) took place after (1)). The source of your confusion seems to be the use of the past perfect for the later event and the use of the past simple for the earlier event. After "after," you don't need to use the past perfect — the presence of "after" sufficiently clarifies the...Read More...
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