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Hi, Ansonman, "within" can in fact be used with the preposition "of," as in this example from the Longman dictionary: - Within an hour of our arrival Caroline was starting to complain. Example (1) is fine to me. "of" and "from" could not be used in this case in which a clause follows. The present perfect could be used in the time clause: (1') Everyone will receive a raise within five days after the management and the union have reached an agreement and completed all the paperwork. In (2),...Read More...

Hi, Navi, I wouldn't say that "where" is incorrect but only vague. As a teacher or editor, I think I'd correct it as follows: 1) He was supposed to write a short story, but not like this, not one in which one has to know a lot of history to understand what the story is about. 2) You're supposed to write a short story, but not a complicated one, not one in which the writer has to be an expert in history. I prefer (2) because in (1) "not like this" refers to the manner, not the subject-matter...Read More...

Hello, P.J., and welcome to the Grammar Exchange! In: "fit" does not work as a noun to mean what "fitting" denotes (the act of trying clothes on to check whether they fit). In: "drinking" refers to the action of drinking, while "drink" refers to one particular drink or act of drinking. Just as we speak about "eating disorders" (NOT "food/meal disorders"), we speak about "drinking problem." This: is perhaps the hardest to explain and, therefore, the most idiomatic. I think it has to do with...Read More...

Thanks a lot sirRead More...

Please see my comments in this thread .Read More...

Thank you both very much About this that you said" If you'd like suggestions as to how to make your presentation even more elegant, send me an e-mail.", Sorry, "state verbs express states or conditions which are relatively static .", how can we use them to express a temporary condition?Read More...

Hi, Ansonman, "sham" does not work as a verb. You could say that they were (1) feigning a transaction, or (2) bargaining over a transaction. While (1) implies that they were just pretending so the transaction was a fake, (2) means that they were actually discussing the price, presumably to make others believe that the pieces were expensive.Read More...

Hi, Freeguy, Your reasoning is good, except for one thing: it doesn't account for the use of "even," which wants to introduce a grammatical structure of the same type -- in this case, another finite verb phrase in the simple present. I would add "and": 2a) Sometimes he looks right at you, talks to you, and even asks how you are, but he never remembers it in the morning. Your interpretation would work with "even" if the participial modifying phrase were a member of a series or at least a pair...Read More...

It means that each case is different, so you will have to decide which pronoun to use according to the specific circumstances.Read More...

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

This brings back memories of winter at Kent State University when I was seventeen. Those of us that lived on the upper floors of the dormitories and didn't have refrigerators would set our beers on the outside windowsills to keep them cold. The problem was that some students were very adept at knocking the beers off the sills with snowballs, so I always kept mine on a tether. None of your sentences is incorrect, but I prefer 4: The drinks are as cold as if they had been refrigerated. DocV...Read More...

Ansonman, Both sentences are awkward. (1) at the very least needs a comma after "7pm", and I would add "did" at the end. Even so, I hope you understand that the two sentences mean different things. I would suggest these rewordings for clarity: 1a: When I arrived, I found that John had been here since 7pm. 1b: When I arrived, I found that John had been here at 7pm. 2a: When I arrived at 7pm, John was already here. 2b: When I arrived at 7pm, John had already been here. In (1), (1a), and (1b),...Read More...

Hi, Subhajit, You have already asked this question, in the bottom segment of the thread below. You have duplicated your example word for word : https://thegrammarexchange.inf...2#590585063423918172 Was there something you didn't understand in the answer I gave you there? It was just three months ago.Read More...

Yes. The old thread below didn't come to my mind automatically, as it occurred a few years before I joined GE, but it came up when I used the Search function: https://thegrammarexchange.inf....cc/topic/the-family Here are a couple of other old threads dealing with this eternally recurring grammatical topic: https://thegrammarexchange.inf...pic/my-family-is-are https://thegrammarexchange.infopop.cc/topic/family-4Read More...

Hello, Ahmed A., Your use of "the" in "the school book" is worth considering. By using the definite article there, you are presupposing that your readers (I and others) will know which school book you are referring to, whereas none of us has any idea which book you are referring to. Thus, it would have been better to use "a school book." Of course, we would prefer to know the name of the book and who wrote it. There is very little difference in meaning as far as the "until"-clause is...Read More...

Thanks a lot, sir. I see eye to eye with you. I didn't like sentence either. I was asked to give my opinion about it, that's why I preferred asking yours.Read More...

Navi, I don't have a problem with any of your five examples. I agree. I could imagine a "which" clause, though: 3a: This is your assignment, which is to be completed tonight. DocVRead More...

Re: meaning of "a humbling experience"Read More...

Hi, Ruifeng: I share DocV's preference ("from"), but you are right that both work. The reason "from" works so well is that it gives the sense that the books act as teachers. Compare: You can learn about China from Ruifeng. That sense implies that the addressee can be taught things about China by you. That is how he will learn about China. With "in," the sentence could be used in answer to the question " Where can I learn about China?" Compare: You can learn about China in films and books. It...Read More...

Many thanks, DocV.Read More...

Ruifeng, "Noise" works as both a mass noun and a count noun. The best answer is (A), where it is a mass noun, but it is also possible to use (B). (C) doesn't work because it means "a single instance of noise", but if someone were making the same obnoxious sound for a prolonged duration, you could say: D: Stop making that noise . DocVRead More...