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Shantower, English is my first language, and I'm still trying to figure out why some prepositions work idiomatically in certain contexts and others don't. The best I can tell you here is that we say (2) and not (1). I hope one of my colleagues can give a more satisfactory answer. DocVRead More...

I find it interesting that all five of David's examples describe a future event, but all but one ("will be leaving", which is future progressive), are, strictly speaking, some version of the present tense. Paradoxically, the future tense can refer to present events. (See Future Perfect and Present Perfect or Future Perfect .) As I've said before, I didn't invent this language. I only teach it. David's examples don't include the simple future (6: "will leave"), possibly because, even though...Read More...

I thank both of you again.Read More...

Hello, Navi and Gustavo, I agree with both of Gustavo's interpretations. "What if they had seen you?" is clearly counterfactual, presupposing that they did not in fact see John, and "What if they saw you?" can easily mean that it is still possible that they did in fact see John and that he may still face real consequences. I think that one other interpretation may be possible for "That was stupid. What if they saw you?," and that is that the reply may be addressing itself to the point in...Read More...

Many thanks! It helps a lot. :-)Read More...

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

I am not a free guy. ) It's just a name. By saying "to some degree", I merely means I have some doubts whether I understood your points or not. It was not you or your explanations. It was me, being unable to digest your perfect explanations. And we have some forms of tag questions in Farsi as well. However, there are different from yours.Read More...

Hello, dewdrop, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange! In "He lost his money bag yesterday," there are four nouns (if we count the pronoun as a noun) and zero adjectives. Can you guess what the nouns are? If you believe in the existence of possessive adjectives and/or think that attributive nouns are adjectives, please be aware that I don't hold those beliefs.Read More...

Thanks! There is a reason I can't simply say noon. It's because I'm discussing a midday program that runs from 11-1.Read More...

Ceedhanna, First of all, I really want to thank you for providing your source of information. This is the second time today, and, in fact, the second time in my life, that I have been exposed to the Sulinet website. Would I be correct in guessing that they are based in Hungary? (Which, of course, automatically leads to another question: Are you?) The website seems to have a bit of a preference for BrE over AmE, and as you will have noticed by now (sorry, I never actually say that, but this...Read More...

Hello, Emad, I agree with everything DocV has said above. I'd simply like to expose you to another common formulation used in such sentences. Rather than speaking of what the sun will do / does at a certain time today, we can say that sunrise (a recurring daily event throughout human history, except in places like Alaska at certain times of the year) is at a certain time today: Sunrise is at 5:25 today. It is only 5:10. We still have 15 minutes.Read More...

Thank you, I understand!Read More...

Cailin, Welcome to the Grammar Exchange, and thank you for your question. I'm sorry it has taken me so long to respond to this thread. I also want to thank Tony for his valuable input. Cailin, when you have numerous examples that you want us to examine in contrast, please use index numbers or letters to make it easier for us to refer back to them. For example: a: I remember buying bread b: I remembered to buy bread Also, it helps if your pairs of examples are parallel constructs. Hence, to...Read More...

Good question, Emaglobye, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. I would stay with "actually feel", or even better, "am actually feeling". The antecedent phrase looks and sounds like past tense, but it's actually subjunctive mood. I realize this can be a bit confusing, but this is a device to suggest a possible but as yet contrary-to-fact present situation: You aren't asking me this, but if you did, I would tell you ... I would not go so far as to say that "actually felt" is incorrect, but the...Read More...

Thank you all for enlightening me on this complicated (at least, to non-native students of English) question. I have again realized how valuable this blog is to me. Thanks again!Read More...

Hi, Mr. Ahmed, The future perfect is often used with ' by '. However, you can tell your students that in our exams the future perfect is always used with ' by '. Of course, 'by' can be used with the future simple to refer to an ongoing state or an ongoing action in the future. a- They will eat lunch by 2 o'clock this afternoon. = It is expected that they will start their lunch at / before (but not later than) 2 o'clock. b- They will have eaten lunch by 2 o'clock this afternoon. = They will...Read More...

This is an excellent question, Kis. Strictly speaking, "couple" is serving as an adjective in (a) and a noun in (b), but as you say, they are both correct and interchangeable in instances such as these . I emphasize that last part because, although the adjectival "couple" can probably always be replaced by "couple of" (which I suspect was once considered the only proper form of the expression), "couple" as a noun has a much broader range of uses. For example: 1: Kim and Tom have been a...Read More...

Well, I'm glad, at least, that you weren't offended. My sense of humor (or what passes for one) often follows a rather convoluted logic. I'm guessing that there aren't nearly as many people called Bob where you live as there are here. But even if you don't have any friends called Bob, you are the only person I know called Ruifeng, so it would still be true that all but one (or, "nearly all") of the people I know named Ruifeng have a friend named Bob. How many other Ruifengs do you know? It...Read More...

I share your hopes. May your marriage endure for many happy years. But it brings us back to your original question: Who performed the wedding? DocV PS: Just to clarify, "DocV" is a signature here, not an answer to the question.Read More...

While not disagreeing with David, I would also like to endorse Emad's use of the phrase "for me" in his example. For example, to use David's examples, we get: b1: The coffee cup was hot, but it wasn't too hot for me to hold. c1: The floor is slippery, but it isn't too slippery for me to walk on. David is an athlete. I am quite sure that there are many floors on which it would be difficult for me to walk, but on whose surface the slipperiness would not present a particular obstacle to prevent...Read More...

Thank you all.Read More...

Sirush, I like Gustavo's answer. I would like to add one minor point. As Gustavo says, "consider" is almost always (if not, in fact, always) transitive. On the other hand, "think", in all of its forms, including the simple past form "thought", is almost always intransitive. For example, to follow up on Gustavo, please allow me to suggest: 2'': Have you thought about finishing your lesson? Because of the intransitive nature of "think" in this context, the particle "about" is necessary here.Read More...

Bear_bear, Don't leave the topic of your question in the subject heading. I'm not familiar with the phrase. My best guess, though, is that it means: Be polite and show respect (not only to me, but to everyone) when you are in my house. DocVRead More...

Bear_bear, Use "is" here. I don't have a really good explanation, except that it is idiomatic. In the context, the word "all" can be replaced with "everything", which more obviously demands a singular verb. However, the game changes if "all" is immediately coupled with a complementary prepositional phrase. With a distinctly plural noun, the verb wants to be plural: a: I hope all of your friends are well. b: I hope all of your sisters are well. But with a collective noun, it can go either...Read More...