December 2019

Hi, Emad Ragheb, In that position before the noun, both are correct. After the noun, only "older" is correct. - My daughter who is a nurse is older than the other one who is a teacher.Read More...

Thanks for correcting me, Gustavo. I've also noticed that I make basic mistakes frequently, even if I know those rules. Probably it's because those rules are only rules to me: I haven't developed a habit in accordance with those rules.Read More...

Hello, Aliciaballerina, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. You have used the two commas correctly. An additional comma could be added after "but," but that is not required. I recommend revising your sentence and splitting it into two sentences, as follows: I'm hopeful that we will be able to schedule a brief interview in January. In case this doesn't work out, however, I will be sending over some questions.Read More...

Hello, Ceedhanna: It means that the company Saudi Aramco is worth so much in monetary value that it dwarfs (i.e., renders small in monetary value by comparison) the company Apple, which is a runner up (i.e., a contender), being worth around $1.2 trillion. Saudi Aramco is worth much more than that.Read More...

Suppose you got married three times. You can refer to your first wife by saying: - She was my first wife. or - She is my ex-wife. We use "was" because "first" brings us back to the time when you were married to her (she was your first wife ten years ago , for example). We use "is" because "ex" refers to her current status ( now that you are no longer married to her she is your ex-wife).Read More...

Thank you, Gustavo!Read More...

Thank you so much, Gustavo!Read More...

Thanks for your response.Read More...

Hi, Mo.Anwar, I agree with David and find his explanation perfectly convincing. I especially like this definition of his: "many times" expresses the repetition of an action (an action that starts and finishes, then starts and finishes again, and so on) and this does not fit in with the present perfect continuous which indicates, as the name of the tense goes, continuity . If instead of "do an exercise" (or "do exercises") we used "practice" (which can be deemed to be a close synonym of "do...Read More...

I accidentally saw the usage of such phrases in a school text book. It was in a lesson which introduces the present perfect for the first time. I asked myself how incredibly hard would it be for a teacher to explain that the sentences containing these phrases are in the perfect simple tense but not in the perfect progressive. Of course, a teacher can decide not to mention the perfect progressive existence. No matter of the teacher's choice, what will follow is that students will do these...Read More...

6- Getting little sleep isn't good.Read More...

Thank you - it has made it much easier for me.Read More...

Hi, Hussain, What your teacher must have told you is that "than" + to-infinitive does not sound right . We expect a noun, a gerund or a bare infinitive, NOT a full infinitive, after than . On page 204 of Fundamentals of English Grammar , 4th Edition, we can read the following in chart 7-15: (g) I'd rather visit a big city than live there . (h) INCORRECT : I'd rather visit a big city than to live there. You should stick to the patterns in chart 7-15: (a) prefer + noun + to + noun: I prefer...Read More...

Aha, my spelling... I didn't mean what I said.Read More...

Hello, Manaka, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. Actually, your question is not about grammar, but, being your first question, I'll help you all the same. In a library you can find poetry (lyric genre), plays (drama), fiction (narrative genre: novels and short stories), and non-fiction. In this Wikipedia article you can find a long list of different types of books. "subject" means an altogether different thing, being closer to "topic" or "theme." For example, you can find books of...Read More...

Hi, Subhajit123, As I told you in this other thread which you seem to have overlooked, the article "the" before postmodified plural nouns seems to have a totalizing effect ( all the students, all the people). Only in (1) is "the" actually required, and that is because the subject complement is quite definite: 1. The people who stand by you in your tough times are the best friends of yours (I prefer: your best friends ). When the article is not there, it may sound more natural to use "some"...Read More...

Hi, Fujibei, This question: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=77&t=11 does appear in U.S. EIA site and seems to be quoted by other scientific publications. "how much" refers to the volume of the emissions. "how many" could perhaps be used to refer to different instances or occurrences of emission, which is not the meaning that wants to be conveyed. I would definitely have used "is" instead of "are": - How much of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions is associated with electricity...Read More...

What is the difference between : link and connect ?Read More...

Hi, Subhajit123, Before dealing with the article issue, please notice that "be aware" requires the preposition "of" if the object one is aware of is mentioned (in this case, the object is "one thing"). Also pay more attention to your spelling. In such cases, even if you refer to all the people or all the teachers (and not to some specific ones), you can use the definite article. I'd say that in this particular case the definite article makes the phrase more comprehensive than the zero...Read More...

Thank you so much for all the great feedback, DocV. I really appreciate it. I know what you mean about the two men in question, but I figured the reader would make the adjustment in her mind. I'll give it some thought. Thank you for "wrested"! I was indeed wondering about that. Re: "by some stroke of happenstance...", the word "manufacture" always felt too industrial to me. And perhaps "happenstance" isn't right either. I wonder if it was the words or the structure that you found...Read More...

Thank you. I will keep in mind about the title thing.Read More...

Hi, Ahmed, Use: 'interview'. For more information, See: https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/interviewRead More...