December 2022

Hi, Gustavo, appreciate your comment. " If the people knew that they were being tested, ..." . Is my assumption below justified?; 1. ' knew is unreal and ' were ' is real. 2. However, you don't change ' were ' into ' are ' according to the rule of 'tense simplification in subordinate clauses'.Read More...

Hi, Ahmed, Yes, both are correct. "Starts" is preferred for scheduled actions (Cf The train leaves at 7 ), and "will start" is just future. Those teachers you mention might be confused with the case where "when" introduces an adverbial clause of time, where "will" cannot indeed be used, even if reference to the future is made. In the case at issue, however, "where" introduces an indirect question. Compare: - When will the meeting start? -> I don't know when the meeting will start .Read More...

You said I tied the compatibility of the present perfect and the simple present tense to the general experience. Yes, I do. Since David has already explicitly explained above, I think there is no need for me to do it again. He explained it in terms of the historical present; while I did it in terms of non-real-time concept. With regard to the specific experience, it refers to any experience with adverbials of time, place, etc. When asked "Have you ever been close to achieving your goal?" One...Read More...

Hi, Mohamed Ibrahim, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange, Generally speaking, 'literature' is an uncountable noun and should be preceded by zero article. - I like reading books about literature / English literature. (Zero article) However, you can correctly say, "I like reading books about the English literature of the 18th century."Read More...

Thanks a lot, Ahmed. That's really clear-cut. Highly appreciate it.Read More...

I don't know anybody who talks that way. If you do, feel free to immitate them; but it won't make the phrase sound any more natural to me.Read More...

There is no difference in meaning between "The problem persists" and "The problem still persits"; therefore, "still" is redundant in "The problem still persists." The idea of continuation is already present in "persists."Read More...

Yes, Me_IV, both articles are correct, with or without the modifiers ("early"/"late"). But I myself would prefer not to use "the" in the first example.Read More...

Hi, Tony—If the "S" is pronounced as the letter (namely, as "ess"--e.g., "sending out an S.O.S."), as it is in initialisms, then you have to use "an." If the "s" is not pronounced as the letter but as the sound it stands for (as, in "a SCUBA diver"), as it is in true acronyms, which sound like words, then you have to use "a."Read More...

Hi, Izzat Hannah, The usage of 'the' with the seasons is optional . - We get a good crop of apples in (the) autumn. (Longman English Grammar L G. Alexander) 'The' is more likely used when we mean a particular summer, winter, etc. - I suffered a lot in the summer of that year.Read More...

Thank you soooo much, Appreciate it.Read More...

Hi, David, long time, no talk. I'm really glad I've learned a new thing today. I feel the absolute constructions including "an ACC-ing/Poss-ing construction" is really interesting.Read More...

Hi, Izzat Hannah—The key should show "is" as the answer, not "has been."Read More...

Hi, Andrew—"In return" communicates that the non sequiturs come in response to the person's call for diplomacy. There is no need for em dashes. You could just place "in return" at the end or use commas to set the phrase off: A person will call for diplomacy and receive non sequiturs in return. A person will call for diplomacy and receive, in return, non sequiturs. A person will call for diplomacy and, in return, receive non sequiturs.Read More...

Hi, Andrew—There is no issue of parallelism or symmetry here. You have two independent clauses: "These ideas aren't non sequiturs" and "I think they're incorrect." The independent clauses are coordinated by "but." The only issue is that someone might object to your not using a comma after "sequiturs."Read More...

Hi, Andrew—The convention is to use brackets around the first letter and make it lower case, the brackets showing that the letter in the original is not the same (case). The convention can also apply in reverse (bracketing an upper-case letter), an embedded sentence being represented as a separate sentence. However, in your particular example, you need not even resort to using brackets. "Department" is capitalized in the quotation. This indicates that "State" must also be capitalized. It is...Read More...

Is the verb "go over" an "agnostic" one? It might not even be the right meaning, actually: https://www.macmillandictionar...nary/british/go-over .Read More...

Hi, Izzat Hannah, Both 'they never get' and 'they don't get' are perfectly fine here. ' Never don't get ' is a plain mistake.Read More...

Thank you, ahmed_btm for your helpful reply.Read More...

Hello, Ahmed Imam Attia—In American English, we can set off bombs or firecrackers, but not trips. We use "set off" intransitively in the latter case, and add an "on"-phrase: I set off on my trip around seven.Read More...

Thanks!Read More...

OK; thanks! I'll go with "report" then.Read More...

Hi, Pattaya, Both answers are grammatically correct. Time backshifting is optional when you report facts.Read More...

Your question here is interesting and falls in an area of English grammar about which native speakers' opinions and sensibilities will differ somewhat. Cut-and-dry answers about correctness or incorrectness are not to be found in this area.Read More...