December 2022

My thoughts exactly. Thanks, Gustavo. The idea we are exploring is that "the deal with adding 'some'" has to do with general versus specific situations. When the reference is to a specific situation, the idea of a certain quantity is present, so we naturally use "some": He was thirsty and drank some water. He is thirsty and would like some water. When the reference is to a general situation (a habit or regularity, not a specific instance of the habit or regularity), the idea of a certain...Read More...

Yes. Sorry for the typo. Thanks a lot.Read More...

Yes, (b) ("the more beautiful woman") is correct and is surely the answer that the exam maker intended as the only correct one. However, (d) is also correct: Who do you think is a more beautiful woman, Mona or her sister? That means: "Is Mona a more beautiful woman than Mona's sister, or is Mona's sister a more beautiful woman than Mona?" As I said before, the sentence I recommend—the sentence a native speaker would likely use—is "Who do you think is more beautiful, Mona or her sister?"Read More...

Grammatically, all three are correct. Idiomatically, sentence 1 is the best. The verb "visited" can be omitted.Read More...

Hi, David. I have found some more sentences, in which their subjects function as the notional subjects of the infinitive: a) They were thoughtful to come home early. b) Anne was awful to leave her child on the train. c) John was nice to lend George the money. They apparently seem to be the same in form as the sentence under discussion, however, the infinitive phrase in them serves as an adverbial of reason for the comment on the subject, while in the sentence under discussion in the original...Read More...

Hi, Subhajit—There is not much difference at all between them. 1a) My cousin works at the restaurant . It is really expensive. 2a) My cousin works there . It is really expensive.Read More...

Yes, you can.Read More...

Hi, David. Great thanks for the reply. I have been wondering why the translator chose to use the expression and trying to dig up hidden connotation, if any. Thanks for your help, as always.Read More...

Hi, Sundaran—I agree with f6pafd's explanation. "Him being admitted to an intensive care unit" is a non-finite clause. It functions as the object of the preposition "to" in "led to." The verb group of the nonfinite clause is "being admitted." It is a passive verb phrase. Here is an active-voice correlate: He is in a stable condition after “respiratory instability” last night led to nurses admitting him to an intensive care unit.Read More...

Hi, Sundaran—Your paraphrase of (1) that uses "was supposed to" does not work, but your paraphrase with "must be" is correct. Both of your paraphrases are possible; the sentence is technically ambiguous in that way. In the absence of context, my natural assumption is that the speaker meant: "Surely the couple I met yesterday were brother and sister."Read More...

I would revise each of the -ing phrases following "confirmed" in those examples, which all sound unnatural to me as a native speaker, to a "that"-clause.Read More...

So like this: We tailor to your business structure as your business evolves and take tremendous pride in our ability to leverage our knowledge and experience into the best strategiesRead More...

Thanks for your replay. I read the sentence in an article published in the New York Times. The following text is a part of the article. News, or media, literacy — how to critically understand, analyze and evaluate online content, images and stories — is not new. But it has taken on urgency in the last few years as accusations of fake news and the reality of disinformation permeate the internet and people — especially young ones — spend hours and hours a day looking at screens. “Media...Read More...

Hello, Emad—The article "an" is important there. It creates parallelism and indicates that "criminal" as an adjective is different from "criminal" as a noun. That said, the sentence is understandable without "an" before "adjective."Read More...

"has been to" should be used in the above context. As long as he has left Qatar, "has gone to" should not be used. It does not matter whether he has come back or not.Read More...

Hi, Me_IV—Yes, that sentence is OK. I'd use "promises" rather than "swears," but "swears" could be used for emphasis. I find that extremely unnatural, though it is understandable. A "that"-clause would be far more natural: "He swears (that) he didn't meet her yesterday." Those are totally ungrammatical. They can be fixed by adding "to": He swears to not meeting her yesterday. He swears to not having met her yesterday.Read More...

Hi, Melody, I usually use 'harmful' or 'damaging' effects. (Not harming effects)Read More...

Thank you, but my question is not about rephrasing it for the sake of rephrasing. Why did you switch to "Would you kindly tell me"? Nothing is wrong with "Will you tell me". This is how I understand these: a) Will you tell me what she said? - CORRECT b) Will you tell me what she has said? - dubious c) Will you tell me what she says? - may mean the same as 1 d) Will you tell me what she will say? - will you predict what she will say?Read More...

'The whole time frame is related to the past ' means that the correct answer is ' had been working'.Read More...

That makes sense. Thank you, David.Read More...

Good point Davit! I think I have finally understood the reason why it works differently in different contexts.Read More...

Thank you, David and Gustavo. Venn Diagram helped me a lot. I really appreciate your kind answers. Luckily, I got an answer from the author, too. I thank all of you.Read More...

Hi, Tony C, I prefer the usage of a comma here, though style guides may differ about his point. See: https://www.dailywritingtips.c...a-after-i-e-and-e-g/Read More...