February 2021

Much appreciate your comment with note, Gustavo! Best RGDS,Read More...

Hi, Ahmed—With "will be present," Navi's sentences (1) and (2) would have a different meaning entirely. Navi's sentences are about Jane's desire to bring about Tom's presence at the meeting tomorrow through her insistence. If, instead of the subjunctive or its "should"-equivalent, we used "will be present," Navi's sentences (1) and (2) would instead be about Jane's confidence about a future fact, namely, that Tom will indeed be present at the meeting.Read More...

Hi, Ahmed and Ahmed—I agree with both of you that "couldn't have" is the correct answer. The other answer choices, while not ungrammatical, each express a meaning that is silly in the context—so silly I want to laugh out loud.Read More...

Hello, M.Mamdouh, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. Your question is not clear. Are you looking for a verbal idiom involving the word "show" which can be used in a sentence with a similar meaning to that of "You don't have to make me look silly in public"? If so, you can say: You don't have to show me up .Read More...

All right. Thank you so much =)Read More...

Hi, Emad Ragheb, You say: - There isn't any theater or cinema. - There aren't any theater s or cinema s .Read More...

Hi, Ahmed, The verb raise is transitive and arise is intransitive, so you need raise there.Read More...

Yes, Tony. Both are correct, but while (1) can refer to the present or the past (the conversation that is about to take place or the conversation that just took place), (2) can only refer to a recent past conversation. The constructions above can derive from the sentences that follow: 1a. It is good to speak with you today. 1b. It was good to speak with you today. 1. It was nice speaking with you today.Read More...

Thank you, Gustavo!Read More...

Hi, Robby zhu—Although it is not part of your official two questions, I thought you might be interested to know that "were" is incorrect in the where-clause: *" It would be the same if he asked/were to ask me where I were ." From a native-speaking standpoint, backshifting "am" to "was" is desirable. Yes: " It would be the same if he asked me were to ask me where I had been . " Technically, however, "was" can be an absolute or a relative tense there.Read More...

Yes, "clean" and "to clean" are both correct there. I would only use "clean"; "to clean" ("What he does is to clean") sounds very unnatural to me. Interestingly, those two answers assume that the pseudo-cleft sentence derives from the basic sentence "He cleans." But if the basic sentence is "He does cleaning," the pseudo-cleft sentence related to that is "What he does is cleaning."Read More...

Thanks a zillion timesRead More...

Hi, Dave, You had already asked the same question here . Sorry we didn't answer it earlier. Actually, it might be considered a sociological rather than a linguistic question. Personally, I think that "politics" and "political" can, by extension, be used to refer to power struggles and competition for leadership in informal groups. We have, for example, the popular phrase "politically correct" to describe a diplomatic behavior in any field. We can infer that "political" can be used to refer...Read More...

Thank youRead More...

Hello, David, Much appreciate your guide unexpected. Fully noted. Best RGDS,Read More...

David, thanks a lot! Now, I can see the nuances of using the two tenses in this sentence! This is the best forum for English learners! Glad I found it)Read More...

Hi, TaeBbongE—When you quote sentences here, you need to site the source. (Please see the Guidelines page.) Wherever you got the sentence, I am guessing that it occurred in spoken discourse rather than in writing. "Slash" refers to the punctuation mark "/." It's an informal way of indicating that one could equally be talking about either thing. "Slash" in your example denotes "/"; the speaker would use it if he/she were writing the sentence.Read More...

Hi, Adel and welcome to the G.E, 'Used to' is a semi-modal used when we refer to things in the past which are no longer true. Here, it is used to describe a habitual action in the past. - He used to eat a lot in the past, but now he doesn't as he knows it is unhealthy. There is a difference in meaning between 'got used to' and 'was used to'. 2. He was used to eating a lot. ' Used ' here is adjectival and synonymous with ' accustomed '. The focus here isn't on the action (eating), but on the...Read More...

Thank you so much.Read More...

Hello, David, Thank you million times! Best RGDSRead More...

According to the dictionary: - colored: having a color other than black or white - colorful: having bright colors or a lot of different colorsRead More...

Hello, Ahmed—"Maybe" is not an alternative way of writing "may be." "Maybe" is an adverb; "may be" is a modal ("may") followed by the verb "be." Both "may be" and "will" work as possible responses in that rather odd interaction, which I hope isn't part of an exam. I'd just use "may": "It may."Read More...

Hi, Navi, There are many examples of that usage on COCA. Grammatically, "growing up" would be similar to a dangling participle, the sentence above being a colloquial way of saying: 2) All the friends I had as I grew up/as a child are celebrities now.Read More...

Hi, Ahmed, I see nothing wrong with the sentence above. We can find an "as"-clause after the verb watch to describe the situation being watched. Compare: - We watched the waiter as he expertly positioned the turkey we ordered. (The waiter was watched while he did the action.) - We watched as the waiter expertly positioned the turkey we ordered. (The action as a whole was watched.)Read More...

You are right, Ahmed. Both are correct but different in meaning. Because we were young, we couldn't go to the swimming pool alone can be used to refer to a usual inability: because they were young, they were (permanently) unable or not allowed to go to the swimming pool alone. Because we were young, we can't have gone (also couldn't have gone ) to the swimming pool alone can be used to make a deduction about the past. However, I find the adverbial clause of reason at the beginning of the...Read More...