July 2022

Hi, Ahmed Imam Attia and the Parser, I completely agree with the Parser here. If you want to indicate the singularity, it is better to use ' not one '. The source and the site you got your example and comment from depend mainly on the following information: “When none is the subject, the verb is either singular or plural depending on what it is referring to.” I’m always looking for inspiration. None ever comes . She’s always looking for ideas. None ever come . This information comes from...Read More...

Hi David, The following definition of a woman's man is from an online dictionary: "A woman's man is a male that is has empathy, affection, support for all of life's activities that women experience. They make good partners and are usually family oriented. Women naturally appreciate these types of men as equals and feel a general sense of equality within relationships." It seems to mean the same as a lady's man to me, but I'm not sure if the definition is true or not. Could you please tell me...Read More...

Thanks so much for lending your knowledge, David!Read More...

One final question - in light of your point about modern convention, what are your thoughts about the semi colons in the following two examples? Totally wrong, or just incorrect from a conservative modern standpoint? 1) " It is a subject that divides and unites; fostering solidarity and discord in equal measure. " 2) " The language of migration is inherently complex; spanning, legal, political and societal frameworks." Many thanks! CameronRead More...

I see that it's perfect to say so. Thanks for your help, dear.Read More...

Thank you, David. Its clear niw🙏Read More...

Thanks for this wonderful and nice comment! Regarding punctuation, I sometimes like the New Yorker but sometimes find it stuffy and silly and objectionable; to take a random example, they do a weird thing where they put an umlaut over something like "coordination".Read More...

Hello again, Navi—The italicized "t" stands for "trace." It can also be represented as a "gap," as in "Who did you approve of __ studying linguistics?" Essentially, the trace or gap represents the place from which the interrogative pronoun "moved" as the sentence transformed from its deep structure (roughly: " [+Q, +past] you approve of whom studying linguistics "] to its surface structure (" Who[m] did you approve of studying linguistics? "). That's exactly what it's supposed to mean. It's...Read More...

Hi, Navi, In (1) and (3), could/might collapse points to the future from a past perspective, and is the one that, in my opinion, works finely with had to be careful . In (2) and (4), I would have said: We should have been careful on that scaffolding because it could/might have collapsed.Read More...

Hi, Azz, Sorry, this is a thread from the past. I see that in 'a' and 'c', the focus is on the purpose of the action, while in 'b' & 'd', the focus is on the kind of stories/things you tell him, i.e. you choose him some certain stories.Read More...

Hi, David. Thank you for this brilliant 5-star explanation. It has been a great help to me. I hope it has benefited other members on the GE as well. Thanks again.Read More...

Thanks so much!Read More...

Thank you, Gustavo!Read More...

Thanks so much! I greatly appreciate it!Read More...

Thanks!Read More...

Thanks! I understand now!Read More...

Thanks!Read More...

Thanks! I'll do that!Read More...

Hi, Ken and Ahmed—We are not given any context here. Normally, however, a sentence like "He might have foreseen the consequences of his action" would be to indicate, in a critical tone, that he didn't foresee the consequences of his action, but should have . Compare : "You might have been more careful."Read More...

Hi, Basant Al-Sayed, Yes, 'a' is the correct one. For 'b' to work, you can say "a one-week holiday''. In 'a', 'a' is not a definite article. It is an indefinite article. Yes, 'a' is the correct one. If you want to know the reason why 'a' works in both, but not 'b', see this recent thread: https://thegrammarexchange.inf...-a-ten-minutes-breakRead More...

What explanation did the authors give?Read More...

Hi, Azz, Yes, that's the meaning I get from 'usual' and 'usually'.Read More...

Thanks! So my bolded example above can definitely be "anytime" (one word)? And is Garner saying that you can literally do "anytime" anytime you want?Read More...

U.S. punctuation conventions exist independently of New York Times practice.Read More...