August 2020

Hi, JessyA, "staff" and "personnel" are synonyms, but are not always interchangeable. In my experience, "personnel" is more usual in organization charts ( personnel department, director of personnel ) and accounting ( personnel expenses ). "staff" is more usual in collocations like a member of the staff or a staff meeting . We also use "staff" (not "personnel") to indicate that somebody is on the payroll, being thus a salaried rather than an independent or outsourced employee. Let's see what...Read More...

You are right, David, that the unreal past can point to the present or to the future ( I wish I had my tablet now / I wish I had my tablet tomorrow ). That's very interesting, David. I'd like to know what it is that leads you to prefer the present subjunctive over the unreal past to indicate future. I mean, there must be some association of ideas that, whether consciously or not, leads you to do that. I think it might have to do with "not take" being formally close to the imperative "do not...Read More...

Thanks Gustavo and David 💖Read More...

Yes, they are both natural. No. Truth is, the sun is not shining and I will not go to the beach. With "would," you add certainty to your going to the beach if the sun were shining. With "could" or "might," you only express probability: A. The sun is not shining now. What are your plans? B. If the sun were shining, I'd go to the beach (certainty). B'. If the sun were shining, I could/might go to the beach (probability).Read More...

Thank you so for taking your time to respond to this. I really appreciate it.Read More...

Hi, Ahmed, Both "honoured" and "being honoured" (AmE: honored) are correct. I talked to the girl honored for winning the gold medal may sound like an abridged version of I talked to the girl who had been honored ... (the conversation may have taken place after she was honored for her achievement). I talked to the girl being honored for winning the gold medal sounds like an abridged version of I talked to the girl who was being honored ... (the conversation took place during the ceremory in...Read More...

I do not recommend that. Verbs of speech are the ones used to introduce reported speech: assert, ask, complain, suggest, propose, decide, agree , etc. In my experience taking minutes, reporting verbs are always used in the past and what follows can remain with the tenses unaltered because, as I said, it reflects a current situation.Read More...

Oh wow, I am so impressed with your explanation, it's so clear. Million thanksRead More...

Wow! I like this discussion. Thanks a lot for your reply.Read More...

Similarly to what I explained here , in (a) "for his son to go to college" may be the plan itself or the purpose of his plan, while in (b) it can only be the former.Read More...

Hi, Azz, My impression is that (a) and (b) can mean the same as (c) and (d) (the plan consisted of avoiding his wife's departure), or can mean: e. For his wife not to leave him, he came up with that plan. f. In order that his wife would not leave him, he came up with that plan. While on my first interpretation the adverbial clause seems to complementize the deverbal noun "plan," in (e) and (f) it is a clause of purpose: with that purpose in mind, he came up with a plan.Read More...

Thanks, Gustavo! Yes, an em dash would also do the job nicely. I tend to prefer the colon or the em dash in this type of case to the comma, which feels a bit too light to me.Read More...

"Have" and "have got" are readily interchangeable, but "have" and "got" are not. It is NOT substandard to say "I' ve got a question" instead of "I have a question," but it IS substandard to say "I got a question" to mean "I have a question."Read More...

- I think John is boring. Am I alone in thinking so? (Isn't there anybody else who agrees with me that John is boring?) - I think that something should be done to improve education. Am I the only only one thinking about it (about ways to improve education)?Read More...

Yes, you can say "a player suspended" or "a suspended player." When postposed, the participle allows for the addition of an adverbial: suspended for violating a rule, suspended as a result of a rule violation, suspended from the league, suspended for X games, suspended by the authorities.Read More...

Hi, JessyA, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. I have deleted the duplicate thread you started. Please ask about only one grammatical topic in each thread. The second question is totally unrelated to the first. The sentence beginning with "Because" is not a sentence. A clause introduced by "because" is a dependent clause, not an independent clause. That's why a "because"-clause cannot function as a stand-alone sentence. A "because"-clauses can, however, come at the beginning of a sentence.Read More...

Wow! Thanks both of you 💖Read More...

Hi, Cristi, "upon" is merely more formal than "on," as is placing the preposition before the relative pronoun. In non-formal contexts, we'd tend to say: - The amount income tax ought to be levied on. Please note that none of the phrases above is a complete sentence, as they lack a main verb. This would be a full sentence: - The amount income tax ought to be levied on needs to be calculated.Read More...

Hi, Cristi, Both "considered good" and "considered to be good" are correct. Similar combinations can be produced with other verbs denoting mental process, like deem, think, believe, find . I personally find the to be addition to be more elegant.Read More...

Toaha, there are several mistakes in that text. Where have you taken it from? As you know, we don't proofread texts here. For your question to be acceptable, you should indicate if you have a specific doubt.Read More...

Thank you . That's clear now.Read More...

Thanks for this information, Gustavo 😍Read More...

Hi, Ahmed, A disbelieving smile is a smile that expresses disbelief — you hear something you don't believe and put on a disbelieving smile. An unbelievable smile is an incredible smile, that is, a smile you did not expect, or one you hardly ever see.Read More...