August 2022

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Hi, Omar Ahmed, 'Factual' is the correct answer here. From 'LDOCE', 'Factual error' (which includes a fact that is wrong) is a collocation. 'True error' has a totally different meaning that you can search for on the internet. I see that using 'at most' applies to 'teenagers', not to 'adults'.Read More...

Thanks so much! You're the best! I appreciate it!Read More...

Thank you, that was helpful.Read More...

Thank you, David. That's very insightful! I found the following example, in a book entitled The Nazi Hunter: A Novel of Suspense by Alan Elsner. Do you think the following use of "should have died" works? "How much longer do y'all expect to find more Nazis to hunt? Seems to me most of 'em should have died by now," he continued. "There are plenty of Nazis still out there, and we aim to find them. When that's done, we plan to go after other war criminals as well—Bosnians, Rwandans, anywhere...Read More...

I forgot that the bold is actually what I'm paraphrasing I guess: What you and I both know is that the criticisms that were being made of Donald Trump were frequently the totally wrong criticisms. As you said, nobody was talking about climate. Noam Chomsky was talking—he's been talking about climate the whole time and saying, like, that is the reason Trump is such a serious threat.... So the approach that I've taken—and that I think Chomsky takes and is correct—is [to criticize Trump the...Read More...

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Hi, Maged Hosny, "Inquiry" is not a good title for any thread here. You should use something more specific, like "Milk or the milk?" That said, both "milk" and "the milk" are correct. "Milk" means "some milk," while "the milk" refers to some specific amount of milk (perhaps a glass, or a bottle of milk) that "he" was carrying.Read More...

Hi, Robby zhu, Yes, you are right. They want the amount of surplus to be equal to the amount of shortage. No, that would not be correct, because "as much as" already refers to the amount of shortage, so adding "by X" would be redundant.Read More...

Apologies.Read More...

Hi, Andrew—It is not surprising that the NYT does not hyphenate "already existing." "Already" is an adverb and can only be interpreted as modifying the adjective "existing" there. A hyphen would perform no function whatsoever.Read More...

Hi, Andrew—While the undesired interpretation is highly unlikely and not worth worrying about, it being strange to base an identification of the content of an idea on a reason, it is grammatically possible. If you wish to render the highly unlikely, undesired interpretation even more unlikely, you could delete the comma before the "since"-clause. If you want to render it impossible, you can front the "since"-clause within the "that"-clause: 1) The idea is that we shouldn’t worry as much...Read More...

Hello, Ahmed Imam Attia—Both choices are grammatically correct; however, each is better suited to a different context. It would be natural to use "had already played" if, at the time the speaker arrived, the players were taking a break but had already played for ten minutes. It would be natural to use "had already been playing" if, at the time the speaker arrived, the speakers were still playing and had started ten minutes prior.Read More...

Hello, Cher, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. If you are referring to a book title in a sentence or paragraph, simply italicize the title and use the proper capitalization conventions (every word except articles and prepositions that do not appear at the start of the title or subtitle should be capitalized) and do not worry about whether the title fits one one line or requires two, three, four, or five lines. That doesn't matter in the least.Read More...

Hello, Marcofabri—It's not a sentence. It's a noun phrase. The noun phrase is grammatically correct (NOT grammerly correct). If the article clarifies what "environmental opportunities" are, readers will find the title clear as well.Read More...

Hello, Tony—The following expressions are used synonymously, and you may use whichever one you like in cases where the transition works. Usually it is used to introduce a stretch of discourse in relation to which the previous stretch of discourse is a prologue. You haven't provided enough context for me to be able to tell if you are using it appropriately. That said, your options are: That said, With that said, That being said, Having said that, With that being said, That having been said,...Read More...

Neither "we" nor "us" is possessive, but "our" is, and that's the one you want.Read More...

Yes, it is an adverb there.Read More...

I too would say that "stretching" and "lifting" are gerunds. But that's a categorisation held by traditional grammar. Modern grammar sees no justification for making any inflectional distinction between 'gerund' and 'present participle', simply lumping both ing forms together into the single category 'gerund-participle'. The important point is that they are verbs in your example. Stretching and lifting up one end over another down an incline is thus a gerund-participial clause functioning as...Read More...

Thanks for your help.Read More...

Hi, Tony, "Quarter" is a noun, and "quarterly," an adjective. Therefore, the phrase above should be "the quarter ," meaning the three-month period ended December 31, 2021, in this case. The statements for a quarter are quarterly statements.Read More...

Hi, Gustavo, much appreciate your response. Am I justified if I guess ‘ a certain brand of ’ here is functioning as a fixed adjective phrase like ‘ a kind of, a sort of, a type of, a variety of , etc.’?Read More...

Hi, Sundaran—"Getting" means "becoming" in (1); the sentence means that the rice won't become mushy when cooked in a pressure cooker. Sentence (2) means the rice need not be mushy in order to be cooked in a pressure cooker.Read More...

Thanks, Gustavo🙏Read More...

Hi, Sundaran, I understand that what you want to know is which of these questions is correct: 1. Are you open today? (Today is a holiday.) 2. Do you open today? (Today is a holiday.) The answer is, both are correct, but the first one is the more natural way to ask this question. There is also a subtle difference: in (1) it is time to be open, while question (2) is asked before working hours.Read More...