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too ~ to do +preposition

Hello. I am confused with the preposition when I rewrite the following sentence. I had difficulty getting to sleep, because the house was very noisy. →The house was too noisy for me to get to sleep in. →The house was so noisy that I had difficulty getting to sleep in. Is the preposition "in" required in the above sentences? Thank you so much for your kind response! MikaRead More...
Hi, Mika. Both sentences are grammatically correct, but different in meaning. With "in" at the end of the sentence, the emphasis is on the house, meaning the house is such as is so noisy that I cannot fall asleep if I sleep in it, while without "in", the emphasis is on my impression that I cannot fall asleep because the house is too noisy.Read More...
Last Reply By f6pafd · First Unread Post

tense

Hello, there! I'd like to say "you can sometimes make friends even with total strangers simply because you are reading the same book as they are". If I change the tense, is the meaning same? For example, "you can sometimes make friends even with total strangers simply because you were reading the same book as they were." Or "you can sometimes make friends even with total strangers simply because you have read the same book as they have." Thank you so much for your response! MikaRead More...

How does the "X-challenging" construction work?

See below. The bold could actually mean that multiple institutions are being challenged, right? If I say that there's "animal-killing pollution" then "animal" is actually refer to animals (plural), right? Or I might say "dogma-shattering research"; "dogma" is referring to dogmas (plural), right? The ideological spectrum has—when it comes to the big institutional questions—narrowed to the point where challenging our employment system might seem bizarre. We should include—in our political...Read More...

More well-known than or better-known than?

I have this sentence that I can't answer "No other Egyptian footballer is as well-known as Mohammed Salah. " This means that (a) Mohammed Salah is better-known than other Egyptian players. (b) Mohammed Salah is more well-known than other Egyptian players. (c) the answer is both [a&b]Read More...
Hi, Nada, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange, The comparative adjective of the compound adjective 'well-known' could be either 'better-known' or 'more well-known', so c) a & b is the correct answer.Read More...
Last Reply By ahmed_btm · First Unread Post

Tense with 'in the past'

What tense should I use with in the past ? 1- In the past, I worked for this company but now I work In another company. 2- In the past, I have worked for this company but now I work In another company.Read More...
Really appreciate your response. Could you add some more explanation to what I've understood below when it is convenient (based on the comma added); (1) The author intentionally uses 'present perfect' to compare the bachelors case in the past with the one in the present. If he/she has no intention to compare, they can use 'simple past'. (2) You're right and simple past is enough in that case. (3) We can use 'past perfect' here only when we have a special context which shows an event occurred...Read More...
Last Reply By deepcosmos · First Unread Post

How can "it's" be used?

Two quick questions on the usage of "it's". 1: Both of the bold instances seem to attach to nothing semantically. What is the "it" referring to in each case? What are the rules about when it's OK to deploy "it" in this unusual fashion? 2: Regarding the bold post-dash "it's" (the second one), is it able to refer to all three of the items that follow it? You could imagine a sentence like "It's not about pink; it's about red, blue, and green" and you might wonder whether the post-semicolon...Read More...
Hi, Andrew—In both instances, "it's" is a contraction of "it is," and "it" may be classified as situational, referring, as is contextually obvious, to "the point" or "the thing of importance in the point that has just been made."Read More...
Last Reply By David, Moderator · First Unread Post

Why does "Usually" seem to not need a comma?

See below the two examples. In the first example, the first word seems to need a comma after it. But in the second example, no such comma seems to be needed. (1) Usually they went to the store. (2) Unfortunately, they went to the store.Read More...
Hi, Andrew—"Usually" and "unfortunately" are different types of adverb(ial), and this has implications regarding whether they should be set off from the rest of the sentence with one or more commas. "Usually" is centrally related to the situation. It is a frequency adverbial, like "every Friday." Notice that there wouldn't be a comma before it at the end or middle of the sentence, though there could be in sentence-final position. Usually they went to the store. They usually went to the...Read More...
Last Reply By David, Moderator · First Unread Post

Do I need "will" before "happily"?

See below (I could also maybe put "of the system are happy to agree"...not sure, though: There’s a harmful dynamic where the defenders of the system happily agree with the engineers that our system is functional.Read More...
Hi, Andrew—Your sentence means that the defenders and the engineers are in a state of agreement. It is not about acts of agreeing. If you changed "happily agree" to "will happily agree" or "are happy to agree," the meaning would be that acts of agreement between them are latent potentialities.Read More...
Last Reply By David, Moderator · First Unread Post

How can "in a way that" be used?

I think that the bold might be an interesting usage. It's not actually about the "way" that X was done in the sense of "X could've been done in multiple ways but it was done in this particular way". It's instead being used in a different sense, correct? Is there any writing about this particular usage and how it works? The point isn’t that there’s necessarily anything good about him—the point is instead that Western media turns him into a cartoon in a way that dumbs us down and makes...Read More...
Hi, Andrew—I don't see anything special about the "in the way that" in your example. "Way" is modified by a relative clause. It is about the way in which X was done and presupposes that X could have been done in more than one way.Read More...
Last Reply By David, Moderator · First Unread Post

On "would there have been"

Hi, 1. What a row would there have been if they had known you were here! (From The Cambridge Grammar of the English Languag e, without context) Does "would there have been" refer to a specific time in the past or a period of time leading up to the present? I think both interpretations are possible because (2) and (3) are possible: 2. There was a row because they knew you were here. 3. There has been a row because they have known you are here.Read More...
Thank you for explaining it so clearly, David.Read More...
Last Reply By Robby zhu · First Unread Post

Predicted versus foreshadowed

Hello, What is the difference between "predicted" versus "foreshadowed" ? I found that most lawyers always use the word foreshadow instead of predict.Read More...
Hi, Tony. The two words are not synonyms. To predict is usually to foretell with precision of calculation, knowledge, or shrewd inference from facts or experience: The astronomers can predict an eclipse. (From Collins Dictionary.) However, If something foreshadows an event or situation, it suggests that it will happen. e. g . W hat are the signs that foreshadow a suicide. (From Collins Dictionary.)Read More...
Last Reply By f6pafd · First Unread Post

Fast turn-around

If we were to make a heading on a promotion material. Should we use "Fast turnaround time" or "Fast turn-around time" . Our work is completed within 5 to 7 business days.Read More...
Hi, Tony C. Turnaround or turnround is an established dictionary entry, therefore, fast turnaround time is the right expression. Moreover, "turnaround" without "time" means turnaround time. The word "time" is optional, unless you'd like to put emphasis on it. (The turnaround or turnaround time of a task is the amount of time that it takes. From Collins Dictionary)Read More...
Last Reply By f6pafd · First Unread Post

What's the difference between on and when

.........Checking my email , I usually find new messages a) on b) when c) during d) a-b What is the difference between using on and when here in this sentence?Read More...
Hi, Medo, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange, When we talk about frequently repeated actions, ' when ' sounds more natural to use (like your example above). However, when two things happen at the same time or when one thing happens immediately after the other, we use on/upon doing sth ( NOT when )". From 'Longman Dictionary Of Common Errors', page 356: - When hearing that the child had been found, she burst into tears. × × × - On hearing that the child had been found, she burst into tears. √√√Read More...
Last Reply By ahmed_btm · First Unread Post

Should I use an "-ing" construction?

See the bold below. The bold "transfer" is a thing that has never actually happened; it's a strictly hypothetical notion that a government could permit people to transfer their votes to others. Not sure if "transfer" or "transferring" would be appropriate. How many of the three contracts—that we’ve already outlawed—are irreversible? I’m also curious about the transfer of one’s vote to someone else in exchange for money—would that be irreversible? I think people might get hung up on...Read More...
Hi, Andrew, I think there are are two sides to this question—a grammatical and a semantic one. From a grammatical perspective, my view is that, whenever available, nouns are better than gerunds when it comes to taking an of -complement. Since we do have the noun "transfer," I find "the transfer of one's vote" more natural than "the transferring of one's vote." If there is no noun, then the gerund can naturally take an of -complement, for example: the casting of one's vote . Semantically...Read More...
Last Reply By Gustavo, Co-Moderator · First Unread Post

Defining and non defining

Dear sir, Concerning the following question: -You are telling somebody it is your car. a) The car that is outside the house is mine. b) The car, which is outside the house, is mine. We choose the first answer “a” as it is a defining relative clause. And I have seen this model answer in one of the grammar site . My question is about the second option: Is the second answer “b” correct or not?And if not ? Why not? Thanks in advance.Read More...
Yes, both are correct depending on the context, but different in meaning. a) is correct, meaning the car outside the house is mine. b) is correct only on condition that the listener knows the car you are talking about. The car (that, you know, we have talked about) is mine and is outside the house.Read More...
Last Reply By f6pafd · First Unread Post

should have missed for Deduction

Hello. Could you please help me? Is the following sentence correct using "should"? - Samar should have missed the train because she arrived at the station too late. Thank you.Read More...
It is often the case that there are different ways of saying the same thing in English. It all depends on the context to decide which one is most appropriate. As to your question, if the speaker was 100 % sure that she arrived at the station too late, and then "must have missed" should be used," because it is logically necessary. If the speaker was not 100 % sure and only speculated, then "should have missed" is also appropriate.Read More...
Last Reply By f6pafd · First Unread Post

Should the word "cartoonize" have quotation marks around it?

Final post here; thanks for all the incredible help with my new piece and I apologize for the burdensome posts. In my defense, I haven't posted in a while so maybe that counts in my favor. Let me give some context for this question. I'm doing a piece that talks about the fact that certain terrible figures around the world (ones about whom informed people would have lots of harsh criticisms) are turned into unrealistic and two-dimensional caricatures. I was originally going to simply call...Read More...
Hi, Andrew—One alternative to using quotation marks to mark a neologism as a neologism, at least on the first mention, is to put a hyphen before the suffix: cartoon-ize, cartoon-ization . Also, you might consider the -ify and -ification suffixes as alternatives in forming your neologism: cartoon-ify, cartoon-ification . I couldn't say whether I prefer cartoonize to cartoonify , or cartoonization to cartoonification .Read More...
Last Reply By David, Moderator · First Unread Post

Future continuous being considered more polite than other future tenses when asking about somone's plans

I have read on an English site as below: The future continuous can be used to ask questions in a polite and indirect manner when we want to know what someone's plans are. Example: Excuse me. Will you be using this chair? ( = If you're not using it, may I take it?) (1) Will you be using this chair? (2) Will you use this chair? (3) Are you going to use this chair? As the explanation from that site, then (1) is considered more polite than (2) and (3). Could you give me the reason the future...Read More...
Thank you so much Gustavo, Co-Moderator and ahmed_btm As we can see, there are 4 ways of talking about the future. Sometimes I don't know to choose the form to use and the differences between them. Here are some of my opinions, please help me check if it is correct or not: (1) I am visiting Pairs next month. => If I already have fixed arrangements ( already booked tickets, hotels...). I have a question here: if the listener hears this sentence, do they think that the speaker already has...Read More...
Last Reply By le12345 · First Unread Post

Is "the" appropriate here?

See the "the" in bold...it's tricky because the noun that follows the bold "the" doesn't refer to anything that been previously established (in the text) to exist...and yet the bold "the" seems crucial in order to make things work grammatically: Someone can criticize an instance of caricature without necessarily thinking that there’s anything good, moral, or admirable about the figure—someone who can’t come up with a single good, moral, or admirable thing about a figure could nevertheless...Read More...
Thanks! That makes sense!Read More...
Last Reply By Andrew Van Wagner · First Unread Post

Is there any country in which it's OK to not hyphenate "decision-making"?

I'm very hesitant to categorize the lack of a hyphen (in "decision-making") as an actual error . I'm not sure whether any European countries have a norm of not hyphenating this word. Is it an actual error...or is there international variation on this front?Read More...
I managed to work around it, actually! I managed to change the quote so that I could use my own words and use a hyphen. Thanks for your help on this; I really appreciate it. The issue still remains as to where the boundary is between error and bad style; maybe there are no clear rules that allow one to form such a boundary.Read More...
Last Reply By Andrew Van Wagner · First Unread Post

Does ", which" attach unambiguously here?

See the bold ", which". I'm not 100% sure if the author intended it to attach only to "alliance" or to both "alliance" and "re-election". I wonder what the guardrails against ambiguity are here in terms of common sense. And also in terms of syntax; not sure if any syntactic rules apply. Bob is a product of the system that he inherited, created in part with foreign help when in 1996 foreigners ensured Tony's re-election and with it the Kremlin-oligarch alliance , which in the end delivered Bob.Read More...
I think that you're probably correct that he meant it as a sequence just like you said. But if there's any room for doubt then it's important to approach this accordingly and not restrict the meaning. But we don't want ambiguity either.Read More...
Last Reply By Andrew Van Wagner · First Unread Post

Prospective client list

Hello, What is the difference between prospective clients list and future clients list? Are they the same?Read More...
Hi, Tony, The word "prospective" entails a sense of expectation or probability which the term "future" lacks. It seems to me that "prospective clients" is less certain than "future clients."Read More...
Last Reply By Gustavo, Co-Moderator · First Unread Post

How can the word "model" be used?

Consider the word "model" below (in bold). It's confusing to me because when we talk about a model of politics aren't we talking about how scholars model a political system? Regarding the bold, it seems like we're using "model" to refer to the actual system instead of a scholar's approach to trying to model how that system works. Another issue is how do we know that ", which recognises" doesn't attach to "Russian politics"? What bars such an interpretation other than common sense? Does any...Read More...
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