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Thank you, David.Read More...

Hi, Subhajit, Normally, English speakers use verb phrase ellipsis in such contexts: A: Have you graduated? B: Yes, I have. It would be silly, distracting, redundant, nonnative, and awkward to use "graduated" after "have" in the answer. "I have" means "I have graduated" there. As for the other construction, you could use "I graduated this year" in response to "When did you graduate?"Read More...

Hi, Azz, (a) and (b) are ambiguous, since "to stand up to those thugs" can be interpreted as expressing purpose ( you did something courageous in order to stand up to those thugs ) or as the courageous thing or act the person did. To express the latter, I think (a) sounds better, perhaps because I'm thinking of: - You did the right thing to stand up to those thugs. I prefer (d) to (c) (which I'm not sure is correct). In (d), the participial phrase can be placed at the beginning: d'. Standing...Read More...

Thanks for the information. Sorry I did not know about that.Read More...

Hi, Azz, I'd say only (a) and (d) are fine. I don't like, and have never seen or used, any of the others. For further reference, please see entry (4) here :Read More...

Hello, MNW87, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange. Yes, each of those hyphens is needed, as you can see by using each of them individually before "floor covering": a non-slip floor covering an easy-to-clean floor covering a long-lasting floor covering Actually, I just learned that "nonslip" need not be hyphenated, though it is in the OED. If you'd like to edit the sentence for hyphen reduction, you could try this: This product produces a nonslip durable floor covering that lasts a long time...Read More...

"To" really is better in this case, Ahmed. Now that I've looked up what a Rababah is -- I'd never heard of that instrument -- I see that there is an obvious resemblance (however distant) between a Rababah and a violin. We may infer that the writer referred to in your example was drawing attention to their resemblance. That's why we need "to." We would use "with" in a case like this: "The writer compared the Rababah with other types of instruments."Read More...

Hi, Azz, Sentences (a) and (b) are correct, but (c) is not. You can fix (c) either by adding the word "are" at the end, which would make it an elliptical version of (b), or by changing "as" to "like." d. My books are not bestsellers, as yours are. e. My books are not bestsellers, like yours. Sentence (e) is ambiguous. We can't tell whether "like yours" indicates that the interlocutor's books are or are not bestsellers. Both are syntactic possibilities, the difference being a matter of scope.Read More...

Welcome back, Khalid, Once again, you have titled a thread "Grammar." As I explained before, such a title is uninformative at this website, because all discussion threads at this website are about grammar. Please use an informative title when you start a discussion. In this case, you could have used "least or fewest", for example. I would not use either "fewest" or "least" in that example. I would use "lowest": Ten is the lowest number of tourists she can take on the boat trip. The lowest...Read More...

Ahmeds, I don't like any of the choices offered the way the sentence is structured. As a native speaker, I would say either 1: My parents both have mobile phones . or 2: Each of my parents has a mobile phone. Ahmed_btm, I know that you are concerned with helping our members pass exams, and I appreciate that. My concern is with teaching people how English is spoken by natives, and sometimes your model answers don't reflect this. DocVRead More...

Many thanks!Read More...

Thanks.Read More...

Hi, Ahmed Imam, The original sentence in our workbook says: There are two restaurants by the park and they are both very good. Anyway, the answer you seek here is: 'are' . 'They' is the subject and 'each' doesn't affect the conjugation of the verb since the main subject is plural. The rule here says that when a plural subject is followed by 'each', it still attracts a plural verb.Read More...

Thanks for your confirmation！Read More...

Hi, Ahmed, I agree with you that another third conditional could be: "If I had had broken bones like Johann, I would have traveled abroad to be treated there." However, in that case, "had" would necessarily be the main verb in the "if"-clause, as it is in your second-conditional interpretation of Ahmed Imam Attia's sentence. If we interpret "broken" as a verb rather than as an adjective, we cannot have " Johann had had broken bones ," just as we can't say, " Johann had had eaten lunch ." As...Read More...

Thank you, David, always for your reply with an understandable explanation. AppleRead More...

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.Read More...

Hi, Ahmed Imam Attia, Since your follow-up question here does not ask about the difference between "task" and "duty" -- "duty" is not among the answer choices -- it would have been better to start a separate thread. The best answer in this new example is "responsibility," and "duty" would also work if it were among the answer choices: " When Ali's parents go out, it is his responsibility/duty to look after his younger sisters ." "Task," "work," and "assignment" do not work in this example.Read More...

That's one correct answer. In real life, native speakers could also use "has been": " He (has) just left. He 's been here since seven ." The key here is "just" in "just left"; it indicates that the past event is hardly separated at all from the present. Therefore, the correct answer is: both answers are correct . "Had been" would, however, be the only choice if the past event of his leaving were significantly separated from the present. " He left the cafe at nine this morning. He 'd been...Read More...

Apple, I'm sorry no one has responded to your post in all this time. Can you tell us how "sentence 7" goes? It might be very helpful to us in answering your question. Thank you. DocVRead More...

Thank you for correct my misreading, GUSTAVO. Very sorry to cause you so much trouble.Read More...

Hi, Navi, "with" is used in some noun phrases to introduce the subject-matter, maybe with a slight -- somewhat indirect -- indication of possession. The basic expression is "all roads lead to ..." and comes, as you must know, from "all roads lead to Rome." For example, when it comes to grammar, all roads lead to the Grammar Exchange . I find "with you" to be similar to the prepositional phrase in "the problem with you is that you are Putin's friend." It would be too restrictive and absolute...Read More...