Questions tagged [grammar]
This tag is for grammar questions, but only if you're not certain what other tag to use. If possible, tag as tense, verb, articles, prepositions, or some other more specific tag or tags instead.
12,701
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Why is there a "...being..." in this sentence: "There was little evidence from trials of it being of benefit."
This is about a new drug, which was approved in the US, but was rejected in the EU for not being safe enough.
At the time, many scientists said there was little evidence from trials of it being of ...
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Why C and B are the correct answers? Is the bold part a conditional type?
While small amounts of other minerals ---1--- the savory hill, the salt pile would have a near translucent quality if not for the thin layer of reddish clay ---2--- the exterior.
A. pervades B. is ...
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Can I omit the subject of an adverbial clause "when..."?
In this sentence,
"it is easy for children to bite a straw when drinking", can I omit the subject of the adverbial clause, or I should add the subject "they" and "be", ...
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You can't go out dressed like that vs You can't go out dressing like that
Are both sentences correct? One with "dressed" and the other with "dressing". If they do, please explain the different meaning between 2 sentences.
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I don't have "much more" or "much else" to say
I am a project manager working in English, I pretty much always close my meetings saying :
"Okay everyone, I don't have much else to say ; if anybody has a comment or a question feel free to ...
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How can I use "the quantity of" naturally in an IELTS essay?
Context: In IELTS tests, they give us a chart showing information about the data for something over a period of time and ask us to analyze it and make comparisons where relevant. I can actually use &...
- 47
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1
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16
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Changing of positive degree to comparitive
What is the comparative degree transformation of " lion is as strong as tiger .? is it " lion is not stronger than tiger or tiger is not stronger than lion. ? Are both of them correct? ...
- 253
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47
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The meaning of "in" + noun
In hindsight, it would have been better to wait.
He spoke in opposition to the new law.
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42
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How old are you—if you don’t mind me/my asking?
How old are you—if you don’t mind me asking?
How old are you—if you don’t mind my asking?
In TOEFL tests, 'my asking' was correct because 'my' is in a possessive case having 'asking' as an object, ...
- 4,158
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Is this grammar correct? "New rules are adhere to"
Today I learned several vocabs including "adhere to".
Also the teacher said that "New rules are adhere to" is also grammatically correct and used normally.
However, I think that it ...
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Have fun or Enjoy? Which one is correct
I want to know when to use "Have fun" and when to use enjoy! Can anyone help me please?
Thanks!
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What is the name of process of combining this two sentences?
I read the following sentence from a book.
Since then, however, records have been introduced, offering a concise typed approach that we will describe in the following section.
I understand the ...
- 315
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Use of one in a passive sentence
I do not understand the next sentence:
The term "studio apartment" is one used frequently by British estate agents to describe a small unit of accomodation.
First: Can someone explain to me ...
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with the highs of success and fame followed by the lows of drug addiction and depression
Eric writes about the roller coaster of rock and roll, with the highs of success and fame followed by the lows of drug addiction and depression.
Is the bold part a noun phrase and the object of "...
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6
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the number/amount of metals is 10 million tons
Which should be used in the following sentence: number or amount? Note that there are different types of metal here.
Does the answer change if there's only one type of metal?
The number/amount of ...
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the amount of/how much harmful gases was/were
Context: This is an IELTS writing test, they give us a chart showing how many tons of air pollutants released in the UK throughout the years.
The chart illustrates how much pollutants were emitted ...
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2
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40
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It-cleft sentence or what?
I couldn't figure out the logic of this sentence. I heard it in a dialogue in a film.I have never seen such a pattern in grammar books. But as a result of my researches, I saw that it was examined in ...
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"This many frogs ......." VS "Such a lot of frogs......." VS "So many frogs ......."
This many frogs out on the slopes does not go unnoticed. Frogs race - BBC Earth (See:1:20-1:26)
Instead of "this many", I tend to use:
"Such a lot of frogs ....."
"So many ...
- 5,700
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34
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2
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2
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Why using the past tense when one parent is dead but the children and the other parent are alive?
John met Mary in 2000. He died in 2023. They had three children.
Marc met Ann in 2001. He is alive. They have two children.
What are the grammatical reasons for the last verbs to be in past and ...
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69
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Why is the zero article correct in "__ witnesses say..."?
While practicing the usage of the English articles, I encountered the following exercises:
There was a collision between a car and a cyclist at the crossroads near - my house early in the
morning. ...
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41
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Can't I remove 'the' before world in the given sentence? [duplicate]
Sentence - You are a unique creature in 'the' world.
Can I omit the word 'the' when it is already known that I am referring to world which is already understood ?
Note - There is already an answer ...
- 405
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1
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43
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"With X equals 3" vs. "With X equal to 3"
I found several teachers using the first structure, i.e. "with X equals 3", while some others using the second one, and all of them are native English speakers. Here're some examples of the ...
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amid a violent turf war on the most active route into the bloc
A lone gunman is spotted in the no-man’s land between Serbia and Hungary, near the European Union nation’s heavily guarded eastern frontier.
Hooded and masked, he aims an assault rifle at the CCTV ...
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when it comes to one person I should use they do or they does? [duplicate]
Do I need to write according to the rules of English? Like they know, they love and etc. Or do I need to look at the context?
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why is past perfect being used in the second sentence?
I have a problem with that sentence - "After landing in Entebbe, Uganda, the terrorists released all the passengers – except for around 100 Jews. The Germans had helped identify them using their ...
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5
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What's the modern version of 'I will drown and nobody shall save me!'?
'I will drown and nobody shall save me!' cried the man who had fallen into the canal two hundred years ago.
I am wondering what he would be crying if he fell in the canal today.
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Is this sentence correct? It was he who had committed the thief [closed]
I'm confused 🤔need help please thanks. Any grammar police on here to assist me with this concern.
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1
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- Dad, John doesn't want to go to school today! / - He shall!
How idiomatic is this dialogue?
-- Dad, John doesn't want to go to school today!
-- He shall! (whether he likes it or not, and I will make sure he does!)
Bartender
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2
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Are 'far' and 'near' exchangeable in the sentence below? [closed]
Drivers must always drive as far/near to the right as possible.
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1
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39
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Understanding omission of prepositions
Sometimes making complex sentences it is difficult to understand what part of the sentence the word or group of words belongs to.
For an example:
And its court for the trial of impeachments and ...
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1
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157
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Present perfect vs. simple past for a sequence of actions (British English)
John is an archaeologist. He's come to country X. He starts digging in the hope of finding things that will prove his theory. Bob calls him, and John tells him that he's now in country X. Bob asks him:...
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1
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Holds no benefits to alleviate the problem
Two people are arguing/quarrel and the arguing/quarrel they have will not alleviate the problem the already have. It is like someone telling him that stop arguing/quarrel that won't alleviate the ...
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What should use "returned to find" instead of "returned finding" in this sentence?
I once found this sentence. Why is 'to find' used here instead of 'finding'
He returned home to find his wife waiting for him.
I'm curious about this. Because normally, when it comes to describing ...
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2
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218
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Identifying the subject in relative pronoun
I found the following sentence in a math book (rigorously) defining the interior points of a region (denoted by R) in a plane (xy-plane):
A point (x0 , y0) in a region R in the xy-plane is an ...
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the difference between be going to and will
I heard this from an English teacher .Is that correct?
Watch out! The baby is going to fall.
Watch out! The dog will bite you.
He said that we usually use the form be going to with expressions like ...
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1
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45
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Omission of prepositions
I encountered the problem of understanding of preposition usage.
Here are 2 sentences noun phrases:
Historical sights of Rome with the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain.
The prepositional phrase with ...
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1
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36
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Meaning of "less something than something else"
"His fourth-century cultists...tried to make him the new Moses. But the Gospels make him less a Moses than a Mister Magoo."
What is the correct meaning of this explanation about St. Peter, ...
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1
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39
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Subject and Complement Agreement
Make us a good human!
Make us good humans!
They considered themselves a god.
They considered themselves gods.
Which one is grammatical? I think if the subject is plural the complement should also be ...
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have+past participlet+that+Subject+IS or WAS
Grammar question
Examples
I have always thought he is/was a good guy.
I have always thought a boat doesn't/didn't float.
I have always thought the sun rises/rose in the east.
What's the ...
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1
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Which is the subject of 'Generalising'?
Generalising still further, it seems possible that all grammatical
variation between languages can be characterised in terms of a set of
parameters, and that for each parameter, the language faculty
...
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Adjective plus noun in a sentence
When describing a charts, Is there a way to use adjective plus noun other than using there is or there was.
Can I say, the consumption of fast food had a gradual increase over the years.
The mobile ...
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I can't see but what you've got to support and bed and board with him to the end of time
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVI, published 1892)
Passage 254
“There's San Quentin, to start in with,” said the captain; “and suppose you clear the ...
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Definite article before news
Let's learn English with the news
In the above sentence is the definite article "the" referring to a particular news?
The above sentence is the heading of a YouTube video for English ...
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how to use the "or" in the negative form?
when I say "he does something that is not good or serious" what do I mean by that
He does something that is not good and is not serious
He does something that is not good and is serious
...
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is sentence "But deep learning is also enabling brand new products and businesses and ways of helping people to be created. " corrent in grammar?
I feel kind of confusion about
But deep learning is also enabling brand new products and businesses
and ways of helping people to be created.
I don't know how to understand "ways of helping ...
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Conditional questions
I am confused about the conditionals in English. Why is it necessary to add "had" in the third conditional but not in the second conditional? They are both similar but the difference is that ...
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2
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How to make sense of 'will' in "I won't give one just yet, but I will in a minute"?
I won't give one just yet, but I will in a minute.
I don't have the table finished just yet.
With not just yet, why are there times when verbs are in the present forms and times when verbs are in the ...
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Grammar: 'We are getting a divorce' or 'We are getting divorced'?
I more often than not, I hear people say - He / she / they are 'getting a divorce'. This does not sound correct to me. To my mind it implies, they're away to the shop to buy something, ie: 'they are ...
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Why is "for the union dues to be collected" rather than "for the union dues to collect"?
It means that the NUM will have to arrange locally for the union dues
to be collected individually.
There are many sentences which are active:
If so, and if we assume that abstract grammatical ...
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