Questions tagged [sentence-construction]
This tag is used for questions about the proper construction of sentences.
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Explain why "Who is she playing the piano?" is incorrect
A teacher asked me this question and I am having a hard time finding a simple way to explain it for her to share with her students. I`m looking for the easiest way to explain it to her because she ...
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"I often buy fruits when I go to the supermarket" – illogical?
I am an English assistant and I often hear my non-native students say:
I often buy fruits when I go to the supermarket.
I think it is wrong logically because "go" means "to move or travel from ...
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Is "rain is falling" entirely wrong?
I thought it was a custom in English to write "it is raining" instead of "rain is falling". Still I don't know why the second construction is wrong. Yet I found a song called Rain is Falling, so I'm ...
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The summer training or (just) summer training
Should we use the summer training or just summer training in the paragraph. As per me training is a noun and before singular noun we have to use an article and I am using the because I am talking ...
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Is the SVOMPT word order necessary in creating a sentence?
I learned the English word order SVOMPT (Subject, Verb, Objects, Manner, Place, Time) rule at school. Although it was a quite straightforward rule when I was studying, now (under more influence from ...
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Why is "a road" incorrect in this test?
I apparently made a mistake in this text: http://www.learnenglish.de/games/articles/articles.html, where you have to fill in "a", "an" or "the" in the blanks.
The relevant parts are:
Looking out ...
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8
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How do I invite a friend "on my expense"?
I ask my friend to come over to my place and I want him to eat pizza on my expense. Is it correct to say like this:
Come over to my place bro! I will eat you a pizza.
or
Come over to my home ...
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Just because people don't talk doesn't mean they don't think
Just because people don't talk doesn't mean they don't think.
Some people(non-native speakers) say this is grammatically incorrect.
It is acceptable in casual conversation, but it should not be used ...
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8
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Is it OK to say "a cat is on the table"?
I've been confused with the "there is/are" expression.
I learnt at school that "A cat is on the table" is an awkward sentence and you should say "There is a cat on the table&...
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When should 'a' and 'an' be written in a list containing both?
Which of the following is correct?
Want to be a Graphic Designer, Photographer or an Artist? Let's Learn and Grow Together.
Want to be Graphic Designer, Photographer or Artist? Let's Learn and Grow ...
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"who, quite frankly, are not" vs. "who are, quite frankly, not"
Which is more natural?
We're getting a lot of new principals who, quite frankly, are not very skillful at handling student discipline.
We're getting a lot of new principals who are, quite frankly, ...
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"It's them as should be sorry!" grammar
The sentence is from the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I can probably get the meaning of the sentence, but the grammar really confuses me, especially the usage of the word as. I could ...
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Is the phrase "I read that in Spock" correct?
This context comes from a part of Stephen King's book "The Shining" in which Wendy, Jack's wife, speaks to him about Danny, their son. She thinks Danny isn't eating enough lately and ...
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The meaning of baggage vs luggage
What is the difference? Which one is better to use for defining some baggage (not hand one).
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"Who is you" – not "are"
Why do we say "who are you" when talking to a single person?
Related question: "Who is speaking with each other?" Is this correct?
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These look like fragments. Help me to understand why they are okay to use
“How did I escape? With difficulty. How did I plan this moment? With pleasure. ”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
I recently found out that when writing lists, items in a list don't ...
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Why does the spellchecker think this sentence is wrong?
Microsoft Word's spell (and grammar) checker makes the italic part of the following sentence sentence light up in green:
Considering how both of the rotation vector sensors seem to have trouble ...
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Is the sentence "pay some in cash" understandable?
I was in a store yesterday and I decided to get rid of all my coins,
so when I was at the checkout counter, I told the clerk that:
Can I pay some in cash and the rest by card?
The clerk said that ...
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12
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How do English-speaking kids loudly request something?
Yesterday, I was teaching my daughter English. She didn't want to study. She just spoke loudly, and said, in Chinese:
"I strongly demand an ice cream stick!"
I told her, if she could say this ...
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How to properly ask for store hours on phone?
I call a restaurant today and ask them for "Are you open till what time today?" as today is Christmas Eve and the person on phone asked me twice what? What?
So how do I ask for a store/restaurant ...
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This is a good news. This is good news
This is a good news.
This is good news.
Which one is correct? Clarify the difference
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"When this battle will be finally over" - shouldn't it be "When this battle is finally over"?
I read something in the manga:
When this battle will finally be over... take me out to eat some tasty yakiniku.
"when...will be" seems strange to me, isn't it better saying "When this battle is ...
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Does "nor he mine" make sense here?
I have been staring at this sentence for 5 minutes:
I looked up, though I could not see his face, nor he mine.
"Nor he mine" seems...off to me. Is this grammatically correct?
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"A * doesn't a good * make"
I'm curious about a certain sentence construct that I've seen in different contexts. I'm talking about sentences in the following style:
A * doesn't a * make.
(* being a wildcard). For example:
A ...
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A sentence with listing items: How to remove the ambiguity?
There is a store which trades oranges and 3 kinds of apples. And there is a person there to whom I'm giving directions. Which sentence will be the best in such a case?
Put green apples in the first ...
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We are aware of that we are short on time
I'm a S. Korean so eager to learn English.
My friends and I keep practicing English,
and we often run into sentences native speakers might find awkward. Please take a look at this. This is what my ...
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What is the difference between "Wasn't it supposed to have started 30 minutes ago?" and "Wasn't it supposed to start 30 minutes ago?" in this case?
If I want to ask my teacher if the lesson should have started earlier, Could I use the sentences below?
1 Wasn´t it supposed to have started 30 minutes ago?
2 Wasn´t it supposed to start 30 ...
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What's the difference between "used to like" and 'liked'?
What is the difference between used to like and liked?
What is the difference if I say...
When I was 4 years old, I had one pink dress. My cousins used to like it (my dress) very much.
Or
When ...
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When can I remove the word "that" in a sentence?
I have this bad writing habit, I use the word 'that' so many times. I know it is grammatically valid, but using 'that' too often is not good. But I don't know in which sentences I can remove the word '...
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Uses of "have you had" and "did you have" [duplicate]
When to use have you had and did you have in sentence?
e.g.
1) To ask some if he had his lunch or not?
Have you had your lunch?
Or
Did you have your lunch?
2) To ask some if he faced this ...
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"me [gerund]" or "my [gerund]" at the beginning of sentences?
A.1 The lions reacted to my singing.
A.2 The lions reacted to me singing.
B.1 My singing alarmed the lions.
B.2 Me singing alarmed the lions.
As far as I know, both A.1 and A.2 are grammatical: "...
user114
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"She need not worry" or "she needs to not worry"?
I just came across this weird use of "need not" on Twitter:
Madam/sir,
My daughter is stuck in Uk . She has lost her BRP . She is difficult to return back India home [sic]. Please help
In ...
user119042
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Is "My neighbor Mr. Lee is 70 years old who plays basketball every day." grammatical?
My neighbor Mr. Lee is 70 years old who plays basketball every day.
My teacher said that pronoun "who" is too far from the subject, so this is a grammatical error. But Grammarly told me that this ...
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Which is the correct English out of the following sentences. I gave her your number. or I gave your number to her
Which is the correct English out of the following sentences?
I gave her your number.
I gave your number to her.
Please explain me the better ways to form the above sentence.
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"a comparison between A and B" or "a comparison of A and B"?
When I have to compare two things A and B, can I say "a comparison between A and B" or "a comparison of A and B". Which is best ?
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Sentence structure - Then up pops Netflix with
Please have a look at the quote below borrowed from the Guardian:
P.A. must have thought the pandemic had pushed his association with the convicted sex offender, the late multimillionaire J.E., out ...
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Am I overusing "the" in this sentence?
For some reason I feel its overkilling on the use of article(the) here,
To refine the results, please use the categories on the left
Can someone help?
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What does "...was a saint, upon which declaration..." mean in this Wikipedia article?
Source
Canonization is the act by which the Orthodox, Oriental Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic, or Anglican Church declares that a person who has died was a saint, upon which declaration the person is ...
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"JUST" or "EVEN"? "These days it is expensive to take care of just one child."
"These days it is expensive to take care of just one child."
When I read the sentence, I understand the point, however, I think "just" might be ambiguous here, so I think that ...
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Is "... to bring to your attention ..." a typo?
I'm writing to bring to your attention the unprofessional attitude of one of your staff member.
(From a book and some online resources)
I feel like it should be:
I'm writing to bring your ...
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Success is a number/numbers game
Success is a number/numbers game.
I was going through a novel where I found this sentence using numbers but success is a single entity that is singular. How can we use plural (numbers) here?
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What's the full answer to "shall I"?
The form Shall I is used to make offers, in general. For example
Shall I help you?
and one would answer
Yeah, help me
but what's the full answer? I mean, with a question like
You will go ...
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"as such" or "therefore"
Additional calculations suggest that teacher effects on college going and wages may be as much as three times larger than that predicted based on test scores alone. As such, more than half of teachers ...
user114
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Is it acceptable to omit "about" in this sentence? "I love everything (about) math."
I have two sentences:
I love everything about math.
I love everything math.
I am pretty confident based on the phrase's usage that the first sentence is grammatically correct.
Is it acceptable to ...
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When you're having a cat nap and a bad car accident happens
Imagine yourself in a road where the driver is your friend and your are sitting in assistant seat. You feel a bit tired and are catching some Z's. Suddenly a car accident happens and you notice it, ...
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Any difference between these sentences: "Why did you have me born?" and "Why did you give birth to me?"
“So why did you have me born? I wish no one had ever laid eyes on me!" (Job 10:19, MSG version)
The first sentence sounds different to me, "have someone born", never heard it used this ...
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When you want to ask someone to maintain their class
Please imagine that you take a friend (a guy) to meet a group of your friends at a party. The group and the guy are have never met one another and know nothing about one another. The guy starts ...
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"There, but for the grace of God, go I" - Breaking this down grammatically
There is a phrase in a book I am translating.
"There but for the grace of God goes God".
I googled this phrase and find the original version of this. Which is "there but for the grace ...
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Will people get confused when they see 'Some of our customers speak Spanish, English, and German'?
Our cakes are very popular for foreign visitors.
Some of them speak Spanish, Some speak English, and some speak German.
Now, I want to make the second sentence neat and more easy to read, so I am ...
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'in the first place' instead of 'firstly'
I wonder that if I start introducing some things at first, Should I start with 'in the first place' rather than 'firstly'?
For example:
In the first place, I would like to introduce .....
Does ...
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