Questions tagged [sentence-construction]
This tag is used for questions about the proper construction of sentences.
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The glasses were too thick for her to see well (in/with)? [closed]
The glasses were so thick that she couldn't see well with them.
The glasses were so thick that she couldn't see well in them.
The glasses were too thick for her to see well.
The glasses were too thick ...
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Do I have to end with "Finally" in the sentence pattern "First, Second, Third, and Finally"?
Can I end with "Thirdly" to end instead of "Finally" (say I do not have the 4th point), is this wrong or inappropriate?
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What is the meaning of "They have different entangled experiences" in this YouTube video?
What is the meaning of "They have different entangled experiences" in this YouTube video at 15:13? I looked up the meaning "entangled" in the dictionary. It shows "...
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Can you say "a person exits x into y"?
The specific sentence is "Following the maid, they exited the mansion grounds, and into the forest beyond."
In English, does chaining "exited" with "and into" in this way ...
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go versus go by with opportunities
I was wondering if this sentence is correct:
I have let many opportunities go by
What's about
I have let many opportunities go
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Is usage of 'go beyond somethings to something' correct? [closed]
I write as follows：
Choosing to do my master in X would be my ever best decision. Studying at the international university brings me not only its top educational quality and academic research, but ...
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Can I use "disagree" and "agree" interchangeably (or rather "agree that" and "disagree that")
Can I use "agree" and "disagree" interchangeably? For instance, (utterly disregarding the way the sentence is constructed; it is intentionally written as such) take:
I agree that ...
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"on my way home last night" / "last night, on my way home"
If I understand right, both versions are idiomatic and often used. There is no difference in their meaning. From English grammar view, the first sentence is more typical because "where?" (on ...
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I would rather you + TENSE or INFINITIVE (subjunctive)?
The crux of the matter:
I would rather you cooked tonight. (BrE) = I would rather you cook
tonight. (AmE)
Both forms mean the same. It's about the future action.
I would rather you were cooking ...
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I would rather you didn't / wouldn't
If someone is going to do something very soon that I don't want to happen. For instance, someone is going to start playing on the computer. Which construction fits better or both are OK?
Oh, you are ...
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Relative clause in the middle of the sentence
Is it good practice to embed a relative clause between the object and the second part of the verb.
There will be a series of stories, that describe the backtesting process, published.
I guess the ...
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Meaning of Quite?"Quite how that misunderstanding arose, maybe it was lost in translation, I don't know, but clearly they have all been looked after
This is from the BBC Disturbance in London Immigration Center
"Quite how that misunderstanding arose, maybe it was lost in translation, I don't know, but clearly they have now all been looked ...
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Is it correct and natural to say, 'we are a family'?
I read in the subtitles of a show such a sentence,
We are a family.
This sounds kind of weird to me. It's unusual to see 'are' followed by an 'a'.
Besides, when I googled 'we are a family', the ...
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prepared for it
In Russell’s essay he put
“To bear misfortune well when it comes, it is wise to have cultivated in happier times a certain width of interests, so that the mind may find prepared for it some ...
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Is "a frenzy of" only followed by verbs?
Is saying "They were sent into a frenzy of theories after the spoilers for the movie came out" grammatically incorrect?
I looked up some examples of how you use send/sent into a frenzy of, ...
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Who would have ever thought vs Who had ever thought
Who would have ever thought a kid raised on welfare would now become a millionaire ?
Who had ever thought a kid raised on welfare would now become a millionaire ?
What are the differences between ...
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"Do you ever stop talking?" Is this structure "Do you ever+....." considered rude or sarcastic? [closed]
"Do you ever stop talking?"
Is this sentence a bit sarcastic/rude or is it a neutral request that someone be quiet?
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Is "I thought+clause" is neutral in meaning or does it automatically imply "I was wrong".?
I thought that Tom was kind.
I get confused with such sutructures about the meaning, because this structure can have 2 meanings. It can mean "I thought he was kind and he turned out to be really ...
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sentence lacking a main verb
The following is taken from a CNN transcript. As you can see, it lacks a main verb. Is it natural?
What's the reason for not including a main verb?
On the edge of town, the remains of Russia's once ...
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"I thought we could go to the lake this weekend." Is this sentence ok, if "going to the lake" did not take place?
As far as I know, the structure "I thought we could/would do....." can be used for 2 purposes:
1-When you found that something was unexpectedly different from what you thought it was. For ...
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Is it correct to use only Past and Present Simple in the sentence? [closed]
I have a sentence told by a native English speaker:
When Southern California-based food and lifestyle expert
was pregnant with her daughter, she knew she didn't just want an
ordinary baby shower - ...
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Does "along" mean "but" in this sentence: "That effort too came to nothing, along she insists with appeals to US Embassy staff in Riyadh."
This is from the BBC web site, Trapped in Saudi Arabia: A mother's fight to free her daughter
That effort too came to nothing, along she insists with appeals to US Embassy staff in Riyadh.
What does ...
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I hear you speaking or I hear you speak?
I used to think that it is always
a Subject + verb in a relevant tense + object + verb-ing construction, such as in the examples:
I can hear you speaking
I have seen you drinking
John hates me crying
...
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Can an infinitive substitute a clause?
I won a contest, probably the biggest thing to happen to me in my life.
When I read this sentence, I don't know if it comes from:
I won a contest, probably the biggest thing [that will happen to me ...
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Are postnominal adjectives part of the noun phrase?
It is well-known that attributive adjectives constitute part of the same noun phrase in which they occur, and that predicative adjectives are part of a complement.
My question:
Are postnominal, or ...
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How to use “interest” in questions? [closed]
The classical question in English when we use the word “interest” is:
Are you really so interested in that book that you are going to buy it?
I wonder if the following constructions are ok?
Is this ...
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Can "like" be followed by a complete sentence?
People can adapt to adverse situations, just like people living in dry
areas are more adapted to aridity.
I think "like" should only be followed by a noun phrase. However, the above usage ...
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Martial law in four areas
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law in four areas Moscow recently annexed as Ukrainian military forces continue making gains during their counter offenses.
The first time martial ...
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What does "their own properties" refer to?
Things come into being, exist and cease to exist, not each independent
of all other things, but each in its relationship with other things.
The very nature of a thing is modified and transformed by ...
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Reduction regarding repetitive information?
I wrote a sentence:
Historical records show that Vietnam was a large cultural community that formed around the first half of the first millennium BC and flourished in the middle of that same ...
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In this sentence, what does "being seen as somehow sinful" modify?
I was reading a PDF on Linguahouse about Netflix when I came across this part:
Many point to how television used to be a shared experience: a topic of discussion at work, a meeting of everyone in the ...
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Confused with two sentences
everyone. I am having immense difficulty determining how to correctly state these two sentences:
By the way, I recently noticed that most of the letters that I sent you over the past four months are ...
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Could I use "when comparing" for this specific sentence?
It's the iPhone 14 pro that really gets new features when compared to the older iPhone 13 and 13 pro.
Could I use "when comparing" for this specific sentence ?
If the answer is no , why &...
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Verb ellipsis (or not)
Many ethnic groups migrated into Vietnamese territory at different historical periods: some came thousands of years ago, fairly early, and some hundreds of years ago. Regardless of that, once you have ...
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I have vs I have one
Suppose someone asks me "Do you have any sister? Which answer would be more appropriate?
Yes. I have.
Or
Yes. I have one.
If both one is correct then what is the difference between them?
Is ...
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I thought I had the worst but they had even worse?
How to describe a situation where you are far better off than others even though you didn't initially think it to be?
I want to complete the sentence. I thought I had the worst but they had even ____. ...
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"I usually go to school by bus but today I went on foot." "I usually go to school by bus but today I am going on foot." Which sentence is wrong?
"I usually go to school by bus but today I went on foot." "I usually go to school by bus but today I am going on foot." Which sentence is wrong? I think both of them are correct. ...
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Is the phrase "to [verb]" grammatically correct in this context? [closed]
The following sentence is from this Physics.SE post:
Imagine to submerge a pendulum in a superfluid.
Shouldn't it be:
Imagine submerging a pendulum in a superfluid.
If I extend the sentence a bit ...
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What does this woman want to say? [closed]
Would you kindly help me to understand what does the woman said here in these few seconds " 25:3 to 25:14" I really couldn't understand it
https://fb.watch/fh9a2egKL2/
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Is it appropriate to phrase the sentence like this to avoid ending on a preposition?
I am once again pondering about whether this sentence is incorrect or not. The sentence in question is:
[There are some subjects no amount of studying will prepare you for.]
I remember reading that i ...
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Can I use the direct object of “recommend” starting the sentence?
“Recommend” can be followed by a gerund,
• The doctor recommended drinking a lot of water to me.
But, can I invert the position in the sentences without sounding awkward?
• Drinking a lot of water ...
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How to express "the lights in the keys of the keypad are on"
I want to say that "when I press number 2 and 3 in the keypad of the mobile phone, the lights of keys with respect to those numbers are on". Is there a better way to express the lights of ...
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An event is coming tomorrow
The school sports meet is coming tomorrow.
Can "be coming" be followed by "time" here when it means “happening”?
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"in total" or just "total"?
What is the correct way to write the following sentence about the total goals scored during his career?
"Scored 100 goals total" or "Scored 100 goals in total"?
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What does "He climbed the mountain" mean?
Does it have the same meaning as "He climbed up the mountain."
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How to express 3 people are coming tomorrow
Situation: This is a message I want to post to a group of 20 people mentioning:
Anyone free tomorrow, let's plan to meet. name-1, name-2 and name-3 are in.
Does using the words "are in" ...
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"I get sick" Is "is" interchangeable with "'I am" as in "I am sick"
I know 'I got sick/ cold" mean "I became sick/cold" and "sick/cold" are used as adjectives but
Here "Chime" said What does "I got sick" mean?
'got' is also ...
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Should the comma be em dash in this context?
In this following context, is the simple type of second part ''there exists not even for the life span...'' ?
Should the comma (,) after the word ''persistent'' be ''em dash (–)''?
Because I think the ...
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What is the difference between "do they come with us? and "Are they coming with us?
I would like to know the exact translation from Spanish: "Ellos vienen con nosotros"? "Do they come with us"? That sounds correct to me, but I´ve heard so many times people say: &...
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If l had a car, l would give you a lift. (Begin the sentence with 'Had')
If l had a car, l would give you a lift. (Begin the sentence with 'Had').
I find an answer which confused me that is 'Had l a car, l would give you a lift.' Is it correct?
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