Community Discussions
Which preposition is more common? I saw both “on” and “in” for the “home stretch”.
https://i.redd.it/v6k1yxtc90ee1.jpeg
"Do something" vs. "do anything".
What would be the semantic difference between, say, "Can we do something about climate change?" and "can we do anything about climate change?". I kind of feel it, but I can't fully figure it out.
"If I were you, I'd know they was joking"
No, alright, the title is just a joke, but I have a very simple question which pains me even more, because even despite its simplicity I am having second thoughts. It has to do with the pronoun "they" being used to refer to a single person. After consulting with my fellow linguist Mr. Google I found out that the reflexive singular for "they" being "themself" is, in fact, a real word, and can be used. And that made me increasingly paranoid towards using "were" form of "to be" with "they", while: *"They were eating an apple."* sound absolutely perfect, the fact that "were" is referring to a single person is a bit jarring. But on the other hand reading: *"They was eating an apple."* makes me regret ever being literate, even though for some reason my sub-consciousness likes using "was" when referring to just one person. Seeing how "were" may actually be used with a singular pronoun as shown in the title, I am heavily leaning towards the first variant, however I just felt obligated to ask because I am curious like that and all.
Daily idiom: sat on the fence
sat on the fence >!to be indecisive and not take a side on an issue!< Examples: - Jack was sitting on the fence for a long time before finally deciding which college to attend. - The politician has been sitting on the fence about the controversial issue in order to not upset any voters.
from or since?
Which of the following boldfaced words works? She’s played tennis **from/since** a very early age.
Is "A aligns with B" equivalent to "B aligns with A"?
I'm writing to express the similarity between the research directions of a professor and mine with "his research aligns with my project". I wonder if this is improper. Does it imply that my project is more important and provides a standard that the professor should "align with"? Should I say "my project aligns with his research" instead? ChatGPT told me the sentence is fine, and suggested using "his research resembles my project" if I want to be more neutral. Is that right? TIA
Does my sentence sound natural?
"Calling what he did "a misstep" is downplaying the situation."
Question about negative inversion
I've recently learned in my linguistic class about inversion used with negative adverbs but it still sounds a bit odd to me (except for well known ways of saying like "Little did he know" or similar, which comes natural to me by now) I was wondering how common negative inversion is in daily language, written or spoken, since I don't hear it very often. Also, is it considered a mistake if I use a negative adverb at the beginning of a sentence without the inversion? For example: "Not only she excels in mathematics, but also in English" instead of "Not only does she excel..." or "No way he said that" instead of "No way did he say that" I hope I explained myself! The structure is pretty clear, I just don't understand when I should use it or if it's considered a grammar mistake if I don't. Also feel free to add more examples or more cases where inversion is used, I love learning more about advanced English, especially now that I'm trying to "level up" XD
What does the sentence "it would be hard to top that." mean?
I've read an English novel and had difficulty in understanding the last sentence in this passage. Please help me define "hard to top that" in this context. He gave me a grin that made him look appealing in spite of his greasy hair, bad skin, and unfortunate features. If he'd do something about his hair and skin and smile like that more often, he might be even more successful with women with his real face than he was with the handsome illusion and attraction spells he used. Or maybe not. He averaged about three dates per weekend; it would be hard to top that.
Grammar....
Why is for use in this sentence and not because of *do you think Pablo is going to reward you for being braved?* I'm still confused about when to use for and because when talking about the reason.