The phrase ‘Aggressive schedule’ is often used to express a desire to achieve high performance and speed on a project, however has the negative connotation related to the word ‘aggressive’. If I’m expressing such a desire, I could say something like ‘I want us to have a focus on achieving delivery in the fastest possible … Read more
I need to send an message via SMS to my supervisor. Which is more a idiomatic introduction? “Sorry if I bother you.” “Sorry if I bothered you.” “Sorry to bother you.” Answer This sort of question is easily answered by starting with Google Ngrams. Here’s the chart comparing Sorry if I bother you Sorry if … Read more
I am writing an email to the top management to tell someone will replace me at a meeting I cannot attend. Is there a good expression / a better verb for this situation ? Or is ‘replace’ the good word ? I thought about “substitute” but it does not sound really better to me. I … Read more
I’m looking for a way to describe the thing that finally triggers something after rising tensions. For example, some isolated incident triggers massive protests, but the protests are really due to decades of rising tensions. The isolated incident itself is somewhat arbitrary and could have been one of many things, but the rising tensions were … Read more
I am currently writing the introduction to my thesis and I want to say that two genes are next to each other. I would like to use the word “proximity” without saying “close proximity” but am unsure whether it implies the closeness that I want the sentence to. I have read the thread regarding “close … Read more
Which expression is preferred? I found in writing the expression “Not just a ___.” but maybe it is better to write “Not only a ___.” What do you think? Does it even matter? The context is a very large MNC describing their offers. “We offer not just vechiles, but also…” Answer In most cases, “not … Read more
What’s the difference between it seems something … and something seems to be (or any other verb)… ? For example, This bottle seems to be very popular in Japan. Vs. It seems that this bottle is very popular in Japan. Another example is, He seems to know what happened. Vs. It seems that he knows … Read more
I want to write it as the second way but I’m not pretty sure if it is the correct way. Answer There are some ways: I had problems learning and so did I. Or: He had problems learning and me too. Or: We both had problems learning. Or: Both of us had problems learning. AttributionSource … Read more
Good evening from Germany! I’m currently writing a personal statement for my UCAS application and have got a problem concerning one of my sentences. Originally, I wrote: The decision to study X emerged during the last year and was… What I would like to express is that this is not something that I’ve always wanted … Read more
My British English teacher told us that the expression “What is your hobby?” sounds childish so use “What are you into?” instead. Is it true? If so, why does that sound so? Thanks! Answer You teacher has expressed a personal opinion, one I do not share. “What are you into?” is a slang expression from … Read more
