Why do we say “been to” instead of “been in”?

Why is the particle “to” sometimes used in sentences with been? For example, the following sentences are grammatically correct Dad is in the garden. A: “Where’s Dad?” B: ”He’s in the garden” A: “How long has he been there?” B: “He’s been in the garden for about an hour.” If the location is a foreign … Read more

Is the verb “Go” always followed by “to” when talking about a place/location?

Other than the phrase Go home. I can’t find other uses of go without to when talking about a specific destination/physical place. I am going to California. She went to Milan. The other uses of go (go crazy, go shopping, and so on) shouldn’t be taken into consideration here. Answer The verb GO can be … Read more

to understand something “under”/”by” something

Is the following correct: The pieces are based on the concept of imperfect reconstruction. By imperfect reconstruction, I understand a strategy that produces repetitions which … The dictionaries and Google-translate are failing me here. Or should I say The pieces are based on the concept of imperfect reconstruction. Under imperfect reconstruction, I understand a strategy … Read more

particle vs preposition? How to know the difference?

I tried to research the difference beween particle and preposition in phrasal verb, but the information on this website is not very clear. According to the website, in "She is making up excuses" up is called particle, but in the sentence "stop picking on your brother " on is preposition because the information comes immediatey … Read more

Should I use “in most case”, “in most cases”, “in the most case”, or “in the most cases”?

The differences are the particle and the number. Answer "Cases" is plural in the common expression "in most cases." In most cases, the flu is not fatal. That’s a use of "cases" in the medical sense. Here is a more general example: In most cases, I eat healthy food. The phrase "in most cases" can … Read more

“Made look better” vs. “made to look better”

Results are made to look better by… Results are made look better by… Are both correct? Is there another way of phrasing this sentence? Answer It’s interesting that the active transform They made the results look better by … does not allow the presence of to *They made the results to look better by … … Read more

“How to *verb* this thing *another verb*…” vs. “How to *verb* this thing TO *another verb*…”?

Which one from the following two variants is the correct one? How to make this thing to work…? How to make this thing work…? I’m not an English speaker, but for me, the first variant sounds good and I used it until today. However, just today I observed that the second variant is used in … Read more

“Do you still want me to do X” vs. “do you still want that I do X”

Which is correct? Do you still want me to do the project for you? Do you still want that I do the project for you? Answer The ‘Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English’ points out that there is one set of verbs that commonly occur with a that-clause (e.g. think, say, know) and … Read more