the first trial from… vs. the first person to climb

Here are excerpts from different American news articles: a. Mr. Manafort’s case is separate from the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and any ties to the Trump campaign, though this is the first trial stemming from the investigation of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel. (The New York Times) b. On … Read more

Whereas + present participle

Is it grammatically correct to use whereas + a present participle? For example: I am disinclined to recognize my weak mathematical skills, whereas willing to admit my lack of English skills. This sounds silly to me, but the reason I am asking is because this same sentence seems to work when using while instead of … Read more

Problems of Use of Participle in Academic Writing: “When considering” VS “When considered”

I have questions about the participle phrase in academic writing which are related to the dangling modifiers of 3 cases. Could you explain me more the appropriate use of sentences with the participle group with 3 cases given? Thank you. Case No.1: 1.1. When considering the environmental context, identified species conform to principles of optimal … Read more

Is “deacceleratingly” a valid word?

Deaccelerate means the same as decelerate, though it seems to be a much less common alternative. I did not know this until recently, as I had used this alternative all my life. It just seemed logical to me, deaccelerate is accelerate with a negative prefix. I came to believe that deaccelerate was the “father” of … Read more

Mixing Present Simple tense with Present Participle

I’ve recently heard the following sentences: What is this tell us about the deployment of first self driving cars? What do we learning from this? Both violate standard grammatical rules. But since it was in a speech of a professional reporter from The Economist Radio I guess there is some rule explaining why this is … Read more

How to distinguish the gerund with the object and the -ing form in the meaning of the adjective

I read this in Wikipedia: “The program becomes modal, switching between interpreting commands from the keyboard or passing keystrokes on as data to be processed.” The word interpreting makes me confused. If it is an adjective, then it has an active form. But then there is a mismatch – the commands are interpreted. But it … Read more

Why is “bales” the 3rd person singular of “bail”?

Today I come across a video where I heard “But each time God bails Abraham out …”, however, looking at the subtitle, it is “bales Abraham…”. I thought the subtitle maker made a typo, but upon looking it up on Google, the word is actually legitimate: bail 3 verb: 3rd person present: bales scoop water … Read more

Usage of present participle as an adjective

If present participle is used as an adjective in sentences like these I saw him riding a bike The guy shouting at his wife looks familiar. Is it indicated the progress of an action or just describes a noun? Basically, the sentences mean just the same as When I saw him he was riding a … Read more

Gerund vs Present participle: “We’re depending on him finishing the job by Friday.”

I’m not a native English speaker, and although I know the general rules to identify whether it is a gerund or participle, sometimes I’m still confused about how to distinguish the gerund and present participle, particularly in the example as below. This is a sentence which I saw in the usage of phrase "depend on" … Read more

Outsourced Partner or Outsourcing partner?

I’m not an English native speaker. My lecturer in my university keeps using “outsourced partner” instead of “outsourcing partner”, while I saw everyone in internet is more often using “outsourcing partner”. I can differentiate the difference between “outsourced” and “outsourcing” (Do correct me if I’m wrong): A. The product is outsourced. (The product has been … Read more