Can we reduce adjective clause in this sentence? “He’d also tell me off for cooking food that made the house smell” Is the following sentence correct? “He’d also tell me off for cooking food making the house smell” Answer With a syntactically close example (2a) He was great at buying pictures that brightened up the … Read more
ex: Their motivations varied and often intertwined; but, whether it was due to a desire for glory, wealth and power, knowledge, or religious converts, the entire worldview of Europe and Asia radically shifted after these expeditions. Answer First, semicolons come between two interdependent clauses. Second, “but” is a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions introduce coordinate clauses. … Read more
I’m trying to understand why the plural is used in this case instead of the singular. The sentence uses the plural version of the past tense of “be” when referring to “the flow”. Why is the sentence written this way “If the flow were working” instead of “If the flow was working”? If this was … Read more
I was wondering if the following was a dependent clause: There weren’t enough beds, so I had to sleep on the floor. Answer Your sentence is composed of two independent clauses joined by the coordinating conjunction so. If you wrote instead Because there weren’t enough beds I had to sleep on the floor you transform … Read more
I bought a watermelon from the market, half —- was rotten, so I threw it away and bought a new one. It seems to me both of them are correct. Answer Technically, if you use of it, you have a run-on sentence: both “I bought a watermelon from the market” and “half of it was … Read more
Afghanistan is estimated to have 73 million tons of coal reserves, … are located in the northern part of the country. Answer What is your concern? Is it ‘most’ versus ‘some’ or ‘which’ versus ‘them’? If, as I suspect, it is the latter, then I should say that ‘them ‘ is wrong in this context. … Read more
“Photosynthesis is the process —- green plants and certain other organisms use the energy of light to convert carbon dioxide and water into the simple glucose.” It seems “which” is more correct. But answer is “by which”. Can you explain to me? Other question: “The materials from which soil form is called parent material.” In … Read more
In what cases can we begin noun clauses with a preposition? Is there any rule? My examples (sorry if they are bad): 1. You need to choose with what you agree and with what not. 2. Don’t tell him what to do. He knows with whom to work and with whom not to work and … Read more
For example, The key benefit of using A is that you can make even more money. The problem is that you have to do it by yourself. Are there any better alternatives for expressing is that? I’m using is that clause too many times in a paper, and starting to be sick, to be honest. … Read more
I came across the following sentence: The head of the committee never failed to carry herself with the gravitas she felt was appropriate to her office. I feel that this construction came from “she felt the gravitas was appropriate to her office”, but here “the gravitas” seems to be the subject of a noun clause, … Read more
