I want to say something like, ‘Would many women, if asked, say they feel unsatisfied with the way they are treated? They would say that they /do/.’ A friend advised me to change ‘do’ to ‘did’. But I’m not so sure… Answer did is the past tense of do. If you say “They would say … Read more
To give a little bit of context, I work on an software development company and we use a project management tool in which we raise tasks (we call them jiras, actually, but nevermind that) that represent work to be done. When we work on a task, we must log the time we spent working on … Read more
I was wondering what the general take is on concord with they as a gender-neutral 3rd person singular pronoun. I assume there are no hard and fast rules here yet, seeing that this is a fairly new phenomenon – or am I mistaken here? If there is, indeed, an established rule, please let me know! … Read more
I have read of Concord (or noun-verb agreement) and was wondering if, is as I have been told, there is a similar grammar rule for noun-pronoun agreement/proximity. When there’s a sentence where two nouns are given and a pronoun used, to which noun will the pronoun be assigned? Carol visited Mary. Mary is the lady … Read more
It seems to me that the author should have used a singular pronoun here: Bakunin: Universal suffrage by the whole people of representatives and rulers of the state — this is the last word of the Marxists as well as of the democratic school. They are lies behind which lurks the despotism of a governing … Read more
In the sentence below: The teachers discussed Jim, one of whose problems was poor study habits. Why was is used in the adjective clauses? Answer The discussion took place in the past, so the issue being discussed is described in the past tense. It may be that Jim still has that problem, but that isn’t … Read more
I couldn’t think how to word the title without writing my whole question, I am a native English speaker so while I understand saying “my legs aches” is wrong and sounds weird, I have no idea why. Same as saying “my back ache” is also weird. “Leg” without an -s is the singular while “legs” … Read more
The following sentence appears in a syllabus of a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (at page 3): The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Longoria’s family-members’ § 1983 claims. The panel held that only Longoria’s estate could bring a § 1983 for the violation of his Fourth … Read more
I don’t know why many people say “I would agree/disagree” when expressing their agreement regarding point of view or statement, while would is intended to express incertitude of action in the future. Why they don’t say simply “I agree” as they talk in the tense of simple present. When to use “I would agree”, and … Read more
Can anyone help explain to me why the answer to the following question is what it is. The Navajo language is complex, with a structure and sound that makes it unintelligible to anyone without extensive exposure to it. On the answer key, it states that answer is “make” and not “makes”. Can anyone explain why? … Read more
