The following is grammar question from an English as a second language exam My girlfriend was showing me a copy of the exam she took several years ago after finishing high school. We were looking at the questions for fun, and one question was to pick the phrase that completed the sentence correctly. a. Although … Read more
In recent times I have encountered the phrase ‘I was like…’ a lot. Examples include He told me something, and I was like dude really? I was going along the street, and suddenly something happened, and I was like WTF! Is this a correct form of English? If not what do you think is a … Read more
Does the sequence of words “modulus like parameter” mean that the involved parameter can be considered as a modulus even though it can be something different in some cases ? Answer “In this algorithm, P is a modulus like parameter.” : Sounds ok, but written form is better like this : “In this algorithm, P … Read more
I could not sleep ____ very tired . Here, I tried: I could not sleep despite I was very tired . I could not sleep in spite of very tired Which one is correct? Answer There is a thread on this on the English Language Learners site, here. Also, neither of these works in your … Read more
There is a response in Australian English that means “Yes I hear you and empathise with your situation, but no this course of action won’t work for me.” [Yeah-Nah] I assumed this was a normal part of the English language, until I saw other discussions claiming this to be unique to Australian English. That didn’t … Read more
In scientific writing, I always feel the need to logically connect all my sentences to have a clear logical path between beginning and end of a paragraph, else it is just feels like a list of random phrases to me and not a complete argument. However, more often than not, the only fitting connector is … Read more
My teachers said that they couldn’t do anything for me. That no matter how many times they added and rounded up my scores, the result was still zero. Moreover, if they let me pass the other students would protest . They would consider it unfair. Not sure if I’m mistaken but I think moreover has … Read more
It’s quite common, especially in spoken English, to hear someone begin an explanation with the word, "Look". For example, on US cable news and the like, we often hear an exchange something like this: Interviewer: So, Peter MacPolitician, do you think your party is justified in pushing for tax reform, especially in light of…[bla, bla, … Read more
I got this information from an English book. In informal spoken language, people often use the letters of the alphabet (usually no more than a, b and c), to list points they want to make. Stella: Why aren’t you going this evening? Adam: Well, a) I haven’t got any money, and b) it’s too far … Read more
I understand that and and while/whereas have different meanings. However, I couldn’t decide which one is more accurate and suitable for the following example. A Line-of-sight (LoS) link is established if blah-blah-blah, and a non-LoS link is established if blah-blah-blah. A Line-of-sight (LoS) link is established if blah-blah-blah, while a non-LoS link is established if … Read more
