Which one would you choose in conversation? And I’d like to know the subtle difference. I would really appreciate it if you could help me. I wanted to not make a mistake. I wanted not to make a mistake. I didn’t want to make a mistake. Answer For academic students of English, and language teachers … Read more
which one is correct? How similes have been translated by different translators in this Text? or How do similes have been translated by different translators in this text? Answer How have similes been translated differently by translators in this text? We can improve its style. For example How have multiple (or various) translators differently translated … Read more
A former lecturer of mine once explained why, from a syntactic point of view, the English rule that negation and questions are formed with the auxiliary do follows from other syntactic facts about English. More precisely, if you gave a good syntactician not familiar with English a corpus of English sentences containing everything but questions … Read more
Where you found it. Where did you found it. In the question should I put “did”? Answer Where did you find it? Yes, in such questions you should use the verb do. Note that after do you should use the bare form of the verb: find, not found. The verb do carries the Past Tense, … Read more
Should I say Do you know where Liz lives? or Do you know where does Liz live? Please explain. Answer Everyone else is giving the right answer: Can you tell me where Liz lives? is correct and Can you tell me where does Liz live? is incorrect. I will try to give a more intuitive … Read more
Sometimes, especially on this forum, I am wondering wether I should say “what does it mean” or “what does it means” ? And should I say “it means that…” or “it mean that…” ? Answer Here are the relevant rules: A clause never has more than one finite verb – a verb that is marked … Read more
In some old Toefl test, there is a question like this: ______in this town? I think Mr. Kim is the richest man. A. Who do you think is the richest man B. Who you think is the richest man I would choose B since it sounds better. But what’s wrong with A (or B)? Answer … Read more
Of these two options which one is correct? Why doesn’t the website get loaded? or Why the website doesn’t get loaded? Maybe the more natural one is: Why isn’t the website loaded? but I’m wondering if either of the first two is correct. Answer Of the first two, the most natural sounding one is the … Read more
Which of the following is correct? "What do you think about?" "What you think about?" Answer For formal communication, you need a verb: “What do you think about autumn?” or, “What are you thinking about now?” In informal communication, you can get by without it, but the wording would have a very slangy (if not … Read more
"I don’t know what I’d do without you" "I’m not know what I’d do without you" Are these sentences correct? What are the rules to use "not" in a sentence? To what is not pointing in the above sentences? Answer When you are negating with not, look at the finite verb in the clause, the … Read more
