I have a small script to back up some of my files. It works completely silently and it doesn’t provide any success or error messages, even if something is wrong. The only message window popping up in the very end. The current text is: Execution of the script has been completed. Please note that the … Read more
Has he come of age yet? How do you usually ask that? As I understand it, the above-mentioned sentence isn’t common (among Google books, on the internet). Why? Answer There isn’t a more common way of asking that specific question. I’m surprised that you find it to be uncommon; if it is, it’s simply because … Read more
I am a non-native researcher in the field of education. I want to write the following message in one of my academic reports, but I think it looks slightly casual. Could you please suggest to me a better substitute for the bolded sentence? As is already known, student participation in these online classes is optional. … Read more
These jeans aren’t big enough for me. These jeans are too small for me. If I understand right, these sentences have the same meaning. But, in practise, it is used only the second version [NGram]. Could you explain why? Answer As observed, the problem really is in the Ngram. Removing jeans from the search, and … Read more
It sounds good to go to the club tonight. The idea to go to the club tonight sounds good. If I understand correctly, the meaning of those sentences is the same. Which version is more natural for native speakears? The first one sounds better to me. Is the second version more formal English? Answer The … Read more
One of them was very successful. One of them was a success. If the first sentence is quite common, then the second one is surprised me. I have noticed that version in different sources. Is there the need to use the second version? For example, "I had a few stories to publish. One of them … Read more
I had a few stories for publishing. I had a few stories to publish. As I understand the second version is most common [Ngram] but I can’t understand why. Could you explain it, please? Is there the difference in the meaning? Answer The second sentence is idiomatic, and clearly means, "stories that I intended to … Read more
Few children in the class have excellent marks. Few of the children in the class have excellent marks. Do you see the difference in the meaning? Is there really the need to use the second version, or is it useless? If it’s the same rule as with a determiner "some", then I know that the … Read more
It’s wrong to treat animals as if they had no feelings. [Source] (What’s the meaning of this unknown (for me) Conditional?) As I understand this sentence, here is used some Conditional. But what exactly conditional? It’s not 0, or 2 conditional, right? Is it not better to use zero Conditional here? It’s wrong to treat … Read more
As you know, "cavity" refers to a hole or an empty space between two surfaces or on a surface or inside of it. Also, this is the only noun which can refer to teeth decay! Having said that, I think just utilizing "cavity" in the following example wouldn’t make good sense, and whereas the word … Read more
