Extracted from an English cloze test: …..these virtual selves exist in the same online spaces that many people use every day. And this is a new and unfamiliar phenomenon that some people might find___________ — previously dead people were not present in this way. trouble troubled troubling be troubled to trouble The answer is 3 … Read more
What is the difference between these sentences and when to use each one of them? : -George showed me some pictures painted by his father. -George showed me some pictures which had been painted by his father. Answer George showed me some pictures painted by his father. This sentence uses the participial phrase to adjectivally … Read more
In Measure for Measure 2.2.785, Shakespeare wrote the following sentence: I have a brother is condemned to die. I am wondering why he omitted the relative pronoun and left the helping verb. Isn’t it correct to say? I have a brother condemned to die. Answer TL;DR In the half a millennium since Shakespeare was writing, … Read more
The sleeping babies are adorable. and The babies sleeping are adorable. To me, the two sentences are identical in meaning. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case in the following sentence: The singing sensation is a teen heart throb. and The sensation singing is a teen heart throb. To me, the subject of the … Read more
Is this sentence considered correct? His eyes, still on me, were speaking of cruelty. I think whiz-deletion is applied to it, but I am not entirely sure. Can someone tell me? Answer Yes, obviously. It’s the reduced alternative of: His eyes, which were still on me, were speaking of cruelty. Such an ellipsis, called “whiz-deletion” … Read more
While I was reading a book, I chanced on a clause that I found very odd. It says, The sea, inches beneath me yet too far for my eyes, buffeted the raft. At first I thought the italicised part was a nonessential clause, but I was reasonably confident that there would have to be a … Read more
Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on. —Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Is ‘being’ a passive auxiliary verb or a progressive one? Answer In this particular case, there is a difference. But only because — as usual — the sentence has been modified by a transformation. Twice. By the … Read more
They had almost reached the door when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them, “I can’t believe you’re going to do this.” I guess nearest is at the place of preposition. Can a preposition have the form of superlative? Answer Near is a bit of an unusual ‘frozen’ word. It was originally the comparative … Read more
I’m proof-reading a thesis by one of my friends and there’s some recurring construct which I always mark as false but I’d like to check with you. In the comments I was told that the example I provided didn’t really match the sentence I found in the thesis therefore I’m adding the actual sentence from … Read more
In reference to my question about the usage of “No offense meant/taken,” I noticed that there are a lot of shortened forms like “No offense meant/taken,” “Your point taken,” “That said,” and “Given that” used in place of statements like “I don’t mean to offend you / I don’t take it for your offense,” “I’d … Read more
