Conventional wisdom has it that the proposition "between" is used when talking about a relationship involving two things or people; and "among" when more than two are involved. Although some people try to follow this advice all the time, general usage doesn't always follow this rule. The idiomatic expression "Between you, me and the gatepost" (meaning that something is meant to be strictly
Conventional wisdom has it that the preposition 'between' is used when talking about a relationship involving two things or people; and 'among' when more than two are involved. Although some people try to follow this advice all the time, general usage doesn't always obey this rule. The idiomatic expression 'Between you, me and the gatepost' (meaning that something is meant to be strictly
The second conditional in English is used to talk about imaginary scenarios that the speaker considers unlikely to happen or to be true. She wouldn't be happy if she found out about it. (But I don't quite think she'll find out.) If I had a million dollars, I'd buy a Porsche. (But I don't have that much money and it's not likely that I'll get it anytime soon.) If I were you, I wouldn't do
Read Anything Except This by sujeewads In some instances, the two words 'except' and 'besides' seem to have almost opposite meanings: He can cook anything except Indian food. (Here the meaning is something like 'minus Indian food', 'excluding Indian food'.) Besides Indian food, he can cook Italian and Chinese food. (Here the meaning is something like 'plus Indian food', 'in ...
In some instances, the two words 'except' and 'besides' seem to have almost opposite meanings: He can cook anything except Indian food. (Here the meaning is something like 'minus Indian food', 'excluding Indian food'.) Besides Indian food, he can cook Italian and Chinese food. (Here the meaning is something like 'plus Indian food', 'in addition to Indian food'.) I had nothing to do
Some time back I wrote a post entitled 'If I Were You...', which mainly addressed the issue of mixed conditionals. As mentioned in that post, these sentence structures come into use when the condition you're talking about belongs in a different time slot than the possible outcome. Though these patterns should come naturally to native speakers, they might seem counter-intuitive ...
Some time back I wrote a post entitled 'If I Were You...', which mainly addressed the issue of mixed conditionals. As mentioned in that post, these sentence structures come into use when the condition you're talking about belongs in a different time slot than the possible outcome. Though these patterns should come naturally to native speakers, the combinations might seem counter-intuitive to
The word 'agree' has several uses in English. One of the most common among them is to indicate that one person has the same opinion about something as someone else. I agree with him about/on the current situation. (I have the same opinion about the current situation as he does.) I agree with his analysis of the current situation. (I ...
The word 'agree' has several uses in English. One of the most common among them is to indicate that one person has the same opinion about something as someone else, or thinks what the other person suggests is a good idea. I agree with him about/on the current situation. (I have the same opinion about the current situation as he does.) I agree with his analysis of the current situation
The colour green is generally associated with nature today. To go green is to take environment-friendly measures; any move or movement that's called green is likely to be concerned with the protection of our surroundings. green policies - policies favouring environmental conservation going green - taking measures to protect nature It's used, by association, to convey other ideas too: If ...
The colour green is generally associated with nature today. To go green is to take environment-friendly measures; any move or movement that's called green is likely to be concerned with the protection of our surroundings. green policies - policies favouring environmental conservation going green - taking measures to protect nature It's used, by association, to convey other ideas
The English conjunctions of the type "no matter what/how/who..." are often used the same way as "whatever/however/whoever...". No matter what you do, I'll be with you. / Whatever you do, I'll be with you. You have to do it no matter how hard it is. / You have to do it however hard it is. No matter who opposes the ...
The English conjunctions of the type 'no matter what/how/who...' are often used the same way as 'whatever/however/whoever...'. No matter what you do, I'll be with you. / Whatever you do, I'll be with you. You have to do it no matter how hard it is. / You have to do it however hard it is. No matter who opposes the plan, the boss will go ahead with it. / Whoever opposes the plan, the
Some confusion exists over whether to use the nominative or accusative case of pronouns (e.g. I or me, he or him...) after "than" in English. Although the nominative case is the strictly grammatical option when it deals with the subject of the sentence, modern everyday usage often goes against it. He's taller than I. [formal] / He's taller than me. ...
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 16.00 <![endif]--> Some confusion exists over whether to use the nominative or accusative case of pronouns (e.g. I or me, he or him...) after ‘than’ in English. Although the nominative case is the strictly grammatical option when the comparison is with the subject of the sentence, modern everyday usage often goes against it. He's
The two English words "alternate" and "alternative" seem to be a bit confusing to many people. The noun "alternative" simply means "something that can be used instead of something else" and nobody replaces it with "alternate". When it comes to the adjective in the same sense, though, some people - especially those who use American English - consider both as ...
The two English words 'alternate' and 'alternative' seem to be a bit confusing to many people. The noun 'alternative' simply means 'something that can be done/used instead of something else' and nobody replaces it with 'alternate'. When it comes to the adjective in the same sense, though, some people - especially those who use American English - consider both as equivalents. Do we have
Although the second and the third conditionals in English are both used to talk about things that we think are unreal, they deal with two very different scenarios.The former appears in situations where we think the condition (which is expressed by the part of the sentence that contains the conjunction 'if' or 'unless') is rather unlikely to happen. The latter, ...
<!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> Although the second and the third conditionals in English are both used to talk about things that we think are unreal, they deal with two very different scenarios. The former appears in situations where we think the condition (which is expressed by the part of the sentence