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 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 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 title and other headings of a document are generally expected to stand out. So, among other things, people like to use some capital letters in them. But which letters do you put in upper case, and which not? There seem to be several styles in this regard. Sometimes you find that all the letters of a title are capitalised. THE RISE AND FALL OF SOCIALISM In other cases, only the initial
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. ...
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 ...
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, ...
In many languages in the world, inanimate things are sometimes assigned feminine gender in a figurative way to highlight their gentle or generous qualities. The moon cast her gentle light on the fields. We sometimes marvel at nature and her abundance. However, there are some languages that always view such things as either masculine or feminine. For example, the French ...
The word 'must' is a very common one in the English language. One of its uses is to say that it's necessary for someone to do something. I must leave now, otherwise I'll be late for work. You must work harder. The expressions 'have to' and 'have got to' are also taken to convey a similar meaning. We have to ...
English verbs of perception like 'see', 'hear', 'feel', 'watch' and 'listen to' can be followed by an object with a verb attached to it. This happens when you talk about some perceived action of that object. I saw my brother enter the room. The child heard her sister singing. The verb following the object is sometimes in the form of ...
There are expressions in English that contain the phrases 'in case' and 'in case of'. Though related, these two are used in somewhat different ways. Let's consider 'in case of' first. In case of fire, everyone should use the staircase. Call me in case of any emergency. They're going to complain to the boss in case of the slightest ...
The adjective 'different' is found in general usage followed by three prepositions: 'from,' 'to' and 'than'. But can you use any one of them freely; are they just interchangeable? Not quite. There are several things you have to take into consideration in this regard: 1. 'Different from' is the most accepted and most widespread form in both British and American ...
The word 'need' is very common in the English language. It appears as a noun, verb and modal verb. However, its use as a modal verb is mostly found in British usage. They need not (needn't) go there.[BrE] = They don't need to go there. (It's not necessary for them to go there.) Need he leave so early?[BrE] = Does ...
Lots of people think that the word 'unless' just means 'if...not'. This is not quite so. Although 'unless' could be used instead of 'if...not' to convey the same meaning in some cases, it's not possible all the time. Let's consider some examples: 1. If he doesn't go there, he won't meet her. (= Unless he goes there, he won't meet ...
We human beings usually don’t like to lose our orientation. We want to know where we are; and we want to know where things that are important to us are located too. The two primary reference points used in the English language are ‘here’ and ‘there’, or, by analogy, the demonstratives ‘this/these’ and ‘that/those’. This differentiation depends solely on whether ...
They say there's what's called reality. But our perception of reality is not always the same. The way different people see what's happening around them – or how they happen – could sometimes be so different that an incident may look quite different when you hear it described by two individuals. OK, this is nothing new; we know it's human ...
We all have a mother tongue. And we have our native culture, which is often at least partially associated with that language. But what happens when people learn a second language that comes from a different cultural background? Do they learn just the language? Or can't they avoid getting a certain dose of the culture that it comes from too? ...
The word 'only' in English can have many meanings. Taken out of context, it can even lead to misunderstandings. I saw her only yesterday. This sentence could mean that the speaker had never seen 'her' until yesterday; on the other hand, what the speaker means could be that he/she even saw the other person ('her') as recently as yesterday. As many other adverbs, 'only' also often
Classification of Posts Taking English Further Moving Beyond the Intermediate Plateau How to advance from the intermediate level in English Want to Speak English Fluently? Gaining fluency in English Unless You Read This... ‘Unless’ & ‘if not’ If I Were You... Mixed conditionals If I Were You... II Mixed conditionals (continued) If She Found Out About It... Real & unreal