Forum: English Questions 
Oct 14th, 2012, 06:00 am
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Replies: 18
Views: 6,163  Re: I hear that...
No it's not. Your meaning is permanent. You meant XXX before, you mean the same thing now, and you'll mean the same thing in two minutes time. It's not going to change. The first form verb...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 14th, 2012, 05:50 am
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Replies: 6
Views: 4,510 Re: the preposition befor DAY
Here the preposition has nothing to do with the noun day, but is dependent on participation :
You need in with all expressions related to the verb "participate" .
He was unwilling to participate in...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 14th, 2012, 05:40 am
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Replies: 10
Views: 5,082 Re: She offered me (a) practical assistance
Always try and give contemporary examples. languages changes, and if your examples are more than 100 years old, the reason for the difference is just the changes in the language over time. It would...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 13th, 2012, 01:13 am
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Replies: 18
Views: 6,163 Re: I hear that...
Have you heard... is correct. 2 would not be logical as this form (the second form of the verb) expresses an event which is distanced from the "here and now" - in this case confined to the past....
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 13th, 2012, 01:04 am
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Replies: 4
Views: 3,529 Re: use the wrong word
Remember that "the" indicates shared knowledge - ie something known to both the speaker/writer and listener /reader. Here, this is the first mention of "second time", so it is not yet "known" to...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 12th, 2012, 10:52 am
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Replies: 5
Views: 3,709 Re: ellipsis
It might sound unnatural - it would depend on the context. Always provide a full context when you ask a question as it makes it much easier to answer - language use is always context dependent....
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 12th, 2012, 10:48 am
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Replies: 18
Views: 6,163 Re: I hear that...
Both are possible. Grammar expresses meaning, and the speaker has the choice of which meaning s/he wants to express. So it depends whether you want to emphasise general understanding or specific past...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 12th, 2012, 09:54 am
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Replies: 18
Views: 6,163 Re: I hear that...
Re : hear
Yes, it's fine to use "I hear..." . The meaning doesn't really imply that you "heard" something - you might have read it. It's just another way of saying "I understand" or " I know". How...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 12th, 2012, 09:28 am
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Replies: 4
Views: 3,529 Re: use the wrong word
Your argument is logical. But "the" reflects the fact that the speaker is referring to a specific word and not any of the myriad possibilities.
For example :
A : Those slices of bread are very...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 12th, 2012, 09:13 am
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Replies: 5
Views: 3,709 Re: ellipsis
Sorry - I don't quite understand the question. The sentence is fine. I could imagine it being said, for example, in a context where there was contrastive stress on "and" :
A : I don't understand why...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 8th, 2012, 05:42 am
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Replies: 8
Views: 4,640 |
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 6th, 2012, 01:32 am
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Replies: 2
Views: 5,263 Re: Past tense VS present perfect?
Something occurred to me...
When you used "where", were you perhaps confusing "be up to" with "be off to" ?
"be up to" = do, so What are you up to? / What are you doing?
"be off to" = go, so Where...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 5th, 2012, 09:49 am
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Replies: 2
Views: 5,263 Re: Past tense VS present perfect?
The first one isn't correct as, if you use "be up to" it should be "what", not "where".
"be up to " = do
What are you up to these days? = What are you doing these days? However, "be up to" often...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 4th, 2012, 12:54 am
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Replies: 5
Views: 3,605 Re: on Facebook?
I've written quite a lot of books, but none on grammar... yet :) The one you mention is very old and I wouldn't recommend it now. It's pre-internet and talks about things like writing telexes...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 2nd, 2012, 12:01 am
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Replies: 5
Views: 3,605 Re: on Facebook?
No - because there it's seen as a "place". A chat room is seen as exactly that - a room that you can go into and come out of when you want. It's metaphorical of course, but what you do parallels...
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Forum: English Questions
Oct 1st, 2012, 01:01 am
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Replies: 5
Views: 3,605 Re: on Facebook?
"on" is used for the net in the same way as for the TV or radio. The net is not seen so much as a printed medium which you can physically open and look "inside" - like a book or a newspaper - but as...
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Forum: English Questions
Sep 29th, 2012, 01:09 am
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Replies: 3
Views: 4,949 Re: need not to do sth
Re your questions about university expressions (always better to put different questions in their own threads with separate titles - it makes it easier for people to find them)...
regarding the "U"...
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Forum: English Questions
Sep 29th, 2012, 12:22 am
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Replies: 3
Views: 4,949 Re: need not to do sth
Well yes - you can if you're able to time travel and find yourself in the 13th century. But I wouldn't try it in the 21st in the way you're talking about. You'd change the meaning. In that position...
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Forum: English Questions
Sep 28th, 2012, 12:17 am
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Replies: 12
Views: 4,378 |
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Forum: English Questions
Sep 20th, 2012, 01:46 am
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Replies: 12
Views: 4,378 |
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Forum: English Questions
Sep 18th, 2012, 02:19 am
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Replies: 8
Views: 4,640 |
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Forum: English Questions
Sep 17th, 2012, 01:58 am
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Replies: 8
Views: 4,640 |
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Forum: English Questions
Sep 17th, 2012, 01:50 am
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Replies: 12
Views: 4,378 |
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Forum: English Questions
Sep 16th, 2012, 12:37 am
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Replies: 2
Views: 3,117 |
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Forum: English Questions
Sep 14th, 2012, 02:11 am
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Replies: 12
Views: 4,378 |
