Angliholic  +  346601 Tue, 03 Apr 07 03:26 AM This excerpt is from dear Abby. i have a son, 17, and a 14-year-old daughter. Both have met with military recruiters from almost all the branches at school. Ar first, I was furous. however, my husband and I decided to meet wiht each recruiter and discuss the options with our son. He thought we'd oppose his joining and wanted to shut us out. First, could I use met instead of wet with here? Second, what does branches refer to? departments? Third, could I replace shut us out with exclude us or talk to us no more? Thanks. Angliholic Joined on Wed, Feb 14 2007 SomewhereinFormosa Veteran Member 6,474 Without true love, life is meaningless and worthless since our physical world is nothing but a dream. ~~Angliholic~~簡瑞達

	Grammar Geek  +  346617 Tue, 03 Apr 07 03:56 AM You can't really say "met" instead of "met with" - "met with" means they had a meeting, an organized discussion. You can meet someone by chance, but when you meet with someone, it's on purpose. The branches are of the armed forces are the army, navy, air force, and marines. Shut us out - exclude us from the conversation, not listen to us - imagine creating a wall around yourself and shutting out other people. Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,652 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random! Conversations