By Clauses, American English

I am sure you want to say usage among highly educated groups and the press, whatever their level of education, drives the rule. If we let the rabble make the rules, we will all be saying "I could care less," which is nonsensical. We have, however, learned to embrace "Have your cake and eat it,...

Hi Jhumjhum, You wrote: I don't know whether American English is flexible or not but I think John Baker probably translated this sentence from French or spanish or some other Europian Languages because I think they say their age in this manner You cannot know this for sure, though. People make...

But CJ, two questions are still left out. Is it necessary to use (subject-operator) inverted form in all the following situation; Questions Negative and restrictive adverbs So, nor and neither Conditional clauses May Exclamations 2. How would we know where to use an...

Well this article has increased my confusion about inversion. Uptil now, I thought that inversion was used in the following circumstances. Questions Negative and restrictive adverbs So, nor and neither Conditional clauses May Exclamations But the following two examples in the...

What do you think about patterns with both clauses in simple past? They are among the most useful, I think, and they sound quite natural. See previous post. No. had already is common in that context, but just already is also fine in American English. Personally, I would have chosen had...

In American English, should an appositive used in a clause, which has auxiliaries, be placed after the auxiliary and not the subject of the verb? We are both very happy to see you. The boys had all been looking forward to seeing the circus.

In American English, should an appositive used in a clause, which has auxiliaries, be placed after the auxiliary and not the subject of the verb? We are both very happy to see you. The boys had all been looking forward to seeing the circus. GB

Could you please tell me if different tenses in "since-clauses" show the difference between the British and American English? Thank you webi

Hello Anon 1. We suggested that he go to a specialist.] Here, "go" is the present subjunctive. Some speakers prefer to use the present subjunctive in a "that" clause after verbs such as "suggest", "recommend", etc. 2. We suggested that he goes to a specialist.] Here, "goes" is indicative....

I also notice there are sentences formed in the structure "as adj as to do sth" but the grammars I have do not mention such a structure. Does it exist? It exists, but to my modern American English ear it sounds strange, even slightly incorrect. By far the more common structures are those...