it would be nice to hear what the other native speakers have to say on this. According to Radford (Transformational Grammar): Direct speech: "Will I get a degree?" John wondered. Indirect speech: John wondered whether he would get a

Is that correct? it seems wrong It's not wrong. Normally in English sentences are ordered " Subject (S), Verb (V), Indirect Object (IO), Direct Object (DO) " but can run OSV, and, where pronouns are used in substitution of either the

from what reference book you learned that "but" has no meaning in the given context Personally, I learned it from observation, not from a reference book. I am a native speaker, and I have read quite a few books over the years, and so I

The Confidence Man - Herman Melville http://www.online-literature.com/melville/confidence-man/10 Upon this, the good merchant, after staring long and hard, and then rubbing his forehead, fell into meditation, at first uneasy, but at last composed,

1) skilled vs skillful The word skilled is related to specialized training / education , while skillful is used to indicate proficiency. 2) what's the difference between a northern wind and a northerly wind? From Longman

1) skilled vs skillful 2) what's the difference between a northern wind and a northerly wind? 3) blanket vs quilt 4) I'm looking for a verb that describe actions such as: Change from Celcius degree to Farenheit degree or from

Dear Marina, I am glad you care a lot for English plural forms of nouns. You are probably learning English as a Second Language. The noun police is followed by a plural verb because it is a very big group of people. For one Individual, we talk of

From OALD: awake / awaken / wake up / waken Wake (up) is the most common of these verbs. It can mean somebody has finished sleeping: What time do you usually wake up? or that somebody or something has disturbed your sleep: The children woke me up.

Thanks Clive, This is my first foray into grammar with my adult students (I usually teach conversation, literature, news English and the like). So this question really threw me for a loop. I was teaching adverbs at the time (using "soon" in " I

These have overlapping meanings. I'd say that " affect " is the most general: causing a change or result in something. "The nearby ocean often affects our weather." "The recent tragedy really affected her." I tend to use " influence " when there