http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aNouns+tag%3aExpressions+tag%3aDifference+betweenSearch results for 'tag:Nouns tag:Expressions tag:Difference between' matching tags 'Nouns', 'Expressions', and 'Difference between'en-USCSMOD (Build: 3273.32735)http://www.englishforums.com/English/AmericanAnAmerican/gndjz/post.htm#566020Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:09:03 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:566020califjima the Americans in that sentence can be used to mean a specific group of Americans or to refer generically to Americans Without the only the generic meaning is possible b There is no real difference in the examples you cite American alone will be taken as an adjective with an the expression will be taken as a noun It s the difference between saying he has a certain characteristic shared by members of a certain group and saying he is a member of a certain group No difference in meaning They both amount to the same thing CJ http://www.englishforums.com/English/FootballHockeyResultsScoresWrite-Talk/gzhzq/post.htm#527815Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:04:46 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:527815eagerseeker quote user Old Man Gordon Optilang Is that how it is said on sportscasts in England The team uses a plural verb even if the noun England Manchester United etc is singular In the US we d use the plural only when talking about the team name which is usually plural eg The Yakees are losing New York is losing It gets confusing with the modern innovation of uncountable team names The Detroit Shock is winning are winning quote That is interesting indeed and I agree with you Old Man Gordon I am from Finland and according to my Finnish English dictionary I should say Finland is leading 2 0 without using the plural verb and The Finns are leading 2 0 when using a plural expression But I guess this is just a difference between British and American English http://www.englishforums.com/English/CanOrCould/2/zxcwr/Post.htm#487101Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:22:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:487101califjim quote user Liveinjapan Could anyone tell me the difference between the sentences below How do I look How do I look like What do I look like quote how and like are mutually exclusive You cannot have both in these sorts of expressions Once you use how you must suppress like So How do I look like is impossible how and like what mean almost the same thing when the verb is look But there are important differences Note the groupings below Susan looks sad Susan looks how How does Susan look Susan looks like a clown Susan looks like what What does Susan look like Susan looks like a clown Susan looks like what Susan looks how How does Susan look _______ How does Susan look She looks sad How does Susan look She looks like a clown What does Susan look like She looks like a clown __________ So How substitutes for an adverbial expression which can be a prepositional phrase like or a single word adverb or any other appropriate adverbial expression And What in like what substitutes for a noun which can only be the noun that fits after the preposition like _________What makes this difficult if you are imitating the speech of natives is that the missing fourth pattern is not quite right logically but people do use it anyway treating the combination as an idiom What does Susan look like She looks sad CJ http://www.englishforums.com/English/Unknown22884OhhhFinallyPost/zhlxk/post.htmFri, 21 Dec 2007 01:51:40 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:455423jen001 The Change of the Characteristics in the passage from The Hours The passage from the novel The Hours by Michael Cunningham is intriguing The passage illustrates the difference between the character s characteristics in different time settings past and present This difference is clearly shown through the contrasting structure imagery and language The structure reflects the division of the time setting and helps to contrast the different characteristics The passage has two paragraphs each describing the character s thoughts and perception about a same place of the past and present The length of each paragraph is different the one from the past is much longer than the other one from the present This can be related to each of the paragraph s sentence construction In the first paragraph about the past the lengths of the sentences are very long The first sentence takes eight lines lengthened continuously within commas semi colons and colons In fact in one sentence there are five commas five semi colons and a colon This overly continued sentence gives a sense of unfiltered informal and unrestricted flowing of thoughts Moreover the use of brackets some sort of wood cedar Camphor seems to be less sophisticated compared to using dashes or other punctuations of the same function However in the second paragraph of the present the sentence construction is shown contrastingly The paragraph starts with a short simple sentence She turns down Bleecker goes up Thomson Also in this paragraph there are four sentences in six lines and three of the four sentences are written in simple sentence including the example above Although there are a few commas in some of the sentences there is no semi colon but only a colon in the last sentence The colon is used in a very appropriate way functioning to introduce the list of things such as jewelry and jackets Thus within the brief and concise sentence construction the character in the present appears to be more mature filtered and sophisticated than in the past However as a result of that the sense of youthful unfiltered freedom cannot be found anymore in the present In addition to the structure the contrasting imagery of each paragraph demonstrates further differences of the characteristic in the past and present As both paragraphs are of the same setting the image of the same place is described at each time So the consistent place makes the comparison between the two more distinctive and reliable The imagery of the place is very vivid in the past not only within the visual sense but also within the auditory and olfactory senses whereas that of the past only relies on the sense of sight For example in the past the neighborhood is depicted as the center of something new and wild in the city where the sound of guitars drifted all night and where the stores smelled the way Arab bazaars must smell This is detail imaginative and lively even the Arab bazaars creates a somewhat mystical and adventurous atmosphere This interesting and passionate depiction is being minimized in the present into three words an imitation of itself It is now a watered down carnival for tourists which gives a sense of inactivity and boredom Also the stores now all sell essentially the same things such as souvenir T shirts This seems to be dull with no excitement or creativity or passion This changed imagery depicted by the character rather shows the change in the character s perception The change in perception is demonstrated more clearly within the notion of the door and alley In the past she says if you passed through the wrong door or down the wrong alley you would meet a fate however in the present she knows that behind these doors and down these alleys lies nothing more or less than people living their lives In the past she seems to be more concerned with the inner world of thought or imagination Whereas in the present she seems to be more grounded in the external world of physical reality As like the previously discussed change in the sentence structure she is now more sophisticated knowledgeable and realistic than the past Also as like the image of the place her perception changed from the creative interesting and adventurous to the boring predictable and filtered way Thus the contrasting imagery of the past and present reflects the similar change in the character s perception While the structure and the imagery convey the distinctive change in the characteristics of the character the contrasting use of language supports those differences More specifically the diction dash shown in the past and the present dash is comparable Reflecting the imagery of the varied senses the words and expressions used in the past are also varied and animated such as incense and rich and dung y dust describing the smell of the stores These two expressions incense and rich and dung y dust are contrasting they express the diversity of the object Moreover the speaker creates a non existing adjective dung y The extra adding of y grants a more animated image and it gives a sense of freedom and even somewhat childishness The smell is then described as something fruitily fertilely rotting Again she creates a non existing adverb fruitily expressing the scent rather vividly which would be sour as it rots The other adverb fertilely contributes to create a sense of abundance and richness of the imagery However the use of those two positive adverbs modifying the negative verb rotting seems to be oxymoron in fruit full or fertile as well as the use of adjective disreputable following new and wild The oxymoron adds an unpredictable sense to the imagery and hence to the depicter s thoughts On the other hand in the present the adjectives used to describe the city and the stores are nothing less same and still All of them are negative and reflect the boredom dullness and hopelessness More significantly the speaker uses the adverb Grotesquely before describing how the same bars and coffeehouses are still th ere showing the character s cynical characteristic So does the use of the adjective cheap for the goods at the stores Thus in the past the character uses language interestingly dash it is diverse lively and creative dash whereas that of the past is inactive hopeless and cynical These differences are directly reflecting the character s contrasting changed characteristic The change of the characteristic seems to be abrupt As a cause something would have happened to her that is not shown in the passage However an assumption can be drawn within the evidences from the passage There is a shift in the first paragraph within Here showing the shifted tense from the past to the past perfect In the past perfect there is a scene of Clarissa the major character and her boyfriend Richard She seems to appreciate Richard a lot for example she does not use the pronoun he for Richard even though he is the only male character So in a sentence Richard is successively repeated three times with Richard when Richard when Richard Moreover she describes his appearance in detail he was nineteen a firm featured hard eyed not quite beautiful dark haired boy with an impossibly long and graceful very pale neck So to describe Richard she combines an adjective and a noun to create a single adjective such as hard eyed This shows her seriousness about describing him precisely His impossibly long and very pale neck would seem negative if not for the complementary adjective graceful Also the adverb impossibly gives a sense of special and unusual feeling for the person Besides the use of language the use of punctuation should also be noted There are many commas causing the sentences to seem choppy This would be imitating the feeling of uncertainty and the tension in the situation The uncertainty of the situation is shown in the line about what A kiss Had Richard kissed her or had she Clarissa also the tension created as they had certainly argued Then the reason for the argu ment is explained Clarissa wanted her freedom and Richard wanted well too much It is notable that as Richard wanted too much relating to the kiss the pronoun he is used as didn t he always In this case however the pronoun he seems to more likely indicate every man rather than particularly Richard Thereafter the paragraph ends and the paragraph of the present starts It is not sure whether the abrupt change in Clarissa s characteristic is due to Richard or not Although it is not it is evident that Clarissa once considered and cared about him quite specially Despite of the uncertain reason the change in the Clarissa s characteristic from the past to the present is shown clearly throughout the contrasting structure imagery and language The characteristic includes the thoughts and perception which were unrestricted unfiltered creative and animated in the past whereas in the present they are shown restricted filtered dull and inactive The change is extreme but no particular evidence for the extremity is being suggested except the short scene with Richard Thus this passage not only introduces the setting and the character but also evokes the reader s curiosity What has happened to Clarissa I really really really appreciate for your help Thank you http://www.englishforums.com/English/LongCorrectionWork/zdgdb/post.htmWed, 24 Oct 2007 09:19:56 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:434130believerHi please check these sentences 1 Among the rooms available for rent is a single large room that will hold 200 people Does the phrase among the rooms available for rent qualifies as a subject that needs to be followed with is 2 Check out prior week s articles I think we can say Check our last week s articles if we are saying it the very following week and if we are saying it during other week days then I think we put the article the before it Why no article for this 3 Are your kids fashion forward I have heard the phrase fashion conscious but are these adjectives Should I take them as idiomatic phrases and learn to accept them as they are If not how can we form these phrases properly 4 We will analyze a given article and then will compose a timed writing in order to throughly explain the process What a timed writing Should it be a timed piece of writing 5 The problem is how to deal with failure so that it doesn t sweep away your life into wasted mediocrity When I see words like sweep away I sense someone doing the sweeping but the word sweep is there but no person or thing doing the action seems to be present Is this expression correct to be used in this context 6 These are two sentences from a sermon by L R Shelton named What Is Calvinism Brother the natural mind cannot understand spiritual truths only a born again believer can grasp and understand a spiritual truth god has to awaken and quicken that individual who is dead in sins and give him a new nature before he can ever understand spritual truth Why so many forms of the word truth Please look at spritual truths a special truth and spritual truth 7 About 20 photographs of artist Park Hoong soon known for a series of documentary photographs presents strangely unrealistic landscapes Is the part About 20 photographs of artist Park Hoong soon qualifies as a subject that needs to be followed with verb presents 8 There are three people in my family a father a mother and I Is I correct Why Is that because there has no real functional role in this 9 John is playing kicking Is this sentence correct and understandable as it is Don t you need an object like John is playing soccer or John is kicking a ball 10 This picture illustrates the difference between bad and good Is a preposition like between should be followed with a noun Are adjectives OK to be used after a preposition http://www.englishforums.com/English/SociallyAwkward/vhvgq/post.htm#369749Thu, 24 May 2007 12:19:53 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:369749cliveHi What does socially awkward mean Is it shy or something It refers to someone who lacks social skills although they may possibly be able to learn them Such a person may be shy but not necessarily Is there any difference between socially awkward and socially misfit The normal expression is the noun phrase He s a social misfit This is a much stronger expression meaning that he does not fit well into a social setting It sounds like a more permanent condition Best wishes Clivehttp://www.englishforums.com/English/DifferenceBetween/vzgbb/post.htm#360401Fri, 04 May 2007 21:27:25 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:360401diamondrghi anon importance is an uncountable noun so you can t use it with an The expression is the importance of something Don t use importance without the except for fixed expressions such as be of vital paramount importance attach importance to of primary importance a sense of importance http://www.englishforums.com/English/DifferenceBetweenMeaningThese-SentencesUsedPlay/2/vbqcj/Post.htm#343664Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:08:17 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:343664yankeeHi Barb A further problem is that the negative and interrogative forms of used to do are not used anywhere near as often as the affirmative form So we aren t used to seeing them in print either Hi Jackson As regards using the ing form of a verb after the word to I ve found that it is often easier to simply learn the expressions in which it is required In other words learn expressions such as look forward to doing as a single unit and then practice using them as often as you can until the doing part feels natural and automatic in those expressions The word to is followed by the base form of a verb i e the word to indicates an infinitive much more often than it is followed by the ing form Unfortunately used to do and be used to doing are always confusing to learn However to understand why the ing form is necessary in be used to doing keep in mind that the doing part can be replaced by a noun That is the point of the preposition explanation in this case every grammar book will tell you that prepositions are always followed by nouns We are used to our new house now We are used to living here now He is used to the rules of the game He is used to playing by the rules I wasn t used to the high speeds on German highways when I first moved to Germany I wasn t used to driving at the usual German speeds when I first moved to Germany Once you ve mastered be used to doing you can add get used to doing to your list of things to get comfortable with http://www.englishforums.com/English/DifferenceBetweenMeaningThese-SentencesUsedPlay/vbpwr/post.htm#343468Sun, 25 Mar 2007 23:23:52 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:343468jeka Yankee wrote Jackson6612 wrote Question 2 Both Philip and Yankee said I am used to playing cricket in my spare time I was told that after to simple Present Tense form is used but playing is not simple Present Tense form of play What would you say on this Most of the time you will find the base form infinitive of the verb after the word to However certain expressions require the ing form Some examples of these are be used to doing be accustomed to doing look forward to doing admit to doing object to doing As far as I know to is a preposition here it is not a part of infinitive So you cannot use anything else after a preposition but a noun or gerund ing form Hope it helps http://www.englishforums.com/English/DifferenceBetweenTillUntil/dmkmq/post.htm#312629Mon, 08 Jan 2007 15:02:53 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:312629marius hancuThere s some differentiation between the two here they seem to be considered synonyms only for the meaning 2 till Function preposition 1 chiefly Scotland a to a place of arrival through to as far as lt till an end gt b to or toward a limit or goal lt changed till a dragon gt c TO used to introduce an indirect object or complement of various adjectives and nouns lt gie it till him gt lt aye kind till his ain gt d AT BY FOR OF CONCERNING 2 throughout the interval extending to during the whole time from the starting point up to up or down to a specified time UNTIL used with an implication of termination or change at the time mentioned lt till his return gt lt till after four o clock gt lt till next week gt lt to live till ninety gt 3 at any time before or before the arrival appearance or beginning of used after a negative expression with an implication that the action or condition began or is to begin at the specified time lt a refund which I did not get till ten years later gt 4 used as a function word indicating position before the clock hour lt five minutes till three gt http unabridged merriam webster com