Search results for 'tag:Verbs tag:Numbers' matching tags 'Verbs' and 'Numbers'

Re: the meaning of outstrip

Marius Hancu — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:54:53 GMT

OP,

Get a better dictionary, such as this one:

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outstrip

Function: transitive verb

Etymology: out- + strip

1 : to go faster than <a speed far outstripping the fastest rocket plane -- R.M.Sutton>

2 a : to leave behind : go ahead of : EXCEL, SURPASS <in certain countries knowledge had far outstripped wisdom -- A.L.GuÃ©rard> <the central nervous system ... has outstripped all else -- Waldemar Kaempffert> b : to exceed in quantity or number <fall into ever greater destitution as their numbers outstrip their resources -- Barbara Ward> <the demand for mortgage money outstripped savings -- L.H.Olsen>

synonym see EXCEED

http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com

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You need it. Pay the $30/year, as I do.

Re: pretty much perfect

Huevos — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:45:42 GMT

N2G, if you say "pretty perfect" the adverb pretty is modifying the adjective perfect, but to be perfect is a state, hence something is either perfect or it is not. Take, for example, the adjective "even". It is the same in this respect. So you cannot say "the number is pretty even" or "almost even" because a number is either even or it is not.

Re: majority is or are??

Goodman — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:06:41 GMT

I'll say it depends. It may have to do with what context it's used but by and large, I see it as more frequently used in singular context.

The American Heritage^Â® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

majority

SYLLABICATION:	maÂ·jorÂ·iÂ·ty
PRONUNCIATION:	m-jÃ´r-t, -jr-
NOUN:	Inflected forms: pl. maÂ·jorÂ·iÂ·ties 1. The greater number or part; a number more than half of the total. 2. The amount by which the greater number of votes cast, as in an election, exceeds the total number of remaining votes. 3. The political party, group, or faction having the most power by virtue of its larger representation or electoral strength. 4. Law The status of having reached full legal age, with attendant rights and responsibilities. 5. The military rank, commission, or office of a major. 6. Obsolete The fact or state of being greater; superiority.
ETYMOLOGY:	French majoritÃ©, from Medieval Latin mirits, from Latin mior, greater. See meg- in Appendix I.
USAGE NOTE:	When majority refers to a particular number of votes, it takes a singular verb: Her majority was five votes. His majority has been growing by 5 percent every year. When it refers to a group of persons or things that are in the majority, it may take either a singular or plural verb, depending on whether the group is considered as a whole or as a set of people considered individually. So we say The majority elects (not elect) the candidate it wants (not they want), since the election is accomplished by the group as a whole; but The majority of the voters live (not lives) in the city, since living in the city is something that each voter does individually. â¢Majority is often preceded by great (but not by greater) in expressing emphatically the sense of âmost ofâ: The great majority approved. The phrase greater majority is appropriate only when considering two majorities: He won by a greater majority in this election than in the last.

Re: global warning

Avangi — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:29:09 GMT

As Yoong Liat says.

My point was that after all those plurals, the ear likes to hear a plural verb. Being so far away from "number," the ear forgets that a singular verb is being asked for. "Disasters" is plural, so the problem disappears.

But I fear there'll be objections to the sentence in this form, since one may ask, "What does it mean for a disaster to rise?" Technically, it's the number that rises.

If you say "Smallpox is on the rise again," you probably mean the number of cases, but you could also mean "the threat of smalpox" is on the rise.

- A.

Re: near/nearby

Avangi — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:44:25 GMT

I think of "nearby" as an adverb and "near" as a preposition. (Both can be adjectives: She lives in a nearby neighborhood. The Dow will continue to lose money in the near term.)

I would say, "I live close by / to the city center, and my friend lives nearby."

I'd be inclined to view your number 2 as incorrect, but I could be wrong. Number one is fine.

Edit. My dictionary allows "near" as an adverb, in "Please come near the fire."

There seem to be several ways to look at it.

- A.

Re: proofreading of funny article

Skrej — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:39:08 GMT

changeling
Hi everybody!

I was translating a kind funny recipe. Could you, please, check the following passages? Does it sound good? Do I need any improvement?

You will need eggs to make this apple pie. If you've run out of them, get dressed and rush out to the store. And get iodine, cleansers, soap, bandage and sticking plaster, too. On your way back, grab some flour, apples and sugar. So, you come back home and go to your kitchen right away. While unloading your purchases you will surely drop a few of eggs on the floor. Donât worry about that, just beat remaining 5 (put the number first - 5 remaining eggs) eggs into a bowl. C l (This is a typo, I think - delete it) Clean the kitchen floor, or else it will be slippery. Now follow directions carefully. Take your mixer and start beating eggs. Your mixer wonât work? Just try to switch it on. It did no difference? (use made, instead of did - It made no difference?) You probably have to place the blades. (Say 'insert' instead of 'place', or say "put the blades in" instead of place the blades. Also, you might want to say 'beaters' instead of blades) So now you can beat the eggs. When you finish splashing beaten eggs all over the place you will want to have a shower. Wash yourself very well and get the yolk out of your nose. And finally, wash your clothes.

You have three (Earlier you said 5 eggs in the bowl, now 3 - is this intentional? Does this mean the person splashed out 2 eggs?) beaten yolks in the bowl and that's enough to make our apple pie. Now find old newspapers and magazines and paste (I'd use 'cover' instead of paste) the entire kitchen with them. Cover your furniture with some waste blanket (Subject/verb agreement error here - either say 'some waste blankets' or 'a waste blanket) if you don't plan to buy new furniture. Take (Missing a definite article 'the' here) flour package and put about a cup of flour into the bowl. Gather the flour you spilt on a table (forget about the flour scattered on the floor) and put it back to the package. Make sure youâve pasted (Again, I'd use 'covered' instead of pasted) all the walls and the ceiling in the kitchen properly. Now blend the eggs with the flour.

You need a bath again. Wash all that beaten mixture (Simpler just to use the word 'batter' here instead of 'beaten mixture) off. Take a sharp knife. Well, that's where you need iodine, bandage (either 'a bandage' or 'bandages) and sticking plaster. Peel five apples. Apply iodine to your cuts and bandage your fingers. Stick (Use 'apply' here instead of 'stick' ) the plaster. Now, cut (Again, you're missing the definite article 'the' here) apples. Keep in mind, though, we need two apples for our pie, so feel free to eat the rest of them while cooking. (Consider rewording this sentence slightly. It's gramatically ok, but a bit confusing. I'd say use either one of these two options: (1) Keep in mind, though, we need two apples for our pie, so don't eat all of them. or (2) Keep in mind, we only need 2 apples for our pie, so feel free to eat the rest of them while cooking.) Pick up all apple pieces you dropped on the floor and wash them in running water. Add apples and sugar to the dough. Beat the ingredients. Clean up all those nasty spots on the fridge and windows, or else they will dry up which will make cleaning much harder.

Pour what's left in the bowl in a frying pan (A frying pan is for frying, but you're putting the pan in the oven to bake. I think you mean baking pan.) Forgot to coat your frying pan (baking pan?) with oil? That's ok, just pour the mixture back in the bowl. Now wash the frying pan, (baking pan?) towel it dry and coat with vegetable oil. Wash your hands and again pour the dough in the frying pan. (baking pan?) Place in the oven. If your pie still looks pretty much the same after an hour of baking, check if you turned the heat on. So now the heat is on and you can take a rest. As you wake up suddenly, open all windows, doors and your oven. Bring (Use 'give' or 'make' instead of 'bring'.) your apologies to your neighbors and convince them that there was no fire. Now that you've recovered from all that shock, call your darling and say you gonna make something special for the dinner. Make (Use 'go to' or 'head to/for' instead of 'make') for the store again and buy a cake and a bottle of wine, or even something stiffer. Unpack the cake and put it on the frying pan (Again, use 'baking pan' but you'll need to use the preposition 'in' instead of 'on. - Unpack the cake and put in the baking pan). Greet your darling!

Hi Changeling,

You did a pretty good job with your funny recipe, but I commented on a few minor errors. Feel free to ask for further clarification if my comments don't make sense.

Hope this helps!

Re: or /nor

Tanit — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:58:19 GMT

Hi

May I quote an excerpt from M. Swan, 2005, Practical English Usage, 3rd edition. OUP. (para. 370.5 "Two negative ideas: not ... or / not ... nor") I posted some months ago in another thread?

Swan

When not refers to two or more verbs, nouns, adjectives etc, we usually join them with or.
...
However, we can use not after a pause, to separate and emphasise a second verb, adjective etc.
Our main need is not food, nor money. It is education. (More emphatic than ... food or money.)
She didn't phone that day, nor the next day. (More emphatic than ... or the next day.)
Note that neither cannot be used in this way.

In the other thread, I think I learnt that:
1. neither ... nor ... / not ... or ... are more common in everyday speech -- more "natural"
2. not ... nor ... (possibly with a comma before "nor") emphasises the second part, so it can be used as a stylistic (formal? rhetoric?) device.
I assume this could explain the number of hits returned by G.Books. Would you agree?

Re: unusual formulation...

Avangi — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:58:45 GMT

Are you comfortable with, "A poor man such as I has little chance in the world."?

A person previously referred to in the context is probably (no doubt) one of a number of similar cruel men, who have lost their godliness etc.

The sentence seems to want a subject and verb. This person is, no doubt, an example of the type described as follows. (such a person as)

- A.

Re: "will more" vs " will be more"

Nokia88 — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:30:26 GMT

Sir, what is your advice in this paragraph?
(link) http://en.ce.cn/Industries/Consumen-Industries/200806/05/t20080605_15736942.shtml

The number of casinos in Macau has more than doubled to 29 since the government ended billionaire Stanley Ho's 40-year gaming monopoly in 2002 and awarded licenses to five other operators. Annual expansion of 29 percent will more than double revenue in three years while sustained 45 percent growth will achieve the same effect in a two-year period.

A). Is "double" a noun or a verb in the phrase?
B). Can "will more than double" be replaced by "will be more than double" in the phrase as it's not followed by "to"?
C). Has the writer dropped the "be" inhabitually?
D). Or, shall I consider both cases are grammatically correct?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Grammar Suggestion

Mr Wordy — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:04:41 GMT

My tall Off-white in color, right wall gracefully hold the blue , wide window [seems complete ?]. Today, In these pleasent evening colors streaming in through this open window, I feel much relaxed --light as fur, the dark clouds of stress and fatigue seemingly fading away.

There are a number of problems here. "off-white in color" can't go before a noun. You can say "my wall is off-white in color" or "my off-white wall...", but not "my off-white in color wall". Similarly with "right". You can say "my wall is on/at/to the right", but not "my right wall".

To agree with "wall", "hold" should be "holds", but "hold" is the wrong verb. It is not totally impossible that a wall could "hold" a window, but it doesn't sound good here.

"My wall" is certainly not wrong, but when introducing a scene I would be inclined to say "a wall". It's hard to explain why. The best I can do is to say that "my" sounds a bit "childish". That isn't quite what I mean, but it's the closest I can get. On the other hand, "my chair" is fine. The difference is that a chair is something more personal and intimate to you.

Structurally, the first sentence doesn't connect with the second as well as it might.

"Off-white" should be "off-white", there is an unnecessary space after "blue", "In" should be "in", "pleasent" should be "pleasant", and there is a space missing after "--". Everyone makes typos occasionally; it's easy enough to do. But it's a good idea to check carefully for these sorts of "obvious" mistakes.

There are innumerable ways to rewrite this to make it better. In the following attempt, I have added "In the evenings, I... " in order to tie in the description of the window and the wall with what follows.

In the evenings, I often sit in my study, next to a wide blue window that looks out over a tall white wall. Today, as the evening colors stream in through the open window, I feel much relaxed -- light as fur, the dark clouds of stress and fatigue seemingly fading away.