Ugh, I didn't even notice the date. Well, no harm done, I guess; revision is, after all, the mother of proper learning.

Also, many things are said in grammar books which aren't actually synonymous with the real life and usage.

Sure; you can say something like: not only am I handsome, but rich too*. *I'm not describing myself

Beginning your sentence with certain words/expressions cause the inversion, that is, that the verb comes before the subject. See below: Not only have I done my homework, but I did the laundry as well. Here, the 'not only' causes that

BBC offers some good tips in regards to pronunciation: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/ This site is fairly good since all the sounds are represented. There are also different sites where people of various

I think the terms you are looking for are called 'vowel length' and 'vowel duration'. As it has been mentioned, vowels before fortis sounds tend to be shorter because the fortis sound needs more power, that is, it is aspirated.

I believe s/he means this: UK lever - / 'li:və r / vs. US lever / ˈ le-vər/ So, basically just the difference in pronunciation, although the spelling might be the same in both varieties.

Gerund would suggest that someone saw a part of his walking and the walking is still happening, whereas the infinite suggests that someone saw the whole event and the walking is stopped now.

I find it somewhat amusing that there is more snow in Helsinki than in Oulu, for now that is. (You need to be a Finn to understand this, or well acquainted with Finland.)

To make things even more complicated, it is possible that in very rapid speech, the schwa sound may be used for: a, are, I, her, of, or and have. But normally the context helps to define the meaning.