What about the sentences: - 'I worked ten years as a waiter.' - 'She worked three years in Brazil.' - 'I worked three hours today.' - 'He worked five years for Microsoft.'

I think 'He worked a total of 14 years' is pretty much acceptable. I may be wrong. Any other opinion on that?

Oh, I almost forgot... Yes, 'first-class' should be hyphenated, since it is an adjective. And the choice between semicolon and period is most often up to the writer.

1. You can't separate the subject from the verb. 2. No colon needed.

Gerund is a noun formed from a verb. Thus 'coveting', in your example, is acting like a noun and not a verb, and the sentence is grammatically correct.

a1) right a2) wrong b1) wrong b2) it should be 'What has she done to deserve this?'

solid

1. "When we loose all, we still have a future". 2. "When we loose all, we still have the future". Both are correct. To me, the number 1 sounds more like an expectation of getting over than number 2, in which 'future' simply means the time that

I didn't hear you coming in.

As far as I know, just like 'mountain climbing', 'bicycle riding' (or 'bike riding') is a noun, and it means the activity of riding a bicycle. Then, the correct is: - I went mountain climbing. - I went bicycle riding. - He is riding his bicycle.