Category: FAQs

  • How to use ’suggest’?

    ’Suggest’ can be followed by a noun phrase, ’that’ clause and ’-ing’ clause. The most common mistakes are using an infinitive clause and indirect object. (incorrect: She suggested to accept it. / She suggested me to wait.)

  • How do we form genitive?

    For nouns not ending with ’s we add –s to the singular or plural noun: Sally’s cat, women’s restroom. However, if it ends with ’s, then we use the following pattern: Chris’s bike / Chris’ bike and girls’ team.

  • Economic vs. economical

    ’Economic’ refers to the economy, while ’economical’ means ’not wasting money’.

  • Infinitive vs. gerund

    If a verb is followed by another verb, it must take a form of infinitive (to+verb) or gerund (verb+ing). Here are some examples:infinitive: agree, choose, decide, hope, learn, plan, promise, wait, want, wishgerund: admit, appreciate, enjoy, finish, give up, miss, tolerate, understandboth: begin/start, like, love, hateboth, but with a change in meaning: quit, stop, regret, rememberexample: She stopped to…

  • Inversion with negative words

    We can make a sentence more emphatic, especially in formal situations, using a negative adverbial. However, in that case, the word order is inverted. (Litle did I know…, Never before have I seen it. Under no circumstances would I do it.)

  • Shall vs. will

    ’Shall’, unlike ’will’, goes only with ’I’ and ’we’ and only in formal contexts and in questions when we are not sure what to do. (Shall I accept the job offer?)

  • Some vs. any

    ’Some’ is used in affirmative sentences, while ’any’ in negative and question. However, it’s possible to use ’some’ in questions when we expect a positive answer. (Would you like some coffee?)

  • For vs. since

    They both indicate something that started in the past but is still happening. However, ’for’ refers to how much time has passed (He has been playing the guitar for ten years.), while ’since’ tells us when the action happened. (He has been playing the guitar since 2010.)

  • Between vs. among

    ’Between’ is used when we talk about two separate things, while ’among’ refers to being a part of a group/mass of people.

  • Specially vs. especially

    Both of them mean ’for a particular purpose’; however, ’especially’ also means ’above all’ (She likes sweets, especially chocolate.)