Recent content by Buddy42

Dear teachers, I'm not sure what construction to use when talking about deadlines for certain tasks. A) Please send in / upload your homework by Friday 10 o'clock. B) Your homework must be uploaded / sent in by Friday, 10 o'clock. The passive form B sounds more natural to me here because to...

Dear teachers, is there a difference between: a) In spite of us coming late to the party, we had a lot of fun. b) In spite of our coming late to the party, we had a lot of fun. The possessive pronoun "our" in b) refers to the gerund "coming" and indicates that "coming late" somehow belonged...

In German we tend to use the word school "verb-like", as in: I've got school today. /-> to have school/ I wonder whether it is possible to use it in a similar way in English or whether I should use "classes" instead.

Hello. In a cartoon we often have the situation that the people depicted there wear clothes on which meaningful words are printed. I'm not really sure how to talk about this. Do I say a) His hoodie says "Sheriff". b) On his hoodie "Sheriff" is written. Both versions sound strange to me. A...

Dear teachers, I've got some trouble with "colours" and I can't find a satisfying answer in any of my dictionaries. When describing a drawing, colours should be mentioned as well, especially when their usage is of importance for the whole picture. Problem 1: The man in the picture is...

Dear teachers, You can say: I'm lucky. But is it possible to say: I have luck? / He had very much luck, (because he wasn't hurt badly)." To me it sounds German... And what about "bad luck"? Can I say: I'm unlucky? or "I have had bad luck"? Thanks in advance!

I'm not really clear about the meaning of the term "list of figures". I've always been of the opinion that this term is something like a list of contents but only for figures. Fig. 1: Title ................................. p. 3 Fig. 2: Title.................................. p. 4 Now...

I'm currently writing a seminar paper about the decline of bird species in our gardens as a warning sign. Do I need to put in the word "the" in my title, like The Decline of Bird Species in Our Gardens as a Clear Warning Sign. Or would it also be possible to leave it out: Decline of Bird...

I'm going to write a seminar paper on obesity. One chapter will presumably be called "Reasons for the Worldwide Increase in Obesity". In its subchapters several reasons will be dealt with in detail. I don't really know how to formulate the headings of these subchapters. Is it very akward to use...

Dear teachers, when doing geography you often come across countries or regions that are used to show the "manifestation" of a certain fact or development. Let's talk for example about the climate in higher regions. Then we could use the Alps as a ______ (= "example region") for that kind of...

Dear teachers, when doing an exercise on adverbs of manner and their position I came across the following sentence for which only one solution was given (a) a) There's probably nothing better than lying down lazily onto the sofa after work. Adverbs of manner can be put in mid-position as...

Dear teachers, I'm looking for as many correct prepositions preceding the noun "survival test" as possible in the sentence below: Since Sarah was barefoot a) in b) at c) during d) on her survival test in the wilderness, she cut her feet a lot. Are all of them correct? If not, why not...

Dear teachers, recently I came across the following problem concerning the use of participles. The original sentence is: The dog started to whine because it hadn't been fed in the morning. a) Not having been fed in the morning, the dog started to whine. b) Not being fed in the morning, the...

Dear teachers, I'm brooding about how to express the following fact: In Germany we usually take our Abitur (A-levels) after 8 years of grammar school. That's a fact. This, however, has not always been the case. About ten years ago the regulations were changed; before that we had to spend (at...

Dear teachers, there are three types of XY and I'd like to present them one after the other to an audience. Do I have to say: Mr P. distinguishes three types of XY. a) The first one is the hysterical..... Or can I omit the "one" and say: b) The first is the hysterical.... Thanks in advance