[General] Miscellaneous

[Will17]

Hello There!!

I need your help please!

-Is there a difference in meaning between the two following sentences:That's what I told you earlier on/ That's what I told you earlier. ?

-Can we say: My brother lives in Italy at the moment.?

-Are these sentences both correct? : I thought you did it last week!/ I thought you had done it last week!

-Is there a difference between like and such as?

Cheers

W

 

[billmcd]

1. No difference
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. No difference in the way I think you intend their use "such as for a list of things" or "like for a list of things" or the way they are used in my examples.

 

[mchandler]

I might suggest that the simple use of the past tense, "I told..." implies either "earlier" or "earlier on," making either one a redundancy.
"My brother lives in Italy," is correct, if he does so at the moment.
The use of the verb "did," is easier to say and to write, but there are shades of meaning. In conversation, I would say, "I didn't know," not, "I hadn't known." I see that your primary language is French, and you would use the preterit versus the past participle the same way in your example - the past participle is more formal.
For your final question, there has been long-standing debate about the proper uses of "like" and "as" but, to my knowledge, "like" and "such as" are, indeed, the same thing. Again, one ("such as") is more formal.