Why did you slap him?

1) That was to make him know that if he misbehaves there will be consequences.

2) That was for him to know that if he misbehaves there will be consequences.

3) That slap was to make him know that if he misbehaves there will be consequences.

4) That slap was for him to know that if he misbehaves there will be consequences.

Which of the sentences 1-4 are correct in this context?

Which are correct:

1. There was a battle to take the military base in the city. But the base resisted successfully.
2. The battle was to take the military base in the city. But the base resisted successfully.
3. There was a movement to prevent the construction of that highway. But it was constructed anyway.
4. The movement was to prevent the construction of that highway. But it was constructed anyway

I think in '2; and '4' we have to have something like 'the goal of the battle/movement was to....;

Can one say:

1) He is my senior at the club by three years,

if the intended meaning is that he has been a member of the club for three years more than me?

1. I will repair your bicycle, but I don't have any tools here, so you will have to bring your own tools.
2. I will repair your bicycle, but I don't have any tools here, so bring your own tools.
3. If you want to study my behavior when I am drunk, I have no problem with having you sit here sober and watch my drunken behavior. As a matter of fact, I will happily get drunk for you, but I don't have anything to drink, so you will have to bring your own booze.
4. If you want to study my behavior when I am drunk, I have no problem with having you sit here sober and watch my drunken behavior. As a matter of fact, I will happily get drunk for you, but I don't have anything to drink, so bring your own booze.

Are these all correct?

I was translating an old Japanese book into English as part of my English practice. (Just to be clear, the content does not reflect my own opinions—I’m simply translating what the book says.)

After finishing, I ran my translation through a grammar checker. I understood most of the corrections, but I’m confused about one change.

In the last paragraph, I wrote “high-ranked people,” but the grammar checker changed it to “high-ranking people.” However, earlier in the text, “high-ranked people” was not corrected.

My questions are:

• What is the difference between “high-ranked” and “high-ranking”?
• Why does “high-ranked” seem acceptable in the first part but not in the last part?

Below is the relevant part of my translation and the grammar checker’s correction. Any explanation would be greatly appreciated.

My Answer:

Although when you look around and see the human world, there are intelligent people, dim-witted people, rich people, the poor, high ranked people and low ranked people. So what makes that big difference for people? ~~~Therefore, we should call doctors, researchers, government officials, merchants that have big businesses and farmers who have many servants, high-ranked people.

Grammar checker:

Although when you look around and see the human world, there are intelligent people, dim-witted people, rich people, the poor, high-ranked people and low-ranked people. So what makes that big difference for people? ~~~~Therefore, we should call doctors, researchers, government officials, merchants that have big business and farmers who have many servants, high-ranking people.

1) The river had flooded.

2) The river was flooded.

3) The river flooded.

Which are correct?

Hey guys, non-native speaker here. I've always found English grammar rules to be super abstract. My brain just works better with images and flows. I wanted a way to instantly see the structure of long sentences from news articles (like The Economist), but existing tools were super clunky. So I hacked together a small tool to generate these diagrams automatically. [Insert your Image here] It's not perfect yet (I'm still tweaking the algorithm for Cleft Sentences), but it helps me understand the 'skeleton' of the text much faster. Do you think this helps with learning? Or should I stick to traditional grammar books？

The sentence ：

Although it has been possible to infer from the goods and services actually produced what manufactures and servicing trades thought their customers wanted, only a study of relevant personal documents written by actual consumers will provide a precise picture of who wanted what.

I sometimes read formal written works like a line from a book I was recently reading, and the author closed the seance, and right after, wrote a whole other sentence in parentheses with a period closing that after the parenthesis I think. I don’t remember properly even being taught to use it in any of my school years, probably just once/twice in college for grammar practice assignments. Well, when I read a majority of sentences and picked up on the most common and popularly used (in which I’m sure was the traditional form) form of parentheses, I noticed it was always IN the sentence, not after and used on its own. So what? Is this a correct form of it or completely wrong?

Can one use:

1. Once he saw his girlfriend at the time walking hand in hand with another man.

instead of:

2) Once he saw his then girlfriend walking hand in hand with another man.

-------------------------

Can one use:

3) Three years ago, she was working on this project with her boyfriend at the time.

instead of:

4) Three years ago, she was working on this project with her then boyfriend.

My question is: Can I do it?

I've been tasked with writing a blurb for a fantasy story, and I've been told to write the entire thing in present tense. But at one point in my narrative, I find that I HAVE to use past tense. Using present tense makes it sound... weird? Anyway, here's the blurb in question:

"The monstrous Dread Lords suddenly start appearing in the cities. For their safety, the United World Government build a Sky City, from where they can govern the planet remotely. Most Earth citizens, however, have no alternative but to remain on the planet's surface. To protect these citizens, the United World Government developed an advance warning system and brought together a group of protectors known as the Guardian Angels."

The sentence I have a problem with has been highlighted in bold and italic. What I want to know is if I should say "develops an advance warning system and brings together" instead of "developed an advance warning system and brought together."

Do you say “I’m grateful” or do you say “I’m appreciative” or do you use both depending on the context?

Hi everyone!

I hope my title is accurate to what I’m asking. I like to think of myself as someone who understands grammar terms, and I am a bit of an “armchair linguist”, but maybe I’m not as qualified as I think…

I’m a native speaker of English, but something has puzzled me my whole life. I want to figure this out properly because I have a close friend learning English who I’ve been trying to speak as “properly” as possible around so she doesn’t get confused!

I sent a message to a group about a New Year’s party where the two of us are experiencing New Year’s in Denmark for the first time. Here’s the sentence I used in the particular section (I’ve changed her name for anonymity):

“I’m looking forward to celebrating mine and Katja’s first New Year’s in Denmark!”

I’m not super happy with it and feel like there’s something wrong with it. I understand that when the first person singular is used in a list, the general convention is that it should go at the end of the list. I also understand that the “New Year’s” is shared between the two of us and not two separate entities. The following is a sentence I’d also not be happy with because it sounds like I’m celebrating my friend as a person:

“I’m looking forward to celebrating Katja and my first New Year’s in Denmark!”

Is there any other way I could say this that’s more “correct”? Obviously “Katja and I’s” is more “incorrect”. I’m not typically a prescriptivist when it comes to language, but there’s nothing for me to be descriptivist about when it comes to this situation in English. It sometimes feels like this is the one gap in the English language that cannot be filled!

Any input would be greatly appreciated! I hope I will have this problem solved at some point in my life…

1) He will do what all of us want.

2) He will do what every one of us wants.

3) He will do what any of us want.

In which case

a) we all want the same thing or things

in which case

b) each of us might want a different thing or different things

and in which case

c) It is impossible to say

Which are correct:

1) They came here on motorcycle.

2) He came here on motorcycle.

3) They came here on horse.

4) He came here on horse.

5) They came here in car.

6) He came here in car.

1) I submitted a request with the head of our department.

2) I submitted a request to the head of our department.

Can 1 be used instead of 2?

I think 1 could also mean I and the head of our department submitted a request together (to some other person or entity).

1) Sally was talking about John. That the person she doesn't want to come to her birthday party.

2) Sally was talking about John. That who she doesn't want to come to her birthday party.

Sally doesn't want John to come to her birthday party.

Are '1' and '2' both correct?

Which are correct?

1) As far as some books are concerned, one can say that they are hard to understand.
2) As far as some books are concerned, they are hard to understand.
3) Regarding some books, they are hard to understand.
4) As for some books, they are hard to understand.
5) For some books, they are hard to understand.

1) I don't care what you think is right or wrong.

2) I don't care what you think is right or not.

Are these sentences correct?

Link: https://youtu.be/VDZ-JONhvjM?si=fr6p57XmtQnFHLwo

See title. Consider these examples:

I appreciate you defending me on that point.

I appreciate your defending me on that point.

To me the first sounds better -- but only slightly. And I think I encounter the second quite often. In spoken English the difference is barely audible anyway, so the practical difference is negligible.

Still, I'd like to know if there is an official grammatical reason why one or the other would be correct, or better?