Advanced English Grammar: Collective Nouns

Hi Happy,

Maruu gave an excellent answer. In the first part, the expression ‘about each other’ means that each member of the couple must answer as individuals. In the second part of the sentence, the couple as a unit the two people together) will win the trip.

You are right, though; this was a difficult question.

Hi Kinmini,

I hope it’s just a temporary issue. If it’s not solved, email the site admin. Maybe they can help.

Hi Mattorres,

Actually, when using the ing as a verb, it is in the present continuous, not the present simple. But you may be confusing different things.

The ing is confusing because it can be a verb, a noun (gerund), an adjective, or an adverb (participles).

I’ll try to make a lesson about this soon. In the meantime:

I was running when it started to rain. (verb)
Running is good for your health. (gerund)
The village has no running water (adjective)
Running through the town, I noticed that everyone was staring at me (adverb)

Hope that helps a little.

Soon, each member of my family will take the citizenship test, and after passing (hopefully), we will all be citizens (of this country).

Does that help?

Fair enough Vilain,

Although BBQ kind of sounds like barbecue, no?

Hi Barat,

I’m afraid you’ll need to give some examples. Otherwise, just means only.

Hi 25mom,

Here we are talking about the members of the team. It is only the individuals that can lose faith in the coach, that is why we refer to them as plural.

Does that help?

Hi Lin Young,

In the first part, the expression ‘about each other’ means that each member of the couple must answer as individuals. In the second part of the sentence, the couple as a unit (the two people together) will win the trip.

You are right, though; this was a difficult question.

Hi Gustav,

For the most part, these words are synonym pairs that can usually be interchanged. However:

prohibit and forbid both mean to not allow something. Prohibit has more a sense of legal authority behind it, while forbid is something your parents would do.
conserve and preserve, in many cases, mean the same thing. In other cases they are more specific. or example, in the desert you want to conserve your water, not preserve it. Conserve means save, use wisely. Preserve, means not drink at all, keep as it is.

The best way to judge is to understand the context and check your dictionary for the nuances that would suit that context.

Hope that helps a little.

That works, Newgirl :)

Almost the same; just add ‘a’. …be a polite way…

Will get on it Morfik.

Hi Anahit,

To be honest, I’d need more information about the test. That being said, I’m not sure why you would change that sentence to a passive to begin with, unless you were instructed to. If you were instructed to, then don”t really know why you lost points.
It could be (maybe) in the active you have “that chair” and the passive “the chair”.

Not sure. Sorry.

Hi Lane,

Generally:
to damage a person’s reputation (something abstract)
to harm someone
to impair his judgement
to injure (cause bodily harm).
damage and harm can be used in many situations interchangeably. Injure is only to a person or animal. Impair means to lower someone’s ability.

You should check the dictionary and see if any one of these suits your needs for a specific sentence.

Hi Darvz,

We use ‘however’ like but, except that we do not start an independent clause with it. We can place it at the beginning, or in the middle of a sentence:
I am a great fan of hockey; however, I believe the game has become too commercialized.

‘Then’ is similar to however, in that they are discourse markers, meaning that they change the direction of the ideas in a passage. ‘Then’ means something like in that case, or that being the case:
Do it, then,. if it’ll make you happy.

To tell the truth, ‘then’ has many uses. I hope I got the one you wanted, but if not, a good dictionary will explain it just as well. Or send me specific sentences and I can explain those.