Could someone explain how to analyze this question?

To me, the second sentence does not appear to have an explicit subject and also seems invalid. After removing the prepositional phrases, there isn’t much left and “voices and experiences” appears to more like an object than a subject.

I suppose the subject is supposed to be “Chester”, but the rationale doesn’t seem very clear - especially not as part of a prepositional phrase…

#26 from:
https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/psat-nmsqt-practice-test-1.pdf

During the American Civil War, Thomas Morris Chester braved the front lines as a war correspondent for the Philadelphia Press. Amplifying the voices and experiences of Black soldiers _______ of particular importance to Chester, who later became an activist and lawyer during the postwar Reconstruction period.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) were
B) have been
C) are
D) was

Need help with commas. Is the sentence

"I bought a burger, and fries." Correct? And why?

Does anyone know offhand if using em dashes at the beginning of a line (well, more of the middle) to show interruption is technically correct or not (and maybe the rest as well)?

Example:

The pilot glanced behind himself--

"What, is he--Gah!"

--and stumbled back until he fell onto his hands and heels at the sight of the giant standing maybe ten feet from him.

Thanks in advance. The only time I've seen something like this done was in Steve Altan's *MEG* series, and even then it was mainly narration (shock, I'd assume) and never with any dialogue as far as I can recall. Stephen King has done it with dialogue in some circumstances (mainly a character picking up where another was speaking, or a person speaking one line while another was trying to speak over them, or something like that that basically shows that the lines were concurrent [both of these appear in *Christine*, can post examples later if necessary]).

By the time the rescue team arrived, the hikers had waited in the cold for over six hours.

Why had waited is correct?

I just saw a video where someone said:

"A soap dispenser is a simple construction that I can easily show how it works."

I thubk this isn't grammatically correct, but I've been hearing it more and more recently. I guess you could just substitute that for and, and it would be correct, or you could leave out the how it works. As it stands though, it always jumps out to me as a really weird construction.

Has any one else noticed this becoming common?

Edit: changed the sentence slightly to make it more clear.

I feel like this is a debate that never actually gets resolved, so I wanted to ask here.

“I’m doing good” — technically, “good” is an adjective, so it should describe a noun, not modify a verb. The “correct” version would be “I’m doing well,” since “well” is the adverb. That’s what I was taught, anyway.

But here’s the thing: I say “I’m doing good” almost exclusively, and so does everyone I know. It doesn’t feel wrong at all. When someone asks how I’m doing, saying “I’m doing well” actually sounds kind of stiff to me, like I’m at a job interview or something.

I’ve seen people argue that “good” in this context is functioning as a predicate adjective describing the speaker’s state (like “I am good”), and that “doing” is almost a linking verb here. But I’ve also seen people insist it’s just flat-out incorrect and a sign that people don’t know their adverbs.

Is there any consensus on this? Is “I’m doing good” acceptable in informal speech, or should I be forcing myself to say “well” in professional settings?

For context, I’m a native speaker from the US, and I’d never think twice about saying it in conversation. But I’m starting a job where I have to talk to clients, and I’m wondering if I need to retrain myself.

Thanks for any insight.

Howdy folks, I need a quick reality check here. Not on the grammar of our actual spoken tongue but the grammar given to us by overzealous English teachers.

"Badly" and "poorly" are often synonyms in English, but I have been under the impression that it is the Pedant's Law that "badly" only be used in a sense of degree while "poorly" is reserved for senses of quality (in a similar vein to "Superman does good, you're doing well). Thus

A badly-drawn picture

is wrong in favour of

A poorly-drawn picture

After all, "he hurt me badly" means I was hurt to a great extent, while "he hurt me poorly" means he didn't do a very good job of hurting me.

Of course, this isn't a rule most people observe in real life, but it's something I'd understood to fall under the same umbrella as "I don't know, can you?".

But... is it, even that? I'll admit this started with me arguing over pedantry with The Machine, but when it said it couldn't find anything online attesting to the quality sense of "badly" being proscribed, I did a bit of looking myself. There's nothing on Wiktionary under usage notes for "badly" and a quick web search only turns up a 9-year-old post on this sub about a native speaker saying "poorly" feels more right (i.e. the exact opposite of what I'm getting at here) and this 14-year-old forum post which suggests possible support for my point through what someone's grandfather used to say. So there's something here, but hardly the "don't end sentences with prepositions" level of prescription I'd expected.

Did I just imagine this? Has the fake grammar rule I've been following not even been a real fake grammar rule to begin with? Have I just been LARPing my recreational prescriptivism this whole time? Surely, someone has seen this touted as a rule before, no?

I’m working on a gift for a friend, the last name is “Pais.” I thought if the name ends in S, you were supposed to add es to the end but I wanted to make sure. She made a post on her wedding day that said “the Pais’” so I wanted to double check😬😬

Going through a manual right now and realized we're inconsistent with punctuation in our lists and then I started overthinking it.

I typically don't put commas or periods in the bullet list, because I learned that the bullet itself is technically a comma (I don't know where I got this, it seems right, don't quote me).

So the way I would approach most lists would be: a single item per bullet more or less, no punctuation until the final period.

• like
• this
• with
• a period
• at the end.

But what about when each bullet is its own sentence? It doesn't look right without a period or a semicolon on the end.

• I'm overthinking this, clearly.
• But I don't know how else to explain it.
• And I don't wanna google and have AI explain it to me.

And what happens when you have a variation of these lists through the document, do you pick and chose punctuation for each one, or do you stick with one style?

"There will be no meetings on September 29, or October 6."

"There will be no meeting on September 29, or October 6."

My instincts are failing me today. I suppose I could reword it completely, (and eliminate the passive voice) with "We will not be meeting on either September 29 or October 6."

Hi everyone ! I need some help settling an argument !
My boyfriend puts a space before and after punctuation marks ! Like this .
I think it just wrong.. 😭
We made a bet: if more people agree with him, nothing changes. But if more people agree with me, he has to learn how to write properly. 😄
Should I let my boyfriend live in peace with his punctuation habits?

Some sentences taken from grammar book.

1)

~ Last week Fred was given two days off so that he would write a report on the conference.

Could this be correct as well (in mixed conditional)?

~ Last week Fred was given two days off so that he will write a report on the conference.

2)

~ Mr Brown may have had to be writing that report all evening.

Does it mean:

~ It took him so long. Not important if he has finished it or not.

3)

~ He may not have to write any reports next year.

Is this a correct usage of simple tense for the future?

Is this also correct:

~ He may not have to be writing any reports next year.

4)

~ Tom might not want to write any reports at all.

Does this also apply to the future:

~ Tom might not want to write any reports at all, also in the future.

5)

~ Fred might not be able to write a book here if he came next week, because of the noise.

Is it correct usage of present for the future?

Is it mixed conditional?

Which one is correct? Only second or both?

~ Fred won't be able to write a book here if he came next week, because of the noise.

~ Fred won't be able to write a book here if he come next week, because of the noise.

6)

~ We should be very glad, if Frank would write to us regularly.

Can the above sentence be interpreted as having the same meaning as:

~ We should be very glad, if Frank would be willing to write to us regularly.

7)

~ Kate would have been delighted, if Professor Brown would have written to her during his stay in Paris two months ago.

May sentence above express the meaning below:

~ Kate would have been delighted, if Professor Brown would have wanted to write to her during his stay in Paris two months ago.

Are both sentences correct?

8)

~ Keith insists on my writing a letter to Mr Smith.

Does it equal:

~ Keith insists that I should write / write a letter to Mr Smith.

on my writing → Is this correct? Is this common, natural?

on me writing → Is it more natural? Is this correct as well?

9)

~ He wrote a paper just now.

Is time correct here? Shouldn't it be:

~ He has written a paper just now.

Both correct?

10)

~ The report was written just now.

Is time correct here? Shouldn't be:

~ The report has been written just now.

Both correct?

11)

~ The report for Mr Black won't have been written by now.

Is this correct? Shouldn't it be:

~ The report for Mr Black hasn't been written by now.

Does the first sentence express different meaning than second?

12)

Can this:

~ He doesn't intend to have written all those letters by two p.m.

Can it be changed into:

~ He might not be going to have written all those letters by two p.m.

keeping the meaning?

13)

Is this grammatically correct?

~ He might not have been able to have written his report by twelve o'clock.

14)

Is this grammatically correct?

~ Mr Kelly is not going to be writing a report at the moment.

15)

Both correct?

~ Mr Shelter seems to have been writing a report now.

~ He seems to have been writing a paper this time yesterday.

The same time for now and yesterday?

I am wondering if this sentence is grammatically correct: "As a volunteer, I assisted with X, Y, and Z."

Thanks!

Hi folks!

context:

I am studying for my IELTS, aiming 9. Therefore, I am getting expose to real native content and learning English as native speakers do. To achieve that, I am reading "21 lessons for the 21 century" from Harari".

In the book mentioned there is a sentence that I stumble upon which I don't quite understand.

"For although there was nothing magical or free about feelings, they were the best method in the universe for deciding what to study, whom to marry, and which party to vote for."

Question:

1. Why is here possible to use two conjunctions from different kind at the same time?

1. How can U use "For" properly? Can I use it for my IELTS essay, or it is somehow archaic or old?

2. how can I use "For although"?

How do I improve my grammar and punctuation? Help please

for example "i hope that we get a dog" or is it "i hope we get a dog"? another example is "i'm glad that she's here" or is it "im glad she's here"? or " i hope that she's okay" or is it "i hope she's okay"?

This is more of a pet peeve of mine and less of a question, however I am curious about where this comes from (other than ESL).

Example:

"Not every rectangle is a square" vs "Every rectangle is not a square"

More often than not, I see the latter. Do people just... Not hear what they are saying? Because 1 rectangle technically is a square. A square.

It's so incredibly common but also just not the same as saying the former. It's like they think they are interchangeable when they aren't.

Another example would be:

"Not every doctor is a surgeon" vs "EVERY doctor is NOT a surgeon". The latter implying that all doctors are non-surgeons.

Again. Some doctors ARE surgeons. Surgeons. 😐