Lest they do anything before we.     Lest they do anything before us.   One of my students, for their creative writing coursework, phrased his sentence as shown in quote 1, but I have a confusion as to which (1 or 2) is more grammatically appropriate, and the literary device used in the first sentence, if any.
123307
I have the following sentence: "The swimmer next to Cavic arrives just before he." My question is why can't we write "The swimmer next to Cavic arrives just before him"? Isn't "just before..." an prepositional phrase that modifies "arrives"? Thus, wouldn't what follows be the object of the preposition, and thus one would have to use the objective case "him"? I know that "he" is correct, but why is it correct, and why can we not use "him"?
110501
I read this  and this one is different because the second clause is in present tense.  I'm born and brought up in India. - too commonly practiced in India.  I was born in India is correct over I'm born in India. I am pretty clear on that, but then if I want to include brought up which is still effective (present), how do I say that?  I was born and brought up in India. - does not relate the sentence to the present time then. As both are in past I was born in India + I was brought up in India. - no. I AM brought up in India, I'm still here.
112821
If before the quote the word "saying" or "said" is used, does a comma always have to be used before it? When does a comma not have to be used?
120502
A colleague asked me which of these sentences is correct, or if they are both correct which is better to use.   Are you using the current template version? Do you use the current template version?   I recommended using the first sentence but only because it sounds better to me.  Is there anything grammatically wrong with the second sentence or does it convey a different meaning to the first sentence?
66826
I have two sentences:          John, Jane, and I went to the party.     He and I went to the party.    But I think there is a rule that says a pronoun at the end of a list should be in a special form (for "I", the special form is "me").  So, my sentence 1 and 2 should be rewritten like this:        John, Jane, and me went to the party.     He and me went to the party.    But in a lot of writing, sentences like sentence 1 and 2 are used instead of sentence 3 &amp; 4.  Is there a special rule that allows not using "me" for sentences similar to 1 and 2 for casual writing?
58906
I know we can begin a sentence with Therefore. We can also use it after commas in a sentence.  For example, which is correct?   She had previous experience, therefore she seemed the best candidate. She had previous experience. Therefore, she seemed the best candidate.   I myself feel when the first or second clause is long or when the subject is switched, using "therefore" at the beginning of sentence is better. Therefore, I think sentence #1 is better here because it uses the same subject and both sentences are short.
89262
I've come across the following passage from Mina Murray's diary (from Dracula ). Mina is worried that her finance hasn't written to her for quite a long time.     No news from Jonathan. I am getting quite uneasy about him, though why I should I do not kno; but I do wish that he would write, if it were only a single line.    What will be the difference between would write and wrote in this case? I, personally, think that original sentence is entirely about the present. She wants him to to drop a few lines, and she still hopes that he'll do this. And with "wrote" it would mean sort of she wants him to have written to her. Somewhat she wants not to worry right now, but it's impossible because she got nothing from him, not a line. I've just shared my thoughts, but I'm not so sure  about them. Possibly, someone can make it clear for me.   Many thanks!
120149
I was taught that I should use " at the start of a quote and if it carries on in subsequent paragraphs, I should put ' at the end of the first paragraph, then start the second paragraph with ' and close again with ' and so on, until the final paragraph which I close with ' ".  I cannot see any reference to this style.
15578
Consider the brief passage:     "I love your work, but calling you 'the artist' {1} just doesn't seem to be   cutting it anymore. What shall I call you?"      "OK. Call me George." {2}   So my instincts tell me to put {1} in single quotes as opposed to no punctuation (or perhaps even italics) but to do the opposite for {2}. Is this right? Why?  Let me expand this one further iteration:     "Wow, that's a great name, especially with this crowd. Maybe for your next book    you should call yourself Ringo."{3}
47458
Should I use the second "will" in constructions like this one: "it will definitely help you and will make the text more readable"  And should I write "to" before every infinitive in enumeration, or only before the first one, e.g. "it helps to develop and test" or "it helps to develop and to test"? Could this example be influenced by the fact that "help" can go with to-invinitive and bare infinitive, and with other verbs the rule would be different?
22770
I am always confused about where to put adverbs in sentences. For example, consider the questions below:        Why did they target us specifically?   Why did they target specifically us?   Why did they specifically target us?      I believe all these sentences mean the same. Am I correct? I am always confused about where to put adverbs such as always and specifically, etc. Is there a particular grammar rule for this?  Funny, you see, I can even form the above sentence in different ways.         I always confuse where to put this kind of adverb   Always I confuse where to put this kind of adverb
107234
I am a bit confused about these two forms For example :  John reads books all of the time/all the time All the students/All of the students have participated in march against smoking in the campus  are they both correct? or it depends on the context?
84594
I have seen sentences similar to the following:  (1) See the reference above. (2) See the reference below.  And,  (3) See the above reference.  But not,  (4) See the below reference.  Are all these forms acceptable? Which is/are preferred in formal writing?
82782
Which pronoun should be used with "everything"?  I tend to believe that the following is correct:     I will do everything as soon as it can be done.   but the following also makes sense, considering that "everything" implies "more than 1":     I will do everything as soon as they can be done.
91297
I have been wondering what it means when people use "respectively" in, before, and after sentences. For example:     We are looking for a babysitter to pick up and supervise our kids ages   6 and 3, respectively, on Monday and Friday.   I don't know if this person used it correctly, but if they did what does it mean? If they didn't use it properly what would be the proper usage?  Thanks in advance.
105595
I'm posting this question to settle a debate.  Is the sentence, "If there are three of an unparalleled thing, is any of them truly unparalleled?" correct? The sentence throws me off because the first clause has a plural subject, but the second clause has a singular subject. My personal preference would be to make the subjects in both clauses plural. I.e. "If there are three of an unparalleled thing, are any of them truly unparalleled?"  On the other hand, adding "one" sounds okay too. I.e. "If there are three of an unparalleled thing, is any one of them truly unparalleled?" The addition of "one" lessens the ambiguity over whether the subject is singular or not.
51684
While I'm aware of  it does not quite answer my question. I have a simple sentence:     If any of the devices was not switched off, do something.   Is there supposed to be was or were? I was thinking about was since it could be rephrased as:     If any one of the devices was not switched off, do something.   But maybe that does not make any sense at all. Also, this is for a technical documentation where more formal language is preferred, not sure if that makes any difference.