When referring to toddles/infants, we say:     Example 1) Pick up the baby.   But when my friend asks me a favor, they would say:     Example 2) Can you pick John up from the bus stop?   or...     Example 3) Can you pick up John from the bus stop?   I always thought that example 1 is correct because it involves an actual act of picking up someone and carrying it. But between examples 2 and 3, example 2 is correct and example 3 is incorrect. Why, because you do not actually carry John around. However, I have noticed many people using Example 3 as the correct way to describe the action.  Between examples 2 and 3, which is the correct way?    Duplicate Alert?      This question appears to be duplicate but  is more related to the actual action of lifting an object and carrying it. And hence, I think my question is not truly a  duplicate. Please correct me if it is duplicate.
120790
I have difficulties with word order:        I have picked up the pencil from the floor. [says my dictionary]   ?I have picked the pencil up from the floor. [could be?]   ?I will pick up it. [sounds weird]   I will pick it up. [sounds right to me]
81776
My question is what is the difference among these three sentences.   He is big enough to do such  heavy works. He is not big enough to do such heavy works. He is small enough to do such  heavy works.   I am so much confused between 2 and 3.Also, I don't get what the 3rd one means.
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I remember there was a thread here on English.SE this month where someone explained this, but I can't remember how it was called. An example:     Where have you stolen this product?   This question implies that you've stolen this product, although I don't know for a fact you really did.
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In this exercise:  Ali stopped _____ to his friend. He talked to him then. a) talk b) talking (I chose this one) c) to talk (This one is marked as the correct answer) d) being talked  Why did they choose &quot;to talk&quot; as the right answer? And why not &quot;talking&quot;? I understand the meanings of talk and stop so I don't understand why one is wrong and the other correct.
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I'm proof-reading a thesis by one of my friends and there's some recurring construct which I always mark as false but I'd like to check with you.    In the comments I was told that the example I provided didn't really match the sentence I found in the thesis therefore I'm adding the actual sentence from the thesis. I'm sorry for the confusion; I'm not a native speaker/in the field of language and thus didn't really see the difference.   So here we go. Which of the following is preferable?        To illustrate the necessity of some steps a bad representative of the taken radiograms is used.     To illustrate the necessity of some steps a bad representative of the radiograms taken is used.        I'd use the latter because it is closer to "[...] of the radiograms taken previously is used".    Original example  In the English language, one can use the (past) participle of a verb as an adjective, this allows for example to express that I'm creating a scrapbook using the pictures that I have taken previously.     What's the correct way to state this?         I'm doing a scrapbook from the taken pictures.     I'm doing a scrapbook from the pictures taken.        I'd use the latter because it is closer to     I'm doing a scrapbook from the pictures taken previously.
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For instance:      “Go eat your dinner.”    It appears that the word “go” is being used as a helping verb. Is it being used a helping verb? If so, can “go” only be used as a helping verb in imperative sentences?
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Why is the dropped in "I go to school by bus"? Why isn't it "I go to the school by the bus" if both school and bus are countable? Does the rule that a countable noun must have an article have an exception here?
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What is the difference between the two sentences below? Are they the same or different in meaning?     Jack and Laura's new house is almost ready.      Jack's and Laura's new house is almost ready.   To my perception, the first says two of them have one house and the second says each one has a (different) house (which is almost ready). Is my perception correct?  EDIT: If I don't use "houses" instead of "house" (for my second interpretation), does it mean the sentence is wrong?
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what is difference between the two following sentences? And which one is grammatical?  1- If there is a car in the garden, it will be towed away.  2- If there is any  car in the garden, it will be towed away.  Please note that I am making a general statement and thinking of just one car.
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I have read answers to questions like  but I couldn't find a general rule for using "you" or "yourself", "him" or "himself" that could explain things I see in some examples.  For example, I think that one normally say (according to examples I see in ):   You bring something with you. You have something in you. You have something on you. You pressed her to you.   But on the other hand one would say:   You draw attention to yourself. He killed himself. You can try it out for yourself.   As a general rule, it seems that the reflexive pronoun is used when the object is the same as the subject of the verb. But for prepositional phrases, it seems more complicated. Do some prepositions (like "with", "in", "on") always come with the accusative form of the pronoun, and some other (like "for") don't? What about "to", that seems to be followed by both in different circumstances?
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Recently I've heard American TV commentators say "[a person] was literally decimated" and "[a Senator] was literally thrown under the bus". In the first case I think the person was not actually 10% killed, but in the second, I believe they meant that 57 members of the US Senate carried #58 onto Constitution Avenue and threw him under a (hopefully moving) bus.  Are usages like these normal or acceptable now? I find them grating, myself.
121998
So, my boss comes in, railing that "English is a stupid language!" Since this is pretty much a thrice-weekly occurrence 'round these parts, I barely raised an eyebrow, and waited for him to continue.   "Mary just wrote to tell us that she's back from maternity leave, and I want to congratulate her and ask whether she had a girl or a boy, but I can't do it without calling the child an 'it'!" I blinked, then confirmed that yes, he believes the it in "Is it a boy or a girl" is the impersonal pronoun, the same word you'd apply to an apple or a house.  Is it the 'thing' pronoun, really? Or is it just a placeholder of some sort? I used to believe the latter: I gave the boss a mini-lecture about  and the . He wasn't convinced, however, and now he's got me doubting too. (Harumph. I really should know better than to listen to the boss.)  I'm not asking about politeness, here; the former title was to be taken somewhat facetiously. I'm wondering about the grammar: what role is that "it" playing in that sentence? Is it a personal pronoun (and thus the infant has grounds for feeling offended) or a dummy pronoun (and thus those who perceive a politeness issue are just misunderstanding the grammar)?
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Someone introduced himself to us.  After that, when we look back and say what he said, which is right to say?     What did he say his name is?      What did he say his name was?   I think the first one is plausible because his name is always XX, but I'm not sure. Please tell me which is allowed.
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Tom, who was working for my father in the 1990s, is now living in Ohio.   Is it correct or should it be in Past Simple? I think it is correct because it is an action which was in progress in the past and also we have the "1990s" expression which refers to a duration.
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I'm from Central Pennsylvania, and apparently, we have a strange language construct in this area. I was recently talking about how "my car needs washed" to a friend from NJ, and she told me that my sentence was grammatically incorrect.   I realize she's right, and I realize my options are "my car needs to be washed" or "my car needs washing". But I'm not clear on the precise rule being invoked.
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Imagine you are organizing a lunch and want to ask someone (your friend or sister, etc.) to come over and help you prepare the meal. Which one of the following words works properly in the self-made sentence below? For me they both work correctly:        Can you come over a bit early to help me with lunch?   Can you come over a bit earlier to help me with lunch?
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I’ve made another mistake in a modals test, in the can/could segment.  The following exchange was presented:     Where’s my bag? Have you seen it? – No, but it _ be in the car.   I decided that both ‘can’ and ‘could’ are appropriate in the underscored position.  The key contained only ‘could’. I’m curious why ‘can’ here is wrong:     Where’s my bag? Have you seen it? – No, but it *can be in the car.   In the Russian language, we use only the present-tense form of ‘can’ in such hypothetical answers: the past of 'can' would sound literal and ridiculous; so one may tend to carbon-copy the 'can' construction into English, failing to notice the difference in sense.   I’ve consulted a textbook and it says that ‘can’ tends to be used to convey a more general meaning. An example is given:     The weather can change very quickly in the mountains. (in general)      The weather is nice now, but it could change. (the weather now, not   in general).   Is it in the same vein with the car in the example? Does “It can be in the car” sound too general while “It could be in the car” zeroes in on the immediate situation?   Would the sentence with ‘can’ come out too haughty in the context, that is, a person turns for advice concerning situation at hand, and gets a generic sentence, almost telling him “well, your bag, speaking generally, can fit in the car, go guess the rest of it”?