The knowledge of regional languages is necessary for bank officers because they are to understand what their customers say.   I tried google for meaning/usage of the phrase they are to as used in above given sentence but couldn't find anything relevant, I doubt if any such phrase even exists. To my hears using have instead of are sounds better. Please tell if the phrase they are to used in above sentence is correct ? If yes, Does it imply the same meaning as using have instead of are ?
122037
Could anybody clear it to me whether these two sentence are grammatically equal? If not, what is the difference?     1) They must use some methods...    2) They are to use some methods...
9778
Can anyone tell me where we have to use "has" and where we have to use "have"? I am confused.  Can anyone explain me in a simple way?
64447
I heard this sentence in an American film a while ago as I was watching it on DVD (the part after but is verbatim):  "I'm doing my best but I mustn't be doing it right."  This is something I occasionally hear in American films: phrases like "he mustn't have done it" or "she mustn't be studying now", where a logical conclusion is expressed. So far I've thought that the normal thing to say is "he can't have done it" or "she can't be studying now".  My question is: Can mustn't be used to express a logical conclusion when the speaker is certain that something didn't happen or isn't happening, at least in informal speech? Is this an American usage? (I've never heard this usage in British English, but this doesn't mean it doesn't exist.) Is there a change going on in the usage of the particular modal verb?  Note: All the references I've checked don't even mention this use of mustn't. Google books aren't of help either.   EDIT: I should clarify that I'm asking this question because if I wanted to express that I'm certain I'm not doing something right (as in the sentence quoted from the film) I'd say "I'm doing my best but I can't be doing it right". I would think that the use of mustn't/must not wouldn't be standard usage (although the meaning is perfectly clear to me; I never mistook it for an injuction).
107489
I saw this sentence on Internet recently written by a native speaker, so I wondered why native speakers tend to use this grammar.   Explain to me why I should I use "is" instead of "are"? Is it grammatically correct?     "There is rice, meat and tomatoes on my plate"   Why "There are rice, meat and tomatoes on my plate" is not correct?
42500
First of all, I'm not a native English speaker, but in school I learned that these is used if referring to something near, and those is used when referring to something far away (temporally or locally). But now I'm sometimes watching English movies and notice sentences like "Have you seen those boots?" while the boots were only centimeters away. Is this just not correct, or have I learned the wrong rules?  Another question is, what if I'm referring to something abstract such as ideas or thoughts so that I can't say if they are far away or not. Should I use those or these?  Edit  So it can't be really wrong in any case if I use these respectively those?
24451
While adding to an Answer to  question, I needed to use the above phrase, and I suddenly realised I was unsure whether to write "is" or "are".   There is more than one way to skin a cat. If there are more than one species of cat, we will flay each species differently.   I don't think that second example above sounds quite right to me (disregarding the meaning - sorry!), but in my original Answer I felt "is" would have been even worse.  Is "are" always wrong here? If so, what exactly is the rationale? If not, is there a case where it's unquestionably preferred – and why is that?    Note that in both the problematic Answer and my example attempting to mimic the same context more briefly, the writer doesn't know how many there are. There may be one, more, or even none.  Getting even more specific, the writer might have an opinion on how many there might be, and wish to convey his leanings by choice of verb form if language allows this to be done succinctly.
59125
I was asked if the following sentences will create problems and what are the assumptions I have to make:  (d) There are grammarians in the room but none of them is an American. (e) There are grammarians in the room but none of them are Americans.  What is the problem in both sentences? They clearly have two main clauses which are connected by the coordinated conjunction 'but'. I know that grammar-wise, the 'is/are' don't really matter since both can be used with 'none', but would the tense in the first main clause 'are' affect the use of 'none'?
41954
I am continually surprised to hear people use has and is interchangeably. The erudite Peter Segal has been guilty of saying:  This song is been written by XXX. YY is been a producer on the show ZZZ and now lives in California.  Should the two sentences use has since they refer to events in the past? Are is and has really interchangeable? If so, under what circumstances can one be substituted by the other?
58215
I was just copyediting  and my native English speaker Sprachgefühl told me I had to correct the grammar of one sentence:     ... 5–6 weeks are a lot of time ...   by changing the are to is. But as I was doing so I started wondering why is it that in this case it seems that I have to make the verb disagree with the plural subject?  So is my feeling for English going bad or if I did the right thing, how could I explain this to somebody who's learning English for instance?
28819
In the course of answering  (which is now deleted and may be viewed only by 10K+ community members), we have evoked some dispute over whether the phrase      Am I needing to read this book?   is grammatical.  I think it is correct, although not common, but others think differently. Is this a correct grammatical structure, albeit perhaps a bit odd?    EDIT: I think I should clarify further.  I don’t disagree that this phrasing is unusual; in fact, that’s what I said in the other answer.  What I am interested in is whether it is correct or not. I think it is because of its uncommonness that I am not certain. It might be more straightforward to ask it this way:     Is the sentence “I am needing to read this book” grammatical?  If not, why not?
40457
May I ask if the following sentence is grammatical?      Our remit is to conduct research on customer's requirements.   In my understanding, as 'customer' is a countable noun, so the plural form 'customers''' should be used instead for this general reference (without specification of certain customers).   However, I know that we can say 'traveller's cheques' - e.g.,      Traveller's cheques are available at the bank.    In this sense, actually can we say 'customer's requirements' in the first case?
67952
She has five kids. I can imagine how busy she would be.   Is the use of would be right in this sentence? What about      She has five kids. I can imagine how busy she is.   Are both correct? Do they mean different things?
53886
I commonly want to use the phrase "we have" when writing mathematics, to mean something like "most readers will know this thing and I am about to use it". My primary question is whether this is too colloquial. My secondary question is what the alternatives are if it is too colloquial.  For example, right now I have a sentence "Given a point $P\in X$ we have the residue map ${\text {res}}_P \colon \Omega_{K(X)} \rightarrow k$, as defined in ...". I don't feel saying "there exists the" is quite right. Even if it is grammatically correct, I don't think this conveys the implication that it will be almost certainly familiar to the expected audience.  I have seen  but I feel this is slightly different. If not then my apologies.
55629
Usage of "%"  I'm almost positive it's a prepositional phrase since it's really means "per cent" or "per 100".  So in a sentence like:     90% of my street are doing lawn work.   It would be "are" and not "is" because both "%" and "of my street" are prepositional phrases and therefore cannot contain the subject.  Am I right?
32257
I'm from Western Pennsylvania. Until I moved away, I never realized that when I omitted the to be from phrases like needs to be cleaned, my usage was different than what most English speakers are accustomed to. Is it wrong?
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.
69264
I recently had somebody tell me that a mutual friend of ours who is  prefers that people refer to him/her using the gender-indefinite pronoun they.   In some cases, this almost seems okay:   Kris left their umbrella at our house.  On the other hand, if Kris is sitting right next to you, it feels very odd to say       They (meaning just Kris) would like more cake.   Or even odder,      Kris would like some more cake, can you please pass it to they/them?"   Are these usages grammatically correct? Are they in the process of becoming grammatically correct? Are there more correct alternatives?