I wrote the following sentence in my exam  The film was tried to be masked as a fictional movie.  My teacher had underlined this part of the text and told me that it was incorrect. The idea was to say that the people who made the movie had tried to make it look like a fictional movie.  Is this correct or not?
122357
OK, so I'm trying to complete the following analogy:     John ate the worms.   is to     The worms were eaten.   as     John tried to eat the worms.   is to     The worms were tried to be eaten.   or     The worms were eaten attemptively.   ... ? I feel like such an inarticulate fool sometimes.  Edit: I'm not asking which of the two possibilities is better, but how I might complete the analogy, preferably with "the worms" as the subject. This is so that I can write something like     The worms were stolen, taken to John's house, and [tried to be eaten].   Sorry if my question wasn't clear.
106019
I came across a line in a movie:     You told me your dad was some fighter. You didn't say he was the most famous fighter to ever live.   This is a line spoken by a girl to a guy, and the guy's father is dead. Shouldn't it be:     You didn't say he was the most famous fighter to have ever lived.   Or     You didn't say he was the most famous fighter who ever lived.   What about     You didn't say he was the most famous fighter who has ever lived.
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Someone edited my message on StackOverflow, but it really bugs me out.  I'm not sure what's wrong with it:   As you see, the bigger the circle becomes, the more vertices I need for hiding the straight lines. As you see, the bigger the circle becomes, the more vertices I need to hide the straight lines.   The latter (corrected) sentence just bugs me out for some reason. It would sound better if there was a comma after the word "need", perhaps, but I guess that would be even worse in means of grammatical correctness.  Can someone explain why is the first sentence bad and the second sentence correct? And could there even be better solution to fix the first sentence?
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Concerned paragraph:  [Background: a master and his servant (a water tubewell technician) have been living happily for several years. The master owns seven farms spread across a large river. The master "became familiar with this ubiquitous man, who not only accompanied him on his tours of inspection, but morning and night could be found standing on the master bed rewiring the light fixture or in the bathroom poking at the water heater". Now, on this one day, the servant has hesitatingly said this to his master]  [i've redacted the proper nouns for these people's names with "the master" and "the servant" to avoid confusion]     “Sir, as you know, your lands stretch from here to the Indus, and on these lands are fully seventeen tube wells, and to tend these seventeen tube wells there is but one man, me, your servant. In your service I have earned these gray hairs”—here he bowed his head to show the gray—“and now I cannot fulfill my duties as I should. Enough, sir, enough. I beg you, forgive me my weakness. Better a darkened house and proud hunger within than disgrace in the light of day. Release me, I ask you, I beg you.”   Question asked related to this quote     The servant's comments primarily serve to:    flatter the master by mentioning how vast his lands are. boast to the master about how competent and reliable the servant is. emphasize the servant's diligence and loyalty to his master. notify the master that the servant intends to quit his job tending the tube wells.     My question:  Notice the lines of the paragraph: "now I cannot fulfill my duties as I should" and "Release me". Don't they clearly indicate that the servant intends to quit his job? Hence, option 4 should clearly be correct.  However, option 3 has been given as correct by KhanAcademy, saying that option 4 is incorrect because "The servant doesn’t say he intends to quit his job, asking instead only for help doing it"  So, my question is:     Isn't the above a clear example of misinterpretation of the paragraph by KA?     All options with KhanAcademy's explanations - for reference   Even though it initially highlights the vastness of the master’s lands, it primarily focuses on the servant’s dedication and service to the master. This emphasizes not that the servant is competent and reliable but that the servant feels he is no longer able to adequately fulfill his duties. The main purpose of the servant’s comments is to highlight the labor and service he has provided for the master over the years. the servant says “there is but one man, me, your servant” to take care of the tube wells on all the master’s vast lands and that the extensive work has resulted in the servant earning gray hairs on his employer’s behalf. The servant doesn’t say he intends to quit his job, asking instead only for help doing it.
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Why is this sentence correct?     She suggested that he go to the cinema.   I would definitely use goes instead of go.
114812
What is the earliest movie in which the status of the events as reality is doubted or denied at (or toward) the end?  I will limit the case to movies in which almost all of the movie events are subjected to such doubt or denial and exclude the ones that may start "in" some character's fantasy and then fairly soon step "out" to (the movie's) reality or go "in and out" through the movie.  A famous example is The Wizard of Oz (1939), in which the events of the movie turn out to have been a dream in the end.  I have a fairly early movie in mind and will give it as an answer if others don't.  Just to incorporate some comments:   The answer could be a movie of any length, short or feature. When "it all turns out to have been" a dream etc., it should come as a surprise to the viewer.  (The viewer may then want to have a second viewing in light of what he has learned to see the changes in his own responses.)
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(a) When one reads the Hindi literature of the twentieth century, he finds a striking contrast between the writings of Munshi Premchand and later day writers of popular Hindi fiction.      (b)  When one reads the Hindi literature of the twentieth century, one finds a striking contrast between the writings of Munshi Premchand and later day writers of popular Hindi fiction.   According to me, (b) should be the correct one as "one" cannot be used interchangeably with other pronouns when referring to the same thing. But the correct answer is (a). Can someone explain?
20231
I was reading this today:  We look forward to following your progress.  Am I correct in thinking that it is missing a be or that -ing should be removed?  So  We look forward to be following your progress.  or  We look forward to follow your progress.  Interestingly I get the same jarring feeling when reading the examples here
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As always, while reading through I found a sentence whose structure confused me.  What I want to know is whether the first sentence is the inversion form of the second sentence.      1. If the reason was to avoid bad publicity should his error be discovered, then . . .      2. If the reason was his error be discovered to avoid bad publicity, then . . .   If not, how should I interpret the first sentence?  Thanks.
3615
Which is correct?        She was told that it was against the law to steal.      Or        She was told that it is against the law to steal.        Background information: The original context is that I was relating an incident via email, where my colleague told a customer that some of our actions were part of the organisation's policy. The policy is still valid, but the statement I used to relate the incident in my email went like this:    "Mr Jay was informed that it was our policy to do this."   And I received feedback that it should go like this instead:    "Mr Jay was informed that it is our policy to do this."
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"For someone used to the tiny creatures we get in England it was something of a shock."  I think, in this sentence, relative pronouns before some words have been omitted. I know rules of omitting relative pronouns, but in this case I have failed to understand before which words relative pronouns can be placed to understand the sentence perfectly, which has been stated above. Please, explain the rules of omitting relative pronouns with the help of the sentence stated above, so that I can be able to understand this type of sentences easily. You can also use other sentences to explain this fact clearly.  Thanks to everyone.
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Is this correct?     That is a real cool answer.   I learned that that was incorrect, since "real" is an adjective which can describe a noun, e.g. "real answer" but it is not an adverb which can describe an adjective, "real cool". Instead you would have to say:     That is a really cool answer.   Since "really" is an adverb.
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Could someone please help me with these sentences? I need to know  Which one doesn’t sound natural? Which one is formal and which one is not?   A - I don’t know whether this word fits in the sentence. B - I don’t know if this word fits in the sentence.   C - I don’t know whether or not this word fits in the sentence. D - I don’t know if or not this word fits in the sentence.   E - I don’t know whether this word fits in the sentence or not. F - I don’t know if this word fits in the sentence or not.  For me only D doesn't work and sounds not idiomatic. Meanwhile for me all of these sentences can be used in both written and spoken languages. Do you confirm me?
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This is the gift that my dad sent me on my birthday.   Vs   This is the gift that my dad sent to me on my birthday.  Is to required?   Also   Presenting you guys, the trailer of the film.   Vs   Presenting to you guys, the trailer of the film.    Is to required?
61911
If he had not been a film star, he would not have become President.     In my opinion, "a President" is correct. Examples:     "My dream is to be a teacher"   "My dream is to be a President"   Which is correct usage? President or a President?
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I came accross the following sentence:  "Politicians obfuscate by pretending that the world would be the same if it weren't for the Cold War."  What is the meaning of obfuscate by pretending and how does it relate to the rest of the sentence?  The way I understood it: politicans are aware that the world would not be the same if it weren't for the Cold War, but are (due to unknown or suspected reasons) not willing to admit this and therefore pretend otherwise.
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First, here's a material that made me keep thinking about this issue in the first place.        He looks as if he knew the answer.    He is pretending as if he knew the answer. He is not as smart as he can solve the problem.      He looks as if he knows the answer.    He is a smart enough to know. Many people expect him to know the answer  Am I right to think this way? I'm trying to figure out how to use 'as if' more precisely.   Thanks in advance