Here are the best questions readers of our free newsletter sent to us last month.
All questions were answered by our teacher, Tim from EC Brighton English School.
Question: When should I use passive sentences?
M. Likosky
Answer: In a passive sentence you make the object of an action into the subject of a sentence. Here are three situations.
1 - Use it when we don't know who did an action. - "My phone has been stolen."
2 - It is not important who did an action. - "This house was built 500 years ago."
3 - To add emphasis to the receiver of the action. - "This wall was built by my father." (the emphasis is on the wall more than my father.)
All the best,
Tim
Question:Can you tell me the following sentence is correct or not? "The existing button will be remain or change to snap button
Malik
Answer: Now, I really don't know what you are talking about! However I think your sentence should read, 'The existing button will remain, or change to the snap button'
What is a snap button please? :)
All the best,
Tim
Question: I would be most grateful if you could let me know which are the correct sentences for the followings. (a or b)
1a. His mission is to fire the hunger in youths for the knowledge to excel in international undertaking.
1b.His mission is to fire the hunger in youths for knowledge to excel in international undertaking.
2a. The discovery shows that the Bujang Valley is very important in terms of understanding maritime, trade, migration & early civilization in the region.
2b. The discovery show that the Bujang Valley is important in terms of understanding maritime, trade, migration & early civilization in the region.
3a. Real life stories are played out here as a game.
3b. Real life stories are played out here as games
Teng
Answer: 1a. Could be fine if we are specifying a particular type of knowledge. Undertaking is countable so needs to be plural, or with an article
1b. Change it to undertakings
2a. All good, but maritime what? Maritime is an adjective.
2b. Well, up to you; important or very important?
3a. OK
3b. Better
All the best,
Tim
Question: I have difficulties. Please, help me to understand a sentence "He was to be a clergyman", I could not find "was to be" in my grammar books. I mean, there are two verbs which are in different tenses.
Helen
Answer: This structure is used in a very similar way to ‘was going to’. It means that there was a plan intended but it never happened. It’s use may be considered a little formal/old fashioned nowadays..
EG: He was to be a clergyman, but changed his mind and became a merchant banker instead.
I was to go to London at the weekend but leaves on the line prevented the trains from running so I stayed in Brighton.
All the best,
Tim
Question: Thank you for answering my previous question regarding to+ ing verb and to+ base form. though the answer is very clear, I still have a little confusion about preposition 'to' because after preposition 'to' we can use ing verb and I would like to know where to use preeposition 'to' in a sentence.
Dean
Answer: This is not so much a question of where to use the preposition ‘to’ in a sentence as which words have the dependent preposition ‘to’. In the expression ‘look forward to’, for example, the ‘to’ is a preposition so has to be followed by a noun or ...ing. Another one is ‘listen to’, you listen to music or listen to someone singing. Remember to never just list or record words on their own, they have to be recorded as collocations with any dependent prepositions or adverbs and examples of usage.
All the best,
Tim
Question:We are leaving at 2 a.m. tonight/this night/today/... Which version is right?.
Vera
Answer: All of these are fine:
"We are leaving at 2 a.m. tonight."
"We are leaving at 2 a.m. in the morning."
"We are leaving at 2 a.m. tomorrow morning."
All the best,
Tim
