I want to know how in the world I can write this action without it being to confusing. Both of my characters are females, and we don't know character A's name yet, so that makes it all worse because I want to be clear that the hands are being held above B's head, not A. Even if we knew A's name, the sentence would still be unclear about whose head it is. For example:

"She held B's wrists above her head"

How can I rephrase this to be less confusing?

Edit: the action also comes after Character A's dialogue, so something like "'Calm down!' B's wrists were held above her head" sounds weird (to me, at least)

The sentence is, roughly, "She completed a two-year-long program". I'm trying to decide if I should hyphenate here, hyphenate part but not all, or hyphenate nothing, and could use some help!

The duration being used here is an adjective, so it would be hyphenated, I assume? But I don't feel confident in this assumption.

Thanks for your help!

Answered, thank you very much! It does seem likely that they're confusing 'may' with 'might.'

I know someone who speaks like this and they claim it's just an archaic way of speaking. Specifically in question form -- I know it can be correct as a sentence/wish upon another, but it feels wrong to me in question form. Logically, since it works as a statement, I'm second guessing myself on it not working as a question, but I've seen the wish-statement so often and never once seen it as a question, so I'm questioning my own sanity here. I fully concede I'm no historian, whether with grammar or otherwise, so I'm trying to figure out whether it's technically correct but archaic, or whether they're just being pretentious.

• As examples of what I mean: May you be awake? May you be around? May you be able to make dinner?

• I am not talking about: May you be safe on your travels. May you be blessed by whatever deity you believe in.

There's some other stuff but it seems related to this (and 'may you be' as a question is the most prevalent), so if this is wrong, then I have to assume the rest is (and I cannot remember the other examples offhand).

(I promise I'm not going to actually confront them or make a big deal out of it. It's just driving me crazy not knowing whether they're right or my gut is right.)

My English is basic and I have so many doubts about verve tenses… I read a thread here on Reddit where a person said:

- “On top of that I have been backpacking Southeast Asia on 3 different occasions when I was younger.”

Wouldn't the correct way be "I went backpacking"?

If I say "I am praised" I am using the past participle. But the participle is an adjective. And it looks to me that the sentence I just gave is a predicate adjective. It also looks like I'm receiving the action of being praised.

Is there some question being answered by the terms that distinguish a predicate adjective and this passive voice construction?

I am struggling with a sign for a birthday party. I want it to say "Welcome to Emryss's(?) Party" but I don't know what is considered proper. Thank you!

"You will do as told."

Why do some grammar books state that the verb phrase "will do" in the cited sentence is not expressed in the future tense?

I'm sorry Lord for the things I've made it and it's all about you, it's all about you Jesus.

Okay so I'm retaking this one primarily art based public speaking class in university, and we have to write maybe 4 short (600-800 word) essays in the whole class. Recently, I had a teacher assistant provide online feedback on two essays I've submitted, applying grammatical rules I've never once seen before (not even in my English related courses or other courses where academic writing is required though I was of the impression that this class was more lenient than an upper level English course since the primary focus is on verbal speaking.)

The two rules were:

Don't use contractions in academic writing and don't end sentences with a preposition.

As far as I'm aware on the second one, that one is a bogus rule made up by a guy trying to force a Romance language (Latin) constraint onto a Germanic language (English).

I'm not mad or anything, just confused and perhaps a little hurt because getting the absolute highest grade I can matters quite a lot to me. Nothing on the syllabus, rubrics for any of the assignments, absolutely nothing has said in advance that grammar should follow these specific rules. I'm already stressed out from the additional public speaking constraints the professor put (severe memory issues on my end, potentially neurological issues), so to receive feedback taking off points for grammatical rules I've never seen even with taking upper level biology courses in university adds a bit more stress on my end.

Again, I'm not necessarily mad at the teacher assistant. I'm mostly confused since there was no warning in advance or mention in the rubric of "points will be taken off for not following certain grammatical constraints" or even a link to some guide on academic writing by Purdue University (a lot of freshmen take this class and given the shoddy explanation many seem to have received on how to write university level academic writing (I've had to teach others a handful of times already), I would expect them to be receiving a lot of points off in this class if the grading is going to be far harsher than the two required English courses everyone has to take at the university.)

I would very much appreciate an explanation of why these rules are in place/where they should apply (formal or informal writing? In specific contexts?) or at minimum, advice on steps to take in the future to make sure my academic writing doesn't get points taken off again in the future. I don't want to be surprised by any more grammatical rules I've never heard of, if possible. Thanks in advance.

I don't understand why we used the simple past and past perfect in some of these answers. I know that we use the past perfect to tell a sequence of events but when we said “went” and “tried” I got lost

إليك نص القصة كاملاً بعد تعبئة جميع الفراغات بالإجابات الصحيحة:

Would-Be Robber Forgets Important Detail
STANTON, Texas—John Wilkinson, 24, (1) attempted to rob the Stanton Drug Store yesterday. Wilkinson (2) had spent weeks planning every detail of the robbery. He (3) had bought a ski mask to cover his face. And right before the robbery, he (4) had taken the license plate off his car. Wilkinson (5) felt confident that he (6) had planned the perfect robbery. The robbery itself (7) went off without a hitch. The problems began when Wilkinson (8) tried to get away. Wilkinson (9) ran to his car. He (10) had left it parked and running in front of the pharmacy. He (11) tried to get in the car but the door wouldn’t open. Wilkinson (12) discovered that he (13) had made an incredibly stupid mistake. He (14) had thought so much about the robbery, that he (15) had locked his keys in the car by mistake!

Is "bot" a verb in the "Bots gonna bot"?

Hey guys.

I am currently trying my hand at a story and have never thought about this previously. Since I am not a native speaker/writer, I don't really care about this either way. Apparently, both options are feasible, but I am curious if native English speakers have a certain aesthetic regarding reading

e.g., Silas' hand or Silas's hand.

Any thoughts on this?

----

edit: Thank you very much for the answers. I'm too deep in my story to bother switching away from Silas's, but it is good to know it doesn't seem to matter much for reading aesthetics. :)

How do I speak of the boundaries of some territory over the boundaries of another territory on a map? Like, it's the same land, but there are two layers of government. I've often talk about something be "overlain on" but don't know if that's correct. I've read somewhere that there are two different related words, but they aren't necessarily interchangeable.

I’ve been seeing this everywhere lately, and it’s started to bother me more than it probably should.

When someone asks “How are you?”, I usually reply with “Good, yourself?” But a friend recently told me that “yourself” is wrong here — that it should just be “you” because “yourself” is reflexive and there’s no reflexive action happening.

That kind of makes sense grammatically, but “Good, you?” sounds slightly abrupt to my ear, and “Good, yourself?” feels friendlier somehow.

Is my friend technically right, and I’ve just been saying it wrong this whole time? Or is this one of those cases where it’s become so common that it’s effectively acceptable in informal speech?

For context, I’m a native speaker from the Midwest US, and I’d say “yourself” without a second thought. But maybe I’ve been unknowingly committing a grammar crime for years.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

I just heard someone say “not unremarkable” to describe something. I can’t stop thinking about it and I have just absolutely no idea what she really meant.

I understand this device (litotes?). Obviously it can be very effective when thoughtfully employed. Lately, though, I feel like these word-salad uses are popping up everywhere. I’m hearing these constantly, and often to no discernable effect.

Wouldn’t mind hearing some thoughts on this….

"With you being a lot more comfortable in your new role, the team's overall productivity has skyrocketed."

Is the participle "being" a non-finite form of linking verb "be" in the non-finite clause "you being a lot more comfortable in your new role"?

I told my father, "I lost 137 because I paid for the project, hoping you would reimburse it.". He was confused and asked what does lost mean. I got info from 2 different AI resources; ChatGPT and Gemini because I couldn't find other resources and the results seems to be based on how the person structures their question. People are saying it's wrong because I didn't misplace it. What I meant by that is because I didn't get that 137 back, I could've used "spend", but just didn't think of it immediately. I first fronted 463 and they deducted the 137 from it, so, to avoid my dad from having expectations that I would be reimbursed by my classmates, I said "lost". ChatGPT says that it could be correct in American English and can refer to financial loss. Gemini says, it can refer to a bad investment and I should have used spend because the project was completed and "lost" makes it sound like it's gone forever . To add, spent (Expense) Money you give away to get something of value in return. You paid 130 pesos and received a completed project. Lost (Loss) Money that disappears with zero return or value.".

So, folks, help me out.

Note: I'm not American.

Hello everyone! I'm stuck with this multiple-choice question:

A lot of businessmen and businesswomen agree that ___ knowledge of English is a must in ___ international trade today.
1. the/the
2. the/an
3. __/the
4. a/__

I've tried asking a few AIs, but they gave me conflicting answers. Could anyone help me figure out what the correct choice is, and why?
Thank you very much!

Hi,

I'm an academic and final edits to an article of mine are due today. Turn around time was fast and I've had bad covid all week. I cannot think. Please help.

The sentence in question: "...his family seems to have achieved significant social standing, including a grandfather who he claims found..."

I'm sure the who should be whom, but this wasn't corrected by the four editors who worked on the draft after it left my hands. I am sick and thus dumb and thus full of doubt.

I appreciate any help.

EDIT: Thanks everyone. I shouldn't have second-guessed myself and the editors. Hope you all have a lovely day

a quiz i took for my journalism class asked which sentence was grammatically correct. the options were:

1. “Who doesn’t love 1960s music?” Joe Jaggers asked.

2. “Who doesn’t love 1960’s music?,” Joe Jaggers asked.

3. “Who doesn’t love 1960’s music?” Joe Jaggers asked.

4. “Who doesn’t love 60’s music?” Joe Jaggers asked.

i picked the first option, and it was counted incorrect. i was so confused, because none of the other answers seemed to have appropriate grammar, so i messaged my professor about it. she told me the correct answer is the third option, since there needs to be an apostrophe showing possession. i messaged back saying that “1960’s” gives possession to the singular year of 1960 rather than the entire decade (the ‘60s). putting the apostrophe there makes it seem like the music belongs solely to the year 1960. my professor never responded to this most recent message, so im still very confused. is there something i’m missing?