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01:53

0

Q: Can I use 'contributed' with 'were', and do I need 'the' before 'Islamic Era'?

Which sentence is grammatically correct? There were many factors contributed to the decline of Islamic Era. There were many factors contributing to the decline of the Islamic Era. Can I use 'contributed' as a verb with 'were'? The second question is do I need to use 'the' before 'Is...

CowperKettle

03:46

@snailplane thank you!

Trump outfoxed Clinton

CowperKettle

04:02

word of the day: pendentive

Anonymous

07:31

0

Q: Use of "lead to maintain" in a sentence

Is use of "lead to maintain" in the following sentences correct grammatically and conceptually? As shown in Fig. 2, the existence of symmetrical blades lead to maintain the direction of the tangential force (Fu) acting on the blade during the bidirectional air flow.

infinitives verb-usage

Anonymous

Someone suggested closing this with the proofreading close reason, and I went along with it and closed it.

Anonymous

Was that a mistake? Should I reopen it?

Anonymous

It's getting kind of late, and I'd like to look at it tomorrow, but I have to make a decision whether to reopen it before I go to bed.

Anonymous

'Cause I don't want to leave it closed all night if it shouldn't be.

Anonymous

Well, if you think it should be reopened, please vote to reopen; if you can think of a way to improve it, please leave a comment :-)

Anonymous

07:35

Looks to me like a typo for tend to maintain. (I'm tempted to +1 "Fu", though.) — P. E. Dant yesterday

Anonymous

Hmm, do you think so?

Anonymous

Ergh, my poor snail brain.

yubraj sharma

11:34

Hi

Correct Usage of having to
infinitive-vs-gerund present-continuous
I understand that is/am/are+verb-ing structured sentences are with present continuous tense. For an example:
People are leaving their rural areas.
I know "have to" expresses 'obligations to do something' and I know how to use it in the sentences. For an example:
People have to leave their rural areas.
But I have seen "having to" being used as gerunds and in present continuous tense. For examples:
1. People are having to leave their rural areas.

"continue" + "ous" => "continuous". The "e" gets dropped. — Jasper 16 hours ago

Hi @DamkerngT.

Færd

13:00

You sound like you're hurt by nosy people. I don't think Araucaria is like that.

Lawrence

@CowperKettle Do you need to specify the format (i.e. tables, instead of lists or prose etc)? If not, how about Appendix A contains the (raw) results?

Færd

Hey L! Long time no see!

Lawrence

@Færd Hi! :)

I've been around, popping in now and then; just not very active at SE recently.

Araucaria

@Færd No, exactly. You're correct. It was a sympathy comment, not a dig!

Lawrence

@Færd Anything interesting here lately that I've missed?

Araucaria

13:09

@ColleenV Excuse me?

Færd

@Lawrence I'm not a frequenter myself! As far as I know, mm, no.

@Araucaria It's just that the atmosphere has become poisonous and people are more likely to act defensively.

Araucaria

@Færd Yes, I've noticed.

@snailplane Just to be clear that was a sympathy comment, not a dig. (and I don't want to know who you voted for!)

ArtOfCode

Folks, there's a dedicated election chatroom, if you want to discuss the thing. It's probably best to keep election chatter out of your site's main chatroom so that folks who don't want to have to deal with the election don't have to.

3

Araucaria

@ArtOfCode Good idea.

Færd

15:10

On a completely separate subject, there was a question from a test book that I don't remember exactly; along the lines of:

Which of these sentences is correct/possible?
A) My friends helped me since I got fired.
B) My friends have helped me since I got fired.

I think both are possible, to which the answer key disagrees.

They are both possible with different senses of since, IMO.

Anonymous

15:36

@Færd A) is definitely possible with since meaning 'because'.

Færd

@snailplane Thanks!

yubraj sharma

16:07

Nods. ....

yubraj sharma

16:35

Why this. ell.stackexchange.com/questions/108883/… question hasn't got attention?

All seem to be busy!

CowperKettle

18:12

I'm translating a Report. At the bottom of each page, there's "Data sostavleniya: 10-Jan-2016"

The meaning is "the date of the preparation of the document"

What is the common phrase in English for this?

"Date of preparation: 10-Jan-2016"?

multitran.ru/c/…

The options on Multitran are "Date of preparation, Date of compilation, Date issued"

Anonymous

I don't know. I can't recall ever having run into that sort of thing in English before.

Anonymous

Are there multiple dates?

Anonymous

If it's just the date the document was written on, you could put it in without saying "date of preparation" or anything like that, I suppose.

Ahmad

Hi

Anonymous

Date of preparation sounds okay, at least.

Ahmad

18:22

I wrote: The time complexity of this algorithm is not high. If we suppose that we have n nodes in the DOM-tree and m rules in the wrapper.

CowperKettle

@snailplane thank you! Szia!

Ahmad

is "if we suppose ..." part a normal sentence in English?

Anonymous

@CowperKettle You're welcome, though I don't really know if I helped :-)

Anonymous

@Ahmad It's a little strange because you have an if-clause by itself.

CowperKettle

You did!

Anonymous

18:23

If we suppose that we have n nodes, then what?

Ahmad

then nothing!

Anonymous

Well, that's not a very exciting conditional.

Ahmad

actually I want to say n is the number of nodes and m the number of rules. something like let's suppose

Anonymous

Maybe just Suppose that we have n nodes in the DOM tree and m rules in the wrapper then.

Anonymous

Or Let us suppose that

Ahmad

18:25

That's good, but is such an imperative sentence suitable for an scientific article?

Anonymous

Yes?

Ahmad

Good!

Also I wrote The algorithm is called n times

I may complete it with The algorithm is called n times on the DOM-tree nodes

but one may think that it is called n times for each node, while I want to say the total number of calls is n times, one for each node (the number of nodes is n)

How can I say that?

Also as I am suspected about the we have, I rewrite it as Suppose that the number of the nodes in the DOM-tree is n and the number of the rules of the wrapper program is m

Hows this?

Færd

18:40

@yubrajsharma As far as I can tell, the gerund having (to) can be used like any other gerund:

> Having to go through all that bureaucracy sucks. (subject)

> I don't like having to chose between these candidates. (object)

etc.

And in your first two sentences, it's not that the obligation is presently continuing, because many normal simple present instances of have to denote a continuing obligation:

> I have to work (everyday).

> You have to constantly watch the baby.

Rather, the use of the progressive denotes the evolution of the situation and a gradual change that is going on. "People are having to leave their houses." means there are problems developing that have recently made people leave their houses. They didn't have to abandon their houses yesterday, and there are some who haven't left yet, but the problems are taking more and more effect and there are more and more people who are leaving.

Well, something like that at least. It's all about the change and the evolution.

(BTW, obligation wasn't the best word. Having to do something doesn't necessary mean that you are obliged to do it. But alas, it's too late for editing.)

(And oops! That was having to choose, not chose.)

user62015

19:19

11. Medical treatment here is "very expensive that" they had to sell off their land to pay for it.
1) quite expensive and
2) too expensive for
3) so expensive but
4) more expensive
5) No correction required

@DamkerngT. @V.V. @Man_From_India Please check and help me out. Answer says option 1.

V.V.

19:45

@user62015 ,I would say so...that, but there's no such option, then number 1.

Araucaria

20:27

@ColleenV Perhaps the rubharb discussions are best had in the election room.

Damkerng T.

21:23

@user62015 @V.V. explains it nicely! :-)

Big data claims that we can know customers better than they know themselves.

And yet our polls could be wrong.

Araucaria

@DamkerngT. Interesting point ...

Damkerng T.

I was just thinking out loud. :-)

Araucaria

21:41

@DamkerngT. Still an interesting point!! :-)

Damkerng T.

@Araucaria Thanks!

Araucaria

21:55

@DamkerngT. :) See you old bean. Got to try and work ... :)

Damkerng T.

@Araucaria Have fun, and see you soon!

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