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Hello hawa100
You can say both things. As Peter says, 'before' is probably better because it is often used to say that something happens in the presence of people. But you can use both of them and they describe a situation in which a person is talking and there are other people in front of her. It's not clear whether she is talking to those people or if they happen to be in the same general location as her.
For example, perhaps she is a politician explaining her campaign to a news reporter, but there are other people listening. She is not exactly speaking to those people, but they are there and hear her.
I would probably say this another way, depending on what I meant, but it is correct.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello hawa100,
Both in front of and before can be used to describe location. However, before carries a sense of 'in the presence of' as well as the physical location, and so fits this context rather better, I would say.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello hawa100
The most common preposition here is 'to': 'She was explaining her opinion to people'. 'before' and 'in front of' suggest that it's her physical position that is important instead of her communication with those people.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Adya's
I'm afraid it's difficult for me to say, as I haven't read the play. It's not clear to me, for example, whether the old man is including the boy he's speaking to in the category of 'young kids' or not. Some old people will call any child a 'young kid' since they are so much older than the young people.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Imran 26,
I would suggest our pages on count nouns and uncount nouns for those two. Collective nouns are words like 'team' or 'family' that refers to a group of people or things.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Imran 26,
'Monday through Thursday' means Monday and all the days between it and Thursday, i.e. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Imran 26,
The titles of books are determined by publishers and by whatever traditions exist in a particular place, as it's important to meet the expectations of students and parents. In a British context, 'composition' refers only to writing, while 'skills' would describe all four language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Imran,
In this sentence, 'while' means 'but', which is one of several meanings of this word (if you follow the link, you'll see the definition and examples for this meaning, but if you move up and down the page you will see the others). Please note that in this sentence, the verb should be 'do' instead of 'does', since 'IT guys' and 'software sngineers' are plural subjects.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Imran,
Our grammar covers what its author (Dave Willis) thought were the most essential points learners need to become proficient speakers. It is not a comprehensive grammar -- a complete grammar of English would be very large and would not really fulfil the purpose of our site.
The Wikipedia and Cambridge Dictionary websites are good places to begin checking some topics such as the ones you mention. For example, the Wikipedia Noun page has a section on abstract and concrete nouns and the Cambridge Dictionary page on Nouns also explains this to some degree.
If you have any specific questions about a particular point, please let us know.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Imran26,
The meanings of 'while' and 'during' are very similar. Both describe the time within an ongoing activity or state. The difference is that each is followed by a different form.
After 'while' we need a clause with a subject and a verb, or else a present participle (-ing form):
After 'during' we need a noun:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Adya's,
If the person reporting is a brother or sister then they can still use 'our'. If the person is not a brother or sister of the person who left then 'their' would be the best choice, since 'our' tells us that there are at least three brothers and sisters in the original group. 'Her' would be grammatically correct and would only tell the listener about the speaker and the brother's relationship, not that there are more of them.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello magdy,
I'm afraid we don't provide answers for tasks from elsewhere. We're happy to explain our own tasks and answer questions about the language as best as we can, but we don't provide help with tests or homework from elsewhere, or exercises someone else has written.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Imran 26,
There is no correct order for this. I suggest you choose whichever seems most useful or interesting to you.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Imran,
Usually native speakers say 'two plus two equals four' or 'two and two make four'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello SonuKumar,
It is unusual to use 'any' with singular count nouns, but it does happen when the noun has a general meaning. There is some debate whether this is actually a case of the singular count noun being used as a synonym of a non-count noun (any problem as a synonym for any trouble, for example, or any idea as a synonym for any notion).
You can find a discussion of the topic on this page.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello amol,
We use an object pronoun after a preposition, so the correct phrase would be 'no-one but him...'
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi SonuKumar,
I'm not sure about the metaphysical side of this question, but 'Not everything is possible' is what I would say. There is nothing grammatically incorrect with the other phrase, but it's not one that people use in speaking or writing. It would also have a different meaning -- it would mean something like 'Everything is impossible' (whereas the other one says that some things are possible and some are not).
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Lal,
This really depends on the particular style that a writer follows, but in general in British English I believe the comma is used less often than in American English. Some say that the general rule is that a comma can precede 'but' when 'but' is connecting two independent clauses, e.g. see this BBC page, but not everyone agrees about this. You can find lots of opinions about this by doing an internet search for 'comma before but'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi David,
Yes, it is, especially in informal speaking and writing. This is called ellipsis, which you can read a little more about by following the link if you're interested.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello uchiha itache,
Both forms are correct. The only difference is that the form with 'no' is rather stronger in a rhetorical sense, I would say.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello uchiha itache,
We use the present simple to describe habitual behaviour, as you say. 'Will' can be used to describe the behaviour which we expect. It is a form of prediction about the present. For example:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team