Question
Hi, there

Could you please help me with some questions? Please!

1) In an article, I came across this: "The latest results, released Tuesday morning, reveal the US to be treading water in the middle of the pool".. Why "reveal to be"? Would it be wrong to say "Reveal that the United States are treading water..."?

2) What does "You have to play it out" mean?

3) Does it sound odd to say "What was you city ranked in the latest rankings? (Or "How does the US rank..??) Answer: "It was ranked (or It ranks??) last/my city sits in last place" Is this odd?

Thank you!

Question

Question
Hi, there

Could you please help me with some questions? Please!

1) In an article, I came across this: "The latest results, released Tuesday morning, reveal the US to be treading water in the middle of the pool".. Why "reveal to be"? Would it be wrong to say "Reveal that the United States are treading water..."?

2) What does "You have to play it out" mean?

3) Does it sound odd to say "What was you city ranked in the latest rankings? (Or "How does the US rank..??) Answer: "It was ranked (or It ranks??) last/my city sits in last place" Is this odd?

Thank you!

Answer

1. Both "to be" and "that..." are correct. I prefer "that..." because it is more concise or direct. I would also use past tense - "Revealed" - because he result have already been released. ("Last Tuesday").
2. It means you have to wait and see what the results will be.
3. All of those expressions are good. Nothing odd about them. But it should be "What was YOUR city ranked" - not "you". Maybe that was just a typing error.

Answers · 1

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