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I am a native English-speaker and a professional English language teacher. I have been teaching for almost 40 years now. I speak fluent German, Intermediate Italian, B1-level Spanish and some French. I am currently learning Danish.
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Danish
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EnglishNative
German
Italian
Spanish
French
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  • Answered
    Hi Ariane, Because of the history of Britain, we have a lot of 'double vocabulary' (sometimes even three or more words that are very similar). Most of the time, when we do have this double vocabulary, there is a word from the Romance languages (like French, Latin, etc.) and one from the German language (like German, Danish, Norwegian, etc.). That's the case here. 'Close' (as a verb) is from Old French, and 'shut' is Germanic. In this particular case, there is little difference between them, but 'close' is slightly more formal than 'shut'. As a few people have mentioned, there are particular collocations (words that usually come together) where you really need to use 'close' and others where you need to use 'shut'. You just have to learn these, there are no rules. Most of the time they are fairly interchangeable.
    0 voted
    May 8, 2020
    2
  • Answered
    I should add that your second option is incorrect.
    0 voted
    March 25, 2020
    0
  • Answered
    Option 3 is best. It is more formal and suits the writing style best, and it is clearest.
    0 voted
    March 25, 2020
    0
  • Answered
    Simon's answer is correct. BUT it's not a common phrase in British English. A native-speaker could understand it from the context, but we wouldn't necessarily use it in this way.
    0 voted
    March 25, 2020
    0
  • Answered
    '...the company Field founded' = the company that Mr. Field brought into existence ('to found' is a verb in itself, not just the past of 'to find') 'set out to lay the cable...' = began to lay the cable Therefore, the sentence means that the company that Mr. Field brought into existence began to lay the cable....
    0 voted
    October 23, 2019
    2
  • Answered
    Hi Amir, In the UK (and Ireland and some other countries) a 'pub' is a place where alcohol is served, but often also food (pub grub), and families go for Sunday dinner, etc. You can get a lot of soft drinks (lemonade, mineral water, coke, juice, etc.) too. There are often quizzes and speciality evenings held there. It's for everyone. A 'bar' in the UK is just for alcoholic drinks. You can get cocktails, wine, hard drinks (like gin or whiskey) and, while they also sell soft drinks, people generally go there for alcohol. No-one under 18 is legally allowed in a bar.
    0 voted
    October 15, 2019
    0
  • Answered
    Scarlett is correct - you need to use Past Simple: When I WAS a kid, my mother TOOK me to the park where I PLAYED with the other kids. or When I was a kid, my mother took me to the park TO PLAY with the other kids. (for that purpose) We often (but not only) use Past Continuous when an action has been interrupted: (example) I was playing with the other children when a dog ran across the playground.
    0 voted
    October 9, 2019
    0
  • Answered
    There are a lot of compound nouns using an adverb and a past or present participle, Ali. EXAMPLE: A publicly financed service. (adverb + past participle) A commonly held belief. (adverb + past participle). A well-liked man. (adverb + past participle) A rapidly increasing heart rate. (adverb + present participle) An increasingly irritating rash. (adverb + present participle) You might find it useful to look into the different types of compound adjectives we have in English. (A lot of them are similar to ones you have in German).
    0 voted
    October 8, 2019
    2
  • Answered
    Greg's answer is thorough and correct. I would only add that compound nouns aren't always two words - they can be three or more. EXAMPLE: living-room carpet, greenhouse gas emissions, etc.
    0 voted
    September 29, 2019
    2
  • Answered
    'that' is the subject of 'are', Chris. (I like dogs THAT I know are smart.) But, because it's an object pronoun of the relative clause, we omit it. Or, at least, have that choice.
    0 voted
    September 28, 2019
    0