Good English Style Archives - Page 2 of 9

For and since – C

By Cecilia Brabin | January 18, 2017

We miss out ‘for‘ when using phrases with ‘all’: She’s known us all our lives.We’ve been working all day. You can often miss out ‘for’, but not in negative sentences: They’ve been married (for) a fortnight.We haven’t seen her for years. (You must use for because it’s negative) since We say "It’s a long time…

‘For’ and ‘since’ with the present perfect continuous – A

By Cecilia Brabin | January 16, 2017

We use both ‘for’ and ‘since’ to say how long something has been happening. We use for when we say a period of time – an hour, two weeks, etc I’ve been waiting for an hour (= from an hour ago until now).She hasn’t seen her boss for nearly a month (= from nearly a…

Taking classical music to children

By Rosamund Place | January 10, 2017

Initiatives to introduce children and young people to classical music have a very long tradition in the UK. Often musicians and teachers have devoted huge parts of their lives to fostering links with orchestras and choirs, and maintaining them. This correspondence is typtical of some of the sort of correspondence which emerges every now and then in newspaper columns on the subject.

Will and would – imagine! 3

By David Wood | December 16, 2016

We use will and would when we imagine a situation or action: It will be lovely just to get home and listen to some music. It would be nice to buy a house, but we just can’t afford it. There’s no point making the children go to bed in this heat – they wouldn’t sleep.…

Will and would – typical or critical? 2

By David Wood | December 15, 2016

We use will and would to talk about habits and typical behaviour, and laws of nature: Mum just does everything – and Dad‘ll just sit there reading the newspaper! I’ll put lunch on the table, and John will say ‘Where’s my mustard?’ It’s infuriating. Would is used to talk about the past: He was quite…

Will and would – typical, or maybe critical? 1

By Rosamund Place | December 14, 2016

We can use will and would to talk about habits and typical behaviour: They’ll just play in the garden for hours on end. Switch the computer off if it freezes – it’ll often just start up again normally. If we stress will and would it can sound critical: He will get involved with all the…

Using do not need and need not

By Rosamund Place | December 2, 2016

Must / mustn’t / needn’t / do or doesn’t need to You must do something – it is necessary that you do it You must get there on time or the bus will leave without you. You mustn’t do something – it is necessary that you do not do it We mustn’t wake the neighbours.…