Students' grammar questions

Here are a few grammar questions that I've been asked this week:

1. Which is better: "like normal" or "as usual"?

You might hear people say "like normal", but it's much better to use "as usual".

2. What do "in order to" and "in terms of" mean?

A dictionary will explain the meaning of these phrases. However, it's probably more useful to see some examples of how they are used. A search engine like Google will give you many more examples than I can.

3. Is it correct to write "it is worth spending maintaining libraries" or "libraries are worth spending"?

Neither is correct I'm afraid. I would write: "It is worth spending money to maintain libraries" or "libraries are worth maintaining".

4. Can we put "for example" in the middle of a sentence like this: "There are many environmental problems, for example, people litter everywhere"?

The use of "for example" in the sentence above is not correct. To avoid confusion, I'd recommend using "for example" only at the beginning of sentences. Use "such as" in the middle (e.g. There are many environmental problems, such as air pollution).

Comments

[Candy]

Hi Simon,
what's the difference between "like" and "such as"?I can put "like" in the middle of a sentence,right?
Thank you !

[Wonwin]

Hi Simon

I looked up and found the sentence herein in CAMBRIDGE Advanced Learner's Dictionary

"Offices can easily become more environmentally-friendly by, for example, using recycled paper."

So, if I can use either "for example" at beginning and in the middle when I do my IELTS exam?

Thank you verymuch.

[Jay]

Hi Simon

I am still confused about using for example in the middle of sentence, in news paper it can be seem oftenly to use in the middle of sentence.

[juhi]

Hi Simon,
is it acceptable to use T,F,NG instead of true,false,notgiven or yes,no,notgiven..
i'm totally confused and tensed

[Antony]

Hi Simon
For question 3, is it possible to say "it is worth spending money maintaining libraries"?
Thanks a lot!

[Simon]

Hi Candy,

Yes, you can use them in the same way. "Such as" seems a bit better for 'academic' essays.

...

Hi Wonwin,

Yes, you can use it in the middle or at the end of sentences, and of course the dictionary example is correct. However, students often make mistakes when putting "for example" in the middle of sentences, so my advice was to help them avoid mistakes and confusion. If you can use "for example" correctly, it's fine to use it almost anywhere in a sentence.

...

Hi Jay,

Read my answer to Wonwin above.

...

Hi Juhi,

The instruction tells you to write "true", not "T", so I would do what the instructions says (then it's definitely right).

...

Hi Antony,

Yes, that's ok.

[Kyo]

Hi Simon.

I really get confused for using " I do " or " I " or " me " in comparison of adj.

She is taller than I am.
She is taller than I.
She is taller than me.

I do not know which the best choice is and which we should not use.

Thanks.

[Alethia Brockman]

it's probably more useful to see some examples of how they are used.

[Roxy]

Hi Simon,

I just have a quick question.
Can we use caret symbols(^) to insert words in our text in IELTS ? Is their use penalized ?

The reason I am asking is because upon proof reading my esay I typically find that I;ve missed out a word or two from a sentence, and often use carets to insert the missing words. For instance I recently took the IELTS exam and found out that the first line of my introduction needed some extra words to beautify it so I used a caret there.

Many thanks in advance! (You're doing an excellent job helping us!)

[Phuong Anh]

Hi Simon,

I saw a sentence which is a completely opposed argument, as following:
"The proposition that governments should provide money to private schools to be comprehensively refuted due to the fact that..."
And now, I use this syntax for my essay which is "The proposition that smoking should be illegal to be comprehensively supported because of its serious harmfulness". However, I wonder whether this syntax is correct or not.
Could you please give me a help with this?
Thank you so much.