verbs - Dependent or Independent clause?

Is "The way people write has changed" an independent clause or dependent clause? In any case please explain in detail. What is the subject, verb and object if there is or if there isn't. Thanks in advance.

terminology - What is the difference between a phrase and a clause?

What is the difference between a phrase and a clause? I tried looking this in dictionary but can not identify the difference. It would be great if I could get an example and formula of what makes a phrase and a clause.

Answer

The short answer: clauses contain a subject and its verb, while phrases do not. Note that phrases may contain nouns and verbals, but won't have the noun as the verb's actor.

The long answer: see this page from the University of Chicago which has several examples.

Usage of the definite articles with personal names

Could you tell me if the following sentence is correct or not? It seems to me that it is not correct because as I know, definite articles are never used with personal names. The only thing that I worry about is that I found this sentence on a website for learning English.

That evening, jack saw the Maria and Angela. They looked hungry so he offered them a hot meal.

Source pdf: http://www.cmlab.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~cathyp/eBooks/LearningEnglish/EnglishTown/Unit%20overview%20-%20Level%207%20Unit%204.pdf

Answer

As voxanimus noted, that use is incorrect.

The only correct use I can think of that works that way is when speaking of a well-known individual.

For example, in this exchange:

Dennis Ritchie is dead.

Not the Dennis Ritchie? dmr? The guy who developed C?

That instance of the would be emphasized so that it would be pronounced just like the pronoun thee, so /ðiː/ with a long, drawn-out vowel.

differences - “A person” versus “some person”

What is the difference between:

1. There is a person in the room.



2. There is some person in the room.

Answer

“A person” implies a singular person. A single person is in the room.

“Some person” is the same thing but goes a step further. It implies that the one person is somewhat unknown. It could be a girlfriend, or a violent robber, or something in-between.

“Some” implies an unknown. (e.g. "Some amount of money.", or "Some outcome." etc.

That's how I see it. Hope it helps.

grammaticality - "There's too many numbers" vs "There are too many numbers"

When people use plural nouns after the word "there's", for example:

There's too many numbers.

it makes me a bit frustrated. I try to correct it by using "There are," but it still happens sometimes to me (the "there's" situation). Do you think that there are is the correct usage option? People usually use there's, as I said.

Answer

If you want always to write, "There are too many damn fools on the Internet", then no one is stopping you. FWIW you have my blessing. But if you want to mount a crusade against what Marius calls the informal & casual "There's too many damn fools", then I think you have a job for life.

punctuation - Use of a hyphen when using a noun as an adjective

In my academic work (physics), I often use a noun as an adjective, and this seems to be a common practise to avoid long sentences. For instance sphere packing stands for packing made of spheres.

1. Is that correct? Is there a reason to avoid doing that?


2. What if I am given information about the spheres: they are soft spheres? I should talk about a soft-sphere packing, right?


3. Is the hyphen between soft and sphere mandatory, optional, or wrong? Is that always the case when an adjective-noun group becomes an adjective? References are appreciated!

Here are a few examples taken from my work. Some come from a plural, others from a singular. Please correct them if they are wrong.

• Soft-sphere packings (packings made of soft spheres)


• Infinite-dimensional limit (limit in which the dimension tends to infinity)


• Low-connectivity particles (particles having a low connectivity)


• Sparse-matrix methods (methods used with sparse matrices)


• Non-zero energy (energy not being zero)


• Non-zero-energy mode (mode having an energy that is not zero)

grammar - The difference between "given that" and "provided that" (CAE book reference)

I don't understand the difference between "given that" and "provided that".

The tour wasn't as pleasant as we thought it would be, given that the
coach broke down on the way.

[Source: CAE Book]

1. Why can't I use provided that in place of given that in the above sentence?





2. What's the difference between given that and provided that?