There is no difference at all between the meaning and use of these two options. Speakers of AE (= American English) will use ‘among’ for sure, but speakers of BE and other variations of English could use either.
Writers of all kinds may prefer ‘amongst’ for aesthetic reasons, or to imply a certain classicism to their work. That’s about it.
See the following link for more info:
If you still having some problems with this rather troublesome aspect of English grammar then I would strongly recommend going here:
http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/index.htm
and just working your way through the tutorial and the exercises. For those of you with access, there is a pdf version of the tutorials and all the lists on my Dropbox, along with the first two exercises from each tutorial. But you would do better to do the exercises online and get instant feedback.
With regards to the difference between the constructions:
I like skiing and I like to ski
you may find the following helpful:
“In I like skiing the important bit is the like. You’re talking about something you enjoy, and not saying much about the skiing. You might like doing it, watching it on TV, or you might just like the idea of it, because of all the clothing and those fancy goggles you wear.
In I like to ski you’re saying something about what you enjoy, but you’re also saying something about skiing, ie that it’s an activity that you actually do. I like to ski is not appropriate if you just watch it on TV.
In other words:
I like skiing = I like skiing
I like to ski = I like skiing + I ski”
Resource: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=74694
I was asked about this in a Bec Higher group, so here you go:
According to http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/floating-currency.html, which I have no reason to doubt, a floating currency is a currency with a floating exchange rate. And according to http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/floating-exchange-rate.html a floating exchange rate is defined as a:
“System in which a currency’s value is determined solely by the interplay of the market forces of demand and supply (which, in turn, is determined by the soundness of acountry’s basic economic position), instead of bygovernment intervention. However, all central banks do try to defend these rates within a certain range by buying orselling their country’s currency as the situation warrants.”
This one confused the hell out of all of us, me included, until I looked it up. Here’s the answer:
Needn’t and don’t need to
There is also a difference in use when these verbs are used to describe present situations. We can use both needn’t and don’t need to to give permission to someone not to do something in the immediate future. We can also use need as a noun here:
However, when we are talking about general necessity, we normally use don’t need to:
Needn’t have and didn’t need to
There are actually three possibilities :
1. We knew it wasn’t necessary so we didn’t do it.
We didn’t need to have any vaccinations when we went to Morocco.
Here only didn’t need to is possible.
2. We knew it wasn’t necessary but we did it anyway. Here both are possible and there’s no difference in meaning.
a) We didn’t need to go to the meeting, but we knew John would be there and we wanted to see him, so we went anyway.
b) We needn’t have gone to the meeting but we knew John would be there and we wanted to see him, so we went anyway.
3. We didn’t know it wasn’t necessary so we did it and found out later. Again both are possible.
a) What an idiot I was! I spent the whole weekend studying and I didn’t need to at all – the exam’s next month, not this month!
b) What an idiot I was! I spent the whole weekend studying and I needn’t have done it at all – the exam’s next month, not this month!
So – needn’t have always means that the event happened, whether we knew about it in advance or not. E.g.:
he needn’t have died, she needn’t have worried, you needn’t have bothered – in all cases it happened but wasn’t necessary.
didn’t need to on the other hand may mean either that it happened or not. E.g. :
I didn’t need to see that! and The things they carried and didn’t need to. – i.e. it happened
Solved all my gift problems and didn’t need to traipse through loads of shops – ie it didn’t happen
Resource: http://www.eslhq.com/forums/esl-forums/english-questions/neednt-dont-need-6788/
Need
Note from the above examples that need can either act as a modal verb or as an ordinary verb. When it acts as a modal auxiliary verb it is nearly always used in negative sentences, as the above examples illustrate, although it is sometimes also used in questions as a modal verb:
When it is used as an ordinary verb with to before the following infinitive and with an s in the third person singular, it appears in both affirmative and negative sentences and in questions:
Resource: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv317.shtml
This one came up recently. So there does seem to be quite a bit of confusion about this one, with various people suggesting various answers. I would suggest the following as the best guide:
a balcony is a railed elevated platform projecting from the wall of a building and usually with a roof or ceiling
see: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/balcony
a terrace is usually meant as an open, often paved area connected to a building at ground level and serving as an outdoor living area. When a building has a flat roof which can be accessed and used by the residents, this is also referred to as a rooftop terrace.
see: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrace
a loggia is a space within the body of a building but open to the air on one side.
This came up in a BEC Higher class. To keep it very simple it works like this:
We use ‘should’ instead of ‘shall’ and ‘would’ instead of ‘will’ in reported speech following the basic ‘one step back’ rule:
John: “I’ll take the dog for a walk” (direct speech)
becomes
John said (that) he would take the dog for a walk (reported speech)
and:
Jill “Shall I open the window?” (direct speech)
becomes
Jill asked if she should open the window (reported speech)
You can also replace ‘shall’ with ‘should’ in direct speech if you want to be super polite and/or express a greater degree of uncertainty, i.e. “Should I open the window?”
If you want to write well in English it is essential to learn how to use commas correctly. This will make a big difference in how your ideas flow and will certainly impress an examiner, who is, after all, only human, and must get heartily sick of compositions with terrible punctuation. So here’s a fine explanation of how and when to use them complete with a quiz at the bottom:
This one came up in a CAE class. As far as I can work out there is in fact no difference at all in the literal definitions of stumble and trip. They strike me as being synonymous, which you can clearly see at the dictionary.reference.com:
However, we would use “to stumble” to describe how a drunk or very tired person might be moving and that there is no sense of trip in that usage.
Clink on the link for a very nice overview of how, when and why we use the passive voice.
Click to access when-and-why-passive.pdf
The next link is reference guide to how to use the passive in a large variety of tense constructions. Some of the sentences are not very natural but they do show you how to form a passive sentence in each tense, so they can service as a modal.
For German speakers there is a also a comparison with English and German at the back.
(Adapted from: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html)
Here are some essential tips on how to be successful at writing compositions:
1. Give it your full attention. DO NOT do it while having your dinner, watching TV and having a conversation with your partner at the same time.
2. Give it the time it needs to do a good job. DO NOT dash it off in your ten minute coffee break! If you don’t have time to do it before the next class, no problem, do it when you can and hand it in at a later date, but do it properly!
3. You should always make sure to have your reference books and notes with you when doing a composition and USE THEM. If you are using a phrase that requires either a gerund or an infinitive for example, CHECK which one is correct, do not just guess. If your notes or books do not give a full explanation, check on the Internet.
4. Avoid repetition. I repeat: avoid repetition.
5. Use cohesive devices such as linking words and expressions, relative pronouns etc in order to make your compositions flow better.
6. Make sure that what you are writing follows a logical progression.
7. Watch out for things like: subject verb agreement (eg He says NOT he say), correct use of tenses (check if not sure, when do you use past simple, when present perfect, for example? Look at your grammar reference book, or your notes or the INTERNET!!), should you be using a gerund or an infinitive, etc etc
8. Remember to stay focused on the TASK at all times. What have you been asked to do? Are you doing it? Have you included EVERYTHING? Or are you going off on some strange tangent to nowhere?
9. You should also check EVERYTHING mentioned on the correction code on the next page before you hand your work in. If you do all this, you’re compositions will be better and you will improve faster. Remember, you do not improve from my corrections, only from YOUR OWN.
10. Do your compositions when you are fresh and alert and your brain is fully engaged. DO NOT do them at 1.00am after a full days work with your eyes popping out of your head with tiredness!
And here’s how I deal with correction:
1st Correction: when your composition is returned, you will only see the correction codes below. You will then have a chance to self-correct and when you have done that, you can hand in the work a second time.
2nd Correction: I will explain any remaining mistakes and give the correct form.
Writing Composition Correction Codes
SP spelling // HW handwriting
G grammar error // WO word order
A article // Prep preposition
WF word form // V vocabulary error
T wrong tense // S/V subject verb agreement
MW missing word // POS Position
!!! low level error // ? I don’t understand
P punctuation error // NP new paragraph
AWK awkward phrasing // R repetition
WW wrong word // REG register
LW linking word or expression
SC sentence construction is faulty
IL illogical development of the argument
( ) word or phrase not needed (delete it)
NS Non sequitur: a given proposition does NOT logically follow from the previous proposition, hence your use of a given linking word such as ‘therefore’ or ‘thus’ is inappropriate
robertdesenior 