Sec 3 WB page 18: Find the mistake: She played the piano since the age of six and she still plays every day. The answer provided is "has played." Is "has been playing" possible here?
Sender
Mr. Htim
Position
Head teacher
It is possible to use the present perfect continuous for repeated as well as continuous activity. However, continuous forms are used mostly for shorter, temporary actions and situations.
Continuous and simple tenses are sometimes both possible, with a slight difference of emphasis.
Is the present perfect continuous possible in the sentence you ask about? I think it is, but it does give more emphasis to the repeated action.
See Michael Swan. Practical English Usage, 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, sections 458ff.
Do we say "a quite good man" or "quite a good man"?
Sender
ali
Position
Student
I assumed that you meant quite and not quiet (making little or no noise) as you had in your question.
Quite is a predeterminer here and goes before a or an.
quite a good man
quite an interesting book
In British English quite means fairly, to a small extent, but not very.
In American English quite means very, but not extremely. See LDOCE.
When "hardly" comes at the beginning of a sentence, is it followed by inversion or not?
Sender
nabil
Position
Teacher
Hardly, scarcely, and no sooner are used (often with a past perfect) to say that one thing happened very soon after another.
He had hardly/scarcely opened the book when someone knocked on the door.
Dad was hardly/scarcely home before the boys started fighting.
We no sooner sat down to dinner than the phone rang.
In a formal or literary style they can come at the beginning of a sentence, with an inversion of the (auxiliary) verb and subject. If you are going to teach this structure to your students, you should tell them that this is formal and not the usual way to express these ideas.
Hardly/Scarcely had he opened the book when someone knocked on the door.
Hardly/Scarcely was Dad home before the boys started fighting.
No sooner did we sit down to dinner than the phone rang.
Which is correct: There is something (missed / missing).
Sender
hamdy ahmed
Position
Student
Missing is correct.
In Sec 3 Unit 7, I know that I should use "must have + p.p." to refer to past deduction. Can I use "must + inf." to refer to present deduction? Ahmed has a very good job so he (must have - must have had) a lot of money.
Sender
Messi
Position
Student
Yes, to make a deduction about a present situation you can use must + the infinitive without to. You had this in Sec 1, Unit 15, modal verbs of possibility. See here for some exercises to revise.
That must be why I have a phobia about lifts.
I think I must have some kind of fear of large spaces.
Why did you say "for a fixed price" although LDOCE says "at a fixed price"? (Sec 2 SB, reading text, page 103)
Sender
Abdul Rahman Sherif
Position
Student
Both at and for can be used here.
Why did you say "at Giza", not "in Giza" in the listening part of Sec 2, unit 16 (TG page 280)?
Sender
Abdul Rahman Sherif
Position
Student
Both prepositions can be used. At is especially appropriate when talking about travel from one place to another. At indicates some point in the travel. At is also appropriate to say something or someone is in the vicinity of something, without pinpointing exactly where.