THE present continuous tense and gerunds are sometimes really confusing. Which of these sentences is correct?

a. It certainly is helping me to focus on my own problem in regard to my siblings.

or

b. It certainly helping me to focus on my own problem in regard to my siblings. – Siza

A present continuous tense needs an auxiliary “be” verb before the main –ing verb, as in your first sentence, where “is” is the auxiliary verb and “helping” is the main verb. It would be better, though, to place the adverb “certainly” between “is” and “helping”, so that the sentence would read:

“It is certainly helping me to focus on my own problem in regard to my siblings.”

When an –ing verb is used as a gerund, we don’t use an auxiliary verb with it, and it functions like a noun, as in the following sentence:

“Helping others seems to be second nature to him.”

Here, “Helping others” is the subject of the sentence.

Respected and respectable

I happened to read two secondary school students’ essays which start with:

Good morning to all my respected teachers ...

Shouldn’t it be “respectable” which is the adjective of “respect”? The students said their teachers did not mark them wrong when they used “respected”. – Confused

“Respected” is the right word in that context. It functions as an adjective, like many past participles of verbs, for example “bored”, “interested”, “broken”, etc. which are used to qualify nouns, as in “a bored/interested student” or “a broken heart”.

“My respected teachers” expresses the idea that the writer/speaker respects his/her teachers.

“Respectable”, however, when applied to a person, means “regarded by society as being proper ... and good”(Concise Oxford Dictionary). It is not appropriate for a student to tell his teachers what society thinks of them. Teachers are supposed to be respectable, anyway.

How to use these words

I would like to inquire about the use of some English words.

1. relative: How do you use it correctly in terms of its different meanings?

2. so to speak: This is a phrase with a variety of usages. Please provide examples.

3. Is the word “collaboration” appropriately used in this phrase: “Collaboration by: A division and B division”. – Akil

1. There are some very good advanced learner’s dictionaries on the Internet. You can find there the definitions of the word “relative” as a noun and as an adjective, as well as examples of its use in sentences. Let me give you some links:

> oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/relative_1

> dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/relative_1?q=relative

> ldoceonline.com/dictionary/relative_1

2. “So to speak” is an idiom that is used to indicate that we are using an unusual or amusing metaphorical or idiomatic expression to express something. “So to speak” is placed before or after that expression.

I will give you some examples of its use:

“Pearl ... was the leading spirit of the pair, and led Maud by the nose, so to speak. (from J.S.Winter, Bootle’s Children (1888), quoted by the Oxford English Dictionary)

This means that of the two children, Pearl and Maud, Pearl was the more dominant. “So to speak” is used after the amusing metaphorical/idiomatic expression “led Maud by the nose”, which means “made Maud do whatever she wanted”. Cattle are literally led by the nose by their owners or herdsmen.

“I became extremely secretive, and began to think that I was, so to speak, born into an occupied territory.” (John le Carré, the spy novelist, talking about his unhappy childhood)

Here, “so to speak” comes before the metaphorical expression “born into an occupied territory”. If you are really born into an occupied territory (a country ruled by a foreign power that has conquered it), you live in an atmosphere of fear and secretiveness, which is a very original way of describing an unhappy childhood.

“In that relationship it’s very much Lorna who wears the trousers, so to speak.” (example from online Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)

The dictionary explains that “wears the trousers” means “makes all the important decisions.” To “wear the trousers” in a marriage relationship is a metaphor for to take the man’s role. This metaphor must have originated in the old days in Europe when only men wore trousers and were expected to make all the important decisions in the family. Things have changed now!

3. Yes, you can use “by” after “collaboration”, but I don’t think you need the colon there.

Although it is much more common to say “collaboration between x and y”, it is also correct to say “collaboration by x and y”. Here are some examples from the Internet:

“Reforms also seek to bring closer collaboration by police and other agencies to crack down on extremists.” (from telegraph.co.uk, July 30, 2004)

“Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three – the first collaboration by Cage and Cunningham that I saw – was performed as part of a season of American dance at the Alvin Theatre, New York ...” (from the obituary of choreographer Merce Cunningham, guardian.co.uk, July 27, 2009)

“We encourage close collaboration between researchers and policymakers from the very first stage of the research process.” (from the website of The Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy)

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