1. Vanessa R. asked: what’s the difference of gig and concert?… and what is correct a big hug or a big embrace? Have a nice weekend too!! and I like your page!!
Answer: A concert is a live performance, usually musical, before an audience. A gig is a slang for concert. Hug and embrace are synonyms, and are both acceptable. However, “a big hug” is more commonly used.
2. Kang Wang asked: “Is there any difference among “sometimes”,”from time to time”,”every now and then”?”
Answer:
You can find a definition and usage of “sometimes” here
“From time to time” and “every now and then” are similar in meaning. Both mean “occasionally“.
Examples:
1. She craves chocolate EVERY NOW AND THEN.
2. EVERY NOW AND THEN, John visits his dad in Toronto.
3. My mother calls me FROM TIME TO TIME to ask how I’m doing.
4. Pat is quite busy with his work, but he tries to cook for his wife FROM TIME TO TIME.
3. You asked: Which is more important to study: grammar or vocabulary?
Answer: Both of them. You need vocabulary to put words together to make sentences, and you need grammar to make the sentences correctly, with everything in it’s correct position (subject, verb and complement), so that the sentence will have meaning.
4. Daisy asked: Can you tell me the difference between I believe so / I believe not and I don’t hope so/ I hope so.
Answer: Please read our post on Using So and Not. It provides answers to this question, with examples. As for “I don’t hope so”, this sentence is not wrong, grammatically speaking, but native speakers usually don’t say it that way. You will usually hear “I hope not” and not “I don’t hope so”.
5. Habib N. asked: Please explain for me the use of gerund after comma; for example : Education leads people to a brighter future, allowing them to change other people’s lives.
Answer: Allowing in this sentence is not a gerund. Instead, it is used as a participial phrase. Participial phrases modify nouns and pronouns. In a sentence, the can be followed by an object, a preposition, an adverb or an adverbial clause. In your sample sentence above, the word allowing ( in the present participle form) modifies the pronoun them.
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