English Conversation - part 04 - Unit 18 - Join us: @englich

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English Conversation - part 04 - Unit 20 - Join us: @englich

English Conversation - part 04 - Unit 21 - Join us: @englich

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Functioning in Business teaches you the English language and the American culture for workplace meetings and formal situations. For example, it includes tips about hotel reservations, restaurants, negotiations, finding a job, etc.

In many cases, the prepositional phrases "up the street" and "down the street" mean the same thing, and either one is appropriate.

If a friend called to ask you where the new movie theater was, you could answer either “It’s right up the street from the Japanese restaurant,” or “It’s just down the street from the Japanese restaurant,” and either way they would understand what you meant: It’s near the Japanese restaurant, on the same street.

However, here are some important factors to keep in mind:


“Down the street” is much more common than "up the street." According to one English language corpus (or large data set), people use the expression “down the street” five times more often than they use “up the street.”


In almost all cases, it’s correct to use “down the street.” However, if the street is on a hill, use “up the street” when talking about something that is further uphill, and “down the street” when it’s further downhill.


Many people recommend using “up the street” to mean, “the direction in which the house or building numbers are going up,” and using “down the street” to mean the other way.


Finally, in the expression "up and down the street" meaning "both ways," up always comes first.

source: https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/eb/qa/up-the-street-or-down-the-street

In American English collective nouns are more often singular, and so a singular verb is used with them. (In British English they are more often plural, and so a plural verb is used with them.) Below are some sentences showing collective nouns with singular verbs (shown in italics):

A herd of sheep is grazing happily in the field.
A choir of children sings beautifully on TV.
A family of doctors was gathered at a reunion.
A bouquet of flowers sits on the table.
A flock of birds flies over our heads.


Sometimes when the members of the group are doing different things, or are not acting together as a unit or with a shared purpose, a plural verb is used. A singular verb is still correct in these examples. Below are some examples of this:

A herd of sheep are scattering in all directions across the field.
A choir of children are all from different schools.
A bouquet of flowers were strewn around the room.

Source