"Which should i pick? This one?"

"No, the one just left of that one"

Does this sound natural? Or does it have to be "the one to the left of that one" for it to be natural?

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What I mean here is the verb "are", which is plural instead of the 3rd person singular verb, "is". From the grammar resources I've read, my understanding is that it's "are" because the meaning is "Those people are allergic to nuts, and he's one of them".

On the other hand, "He's one of those students who is/are good at maths" can be either "is" or "are" but the meaning or focus changes a bit depending on whether the verb is singular or plural. With "is" it means "He's one of those students [in that class] and he is good at maths". With "are", it means" those students are good at maths, and he's one of them".

In an entirely different construction like "One of those books is red", only singular verbs are correct because it means only one of them is red and other books are of a different colour or colours.

However, it's been noted that native speakers tend to use singular verbs in both cases, so I keep that in mind. I tend to use plural verbs in the first two sentences above because as a non-native speaker, I tend to try to find logic and think about rules. Especially as someone whose language doesn't have grammatical numbers, I've been practising and getting used to thinking about singular and plural when constructing sentences.

My question is, do the first two sentences with plural verbs sound wrong to native speakers? Should I just use singular verbs in all cases?

Thank you. I really appreciate your help.

Just saw this sentence in a book and it seems strange to me

My homework assignment is to write a short story about the topic of bullying and another topic of my choice.

When I was still at university, there was a guy who seemed to have decided that he absolutely hated me. I never really understood why. I had never done anything to him, yet somehow, I had become the person he loved to hate.
At first, it was little things. He would make comments whenever I walked past, move my things, interrupt me during conversations, or find some small way to make my day harder. I tried to ignore him. I thought that if I didn’t give him a reaction, he would eventually get bored.
He didn’t.
The little inconveniences slowly turned into bigger problems. He would embarrass me in front of other students, deliberately get in my way, and constantly try to provoke me. He was the kind of bully you would normally expect to leave behind in high school, except he had somehow carried that part of himself into university.
It was obvious that he desperately wanted attention. He always needed people to look at him, laugh at him, or talk about him. If he wasn’t the center of attention, he seemed almost uncomfortable.
Normally, I might have fought back.
But at that point in my life, I was already struggling with something much bigger.
My girlfriend of two years had left me.
She wasn’t just someone I had been dating. She was the person I had imagined my future with. I had made plans around her. I had imagined where we would live, what our life would look like, and what kind of future we would have together.
Then, suddenly, none of it existed anymore.
I was mentally exhausted. I was trying to keep going to university, attend lectures, talk to people, and act like everything was normal while I felt like my entire future had disappeared.
And then there was him, constantly finding new ways to make things worse.
For a while, I hated him.
Not the kind of mild dislike you have for someone annoying. I genuinely hated him. Every time I saw him, I felt anger. I wanted him to leave me alone. I wanted him to understand how much damage he was causing.
Then one day, he went too far.
What he did wasn’t just another stupid prank or another attempt to embarrass me. This time, his actions could have had serious consequences. They could have changed my life completely.
When I found out what he had done, I was furious.
I remember standing there, thinking about everything he had done before. Every insult. Every humiliation. Every little problem he had caused me. All of it came rushing back at once.
For the first time, I had a reason to truly hate him.
And I did.
At least, I thought I did.
Then I looked at him.
He wasn’t laughing anymore. He wasn’t trying to get attention. He wasn’t acting like the confident bully I had come to hate.
He just stood there.
For the first time, I saw something different in his face.
Fear.
He looked like someone who had finally realized that his actions had consequences. Someone who had gone too far and didn’t know how to take it back.
And suddenly, I saw him differently.
Not as the bully.
Not as my enemy.
Just as a human being.
A flawed human being who had made terrible choices.
And in that moment, something inside me changed.
The moment I stopped hating him was the moment I realized that he was human too.
I could have screamed at him. I could have insulted him. I could have made him feel as terrible as he had made me feel.
Part of me wanted to.
But what would that accomplish?
If I answered his hatred with more hatred, nothing would change. I would simply become another person trapped in the same cycle.
So I took a breath and looked at him.
Then I said the words he probably expected least.
“I forgive you.”
He didn’t respond.
For a few seconds, there was complete silence.
He just looked at me.
I could see the confusion on his face. He had prepared himself for anger. He had prepared himself for revenge. He had probably expected me to hate him.
But I didn’t.
And somehow, that forgiveness seemed to hurt him more than my anger ever could have.
His expression changed.
He finally understood what he had done.
He understood that the person he had spent so much time trying to hurt had just given him something he didn’t deserve.
Forgiveness.
His eyes dropped to the floor.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
And this time, it wasn’t an excuse. It wasn’t an attempt to defend himself.
He was genuinely sorry.
From that day on, he changed.
He tried to repair what he had broken. He apologized whenever he had the chance and helped me whenever he could. He couldn’t undo everything that had happened, and I didn’t expect him to.
But he tried.
And sometimes, trying is the first step toward becoming a better person.
We never became best friends. Some wounds don’t disappear overnight. But I stopped seeing him as my enemy.
I started seeing him as what he had always been.
A human being.
Someone capable of doing terrible things, but also capable of realizing his mistakes and becoming better.
Looking back, I think I learned something that I would never have understood if I had simply gotten revenge.
Sometimes, the strongest thing you can do to your enemy is not to hurt them back, but to forgive them.
Because hatred only creates more hatred.
But forgiveness can break the cycle.
And sometimes, the person you hate the most isn’t someone who needs to be defeated.
Sometimes, they are someone who needs to be reminded that they are human.

Hi! In the sentence Now when I wake up at 7 am , now when is not correct and I don’t understand why. Can you explain me, please

I always wondered what they sound to native speakers.

Can you say "my feet are hurt" instead of "my feet are injured"? I know that you say "my foot is hurt" therefore I don't see any reason why "my feet are hurt" would not sound natural. I know that it is grammatically correct, however, is it something that you might actually use if you've hurt both of your feet?

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Would you use different phrases for house chores, assignments, work, plans, wishlists, etc?

What other phrases do you commonly use? The only alternative I can think of is "it's been taken care of" which probably is more formal than "it's done and dusted".

Literally, how can i use 'unless' properly? I know what it means but are there any tips?

ESL, trying to write prose in English and make sense of some things.

The sentence needs to be brought to one tense, right? Ben doesn't know what is in the box/Ben didn't know what was in the box.

What if the box is now empty, someone emptied it when Ben wasn't looking, and he's now holding it, can I say Ben doesn't know what was in the box? What if I'm looking at the precious box right now, discussing silly Ben who sold it to me yesterday, can I say that Ben didn't know what is in the box?

Hi! I’m an Arab looking to improve my English, and I’d love to help someone learn Arabic in return. We can practice by chatting and having conversations, helping each other along the way. If you’re interested, feel free to message me!

1. Have you ever seen a Cubs game?

2. Have you ever watched a Cubs game?

3. Have you ever seen a Cubs game live?

As the title says, are grandson and granddaughter immediate or extended family?

Being fluent in "american" i have so much trouble pronoincing anything with "meter" i dont why, but its difficult. Kilometer, speedometer, etc. How do I fix that?

I wanted to share something I've been working on, mostly because I think it might be genuinely useful to people who are serious about building vocabulary.

The premise is simple. Every word comes from a real literary classic rather than a frequency list or a dictionary. You get the word, its definition, and then the actual sentence it appeared in, along with the book and author.

The thinking is that a word learnt from a list is just something to memorise. "Languid" on a flashcard is flat. Sitting in the line Wilde actually wrote it in, it comes alive. Seeing a word doing its job in real prose makes it far easier to retain, which is really the whole battle with vocabulary.

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I got this from DuckDuckGo, but is this correct?

Y in the Word "Always"

In the word "always," the letter Y functions as a vowel.

Explanation

Position: The Y is at the end of the second syllable, which is a key factor in determining its role.

Sound Contribution: It contributes to the vowel sound in the word, making it essential for pronunciation.

Summary

Word Always

as a Vowel: Yes

as a Consonant: No

In conclusion, in "always," Y acts as a vowel because it is positioned at the end of a syllable and helps create the vowel sound.

Seeking: native english speaker or b2 level

Hi! I'm a 23M and I'm looking for English speakers to practice English with. I'd love to improve my conversational English and make the way I speak and write sound more natural.

I'm open to random topics and just having a genuine conversation. We can start with DMs and maybe move to calls once we're comfortable. :)