Richard

The use of were/was

In most cases, I know how to use the words. In most cases 'was' refers to the singular and 'were' is used in plural.

But every now and again, I become uncertain. This is the sentence that have made me uncertain now:

"The first six months here was/were hard, and I took on various jobs; mostly hard labour.".

Since the sentence refers to six months (plural), am I right to use the word 'were' ?

Needless to say, I'm looking for input from native speakers of English.

Thanks.

Anyone skilled with editing soundfiles ?

I've got a few tracks that I listen to a lot, but which have quite a bit of background static. I've tried to remove it by using the soundfile-program 'Audacity'. But I haven't succeeded. I'm not very skilled in its use though.

So I was hoping someone might help me out, if you possess the know-hows and have the time. I could send the files to you for you to look over, if you have an e-mail address, or you could try point me in the right direction and/or explain to me how to do it myself.

Needless to say, I'd be grateful for your time. ;)

I need a program (preferably a free download) that allows me to edit Music files - the more options the better.

What I specifically need right now, in this case, is to prolong a few Music-files, basically by creating a loop or two...

Let's the say a Music-file is only 2 minutes long, but I need it to be 6 minutes long so I need to triple the length of it by adding two repetetive sections to it. Basically a loop that makes it play 3 times.

I have never done this before, but I know that it can be done easily enough if one simply has the Tools for it. Many have done so before me, but I know not what programs they have used to do so.

Usually, I am simply using "Any Video Converter", but this is only useful to convert to other filetypes and/or trim soundfiles.

So, suggestions to Programs that would let me create loop(s) ?

Where do I go to change Search engine used by my computer? (I have Windows 7)

I'd appreciate detailed explanation, step-by-step. Once I know where to find the appropriate options, I should be fine, I just don't know which menus to open...

Search Engine must have changed during an installing of a minor program or somesuch, I suspect. Must have missed the small writing...

I usually know my way around in a kitchen well enough, but garlic is something I have actually never used before when making my own food.

I've obviously eaten food with garlic many a time, but only when I haven't made the food myself. So here the other day, in the grocery-store, I decided to take some with me home.

But I realized that I'm at a complete loss as to how to use it... I'm sure there are different methods depending on how you cook the food and what kind of food you're mixing it with.

So I thought I should put it out here to ask for some tips, advice and tutoring on how to use garlic..as silly a question as it might seem. But we all gotta start learning somewhere, right?

Is it possible to "Lock" a CD on which you have burned files? Lock as in preventing others from using it, perhaps by requiring a password to read the files..

If possible, then step-by-step, how?

Having the Pharaoh's nation departed, led by one big-hearted

Travelling across the land, on a journey so grand

Being pursued, one had to be shrewd

Being chased, they had no time to waste

A promised land lay ahead, a place where they could go safe to bed, that's where they had to head

But first a hinder they had to pass, a thing of giant mass

Over, through, around? They had to find a way or see their chances run aground

Putting his trust in God, the one swung his shiny rod

Now this could hardly fail, with east wind at their tail

Their destination now within reach, while fleeing through a breach

After came the chasers, their pace as if being racers

Set for an early tomb, they rode right into their doom

Trapped in the flood, now in a sea the colour of blood

The pursued now on a way out of harm, there were no longer cause for alarm

Now tell me true, is this more than you can chew, or can you see this riddle through?

A point is awarded for each riddle, meaning a maximum of 4 Points can be achieved. Be the first to give a correct answer and that point will be yours.

RIDDLE 1

Once like you and once like me, now possessed with fury and rage. In the black of night, do not this one engage. Nor in daylight, for it is more than it appear; it is still something that we all fear. Oh my, I will not lie, I fear our end may be nigh! I do not want to die! I say call for a knight to be our bringer of light in the dark of night. He may hear our plight and decide to do what's right. Do you know what this is that frightens me so?

RIDDLE 2

A living instrument whose purpose is to perform the darkest deed, with the utmost skill and speed.

This one will listen to no plead, intent on following where his preset path does lead.

He will make you bleed, then into the shadows he will recede.

Do you know of what I speak?

RIDDLE 3

I have neither water nor rock. nor do I have trees or buildings. Yet I have rivers, mountains, forests and towns. Does that not seem strange? If you can figure out what I am, then it will make more sense.

RIDDLE 4

Deep down below, where the sun don't glow

That's where we'll be found, with the ability to astound, for our magnificence are so profound

Three siblings we are, our beauty like that of a star

Of the colours primary, we do so vary

In the line of a beam we do so gleam

Now that you know our sheen, can you anything glean?

Then we ask of you thus, can you name us?

Be the first to get most correct answers and you win.

RIDDLE 1

Once like you and once like me, now possessed with fury and rage. In the black of night, do not this one engage. Nor in daylight, for it is more than it appear; it is still something that we all fear. Oh my, I will not lie, I fear our end may be nigh! I do not want to die! I say call for a knight to be our bringer of light in the dark of night. He may hear our plight and decide to do what's right. Do you know what this is that frightens me so?

RIDDLE 2

I'm usually calm and composed, but when angered, my fiery wrath is great. I spill my guts and let it out, I do so with a shout. Time and age may subside my rage, but you can never truly write me off. What am I?

RIDDLE 3

We may not be the strongest or the most intimidating, but we are as hardy as they come. For a whole third of the year we 'stand', even in the lowest of temperatures and wildest blizzards we stand and we huddle. Our next generation depend on it. We freeze, we shiver, we starve, we suffer... yet we endure. We do so that our genes can live on and our species always will remain in numbers. We do so for our young ones and for our women. What are we?

RIDDLE 4

When you give it to someone, the person you give it to will insist you keep it, even after accepting what you have given. What is it?

RIDDLE 5

What is so fragile that it will be broken if you just so much as mention it?

Self-made riddles. Be the first to get most correct answers and you win.

RIDDLE 1

My purpose is to deceive, to in me make you believe. What is true I will hide under my metaphoric sleeve, and if I am caught some might come to grieve. What am I ?

RIDDLE 2

I'm usually docile, but when angered, my fiery wrath is great. I spill my guts and let it out, I do so with a shout. Time and age may subside my rage, but you can never truly write me off. What am I?

RIDDLE 3

A living instrument whose purpose is to perform the darkest deed, with the utmost skill and speed. This one will listen to no plead, intent on following where his preset path does lead. He will make you bleed, then into the shadows he will recede. Do you know of what I speak?

RIDDLE 4

From mythology I was born, and in a pair I was given horn. With varied feature I am a creature, half man and with a wide shoulder-span. Strong as a bull I claim to be – you will see, if only you find me, inside my maze where I hold my base. What am I?

RIDDLE 5

It cannot be seen. Nor heard. It cannot be sensed in any way. It is not an object, not a thing. Where it begins one cannot say, but as for an end, it has none. What is it?

RIDDLE 6

I am a creature of the sea, one of the strongest there be. No one dare hunt me, for I can make even the Great White flee. Just as I am fit, I also have great wit, and to my family I am closely knit; I would not want to split. Many think I have a pretty outfit, and on top of Apex I sit. What am I?

Does natural rubber, or rather natural latex from which natural rubber is made, grow inside trees only in India and China? It seems unlikely, but that's where it started as a commercial business, and from what I have gathered, the majority of natural rubber being produced come from those two countries.

I read that more than 20,000 different species produce latex, yet I find no mention of natural rubber coming from anywhere else than China and India...

If you have sources/links, I'd appreciate if you included them.

PS! Notice that I am not talking about the synthetic, I'm talking about the natural

thanks

5 Riddles for you. Self-made! Be the first to give the most correct answers and you win the points, as well as everlasting glory. I hope not all the riddles turn out to be too easy, but it remains to be seen...

RIDDLE 1

My purpose is to deceive, to in me make you believe. What is true I will hide under my metaphoric sleeve, and if I am caught some might come to grieve. What am I ?

RIDDLE 2

I'm neither an object nor mass. I exist where chaos bloom, and where law meets its doom. Disorder is my child, that sees no cases filed; not against the bad, nor against the mad. What am I?

RIDDLE 3

A pale crystal, one among many a sister, whose surface is as soft as feather. It is a thing of beauty, yet it has no value. Of what do I speak ?

RIDDLE 4

It feeds off the light, which in a sense is the very essence of its life. In the dark it has died many deaths, yet in the bright it is always reborn. So has always been the trend, and this will never end. What is it ?

RIDDLE 5

As it moves it leaves behind a rustling sound. It has its seasons where it sees its prime, but in the end those leave behind; a time of fade and decline. Then its life leaves this world, now on eves quite cold it flies. New seasons in the future lies, with new dyes to please the eyes. It greaves you not, but leaves you wondering what this thing is, does it not?

First one to get most answers correctly will win and get my Points.

But the true prize of course, will be the satisfaction of having succeeded. Just for fun.

If several people have the right answer to the same riddle then the one who sent in the answer first will get the point on that particular riddle.

Most of the riddles shouldn't be that hard, so be game and give it a go ! I will update my original post here with the correct answers, most likely tonight or tomorrow. Just remember we might be in diffrent time-zones. So stay tuned.

------------------------------------------------

RIDDLE 1

You may wish to stand against me but it shall always be in vain. When I win, I end your pain. What am I ?

RIDDLE 2

Two heads I have, twins are they, yet I only have one body. Also, the straighter I stand, the faster I run. What am I ?

RIDDLE 3

Always will I tell you the truth, even though I cannot speak. You will see, if only you look to me. What am I ?

RIDDLE 4

I have the means to save your life, yet I can also take it from you. Disputes I settle, but not with words. If you doubt I speak true, I can with a strong point prove it to you. What am I ?

RIDDLE 5

Those deep in dungeon locked, they will miss me and find me to be joy should they ever see me again. But to those fully beneath my gaze, I can be hell at the worst of times. What am I ?

RIDDLE 6

So often do I find myself swallowed by you when I am less and you are more, yet I cannot die by you. If you should find yourself in my domain however, where I am more and you are less, I can swallow 'you'. What am I ?

RIDDLE 7

It has neither a beginning nor an end. It is just as the world's cycles. What is it ?

RIDDLE 8

I emerge only at night even though I am not truly nocturnal and have not been summoned. At day you will never see me, even though I make no effort not to be seen, for it is not in my nature to hide.

RIDDLE 9

Break it and it is better, immediately set and harder to break again. Of what do I speak?

RIDDLE 10

Often held but never touched, always wet but never rusts, often bites but seldom bit, to use me well you must have wit. Of what do I speak ?

First one to get most answers correctly will win and get my Points.

But the true prize of course, will be the satisfaction of having succeeded. Just for fun.

If several people have the right answer to the same riddle then the one who sent in the answer first will get the point on that particular riddle.

Most of the riddles shouldn't be that hard, so be game and give it a go ! I will update my original post here with the correct answers, most likely tonight or tomorrow. Just remember we might be in diffrent time-zones. So stay tuned.

------------------------------------------------

RIDDLE 1

You may wish to stand against me but it shall always be in vain. When I win, I end your pain. What am I ?

RIDDLE 2

Two heads I have, twins are they, yet I only have one body. Also, the straighter I stand, the faster I run. What am I ?

RIDDLE 3

Always will I tell you the truth, even though I cannot speak. You will see, if only you look to me. What am I ?

RIDDLE 4

I have the means to save your life, yet I can also take it from you. Disputes I settle, but not with words. If you doubt I speak true, I can with a strong point prove it to you. What am I ?

RIDDLE 5

Those deep in dungeon locked, they will miss me and find me to be joy should they ever see me again. But to those fully beneath my gaze, I can be hell at the worst of times. What am I ?

RIDDLE 6

So often do I find myself swallowed by you when I am less and you are more, yet I cannot die by you. If you should find yourself in my domain however, where I am more and you are less, I can swallow 'you'. What am I ?

RIDDLE 7

It has neither a beginning nor an end. It is just as the world's cycles. What is it ?

RIDDLE 8

I emerge only at night even though I am not truly nocturnal and have not been summoned. At day you will never see me, even though I make no effort not to be seen, for it is not in my nature to hide.

RIDDLE 9

Break it and it is better, immediately set and harder to break again. Of what do I speak?

RIDDLE 10

Often held but never touched, always wet but never rusts, often bites but seldom bit, to use me well you must have wit. Of what do I speak ?

There are two Siblings. One of each gender.

The Sister is as old as the brother will be when the sister is twice as old as the brother was when the sister's age was half the sum of their present ages combined.

How old are the brother and sister?

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Bear in mind that there can be several correct answers to this riddle. But most of you, if you succeed, will most likely land on the same ages.

I will post the answer(s) in the coming days, so come back later if you want to learn the answer.