How can I emphsize this sentence. There are a lot of colloquial words in this novel. Can I say: There do be a lot of colloquial words in this novel.

What does the part in quotes mean? Three generations had nailed bright metal signs—Nehi Grape Soda, Royal Crown Cola, Camel Filters, and "twenty years’ worth of North Carolina automobile license plates"—all over the shack, and that burst of color could be seen from the sea through all but the thickest fog. Edit: Does "twenty years’ worth" mean "they had been collecting license plates for 20 years"?

Why you should keep your room clean in this case? You’re right—you do! And, no doubt, you had to scrimp and save and *keep your room clean* and remind your parents a bunch of times to remember that the tooth fairy always leaves you some money when you lose a tooth. You worked hard for that five bucks! It’s yours and nobody else’s.

How can I understand the sentence in quotes? You know enough about the world to know that one way grownups keep track of numbers is to keep score—like in baseball or golf, or "whether your mom or dad last cleaned up after the dog in the back yard". Thanks a lot.

What does "comes into sharper focus" mean here? The contrast between speech and writing comes into sharper focus when we cosider that spoken language is acquired without specific formal instruction, where as...

When is "earliest time"? How different types of writing systems have developed from earliest times.

Is this sentence wrong? There weren’t any buildings there at all, as far as I can remember. I think it should be (without the 2nd there): There weren’t any buildings at all, as far as I can remember.

What does "strong" mean here? Do you like strong black coffee?

Does this sound off to you? A dog is an animal. I think it wants to say "dogs are animals". I don't think "singular form" can represent a general idea, am I right? Edit: If As you said, a dog can represent the general idea, dogs, then why it can't represent the general idea books in the following sentence: Tom is a writer, he writes a book. My question is, in which case a singular countable noun can represet a general idea.