The meaning of "bring sb down"?? Here's the first sentence of an article "Life can bring us down from time to time". What does the phrasal verb"bring us down "mean? Make us feel depressed? or sth else? I'd like an exact definition. Many thanks.

I'm Chinese. A blank-filling grammmar gets me puzzled. "break up or be broken up"? Here is the sentence: There was a feud between Kobe and Shaq, so the dynamic partners _____(break up) in 2004. Please fill in the blank with proper forms. The suggested answer is "were broken up". However, I looked up the dictionary where there is a sentence: The couple broke up last year. I'm a teacher and several of my students thought the answer was wrong and should be corected into: ..., so the dynamic parters broke up in 2004. I'm confused now . break up or be broken up(passive voice) Are both answers correct? Which is used more natural in the English -speaking countries? Thanks a lot!

I'm Chinese. A sentence puzzles me. The word "add" used in "passive voice"! Can I change it? Here's the sentence: Make sure there is plenty of milk and sugar to add to the tea. We've known that the word add can be used in a collocation as " "add sth to sth". We should say:add milk and sugar to the tea. So a couple of my sutdents argued it disobeyed the grammar, a wrong sentence, and should be corrected as: Make sure there is plenty of milk and sugar TO BE added to the tea. Is the sentence just a printed error? Or English-speaking countries think both are OK?

A grammar quiz puzzles me. None or nothing? just used more naturally in English-speaking countries? I'm Chinese. Here is the sentence: Niki is always full of ideas, but ______ is useful to my knowledge. A. nothing B. none The suggested answer is "none". why can't I choose nothing? or grammatically both are OK? Just which is used more naturally? Many thanks!

get punished or get punishment? Which is more natural in English-speaking countries? I'm Chinese. Here's a sentence,"If any student cheats, he ore she will get ______(punish)". Use a proper form of "punish". The suggested answer is the first option, while several of my students want to choose the latter. Which phrase is used more often?

I can't get these funny puns. Are they hilarious? Anyone could explain them? I'm Chinese. and I just watched an English teaching program. The teacher seemed to burst out laughing. but I didn't catch them? Could anyone try to explain the funny jokes? Appreciating it! 1. The past, present, and future all walked into a bar. It was tense. 2. -Why is six afraid of seven? - because seven eight nine. 3. Two fish are in a tank.One fish turns to the other fish, and says,"how do you drive this thing?"