Statue-like face (alternatives) Hey, guys! Happy New Year everybody! I was wondering what may sound better. 'He had a statue-like face' OR 'His face was like that of a statue' OR 'His face was like ONE of a statue'. Clue me in, please.

Affection WITH something Now, I know that having affection FOR something is correct, but I'm not sure whether or not the word FOR could be replaced with the word WITH, without making the sentence sound odd to a native ear.

You did, did you? Here's an excerpt from Stephen King's IT: Mr. Keene laughed and took a licorice whip for himself. “You wondered about that, did you?" My question: Am I right assuming that the "did you?" part is grammatically wrong, however, the mistake is common even among the native speakers?

14 years prior Beneath is a part of an article about Arnold Schwarzenegger. My uncertainty concerns the 14 YEARS PRIOR part of the text: 'The action hero film star is attempting to make a major comeback after the negative publicity he suffered following his separation from longtime wife Maria Shriver in 2011 and his admission that he fathered a child with the couple's housekeeper 14 YEARS PRIOR.' My question: is my assumption correct, and that PRIOR instead of, say, BEFORE, indicates a certain amount of time that has passed prior to a specific point in the timeline (2011 in that case) which is NOT TODAY?

Could have DESTROY!!!??? Last night I watched a documentary on creating "A Nightmare on Elm Street". In her interview Sara Risher explained the financial hardships the New Line Cinema had to go through in order to get the first Freddy movie done, and she said - QUOTE: "The film could have DESTROY the company." She said DESTROY instead of DESTROYED. Was that a mistake on her part, or is it acceptable?

To pity SOMETHING instead of someone - POSSIBLE OR NOT? 'He pitied this.' (of a situation in the past) I know it probably sounds completely wrong to a native ear, but the reason I'm asking this, is the one that the word 'regret' appears to be somehow more emotionally powerful than needed. Pity, on the contrary - and mayby it's only me - may, under some circumstances, have a less emotional quality to it, and even a certain amount of cynicism.

he has been informed vs he had been informed Has and Had is still one serious Achiless heel of mine. :) Do I understand it right, that 'he had been informed' is rather mentioned in a story about something that happened a while back (days, months, years), whereas 'he has been informed' is more appropriate if we speak about minutes or hours? Or, is there an additional meaning to it that I still fail to understand?And it's Achilles heel, of course. Sorry about that. :)

The connection broke off vs The line went dead? (what's more common?) What's a more common thing to say - 'The connection broke off.' or 'The line went dead?' Isn't 'The line went dead' more appropriate when it's actually dead (like out of service, or something)?

....hadn't he been.... Hey, guys. Is this sentence gramatically correct? The injury would have caused much more damage, hadn't the surgeon been such an excelent specialist in his area of expertease.