Mushrooming.

Is it common in your country to gather mushrooms in the wild? Do you, personally, practise it? How do you prepare them in you country? What are the most popular dishes with mushrooms?

New kimono My little son has been attending judo classes for a month, and yesterday I bought him a white judogi (a special kimono for practising judo). He looks so grown-up and serious in that kimono, when performing his holds and exercises according to the trainer’s instructions. Is this really my little child who just got born seven years ago, and who now and again seats on my knees, puts his arms around my neck and asks me to tell him a fairy tale about a hedgehog and a chipmunk? Gradually he is getting adult. And I need to catch these moments of his childhood. They are marvelous. And they will never return.

Verbs like "tell", "give", "recommend" in passive. My question reffers to the verbs that mean "to do smth. to smbdy". I am confused about which construction is really correct (the information in different sourses differs). Well, examples: I was told a story. A story was told to me. I was told to come the next day. I was told that I should come the next day. It was told to me that I should come the next day. I was given a book. I was recommended a book (seems to be incorrect, isn't it?). I was recommended to read that book. The book was reccomended to me. It was recommended to me to read that book. I was provided access to the database. The access to the database was provided to me. I was shown the exit. The exit was shown to me. The same about verbs "to advise", "to present", "to offer" ans so on. Thanks in advance.

Alignment of Venus and Jupiter. During February and March of this year we can see a spectacular sight in the evening sky: two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, are approaching towards each other. In the evening, when it gets dark, they are first who appear on the sky. They are in the west part of the sky (south-west for northern hemisphere and north-west for the southern hemisphere), not far from each other. And every day they get closer. Tomorrow, on March, 12th the distance between them will be the least, only about 3 degree. Don’t miss, since from that moment they’ll begin to diverge again. If the orbital planes coincided strictly, then Venus would “merge” with Jupiter visually, would cover it by itself for awhile. But since the orbital planes are still situated at a tiny angle to each other, so planets just approach to each other on a very short distance. Sometimes very short, as it happened in the 2nd year BC (just 0.04 degree – they almost “joined” and looked like a whole very bright object). Scientists think that that event initiated a legend about the Star of the Bethlehem. Anyway, if you like to watch starry sky, this beautiful scene is worth seeing. And even if you don't, I'd be grateful for correcting my text. Thank you) _______________________________________ The pic has been taken tonight, March, 11th. Tomorrow they'll be still closer.

Do you omit "being" in present perfect continuous passive? Some textbooks say that we should, other that we shouldn't... My feeling is that if we omit "being", the tense changes from perfect continuous to perfect, and the sense of the sentence gets lost. Let's compare: The mall has been being built for 3 years. (= it is still being build) The mall has been built at last. (= it has been completed) So, whether we can / should omit "being" in the first sentence or not? ("The mall has been built for 3 years" - does it make sense?) Thank you.

Should I use passive voice in the following kind of sentences?... That weak team is easy to (conquer / be conquered?). This dish is impossible to (eat / be eaten). This job is desirable to (do / be done) today. and so on. Thank you.

Can we use "short of ..." when talking of some trait? For example: He is short of fantasy / intellect / good sense / firmness ... and so on. Or would it be better to say "He has a lack of ..." ? Thank you.

A question "Is this ... " towards a person. Is it valid to ask, for example, "Is this your doctor?" (Or only "Is s/he your doctor?") If it is, can we answer "Yes, it is" ? Or what is the proper answer? I mean, does "it" sound normal towards a person in this case? Thank you.

Despite OF?? All the grammar books strictly prescribe to use "despite" without "of" (unlike "inspite of"). So, I was surprized when I saw some correction of none-native's entry (the correction was made by a native), where "despite of ..." was retained intact by the corrector. Was it valid, or he just missed the error? Can we say "despite OF" in any cases? Thank you.