Do you use contractions on paper? For example, in a research paper, is it appropriate to say "It's necessary to..."? Or I should say "It is..."?

About the American Time Form What does "12:45 am" mean? Is it in the middle night or afternoon? I'm totally confused. As in China, 00:00 is the start of a new day and 12:00 is noon.

My Opinion on Pinyin in Learning Chinese To whom it might concern, First, I want you to know this is just for reference, as I'm not professional at all. For Chinese, probably Pinyin is the counterpart of your phonetic symbol. It helps you to pronounce it in Mandarin, an official standard spoken language of China implemented in 1956, so that all Chinese people can understand. Mandarin’s history is not long, while character is a nationwide writing system we start to use about 2200 years ago. We hadn't unified the spoken languages until PRC formulated the rule of Putonghua, namely Mandarin. Even now there are thousands of dialects in China, and I can tell if one person is from a different area of my home city just by his speaking way. I've lived in Fujian Province for four years, but I can only speak the simplest words of local spoken language like "sorry" or "thanks". Often I say to my roommate who speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and Taiwanese:" If you were born in Europe instead of China, you probably speak French, English and German." My opinion about Pinyin and Chinese characters is that if you just want visiting China instead of really learning Chinese, Pinyin would be adequate. Otherwise, you should deal with both of them, as I learn pronunciation and words together when I study English. I know it's not easy, because English and Chinese are very different. English words are alphabetic, while Chinese characters are ideographic. Despite that, I think alphabetic is the easier way to start. I remember when I was in kindergarten, my Chinese teacher taught Pinyin at first few weeks before we started to learn characters. Over all, my suggestion is: Maybe you can write in characters and use Google Translate Site to make them display in Pinyin to know how they're pronounced. We barely write in Pinyin, or else it will be inconvenient as you write in phonetic symbols. Yours sincerely Yuxi

What's the difference between the two tenses? For instance, 1. I saw the movie. & I've seen the movie. 2. How did he do it? & How has he done it? When should I use past tense instead of present perfect tense？ Thanks in advance.

Long Time No See I’d been too busy preparing my final exams to write an essay for last two weeks. It’s really a long time for me. If brain is a machine, I guess the English part of mine has become rusty and is not functioning well as it used to be. And I know where I can turn for help and help the others. That’s why I come here to ask for the best and free lubrication! Have a nice day, folks!

What kind of Input Software do you use to write in English? It's a little inconvenient for me to double-check if every word I write down is correct, for me such an English writing noob. Do you use some sort of Associating Input Software? I would be grateful if you could tell me.

Which one is the best expression？Do you have a better one? 1) I hope we can help each other, for mutual support of recognizing the beauty of the languages. 2) I hope we can help each other to recognize the beauty of our mutual languages. 3) I hope we can recognize the beauty of each other's languages by mutual help. 4) I hope we can mutually help to recognize the beauty of each other's languages. If you have a better one, please tell me. And I don't know which one should I use, languages or language?

How to pronounce “TH” among Zs or Ses？ When it's single, I can pronounce well. But while it is among Zs or Ses, I can hardly get my tones around it. Do you have some advice or custom about it? Thanks for your help in advance.You‘ve helped me a lot， but probably I didnt express well. I mean when TH is near Ses or Zs, not just next to them. Here is an example: Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills, He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass.

A joke--english-chinese bilingual My daughter asked my wife:"mom, why is it that grown-ups start telling story always with 'long long time ago.'" With a reproachful glance look at me, she said:" not everyone do it like that, someone usually starts with 'Sorry, I'm too busy at work today, so I come home late.‘” 女儿问老婆：“妈妈，为什么大人讲故事，每次都要从‘很久很久以前……’开始？” 老婆看了我一眼，回答说：“不是每个人都爱这样开始讲故事的，有人一讲故事就从‘今天工作实在太忙，所以回来晚了……’开始。”