You are not the first one that brings me in connection with that show. I totally approve.

Verbal nouns often add verbiage but I don't agree it's ok with "of" and no "the". A more natural use would be to use a gerund:
... with modelling the real world mathematically ...

or if we don't want to split the established collocation of mathematical and model we can go full noun and change it to
... with mathematical models of the real world ...

EDIT: I may just be allergic to "ing" with "of" and no "the" because I hear incorrect usage so many times that it just always sounds like a mistake to me now - double negatives are another one like that for me now. This might be a rare case where it's ok. I assume you agree my "opening" example needs a "the"?

Wouldn't worry about that, as looks are a wasting asset anyway. My nephew (who looks just like me, obviously) was one of the highest-paid male models in the world for a while, and was Giorgio Armani's favourite suit model for three seasons. He now works in IT in Fayetteville, Arkansas, though I gather he's making very good money.

Your resemblance to Marilu Henner (Elaine) is remarkable.

Yes. I just don't think it's the use of a prepositional phrase as an adjective that drives it. Would you say "I particularly enjoy the charcoal drawing of tigers" if you meant the action (verbal noun), rather than the objects (gerund)?

I would argue that using an adjective (mathematical modeling) or noun adjunct( charcoal drawing) obviates the need for an article. I can't point to a rule for that, but it seems that we've already added specificity to the verbal noun.

Emojis are the lazy layman’s way. Let your words convey the emotion.

Our lives are finite and our brains are a wasting asset as well: they just waste rather more slowly. It’s not wrong to play up your looks while you have them.

Howard is right, as he almost always is in language matters.

Unless I'm misreading, the key factor looks like perception of count. A clearly defined singular entity would call for "the", and a plural or uncountable or amorphous one wouldn't -- although it can still work with one. (These examples will be silly because I'm lazy.)

Large sheep were responsible for the unraveling of Rome.
Large sheep were responsible for sudden unraveling of Rome. [Wrong]
Large sheep were responsible for the sudden unraveling of Rome.

Also I think this applies to verbal nouns in general, not just the ones ending in -ing.

A spatula is not recommended for the application of skin lotion.
A spatula is not recommended for application of skin lotion. [Despite the lack of a modifier, it still works. Although it does sound worse.]

The delusional narcissist who highly overvalued his own **** was present for the appraisal of his house.
The delusional narcissist who highly overvalued his own **** was present for awkward appraisal of his house. [This really sounds like it needs an article.]

Returning to the example that inspired this discussion:

I invented proprietary software for mathematical modeling of spherical horses.
I invented proprietary software for the mathematical modeling of Neighthan the spherical horse.
Police arrested the mad engineer on charges connected with the modeling of spherical horses.

Some feel inseparable from their article, however.

Spirited discussions with a psychedelic-imbibing shaman were responsible for the opening of dimensional borders.
The unfortunate incident where the diplomat touched the sultan's ass halted [long-desired] opening of trade lines. [Idk, this is one where that modifier really helps with the article-less form. edit: but upon reflection, it works without too.]

I am intrigued by your thoughts and wish to subscribe to your proprietary software.

This reminds me of a nightmare I once had.

Respectfully disagree.

That is like to say that instead of smiling and clapping my hands in RL I should say: "I am so excited. You helped me a lot. I am so grateful" (without exclamation marks! with empty face expression!). Or instead of furiously stomping my feet and strenuously looking, I again say absolutely calm and with neutral face expression: "I could so kick your butt".

On top comes that the threshold to writing words is a lot higher than to using emojis, what leads to men basically never expressing any emotions in writing.

See LKJ's reaction to me demanding cat pictures from him. Instead of writing something like "I am startled by so much crazy" "no way. who do you think I am" or similar, he writes "Maybe later"...... Huh?

I am pretty sure that " Maybe later" conveys in a best possible way what he was feeling.

feeling very flattered, especially because feeling that there is indeed some similarity.
Exactly because of shortness of our lives it is important to live it the way that minimizes regrets. It is not wrong to play-up your looks or in fact enjoying your life in every possible way. But it is a recipe for disaster to put looks high in your value system , especially because it is a very subjective metric even if we remain at one point in time.

In Russian there is a good saying that I totally believe to be true. "не родись красивой, а родись счастливой"= "Don't be beautiful, be happy/lucky". The word "счастливой" can be translated as happy or as lucky.
I believe that. It emphasizes that (the?) beauty so doesn't guarantee a good life.

As to me personally.... I am perfectly fine with my looks. In fact now a lot more fine than I was in my twenties. I am not defined by them. If I would have to answer the question: "What is lapka?", looks in itself would not even enter the description. A lot of other physical stuff would enter the description, but not sheer looks. Being a model never was on my "I would like to be" list. It was scary for me to post my picture here, because clearly everyone had a certain expectation build on my posting and it was clear for me that I don't meet 90% of this expectations. But forum handled it perfectly. No one made a big deal of it and I think that is good and healthy.


It kinda helps. At least I can see the logic in your "mathematical modelling" example. Although every time you write something like "some feel inseparable" I want to cry and stomp my feet in frustration. I mean..... "feel". I never feel that an article is needed.

I was pretty emotionless as I posted that.

No the. Beauty falls into that amorphous "un-numberable" category, so it doesn't need an article.

Ah, to clarify, that was just my shaky attempt to capture and understand the relevant rules. I doubt it's entirely accurate. And I understand your frustration.

Not an English thing, but if at all possible, find out who the hiring manager is and address that person rather than a generic Sir or Madam.

Most people in America refer to the certificates you get for completing college-level and higher work as "degrees" rather than "diplomas," the latter of which is reserved for high school. This may be different in Europe, however.

"The theme of mathematical modelling continues in my positions in industry." This just reads as a boring sentence to me. Consider something like, "I took my training to industry, where 90%..." or "I put my training to work in industry, where 90%..." As an bonus, it is technically incorrect to start a sentence with a number, but writing out "Ninety percent" is also nitty and awkward, so I generally prefer to restructure the sentence so I can use the number and not have it at the beginning. The above examples are both more active sentences and solve the 90 problem.

Does the job ad use "CFD" as an abbreviation multiple times itself? If so, using only CFD and all your other acronyms may be OK, but you might consider writing out what it stands for the first time and then using the abbreviation.

"Dimensioning." I didn't think this was a real word, but it does have a wikipedia entry, and you appear to be using it more or less correctly. You might consider "sizing" but if "dimensioning" is routinely used in your line of work, then it's fine.

In your list of projects, how many of those are directly analogous to what is specified as necessary in the job ad? If the answer to that question isn't "all of them," then I'd definitely trim the list to 2-3 things.

"I am familiar with a variety of different..." This is another weak statement, unless the job ad specifically lists that they want "familiarity" (they use the word) with a variety of unspecified metallurgic things. It seems more likely to me that they want experience in something in particular, because it's most likely they need someone to do just that. I would just state what you have that matches what they want, or that matches most closely with what they want.

"The position at XXXX is extremely interesting to me since it offers a possibility to apply all my knowledge with further career opportunities in an international environment." This is another weak statement. Generally, people hiring other people don't give a **** how good the job is for the applicant. They care about how good the applicant will be for the job. I would think about rewriting this about how effective you will be for them, like "My extensive experience with [mathematical modeling and metallurgical whatever] will let me get up to speed quickly and working effectively as a ________ at XXXXXXXXXXXX." That's not a great sentence, but I think it's a better starting point.

This isn't a lot of English correcting as it is cover letter writing help, but hopefully it helps.

It certainly isn't, but you will need to find a fallback when them days are gone. Same for professional athletes and, say, racing drivers. There's a very early retirement age and, even if you've made a fortune, you will probably need something to do for the good of your overall well-being. My nephew drew up a plan, because male supermodels don't pull in the huge fortunes that some of the women do, and he took a training course which turns out to have made him highly employable and well-rewarded. Although he did have to move from Brooklyn to Arkansas at a week's notice, and his wife, who's originally from South Carolina, finds Arkansas about as foreign as he does, and he's from Bristol.

A Diplom in Germany is like a Master's Degree. That's why I asked if it would be known in the country in question.

Tx. It definitely helps a lot.

Diploma here are like master.

The CFD was used in the ad.

In the list of the projects all of them are definitely interesting for the company. Generally I jumped on this ad because it is a rare case, when the position is basically a copy of what I have done for years and on top they won't find too many people who have done similar stuff.

Somehow I was trained that a part about how keen and why I want to work there belongs in every cover letter. And I mean....I just find this stuff super cool and I am good at it. And I like the culture in this company and that they have a solid IT infrastructure. It makes for my work HUGE difference in the quality of life if things just run smoothly or if I have to fight with admins for every tiny thing.

Your idea is good: to repeat basically that me and this position are made for each other.

I always struggle with how to express, why I am applying at all, in more or less formal writing. For German cover letters and CV I paid someone to write a pretty solid dummy for me. With English it is a lot more difficult to find someone who would be solid enough in German applications and solid enough in English.

My opening example has "grand" as an adjective. Also the fact that something is made specific is a reason for confirming the specificity with a "the" rather than skipping it as redundant. Compare "the book that's on the table" when there is only one there rather than "a book from my bookshelf" when there are many. Superlative adjectives like "biggest" "best" are almost always preceded by "the" precisely because they introduce specificity which should be confirmed with "the" in the absence of another determiner (such as "my").

I think the reason for missing it is more that there isn't specificity - rather there is "totality" of the thing meant - i.e. the thing in general.

Compare - "Yesterday's dinner was good except the cheese." and "I like cheese." (= cheese in general)

Same principle - "Yesterday's party was good except the dancing. The drinking and the sex were superb." vs "I like dancing, drinking and sex." (in general). (this one is like my "the grand opening of" - a specific instance of something being opened which is why we all agree it needs it)

I think it seems to me personally that when you say add an "of" you're making it specific enough that it requires "the" in the absence of another determiner, though google ngrams suggests while using "the" is the majority way, it's possible without "the" too, even in the UK though outside of headlines it's much rarer there.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/grap...g%20of%3B%2Cc0