I have heard of only "set something on somebody" when the meaning is "to make an animal attack someone". But in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book, one of his characters says, "If you come pestering me any more with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you".

Are "on" and "at" possible

Is the use of "in" in the following sentence correct?

1. Although I did Keats, Wordsworth, Blake, Coleridge at "A" levels, I am never good at poetry. I did reasonably well in both language papers. Could have done better in literature.

I haven't seen anyone mention this article, so I thought I'd post it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html

Can the expression "vulgar words" be used with any prepositions?

1. The children used vulgar words against their teachers.

2. He alleged that his employee had used vulgar words on him.

3. Do not use vulgar words towards anyone.

4. Samuel was accused of using vulgar words to Christina.

In my opinion, I think only No.4 is idiomatic and grammatical. Am I right?

Is the use of reflexive form correct in the following sentences?

1. He is only five years and two months older than myself.

2. A man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself.

I think, I would have, in the case of the first sentence, said, "I (am)" (if I wanted to sound ultra formal), or just "me". Similarly, in the second sentence, I would have substituted "she (is)" or "her" for "herself".

Do you think I am right?

Is there a need for "away" in the following sentence?

1. Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots...and hoped with diligence that I might ..."

Poor Large Hadron Collider! Yesterday both beams had a dump (Ewwwwwwww...). Today there are "problems with the SPS scraper." (I'm not sure I want to know what "SPS" stands for.)

Could someone tell me in which of the following sentences has "there" been placed correctly?

1. It beats me what he was doing there alone at that unholy hour.

2. It beats me what he was doing alone there at that unholy hour.

[Ring ....]

Hello? AnswerMan here!

I* a* "e**_ p****" s*** o* l*** a h** h****, o*** b*****??

Wrong, bantam-breath. It's a purple-skinned fruit and is one word, not two. An eggplant is not sort of like a hen house, only bigger.

But thank you for clucking The AnswerMan.

A few billion rotten eggs comin' outa them places these days huh, AnswerMan?

I was asked to shift to the another cell.

When the above meant that the prisoner was told to go to another cell, shouldn't it be "move" instead of "shift"?

Should there be a "with" after "sympathise"?

"People may look at me, talk to me and sympathise."

I saw the following sentence in a book I am reading:

1. I was insulted on my personal life.

Is the above right? Or should it be,

2. He insulted me about my life.

Should it be "I was slapped on the face" or "... in the face". I am talking about the literal act of hitting.

I have often seen the following in invitation cards:

1. "Request the pleasure of your company at..."

And I have also heard similar things like,

2. He asked if he might have the pleasure of taking her to lunch.

What about the following? (Asking someone to be our Guest-of-Honour at some important event):

3. Our Committee requests the pleasure of your being our Guest-of-Honour at...

A Japanese person wrote;

I know the words "moisture"as a noun and "moisturize" as a verb, but I was asked by a friend of mine if "moistruing" exists.

I said there was no such a word in dictironaries. In addition, since "moisture" is a noun, it should not conjugate.

However, she insisted that she found a lot of "moisturing" in internet.

Well, I looked into three of my dicitionaries, but I couldn't find the word "moisturing", but as she said, I found that the word is used quite often on the internet.

Do you use it as an adjective? Is it common?

Thank you for your help.