instruction:
Generate the answer for a given question. The question requires common knowledge of English. Make sure that the answer is in detail, long, consistent with the context, and requires general knowledge of English. To be less repetitive, please vary your language for each question. Give a proper explanation to answer, and if necessary, provide the definition of various terms. And conclude your answer if it's long. If you have used other resources (e.g., Merriam Webster's.) to answer the question, include citations in your answer. You don't need to paraphrase the context of your resources, but make sure that your answer is consistent and complete.
question:
I am studying English and I want to know the main difference between 'Have you got?' and 'Do you have?' questions. Are they the same? Is one more formal than the other?.
answer:
Contrary to the above, 'Have you got' is more common in British English than 'Do you have' (about 2:1); but 'Do you have' is much more common in American English than 'Have you got' (more than 10:1). Note that the response includes only the relevant auxiliary: - 'Do you have a pen'; 'Yes, I do'. - 'Have you got a pen'; 'Yes, I have'. In fact, the most common form where I live (in Northern Ireland) is simply 'Have you', but that sounds old-fashioned to many English speakers elsewhere. Have a look at the 'Separated by a Common Language' blog.


question:
I was watching this video. At around 30:00, Chomsky exaplins that he never went to Chemistry class nor to Chemistry lab and he got a A nevertheless. Then he makes a joke: 'This approach has a name. It's called No Child Left Behind' (31:12 into the video). Can you explain the joke to me? I know that No Child Left Behind is an act of Congress, but I still can't get the joke.
answer:
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was a US Act of Congress which mandated that all schools which receive federal financial assistance (for the education of children from low-income families) had to administer an annual standardized test to all students. According to NCLB, each year, fifth graders must do better in the standardized test than the previous year's fifth graders. Schools that fail to achieve this for two or more consecutive years were required to take certain measures in order to 'improve the school'. As you can see, NCLB was an act centered around standardized testing. Students'and by extension their schools'performance was measured and scrutinized by the test scores. A common criticism of standardized testing is that it leads teachers to focus on test performance, instead of aiming to help students achieve in-depth understanding of the overall curriculum. Chomsky talks about how he wasn't able to successfully carry out experiments in the chemistry lab, and yet scored an A by filling out a paper with the results of the experiments, which were quite obvious. He mentions that the this test-centered approach to education had been going on for about 10 years with 'no reported progress', since, he believes, 'serious education' is different and does not focus on standardized test scores. When Chomsky mentions that this failing approach to education has a name, 'No Child Left Behind', the audience laughs and cheers in order to express their agreement with his ridicule and criticism of this act. The reason they laugh is that he refers to his chemistry lab experience as 'No Child Left Behind', even though it predates the passing of the unpopular act by several years.


question:
Can you call a vegetable plot 'a vegetable bed'? Or is this usage uncommon? For example a bed of flowers is called a flowerbed.
answer:

Yes, you can call a vegetable plot 'a vegetable bed', and this is not uncommon. bed Merriam-Webster : a flat or level surface: such as a : a plot of ground prepared for plants also : the plants grown in such a plot as in: 'The gardener planted a bed of roses' 'The gardener planted a bed of flowers' 'The gardener planted a bed of vegetables' 'The gardener planted a bed of vegetables and ornamental flowers' These are all correct, as bed means a plot of ground in which plants are growing. Examples: Build Your Own Raised Flower/Vegetable Bed ThePioneerWoman How to Build A Vegetable Bed Biodynamically MotherEarth Build a Raised Vegetable Bed Denver Post