Topics having to do with multiple meanings of a word or phrase.
25
votes
4answers
6k views
How to answer a negative question without ambiguity?
I faced a problem to answer a negative question, for example When someone ask you:
Don't you have any money?
It's a yes/no question but how should one answer the question without ambiguity?
...
11
votes
5answers
12k views
What is the difference between “nothing but”, “anything but”, and “everything but”?
What is the difference between these phrases? When is it valid to use which? Should they be avoided as being ambiguous?
8
votes
2answers
4k views
“All but” idiom has two meanings?
Here's two ways I've seen the "all, but" idiom used:
"Close all tabs but this one" (Any modern application with a number of tabs might have this as an option.) It means "close all the tabs, but not ...
10
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I distinguish “can” & “can't” from pronunciation?
It's very difficult for me to separate them.
I was just listening to some video and it said
"Fat cells can’t reproduce themselves."
What I thought I've heard is "... CAN reproduce ..."
Frankly, ...
2
votes
5answers
260 views
“the same” and “that particular one”
Consider
I'm driving the same car.
It sounds like me and someone else share one and the same car. But I could mean that my car is just another copy of the same model of the car. How do I express ...
8
votes
3answers
803 views
How are pronouns resolved?
Are pronouns in English resolved syntactically or semantically? Do they always refer to the closest matching noun?
A wikipedia article has these examples:
We gave the bananas to the monkeys because ...
7
votes
5answers
318 views
“Gadhafi forces retreat” - how do you understand that?
Our local newspaper had the headline today "Gadhafi forces retreat" and I read it with "retreat" as the verb instead of "forces" as the verb. I know it is a poorly written headline, but which way is ...
2
votes
5answers
2k views
Does “until [date]” mean “before that date”?
What does until mean in the following?
You need to deliver this product within 2 days (until August 18, 2011)
to meet your deadline and get paid.
Does this mean that I have to deliver the ...
2
votes
1answer
519 views
Interpreting the meaning of 'but' as an implication for exclusion/inclusion
I often find it difficult to interpret the meaning of but in some of the sentences where it is used to imply exclusion/inclusion. For example: Drink everything you want but alcohol.
Also, sometimes ...
20
votes
5answers
4k views
How should I address someone with a known name and unknown gender?
When communicating with foreign cultures, the gender of the addressed person is not always clear from the name. What would be a professional way to address someone in this situation. (Dear Mr or Ms ...
12
votes
4answers
10k views
How should “midnight on…” be interpreted?
From what I understand, the word "midnight" is usually interpreted incorrectly.
Midnight is written as "12am" which would imply that it's in the morning. Therefore, it should be at the start of the ...
8
votes
3answers
6k views
What is the meaning of the expression “We can table this”?
This came up in an email discussion - we are arguing about the merits and demerits of a certain approach, and I mentioned what I thought was a drawback to a scheme. To that, my colleague replied : ...
0
votes
1answer
438 views
Is “in [some period]” different from “within [some period]”?
Q1: "I'll finish this job within 5 days" definitely means the job is expected to cost 5 days or less. However, does "I'll finish this job in 5 days" mean exactly the same?
Q2: Can we say, "I'll ...
0
votes
4answers
386 views
“Everything is not…”
I keep hearing people say everything is not… which frustrating because it is ambiguous. It could mean either
Nothing is… (for the set of all things, no thing is…)
or
Not everything is… (for ...
-1
votes
3answers
130 views
“Within” and “in” when referring to time
I know that both can mean "inside" but what I don't have clear is whether both mean the same when talking about time. For example:
The party is in two days = The party is within two days ??
...
9
votes
6answers
1k views
Ambiguity of “quite”
The adverb "quite" has the following meanings according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
1: wholly, completely ("not quite
finished")
2: to an extreme : positively "quite
sure" —often ...
19
votes
6answers
4k views
What is the difference between “archetype” and “prototype”?
I'm very confused by the difference between "archetype" and "prototype", and even more baffled when to use which. Can someone clarify?
1
vote
2answers
99 views
Antedecent of “its” in “the dog attacked the cat and its friends” [duplicate]
The dog attacked the cat and its friends.
Does the sentence imply that the dog attacked the cat and the cat's friends or that it attacked the cat and the dog's friends?
How would one properly ...
7
votes
4answers
640 views
“Connotation” vs. “Definition”
There seems to be some ambiguity between the connotation and definition of a word / word group / phrase.
The dictionary entry seems to be that a definition is more of a primary description of a word ...
5
votes
1answer
208 views
How do you disambiguate phrases like “killing doctors” when you can't use an article? [closed]
In singular, indefinite articles help to disambiguate some phrases, like for example:
a killing doctor
Would be a doctor who kills people.
versus
killing a doctor
Would be an act of ...
4
votes
4answers
8k views
Does the term “within 7 days” mean include the 7th day? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is “in [some period]” different from “within [some period]”?
The title states it all: When an author says "within 7 days", does the author mean ...
3
votes
5answers
288 views
Does this type of grammatical construction give an ambiguous meaning?
A girl was found in a house belonging to one of two criminals; is it correct to express this in the following way:
The girl was found in one of the criminals' houses.
Does the plural use of 'house' ...
2
votes
3answers
666 views
Should “that” or “it” be used in this sentence?
People say things like ‘all publicity is good publicity’ but that isn't always true.
Should that in the sentence above be replaced with it? It's sort of ambiguous as to what that is referring to, ...
2
votes
2answers
318 views
Books and other things with the same name
Is it proper to say "the book and movie Of Mice and Men" even though the two identical terms "Of Mice and Men" do not refer to the same entity?
An alternative would be "the book Of Mice and Men and ...
1
vote
0answers
396 views
Words that contain other words but which aren't anagrams [closed]
What are words that contain other, often contradictory words or phrases, such as "manslaughter" ("man's laughter") or "therapist" ("the rapist")? I found "to get her" ("together") on another site. No ...
1
vote
1answer
395 views
Word-order and meaning - which is correct for this notice? [closed]
I'm creating some signs for the office car park, and one of these signs is to control access. What I'm trying to get it to indicate is that cars aren't permitted between 10 am and 4pm except for ...
1
vote
4answers
241 views
What does this mean: “Avoid oral calcium, dairy products, shark cartilage & exercise during the medication.”
I found this behind a medicine. At first thought, the sentence looks like it suggests avoiding exercise during the medication. However, I remember reading somewhere that in US English, when there is a ...
0
votes
3answers
62 views
'Oldest' for age vs. length of time
This discussion arose around the statement
"PersonX was my oldest high-school friend"
The intention was to refer to length of time known (roughly the opposite of 'most recent') as opposed to meaning ...
0
votes
1answer
67 views
Is on/before 15 July better than by 15 July if I want to be precise and unambiguous? Which is the more common form?
When the last day of registration is, let's say, 15 July, we currently say "please confirm your registration before 16 July" but students often send their confirmation on 16 July, rather than 15. I ...
0
votes
2answers
329 views
Can “myself” stand for both “me” and “I” in “my mother and I/me”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When is it correct to use “yourself” and “myself” (versus “you” and “me”)?
In one of my older questions I asked for an ...
-1
votes
1answer
57 views
Possessive Ambiguity: sharing a house [closed]
Could this:
Jason shared Michael's house.
be an acceptable shortened version of this:
Jason shared Michael's house with Michael.
?
