This tag is for questions related to English as spoken in the isles of Britain and sometimes Ireland.
8
votes
3answers
259 views
“A similar hat to Jane” vs “A hat similar to Jane’s”
Of late I have noticed British people using the following sort of construct:
John and Jane make such a cute couple because John always wears a similar hat to Jane.
To my ear, that is ...
6
votes
2answers
134 views
How did the practice of identifying an object after using a pronoun evolve?
While watching Barclay's Premier League matches on the Fox Soccer Channel, the announcers often identify an object by name immediately after using a pronoun. For example, in a match occuring right ...
6
votes
2answers
795 views
Using “to my mind”
English is not my native language.
I am curious about the usage of "to my mind".
Is it a British English phrase?
Is it used in American English?
Is it formal/informal?
I've found an interesting ...
0
votes
1answer
276 views
“your heart just shrank” vs. “your heart just shrunk” [closed]
If I say:
Your heart just shrank two sizes too small.
Is the verb shrank correct as is? Or should it be in participle form?
Your heart just shrunk two sizes too small.
Which one would be ...
8
votes
1answer
275 views
Capital Letters from 1700 [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Capitalisation of nouns in English (historically)
After reading a recipe from 1747, I noticed that all of the nouns are capitalized. Is that a normal thing for that era? ...
4
votes
3answers
661 views
Use of American-Indian “How” in British English
These are excerpts from Le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy:
Jerry Westerby screwed up his face in perplexity. 'That's what the boy wanted to tell me, you see, George. That's what he was ...
0
votes
1answer
95 views
“Is it” South Africa only
I don't know if it is still in vogue but ten years ago in South Africa the phrase "Is it?" was common. It could be used as a response to almost any statement. Is it (ha ha) unique to South Africa or ...
3
votes
1answer
274 views
pronunciation: question about dictionary phonetic symbol
I was looking up the word "meditative", and in one dictionary, the fourth letter "i" is pronounced "ə", but in another dictionary it is pronounced "ɪ".
I don't know which phonetic symbol I should ...
13
votes
1answer
2k views
I'm British, so should I take a rain cheque?
I want to write the phrase "take a rain cheque" and am British.
Should I therefore use the British spelling of the word cheque, or respect the baseball origin of the phrase "rain check" and use the ...
3
votes
1answer
253 views
“s” vs. “z” in BE vs. AE
I have trouble understanding why some words change "s"-es to "z"-s from BE to AE and some not. For example:
analyse -> analyze
characterise -> characterize
hypnotise -> hypnotize
But:
compromise ...
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 ...
3
votes
1answer
388 views
“Parametrise” or “parameterise” a curve?
In British English, which one is correct? Does one parameterise a curve or parametrise it?
4
votes
2answers
299 views
Does modifying a collective noun with a number make the subject plural?
The word dozen is a collective noun, i.e., singular when we think of them as groups and plural when we think of the individuals acting within the whole. So we might say:
Talking about eggs: "A ...
4
votes
3answers
233 views
What were the British equivalents of Webster's dictionary and the Simplified Spelling Board that standardized spelling and usage?
I am familiar with questions about when to double 'l' and differences between British and American spellings. However, I stumbled across this image.
As you can see, several words end in the double ...
10
votes
4answers
390 views
Ambiguous connotation of “just” - How do natives interpret these?
First of all, these questions are a bit related but not what I'm actually asking about:
Is “I just spent all my money” grammatically incorrect?
“I just ate them” and “I've just eaten them” - What's ...
5
votes
3answers
195 views
Is the expression “quote you happy” accepted English grammar? What is its history?
I'm editing a document written by someone who grew up in the UK, which contains the phrase "We'll quote you happy". That doesn't parse for me (I grew up in New Zealand), but a quick search about the ...
13
votes
3answers
500 views
Difference between styles of English in technical communication
I have a collaborative software project with two other users. Nearly every technical report and documentation written goes through the following editorial changes to some of the sentences (examples ...
-2
votes
1answer
182 views
Pronunciation of 'Superman'
How do you pronounce the word, Superman?
For example the pronunciation of man seems equal in American and British English. But this is not the case for Superman. It seems that in American English, it ...
1
vote
1answer
76 views
Is the phrase “Having a rave up” still in use?
I found the title of a 1965 album by the Yardbirds called Having a Rave Up quite funny when I first saw it. dictionary.com defines "rave-up" as "a party, especially a wild one," and notes that this is ...
4
votes
8answers
543 views
Dinky cars (toy cars)
I came across this term while proofreading an unpublished poem by an Irish poet. The context is not important so I'll just say that it is clear that it means “toy cars”.
I Googled the term and see ...
0
votes
3answers
551 views
Use “underway” or “under way” as an adverb?
Is it proper to use underway as an adverb? Or should under way be used?
Merriam-Webster defines underway as an adjective and under way as an adverb.
The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & ...
2
votes
3answers
388 views
Why is the word “movie” shown in spell check? [closed]
The spell check in Chrome or text-editors show the word "movie" as a spelling mistake, why?
4
votes
3answers
683 views
Why is American English so wedded to the subjunctive? [closed]
In the sentence 'She suggested that they go to the cinema' there is no way of telling from the sentence in isolation whether it means that the speaker gave advice on attending a moving picture show, ...
2
votes
3answers
512 views
Where can I find a list of capitalisation rules for pure British writing?
Is there any quality English orthography book that contains rules for capitalising in pure British English? I’ve noticed that an American newspaper capitalises every word in the title of an article ...
1
vote
1answer
410 views
Pronouns for collective nouns (British and American)
British and American English differ in the way they conjugate verbs for collective nouns: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=877. For example, an American would probably say "China is winning" ...
4
votes
5answers
333 views
Accurate British English term for an oblong deck from shore out into a lake where you tie your rowing boat
This is a typical image of the structure in question:
There are also some variations, shown in this Google image search.
But I'm after the often not very wide, some 20-30 feet long wood ...
7
votes
1answer
446 views
Why is “fulfil” spelt as “fulfill” in American English?
In this answer, simplification is stated as one reason for spelling variations in American English. But unlike in color and favorite, the number of letters to spell the word in fulfil increases in ...
2
votes
2answers
743 views
“Woman front bits” meaning
Whats does "woman front bits" actually means?
This question is surprisingly inspired by one of the answers
to this question: "Is there any slang I should avoid in the UK or Ireland".
It is ...
10
votes
3answers
423 views
Very unusual meaning of “abortion”
The following use of the word "abortion" got my attention. It is from Graham Greene's The End of the Affair, published in 1951. Here is the context:
"...Listen. I met a man on the Common today ...
5
votes
4answers
391 views
What is the name of this structure at kids playground?
We can usually find this structure at kids playgrounds. I want to know what it's called.
I've searched online but couldn't figure it out but fortunately found the image below.
0
votes
1answer
3k views
How many types of English are there? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What's the difference between the various dialects of English?
I know of American English and British English, but how many other types of English are there?
6
votes
6answers
2k views
Is there a different understanding of “rubber” in British and American English?
I was well aware of the different meanings of rubber, not least because there are the same definitions in my mother-tongue. However, while reading a text about differences between British and American ...
1
vote
1answer
116 views
Apostrophe usage
I'm having a disagrement with the correct use of the apostrophe in the following sentence.
It is your responsibility to declare your fuel purchase at the checkout and not the stores.
I think ...
9
votes
3answers
776 views
British pronunciation of “plait”
Having only seen this word in writing, I assumed it's pronounced "plate". howjsay (whose author is british) suggests the pronunciation that rhymes with "flat", but also offers the "plate" one. This ...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
Usage of “and” and comma when writing numbers UK style
I am trying to understand the rules for writing numbers in words under the UK rules (with "and"). I understand how to write small numbers (up to a few thousands), but I am not sure when to use "and" ...
2
votes
4answers
887 views
“Enclosure” vs. “attachment”
If I understand it correctly, one usually uses the term enclosure when referring to extra documents to e.g. a letter. But what if these extra items are not other documents and papers?
Say I have ...
2
votes
1answer
256 views
Regional usage of “Violet” and “Purple”
I am looking to describe a flower such as the one in the following picture for a game:
After showing the game to a number of beta testers, I noted that about half of them were fine with "violet" ...
3
votes
1answer
154 views
Parenthetical commas and foreign English
I advise a friend on her writing, despite not quite knowing an adverb from a proverb (kidding (kinda)).
Invariably, parenthetical commas such as the following:
Jane, my assistant, opened the ...
2
votes
1answer
244 views
T-glottalization in West Country accents — is it a south-eastern influence?
English speakers from the West Country seem to glottalize their tees just like Estuary English speakers do. I can't find a word about T-glottalization in the West Country accents on the internet. I'm ...
2
votes
1answer
88 views
What is the name of this line in a letter . e.g we have subject etc? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is it appropriate to use the salutation “Dear All” in a work email?
Dear Mr.Dandy Rabbit, <----------------- What is the name of this line
I ...
3
votes
3answers
405 views
Are you being served/helped?
Being an L2 English speaker, quite often I get into funny - and sometimes embarrassing - situations. It usually happens when I say something pragmatically inappropriate for a situation. For example, ...
5
votes
3answers
644 views
Difference in [ə] pronunciation at the end of a word in British and American English
I grew up speaking American English (San Diego to be specific). When I hear someone who speaks British English say a word that ends in [ə], like banana, I hear a weak but distinct 'r' sound attached ...
3
votes
6answers
972 views
How to choose between British and American English for technical documents
I'm not a native English speaker. I'm Italian and I'm doing my thesis in the Netherlands. I have to write technical documents for non-native English speakers, so I didn't receive any advice for ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
“Invite” vs. “invitation”
I hear a lot of people saying "Send me an invite". I always thought that it was an 'invitation'. Is "sending one an invite" accepted usage? Or is it incorrect? If I need to get my wedding invitation ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
“A hundred percent” vs. “hundred percent”
Which sentence is grammatically correct:
I'm a hundred percent sure
I'm hundred percent sure
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
3
votes
2answers
5k views
Date format in UK vs US
Why is the most common date format in the US like mm/dd/yyyy, whereas in Europe (including the UK) it's more common to have dd/mm/yyyy?
Looking around, I found that the US form is actually the more ...
1
vote
1answer
270 views
Is it “Sales collateral” or “Sales collaterals”?
My question is whether you use the plural or singular form — or either. Is there perhaps also a different usage in the US and the UK?
1
vote
1answer
2k views
Correct usage of “were” or “was”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“If I was” or “If I were”. Which is more common, and which is correct?
I am unsure whether to use "were" or "was" in the following instances
...
1
vote
2answers
212 views
How common is the short “be” in American English
A friend prompted me to look up the pronunciations of the homophones "be" (IPA: /bi/, /biː/) and "bee" (IPA: /biː/). We found that there are two ways to say "be" -- one is short and the other (the ...
2
votes
1answer
127 views
“Imitation jewelry” or “costume jewelry”
I've looked up the translation of the word bisutería in Spanish and it translated to imitation jewelry or costume jewelry. Which of the two is mostly used in British English?
