Tagged Questions
1
vote
0answers
28 views
How to express this idea on formal occasions [closed]
everyone.
I was making an application for iPad.
It's a music game that you can record and play your tracks by touch the virtual piano keyboard on screen.But in the manage view,i want to remind the ...
-1
votes
2answers
56 views
Which “one” should I use?
I'm having a hard time picking between
These are one of the foundations of....
and
These are ones of the foundations of..
Or is there a more idiomatic way to express it?
0
votes
1answer
58 views
Can “the fact that X” imply “X is a fact”? [closed]
A: How do I know if my professor is good?
B: Do you understand what he says?
A: Yes, but that might be because I'm a natural genius, and not
necessarily the fact that he is good at ...
3
votes
3answers
137 views
How to describe “choose to do something by one's own willing”
For example, there is a course (say French course), for students in a college. The students can take it, but they don't have to. Someone, who is not a student in that college, thinks that this course ...
2
votes
4answers
228 views
How can I rephrase “enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot”?
Some time ago I have a read a very famous book of Allen I. Holub "Enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot" (this book on openlibrary.org). I have read it in Russian and the book was titled with ...
2
votes
1answer
109 views
Why is it “the worst round one care to remember”?
I am interested in the usage of “care to infinitive verb” in the following sentence in Jeffery Archer’s fiction, “Kane & Abel”:
“By the time they reached the eighteenth, Alan was eight holes ...
0
votes
3answers
102 views
“in response to” vs “for response to”?
"I am writing in response to your mail."
What does it mean by "in" in this sentence?
Is "I am writing for response to your mail." acceptable?
2
votes
3answers
256 views
What is a common English expression for when you were very tired or out of it and said something extremely stupid?
I kept thinking of "spazzing out" but that doesn't quite seem to be it. An example is when you're very tired and kind of dozing off and you say something or ask a question that is incredibly stupid ...
3
votes
2answers
422 views
Shut your mouth
I’m confused regarding these expressions:
Shut up
Shut your mouth
Shut your mouth up
Shut up your mouth
After some research, I’ve come to believe they are all correct except “Shut ...
5
votes
3answers
343 views
What is the behavior where one closes their nose with their lips to elude foul odour called?
I have seen this question, and it is not exactly what I'm asking. Sometimes people (most especially in developing countries) raise the tip of their lips to cover their nose when a foul odour is sensed ...
10
votes
4answers
430 views
Who is that for?
Showing a baby bottle to my son I ask him "Who's that for?", obviously waiting for a "That's for me!" answer (which turns out to be just "Me!")
But I am not a native speaker and I kind of translate ...
4
votes
5answers
251 views
Synonym or equal phrase to “merely philosophical”
When something is bound to be of little substance, or the discussion of it surely only giving rise to opinion or sophistry, sometimes the phrase "merely philosophical" is used.
In this article I'm ...
2
votes
2answers
177 views
Almost half a dozen [closed]
I understand, dozen may be more comfortable than twelve in speech.
I can understand using over a dozen or almost a dozen These imply rough measurement of the count, maybe ten, maybe eleven, or maybe ...
0
votes
3answers
354 views
What's the best way to say: “which one is more true or more accurate”? [closed]
What's the best way to say:
"which one is more true or more accurate" when talking about 2 words?
1
vote
0answers
141 views
How to express that simplicity should not mean to exclude necessary features? [closed]
I come from a software development background.
One of the goals is to make tools easy to use. On the other hand one must/should include certain features.
Now I want to argue that in order for our ...
1
vote
1answer
72 views
How to say the margins of a page in a book
What is the best way to express the margins of (i) the bounded side of a page and (ii) the edge side? I see people referring to them as left margin and right margin, but they are inaccurate. On ...
10
votes
9answers
60k views
Any other good way of saying “Happy Birthday”?
Quite a few of my friends are having their birthdays in the coming weeks. I feel a little awkward posting plain words like "Happy Birthday" on their Facebooks.
I've decided I should come up with a ...
0
votes
2answers
699 views
How about 'play cute' or 'play adorable'?
I wonder if 'play cute' or 'play adorable' is frequently used to stand for 'act cute/adorable' in spoken language. It seems easier to google out 'act cute/adorable' instead of 'play cute/adorable'.
5
votes
5answers
2k views
Difference between “meant to” and “supposed to”
Those two expressions have close meaning:
He is not meant to do this
He is not supposed to do this
What is the difference between them, and when I should use one or the other?
0
votes
4answers
785 views
“You are not going to be able to … ” versus “you can't …”
Are there any differences between these two expressions?
