The rules tag has no wiki summary.
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1answer
65 views
Is downtown an adverb of place? [duplicate]
What is the explanation for why we say "I'm going downtown" instead of "I'm going to downtown?"
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2answers
156 views
Which word is technically correct in English: debrick or unbrick?
With certain electronic devices if you make a mistake you can brick (used as a verb) the device, so it ends up in a defunct state. So the device ends up being bricked.
What is the correct term to ...
2
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2answers
97 views
Character vs Charm - Pronunciation
Is there a rule to understand how the group "Cha" has to be pronounced?
"Character" sounds with a hard first syllable, while "Charm" sound softer, but I don't find how to tell which sound to use ...
1
vote
1answer
129 views
How to guess the pronunciation of some inconsistencies in English?
I’m not a native English speaker, and I have a lot of problems when is comes to pronouncing words like archive, archon, zealot, heal, health.
Why is the ch sometime pronounced like a k?
Why is the ...
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3answers
260 views
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1answer
88 views
Comma Rules: Conflicting Rules Concerning the Setting Off of Commas
I've got a sentence where the independent clause is in the front, a contrasting phrase follows, and then a simile is made to modify or elaborate the contrasting phrase. I am wondering where commas ...
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2answers
3k views
Is it correct to use “me too” and “I too”?
I'm a bit confused. Is it correct to use "me too" and "I too"? (Also with other pronouns.)
For example, if I want to say that Juan gives a present to Ana and I give a present to Ana:
Juan gives a ...
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2answers
2k views
Why is it true that “I before E, except after C”?
I almost hesitate to ask this, because it is hard to believe no one else asked it; but it isn't showing up in the "similar titles" list.
What is special about 'C' that switches the 'IE' immediately ...
6
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2answers
911 views
Problem with -ance/-ence
OK, so I'm ashamed to admit that as a native speaker I think I've missed something somewhere. I was typing up some documentation and spellchecker kept bugging me. So I looked up some words and found ...
1
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1answer
58 views
Proper apostrophe usage? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the proper way to write the plural of a single letter? (another apostrophe question)
Plurals of acronyms, letters, numbers — use an apostrophe or not?
Take for ...
4
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0answers
50 views
Standardization authority [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Regulatory bodies and authoritative dictionaries for English
Where do accents and dialects come from?
I can run faster than _. (1) him (2) he?
If the English language is ...
0
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0answers
69 views
Words for people who do things: “-er” or “-or” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What’s the rule for adding -er vs. -or when nouning a verb?
Rules for nominalizing a verb
While reading another question, I started wondering if there's a rule for ...
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5answers
12k views
“My friends and I” vs. “My friends and me” vs. “Me and my friends”
I've always been taught to put myself last when referring to myself in the same sentence as others but the usage of "me and..." seems to be everywhere these days. The misuse of the word "me" instead ...
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0answers
270 views
Acronyms and Mnemonics to remember SAT Grammar [closed]
I'm taking the SAT very soon, and being a slow test-taker means I need some quick ways to identify grammar errors and possible amends. Here's the most common rules on the SAT:
Important SAT Grammar ...
6
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6answers
2k views
Use of the superlative when only two items are present
When speaking with my mother a couple of days ago, I read to her a message I was sending to my cousin on her behalf ending with: "... the birthday of your youngest." [implying her child]
She ...
6
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2answers
2k views
Correct usage of ‘on’, ‘at’ and ‘in’ from a foreigner’s point of view
As a foreign English speaker who never really studied too much English grammar other than the basics at high school, I am often struggling to use the correct form in certain phrases.
At being ...
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1answer
323 views
Authoritative source on the diaeresis trema rule [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Whereäs” as an alternative spelling of “whereas”
I've got an impression that there is (or was) a rule in English:
If you have a rarely ...
5
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2answers
114 views
Does use-mention distinction warrant breaking conventions?
Does use-mention distinction sometimes warrant breaking the following capitalization and punctuation conventions?
American convention recommends placing punctuation within quote marks.
Sentences ...
6
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4answers
2k views
“-ee” and “-er” word endings
There are a few examples of pairs of words ending with -ee/-er like employee and employer or advisee and adviser. What I was curious about is if there was any rule that would describe the relationship ...
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5answers
941 views
Are there any “-nk-” or “-nc-” words in English where there isn't a “ng” before the “k” sound?
In words like think and lank, we actually seem to be saying "thing-k" and "lang-k." Can anyone thing-k of any words or rules for sound use where this doesn't happen?
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2answers
2k views
Me too or I as well [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is it correct to use “me too” and “I too”?
Which one is correct to use Me too or I as well?
For example - Suppose my friend says I want to go ...
5
votes
3answers
157 views
Using “allium” as an adjective
I’d like to use the Latin word for garlic, allium, as an adjective, but can’t find any examples of this being done. Is there a rule for doing this with nouns ending in ‑um? Alliumnal sounds good, but ...
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3answers
501 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 ...
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5answers
240 views
Is the “an” rule applied when a sum of money is in between? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When should I use “a” vs “an”?
I have recently seen this image:
Should "a" have been used instead of "an" in the "...an $100,000 apartment" ...
1
vote
2answers
897 views
In which type of situations we can use “I Were”?
In some situations, we can use "were" with "I" although its grammatically wrong. But somehow it's being used many times, I don't know the situations any idea guys??
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3answers
526 views
Abbreviating names that start with a vowel
What are the rules about abbreviating names that start with a vowel? Would abbreviating "Alanis Morissette" to "A. Morissette" be correct or should it be "Al. Morissette"?
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3answers
764 views
When the plural ends in “-ies”, how do I know whether the singular ends in “-y” or “-ie”? [closed]
my question is how am I supposed to recognize a singular form of a noun which plural form ends with "ies"? As you can see "cookies" are a "cookie" when singular, but at the same time "flies" stand for ...
0
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3answers
224 views
Guardrail vs Guard rail
I'm at odds with a colleague of mine over the correct spelling of the above title words.
My stance is that they could BOTH possibly be correct. My question specifically is....
Could one spelling be ...
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2answers
759 views
Why does the 'b' in absorb change to a 'p' in absorption?
The question pretty much says it all. Why is "absorbtion" an incorrect spelling?
4
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1answer
120 views
What is the origin of the rule for omitting the suffix of a hyphenated word?
I can't remember where or how, but I was taught that one can/should omit the post-hyphen (suffix?) part of a word if it is being grouped with another hyphenated word with the same post-hypen portion. ...
3
votes
1answer
384 views
Is metathesis correct?
Pronouncing asterisk as asterix /æstərɪks/ is called metathesis.
Some common examples of this phenomenon that I have heard are ask -> aks and introduce -> interduce /ɪntərˈdjuːs/.
So this ...
3
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2answers
208 views
Why do “able” and “haste” have long a's?
(There are others, such as table, paste, and baste.) The rule I've heard is that a vowel is made long when succeeded by a consonant and then another vowel. Some words treat double consonants as a ...
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7answers
914 views
Who/What decides if a word is “proper” English?
I was taught since kindergarten that "ain't" isn't a proper English word.
I was wondering, who determines which words are acceptable and which words are not? Do words ever go from "improper" to ...
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2answers
136 views
Is there a fully defined way to pluralize/unpluralize words in English?
I'm wondering if there is a way, given an arbitrary word and without knowing the meaning, to switch it from plural to non-plural form and back? I know the common case is the trailing s, such as
...
6
votes
1answer
569 views
Zero conditional form
Chatting with a colleague we came a cross a dilemma (as we are not English native), which of the following sentences are wrong? Why?
If I knew everything, I'd be a genius.
If I know everything, I'd ...
8
votes
1answer
705 views
Why is 'that' sometimes optional before dependent clauses?
Sometimes, the word 'that' to introduce a dependent clause is optional. For example, these sentences both make sense with or without 'that':
Long books [that] religious people like tend to be ...
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3answers
1k views
What are the words where “-ei-” (except in “-cei-”) is pronounced as [i:]?
The rule is that "ei" is pronounced as [i:] only after letter c (or what is pronounced as [i:] is written as "ei" after letter "c" only).
There are exceptions, that I could find so far, like
...
2
votes
1answer
307 views
Overusing “and” and how to fix it
Several months ago, I was writing a fan-fiction story set in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe and I ended up constructing this sentence:
"...Sonic and his allies and Dr. Robotnik and his allies..."
...
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4answers
228 views
Constructions like “A good shot” [closed]
Is anyone aware of a rule behind which nouns can be combined with a preceding "a good" to become an adjectival phrase. For example "He's a good shot" meaning he has good aim. How many more examples ...
1
vote
1answer
728 views
Ending a clause with a preposition, rule of thumb or hard rule? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When is it okay to end a sentence in a preposition?
So we've all heard the admonishments from our teachers not to end a clause with a preposition
A plumber visits a ...
5
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1answer
2k views
Use of hypens with “auto”: autopopulate, auto-populate, or auto populate?
I've done a fair amount of research (like here), but I can't find any examples of hyphen rules with "auto". Microsoft Word doesn't take "autopopulate", but will accept either auto-populate or auto ...
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2answers
1k views
Is it true that if you use a preposition and then a verb, it must end with “ing”?
I've read a grammar rule.
If you use a preposition and then a verb, it must end with "ing"
Is it always true, or there are exceptions??
Regards.
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1answer
2k views
When should a singular word ending in “y” end in “ies” plurally?
Words like "sky" and "money" have "ies" as a plural suffix (i.e. "skies" and "monies") but other words like "monkey" and "Emmy" do not ("monkeys" and "Emmys"). Is there a rule dictating the use of ...
