Questions pertaining to the structure of phrases and sentences.
61
votes
1answer
3k views
Is there a name for this type of sentence structure: “She looks as though she's been poured into her clothes, and forgot to say 'when'”?
Comedians seem to use phrases that employ this type of sentence structure - is there a name for it?
Examples of Groucho Marx's one liners seem to fit this pattern - and if memory serves, Emo Philips. ...
7
votes
2answers
498 views
Is “want” a causative verb?
I've always held on to the definition that Causative Verbs express how the Noun before the Verb influences the execution of an action.
Similarly, the Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written ...
2
votes
1answer
414 views
Constructing compound sentences
Consider the following sentence:
One of the items that needed a further development was a research on child nodes of a story representing its sub categories being updated the moment the list of ...
1
vote
3answers
828 views
How can I rephrase compound sentences to make them simpler?
Following Martha's advise I am splitting up a question Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore.
Consider the following sentence:
One of the items that needed a further development was a ...
11
votes
2answers
3k views
Should I refer to “Section 2.3” or “Subsection 2.3”?
When writing a document that is divided into numbered sections and subsections, sometimes I would like to refer a certain subsection that has been numbered 2.3, for example. Here the 2 represents the ...
2
votes
1answer
377 views
What types of antonyms are there?
As we know, Schadenfreude is defined as "the feeling of joy derived from witnessing the misfortunes of others". This question defines the antonym of Schadenfreude as "the feeling of discomfort derived ...
6
votes
6answers
704 views
Grammar: “Just because A, doesn't mean B”
I hear this all the time, and often from writers, but it never sounds right. I found myself using it in something I was writing.
For example: "Just because I stopped eating doesn't mean I'm full." ...
5
votes
1answer
323 views
Frequency of word use vs number of words
Let's consider a partition of the words in the english language according to respective use frequency.
Looking at the frequency graph it should be easy to find classes of words with approximately the ...
3
votes
4answers
265 views
It is an existential question
A question on another site asks, I have a laptop ... Now I am trying to install Windows 7 and it shows a message saying "Driver not found".
Whereupon a commenter asks, What is the "it" that shows ...
3
votes
2answers
223 views
What defines a correlative?
I have come across a number of expressions (both...and..., if...then...) which are named as "correlative" in different grammars (namely Quirk et al.).
The question: What makes an expression a ...
2
votes
5answers
662 views
Structuring sentences without using the word “but”
I seem to have a habit of using a lot of sentences that involve the word "but": "I haven't tried it yet, but I think it should work"; "I could easily resort to chicken, but I want to see how far I can ...
