Verbs are words that express an action, occurrence, or a state of being.
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4answers
142 views
What is THE shortest English verb?
I have heard that two letter verbs are the shortest verbs in English. Is this totally true? Are any of the letters official recognized as verbs?
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0answers
23 views
Doubts on relation - Father and Son [closed]
If I have a statement of the form George is the father of James, who is in fact the father of Thomas. Then how do I expand it ?
Is it that
James is the father of Thomas
Or
George is the father ...
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0answers
35 views
Adjective following a verb [closed]
Which of these sentences is correct?
This music sounds great!
You look nice today.
You sing very good.
Which verbs can be followed by an adjective?
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1answer
65 views
Which is correct? If I was or If I were for this particular sentence [duplicate]
Which is correct?
1) If I were a little taller, I would be able to reach the top of the shelf.
2) If I was a little taller, I would be able to reach the top of the shelf.
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0answers
48 views
Difference between “ask” and “enquire” [closed]
Should I use ask or enquire, in the following sentence?
The young man enquired the direction to the hospital.
Is the following sentence better?
The young man asked the way to the hospital.
...
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1answer
41 views
how to say recharging the battery and account
I have heard English use the term "recharge" for both account and battery.
I want to recharge my battery.
I want to recharge my account.
Are these sentences correct?
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2answers
68 views
What's the meaning of “Gets me every time”?
I've heard people say this several times, in response to a funny video they watched,
Gets me every time.
This time I see this response the person put a laughing emoticon at the end. Does it ...
18
votes
5answers
403 views
“Infer” vs. “imply” — can “infer” imply “imply”?
Okay that's a crazy title, but bear with me. Got into a good natured discussion with someone on another stack exchange site, and I was "correcting" him on the use of infer vs. imply.
(The ...
6
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1answer
58 views
Which verb tense is used in OR compound objects?
For example:
We always get work done, regardless of what mood Bill or I is/am/are in.
Which tense of 'be' would be used here?
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0answers
38 views
Stipulated, mandated, ordained, required - w.r.t a law [closed]
Suppose a state's labor law requires that, say, every sign bigger than 1 square meters
Now, complete the following sentence: "The client shall obtain the necessary sign posting permit as ____ by ...
1
vote
1answer
56 views
How did “replace” come to mean “put something in the place of”?
Replace has several meanings, but a common one is "to put something in the place of," as in, "After drinking your cola, I replaced it with a beer."
The way in which replace, which seems to most ...
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2answers
66 views
How do I use “Baby Steps” in a sentence [closed]
I want to convey that I am putting myself to something new to achieve a dream/goal. Hence I thought of using the phrase "baby steps" in a sentence as follows: "As I am laying my Baby Steps towards ...
2
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4answers
414 views
Single word for “inhale using your mouth with force or power”
I want to express the following: "Inhale using your mouth with force or power". It does not sound good to me. Is there any single word or a good phrase to express this?
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0answers
54 views
“Take you in the sky” vs. “bring you up to the sky” vs. “get you in the sky” — which one is correct?
If I have got a pilot licence, I will take you in the sky/bring you up to the sky/get you in the sky. Which one is correct?
2
votes
1answer
128 views
Usage of “accrue” in “it accrued to me to gently ask” [closed]
A newage hippie Facebook friend just sent me this. I was just wondering if it was syntactically correct,
It accrued to me to gently ask if you could consider extending the same respect, you would ...
3
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0answers
89 views
Achievement Verbs with the Progressive Aspect
I was reading a grammar and saw this.
Achievement verbs describe actions that occur instantaeously.
He solved the problem.
He spotted the airplane.
These verbs fall into two classes - one is ...
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1answer
124 views
Correct use of “happen”
A friend of mine told me that the following sentence is incorrect (copied from an exercise)
Do all sentences tell us what the speaker would like to happen?
He claims that it should read:
Do ...
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1answer
47 views
What to do with a list of verbs with different prepositional needs?
For example:
The community was not supportive of, or happy with the result.
The community was not supportive or happy with the result.
So when using two sets of verbs and prepositions (listing) in a ...
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2answers
77 views
Determining sequence
I have a question regarding determining the sequence of events.
"It is taking her a bit longer than usual to get back on the game because she had come back from Germany last night. So I gave her a ...
1
vote
1answer
85 views
“Sent” vs “sent off” vs “sent out”
When do we use one over another?
I sent a letter.
I sent off a letter.
I sent out a letter.
Here I found a similar topic but I am still confused.
sent = sent to one or more people
...
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2answers
97 views
“I would like to go to a youth center to help and (to) work with teenagers”
Which is correct?
I would like to go to a youth center to help and work with teenagers.
I would like to go to a youth center to help and to work with
teenagers.
The question is whether ...
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0answers
51 views
How to ask the question in the context? [duplicate]
I have a question regarding asking questions.
For example:
While working on this worksheet, I came across a couple of questions that I needed/need to ask you.
And
While working on this ...
2
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2answers
59 views
“Starting with” vs. “starting from”
I would like to ask about the difference between the two phrases starting with and starting from.
Take the following two sentences for example:
Please give me all the names starting with A.
...
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0answers
46 views
“Is someone below?” vs “Is there someone below?” [closed]
I know the second option is correct, but I'd also like to know whether the first is. I'm in the process of rooting out my bad grammatical habits, and I can't shake the feeling that I've seen the first ...
3
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2answers
60 views
Correctness of questions without inversion, relying on intonation
I hear and read them all the time. I mean stuff like:
You're just going to stay here?
Instead of:
Are you just going to stay here?
Then I write like this out of habit and get called out ...
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0answers
89 views
What is the difference between “say” or “tell”? [closed]
What's the difference between say and tell?
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4answers
58 views
What's a word I can use to describe “putting a collar on a pet” in a comical way? [closed]
I thought of something like "stick a collar on" but "stick" doesn't satisfy me. What are my other options?
Anything with some "edge" will do if comical is too hard.
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2answers
39 views
Is it 'express shipped' or 'shipped express'?
Which one is correct?
He should have express shipped it to me.
He should have it shipped express to me.
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2answers
80 views
Plural or singular verb for collective term
Should the verb, in the following sentence, be singular or plural?
A series of samples was produced.
In a related question I found a reference. However the text in that reference seems to ...
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0answers
76 views
“Fit one's needs” vs. “suit one's needs” vs. “meet one's needs”
In a formal letter, which verb should I choose?
The programme perfectly suits my needs.
The programme perfectly fits my needs.
The programme perfectly meets my needs.
2
votes
2answers
152 views
Not only X but also Y are (is?)
At first glance, sentence 1 below seems more correct because there are two subjects. However, something seems more natural about sentence 2. Maybe there is something abbreviated, elliptical, or ...
1
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4answers
244 views
Why should “be” come after “neither a borrower nor lender,” not before them?
I came across the maxim, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” in the following sentence of Jeffery Archer’s fiction, “The Fourth Estate” (P.54), and found that the maxim came from Lord Polonius’ ...
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0answers
24 views
Is there a term that addresses the use of optional / in the following sentence
In this sentence "I cannot overwrite/ride the method" is there a term that applies to the use of the optional "/" and in fact is it correct to denote the optional as such or are the full words ...
2
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2answers
85 views
For + verb-ing at the beginning of a sentece
Is the following sentence structure grammatically correct? I mean, I've found a lot of examples that have this structure but not at the beginning of the phrase but with a subject before. Here is an ...
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1answer
69 views
Can one massacre lives?
"Most were convinced that those responsible were of their own, silently waiting for another chance to massacre innocent lives."
Would you say that the above example is acceptable or unacceptable with ...
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1answer
119 views
Using 'will' vs. 'would' in this sentence
I'd like to know which one of the following is correct:
I would like to have a job which I will like and which will earn me a lot of money.
I would like to have a job which I would like and ...
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2answers
65 views
How do you say “the test was redone”?
I'm documenting some test cases and this sentence in particular bothered me:
After the problem was fixed, the test was redone.
The thesaurus wasn't helping much.
Can it be reworded in a ...
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1answer
84 views
“more people becoming increasingly xxx” or “more people increasingly becoming xxx”
I need a bit of guidance regarding the following sentence. Which of the three variants is grammatical?
Are more people becoming increasingly intolerant?
Are more people increasingly becoming ...
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2answers
105 views
Is a bare infinitive acceptable as the object of a verb? [duplicate]
I came upon the phrase, "writing helps develop a child analytically thinking." Is this grammatically correct? Is it OK to use just develop instead of to develop?
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4answers
121 views
What is the difference between “anticipate” and “expect”?
My understanding is the following:
I anticipate everyone will come here by 10.
= "I hope it's gonna happen, but I'm not so sure about the result".
I expect everyone will come here by 10.
= ...
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0answers
39 views
What is the slight difference between “assign”, “appoint”, and “dispatch”? [closed]
They seem similar, but how could I tell the difference between them?
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1answer
62 views
The right usage of the verb “elaborate”
I'm writing a paper, please can you tell me which sentence is the right?
The Pseudo-code is outlined in Fig 2 and we elaborate it in the following section.
The Pseudo-code is outlined in Fig ...
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0answers
37 views
the placement of prepositions in phrasal verbs
In England today, "put your coat on" and "put on your coat" are in free variation. But was there an original dialectal difference in the placement of the preposition, and if so, which areas said ...
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1answer
28 views
“Curious X”: X is the subject or an object
When 'curious' is used as an adjective (e.g., in the construction "A is a curious B"), there is ambiguity as to whether the noun it modifies is:-
The subject: A feels curious (e.g., "Humans are a ...
2
votes
1answer
54 views
Is “to circuit” a common verb in colloquial language?
My boss asked me to have a look at a presentation he'll be giving next week; checking if he didn't forget anything.
While skimming over the document, the following sentence was somehow bothering me:
...
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0answers
40 views
Stoblify - To state the obvious [closed]
Stoblify means to state the obvious
Stoblification means the act of stating the obvious
2
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3answers
93 views
Is it possible to use “Achieve” in negative sentences
I've noticed in IELTS reading that there was a sentence as below:
disappointing results were achieved by the Australian Academy.
I looked this verb up in Longman dictionary, It's been said that:
...
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1answer
101 views
“She got her first child” vs. “She had her first child”
I am not a native speaker and yesterday someone told me that "She got her first child" would be misunderstood and "She had her first child" is correct. Now I wonder if this is a 'local' thing here in ...
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3answers
136 views
Can “predeceased” be used before any event?
When a person dies, it is common to say the person was predeceased by other people such as his parents, his brother, and others.
However, I am wondering if these statements are correct:
His ...
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2answers
52 views
What is the meaning of “contribute” in the following context [closed]
What is the meaning of contribute here?
Plug-ins can contribute actionSets extensions that define actions with an
ID, a label, an icon, and a class that implements the interface IActionDelegate.
...
