Verbs are words that express an action, occurrence, or a state of being.
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How many tenses are there in English?
Do we have 16 tenses in English?
With
future
present
past
future in the past
in these forms
simple
continuous
perfect
perfect continuous
Can we manipulate these together to create English ...
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votes
14answers
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How to avoid ambiguity in “I am renting an apartment in New York”?
Does the sentence:
I am renting an apartment in New York.
imply that I am the landlord or the tenant?
How can I unequivocally communicate that I am the tenant (or the landlord)?
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votes
4answers
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How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?
Non-native speakers often get confused about what the tenses in English mean. With input from some of the folk here I've put together a diagram that I hope will provide some clarity on the matter.
I ...
44
votes
6answers
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“Login” or “log in”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“log in to” or “log into” or “login to”
Is there accepted terminology for the process of logging in?
As a verb, would you say "Go to ...
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votes
15answers
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Antonym of “recommend”
What's the antonym of recommend? For example:
I recommend that item!
I tried to use unrecommend, but the spell-checker throws an error and it sounds stupid as well!
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votes
10answers
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“Eat” is to “feed” as “drink” is to what?
I can say "I feed someone". Am I forced to say "I give someone a drink", or is there a single word for this (as in "I [verb] someone")? Unfortunately my thesaurus can't really help me.
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11answers
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Central Pennsylvanian English speakers: what are the limitations on the “needs washed” construction?
In the Central Pennsylvania dialect of English (and possibly elsewhere), the following construction is possible:
This car needs washed. (=needs to be washed)
The room needs cleaned. (=needs ...
37
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9answers
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Is “rather” shifting to become a verb?
In colloquial English, I constantly run across sentences of the form:
I rather my [noun] [verb]
A quick Google search returns tons of examples:
I rather my opponents don't find out.
I ...
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8answers
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Can I “wear an umbrella”?
Does it make sense to say the following?
Yesterday I wore an umbrella and a coat.
33
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9answers
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When should I use “shall” versus “will”?
Which is the correct use of these two words, and in which context should one be used rather than the other?
32
votes
9answers
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“Unregister” vs “Deregister”
The concept of "undoing a registration" is widely used in my line of work. While most dictionaries define unregister as the proper verb for it, several widely used and highly considered sources also ...
30
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7answers
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“The Dude abides” — what does “abide” mean in that context?
I'm unfamilar with the word "abide" which is famously used the the movie quote "The Dude abides" (The Big Lebowski).
Looking it up in a German/English dictionary makes me believe it's "The Dude lives ...
27
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8answers
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If someone is electrocuted, do they have to die or can they just be injured?
Is it correct to say I electrocuted my friend if he was only injured by electricity?
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5answers
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Is it possible for a new irregular verb to appear in English language?
Consider these verbs in past tense:
faxed, emailed, googled
they are all regular verbs made out of new nouns.
Are there any new irregular verbs that I'm not aware of?
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votes
12answers
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What is a verb for “illusion”?
What is a verb for illusion? I want to use it in a sentence like the following:
The optical effect [illudes] my perception of its real shape.
But illude does not exist. But I cannot find illude ...
23
votes
2answers
891 views
Why are clothes hung and men hanged?
I've heard it said that clothes can be 'hung' but men are 'hanged'. Is this correct, and, if so, why?
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1answer
981 views
How do you conjugate Early Modern English verbs (other than present tense)?
I was wondering how one might conjugate verbs in early modern English in various tenses. I am aware of the fact that for second person and third person singular specifically, the verb endings are -est ...
21
votes
6answers
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Which is correct: “troubleshooted” or “troubleshot”?
Troubleshooted is not a word, but troubleshot is.
Is this really the correct word to use?
I always feel like saying:
I troubleshooted it.
vs
I troubleshot it
For some reason, it just ...
20
votes
7answers
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What is the opposite of “skyrocket”? [closed]
I recently came across a situation where something was decreasing rapidly. My friend was led to say:
The price of fuel has really skyrocketed downwards lately.
Something about this statement ...
20
votes
7answers
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Is “must” ever grammatical as a past tense verb?
I have seen uses of must that appear to be in the simple past tense. Sometimes these seem grammatical, but sometimes not. Examples that help illustrate my confusion:
He knew he must go to New York ...
20
votes
2answers
456 views
Send, sent; end, *ent?
The past tense of a number of verbs changes from -end to -ent:
bend → bent
lend → lent
rend → rent
send → sent
spend → spent
wend → went
However, most do not, notably end. Granted, I say “I ent ...
19
votes
10answers
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What's the verb for making that “pffft” sound?
I have a dialogue like this:
"All I wanted to do was to keep a low profile"
"Pffft. That worked well, we not only have the entire police force but also the entire mafia chasing us"
I don't ...
19
votes
7answers
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Can 'revert' be used as a synonym of 'reply'?
I am a native speaker of American English, and I have only ever heard this usage of the word revert from one person. This person is not a native English speaker (he is from India), so he may just be ...
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5answers
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Is there any other way you can “wax” as you do when you “wax philosophical”?
The wax in the phrase "wax philosophical" is a pretty strange bird. Its wax is obviously not the ordinary definition of wax, which my dictionary summarizes as an "oily, water-resistant substance", a ...
19
votes
2answers
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When is “L” doubled?
Some verbs can have double Ls in the gerund form; for example:
modeling; modelling
traveling; travelling
Which form should we use, or which form is used more in the literature?
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votes
1answer
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What is the origin of the 'do' construction?
Modern English seems to require this verb in several circumstances, where most other European languages don't seem to need it. (See? I just used it.)
For example, in questions: "Do you have a dog?" ...
18
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5answers
483 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 ...
18
votes
1answer
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Suffixes for verbification: -ify, -icise, -ificate
The suffixes
-ise/-ize
-ify
-ificate
are all used for verbifying nouns and adjectives. What are the differences in meaning/connotation/usage between them?
(This is generalising from the ...
17
votes
10answers
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What is the opposite of “abstain”?
We were thinking originally in terms of voting, but of course "abstain" has a more general meaning, of which the antonym is probably "indulge".
But is there an opposite that would be more appropriate ...
17
votes
5answers
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Word meaning “to make more efficient”?
I think this question came up in a conversation with a friend...we were discussing how serving lunch could be made more efficient.
They could _____ the lunch line by doing this or that.
The only ...
17
votes
5answers
3k views
Is it acceptable to use “is become” instead of “has become”?
In the King James version of the Bible there is a verse like this:
The Lord is my strength, and my fortress, and my song. And He is become my salvation.
Is it still feasible to use "is become" ...
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4answers
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“Unselect” or “Deselect”?
If I want the user to revert their operation of selecting an item, should I say: "Unselect the option" or "Deselect the option"?
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3answers
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What is the difference between “lay” and “lie”?
How do I know when to use lay and when to use lie, and what are the different forms of each verb? I'm always getting them confused.
16
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4answers
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How is the jussive mood rendered in English?
In English the imperative mood is used only for the second person (differently from Italian, where what is called imperative mood is used also for the first, and third person).
How is the jussive mood ...
15
votes
4answers
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Isn't the word “uninstall” wrong?
I've never understood this. Why is the proper usage "uninstall"? You can't actually "unin" something at all and this isn't that case with most (all?) other use cases. Examples:
You make someone ...
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votes
15answers
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Specific verb for “training an apprentice”?
Does a specific verb exist for the process of passing on information or skills including the passing of responsibilities between an experienced worker and a new one? The verb train is too general, as ...
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6answers
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Friendlier way to express you paid for a person's drink/dinner and expect it to be paid back
In Dutch we have the word voorschieten. In English it translates — according to Google Translate — to "advance, lend, disburse". The Dutch word voorschieten is used in an informal setting between ...
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votes
10answers
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What is the correct way to use infinitive after the verb “help”: with or without “to”?
What is the correct way to use infinitive after the verb "help": with or without "to"?
For example:
Please, help me to understand this.
or:
Please, help me understand this.
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votes
3answers
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Difference between “delete” and “remove” [closed]
I am writing a mobile application that will, as a part of its functionality, display a list of recorded thoughts. Now I am deciding the textual content of the menus and that left me thinking whether ...
15
votes
6answers
508 views
Where does the phrase “run code” or “run software” come from? Why “run”?
Historically speaking, it makes sense to me someone would say run "the computer". Early computers (not a human computer) were mechanical machines with moving parts that could achieve a velocity deemed ...
15
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2answers
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Why is 'present perfect' present if it happened in the past? And why is it 'perfect'?
Why is 'present perfect' present if it happened in the past? And why is it 'perfect'?
15
votes
1answer
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Why is “ask” sometimes pronounced “aks”?
We've recently moved from New Zealand to New York City, and have noticed that many people (most of whom have good English) pronounce "ask" as "aks". For example:
Could you please go aks her ...
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votes
8answers
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Verb for librarian giving book to library visitor
What's the appropriate verb to describe the action the librarian does when you borrow a book at the library, something like hand or give?
14
votes
5answers
739 views
The difference between “take” and “last”
We say: "the meeting will last two hours". But we say: "how long does the flight take?"
Please let me know the difference between last and take and when we should use each.
14
votes
3answers
486 views
What are wrong with this phrase?
Is the phrase
what are wrong with XY and ZZ
correct English? I stumbled upon it in a question on movies.SE: What are wrong with the bleach and the fish in the Machinist?, and instantly thought ...
14
votes
4answers
793 views
How productive is the prefix “un-”?
Is it possible to use un- with new words such as sit, sleep, sad? I'm currently seeing many words (in programming) which use "un-" in the meaning of undoing something.
For example, is it possible to ...
14
votes
2answers
391 views
Envision vs Envisage
Is there a context where envision is not a synonym of envisage, or vice versa?
Envisage's definition:
contemplate or conceive of as a possibility or a desirable future event
Envision's ...
13
votes
9answers
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“Assign a variable to a value” or the other way round?
I was wondering which of these phrases is/are correct:
assign a variable to a value
assign a value to a variable
I'd say the second is correct, but I'm not a native speaker. A quick Google search ...
13
votes
8answers
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Is there any subtle difference between “to study” and “to learn”?
I don't know how to phrase my question better, but I just want to know if there will be any little difference if I directly replace one with the other.
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votes
3answers
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“Let's” vs. “lets”: which is correct?
Say I'm promoting a product. Which is correct?
[Product] let's you [do something awesome].
[Product] lets you [do something awesome].
Or neither?
