This tag is for questions about the correct order of words in a phrase, or a sentence.
2
votes
2answers
238 views
Order of participial adjective
I'm proof-reading a thesis by one of my friends and there's some recurring construct which I always mark as false but I'd like to check with you.
In the comments I was told that the example I ...
2
votes
1answer
536 views
Adverb position in perfect tenses [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Are there any rules on the positioning adverbs should take in a sentence?
My question concerns the adverb position in perfect tenses. For example look at these ...
2
votes
2answers
184 views
Not always + inversion? [closed]
My neighbour's little son (they are from UK) asked me for something, saying that he wants it and hence he will get.
I realized I do not know how to say that correctly (for the first one I used ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
Order of phrases after verb: Prefer “share with you X” or “share X with you”?
Which of these sentences is grammatically correct?
I wanted to share with you the outcomes of today's board meeting
I wanted to share the outcomes of today's board meeting with you
2
votes
2answers
4k views
“But (something) instead” versus “but instead (something)”
Please consider the sentences:
They do not overpower the city, but empower it instead.
They do not overpower the city, but instead empower it.
I'm doubting the use of but + instead. Is ...
2
votes
1answer
369 views
Proper usage/origin of the generic phrase “[action phrase] does not a [noun] make” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why is “xxxx doth not a yyyy make” considered valid English?
I occasionally come across a sentence formulated in a manner similar to the following:
...
2
votes
1answer
115 views
“used word” or “word used”?
The word used in that context should be gusto.
The used word is wrong.
Is it correct to place used after word? When should I use word used, and when used word?
2
votes
1answer
206 views
Should I say “have only been . . . twice” or “have been . . . twice only”?
Will these next two sentences confuse you?
1.I have only been to London once before.
2.I have been to London twice only.
Now for a more complicated example, I want to express that I have ...
2
votes
2answers
230 views
Should personal pronouns always be placed at the end of a list? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“My friends and I” vs. “My friends and me” vs. “Me and my friends”
Is naming the first person last proper grammar or just proper manners?
“Julio and I” vs “I and Julio”
...
2
votes
3answers
265 views
“…and me” or “me and…” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Me and my wife” or “my wife and me”
I keep seeing that it's just courtesy to put yourself last in a list of nouns. eg. "They went to the game ...
2
votes
1answer
1k views
Usage of “just”, “only” and word-order [intended meaning]
I've got these sentences, which meanings are correct (my interpretations are in brackets):
Use of only:
(1) Only in 1996, Ford sold a rebadged Mazda 626 GV over here as its rebranded Japanese ...
2
votes
1answer
947 views
Use of “only” and word-order
I'm writing an automobile website and some of my paragraphs contain the word "only".
I understand the following. As far as I'm aware, this is right:
Only the Volkswagen Polo, Golf, Passat, Passat ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
Not only… but also
Consider the following:
Not only you should be able to speak but also able to write.
You should be able to not only speak but also write.
You should not only be able to speak but also be ...
2
votes
1answer
412 views
Where to put the preposition of “approve”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When is it appropriate to end a sentence in a preposition?
In this answer I wrote
[You can use it] to take pictures of a movie in a cinema, of which the
cinema ...
2
votes
1answer
555 views
Phrase and word-order meaning
I know that "only" and "just" and word-order are oft-mentioned topics on here, but word-order for phrases and meanings - don't both of these mean different things?
Here is an example of how word ...
2
votes
1answer
45 views
Does 'which' refer to the noun immediately preceding it?
Is the 'which' in
Proposition 25 suggests a better definition of m-reducibility than given in Definition 23, which is also the one typically given in texts
ambiguous? It is a line from an ...
2
votes
0answers
22 views
“A question in a question” [duplicate]
I've got two questions for you.
Number one: I've always been confused about what I call "a question in a question" (maybe there is a technical term for that but I don't know it). What I mean is... ...
2
votes
0answers
68 views
Swapping the order in an idiomatic expression [closed]
I may have sounded general in the title but my question is very specific. Recently I was writing a poem and I needed it to rhyme this way
Some will stand to watch you go down quick
But no one ...
2
votes
0answers
20 views
Adjective order convention [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the rule for adjective order?
As a native speaker, I would always say "big red ball," but never "red big ball."
Further, I would say "Big red furry ball," and ...
2
votes
0answers
21 views
Why ‘a great green dragon’ but not ‘a green great dragon’? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the rule for adjective order?
In Letter #163 to W.H. Auden from page 214 of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien mentions his mother noting but not explaining ...
2
votes
0answers
26 views
Is the phrase “fresh six muffins” grammatically correct? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the rule for adjective order?
A non-native speaker that I know always puts the count before another adjective, as in "fresh six muffins". "Six fresh muffins" ...
2
votes
0answers
36 views
Unusual word order in a sentence [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why is “xxxx doth not a yyyy make” considered valid English?
Proper usage/origin of the generic phrase “[action phrase] does not a [noun] make”
“Two films don't a ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
“They all are fine” vs. “they are all fine” [closed]
The situation is that someone asks me how my family are; I then want to answer that they all are fine.
I want to know whether the sentences "They all are fine." and "They are all fine." have the ...
2
votes
2answers
207 views
Correct order of multiple possessive words
Which is correct:
Myrtle’s party took place in her and Tom’s apartment
Or
Myrtle’s party took place in Tom's and her apartment
Or neither?
1
vote
3answers
101 views
Does “allegedly made a drug that does X” or “made a drug that allegedly does X” sound better? [closed]
As an engineering-type fellow, I was thinking about this article about a drug that replaces sleep.
It occurred to me that I could frame it in two ways:
Scientists allegedly created a drug that ...
1
vote
4answers
265 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’ ...
1
vote
2answers
97 views
“how the data is accessed” and “how is the data accessed”, which one is correct?
Of the two sentences “how the data is accessed” and “how is the data accessed”, which one is correct?
1
vote
1answer
285 views
Why do we write the name of Judges in a strange way?
I did a bit of law when I was in school, and recently, I recalled a unique feature of the law system regarding the way the names of judges were written, especially those with the title of Justice. ...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
“The paper on Monday published X” vs. “the paper published on Monday X”
What would be the best position of Monday in the following sentence — before or after the verb?
The paper on Monday published what the artist called a blunt attack on people’s right to privacy. ...
1
vote
2answers
323 views
“A is followed by B.” What's the order?
So the English class teacher is teaching IEEE referencing style, and we have something like this as an example:
Chan [1] claims that...
The teacher said:
The referencing number is followed ...
1
vote
6answers
224 views
“Plan not to retire” or “Plan to not retire”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Order of “not” with infinitive
Someone edited my post on another StackExchange.com site to change the former to the latter.
Which is better? I wrote the ...
1
vote
4answers
224 views
“What score are we playing until?” or how to ask it?
Every day Jack and Ted have about 5–15 minutes to go outside and play table tennis in the afternoon. As their free time varies each time (sometimes it's 5 minutes, sometimes 10, sometimes 15), they ...
1
vote
3answers
220 views
How should this sentence be structured?
I want to know which one of these two sentence structures is correct grammatically:
This book is, despite being dense, a good read.
This book, despite being dense, is a good read.
1
vote
1answer
72 views
“I ordered us…” vs. “I ordered for us…” vs “I ordered … for us”
I usually use a phrase such as:
(1) I ordered us a box.
Would it be more correct to say:
(2) I ordered for us a box.
Or, better still:
(3) I ordered a box for us.
Example 3 sounds ...
1
vote
5answers
137 views
Precedence: and > or?
The question Precedence of “and” and “or” asks if there is any notion of precedence ordering in the English and it would seem not, based on the answers.
Regardless of that, if you saw the following ...
1
vote
10answers
211 views
“High Accident Intersection”
I was challenged recently to solve this problem. An accident takes place on an intersection on a high road. However, if I was to write about this as taken place in a "high accident intersection" it ...
1
vote
1answer
174 views
Is it correct to start a sentence with “with” in English?
Is it correct to use with at the beginning of a sentence?
Here's an example sentence:
With the development of the economy, living standards improved.
To my eyes this looks unnatural; I would ...
1
vote
3answers
137 views
The phrase 'give you me'
There was another sentence that I wasn't sure about: "Rather, O blessed one, give you me boldness to abide within the harmless laws of peace, avoiding strife and hatred and the violent fiends of ...
1
vote
2answers
278 views
Position of verb for object clause
Is the general word order of this sentence correct?
We investigate how strong the effect of X on Y is.
Or, as an alternative,
We investigate how strong the effect of X is on Y.
In a ...
1
vote
2answers
117 views
Do I need “have” here?
Was it specifically mentioned as part of their teaching or they have just
happened not to have killed anyone?
Do I need have there?
1
vote
4answers
1k views
Past participle after noun: “proposed cost” vs. “cost proposed”
I have the following two examples:
Our proposed cost is expensive.
Our cost proposed is expensive.
Is there any difference between them? Or is the second sentence wrong?
1
vote
1answer
123 views
Punctuation for lists
I have a sentence like this:
As you can see, there are two projects "project1" and "project2", where the latter uses the global wrapper functions defined in "project1" project.
My question is ...
1
vote
3answers
177 views
Do these adjectives refer to ice?
In this sentence from Wuthering Heights
I declined joining their breakfast, and, at the first gleam of dawn,
took an opportunity of escaping into the free air, now clear, and
still, and cold ...
1
vote
4answers
188 views
Does adverb placement affect meaning?
He swam slowly to the island.
He slowly swam to the island.
Some experts say that there is a “slight difference” in meaning.
Would you please tell me that difference?
1
vote
4answers
181 views
“Can take no other” vs. “can't take other”
As an ESL I'm not sure if I can use the following sentences:
You can take no other directions.
I'm using it on giving indications to a foreigner.
Should I use instead:
You can't take other ...
1
vote
3answers
133 views
Preferred list ordering [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What are the principles that make certain lists sound euphonious?
Name for a type of idiom with two things joined (like “raining cats and dogs”, “bread and ...
1
vote
2answers
2k views
The time before place mantra [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the rule for adjective order?
As a Dutch schoolboy, during English grammar lessons (long ago...) I got one rule hammered into my head like a mantra: time before ...
1
vote
3answers
128 views
Oh, Say Can You See?
In the Star Spangled Banner, the opening line/question is "Oh, say can you see..."
Is that grammatically correct? Why isn't it "Oh, say you can see...?"
1
vote
6answers
434 views
“Almost until 1900” or “until almost 1900”: which one is correct?
Although various eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American poets had professed an interest in Native American poetry and had pretended to imitate Native American forms in their own works, it was ...
1
vote
3answers
86 views
Does ordering make a difference?
I would like to know whether there is a grammatical or semantical difference between "notion of " and "-notion". I do not know what to search for to answer this question so maybe someone can help me ...
