Unanswered Questions
8
votes
1answer
176 views
“There is X” vs “There is a/an X”
1: There is a reluctance on the part of European companies to buy from American sources.
2: There is an emphasis on the organic roots of spirituality.
3: There is a tendency to make the ...
5
votes
0answers
112 views
Where and why were capital letters first used in headlines?
The words in headlines are capitalized. I'm interested in the history of this.
Where and why were capital letters first used in headlines? Where is this practice of capitalization of words in English ...
3
votes
0answers
173 views
What does the expression 'justified for him his own idea' mean?
I am reading a novel, and I did not understand one of the sentences in it. Following are two lines from the novel. The narrator is talking about a guy called Paul and her father.
They were once ...
2
votes
1answer
18 views
Usage of “Who's to Say X”, Followed by Defending X, or Attacking X?
I have seen two different uses of "Who's to say X". It appears to me, that the author could either defend X in a sarcastic or ironic way, or could attack X by presenting evidence contrary to X. My ...
2
votes
0answers
47 views
“…must be running”
I'm trying to understand the meanings of must with a lexical verb in present continuous.
Usually "must" means the judgement of the speaker (epistemic modality).
Can it have a non-epistemic meaning ...
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
2answers
57 views
Payment to be due within three months “of” that meeting
Does the word "of" in the context of an established point in time refer to before or after that established point in time?
1
vote
0answers
40 views
Visual connotation associated with “lucid”
I'm interested in the definition and connotation of "lucid" when it comes to physical objects: what does a lucid object look like?
From Merriam-Webster:
suffused with light : luminous
translucent
...
1
vote
1answer
53 views
Is there a difference between 'reform' and 'reformation'?
According to the OED, 'reform' is defined as,
[mass noun] the action or process of reforming an institution or practice.
The same definition appears in its entry for 'reformation'.
In terms of ...
1
vote
0answers
94 views
How can we differentiate between past and present just by pronounciation when the word is followed by d- or similiar sound?
I want to know how can we distinguish, for example, these 2 sentences just by listening the pronunciation:
1- they first kill the trees
2- they first killed the trees
When pronouncing "kill ...
1
vote
0answers
38 views
What tense is “would” in: [subject] would [verb] [other subject] [infinitive]
The phrase: "This attack would require the user to comply"
What tense is would require? Several thoughts were that it is somehow a present unreal conditional, but is it present?
1
vote
0answers
57 views
prepositional phrases strong enough to bring 'the' before the nouns they modify?
I was wondering if prepositional phrases alone were strong enough to bring the relative pronoun the before the nouns that they modify.
Upon reading (2) do you feel the people is restricted or ...
1
vote
0answers
62 views
“as and when” Usage
Why would one say
" you can do that as and when needed"
instead of
" you can do that when needed"
Is there any difference between them?
1
vote
0answers
69 views
How to separate two phrases in a grammatically correct way?
In all stackexchange sites, there is an edit summary field provided when you try to edit a question or an answer. I find myself frequently writing there the following:
"edited title, added a tag"
or
...
1
vote
0answers
97 views
pronunciation US-UK in words like semi
I am trying to find a document that explains pronunciation differences en /E/ and /I/ sounds between UK and US styles. I think US pronunciation does a lot /'sɛmay/ than UK /'sɛmi/. Where can I find an ...
