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Apr 23 |
answered | Single word for “unqualified truth” |
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Apr 19 |
comment |
How to write out numbers in compliance with British usage? @Cerberus is correct. General rule is and only before numbers below 100. But J.R., in British usage, it's a cheque, and we still keep the and unless space is tight. |
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Apr 18 |
answered | How would you say 'go round the houses' in a formal way? |
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Apr 18 |
revised |
Word for someone who overly nurtures their online image deleted 10 characters in body |
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Apr 18 |
comment |
Comma placement in “Another, just as important, aspect” "Another equally important aspect" would express it just as clearly and without any commas. Bad for word count, though. |
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Apr 18 |
answered | Word for someone who overly nurtures their online image |
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Apr 18 |
comment |
Another “which” question Yes, the clue here is in the word makes, which must refer to a singular noun, and how, you might ask, could the leaf make the tea popular all by itself? But it's the sort of thing you have to read a couple of times to convince yourself that you've read it the right way. |
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Apr 18 |
answered | Telling someone that they are rude |
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Apr 18 |
answered | Another “which” question |
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Apr 18 |
comment |
Comma usage near title in quotes I've seen the embedded comma in US-style speech, but never in titles. I think even in US-style writing, the comma would be best left outside the quotation marks. |
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Apr 18 |
comment |
Do you say “thirty past six”? And similarly, one would never say fifteen past or fifteen to but quarter past/to instead. You would only specify minute values like fifteen, thirty or forty-five when saying the hour first, e.g. six thirty. Awkward numbers like twenty-nine would be fine this way too: we might say six twenty-nine (if reading a digital clock) but never twenty-nine past six unless for deliberate comic effect. |
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Apr 18 |
comment |
Grammaticality of “a high number of” In principle, there's nothing really wrong with describing numbers as high or low, but I think it's more natural to speak of large/great or small numbers. |
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Apr 18 |
comment |
Make a … of himself I don't suppose "making a statue of himself" would involve behaving like a statue. |
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Apr 18 |
comment |
Un-(adjective) but In-(noun) — does it ever go the other way? @JohnLawler I'd consider your two comments a satisfactory answer - that it's about the origin of the word rather than its role in a sentence, the difference between Latin and Germanic words. |
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Apr 17 |
comment |
why “and then some” means considerably more? Broadly I agree, but in the context in which I've usually seen this phrase used, it tends to mean noticeably more, so I generally consider it understatement. |
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Apr 17 |
comment |
“Off on a tangent” vs. “off tangent.” That may be it, @AmigableClarkKant. If I hear (or read) "off tangent" I immediately think "But a tangent is a line away ... perpendicular ... radius .. thingy" (I half-remember it). So is "off-tangent" a movement back towards the circle, getting back on track, or a move even further away from it? |
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Apr 17 |
comment |
“his” may be more suitable but why is “him” not ok ? Why was this answer downvoted? I've never heard an English-speaker say "NOUN PHRASE... of him" in this way. It might be a stretch to call it grammatically incorrect (though his/hers are at least possessive pronouns and him/her are not), but "A friend of me/him/her" is certainly not idiomatic in any English-speaking area where I've been. |
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Apr 16 |
answered | why “and then some” means considerably more? |
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Jan 28 |
comment |
What is wrong with the word “performant”? Yes, that's exactly it. I know in French it means "first", but to justify that word it would really have to be first, chronologically or by some other ranking. Using the French word instead allows the weaselly suggestion of superiority without needing any supporting evidence. |
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Oct 5 |
awarded | Critic |
