network profile
| bio | website | |
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| location | ||
| age | ||
| visits | member for | 2 years, 5 months |
| seen | Mar 22 at 3:33 | |
| stats | profile views | 4 |
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Feb 7 |
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Why is it true that “I before E, except after C”? @starblue: it may have more to do with the fact that there was a diphthong in Old and Middle High German spelled <ie>, but pronounced as something like "ee-eh". The spelling was carried into Modern German, but the pronunciation had shifted. The companion diphthong <uo> did not survive as such, though. |
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Apr 8 |
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Why “interesting” is sometimes pronounced as “intra-sting” I won't call it laziness because we don't just drop any vowels, only ones in certain prescribed circumstances following regular rules. |
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Apr 8 |
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Why “interesting” is sometimes pronounced as “intra-sting” This really isn't a good analysis as it relies on spelling rather than pronunciation and some of the letters were never pronounced (like the final 'e' in "ate" -- added merely to indicate that the 'a' is pronounced "long"). |
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Apr 8 |
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Singular verb with plural numbers @Tom in that case, it appears that "fifteen" is being used with an omitted complement. You are essentially saying "fifteen (chairs) have been delivered". |
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Jan 8 |
answered | “Despite the fact” implies knowledge of said facts |
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Sep 11 |
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Why does the verb “succeed” change to “successor” as a noun? @Cerberus: that etymology is satisfying (well, more satisfying). I am enlightened. |
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Sep 10 |
awarded | Commentator |
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Sep 10 |
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Why does the verb “succeed” change to “successor” as a noun? Minor point, but cedere does not come from *sed, but rather *ked. The only way it could come from *sed is if it had prefix before a zero-grade form of *sed, i.e.: *ke-sd > L *ked. Even then, I think we'd have a double d rather than a single one. |
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Sep 10 |
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Grammar analysis of this sentence from a magazine I don't think "not only" applies to "tell". It looks like a correlative construction, like "either...or...". |
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Jun 10 |
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What's the difference between be verbs and auxiliary verbs? Yeah, this can't be correct. It's true that all modals and auxiliaries can move out to the front, but it is not true that any verb that can move out to the front is a modal or auxiliary. "be", whether used as a main verb or an auxiliary always moves to the front. In BrE, "have" behaves similarly when it is used in its lexical meaning. |
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Jun 10 |
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“Who wants ice-cream?” — Should I say “(not) I” or “(not) me”? @nohat: well, not really. Originally, the nominative really was the default and this remained through at least part of the Middle English period. Since cases are defunct in English and where they do still exist, are entirely redundant, the default has now switched to the objective form. The same happened in French as the case system fell apart (in Old French, you could still say, e.g. "ne jo" for "not me/I", but now it is explicitly "non moi" or "pas moi" or "moi non plus" and never *"non je"). |
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Dec 30 |
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When are “because”, “since”,“for” and “as” interchangeable? You are conflating two usages of "as". There is another usage of "as" where it means more or less the same thing as "because". But since it could be easily confused, I think your usage note is still relevant. |
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Dec 15 |
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'The fact that' versus just 'That' @ptomata: sorry, I misread that as "not always appropriate". |
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Dec 14 |
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'The fact that' versus just 'That' I don't know how you'd phrase your sample sentence without using "the fact that", barring a considerable recasting. |
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Dec 14 |
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Why have the subjunctive and indicative converged in Modern English? @Noldorin because the endings dropped off, like other endings in the language (and the endings were the only things distinguishing subjunctive from indicative). That's the same reason why we don't have cases on nouns anymore. |
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Dec 14 |
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Could “are he” be correct? English is not messed up. This is fairly logical and you'll find it in other European languages as well. |
