English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.

Sign up to join this community
Anybody can ask a question
Anybody can answer
The best answers are voted up and rise to the top

Top Questions

14 votes
19 answers
3k views

Idiom for frustrating someone else's plans by taking what the other person wanted in the first place

16 votes
12 answers
4k views

The usage of "can not" vs. "cannot" in mathematics

14 votes
15 answers
3k views

What is a term (or idiom) for someone who enters and exits without a request or order?

18 votes
6 answers
7k views

Why do people say 'topless' but not 'topful'?

20 votes
8 answers
3k views

Idiom for when two people agree on an idea for very contrasting reasons

12 votes
5 answers
3k views

Idiom for being watched after your bad actions

10 votes
15 answers
2k views

Idiomatic word/expression for someone ‘who has no feeling for the game’ - Translation of Spanish ‘pechofrío’

17 votes
5 answers
2k views

Does "until now" always imply that the action is finished?

4 votes
10 answers
2k views

Idiom for Spanish ‘no escupas para arriba’ (i.e., ‘be careful with the harm you do, it could come back at you’)

16 votes
7 answers
3k views

Is "I gave a hundred dollars to my father, and she did so to her father" grammatical?

12 votes
4 answers
3k views

What disrespectful connotations does "redline" have?

17 votes
2 answers
4k views

Origin of the phrase "crazy as a coon"—is it racist?

15 votes
5 answers
3k views

What is the trade of an electrician called?

7 votes
4 answers
3k views

Why does Anglican refer to the religious sect rather than any other aspects of “Englishness”?

3 votes
12 answers
1k views

Indispensable, Essential, "Tool of the trade", "Staple item"

15 votes
2 answers
2k views

Meaning of "retiring" in "free admission with retiring donations"

5 votes
6 answers
3k views

Word for when a life event (like a vacation) is coming to an end and you feel an immense feeling of sadness due to not wanting to leave

6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Strunk and White and The Elements of Style: Removing "the fact that"

4 votes
3 answers
1k views

Difference between "wave AT" and "wave TO"

6 votes
3 answers
1k views

Etymology and meaning of the word "stretch" in sentences like "We should eat before the final stretch"

8 votes
3 answers
1k views

"Just" at the end of a question tag

6 votes
1 answer
1k views

What does "on the trot" mean in tennis?

22 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is there an etymological reason some "question words" mirror the spelling of "answer words" (When/then, where/there, ...)?

6 votes
3 answers
438 views

Difference in logical inevitability between therefore/thus/hence

5 votes
2 answers
983 views

We know how expensive we are

4 votes
4 answers
1k views

Is there anything wrong with the sentence "Donuts are not a part of healthy eating"?

2 votes
2 answers
1k views

Clause structure of "Five'll get you ten, this rain stops in three minutes."

4 votes
2 answers
563 views

The correct negative form (past participle)

5 votes
5 answers
213 views

Origin of the word "blackbirding" for a type of slave trade

6 votes
2 answers
698 views

Can "stagnate" be used as a transitive verb?

8 votes
1 answer
899 views

Is "I'm fine to [verb]" grammatically correct?

0 votes
5 answers
301 views

"In the flesh" for things

3 votes
3 answers
733 views

Is “I bind round” correct to say?

2 votes
5 answers
407 views

Does "assess the use of two strategies by this business as an effective strategy" mean that both strategies have to be effective, or is it ambiguous?

4 votes
2 answers
328 views

What is the word for the fusing of, for example, "-ed" and the final consonant "d" to give the ending (with voice removed) of "bent"?

3 votes
2 answers
416 views

Who coined the phrase "play the hand one is dealt"?

6 votes
3 answers
287 views

Infinitives modifying nouns [closed]

2 votes
3 answers
502 views

What is the meaning of this joke? [closed]

8 votes
1 answer
380 views

'Wracked with" or "wracked by"?

4 votes
3 answers
288 views

"has had a newborn baby"? [closed]

2 votes
3 answers
216 views

Using Past Perfect Simple/Continuous during another event in the past described in Past Simple?

4 votes
3 answers
348 views

Are "compared with" and "compared to" participle phrases?

5 votes
2 answers
298 views

Is there a term for a subgenre of puns where a word or a part of a word is replaced by its opposite?

10 votes
1 answer
211 views

Prepositions in Relative Clauses: Placement Rules and Exceptions (during which)

1 vote
3 answers
175 views

Difference between "provided" and "unless"?

0 votes
4 answers
98 views

Is there a shorter expression for 'are not commonly discussed as much as'?

2 votes
1 answer
162 views

What is the 'rank' in 'rank insubordination'?

1 vote
3 answers
188 views

*Why* is "I've been to <place>" only grammatically valid in perfect tense?


Looking for more? Browse the complete list of questions, or popular tags. Help us answer unanswered questions.