Questions tagged [british-english]
This tag is for questions related to English as used in Great Britain, and sometimes Ireland.
2,467
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What will be the passive voice sentences for these sentences? [closed]
How many men are there?
How much milk he buys?
There are books.
It is a toy.
Books are there.
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0
answers
82
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Where to hyphenate the plural “incentives” of “incentive” in British English? [duplicate]
The Oxford spelling dictionary, Robert Edward Allen, 1986, p. 129, says,
in¦cent|ive
The New Oxford spelling dictionary, Maurice Waite, 2005, p. 246, says,
in|cen¦tive
The Oxford advanced learner'...
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1
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122
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Where to hyphenate “changing” in British English? [duplicate]
An online hyphenation tool says
chan•ging
for British English. However, there's a rule that if a word is longer than 6 letters and ends with the suffix “-ing”, it's always possible to divide the ...
- 103
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1
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121
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Proper hyphenation of “technologies”
The New Oxford spelling dictionary by Maurice Waite from 2005 says on p. 521,
tech|nolo¦gies
Note there's no break after “techno” despite the Greek root téchnē. Why? Could we kindly ask for an ...
- 103
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0
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71
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British English slang for 'leg'?
Is "stump" for 'leg' a good choice when the goal is to pick a slang word that is commonly understood by Brits? Or, would, for instance, "pin", or any other synonymous slang word, ...
- 89
3
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0
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86
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'Go on a binge' in British English?
If said without any accompanying information, is 'go on a binge' primarily understood by Brits as meaning a 'drinking binge'?
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1
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1
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75
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Is "bugly" used in British English?
Is "bugly" (from 'butt ugly') used in British English? And if it is, is it more common in some regional dialects than others?
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0
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41
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Is "skunkworks" used in British English?
Is the originally American English "skunkworks" also used in BE? And if it is, is it still regarded as being an Americanism, or has it been assimilated into BE?
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3
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1
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118
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Do compounds ending in "college" have initial stress in British English but final stress in American English?
Zwicky (1986, p. 54) claims that compounds ending in college have initial stress in British English but final stress in American varieties. Thus, Brits would say KING'S college but Americans ...
- 463
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4
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101
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Can I use the adjective “existing” with a noun, if there are no existing instances of that noun?
Would the following sentence make sense, if there are no existing instances the noun?
I will go out and look for existing dinosaurs
By using the adjective “existing”, the sentence refers to ...
- 133
1
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4
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698
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Is there a word for fans making excuses for their favorite artist? [duplicate]
The example I'm thinking of is Bethesda and Starfield. Other than the graphics it's not a well designed game, but people keep making excuses for it, when smaller teams have done far more with far less ...
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1
answer
50
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Usage of dash, grammar
There are two sentences :
Cat is a small animal with soft fur that people often keep as a pet.
Cat — a small animal with soft fur that people often keep as a pet.
Is the second one correct from ...
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20
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2
answers
4k
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What does this Peter Sellers sentence mean?
What does the sentence mean which Peter Sellers is here quoting from his grandad?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mbUdsQfSq0&t=294s
(I refer to the sentence he says immediately after you start ...
- 319
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4
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126
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How to be 'ornery' in BE?
I'm looking for the best BE substitute for the AmE word "ornery" in the phrase "an ornery bunch".
Complicating the task for this second-language speaker of English is that ...
- 89
1
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2
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139
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Connotations of "that's too bad" between American and British english
I am a Canadian, but I study in Edinburgh, Scotland. I have discovered a peculiar feature of my speach that seems to surprise most people from here. When ill befalls others, I use the phrase "...
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1
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0
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62
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Sentence improvement too redundant [closed]
Can this be improved?
The last tale of success on a constructed new programming language is
one at the famous X, LLC.
or,
The last tale of success of a constructed new programming language is
one ...
- 115
0
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0
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54
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If you mean 'good' then say so! [duplicate]
Why do the British, myself included, ofttimes respond to an inquiry which could be answered by "Good" or "Fine" by saying "Not bad" or "Not bad at all"?
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2
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1
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152
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British school terminology "given yards"
In a recent Tom Scott video, an older gentleman who is currently serving as the town crier of Honiton recounts his childhood involvement in the "hot penny festival".
We used to wear gloves, ...
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28
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5
answers
4k
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Understanding of -pants vs. "pants" in UK speakers
My wife, a native Spanish speaker, today asked me about why a youtuber would call themselves 'craftypants'.
I explained that -pants was added to something as synecdoche, so for example an intelligent ...
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2
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1
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234
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What's up with the syntax of "more fool me"?
In UK English, the idiom "more fool me" means something like "and I'm a fool for doing so".
But how might you try to understand the underlying syntax? Is "fool" an ...
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1
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55
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What is the particular word for a person who thinks in-depth when s/he is lonely?
I am looking for a word that describes a person who can think independently, and in-depth when s/he is alone. A single word is preferrable.
3
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1
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394
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Context for "There was nothing could be done for him."
Sentences (1)-(2) below are grammatically/semantically correct.
Sentences (1)-(2) are traditionally explained by deletion of a nominative case relative pronoun. However, in my view, sentences (1)-(2) ...
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1
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Can ‘manage’ mean ‘achieve with difficulty’? [closed]
I often find myself using sentence constructions like:
Although the train was full, she managed to squeeze on.
I passed the chemistry exam, but never managed history.
Everybody complained about the ...
- 523
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3
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2k
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The British equivalent of "X objects in a trenchcoat"
Today while giving a technical presentation to our research group, I used the expression
3 [Insert technical thing here]s in a trenchcoat.
Our advisor (British/African roots, but has been in the US ...
3
votes
3
answers
136
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Is the phrase "put paid to" widely understood outside of the UK?
A comment on this question notes that the phrase "put paid to" (meaning put a stop to) is unlikely to be understood in the US. Another comment indicates that the phrase is widely understood ...
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2
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776
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"This is a good one, this is" [duplicate]
I have long been curious about a particular English (in parts of GB) phrasing habit.
For example:
Oh she's lovely, she is.
That's a nice one, that is.
You should keep doing that, you should.
I am ...
2
votes
1
answer
132
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Origin of "get back on terms"
I'm interested in finding the origin of the phrase "get back on terms". Commentators in the Tour de France and other big bike races use it all the time. I understand it in context; its ...
5
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3
answers
802
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Is "in case of need" idiomatic British English?
I've been shown an Out of Office template, and one of the sentences in it asks the sender to contact someone else within the company "in case of need", as the email will not be forwarded.
I'...
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0
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51
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Shouldn't the answer to this question be not given? [closed]
Here is a link to the full passage:
https://ieltsfever.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ieltsfever-general-reading-practice-test-3-pdf.pdf
There's a question in the IELTS reading section. Here is the ...
4
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2
answers
102
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Meaning, origin, and usage of 'mitch' to mean lucky/unlikely
Wuthering Heights' Joseph is, in my opinion, one of the more annoying characters in the book, because of a) his temperament, and b) the opaque transcriptions of his thick Yorkshire accent and ...
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1
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360
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Is "hadn't got" correct? [closed]
Yesterday in my English class, I tried to say 'I hadn't got that book' and my teacher told me my sentence was incorrect, she said I should say 'I didn't have that book'.
I bought Grammarly, and it ...
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0
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97
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Is the difference between "what a nerve" and "what nerve" regional?
I understand "what (a) nerve!" means "how rude".
I somehow always thought "what a nerve" is more common and was surprised at the exchange made in this question. ...
- 501
2
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1
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114
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Unusual conjugation of "to be" [closed]
I encountered several times a certain type of sentences (in colloquial contexts) which were clearly grammatically incorrect but seems to be widely spread and, as a non-native English speaker, I would ...
- 121
2
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1
answer
90
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Origin of "Indent" as in inventory or request
I have recently moved to an institution run by the British government where staff use the term "indent" as a noun to refer to an inventory exercise done to work out what they need to buy.
...
4
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2
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382
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Is there a transatlantic split in how to truncate "obstetrics and gynecology"?
There is a medical specialty called obstetrics and gynecology. In the UK I have only heard this truncated to something like the first syllables separated by a truncated "and". This could ...
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Is the comma between the words 'that' and 'if' in this sentence incorrect?
In A History of Western Philosophy (1945), Bertrand Russell writes:
Hegel thought that, if enough was known about a thing to distinguish
it from all other things, then all its properties could be ...
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6
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3
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379
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What is the meaning (and origin) of the word 'peck' in the expression 'bomb peck' (BrE)?
Someone used the words 'bomb peck' in conversation to me yesterday and I queried what they meant. I have found the expression being used colloquially online but with no explanation of what 'peck' ...
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1
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106
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Are all variants of English spelling basically British or American? [closed]
I am working on an English-language online resource. It seems an obvious good idea to allow users to choose a version in British English or American English spelling. However, I've noticed that spell-...
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1
answer
71
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Question about pronunciation in British accent (Modern RP) [duplicate]
In the British accent (Modern RP), the word "often" is pronounced as "ɒf.tən" with the "t" sound. What about words like "soften", "fasten", and "...
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1
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0
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Difference between ",' and ` in quoting [closed]
I'm designing a template language that tries to adhere as closely as possible to english grammar and HTML syntax. For example, arrays are declared by appending an s to a word rather than prepending a ...
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2
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68
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Usage of non-definitive answer to a definitive question
I'm having a discussion with someone currently about the use of non-definitive answers to definitive questions, and am hoping StackExchange might be able to help me with this one!
The person I'm ...
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A traffic light (1 "light" composed of 3 lights) or A SET of traffic lights (3 lights considered individually)?
Which is idiomatic in British and American English, when talking about a single post that contains 3 lights, red, yellow and green? A traffic light or A SET of traffic lights?
Dictionaries seem ...
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2
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1
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98
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"learned" vs. "learnt" in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
I have seen the answers to this question, yet I am not entirely sure how to interpret the difference between "learned" and "learnt" in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Alice says &...
4
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1
answer
2k
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How did barista enter the English language?
The Italian term barista (bartender) entered the English language in 1992 and its usage has considerably increased since then according to Google Books:
"bartender in a coffee shop," as a ...
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Feminine Forms for chaps and blokes [duplicate]
"Chaps" / "blokes" are friendly ways to address "male folks" in the UK. Do we have "corresponding" feminine forms?
"Shawties", "babes" aren'...
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1
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56
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Word order after "that"
Why are we not able to delete those questions which are downvoted by someone that we have no clue what was in their mind?
Is the first sentence grammatically correct? I think it is probably wrong to ...
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0
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103
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How are /ɪ/ and /ʌ/ realised in the Nottingham (East Midlands) accent?
I've got a sample of a few words pronounced by a Nottingham accent representative: https://youtu.be/2fCSeDEZeVU
My ear is far from perfect and this is why I'd like to ask for your help in this ...
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98
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Is this intrusive r? "Arya Stark" pronounced as "Aryer Stark"
In Game of Thrones, season 4, ep.8 around 37:50, The Hound says:
[...]and his travelling companion Arya Stark.
He pronounces it like "Aryer Stark". It seems to be a similar concept as an ...
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2
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In England, why are some high schools called hospitals?
I noticed that in the UK some high schools are called hospitals. For example, Grey Coat Hospital,
Christ's Hospital and Queen Elizabeth's Hospital. Does hospital sometimes mean school?
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