This tag is for questions related to English as spoken in Great Britain, and sometimes Ireland.
0
votes
0answers
27 views
Does this sentence make sense ‘ all spectrums of the coin’
I just want to confirm if the wording of the sentence above gets the point across the right way in the English language. ‘We will be looking at all spectrums of the coin’, or is there another way I ...
5
votes
5answers
383 views
Conjunction Reduction British English vs American English
I am finding there is a difference in what is acceptable between American and British English.
I posted this question on Facebook:
"Grammar friends, I need your help! Is omitting the pronoun the ...
-1
votes
0answers
23 views
I work as an assistant or as assistant? [on hold]
I want to ask for the right answer.
What is grammaticaly correct please?
My years were spent working in New York as an assisant
or
My years were spent working in New York as assisant
In what ...
-1
votes
0answers
29 views
“I like bananas” vs “I like a banana” [on hold]
In English grammar, ‘generic reference’ is used when you make a reference to all the members of a class of people or things .
So I can say "A lizard is like a dinosaur in appearance" and "Lizards are ...
0
votes
1answer
46 views
What does “being let go” mean? [closed]
I am wondering what is the meaning of the below sentence.
You are not being let go.
For me it can have 2 meanings:
You are not allowed to leave
You are not asked to go
But, i dont know which one ...
0
votes
0answers
44 views
Cabaret - Usage in British English
I currently live in the UK. When I went to the Isle of Wight (part of the UK), my holiday park was providing entertainment to holiday makers. When I asked them when is the live music, they said,
"...
0
votes
2answers
26 views
What should we use here? [on hold]
Which one I should use and why?
There are being fewer jobs for young people these days.
There are fewer jobs for young people these days.
Personally, I think I should use first one because of ...
2
votes
3answers
69 views
Should 'be' or 'is' follow 'that'
Which is correct and why?
'a proposal that the resolution be adopted'
or
'a proposal that the resolution is adopted'
2
votes
0answers
62 views
Is there a gray area between scrumping and foraging?
A user on The Great Outdoors chat forum asked whether picking a neighbor's berries from bushes that were near her boundary fence was scrumping or foraging. So naturally, I looked up both words.
...
1
vote
3answers
61 views
Technical term for an outrageous exaggeration [closed]
I have a mind blank for a term in English.
I wanted to describe a sentence I made. It's a technical term for when making an outrageous claim, not based in fact, but used for the purpose of impressing....
0
votes
2answers
64 views
Confused by a phrase I heard in Downton Abbey
I'm a native English speaker and I know that the English spoken in the show by the aristocracy is in the dialect of received pronunciation.
I've been learning about the various dialects in England ...
0
votes
0answers
23 views
Does possession change with tense? [duplicate]
So I've always believed that you can use either "Jules' shirt." or "Jules's shirt."
I got some feedback on a story I was working on. They told me that in present tense writing you have to add the 's'...
0
votes
2answers
74 views
What is the grammatical name of prefixing a word by “A”?
I've noticed that in English, "some words" (I don't know if it could be used on all words) could be prefixed by the letter "a" to change the meaning,
here are a few examples:
Side and Aside
...
0
votes
0answers
37 views
how your friday is getting along?
My friend asked me this. I wondered. I do not know what to reply to this question. please explain me about this question. thanks in advance.
0
votes
1answer
26 views
Type of usage/ term
His features contort with obvious pain as he tells his story, his memories of Caroline clearly something he holds precious.
What makes the bolded section dependent? What's it missing to form a clause....
1
vote
1answer
31 views
On the double meaning of evaluation
I know that evaluation can refer to both the process and the result, but when you say something is an evaluation of another thing, like fact is evaluation of claim (forgive the choppiness, the ...
6
votes
4answers
125 views
Idiom for premonition
I am trying to remember an idiom that is used when someone has a premonition about something, often coincidentally i.e. I am thinking about someone and then they call me. I know there is the ...
31
votes
3answers
11k views
What is a “work wife”?
While watching the following video by Buzzfeed, entitled $1 Sushi Vs. $133 Sushi • Japan, one of the guests invited on the culinary road trip, a Japanese woman, used the expression “work wife”.
...
3
votes
1answer
56 views
What is the history of the cursive p?
A friend of mine (relevant detail, he grew up and learned cursive in India) recently remarked to me that he missed the way that cursive "p"s used to be written. An example of this can be seen in the ...
0
votes
0answers
22 views
Is generic reference only used for the subject of a sentence? Is generic reference used for besides the subject of a sentence?
(1)A tiger is a dangerous animal.
(2)Tigers are dangerous animals.
The two sentences are interchangeable,so (1)=(2)
(3)Life in a small town could be deadly dull.
(4)People live in small towns and ...
16
votes
5answers
3k views
Origin of “It's a fair cop”
After coming across the following questions, Origin of “All right, what's all this, then?!” and Origin of “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”, my curiosity was piqued to try and discover the ...
4
votes
3answers
231 views
Why/how native English speakers understand all russian words in “A Clockwork Orange”? [closed]
When native speakers read "A Clockwork Orange", and sees "Moloko", "Devotchka", or "Kartoffel" how do they understand the meaning "moloko = milk", "Devotchka = girl", "Kartoffel = potato" ?
In "A ...
-1
votes
0answers
17 views
Is it “an FTA”, or “a FTA”? [duplicate]
Is it “an FTA”, or “a FTA”?
“F” is pronounced “eff”, which has a vowel as its first letter. Does that make it eligible for “an”?
-2
votes
0answers
100 views
Word for someone that has a hard time finding a girlfriend
"I used to be xxxx before I learned how to engage women," for instance.
Knowing a formal word for that would also be good, but I'm looking for slang with "loser" connotation to it, such as "incel". A ...
2
votes
1answer
46 views
Is it possible to use present and past in one sentence?
In On The Road Jack admits to Justin W. Brierly that he loves Neal Cassady because he reminds him of his brother, Gerard, who dies when Jack was five years old.
Is this grammatical?
The first part of ...
0
votes
0answers
4 views
Is this sentence is correct? She is intelligent but her sisters are dull. AND She is intelligent but her sister dull [migrated]
The both sentences are correct. But second sentence is missing "is" before dull. Can anyone explain this.
0
votes
2answers
73 views
Is “one of the single greatest” grammatically correct?
The Massacre is one of the single greatest historical tragedies in the history of the empire.
I understand "the single greatest" is common usage. But does adding "one of" before it make it illogical, ...
0
votes
2answers
66 views
I'm confused about the usage of “grade” in educational contexts in the UK. Can you please give me some examples on how you would use it? [closed]
I have searched the web but I can't get my head around it still. I know that "grades" are used in the US system, but I've read that this will be the case in the UK in 2018 too.
In this case would ...
2
votes
1answer
54 views
'Amidst of' vs. 'Amidst'
I'm reading 'The Well at the World's End' by William Morris. I'm curious about some of the syntax he's used to invoke an archaic style. For instance, 'amidst of':
'. . . he came on a shepherd lying ...
5
votes
3answers
154 views
What is the American equivalent of a “backie”?
From Collins
informal Brit a ride on the back of someone's bicycle
And here the words backie or backy is listed as an "untranslatable", the blogger found no American equivalent.
The BBC have been ...
1
vote
1answer
34 views
Is the usage “drinks round mine tonight” correct?
I have seen people saying/texting/emailing "drinks round mine". I am not sure whether that is grammatically correct or is the term "round" short for "around"? If that's the case, is "drinks around ...
-2
votes
1answer
25 views
Go and come as verbs and the ommitting of and
I have a question relating to the verbs "come" and "go" plus another verb. Why do americans say come sing with us (for example and not come AND sing with us (as is the norm in English English. Like ...
-1
votes
1answer
40 views
Is this sentence correct or not? Why hadn't you have lunch with her? [closed]
If wrong, then whether there is any rule?
0
votes
1answer
131 views
The pronunciation of “th” in “with” in British RP
I enjoy socialising with people!
How do you pronounce “th” in “with”? It’s too confusing for me. When I looked it up in a dictionary, it was with a voiced sound like in "brother or the," but it ...
11
votes
3answers
929 views
Debutante in a sporting context?
The Collins English Dictionary defines a "debutant" as
"a person who is making a first appearance in a particular capacity, such as a sportsperson playing in a first game for a team"
As the ...
1
vote
0answers
40 views
Is this slogan grammatically correct?
I've been wanting to use a slogan but I don't know if it makes sense. The slogan is:
Never forget 2013, the year of great elation.
It sounds okay but someone told me that I need to rewrite it as "...
4
votes
1answer
75 views
Is the preposition optional in “going down (to) the store”?
Cambridge Dictionary says:
In informal situations, we can use down to talk about a quick trip to a destination which we consider to be less central than where we are. In this meaning, we can use it ...
2
votes
1answer
100 views
What is the correct British way to say arbitrary?
Looking across many different dictionaries and websites, they have different pronunciations for the word arbitrary.
A colleague says it is pronounced like ahr-bitri, but this seems incorrect to me.
...
1
vote
1answer
57 views
Which of these words would you use in BrE vs AmE? Are there any regional differences associated with these words? [closed]
Fridge or refrigerator
/ mini-fridge or compact refrigerator
/ garden hose or hose pipe or water hose
6
votes
2answers
143 views
On the usage of “turn” in spy stories
The following meaning of turn appears to be common mainly in spy stories and, apparently, is present only in very few dictionaries.
From the OED:
(29. c.) definition of the verb turn (...
1
vote
3answers
81 views
Looking for a phrasal verb to say the hidden reason behind of several issues
I'm not even sure whether there is existence of such phrasal verb in English or not. But probably native speakers can help me out with this.
All of your friend's problems are due to his recent ...
3
votes
1answer
62 views
Is 'fer' a somewhat usual spelling of 'for', or is it perhaps restricted to cricket ('five-fer')?
-fer
a suffix to any number, meaning the number of wickets taken by a team or bowler. (See also fifer/five-fer)
Wikipedia
I assume that 'fer' means, or is derived from, 'for' with the usually ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
Tete-a-tete commonly known in English?
can anyone tell me if the expression "we had a tete-a-tete" or just "tete-a-tete" is commonly known for all English native speakers? Thanks a lot!
5
votes
2answers
136 views
When do you use the term “Dialect”? [closed]
I've heard people use the terms:
American English
British English
Australian English
I understand that all of them are English. However, sometimes when people use them, it's almost like ...
2
votes
1answer
55 views
“Mr. Smith, John” or “Smith, Mr. John” Title location in reversed name
When writing a name in reverse order (following the commonly used [Last Name], [First Name] [Middle Name(s)] format) where is the most appropriate place to put the title?
For example, is it Mr. Smith,...
3
votes
1answer
65 views
Correct capitalization of “please contact our Customer Support team”
What should the correct capitalization of the following sentence be?
"If there are any other issues please contact our customer support team."
This is not a title or a heading, this is the last ...
3
votes
2answers
118 views
By which, to which, at which, to whom. are these Relative pronouns in Adjective cluase?
as per my experience, i know that, which,who,where,why,whom,there,that are the relative pronouns but i doubt on the words 'By which', 'to which', 'at which', 'to whomm. are these Relative pronouns in ...
3
votes
1answer
63 views
Why do they add “of” at the beginning of titles in old literature?
For example, "Of Mice and Men"
Why don't they just say "Mice and Men"? Does "Of" here have any meaning?
I know they do that is some recent books, too.
1
vote
2answers
42 views
If a noun is plural is the describing adjective also plural? [closed]
A VTOL aircraft is an aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capability.
In plural do you say:
aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capability
or
aircraft with vertical take-off and ...
0
votes
1answer
64 views
British-English - My v Mine [duplicate]
I would like to know which of the options below is correct:
'It is mine and John's favourite'
'It is my and John's favourite'
Or if both are incorrect, what would be the correct way to phrase this?
