Questions tagged [variants]
The variants tag has no usage guidance.
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Which is the more idiomatic: equivalence/equivalencies or equivalency/equivalences?
Most articles show the plural form of equivalence as equivalences. The wikipedia on logical equivalence uses this form.
However, I feel like I have seen equivalencies used in contexts like mathematics ...
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In which Englishes are "distant" relative clauses acceptable?
Are sentences like these
The man got beaten up who James saw take the train yesterday.
The potato was eaten that Hayley said she wanted.
with these meanings
The man who James saw take the train ...
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Terms for grandparents and other relatives [closed]
I’m a teenager from the Midwest. Different people obviously refer to their relatives in many different ways, and I’ve noticed a wide variance in what people call their grandparents.
Many people who ...
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"A hundred" treated as one word in speech (extra indefinite article)
I'm a teenager from Chicago. I've noticed some particular usages of the words "a hundred" by people around me.
During a running workout, one student was 100 meters from the finish, while ...
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thematic variant: how to distinguish a dislocation and movement? [closed]
For example, the sentence
"I found something interesting in the yard -- a mouse eating cheese."
I am struggling with whether this is a right dislocation or postposing. Or neither of them?
...
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"power of persuasion" (singular) vs. "powers of persuasion" (plural)
Which one would you say is correct and why?
[1] "power of persuasion" (singular)
[2] "powers of persuasion" (plural)
Newspapers and books seem to use both alternatives.
Merriam-...
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Preferred abbreviations of 'versus' according to Anglophone country? [duplicate]
I am already aware that for example BE and AE have different opinions on using periods in abbreviations. Today, I am interested in variations among English speaking countries (specifically: UK, USA, ...
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Origin of "the likes of which X has [or have or had] never seen"
One of Donald Trump's favorite rhetorical flourishes was (and perhaps still is) the wording "the likes of which X has [or have] never seen." While president, he used it on a number of ...
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Distribution of "yelp" for "yes"
I've recently come across two people online who consistently write "yelp" meaning "yes" or "yep" in chat. Due to anonymity and privacy, I don't know much about them. From ...
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Etymological origin and earliest recorded occurrence of 'saunter' in English
Someone just sent me a quotation from the explorer/naturalist John Muir, in which he makes the following etymological claim:
Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It's a beautiful word. Away ...
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Rase: another spelling of raze (literary) [closed]
Is the spelling using s as opposed to z really literary as the Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 purportedly explains?
Raze
1. completely destroy place: to destroy or level a building or settlement ...
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Alternative in parenthesis before or after?
When a sentence describes there are multiple alternatives, but one specific is the common one, it can specify the common in parenthesis. But there are multiple ways to do it.
For example, should it ...
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Why is "make do" considered correct [closed]
Why is "make do" considered correct?
I am specifically not asking why "make due" grinds people's gears, how distressing they find it, or what they feel "make do" would ...
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Short way of expressing alternatives
A colleague recently pointed out that my usage of "resp." in English is incorrect, and is in fact an artefact of my native language. In Czech, it abbreviates "respektive" and is used to express
[...
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Noun form of "aver"?
It is common in legal writing to aver, meaning to allege, assert, or affirm a fact. (Latin root is adver.)
But I can't find any evidence that the obvious noun form of the word, aversion, has ever ...
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Best practice regarding the words until, till, til, 'till, 'til and to [closed]
I often see in English the word 'till used as until. Example
I'll wait 'till the end of time.
Now I have found out that this may be wrong. The correct writing is without the apostrophe 'till and ...
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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 they refer ...
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Is the phrase ‘outgrow oneself’ correct?
Is it correct to write like ‘As soon as we outgrew ourself and became a capable individual, all the difficulties came roaring at us’?
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"Webpages" or "Web Pages"?
Sometimes I found it written as "WebPages" and sometimes it is "Web Pages" ..
I'm confused should it be written as one word or two words ?!
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surficial and superficial [closed]
I know that I can use surficial related to describe concepts related to the surface of the earth (or a planet)... so surficial aquifers, surficial geology, surficial deposits and so on. All the time I ...
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Do "multiple choice" questions always have only one correct answer?
In most dictionary definitions it seems that "multiple choice" questions actually refer to questions where only one "correct" answer among several choices is expected to be chosen (e.g. the definition ...
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Where does "Do you want the bill grabbing?" come from?
I heard this phrase at a restaurant the other day - in Sheffield, England. The waitress said first, "Do you want anything else getting?", and then after that, "Do you want the bill grabbing?"
This ...
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What is an idiomatic parallel for “read between the lines” pertaining to speech?
When a person reads between the lines, they are inferring meaning which is not explicitly represented. What is an idiomatic version of this which can apply to spoken words?
Vis–à–vis something ...
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Is the spelling fundraising, fund-raising or fund raising?
I have seen different spellings for fundraising and would like to know the current best practice. The history of this word/phrase is also of interest to me.
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Locater vs Locator spelling [duplicate]
I can find references to each in many online dictionaries, but few will reference both of them. So the question remains:
What is with the difference in spelling between "Locator" and "Locater"? Is ...
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What caused bell peppers to be called capsicums in some countries?
I have read this answer on the question "Why is the word “pepper” used for both capsicum (e.g. bell pepper) and piper (e.g. black pepper)?", and it contains some useful etymological information.
I've ...
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What's the meaning of "finniky"?
There is this sentence in a letter of Bertrand Russell:
Even the absurdities - the thunder and lightning - are big and invigorating after the stifling finniky appropriateness of everything French.
...
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Retriable or retryable?
As in "it is possible to try it again". "Tryable" seems to be the one mostly used online, if you type it in Google. Onelook Dictionary Search only returns an entry for "tryable" from Wordnik, not from ...
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Evaluable vs. Evaluatable
How do we describe "something that can be evaluated"? My first thought was "evaluatable", since we have
inflate -> inflatable
debate -> debatable
equate -> equatable
However, "...
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Difference between etymologies of 'allocable' and 'allocatable'
Which one is more proper to use: 'allocable' or 'allocatable'? Sources say the former is derived from the original Latin word 'allocare', while the latter is a part-of-speech-variant of the English ...
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How can one choose between "tunable" and "tuneable"?
Both "tunable" and "tuneable" seem to be in common usage.
Is there a source which can be used to justify a preference for one or the other for general usage, possibly as a function of whether one is ...
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"I have strived" vs "I have striven"
In a college application essay, I am trying to write the sentence along the lines of:
I have always strived to achieve my goals.
Should I say strived or striven?
According to this article at ...
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How are English forms of Irish names used?
I've noticed that many Irish people use both their English and Irish versions of the name.
For example, Moya Brennan, born Máire Ní Bhraonáin
Can someone tell me what is the official status of ...
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Difference of hotspot versus hot spot
hot spot -vs- hotspot
What's the difference between these two variants? When do I use them? An example sentence is as follows:
"Biochar addition is becoming one of the hotspots in soil science."
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Thrown by 'broncho.' Or is it 'bronco'? Or 'bronc'?
Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, first edition (1908) has this entry for broncho:
Broncho (brŏn´kō), n. {Sp. bronco rough, wild.} A native or a Mexican horse of small size. {Western U.S.}
Four ...
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Revolutioner vs Revolutionist: which is better?
Both words can be found in a dictionary and have the same meaning. My question is: is any one better than the other in any way? Is one more fitting in certain scenarios?
I think revolutionist sounds ...
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Struck vs Stricken
Is struck or stricken correct in these sentences?
The house was stricken / struck by lightning.
The house had been stricken / struck by lightning.
He was stricken / struck by grief, cancer, etc.
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He stayed a week vs he stayed for a week
He stayed a week vs He stayed for a week
I consider her my friend vs I consider her as my friend.
I don't know whether he can be there vs I don't know if he can be there
I often hear the above ...
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anthropomorphic vs. anthropomorphized
When is it most appropriate to use "anthropomorphic" as opposed to "anthropomorphized"? Is there any difference between the two?
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Can all verbs ending in "-ise" be written with the suffix "ize"? [closed]
Are there any "-ise" (or "-yse") words which cannot be (or are never) written using "-ize"?
I searched for prior questions, and came across:
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/47785/correct-...
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"Dream, dreamt" and "learn, learnt" irregular verbs: correct or not? [duplicate]
Often when I am writing emails or any other documents, I would like to use the irregular forms of dream (dreamt) or learn (learnt). But the computer spellcheckers always underline these words as being ...
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Do any words have three or more correct spellings? [closed]
I can call to mind several words with another correct spelling (colour, analogue, disc, barbeque) but I can't think of any with multiple correct spellings, i.e. three or more equally acceptable, ...
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To know something "inside out" or "inside and out"?
As a native English speaker (Australia) I've always known and used the expression "to know something inside out", meaning "to know thoroughly".
Just now when editing a post on another SE site that ...
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Is "enroute" an acceptable variant of "en route"?
Is "enroute" (without the space) an acceptable variant of "en route"?
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Is it Comic Book or Comics Book? [closed]
Which one is proper Comic Book or Comics Book? Are both of them grammatically correct? If so, what is the difference between them?
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Are there other variations of "slow and steady wins the race"? [closed]
We know the hare and tortoise story but are there other variants of "slow and steady wins the race"?
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“Bazaar” vs. “bazar”
Which of bazaar or bazar is better to use for the domain name of specialised marketplace?
Both are available according to the dictionaries.
Any advice which of these two is better to use in the URL?
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Is it acceptable to use "womyn" or "womin" instead of "women"?
I have often seen/heard the two terms "womyn" and "womin" in many articles and speeches about feminism or women's rights issues. I couldn't find them in any online dictionary except for the Oxford ...
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"Smooths" versus "Smoothes"
I am interested in the rapid rise (since about 1993) in frequency of the spelling smoothes as against smooths.
An Ngram Viewer graph tracking the frequency of usage of the two words from 1800 to 2005 ...
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"Go shut the door" or "Go and shut the door": AmE/BrE difference
The usage you put the verb (in its infinitive form) right after "go" is used in AmE but not in BrE, as I heard. For example,
Go shut the door.
However, I doubt this is true and want to know the ...
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