All Questions
129,412
questions
0
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2
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70
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Do I need the comma in "it is in short...everthing"? [duplicate]
The intended meaning is that 'it', described simply, is 'everything'.
Would I write:
It is in short...everything.
Or:
It is, in short...everthing.
Instinctively, I believe that a comma is needed ...
- 1
1
vote
1
answer
54
views
Can we mix past perfect, present progressive, etc. in conditionals? [duplicate]
Is it acceptable / possible to mix past perfect, present progressive, etc. in conditionals?
In particular: The 2nd conditional (apologies to those who reject this common but by no means universal ...
- 11
1
vote
1
answer
83
views
"He fought in World War II as an infantryman" - does 'as' change 'fought' into a linking verb?
Can an as-headed prepositional phrase turn an action verb into a linking verb?
Consider the following examples:
With the fall of the Roman Empire, cities were abandoned as centers of administration. [...
- 356
1
vote
2
answers
54
views
Adjective referring to a Representative
We have gubernatorial for governors, senatorial for senators, mayoral for mayors; what is the adjective for “of or pertaining to a representative”? The word representational means something totally ...
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-1
votes
0
answers
37
views
Linguistic categories of verbs [closed]
Under what linguistic categorisation do the words Simple, Continuous, Perfect, Perfect Continuous get described ? I understand their relationship to the temporal tense as they are used for past. ...
- 1
-1
votes
0
answers
61
views
Language Categorisations [closed]
I am confused about verbs. Have seen the following categorisation:
Past Simple
Past Perfect
Past Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous
Past Subjunctive
I understand that Past is a Tense. But what about ...
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-1
votes
0
answers
22
views
"This all acts as a personal memorandum." or "These all act as a personal memorandum." [closed]
What is the correct form with all?
Are both of the following correct?
"This all acts as a personal memorandum."
or
"These all act as a personal memorandum."
- 99
0
votes
0
answers
46
views
What is a sentence where no word repeats more than once called? [closed]
From what I understand, isograms, pangrams, heterograms are related to alphabets and syllables and they should not be relevant for sentences where words are not supposed to repeat.
1
vote
3
answers
210
views
The meaning of "at all"
In the following paragraph, does the author mean Linux distributions finally adopted ZFS or, they are reluctant/refuse to adopt ZFS?
Additionally, after a bit of an hiatus it’s once again possible to ...
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-4
votes
0
answers
46
views
What is the right way of asking someone [closed]
which one is the right way to ask someone, who did your nails? or do you say, who done your nails?
1
vote
2
answers
117
views
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 "...
- 113
0
votes
2
answers
127
views
Starting a sentence with Why, but not as a question [duplicate]
A grammatically correct way to ask someone a question would be:
Why are you still here?
If I want to make a statement (instead of a true question), such as, You've been here too long or Your ...
0
votes
0
answers
29
views
Present Continuous expressing future [migrated]
One of my grammar books says:
The future use of the present progressive is limited to actions brought about by human endeavour.
Therefore sentences such as "It's raining tomorrow" or "...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
44
views
What's handdog air? [closed]
In a Robert galbraith book there is a phrase "a small man with a hand-dog air".. Is it some new slang or is it a typo? If typo what's that? Hair? Do small dogs have common hair style or what?...
- 117
0
votes
0
answers
41
views
Is there any possible link between "soote" from Canterbury Tales to "sotto voce"? [closed]
See title above — possible entymological link between soote and sotto?
- 11
0
votes
0
answers
16
views
I have a question for my test [migrated]
--- while their mum was taking a nap on the sofa.
A) Jane and Jack will be taken aback by the news
B) The kids were enjoying themselves
C) They have been playing computer games
E) The children have ...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
10
views
What is the meaning of 'but' in this last sentence? [migrated]
some research has shown the differences in the relative sizes of the brain of males and females of the same age,but so far no great differences have been found between people of the same age but of ...
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-3
votes
0
answers
28
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"I was in London, aged 14" sounds like it's saying that London was 14…? [migrated]
The guy who wrote that sentence was indicating that HE was 14 at the time of his story, but it seems to me that his grammar is incorrect, and is in fact saying that LONDON was 14… can someone please ...
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1
vote
0
answers
101
views
the form of conditional sentence in the indicative mood when expressing future in the past
Any bridge over the river would need to be a very high suspension bridge. Considering the limited technology in those days, building such a bridge seemed impossible. That is, people thought it was ...
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0
votes
1
answer
107
views
I ate the carrots(,) and the soup(,) and the mutton
I have been wondering whether we ought to use commas to separate repetitive conjunctions in English. In German, we don't; in Russian, we usually do. Could you help me figure it out; or, in other words,...
-2
votes
5
answers
238
views
Is there a word or expression that describes a situation where a person repetitively "comes and goes"?
In Levantine Arabic, the expression "siri miri" (سِرِّي مِرِّي) is used for someone who continually and incessantly comes and goes, or passes by, such as like near your house or just about ...
- 1,566
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votes
1
answer
57
views
"you get A instead of B, as with C", then who goes with C?
In Shane Cook's book CUDA Programming 2012, page 87, there is such a sentence:
As a consequence you get two transactions instead of one, as with the stripe layout.
The author talks about two kind of ...
- 331
0
votes
0
answers
31
views
Choosing perspective and tense [closed]
Have encountered the dilemma on what perspective (first person, second person, or third person) and tense (past, present, or future) to use for writing. A very challenging decision.
Switching between ...
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1
vote
0
answers
133
views
Specific type of deception or logic error
The word I'm looking for should describe a case where, during a logical argument, a person uses a word with multiple definitions in sense (1) in one part of the argument, but in another part of the ...
- 163
1
vote
1
answer
85
views
Do you capitalize words after mentioning a book with a punctuation mark in it?
If someone uses the name of a book/object with punctuation in it, does one need to capitalize the word after?
Do I write:
In the book Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? the main character...
Or
In the ...
4
votes
1
answer
210
views
What are the characteristics of masculine and feminine speech in English?
I imagine that people will instinctively say, "There is no masculine or feminine speech in English," but I am not so sure.
For instance, the stereotype is that men speak roughly and women ...
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-2
votes
0
answers
27
views
That's logic(al) [closed]
Can you tell me which is better? Here's what I've found through the Ngram Viewer: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=That%27s+logical.%2CThat%27s+logic.&year_start=1800&year_end=...
1
vote
3
answers
118
views
Is there a neat way to say the hour equivalent of 'today' or 'this week'?
I'm writing an online game, and I want to tell users what their highscore is since the beginning of the hour. But I don't want to say something wordy like:
Your highscore since the beginning of the ...
- 169
0
votes
0
answers
24
views
Usage of the expression 'How long!' when reuniting with someone [closed]
I'm curious about the usage of the expression "How long!" in the context of reuniting with someone you haven't seen for a substantial period of time. I've never heard people using it, but it ...
-4
votes
0
answers
40
views
3 free months or 3 months free [migrated]
Recently my dad and I got into a debate over a Spotify advert which said "Get 3 free months of Spotify Premium". My father said that it was incorrect and should be "3 months on Spotify ...
0
votes
0
answers
12
views
growth of 11 million vs an 11 million growth [migrated]
I want to know whether a/an X million growth is the same as a growth of X million.
The number of households that live in a rented accommodation witnessed a growth of 11 million.
The number of ...
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-2
votes
0
answers
29
views
Can you recommend to me some books or journals that will improve my level of writing skills effectively？ [closed]
Recently，I've been getting the habit of reading The Economist，but I know if I want to futher hone my English level，especially in writting，I have to read more extensively. Because I think The Economist ...
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0
votes
0
answers
10
views
Does "I saw a blue car and bus" mean "blue bus" or any coloured bus? [migrated]
Does this sentence "I saw a blue car and bus" mean "blue bus" or any coloured bus?
- 1
0
votes
1
answer
79
views
Meaning of "get out" in "He gets out when he can" [closed]
In his famous hit Working Class Man, Jimmy Barnes sings:
He believes in God and Elvis
He gets out when he can
He did his time in Vietnam
Still mad at Uncle Sam
I can't make sense of the second line. ...
- 2,044
1
vote
0
answers
11
views
"I" vs "me" when subject of sentence is implied [migrated]
The image above says "The hard working employee and I on payday (Our paychecks are the same)".
I am convinced it should me "me", not "I", since the sentence without the ...
10
votes
15
answers
2k
views
Idiomatic word/expression for someone ‘who has no feeling for the game’ - Translation of Spanish ‘pechofrío’
I'm having trouble translating the expression pechofrío (pecho frío, ‘cold chest’) from Spanish—specially Argentinian Spanish, I don't know if it's used in other countries. It means:
s. masc. Persona ...
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0
votes
1
answer
74
views
Dozen means 12 and 10 [closed]
Using Google Translate (and also DeepL), it translates from Portuguese "uma dúzia de ovos e uma dezena de ovos" (12 eggs and 10 eggs) to "a dozen eggs and a dozen eggs".
(Click on ...
- 101
0
votes
0
answers
40
views
Meaning of "she has hern" in Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying' [duplicate]
I am reading "As I Lay Dying" and have usually been able to look up the meaning behind the choice of words that Faulkner uses. However, I am unable to find a satisfactory definition of the ...
- 101
17
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Origin of the phrase "crazy as a coon"—is it racist?
Encountered most recently in the Procol Harum song "Lime Street." Does the phrase refer to a raccoon, or is the word here used in the sense of the slur?
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-1
votes
0
answers
39
views
Does "with" come before "but"? [closed]
There is such a usage in a book I read. The sentence is exactly this:
A man with but a cloak and staff.
Is this correct?
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-2
votes
0
answers
22
views
What's the meaning of "would not" in "Therefore you would not normally use X"? [migrated]
The context is in a manual for reference.
Note that variable is the name of a variable, not a reference to that variable. Therefore you would not normally use a ‘$’ or parentheses when writing it. (...
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-1
votes
1
answer
78
views
What is the word for wanting something bad to happen to make life exciting?
In a book I am writing, a girl wants to have PTSD or abuse so her life is exciting. Like, she wants to live in a book or TV show trope. What is the word for wanting a little kink in a boring life to ...
- 11
-2
votes
0
answers
34
views
Is Fridays for Future grammatical? [duplicate]
Fridays for Future identifies itself as "a youth-led and -organised global climate strike movement".
Every time I hear this name, I wonder, shouldn't it be called "Fridays for the ...
- 562
1
vote
2
answers
72
views
When did 'ut'/'uþ' from Old English and Middle English become 'out'?
When was the transition of the word form 'ut'/'uþ' to 'out'?
I'd like to know about the frequency or first attestations.
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0
votes
1
answer
52
views
Can you say "history alumni"?
Does the word "alumni"/"alumnus" always pertain to a particular university or school, or can you say e.g. "history alumni" meaning all the people who graduated in history ...
- 109
2
votes
1
answer
74
views
Is it ever grammatically correct to use "hadn't had + V3"?
I know about the 4 types of conditionals, and this usage is not one of them. I have not seen any such example, but somehow it sounds a little correct, while seeming totally wrong. So I was just ...
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1
vote
0
answers
45
views
Usage of the words "but" and "without" in a particular author's context
It's a sentence from "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" after Mark Twain: "I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary&...
- 235
0
votes
0
answers
28
views
'lead' or 'led' [closed]
I have seen this writing in Google searches:
"this has lead governments"
and
"this has led governments"
to me they both seem correct. But, I want to verify this properly with ...
- 115
8
votes
1
answer
917
views
Is "I'm fine to [verb]" grammatically correct?
For example, I found myself saying "I'm fine to wait" but realized it seems wrong. "I'm fine with waiting" strikes me as the correct alternative. In general "fine with" ...
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4
votes
2
answers
338
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"?
Instead of giving the past tense form bended, the verb bend fuses together bend and -ed and removes voice, producing bent.
Lent and sent are produced in similar fashion.
What's the word for the fusion ...
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