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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 ...
AMS's user avatar
  • 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 ...
user488134's user avatar
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. [...
Matthew Rips's user avatar
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 ...
DavidO's user avatar
  • 11
-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. ...
Prego's user avatar
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-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 ...
Prego's user avatar
  • 1
-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."
Andrea Ciufo's user avatar
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.
jerullibo's user avatar
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 ...
xrfang's user avatar
  • 121
-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?
Missy Long's user avatar
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 "...
Jack's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Santa Maria's user avatar
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 "...
Lajos's user avatar
  • 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?...
Boppity Bop's user avatar
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?
Denver's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Feza's user avatar
  • 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 ...
souma's user avatar
  • 59
-3 votes
0 answers
28 views

"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 ...
Going crazy's user avatar
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 ...
Joseph Kim's user avatar
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,...
Леопольд-мэтр's user avatar
-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 ...
E.Groeg's user avatar
  • 1,566
0 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 ...
Jimm Chen's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Prego's user avatar
  • 1
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 ...
bielawski's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Fedor Scheglov's user avatar
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 ...
Micheal Gignac's user avatar
-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=...
Леопольд-мэтр's user avatar
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 ...
Bruce's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Vitor Freitas's user avatar
-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 ...
CyberRohan1836's user avatar
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 ...
AES's user avatar
  • 53
-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 ...
Cold Hand's user avatar
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?
Stechavy's user avatar
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. ...
Mitsuko's user avatar
  • 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 ...
user3949283490's user avatar
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 ...
tac's user avatar
  • 296
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 ...
Rogério Dec's user avatar
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 ...
Nate's user avatar
  • 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?
guangming223's user avatar
-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?
Mehmet's user avatar
  • 1
-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. (...
HQW.ang's user avatar
-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 ...
Faye's user avatar
  • 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 ...
mic's user avatar
  • 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.
trespda's user avatar
  • 11
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 ...
stf's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Gokay Huz's user avatar
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&...
Eugene's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Alix Blaine's user avatar
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" ...
Max Darling's user avatar
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 ...
ool's user avatar
  • 151

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