New answers tagged british-english
-1
Is it grammatically correct to use "in air" when I am in a flight?
So the phrase I am trying to use is "Sorry for the late reply, I was in the air."
1
My mother used “ligger” to describe somebody telling a lie. She was born in Manchester in 1908 and lived all her life in that city. Ligger was fairly commonly used by people of that generation in the Manchester area.
My friends and I when we were children in the 1940/50’s, tended to use “fibber”
to describe a liar.
Probably both words are rooted in dialect.
1
In American English (and British English so far as I know) the idiom is "You're welcome"
you're welcome idiom
used as a response after being thanked by someone
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Saying "You're welcomed" sounds strange and only makes sense if you're describing the actual process of being welcomed to someone in the second person, for ...
0
From living in Australia, I always understood it to derive from the same word used for both tadpoles and sperm - both very similar in appearance and role.
Seed of my loin, like spawn, used interchangeably afaic. Never heard the recruit meaning.
0
One of the functions of quotation marks is to draw attention to the
exact form of an expression, so they would be appropriate here.
But the meaning would also be clear without them. Whether or not to use
them is a question of style.
0
Generally the quotations marks would only apply if you're actually quoting somebody. So, using your example, if somebody had actually described him as "the smartest man in Britain", then you'd use quotation marks. If you're paraphrasing, then don't use them. So, if a person was generally known as the ape king, but you aren't specifically quoting somebody who ...
1
*The sins of the Father are not the sins of the Son"
Variations of this are available all over the web, like the link given. They derive from biblical quotes, such as
Why is not the son charged with the guilt of his father?
—Ezekiel 18:19
The passage is generally interpreted to match the context you give closely.
1
Sven is basically right. The feature is a matter of style rather than grammar. It is associated with comparison of the forms:-
X visits her doctor more often than does Y.
X runs as fast as does Y.
The general norm is that noun subjects come before their verbs except in a question (or a second person imperative.
The exception can also occur in some ...
-3
“Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” —John C. Maxwell
I have a lot of tattoos, personally I like ones that create conversation. Looking at your scenario about the alcoholic farther then Mark Twain has a quote that fits:
Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.
What this translates to is that because climate is ...
0
It depends on what you want to infer. Crucial implies that an outcome is dependent upon something. In this case, it actually working. Whereas, critical refers to a more negative or positive outcome depending on it working. Ergo a crisis of some sort.
http://jaced.com/2008/11/10/crucial-vs-critical/ refers
According to the Cambridge dictionary criticality ...
0
It’s to do with the string that were traditionally used to support mattresses. If they were loose, you’d feel ropey.
0
"We've got a bad connection." Pre-dates cell and wireless and refers to when calls were actually connected.
1
Your question relates to appropriate agreement in figures of speech, specifically in a telecommunications signal or telecommunications connection.
Here are some examples of possible word constructions, based on the words you provided:
a caller on the line
lose a call/caller
lose a connection/signal
line/connection/signal is not stable
...
0
I can't speak for everybody, but for this American English speaker, "Have you ever watched the film?" and "Did you ever watch the film?" don't have exactly the same meaning.
"Did you ever watch the film" can and would be used in a situation where it's not possible to watch the film anymore. That is, if the period of time covered by an "ever" question doesn'...
0
(1) Yes, that's OK, or "I hope you are feeling better".
(2) That's OK too even if the meeting was in the past.
(3) Nothing impolite about it, but it needs to be to let you know that....
1
to pry Macmillan Dictionary
[intransitive] to be interested in someone’s personal life in a way
that is annoying or offensive
As in:
I just glanced at the letter; I didn’t mean to pry.
The press continues to pry into their affairs.
Depending on the context, to pry is meaning to be intrusive and or offensive, though the phrase prying eyes ...
4
Pry in the sense of "ask for information" is almost always negative in connotation.
Pry in the sense of "use a stick or bar to open something" is neutral in connotation, and is a shortening of prise/prize.
(This usage of pry is a verb, so one can't say "be pry" in the way one can say "be curious".)
1
"Get" also means to go and "fetch" something then bring it back to where you currently are.
You left your book in your locker? Go get it.
"Take your book" would be to grab it and go elsewhere, like from home to school.
2
When the sentences are short, commas are sometimes optional. In all your examples, the commas you’re referring to make no difference to the parsing of the sentences.
But sometimes commas help or hinder the expression of your intent. Consider, for example:
Now I understand why you did it.
Now, I understand why you did it.
The no-comma version says that you ...
4
Since the quoted text forms a complete sentence, the period should be included with it, inside the quotation marks (Oxford Manual of Style, section 5.13.2).
Really, this has little to do with standard, British English usage, and I wouldn't sweat it. If this level of detail matters to you, get the relevant style guide. You will need one for trickier ...
0
The Oxford Dictionary entry for levee has two definitions. One is the flood bank and the other is:
(American achaic) A formal reception of visitors or guests.
With the sub definitions of
(Historical) An afternoon assembly for men held by the British monarch or their representative.
and
A reception of visitors just after rising from bed.
Given ...
0
It means he was surrounded by a bunch of visitors.
The French word levée means the act of rising or lifting, and its first meaning in English was that of getting out of bed. It then acquired other meanings, the meaning 2c or 3 below being the meaning Boswell intended. From the OED:
2a. A reception of visitors on rising from bed; a morning assembly held ...
2
A probable meaning:
any miscellaneous gathering of guests, 1672.
(Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc.)
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/levee
0
This might go like this
a formal reception of visitors or guests (as at a royal court)
[CITE] https://www.thefreedictionary.com/levee
0
I think answer one, Sven Yargs', is spot on here. I had the same issue and decided against capitalization on our site, www.internalaudit360.com. In the United States we tend to call it "The financial crisis of 2008," although the date changes from time to time and the capitalization seems to deviate widely. (Interesting that the self-centric USA neglects the ...
2
While dictionaries tend to describe frit as a dialect-based usage, its usage as a past participle is widespread enough that register (it being colloquial) is more important to its use than place. The Oxford English Dictionary (note: paywall) notes the dialect usage, but not which dialects:
Dialect and colloquial past participle of fright v. 2a.
...
(...
0
In everyday English it is most common to say “I understand politics” for example, but you can also say “I have a good/bad/excellent understanding of politics”. This is more typical in formal language (in a job interview, for example).
1
As Xanne's answer says it means "except". This is a valid meaning of "but", however it isn't used much these days: ordinary English has changed quite a lot since 1791.
Gooling "but define" returns, among others, this entry from the Online Oxford Living Dictionary in which:
meaning 2 is
{with negative or in questions} Used to indicate the impossibility ...
3
It means, here, “except”. “Effected” means “made to happen” here. The “not . . . but” in combination mean “only.”
-2
"However by..."
It seems like this is the meaning of "but" in this context.
1
"Whatever is a profession" seems to be used in the sense of "any activity that comprises a profession".
"...and maintains numbers" seems to be used in the sense of "and (any profession) which is capable of establishing and reproducing an appreciable number of practising members".
What the author is asserting is his view that any profession is within the ...
0
There's not really (put intended) a difference in how often it occurs, in any case not significant enough to label either usage as American or British English.
Let's look at the usage of "I really like" and "I very much like"; that should eliminate most possibilities mentioned by @Laurel in the comments.
The NGram graph for American English:
and the one ...
1
Such terminology is closely tied to the peculiarities of the legal system of a particular country, and there is therefore no straightforward way of translating a term like this into the language of a country with a different legal system. If one is speaking to an audience whose country happens to have something very similar in its legal system, one may use ...
1
Some local councils in the United Kingdom employ meighbourhood wardens. These are civilians, with no special powers of arrest.
The Neighbourhood Warden Service deal with environmental problems to
improve local areas. They promote community involvement and social
inclusion, especially among young people. Regular patrols are carried
out throughout the ...
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