New answers tagged phrases
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Is describing someone as “higher-educated” awkward?
I don't think you say this about yourself, but when you promote someone else.
0
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Sentence grammar usage "as"
The sentence is correct as far as I can see. Depending on the context, we could come up with less ambiguous sentences that share the same meaning.
1
vote
Is "stepmother treatment" Indian English?
Alright! I'm more than 9 years to late to the discussion. I appreciate the OP for his/ her effort. But why has nobody pointed out that "stepmotherly treatment" is more correct than "...
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Is there a phrase for a person who supports something which is bad for them and is held up as proof that the bad policy is good?
Sounds like you are describing a person 'In Denial'. Reminds me of healthy people vaccinated with MRNA vaccines who suffer extreme adverse reactions (injuries) from first injection, but think a second ...
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0
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Is it OK to use "after a moment," "not long after," and "before long" interchangeably?
I detest almost any use of "moment" phrases. Kill them if at all possible. Worst: "He paused for a long moment...: No, "He paused." Period. Stephen King himself is a horrible ...
0
votes
Please explain the meaning of the following phrase
Based on the context of the full quote (Books are in the competitive set for leisure time), the phrase "the competitive set for leisure time" is the group (set) of activities that compete (...
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-1
votes
What does "hit me like a two-by-four" mean?
The British army used to clean rifles after firing with a piece of "two-by-four" rag. In an armoury rolls of rag and "pull throughs" were kept. To clean the barrel of a rifle, one ...
0
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Requesting someone to perform a task without sounding pushy
The key is to use "I-messages." This means that you talk about you. You explain what you need and why. Example, taken from a portal message I sent to my primary today:
Drug X has been ...
- 20k
-1
votes
Is 'at the time of writing' correct?
I would suggest that it line up with the popular acronym for this phrase: Acronym of abbreviation for "At the time of writing this document"?
ATTOW
Which is exactly how the answer is ...
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2
votes
Accepted
"Neither wonder" - is it a thing?
It is a thing, and it appears to be a Scottish thing.
Search ”neither wonder you” for examples. Here are a few:
Neither wonder you’re so pleased Sjoerd!! That’s a whole heap of
beans. —eileen / ...
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0
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Whisper into or whisper in?
I like how this writer made the distinction between the two words:
"The word 'in' is used to denote a state when something is enclosed by something else. 'into' is used to express motion wherein ...
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0
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A Pyrrhic defeat?
You could, perhaps, borrow a term from the world of commerce and say "The battle of xxx was a loss leader", or "xxx was a loss-leading battle".
From the OED [paywalled]:
loss ...
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1
vote
Apostrophes in sentences with implied words
The s' ending to a word is used when both of two conditions are met:
The noun is being ascribed possession of something.
If only this condition is met, we just add 's.
The noun is a plural.
If ...
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