61
votes
Accepted
Is "ageing" the only exception?
There are a small number of words aside from ageing that retain silent e before -ing; for some of them, this spelling is mandatory in American English as well as British English. For others, it is ...
- 84.5k
10
votes
Is "safes" an acceptable alternative to "makes safe"
Safe as a verb is quite uncommon, Wiktionary is one of the very few sources to show a few usage examples:
(transitive) To make something safe.
2007, Rocky Raab, Mike Five Eight: Air War ...
- 68.1k
6
votes
What is the past form of the modal verb "must"?
Well, that's not quite the way to put it. Those paired modals do not really mean 'Present' and 'Past', respectively. Or, if they do, then must has to be considered to be Past, with a Present form that'...
- 109k
6
votes
Accepted
Is "safes" an acceptable alternative to "makes safe"
Pretty sure we only use safe as a verb when discussing ordinance or firearms. There might be other domains (operations security maybe?) but by the verb safe we definitely mean operating a safety ...
- 356
5
votes
Accepted
Why is “bales” the 3rd person singular of “bail”?
TL;DR: Bales is NOT a conjugation of bail; rather, bale is an alternate spelling of some definitions of bail. This was an error introduced by Google's definition-amalgamator. The correct conjugation ...
- 22.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Why has "sware" become "swore", "bare" "bore", etc?
Tear and bear were in Old English (OE) both strong verbs of “class 4”. The vowel pattern for verbs of this class is "e" - infinitive, ‧ "æ" - past singular, "ǣ" - past ...
- 84.5k
3
votes
Identifying Errors Quiz: "The thin Francisan, understanding the Dominican smile, decided to intervene and stop the argument"
The sentence looks correct as written. If you take out the dependent clause, you are left with
The thin Franciscan decided to intervene and stop the argument.
No error there. When you put the ...
- 536
3
votes
Can all base forms of verbs express wish?
The answer to your question is mostly "no". This is not an especially productive construction these days. These third-person imperatives are differently expressed now, although the old style can ...
- 137k
2
votes
Accepted
I hope you can help me in this matter // is it correct?
Referring to it as a matter is a way of separating it from you. This "matter" is your passion, not a distant subject but close and dear to you.
Asking if they can help in this matter is correct in ...
- 5,502
2
votes
Accepted
Is there a verb base-form with two semantics having different conjugations?
The past tense of hang has two different conjugations.
When referring to the method of execution:
He was hanged at dawn.
When referring to any other purpose:
The picture was hung on the east ...
- 6,433
2
votes
Is there a verb base-form with two semantics having different conjugations?
It’s only in writing, but supposedly “payed” is used instead of “paid” for certain meanings of the verb pay. See "Paid" vs "payed"
Furthermore, there is a hypothesis based on ...
- 84.5k
2
votes
Accepted
The maximum number of active participants HAS exceeded or IS exceeded?
You can use either word, but if you use has, you need to make a slight change.
If the maximum number of active participants is exceeded.
If the maximum number of active participants has been ...
- 38.3k
2
votes
Accepted
Syncretism of plain primary and plain secondary in Huddleston’s verb paradigm
They are separate forms because although they share the same shape, they belong in distinct subclasses within the paradigm. Importantly, a distinction is necessary since the present tense plain heads ...
- 13.5k
2
votes
Accepted
Bit as a p.p. form of bite (v)
Garner’s Modern English Usage has an entry for:
bite > bit > bitten. So inflected. While bit, the past-tense form, is recognized in most dictionaries as an alternative
past participle, since ...
- 19.9k
1
vote
Can we transform verbs from one form to another?
It takes two hours to get to the airport uses 'anticipatory it'.
The sentence is of the form
It is tough to solve this problem.
This is the classic example of a transformation known as tough-...
- 87.2k
1
vote
Bit as a p.p. form of bite (v)
According to Ngram, while "He was bitten" is much more popular than "He was bit," in the get-passive "He got bit" and "He got bitten" are about equally common.
...
- 19.6k
1
vote
How to explain this sentence structure
Subject: he; Predicate: the rest of it.
later: adverb modifying admitted.
having seen the dish on the menu: gerund phrase which serves as the object of verb admitted. "To" doesn't matter. I ...
- 2,450
1
vote
infinitive or present continuous?
Well, both make sense.
To get there - and stay there - you will need to be creative as well as efficient, and constantly proving yourself.
In the sentence above you say that someone needs to be ...
- 3,519
1
vote
Is there a verb base-form with two semantics having different conjugations?
"cleave" meaning "split apart" has imperfect "cleft" or "clove", perf. ppl. "cleft" or "cloven". ("Rock of ages, cleft...", "cleft stick", but "cloven hoofs".)
"cleave" meaning "stick to" is regular (...
- 5,376
1
vote
Why is “bales” the 3rd person singular of “bail”?
It's a fluke. The page rendering must have got it all mixed up or the image must have been retouched. Google search merely reproduces from the dictionary as it is.
bail3 (ODO)
/beɪl/**
verb
...
- 37.6k
1
vote
Is it correct to use the verbs "want and understand" with present and past progressive?
Yes, it's correct in American English.
Why? This is usually a bad question to ask. The answer is usually because or because it is.
First of all, the "rule" or even tendancy that you cite regarding ...
1
vote
Is "ageing" the only exception?
I have an old Collins dictionary in which 'ageing' is used to refer to mineralogy, and 'aging' for living beings.
I grew up in Australia and always assumed aging was the correct spelling for the word ...
- 27
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