13
votes
theorem Isosceles Triangle
I am not aware of a theorem called "Isosceles Triangle", but Wikipedia tells me that "Pons Asinorum" is also called "the isosceles triangle theorem".
This indicates that ...
- 77.5k
9
votes
Is there an order to prepositional phrases?
First: some commenters got confused by the technical language in this sentence. Commit here is a noun, referring to a record of a batch of changes to a codebase; the sentence is talking about the ...
- 19.3k
7
votes
theorem Isosceles Triangle
Sentence 2 is not idiomatic, and the reason is that "isosceles triangle" is not the name of the theorem but only a modifier; therefore, it is placed before. In the case of "vessel Queen ...
- 23.3k
6
votes
Is there an order to prepositional phrases?
Both are grammatically correct. Your second is the clearer. And clearer still would be
The change adds to the change log more info about the previous commits on May xx, xxxx.
This version has the ...
- 3,206
4
votes
Word order: Can an adjective be a subject in an English sentence?
In "My favorite is apple pie," the word favorite is, on what I think is the most likely interpretation, just a noun. But more generally, yes, a sentence can have an adjective as its subject. ...
- 19.3k
4
votes
Is ‘ask them to both be there’ or ‘they both will be there’ ever grammatical?
Both is just the dual allomorph of all, and can go wherever all can go (give or take the occasional of).
All (and therefore both) can undergo Quantifier-Float, moving from the noun phrase they bind ...
- 108k
4
votes
Is it grammatically correct to say "I dislike people who don't "think important" their birthdays or anyone else's?
I dislike people who don't think important their birthdays or anyone else's?
This is probably grammatically correct, though a very unusual way to convey the information.
I'd say it is a case of ...
- 13.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Greatest extent possible vs Greatest possible extent [adjective position]
As explained in WordReference, when you write "superlative possible noun", it means the most extreme value of the noun possible in the universe of all conceivable values. But when you write &...
- 22k
3
votes
Accepted
'I know what is freedom / freedom is'. <-- Word order in WH-questions
Short answer (tl;dr)
In I know [what freedom is], the interrogative phrase what occurs at the beginning of the subordinate clause because the grammar says the interrogative must be the first word 1(or ...
- 48.1k
3
votes
"when would be..." autocorrection
(CoGEL § 15.5) Notes [b] In literary style, subject-verb inversion occasionally occurs when the wh-element is the subject complement or an obligatory adverbial, parficularly if the subject is lengthy:
...
- 23.3k
2
votes
position of 'ever' with a perfect gerund
This has nothing to do with gerunds, but rather with the constructions ever is in.
The most important thing to note about ever is that it's a Negative Polarity Item (like anyone). NPIs have their own ...
- 108k
2
votes
Is there an order to prepositional phrases?
If it’s not a changelog about previous commits, then your second example is clearer. Perhaps you can see that better comparing these simpler examples:
The edit adds more info to the article about the ...
- 18.5k
2
votes
Word order: Can an adjective be a subject in an English sentence?
Nominal ellipsis.
As in:
McCarthy (1991:43) supposes that ellipsis is the omission of elements
normally required by the grammar which is the speaker/writer assumes
are obvious from the context and ...
- 15.2k
2
votes
"when would be..." autocorrection
I wrote: Please let me know when would be a good time to...
Correction: Please let me know when a good time would be to...
OK, I got it wrong above so I should post a more detailed (and better) ...
- 108k
2
votes
Accepted
"when would be..." autocorrection
"Please let me know when would be a good time to..."
The subordinate interrogative has the main clause interrogative equivalent as "When would be a good time to X?". In this ...
- 344
2
votes
One less thing to worry about
I will venture an answer here which isn't based on frequency. No prescriptive grammar here: both forms are idiomatic.
When we take care of something, we can think to ourselves:
That is one thing less ...
- 22.4k
2
votes
Is verb order significant when someone is [verb1]ing and [verb2]ing?
Addressing the general question: 'Is verb order significant when someone is [verb₁]ing and [verb₂]ing?'
There is in some cases.
Firstly, there are situations where '[verb₁] and [verb₂]' is synonymous ...
- 85.9k
2
votes
Which word should come first in a noun phrase, the ordinal adjective or the numeral?
To amplify on another answer, neither phrase is correct; only “the thirteen original colonies” is correct, as there were no other colonies following the original thirteen, since the Revolution ended ...
2
votes
Accepted
Which word should come first in a noun phrase, the ordinal adjective or the numeral?
What you call "numerals" are in fact cardinal numbers, otherwise called cardinals (one, two, three, fouur, …); the set of all numerals consists, of the cardinal numbers and of the ordinal ...
- 23.3k
2
votes
Is it grammatically correct to say "I dislike people who don't "think important" their birthdays or anyone else's?
Though not common, the construction can be found in the wild. I got the most hits in the records of British parliament.
I should like to give him that credit and my thanks and the thanks of
the ...
- 10.4k
1
vote
Is it grammatically correct to say "I dislike people who don't "think important" their birthdays or anyone else's?
Few native speakers would say it that way, with "think important". It strikes me as an unnatural 18th century construction. This would be more likely:
I don't like people who think ...
- 22.4k
1
vote
Accepted
What other types of words have free word order?
English is a so called fixed word-order language, and instances where two given word orders result in a strictly identical meaning must be rare (except as regards adverbs, as you noticed). For ...
- 23.3k
1
vote
Is it correct to put in brackets the professional title after the proper noun instead of putting the professional role before the proper noun?
You can use commas to set the profession off parenthetically.
M'hemed Housseine Fantar, an archeologist, described
- 22k
1
vote
Accepted
Subject placement in not only ... but also construction
(CoGEL § 13.42) Not (only) . ... but
The negator not/n't or the combination not/n't only may be correlative with a following but :
He didn't come to help, but to hinder us.
They not only broke into ...
- 23.3k
1
vote
Why does "other" need a specific position in a sentence?
Yes, there is a rule: Cambridge Grammar, British Council.
Determiners
Numbers
Adjectives
nouns as modifiers
head
the
two
heavy
iron
gates
your
dark green, woollen
sweater
three
other
people
As ...
- 23.3k
1
vote
Is verb order significant when someone is [verb1]ing and [verb2]ing?
There is no grammatical restriction, but (at least for some pairings) there are idiomatic ones.
The order seems to be mostly arbitrary, but sometimes there may be a semantic element (as in the ...
- 77.5k
1
vote
Does 'angle' as a noun necessarily receive a definite article?
This is a nuanced call and there is no wrong way, with or without the definite article would be fine.
The definite article, the femoral angle, establishes "femoral angle" as the primary ...
- 2,999
1
vote
Common tag question for "must"
Musn't in a tag question is sometimes fine -
That guy must be rich, musn't he?
... but quite rare.
If a tag question is asking a real question then alternatives to must are often preferred:
She must ...
- 18.1k
1
vote
Why does left come before right?
With up and down, as well as left and right, could it not be related to how words are written down in English?
- 11
1
vote
Adverbs position in English: “place–manner–time” or “manner–place–time”?
English is becoming more analytic so the word order plays a role. Thereby, the word order changes the syntactical meaning like which is the subject and which is the object, and which part of the ...
- 21
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible