Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |
- Is there a name for the literary device of having multiple speakers alternating in the same paragraph?
- "give my money back" or "give me my money back"
- Which verb defines the tense of a sentence?
- was pretending to do / to be doing
- Wrong to use "less equal" in a sentence?
- Difference between "is like nothing else" and "is not like anything else"
- Other ways to say this sentence
- Is the phrase "as I imagined would be the case" grammatically correct and why?
- Are there rules about the subject of a subordinate clause?
- What does "set change" mean? And how is it different from the plain word "change"
- How to write "expert(s)(')(s) guide"? [duplicate]
- Is it fine to use "than ~~~" in front of comparison words? [migrated]
- “Think+Noun+good luck” vs “Think + Noun+ is good luck”
- Is "play attention to" okay to mean "pay attention to"? [closed]
- 'In the day' meaning 'in one day'
- Is it grammatically correct to use the definite article before "grana" in this case?
- "Hey guys" - if theres a woman in the group of people [duplicate]
- Usage of word "Fugitive" [closed]
- Further vs. Farther in Cardinal Directions
- Word class / part of speech of 'whoever'
- Meaning of "Milestones" in this sentence [closed]
- What is this type of argument called? Commonly used today
- Proofreading for punctuation
- What's a word to call a person who is involuntarily used?
- Why do certain consonant clusters occur only at the start of a syllable but others only at the end?
- Punctuation before ending a quotation
- {This/that vs. these/those} + many + plural noun
- In the phrase "the scales have fallen from my eyes" why did they use the word "scales"?
- Can I use the phrase 'nigh-on-impossible' in a report?
| Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:18 AM PDT In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C. S. Lewis has:
and in the Star Trek novel, The Wounded Sky, Diane Duane has (in one of many nods to Narnia -- the whole book is, in many ways, one big homage to Narnia) an almost-verbatim quote, using the same device of two speakers alternating in a single paragraph. Is there a formal name for this device? Note that I'm not accusing Diane Duane of plagiarism here: the Narnian nods are too obvious for her not to have intended readers familiar with Narnia to recognize them.  |
| "give my money back" or "give me my money back" Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:36 AM PDT could you help me understand this? source : "common mistakes at CAE" page 9, question 5 "Are these sentences right or wrong? Correct those which are wrong." 4 - "I complained about the service and they agreed to have my money back" ============== So I thought the answer should be " ... and they agreed to give my money back" but the answer key says : "... and they agreed to give me my money back" _ I tried searching on the web, but both appears to be right. When there's no back , the subject that will receive the money is explicit so... are both right? should I "always" use the structure "give + subject + object" or ""give + object + 'to' subject" Thanks a lot and sorry any mistakes.  |
| Which verb defines the tense of a sentence? Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:11 AM PDT I need to categorise an assortment of statements based on their tense and a few of them I am struggling to categorise. Take the following sentence:
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe there are three verbs tenses in this sentence:
Which verb in this sentence defines what tense it is? Is there a simple set of rules one can follow to define the tense of a sentence? Thank you.  |
| was pretending to do / to be doing Posted: 30 Apr 2021 09:07 AM PDT "One day, as Jones was pretending to do homework in his room, the phone rang" It seems to me that in the context "to do" means "the middle of the action", so it should be "to be doing"? ?  |
| Wrong to use "less equal" in a sentence? Posted: 30 Apr 2021 09:25 AM PDT I would like to say that inequality increased in time as a small proportion of patients started to receive extreme amounts of rehabilitation. However, Grammarly says that I should not use "less" before "equal"? Is my sentence wrong in the way it is?
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| Difference between "is like nothing else" and "is not like anything else" Posted: 30 Apr 2021 08:24 AM PDT "Anyone who has visited Paris knows that this city is not like anything else" "Anyone who has visited Paris knows that this city is like nothing else" Is there any difference between these two sentences, and which one is the most appropriate variant?  |
| Other ways to say this sentence Posted: 30 Apr 2021 09:28 AM PDT "Take care of your dad" What are the other ways to say this sentence Also is it correct if it's "watch out for your dad" ?  |
| Is the phrase "as I imagined would be the case" grammatically correct and why? Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:28 AM PDT I had the following sentence in mind: "The conflict escalated quite rapidly, as I imagined/predicted would be the case". To my ears, the sentence sounds good, and a moderate amount of people have already used the phrases "as I imagined would be the case" and "as I predicted would be the case" before. However, I'm still concerned and not fully convinced about its grammaticality. Here are a few possible alternatives that should be "more grammatical" in my opinion:
Unfortunately, none of these alternatives returns significant hits in Google search, as I imagined would be the case (pun totally intended). Is the phrase "as I imagined would be the case" grammatically correct and why? Answering to comments: Yes. That said, it's hard to explain why without having an argument to counter. Why do you think it's not grammatical? You imagine or predict something. So, according to this logic, the phrase should be answering the question I imagined/predicted what? I imagined/predicted what the case would be like. So now that I think of it, the most grammatical version of the phrase IMO should be "as I imagined/predicted what the case would be like, [...]", although it sounds quite convoluted to be honest. The phrase "as I imagined would be the case" omits what, like and inverts the relative order between the case and would be. Are all those changes grammatical? What about the adverb as? As describes an event by comparing it to something else. So a phrase that begins with as should be answering the question: as what? As what I imagined/predicted that the case would be like. That's the version that makes the most grammatical sense to me. But, of course, nobody uses it :-)  |
| Are there rules about the subject of a subordinate clause? Posted: 30 Apr 2021 08:56 AM PDT The following two sentences, which is commonly used and grammatically correct?
I know the noun Lisa is the antecedent of the pronoun she. Are there any specific rules about the subject of a subordinate clause? How about if we put the subordinate clause after the main clause?  |
| What does "set change" mean? And how is it different from the plain word "change" Posted: 30 Apr 2021 06:26 AM PDT For example, "a degree can be defined as a 'set change' in temperature measured against a given scale" source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degree_(temperature)  |
| How to write "expert(s)(')(s) guide"? [duplicate] Posted: 30 Apr 2021 05:16 AM PDT How to name a written guide which grants you expert knowledge about a certain topic (after reading it). Is it an
Also knowing why that's the case would be nice. (what would be other tags but apostrophe?)  |
| Is it fine to use "than ~~~" in front of comparison words? [migrated] Posted: 30 Apr 2021 04:38 AM PDT [It is better human relations than structural changes that count more.] In this sentence "than structural changes" is an adverb and I learned that adverb can be almost everywhere in a sentence. people around me say that "It is better human relations that count more than structural changes." is right. but I don't understand why "than structural changes" have to be behind comparison words(count more). thanks for reading  |
| “Think+Noun+good luck” vs “Think + Noun+ is good luck” Posted: 30 Apr 2021 04:59 AM PDT I saw a question on Quora recently which asked about the grammar of the following sentence:
Interestingly, most answers weren't familiar with this structure but one person explained it as ellipsis ('the British think ravens are good luck'). I wonder what everyone thinks of this answer. Is it ellipsis or is it perhaps an archaic usage or maybe linked to a French grammatical structure popular in past times?  |
| Is "play attention to" okay to mean "pay attention to"? [closed] Posted: 29 Apr 2021 11:44 PM PDT Is "play attention to" okay to mean "pay attention to"? I've found some examples here and there Googling, but I'm not sure if it's the right expression.  |
| 'In the day' meaning 'in one day' Posted: 30 Apr 2021 08:45 AM PDT The use of 'in the day' in this paragraph puzzles me: There were more than 800,000 horses on the Eastern Front in 1941. Mr Baxter said that, in the day, around 8,000 were being killed by enemy fire, the freezing temperatures or sheer over-exertion. Does this mean 'in a day', and if so, is such usage correct? update: I believe that the intended meaning must have been either "in a day" or "around the time the picture was taken" (the paragraph is a caption for a picture (of a dying horse surrounded by soldiers)).  |
| Is it grammatically correct to use the definite article before "grana" in this case? Posted: 30 Apr 2021 08:50 AM PDT Stroma: the fluid surrounding grana, where the light-independent reactions occur. In this vocabulary list entry—"Stroma: the fluid in the chloroplast surrounding the grana, where the light-independent reactions occur"—the definite article is needed, because it implies that the grana (plural for granum) are inside of the chloroplast. However, should "the" be used before "grana" in the entry at the top? Since the chloroplast is not mentioned, it does not suggest that the grana are inside it. I am also not referring to a specific set of grana, as the number likely varies between chloroplasts. To my understanding, unlike the chromosomes, it is not essential that there must be a certain number of grana in the chloroplast of a species' individuals. This question relates to this question: Why is using the definite article "the" before a plural countable noun correct in this case when I have not mentioned the plural noun before?  |
| "Hey guys" - if theres a woman in the group of people [duplicate] Posted: 30 Apr 2021 12:12 AM PDT As in the title - is it okey to use "Hey guys" phrase when referring to a group of people including a woman? Or even to a group containing only women?  |
| Usage of word "Fugitive" [closed] Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:17 AM PDT Few days back I came across a sentence, which in my opinion, had used the word "Fugitive" in incorrect fashion. Since I'm not a native speaker..I would like someone to check whether this usage is correct or not. " We are all trying to be fugitive from this pandemic." is the usage of "fugitive" in above sentence sentence correct? Please help me. Thank you  |
| Further vs. Farther in Cardinal Directions Posted: 30 Apr 2021 09:21 AM PDT I understand that typically in American English, farther is used for physical distance while further is used for metaphorical distance (i.e. farther to the restaurant vs. further in the book). However, which word would you use when using cardinal directions? You need to head further north or farther north?  |
| Word class / part of speech of 'whoever' Posted: 30 Apr 2021 04:52 AM PDT I know that the word 'whoever' is a pronoun , but is it a. an indefinite pronounce , b. a relative pronoun , or c. An indefinite relative pronoun- and does such a classification actually exist? Would appreciate your views. Thanks.  |
| Meaning of "Milestones" in this sentence [closed] Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:07 AM PDT and our sense of milestones for dealing with specific issues that might over time get us toward a more stable relationship.  |
| What is this type of argument called? Commonly used today Posted: 29 Apr 2021 11:11 PM PDT For example:
Here, (A) is dismissing republicans concerns with "vaccine passports" stating they are hypocritical. However, by doing so, is (A) also saying that HIV+ laws were appropriate? Another example
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| Posted: 30 Apr 2021 10:33 AM PDT His movies took the world by storm and set important conversations into motion #1[,] from criticizing domestic violence #2[,] which he had been a victim of #3[,] to advocating for free speech #4[,] a concept he fought tooth and nail for during the majority of his career. 4 commas, each bracketed, were used in this original passage Ignoring any other minor grammatical errors in there (if any), I feel like at least two semicolons were needed, specifically in place of the #1 and #3 brackets Could anyone kindly confirm this for me please, or is the entire passage fine as it is with 4 commas? Thanks  |
| What's a word to call a person who is involuntarily used? Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:38 AM PDT In an interaction, one person uses another against their will. Is there a word (noun) to refer to that person? Example: Person A trips and grabs onto Person B, a stranger, in order to not fall to the ground. Person B had no choice in the matter. Person A would label Person B their _____. Dupe, instrument, pawn, puppet, stooge, and tool have pretty negative connotations, so don't quite work. The interaction is more of a slight inconvenience.  |
| Posted: 30 Apr 2021 08:03 AM PDT You may have noticed that in English, some consonant clusters can occur only at the start of an English word while other consonant clusters can occur only at the end. For example, the combination [ts] never starts an English word but it can easily end one, as it does in bats, [bæt̚s]. On the other hand, [pl] never ends an English word but it can start one the way it does in play [pʰleɪ̯]. It seems impossible to predict exactly which consonant clusters can occur only at the syllable onset or only in its coda but not in both. Notice how if you try to pronounce [ts] at the start of a word like tsetse [ˈt̪͡s̪i.t̪͡s̪i], it is rather difficult, but at the end of a word like stats [stæt̚s], it is not at all difficult. It also seems quite easy in the middle of words like pizza [ˈpʰit̚.sə]. Question: So why is it that certain consonant clusters have a tendency to occur only at the start of a syllable but others only at the end?  |
| Punctuation before ending a quotation Posted: 30 Apr 2021 09:09 AM PDT I was reading an article and came across this sentence:
This quote is punctuated with a period and a comma. Is this a mistake? When I was reading on English grammar, I was told to punctuate quotes in the following way:
I did change the structure around, though. Perhaps it is necessary to put a period before the comma when using their word order?  |
| {This/that vs. these/those} + many + plural noun Posted: 30 Apr 2021 04:33 AM PDT From pag 419 of Mastering English An Advanced Grammar for Non-native and Native Speakers: Elsewhere, demonstratives normally serve as determiners (as in that exact moment, this way, etc.). BUT in connection with adjectives and quantifiers such as much and many, the singular demonstratives may serve also as degree adverbs, indicating a precise amount or measure: (14) I didn't give her that much. (15) Do we need this many recommendations? (16) The worm was this long. Yet, despite the number of stars in the sky being uncountable by nature, so no precise amount at all, the sentence I've never seen this many stars (in the sky) is uttered by the character "Ian" in an informal context in the last chapter of the fifth season of Shameless, "Love Songs (In the Key of Gallagher)". Therefore, is the purported different this/these + many + plural noun still operating? Granted, "precise amount or measure" is quite subjective.  |
| In the phrase "the scales have fallen from my eyes" why did they use the word "scales"? Posted: 30 Apr 2021 07:58 AM PDT It's an odd word there. I've never thought that I had "scales" on my eyes when I couldn't see. Why didn't they use something like "darkness" or "clouds"? When I think of scales I think of Lady Justice and her scales. Is the writer talking about reptile/fish scales? That still doesn't make any sense.  |
| Can I use the phrase 'nigh-on-impossible' in a report? Posted: 30 Apr 2021 04:35 AM PDT I'm currently writing an academic report and I began to write out the phrase 'nigh-on-impossible' without a second thought. It then occurred to me that this phrase may actually be slang. I did a quick Google search and someone on Yahoo answers stated:
With this in mind, would be it appropriate to use a phrase with such origins in an academic report?  |
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