Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |
- Should "I am going to do sth" be repeated?
- Is there a concise word for someone who has failed but tries again in which they have succeeded? [closed]
- can I use thing, thing, thing and/or thing in English [closed]
- Again = 'back, opposite direction'
- What is difference between "be my guest" and "help yourself"? What are the cases to use these idioms correctly?
- Why doesn't "appropriate" (adj) appropriate the pronunciation of "appropriate" (v.)?
- Meaning of "followed" in this sentence
- "not a little/few" [closed]
- Correct comma usage with "but after years of" [duplicate]
- I want to know how the expression 'in my work' is used in the following question
- Origin of the English word chevel [closed]
- Prepositional phrase and main clause subject agreement
- Use of past perfect tense in these sentences
- What's the word for "Common behavior described in a way to make it sound weird"?
- Why do we say latitude and longitude instead of longitude and latitude?
- How is "X" used in a title and how is it pronounced?
- Can you explain the structure and meaning of this sentence? [closed]
- Alternatives to "to chase up" [closed]
- A word to describe the highest degree of cunning?
- When using conjunctions in a question to connect two sentences, should I add a comma before the conjunction? [duplicate]
- Re: Subject + verb ("intended") + infinitive phrase. Could the phrase function as an adverb (vs. direct object)?
- What single word reflects the feelings/emotions behind “smh”?
- Should it be "persistent [high] levels of unemployment" or "persistently high levels of unemployment"?
- How does "A hit dog will holler" work as a metaphor?
- Turning the adjective 'anonymous' into 'Mr Anonymous' [closed]
- single-letter translation from Greek letters to English letters?
- Word for the noise made by a helicopter?
- How does one use 'moue' properly in a sentence?
| Should "I am going to do sth" be repeated? Posted: 17 May 2021 08:09 AM PDT I am puzzled. Which is the correct variant?
Maybe, in the first sentence, we mean a sequence of actions, and in the second sentence we mean that the person is going to do his homework and play chess simultaneously? Sorry, I tried to find the answer but I failed.  |
| Posted: 17 May 2021 09:33 AM PDT Would also be great if there is a Greek root word for it as well.  |
| can I use thing, thing, thing and/or thing in English [closed] Posted: 17 May 2021 07:10 AM PDT I want to convert ( thing and/or thing and/or thing and/or thing ) into ( thing, thing, thing and/or thing ) or not  |
| Again = 'back, opposite direction' Posted: 17 May 2021 06:05 AM PDT In the OED, archaic again, under def. 1a, is 'In the opposite direction; back.' The last example given there is from John Bunyan, with "turn again": Come then, Neighbour Pliable, let us turn again, and go home. But in def. 1b, there are a few with "turn again", all the way up to 1983, which incorporates language from 1612: "London bells sweetly rung... Euermore sounding so, turne againe Whittington: For thou in time shalt grow, Lord Maior of London." What's the difference between these? Why are they in different entries? Is this a true difference, or should the Bunyan quote go in 1b? That would make the 1a 1480 example the latest one, with "they driven the Englishmen again." Also, is the 1a usage not in the King James Bible?  |
| Posted: 17 May 2021 05:55 AM PDT What is difference between "be my guest" and "help yourself"? As far as I concerned both of them are used as a permission to do something. What are the cases to use these idioms correctly? Thanks for reply!  |
| Why doesn't "appropriate" (adj) appropriate the pronunciation of "appropriate" (v.)? Posted: 17 May 2021 05:14 AM PDT TLDR: There are adjectives/nouns--verb pairs in which the adjectives/nouns have weak vowel in the last syllable and the verb has strong for example:
why? ExplanationThere are adjective/noun - verb pairs that have the same spelling and origin but the adjectives/nouns have weak vowel in the last syllable while the verbs have strong. While deliberating the pronunciation of the adjective "deliberate", I noticed that the verb form and the adjective had different pronunciation. I don't know if it happens in other words, but the words that I've noticed mostly end in -ate:
The above words can be adjectives/nouns or verbs. I understand that in other noun-verb pairs such as protest, the stress varies and the strong/weak vowel is because of that:
But in this case the main stress in both words (adjectives/nouns and verbs) fall on the same syllable, but the last syllable in verb has the diphthong /eɪ/, while the adjectives/nouns have schwa /ə/, so the word "appropriate" have two pronunciation in the title sentence:
While looking up their etymologies, I found out that most (if not all) of these words entered English in the 15th century. Etymonline doesn't explain why the adjectives/nouns and the verbs have different vowels. Googling didn't help and I'm unable to find any information on this topic, Question: Why are these pairs pronounced differently? What is the origin of this distinction?  |
| Meaning of "followed" in this sentence Posted: 17 May 2021 04:50 AM PDT
What does it mean "followed to solicit" in this sentence?  |
| Posted: 17 May 2021 04:22 AM PDT Can the contraction -n't be used for the idioms not a little and not a few?  |
| Correct comma usage with "but after years of" [duplicate] Posted: 17 May 2021 04:06 AM PDT I'm wondering if the comma usage is correct in the following sentence ("Brachyura" and "the Twelve" are proper nouns)?
Should there not be an additional comma after the "but", or a comma after the word "Twelve", or are these optional? Many thanks  |
| I want to know how the expression 'in my work' is used in the following question Posted: 17 May 2021 01:39 AM PDT "I am a sport data analyst. In my work, I watch baseball games all the time." I want to know what 'in my work' means in the above sentences. I guess it could be 'in my working place', or 'while I'm working.' Thank you for reading this.  |
| Origin of the English word chevel [closed] Posted: 17 May 2021 09:26 AM PDT I'm originally from Yorkshire and my family, especially my mum, used the verb 'chevel', in the context of "you're always cheveling sweets". I don't know what the exact spelling was. Does anyone know its origins? Her family originated from the northeast coast of England, Saltburn to Scarborough. I'm new to this forum so have just realised the question became closed. The word was used to describe me 'chewing' sweets.  |
| Prepositional phrase and main clause subject agreement Posted: 17 May 2021 12:32 AM PDT I know it would be ungrammatical to say:
Because the subject for "after standing up" should be "he", while the subject in the main clause is "his cheeks". However, I was wondering if it would also be ungrammatical to say:
I suppose the subject of the sentence is "this effect", but that of the prepositional phrase "by refraining from sadness" should be something like "one" or "you"? As a contrast, it is perfect grammatical to say (copied the example from dictionaries):
It would be great if you could let me know your thoughts on the second sentence. Thanks a lot!  |
| Use of past perfect tense in these sentences Posted: 17 May 2021 12:25 AM PDT Why is past perfect tense used in this? In both these meetings, we had expressed our deep concern over the violence in Jerusalem, especially on Haram Al Sharif/ Temple Mount during the holy month of Ramadan [Ramzan] , and about the possible eviction process in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, an area which is part of an arrangement facilitated by the UN. We had also expressed our apprehension at the spread of violence to other parts of West Bank and Gaza," he said  |
| What's the word for "Common behavior described in a way to make it sound weird"? Posted: 17 May 2021 04:42 AM PDT When someone describes a certain behavior that a group engages in, and intentionally makes it sound like that behavior is weird, in order to make that group seem more distant from the rest of society; what is the word for it? I'm sure I've seen this word used before. Edit: example: When someone says: "Dog owners like to put a noose around their pets neck and drag them around around in everyones view.", they are engaging in _____?  |
| Why do we say latitude and longitude instead of longitude and latitude? Posted: 17 May 2021 12:24 AM PDT Latitude measures degree from the equator and longitude measures the degree from the prime meridian, each corresponding to the x-axis and y-axis of the world. However, normally when we are talking about axes we say the x-axis and then y-axis, so it should be longitude and latitude, but we refer to it the other way. Why is this?  |
| How is "X" used in a title and how is it pronounced? Posted: 17 May 2021 12:16 AM PDT I make videos and I also write the music for them, so I watch and listen-to lots of other people's work.
... note the last one has two X's in it. The artist Eric Minh Swenson (EMS) does that a lot. I'm seeing X everywhere these days! What does it mean; how does its use differ from "&", "with" or "ft." and how is it read or pronounced?  |
| Can you explain the structure and meaning of this sentence? [closed] Posted: 17 May 2021 12:16 AM PDT
I couldn't understand this section: "however small the words he exchanges". Can you explain its structure and what that means? Source: Naruto subtitles / Naruto Shippuden – Mysterious Power | Pull back this veil (under the 12th image, which has an alt text of "ha11").  |
| Alternatives to "to chase up" [closed] Posted: 17 May 2021 09:04 AM PDT I'm looking for an alternative phrase to be used in a non-fiction context. The starting phrase is "to chase up" meaning to contact someone to find out what progress they have made with a task. I want to present the notion that this is a polite enquiry and I'm looking for an alternative that is less prone to be interpreted as hassling or an over-bearing demand, but gets across the notion that, prior to such a call, it is already obvious that the progress is a long way behind schedule. So far I have not had any luck with the synonym/thesaurus sites I'm familiar with as they don't seem to recognise "to chase up" as a whole phrasal verb and thus instead show answers for "chase". This is one exception https://www.powerthesaurus.org/chase_up though the closest it suggests are "follow-up" and "monitor", neither of which really suits the purpose.  |
| A word to describe the highest degree of cunning? Posted: 17 May 2021 12:43 AM PDT There are many synonyms to describe cunning like "wily', "shrewd" or "guileful"; each with their own connotations and nuances. However, I'm not sure how such synonyms would stack against each other in expressing the level of cunning. Is there a word that would describe the highest level of cunning, besides adding the superlative modifier to the word; i.e "most cunning"?  |
| Posted: 17 May 2021 03:03 AM PDT When using conjunctions in a question to connect two sentences, should I add a comma before the conjunction? For example,
Or,
 |
| Posted: 17 May 2021 12:33 AM PDT First, to save time and effort, I do understand simple explanations such as this (owl.purdue.edu):
But I can't imagine how an infinitive phrase following the verb intended could function as anything other than a direct object. I don't see the difference between that example and this one (grammar.yourdictionary.com):
This example is listed under Used as Adverbs. There is a discussion at the bottom of the page:
I realize that no one should rely on any online discussion (or dictionary) for grammar tips, but I think I'm missing something in this case (perhaps the big picture). As I mentioned, I don't see the difference, so I would break it down like this:
Questions Is that breakdown accurate (at least traditionally), and if not, would you point out my errors (or major issues), please? Also, from the title, could the verb intended (or any transitive verb, if you wish to elaborate) be followed by an adverbial infinitive phrase (or clause) versus one that functions as a direct object? Thank you.  |
| What single word reflects the feelings/emotions behind “smh”? Posted: 17 May 2021 01:22 AM PDT What single word describes how one feels when another person says something that doesn't make sense? I've often seen people use shaking my head or scratching my head ("smh") online. I'm wondering what feelings/emotions pertain to "smh". I'm looking for a word that would denote a mild feeling/emotion more akin to when something is ridiculous, absurd, illogical, or laughable. Example: So and so said something so laughable I feel _____.  |
| Posted: 17 May 2021 09:29 AM PDT Here is a sentence that I wrote for an academic paper:
Question: Which phrasing is the most idiomatic (correct usage)? My research tells me I should go with C (but my research is based on the graph, google hits, and reading some of the lines on those hits). However, google hits for all three options are similar in number: around 130.
Details: Let's start with the definition: according to Cambridge, "persistent" (adj) means
The intended meaning is that unemployment in those regions stay up high year after year, as seasonal workers don't relocate to other regions for new jobs. They prefer being unemployed in the high-unemployment regions so they can get unemployment benefits for longer durations (benefit durations are shorter in low unemployment regions). My original phrasing was option A, "persistent levels of unemployment", which turned out to be very unpopular/uncommon. "Level" is like a scale ranging from low to high. I wonder if that is the problem: "persistent" and "level" does not work together. In google news, there are only
Simply looking up google all reveals around 130 entries for all of the above options (google returns around 10,300 entries, but if you click page 15 or so, you will see google revises its estimate to around 130 entries). Provided is an ngram for comparison. One term that is way up higher than all three is just "persistent unemployment" (not in image). I wonder why the green (A) and the red (B) line cross like that.
 |
| How does "A hit dog will holler" work as a metaphor? Posted: 17 May 2021 07:36 AM PDT Background: I, an Australian, once had a co-worker in North Carolina who would often use Southern-US idioms that confused me. I spent an evening panicked about how to handle "This dog will hunt" as feedback on a document before he clarified that meant he was happy with it. Oddly, the phrases always seemed to involve dogs. So, when a politician from Florida recently used the baffling expression "A hit dog will holler" I wasn't surprised. Wiktionary explains its figurative meaning:
If I understand this correctly, it is like the schoolyard taunt: I'm rubber, you're glue. But, I understand why the rubber (the insult bounces off me) and glue (the insult sticks to you) idiom works. What does the yelping of a beaten dog got to do with tu quoque claims? [Stop Press: A commenter below suggests that I have misunderstood the figurative meaning, even before we get to the literal meaning. Please set me straight on both in an answer.]  |
| Turning the adjective 'anonymous' into 'Mr Anonymous' [closed] Posted: 17 May 2021 09:29 AM PDT As a teacher, I often receive anonymous homework, essays and even tests. In Portuguese, 'anonymous' can be a noun so it wouldn't be unheard of for a Portuguese teacher to say something like this (literal translation)...
Obviously such a construction is not grammatical in English. However, could the word be transformed into a proper name? Could I say something like...
And if it's possible, would it still work in...
 |
| single-letter translation from Greek letters to English letters? Posted: 17 May 2021 09:00 AM PDT Is there a well accepted way to represent each Greek letter using only one English letter? I'm asking because I often needed to use English to represent Greek letters, e.g., when Greek font is absent. Of course, we have LaTex, and can use:
But that is rather long to write down. Is there a good single letter translation? For example Of course, this translation should respect the lineage between alphabets as much as possible. Searching about this, I found the ESL question Is there a reason behind the ordering of letters in the English alphabet?. The answers there do suggest that there is some correspondence/heritage between the two alphabets, and English alphabet has added letters such as W, U, J. Also, there seems to be an ISO standard 843 for such translation, but certain Greek letters such as Is there a standard for one-letter translation/representation from Greek to English letters?  |
| Word for the noise made by a helicopter? Posted: 17 May 2021 04:51 AM PDT I once read about a nice word that describes the specific noise made by a helicopter in flight.
I've hunted on the internet to try to find this word again, but to no avail. I'm sure I'll know it when I see it though. Does anyone else know this word?  |
| How does one use 'moue' properly in a sentence? Posted: 17 May 2021 12:54 AM PDT I don't understand how to use moue in a sentence. I know the definition of moue:
It says it is a noun, but whenever I've seen it used, it always comes off verb-like, unless I'm misreading. An example:
Either way, I still don't understand how to use this word properly. Do you always say 'moue of x' or can it be used by itself like 'His moue showed how unhappy he was'?  |
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