Recent Questions - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

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• Place/location of adverbs of frequency? With "not"
• "Either x or either y-" why does this occur?
• A metaphor (involving roar?) for people living up or down to their reputations
• '>' vs '+' in describing 'larger/more than'
• She told me he had been back, so I am going to see him
• What does "limited daylight only" mean?
• Why is present simple used here?
• How to judge whether a that -clause tells general truths
• Meaning of these verses from a poem by Keats [closed]
• Can you tell me difference between Past Perfect and Past Simple? [duplicate]
• I am asking the meaning of two sentences [closed]
• Is it possible put a preposition in front of a relative pronoun what?
• How should I use "play roles", "play many roles" or somethings else?
• I want to know why this joke is supposed to be hilarious [closed]
• Is there a better word for "boss” in this sentence? [closed]
• Should I use "so", "such" or "such a" in this example? [closed]
• What does 'only' represent in following sentences?
• Is it correct to say: "I got plunged into a mass of struggling bodies that were swimming..."
• Idea and preposition
• Is this sentence understandable? "Gained the most points every round in 50+ games"
• Type of usage/accuracy
• Is half-in half-out hyphenated?
• Is there a word such as "Learnings"?
• Co-working or Coworking?
• When did "blonde" become offensive?
• How can one choose between "tunable" and "tuneable"?
• I've said it once, I've said it twice, I've said it a thousand times
• "Sorry to have kept you waiting" vs. "sorry for having kept you waiting"

Place/location of adverbs of frequency? With "not" Posted: 03 May 2021 09:34 AM PDT Ann usually doesn't eat breakfast. Ann doesn't usually eat breakfast. Are both sentences above grammatucally correct?

"Either x or either y-" why does this occur? Posted: 03 May 2021 09:16 AM PDT Recently, I've noticed several instances of people repeating "either" in sentences, ex. "you're either the predator or you're either the prey." Is this a documented phenomenon, or am I just in odd company? (I have heard this exclusively from monolingual English speakers- it seems similar to the Spanish use of "ni" but may or may not be related.)

A metaphor (involving roar?) for people living up or down to their reputations Posted: 03 May 2021 08:56 AM PDT I am blowing a mental gasket trying to think of the phrase I believe exists but that stumps me! The metaphor or idiom I'm looking for covers a person being forever put down, or perhaps praised, only to see that person's behaviour change accordingly. It goes along the lines of "name a lion and hear it roar". Can anyone help please? Thanks in advance.

'>' vs '+' in describing 'larger/more than' Posted: 03 May 2021 08:30 AM PDT If I wanted to use a symbol to describe the weight being 'more than' 10kg. Which of the following is more appropriate? When weight is > 10 kg or When weight is 10+ kg

She told me he had been back, so I am going to see him Posted: 03 May 2021 08:54 AM PDT Please can you help .. My contention here is that 'he had been back' is past tense .. but 'I'm going to see him' is present .. how does she know that he will still be there? She told me ... could be last week; yesterday, this morning, an hour ago (past tense). He had been back = past perfect tense. So how can she say she is going to see him and be sure that he will still be there?

What does "limited daylight only" mean? Posted: 03 May 2021 07:15 AM PDT 'Yes, except this one,' said Vicki. She crouched down and pointed to a grubby notice right at the bottom of the mass. Athena bent over. 'To let,' it said. 'One room, limited daylight only, $25 per week. NB house not communal.' Does it mean: it is not sunny place toward east? It has not got source of light. and the only source of light is sun during the day? Source: The Children's Bach by Helen Garner

Why is present simple used here? Posted: 03 May 2021 07:18 AM PDT We had a sentence in an exam, and we were asked to choose the right tense of the verb, the sentence goes as follows They are having dinner, they (haven't had, don't have) any problems at all. Now the answer was (don't have) but I couldn't understand why, shouldn't it be in perfect tense, if it was to imply that no problems happened?

How to judge whether a that -clause tells general truths Posted: 03 May 2021 08:09 AM PDT The kids were told (that) the earth goes around the sun. The teacher said (that) 2 to the power of 3 is 8. In terms of tensed clauses, if the declarative content clause tells general truths, it must use simple present tense even if the main clause uses simple past tense. How can I come to the conclusion that a declarative content clause follows the rule ? Note that not everyone knows a mathematical formula like " 2 to the power of 3 is 8 ". Here are another two examples, He said the United States was hit by many hurricanes in a year. He said the United States is hit by many hurricanes in a year. It is true that many hurricanes hit the United States every year. Should we define this fact as a general truth? How about changing sentence 3 and 4 respectively into the following sentence a and b? a. He said the United States was hit by many hurricanes last year. b. He said the United States is hit by many hurricanes every year.

Meaning of these verses from a poem by Keats [closed] Posted: 03 May 2021 04:57 AM PDT What does these words mean : And in the midst of this wide quietness A rosy sanctuary will I dress With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain, I'm not a literature student, these verses were written on the first page of psychology textbook.

Can you tell me difference between Past Perfect and Past Simple? [duplicate] Posted: 03 May 2021 03:16 AM PDT I felt very tired when I got home, so I went straight to bed. The house was very quiet when I got home. Everybody had gone to bed.

I am asking the meaning of two sentences [closed] Posted: 03 May 2021 04:13 AM PDT What are the meanings of these two sentences? Don't make a habit of locking yourself out. He needs a fairly stern word at regular intervals.

Is it possible put a preposition in front of a relative pronoun what? Posted: 03 May 2021 12:10 AM PDT She believed what I was talking about. She believed about what I was talking. I believe the sentence 1 is grammatically correct, but I'm not sure about the sentence 2. Is that okay, too? Thank you.

How should I use "play roles", "play many roles" or somethings else? Posted: 03 May 2021 04:26 AM PDT If A has an influence on B, one can say A plays a role in B. If A has no influence on B, one can say A plays no role in B. What if A has two different influences on B? Should it be: A plays two roles in B? And what if A has many influences on B? Should it be A plays many roles or play roles? Thank you in advance!

I want to know why this joke is supposed to be hilarious [closed] Posted: 03 May 2021 04:43 AM PDT A couple is anxiously waiting to hear the results of a medical test for their unborn child. The doctor says: "I will start with the good news; Your child will always find a parking space." It's just hard for me to catch it. Thank you.

Is there a better word for "boss” in this sentence? [closed] Posted: 03 May 2021 06:18 AM PDT Is there a better word for boss in the below sentence? as generally in production companies we call the person who is checking with circuit breaker failures with different name and not as boss. Take for example, a company suddenly had all of its electrical appliances switched off. When the boss looks at the circuit breaker, it seemed that nothing was wrong. he then went to call the technician who had arrived spontaneously. The Dictionary Definition of boss is as below. What are the other words that fits better than "boss"? a person who is in charge of a worker, group, or organization. "I asked my boss for a promotion" The synonyms for boss are: head, head man/woman, top man/woman, chief, principal, director, president, executive, chief executive, chair, chairperson, chairman, chairwoman, manager, manageress, administrator, leader, superintendent, supervisor, foreman, forewoman, overseer, controller, employer, master, owner, proprietor, patron, boss man, number one, kingpin, top dog, bigwig, big cheese, Mister Big, skipper, gaffer, governor, guv'nor, honcho, head honcho, numero uno, padrone, sachem, big wheel. Which best suits from supervisor, foreman, owner or any other from the list?

Should I use "so", "such" or "such a" in this example? [closed] Posted: 03 May 2021 05:40 AM PDT Teo has been in the US for only three years, but his teachers say he has learned to speak perfect English in _____ short time because he's so happy at school. Firstly I use "such" following the structure that my textbook taught me: such + adjective + uncountable/plural noun (+ that) I applied this structure since I thought "time" is an uncountable noun. However, apparently, the answer is "such a". Could you guys give me a hand, please?. Thank you for your support.

What does 'only' represent in following sentences? Posted: 03 May 2021 02:03 AM PDT What does the word 'only' represent in the following sentences: I can only dream of becoming someone like Dr. Stone. I can only do this for so long.

Is it correct to say: "I got plunged into a mass of struggling bodies that were swimming..." Posted: 03 May 2021 06:08 AM PDT Is it correct to say: "I got plunged into a mass of struggling bodies that were swimming...". My doubt is about the correctness of the expression "to get plunged". Thank you for your help!

Idea and preposition Posted: 03 May 2021 03:58 AM PDT I just need to have a better understanding of when and how to use the following prepositions with their corresponding word: Idea about Idea of can you use the preposition "about" with the word "understand/understanding"? Thank you!

Is this sentence understandable? "Gained the most points every round in 50+ games" Posted: 03 May 2021 04:01 AM PDT I'm writing some in-game descriptions for various challenges. One of the challenges is to win 50 games, whilst also having the most points in every round of said games. I arrived at this formulation: Gained the most points every round in 50+ games. Do you think it is clear and understandable? EDIT 1: It's possible to win a game even if you don't earn the most points in all rounds. There are four rounds in a single game and the player who wins the most rounds takes the prize. EDIT 2: These don't have to be consecutive games.

Type of usage/accuracy Posted: 03 May 2021 01:07 AM PDT As the boy tames the wild bird, it evokes pleasure in him away from his hardship in society; the bird is bettering us here. verb gerund or present participle: bettering improve on or surpass (an existing or previous level or achievement). Bird (animal) substituting human failure: that is what it means. Can this clause be reduced as the bird bettering us here and use a comma instead of a semi-colon. Or is that wrong.

Is half-in half-out hyphenated? Posted: 02 May 2021 11:35 PM PDT Do you hyphenate half-in half-out? He was half-in half-out. (of the window). Or half in, half out? Sheesh, nothing coming up on google. Any ideas/help please?

Is there a word such as "Learnings"? Posted: 02 May 2021 10:54 PM PDT What is the plural of learning? Is learning always singular? For e.g., if I have done research on a number of topic and gained sufficient knowledge, do I call it as "my learnings" or "my learning"? Is there a word called "learnings"? Or is "learning" always in plural form? Then what is the singular form?

Co-working or Coworking? Posted: 03 May 2021 04:46 AM PDT I'm proofreading a text for the magazine, and came across coworking. I prefer to spell it co-working with a hyphen -. I've looked on Ngrams, wikipedia, and several dictionaries, and as usual with punctuation issues this one's all over the map. People in the office say everyone spells it without a hyphen and that I'm being too picky or old-fashioned. What are justifications for using or not using a hyphen in coworking/co-working?

When did "blonde" become offensive? Posted: 03 May 2021 05:40 AM PDT The OED defines blond (noun) as: A person with blond hair; one with light or 'fair' hair and the corresponding complexion; esp. a woman, in which case spelt blonde. 1822 Edin. Rev. 199 Brenda, the laughing blue-eyed blonde. Other sources suggest that "blonde" as a noun should be avoided as it may sound sexist and offensive: Blonde: Blonde may be used to describe a woman's hair, but it is sometimes considered offensive to refer to a woman as 'a blonde' because hair colour should not define what a person is like. (OLD) The use of blonde as a noun in reference to a female with blonde hair is best avoided because it can be interpreted as sexist. (The Grammarist) Questions: When did the the noun "blonde" acquire a negative connotation"? Is it still nowadays better to avoid referring to a woman as "a blonde"? Are there differences in this respect between AmE vs BrE?

How can one choose between "tunable" and "tuneable"? Posted: 03 May 2021 08:02 AM PDT Both "tunable" and "tuneable" seem to be in common usage. Is there a source which can be used to justify a preference for one or the other for general usage, possibly as a function of whether one is considering a particular nationality or dialect of English?

I've said it once, I've said it twice, I've said it a thousand times Posted: 03 May 2021 01:48 AM PDT I had a student moaning because I insisted he say twice and not "two times". And he asked "But why?" to which I replied, "Because that's how you say it!" However on reflection, his question was a valid one. In Latin there doesn't appear to be any discernible pattern once is semel twice is bis thrice is ter four times is quater five times is quinquies but in German the suffix -mal is used, once is einmal twice is zweimal thrice is dreimal four times is viermal In French the term fois is repeated once is une fois twice is deux fois thrice is trois fois four times is quatre fois In Italian the noun volta (s) volte (p) is used once is una volta twice is due volte thrice is tre volte four times is quattro volte In Spanish veces is repeated once is una vez twice is dos veces thrice is tres veces four times is cuatro veces And all the following languages follow the same pattern. In Danish it's gange; in Norwegian ganger; in Polish raz and razy; Portuguese has vez and vezes; and Welsh uses waith and gwaith. Questions So why does the English language have three different words for "one time", "two times" and "three times"? Beyond a shadow of a doubt the English thrice is doomed to exile if not extinction; will twice suffer the same fate? For instance, many Italian speakers learning English do say "two times"—for them it makes more sense. Clarification: I am not suggesting that twice is old fashioned, unnecessary or— heaven forbid—nonsensical. But considering the history of thrice, it is possible that sometime in the future, native speakers will look back fondly on twice as being quaint and quite rare. My second question is in fact asking if there are signs of this happening now. Related Questions: Why has the word "thrice" fallen out of common usage? Twice vs Two Times Is there a word for four times as much, analogous to once, twice, and thrice?

"Sorry to have kept you waiting" vs. "sorry for having kept you waiting" Posted: 03 May 2021 03:29 AM PDT Can I transform "I am sorry to have kept you waiting so long" into "I am sorry for having kept you waiting so long"? Is there a difference between them? Additionally, is "I'm sorry having kept you waiting so long" grammatical?

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