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1500 questions
39
votes
6 answers
What would be an appropriate opposite of "exceed"?
Exceed is commonly used, but when I found myself wanting to use the opposite I couldn't really find a single word that would do it.
fall short of and inadequate are a little off.
How about deceed?
Lars Andren
- 535
39
votes
5 answers
Difference between «so that» and «such that»
Are these the same?
The image will be sheared such that the x-axis goes through (1,1).
The image will be sheared so that the x-axis goes through (1,1).
I think I have usually seen the former, I didn't even know that “so that” is allowed in English…
Simon A. Eugster
- 597
39
votes
17 answers
"If I were you, I'd apologise to my/your mum"
I'm stuck with this example which I don't know how to solve:
A: I've said bad things to my mum.
B: If I were you, I'd apologise to your mum.
Is it supposed to be your or my instead?
My feeling tells me that your is right, but my sounds more…
Guesty
- 389
39
votes
8 answers
Why do Americans go 'downtown' whilst people in the UK go 'up town'?
People in London, who live in the suburbs, may tell you they work 'up town', meaning in the City or the West End.
In other large cities in Britain, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds etc., I think people who earn their living in the City Centre…
WS2
- 64,657
39
votes
5 answers
Where do "shenanigans" come from?
Shenanigans, or shenanigan, also with several variant spellings, can be dated to 1855 USA in both the OED and Etymonline, but the OED simply says "Origin obscure" and Etymonline throws a few guesses into the ring:
Suggestions include Spanish…
Hugo
- 67,535
39
votes
9 answers
Is "fastly" a correct word?
Slow has the adverb slowly. I tend to use fastly as the adverb for fast.
However, it is underlined in most spell checkers I use, which makes me wonder about the existence of this word.
Is fastly a correct word? If not, what should be used instead,…
Gnoupi
- 508
39
votes
4 answers
Pluralization rule for "five-year-old children", "20 pound note", "10 mile run"
Why are year, pound and mile in the singular form in the phrases below?
five-year-old children
20 pound note
10 mile run
Is that because they're acting as adjectives, which are always invariable in English?
Is it incorrect to…
b.roth
- 21,782
39
votes
22 answers
What do we call people who go to the gym?
A group of people who regularly attend gym classes or work-out. What are they called? Is there a single-word for this particular group?
Apart from my calling them fanatics, mad (BrEng)/crazy (AmEng), body-obsessed, vain or dull.
Seriously, what are…
Mari-Lou A
- 91,183
39
votes
5 answers
What is the opposite of "meta"?
A while back I was talking about it with friends.
Another question indicates a few meanings of the "meta-" prefix. Considering that "meta" means, in simple words, "about itself" (like how metadata is data about data), what would be the appropriate…
zneak
- 837
39
votes
16 answers
What is the player called who has a turn?
What is the player called who has a turn?
I am guessing something like turning player. But I would like some confirmation or maybe is there an idiom for it?
Explanation:
In a round based game what is the general term to refer to the player that…
zsawyer
- 493
39
votes
6 answers
What is the difference between "lay" and "lie"?
How do I know when to use lay and when to use lie, and what are the different forms of each verb? I'm always getting them confused.
nohat
- 68,560
39
votes
6 answers
What is the infinitive of "can"?
Like the title says: I don't think "to can" is right :)
I mean "can" as in to be able to. I'm aware of other meanings.
I can't find the answer here. (There's What is an "infinitive"? which sidesteps this precise case). Online dictionaries draw a…
sehe
- 1,121
38
votes
6 answers
How should I ask for a bill in a restaurant politely?
I used to say check please, but my English teacher said that it's wrong, and the proper way is to say something like bill please.
What's the truth?
kovpas
- 482
38
votes
3 answers
"Congratulate for" vs. "congratulate on"
Which is correct?
I congratulated him for coming first in the race.
I congratulated him on coming first in the race.
user20934
38
votes
4 answers
Is 'useable' preferred in certain regions, or just an alternate spelling of 'usable'?
I rarely use spell checkers, but today when I did use one, it suggested changing the word 'useable' to 'usable' (i.e. to drop the first 'e'). This seemed immediately intuitive and I thought I'd just made a typo, but at second glance I wasn't so…
Amos M. Carpenter
- 2,895