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1500 questions
112
votes
9 answers
Is there a word for a person with only one head?
Reading this article by the fantastic Douglas Adams I came across this interesting quote:
‘[I]nteractivity’ is one of those neologisms that Mr Humphrys likes to dangle between a pair of verbal tweezers, but the reason we suddenly need such a word…
Andy F
- 4,540
112
votes
14 answers
"Email" or "e-mail"?
Which way of writing the word: "Email" or "e-mail" is correct? Both variants seem to be in wide use. If both ones are okay, maybe there is a difference in contexts they have been used (one is more formal than the other)?
rem
- 10,331
112
votes
15 answers
Which is correct, "you and I" or "you and me"?
When the phrase is used as an object, why so many native speakers are saying "you and I" instead of "you and me"? I'm not a native speaker but I thought "you and me" is correct. Not sure if this falls into the same category, but "Just between you…
grokus
- 3,674
110
votes
3 answers
Difference between "delete" and "remove"
I am writing a mobile application that will, as a part of its functionality, display a list of recorded thoughts. Now I am deciding the textual content of the menus and that left me thinking whether there is a logical difference between words remove…
Maxim V. Pavlov
- 1,825
110
votes
1 answer
What does a single letter "J" mean in emailing?
Today is Halloween. After a successful party, many conversations have been going on in my company's email box.
The end of one email said "Till next time J". I had no idea what "J" meant in this sentence and thought it could be a typo. Then I opened…
Terry Li
- 10,108
110
votes
10 answers
Is there any word in English where "th" sounds like "t+h"?
It might be a strange question, but I, as a non-native speaker (Pakistani), have listened to English pronunciations by my native people who have over time developed their own pronunciations.
So, I heard the word "THUG" with the pronunciation "T" +…
Usman
- 1,198
109
votes
8 answers
Which day does "next Tuesday" refer to?
At what point does next Tuesday mean
the next Tuesday that will come to pass
and no longer
the Tuesday after the Tuesday that will come to pass?
And, when does the meaning switch back?
Chris
- 12,388
108
votes
5 answers
Why is it "geometric" but "theoretical"?
I just came across a course name: Geometric and Theoretical Optics. The mismatched endings bug me. Why do we have both -ical and -ic endings?
Is there any difference in meaning between, say, theoretic and theoretical? I know that acoustic and…
Marthaª
- 32,910
108
votes
3 answers
What is the word for "the smell of rain"?
I've always noticed that sometimes rain can have a pretty distinct smell.
Do we have a word describing the smell of rain? How can we describe the smell of rain?
"The rain smelt like..."
"The rain had a ... scent."
Featherball
- 1,243
- 3
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108
votes
10 answers
Appropriate dash to use when attributing a quotation?
If I’m citing a poem or quotation, what kind of dash precedes the author’s name?
For example:
This Business of Printing; which I am heartily tired of, and repent I e’er attempted....
—John Baskerville
Should this be an em dash, an en dash, or…
GLM
- 1,081
- 2
- 8
- 3
107
votes
11 answers
What is the correct way to use infinitive after the verb "help": with or without "to"?
What is the correct way to use infinitive after the verb "help": with or without "to"?
For example:
Please, help me to understand this.
or:
Please, help me understand this.
rem
- 10,331
107
votes
6 answers
When I say "comment out", does it mean to uncomment something or comment it?
When I say I commented out a line written in a programming language, does that mean I uncommented that line or that I made it a comment?
genesis
- 2,459
106
votes
4 answers
Why does the multi-paragraph quotation rule exist?
The answer to this question clearly explains the standard rule that when you have multiple quoted paragraphs, each new paragraph starts with an opening quotation mark, but only the final quoted paragraph has a closing quotation mark at its end.
This…
tchrist
- 134,759
106
votes
7 answers
Why is Nike pronounced "naikee" and not "naik"?
A word ending with e usually doesn't have a vowel at the end like bike and strike, so why is Nike different?
shinzou
- 1,183
106
votes
12 answers
Why does "I was happy to do my homework" work, but "I was tired to do my homework" doesn't?
I'm teaching ESL, and I came across a question from one of my students that I don't know how to answer. Using the form "{subject} {verb} {adjective} {infinitive phrase}" we've been going over sentences such as "I was happy to help you." (More…
Richard Winters
- 1,066