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1500 questions
35
votes
3 answers
May you please explain this?
At a family dinner, my 18-year-old niece asked my sister, "May you please pass the salt?" My sister said that she was impressed with her daughter's politeness, but that that particular wording was not correct. My niece said that she had been taught…
sarah
- 2,688
35
votes
2 answers
What kind of noun is 'picture'?
I'm not sure of the right place to ask this, but I got confused trying to understand how the computer will interpret the sentence:
This is my picture.
In actual sense, the real owner of the picture should be the photographer not the person who was…
Chibueze Opata
- 1,875
35
votes
5 answers
If the plural of ‘man’ is ‘men,’ shouldn’t the plural of ‘German’ be ‘Germen’?
What makes these two words so different that 'man' is changed to 'men', but 'German' is changed to 'Germans'?
Adra Elkins
- 447
35
votes
4 answers
Terms for collections of animals
As I watched the murder of crows sitting on the line above my house this evening, I got wondering where all of the collective nouns for animals (pod of whales, gaggle of geese, pride of lions) came from and why we need so many.
If sheep can be a…
J.T. Grimes
- 6,853
35
votes
5 answers
"Not empty" set in one word?
Is there a single word which means "not empty"? That is, a word which one might use to describe a field with one or more cows in it, as opposed to an "empty" field with none?
Full or even partially-full are not appropriate, because the number of…
Dan
- 777
34
votes
2 answers
Why is "colonel" pronounced "kernel"?
Why does the word colonel (as in military rank) have such a strange spelling compared to how it's pronounced (or vice versa, although I don't know how you would pronounce that)?
gablin
- 1,155
34
votes
7 answers
Difference between "at" and "in" when specifying location
I am used to saying "I am in India.". But somewhere I saw it said "I am at Puri (Oriisa)". I would like to know the differences between "in" and "at" in the above two sentences.
ranjitpradhan
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34
votes
8 answers
Is it correct to say Person A is the "spitting image" or the "splitting image" of Person B?
I understand that when trying to describe a person who has a resemblance to another, the common term is spitting image. As in:
Person A is a spitting image of Person B.
Here's my issue, I've recently heard some people saying splitting image as…
Dan Hanly
- 690
34
votes
5 answers
Words that are pluralized in the middle?
This is purely a curiosity, but I'm fascinated by mid-word pluralization, even if the word in question is a compound word.
For example, passersby or standersby.
No others have occurred to me. Can you provide other examples, or a link to a resource…
Jay
- 3,572
34
votes
2 answers
"Overrode" vs "Overridden"
I got into an argument about the sentence "Have you overrode SomeThingamajig?"
I thought that "have overrode" is incorrect, and should be "overrode" or "have overridden", or perhaps "did override".
However, I was told that in some contexts, "have…
Kendall Frey
- 443
34
votes
27 answers
Common phrases for something that appears good but is actually bad
What are common phrases that describe something that appears good but is actually bad?
Edit: Because people say bad is vague I will try to sum up the phrase meaning a little better.
something that looks like it will be helpful or advantageous but…
austinbv
- 443
34
votes
2 answers
"Is equal to" or "equals"
Are both is equal to and equals similar in meaning? Which is the more natural?
For example, one plus one equals two or one plus one is equal to two.
gambler
- 349
34
votes
8 answers
What is the best way to explain how to choose between "its" and "it's"?
Probably one of the most frequent grammar mistakes in the English language is:
The dog sat on it's mat.
Since spelling checkers don't catch it, and it is even logical, since you would correctly write:
The dog sat on Fluffy's mat.
What is the…
Edward Tanguay
- 14,007
34
votes
7 answers
Why are "i.e." and "e.g." written in lower case with periods, while "NB" is typically written in CAPS with no periods?
According to my armchair research on common abbreviations of nota bene, it appears that NB is the most common now, with N.B. being more common in centuries past after taking over the "original" nb in the early 1700s. While n.b. is the least common…
34
votes
3 answers
When did double superlatives go out of fashion in English?
Today I learned that the correct/recommended form of English, only a few centuries ago, required using "more" and "most" together with adjectives that were already in (respectively) comparative or superlative form, such as "more better" or "most…
Rand al'Thor
- 4,905