English Stack Exchange
English Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
32
votes
6 answers

Equivalent of "former" and "latter" for more than 2 items

Former and latter are valid only when there are two choices. If I have a list of more than two items, is there an elegant way to say the first one or the last one?
The English Chicken
  • 8,480
32
votes
9 answers

Is it proper to omit periods after honorifics (Mr, Mrs, Dr)?

I've been reading the Economist lately and they apparently don't punctuate honorifics like "Mr.", "Mrs.", e.g. The popular rejection of Mr Mubarak offers the Middle East’s best chance for reform in decades. I believe it's a British magazine, but…
Nick T
  • 1,224
32
votes
17 answers

Framing a question whose answer is an ordinal number

I am the third daughter (or son) of my parents. OR I am the third child of my parents How should a question that is answered with the above sentences be framed?
GPEnglish
  • 555
32
votes
6 answers

What is the difference between "simulate" and "emulate"?

The words clearly have a similar meaning. But I think there must be a subtle difference. e.g. You get a "flight simulator", but an "ipad emulator". Both are pieces of software for replicating the behaviour of something. So why are the words not…
Urbycoz
  • 15,698
31
votes
15 answers

Antonym for "exceed"

I am trying to find a single word antonym for "exceed". I am using the word as a verb (so "beneath" doesn't work) and it should have a positive connotation (as in a golf score which falls below par). I thought of "subceed", which I like, and found a…
JDB
  • 535
31
votes
4 answers

Why does "corn" mean "maize" in American English?

I keep hearing "corn" as a synonym of "maize". This is widely popularized worldwide by popcorn. However, this is American English! In British English, "corn" can mean any type of "grain", especially "wheat", as in the Corn Laws. Why does "corn" mean…
Wok
  • 1,549
31
votes
4 answers

Can I use "US-American" to disambiguate "American"? If not, what can I use?

Based on this question, I wonder: as an alternative to USAian (which is very nonstandard) is it OK to use US-American to more clearly indicate "inhabitant of the USA"? According to Google Ngram, this phrase has grown in usage since the 1960's. The…
gerrit
  • 2,263
31
votes
4 answers

What's the difference between "yet another" and "another"?

What's the difference between yet another and another?
Satoru.Logic
  • 545
31
votes
4 answers

Really nice, Mat

I see a lot of people saying things such as Nice work, Nick Or Thanks, Mat Is the comma really needed? I'm not 100% sure because my spelling and grammar is not great, but I think it reads very strange.
Mat
  • 321
31
votes
11 answers

Can a sentence start with "Because"?

In my grade school days, I recall a teacher proclaiming to the class: You should never start a sentence with the word "Because". Of course, I've since seen lots of examples to the contrary, and done so my self that seem to be perfectly correct,…
BIBD
  • 617
31
votes
4 answers

What is the noun for someone who receives a referral?

When a referrer (noun) gives a referral (noun) to another person, what is the term (noun) used for the recipient of the referral? "The referred" may work, but am I missing another term? "Referred" indicates past-tense, but I intend to use the term…
Scott
  • 319
31
votes
7 answers

Is "yesterday" a noun, an adjective or an adverb?

Are words like "yesterday" and "tomorrow" considered nouns, adjectives, or even adverbs? I'm getting mixed signals from several references. In a case like "I have an important meeting tomorrow," it seems as if they're nouns. But what about…
Maxpm
  • 1,965
  • 7
  • 24
  • 38
31
votes
8 answers

Are "disgraceful" and "ungraceful" two different kinds of negations?

"Disgraceful" and "ungraceful" are both derived from negations of "graceful". Wiktionary describes disgraceful as bringing or warranting disgrace; shameful. giving offense to moral sensibilities and injurious to reputation and ungraceful as Not…
Golden Cuy
  • 18,154
31
votes
6 answers

A word that says a person is both female and your friend

It's often confusing for me to talk about my friends, especially my female friends. This is because in Dutch there are words for both male ("vriend") and female ("vriendin") friends. In English however, there's as far as I know only the word friend,…
Simon Verbeke
  • 677
31
votes
8 answers

Is it poor form to start too many sentences with I?

I often find myself writing a lot of comments to blog posts and responses on forums, and have noticed a tendency to start a lot of sentences with 'I'. 'I think...', 'I had no idea', 'I used to...' etc. Is there a general style guideline about…
Joost Schuur
  • 2,522
1 2 3
…
99 100