What is the difference between:
“It has a value.” and “It has value.”
10 comments • Posted in Expression
The newspaper headlines read:
“Dell Dude Arrested with Pot ON the Lower East Side”
“The Lower East Side” is a name of the neighborhood. You would not say he was arrested ON Chelsea. Why would you use “ON”?
13 comments • Posted in Expression
“I argued that McDonald’s is good for you.”
Should it be:
“I argued that McDonald’s was good for you.”
Do I need to match the tense between “argued” and “Is” or “was”?
11 comments • Posted in Expression
It seems odd that you say, “take sides”. Wouldn’t it make more sense to say “take a side”? Why plural?
7 comments • Posted in Expression
60′s, 70′s, 80′s, 90′s, and now what? 00′s? What do you call the current decade?
24 comments • Posted in Expression
What is the difference? How would you use them differently?
9 comments • Posted in Expression
What does “and of” add to this phrase? That is, what is the difference between:
“I agree. Islam isn’t evil in and of itself.” and “I agree. Islam isn’t evil in itself.”
12 comments • Posted in Expression
If over-the-counter drugs mean drugs that you can buy off the shelf, then why is it called over the counter? Prescription drugs are the ones that you purchase over the counter literally. It should be “off-the-shelf” not over-the-counter. Don’t you think?
5 comments • Posted in Expression
If you say “five of ten” in the context of time, you mean 5 minutes to 10 o’clock. But, why is this? “of” is a possessive preposition, so one would think that “five of ten” would be 5 minutes that belong to 10 o’clock. That is: 5 after 10.
4 comments • Posted in Expression
I would think that “went to the extreme” would be more natural. Why plural?
4 comments • Posted in Expression
How did this word come to mean “a usually inferior work of art or literature produced chiefly for monetary return”?
3 comments • Posted in Expression
I hear this expression every now and then, and I understand it as “screwed”, but it seems odd to say “the best”. Why not “all of him”? What does “the best” imply?
3 comments • Posted in Expression
