Submitted by sam2 • December 24, 2010
If you lie to someone, have you necessarily misled them?
11 comments
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Posted in Opinion / Criticism
Submitted by Dyske • November 15, 2010
On the Web, the majority seems to think we need a question mark in the following context:
Q: “What is the meaning of life?”
A: “Who knows?”
I disagree. I consider “who knows” as a phrase or an expression, not a question; not even a rhetorical question. Adding a question mark sort of ruins the response especially in writing because it sets up an expectation (or subtle tension) of further response. A period, I feel, is the right choice because it’s a complete answer. In speech, we would not pronunce “Who knows” as if we are really asking a question; that is, our tone is missing the question mark. What do you think?
30 comments
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Posted in Punctuation and Mechanics
Submitted by spencer • October 18, 2010
How popular is the word stymie? Is it possible that it derives from the word stifle?
3 comments
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Posted in Etymology / History
Submitted by justinforce • October 14, 2010
We’re arguing in the office. Help us get this straight once and for all.
You could boil the question down to this: how would you write this title?
“email Is Destroying Our Children”
email or e-mail?
Do you capitalize the E if it’s at the beginning of a sentence or part of a title?
Do you capitalize the M if it’s at the beginning of a sentence or part of a title? If so, do you only do this when it’s hyphenated?
14 comments
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Posted in Punctuation and Mechanics
Submitted by sigurd • October 14, 2010
Shouldn’t “who are you?” be “whom are you?” and “who is this?” be “whom is this?”
28 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by therambler • October 8, 2010
Any regular rule applicable for those words “make” and “do” while using with some nouns?
- make war
- do the homework
- make a new plan
- doing my own business
Any rule ladies and gentlemen, or just memorize every case one by one?
4 comments
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Posted in Usage
Submitted by ian2 • October 7, 2010
Why is it that we name some single objects as if they were plural? I’m thinking of for example a pair of jeans - you can’t buy one jean can you? But a sweater, which has the same construction - one body and two extensions for limbs - is not a pair of sweaters. A pair of scissors makes a little more sense, and I believe that tailors call them ‘a scissor’ anyway. The example of bicycle forks is also interesting - in the U.S. a bicycle has a fork to hold the front wheel, whereas in the U.K. we hold on to our front wheels via ‘forks’ or a pair of forks.
29 comments
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Posted in Opinion / Criticism
Submitted by lys • October 3, 2010
A simple way of distinguishing and using these words accurately:
1. ‘Thus’ means ‘in this/that way’ - it relates to ‘HOW’ - the manner in which - this or that happens or comes about. It has a practical flavour.
eg.Traditionally, you arrange things thus = Traditionally, this is how you arrange things
2 .’Therefore’ means ‘for this reason’, or ‘because of this or that’ - it relates to deductive reasoning, it tells WHY this or that is so, or happened.
eg. He was late and therefore missed the bus = he was late and for this reason missed the bus
3. ‘Hence’ means ‘from this/that’ - it relates to WHERE - position, or point in time; it tells from where or what, or to where or what, something comes, derives, or goes
eg.
-i. Get thee hence! = Get yourself away from here!
-ii. Henceforth all entrances will be guarded = From now on all entrances will be guarded
-iii. She got the job - hence her good spirits = She got the job and her good spirits derive from that fact. (Note the different slant to ‘therefore’, which would also fit, but would say ” her good spirits are due to (’because of’; ‘for that reason’) that”.
11 comments
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Posted in Usage
Submitted by helen • September 22, 2010
My co workers and I are in disagreement over how a phrase should be worded using proper English in the legal documents we type into our computer system.
If one were to say (using proper English) that John Smith used to own a piece of property would one say:
“The current tenant states that John Smith IS the previous owner of 2400 Green Cir.”
OR would one say:
“The current tenant states that John Smith WAS the previous owner of 2400 Green Cir.”
Which way is correct? And WHY (please explain why the correct way is correct--what rules apply, etc.).
6 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by james3 • September 17, 2010
Can every letter in the English language be used in a silent way? Like the b in numb?
But at least one example for all 26 letters. Kind of a nerdy question but has anyone succeeded? I have tried and failed... Don’t ask why!
72 comments
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Posted in Misc
Submitted by meghan • September 2, 2010
What do you think about using obscure and out-of-use words, such as “ebulliate”? You won’t find it on dictionary.com or even if you google it, but it is in the OED and appears to be a verb-form of “ebullient,” which, of course, is a commonly used word today. My vote was to use it because, hey, it is a word, why confine myself to commonly used words, if we don’t keep up or revive the more obscure words then we’ll lose them forever, and worse, we’ll be overrun by new words being invented not in a smart Joycean fashion but rather inspired by the world of texting and internet chatting fashion. This thought works for phrases like “might could,” too, which I used even though some of your commenters had negative things to say about it.
But my question really is whether it is ok to use obscure words when it’s likely no one knows it/them and unless the reader has access to the OED, which most people don’t, and won’t be able to define it/them, but can probably figure out the meaning from the context of the sentence.
5 comments
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Posted in Usage
Submitted by fred2 • August 30, 2010
In English, there are comparisons and superlatives for some colours. Take for example: black, blacker, blackest; blue, bluer, bluest.
How about other colours like silver and gold/golden?
6 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by egon • August 12, 2010
Is it technically incorrect to use “maybe” in an interrogative sentence? Or to make an indefinite statement (with “maybe” or “perhaps” in it) interrogative?
‘Maybe we just need to add some more salt?’ -- Is it incorrect to use a question mark here? Technically, I guess, it’s a statement, so it shouldn’t take a question mark, but in natural speech it can come across as a question (you’re *asking* if we should use more salt) and a question mark at the end can reflect this. But maybe that’s just plain wrong? (↠Like this.)
Actually, that’s not a great example... What I really want to know is whether or not it is always incorrect to use “maybe/perhaps” interrogatively in formal written English.
Any thoughts?
5 comments
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Posted in Usage
Submitted by shaunc • August 9, 2010
Americans typically make fun of Canadians, claiming that “out and about” is pronounced as “oot and aboot” (personally I can’t hear it). So if that is the case, what do Americans hear when Canadians actually say “oot and aboot”? What does Canadian “boot” sound like to an American?
37 comments
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Posted in Misc
Submitted by melania • August 5, 2010
What is the difference between writing “Find anything again” and “Find everything again”? My feeling is that “everything” has a more positive connotation.
13 comments
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Posted in Usage
Submitted by donnahansen • July 24, 2010
I was talking with someone via Facebook. I thought she was wrong, and she wrote back to me: “No, Donna, it is you who are wrong”. Had she left out the word “who” then I believe “are” would be correct, but since she included the word “who” then it changes to singular “you” which would require the word “is”. I believe it shoud read “No, Donna, it is you who is wrong”. Please help me on this grammatical issue.
28 comments
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Posted in Grammar
Submitted by alant • July 22, 2010
I know that the proper order for a nominative series of nouns including the speaker is “John and I,” but what about for the objective? “Mrs. Smith taught me and John,” or, “Mrs. Smith taught John and me”? The same goes for prepositions, “Mrs. Smith taught chemistry to me and John,” vs. “Mrs. Smith taught chemistry to John and me.”
Also, does whether one uses the objective pronoun or the reflexive pronoun affect the order? “I taught John and myself,” vs, “I taught myself and John.”
13 comments
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Posted in Style
Submitted by demisty • July 21, 2010
I think when used as an adverb or adjective, the word should be really, as in “She is really happy.” Real is equivalent to true, or genuine, or actual whereas really is equivalent to the word very.
Is it correct to use real as an adverb or adjective in this way?
12 comments
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Posted in Usage
Submitted by barnes • July 20, 2010
How do I correctly write YES as a plural. Example: # of Yes’s.
13 comments
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Posted in Punctuation and Mechanics
Submitted by mike3 • July 20, 2010
Watching the World Cup recently has prompted me to ask: Why do the announcers refer to teams as if they are plural? For instance, “England are on the attack.” I think it should be “England is on the attack,” as we are referring to the English team which is a single unit and therefore singular?
20 comments
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Posted in Grammar
