Warsaw Will
Joined: December 3, 2010
Number of comments posted: 532
Number of votes received: 173
I'm a TEFL teacher working in Poland. I have a blog - Random Idea English - where I do some grammar stuff for advanced students and have the occasional rant against pedantry.
Questions Submitted
You’ve got another think/thing coming
If you’re over a certain age, you will probably be familiar ...
When “one of” many things is itself plural
There are all sorts of things I believed in then which I don...
Recent Comments
on: optimiSe or optimiZe ?
@WW - prioritise /proritize is of course a newish verb made ...
on: optimiSe or optimiZe ?
The changeover seemed to have happened rather earlier than W...
on: thus, therefore and hence are different
@Alexander - I more or less agree with your definition of 't...
on: You Joking Me?
I burst out laughing (or perhaps I should say I Iolled) when...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
@jayles - OK, we can agree on something, at least. In some c...
on: Pronunciation of indefinite article “a”
@HS - do you mean some people pronounce the first syllable a...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
@HS - Why on earth anyone would want to avoid perfectly good...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
@Hairy Scot - Yes, when we want to be more formal or use mor...
on: Rules for -ise and -ize
Sorry, but this is one of the things I love about English: t...
on: “I’ve got” vs. “I have”
@joelackey92 - to back up Thomas Smith, there is absolutely ...
on: Colon and semicolon in a single sentence
@Intuit Flow - I think your colon is OK, but not the semicol...
on: One of the most...
@Jasper - except few would consider either of your examples ...
on: “my” vs. “mine” in multiple owner possessive
@Hairy Scot - touché...
on: One of the most...
I think this graph says it all really: http://books.google.c...
on: “as long as” vs. “so long as”
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage, th...
on: Plural of name ending in Y
For anyone who thinks anonymous might be right, try googling...
on: “my” vs. “mine” in multiple owner possessive
@semiotek - I agree that what you say is the answer to the o...
on: “as long as” vs. “so long as”
As nearly everyone has already said, when they mean "provid...
on: “my” vs. “mine” in multiple owner possessive
@Sbee - I know it's not what you asked, but the more I think...
on: “my” vs. “mine” in multiple owner possessive
@Dyske - OK, but I think Gregg's child should come first in...
on: “my” vs. “mine” in multiple owner possessive
No. "Mine" is only used on its own, not before a noun: “I...
on: You’ve got another think/thing coming
@Traduttore and Bill S - I'm sure you're right.It's just tha...
on: Preferred forms
Hi again. Oxford Dictionaries put "et" first, so I'm not sur...
on: Preferred forms
A propos of nothing and one for British contributors. I thin...
on: Preferred forms
@Skeeter Lewis - re half-tones - there's a scene in an episo...
on: Preferred forms
Up until the 70s, BBC English more or less meant RP, and so ...
on: Preferred forms
@Skeeter Lewis. I would say you're being a wee bit restricti...
on: Big fish, small pond
A bit late perhaps, but I'm with pain, porsche and Hamlet o...
on: Preferred forms
@Hairy Scot - It is to my deep regret that I don't have a Sc...
on: Preferred forms
How about "oo" in poor. My phonetics trainer (London) insist...
on: Preferred forms
@HS - saying "an 'otel" or "an 'istoric" at least has some s...
on: Preferred forms
It could be argued that Americans who pronounce herb without...
on: Misplaced clauses?
@Thredder - Good point. I think it's because they've added s...
on: Someone else’s
@mike storer - I agree with you, whoever would? I'd simply c...
on: The Best Euphemism for Shithouse?
@Percy I’m glad that that’s all you’re sceptical about, as ...
on: Misplaced clauses?
I don't have any hard-core linguistics books, but a couple o...
on: The Best Euphemism for Shithouse?
@Percy 1. I've conceded at least twice that gardyloo is pro...
on: The Best Euphemism for Shithouse?
@Percy - I was joking about you being Northumbrian. For much...
on: Misplaced clauses?
Something seems to have gone wrong with my organisation of i...
on: Misplaced clauses?
I wouldn't say this is about misplaced clauses in the sense ...
on: The Best Euphemism for Shithouse?
@Percy, with a famous Northumbrian name like yours, I'm surp...
on: Preferred forms
While we're on the subject, can some of you Americans tell u...
on: Preferred forms
Three of these seem to be simply a difference between Britis...
on: Correct preposition following different? Redux
WRT - another one I had to look up! Happy New Year :)...
on: The Best Euphemism for Shithouse?
Hi jayles, you're quite possibly right, according to Etymolo...
on: intend on doing?
And Happy New Year, everyone....
on: intend on doing?
Seconded, or rather, thirded (sic)...
on: intend on doing?
New Fowler's calls it non-standard informal American usage. ...
on: The Best Euphemism for Shithouse?
When I was young, loo was pretty upper-class, but then got u...
on: Correct preposition following different? Redux
@By and large, at this moment of time, once you've drilled d...
on: Correct preposition following different? Redux
@Hairy Scot - Hi. I don't think "different to" falls into yo...
on: hanged vs. hung
@Hairy Scot - I hope you're not boasting! :)...
on: Correct preposition following different? Redux
@Hairy Scot - so you like Stan's graphs, but not his conclus...
on: hanged vs. hung
@Mature Lady -the answer is simple - don't! Why should any o...
on: gifting vs. giving a gift
re: seldomly - it's in at least a couple of dictionaries: h...
on: gifting vs. giving a gift
I think this is mainly an American issue, but if I can just ...
on: Correct preposition following different? Redux
@ Skeeter Lewis - I must say I do enjoy our sword-crossing s...
on: concerning
@Jasper - in its most common use, concerning is indeed a pre...
on: who vs. whom
@RFMacG - As a Scot, I really shouldn't have missed out your...
on: Correct preposition following different? Redux
@Skeeter Lewis - I have no problem with starting sentences w...
on: Correct preposition following different? Redux
Memo to self - I must control this urge to begin every sente...
on: concerning
@Denkof Zwemmen - Any chance of some examples?...
on: Correct preposition following different? Redux
Erratum - that New Fowler's quote should of course have rea...
on: Correct preposition following different? Redux
@Skeeter Lewis - well here's one educated Brit that doesn't...
on: who vs. whom
@RFG - I presume you're playing with the rules with your def...
on: Hey
@Katie - "What's up?" is an interesting one for me,as in Br...
on: who vs. whom
There seems to have been one seem too many there....
on: who vs. whom
@Hairy Scot - I accept that there has been a problem with gr...
on: Pronunciation of indefinite article “a”
A bit more on pronunciation: Edinburgh J - Many, perhaps...
on: Pronunciation of indefinite article “a”
@Hairy Scot - Menzies - I'm of the old school here, and pron...
on: who vs. whom
@Hairy Scot - "It is a source of puzzlement to me that so ma...
on: Pled versus pleaded
@Skeeter Lewis - I totally agree with you as far as England ...
on: who vs. whom
@Hairy Scot - to take your last point first. When have I ev...
on: Resume, resumé, or résumé?
@Twain's Tapeworms. 1. We presumably capitalise CV because ...
on: who vs. whom
Sorry, silly misuse of copy and paste in that last one - I m...
on: who vs. whom
@Robbert Forbes MacGregor - yes, that's the rule that's ofte...
on: “Much More Ready”
@porsche - speaking for myself, because I'm technologically ...
on: “Much More Ready”
@D.A.W I wasn't trying to take the glory away from the US, b...
on: Pronunciation of indefinite article “a”
What about the long 'o' in the first syllable of Kosovo, whi...
on: “Much More Ready”
@D.A.W. - The word aerodrome is not used so much nowadays i...
on: “Much More Ready”
@DAW - as a fan of logic, you will have no doubt noticed a s...
on: “Much More Ready”
"The principal thinks Sally is more competent than any other...
on: Resume, resumé, or résumé?
While American dictionaries mainly list résumé as the main s...
on: who vs. whom
@Jiva - the fact that "whom" is correct in formal language d...
on: Steak - correct pronunciation
I'm not sure you can make a general rule for steak, break et...
on: “I’m just saying”
@Brus - Yes, that is one definition of judgemental, but I th...
on: “I’m just saying”
@Brus - on my keyboard (US) - apostrophe and then the lette...
on: Hey
Interesting stuff Dave, which made me decide to check with E...
on: It is you who are/is ...
@Brus - I know it's perfectly correct, but "It is I who am w...
on: It is you who are/is ...
@Brus - It's a bit late in the day, but I'm with donnahansen...
on: “I’m just saying”
@jf - Don't most of us have times when we are not really su...
on: “It is what it is”
@providencejim - Hi. In the news today: Roberto Mancini s...
on: “It is what it is”
@providencejim - Sorry, I hadn't noticed you'd already place...
on: Pronunciation of indefinite article “a”
@Ingebiorg Nordén - And the interesting thing with your exam...
on: “It is what it is”
@hot diggedy dayum - this sort of comment would be more at h...
on: and so...
@Hal121205 - If you're so concerned about extraneous languag...
on: who vs. whom
Yes, we'd normally use whom after a preposition, but a lot o...
on: He and I, me and him
Hi Jaxagirl - Just to defend the Queen, not that I'm a great...
on: He and I, me and him
@Jaxagirl - Thanks for adding a word to my vocabulary. I tak...
January 15, 2013, 12:58pm • 0 vote
on: Impact as a noun
Well, I'm glad I'm one of the common people and not one of t...