Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Proofreading Services Retired

We’ve officially closed our proofreading services. You can probably guess why. With AI tools like ChatGPT now doing the job for free (and instantly), the demand for human proofreaders has all but vanished. If you still prefer a human touch, you're part of a rare—and shrinking—breed. We're now back to our roots: a forum for nitpicking the finer points of the English language. Thanks for your past support. We appreciate it.

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Latest Posts : Expression

When do you use “mother fucker” and when do you use “mother fucking”? Does the later indicate a kind of dialect?

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The T which meets the word YOU is usually pronounced somewhat like CH, right? Such as “got ya!” or “what you...”. Just wonder how one can write the sound. Is there an agreeable way to write it? As we almost agree to write “gotta” for “have got to”?

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The meaning of “No Woman No Cry” is now controversial in Japan. “No Woman No Cry” is a title of a song written by Bob Marley, a famous Jamaican Reggae artist. I’ve thought that the meaning is “There is no woman who does not cry”. However, someone says the meaning is “Women! Do not cry !”. I’d like to know the explanation by English native speakers. Thank you.

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Does anyone know what happened to the poor P of the psychology? Why is it silent? Why is it written? Does anybody also know why the K in know, knife, knee etc. is mute? I guess it has nothing to do with Kafka! Does it?

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Where do we put question mark, dot, exclamation mark etc. when a sentence ends with a quotation mark? Before or after the closing quotation mark? (”...where?” or “...where”?) or where?!

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Folk! Do YOU pronounce the L in the word, FOLK? I know that dictionaries say “NO, we don’t”. But I think that I often hear an L there. Eh?

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What does EXACTLY the prefix “para” mean? I have difficulty translating “para-theatre”.

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This question is about the correctness of “me, too” as it relates to formal speech or its likelihood of being torn apart by a grammar fanatic.

Examples:

a: “I want to go to the store.” b: “Me too.”

a: “I have ten fingers.” b: “Me too.”

Is “me, too” gramatiically correct, or should it be something like, “I, too,” “I, also,” or “I do as well?”

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You guys have seen Oliver Stone’s JFK? What do “ta-ta” and “ho-ho” mean in this phrase? “You got the right ta-ta, but the wrong ho-ho”. It’s from the court sequence. I do understand what it means it the sense it is used in the film, just wonder what these two words are coming from.

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Do you pronounce “oral” and “aural” differently? How then?

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