Discussion Forum
This is a forum to discuss the gray areas of the English language for which you would not find answers easily in dictionaries or other reference books.
Do You Have a Question?
Latest Posts
Could somebody please explain the problem with “as such”? I understand the frustration with its incorrect usage as a synonym for “therefore” or “thus”, but the response thereagainst wants to banish its usage entirely. I am confident that I am using it correctly, but I am constantly being directed to remove it from my papers nevertheless. Could you explain its proper usage?
“We have to go to the store yet.”
I would just remove the “yet” all together; however, I keep hearing someone use the word yet in this fashion and I am wondering if they are grammatically correct.
When making a list of the very same name of something, is it proper english to use one quotation mark in place of the same name or word after writing it a couple of times down the list? I can’t seem to find anything on it.
Is it alright to omit the word “I” in some cases. If I have already been writing about myself and I slip in a sentence that says for example, “Will be in town next week.” Is this acceptable or should I write “I” at the beginning of each sentence?
I want to play a Star Wars video review as listening practice for an EFL student. However, it contains a strange construction that I can’t figure out how to explain: “Now, the question most likely on your mind, be you Jedi or be you Sith, is...”
I know that it would be easy enough to say, “It means ‘whether you are Jedi or Sith,’” but I wonder if there’s a better explanation.
Just how screwed has our language become?
Why do we hear phrases like:
“If he gets in contact with you”
when there are simpler and more meaningful phrases like:
“If he gets in touch with you”
or
“If he contacts you”.
Why do people have this predilection with “get” or “got”?
Which ending punctuation sequence is correct for a question dialogue sentence containing a quotation within it?
a. ”Does the menu say, ‘no substitutions?’” asked Jo.
or
b. ”Does the menu say, ‘no substitutions’?” asked Jo.
Am I alone in despairing when I hear phrases like:
- “We played brilliant.”
- “He did it wrong.” (or more commonly “He done it wrong.”)
- “He behaved stupid.”
My friend is sending an invitation, and she is using the date of:
January, 16th 2016
Is this technically correct, or at a minimum not considered barbaric? Where should the comma be?
In a sentence, there is the name of a company followed by an abbreviation, the initials of the company, in parentheses. The company name is a possessive in this sentence. Where does the apostrophe go? I want to know how this would work, as I am having trouble finding anything but advice to restructure the sentence, and I would like an answer that gives me what to do with the sentence as it stands.
Example: This policy sets a standard for determining access to Introspective Illusions (II) resources.
Would it be Introspective Illusions’ (II’s) or Introspective Illusions’ (II) or some other construction?
