Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Username

AnWulf

Member Since

June 19, 2011

Total number of comments

616

Total number of votes received

580

Bio

Native English speaker. Conversant in German, Russian, Spanish, and Anglo-Saxon.

Ferþu Hal!

I hav a pilot's license (SEL certificate); I'm a certified diver (NAUI); I'v skydived and was qualified as a paratrooper in the Army (Airborne!); I was a soldier (MI, Armor, Engineer).

I workt for a corporation, was a law enforcement officer, and a business owner.

Bachelor's in Finance; minor in Economics
Masters of Aeronautical Sciences

Strong backer of English spelling reform.

Browncoat

Now I'v written my first novel [ http://www.lulu.com/shop/lt-wolf/the-world-king-book-i-the-reckoning/ebook/product-22015788.html ] and I'm working on others.

http://lupussolus.typad.com
http://lupussolusluna.blogspot.com
http://anwulf.blogspot.com

Latest Comments

“Anglish”

  • November 22, 2011, 7:36pm

Here's a word that I just found ... undeadliness (immortality). We all kno about the undead and now we kno about undeadliness!

And for a vision / dream ... sweven (foresight works too I think)

Another word for sound, noise, clamor ... lude.

If you need a word for suggestion/proposal ... foreset.

I'm a mac user and a libertarian ... I think the haters are envious.

The fact is that mac sales have increases and that likely accounts for you see more macs in the coffee shops. I have a friend who is buying a new laptop and has decided to switch to a mac ... He's a retired union worker ... hardly a pretentious guy!

Correct preposition following different?

  • November 21, 2011, 9:58pm

@Hairy Scot ... Notice that I say that English is a Germanic tung ... not German. I wouldn't want to go back to all the nouns and adjectivs having gender and declining. But all that was falling out anyway before the Normans came. Still, I like German even if trying to get the endings right is sometimes mind-boggling. Afrikaans, another Germanic tung, is eath when likened to German! lol

Anent the endings for Germanic and Latinate, to be sooth, I was a little surprised by the -ate afterfast when I first saw it too ... I can only guess ... first off, germinate is a verb that would be very close to Germanate, but germinate is likely a back-formation from germination ... so Germanic was likely umbe before that. The -ate does let us brook the adjectiv as a noun ... Latinate. Whereas Germanic doesn't let us do so. ... It's way past my bedtime ... I'm rambling ... I might giv it some thought later.

But consider:
Latin > Latinate words
German > Germanic words
Slav > Slavic words
Scandinavia > Scandinavian words (tho the word Scandinavia is treated more like a country than a tung-kindred)
Semite > Semitic

Latin seems to be outlier here.

Hi all vs. Hi everybody

  • November 21, 2011, 9:27pm

The other variant in the South is, "Hey y'all!" ... The answer is, "Hey!"

"Hey y'all. What's goin' on?" ... "Hey. Nuthin'."

“Anglish”

  • November 21, 2011, 9:16pm

@Jayles ... At first I thought that yu had misspelled co-locate but then I acknew (realized) that it was a different word, albeit that means the same thing. Ængelfolc is right that place is a Greek-rooted word that came into the tung fore-1066. But it wisly* (certainly) is an eath one to bestead (replace). For the verb to place - to put or to set.

So collocations are words that are put/set together. Maybe the noun itself would be togetherness, togethership, or togetherwise.

My other new word for tonight is seldseen (rare) ... it's in the wordbooks (except for the OED!). Collocation is a seldseen word!

*wis, iwis, ywis from OE gewis, gewiss meaning sure(ly), certain(ly), really, truly ... as verb: To imagine, ween; deem, know, think, suppose (I rather like the old spelling of gewiss.)

Correct preposition following different?

  • November 21, 2011, 6:53am

Better different than boring! lol

I don't get wrapped umbe (around) the axle about this. But some folks think that the English tung is falling to pieces if someone says different than rather than different from. Meh!

As I often harp on, different is a Latinate that's being brooked with an Anglo preposition. My French is not so good but I think in French it would be "différente de" ... "de" can be "of, to, from, by, with, than, at, out of, off". So there yu go! It shouldn't be amazing that folks hav brooked sundry prepositions with it from the beginning.

So for me ... from, than ... meh ... OTOH, "to" stevens (sounds) funny but not something that I'd go out of my way to right ... unless it was a formal paper.

My rede for outlanders and even erd-speakers: Tests like TOEFL, SAT, ACT, asf are written by pedants. Therefore, if the choice is different from/than ... pick from if it is a straightforward likening ... with a clause, a little trickier ... never choose "to".

Anent, the novel, it would go faster if I'd stay off the net! :)

“Anglish”

  • November 21, 2011, 5:48am

Yes, knowing which words are Latinates can sometimes be hard. French sometimes does a good job of hiding the roots, huru if it came into French when they were still more Frank than French. Task is one of those. It shares the same root as tax and is thought to be a corruption of the word tax. Ger. tasche "pocket" is from the same V.L. source (via O.H.G. tasca). Maybe Ængelfolc can pull a Germanic upspringing out his books.

revered ... highly thought of? Maybe that isn't strong enuff ...

Link, itself, is good to go. I brook it ... and bind ... for join, connect ... my link/binding (connection) to the net.

For calibrate ... set? ... tweak.

Anent because, I can often get umbe (around) it with since, for, owing to ... I was looking for that one word to bestead it.

I could let hav my worksheet that I keep. However, I don't think I would teach some of the old words to outlanders. Too many erd-English speakers don't kno them!

Sadly too, many don't know the forefasts well and befuddle words like forgo and forego. :shrug:

Correct preposition following different?

  • November 20, 2011, 6:18pm

From the OED:

usage: Different from, different than, and different to: what are the distinctions between these three constructions, and is one more correct than the others? In practice, different from is both the most common structure and the most accepted.

Different than is used chiefly in North America, although its use is increasing in British English. Because it can be followed by a clause, it is sometimes more concise than different from (compare "things are different than they were a year ago" with "things are different from the way they were a year ago").

Different to, although common in Britain, is disliked by traditionalists and sounds peculiar to American ears.

Had he breakfast this morning?

  • November 20, 2011, 6:04pm

I would add that the question, "Had he breakfast this morning?" is in an anachronistic format. I don't think that it is wrong ... just very old-fashioned and not used in today's style. I would never teach it.

If you're taking a test or trying to explain it, follow Warsaw Will's rede along with Jen's followup.

If you're writing a story set back in the Middle Ages or Renaissance Period, go ahead and use it.

“Anglish”

  • November 20, 2011, 5:49pm

Another on that has been bothering me but I think I'm near to an answer is "because". Cause is a Latinate.

OE had forðæm, forðâm, forðan, forðon I. conj. for (the reason) that, owing to (the fact) that, for, because, on that account, therefore, seeing that. for ðæm ðe, etc. with same signification. II. adv. for that cause, consequently, therefore.

Also forthen, forthe in ME

forthan, forthen, forthe ... but I want to say forthat ... like omdat, doordat (Du), fordi (Dan). Thoughts?


I kno that I can brook "owing to" here but that's not the ord (point).

Questions

What can I do besides... October 8, 2011