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.

Username

Hamish

Member Since

February 25, 2012

Total number of comments

3

Total number of votes received

2

Bio

Latest Comments

He was sat

  • February 25, 2012, 3:03am

There's no such thing as Standard English, and even so using sat like that is perfectly grammatical.

“Fine” as a complete sentence

  • February 25, 2012, 3:03am

It's an ellipsis, which means it's perfectly cromulent since the rest of the sentence is pragmatically implied.

“Literally” in spoken conversation

  • February 25, 2012, 2:50am

There are no words in the English language that can only be used in writing, and not spoken. Furthermore, suggesting that there's a rule that states that something is incorrect in a language when the meaning is transparent is a prescriptivist attitude, and therefore bad and dumb.