is for questions about whether or not a particular phrase or sentence is a usual or common way that fluent English speakers might express something.
Questions tagged [idiomatic-language]
1517 questions
21
votes
4 answers
"What does it sound like" vs "How does it sound like"
I'm currently doing a presentation and I have a slide where I show some speech examples from English speakers who have a certain type of pathological speech. I wrote the title "How does X speech sound like?" rather than "What does X speech sound…
boomkin
- 313
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14
votes
4 answers
banned in vs banned from?
I see a lot of "banned from", but it seems to be rarely used in some context. I am trying to figure out why.
I see a lot of people say "Tiktok was banned in the U.S.", but not "Tiktok was banned from the U.S.", yet I see a lot of people say "banned…
Sayaman
- 13,509
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8
votes
5 answers
Is "Occupation Japan" idiomatic? (instead of occupation of Japan, occupied Japan or Occupation-era Japan)
I encountered (for me) the rare use of this expression in the title of a book: "Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation Japan"
There's an article in Wikipedia with a 'post-' prefacing it, that sounds right: Post-occupation Japan If there's a…
Quora Feans
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6
votes
2 answers
You'd or you had?
Someone has told me that she has stopped smoking. Later I catch her smoke and say:
I thought you'd/you had quit.
Would native speakers say "you'd" or would they say "you had" to not confuse it with "you would"?
egondala
- 71
- 2
6
votes
2 answers
Why "would have + past participle" instead of simple past?
Can you please look at this sentence.
"Andy knew the risks. I cannot believe he would have chanced it."
So, we understand that the person is complaining that although Andy knew about the risks of doing something, he did not care about those…
Yunus
- 7,297
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- 89
5
votes
1 answer
Put things in disorder?
Is it ok to say
Put things in disorder
meaning making a mess of things?
Or does it sound weird?
I'm asking because apparently the phrase 'put things in order' exists and is totally fine.
How about the opposite?
i_yre_b
- 119
- 6
4
votes
1 answer
Are these sentences characteristic of a native speaker?
I found someone online who can help me in English, and I will teach him Persian. He said to me:
Yes, I am a native speaker of (American) English and well educated in reading and writing. I would be happy to help proofread a paper for you.
He must…
Ahmad
- 8,909
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4
votes
2 answers
"leaves margin for interpretation"?
Is this statement unusual or unidiomatic (or straightforward incorrect)?
"His ambiguity leaves margin for interpreting it as a good sign".
Here, to "leave a margin for" should be understood as similar to "leaves room for", "allows a given…
flen
- 569
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4
votes
1 answer
They can take our lives, but they will never take our hats!
"They can take our lives, but they'll never take our hats"
What is the meaning of this? Is this an idiom?
Nana G.
- 115
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3
votes
4 answers
"Besides for that" vs "Other than that"
I know a friend that always says:
Besides for that.
I don't think this is grammatically correct. However, because of the nature of the sentence, I can't find anything which explains either way.
Is:
Besides for that.
Grammatically correct?
or…
Trevor Clarke
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3
votes
3 answers
Is saying "decrease by two-fifths" grammatical?
Suppose there were 100 men in the room, and then 40 left. Is the following sentence natural?
The number of men in the room decreased by two-fifths.
Ken Adams
- 783
- 11
3
votes
2 answers
There was lots of different folks
Folks, I've got a question that has to do with the tendency of English natives to use was instead of were in there-constructions when were should grammatically be used.
So, the question is do people really use was instead of were in this case as…
Леопольд-мэтр
- 215
- 2
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3
votes
3 answers
Has weight 2kg or 2kg weight
I was wondering about variations of the form
"[subject] has/is [property] [units]."
So far, I concluded that these are agreeable as well as:
"[subject] with [property] [units] is..."
"[subject] has a [property] of [units]."
"A [property]-[units]…
Zohar Levi
- 219
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3
votes
6 answers
Is " was detained by Beijing police for suspected rape" natural English?
The 30-year-old Chinese-Canadian pop idol Kris Wu Yifan was detained by Beijing police for suspected rape.
I don't know why the person (a graduate student in translation studies) claims "was detained by Beijing police for suspected rape" is…
Luke
- 115
- 1
- 6
3
votes
3 answers
Blue-white or white and blue?
What is the most natural way to describe the color of an object as a combination of blue and white? For example we prefer "black and white" to "white and black". Does it matter which color is predominant?
Ra.
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