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1500 questions
40
votes
1 answer
What would natives take for "Today is so yesterday"?
I saw this sentence "Today is so yesterday" on a T-shirt one of my American friends wore.
My first impression is that the sentence means what's happening today is just repeating what's happening in the past. But I feel there might be some other…
dan
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40
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2 answers
Why is "aircrafts" bad English, while "crafts" is okay?
I am puzzled by this. Why is "aircrafts" invalid, while "crafts" can be used legitimately? I've also heard that "crafts" cannot be used because the plural of "craft" is always "craft". Which is right?
Kim YuJin
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40
votes
5 answers
Allow (to) + infinitive, substantive, verb+ -ing
In which way can the verb 'allow' be used? There is always some confusion and apparently it's often intuitively used wrongly. Which form corresponds to correct English, eventually depending on context (see below)?
1: allow + to + infinitive: It…
user2758804
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39
votes
15 answers
What do you call this way of stacking rectangular objects on each other?
Sometimes we stack rectangular object like books, paper slips, bricks, video cassettes, etc in a way that one is put in a landscape orientation and the other in a portrait orientation.
What is called this way of stacking?
I want to fill in the…
Soudabeh
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39
votes
8 answers
Can I say "Call it a project" similar to "Call it a day"
I know we can say, "Call it a day" at the end of a day. Can I say, "Call it a project" meaning successful completed project?
OOzy Pal
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39
votes
4 answers
When is it acceptable to omit the subject "I"?
Have noticed that English speakers omit "I" when they are emailing or chatting:
How are you doing?
Am fine.
Also, this occurs often in daily/weekly reports. Have seen quite a few of them, written by nationals of all English-speaking…
Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
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39
votes
7 answers
Why is 'The Chinese have invented the printer' wrong?
In the textbook by by Raymond Murphy, Intermediate English Grammar, 2nd edition, on page 26:
"The Chinese invented printing."
Raymond Murphy says that we can't use the present perfect here. I question why?
According to Murphy:
"We can't use…
Dinusha
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39
votes
4 answers
What does 'the very next day' mean?
In the song, Last Christmas, I heard the phrase "But the very next day." I'm not sure what it was supposed to mean, but from context I guess it's the day after Christmas
Is it grammatically correct to say "very next"? Something is next or is not…
FolksLord
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39
votes
5 answers
How can one differentiate between "who" and "whom"?
Many times, I've been asked the difference between "who" and "whom". I myself know the difference, but it is hard to explain to others. What is the easiest way to explain it to those with a basic understanding of English? A mnemonic (if possible)…
Manishearth
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39
votes
2 answers
Why are "south" and "southern" pronounced with different vowels?
I was wondering why we pronounce the vowels in the words south and southern. They seem to be very closely related to each other. Both refer to the same direction. South is a noun and Southern is an adjective, which I don't think caused them to have…
user124733
39
votes
3 answers
“file doesn’t exist” or “file doesn’t exists”
You’ve requested the example.txt file. That file doesn’t exist/exists.
Which one should I use? Why?
user557108
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39
votes
3 answers
Why did my "seldom" get corrected?
In an answer in the Spanish site about the use of timbre in European Spanish I tried to say that there is a specific meaning of the word that I know but very infrequently get to use, so I wrote this:
I also know and seldom use the meaning of the…
Charlie
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39
votes
6 answers
Can I say: "When was your train leaving?" if the train leaves in the future?
The context of this sentence is that I know that I had asked before what the departure time is of the train that my friend was going to take. Unfortunately I had forgotten it, so my brain decided that a past tense would make sense and ask:
"When…
Bob
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39
votes
6 answers
What's a polite way of asking "who are you?" on the phone?
Say, you're working in a company. The phone rings and you pick it up. On the other line, someone wants to speak to one of your co-workers. You want to tell your co-worker who this person is.
I think asking "May I know who you are?" is a bit rude?…
alex
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39
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5 answers
Are the terms "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" limited to some age in the spoken language?
Are the terms "girlfriend" or "boyfriend" limited to some age in the spoken English?
I'm asking it because the word "girlfriend" is a closed compound noun which literally (in the narrow meaning of these two components of this closed compound word)…
Virtuous Legend
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