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1500 questions
31
votes
7 answers
What's the word meaning “normal-temperature” water?
When I intend to buy a non-cold bottled water in a grocery, the seller often gives me a chilled one. I have to express myself again by saying something like "I need a non-cold normal temperature one", then they'll get it.
This is really a heavy…
canoe
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31
votes
6 answers
Why is "letter" not plural in "two letter words"?
Why is "letter" not plural in "two letter words"?
For me it's very strange as the equivalent in French would be plural but my English friend finds it totally normal.
Gudradain
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31
votes
3 answers
"Rollbacked" or "rolled back" the edit? And what about "double-click"?
The noun (and verb) rollback on Stack Exchange means to undo or reverse an edit. I'm not sure if there is a difference between the two, but that's how I understand it.
Recently, I posted the past participle rollbacked, in a comment, and after a…
Mari-Lou A
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30
votes
2 answers
dogs, not cats -> why 'not'?
When I want to clarify something and I say for example "Dogs, not cats.", I automatically want to write/say 'not' even though 'cats' is a noun, and for nouns one uses 'no'. But I'm quite sure this isn't the case here and it would sound really wrong.…
Dex
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30
votes
10 answers
What's wrong with "Most people in the country would like to own their house some day."?
The following is a problem from my textbook.
The following sentence has an error. Find it and correct it.
(1)[Most people] in the country (2)[would like] to own (3)[their house] (4)[some day].
It seems to me that there is no error in the sentence.…
Aki
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30
votes
9 answers
Does the English language have a grammatical gender?
If we are talking about animate objects, like people and animals, defining a gender is easy in most cases.
But for inanimate objects, like a chair, a tree, the sky and so on, gender can be a built-in language feature or can be absent from a…
Denis Kulagin
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30
votes
4 answers
Does "red apples and bottles" mean "the apples are red and the bottles are red" or "only apples are red"?
What does "Red apples and bottles" mean?
The apples are red and the bottles are red too. The apples are red but the color of the bottles is unknown.
Which one is right ?
Tim
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30
votes
6 answers
Is there a polite, formal way to say "sh!t happens"?
I am trying to write an essay and the only phrase I can think of is "shit happens". I'm wondering; is there any formal way to say shit happens?
Jasmine Cornwell
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30
votes
2 answers
I am cumming or I am coming
Hi I know this is vulgar language but since it is a part of English I want to learn in right way. I want to ask a question about cum and come and this is really serious question made me confused.
I read people say "I am coming" in sexual meaning.…
user16268
30
votes
16 answers
Sarcastic Idioms for being slow to notice something
The scenario:
The power was out but it came back up. However, a friend or family member noticed that late and said:
Oh, the power is back up!
You noticed that long before they did (sometimes because it is obvious). You want to comment on/about…
learner
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30
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7 answers
What do they mean with "Hi, how are you doing"?
When I was in New York the workers at the counter (in a shop) always said
Hi, how are you doing?
I was, and still am very confused if they just mean "hello", or actually want to know how I feel.
Could someone please tell me if this is just an…
Robin
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30
votes
3 answers
Why are 'beef' and 'pork' and 'mutton' used to refer to the meat of cows and pigs and sheep?
Why are 'beef' and 'pork' and 'mutton' used to refer to the meat of cows and pigs and sheep? Other animals keep the same name. Is it just some weird preference in the English language?
Mihai
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30
votes
1 answer
What's the name of this walking style used by Luna Lovegood?
There is a character called "Luna Lovegood" in Harry Potter series
This is how she walks:
What's the name of this walking style used by this character?
Rhea K
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30
votes
6 answers
Why is it correct to say "We should go see a movie," but not "We should have gone see a movie"?
Two sentences:
We should go see a movie. (1)
*We should have gone see a movie. (2)
The first is correct, the second is incorrect. Why can we omit the word 'to' in the first but not the second?
A simpler example is this: You can say "We go see…
Benjamin Grange
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30
votes
6 answers
Why do we pluralize "congratulations" when we say it?
I just thought about this today. Normally when something good happened to some friend we would say "congratulations" to them but we make it plural, instead of "congratulation". I wonder what is the underlying (grammatical) reason for doing this?
And…
Joji
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