English Language Learners Stack Exchange
English Language Learners Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
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6 answers

A pro and a con at the same time

Is there a word for anything that is a con and a pro at the same time. I mean it is both good and bad, has both a minus and a plus, is an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time. A second entrance door is a ____ Two heads is a ____ A fifth…
SovereignSun
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Why is New York often said with the word "City" in English?

Usually, while watching some videos/movies or reading books in English, I tend to see that people always adding the word "City" to New York(New York City). What's behind this stuff in English? I can only guess that it's used just to distinguish…
dvelopp
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12 answers

What is the opposite of 'picky'?

What adjective would be used to describe an attitude where one is not too demanding about something (like the food they eat, the clothes they wear, etc.). I'm looking for a word that sounds fairly informal or colloquial.
user18894
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10 answers

Can any time on clock be spoken as it is in numbers only (hour + minutes)?

According to the Cambridge dictionary, the answer for “What time is it?” depends on the minutes. When the times outside five-minute intervals, we say minutes past or minutes to: 9.01 one minute past nine 9.03 three minutes past nine 9.36…
Virtuous Legend
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9 answers

The antonym of "diss"

I learn that 'diss' is a shortened version of "disrespect" Urban Dictionary: diss For example, try to diss me, man. What's the opposite of it? I searched 'spect' as shorthand for 'respect'. Nevertheless, it does not feel as strong and smart as…
Wizard
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10 answers

What is the filling of the stapler called in English? (picture attached)

What is the filling of the stapler called in English? (you can see it in red circle in the attached picture). I looked for this word in my native dictionary but I didn't find this word.
Virtuous Legend
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2 answers

Unusual meaning of "wet"

In the movie "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" Jake was saved by the peculiar children while he was into a pub. An invisible child made pots and glasses fly all around and another start a fire on the pub's door. At about 36 minutes of…
genespos
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What do we call English with dots and dashes?

In our native languages, pronunciations of the words are different if we write it in normal English. For that reason, we have a different set of alphabet. Such writing helps us speak correct pronunciation. This specially happens in writing language…
Maulik V
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Why should "are" be used here instead of "is"?

The sentence given in our book is as follows, More important than winning is developing the ability to work with others and developing leadership skills We are supposed to find where the mistake is in the sentence... 4 options are given ( which I…
Hassan Ashas
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What defines a native English Speaker?

I think this particular phrase creates a lot of concern in English learners. From general conversation to posts here, we see native speaker a common usage when talking about a person who speaks English by birth. So according to this definition,…
Mistu4u
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Is there any difference between "temporary" and "provisional"?

The English dictionary shows that either temporary or provisional indicates the short time. Therefore, I get confused about which is more proper in the following sentence: Any physical theory is always temporary/provisional, in the sense that it is…
Shudong
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Is there a word for losing something in order to gain some other thing?

For example I want increase the speed of a memory system in a computer but this will cost more money or decreasing the capacity will also gain more speed. So I have to lose capacity and money in order to gain speed. More general example, when losing…
Adam
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7 answers

When to say "I need money" as opposed to "I need the money"?

I learned that if we are referring to money in general, then we don't use "the". So: "I need money" = I need money in general (any money). But when watching a movie, I heard people say "I need the money". Here is the plot - a girl is currently out…
Tom
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Why there are two 'were's in one sentence?

But, as time went on, it became increasingly obvious that many of the programs were not available, and the ones that were were written in a particularly obscure form of BASIC. (Probability Theory: The Logic of Science by E. T. Jaynes) What is the…
showkey
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Specific word to describe someone who is so good that isn't even considered in say a classification

When someone says "He's the best", or "he is definitely first". But there is someone else who is better and when some other subject considers him/her and asks "what about -name-?", is replied with something like "Yeah dude he/she is a god, it…
TrisT
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