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1500 questions
18
votes
6 answers
How to pronounce "friends"?
So I can pronounce friend just fine. But when you add an s to it how do you transition from the d sound to the s (/z/) sound? Do you just ignore the d altogether?
Vic
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18
votes
4 answers
Why does the spellchecker think this sentence is wrong?
Microsoft Word's spell (and grammar) checker makes the italic part of the following sentence sentence light up in green:
Considering how both of the rotation vector sensors seem to have trouble handling vehicular motion, be it from static magnetic…
Svj0hn
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18
votes
4 answers
Can "either" be used for more than two items?
The Judiciary also uses a special type of monitoring through the General Inspection Office and Bureaucratic Justice Court. Additionally, either of the three powers have internal supervision mechanisms.
"Either" in the above paragraph is used for…
Mehdi Haghgoo
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18
votes
5 answers
"How is this called" vs "What is this called"?
Which of the following is more suitable as a title for a picture with an arrow toward a part of the body's anatomy?
How is this called?
What is this called?
I need this for a picture of a part of the body, that appears without information about…
Virtuous Legend
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18
votes
2 answers
Why is it necessary to add the "of" in "approved of "?
They surely wouldn't have approved my decision.
This sounds like perfect English to me.
But after searching on Google, I realized I was wrong, that I had to write instead:
They surely wouldn't have approved of my decision.
Why?
wyc
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18
votes
3 answers
Exercises for pronouncing 'I'
Speakers of languages such as Italian and Spanish tend to have difficulty pronouncing the 'I' in words such as it and is correctly. For example, they might pronounce "it is" as "eat ease."
Are there any good exercises that can help them pronounce…
ctype.h
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18
votes
3 answers
When is using the past perfect tense not necessary?
Is it more natural to speak in simple past or past perfect when explaining past events to a friend? It seems like Americans use more simple past in everyday life than past perfect. I found this example online:
I had almost completed my essay when…
jess
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18
votes
4 answers
'learning the ropes' should be followed by which prepositions?
I am trying to use the idiom "learn the ropes" in a sentence as below:
I am learning the ropes of my new job.
Somehow, this doesn't "feel" right, and I think it should be:
I am learning the ropes on my new job.
Which usage is correct/better?
An…
Masked Man
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18
votes
2 answers
Past tense: learned/learnt, dreamed/dreamt?
In my very first question, Carlo made an edit stating that learnt is a rare past tense of learn. I am accustomed to using learnt for past tense and learned as an adjective (as in He is a learned scholar.) I checked into a couple of dictionaries and…
Sultan
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18
votes
2 answers
What does "80-odd" mean?
The Underscore JS documentation has a paragraph:
Underscore [library] provides 80-odd functions that support both the usual
functional suspects: map, select, invoke...
What does '80-odd' stand for? From the context it looks like it means…
Dmitriy
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18
votes
4 answers
"I did a few mistakes" vs "I made a few mistakes"
What is the difference between:
"I did a few mistakes."
and,
"I made a few mistakes."
Are they the same or not?
My question is about the collocation: Can I use "made" for the word 'mistake' or not?
Ice Girl
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18
votes
3 answers
Haven't {eaten / ate}?
While chatting with somebody, I first used haven't eaten, then I thought that it was wrong, and switched to haven't ate.
Apparently, haven't ate is the one which is wrong.
Can someone explain the logic behind this? Verb tenses are still something I…
hjpotter92
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18
votes
5 answers
Why is there no plural 's' after "hundred" or "thousand" in cardinal numbers?
Let's say we have the numeral "12,345". Why is it pronounced as "twelve thousand three hundred and forty five" as opposed to "twelve thousands three hundreds and forty five". Are 's's omitted while pronouncing numerals to make the whole thing more…
user132181
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18
votes
2 answers
the joke in muppet sketch: the comedian's a bear
Last week I was reading this post about a famous Muppet's sketch
with Fozzie and Kermit (featuring in episode 110), so I watched it (the video can be easily found on several streaming service, and, even more easily, on the internet).
I must admit…
sigmud
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18
votes
3 answers
What is the thin flat piece of wood that you have when you sharpen your pencil called?
When you sharpen your pencil with a pencil sharpener, you have some thin flat pieces of wood that might be in the shape of a cone.
What is that piece called?
Is it a chip?
Tom
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