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1500 questions
16
votes
6 answers
American equivalent of British "takeaway"
What's the American English equivalent to the British "takeaway" when referring to prepared meals that are intended to be eaten elsewhere?
Trey
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4 answers
"to be jealous" Vs. "to envy" - what is the difference?
What is the difference between "to be jealous" and "to envy"?
I always used both interchangeably but I was told that actually there is a difference between these two.
I opened the dictionary ("jealous" and "envy") and checked the definitions which…
Virtuous Legend
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16
votes
5 answers
Is "Bunch of people" a valid phrase?
Some time ago I was told that use of the expression bunch of people is incorrect. Apparently, bunch should not be used along with people meaning group of people.
But the problem is that I can hear that expression from lots of people, especially…
Tom
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16
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8 answers
What is the difference between "being" and "having been" in this context?
Being a teacher, she likes children.
AND
Having been a teacher, she likes children.
What is the difference between these two?
nima
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16
votes
5 answers
Is it grammatical to say "according to the law" instead of "according the law"?
Is it grammatical to say "according to the law" instead of "according the law"?
If so, is there any difference in meaning?
Anixx
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16
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8 answers
How is "pwned" pronounced, and what does it mean?
Following the new Troy Hunt web site, http://haveibeenpwned.com/, I'm curious to know exactly what it means and how to pronounce it. Since it seems there are many jokes about it, I don't want to make a mistake with my English colleagues.
Troy gives…
Cybermaxs - Betclic
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16
votes
3 answers
What does it mean to "dine off" something?
In my English book, I've got an article about traveling, and one sentence in particular caught my eye:
I've always put these incidents down to experience, and dined off some
of them for years.
What does dined off mean in this context (because…
Lesmian
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16
votes
4 answers
Is it 'thumb is up' in 'thumbs up'?
It was a thumbs up on the new filtration plant at Thursday's village board meeting
This is so common but then I never thought too deep unless I became a fan of English language after joining this site!
Is thumbs up actually (your) thumb is up?…
Maulik V
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16
votes
3 answers
Are words ending in -ly adverbs?
Adverbs often end in -ly. But the word friendly is not an adverb, is it? A friendly advice is incorrect, but a friendly person is correct. Is the word friendly very unusual or are there many non-adverbs ending in -ly?
gerrit
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16
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3 answers
Slang from Fresh Prince from Bel-Air S01E03: Vacuumed, Cheese Dog, Harley, Fly for Me
Hilary was talking about the girl (Mimi, whose father is a doctor and only let his girl date young man w/ promising career, especially doctor) whom will had a crush on.
Hilary: She's been vacuumed more times than a hooked rug.
Will: She looks…
Letherette Jmsn
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16
votes
7 answers
A controversial GRE verbal reasoning question
Source (One of many)
To say the actors were (i)______ their director is an understatement: a director who is visibly bored by his cast and their performances is hard to (ii)______.
The choices for (i) are:
A. disappointed in
B. accepting of
C.…
No One
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16
votes
4 answers
Is the particle 'up' redundant in phrases like 'to pick *up* berries'?
Is the particle up redundant in phrases like this one?
to pick up berries (flowers, fruit)
Or is it acceptable and doesn't change the meaning 'to gather' (update: I mean, to gather in the woods, in the garden)?
Yulia
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16
votes
6 answers
"couple" versus "couple of"
Are there any specific rules that restrict the use of "couple" and "couple of"?
I have a couple of months left.
versus
I have a couple months left.
Are the both sentence above correct and formal? and if we are talking about other object —aside…
user49119
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16
votes
4 answers
Are English consonant sounds [p], [t], [k] aspirated before another consonant?
Most sources which I encountered say that English consonants [p], [t], [k] are aspirated before a vowel but not after [s], and become unaspirated after [s]. Canonical example: [p] is strongly aspirated in "pear", but unaspirated in "spear".
My…
Alexander
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16
votes
2 answers
How should I correct my spoken error?
Being an English language learner for about 30 years, I still make mistakes.
In a written language, when I have misspelled and noticed it in a timely manner, I simply navigate to a wrong word and edit it.
However, in a spoken conversation, when I…
Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
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