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1500 questions
15
votes
2 answers
When describing a ratio, should 'between' or 'of' be used?
When describing a ratio, should ratio between or ratio of be used? Example:
The ratio between floor area of smallest rectangle to the enclosed contour area of a polygon is tested with a defined threshold.
The ratio of smallest rectangle's floor…
niro
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15
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6 answers
Determining someone's gender from their name
A Japanese person was asking how to tell the gender of someone based on their name. Someone else claimed that if it ends in "a", it's usually female, and if it ends in "o", it's usually male. How reliable is this rule? I suspect it's only true of…
Golden Cuy
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15
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1 answer
"regardless whether" vs. "regardless of whether"
But for statistical purposes, a 14-year-old boy who works at least one hour a week is officially considered employed, regardless whether he is paid.
Is "of" obligatory after regardless in regardless whether, or, as the Chicago Tribune's journalist…
user114
15
votes
3 answers
Multiplication: names of some mathematical symbols
As far as I know, in Italian mathematics books, the symbol for multiplication can take several forms:
B × 3
B · 3
B * 3 (rare)
I'm not sure of having ever seen case 3 in English books, perhaps because "*" is not used in the English mother…
user114
15
votes
8 answers
'Strong' presence, but ________ absence?
What would be a good collocation to emphasize the absence of something. A 'strong absence' sounds a bit oxymoronic to me.
I want to talk about the absence of certain important aspects in someone's critique of something. Sorry, the context is kind of…
asef
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15
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4 answers
I left them (at) home
Consider this question:
Where are they (things or people)?
Would the following answer be with (at), without it or either one?
I left them (at) home
I have done a quick Google search and found quotes for both cases, with and without:
This…
learner
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15
votes
1 answer
"Might" vs. "may". What's the difference?
What is the difference between might and may? Is one a more formal way to speak, or is one correct and the other wrong?
user47
15
votes
3 answers
In those days, you could have been (could be?) killed for any trifle
Let's take a hypothetical sentence pronounced by a hypothetical person who speaks, say, of events that are more than 100 years in the past:
"The civil war period was very violent. In those days, you could have been killed for any trifle."
Would…
CowperKettle
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15
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3 answers
Personal circumstances?
A friend of mine asked me once what he could say if he was asked about a colleague or a friend not being able to attend a meeting or a party because of, for example, confidential health or family problems, or any private matters. What he wants to…
learner
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15
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2 answers
"Do you know where's Linda?" vs "Do you know where Linda is?"
Which of the following is a correct sentence:
Does anyone know where's Linda?
Does anyone know where Linda is?
Does anyone know why and how to use above usage if #2 is correct.
Also please let me know this kind of specific structures.
Carter
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15
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3 answers
Why are "baked" and "naked" not pronounced the same?
The word "baked" is pronounced as:
/ˈbeɪkt/
While "naked" is pronounced as:
/ˈneɪkɪd/
Why are these two words not pronounced the same?
B Faley
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15
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1 answer
When 'business' means 'company,' is it a countable noun?
This is from The Washington Post article :
What's a company to do? In today's litigious and document-deluged
workplace, a poorly written manual can lead to liability suits and
even low-risk decisions are justified by streams of memos. One
solution…
qna
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4 answers
What exactly is the word "there" in an existential construction? And related questions
Consider the example below:
"There was a cat under the table."
There have been numerous questions asked that have involved the topic of existential constructions and the word "there" that is used in them. I would like to see some grammatical…
F.E.
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15
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4 answers
Why does this BBC presenter say "put pay", whereas dictionaries say "put paid"?
This is from the BBC Earth Lab YouTube channel, Life Survives in Extreme Icy Conditions | Earth | BBC Earth Lab (see: 0:12-0:22)
And out here in the biting face of the cold, it's easy to imagine that the endless winter put pay to complex life on…
Yunus
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15
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7 answers
Using the pronoun 'we' when I'm not a part of it!
This has actually happened with me. I was confused and could not answer to my friend. The context was the traffic sense in India, which is worst! :)
In that context, I was describing to my friend that in India, there is only one rule that there is…
Maulik V
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