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1500 questions
15
votes
11 answers
Is there an idiom that says not to change a perfectly good thing?
Is there an idiom/word/proverb that says not to change a perfectly good thing or something that works?
JChips
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15
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6 answers
Is it "the" or "a" in “The life of __ peasant”?
The example is taken from a book (a peasant):
The life of a peasant in the Middle Ages was hard.
Why not the peasant?
The life of the peasant in the Middle Ages was hard.
Ben
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15
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7 answers
English equivalent for the expression "only iron can cut iron"
In my native language we have the expression "only iron can cut iron" which means: a force is best confronted with a force of the same nature, or: it takes someone at the same level as someone else to defeat them.
For example:
It wasn't until…
Mohammad
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15
votes
1 answer
Can I use "they" to refer to my own skills?
Me and my friend had a conversation.
[My friend] damn, your listening skills are good
[Me] they've improved a lot since I started watching English dubbed anime
My friend told me that I can't use "they" to refer to my English listening skills…
cdleace
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15
votes
3 answers
What's a lot of money {out of curiosity}?
I have come across the following:
Person A: We made A LOT of money.
Person B: What's a lot of money
out of curiosity?
I am wondering, does ending a question with "out of curiosity" sound natural?
Mohammad
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15
votes
2 answers
Parsing "I was in the soup now good."
I came across this sentence in an article by John McPhee but I'm unable to parse it. Could you please help me parse it?
The sentence reads
By the end of 1945, I had passed the point of no return. I was in the soup now good.
Basically, I can't…
user126190
15
votes
3 answers
When to use "some" instead of "a"
You were just having some dream.
and
You were just having a dream.
Are both correct? What is the difference, if any?
juergen d
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15
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2 answers
"It's time ... 'verb'/'verb-ed' ..."
It's time colleges helped you compare apples to apples.
(The Boston Globe)
If the time is a present moment, why does the journalist use "help" in the past tense? Or is "helped" subjunctive?
user114
15
votes
7 answers
What would you call, for the lack of a better way to put it, "benign nationalism"?
The terms 'nationalist' or 'nationalism' bring back memories of things like Nazi Germany or, at least, former US president Donald Trump's platform. But a political force, without demeaning other nationalities or any jingoism, can simply promote…
Sergey Zolotarev
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15
votes
7 answers
What does "if not" mean in the given sentence
Let there be given this sentence (which came from an English-Chinese dictionary):
The contest has become personalised, if not bitter.
Then what does the phrase if not mean?
Seeking after is a general guide or rule of such usage.
Yes
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2 answers
What does "some type of sheep meat" mean
I read a comment on StackOverflow about "What is depending typing?". And the poster complained about Wikipedia's hard-to-read article about dependent typing. The exact comment is:
Well, the article opens with lambda cubes, which sound like some…
Xwtek
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15
votes
10 answers
What's the name for the string attached to a zipper to help close or open a bag?
What's the name for the string attached to a zipper to help close or open a bag?
I don't know the name in my native language. Example of use:
I'd like to add xxx on my bag's zippers.
Or
I would like to purchase a bag with xxx.
Franck Dernoncourt
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15
votes
6 answers
What does the expression "go to the vet's" mean?
I possess the Cobuild Advanced Learner's Dictionary and I came across this weird expression for a non-native speaker which is "To take the dog to the vet's". I do infer they are talking about the veterinarian's office and that the letter s is…
Quique
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15
votes
1 answer
"Cthulhu Fhtagn" - is there a rule how to pronounce artificially created words?
There are many such words in a fiction literature, including Jabberwocky, Cthulhu, Kilrathi, and many others. Of course, the authors intended to make these words appear most uncommon to an English reader, and it must have been a deliberate attempt…
Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
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1 answer
Can "all" be used with both singular & plural verbs?
Are both sentences below correct?
1. All of the books are expensive.
2. All of the books is expensive.
user80323