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1500 questions
14
votes
5 answers
Why is it "you lied TO me" and not "you lied me"
Why do we say
You tricked me
You fooled me
You deceived me
You offended me
You kissed me
And so on and so on
BUT you lied TO me and not you lied me?
user165427
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14
votes
2 answers
Can "it's down to him to fix the machine" and "it's up to him to fix the machine"?
This is from a dictionary
be down to somebody
if an action or decision is down to you, it is your responsibility
It’s down to me to make sure that everyone is happy.
And to be up to somebody has 2 meaning
a) used to say that someone can decide…
Tom
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14
votes
7 answers
What do you call a partner that you don't live with?
Married people are called "spouses" and people that are in a romantic relationship and live together without being married are called "cohabitants" – but what do you call people who are in a romantic relationship that is, for all intents and…
Helen
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14
votes
8 answers
Students doubt the usefulness of the Present Perfect tenses
I've got the same questions from different students recently. They question the necessity of learning Perfect tenses (even the Present Perfect Simple) claiming that as rumors say or as they hear in serials (e.g. Sex in the city, it was the last…
NadinSh
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14
votes
5 answers
Is the word "ball" omitted in " hit the post"?
I understand the meaning of the word "hit", which in football it means kick the ball. But here it's sort of awkward. "Hit" should be used with the object "the ball", however the writers uses it with "the post" instead. Does the writer leave out "the…
Jembot
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14
votes
6 answers
Why can't I grammatically repeat the object with the pronoun "it"?
Someone told me that this sentence is wrong grammatically:
Where is the calculator that I lent it to you yesterday?
I've read the feedbacks from many people that I shouldn't include "it", one person said it is because there's already "that" so…
user516076
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14
votes
7 answers
Is this place called a barn?
This is a barn:
a large farm building for storing grain or keeping animals in.
In some other countries, we have an area surrounded by simple wooden fences. It may or may not have a simple roof like this:
Do we call the one in the picture 2 a…
Tom
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14
votes
1 answer
What do you call "squeezed" fruit?
Let's say I buy some fruit like bananas or something soft and put them in a bag.
By the time I take them out of the bag, they have been spoiled because I pressed my back against the bag when I was travelling.
What would I call the fruit (or the…
Max
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14
votes
3 answers
'We Americans like baseball' or 'Us Americans...'?
Which one is correct?
'We Americans like baseball,' or
'Us Americans like baseball'?
Why would you prefer one over the other? I'm thinking of a situation where people from different countries are talking about differences in their cultures.…
numberfive
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14
votes
4 answers
Into his pillow vs. onto his pillow
Google Ngrams says into his pillow is more common than onto his pillow.
Example sentence:
He sank back into his pillow with a groggy groan.
My first thought was that you can only be on your pillow, not in your pillow. But now I'm not sure.
Why is…
wyc
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14
votes
9 answers
Is there a formal word or expression for "snail mail"?
As the heading suggests, I'm wondering whether there is a formal word or phrase for "snail mail", that can be used in contexts where we want to make clear that we're not talking about emails. For instance:
All communication should be conducted in…
Helen
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14
votes
5 answers
Why can’t we call a person who taught students a “previous teacher” in this situation?
I don’t know if it’s restricted to English.
If someone won a Grammy Award, even if he doesn’t win a Grammy Award, we can describe him as “He is a (previous) Grammy winner.”
But If someone taught students, but he doesn’t teach students, why don’t we…
Gate Pending
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14
votes
11 answers
Why can’t I say “I hung a picture on the wall on the chair”?
Context: I tried to hang a picture on the wall, but it’s too high to hang it, so I climbed on the chair and hung it on the wall.
Why can’t I say “I hung a picture on the wall on the chair” in this situation?
Gate Pending
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14
votes
6 answers
Can I safely use "not" instead of words with negative prefixes?
Sometimes it's difficult for me as a learner to remember the negative word as a new word with prefix. For example, the negative of pleasant is unpleasant.
Can I safely use not instead? I'm not intending to not learn new words, but I want to prevent…
user516076
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14
votes
3 answers
Which is more appropriate? "I was married" OR "I have been married"?
Suppose, we're (I and my wife) asked by people how long our marriage is since we got married. Which tense should I use? Past tense or perfect tense or else?
We were married for 15 years.
We've been married for 15 years.
Since a marriage is a…
user516076
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