Unanswered Questions
8,728 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Should vs must: respectively meaning expectation vs strong certainty
What is the difference between these two sentences:
He should be at home now. (expectation)
He must be at home now. (strong certainty)
I don't really understand the difference between expectation ...
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Usage of 'Not to mention'
In the sentence below, I used 'not to mention' to emphasize that swimming across the Korea Strait is much more difficult than swimming across the Han River. Does it make sense?
He succeeded in ...
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Where did the usage of "cast" as in "to cast a flag [on a post]" come from?
The usage of "cast" as in "casting a flag [on a post, to be reviewed by moderation]" seems much less common than "to flag [a post, etc.]", but it is used extensively on ...
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Should I use leading zeros and a colon in American English?
I know it’s a matter of style, but I’d like to know the common one.
In the 12-hour system, I know it’s not recommended to use leading zeros, but I’m not sure about the punctuation. 4:00, 4.00, just 4? ...
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What is the origin of the phrase "useful idiot" in a political context?
I am looking for the origin of the phrase useful idiot in a political context, where a person in a position of power is manipulated as a puppet who is able to set in motion changes desired by the ...
- 48k
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Anaphoric 'it' after disjunctive noun phrases
What specifically does the word “it” refer to in this citation below, and why?
Identity with something or someone, not to it.
Garner, B. A. (2016). Garner’s Modern English Usage. OUP
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'Might': past permission
MIGHT (aux.v., past tense of may)
(Archaic) Used to express permission in the past:
The courtier was informed that he might enter the king's chambers.
https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=...
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What differences are between lexical hyphens and syntactic hyphens?
It is written in CaGEL that
8.2.2 Hard and long hyphens
Among the hard hyphens we can distinguish (though not always sharply) between those
that are lexical and those that are syntactic. The lexical ...
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The contraction “s’if”
What is the meaning of "s'if I laugh" in the song named "if I laugh" by Cat Stevens?
EDITED
S' if I laugh just a little bit
Maybe I can forget the plans that I didn't use
To get ...
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'May' (auxiliary verb): to be obliged (law)
MAY (aux.v.)
5. To be obliged, as where rules of construction or legal doctrine call for a specified interpretation of a word used in a law.
https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=may
I cannot ...
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Are there any words starting with the letter A or I that also start with a consonant sound (and so should be preceded by "a" instead of "an")?
There are words starting with the letter E, O, or U that also start with a consonant sound (e.g. European, one, user). And so, these words should be preceded by the indefinite article "a" ...
- 48k
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'Could have': past ability (dynamic modality)
She could have left her keys with J
a) past possibility ('epistemic modality'): It is possible that she did, that is, 'might have', just as both are used for complaints, as in you could've/might’ve ...
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One(s): colloquial in comparisons of adjectives
ONE (as a supporting word with an adjective that can't stand alone)
These shoes are too small. I need some new ones.
Her new car goes faster than her old one.
Your plan is a good one.
NOTE: When ...
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What does it mean when someone tells you to ‘get on’?
I was in a busy area of London and a lady said ‘get on’ as she was walking past me in the opposite direction with a fairly big distance between the two of us. It felt like she somehow directed the ...
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As (the) following examples show
Relative clauses can focus on the referent of the preceding noun in
different ways, as following examples show:
The resort where the family spent their holidays.
The waiter who served us.
The year ...
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