Discussion Forum
This is a forum to discuss the gray areas of the English language for which you would not find answers easily in dictionaries or other reference books.
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“These computers come with a 40GB hard drive” Or “These computers come with 40GB hard drives.” Which is correct? If both, which is preferred? Or what are the different implications?
In Wired magazine: “Kinsella and AS&E chief technology officer Joseph Callerame usher me into ...”
If the company name weren’t there, one would say “the chief technology officer” but if the name of a position is prefixed by a name of a company, then can you lose the article “the”? Wouldn’t you say “The IBM chief technlogy officer” ?
“Mercedes SL500. Acura NSX. BMW Z4. These types of cars are ...” Or “This type of cars” Or “This type of car” Or “These types of car” Or “These types of a car” In a situation where, by the word “type”, I mean to say “expensive sports car”, which is correct? It is one specific type of automobile that I’m trying to refer to, so “types” seems wrong, but to follow a list of cars with “This type of” seems wrong too. (What would “this” be referring to? It would not be the cars that I listed.)
“In a future, we’ll have...” Why is “future” a countable noun? In what situations do you use “futures”? Do you ever say, “In futures, we’ll have...”
Can I say “a lot of water”? Could “a lot of” be used for uncountable nouns? In other words, could “a lot of” be used to substitute both “many” and “much”?
“These are not what is going to bring us happiness.” Or “These are not what are going to bring us happiness.” Which is correct?
“I am a part of the team” or “I am part of the team” Which is correct? If both, then what’s the difference in implication?
“At the lecture yesterday, only a few of them knew who I am.” Is this correct or should it be “who I was”? “Who I was” sounds like they knew who I was 10 years ago.
I wrote “Multiple pages of recipes from the book, each page consisting of a photo and a text.” And, Manny pointed out to me that “a text” is wrong, that it should simply be “text”. But the plural form of the word “text” actually exists. If “texts” is legal, then “a text” must also exist. In what situation would one use “a text”?
Do you need spaces before and after em dash? Blah blah—blah blah. Or Blah blah — blah blah.
