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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Latest Posts
Is there not a redundancy in the use of “got” with “have”? Why say “I have got” or “I’ve got” when “I have” conveys the exact meaning? The same would be true of its use in the second or third person.
In the sentence “Karen is the taller of her and Lin”, why is the pronoun ‘her’ used (as opposed to ‘she’)? I would have thought that, since Karen is the subject of the sentence, the appropriate pronoun would be ‘she’? This sentence comes out of the Institute of Professional Editors Accreditation Exam, so I can only assume that it is correct. Thanks to anyone who can help!
The AP Stylebook today announced that electronic mail is now spelled without a hyphen: email. Finally. I personally haven’t used “e-mail” in about a decade. We have a thread here on this topic of how to properly spell email.
http://painintheenglish.com/case/4463
At the time, I commented that it may take another 10 years for this to settle, but it took less than a year!
The following sentence is taken from Advanced English CAE:
Within seconds Barry, who was wearing enormous rubber boots, had tied a rope to the front bumper of the car and was pulling it out with the tractor.
I’d say:
Within seconds Barry, who was wearing enormous rubber boots, tied a rope to the front bumper of the car and pulled it out with the tractor.
Any opinions?
I recommend that you do not take this pill.
I recommend that your wife does not take this pill.
I recommend that you not take this pill.
I recommend that your wife not take this pill.
Are all four sentences correct English? Do many native American/British English speakers use verb forms like in the first two sentences?
How does one know exactly when a word is supposed to end with -“ise” vs -“ize” in Oxford spelling?
I have seen to-day and to-night used in literature up to the 1920′s. When and why did this become obsolete?
I’ve dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s.
I’ve dotted the “i”s and crossed the “t”s.
Which of the foregoing examples is correct?
When did we stop “giving” presents, and instead started to “gift” presents? I was taught that “gift” was a noun and not a verb, but it appears it is now used as the preferred verb to indicate the giving of a gift.
Is it really proper to say “I graduated high school,” or should it not be, “I graduated from high school?” Previously, I thought only rednecks were able to “graduate high school.”
