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
Could any cooking expert explain to me what the phrase: “goulash communism” might mean?
Is there any nice and succinct word for the audio-video set that comprises of a tv, video and/or dvd and which people often have at their homes?
What, do you think,is a better passive construction for the following sentence? ‘’They took no notice of her rude remarks.'’ A) ‘’No notice was taken of her rude remarks.'’ B) ‘’Her rude remarks were taken no notice of.'’
I know that the ‘B’ option is correct, at least it should be, but I wondered if ‘A’ is possible at all. Does it sound natural to you, the English people? Can’t we treat the word ‘notice’ as an object of the active sentence and then make it a subject of the passive one?
I’m damn confused about this... Can anybody tell me which is the right way to say?
“I am sorry to hear that you have trouble with login into our website.”
or
” I am sorry that you have trouble with log in to our website.”
I feel both are wrong. If so, what is the right way to say this?
As a father of a newborn, do I say:
1. We had a baby. 2. I had a baby. 3. My wife had a baby.
Which one is it?
I recently came across the following sentence in an American online newspaper:
“He has left a message for his children’s baby sitter, a high school freshman who lives next door, to relieve the nanny, who leaves at 6.”
Which left me wondering as to the disctinction between a baby sitter and a nanny.
Any comment is greatly appreciated.
Tks y’all!
Why do most Americans say “you all” instead of just the second person plural “you”? When and where did this originate. I am expecting answers from you all.
Is this a real word? Can’t find it in dictionaries, but commonly used as found by web search.
Recently a guy introduced his significant other (a female who was present) to me by saying “this is my partner”, and it took me some time (and after seeing them together) to figure out that she was a significant other instead of any other forms of “partner” - a business partner, a tennis partner, etc.
My understanding of the term is that “partner” is often used to refer to a homosexual partner, which is apparently not the case here; or, when the partner being mentioned is not present, I guess one could say “my partner and I went shopping”, in which case, the “partner” could be taken as either male or female.
But when the person herself is there, isn’t “partner” too general a term to use? would you have figured out right away that he meant a significant other? Or is this an accepted usage within any specific region? (this is in the U.S.)
thanks, Martine
Does anyone know the correct way to use “comprise”? I’ve often seen it used like this:
The conference comprised of a number of lectures...
I don’t think it would be right to say “the conference comprised a number of lectures” but I’m really not sure about using “of” with “comprise”.
