English Language Learners Stack Exchange
English Language Learners Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
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9 answers

"On the grounds that" suggests the reason isn’t really a good one

Garner's Modern English Usage reads “In 1991, Bridgeport, Connecticut, sought Chapter 9 protection but a judge denied it on the grounds that [use because instead] the city was solvent.” Tony Jackson, “Orange County Hit by Wall St. Selling,” Fin.…
GJC
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2 answers

What does “Polked” mean in “We Polked you in ‘44”?

I came across this phrase/sentence: We Polked you in ’44, we shall Pierce you in ’52! Source I googled "Polked" but all it gives me is "poked", so I had the crazy thought that it might be the joining of the words "poll" AND "poked" as a way of…
user139426
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4 answers

Making sense for "How does it look like?"

Would the phrase "How does it look like?" possibly make sense in any situation in English? For many non-native speakers, it is hard to understand why "How does it look like?" is wrong and "What does it look like?" is correct. An example situation…
brilliant
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5 answers

Should I use "for you" or "to you" after specifying what a person should call me?

If I have a name (say Liliana) but prefer to be called by a nickname (eg Lily), what is the correct way to say it in the following format? Here are two examples so that you understand what I mean: I am Liliana, but Lily for you. or I am Liliana,…
Arce
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13
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5 answers

"She need not worry" or "she needs to not worry"?

I just came across this weird use of "need not" on Twitter: Madam/sir, My daughter is stuck in Uk . She has lost her BRP . She is difficult to return back India home [sic]. Please help In response, India in the UK says: She need not worry. She…
user119042
13
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9 answers

She got an A for effort. (meaning of the sentence)

She got an A for effort. She tried to get an A (made an effort to get an A, studied hard and really got it) We don't know whether she got good grades or not, but the teacher gave her A because she showed an effort. Which one is close to the…
BEBYGONES
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13
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2 answers

Can candlelight be in plural contrarily to light?

Can candlelight be in plural contrarily to light? I am wondering if candlelight can be plural when there is many candles contrarily to light, which is an uncountable word. What's the consensus on this?
Sayaman
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5 answers

What does "the past day" mean exactly?

Cited from an article on Khan Academy: Jacob distributed a survey to his fellow students asking them how many hours they'd spent playing sports in the past day. Does "the past day" mean yesterday or any arbitrary day in the past? Or does it have…
catwith
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4 answers

What does "farm off" mean?

I'm reading a programming book and found the following paragraph. Collections do not usually implement enumerators; instead, they provide enumerators, via the interface IEnumerable: public interface IEnumerable { IEnumerator…
Just a learner
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3 answers

Use of 'are' or 'is' for a named non-binary person

There's one thing I'm confused about the use of singular they/them for a non-binary person. Is it: "Jake is my friend, and they are great." or "Jake are my friend, and they are great." The former sounds correct to me, but I don't know where to…
Ray
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8 answers

What does "Write code that creates a list of all integers from 50 to the power of 300." mean?

I'm trying to figure out what the sentence below means. Write code that creates a list of all integers from 50 to the power of 300. I'm struggling with the "from 50 to the power of 300" part. I've been googling for an hour now, but I've never…
nozmat aram
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2 answers

Is "drawable" a correct word?

In French, we have the word "dessinable" which is an adjective for something that can be "dessiné" or in English that can be drawn. However, when I search the term "drawable" in Cambridge dictionary I don't find any input. Same for…
JKHA
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11 answers

Is "triggerer" correct, or is there some other word to identify the person who triggered something?

This might sound a bit silly, but I'm writing a program, and I'm looking for a way to name a variable which contains the entity that triggered a certain process. I googled around a bit, and there are relatively few references to "triggerer",…
roman
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6 answers

What is the difference between "Thanks much" and "Thanks a lot"?

A: Can you give me a pen? B: Yes, take it. A: Thanks much OR Thanks a lot Is there any difference between these two phrases? Which one is preferred to use?
Ihor
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4 answers

Usage of phrase like "The friend of mine"

Referring to a friend like: "the friend of mine" is a common way. But what about referring to something else, like car, fork or plant i.e. the something of mine? Is there any restriction of using subjects only?
user20
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