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1500 questions
24
votes
7 answers
"Do never..." vs. "Do not ever..."
I am just arguing with my friend if the phrase "do never something" is totally wrong compared to the phrase "do not ever something". And is "never" a contraction of "not ever"? Is it okay using "Do" in the beginning to emphasize a word?
I am about…
Awan
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24
votes
5 answers
Difference between "pardoned" and "forgiven"
What is the difference between words "pardoned" and "forgiven"?
For instance:
After ten years in prison, Stephen was {pardoned/forgiven} and set free.
I found the definitions of both:
Pardoned - forgive or excuse (a person, error, or…
some1 here
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24
votes
5 answers
'to' versus 'in order to'
Is it always possible to just use 'to' instead of 'in order to'?
What is actually the additional information provided by 'in order to'?
I understand in order to as meaning that the aforementioned action comes first (in order) and thus enables the…
mr.gaussian
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24
votes
8 answers
Is there any difference between friendly and kind?
A music teacher is portrayed as follows:
“She talks to everyone. She always says hello.”
Thus, is she friendly or kind?
Cambridge Dictionary defines friendly as
behaving in a pleasant, kind way towards someone
Apparently, the word is…
Shudong
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24
votes
4 answers
"You better did" - is this acceptable?
Consider this example:
John: Did you go to church today?
James: Yes I Did
John: You better did
My confusion is the use of and correctness of the the last response, "you better did."
Is this correct and which is the correct way to put that?
user5664
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23
votes
8 answers
Is "tin foil" for "aluminium foil" deprecated?
In my native language, the stuff is called "aluminium foil".
In English, I always heard people use the phrase "tin foil" for that. I adopted that phrase thinking that despite the foil being made of aluminium (and not tin as it used to be) this is…
shakesbeer
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23
votes
5 answers
What does web-mistress imply as a job title
I love that none needs my permission to take my code and do something
cool with it, and someone else can do the same with that code. I love
that an "end user" is usually only a few hours work away from being an
active documenter,…
manav m-n
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23
votes
7 answers
Can we call a divorced woman single?
If a woman who got married and had a child gets divorced, can we call her single?
I searched for the term "single parent" and it seems to reflect the responsibilities of a person rather than their marital status.
Arman Fatahi
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23
votes
9 answers
How to understand "don't code today what you can't debug tomorrow"?
It's a title of a blog. In my option, I absolutely can debug my code tomorrow which I wrote today. So how to understand that?
Sayakiss
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23
votes
5 answers
What do we call these 'squeezed' papers?
In my mother tongue, there is a word for it, and it is a noun.
The action is observed when you think the paper is waste. You squeeze it, and it loses its texture/avatar. Then, it is no more straight or flat.
Here is the image. Check those papers.…
Maulik V
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23
votes
7 answers
"I bought this shirt offline." Is this correct usage of the word 'offline'?
"I bought this shirt offline." Is 'offline' okay to use to refer to something that was bought at a brick-and-mortar store? If not, what's the preferred way to say it in everyday conversations?
user19057
23
votes
2 answers
Talking about inanimate objects in plural: they or it
Should I say:
Wash some apples and put them into a vase.
or
Wash some apples and put it into a vase.
Is it correct to use they with inanimate objects?
Denis Kulagin
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23
votes
5 answers
"Hope this help" or "Hope this helps"?
I often see people write "hope this helps" at the end of a communication, especially when they are trying to answer other people's queries about computer problems.
Recently, my English teacher pointed out that both "hope this helps" and "hope this…
kitty
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23
votes
4 answers
Is it necessary to use commas in lists before the conjunction?
I have seen many sentences like this:
"Capitalism, Socialism, and Anarchism"
and this:
"She was happy, and cheerful"
Do we have to use a comma before "and", or is it incorrect? If it is not, then why?
Digerkam
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23
votes
4 answers
First, second and third conditional
On grammar.ccc Rob De Decker, who (as it is written there) teaches English at a Flemish grammar school in Belgium, explains the so-called first, second and third conditional.
Instant English, a best-seller, by John Peter Sloan, has a lot of pages…
user114