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1500 questions
19
votes
2 answers
Why sister [nouns] and not brother [nouns]?
I have noticed this quite often that other (closely) related common nouns are called sister [common noun]. For example:
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Dhanishtha Ghosh
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19
votes
2 answers
The meaning of baggage vs luggage
What is the difference? Which one is better to use for defining some baggage (not hand one).
nKognito
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19
votes
2 answers
'Me' vs 'my' [pronunciation] in British English
I noticed that British people sometimes use me instead of my. For example, Liam Gallagher does it quite often.
Example:
The wind was strong I have nearly lost me pants
What is a story behind this alteration? Is it appropriate in formal language?…
Untapped Soul
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19
votes
6 answers
Sentences containing "refused to close his bar because"
a. He refused to close his bar because of the pandemic.
b. He refused to close his bar because there was a pandemic.
Are the above sentences grammatically correct, and do they make sense?
The intended meaning is:
He had to close his bar because of…
azz
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19
votes
4 answers
How often do native speakers use the word "to scathe"? Is it OK if I use it instead of "to injure"?
The word "to scathe" is the synonym of the word "to harm" or "to injure". However, I have never noticed how somebody uses it. Is it OK to occasionally use it instead of "to injure" during speaking and writing?
Choro
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19
votes
7 answers
Are "concur" and "agree" exact synonyms?
I was talking to a friend and he said something I agreed with so much I said the common phrase:
I couldn't agree more
except, I said "concur" instead of agree because we were using Skype, and back when Cortana was a thing, the suggested phrase was…
Marvin
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19
votes
2 answers
How to read this formula aloud: "f(x) = x²"?
f(x) = x2
Having heard this read only in Korean, I don’t know how to read it in English. What is the right English reading?
Listenever
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19
votes
6 answers
What is the meaning of "you know, be the pie"?
Source: Head First JavaScript by Michael Morrison (2008)
With the right ingredients and a few flicks of the wrist, I can whip up just about anything. I just have to get close to what I'm making... you know, be the pie.
What does you know, be the…
Michael Rybkin
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19
votes
9 answers
Is the phrase "a bottle of water" something a native English speaker would say?
Consider the following image.
In school, I was taught there are four "bottles of water". Do native English speakers say it that way in everyday life, or would it be better to say "four water bottles"?
WXJ96163
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19
votes
3 answers
verb describing "stomach's singing"
What's the correct verb to describe the action of a hungry person's stomach making some noise?
For example:
I hadn't had breakfast and lunch, so this meeting was a huge embarrassment for me as my stomach was constantly _________________ to…
brilliant
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19
votes
4 answers
Is it disappointed with, in, or by?
Are all of those words used? How does the meaning of the sentence change when either one is used instead of the others?
1.I was disappointed with/by my result.
2.I am disappointed with/by/in you/him/her.
Vaibhav Sharma
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19
votes
5 answers
Can I say: “The train departs at 16 past every hour“?
In German, we can say "jede Stunde um 16 nach". I just overheard someone teaching there was no such possibility in English. Yet I found "hourly at 45 minutes past" in one answer here. Is the following also correct?
The train departs at 16 past…
Ludi
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19
votes
3 answers
“Since the train was delayed for more than an hour, passengers were given a full refund.” – Why is there no article before “passengers”?
After all, we are talking about very definite passengers – the ones that were on that train. Can it be gathered from the sentence that not all of the passengers were given a refund?
P.S. The sentence comes from a grammar book.
Zak
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19
votes
7 answers
Is this food a bread or a loaf?
What do we call the food seen in the picture? Is it bread, loaf, or dough?
xeesid
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19
votes
4 answers
What do you call something that goes against the spirit of the law, but is legal when interpreting the law to the letter?
Sometimes, the wording of a law or contract is vague and imprecise, and it allows people to abuse it, but doing so goes against the spirit of the law or the contract when it was written, or in other words the intention the people who wrote the law…
frbsfok
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