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1500 questions
15
votes
6 answers
Can ‘is’ and ‘are’ be used in the same sentence? ‘The conclusion is both are harmful.’
The conclusion is both are harmful.
My friends told me that you can not use 'is' and 'are' in the same sentence.
Rahul Shukla
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15
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4 answers
Can you use "plague" as a general term?
I thought "plague" was a generic word for a disease. I was corrected earlier when talking about COVID that it is a virus not a plague. I am aware it is a virus. But would it be wrong to say "We live in a time of plague" or something similar?
guest
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15
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4 answers
Do these two sentences convey different meanings?
She tried in vain to prevent the work from being done.
She tried to prevent the work from being done in vain.
Our teacher said these two sentences show different intents, but I can't see the difference. Help？
Jack Liu
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15
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3 answers
What is the grammar of the sentence "this is not some science fiction movie come to life."
The sentence is:
This is not some science fiction movie come to life.
Is this sentence grammatically right? If this sentence is right, please tell me what the grammatical rule about the word come is, why does it use form come rather than the…
Darcy
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3 answers
What is the meaning of "officially" here?
I am playing a PC game.
After a lot of bad things happened that day, my character said , "Okay…this is officially the worst day ever.”
How can I interpret “officially” here? The dictionary does not help because it seems none of the definitions…
luxury20041985
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3 answers
Why use an adjective after a noun?
I heard phrases like "place nice" and "place safe" several times during watching series and movies and each time I was wondering why an adjective stands after a noun while they teach that adjectives go strictly before nouns.
Unfortunately, all what…
voloshin
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15
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12 answers
"Dog" can mean "something of an inferior quality". What animals do we use, if any, to describe the opposite?
The noun, dog, can be used to indicate something of an unattractive/unworthy feature/quality.
Merriam-Webster defines it as
8: one inferior of its kind
the movie was a dog : such as a: an investment not worth its price
b: an undesirable piece of…
B Chen
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15
votes
5 answers
What is the difference between scissors and shears?
I never saw this word "shears", but I found it on the internet and I went to search the meaning of that. Well, if scissors and shears have the same meaning. Let me know how to use each one.
Andreia
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15
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3 answers
"police are" or "police is"
In instructional videos I see on the internet, the teacher says "in the U.S and Canada, they automatically use police as plural noun", if it is already plural, then what's the singular of police?
jinhyun
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15
votes
4 answers
What does the phrase "building hopping chop" mean here?
Here is a sentence from an endless runner game:
Building hopping chops is a good strategy to avoid unexpected dangers.
The player is advised to leap to the side when she sees any danger or goes near a risky corner.
curious
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15
votes
1 answer
What do you call the walking lanes in lecture rooms?
What do you call the walking lanes in lecture rooms? You can't call it a stair, because it's not really a stair, you can't call it a corridor either. The only word I can think of is walking lane, but I doubt it's called that. Isn't there a more…
blackbird
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10 answers
What do you call the action of "describing events as they happen" like sports anchors do?
What do you call the action of "describing events as they happen" like sports anchors do? I heard the word "commentary", but I doubt "commentary" actually refers to the action of describing an event as it's happening. Also, I am wondering what the…
blackbird
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15
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6 answers
How do we say "within a kilometer radius spherically"?
How do we say "within a kilometer radius spherically"? When we say radius, we think of a circle, so how do you specify that you're thinking of a sphere when you say "within a kilometer radius"?
blackbird
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15
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6 answers
You've spoiled/damaged the card
Two people were playing cards. So a person folded a card by mistake. So what sounds natural:
You have spoilt the card.
You have damaged the card.
Do both "spoilt" and "damaged" sound natural?
It's about English
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15
votes
11 answers
"Official wife" or "Formal wife"?
I want to use a term to mean that the speaker has been recorded as the wife of X in a civil registry officially and legally.
I don't know what is the usual word to use in this case, I have searched "formal wife", but all I got is "former wife" which…
Tasneem ZH
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