Questions tagged [alternatives]
The alternatives tag has no usage guidance.
61 questions
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Are "can" and "be able to" interchangable in these examples?
To me, the following sentences sound correct.
The computer crashed yesterday but I could fix it.
She could pass the exam, even though she hadn't studied much.
However, my grammar book
states that ...
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1
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Does this sound rude? How could I have said it better?
Me: Good afternoon, ma'am Josie. Just letting you know I'm ready for the
interview. Could you please let me know if it will still happen this
afternoon? Thank you.
Josie: Hello. You were scheduled for ...
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1
answer
166
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What is the most natural and native-like way to express this idea on friendship?
Since the first time we met us we are best friends.
I think that this sentence is incorrect, and I am trying to find a good alternative without having to change everything. What do you think of these ...
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1
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Is it natural to say someone excels in his class? [closed]
If Tom is a top student in his class, can I say 'Tom excels in his class'? Are there other alternatives?
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Is the term "given" is synonym to "according to" or "because of" in the following text?
Here is some text I have grabbed from a Programming languages book:
As mentioned earlier, REST APIs are “a lightweight way to transfer
textual representations of resources.” What do we mean by this? ...
- 115
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2
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174
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A polite form of "bitching about something"
I'm looking for a phrase that would get along the full meaning (complaining about something, swearing at it, talking just out of the need to vent) but wouldn't sound as inappropriate.
- 1,597
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2
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595
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If I want to avoid the possessive apostrophe, could I write "John his new tires are great" instead of "John's tires are great"?
How to rewrite a sentence to avoid the possessive apostrophe?
Why? I have been told to avoid apostrophes altogether for international English as it's confusing. This is easily done for contractions ...
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Could 'you were not' be used to replace 'you were away' here?
I was making a sentence to polish up my fiction, I wrote down it out of my instinctive understanding.
The three-year time you were not was terrible.
This is the background: during the three-year ...
1
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1
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108
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Do comma-separated options in a list default to relate as "and" or "or"?
A native English speaker said:
...with respect to any given country a person can:
be a citizen,
be a national but not a citizen,
be eligible to become a citizen by taking some active step(s) - a ...
- 171
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1
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are encourage and motivate the same in the following sentence?
Do the following sentences mean the same? Is it OK to say violent crimes motivates offenders?
Violent crimes in the media encourages criminals to commit crime.
Violent crimes in the media motivates ...
- 1,912
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Using "rarely" to point out a disadvantageous aspect sounds like a praise
Say I am reviewing a software (or whatever), and after talking about its good features I get to list its drawbacks:
Quite RAM consuming.
Rarely crashes when various keys are pressed at the same time.
...
- 267
3
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1
answer
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Phrase to express something has had a great impact despite a negligible popularity?
Can you please suggest me an alternative phrase to the highlighted one that would express "when you take in account the very insignificant popular knowledge it receives"?
The Effective ...
- 1,597
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1
answer
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Is this sentence grammatically correct? “we sound better than you or me”
Is this sentence grammatically correct?
we sound better than you or me.
Shouldn’t we use “I” instead of “me”?
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0
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Is it correct to use "were not they ...?" to ask question about some people in negative way?
Were not they interested in my profile?
Were not they from London?
Both questions are negative and want to know about some people's information/ideas. If it's not something native people would use, ...
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How to explain myself in such a situation in a concise way?
The situation as follows:
Somebody was supposed to contact me by now and they were supposed to guide me to book a room in their guest house, no one one did.
Question:
How can I say it in a ...
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300
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Can "spin on" mean "keep spinning"?
Can "on" indicate repetition on itself? For instance, does the sentence the planet spins on express the same thing as the planet keeps spinning?
- 1,597
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next Monday vs Monday next
I have read for the first time the expression "Monday next". I believe that it belongs to a high register of speech and possibly it is outdated. Is that right? Is it usual somewhere ?
- 933
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What is an alternative for "until now" in this context?
Actually the title is not exactly what I mean, but I cannot find a better way to describe this question.
Consider this sentence:
That's the only response I've got for my question ____.
If I put "...
- 1,277
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2
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What's a natural way to say "I am getting familiar with something"
I am looking for a simple and natural way to express the process of getting familiar with something.
Some options I've been considering include
I am acquainting myself with something.
I am ...
- 12.2k
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votes
1
answer
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full-time to modify a verb such as "study" or "work"
It is thought that people under 18 should be obligated to full-time study their school subjects.
I wonder whether the above sentence is grammatically correct and natural because usually I see native ...
- 1,179
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2
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How (much/many) (note/notes) did you take?
When referring to information students write down in classes/lectures, we normally use the plural form of 'note' - 'notes' tends to be used. But I am not sure whether 'notes' is countable/uncountable ...
- 1,773
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Alternatives of a poor sentence, "Summer is increasing day by day."
Today I have come across a sentence that seems quite poor:
Summer is increasing day by day.
The word increasing doesn't seem to be suitable here. Tell me the alternatives for this.
Is it okay to ...
- 1,827
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1
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Alternatives for "It's been long since we met"
Let's assume person A and B have been apart for decades and they finally meet now.
Then A might say "It has been long since we met." and this is correct.
But I'm wondering, as alternatives, if ...
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Better way to say "ensure that the job is done right"? [closed]
I'm copy editing a contract proposal and the last part of final paragraph of the executive summary says "x y and z ... ensure that job is done right." This is a bit bland. Any suggestions on how to ...
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Alternative words and phrases for "school finishing" in this context [closed]
"My school finishes at 4pm."
What can be the alternatives for "finish"?
- 1,827
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Server / cashier / waiter
I am writing a document where a person is serving the guests and takes their payments. I need one word to be consistently used across the document. For now I used a server. Is it appropriate? I am ...
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Mandatory /obligatory drug effects
Medications are not always effective, so I'm trying to write that "their effects are not mandatory or obligatory, " but I'm not sure if either of these terms are right.
For example: Aspirin effect on ...
- 3,615
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2
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268
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Is it okay to use the forward slash in informal dialogues?
Is it okay to use '/' in a dialogue of an informal story? If not, what is the alternative?
My sentence:
They all wanted to come; to support you and/or to witness the event.
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2
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Is there a viable and satisfactory alternative word for the verb "feature"?
Is there a viable and practical alternative word for the verb "feature"?
Feature
[intransitive, transitive]
1 to include or show something as a special or important part of something, or ...
- 957
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217
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Can "being attend to" be expressed as "in attendance"?
EDIT: I structured my question around the misconceived assumption that "requests" could be "attended to", whereas what I meant translates to requests being processed.
In Portuguese, when someone or ...
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3
answers
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Can I replace "I Like" for "It goes down well" in any situation?
I trying to understand when should I replace the expression "I like" for the phrasal verb "It goes down well".
Apparently, the expression is used to say that something works and/or get a good ...
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1
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158
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A kids-friendly, nontechnical alternative to the term "arithmetic operations"?
The term "arithmetic operations" from basic grammar school mathematics is highly formal and technical in my ears. In my native Danish language it translates into:
The arithmetic operations = De ...
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What is an alternative word to the phrase "In the case of"
I found the following sentence in one of my dictionaries.
The amount of fruit in fruit juices must be 6% in the case of berries
and 10% in the case of other fruits.
I would like to know a simple ...
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1
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Is there a better way to say "space for improvement"?
In the following sentence, is there a better word to use instead of space?
"A lot of space remains for improvement and future work"
To add some context, the sentence is from a paper on database ...
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2
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Which alternative is best alternative to 'draught'?
I came across a certain question in an examination paper. The section deals with:
In each of the following questions, out of the given alternatives,
choose the one which is closest in meaning to ...
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4
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From when to when/what time to what time?
Is 'from when to when?' or 'from what time to what time?' proper/natural English? Would their usage come up in a conversation between native speakers as a super concise way of asking when something ...
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2
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A positive alternative to the adjective "plain"?
I need to know if the adjective "plain" sounds neural or negative in some manners? If the latter is true, can you give me a better, positive alternative to the word? "Simple" would not work either, I ...
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Late this week/month/year
To my knowledge, 'late' can be placed in front of time period terms (day/week/month/year) to indicate the final part of a duration. However, there are a number of constructions (especially ones ...
- 1,773
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Alternative (polite)phrases to "it's a shame..." to avoid possible offending
In English, the "shame"has the following meaning
a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute
However, it's common to hear people say something like
(1) It's a shame we can't take them home ...
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How to inoffensively ask a girl if she uses drugs? [closed]
A friend of a friend asked me recently, how to inoffensively ask a girl if she uses party-drugs or if she wants to use them right now?
He did not want to ask her if she "blows noses" if you know what ...
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(Subject) changed (object) to be?
Please have a look at the constructions below:
The table of values were changed to be more accurate.
I am fairly confident that the above sentence is good English, with the meaning that the ...
- 1,773
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Have/ get me considered?
Something had me considered or something got me considered?
I would like to use the past particle form of 'consider' in the object + participle construction. To express that I was considered for a ...
- 1,773
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1
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Go 'grab' someone
Say, if someone phoned me and asked to speak with someone else, can I say 'All right, I will go grab him for you.' to mean 'I will physically bring him over/tell him to come to speak with you on the ...
- 1,773
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To now or From now
Please have a look at the following construction.
I would like to get this over and done with as soon as possible, so please put me down for the closest time to now/from now.
So basically, I want to ...
- 1,773
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166
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Scopal Ambiguity that arises from 'one of our...'
Before you read on, I just want to let you know that this question is one that relates to the balance of logic and grammar.
So I know that are multiple ways to describe a first-cousin relationship. I ...
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What are some alternative ways to say "read the following for more"?
Do all these mean the same:
Read the following for more.
Refer to the following for more information.
Further reading.
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1
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Alternative ways to say "after something"
In describing an algorithm, I feel I repeatedly use "After doing this, the algorithm do that". I look for alternative ways to say such sequences. For example I wrote:
After obtaining the Post-...
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Suggest an alternative to be used in place of "However"
The last line of the following paragraph sounds fishy. Could you suggest another transition word for the word however?
I learned many things over the course of my three month internship at
a ...
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Make someone understand the difference between somethings
I wrote:
For example, to teach the student the difference between short and long vowels, like /ԑ/ and /i:/ (as set and seat) or /ɪ/ and /aɪ/ (as twin and twine), appropriate word lists can be ...
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Is it a natural way to say, "we accept credit card payment" when payment is used in this way
I saw a notice in a local restaurant,
"we accept credit card payment".
I am wondering if it would be better if the restaurant wrote,
we accept payment by credit card.
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