Questions tagged [colloquial-language]
for questions about colloquial language. Colloquial language, colloquial dialect, or informal language is a variety of language commonly employed in conversation or other communication in informal situations.
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Is it OK to use "heck" in public occasions?
The dictionary gives the following definitions:
fuck:
to have sex with someone.
used when expressing extreme anger, or to add force to what is being said.
heck:
an expression of usually slight ...
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Is the following use of "as sure as in ..." correct?
As sure as in "this place surely stinks."
Is the construction and usage correct? I'm having doubts since the "example" is using a modified version of "sure." But maybe that's okay?
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Should I say "providing me charity," "providing me with charity," or "providing charity to me?"
I'm confused because there's exactly 1 hit for each on them on Google Books.
... providing me charity
... providing me with charity
... providing charity to me
What's the correct option? Or at ...
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Is it common to say "..., you forget?" instead of "..., did you forget?"
Example sentence:
It's your fault, (did) you forget?
A native English speaker said I should add the "did." But I think "you forget" is okay in casual speech. However, I'm not very sure.
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What's the meaning of "Dad had damned near taken someone’s head off"?
I checked the idiom "take someone's head off" in three online dictionaries: TFD, Phrases.net, and Wiktionary and it means:
"to scold or berate someone severely."
But I still don't understand the ...
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What's pharse is common? "Just to entertain this ..." or "just for the sake of entertaining this ..."?
Which is more common? Or maybe they mean exactly the same so both are equally common?
Example sentence:
Just to entertain/just for the sake of entertaining the fantasy of traveling to another ...
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Is "Last time we were in a house was five weeks" a common colloquialism?
There a scene in the movie Red Dawn:
A group of teenagers come to a house and are welcomed in by the owner.
One of the teenagers: Last time we were in a house was five weeks.
Man: You look it....
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11
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A term for a situation when something illegal, unjust, immoral and socially unacceptable becomes a standard pattern of an individual's behavior
When I was a teen, in a summer camp we enjoyed a sort of game that we played during so-called naptime after the midday meal. Split into pairs, the boys decided who would be horses and who horsemen, ...
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What the rule for these questions without any subject at all?
Expressions and sources:
Why pretend? (Depeche mode 'Little 15')
Why so serious? (Joker 'Dark knight')
Why make sense? (Hot Chip 'Why make sense')
Who to be? (Whitey 'Who to be?')
Why try? (Limp ...
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Is "It's got better now" grammatical?
sentence: "It wasn't going well at first, but it's got better now"
Something feels wrong with it, but it's like, I've heard people use it or something like it before, so I'm not sure if it's ...
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"I always make grammatical errors" VERSUS "I'm always making grammatical errors" what is the difference?
I'm brushing up on my grammar using Cambridge's English Grammar in Use, and in the present continuous and present simple unit, it mentioned when to use "always do" and "always doing".
I never picked ...
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use of the verb NAG in reference to pain, discomfort
As a native speaker, I know that persistent pain can be described as nagging, as in nagging back pain. However, would it be correct/idiomatic for a doctor, for example, to ask a patient How long has ...
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Not stopping at a STOP sign
Is there a street verb or an idiomatic saying that's used to say that a vehicle passed the (red traffic) light or a STOP sign without stopping?
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Is "We'll see" an okay sentence to close a conversation?
When I was talking to a native American English speaker, he seemed to use this sentence "we'll see", if I am not mistaken, to signal a closure of our conversation. The conversation was amusing, no ...
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Expressions used to boost someone's energy/enthusiasm in doing their work
Suppose you see someone you set to doing something are doing it half-heartedly, without much if any enthusiasm. What could be the expressions to boost their energy/enthusiasm?
Searching for the ...
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Do native speakers say 'get on' instead of 'continue'?
Today I was talking about something important with our manager, but then another guy came and interrupted our conversation. As soon as that guy finished talking and went away, I said 'Let's continue' ...
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Why do native speakers say 'Come on in' rather than 'Come in'?
Today I passed by a restaurant and got attracted to its menu sticking on the window, so I stopped and had a look at it. Then a staff standing at the gate said to me,'We have nice food. Come on in!' I ...
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"Finish off" or "finish off before"?
Let's say you are READING AT THE MOMENT, but you are PLANNING TO PLAY a computer game (Starcraft).
1) 'I just have to finish this article off first before I play
Starcraft.
Or
2) 'I just have ...
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2
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"With whom who" vs "Who with whom", a split preposition, and a phrase request for a seemingly strange way of dating among some teenagers
Context:
Pete likes Jane and Anne. His friend Jack (all the four in their early teens), too, likes both the girls who, in their turns, like both the boys. To get sure which of the two possible pairs ...
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2
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I didn't do nothing or anything
Usually when I want to deny something I will say I didn't do anything
However, lately I watched some movies in which the people sometimes said I didn't do nothing
They use no instead of any, like ...
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What is the connotation of "up" in phrases like "eat up" and "wait up"?
What do you feel "up" in "eat up" and "wait up" indicates? Does it sound like "be quick" (eat up) or "I'll be quick" (wait up)?
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Ever vs Never, where to put them and which is better to use
I've a symple question with when to use ever and never.
For example in the following two senteces, which it's grammatically better
we'll teach them that they won't be able to mess with him, ever
...
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"never mind..." or "forget..."
I have an expression crossing my head but I cannot find any reference on the Internet. I only found "never mind" in the dictionary.
I'm talking about "forget".
E.g. "I've never visited Paris, ...
user65007
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Similar phrases to a "situation close to life"?
In Czech, when we talk about a scene in a book/movie that reminds us of our own lives, we say it is very "from life" (ze života).
What are the ways to express such feeling in English?
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Is it grammatical/common to put "are" after the subject in questions?
Example:
Which one are we watching?
Which one we're watching?
Is it common to do this? Sometimes I see it, but many native English speakers tell me that I should add the are.
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Referring to oneselves in plural
I am originally from Poland, but am living in the UK for a long while now.
One of the first "thing" that struck me after my arrival, is that some of the people are referring to themselves in plural ...
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questions to ask someone's outside appearances
In some situations like you lost your friend in the crowd or you ask about a new friend who you're going to meet later in a party, we would ask a question to know their appearances (i.e. height, ...
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Who is he? Who he is?
Can we say ...
"Do you know who is he?"
To me, it sounds very unnatural and grammatically incorrect.
Though, I think we can say ...
"Do you know? Who is he?"
in conversation.
Is that ...
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Is "Suppose you did ..." guessing that 'you' already did?
571 suppose, supposing and what if
(...) A past tense makes the suggestion sound less definite.
Daddy, can I watch TV? ~ Suppose you did your homework first.
M. Swan, Practical ...
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English usage: "Are we done?" and "He is gone" [closed]
"Are we done ? "
He is gone
I used to hear the above sentences from some of English speaking acquaintances. I was wondering whether theses sentences are grammatically correct or poeple are speaking ...
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Is the sentence 'Tom said he hadn't got any money' reported speech from 'Tom said, "I haven't got any money"'?
I came across this pair of sentences in 'Cambridge English Preliminary for Schools Trainer' by Sue Elliott and Liz Gallivan CUP 2012:
Tom said he hadn't got any money.
Tom said, 'I haven't got any ...
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Is "basically" work as a filler? Is this a new trend?
Here in Sydney, I hear "basically" a lot. But it seems to add no thing to the meaning and is used in an unnecessary way. Am I correct? Is it a filler to give some time to think? In written English, ...
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Grammar of "There's lots of flavors out there" [duplicate]
This comes courtesy of one of the episodes of Friends:
There's lots of flavors out there.
Shouldn't 're be used here in lieu of 's?
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What's the meaning of "don't let them get you.'?
Folks,
http://nypost.com/2017/06/30/trump-scolds-korean-media-for-wreaking-havoc-in-oval-office/
In the above link, there are sentences as follows;
But then he turned to his South Korean ...
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What does "one" mean or stand for in "Hey, I'm on my way, all right? One."?
In this movie two brothers are talking on the phone:
— Yo — Hey, Isaiah. Hey, are you going to pick me up, man? —
You all right? What happened? — Man, just some skinheads
tripping, man. — All ...
user16335
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3
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The word "times" instead of "multiplied by"
A shorthand English word for 3 multiplied by 4 is:
3 times 4
I am aware that this comes from spoken language as in "we have 3 four times", a version I know from my native language as well. I would ...
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"You haven't written any thing right" or "You didn't write..."?
If someone wrote something wrong and I want to tell him that all of what he wrote is wrong can I say: "You haven't even written any thing right" or should I use the past simple?
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Is it alright to use the phrase "working his butts off" in formal essays such as IELTS? [closed]
Is it alright to use the phrase "working his butts off" in formal essay writing such as an IELTS exam?
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What does "I am no chicken" mean?
Please, have a look at the sentence from the A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle (Chapter 3 = The Lauriston Garden Mystery).
“This case will make a stir, sir,” he remarked. “It beats anything I ...
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Is "how you do you" grammatical?
I read this on the Stack Overflow blog:
Computer security is always evolving. Passwords are “what you know.”
Smart cards are “what you have.” We decided to ask “how you do you.”
Is the ...
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When to use "easy" over "easily" as an adverb?
It's my understanding that "easily" is the regular adverb for "easy", e.g. "He makes friends easily".
But in some collocations one still uses "easy", e.g. "Take it easy", "Rest easy" or "Slow down ...
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Having/being a sweet tooth
Several times I came across the expression "I am a sweet tooth", not "I have a sweet tooth".
Is it allowable in colloquival speech?
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
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What is a non-vulgar synonym for this swear word meaning "an enormous amount"?
How do I say "shitload" or "shit-ton" without cursing?
Ideally, I'm looking for a term for casual conversation but without any cursing, the word you can use with kids and teens, or just adults you ...
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How frequently is the expression "when it comes to" used in spoken English?
If I want to tell my friend about some topics, such as what I do in my free time or my favorite movies, is it appropriate to use "when it comes to" at the beginning of the conversation?
For example, "...
Brenda
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Is "firsthand smoker/ first-hand smoker" standard English?
I was wondering if "firsthand smoker" or " first-hand smoker" is a standard formal English or I should use "active smoker".
When I looked up "firsthand smoke", "first-hand smoke", "firsthand smoking"...
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0
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Colloquial structures meanings
I would like to know how many meanings have the colloquial structure "ain't" aparte from: am not, is not, are not and have not. Example, the song, ain't nobody by Felix Jaehn:
Ain't nobody
Loves ...
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Someone who lives in a working-class neighborhood
How would an American native speaker refer to someone whose house is located in a bad part of town where some poor people with a lower social / cultural level live and where the dwellers' average ...
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Are there better ways to say "I like the sentence someone said" or "I love this sentence someone said"?
If I hear someone（esp. a very famous person) say something (e.g. a sentence) and I appreciate that sentence very much, what can I say?
"I like the sentence someone said" or "I love this sentence ...
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3
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How square is a square
I've recently heard the follwing sentence in a text for children learning English:
The blackboard is square.
It got translated to the German equivalent of “the blackboard is quadrilateral”. The ...
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How common is it to use the word 'bitch' for a female dog?
Today I was exposed to the fact that the female form of dog is bitch (just like bull (m) and cow (f)).
But I have never heard someone who called his female dog a bitch. So I suspect that in fact it ...
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