Questions tagged [word-usage]
This tag is for questions which a dictionary cannot answer about the meaning or correctness of a word in a sentence. Give as much context as possible.
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"Before" in combination with the present state
Before he is the president, he was a businessman.
He is now the president and before that, he was a businessman.
Are these sentence fine? One of my fellow learners says "before" cannot be ...
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Why does Ash say "I choose you" instead of "I chose you" or "I'll choose you"?
In the Pokémon anime, Ash says "I choose you!" when he starts a battle. Why does he use the present tense instead of "I chose you" or "I'll choose you"? In the original ...
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Is it correct to say "we thread the bolt into the nut snugly"?
I asked this question on Quora
How do we say "we screw the bolt into a nut in such a way that the thread of the bolt and the nut fit well together"?
Quora is not a smart system. Whenever it ...
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How can we say "We put A into the position of B and put B into the position of A"?
I have an apple and he has an orange. I want his orange and he wants my apple.
And we say "I swapped my Apple for his orange".
However, now an Apple and an orange, which belong to no one, ...
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Can I say "I earned an interest of 5000 dollars from my savings account"?
When a word refers to "an amount of money", that word is often countable.
Fro example,
debt: [countable] a sum of money that somebody owes
rent: [uncountable, countable] an amount of money ...
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The water sparkled as diamonds in the sunlight - "as" or "like" or both?
Could you please tell me if it is possible to use "as" in this context, or only "like" can be used, or both options are possible?
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Is there something omitted between started out and rather sceptical?
Nicholas Sexton and Bradley Love, a pair of neuroscientists of
University College London, started out rather sceptical about the
supposed resemblance between natural and artificial neural networks.
...
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What is the difference between the form with "would" and with no "would?"
I want to understand the use of "would" in this sentence.This is a reply to a question. Here, B uses "would" when answering the question. Could you explain how "would" ...
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Correct use of the word pledging [closed]
I am pledging in front of you, that I will do this
Is this correct English? The idea is to convey to someone or bind yourself to do something by taking a pledge.
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How does "would" fuction in this sentence?
Could you explain how "would" works in the following sentence? Speaker asks a question, then speaker B uses "would" when replying to the question. I'd really like to understand its ...
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Can met be used for a virtual meeting
"I had a meeting with Rob on Zoom yesterday" or I could write "I had a meeting with Rob yesterday"
Instead of the above two can I shorten it further and just say "I met with ...
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What is the difference between "up" and "down" in football?
What is the difference between "up" and "down" in football context? I'm puzzled because both prepositions show a movement towards the opponent's goal.
54 min Chelsea 0 Man City 0
...
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What does "doubt" refer to in this sentence?
Experienced Fregeans will recognise a number of places in which I simplify or omit. Some Fregeans doubt that his theory was meant to apply to natural language, that his remarks were only to explain ...
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Why do we say "This jacket is the wrong size"?
A jacket is a thing and a size is a measurement and a jacket can not be a measurement.
Why do we say "This jacket is the wrong size" which sounds like "This jacket is a measurement"...
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Subjunctive mood and the usage of otherwise
For example, as the essay suggests,the convenience and efficiency of intelligent machines can actually free up human time and energy to focus on creative pursuits and higher-level thinking. This can ...
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Idiom for doing something you didn't ask
Is there an idiom that means doing something unilaterally without asking?
I was thinking "on their own accord"?
For example:
The airline cancelled my flight on their own accord
Does that ...
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Correct words to use in a From certain date to certain date doing something
So this is what I could come up with, but for some reason, it sounds wrong to me, and it is bugging me
As of 29.05.2023. Through and including the 29.08.2023, we will have new regulations in ...
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Can we say "I am meeting a doctor for my leg tomorrow"?
The meaning of "see" and "meet" in the dictionary seem alike.
to see [transitive] to have an arranged meeting with someone
to meet [intransitive, transitive] to go to a place where ...
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1
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What is the British word for the American word "pop quiz"?
According to many dictionaries, "pop quiz" (American English) is like a surprise informal test without warning in advance to test if a student has studied at home.
In Britain, one beautiful ...
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Is "didn't be" correct English?
Is "didn't be" or "did not be" grammatical?
For example, "He didn't be aggressive."
EmmaV
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Is it OK to say "Ask Question" instead of "Ask a question" [duplicate]
Can I write on my website "ask question" or should that be " ask a question" as far as I know in writing or speaking the correct way is "ask a question" is that true? İf ...
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Do British / American / Australian people understand "homework" and "assignment" differently?
I found this link on English Stackexchange.
A person answered "Homework: The collection of all the assignments I have to do at home". I am not sure if this person is American.
I had been ...
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Is it correct to say "Do not touch the rim of the toilet" or "Do not touch the lip of the toilet"?
My children sometimes touch the the rim of the toilet bowl as shown in the above picture as they have no idea how dirty it is.
We often use "the lip/ rim of a cup/ a pot...".
I am not sure ...
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"played the violin as/like my brother did"
a. My sister played the violin as my brother did.
b. My sister played the violin like my brother (did).
Do those only mean
My sister played the violin in the same manner my brother did.
or could ...
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Is it called a doorway even if there's no door?
Example:
He moved to the doorway to the family room and peeked in.
Is 'doorway' used even if there's no door but just an opening into another room? Or would native speakers use another word for that?...
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Difference betwen any other vs all other [closed]
What is the difference between ' he has to do all other works vs he has to any other works.
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Implicit generalizing adverbs in sentences - all, always, usually
Imagine I write statement (paraphrased) "Women like to wear different clothes to differentiate themselves from each other."
Is it more common for English speaking people to read it like
&...
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When running a program, is it correct to say "execute"?
I don't want to be repeating "run" a program in a report I am writing.
Is it correct to say "execute a program" (with the same meaning)?
Otherwise, what are other ways to say "...
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will be doing vs will, be going to
I often hear the announcement on a train say
"We will soon be arriving at XX station."
I understand the meaning of will, be going to, and will be doing. However, I wonder why the ...
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Is it correct to say "You must get on/off the motorbike from the left side"
When my children get on/off the motorbike, I want them to start doing it by standing on the side that doesn't have the tailpipe or exhaust because the tailpipe might be very hot especially when the ...
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Distinguish "And" and "Or"
Choose the right connectors for these 2 sentences:
I like coffee and tea
I don't like coffee or tea.
I wonder why they choose "and" for the first one and "or" for the second. Why ...
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What does the word "feedback" actually mean?
I googled the meaning and it tells me "'feedback' means 'information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for improvement'." However, ...
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'Research on this topic is a gap at Berkeley'. Is this sentence correct?
I'm now writing a cover letter where I explain how my work can contribute to academia and use this phrase:
Although pockets of expertise in Eastern Europe are spread across
departments, research on ...
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What does "writing" mean in "a note is a short piece of writing to help you remember something"?
I don't understand what "writing" in "a note is a short piece of writing to help you remember something" mean?
In the dictionary, "writing" means "words that have ...
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"Promised to someone" meaning
I've been listening to many songs and came across these two lyrics
Oh, goddamn.
My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand.
Taking mine, but it's been promised to another
(Ivy by Taylor Swift)
...
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What is the difference between "a spade" and "a shovel"?
In the Oxford Learner's Dictionary, a spade has a squared metal part and a shovel has a metal part with curved edges. This is the picture from Oxford dictionary.
In Cambridge dictionary, a shovel has ...
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Using the Didn't take something
Situation: A person (male) says something to a (female) aged 50+ both. The female ignores it. I could see from her face that she didn't take what he said in a good way.
Can I say this: "She didn'...
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Can I use the adjective 'appropriate" to describe the person? (example below)
Can I say/write the sentence below:
I thought to bring a German translator with me, but so far, I haven't had much luck finding an appropriate person.
Grammarly's suggestion: I thought to bring a ...
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'Gunning' means in the context
Australian John Landy, one of Bannister’s rivals also gunning to break the four-minute barrier, took more than a second off the Briton’s time in Turku, Finland, a few weeks later.
The source
It seems ...
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a refreshing weekend
I watched an English education YouTube clip, and a native speaker in the clip said the following:
I had a refreshing weekend. (Wrong)
I feel refreshed after the weekend. (Correct)
*Source: https://...
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I do not get the use of " what time" in Dickens A Tale of Two Cities
What time, the mail-coach lumbered, jolted, rattled, and bumped upon its tedious way, with its three fellow-inscrutables inside. To whom, likewise, the shadows of the night revealed themselves, in the ...
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When to use "one" over "somebody" or "someone"?
This question is particularly apropos when you’re faced with a naive or
straightforward solution to a computational problem. In the third
grade, you might not have asked if one could do better than ...
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Can I use "the best thing for you" and "the best for you" interchangeably?
I want the best thing for you.=I want the best for you.
If I omit "thing", is it ok?
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the word to describes "open" or "close" words
I want to know if there is exist the word to group two words
open
close
I searched but I didn't see the word.
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Is it correct to say "We have a 3-day holiday" in British English?
I know that British people say "holiday" and American say "vacation".
But the confusing part is how they are used as countable and uncountable nouns.
Say, you don't have to go to ...
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Can we say "get on the ground/ floor" instead of "get out of the pool"?
We often say to our children who is in a pool "get out of the pool now" or "get out of the water now".
Now, if you are forced to say "get on", then what is the area on ...
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Can we say "swimsuit" for any kind of swimwear (either gender)?
When searching for "swimsuit", I often see just 1 type that looks like this
But my daughter has a pair of pants and a top designed for swimming like this
Do we say "My daughter is ...
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arm and disarm an alarm system
Before I go to bed I always arm my alarm system in Home Mode.
When I get up in the morning I disarm the alarm system.
Do native speakers use 'arm' and 'disarm' in this context or would it sound odd? I ...
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What does "troop" mean in "[...] 300 glider troops had drowned at sea"?
the Allied commanders were appalled to learn that 300 glider troops had drowned at sea.
300 glider "troops" mean one troop with 300 gliders or there were different troops(first second,,, ...
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Is sawmill necessarily a building?
I tried to translate the word to my native language in online translators and they say that sawmill is either something like just cutting the trees or a factory where the trees are cut. But all four ...
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