99
votes
Why do native speakers say 'Come on in' rather than 'Come in'?
"Come in" is permission, offered to someone who has asked for it (by knocking, for example). Unsolicited, it sounds imperative, or presumptuous; though of course this can be moderated by tone of voice ...
- 2,086
91
votes
Accepted
Why did my "seldom" get corrected?
Seldom is a word and you have used it correctly, however not very naturally!
Seldom - not often; rarely (def. from google)
I disagree with the correction. A better way to say this is:
I also ...
- 4,258
58
votes
Accepted
What adverb could I use before "apologizing" to mean "a lot"?
The word you are looking for is profusely.
Adverb
profusely (comparative more profusely, superlative most profusely)
In great quantity or abundance; in a profuse manner.
The run left him sweating ...
- 7,173
53
votes
Accepted
'Ask away' - what does 'away' mean?
People understand Ask away by analogy with certain other familiar sentences with away.
Soldiers shout this when dropping bombs from an airplane (see, for example, this book):
Bombs away!
By ...
- 27.5k
51
votes
Accepted
Is 'much funny' a correct English expression? If it's not, then how can we replace it?
Not much fun means "not very enjoyable".
Not very funny means "not very humourous"
Not much funny doesn't mean anything.
- 73.7k
41
votes
Why do native speakers say 'Come on in' rather than 'Come in'?
"Come on in" has the same meaning as "come in" but is a more folksy way of extending the invitation. It suggests a kind of rural, down-home hospitality that is redolent of (American) TV shows of the '...
- 14.4k
35
votes
Introductory word meaning "considering what was previously said"
What about good old "so"?
German-made parts are way too expensive, so we ordered Chinese ones.
This is by far the most natural way of saying this.
- 2,088
31
votes
Accepted
Is the word "here" unnecessary in this sentence: "Hi, Bob the Canadian here"?
If you appear and say "Hi, Bob the Canadian!" it sounds like you're saying hello to someone called Bob the Canadian. If you want to say hello and indicate that you are Bob the Canadian, then ...
- 1,560
30
votes
I will grab a taxi back. vs. I will grab back a taxi
I will grab a taxi back means that you intend to hail a taxi for your return journey.
I will grab back a taxi is not an alternative way of saying the above. 'Grab back' sounds like someone has taken ...
- 96.3k
29
votes
Accepted
I have never been here or I have never been there, which is more natural?
Native speakers would typically say "I have never been here before" in this context.
You are talking about the place where you are currently, so here is correct. But the sentence "I have never been ...
- 1,233
29
votes
Is the word "here" unnecessary in this sentence: "Hi, Bob the Canadian here"?
Yes, it's necessary. It does the same job as "I'm" or "my name is". If you drop it, you'll probably be understood, but definitely interpreted as speaking very telegraphically.
To ...
- 12.7k
27
votes
Accepted
What does the "more" mean here?
This seems to be a mistake. The original documentation, from 2013, reads:
The World Wide Web was built over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
and the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
A ...
- 864
27
votes
Can "too" occur in a negative sentence? "That effort too came to nothing"
(Converted my comment to an answer, since it has been upvoted.)
Came to nothing has a negative meaning but it isn't grammatically negative. A negative sentence would be 'That effort did not come to ...
- 49.5k
26
votes
Accepted
Isn’t ‘approximately’ an adverb?
‘Approximately’ is an adverb
Yes.
and modifies a verb
Not necessarily. Adverbs can also modify adjectives, other adverbs, or in your case, numerals.
‘approximately five people’ without a verb ...
- 14.8k
26
votes
In the phrase "there's a good film on late", does "on" mean "on TV"?
In this sentence "on" is not short for "on TV". Here it means "scheduled". It is the same use of "on" as in "What have you got on tonight? - I have a ...
- 6,135
25
votes
Why has "strangely" been used instead of "strange" in the sentence "Harry felt strangely"?
Strangely here is not a predicative complement of the verb feel but an adverb modifying as though he had entered a very strict library. Compare these parallel uses with a different PC (1) and ...
- 175k
25
votes
Accepted
Is it okay to say "We are no more in the 20th century"? Using "no more" with periods of time
no more can have the same the meaning as no longer and, up until 1840, it was more widely used. Here is a typical example:
He instantly determined to be no more a slave. - The works of Hannah More, ...
- 59.1k
25
votes
Why do we say 'aim high' instead of 'aim highly'?
"Aim high" isn't telling you in what manner to aim, but where to aim. "Aim high, above the basket, in order to have the basketball reach the basket." "Aim carefully" ...
- 351
24
votes
Accepted
Is "100% correct pronunciation" an understandable, correct, and proper English expression?
Some English speakers feel that '100 per cent' is overused as an expression, especially in connection with things that cannot be measured. For example, you couldn't say a pronunciation was '87% ...
- 96.3k
23
votes
Accepted
"laugh out loud" VS "laugh out loudly"
You're right. They're both adverbs. However, you can only say either to laugh out loud or to laugh loudly. There is no such thing as the phrasal verb to laugh out in English. It just does not exist. ...
- 37.5k
20
votes
Is "100% correct pronunciation" an understandable, correct, and proper English expression?
Understandable?
Yes. Almost all English natives would understand your intended meaning.
Correct?
I'd say so. Some might argue that it should be an adverb like "fully", but if it's correct ...
- 301
19
votes
Introductory word meaning "considering what was previously said"
I guess you want to use a subordinate conjunction (or a phrase with similar functionality) which simply means "because". In this context, I can mention several ones as below:
Thus
Therefore
Hence
...
- 6,015
18
votes
Accepted
"Most everyone" versus "mostly everyone"?
You've left out the most important alternative: almost. Here's an expanded version of your Google Ngram:
In most everyone, most is a contracted version of almost, an adverb modifying the every ...
- 175k
18
votes
Why do native speakers say 'Come on in' rather than 'Come in'?
It is never easy to answer why a particular colloquial phrase is used. It just is. In this case I speculate that "come in" on its own might be thought to be slightly less encouraging than "come on in"....
- 5,678
18
votes
Why did my "seldom" get corrected?
I mostly agree with Bee's answer: "but seldom" fits better than "and seldom" because of negative/positive usage. Switching to "occasionally" makes the sentence say you are happy about having ...
- 489
17
votes
Has GOOD become an acceptable adverb?
I would tell your students it's a "trap word," that is, something they might hear when conversing with native speakers but something that others might find jarring or unacceptable. (English has a ...
J.R.♦
- 109k
16
votes
Accepted
Can I use two “half” for emphasis?
No. The three sentences all mean different things.
Half of an apple is eaten means there was one half of an apple, and all of that one-half is eaten. Picture someone cutting an apple into two halves; ...
- 21k
16
votes
Is 'much funny' a correct English expression? If it's not, then how can we replace it?
The original sentence is definitely incorrect. The best way to rephrase depends on what you are trying to convey.
I think what they were trying to say was
There were sports for boys only, which was ...
- 7,994
15
votes
Accepted
It is so pity that you cannot join us now
Used in this context, so is an adverb of degree, meaning very, extremely, or to such a degree. Adverbs of degree are used to qualify adjectives- so good, so nice, etc., or other adverbs- so nicely.
...
- 59.1k
14
votes
'Ask away' - what does 'away' mean?
Away has quite a few different meanings, and can be both an adverb and an adjective.
In the context of "ask away", it is an adverb that means "without hesitation".
You could omit the "away" and just ...
- 1,884
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible