36
votes
Accepted
Can we say "the pot is leaking" or "the pot leaks" when the pot is empty?
To describe something that has a hole or crack in it enough to allow the contents to leak, we normally use present simple, so "the pot leaks" is correct and the most natural way to describe ...
- 48.8k
35
votes
Accepted
Does "I slept in" imply I did it on purpose or by accident?
slept in means slept late intentionally. overslept means woke up late, unintentionally.
P.S. I'm a native speaker of American English and it's possible other dialects of English might use this ...
- 121k
27
votes
Does "I slept in" imply I did it on purpose or by accident?
The dictionaries all agree that to sleep in is to stay in bed longer than usual - but none I can find indicate whether or not that's intentional.
My own personal experience as a UK native differs from ...
- 16.5k
21
votes
Accepted
Is saying "I am excited to eat grapes" correct to imply that you like eating grapes?
Short answer, no. You're right, "I am excited to X" usually means that you are doing X right now or are going to in the future, and that prospect excites you.
Now, the whole thing is a bit ...
- 9,931
11
votes
Can we say "the pot is leaking" or "the pot leaks" when the pot is empty?
"The pot leaks" is fine, as it is describing what the pot has the capability to ever do (specifically the pot has the ability "to leak"). This is even if it doesn't necessarily ...
- 211
8
votes
Is saying "I am excited to eat grapes" correct to imply that you like eating grapes?
I would agree that being excited to eat grapes may not necessarily indicate you like grapes, although in most contexts it would. It would be a reasonable and usually correct interpretation to expect ...
- 4,748
3
votes
Is saying "I am excited to eat grapes" correct to imply that you like eating grapes?
Grammatically correct but not a phrase that is likely to be used in English. Broadly I would say not the best translation.
However, note that Spanish people eat grapes in the countdown to the new year ...
- 31
3
votes
Is it correct to say "I wish you always beautiful"?
I’m going to give you what I believe is the most helpful answer to your question:
Don’t say any of those things
The phrases with adjectives are incorrect - if you said “I wish you beautiful,” I wouldn’...
- 4,177
2
votes
"Once There was a Boy" vs "Once upon a time, there was a Boy"
The book's title “Once there was a boy…” is perfectly grammatical, it suggests that there was a boy who lived a long time ago.
There are other examples of this usage:
Once there was a fire; and Miss ...
- 26.2k
2
votes
Accepted
Do “not buttoned” and “unbuttoned” mean the same?
In direct answer to your question, yes - "unbuttoned" and "not buttoned" mean the same thing.
I can understand the confusion the prefix '-un' often means a reversal of something, ...
- 95.9k
2
votes
Is saying "I am excited to eat grapes" correct to imply that you like eating grapes?
No, it is not normal English. I for one would say it is grammatically incorrect but that is because I take a broad view of what "grammatical" means in line with modern linguistics; however, ...
- 293
2
votes
Is saying "I am excited to eat grapes" correct to imply that you like eating grapes?
It is a grammatically correct sentence.
I don't know Spanish, but from what you say it sounds like it is not a good translation of the original sentence. "I am excited to do X" is much more ...
- 62k
2
votes
Does "I slept in" imply I did it on purpose or by accident?
Can I say "I slept in and was late for work" in this situation?
You can absolutely say that, sleeping past your intended time to wake up is "I slept in", were you late for work? ...
- 329
1
vote
Is saying "I am excited to eat grapes" correct to imply that you like eating grapes?
It is, at the very least, odd. But it's still acceptable English.
It would, in fact, be possible for somebody to say that they were excited to be able to eat fresh grapes or excited to be able to pick ...
1
vote
Difference between “somewhat like” and “something like”
"Kind of like", "something like" and "somewhat like" have similar meanings. They are mostly interchangeable.
"Something like" is a general, common, idiomatic ...
- 9,387
1
vote
Does "I slept in" imply I did it on purpose or by accident?
I think using "slept in" can potentially mean both intentional or unintentional. If a friend just said "sorry, I slept in", I'd probably assume they hit the snooze button one too ...
- 21
1
vote
Does "Her hair was tied back in a neat bow." mean the ribbon in her hair is in a bow?
Her hair was tied back in a bow commonly conveys “by means of a bow (made of ribbon or the like).” It can equally idiomatically be restated as Her hair was tied back with a bow.
It wouldn’t be wrong ...
- 5,569
1
vote
Accepted
Are "I tied my shoelace" and "I laced my shoe" different?
Lace a shoe = thread the shoelace through the holes. There are many different patterns that you can use to do this.
Tie the laces = use a bow to tie the laces together, usually after putting the shoe ...
- 202k
1
vote
The 1990s vs the 1990's
Both of them may refer to the decade, but the Associated Press (AP) style of writing suggests the use of "1990s"—that is, without the apostrophe before the "s". The AP style is ...
- 11
1
vote
Accepted
Is it correct to say "get to sleep" in this situation?
You are right that if she’s already in bed, then Go to bed would not be appropriate. And Get to sleep, with or without quickly, would be somewhat odd since falling asleep is at least partially beyond ...
- 5,569
1
vote
Can we say "the pot is leaking" or "the pot leaks" when the pot is empty?
Another option I haven't seen mentioned is:
the pot has a leak
This is what I instinctively reached for as a native speaker. A bit more verbose than "the pot's leaky", but it's another ...
- 236
1
vote
Can we say "the pot is leaking" or "the pot leaks" when the pot is empty?
I am not an expert, but as a native English speaker one might say something that's leaky "is leaking" if it regularly receives water, like a gutter or a pipe.
As others have said, though, &...
- 11
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