New answers tagged word-usage
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Accepted
What's the difference between before, until, and unless?
All three words would be grammatically correct, but not all grammatical sentences make sense.
Sentence (1) refers to the passage of time in a person's life, so unless is not appropriate. Until sounds ...
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2
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as many vs so many
In American English, given your context where a requisite number (11) is specified, most idiomatic would be that many:
Eleven people are needed for the team. But we don't have that many people, so we ...
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Is it correct to say "I screwed the tap onto/into the pipe"?
Nowadays "male" and "female" threads are being called "external" and "internal" threads, respectively. The designations are changing in catalogs and technical ...
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Is it correct to say "I screwed the tap onto/into the pipe"?
"Onto" is fine in normal usage and implies connecting in general, and if you don't know which way round the threads are (i.e. which is outside). In technical documentaion / instructions I ...
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Is it correct to say "I screwed the tap onto/into the pipe"?
I would say you screwed it onto the pipe.
Screwing 'into' something could imply drilling a hole into something for a screw, or even drilling into it with the screw. Here, the pipe has a threaded end ...
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‘in’ vs ‘after’ vs ‘later’
which ending sounds the most natural and grammatically correct for the
following sentence? and why?
even if you have the best teacher in the world, it’s not gonna matter
if you give up…
…after just a ...
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Manager, boss, superior – which should I choose?
Manager or Supervisor would both be appropriate. Ideally you want the word that connotes the role you'll be playing. In most cases, you will be managing or supervising your team while they work ...
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Fill in the blank: "The first rule of sailing is, when you see _______ in trouble, you help him."
All compound pronouns, yes even "everyone", are grammatically singular - the number of the postcedent (in this case, the "him" in "you help him") is not a reliable test ...
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Accepted
distinctive vs distinct
The 5 most common nouns in a sentence starting with The distinct... are advantage, feature, difference, features, nature.
The 5 most common nouns in a sentence starting with The distinctive... are ...
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Manager, boss, superior – which should I choose?
The other answers here are quite good, so I won't duplicate them, but I would like to add some context around the word "boss" in English, which has additional connotations — additional ...
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3
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distinctive vs distinct
Merriam-Webster defines distinctive as:
1a: marking as separate or different : serving to distinguish
the distinctive flight of the crane
1b: having or giving an uncommon and appealing quality : ...
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distinctive vs distinct
Distinctive means tending to distinguish, whereas distinct means either separate or particular. So in your example, if one wishes to say “what sets them apart,” the better choice is distinctive.
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Worth as a predicate adjective?
worth is a noun but you need an adjective:
... because I am ________.
You are looking for the word worthy or as the comments suggest, worth it.
You could also change the verb to "have" and ...
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Worth as a predicate adjective?
But I was wrong because the truth is that we are worth personified. Worth isn’t the result of our actions, accomplishments, and possessions; it isn’t increased by self-sacrifice. It is the essence of ...
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2
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Manager, boss, superior – which should I choose?
Modern work lingo these days favours line manager to avoid all the subtle differences in connotations that might inadvertently be triggered. You can use that phrase for all your X.
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3
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Manager, boss, superior – which should I choose?
Your examples don’t completely nail down the context, so there is some wiggle room. Plus there are differences between US and British (and likely) other usage. But here’s what this American would say.
...
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18
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Accepted
Manager, boss, superior – which should I choose?
"Manager" is a fairly neutral word, suitable for most business contexts. Your manager is the person who has responsibility for supervising your work.
"Manager" would work well in (...
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0
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The water sparkled as diamonds in the sunlight - "as" or "like" or both?
Everyone agrees that like is idiomatic in your example, but there's considerable doubt about as.
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Can I delete ‘then’ in ‘and then’？
All these work (roll is better than bounce for a coin):
On his way to the sweet shop, he dropped his fifty pence, it rolled along the pavement and then disappeared down a drain. typical English ...
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Olive Garden: "The cheese keeps coming 'til you say 'when'"
The quotation marks around 'when' indicate that the sentence literally means "The cheese keeps coming until you say the word 'when'". I'm sure that waitstaff would stop dispensing cheese in ...
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Olive Garden: "The cheese keeps coming 'til you say 'when'"
This is a case of ellipsis — omitting superfluous words from a sentence without breaking it. Like if you anwser "tomorrow" to "When can you start?", you mean "I can start ...
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Olive Garden: "The cheese keeps coming 'til you say 'when'"
Mandatory YouTube clip
The commercial shows various dishes with cheese being the main ‘player’
"At Olive Garden our cheese will make you melt and leave you bubbling with joy"
This line is ...
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0
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Does having a temper make you angry or calm?
I think the problem is your understanding of what tempering is in relation to metalworking.
Quenching a hot piece of metal is not tempering; it is hardening.
Tempering is taking a piece of metal and ...
20
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Accepted
Olive Garden: "The cheese keeps coming 'til you say 'when'"
[The original wording] feels wrong to me, but I can't pinpoint the reason.
If you don't mind, I'm going to rephrase the examples slightly.
(1) At Olive Garden, the cheese keeps coming 'til you say &...
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Does having a temper make you angry or calm?
Logically, I believe you are correct: a "temper" is a good thing that should not be lost, and "having (a) temper" taken literally means roughly the same as "having self-...
2
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Accepted
Is "Given is .." right?
Given is multitude of purposes and that many global industries use aluminum in their products, the price models the overall health of the world economy.
That sentence is wrong! The writer wanted to ...
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Is "Given is .." right?
I agree with your guess that the writer intended "Given its .." and that this is therefore a typographical error.
The "it" here being "aluminum" (or "aluminium" ...
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Can "copycats" and "plagiarists" be used interchangeably in business contexts?
Here is the distinction between "plagiarist" and "copycat:"
"Plagiarist" specifically refers to copying another person's writing or research. It does not -- for instance ...
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Can "copycats" and "plagiarists" be used interchangeably in business contexts?
In the setting you described, neither plagiarist nor copycat would be a natural choice. Plagiarist is descriptive / literary and might be used in a book or news publication. It attributes an identity ...
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Is this idiom formal or informal
It is sweeten, as FumbleFingers pointed out. It is informal. However, it is not extremely informal. Avoid using it in professional writing or in a press conference. It is okay to use to a coworker or ...
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Is this idiom formal or informal?
“Go down Memory Lane” or “Take a trip down Memory Lane” are informal, so much that Memory Lane is a cliché. It’s good to understand the meaning, but I’d tend to avoid using it in both formal and ...
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Olive Garden: "The cheese keeps coming 'til you say 'when'"
Is the original sentence technically ‘correct’?
Yes, for idiomatic usage. “Say when” has an understood “… to stop.” Sometimes the other person will respond with “When.” to mean “That’s enough.” in a ...
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52
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Olive Garden: "The cheese keeps coming 'til you say 'when'"
"Say when" or "till you say when" is an idiom. The idiomatic use is understood from context. In any situation in which a person is being offered something and invited to indicate ...
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A customer is someone who 'buys' but what is he if there's no purchase made?
Both etymologically and de facto, customers are customers whether or not they buy; shop personnel habitually refer to all members of the public who enter the store as customer.
Asked if you need any ...
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In which situations do we say "Bob flirts with Mary"?
Flirting is the act of making romantic advances; this is true no matter the intent behind those advances.
However, these advances are "not meant to be taken seriously" in the sense that ...
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"Fade-ins" (digital marketing)
'Fade-in':
a gradual increase in the visibility of a scene
I get the confusion, as it seems the fade-ins themselves are measured using your cookies, but the idea is that these advertisements are ...
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Can we say "Mike has a date with Mary tonight" when they have been a romantic couple for years?
The term "date" does not itself imply novelty, though it is often used that way.
The question is whether you will be understood, and a lot of that depends on context and audience. If you are ...
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Does the phrase "Tom has been seeing Mary for a while" always imply they have a romantic relationship?
Yes, "seeing" means "having a romantic relationship with". Well, unless the context calls for it to be taken literally. Like, "Once he got new glasses, Tom could see Mary.&...
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In which situations do we say "Bob flirts with Mary"?
Ditto @gotube when he says that flirting is an action and not an intention.
Flirting means making casual romantic advances. Like telling someone that you think they are attractive, laughing at their ...
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3
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In which situations do we say "Bob flirts with Mary"?
Flirting is an action only, not an intention or desire, so 1 and 2 are not examples of flirting because they aren't even actions. Bob may want some kind of relationship with Mary, but do nothing at ...
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Use of "and hence" for short conclusions
The other answers describe valid responses. However, I think it is good to point out that using "and hence" is idiomatic and natural, and is not awkward.
My personal favorites would be to ...
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12
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Does the phrase "Tom has been seeing Mary for a while" always imply they have a romantic relationship?
Depending on context "seeing" could be in a professional capacity i.e. Mary is a psychiatrist or doctor. However, lacking additional context, I would assume romantically, as it is the most ...
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Can we say "Mike has a date with Mary tonight" when they have been a romantic couple for years?
A lot of the answers focus on the word "date," and point out (correctly) that established couples also go on dates. I think this is a bit of a new usage, and intentional. But I want to point ...
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3
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In which situations do we say "Bob flirts with Mary"?
Strictly speaking, flirt describes situation 3. (I would use Bob behaves towards Mary rather than says to.)
It definitely doesn't mean situation 1; it implies that you don't have real romantic ...
- 47.5k
30
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Accepted
Does the phrase "Tom has been seeing Mary for a while" always imply they have a romantic relationship?
Without any context, the sentence "Tom has been seeing Mary for a while" would strongly imply that they had a romantic relationship. In the dictionary entry that you cite, the only example ...
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In which situations do we say "Bob flirts with Mary"?
It can be used in all of the above. It doesn't rule out any of those three, or imply a particular one of those three. However, the word "flirt" has the connotation of something light; that ...
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Can we say "Mike has a date with Mary tonight" when they have been a romantic couple for years?
While I agree with the comments and answers saying that the word date can be used for a pleasant planned encounter by a married couple, in American English the word is often used with a hint of scare-...
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Can we say "Mike has a date with Mary tonight" when they have been a romantic couple for years?
You can have a romantic date with your spouse.
It's the location and the purpose of the romantic appointment that counts. A date can be anywhere and at any time of day; a cinema, a theatre, a small ...
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Can you say "his ears are problematic" when someone has a hearing problem?
A circumstance is problematic when it is an obstacle to a goal and it is unclear how the obstacle is to be dealt with, as no clear solution is presenting itself. That which is problematic presents a &...
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Definite article or not in "after (the) deformation"?
Sentence A—the one without the —would be understood by native speakers to imply that the point itself is what underwent the deformation. (That would cause semantic problems because mathematical points ...
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