New answers tagged word-usage
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Deduction is most often used in closing a case, corresponding most often with the Conclusion phase of the Scientific Method. Inference can be used anywhere and even at multiple times throughout the study, often in the hypothesis stage. And it can occur even after the conclusion is presented, thus opening the case for subsequent studies.
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You need to think what you are predicating it of.
If you are talking about short, it is the group that is short, not the students that are late (or even the group of late students), so you can say:
We are four students short (or "We are short of four students"),
but you can't say that the students are short with that meaning.
The same for less, except ...
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4 students are missing.
This one is grammatically fine.
4 students are short.
This is describing the students as short (opposite of tall), not describing the number of students as short. You could say "We are 4 students short [of the expected number]".
4 students are less.
Less than what? No, that can't be used. You could say "We have 4 ...
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In addition to what has been mentioned in the comments already, there's a nice example in Overly-controlling parents cause their children lifelong psychological damage on how to say what you ask in your question:
Parents who exert too much control over their children could be
causing them lifelong psychological damage
If you follow the same pattern, ...
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I agree with Orbital Aussie. As a side note, in some regions of the United States (at least), “plates” and “dishes” are synonymous. “Please hand me a dish” is taken to mean “please hand me a plate.” For many, a bowl is never considered a dish; it’s always a bowl.
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I think the first one sounds somewhat natural, but it's a poor sentence.
I need to understand this concept from Ms. Brown.
is leaving out the method in which you will receive your understanding.
It's a short way of saying something like:
I need to understand this concept from the explanation that Ms. Brown will give.
But this sentence is quite wordy,...
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"Valid" is a subjective thing here. It's obviously a valid adjective - although the spelling integrous seems to have significantly more use - but your question seems to be "is the word in common use?"
The answer to this is no. As a native speaker, I don't recall ever hearing it being used. Instead you will likely opt for a description that involves its noun ...
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When a male speaker says this kind of thing:
C(fiance): Hey! You sure are getting close to a man's fiancee! That man C is addressing his words to B(other guy).
He is referring to himself even though he says "man".
It is common in English to use this sort of thing. Here are some other examples of what looks like a general statement to another person that ...
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"My fiancee" would work. It sounds more possessive, however, and emphasises C's specific personal relationship. As such it potentially implies that C has no problem with B courting other people's fiancees, the problem is only a problem because it's HIS fiancee. Using "a man's fiancee" ensures the problem is defined in the abstract: that A is getting close ...
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"As follows" is really a way to introduce more text, often a list, for example:
My shopping list is as follows: three bananas, one bag of potatoes, three cans of soup.
The lyrics to the song are as follows:
"We all live in a yellow submarine
a yellow submarine...."
You can use "the following" in a similar way:
I would like you to buy ...
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We estimate that the iron loss for a period of 6 months is in the amount of 105 mg.
We estimate that the iron loss for a period of 6 months is in the quantity of 105 mg
There is no difference per-se, however colloquially the right way to say this would be to use the word 'amount' as per the first sentence. It would also be better to say "the iron loss"...
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Either way is correct. It's really just a matter of preference.
To me, it sounds better to say
X comes first.
because it doesn't mention the other option, and might be a bit more emphasizing. But then again, it's a matter of preference.
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They're not the same, and your search link demonstrates the difference nicely:
Toy cars are toys which are miniature cars, such as "Hot Wheels," which children play with.
Car toys are toys intended for use in a car. My children have a whole bag of car toys which we can take in the car on trips. Some of the toys are in fact toy cars, but also small games, ...
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Short answer: Yes that is okay.
Slightly longer answer. It doesn't really matter. Toddlers are not competent English speakers, so she won't understand what you mean. There is no point discussing this in terms of "comprehension" because the word won't carry meaning to the toddler. So what is the context of this? It is then really a question about parenting ...
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The OED may say the word started being used in the 1960s, but it was widely used in the '40s and '50s as a code word in the community. Gay men ("gay" is really only appropriate for men, if you ask most lesbians) had a vast quantity of terms to signal to other gay men in order to identify each other without risking physical assault. There is an iconic event ...
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As a straight man old enough to remember a time before "gay" meant "homosexual" to members of the majority community I have often thought that it originated in the phrase "Bachelor Gay". This goes back to at least 1916 and the operetta The Maid of the Mountains. Which includes the number A Bachelor Gay.
The narrator of this song is definitely heterosexual, ...
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"Stomp" is regional dialect. While it's now included in various American dictionaries, it comes from the Standard English term "stamp." So in a place where everyone uses "stomp," it would be understood and not stand out, but technically, it's not correct in formal English. If you want to use local terms, "stomp" is fine in the U.S. But I'm an older American ...
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The use of stomp with direct object works well for me.
I would phrase it as "stomp the snow off your boots". You hopefully don't have snow on your feet. And it is not the "snow of your boots" but "stomp X off Y"
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The Oxford English Dictionary has a long article for Gay in its many senses, and we can assume it was a very carefully curated article. My answer here is intended to give a plain answer as documented by the OED, which is conservative in its outlook. I'm sure a LGBQT+ sociolinguist would be able to give you a much more nuanced answer, as the adoption of the ...
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Big enough usually implies that being big is a good thing in that context, as in "The sign is big enough to be read from a distance". It is not really appropriate here, as we are talking about something that is so big that it is too big to be carried easily.
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Clip is also a noun and used to describe short pieces of video by native English speakers. However, they would probably not use it to describe a music video or "a short video" (that is, a complete video which is intended to be short). A key connotation of "clip" in this sense is that it as an incomplete excerpt from a larger work. For example, "to ...
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The way you worded it is good! I would probably say, “It seems marriage agrees with you, man!” But it’s the same thing ; )
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You are more likely to say Put it back on than just Put it on.
Generally speaking, you put on the television set. But people would understand put on a show to mean dialling it up on the television set.
The expression can also be used in the context of producing a show - in the sense of putting on a performance for an audience.
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a) is fine, but doesn't say what he has confidence in. It may be obvious from the context of the statement, or it may require some elaboration.
b) is also fine and adds what it is he has confidence in - himself. It probably does need expansion of what type of thing about himself he has that confidence, such as completing tasks of type A, or charming people ...
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More likely responses are:
It's not serious
It doesn't matter
It's of no importance
Don't worry about it
It's easily fixed/mended
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Since, in its normal state, a spoon is unbroken, I would not personally add any adjective to describe the replacement spoon, and would think the following would be a more natural turn of phrase:
Throw this broken spoon away, I'll get you another one.
In normal conversation, it would not be necessary to explicitly state that the new spoon will be good/...
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All three are images so I would avoid "image" when trying to distinguish them. I would call the first one a 'diagram with explanatory notes."
Here is a definition of diagram: "a graphic design that explains rather than represents
especially : a drawing that shows arrangement and relations (as of parts)."
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diagram
...
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This is a comb:
To "comb one's hair" is specifically act of using one of these. It would be unusual to ask somebody if they do this, and this doesn't appear to be the question you intend.
Therefore, of the two options you've given, it would be better to say, "do you braid your hair on your own?".
That said, a native speaker would probably say:
Do you ...
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There are several things to say about your example.
In the North American world, gas is frequently used to mean gasoline, a liquid fuel.
In the European world, gas means just that. So while Americans often put their foot on the gas, Europeans generally stamp on the accelerator or, at least, push it down hard.
To give throttle is internationally understood ...
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It doesn't sound right to me, you would have to use a noun after it
So:
Let's do what benefits the most people
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You might say, "I rode a horse with my friend sitting behind me." This sentence would indicate you were most probably the one in control.
Alternatively, "My friend and I rode a horse together, and I held the reins." This makes it clear who was in control.
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A "Pillion passenger" is a person sitting behind the driver on a motorbike.
You don't say "I rode a pillion passenger". It is possible to say
I took a pillion passenger
I carried my friend as a pillion passenger
I rode with my friend as a pillion passenger
You can use the phrase "ride pillion"
My friend rode pillion. (but avoid "I rode my friend ...
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Punctuation is used to improve clarity. In this case the words "file-sharing" function as a single modifier. It helps to write the hyphen.
Consider the example "a man-eating lion" and "a man eating lion" (the second literally means a person who is consuming lion meat)
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"Cut" means that someone used a knife or scissors on it. "Break" suggests that it isn't able to work properly. Split suggests to me that the rope is separated length wise.
I cut the rope into 1 metre pieces and tied each length of cut rope to the corners of my tent. (the rope was cut with a knife but it still "works")
The rope broke as we tried to ...
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I assume you mean "made the chair fall over". The typical way to say it would be "you knocked down the chair". Depending on the exact action, you could also say "you pushed the chair over". In other words, you describe the boy's actions, not trying to force "fall" into the sentence.
Just to confuse you, there is difference between "to fall" and "to fell". ...
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English speakers can and do say all of those, including those you concluded that we can't or don't.
If you do an online search for the phrases with quotation marks, you should be able to find numerous examples of every possibility you mentioned.
Some people will have preferences, and some will have opinions about which are "correct", "more correct", "...
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I would change one thing in your examples:
You {verb}, I {verb}. I MAKE a difference.
The word make, when used with I in the present tense is make. If you used the word “he” or “she” makes would then be correct.
-I make a difference.
-He makes a difference
You do not need the “s” in your template.
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"Cost effective" means that it is good value. It has a very "business English" style. If you say the train is "cost effective" you are saying that you or your company will can increase your profits by using the train compared to other forms of transport.
"Affordable" means that something is quite cheap. Literally it means that many people would be able to ...
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I honestly can't think of a way 'funny' might mean dishonest or unfriendly. It can mean 'strange' if intended that way. Can you you provide references to the dictionary definitions you saw?
In any case, people will interpret ambiguous words in the way you intend them if you use the appropriate non-verbal cues, such as tone of voice and facial expression. I ...
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It is very common to refer to a friend as “funny”. Native English speakers would always understand it as meaning “witty or humorous” in this context.
The other, more negative, meanings for “funny” are more rarely used and would be made very clear by a different context. For example: “funny money” is fake (dishonest) money, and “he’s gone a bit funny” can ...
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The first one is. (That's the guy with the baseball cap.)
The second one is a frown. The emotion expressed is more anger than disapproval.
The third one is a weird face pulled by a model, probably to be comical.
The way to think about disapproval vs anger. Disapproval is when you have looked in the back of the fridge and found something has spoiled. ...
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A "commute" is the journey not the means of travel. Lexico says
NOUN
A regular journey of some distance to and from one's place of work.
So you could say
I have a 40 minute commute.
but if you have you own car that you use to travel to work you can say
I have my own transport.
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"Contained" is the expression normally used when a virus or infection has been prevented from spreading among the population (ie from person to person).
Your suggestion of "confined to..." seems perfectly accurate for something visible, such as a rash, which is only one particular area, but I believe the medical term would be localised. Localized means the ...
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Yes, the configuration of the balloon's material that prevents the air from escaping from the balloon does count as a knot.
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The verbs are open and close. I open a door, then I close the door. Doors open and close. The past participles are opened and closed.
The adjectives are open and closed. The door is open or is closed.
(Note that "close" can also be an adjective, but with a different meaning, namely the opposite of far. "The door is close" means the door is nearby, not far ...
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Using hyphens in compound adjectives, e.g. a two-seater aircraft, a high-school student, a heavy-metal detector, is considered compulsory in British English, but US English is more lenient, and hyphenation is optional except where ambiguity would arise without a hyphen, or where it is desired to help the reader.
If you're unsure, use a hyphen.
Hyphens in ...
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All of those phrases have roughly the same potential meaning when referring to pancakes. However we really only use two phrases in this context.
flip a pancake
turn a pancake
'Turn the pancake over' is also used, but the word 'over' is redundant and is quite often left out. There is no ambiguity without it so it's not necessary.
With other objects ...
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"Flip the pancake" is far and away the most common.
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Whilst it is not grammatically wrong, I would not start a new paragpraph that way because 'that' almost always references something you mentioned prevoisly.
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As Orbital Aussie noted, the speaker is using 'baby speak' to make it easier.
The correct term is:
triangular hole
Similarly, you have quoted a difference between British and North American English, whereas my experience of both places is that use of the term 'right-angled triangle' would be used when speaking formally and / or to adults, whereas you ...
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