A question for natives English speakers.
How do you perceive mentioned in the phrase "he is not mentioned in the book"? As an adjective like in the phrase "the dinner is cooked (ready right now)" orrrr like a verb?
Does "mentioned" describe a current result state that he hasn't been mentioned or it describes that he is not being mentioned in this book while I'm reading it, but in the present tense
I’m looking to get a tattoo of a quote from Singin’ in the Rain. Here it is without punctuation:
“Dignity always dignity”
I’m stuck between four different possibilities:
“Dignity. Always dignity.”
“Dignity, always dignity.”
“Dignity—always dignity.”
“Dignity; always dignity.”
And I suppose there’s also a fifth possibility in which none of these are correct…..
Thank you in advance for any insight you have to offer!!!
What is the phrase/word at the beginning of a sentence ending with a comma called? i.e. "Following this, he decided against moving within the week." or "In Beijing, they fell in love."
Which is correct?
Ken decided that he wouldn't wait for Barbie to become his "doll."
Ken decided that he wouldn't wait for Barbie to become his "doll".
I am studying grammar online and this sentence was correct on the site, but I don't think so:
It's you who don't know the facts of the case.
But, this makes sense:
You don't know the facts of the case.
Shouldn't the sentence be stated like this instead?
It's you who doesn't know the facts of the case.
I’m not a grammar nerd so I apologize if “collective noun” isn’t the proper terminology for my question. But anyway, I was wondering, If I were to make the sentence “Everyone and everything ___ for you,” would the correct verb be ”wait” or “waits”? Thanks in advance!
For example: Can you hand me the salt shaker? or Would you please kindly close the door?
They're normally rendered with a question mark, but I'm wondering if it's grammatically correct to use a period instead, particularly to indicate a more forceful asking of the question.
If im looking at multiple Ford trucks, is it Ford Super Dutys or Ford Super Duties. Super Duty is the name of the model. Thanks!
"He was talking about Toby's mother, Sarah."
"He was talking about Toby's mother Sarah."
I’m teaching the word “libel” as a noun and see it defined as “a defamatory statement”, but saying “a libel” seems unnatural. When I search for “a libel”, I find such things as a libel case, a libel suit, and a libel plaintiff, all using “libel” as an adjective.
So it must be uncountable, right? But “some libel” sounds just as bad as “a libel.” I’d say it’s more uncountable than countable because “How much libel can a person stand?” sounds better than “how many libels.”
I see FreeDictionary and Wiktionary use “a libel” but I don’t trust their editors to be the most knowledgeable. When I search for “libels”, Vocabulary.com says that’s a word. The terms “a blood libel” and “blood libels” are terms referring to “a centuries-old, antisemitic conspiracy theory against Jews…”, but other than those instances, I don’t see “libel” used in the plural.
So is it possible for a noun to be neither countable nor uncountable? Is there a word for a noun that is sort of uncountable but not completely? Is it both countable and uncountable, but “a libel” has just fallen out of use?
It seems to me that there should be a word for when an idiom is self-referential. Maybe it's just that my Google-fu is weak, but I have not been able to find one.
Here are a couple of examples of what I mean:
"I'm going on a cycle trip with my friend but he hasn't written in a long time and is nervous. My reassured him that cycling is a skill you retain and comes back to you very quickly, in fact it's like riding a bike."
"The trick to controlling dogs is to find what motivates them, how many it is food. If you pick up a piece of roast beef you can have them eating out of the palm of your hand."
"I think that is a little rodent living behind my skirting board but it is hard to track it down because it appears to be as quiet as a mouse"
"If you store your butter in the fridge but find that makes it quite hard, I recommend running your knife blade under a hot tap for 30 seconds before you try to spread it on toast. That way you'll find you can cut into it like a hot knife through butter."
Does anyone know a term to describe these, and if not what would be a good candidate? Autometaphor? Simicycle? Tautoloanalogy? In the style of backronym, perhaps reversimile?
I'm not the only one in this sub, I'm sure, who winces when seeing certain language trends. Twice this week already I've seen reddit posts which start like this:
"My husband and I's anniversary is next week and..."
It's ugly, it's inelegant and it goes against everything I've ever been taught. I hate it.
But it's also becoming more common and may one day be considered acceptable, if it isn't already.
I'm not entirely an old-school prescriptivist. I still use whom more often than most people would consider necessary, but I acknowledge that language changes and evolves over time. There are, however, certain trends (phrases, usage, etc.) that I can't stand.
How do you deal with your grammatical and linguistic pet peeves becoming commonplace? Do you just shrug and try to accept them? Rage against the dying of the light? The former feels like giving up, the latter a losing battle which leads only to aggravation.
I'm curious to know what other people think.
Can I say this?
"I have a prospect of winning."
Or
Should I just say
"There's a prospect of me winning."?
Hello all, which is correct?
I put John’s and Jill’s jackets together.
I put John and Jill’s jackets together.
Like if someone wanted to rob a bank, but accidentally shot them selves in the foot, leading to them getting caught, is the phase “they shot themselves in the foot” still a double entendre?
Sure, they are the reason for their own downfall, as the phrase figuratively means, but that is because they literally shot themselves in the foot, as the phrase literally means.
When the figurative meaning and literal meanings converge, is the phrase still considered a double entendre, or just a single entendre or something else entirely?
Not a native English speaker, but trying to understand how this sentence works.
My English is self taught, so not very proficient in grammar terminology :(
Maybe punctuation could help me get it? I don’t know!
Is the word “murder“ a quote of what she wrote?!
I figured this is the only way this would make sense, but what do I know 🤷🏻♀️!
Choose the correct sentence
The water in the lake was absolutely cold after the rain.
The news about the accident was extremely devastating for the family
The historical museum we visited yesterday was absolutely ancient
I am very starving because I haven't had breakfastyet
This sentence doesn't make sense to me:
I want to come to your house to visit you.
Why wouldn't it be:
I want to go to your house to visit you.
The person isn''t coming, but going.