@RegDwight — Which reminds me: I've been meaning to ask about the usage of "for sure" vs. "sure" as a regional or other variation in a construction like "I'm sure" vs. "I'm for sure" etc. I can't find anything in a search, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been asked.
I hear both (and their negatives: "I'm not sure" and "I'm not for sure"). I want to classify the "for sure" variety as regional Southern, since that's the context I most often hear it.
For example, take the "gimp" scene from Pulp Fiction. (Not that usages in the movies prove anything, mind you,...
I wasn't sure, though, if its
incorrect or correct but just not
idiomatic outside the southern US.
This construction would be considered incorrect (a grammatical mistake) in most varieties of English.
To notice that "I am not going to eat this thing" is different from "I will not eat this thing" and "I am not eating this thing."
> (be going to be/do something) intend or be likely or intended to be or do something; be about to (used to express a future tense): I'm going to be late for work | she's going to have a baby.
Hi.
Let's say that you have a word that should be typed with leading lowercase letter. Perhaps it's a computer command. Perhaps it's an Internet nickname. I can't find any more serious examples.
When you put that word at the beginning of a sentence, should you capitalise it?
cat allows you...
If you remove the person (will, intention, etc), the meaning is identical. The asteroid is going to collide with the moon. is equivalent to The asteroid will collide with the moon.
@z7sg The difference could be the immediateness of the action; if I say "I will go to Paris," I can mean I will go to Paris between 2 years, between 10 years, or between an undefined number of years.
@z7sg If you are expressing your intention, then it's equally good. If I know I will surely eat gnocchi all a fiorentina (e.g. that is the only dish on the menu), then I would use the future tense (will).
In chemistry, the homologous series for hydrocarbons uses the prefixes:
Meth-
Eth-
Prop-
But-
Pent-
Hex-
Hep-
Oct-
Why is this so, instead of just using "uni-", "di-", "tri-"?
I looked up the prefixes, but there is no dictionary record of them. But I think "uni-", "di-", "tri-", were invente...
@kiamlaluno I don't know the rules, if there are any but I feel like I use "I am going to" most frequently. Hell I don't need to worry about rules as it's my own language!
(I don't know any more about the etymology of bully than the OED, which says it might be related to Middle Dutch boel... I dn't know; I hadn't even heard of the word.)
The OP seems to have a good background in syllable structure, but I'll give some background in that for those who might not.
This phenomenon is known as final obstruent devoicing. An obstruent is a consonant made by constricting airflow. In German, the relevant ones are (in IPA):
stops (a.k....
@z7sg: Yes, those tenses are more complicated than they seem, I think. I have tried teaching them to kids, based on grammar books and excercises, and I found "the rules" only worked reliably in simple, standard sentences. The same applies to present perfect v. past simple, though I have some clue of what's behind those.
Recently I've heard American TV commentators say "[a person] was literally decimated" and "[a Senator] was literally thrown under the bus". In the first case I think the person was not actually 10% killed, but in the second, I believe they meant that 57 members of the US Senate carried #58 onto C...
Pronouncing asterisk → asterix /ˈæstərɪks/ is called Metathesis.
Some common examples of this phenomenon, that i have heard are ask -> aks, introduce → interduce /ɪntərˈdjuːs/
So this phenomenon has a fancy name. But is it correct to say asterisk as asterix or not? How do one decide that wh...
I hear both (and their negatives: "I'm not sure" and "I'm not for sure"). I want to classify the "for sure" variety as regional Southern, since that's the context I most often hear it.
For example, take the "gimp" scene from Pulp Fiction. (Not that usages in the movies prove anything, mind you,...
Hi.
Let's say that you have a word that should be typed with leading lowercase letter. Perhaps it's a computer command. Perhaps it's an Internet nickname. I can't find any more serious examples.
When you put that word at the beginning of a sentence, should you capitalise it?
cat allows you...
In chemistry, the homologous series for hydrocarbons uses the prefixes:
Meth-
Eth-
Prop-
But-
Pent-
Hex-
Hep-
Oct-
Why is this so, instead of just using "uni-", "di-", "tri-"?
I looked up the prefixes, but there is no dictionary record of them. But I think "uni-", "di-", "tri-", were invente...
I use them interchangeably, however I'd like to know when one is better or more appropriate than the other.
The OP seems to have a good background in syllable structure, but I'll give some background in that for those who might not.
This phenomenon is known as final obstruent devoicing. An obstruent is a consonant made by constricting airflow. In German, the relevant ones are (in IPA):
stops (a.k....
Pronouncing asterisk → asterix /ˈæstərɪks/ is called Metathesis.
Some common examples of this phenomenon, that i have heard are ask -> aks, introduce → interduce /ɪntərˈdjuːs/
So this phenomenon has a fancy name. But is it correct to say asterisk as asterix or not? How do one decide that wh...
English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…
English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…