Search
This usage seems to be common not only in English, but in Western cultures in general. (The two parties do not need to be on first name terms for this pattern to work: "Oh, Mister Bennet! Have som...
It depends on the context, but generally "in doing so" refers to something that happens along with or as part of the action, and "by doing so" refers to a result of the action. In many cases either...
In my English-speaking culture, when two people are in conversation, usually we don't bother addressing each other by name—or even by any substitutive term of address, like ‘sir’/‘ma'am’ (formal) o...
I recently stumbled upon this wikipedia page and it got me thinking. Take a look at the following table (terms are lifted from the Wikipedia page) W (interrogative) H (proximal) T (medial)...
Is obrigado used in case of unclear gender of the author? Yes. Can I deduce that the writer of the text is male or is there some kind of neutral male default that might be in use here? T...
Consider the following sentences: "She was against his joining the team." "She was against his joining of the team." "She was against him joining the team." Instinctively, the first just so...
It's built just like the normal present perfect. I have had it. Have you had it?
Languages & Linguistics has been getting some questions about relatively basic issues in the English language. There's nothing wrong with these questions as such, but they don't really fit the ...
Deciphering a language which has left behind only a limited number of very short texts is hard. There are lots of undeciphered ancient languages; for additional distraction, some of those scripts ...
This is the kind of question there's more than one correct answer to. Most trained linguists will tell you to do whatever is most natural or whatever everyone else does. They tend to be a descripti...
I'm a native Swede but not exactly a grammar wizard. "kommit" is past participle for the verb komma: "komma" = to arrive "kom" = arrived "har kommit" = have arrived In order to say "I have arrive...
In Arabic the word مُسَدَّس refers to pistol when an arm is meant (see here on wikipedia). But it also refers to a hexagon (see here on wikipedia) -also سداسي أضلاع or سداسي- as it is a description...
I've often seen that "we can only look back in time a short distance in linguistics". What prevents linguistics from deducing information far in the past? Is this limit something that can be pushed...
I think questions about linguistics as applied to a language one is constructing (or has come across) should be on-topic as linguistics questions. For example: "Here's a description of how noun cas...
A major aspect to some people of building imaginary worlds is to come up with an artificial language for the people in that world; often referred to as "conlangs" for "constructed languages". Are q...
It seems like a lot of humor has an element of surprise. Sudden meanings, unexpected turns of the plot, language unexpected given the context (impolite language in polite context, technical in a no...
Lawrence Sanders, Caper, 1980. 1987 paperback edition, page 61: We saw crumbling walls, decayed ceilings, cracked plumbing fixtures, exposed electrical wiring. We saw one room that appeared to h...
Some words are examples of the concept they name. Examples: "Word" is a word. "Noun" is a noun. "Eggcorn" is an eggcorn (a mistaken word that sounds like and has some connection to another wor...
tl;dr, English just borrowed other languages' suffixes I shouldn't really come as too much of a surprise to know that the irregularity comes from borrowing endings from multiple different language...
This site is young and asking some questions and seeing how they end up received is a good way to judge what kind of coverage can be found here. That said, questions entirely disconnected from a m...
I nominate Moshi, since they are an active member, and consistently post well written questions and answers to this forum. I think they will be a good fit for the moderator role.
Finally, I have found a book which explicitly mentions that it is a matter of manner. It says: a. Good manners require that the order of singular pronouns should be second person, third person ...
This is not a proper answer as I cannot verify this etymology beyond Old Swedish "ohýris" meaning something like "immense". I'm rather inclined to think that the word could be related to even olde...
This article explains a shift from 19th century usage of the 3rd person[1] "heeft" to current day 2nd person "hebt". Both forms currently have the same meaning, both are correct. However, some so...
Any online dictionaries I can find agree on a /ʃ/ across any standard dialects they cover. I don't remember encountering the other pronunciation myself. I suspect that you are looking at an examp...
