Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006

In BrE, would you use more articles here?
Say:
"From the hall"
"into the dining-room"

I recall hearing somewhere that "as well as" should only be used to
refer back to something alread mentioned. For instance, it's OK to
write, "John and Bob went to the store," but not "John, as well as
Bob, went to the store."

"One of the most well-known inscriptions from the brothel claims..."
No! "One of the best-known..."!
http://traumwerk.stanford.edu:3455/31/345
http://www.romanticbohemian.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3451&st=0&#entry54863

From a Wall Street Journal editorial:
"So far the White House has been steadfast in insisting that TRIA
[Terrorism Risk Insurance Act] eventually be allowed to sunset."
Ugh.  Does "sunset" mean something different from "expire", or is the

First, I know the original is correct, of course.
Still, I am trying to test variants, thus:
In BrE, could it be possible to have
"I do wish that you SHOULD go"

Would you prefer "flag carrier" and "standard bearer" or "flag-carrier"
and "standard-bearer"?
Daniele

I was looking at the Bible passage that I am reading in church this
Sunday from John chapter 9. I decided to look at an internet version of
the New International Version and did a double take when I saw verse 6:
6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/music/studentinfo/guides/language.htm
"a) The split infinitive. In English, the infinitive form of a verb
often includes the word 'to', as in 'to go', 'to bring', 'to dance' and
so on. It is not generally considered acceptable to place another word

In the following sentence:
 On June 26, 2006, Rowling revealed that at least two characters will
die in the final book of the Harry Potter series, one of whom may be
Harry himself.

I thank eveybody who contributed to the short "Poppers" thread. By your
help, I now understand what poppers are. There are a few other words that
have arrived on the scene recently, and I thought it would be a good idea to
use this opportunity to bring myself back into the 21st ...

"The buyer may sell the goods, provided he has paid all sums due to the
seller up to date".
The usual meaning of "up-to-date" is "modern, current". In the above
sentence, however, does "up to date" refer to "by the date of selling

I mean, the replics what they says to player at Doom 3.
Examples:
First cutscene is in Mars City Underground, where
John (It must be player's name, because Doom, the movie,

Hi, native speakers of English,
is the phrase "get or be given a one-way ticket to Palookaville"  in modern
use at all? If it is, what does it mean? I understand it used to be used in
boxing for telling a fighter to "lose" a fight. Does it mean to fire

I'd always assumed that the "to"-less AmE "write someone" was a fairly
neat and economical way of doing things (after all we don't "call to
someone" or "text to someone", so why "write to someone"?), but I've
just come across a case where it's ambiguously garden-pathy: