Discussion Groups / English Usage / March 2007

A while back, someone suggested that in at least some British accents,
it was common to drop the indefinite article in speech. Whoever
mentioned this was told that this was just not the case. I was pretty
sure I'd heard the speech pattern often, and have been waiting to find

ISLAM and the AIM of LIFE
What is your purpose in life? What is the rationale behind our life?
Why do we live in this life? These questions frequently intrigue
people who try to find accurate answers.

I had occasion to look for the Times Style Guide on-line for the first time
since they revamped their website. Can't find it. The Guardian Guide is
still there.
Anyone know what happened to the Times Guide?

From the "People's Network Acceptable Use Policy" (2002):
--> You are solely responsible for maintaining your file storage
--> space. This space is fixed at 5 Mb and cannot be increased.
--> Your file store will be deleted if it is not used for 6

A friend of mine (owner of a computer shop)  is being accused of
selling a refurbished computer as new.  In fact, the computer was
built of new parts by my friend. It was never sold before  but it sat
on the shelf for some months and was used for demonstration purposes.

Do you see any difference between the phrases "by comparison" and "in
comparison"?
The latter is certainly more common, and is what I use; but "by
comparison" seems to be very popular too.

sometimes i am quit confused writing reports. let s say there s a
statment i want to say "I checked all the regional offices there was
no staff member around" i such case can i write WRITER instead of "I"
or is there anyother word to use?

 while composing an email, I got slightly confused on whether I
should use the phrase "therein lies the rub" or "therein lies the
nub". Googling revealed that the former is probably derived from "aye,
there's the rub" from Hamlet's famous soliloquy. Does anyone know

I've run across an odd symbol in a rebus. It looks like a Y, with two
lines across it. Like this one, but with one more line:
<http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/03/0310.html>
In the rebus, it sounds like "young."

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Closing date: 2400 hours GMT/UTC on 27 January 2007

I'm getting a little bit confused with the following statement:
"I'll like to stay".
Is this statement grammatically correct?
Cheers.

If someone announces that they plan to "retire" from a high office, it
makes you think they have reached pensionable age. If they say they
plan to "step down", "step back" or "resign" it makes you think there
has been some scandal or problem. Is there a neutral way of announcing

I read the phrase "across the piece" in a Telegraph article about the
most hated phrases in English. I have not seen this before reading the
article, and there is no indication as to what it means.
Anyone?

In recent interviews on the talk show circuit, Peter O'Toole objects when
his hosts refer to "playing this character". He insists that actors play
parts.
The only distinction I can make over this is that playing a part might

So why can't some Brits *including* certain BBC newsreaders say
'aitch' - IMHO people sound such peasants saying 'haitch'.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6335839718304507003&q=angry+teacher&hl=en
Perhaps American English teachers have better control in the