Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2007

‘Sneaky Words’ is a term that’s evolved in my writing classes over the
last year or so to describe a particular type of spelling error.  What
happens is that a student misspells a word they intended to write, but
the misspelling is, itself, a legitimate word. Crucially, it’s a word

I wrote this text in English. But as you can clearly see, I'm not a
native...
Please correct the mistakes!! Thanks a lot, all suggestions are very, very
welcome!!

Hello, Everyone:
Could anyone explain what "TAG, you're it" means as in
"You're amazing! You're awesome! And by the way, TAG, you're it. As
amazing and awesome as you already are, you can be even more so."

The local newspaper had a photo the other day of a sign that someone
had put up on his porch on one of our busy streets.  If I recall
correctly it read
Beware of grumpy old man

Can anyone tell me the mood and tense of the verb the second sentence
of the quotation below? There's a more than whiff of subjective about
it, but does it have a more specific name in traditional grammar?
"On May 5th, 1917, Debussy made his last public appearance in

 I need some help to know if I am doing well a word replacement in an
english text, I have to change the word "echography" by "ultrasound"
but, when I have to change "an echographic image" is it correct to
change it by "an ultrasonographic image" or is it better to say "an

When should "for ever" be used instead of "forever"?  I was under the
impression that "for ever" was simply incorrect, until recently.
In case it matters, I'm speaking BrE.
Thanks

So. Farewell then
Rose the
Goat
You have choked

Over in rec.sport.cricket, the verb "to woof" is apparently used to
mean "to jinx".  (As an example, someone confidently stated that X
would score at least 50, but he fell for 12;  the poster acknowledged
that he "woofed" the player.)

Would you be so kind as to determine which one is grammatically
correct, or correct in any other grammatically-based sense.
Excuse the strange nouns, as they've been replaced to protect the
innocent, or whatever.

First, I want to make certain that no one thinks I'm posting this only
because it's obviously anti-Republican. It's simply a classic example
of trying to make nonsense (i.e., political doctrine, but <for
clarity's and honesty's sakes, I have to include> religious doctrine as

Why does it seem that the term "pacific" in the sense of "peaceful",
not in the sense of the ocean is very rare? "Nice and pacific"
garnered only 9 hits on Google, while "nice and peaceful" garnered a
whopping 123,000 -- over 13,000 times more results! Is "pacific" an

I want to be English Teacher and work abroad to teach other
people, children.
Many of you find that teacher is the best job in the world. It can be
very intersting and give a lot of fun. What is my first steps if I

Hi English native speakers. I come here from time to time to bother
you with silly questions.
I know and found a so-called "Royal Order of Adjectives" which gives
some guidance  but can't decide which is the better in this case:

How acceptable is the nominalization of the adjective "stuck up" into
"stuckupness"/"stuck-upness"?
Thanks for your help!
Pete