Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2007

"Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining
something in class, he asked his students if they understood.
They responded with many different nods and shakes of the head. He
assumed some people had not understood, so he explained

For some time now I have been puzzled by the "hawt post" that appears on the
log-in page of the WordPress blogging host.
Finally I decided to look it up in my printed dictionary -- no help there.
So I tried Google.

Can you please tell me the job titles of (1) the people at an
unemployment office who take applications for those trying to get
unemployment insurance and (2) the person who (sometimes) sits at a
desk whom unemployment recipients talk to about their individual

While searching for a bed and breakfast establishment in the Lake District,
I found a decent-sounding place in Newbiggin, Cumbria. I looked up how to
get there in my AA Road Atlas, and found five villages or hamlets, all
called "Newbiggin", with no further specification, all in ...

Milenko Kindl
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan braced for protests against emergency
rule on Monday, while President Pervez Musharraf faced mounting
pressure from the United States to hold parliamentary elections in

Hi all, i came across a grammar exercies
He wants to wear ______ ( my dress ,mine ). I am puzzled.
which one is correct?
Thanks in advance.

"Think twice before you speak and you'll speak twice the better for
it".
For what?

Filched from the a showbiz gossip email:
[Locale: South-East England]
   Not only is there a Dry Cleaners at Staines station called
   Stains, there is a Dry Cleaners in Turnham Green called

What is the function of a possessive in a noun clause?
Failing is not an option.
Me failing is not an option. (was wrong when I studied English)
My failing is not an option. (was right " " " ")

For the following sentence, "that" makes the sentence better, but is it
requried for grammar or even proper English?
"Realizing this also requires that people know certain objects are not
Equal."  

A friend of mine is taking an ESL class.  One of her assignments was
to find the mistake in this sentence:
Has he moved here a long time ago, or has he just arrived?
I am stumped.  My initial reaction was to change it to read:

When the term "PC" (Politically Correct) first started appearing it
pertained to things that were said or written that were or were not
acceptably phrased.  For example, it was "not PC" to speak of
cripples, Negroes, "my girl" when referring to "my secretary" (later

Dear linguists and other lovers of the English language:
My new online survey of world English varieties is now available
online at
http://www.ling.cam.ac.uk/survey/.

Michael Quinion just addressed this in his weekly "World Wide Words"
3. Weird Words: Doohickey
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An unspecified object or small device, especially a mechanical one.

According to *my* students latest:
'There are two main political parties in the US, the Democrats and the
Publicans...'
DC