Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009

As in great.
How long used that way?

I know about the lyrics of "My way or the highway".
What I don't know is the meaning of " the highway".
Is it
1. hit the road

The following sentence will appear in a web questionnaire in the US.
Please do not mind the context for the time being.
Among the three below, which one is better?
(I am trying to mention to the respondent that he or she would answer the

Assuming AmE, what would be the best placement of quotes and comma here:
1) “He marked that part of the floor as ‘slippery,’” she said.
2) “He marked that part of the floor as ‘slippery',” she said.
Other?

Do ‘neither’ ‘nor’ constructions take only two separate elements, for
example:
‘Neither snow nor ice will prevent our ascent tomorrow’?
Would a series of elements be grammatically wrong, say:

I admit I overdid it: I've got an Obama Inauguration wristwatch, an
Obama scarf and calendar. I also have been wearing my Obama pin for
many months even before the Election.  Now, when I turn on the TV I'm
blessed with too much of a good thing.

I was reading that after the Spanish conquered the Caribbean islands,
they required the natives living near the mines to provide them with a
Flemish hawksbell worth of gold every three months.  That was
explained by the author as between one-half and two-thirds of an

Seen here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/obama_inauguration/7837193.stm:
    Roads and bridges into Washington will be closed to traffic,
    with sniffer dogs on the subway.

I have some linguistic problem. English is not my native language but
I use it very often. Very often also I'm saying "once time ..." ex:
"Once time I met a man from France". So I have discussion with my
friend about this, as he said that this is incorrect and I should say

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: tonyla...@myinternetuk.com
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:06:37 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Fwd: Planets Gather on May 5 and May 17, 2000

Well, I'm feeling a bit stupid today. I need help with the wording of
a review I need to give for something I bought.
The seller shipped the item with incorrect postage and I had to pay
$1.50 to the Post Office. The seller ended up refunding me $2.00. In

What kind of object would you say "John" is in the following two
sentences? Direct/indirect?
1) Helen blamed John for the divorce.
2) Mary warned John of the dangers.

You may get a kick out of playing with the Grand Unified Problem
Solver at www.grandsolver.com

I am a reporter for a trade magazine and I have some questions about
using the word "also".  Specifically, my editor always places also
before any verb, no matter what the usage. This drives me nuts, but I
don't know if it's technically wrong. Unfortunately, I have not been

Let me ask a qestion about the description of how a mark is shaped, in
a novel.
I looked at Mervyn's handiwork: a hasty curling cross with two
diagonals almost joined in a circle