Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009

I'm American but live in England with my English husband. Our
three-year-old must've picked up his speech from me, because he
pronounces some things the American way, especially the d for t
in words like "wadder" and "nawdy" (water and naughty).

The shooting reportedly occurred during a group melee, possibly also
involving a knife. Police have detained a person of interest
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beverlycenter19-2009may19,0,1667313.story
Is this a new word for "suspect", or a new phrase for "helping the ...

Hello, this is probably easy as pie for you all, but this non-writer and
somewhat illiterate needs help.
What is the correct or best way to write a statement containing particulars
?

For:
-----
The idiomatic expression 'may/might (just) as well' is typically used to
make a somewhat reluctant or sardonic recommendation:

I see two possible problems with this paragraph.  What do you all
think?
"My brother served in the army in Viet Nam. Because he was an M.D., he
started as a captain.  I think it was during the first year that he

Hello, this is probably easy as pie for you all, but this non-writer and
somewhat illiterate needs help.
What is the correct or best way to write a statement containing particulars
?

The following is a sentences from a novel.
Let me ask you a quesiton about what are meant by them.
Maybe you could use that dog to get Hammer and Brazil at the same
time. What you wanna bet

"When a tear falls, that thou fall'st which it bore"
does it mean
"When a tear falls, that part of you, that instance of you, which bore
it, falls"

Why does my spellchecker question this -- and other contractions like
"must'nt"?

The headline: "‘I can’t make it,’ drowning man told to friends".
"told to friends?"  "Told to!!!???"
This is the language used in the main newspaper of the Canadian
capital, the main newspaper of the capital of a G7 country.  Not

Posted to news:uk.media.radio.bbc-r4
via news:alt.usage.english so, please,
be aware of potential for cross posting
in follow-ups.

New York Times:
"The Telegraph's editors, with daily banner headlines pummeling
members of Parliament like a boxer raining blows on a helpless
opponent, have declined to comment on reports that they paid about

Any assumptions as to why Donne is using "shall" in
"Then shall my ghost come"
in the 3rd person?
Is this something about it being fated, preordained?

What are the differences and similarities between atheists,
agnostics, skeptics, freethinkers, secular humanists and
the non-religious?
/Why Tea

Do you have any quote of printed material where "all the way" adds any
value over leaving it out?
For example, I just read in "Math through the Ages" (Berlinghoff & Goevea,
page 28) the following quote where "all the way" adds no value to the