Discussion Groups / English Usage / September 2010

Why progressive in "are wishing" and just simple present in
"remember"?
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... a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the

This being the end of my week, I was relaxing by surfing music on
Youtube, and I found myself revisiting my earliest days by listening
to Nat King Cole. His songs were giving me STS before I was 10,
although I didn't connect the name and the songs until 30 years later,

I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now.
Why *to* the stomach?

Is this sentence ambiguous:
1-He suggested that a session be held secretly.
a-the session was to be secret
b-the suggesting was done secretly

An English TV ad, circa 1983, where various men would present their plastic
to a succession of beautiful women who would reply, as above, in a posh,
alluring manner.
And then, one day, BBC2's Not the Nine O'Clock News had Pamela Stephenson

Here's an interesting resource:
http://wals.info/index
It's a little odd. It doesn't show English as a language in North
America - nor, strangely, in Australia or South Africa

The full article: http://Now.to/6f2k
QUESTION 1:
"Experimental economists have found that people
will sacrifice their own resources to punish cheaters

I've read Ms. Clarke's book several times and always read the name of
one of the main characters as nor-ELL. Sort of like Superman's dad,
Jor-el.
Today, I started listening to the audiobook and was rather surprised to

Describing a person is "well read" always seems slightly odd to me.

It came to pass that specialty coffees were made available at McDonald's
restaurants. One of my favorites is cappuccino, a coffee made with espresso
and steamed milk. It is one way of guaranteeing some sort of consistency in
the quality and taste of the drink from McDonald's, as ...

What's the exact meaning of "Why?" here?
Seems to be
"What?" or "How?"
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Teen slang: What's, like, so wrong with like?
By Denise Winterman BBC News Magazine
Actress Emma Thompson says young people make themselves sound stupid by
speaking slang outside of school. But while the use of the word "like"

Which is correct?  Love to know which of the following verb tenses is
correct and why.  I'm discussing an argument that I made at one time
about what should happen from that point forward.  A little tricky...
a)  I argued that the software was quite complicated, and therefore

"it was having evaporated"?
seems strange to me.
"it had evaporated"
seems better, perhaps.

1-He recited a number of poems he had composed in the presence of the
king.
Can't this sentence have two meaning:
1a-the reciting was done in the presence of the king,