Unanswered Questions
8,734 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Why is 'women' sometimes pronounced as 'woman'?
Some American speakers pronounce both 'woman' and 'women' as 'woman' (ˈwʊm.ən). Is this a recent pronunciation change? Where, why, and when did it originate?
I specified the American accent because ...
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10
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1
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What might the term "B-I-T-sweetie" mean in the context of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes's play "The Mule-Bone"?
I am currently reading through Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes's 1931 play, The Mule-Bone, and I am rather puzzled by the term "B-I-T-sweetie," which shows up in this exchange in Act ...
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4
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Does "have experience..." take a preposition?
I often struggle with whether "experience + noun/gerund" should include a preposition — and no matter how much digging I do in style manuals, dictionaries, and web search results, I never ...
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Is there dialectal variation in the weak form of "on"?
This question is related, but not quite identical, to a previous one and to another similar one.
In a recent video, phonetician Geoff Lindsey claimed that the words "off" and "on" ...
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Earlier sources or identity of person who coined the term "neutrois"?
A lot of work I've been doing recently has been around the emergence of various gender identities. "Neutrois" recently came to my attention, with more information about it here:
Nonbinary ...
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7
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2
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752
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Is there a term for sharing a word between multiple lines of a poem/song?
In Jonathan Coulton's "Sticking It To Myself," the last word or phrase in one line (bolded) often also serves as the first word or phrase in the next line without repetition:
And I heard ...
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6
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1
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There seems (to be) a... vs. There seems (to be) little
There seems to be a problem.
There seems a problem.
In this type of construction, the version with to be, such as (1), is much more productive than the one without, such as (2). See this Ngram: ...
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6
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Is there an alternative modern approach to the fused-head noun phrase?
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 410) defines "Fused-head NPs" as follows:
Fused-head NPs (noun phrases) are those where the head is combined with a dependent function ...
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6
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1
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How are /ɪ/ and /ʌ/ realised in the Nottingham (East Midlands) accent?
I've got a sample of a few words pronounced by a Nottingham accent representative: https://youtu.be/2fCSeDEZeVU
My ear is far from perfect and this is why I'd like to ask for your help in this ...
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3
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Using ‘first’ pre-verbally: ‘When I first wake up, I...’, ‘When we first saw them, we...’
Sorry, I don't have a clear question so much as I'm just looking for info on the use of first pre-verbally in examples like these:
When I first wake up, I […]
When we first saw them, we […]
I just ...
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5
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1
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Why is "each" ungrammatical in "It’s an insult to us each"?
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Pages 427-28) has this:
Universal personal pronouns of the type us all
[6] i a. They’ve invited us all. b. It’s an insult to us both. ii a. She likes ...
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0
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There’s one letter (for you) to sign
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by H&P says (Page 1394):
(d) Infinitival extensions
[11] i a. A few replies are still to come. b. There are still a few replies to come.
ii a. One ...
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1
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Other way to pronounce they'd
Is there another way to pronounce the word "they'd"? In this video (2:23), I think he pronounces it as "/ðed/ instead of /ðeɪd/.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXQQ94rg9ic
Thank ...
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4
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1
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Etymology of "banged-up" = "imprisoned"?
1. What is the etymology of banged-up = "imprisoned"?
Briefly googling, I couldn't find any etymology.
(I'm guessing it came from the banging sound of the gate/door as one is locked up?)
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Meanings of “catch one up” in British English
I know that it’s common in British English to say things like
You go on ahead. I’ll catch you up.
That usage is never encountered in American English. We would say, “I’ll catch up with you.”
In ...
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