All Questions
Tagged with british-english word-choice
106
questions
1
vote
2
answers
514
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A traffic light (1 "light" composed of 3 lights) or A SET of traffic lights (3 lights considered individually)?
Which is idiomatic in British and American English, when talking about a single post that contains 3 lights, red, yellow and green? A traffic light or A SET of traffic lights?
Dictionaries seem ...
- 5,401
-1
votes
2
answers
551
views
Feminine Forms for chaps and blokes [duplicate]
"Chaps" / "blokes" are friendly ways to address "male folks" in the UK. Do we have "corresponding" feminine forms?
"Shawties", "babes" aren'...
- 145
-2
votes
1
answer
94
views
The proper word to denote the end of a count-off in the line in a PE class [closed]
What does the last student in the line say( in a PE class at school) when the class has lined up and counted off?
At the beginning of a PE class, the teacher always asks students to line up in one ...
- 301
0
votes
1
answer
188
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Is it "come to" vs "come down" to a place?
When asking if they visit the city I live in, What should I say?
Do you come down to xyz often?
or
Do you come to xyz often?
Assume xyz is a name of a city.
When instructing someone to come to a ...
0
votes
0
answers
85
views
Ropes, cables, hawsers?
I am looking for synonyms to 'thick rope' and have found "hawser" and "cable".
However, lexical sources claim that hawsers are for naval use (mooring; towing). Would it seem odd to ...
- 107
0
votes
1
answer
49
views
The left edge of a sheet protector (punched pocket)
What is a correct word to refer to the edge of a sheet protector [US] (aka punched pocket [UK]): edge, stripe, strip, spine?
The word should be understandable to both US and UK native speakers. (I'm ...
- 358
0
votes
3
answers
517
views
“suggested I just ate/eat a banana” [duplicate]
The following is an extract from a passage, the emboldened sentence being the phrase of interest:
Coming in a minimalistic white pouch, the meal-replacement powder blends things like rice, peas and ...
- 328
-1
votes
1
answer
51
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If I put the word "over" in my answer, is it wrong?
The given context is as follows:
The lack of a strong gravitational pull has caused any water the moon may have had to leak out into space over the 4.6 billion years that it has been in existence.
...
- 63
1
vote
1
answer
2k
views
Does the word ”attention” have a verb? [closed]
I studied the nominalisation, but I'm so confused if the noun ”attention” regards as nominalisation, and if say so, what its verb?
- 45
0
votes
2
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252
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Do I ruin/spoil/decrease my appetite in this context?
I wonder which word is more appropriate in the dialogue below, especially in British English. Usually I prefer "ruin", but it sounds a little bit strong here, at least to me as a non-native speaker. ...
user244475
0
votes
0
answers
26
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the different usage of Health and Healthy [duplicate]
.......care has provided us with amenities
a)health
b)healthy
I am a bit confused but I think that we should use (healthy) because it is an adjective for (care) and thus a verb can can be brought ...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
64
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Usage of Comparative adjectives
I find myself using Comparative adjectives a lot more than just adjectives is there a rule of thumb? Here is an example...As I understand it, comparatives compare with something.
It was not busy ...
user381847
5
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Is the expression "get shed of" or "get shut of" or "get shot of"?
Recently, in comments, I noticed someone used the phrase get shut of meaning to be done with.
I've always understood the phrase to be get shed of with the same meaning.
He was happy to get shut of ...
- 22.5k
5
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Use of "the ill" vs. "the sick"
I was struck by the use of "the ill" as a noun phrase in a sentence from a question asked yesterday: "I'm going to be a doctor. I'm going to help the ill." For some reason, I felt that "the sick" ...
- 83.5k
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1
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How to say "Received payments" in one word [closed]
I want to say "Received payments" meaning the payments that have been confirmed and received by us, but i want to say this in one word, because its a table name and i'd like to use one word to ...
- 101