Painintheenglish - painintheenglish.com - Pain in the English
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If ... were/was 2 Aug 2013 | 02:57 pm
Which is correct; If the current owner WERE allowed to have an auto body shop of if the current owner WAS allowed to have an auto body shop? I am questioning whether Owner should be with WERE or Owner...
“There can be only one” or “there can only be one”? 15 Jul 2013 | 10:39 pm
Aside from being accurate in quoting from Highlander I had never really given much thought to the construction of this phrase, but I recently overheard a discussion in which one of the protagonists wa...
Chary 6 Jul 2013 | 04:03 am
This word has been driving me crazy. Figuratively speaking, I have been having an argument with my Word program about whether the adjective can act attributively or not. The sentence I had was somethi...
have gone to 2 Jul 2013 | 05:52 am
I’d like to ask your opinion on the following sentence: “I have gone to X High School since I was fifteen years old.” A student recently asked me whether or not this sentence was grammatically corre...
Five eggs is too many 1 Jul 2013 | 05:46 am
A: What are you cooking? B: An omelette. A: How many eggs are you putting in ? B: Five. A: Five eggs is too much. Or “Five eggs is too many” Or “Five eggs are too many” (which sounds weird to me...
When is a bridge not an overbridge? 28 Jun 2013 | 04:04 am
Here in Kiwiland the word “overbridge” is used when the majority of English speakers would use the word “bridge”. Not sure of the source or the reason for this, and I’ve yet to see an “underbridge”.
I’ve vs I’ve got 25 Jun 2013 | 03:08 am
“I’ve (You’ve) to go swimming” vs. “I’ve (You’ve) got to go swimming” and “I’ve (You’ve”) the Frisbee” vs. “I’ve (You’ve) got the Frisbee” vs. “I have the Frisbee” They could all be correct o....
“my bad” 4 Jun 2013 | 06:44 pm
Where or how did the term “my bad” originate? I hear it more frequently all the time and it really annoys me. Bad is an adjective, not a noun or verb.
“reach out” 25 May 2013 | 09:20 pm
I’m not usually a peever, but I do make an exception for business buzzwords. A recent survey in Britain found that many office workers felt ‘management-speak’ to be ‘a pointless irritation’. Up to no...
Same difference 24 May 2013 | 09:31 pm
This phrase has aggravated me since the first time I heard it. Those who use it justify it as being akin to, “...same thing!” which has never sat right me. In my opinion, something is either the same ...
