Ask About English

AAE Q158: "You'd better be sorry!!."

2011-08-18T19:57:00.006+01:00

If sorry is replied by "you better be sorry" than what does it mean?

Thanks

Dipak

Hello,

The correct response in English is "You had better be sorry." or "You'd better be sorry.". This is an angry response which is sometimes aggressive and threatening.

For example, my friend spilled his drink on me and said "Sorry". I angrily responded, "You'd better be sorry, this shirt cost me 100 euros!"

However it is possible to use this expression as a joke between friends.

Thanks

New Words in the Oxford English Dictionary 2011

2011-08-18T19:53:00.002+01:00

alternative vote: an electoral system whereby voters rank candidates in order of preference, candidates being eliminated and votes redistributed until one candidate achieves the required majority.

domestic goddess: (informal) a woman with exceptional domestic skills, especially cookery.

mankini: (pl. mankinis) a brief one-piece bathing garment for men, with a T-back.

retweet: (on the social networking service Twitter) repost or forward (a message posted by another user).

sexting: (informal) the sending of sexually explicit photographs or messages via mobile phone.

woot: (especially in electronic communication) used to express elation, enthusiasm, or triumph

AAE Q157: 'so have I, 'so do I'

2011-07-25T14:05:00.003+01:00

Hi,

I came across this problem when studying grammar of 'So do I', 'Neither do I'.

If there is a verb 'have got' in a asentence, e.g. "I have got lots of sweets.", what is the auxiliary that I have to repeat when I want to agree.

Is it: 'So have I', or 'so do I'? And what happens in the negative, e.g. I haven't got many friends. Is it: 'Neither have I' or 'neither do I'?

Thank you for answering me.

Eva

Hi Eva,

"I have got lots of sweets."
"So have I"
"I haven't got many friends"
"Neither have I"

In both sentences the auxiliary verb is 'have'.

AAE Q156: 'as per'

2010-08-24T12:16:00.003+01:00

Hi

What is the origin of "as per" and is it outdated to use it ?

Lim

Hi,

'as per'

definition: according to

example: 'as per your instructions'

origin: 'per' originates from Latin, 'as per' dates back to 1782

I don't think it is old fashioned although it is used in academic writing and journalism more than in spoken language.

M

AAE Q155: relative adverb/pronoun

2010-08-24T11:50:00.003+01:00

Hi,

What is the difference between a relative adverb and a relative pronoun?

Haidery

Hi,

Relative Pronouns

relative pronoun	use	example
who	subject or object pronoun for people	I told you about the woman who lives next door.
which	subject or object pronoun for animals and things	Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof?
which	referring to a whole sentence	He couldn’t read which surprised me.
whose	possession for people animals and things	Do you know the boy whose mother is a nurse?
whom	object pronoun for people, especially in non-defining relative clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially prefer who)	I was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference.
that	subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in defining relative clauses (who or which are also possible)	I don’t like the table that stands in the kitchen.

Relative Adverbs

A relative adverb can be used instead of a relative pronoun plus preposition. This often makes the sentence easier to understand.

This is the shop in which I bought my bike.
→ This is the shop where I bought my bike.

relative adverb	meaning	use	example
when	in/on which	refers to a time expression	the day when we met him
where	in/at which	refers to a place	the place where we met him
why	for which	refers to a reason	the reason why we met him

AAE Q154:sentence without a verb

2010-08-24T11:20:00.003+01:00

Hi,

Can a sentence be completed without using a verb?

Amit

Hi Amit,

As a general rule, sentences without verbs are incomplete sentences, i.e., sentence fragments.

However, exclamations are considered grammatically correct even without a verb:

"How sweet!" or "What a mess!"

Hope this helps

M

Phrase of the Day 188: 'The hair of the dog'

2009-09-11T13:02:00.002+01:00

"The hair of the dog"

definition: A small measure of drink, intended to cure a hangover.

origin: The fuller version of this phrase, i.e. 'the hair of the dog that bit me', gives a clue to the source of the name of this supposed hangover cure. That derivation is from the mediaeval belief that, when someone was bitten by a rabid dog, a cure could be made by applying the same dog's hair to the infected wound.

List of English prefixes

2009-09-09T23:46:00.001+01:00

List of English prefixes

Prefix	Meaning	Example
A-/an-	lacking in, lack of	asexual, anemic
A-	verb > predicative adjective with progressive aspect	afloat, atremble
Ante-	before	antebellum, antediluvian
Anti-	against	anti-war, antivirus, anti-human
Arch-	supreme, highest, worst	arch-rival, archangel
Be-	equipped with, covered with, beset with (pejorative or facetious)	bedeviled, becalm, bedazzle, bewitch
Co-	joint, with, accompanying	co-worker, coordinator, cooperation
Counter-	against, in opposition to	counteract, counterpart
De-	reverse action, get rid of	de-emphasise
Dis-	not, opposite of	disloyal, disagree
Dis-	reverse action, get rid of	disconnect, disinformation
En-/em-	to make into, to put into, to get into	enmesh, empower
Ex-	former	ex-husband, ex-boss, ex-colleague
Fore-	before	forearm, forerunner
In-/il-/im-/ir-	not, opposite of	inexact, irregular
Inter-	between, among	interstate, interact
Mal-	bad(ly)	malnourish
Mid-	middle	midlife
Mini-	small	minimarket, mini-room
Mis-	wrong, astray	misinformation, misguide
Out-	better, faster, longer, beyond	outreach, outcome
Over-	too much	overreact, overact
Pan-	all, worldwide	pan-African
Post-	after	post-election, post-graduation
Pre-	before	pre-election, pre-enter
Pro-	for, on the side of	pro-life
Re-	again, back	rerun
Self-	self	self-sufficient
Step-	family relation by remarriage	stepbrother
Trans-	across, from one place to another	transatlantic
Twi-	two	twibill, twilight
Ultra-	beyond, extremely	ultraviolet, ultramagnetic
Un-	not, opposite of	unnecessary, unequal
Un-	reverse action, deprive of, release from	undo, untie
Under-	below, beneath, lower in grade/dignity, lesser, insufficient	underachieve, underground, underpass
Up-		upgrade
Vice-	deputy	vice-president, vice-principal
With-	against	withstand
Afro-	relating to Africa	Afro-American
Ambi-	both	ambitendency
Amphi-	two, both, on both sides	amphiaster, amphitheater, amphibian
An-, a-	not, without	anemic, asymmetric
Ana-/an-	up, against	anacardiaceous, anode
Anglo-	relating to England	Anglo-Norman
Ante-	before	antenatal
Anti-	opposite	anti-clockwise
Apo-	away, different from	apomorphine
Astro-	star	astrobiology
Auto-	self	autobiography, automatic
Bi-	two	bicycle
Bio-	biological	biodegrade
Circum-	around	circumnavigate
Cis-	on this side of	cislunar
Con-/com-/col-/cor-/co-	together or with	confederation, commingle, colleague, correlation, cohabit
Contra-	opposite	contradict
Cryo-	ice	cryogenics
Crypto-	hidden, secret	cryptography
De-	down	depress
Demi-	half	demigod
Demo-	people	demography
Di-	two	dioxide
Dis-, di-, dif-	apart	differ, dissect
Down-	to make something lesser, lower or worse	downgrade
Du-/duo-	two	duet
Eco-	ecological	ecosystem
Electro-	electric, electricity	electro-analysis
Epi-	upon, at, close upon, in addition	epidermis
Euro-	European	Eurocentric
Ex-, e-, ef-	out of	export
Extra-	outside	extracurricular
Fin-	kinship	affinity
Franco-	French, France	Francophile
Geo-	relating to the earth or its surface	geography
Hetero-	different	heterosexual
Hemi-	half	hemimorphic
Homo-	same	homosexual
Hydro-	relating to water, or using water	hydroelectricity
Hyper-	above, over	hyperthermia
Hypo-	under or below something, low	hypothermia
Ideo-	image, idea	ideograph
Idio-	individual, personal, unique	idiolect
In-	in, into	insert
Indo-	relating to the Indian subcontinent	Indo-European
Infra-	below, beneath	infrared
Inter-	among, between	intercede
Intra-	inside, within	intravenous
Iso-	equal	isochromatic
Macr(o)-	long	macrobiotic
Maxi-	very long, very large	maxi-skirt
Mega-, megalo-	great, large	megastar, megalopolis
Meta-	after, along with, beyond, among, behind	meta-theory
Micro-	small	microbacillus
Midi-	medium-sized	midi-length
Mon(o)-	sole, only	monogamy
Multi-	many	multi-storey
Neo-	new	neolithic
Non-	not	nonexistent
Omni-	all	omnipotent, omnipresent
Paleo-	old	paleolithic
Para-	beside, beyond	parallel
Ped-/pod-	foot	pedestrian, podiatrist
Per-	through, completely, wrongly, exceedingly	permeate, permute
Peri-	around	periphrase
Photo-	light, photography, photograph	photoelectric
Poly-	many	polygon
Post-	after	postpone
Pre-	before	predict
Preter-	beyond, past, more than	preternatural
Pro-	substitute, deputy	proconsul
Pro-	before	procambium
Pros-	toward	prosthesis
Proto-	first, original	protoplasm, prototype
Pseudo-	false, imitation	pseudonym
Pyro-	fire	pyrokinetic
Quasi-	partly, almost, appearing to be but not really	quasi-religious
Retro-	backwards	retrograde
Semi-	half	semicircle
Socio-	society, social, sociological	sociopath
Sub-, su-, suc-, suf-, sug-, sum-, sup-, sur-, sus-	below, under	submerge, success, support, surreptitious, suspect, sustain
Super-	above, over	supervisor
Supra-	above, over	suprarenal
Sur-	above, over	surname, surreal, surrender
Syn-, sy-, syl-, sym-, sys-	together, with	synthesis, symbol, syllable, system
Tele-	at a distance	television
Trans-	across	transverse
Tri-	three	tricycle
Ultra-	beyond	ultraviolet
Uni-	one	unicycle
Up-	to make something greater, higher, or better	upgrade

AAE Q153: I

2009-09-09T23:28:00.002+01:00

Hi,

Is 'I' an abbreviation or not?

Abdul

Hi,

Yes it is from from Old English 'ic'. It was reduced to 'i' by 1137 in northern England, it began to be capitalized c.1250 to mark it as a distinct word and avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts.

Thanks

M

AAE Q152: Imply

2009-09-09T23:21:00.002+01:00

Hi

What's the meaning of imply?

Thank you so much

Rachid

Hi Rachid,

Imply

to suggest that sth is true or that you feel or think sth, without saying so directly. Are you implying (that) I am wrong?
to make it seem likely that sth is true or exists syn suggest. The survey implies (that) more people are moving house than was thought.
(of an idea, action, etc.) to make sth necessary in order to be successful. The project implies an enormous investment in training.

Thanks

M

AAE Q151: 'in/at school'

2008-09-04T11:03:00.001+01:00

Hello!
Which is more correct?

We studied basic English in school? vs. We studied basic English at School?
Thank you!

Hi,

The only difference is that "in school" is American English and "at school" is British English.

M

AAE Q150: order of adjectives

2008-09-04T10:58:00.002+01:00

Hi Matt,

I'd like to ask you about order of adjectives in sentence. In Czech, when we have two blue shirts and one is dirty, we say "the dirty blue shirt". When we have two dirty shirts and one is blue, we say "the blue dirty shirt". The more outstanding attribute can be emphasised by moving to the beginning. But at school I was learnt that English has this constant order:

number -> judgement -> size, length, height -> age -> colour -> origin -> material -> purpose

So, in our case, English would always say "the dirty blue shirt" (since "dirty" is a judgement?) without a possibility to emphasise one of attributes? Is it really so strict?

Thanks,
Vlada

Hi,

Thanks for your question.

I would say that it is possible to emphasise one of the attributes if you need to differentiate between similar objects. Referring back to your example, if there were two or more dirty shirts and one of them was blue it is possible to refer to this one as "the blue dirty shirt".

M

AAE Q149: 'wet-eared'

2008-09-04T10:46:00.003+01:00

hi,

I wonder the meaning of the word 'wet-eared'.

Thanks

Hello,

This is from the expression "to be wet behind the ears" which is used to describe a person who is either very young or inexperienced. It originates from the fact that newborn babies are still wet (and obviously inexperienced).

Therefore to describe someone as wet-eared is to say that they have little experience.

M

AAE Q148: can't get a hold of him

2008-09-04T10:40:00.001+01:00

Hello.

I heard the phrase : "I can't get (a) hold of him" twice. At first, there was an "a", but in the other situation, there wasn't. Are there any differences? Which sentence is correct?

Thanks Bara

Hi Bara,

Basically, both sentences are correct and there are no differences in meaning.

M

AAE Q147: G.I.

2008-09-04T10:29:00.002+01:00

Hi Matt,

I'd like to ask you about a "G. I. soldier"

Thanks Mirek

Hi Mirek,

GI or G.I. is a term describing members of the U.S. armed forces or items of their equipment. It may be used as an adjective or as a noun. The term is often thought to be an initialism of "Government Issue" or "General Infantry" but the origin of the term is in fact galvanized iron after the letters "GI" that used to denote equipment such as metal trash cans made from it in U.S. Army inventories and supply records.

During World War I it was somehow assumed that GI stood for "Government Issue" and the term was applied to all military equipment and the soldiers themselves (another incorrect interpretation is "General Infantry"). The term reached even further as its usage spread with the American troops during World War II.

Hope this helps

M

AAE Q146: 'hard-done by'

2008-07-18T11:44:00.002+01:00

Hi,

What does it mean ¨to feel hard done by.."

.....and how to use it in sentences

Ivana

Hi,

Please click here for my previous definition.

Matt

AAE Q145: 'longest word'

2008-07-18T11:33:00.002+01:00

Hi,

I have a bee in my bonnet about what's the longest word in English?

Thanks for the answer

Best regards Roman

Hi,

It really depends what you mean by the longest word, but the longest recognised, non-technical word (which isn't a place name) is:

antidisestablishmentarianism

It is a political position that originated in nineteenth-century Britain, where antidisestablishmentarians were opposed to proposals to remove the Church of England's status as the state church of England forwarded principally by both Payne and Tuffin.

Thanks

M

AAE Q144: 'apostrophe s'

2008-05-26T19:51:00.002+01:00

Hi,

I have a question concerning apostrophe –‘s.

I have been taught that apostrophe “-'s” is not applicable to things, ideas etc. just to people, animals, places and time.(English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy). But very often I can see in the technical standards using -‘s for objects. For example:

The fire scenario's primary purpose is to identify the product's potential contribution to each

hazardous aspect of the developing fire and, thereby, those aspects of the product's fire

performance which affect the outcome of the fire scenario. Once the key contributors are

established, methods for their quantification or measurement must be identified as illustrated

in Flowchart 1.

Is the use of apostrophe in this context correct?

I wonder because there was a discussion between people having English as mother language and people learned English as second language. Some English speaking people insist that using the apostrophe for things is correct and Murphy has wrong.

I appreciate your answer very much.

Best regards,
Irina Ekblad

Hi Irina,

I have been doing some research on the subject and, to be honest, finding a set of rules which works all the time is impossible.

Firstly I would like to say that all of the highlighted examples above are completely fine; using the apostrophe for things, people or animals is correct.

However sometimes it is not necessary to use an apostrophe: if the noun is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture

room of the hotel = hotel room

door of the car = car door

leg of the table = table leg

Hope this helps.

Matt

AAE Q143: 'at the right place at the right time'

2008-05-26T19:34:00.003+01:00

Hi,

Could you tell me which sentence is right?:

"be at the right place at the right time"
or
"be in the right place at the right time"

and how can i answer the sentence "nice to meet you"??

thanks...

Hi,

Both of these sentences are correct. In English you can either be 'in' a place or 'at' a place and often both. The sentence is an expression and personally I don't think it is important which one you use.

The usual response to "nice to meet you" is "nice to meet you too".

Please click here for more examples of greetings.

Matt

AAE Q142: 'call it a day'

2008-05-22T14:01:00.003+01:00

Hi Matt,

Can you explain to me sentence "Call it a day?"

Thanks for your answer

Have a nice day

Iva

Hi,

If someone "calls it a day" they stop doing something, especially working.

After playing together for 20 years the band have finally decided to call it a day.

It's almost midnight - I think it's time to call it a day.

Hope this helps

M

AAE Q141: ''What's new?'

2008-05-20T11:22:00.003+01:00

Hi,

Could you tell me how you would ask students about what is new in their lives or in the world (been to the cinema, visited any exhibitin, etc.)?

Would you say: What´s new? or What´s up?

Thanks,

Dasa

Hi Dasa,

There are a few ways how to ask this:

What's new?

Have you got any news?

Has anything new been going on recently?

What have you been up to recently? (this is what I use the most)

Have you done anything interesting recently?

Hope this helps

Matt

Sorry

2008-05-20T11:18:00.002+01:00

Hi,

I am very sorry for not posting anything for a long time. I have been very busy and have had some problems.

I will be posting again within the next few days.

I will answer your questions as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience.

Matt

AAE Q140: 'will'

2008-04-09T22:47:00.003+01:00

Hi

I would like to ask you when i can use 'will' like a modal verb..in which specific situations?

Hi,

These are the functions of 'will', as a modal verb:

Instant decisions: 'I can’t see any taxis so I’ll walk.'

Offer: 'I'll do that for you if you like.'

Promise: 'I’ll get back to you first thing on Monday.'

Certain prediction: 'Profits will increase next year.'

Hope this helps

Matt

AAE Q139: 'speak to' vs 'speak with'

2008-04-08T11:56:00.003+01:00

hi,

can u tell me what is a difference between - 'speak to' someone and 'speak with' someone.

Thank you.

Hi,

In most uses these combinations are interchangeable: "I spoke to [with] her for only a few minutes". In some cases, however, there may be slight differences: 'Speak to' sounds a bit more one-sided, perhaps, than 'speak with', which suggests more give and take (more of a two-way conversation).

Thanks

m

AAE Q138: 'hire, rent, lease'

2008-04-08T11:37:00.002+01:00

Hello,

I would ask you if you could explain me differences between words: hire, rent and lease.

Thank you

Hi,

Both 'to rent' and 'to hire' can mean to pay money to borrow sth for a short time: to hire a car / room / video. Rent, in this meaning is used most in American English, and hire in British English.

'To hire' can also mean to give sb a job: "She was hired three years ago" or to employ sb for a short time to do a particular job: to hire a lawyer.

'To rent' and 'to lease' also mean to regularly pay money to sb so that you can use sth that they own, such as a house, some land, a machine.

Matt