- How does the phrase used to work, grammatically?
If "used to" is a set idiomatic phrase (i e not a tense), then why would it change its form from "use to" to "used to" for the sentence as it does in the positive?
- Correct usage of replacing cuss words with symbols
16 I've noticed that symbols (i e #, $, %, !, *, etc ) are commonly used to filter profanity foul language Just out of curiosity, is there a specific way to do this I've noticed sometimes there isn't a specific number of symbols but normally the number of symbols correspond to the number of letters in the cuss word E g :
- Can mongrel be used to refer to people? - English Language Usage . . .
As @Green Grasso Holm said in her answer, mongrel can be used for a person But, as many others commented, it is an extremely offensive term when applied to a person
- Is should ever used as past tense of shall?
0 should is the preterite form of the modal verb whose present form is shall As such, should can be (and is still) used in the past tense, in places where shall would be used in the present tense Two examples: “It is time, we shall proceed” can be reported as “he said it was time, we should proceed”
- Origin of the beatings will continue until morale improves
Candide (1759), however, is a work of satire, and the phrase is used ironically For the phrasing as X until morale improves, however, there doesn't seem to be any clear origin, nor for variations floating around like floggings will continue until morale improves (which I have seen on T-shirts as FWCUMI) or all leave has been canceled until
- What is the origin and history of the word motherf---er?
Most fortuitously for you, just a couple of days ago I stumbled upon a book that answers this and most any question one might have on the word fuck and its multitudinous derivatives — anyone who has the slightest bit curiosity about this subject would do well to check out Jesse Sheidlower's The F-word, a very accessible and fun book In writing the book, the author had access to the Oxford
- grammar - Storytelling, used to and would - English Language Usage . . .
When we tell a story that happened in the past should we use 'used to' and 'would' for actions that happened regularly in that story For example in the following what differences do the five forms
- Proper capitalization of commonly used acronyms and initialisms
I was always under impression, that acronyms ought to be written all caps However reading BBC News site very often I see some of the common acronyms written as proper names (first cap) For example "
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