does bang have a long or short vowel sound It's considered a short vowel (lax vowel), but -- at least in American English -- the ng that follows somewhat modifies it so that it doesn't sound exactly the same as the short a in cat to most

(S)he is probably speaking with Americans in a call center. The more American sounding, the better. The three biggest problems with Indian call centers are 1. there is too much background noise 2. the phone rep is speaking way too quickly 3.

to be licked is to be exhausted (as other members have suggested), and I've always felt that this is predominantly American English. "Hey, I'm completely licked!" to have something licked to is have it solved or successfully

Thank you for your comment. First of all, there... be and here... be are still not equally distributed in American English overall (675 vs . 562). This assumption can be reinforced by the well-known fact that Here you are and There you go are

Hello Superblack, The expressions Here... be in British English and There... be in American English with a personal pronoun as subject are used without inversion because there are no reasons for it - it is not a question like Where are you? ,

"I've an answer to your question." I don't think that is correct, American English. I believe it works for Brittish English. Agreed. Correct: I think I'll have another. Agreed. Incorrect: I'll my beliefs into reality.

I've been wondering, if anyone knows for sure: I know saying "I've" is fine for contraction I and the modal form of have. But, it seems to be an error to use the contraction with the non-modal form of the verb as in:

The problem isn’t producing an R-sound, I can produce the retroflex approximant easily and well, but it seems impossible to produce the r-sound demonstrated here on the page of the University of Iowa:

Thank you! I have enough money to buy a coat. (Having money is non-eventive.) So *I wish you would have enough money doesn't work. I have looked up these sentences in English dictionaries: I wish he would be more decisive. I wish you would

it is an action verb, which justifies the use of have in simple past as a substitution of present perfective in American English Please explain why this might be so. I see no relationship between the two uses. The sentence under consideration