By Articles, Idioms

Thank you to all those who have posted their suggestions to my little imagination game. Some have taken it very seriously thinking they would have to relearn English after the 'changes'. This was meant to be just a game, not for those wo take everything seriously, and of course in this game...

Hi, In the following phrase "You'd better off helping him", is it "would" or "had"? Can I just say "You better off ..." without 'd?And also, what is the meaning "off" particle here? Can I say the same without "off"? I think what you have heard or read here is actually 'You are better off...

Grammar Geek wrote: So "to lay by" is a phrasal verb meaning "to store away"? New vocabulary for me! But anyway, when you have a phrasal verb like that (or like "look up" (as a word in a dictionary) or "write down") - do the prepositions act like normal prepositions, or because they are...

Nice try, sorry if I sound picky here, but you just need to sort a few things out in your first paragraph. The second paragraph is fine. 1) Spell check. 2) Gale needs an article - a or the. into the sea. But then you say it was a big wave that did it? Perhaps you need to talk about the gale...

A proverb is usually a statement that expresses some universal bit of wisdom. It is normally a very old expression that has come down to us through the years because it encapsulates some truth in a very succinct and clever way. It may not be very obvious what the meaning is because proverbs...

Hi, Articles can be tricky, both to learn and to teach. The phrases you mention are really standard, set kind of phrases, idioms basically. Best wishes, Clive

This is actually a bone of some contention. An abstract of a journal article on the 'problem' concludes: both "'except' and 'except for' can be used to mean 'with the exception of', but when it is used to mean 'if it were not for' only 'except for' can be used. Also, it is not advisable to...

Search http://www.answers.com/library/Idioms with edge "off the page" is probably very intense, undescribable but in other contexts is detached, originated in a written page of fiction: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/performance_poetry/95382/8

We have had a thread on this topic before-- HERE.An abstract of a journal article on the 'problem' concludes: " 'except' and 'except for' can be used to mean 'with the exception of,' but when it is used to mean 'if it were not for' only 'except for' can be used. Also, it is not advisable to...

Hi again, As for me, I wouldn’t take French leave knowing that I can be recorded anywhere. Yes, I know this idiom. If you want to use it, it looks very odd unless you omit the article. I'd say it's also sufficiently uncommon today that it sounds odd in your sentence. In addition, it's not...