Search results for 'tag:Synonyms tag:Grammar' matching tags 'Synonyms' and 'Grammar'

Re: These ones and those ones

khoff — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:31:48 GMT

Anonymous, I believe you are the one whose opinion is wrong. Of course "ones" can be used as a plural. How else would you say, "which ones do you want?" My dictionary gives "unit" as a synonym of "one" -- would you also say that "unit" cannot be made plural because it refers to a single thing? In fact, every word that appears in the singular refers to a single thing, and most, if not all of them, can be made plural. You say, " Adding an "S" makes a singular plural. It's a contradiction." Well, It's not a contradiction. It's a rule of grammar. Adding an "s" makes a singular plural. That's how it's done.

By the way -- since you are anonymous, I don't know if you are new to English Forums or not -- but if you are, I would like to say that anonymously insulting someone who is identified as both a proficient speaker and a moderator ("Perhaps you were raised to speak incorrectly.") is not the best way to get off to a good start.

Re: bossy

Yoong Liat — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:15:27 GMT

New2grammar

What do you call a person who pushes people around?

I think bossy is the word. Any other adjectives?

Hi New2grammar

Here's a list of synonyms.

bossy (adj)

Synonyms: domineering, officious, dominant, dictatorial, interfering, interventionist, overbearing, authoritarian, authoritative

Re: reiterate vs repeat

RayH — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:13:51 GMT

New2grammar
Can I replace 'reiterated' with 'repeated' without change of meaning?

According to the dictionary these two words are synonyms but in actual use I don't really think they are. Reiterate is more emphatic than repeat. Therefore the substitution you suggest would subtly alter the meaning. You would still be understood of course, but the altered statement would be less emphatic that the original.

Re: snuggle vs cuddle

Yoong Liat — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:30:01 GMT

Hi New2grammar

Â· noun: a close and affectionate (and often prolonged) embrace Â· verb: move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cozy position (Example: "We cuddled against each other to keep warm") Â· verb: hold (a person or thing) close, as for affection, comfort, or warmth (Example: "I cuddled the baby." )

Â· noun: a close and affectionate (and often prolonged) embrace Â· verb: move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cozy position (Example: "The children snuggled into their sleeping bags")

Â· verb: position comfortably

Can you decide whether they are synonyms?

Re: Which is wrong?

Avangi — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 01:19:45 GMT

I mostly agree with your first grammar book. To my ear all should be omitted. Only #4 sounds acceptable to me both ways, and #5 is a maybe.

I think #9 is a fixed idiom "to make do."

I looked for synonyms which would definitely require the "to" and only found one: #10 - "would prefer to drink tea"

(I hope I haven't taken this out of action. I'd like to think about it some more.)

Re: What makes English so difficult to learn?

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:30:34 GMT

As a native English speaker (well perhaps not entirely native, I was born in Russia and immigrated to the U.S. at the tender age of 7) I would have to say that apart from the obviously difficult aspects of the English language such as tenses, an unorthodox phonetic system employed in the language and infuriating exceptions for just about every single rule, the two most puzzling features are the Verb+Participle+Preposition combinations and the sheer vastness of the vocabulary. Observe the former...

come+up+with

come+down+with

come+foward+with

come+out+for

come+down+to

Five different constructions which would be clear as day to any native speaker, are nevertheless mind-boggling to someone who is learning the language. Notice how they all start with "come", and then imagine that sort of illogical word-scrambling applied to every verb. Daunting, isn't it? Don't know how to break it to you folks, but I haven't even scratched the surface.

Now as to the latter, I am more than happy to have dictionary.com present proof of this phenomenon in my stead. Let's take a look at the word "jump". I mean, how many possible synonyms could there be for this word? Well, one simple search can help us find out. Here's the link:

http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/jump

40 entries for the first definition alone. FORTY. Forty different ways to say jump. But when you break it down, do all 40 words have the same meaning? Of course not! Nosedive means to jump into something headfirst, as in a pool of water or (if you're very unfortunate) onto a hardwood floor. To spring is to jump up energetically, with an almost almighty "lurch" (another word for jump right there :P) whereas to "bob" means to make jumping motions without every actually taking your feet off the ground. The list goes on and on. No other language I'm familiar with has such variety when it comes to synonyms, be it for seemingly uncomplicated actions or deep philosophical concepts.

Although English is my native language, I am also a nearly native speaker of Russian (I give credit to my parents for preserving the language of the "motherland" and passing it on to me) and fluent in German. I find Russian to be an incredibly expressive language with just as many (if not more) nuances as English, and its ability to convey feelings of dislike, anger or downright hateful fervor (i.e. swearing) is, in my experience, unmatched. German is an incredibly logical language, and once grammar constructs are mastered, relatively straightforward in its application. Mastering German grammar is a challenge however, and word order is an utter nuisance in some situations.

Just my two cents.

Re: Optional commas.

Akavall — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:37:29 GMT

Yankee, thanks for your help, but I am still not sure what is going on here.

Should the commas be left out in the following two sentences?

I consequently think that using correct grammar is important.
I thus think that using correct grammar is important.

"consequently" and "thus" are synonyms of "therefore", but I don't know whether they should be treated the same grammar-wise.

Re: Please check my presentation data

julielai — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 21:48:44 GMT

Hi,

To make your speech effective, you need to practise what you preach-use simple words and "construct effective sentences and paragraphs".

Highlighted some things for you to fix. I'm not going to pick on your grammar as much since this is a speech.

My name is Umair and Iâm goanna talk to you on the 5^th c of effective communication. It is clarity. This word is deriving from the English word âclearâ. So we can state the main purpose of clarity is the make you speech (clunky) more understandable by using simple words and by constructing effective sentences and paragraphs.

In accordance with upper definition (wordy) we say ~~easily~~ say that clarity has two main points.

Number one: choose precise, familiar and common words.

Number two: ~~is to~~ construct effectual sentences and paragraphs.

According to first point, our word selection should be very easy to understand and it should be consisting on very familiar and common words. (Simplify) Like if we use the word âdiversityâ, most of us may not understand what ~~does~~ it means but instead of it, if we use the word âsuppositionâ or âhypothesisâ it would be ~~more~~ easier to understand than that and everyone can make a guess about it that it would be giving the mean of âthinkingâ. (Does not make any sense) In the same sense, we also should not use Latin terms like e.g, circa and etc. Instead of that we should use some appropriate English synonyms ~~of it~~.

Although it is appropriate to use technical terms and business jargons in some professional situation, but avoid it when you communicate with a person who is not familiar with these terminologies. If these terms are necessary ~~to use~~, then you must define them briefly and clearly. If you donât you may embarrass and confuse the reader. ~~You may enforce to explain later.~~ So always remember the readerâs capability to understand things like if you are talking with an illiterate person who even cannot understand Urdu and you are using English words with him he shall think that even you know his mental ability and than what the hell of you are saying.(Unclear. And too long.) So we can say that understanding the audience helps writer to choose familiar words.

Now let us come to our second point, which is to construct effective sentences and paragraphs. It has several other points to remember.

First one is the length of the sentence and shorter sentences are ~~more~~ preferable to longer ones and the recommended length of an average sentence is 17 to 20 words because more words may divert readerâs attention and may lose its attraction. (This sentence has more than 20 words)

Second, is your sentence should be strict (wording) with the basic theme of your message and your all sentences should indicating the main idea.

The third point is coherence. In ~~the~~ coherent sentences the words are correctly arranged so that they ~~ideas~~ clearly express the intended meaning.

The forth and the last point is to concentrate and give ~~most of~~ your importance on the main idea in ~~the largest part of~~ your speech and in your written material.

Re: schools

Feebs11 — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 10:57:07 GMT

Saska wrote:
didn't know where to post this ...

Can someone explain to me, the meaning of the words in Br. Eng and Am. En?

state school = funded by the state

elementary school = [synonyms=] primary/junior school - ages 5-11 years

secondary school = senior school - ages 11-16+

comprehensive school = secondary school funded by the state and catering for all levels of ability.
grammar school = either state or privately funded. Selective intake after the age of 11.

college = too complicated! See > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College#United_Kingdom

university = An academic institution which grants degrees. Some are independently funded; all receive at least some funding from the state.

This is what I've found so far

Public School

USA/Canada: supported by the state

Scotland: supported by the local authority

England, Wales, Northern Ireland: private or independent and fee-chargin school, often single sex.

Edited by mod: Hi, Saska, your post has been moved to Vocabulary section since it's probably the best one for this kind of question now.

Re: schools

Vorpar — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 10:23:22 GMT

This is my understanding, from AmE:

state school: Usually refers to a public (state funded) University. I went to one, UCSB, and since I'm from California, I pay about 1/3 of the total cost (Sacramento pays the rest, along with some federal funding)

elementary school: Grades K-5 or 6 (sometimes to 8) children 5 years old to 13 at the most.

secondary school: High school, grades 9-12 (sometimes 10-12) for students from 14-18

grammar school: Same as elementary school.

college/university: Many people will use these as synonyms. College is generally for undergraduate degrees (BA, BS, etc.) while Universities grant post-graduate degrees (MS, PhD, etc.) As I mentioned before, I went to the University of California. While there, I studied in the College of Letters and Science. The University also has the College of Creative Studies, and the College of Engineering, as well as graduate divisions.

Also, Junior High/Middle School is for children from grades 6-8.