Is it possible, and correct, in English to say "basket" meaning "basket-ball" (e. g., "a basket team"), or "volley" in the sense of "volley-ball"? Thanks for your answers.

Is it possible, and correct, to say "bagpipe" in singular (meaning one whole instrument, not a part of it) as well as "bagpipes" in plural? For example: would "Look at that bagpipe!" be right? Or rather "Look at those bagpipes"? Or both? Thank

Is the verb "to advocate" obsolete, or old-fashioned?

For Pemmican: If what you and the "interested one" say is true – and I believe you –, well, that is very, very sad. And I hope it'll change sometime. In Italy we have a similar problem: Fascism and the war have wounded our national feelings,

For "www.english-test.net": "So, at any rate it's time to re-analyze the state our nation is in and take a closer look at some of the obvious contraditions." All right, and thank you for your answer. I certainly agree with you in that

(Just one of the many reasons why the Germans should be proud of themselves: they've refused to take part in an absurd, unlawful, immoral war.)

I'm not German, but I do love Germany, and find your words somehow offensive. I hope that you will pardon me for not even trying to refute your arguments. But, are they really arguments? For instance, your words about "Mahlzeit" are not

Such words are called "homographs".

Thank you very much. As for number 7: I was thinking of sentences like "If you will pardon me for saying so, it's... (it'll be...)" I suppose that "will" is not the auxiliary verb here, but means "are willing to, want to" or something like that;

Thank you, CalifJim, for your very clear and very useful explanations. 1. I agree with you, and I don't like the oversimplified, formalistic way of expressing grammar rules, as: "Never use... after...": as you said, "never" is a strong word!