Open links in new tab
  1. word choice - What is the verb used for check payments? - English ...

    1 What is the verb used when a bank check has been paid? Is the word cleared? EDIT: To be more specific, I'm looking for the word that means the check has been completely processed …

  2. Should spaces be used between "<" or ">" and numbers or letters?

    Jul 28, 2017 · The AMA Manual of Style says: Thin spaces should be used before and after the following mathematical symbols: ±, =, <, >, ≤, ≥, +, −, ÷, ×, ·, ≈, ∼, ∩, ∫, Π, Σ, and |. a ± b a = b …

  3. Why was "Spook" a slur used to refer to African Americans?

    Jul 29, 2023 · Spook was actually used by black people to refer to white people, presumably on the notion of “white” ghosts. spook n. [SE spook, a ghost] (US black) a white person. 1939 …

  4. punctuation - How are bracket ellipsis [...] used in quotations ...

    The convention I was taught is that hard brackets are used for insertions in quotations, and ellipses used for deletions. With that convention, you'd never use both at the same time.

  5. When is "some" used as plural and when is it used as singular?

    Feb 14, 2024 · I am trying to explain to an ESL student how to understand when to treat "some" as plural and when to treat it as singular. One clear rule is when "some" is the subject followed...

  6. Why is the term "depressed" often used to describe a button …

    Why is this term used instead of the word pressed, which has a simple and intuitive meaning? Some alternative terms that could be a better fit are pushed, clicked, or activated. As someone …

  7. "subject to" vs. "subject of" - which expression should be used and ...

    Subject of is not an idiom, as it does not have any special meaning. It is just an example of how the word "of" is often used. For example, Geometry is a subject of our curriculum. Here, …

  8. Is "et al." used as a singular or plural subject?

    When referring to multiple authors by using the name of the first author and "et al.", is it correct to grammatically treat this as one person or multiple persons? Gamma et al. are saying in thei...

  9. Is the word "psithurism" really used in English?

    Jun 4, 2020 · The OED notes of psithurism, "Obsolete. Forms: α. psithurisma. β. psithurism. This word belongs in Frequency Band 1. Band 1 contains extremely rare words unlikely ever to …

  10. etymology - When did "More tea vicar?" start to be used after …

    Apr 14, 2015 · In England when someone farts they might say "More tea vicar?" When did this start, and how did it come about? It feels unusual enough to have a definite creation - some …