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Questions tagged [idiomatic-language]

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is for questions about whether or not a particular phrase or sentence is a usual or common way that fluent English speakers might express something.

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Source: Series: Silicon Valley (Years: 2014–: 46 episodes) Country: USA Genre: Comedy I'm sure the work that you have done so far has been very good. The present perfect "have done + so ...
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Source: my example Yesterday I asked him this question many times, but he would give me the same short and vague answer. "Would" can be used to talk about repeated past actions/habits that ...
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Source: my sentences In the first 40-45 minutes your body burns the glycogen stored in the muscles, and only after that the underskin fat. For the first 40-45 minutes your body burns the glycogen ...
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Source: my dialogue A: Did you go to the gym yesterday? B: Yes, but I did only a light cardio session. A: Last week you told me that you want to build muscle; I thought you would've used free weights ...
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Source: MAG: The Sporting News, Deveney, Sean, Aug 15, 2011 Classes are starting at the end of August, so I will see how many of those credits I can get finished now. I wasn't expecting to be in ...
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Source: Buying My Wife a $500,000 Diamond Necklace!, here, 20:20 Producer Michael wants to buy a necklace for his wife. He’s got to the point where he has to negotiate the price with two sellers: ...
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My friend said: She got her hand at stitching her own dress. Which, I guess is not idiomatic, is it? Is there a construction 'got one's hand at doing something' to mean 'finally found time for doing ...
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I am wondering why this expression is not found in Ngrams but there are a few examples in Google Books, though, true, mostly by non-natives. The databases are supposed to be the same, aren't they? How ...
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Source: Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, September 29, 2015) Jimmy: That's funny. Has there ever been a situation where you didn't know your lines before? Viola: There's been a situation where I have not ...
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Source: my example I really wanted my son to work for me at our family company. Eventually, I abandoned this idea because I thought that my employees' attitude toward him would be different than if ...
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I wrote this example. The cooling system on my PC gave in/gave out yesterday. One of the hoses burst and leaked the coolant onto my new graphics card. Do both "give in" and "give out&...
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I have always used "welcome to my house" when greeting someone. But recently I came across "Welcome in my house" version, and it was in an English student's book. Up until now I ...
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Source: Harpers Magazine, The action figure for all seasons, Dennis Cass There is a pause as the crowd takes a breath to read and reread the message on the monitors above the stage, before the screen ...
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Oxford Dictionary states that the adjective "insufficient" has the following patterns: insufficient to do something -> His salary is insufficient to meet his needs. insufficient for ...
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Source: How Angelina Pivarnick found out her biological father was someone is here. Angelina Pavarnick, Angelina Conti, and there's discussions about the fact that through a DNA test you had found ...
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Source: F1 facebook channel is here. Please, just watch the first 10 seconds. Journalist: If you weren't a Formula 1 driver, what would you want to do instead? G.Russel: I used to say if I wasn't a ...
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I wrote the example. If you wear/are wearing portable VR glasses on a subway train, you're distracted , so the chances that some pickpocket might try to steal your wallet are higher. Should I use ...
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I have a question about the use of countable and uncountable versions of the word "flavour," for example, chocolate-flavoured protein is protein with chocolate flavour or protein has ...
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The dialogue is mine. Two people are discussing a hypothetical situation: A: How would your life be different if your parents were rich? B: I think it would be very different. I’d probably have a ...
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Source: Six Reasons Why Your College Major Doesn't Matter, By Ashley Stahl -> here Your network matters way more than your college major. You can choose a major that correlates with a high-paying ...
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Source: The West Wing, (Years: 1999–2006: 155 episodes), Country: USA -Okay, how was your day so far? -Very exciting. What would be the difference between "how has your day been so far? or how'...
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The words TV/television can refer to either the actual home appliance, the TV set, or the content distributed through a TV set or over the Internet in traditional TV format. Is it ever idiomatic to ...
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They are all from Corpus of Contemporary American English: Ineffable Christmas, 37221 This door was open, and as he looked through he saw the demon huddled in bed under a mound of blankets that ...
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Source: Fox 5 News Edge at 11, "Salmonella Outbreak," is here, 0:35 I always make eggs for breakfast, you know, for me and my son. I do understand that she's speaking off the cuff, but ...
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I found this pdf-document at this link. Title: List of documents which can prove a level of B2 English for conditional admission Do native speakers use "prove a level of B2"? I've never ...
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It's my sentence. Patek Philippe is probably the most expensive brand in terms of watchmaking. Would it be idiomatic to use "in terms of" in this sentence?
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Source: Journal of American Ethnic History (summer, 2002), Title: Teaching Irish-American History, Author: Kenny, Kevin The second half of my Irish-American survey runs from the Great Famine to the ...
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The example is mine. A manager needed to write comments for their colleagues' performance reviews. Having read the comments, the boss tells the manager: That's fishy; the comments are too ornate. I ...
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The speaker spent their entire childhood living in Bulgaria. Then, at the age of sixteen, they left Bulgaria and moved to Thailand. Since that move (from age sixteen up to the present moment) they ...
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“On the last day, we were called to the rescue center due to a sudden emergency. Some dehydrated birds had fallen out of the sky in the city and were brought to the center. Following the veterinarian’...
deepcosmos's user avatar
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2 answers
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The example is mine. I'm pretty sure that when my daughter grows up, she'll tell everybody that she was a very calm kid. I'm pretty sure that when my daughter grows up, she'll be telling everybody ...
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The example is mine. Two people are having a phone conversation late in the evening. Person 1 asks: So, what have you been doing today? Person 2 replies: Mostly chilling. My question is about the ...
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1 answer
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The sentences are mine. I used to be a strong swimmer. When I was training, I would often swim in open water. I used to be a strong swimmer. When I trained, I would often swim in open water. I've ...
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1 vote
1 answer
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The example is mine. People say, "Don't fix something if it ain't broken." Well, some things are not broken in our country, but many of them will have to be broken, rebuilt, streamlined, or ...
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The sentences are mine. On such cruises there are many people of the same age. On such cruises there are many people the same age. Should I use "of the same age" or "the same age"? ...
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The sentences are mine. The interest rates are exorbitant now. Taking out a loan from a bank or any other credit organization doesn't sound reasonable, because probably all your profit will be spent ...
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How to Deal with Your First Week in a New Job, By Joel Golby, Vice. This is a good time to get IT over to set you up with a printer, to give the illusion of you having work to do but not being able ...
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1 vote
1 answer
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He emphasizes that contextual factors (external influences) are crucial to understanding wise reasoning, which were previously underestimated. This sentence is from my classmate’s essay. When I was ...
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The example is mine. The LC-500 is a pedal-assisted bike that can run under your power as well as its battery. When you get tired of pedaling, just switch over to the electric motor and enjoy the ...
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3 answers
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The example is mine. I haven't seen my old classmate since graduation. I really don't know how her fate turned out/how things turned out for her. Which one is more idiomatic if I'd like to say that ...
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The example is mine. A message to my fitness instructor. (I have some prepaid sessions in my account.) Hello. I'm afraid I need to skip our appointment due to unforeseen circumstances. I'm aware that ...
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The sentences are mine. There were a lot of accidents in the night from Sunday to Monday. There were a lot of accidents in the night of Sunday. There were a lot of accidents on the night from Sunday ...
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I wonder if the ellipsis seen in 'Even the stripper (who) admitted (she was) dating is harder 30+ as a woman.' ( https://youtu.be/uZWWqyDT5C4?t=887 ' ) can be used idiomatically everywhere with ...
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The dialogue is mine. A: My father wants me to work at his company. He says I need to gain some practical experience. B: Well, I think your future colleagues will create an artificial environment for ...
Tony_M's user avatar
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1 answer
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The sentences are mine. Yesterday I watched a video of a reporter asking random people at a post office about their plans if they won the lottery. Is it idiomatic to use a conditional clause after a ...
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The dialogue is mine. A: Can we postpone the meeting? B: When do you want to postpone it until/till? OR What day/date do you want to postpone it to? Unfortunately, I haven't found any similar ...
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The dialogue is mine. A: What’s the most annoying habit you’ve got? B: I interrupt people a lot, especially when they’re trying to give me a piece of advice I don't like. A: So, let’s imagine you’ve ...
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Is it okay to say "My high school classmate Stephen Ngaruiya"? Or do I have to say "One of my high school classmates named Stephen Ngaruiya" to avoid creating the impression that I ...
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oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com: (1) If you want a ticket, get in line. — "Line" is countable here. Why is it possible to use the countable noun "line" without any article? What ...
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Could a 'shuttered store' be a store that is still in business, but is shut at present and has its shutters down? To me it means that the store has gone out of business. If the shutters are down ...
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