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Questions tagged [phrase-usage]

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This tag is for questions about how to use a particular phrase. If your question is a request for a phrase to use, you should use the "phrase-request" tag.

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When you have a cough (an illness), you might not cough all the time but might do burst after burst and a burst might be several hours after the previous burst. Say, I have a cough. Normally, I don't ...
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We can say: I wiped the dirt off my face ("off" here is a preposition) Instead of saying that, we can just say I wiped my face off ("off" here is an adverb) My question is that, We ...
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Oxford Dictionary says chip: [transitive, intransitive] chip (something) to damage something by breaking a small piece off it; to become damaged in this way. She chipped one of her front teeth. ...
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This website says An essay is a concise piece of nonfiction writing that aims to either inform the reader about a topic or argue a particular perspective. It seems that when we say "I am ...
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ChatGPT says that 'start' instead of 'started' is a casual, colloquial form, but Grok and Gemini disagree. So, what style markers does this usage carry? It's about time we start saying that they need ...
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My daughter has a plastic box of watercolor pens. There are several slots in the box. After using the pens, you can secure them by putting them into the slots. When pushing a pen in the slot, it ...
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My 7-year-old daughter's main exercise book has the question "13-7= ". She has to write down the result of the subtraction after the "=". What she learns is that she has to split 7 ...
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A child has a period of 1 week or 2 weeks of not going to school. This is not a long summer vacation (like a few months). Is it natural or common English to say "she is at her school break"? ...
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The verb "beat" means "to hit something hard several times", it is both intransitive and transitive. For example, "Somebody was beating at the door" and "Someone was ...
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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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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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A famous football player had taken part in several tournaments but hadn't won any trophy. Now he was taking part in an important one and the management of the tournaments felt sorry for him and asked ...
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This is a book. Is the book "2 dm in length by 1 dm in width" or "1 dm in length by 2 dm in width"? When an object is in its correct position, we can identify the top and the ...
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In Oxford Learner's Dictionary, "to grow up" means​ "to develop into an adult". But say my child is just 4 now and can not watch scary movies. When he is about 10, I will let him ...
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Can I introduce a part of something I'm quoting by saying for example: I didn't like it, in fact it's quoted here, in part: "... She stood with her head erect and shoulders tilted back... "
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Britannica.com say scan: a picture of the inside of something that is made by a special machine The doctor examined the bone scans. and I also found this sentence "The doctors took a scan of ...
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1- "lean" is intransitive. Normally, "the ladder is leaning against the wall" expresses a state is static. It already in its final position, touching the wall at an angle. But say, ...
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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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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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Difference 1: Group 1: Modes/forms of transport: (planes, ships, cars, trains,...) (more likely to refer to the distinction among air/sea/road/... travel) Group 2: Means/types/kinds of transport: ...
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I've just learnt two new words: inbound and outbound. I know I can say "inbound/outbound flights", but when I look up whichever one of the following collocations: inbound/outbound trips/...
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It seems that some native English speakers say "he had a fine of $20" is wrong because they say "fines" are things that we receive, not owe. But in the dictionary, "have ...
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This picture is for US traffic rule (the steering wheel is on the left). Say, you are on street A and you can not make a U turn to move to the other side of street A but you have to go all the way ...
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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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People mean "book cover" meaning the outside of a book or a magazine. It a part of a book when you buy it new. But my daughter's teacher told her to put a plastic cover on the book cover to ...
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After being washed for years, my shorts got too loose because their waistband is not tight. The reason is that when the washing machine spins, it makes the waistband less strong and not as good as ...
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I was taught using "for + a duration of time" with perfect tenses in British English. But for the negative from, we can use "in". For example, I have been working here for 6 years (...
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I have a Samsung remote control that does not use batteries. Instead, it has a tiny solar panel on the back like this: - When I place it on a surface, I have to put it in such a way that the back ...
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Sometimes I wonder if abbreviating phrases makes my essays look less formal than they should be. For example: GM foods VS genetically modified foods (Is "GM foods" suitable for formal ...
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The proportion of students opting for the university due to its closeness to home started at 10% in 1997, after which it experienced a sharp rise to 22% within the next decade. Upward trends, but to ...
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This is from Cambridge dictionary If a machine, battery, or phone dies, it stops working, usually because it has no power: die on The engine just died on us. I'm sorry I didn't reply to your text - ...
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I'm looking for ways to describe people who have three cars or more (for an exercise). Below are some phrases that I thought of: three or more cars at least three cars three plus cars I feel that ...
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The dictionary says: fall short fail to meet an expectation or standard. Say a company set a sale target of 1 million dollar in revenue per year. There are 2 situations: Situation 1: the company ...
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I have been watching a lot of American movies and recently I hear people (in the movies) say "I'll be in and out" a couple of times in action movies or movies about gangsters. The dictionary ...
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Can "pretty" be used figuratively in the senses other than praising ? For example: 1) The tomorrow may likely be prettier than today. 2) We did have prettier yesterdays than today or ...
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In an essay, I wrote: The figure jumped dramatically from 0 in 2000 to 9 billion dollars six years later/after six years. Here's his comment: "The change did not take place six years later =&...
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I am sure these sentences imply the race is finished: -he came first in the race -he finished first in the race -he won first place in the race I am also sure these sentences imply the race is not ...
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I have seen some American movies using the term "sprout off". I couldn't find it in any dictionary. This phrase is from the film "Wicked 2024": "I shouldn't have sprouted off ...
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I remembered an English speaker (not sure if he is a native English speaker) rejected the phrase "I woke up my tablet". He said I should use "I unlocked my tablet". But I didn't ...
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The number of British visitors to the US was 500 in June. British visitors to the US numbered 500 in June. I started practicing writing diagram reports for the IELTS exam a long time ago, and I've ...
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3 votes
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The amount of water consumed in agriculture was 400 billion cubic meters in India in 2010. In 2010, water consumption for agricultural use in India amounted to 400 billion cubic meters. I think ...
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6 votes
5 answers
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You "put somebody on the phone" when you are talking on the phone and then you give it to someone so that that person can talk with the person at the other end. My question is that Can you ...
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3 votes
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We often use the structure "to be made of something" in the simple present tense. For example, "the toy boat is made of cardboard" We often use the structure "somebody makes ...
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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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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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Say I visited my friend in a hospital and asked him "would you like go on a road trip with me?". Can he answer "Sorry! I have a slow leak, I can't go"? Do people understand "...
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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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We often use "laugh off" for minor trivial things like dropping an ice cream by accident or fall onto the floor. For example, "he fell and hurt his knee, but he laughed it off." ...
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Say, my son has drunk a carton of milk. He finished half of it. He put the carton somewhere and now I want to know where it is. Is it natural for me to say "Where is the carton of milk that you ...
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