Q&A for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts

I have seen several sentences in English where some writers have written had twice in a row. I am a bit confused about when the grammar calls for using had had. For example: I had had …

Possible Duplicate: Are collective nouns always plural, or are certain ones singular? Which is correct: The rest of the staff is or are? The rest of my family is or are? I've done a bit of re...

First question: in the grammar world, where do the -ly ended words belong? Second question: how to use them correctly? Rarely (oops!), if ever, I get myself using -ly ended words in my …

Oct 1, 2015 · Not is a negative adverb; no is a negative quantifier; non - is a negative prefix. Since negation is so important, thousands of idioms use each of these, among other negatives. …

Dec 7, 2014 · Of late, I have been noticing a lot of casual memes floating around, particularly on Facebook, that involve this phrase. Typical constructs could be like the following examples: …

Aug 23, 2011 · @Thuan: What you call "the structure to + v-ing" is not a structure. To is a preposition, and like all prepositions it can take a gerund object. Disposed to using, exhausted …

Aug 9, 2010 · From some comments in the answers for common English usage mistakes (now deleted, 10k only), there's confusion around the usage of I vs. me: While the sentence, "the …

Nov 21, 2019 · English grammar: time and place in a sentence? Ask Question Asked 5 years, 11 months ago Modified 5 years, 11 months ago

Is it grammatically correct to sequence paragraphs using First, Second, Third, and Finally? If not, is there a good word that replaces Finally? Starting a paragraph with Final doesn't sound corre...