Colin Fine's Profile

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  • Asked on December 20, 2021 in Grammar.

    If someone wants to focus on the part mentioned in the title (they have other issues with it):

    In British usage, this is perfectly fine.

    In American usage, people who believe there is such a thing as “correct” usually object to this and say it should be is going to when

    it is.

    • 270441 views
    • 8 answers
    • 99752 votes
  • Asked on December 20, 2021 in Meaning.

    Can anyone make sense of seriously as an intensifier? On the outside, I would not expect to find this use in writing, except in dialogue, or in a very pacy excited style of writing.

    In any case, that meaning, while not impossible, is strange here – to say she is extremely good at hiding her emotions but that he read them is not very consequent.

    Edit : strike the second paragraph.

    • 270452 views
    • 13 answers
    • 99682 votes
  • Asked on December 20, 2021 in Word choice.

    According to Wikipedia, the word “write” (or PHP, or for that matter French) is defined both as “write in Perl”.

    But 2 is certainly more symmetrical, and it’s what I would write.

    • 273056 views
    • 7 answers
    • 101497 votes
  • Asked on December 20, 2021 in Meaning.

    Can anyone make sense of seriously as an intensifier? On the outside, I would not expect to find this use in writing, except in dialogue, or in a very pacy excited style of writing.

    In any case, that meaning, while not impossible, is strange here – to say she is extremely good at hiding her emotions but that he read them is not very consequent.

    Edit : strike the second paragraph.

    • 270452 views
    • 13 answers
    • 99682 votes
  • Asked on September 19, 2021 in Grammar.

    Do you know the first sentence in English grammar? Why is the second comprehensible in a different form – English or French? Is the third somewhat literary?

    • 354182 views
    • 14 answers
    • 130315 votes
  • Asked on August 30, 2021 in Synonyms.

    In some cases, they could describe the same activity objectively defined, but they have a different emotional meaning.

    “Go thru with” means to continue and complete some action that you have committed to doing, or been charged with doing. What is the implication that the person is unwilling, but it is not necessarily difficult or unpleasant to do it(it might just be the consequences that are undesirable). Once its finished, the activity will eventually end. When did you start that? To go through with it is just not doing it – maybe not starting, or maybe leaving it incomplete.

    “Get something over with” means to finish it – not necessarily completing it, or doing it satisfactorily, just getting to the end and stopping. What does the activity itself mean? The alternative might be not doing it at all (if it is simply a short activity), but it might be just letting it drag on inconclusively.

    In the case of homework, “get it over with?” is much more natural, to my ear.

    • 422384 views
    • 38 answers
    • 155380 votes
  • Asked on August 29, 2021 in Synonyms.

    In some cases, they could describe the same activity objectively defined, but they have a different emotional meaning.

    “Go thru with” means to continue and complete some action that you have committed to doing, or been charged with doing. What is the implication that the person is unwilling, but it is not necessarily difficult or unpleasant to do it(it might just be the consequences that are undesirable). Once its finished, the activity will eventually end. When did you start that? To go through with it is just not doing it – maybe not starting, or maybe leaving it incomplete.

    “Get something over with” means to finish it – not necessarily completing it, or doing it satisfactorily, just getting to the end and stopping. What does the activity itself mean? The alternative might be not doing it at all (if it is simply a short activity), but it might be just letting it drag on inconclusively.

    In the case of homework, “get it over with?” is much more natural, to my ear.

    • 422384 views
    • 38 answers
    • 155380 votes
  • Asked on August 29, 2021 in Synonyms.

    In some cases, they could describe the same activity objectively defined, but they have a different emotional meaning.

    “Go thru with” means to continue and complete some action that you have committed to doing, or been charged with doing. What is the implication that the person is unwilling, but it is not necessarily difficult or unpleasant to do it(it might just be the consequences that are undesirable). Once its finished, the activity will eventually end. When did you start that? To go through with it is just not doing it – maybe not starting, or maybe leaving it incomplete.

    “Get something over with” means to finish it – not necessarily completing it, or doing it satisfactorily, just getting to the end and stopping. What does the activity itself mean? The alternative might be not doing it at all (if it is simply a short activity), but it might be just letting it drag on inconclusively.

    In the case of homework, “get it over with?” is much more natural, to my ear.

    • 422384 views
    • 38 answers
    • 155380 votes
  • Asked on August 28, 2021 in Synonyms.

    In some cases, they could describe the same activity objectively defined, but they have a different emotional meaning.

    “Go thru with” means to continue and complete some action that you have committed to doing, or been charged with doing. What is the implication that the person is unwilling, but it is not necessarily difficult or unpleasant to do it(it might just be the consequences that are undesirable). Once its finished, the activity will eventually end. When did you start that? To go through with it is just not doing it – maybe not starting, or maybe leaving it incomplete.

    “Get something over with” means to finish it – not necessarily completing it, or doing it satisfactorily, just getting to the end and stopping. What does the activity itself mean? The alternative might be not doing it at all (if it is simply a short activity), but it might be just letting it drag on inconclusively.

    In the case of homework, “get it over with?” is much more natural, to my ear.

    • 422384 views
    • 38 answers
    • 155380 votes
  • Asked on August 28, 2021 in Synonyms.

    In some cases, they could describe the same activity objectively defined, but they have a different emotional meaning.

    “Go thru with” means to continue and complete some action that you have committed to doing, or been charged with doing. What is the implication that the person is unwilling, but it is not necessarily difficult or unpleasant to do it(it might just be the consequences that are undesirable). Once its finished, the activity will eventually end. When did you start that? To go through with it is just not doing it – maybe not starting, or maybe leaving it incomplete.

    “Get something over with” means to finish it – not necessarily completing it, or doing it satisfactorily, just getting to the end and stopping. What does the activity itself mean? The alternative might be not doing it at all (if it is simply a short activity), but it might be just letting it drag on inconclusively.

    In the case of homework, “get it over with?” is much more natural, to my ear.

    • 422384 views
    • 38 answers
    • 155380 votes