All Questions
3,705
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Is there already a NL model, like Chat GPT or something, that is reliable to use for verb tense structure?
I'm trying to build a schematic table/diagram with all the possible combinations of:
verb tenses (Past Simple to Conditional 3)
form (Affirmative to Interrogative Negative)
auxiliary verb conjugation ...
CommunityBot
- 1
4
votes
1
answer
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What's up with the [usage] tag?
The tag usage redirects to word-usage, as the two are synonymized.
But I can still find the tag on certain questions.
When I search for the word-usage tag, many of the earlier results still display ...
tchristMod
- 133k
20
votes
5
answers
610
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Replacing our "research" close reason
Background
We have a massive problem with close votes. There's no sense in placing blame — we've been on this path since before even I joined the site, and we all thought what we were doing was best ...
LaurelMod
- 64.3k
15
votes
1
answer
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Is there an online etymology dictionary more comprehensive/detailed than Etymonline?
Douglas Harper, creator of Etymonline, considers himself an amateur linguist and warns
... if you're a professional linguist or a serious student of linguistics,
you shouldn't be doing your homework ...
- 219
119
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12
answers
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What good reference works on English are available?
Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic.
What good reference works on English are available, and what kinds of questions are they good at answering?
General ...
LaurelMod
- 64.3k
2
votes
1
answer
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Should there be an increasing number of close votes required to re-close a question that has been reopened?
This question was closed with three votes for "insufficient research" - although I'm unclear why, because even after doing all the "research" suggested in the answers, the correct ...
Andrew LeachMod
- 100k
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What research is required over common knowledge words?
For this question, it was closed due to a lack of research. Seems like an arbitrary reason to close, especially when no comment is given for what type of research is lacking. I think most word usage ...
CommunityBot
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Would it be possible for the page to remember the depth to which a person has expanded their answer textbox on a particular response?
I would find it a great convenience if the page could remember how far I had dragged open the text-box for a response I had given. When I am working with a strange (new to me) keyboard, I tend to make ...
2
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0
answers
34
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List of phrasal verbs by approximate usage frequency?
I have found two sources of lists of phrasal verbs in English: Textbooks for people learning English as a second language introduce a few of them every now and then, and dictionaries of phrasal verbs ...
- 2,458
2
votes
1
answer
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Why is my question about the etymology of "foundation" off-topic?
This question of mine got closed as off-topic, in spite of receiving way more upvotes than downvotes and also receiving a detailed answer. Why did it get closed?
- 7,936
39
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4
answers
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Announcement: AI generated answers are officially banned here
It's really quite unbelievable, but artificial intelligence has recently gotten to the point where, given a question, it can give a stunningly coherent answer almost indistinguishable from a real ...
LaurelMod
- 64.3k
0
votes
0
answers
32
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Which books should I refer to in my master's thesis about parallelism? [closed]
What books should I read for my thesis about parallelism in rhetorical devices?
LaurelMod
- 64.3k
1
vote
1
answer
38
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Is the "second" ("secondary") definition any less the definition than the first one? What do you call this?
I submitted a research paper where I defined a word according to the definition provided by Oxford English Dictionary. The word has multiple definitions; this one actually has "1," "2....
LaurelMod
- 64.3k
0
votes
1
answer
80
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Question was closed as duplicate but is a different question
The question Why did English take the "mix pronunciations and spellings" route instead of one rule route like French, or separate languages/dialects like Spanish? was closed as a duplicate ...
- 89.9k
2
votes
4
answers
128
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Is Merriam Webster dictionary an outdated and unreliable dictionary?
An experienced user posted this comment under an answer that cited M-W dictionary.
Btw, MW is the worst, most out-of-date dictionary on the planet!, but GKP regularly sings its virtues in public, and ...
- 2,310
1
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0
answers
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Looking for an online tool which provides a frequency of usage of any search phrase/sentence provided using large corpus of online text
I am looking for an online service which provides the frequency of a search phrase across all the literature in English that there is. Hopefully billions of lines of text. For example, if the phrase ...
- 7,936
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Request to reopen a closed-as-duplicate question: Can you write "... me's" (the possessive)?
Note: The question has now been reopened. I have added further examples of the group genitive to my answer to the question. This should help to distinguish it further from the hyphenated compound ...
LaurelMod
- 64.3k
1
vote
2
answers
70
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What resources/reference can I use when converting sentences from American English to British English?
Which reference document can I consult for converting American sentences into British English? Is there a gold standard resource?
- 70.6k
84
votes
3
answers
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Is Python a snake or a programming language? If the latter, why is it choking my dog?
We've been getting a rash of questions asking, essentially, what a programmer should name methods or properties. One such was a request for a word that meant both "add" and "remove" because the ...
- 58.8k
3
votes
2
answers
57
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Seeking cursive writing samples along with a typed version
I want to find some samples of English cursive writing along with their typed versions. Where can I find this?
This is for practice purposes: I want to attempt to read the cursive version and look at ...
- 7,936
16
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5
answers
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Are Oxford Dictionaries available online now that Lexico is dead?
There was once a website oxforddictionaries.com that provided merged contents of ODE (Oxford Dictionary of English) and NOAD (New Oxford American Dictionary), along with some grammar tips etc.
Then it ...
- 167
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1
answer
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What differences are between the American Heritage Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language? [closed]
What differences are between these two books:
The American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
?
Are they both for etymology, similarly to Oxford English ...
- 9,961
3
votes
0
answers
82
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What is the [reason-why] tag used for?
A recent question used the reason-why tag for what was really an etymology question, so I retagged it appropriately. (Or at least I think it was appropriate.) Now I'm wondering what the tag is even ...
- 7,936
0
votes
1
answer
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Kludge to trick SE to allow edits smaller than six characters by injecting invisible characters
It's impossible to fix small (but not insignificant) typos on SE without making other edits adding up to six characters. For example, think should be thick in a quoted line of a poem that makes no ...
LaurelMod
- 64.3k
1
vote
0
answers
26
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What differences are between general-purpose and Learner's dictionaries?
https://english.meta.stackexchange.com/a/2574/ says
General-purpose dictionaries
The online dictionaries listed here are broadly suitable for native
speakers, providing major definitions and examples,...
- 9,961
1
vote
1
answer
48
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Recommandation for a reliable and comprehensive source on word stress rules in English
I am looking for a reliable and comprehensive enough book or source on word stress rules in English.
I have searched the internet and found various interesting web pages, some not comprehensive enough,...
- 38.4k
2
votes
2
answers
186
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What books about English grammar are the standard for linguists and what for non-linguists? [duplicate]
I was wondering what books about English grammar are:
the standard ones written for linguists or linguistics students, and
the standard ones written for people who are neither linguists nor ...
- 107k
-5
votes
1
answer
121
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Is law language or not language [closed]
I was advised by an experienced club member that law is not language. Therefore, it can't be discussed on this website.
- 8,107
12
votes
1
answer
248
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Why don't I get good hits when searching "Poor man's" with quotes?
If I wanted to search about the phrase "Poor man's X",
The question When did the expression "Poor man's <noun>" originate? appears when I search for
Poor man's
But if I use ...
LaurelMod
- 64.3k
1
vote
0
answers
35
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Platform for online group classes
I'd like to attend some group classes online to improve my speaking. My goal is to take a test like IELTS or TOEFL. Do you guys know any platform that offers online group classes with a well ...
- 101
8
votes
1
answer
144
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What is EL&U's policy about attributing links?
Today an editor added the source of every link I included in an answer of mine. They are a total of six links, only one contains a quote– fairly extensive–which was clearly attributed.
In the ...
- 21.5k
6
votes
0
answers
137
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What should be done with the questions that ask about the reason behind adjective order?
There are a bunch of questions that ask about adjective order, and most of them are closed as dupes of the original What is the rule for adjective order? asked 12+ years ago.
There are three questions ...
- 7,936
2
votes
1
answer
88
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Can anyone recommend a book which covers syntax overall?
Just as I said in the title, I'm wondering if there is a good book which covers basic syntax overall. I've been learning English for fairly a long time, so I don't have a lot of problems holding daily ...
- 32.6k
21
votes
2
answers
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"New attribution rules"
User oerkelens edited one of my answers, with the comment "Saved good answer from potential deletion on sight under the new attribution rules".
I had not heard of any new attribution rules, and went ...
- 7,936
2
votes
1
answer
133
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Are crazy icons here to stay?
Am I the only on ELU whose icons are all shifted, some to the point that it is difficult to tell which is which?
The issue has been raised on META where they mention a temporary problem when new SE ...
LaurelMod
- 64.3k
2
votes
1
answer
302
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Good free dialect quizzes?
I like the NY Times dialect quiz from 2014 and I'm thinking it would be fun to do as a group at work.
But the NY Times one isn't free; are there any good free ones out there?
- 70.6k
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The singular of "the peoples" is "the people". Like in "the essence of a people". Was the question closed after a misunderstanding?
This is about German Singular "Volk" in English: "Das Volk ist mir zum Kotzen" = "The people make me sick" or "The people makes me sick"?.
It was closed, and ...
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1
answer
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What is the Journalism tag used for?
What is the journalism tag for?
I have a piece of journalism I want to write, and want advice, but I don't know where to do it.
- 7,936
3
votes
1
answer
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Is there a reference/archive of English verbs and their argument structure (± their theta roles)?
Is there a reference/archive of English verbs and their argument structure? That is to say, how many and what categories of arguments they require. And maybe even their theta roles? I don't expect ...
CommunityBot
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3
votes
3
answers
286
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Recognizing generic ChatGPT posts
For future reference, how was this determined to be ChatGPT?
Example:
I think only 10K users can see:
Can one say "take an integral" instead of "calculate an integral"? What other ...
- 101
59
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6
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Should we allow Google NGrams to be presented as statistical evidence without qualification? Should we define a set of standards for their usage?
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." — Benjamin Disraeli, attr. by Mark Twain
"If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything." — ...
- 5,566
4
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1
answer
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What does recent research tell us about how English sounded in Shakespeare's time?
I am interested in finding a present-day pronunciation that I could point to as close to that which was spoken in Shakespeare's era, much as if I were directing one of Shakespeare's plays and were ...
- 44.4k
6
votes
2
answers
122
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Where can I find books from the late 17th/early 18th century about English grammar and phonology?
I'm interested in finding books that explain English grammar (as much of it and in as much depth as possible), written by scholars from the late 17th/early 18th century. Which do you recommend? Could ...
- 7,936
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2
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Yet Another Reopen Request ("Yarr!" in pirate-speak! :)
The headline reason for this post is to ask for Each other’s work or each other’s works? to be reopened, but if possible I'd also like to know why it was closed.
I find it hard to believe "lack ...
- 44.4k
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1
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Request for reopening
This question was closed as a duplicate. I have edited to add a couple of paragraphs explaining why I do not think the alleged duplicate is relevant.
In brief: I am asking for a word that describes ...
- 7,936
19
votes
3
answers
448
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What's the status of ELL relative to ELU?
Since English Language Learners beta is up & running (in "private" mode, whatever that means), is it now reasonable to close and/or migrate questions like When is it correct to use no and nope?
I ...
- 7,936
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2
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Why is it not possible to comment on questions deleted by the post author?
The following question was posted not long ago:
Causative Structures: have + object + ing-form
The question interested me so I started working on an answer. Before finishing my answer, I saw that the ...
- 67k
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1
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Can we migrate 'Is there any online tool to read (pronounce) IPA and APA written words?' and its like to Meta?
This question (Is there any online tool to read (pronounce) IPA and APA written words?) has 105k views and 83 upvotes. But it's been closed because it's asking for a resource. Most resource requests ...
NVZMod
- 22.6k
18
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1
answer
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Request for undeletion and reopening of a question on the main site: "Retriable or retryable?"
A poster asked the question Retriable or retryable? on February 9, 2016. It was closed for lack of research on February 15 of that year. On November 9, site participant sumelic edited the question to ...
LaurelMod
- 64.3k
3
votes
2
answers
156
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Why was my question about '(s)he' vs. 'he/she' closed as being opinion-based?
Could somebody please explain to me how is Between '(s)he' & 'he/she' -- which is recommended/ preferable? opinion-based.
The question explicitly contains
Are both "(s)he" and "...
- 7,936