How is wl- pronounced? - English Language Usage Stack Exchange The pronunciation of wl and wr is so ingrained that Minkova need not cover how they would be pronounced in Old English; meanwhile, she carefully documents how the sounds would have changed into Middle English
grammar - If you were to . . . or If you . . . or If you will . . . The first form "If you were to go home, you would feel better " should be grammatically correct, but it sounds rather strange to me The second form "If you went home, you would feel better " is grammatically absolutely correct and also expresses the right thing It is a so-called Conditional Clause of Type II which means that the event in question (i e you go home) is improbable but still
Queueing or Queuing - English Language Usage Stack Exchange Which spelling is better, queueing or queuing? Both words seem to mean the same, but there are two different spellings My context is: Queueing Latency versus Queuing Latency If both spelling
I have a question for you Vs I have a question to you When properly quoted for Google search, the numbers are: "I have a question for you" 28M results, "I have a question to you" 3M results If usage on the net is a guide, the former over the latter 10:1
supposed to or suppose to? - English Language Usage Stack Exchange Supposed to is a very common phrase, as in: you're not supposed to come here It means "you should not come here", "you are not meant to come here" Using *suppose to in this sentence would be considered wrong by most educated speakers The cause of this common omission of the d is probably that d t sounds the same as t, so that there is no difference in pronunciation between supposed to and
pronunciation - Silent w in words starting with wr- - English . . . Not My Field, so subject to correction: In Old English the “voiced labiovelar approximant” w was in fact pronounced in the initial clusters wr and wl Lass, Cambridge History of the English Language describes the loss of this pronunciation in the context of “Onset-cluster reduction” (III, page 122): Witch which, not knot, Nash gnash, rite write are homophones in most varieties of
How is the ending -le or -el determined? - English Language Usage . . . Words that in Modern English are written ending with -le derive from words ending in -el, -el- or are related with such words candle Old English candel cattle Anglo-Norman catel ladle Old English hlædel paddle Low German paddeln rattle Low German ratelen The spelling of those words is changed, but the pronunciation was keep closer to the original related word
Should I put myself last? me and my friends vs. my friends and me . . . The difference between "I and my friends" and "my friends and I" is purely a matter of courtesy - they are both grammatically correct I would tend to stick to the latter though, as it a) is more commonplace, b) is considered more polite, c) seems to flow better Indeed, your example of 'incorrect' usage is incorrect solely in that the first sentence uses the accusative (objective) pronoun me
Origin of Well, well, well. What do we have here? The phrase has been used before, but the meme seems to have taken off in May 2009, according Google Insights The blue line is "what do we have here", and the others are co-incident " [ [well] well] well what do we have here": The map on the page shows the interest in the phrase is predominantly from the USA I expect May 2009 seems to be when this motivational poster spoof spread around the