“just so you know” (Urban Dictionary) What does this mean? And what grammatical role does “so” have? Answer Just so you know is a pretty ordinary construction, as such things go in English. Just = “only” So is the ordinary adverb, employed in the sense “in order that” *You know” = “you know”, “you are … Read more
North Korea hates me, and wants me dead. (Correspondent Report, Aussie ABC) Does “wants me dead” mean “wants that I’ve already died and not existed”? If the sentence is rewritten as “wants me to die,” does it mean “wants me to die at any time from now”? Answer Want expresses not a retrospective unreal wish … Read more
The horses, needless to say, were not mentioned again. Tom and Miss Baker, with several feet of twilight between them, strolled back into the library, as if to a vigil beside a perfectly tangible body, while, trying to look pleasantly interested and a little deaf, I followed Daisy around a chain of connecting verandas to … Read more
I came across this phrase today in a rather humorous column: The last time I did [something] … was 2000-never. I’ve never seen this construct before. My guess is, that this means, the author did something the last time before the year 2000. Is that correct? Could I get some more examples? Here is the … Read more
