Is ‘I’m in favour of’ considered more formal than ‘I’m for’, or are they interchangeable? I want to say something like, ‘Sometimes people abandon their logic /in favour of/ false hope’, but can’t help but feel that using ‘for’ would make the sentence more succinct. Answer As in: Sometimes, people abandon their logic for false … Read more
Someone told me that the following sentences are bad English. He specifically critized the bold words. Furthermore, he mentioned that the second sentence cannot be correctly understood. The distance d is measured from the ball center and reduced by the shift parameter s to ease the consideration of the ball radius r. That also motivates … Read more
I am not a native speaker of English and I was having a casual conversation with my friends in the US. I asked them, “Where do you stay?” (which is pretty common in India, as far as I know) for which they gave me a surprised look and told me that people generally don’t use … Read more
Is the following way to say “to give up one thing in order to get another thing” correct and idiomatic? We should not compromise the existing differences for a unique theory. Is the above use of compromise and for correct? If not, how else to say what I want to say? Answer Yes, it’s fine. … Read more
My problem is that I don’t know whether I should use ‘to’ or not when I say the sentences I wrote below. Can anyone tell me which one is right and why, ‘have you gotten New York safely?’ or ‘have you gotten to New York safely?’? I don’t know what to say when it comes … Read more
Some dictionaries list the phrase in the generic form of ‘Suit oneself’ (e.g. Merriam-Webster). Although I have come across the phrase ‘Suit yourself’ many times, I haven’t seen any example usage for other reflexive pronouns like themselves. Is it possible to use the phrase like ‘Suit themselves’ to mean ‘I don’t agree but they can … Read more
I am working on a translation of a poem. My current versions is: Leaping toward first light I left my body nearby singing the sorrows of that born. My problem is in the last line, “of that born.” In the original, the reference is clearly to what is left over after the writer’s body is … Read more
I wonder whether it’s ok to use “as of today” just to describe the state of things how they are now without making any assumptions about how the things were beforehand. For instance, let’s consider a phrase: “As of today child labor is illegal almost everywhere”. Does the usage of “as of today” necessarily imply … Read more
I may be wrong here, but I think of the verb “will” as in the set phrase “if you will” as an actual verb, with the rare sense “wish, desire, want”, not as a mere future marker. Therefore, in this sentence: He wasn’t very bright, or kind of a dummy, if you will. …the “I … Read more
I would be interested to know the origin and evolution of meaning, along with example usage, for the phrase “last days of Rome”. Answer Literal use of "last days of Rome" appears at least as early as this instance from "‘Our Best Society’," in the Erie [Pennsylvania] Observer (April 30, 1853): There is a picture … Read more
