In conversation today I wanted to find a set of words that have an “or” sound in their middles, as in “torrent” and “sorcerer”. I couldn’t find one. Most rhyming dictionaries I found only concerned themselves with the last syllable. I think that part of the problem is that I’m not aware of the correct … Read more
Can anyone suggest any good resources describing the grammar of traditional Somerset English (not accented standard English)? The Wikipedia article for the West Country dialects provides a good introduction, but I am looking for sources that go into greater depth regarding the grammatical differences between Somerset and standard English. Answer The first two books on … Read more
Most dictionaries don’t say whether a noun is count vs. mass. Short of asking a fluent English speaker, where can you get this kind of information? I’ve tried asking various other ESL/EFL people I know this same question, and also tried googling it, but to no avail. Answer Most English dictionaries used and published in … Read more
I wonder whether I can find a work of literature in AAE somewhere? I mean not citations of conversations or songs etc, but a full-fledged story or novel or technical text. Answer Similar to how there are no online indicies for literary works written in cockney, ‘appalachian’ dialect, or even the Southern USA dialect, probably … Read more
Are dictionary definitions for words with multiple meanings ordered based on chronology, hierarchy, or frequency of usage? Is/was there a standard format? Answer It depends on the dictionary. Some, perhaps most, place the most common use of the word first. The Oxford English Dictionary, ‘the definitive record of the English language’, places its definitions in … Read more
As an ESL student, sometimes I wonder whether I use too many pronouns. For example: She grabbed her purse, she took some money and then she went to buy some groceries. After that she returned happily with a lot of things she bought. Can it be changed to something like this? She grabbed her purse, … Read more
Does anyone know of a good online thesaurus? I’ve used http://thesaurus.com/ and http://www.merriam-webster.com/. Especially something that’s good with phrases, figures of speech or idioms. Answer Check out few informative resources on thesaurus: Collins Dictionary Macmillan dictionary: Babylon thesaurus: Thesaurus on Yahoo Education: Thesaurus.net Wordnik (suggested by Carlo_R) Visual Thesaurus: It is one of amazing things. … Read more
Possible Duplicate: English synonym online database? I am working on a project which needs access to the database of a English synonyms, preferably as a raw text file. Are there any public domain, open source, or similarly licensed thesauruses which have a downloadable database and in a simple syntax. Answer How about OpenThesaurus? OpenThesaurus is … Read more
Since there are so many language resources on the internet nowadays, I was wondering if there is an online dictionary(or any other language tool) that would list the words not only in the alphabetical order, but also by the frequencies of their occurrence. I don’t care how the frequencies are calculated – it may be … Read more
Possible Duplicate: How can we check if a noun is concrete or abstract? Is there any resource or online dictionary to check the type of noun? For example: I want to check if Room, House, Office, Brain, etc., are abstract or concrete nouns. Is there any way to simply know without posting a question here … Read more
