Help with English

[sculptor]

on the lighter side:

“O-U-G-H”
I’m taught p-l-o-u-g-h
Shall be pronouncé “plow.”
“Zat’s easy w’en you know,” I say,
“Mon Anglais, I’ll get through!”

My teacher say zat in zat case,
O-u-g-h is “oo.”
And zen I laugh and say to him,
“Zees Anglais make me cough.”

He say, “Not ‘coo,’ but in zat word,
O-u-g-h is ‘off.'”
Oh, Sacre bleu! Such varied sounds
Of words makes me hiccough!

He say, “Again mon frien’ ees wrong;
O-u-g-h is ‘up’
In hiccough.” Zen I cry, “No more,
You make my t’roat feel rough.”

“Non, non!” he cry, “you are not right;
O-u-g-h is ‘uff.'”
I say, “I try to spik your words,
I cannot spik zem though.”

“In time you’ll learn, but now you’re wrong!
O-u-g-h is ‘owe.'”
“I’ll try no more, I s’all go mad,
I’ll drown me in ze lough!”

“But ere you drown yourself,” said he,
“O-u-g-h is ‘ock.'”
He taught no more, I held him fast,
And killed him wiz a rough!

— Charles Battell Loomis

 

[Saint]

When a mother rebuke her son for wrong doing, the son does not admit wrong and talk back to the mother in rude manner,
any special English word for this talk back?

 

[Sarkus]

When a mother rebuke her son for wrong doing, the son does not admit wrong and talk back to the mother in rude manner,
any special English word for this talk back?

It's sometimes called backchat. Look it up in a dictionary.

 

[Saint]

Tyre or tire?
Which is more popular spelling?

 

[Seattle]

In these 9 years since you started this thread, has your English improved?

 

[Sarkus]

Tyre or tire?
Which is more popular spelling?

You do know that you can look all this up yourself by simply typing "Tyre or tire" into Google, right?

If you're talking about the rubber covering of a wheel, I believe "tire" is how they spell it in USA and Canada, and "tyre" is how we spell it in the UK and most other places that speak English (e.g. Australia, NZ, etc).

If you're talking about becoming fatigued, in English I believe it is "tire" in all geographies.

 

[Saint]

Why furniture has no plural?

 

[geordief]

Why furniture has no plural?

It's a collective noun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_noun

 

[DaveC426913]

When a mother rebuke her son for wrong doing, the son does not admit wrong and talk back to the mother in rude manner,
any special English word for this talk back?

Sass, lip, guff, cheek, mouth.
Google is your friend: https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/back talk?s=t

 

[DaveC426913]

You do know that you can look all this up yourself by simply typing "Tyre or tire" into Google, right?

Surely you mean 'Saint's programmers do know they can look this all up themselves...'

 

[(Q)]

Why furniture has no plural?

It does, "Furnitures" as in a collection of Furnitures.

 

[Hipparchia]

It does, "Furnitures" as in a collection of Furnitures.

In any sentence I can think of the phrase would remain as "a collection of furniture". Can you cite a usage in the plural that justifies your claim? (If you had three collections of furniture that you brought together you would now have a single collection of furniture.)

 

[(Q)]

It is true that “furniture” is a non-count noun, but it is also a collective noun: a cover term for a class of individual items. Such nouns imply plurality, but are singular in form. “people” is a similar noun: non-count and singular, but with plural connotations. Non=count nouns may be pluralized, but the meaning is “different kinds of X,” not “numerous units of X.” For example, “Siberian peoples all had simple social organization.” Compare this with “Siberian tigers all live in remote areas.”

 

[geordief]

In any sentence I can think of the phrase would remain as "a collection of furniture". Can you cite a usage in the plural that justifies your claim? (If you had three collections of furniture that you brought together you would now have a single collection of furniture.)

I think Q's idea may be along the line of "a gaggle of geese" , "a school of porpoises "etc .

So "a collection of furnitures" maybe?

And what about a "charm of particles" ?

 

[DaveC426913]

(If you had three collections of furniture that you brought together you would now have a single collection of furniture.)

No. They can remain distinct, in the same way 'moneys' can. ('moneys' is a generally used in a business context - each sum may be from a different source or earmarked for a different purpose, so, not a single collection of money.)

So, a store that sells different styles of furniture that are distinctive by period or country might logically call itself World Fine Furnitures.


And Wayfair thinks furnitures is a real word, so there's that.

 

[geordief]

No. They can remain distinct, in the same way 'moneys' can. ('moneys' is a generally used in a business context - each sum may be from a different source or earmarked for a different purpose, so, not a single collection of money.)

So, a store that sells different styles of furniture that are distinctive by period or country might logically call itself World Fine Furnitures.


And Wayfair thinks furnitures is a real word, so there's that.

I think we prolly all agree that in its overwhelmingly most common usage there is no plural form of "furniture" ?

(Don't quite get "World Fine Furnitures".Sure that's not a misspelling of "World Wide Furnitures"? )

 

[Michael 345]

And Wayfair thinks furnitures is a real word, so there's that.

I think we prolly all agree that in its overwhelmingly most common usage there is no plural form of "furniture" ?

(Don't quite get "World Fine Furnitures".Sure that's not a misspelling of "World Wide Furnitures"? )

Furniture" is actually a weird word in English because it is considered to be uncountable. This means it only has a singular form and does not ever have a plural form (e.g. the plural of furniture is furniture). So, we would choose "is" because there is no plural form of "furniture," even if it was supposed to be plural.

There actually once was a plural of furniture, furnitures. It fell out of use during the 1900s, and would have taken the verb "are"

https://ell.stackexchange.com/quest... "to be" has,plural of furniture is furniture).

 

[Write4U]

I really suspect Saint is either a very young person or a "learning AI", which would be cool.
Her questions are structured very similar to Sophia, the extraordinary "learning AI".

Saint, please do tell.......

 

[DaveC426913]

I think we prolly all agree that in its overwhelmingly most common usage there is no plural form of "furniture" ?

Not sure that computes.

Furnitures is certainly uncommon, but I don't think one can say there is no such thing.

(Don't quite get "World Fine Furnitures".Sure that's not a misspelling of "World Wide Furnitures"? )

I made it up.

It's a hypothetical store that sells furniture based on country and style.

 

[geordief]

Furnitures is certainly uncommon, but I don't think one can say there is no such thing

I agree .I was just limiting the point to one extremely common usage**.

I also agree that "World Wide Furnitures" would work

**in my mind every distinct usage can be understood as a distinct -well "related"-"word" (a "metaword " of sorts?)