Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. While many people prefer to avoid redundancy in writing (“Omit needless words”), a little redundancy is often helpful in speech to improve flow and to compensate for the vagaries of hearing and attention span. Columbus encountered the pineapple in 1493 on the Leeward island of Guadeloupe.
Do you need the “why” in “That’s the reason why”? duplicate
- One complication is when words are pronounced differently in British and American English.
- If you are asking many similar questions of this type in a row, you may repeat the same construction (anaphora).
- And these are nouns that could make sense with a Why relative pronoun;try it, if you dare, with nouns that couldn’t, like rock, salamander, or durability.
- This is pure speculation, but it may have to do with the fact that there were English colonies in the New World, and these had lots of trade with the Caribbean.
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- The letters GG are emblazoned, in grey, in the center of the garnet horse’s head.
Similarly, if I were to write an I.O.U. for 3 kumquats, one could easily change that 3 to an 8, but it is far more difficult to make three look like eight. The practice appears to be a legal tradition rather than a universally honored rule. Use a before words that start with a consonant sound and an before words that start with a vowel sound.Other letters can also be pronounced either way. Just remember it is the sound that governs whether you use a or an, not the actual first letter of the word.
Restating a number in parentheses after spelling it out is a way to ensure the reader that the number is correct. It also draws the eye to the numbers, allowing for quick perusal of a document, say a purchase order. Sometimes we use variants to freshen up our writing, or avoid variance to hammer home a repetitive point. If you are asking many similar questions of this type in a row, you may repeat the same construction (anaphora).
Why is « gee-gee » slang for « horse »?
- When European (English) explorers discovered them they called them pineapples because of their resemblance to pine cones from conifer trees.
- In the rare cases where this is a problem, use the form that will be expected in your country or by the majority of your readers.
- But usually you’re not wielding a rhetorical jackhammer, so variation is the way to go to keep your prose from getting dull.
- It’s not unusual for oblique wh-words to have limited usage; how may not be used as a relative pronoun at all.
More important, why refers to an adverbial clause or phrase of some sort in the relative clause — certainly not a noun phrase — and therefore it can’t possibly be the subject of the clause. This is important because relative pronouns that are the subject of their relative clause (like the man who/that came to dinner) cannot be deleted. But adverbial wh-words — like why, where, when, and sometimes how — can’t ever fall into why is variance always positive that category. When European (English) explorers discovered them they called them pineapples because of their resemblance to pine cones from conifer trees.
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Not quite as limited as how, however.How can’t be used at all as a relative pronoun;one may use that, or nothing at all, buthow (which refers to way) is ungrammatical as a relative marker. I looked into this myself recently and couldn’t find a definitive answer. The best I came up with was that numeric values in a formal document or contract are often crucial to its purpose.
Why are numbers sometimes spelled out and then numerals specified as well? closed
One complication is when words are pronounced differently in British and American English. For example, the word for a certain kind of plant is pronounced “erb” in American English and “herb” in British English. So the proper form in America is an erb, and the proper form in Britain is a herb. In the rare cases where this is a problem, use the form that will be expected in your country or by the majority of your readers. Usual (pronounced /ˈjuː.ʒu.əl/ as in you) begins with a consonant sound and, as such, it should be preceded by a not an. It’s not a matter of redundancy; all pronouns are redundant, after all.It’s just that why is very limited in its distribution.
They apparently only include relative pronouns that usually refer to an explicit antecedent, as opposed to those that usually include their antecedents, as do what (always) and where (usually). In your examples, those words clearly function as relative pronouns. When can only be used to start a relative clause modifying a time word, and where a place word; why can be used only if reason is the antecedent. That’s why these pronouns are used so comparatively often to mark headless clauses; there are so few antecedents they can have that they can be safely implied and therefore not expressed. It’s obvious what my intent is when I rather carelessly write an I.O.U. for sevum kumquats, but alas, sevum is not really a word and opens up our contract to litigation. Adding the numeral 7 in parenthesis after sevum clarifies the intent.
Why don’t most sources classify « when », « where », and « why » as relative pronouns?
This is pure speculation, but it may have to do with the fact that there were English colonies in the New World, and these had lots of trade with the Caribbean. If the fruit was called by one name in the Caribbean and a different name in Spain, the English could easily have ended up using the Caribbean name, while the rest of Europe used the Spanish name. There are many stylistic variants you can use to ask why something happens. They all mean pretty much the same thing; you just have to choose the particular flavor you’re looking for at the time of writing. Can you please explain to me the difference in meaning between these two questions? As far as I know, “That’s the reason I…” would still be grammatically correct, but I can’t find anything stating one way or the other.
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Over time this morphed into Gee-Gees, the same as the horses of the Ottawa valley. In 1970 uOttawa adopted, as their official sports team logo, the head of racehorse with a fiery mane. The letters GG are emblazoned, in grey, in the center of the garnet horse’s head. They can be taken to represent both the team colours and the team name, Gee-Gee. I believe the usage depends on what the word sounds like it starts with.
But usually you’re not wielding a rhetorical jackhammer, so variation is the way to go to keep your prose from getting dull. I think there is no difference except that the first sounds more emphasized. Also, If you say « today was an usual day », unless your pronunciation is extremely clear, you risk being misunderstood as « today was unusual day », which will only confuse your listeners.
He called it piña de Indes, meaning « pine of the Indians », and brought it back with him to Europe, thus making the pineapple the first bromeliad to leave the New World. Irish farmers, including my ancestors, settled in the Ottawa Valley, Canada, in the 19th century.They brought the term Gee-Gee with them from the British Isles. They used it to refer to their big farm horses, as well as race horses. The colours of the University of Ottawa are Garnet and Grey, or GG for short.