The connotation of adjective 'appropriate' is positive, while that of the verb is negative.   1. What's this phenomenon called, though this question allows any part of speech (and not just an adjective and verb, as above)? I ask this so that I can try to find lists of such words.   2. Why? Does the etymology depend on each word, or is there a more general theory?
77541
I am looking for a list of all English words that are their own antonyms. Off the top of my head, I can only think of "either", "fast", "to dust" and "to lease", but there must be dozens more. Can you provide a link to a comprehensive list, if such exists?  Also, what are such words most commonly called? I like the term "Janus word" I once heard, but is that widely understood?  Edited by popular demand to make it absolutely clear that this is not a community wiki poll.
12950
For example, therapist may be split into the + rapist, neither of which (arguably) has anything to do with the original words.  Another example would be conflagration: con + flag + ration. Or weather: we + at + her.  Note that words like threesome and purebred would not qualify, because the parts are intentional and contribute to the original word's meaning.  It seems to me there might be a word for this, which I would describe as "accidental lexical componentry" — but I'm not sure there is one. And if I do think of one I will be sure to add a supplemental (supple + mental) section (sect + ion) to this question (quest + ion).
76116
"Environmentally-friendly" sounds completely normal to me. So does "Environment-friendly". But I'm pretty sure I favour the former (despite the fact that I normally prefer the shorter of any two equivalent terms).  According to Google, I'm in good company. At least, the 'allies' massively outnumber those who say "Environment-friendly".  Why is this? Environment seems like a straightforward noun. All the other -friendly constructions I can think of just bolt on to the uninflected noun...  User-friendly software, Gay-friendly bar, Dolphin-friendly tuna, etc.  I hesitate to ask "What's so special about the environment?", but there it is being asked.  Later... Note that my focus is on why the inflected form apparently 'just happens' to be used with environment, but not with other nouns.
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We always use a positive tag question after a negative sentence:  You shouldn't take this medicine, should you?  We use a negative tag question after a positive sentence:  She must leave early, mustn't she?  But when there is a negating prefix on the adjective (impatient vs. patient) after the verb &quot;to be&quot;, then the sentence is negative in meaning. Does this mean the tag should be positive? Which is correct, A or B?  A: I am impatient, am I? B: I am impatient, aren't I? A: The class was dismissed, was it? B: The class was dismissed, wasn't it?
96439
The article a becomes to an when the following noun starts with a vowel.     Not a adventure but an adventure.   But how is it, when there's an adjective before the noun?     Not a thrilling adventure or not an thrilling Adventure?   And how is it, when the adjective starts with a vowel but the noun does not?     Not a exciting tournament or not an exciting tournament?
91335
Modal vs Non-Modal vs Auxiliary modal vs Conjugated Verb   How are these kinds of verb related to each other? Specially Non-Modals and Conjugated Verb. Is the "Auxiliary modal" just another name for "Auxiliary verb"?
118823
I'm Soumya, an author from India.  A reader has challenged me about the use of the word 'hairs' in my book. I have used, 'a few hairs' and that's justified, as hair is a countable noun in that very phrase. But I'm at a confusion for some other sentences. Could you kindly tell me if I'm wrong grammatically?   "The evening zephyr ruffled their long flowing hairs - the Indian village girl's shiny, black hair, and Audrey's curly blonde hair." "They had golden or brown or ashen hairs." "His black and white hairs had now turned into complete white."   Could you please help? Thank you!
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I mean adjectives like: ablaze, afloat, alive, ashore, ...   I did a quick Google search and found that they are called a adjectives. But I do remember that I came across a different denomination in a grammar book some time ago, but I have since forgotten that word.   Could anyone help?
121998
So, my boss comes in, railing that "English is a stupid language!" Since this is pretty much a thrice-weekly occurrence 'round these parts, I barely raised an eyebrow, and waited for him to continue.   "Mary just wrote to tell us that she's back from maternity leave, and I want to congratulate her and ask whether she had a girl or a boy, but I can't do it without calling the child an 'it'!" I blinked, then confirmed that yes, he believes the it in "Is it a boy or a girl" is the impersonal pronoun, the same word you'd apply to an apple or a house.  Is it the 'thing' pronoun, really? Or is it just a placeholder of some sort? I used to believe the latter: I gave the boss a mini-lecture about  and the . He wasn't convinced, however, and now he's got me doubting too. (Harumph. I really should know better than to listen to the boss.)  I'm not asking about politeness, here; the former title was to be taken somewhat facetiously. I'm wondering about the grammar: what role is that "it" playing in that sentence? Is it a personal pronoun (and thus the infant has grounds for feeling offended) or a dummy pronoun (and thus those who perceive a politeness issue are just misunderstanding the grammar)?
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Is "Happy Birthday!" a complete sentence? And if it is, what role are the words happy and birthday playing? Where is the verb? Can "happy" be a verb? I know in a sentence like "Go get the milk" there is an implied "You" at the beginning that makes it complete. Is there an implied verb?
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When somebody uses the phrase "not uncommon", do they mean "common" because of the double negative?  I was recently informed that "not uncommon" could imply that something was anything but uncommon (e.g. rare), whereas I thought that rare would be a subset of uncommon and that saying it was not uncommon must mean it is common.
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I frequently find myself needing a word to express happiness that acknowledges a tragic or unfortunate circumstance underpinning that happiness. Preferably the word could have both adjective and verb forms. For example, "Gregory [verb-ed | felt adjective about] the balmy February day, suspecting it was yet another consequence of catastrophic and irreversible climate change."  "Bittersweet" is close, but not precisely right. It implies ambivalence rather than genuine gladness. "Schadenfreude" is also in the neighborhood, but I don't want to imply that the tragic part of the situation is what causes the pleasure. (Also, I recognize that the word may not quite exist in English, and I don't know if this is forbidden for this forum, but I'd welcome a loan word or phrase if there's a better one.)
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Specifically, I'm looking for the term for when a person uses a word correctly, but intends a different meaning.  For example:     I empathize with you.   When the person really means:     I sympathize with you.   Both sentences are grammatically correct.  They both have meaning, and as sentences they are both "correct"...they're just incorrect in this case. This isn't a case of a malapropism where a similar sounding word is inserted with ludicrous results, nor is it a parapraxis, eggcorn, or mondegreen (as I understand them).  It's simply a case where a person either misunderstood the difference between the two and thus chose the wrong word or the person did understand but believed (in this case) they empathized when in fact they only sympathized.  I'd like to say something like "You made a grammatical mistake/error" - except in this case it isn't grammar...
29531
I came across these two sentences:  He was standing there proud.&quot; &quot;He is growing up rich.&quot;  I think I can understand what each sentence means, but grammatically they don't make sense to me. My understanding about adjectives are that they can only be before the noun or with &quot;be&quot;.  I see these kinds of sentences sometimes and have always wondered why. My first question is that in the first sentence, if I say, &quot;He was standing there, being proud.&quot; is the meaning the same?  And in the second one, can I say, &quot;He is growing up to be rich.&quot;? My second question is whether these ways of using adjectives are common or not.
41838
I am about to coin the word 'conundrous' because I needed it (and I think it deserves a place in the dictionary)!  I would like comments on what you think about that (in the context of a serious article, or I wouldn't have to ask), but the question is as stated — if you can supply one or more adjectives that are synonymous with such an adjective, that's the answer for me. :)  If there are none, I will be happy to accept close synonyms — the Merriam-Webster definition (of the noun) is here:   I'm after the "difficult problem" (but not the "pun") synonymity. It's used to describe a word from an ancient text which is seemingly not in the dictionaries; hard to find information about.  There's enigmatic, but it's just a mystery for the moment; it's not something that is by definition mysterious.  There's elusive, but I think that carries the connotation of forever escaping one's reach.
108014
I always remember many verbs ending in -ing.  Swimming club/cap and shaving foam for example. I now see increased use of swim club and shave foam.  Why has this happened, is it correct use of English ?
35189
I know good normally is an adjective ("[object] is good"), and well is normally an adverb ("[activity] is performed well"). But quite a few times I've seen good used in place of well. For example, you can be feeling good.  When is good applicable as adverb? Is the vice-versa situation possible?