I  I live in India and I have noticed that in Indian English it is normal to use the noun "doubt" as one would use the noun "question" in Western English.  Examples:  "He had many doubts regarding the subject, so he asked his teacher to answer those doubts."  "Sir, I have a doubt, what is the square root of 64?"  Is this usage of the noun "doubt" unique to Indian English, or is it also acceptable in Western English?
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I have a doubt about having a doubt. I learned from  that in Indian English the word doubt is used to mean question, that is, as a countable noun. If my understanding is correct, the following is grammatical in InE:     I have two doubts about SQL. 1. Can I type in lower-case? 2. Does null equal null?   I’m curious about what other usages this has. Can you ask a doubt?      ? I captured a spy and asked him many doubts.   Is it a verb?     ? I captured a spy and doubted him for hours.   Are there other uses that are possible or things you’d think should be possible but in fact are not possible?
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Does it sound unnatural to you (natives) when people skip 's' ending of the verb in 3rd person? Heard it many times (e.g. in 50 cent songs - she go, she have, etc.) and always wondered how much it sounds ok.
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(a) When one reads the Hindi literature of the twentieth century, he finds a striking contrast between the writings of Munshi Premchand and later day writers of popular Hindi fiction.      (b)  When one reads the Hindi literature of the twentieth century, one finds a striking contrast between the writings of Munshi Premchand and later day writers of popular Hindi fiction.   According to me, (b) should be the correct one as "one" cannot be used interchangeably with other pronouns when referring to the same thing. But the correct answer is (a). Can someone explain?
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Which is correct “Is that yours?” or “Is that your’s?”?  I ask because it is possessive, so I would think it would be the latter, but I typically use and see the former usage.  Are there particular cases in which one should be used instead of the other? Or is one simply correct and the other not?  This is one of the few things that still confuse me, so help is greatly appreciated.
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I struggle constantly or is it I constantly struggle with the usage of such words. I don't even what they are called in English grammar.   My question: how do I know whether I'm grammatically correct when using such words?  Examples: Is it      I certainly will complete the report   or      I will certainly complete the report   Is it     I struggle constantly with English   or     I constantly struggle with English   Is it     Am I grammatically correct?   or     Am I correct grammatically?   I hope you get the idea.
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I proposed a programming puzzle, where the question is to generate gramatically correct sentence with the shortest program (see: [).  One suggested solution was "Hello, World!", this is an standard output at a special language where no code is written.   My question is: Can "Hello, World!" be rated as a correct English sentence? My feeling is, that it is not, because there is no verb in it. But since I'm not clear what is the correct definition of a sentence, I want to raise the question to the linguistic experts here.  Edit:  Based on the feedback I got here, there are several different possiblities on how to define a sentence. This was a bit of a suprise to me. Since the answer to this question seems to be opinion based. I suggest to close this question.
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Is this sentence a question or a statement (or other). It ends with a question, so I used a question mark. (Just ignore the tech jargon.)     I get that this should show me the PID of the SIGTERMing process and I successfully   compiled it, but how do I use it?   Edit: Another question, should it be written as (which is correct and which is clearer?)     I get that this should show me the PID of the SIGTERMing process and successfully   compiled it, but how do I use it?
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What are the roots of the creeping usage of "there's" for both singular and plural predicates? (This seems to be more common in spoken English.) I have 2 theories.  Perhaps it is because spoken communication our society is becoming less formal by the day. Or perhaps it is a reflection of speakers of other languages having increasing contact with native English speakers.  I am aware of German  "es gibt" and Spanish  "hay" constructions. Please comment.  3/06/14 I ran a couple of Google Ngrams and was surprised to find a greater rise in the use of "there's" in English fiction than in general English language books, since the turn of the century.  This would seem to support my contention that informality is behind the shift.
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I have just learned from what I consider a reliable source, that the following sentence is correct:     One of us is wrong, aren't we?   I would never in my life have written this, but I am assured that   As I realize comments don't live forever I will quote the relevant parts:     oerkelens : So you  would really write One of us is wrong, aren't we? I guess by analogy you would not bat an eyelid at One of these balls is blue, aren't they?   Matt Эллен : yes, "Then one of us is wrong, aren't we?" is exactly how it would be written. Same for the balls.   Could someone please enlighten me how it is possible that the number in a question tag supposedly has to be in discordance with the subject of the main clause?  I admit that I am not the youngest any more, and my school days are long gone, but back in the days, I was taught that  1. a verb and its subject concord in number 2. a question tag concords with the subject of the main clause  I was given examples like:     It is warm today, isn't it?   We will be on time, won't we?   Mary is pretty, isn't she?   John isn't the brightest, is he?   Some people may notice that the subject of the main clause seems to determine every time the subject of the question tag. When the main clause subject is singular, so are verb and subject in the question tag.  I was under the impression that a) this made sense and b) this would be a general rule.  I fully realize that grammar does not have to make sense, so a) is immaterial. As for b), today I learned I was wrong :)  So when (and possibly why?) do we form question tags that are different in number from their main clause?   To exemplify, also the other example sentence that I used and was corrected on:     One of these balls is blue, isn't it? (so this is wrong)   One of these balls is blue, aren't they? (and this is correct)   As an afterthought, does this strange grammatical number mix-up only appear in question-tags, or should I always refer to singular subjects in the plural if certain conditions are met? And what are those conditions?  Which versions are correct?     One of the cars is broken, aren't they? They (the car(s?) that is(are?) broken) should be fixed.   One of the cars is broken, aren't they? It (the car that is broken) should be fixed.   One of us must be wrong, mustn't we? We (the one(s?) that is (are?) wrong) should make amends.   One of us must be wrong, mustn't we? He (the one that is wrong) should make amends.   (In the last one, they could of course be used as the singular they, but that would avoid the issue...)
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I have heard someone say in a conversation, "Well, my point being,,,". As an English learner, I was puzzled but assumed that it was roughly the same as saying "My point is that..." or "Here's my point:"   Even if my guess was right, the phrase strikes me as a bit odd. Can anyone elaborate on the meaning/usage/gramatical explanation of this phrase?
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(1) Does he not know? (2) Doesn't he know?  I don't usually see and hear questions formed in the first style. I was even surprised to know that it is grammatically correct. And actually it is the most &quot;proper&quot; way to form an interrogative sentence.  shows that the first style was much more popular before than now. What are your suggestions on choosing between these styles? And I will probably add the third one.  (3) He does not know?  EDIT: The answers have explained how to form a question, but have not actually provided an account on the usage of the first two forms. Especially I'm interested in the first form: does it sound formal, is it used in speech or only in writing, et cetera.
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In a programming site, someone just wrote:     I cannot seem to get them both to find their relevant objects.   It seems I've heard something similar before, say:     I cannot seem to find it.   With my simple-minded mind, I would think that what they really mean is:      It seems I cannot find it.   ... because what they really want is not to seem to find X but really find it.   My question is: is it common to say "I can't seem to do it" when one really means "It seems I can't do it", and is it "correct" (in whatever sense that makes sense)?  [edit] There is another question on ; however, my interest is a bit different. I would like to know how native English speakers perceive the "I can't seem..." expression: for example, if someone is looking for something for quite some time, would they rather say (1) "I can't seem to find it" or (2) "It seems I can't find it"? Would (1) seem (even slightly) illogical or is it just a natural way to say it?
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Possible Duplicate:          I am not a native English speaker and this would/could thing always bothers me. Please give some example + explanation on this. Sorry if the question is too naive.
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Okay that's a crazy title, but bear with me.  Got into a good natured discussion with someone on another stack exchange site, and I was "correcting" him on the use of infer vs. imply.    (The discussion can be found here: )  He pointed me to a dictionary entry for "infer" that seems to use the definition for imply.    The 4th definition that is given there reads:     suggest, hint  -  "are you inferring I'm incompetent?"    That, to me, is a classic example of where someone should not use "infer", but should use "imply".  But maybe I'm wrong?  Granted, it's the 4th of four definitions, and so presumably less common, but I thought the two, "imply" and "infer" had totally distinct meanings.  According to definition #4 on that link "infer" can imply "imply".    Am I nuts?  Am I the only one surprised by this?  (very possible...I'm often surprised by English).  Or is it possible that the dictionary is...something less than accurate?  It's not a mom-and-pop shop, so that seems unlikely...but I throw it out there as a possibility...but if the dictionary is wrong, where do you go to to find evidence of it?  (Who watches the watchmen?)
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Please look at the following sentence        Having lived all my life in India, I can speak Hindi very well.      Does this mean I still live in India, or can it also be used if I have just moved from India to USA? If yes, then can it  also be used if I have been living in USA for 1 year, when I speak these words?      a. Having known her, I can tell she won't be happy.   b. Knowing her, I can tell she won't be happy.   What's the difference between #a and #b? Can #a ever be used, because it is difficult to 'un-know' someone after knowing them. In light of this should always #b be used ?   Also, if I want to say that I have known her 5 years and still know her, then which form must I employ     c. Having known her for 5 years, I can tell she won't be happy   d. Knowing her for 5 years, I can tell she won't be happy.   Thank you.
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Can anyone give a cogent, simply described explanation of why the verb BE in:  What is it?  ... doesn't seem to be able to be contracted with the subject:  What's it? *  Compare the sentences above with:  What's this? What's that?  These are perfectly fine. In fact, the contractions here should be expected in almost all examples of spoken English. Answers with references to authoritative vetted sources would be greatly appreciated.
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Is there any difference between "Is there something wrong?" and "Is there anything wrong?"? Also, you would say "He would like something to drink" but "Would you like anything to drink?", right? I'd appreciate if any one could explain the usage of "something" and "anything".