I left the bag in the hall and Robert and I went into the living room where we talked for a couple of hours.  Does a couple of hours equal two hours? Or it simply represents several hours?
35260
Today I said some event was a couple of weeks away. A native speaker from Australia corrected me and said, no it's at least three weeks away. What followed was a discussion as to whether a couple always means two, or if it can mean more than two.  What does a couple, in particular a couple of weeks, mean to a native speaker?  According to :        Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.   Two of the same kind connected or considered together.   (informal) A small number.      According to :        two people or things of the same sort considered together:   'a couple of girls were playing marbles'   [treated as singular or plural] two people who are married or otherwise closely associated romantically or sexually:   'in three weeks the couple fell in love and became engaged'   'a honeymoon couple'   [informal] An indefinite small number      Yet my colleague — a native speaker — insists that a couple never means three, although there can be a small error bar on the two. We asked one other native speaker who agrees with him, yet three non-native speakers point at the above-mentioned sources to claim they're wrong. But it's a bit tricky for non-native speakers to claim native speakers are wrong. Note that both native-speakers are from Australia/New Zealand.
2070
We're going on a cruise leaving from Texas in a couple of months, and I'm not sure what to respond to this question with - we're arriving and then staying in a hotel for one night before departing on the cruise and visiting 3 other countries before eventually returning and flying home.  Should we say "yes" to this question and enter the hotel we're staying at in Texas for one night as the point of contact?  Thanks
97072
What is the difference between the two sentences below? Are they the same or different in meaning?     Jack and Laura's new house is almost ready.      Jack's and Laura's new house is almost ready.   To my perception, the first says two of them have one house and the second says each one has a (different) house (which is almost ready). Is my perception correct?  EDIT: If I don't use "houses" instead of "house" (for my second interpretation), does it mean the sentence is wrong?
118093
Which one of the following is correct (bold part)?      It took us quite a long time to get here. It was 3 hour journey.   or     It took us quite a long time to get here. It was a 3-hour journey.
19624
how are you?  Well, my biggest doubt at the moment is the difference between these two tenses. Actually, the more I study the more I have doubts with these tenses.      /         These similar threads helped me to clarify and reiterate my previous understanding.   I'm not posting in these threads because the site suggests avoiding asking for clarification (I don't know why because it would avoid new threads with the same content).  My main doubt is as follows:     I've lived in New York for two years.   In my understanding, the sentence above implies (1) that I lived in NY for two years and now I live in another place; or (2) I'm moving to another city after two years living in NY; or (3) I lived in NY for two years, then I moved to another place for some period and, finally, I'm returning. Is that correct?     I've been living in New York for two years.   Whereas the sentence above, in my understanding, implies that I lived in NY for two years and I still living there.  Anyway, many sources that I've already read say that these two sentences have the same meaning and are interchangeable. Therein lies my question. Is that correct? Because if these two sentences are interchangeable, it destroys all my understanding.  Thanks in advance.
112217
Where did they go?   Where do they went?   Can you please advise which of above forms is correct?  I'm pretty sure that first one is fine but wondering about second one.   Can I use a second form as well or it's incorrect?
54480
I've just been awarded the  bage!  Whooo, go me (didn't even realise it existed)!  =D I'm curious to know which of my (all rather mundane) comments has brought for me such honour. I found , which suggests using .  However, that query shows that I have only 2 comments with a score of 5 or more and I can't see anything wrong with the query... Do I not deserve this shiny new badge?  :(
25967
Just read somewhere about this puzzling puzzle:  What is the difference between:   I'm doing a twenty four-hour shift tonight. I'm doing a twenty-four hour shift tonight. I'm doing a twenty-four-hour shift tonight.   I know number 1 is 20 x 4 hours. Number 2 and 3 is the same as far as I know. Is this true?
47768
What is the reasoning behind not allowing one to delete his own chat message after 2 minutes? The timeout to edit messages is good enough, I think.  I don't see many cases where losing some old messages would be problematic (restricting the number old messages that can be deleted in a certain timeframe should be more than enough). (Credit goes to ).
96044
I am talking about events taking place in the known future:     Would it be okay if I'll confirm around 3 pm?   or should it be      Would it be okay if I'd confirm around 3 pm?   What is the difference and which one is correct? Why?
30419
I'm pretty depressed that I'm finally one of the people posting this, since I'm usually telling those people "you're obviously wrong", but either I don't understand how consecutive day counting works or this seems impossible:    The last activity count is right; I was on SO at about 18:30Z yesterday (Saturday). Is it possible for the consecutive count to be at 1 if my last activity was yesterday? It would seem like it has to be at least 2 then (although I was definitely active Friday; I suspect Saturday is the "missing" day since all I did was poke through the newest question list and check the current flags)
23761
He left the house _ I was still sleeping   Would this sentence be better completed with when or with while?
3606
This is from a recent article:     He was rushed to the hospital immediately and a battery of tests was   conducted.   Now shouldn't it be     He was rushed to the hospital immediately and a battery of tests were   conducted.   Which is correct and why is it correct? :)
69976
Here's the situation: I meet a friend and I tell her about yesterday:     “Hey, John!”   “Hi, Sarah!”   “How was yesterday's trip?”   “It was great. Karl took me to the countryside to show me his new house. It reminded me of the/a house I rented in Oxford.”    “...a house I rented in Oxford.” indicates one of the (multiple) houses I rented in Oxford? “...the house I rented in Oxford.” indicates I rented only one house in Oxford?
2676
The study was carried out up to visit 11 under the name of X1,   whereas all later visits were carried out under a different name,   X2.   In the above sentence, does V11 belong to X1 or X2? I want the sentence to mean that V11 was included in X1, how should the sentence be then?
97907
I am able to solve this sort of problem pretty easily.     An arm wrestler is the champion for a period of 75 hours. The arm   wrestler had at least one match an hour, but no more than 125 total   matches. Show that there is a period of consecutive hours during which   the arm wrestler had exactly 24 matches.   However this homework problem I can't seem to figure out.     Tyler has five weeks to prepare for his driver’s test. His mother   volunteers to ride with him for either 15 minutes or one half hour   every day until the test but not for more than 15 hours in all. Show   that during some period of consecutive days, Tyler and his mother will   drive for exactly 8.75 hours.   If I try doing it the same way as the first problem. I get $70$ pigeons and $95$ pigeon holes. I honestly don't know where to start with this problem. I thought that maybe I could assume that they only drove $.25$ hours on each day and prove that there is a period of consecutive days where they drove for exactly $8.75$ hours. Then I could say that we assume there is one day that they drove for $.5$ hours and work my way up, but I can't seem to get that to work either.
93281
Is there any subtle difference between:   We need to carry in some stuff so open the door and leave it open. We need to carry in some stuff so open the door and leave it opened.   I mean "leave it like that (in that state)".