When I say:     The board and council meetings will be held on the 5th and the 6th of this month, respectively.   it seems to be the proper way to say it and it sounds correct . But when I say:     Let's get tea and coffee for you and for me, respectively.   especially in an informal environment, it sounds unnatural at best and snobbish at worst. So what is a good informal word for 'respectively'?
123983
Is there any other word I can use instead of respectively?   This word provides me a way to describe a list of items conveniently in a single sentence and hence save space. I've used this many times and there are mainly two reasons I am asking this:   I'm just looking for alternatives, since I don't want to use the same word everywhere. Another small reason is that I find the word respectively a bit long which makes writing short sentences using it difficult.   Since an example of its use was requested: "Samantha, John and Jack bought apples, mangoes and oranges respectively from the market." (I know it's not a very creative one.)  I also looked for synonyms at  but the only close ones I found were correspondingly and individually. I'm unsure whether these are valid substitutions for the use of respectively as in my example.
28842
This must be a simple question for a native speaker.  I know that we use "on" with dates: I'll see you on January 1st.  And we use "at" with times: I'll see you at 17:30.  But what preposition has to be used when we speak for date and time:  I'll see you on January 1st at 17:30. looks ok.  But what in this case: It happened on 2014-01-01 17:30.  Is "on" correct when we are specifying the date and the time?   The date-time comes as a ready text as 2014-01-01 17:30 and I cannot modify it. I can only put text before the date-time string or after it.
109814
The 10th and last round of negotiations between Iran and the six world powers was held in Vienna in a bid to strike a final deal. However, after the sides failed to agree on a final deal they decided to extend the negotiations until / by July 1, 2015.   In the original text the preposition until has been written. I am, however, wondering if we could use by instead, if so, is there any difference semantically?  Any help would be greatly appreciated
26752
This was posted on facebook and people are saying it is incorrect, it should be: "...as you and I"   Which is correct?
27979
I'd appreciate your assistance in helping me particularly understand how to use the phrase "as of" properly.   What is the proper interpretation of the following sentence?  "I need you to get me all transactions as of January 23rd"   That I need all transactions from the beginning of time (so to speak) till January 23rd, or That I need all transactions from January 23rd to now?   Would "as at" be more appropriate to express (1)?  Would "as from" be more appropriate to express (2)?
24288
What is the correct relative pronoun for "government"? Which of the following phrases is correct? I am writing for an American [English] audience.     The Queensland Government, who licenses several casinos, ...   or     The Queensland Government, which licenses several casinos, ...
97946
Are words like "yesterday" and "tomorrow" considered nouns, adjectives, or even adverbs?  I'm getting mixed signals from several references.  In a case like "I have an important meeting tomorrow," it seems as if they're nouns.  But what about "Yesterday afternoon?"
37200
To start off let us construct a situation were I am walking along and I pass another person. Depending on the time of day and to be polite I say one of the following:   "Good Morning!" "Good Evening!" "Good Night!" "Good Day!"   Now 1 and 2 are common welcoming and polite gestures and I have no problem with their use. However the problem lies with 3: Why is it so dismissive compared with 1 and 2?  If I said "Good Night!" to somebody when walking at around 11 p.m why does it sound like I am putting them to bed?  Finally as a related matter, why is 4 not used too often? In other languages 4 seems to be more common then an equivalent "Hello!" and sometimes 4 and "Hello!" posses the same.meaning.
375
Can we use though and although interchangeably? Somebody told me that the difference is that though cannot be used at the beginning of a sentence. Is that the rule?
93536
Is it acceptable usage to use "or" with "respectively", or is it possible only with "and"?  Example:     If the light changes from red to blue or from blue to red, you must catch or throw the ball, respectively.   I've seen lots of construction with "and" but none with "or".
58635
I have learnt these words so far, please correct me if I'm wrong:   Dawn, maybe 4am–6am? Morning, maybe 6am–9am? The food for the morning is called breakfast. People greet each other Good morning! Noon, maybe 11am–1pm? The food is called lunch. Afternoon, maybe 2pm–4pm? People greet each other Good afternoon! Evening, maybe 6pm–9pm? The food for the evening is called supper. People greet each other Good evening! Night, maybe 9pm–11pm? However, Good night means "have a good sleep". Mid-night, maybe 11pm–1am?   You see, I've missed some parts of a day, I may be not correct on the time boundaries of each part, though.  I would like to complete the list, especially the part after the morning but before the afternoon. My teacher never told us to use the word noon, and good noon seems never used by anyone.  I would like to know each part of a day, its corresponding food term (like lunch, supper, etc.), and its corresponding greeting words, thanks.  Summary  I'll update the table to reflect the answers:  Part          Begin End   Meal             Greeting ------------- ----- ----- ---------------- --------------------- morning/dawn   0:00  5:00                   early morning  5:00  6:00                  Good morning morning        6:00  9:00 breakfast        Good morning mid-morning    9:00 11:59 elevenses/       Good morning                           morning tea/                           brunch noon          12:00 12:00 - afternoon     12:00 17:00 lunch/           Good afternoon                           afternoon tea evening       17:00 21:00 supper           Good evening night         21:00 23:00 night-time snack Good evening midnight      23:00  1:00 midnight snack   Good night
41627
All those pipelines you monitored yesterday I need their report in my office today.   Is the above sentence correct? I am concerned about "their" in the second clause, which refers back to the pipelines.
83141
When do I have to come to the office tomorrow?   or      At what time should I come to the office tomorrow?    Are both of them correct? If so, do both of them mean the same? Which one can be used in a formal conversation?
42870
One of the answers to  question states that &quot;We shall discuss it in our today's meeting&quot;  is grammatically correct. To me, that sentence is clearly wrong. While in today's meeting is fine and in our today meeting is OKish (though at the very least clumsy), there's something about the possessive there (our today's) that makes it wrong for me. I would read that sentence as in our today's (as opposed to your today's) meeting. Similar to in our car's trunk where the our clearly modifies car and not trunk or car trunk, the our in our today's seems to be modifying today's and not meeting. So, my questions are i) is it actually grammatically wrong to say in our today's or is it just a question of usage? and ii) if it is indeed wrong, how can we explain its wrongness?
79417
I was just wondering how can you use "there is" followed by a word that is in plural, e.g  "There's cupcakes in the fridge"  and  "There is a couple of things we can do --"   Is it just slang?
48025
Please read the following:   I would like to come with you.  I would have liked to come with you. I would like to have come with you.   Another example:   I would prefer to drink coffee. I would have preferred to drink coffee. I would prefer to have drunk coffee.   I perfectly understand the first sentence in both the groups. What I would like to know is the difference between second and third sentences. Could you please explain that?
102414
What's the difference between:  I will be eating cakes tomorrow. I will eat cakes tomorrow.   And, when should I use the first form?