Is it possible to use general "is" contractions with regular nouns?  Like "The car's white", or "everyone I know's cool". It seems like this could be a logical extensions of the normal rules of contractions, and informally online I find myself typing these out.
121950
When is it correct to create a contraction of words followed by is? For instance is who’s a correct short form of who is?
58862
I know the rule is to use past simple when you specify the time when the described action happened, but I strangely dislike this sentence and I'm not sure if the rule applies:   "It's the best movie I saw this year".  Shouldn't it be: "It's the best movie I've seen this year"?  Please, could you justify your answers? Thank you in advance!  Cheers
35369
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.
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?"
34756
I'm having difficulty determining if certain nouns are considered places or things. For example, I'm unsure if 'a park' is a place or a thing. More generally, with the standard definition of a noun as a person, place, thing, or idea, how does one determine the difference between a place, thing, idea, etc. Another example could be 'heaven', is this a place or an idea? I'd greatly appreciate any help. Thank you.
92488
When you uncontract doesn't in "Why doesn't it work?" the not moves to "Why does it not work?"  This confuses me even more when I use a longer phrase instead of the pronoun it like below:     Why doesn't this simple code example work?   Why does the word order change when we use a contraction?
80449
How do you know when to use singular or plural nouns if they're used as adjectives?  i.e.     32-bit computer vs 32-bits computer?      teacher union vs teachers union?      wedding planner vs weddings planner?      sport medicine vs sports medicine?      student council vs students council?   Which one is correct?
71399
Lately, something has struck me.  I've been hearing several expressions in English, some clearly borrowed from French and preserving their noun-adjective form.  Some examples are:  Attorney General Secretary General Court Martial Notary Public   I suspect there are more that I have missed.  However, in each of the 4 cases listed above, I feel 'OK' saying them the 'English' way; that is, adjective-noun, which is the way we almost always do things except for these borrowed phrases.  One might receive a statement from the General Attorney, or be sent to a Martial Court.  My father is actually a lawyer and does indeed describe himself as a Public Notary.  Doing things this way makes the plural sound a lot more sensible in English, too; which sounds better: General Secretaries, or Secretaries General?  How common is it for people to flip these borrowed phrases around and say them the more standard English adjective-noun way?  Might it be clearer in the long run if we did so?
10973
The rule says that we can use a possessive adjective or an object pronoun before a gerund. Is there a rule  that says when to use each or are they interchangeable? Some say that it's wrong to use an object pronoun before a gerund.
88897
I am a bit confused about the rule of setting the definite article in a sentence when it is associated to two nouns.          The beginning and end of the channel.    The beginning and the end of the channel.           The arguments belong to the request and to data function.    The arguments belong to the request and to the data function.
83775
In conversation sometimes I’ll say something like this:     What’s that do?   which uses “s” as a contraction for “does”.  Is this a “real” contraction, or is it incorrect usage of a contraction?
74097
I started to learn English recently and I have one misunderstanding about the usage of "all" and "any". In what cases should we use "all" and in what "any"? Why does the following example:     There was something false in all this.   use "all" instead of "any"?
69781
Consider the following sentence:     The labour-intensive and time-intensive part starts tomorrow.   I want to write this without rewriting the word "intensive."  Is this the correct way to do it?     The labour- and time-intensive part starts tomorrow.   Note the hyphen hanging after the word labour. Or should there be no hyphen after labour? Can anyone point me to a reference that talks about this?
82296
I came across this sentence:  "His memory was like that of a baby."   I was wondering why the possessive "baby's" wasn't used and why "baby" is acceptable whereas the possessive form is required in this sentence:   "Ian's car was like that of his."
89247
I came across an English learner writing     It snowed hard Monday.   After saying that it didn't snow on Friday and Saturday.  It didn't quite feel right to me.  I'd be okay with     It snowed hard.   or     It snowed Monday.   Is it okay for there to be two things ("hard" and "Monday") modifying the snowing without an "on" breaking things up a bit?
90118
I posted a question today about ""and I used the verb "find" in the progressive.:  I'm finding more and more that "having to" is also used instead of "have to".  Someone comments it's a "recency illusion" or a stereotypical characteristic of Indian English. I'm not a native speaker of English, and I never have been in touch with Indian a bit. I've been reading about stative verbs in the progressiveand I've seen and heard them not a few times in movies, dramas, novels, games, grammars, most of which are put out in the U.S.A. or the U.K., so I thought it would be OK to use the special progressive use in proper contexts, but now I think I'm missing something important, and I'm confused a lot. If you know what it is, please tell me about it with good explanations and examples. Now I'm going to show you some of the examples of the progressive with stative verbs that I've been collecting on my own for two years or so, (quite a few of them from grammars, some from dramas, novels and stuff...) and I want to know you native speakers' opinions on that. If your views on the usage diverge a lot, I'm going to have to think about which side I'm on,and one of the two is preferred over the other, then I'll follow it.        It’s mattering more and more which university you get your degree at.   She is not finding London totally easy.   I’m finding (=discovering, realizing) that his problem is more complicated than I had expected.   No, I’m sort of thinking that I’d like to try a bit higher level heel, anyway.   I’m thinking that we should pay a short visit to Clara.   One night in the middle of the night, I'm hearing dripping.   How are you liking your new job?   I was quite liking the performance until the first interval.   Tim, are you wanting any fruit?   It sounds that you're wanting to take care of yourself physically as well.   The only thing I'm lacking is a wardrobe.   He’s forgetting his French faster and faster.    I'm already forgetting what I was taught this morning.   You're forgetting that our resources are not unlimited.   I’m forgetting that I promised to visit Smith this evening.   The river is smelling particularly bad today.   My scarf is no longer smelling of lavender.   She’s looking much stronger this week.   You’re looking more like a sleep dog than most sleep dogs.   He’s looking worse and worse by the minute.   Your soup is tasting better every day.   That example is sounding less and less acceptable with each repetition.       ※. What I'm asking you is as follows:  1. the validity of the expression "I'm finding more and more that..." in the context of the original post 2. whether or not stative verbs in the progressive is widely acceptable &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;and questions about your opinions on that &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (As I already said, if most of you reject the usage like the examples, then I should avoid it. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;If most of you welcome it, I'll keep on with it.)
8296
I heard this lyric in a song the other day and it just sounded so wrong that I assumed it must be incorrect grammar, but I can't find any specific prohibition that applies.     That's what it's.    That rolls off your tongue with the grace of a moose in a tutu, but I can't figure out why.  There is clearly no problem with ending other sentences with a contraction. These sound fine.     I thought I could, but I can't.   Stop touching that, it will fall off if you don't.   You say that the sky is green, but it isn't.   Also, it sounds just fine if you remove the contraction:     That's what it is.   So what's up with this construction? Should it be avoided?