Community Discussions
“Conductor” vs. “Driver” in American English
Have they become interchangeable in American English? I’ve been working on a piece of fiction that centers around a bus conductor. In three rounds of editing every person has thought the story was about a train instead of a bus or they don’t understand that he’s not the bus driver. Some of the notes I’ve gotten back are “Is this on a train or bus? Conductors are for trains, drivers are for buses,” and “Why is he standing on the bus? Is someone else driving it?” Is there something I’m missing? I thought drivers and conductors were different roles?
how many people actually learnt the international phonetic alphabet?
native english speaker here, born and raised in england. its occurred to me that the ipa was never mentioned in school at all, and i have no idea how it works. this seems to be a thing in england, yet most of my foreign friends seem to know it off by heart. is this just an english thing?
Why is it that people smile when I say such things?
I usually start with, 'Hello, I'm \[Abc\]. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance,' or sometimes, 'Lovely to meet you!' Then l'd follow up with, 'I'm delighted to have the opportunity to speak with you.' Surely, it isn't odd to say, 'Would you care to introduce yourself?' I'm rather curious as to whether I should make a few amendments to the way I speak. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Why can't I say nobody instead of no one?
I genuinely have no idea why this is wrong to use "nobody" here
I can’t understand this sentence.
This is from Blood Meridian. I don’t really get what is going on here both grammar-wise and vocabulary-wise.
Native with potty mouth, please brag your skills here
It’d be great if you guys could let me know some minced oaths that are ACTUALLY frequently used in real life- like ‘frick’, ‘gosh’, ‘shucks’ and whatnot Ps. The more you write, the merrier i’d become
How common is "sir" as a pronoun said by waiters at restaurants?
I've now encountered multiple examples of waiters using "sir" as a pronoun (or at least replacing "you"), in sentences such as "What would Sir like?" (The latest asdfmovie) And "Excuse me, Sir was blinking at me, is that because...?" (Tom Cardy's Red Flags) Obviously it's much more common to say something like "what would you like, sir?" But have you, native speakers, heard this used in real life?
Which one? the teacher said "second option' why not first and third?
https://i.redd.it/c9nye91cmqke1.jpeg
What is the answer to this question?
https://i.redd.it/61y9ws0r7nie1.png
What are these poses called
https://i.redd.it/x2j1lvbxzjie1.png