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Although they are written with a space, they're best thought of as single words. No consistent distinction in meaning or use can be found between them. Like the reflexive pronouns, their use is limited to contexts where an antecedent precedes it. In the case of the reciprocals, they need to appear in the same clause as the antecedent. [1]
The words listed below are frequently used in ways that major English dictionaries do not condone in any definition. See List of English words with disputed usage for words that are used in ways that are deprecated by some usage writers but are condoned by some dictionaries. There may be regional variations in grammar, orthography, and word-use ...
The word "inflammable" can be derived by two different constructions, both following standard rules of English grammar: appending the suffix -able to the word inflame creates a word meaning "able to be inflamed", while adding the prefix in-to the word flammable creates a word meaning "not flammable".
Lexicographers gather samples of written instances where a word is used and analyze them to determine patterns of regional or social usage as well as meaning. A word, for example the English word "donny" (a round rock about the size of a man's head), may be only a rare regional usage, or a word may be used worldwide by standard English speakers ...
Literal usage confers meaning to words, in the sense of the meaning words have by themselves, [4] for example as defined in a dictionary. It maintains a consistent meaning regardless of the context , [ 5 ] with the intended meaning of a phrase corresponding exactly to the meaning of its individual words. [ 6 ]
As an adjective, this word describes someone who is simple, absurd or foolish. It can also refer to someone who lacks sound judgment or common sense. OK, that's it for hints—I don't want to ...
The idea that humor can be predicted by a word's entropy corresponds to the work of 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who posited that humor is a product of one's expectations being violated. [12] [14] According to Westbury, "One reason puns are funny is that they violate our expectation that a word has one meaning". [11]
Holophrases are defined as a "single-word utterance which is used by a child to express more than one meaning usually attributed to that single word by adults." [ 5 ] The holophrastic hypothesis argues that children use single words to refer to different meanings in the same way an adult would represent those meanings by using an entire ...