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  1. "Why it is" vs "Why is it" - English Language & Usage Stack …

    Nov 7, 2013 · The question: "Why is [etc.]" is a question form in English: Why is the sky blue? Why is it that children require so much attention? Why is it [or some thing] like that? When that form is put into what is called indirect speech, it becomes: Please tell me why the sky is blue. Please tell me why children require so much attention.

  2. "Why ...?" vs. "Why is it that ... ?" - English Language & Usage Stack ...

    Why not: I don't know why, but it seems to me Bob would sound a bit strange if he said, "Why is it that you have to get going?" Eliminating 'that' before 'Bob' would seem to be more in context with the criticism of the way Bob sounds. This beside the point that "Why do …

  3. Contextual difference between "That is why" vs "Which is why"?

    You never know, which is why... but . You never know. That is why... And goes on to explain: There is a subtle but important difference between the use of that and which in a sentence, and it has to do primarily with relevance. Grammarians often use the terms "restrictive" and "non-restrictive" when it comes to relative clauses.

  4. grammar - Is "For why" improper English? - English Language

    Dec 4, 2018 · "For why" (also hyphenated or written as one word) meaning "why" as a direct interrogative was used in Old and Middle English (see the MED's entry), but it became obsolete sometime around the year 1500. Other senses of the expression (for example, it was used as a conjunction meaning "because") gradually over time all dropped out of use, so the ...

  5. grammaticality - Is it incorrect to say, "Why cannot....?" - English ...

    Feb 15, 2012 · There are also many examples of "Why we cannot", but they are not interrogatives. JForrest explains that 'cannot' is the negative form of 'can', and so 'cannot' should be placed in the same location as 'can' would be in a sentence. Since we can say "Why can we grow taller?", "Why cannot we grow taller?" is a logical and properly written negative.

  6. Why are the United States often referred to as America?

    Nov 16, 2010 · Why would it be strange to shorten this? It is common to shorten the official name of a country — most people don't even know the official names for the various countries. For example, the official name of Mexico is "los Estados Unidos Mexicanos", which means "the Mexican United States"; nobody is surprised that it is referred to as "Mexico".

  7. Do you need the “why” in “That's the reason why”? [duplicate]

    The reason (why) that perception is correct is that why is a rather special relative pronoun. Indeed, it's a pronoun that can only refer to one word: reason. Try it with anything else and you get garbage: the reason why he did it *the cause why he did it *the intention why he did it *the effect why he did it *the thing why he did it

  8. Origin of "Why, hello there" [duplicate] - English Language

    a1616 Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona ɪɪɪ (1623) ɪ. i. 33 If hap'ly won, perhaps a haplesse gaine, If lost, why then a grieuous labour won. 1647 A. Cowley Request in Mistress iii, If her chill heart I cannot move, Why, I'le enjoy the very Love. 1719 Swift Quiet Life in Wks. (1735) II. 351 Why Dick, thy Wife has dev'lish whims.

  9. Is it true that "tuppence" refers to a woman's vagina in British ...

    I was looking up a definition online, as I often do, in this case the British slang word tuppence; I got the standard "a slang reference to a coin denomination" definition from Wikipedia,...

  10. How does "pussy" come to mean "coward"?

    The word pussy is often used to mean "coward". This guy is a pussy. and I am wondering why. How are woman's genitals related to being a "coward"?

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