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- Where does the use of why as an interjection come from?
Why no, no more then reason The OED doesn't explain why it is used in that manner I can only speculate First it was just a question expressing doubt reduced to its essence: It is best that we negotiate a truce with Spain — Why is that so? I believe the Spanish armies cannot threaten us They will fail in their attempt to conquer England
- 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
- grammar - Is For why improper English? - English Language Usage . . .
"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
- terminology - Why use BCE CE instead of BC AD? - English Language . . .
Why do people use the latter terminology? For one thing, I find it confusing It doesn't help that BCE is similar to BC But moreover, there is only one letter of difference between the two terms, whereas with BC and AD, the terms are clearly different and I find it easier to distinguish! Were BCE CE established earlier than BC AD?
- Why it is vs Why is it - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
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
- Who, what, where, when, why, how. Why so many Whs?
@RegDwight: [g] in где is historically the result of voicing [k] before the voiced consonant [d] (after [ъ] fell out in the initial interrogative sequence къ-); in что, [kь] underwent palatlization, whereas the -ъ- vs -ь- distinction in к[ъ]то "who" vs к[ь]то "what" was initially probably the distinction between two declination models, one for masculine, the other for neuter
- Why is c*nt so much more derogatory in the US than the UK?
That's a very good question It certainly is offensive here in the US, and I'm not sure why it's considered so much worse than other "Anglo-Saxon" words I've used all of the other ones on occasion But in 52 years, I've used "cunt" anatomically only a handful of times, and I can't recall ever using it as a slang reference for a woman
- Why does the b in absorb change to a p in absorption?
English, however, mostly favors Progressive assimilation -- that's why the {-Z} suffixes of noun plural, noun possessive, and verb 3sgpresent vary between s and z ; they take their voicing parameter from the sound that comes before them The {-D} verb past tense suffix varies between d and t in the same way
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