Tagsyntax

Curse of Knowledge

It’s all about terms of endearment: If your loved one is far away for a long time, you’re probably tired of just saying “I miss you” over and over. For variety’s sake, there are some creative alternatives to that phrase...

Please Find Attached

To some, the phrase please find attached might sound like musty old language for the e-mail age. It’s always smart to be formal when the context is all business, but there are other phrases that convey the same meaning, such as I’ve...

Placeholder “It”

A Quebec listener asks: In the phrases it’s a girl, or it’s raining, what exactly is the it here? It’s called the weather it or the dummy it, and it serves a placeholder inserted to make the sentence function grammatically. This is...

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