Table of Major Headings
-----------------------
[Prefatory remarks]
Welcome to alt.usage.english!
artificial dialects
foreigners' FAQs
[grammar topics]
miscellany
phrase origins
pronunciation
punctuation
recommended books
spelling
usage disputes
word origins
words frequently sought

Table of Contents
-----------------

[Prefatory remarks]

Welcome to alt.usage.english!
    guidelines for posting
    related newsgroups

    
artificial dialects
    Basic English
    E-prime

foreigners' FAQs
    "A number of..."
    "a"/"an" before abbreviations
    subjunctive
    when to use "the"

[grammar topics]
    [Does English have a subjunctive mood?.]
    [Genitive is not always possessive.]
    [Plural formation.]
    [Thou, thee & archaic grammar.]

    [Grammar topics at other Web sites:]
        The following links to other Web sites, which have discussions 
        of various aspects of English grammar, have been taken by 
        permission from Donna Richoux's Intro B.]
           [Agreement
              Subject-verb, Pronouns. Singular/plurals.
              (Use 'Next' & links)]
           [Conditionals
              ('if I would...').]
           [Conjugate any English verb; 
              other languages, too - at Verbix.]
           [Diagramming sentences]
           [Phrasal Verbs,
              separable & inseparable (see also linked list).]
           [Tenses in English
              -- learn 'progressive,' 'continuous,' etc..`]

miscellany
    Biblical sense of "to know"
    "billion":  a U.K. view
    [Britain/Great Britain/United Kingdom &c: Some Common Confusions]
    commonest words
    deliberate mistakes in dictionaries
    distribution of English-speakers
    Does the next millennium begin in 2000 or 2001?
    English is Tough Stuff
    etymologies of personal names
    Fumblerules ("Don't use no double negatives", etc.)
    How did "Truly" become a personal name?
    How reliable are dictionaries?
    origin of the dollar sign
    postfix "not"
    provenance of English vocabulary
    radio alphabets
    sentences grammatical in both Old English and Modern English
    trademarks
    What is a suggested format for citing online sources?
    What is the phone number of the Grammar Hotline?
    [What is the UK? Is it the same as Britain, Great Britain or England?]
    What will we call the next decade?
    What words are their own antonym?
    Why do we say "30 years old" but "a 30-year-old man"?
    [Worldwide Distribution of English Speakers.]

phrase origins
    "the bee's knees"
    "beg the question"
    "billions and billions"
    "blue moon"
    "Bob's your uncle"
    "break a leg"
    "to call a spade a spade"
    "cut the mustard"
    "cut to the chase"
    "The die is cast"
    "dressed to the nines"
    "Elementary, my dear Watson!"
    "Enquiring minds want to know"
    "The exception proves the rule"
    "face the music"
    "fall off a turnip truck"
    "full monty"
    "Get the lead out"
    "Go figure"
    "Go placidly amid the noise and the haste" (Desiderata)
    "go to hell in a handbasket"
    "hell for leather"
    "hoist with his own petard"
    "by hook or by crook"
    "Illegitimis non carborundum"
    "in like Flynn"
    "Jingle Bells"
    "Let them eat cake"
    "mind your p's and q's"
    "more honoured in the breach than the observance"
    "more than you can shake a stick at"
    "ollie ollie oxen free"
    "peter out"
    "politically correct"
    "push the envelope"
    "put in one's two cents' worth"
    "rule of thumb"
    "shouting fire in a crowded theater"
    "son of a gun"
    "spitting image"/"spit and image"
    "There's a sucker born every minute"
    "to all intents and purposes"
    "wait for the other shoe to drop"
    "Wherefore art thou Romeo?"
    "whole cloth"
    "the whole nine yards"
    "You have another think coming"

pronunciation
    [Examples of formant analysis.]
    How do Americans pronounce "dog"?
    how to represent pronunciation in ASCII
    ["Long" and "short" vowels: Ambiguity.]
    rhotic vs non-rhotic, intrusive "r"
    [Speech examples.]
    words pronounced differently according to context
    words whose spelling has influenced their pronunciation
		
punctuation
    ," vs ",
    "." after abbreviations
    "A, B and C" vs "A, B, and C"
    [Use of Quotation Marks for Emphasis.]
    spaces between sentences

recommended books
    [Books about words.]
    books on "bias-free"/"politically correct" language
    books on Britishisms, Canadianisms, etc.
    books on group names
    books on linguistics
    books on mathematical exposition
    books on phrasal verbs
    books on phrase origins
    books on rhyming slang
    books on usage
    books that discriminate synonyms
    dictionaries
    [More about dictionaries.]
    general reference
    grammars
    [More about grammars.]
    online dictionaries
    online language columns
    online usage guides
    style manuals

spelling
    diacritics
    doubling of final consonants before suffixes
    "-er" vs "-re"
    [Exceptions to the rule 'I before E except after C'.]
    How do you spell "e-mail"?
    I before E except after C
    "-ize" vs "-ise"
    joke about step-by-step spelling reform
    possessive apostrophes
    [Preferences, "e-mail" vs "email".]
    [Comments on a Proposal for Reformed English Spelling.]
    spelling reform
    What is "ghoti"?
    Why is "I" capitalized?

usage disputes
    "acronym"
    "all .. not"
    "alot"
    "alright"
    ["American" = 'US'?]` {B}
    ["anymore" and "any more"]
    "between you and I"
    "company is" vs "company are"
    "could care less"
    "could of"
    "different to", "different than"
    "done"="finished"
    double "is"
    "due to"
    "functionality"
    gender-neutral pronouns
    "God rest you merry, gentlemen"
    "hopefully", "thankfully"
    "if I was" vs "if I were"
    "impact"="to affect"
    [Is 'people' the plural of 'person'?]
    "It needs cleaned"
    "It's me" vs "it is I"
    "less" vs "fewer"
    "like" vs "as"
    "like" vs "such as"
    ["miss not having"]
    "more/most/very unique"
    "mouses" vs "mice"
    "near miss"
    "none is" vs "none are"
    plurals
        plurals of Latin and Greek words
        plurals => English singulars
    preposition at end
    "quality"
    repeated words after abbreviations
    "Scotch"
    "shall" vs "will", "would" vs "should"
    split infinitive
    "that" vs "which"
    "that kind of a thing"
    the the hoi polloi debate
    "true fact"
    "try and", "be sure and", "go" + verb
    [What is prescriptivism?]
    "whom"
    "you saying" vs "your saying"

word origins
    "A.D."
    "alumin(i)um"
    "bloody"
    "bug"="defect"
    "Caesarean section"
    "canola"
    "catch-22"
    "cop"
    "copacetic"
    "crap"
    "ebonics"
    "eighty-six"="nix"
    "Eskimo"
    "flammable"
    "freeway"
    "fuck"
    "golf"
    "hooker"
    "ISO"
    "jerry-built"/"jury-rigged"
    "kangaroo"
    "limerence"
    "loo"
    "love"="zero"
    "merkin"
    "nimrod"
    "O.K."
    "outrage"
    "paparazzo"
    "pie-shaped"
    "portmanteau word"
    "posh"
    "quiz"
    "Santa Ana"
    "scot-free"
    "sincere"
    "sirloin"/"baron of beef"
    "SOS"
    ["SOS" update.]
    "spoonerism"
    "suck"="be very unsatisfying"
    "till"/"until"
    "tip"
    "titsling"/"brassiere"
    "troll"
    "typo"
    "Wicca"
    "widget"
    "wog"
    "wonk"
    "wop"
    "ye"="the"

words frequently sought
    grass strip between road and sidewalk
    "I won't mention..."
    list of language terms
    names of "&", "@", and "#"
    "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
    "Take the prisoner downstairs", said Tom condescendingly.
    What is the opposite of "distaff side"?
    What is the opposite of "to exceed"?
    words ending in "-gry"
    words without vowels

The terms "FAQ" and "AUE FAQ" as used in this document refer to the September 1997 version of Mark Israel's alt.usage.english FAQ.

A common complaint about the AUE FAQ is that it is so large that it takes too long a time to access.   When the document is not already in cache, it may take several minutes to load.

This file offers a way to avoid loading the whole FAQ in order to look at one or two items.   I have partitioned the FAQ into a large number of individual files, one file for each item in the Table of Contents.  

This organization is not proposed as a replacement for the full AUE FAQ, but only as an alternative that lets the user see individual items quickly.

This fast-access FAQ, like the version of Mark Israel's single-page FAQ at this Web site has merged with it all of the material in the AUE FAQ Supplement.that is, at the time of this writing, at the AUE Web site.

From time to time I have tested the URLs that appear in the documents at the AUE Web site, including the FAQ.  I find that many of the URLs have needed updating for one reason or another. I am usually able to find updates for them. Wherever I find an obsolete URL in the FAQ, I insert a note to that effect.   I also interpolate notes to provide other supplementary information.   Interpolated notes in the FAQ also appear in the corresponding files of this fast-access version of the FAQ.

Some items have been added to Mark Israel's original Table of Contents.  These items are shown enclosed in square brackets, italicized, and in a different color from Mark Israel's original entries.  They do not have special indentation, as is done in other places with interpolated items.  The reason for not indenting differently is to avoid misleading the reader into thinking the added items are subheadings to the immediately preceding headings.

The fast-access FAQ organization was devised and first implemented by Bob Cunningham in July 1999.