Generate the answer for a given question. The question requires common knowledge of English. Make sure that the answer is in detail, long, consistent with the context, and requires general knowledge of English. To be less repetitive, please vary your language for each question. Give a proper explanation to answer, and if necessary, provide the definition of various terms. And conclude your answer if it's long. If you have used other resources (e.g., Merriam Webster's.) to answer the question, include citations in your answer. You don't need to paraphrase the context of your resources, but make sure that your answer is consistent and complete.

Input: Consider Input: There is an Urban Dictionary entry saying Of Old English origin, shortening of 'Good Speed,' and contrary to popular belief has nothing to do with God. People would say this to others who were leaving on a long and perilous journey, wishing them success, but more importantly wishing for their return. Edited: Can it be used without invoking any nuance of religiosity ? Well guys, I did check the references and did find the explanations which ended up becoming the answer for the question. What I meant was to get an educated opinion on the usage of the term in modern times. How a question with so many votes gets put on hold is beyond me.

Output: 'God speed you' is an example of a term with religious origins. Whether that makes it a 'religious term' depends on what your definition of a 'religious term' is. It's pretty archaic now. Perhaps surprisingly, it's not (originally) wishing 'speed' to the person - it's from the old English word 'spede' which means 'success' (and from which 'speed' is derived). So it's saying 'May god give success to you'. There are several phrases in common usage which have religious origins - often they now exist in a contracted form which isn't obviously recognisable as religious. For example, 'goodbye', which is a contracted form of 'God be with you'. I think that most people wouldn't say that 'goodbye' is a 'religious term' (again, dependent on whatever that actually means), despite its religious origins. Because 'god speed you' clearly contains the word 'god', it's more likely to be described as religious, I would say.


Input: Consider Input: Should I write it like this? Or perhaps like this? Should I write it like this? or perhaps like this? What about after an exclamation mark or semicolon?.

Output: Did the sentence end after the question mark? Yes. Then you need a capital letter to start the new sentence, just as usual. No. Then the question mark shouldn't have been there, since it ends a sentence. Right, I should expand on that rather than just be a grumpy old man. The capitalization rule that we care about here is that the first word of a sentence starts with a capital letter, so the question is really about what ends a sentence. The answer to that is easy: terminal punctuation, i.e. a full stop (or period if you're American), question mark or exclamation mark. There's a visual clue in that '?' and '!' are decorated full stops; you just have to remember that a colon (':') isn't really a decorated full stop, not that you'd ever know by looking at it. Colons, semicolons and commas aren't terminal punctuation, so they don't end a sentence and so don't force the next letter to be a capital. It may be a capital letter for some other reason such as being the start of a proper name, but not because it is starting a sentence. There are exceptions to this rule, occasions when '?' and '!' become non-terminal punctuation. The most obvious is in quoted speech: if the speaker asks a question or makes an exclamation, the '?' or '!' doesn't have to be terminal if the sentence carries on after the quote. 'Should I write it like this?' he asked. 'Or perhaps like this?' The other class of exception is for what are probably really parenthetical comments. If you have a short phrase that you could have put aside in parentheses or dashes, then a question mark or exclamation mark can be used at the end of that phrase without ending the sentence. Be sparing with this. It looks wrong at a first read, and engenders the sort of argument I had with Jason in the comments below! Should I write it like this, or abracadabra! like this? Going back to the examples, and adding a few more for fun: Should I write it like this? Or perhaps like this? Should I write it like this? or perhaps like this? Should I write it like this, or perhaps like that? 'Should I write it like this?' he asked, 'or perhaps like that?' Example 2 with the lowercase 'or' is just plain wrong. Crusty old grammarians who disapprove of starting sentences with conjunctions may frown at example 1 all they like, but it's a perfectly acceptable fragmentary sentence. Whether it's the right answer or not is another question entirely. Example 1 makes the point that the questions are distinct, though they are strongly linked otherwise the whole structure wouldn't work. Example 3 on the other hand emphasizes that the two questions are options in a common situation, as well as reflecting a different way of saying them. That is obvious in this case because the two questions really are tightly coupled alternatives. However, consider the following: Are the lights green? Or is the switch up? Are the lights green, or is the switch up? Both of these examples imply that the state of the lights and the state of the switch are related somehow. Version 2 couples them more tightly; I would usually assume (without more context) that either this is the same question being asked in two different ways (i.e. that the switch being up should cause the lights to be green), or that they are an exhaustive list of possibilities (either the switch is up or the lights are green, but not both or neither). This isn't an absolute rule, but it is quite strongly implied. Example 4 is also wrong, though it has a better disguise. If you unwrap the quotes, what you get is: Should I write it like this? or perhaps like this? which is our duff example 2 back again. What you actually want is one of: 'Should I write it like this?' he asked. 'Or perhaps like this?' (i.e. example 1) 'Should I write it like this,' he asked, 'or perhaps like that? (i.e. example 3) depending this time on how much of a break there is supposed to be in the middle of what was said. But speech-marking is a topic for another question :-) Exclamation marks work just like question marks for this purpose! Semicolons don't; they end a clause, not a sentence.


Input: Consider Input: Possible Duplicate: Position of question mark when sentence doesn't end with question Take this statement for example: That's not the question. The question is what was Colonel Mustard doing in the bedroom with the revolver. or That's not the question. The question is what was Colonel Mustard doing in the bedroom with the revolver? or That's not the question. The question is 'what was Colonel Mustard doing in the bedroom with the revolver?'.


Output: I'd rather say: That's not the question. The question is: What was Colonel Mustard doing in the bedroom with the revolver? That's not the question. The question is, what was Colonel Mustard doing in the bedroom with the revolver? I used a colon or a comma because you're introducing a question that you are asking. I'll explain better: If you use quotes, it means someone else said it. The second one lacks the colon and it looks bad, because you must put a limit between the statement and the following question. I.E. I was wondering do you have a car? As you see, it makes little sense, unless you say 'I was wondering, do you have a car?'. The first one might be used, I guess, because indirect interrogatives might be written as statements. A small edit about this last sentence above: @Cerberus made me notice that indirect questions are such with no inversion. So I was thinking that if someone could add others point of views, it would be nice, in order to make this point clear for me and others once and for all. Native speakers are particularly welcome!


