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.

[Q]: I overheard my manager asking 'What are you up to?' What does that idiom mean? Is it an informal/negative way of asking??.
[A]: 'What are you up to?' means 'What have you been doing lately?'. If you add an adverb to the end of the phrase, for instance, 'What are you up to tonight?' or 'What are you up to this summer?' it can be interpreted as 'What are you planning to do tonight?' or 'What are you planning to do this summer?'.


[Q]: What's the verb for 'to drink small amounts of drink' (especially to enjoy it as slowly and long as possibly)? What's the drinking equivalent of 'nibble'?.
[A]: sip is the common word, but it does not denote 'to enjoy it as slowly and long as possibly'. For that, I suggest savor (UK: savour) Taste (good food or drink) and enjoy it to the full He has dinner and actually savors the wine, rather than drinking to get drunk. 1.1 Enjoy or appreciate (something pleasant) to the full, especially by lingering over it (Oxford Dictionaries) sip Drink (something) by taking small mouthfuls. 'I sat sipping coffee' 'she sipped at her tea' (Oxford Dictionaries) You can definitely savor a good cup of coffee. A difference is this: if your coffee is hot, you can use she sipped her coffee because it was hot but you wouldn't really say she savored her coffee because it was hot. You'd say she savored her coffee because it was delicious. sip is also a occurs as a noun, meaning A small mouthful of liquid (Oxford) And we say stuff like take a sip (very common) and have a sip. She took a sip of wine is equal to she sipped her wine (one time). Thesaurus.com lists these synonyms for sip (verb): drink in, extract, imbibe, partake, quaff, sample, savor, sup, swallow, taste, toss Only savor includes the notion of enjoy as part of its definition. Quaff means to 'drink (alcoholic beverages) heartily' but does not include the sense of slow enjoyment. In fact, it can be more of an antonym, since 'drink heartedly' can entail drinking quickly.


[Q]: Possible Duplicate: Types of things vs. types of thing When using the phrase 'types of' or 'kinds of,' it often seems appropriate to follow with a singular noun (e.g., types of rock), but at other times a plural noun sounds better (e.g., types of sentences). Is there some kind of rule about this?.
[A]:
I think your essential concern is about countable vs. uncountable nouns. Countable nouns can be singular or plural; uncountable nouns are singular. Some words can be both, in different meanings. Take a look at this example discussing countable and uncountable nouns: The coffees I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian. (Here coffees refers to different types of coffee) You could write, 'The types of coffee I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian.' So with your example: The rocks I like are basalt and granite. [Rocks are countable] The types of rock I like are basalt and granite. [Rock is uncountable] When rock is taking on the uncountable meaning, it's not one rock - it's the idea of rock, the general concept. The only senses in which this is familiar to me are the 'solid mineral' one and rock as in 'rock music,' where you might say, 'The types of rock I like are grunge and punk.' Contrast the other part of your example: The sentences I like are about geology. [Sentences are countable] The types of sentences I like are about geology. [Sentences are still countable] Sentences don't have an uncountable meaning: *The types of sentence I like are about geology. [Ungrammatical for most speakers, I think]


