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]: In conversation sometimes I'll say something like this: What's that do? which uses 's' as a contraction for 'does'. Is this a 'real' contraction, or is it incorrect usage of a contraction?.
[A]: According to Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com, 'what's' is short for: 'what is' (What's the matter?) 'what has' (What's happened to the car?) 'what does' (What's that mean?) So it appears that 'What's that do?' is grammatically correct. Merriam-Webster: what's Dictionary.com: what's


[Q]: Possible Duplicate: How do I say 'Our meeting is preponed'? A friend of mine asked me this question, and it caught my curiosity. Is there an explicit opposite of the word postpone? As in, do something in advance? Clearly what I just said is functionally equivalent to the answer I am seeking, but I was wondering if there was a single word that is the antonym. More context: Bob was supposed to start work in July, but due to a work visa issue, he had to begin in advance.
[A]: The most business-speaky option is expedite. Other alternatives include accelerate, hasten, and advance. Technically prepone is in fact the precise antonym, but I honestly wouldn't be caught dead using it.


[Q]: What is the plural of syntax? Would it be syntacies? What rule would govern this kind of construction?.
[A]:
As FumbleFingers has commented, the plural is syntaxes. That's probably because the normal plural -es is added to the root word, or it may possibly be because the Greek/Late Latin word from which syntax is derived is syntaxis and Greek words ending in -is are pluralised with -es. If we were to create a spoof plural for syntax it would be syntaces (words ending -x get -ces; the preceding vowel can change as in index/indices). But no-one uses that, or would know what it meant.


