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.

Ex Input:
I overheard my manager asking 'What are you up to?' What does that idiom mean? Is it an informal/negative way of asking??.

Ex Output:
'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?'.

Ex Input:
For example, for the original quote we shall use, 'One swallow does not a summer make'. If someone were to say 'One good quote does not a philosopher make' (No dig at Aristotle intended...), or 'A fancy suit does not a businessman make'. Essentially, a clear allusion to a quote, but not the quote itself.

Ex Output:
The word I've heard used for this on the linguistics blog Language Log is snowclone (it's derived from phrases of the format 'If Eskimos have N words for snow, X surely have Y words for Z.') Here's a Language Log post that describes the moment the word was coined and that links to some examples: Snowclones: Lexicographical Dating to the Second And here's how it's defined by Collins Dictionaries online: a verbal formula that is adapted for reuse by changing only a few words so that the allusion to the original phrase remains clear You might also be interested in looking at the answers to the following questions: This book will change your wife trope? Is there a general name for this: 'The more you X the more you'll Y' A term describing the replacement of a specific word in a saying with one that ryhmes

Ex Input:
What is the plural of syntax? Would it be syntacies? What rule would govern this kind of construction?.

Ex Output:
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.