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:
How can I explain to people that the phrase off of is grammatically incorrect? I've heard this phrase used a lot, especially by Americans (though they aren't the only ones). In my understanding, off of should usually be replaced by off, as in, I took the book off the shelf as opposed to I took the book off of the shelf Am I wrong? Or is there perhaps some simple way I can explain this to most people?.

Ex Output:
I don't know how you can explain to people in general that it's grammatically incorrect, but here is one idea: when you go to a James Brown tribute concert and the singer says 'Get up offa that thing' what you could do is to trounce the security guards, climb on to the stage, pounce onto the singer, grab the microphone and say 'In fact you should be saying not 'get up offa that thing' but 'get up off that thing' since 'offa' is grammatically incorrect.' I'm sure everyone will thank you for your grammatical corrections. Being serious for a moment though, it's very difficult to decide what is or is not 'grammatically correct'. E.g. in the UK we say 'outside my house' but US people often say 'outside of my house'. How can you actually decide which of these two is grammatically correct? Unfortunately it's not possible since English grammar is not a science like physics but merely a description of what people actually do, and that has changed very significantly over the years. If I was teaching someone English I would definitely say 'off' is correct and 'off of' is wrong, but this kind of decision is based on intuition, based on the usages of educated native speakers.

Ex Input:
Possible Duplicate: Person, Persons, People, Peoples Correct usage of 'persons' (vs. 'people') What's the correct plural of person? Persons or people?.

Ex Output:
Both are correct and both are required in English language, you just have to know how to use them. People denotes a group, an unspecified number of people, for example: The people in the area have been warned about the possible risks. Persons refers to persons individually and denotes an exact number which can be, or should be able to, expressed in numbers, for example: Which persons are responsible for this fire? Remember that persons is usually used in law and legal documents, like: Lessor shall not be responsible for damage to Lessee's vehicle, whether or not such damage is caused by other vehicles or persons in the parking lot and surrounding area. Only such persons who are nominated in accordance with the procedures set forth in this section ...

Ex Input:
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'?.

Ex Output:
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.