This is another bug bear of mine with the Singaporeans speaking English or SINGLISH. They cannot differentiate between LIVE and STAY when they ask questions about the whereabouts of your residence.
I will hear the question: where do you STAY? I will invariably answer: We LIVE at (name of place such as Yishun or Katong or wherever).
STAY means: to remain in a place rather than leave as in:
They stayed all afternoon, chatting or I decided to stay home or Isabel stayed for a year in Paris to study. or Stay in bed and drink plenty of liquids or She stayed late to finish the report or Stay right there! I'll be back in a minute, or stay to dinner/stay for lunch etc
LIVE means: in a place/home [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] if you live in a place, you have your home there as in:
They lived in Holland for ten years or He lives just across the street from me or We live only a few miles from the coast or A rather odd family came to live next door to us or As soon as I saw the place, I knew I didn't want to live there or Does Paul still live here?
They lived in Holland for ten years or He lives just across the street from me or We live only a few miles from the coast or A rather odd family came to live next door to us or As soon as I saw the place, I knew I didn't want to live there or Does Paul still live here?
So could someone just STAY around long enough to tell the Singaporeans that they LIVE in Singapore or are they transients just passing through? Could this be the reason that Singaporeans are always thinking that the grass is greener on the other side and they think they should only STAY a while and make use of whatever they can?
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