grammatical number - What is the correct plural of "mantis"?

This question is related to the plural of "octopus" (yet another ancient Greek loanword animal):

What is the plural of "mantis"?

Oxford Dictionaries suggests "mantis" or "mantises".

Merriam Webster and Dictionary.com suggest "mantises" or "mantes".

This page from the Iowa State University Entomology Department suggests "mantids" (emphasis mine).

Praying mantids (preferred plural form of mantis) have never been
numerous in Iowa and historically they were only common in the far
southeastern corner of the state.

Personally, I use a mixture of "mantises" and "mantes" and find the usage of "mantids" strange, but what is the most etymologically correct / most recommended plural for the animal?

usage - "Thousands-Dollar" or "Thousand-Dollar"?

If a prize is worth thousands of dollars, is it called

a thousands-dollar prize

or

a thousand-dollar prize

Pronunciation of letter y: asylum vs syrup

I want someone to clarify if there is a rule about how to pronounce the letter Y

I've read in another stackexchange post that when it is in a Greek-origin word it is pronounced as uh e.g. analysis, paralysis.

However in another Greek-origin word, asylum, it is pronounced as i while the in the latin word syrup it is pronounced as /i/.

Answer

No.

There are no rules for how to pronounce the letter Y -- or rather there are too many rules, and none of them work. Similarly, there are also no good rules for how to pronounce any other letter of the English alphabet. Modern English spelling does NOT represent pronunciation in Modern English.

Rather, it represents one spelling (there were many) for Middle English pronunciation, which got fixed when printing became established in England, right before the end of the Great Vowel Shift. Spelling used to be free, like handwriting is now; but printing froze it, a little too soon to get a good spelling for Modern English. Too bad, but we're stuck with it now.

pronouns - Which one is correct to say: "It's me" or "It's I"?

I was taught at school that the following expression is not grammatically correct:

Who is there? It's me.

The correct one is:

Who is there? It's I.

Can you let me know which one is accurate?

Here is a good explanation about both forms.

Answer

As reported from the NOAD:

me /mi/
pronoun [first person singular]
1. used by a speaker to refer to himself or herself as the object of a verb or preposition:

Do you understand me?
Wait for me!

• used after the verb to be and after than or as:

Hi, it's me.
You have more than me.

• informal to or for myself:

I've got me a job.

It's then correct to say it's me.

Can ellipsis at the end of a sentence be used this way?

This is something I find myself doing quite frequently, but I don't know if it's correct. Whenever I want to end a sentence in a "sad" or "depressing" tone, I usually add ellipsis at the end of the sentence. Here's one:

"Someone stole my bag today..."

As I already know, an ellipsis can be used to indicate phrases being left out, and that's not what I'm trying to do in my example. With that said, is there any rule that says what I'm trying to do is correct? Or is it just wrong?

Inversion after "than"/"as"

I'd like to know (1) which of the following is the most natural and (2) whether any of the following is unnatural or ungrammatical:

(A) My system is no more expensive than yours would be.

(B) My system is no more expensive than would be yours.

(C) My system is no more expensive than would yours be.

Edit: I'm adding three more examples with "as". The same question as above.

(D) My system is expensive, as yours would be.

(E) My system is expensive, as would be yours.

(F) My system is expensive, as would yours be.

Answer

(A) My system is no more expensive than yours would be.

(B) My system is no more expensive than would be yours.

(C) My system is no more expensive than would yours be.

Version #A is a sorta default kinda version. Version #B might be preferable when the speaker wants to put a contrastive subject in end position. Version #C is ungrammatical: ". . . the subject follows the sequence would be: it cannot invert with would alone, . . ." (CGEL, page 1107).

Inversion in the comparative clause can occur under certain conditions. This topic is discussed in the 2002 reference grammar by Huddleston and Pullum et al., The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL), page 1107.

questions - Help us decide vs. help us to decide

I'm having a hard time to decide between the correct form. Is it "help us decide" or "help us to decide"? Please also state the reason for your answer. Thank you very much!