texts: What do you call a person who believes technology is a panacea?

texts:
When Someone:

Strongly believes that technology can address (nearly) all issues facing humanity, possibly to the exclusion of other means.
Exclusively or predominately Favors/promotes technological solutions to problems the exclusion of other approaches.
Is generally accepting of broad claims suggesting that a new technology or product will quickly and permanently do away with complex social or economic issues, or who is prone to make such claims himself.
Tends to overlook or dismiss negative side-effects (cultural, economical, civic) of widely-disseminated new technology or is inclined to believe that these will fail to materialize despite reasonable indications to the contrary.
Disposed to embrace additional/newer/better technology as a means to address for previous failures or negative ramifications of technology.

In the past, I have used the word technocrat for this purpose, but the dictionary defines a technocrat as (I'm paraphrasing) "a proponent of  meritocracy organised around technological knowledge".
Another alternative is technophile, but this only describes (literally)
a lover of technology and does not connote idealogical or political
emphasis placed on technology's role in human society.
An existing question, what word is the opposite of Luddite? (close),
seemed promising, but actually asked for something quite different.
Update #1:
technocentric seems closest in meaning to what I sought,  though its not in any dictionary I've looked at and despite the fact that the wikipedia page spins it as an idealogy that pertains predominantly to environmental issues.
The wiktionary definition however, is spot on:

technocentrism (uncountable):
The ideology that advocates the using of technology to try to answer all questions.


texts: Word for speaking without concern for word meaning

texts:
What I want to describe (concisely) is when a person speaks, but they use words that don't work with what they are talking about.  It's not that they're ignorant, glib, prolix, ostentatious, or pretentious in their speech.  Often the word choice is a common, simple word.  It's just not right.

The nearest concept to the one I'm looking for is in Frankfurt's "On Bullshit" where he defines bullshit as talking without regard to the truth (not trying to lie or tell the truth), but in my case, it's not truth that I'm concerned with, but accuracy.

Possibly important: the people in question are not ignorant to the meaning of the words that are used wrongly.  They are often terms of art in their given field and they can use them properly.

As an example, consider a primatologist referring to baboons (who e.g. have tail) as "those hominids over there" (hominids do not have tails).


texts:
I was wondering if by "masters transcript" a transcript of all grades or just a certificate of examination or a confirmation of enrollment is meant? The text is about an application for an internship.

Any help is very much appreciated.


texts:
I'm struggling to understand whether or not I can exclude the in front of Countess' Suffering/Pain? This is meant to be a title, as in a book title (but not necessarily that), and I was wondering if it's still proper English not to have it here? I'm not referring to a particular countess.

I know you normally say The Countess' Suffering but is Countess' Suffering still considered correct? It does sound rather unnatural to me.


texts: What are the meanings of the sentences where "Not that" is followed by an object-missing expression?

texts:
According to my observation, there are at least two types of using "Not that....". And my question is: what does "not that" mean in its second type of usage?

In the first usage, "not that" is followed by a structure-complete sentence or expression.

Example 1:

  I've been teetering down my twittering and self editing my Facebooking lately. It's not that I don't have the urge to write things. It's just I have to fight the urge to write really inappropriate things that maybe my old High School English teacher doesn't really need or want to know.

Example 2:

  It’s not that I don’t care about football. I just don’t care enough.

In the second usage, "not that" is followed by an object-missing expression.

Example 3 (from Fringe):

  Olivia: Anything to do with metamorphic ability? Peter: Not that I can tell.

Here, tell is a transitive verb and its object is missing.

Example 4 (from Fringe):

  Olivia: Were you involved in...? Walter: Not that I recall.

Here, recall is a transitive verb and its object is missing.

I understand that, in the first usage, "not that" sort of means "it doesn't mean...". But I'm not sure, in the second usage:

Why are objects of transitive verbs missing?
What does this type of "not that..." sentences mean here?


texts: Any research data on spelling mistakes in English?

texts:
I am developing a "did you mean?" suggestion for my project similar to Google's suggestion. To make the algorithm to work faster, I am looking for a data or any research done on English spelling mistakes.

I am looking for
1. When there is a spelling mistake, In most cases, how many characters are extra or less ?


texts: Why "ruled supreme" instead of "ruled supremely"?

texts:
In this sentence:

  With George, his perfect manservant, and Miss Lemon, his perfect secretary, order and method ruled supreme in his life.

Why is ruled followed by supreme instead of by supremely?


texts: What is a different way of saying "my client has experienced something?  I am a nurse case manager who has to write functional assessments, etc.  I'm tired of using the same phrase repeatedly.  I'm referring to having hallucinations, experienced loss, trauma, grief etc.


texts: Is there another expression for "cheat on" or "have an affair"?

texts: Is there another word for "cheating on somebody"? Instead of using " have an affair with somebody", could you help me come up with another word for it ? Can I say " he has a mistress or concubine or lover"?


texts: Difference between "Pitiful" and "Pitiable"?

texts:
Would you be kind enough to explain the nuance between "pitiful" and "pitiable"? My Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary shows two similar meanings for the aforementioned words.

deserving pity or causing you to feel pity.
not deserving respect

I am confused as to why there are two different adjectives with almost the similar meaning and examples.


texts: Order of phrases after verb:  Prefer "share with you X" or "share X with you"?

texts:
Which of these sentences is grammatically correct?

I wanted to share with you the outcomes of today's board meeting
I wanted to share the outcomes of today's board meeting with you


texts: Is there a term for browsing the web and ending up very far from the original article?

texts: Whenever I read an article on the web, I either click on the links in the article or search for more information about the topic, ending up very far from the original article. Is there a term for this act of jumping through links?


texts: Triple noun, plural and ownership apostrophe

texts: Been asked to write "x is good for your Customer's vehicle interior". I feel this should be "Customers' vehicle interiors" but am spinning in circles on it. Can you help break the stalemate in my head?!


texts: What case follows 'of' in this phrase - nominative or accusative? (i.e. 'of he' or 'of him'?)

texts:
. . . the way of being of HE who is without end

This feels wrong - surely it should be

  . . . of HIM who is without end . . . ?


texts: When is it appropriate to use "scare quotes"?

texts:
For example, is putting scare quotes around "scare quotes" appropriate?  Wikipedia says the term means usage of quote marks "to indicate that [a word or phrase] does not signify its literal or conventional meaning," which seems a bit off the mark.  Further on, the entry says "scare quotes may indicate that the writer does not accept the usage of the phrase (or the phrase itself), that the writer feels its use is potentially ironic, or that the writer feels it is a misnomer. This meaning may serve to distance the writer from the quoted content."  Better, but still offers minimal guidance on usage.

The question arose in my mind today when reading this phrase in the Washington Post: "...said Vint Cerf, Google vice president and "'chief internet evangelist.'"  I'll admit the title is a bit odd, but it's official (even capitalized) according to Google.  In this case the usage of scare quotes seems off base.


texts:
Members of parliament can criticize other members, here.

Note the comma after members and before here.

In this particular case, is it okay? Or should the comma not be there?


texts:
General John Allen reports US soldiers killed a group of Taliban:
"We dealt with them in a kinetic strike."

What's the meaning of "kinetic" here?
Timothy Noah says the word is used to designate actual warfare (guns fired etc.), not just countermeasures and deployment.
Does Allen mean just that or is there more to it?

(My first thought was that the US actually deployed an orbital bombardment platform à la 'Thor's Hammer', but I guess the press would have picked up on that already.)


texts:
I know that two verbs joined by a conjunction and referring to the same subject make a compound verb:

The dog ran and jumped in the park.
I read a book and listened to music while I waited.
The boys whispered and giggled as their aunt scolded them.

And I know that to be, to have, or a modal verb paired with a verb is an auxiliary verb:

My mother is sleeping.
The dog had bitten the mailman.
You should watch this movie.

But what about when an infinitive follows a conjugated verb? Are the following sentences compound verbs, auxiliary verbs, or something else?

He decided to give them a tour.
I need to go to the store.
Many older people prefer to write cursive.


texts: What terms can be used to determine the state of a switch?

texts:
So, I came to naming a variable in my PHP today. The variable was to contain information about the state of a switch, E.g - on and off.

However, I couldn't, for the life of me, think of what to name it. I ended up settling for State. But for arguments sake, what other words could I have substituted for State?


texts: How to use "what better way" to ask a rhetorical question?

texts:
I want to say that friendship can inspire a lot, using a rhetorical question. Is the following question correct?

  What better way to get inspired than by accompanying a good friend?


texts: I have recently heard a lot of people (most of whom have learned English as a second language) use the phrase "I slept at 9 o'clock" instead of "I went to bed at 9 o'clock" or "I fell asleep at 9". I was wondering if there was any idea as to the origin of this phrase.


texts:
In this circumstance, which would be the most correct / natural answer?

  Person 1: I don't eat meat
  Person 2: Neither do I / Nor do I / Me neither / Me either

This says both "neither do I" and "Me neither" are often used. But I have also heard / read "me either" and "nor do I" in multiple scenarios. Which then is the correct way of saying it? Are the others wrong or just not used?


texts: Formal alternative to the phrase 'Not taken seriously'

texts:
I'm writing a legal essay and the sentence is

  For example, a young person’s reluctance to seek redress, and that youth are often not taken seriously, their words often not repeated in court rooms.

I was thinking about putting ignored in its place but it didn't seem to fit. I typed ignored and overlooked both into online thesauruses but still nothing appropriate.


texts: What are the inhabitants of the island Ireland called?

texts:
On the island Great Britain lives the English, the Scots and the Welsh - they are all called British.

What are the corresponding words for citizens of countries Eire, Northern Ireland and the island Ireland?

Edit: has this changed during the course of history?


texts: Word/phrase for belief in, but dislike of, a god

texts:
Is there an appropriate word that describes both the nature of a believer's belief and attitude towards the object of their belief.

For example: "John left his church because, although his belief in God was unwavering, he did not hold Him in the same esteem as his peers did. He was, in fact, a ----?"

As far as I know (and I may be wrong on any of these), there are a number of words that are related to this:

Theism, agnosticism and atheism seem to describe only the nature of someone's belief in a given god, on a roughly sliding scale.

Anti-theism describes an opposition to the belief itself, but not to the object on the belief.

I've also heard of the term Dystheism, but this seems to describe what one thinks about the attitude of the god itself, rather than one's own attitude.

Perhaps I'm being too picky and one of these words does actually fit the bill.


texts:
There is a specific term, and it keeps evading me, that refers to an adult who still embraces child-like wonder, curiosity, etc....

Not inferring a child-like or infantile adult, i.e. someone with a disorder.

I believe it begins with "N".  Anyone who may know, your input would greatly be appreciated.


texts:
Is it appropriate to say this sentence please?

My mother wanted me to grow up to be a princess

Thank you all!


texts:
Is there a universally recognized term for a sequence like "take care of"?
It's not a verb phrase, but it doesn't seem to be a verb group in the sense of M. A. K. Halliday's framework, either.

What exactly is it called?

I'd appreciate your help.


texts: What is the difference between turgid, tumid, and tumescent?

texts:
The dictionary.com definitions seem to overlap almost completely.

tumid

adjective

swollen, or affected with swelling, as a part of the body.
pompous or inflated, as language; turgid; bombastic.
seeming to swell; bulging.

turgid

adjective

swollen; distended; tumid.
inflated, overblown, or pompous; bombastic: turgid language.

tumescent

adjective

swelling; slightly tumid.
exhibiting or affected with many ideas or emotions; teeming.
pompous and pretentious, especially in the use of language; bombastic.

The only differences I inferred from the definitions are that when it comes to literally swelling, tumescent might refer to a less extreme case than the other two, and that tumescent might be possible to use with a neutral or positive connotation. But these are both speculation on my part.

What I would like to know is:

Is my above speculation correct?
If I were referring to literal swelling, what are the different connotations of the words (e.g. in the sentence "His foot was [blank] enough to be alarming.")?
If I am referring to bombastic language, what are the different connotations (e.g. in the sentence "The arrogant professor's [blank] lecture left us feeling annoyed.")?


texts:
What is the right answer of 'How is it there?' I mean I don't know If I should talk about the weather or politics.
For example
-Where are you from?
+Holland
-Oh, how is it there?
+...


texts:
Dictionaries say that blame is a transitive verb. Even though we already have the phrase be to blame for something, can we use the following sentence?

  Officials believe that more than one person may be to be blamed for the fire.


texts: Does one ever use apostrophes when writing plurals?

texts:
I am writing an essay on blood types and the Japanese culture, and I am not quite sure if my use of apostrophes is correct.

I've read through this article, Apostrophes, but I can't seem to find this situation.

Here is what I have written; is this the correct format?

  Type A's are cool, calm, and conscientious. Type B’s are practical, relaxed, and the most unconventional.


texts: Capitalization of names that begin lowercased, at the beginning of a sentence

texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  How Should Trademarks be Written?
  How do you capitalize a proper noun such as “iPhone”?

Many products these days have names that intentionally begin with lowercase letters.  The most common examples are of the Apple "iDevice" variety, but there are some others - inSSIDer is one.

When beginning a sentence with these names, should the name be capitalized?


texts:
"I don't think they can go with us, can't they? / can they?"
Which one is correct?


texts:
Some may have heard (or read) of the alternative title of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, which is There And Back Again. I figured it might literally mean something like I went there and came back here again, and figuratively referring to some trip that is significant in some way, where I refers to the protagonist of the story.

I am not too sure if my interpretation is correct, so I hope I can get some confirmation here.

Also, I have one side question: I know it's probably not an idiom, but is it alright to use it as if it were an idiom? I think its meaning is pretty apparent, and it's probably just my lack of confidence that's making me ask this question. For example, if I went to stay in Australia for at least a few years, but then circumstances forced me to go back to my country after a month, so the time I spent there felt almost like an adventure, can I say there and back again? Note that I am trying to emphasize the "adventure" part of the round-trip.


texts: Is there an alternative idiom with the same meaning as "skin in the game"?


texts: What is the correct way to phrase to keep their motivation going?

texts: To keep their motivation going or "...their motivation on going? Which is the correct way to say it?


texts: I love pictures on my phone - what does zero article imply?

texts:
Please, look at the sentence:

"I love pictures on my phone"

What can it mean?

1) I love all the pictures that are now on my phone with no exceptions?

2) I love most of the pictures that are now on my phone?

3) I love having pictures on my phone?

4) I love some previously unmentioned pictures on my phone?

Thanks.


texts:
kindly check the sentence.''.....but tells Eddard about the Walkers first and asks that word be sent back to his mother.''
why there is no 'to' before "be sent"?
I take it as a passive sentence. can I omit 'to' here?  Will that be acceptable grammatically?
Thank you.


texts:
Is this text grammatically correct? I am not sure about Past Simple and Present Perfect in one sentence. Thank you for help in advance.
In England there has been coming a lot of sad news regarding Corona Virus. The UK, which were in doubt of the danger of the Virus at first, have changed their methods against the virus. In the beginning, the schools, public places and all places with lots of people weren’t closed until the moment, the Prime Minister, the secretary of Health and one of his advisers have tested positive. After that moment the UK have joined the countries which have taken serious measures to contain the virus for example closing schools, public places, almost all other places where people come together except for groceries, in order to make the people stay at home.


texts: Should there be a space in e.g./i.e. between a dot?

texts:
Should there be a space (thin space) in e.g./i.e. between a dot?

Taking in account that e.g. is shortening of exemplī grātiā, then one should use space between e.spaceg., is not it?

I believe that space should be thin, but it should be there no matter what. Or there is some other rule in english language?


texts:
Doylum was a word commonly used in Leeds, Yorkshire, North of England, where I grew up in the 1960s/70s. It basically means idiot - "What a doylum!"

At the time I thought this was strictly a Leeds word, but a quick search online finds it is still used and appears to be very popular with fans of Newcastle United and Hartlepool football teams. What this says about their quality of players I really couldn't say.
It also crops up on Yorkshire dialect sites, but so far I can't find any explanation of its origin. Does anyone have any ideas?
Also, Hartlepool and Newcastle are some 75-100 miles from Leeds - does anyone know if the word has spread there in the last 40 years or has it always been used there? Someone suggested to me that it might come from Yiddish as there is a large Jewish population in Leeds, though this would only be relevant if it truly is a Leeds word.


texts: Word for Majboor - A person who is forced to do something because of the circumstances.

texts:
We use "majboor" in Hindi to describe such a person.

Google says that "helpless" means unable to defend oneself or to act without help.

Is that the word for the same or there  is something else?


texts: Is there a word or idiom to describe an attempt to win an argument through the introduction of a concept outside the grasp of the opponent?

texts:
Is there a word or idiom to describe an attempt to win an argument through the introduction of a concept or word that is intellectually outside the grasp of the opponent?

For example, after a reasoned debate in a non-intellectual forum, where Side A has the upper-hand, Side B chimes in with:

  "Well we just have different ontologies."

Side B's expectation being that Side A does not know what an ontology is, and therefore implying Side A should accept that there must be some substance to Side B's position based on his clearly superior knowledge.


texts: How to conjugate the verb in a sentence that starts with "I wish..."

texts:
I generally find it hard to construct some sentences that start with "I wish, ..."

Example:

(Background:) Due to an incomplete technical documentation, we chose the wrong path, and ran into an unforeseen limitation. What's the correct way to state my frustration?

I wish, the documentation would warn about that limitation.
I wish, the documentation had warned about that limitation.
I wish, the documentation would have warned about that limitation.
I wish, the documentation warned about that limitation.
I would wish, that the documentation warns about that limitation.
...


texts: Where/when did the use of "I," in story titles begin? Ex: (I, Robot, and I, Frankenstein)

texts: For awhile I've noticed that there have frequently been different stories in different mediums, but especially in literature, where the title begins with "I," followed by a noun or name. I was wondering where this originated and why its use has become so common?


texts: What are the difference between "details" and "information"?

texts:
I am confused of how to use "details" and "information" and their difference.

To better understand for both readers and me, please put these factors in the appropriate category ("details" and "information"):

time (1PM)
date (12 Jan 2015)
location (Heaven)
reason (birthday party)


texts: General term for punctuation that surrounds a word or phrase?

texts:
Is there a general term for punctuation that surrounds a word or phrase? Something that includes brackets and quotes, but there may be other types of punctuation, formal or otherwise, that have the same appearance.

Let me give some examples, and their purpose:

Parentheses () to separate supplementary information from the main sentence: Sen. John McCain (R., Arizona) spoke at length.
Quotes "" to indicate a group of words referring to a singular entity, such as the title of a work: David Bowie's "Space Oddity"
Dashes — to show a break in thought, similar to parentheses: You are the friend—the only friend—who offered to help me.
Markup annotation used for purposes other than reading, for example as instructions for printing/presentation: In Markdown, surrounding a phrase in asterisks renders it in italics

What term would you use to cover these in general? I see a few possibilities:

Brackets which covers most of them but I feel it doesn't include quotes
Bookends since that's what they look like, but unless I use it in context it's not clear what I'm referring to


texts:
... In this case, the child was nailed to the stem of a cocoanut tree and so left to die, the best punishment, as was thought, for a demon, who had the impudence to be born of a human mother...

EDIT: This is from 1865 and was something that happened for real in an area of the world where nailing was not known to be common (At least to my knowledge)


texts: What's the word to refer to the "ringing" sound of the bell in Japanese schools?

texts:
Unlike the west, school bells don't ring but make a melodious series of dinging sounds. What's the word to refer to them?

Example sentence:

  The school bell still __ in my ears.

Chiming? Ringing?

Here's the sound: https://youtu.be/xEQ3c8xyLZc


texts: Meaning of the word “cajoling” when applied to dairy cattle?

texts:
I am a German scientist and I read the term cajoling in a scientific paper. It is meant to be a sign for oestrus in dairy cattle, but I am not able to find a suitable translation or explanation. So what is the cow doing if she is cajoling?

The sentence I read was:

  Cajoling, although seen more often in dioestrus than during oestrus, had a high frequency during oestrus. It is therefore still relevant.

— Van Eerdenburg FJCM, Loeffler HS, van Vliet JH (1996): Detection of oestrus in dairy cows: a new approach to an old problem. The Veterinary Quarterly 18, 52 – 54


texts: What word can be used in place of "but" in writing or statements

texts:
I frequently write in online forums, mainly with regard to mental health materials and concepts.

I struggle with grammatical correctness and the word but gets inserted throughout a lot of my paragraphs, often repeated within a few lines. Sometimes I use the word yet instead, but (there's that word again) unthinkingly revert back to but.

The word, in the context of the writing, feels juvenile and redundant. So far, I have used yet and though but haven't found any other words to use and even these begin to sound tiresome.

What else is there?


texts: Word for making people think you're crazy so they can't argue with you?

texts:
I noticed today that you can't really argue with a three-year-old. Three-year-olds lack the experience and the facts.  On the other hand, when someone tries to argue with someone in a position of authority; someone who clearly has lots of experience and intelligence, simply due to the fact that they have been elected to such a high position; sometimes it feels about the same as arguing with the three-year-old.

Also, I remember working as a camp counselor many years ago, and one of the things we used to do as counselors was, if a kid asked when free time was, we would answer their question with a question; for instance:

  Kid: "When is free time?"
  Counselor: "I don't know; when is free time?"

So this makes me wonder; is there a word for a person who fools someone into thinking that they are crazy, for purposes of saving the time of getting into an argument?


texts: What is actually meant by the term 'stock browser' in web development?

texts:
I'm a Web Developer by profession.
Today I come across the new term 'stock browser' which I've never heard before in my 10 years of web development experience.
The text around the term 'stock browser' is as below :

A shim differs from a polyfill, which implements a new API that is not
supported by the stock browser as shipped.

From the above statement I didn't get at all the meaning and context of using the term 'stock browser'.
Can someone experienced from Web Developer community explain the meaning of the term 'stock browser' with proper context to me?
Thank You.
Note : If you want I can provide you the link from where I got the quoted text.


texts:
With regards to describing a person who just can't stop thinking about something. The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (3rd Edition) defines these words as follows:

  obsessed: unable to stop thinking about something; too interested in or worried about something

  obsessive: thinking about something or someone, or doing something, too much or all the time

I am not seeing the difference here. Am I obsessed about learning the exact recognition of the English phonemes, or am I obsessive about that? Should I say You are being obsessed or You are being obsessive when someone is overreacting because they are thinking too much?


texts: Word/phrase for habit of replying only when pressed

texts:
Is there a word (or phrase) that describes the action of responding to requests only when someone presses you about them?

For example, let's say I ask John to get me a quote for a product, and he says he'll get back to me. After several days with no word, I call John and ask him what happened with the quote I was waiting for. He replies, "I was just about to call you! Here is the info..." It is clear that John had the information much earlier, but he didn't send it to me until I asked for it (either intentionally or because he forgot). I would like to describe this situation with an utterance like: "I asked John about that quote I was waiting for, and he ____ to me with the info."

The word I'm looking for essentially means "respond", but it carries this extra connotation of a rapid response driven by already having the requested information.
I feel like it could be something like "snapped back" (which carries the sense of spontaneity, but not the existing-information aspect, and it has the extra unneeded connotatuon of responding angrily).

A OneLook search supplied me with "jump", but that's not the right word either - "he jumped back with the info" doesn't quite carry the intended meaning.


texts: Which is correct, "you and yours" or "yourself and yours"?

texts: What is the correct phrasal construction "Protect you and yours" or "Protect yourself and yours"? Are they both acceptable? Thank you.


texts: Did eBay take the name from a Pig Latin word?

texts: Did eBay take the name from the Pig Latin word for be?


texts: Cipher vs Cypher - British English vs American English

texts:
As an English author but long time resident of America, I recently wrote a historical spy thriller that delved deeply into coded messages. I often caught myself writing cipher and cypher. Although I eventually used cipher exclusively the plot was mainly located in England and France.

Would cypher have been a better choice?


texts: Keeping in mind how difficult to explain/translate Pink Floyd's lyrics are, I would carefully listen to all insights that native speakers might have as per the meaning of the phrase "steel breeze", used three times throughout "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".


texts: I changed my thinking it changed my life

texts:
"I changed my thinking, it changed my life "

I have seen this sentence many times in social websites and each time I read it, as a nonnative English speaker, I feel something wrong with it!
I'd say : I changed the way I think/my thoughts, it changed my life.

Do you think the usage of "thinking" is correct here?
Thank you in advance.


texts:
As a result of a /d/ → /ð/ shift, fæder became father, hider became hither and togædere became together, giving us our modern English forms.

However, I know that murder and burden have archaic forms- murther and burthen.
This means a shift from /ð/ → /d/ also happened, doesn't it?

The High German Consonant Shift turned /ð/ →/d/, a change that affects modern German and Dutch. The English that and Icelandic það versus the German das highlight this change, but it also went the other way- German tot versus English dead.

My questions:

1.) When did this consonant shift happen in English? Etymonline mentions 12c.

2.) What are some more examples of the /ð/ → /d/ in English words?

3.) How is the shift mirrored in other Germanic languages?


texts: Difference between "make your way home" and "go home"

texts: Could somebody explain to me the difference between "make your way home" and "go home" . Thanks a lot in advance.


texts: Commas and Semicolons with Nonrestrictive Clauses

texts:
If I have one brother named Frank, one sister named Danielle, and one wife named Theresa, is the following sentence punctuated correctly with the commas and semicolons? Please, just yes or no — minus the extraneous commentary or questions like "Why are you writing it like that?"
Could we please just answer the questions directly?

My brother, Frank; my sister, Danielle; and my wife, Theresa, attended the meeting at Town Hall.


texts:
Which of the following variations is correct/prefered. First, should "patient" be singular or plural? Related to that, should I use "both of" or "each of"?

  The patient/patients in question in each/both of these scenarios has/have the required knowledge.

Sine "both" has with it a sense of plurality, using singular (patient) seems to me to be inconsistent with it. Related to this point, "scenarios" is plural.


texts:
I'm wondering what the minimal requirement for a word to be an actual word is. My opinion is that a word is a word if it can be understood and defined by everyone who hears it in conversation.

For example, let's say my friend and I are having a discussion about Quant Wall Street algorithmic traders. During the discussion I use words like "Quantism" and "Quantic" etc. They aren't words, but the meaning is immediately apparent and understood. Are these now English words?

Similarly a phrase like "I'm so sick, I'm going to vom"-- everyone knows what's impending.

Thanks for your time and input.


texts: Is it "out of question" or "out of the question"?

texts:
Are they used in different contexts?
Those both of them use correct grammar?

Google fight shows that "out of the question" appear 10 times more often than the other.


texts: The usage of Who in 'Who can Curly see?'

texts:
'Who can Curly see?' is the title of a book for kids. Curly is the name of a caterpillar. The book is to show that Curly saw several kinds of insects. When I read it I think the who should be whom instead.

I am not an English native speaker and I am not sure the use of who is correct or not in this book's title.

So could you help to clarify this?

Thanks.


texts: Is 'the majority of' singular or plural?

texts:
I have the following question:

  The majority of fund studies has or have agreed that a common attribute for superior performance is due to managers' skill.


texts: Why do some ---ify verbs have a different noun ending?

texts:
The following verbs follow a pattern as to their associated noun:

rectify / rectification
amplify / amplification
exemplify / exemplification
sanctify / sanctification
clarify / clarification

Satisfy is slightly different – satisfaction.

But why are the following two so totally different ?

crucify / crucifixion
testify / testimony

I am still searching, but have, as yet, found no explanation.


texts:
I am reading Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day by Carrie Gibson.

I have difficulty understanding the word intermixing.

  "But after Columbus, the incarnation of the Carib took a variety of turns: Kalinago described the people of Dominica and Grenada, and the people of St Lucia and St Vincent were later called ‘black Caribs’ because there was intermixing between runaway slaves and indigenous people – and they were known for their fierce resistance. "

Does it mean marriage?


texts: Word for something that you sold everything to buy?

texts: Is there a word or phrase that means selling everything you own, to your name, etc., to buy one particular thing?


texts: Can the phrase "extended all the way up" be used to describe very tall objects?

texts:
According to my search, I think the phrase "extended all the way up" is usually to refer to things that are spread until a certain location.

Can this phrase be used to refer to a very tall object?

For example:

  The coniferous trees extended all the way up to the sky.

Or is there a better phrase to use in situations like this?


texts: To talk about something or someone, we usually give an apostrophe, like John's pen. If the word ends with s, we say Adams' pen . But what if we are talking of something that ends with an apostrophe s like Jack's (what we sometimes say in short for Jack's home, or Jack's kitchen etc.). How do I use an apostrophe for words like these? (For eg. If I want to say "Jack's house is closed" but I want to write Jack's instead of Jack's house  , How do I manage the apostrophe?)


texts: Adjective for "a property or a responsiblity that is not owned/assumed by anyone"

texts:
If there is no general word covering both meanings, separate words are also fine.

Example:

  One of the obligations of Shia clerics is to manage ... properties or responsibilities.

I have thought of "abandoned" but that doesn't precisely mean what I wrote in the question title.

Postscript:

Thanks for your contributions! For more elaboration, this is related to a concept in Shia Jurisprudence called "hisba" which refers to obligations and responsibilities that have not been assumed by or are not naturally designated to any specific individual (like taking care of an orphan, an abandoned property, protecting ecosystem, etc) which then have to be taken care of by the clerics. I' looking for a word that can cover all these examples. I am thinking of adjectives in the vein of "stewardless," "ownerless," "un-owned," and "custody-less" etc but one that is probably more common and sound. And oh! I could just think of "unmanaged" or you may suggest a better one! :)


texts: Is there a verb to describe an action that can be either "move" and "copy", but in a single word/phrase?


texts:
I'd like to find some thoughts and opinions related to this question.
First of all, I noticed that there are two forms used in Web browsers' menus: MS Internet Explorer uses "Find on page" meanwhile Chrome uses "Find in page".

What is the difference between these forms and why can they both be used?

Normally, I'd say "find in the page" meaning "find in this text".


texts: How should I refer to people who have had something shared with them?

texts: In the application I am developing, I'd like to refer to people who have had something shared with them (link, photo etc.) but I couldn't figure out what word or phrase to use.


texts: Is one preposition enough for multiple months?

texts:
A colleague of mine has written her thesis and requested me to read and correct its grammar. I have seen some sentences like

  The maximum deviation of the concentration values were obtained in the growing season, especially in May, in July, in August and in September.

As you see there is one 'in' for each month. I think that one preposition would be enough for all:

  The maximum deviation of the concentration values were obtained in the growing season, especially in May, July, August and September.

Which one is more suitable?


texts: Is it correct to use "but" as a positive connecting word?

texts:
I'm wondering if it is correct to use but as a positive connecting word. Below is a small example:

  ... is the perfect opportunity to improve my knowledge but also gain new experience with ...

Is this allowed or should I rather use and?


texts:
If they want to get revenge, Abra, I don't mind.

  But perhaps they don't.

They don't in that utterance is included in the verbal substitution do or ellipsis? Is the full form

  They don't want to get revenge


texts:
I visited a doctor today
 with my grandchildren and noticed this sign on the wall:

  Due to numerous missed appointments, we will begin charging $25 to anyone who fails to cancel an appointment within 24 hours."

Is it just me, or does this sign say exactly the opposite of its intention?


texts: A phrase to express the step taken after another

texts:
Let's say that I have a goal to achieve and I take many steps. Step A (done), and B(currently working on). Can I say this:

  I did the step A. Then, I continued upon that step by taking the
  step B.

I'm skeptical about the phrase in bold. Is this true? Can the phrase be improved?


texts: When and why can you omit “when” (or other conjunctions or prepositions) before a gerund clause that’s used adverbially?

texts:
I had a bad experience working there.

Is that sentence correct, or must I write:

  I had a bad experience when working there.
  I had a bad experience while working there.

or even:

  I had a bad experience while I was working there.
  I had a bad experience when I worked there.

It seems like sometimes gerund–participle clauses (meaning -ing clauses) can be directly used in an adverbial way, without any sort of conjunction or preposition joining them to the rest of the sentence.

  Working there, I developed a real sweet tooth.
  While working there, I developed a real sweet tooth.
  By working there, I developed a real sweet tooth.
  I developed a real sweet tooth working there.
  I developed a real sweet tooth while working there.
  I developed a real sweet tooth by working there.

Are there rules governing when you can use a gerund clause on its own like this without a connecting word?


texts: How to separate out a long list of verbs that then merges in with long list of objects?

texts:
Imagine the following example:

  Feminists destroy, reduce, decimate, deconstruct, defame, destabilize, and fragment the female culture, history, sexuality, identity, reality, and truth.

In the above example, after "fragment" the author is done using verbs and has started a long list of words (objects, subjects?) that are the things that the previous verbs will be acting on.

The actual sentence that I read somewhere is quite similar to the above but in that case the author is using even a more complex sentence where she groups several words together, like she writes in the second part, "culture, history, and tradition" separated by semi-colon and then "body, sexuality, and gender", etc.  But I decided to keep it simple for my question here.

Please assume one is interested in keeping the sentence long and don't break it up into small parts.  Thanks for your help.


texts:
The New York Times just published an article where they use the word "yearslong":

  Federal agents charged 18 current and former members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Monday, accusing them of excessive use of force and obstruction of justice as part of a sprawling, yearslong investigation into allegations of misconduct and abuse of inmates in county jails, federal law enforcement officials said.

Is this a typo?

Edit:

A day later, NYT changed the paragraph and removed the word in question, but in the process, they misspelled another word!  Here's the new paragraph:

  Federal prosectors on Monday charged 18 current and former members of
  the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department with excessive use of
  force and obstruction of justice as part of a sprawling investigation
  into allegations of misconduct and abuse of inmates in county jails,
  federal law enforcement officials said.

This is too funny.


texts: When should I choose "had come" over "came" in the following sentence?

texts:
Take for example:

  I met Raschel three years ago. He
  represented a small company of which
  he was also the proprietor. He came to
  show the presentation of his product
  plan. Many companies, big and small,
  sent their representatives to grab
  this opportunity. The board held a
  meeting and decided to call upon
  companies specializing in these
  products.

I have few queries:

Is it appropriate to start the second line with "He came" or it should be "He had come"?
The last line, when checked with www.paperrater.com, gets underline under "held a meeting". What is the proper way to replace these words?


texts: What is the difference between a shibboleth and a dog whistle?

texts:
As I understand it, although the term shibboleth is most commonly used for words where the pronunciation varies between different groups (eg the pronunciation of "herb" between the US and the UK), it also includes cases (that wikipedia describes as furtive shibboleths) where instead the word has additional meanings within a group of people (eg 420, 1488).
A dog whistle seems to have a very similar meaning - using a word or phrase which has a very simple meaning to the majority of the population, that communicates something else to a subset of the audience (eg "family values").
Does this mean that a dog whistle is a furtive shibboleth (or the usage of a furtive shibboleth)? Is it possible to have a dog whistle that doesn't use such a shibboleth? Does a dog whistle have to be a deliberate usage of such a shibboleth as a shibboleth?
Also, every example I have found of dog whistles are appealing to homophobia/transphobia/xenophobia/etc. Is it possible to have a dog whistle that doesn't appeal to intolerance or phobia?
Edit: wiktionary definitions:
shibboleth
dog whistle
Wikipedia definitions:
shibboleth
dog whistle


texts: Can you use "later on" to replace "next" and "then"?

texts:
Example:

  At first, I though it was a star, but then I realized it was an
  UFO.

Can I use "later" to replace "then" and keep the meaning more or less the same?

  At first, I though it was a star, but later on I realized it was an
  UFO.


texts: History of usage of singular "they" (gender-neutral)

texts:
I have just read in Emma by Jane Austen a phrase which surprised me:

I can think of but one thing - Who is in love with her? Who makes you their confidant?
(Jane Austen: Emma, Chapter VIII, Obreey PocketBook)

Here the lattest who is clearly in singular (followed by makes), the gender of the person under question is unknown, so I understand it as a gender neutral their:

Who makes you his/her confidant? Who has confided you the information about her lover?

I wouldn't expect such an old usage of their functioning as a singular gender neutral word. I've always considered this "grammar trick" as a much more modern invention.
Is it really a usage of the gender neutral their? Is it so old that Jane Austen could have used it? Or was it just some recent editor who didn't consider the good old Austen "correct enough" and "fixed" it?


texts:
What is the most appropriate verb when talking about making a new hypothesis? E.g.

Lenneburg created the critical period hypothesis.
Lenneburg coined the critical period hypothesis.
Lenneburg came up with the critical period hypothesis.
Lenneburg termed the critical period hypothesis.

...etc. I don't know which sounds the most appropriate.


texts: a very strange sentence. please help to understand

texts:
There is a book by Galina Demykina "The lost girl and the scallywags" (a Russian one, translated into English, 1977)
and there is a very strange sentence:
"Zoya saw nothing save thick, ever so thick bushes."
I cannot undestand it. It must mean that Zoya could see nothing, but very thick bushes.
So, is there a real English word-construction "save ..., ever so ..." or it is just a made-up by the translator?


texts: Dropping articles in the title (of an article or a section) or in the caption (of a figure or a table)? What's the general rule?

texts:
It is said that "To give added punch, articles are often dropped in the titles"

Source: http://www.davidappleyard.com/english/articles.htm

Is there any general rule or reference about dropping articles, especially in academic research papers?


texts:
What does the author mean? The following sentences are from a book:
We use "I wish...would..." to say that we want something happen. But we do not use "I wish...would..."to say how we would like things to be. The above sentences make me confused, because I don't know what's different between"to say that we want something happen" and "to say how we would like things to be."

The sentences are on the page 82, beginning at the last sentence 6, from a book named "Englsih grammar in use".
The linking of the book：http://0rz.tw/ghfwP


texts: A word to discribe un/equally weighted options

texts:
Say for example you have colours to choose from A: red B: yellow C: orange which really doesn't matter, i.e. they play no important roles in your decision, not gaining or losing over one another or they are of equal weights. That I want to call them "options".

Now if you are given some other things to choose from, e.g. A: New car B: Travel package C: $30000 which obviously are not of equal weight and choosing between them involve calculating gain/loss, etc. What would you call them? Do you simply call them "choices"?


texts: Adjectival form of "consult", "consultation" – Translation for the German word "konsiliarisch"

texts:
The word konsiliarisch is used, for instance, in hospitals when a doctor sends his patient to another branch or medical specialty for some specific examination. You will later return to your actual doctor for further examinations or a discussion about the findings.

That means, your doctor consults another doctor. My question is now what is it called when you go to that other doctor.

I guess I'm looking for an adjectival form for consultation or to consult, which I think is neither consulting nor consulted in that context.

Bilingual dictionaries suggest consiliary. But I don't find it in any monolingual dictionaries to prove that (I checked Merriam-Webster's and Oxford's Online dictionaries).

The adjective should for example fit in the following sentences:

  I am having a __ examination.
  My appointment is on a __ basis.

Edit:

I think it's necessary to elaborate a bit more on this.
In Germany when you visit the general practitioner, you may be referred to a specialist. In that case, you receive a latter of referral.
This, however, is not what I'm asking about.

The situation is that you already have been referred to a specialist, and this specialist is working in either a common/shared doctor's office/surgery, or in a hospital or another kind of association (not sure if association is a good word in this context, but I'll stay with this), he may consult another doctor of the same office or association.
Each of the doctor's have there own patient files for sure (in case of a hospital they usually can access those files from the other specialists though), but they don't need a separate letter of referral if you're already seeing another doctor of the same association.

An example:
You visit a dermatologist and he needs some examination which is done by an internist. Thus he'll sends you to the internist. The internist will do the examination and send the findings back to the dermatologist. You will then visit the dermatologist again, and he will tell you the findings and/or do some further examinations.

All what happens is that you go once (or if necessary twice) to another doctor at the same premises, who has a different specialty, and later you go back to the first doctor.

In German there are different terms for both kinds of referral/consultation.

  a) Überweisung -> "Haben sie einen Überweisungsschein?" (Do you have a letter of referral?)
  b) Konsil -> "Diese Untersuchung wird konsiliarisch durchgeführt." (This examination will be conducted [word in question].)

If this concept doesn't exist in any English speaking country (and hence, there's no word for it), I think I'm looking for a good term that wouldn't be confused with a regular referral.


texts:
What is the plural form of the word "equipment"? Is the word "equipment" singular?

Context: for tools/objects


texts:
Looking for a word to refer to context outside a novel being discussed.

I suppose I'd need an adjective referring to 'novel' first - my brain conjured up "novelular". It seems to have been used on occasion, but I wonder if there is a more... standard word to refer to the idea.

Extranovelular was what I'd go for, but if anyone has a less silly solution I'm all ears.

E.g: "with regards to context outside the novel,..." -> "with regards to extranovelular context".


texts: Why does the pronunciation of "U" vary in English?

texts:
The letter U is pronounced differently in different words such as Umbrella and Utensils,
as well as when it is Used inside of words such as stUdent and stUdy. Can I please have a grammatical explanation?


texts:
A female relative speaks in a way in which I'm sure there exists a terminology for that particular mannerism. All follow a similar format, with typical examples below

Examples:

  "That's not the way I would do it, but that's just me"

  "I'm not telling you what to do, but the other way is faster "

  "I didn't say anything, as it's none of my business, but she should control her kids better"

  "That food was terrible, but that's just my opinion"

  "He shouldn't have done that, but what do I know?"


texts: Why is the word "Raubritter" (from German) used in English as the name of a rose?

texts: The German word "Raubritter" was used as an alias for a German knight with Robin Hood's style. Now it is used in English as a name of a rose. How did this come to be?


texts: What does it mean by "protest my opposition"?

texts:
This is a line from series Yes, Prime Minister S1E4:

Prime Minister, I must protest in the strongest possible terms my profound opposition to a newly instituted practice which imposes severe and intolerable restrictions upon the ingress and egress of senior members of the hierarchy and which will, in all probability, should the current deplorable innovation be perpetuated, precipitate a constriction of the channels of communication, and culminate in a condition of organisational atrophy and administrative paralysis which will render effectively impossible the coherent and co-ordinated discharge of the function of government within Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

I have only heard "I protest against sth." or "I express my opposition towards sth.", but how can it be phrased like "I protest my opposition to sth."? It sounds like a double negative, but does it work the same as "I oppose sth."?


texts: 'Could you please share [or xyz task]'—with or without question mark?

texts:
Most of the time, a sentence comes with a sense of being an order, not a request; and people have stopped using a question mark at the end of the sentence.

For example, your boss (or some other respected person such as a grandparent or parent) might not use a question mark, because they are actually not giving you the option to say "no". But when the situation reverses, would it be right to use a question mark? Would using a question mark bring a sense of rudeness? If so, how might the person put it correctly?


texts:
When are these sentences most correct and why?

  It was a pretty village and all the houses were restored.
  It was a pretty village and all the houses had been restored.
  It was a pretty village and all the houses have been restored.


texts: Non-derogatory word/phrase analog of "bi**** resting face" but for a young kid

texts:
I am not normally someone who uses the word bitch, in fact I dislike it greatly.  However, there is the concept out there of "bitchy resting face", for people who have a face that looks unhappy even when their emotional state is neutral or happy:

YouTube, Bitchy Resting Face

This is the concept that I would like to explain in regards to photos of my daughter, where her face looks unhappy in the photos, but as far as I can tell she was greatly enjoying herself.  So how would I apply a similar term like "XXXX resting face" to my daughter?  (as in photos she is always squinting in the sunlight with her light-sensitive eyes, and sometimes grimacing, etc. even when she's enjoying herself swinging on a playground)

*** The concept is useful enough that I'm almost comfortable using it to describe myself, but due to the loaded, gendered nature of the word bitchy/bitch, not my young daughter.


texts: Does English have an expression like "nth day"?

texts:
In my native language, if today is 1st and Sunday and we want to refer to the next Sunday (on 8th) then we may say the "today's eighth day" or just "8th day". For example if you're asking when does the festival begin? Someone may reply: 8th day. Obviously the count 8 includes today. On the other hand if we excluded today then it'd have been the 7th day from today.

Does English have an expression like that? If so today is Sunday and one wants to refer to Tuesday, is it called 2nd day from today or 3rd day from today?


texts: "China's rulers reveal more than intended with clunky propaganda about their accountability." What does "more than intended with" mean here?


texts: What can be the verb to be used for agreement on contarcts?

texts:
What can be the best verb to be used for the process the eventually yields  contracts?

Should I use:

Parties should agree on a contract
Parties should find on a contract
Parties should sign a contract
Parties should establish a contract
Parties should build a contract
Parties should xxxx a contract


texts: Is "The Venue in the map" or "...on the map"?

texts: How can it be determined, if the correct version is "The Venue is in the map" or "The Venue is on the map"? And which is correct?


texts: What overarching category do "street," "road," "avenue", etc. belong to?

texts:
Apple belongs to the category of Fruit.

What category do street, road, and avenue belong to?


texts: Someone who does "mundane or repetitive work" for you?

texts:
Trying to come up with the name for a new product I am working on. This tool will help hiring managers with their repetitive or mundane work.
Something related to hiring or recruitment could also work as well.

First word came to my mind was "assistance". But it has a very broad meaning and doesn't fit well with hiring/recruitment.


texts: Is there a phrase for doing a particular thing only to have a formal right to deny somebody something?

texts:
I know that the title is rather unclear; basically, let me describe the situation this way:

  You have been assigned by your teacher to choose students for a school project many would like to take part in, for some reason or another. You've chosen a bunch of people you not only consider appropriate for this project - they are also your friends. And then, a few people you don't like tell you they would like to participate. Instead of telling them just 'go away, I don't like you, you're not going to be in this project' you inform them that in order to take part in this project, they have to do a particular assignment, e.g. describing an approach to a problem the project covers - 'this assignment tests whether you're appropriate for this project'. And here's the trick: you know they won't do it - either because the assignment is purposely difficult, or they won't have the time, or anything like that. And now you have formal right to deny them participation in the project - 'because you failed to hand in the assignment'.

Is there a nice phrase for doing so?


texts: "include" vs "included" when referring to a category from the past

texts:
Is there a correct usage of "include" or "included" when referring to a category from the past?

For example:

TV shows from the 80's include Cheers, The Cosby Show, and Newhart.

or

TV shows from the 80's included Cheers, The Cosby Show, and Newhart.

I personally think both sound fine. And that maybe "include" sounds slightly better since these shows still are and will always be TV shows from the 80's.

I'm wondering though if there is a rule or guideline that governs this type of situation. Or if either one of these uses of "include" would be considered wrong.


texts: Running out of prepositions besides In Under and At

texts:
I'm trying to write a piece where it tells where a student came from but I keep using In under and at. Are there any other things to replace that? I looked up synonyms but it wasn't very helpful.

What I have is: They are a student at the University of X, Belgium under their School of Engineering, in the Department of Engineering and Computer Science, under their Communications and Technology program, interning at their 5g lab.

I have to have all the information but it just looks...heavy?

Thanks for the help!

Best regards,
Nick


texts:
I am looking for a formal equivalent to the phrase "Sanity check".

The context of this is that I am writing my dissertation, and I have performed an experiment using one method that resulted in a result far from the expected. So, I then performed an alternative experiment as a "sanity check" to check my first method wasn't clearly wrong.


texts: Verbs that describe craftsmanship activities?

texts: I'm looking for words like to polish, to shape, to mould, to forge, to chisel etc that could also be used in the context of pedagogy. Thanks.


texts: What does the adjective "gauzy" mean in a figurative sense?

texts:
This is a description of the film Paper Town in a film critique.

"Despite likeable performances by the young cast and some resonant moments, this gauzy teen drama is, sadly, paper-thin."

Source: http://www.filmjournal.com/reviews/film-review-paper-towns

I've looked up a couple of dictionaries and still cannot find out the figurative meaning of this word "gauzy". The dictionaries' definitions are more or less the same which point to "made from a type of light transparent cloth that is usually made of cotton or silk" or "having the qualities of gauze; light, thin, transparent, hazy".

When "gauzy" is used to modify a film, drama, or a piece of artwork, what does it really mean? My guess, for now, is something like "superficial" or "empty". Please give me a clear and unambiguous definition. Thanks in advance.


texts: Is the word 'gratuitous' different in British and American english?

texts:
I was watching a Youtube cooking video, where an American chef says of a compliment that she receives:'he never gives gratuitous compliments, so I'll take it!'.

I was confused, as personally, I understood 'gratuitous' to roughly mean 'unnecessary/unjustified' and used with negative connotations, whereas this was positive and seemed to be used to roughly mean 'free'. I looked up a few dictionaries online, and there seem to be a slight variable in the number and priority of definitions.

Here are a few examples:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gratuitous (American)
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gratuitous (British)
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/gratuitous (British)

My question is: do both American and British people use the two most common definitions quite commonly (ie. 1) meaning 'given unearned or without recompense' 2) meaning 'unnecessary, unjustified, and often harmful or upsetting) Or is there a pattern of use that differs between Americans and British? I ask because I (as a New Zealander - ie. from commonwealth nation) have never really heard anyone around me use 'gratuitous' to mean the former before, so wondering if it's a cultural thing, or just my lack of experience...XD
Thank you:)


texts:
What are names for counting measurements for items 1 through 14 that fit in a sentence such as:

  I want a(n) ____ egg(s).

What I think so far:

Singular, Solitary
Couple
?
?
?
Half-Dozen
?
?
?
?
?
Dozen
?
?

Update:

The purpose of this is to describe a base-14 number system in English-ish terms.

Saying, "Twelve" for example, implies "(1*10) + (1*2)=12", which is then interpreted to mean "::::::".

I am looking for a words such as "Dozen," which, for this example, already implies the concept "::::::" without the "(X*10) + Y" monkey business.


texts: Stranding "of" in subjects - Possible or impossible?

texts:
Observation

Take a subject that contains an of-phrase (friend of X, president of X, writer of X etc.). Now try to question the element X after of by fronting the corresponding wh-phrase.

Often this seems to be completely impossible, as illustrated in (1).

  (1) [The friend of the president] has arrived / was fired / fixed my car.
  --> ?* Which president has [the friend of _ ] arrived?
  --> ?* Which president was [the friend of _ ] fired?
  --> ?* Which president did [the friend of _ ] fix my car?

But sometimes such fronting seems to be fine, as shown in (2).

  (2) [The impeachment of the president] has occurred / was discussed / caused outrage.
  --> Which president has [the impeachment of _ ] occured?
  --> Which president was [the impeachment of _ ] discussed?
  --> Which president did [the impeachment of _ ] cause outrage?

And sometimes, such sentences are more acceptable for unaccusatives (arrive, occur, die) and passives (was fired, was discussed, was arrested), than for transitives (fix my car, cause outrage, composed a speech). This is illustrated in (3).

  (3) [The writer of the president] has died / was arrested / composed a speech.
  --> Which president has [the writer of _ ] died?
  --> Which president was [the writer of _ ] arrested?
  --> ?* Which president did [the writer of _ ] compose a speech?

Question

Why can you sometimes leave of stranded in the subject and sometimes not?


texts:
Is there an English expression to convey the idea that the interlocutor is being a bit too full of themself and needs to be a little humbler?

In Italian we have an expression abbassare la cresta that literally translated is “lower your comb/crest”; are there any corresponding expressions for this in English?


texts: Is it grammatically correct to start a sentence with the word "request", used as a verb?

texts:
For example: "Request you to respond as soon as possible."
I've encountered this sentence in a few e-mails (without subject words like "I" or "we").


texts: Is it correct to say something is "suitable/fit for" somebody?

texts:
For instance:

  This sport is suitable/fit for me.
  This game is too violent. It is not suitable/fit for me.
  I moved to south. The climate there was not suitable/fit for me.
  This woman is suitable/fit for me.
  Teaching is suitable/fit for me.


texts: Looking for a word similar to “optimize”, but for describing articles

texts:
Suppose I wrote an article, and I want other gurus to make it better, first thought was optimize my article, but after looking up that word, it means do something most efficiently, so it’s far from my meaning.

What word should I use in replace of optimize?

  “___ my article”


texts:
I would like to write the correct form of the following sentence:

  He played the guitar in/as accompaniment to/of the choir's chant.

Which is the most correct, and why?


texts: Derivation of a slang greeting in Yorkshire: "Aye up serry"

texts: When I was young, in the West Riding of Yorkshire 1942 to 1960 you would greet an acquaintance thus: "Aye up serry". I believe older residents of the village of Kiveton Park still use the phrase, or one like it identifying the object of the remark as 'serry'. I wonder if this could be traced back to 'sirrah', a 16th century 'corruption' of 'sire'. Can anyone shed light on this?


texts: What is the meaning and usage of the word "very" in the following sentence?

texts: XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language: Transformations) is a language that, according to the very first sentence in the specification (found at http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20/), is primarily designed for transforming one XML document into another.


texts:
Are all of the following sentences OK?

I have two children with my ex-husband.
I have two children from my ex-husband.
I have two children by my ex-husband.

Do they mean the same thing? Is any of the variants to be preferred over the others?


texts:
Someone used this in a sentence:

  local staff in a shopping mall

to highlight the employees of that shopping mall are locals. I admit that I've never heard expressions such as "local staff", is that a proper English? I heard "local communities", "security staff", but "local staff"?


texts:
Would this sentence be correct?

  Being scared is the first step to becoming free.

The more I look at it, the less clear it becomes.


texts: Phenomenon of learning a new word that you've never seen before, and then seeing it being used

texts:
On Wednesday my wife came across the word atavism in Out of Africa that she did not know the meaning of. I did not recognise the word and did not know what it meant. So we looked it up and found out.

Then on Thursday I was reading an article on the Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/23/worship-children-brings-misery-suzanne-moore) and saw the word atavistic. I cannot for the life of me recall seeing this word ever before, and here it pops up shortly after finding out what it meant.

I am sure this phenomenon has happened before - where I learn something new (usually the meaning of a word that I have never seen before, or name of a place or person) and then the very shortly afterwards see it being used. (This also happened to me this year with quinoa.)

Is there a name for this phenomenon? Or is it just me that this happens to?


texts: What do we call someone who is being dictated to?

texts:
The one who rules or dictates is dictator, but what do we call the one who is being dictated to? I'm looking for a better match than slave, subservient, etc.
I am trying to find a word that matches a common etymological pattern like:
Interview brings two words:
interviewer- a person who interviews someone, and
interviewee-a person who is interviewed.
Similarly, the one who dictates get 'dictator', so what is the word for the one who is 'dictated by a dictator'
I am looking for a word that is derived from the word 'dictate', if available.


texts: Which is more common to say “I used to have a month off” or “I was used to having a month off” over Charismas holiday?

texts:
There was the following sentence in Tina Fey’s “Tina Fey Bossy Pants”:

  " When I took the job at the front desk in early November, I had
  stipulated that I had to have off a few days around Christmas because
  I had already booked a flight home to see my family. This being my
  first Christmas after college, I was used to having a month off over
  the holidays, and cutting that down to a three-day weekend already had
  me weepy and depressed." - ibid. P.69

I think I used to write “used to do”  when referring to habitual behavior.

Is there difference of nuance between “used to do” and “be used to doing”? If it’s exactly or almost same, which of “used to do” and “be used to doing” is used more often?

P.S.

As the second thought after posting this question, I came to think “be used to doing” is akin to “be accustomed to do / doing” and “be wont to do,” and structually different from “used to do,” but I’m not sure.


texts: "Request of modification" vs "modification request"

texts:
As the title says, which one is better?  The entire phrase should be something like

  Any [request of modification/modification request] should be sent to the Manager first

Thank you


texts: I can read and understand technical English, but I have difficulty understanding what I hear. What can I do to improve my listening skill? Please help!


texts: What is the term for when you are forced to respect authorities, but they couldn't care less about you?

texts:
What is the term you are forced to respect authorities, but they couldn't care less about you?
For example:

  We have ______ in our house; we are forced to respect elders, but they mistreat us.


texts: What is the job title of these municipal officers?

texts:
In some countries, specially in Asia, some vendors spread their stuff for sale on the ground (upper picture), and thereby cause trouble for the pedestrians comeing and going. For preventing this, there are some officers whose job is preventing those vendors from selling their stuff in the sidewalks!

Is there any special word or phrase for referring to those **officers whose task is to alleviate street congestion"?* (lower picture)


texts: Why is the conflict in the UK Labour Party described by some as the “chicken coup”?

texts:
In the current conflict in the UK Labour Party, some are using the phrase Chicken Coup:

Morning Star: Chicken Coup rebels are running out of room

David Graeber in The Guardian: As the rolling catastrophe of what’s already being called the “chicken coup” against the Labour leadership winds down,...

Weblog “Another angry voice”: The failed "chicken coup" demonstrates that the Blairites aren't even good at the stuff they used to be.

A Chicken coop is a building where female chickens are kept.  A Coup d`état is the illegal and overt seizure of a state by the military or other elites within the state apparatus.

I can understand why Corbyn supporters may choose to use the word “Coup”, but why “Chicken coup”?


texts: Parents' appreciation of the educational system

texts:
Although the parents do not think highly of the educational system as a whole, they fail to treat teachers with opprobrium equally

I don't understand the meaning of the sentence. I'll try to paraphraze it: Parents don't think too much about teachers and in general don't conside too much of the educational system. In spite of it they disdain the teachers, but some they hate more and some the humiliate less. Am I right?
I don't get the point of the sentence…


texts: "This book includes three chapters, which {discusses/discuss} on..."

texts:
In the following sentence, should it be 'discuss' or 'discusses'?

  This book includes three chapters, which discusses on the examples of adaptation, evolution and survival, providing a further understanding of the three processes.


texts: "thrilled to her": thrill with indirect object

texts:
The New York Times ran a [story] (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/us/politics/kamala-harris-2020-election.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage) today on Kamala Harris which included the following

  Democratic voters have thrilled to her as a messenger, yet the content of her message remains a work in progress.

I can more or less make sense of the sentence but this use of thrill is new to me. Is it standard? rare? an error? Perhaps it should be thronged? (My first reaction was to say thralled but I can find no support for that.)

[The Free Dictionary] (https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/thrill+to) affirms the usage

  thrill to (something)
  To become greatly excited by or joyful from something.

The usage, then, is standard, but I don't believe I've ever heard it.

Is this use of thrill regional? Or is the distinction femoral, and it is either falling into or out of favor?

Or maybe I'm just ignorant.


texts: He still thinks that what he sees in the TV and movies is real

texts:
Is the verb agreement correct in this sentence (...
is real and not ...are real)?


texts: Why "[I am] just like him" is correct not "just like he"

texts: "Him" is an object pronoun. In grammar, we use the word "object" to talk about the thing or person that the verb is done to, or who receives the verb. I don't understand how a verb that is not an action but a condition can have an object.


texts: difference between "can do nothing" and "cannot do anything"

texts:
Is there any difference between these two sentences

  I can do nothing to help you.

and

  I cannot do anything to help you.

If there isn't any significant difference, are there any cases when you'd chose one over another?

Please don't mark it as duplicate, I had searched but the results that I got didn't answer my queries satisfactorily.


texts: Social Network Accounts Owned by the Same Person

texts:
Say, there's a person who has registered more than one account on the same social network and writes from these accounts pretending they belong to different people. How would you name such accounts?
My best guess is "bots", but that sounds more like when something automatically posted from these accounts.


texts: Lowering the priority by decreasing a number

texts:
If a smaller number is of higher priority than a greater number, how can I tell what lowering the priority means?

When it comes to configuring networking devices, a smaller number sometimes represents higher priority. When someone says that I should lower the priority, should I increase the priority value and consequently lower the priority or should I decrease the priority and consequently raise the priority?

I find it hard to tell. Especially if the person never speaks of configuring a priority value. That would be the correct term for such as an action because priority is the effect, not the cause.


texts: Why "it" is used for two words connected with or?

texts:
could you please tell me why we use "it" and "that" as singular pronouns in this sentence? Do we always do the same in Eglish or we can you use plural pronouns instead too?
:

  Blockquote
  Skin too light or too dark? Creams can handle that. Gummy smile or biggish nose? Surgery can remake it.


texts:
Is the following question title grammatical or not, despite some missing articles?

  Way of obtaining Chomsky normalform, does it influence performance of CYK parser?

P.S.: is there an English grammar web site that shows the used "it" pronoun pattern or a similar pattern? Maybe something along Participial Phrase?


texts: I've heard "since forever" used by many. I can't get my head around the contradiction in terms. Is it correct?


texts: Word for sophisticated art that the masses don't appreciate

texts: Popularity and sophistication don't always overlap. Think of the novels only English teachers love. The music only Mitch Grassi listens to. The paintings you only want to look at after graduating from RISD. The movies they only show at film festivals. Do we have a word or phrase to describe this kind of thing?


texts: What's the general term for street/lane/alley/avenue etc?

texts: Recently I was trying to explain the Dutch word gracht to a friend and I found myself needing a general word for a unit of architecture which joins two places together. I thought about "route", but for me it is a little too abstract (more of a set of directions to take than a physical entity). Is there such a word in the English language? Moreover, if we also include other, nonlinear things cities are made of (plains, squares, roundabouts -- everything that has a name plate on the buildings), is there a word for that too?


texts: Etymology of "nine-edge" and "twelve-edge"

texts:
Leafing through A Fortran Coloring Book (Kaufmann, MIT Press, 1978) I came across this passage, describing punch cards:-

  There are twelve rows that go across each card. For reasons known only
  to Thomas Watson or God, the TOP row is known as the 12-edge, and the
  bottom row as the 9-edge.

We are further informed that Thomas Watson's will is alleged to state that he requested to be buried 9-edge down.

Aside from the intrinsic improbability of the will story, does anyone know why the edges of punch cards are named thus?


texts: Should I use “you” or “your” in this sentence?

texts:
I am trying to figure out which sentence is correct.
I asked some of my friends, but got different answers. Or are they both correct?

I wonder who teaches you English.
I wonder who teaches your English.


texts: "The England ... team" vs "The English ... team"

texts: Why are country sports teams, for example, from England, referred to as 'The England football team' as opposed to 'The English football team'?


texts: What is a friendlier way to write "at the * preference" and "at the * convenience"?

texts:
What is a friendlier (and correct) way to write the following?

at the family's preference (at the family preference)

at the citizens’ convenience (at the citizens convenience)


texts: Origin of the term "eating your own dog food"

texts: I'm trying to find the first usage of the term "eating your own dogfood", as a reference to companies, especially software companies, using their own products in house in order to more effectively troubleshoot.  I'm fairly certain it originated with Microsoft, but I'd like to find out which year they first used it, if possible.


texts:
I've noticed that how the word "evolution" is hyphenated according to Wolfram|Alpha doesn't match the ones I find on other sites: The Free Dictionary, and Dictionary.com.

As I understand, the latter is the correct one (ev·o·lu·tion). I think that the "wrong" versions (e·vo·lu·tion) better match the pronunciation. I want to think it's a matter of evolution of the language.

Why is there a difference in how the word can be hyphenated? Which one is correct, and why?


texts:
"I always do my homework." Does the adverb always modify do or do my homework?
"I went to the movies quietly." Does the adverb quietly modify went or went to the movies?


texts: Where a name related to a noun should be placed?

texts:
Say I have three kinds of items that I call A, B, and C. Now, I want to ask someone to create one. Which form is the correct one?

  Create an item A.

or

  Create an A item.

?


texts: Upper or lowercase letter if name at the start of the sentence?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How do you capitalize a proper noun such as “iPhone”?
  Capitalization of names that begin lowercased, at the beginning of a sentence

I have a product that is called xYZ. If I use this name at the beginning of a sentence, should I use upper or lower case letters?

An example of such a sentence would be:

  xYZ can be used to ...

vs.

  XYZ can be used to ...

I tend to use the first one, since it is a name, but I'm not sure.


texts: More common expression for "move your bowels"

texts: Move your bowels may be too polite and sounds strained, and merely saying shit sounds offensive. What do native English speakers say then when you need to move your bowels, especially when a parent asks his toddlers whether they need to shit?


texts: Preposition usage: "Envious at" vs "Envious of"

texts:
Under what circumstances are these two prepositions used in a grammatically precise manner? I posed this question because a grammar-editing application marked the indiscriminate interchangeable usage of these phrases as being grammatically correct.  I would imagine that these following examples are correct:

"I'm envious of how flawlessly you played the piano."

"I'm envious at the mere thought of your flawless playing."

However, the aforementioned application (Grammarly) found the sentence "I'm envious at how flawlessly you played the piano," to be faultless.  So, which of the above usages is correct?
(I've also searched the site for this question and I have not seen any duplicates, despite there being similar questions.)


texts: What is the best way to disambiguate a tabletop game and a game of one a these games

texts:
In the context of writing a computer program to play multiple tabletop games, I need a way to disambiguate in the code the tabletop games, and an instance of it (a game of a game, if I may say).

I'm French, and we make a clear distinction between both concepts: "Un jeu" means the set of rules, "Une partie" means one game of it.

Right now I started with "Tabletop game" and "Game". However, it's not concise, and as "game" is used in both, it makes it harder to search for specific code.

So, is there a natural and concise way to make a clear distinction for a native speaker using nouns?

Thanks for your time


texts:
My questions:
Please answer these two questions. There will be an example explaining why I ask these two questions. After you reading the example, please answer these two questions (1) and (2).
(1) Can a pronoun refer to a noun wherever the noun first appears as long as the pronoun can be understood by the reader and listener?
(2) Is the use of pronouns restricted by grammar structures?

Example:

Friend: Why do you support the movement?

Me: The movement can help alleviate the problem which women have for them.

The bold part "which women have" is a relative clause.
"for them" I wrote here is not a part of the relative clause, and I want the word "them" to refer to "women".

What I think about the example and how it makes me ask the two questions (1) and (2).
This whole sentence just sounds awkward to me. I wonder if it is because there are rules saying that pronouns cannot be used in or refer to some grammar structures such as relative clauses, etc.
However, this idea doesn't make sense to me although I had never really thought about it before.
So, please allow me to repeat my question:
(1) Can a pronoun refer to a noun wherever the noun first appears as long as the pronoun can be understood by the reader and listener?
(2) Is the use of pronouns restricted by grammar structures?

By the way,
I have asked a similar question on English Learner Stack. I appreciate the help I got there, but it seems that people didn't answer my questions directly. I think it was my fault that I didn't make my question clear enough. I hope this time the questions I am asking is unambiguous.


texts: What does the phrase "Mind your business" mean or refer to?

texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "Mind your business", as used on the 'Fugio Cent' copper penny, during the period of the Congress of the Confederation in America?


texts: Single word for the holder or location of an item?

texts:
I'm looking for a single word to describe the place or person an item is assigned to. The context is basic asset management, where you have a list of assets (such as computers, software licenses or consumables) that can be assigned to people or locations. For example, a laptop can be assigned to its user, a location (storage cupboard with spare laptops) or a company (because it's been sent there for repairs).

None of the words I've come up with quite fit all of the above situations:

Assignee, Holder or Bearer don't work very well for locations
Location, Whereabouts or Station don't work very well for people

Update: I'm looking for this word not only to label things on screen and in a database, but also to make the concept of assigning things to people/locations as obvious as possible. The right word would make this concept immediately obvious.


texts:
What is the meaning of considering in this sentence?

We're just fine, considering.


texts: What is the exact meaning of phrase "deconstructed the many dimensions" here?

texts:
The author says that it is extremely difficult to concentrate during sitting meditation. That's how he describes it:

  "But I couldn't simply sit in a quiet temple without my mind being
  filled every second with the fireworks of clutter. After a few years I
  thought I had deconstructed the many dimensions of that moment, but it
  was upon joining the team at Flow months ago that I realized I still
  had work to do".

What does the phrase "deconstructed the many dimensions" mean in this text?

I found the term "dimensional deconstruction", but I doubt that it is applicable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimensional_deconstruction


texts: What does "within a generation" mean in this context?

texts:
In a documentary film on the Russian Revolution the narrator used the phrase "within a generation", and I'm not exactly sure what it means.

  Socialism promised peace, prosperity, and equality for all peoples of the world. But the social experiment failed. Millions were killed, and within a generation almost one third of the world's population was living in the shadow of communism.

I wanted to check a few figures about how many people lived under communism, but the phrase "within a generation" left me wondering at what period I should be checking populations figures. Generally I've had the habit of considering roughly 20 years for a generation. In some dictionaries and other sources it says a generation for humans is about 30 years. It also mentions this on Wikipedia.

  generation
  2.the term of years, about 30 among human beings, accepted as the average period between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring.
  Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary

Anyway, in terms of that particular use of "generation", couldn't "within a generation" mean something closer to a person's average lifetime, say, 50, 60 or 70 years? The reason I'm wondering this is because, for example, say a group of people are born in 1960. Couldn't you say the 9/11 terrorist attack occurred within those people's generation? Even if they were 41 years old at the time it happened, and also notwithstanding that by that time another younger generation had been born?

Is that a reasonable use of "within someone's generation"?

Even if we take 30 years to mean a generation, the narrator's statement would mean that by about 1947 nearly a third of the world's population lived under communism. This just doesn't seem right. In 1947 the world's population was about 2.5 billion. One third of that is about 830 million. But we can't even include China (roughly with a population of 500 million), because it didn't become communist until 1949. Similarly the British Empire and/or India (it doesn't matter because independent India was never communist anyway) had a population of over 500 million, and when you consider the other most populous countries that were never communist this figure of "almost one third" really doesn't sound right. That is, of course, unless "within a generation" can be understood to mean what I mentioned earlier, roughly a group of people's lifetime, meaning it can extend to 40, 50, or 60 years. In that case I can imagine China's population explosion, along with other communist revolutions just maybe might bring it to the "nearly one third" measure used in the film.


texts: Reach out to me at 12345(phone number) or Reach me at 12345

texts:
In an email for a colleague in overseas department to tell him my available time slots and my contact phone number, which is appropriate ; "You can reach me at 12345" or "You can reach out to me at 12345"?

I often use the phrase in verbal such as "I tried to reach out to her several times, but she has never answered."
If the usage is correct, is it also possible to use "reach out" in the above email case?

Thanks.


texts: Equivalent of words appropriate to damage for healing

texts:
I'm creating a game and in it, it is possible to damage or heal living things, as you would expect. I've decided that different kinds of things can have one of three reactions to certain types of damage. I also need each reaction to have a noun equivalent.

They can be:

Resistant/Resistance (Takes less damage)
Immune/Immunity (Takes no damage)
Weak/Weakness (Takes more damage)

But they can also be healed. Similarly, healing of a type can be less effective, not effective, or more effective. Is there a similar set of adjective-noun pairs for healing? Preferably they should not sound too 'medical'.


texts: How did the word "busybody" end up meaning so different from what it appears on its face to imply?

texts: When I learned the word busybody the first time, I was in 5th grade. It appeared in a story I had to learn for class. I figured it meant someone who was very busy, and didn't bother to look it up. When the teacher asked us if I had looked it up as I was supposed to as part of my homework, I lied and said I did. When I told her I found the meaning "in a dictionary" she asked me to bring her the dictionary. Needless to say, I was a very embarrassed 5th grader caught in a bad lie.


texts:
I usually find in some examples "all that which" followed by a verb but in other similar examples "all that" (without which) is used instead. So, in which cases should we use the first and in which ones should we use the second?
Consider this example:

When he travelled away from home, he was separated from all that which is familiar.
When he travelled away from home, he was separated from all that is familiar.

I would be grateful if you could tell me what is the difference between the two, which one is correct and why.


texts:
I want to combine the following sentence:

Relationship between son and mother, and relationship between daughter and mother

Into one sentence for title of an article:

Relationship between son, daughter and mother

Is grammar and meaning correct?


texts: Answering past simple question with past continuous

texts:
For example,

  — What did you do yesterday?
  — I was working.

I presume this is not grammatically correct; however, I often reply in this way (I'm English). Also vice versa: "What were you doing yesterday?" — "I worked."

Does it matter?


texts:
Sample sentence: "With three days remaining in the term, Mitzy started doing research, creating an outline, and wrote a rough draft."

In this case, is "doing" a verb in parallel with "creating" but not "wrote" or is "started" the verb in parallel with "wrote" but not "creating"?

Does "started" actually modify "doing" and is therefore functioning as an adverb?


texts: Word for referring to incomprehensible sounds produced by stuttering/stammering?

texts:
At first I just decide to use stutter as a noun:

  David pulled himself away slowly, his face as pale as a ghost's. Some
  words came out of his mouth. At first, they were just
  incomprehensible stutters, but then they gradually began to take shape.
  "Y-you're...you're not Sophia."

But then for some reason, it started sounding a little strange to me. Is there any other word to use in cases like this?


texts: When the plural subject is used, do I have to take the plural object?

texts:
I want to say the following contents:

There are five users using cell phone.
Each of them has to keep a communication link with a base station.
That is, the user 1 has to keep a link 'a' with a base station.
the user 2 has to keep a link 'b' with a base station.
..., the user 5 also has to keep a link 'e' with a base station.

In this case,

    The five users should maintain a direct link with the base station.

or

    The five users should maintain direct links with the base station.

Thank you for reading my question.


texts: What suffix rule applies to making rival into rivalrous (i.e., is this legitimate)

texts:
I was annoyed to find my neuroscience textbook transforming the noun "rival" into an adjective in

...IT changes systematically when people and animals report switches in rivalrous percepts.

I checked my 1913 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary and it had no such suffix production on the noun rival. It suggested a verbal noun form that would apply, i.e., rivalling. One might say then "report switches in rivaling percepts" (looks more like an adjective in context). I could not find "rivalrous" in an online text version of the Oxford English Dictionary I have (but might not be the entire Oxford). Now that I think of it, saying simply "rival percepts" would be correct.
I checked with Google Ngram American English and rivalrous showed no usage really until a spike shortly after 1920, then declined to almost nil usage but began to increase after 1940, reaching a very small decimal value (1e-6 percent) by 2019. British Ngram no usage until began to climb after 1960, reaching a similar "peak" of 1e-5 percent or the like (have trouble counting the decimal places).
My Princeton WordNet resource has rivalrous:

Overview of adj rivalrous
The adj rivalrous has 1 sense (no senses from tagged texts)

emulous, rivalrous -- (eager to surpass others)

But WordNet admits it is very rare:

wn rivalrous -famla
Familiarity of adj rivalrous
rivalrous used as an adjective is very rare (polysemy count = 1)

The usual production for noun to adjective is

The simplest way to turn a noun into an adjective is to add suffixes to the end of the root word. The most common suffixes used to create adjectives are -ly, -able, -al, -ous, -ary, -ful, -ic, -ish, -less, -like and -y. For example, turn the noun "danger" into the adjective "dangerous" by adding the suffix -ous.

"rivalrous" appears to me to be an erroneous production which is somehow creeping into usage. But how should one produce an adjective from rival?


texts: What preposition to use when saying "drawn in accordance with the ISO standard"

texts:
Here's the relevant part of the sentence I'm struggling with:

"... as well as not being drawn by/to/? the ISO standard."

I guess one could write "... as well as not being drawn in accordance with/to the ISO standard."
Still not sure if one should use "with" or "to" in that case either. Problem with that sentence is that it is unnecessarily long. I have a feeling that there is a preposition one can use without having to write "in accordance with/to", though I may be wrong.


texts:
In an experiment that includes checking for defects, the results are described as follows:

  Defects: A.   None, B. Observed

Does “observed” necessarily entail that a defect was present, or could it simply mean that defects were checked for, but not necessarily seen?


texts: How can I make initialisms that refer to plurals possessive?

texts:
I want to know if it is correct to treat AF as a proper name and thus write "AF's concept" or if I must take the words of the initialism into consideration and write "AFs' (as I would write "Armed Forces' concept of protection" if I didn't use the initialism).

The link provided gave me conflicting answers about which way is right, and the main issue in the argumentation seemed to me to be the dubble s-es.


texts:
What does the word "phink" in the pink panther cartoon mean?
It's in the title of the episode where the panther and a painter try to repaint a house:  The Pink Phink.


texts: When do you use at the office? And when do you use in the office? What's the difference between the phrases?


texts:
I know the facts about the incident, and I want to ask my friend: 'Did you know' or 'Do you know' about the incident?

Which version—'Did you know' or 'Do you know'—uses correct grammar?


texts:
I am unable get a clear idea about the difference between a conference and a symposium. The folllowing are the meanings of symposium and conference from www.dictionary.com. As we can see below there is no significant difference between these two. I am not getting clarity in the difference from either the below definitions or Google search. I have attended both conferences and symposiums in my field, but unable to find any difference. Could someone provide me a clear-cut difference between these two (atleast theoretically)?

  Symposium:
  a meeting or conference for the discussion of some subject, especially a meeting at which several speakers talk on or discuss a topic before an audience.

  Conference:
      a meeting for consultation or discussion: a conference between a student and his adviser


texts:
I have the following case: "This will be triggered from hour to hour". So if it is 9:32 the trigger will activate on 10:32. My question is: If I want to say from hour to hour BUT I want to say every hour ending in 00. So if it is 9:32 the trigger will be at 10:00.
Is there some kind of expression for that?