texts:
"a zero magnetization" or "the zero magnetization" or "zero magnetization"?
"a zero magnetic field" or "the zero magnetic field" or "zero magnetic field"?
Are there any specific rules for articles before the word zero?
Is not "zero magnetization" equivalent to "magnetization 0" which comes with zero article?
Thanks!


texts: Is there any single-worded term that describes a bird with puffed up feathers?


texts: Is a statue made of bronze called bronzed or brazed?

texts:
When do you use bronzed vs. brazed?  Is a bronze statue bronzed or brazed?

What would be the best word for a man that was commemorated with a bronze statue?


texts:
In a previous question about the English of the KJV a link was helpfully supplied and I read the following

  The vocative case is used when directly addressing a person with a noun identifying the person instead of with the second person pronoun “you.”  An example is in Matthew 6:9 which says, “Our Father, which art in heaven.”  Today we are less inclined to say “Our Father, who ARE in heaven.”  It seems more natural to say “Our Father, who IS in heaven.”  The peculiarity of the KJV is based on the faithful translation of the vocative case.  This is not an archaism but a faithful translation of the Greek which has the vocative case.

Like many things, I learned the words as a child and have accepted them all my life without intelligently understanding them.

I am still struggling to understand why the verb is plural and where 'art' comes from.


texts: What is a word that describes how easy it is to guess how to use something?

texts:
I once came across a word that described how easy it was to guess how to use something without knowing what it was for.

The context was a blog post about a specific country, where the doors were either brightly decorated or painted in the same design as the rest of the room / wall paper.

They were often missing (traditional? western?) door handles, which meant that the visitor often did not know that they were actually doors or how to use them.

This was given as an example of something with low [missing word].

The rest of the post was about computer user interfaces (UI) or the user experience (UX) but I believe the word I'm looking for was a more general English word.

Update: Affordance serves my purpose for the missing word described above.


texts: Word for 'believing there is always a simple solution'

texts:
What is the word for a person who thinks there is always a simple solution to any given problem?

I have heard this term used before in an intellectual debate in the past, but cannot remember what it is.

The word itself may not have been used to actually refer to a type of person, but to the belief itself (I don't remember this detail either). It also may have been a noun or an adjective (probably a noun, imo), for all I remember.

Addendum 1: in the debate, the belief (or the person holding the belief) was presented as silly, a bit irrational, unrealistic

Addendum 2: the problems the debate was focused on primarily were more down-to-earth in their nature, though global problems were not excluded per se.


texts: Should there be an apostrophe if not why?

texts:
In the short sentence below  should there be an apostrophe?

  My Sisters protector.


texts:
Can anybody help me to describe the meaning of "right round toward", especially in the bold sentence of the context below.

Context:

Within two years, Deng was the most powerful man in China. Deng's moment had come, and what a moment! He took China right round towards roaring full-throttle capitalism.

More context if needed:

... Under Deng, China's repressive state continued, but he began welding together the two big ideas that had divided the world in the 20th century. For him, capitalism in a communist country wasn't a contradiction, it was a pragmatic solution. Since Deng's reforms were introduced, China's economy has been growing at an average of nearly 10% a year every year. It's on track to become the world's biggest economy by 2016. ...

Source: History of the world by Andrew Marr - episode 8


texts: How do you say "come a long way" in one word?

texts:
I'm writing a technical paper and need to say something along these lines:

  The technology in this area has come a long way in the past twenty years...

But I think "come a long way" doesn't seem as descriptive, and was hoping there is a better word for it.


texts: Why does the pronunciation of the word "wife" [waif] change in the word "midwifery" [ˈmɪdˌwɪfərɪ]?

texts:
I recently found out that the word wife is pronounced differently in the following examples:

wife [waif] / midwife [midwaif] / but midwifery [ˈmɪdˌwɪfərɪ]

This appears to be another inconsistency of English phonetics. Does anyone know why this is?


texts: Where is the root morpheme in Modern English evacuate and vacuum?

texts: They both are cognates (it can be easily proved by many etymological sources). The question is : Is it possible to consider VAC as a common root for evacuate and vacuum (we may go further - vacation, vacancy, vacuous etc.).


texts: "Tip of the iceberg" negative or positive

texts:
Does this idiom indicate the negative side or positive side?
Example: what you have seen about his character is just the tip of the iceberg...

Does this example show whether he has so much good quality hidden or he has so much bad quality hidden...


texts:
What is the difference between:

  they point their finger at the tree.

and

  they point their fingers at the tree.

Do they have different meanings?


texts: What did we say for "it's like riding a bicycle" before we had bicycles?

texts: Riding my bicycle the other day, I thought "having learned how to ride a bicycle in the past, for me the experience of riding a bicycle is just like riding a bicycle." And then I thought, what did we say before bicycles to capture the concept of a difficult skill that is (nearly) impossible to forget once mastered? While there are phrases like second nature that might capture this, I'm specifically looking for a simile.


texts: I'm a Yank watching the UK version of Being Human and the character mentions sitting next to his ex-girlfriend in "Double History" (season 2 episode 3 around timestamp 24:18).  It's clearly a history course of some sort, but what sort?  I've never heard the phrase before, and duckduck and google are both failing me.


texts: How does one address a former UK Prime Minister in a letter?

texts:
More specifically, does the title "The Right Honourable" apply to former PMs as well? Is "Your/Her/His Excellency" used at all?

I'm finding several references for how to address current PMs, but I'm not sure if this changes once that person is no longer in office.


texts: technology-savvy or technologically savvy?

texts:
Which one is better?

We are living in a technology-savvy world.
We are living in a technologically savvy world.


texts: What is a relative pronoun's referent when it follows a prepositional phrase?

texts:
For example:

Stella Adler trained several generations of actors who include Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro. Does who in this example refer to actors or generations?

Stella Adler trained several generations of actors whose ranks include Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro. Does who in this example refer to actors or generations?


texts: Is "We are grateful to X for her proofreading this paper" grammatically correct?

texts:
Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

1.) We are grateful to X for her proofreading this paper.

Or alternatively:

2.) We are grateful to Y for him proofreading this paper.

I think that the following sentences would be better

3.) We are grateful to X for her proofreading of this paper.

Or:

4.) We are grateful to X for proofreading this paper.

But I'm interested in the first sentence and would like to know whether this is a correct English sentence (even if it is maybe a bit 'odd').

Edit:
I am interested in the structure "for him/her proofreading". Is this a construct that can be generally used? Is it acceptable in this sentence? I know that it's twice in this sentence and that the sentence can be improved (see 3. and 4.). But I saw this sentence in the acknowledgments sections of a paper and would be interested if it's grammatically correct (in a very 'mechanical' way, i.e., could a parser find a way to classify this sentence as grammatically possible?).


texts: Is there a word to describe the feelings of a flatterer?

texts:
Flattery is described as "the act or practice of flattering." So John praises Mary. Mary feels good about John's praise, but John also feels good about the praise he gives to Mary. What is a word to describe John's feelings?

Mary is flattered by John's praise. John is ________ by his praise of Mary.

A word that goes in the right direction is "fulfilled." That is, "John is fulfilled by his praise of Mary," but I want a stronger, more "positive" word. John sincerely believes what he says in praising Mary, and is in turn flattered when a third party praises his praise of Mary.


texts:
Which is correct?

  The price we quoted for you

or

  The price we quoted to you

I often stumble with this. I'm not sure how to use for you and to you.


texts:
At first glance, sentence 1 below seems more correct because there are two subjects. However, something seems more natural about sentence 2. Maybe there is something abbreviated, elliptical, or adverbial in sentence 2.
In sentences of this structure, should the verb be singular or plural?

Not only a book, but also a pencil are on the table

Not only a book, but also a pencil is on the table.


texts: What is the proper (practical/efficient) way to analyze a sentence?

texts:
One is given the sample sentence:

  The fat blind man ran from the dog.

What are the procedural steps to deduce the subject and predicate from the sentence? What are the general steps to completely analyze the sentence?


texts:
If I want to say "a few minutes ago", can I also use "a while ago"?

I read that "a while" is an indeterminate length of time (usually short).

They say that "a while" is :

some moments,
some minutes, hours,
some weeks, months.

Is this correct?


texts:
From comments to “Weekdays” used as an adverb", I learn that The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary says "open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.", shows the word weekdays is an adverb.

It seems to me that in "We open weekdays at 7 a.m.", and "We open tomorrow at 7 a.m." both weekdays and tomorrow are the same "part of speech" - and again in "I'll go tomorrow".

I will happily describe words like happily and quickly as adverbs - for example...

  "I'll go quickly", and by extension "I'll go quickly and quietly".

On the other hand...

  "I'll go tomorrow" can't be extended to "I'll go tomorrow and quietly".

Am I being thick, or is OALD spouting nonsense?


texts: Does this sentence conveys the message of awareness of coronavirus and being alert?

texts:
In India, the lockdown is kind of ended. It's still there but most of the things are allowed but precautions. That doesn't mean coronavirus cases are decreasing in India.

Basically, I want to say that it's not over. We must still be alert, and follow rules and regulations and don't become careless by doing unnecessary things like roaming on roads, malls etc. unless very necessary.

Here's the sentence:

It's time to be defensive, not aggressive. I've used these words from Cricket, to relate it with cricket.

(In cricket, when you're defensive, there are less chances of you getting out, but when you're aggressive, there are more chances that you might get out)

So does it convey the mentioned thing?


texts: Is it true that t&d, p&b, k&g, s&z, ... only differ by voiced vs. unvoiced

texts:
According to

https://www.lawlessenglish.com/learn-english/pronunciation/consonants-voiced-unvoiced/

there are number of pairs of consonant sounds whose only difference is that one is voiced and the other isn't. Some of the examples listed are t vs. d, k vs. g, s vs. z and p vs. b.

If this is true, how come I can tell the difference between 'pet' and 'bet' when they are both whispered?

Or do I trick myself into believing there is a difference and only tell the difference by context?


texts:
When I was making a PowerPoint presentation I was directing the reader to the slide after the next one when I realised it sounded incredibly clunky and if there was a specific word for that concept, in the vein of penultimate. This could also be used for items in a list. Example sentence:

  To discover how I coded this program please consult the _______ slide.


texts: Resources on writing grammatically and clearly

texts:
The first part of this question is about how I should ask this question.  I am a bit confused about all the terms used to describe books written about English.  For example, "usage", "style", "reference", "reference grammars", etc.  So I don't know what the proper term is for the type of book I want to ask about.

So I've seen the thread on English reference grammars (english.stackexchange.com/questions/183/what-are-some-of-the-better-english-reference-grammars), and my question is similar.  That thread asks about texts that describe English grammar, but I'm wondering about more practical books.

For example, when I'm writing, I often come up with a myriad of questions like:

When should one use "that" vs. "which"?
How do you deal with multiple descriptive clause modifiers, or whatever they're called, that both end with nouns, leading to ambiguity.  For example: "I looked at the bucket at the bottom of the barrel that contained my money."  Let's say that the bucket is the object that contains the money, not the barrel.  Well if you say "the bucket that contained my money at the bottom of the barrel" that could still be ambiguous, because now maybe "at the bottom of the barrel" could refer to the money.  This is a bad example, but you get the gist of it; how do you deal with these double-bind ambiguities?
Is it grammatical to do a comma then a gerund phrase like I just did in that last bullet point?  For example: "This drug is fatal, causing death within seconds." Is that grammatical?
When should one put hyphens between nouns?
Is it grammatical to use nouns as adjectives?  E.g. "double-bind ambiguities".  There's probably a better way to say that, right?

And so on and so on.  Now, one could ask/search for every single question that pops into your head on this stack exchange, but that seems infeasible for a large volume.  So there must be some reference book that would give one the background to know the answer to these types of questions.  After all, the people on this stack exchange had to learn it somewhere, right?


texts: "Functionalities;" According to Firefox, this word doesn't exist

texts:
I was composing an email and needed the plural form of the word "functionality." To my surprise I saw the dreaded red underline indicating a spelling mistake.

It made me wonder whether this was a false alarm. I searched for the word and found it being used at www.thefreedictionary.com

It then struck me that this was the browser's fault, as it comes with a spell checker. (Initially, I thought it was Gmail's fault).

Which brings me to my query: Is it wrong to pluralize "functionality?"


texts:
English has prefixes to denote opposition as well as absence.

For example:

'gnostic' vs 'agnostic' (having knowledge vs absence of knowledge)
'social' vs 'asocial' vs 'anti social' (being social, not being social, being against society)

However there is a subtle difference between the absence of something and being neutral towards it. For example let;s say that I want to indicate that I am a little bit social, but not too social.

I am not 'asocial' because it's false that I am not social. But I am also not fully social. Rather I am something in the middle.

The above is just an example, it doesn't have to be the word 'social' I just want to know whether English has a prefix to explicitly convey the subtility of neutrality.


texts: Conventions for dates spoken without year

texts:
Today is April 4th, 2013. What is meant when someone says "May 1st"? I would assume its May 1, 2013.  And "last May 1st" as May 1, 2012.

As for "next May 1st", I would assume "next" is a redundancy if its a day in January. But if spoken on a November 2012 day, I assume its May 1, 2013. And "May 1" means May 1, 2012 (when spoken on that November day).

Is this unambiguously true in all conventions in English? What are the rules for "last", "next" or avoiding both adverbs depending on the current date and the date the person is talking about?

Are there phrases which when combined with "May 1st", specify the year compared to the plain "on May 1st"?

It seems to be the convention for me in India. But I want to correct it if its ambiguous elsewhere.


texts:
There's a group of words — I think they're called determiners — used to indicate number in some way... like many, few, most, etc. During a linguistics class my professor said this was a closed group of words, and that new ones couldn't really fit in it. Then someone shouted out "There's mad people in here!" and everyone laughed. (Mad meaning many, the usage I'm referring to).

How did mad come to fit in this supposedly closed group? Are there other words that were newly coined to fit there?


texts:
When I recall the short way of remembering a list of the conjunctions, FANBOYS, for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, how could for be used as a conjunction? Could it be used in

  Justin and Mark could not see, for they were blind.


texts: Is the expression "may or may not" semantically void?

texts:
I personally have a hard time accepting the use of "may or may not." To me, it seems as if "may" and "may not" effectively cancel each other out, so the semantics of the sentence in which it appears are no clearer:

  I may go to bed early tonight.

This seems to indicate that it is likely I will not go to bed early tonight.

  I may not go to bed early tonight.

Contrariwise, this seems to indicate that it is likely I will go to bed early tonight.

  I may or may not go to bed early tonight.

This seems to leave me with absolutely no clarity as to which eventuality is likely to occur.

Am I missing something obvious here, or is this particular expression just a rhetorical device for saying, "I'm on the fence?"


texts:
BFE is an abbreviation for "Bum Fuck Egypt" or "Butt Fuck Egypt," which is used to denote "out in the middle of nowhere."

I'm curious how this expression came about. UrbanDictionary.com has a user-submitted definition with the following etymology:

  As I understand (and other people have corroborated), it derives its existence from another expression “bumble fuck” (I am unsure if it's one word or two), both of which mean "out in the middle of nowhere." I am fairly certain that the inaccurate “butt fuck Egypt” derived from bum being the English term for buttocks. Clearly the definition of BFE is the same regardless of what one believes the “B” stands for, but I thought is was worth correcting.

I have no idea how accurate or reliable the above etymology is. There is no entry on EtymOnline.com.


texts: To use 'to' or not to use 'to' between the verb 'is' and another verb

texts:
'What reading does is encourage comprehension and our ability to focus.'

As far as I'm concerned there's nothing wrong with this sentence. However, I'm aware that one could add 'to' before encourage. I would like to know whether any prescriptivists would say it should include 'to' or whether as a matter of style in formal English it would be better.

Thanks for any ideas on this.


texts: Can I "need" something that is not essential?

texts:
I think that a "need" can indicate that whatever is needed is essential:

I need to be the best.

But can I "need" something that is not essential? e.g., even-though locking the door is all I have to do to stop the zombies

I need to lock the door and find my gun, to stop the zombies.

Locking the door is essential, and finding my gun is not. Do I need my gun?


texts: Word to describe one capable of providing necessary things, but prioritize unnecessary things instead and expects help afterward

texts:
Example:
Someone who purchases clothes, furnishings, trips, home renovations etc. but then pleads with friends or starts gofundme for assistance with pet surgery, car repairs, etc.


texts:
Which is better?  "You" vs. "Yourself" (referring to God)

"Draw us close to You." or "Draw us close to Yourself."

"Bring us back to You." or "Bring us back to Yourself."


texts: Difference among "when it comes to", "as far as" and "regarding"

texts:
I was wondering if there's any difference among these three, maybe some of them are a bit formal and some are colloquial in daily conversation? Thanks in advance!
For example,

I'm as good a cook as she is except when it comes to pastry.


texts:
In Breaking Bad TV series, there's a conversation between Jesse Pinkman and Saul Goodman:

  Jesse: You want a job?

  Saul: A job?

  Saul: Who's got a job for me?

  Jesse: I do.

I'd like to know why he says "I do" in respond to "who has got ...?" and why not "I have"?


texts: One who practices art, but is the receiver and not the creator

texts:
In literature, it's the reader. In music, it's the listener. In performing arts it's the audience, and in visual arts it's the viewer. What word combines these terms?

To say audience would be close, except it has a connotation of being very public, and thus it's not singular.

Very broadly, I would call the person an artist, but artist implies one who creates art.

I might call the person the consumer, as in "the consumer of media." This connotes art as an industry, and implies passivity.

For example, how do I complete the sentence:

  Kitsch is created by the insincere artist, but the [word] is responsible for finding value in it.

I'm looking for 1) the analogous receiver, where "If sender is to receiver, artist is to ___" and 2) a word that references the active skill of consuming art (reading, listening, etc), rather than the active skill of making art, or the passive activity of receiving without engaging and interpreting.


texts: "Who we are?" or, "who are we?" Which one of these expressions is the the correct way to title a content equivalent to about-us meaning?


texts: What is the meaning of this cartoon by Dr. Seuss?

texts:
I don't quite understand what the author was trying to say in this picture. Could anyone explain?

http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dswenttowar/#ark:bb4813149f


texts:
I am trying to find a good single-word for sentences requiring a word which conveys the meaning of "provided beforehand", "pre-given", "pre-provided", etc.
In order to simplify this, I'll provide two example sentences, each of which will have a blank over the missing word which I'm looking for:

"Complete these sentences using the (             ) words: ... "
"He told me that I have to write an essay using at least one of the (             )
scientific terms in each paragraph."

Hope my question is clear enough. Thank you very much.


texts:
On a recent trip the US, someone explained to me that saying "sorry" meant taking responsibility for causing the loss. Thus you should only say sorry if you intended to fix the situation. (And potentially even had implications for  insurance and litigation).

I'm an Australian - generally when people say "I'm sorry" it means "I can display empathy for your loss and can put myself in your shoes". [implicitly also that no responsibility is taken - nor any effort being made to restore the situation]

My question is: Do English speaking subcultures attach different meanings to the phrase "I'm sorry"?

(This is different to the other questions relating to the meaning of 'sorry' because it considers the legal and restorative implications as well as the geographic context).


texts: What's the origin of the expression "Them's the breaks"?

texts: What's the origin of the expression "Them's the breaks", meaning "that's how the cookie crumbles"?


texts: Is "how to do it" grammatically correct?


texts:
If you have a collection of things that are related to one another, can you use "eldest" to denote the oldest, or should that term only be used with respect to people?

Another question on this site: What's the difference between “eldest” and “oldest”?, partly explains when "eldest" may be used, but doesn't clarify if it must always pertain to a person or persons, or whether "eldest" can be also applied to things which are not people.

To give an example, I wrote in a comment elsewhere today:

  As a lifelong Phone Phreak, I can only look back on what was once the Bell System with fond memories. It, and the Bell operating companies that Verizon originated from, are as much a thing of the past as the Pullman Company that manufactured our eldest Red Line trains.

I chose to use "eldest" rather than "oldest", because I wanted to express a certain respect for something that was built in a previous era, yet has endured longer than expected. I wanted to suggest the sort of respect one would associate with an elderly person who had reached a ripe old age.

To explain, here in Boston, there is a family with three or four models of Red Line trains. They're related to one another, but from different generations. The oldest were manufactured in 1969 by a once great American company whose name was synonymous with train car (and luggage). These trains have far exceeded their expected lifetime, but are still in service every day.

Was it grammatically correct to use "eldest" in this context?


texts: concise word or phrase to express the idea that one does not make a judgement due to lack of information

texts:
Say that someone asks for an individual's opinion on topic X. The individual does not personally feel that they understand the topic sufficiently to make a valid decision, due to lack of knowledge about nuances of the decision.  I'm looking for a phrase to concisely express a lack of opinion on the topic due to a recognition that the individual does not yet feel they understand the topic sufficiently to have made a reasoned decision.

I am not referring to situation where sufficient information does not exist for anyone to make an informed decision.  I'm referring more to situations where information does exist, and given some time he, the individual, could understand that knowledge, but at that moment they do not feel they have a sufficient grasp of that information personally.

For instance, if someone is asked if they support a new law, where the details of the law are readily available to be read, but the individual has not yet, or may never, read the law sufficiently to understand the nuance of the law in order to determine rather they agree with it

I'm looking to avoid a phrase like "reserve judgement" because this implies an intention to learn about the topic sufficiently to make a judgement later.  I'd like a phrase that could likewise imply "I lack knowledge to make a decision now, and am not inclined to commit the effort to gain that knowledge in the future, so I choose to abstain from the discussion and not attempt to draw a conclusion".

A phrase that allows one to express a tentative opinion while also acknowledging a lack of commitment to the opinion due to similar lack of knowledge as above would also be nice, but I'm mostly looking for the former.


texts: Present participle as a replacement for "that [verb]"

texts:
Are the following statements grammatically correct? If so, are they equivalent in meaning and which is more clear?

"[subject] moves to a location that acts as the main [thing]..."
"[subject] moves to a location, acting as the main [thing] ..."


texts: A word for alertness for the future course of events

texts: Being alert, though not necessarily, usually indicates, perhaps subconsciously taken as, alertness to present. Say I am playing a game and being alert to what might go wrong in the coming moves. Is there a word specifically stressing such state of mind?


texts: Is there a term for the combination of a finger bone (phalanx) plus all the soft tissue around that bone?

texts:
I originally asked this on the Biology site, but someone pointed me towards this site in their answer for a full-on word request stating this site might be more helpful in that regard.

  I was talking in an SE chatroom about fingers, and not being a native English speaker, I had to look up the word used for the part of a finger from the tip to the closest knuckle. I came across the word "phalanges", but the Wikipedia article specifically refered to this as phalanx bones, i.e. just the bone and not everything around it. Can this term also be used to describe the bone plus all of the softer parts around it like the muscles, blood vessels, skin and nail? If not, is there a more commonly accepted biological term for the bone plus the soft tissue around it?

so to summarize: is there a a commonly accepted English term for the combination of a phalanx bone and the soft tissue around it that makes up a part of a finger or toe?

Example sentence: The distal [WORD] on my left indexfinger is about an inch long.

Phalanx only applies to the bone. I've tried consulting some online medical dictionaries, to no avail. A compound word would also be acceptable, doesn't necessarily have to be a single word.


texts:
According to the definition of Oxford Online Dictionary, the adjective heavy means:

  Of more than the usual size, amount, or intensity 4. Very important or serious

If someone is heavily wounded, can I say he has a heavy wound? If not, how should the wound be described?


texts:
I am writing a sentence like:

  Show clients your largesse with a gift of equal proportion.

Is it right in a formal sense or is it a little condescending? Is there another way to write it?


texts: Term for words that are modified by prefixing the word with "a" (e.g. anew, aplenty)

texts:
It occurred to me that there are quite a large number of words - many of them archaic - that are existing words prefixed with the letter 'a' to create a new word. For example: anew, aplenty, atwitter, apace, etc.

1) Is there a term for this particular modifier , or if not, what's the origin of the term (were these words formerly separate words - e.g. 'a new' - that later became one, thereby fossilising the 'phrase'?

2) Is there any way of working out a list of such words?

Thanks!


texts: Measure word / compound noun for quotas?

texts:
The sentence is:

  The regulator released new ______ of inbound and outbound quotas this
  month.

I had tried to fit "batches" here, and that seems to be adequate. But over time I keep looking back at this sentence and raising an eyebrow. I would like to explore other collocations with quota and measure words / compound nouns if such exist.

tone is formal/professional


texts: Is there a specialized term for intellectual people who do not care about their own physical comfort?

texts:
Someone told me that there is a medical/psychological term describing people who are mostly centered on their intellect and who do not care much about their physical comfort. That person could not remember the term though.

I thought about autism, but it is not this word.

Are you aware of such a word?


texts:
I am writing an essay on why time travel is actually possible; i.e. actually has a chance of happening in the future. I don't know what my topic sentence should be.

"Time travel is possible" doesn't sound strong

Would something like "Time travel has a significant probability of occuring in the future" be okay? I need it to sound strong.


texts: Name for the relationship between a person and a person's ancestor?

texts:
I feel like there must be a word for this.

Like the relationship between me and my grandpa. We are related. But I would like to be more specific. We are related in such a way that he is my ancestor.

I would like to say 'John and Paul are x', where x would mean that one is the ancestor of the other — a word like related, but more specific.


texts: What is the logical difference between "to seek" and "to look for"?

texts: I have seen a non-native English speaker write "Still seeking for a job". That got me thinking, what is the difference between to seek and look for?


texts:
In researching a story set in the U.S.A. during World War II, I came across a slang term for food procured through the black market (not rationing stamps). Now I can’t find where I read it.

In the instance I read, I believe it was a term for a side of beef, but I also believe it could be any food (later, I may stand corrected on that). I’m unsure if the word began with the letter “B,” but it may have.

Does anyone here know what was the slang term in the U.S.A. during World War II for black market (i.e., illegal) food? Thanks.


texts:
From Orwell's essay:

"But apart from these, there are two well-known types of pest by whom every second-hand bookshop is haunted. "

Why is the singular used here? Why not the plural?


texts:
meta: This is my first time on your site. I have been teaching English for longer than I care to mention (native speaker).

I am trying to find a way of explaining to some intermediate students why we can say, for example, "the Channel Tunnel entrance" (in Folkestone) but we cannot say "the Eiffel Tower top".

I have seen some discussions on use of noun adjuncts/possessive but not on this example using of.


texts:
Primary Source: Benjamin N. Cardozo; Nature of the Judicial Process (1921).
Secondary Source: Lief H. Carter, Thomas F. Burke; Reason in Law (9 ed 2016), p. vii (before the Table of Contents).

   What is it that I do when I decide a case? To what sources of information do
  I appeal for guidance? In what proportions do I permit them to contribute to the
  result? In what proportions ought they to contribute? If a precedent is applicable,
  when do I refuse to follow it? If no precedent is applicable, how do I reach the rule
  that will make a precedent for the future? If I am seeking logical consistency, the
  symmetry of the legal structure, how far shall I seek it? At what point shall the quest
  be halted by some discrepant custom, by some consideration of the social wel-
  fare, by my own or the common standards of justice and morals? Into that strange
  compound which is brewed daily in the caldron of the courts, all these ingredients
  enter in varying proportions. I am not concerned to inquire whether judges ought
  to be allowed to brew such a compound at all. I take judge-made law as one of the
  existing realities of life. There, before us, is the brew. [1.] Not a judge on the bench but
  has had a hand in the making.

The context implies 1 to mean:

Not a judge on the bench has NOT had a hand in the making [of law].
= 3. Every such judge has had such a hand.

But comparing 1 with 2 evokes this  question: how does but mean NOT?
The above published in 1921, I recognise this syntax's possible obsolescence.

P.S.: The polyfunctionality of 'but' has troubled me: ELU, Linguistics.


texts: Grammar of the poem "When Tomorrow Starts Without Me"

texts:
In When Tomorrow Starts Without Me , there are two sentences which are like this:

  And when I thought of worldly things I might miss, come tomorrow.

  I thought of you, and when I did, my heart was filled with sorrow.

I want to know in the second sentence, where it says "come tomorrow", is this some kind of a method to write a poem (with two verbs in one sentence)?


texts: How to correctly hyphenate a phrase with clarifying word in parenthesis

texts:
How do I correctly hyphenate this phrase:

  using a client (browser) initiated session
  using a client- (browser-) initiated session
  using a client (browser)-initiated session

The session is initiated by the client, but I want to clarify that the "client" here is a browser.


texts: In sex talk, how many bases are there and what do they all mean?

texts:
I always hear people say "I hit the third base" or "I hit the second base" (sex related). I am not 100% sure what they all mean.

Additionally, in one of the House MD episodes, there was a dialogue:

  Dr. Wilson: How are things going with
  Cuddy?
  House: Great. We've gotten to
  fifth base. That's two home runs, and
  then she gives me back a triple.

In one of the American Dad episodes, I remember Steve saying something along the lines, "did I just hit the second base?" after holding hands with a girl.


texts:
I've seen two ways to introduce direction quotations:

1) The host made an announcement, "You are all staying for dinner."

2) The host made an announcement: "You are all staying for dinner."

Is one more correct than the other? Is it a matter of style? The only thing I can find on it is that if the quotation contains two or more sentences, most writers introduce it with a colon.


texts: How did “fare-thee-well” come to mean “perfectly well”?

texts:
Fare-thee-well or fare-you-well are  AmE expressions  which appear to date back to the late 18th century:

  (informal chiefly US) a state of perfection: the steak was cooked to a fare-thee-well. (Collins Dictionary)

According to Etymonline its related meaning, to the last degree is from late 19th century:

  Expression to a fare-thee-well "to the last degree" is by 1884, American English.

Its origin is unclear, the Phrase Finder  has no clue:

  Curiously, the OED has nothing (that I could find) for "fare-thee-well," but has this: "U.S. colloq.
  to a fare-you-well: to the last point; to the utmost degree; completely." No explanation in either dictionary of why a synonym for "good-bye" has taken on this meaning.

The AHD appears to suggest that its meaning is an extension of its literary one:

  [From fare thee well, may it go well with you, goodbye.]

Where does the current meaning of this  AmE idiomatic expression come from?

Is there  a reason why it evolved in AmE and not in BrE given that   “fare thee well”, literally speaking,  were known and used  in both sides of the pond?


texts:
Which is correct:

Immigration Consulting Agency
Immigration Conultancy Agency

Per difference between consulting and consultancy, consultancy is a noun, while consulting is an adjective. Not sure if I should be using a noun or adjective in the above case, though.


texts: What word describes someone who is neutral in any dispute?

texts:
I'm the kind of person who does not take sides. Not just politically, but in any debate, dispute, argument, etc. For example, Democrat vs. Republican, or Trump vs. Clinton, or Chevy vs. Ford, or Mom vs. Dad (in an argument), etc. I stay in the middle of such situations. Sure, I choose bits and pieces which I agree with from each side, but I also acknowledge that each side will have its pros and cons.

What word (or phrase) can one be labeled to describe this state of mind?

For example...

  I can't choose a side because I'm a [WORD], I stay neutral.

The only word that comes to mind is "neutralist", but I made that word up.


texts: Two independent clauses with an introductory element

texts:
I keep running into what, in my mind, appears like a problem, and I can't find any informed opinions on it.

Working With Words dictates that when you are paraphrasing or indirectly quoting a speaker in an article you do not put a comma between two independent clauses because you want it to be clear that the speaker said both statements. "According to John Smith, independent clause A and independent clause B."

I am curious as to whether there is a similar rule for independent clauses that are both modified by the same introductory element:

  Before the Humane Society opened, the cats in the city were in a very bad spot and the dogs that lived around the county were arguably in a worse one.


texts: What is omitted in the following sentence?

texts:
So they had every reason to keep a good relationship and, both for that deal and in general, to just sort of keep a reputation for being honest and for dealing fairly with people."

I had a difficulty understanding this sentence. I think there is an omitted part after "both" or after "general". I assume "had every reason" is omitted because it is already expressed in the first clause. is My guessing right?


texts: Why does this sentence use "does not" instead of "do not"?

texts:
I have two sentences that I was unsure if I needed to use "do not" or "does not". Now I know that the correct one is the one with "does not" but I don't understand the reason why. The two sentences are as follows:

Nevertheless, having those skills does not automatically guarantee their performance as marketers.

Nevertheless, having those skills do not automatically guarantee their performance as marketers.

The rules is that you use "do not" with words that are plural and "does not" with words that are singular. In my mind, "those skills" is "they". And they do not.

I don't understand why "those skills" is "It". It does not.

Someone told me that the reason that "does not" is the correct option is because of the word "having". But I don't understand the reason or if there is a rule. Is this correct? If so, why? And if not, can anyone please explain? Thank you.


texts: “Zoe” or “Zoë”: which is the correct spelling?

texts:
I have a relation who has named their child Zoe, on the grounds that “in English we don’t use the dots”, but they pronounce it like the second version.

Of course I don’t want to argue that’s not the point, but in Continental Europe where I live, the dots mean that the letter should be pronounced. Think Dutch and German, and the second spelling is as far as I can see universally accepted, even in English otherwise the first spelling would rhyme with Joe.

What are the origins of the name, and should the dots be used in English too?


texts: Megafauna is to animals as what is to insects?

texts: I'm aware of several species of "giant" insects, such as the Meganeura (giant dragonfly) and the Arthropleura (giant centipede) — but I was wondering if anyone knew of a loose term similar to megafauna/megaflora that described large insects... Megainsecta?


texts:
Is there a word for quoting something differently in order for it to fit the purpose of the conversation?

E.g

"oh you're such a nerd"

"nerd and proud!"

Which is a quote from XMen "Mutant and proud!"

However it's not a quote because it wasn't actually said and is incorrect.


texts:
What is the correct verb construct in the following sentence?

  Scripts ____ under cron have an empty environment.

Cron is a program that runs scripts at scheduled points in time (e.g. every hour). So the verb should be passive and continuous, and since the action continues through the present I believe the correct form is the present participle: running. Is this correct?


texts: When to pronounce # for pound, sharp, hash or hashtag?

texts:
How to pronounce # in a proper way?

Currently, I know it's used to pronounce "pound" in US English, "hash" in British English, "sharp" for C#--a programming language, and number sign to list items. Not sure if I'm right or not.

Also, I lives in non-English speaking country and many pronounce "hashtag" for this symbol, though I'm suspicious about this.

I'd be glad if you can list more examples about this.

-

Update: To be clear: The question is about the pronunciation, not how it came from.


texts: Need help understanding phrases of the form "x if y"

texts:
I regularly find myself confused by phrases of the form "x if y". For example, in the 2010-10-22 issue of his newsletter, Paul Thurrott writes:

  Well, if you're Wall Street Journal technology maven and Apple lover Walter Mossberg, you simply write an unfair review that ignores the product's best features and harps on obvious if little-needed functional miscues such as the lack of copy and paste.

Here's another example, from a TV guide article:

  Best known in the U.S. for formulaic, if handsome, genre films like Mimic (1997) and Blade II (2002), del Toro

The usage of 'if' in these examples confuses me. What is the intended meaning of these sentences? Can I just substitute "if" with "though"?


texts: Is ‘proclaim’ in the sense of ‘indicate (something)’ informal?

texts:
Example

  The blue and yellow plumage proclaims the Cyanistes caeruleus species.

OED defines the term ‘proclaim’ as

  a. trans. fig. Of a thing: to make known or manifest; to be evidence or an indication of, demonstrate; to reveal as; to show or prove to be.

The ‘fig.’ abbreviation denotes figurative, so the usage is supposedly informal. The word is also listed as an updated entry. However, every other dictionary does not list the above definition as informal, so is it formal? The audience would be professors (not specific to a subject).


texts: Word for benevolence but with a desire to also be self servingly sadistic

texts: Is there a singular adjective or noun in English to describe a leader or ruler, who is both benevolent but also enjoys seeing their subjects suffer?  I. E.  In a video game like "The Sims", the player not only enjoys making the sims happy, but also enjoys the game as circumstances make life hard/bad for the sims.  I want to find a word that describes a person or being that enjoys the suffering as much as the joy when observing it from an outside perspective?


texts: Would it be "You have been reading too much manga" or "You have been reading too many manga"?

texts:
With the context that plural of manga is manga, what would be the correct use? Manga is basically, japanese comics if anyone doesn't know.

My quick google, and limited grammar knowledge says much is with uncountable nouns and many with countable nouns. manga is a countable noun (I think), since you can count how many you read, just like comics. So I think many is the correct answer?

So which phrase would be correct?

"You read too much manga."
"You read too many manga."

For what it's worth, I have rarely seen anyone use many and google results for "too much manga" is almost 5 times more than "too many manga" (with quotes). Is it a wrong that somehow everyone is used to?

I got a similar example.

It's "You watch too much television" not "You watch too many television". Is this because television here is considered a medium, hence abstract and uncountable? Can the same be applied to my question?


texts:
Can I use another subsequent to mean "subsequent of subsequent", like below?

Send 1, 2, and 3 in order: Enter 1 in the first email, enter 2 in a subsequent email, and enter 3 in another subsequent email.


texts:
Any verb has a mood, a voice and a tense. The mood will be indicative, imperative. infinitive etc. Voice will be either active or passive. Tense will be present, future, past,perfect,pluperfect, future perfect etc?

How does subjunctive fit into this schema? What is the alternative called?

I find it difficult to understand it as a mood, since any subjunctive verb is written indicatively, which is a mood in its own right.

E.G. If I were rich, I would travel widely

Later edit  I can now see from comments and answers that the above sentence is not indicative (which is effectively its opposite and something I should have realised). Though I also appreciate that if one accepts John Lawler's dictum there is no subjunctive in English.


texts:
What does a King wear?
Should I call it outfit or what?


texts:
What does "to run to their left" mean in the following article in The Washington Post of today?

  One is the fact that the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans in the House are in districts where their only electoral concerns are primaries. For a Democrat in a strongly Democratic House seat, then, voting for an attack on Syria amounts to an invitation for someone to run to their left in 2014.


texts: Why is the transliteration of names so strange at the beginning of Genesis?

texts: Many names in the Old Testament are transliterated and used today. The names from later books -- such as Jonathan (Yonatan), Samuel (Shemu'el), and Joshua (Yehoshu'a) -- all seem to follow basic rules like having a j instead of the Hebrew "yud" and a ch or h for the harsher sounds.  However, names from the beginning of Genesis -- Eve (Chavah), Abel (Hevel), Enoch (Chanokh), and others -- sound quite different from their Hebrew originals. Why do these names seem to be transliterated differently compared to later names?


texts: After new awareness, a word similar to "disillusionment", but +positive as there is still magic involved

texts:
After understanding a trick or ploy involved in a magic trick
we gain insight into the mechanics, but lose the feeling that magic is real.

When we see how a trick or slight-of-hand works, we become
"disillusioned".

By contrast:
Before studying computer science, computers seemed equally mysterious to me.
Now that I understand the underlying principles, I know that computers are not in fact magic.

However, I have a newfound appreciation,
and they seem even more magical now, only in a new and different way.

The best (non) word for this that comes to mind is:
"reillusionment".

Example:

  After becoming indoctrinated into the academic realm of computer arcitecture and systems design, I became reillusioned <-- (better word here) : suddenly computers and the Universe were even more mystical to me in a way I'd never expected.

Is there a better (and real) word to capture this feeling?


texts:
If my name is Mohamed Ali Ahmed Elshennawy.
And I want to abbreviate it to Mohamed Elshennawy. What should I call this new abbreviated name (for instance nickname, surname,.. Etc), to use it in the introduce yourself interview question?


texts: what does "I think it was par for the course" mean

texts:
In an interview ElonMusk says the following about steve jobs(http://www.freshdialogues.com/2013/02/25/elon-musk-on-steve-jobs-innovation-critics-transcript/).

I think it was par for the course

What does it mean. Googling for par shows the following. But none of those meaning fits with the sentence. What does it mean.

par
pɑː/
noun
noun: par; plural noun: pars

    1.
    Golf
    the number of strokes a first-class player should normally require for a particular hole or course.
    "Woosnam had advanced from his overnight position of three under par"
        a par score at a hole.
        "a card that showed 16 pars, one eagle, and one birdie"
    2.
    Stock Exchange
    the face value of a share or other security, as distinct from its market value.
    "the 9 per cent unsecured loan stock is redeemable at par"
        the recognized value of one country's currency in terms of another's.
        noun: par of exchange; plural noun: pars of exchange

verb
Golf
verb: par; 3rd person present: pars; past tense: parred; past participle: parred; gerund or present participle: parring

    1.
    play (a hole) in par.
    "he calmly parred the 17th"

Origin


texts: Word that means that someone is too powerful

texts:
More specifically, if they have the power to wiretap your communications, powerful as in power, not as in strength.

  A _____ [powerful] person who holds a menacingly huge amount of power who makes them _____.

This is the 2nd question where I had to disclose that I used Google to research, before asking this question. I searched for "word that means having a lot of power"


texts: "all the way down to" phrase with geographical locations

texts:
Is the following usage correct:

  I drove from Los Angeles all the way down to San Diego.

given that San Diego is at the south of Los Angeles? Can it be used for geographical directions?


texts: I have noticed that many authors incorporate the use of fragments and comma splices in their novels. Given that this is acceptable practice in a novel, is it acceptable to use a comma splice or a fragment in a short story written for English class?


texts: Is there an idiom/phrase/word that means snubbing /ending contact with someone after you've used them as much as you can to your benefit?

texts:
Something close I have considered, but is not correct, is "Bite the hand that feeds you". The reason this is not correct is because this simply means someone (actively) treats their helper poorly, whereas the situation I want to cover is the person completely ignores or snubs them.
I am looking for an idiom if possible that means completely snubbing someone that once helped you, especially someone the perpetrator depended on, or had a lot of frequent contact with before, but only because the perpetrator wanted to use the helper for their own benefit and advantage, then abandoning them / disowning them after they are no longer of any help to the perpetrator.
Not looking for an idiom or word that describes the person (which would be an adjective), rather, I'd like a word or phrase that is a verb.
Thanks


texts:
I want a word for a person who accepts advice of others.  Basically, I am reading a play and in that there is a ruler who accepts the wise advice of others. What word can be used to describe such a person? Example :

That man is indeed __________ since he imbibes the noble qualities of the wise by the accepting their advices.

Please provide a  reference sentence with your answer.


texts: What does the word "only" mean in this sentence?

texts:
I recently met a quiz question and I am not sure what it means.
The question is as follows (no context):

  We only need to save the stack pointer for a non-leaf procedure.

Just for reference, the "non-leaf procedure" means procedures that call other procedures.

Does it mean:

  The only thing we need to save in a non-leaf procedure is the stack pointer.
  The stack pointer needs to be saved only when it's in a non-leaf procedure.

Although common sense tells me 2 is more likely to be the intention of the question setter, I am not sure what this sentence really mean in terms of English syntax. I am not a native English speaker.


texts:
Are there any specific rules in English about how to refer to something that was introduced in the previous sentence? For example, compare these three sentences:

  Let X and Y be random variables with means u and v. If the random variables X and Y are independent ..

  Let X and Y be random variables with means u and v. If the random variables are independent ..

  Let X and Y be random variables with means u and v. If the variables are independent ..

Which alternative would most people use? I am concerned that someone might mistake the "variables" in the second sentence as a reference to the means, rather than the random variables.


texts:
Example:

  Feigning cold to be hugged. [...] in its purest form.

When I search on Google or Theraurus I just get its noun counterpart: http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/pathetic. But I'm sure I'm missing a very obvious/commonly used synonyms. Any suggestions?


texts:
In English, is there any word that has the following transcription:

[jən] or
[jə:rn]

Many thanks!


texts: This word, or expression has been bugging me. I think it's "to say something in choir", though I'm not sure, and everything I get from searching the internet is videos of choirs singing. The expression I'm looking for is someone saying something at the exact time. Doesn't need to be intentional, just that someone responded at the exact same time. The sentence "to say something in choir" is directly translated from the expression in Norwegian, as that is my original language. "To say something in symphony" might be it. Though, this has nothing to do with music. Simply two (or more) people who are saying something simultaneously.


texts: Whats the difference bw baggage and luggage

texts:
Whats the difference between baggage and luggage
Or is there any difference bw those?


texts:
I'm working on a web page which target are American companies interested in hire Mexican Engineers for work in USA (in place or remote). I have a version of the web page headline: "PAINLESSLY HIRE THE BEST NEARSHORE TALENT". Is right the use of the adjective 'nearshore' in this sentence?

EDIT:

What I'm trying to express in my sentence is an easy way to bring talented candidates from Mexico to phisicaly or remotely work for American companies. I don't know if the term nearshore is restricted to outsourcing, or if it can be used in this sense too.


texts: Why is the sentence "I go to the US for studying English." wrong?

texts:
I heard the sentence "I go to the US for studying English." is wrong.
Can the preposition "for" as purpose be used in this case? Could you teach me the reason why this sentence is wrong?


texts:
Which of the following full sentences is correct?

  Our voice needs to be heard by the media.
  Our voice is needed to be heard by the media.

It sounds to me as if they are both the same and giving a passive voice.


texts:
What's the meaning of the expression, “she'd spit it back out”, in the following sentence?

That's how Jenny handled language; if she didn't understand it, she'd spit it back out
So You Want to be a Special Education Teacher?

I also came across this expression on YouTube. A boy was telling how he learnt a language “... so I listen to a lot of rap music, I memorize lyrics, I'd spit them back out...”


texts: Word or expression for to describe the creation of a question

texts: I'm trying to find an active way of say something like "I was looking through the backlog and I acquired the following question". Perhaps a less casual way of saying "I was looking through the backlog and thought, 'wait, [question]'?


texts: When to use ellipsis (suspension points)

texts:
Continuing this thought:

Learning English as a second language I was taught that suspension points meant uncertainty, omission of words or interrupted thoughts.  There are plenty of threads explaining the meaning but I'm looking for explanation on a few examples:

In subjects of emails. Email subjects should be short and to the point, why use suspension points.
Before and after a quoted block of text, not the quote itself but the preceeding/proceeding sentence(s).  For example As noted by John Smith... [quote] ...pay close attention to this or that, etc, etc.
At the begining of a sentence (the opening sentence) of an article.  There is no mention of previous conversation, article, quote, etc.

The only time that I use suspension points is when quoting text to indicate I took part of a sentence, or that it continues on.  However, I wrap it with a brackets, like so [...].


texts: Word for ascribing animal-like mentality to humans (opposite of anthropomorphize)

texts:
I'm wondering if there is a word that, essentially, means the opposite of anthropomorphize- roughly, assigning animal-like attributes or mentality to a human. Beastialize doesn't seem to fit the bill as it: a) doesn't seem to be a'real word' and b) is heavily associated with bestialism.

I came across a good example of this in Bill Sapphire's 1993 ON LANGUAGE: Sic 'Em in which they were discussing the connotations of the phrase after Bob Dole used it in reference to other politicians:

  When American Speech magazine queried readers about sic 'em in 1961, one observed that his mother heard it from Arkansas friends who owned hound dogs. Another reader, the great San Francisco dialexicographer Peter Tamony, replied: "The remark describes an unresponsive, indolent, shiftless person. He is like a dog that shows no courageous and instant reaction to the command 'sic 'em.' " Mr. Tamony gave an etymological insight by adding that sic 'em is "merely a pronunciation modification of seek 'em or seek 'im."


texts:
Which is correct?

To get there - and stay there - you will need to be creative as well as efficient, and constantly proving yourself.

or

To get there - and stay there - you will need to be creative as well as efficient, and constantly prove yourself.


texts:
I read a book and came across "caught you unawares". I kept thinking it's supposed to be "caught you unaware".

Is this an acceptable form or was that a typo or something?


texts: Use of articles with "statistics" and "facts"

texts:
There is a headline presenting a fact. For example, "There were 18 earthquakes in Italy in 2018." Below the fact there's a source and it's linked. Below there is a paragraph elaborating on the fact. So if I want to say "earthquake statistics show", or "according to earthquake facts", should I use an article?

My confusion arises from the fact that these statistics or facts can also be found in other places. For example, if the title is "Dogs can learn fast", and below there is a linked source supporting the claim, should I write "the dog learning facts reveal" referring to that source, or without an article, since that can be a general fact found in multiple sources. Hope I made myself clear, I am really struggling with articles when it comes to referring to these stats and facts in the paragraphs elaborating on a claim.


texts: Mentioning someone's name in 1-to-1 conversation

texts:
When only two interlocutors are communicating in a face-to-face or equivalent setup without the need to get the other's attention, there is no necessity to mention the other person's name.

Yet sometimes one of the speakers uses the other's name. I personally find this condescending ("I know what you mean, Dan"), or at best intense ("You're so awesome, Dan"), but I'm not a native speaker and would like to learn more about the connotations of this usage.


texts: Succinct form of inclusion only based on a condition?

texts:
An example:

  The grouping contains regions of brightness, excluding ones with densities below the threshold

The opposite of exclude in this context would be include only, as in including only ones with densities above the threshold.

Is there any single word for this, instead of include only?


texts: What is the opposite of a Pyrrhic Victory called?

texts:
What is a term for something that is the opposite of a Pyrrhic Victory?

As an example, Mark Twain gave a lecture in New York at Cooper's Union which lost money (they "papered the house" out of fear of having an empty hall), even though the place was full "to the rafters" (SRO).

He lost money in the short term (or the impresario, Frank Fuller, did, anyway), but reviews were good and it paved the way for more engagements which did make money. IOW, it was a "good investment" / "it takes money to make money" situation.

Is there a phrase that describes this sort of thing?


texts: "Getting somewhere with one's life" meaning

texts:
In More than Cool Reason book by George Lakoff, I came up with the phrase "Getting somewhere with one's life" which I don't know the meaning. Here is the whole sentence:

First, without such a conceptual metaphor as LIFE IS A JOURNEY, there would be no conceptual unity to such ordinary conventional expressions as "making one's way in life," "giving one's life some direction," "getting somewhere with one's life," and so on.

Can anyone help with the meaning of "Getting somewhere with one's life"?


texts: Should Quotation-Ending Period Be Comma Unless Sentence Ending?

texts:
Now I'm checking Quotation Marks article by Grammarly. The article, for example, introduces

“There was a storm last night,” Paul said.

which uses a comma at the end of the quoted sentence, and

John said, “I really hate when it’s hot outside.”

which uses a period instead. Because the article doesn't tell, I wonder whether the period at the end of the second example—even if it is a sentence-ending period—must be changed to a comma if I invert or extend the sentence as follows.

“I really hate when it’s hot outside,” John said.

or

John said, “I really hate when it’s hot outside,” but it seemed his dog didn't.


texts: Is 'unsightly experience' correct way of explaining seeing some ugly thing

texts:
I would like to know if I say ' I had an unsightly experience on my morning walk today',  would this sound correct?  I want to explain how I saw something so ugly on my walk today that it ruined my walk.
Thanks.


texts:
Can I use is directly proportional to  in place of correlate positively with?

  Therefore, once again, household guns correlate positively with additional shootings.


texts:
I was watching a TV Show named "The 100" and in the episode 4, season 1, at 24:06 min the character Nygel said the following line.

I remember when you were the tender of the tree. You were a cute kid.

I would like to know what does tender mean in this context? Is this some idiom?


texts:
For more clarity, I am thinking about something more like a dock, but inside a building alongside or stretching out over a pond/ocean. There would be a wooden door which could be raised and lowered to allow boats entry, or closed to keep them within.

Is there a specific word for such a structure?


texts:
Is it okay to use the verb 'reflect' in an imperative sentence to mean 'apply'?

The document reflects the changes that were made.

To use the verb for the same meaning as above, can you say

'Reflect the changes in the document.'?

I found on the Internet this sentence: "On how to manage the general debate more effectively and in a more focused manner, I will try to reflect every suggestion and comment." daccess-ods.un.org

Can a person 'reflect' changes in a document, etc.?

Thank you.


texts: Which tenses when discussing the feelings between people (in the past)?

texts:
Let's imagine the following situation: someone was once a soldier on a mission (is not anymore!) and wants to write about that period of time. He wants to talk about the feelings of the locals in the mission's country. However, despite writing about the particular people at a particular period of time, he actually wants to primarily address the feelings of locals towards soldiers in general.

  "I (have/had) always wondered what people really think/thought about us. Do/did they hate us or do/did they appreciate us?" (please note that the word "always" is meant to indicate it was so during the entire time of the mission.)

So, one might say he actually still wonders about that (both what the natives thought about them at the relevant time, and what they think about soldiers nowadays), but he is no longer a soldier (so "have wondered" probably won't work). I think the "do" version sounds much better, but I'm not sure whether its's entirely correct.


texts: Word or concise phrase for a "visual gag that is a temporary illusion"

texts:
Is there a word or phrase that is used to describe visual gags where, due the camera perspective, the audience immediately thinks one thing, but as soon as the camera/object/person moves, it reveals a new situation?

I personally think the term "visual gag" could be used to describe any type of visually humorous scene, so I'm looking for something more specific to describe the phenomenon of a temporary illusion that leads to a humorous reveal.  Most of the time, the "reveal" requires something to move, but other times it simply requires closer inspection.

Examples

Buster Keaton often used this technique: https://youtu.be/_J8XM1_rOTg?t=23s

Or this image of a woman carrying a beige neck pillow.


texts: What is the meaning of 'lean all in my bladder'?

texts:
This verse comes from the song 'Old town roads' and I've never heard it before, can't find a definition/explanation online either.

Thank you !


texts: Is there a difference between "move for move" and "move after move"?

texts:
On paper these two look the same to me but when I try to use them in the same context one always seems to convey a different meaning to the other (could just be me). Here are some examples to illustrate this:
Example 1

The chess player matched her move for move.
The chess player matched her move after move.

Example 2

Move for move, the older opponent was clearly the more skilled of
the two.
Move after move, the older opponent was clearly the more skilled of
the two.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I am thinking that perhaps "move for move" indicates one opponent going and then the other going, while "move after move" is the same opponent going again and again. Is that on the right track or am I missing something here?


texts: How to formulate this sentence correctly

texts:
"By the downfall of Jay Gatsby, Myrtle’s and George’s unfortunate marriage, and the usage of symbolism Fitzgerald shows the reader how doomed the current American Dream is to fail."

The sentence is kind of long and stretched, but I need to formulate it correctly.


texts:
Consider these two variations:

Every morning, tourists can see soldiers raise the national flag in the square.
Every morning, tourists can see soldiers raising the national flag in the square.

What are the differences?

Which sounds more natural?


texts: Help regarding the subject in a sentence

texts:
Could anyone please tell me what would be the subject in the following sentence which I have taken from the National Geographic website:

  Providing pools of water for frogs when other water is scarce is just one of the ways elephants engineer ecosystems.

Also, I am confused about what would be the direct object as well as the indirect object in the above sentence.


texts: What is a symbol [an expression or idiom] for a word of great length in English?

texts:
Is there any symbol [expression, figure of speech, metaphor] for something long in length in English?

for example, in Persian we say for a long word:

  "the letters are set like train"

train mostly plays the role in Persian.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the proper way to write the plural of a single letter? (another apostrophe question)
  Plurals of acronyms, letters, numbers — use an apostrophe or not?

Take for example, you ask somebody is there's two of one letter in somebody's name.

I normally write:

  Two n's in Hannah?

Because this looks weird:

  Two ns in Hannah?

Is there an English rule that approves of this apostrophe usage? Do you do it? Am I wrong for thinking ns looks wierd?


texts:
For a sentence such as "physics’ greatest...",  would you use physics’s or physics’ ?

Microsoft Word highlights physics's as incorrect; however, I have seen it be used.


texts: Where should i place "piece" when talking about it being from a collection?

texts:
I came across the following sentence, and I'm not sure if I should change it or it is grammatically fine as it is. Let's say BRAND is a brand of jewelry such as Pandora, Tiffany, etc..

  I am looking to buy a BRAND Jewelry piece for her birthday！

Is this the proper way to use piece? In respect to it being from a collection? Or should i say: I am looking to buy a piece from BRAND's line of jewelry for her birthday?

I only say this as this is the way I would say it, and the original sentence I just feel is wrong, but I cant find any definitive proof to make my claim. If there is another way to properly state this sentence, I am also interested in how.


texts: Where does the saying "made from scratch" originate?

texts: I've heard the saying "made from scratch" many times in my life from living in the southern part of the United States. What is scratch in this context and how did this saying come about?


texts: Ambiguous syntax tree and phrase structure rules

texts:
I’m studying for a final for my English Linguistics class and going through example sentences that we should be able to draw syntax trees for. The sentence He looked at the dog with one eye was marked as ambiguous. The rules we were given for a generative English grammar are as follows:

Sentence [S] → Noun Phrase (Auxiliary) Verb Phrase

Verb Phrase [VP] → (Adverb) Verb (Prepositional Phrase) (Noun Phrase)

Noun Phrase [NP] → (Determiner/Noun Phrase) (Adjective) Noun (Prepositional Phrase)

Prepositional Phrase [PP] → Preposition Noun Phrase

X Phrase → X Phrase Conjunction X Phrase (X being a placeholder for V, N or P)

X -→ X Conjunction X

In this grammar, variables in parenthesis are optional for the phrase. So for the example sentence I have the tree

(made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/ if you find it helpful)
However, I’m having a hard time working out another tree. The phrase with one eye could either be attached to the dog or else directly to the verb phrase (and thus mean that ‘He’ has only one eye).
It seems to me that in order to represent the second meaning in a syntax tree, VP → V (PP) (PP) would have to be a rule in the grammar.


texts:
Here are some examples of citations in the OED of Old English where they use a standalone crossed thorn, Ꝥ:

  Þu aclænsast Ꝥ weofod and ʒehalʒast.
  Þær after com swulke mon-qualm Ꝥ lute hær cwike læfden.
  Heo unwreih þene put Ꝥ hit adronc inne.
  Đer··Ꝥ fyr ne bið ʒidrysnad.
  Þa sæde he [Epicurus] Ꝥ se lust wære Ꝥ hehste good.
  Þu steorest te sea stream Ꝥ hit fleden ne mot fir þan þu markedest.
  Eft is heofena rice ʒelic þam mangere þe sohte Ꝥ gode mere-grot.
  Al swa þat wilde swin Ꝥ wroteð ȝeond þan grouen.
  Swa hwa swa wille sawan westmabære land, atio ærest of ða þornas & þa fyrsas & Ꝥ fearn & ealle þa weod.

That’s the Unicode glyph of a thorn with a stroke:

 Þ  00DE       LATIN CAPITAL LETTER THORN
 þ  00FE       LATIN SMALL LETTER THORN
        * Icelandic, Old English, phonetics
        * Runic letter borrowed into Latin script
        x (runic letter thurisaz thurs thorn - 16A6)
 ᚦ  16A6       RUNIC LETTER THURISAZ THURS THORN
        x (latin small letter thorn - 00FE)
 Ꝥ  A764       LATIN CAPITAL LETTER THORN WITH STROKE
 ꝥ  A765       LATIN SMALL LETTER THORN WITH STROKE
 Ꝧ  A766       LATIN CAPITAL LETTER THORN WITH STROKE THROUGH DESCENDER
 ꝧ  A767       LATIN SMALL LETTER THORN WITH STROKE THROUGH DESCENDER

It may be that it is supposed to be a small thorn with stroke not a capital one. I need a better magnifying glass. :)

If you can't see it in your browser, it looks like this:

But my question is: what does it mean?

What does that mean?  Is it a scribal abbreviation for the or that, or both or neither?


texts: Neolog / prefix for use with bubble+ology

texts:
I want to coin a word that means the study of financial bubbles. After learning that Bubbleology is some kind of metropolitan tea beverage, my immediate hunch of "Bubbleology" lost a great deal of appeal.
https://bubbleology.co.uk
I then tried to brute force the Greek word for bubble onto the suffix ology: fysallídology. This created its own set of problems because the Greek word for bubble is not common knowledge (I merely googled it) and probably no one will no what my neolog means.
I then tried "inflationology" but inflation does not imply bubble characteristics.
Is there any way to create a neolog that means the study of financial bubbles without using Bubbleology while still being intuitive enough to infer the meaning of the word?


texts: Antonym of "suspend" as in "Suspend a user account"

texts: An administrator of a website or network may decide to suspend a user, preventing them access for a period of time. Is there an antonym of 'suspend' meaning to re-allow that user access?


texts:
When should I use each of the following:

This may help.
This might help.

I always get confused about the use of may and might.


texts:
Is it valid to say "mentioned above" when one reference to something one have previously said?

Context example (transcript from The Law of One):

  Questioner: George Van Tassel built a machine in our western desert
  called an “Integratron.” Will this machine work for that purpose, of
  increasing the life span?

  Ra: I am Ra. The machine is incomplete and
  will not function for the above-mentioned purpose.


texts: Can a cemetery be referred to as “historical”?

texts:
Assume a cemetery that is commonly known as the Anglican Cemetery. It is currently in use, but a number of graves date back 200 years. A book about some of the early graves is entitled “A guide to the Anglican Historical Cemetery”.

It seems to me that “historical” implies “no longer in existence” or “no longer in use” and therefore does not apply to this cemetery.

On the other hand, is “historical” redundant? Aren’t all cemeteries essentially historical?


texts:
The expression "bada bing" and often accompanied by "bada boom" is used  when something was very easily accomplished or as an euphemism of the nastier bits of something (like in the Godfather). A quick look on Wiktionary and Urban Dictionary confirms this.

It seems onomatopoetic because of bing and boom, but where does the "bada" come from? The whole phrase seems to be a recent invention according to this Ngram, starting in the late 1980's (surprising it was not sooner with the popularity of the aforementioned Godfather being released in 1972) peaking in the 2000's (possibly in part to the popularity of The Soprano's). The phrase does seem to go hand in hand with Mafioso culture as well.

So, where does this phrase come from and when did it take on its current meaning?


texts: Can you say “a lot of dog” as a meaning of “much dog”?

texts:
When you read the sentences below, is it possible to change the phrase "much dog" into "a lot of dog"?

He (a dog) needed grooming. I didn't think there was very much dog inside all that fur, but he had bright attentive eyes.


texts: Meaning and usage of "stuck in the craw"

texts:
Can you please explain the meaning and give some usage examples for "stuck in the craw" expression?

Just come across this expression in following sentence (a bit lengthy):

  But what stuck in the craw of those early biographers was a body of material found in Newton's vast library and within his huge collection of papers and notebooks that made it very clear that the most respected scientist in history, the model for scientific method, had spent more of his life intensely involved with alchemy than he had delving into the clear blue waters of pure science.


texts: Comma here? "The store is impressive, yet thoughtful, and it feels like home"

texts:
"The store is impressive, yet thoughtful, and it feels like home."

or

  "The store is impressive yet thoughtful, and it feels like home."

I'm not sure because it's qualifying something and seems "essential", but also not really.


texts:
Is "pursuing" a valid way to ask for a persons work situation?
When I googled it, I found "pursue a career" but I want to ask about his situation rather than his work goal.

Is this correct?:

Are you pursuing a non self-employed profession?

Thanks for clarifying!


texts: Why is it necessary to continue to use the apostrophe in don't?

texts: This is a case where afaik there is no existing word spelled "dont" which is confusing. Is there any evidence that this is becoming or will become acceptable spelling? More broadly, is texting and Internet usage going to become acceptable in standard books? I see no reason for example that "u" or perhaps "U" can't replace "you" as much as seeing it in emails a couple of decades ago used to rankle.


texts: Is there a single word for "patience taken to the extreme"?

texts:
Like many virtues, patience can be taken to the extreme and become detrimental.  Is there such a word for this?
Something that would fit in:

  He's too extremely patient to ever see that$20.00 that he let his
  neighbor borrow

The closest I've been able to come up with is "ambivalence", but that does not quite fit.  "lazy" also fits, but the motivation is different.


texts: "There are no comments" vs. "There is no comment"

texts:
Which is correct?

There are no comments.
There is no comment.

Which would you use for a web application, i.e. what to display when a blog post or an article has no comment attached?

Actually, I am trying to fix an application that says: "There is no comments"! Would that ever be right?

More generally speaking, it feels wrong to have a plural after the negative no/none or with the preposition without (see my previous question "Without reason" or "Without reasons"?).  Those words imply zero, i.e. less than one, while plural is two or more. Yet, I know that phrases like "There are no comments" or "He is without friends" are common. It seems illogical to me.

Are the majority of people making a grammar mistake when using such expressions, or else can you explain why this is correct?


texts: "Would tomorrow between 11:30-12 work for me to give you a call?" Meaning?

texts:
Can I expect someone to call me at 10:30?
Why "for me" not "for you"?


texts:
Is there a word that is a positive form of "brag"? Say I want a timid colleague to talk more about their achievements, I don't want to tell them to brag or boast about them as that makes it seem like a negative thing.

How could I frame it as something positive? For example in this sentence: "You should ... about what you've done when we have the meeting"


texts: Obsequity as a noun in parallel with obsequiousness

texts: Can one with a [sic] use obsequity as a noun in parallel with or instead of obsequiousness, with [sic] added to show you are inventing.


texts:
How can someone become fluent and improve their writing skills? I've been learning English for many years and I still face many problems especially at writing(academic writing and writing in general) I truly would like to be able to write my thoughts in an eloquent way.

It has really reflected badly on my self-esteem; so, is it possible for someone whose English isn't their mother tongue to learn the formal language? I want to take TOEFL but I always hesitate and cancel it...So, any tips, especially that I cannot afford traveling nor being tutored(I'm relying on books and internet. I'm a self-learner)
I'm 20 and I feel it's too late :(

I read books, watch movies, listen to songs in English but I'm still not able to increase my formal vocabulary and improve my writing.


texts: Are “Real class” and “Paper class” well-received pair words?

texts:
Today’s (October 23) Time magazine and New Yorker carried articles dealing with a report of academic scandal of the University of North Carolina under the respective headline, “North Carolina releases Wainstein report on academic scandal - Time” and “U.N.C. boosters outraged that some athletes took real classes - New Yorker.”

Time says:

  The report mentions that athletes' academic counselors directed them
  to take the classes in question. - -It details how a lack of oversight
  allowed Department of African and Afro-American Studies administrator
  Deborah Crowder and former chairman Julius Nyang’oro to create
  so-called “paper classes.” In these classes, students received high
  grades with “little regard” for the quality of their work.
  http://time.com/3533013/north-carolina-releases-wainstein-report-on-academic-scandal/

New Yorker says:

  An organization of University of North Carolina athletic boosters
  expressed shock and outrage today over a report that a few members of
  U.N.C. sports teams may have taken real classes, despite the
  widespread availability of fake ones.
  http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/u-n-c-boosters-outraged-athletes-took-real-classes?intcid=mod-most-popular

I was interested in the unique contrast of the words, “Real Class” and “Paper Class.” The latter is shown in quotation mark.

I can’t find “paper class” in dictionaries at hand. However Google Ngram shows the emergence of the word, “paper class” early in 1860, and its usage peaked in 1970.

Are the words, “Real Class” and “Paper Class” college sport specific? Are they applicable to other beneficiaries such as the children of plutocrats and dignitaries? How popular are they as the antithesis?


texts: I recently learned there is such a thing as a run-on paragraph. Whenever I write stories my paragraphs become a page or longer at times, so I began to wonder if I make run-on paragraphs. I haven't been able to find much information on it, so I came here. Can someone please explain to me what a run-on paragraph is?


texts:
What is the exact spelling of the word pronounced [nei], when you mean to escalate your point by stating something, [nei] something with greater power ?

Example: With this book you shall learn, [nei] understand the topic.


texts: When quoting a speaker of another English dialect, should you spell things his way?

texts:
I realize (or realise?) I may be splitting hairs here, but I find this question interesting, and I’ve never heard or seen it discussed before.

I was about to post a quote from Rich Hickey outside my cubicle, taken from an interview with him, in which the writer uses the traditional British spelling of realize.  Hickey is an American, as am I, so I changed it back to the American spelling.

However, it got me thinking: if Hickey were British, should I spell it his way?

The question then is whether I should do so only if quoting something he wrote, or even if I were quoting something he spoke — and thus something he did not actually spell.

Tangentially: should I think of this as quoting Hickey himself, or quoting the author who quoted him?

My gut instinct is that if you’re quoting something written, then you should maintain whatever spelling the author used, and if something spoken then it’s debatable, and using the spelling of your dialect (or of your audience’s dialect) is probably okay.

But I’d like to know: do any conventions exist on this matter?


texts: One-word "rotatable, translatable, scalable"

texts:
I've run into a scenario where I want to describe something that can be rotated, translated (moved around)  and scaled. However, calling out all those words in sequence is just ugly.

Example, "The picture on the screen is rotatable, translatable and scalable", which means that the picture can be rotated, moved around and zoomed in and out.

Is there one word to describe these three properties?


texts: Can I use simple past along with present perfect like this?

texts:
The sentence is, for example,

The researchers investigated and found that due to the rise
of AI bots, most of the existing works have focused on protecting
the email services from spam.

Is this structure considered wrong speaking of tense use?


texts: According to several dictionaries, a "trunk" is a large case or box that can be used when travelling or for storage, whereas a "chest" is used only for storage. Is that the only difference between the concepts of "chest" and "trunk"? Which word is more common? Which one comes to your mind first when you see that kind of large box?


texts: How would you describe the sound of flesh tearing?

texts:
How do you describe flesh-tearing?

Example

  "I reel the fishing pole back and hear [word] as a dead squirrel comes back on the end of the line."


texts: What is the word/phrase for a person at a company that has very specific knowledge and nobody else at the company does?

texts:
This is a bad thing — that is, the knowledge is concentrated to one person.

I want to say it is tribal knowledge, but those words aren't correct.

  It is definitely _______ knowledge.

I just can't think of the word that goes in that blank!


texts: An adjective to describe someone who has a “good personality”?

texts:
I can't think of a word to describe someone with a good personality and who you can't think of a bad word to say about them.

  Samuel is such a ______ guy. You never hear a bad word said against him.


texts:
When is the present perfect tense used instead of the past tense?

I know that the present perfect tense is used when some adverbs (e.g., never, ever) are present in the sentence; the same is true for sentences like the following one.

  When you returned, I have been at home since 3:00 PM.

In which other cases should I use the present perfect? Do the following sentences require it?

  I have walked downtown everyday for a year.

  I have been at home since 3:00 PM.


texts: What do you call the use of the phrase 'to open one's mouth' to mean 'to talk'?

texts:
He opened his mouth.

Is there a term for using the idiom above to mean 'he talked'?


texts: Why is "a couple of..." correct grammar, while "a few of..." often isn't?

texts:
Earlier today I started to type a message and I entered:

  I can take a couple of hours...

After entering the text, I realized that I intended to express roughly three hours so I highlighted and replaced the word "couple" with "few".

The resulting statement, before further edits, was:

  I can take a few of hours...

Being that I am an American and English is my primary language, I paused for a moment to consider this phrasing of the second statement.  It is completely wrong and feels awkward but I have no clue why.

To further confound the problem "a few of" is not always improper wording.  Consider "I will take a few of them."  In this context, "few of" is correct and, simply, "few" is wrong?!

The similarities and nuances of the words "couple" and "few" have been frequently discussed, even here on English.SE.  Even after reading a few questions relating to these words on this site, it has always been my working assumption that these words have the same general meaning, except a couple is a relative quantity of two while a few was a relative quantity of three or a few more (pun intended.)

What is the nuance difference between these two words, in light of the above context?


texts: A word to describe somebody who likes to understand how something works

texts: I'm looking for a word that can be used to describe a person who likes to understand how something works and tries to make the same thing in his own way.


texts: Gun terminology: is cylinder or chamber correct in this sentence?

texts:
We looked at each other like we had each just rolled a chamber in Russian roulette and now had the guns in our mouths.
If the chambers are what's inside of the actual cylinder, which is what you spin, would "like we had each just rolled a cylinder" be more accurate?


texts: What do you call the 12-24 hour aspect of a timestamp? (not format)

texts:
Is there a word to denote whether the timestamp is in 24 hour format or 12 hour format?

Programmers usually call it format, but format can apply to the entire timestamp.

Wikipedia calls them conventions, but convention is also used for the entire timestamp.


texts: Correct verb tense to use when referring to a law effective in the past

texts:
What is the correct tense to use when I'm referring to something which was in effect in the past, like a law or an act, but which now is not.

Which of the following is better?

The Statute of Anne used to grant ...
The Statute of Anne granted ...


texts: In "that pig is as solid as they come" what does "they come" mean?

texts:
I read this sentence in Charlotte's Web:

  That pig is as solid as they come.

Can somebody explain what "they come" means, who does they refer to?


texts: Which adjectives go with the phrase 'strike somebody as (being) something'

texts:
The longman dictionary states that we can use 'strike somebody as (being) something' and 'it strikes somebody as strange/odd etc that' to mean that something seems to have a particular quality or feature

  His jokes didn't strike Jack as being very funny.

As I understand, we can always say that something strikes us as strange (odd), and that would sound normal. For example,

  This struck me as strange and made me look into the further data in the past.

I wonder which adjectives are well combined with this phrase, besides 'strange', 'odd' and 'funny'? Are all adjectives applicable here?

I took 'unpleasant' as an example:

  The bubbling sound struck me (as) unpleasant. (ok?)


texts: Meaning of 'Must not' and how to make the another meaning

texts:
I want to ask a question.

The opposite of "must" is "must not", everybody knows.
But, what does "must not" mean?
Does it mean that you "may choose to do or not do" or you "may not choose to do"?
Or it depends on the situation?


texts:
In Turkish we have this idiom that literally translates as "to cast a role" which suggests someone telling/attempting/dictating what or how one [that "one" may a person, or a concept] should do/act/behave, etc. when it is none of his business to dictate such things. My Google search suggests that the literal translation is not present in English. Is there an idiom that would correspond to what I am looking for?

Here is an example:

“Their definition of God [those who claim that an All-Forgiving God would never do this and that, etc.] is without basis; rather, they are casting role to God.”


texts:
If the solar surface, not the center, were as hot as this (20,000,000
  degrees Celsius), the radiation emitted into space would be so great
  that the whole Earth would be vaporized within a few minutes.  [However/Indeed], this is just what would be happen if some cosmic giant
  were to peel off the outer layers of the Sun.

Which one is correct?


texts: Difference between had survived, has survived and survived

texts:
Is it she had survived, she has survived or she survived?
Thanks.
Edit: In one scenario, she's dead, and in another one, she is still alive.
Is "There is no way she could have had survived the attack." - even though she has survived back then, she's now dead from old age.
"There is no way she could have survived the attack." She is still alive.
Can we use just survived in the past simple? Wouldn't that be incorrect because if she had survived, well then there still would be effects in the present (the effects are that she's alive), shouldn't we go with the present perfect?


texts: What does the phrase "good for you" mean?

texts: What does this phrase mean? And in what cases is it appropriate to use it?


texts:
Should singulars or plurals be used in lists of quantity after a number that is plural when the list is "[number]x item"?
For example, in the following list, should entry 2 be "6x apples" or "6x apple?"

1x banana
6x apple(s?)

I think that "6x apples" is better but I'm not sure and cannot find any other references for this very specific scenario elsewhere.


texts: Is "the ugliest" a noun or an adjective?

texts:
In this sentence, is ugliest an adjective or a noun?

  He is the ugliest.


texts: A word to decribes the desire to want tragedy to occur

texts: Is there a possible word that describes a want for a tragic event to occur. Like a death of someone close. I have only gotten a few close words but they don't really satisfy what I'm trying to describe. (Catharsis, depressed, melancholy, masochist)


texts: What is the term for repeating something in an A, B, A fashion? (e.g. "Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.")

texts:
Is there a term for repeating something in an A, B, A fashion for emphasis or dramatic effect?

Examples:

  Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.

  Ain't it the truth, Joe... ain't it the truth.

I've looked at epanalepsis, epistrophe, and anaphora, but none of them quite match the above sentence structures.


texts: What is the word I'm looking for? Synonymous to arrogant or ostensibly knowledgable

texts:
I can't quite remember what this words is:

The definition goes somewhere along the lines of "Making remarks correcting trivial mistakes in another's statement as to appear knowledgeable".

I specifically remember reading a definition like that on thefreedictionary.com.


texts: How prevalent is the metathetic pronunciation of "comfortable" in American English?

texts:
The metathetic pronunciation of "comfortable" sound like "comf-ter-ble", which seems superficially incorrect, but in fact, is acceptable in American English (according to the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, at least).

How prevalent is it in American English? Is it preferred over non-metathetic pronunciations ("comf-ta-ble", "com-fa-table", "com-fer-ta-ble")? Is it frequently proscribed (for instance, frowned upon in academic contexts)?

Update: The reason I asked this question is because the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary only highlights "comf-ta-ble", which could either mean that is the predominant pronunciation (in both British English and American English), or that is a subjectively recommended by the author himself. Even though I hold John C. Wells highly reliable, I still have some doubt that he might have been subjective and prescriptive. Not to mention an American has implied that the metathetic pronunciation should be more common in American English.


texts: Do we have to use ordinals with largest/smallest?

texts:
In every-day language, I would say, "Give me the fifth largest pumpkin you have"; that is I would use the ordinal.

However, this feels clunky in mathematical texts, especially when reading out loud: "select the k-th largest element" or, even worse, "the k plus first/oneth largest element".

Is it fair to say/write "the k-largest element"? It seems to me that the "aspect of ordinality" is sufficiently expressed by the -st suffix in larger (or smallest, heaviest, ...), that is the superlative.


texts: Was I correct in my use of "whatever" over "something"?

texts:
Background:  I have an undefined, informal and ongoing relationship with someone where we often meet in the late evening at his place.  Occasionally, we might go to a bar first but we don't really hang out socially at all beyond that.  Currently, we are both making an effort to expand on the relationship to include other activities.

Texting:

me:   do you want to do whatever tonight...?
him:  define whatever. lol.
me:   google says... whatever -> pronoun & determiner: used to emphasize a lack of
      restriction in referring to any thing or amount, no matter what.
me:   I guess I could have chosen "something" instead, which would have also implied
      that I do not prefer the nothing possibility included in the scope of
      whatever
him:  so... just to clarify... candyflipping at a rave is out?
me:   ummmmmmm... technically, based on what i said at least, it is still in.  but no,
      we should not do that.

And then we debated my word choice.  (yes, I'm lots of fun...)

So, here's my argument for using whatever over something... The idea of something  essentially means "not nothing" or "more than nothing".  However, whatever does include both "nothing" and "anything"... and in that, nothing can be expanded towards "nothing together" and "nothing apart".  By saying something, the nothing is entirely removed (except, of course, if he says no to the question as a whole and turns me down tonight).  I chose whatever because I feel like the question in itself removes the absolute nothing from whatever.  Also, I did not want to exclude our normal "nothing out in the world but alone in your room together" activity and using something might appear like I am asking for something other/more than that tonight.

What I wanted to say:  I am good with anything together.  I do not specifically have something else to suggest for tonight but if he has something he wants to do with me, I am willing to go with him.  I am happy with what we normally do together.  I also understand if he is busy but I would prefer to meet up.  I think whatever was the better choice.

What he said: the words are the same and using whatever makes me sound like I am 12 years old.


texts: Cambridge IELTS 10 example essay. Adj or Adv after a verb?

texts:
Here is a sentence from the example essay of Cambridge IELTS 10, Test 1:
"This kind but firm approach will achieve more than harsh punishment, which might entail many negative consequences unintended by the parents."
My question is that why a adjective "unintended" is used after a verb "entail"?