texts: What the meaning of this phrase "I just love you too much to let you eat that (pizza)"?

texts:
This is the video where I heard this phrase.
https://youtu.be/n6sTlukHLiA (listen from 5:00 mark)
I kind of know what he's trying to say but why did he didn't use "NOT" between the sentence.

I am thinking the sentence should be: I just love you too much to NOT let you eat that.

The reason why I think 'not' should be here is because the speaker (will smith) is clearly saying not to eat the pizza. And without the no it's means (to me at least) that I love you too much and that's why I will let eat that (pizza). It's so confusing for me to understand this phrase. (If you need to see the context then please watch the video from 5:00 mark and in the next 15 seconds you will hear the phrase and understand the context.)

I know I'm wrong but can you explain why. Thanks


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “User accounts” or “users account?”

What is correct way to use -s when talking about multiple plurals?

For example, what is correct: items positions or item positions or items position? In context: "I will update all items positions".

What is correct cars categories or car categories or cars category? In context: "Please tell me what cars categories do you know?"


texts: Single word for a response or answer to an 'assignment'?

texts:
Yours truly is looking for a term that fits the general meaning, "the produced work in response to, or as an answer to, a task or assignment given by an actor (be it boss, client, professor)".
To provide more vivid context, see example below:

Assignment: You are tasked with writing out something, then something else, and finally finish off by writing a conclusion.
[INSERT SINGLE WORD HERE]: Something, then something else, and finally a conclusion.

In this case, it would be an elegant way to present and title out sections of a document wherein the assignment and [insert word here] can be presented at the same time.


texts: I want to search for images of this clamp.  What do you call this in English?


texts:
"For a long time I had a strong desire in studying and research in sciences to distinguish some from others, particularly the book [Euclid's] Elements of Geometry which is the origin of all mathematics, and discusses point, line, surface, angle, etc." (Khayyam in Fauvel and Gray, 6.C.2, p. 236)

I don't understand the beginning of the sentence. The author had a strong desire in what exactly ? In studying ? In studying, and research in sciences ? What does he distinguish ? From other what ?

The syntax used confuses me.


texts: I've heard the word patzer used to describe an incompetent or amateurish chess player. Is it ever used in a non-chess context?


texts: What does an ellipses mean when it is between paragraphs?

texts:
So I was reading a narrative and I came across an ellipse. I know that ellipses are used sometimes to mark ommissions in a quote, however, what does it mean when it is used between paragraphs - and I'm not referring to quotes paragraphs.

e.g.

paragraph 1

...

paragraph 2

I think it is used to mark a change of scenes or time, but I'm not exactly sure if that is correct. But if that is the case, can it also be used to switch from the first person to the third person?


texts: Difference between probability and possibilty

texts:
I often get confused with the mentioned words as I am not a native English speaker and I don't know what they actually mean.
From wordkinck,

Possibility: The quality or condition of being probable
Probability: The fact or state of being possible.

Which seems a paradox to me as the word is present on its own definition.
From Cambridge Dictionary

Probability: The level of possibility of something happening or being true.
Possibility: A chance that something may happen or be true.

So my questions are,

What they mean literally?
When and where to use them or not?


texts: I was thinking today about the phrasing of 'construct something from nothing' (the context was constructing ideas), and I began to wonder if 'construct' was really a good word to use. Maybe I'm just getting into picky semantics, but I think of 'construct' as forming something out of some form of raw materials, or some type of resource. Anyway I was just wondering how legitimate this usage is and what alternatives might be better.


texts: If a word is coined / popularized / used only or mainly by second-language speakers of English, is it still considered to be an English word?

texts:
It seems that there are quite a few terms that look like English and are used in English spoken by non-fluent or fluent but nonnative speakers of English as a second language amongst themselves, but not by, or only very rarely by, native English speakers.

Here's a few that spring to mind before I look for a resource:

advices [1] [2]
campings
drink shop (only used in Cambodia, they're actually like independent convenience stores)
Handy (only used by German speakers)
infos, informations [1], [2]
KTV (only used by Chinese speakers)
touristic

Also I know there is an English Wikipedia article on this phenomenon in which the preferred term is "Pseudo-anglicism". You'll find a lot more such terms there. Not only "incorrect" regular plurals of words that have no separate plural form that I was able to think up without peeking.

The most surprising thing for me was that many of these words and strange plural forms have English entries in the English edition of Wiktionary - mostly without any kind of note suggesting they are anything other than normal everyday words any English speaker might make!

I'm interested in both prescriptivist and descriptivist view on this topic. I'm also interested in both English native speakers view and non-native speakers.


texts: Which transitive verbs can form notional passives?

texts: Could someone please tell me which transitive verbs can form notional passives? I only know that they are usually formed with intransitive active verbs.


texts: A word for something that is both useful and beautiful

texts: Is there a word to describe an object that excels in form and function? I am trying to avoid very general words like great, superb or excellent.


texts:
A flour mill makes flour.

A paper mill makes paper.

A puppy mill breeds puppies.

But a sawmill makes... saws?  No - it uses saws to make wood products.

Can anyone explain the etymology or language quirks in play here?


texts: Is gender-neutral language the norm for academic writing ? If so, when did this start?

texts:
Most texts I read on linguistics and translation studies seem to use gender-neutral language (e.g. 'he or she/his or her', 'they/their'for people of unknown gender). Is this the dominant trend for academic writing in general (or even for the fields I mention)? If so, when did it start?

I'd really appreciate it if someone could point me to some published research on this topic.

Edited to add: My question is different from 'Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun (“his” versus “her” versus “their”)?' in that it does not seek a prescriptive answer (a recommendation on how to write), but rather a descriptive one (a reference to a survey on how language is actually being used in the fields I mentioned).


texts: What is a word that describes the false assumption that what can happen today could therefore happen in the past?

texts:
In response to a question about whether adopting a common fiat currency among multiple nations in the 1700s would cause inflation, an answer claimed that it happens all the time [today] and nothing happens.

In other words, the respondant is citing the consequence of a modern action or behavior to explain what he/she believes would be the consequence of the same or a similar action or behavior in the past.

My reaction was to believe the response was poorly researched, assumed facts not in evidence, what intrinsically false, etc., etc., etc....

And then my brain locked up because it wanted to describe the intrinsically false nature of the argument with a single word — but couldn't come up with one.

Is there one?

I tried "disingenuous," but that's almost an upside-down-and-backwards way of looking at it.
I tried fallacious, and it's close (and might be the appropriate word).
Obviously the phrase, "that's a bad assumption" would work, but I'm hoping there's a single word.

As an example sentence, my comment to the above respondant would be, "your statement is ___________."


texts: I can pronounce the english "r" properly in most words but it sounds closer to a "w" when it follows a "g" and sometimes "k" sound. The words that are the most problematic for me are agree and agreed. When I normally say "r" I pull my tongue back and touch the teeth with the sides of the tongue. Should I point my tongue tip up? And how can I practice this?


texts:
I am not a 100% sure if article the is required in the following sentence:

  Unable to connect to the server

Could someone explain if it is required or not and why?


texts: Linking statements ending in question or exclamation marks in quotes

texts:
Consider this:

  He began asking her rhetorical questions like "How dare you?", "How
  could you?", and "How can you think such a thing?", but she did not
  reply.

How can I write the above sentence correctly?  Thanks.


texts: 'attention from/in/of' the (research) community?

texts:
I want to write the following sentence: 'Despite the growing attention of the research community, however, there exist several open issues.' I am, however, not sure about the right preposition.

'attention of' is probably not an option but is it better to say here 'attention from' or 'attention in'? Leo tells me that, in general, it should be 'attention from'. But I wonder if in the case of a community, as in the example, it should not be 'attention in'?


texts: Euphemism for the English word for human excrement (faeces in Latin)

texts:
In German, we call the result of one particular dump as well as the doing it itself

  sein Geschäft machen (to do a deal/business)

This is common and fit for print. Is there something similar in English that I could use in the following sentence

  After his morning _ ,...

Or what other ways are there to express that without being vulgar or too technical?


texts: Do I need to use the article "the" with the word "data" in the following sentence?

texts:
To discover the real statistics behind missing children, I turned to the following organizations for the data.

Or should it be as follows:

To discover the real statistics behind missing children, I turned to the following organizations for data.


texts: Could anybody explain the etymology of the phrase broth of a boy? I know the meaning but cannot understand how it happens that it means what it means.


texts:
I am not completely sure about the use of 'must' 'can't' and 'should' in continuous aspect. It seems that different people have different opinions, especially regarding their use to refer to the future. Are the following sentences grammatically correct:

He must be earning a lot of money in a year's time.
He can't be earning a lot of money in a year's time.
He should be earning a lot of money in a year's time.


texts:
The author wrote " But I'm kind of used to how I look by now. I know how to pretend I don't see the faces people make."
I don't understand two sentences, can u explain it to me? And what does "Look by" mean?


texts:
everyone. I have a question regarding the usage of "in" in this pattern:

Adjective/noun + in + V-ing

Like in this sentence:

«Light takes such a long time in crossing the enormous distances and getting to us.»

But, I was wondering if it could work without "in":

«Light takes such a long time crossing the enormous distances and getting to us.»

Or, even with infinitive:

«Light takes such a long time to cross the enormous distances and getting to us.»

I would like to know how to use this patten, in what context and what rules I should follow to use it correctly.

I've been searching on the internet, but there is little information about this topic and it's not really helpful. Here are some other examples I found:

This NPO plays a central role in proposing environmental policies.
He's taking a long time in making that pastry

Thanks you in advanced, I'd be really thankful if you help me understand it.


texts: When is it correct to start a sentence with a participial phrase?

texts:
Spending an hour in the beauty salon, Melissa got a facial with a steam mist.

Are there cases where starting with a participial phrase is not correct?


texts:
I am talking about UK government budget, should I use the word spending or expenditure? I want to sound casual rather than formal, but still technically correct.

I found this definition but I am not any wiser.

  As nouns the difference between spending and expenditure is that
  spending is an amount that has been, or is planned to be spent while
  expenditure is (uncountable|countable) act of expending or paying out.

http://wikidiff.com/expenditure/spending

Specifically, I want to describe a budget as having spending x, receipts y and deficit z. Should I rather say expenditure x?


texts: A minimum of two personnel "are" or "is"?

texts:
Which is correct?

A minimum of two personnel are required to meet this objective.

or

A minimum of two personnel is required to meet this objective.


texts: When describing my personal opinions, should I use "one thing I was sure", "was that" or "is that"?

texts:
When describing my personal thoughts back in a few years ago.

Should I use:

One thing I was sure though, is that ...

or

One thing I was sure though, was that ...

To me, it sounds more correct to use "was", because it's some thoughts from the past. But I understand when describing a fact, such as the "sun goes up from the east", you should use the present tense.

If I still hold the thought I had back then, would it be OK to use "is" instead of "was"?


texts: What is a word or phrase that describes both pain and vindication of having correctly predicted something bad?

texts: If someone predicts that a course of action will have bad consequences, but isn't believed by anyone at the time, and later those consequences occur, that person can feel vindicated and say "I told you so", but wish they hadn't been right because of the bad consequences. Is there a word or phrase to describe this feeling?


texts: what's the difference between password and cipher?

texts: We usually use username and password to log in a website, can I use cipher in the situation? Or any difference between these two words?


texts:
You know when you see something touching and moving and you feel like tears are about to come out of your eyes, yet you're able to barely control it; how do you describe this feeling or state?
 i.e. I was all [...] at the sight of his master curled up asleep in fetal position on the floor at the vet's beside his dog.

Take a look at this and you'll know what I'm talking about:


texts: Hyphenation of the word "interferometer" in British English

texts:
How is the word "interferometer" correctly split at the end of a line in British English, i.e. what is the correct syllabification?

I found two contradicting syllabifications:

"in·ter·fer·om·e·ter" in Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interferometer)
"in·ter·fe·rom·e·ter" in the American Heritage Dictionary (http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=interferometer).

Is there any authority for British English (possibly accessible online)?

Background: I am writing a scientific article using the typesetting programme LATEX with Babel for British English, which automatically carries out the word splitting at the end of lines. The word "interferometer" is split as

  We are using an interfer-

  ometer for our measurements.

which apparently follows Merriam-Webster (see above). However the referee of the article is the opinion that the word is "strangely cut".


texts: Is there a word for the object or destination of a pilgrimage?

texts: Is there a specific word for the destination of a pilgrimage? (That is, if you go on a pilgrimage to X, X is the _ of the pilgrimage.) I'm looking for a word that has the appropriate spiritual or devotional aspect, not a generic synonym for "destination" or "site" or what-have-you.


texts: There is a park in Dublin called St Stephen's Green. Which prepositions of place would you use (and what context would you use them in) in the sentence "It's raining ... Stephen's Green"?


texts:
This morning I read this sentence (see story):

  On July 24th and again on July 29th,
  Egyptian police did shoot dead unarmed
  African migrants attempting to cross
  that border.

Why "did shoot" and not "shot"?


texts: Is 'the course' a complement or an adjunct in 'Stay the course'?

texts:
Stay the course is a fixed expression, but I'd like to know how to analyze the course. At first blush, it seems to be complement of the verb stay.

But then, you have a similar-looking example stay the night, where the night seems to be an adjunct.

So I'm torn between the two. Which do you think is correct, and why?


texts: Is "looking at it that way" correct in this sentence?

texts:
Well, looking at it that way, it would be better to buy a house this year instead of next year.

Is this sentence grammatically correct?


texts:
While reading Go Tell It On the Mountain, I came across the hyphenated word "lie-gap." The phrase from the sentence reads, "She had the lie-gap between her teeth" (The Dial Press Edition 106).

I'm having trouble tracing its etymology.  Anyone have any insight into its origins?


texts: What is a non-humorous 19th or 18th century alternative to the contemporary insult 'jerk'?

texts:
Most web sites and forum posts I've come across covering archaic insults are usually devoted to listing polysyllabic compound words of the Shakespearean variety, such as : you artless, swag-bellied, cod-piece!

What I'm looking for are serious insults that could have actually been used between the 1700s and the 1800s. It does not matter whether they are British, American, or translations from the French. I can't find anything and I am desperate for at least some words. Especially insults that could have been directed at men (rather than the usual synonyms for loose or low woman like 'hussy', 'slattern' etc.)

I know that words like 'asshole' and 'jerk' are very contemporary in usage, but try as I might, I can't think of any archaic equivalents. Is it possible that it is impossible for what might have been a serious insult in the past to be anything but humorous to us now?


texts: I knew it already 20 yrs ago vs I knew it as early as 20 yrs ago

texts:
I know that "already" is mainly used with present perfect. I want to emphasise that something was known 20 years ago.

Are the following the same?

  I knew it already 20 yrs ago
  I knew it as early as 20 yrs ago.

And is this structure correct?

  This has been known already since 1993

(I guess I cannot say "ago" in pres.perfect).


texts: Does "people" necessarily mean "living persons"?

texts:
If you refer to people in a room, does that imply that those people are  alive?

If you said:

  People in a boardroom

It is reasonable to assume they are alive, but I am not sure if its implied.

Conversely, if you said:

  People in a cemetery

It may be assumed that they are dead, but again, I am unsure if that is implied.

Clarification would be much appreciated.

To specify a little further as to how this came about, a friend shared a vague riddle someone with me.

  If there are four people in a room and you enter the room and two
  people die, how many people are left in the room.

I said 3 because I assumed people meant alive, but he said 5 because no people (alive or dead) had left the room.


texts: The meaning of "I can't agree with you enough"

texts: I know what is the meaning of "I can't agree with you more", but what about "I can't agree with you enough"? What does it mean? Does it mean that I agree with you, or I don't?


texts: University's vs Universities', correct spelling of the possessive

texts:
Something belongs to the University.
Is it the Universities' logo or the University's logo? I somehow don't think University's exists.


texts: Any differences between "The police observed the man entering the bank." and "The police observed the man enter the bank. "

texts:
Are there any differences between "The police observed the man enter the bank." and "The police observed the man entering the bank. " Does sentence one mean that the police observed the whole process that the man enter the bank? Does sentence two mean that the police observe the action of the man entering the bank? One emphasize the whole process and the other emphasize the exact action of entering. Am I right?

Thank you very much!


texts:
Dear fellow stackexchangers, I would like to have your comment on the following, exercepted from a recent White House press conference… with Obama speaking:

"But there have been Republican Presidents with whom I disagreed with, but I didn’t have a doubt that they could function as President."

Shouldn't it be 'with whom I disagreed' rather than the above? Did Obama commit a grammatical redundancy in the above phrase?

Thank you.


texts:
Which plural form of the noun "buffalo" is more common in American English: buffalo, buffalos or buffaloes?
Or would you say they are all equally common and the use of a particular form depends on the speaker's preferences?


texts: Which one of the following is the standard American accent of the word "badminton": "/ˈbædˌmɪtn̩/" "/ˈbæd.mɪn.tən/"?

texts:
Ok, let check this word "badminton".

In online Cambridge dictionary, it is pronounced as /ˈbæd.mɪn.tən/ Source

In online Merrian-Webster dictionary, it is pronounced as /ˈbædˌmɪtn̩/ Source

When hearing the sound of /ˈbædˌmɪtn̩/, you can hear a glottal stop at /t/. That means, you hold there for a few milliseconds then you throw the air through your nose in order to make the /n/ sound. This is similar to "button" /ˈbʌtn̩/ Source.

Which one of the following is the standard American accent of the word "badminton": "/ˈbædˌmɪtn̩/" "/ˈbæd.mɪn.tən/" ?

Which one is used more?


texts: Are there many -tion words that sound like 'vision'?

texts:
Usually -tion words, such as motion, education, and lotion, end with a -shn sound. But equation ends with a sound rhyming with vision.

Are there many more? What might some of them be? And if the pronunciation of equation is a rarity for words ending in -tion, why did that pronunciation for it arise? I'm asking this since I am not a native English speaker and discovered this exception accidentally.


texts: Is there any good book talking about clauses and phrases?

texts: All grammar books I found underplay clauses and phrases; examples they give are simple and easy to understand, but in reality there are lots of long sentences made up of several clauses and phrases which confuse me often. Is there any good book for this part? I really don't understand why grammar books are generous to punctuation but mean to clauses and phrases.


texts: How to use analogue? What are its adjectival and adverbial forms?

texts:
Can we, for example, define good analogously?" Is there an analogue definition of good?

I'm using the word good as an example; the word could just as easily be virtuous, intelligent, evil, bad, and so on.


texts: Exceeding a possessive adjective before subject pronouns

texts:
Is there any possibility for exceeding a possessive adjective before subject pronouns?
For example: can we use a structure as

  Historically, in his seminal article, Markus introduced several important suggestions.


texts: Term for accurately descriptive and misleadingly descriptive toponyms

texts:
A question popped up on GIS.stackexchange.com ("geographical information systems") asking "Is there a name for a situation when the place is clearly or unclearly named?".

The example given there was the fictitious "Red Rock Mall", which would either be an accurate descriptive toponym if the mall was actually located near a red rock, or misleading if it wasn't.

There's the term aptronym, "a person's name that is regarded as amusingly appropriate to their occupation", and inaptronym has been suggested as the antonym for that. However, the use of those terms seems to be limited to names of people, not places.

I also came across the term semantic fitness, "the degree to which a name is perceived to fit with the object it identifies". The name "Red Rock Mall" would have a high semantic fitness if there were a red rock nearby. It seems that that's not a very wide spread word, though, especially in the context of toponymy.

Is there a better word to describe that a descriptive toponym is accurate or that it is misleading?


texts: Should there be a comma before "guilty of" in this sentence?

texts:
The following sentences come from the Wikipedia page on Martin Luther:

  Luther wrote negatively about the Jews throughout his career. Though Luther rarely encountered Jews during his life, his attitudes reflected a theological and cultural tradition which saw Jews as a rejected people guilty of the murder of Christ, and he lived in a locality which had expelled Jews some ninety years earlier.

I have a question about the punctuation of this particular part: "Jews as a rejected people guilty of the murder of Christ". I was expecting a comma after 'rejected people'. Am I right?

The presence or absence of comma may not make much difference for conveying the meaning. However, I wanted to know what would be the right punctuation according to English grammar.


texts: Word or phrase for "not being into something that much as the other person thinks"

texts:
Is there a word or phrase used for describing something that one does not want to do as much as another person thinks? For example,

  I'm not ______ to do that as much as you think!

Edit: Thanks for all the answers and the editing of my original question :)

At first I did not mention this but it can give a clue, or there may just not be a word for what I am trying to say. I am actually looking for a word with a very specific meaning in my native language. It is said when someone senses that the other person seems to be looking down on him/her, although not openly. So this person needs to remind that he/she has the dignity for not desiring the thing the other person thinks he/she desires.


texts: What is the right preposition after "skeptical"?

texts: Which preposition is suitable  to follow skeptical?


texts: Is "Donald Trump finally dropped the ball" the right expression?

texts:
I would like you to suggest a more apt/suitable idioms and expressions in the following senses:

Everybody knew it would eventually happen at the end of the day. After waiting for some time like a year or so, he/she makes a big/major mistake as Donald Trump did by urging ban on all Muslims coming to the U.S.
Some people make an irreparable/fatal mistake as Rick Perry did in the presidential debate in 2011. He couldn't remember which three agencies he would eliminate as POTUS and it was the major turning point for his doomed candidacy.

An idiom like drop the ball doesn't necessarily convey the meaning as it doesn't sound like the mistake is as big/serious/fatal as the above-mentioned ones based on the below definition:

  Make an error; miss an opportunity. For example, She really dropped
  the ball when she forgot to call back, or He dropped the ball, turning
  down their offer.

[American Heritage Dictionary]

Are there any more suitable idioms/phrases that can signify or express an once-(or twice)-in-your-lifetime mistake that is so serious and rare that it may change the course of your life?


texts: Is this sentence correct? Nobody wants to pay for something they are not certain whether they will like it or not

texts:
Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

  Nobody wants to pay for something they are not certain whether they will like it or not.

In particular is the pronoun it, correct. If not, how can I correctly formulate the sentence?


texts: What's the hypernym for "owned" and "rented"?

texts:
If I must ask a person if his house is owned or rented, which word would make a proper relation?

I am looking for something like this:

  What's your [...] with the Property (or Car, or Camera)? (Owned, rented.)

I want a single word to place in there, without rephrasing the question. And doesn't need to be just a real-estate property, the subject could be anything that can be owned or borrowed.


texts: Why is the unit of measure placed before the value for currencies? Are there other measures where the unit precedes value?

texts:
$1,000 is pronounced as "one thousand dollars".
Reading from left to right, it seems like it would make more sense to write the value as:
1,000$. This way the pronunciation of the value follows the way it's written. Every other numerical value I can think of places the unit after the value:

1 kg
1 L
1 m, etc...

I'm not sure if this question fits in with the rest of the questions on this site. But I'd like to know why currencies are so different from other quantities. Not to mention the need to separate groups of three digits with commas.


texts: "That's bang out of order": pun, anagram or play on words?

texts:
There is a one-liner by Tim Vine, a British stand-up comedian, that sees him pull out a card with the word...

BNAG

and exclaim:

  That's bang out of order!

The joke is derived from the idiom out of order, which Dictionary.com defines as

  out of order
  inappropriate; unsuitable:
  His remark was certainly out of order!

The phrase bang out of order is British English, where bang acts like an intensifier, so is Tim Vine's joke: a pun, an anagram, a play on words, a one-line joke, a factual statement or something else?


texts: "Went and got" — is it grammatically correct?

texts:
Trying to find out if phrases like "went and got" are correct, e.g.:

  She went and got the book.


texts:
The word "lowering", as in the context of lowering something, therefore making it lower in some measurable way, is pretty common.

It is so common that I often start sentences about doing the opposite, and get to the specific word, and it's completely blank. I have no idea what word could mean "making something higher according to some scale that is probably obvious in context".

What word would be good for this situation? I'm pretty sure "highering" is not valid.


texts: The first forty years of life give us the text, the next thirty supply the commentary

texts:
What does the following bold part mean?

The same truth may be more broadly expressed by saying that the first forty years of life furnish the text, while the remaining thirty supply the commentary; and that without the commentary we are unable to understand aright the true sense and coherence of the text, together with the moral it contains and all the subtle application of which it admits.
―Arthur Schopenhauer, The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims

I can’t see the link between the text and commentary.


texts: Someone who instigates conflict and then plays the victim?

texts:
Is there a word for someone who always tends to be the catalyst to conflict, then backs out of said conflict with a victim mentality? For example provoking an argument and then saying something like, "I'm done arguing, you always treat me poorly" or "why did you have to turn this into an argument?".

I'm not simply looking for words that describe someone who likes to cause conflict, such as:

Instigator
Antagonist

I'm also not looking for words that describe someone who makes themselves a victim in any conflict. I'm looking for a blend of both.

What word is there to describe an instigator who makes a victim out of themselves whenever someone responds to their instigation?


texts: Although "who knows" is almost as an expression for giving sense however, expressions can be statements, orders, and questions, so does the expression: "who knows" need a question mark?


texts: Periodical change of quantities from zero to a specific value

texts:
I need to find a word which will describe the periodic change of a quantity from zero to a positive value. I explicitly need to differentiate this word or expression from the periodic change of the variable from a negative value to a positive value (as in reversal).

The words pulse or impulse seem to be related, but I couldn't find a definition of them which includes this meaning. Few people use pulsation to describe it (even in publications), but it isn't accepted throughout the field.

The need for the word arises for naming an apparatus which has this specific property as opposed to a similar apparatus which has reversal in its name and as a defining property. This is in an engineering context.

Example:
The change of value X in the field reversal apparatus for each cycle is bipolar(from -x to x). This is the main difference to the field ______ apparatus, where the change of value X is unipolar(from 0 to x) for each cycle.

Vaguely related: Link


texts: Is there a word(or a combination of 2 words) that describe someone who advances his career using solely underhandedly social relationships?

texts: I was thinking about social chameleon but it may be a more accurate word(or word combination) for that.


texts: More traditional / professional word or phrase for 'Plan of Attack'

texts:
I'm currently writing up a design document which is essentially a 'plan of attack', however this doesn't strike me as a particularly professional or eloquent term for what I mean and my mind's gone blank as to the alternatives.

'Plan of action'? ...Still sounds too casual.


texts: What does CT stand for in the context of a news article?

texts:
Does CT mean anything in an editorial context? A slashdot article summary is as follows:

  For some time now, rumors have been floating around that Sony was working on a concept for a mobile phone that also serves as a bona fide portable games console... For Sony buffs, you'll be interested to know that there's no Memory Stick slot here, but there is support for microSD cards." CT: Which would all be well and good if it was real.

I feel like the last sentence was tacked on after the article was already published. Is it just the initials of an editor or something else?


texts:
Which is the correct expression for say that I have two items of three possibilities?

Two of three?
Two out of three?
Other?


texts: Origins of the shift in usage/meaning of the word "religion"

texts:
I need some research help regarding the shift in the meaning/usage of the word "religion" in Christian parlance.

Background:
In recent years the use word "religion" has changed from its classic dictionary definition (e.g., "the belief in a god or in a group of gods; an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods" - Websters).

Some segments of Christianity regularly (mis)use the word strictly as a pejorative, nearly always intended as a damning reference system of works-based righteousness or, less often, as a sweeping reference to liturgy or ceremony.  Quite simply, bashing "religion" has become quite a fad for at least a decade.  Unfortunately, this word is so widely misused that online research in the origins of its shift in usage has proven fruitless so far.

What I am researching is this:

When/where did this word start to shift meaning? (Was this an Emergent era thing? Before that?)
Can you cite any examples (books, speeches, articles) from online or even from memory where you first heard "religion!!!!" (mis)used as a pejorative synonym for works righteousness or ceremony?
This peculiar misuse of the word seems entirely confined to western Protestantism, but perhaps some of you can cite non-Protestant examples?

Here's an example: in 2009, popular (now former) pastor Mark Driscoll published a book called "Religion Saves, and Nine Other Misconceptions" based on his 10-part sermon series of the same name. As is common nowadays, Driscoll used the word "religion" to mean earning a right standing before God through good behavior. But he and others in his circle has been using that meaning in sermons and writing for at least 5 years before then.

NOTE: This research request is NOT intended to serve as a debate thread over the meaning of the word "religion."  I'm asking for some very specific information, hopefully with citations, examples or information from those with historical knowledge of the answers.


texts: Is rhyming of two words a transitive property?

texts: Let's suppose A rhymes with B and B rhymes with C. Does A always rhyme with C?


texts: Is there a term when the final spelling of a word is changed for rhyming purposes?

texts:
We see and hear it all the time in commercials, advertisements, poetry, jokes, etc...  One classic example is this light and very interesting poem by Ogden Nash, where we can find two instances of this linguistic device in the first few lines.

Portrait Of The Artist As A Prematurely Old Man

It is common knowledge to every schoolboy and even every Bachelor of Arts,
That all sin is divided into two parts.
One kind of sin is called a sin of commission, and that is very important,
And it is what you are doing when you are doing something you ortant,
And the other kind of sin is just the opposite and is called a sin of omission
    and is equally bad in the eyes of all right-thinking people, from
    Billy Sunday to Buddha,
And it consists of not having done something you shuddha.
I might as well give you my opinion of these two kinds of sin as long as,
    in a way, against each other we are pitting them,
And that is, don't bother your head about the sins of commission because
    however sinful, they must at least be fun or else you wouldn't be
    committing them.
It is the sin of omission, the second kind of sin,
That lays eggs under your skin.
The way you really get painfully bitten
Is by the insurance you haven't taken out and the checks you haven't added up
    the stubs of and the appointments you haven't kept and the bills you
    haven't paid and the letters you haven't written.
Also, about sins of omission there is one particularly painful lack of beauty,
Namely, it isn't as though it had been a riotous red-letter day or night every
    time you neglected to do your duty;
You didn't get a wicked forbidden thrill
Every time you let a policy lapse or forget to pay a bill;
You didn't slap the lads in the tavern on the back and loudly cry Whee,
Let's all fail to write just one more letter before we go home, and this round
    of unwritten letters is on me.
No, you never get any fun
Out of things you haven't done,
But they are the things that I do not like to be amid,
Because the suitable things you didn't do give you a lot more trouble than the
    unsuitable things you did.
The moral is that it is probably better not to sin at all, but if some kind of
    sin you must be pursuing,
Well, remember to do it by doing rather than by not doing.


texts: What would you call pairs of numbers that sum up to a particular number?

texts:
When I was in KG, I'd to study lists like these ones—

0+5=5     ||    5-0=5
1+4=5     ||    6-1=5
2+3=5     ||    7-2=5
3+2=5     ||    8-3=5
4+1=5     ||    9-4=5
5+0=5     ||    . . .

My (non-native) math teacher at that time labelled them as something along the lines of "Addition X table" or "Subtraction X table". And that word/phrase (which X stands for) is a very easy one, something that every child should understand.

It's much like a factor pair—4x25=100, 1x100=100—only except that it's a plus or minus sign instead of the multiplication sign.

I've searched all my preschool textbooks, but found nothing. At last I resorted to Google, but still no luck. So the word or the whole concept must not be standard. Note that I'm a non-native English speaker and I come from a non-native English speaking country as well. So there's the possibility that the word/phrase isn't grammatical or contextually appropriate.


texts: expression to say that one 'goes around a rule' to avoid it while not breaking it

texts:
I can't seem to recall the proper way to refer to the action of avoiding a rule or order not by breaking it but by using some sort of loophole to work around it.

I'm not sure if it's an actual idiom or just an expression.

I was trying to describe a toddler who was told he couldn't leave a room (couldn't set a foot outside the room, was the exact wording) while his father was assembling a piece of furniture, due to the small pieces around. So the toddler lay flat on the floor, his feet obediently inside the room while the rest of the body was on the hall, as close to the action as possible.

How can I say he 'went around' his mother's order?


texts: Better way of saying "in order to demonstrate this"

texts: What is a better way of saying "in order to demonstrate this, I will..."? I already use "to that effect" in the same paragraph. I'm looking for something as compact and concise as "to that effect" that will also be a good transition for the beginning of a new paragraph.


texts: i heard someone say "Music is such an important role in my life." I have always thought "role" should be used with "play / have / take", so it goes like "Music has an important role in my life." Is it possible to say like the first sentence?


texts:
I'm currently writing up some professional documentation and I know ending sentences with a preposition is frowned upon. Are there any English rules for converting these types of sentences that are more Grammarly correct?

An example is:
"Session dates to search within."


texts: What angle should I cut a miter joint at? vs. At what angle should I cut a miter joint?

texts: I'm watching this video here and was wondering -- why is "What angle should I cut a miter joint at?" grammatically incorrect?


texts: Adjective for Person Who is from The United States

texts: Someone from Taiwan is Taiwanese. Someone from Brazil is Brazilian. Someone from Israel is Israeli. What is someone from The United States called? Is someone from The United States called United Statesian?


texts:
There is an image at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/160511174191029351/ which goes like this:

I don't quite get the joke... what's "Jewishness" supposed to mean in this context?


texts: Meaning of "hammer a socket on it and pop it off"

texts:
In a discussion on a pick-up truck car wheel theft, one person gave an advice to the victim that he "should have bought some locking lugs". This advice was disapproved by someone else in the discussion and said that it's not useful, "all you have to do is hammer a socket on it and pop it off, not hard to do."

I'm trying to visualize how this works. What is a socket, how does it look like? All I know of a socket is the ones on a wall that you put a plug into in order to connect electrical equipment. Another relevant definition I found is "a device intended to hold an electric light bulb mechanically and connect it electrically to circuit wires." I'm not sure what this is, but I don't think it's what he's describing.

So you hammer this socket on the locking lugs, by the way, after looking it up I realized that the person may have misunderstood about locking lugs and I think he meant locking lug nuts, which is a fastener used to secure a wheel on a vehicle that requires a special wrench to remove it. So you pop off this lug nut after you hammered a socket on it. Pop I checked means "to suddenly break open or come away from something often with a short, loud noise". So I'm assuming this involves some kind of tool as well in order to pop it off? How does this work, what am I visualizing? What is a socket?


texts: "Your and my [something]" vs "Yours and my..."

texts:
Prompted by comments against this question, I'd like some help figuring out why some people (myself included) prefer yours over the apparently more logical/grammatically consistent your in this kind of sentence...

  Yours and my native languages have co-existed for hundreds of years.

Google Books has Your:Yours ratios for languages:2:2, parents:9:10, houses:4:2. That's a very small sample size, admittedly - but even without anything like that, I know my own usage. So I'm not really interested in being told which  is correct, except insofar as this has a bearing on my question itself - why do some people, (including some "careful speakers", which I don't necessarily claim to be) use the apparently incorrect form?

EDIT: It may be important to note (as @Gnawme guessed without it being explicitly stated in the first version of this question) that I personally would use singular language in the above. It was just too difficult to search Google Books for that particular distinction, so I said nothing about it.


texts: Another way to say "A weirdo who always solve math problem"

texts:
Just like the tittle, I want to ask you guys how to say the sentence in a different way. My full sentence is "Back then, I was often seen as a weirdo who always solved math problems". That's pretty much what I mean. But is there any other way I can make it sound better?

Any different way will do because it seems to me that "solved math problems" is kind of long and basic. So I want to embellish it a little but I can't figure out the way. A noun would be best, but I want to seek for different opinions as well.


texts: Common phrases for something that appears good but is actually bad

texts:
What are common phrases that describe something that appears good but is actually bad?

Edit: Because people say bad is vague I will try to sum up the phrase meaning a little better.

something that looks like it will be helpful or advantageous but after use it is hindering
a tool that seems useful but is not the correct tool for the job
something that seems like a good idea but after execution turns out to be problematic


texts: Does this sentence contain an introductory clause?

texts:
I could do this myself, but I suggest you follow the manual.

In the above sentence, does "I could do this myself" count as an introductory clause? Or does the conjunction modify it?

Also, is it wrong of me to use the comma after 'myself'? Or a matter of choice?


texts: Word to mean "make smaller by collision"?

texts:
I am writing a paper talking about collisions during the formation of rocky planets.  Some of these collisions lead to an increase in mass (i.e., the largest body to come out of a collision is more massive than either of the two bodies that were involved in the collision) and some collisions lead to a decrease in mass (i.e., the largest body to come out of a collision is less massive than either of the two bodies that were involved in the collision.  I want a word to describe the second case, that the collision led to things getting smaller.

So far I have been using the word "erode" and its various forms, but "erode" means to make smaller over course of time, which doesn't match the situation I am trying to describe.  Collisions are discrete (rather than continuous) events, and occur relatively quickly, such that the mass loss is nearly instantaneous.  What would be a good word to describe this?


texts: How to describe dad's reaction in English?

texts:
Can anyone help to describe dad's reaction when he heard that the kids needed so much money? I mean the behavior, water came out of his mouth, can I say 'spray' or 'spit'? Can anyone tell me the complete sentence, please?

Many thanks!


texts: Use of 3rd person present tense when combined with "not only"

texts:
I'm confused why the use of "increases" in the following sentence is incorrect --- I intuitively think it should be "increase" instead, but can't quite explain why I think so.

  High consumption of trans fat is dangerous: not only does it increases
  your LDL cholesterol level, it also decreases your HDL cholesterol.

My confusion is exacerbated by the fact that "high consumption of trans fat is dangerous: it increases your LDL cholesterol level" seems grammatically correct, and the use of "decreases" in the sentence above also seems correct.


texts: the origin of "to spoil" to mean "to be eager for"

texts:
I am curious of the origin of "to spoil" meaning "to be eager for".

Dictionary.com does not even have this definition, since the Latin root of "to spoil" is "to destroy."

Merriam-Webster and Oxford English Dictionary both provide the same example "to spoil for a fight" under the meaning of "to be eager for". Is this definition a set phrase? Where did it come from?


texts:
I received an online promotion from the University of Edinburgh titled "Study a World-Class Degree Online."

It struck me as remarkably bad English coming from an institute, but in this case it comes from one of the established universities of the UK.

This makes me wonder: is "studying a degree" in common usage?

Google returns an astounding  4,080,000 results for the phrase, even though the very top one is from WordReference questioning the usage (in 2008). The phrase "study for  a degree" returns  6,470,000, "earn a degree" gets about 8,000,000 and the humble "get a degree" beats all of them  41,300,000.
There is some chance that the subject line was created by Coursera, but the phrase is repeated in the write-up.

Can anyone shed some light on this?


texts:
I was trying to describe a man who entices others into making bad decisions. I have several closely related questions:

Is it okay in English to refer to a man as a temptress?
Is there a uniquely male version of temptress?
Is there a good strategy or rule for changing words like temptress into their male equivalents — if those exist?


texts: Are there any words/phrases/idioms expressing light sadness?

texts:
Not sorrow, or depressing kind of sadness.
For example, when you remember someone you loved, who passed away, but you're remembering beautiful moments, his or her smile or eyes.
You feel sad, but these memories are warm for the heart.
Are there any words or phrases that can express this feeling accurately?


texts:
Five sentences with slight adjustment in the position of the adverb:

Gladly I would've come.
I would have come gladly.
I would gladly have come.
I gladly would have come.
I would have gladly come.

Do these sentences convey the exact same meaning or is there a subtle distinction?
Further Edit
Background: I read a claim in a Duolingo discussion forum that (2) is a response to a hypothetical question about a situation in the past with the current mindset of the speaker, while (4) is a response with the mindset the speaker actually had at that point in the past. But I am not completely convinced. So, I'd like to specifically ask if it is just a matter of emphasis, or there are indeed these subtle distinctions that can get overlooked in everyday speech.
p.s. I understand the question might be trivial from a native speaker's point of view. I am a bit confounded, though, and I do not think the other posts on the website address my doubt. Therefore, if you must downvote, kindly do so after reading the entire question. Thank you.


texts: Doing this also does or causes that type of sentence

texts:
I am writing the instructions of a piece of software I am working on and I would like to remind the user that running the specified computer command will also have a secondary effect of installing another piece of software.

Install

curl -L .... | sh

  The above also installs xxx if not found.

Is there a more user friendly, or idiomatic way to express the above?


texts:
She harassed me for days over mistake.
  They would have teased me for not being brave.

Both prepositions indicate the reason for harrassment. What is the difference in meaning? Can they be used interchangeably?


texts: What are other sayings or expressions for "I can't wrap my head around"?

texts:
What are other idioms or expressions for the phrase "I can't wrap my head around"?.

In context:

"But what I still can't wrap my head around is why she behaved like that"


texts: Is the expression "It don't" grammatically correct?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  The grammaticality of “that don’t impress me much”

  It doesn't.

Usually, we say it this way, right? But I have seen some song lyrics using "it don't".
(Examples are Breakeven by The Script and Don't Matter by Akon).

So is the expression "it don't" grammatically correct?


texts: When to drop the 'e' when ending in -able?

texts:
I've seen a thread that generally asks about Creating words with “-able” suffix But I don't think it answers my point, though they are admittedly dangerously close topics.

When do you drop the 'e' when forming words suffixed with -able. My Spell checker likes Unforgivable but dislikes Forgivable. Dropping the 'e' in the first case, and adding it in the second makes my spell checker happy. How do you determine when one is ok? Note that this is different from the linked question, where neither with or without the 'e' is accepted.

(Having checked the OED it seems there is one accepted spelling of Forgivable but two of Unforgiv(e)able)


texts:
The title is an analogy which appeared in the GRE verbal test, and I yet can't find the analogy in it.

"Snatch" means to "take" hastily or eagerly, but I don't see if "supplant" is a more hasty motion than "replace". Actually, I think to supplant is no different than to replace. Is that true?


texts: What's the difference between "ricochet" and "bounce"?

texts:
I've found several definitions, and they seem the same.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ricochet:

a glancing rebound (as of a projectile off a flat surface)
to bounce or skip with or as if with a glancing rebound

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bounce:

to cause to rebound or be reflected
to rebound or reflect after striking a surface (such as the ground)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricochet:

a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile.


texts: Pronoun “you” can be omitted as subject in imperative form, what other pronouns can be omitted, when and why?

texts: The pronoun you can be omited as a general rule, but sometimes I’ve seen sentences that should have used I or it as the subject but it was omitted.


texts: Is there a word that means "as its name would suggest"?

texts:
Does there exist a single word that more or less means "as its name would suggest"? For example, is there a word that appropriately might replace the bolded portion of the following sentence?

  Computer Science, as its name would suggest, is the science of computation.

Something perhaps in the vein of the following?

  Computer Science, unsurprisingly, is the science of computation.


texts:
What's the difference between ethics and morals?

More specifically, what differentiates (if any):

a moral code vs. a code of ethics
ethically versus morally (e.g. "Morally, I can't (justify it), but ethically, I can.")


texts: Is describing an object as "oriental" offensive?

texts: For example, an Oriental cream or Oriental paste. Would this be offensive?


texts: "as it so happens" idiom meaning and usage

texts: What is the meaning of "As it so happens" and when do we use it? Refer to a synonym if you can please. Thanks.


texts: Which expression is correct: "he ran out the house" or "he ran out of the house"?


texts: What is the right way to say that, "his credit balance is likely to be in deficit"

texts:
I want to say that that 'x' person spends a lot and his credit balance is likely to become negative.

"With multiple ...., his balance is likely to be in deficit."

 OR

 "With multiple ...., his balance is likely to become negative."

I'm not sure which of them is correct, please let me know if there is a third and better way to phrase this idea.


texts: Is there any difference between "from the beginning" and "in the beginning"?

texts:
I am not sure if this is correct.

I feel that from the beginning implies something that lasts until now, while in the beginning implies something that only existed at the beginning. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thank you!


texts: Word for "turn [something] into" and "take advantage of"

texts:
I have a word not-in-mind that means to "turn [something] into" in the sense of using the first thing to get something you want more.

Perhaps the best way to present this word query is the game bigger or better. You begin with something small and go to a stranger and offer them that something for something else, bigger or better. You take that new something and go to another stranger and ask to trade that second something for a third something that is even bigger or better.

What have I done to that first something? I want to say 'relayed' or 'parleyed' but those definitions don't make sense. But maybe the ending sound is right?

Example: I have ---- [thing #1] into getting [thing #2].

It is not that I have transformed thing #1 into thing #2, but that I have used it in order to get thing #2.


texts: I don't understand why it's "take a photo". Why take? Is there any rule for this?


texts:
At work the other day, I was making something and wanted a senior person's opinion on my creation for Steve.
I said "Hey Steve, can you take a look at my hat, I'd like your discretion."
He said I should've said "...I'd like your opinion."

Now, because it was Steve's job to make the hat, and I was assisting him. I think perhaps I should've said something along the lines of use your discretion. Or may I use your discretion. Something like that. As in, it's his decision whether or not the hat is good enough, gauged through his professional opinion.

This has been eating away at me for days!


texts: Word for getting something or getting praised for something you don't think you deserve

texts: I've been struggling to find the word for this. Irrespective of whether the person actually deserves it or not, important factor being he thinks he doesn't deserve something he got or got praised for.


texts:
Is there a word or phrase that describes an event where someone or a group of people are killed or executed, usually publicly, as a means of deterrence?

A close candidate is a "scare tactic."

Thank you.


texts: Etymology of "crossgrained" (perverse, untractable)

texts:
A secondary meaning of crossgrained is

  "Perverse; untractable; contrary; difficult to deal with.  (eg) She was none of your crossgrained, termagant, scolding jades. - Arbuthnot."

What is the etymology of this usage, and when was the word first so used?

Note, crossgrained most commonly means "Having the grain or fibers run diagonally, or more or less transversely and irregularly, so as to interfere with splitting or planing".  That this is by far the most-common usage of the word can be seen via examples for crossgrained and cross grained from ngrams.  ngrams also shows that the form crossgrained is used far more often than either of the forms cross grained or cross-grained; but neither wiktionary nor etymonline includes crossgrained.


texts:
We can use will for both past and future assumptions. But how do we differentiate if it refers to past assurance or future possibility? For example:

  You will know all about Rachel, of course.

Now this conveys two possible meanings 1.) It is a past assumption and the speaker implies that the person knows about Rachel for sure. 2.) It could also mean that the person will know about Rachel at some point in the future.

Another example:

  He will have finished eating supper now.

So how do we know if it refers to the past or the future? Do we need to change our intonation while speaking?


texts: Is there a more sophisticated way of saying, "I would love to talk about that!"?

texts:
Recently, mentioned a hobby as I introduced myself in an online class, and someone responded by saying they had the same hobby.
The only reply I can think of is "I would love to talk about that!"
Is there another, more elegant, way of saying that?
Thank you in advance.


texts:
Is 'complimentative' a word? There are a bunch of definitions online but I couldn't find it in the British National Corpus or the OED (from searching oxforddictionaries.com).

Does this mean I should avoid it in academia/formal writing?


texts: A term for introductory phrases that qualify reality/veracity?

texts:
I'm examining a number of statements from people describing their views, and one notable trend is the use of qualifying phrases at the beginning of the sentence that specifically address the "truth," "reality," or non/factual nature of what the speaker/writer is saying. Examples include:

"To tell the truth,"
"In my opinion,"
"The truth is,"
"In all honesty,"
"Honestly,"

Is there a term for this specific type of introductory phrase, beyond simply calling them a "qualifying introductory phrase"?

** Edit **

I realize the above examples mainly focus on "truth" or "honesty" - a few other basic examples that come to mind are:

"Naturally,"
"Obviously,"

There is a hint of "disclaiming," but what I'm interpreting out of these types of introductory bits is that the speaker/writer is emphasizing how they perceive a certain level of "truth" or "reality" in what they are about to state, and that they assume the reader/audience will accept it as well (or will agree with them).


texts:
I'm developing an invoicing system, but I'm struggling to find the right terms to use. (The application itself is in another language, but the database terms are all in English.)

Customers get an invoice every January, with estimated costs for the services they will use.

Then, in December, they get an invoice with a correction (may be debit or credit).

I will define the first invoice as 'advance', but what would I call the second invoice? Settlement? I need to make this distinction, because the system has to take the advance payment in consideration when issuing a new (...) invoice.


texts:
What is a "treasure house" what is a "treasure house city"?
especially in this case: "One by one, the other great Muslim treasure-house  cities were annihilated "
Muslim treasure-house city?


texts: Words containing 2 overlapping standalone words

texts:
I'm looking for words that contain at least two other overlapping words. Word category or origin do not matter (in particular, constituent and containing terms may differ in these regards). Of course, convincing arguments why this quest is in vain or will only produce esoteric results are welcome, too, as are hints to suitable resources.

Background: work related to full text queries of a specialized search engine.

Examples:
Obviously, I haven't come up with any. grapefruit bat would be a candidate if it would exist ...


texts: Sayings similar to "a picture is worth a thousand words"

texts:
I' m looking for a common saying or catchphrase that has the same meaning as "a picture is worth a thousand words". I need this as a title for an article that illustrates that point in a specific context, but the original is obviously worn out.

EDIT To clarify: I'm trying to illustrate the point that it's easier to convince someone of a fact if you show them it, than if you just describe it.


texts: What is analogous of "chivalrous" for opposite gender?

texts:
chivalrous

Chivalrous is an adjective that is generally used for men. Is there an adjective that can be used to describe women in a similar fashion?


texts: Is there a word for someone who often takes remarks out of context in a negative manner

texts: My boyfriend often uses sarcasm or speaks in general terms. I have a tendency to take his remarks out of context and respond to them in a negative manner. Is there an adjective to describe this characteristic?


texts:
Is there something wrong with that sentence? It feels... redundant? "Clunky", for want of a better word?

I want to say something along the lines of "I am at a loss for words, in every definition of the phrase", though perhaps in not as many words. Is that the correct use for "literally"?


texts: Word to refer to computers as opposed to consoles

texts:
I'm looking for a word that you'd use to refer to all computers that distinguishes them from gaming consoles.  The word "computer" is too general - that would include servers and other industrial machines - and technically consoles as well.  I could go with "home computer" or "personal computer", but I'd like to find a single word that works.  My gut tells me that "PC" fits the bill, but most people who see "PC" associate it with one running some version of Windows - Mac and Linux machines are not included (even though they do meet the original definition of "personal computer").  I thought "desktop" would be a good word, but it excludes laptops and tablets.  It's specifically needed relating to games.  For the opposite, there's one word: "console" is generally considered to include all versions of XBox, Playstation, and Nintendo (and Sega, Atari, etc. if you go back far enough).  What I'm looking for is the opposite.  The sentence is:

  More and more, game consoles are starting to resemble ___s, with internal hard drives, network connections, etc.


texts: Term for when a reader strongly predicts an outcome simply because the story would seemingly fail if it went differently

texts:
When discussing, say, predictions for the ending of a novel, I've often heard logic along the lines of:

  This character must survive, because if (s)he doesn't, the story would be [depressing/underwhelming/meaningless/etc.].

Is there an English term for this? I was thinking it could be some form of prediction, expectation or perhaps "predestination", but I can't find a logical adjective to add to refer to this specific form. Note that I am not looking for a description of the validity of this technique, just the usage itself.


texts:
What is the difference between smart and clever?

As far as I understand the latter is offensive. But the Cambrige Dictionary gives similar definitions of smart and clever.


texts:
Here's the test:
We hope you will be able to pass the __________ examination (speak).

I'm confused with those two words: "spoken exam" and "speaking exam". I know they say "spoken English exam" and "speaking exam". But I'd like to ask if people will ever use the phrase "spoken exam" or not.I've already ask people on forum.wordreference.com and they chose "spoken", but I want to check once more time. Please give out your opinion and by the way, it would be great if you could show any reliabe source (so I can show it for my teacher).

Thanks you for reading.


texts: Correct grammar: design, or are designing

texts:
I'm writing my thesis but am not sure what the correct grammar is in the following sentence and why it is the correct grammar:

  People that are designing something.

or

  People that design something.


texts: What is it called when a highly respected person commits an immoral act but people don't believe that he committed the act?

texts:
I was wondering. It just came up. It has no real world relevancy. An example:

  A highly respected businessman commits child abuse and one day his
  wife finds out about it. She shares what she had found out about with
  the circles of the businessman. But they don't think he's guilty or
  that he would commit such an act. Similarly the man easily slips,
  without getting dirt on his coat and with pride.

Is the situation I stated has a definitive word for it? Is there a word for the attitude of the man and/or his circle?


texts: How to describe the phenomenon of "small" people being ignored on the Internet

texts:
I live by Internet, as both a user and a developer. This dual role gives me a chance to observe.

Every time I try to ask something in communities like StackOverflow, I always pick words carefully and provide sufficient information, hoping that my questions will be answered in a short time. But even so, sometimes my questions still get ignored.

Maybe StackOverflow, or even the whole Internet, is too big a world, filled by floods of information. Small people try to fit in, but end up being swallowed by Twitter and Facebook, without even a sound.

So, enough of complaining, I just want to know: Is there a word or a phrase to describe this phenomenon where people find themselves lost in the the great Information Age, ignored by others?


texts: Is there a connection between the words "illicit" and "elicit"?

texts: The words "illicit" and "elicit" seem to be spelled and pronounced similarly, although their meanings appear different. Is this a coincidence or is there a connection between the two words?


texts:
I was watching The Simpson series. In season 7, episode 12, Bart exposes a t-shirt on which the phrase "DOWN WITH HOMEWORK" is written. Then the entire students in the classroom start a riot all of a sudden.

What does this phrase mean? Why does it start a school riot?


texts: Is there a single verb or expression that means "to [gather|aggregate] and then arrange/filter"?

texts:
Let's say I am collecting information on a topic 'a' from different sources (1, 2, 3).

Each source may give me one or more pieces of data: 1a, 1a', 2a, 2a', 2a'', 3a.

As I examine this data, I realise that some are more relevant than others, while some are completely irrelevant. I produce a final list of: 3a, 2a', 1a, 1a'.

Is there a single verb or expression that describes this process?


texts:
I'm looking for a word which describes an individual voting in a selfish way.

For example, if someone was to say 'I voted because the policy would work for me, I know it wouldn't work for the wider community'


texts:
Oxford Modern English Grammar (OMEG) by Bas Aarts has these passages on page 52:

  ...

  ...

  ...

  ...

Sentence (40) is apparently taken from an Independent article "How Tuna Conquered the World". Two prior paragraphs along with Sentence (40) are shown here:

  Some populations, such as leatherback turtles, are being heavily
  damaged; pushed to the brink of extinction, even though they are not
  being hunted. Purse seine boats that drop giant drawstring nets in
  tuna areas, and "long-liners" which sink lines of up to 80km, hooked
  with bait, are the biggest by-catch culprits.

  Conservationists say pole and line fishing, where boats drops bait
  into the sea and fishermen claw the tuna into the boat (avoiding other
  species), are "cleaner" methods.

  In a report from Greenpeace last year, and still available online,
  retailers and canning companies were ranked in order of their
  tuna-fishing policies. Sainsbury, Co-op and Marks & Spencer came top;
  Princes and John West – most of whose was from purse seiners – came
  bottom.

Sentence (40) from OMEG is the same as the last paragraph shown above.

Is this "independent" use of whose grammatical?
If so, is it natural English or should tuna be added after whose as follows to make it more natural?

  In a report from Greenpeace last year, and still available online,
  retailers and canning companies were ranked in order of their
  tuna-fishing policies. Sainsbury, Co-op and Marks & Spencer came top;
  Princes and John West – most of whose tuna was from purse seiners – came
  bottom.


texts: I'm looking for the origin of the term or nick-name "Craney-Crow." There are other spellings, but this turns up as the name of a character in the "Uncle Remus" stories. I'm wondering if it originated elsewhere, was part of an earlier slave tale upon which Harris based his stories, or if it goes further back, maybe to an African folktale. Thank you!


texts: Can a sentence have two ing-verbs in a row?

texts:
Perhaps I've got the wrong idea, but I've been taught that two verbs ending in -ing shouldn't go together. However, I come across such cases occasionally.

*I'm considering buying a new car.
I'm practicing playing the piano.
He is finishing saying his prayers at the moment.*

So, is it grammatically correct to put one -ing after another?


texts: Non-standard sentence construction with "there is no"

texts:
I have just come across this very unusual construction, in my view at least. Is it correct and if yes, what grammar rules apply here? I would really appreciate it if anyone could help me with this and refer me to proper English grammar and usage references on this. Thanks a lot in advance!

"The main conclusion of this study was that there is no one, or five, or even ten such failures which, once removed, would boost the development of the sub-sector."


texts:
I'm working on a website and want to have a short mention of the copyright of said website in its footer. What is the recommended formatting for such a thing?

I've seen "© YYYY Company", "© Company, YYYY", and other formats.

Do any style guides have recommendations for this? I'd be interested in the Chicago Manual of Style in particular, as that's the one I'm most comfortable with.


texts: "Happy Birthday sir!" or "Happy Birthday, sir!"?

texts:
Which one is grammatically correct?

Happy Birthday sir!
Happy Birthday, sir!

And where should I put "sir" in this sentence?

Congratulations for completing another trip around the sun!

Also suggest the position of the exclamation mark. Is it necessary or not?


texts:
I'm searching for an American English phrase that is the most readily equivalent to the British expression bog standard (which means, as I understand, plain, ordinary or unremarkable).

I'm tempted to use run of the mill or out of the box but these don't really have quite the same flavor as bog standard.

No need for an etymology lesson, here. But I would appreciate any synonymous phrasings, especially for those with a bit more humorous flair.

Edit:

For to provide context as to assist I present the usage:

  My bog standard stepmother, Rose, in her inaugural summer as my de facto parent made it known with little uncertainty that the absolute last thing she wanted while school was out of session was for me to be within 50 miles of her teenage daughter.

In this case I'm intending bog standard to mean something of standard issue; I'm trying to say that my stepmother is a stereotypical archetype. I like bog standard but I am afraid that a wider American audience will be unfamiliar with the phrase.

Edit #2:

For to clarify in a manner that furthers understanding:

There are a lot of phrases on both sides of the Atlantic that mean plain, boring, unexciting, standard or average. But bog standard has a special flavor all it's own. It has this special, subtle knock to it.

To sort-of clarify the matter so you know what I want, I want the reader in just one or two (or three) words get the feeling that she is a straight from The Brothers Grimm standard issue stepmother. She might as well have come stock from the Acme Stepmother Factory in a wooden crate marked "Contents: One Stepmother. Fragile. This Side Up.". I want it to be like I'm standing in line being handed the contents of my life: One childhood, pleasant, check; One adolescence, awkward, check; One stepmother, standard issue, check. I want one small phrase that captures this whole concept, packs it in a nice little box, puts a nice little bow on it and then hands it to the reader.

That's not too much to ask, is it?


texts: Can I leave out the word "of" in a situation like "all of his works"?

texts:
Sorry if this has been asked before, but it's kind of hard to search for the word "of".

Is it grammatically correct to say "I'm not familiar with all his works.", or is it necessary to say "I'm not familiar with all of his works."


texts: Writing Time at the Beginning of a Sentence

texts:
I'm a court reporter and can't move words around.   Writing out "Three o'clock" at the beginning of a sentence is a given.    What to do when the time is 3:01?   And the zero creates an additional question.
Q.  What time did you get to the store?
A.  3:01.
A.  Three oh one.
Preemptive strike:
A.  Three zero one.  (Can't do this.  It's not verbatim.)
A general rule would be appreciated.  My reference book has the easy answers, but this rule is not addressed.  Couldn't find anything online.


texts: Word to describe someone who wants something but doesn't ask for it

texts:
I want a word to describe someone that doesn't ask for something. However, they drop hints they want it.

For example: a kid keeps saying "it's too high up I can't reach it"
Instead of asking for help

Or

Saying you were sick last week  and don't want to get sick again so your friend closes the window instead of asking for him/her to close it


texts: Is "per person per comment" preferable to "per person, per comment"?

texts:
A piece of legislation can read either "Each Senator is allotted seven minutes per person per comment" or "Each Senator is allotted seven minutes per person, per comment". Are both congruent with standard English usage? Is one preferable to the other?

I would be grateful for sources informing answers.


texts: Is posh English an accent/dialect or a style/manner of talking?

texts:
When mentioning posh English, everybody thinks about the way royal people talk. Is it a specific dialect/accent or the style of talking of posh people?

For example, one characteristic of posh English is talking slow.

Are the characteristics of posh English, posh Scottish, posh American, and posh Australian the same?


texts: Can a person perform 'for' a domain or only 'in' a domain?

texts:
Here's the original sentence:

  The person showed competence and mastery over the achievement domain for which she performed.

Other issues aside, the phrase "the achievement domain for which she performed" troubles me. I want to change it to "the achievement domain in which she performed."

Yes, no, or ixnay-moxnay; and why?

=== Update ===
The context is an intercollegiate sport performed in (for example) NCAA Division I; and the sport could be anything: basketball, volleyball, swimming, or some other sport.


texts: The difference between two statements [PUNCTUATION]

texts:
Sentence 1:
A is friend of B who is eating an apple.

Sentence 2:
A is friend of B , who is eating an apple.

In which Sentence it can be said that A is eating apple?
Does the usage of comma change the context of who is eating apple?


texts: What is the origin of the personal pronouns I, you, he, she, it, we, and they?


texts: slang for the litteral translation "Have you become human?"

texts: I'm doing an English subtitle for my short film. There's this scene where a notorious character is trying to act like a good person but another guy who's used to know him tells sarcastically [a literal translation] "Have you become a human?" What is a good slang/expression for such a


texts: Correct way of linking arabic numerals and their written-out variants (in official documents)*

texts:
In official documents, numbers are first written in arabic numerals, and then they are immediately written out with words. This is to make certain no fraud can be made. (I assume.) What is the correct way of doing this? The two forms have to be linked with a word, don't they?

Example: "$1234... one thousand two hundred thirty four dollars"

In place of the dots, should you write "that is,"? (Putting a comma between the arabic numerals and "that", like so: "$1234, that is, one thousand two hundred thirty four dollars".)

Should I just put the written-out variant in parenthesis?

Example: "$1234 (one thousand two hundred thirty four dollars)"

I hope my question is clear. :)

*If a separate rule is valid in non-official documents, please be so kind as to explain that as well.


texts: Meaning of "That's gonna leave one helluva scar"

texts:
What does

  That's gonna leave one helluva scar

mean? Does helluva stand for a hell off a?


texts:
Wiktionary and etymonline show a different etymology for the noun wimple  (which has senses including “A cloth which usually covers the head...” and  “A ripple, as on the surface of water”) than Wiktionary shows for the verb wimple (which has senses including “To cover with a wimple” and “To cause ... to ripple or undulate [eg] The wind wimples the surface of water”).  From Wiktionary:

  Etymology 1 [noun]
  From Middle English wimpel, from Old English wimpel (“veil, an article of women's dress; a covering for the neck, a cloak, a hood”), from Proto-Germanic wimpilaz (“wimple, scarf, veil”). ...

  Etymology 2 [verb]
  From Middle English wimplen (“to cover, conceal; to fold, drape”)

Because Middle English wimpel and wimplen are so much alike, I assume they have a common ancestor, perhaps wimpilaz, perhaps something older.  What is that ancestor, if any?  Is there a better and more complete etymology for the verb wimple?


texts:
I want to use the slogan "Takes your ... to the sky/skies" for an upcoming software-as-a-service (SAAS) platform.

What would be better English:

Takes your ... to the sky

or

Takes your ... to the skies

Thanks!


texts:
The (U.S.) National Institutes of Health website has a webpage that states that it contains

  reports, data and analyses of NIH research activities

I feel as though this sounds awkward. Would "reports, data and analysis of NIH research activities" be better phrasing, or is the current one technically correct?


texts: Term for Multiple Similar/Redundant Adjectives

texts:
I've been searching fervently for a potentially fictitious term that I thought I came across a while ago for structures like:

  The weather that day was so bleak and dreary, all I wanted to do was stay indoors by the blazing fire, sipping a warm cup of hot cocoa.

Writers often describe things with multiple (frequently two) adjectives that don't really give any more information than just one adjective would.  I thought I encountered a word to describe this idea, but I'm not really sure.

I'm not looking for terms like pleonasm, redundancy, verbosity, etc., but something specific to this structure I am describing (could of course apply to adverbs instead of adjectives as well).


texts: Past Perfect question forms with 'before' etc

texts:
A part of an entry about Past Perfect (424.1) in Swan's Practical English Usage 3rd Ed states that the past perfect is not necessary in the cases where we use conjunctions (e.g. after, as soon as) and are not 'going back' from the time that we are mainly talking about, unless we want to emphasise the separation of two actions. So something like 'After it got dark, we came back inside.' is OK.

Sadly the book's got no example of a question using the past perfect this way. I doubt if we NEED to use the past perfect when we ask questions like 'Had you visited there before that trip ?' Is it also possible to say 'Have you ever visited there before that trip ?'

And for 'Had you read the instructions before you turned the device on ?' Does 'Did you read the instructions before you turned the device on ?' sound good ?

Are there any differences in the meanings of them ?

My understanding now is that they all are not wrong but when using the past simple form, we just don't emphasise that the actions are separated, one finished before another.


texts: The best way to say that a certain fee is over the price?

texts:
We have a certain CAP fee e.g. $1000. What is the best way to say that if you add e.g. $100 to this fee that it will be over the price.

"If you add this billing the CAP fee will be surmounted with ... dollars."
"If you add this billing the CAP fee will be overreached with ... dollars."

Or any other suggestions are welcome. Thanks.


texts: Should I put myself last? "me and my friends" vs. "my friends and me" or "my friends and I"

texts:
I've always been taught to put myself last when referring to myself in the same sentence as others but the usage of "me and..." seems to be everywhere these days. The misuse of the word "me" instead of "I" aside, is there some new rule I haven't heard of? Shouldn't we put ourselves last regardless of the "me"/"I" usage?

Examples of "correct" usage:

  My friends and I went for some ice
  cream. Did you see my friends and me
  at the ice cream stand?

Examples of "incorrect" usage:

  Me and my friends went for some ice
  cream. Did you see me and my friends
  at the ice cream stand?

Note: I was also taught that the only person who could put themselves first was the queen.


texts: What is the usage of "of" in this sentence?

texts:
What is the usage of the 2nd "of" in this sentence?

  the duration of the x-ray pulse can be of picosecond duration

Why is it not be this?

  the duration of the x-ray pulse can be picosecond

Is there a difference in the meaning between the two?
Thanks in advance


texts: The colloquialism "good going!", said as a praise, uses the adjective "good" in reference to the verb "going". Shouldn't the adverb "well" be used instead? Why not?


texts: What umbrella word would apply for training, event, competition, besides event?

texts:
I am working with a legacy software project that already uses events as a category of [insert umbrella word here].
In order to have clarity of naming variables and classes, it would be perfect if I could use another umbrella word other than event to describe all three types: training, event, competition.


texts: Where does the phrase "dead simple" originate?

texts: It feels like there should be a story behind it, or perhaps a type of slang, but I can't find anything in various Web searches.


texts:
According to Cambridge Dictionary,

  with a singular day of the week to refer to one occasion:

  I’ve got to go to London on Friday.

  with a plural day of the week to refer to repeated events:

  The office is closed on Fridays. (every Friday) In informal
  situations, we often leave out on before plural days:

  Do you work Saturdays?

I’ve got to go to London on Friday.=I’ve got to go to London this/next Friday.

The office is closed on Fridays.=The office is closed every Friday.

However, I would think that "in July" or "in Winter" can be used for both cases "one occasion" & "repeated events", but I am not so sure.

Example 1:

I’ve got to go to London in July.=I’ve got to go to London this July.
The office is closed in July.=The office is closed every July.

Example 2:

I’ve got to go to London in Winter.=I’ve got to go to London this Winter.
The office is closed in Winter.=The office is closed every Winter.

We have "on Monday" for 1 occasion & "on Mondays" for repeated events, can we have similar patterns for "in July" or "in Winter"?

For example, can we say the following?

The office is closed in Winters / in Julies.=The office is closed every Winter / every July.


texts: How to interpret combinations of "value(s) of measurement(s)"

texts:
I can never be quite sure how to choose between the four combinations of phrases of the form "value(s) of measurement(s)".

In my specific case, I am writing about measuring multiple values from multiple sensors, such as measuring the temperature in different rooms in a house multiple times during the day.

For example, which one is more appropriate to say?

"I measured the temperature of all rooms in the house"
"I measured the temperatures of all rooms in the house"

The two other combinations may not make much sense in the above case, I had other cases where I had to consider all four combinations.


texts:
Are əʊ and oʊ the same?
For example are the following pairs pronounced the same:

/ɡrəʊ/ vs /ɡroʊ/ (grow)

/nəʊ/  vs /noʊ/ (no   )

Is there any difference in pronunciation?


texts:
I am opening a new website for a construction company, and I can’t decide between www.x5houses.com and www.x5homes.com. Which one is better?

Does homes sound better? If so, how much better and why?


texts:
Is the place for the king/queen's feet on a throne called the 'threshold' of the throne?

The place for the feet can be seen in this picture:


texts:
A single t between vowels sounds like a d to me (or like an r in my language, Brazilian Portuguese).

May I say the tt spelling the same way, or does that only work for a single t?


texts: Do vulgarity and linguistic flexibility actually correlate?

texts:
Regarding “fuck”, Wikipedia states:

  [it] has a very flexible role in English grammar, which stems from its vulgarity;

  the more vulgar a word is, the greater its linguistic flexibility.

I wonder if this was true. (Of course, it was just some user who wrote that.)

However, “fuck” has an impressively versatile applicability—even in other languages. But “cunt”, for instance, is surely even more obscene. And I don’t think it’s anything like “fuck” when it comes to figurative portability.

Is there some truth in the above quoted statement? Or does “vulgar” in this case mean “common” instead of “obscene”?


texts: "5 slices of cheese" what word describes the "slices" part

texts:
In a list of ingredients you'd have something like the following :

5 grams of flour
2 cups of lemon juice
10 slices of meat

What word would you use to describe 'grams', 'cups' and 'slices' in the previous examples?
My thoughts:
Unit
This works well for grams and fluid oz but doesn't seem right when describing something like cups, slices or bunches although that might just be me.
Measure (n)
Measure to me sounded unique enough but can get confused with the verb form as well as a measure used in cocktail making.
Measurement
This seemed more appropriate for something that you'd measured, the thing that you measured is a measurement.


texts: Use of comma in separating ideas in a phrase

texts:
I ran into an interesting grammatical question while coding yesterday.  We were doing a change to some in-app text, on a page where checks that are no longer valid are registered.

The original text read "Stopped/Voided Checks", because the reason for checks to be stopped is because they have been voided, so the two words are connected in meaning (some checks that are stopped are stopped for different reasons, but they both fall under the same category for our app's purposes)

As part of the change, we also have to include forged checks on this page, so my boss instructed me to change the text to "Stopped/Voided, Forged Checks".

However, I contended that "Stopped/Voided and Forged Checks" seems more gramatically correct.

It also occurs to me that "Stopped/Voided Forged Checks" could be used, or "Stopped/Voided, and Forged Checks".

Which of these instances are most proper?  I'm in favor of "Stopped/Voided and Forged Checks" personally, because it reflects the inclusion of both Stopped/Voided AND Forged checks, but I am not certain that this is correct.


texts: Is "cannot reasonably be misunderstood" proper english and what does it mean

texts:
I am struggling with the phrase "... cannot reasonably be misunderstood.", where you may substitute "..." with "The text".

Google returns only a few matches for the phrase and to me (being a non-native English speaker) it looks strange, but I could not pinpoint the problem.

Is it correct and does it mean about "It is not plausible that the text can be misunderstood", or something else?


texts:
I wonder if "for 50 years" has the same meaning with "over 50 years" ?

Anyone who can help is highly appreciated.


texts: When did the word "so" begin to be used to start a sentence?

texts:
In the last few years, I've noticed a growing usage of the word "so" to begin a sentence, especially in the context of higher education.

For example:

Interviewer: "What is the nature of your research"

Researcher: "So, what we wanted to find out is..."

It seems to be a replacement the word "well", or, more informally, "ok".  Has this usage of the word been around for a long time and I'm just now noticing it?  Do you think that is a valid use of the word?


texts: How do you reconcile these definitions of the word 'cynical'?

texts:
From the Google Search dictionary (similar definition at oxforddicationaries):

  1.believing that people are motivated purely by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.

  2.concerned only with one's own interests and typically disregarding accepted standards in order to achieve them.

Isn't it slightly contradictory that one can be, according to these definitions, 'cynical of people because they are cynical'?

Another way of saying it is, 'I distrust the integrity of others' motives [I am cynical] because they are unscrupulously self-interested[they are cynical]'.


texts: What is some literature you would recommend to improve my conversational and word association skills?

texts: What books could help me improve my wit and verbal skills and become a better conversationalist?


texts: A word to describe punishing a person(s) or group for having different beliefs?

texts:
I am currently writing a paper which is based on different perspectives involving the current "War on Drugs" policy and compare them to similar policies of the past where individuals were imprisoned, punished, or killed for having a different belief. The point I am trying to make in one section is that current policies protect individuals who support the prohibition while those who oppose prohibition are often punished unjustly.

I cannot seem to find a word that describes punishing/imprisoning a group of people for having a different belief.

I guess it would be 'discrimination' but far more severe.


texts: What are the proper punctuations required in the stylistic phrasing: "from [location] to [location]; from [else] to [where]"?

texts:
How do I properly punctuate this?

I was abroad to accomplish these tasks – from Denver to Paris where my brother is, from Milan to Seoul to see my friends.


texts: When do I use -i for expressing the plural of a word?

texts:
I've never been certain of the rules surrounding the use of the -i suffix for pluralizing a word. I had thought that it was used for any word whose singular ended in an 's', but that doesn't appear to always be true.

For example, the plural of octopus can be written octopi. But the plural of chorus seems to always be choruses, never chori.

When is it proper to use an -i for pluralization?


texts:
Should "on point" and "spot on" be hyphenated in predicative position? I think the hyphen, in these cases, makes it clearer for the reader; do you agree with the hyphens in the four examples below?

He was spot-on.
He was spot-on with his advice.

He was on-point.
He was on-point with his advice.

Thank you.


texts:
I would like to know which one is correct, "She is not yet here." or "She is not here yet."
Or are they both correct?


texts: Question about the main clause of conditionals

texts: I know the four types of conditionals. In the if clause, I know that “if” could be replaced by “when” and “should”. On the other hand, I do not know if this would be possible with the main clause. Can we replace the word “would” with other words, like “should or “could”?


texts: "New lease of life" vs "new lease on life"

texts: I have encountered both forms of the idiom new lease of life and new lease on life. Is there an interesting story behind the difference?


texts: Is there a dictionary with phonemic transcription for different dialects?

texts:
Sometimes I am not sure how a Northerner says "Winter is coming".

I searched on the Internet but nothing showed up. I wonder if you know there is a dictionary (online or offline) that simply contains phonemic transcription for different English dialects.


texts: "Attempts to acquaint" vs. "attempts at acquainting"

texts:
The research study is an eye-opener and attempts to
  acquaint/attempts at acquainting us with the problems of poor
  nations.

For me, attempts to acquaint sounds more apt. But I am not sure about the latter one. Also, in my answer sheet, the latter one is given as the right answer. But I have heard phrases like attempt to murder.  Could anyone explain the correct usage?


texts: "I had to ..." but "I haven't had to ..."

texts:
I've heard a sentence like this:
"I had to go to the doctor" for an obligation in the past.
I would have expected:
"I hadn't to go to the doctor" for the negative form, but I heard:
"I haven't had to go to the doctor"
why?
Best


texts:
What is the grammatical name and function for the highlighted clause?

When we were about half-way through, I suddenly put my hand upon her arm, for I had heard in the silent frosty air a sound that brought my heart into my mouth—the tap-tapping of the blind man's stick upon the frozen road. It drew nearer and nearer while we sat holding our breath.
Treasure Island, ch. 4.

Is it adverbial clause or adjectival clause?


texts: "Both of" vs. just "both" with mathematical symbols

texts:
In mathematical writing we use letters to denote the mathematical objects we are writing about.  I wonder how to use "both of" in the following phrase:

  Both of I and I' are irreducible ideals.

vs.

  Both I and I' are irreducible ideals.

I am writing in American English. More abstractly, should I treat mathematical symbols as nouns?


texts: "Technology" or "information technology"?

texts: When generalizing about computers, the internet, software, smart phones and other gadgets, is it best to use just "technology" or be more specific with "information technology"?  Humans have been developing and using technology for thousands of years, and its applications are quite diverse, including medical technology, military technology and so forth.  There is so much popular interest in computers that "technology" or "tech" often is currently used as a shorthand for that one aspect.  Shorter is usually better, but I wonder if is an oversimplification.


texts: Meaning of trifling, petty and picayune when describing a person

texts:
What do trifling, petty and picayune mean when describing a person? According to dictionaries I looked at, they all mean worthless and trivial, but then following sentence does not make sense to me. I also found picayune has a meaning of "carping or prejudiced", which I still can't fit it into the sentence.

Can someone explain what do they mean exactly in this sentence? As far as I understand the logic of the sentence, the words picayune in the sentence should have a meaning similar to "contrary to the rules" but I just can't find any definition similar to that.

The sentence:

English teachers are notorious for being picayune(trifling, petty); however, the English language is so nuanced and sophisticated that often such teachers are not being contrary but are only adhering to the rules.


texts: What is the analog equivalent of 'digitally'?

texts:
In electronics, we can solve a problem digitally or analoguely ?

That doesn't sound right, but surely there must be a word I can use?

Update: some definitions:

digitally: Relating to or being a service that provides information expressed in discrete numerical form.

analoguely: Relating to or being a service that provides information expressed in continuous, non-discrete form. (This is my made up definition of a word I made up).

analogously: Similar or alike in such a way as to permit the drawing of an analogy.

As you can see, the word analogously doesn't mean the opposite of digitally, it means something else.