texts: Parentheses instead of dashes: Is it required that the sentence will have the meaning with the "dashed" part omitted?

texts:
Else If and Else after jump statements

Each guard must be a separate If with no Else If or Else.
Otherwise—i.e., when a jump statement belongs to “normal” code and not a guard—Else If and Else must be used regardless of its presence.

The meaning of the second list item is that Else If and Else must be used regardless of whether the jump statement exists or not.
If the reader will skip the part inside the dashes, the meaning will be lost:

Otherwise, Else If and Else must be used regardless of its presence. (The presence of what?)

And this is why I use dashes and not parentheses. However, I'm still not sure whether it's correct.


texts: "yeah I've heard it all before" or "yeah right"

texts:
I'm struggling to think of a word to use for the title phrases.
The context would be someone promising to do something and it being met with the answer "yeah right" or "yeah I've heard it all before"
So I want to finish the sentence - This was initially met with ----


texts: "Shot dead" v/s unfortunate or sudden demise

texts: Is it possible to use the word "shot dead" for unfortunate or sudden demise of a person not due to a gun shot?


texts: Why do we no longer refer to Muslim and Hindu women as being 'in Purdah'?

texts:
The term purdah is used metaphorically in Britain for anyone who stays out of sight. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is said to go into purdah (away from the press)before he delivers his annual budget statement.

But although there are many Indian, Pakistani, and Arabic women who wear the full hijab, (facial covering), in Britain, I never hear them referred to as in purdah.

In former times when Britain governed the sub-continent, purdah was an important part of the language, referring to the practice of women over the age of puberty remaining out of sight of men, other than their immediate family.


texts: What are the differences between the following sentences containing "surprised"?

texts:
I have written four similar sentences using surprised:

  I was deeply surprised at the news.
  I was deeply surprised at learning the news.
  I was deeply surprised at being told the news.
  I was deeply surprised to learn the news.

It seems certain that 1 and 4 are grammatically right and smooth. What I'd like to know is whether 2 and 3 are commonly used in daily life.

If there is a difference between 1 and 2, what is it? Or are they just the same?


texts:
How can I use a dash to correctly connect two and thoughts in a sentence? Is the following sentence correct with the dash in from or should I remove it?

  An S database allows access from – and can be opened by multiple applications at the same time.

I am not familiar with the English grammar jargon and don't know how to properly call what I am attempting to do with that dash.

Although I still want to learn about the dash, would the following alternative sentence be correct?

  An S database allows access from, and can be opened by, multiple applications at the same time.


texts: How is this couplet to be interpreted grammatically?

texts:
What follows are two couplets from the final stanza of the poem 'And thou art dead as young and fair' by Lord Byron. I wish to ask how the word 'thus' is being used here.
Yet how much less it were to gain
Though thou hast left me free
The loveliest things that still remain
Than thus remember thee


texts:
Which word or phrase to use instead of "Ray of Hope" ?

EDIT : In a general context.

Suppose there is one line - There is a Ray Of Hope in darkness always.


texts: Term for emergent system with its own logical rules/laws?

texts:
Eigenlogik in German means that a subsystem has its own set of rules determining its phenomenological behavior. E.g. in sociology, a social group of humans shows a group behavior based on rules/laws of psychology. You can't derive it from the underlying physical laws of atoms and molecules that comprise humans. So an Eigenlogik often occurs in emergent systems.

The German eigen- as a prefix in English is quite common. Eigenvectors, -matrices.

Is there a special analogon or should one use simply eigenlogic, maybe intrinsic/immanent/inherent logic?


texts: The difference between "quite" and "enough"

texts:
Is there any difference between "quite" and "enough"? Please suggest the proper usage.

  I'm not quite happy.

vs

  I'm not happy enough.


texts:
I just encountered this sentence in the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Why is it grammatical? I am just not sure why there could be no conjunction between the two subjects it and he.

  And, it being low water, he went out with the tide.


texts: What is the difference between "electric" and "electrical" and their usage?

texts:
What is the difference between electric and electrical and their usage?

For example, what is the difference between "electrical machine" and "electric machine"?


texts:
Life is not black and white. There seldom is a definitive right or wrong. We need to learn to live in the gray. We need to consider and take aspects from each side in order to make practical life choices.

What's another expression or idiom for telling someone to "live in the gray"? Preferably one that is also only a few words long.


texts:
I just read this comic in which one person says:

"And no discount for validation"

I understand each single word in that sentence, but the meaning itself is unclear. A discount is a reduction in price; a validation is the assurance of something;


texts: ESL text: "I notice similarities between myself and . . . ": Acceptable use of reflexive pronoun?

texts:
In an ESL class, a student asked a difficult question about the use of “myself” in the following sentence:

  I notice similarities between myself and other people more than
  differences.

(Speak Out, Upper Intermediate, p. 13, Exercise 11C, Pearson Longman, 2011)

She said that she had been taught in Japan that it should “me” here. And, as a native speaker, I also feel it should be “me,” but then, I am not an ESL expert like the people at Pearson Longman.

To me, the sentence seems to not be a case of an actual reflexive pronoun, such as “I see myself in the mirror,” but to border on hypercorrection such as “come have a drink with my husband and myself.”

However, this structure, whether or not hypercorrection, does seem do have many users. Here are some Google hit numbers.

  "similarities between me and"

45K

  "similarities between myself and"

17K

What explanation can I provide?  Are both her previously learned rules and my native intuition incorrect? Or is something odd about the sentence from Pearson Longman? Or are all of these views correct?


texts:
Sentence: My friendly but silly, creepy but inviting neighbor waited for me in the parking lot.

My concern was whether I needed some hyphens for the modifiers  in "friendly but silly" and "creepy but inviting."


texts: Look at this "double" list - is it correct?

texts:
"the article demonstrated that managers often utilize insight, vision, and intuition, rather than statistics, factual details, and reports."

I used this sentence. I wanted to know if this kind of "double" list is acceptable in English writing. It seems pretty legitimate, but I wanted to try and find the official answer.


texts: A word that describes a meeting of 9 people?

texts:
I have heard a word before that describes a meeting of 9 people.

It could also be a governing body or syndicate that specifically consists of 9 people.

I can't remember it for the life of me.


texts:
When a child inherits something from their parent, we say that the child Inherited that something. That's the child's perspective.

What is the word from the parent's perspective?

I've thought of bestow upon, or to transfer something, or to have something inherited by, but none of those convey the exact meaning - except for the last one of course, but that's way too cumbersome.

Note that I'm thinking of the general form of inheritance, as could be used, for example, in Object-Oriented programming; not necessarily limited to any biological children and parents, although answers specific to that situation are most welcome.


texts: Rewrite Sentences Ending with a preposition

texts:
How can I rewrite this to where it doesn't end with a preposition?

Background to the first example:

We developers try to figure out what platforms websites use. Examples of platforms are Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress, and others.

Example 1:

  "Built With" is a more modern tool to determine what websites are
  built with.

or perhaps this is a better example:

  Do you want to contribute to some publications on Medium.com? Super
  Meditor is the right website to go to.


texts: “Fadable” vs. “Fadeable”: which is preferred?

texts: This answer has some great insight on adding -able to the word "scrape". I'm wondering if there is any reason to use "fadable". "Fadeable" has a very clear pronunciation and is how I would guess it should be written because the e makes the a long. Am I missing anything?


texts: strange pronunciation of /t/ before the word "the"

texts:
This has been bothering me for a long time. I know there is “stop t”, as we find in the word:

wait

But I’m still not sure about the /t/ before the word the in these phrases:

lift the cat
trust the process

Is the t a stop t? It sounds strange or different to me.


texts:
I encountered a problem when I started to write a report including some notes on open source software.

The problem I have is if I can use open source as a verb like:

  We open sourced some software product.

How should this be written — I mean in one word or with hyphen, etc.? Is there a different way to express the same idea? Is there a standard English expression for this?


texts: I came across a long sentence followed by ellipses and the phrase "or so they say". Is the expression idiomatic?


texts: Does ‘profile’ have a meaning of ‘identify’ or “read” by appearance?

texts:
Time magazine (July 16) carries Maya Angelou’s comment on the Zimmerman Trial under the title, “Maya Angelou reacts to Zimmerman Trial, evokes Civil Rights era.”
http://swampland.time.com/2013/07/16/maya-angelou-reacts-to-zimmerman-trial-evoking-civil-rights-era/#ixzz2ZFi70AgH

It goes as follows;

  “Author, poet, and activist Maya Angelou was shaken by the verdict of
  the George Zimmerman trial, saying it shows “how far we have to go” as
  a country. “That one man, armed with a gun can actually profile a
  young man because he is black and end up shooting him dead…It is so
  painful,” Angelou said in an interview with TIME Monday.”

According to Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, ‘profile’ as a verb is only defined as;

to give or write a description of sb / stg that gives most important information.

Does the word, “profiles” have the meanings such as “identify" or "read" by figure and appearance, which I construe from the text, other than the OALD’s definition? Is it a prevailing usage? What does ‘profile’ here mean specifically?


texts:
Can the letter "y" be used to represent the "ee" sound in the middle of a name, like it is at the end of baby, lady or Lacy.

What I mean is, is it okay to spell Khaleesi as Khalysi etc.


texts:
I had an email forwarded to me and one of the sentences in it sounded kind of wrong...:

"It would be helpful if you can send me the agenda as 10am-3pm is quite a huge block of time for the students."

The words that sound wrong to me are in bold.

The email sounds formal, but I don't like how this part sounds. Is there a better way to phrase or better words to use in this case?


texts: Is there a word for the stone slab that lays horizontally on top of a grave? In the image it would be on the grave on the left.


texts: A word for a person who needs assistance?

texts:
What do you call a person who needs assistance in a general sense?

This could be in terms of needing help finding something, or needing a small job done, or help understanding something, or getting an opinion on something.

Pretty much just being helped or assisted in general, not necessarily due to an inability to do the task themselves.


texts:
I need to mark that someone made some effort to recommend third person services and it was something more than "he is good in that".

Checking a dictionary, much is an adverb meaning "to a great extent; a great deal"

Is the phrase "He the recommended you much" suitable for showing such praise? Is there a better way? If there is, why?


texts: Received Pronunciation and ambiguity (users vs uses)

texts:
Let us consider the following two sentences:

  These users of our app allowed us to find a few new uses for it.

and

  These uses of our app allowed us to find a few new users for it.

Both of them are syntactically correct, but have opposite meaning.

However, as far as I understand, in Received Pronunciation both users and uses should sound the same.

How could these two sentences be distinguished between each other when spoken by a Received Pronunciation speaker?


texts: Question about sentence structure in New York Times article

texts:
I'm reading a New York Times article, and I have a question about this paragraph:

  The point is that once you’ve made excuses for and come to the aid of a bad leader, it gets ever harder to say no to the next outrage. Republicans who defended Trump over the Muslim ban, his early attacks on the press, the initial evidence of collusion with Russia, have in effect burned their bridges. It would be deeply embarrassing to admit that the elitist liberals they mocked were right when they were wrong; also, nobody who doesn’t support Trump will ever trust their judgment or patriotism again.

My question is at the end of the paragraph. Who exactly is the "nobody" the author refers to? I'm not really sure what "nobody who doesn't support Trump..."
even means. Does this mean Trump supporters or people that don't support Trump?
Is this correct grammar?


texts:
I've been debating this for a while now with a comrade of mine. Wikipedia (and others) give "close helmet" as a type of medieval helmet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_helmet

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/close+helmet

My compatriot argues that, as-is, this doesn't make sense, that it should be either "closed helmet" (with an extra D) or "close-helmet" (hyphenated). I say "close helmet" is perfectly fine, and simple Google searches turn up more results for this form of it, but I can't find a convincing argument for why it is correct other than because it seems to be the most common usage.

My friend says that "close helmet" is only correct if "close" is an adjective, as in "she sat close to me", but that doesn't really make sense for a type of helmet, since ALL helmets can be considered "close" to one when worn.

Yet, using "close" as a verb ("I shall close the door") doesn't really make grammatical sense either. The defining feature of this type of helmet is that it can open and close (or it is related to the opening/closing; I'm not entirely sure of the details), so "close helmet" makes some kind of sense, but I don't know a grammatical construction that allows this.

Or is this just a relic of older English that has survived into the present?

At first, I was sure that "close helmet" was correct, but the more I think about it the more confused I make myself. Help?


texts:
Even if I can see why either should or should not be used in a particular sentence, I do not understand the actual difference between amid and among.
Can anybody tell me how these two words differ ?


texts:
I have read extensively concerning the rules governing that vs. which and felt I understood them until the following example.  I am operating under the assumption that "that" is used for restrictive clauses and "which" is used for non-restrictive clauses.  Despite this I am torn on the following example:

“Astronaut suits contain dozens of materials THAT separate an astronaut from space.”

It seems to me the phrase "separate an astronaut from space" is important to the meaning of the sentence, and therefore "that" should be used.  Is this correct?   How does one come to the correct conclusion in a short sentence like this?


texts: What's the word for someone who always likes being different?

texts:
...particularly with respect to the use of technology, taste in music, movies etc.

I have seen my share of people like this who like to go "alternative" just to set themselves apart and I would like to know if there's a word for them? I wouldn't mind a casual/Internet-born word either. Just need a term I can label them with in my book. :)

TIA

EDIT: I am looking for a word that's disapproving in nature. :)

EDIT 2: I am actually looking for a term that signifies "fake" in more particular terms with this scenario. Think about the people that only use Linux, only listen to Death Metal, only watch cult movies with the sole motive of being NOT mainstream. I am sorry that I didn't made myself clear enough.


texts: I have a question regarding the usage of the word "design". Which is correct when I'd like to say that I wrote the book for the people to learn English grammar quickly, (1)this book is designed to learn English quickly or (2)this book is designed for learning English grammar quickly?


texts: Which one is correct: "Used Credit" or "Credit Used"? The context is that you have a specific amount of credit limit and you want to say how much of that credit amount has been used.


texts:
How do you write "the clients (plural) needs? Is it the clients' needs?

Example sentence: "I utilized interpersonal skills to identify the clients' needs." Is this sentence correct?


texts: What is the adjective meaning "great in area"?

texts:
We have

length → long
volume → voluminous

But what is the corresponding adjective for "area"?

I've found "areal", but it seems that this means "pertaining to an area", rather than "having area" or "great in area".


texts:
If you have studied languages such as Japanese, you have probably encountered the symbol “○○”.
I am told that there are two purposes for “○○”.

To act as a placeholder for whatever word you like.
To partially or completely censor a word that may cause offence or copyright infringement.

Personally, for (1), I use “X” in English, because that is what people use in algebra. For (2), I use “****” in English, because that seems to be one of the ways to censor a word.
What symbols are customarily used for “○○” in English?
Edit:
Alright, let's try some examples.

「○○にお茶がありますか」(English: “Is there tea on the X?”)
「○○な場所がありますか」(English: “Is there a place where it is X?”)
「ウ○クの方の、中○、韓○嫌いは異常」(English: “The r-ers’ hatred toward Chi** and Ko*** is unusual.”)

I hope that helps!


texts: Please anyone tell me when we have to use "has been, have been , had been" and something  started in past and still continuing is it possible to use has been ?


texts: word for "make money off of an event or situation/use situation as an opportunity for personal gain"

texts:
I'm looking for a verb that has a similar meaning to monopolize, but in a different context. Specifically, a word that means to make money off of an event or situation/ to use the situation for personal gain. For example:

“Still, he shouldn’t monopolize our misfortune,” Mac replies.
“No, he shouldn’t,” Father answers.
“It’s not a tragedy to them. It’s a life-changing moment in history,” I add.
Father nods, agreeing with me. Mac sighs.

Because monopolize means:

to acquire, have, or exercise a monopoly of.
to obtain exclusive possession of; keep entirely to oneself:
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/monopolize?s=t

It does not fit properly in the sentence. What is another word I can use instead?
This question did provide a noun, but I need a verb that has a similar meaning, as opportunize is not a word.
(Onelook reverse dictionary provided no assistance)


texts: Is "to whom much is given, much will be expected" from Gorsuch's speech grammatical?

texts:
After Justice Gorsuch was sworn in, he gave a speech that included this line:

  And to the American people, I am humbled by the trust placed in me today. I will never forget that to whom much is given, much will be expected.  And I promise you that I will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the Constitution and laws of this great nation.

Source: Business Insider

While the intended meaning was clear, I contend that this is incorrect. I believe it should be: I will never forget that from whom much is given, much will be expected.

Both "it was given to him" and "it was given him" are acceptable. But it's not acceptable to drop the "from" in "it is expected from him."

Am I correct?


texts:
The following example sentence from Collins Dictionary seems to me perfectly natural and in line with the given definition of handy:

  3. A thing or place that is handy is nearby and therefore easy to get or reach.

  This lively town is handy for Londoners.

However, the phrase [the house is] handy for the shops (a lot of examples of which can be found by a Google search) seems semantically inverted with regard to the definition above: It is the shops that are handy and near the house which its residents can readily access the shop, not vice vera.

I know that nearness is usually a reciprocal relation*; However, as I mentioned earlier, the view point is different.

Am I correct in that respect? Is any rhetorical device at work here?

* Except when, for example, shops are at top of a hill above the house so that the house is, literally speaking, handy for the shops.


texts: Using "inter alia" in non-legal language?

texts:
I've been reading many opinions from the United State Supreme Court and discovered the phrase "inter alia," meaning "among other things."  I have not encountered this phrase outside of these opinions.

Is the phrase "inter alia" primarily localized to legalese?  Or would it be acceptable to use it in general writing?


texts:
I was reading this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2017/09/05/incredible-full-bloom-leaves-worlds-driest-desert-awash-color/
So, i notice, that the desert "bursts into life" after rain.
I would like to find a single word describing the phenomena or "bursting into life" ; or "to become abundant to life after a dry spell".
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.


texts: Regarding the questions: What do you call those divisions of a book bigger than a paragraph but smaller than a chapter?  Is not such a division best known as a PARICOPE from the Greek PARIKOPE or "a cutting around" as in the selection of a passage from the Bible in religious services?


texts: Is a music band a singular or a collective entity, grammatically speaking?

texts:
Duplicate:
Is the usage of “are” correct when referring to a team/group/band?

What is correct to say?

Korn* is a great band

OR

Korn* are a great band.

(* You can replace your favourite band's name here)
Of course everybody there is no doubt about the following sentences:

The Beatles are a great band
Led Zeppelin is a great band

But with certain kinds of names, the situation becomes difficult.

Metallica are a great band

OR

Metallica is a great band

Is there any consensus on this matter?


texts:
Is usage of near to wrong? For example, which is correct?

  This place is near to London.

  This place is near London.


texts: What is the function of the human and no in this sentence?

texts: a feral child is one who has had little or no human contact, thus she has no human language.


texts: as little as 1 day as an adjective object phrase of a preposition

texts:
You can get your money back in as little as 1 day!

It is a sentence I heard from an advertisement. Sadly, I cannot tell if this is what the advertisement said, for I did not pay much attention to this till now.

If you see the "as little as 1 day" part, you can easily infer that it is the object of the preposition "in", meaning "as little as 1 day" should be a noun. However, I find that hard to believe. First, let me make this clear that I do not have any specific, credible information that can back up my own theory.

But I think that, as this "as little as 1 day" is an adjective phrase that has to compare 1 day with some other period of time, a noun should be present before "as little as 1 day" in this form.

  You can get your money back in some period of time as little as 1
  day!

Well, it doesn't sound brilliant but seems to convey the meaning.

I know that not putting noun before the adjective phrase "as little as 1 day" is fine, but it feels strange, when I think logically, to perceive an adjective phrase as the object of a preposition (in this case, in).

So, what type of grammar rule or anything of sort licenses this?


texts: What would you call a person who doubts his wife's character?

texts:
A cynic or a skeptic? or something else?
I am trying to learn the differences between the two words.


texts: Has anybody ever heard of the phrase 'titty flo'? My gran from Oldham used it as a subsitute for 'madam' when I was a little girl, i.e come on titty flo, lets go now..


texts: Use of "submitting" or "submit" in sentence

texts:
Why is submitting used instead of submit in the sentence below from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codebase?

  They are often used by multi-developer projects to handle various versions and developers submitting various patches of code in an organized fashion.


texts:
Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

"When travelling in Australia, guidance is advised."

It seems to me the subject is not matching the verb, as if "guidance is travelling".


texts:
What do we exactly mean when we say that we came to do something? Consider these two sentences:

  I authored a book on peace.
  I came to author a book on peace.

Does the second sentence mean that I didn't know that I would author a book, but it turned out that I did?


texts: What is correct "Blazing Fast Speed" or "Blazingly Fast Speed"?

texts:
Which is correct? "Blazing Fast Speed" or "Blazingly Fast Speed"?

In my opinion, the latter because one can't say, for one, "Amazing Fast Speed", right?

Admittedly NY Times use it a lot but...:

NY Times search for 'blazing fast' (via Google)


texts: Use of "now" and "therefore" in contract preambles

texts:
Here's an example from the Merriam-Webster dictionary of a typical use of the word whereas:

  Whereas you chose to participate in this stupid prank, you will be held responsible as well.

(this is one of the two different meanings of the word.)

In the preambles of contracts, however, I often see two additions to such sentences. The first is the use of therefore:

  Whereas you chose to participate in this stupid prank, therefore you will be held responsible as well.

This seems redundant to me, although perhaps not entirely wrong. Is it grammatically incorrect? Obviously, it's not used in that kind of sentence exactly, but rather in longer, run-on sentences with multiple whereas clauses, i.e.:

  WHEREAS the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog; and WHEREAS the lazy dog jumps over the cunning cat; and WHEREAS the cunning cat has been chasing the sneaky mouse; THEREFORE some thing or the other is to be undertaken etc. etc.

Can the addition of therefore be justified grammatically as a mechanism for re-asserting the sentence's intended meaning? as a kind of a shorthand to "WHEREAS all of the above,"?

The second word is now:

  WHEREAS foo; and WHEREAS bar; and WHEREAS baz; NOW, THEREFORE quux.

This puzzles me. What's the use of the now? And why is it any help, if therefore has already been added?

Note: The overall meaning of such sentences is clear enough with or without these two additions, I'm asking about the grammar here, and about whether their addition adds a certain, shall we say, shade of meaning or interpretation which I'm not fully grasping.


texts:
I would like to know how to correctly hyphenate the phrase "something1-to-something2", where something2 is comprised of multiple words.

To clarify, here is the example where something1 and something2 are comprised of only one word each:
node-to-surface element

Example I am having problems with: node-to-rigid flat surface element.

How to correctly hyphenate in this case?

Many thanks!


texts: Word for using something good for an evil/bad purpose?

texts:
For example, a man using pleasing words and kindness to use a lady for his selfish reasons.
Kindness in itself is good.
But it is being used for a bad purpose/evil intention.
I thought of deception or trickery but neither seem to fit quite exactly.


texts:
Please consider the following sentence:

  The institution awards degrees including bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees.

I know that the sentence above is grammatically correct, but I don't like the repetition of the word "degree(s)".

So I'm looking for an alternative with the exact same meaning. Here's what I was thinking of using instead:

  The institution awards degrees including bachelor's, master's, and doctorate.

Is this second version grammatically correct? Does it "sound" right?


texts: "Two substances with plasticizer contents of B and Z, and C and Z respectively"

texts:
I have a problem with the word "content". I wish to describe two mixtures of substances:

M1:A with plasticizer B, and
M2:A with plasticizer C.

Both mixtures contain a common third component, plasticizer Z.

Can I say "two substances with plasticizer contents of B and Z, and C and Z respectively" to underline that the plasticizers are different?


texts:
I have the following paragraph:

  We often write hundreds of lines of code to express simple concepts. This code takes time to develop and maintain - and if you’re writing  tests, then that time doubles.

I've pasted into both Grammerly and Word, but neither offer a correction.

I'm not confident if it should be this or that.


texts:
The African American painter Jacob Lawrence has frequently used the series format as a way to tell a story. As in narrative series painted by such earlier masters as Giotto, Goya, Daumier, and Orozco, the images on different panels in Lawrence’s series are designed with a deliberate continuity of style and color. The strength of the series resides in the way the panels reinforce and enhance each other visually and dramatically. Lawrence differs from earlier series painters not in the narrative power of the series, but in the kinds of subjects he chooses to dramatize. In choosing topics for his series, Lawrence often takes inspiration from the stories his community tells about its heritage. His series Harriet Tubman (1939-40), for example, recounts the story of the escaped slave who helped liberate over 300 slaves through the Underground Railroad. In this series and others, Lawrence provides a prose caption for each painting, often written in a storytelling style reminiscent of the African American oral tradition.

The question is:

  According to the passage. Lawrence’s series differ most widely from those of some earlier painters in which of the following aspects?
  (A) Source of this content depicted an the panels
  (B) Continuity of style among panels
  (C) Reinforcement of visual effect from panel to panel
  (D) Congruity of color among panels
  (E) Mutual dramatic enhancement among panels

The answer is (a).

I don't catch it. As I see it, the sentence that should answer it is:

  Lawrence differs from earlier series … but in the kinds of subjects he chooses to dramatize.

Hence I think it should be (C) or (E).  Can someone explain me why the answer is (a)?


texts:
I am having a little trouble in this structure in English:

1)It was really more of a comment than a question.

2)Jet travel has made moving from place to place less of an ordeal.

3)Getting tickets for Tuesday shouldn’t be much of a problem.

These are the examples of macmillian dictionary for much/little/less of sth

My question is this: Why is there "of" in these sentences?

Can it not be correct without "of" as in:
"It was really more a coment than a question"

For example, I typed "I am having a little trouble" instead of "little of a trouble"

I see the usage of "of" in these structures but I didn't get the hang of it.

Can you pls explain its sense there? Thank you very much


texts:
I have a problem in understanding the sentence

  Alpha indicates the IoU (Intersection over Union) for neighbouring candidate boxes; step sizes of the sliding windows are determined such that one step results in an IoU of Alpha.

What I understand is: The value of Alpha (which is step size) is actually the IoU (Intersection over Union) for neighbouring candidate boxes ;(further explanation of this previous sentence.) step sizes of the sliding windows can be calculated as one step produce in an IoU of Alpha.

I didn't understand the meaning of "in an IoU of Alpha."

Please help me to explain this in simple words or with examples


texts: Who or whom in "by other people whom I know"?

texts:
Should who or whom be used in the following sentence?

  All the swans seen by other people whom I know have been white.

My first thought was whom is correct because it's part of a prepositional phrase, but there's a lot going on in that phrase, and so now I'm not sure.


texts: What does "better angel" mean in Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address?

texts:
I'm reading the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. It mentioned that Lincoln replaced the phase "guardian angel" to "better angel". I don't understand what the phrase means. When we say "better", we are normally comparing two things. It doesn't make sense to me here. May I get your kind help?

Here is the quote, from the final paragraph of Lincoln's First Inaugural Address:

  I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.


texts:
I am contributing to a fan wiki for a currently running American medical drama television show. I am wondering what tenses to use when introducing a character on their bio page.
For a character who is currently on the show it seems straight forward:

John Doe is a doctor at hospital X.

But for a character who has left the show but is still alive in canon:

John Doe was a doctor at hospital X.

OR:

John Doe is a former doctor at hospital X.

"was" in this context seems to imply that the character passed away while on the show, while the second version sounds like the character left the show but is still alive in canon - which version correctly coveys that they are still alive but simply no longer on the show? And is it always appropriate to use "was" for a character who has passed away in canon?
The second sentence usually gives the character's actor or actress name. For characters who are currently on the show I use the present tense of portray, but which tense to use when the character has either left the show but is still alive in canon, or has died in canon?

She is portrayed by Jane Doe.

OR:

She was portrayed by Jane Doe.

The same issue comes up when writing biographies for the actors - do I use present tense "portrays character X" while the character is on the show, and "portrayed character X" as soon as the character has left the show? I'm worried that using portrayed in this context implies that the actor him/herself passed away.


texts: What is the best answer to the question "How are you" in business meetings?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When someone asks, “How are you?”

Every time when my colleges from USA ask me "How are you?" I don't know what should I answer. I think that answer like "Fine, thanks. What about you?" is not perfect. Could you provide patterns for such situation?


texts: Shouldn’t "Heaven" and "Hell" be capitalized, as they are the names of places?

texts: Shouldn’t Heaven and Hell be capitalized, as they are the names of places?


texts: What semantic notions underlie 'chip on your shoulder' with the 19th US challenge to knock a chip of wood off someone's shoulder?

texts:
I focus on the 1st theory, out of 2,  for the etymology of 'chip of your shoulder'. How did the 19C "U.S. practice of spoiling for a fight by carrying a chip of wood on one's shoulder, daring others to knock it off" semantically shift to the current meaning of 'chip of your shoulder'? This confrontation or challenge doesn't appear semantically related to "a perceived grievance or sense of inferiority."

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Chip on your shoulder'?
A 'chip on your shoulder' is a perceived grievance or sense of inferiority.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Chip on your shoulder'?

[...]

The meaning that we are concerned with here is an earlier one, namely 'a small piece of wood, as might be chopped, or chipped, from a larger block'.

The phrase 'a chip on one's shoulder' is reported as originating with the nineteenth century U.S. practice of spoiling for a fight by carrying a chip of wood on one's shoulder, daring others to knock it off. This suggested derivation has more than the whiff of folk-etymology about it.

[...]

The confrontational challenge to knock a chip of wood off someone's shoulder does after all appear to be the correct derivation. Circumstantial evidence is all we have to go on here, but that clearly points to a 19th century US coinage. The earliest printed citations that I can find that refer to chips on shoulders are all from America, which the OED states quite firmly to be the source of the phrase; for example:
The American writer and historian James Kirke Paulding's Letters from the South, 1817:

"A man rode furiously by on horseback, and swore he'd be d----d if he could not lick any man who dared to crook his elbow at him. This, it seems, is equivalent to throwing the glove in days of yore, or to the boyish custom of knocking a chip off the shoulder."

In 1830 the New York newspaper The Long Island Telegraph printed this:

"When two churlish boys were determined to fight, a chip would be placed on the shoulder of one, and the other demanded to knock it off at his peril."

The precise phrase 'a chip on his shoulder' appears a little later, in the Vermont newspaper The North Star, November 1952:

The conduct of both these gentlemen [the US abolitionists Theodore Parker and William Garrison] puts us in mind of the Irishman who went through town with a chip on his shoulder, anxious to have a fight, and shouting, "Arrah, will none of ye knock the chip off me shoulder!"


texts: What is the correct spelling for "These are known as the three “V’s”: veracity, voraciousness and vivacity."

texts:
What is the correct spelling and grammar for the following sentence?

  These are known as the three "V's": veracity, voraciousness and
  vivacity.

In particular, should the "V" be capitalized, should it have an apostrophe, should there be quotes around V's and are there any other mistakes in the sentence?


texts: Which is the correct idiom: "Force of habit" or "course of habit"?

texts: Which is correct, "course of habit" or "force of habit"?  (This question is inspired by this post on the woot forums.)


texts: What Do You Call It when a Noun is Used as a Verb?

texts: Like "Petition": I signed a 'petition,' and carried it onward to 'petition' for support of lower wages & more suffering etc.


texts:
I have just been munching on a bag of potato crisps  (American: chips). (Well it is nearing Christmas and any thoughts of weight control are abandoned for the duration.)

They are very nice, an up-market brand and the label makes great play of the fact that they contain nothing artificial.

The actual ingredients are listed as: Select potatoes, sunflower oil, sea salt and balsamic vinegar, potato maltodextrin, sugar, dried barley malt vinegar, citric acid.

Now, I will take their word for it that none of those things are artificial.

My dictionary defines artificial as made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural.

So what might these crisps contain were they to have some artificial ingredient?  Indeed if artificial means something that doesn't occur naturally, then wouldn't it have to be imported from another planet in order to be deemed artificial. Even something created by humankind presumably ultimately has to be composed of things occurring naturally.

So to summarise What artificial substance might one expect to find in a bag of crisps? And What does artificial actually mean, in scientific terms, anyway?

The bag also says that the potatoes are hand cooked. I wonder what that means?


texts: Specifics of "occupy" (and alternatives)

texts:
I'm writing some game rules where players' in-game areas move around in cities. The different cities are divided by zones, which basically means that different tiles are put together to form a city.

Certain rules can affect only other players in your zone, and I wonder if the word "occupy" is correctly used in the following sentence:

  Whenever you end your turn in a zone occupied by one of your henchmen, you may receive one focus die.

The reason I ask is that... well, to me, when something occupies something, there's not really much room for anything else in that area.

Is this correct?

If two things can't occupy the same zone, what would be some good alternatives to "occupy"?


texts: What are the subtle differences between nonarticulate, unarticulate, inarticulate, & misarticulate?

texts:
Dictionary.com lists these words as related to articulate:

  Related forms
  ar·tic·u·la·ble [ahr-tik-yuh-luh-buhl] /ɑrˈtɪk yə lə bəl/, adjective
  ar·tic·u·late·ly, adverb
  ar·tic·u·late·ness, ar·tic·u·la·cy [ahr-tik-yuh-luh-see] /ɑrˈtɪk yə lə si/, noun
  ar·tic·u·la·tive [ahr-tik-yuh-ley-tiv, -luh-tiv] /ɑrˈtɪk yəˌleɪ tɪv, -lə tɪv/, adjective
  mis·ar·tic·u·late, verb, mis·ar·tic·u·lat·ed, mis·ar·tic·u·lat·ing.
  mul·ti·ar·tic·u·late, adjective
  non·ar·tic·u·late, adjective
  non·ar·tic·u·late·ly, adverb
  non·ar·tic·u·late·ness, noun
  non·ar·tic·u·la·tive, adjective
  o·ver·ar·tic·u·late, adjective
  o·ver·ar·tic·u·late, verb, o·ver·ar·tic·u·lat·ed, o·ver·ar·tic·u·lat·ing.
  pre·ar·tic·u·late, adjective
  pseu·do·ar·tic·u·late, adjective
  pseu·do·ar·tic·u·late·ly, adverb
  re·ar·tic·u·late, verb, re·ar·tic·u·lat·ed, re·ar·tic·u·lat·ing.
  sem·i·ar·tic·u·late, adjective
  sem·i·ar·tic·u·late·ly, adverb
  sub·ar·tic·u·late, adjective
  sub·ar·tic·u·late·ly, adverb
  sub·ar·tic·u·late·ness, noun
  sub·ar·tic·u·la·tive, adjective
  un·ar·tic·u·late, adjective
  un·ar·tic·u·late·ly, adverb
  un·ar·tic·u·la·tive, adjective

Interestingly it does not list inarticulate. As a native English speaker simply guessing I'd say the differences are,

"nonarticulate": not speaking at all
"unarticulate": not speaking understandably
"inarticulate": saying something, but not in an understandable way
"misarticulate": saying something understandable, but with a meaning other than intended

Are these close to the actual nuances?


texts: Is the use of "who" correct in this sentence?

texts:
"The Turk is chess engine who can interact with user interfaces
  which support Winboard protocol at the moment"

I feel that which can be used instead of who but I'm not sure. If that's not correct what should I use instead of who?


texts: That moment when you think about a smarter reply that you could've given?

texts: I remember reading this word or expression in a book that describes the feeling you have when you think about a reply that you could've given to someone, but you do it too late.


texts:
Can anyone provide me with the etymology and details of usage of the word charlâtanerie ? I came across this word while reading The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe.The following passage is from from Wikisource

  There was not a particle of charlâtanerie about Dupin. "I will
  explain," he said, "and that you may comprehend all clearly, we will
  first retrace the course of your meditations, from the moment in which
  I spoke to you until that of the rencontre with the fruiterer in
  question. The larger links of the chain run thus—Chantilly, Orion, Dr.
  Nichols, Epicurus, Stereotomy, the street stones, the fruiterer."

A Google search for the meaning gave me only a single result. Can anyone provide me more information so that I can add this word to Wiktionary, the community powered dictionary?


texts: word for attribute that is simultaneously positive and negative

texts:
I'm looking for a word that describes an attribute Y, where you could say
The good thing about X is Y, the problem with X is Y

note that it's not a neutral attribute, it's simultaneously good and bad.

is there such a word in the English language?

preferably I'd like to be able to say something along the lines of:

Y is a ______ of X; it's good because of blah, but it also causes bleh problems


texts: In the sentence "when I last saw her..." was the word "last" used correctly? I would say " when I saw her last time..."

texts: In the sentence "When I last saw her...", was the word "last" used correctly? I would say " When I saw her last time..." I want to know how to use the word"last".


texts: What did Dickens mean by the phrase, 'In which heathen state of mind...' in The Haunted House?

texts:
If this should meet the eye of the gentleman who favoured me with these disclosures, I trust he will excuse my confessing that the sight of the rising sun, and the contemplation of the magnificent Order of the vast Universe, made me impatient of them. In a word, I was so impatient of them, that I was mightily glad to get out at the next station, and to exchange these clouds and vapours for the free air of Heaven.
By that time it was a beautiful morning. As I walked away among such leaves as had already fallen from the golden, brown, and russet trees; and as I looked around me on the wonders of Creation, and thought of the steady, unchanging, and harmonious laws by which they are sustained; the gentleman’s spiritual intercourse seemed to me as poor a piece of journey-work as ever this world saw. In which heathen state of mind, I came within view of the house, and stopped to examine it attentively.
Charles Dickens, The Haunted House


texts: Origin of the phrase "free, white, and twenty-one"?

texts:
I understand the phrase "I'm free, white, and twenty-one" was used in several films of the 1930's, generally to mean "I can do what I want and no one can stop me" and that the phrase was common in that era, at least in the some parts of the U.S.

Does anyone have information about when and how that idiom first came into use?

Does anyone have references to it being used before 1930?


texts: What is the umbrella term for non-surgical, non-invasive methods in cosmetology involving the use of equipment?

texts:
I'm translating the agenda of a cosmetology training event, and one line there says:

На одной волне: аппаратные методы в косметологии

In my translation:

On the same wavelength: hardware methods in cosmetology

Apparently this particular presentation will be dedicated to non-invasive methods involving some "wave stumulation" of the skin.
I googled for "hardware methods in cosmetology" and the first results page seems to be filled with Russian sites translated into English, and sites from the former Soviet Union states. I thought that "hardware methods" may be a not particularly "native" term, but a calque from Russian.
Maybe there is term more commonly used by native speakers of English?


texts: How come certain words have totally different meanings?

texts:
I am wondering why certain words can have totally different meanings.

For example the word “crick“. On the one hand, it describes a really small river and on the other hand, it describes a muscle cramp. There is not even a remote connection between the two meanings.

Why is that so? Have words like that randomly be given those meanings/developed those meanings or is it because nobody could think of a new word, so they put different meanings on some already existing words in order for the meaning to not get confused in context (as it is two totally different ones)?


texts: Is it okay to use "he" when the subject of the sentence is "his wife"?

texts:
This is the sentence in question:

While Dev’s wife is in India for a few weeks, he and Miranda spend almost every day together.

The subject of the sentence is "Dev's wife", and I'm pretty sure that "he" should be referring to the subject of the sentence. But the word "wife" implies that Dev's wife is female, and the only other option for what "he" could be in reference to would be Dev, a male. Is this a valid argument?


texts: Usage of commas to separate a sentence beginning with "and in fact..."

texts:
I'm not sure which of these two is the correct choice:

"...some properties, which are suggested, and in fact implied, by the conditions 1 and 2."

"...some properties, which are suggested and in fact implied by the conditions 1 and 2."

Is this an example of a parenthetical phrase which has to be separated by two commas?

Thank you in advance.


texts: "the Wonder Wheel, a Ferris wheel that looked " VS "the Wonder Wheel, a Ferris wheel, that looked"

texts:
Above all, we boarded the Wonder Wheel, a Ferris wheel that looked as tall as a seven-story building. (From an ACT test)

I know "a Ferris wheel that looked as tall as a seven-story building" is used as an appositive for Wonder Wheel, but why can't it be "we boarded the Wonder Wheel, a Ferris wheel, that looked as tall as a seven-story building" where "a Ferris wheel" is still a appositive and a relative clause modifying "Wonder Wheel"？


texts:
To the question,

  How did you get here?

the response was,

  I bike rode.

Why is this incorrect?


texts:
While chatting with a friend about Rio 2016, I wanted to write the following sentence:

  The medal standings you should be looking at is the one per capita.

Is this correct (grammar-wise, of course)? Does the word "standings" in this context hold a singular verb?
What confuses me is the s at the end of the word and the fact that the word translating it in my native langauge is singular.


texts: What is the difference between "available" and "accessible"?

texts:
I don't know the difference between "available" and "accessible". These words have the same meaning; "You can use or get it." What's the difference?
I know "available" can be postpositive, but I don't know whether "accessible" can be postpositive or not. For example; "I'll leave here on the first flight accessible." Is this sentence correct?


texts: What is the title of the head of a steering committee?

texts:
I am leading a steering committee of a community conference. As a part of the job, I am emailing sponsors and partners with details about the event.

  My name is Adam Matan, and I am ? of the steering committee...

What is the title of such a person? I have Googled it, but found inconclusive results. Should it be chair, chairperson or head?


texts:
If someone gives you a hard time about ending a sentence with a preposition, feel free to respond to the criticism, as Winston Churchill, according to unconfirmed legends did, his tongue firmly in cheek:
'This is just the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.'

Or should I use dashes and parentheses?

If someone gives you a hard time about ending a sentence with a preposition, feel free to respond to the criticism—as Winston Churchill (according to unconfirmed legends did, his tongue firmly in cheek):
'This is just the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.'


texts: What are the connotations of production and manufacturing? In what situation would you prefer one over the other?


texts: What does "sink and copper" mean in British parlance circa 1937?

texts:
Near the start of Chapter IV of "The Road to Wigan Pier" (1937), Orwell in describing the typical living conditions for coal miners states (my emphasis):

  All have an almost exactly similar living-room, ten or fifteen feet square, with an open kitchen range; in the larger ones there is a scullery as well, in the smaller ones the sink and copper are in the living room.

What does Orwell mean by 'copper' in the phrase "the sink and copper" in this context?


texts: Why does Obama call them "Lone Wolf Actors"? (Etymology of Lone Wolf)

texts:
According to Oxford Online Dictionary lone wolf means the following:

  A person who prefers to act alone: he’s a lone wolf; that’s what made him a successful foreign correspondent.

After the mass shootout (massacre) in San Berdadino in the US, I hear this compound noun very often. I believe the US media and President Obama call them lone wolf actors because they doubt the couple received any order from ISIS for the attack and acted alone.

According to Etymology Online Dictionary, the word wolf had a sexual connotation when it was first used to describe people:

  Wolves as a symbol of lust are ancient, such as Roman slang lupa
  "whore," literally "she-wolf" (preserved in Spanish loba, Italian
  lupa, French louve). The equation of "wolf" and "prostitute, sexually
  voracious female" persisted into 12c., but by Elizabethan times wolves
  had become primarily symbolic of male lust. The specific use of wolf
  for "sexually aggressive male" first recorded 1847; wolf-whistle
  attested by 1945, American English, at first associated with sailors.
  The image of a wolf in sheep's skin is attested from c. 1400. See here
  for a discussion of "wolf" in Indo-European history. The wolf-spider
  so called for prowling and leaping on its prey rather than waiting in
  a web.

What is the etymology of the compound noun lone wolf? It doesn't seem to have started to mean what it means now as it doesn't have any sexual connotation at all. Some change might have happened in the meaning of the noun wolf (I suspect).
Does lone wolf have something to do with the word werewolf which means:

  (In folklore) a person who changes for periods of time into a wolf,
  typically when there is a full moon.


texts:
Dears,
I have searched for this question and I haven't found any information about it. Are inchoative and causative verbs action or stative verbs?

Thanks


texts: An expression that adds little information

texts: There is a family of expressions called oxymorons which contain contradicting meanings. What about expressions that add little meaning like "fatally injured" or "the evening sunset"? What are these expressions called?


texts:
I'm trying to ask a question about the future. So which form of the verb "will" should I use?

  So, when will it be there?
  So, when would it be there?


texts: When was the expression "road movie" first applied to a film?

texts:
A road movie is a well-established film genre:

  ... in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. (Wikipedia)

This genre is typical American as noted in the following source:

  ...most Road Movies are US-American. They were produced in the US, they take place in the US, they reflect the US-American way of life and the US-American history.(From History of road movies)

Though this kind of narrative can be traced back to written tales of epic journeys, such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid:

  ...in cinema, the earliest road movies were about the discovery of a new land or about the expansion of frontiers, as with westerns in North America. Films like “The Searchers,” John Ford’s masterpiece set in the aftermath of the Civil War, were about a national identity in construction. From  'Notes for a Theory of the Road Movie", The New York Times.

Actually the definition road movie"  is a relative recent one, and according to Google Ngram its earliest usages are from  the '70s.

Questions:

When, by whom and in relation to which movie was the expression first used?


texts:
From one of the survey result (IT related), I came across the following line:

  Agile Development and
  Service-Oriented-Architectures (SOA)
  represent the “new normal.”

What does "new normal" mean here? Is it an idiom?


texts: raised ... 25 basis points or raised ... by 25 basis points?

texts: I would like to know if it is correct to add the word "by" in the following sentence:  Today, bank x raised its loan rate by 25 basis points.


texts:
I did not find anything on our sister tech sites.  I Googled around and did find anything notable.

I RDPed to the server
I RDP to the server
You should RDP to the server
I was RDPing to the server
I was RDP to the server

Bullet 3 sounds and reads fine
While 1 sounds ok to me it looks wrong & Bullet 2 does not read well or sound right
Bullet 4 sounds good but looks wrong & Bullet 5 does not read well or sound right

RDP = Remote Desktop Protocol; using an application to remotely access a different server/computer


texts: Is there a word to make the distinction between a Year/Month Combination and a Month

texts:
Is there a word/phrase that would distinguish the combination of a year and month from a month?

I'd call "January" a month

I'd call "January 2011" a ____?


texts: Is it correct to say "Item was succesfully rejected"?

texts:
In a web application we need to give a success message to a user saying that the action of rejecting the selected item has been succesful.

In this context, is it correct to use the message:

  Item was successfully rejected.

or would:

  Item was rejected.

suffice?

Note:
I tend to go with the former one, considering the fact that a rejection process can be both success and failure.


texts:
From Pride and Prejudice:

  “My dear Mr. Bennet,” replied his wife, “how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.”

What is the function of "his" in this sentence, is it possessive or just a Victorian way of "him."


texts: Origin of scientific 'secular' - meaning long lasting

texts:
In astronomy the term 'secular' is used to refer to something long lasting and fairly continuous.  Apparently it can be used in economics and earth sciences for a similar meaning.

How did this usage come about, from the more (colloquially) standard meaning of, 'non-religious'?

Edit: @mplungjan points out that the etymology of 'secular' actually stems from the latin word 'saecularis' which means relating to an age or period.  Thus perhaps the question should be: how did the term 'secular' come to refer to (lack of) religious influence?


texts:
If anyone has been to S.E. Asian countries there is a familiar English phrase,

Same, same but different.

It always brings a smile to my face when I hear it as you kind of know what the person is trying to say (for example, it's similar) however I don't think the phrase makes any sense.

Or, does it make sense? Why is this nonsensical phrase so prevalent?


texts: I'm wondering if there should be an "s" when telling about ages. I have heard from my native English friend says "I'm 24 year old" is it correct?


texts: Does my sentence require a question mark?

texts:
Consider the brief passage below:

  There are two questions to be asked. Firstly, whether John was willing
  and able to do his job. Secondly, what tasks did John have to complete
  to satisfy his duty.

Does the last sentence (beginning with 'Secondly') require a question mark or does it correctly end with a period?


texts: How would you define the relation between (for example) "Italian" and "languages"?

texts:
I'm building a web site where I have a list of topics, and I need to denote the relation between them. e.g.:

Topic: Italian.
Ancestors: Languages -> European
Predecessors: Verbs, Nouns...

Another example may be:

Topic: Internet Explorer.
Ancestors: Software -> Browsers
Predecessors: Menus, Add-Ons, keyboard-shortcuts...

And so on.

The problem is that I'm not sure "Ancestors" and "predecessors" are suitable.

Other options I had in mind are subtopics/supertopics, and children/parents.

What do you think? Which way articulates the meaning best?


texts:
"Toronto uses landfill for disposing of about three-quaters of its waste"

Do we need to use the first "of" that is bold in this sentence. In other words, if I take out "of", will the sentence still be correct?

please help me to sort it out. Thanks so much!


texts: Adjective that means "Full of Integrity"

texts: I'm looking for an adjective that means "full of integrity." I can only think of 'integruous' which is 100% made up. I regularly seek for this word when trying to identify people as having integrity, or decisions being made with integrity. For use in a sentence such as "She is a/n 'integrous' woman." Or "If you want to be more highly respected, ensure that your actions are 'integruous.'"


texts: Open for "anyone"? Or open for "everyone"?

texts: Is the tournament open for "anyone" or "everyone"?


texts: Since "gun" in Norse German makes "Gunther" mean "warrior, then could "gaunre," (which means "steal" in Dutch Mennonite Nether Saxon -- Low German) be the origin of "gun" heard in English "goon"?  After all, "theft" has always been a motive for starting a war, and warfare demands brutal (goonish) behaviour.  (I am aware "goon" is considered modern, but, in view of the foregoing, am beginning to suspect otherwise.) Note: "gaunre" does not mean "stealing" in the usual sense.  Its normally employed in the trivial sense: as in, "to hook an apple (gaunah een aupel) while walking past an orchard", or in the socially acceptable sense, like victors unashamedly boasting about looting the vanquished.  Thus, could English "gain" trace its root to "gaunre" as well, or am I merely dabbling in dangerous derivations and chance coincidences?


texts:
Which one would be correct, and why?

Say, I want to refer to Lily's mother and father in a single sentence. Would it be...

"Lily's mom was preoccupied in conversation with her husband." or
"Lily's mom was preoccupied in conversation with her dad."

I say this because I don't know who the "with her" would refer to in a sentence like this - does it refer to Lily, the subject of the sentence, or does it refer to Lily's mom, as she was mentioned closer to the term?


texts:
Which one is correct?

help [something] become a reality

or

help [something] become reality

What would be the reason to use / not to use the article?


texts: Word for a place or resource where everything can be found

texts:
To give a full understanding of my question, I'll give some short background info.

I'm working on an Easter Island website where I offer travel tips of all sorts, a travel guide, tours and hotels. I'm working on the description of the site that appears when you search in Google (maximum 115 characters).

I'm looking for a word that describes a place or resource where you can find everything. This is what I have now:

  Welcome to your ultimate metropolis for Easter Island tourism!
  Plan your trip and book the best hotels and tours with us.

It seems I can't use metropolis in English, right? I'm from Sweden, and in Swedish you can, but it seems you can't use this word in English like this, right? Any ideas of another word? Or any ideas of re-phrasing the description? Thank you!


texts: Meaning of "laughing on one side of the face"

texts:
These two children were talking, and one boy was assuring the girl that his big ball would fall faster than her ball, which was smaller. When I heard this, I was naturally amused, and laughed.

The boy leaned over and whispered (children fashion),"Wait, till I do it, then he'll laugh on the other side of his face."

So, what does "laughing on the other side of your face" mean?


texts: What is "a label for a book identifying its owner" called?

texts: What do you call the thing - a small imprinted piece of paper - that an owner attaches inside the front of a book to mark it as his own?


texts: "At no extra cost" vs "with no extra cost"

texts:
Usage:

Procedure A can thus be applied at/with no extra cost.

Which is the correct preposition here?


texts: Usage of "accrue" in "it accrued to me to gently ask"

texts:
A newage hippie Facebook friend just sent me this. I was just wondering if it was syntactically correct,

  It accrued to me to gently ask if you could consider extending the same respect, you would obviously extend to this man, to Theists in general.

Accrue is supposed to be a transitive verb, it doesn't seem to be operating on something though. I take it, this is incorrect? Or, am I wrong?


texts: Is there a word/phrase to describe a person "who hates someone rather than hate their views"?

texts:
Let's say there is a person called X. X is a good person, in general. He has a problematic view about something, let's say, homophobia. So, here is the conversation between Y and Z.

Y: X is homophobic. I hate him.

Z: I don't support X's views, but I do not hate the person. I hate his views.

Is there a word/phrase/expression to describe Y?


texts:
I overheard a mother correct her child who said something to the effect of

  There was a new kid in my class today and I friended him.

The mother said befriended and I was inclined to mentally agree (given the kid was maybe six or seven, it's unlikely that he was referring to social networking).

However, with a little Googling, I discovered an article from The Atlantic which suggests that 'Friend,' as a Verb, Is 800 Years Old.

  "Make no purses, for to friend yourself therewith." -- the Guide for Anchoresses, early 13th century
  "And after soon friended were the King David of Scotland and Stephen, king then of England." -- Andrew of Wyntoun, Chronicles, c. 1425

This answer regarding the be prefix offers:

  The general form is:

   be + [quality]

  and the corresponding meaning is:

 to turn into + [quality].

So, I guess my question, then, is what is the difference between the verbs to friend and to befriend? Was the kid right?


texts: "Forbidden" / "permitted" directly followed by object

texts: Is it correct to say "He is forbidden wine" or "Wine is forbidden him"? Most often these would be expressed as "He is forbidden to drink wine" or "Wine is forbidden to him," but I occasionally see the former usage. Is this considered archaic, or is it still standard (though admittedly stilted)?


texts:
Which question is more proper?

  [some statement], is it right?

  [some statement], is it correct?


texts: Is there a word for a person either disinterested or just doesn't partake in gossiping?

texts: I swear there's a word that's essentially the opposite of a gossiper, but can't for the life of me remember what it is. I know there are words for the opposite {ie gossiper, busybody, etc...}, but where are the words for what I'm looking for?


texts: Difference between "I'm fine" and "I'm good"

texts:
When my coworker in the US asks me "How are you?" I usually answer "I'm fine", but the last time I told him "I'm good" and he replied "I'm glad to hear that".

It looks like "I'm fine" means "I'm OK" but not quite good as "I'm good".

What is the difference between them and if the score of happy is 10, what is the score of "I'm fine" and "I'm good"? (higher score means happier)


texts: Does an event happen 'then' in the past or 'there'

texts: I have noticed people sometimes say eg "I nearly dropped my cup then". "Then" sounds wrong to me. I would say "there". Am I just making this up? I dont think of it as location "there" vs time "then" I think "there" is "there, at that specific event..and time"


texts: Does 'all but useless' mean useless or useful?

texts:
I saw a product review that was complaining about the built-in microphone of the camera, and in one paragraph stated it was 'all but useless'. I have seen 'all but [negative word]' in different places before to describe something as bad, but shouldn't it mean that it is everything (including good things) except the bad thing; i.e it is not useless as it is all of the good things but not the useless one?

Could someone please explain the correct usage, and why people do/don't use it?


texts: in particular of the essential place within it of precision and proof:

texts:
Can anyone help me out to interpret it appropriately?

"in particular of the essential place within it of precision and proof"


texts: Do North Americans pronounce "solder" as "sodder"?

texts:
In a recent(-ish) episode of the Big Bang Theory, the men recruit the women to help out in the lab, and they had to do a lot of soldering.

Throughout the episode the cast pronounced "solder" as "sodder" which I thought was interesting. Is this the pronunciation used in the whole of the US (and Canada)? What happened to the "l"?


texts: By which? - Problem with relative clause

texts:
for hours I've been scouring the internet for some sentences/grammar rules which bother me. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the answer, and that's why I decided to ask here.

Are sentences 1) and 2) correct? If not then why? Is sentence nr 5)
the best way (and the most natural way for a native speaker) to
express the idea?

" to go by a train

1) The train by which I went was delayed
2) the train by
    which I travelled was delayed
3) The train which I went by was
        delayed
4) The train which I travelled by was delayed
5) The
                train I travelled/was on was delayed"

Best regards


texts: A "black, full beard" or a "full, black" one?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the rule for adjective order?

This is from the  Hound of the Baskervilles , where in Chapter 5, one of the characters is referred to as having "a black, full beard"
and "a full, black beard" by two different people.

Which usage is right?

My confusion is whether the first description is good English in the first place. Or is it just Arthur Conan Doyle's literary licence? Further, most characters, including those using the descriptions above, speak good, Queen's English in the novel. This just makes me wonder all the more.


texts: What does this sentence actually mean: "At the threshold of neutrino astronomy".


texts: A word for: someone who is easy to talk to

texts:
I want to convey the idea that such and such person is very easy to talk to.

I know that:

'talk to-able' is not a word, obviously.
I can always say, "He is very easy to talk to." But I am looking for a single word, not a phrase.
The word 'talkable' changes the meaning. Eg, if I say, "He is very talkable," the meaning tends to become (a) either, he is a topic/subject worthy of talking, (b) or, he can be talked over or shut up easily!
I can get away with words like approachable, accessible, reachable etc but I feel there has got to be a better word.

Is there any?

Thanks much.

EDIT

Sometimes, there are people at work who, officially, can be 'approached' for questions. But their tone and body language, consciously or unconsciously, is such that they make you feel very uncomfortable approaching them next time around especially if there are choices available. So while they are there, 'accessible' etc for you officially, yet they are not all that 'easy to talk to'! Note that, I'm not necessarily looking for 'chatty' people either, but rather those who I can ask even stupid questions fearlessly because... again, they are 'very easy to talk to', with minimal ego, arrogance, and air about them.

EDIT 2

I am also happy with Dave Mulligan's "approachable" and ermanen's very clever "easy-to-talk-to".


texts: What is the difference between “mourning” and “grieving” someone's death?

texts:
It seems to me that both words are interchangeable, I can mourn or grieve the death of a loved one for weeks, months or years. And both terms mean to feel deep sorrow for the loss of someone dear. According to Oxford and Macmillan, to mourn is to feel and manifest sadness in public whereas to grieve is to only feel sadness. Other dictionary definitions do not make this distinction. However, if we look at Oxford's example of usage: “he was mourned for years”, it is nevertheless ambiguous. Did family and friends attend a memorial service every year (public manifestation)? Or did they simply reminisced whenever they met up (in private; i.e. among friends and relatives)? Would one use grieved if it was the latter, or are the two interchangeable?

mourn

Oxford Dictionaries says:

  Feel or show sorrow for the death of (someone), typically by following conventions such as the wearing of black clothes:
  He was lost in battle to his only enemy, and he was mourned for years after his death by the people who had grown to love him.

The Free Dictionary lists the following three definitions;

The American Heritage Dictionary

  To feel or express grief or sorrow. See Synonyms at grieve

Collins English Dictionary

  to feel or express sadness for the death or loss of (someone or something)

Random House  Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary

  to feel or express sorrow or grief.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

  to feel very sad and to miss someone after they have died [= grieve for]:
  mourn somebody's death/loss/passing
  She still mourns the death of her husband.

Macmillan Dictionary

  to feel extremely sad because someone has died, and to express this in public
  mourn for: He still mourns for his brother.

grieve

  Feel intense sorrow:
  Oxford Dictionaries

The Free Dictionary contains the following three definitions:

  To cause to be sorrowful; distress:
  To mourn or sorrow for
  AHD

  to feel or cause to feel great sorrow or distress, esp at the death of someone
  CED

  to feel grief or great sorrow.
  RHKWCD

  [intransitive and transitive]   to feel extremely sad, especially because someone you love has died
  grieve over/for

  He died, and every day since then I have grieved for him.
  People need time to grieve after the death of a loved one.
  She grieved the loss of her only son.
  LDOCE

  [INTRANSITIVE/TRANSITIVE] to feel extremely sad because someone has died

  I never had time to grieve properly.
  He’s still grieving for his wife.
  Millions of people are grieving over his death.
  MD

According to a blogger called Jade, there is a significant difference between the two terms [emphasis mine].

  While grief is the emotional reaction/response to loss, mourning is the process one undertakes to deal with the void that is now left. Mourning is the process of acclimating to living a life without this special someone or something. It is period of adapting to the changes created by this loss.
  Source: grief and mourning.com

The following excerpt seems to confirm this difference, grief is the emotional response but mourning is how we process the death of a loved one

  Grief is the natural psychological, behavioral, social, and physical response which helps the mourner recognize the loss and get ready for the larger and often longer experience of mourning. As Therese A. Rando says, “Grief is actually the beginning part of mourning.”
  Source: The Difference Between Grief and Mourning

Q: What is the difference in meaning  between the following?

  People need time to grieve after the death of a loved one
  People need time to mourn after the death of a loved one

  She still mourns the death of her husband.
  She still grieves the death of her husband.

Related: What is the expression for the process of getting over the loss of a loved person?


texts:
I was trying to say:

  I had to shout so as to X the loudness of the music.

And then I realise I didn't know any word whose meaning was "to speak louder than". Does such a word exist? At first, I thought about something like "overspeak" or "overvolume", but the first one means something else entirely and the second one does not seem to exist.


texts: Mine (indicating possession) with multiple items

texts:
Today I've been doing some tasks and I've found one interesting thing as for me. So I'll explain what I mean.

Look at these sentences:

  My friend is 19 years old.
  So is mine.

where mine refers to my friend (another person).

And now I want you to look at this sentence:

  My friends are 19 years old.

Should the response be "So are mine" or "So are mines"?

I know there is a verb "to mine"(like to dig) I know but I'm really confused with it.

If I understand it well, "Mine"(NOT A VERB) works as for singular (A friend) and plural (friends).


texts: Should there be a period after an equation?

texts:
This isn't a pure English question, but it is about writing style: Sometimes entities that aren't words end up being in sentences.
I know that when mathematical expressions are inline as follows:

We used the equation x + y = z. This is the next sentence.

they are treated as any other word, and the sentence needs to end with a period.
But suppose I have text in a paper such as:

We used the equation
x + y = z
This is the next sentence.

Notice that the equation isn't inline. Should there still be a period after the equation (right after z) to indicate the end of the sentence?


texts:
I don't understand the meaning this phrase: School blows dogs.

I heard this phrase in a film. There was boy who didn't like to go to school and he uttered
this phrase to his father. He says it with a little displeasure, a little upset. What does it mean?


texts: Is it correct to say, "Will you do it or NO?"

texts: Lately, I've heard people say something along the lines of, "Will you do it or no?". I'm a little confused because all along I had been under the impression that it should be "Will you do it or not?" My emphasis is on "NO" or "NOT". Which of them is correct?


texts: Capitalize after slash at beginning (e.g. Risk/Issue management)

texts:
Should a word after a slash at the beginning of a sentence be capitalized?

E.g.

  Risk/Issue management
  Risk/issue management

I would guess the first one is correct because "Issue" would be an alternative beginning due to the slash.


texts: What do you call this segment of road between the lane and an exit?

texts:
(Circled in red)

Is there an official name for the portion of road between the road and an exit? What is it called?


texts: What do you call a disgusting mixture you don't want to drink?

texts:
What do you call a drink (usually an alcoholic one, say a long drink or a cocktail) that you don't want to have, because you consider it a low quality, disgusting mixture, maybe even of suspicious, unclear origins?

Infamous drinks like the sponge (drops of shots spilled on the counter all night, then collected with a sponge, squeezed into a glass and sold to the undemanding, or some poor homeless guys) could be an example here. Or your friend's first, experimental cocktail... :-)

Context:
I want to reject a drink that I don't like, so I reply humorously and a bit sarcastically:

  No, thanks. I don't want any of this ____?


texts: Understanding figurative meaning of a sentence?

texts:
I saw the August 3rd, 2016 New York Times Review ‘Suicide Squad’ Chases Nihilistic Swagger but Trips Over Its Own Feet by A.O. Scott I can't understand it. I came across the following quote:

It chases after the nihilistic swagger of “Deadpool” and the anarchic whimsy of “Guardians of the Galaxy” but trips over its own feet.

 I looked in dictionaries for definitions of the words Nihilistic and Swagger:

Nihilistic: The belief that traditional morals, ideas, beliefs, etc., have no worth or value. — The Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary

Swagger: A very confident and typically arrogant or aggressive gait or manner. — The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

 However, these definitions do not help me to understand. I think "chases nihilistic swagger" is perhaps an idiom with obscure meaning. Would you please help me with my problem and explain what these words mean?


texts: Is there a term for a sentence with no (or implied) subject? If so, what?

texts:
Take this from Nick Cave's song 'Higgs Boson Blues':

  She curses the queue at the Zulu. And moves on to Amazonia.

Is there a term for a sentence without a subject, or where the subject is implied from the previous sentence, like

  And moves on to Amazonia.

This Quora (https://www.quora.com/In-formal-English-is-it-grammatically-correct-to-use-sentences-without-subjects-as-in-Went-home-late-Ate-biscuits) suggested that imperatives and exclamations often omit the subject, but the above sentence doesn't seem to fit as either of those, as it isn't an direction (like an imperative) or really exclaiming anything.

Is there a term for a sentence that has no subject, or implies the subject from the previous sentence?


texts: The definition of 'word-for-word translation'

texts: Could I have the accurate definition for "word-for-word" translation?


texts:
I created a website one year ago and a friend joined me on the project seven months later.
So i worked one year on it and he worked four months.

I searched on many website to understand the differences between the two words but i still not sure.

I would like to know if :
 - i am the founder and he is a developper ?
 - i am the founder and he is the cofounder ?
 - i am a co founder and he is a co founder too ?
 - or anything else

Thanks


texts:
I seem to vaguely remember a term that means something like "for its own sake," so that it might be used in a sentence like this: "I contend that bread is good not only for the taste or the health benefits it brings, but [for its own sake]."* I believe the term comes up in philosophy, so if nothing in common English usage comes to your very bright minds, I suppose I could ask around on the Philosophy Stack Exchange as well.

*Just a quick note: in most of these situations, the words "intrinsically" or "essentially" might suggest themselves, but, if I may draw the distinction, I do not want a word that means "in itself," but "for itself" (and not quite in the Sartrean sense). In other words, I do not want to say only that goodness (or badness, or orangeness, or malleability...) is a necessary property of the thing, but I do want to say that the thing is good (or bad, or orange, or malleable...) without reference to any further end or relation.

EDIT: If it helps, this word would be a good antonym for "pragmatic" or "utilitarian" (in the strict senses of the words), and it would have positive connotations.


texts: What is the best word or adjective for someone who does not meet the deadline for delivery?

texts:
I'm trying to write an article about computer programmers who often do not meet their deadline and are not committed to the contract deadline or due dates.

So, what is the best word or adjective for someone who does not meet the deadline for delivery?

Is the following correct?

  Programmer's renege is real!


texts: Part of speech of "very," "extremely," "really," and "quite"

texts:
While working on developing the lexicon in one of my constructed languages, I encountered a slight difficulty in using standard classifications for words like very, extremely, really, and quite.
To demonstrate this, here is an example sentence with a noun, an adjective, a verb, and an adverb:

The bad dog howled angrily.

If any of those parts of speech is replaced by a word like very, extremely, etc., the sentence does not seem to be grammatical. For example,

The extremely dog howled angrily.  --(Extremely does not work as an adjective)
The bad very howled angrily.       --(Very does not work as a noun)
The bad dog really angrily.       --(Really does not work as a verb)
The bad dog howled quite.         --(Quite does not work as an adverb)

Thus, this set of words does not seem to fit any of the main part of speech roles. (A similar experiment could be used to eliminate parts of speech which more obviously do not fit, such as prepositions, demonstratives, articles, conjunctions, and so on.)
(Some of the words do have several meanings where they can be other parts of speech,

The very day you eat of it you will die.
Are you really going to lick that ice cream off of the floor?
Do you like Mozart? Oh yes, quite.

but I am disregarding those other meanings.)
However, I noticed that these words do work when they modify modifiers, i.e. adjectives and adverbs, as can be seen in the following example sentences.

The very bad dog howled quite angrily.
All of the extremely smart girls will very quietly figure out a quite clever solution.
Is he really that stupid?

Just for my purposes of labelling the words in my language, I just invented a term that I think fits their role in the sentence: meta-modifier. I did notice that dictionaries list these words as adverbs.
Since adverbs can modify participles, which can be classified as adjectives,

The filthily clothed man tried to hug me.

it makes a little bit of sense. But, AFAICT, adverbs cannot modify other adverbs or non-participle adjectives, but very, extremely, really, and quite can.
So my question (finally) is, are these words really adverbs, and if not, how can these words be classified?


texts: Can I use `where` with the verb `visit`?

texts:
Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

  Mike really wonders where you visited in England last week.

I thought about using where for an indication of what place, but I am not sure whether it is correct or not to use where in this context.


texts: When can a metaphor become a double entendre

texts:
I've been engaged in debate for some days now, about a discussion in a panel of a Captain America comic book.

In the comic book, Bucky, his sidekick, says that "you have been running a mile a minute since you got the super soldier serum".

Given that Captain America can (occasionally) run that fast, some people are of the opinion it is a double entendre.

I am of the opinion that it is purely a metaphor, given that the context doesn't show him running and seems to be purely referring to how hard he has been pushing himself, regardless of what speed he can run at.

Here is a link to the scan.

Is there a way to tell if "running a mile a minute" in the example above is a metaphor, or a double entendre?

If it is a double entendre, what makes it so as opposed to being just a metaphor?


texts:
In the title, and without being spoken out loud, the usage of faux pas is vague as to whether it's singular or plural.

Is it therefore grammatically incorrect, ie. the statement needs to be re-written another way to disambiguate itself?


texts: Pronunciations of the geographical name 'Orion'

texts: Which (3) ways is Orion pronounced as relative to (3) meanings, Orion Township, Lake Orion (Lake), and Lake Orion (town)?


texts:
Mount Everest is the highest peak in the world.
The Nile is the longest river in the world.
Lake Victoria is one of the largest lakes in Africa.
London is on the Thames.

My question is why haven't we used the in Mount Everest and Lake Victoria? They are almost identical to the ones where the are used. Do we have to learn all the topics/things where the is used?


texts: Is there a word for the belief that everything is possible?

texts: Either a word for belief itself or to describe a person who believes that any task is possible often in an irrational way.


texts: Period after period (abbreviation at the end of a sentence)

texts:
If an abbreviation occurs at the end of sentence, is there one period or two? For example,

  Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C.. Brutus killed him.

Should there be one period or two?

This has nothing to do with etc.


texts: Is there a word for the bias of not knowing what came before?

texts:
Is there a word or phrase for the bias of not knowing what came before?  Of thinking that an idea under consideration is truly new?  I'm looking for a word to describe the bias that comes from this thinking, and not the act of not knowing itself (i. e. "reinvent the wheel").
For instance, I work as a web developer, and junior developers are all the time coming up with "new" ideas that have been with us for decades.  In not being aware of the history, they end up wasting time recreating existing work and making old mistakes.  I'm also pretty sure this happened to the field of semiotics, which was discovered twice because the work done by earlier groups was somehow not evident to later semioticians.
I was looking for "historical bias" or "ahistorical bias," but couldn't really find anything.  I'm sure there must be a word! It would be used in the following way:

The ignorance of the developers was an example of __________.


texts: Is it legal to move 'always' to the end of a sentence for emphasis?

texts:
(1) I'm a great life guard, always paying attention.
(2) I'm a great life guard, paying attention always.

I understand that (1) is the convential way to write the sentence, but I would never write a sentence like that. (2) on the other hand has a nice ring to me, but I have been told repeatedly that it is incorrect. Is it? If so, what is the rule? I'm not a native speaker, but I feel like (2) is an 'ok' violation of traditional word order to put more emphasis on the sentence. Follow-up question: In general, am I ever allowed to slightly bend language rules for emphasis?


texts:
One thing that bothers me - a lot - reading older English texts, is the apparent tendency of writers to write what appear to me to be sentence fragments.  For instance, today I found this old "map":

http://i.imgur.com/hPLXDrK.jpg

The map contains this sentence near the top:

"Four Hundred Passages in the Bible that Condemn the Globe Theory, or the Flying Earth, and None Sustain It"

Ignoring the actual claims made by this sentence (I've seen this type of thing in other more reputable works but I can't recall any of them at the moment), it seems to me that this isn't a valid English sentence. I have tried to determine the parts of speech and haven't come up with anything convincing. I'm trying to figure out how this could ever have been grammatically correct.  The word "that" seems to completely wreck what would have been a perfectly valid construction.  But even worse, with the word "that" the following "and" seems very mismatched.

Is this sort of thing deliberately a non-sentence? Is there a way to interpret it as a valid sentence?  It seems like this thing was pretty common in the 19th century; is this some sort of cultural thing whereby titles of pieces of writing were overly wordy incomplete sentences?  How should I interpret this sort of thing?


texts: Is "object of discussion" an established term, or is there another word for that?

texts:
In a review of, let's say, predatory habits of some animals, the subject of the discussion is the predatory habits.

Is it correct to say that the animals, then, are the objects of discussion or objects under review? Or is there a different term that would communicate this?

I found a related post or perhaps I am asking a duplicate but I did not find a satisfactory answer there either.


texts: Difference between "be suspicious of" and "suspect"?

texts:
Similar questions have beens asked before, but I believe mine hasn't quite been answered.

In the game HITMAN™, holding a suspicious item and standing close to an NPC causes the word Suspicious to appear on screen, indicating that someone is suspicious of 47.

If I then described to someone why I failed Silent Assassin, would I say that someone

suspected me or
was suspicious of me

or do both expressions mean the same in this context?


texts: What's the tense for remarking a thing happened in the past?

texts:
Shall I change

  That Bilbo said he was a legendary burglar is really funny.

to

  That Bilbo said he was a legendary burglar was really funny.

?


texts: The correct form of the "increased demands"

texts:
I wrote the following sentence. Is the word "increased demands" used correctly, or is there a better word for it?

In addition, world population growth and increasing demands have been changing the patterns of energy consumption


texts: I do know that the much better construction is "he wished he had met her a year before", but is the construction "he wished he would have met her a year before" acceptable?


texts: How to explain the tenses in these sentences?

texts:
So my Japanese student is having trouble understanding why the following tenses are used and I’m not sure how to explain it.

My line manager wants the meeting arranged immediately.

Why does that use ‘arranged’ even though it hasn’t happened yet?
While the stock was being checked the staff worked in the evenings.

Why does that use ‘was being checked’ and not ‘was checked’?

I know this is probably a very basic question but I’m horrible at explaining tenses to students. Any help will be appreciated.


texts: What is the leaving out of a repeated word called? "He left in a fast car and a filthy mood."

texts:
He left in a fast car and a filthy mood.

Here, the second "in" has been left out as the first "in" can serve both parts of the sentence (I assume), but what is this device called - if indeed, it has a name!


texts:
I'm having a problem understanding an adjective I found in a grammar book. The sentence is:

After an enormous Sunday dinner, the old farmer walked slowly to the vine-covered porch and eased into the creaking swing to begin this regular Sunday nap.

I got most of the answers right except for vine-covered. Is it some sort of double adjective, because both vine and covered are describing the porch?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Is "bump into their conversation" a correct sentence to express getting into others conversation unexpectedly?

texts: Is "bump into their conversation" a correct sentence to express getting into others conversation unexpectedly ?


texts:
Which of the following sentences is correct, and what is the difference in their meaning?

I'll talk with Stuart and get back to you.
I'll talk to Stuart and get back to you.


texts: What is the correct usage of the word "milquetoast"?

texts:
The google definition of this word states that it is a noun however in its own example of usage it is used as an adjective: "a frail, milquetoast character".
I haven't found any reliable sources to say that it can be used as an adjective so I'm wondering if it would actually be correct to use this word as an adjective.


texts: Does "the attached updated User Guide" sound wrong?

texts:
I updated a User Guide, and according to my company's processes I have to send the document with tracked changes to our operations. So I wrote this email:

  Dear operations,

  Please take a look at the attached updated User Guide and let me know
  blah blah.

  Blah,

  Blah Blah.

Does the sentence sound right or had I better rephrase it so as to avoid "attached updated"? For example,

  Please find the updated User Guide attached and let me know blah blah.


texts: Why does /t/ after a consonant (ex: /ˈnaɪn.ti/) produce less air than /t/ at the beginning of word (ex: /ˈtaɪlænd/) or after a vowel (ex: /ˈraɪ.tər/)?

texts:
My mother tongue is Vietnamese and I often have difficulty making the English /t/ sound.
Here is what I discovered.
If a /t/ is the beginning of word (e.g. /taɪ/ tie, /tɪn/ tin, /ˈtaɪ.lænd/ Thailand) or after a vowel (e.g. /prəˈtekt/ protect, /ˈæd.vɝː.taɪz.mənt/ advertisement), then when making the /t/, we need to release a lot of air from our throat through our mouth. In this case, /t/ is closer to Vietnamese /th/.
However, if /t/is after a consonant (ex: /ˈnaɪn.ti/ ninety, /ˈɪn.trəs.tɪd/ interested), then when making the /t/, we release just a little bit air from our throat through our mouth. In this case, /t/ is closer to Vietnamese /t/.
To make it easier for you to compare, see the word /en.təˈteɪn/ entertain. The /t/ in /tə/ is after /n/, so it sounds like Vietnamese /t/, and the /t/ in /teɪn/ is after /ə/ so it sounds like Vietnamese /th/.
I do not think stressed or unstressed syllable makes a difference. For example, /t/ in
/ˈæd.vɝː.taɪz.mənt/ advertisement sounds like Vietnamese /th/.
So, why does /t/ after a consonant produce less air than /t/ at the beginning of word or after a vowel?


texts: Socket or outlet, which one do you use when explaining to a child?

texts:
I'm just curious....

In the USA, how do you explain to a child 'don't put anything in the electrical outlet' or 'don't play with a wall socket'??

How do you say the same thing around the globe?


texts:
Can one say

a. I will betray you for nothing.

instead of:

b. I will not betray you for anything.

?

Normally, (a) would mean: I will betray you even if I don't get anything out of it. I will betray you for free.

I don't think (a) could replace (b), but I am not entirely sure.

Many thanks.


texts: Can "life" be used in reference to more than one person?

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to use the word life in the singular when referring to more than one person?
I found the following sentences in the Corpus of Contemporary American English.

a.    we can save the life of many of these patients.
b.   Clearly, CPR has been credited for saving the life of many.


texts: Which is the correct one? "When should we" or "When we should"?

texts:
I would like to know which of the following sentences is the correct one:
a) **When should we** use this or that?
 or
b) **When we should** use this or that?
If both are correct, is there a different meaning?

Thank you all!
Best regards,
Jose.


texts: Is there any word for a situation when a person can't feel satisfaction to let others do his work unless he does it himself?

texts: I pondered about the words "satisfactory problems" but that is more related to men sexual problems and is diametrically opposed to what I want to know.


texts: Can 'I believe' and 'I think' have different connotations?

texts:
Can 'believe' have a different meaning/connotation than 'think'?

I think you would use 'believe' if you want to stress that the thing that you believe will happen means very much to you and you are convinced it will definitely happen. Think, however, is less emotional and you don't stress whether you are convinced or not sure if something will happen - it is neutral.

For example:

  I think he will win.

-> neutral position, based on what someone sees

  I believe he will win.

-> Convinced he will win, emotional

Would you say that is the case?


texts:
In Dracula, there is this passage:

  Tell your friend that when that time you suck from my wound so swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that our other friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when he wants my aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do.

in which I am puzzled by "you did more for him when he wants my aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do."

How comes present tense "when he wants" goes with past tense "you did more for him"?
What does it mean as a whole?

Would any native speaker be so kind to explain?


texts:
Which is grammatically correct?:

She has become weaker lately.
She has become more weak lately.


texts:
Is the following a proper sentence?

  His sincerity concerning intimate issues made the old man increasingly uncomfortable

I am not sure about using 'concerning' with sincerity