texts:
I have been told that darkness is better to use than blackness; that blackness is not correct.

But what about this intellectual giant Carl Sagan here (0:52):

http://youtu.be/dj_MZ6i5Dr0?t=52s

He said "blackness" with the stress on that word and he certainly is aware of English.

So, my question is: why couldn't I use the word blackness instead of the word darkness if it is more logical (reference to the black color instead of vague dark which can also be dark-brown, dark-red etc.) and Carl Sagan use it too?

I am really curious about that, because when I used word "blackness" on several occasions people smiled at me and told me it is wrong.

Is it OK to use that word in the academic world and just stay away from it when dealing with casual people who speak English?


texts:
I'm looking for a term for audio in form of the word visual.

Visual is defined as

  of or relating to the sense of sight

What could you call the sense of hearing?
Also, what do you call this form of a word? (i.e verb, noun...)

It should fit the x in the following sentence:

  Is it possible to fall in love with someone without visual or x contact?

I'm not a native English speaker, so I couldn't find the terms for searching this.


texts:
Can I address Good Morning / Afternoon after addressing 'Dear XYZ,' in a formal email.

Thanks
Ankit


texts:
I've recently had a heated discussion in German with another person over the use and semantics of the hashtag #just[x]things – this happened on an anonymous location-based German social network called Jodel. For the sake of simplicity, let's just call them Bob. I'm not a native speaker, and presumably so, neither is Bob.

The context is a post on something that happened in my hometown of Duisburg to which I replied "#justduisburgthings". Bob complained that the use of the hashtag is inappropriate and held up the opinion that the implied meaning is that such things would only ever happen there. My understanding is that the implied meaning is that such a story is typical for, but not exclusive to the city.

Google didn't turn up any sources that could be used to prove or disprove either side (maybe I'm just too bad at using Google), and since I'm curious to find out whether I might be mistaken after all, I've decided to take this question to EL&U.


texts:
Imagine this conversation between 2 persons :-
Person A to Person B: This event never takes place.
Person B to Person A: This event is more common (meaning takes place  at regular intervals) than you think.
Person A to Person B: This event never takes place.
Person B to Person A: This event takes place more frequently (occurs more than once) than you think.
Person A to Person B: This event never takes place.
Person B to Person A: This event takes place more often (event occurs more than once) than you think.
Is the usage of more common/more frequently/more often correct in this scenario?


texts:
We're used to the word "whore" in reference to a prostitute or (less commonly) as a verb meaning to prostitute oneself.  Looking in a few online dictionaries, this is the first and only meaning.

However, I hear the word used more liberally these days.  An "attention whore" is someone who desperately craves attention, which seems quite different from selling sex for money.   Last weekend I was at a party and entertaining a 6-month old while the mom socialized.  Someone said, "You are such a baby whore."

The last two uses seem to imply that people now consider the verb "to whore" as "to hoard".  Is this common usage now?


texts: Is there a more generic word for US-centrism?

texts:
When an article (or any kind of document) is written specifically from the point of view of a citizen of the United States of America, I could complain about a US-centric bias.

Are there other words for that?  More specifically, is there a word that expresses this without reference to the country in question (in this case, the USA)?

I was thinking of "geographically centric", or geocentric; but I think that's more (accurately) used for thinking that the Earth is the centre of the universe.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Which one is more correct: “works at a university” or “works in a university”?

Can I say "He is at graduate school."? If so, how does that sentence differ in meaning from "He is in graduate school."?


texts: Why "a" before "elements of a first step"?

texts:
I have learned that "the first" is a determiner. So this example arises a question for me.

  Elements of a first step

Could someone explain it?
For context


texts: The terms 'desiccant' and 'humectant' are opposites of each other. However, both of them have been described as 'hygroscopic' substances. If desiccant and humectant are opposites of each other, how come both of them are hygroscopic?


texts:
I'm looking for a word or two that describes someone that a protagonist interacts with, but is not necessarily a rival or an ally, but could be. That entity could also be neutral, or change from one to the other.

Things I've scrapped:

antagonist: they don't have to antagonize the protagonist
opponent, adversary, contender: they're not necessarily competing in anything
conversational partner: they're not necessarily friendly and might attack, or might not even speak to the protagonist

What I'm considering right now:

encounter/encounted: seems most neutral, but etymological it means meeting an adversary (according to google dictionary)

sample sentences:

Your _______ stares at you belligerently.
Your _______ smiles at you.


texts: "Feel safe at the thought of" or "in the thought of'?

texts: I think it's "at" but I'm writing it as a part of a poem, so "in" feels better but I don't want it to sound wrong either. Basically the poet feels safe when she thinks about how she would be able to have a rested sleep because someone gave her a sense of security. Any thoughts?


texts: How would one precisely use ‘Chinese’ without qualifiers and where ‘Sino’, ‘Cantonese’, ‘Mandarin’, etc. is not applicable?

texts:
I'm likely missing something, but I think whenever people say 'Chinese' without qualifiers, a more precise term is applicable such as 'Cantonese', 'Mandarin', 'Sino', 'Hong Kong Chinese', 'Mainland Chinese' or 'Macau Chinese'.
Example: I consider 'Do you speak Chinese?' to not be precise since I guess it means something like at least one of the following:

'Do you speak Mandarin or any Chinese dialect?'
'Do you speak Mandarin?'
'Do you speak Cantonese?'

Question: Is there a situation where I can use the word 'Chinese' without qualifiers and where other words are not actually more precise or accurate or something (besides things like this sentence of course)?
Another example: Wiki says Sino-British and not Chinese-British.
Another example: From the 2009 film Push

Cassie Holmes (Dakota Fanning): You speak Chinese?

Nick Gant (Chris Evans): Cantonese.

Now does Cassie Holmes just feel weird? or what?


texts: "many particle system" or "many particles system"

texts: In Physics it is common to refer to a "many particle system". Should we not say "many particles system"?


texts:
I'm not a native English speaker and I'm always confused with the usage of prepositions.

  Vehicle’s ownership is reassigned to the name of the loan officer
  Vehicle’s ownership is reassigned in the name of the loan officer


texts: 'People are to find these ideas throughout his later work'

texts:
According to Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, page 206,

  With a passive the interpretation can be strong deontic, “must” ([ii]
  He is to be left alone), or weak dynamic, “can” ([iii] These ideas are to be found throughout his later work); there is no active
  counterpart to the latter.

I do not understand what it means by "active counterpart".


texts:
In All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrator says,

  In the meantime we receive visitors, a couple of wireless-men, who are generously invited to the feed. They sit in the living-room where there is a piano.

Could someone please explain to me what "Wireless-men" means? I've looked on google, and I can't find anything remotely useful. It might just be because I'm bad at using it though :P.

I'd greatly appreciate any help!


texts: When does BCE begin and why then? It seems arbitrary and possibly prejudicial or anti-prejudicial. Also confusing to the reader who may be culturally acquainted with BC and AD.


texts: What could be a snappy equivalent for the French catchphrase "si c'est gratuit vous êtes le produit"?

texts:
"Si c'est gratuit vous êtes le produit" can be translated literally as "If it's free then you are the product".

It expresses the idea that if something is free (like Facebook) then the information you are outputting is being used commercially.

Can you think of a way to transcribe this into the English language?


texts:
The etymology of the verb to scotch is unclear.  Here is the origin note from Oxford Dictionaries:

  early 17th century (as a noun): of unknown origin; perhaps related to skate1. The sense 'render temporarily harmless' is based on an emendation of Shakespeare's Macbeth iii. ii. 13 as ‘We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it’, originally understood as a use of scotch2; the sense 'put an end to' (early 19th century) results from the influence on this of the notion of wedging or blocking something so as to render it inoperative

In contemporary English are there any other common uses of scotch? I'm interested in whether there used to be wider use of the verb beyond just that relating to rumours.


texts: When to use -ial and -al in forming adjectives, like pictorial and electoral

texts:
I have some adjectives that have either -ial or -al in the end. Two duo suffixes are same in meaning.

Words sufixed with -ial:

  Luxorial, pictorial, advertorial, editorial,

Words suffixed with -al:

  Electoral, predoctoral, perichondral, pastoral.

Analysis of their spelling pattern:

Why can't pastoral be spelled as pastorial, and electoral and perichondral as electorial and perichondrial, respectively?


texts:
I am trying to help a friend of mine proofreading an English email and she has a preposition there that I am not completely certain is correct. The original sentence was this:

  [Name of the competitor] had the lowest price in the market -- [the price].

This seems a bit odd to me, but I can not be completely sure if I am right about the proper usage.

My intuition wants to say "on the market" at this point...


texts:
Initially, I drafted the following sentence.
He argues we consistently make assumptions that are wrong.
Later, because it looked like a quote, I added a comma. But, do I need a comma?
He argues, we consistently make assumptions that are wrong.
However, the sentence is not a quote. I am simply summarizing a seminar I attended, and I have found I am using this sentence structure often. Plus, for the sake of variety, I would like to flip this basic structure.
We consistently make assumptions that are wrong, he argues.
Unfortunately, I have searched both my "Chicago Manual of Style" and "The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation" with no luck at finding any examples highlighting this condition.
For a moment, I thought CMoS Section 6.27 applied. In my example sentence, maybe that is implied. So, I thought I might have found my black-and-white answer. I don't need a comma. However, it seems odd to me that we consistently make assumptions that are wrong would be considered a restrictive relative clause. If I were to drop he aruges, the sentence is still complete. Plus, relative clauses are normally shorter. Lastly, Section 6.27 did not provide any direction if I were to flip the sentence.
Subsequently, I also found CMoS Section 6.42 which comes close as well. However, it deals with questions, not statements. But, its example sentences are quite close to my example.
Thus, I dove into the sections on sentence structure in "The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation," researching subject, object, and verb. However, as I watch the clock, I have realized I need expert help. I understand there are often no black-and-white answers, but can anyone point me to the correct section related to the structure of my example? Can someone help me understand the parts of my example sentence as they relate to any particular "rule" in CMoS? Is that implied? Is the comma required? Is the comma only preferred? May I flip the sentence? How does it relate to the rules of a quote? Are these two independent clauses? I think there are many technical ways to approach my question, and any one answer would help me dig out of my rabbit hole.


texts: A synonym for "soft" with a negative connotation

texts:
I'm looking for a synonym for soft, as in the opposite of coarse or crass. The context is a young French woman in Nazi Germany who asks a shopkeeper for something to catch a mouse in her house. The German shopkeeper says "Oh, you French people are so soft, just say that you're looking for something to kill the mouse with."

Any suggestions? What other words would work here?


texts: What is the word for shock before remorse?

texts:
Malay language has a word for this - sentap. This is when they have a sudden realization that they're doing something bad and feel remorse immediately after.
Examples of use

A billionaire donates a substantial amount to building an orphanage. Someone asks this billionaire why he spends all that money, yet has done nothing for his orphaned niece. He feels this 'sentap' at the question, then adopts the niece soon after.

An award winning pharmacist has made a few millions by overcharging for patented medicine. Someone tells her that she has become rich with her methods, but has never helped the poor people who died without the medicine. She feels 'sentap' at the question, and chooses to donate a portion of her profits to the poor.

Is there an English word catches that brief shock and surprise before remorse? It's not necessarily guilt or shame. It can be something like sadness upon realizing something, which the person might have denied earlier or simply never noticed.
Realization doesn't seem to be the ideal term as it doesn't catch the remorse later on. Fridge Horror comes close, but is more suited to horror rather than remorse.


texts: Meaning of an old slang phrase "on the pan"

texts:
A reference to this expression appears in Peggy Gilbert, "How Can You Blow a Horn with a Brassiere," Downbeat magazine (April 1938), quoted in its entirety in Jeannie Gayle Pool, Peggy Gilbert & Her All-Girl Band (2008), which describes Downbeat as "the well-known [U.S.] national jazz publication":

Put Women on the Pan
Ha! We admit it, you say. You're absolutely right, but your line is as old as time. You think you have put women on the pan. You have. But it has been done for ages, Father Superior—ever since Eve—and far better than you could ever do it.


texts: Agreeing on a time subject to change using the world 'preliminary'

texts:
The conversation might go something like this:

  Q: "What time would you like to meet next Friday?"
  A: "Let's say 11am preliminary"

The person answering means to say 11am is not a firm time but may be changed before Friday.

Is this a correct usage of preliminary?

If not is there a word that can take its place?


texts:
I have a registration form I want to name.

Should I name it:

   –  “Create Account”

   –  “Create an Account”

(or “Create the Account”)

Also, which words should be capitalized if this is a header.


texts: Can "proper" be used proper as an adverb?

texts:
Which one is correct?

  I hope I thanked you proper!
  I hope I thanked you properly!


texts: "Not only...but also" in a negative sentence

texts: Is the following sentence correct: "Not only James, but also Paul don't like her." This sentence uses "not only...but also" in a negative form. It feels weird, but is it grammatically wrong? Thank you.


texts: How to use however in a contrarian statement that ends with a question?

texts:
After making a statement in the prior sentence, I want to make a statement that contradicts it and then asks a question.  I want to use however and I want to know to make my contrarian statement. I am just unsure of the best way to go about this.

Here are the three options that narrowed it down to:

Option 1:

  ... end of statement. I want to know, however, are there any ... ?

Option 2:

  ... end of statement. However, what I want to know is: Are there any ... ?

Option 3 (combination of 1 and 2):

  ... end of statement. What I want to know, however, is: Are there any ... ?

Note: Feel free to correct my tags for this question.  I have no idea how to best tag this type of question other than the 3 I chose.


texts: I want to translate a Russian fairy tale. There is a "device" I need an equivalent for. In Russian it is called "ухват" (uhvat), and it is used to put pots on the coals/into the oven. Is there anything alike in English? (The Google's "grip" doesn't fit).


texts: "This needs reviewed." vs "This needs to be reviewed."?

texts:
As in the title:
"This needs reviewed." vs "This needs to be reviewed."
Are either of these grammatically incorrect ? And/or is one preferable to the other ? I'm not quite sure what area this falls under, so I'm having a hard time finding the correct references elsewhere. Sources preferred if possible please.
Thank you


texts: On the origin and usage of 'sight unseen'

texts:
The expression sight unseen  means:

  Without having viewed the object in question, as in He bought the horse sight unseen.

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that:

  This seeming oxymoron (how can a sight, which means something seen, be not seen?) dates from the late 1800s.

According to Grammarphobia:

  The Oxford English Dictionary says “sight unseen” is an American expression for “without inspection” and dates from the 1890s. The OED’s earliest citation, from 1892, is in Dialect Notes, a journal of the American Dialect Society: “To trade knives sight unseen is to swap without seeing each other’s knife.”

There appear to be earlier usages of the expression as in A History of American Mannfactores from 1608 to 1860,  published in 1866 :

  The price of a cow and calf, he says, was 50s., " sight unseen, be she big or little, they are never very curious to examine that point."

My questions:

What is the origin and first usage of this idiomatic expression?
What are other common idiomatic expressions (AmE or BrE) that convey the same meaning?


texts: Where did the saying "Bite the dust" come from?

texts:
Hypothetical example usage:

  "Another one bites the dust." He said as he watched another building burn to the ground.

It just means that something is destroyed.  What does biting dust have to do with destruction?  Where did that saying come from?


texts:
Which of these are correct?

Hiscore
Hi-score
Highscore
High-score

I have seen all except the last being used.


texts: I'm looking for help with a word to describe a concise theory

texts: I'm looking for a word that describes the simplest, most complete theory: concise, elegant, complete


texts: Given “a player” as antecedent, when should the pronoun be “he” or “she”?

texts:
I am learning game theory. I always see that professors write (in text books):

a player chooses her strategy
If she chooses a strategy

Also some professors use he instead of she.

There other names also like player, but I forgot about them now.

How can I know when to use she versus when to use he in these situations?


texts:
I often come across this following type of phrase:

  This fungus is a decomposer of hardwoods and traditionally other fungi in this family have been used as popular folk or oriental medicines to treat various human diseases.

My first instinct is, of course, to place a comma before the “and” to separate the two noun-verb phrases, as follows:

  This fungus is a decomposer of hardwoods, and traditionally other fungi in this family have been used as popular folk or oriental medicines to treat various human diseases.

Then, my second instinct is to separate the word “traditionally” by commas.

  This fungus is a decomposer of hardwoods, and, traditionally, other fungi in this family have been used as popular folk or oriental medicines to treat various human diseases.

Yet, I always end up thinking that the “and” separated by two commas on either side just looks weird, even though this appears to me to be grammatically and syntactically correct.

Of course, I know there are other options, like simply creating two separate phrases or slightly rephrasing by moving "traditionally" between "have" and "been" (". . . have traditionally been used as . . ."), but I often come across this construction or variations of this construction.

Perhaps, I am looking to see if this latter construction (separating the "and" with commas on either side) is indeed correct or if there are better ways of dealing with this issue/type of construction.


texts: Proper technical/ financial term for CDs, DVDs, and USB drives

texts:
I'm just curious --

In a business setting with native English and non-native English speakers. Most revenue is software based, but there is a significant category that includes physical CDs, DVDs, and USB drives (containing software).

Currently it's called "physical devices" -- however in a financial book, in isolation, this might conjure up the idea of computers & IT resources, especially since it's usually discussed in terms of cost.

Is a "device" the proper term for CD/ DVD/ and USB sticks?

I would imagine personally that "physical media" is a more accurate term - but am I just being pedantic? Or is the idea that a CD is a "device" simply incorrect?

Example sentence: "These are are wholesale costs for blank CDs and DVDs -- they fall under our Sales/ Costs of ____" (Physical Devices, Physical Media, ??)


texts: What is the term to describe when people words have veiled or alternate meanings?

texts: Sometimes people , especially people practicing covert aggression, tend to talk in highly ambiguous terms when interacting with someone , which leaves the other person wondering - were they really saying these things about me, or to me indirectly while seeming to talk about that other person or other thing or telling me this story, and it leaves the person under the verbal aggression in a confused state as to whether they were imagining the messages or the abuser really was talking about them. Somewhat like dog whistle, but done on a one on one basis. Is there a term in English for this?


texts:
I am confused about adverbs that can be placed in front of the verb as in:

  He quickly reads a book.

And can be used at the end of the sentence as in:

  He works hardly

Can I mix them as:

  He really works hardly


texts:
Back when I was a student, I can recall my nonnative English teachers -- after discussing a certain word, or phrase, or passage from a text with the class --  saying for me or some other guy to please "carry on" (with the reading).
Now, what I wish you could tell is if "to carry on" has any currency in AE usage in the sense "to proceed with something after a stop"? Or is this usage typically BE, and an American somehow would be more likely to say instead something like "you may (or can) go ahead", "you can go on", or "you can proceed" with a certain task?
If indeed "carry on" is sort of more typical of BE than AE in this sense, how do Americans usually use that expression?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/carry+on?s=t
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/go+on?s=t
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Proceed?s=t
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Go+ahead?s=t


texts: When is it okay to not use a comma before an 'and' or 'or' followed by an independent clause?

texts:
I punched him and he cried.

or

I punched him, and he cried.

Are both acceptable? Is one better than the other? Personally, I like the first one best, as it better shows the cause/effect relationship of the two clauses, but I am not confident that it is gramatically correct.

He told me to do it or I would have to leave.

or

He told me to do it, or I would have to leave.


texts: Why does the name "central nervous system" contain 'nervous' and not 'nerves'?

texts:
I was searching for something related the central nervous system, and then it hit me: why is it called  "the central nervous system" and not "the central nerves system"? It is obviously a system of nerves - why the adjective form?
I tried searching for it online, but it's pretty hard to find anything linguistic about this term, as it is so common in biology- and medicine-related material.


texts: Interchangeability of "—" (dash) and ":" (colon)

texts:
Let me cite two examples, one using "—" (dash) and the other using ":" (colon):

John has three sisters — Sita, Mita and Rita.
John has three sisters: Sita, Mita and Rita.

Grammatically, both sentences are correct. The only issue here is the use of two different punctuation marks as one sentence uses "—" (dash) and the other ":" (colon).
Which punctuation mark is correct? What is scope of usage of each of the punctuation marks? Can they be used interchangeably in the given context?
I am not going into the issue of m-dash or n-dash; nor am I concerned how a "—" (dash), when occurring in a pair, is to be used.
Can anyone shed some light?


texts: You hear it in most safety demonstrations. "In the unlikely event" ... of a water landing, of an emergency evacuation, of a fire etc. etc. etc. Did this phrasing come from somewhere specifically?


texts: Word meaning "the state of having (specific) metrics"

texts:
I'm looking for a word that means an object is in such a state that it has specific metrics able to be associated with it. I'm thinking "metered" but I'm not sure if that is necessarily appropriate as the dictionary definitions for "metered" point to measuring using the metric system, traffic meters, or metering the distribution of something in distinct units.

The use case is that at a certain state of being, an object has specific data associated with it (performance metrics), but it would not have this data in some other state. So when it is in the state that has the data, what word would I use to describe this? I'm looking for a generic word as well, not being directly related to the state itself, as the object could satisfy this condition in multiple different states (the inverse also being true: the object could not satisfy this condition in multiple different states).

Sometimes naming things is the hardest part of programming.


texts: You keep me hanging on - phrasal verb(s)?

texts:
What is actually the phasal verb in a sentence:
You keep me hanging on
"Keep on" or "hang on"? What do we have here? Double phrasal verb? I am trying to figure this out for a while today... This is the part of the song by Vanilla Fudge and Kim Wilde and others. Thanks.


texts: Books and other things with the same name

texts:
Is it proper to say "the book and movie Of Mice and Men" even though the two identical terms "Of Mice and Men" do not refer to the same entity?

An alternative would be "the book Of Mice and Men and the movie Of Mice and Men", which strikes me as very awkward.

If the first phrasing is valid, does that imply that "the book and man Abraham Lincoln" would be OK too? Secondarily, if so, could "Abraham Lincoln" be italicized?

This seems much less likely for practical reasons although the man and the book are arguably as distinct from one another as the movie and the book are, above.


texts:
Is there really no difference between inauthentic and unauthentic?

If there is, which is more correct?


texts:
Is the the word "foul" in the saying "cry foul" a noun, an adjective or an adverb?
I had a disagreement with my teacher, where I think it's a noun.

As in screaming "Foul!", saying that the action is a foul. Now that I think of it, screaming "Foul!" could also mean that the action was foul.

So is it possible to determine which is it? Or how is it used in say football?

I'm not a native english speaker.


texts: Possessive form of coordinated noun phrases?

texts:
Which of the following is accurate in British English to describe our own wedding?

  Alex and Jen's Wedding
  Alex's and Jen's Wedding
  Alex and Jens' Wedding


texts:
In Chapter 17 of The Awakening by Kate Chopin, my text said

  He greatly valued his possessions, chiefly because they were his, and derived genuine pleasure from contemplating a painting, a statuette, a rare lace curtain—no matter what—after he had bought it and placed it among his household goods.

However, on the worksheet, my teacher replaced the word "goods" at the end of the sentence with "gods." Which word did Chopin originally intend it to be?

Here is the one in the book:

And here is the one on the worksheet:


texts: What is the origin of the "-th" suffix? What is the linguistic term for the meaning it adds to words?

texts:
I was teaching my young nephew some math the other day, and from discussing the typical sort of word problems he's encountering in class, I noticed that the "-th" suffix adds a distinct meaning to adjectives.  For example:

If a ship is long, it has length.
If a woman is wide, she has width.
If a person is strong, he possesses strength.
If what I say is true, I'm speaking truth.
A lumbering panda moving slow is full of sloth.

Now, I've learned some linguistics from English L&U, and I'm guessing this "-th" suffix is an affix that changes adjectives into nouns.   My questions are:  What exactly is this "-th" suffix adding to the meaning? Secondly, does the "-th" originate from a separate word in Old English?  Lastly, is there something to say about the vowel shifts that seems to be occurring in some of the transformations (e.g., strong going to strength) that somehow fits in with the ablaut system of strong verbs/weak verbs, that I learned of from the excellent responses to my previous question?


texts:
Every once in a while, I will come across a type of sentence construction in which a nested dependent clause is punctuated with a comma at the beginning but not at the end of the clause. For example:

  David Davis, when asked by a House of Commons committee to explain why he had failed to provide anything adequately resembling the Brexit impact assessments that had been demanded by parliament fell back on an extraordinarily devious defence. (The Guardian)

My gut feeling tells me that, because it is a nested dependent clause, it should have been

  David Davis, when asked by a House of Commons committee to explain why he had failed to provide anything adequately resembling the Brexit impact assessments that had been demanded by parliament, fell back on an extraordinarily devious defence.

Am I correct? If not, could anyone shed some light on this matter?


texts: The meaning of "observe" in "observe the bus stops"

texts: In a bus service notice, it is written that "Buses will observe the bus stops on the diversion at Crown Street" What does "observe" mean here?  I can't find any meaning in dictionaries which suit such a use.  Please.


texts: What are some words or expressions which can be used to describe a wrong decision?

texts:
What are some words/expressions with which we can describe the wrong decisions made in the past by a person/entity/organisation?

The sentence:

  Real Madrid claims to have the biggest fanbase in club football which brings doubt in mind, as some of the decisions made by the club have been wrong.

There are many perspectives from which a decision can be wrong. For example:

The decision was wrong morally.
The decision was wrong in the public eyes, socially and politically.
The decision was wrong business-wise and economically.
The decision was generally wrong in all senses

What possible word or expression could best describe all of the above perspectives?


texts: If somebody says my baby is one year young rather than one year old,is it grammatically acceptable?


texts: Can a person be described as being "ill read"?

texts: I recently read a comment disparaging an individual as being "ill read" as opposed to well-read. Is this an accepted usage?


texts: how do I express that women who visit somewhere have no distinct age specific

texts:
I want to put more in to this sentence to say about that young women, old women all visit help desk. In other words, there is no varying age change in visiting help desk services.

Women seem to use help desk services more often than men according to that fact that approximately only two men out of 15 to 20 clients were spotted across three help desk sessions. Women of all ages seem to visit the help desk services


texts: tense of "would be" (when used as a synonym for "was")

texts: In a school paper, my son wrote the sentence, "In 1763, the stalemate would be broken." His teacher told him to avoid the "past progressive tense." The phrase "would be" is clearly not an example of the past progressive tense--but I can't quite figure out what tense it is. Can anyone help?


texts: 'by mistakenly, he dropped it' is it grammatically correct?

texts: Can I use both words 'by mistakenly' together? I feel that either I can put it as ' by mistake' or as' mistakenly' but not together.


texts: Is there an etymological link between medicine and the ancient greek μειδησεν (μειδαω) meaning laugh or smile?

texts:
Is there an etymological link between medicine and the Ancient Greek μειδησεν (μειδαω) meaning laugh or smile (as seen in Book 1 of the Iliad)?

I hope this is the correct place to ask this. I wondered if there was a link due to the phrase "laughter is the best medicine". I also wondered if linked to the belief in Ancient Greece (eg, at Epidaurus Theatre) that laughter and theatre had an effect on well-being and health (there was a healing centre next to the theatre).

I've looked briefly at various websites, most of whom mention the Latin origin, but I was interested in seeing whether there might be a different route anyone knew of.


texts:
When I was reading News of Real Madrid - Di Maria set to be released, I saw following sentence:

  Real Madrid management seem to have decided to let Di Maria leave on a full basis.

What does this mean(especially full basis)? Does that mean Di Maria will leave Real Madrid?


texts:
The two words auspicious and auspices seem so similar yet have almost opposite meaning. Is auspicious a good time or a lucky connotation while auspices is said to be an omen?  If
I said the weather was auspicious, is this saying the weather (maybe a storm is foreboding) at the moment looks promising?


texts: The usage of the word "chance" in this context?

texts:
Context: "But it was a chance stumbling upon a run-down, yet functional, laboratory in his late grandfather's home that solidified the young man's enthusiasm for chemistry."

Could you give me some explanations, please? Thank you for helping me.


texts:
Which is correct if I want to request for a pen?

  Can I have your pen please?
  May I have your pen please?


texts: Meaning of "x has 26 hours in her/his day"

texts:
Recently, a colleague of mine and my boss were in a meeting. At some point in time, my boss (referring to me) said "He has 26 hours in his day". It was a light hearted conversation and my boss is a very nice person. I did not understand what he meant. Was it any of the following:

I have a lot of time to spend at work?
I am slow/inefficient so I need more time to complete my work?
I work more than what the usual expectation is?

If not, could you please share your interpretation?


texts:
I'm not sure whether I should use 'meet' or 'meet with':

  if a Python implementation meets our performance requirements, then...
  if a Python implementation meets with our performance requirements, then...

Which one is grammatically correct?


texts: Correct way?: most abundant 10 african and 10 european ingredients

texts: Lets say I want to talk about the 10 ingredients most frequently found in each continent, while being as concise as possible. I have the choice to say 10 most abundant ingredients in african and european continents, but then it becomes unclear whether the 10 are the sum of both, or 10 in each, and how they are split. How would you say this?


texts:
My text says that :
Redundancy refers to information that is expressed more than once.
Ex:Forever and ever, past history
Tautology refers to phrases that repeats a meaning with different though semantically similar words.
Ex: Free gift
I really can't understand the difference. Is there even any? Are they both the same?


texts: Does articulation (can't you) as [kæntʃ u: siː] a bit of conversational, not official style?

texts:
I'm hearing it in songs sometimes, but I can't remember such pronunciation on English class. Is it some kind of american english or more local dialect?
First 'lyrics can't you see' result from youtube: youtu.be/ikOqJ8qYoMw?t=1m22s It's some of country/blues/rock, I know, but I hear it in common pop music.

The only refer in google about 'can't [kæntʃ]' is 'A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology' By R.L. Trask with the article external sandhi (goo.gl/CP1bw5) as a phenomenon, but it says nothing about stylistic acceptability.


texts: "Whomever runs it's" or "whomever runs its"?

texts: I know that "its" is the possessive form of "it", but does this rule apply to the possessive form of phrases ending in "it"?  Should I say, "the program runs on whomever runs its computer" or "the program runs on whomever runs it's computer" (also I hope I'm right that that should be "whomever" and not "whoever")?


texts: I was wondering if there is a word in English that means "phone disturber"?

texts: what do we call the person who keeps calling you without talking or giving you missed-calls just to disturb you?


texts: "World-famous" vs "internationally recognized"

texts:
I am writing a motivational letter for a university application and I try to decide if I should use the expression world-famous or internationally recognized in a sentence:

  ...coming from family of internationally recognized doctors and artists...

While I am rather proud of my ancestors I would not want to sound arrogant, and I'm afraid that I don't understand the difference between the expressions mentioned before. Could someone give me a little explanation?


texts: Meaning of "allows" in "He's wonderful knowing about book-beasts, as every one allows"

texts:
I don't understand this sentence from "The Reluctant Dragon" (1898) by Kenneth Graham:

"It's all right, father. Don't you worry. It's only a dragon."
"Only a dragon?" cried his father. "What do you mean, sitting there, you and your dragons? Only a dragon indeed! And what do you know about it?"
"'Cos it is, and 'cos I do know," replied the Boy, quietly. "Look here, father, you know we've each of us got our line. You know about sheep, and weather, and things; I know about dragons. … You don't understand 'em a bit, and they're very sensitive, you know!"
"He's quite right, father," said the sensible mother. "As he says, dragons is his line and not ours. He's wonderful knowing about book-beasts, as every one allows. And to tell the truth, I'm not half happy in my own mind, thinking of that poor animal lying alone up there, without a bit o' hot supper or anyone to change the news with; and maybe we'll be able to do something for him; and if he ain't quite respectable our Boy'll find it out quick enough. He's got a pleasant sort o' way with him that makes everybody tell him everything."

Does this sentence mean because of the knowledge he has, all people give him permission?


texts: Someone who refines something until it becomes useful

texts:
I am looking for a description of someone who produces things  and keeps on developing/refining  it until it becomes useful. This can take years.
Developer is the best word as it can mean keeps on constantly developing. However the word has been overused to describe everything including property developer which has the connotation of develop once so I am looking for an alternative word.
Evolver isn't a word as someone who keeps on evolving would fit.
I am trying to find maybe a word that explains more than just one part of the life cycle of a product i.e. it includes the designing,creating and
I am trying to explain someone who creates something and also keeps on molding it like an idea until it becomes useful and then keeps on working on it afterwards.
If I call him a builder, producer,creator,maker or manufacturer it is more in the context of a conveyor belt process where I am more thinking of describing someone who then refining it until it becomes useful.
Almost like a potter, molder,sculptor but you can use outside of pottery.
Here are examples where I want to use it

The scientist keeps on developing his theories on varying subjects throughout his life. In the morning he wakes up and says "I am a "[...]" as a mantra to remind he to not to stray but to keep on refining  his theories for the betterment of mankind.
99% of ideas fail as people as people don't realize they need to constantly work and refine their ideas instead of not giving up after it gets no uptake initially. They need to learn to become a [...]
iteration 1 of the product should be seen more of a way to test it in the market for flaws and improvement. The process then gets repeated through multiple iterations. The person who continuously creates and refines the product through iterations is called [...]
John dream is to write a best selling books. His English skill is very average. He knows it will take years and years of practice and writing articles and refining ideas for him to get there. John has to take on the ethos of a [...]

If a word like masterer,perfecter existed where someone keeps on working on something until it is mastered or perfected.
If have thought of refiner, crafter, realizer, do'er,craftsman, artisan, entrepeneur, executor,worker but none really fit the sentences I given above.
Not sure if such words exists in English, so I'd be open if the origin of the word is from some field or language.


texts: Comma before "either" at end of this sentence

texts:
Please help me determine whether or not to include a comma at the end of the third sentence:

  "I won't be talking to my ex at the party tonight."

  -"But what if she talks to you?"

  "I won't be listening to her either."

-or-

  "I won't be talking to my ex at the party tonight."

  -"But what if she talks to you?"

  "I won't be listening to her, either."

Thanks!


texts:
In August 2013 the Government of Canada renewed support of $100 million over seven years (2013-2020) for the Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals (GEM) program, which advances geological knowledge in the North to support increased exploration of natural resources and inform decisions on land use that balance conservation and responsible resource development.

What does renewed mean? Does it means that they decided to extend the period for supporting the GEM program which they have already been supporting? So they put $100 million from 2013 to 2020?


texts:
I've recently become confused at the use of the word express, specifically in circumstances where companies use the word to describe a slightly different service than their typical service.

For example the USPS has Global Express Mail, which offers to move a package as quickly as possible (for added fee, of course). Similarly, some train services called "express" are/were offered as or advertised as faster services (probably a callback to the Pony Express). Also common is the "express lane" that gives you faster service in any sort of queued waiting scheme.

Conversely, sometimes companies have used the word express to denote free or cheap, and even sometimes diminished. Software companies do this frequently, calling versions of their software that are cheaper and sometimes containing less features "express versions".

I'm most recently confused by Uber's new service "Express Pool", an extension of "Pool". In Uber Pool, the driver picks up you and others near you, then drops all passengers off near the same location. It takes a bit longer than regular Uber, but costs less. Pool Express extends the savings further by asking all the passengers to walk and wait a bit and meet in the same spot, so the driver only has one pickup.

So here we have Uber, a transportation service, using the word "express" for a service that's actually slower.

Looking in a few dictionaries, I found entries that define it as "fast", but found none that define it as "cheap". But there's plenty of examples of people using it as "cheap". I'm hoping an answer can clarify this usage difference, and possibly note how the word came to have these two meanings, which, at least in Uber's case, can imply the exact opposite meaning (i.e. if Uber Express Pool becomes popular, people may come to think the word means slower).


texts: I saw people using the word "defeased" in a sentence. I guess the original form of the word should be defease, but I could not find "defease" in any dictionary. Is defease an English word? What does it mean? Thank you.


texts: Is there a semantic difference between 'supply-demand gap' and 'demand-supply gap'?

texts:
I have confirmed that both 'supply-demand gap' and 'demand-supply gap' have been used, although the latter is by far more common.
I wonder if X-Y gap suggests that X was higher than Y, or vice-versa?
Many Thanks


texts: A phrase for “something that is sacrificed as a side effect of process”

texts:
My brain cells seem to be dying but this one is bothering me. What is the phrase that means something that you lose in process? Similar to occupational hazard? Or by product or side effect?

Example:

  Poor people and animals are ———- of capitalism.

So poor people and animals are the subject and capitalism is the process.


texts: What is the difference between "See you" and "So long"?

texts: I want to say "Let's work this later, "see you/so long" I don't know which one is more formal and I don't know which one take more time to "meet someone again"


texts:
When the word that is used in a sentence to introduce some relative clause it is always an essential element which follows. Therefore, no comma is required. Example:

I'm sure that you are lying.

When I leave out the word that, it is still a correct sentence, right? Do I have to use a comma then? Because, when you read the sentence aloud, it kind of feels like there is a pause. Examples

I'm sure you are lying.
I have the evidence right here in my pocket (that) you are lying.

Especially in the second case, I would prefer a comma at the place of the that. Is there a strict rule?


texts:
Context: Please narrow down your question, which is too broad.

I tried thesarus.com but I doubt those suggested synonyms prevail in use? For example, Google produces only 4 hits for both 'circumscribe your question' and 'tighten your question'.

Obiter dictum: I hope that the sample sentence above doesn't apply herein!


texts:
It's a common proverb that you would see pink elephants if you drink to much.

In particular there is a quite memorable scene from Disney's 1941 "Dumbo" where Dumbo and his mouse companion receive a whole music show from pink elephants after they drank spiked water.

My question is if this proverb was in the English language before that movie or if that movie is somewhat the source of it, it is old enough to be after all.


texts: What is the need for "over" in the following sentences?

texts:
They sent over a gift, or
    They sent a gift.

  Come over to our house, or
    Come to our house.

Is it not possible to make the meaning clear without using over in the sentence?


texts: Someone help me understand this sentence: "When's the last time you took a holiday?" "When's" means what? "When is", "when was" or "when has"?


texts: What's the origin of the idiom "cutting remark?"

texts: I came across the idiom "cutting remark."  I wondered whether it could have originated from Proverbs 12:18, which in the Geneva Bible published in 1599 was Translated from the Hebrew "There is that speaketh words like the prickings of [k]a sword: but the tongue of wise men is health"  The annotation [k] added by the translators to this verse is "Which seek nothing more than to provoke others to anger."  The King James Version published in 1611 uses the identical translation but omits the footnote.  Has anyone traced the English usage of "cutting remark" to its origin?


texts:
I have a follow up question to using "Similarly to" at the beginning of a sentence.

"similarly to" in the sentence beginning
suggests to use "As in".

Does "as in" mean "equally" or just "similar to"?

Example sentence:
"Similarly to DSST, we only use the first 27-channels of the FHOG feature map appended with a gray-scale image for the translational filter of DSSTcpp."

"As in the DSST tracker, we only use the first 27-channels of the FHOG feature map appended with a gray-scale image for the translational filter of DSSTcpp."

The sentence should reflect a similarity, but DSSTcpp is not euqal to DSST.

Thanks
myro


texts:
What is the difference between “tits” and “boobs”?

P.S. I'm not sure if this question is appropriate but as English is not my native language I really would love to know the difference.


texts:
One of the following sentences is correct. I'm having some issues figuring out which sentence it is. I've added my thought process and what I think the error is.

  According to our team captain, an extraordinary challenge laid before us.

I think the correction would be "will lay" because it's future tense

  Licking her paws, the lioness lay on the shaded grass beneath the trees.

I believe that the correction is "lie" instead of lay because lie is the present tense of "to lie"

  Because he had a bad case of the flu, Pranh laid down all afternoon.

I'm not sure on this one but I am almost certain "lain" is incorrect because it is the past participle of to lay.

  Janine's purse and sweater are laying on the table in the foyer.

I believe this is correct.


texts: Is it the right usage of agreeable?"This model produces more agreeable results to experiments"

texts:
I'm writing a paper, and in this paper I used a new model to predict a physical phenomenon. Now I want to express the predicted results is in better agreement with experiment than old model is. The whole sentence I want to write is "Bubble-based energy minimization multi-scale drag model considered mesoscale effect, which enhances the heterogeneous reaction between gas phase and solid phase, and produces more agreeable results to experiments experiments than the old one does."
If agreeable is not acceptable, could I say "...produces more consistent results with experiment."?


texts: How is the sentence "The symbol % is used to represent percent" read?

texts:
I have three sentences in my math textbook that use the symbol %.

  The symbol % is used to represent percent.
  Usually denoted by the symbol %.
  Most calculators have a key with the % symbol that will help you solve or check percent problems.

Am I supposed to replace "%" with the word "percent" in all three?


texts: What's "NAmE" abbreviated from in "Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary"?

texts: The "N" in "NAmE" confuses me very much.


texts: Proper use of "operando"/"in operando" studies

texts:
There are research techniques where something is investigated under working conditions, and these techniques are commonly referred to as in situ.
For the sake of being specific to my field of study, investigation of electrode material in situ is when the material is studied in the battery that has been put in some static condition (constant voltage applied and the battery cell is in equilibrium).
Lately, there is a novel term, "operando," which is a more specific "in situ." It is a method for studying electrode material in a working cell while the system changes under an external influence. For example, while the battery charges under constant current.
Roughly speaking, in situ is for studying the state, operando is for studying the process.
The question is: should "operando" or "in operando" be used?
I tried following the literature to avoid being wrong, but it does not help much. For example, Wikipedia has an article on operando spectroscopy, and there is no "in" anywhere in the article. There is also no "in operando" page on Wiktionary, only "operando". However, in research papers things get messy and there is extensive use of "in operando", e.g., here, here, and here. And there is also a lot of "operando" e.g., here, here, and here. So, even within Nature journals, there is no clear agreement. Is there a correct way? Does it matter at this point, or now it is just a matter of personal preference?


texts: "Directly" in the meaning of "As soon as"

texts:
I've just read my first James Bond novel, Casino Royale. In it, I have found several instances of the word "directly" being used in a way I am not familiar with. It appears to have the meaning "when" or "right after" or "as soon as":

  "Directly the cards were dealt I
  kicked myself."

  Directly Bond and Leiter had left to
  walk over to the hotel, she had
  telephoned.

  Directly the boot was shut, the third
  man [...] climbed in beside him [...].

  Directly they sat down, he apologized
  gaily for having startled her at the
  telephone booth [...].

etc.

Is this an obsolete used of the word? Is this only British English? I have read quite a lot of books from many different time periods, but I've never stumbled across this before - do other authors besides Fleming use "directly" in this way?


texts: What's the low back support part of a chair called?

texts: What is that hooked part of an office chair called, which is used to support the lower back?


texts: Is "He is too weak that he cannot walk" a correct sentence?

texts:
Consider the following:

He is too weak that he cannot walk.

He is so weak that he cannot walk.

He is too weak to walk.

I feel all the above sentences are correct. But my grammar book suggests, that the first one is wrong and the rest is correct. Why is it so? Any explanation?


texts: Word that means "adding money to a phone payment account"

texts:
I am looking for a word that means "adding money into a phone payment account".
I thought of these:

"recharge"
Disadvantage: Indian English. Only used in South Asian and Southeast Asian varieties of English.

"top-up"
Disadvantage: British English. Only understood by the British. Americans will find this weird.

Is there a better word that means "adding money to a phone payment account"? If there is none, what is an unambiguous phrase that can be used worldwide?


texts:
I want to write an email and apply for a "call for projects". I want to share the google map link of the location that I want to run the project at in my email.
Are these sentences correct? Which is the best sentence?

For more information about the location, please follow the link below.
For displaying location, please follow the link below.
For have information about location, please follow the link below.


texts:
In my opinion, 'the' is a definite article. It emphasis saying "that one only".
Why then 'the' before winter season. There is only one kind of winter season. There cannot be different kind of winter season. For example, the food means that specific food, food - means general. The winter seasons means specific, whereas winter season is not specific, it is general only. I am confused here because someone has corrected me to use the before winter season. Please help.


texts:
Can sought and searched be used interchangeably?

As in "we searched for an article" versus "we sought an article".

(Or if I got those two examples wrong, but there are correct examples where sought and searched have the same meaning, please correct me.)


texts:
It might be an odd question, but I'm trying to comprehend why do we use three dots in an ellipsis. Wouldn't two dots suffice? An ellipsis serves a dual purpose, it can be used to either denote an unfinished thought or omitted words, but why is it written using three dots? Have we any meaning assigned to two, horizontally aligned dots?

In some programming languages two dots are used to specify ranges, i.e. all integer numbers between 1 and 9 (including both) may be described as 1..9, which is perfectly distinguishable from 1.9, as in "one point nine".

I have stumbled upon a question on this topic and the answer suggests that Oxford English Dictionary uses double dots instead of triple dots because it shortens the contents considerably. If that is the case, why do we even bother with triple dots?


texts:
Which one is grammatically correct?

an auspicious path to fighting against rape.

an auspicious path to fight rape.

or maybe

an auspicious path towards the fight against rape


texts:
The passage is from IT by Stephen King.

  They ran down Center Street. People turned to look at them. Ben’s
  large stomach pogoed up and down. Beverly’s pony-tail bounced. Richie
  let go of Ben and held his glasses against his forehead with his left
  thumb so he wouldn’t lose them. ... They cut up Court Street and
  collapsed on a bench in front of the police station: at that moment it
  seemed the only place in Derry where they might possibly be safe.

I want to ask the meaning of the bold-faced cut up.
The several dictionaries I looked up didn’t give any meanings to fit this context.
It seems like they (Beverly, Richie, and Ben) sharply turned their direction of fleeing to Court Street.

Am I right?


texts: Should the title of a short story have a comma after it if it is the subject of a sentence?

texts:
A friend of mine was asking me this question. She used the following sentence in her essay for her English class:

"Harrison Bergeron" is a laughable read.

However, her English professor marked this as wrong, stating that it should be the following:

"Harrison Bergeron," is a laughable read.

The subject of the sentence is obviously the short story "Harrison Bergeron," which must be in quotation marks. The rule that I understand is that after a quotation, suppose it is anywhere but the end of a sentence, there must be a comma before the closing quotation mark. But, what about a short story/poem title?

As my friend began to write a paper summarizing two plays, she wrote the names of the plays in the following way:

Unlike The Taming of the Shrew, the protagonist in A Doll House, does not have a husband that wishes to gain his wife's love and respect.

I can understand the usage of the comma after the first play, as it is the end of a dependant clause. However, she put the comma after A Doll House for the purpose of not having her professor mark this as wrong. This is not in quotations, but if the rule for commas applies for short stories, does it carry over into this context?


texts: Can I write "a technology-freed society" to mean "a society freed by technology"?

texts: I'm writing a report and want to say "a society freed BY technology". Can I write "a technology-freed society" to mean that? Does it sound correct to a native speaker's ears? Or does "a technology-freed society" mean a society freed OF technology? Please help!


texts: Third and Second person in one sentence referring to "you"?

texts: Is it correct to say: "You are the one who's saying that he can't understand what he wrote, therefore I can't help you."? How understandable it is? A friend and I were arguing about this.


texts: Can plural you be followed by was, not were?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Historical usage of “was”/“were” with “you”
  We was gonna have some fun

‘All’ below may be regarded as the singular, but can the plural of ‘you’ be followed by ‘was,’ not ‘were’?

All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago.


texts:
My kid's English teacher is teaching that there is exception in use of was/were

"WAS she and her sister at the zoo?" is right.

"WERE she and her sister at the zoo?" is wrong.

AFAIK "She and her sister WERE at the zoo" is supposedly right.

There is no explanation on that exception in the book.  Can someone explain this rule or at least point to a source where such rule could be found?

Thanks.


texts: What does “show some (a little) leg” mean?

texts:
There was the following sentence in the New York Times (August 16) article under the title, “Where's the justice at justice?”:

  Attorney General Eric Holder said in May that “no reporter who is doing his job is going to go to jail,” trying to show some leg and signal that his intention is benign, merely to put pressure on (former C.I.A. agent) Jeffrey Sterling so that he will plead guilty before his trial.

OED carries the word, “leg show,” but not “show leg(s)." CED carries neither “leg show” nor “show leg.”

However, a definition at WordReference.com says

  The phrase "show some leg" means to reveal some skin, usually as an inducement to get someone to do something, or to make yourself more attractive.

and one at www.englishforums.com says

  Show some leg--literally, to expose your legs to view. Thus, to tempt sexually or to flirt or to seek attention. ...

GoogleNgram shows “show leg” in an almost insignificant currency level (0.0000000590% in 2007).

I know "show a leg" means to get up, but what does “show some (a little) leg” mean ? Does it mean to tempt a desired reaction from the other, or to reveal one’s real intention? Is it a common phrase?


texts:
On Modern Family episode 1 of season 7, Michael says to Cameron

  Oh, you walked over here. I just thought you Uber-ed everywhere.

I know what Uber is, but I can't understand ubered everywhere meaning in this sentence. He said that while Cameron come toward him from the other side of the table.


texts: How do I write a name pronounced like "Eye.Sun"?

texts:
I'm not sure whether here is the appropriate place for posting my question. Please pardon me if it's not.

My wife and I have chosen a name for our to-be-born daughter which is pronounced like "eye.sun" /aI.san/.
In our language, Turkish, "eye" means the "Moon" and "sun" means the "like" or "similar to". So, this name in the whole means "as beautiful as the Moon" or "like the Moon".
My question form you native or experienced English speakers is which of the following choices has the same pronunciation as in our own language, "eye.sun":

Eyesun, Aysan, Aysun, Isun, Isan, ...

I appreciate your help.


texts: The difference between 'I love him' and 'I am in love with him'

texts:
What is the difference between 'being in love with' someone and 'loving' someone, as in these two sentences?

I love him.

I am in love with him.


texts: For the phrase "for now," is a comma necessary in this sentence?

texts:
While practicing for the SAT and doing a practice test, I came across a question where what I believed to be a grammatical mistake in the question (it was missing a comma, I thought) caused me to eliminate that option. However, when I looked back to check my answers, the answer I though was grammatically incorrect was the correct answer. So basically my question is whether or not the option is in fact grammatically incorrect, and if so, does this mean in the future I can't rely on a perceived grammatical mistake to eliminate an option for a question like this? Here is the question (if you are unfamiliar with SAT Writing tests like this, the question is asking what the bolded text should be, from the options given):

  Although researchers continue to search for the right combination
  of factors that will keep fruits fresh and attractive, the
  problem may be that consumers are overly concerned
  with superficial qualities rather than the actual freshness
  of the fruit.

  The writer wants a conclusion that conveys how the
  shortcomings of 1-MCP presented in the passage
  affect the actions of people in the fruit industry.
  Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

  A) NO CHANGE

  B) many of the improvements to fruit quality they
  have discovered so far have required trade-offs
  in other properties of the fruit.

  C) for now many fruit sellers must weigh the
  relative values of aroma, color, and freshness
  when deciding whether to use 1-MCP.

  D) it must be acknowledged that 1-MCP, despite
  some inadequacies, has enabled the fruit
  industry to ship and store fruit in ways that
  were impossible before.

Correct Answer: C (the one I eliminated because I thought it had a mistake)

My Answer: D

source (refer to this if more context is needed): https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/360031/PrepScholar-sat-practice-test-3.pdf?t=1524236344173
page 26-26, question 33


texts:
What does "soon to come" mean, and when can we use it? Does the question

  Our day together on January 1st is soon to come.

mean that it is approaching soon?


texts: The walls stand only forty feet above the wave tops, yet plunge many hundreds to the city behind

texts:
The phrase refer to the walls of a fantasy city, which are very strong and protect it from enemies and from the sea.

I can't say if the phrase means that the walls are hundreds feet deep in the sea, or hundreds feet thick.


texts: A synonym for "total" with a negative connotation

texts:
I'm looking for a synonym for "total", as in sum of multiple of parts, but with a negative connotation. The context is that a man finds all his sins combined—his total—in tangible form.

My first thought was culmination, but it doesn't have negative connotation.
Any suggestions? What other words would work here?


texts: What would you call the scheduled event within a bigger event?

texts:
What would you call the scheduled events within a bigger event? A general word that could be used in both examples below.

Examples:

you have a the festival of apples and at 2 there will be apple
picking and at 3 there will be cider making.
you have a the conference and multiple speakers.

Update:

After looking for an answer and not finding one I am 100% happy with I have listed a few options that I feel are close to an acceptable answer below.

Itinerary
Agenda
Activity


texts: Is it frowned upon to use another preposition besides 'on' when using 'dwell on'? Would 'dwell over' work?

texts:
Someone I know is trying to settle on a particular lyric for a song. The lyric is currently:

  No more seeking answers to old mysteries

  No more digging deep into the past

  No use dwelling over ancient victories

  Except by me they were forgotten fast

Just wondering if Stack Exchange would think that the use of 'over' here instead of 'on' works...


texts: Is it incorrect to say "All the trip was so fun?"

texts:
To me, the phrase "All the trip" sounds wrong, but I've been reading the different explanations of when it's acceptable to use "all," "all of," "entire," and "whole" and I can't find a rule that explains why it would be wrong to say "All the trip..."  With that said, it just sounds wrong to me.  I want to explain to my ESL students WHY that phrase is incorrect but I can't figure it out.

Does anyone know if it's incorrect and why?  Thanks!


texts: I'm looking for a phrase or idiom for when someone is making up some tragic story to excuse themselves (such as: "Sorry I didn't show up; my father was diagnosed with cancer".. or "I can't keep our appointment; guess what I lost my job!"). And I got to think of a danish expression; "talking for one's sick auntie"; although that expression usually means doing a lot of talk to achieve some benefit. But my focus was particularly on making up excuses, and I was wondering if there might be a similar expression in english?


texts:
Monday morning.  A colleague of mine is blasting country music from his cube...fantastic.

After hearing the word "honky" and "honky tonk" quite a few times, I'm intrigued.  This is obviously a Southern term, but does anyone have more information on the origin and actual meaning?


texts:
Is there Another way of saying 'Physically, mentally, psychologically, spiritually(maybe?)'

So instead of saying

  Drugs are bad 'Physically, mentally, psychologically...

is there a nice phrase or a word to convey this meaning?


texts: Grammatical concord requires that the possessive pronoun following "which of us" be in the singular

texts:
Page 458 of Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English Usage reads

Which of us would wish to be ill in his or her kitchen, especially when it is
also the family living room?
Grammatical concord requires that the possessive pronoun following which of us should be in the singular.

WHICH https://oed.com/oed2/00284418
Why is it so?


texts:
A friend of mine wrote me this:

  I understand everything (what) you write.

I mentioned that it was probably better to write 'that' instead of 'what´. We were not able to find the correct answer, partly because it is not our mother tongue.


texts: Why is /e/ generally transcribed as 'ay'?

texts:
I’ve seen pretty often in phonetic transcriptions for English speakers who weren’t familiar with the IPA the phoneme /e/ or /ɛ/ transcribed as ay:

Here "lejos" (/'le.xos/) is transcribed as lay-hoss1.

Here "te" and "menos" (/te/ and /'me.nos/) are transcribed as tay and may-nohs.

This seems to be a pretty common spelling for the sound ‘eh’, which I find really baffling since the spelling ‘ay’ is generally pronounced either as /eɪ/ or occasionally /aɪ/, but rarely is it pronounced as /e/ or /ɛ/. Consider:

/eɪ/: day, bay, may, play, away, always, bayonet.
/aɪ/: cayenne, Uruguay.

The only instance I can think of ay being pronounced as /ɛ/ is in says, which I consider a somewhat exceptional pronunciation.

So why is it that /e/ is generally transcribed as ‘ay’? Wouldn’t it make much more sense to transcribe it as ‘eh’?

Do native English speakers instinctively pronounce ‘eh’ when they read ‘ay’ in phonetic transcriptions? In other words, if some native English speaker who didn’t speak Spanish tries to pronounce ‘lejos’ using the ‘ley-hoss’ transcription, would they really pronounce /'le.xos/, or would they pronounce /'leɪ.xos/ instead?

1 For the sake of simplification, consider /h/ and /x/ the same phoneme


texts: Words for distinguishing between published/official papers and unpublished papers

texts: Imagine that one wanted to present a list of (a) published academic papers and theses, and (b) unpublished papers and/or essays (I'm not sure if there is a real difference between these two concepts). Which headings would make most sense to separate the two? Papers and essays? Official papers and unofficial papers?


texts: What is a stock in "stock block" and "stock fire"?

texts: According to Merriam-Webster, a stock block is a truncated obconical block of wood used as a pattern in making the hole for a stock fire in a forge. I was not able to find an image of a truncated obconical block of wood online - I wonder what pattern it has. I did a search on "stock fire", but only images of fire came up. Could someone explain to me what is a "stock" in this context? Thank you.


texts:
So, the question that's always been bugging me is:

What is the proper usage of "This" and "That", not when it comes to objects or things, but when it comes to concepts.

For example, there's a paragraph that goes in a way that's similar to this:

  "Coconuts kill a small number of people every year, yet wars have consumed many more lives than coconuts during the long period of human
  existence.

  That/This fact will not change anytime soon."

Another, simpler example,  is:

  "Who is That/This friend you're supposed to meet?"

The basic difference between That/This is that "This" refers to a thing which is nearby, and "That" to a thing which is farther away.

So, how do you use the two words when it touches such vague examples? Does it even matter? Or maybe it would have been This when the statement is inside the same paragraph, and That when it's in another?


texts: Should I use "a" or "an" before a foreign word that starts with a "u"?

texts:
I have a foreign word that begins with the letter "u", and don't know whether to use "a" or "an".
The word is "unitario". It's a word used mainly in Argentina to describe a T.V. show comprising unrelated fictions which are broadcasted weekly and are usually an hour long.
So I guess it comes from "unit". But in Spanish the word is pronounced with the vowel sound "u" as in "uzi", only shorter.
So, what's the rule here? Should I say "an unitario" (as in "an uzi") or "a unitario" (as in "a unit")?


texts:
Can someone help me sort this one out, please? Should there be a comma before 'only to' in the following sentence?

  I went to the club, only to see Joel leaving.

Particulary, does a comma make the sentence less ambiguous:

I went to the club in vain because Joel was leaving.
I only went to the club for the purpose of seeing Joel leave.


texts: What to call it or someone who easily laughs about something which isn't funny?

texts:
This kind of person always or easily laughs, not because something is so funny, but because that person is easily e.g. nervous, agitated, has a short attention span and hasn't really got a sense of humour.

I don't mean having the giggles.

It might be (maybe not always) this person is generally quite pretentious anyway (in case that would affect the answer), that his laughing is more like putting up a show rather than finding something truly funny.


texts: Stress on the right syllable in a multiple-word phrase

texts:
I heard an actor playing the role of a mathematician on TV mispronounce "Hilbert space" by putting the primary stress on "space" and the secondary stress on the first syllable of "Hilbert".  That's the only time I've heard it pronounced other than with the primary stress on first syllable of "Hilbert" and the secondary stress on "space". (For those who may not know, "Hilbert space" is a concept one usually first learns as an undergraduate, unless one is not a mathematician or physicist.)

Is there a name for this phenomenon by which locating the stress in a phrase with more than one word is necessary for correct pronunciation?  And a scholarly account of the matter?

(Another example: "law merchant".  If this meant a merchant who sells laws (if such a thing could be imagined) the primary stress would be on "law".  But "merchant" is being used here as an adjective qualifying "law" and it's pronounced (unless some people pronounce it differently?) with the stress on "mer-".)

Postscript: "Metric space", "affine space", "linear space", "topological space", "projective space", "uniform space", "measurable space", "compact space", "symmetric space", "separable space", "conformal space", "symplectic space", "normed space" are all commonplace phrases and it would seem bizarre to hear any of them pronounced with the primary stress on "space".


texts:
What is the most suitable word for a person who doesn't feel shame in telling a lie? Or is always lying?

Is 'Proud Liar' a good word?


texts: German way of saying numbers found in Dickens

texts:
Reading "Great Expectations", I noticed that numbers (I don't remember if this refers to all numbers, but I'm sure it was used when age was concerned) were given in the German way, namely, for instance:

  one-and-twenty for twentyone

I'm asking why and when did the two languages split in this sense, that is, when did English start to tell numbers in the reversed order with respect to German.

Google N-grams does not shed any light on the topic.


texts: Plural Possessive (With Mom and Dad's Love)

texts:
What is the best way to say "With Mom and Dad's Love"

With Mom and Dad's Love
With Mom's and Dad's Love

Option 1 sounds better, but I guess you could interpret that as Mom the person and Dad's love.


texts: Analysing "Ain't got no use for no coal company"

texts:
I'm writing my thesis and I have a problem analysing this sentence:

  "Ain't got no use for no coal company" (Grisham, 2014: 157).

I know there's no subject - is it therefore an ellipsis? I don't think so... What is the noun that is missing? If a context would help, here it is:

  "Any idea what the land is worth?"

  Mrs. Crump crunched her dentures and said, "A lot more than anybody
  knows. You see, the coal company came out last year and tried to buy
  the land, been trying for some time, but I ran 'em off again. Ain't
  selling to no coal company, no ma'am. They're blasting away not far
  from my land, taking down Cat Mountain, and it's a real shame. Ain't
  got no use for no coal company."

Carter and McCarthy (2006) provided me with terms such as multiple negation and ain't as a negative contraction


texts: What's the difference between "dictator", "tyrant" and "despot" (in terms of a ruler)?

texts:
I use Cambridge online dictionary as my reference. In this dictionary, the explanations say:

dictator: (disapproving) a leader who has complete power in a country and has not been elected by the people.
tyrant: a ruler who has unlimited power over other people, and uses it unfairly and cruelly.
despot: a person, especially a ruler, who has unlimited power over other people, and often uses it unfairly and cruelly.

What confused me are the examples given for despot (excerpted from the dictionary page):

an evil despot
The king was regarded as having been an enlightened despot.

I want to confirm whether my following understanding is correct or not:

It looks to me that a dictator or tyrant is always a bad ruler who abuses the power, but a despot is not necessarily bad (as the example says "an enlightened despot"). Am I right?
Although a despot is not necessarily a bad ruler, when some ruler is described as a despot, it is usually implied that the ruler is an evil one unless some positive adjective such as "enlightened" is used. Am I right?


texts:
I wonder if the two can be used as a synonym for both when talking about two separate things. Let me follow my question with an example sentence:

Both texts talk about negative consequences of smoking

The two texts talk about negative consequences of smoking

Is the second sentence correct?


texts:
Oftentimes one can hear final l after a vowel get a vowel quality; whether this is an /u/ or /w/, I am not certain of. I have the feeling it is becoming more common today, but you can hear examples of this from earlier; in Pink Floyd’s The Wall for instance (‘Another Brick in the Wall Part II’), the children’s choir sings:

1′17″ ‘controw’ (‘control’)
1′55″ ‘wall’, though some of them say ‘waw’
2′04″ more ‘waw’ than ‘wall’?

My question then is twofold:

How recent is this pronunciation of final -l following a vowel?
Does this pronuncation indicate L is (or is becoming) a semivowel, as Y and W? If so, why / why not?


texts: Grammar rules governing a phrase from the US Constitution:

texts:
The U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 5 reads

  No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.

A friend is misinterpreting the opening noun phrase and taking the sentence to mean that only a person who was either a natural born citizen or citizen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution is eligible to become president. In other words, no one other than those select individuals who were alive during the adoption can be president. I know the notion is odd. But I don't know the specific technical reason to explain to him why he is incorrect.


texts: Non-religious mentions of God (or religious concepts) in the American English language

texts:
Reading about an appeal turned down by the US Supreme Court, I see that the majority opinion on phrases such as “in God we trust” and “one nation under God” is that they are not affirmations of faith, but “a historic, nonreligious recognition of the faith of the nation's founders in a higher power as the source of all rights”.

As a European, I have a hard time understanding this particular view, though that's very off-topic here. More on topic, this reading fueled my curiosity about the existence of other such expressions in English, be them either about God directly or religions in general. My question is: are there other typical sentences or mottos which, while having a religious meaning if read literally, but are commonly understood as nonreligious? Maybe among States’ mottos, or those of army units’. I can't see where to start looking.

One thing, though: I'm pretty much aware of the large number of phrases, idioms, or sayings which feature the word God and can be used almost without risk in daily language, such as “for God's sake”, “God bless”, “God forbid”, “God help”, “God willing”, etc. I'm not looking for any such idiom.


texts: Why in the U.S. sometimes the doughnut is called sinker? I'm not familiar with U.S.'s food or slang.


texts: "My parents' friendship with..." vs. "my parent's friendship with..." vs. "my parents friendship with..."

texts:
Which of these is correct please, if any?

  my parents' friendship with Sally's parents
  my parent's friendship with Sally's parents
  my parents friendship with Sally's parents

What is the correct use of possessive apostrophe in this case?


texts: Is "oxbow lake" used by both American and British English for billabongs?

texts:
Is the term "oxbow lake" used in both American and British English to describe billabongs?

Wiktionary has a definition for oxbow lake, but doesn't describe which varieties of English use it.


texts: "Call on" or "call at" or something else? Which is appropriate?

texts:
Which one of following sentence is correct?

You can call me on my cell.
You can call me at my cell.

Or is there some other preposition? Or both are right?


texts: "the better" vs "the best" of two players

texts:
I used the book "Grammar and Style" and one example confused me:

  He was the better/ best of two players.

The answer was the better but learners wonder how is it true since we use best after the definite article, the.

Was the answer given above correct?


texts:
I am looking for a phrase to replace the term "Service user".  There are two different contexts.

Someone receiving services from a mental health trust.
Someone who received services in the past, or who is receiving services now, or who will be using services in the near future, and who is offering their expertise to help develop services.

Here are some words, and the problems that have been mentioned.

For 1:

"Patient" - A patient receives medical services.  These people receive more than just medical services; they get vocational services and social care and etc.

"Service user" - Some people (a few people with drug and alcohol problems for example) do not like the word "user".

"Client" - People detained against their will under section of the Mental Health Act say they don't feel like clients.

At the moment the term used is "service user".  Only a small number of people dislike the word, but their dislike is very strong, so an alternative would be good.

For 2:  We need a word that highlights the new role; a word that avoids "pigeon holing" people.  We'd really like a phrase that puts people on a more equal footing with their employed colleagues.

"Service user" - these people might not be service users any more.  They are moving forward with their lives, and want to define a more positive role for themselves.  Also we'd like to emphasise the expertise that these people bring.

"Expert by lived experience" - It's unwieldy.  Many people dislike the "lived experience" bit.  A few people have said that they do not feel like experts.

"Service reporter" - sometimes these people are not reporting their experiences.  They're just using their experience to help.  For example, as part of an interview panel.

"Service consultant" - consultant is problematic in the setting of a hospital.  There are actual medical consultants (US equivalent: "Attending Physician").  A small number of people are uncomfortable with the word "consultant".  They say it has negative connotations; they say it makes them think of someone getting paid a lot of money for providing little value.

I welcome all suggestions.  They don't have to be in use anywhere in the world.  You can create brand new terms.  I'm happy to hear what terms are used in other places too.


texts: Seeking a noun for "a condescending, didactic, long-winded speech or soliloquy"

texts:
Looking for a noun
Intended meaning:  “a condescending, didactic, long-winded speech or soliloquy for the purpose of one’s own self-aggrandizement”
Prefer it not to end in (-tion)

Below are my initial attempts starting with the closest match.
Connotations in parentheses.

Closest:

Bloviation (long-winded, inflated, empty, pompous, arrogant)
Pontification (pompous, dogmatic)

Not as good:

Diatribe, Harangue, Tirade (overemphasis on anger and criticism)
Gasconade (overemphasis on boastfulness as opposed to condescension and didacticism)
Jeremiad (overemphasis on complaint)
Prattle, Chatter, Witter, Babble  (overemphasis on triviality)
Bombast (pompous, grandiloquent)(refers to the manner of speech not the speech itself “Bombast made the speech intolerable” – not “She delivered a bombast”)


texts: I was reading Poe and thinking about his work. Then I thought his dark-romantic style seems like a huge yearning without any hope but I was not sure if this is possible. Does the word yearning contain hope by definition? I searched for this on the internet and dictionaries but could not settle the problem.


texts:
What do these mean?

He's a grandfather of two.
He's a grandfather to two.


texts:
Certain it is, that he was a great favorite among all the good wives of the village, who, as usual, with the amiable sex, took his part in all family squabbles; and never failed, whenever they talked those matters over in their evening gossipings, to lay all the blame on Dame Van Winkle.

Does amiable sex mean women? Is it a well-known expression? I couldn't find any translations of this phrase.


texts: different from them vs. different from themselves

texts:
"Some people choose friends who are different from themselves, while others choose friends who are similar to themselves."
"Some people choose friends who are different from them, while others choose friends who are similar to them."

Which is correct? Or both?
The sentence "Some people choose friends who are different from themselves, while others choose friends who are similar to themselves." comes from a list of essay topics compiled by ETS (Educational Testing Service).


texts: How do we pronounce the http status code 404 not found: four hundreds and four, four-zero-four or four-four? We usually use 200, 201, 302, 401, 403, 404, 412, 500. I have read How to pronounce "720p" and "1080p".


texts: In some common phrases like, "You are what you eat", "Your actions reflect who you are".  Is there a reason (besides it sounds funny) to not use, "You're what you eat", "Your actions reflect who you're"?


texts: Adjacent words with apostrophes to show possession

texts:
Is it correct to end adjacent words in 's to show possession? For example

  "My neighbour's dog's ball is always in my yard",

or should it be

  "My neighbour dogs ball is always in my yard"

or

  "My neighbour dog's ball is always in my yard"?


texts:
I'm writing a list of terms. Every term has its own definition. The scheme is:

Term: short definition. Long definition.

eg.

  HTTP: short for HyperText Transfer Protocol (http://). It is a protocol to see web pages, used by the World Wide Web to exchange data
  between your browser and a website.

  HTTPS: short for HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (https://). It is a more secure version of the HTTP.

  Google Adsense: is an advertising program from Google. It allows publishers to display ads on website pages.

  Website: also known as web site, site. It is a collection of web pages accessible via the Internet.

Reading the terms from beginning to the end, the "It is a [...]" sounds redundant. Is it correct if in some sentence I use only "Is a [...]"?


texts: Adding the letter O onto the end of root words like - friendo, fatso, f*cko, weirdo, etc

texts: I have seen these type of words both in movies and on the net. Now, I am trying to understand, what is the point in adding the letter O onto the end of root words? Does it act as a intensifier of the negative meaning of a root word (in case a root word per se has a negative connotation)? If so, then what happens if a root has a neutral or positive connotation? What would be the meaning then?


texts: I'm trying to remember the name of a historical figure whose name has since entered the lexicon. He confused the order of words to say things like it's all nuff and stonsense for example. - I think he was a member of the clergy or a Don.


texts: What is the word for being disappointed in not knowing mankind's fate?

texts:
A long time ago I read about a word that means something like "The fear or disappointment that you will never know the ultimate fate of mankind and the universe and how it will all play out."

It is a very rarely used word, and I was interested to know it exists, but I have forgotten. Does anyone know what it is?


texts: Adjective pertaining to 'rainforest' or similar

texts:
I am looking for the adjective to describe that something is a rainforest, or similar (such as a forest, jungle, woodland.)

For instance, I am not looking for adjectives like 'green' or 'leafy,' rather an adjective to describe a jungle in the way that apine apian is too a bee, or alpine is to high mountains.

For example,

  The _____ nature of his front lawn meant that he received few visitors


texts: Is there a word for a student/person counted in a roll call

texts: I am looking for a word that represents someone who has been accounted for during a roll call or similar process if one exists. It may be considered to be the opposite of an absentee.


texts: Correct word for a little toy that always stands up?

texts:
In Spanish, we have a word for a little toy that always stand up, "tentetieso".

I want to search for those toys in English, but I can't find the correct word or specific description to find them.


texts:
There is a dialog in the movie Forrest Gump which said

  For some reason Jenny didn't never want to go home.

I wonder if this sentence is correct or not. I think it shoud be:

  For some reason Jenny didn't ever want to go home.

Which one is right?


texts: Why is "str" sometimes pronounced as "shtr"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Pronunciation of voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ as ʃ (/sh/) in slang?

My understanding was that the cluster "str", for example in "stress", is usually pronounced /stɹɛs/, just like Wiktionary mentions. Their audio sample confirms this.

However, I sometimes hear a different kind of pronunciation, namely "shtress" or something like /ʃtɹɛs/ (forgive my IPA knowledge).

As an example, Jay Z is rapping about the "New York city shtreets" (here at ~ 0:30), not "streets". The actors from the Jersey Shore seem to do it as well, so I'm starting to believe this is an East Coast / New York thing?

So, regarding this oddity:

Where in the English world do people speak like this? Is this even localized to a certain area?
Is this a recent development? I didn't hear about this back when I was learning English at school.
More formally, is this a "mistake"?

My naive explanation would be that it's simply a natural development because the "sh" forms automatically when you pull back your tongue from forming an "s" to "r".


texts:
Is "I'm screwed" a rude expression, or can it be used when someone tries to say they made a mistake?

I overheard it from someone who seemed to have failed at his task.


texts:
exist: to have real being whether material or spiritual
being: the quality or state of having existence
real: having objective independent existence
exist
Does ‘to have real being’ make sense? I think it’s like ‘red color,’ ‘clear clarity’ or ‘blue blueness’


texts: Postmodification using participle: Is it grammatical?

texts:
I am a Japanese teacher of English who is making a teaching material for my students. I would like to know whether the following usage would be totally accepted in school grammar. To put my question in other words, would a very grammar-sensitive person allow the following usage (in bold font)?

A: What is your favorite movie?
B: It is Titanic created in 1997 by James Cameron.

So, the point here is whether you can grammatically modify a proper noun with a participle. I know it's totally okay to write something like "a movie created in 1997 by James Cameron," where participle modifies a common noun, but I'm not sure if the same is allowed for proper nouns.

Thank you,
Tom


texts: What differences are there between "call in" and "call to"?

texts:
I noticed the preposition after 'call' while I was reading a newspaper. In my understanding, I need to use 'to' after 'call', so that we know who to call and who to answer. What are the differences between 'call to' and 'call in'?

Here is the original sentence from a news article:

  "Toronto police have called in the marine unit, coast guard and a helicopter from Trenton to assist in their search for a missing Toronto DJ who fell off a boat near Scarborough Bluffs Sunday night."

Here are my sentences that I understand.

  "Marine unit, coast guard and a helicopter were called by Toronto Police. Toronto Police asked them help to find missing persons."

or

  "Toronto Police called to marine unit, coast guard and helicopter to get some help for finding missing person."

Do I understand correctly?


texts: Why is the "I" in "Indigenous crisis" capitalized?

texts:
This is from today's Guardian:

I am wondering why the newspaper capitalized the "I" in "Indigenous".

According to Lexico, indigenous is spelled with a lowercase letter


texts: A one-word synonym for "someone who wears his heart on his sleeve"?

texts: While there's an antonym "composed" which is an antonym, I couldn't find a short synonym to describe someone who wears his heart on his sleeve. Can you think of one?


texts: Does the following apply to any fence of any height, or just fences 6 feet or less in height?

texts:
Does the following apply to any fence of any height, or just to fences 6 feet or less in height?

  “Unless specifically noted, the provisions of 5.820, 5.821, and 5.822 above shall not apply to fences, terraces, or walls six (6′) feet or less in height, nor to terraces, steps, unroofed porches, or other similar features not over three (3′) feet high.” ―Zoning Ordinance 5.823


texts: What do you call someone who studies letters?

texts: I recently asked a question for nouns pertaining to people who write letters.  But is there a word to call someone who studies letters (academically)?


texts: Word for taking the long way round a problem?

texts:
An example of this could be:

You need to install some software on a few PCs. It'll take you a few minutes per PC

Or you could create an automated system, which is more efficient in the long run, but takes hours to set up, making it relatively pointless

The sentence would be "you could create an automated setup, but it'd be a bit ____"

I don't think redundant is the right word, but it's in the direction I'm thinking of


texts:
I'm working in an English big company in Germany. Everybody speak English but most of us as second, or third language.
One thing I noticed is that we are all "guys" in the office:

"Ask the guy up there."
"Call the guys of help desk."
"Guys, we need to manage this now."
"Who is the guy who said that?"
"We need to tell this to all the other guys."

Apart from some managers that says "Gentlemen" everybody else use only "guy".

I'm wondering if is this normal also in natively English speaking workplaces or instead there are better and different terms that could be used in such situations.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is it “alright” or “allright”?

Which is correct in English, "all right" or "alright"?

These expressions don't cause any problem in verbal communication but I confuse them while writing. To be frank, I sometimes use "all right" and sometimes "alright" without actually knowing which one is correct. If both of them are correct, how should I know which one to use in a particular case?


texts: Question about non-restrictive attributive clause

texts:
He often quarrels with others in public, which is pretty disgusting.
He is always quarrelling with others in public, which is pretty disgusting.

Which one is correct? It is told in our textbook that the second one is wrong but I don't quite get it. Please shed a light on me :)


texts: How can I refer to a nose in a pleasing manner?

texts:
I'm trying to figure out a word that describes a nose in a pleasing way. I.e.

  The smell of freshly baked bread wafted into the __ of passers by.

Nasal cavity — too scientific, beak/snout — too animalistic, nose — too boring.


texts: Word for the practical portion of my Ph.D?

texts:
Is there a (reasonably common) verb I can use meaning "to perform the practical work" of one’s PhD thesis that I can use to put in the following blank:

I have ____ my Ph.D. in the laboratory of Professor M. Hatter.

I can’t use "completed" because I’m lacking my defence as of I-don’t-yet-know-when-exactly.


texts: Why do the British refer to things as 'posh'

texts: Why do the British refer to something very smart, or people who are very well-off as being 'posh'?


texts: What is the meaning of "until the seven dreadful bells when I was supposed to be at the church"?

texts:
I  could  not  sleep  because  of  a  presentiment  of  something  irremediable.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  I
  began to count the passage of the hours on the cathedral clock, until the seven dreadful bells when I was supposed
  to  be  at  the  church.  - (Garcia Marquez, Memories of my melancholy whores)

Does the author mean 7 am by saying "seven dreadful bells" or he says that bell was rung seven times? How does the bell work for a wedding?


texts:
How can I state that a thing is specifically excluded from a document in the preamble?

  NOTE: This document does not address the population of the data prior to running a specific batch letter report, nor does this document address the process after printing has been completed.

Doesn't seem appropriate. Your input would be welcome.

-jjj


texts: Articulating is to speaking as ___ is to writing

texts:
Blind John has difficulty articulating the words verbally to tell Sally how much he loves her
Mute John has difficulty _______ the words in writing to tell Sally how much he loves her

Also do you say the words or his words as he can't think of them.
Another example to simplify the context.

Tom is 12 years old. His teacher tells his parents he is very good at articulating verbally ideas but has difficulty ..... the words to paper.