texts: Does English have a word for "not sick"?

texts:
In Danish, there is the word »rask« (I am sure there are similar words in other Germanic languages), which means either 'not sick' or 'quick'.  The latter sense is largely context dependent, and considered a bit old fashioned.

The advantage of the former meaning, is that one can ask »føler du dig rask?« (approx. 'do you feel not sick?').  I wonder if there is a word in English to convey the same meaning in a single word, so you can formulate the same kind of polar question.

The word 'healthy' (as in, 'do you feel healthy?') could also imply you lead a healthy lifestyle.  One can be not sick, while also being unhealthy.

Similarly, the word 'well' (as in, 'do you feel well?') - while closer - could also imply different meanings, as it has different connotations.  English is a second language to me, but I still have hard times grasping the exact meaning of 'well'.

And I feel, at times, that native English speakers have the same problem.  If someone asks, 'do you feel well?', and my financial situation is looking bleak, and it's worrying me, but technically I do not feel sick, I would probably answer 'no'.  But if someone asked me 'do you feel not sick?' in the same situation, I would answer 'yes'.

Am I misinterpreting the word 'well'?  Or does English lack a clear singular word meaning 'not sick', that has broad consensus in terms of meaning?  In Danish, since »rask« is an infrequently used word, its meaning is generally agreed upon.  Unlike 'well'.


texts: Verve as a verb meaning "to enter into" or "venture"

texts:
I've recently come across examples of the word "verve" used as a verb meaning "to enter into or venture into. I thought the writers meant to use "veer" or "verge" but clearly this was meant in a positive way.
Has anyone come across this usage and know where or when it originates? Is it a straight-up error or a new usage that will soon be ubiquitous?

examples:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.html?id=35779413&page=2
http://www.nairaland.com/2436875/citi-bank-ready-consumer-banking
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/post-rock.37020/


texts: Word for something that can be expressed in currencies

texts:
What may be a term (word, phrase or expression) to indicate that an object property (e.g. price, value) is expressed in a specific currency, something like "currenciable".

Similar example can be "translatable", as something that can  be expressed in a specific language/locale.


texts:
I stumbled upon a sentence in something Christopher Hitchens wrote eons ago. But I am iffy about its grammaticality.

  And many murderers have been reprieved because they were condemned for the wrong murder, quite probably just as many as have been executed for the only murder they did not in fact commit.

I am not sure the use of "as many as" here makes the sentence grammatical, because there isn't a pronoun or noun phrase following the phrase, which seems to be an ellipsis. I thought I'd write the sentence as:

  And many murderers have been reprieved because they were condemned for the wrong murder ; quite probably just as many have been executed for the only murder they did not in fact commit.

or

  And many murderers have been reprieved because they were condemned for the wrong murder, quite probably just as many as those that have been executed for the only murder they did not in fact commit.

Am I wrong?


texts: What does "cavernous room" mean or look like?

texts:
I saw this phrase used in this New Yorker article.

I think I understand it intuitively, especially with the help of google images, but I'd like to know for sure.


texts: Other expressions for "technology evolution"

texts: In the last few decades technology has changed many of our daily habits. Making  phone calls, keeping social contacts, booking a hotel or a flight, reading  digital maps, online newspapers, books and dictionaries, just to name a few things that not so many years ago required more time and often  the help of other professional figures. Bad or good this trend, often called technology evolution, is probably going to accelerate in the foreseeable future. What other expressions can you suggest to describe this unavoidable trend.


texts: Do I need the comma after the opening adjective?

texts:
The sentence is:

There, it continues to attract visitors.

vs

There it continues to attract visitors.

I saw the second example on the grammar section of a standardized test and I thought they made a mistake.
Edit:
I don't remember the context but it's something like:

The statue was relocated to New York. There...


texts: What is the difference between a tenant and a lodger? Both words seem to mean the same, so when is one preferred over the other, or is it a case of different terms to name the same thing?


texts: Is there a season's greeting for Halloween?

texts: There is "Season's greetings" or "Merry Christmas" for Christmas. But is there something for Halloween? "Happy Halloween" just does not sound right to me because of the contrast between "happy" and the "pseudo-horrifying" nature of Halloween. And neither does wishing a "horrifying Halloween" seem appropriate. (I'm neither a native speaker nor located in a country with English as common speech.)


texts:
Like in this example:

  He was worried that X was putting him on.


texts:
The girl arranged the flowers in the vase beautifully.

(1) The flowers in the vase were beautifully arranged by the girl.

(2) The flowers were beautifully arranged in the vase by the girl.

Which one is suitable?


texts: I have read a story and do not understand the meaning of words "Yeeucch" and "Uurgghh" in the context "But if one comes in the house, especially if it's one of those really big spiders with furry legs and little red eyes, then I go 'Yeeucch' and I try to get rid of it" and "When my friend sees a spider, she doesn't just go 'Uurgghh!' or run away or ask someone else to get rid of the horrible creepy-crawly". So, could anyone tell me what they mean? Thanks in advance.


texts: Can I use "Progress Insofar" title in a presentation to show my work to date?


texts:
In predicate nominatives, I was taught that you use the subject pronoun on either side. In other words. All of these sentences therefore sound right:

  I am it. It is I.
  You are it. It is you.
  We are it. It is we.
  He is it. It is he.
  They are it. It is they.

Why does "he" get the same form of "to be" both ways, but everything else gets a different form of be depending on the situation? Or are half of my sentences ungrammatical?


texts:
Those talents, as they make a part of his fortune, so do they likewise of that of the society to which he belongs.  (Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations)

The structure of the sentence above from Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations is too complex for me. I have tried a few times to draw the X-Bar tree but I couldn't.

Is "as they make a part of his fortune" an embedded clause? I would appreciate it if you could draw the tree or explain the structure of the sentence (constituents).


texts: One word that expresses premature celebrations only to find out that the result is negative

texts:
Looking for one word that expresses the following:

  Don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear.
  Never sell the bear's skin before one has killed the beast.


texts: Tickets are sold for concerts, presentations and other gatherings. Yet conventions tend to sell memberships. Why does one purchase a membership (rather than a ticket) to a convention?


texts: Can "old man" be used by females to address unrelated older men?

texts:
I'm a fan-translator, translating from Oriental languages to English, and I've been told to translate "uncle" to "old man", since a direct translation would imply a familial relation where there was none.

I just discovered that Google gives one of the definitions of "old man" as "an affectionate form of address between men or boys." But none of the dictionary sites say anything about "between men or boys," just something along the lines of "an affectionate term used in addressing a man." So have I been using it wrong, or is it okay for females to use the term too?


texts: Can preposition "to" be omitted in this case

texts:
Aston Martin’s IPO will provide further clues to which category ultra-expensive carmakers really belong.
its context:economist

Grammatically,you need to have " clues to which..." and " to which... belong ". So is "to" double duty here？
Or it should have been:

Aston Martin’s IPO will provide further clues to which category ultra-expensive carmakers really belong to.

Do you think it is acceptable or the writer made a mistake?


texts:
It has been strongly suggested to me today that the following phrase ....
'Sunday the 24th of May' is incorrect and it should be 'Sunday the 24th May'.

Both are very understandable so it probably doesn't matter but I'd like to get people's opinion on this.

Thanks


texts:
I was reading The Invisible Man, here's the sentence:

  The stranger did not go to church, and indeed made no difference between Sunday and the irreligious days, even in costume.

What does even in costume mean here? I don't quite get it, since both Sunday and irreligious days are days, unlike costume which is some sort of cloth.

Original Chapter


texts:
I have three cars — blue, red, and green — , two motorcycles, and four bicycles.

Is this a correct use of comma after an em-dash? It seems quite weird. How should I use an em-dash and a comma here?


texts: Difference between deterrent and hindrance?

texts:
I have this sentence:

  In India analysts attributed high cost of Apple's devices to be a
  major deterrent to sales of iPhone that completes with android
  based smartphones.

My question is why can't I use hindrance in the above sentence in place of deterrent because hindrance also means a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result as indicated below:

  Hindrance: a thing that provides resistance, delay, or obstruction to something
  or someone: 'a hindrance to the development process'

[Oxford Online Dictionary]


texts: Is "I can have cheeseburger?" really grammatically correct?

texts:
As I was looking for a grammar and style plugin for a word processor to help catch my grammar and style errors. I found LanguageTool. On that page I typed the phrase "I can has cheeseburger?". The correction it made was from has to have.

Is the phrase "I can have cheeseburger?" correct or is this not a good tool to use?


texts: How does one call a person who is next in line within a business process?

texts:
A business process consists of several consecutive steps, such that if a process flows from one step to another then the pair of steps is considered single-way connected. How does one call a person or a team which is fed with results from previous step to begin their work?

For example, on a car production pipeline, painting only starts when each detail is ready to: cut, pressed, and welded. So, painting stage "consumes" prepared components.

What is a proper name, in general, for a person or team in such a relationship?

I have several alternatives, and all of them seems unsuitable for me:

consumer — one is called a consumer when she actually gets a complete result, not intermediate one;
customer — same;
next-in-line — too general, too impersonated;
stakeholder — too general.


texts:
In Mathematics, a set is denoted by a capital letter and is represented by writing it in the roster form, set builder form and descriptive form.

  In Physics, a vector is denoted by a letter of the alphabet or the end points of the directed line segment which is representing it with an arrow(half or full) or a bar above or a tilde(~) below and is represented by a directed line segment drawn to scale whose length represents the magnitude of the vector and whose direction represents the direction of the vector.

The dictionary says:

  Denote - verb (used with object)

  1.to be a mark or sign of; indicate:
  A fever often denotes an infection.

  2.to be a name or designation for; mean.

  3.to represent by a symbol; stand as a symbol for.

  Represent - verb (used with object)

  1.To serve to express, designate, stand for, or denote, as a word, symbol, or the like does; symbolize:
  In this painting the cat represents evil and the bird, good.

  2.To express or designate by some term, character, symbol, or the like:

The meaning of both the words seem similar to me

What is the difference between denotation and representation (denote and represent) and their usage? I guess that representation is some what related to description.


texts:
I have seen the phrase that of being very commonly used, but I have never seen the phrase that from. Does the following sentence makes sense?

  The number of words recalled from the list of food was compared to that from the list of cities.

The longer version of that sentence is:

  The number of words recalled from the list of food was compared to the number of words recalled from the list of cities.

Essentially, the word that replaces the phrase the number of words recalled. Is this acceptable?


texts: Decribing a  father's strict treatment of his children

texts:
In the movie "The Sound of Music" the father, who was also a captain, was very strict with his children. He would always give them all kinds of commands and always used a whistle.

What's the best way to describe the way he was treating them?

He was treating them like in the army.
He was treating them like an officer treats his soldiers.
He was treating them like in the military.
He was treating them like soldiers.
<Your option?>


texts: What is the origin of the different pronunciations of C and G before different vowels?

texts:
In English the letters C and G usually have different pronunciation before a/o/u and before e/i. The same is true for Romance languages - French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian etc.

What is the origin of this? I guess that it has something to do with different pronunciations of these letters in Latin, but is there a proper source that explains how did this happen in Latin and how did it come do English, too?

Thank you!


texts:
Difference between misfunction and malfunction?

Is misfunction a proper English word? If it is, what's the difference between the two above?


texts: Is there an expression in english for when a woman loses the desire just before the sex happens?

texts: I hope it's not aggressive to say here the expression "go limp", that's the expression I heard of for a men when he fail on sex. Can I use the same expression for woman? Or is there another one?


texts: Can I place a sentence between em-dashes? Do I put a period?

texts: Can I place a sentence between em-dashes? If I can, should I put a period, or not?


texts: Word/phrase/idiom for 'taking flak' (any kind to any degree) from people who can't handle part of a task (a basic detail)

texts:
Sometimes, people are not up for the task to which they've committed themselves. That is, they have a problem handling a part of it, for whatever reason. Instead of admitting that, they respond by attempting to trivialize that part, even though it's a basic part of the task at hand (based on mutual/common knowledge).

Example #1:

Situation: Committing to picking up a mother and her newborn from the hospital but forgetting to bring the infant car seat.

Mutual/common knowledge: Child safety seat law (enforced for child safety).

Response: Attempting to trivialize the law itself and the mother's concerns instead of just retrieving the car seat (or sending someone to fetch it).

Example #2:

Situation: Bringing up "no nut products allowed" while discussing school snack rotation with other parents.

Mutual/common knowledge: 1. Known allergies to nuts. 2. Some kids share snacks whether they're allowed to or not.

Responses: From tuning out, frowning, scoffing...to theorizing that allergies are a myth (concocted by Big Pharma) versus just agreeing to buy or require nut-free snacks.

Question:

What is a word/phrase/idiom for being subjected to those type of responses during similar situations?

  When I reminded her about the car seat, she just _____ me.

  The parent who brought up the no-nut thing was _____ by some of the
  others.

Thanks for any suggestions.


texts:
This text is about keeping your inbox as empty as possible. The second sentence confused me. I guess the author says that achieving the simplicity of "One touch" method requires a lot of efforts and most people do not understand that. Do I get the meaning of the sentence correctly??

The key to Inbox Zero, everyone knows, is to “touch each email only once.”
But what most do not appreciate is that this level of simplicity is the ultimate sophistication — only a well-designed underlying system can make such elegant action possible.

https://medium.com/forte-labs/one-touch-to-inbox-zero-a74cfa02e5bf#.7xz9zqewh


texts: Should I always use 'despite' instead of 'despite of'?


texts: What does the phrase "never the mane shall tweet" mean?

texts:
It has long been known that birds will occasionally build nests in the
  manes of horses.  The only known solution to this problem is to
  sprinkle baker's yeast in the mane, for, as we all know, yeast is
  yeast and nest is nest, and never the mane shall tweet.

What is the meaning of the above quote? I am confused by the phrases manes of horses and never the mane shall tweet. An online dictionary says that manes is the plural form, but its singular form, mane, has an entirely different meaning.


texts: Should I use a comma before "for example"

texts:
In the sentence

  a lot of our modern conveniences are contributing to our unhealthy lifestyle, for example we often use a car instead of walk to the local shops.

Is it correct to use a comma before for example?

It sounds more natural to to me to use a period and start a new sencence with for example, but isn't there a rule that says that it is gramatically wrong to start a new sentence with conjunction? Or maybe for example is not a conjunction? What about adding a comma after for example

Note that I am taking the IELTS exam, so I would like to know the "correct" way.

Thanks for your time.


texts: If someone says "They insisted that he left", is there any ambiguity in BrE or in AmE?

texts: Do they mean something like "please go!  You must leave!" or could it be "We assure you that he left"?


texts: "to further assist [you]" -- Split infinitive or fixed VP?

texts:
From a descriptive standpoint (and the problem that English has at least two words in an infinitive), I understand why the split infinitive is becoming more acceptable, but is there any other excuse for this phrasing used by phone CSRs?

"I'd be happy to direct you to the bank to further assist you."
"I'd like to transfer you to the sales department to further assist
you."
"I have Diana on the line, and she'll be happy to further assist
you."

Is it simply the case that Star Trek syntax triumphs again, or does it somehow sound funny to say "to assist you further?"  (I would not consider "further to assist you" an acceptable solution.)

To clarify, is there a fixed syntagm of a VP "to further assist" versus an issue of split infinitive?  Is "further" bound in the domain of "to assist?"


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When do I use “I” instead of “me?”

Apparently I use 'Me and xxx' in conversation often enough that a foreign English speaker I work with has started using it as well.  When he said it I automatically corrected him. ;)

Clearly I've picked this up from somewhere.  Does anyone know if it's a regional variation?  I do recall a teacher having a go at someone over saying it when I was at school, but he Wasn't From Round Here...


texts: Is it fine to use "than ~~~" in front of comparison words?

texts:
[It is better human relations than structural changes that count more.]
In this sentence "than structural changes" is an adverb and I learned that adverb can be almost everywhere in a sentence. people around me say that "It is better human relations that count more than structural changes." is right. but I don't understand why "than structural changes" have to be behind comparison words(count more). thanks for reading


texts: What's the right way to pronounce "Louis"?

texts:
The name of the comedian Louis C.K. is pronounced LU-EE-SEE-KAY.

Is the S pronounced as a part of the given name "Louis", or just the first constant of the of the letter C?

Is there a canonical way to pronounce the English name "Louis", or is the pronunciation dependent in geographic location or origin?

Credit: this tweet (Hebrew).


texts: Verb for understanding something so well that it becomes part of your nature

texts:
Is there a verb that means you understand something so well that this something becomes part of you, your nature, your essence?

The closest I've found is grok but I don't like the word for two reasons:

The meaning of the word I'm looking for and the meaning of grok are similar, but still different.
I don't like the etymology of the word (which is a dumb reason for not choosing to use a particular word, but that's just how I am).

Any help is appreciated.


texts: Word/phrase to describe enlisting your enemy's help to succeed?

texts:
I'm 90% sure there is a beautiful phrase out there to use to summarize this situation but since I'm a technical rather than artistic person I'm short of such creativity.

Here are some phrases that spring to mind but I think there are better ones waiting to be discovered:

sleeping with the enemy
guerilla tactic / guerilla recruitment
if you can't beat them join them

More information

What I'm trying to do is give a section title (for a booklet I'm writing) to describe this situation:

My favorite soccer team lost a winner-takes-all match against their fierce rivals. The coach of the rival team took a sabbatical (correction: he stepped down), and the rival team continued to win trophies. Meanwhile my team continued to struggle and eventually approached the ex-coach of their rivals to come out of sabbatical and coach my team. It worked out great as this mastermind coach won several trophies with my team too.


texts: Word to describe an attribute one would either love or hate

texts:
He has an audacity that those who know him either adore or despise.  His audacity is _____ .

  There's only two kinds of people: those who love olives and those who hate it. Olives have a _____ flavor.


texts:
What is the word that means someone who believes a deity has a recognizable human form and personality?

Usually, these personality traits are virtuous but they can also mimic man's weaknesses and acts of immorality. For example, the Greek god Zeus was perfidious and extremely promiscuous. He sired numerous gods and demi-gods as a result of his sexual encounters with goddesses, nymphs, mortal boys, girls, men and women.

The son of God, Jesus, weary and exhausted, succumbed to distress when confronted with His own mortality, shortly before dying on the cross

  About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, e lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”

There are many other examples of deities who resemble human beings, speak like humans, and perform an array of perfectly normal human activities such as eating, sleeping, working, playing, having sex with mortals, begetting children, and finally, even dying. These deities are not always immortal but the fact that a few did die makes them more relatable.

What is the name of the belief, the conviction, that one or more deities have human physical and psychological traits?

  _______ is the belief that gods are “human-like”.

I keep thinking of anthropomorphism and personification but it's neither, and none of their synonyms fit, there's another word I'm looking for but I can't seem to grasp it.


texts:
I would like to know some word choices (can be a noun, adjective,...) for not knowing about something,

with a positive connotation
with a negative connotation
in a neutral way

For example, I guess ignorant/ignorance is a negative word, is it? Can I use it to describe myself before asking others (especially experts) a question, to show that I am humble?


texts:
Which is correct?

  The newspaper described the success of people like Bob and Joe.

  The newspaper described the successes of people like Bob and Joe.


texts: Is there idiom for searching something that might not exists?

texts:
I come from Bulgaria and we have a proverb that says (translated one to one) "You're searching calf under the ox." which literally means that I am searching for something that might not exists.

Example usage: "Stop interrogating Mary already, she's obviously not guilty, don't search for calf under the ox."

Is there idiom with same meaning in English as well?


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "someone being a mood "?

texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "someone being a mood"? For example, "Michael being a mood for 5 minutes straight". And why?


texts: Is a comma between adjacent quoted phrases in the same sentence unnecessary?

texts:
This is a quote from Larry Wilmore's performance at the 2016 Correspondents' Dinner. One website wrote it as follows:

"They just renamed ‘The Kelly File,’ ‘Becky with the good hair.’”

I think the comma after 'The Kelly File' is unnecessary. What do you think?
Here is a similar sentence, also with (I think) an unnecessary comma:

I prefer to call "Saturday Night Live," "SNL."

I think it's when you have to put both titles in quotes, it seems confusing, so people end up throwing in the comma.

Take for example the sentence We always called my brother Thomas "Tom." That is so clear, you wouldn't think to need a comma.

p.s. They did the quotation marks correctly!


texts:
I saw some words on etymonline, started with s-, which seems meaningless For example, slack actually means "lax". There are also other words, if you delete the starting letter s or f, they are still words, but may have related or different meanings.

I haven't found where this has been mentioned or summarized. So is it true that s- and f- can be meaningless prefixes? What have you found?


texts: Meaning of 'different and again different'

texts:
Upon those who step into the
  same rivers, different and again different waters flow.  – Heraclitus


texts:
Some artist on DeviantArt seriously recommended a Matting calculator which supposedly greatly aids in the process of matting. Unfortunately both the artist and the site for the calculator already assume the reader knows what matting is.

At first I thought they mean making images look older by removing sheen / adding matt, but apparently this isn't it - it has something to do with borders. I checked three dictionaries (Webster, Free, Dictionary.com) and not a single definition relates to matting in relation to artwork (other than mat making) or any activity that might require a calculator.


texts: "and" vs "or" for matching two attributes

texts: I often say "I want this code to work in Python 2 or Python 3".  I often wonder if I should use "and" instead of "or".  Would "I want this code to work in Python 2 and Python 3" be better?  Both forms sound good in usage.  Is there a name for this kind of conjunction where both forms seem OK?


texts: "win" vs. "win out" in their transitive forms

texts:
Is there a hairbreadth of difference between saying "he won the race (or the battle, the fight, etc.) and "he won out the race (...)" either in a literal or figurative sense, or does it all mean just about the same?
E.g.

The company won the race to be first in the "smart watch" category.source
Bell only won out the race for mass installation and patent rights.>sub>source
Luckily, my immune system won out the fight against germs.source>/sub>
Schumacher has already won the fight against pneumonia.source>/sub>


texts:
I was wondering if I could use this construction:

The President is to have visited Italy by today

I know that if I typed The President was to have + p.part. it would mean he should have but He didn't

Eventually, May I use this kinda constructions passively? He is to have been visited...by today.


texts: Present tense for future scheduled program

texts:
I write course descriptions for an educational institution and am considering using the simple present. For e.g., "You learn how to" instead of "You will learn how to" and "We teach you what to do" instead of "We will teach you what to do"...

Is this proper? I know there's such thing as present tense for scheduled events. Is a one-day course considered a scheduled event?


texts: How would you spell "Tehran" in English for it to be pronounced "correctly" (i.e. as in Persian)?

texts:
Native English speakers do not pronounce the h in Tehran so it is pronounced like "Teran". But in the original pronunciation in Persian the h is pronounced, resulting in /tehˈɾɒːn/.

Is there any alternative for the spelling of Tehran to be pronounced "correctly", i.e. as in Persian, by a native English speaker?

(I'm asking this question because a friend is asking me for the correct spelling of his name Mehran which with the exception of the first consonant is pronounced like Tehran.)

Edit: Bahrain (البحرین) is another similar word with the h dropped in its English pronunciation /bɑːˈreɪn/, while in Arabic it is /bɑːħreɪn/.


texts: What do you call a road without asphalt?

texts:
What is the right word to call a road without asphalt?

I found the term "beaten path", but it seems to be used mostly for human-made (rather than car-made) paths within a forest. What I need to describe is a known road that is often used by cars or other vehicles but that doesn't have a layer of asphalt.

Extra info

To get the picture above I used "African road" as search phrase.


texts: What does the phrase 'I feel like a pig in a wig' mean?

texts:
I heard this phrase in an interview:

  I feel like a pig in a wig.

I understand from the context that it is like nothing, ugly or something similar.
I have read that they use words that sound good together to express a feeling or so.

Could you help me understand this better?


texts: Origin of street names ending in "-hurst"

texts:
There is a large number of streets in the UK whose names end in -hurst, for example Ravenhurst, Gathurst, Oakhurst, Amhurst, Bonehurst, Eaglehurst, etc.

Is there a common meaning for this -hurst ending? How old are these names?


texts:
Which of the following statements is correct and why?
In other words, is it OK if we bring "it" or if used, it would be redundant and grammatically wrong?

It is used for an action that we know "it" will happen...
It is used for an action that we know will happen...


texts: Present perfect or past simple another situation

texts:
A couple days ago I stumbled upon a sentence that I couldn't get my head around.

In the sentence:

I have read all of the author's books; Gregor gave me the first book of the series.

I know it sounds wrong if you say:

I have read all of the author's books; Gregor has given me the first book of the series.

but could someone please explain to me why the present perfect tense can't be used in the second sentence?


texts:
I am analyzing a novel for my M.A. project and I'm wondering what is the bold part of the following sentence. Is it a sentence fragment or maybe a dependent clause? Or is it a full sentence as it contains a subject, a verb, and an object?
Example: You can’t be serious about this schedule of battles.
Many thanks in advance.


texts: Can “womenomics” be considered a neologism?

texts:
It is not the first time I come cross the term womenomics used to refer to a wider presence of women in the economic activities of a country. In this case it refers to Japan, a country where women have traditionally little presence in the business and political life.

It seems that the term womenomics first appeared in 2009 as the title of a book which  deals with this issue extensively.   As of now in 2014, the term is absent from most dictionaries, and even in Google NGram there is not yet any evidence of it.

Can we consider womenomics a neologism?  Or if we cannot, then what standard of usage does a new word generally need to meet for it to be considered a neologism?


texts:
In a list of titles that all start with the, does each need their own the or can they be shared?

Linguistics jargon: Is it possible to use a single D head and multiple NP conjuncts to mean the same thing as each NP forming their own DP with the same D?

For example, can this

  I've lived in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.

be rewritten as this

  I've lived in the United States, United Kingdom, and United Arab Emirates.

This is more of a semantic question than a syntactic one because I'm pretty sure both are grammatical, but the concern is whether they are semantically equivalent.


texts:
The arils contain a smaller seed in a juicier pulp which varies from a light pink to a deep red in color.
  The arils contain a smaller seed in a juicier pulp which varies from light pink to deep red.

In first sentence, the indefinite articles before "light pink" "and "deep red" belong to the words "pink" and "red", signaling that they are not adjectives but nouns. "In color" looks redundant: if a pulp is red, it is necessarily "in color."

Is there a difference in meaning between the two sentences, or is it just a stylistic thing?


texts:
Are the following sentence ok to use ?
Are they related to the mixed conditions where you mix between conditional 1 and 2 ????

1-I want to travel abroad and complete my study if I could.

2- I want to travel abroad and complete my study if I managed to.


texts: What word describes an author's deployment of a word/term?

texts: I'm writing about Hobbes and Locke who basically have two different understandings of the word 'right'. When Hobbes says 'right' or 'rights' he is referring to one's liberty to do something, whereas Locke uses 'right' to mean someone's claim to something. This may seem a subtle difference, but I'm looking for terms that describe the authors' different use of the same word without the sentence looking clumsy. Thanks.


texts: Word or phrase referring to people who talk with unnecessary styles/gestures

texts: I can't explain this perfectly, but what do you call a girl/boy who talks with unnecessary style, childish whim, and extra gestures (like small kids sometimes do to attract people's attention).


texts: Does this sentence use parallel structure?

texts:
Does the following sentence make use of parallel structure:

"Thus, Soyster’s diction most definitely exemplifies how he views himself in a dreary and pitiful manner and Mairs’s diction, contrariwise to Soyster’s, exemplifies how she views herself in a pleasant and benign manner."

If not, could you tell me how I can make it have parallel structure. I am very bad with English, and more mathematically inclined, so please break things down.

Thanks for the help.


texts: Why do we use 's when not abbreviating is/was?

texts:
I'm not English hence I don't know how this is called in the first place (that's why the title of this question should be changed) but what I'm referring to is this "s" used in English language to denote something belonging to someone/something or being related to something/someone:

I took my father's coat.

1st question
I wonder what that 's stands for? Does it abbreviate some longer word as it does when it abbreviates is or was (ie. He's tall)?
2nd question
Why do we only use apostrophe when doing the same thing in plural:

I made clients' incomes grow.

I know my examples may be bad/invalid but I would like to know some theory behind this as well as any exceptions to the rule if they existed... I know it's different when you refer to something of the first person. We don't say I's coat but rather My coat. This probably is an exception.


texts:
Can I use "at" as a preposition with "cruise", like in this example:

  a tourist vessel cruising at the Caribbean Sea

Maybe "in" is better and more natural here, but I'm just asking if "at" would be considered an error in this sentence.


texts: How did the term "bolshie" come to be applied to birds?

texts:
This question is prompted by a term in http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/73108561/Council-warning-threatened-falcon-species-launch-fists-of-fury-against-walkers

  Falcons were bolshie birds, she said, being a raptor species

Earlier in the article, the same woman, a town official, said:

  They defend their territory as any stroppy little falcon likes to do.

Her tone was one of admiration and even affection.  From the context, it is clear that "bolshie" means "feisty".

Does bolshie come from Bolshevik, and if so, how did it come to be applied to birds?  (I can think of no animal less a Marxist than a raptor.)  Etymonline does not have bolshie.


texts: Is there a synonym for voyeuristic without a sexual connotation?

texts:
I'm trying to find a word that would fit into a sentence like:

  The problem with social media is that it's inherently voyeuristic.

I'm writing prose where my intention is to show how human sexuality has changed in the internet era-- pointing out changes such as the difficulty of clandestine affairs, the way that dating and meeting people has changed, how there is now more of an 'audience,' then there was before, and that innocuous posts on social media can be examined in contexts that they weren't originally intended for, revealing (even inadvertently) private information. Relationships are scrutinized in a way that never existed before.

What I'm trying to convey in my sentence is that:

  The problem with social media is that it's inherently on display for people who are not participants in the relationship.

My problem with voyeuristic is that there is nothing sexual about the constant monitoring of each other online, but I want to convey surveillance and transparency. The only word other than voyeuristic that I can think of is translucent, but that doesn't fit either.


texts: Which format is best for a number range?

texts:
When writing about a number range do you:

use the word 'to' as in 10 to 20
use a hyphen separated by spaces as in 10 - 20
use a hyphen not separated by spaces as in 10-20?

Is there a best way?


texts:
Is this right answer for "Do you like the area where you live in?" in grammatically?
My answer: "To me, the best part of Seoul is there are many museums and galleries. For my major, I need to visit art exhibitions. Not only appreciate a work of art, but I also should study arts. As you know, Seoul is the capital city, wherefore there are many chances to engage in cultural activities. I like Seoul in this regard."
Especially, I wonder "there are many chances to engage in cultural activities." is the right sentence. I want to tell the accessibility of a museum, fair, show, and so on.


texts:
I quoted the following from a pamphlet:

  Please read the instructions carefully before filling out the application
  form. The application will be returned to you and the registration may be
  delayed, if the information is not filled in completely.

Does "filling out" equal to "filling in"?

The words in and out have opposite meanings, how can they produce almost equal meaning in these phrases filling in and filling out?


texts: What do you call the person who gives a ride?

texts:
Is there a word to call someone who gives a ride?
What do you call the person who gets a ride?


texts: Superlative, present perfect vs past perfect

texts:
In the following context, can I have present perfect, or do I need to use past perfect?

It was the worst food I've ever eaten / I had ever eaten.

Thank you :)


texts: Why do we say "On purpose" vs "By accident"?

texts:
My 12 year old deserves credit for this question.

He asked "Why do we say 'by accident' but not 'by purpose' "

I was stumped - this is an embarrassing situation!    Searching left me cold.   The nearest result I could find was Is it correct to say "on accident" instead of "by accident"? but this is a different question.

We also say "by chance" rather than "on chance".

So, can anyone help me be Dad-who-knows-all again?


texts:
What does the beginning of the sentence mean? It is my first encounter with a "So, too is (that)" structure. I would gladly learn what it means and how it is grammatically constructed alike.

  In that photo (which may have been taken in Paris) the baron holds a cigarette or, more likely, a joint up to the parted lips of Ms. Mitchell, who looks fully zonked. Weed references are always relevant when characterizing Los Angeles, or, anyway, certain of its West side ZIP codes. So, too is that admixture of high glamour and drawstring comfort that defines the actual relationship between Hollywood and fashion.
  New York Times, "Tom Ford’s ‘Very L.A.’ Show," 9 Feb. 2020

Thank you in advance.


texts:
Can I use the phrase "by the way" in a formal essay? The essay is almost a tech paper (not an article — rather a university paper).

Is that literary language or slang?


texts: How can I identify the role of an infinitive in a sentence?

texts:
Infinitives may function as nouns, adjectives or adverbs. Since infinitives are derived from verbs, they do express actions or states of being.

However, there is some difficulty in identifying the particular role of the infinitive in a sentence. Is there a generic test available to determine whether each infinitive is serving as a noun, adjective, or adverb?

I will be taking the GMAT exam shortly, and this is an area that I am particularly weak in. It is necessary to identify the role of Infinitives in order to get answers right for questions related to Parallelism and Verb Tense.

Example:
"Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save." - Will Rogers


texts: Why can't "happy" be used everywhere where "sad" can be used?

texts: Why can I say "that story had a happy ending"?  But I cannot say "that story was happy"?  On the other hand, I can say "that story had a sad ending" and I could say "that story was sad"?


texts: Are past perfect and simple past interchangeable when describing events that happen for some time in the past?

texts:
I'm using an exercise from the Purdue Owl to understand tense usage. The exercise, which uses an excerpt from Alex Haley's Roots, can be found here: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/2/22/51

Here's the sentence I'm having trouble with: "Since my forefather had said his name was Kin-tay (properly spelled Kinte), and since the Kinte clan was known in Gambia, the group of Gambians would see what they could do to help me."

In this case, Haley uses both the past perfect (had said) to indicate something that started sometime in the past and continued up to another time in the past and the simple past (was) to describe something that was true for some time in the past. It seems to me that in this case, the past perfect and simple past tense are interchangeable. Haley could just as easily written "since my forefather said his name was Kin-tay" or "the Kinte clan had been known," although the latter example wouldn't have been as graceful. Are these two tenses sometimes interchangeable? Or is it a matter of duration? Have I missed something?


texts: Why is the zh (ʒ) sound so infrequent in English?

texts:
I've always heard that the "zh" (ʒ) sound (e.g. in "vision", "usually") was an uncommon sound in the English language.  A quick Google search returns multiple results (The Relative Frequency of Phonemes in General-American English, Most common sounds in spoken English) that indicate that not only is it uncommon, it's the most infrequently used phoneme, at 0.07% usage frequency.
According to Most common sounds in spoken English, other than "oy" (ɔɪ) — such as in "boy" — with its 0.10% usage, every other phoneme is used at least 5 times more frequently than "zh".  The most common phoneme (ə) by contrast occurs with 11.49% usage frequency — 164 times more frequently.
As an aside, as a native U.S. English speaker, "zh" (or the similarly infrequently used "oy", for that matter), doesn't feel particularly strange or alien, despite its relatively infrequency.
I haven't had much luck finding information on why this phoneme is so infrequent, though it's very probable it's a problem with how I'm searching.
Why is the "zh" (ʒ) so infrequent in the English language?  Is there something in how the language evolved that resulted in its infrequent, yet still present, usage?


texts: "More than necessary" vs. "more than are necessary"

texts:
Don't buy more books than are necessary.
  Don't buy more books than necessary.

  We have three more doctors than are necessary.
  We have three more doctors than necessary.

What is the difference between the two constructions?


texts: What is "there" in expression "Are you out there?"

texts: What does there signify in expressions like "Dude are you out there?" or "I am there for you"? It is not referring to any previously mentioned location, right?


texts: Is integratable a correct adjective for 'capable of integration'?

texts:
I'm looking for an adjective that captures the meaning of 'capable of integration' in a systems/software context (so not integrable in mathematical context). Integratable seems to be somewhat in use, but I'm not quite sure if it's proper English in the first place and whether it'd be broadly understood.

Would integratable be an acceptable choice, or are there better alternatives?


texts:
(ϕ_1 ) ̂ is the first stage (the estimated effect of the MLDA on alcohol consumption). (ρ_1 ) ̂ is the reduced form (the estimated effect of the MLDA on either overall deaths, motor vehicle fatalities, or drinking fatalities).

Or, can I just put a comma instead like in the following:

(ϕ_1 ) ̂ is the first stage, the estimated effect of the MLDA on alcohol consumption. (ρ_1 ) ̂ is the reduced form, the estimated effect of the MLDA on either overall deaths, motor vehicle fatalities, or drinking fatalities.


texts: What is a single word I can use to decribe someone who posesses exceptional skill--they are the cream of the crop, desirable talent. I want a word that jumps out from the page when you see it.


texts: What are the possible meanings for the word "range" in Math

texts:
On the mathematical website with some problems, there is a statement.
"The range of my tiles is a prime number".
tiles are just some squares with numbers or a set of numbers. For example, I can have 3 tiles with the numbers on them 3,5,7. What will be the range for these 3 tiles 3,5,7? is it 7-3=4 or something else?
Usually, I understand the range as "from 2 to 5" like the lower and upper border. Something like 2 or more numbers which describes the border of something, but not just one single number.


texts: Is "short for words" a common enough phrase?

texts:
Google Books has 1000 hits. Not  a lot but not few either.

Is it safe to use this phrase in informal writing? Example sentenc:

  I stared at the boy's long face and body, short of words.


texts: How did the relatively new usage of the word "convicted" to mean "committed" or "dedicated" come about?

texts: It seems to me that it is a back-construction of "conviction", in the sense of a firmly held belief or opinion, and is not a recognized word.


texts: Why is "pint" spelt with the same last 3 letters as "hint, lint, mint, tint"?

texts:
The words hint, lint, mint, tint are all pronunced with a short-i sound.
The vowel in pint is a diphthong however. Why ?


texts: Can I say "It will be my pleasure to help you" in an email reply?

texts:
If someone asked for my help via email, can I say:

  It will be my pleasure to help you.


texts:
As there is some confusion between Sunday and Monday.
Kindly tell me how to explain when someone ask me this question, that which is the first day of week ?


texts: "Fetch some water in a quiver" or "Get some water in a quiver"?

texts:
What is the most effective and correct way to use the sentences?

1)  He requested his friend to fetch some water in a quiver.

2)  He requested his friend to get some water in a quiver.

Is there any similarity in both two sentences?
  or they are different  in their use?


texts:
Source: p 101, Lives and letters of the Devereux, earls of Essex, by Walter Bourchier Devereux

  [p 100 states that this letter was undated, but the penultimate sentence on p99 (ie the last sentence of the previous letter) contains 1575, so I think that this was the year.] No XVIII.’
  The Queen to Essex.

  Right trusty and well beloved Cousin, greeting. Having
  seen certain offers and requests made by you unto our Deputy
  in your letter of the 15th of this present directed to our Council, by the which you do not only shew yourself providently
  careful to avoid the inconvenience that might have ensued by
  the sudden giving over or the enterprize for the reformation
  of Ulster, but also, for the preventing of such mischiefs as
  were likely to ensue thereby, was content to spoil yourself of
  that reputation that birth and desert hath cast upon you,
  offering to serve under our Deputy there in place not answerable to your state and calling; ...

What are the purposes of the? What are the similarities and differences?


texts: how to say "They think they have it bad" more formally

texts: i wrote "They think they have it bad," in my essay but my teacher said it was too informal.


texts:
I can not understand "do a full-pipe roughie". It is from "Under the Dome" by S. King:

  Benny gave Norrie a high five, but that wasn't enough for Norrie; she kissed him on the mouth, and hard. It was the happiest moment of Benny's life, even better than staying vertical while doing a full-pipe roughie.


texts: Rules governing "quite a [adjective]" word order

texts:
As part of an answer on another StackExchange site, I have a sentence reading, in part, "[A religious manual] which has quite a long section on [the subject of the question] says ..."

I was looking at this construction and thinking about whether I should say quite a long section or a quite long section—they seem to mean the same thing. Then I began wondering about the construction "quite a[n] [adjective]" in general. It looks as if I can say something is quite a large X or a quite large X; quite a long X or a quite long X; but, for example, neither *quite a purple X nor *a quite purple X.

I'm trying to solidify in my mind:

The rules governing when I can say quite a[n] [adjective] [noun] in the first place
The rules governing when I can invert this to a quite [adjective ] [noun]
Whether there are any other adverbs besides quite which can be inverted in this way.

Is there a name for this inversion? What sorts of elements does it apply to?


texts: Collective term for bees, wasps, hornets, etc

texts:
Is there a collective term to describe bees, wasps, hornets, and the like?

I'm looking for a term that refers to insects that look like bees, wasps and hornets that could also sting. I'm trying to translate a Japanese word (that can mean all these without being specific) into English. Below are two of the many sites that I checked, which did not give me what I was looking for.

https://honeybeesuite.com/bees-and-their-families/

https://www.animalwised.com/differences-between-wasps-hornets-and-bees-670.html


texts: What do you call the use of a negative clause to end a claim by questioning it?

texts:
I mean the clause at the end, seemingly asking for confirmation of the claim.

  You would like to sleep, wouldn't you?

What is this called?


texts:
Beyond help is an expression meaning "beyond the help of anything" or "not able to be fixed". However, I have also seen the expression beyond helpless being used, for example, here and here. My questions are:

Is beyond helpless semantically correct, and
In what ways is it different from beyond help?


texts:
How do you call a gesture of spreading one's hands and turning them palms up to suggest a question?
As in "what did you just do, man? That was so weird that left me speechless, so I had to raise my hands to show you I'm asking you stuff" or "Huh?"


texts: Can the name of a country always convey the name of a nation?

texts:
There is an old name of a country and its description:

  Persia: The land and people in southwestern Asia from the ancient Sassanian empire to the modern nation state of Iran, prior to 1935.

I found the description wrong grammatically because the name only refers to the land not people who are Persians/Iranians not Persia.

Is it correct to use the name of a country for the land and its people both in standard English?

P.S: It is the link: https://history.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/416/some-mistakes-in-persias-tag-information and here: https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/persia but according to the link which has been sent by coleoptrist as a comment under this topic they have added something to the tag Persia recently so the content has changed!


texts: What is the equivalent of Persian idiom "When the reed blooms"?

texts:
In Persian, we say "When the reed blooms" when we want to
express that an event:

Never happens. (This is only the opinion of the speaker so it's not a fact)
It's very unlikely to happen.
It's going to take so long to actually happen. (It's so long that you'd be better off giving up expecting it)

3.1. We also use it when someone is always postponing something they have to do so you never actually see it happen.

For example:

  Kyle: When are you going to pay my money back?

  Cartman: When the reed blooms.

Now I don't know if I got the plant's name right because there are some other versions like:

Bulrush
Typha

In any event, they have mentioned this plant in the idiom because apparently some versions of it actually never bloom. Others believe it's because farmers harvest them before they get the chance to bloom (e.g to make music instruments), so it never happens. I'd love to know the equivalent idioms or expressions for this.

PS: I only know "When pigs fly" but I'm not a fan of it because the word pig sounds a bit rude to me and partly because it implies a strong impossibility which doesn't work for the #3 use.


texts: When did "lesbian" become well-known as a noun, not an adjective?

texts:
A friend asked me earlier why it was that "gay" is an adjective, but "lesbian" is a noun. I've been doing some searching online, because it's an interesting question. According to etymonline, "lesbian" was originally an adjective describing someone from Lesbos; it got its modern sense because of the poet Sappho, who lived on Lesbos, and wrote a lot about female love.

The question is: when did it get this modern sense? But also, when did it stop becoming commonly used as an adjective?


texts:
Basically, which is correct and why?

fire is attempted to start
fire is attempted to be started


texts: "When I was in college..." Do you really mean college? Or university?

texts: When someone in the US says "When I was in college..."  he can mean "college" but he can also mean "university", so I've been told. If that's true, how can we know which one he is talking about?  If I say my daughter is off to college, can it really mean either one?


texts: Isn't "who"/"whose" only used for people?

texts:
Why is the usage of whose correct in the following sentence:

  In the foothills of that large mountain range are the sources of a river whose course was not fully mapped until this century.

I was under the impression that you have to use which or that when referring to things.  When is it okay to use who/whose to modify things?

I thought the sentence would have to be something like "...are the sources of a river, the course of which was not fully mapped..."


texts:
One of the recent The Economist headlines reads:

"If France used America’s system, Marine Le Pen might have won"

Note that this is before the second round has taken place, so the final outcome of the election was yet to be determined when the article was published.

Without a qualification such as "won the 1st round", I suppose one would have to rely on temporal context to interpret this headline, as referring to the 1st round (which is expected, I suppose). Although, as I'll discuss below, a good case can be made that "won the 1st round" is not exactly the intended interpretation.

But without that qualification, the headline seems to read as referring to the final (i.e. post 2nd round) election result, and as such it seems false, since it appears to be expressing a false counterfactual. That is, the 2nd round isn't over yet so no one has lost nor won, yet the sentence seems to be saying that

"Le Pen lost (the entire election), but she may not have lost were the electoral system different."

Am I being picky or is the headline indeed somewhat misleading?

Here is a brief analysis:

The key problem here seems to be that, as a matter of fact the French presidential elections are still in progress, i.e. haven't ended yet. This causes an odd competing of interpretations---each, contingent on how we interpret the content of the antecedent, i.e. which factors we consider as most relevant.

So what hypothetical scenario are we actually invited to consider, taking into account the time of the article's publication? This will depend largely on what elements of the actual world we wish to keep fixed in the hypothetical scenario---the criterion of keeping them fixed being their relevance.

The election is still in progress.

Surely, that needs to remain fixed, since it's highly relevant. Otherwise there would be an actual winner/looser of the election whom we now could speak of. Can a case be made that this fact is not relevant?

But there are two rounds to the French presidential election to just one round of the US presidential election (unless we interpret the primaries as the first round, but let's not for now). So in the hypothetical do we consider the election over after "the first and only" round or after the second one?

Suppose we consider them over after the first round. But in that hypothetical it would no longer be the case that the election is still in progress---a fact we considered relevant enough to keep fixed in the hypothetical.
Since that possibility is ruled out, what is left? We can't wait until the 2nd round because in the hypothetical it doesn't exist.

Hmm...


texts: Is "still" being used correctly in "I love you still"?

texts:
I've heard this sentence in a song ('Build me up buttercup'):

  When you say you will,
  but I love you still

I'm used to seeing still in front of the verb or auxiliary verb as in "I still love you". Can still be used at the end of the sentence as in the song?


texts: "This video shows a heart transplant take place" or "taking place"?

texts:
Which is the correct version of this sentence:

  This video shows a heart transplant take place.
  This video shows a heart transplant taking place.

I have a hunch that both are correct, but for the life of me I can't recall in grammatical terms why the first option is correct also.


texts:
What does "You just happened to have it on you" mean in the following conversation?

R: There are some things in my research log which might be relevant to
your case. Now that you have stopped blustering, I'll read you some
things before my patient returns.
B: You just happened to have it on
you.


texts: In lockstep, hand in hand, go in parallel, coincide

texts:
I'll give an example in which I want to use the phrases from the title:

  The company has grown in lockstep/hand in hand/in parallel with the general
  economic growth and the development of the road networks.

or to adjust the sentence for the verb "coincide":

  The company's growth has coincided with the general economic growth
  and the development of the road networks.

How I understand any of these words from the title, is that they do not necessarily imply a causal relationship between the company's growth and the general growth of the economy or development of its infrastructure, and I don't want to say that the company's growth was fostered by the conditions in the environment, although it is a strong implication of course. The problem is that for different reasons none of these phrases seem to be fitting my context. "In lockstep" and "hand in hand" sound to informal, and I couldn't find "in parallel" and "coincide" used in this context on Google or in language corpora.
I was also thinking of using "follow" to say the same:

  "The expansion of the company followed the general growth of the
  economy and the development of the road networks"


texts: Is It More Appropriate To Use "One" or "You" When Speaking Of An Indefinite Person?

texts: In high school English, it was imparted to us that in formal American English when speaking about an indefinite party, we should use the word one.  For example, "One should cover his or her mouth when he or she has to cough".  This seems a bit stilted and awkward--before this instruction was given to us, I believe most of us would have used you--"You should cover your mouth when you have to cough."  In formal and business writing, which word should one (or you) use?


texts:
When someone asks me during a phone call  " where have you been " then I answer as follow : I have been busy

1-Does it necessarily means that I was busy and I am still busy or could it means that I was busy until the time of holding the phone call ?

2-can I say "I have been busy (for/since/over) the last 2 days".


texts: What are some words that I can use to describe a persons voice?

texts: One of my characters has a very... interesting voice? It is like a weird mixture of Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges. What words could I use to describe that kind of voice?


texts: An idiom meaning "doing something different" this time around?

texts:
I am looking for an idiom or phrase or slang that I can use in order to say:

  This time around, I will do something a little bit different.

  This time around, I will do something completely different from last
  time.


texts: Word to refer to classic 1940s-1960s news voice

texts:
I am looking for a single adjective to refer to a classic 1940s-1960s news voice. Specifically, the kind that sounds almost like yelling (to me at least). Here is a sample:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1Gt6hPuMaw

Example Sentence:

  I begin listening to the newscaster talk in his well-known ___ voice.

I am writing a story that takes place during World War II, and I want to provide a detailed scene to modern readers who may have heard news presented in this way. What is a single word I can use to accomplish this?


texts: What does the word 'greeting' mean in a writ?

texts:
A writ is a formal written order, originally of the English monarch but later of a common law court. Since 1999, the Civil Procedure Rules have provided for civil cases in England and Wales to be started with a plain English 'claim form,' rather than the traditional 'writ of summons' (commanding the defendant to attend court to answer the plaintiff's claim). However, the writ of summons still exists in other common law jurisdictions (eg. the High Court of Australia) and the 'prerogative writs' of certiorari (commanding an inferior tribunal to send its records to a court of review), mandamus (commanding an executive officer to perform a duty) and prohibition (commanding an executive officer not to perform an unlawful act) still exist in the United States and other jurisdictions.
The writs of election are a non-judicial example of the continuing use of writs. These writs command electoral officers to conduct an election in Commonwealth countries, and are usually still expressed in the traditional Victorian drafting style. For example, the writ for the election of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 2012, issued by Governor Penelope Wensley, read:

Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.
To the Electoral Commission of Queensland
Greeting:
Wᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ that you proceed according to the law to an election of eighty-nine Members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland ...

The writs issued in Canada (and presumably the United Kingdom) retain the same form. My question is: what is the meaning of the word 'Greeting' in this form? Was the word 'greeting' historically itself a greeting which could be used in formal English speech? In writs it is usually followed by a colon – does this indicate that the following preamble is a 'greeting'? Are there any other historical contexts in which the word 'greeting' was used in this way?


texts:
Sam built the house (active)
The house was built by sam (passive)

In the active voice of the sentence, "Sam" is the subject, clear and simple. In the passive construction, what is then the function of the prepositional phrase "by Sam"?  I read that "by sam" in the passive construct functions as an adverbial.  My understanding is that adverbs/abverbials provide information about the verb, specifically time (when), place (where), manner (how), degree (to what extent), condition, reason (why/purpose). If "by sam" is an adverbial, then what is it telling me about the verb (i.e. which adverb category (when, why, how, etc) does it fall under? It seems to be stating "who" built the house, but "who" is not a category within the definition of an adverb. If "by Sam" in this sentence is not an adverbial, what is its function in the sentence?


texts: What is the collective word in English for items that are compared with each other?

texts:
If I am comparing two or more items of certain brands, then by what single word collectively those items can be described?

I want to name the items to be compared. For example, "contestants" is the word for people who are competing with each other. So what will be the word for items/articles or things that are being compared?


texts: "generations now past" - is "now" appropriate here?

texts:
...structure will stand for generations to come, just as it did for generations now past...

Is the word now grammatically correct in this usage or even necessary?


texts: What is an appropriate name for a property that tells whether a list is empty, single or multiple?

texts:
I have a property in programming which tells whether a list is empty, or has only one element or has more than one element. ( empty, single, multiple ).
I want to know what would be an appropriate name for the property that contains this value?
For example
{} -> empty
{"hi"} -> single / singular
{"hi", "bye"} -> multiple / plural

I want to know the name of the property that contains those values?


texts:
The study found a strong relationship between a lack of friends and sibling rivalry.

In Cambridge book Vocabulary For IELTS by Pauline Cullen, Unit 1, the author said that the word "relationship" cannot be replaced with the word "relation", and I cannot understand why.  Could you provide explanation for this?


texts: Can I put a time description after "than"?

texts:
Today, despite widely available technology such as high-resolution scanners and printers, counterfeiting is more difficult than it was at the time of the Civil War, when it was estimated that one-third of all currency in circulation was counterfeit.

This is from a GMAT question. The book I have says that "it was" can not be omitted, since you can not compare "counterfeiting" with a time description.

In regular speech, one can omit the "it was". What I want to know is whether it is possible to omit according to "official" grammatical rules.


texts:
Is it correct to use ever at the end of a question or it should be used after pronouns?

Has he ever made a cake?
Has he made a cake ever?

Which of them is correct (or maybe both of them)?


texts: A set of mutations that REGULATE / REGULATES genes

texts:
I am trying to wrap my head around the usage of 'that' in these two sentences. While I got the answers correctly when I tried to understand the meaning of the sentence, I am wondering if there is any grammar rule that I am missing out here.

A study found that many autistic children share a set of mutations that regulate/regulates genes known to influence communication among brain cells.
The department is taking a stand against an approach that stand/stands to make an indebted citizenry more dependent on federal.

In sentence 1, it seems that that refers to 'a set'
In sentence 2, it seems that that refers to 'approach'. Why does it not refer to 'a stand'?

Is there any rule that I can follow for 'that' in this context? For example, I read somewhere that 'that' must modify the noun immediately preceding it, but in example 1, that rule does not work. Also, somewhere else, I read that 'that' does not modify prepositional phrase. This works for 1 (of mutations is ignored), however for 2 this fails since (against an approach) is a prepositional phrase.


texts:
Can I say

  He is yet to be a murderer.

to mean the he is not a murderer, but very soon he will be one?


texts: Is there a word for lying on the bed peacefully, all your muscles relaxed?

texts: Is there a word or an idiom for lying on the bed peacefully and happy? Throwing yourself down on bed arms wide open, all your muscles relaxed and staring at the ceiling with a happy smile like something you dreamed of has just happened. Is there an idiom to narrow this situation?


texts: Can I write "It is pity I didn't have a chance to know you better" on a mum's headstone?

texts:
When you lost someone when you were young, and it was your close family member, can you say "It is pity I didn't have a chance to know you better"? I mean write it on an inscription, headstone, etc.?
Thanks


texts:
In "The Tale of Benjamin Bunny" Beatrix Potter writes "Old Mr. Bunny had no opinion whatever of cats." What does it mean?

  The cat looked up and saw old Mr. Benjamin Bunny prancing along the
  top of the wall of the upper terrace.

  He was smoking a pipe of rabbit-tobacco, and had a little switch in
  his hand.

  He was looking for his son. Old Mr. Bunny had no opinion whatever of
  cats.

  He took a tremendous jump off the top of the wall on to the top of the
  cat, and cuffed it off the basket, and kicked it into the green-house,
  scratching off a handful of fur.

  The cat was too much surprised to scratch back.


texts: Meaning of "he has done little to make the case to leaders that stacking political institutions with tycoons and their cronies will fuel discontent"

texts:
When it comes to political reform, Mr Leung's hands are tied by Mr Xi's intransigence.
  But he has done little to make the obvious case to leaders in Beijing that stacking political institutions with tycoons and their cronies will fuel discontent.
  The Occupy demonstrators wanted not just a one-person, one-vote electoral system, but also a sweeping change in the way that Hong Kong has been ruled for more than 170 years.

I can't understand the bold sentence. What does that mean?


texts: Does "wealth" only refers to a financial aspect?

texts:
For a contest I'm attenting, the organisators uses, in their theme description, the world wealth. I wonder of the meaning of this word...

Here is the sentenc where it's used :

  Europe need to position themselves in this race for inventions and services to safeguard the wealth of their population in a globalized world.

Is it to be understood only by a financial aspect ?


texts: Difference between "solicitor" and "barrister"

texts: What is the difference between solicitor and barrister?


texts: Meaning, in context, of the idiom 'whole cloth'

texts:
I want to ask a question which is oft-repeated question. And it might lead you to imagine that I am asking it again. Even, in this website, it has proposed before. But, as a matter of fact, I haven't understood all of its meaning yet. This idiom is whole cloth. There are a lot of definition for this idiom on the internet.

First, I'll link to the three definitions of whole cloth that appear in Wiktionary:

  1. A newly made textile which has not yet been cut. 2. (figuratively, used attributively or preceded by various prepositions) The fictitious material from which complete fabrications, lies with no basis in truth, are made. 3. Something made completely new, with no history, and not based on anything else.

I have come across this idiom in the following two contexts in which I don't understand the meaning of the sentences completely. First, in an article by G.H. Cohen:

  The relationship between theory and political practice is more complex than some friends of the Labour Party appear now to suppose. The point of theory is not to generate a comprehensive social design which the politician then seeks to implement. Things don't work that way, because implementing a design requires whole cloth, and nothing in contemporary politics is made out of whole cloth. Politics is an endless struggle,and theory serves as a weapon in that struggle,because it provides a characterisation of its direction, and of its controlling purpose.

Second, in an English translation of Karl Marx's "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon," chapter 1:

  Man makes his own history, but he does not make it out of the whole cloth; he does not make it out of conditions chosen by himself, but out of such as he finds close at hand.

Which meaning of this idiom fits in these sentences? I know the meaning of it in more simple sentences such as:

  His account of being drugged, kidnapped and tortured was made up of whole cloth. [George Carver]

But I don't know it in the above-mentioned sentences.


texts: Is it "makes" or "make" in this sentence?

texts:
Throughout history Milan has been alternately dominated by France,
  Spain, and Austria, which makes it a city full of different cultural
  influences.

I thought it was 'make' at first, because France, Spain, and Austria are plural, but apparently it is 'makes'. Could anyone please explain this, as English is not my first language?


texts: Is it correct to use "some" and "possible" together?

texts:
My question concerns the logic of language, as it is used in the following sentence:

  The main idea was to find some possible solutions.

If something is possible, such as finding a solution to a problem, can't we assume the solution is already from the domain of some solutions (i.e., from the domain of an infinite number of possibilities) and not the (meaning only) solution?

Thinking logically, should I remove the word some from the sentence for being redundant? In other words, is the word some unnecessary or does it function in my sentence as an article, thus losing the meaning of being an undetermined or unspecified solution?


texts: What does 'that' refer to in this context?

texts:
The context for this question is:

The team determined that all the planets in the system are similar in size to earth and venus.

I don't believe that refers to anything in this context? One of the teachers I asked said that I'm correct and the other one was angry and said I'm wrong


texts: Does "Hang a Shingle" refer only to lawyers starting their own business?

texts: I guess I've only heard it used to refer to lawyers. Is the term exclusive to lawyers?


texts:
Should I use "by" or "to" in the following?

If you create the image for the user and it's approved, it's then visible and usable by all members.

OR:

If you create the image for the user and it's approved, it's then visible and usable to all members.

By the way, the long-form is "If you create the image for the user and it's approved, it's then visible to (and usable by) all members.". I was just trying to make it as simple as possible.


texts: What is a good antonym for 'one track thinking'?

texts:
the meaning to be conveyed is the quality of

  being able to explore a situation with multiple viewpoints instead of just stuck with one way of exploring the problem

What word (or a few words) will convey this idea?


texts: Salutation for two doctors (not married)

texts:
Does use of the salutation

  Dear Drs. Apple and Banana,

imply that Dr. Apple is married to Dr. Banana?  That is, would it be better form to use:

  Dear Dr. Apple and Dr. Banana,

when Dr. Apple and Dr. Banana are unrelated, but happen to both be addressed in the same letter?


texts: I had better go, I should go, I have to go

texts:
Could anyone tell me what these mean, and on what occasions it is suitable to say them?

I had better go
I should go
I have to go.


texts: What's a word for "desire to improve myself"?

texts:
I'm looking for a single word that captures the idea of "desire to self-improve," but does not imply that I have (yet) actually taken any action.

I'm thinking of something along these lines:
When I noticed that my health was poor, I wanted to improve myself [new word here].  Only then did I sign up for a gym class.


texts: A term/phrase/idiom for unknowingly asking about someone's bad news

texts:
Examples:

you: How's the job?
them: ...I got fired.

or:

you: How's your mom doing? *enthusiastically*
them: ...she passed away.

What would you call that? This happens a lot, and it's always awkward.


texts: Should a comma be used in a scientific quantity such as wavelength?

texts:
In astronomy we often use a unit called Angstrom which is a unit of length. The symbol is \AA.
Should I write 3000 A or 3,000 A?
How strict is the rule for using commas?


texts: When a sentence uses a parenthetical plural, should the rest of the sentence treat it as singular or plural?

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  We assume that the individual(s) possesses some general knowledge of the rules of football.

Is "possesses" correct there? Should it be "possess"? Is the rule more complex than always using one or the other?


texts: Which is correct? A true warrior would never attack those who (had/have) hurt him

texts: Regardless of the meaning of the sentence, what should it be? "Had" because I used "would" or "Have" because it is a general statement of a fact?


texts: Use of definite article referring to figures and tables

texts:
There are tables and figures in a document, uniquely identifiable by their numbers.

We want to refer to them in several places. Which one is preferable in academic English writing and why?

  In figure 1 ...
  In the figure 1 ...
  With the help of table 1 ...
  With the help of the table 1 ...
  Lemma 1 helps ...
  The lemma 1 helps ...


texts: "Cannot be pasted to [the] cells that are editable"

texts:
… cannot be pasted to the cells that are editable.
  … cannot be pasted to cells that are editable.

Intuitively, I am inclined to think that second fragment is correct. The rule is generically applicable all types of cells and there is no context to the type of cells other than what is stated in sentence. Am I correct?


texts:
As a French native speaker who has to write a professional report in English, a question regarding the use of the comma crossed my mind. Here is an example of the type of sentence that might trouble me :

  The nature of the traffic demands, which are
  represented by a finite number of stations on the Earth's surface, is
  the source of two determining properties

Indeed, in French we use a lot of them and I was wondering whether for an English speaker the above commas feel unnecessary or not.


texts: An expression, almost facetious, similar to "I offer you my emotional support" i.e. in lieu on money!

texts: I ask for money to start a business and some say, "we'll give you our ____ support" in a funny way. Drawing a blank on this old, familiar expression! Like "you have my emotional, or thoughtful or something support" ???


texts:
What does "busted" mean in this context?

  He also possesses a glass eye, an ear for heavy metal, and a busted internal radar.

In reference to character Michael Burry from the movie "The Big Short".


texts: Secular phrase for "Heaven only knows" or "God only knows"?

texts: As the title states, I am seeking a secular phrase synonymous to "Heaven only knows" or "God only knows." Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.


texts:
When I am saying:

  Upon request, the homework has to be handed in to the teacher.

does this imply, that it is the teacher who is requesting? Or could it also be, say, the director?

If in the above sentence it is not necessarily the teacher, could I then express this by saying:

  The homework has to be handed in to the teacher upon his/her request.

This clearly states that the teacher requests, but is this something which is said?
(It sounds a bit awkward to me.)


texts:
What does "put out" mean in the following context?

  I, myself, who find sundown something of a surprise every evening,
  have been pursued by foreign journalists asking what the pandemic will
  mean for the American presidential election, populism, the prospects
  of socialism, race relations, economic growth, higher education, New
  York City politics and more. And they seem awfully put out when I
  say I have no idea.


texts: Pronunciation of What do you want to do?

texts: When I pronounce the question: "What do you want to do?", I hear some stress on the first syllable of "whaddya" and "wanna" and a bit stronger stress on "do". This is how I pronounce it: https://clyp.it/tz2dwr42 I'm not sure if I pronounce it correctly or not. Maybe a native American could give me a feedback on pronunciation and intonation. Thank you very much!


texts: "A vicious monster (now) stalks you from the shadows"

texts:
I'm writing a description for a game and I'm not sure which of these sentences is grammatically correct. Just to add some context, you are a prisoner who must now escape prison because there is a monster on the loose.

  Version 1: As if breaking out of prison wasn't hard enough, a vicious
  monster stalks you from the shadows.

  Version 2: As if breaking out of prison wasn't hard enough, a vicious
  monster now stalks you from the shadows.


texts: Is “zzzzz” the most common spelling to represent a person sleeping?

texts:
What is the most common or correct spelling of "zzzzz"?

  (1)   zzzzz  (5 letters)(2)   zzzz (4 letters) (3)   zzz (3 letters)

My question stems from when I first wrote it as "zzzzz" (5 letters) in an English text, but a friend told me it should have been written as "zzzz" (4 letters) so I decided to ask here.

More confusion arises from the following source because Susan Ince, the journalist, uses "zzz" (3 letters):

  People who get too little sleep (six hours or less a night), plus have
  poor-quality rest, face a 65% higher risk of heart disease, a Dutch
  study of 20,400 people found. So take your zzz's seriously. Tell your
  doctor if you're having trouble sleeping or if you're waking up
  without feeling refreshed. And adopt good sleep hygiene — no caffeine
  after lunch, regular bedtimes and wake-up times, plenty of exercise in
  the early part of the day, no television or computer in bed — to help
  you get the rest your heart needs. (For more tips, read 25 Ways to
  Sleep Better Tonight.)

Before that I had checked it out on some online English dictionary and Google search but I wasn't able to clear it out.

I've seen this and this, but neither answers my question.


texts:
The word gravitas is usually used in reference to a human quality. Can it also be used correctly in the following example?

  The use of the time-worn stones for the steps gives an instant air of gravitas to the design. (landscape architecture reference)


texts: Is there any circumstance we should cut off the "Y" when adding the "ING" to a verb?

texts:
This question raised when a colleague told me that the correct way of writing bully + -ing is bullying, rather than bulling.

Initially I thought that the -y- should be kept only when the verb ended with in consonant-vowel-consonant. My assumption was based on the verbs enjoy and say whose present-participle forms are enjoying and saying.

However, some time later I realized there were other verbs, not ending in consonant-vowel-consonant, that kept the -y-, such as studying, applying, crying and trying...

Currently, I imagine there is no such grammar rule and I mixed the plural rules with verb rules. Nevertheless I'd like to get a confirmation. Can anyone help me clarify (another example: clarifying) that?


texts:
I would like to know if I can say, "I wouldn't work, if I wouldn't get paid." My question is can I use would twice in a sentece to express something imaginary or I have to stick to would & were.
Please help me to figure this out.


texts: What does it mean by "3 Month Paternity Relief Contract"?

texts: I'm reading a job description where it mentions "3 Month Paternity Relief Contract". That doesn't make sense to me. Does it mean employee can leave 3 months for paternity leave?


texts:
What does that mean? What is non-sanfordized gaposis? It sounds like an illness of some kind but I could not find it.  The context is:

  In Bygone days, before you were demoralized by Static Cling, it was
  halitosis, or B.O. or unsightly snaps or non-Sanforized Gaposis

—Anton Szandor LaVey, The Devil's Notebook


texts: What is the meaning of "Dick" when it is a person's name?

texts: Some people are named "Dick". What does "Dick" mean when it is a name?


texts:
I'm struggling with a hyphenation problem. I'm writing the following sentence:

  This happens both in high- and low-tax countries
   This happens both in high and low-tax countries
   This happens both in high and low tax countries

Would the introduction of the word 'rate' make this any different:

  This happens both in high and low tax rate countries

More importantly (and more in line with the spirit of this Stack Exchange), what is the rule that drives this?


texts: Difference between supplemental NP and absolute clause?

texts:
What is the difference between a supplemental noun phrase and a absolute clause? In these examples and in general. Is it just the non-finite nature of the second example? Are they not serving a similar purpose?

  He won at his favourite sport, the long-jump, and brought another medal home for the U.S, the most fitting conclusion to his brilliant career in track and field.

Noun phrase functioning as a supplement/ syntactically separate element.

  He just stood there, his face clearly revealing his disappointment.

Absolute clause: called absolute because it serves no grammatical function in the sentence. It just adds supplemental information.


texts: Term used for a quantum or package of medication

texts:
Whats the best term to describe how medication is counted?

For instance, "these pills come in 12 per pack 24 per pack or 100 per pack".

I'm trying name a column for a database, and I'm trying to have a short, but descriptive term for the quantum of medication that for instance a pharmacy would/could dispense on any given medication.

And I need someone coming after me to able to understand it.

Just to clarify, this column is not for stock level. The purpose of this database is to facilitate operation of a travel packing application. I was looking for a term used to accurately describe how many separate units contained per packaged unit (UNIT_PER_UNIT was the original term, which is vague). For instance, "12 pack of paracetamol", alternatively "1 tube of Antiseptic cream"- both are the smallest yet complete unit of either medication.


texts: For 8th grade recognition all students selected a quote they like. Is is necessary to put in quotation marks? The authors are acknowledged and the section is titled QUOTES.


texts: Does a "blue mouth" mean something as a figure of speech?

texts:
In The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies there is a passage referring to the memories of a character who is, essentially, crazy and I can't tell whether or not the term "blue mouth" is literal or if it has some figurative meaning:

  She hasn't any idea of the past, except for horrible mixed-up memories of being tied up, and Paul disappearing, and Amasa -- she always remembers him with a blue mouth, like a rotten hole in his face-- telling God he forgave her for ruining his life.

I'm confident the urban dictionary definition isn't applicable here, but don't know if anything else fits. The story takes place in Canada circa 1920's.


texts: What category includes "document" and "video"?

texts:
I want a common word that could categorise both document (like presentation/portfolio etc.) and video. Any good ideas?

I need something simple enough that everyone can understand & not just the language experts.


texts: How does one correctly punctuate a sentence that declares that one has a question?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Punctuation with “The question is…” '.', '?' or ' “… ?” '
  Position of question mark when sentence doesn't end with question
  How do I punctuate a question within a statement?

My son, who is in fourth grade, wrote the following sentence in response to a story he'd read: "Another question I had was why were people swimming with dolphins." His teacher gave him no credit for this sentence.  She contended that the sentence must conclude with a question mark.  I believe that the sentence represents a declaration and not a question, and that the concluding period is appropriate and correct.  Would someone kindly help?


texts: "of its obligations"...which phrase does it refer to?

texts:
the breach by Supplier or its associated individuals or entities of any of its obligations hereunder,

1, " of any of its obligations" in this sentence only for entities.

2," of any of its obligations" in this sentence  for its associated individuals  and entities.

3." of any of its obligations" in this sentence  for Supplier and its associated individuals  and entities.

which one is rihgt? how do i know " of any of its obligations" refer to what's words? from the meaning? right.thanks


texts: "of the feudal Estates type" or "of the feudal-Estates type"?

texts:
In one Wikipedia page I read this definition:

  The zemsky sobor was the first Russian
  parliament of the feudal Estates
  type, in the 16th and 17th
  centuries.

I don't understand, why is there no hyphen between feudal and Estates? Is there any rule that would regulate the usage of hyphens in such cases?


texts: Is scampi the common name used for the kind of shrimp in the picture in American English? Or is there an alternative common name for it? I ask because some Americans don't really know the word when I mention it to them.


texts: What is a word or phrase that describes two ideas that historically were at odds now being in harmony with one another?

texts: I'm working on a project related to innovation in manufacturing. I'm trying to find a word or phrase that describes two ideas that used to be considered in conflict with one another now being in harmony because of innovation and technological advancements.


texts:
Please, can anyone tell me about the difference between the following sentences?

  The assignment is due in two weeks from now

and

  The assignment is due by two weeks from now


texts:
I thought I'd post this as it illustrates a problem often encountered on ELU.

  In structures such as 'football manager', is 'football' a modifier or
  a complement of the head noun?

I've seen both terms used as if there were only one possible correct answer. However, I've come across widely differing definitions of both 'modify' and 'complement' as used in grammar. I believe that people stating baldly that this is either one or the other are assuming a grammar that they prefer, rather than giving a balanced overview.

Notice that I intend this question to explore the usage/s of the term 'modify' and of the term 'complement' in this context. There may be overlap with the question of which word-class 'football' fits into, but that decision hardly answers the question.


texts: Phrase for a useful or comforting illusion

texts: Looking for an expression or a phrase for a comforting or useful illusion or simulacrum. Something that is widely held, yet seldom scrutinized. Something so common it defies scrutiny. Something workable, but based on a premise with minor flaws that impede progress. A concept, that when vocalized, would have us nodding our heads. Perhaps useful because of it provides a quick or easy perspective which is successful.


texts: What are the abbreviations for days of the week?

texts:
I would like to know if there is a common abbreviation for days of the week in a two letter form.

I mean: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday; can be abbreviated as Su, Mo, Tu, We, Th, Fr, Sa? Is this the common form?

Note that I have also seen Sn for Sunday, and some times St for Saturday (but I think less frequently).

It will be used in a tabular data program to show information about free work days of employed and each column can't have enought space to include full week day name.

For "common form" I mean, what are the abbreviations that is more used in programs.


texts: With Secret Santa, is there a word for "the person you drew"?

texts: If John is the secret Santa of Sarah, meaning that John needs to buy a present for Sarah, what is Sarah to John? The only thing I can think of is "the person he drew". What would be a good word or concise description to describe this relation?


texts: Person who involves in sexual harassment

texts: Is there a proper word for describing the person who involves in sexual harassment.? I thought that it would be sexual harasser, but i am not sure whether it is right or wrong. Can anyone point the right word to represent such persons..?


texts: A word that has a similar meaning to contain someone, as in a loving and understanding way

texts:
I had the same issue with this word and I rememeber finding it and wtiting it somewhere but sadly it is nowhere to be found. Anyway, the word can be literally translated as "contain". I have spent last night trying to find it again but I failed, the closest I got was embrace or encompass.

The context I am looking for is something along the lines of, 'a good parent knows how to contain his son with love, compassion and understanding'
In addition to contain, what other words could convey a similar meaning when used in this context?


texts: Is "Technical skills precisely" appropriate for a list of specific technical knowledge on résumé

texts: If I am going to put the list of specific technical knowledge on a résumé, is it appropriate to use the term "Technical skills precisely", or is there a more appropriate term to use?


texts:
What is the name of this percussion instrument in English?

It is gripped by the round handle. By using circular movements of the hand, the flat part is spun around the handle, causing the thin wooden leaf in the middle to snap against the gear and emit a repeating sharp sound.


texts: Is there a term for words or expressions that have meaning in both directions?

texts: I'm talking about words like 'comfortable' (the chair is comfortable, or, I am comfortable in the chair) and 'curious' (it is a curious painting, or, I am curious about that painting). So, is there an official term for such words or expressions? (An example of such an EXPRESSION would be 'make a short list' (to be considered a prime candidate by a prospective employer, or, to make a list of employment opportunities to explore in detail later).


texts:
What does "pawn office" mean in the following passage?

  Therefore, starting in the 1890s, Russian state capital started to flow into
  Iran through this bank and was invested in loans, minting coins and other financial operations. Soon, the Loan Bank, having inherited a pawn office from Iakov Poliakov, started giving out small loans mostly secured by real estate to the local population.

I didn't find such a word in dictionaries, but I guess it is "pawnbroker".

Many thanks in advance.


texts: "One in six people": plural or singular?

texts:
One in six people struggles to read.

OR

One in six people struggle to read.

"One in six" is singular, naturally, but "one in six people" clearly amounts to a huge number. Should the verb thus be singular or plural, please?

As a corollary, I could imagine the sentence being qualified thus:

One in six people (11 million in the UK alone) struggle to read.

Certainly, to my ear at least, the latter would thus "sound" more natural.

Thanks in advance.


texts:
Most dictionaries I know of say that 'although' has two related but different usages.
For example, Oxford Living Dictionaries define it as follows:

1 In spite of the fact that; even though.
‘although the sun was shining it wasn't that warm’
‘although small, the room has a spacious feel’
1.1 However; but.
‘he says he has the team shirt, although I've never seen him wear it’

Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary defines it as follows:

1 : despite the fact that : though — used to introduce a fact that makes another fact unusual or surprising

Although [=while, even though] he was hungry, he could not eat.

...
2 : but, however, though — used when making a statement that differs from or contrasts with a statement you have just made

I don't believe we've met before, although I must say you do look very familiar.

I think his name is John, although I'm not completely sure about that.

I'd love to have dinner with you, although I can't.

The book had a good, although not great, plot.

Both these dictionaries say 'although' has a second meaning equivalent to 'however' or 'but', as opposed to the first meaning of 'despite the fact that' or 'in spite of the fact that'.
Now, the Oxford dictionary shows that the second meaning is subsumed under the first meaning by numbering it "1.1". Even so, I don't understand why this second meaning has to be added in the first place when you certainly can fully understand its meaning simply by the first meaning of 'in spite of the fact that'.
I don't believe that in its second meaning 'although' is syntactically either a coordinate conjunction such as 'but' or a connective adverb such as 'however'. So I think the use of 'but' or 'however' in the second meaning is purely semantic, and that the although-clause is a subordinate clause whether it's used in the first or second meaning.
Furthermore, is there any reason why all these examples of the second meaning have a comma right before 'although'? Would leaving out the comma change the structure and/or meaning of these examples even slightly?


texts: "The more often — the better." Is it possible to say that?

texts: The meaning I want to show with this phrase is that you do something more times and it produces better results. Is "the more often — the better" correct? Or maybe there are any set expressions instead of this?


texts:
The ship 'heeled' or 'tilted' or 'incline' in strong wind and sank.
Which word is correct and most common?


texts: What is the "ponytail" in a knight's helmet called?

texts: Does the ponytail thing in a knight's helmet have its own name? Or are they just called ponytails?