texts: Should it be Champions' League comeback or Champions League comeback?

texts:
When we discuss great comebacks in the history of this competition, It is more correct to say a particular game represented the greatest comeback in Champions League history, or the greatest comeback in Champions' League history?

Specifically, after Barcelona stunned Paris Saint-Germain, when we ask if that feat equalled the Liverpool comeback against AC Milan in Istanbul, were these teams competing in a Champions' League or a Champions League?

In other words, would it be alright to say Barcelona staged a comeback, that in terms of the Champions' League, is probably second only to what Liverpool achieved in the Miracle of Istanbul ?

Given that this is a league where more than one champion side competes, if it is their league, should we use the possessive form Champions' League in the nomenclature for such a competition?  In support of this line of reasoning, consider that the evolution of the name itself has two roots, one that seems grammatically more correct and the other more colloquial.  Ref: UEFA Champions League.  So, if the original was correctly called "European Champion Clubs' Cup", did the creators of the current incarnation take the easy route and favour the dumbed down over a name that might be confusing to the uninitiated supporter, or perhaps more importantly, sponsor?

Thank you to the contributors who have pointed out the official name of the competition.  I was not questioning the point that this is in fact the current name. Rather, I was musing on whether this was the best or most correct name that should have been chosen circa 1992, given the 1955 potential precedent.

OP aside:-
This question was "put on hold as unclear what you're asking".
So in response I have attempted to distill the headline to the nub of my question and to add further germane reference pointers.
Please remove the hold, if you feel I have addressed that concern.


texts: What word or phrase describes when someone makes an unreasonable request

texts:
When someone asks you to verify everything, but there is no complete description of what "everything" encompasses.

e.g.
When you have a complex system with tens of thousands of moving parts, and your boss asks you to check that everything works.


texts: "I would like to ask you a favour" vs. "I would like to ask you for a favour"

texts:
Which form is to be preferred?

  I would like to ask you a favour.
  I would like to ask you for a favour.


texts: Word for lack of understanding at scale?

texts:
Imagine we're back in the days when the Internet was born. Over the next few years, only a tiny fraction of the population understood how the Internet works.
How would an early adopter succinctly describe the flocks of people who don't have a clue about the Internet?
Note: bonus points if the word refers to an asymmetry of information, whereby one party knows a lot more than everybody else.


texts:
As in:

  "There is nothing wrong with learning from the enemy, you see, an attack of this scale is much more efficient with collective organization."

  "Indeed," she ____, "if only my people were susceptible to such wisdom."

Context: first speaker is running his mouth off with a lecture about leadership, the second speaker expresses agreement without sincerity in order to flatter the first.


texts:
I am writing a program that will have a list that the user can search. I'm having trouble with terminology. I need a name denoting that the items that are in the list can be searched for, and one denoting that the list can be searched through.

My problem is that when thinking of both of these, I can only think of Searchable, as in Searchable list and Searchable item. I'm afraid these names are terribly ambiguous, though, and don't convey their purpose or functionality very well. I also considered Search result and Search context, but the items are still there when not part of a search. What are two better words for these?


texts:
When you want to say take one's life, that is, kill someone, using the verb deprive, do you say deprive one's life?

According to dictionaries, deprive is a transitive verb and its use is 'deprive A of B'.

Then, the possible expression could be deprive him or her of life. Is that right?


texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe something that's harmful to touch.  A word like corrosive or caustic, but without the implied danger itself (acidic, burning, etc.).

Something like:
The surface of the floor is highly [word].

Ideas?


texts:
I am working on a math problem where I need some help with the English to finish my solution.
I have an ambiguous sentence:

At least one student attended every lecture.

My attempt to disambiguate this sentence are the following two possible meanings for this sentence:
(1) There exists a student, who attended every lecture.
Here I am trying to make clear that there is at least one student who attended every possible lecture.
(2) For every lecture, there was a student present.
Here I am trying to make clear that for every lecture which was held, at least one student was in attendance.
Would these sentences be adequate for what I am trying to say? Do you have any better suggestions?


texts: Does "By April" imply a particular date in April?

texts:
What does the phrase By April mean in this sentence?

  By April 1857 the army had grown to approximately 700 men.

Does it signify before the end of April or at the beginning of April?


texts: Is "automatically eraseing" or "being erased automatically" correct?

texts:
Please tell me which sentence is correct:

My file is automatically eraseing.

or

My file is being erased automatically.


texts:
I have questions which perhaps should be posted to Linguistics.SE; but since my primary concern is to discover what terminology in discussing English grammar and usage on ELU (and in similar contexts), I hope I may be allowed to post them here.

Back in the early ‘60s, when I was learning to distinguish tense, aspect and mood in Latin and English, it was explained to me that (despite what the schoolmarms were telling me) I should regard these categories as attributes not of verbs but of entire sentences, realized in Latin primarily through verbal inflection but in English mostly through constructions employing a variety of lexical and syntactic components.

This way of thinking about  the categories has always made sense to me, and it is echoed here and there in my old Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics (Lyons, 1968). For instance:

  Tense is therefore a deictic category, which […] is simultaneously a property of the sentence and the utterance. (305)

In recent years, however, I have on several occasions been chided for using the term tense in this manner. I am told that it is properly applied only in cases where temporal reference is expressed through inflection. I have not been made aware of any similar restriction in the use of aspect or mood.

I am painfully aware that my understanding of English grammar and syntax is by now two generations out of date. So I’d like to ask:

Is the term tense today only properly used  in the restricted sense, in formal discourse about English grammar?
Does this restriction similarly apply to 1) such terms of tense-distinction as  past, present and future, and 2) the parallel categories aspect and mood and their corresponding terms of distinction?
In cases where such restrictions apply, what terms should be used to name the categories and distinctions when they are expressed through some means other than inflection of a verb?


texts: What is the origin of the word "dead-tree"?

texts: What is the origin of the word dead-tree? I know that it basically refers to the print edition of a book that is also available in electronic format but would like to understand of the etymology the word dead-tree. In particular why the combination of the terms dead and tree to refer to books?


texts: Identifying subject, predicate, object, adverbial and complement in simple sentences

texts:
I am a mathematician and have a somewhat troublesome relationship with the English language!

I need to find/construct two simple sentences which include subject, predicate, object, adverbial and complement. Ideally it should be a quote taken from a book but I am finding that even harder.

I have started with:

  “The pig is looking at me with sad droopy eyes.”

The subject is "the pig", but beyond that, I am lost.

Can anyone help me out!

Thanks


texts: What's the difference between "mistrust" and "distrust"?

texts:
Are mistrust and distrust synonyms?

And if so, how have two such similar words coexist for so long? Google N-grams suggests the two words have coexisted since the 1700's.


texts: Song: when to use remix, cover and tribute to

texts:
If there is original song and same song performed by another artist, when to use term 'remix', 'cover', 'tribute to'?

Is 'remix' more suitable for electronic version of song?
What is the difference between 'cover' and 'tribute to'?
Which word to use when someone performs a song (but not sing) that was originally by another author?
Example: Sungha Jung playing Take On Me (originally by A-HA).


texts: Can “due to” and “because of ” be used interchangeably?

texts:
Is it fine to use due to in place of because of ? How about the other way around? Are any of these sentences ungrammatical?

He was lost because of the storm.
He was lost due to the storm.
He lost his way due to the storm.
He  lost his way because of the storm.


texts: What's the proper verb tense one should use in this particular phrase?

texts:
"You are going to be the reason I go to jail."

I'm asking this question because the way this phrase is worded sounds a little weird to me. I think it should be:

  "You are going to be the reason why I will go to jail."

I might be wrong. Can you point me to the right direction of whether the first phrase is accepted in regular speech or not and if my second example is correct grammatically speaking?


texts:
What is "A tragic missed opportunity."?

Context:

It (The fight between Russia Tsar and landowners) was a tragic missed opportunity. Had the Tsar had pulled this off, Russian history would have been very different and surely happier.

Source: History of the world by Andrew Marr - Episode 7


texts: "Why does he not?" or "Why does not he?" and why?

texts:
Which is the more correct form:

  Why does he not?
  Why does not he?

and why?

At first blush 1 would seem to be grammatical - just on an intuitive judgement. However 2 logically seems as though it should be grammatical, even though it sounds ungrammatical.

The reason I say this, is that I know that the following definitely is grammatical, and is in many ways preferable to either of the above:

Why doesn't he?

Now Why doesn't he? is just the contracted form of 2:

Why does not he?
Why doesn't he?

So, given that 2 is essentially 3, I'd like to know firstly, which questions are grammatical and which are ungrammatical or awkward. I'd like to also know why this is the case - assuming there is some absolute contrast between 2 and 3.


texts: Difference between 'than others' and 'than the others'

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Incriminating others vs. Incriminating the others: Is this sentence correct?

When should one of these be preferred over another for sentences of the form "A is different than (others | the others)"?

For ex. what is the difference between -

  All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

and

  All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than the others.


texts: What does "right" mean in "when the wind was right"?

texts:
I found the following sentence in a paragraph:

“Sometimes, when the wind was right, you could hear the surf all over the town.”

I’ve never seen “right wind” in the context and it’s some sort of a wierd phrase to me, and since the text I’m working on to translate is full of idioms and slangs, so I was wondeing if someone can assure me that does “right” here as an adjective for “wind” has any idiomatic or hidden meaning?

All answers and comments are appreciated.


texts: Name for words like whatchamacallit, doohickey, thingamabob

texts:
Is there a name for words like whatchamacallit, doohickey, thingamabob, doodad, thingamajig, whatsit, etc.?

Somehow it seems like there should be a word to describe the general term for a word that you use for referring to something when you cannot remember what it is called.

(Computing names like foo, bar, baz are examples of metasyntactic variables but those are a slightly different category.)


texts: When do I place an article before a verb?

texts:
There is a product called "FUEL DOOR OPENER", lets say.
If it is responsible for opening and locking of a particular type of fuel door, is the following sentence correct?

ACTUATOR that is responsible for the opening and locking of PUSH&PULL type fuel door.

When do I put, and not put the article before a verb? Is this even correct?
Also, I saw in some sentences, the article is placed before a noun too. In the above sentence, should "the" be placed before PUSH&PULL type fuel door?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What day is next Tuesday?

Imagine that it's Monday, the 1st. The weekend would be the 6th & 7th. How do you refer properly to the coming weekend, "This weekend" or "Next weekend"?

I believe that using "next weekend" would refer to the 13th & 14th and "this weekend" would refer to this week's end. Technically the coming weekend (6th & 7th) would be the next weekend on the calendar.

So which is correct? I'm hoping for a definitive answer with backing since this is an argument over opinion.


texts: Finding a better way to say "put to good use"

texts:
Better way to say:  "put to good use"

Trying to figure out in terms of being accountable with resources. Specifically, in this sentence:

  every cent of funding could be put to good use

I think it sounds passive, but am blocked.


texts:
When do you use "one of the few" and "one of few"?

Take for example:

  He went to a boarding school, one of few in the country.

and

  He went to a boarding school, one of the few in the country.

Is there a difference?


texts:
If I have to give advice to my student, which of the following 2 sentences is correct?

Be hunger to learn new things.
Be hungry to learn new things.

Please advise.


texts:
Growing up in Canada, in addition to "trick-or-treating" as a description of kids' activities on Hallowe'en evening, I often heard the verb "shell out", conjugated as "shelling out" or "shellouting".  A sample sentence would be: "Are you going shellouting tonight?" meaning "are you going out to ask for candy at peoples' houses?" A Google search doesn't reveal much about this usage, except for references to Hallowe'en in Canada.

What is the origin of this usage of "shell out", and is it localised to Canada?


texts: Why British English speakers repeat something said to them?

texts:
Here in the UK When talking to Britons I see this pattern e.g.
Me: We are going to the zoo next week.
Him: Are we?
Or
Me: We had a lovely dinner last night while Susan joined us at the last minute.
Other people: Did she now? How come she is in London?
does it make you sound like the listener is paying attention or is it a style or is it mandantory in English culture?


texts: In my part of the world, we refer to highways without any article. So we drive on "Highway 64", or "Interstate 64", or "I-64". But when I go to California, they say "The 101". Is there any explanation for this difference?


texts:
I'm curious to know why the idiom below made with the prep "on" and not "in"?

  not on your life

Not on your life! (informal) : Something that you say in order to tell someone with a lot of force that you will not do something

  'Would you kiss him?' 'Not on your life!'


texts: I am describing an event that lasts for more than 68 continuous hours, and I want to describe it as a "multi-day long" event, but I don't know where to put the hypen(s) in that phrase.


texts:
Assuming that a task is a piece of work to be completed, is there a single word or noun that would be the antonym of a task, meaning a piece of work that has been completed?
So far my best bet is accomplishment or achievement, but I feel they imply the task was difficult and that completing it was an exploit.
An example sentence could be "Here is a list of your accomplishments this past week."


texts:
If someone referred to "last August" in a conversation that took place in December 2015, would the speaker be referring to August 2014 or August 2015?

Example sentence: "I saw you last August".

Further, how would the date of the conversation affect the meaning of "last August"?

That is, would the year referenced change if the conversation took place in

September 2015?
January 2016?
July 2016?


texts: Is "cacheability" a word (technical word)?

texts:
Alternate spelling - "cachability" (seems perhaps less popular/proper)

In Computer Science, the word "cache" is used in a specific sense to mean a place (usually in a specific memory location) where looked up values are stored temporarily so that they can be retrieved more quickly on the next request for them.

In web development, we cache pages or pieces of code, images, etc. in order to be able to serve more requests and take load off of application servers (ie, prevent the slashdot effect).

And so we talk about "caching" this page or this data, how to make data or pages "cacheable", and finally about the overall "cacheability" of certain pages or structures or apps.

For example:

"We need to evaluate the cacheability of our index page."

meaning something like

"We need to see how cacheable the index page is and to what degree."

The only problem is, the word cacheability isn't really a word... is it?

Is this a technical term that some computer folks are throwing around? Have they invented a new word? I'd be pedantic and say "it's not a word" and we're just using it wrong - go with cacheable and reform your sentences - but I know that not one of my coworkers would bat an eye if I were to use "cacheability" in a sentence, so it seems that it's meaning is clear in certain contexts and can express an idea that "cacheable" doesn't necessarily do as succinctly.


texts: What's the difference between "stay the night," "sleep over" and "stay for the night"?

texts:
What's the difference between "stay the night," "stay for the night" and "sleep over"?
There's also "stay over".


texts: Is there a verb or phrase for "good-morninging" someone?

texts:
The situation I'm asking about is to use a great amount of fake politeness to get rid of someone, as in the following example from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit:

  “Sorry! I don’t want any adventures, thank you. Not today. Good morning! But please come to tea—any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Come tomorrow! Good bye!” With that the hobbit turned and scuttled inside his round green door, and shut it as quickly as he dared, not to seem rude. Wizards after all are wizards.

Here the author uses verbing to describe the action,

  “[...] I am Gandalf, and Gandalf means me! To think that I should have lived to be good-morninged by Belladonna Took’s son, as if I was selling buttons at the door!”

Is that indeed the best one can say (or the only way), or was it just a humorous choice of words? Curiously enough, we have a single verb just like that in Czech, vypoklonkovat (literally: to bow someone off), even though I would say the phenomenon itself is far from frequent. Nevertheless in F. Vrba's translation of The Hobbit a similarly custom vydobrýtrovat is used instead (specifically replacing the figurative bow by a sloppy good morning phrase), presumably to keep the spirit. That would make me assume there might be another, more common verb or phrase in English as well, just that no dictionary I’ve tried lists it.


texts: Following (a) training: verb and pronoun

texts:
I am not a native English speaker but I work in an organisation with English as corporate language. I have set up an automatic reply because I was following a 3-day course, and I have received a remark about the wording used in my message.

Is "I'm following training from Monday 5th to Wednesday 7th." correct?

Two questions:

Is the verb "follow" appropriate?
I know the word "training" is uncountable, and therefore no pronoun ("a") is required. Is it correct?

Thank you


texts:
I am trying to figure out when do we need to use an action verb explicitly and when can we omit it using the (ellipsis concept). For Example:

John is taller than Jim [is] (I understood that here is can be omitted)
John left earlier than Jim [did] - is it ok to omit the word 'did' - if not, why?
Maple trees shed their autumn leaves earlier than oak trees - Is this correct?

Thanks for your input


texts: What do you call someone who was doing bad things, and he doesn't anymore?

texts: I'm searching for a meaningful word or expression for someone who does bad things (for example, insulting others, stealing phones...) You would say they are x.


texts: Sentence structure:When should I put the noun in front of the verb?

texts:
The four sentences below are all correct but I don't know when exactly I should put the noun in front of the verb after 'than'?

a.The Internet allows more direct and open communication than does the real world.

b.I have a worse temper than he does.

c.These days Iran is no more inclined to welcome outsiders than is Nigeria or Venezuela.

d.He is more interested in video games than his girl friend is.


texts: If a company "creates value" for its users do the users "consume it"?

texts:
If a company is a producer of a product we have consumers who 'consume' it. So we have a
"producer-consumer" noun relationship.

But if a company "creates" value it can be called a value-creator. So what would that make the users who "derive" value from it? "Derivators?" Sounds a bit weird. Would they also be called consumers?

So what would be a right word to use for the following analogy:

Producer:Consumer::Value-Creator: ?

EDIT: I don't wish to state if it's business-wise right or wrong. I want to know language wise what would be the appropriate noun-phrase to use in this regard.

E.g.: Google creates value for it's users by offering seamless search, Apple for usability, Microsoft for platform etc. etc. I am using 'Value' in the subjective sense and not necessarily money only.


texts: Double negation: not, neither - nor in a sentence

texts:
Can you please explain why these sentence are correct:

He hadn’t done any homework, neither had he brought any of his books to class.
We didn’t get to see the castle, nor did we see the cathedral.

while these are not:

I haven't been neither to the US nor the UK.
I haven’t been to the US nor the UK.
Santa will not permit naughty behavior nor even consider bringing presents.


texts:
I am writing a essay and in it I use the phrase

  "my o so precious time"

After having a peer review my paper they said that while they didn't know what they felt like there should be a comma or apostrophe after the 'o'.

Is this correct and which should I use?


texts:
I'm not a grammar nazi in my native language, and SURELY nor in the language I learn (English). And I think, when a person is expressing thoughts, he or she shouldn't think about grammatical structures, moods, syntax etc., but about WHAT he/she's really saying. That's what I do in my own language. But when I communicate with an English-speaker, I can't help thinking of it. Because I haven't started thinking in English yet.

Situation 1.
I am chatting with somebody on the Internet, and this person writes something like "Oh your funny", and keeps writing your instead of you're. So when I respond, I write "You're funny too". Wouldn't it make me look like I want to reproach this person?

Situation 2.
I am talking to a person who's just said "If I was ... ". And the moment when I need to say the sentence with Conditional 2 is coming, so should I say "If I were" (just because I like it and was taught so)? Will he/she think, "Oh look who's talking, wants to make himself look smart".

P. S. Yes, I know that nowadays both variants are correct, but as far as I'm not the native speaker, they're the same to me. And I guess they're not the same to you...


texts: "Mitochondria IS the powerhouse of the cell" - is this grammatically correct?

texts:
In science as well as pop-culture, I've seen "Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell" in the singular.
However, "mitochondria" is the plural form of "mitochondrion", which leads me to think that the popular phrase is a grammatically incorrect one since it uses "is", whereas it should be using "are": Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell.
Am I missing something here? Is there a different aspect in the context of how these words are used generally in the scientific terminology, or the popular use of this phrase is just grammatically incorrect?


texts:
How to express the continuity of certain problems shown earlier with statistics? Meaning that these problems did not disappear during the observed period.

Despite positive temporal trends, the problems remained detectable until the end of the study period.

Despite positive temporal trends, the problems remained apparent until the end of the study period.


texts: Using a short quote at the beginning of a chapter

texts:
I want to use a short quote as an opener to a chapter in a university homework.

Is there a literary term for this?
How would I typeset the proverb shown most correctly for American English?

Quotes: “ ” or ‘ ’ or none?
A dash between question and answer, or before the attribution?

This is what it looks like now:


texts:
For my CV, I want to list a selection of units I have done at university. This list is not a complete list of all my units. Do I therefore need to add an 'and' at the end of the list? What I mean is:

Units include: History, Geography, IT, Science, Business.

or

Units include: History, Geography, IT, Science, and Business.

I understand that usually an 'and' is needed, but as the list is only a sample of a bigger list, wouldn't an 'and' make it seem like it's complete?


texts:
Is "france" the direct object in the sentence?
"I" is doing the verb "come" but is France receiving the verb? The grammar book says that direct object answers who? or what? questions but France does not so I'm confused.


texts:
I'm having a TERRIBLE geriatric moment in my mid-forties.  I know this phrase, I've used it before, and it has suddenly left the building.  For about the last hour.  It's driving me insane, please help.

What is the word/phrase used to describe a situation in which someone makes a statement as factual, conclusive, or absolutely evidence based, simply because it worked for them?  Or because it may have worked for a handful of people they know?

Examples:

This mascara is the very best you can buy because it's the only one that lifts my eyelashes and makes them thicker without clumps.

or

This is the only diet supplement that works because I lost 60 pounds using it.

I don't even know how to google this without only getting key words as hits.

Thanks!


texts:
If I understand it correctly, one usually uses the term enclosure when referring to extra documents to e.g. a letter. But what if these extra items are not other documents and papers?

Say I have written a report discussing some of my developed software. It could be a school paper, and the paper and the files in union make up the final product handed in.

What is the right term for the software files belonging to this report?  The dictionary definition of the words above don't quite seem to fit.


texts: What does "to-" in today, tomorrow, tonight mean?

texts: As in the title. Does it mean anything? Does it mean the same thing in all of these words? What is its origin? Are there any other words with "to-"?


texts: On a resume, should I italicize the name of a magazine when I'm referring to it *as* an employer?

texts: In an earlier version of this question, I confused the issue by using the word company instead of employer. Strictly speaking, the magazine is not a company, but I was considered an employee of the magazine, not the publishing house that owned it. I'm not italicizing my other employers. Before I had this job, however, I worked as a freelancer at a variety of magazines, and I list a few examples in italics as part of the description of my stint as a freelancer.


texts: What should be the correct tense and structure of the sentence?

texts:
Sorry if my question sounds dumb here. I am not a English speaker and now I am trying to learn and improve my English. Suppose following scenario occurs:

Person A has done something wrong in past and Person B is suffering in present due to the fault of A. Now person B wants to tell that what A did was wrong and instead of doing wrong, if he did something else, he should have done right.

So is it correct to use the following structure if B is telling to A (actually I have tried this)?

You had done wrong; instead of doing this,if you would have done that, this might would have been right.

I am confused with the italicized parts. Is this structure correct grammatically? I suspect it is not, then what should be the right format?


texts:
A native English speaker has revised my writing. He changed

  This has been added as a future work.

to

  This has been added as future work.

I wonder, why I should remove a ?


texts: Adjective for someone unable to cope with the past

texts:
I'm looking for a word that could describe a character's personality in the sense that he is someone who (re)lives the past too much and is uncapable of overcoming it and moving on with his life.

Any suggestions?

I appreciate it.


texts: Term for the saline equilibrium of the body?

texts: There is a term for the balanced percentage level of salt in the body, but I can't remember what it is. It is not eutectic, but it is a word like that. The X level of salts in the human body is 0.9%.


texts: I just came across some text in a book which stated, “it was one of his prides and joys“.  That sounds wrong to me. It seems as if it should be pride and joys,  since that phrase is considered a package deal, rather than two separate things. What would be the correct usage in this case?


texts: Any idea of the origin of using the term 'gucci' for parts?

texts:
A number of the guys who ride near me and have been riding bikes (mtb) since the 90s still refer to high spec parts as being 'gucci'. It's an effective term and easy to understand what they mean but interested in if there was any real history behind the term. Does any one know the origins of it?

I did some research and it seems in wider use than just New Zealand but couldnt find any history. I know Bianchi and Gucci did do a collaboration but that seems pretty recent.


texts: Continuing a sentence in a parenthesis and then starting a new one inside the same

texts:
Take a look at this meaning:

  By the way, I marked position 2854 (in the code. It's the slash).

Is is correct to start a new sentence within a parenthesis like this? Or another, worse, example:

  By the way, I marked (a lot of things of which you are unaware. Please try not to eat) the semicolon.

If it's not possible to do this, is there than any other solution (except rephrasing!).


texts:
A friend pointed out to me recently that I have a tendency to preface some of my sentences with the phrase "Unless if..."

For example:

  Unless if we take the highway, we won't make it in time.

She insists that this is grammatically incorrect. Is this, and if it is, how is this sentence wrong? Would this phrasing be still incorrect if, instead, I said:

  Unless, if we take the highway, we won't make it in time.


texts: Is there any situation that requires the use of specifically one of or both the words "less" or "more"?

texts: If quantity(s) A is less than quantity(s) B, then by definition quantity(s) B is more than quantity(s) A. It seems to me that you can use only the word "less" or only the word "more" to describe any situation. Is there any situation where specifically one of or both the words must be used to adequately describe a comparison? Or is it technically redundant to have both?


texts: What is the antonym of "blank" in "a blank sheet of paper"?

texts: Say, you have a sheet of paper. It is blank. I begin to write on it. It's no longer blank. But then what it is? I have tried the usual sources for antonyms but came up, well, blank.


texts: Does the first sentence have the same meaning as the second?

texts:
He put his hand in his pocket and bought it for the guy.

I'll have to put my hand in my pocket to fix my car.

Do these sentences have the same meaning:

to spend money, or to give some to someone or something?

And if the first sentence is incorrect, how I should write it?


texts: Is there a subtle difference between "somebody" and "someone", "anybody" and "anyone"?

texts: Are there any subtle differences between "somebody" and "someone", or can they be used completely interchangeably? Similarly, can you imagine a situation in which you would prefer "anybody" to "anyone" or vice versa?


texts: "Bumptious" means conceited or pompous. Does the word “bumption” exist to describe such a trait?


texts: Too much complexity being bad - phrase or common anology for the concept of

texts:
Something I've been trying to express concisely recently is the concept that using (or making) something that is too complicated/complex for the user to understand/fix can be a bad thing. Is there a short phrase or analogy that expresses this concept?

An engineer may choose to make a device that is "fool proof", something that can't be adjusted incorrectly, won't succumb to environmental conditions, recovers from several failure conditions, etc. The problem is that eventually that device becomes be a sealed container, using custom parts, with no possibility of disassembly and repair by the user. This could easily apply to software as well.

The goal may be reduced materials, lines of code, reliability, elegance, etc. The problem is that the complexity becomes a barrier to entry for the user to understand it, and the user becomes dependent upon the creator. Nothing lasts forever, but if failure is sufficiently delayed the user(s) may outlive the creator. I've seen this concept in science fiction (e.g. the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, nuclear reactors still exist, but no one knows how to repair them).


texts:
There are words for dried grapes and dried plums; raisins and prunes. Is there a word for dried blueberries, which is also common as a fruit?

As an example,

  I am having _________, which are dried blueberries.


texts:
I have a question concerning the location of the vehicle safety certification label in a certain car. The corresponding user's manual says: "A vehicle safety certification label is attached to the rear shutface of the driver' s door".

I am not a native speaker of English and hence my question - what is the rear shutface, exactly. Is this a part of the door or the body of the car (i.e. the B pillar). If this is affixed to the doors then where exactly - in plain English? Is this the part of the doors that is "hidden" when the doors are closed - i.e. the width of the doors?


texts: Capitalising the first letter of a reference to God?

texts:
like "He", "His", "Thy", "the Creator", "the Omnipotent", etc.

What is the origin of this practice? When should I capitalise words like this? for any deity? only the deity of the Abrahamic faiths?


texts: Is there a word that describes the information gap due to a reader's cultural bias across place and time?

texts:
While reading texts from a different culture or a different time period I sometimes find deeper meanings elusive.  I feel that this is partially related to living in a different culture and/or a different period of time.  It can be difficult to intrinsically understand meaning, values and sensibilities the target culture has/had.

For example, If I read a text from Sophocles, Homer etc... it might mention a character wearing purple.  I now know this implies that the person/character was of higher social standing since purple dye was not commonly available like it is today.  However, this fact probably doesn't come naturally to a modern American reader as wearing purple doesn't signify higher social standing.

A more lighthearted example might be watching a Simpsons episode from the early 90's in which they make fun of owning a Macintosh computer which of course would be somewhat lost today since they are perceived to be of higher quality/value.

I suppose this word might be cultural bias, but I was hoping there was something more specific that describes not the just the bias but the the inability to understand other cultures because of natural tendencies to look through our own world-view.


texts: "If we were going outside" in polite requests

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “Was” or “were” in subjunctive clauses

Can we use "if you were going outside, please let me know" or "I was wondering if you were going outside" in a polite request? If yes, do you think changing it to "if you are going outside, please let me know" makes it less polite?


texts: Plural or singular in permission description

texts:
We have a product where users can be given permissions to perform certain actions.
Part of our data consists of lists of items. A user with the relevant permission can replace items in lists by other items, but only one at a time.

Should this permission be named:
"Replace an item in a list" or "Replace items in lists"?


texts: Which one is correct in the context:"have" Or "has"

texts:
1) Our team of nationally recognized trainers has earned multiple titles….

In the first version team is the object making has correct.

Or

  2) Our team of nationally recognized trainers have earned multiple titles….

In the second version trainers is the object making have correct.


texts: What do you call a person that wants to kill people but doesn't actually kill them?

texts: A killer is a person that has already killed someone. The term i'm looking for is someone who wants to kill people but never does. Only has a tendency to do so, or wants to kill them but never really does.


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "get out of a jar of pickles?"

texts:
I came across this word in my workbook. The sentence in which this phrase was used is:

What can I do to get out of this jar of pickles?

Well, there is a literal translation here but I am wondering if there a figurative explanation to this particular expression.

Thanks all!

A jar of pickles... Hmm


texts:
I found this in an exam paper:

  A German mother and teacher has written to the newspaper about libraries.

Shouldn't it be "A German mother and teacher have written to the newspaper about libraries." since there are multiple people? "Has" does not sound right to me.


texts:
It was quite clear that this place was not big enough to house all the family members.

-between the two sentences below,
Which one has the same meaning as the one above?

It was quite cleat that this place was not so big that it could house all the family members

It was quite clear that this place was not so big that it couldn't house all the family members


texts: What is the subtle difference between condiment, seasoning and flavoring?

texts: As far as I understand and definitions on Google go, all of these mean some "substance to 'enhance' the flavor of food." But what is the subtle difference in their meaning and word-usage?


texts: Can I start a sentence with "because", whether I am answering a question, or giving a sample of an idea?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Can a sentence start with “Because”

I would like to know if the next sentence is right:
"Because in this case, both are spelled the same way"


texts: Is the inversion in “Let’s see ʜᴏᴡ ᴄᴀɴ ᴡᴇ do this” an error for “Let’s see ʜᴏᴡ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ do this”?

texts:
I’m reading about the C++ Boost library, and the following sentence from Boost.ORG drew my attention:

  Once the two steps have been successfully completed, the process can
  start writing to and reading from the address space to send to and
  receive data from other processes. Now, let’s see how can we do this
  using Boost.Interprocess.

I assume the sentence in bold should be written as let's see how we can do this.

Has the original sentence been mistakenly written by somehow (like perhaps by a non-native speaker, for example), or was this reversed order intended to emphasize something?


texts: Why are the possessive and object pronouns the same for feminine but not masculine?

texts:
Essentially, why is the pronoun the same in different uses for feminine but not masculine?

Feminine:

Possessive:

  It is her car.

Accusative

  I know her.

Masculine:

Possessive:

  It is his car.

Accusative:

  I know him.


texts:
Can I write it like this :

  The output is black whenever the input is so.

Or is it enough to say

  The output is black whenever the input is.


texts: Can I say "I have two pens less", and "I have two dollars less"?

texts:
There were 50 students in class. The teacher gave out 50 pens to the students (the students got a total of 50 pens).

The teacher gave 50 pens to every student (every student got fifty pens each).
Everyone got 50 pens, but I got 48 pens.

So, can I say "I have two pens less"←is this sentence correct?


texts: Climactic act of reaching one's limit and turning to the sky/God/universe for answers

texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe the dramatic moment when, after being pushed to the limit, someone drops to their knees and turns to the sky/God/universe. In other words, this is the moment when humanity confronts their own powerlessness in the face of greater powers.

There might be different words for this idea, when it is an act being performed, vs. when it is a moment in a performance. I am curious about both of them, as well as any religious interpretations of it you might know about.

I was trying to say to a friend yesterday that Christianity as a religion has really done a good job of capturing this feeling in the popular imagination. Yet I suspect this idea of humanity being overwhelmed by fate has been around since Greek tragedy, or even might be fundamental to humanity. That is why I want to find as many words that have attempted to describe this as possible.


texts:
I have noticed a trend going back at least a decade of using the word racist (and for that matter sexist) as an adjective. This doesn't appear to fit the pattern of -ism words, which become -ist when applying to a follower of a belief and -istic to form the adjective.
-ism

A distinctive practice, system, or philosophy, typically a political ideology or an artistic movement.
The storm of conflicting opinions centers [sic] on the Mrs. Thatcher who became a symbolic figure, even an 'ism'.

-ist

A follower of a distinctive practice, system, or philosophy, typically a political ideology or an artistic movement:
You can’t be born an '-ist'.

-istic

A suffix of adjectives (and in the plural, of nouns from adjectives) formed from nouns ending in -ist and having reference to such nouns, or to associated nouns in -ism (deistic; euphuistic; puristic). In nouns, it usually has a plural form ( linguistics).

This is now a widespread usage and in fact the top three search results on EL&U stack exchange all use racist as an adjective; 1, 2, 3, search.
Why have certain words' adjective forms been ignored in favour of their 'follower' forms?
Furthermore, why do we still use words like artist and artistic, have they just still been around in popular culture while the others have been taken over by the -ist form?
Edit: Thanks to @sumelic for a list of -ist words, which helps put this in context and shows that this trend goes back well over a decade


texts:
She has been asking me to buy her a book for a long time. At the end, I bought her one.
Is this correct? Why can't I use “in the end”?


texts: Is this an it-cleft with bare infinitive?

texts:
   "Actually, we didn't get lost," the tall one says. "We
  ran away."     "Not running away so much as just
  stumbling onto this spot and deciding to stay put," the brawny one
  adds. "That's different from getting lost."     "Not
  just anybody can find this place," the tall soldier says. "But we did,
  and now you have too. It was a stroke of luck--for us, at least."
     "If we hadn't found this spot, they would've shipped us
  overseas," the brawny one ex-plains. "Over there it was kill or be
  killed. That wasn't for us. I'm a farmer, originally, and my buddy
  here just graduated from college. Neither one of us wants to kill
  anybody. And being killed's even worse. Kind of obvious, I'd
  say."     "How 'bout you?" the tall one asks me. "Would
  you like to kill anybody, or be killed?" (Kafka on the Shore, tr.
  by Philip Gabriel)

Why does the first phrase have bare infinitive?
(If the first be an it-cleft, CGEL says the type is normally inadmissible (p.1422), and Bas Aarts also says in his book to infinitives are allowable not in it-cleft but only in pseudo-cleft.)


texts: A Good Resource (Book, ...) For Literary Techniques/Devices?

texts: What's a good book (Or resource) on Literary Techniques/Devices in English Literature?


texts: How to know whether "over" means during or more than?

texts:
Over has two meanings;

  : more than (a specified number or amount)
  : throughout or during (a particular amount of time)

We can distinguish it in context but sometimes it's ambiguous for me.

For example

  It's been over a minute.

This kind of sentence is confusing for me. Above all, is it preposition or adverb?

If it's a preposition, I copied two examples from Merriam-Webster.

  I've been waiting for over an hour.
  happening/occurring/developing over a period of 20 years.

According to the dictionary, it means more than in the first sentence but it means during in the second sentence. How to know whether over means more than or during?

Plus, what if second sentence was happening/occurring/developing over 20 years?


texts: What is the geographic term for a landmass separated by two rivers?

texts:
If there is a region of land that sort of makes an island with the two rivers (which are fare apart). What would you call it.

For Example there is a region in Iraq/Syria that almost forms this (the rivers don't connect)
You can find it near the cities:Ramadi,Haditha,Qa'im,Deir ez-Zur....
Found from around 42.82E,6.61N to 43.26E,33.44N to 40.41E,35.14N to 40.85E,36.4N

Thanks!


texts: "flat," "stone," "dead," "dirt," "plumb," and "right" as indicators of directness, completeness, or general intensity

texts:
What's the difference between those words? Can they be used just about interchangeably as adverbs indicating completeness or totality?
Please, compare:

Looking back over my years of wildlife work, there are only two things that I'm plumb sure of: it's not easy work to prepare for or get into, but it's worth it. Out Home
Looking back over my years of wildlife work, there are only two things that I'm dead sure of [...]
Looking back over my years of wildlife work, there are only two things that I'm dirt sure of [...]
Looking back over my years of wildlife work, there are only two things that I'm flat sure of [...]
Looking back over my years of wildlife work, there are only two things that I'm stone sure of [...]
Looking back over my years of wildlife work, there are only two things that I'm right sure of [...]

-and-

I'm right tired tonight. I think I'll go on over to my digs and get me a long night's sleep. Bullet for a Half-Breed
I'm dirt tired tonight. [...]
I'm dead tired tonight. [...]
I'm plumb tired tonight. [...]
I'm flat tired tonight. [...]
I'm stone tired tonight. [...]


texts:
I want to come home more relaxed.

I'd like to know, why more relaxed comes after home if it modifies home. Or can more relaxed in this sentence be used as an adverb?


texts: What is the correct format for using commas after periods?

texts:
Basically, I wish to write something along the lines of

  Bob, C.J., Greg and Charles all went to the store.

I'm not sure about the use of the comma after the C.J. Is this correct punctuation? Are there better, less awkward, alternatives?


texts: "Which planet is nearest Earth?" vs "Which planet is the nearest to Earth?"

texts:
I don't understand why the definite article is not used in front of the superlative and why we don't use the preposition "to" as in:

  Which planet is the nearest to Earth?

instead of

  Which planet is nearest Earth?


texts: The strange positioning of the adverb "overland"

texts:
What is so peculiar about the adverb overland?

  The marine brigade in Belgium cautiously advances to Picardy.
  The marine brigade in Belgium therefore advances to Picardy.
  The marine brigade in Belgium overland advances to Picardy.

So, if your native language is English as mine is, you immediately notice that the last of the three is wrong; but why, logically?

Why should the following be so strongly preferred?

  The marine brigade in Belgium advances overland to Picardy.

This is not a necessary question. Obviously, I already know how to write the sentence. It is however a curious question. Can you think of a good reason to answer it?

The best reason with which I can come up is that "over land" (as two words) is a prepositional phrase, but that reason doesn't seem to wash, as far as I know. "Overland" is a word, not a phrase.


texts: How unusual are Nancy Gribble and Nero Wolfe?

texts: Nancy Gribble and Nero Wolfe (at least the TV version played by Maury Chaykin) both use British pronunciations like "tomahto" and "shedule" rather than "tomayto" and "skedule", and yet both seem to be Americans (although Nero Wolfe originated from Montenegro). How unusual is it for Americans to use "British" pronunciations, and what kind of reaction does this get?


texts:
What is the difference between the following two sentences:

1. He will be coming tomorrow.
2. He must be coming tomorrow.


texts: What's the difference between "Thanks anyway" and "Thanks though"?

texts: To me, they seem to have almost  identicial meaning, but I believe there's a difference in usage. Could you please decribe the difference with specific examples?


texts: Alternative for the word "please" or the right usage

texts:
Let's assume I'm texting or mailing a total stranger professionally or casually. If I would like to ask a query/question and need a definite response, I would write "Please do respond some-text-here". Consider the following examples/scenarios (communicated through a social media platform or email) :

Professional - I'm asking a vendor for the price quote and later add something along the lines of "Please do respond with a detailed quote or whether your firm is available/interested to proceed with the deal".
Casual - I'm asking a stranger for some information about a third person or even asking someone out on a date and say "Please reply/respond" or "Kindly reply/respond".

Now, all is fair in war and business they say. So, most people wouldn't mind a "Please" in "Scenario 1". But in the second case, when your self-respect is at stake, isn't "Please" a little too much? If I say that, since it is an indirect communication, it may even sound like you are desperate or begging. I mean, isn't there a better, non-creepy but polite/chivalrous way to ask the question? So that you sound like a gentleman?


texts: Parts of speech for "indoors" vs. "outdoors"

texts:
I'm trying to enter antonyms by part of speech into a database (for natural language processing) and have run into a problem with "indoors" vs "outdoors". One dictionary lists parts of speech for "outdoors" as adverb, noun, and adjective; another, as just adverb and adjective; a third, as adverb and noun.

The first dictionary lists "indoors" only as adverb; the second, as adverb and adjective; the third, only as adverb. None of them list "indoors" as a noun.

I plan on ignoring the dictionaries and entering the words as antonyms of each other as nouns, adjectives and adverbs, but before I do...

Is there really some reason that "indoors" can't be a noun? (E.g.: "My wife loves the outdoors, but I love the indoors.")


texts: Can you tell me the right answer in this quiz. Some people are getting confused in the translation and opting between B and C

texts:
She ... as much as she says she does; otherwise, she ... so strictly all the time.

A) mustn't have earned/wouldn't have economised

B) can't earn/wouldn't have to economise

C) doesn't earn/can't have economised

D) isn't earning/doesn't have to economise


texts: How should I refine "XX is widely used internally"?

texts:
I'm trying to express that a mechanism is used both internally and widely.

So I tried

  This mechanism is widely used internally

but I'm using two adverbs that surrounds a verb, looks inappropriate.

Any suggestion? Hopefully it doesn't break into two sentences


texts: "The number of people" or "a number of people?

texts:
"The" and "A" have been genuinely giving me a lot of challenges ever since I could remember.

I am to this day struggling to figure out when to use which.

I am just now putting a sentence together and pretty much guessing.

"I am personality speaking with a number of people who are close to owners"
or
"I am personality speaking with the number of people who are close to owners"

Thanks for your help.


texts:
I saw this phrase in a sentence. Here it is:

He read of the room that was prepared at the palace at Rheims for the use of Queen.

What does it mean?


texts: What is the difference in meaning between the sentences?

texts:
"She works in the paper business."
"She works in paper business."


texts: What is blocking a deictic use of 'it' in this example?

texts:
Consider the following exchange:

[1] Q: Is your name Jane?
     Aa: *Yes, it's right.
     Ab: Yes, that's right.

Note that [1Aa] is simply not acceptable. It's not just that that is preferred to it; it's rather that, in Standard English, it simply cannot be used here.

Why not?

Yes, in the replies [1A], the reference is clearly (supposed to be) deictic rather than anaphoric (see below); and the characteristic usage of 3rd person personal pronouns he/she/it/they is anaphoric. But they certainly can function deictically at least sometimes; CGEL gives the following example (p. 1469): Isn't she lovely! (uttered while looking at someone's baby).

So why is [1Aa] completely unacceptable, rather than just being less favored than [1Ab]?

I am well aware that Yes, it is would be completely acceptable... and I do understand why it would be. But [1Aa] is not, and my question is specifically about why it is not.

Some background on deixis

[1Ab] is a clear example of deictic use of that, very much like the [27ii] example from CGEL (p. 1461):

  [27] i A: Kim has been falsifying the accounts. B: That's
  terrible. [anaphoric]       ii A: Kim
  has been falsifying the accounts. B: That's a lie.
  [discourse-deictic]

  In [i] A's utterance is the antecedent for B's that, which refers to
  the situation that A has  described. But in [ii] that refers to A's
  speech act, to a linguistic entity in the prior discourse.


texts: Which one is correct, As you mentioned or the other?

texts:
In email, I need to respond with the meaning of 'I have made the changes as you mentioned in the below email'. I am not sure which one is grammatically correct. Can someone please help on this.

As you mentioned below, I have made the changes accordingly.
I have made the changes accordingly as you mentioned below.


texts: Words or phrases that describe a person who knows the answer to a problem but is not believed

texts:
I'm trying to find either a word or a phrase that describes a person who knows the answer to a problem or problems but is never believed, even though the person is actually correct.
The nearest I can come up with is maybe the story of Cassandra, but that is about knowing the future but never being believed.
The word or a phrase may indicate they are simply ignored, but I am more interested in answers indicating the person suffers negative consequences such as being ridiculed or even persecuted for their correct solution. Maybe think of people such as Galileo
I stumbled across this excellent visualisation of people whose ideas were rejected and were treated as pariahs for them but were later proven to be correct. These are exactly the kind of people I am looking for words or phrases to describe.


texts: The habitual past "would" versus "simple past" tense

texts:
One can use the habitual past 'would' to describe past events. For example one could say,

  Jim would spend weekends at the farm. He would cut weed and water the plants.

One can also use the simple past.

  Jim spent weekends at the farm. He cut weed and watered the plants.

Would the use of habitual past be considered "weak" writing or prose, as opposed to the simple past?

How does the simple past in the following sentence "He would cut weed and water the plants." without any preceding time expression e.g. "spend weekends"  make a distinction between a repeated action/habit and a one-time action of cutting weeds and watering plants?


texts: Succinct and understandable term when "turn up"/"turn down" is ambiguous

texts:
In particular, think of the home air conditioner or the power setting on the kitchen refrigerator: the intensity of effort is opposite to the numbering of the related quality. So "Turn up the air conditioner" can be interpreted as a request to set it colder (make the machine work more) or warmer (change the control to a larger number).

What terms would be good to use instead, that are grammatically equivalent so they are drop-in replacements and don't require re-arranging the sentence, are succinct, and are understandable (even if  not immediatly familiar) by folks lacking a Chirchhillesque vocabulary? And, the whole point is that they are completely unambiguous.  Ideally the pair of terms should match nicely, but that's not necessary.

I know the confusion can be avoided by phrasing it differently, and that's what I actualy do if I notice it. But I've wondered if there's a better term that could be used in this place that is simply not ambiguous at all.


texts:
I have seen the use of both options; however, which of them is more correct?
Preceding text: A total of 500 patients were included in the study. ...

Median patient age was 50 years.

The median patient age was 50 years.


texts: Very very confused! which verbs can be used in simple present tense for scheduled future events?

texts:
This site says:

  The present simple can be used to talk about talk about
  scheduled future events. These are events that happen according to a schedule or timetable. They are usually scheduled by someone else and they are usually public events.

  Tomorrow is Friday.

  I fly to Paris next week.

  The plane departs at 8 p.m.

  The train to Ottawa leaves at 11:30 a.m.

  When do you leave for NYC?

  Her train arrives at 8:35 a.m. tomorrow morning.

  What time does the movie start tonight?

  What time do you finish work tomorrow?

  What time does the store open tomorrow?

  Final exams start next week.

  The concert begins at 6:30 p.m.

  The Monet exhibit closes on Sunday.

  The sale ends next week.

  They also say: Only the verbs below can be used in the simple present
  to talk about a future scheduled event:

  arrive

  be

  begin

  close

  depart

  end

  finish

  fly

  leave

  open

  start

However, other sites use other verbs in simple present tense for scheduled future events.

Eg:

She has an appointment with the headmaster after school today. (source)

to have: does not in the above list

Bettina graduates on the 25th. I have no idea what she's going to do after that. (Source)

to graduate: does not in the above list

"I speak at the conference at 3:00 p.m."

to speak: does not in the above list

Ok, now, my son's school lunch is in a fixed timetable (it happens every weekday at 11:30 AM):

Can I say:

"My son eats his school lunch at 11:30 AM tomorrow". This sentence may sound strange, then should we change it to:

"My son's school lunch starts at 11:30 AM tomorrow". This sounds more common & it met the requirements (the verb "start" is in the list).

Another example, let say my husband's business trips are fixed in a timetable.

can I say:

"He goes on his business trip tomorrow"?

or should I change it to:

"His business trip starts tomorrow"?

Extra questions: we also use the present continuous tense to talk about future personal arrangements (Source)

Eg: I am leaving tomorrow. = I've already bought my train ticket.

Now, return to the previous business trip example. Let say he bought a flight ticket for his trip (ie, he arranged his trip), then can we also say:

"He is going on his business trip tomorrow"?

So, we can use many different tenses for the same action, depending on how we emphasize it right?

"He goes on his business trip tomorrow" (emphasize that he follows a schedule)

"He is going on his business trip tomorrow" (emphasize that he arranged / prepared for that specific trip.)


texts: Semantic connection behind the etymology of "category?"

texts:
Ancient Greek had agora, from which they got the verb agorevo, meaning to speak in public assembly. From this in turn they derived kategoreo, meaning to speak against someone, to accuse someone of something in public assembly, and kategoria, accusation. This all makes perfect sense.
The English word category comes from kategoria. What is the semantic link?
The Wiktionary entries uses mysterious phrases like "head of predicables" and refer to the word "predication," which was a new one to me. I don't understand how we make the semantic link. Is the idea that a logical criterion somehow "accuses" a thing of belonging to a certain class? (But "accuse" comes from a completely different Greek root, related to words like "etiology.")


texts: Should I capitalise short phrases of dialogue in the middle of a sentence?

texts:
He chanted "activate" to activate his powers.

or

  He chanted "Activate" to activate his powers.

This question is specifically for short phrases, not entire sentences.


texts: Antonym of withholding the seal of approval

texts: Sources usually speak of "giving the seal of approval" to a product, program, etc. Is there an more literal but still idiomatic way of expressing the opposite of "withholding the seal of approval"?  I was thinking of "appending" or "affixing" but this seems to lack umph.


texts: What does "Can I help you?" really mean?

texts:
I am a non-native English speaker. Whenever I travel to the States and I sometimes hear the question, "Can I help you?"
At first, I thought it was a sincere eagerness to help me. However, after a few incidents, such as accidentally entering a wrong meeting room once, I learnt that this question can also mean, "I don't understand who you are or what you are doing here."
So now I am confused if there is also a negative connotation associated with this question and if there is, then how do I understand from the context if this question is asked positively or negatively.
Are there any thumb-rules one can follow to deduce if "Can I help you?" is said in a positive or negative way?


texts:
I was writing an article and got to a part where I use the verb "to access." Then a quick search online showed me that it's not really common to use it with places. Now I don't know which substitute I should use so it doesn't sound incorrect.

"The quest encourages you to access many areas of the gameworld in order to find the ranger stations."

I was thinking "go to," but it sounded weird and simplistic in my ear. Maybe "traverse," but I'm not sure about its usage (I'm not a native speaker, btw).


texts: Is there an idiom/phrase that describes the act of trying to fix something unfixable?

texts:
Most of you probably heard the phrase "gild the lily", which describes the act of trying to improve something that is already perfect.
What I'm looking for is the opposite of that, is there a phrase/idiom that describes the act of trying to repair something that is ruined beyond repair?
The phrase "beat a dead horse" comes to mind, but to me, it feels like it describes the act of carrying on trying to fix something when it's too late to do so.


texts:
I heard a quote today on the radio from Dr. Michael Fine, Rhode Island's director of the Department of Health, where he used the phrase "scathingly small" (e.g. here) when referring to Ebola's chances of occurring in RI:

  “The likelihood of anyone in Rhode Island having or getting Ebola is
  scathingly small.”

That phrase -- scathingly small -- caught my attention because it didn't sound valid.  I searched around and couldn't find any definition of "scathing" or "scathingly" that would seem to lend itself to that context.  In fact, when you Google "scathingly small" (with quotes), the only links that come up are in reference to Dr. Fine's statement.  I know that could be Google's search engine optimization at play, but still...

Is that a valid use of the phrase, and, if so, what is its definition in that context?


texts: Is there a standard ordering for the question mark and the exclamation mark used together?

texts:
We've all wanted to express certain questions, rhetorical or not, with annoyance, excitement, surprise, frustration and so on. What better way than with both a question mark (?) and an exclamation mark (!), right?
I've seen two ways of punctuating such questions:

Where is this place?!

Who do you think you are!?

(Things like ?!?, !?!, ?????!!!!!, ??!?!!?!?!!??, etc are irrelevant here.)
Which is the proper way to order the two symbols? Or does each of the above two have a distinct and grammatically correct meaning?
Or is the interrobang (‽) the clear winner here? ;)


texts: Use of "minute or two" to mean "moment" in the early 20th century?

texts:
In what seems like at least half her novels, Agatha Christie writes that one character waits for a "minute or two." At first I thought that these characters were actually sitting there and pondering, mid-conversation for a full 120 seconds while the other character was staring at them expectantly. However, this phrase has also been used in situations of high urgency, so I'm starting to think that "minute" is actually just being used to represent a pregnant pause.

  Tommy became restive. The conversation he had overheard had stimulated his
      curiosity. He felt that, by hook or by crook, he must hear more.

  There was no sound from below, and it did not seem likely that the doorkeeper
      would come upstairs. After listening intently for a minute or two, he put his
      head round the curtain.

In this passage, Tommy is considering moving closer to eavesdrop. Waiting for a full minute would sort of defeat the purpose!

My questions are:

Am I right about this meaning "a moment" rather than "60-120 seconds"?

Was this something actually used by many writers or speakers at time, or is it peculiar to Christie? (who, in my opinion, writes some of the most incredible plots and characters, but her prose feels a bit amateurish, which might explain a "mistake" like this.)

When and why did this usage fall out of use?

Edit: I don't agree that "He waited for a minute or two" is the same case as "Give me a minute."

For example, if someone expected to take another 10 seconds to finish something, they might tell you "Give me a minute", but more likely, "give me a second." However, they would most certainly not say "Give me a minute or two" because that strongly suggests from close to a minute to a few minutes.

In addition, I am asking much more about the specific phrase "minute or two", which she uses exclusively. Characters never wait for "a minute" or "about a minute."


texts: "Deeply appreciated" or "dearly appreciated"

texts:
I want to express my great satisfaction of this person. Are there any differences between the two sentences?

  This shows a great sense of responsibility which is deeply
  appreciated.

  This shows a great sense of responsibility which is dearly
  appreciated.


texts:
Reading Churchill's speech, I don't think I understand the following

"withhold no sacrifice, grudge no toil, seek no sordid gain", what does this statement mean?


texts: Word for a large facility that produces and distributes baked goods

texts:
I am translating a document into English, and I need to find the word for a large facility that produces and distributes baked goods (wholesale, to distributors).

Can I use the word "bakery"? To me, this invokes a bakery on a city street that sells bread and cakes to individual customers. Are there better words for this?


texts: What rules govern the omission of the subject in non-finite clauses?

texts:
In non-finite clauses

  the verb must be in a non-finite form (such as an infinitive,
  participle, gerund or gerundive), and it is consequently much more
  likely that there will be no subject expressed, i.e. that the clause
  will consist of a (non-finite) verb phrase on its own.

What rules govern the omission of the subject?

What about in the following, can the phrase ever be a clause?

could be important

I think so because "be" is the bare infinitive, so the verb is non-finite.


texts: What is correct phrase for the relationship with my son's father/mother in law

texts: What is the correct phrase for the relationship between me and my son's father/mother in law?


texts:
I'd like to reduce the sentence "The product is used by a wide variety of people, such as jugglers, priests, and businessmen" in length.
Thus, I'm looking for a word that would replace "a wide range of". The first thing I thought of was "various", but it doesn't seem to convey the same meaning when I say "used by various people" rather than "used by a wide variety of people". Any ideas as to what word would go there?


texts: What is the origin for "- the hell out of -"?

texts: Sometimes expletive sentences contains these words, for example "I'll beat the hell/crap out of him"


texts: In the context of American colonization, why are Spanish (and Portuguese?) “conquerors” called “conquistadors”, unlike the French, British and Dutch?

texts:
Does the word “conquistador” have different connotations from “conqueror”? If so, which?

If you called them “Spanish conquerors”, would you be making a point of some sort by not calling them “conquistadors”?

If you called the French and British “conquistadors” would that be wrong or making some kind of point?


texts: Is it considered plagiarism to not place quotation marks following a copied sentence if there are footnotes to indicate the source?

texts: How is this considered plagiarism to do so without the quotation marks? No one is stealing work from a particular author. It is being cited and attributed to him.


texts: What's in native speakers' mind when they use different verb forms?

texts:
My mother language doesn't have any verb forms. So if I'm going say

"This morning I ate my breakfast, then I took the bus and went to school."

In Cantonese, I would simply say

"This morning I eat my breakfast, then I take the bus and go to school."

The past tense is all indicated by "This morning", no changing verb forms needed.

When I am writing, I can handle tense easily, but when it comes to speaking, tense is my biggest pain.

I always use present tense for everything I say, even it's in the past. And I always forget to add "s" for the third person singular in present tense. I have to think and change the verb form in my head before I really speak. I have to go through the process like

"I take a bath"->"change take to took"->"I took a bath", or

"She get mad at me"->"change get to gets"->"She gets mad at me"

Therefore, I hesitate a lot when I speak, I know practice makes perfect, but I genuinely don't think it's all about practice, it may be about the way of how I think.

It may sound stupid, but my jaw drops a lot when I hear people speak out four or five past tense verbs in a row without hesitation. Or they always remember to conjugate for the third person singular in present tense. Let alone when they use past participle, which is even harder.

So, I hope you can really think about that, when you are speaking, what's really going on in your mind.
Do you think about the infinitive form first and then change it, or the past tense verb just pops out? Or can you explain how it works when you remember to add an "s" for present tense third person? How do you think about the act of using different verb forms? Will you instinctively sense something wrong if I use present tense to talk about something happened in the past to you?


texts:
Is the following sentence correct?
'They are a couple.'
'A' makes 'couple' singular in this sentence (although 'couple'is already a singular noun) so how can we use 'they' and 'are' for 'couple' as it is the subject complement?


texts:
"Under 2 weeks to go until our official 2018-19 full brochure is released.
Receive your free brochure, delivered straight to your door, on the link below."

It is particularly that second line. I'm not sure if the sentence doesn't flow.


texts: The equivalent of baccalauréat diploma for the Anglo-American educational system

texts:
In professional life, it is necessary to know the English way of expressing your level of education.

As you know, the baccalauréat is the diploma awarded to those finishing their secondary education.

In America, is it a “bachelor’s degree”, a “high school diploma”, or something else?


texts:
I often notice that the preposition "of" followed by a linking verb.

How in this phrase for example:

  The meaning is of obligation or necessity ...

Why just not to say?

  The meaning is obligation or necessity ...

Another example (from gstreamer documentation) with full context would be:

  So, whether playbin will use hardware acceleration or not will depend on the relative ranks of all elements capable OF dealing with that media type.

capable OF dealing with

What the preposition of means in this sentence? And in the sentence above! I suspect that the meaning is the same. But I just need the strict grammar rule for it. And may be some more examples)


texts:
Quite a lot of articles in Wikipedia, especially about people, have sentences like this one:

  Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

(This is taken from the article Rabindranath Tagore.)

This sentence makes two statements:

That Tagore was the author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse".
That he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

It sounds kinda stylish, but the two things are not so related, so I don't really like this type of sentence. Is this considered correct grammar? Does this phenomenon have a name?


texts: What word describes interpreting evidence in such a way as to reach a desired conclusion?

texts: Does anyone know what it's called when you interpret evidence to reach the conclusion you want?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is there a word for an acronym which spells out one of its component words?

My coworker's wife is Margaret Elizabeth G... (I'll withhold the last name to protect the innocent).

The joke is that the shortened form Margaret is Meg and her initials are also MEG.

I hope this doesn't get closed as a stupid question but this situation feels like it might have a real name in the flavor of a palindrome (obviously not a palindrome, but in sense of a word or phrase having transmutable qualities).


texts: Ululation a long, wavering, high-pitched vocal sound resembling a howl with a trilling quality. practiced either alone or as part of certain styles of singing, on various occasions of communal ritual events (like for example weddings) used to express strong emotion. What do you call the women who practices this?


texts: Name for the ability or inability to "look without seeing"

texts:
In certain disciplines it's important to be able to see something without paying attention to it or pointing it out in order to respect privacy.

Think like when IT looks at your computer - you might have your email open, but they don't read it. A person without this ability might work on your computer and make comments about emails they see.


texts: Are dependent subclauses allowed in the middle of sentences?

texts:
I have recently finished writing an academic thesis. During proofreading, my supervisor and I had quite a number of discussions related to the placement of dependent subclauses (I think that's the English term) in sentences. Here is an example of a sentence in the form that I would usually write it:

  The above discussion points toward a need, in a complete assessment of A, to take B into account.

My supervisor would typically want to change this into:

  The above discussion points toward a need to take B into account in a complete assessment of A.

I prefer the first form since the subclause "in a complete assessment of A" is there placed close to that which it adds information to (i.e. it elaborates on "a need"). My supervisor think that this is a Swedish grammatical habit (I'm Swedish by the way) and is not suitable in English.

Would you agree with him, is the second form preferable? If so, how strongly do you feel that way?


texts: Why are some words combined into a single word while others stay as two words?

texts:
Examples:

Anyone
Anything
Anytime
Anywhere
Everyone
Everything
Every time
Everywhere
No one
Nothing
No time
Nowhere
Someone
Something
Sometime
Somewhere

Why is there a discrepancy? Is there any rule for determining when to use a single word vs. two words?


texts:
Is it ok to refer to the human kind or the human being with "it"?
Ex. The human being is responsible of its destiny or should it be their destiny?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
Are there any rules on the positioning adverbs should take in a sentence?

My question concerns the adverb position in perfect tenses. For example look at these sentences:

Your settings have been successfully saved.
Your settings have been saved successfully.

In our English lessons at school we have learned that adverbs usually follow verbs. Is only one of the above sentences gramatically correct or is it rather a question of language style?
If you search for these phrases using Google, you will find out that both are frequently used.
And again:

Both are frequently used.
Both are used frequently.

Both sentences sound correct.


texts: Interested topics or Interesting topics?

texts:
In a website profile, I would like to mention the topics I am interested in.

Which one should I use?

Interested topics: Technology, Reading, etc. (Is it about the past?)
Interesting topics: Technology, Reading, etc.

Even though this question looks simple, I think I have fundamental problem of understanding these kind of words.


texts: Singular or plural noun: "... all had a wonderful summer" vs. "... wonderful summers"

texts:
Which of the following is correct when addressing an audience or more than one person? Or are both equally valid?

  I hope you have all had wonderful summers!

OR

  I hope you have all had a wonderful summer!


texts: What is a word similar to "multiplier" but for addition (or subtraction)

texts: A multiplier is a number by which another number is multiplied. What do you call a number by which another number is added or subtracted?


texts: Use of connectors and and prepositions with verbs

texts:
First question here, hope to not be making a mistake. I searched in the forum but I could not find something related (Probably due to my limited knowledge about English grammar terminology)
To put you all in context, today I delivered an essay for revision and there were two sentences which were considered wrong, these sentences were.

During the recent years there have been many reasons that have encouraged the people to travel.

(My teacher considered that the "the" was unnecessary)

During the last decades the costs associated with traveling have been reduced strongly giving to the consumers the opportunity ....

(They suggested that the sentence should be '... giving the consumers' instead of 'giving to the consumers'.)
Could you please tell me why I was wrong and which are the rules I should follow when using these 'connectors' to deal with nouns and subjects.


texts:
The idiom, plonk (something/someone) down means

  to slap something down; to plop something down
  to sit or lie down on something in a careless or noisy way
  to leave someone somewhere to do this; Dave plonked the kids in front of the TV and disappeared upstairs.
  to put something down heavily and without taking care:
  Just plonk the shopping (down) on the table, and come and have a cup of tea.
  Come in and plonk yourselves (down) (= sit down) anywhere you like.

From these various definitions I can surmise why cheap wine is often called plonk, it's the sound of the bottle slapping down heavily on the table.

But how did we get from that to “a plonker” which basically means a silly or stupid person.

As in

  "Why did you do that, you plonker?"

Nicholas Lyndhurst who played Rodney Trotter in Only Fools and Horses

References: FD; plonker "Sir David Jason says an American remake of Only Fools And Horses won't work as there's no word over there for plonker." CDO; plonk


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say 'the outfit is relaxed'?

texts:
One of my students while describing a person in the coursebook said that 'her outfit is relaxed'. I doubt whether one can actually say so, but she insists that she came across the exact phrase in one of the blogs by a British writer.

I checked the meaning of relaxed in Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners New Edition (2007) and found out the following:
'relaxed 1) calm and not worried 2) a relaxed situation, attitude, or feeling is calm, informal, and comfortable' - no reference to clothes whatsoever.


texts:
[1] "I don't know what is the best vehicle for that."
[2] "I don't know what would be the best vehicle for that."
[3] "I don't know what be the best vehicle for that."

My ear says [2] would be best. But [3] is shorter; is it also acceptable?


texts: Why is home electricity supply called "mains"?

texts:
The word "mains" seems to be a widely understood synonym for home electricity supply.

Why is it called so? I always thought it was a corruption of main [electricity supply].
Is it an American dialect term? I mainly came across it in American jargon context, but Wiktionary says that it's a British term. What gives?


texts:
If I want someone (in this case, a Professor) to do something for me that they don't need to do (in this case, a second opinion on another Professor's paper), can I ask whether I can "bother them for a second opinion"? The "for" would emphasize that I want the second opinion from the other person, more than "about". But is it proper English?

Google gives a number of results for "bother for", but as always in these kinds of questions, that's not proof of anything except that 94,000 other people may be doing it wrong.


texts:
Martin Rees recalls his mentor Dennis Sciama's dogged commitment to
  the Steady State Model: "For him, as for its inventors, it had a deep
  philosophical appeal--the universe existed, from everlasting to
  everlasting, in a uniquely self-consistent state. When conflicting
  evidence emerged, Sciama therefore sought a loophole (even an unlikely
  seeming one) rather as a defense lawyer clutches at any argument to
  rebut the prosecution case" (Martin Rees, Before the Beginning, with a
  Foreword by Stephen Hawking [Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1997], p.
  41).

The word "clutch" has a lot of different meanings, according to this dictionary, for example: link. I'm not a native english speaker, so I have difficulty to identify which one fits better at that context. Could you help me?


texts: What does "bet-covering" mean in this context?

texts:
As always, I'm stuck in a Hitchens sentence from God Is Not Great.

Here it is:

  If you believe in god and there is a god, you win. If you believe in him and you are wrong — so what? I once wrote a response to this cunning piece of bet-covering, which took two forms.

I can't get the meaning of bet-covering here.

Should I take it as "a disguise/mask for betting/gambling etc."?

Or should I consider the meaning of the verb "cover" in the context of a bet, roulette etc., as in

  You can place your chip to cover three numbers


texts: What does the phrase "that's as may be" mean?

texts: I encountered this phrase in a novel I'm reading, and I think I've heard it before. What does it mean?


texts: Word/ adjective to describe a language that is only used by a particular group (residing outside of their native country)

texts:
Just some background for my question.

In China they have a lot of dialects, with Mandarin as the unifying language (it was based on the Beijing dialect) in 1911. Some of these Chinese have migrated overseas within the last 100-200 years ago or even longer.

I was just thinking of a word to describe a language used by only a particular group of people who share the same ancestral dialect (in a foreign country), as in the sentence:

"There's no point in learning such a/an _______ language".

This adjective is to say that the language is not used by many people and only limited to this specific group. By the way, these dialects are not dying languages (or dialects - I like to think of them as languages)

Is exclusive the right word here? If so, are there any other words that can be used in this context?


texts: What is the origin of the word "removed?"  It appears to have the prefix "re-", which generally means "repeating something again," although that does not seem to fit.  "Moving again" would actually be the opposite of removing something - it would suggest continuing to utilize it as opposed to deleting or destroying it.


texts: Why do we say backwards but not forwards

texts: I have just realized that I've never seen movement descriptor "forward" written with an 's' like backwards


texts: Can the word 'aggregation' be used to mean a collection of people?

texts: I'm wondering if one can use the word "aggregation" to mean a team or a collaboration of sorts, or even a certain collection of individuals in general, not just objects. Any thoughts?


texts:
This question has been asked on this website before—but one example was closed as off topic, and the other specifically regarded use in a letter.

My context requires the use of speech, as if you worked in a call center—where the caller's voice may not give an indication of their gender. Also, gender-neutral terms are often preferred these days.

Where you need to treat the customer with respect—what  alternative to Sir or Madam can be used?


texts:
It seems that he is rich.

and

  It appears that he is rich.

These two sentences seem to me similar. Is there any slight difference?


texts: Another word for a troll not on the internet

texts:
The definition of an internet troll:

  In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows
  discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people,1
  by posting inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an
  online community (such as a forum, chat room, or blog), either
  accidentally[3][4] or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers
  into an emotional response[5] or of otherwise disrupting normal
  on-topic discussion.[6]

  This sense of the word troll and its associated verb trolling are
  associated with Internet discourse, but have been used more widely.
  Media attention in recent years has equated trolling with online
  harassment. For example, mass media has used troll to describe "a
  person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing
  grief to families."[7][8]  Wikipedia

What is the equivalent for a person who does this type of thing in real life (non-cyber) troll?


texts:
Back in 2009, a job interviewer sent me a link to a web service that would help me make a free telephone call via the internet... Skype.  As a native speaker, I knew "instinctively" to pronounce this "sky p," not "sky pee."

Fast forward to now and it is very common in my classroom to hear students pronounce this "Sky pee."  Same with "you tu bee" (YouTube). My usual answer to why the ‘e’ is not pronounced is not satisfying to me, maybe students accept it because "English makes no sense," but I cannot accept that.

Just a quick look through The First Folio shows that many English words used to have an ‘e’ at the end, words that now don't.  I cannot say whether those words were pronounced differently because of the ‘e’.  My guess, based on the little I know about original pronunciation, is that they weren't pronounced differently, in the sense of "ee" sound added to the end, as in "tree."

If I had to guess about the ‘e’ I would say that some of the words picked up the ‘e’ because they have a German root in which the ‘e’ is pronounced.  However, I have seen "tell" spelled "telle" and "show" spelled "showe."

Various answers I have come across: 1. Printers were paid extra for extra letters so they added ‘e’ to get paid more. 2. That's English, so get over it. 3. No one knows, same as no one really knows who shot JFK and if they say they know they're liars. 4. The old days of English spelling were the "Wild West" and anything went until Sheriff Webster brought law and order to the untamed frontier, etc.

Silent ‘e’ is such a big thing that most native speakers are familiar with the term and learn it in school or on Sesame Street.

Why was ‘e’ added to the end of so many words, if it wasn't going to be pronounced?

NOTE:  I understand that ‘e’ changes the pronunciation and that English has many exceptions and variations.  But, at one time it wasn't haphazard; "show" and "old" were written with an ‘e’.  Why if it wasn't pronounced?  Old is pronounced "old."  The ‘e’ isn't necessary to change the vowels.  How else would it be pronounced?  What about "have"? Was the ‘e’ swept along with all of "Olde Englishe" other spellings?

These are just a few words that used to have ‘e’ at the end: learne, stuffe, sadnesse, mee, selfe, minde, flye, grasse, harme, winde, quicke, alwayes, worke, lordshippe, booke (but foot often did not have the ‘e’ added) etc., etc.

NOTE 2: I am not interested in an answer or comment that points me to a website containing rules and observations about silent ‘e’.  I don't want an answer that tells me that silent ‘e’ changes can into cane; a long sound, I already know that.  Ermanam's answer is a step in the right direction, however there are so many words that used to have an ‘e’ tacked on to the end and don't seem to follow any reasoning that I can see.  Why an ‘e’ and not an ‘i’ or some symbol that wasn't a letter?  What about the word "sadnesse"?  What's the ‘e’ there for?


texts: Meaning of "Never reach out your hand unless you're willing to extend an arm"

texts:
Please explain this quote to me:

Never reach out your hand unless you're willing to extend an arm.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/popepaulvi120370.html

How can one reach out for his hand? This part confuses me...


texts: What does the phrase "the bite behind the bark" mean in this context?

texts:
I would like to clarify the meaning of "the bite behind the bark" in this context. Is the author saying that Donald Trump's nationalistic economic policies look harmful to the US and the world, and there will be real damage? Am I right?

The bite behind the bark
Trumponomics is a poor recipe for long-term prosperity. America will end up more indebted and more unequal. It will neglect the real issues, such as how to retrain hardworking people whose skills are becoming redundant. Worse, when the contradictions become apparent, Mr Trump’s economic nationalism may become fiercer, leading to backlashes in other countries—further stoking anger in America. Even if it produces a short-lived burst of growth, Trumponomics offers no lasting remedy for America’s economic ills. It may yet pave the way for something worse.

The Economist, Courting trouble, May 13th Issue


texts: I have been wanting to meet you for a long time

texts:
I have seen the sentence in a book prepared by a reputed English institute in India. I know that words like 'want'  and 'need' do not take the progressive form.
 Is it possible to use want in the progressive form in an informal speech?

I would like you to respond to my question because most of the users on our site are also using 'need' and 'want' in the progressive form and the sentences are not being edited.


texts: What's the difference between Media  and Press, I think that press for newspapers and media for TV, can anyone give us details about that?


texts: Usage of "I couldn't agree/disagree more"

texts:
Someone said:
"couldn't agree any less"
Upon me finding this weird and asking, they told me their intent was "I disagree".
I believe the idiomatic form is
"I couldn't ______ more"
Where ______ is negative, rejection, etc.
The grammar seems okay, the logic a bit lofty, but is the phrase acceptable in formal or informal English? I think I'm treating the phrase like an expression. You don't alter an expression. It's an expression because it stays the same and is recognizable to express something. So, by altering the phrase in question, does this become wrongful use of language because it is no longer in the form native speakers instantly recognize?


texts:
I am trying to understand which syntactic role the word red has in this sentence:

  We could colour the walls red.

My first thought was it being an adverb, but I have never heard someone saying colours could be used as adverbs. Also, the position is untypical for adverbs.

What part of speech is red in the sentence? What syntactic role does it play? Is it some sort of adjective-valency perhaps? Which other verbs (like to colour) have similar properties?


texts:
In the phrase "to get all crazy" am I correct when I say that the "all crazy" is a particle phrase? Example:

  I'm up for tonight's party. I'm going to get all crazy.


texts: "in the same vein as" vs. "in a similar vein to" vs. "along a similar vein"

texts: Which of these three are valid/accepted idioms? Is one of them the "original" one, and others variations on it? Do they have slightly different shades of meaning?


texts: Equivalent of the Spanish term "a trasmano"

texts:
I am looking for an expression equivalent to this term as used in Argentina (and potentially other places.
The Free Dictionary translates it as out of the way or out of [one's] way. This matches RAE's definitions.
However, a common use of this term not captured there is to refer to a place that is not necessarily far, but inconvenient to get to from your starting point (regardless of whether it's out of your way)
For example, because of one-way streets that force you to take a long detour, or public transportation not reaching one of the places, or not having a good connection between them.
We would specifically say

No es lejos, pero es a trasmano
It's not far, but it's ...


texts: Does English have digraph GN that does not come from Norman (Old French)?

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I noticed that in English the digraph GN appears in a strange way. Some examples I can find are the word stems -cogn-, -sign-, -lign-, all of which looks very similar to French counterparts. By this I think GN is of French origin, and should be borrowed into English as a result of the Norman conquest.

OTOH, in many words, GN is either pronounced separately or is at the beginning, which contradicts with the "French origin" hypothesis, because in French GN is pronounced like "ny" (e.g. canyon). And also note that this pronunciation is similar to other Germanic languages like German, but I can't find any similarity between a German word containing GN and an English -GN- word.

Words imported from Latin or Greek families via Old French after the Norman Conquest (1066 AD) might as well not be considered "native English", while I think Romance-originated words borrowed into Old English before that are probably fair game (but there probably aren't any with "gn").


texts:
According to Wiktionary, pleurisy is pronounced one of two ways:
a) /ˈplʊəɹɪsi/
b) /ˈpljʊəɹɪsi/
I don't hear the /j/ sound when I say the word (in General American) - I hear it like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8V8u6ywxCM
Two questions:

In General American, do you hear pleurisy with or without the /j/?
If you do hear it as option a (/ˈplʊəɹɪsi/), does that mean the /ʊəɹ/ in pleurisy sounds the same as the /ʊɚ/ in the words "boor, spoor, moor, Moor, poor; boorish"?


texts: Etiquette in letter writing: 'I am writing' vs 'I was writing'

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I regularly write emails to colleagues and tend to start my letters with 'I was writing to ask if...'. Should I replace it with 'I am writing to ask if...'?
I think so because I am writing at this time.

I know this may not be the best way to start emails, but nonetheless, which usage is grammatically accurate?


texts: Single word that could mean three other words

texts:
I would like to know whether there's a word which could mean these 3 things:

Support
Like
Congratulate

I hoping to use it in my website for user's status. I would really appreciate if you could help me. Thank you.


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In the following sentence:

  He was the first of his kind, the first king.

Is a comma correct here? Does it make sense, it sounds a little off to me.

I'd rather not add any new words to the sentence, so I want to avoid the following:

  He was the first of his kind, he was the first king.

– even though that's exactly what I want the first sentence to mean.


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Is "$50-to-$75-million-a-year business" confusing?

(No, I cannot recast as much as I'd like to.)

Could $50 above be initially construed as fifty dollars? Or is the phrase clear as I have it?

I think using the word "million" twice is overkill, as in:

"a $50-million-to-$75-million-a-year business"

In your opinion, is "a $50-to-$75-million-a-year business" the way to go here -- yes or no?

Thank you kindly.


texts:
My brother thinks a ruckus is more violent than a rumpus. I think most people normally only use one word or the other for any disturbance/commotion.

Apologies if this looks a bit like a "vote" type of question, but who's right?