texts: What’s a non-vulgar alternative for “covering one’s ***”?

texts:
Oxford Dictionaries Online writes in their U.S. section
that the phase cover one’s ass is
an informal phrase meaning:

  Foresee and avoid the possibility of attack or criticism.

  ‘I like to cover my ass when I make big generalizations’

And if you search for that same phrase in their general dictionary covering World English, you’ll notice that they mention how cover one’s ass is
specifically a North American expression.

The Wikipedia page for Cover your ass says:

  The phrase cover your ass is generally viewed as a vulgar term, often
  replaced by the less-vulgar sounding initials CYA. Safire identified CYA as
  a synecdoche, in the same sense that the word “ass” had come to reference
  the whole person.

The entry for cover someone’s ass in Wiktionary states begins:

  (Canada, US, idiomatic) To make preparations or take precautions to
  ensure that a person is not blamed or punished for his or her conduct.

Collins English Dictionary says in its entry for the phrase that:

  slang, mainly US and Canadian
  to take such action as one considers necessary to avoid censure, ridicule,
  etc at a later time

While dictionary-dot-com’s page for cover one’s ass mentions (but only
in their example citations, not their definition section): that some call
it risk management

  To provide or arrange for exculpation; devise excuses and alibis:

  Some call it “risk management,” others “covering your ass.”
  The FBI may have to let you be destroyed to cover its own ass.
  CYA, you know, that old French expression that means making sure
  that when historians write about it all it won’t be seen as happening on
  your shift.

    credited to The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition
    by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.;
    Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.

Risk management is a nice little phrase, but
what other non-vulgar expressions are there that means the same thing as covering one’s ass means, but without being considered vulgar?


texts: Do Americans leave the ordinal suffix out of dates? By 'ordinal suffix' I mean '-th', '-nd', '-rd', e.g. 'April 17' instead of 'April 17th'. If they do, is there an explanation for this behavior?


texts: What type of English is used in the dialogue of the Lord of the Rings movies?

texts:
In the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Elrond speaks to his daughter:

"If Aragorn survives this war, you will still be parted. If Sauron is defeated and Aragorn made king and all that you hope for comes true, you will still have to taste the bitterness of mortality. Whether by the sword or the slow decay of time, Aragorn will die."
"And there will be no comfort for you. No comfort to ease the pain of his passing. He will come to death, an image of the splendor of the kings of men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world."

This is clearly different from the style that we normally speak. English is not my native language, and I do not have great exposure to English literature. I want to know what is this type of English called, and how one can learn such English.


texts:
Are there any differences between the uses/meanings of "lack of" and "a lack of" for example in the following?

There is a lack of interest in the topic
There is lack of research on the subject

Thanks


texts:
Is it ok to use via to refer to a tool (The camera in this context) or should I use with or some other conjunction

  Photo by John Doe via Canon EOS 60D


texts: An expression for " linking something that has happened to a particular reason or circumtance"?

texts:
How to express linking an unfavourable incident that has happened to a particular reason or circumstance?

For example: A team lost a competition and is being consoled by their coach. Their coach consoling his team by linking the lost to their lack of experience.

How to describe what coach is doing?


texts: Is using split infinitive allowed in formal English?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are split infinitives grammatically incorrect, or are they valid constructs?

Is it allowed to use split infinitives in formal English? I look into Wikipedia but it is too objective and it doesn't directly say that I can use it formally. Is split infinitives grammatical?

from Wikipedia:

  A split infinitive is an English-language grammatical construction in which a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, comes between the marker to and the bare infinitive (uninflected) form of a verb.

  In some cases, moving the adverbial creates an ungrammatical sentence or changes the meaning. R.L. Trask uses this example:

  She decided to gradually get rid of the teddy bears she had collected. "Gradually" splits the infinitive "to get". However, if the adverb were moved, where could it go?
  She decided gradually to get rid of the teddy bears she had collected. This might imply that the decision was gradual.
  She decided to get rid of the teddy bears she had collected gradually. This implies that the collecting process was gradual.
  She decided to get gradually rid of the teddy bears she had collected. This sounds awkward, as it splits the phrase "get rid of".
  She decided to get rid gradually of the teddy bears she had collected. This is almost as unwieldy as its immediate predecessor.


texts:
Expedite the process by requiring the Customer to “redline” any changes to drafts throughout the review process, and be careful not to send any contract drafts to the Customer that contain internal  comments unless Legal provides clearance to do so.

So, how to read "redline",  to eliminate or something else?


texts:
Which verb form is correct?

  "Supporting fundraisers, like this one, goes a long way."

or

  "Supporting fundraisers, like this one, go a long way."

Is the verb pointing to 'fundraisers' or 'this fundraiser'?


texts: Is "Beginner" a measurement of time, or skill?

texts:
The definition is:

  A person just starting to learn a skill or take part in an activity

Which makes me think it's time-related, although I see it's used as a synonym for novice which relates to skill.

What exactly does it mean?


texts: What is a single word to describe beating someone brutally?

texts: What is a single word to describe "beating someone brutally"?


texts:
"Totally inaccessible" is an accepted phrase, but I find it an odd one. If it were accessible in any way, then it wouldn't be "inaccessible," thus the "totally" part is superfluous.

Welcome your thoughts.


texts:
One can use the phrase "in this sense" to connect a previously made point to the next one.

  The designer identity, examined either at a group level or at an individual level, did not reflect a single coherent frame....In this sense, the designer identity was multiplex.

Say I want to list multiple points and then summarize them into a connecting point. I'm trying to think of a good way to say:

  A, B, and C. In these senses, ...

Some ideas:

"given these circumstances..."
"in these ways..."
"based on this..."

Any other ideas?


texts: Obviously something can be sub-optimal or poor, minimal, bad or terrible... But is there a word that means the exact opposite, the antonym, of optimal?


texts:
Example:

  Characters l and 1 look alike.

Can I write the following?

  This table contains 6 alike-looking characters.


texts:
I am interested to discover in which countries, where English is used, the term 'freehold' and 'freeholder' is in everyday use.

I know the question of 'freehold' has come up on this site before in discussion about 'condominium'. But that does not answer my question.

The origin of the term goes back the centuries-ago feudal system, and indicated land held as a free man, as opposed to a villein.

But 'freehold' today means the absolute rights of ownership, free of any lease, in a piece of land. The alternative to freehold is 'leasehold' where rights are held for a period of time according to the terms of a lease.


texts:
I'm in the state of chaotic about the following sentences can you guide me through proper use of them. Kindly help me either restructure the sentence or clearly state the right form of verb, thanks in advance

Ali rather likes to know more secure and (protective OR protected) layers
However, the rise of the new technologies and modern system (invite OR invites) the challenges by means of...
He studied the effect of torque on the system that may (destabilizes OR destabilize) system or even (creates OR create) devastating hazards.


texts: 'A mind is like a parachute'—who coined this expression, and when?

texts:
I recently received a Facebook notification from an online quotation site, which attributed the following saying to Frank Zappa:

  A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.

I checked a couple of relevant reference works—The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, third edition (1979), which is good for older famous quotations, and The [Yale] Dictionary of Modern Proverbs (2012), which is excellent for proverbs coined within the past 100 years—but neither of them had any entry for this saying.

My question is simply this: Who is the originator of this saying—and when was it first recorded?


texts: A tricky usage of "of". "Timewalking version of Ghostworld Chestguard should no longer incorrectly have Spirit."

texts:
Timewalking version of Ghostworld Chestguard should no longer incorrectly have Spirit.

I ran across this sentence when I checked out the fixes notes of WOW ( an online game), I know this sentence wants to convey that the Ghostworld Chestguard belonging to Timewalking version has been fixed the problem. The whole sentence and the subject should emphasize the Chestguard other than version. Thus in my mind, I will say The Ghostworld Chestguard of the Timewalking version instead of what it actually used as the subject.

Basically it's a problem of of usage.
My understanding of of can be seen below:
a family of fools ( of = containing )
the fool of the team ( of = belonging )
Therefore, I assume the subject of the sentence I run across should be " The Ghostworld Chestguard of the Timewalking version", of means belonging.


texts: What is the origin of the phrase “it warms the cockles of my heart”?

texts:
I am unsure if the meaning of cockles has anything to do with the meaning of the phrase

  warm the cockles of one's heart
  Give one a comforting feeling of contentment

Oxford Dictionaries tell me that a cockle is an edible burrowing bivalve mollusc with a strong ribbed shell. But why does a human heart have a ‘shell’? I don't understand.

Can anyone help?


texts: The term “They!” As an expression of surprise or silliness

texts:
So, I have been married 20 years to a fine woman from the Ozarks of Missouri.  Her family regularly used the term they to make an expression.
It might be used like this:

The neighbors nearly burned their house down trying to defrost their turkey.
They!

Or even:

Storms are coming we make have to take shelter.
they!

I don’t know what to make of it, but I was watching a show about old times tonight and they used it.
Can anyone give me so etymology of this usage?


texts:
I stumbled when read this sentence:

All seven episodes of Anne With an E are penned by a screenwriter who knows from darkness, Breaking Bad’s Moira Walley-Beckett.
(source)

The prepositional phrase "from darkness" does not seem to fit here. Is this an error or am I being thick?


texts: In a statistical model context, "overfitting" or "over fitting"?

texts:
I have been writing a research proposal. In a particular part of the proposal, I talk about statistical methods that will be used to avoid "overfitting." This is a statistical concept describing a situation in which a model is overly complex and therefore has low error but not because of real signal but because of the large number of variables in the model. (See Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overfitting)

A friend commented that she thought it should be "over fitting". This is probably where the term "overfitting" came from.

I wanted to pose this question to the Stack Exchange English Language & Usage to get people's thoughts on the matter! Which spelling should it be, "over fitting" or "overfitting"?


texts: Why does 'up' have a positive connotation and 'down' have a negative connotation?

texts:
The word up usually has a positive connotation - thumbs up, look up, go up in life - whereas down usually has a negative connotation - look down, go down etc.

Why is this so and when did such an usage begin?

I did read that up comes from the word for uphill and down comes from the word for downhill, but it still does not explain the connotation assignments.


texts: "... are likely to arrive like earthquakes, so much has that orientation produced ..."

texts:
Even relatively fractional adjustments to the West's basic orientation toward business and financial capitalism are likely to arrive like earthquakes, so much has that orientation produced the culture's collective sense of what is thinkable and what is not.

In this sentence, what I can see between two clauses is just "so much", and in the second clause it seems like the subject and the verb are inverted ("that orientation has produced" > "has that orientation produced").

Can so much do this alone? Or am I just missing something?


texts: Can "we" be used as a polite substitute for "you"?

texts:
Is it ever OK to use we as a substitute for you? Let me illustrate:

I am increasingly receiving emails from colleagues that contain sentences such as:

Can we have a look at this tomorrow please?
Can we ensure that we do not...

Now these emails seem innocuous enough, but I know full well that these co-workers have no intention of partaking in the tasks in question.

Would it not be better to say:

Can you have a look at this tomorrow please?
Can you ensure that you do not...?

Are these people trying to be considerate of my feelings by indirectly giving orders?

I find this use of we to be particularly grating, so some clarity regarding its correct use would be much appreciated.


texts: "allow a home run to" or "allow a home run from"?

texts: I came across a baseball news and noticed the author used some pitcher "allows a home run to" some batter, not "allows a home run from." The batter hit the home run, so it seems to me that "allow a home run from" is more meaningful.


texts: "LIfe" as the doer in the sentence -- does it have to be that way?

texts:
There is a sentence which can be translated into English like this:

My life has its ups and downs.
My life has ups and downs.

My suggested translation was "There are ups and downs in my life". I was told that was wrong.

For the life of me, I can't figure out what is wrong with this translation!

Dear native speakers, could you please tell me if the 3rd option differs significantly from the first two?

Is there a shade of meaning in it that I'm not feeling?

Does 'Life' really have to be the subject? Can't the meaning be conveyed in an impersonal way? (using "there is / there are")

Thanks!


texts: is sentence start with subject modifier considered valid?

texts:
A sentence popped up in my mind, goes:

“No longer a pain is that time in the cell, as he walk out from the jail."

And I am pretty sure I've seen something similar to this sentence, but I cannot tell grammatically whether this is a valid one or now. Can anyone points out if the sentence is problematic, or explain me the structure if it is good.


texts:
I've recently come across the phrase "tragically named". I first thought the author invented it but I've googled it all over the place.

The first time I saw its usage was on http://gizmodo.com/big-jambox/:

  Before you buy, you should also take a look at Sony's tragically named SA-NS500 Portable Wi-Fi Speaker, which boasts better sound plus Airplay. But it's also far less portable—it's bigger and heavier and harder to set up—and it costs an extra $100. Given that the entire point of wireless speakers is portability (after all if it wasn't, just run some cable) that's an important feature.

What could be the origin?


texts: What's the proper way to dedicate a paper with a "to the memory of"?

texts:
I am writing a scientific paper and want to dedicate it to my former supervisor who passed away recently. The standard practice in this case is to write the dedication phrase just below the title of the paper. What I am not sure as I am a non-native speaker is the exact wording. It would be terrible if I write something offensive or inappropriate out of my ignorance. I have the following suggestions:

To the memory of ...
Dedicated to the bright memory of ...
Dedicated to the memory of ...

My questions are

Is option 1 ok without the word "dedicated"?
Is the word "bright" fine here? I like this choice, but my worry is that it might be reserved for the people who were very close to him, or "bright" would imply some strange meaning that I am unaware of.
What would you write?


texts:
Ms C is accusing Ms Z of eating the cheese that Ms C bought. Ms C and Ms Z are room mates. Ms C sees a therapist about it.

Ms Z: I don't eat that kind of cheese.
Ms C: You do eat that kind of cheese. Every time I buy it, it disappears. My therapist told me that I have to stop letting someone take advantage of me.
Ms Z: How much does your therapist charge you?
Ms. C: 425 an hour.
Ms. Z: You are getting reamed because I do not eat that kind of cheese.

What does Ms. Z mean by reamed in the last line?
----------
Merriam-Webster Online has this entry for ream as a verb:

ream transitive verb 1a : to widen the opening of (a hole) : countersink b(1) : to enlarge, shape, or smooth out (a hole) with a reamer (2) : to enlarge the bore of (something, such as a gun) in this way c : to remove by reaming 2a : to press out with a reamer b : to press out the juice of (a fruit, such as an orange) with a reamer 3 : cheat, victimize
4 : reprimand —often used with out // reams out his players so severely— Alexander Wolff

The "cheat, victimize" meaning seems to be the best fit for the context here, but what is its connection to the earlier meanings of ream that Merriam-Webster lists?


texts: How to express a self-diminishing recursive property. Elegantly

texts:
In the following, I can't find the right way to express my meaning for the part in bold:

  Studies show that high IQ individuals are more susceptible to drug addiction than the general population, meaning there is a cognition-dependent aspect to substance abuse. While mainstream drug treatment programs are notoriously ineffective in general, with recidivism rates reaching 80 percent or higher, many people believe that for high IQ individuals those programs are even less effective than they are for the general population. Tragically, when an attempt to overcome drug addiction ends in failure, the negative light in which the addict saw himself in the world that made him vulnerable to addiction in the first place is intensified, reducing his value in his own eyes and, consequently, diminishing the incentive to try again. This recursive property makes traditional treatment programs for some addicts outright harmful.

I want to express the meaning that entering a drug treatment program, then failing (leaving the program unfinished or getting high one night with a friend, for example), makes it more likely one will slip back into full blown addiction, while simultaneously making it less likely they will seek help, and even if they do seek help, more likely they will fail again, which, of course, not only repeats the pattern (the recursive part), but intensifies it.

None of these seems exactly right, let alone elegant:

negative recursive
negative self-intensifier
recursively diminishing
lethal feedback loop

Interestingly, I found the question discussed mathematically here on StackExchange, but still wasn't able to come up with a way to express the idea in English.


texts: Is it grammatical to say "A can be benefit from B"?

texts:
I have seen several times of "A can be benefit from B".
But my teacher told me that benefit can only be a noun here.
Thus, the sentence is not correct.

After googling, I get lots of results about "A can be benefit from B".
I am confused now. Is the sentence grammatical or ungrammatical?

Thanks in advance!


texts:
If you answered yes, that you intend to pursue need-based financial
aid, then you will receive an award letter.

What is the intended use of "that" after the comma in this sentence? What does it refer to?


texts:
In this sentence, "I still wished I could have done more", why isn't it saying, "I still wished I could do more"?
Beauty and the Beast season 2 episode 16: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=beauty-and-the-beast-2012&episode=s02e16

You okay? Yeah. [sic]
I don't know, it's a little bittersweet, though.
Yes, we finally stopped Sam, but, I don't know, it feels a little hollow, don't you think? We broke up their secret society.
Just take a little bit of digging.
We can put them away for a long time.
Yeah, I still wished I could have done more, though.
That's the old you talking.
The one that used to take the law into his own hands.
I like the new you better.
Oh, you do, do you? Six years is a long time to hold onto all that pain and anger.
Can't even imagine.
I can.

I know the difference in meaning between 'could' and 'could have', but here, I can't seem to get the grammar.


texts: What's the difference between "speak" and "talk", grammatically speaking?

texts:
There are a number of questions e.g. What is the difference between “speaking” and “talking”? and “Speak to” vs. “Speak with” that deal with the slightly different connotations of the words "speak" and "talk". However, there also seem to be some grammatical differences between the two words. This question is about whether there's a way to formally pin down these differences, or whether they're just contingent features of the two words having different histories.

Some examples of grammatical differences are as follows:

be talkative ... be speakative
speak French ... talk French
give a talk ... give a speech (as opposed to a speak)
speak up ... talk up (the meanings of the two phrases being completely different, with "up" being a preposition only in the latter case)
speaking of which ... talking of which
grammatically speaking ... grammatically talking

On the other hand, many other constructions work just as well with either (though they might have subtly different meanings), for example

speak to ... talk to
speak with ... talk with
speak about ... talk about

I'm interested in whether there's a way to pin down these differences (e.g. are the two words classified as different types of verb in some way?), or whether they're essentially just arbitrary. I'm also interested in why we have these two different words with subtly different meanings. Is the distinction between “speak” and “talk” a feature of many languages, or is it just a peculiarity of English?

Etymologically, both words are from Germanic origins. “Talk” seems to have been formed from the Middle English tale, even though “speak” already existed in the English language by then (as far as I can tell). This makes it even more mysterious: Why did we form a new word as a synonym of one that was already established? Or were the meanings different at that time?


texts: What's the right way to ask if something belongs to someone or something

texts:
There are two devices, and I have an extra nail or spare part.  I want to ask which device the nail belongs to, in a simple way.  Should I say:

Who's this nail belongs to?

Who's this nail?

Which's this nail belongs to?


texts: Synonym of "s--t eating grin" suitable for polite company

texts:
Can anyone think of a synonym for "shit eating grin" that would be usable in polite company?

This definition from the OED captures the meaning I'm looking for perfectly:

  A broad grin expressing uncontrollable delight or (self-)satisfaction, esp. characterized by awareness of having got away with something normally considered outrageous or improper.

As pointed out in this Metafiler comment, an important nuance is that this sort of grin is uncontrollable.


texts: A short alternative to describe a location very close to the city

texts:
I've racked my brains to no avail trying to find a correct and practical term to describe a location very close to the city centre (of the little town).

"Close to the city" is very cliche and sounds very generic, of course.

So how would paraphrase "XXX very to the city centre" in possibly better words?


texts: What’s a word for people sharing a common culture?

texts:
Tribe is good.

But what more? I need more words, but exactly mean “they have same culture, traits, etc.”


texts: Is there a word and/or term that describes the intention of converting words into an acronym?

texts:
I wanted to say this to somebody today, but couldn't find the word for it (neither in my head nor via Google).
I have a task that acronyms would be better-suited to.  Instead of saying "I want to create acronyms from these location names", I wanted to say, "let's just acronym them" to my colleague, but it sounded all kinds of wrong in my head so I kept quiet.
For example, I have a list of entries in a field that I need to refer to within a data processing script that I have built, and I decided that rather than the system I have built looking for "Site One, Location 2", it would be better to have the system look for "SOL2".
Is there a word and/or term that describes the intention (not the process) of creating an acronym from a given set of words?


texts: Get lost in so many "that, and, in proportion to" in this sentence

texts:
I read a paper about lake and got confused about the following sentence (lower left in page 11256), because it has so many "and", "that", "in proportion to". I do not know which part of the sentence belongs to which word above.

  Short-term bioassays indicated that C-limited (i.e., carbon limited) photosynthesis and algal growth and did not predict the continued growth of algal biomass in proportion to P (i.e., phosphorus).

From the view of English grammar instead of knowledge of environmental science, how can I decompose this sentence?  It is frustrating that I konw the meaning of every word in this sentence, but I cannot understand this sentence.


texts: What does this the 'tenor of one's affinity' mean

texts:
I'm reading a book(The Last Magician) and stumbled across this phrase. Googled and still didn't know what it meant.
Any guesses?

Sentence: "He could sense the strength and tenor of a person's affinity from ten paces."


texts: How to describe the practice of using "am-pluh-fi-key-shun" to indicate it's pronouncation?

texts:
For instance, if we use [,æmplɪfɪ'keɪʃən] [,æmpləfə'keʃən] to indicate how to read "amplification", the practice is called phonetic notation or phonetic transcription, and the symbol is called International Phonetic Alphabet.

My questions are

1) How shall I describe the following practice:
"amplification is read as am-pluh-fi-key-shun"
Is there a name for the kind of phonetic notation?

2) what's the difference between [IPA] and [this kind of phonetic notation (am-pluh-fi-key-shun for amplification)] in terms of the degree of formality and/or which one is more commonly used?

3)Is it unanimous to use, for intance, -uh- for [ə] in this kind of notation? Maybe other people would write it as am-pli-fi-ki-shion or anything else?


texts: How to transcribe a spoken abbreviation in writing

texts:
(This question was inspired by comments in a similar – but not duplicate –  question.)

Suppose I'm tasked with transcribing a physics lecture, and the instructor says that the answer is
“42 km/s.”

In this case, it's important to note that the instructor did not say the words, “kilometers per second”, but instead said (phonetically), “kay em per ess”. As the transciber, I want to somehow capture this subtle distinction – that is, I want it clear that the letters were spoken, not the words.

I can think of a few possible ways to do this. One is to spell out the letters phonetically:

  “...and that gives us our answer of 42 kay em per ess” 1

Advantage: How the answer was enunciated is clearly communicated.
Disadvantage: The resulting form is ugly as muck.

Another option is:

  “...and that gives us our answer of 42 km per s”

Advantage: It's easy to read and pleasing on the eye.
Disadvantage: It's ambiguous; the reader might assume the lecturer said “kilometers”, but I've taken the liberty to abbreviate that as "km".

I think I might prefer this third option:

  “...and that gives us our answer of 42 k-m per s”

The hyphen might clue the reader in that the letters were spoken, and it would prevent us from having to write out really ugly phonetics, such as “em pee aitch” for MPH.

I suppose the most practical answer would be to include some clarifying remarks in a preface to the transcript that explains the conventions that are used – that is, something along the lines of:

  When abbreviations are used, those are denoted with a period (e.g., “mm.” for “millimeter”). If the period is omitted, you can assume the speaker pronounced the abbreviation letter for letter (e.g., “mm” was pronounced as “em - em”)

Here's my question, though: Are there any standard ways to handle this problem?

As a footnote, this problem seems particularly vexing when you consider how plurals might be used. For example, a lecturer might pronounce three meters as “3 ms” (phonetically, “3 ems”), but the abbreviation might look like three milliseconds. Even though apostrophes in conjunction with abbreviations are falling out of favor, I suppose this might be an exception. According to the accepted answer here, it seems like this may be an acceptable use of an apostrophe (3 m's).

1 (Let's assume we are allowed to write numerals and numbers, and do not have to write the answer out as forty-two.)


texts: Competence in one domain translating into a subjective perception of competence in an unrelated domain

texts:
Sometimes I observe a person very competent in one area (say, Philosophy) peremptorily expressing his opinion on an unrelated area (say, Medicine) as if he were an expert there also (and he is not).

In other words, competence in one domain translates into a subjective perception of competence in an unrelated domain.

Is there a name for this cognitive bias?

This is more than mere Kruger-Dunning effect ("Unskilled and Unaware of It") - the incorrect subjective perception of competence in one domain is driven by the correct perception of competence in another domain.

PS. Amazingly, the same question has been already asked elsewhere:

Is there a term for a person who moves from one field of expertise to a new field and has an inflated belief in their competence in the new field?

The answers offered there are:

Déformation professionnelle and links therein:

Golden hammer
Occupational psychosis
Regulatory capture

Poseur
Hubris

PPS. Related: Does Golden Hammer really exist?


texts:
I have been told that 'unless' can't be used in hypothetical clauses as follows:

Unless Ann had studied hard, she would have failed the exam.

My question is, why is using 'unless' in the conditional clause above unacceptable?


texts:
I was translating a sentence which contained the Arabic word "نفس (nefs)" in an answer to a question. نفس is physical entity of a living thing, that feels and experiences earthly desires and emotions like sleeping, hunger, frightening, and lust. It is the basic animal instincts and desires of a living being. I translated نفس as "physical body", but someone opposed it and said that the word "soul" was more fitting for it.

However, I thought that there was a different word for "soul" in Arabic, which is "روح (rooh)". روح is consciousness, power to decide, ability to think and decide. It is the intelligence of a living being.

So, which meaning is more fitting to "soul"? Nefs or rooh?
What does "soul" actually mean in English? How do you define it?


texts: When using an italicized word with punctuation, should you italicize the punctuation, too?


texts: Need word to capture both physical devices and software

texts: Need a word as an umbrella term for both physical devices and software/downloads that we offer. Can't use "product," as that already means the physical devices. This is for a user interface, where we list both "products" (devices/parts) and software, design schema, and other intangibles. Thinking of using "item" to tell user to select from this mixed list of physical and electronic media. Suggestions?


texts: Can a participle phrase modify a clause?

texts:
It is generally taught that participial/participle phrases function as adjectives modifying a noun (or pronoun).

In a sentence such as:

  A major accident occurred on our bus's route to school, making us late for class.

or

  The gas tank exploded, sending shrapnel through the air.

are the participle phrases modifying their preceding clauses? (If not, what are they modifying?)


texts:
So the English class teacher is teaching IEEE referencing style, and we have something like this as an example:

  Chan [1] claims that...

The teacher said:

  The referencing number is followed by the author's last name.

Wait... I thought "A is followed by B" means B follows A, that means A comes first, B comes next.

Has the teacher made an obvious mistake, or is it my fault? (Could I have misheard that?)


texts: Should I answer the phone with “Mr. Beltz’s office” or “Mr. Beltz’ office”?

texts:
How would you pronounce the following when answering a phone for a boss whose last name is Beltz? Some people are saying Mr. Beltz’s office, pronouncing the extra s, and someone else thinks you should just say Mr. Beltz office.

Which one is it?


texts: Why is the media called the fourth estate?

texts: Reading this article, the white house reporters are called "The poor slobs of the fourth estate". Not being familiar with this, I equated the media to a fourth branch of government, providing a check and balance on the legislature, the executive, and judicial branch, but I would think the media would be called the fourth branch if that were the case. Where does this term come from, and what is it's meaning?


texts: Creating a situation that is too easy to cheat

texts:
I'm looking for a word or term that means a situation where it is too easy to cheat.

For example, a guy leaves his keys in the ignition and kids walk by and think about stealing the car. At that point, stealing the car is so easy, it's almost foolish not to steal it.

I thought that "moral hazard" would be a good idea, but it turns out that that has very specific meaning: where a person with protection from risk acts in a way that he wouldn't have acted absent that protection.


texts: Which is correct: "Below the targets" or "Behind the target"?

texts:
I am writing a letter to one of our customers and would like to inform him that he is still behind the targets and has got 3 weeks.
My employer has introduced this offer according to which they will give $0.5 per unit of the product purchased in excess of the target units.
so I would like to inform them about their current situation. here is my email. Please let me know if I am using target correctly.

Hello XXX,
Hope all is well.
This email is in reference to our Special Incentive Program, Enclosed please find the copy of the contract for your reference.
Your total purchase for this year is 1000 cartons, which is 200 cartons behind the target goal. Kindly note this program will end on Dec 23rd, and you will receive $0.5 per carton if your purchase is in excess of 1000 cartons on carton above 1000 units.
I remain at your disposition for any further information you may require.


texts: Is ‘Everybody’s cup of tea’ a well-used English idiom?

texts:
I found the headline,‘Facebook friendships are not everybody’s cup of tea,’ in 'Ask Amy' of the Lifestyle section of today’s Washington Post (August 9). Without special needs for taking bother of consulting dictionaries, I can easily guess ‘not everybody’s cup of tea’ means ‘not everybody’s liking or taste, or not applicable to everyone. But this is the first time for me to come across this phrase.

Can the object of ‘Cup of tea’ be applied to anything, like sports, hobbies, literature, languages, celebrities, science, politics, and credos? Can I replace 'tea' with other items e.g. coffee, cake or even liking? Is ‘Somebody’s cup of tea” a well-used English or American English idiom?

The headline is followed by the following sentence:

  “I have been invited to be a “friend” on Facebook by two people whom I have known for years, but time and distance have limited our contact to an occasional greeting card or e-mail. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I do not want this kind of superficial relationship, especially when I see that these Facebook “friends” are sharing personal information with hundreds of people.”


texts: usage of for in how long are you in town for?

texts:
What's the difference between these two sentences?

how long are you in town for?
how long are you in town?

what's usage of for ?


texts: "with" in Is that alright with everybody?

texts:
Is that alright with everybody?

What does the word "with" mean here?
Can I use "for" or "to" here?

Thanks.


texts: using the same pronoun twice in the same sentence?

texts:
I was going over this article and I found the structure of this sentence interesting:

Mr Trump will never forgive those whom, like Mitch McConnell, the Senate leader, he judges to have failed him by acknowledging Mr Biden’s election victory. Having begun to move against him, they should finish the job.

Is this proper english? It would be good news to me because I always find it awkward when I interrupt my sentence with a long fyi statement, then proceed to continue the original thought without somehow being able to reconnect or reset the original statement (I'm not even sure what that style is called).
So here are my questions:

What is this type of writing called (the structure etc)?
Can I see more examples of this sentence structure where the pronoun is written twice?


texts:
I need to send a letter/email to 4 professors.  What is the correct salutation?

Professors Smith, Johnson, Lee & Chun
Professor Smith, Professor Johnson, Professor Lee & Professor Chun
something else?

Thank you!


texts: How do you convert a noun into an adjective?

texts: What would be the adjectives for nouns like shopkeeper, country, wife, earring, teacher, father — and so on and so forth?


texts:
I need some help with the following sentence in order to know whether it should be WAS or WERE:

  a recent study revealed that the ninety percent of people who had
  decided to change their first job WAS/WERE more satisfied now than in
  the past, since their job conditions had improved significantly.


texts: Terminology for turning an idiom's meaning around

texts:
Just recently, I used the idiom comparing apples and oranges in an argument with someone when they compared two vastly different mathematical fields and claimed that, because deep learning neural networks could solve one problem, it would not be long before it could solve the other. Rather than ask what differences are relevant, they made the comment that, in the grand scheme of things, apples and oranges are actually very similar (which is true, but irrelevant).

What is the term for what they did when inverting the meaning of that idiom?


texts: Does this video depict wrongly the phrase "to rinse the dishes"

texts:
rinse something: to remove the soap from something with clean water
  after washing it Source

This is to rinse the dishes source

However, in this video, nreally at the end of the video, they depicted "to rinse the dishes" like "to dry the dishes" http://youtu.be/IHqcDg-1iAA

Does the above video depict wrongly the phrase  "to rinse the dishes"?


texts: Is answering a question with "Why, " rude?

texts:
In a book I've read some characters are answering questions with "Why, ", e.g.

  Why not come to me? you ask, and I must answer, Why, because I did not trust you, my lord.

and they never mean it seriously, always with some insolence. However, the amount of insolence and how rude it really sounds I cannot grasp.

Can I use such a construction in an informal speech without any offence meant? In a not-so-formal letter to a boss, for example?


texts: Do any English words end in /ɒ/, a short o?

texts:
The question was prompted by trying to find an English analogue to the many words in Welsh that end with /ɒ/ (today's example: crwydro = wander).  This sound is after all common in English at the beginning or in the middle of a word (ox, not).

I can't think of any common word in reasonably standard English that ends this way. As a Londoner originally I'm prone to t-glottalisation, which leads to something pretty close.  Words spelt –o generally seem to end with the highly variable (so I haven't tried to give IPA) ɢᴏᴀᴛ vowel.

I'm approaching this from a Southern British perspective, but other common accents/dialects are also interesting. The original version of this question was confused by using IPA examples that were based on pronouncing cot to match caught but didn't say so explicitly.

So do any English words end with this sound?


texts: How do I punctuate this correctly (HELP]

texts:
This couple: Mr. and Mrs. Robin Elsman, qualified for a loan on the house at a local bank.

OR

This couple: Mr. and Mrs. Robin Elsman qualified for a loan on the house at a local bank.

OR

something else?


texts: How would you call someone who is working part-time as a student (Werkstudent in German)

texts:
I'm struggling finding a term for a job rank for a part-time working student to use it for my CV or in general in the whole interview process: In Germany we don't only have interns, but something called "Werkstudent", a part time student worker, which works in his field of study. This is what a lot of German university students do.

The idea of a "Werkstudent", which would be "factory student" translated literally, comes from the engineering field where students, while studying full time, regularly worked for 10-20h/week for a industrial company in their factory management to get to know their field, all the industrial and corporate processes and to earn money. But in the 21st century it is not limited to engineering fields anymore and any academic profession has its own "Werkstudenten" e.g. for business development, legal, HR etc...

The idea is close to being an intern, but it's not full time and in most cases for a very long period (until you finish your studies, for up to 3 years or so) and you get paid very well. Your tasks regularly are the same as the full time employees, you just have more time to do them and/or making a lot of errors is expected. (think of a step below a junior position)

So yeah, I'm really struggling with that. International companies based in Germany sometimes call it "apprentice" "working student", "student trainee", "industrial student" (!?) or just "intern", but I am really unsure of all of them since I want non-Germans to understand the term and I want neither to make my role bigger as it was, nor want I others to think I did labour work / a side job...

Maybe other English speaking countries have something similar I just haven't heard of?


texts: Word/Phrase to describe someone who wants ALL or NOTHING of it?

texts:
For example, if you are aiming for 100% and you get -- say -- 98% in one exam, you won't really care because you were aiming for 100% and that 2% is enough for you to disregard everything and any ambition of aiming the highest even though it probably won't make a difference in the long run.

i.e. You want something to be completely perfect ELSE you don't care for it at all.


texts: The difference between ''which'' and ''in which'' in a specific situation

texts:
What's the difference between the two sentences below? or is either incorrect?

A - > The way which you chose was good.

B - > The way in which you chose was good.


texts:
It's my understanding that “Is it any wonder . . . ?” is a rhetorical question used to state the obvious, usually with a degree of sarcasm, equivalent to “It's no wonder that . . .” or “Small wonder that. . . .” For example:

  Is it any wonder that Chris is late to the party?

means roughly:

  Nobody should be surprised that Chris is late to the party.

However, the Styx song “Too Much Time on My Hands” reverses the usual sense of the idiom:

  Yeah, I'm sittin' on this bar stool talking like a damn fool
  Got the twelve o'clock news blues
  And I've given up hope for the afternoon soaps
  And a bottle of cold brew
  Is it any wonder I'm not crazy?
  Is it any wonder I'm sane at all?
  . . .
  Is it any wonder I'm not a criminal?
  Is it any wonder I'm not in jail?

Here, the answer to the rhetorical question appears to be “Yes, it actually is surprising that I'm not crazy and in jail.” Later in the song, they use the idiom in a more typical fashion, with sarcasm apparent in the singer's tone:

  Is it any wonder I'm not the President?
  Is it any wonder I'm null and void?

Is the reversed sense of this idiom actually widespread, or is this just artistic license by a songwriter?


texts: Are there any universal rules in appropriating “_an,” “_sh,” “_es,” “_ch” for the demonyms of countries?

texts:
Suffixes indicating people and language of country vary by country:

_an: American, German, Italian, Belgian, Australian, Russian, Ukrainian, Korean,  Mexican, Brazilian, Chilean, Argentinean, Indonesian, Malaysian, Iranian, Egyptian, Somalian, Palestinian

_sh: English, British, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Turkish,

_ch: French, Dutch

_ese: Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Portuguese

_no: Filipino, Latino

_i: Israeli

_: Thai

Among the above, _an seems to outnumber other suffixes.

Are there any simple rule to govern appropriation of suffix turning a country name into adjective, indicating people and language of countries in the world in terms of say, region, race, or cultural background? Or is it just discretional?


texts: What is the grammar of "CJ Dennis had 2 edit suggestions approved"?

texts:
I'm trying to explain the grammar of

  CJ Dennis had 2 edit suggestions approved

to other people, however, the more I try to explain it, the more confused I get about it myself.

The context is from our very own Stack Exchange network!:

  Reviewer Stats

  user123 has approved 12 edit suggestions and rejected 7 edit suggestions and improved 3 edit suggestions
  user456 has approved 9 edit suggestions and rejected 3 edit suggestions and improved 2 edit suggestions

  Editor Stats

  CJ Dennis had 2 edit suggestions approved, and 0 edit suggestions rejected

In all following examples, I will use bold for all verb forms, and additionally italics for past participles and adjectives.

"had" by itself is usually simple past tense, however, "approved" is not an adjective but a past participle as the following changes show:

  CJ Dennis had 2 edit suggestions green (adjective is ungrammatical here)

  CJ Dennis had 2 edit suggestions eaten (past participle is grammatical here)

So, does that make it past perfect: "had approved"?

I don't think so, because the sentence appears to be a form of passive:

  CJ Dennis had 2 edit suggestions approved [by other users]

I made the suggestions, but I didn't approve them myself; other people did. Also the appearance of a past participle doesn't necessarily imply past perfect:

  The leaves eaten [by the caterpillar] were green.

This reduces to

  The leaves were green.

which is clearly simple past. It can also be simple present:

  The leaves (partially) eaten are brown around the edges now.

However, passive with "CJ Dennis" as the subject doesn't seem to fully make sense either, as the other users approved my edits, not me:

  2 edit suggestions were approved [by other users]

The passive seems to be on the edit suggestions. "had" appears to be being used in a possessive sense, i.e. these are how many I had.

So, getting back to:

  CJ Dennis had 2 edit suggestions approved

What is the tense, aspect, and mood of this sentence? Is it simple past or past perfect? Is it passive? Is "had" being used as an auxiliary verb or not?


texts: Single word between learning and mastering?

texts:
Is there single word that describes that I learned and became proficient in using a skill but is not as strong as mastered.

I want to say, "I (blank)ed a new technique." I learned it, but I have also become quite proficient in using it. Although I am proficient, I wouldn't say I have mastered the technique.


texts: Are "should" and "if" interchangeable at the beginning of a sentence?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  A special use of “should”?

If "should" comes at the beginning of a sentence, and the sentence is not a question, then can it be replaced with "if?" Is there any difference at all?


texts:
I want to say that I am putting jam on the bread, but 'put' is too boring of a word. What other word can I use? Example:

  I meticulously ___ Nutella on my bread.


texts: Is there an idiom in English for cases where something is so watered down (figuratively or literally) to the point there is no substance left, just the "bare" water?


texts: The difference between a sentence starting with 'to' + verb and starting with a gerund

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

To study English is hard.
Studying English is hard.


texts:
"it was ... interesting to see these (1) quite deprived areas (1) erm  (.)"

Is quite here being used as an quantifier and is the noun "areas" countable in this context? It sounds to me like 'quite' is also used as a filler but I'm not sure. For example, when girls colloquially add unecessary "like" and "really" in their phatic talk.


texts: Does this sentence contain two independent clauses?

texts:
I am trying to determine how to write the following sentence correctly:

"We all have goals we would like to accomplish and dreams we would like to fulfill."

I am not sure if I should add a comma before the 'and', which would make the sentence look like this:

"We all have goals we would like to accomplish, and dreams we would like to fulfill."

Are the two clauses in this sentence independent? If they are then the second option is the correct one. Do you have any tips on how to determine if two clauses are independent? Thank you for your time!


texts:
Example:

  His words had been too many to fit into a notecard.

(I'm using had been instead of were because it's a past-tense narrative. And the person is already dead.)

What puzzles me is that the phrase words had been too many has no results on Google. Zero.

Why is this? Is there a grammatical mistake? Or people just tend to use were even in the past tense, even if the person is no longer alive?

EDIT:

Same with thoughts:

  His thoughts had been too many to fit into a notecard.


texts: Preoperative thrombocytosis may identify patients who are at greater risk or risks of x, y, and/or z?

texts:
Preoperative thrombocytosis may identify patients who are at greater risk for advanced disease, unfavorable grade histology, and recurrence.

There are several potential risks.
Should it be risk or risks?


texts:
Governor Smith vetoes billThree killed in collision

The present tense and the past passive participle have long (for more than a century) been uesd in headlines this way to refer to events in the immediate past.

But lately I've been noticing the present active participle a lot: On NBC evening news probably more than a dozen times each night, not just the anchor Lester Holt or Kate Snow but all of the reporters say things like The Centers for Disease control announcing new precautions against the corona virus, Two more candidates dropping out of the race today, etc. I haven't seen this in writing, but every broadcast news report on TV uses this form. I've seen it on CNN too.

Could this have been around for centuries without my noticing it? It seems that only in recent weeks I've starting noticing it constantly.


texts: Avoiding alliteration in 'respective perspectives' - how?

texts:
I've got a sentence here I cant get working:

  Direct and in-depth discussion with the providers followed, this was
  done concurrently with X with Y providing a parallel analysis,
  inspired by our respective perspectives.

'respective perspectives' sounds silly, but it is about as factually correct I can get.

Using synonyms for each and working through the combinations yields either worse results or something that sounds ok to read, but isn't as accurate in terms of the intended meaning.

Example synonyms:

Respective:

particular
individual
own

Perspective:

outlook
point of view
position
approach

etc.

Anyone got a way to make this work?


texts: Proverb/ expression/word for getting pepped up about stranger's cause

texts:
We have a saying "Abdullah gets all super pepped up in a stranger's Wedding" which means a person gets absolutely excited about some one else's cause which he logically isn't concerned with. Do we have any equivalent in English.

Normally any person wouldn't get as excited as much as the groom & bride, the parents and all those involved in the wedding. But this unrelated person/stranger gate crashes the wedding and gets too much involve and too excited about everything thats happening as those it is his wedding. It is as though you shouldn't get involved (physically or emotionally) and help others where it is not warranted or where you are not invited


texts: What's the negative of the nonstandard perfect: "He done eat his breakfast"

texts:
In movies I hear a lot of sentences like that in the title of the question spoken mainly by African Americans. As I understand it's the dialect version of the standard Present Perfect. I was wondering how in that dialect one would form a negative sentence in he Present Perfect.

He not done eat his breakfast.
He done not (donen't?) eat his breakfast.

Or maybe only affirmative sentences are possible with this construct, and the negative just follows the standard rules?


texts: Alternatives to "High Level" and "Low Level" in computing

texts:
In computing, "Low Level" can be understood to refer to a more base level of detail, and "High Level" to a higher level of detail as well as usage of "packages" made out of the "low level" constructs to achieve a higher level of abstraction.

I am looking for words alternative to High and Low as they have mentally misleading associations to be used in this context.


texts:
What is a word that means to say in a positive sense? For instance, when writers say that a person was sexually assaulted instead of saying raped.

Or people use let go instead of fired.

What is that called?


texts: Should I say "in my tests" or "on my tests"?

texts:
I want to say something like:

  Using APC is great advice.  Performance increases a lot when you use it.  (100 to 1 on my tests)

Should I say "on my tests" or "in my tests"?

Are any of those wrong?  Do those mean the same?


texts: "To search for something" versus "to look for something": are these verbs synonyms?

texts: Are the verb phrases "to search for something" and "to look for something" synonyms?


texts:
When you have to ask someone to communicate with you through Facebook, how do you ask it?
"Knock me on Facebook" is a familiar term in Bangladesh. But I don't know how much appropriate it is.


texts: Is there an idiom or typical expression for an unfunny joke?

texts:
Could you tell me some suitable idioms to express this situation:

  A guy told you a joke, but it's not funny at all.

In Japanese, we say "He slipped" or "His joke was so cold that the air got frozen," for that situation.

Are there any similar phrases in English?


texts: Was "The 'F' Word" in common usage in the 1800s?

texts:
I started watching "Deadwood" a few days ago and only got a few minutes into it before I shut it off.
The reason I hit the "ejector seat" was that a character in the show used "The 'F' Word" several times within a very brief span of time.
This show is set in the 1800s. I don't know what offended me more: the use of the word, or the laziness or stupidity of the writers in putting that word in a character's mouth at that time. I believe it is somewhat of an anachronism, and that it was used by "precious few" people back then, if any.
But then I got to wondering if maybe I'm wrong. Do I think the word was scarcely if ever used just because it did not get into print (you'll never see the word used by Twain, Dickens, Howells, Harte, or any of the others from the 19th Century, AFAIK)?
Am I correct in thinking the dialogue was inaccurate/anachronistic, or am I wrong about the prevalence of that word in the 19th Century?


texts: Is there a term for the sort of words that sometimes precede dialogue or quotations, like say, ask, write, answer, cry, and reply?


texts:
Garner's Modern English Usage (2016), p. 147:

H.W. Fowler wrote of case: "There is perhaps no single word so freely resorted to as a trouble-saver, and consequently responsible for so much flabby writing" (FMEU1 at 65). Arthur Quiller-Couch condemned it is "jargon's dearest child." On the Art of Writing 106 (1916).
The offending phrases include in case (better made if), in cases in which (usually verbose for if, when, when, or whenever), in the case of (usually best deleted or reduced to in), and in every case (better made always, if possible).

Microsoft Manual of Style (2012), p. 311:

To avoid ambiguity, use if to express a condition; use whether to express uncertainty, and use when for situations requiring preparation or to denote the passage of time.

I have a technical paper with the following passage:

Simple vs. associative arrays
In cases where you need key–value pairs, use associative arrays; otherwise, use simple ones.
// A simple array.
Items = ["x", "y", "z"]

// An associative array. x:10, y:15, and z:20 are key-value pairs.
ItemPrices = ["x": 10, "y": 15, "z": 20]

Currently, I use in cases where; another possible option is in cases in which. Both versions seems to be very accurate, but quite wordy.
Possible shorter versions:

a) If you need key-value pairs, use associative arrays; otherwise, use simple ones.

b) If you need key-value pairs, use an associative array; otherwise, use a simple one.

Version B uses the singular form which I don't like.
Version A looks ambiguous to me. It lacks a point that each array can contain many key-value pairs.
My questions:

Is it correct that version A is ambiguous?

Is it a good case to use "old, dated, boring" replacement (in cases where or in cases in which) instead? Or there is a better way to fix this issue?


texts:
Looking for a word for something that was not done on time, but has to be eventually.

  If you don't complete this assignment this week, it will be your _____(debt?) for the next one.

The answer should be something else, but backlog item.


texts: What do you call a person who is willing to be a reference for someone?

texts:
Joe asks his ex-boss Mary if she is willing to be contacted by future potential employers. What do we call Mary?

"Referee" is one word used for this, but that means "sports umpire" to most people.

"Reference" is another ("Will you be a reference for me"), but  "reference" to most people means the action or the text of the recommendation, not the person. Also, "Will you provide a reference for me?" might mean "Will you write a recommendation?", not "Are you willing to  (interactively) vouch for me"? (e.g., by phone or email conversation)

What word do we use for this willingness to interactively vouch for someone?


texts: Too many "and"s and commas in a sentence

texts:
Sometimes when I write some scientific papers, I feel there are too many "and"s and commas in a sentence which might lead to some confusion because usually the logic in scientific papers is quite complex.
E.g.,

Today, I wet met my friends, Aaron, Bob, and Carlo, and we had a lot of fun talking about science, philosophy, and politics.

First are the comma before "and"s mandetory. I heard different versions. I am confused.
How to avoid them? Or this is clear for most people?


texts: What is the 'last_name, first_name' format called?

texts:
Is there a name for the format of listing names by 'Last name, first name'?  For example, how names were listed in phone books when those existed. Ex: this list of names is sorted (blank style):

Goodman, Leo
Herman, Bob
Smith, John


texts:
If someone has a tight schedule or is a little strange, for the sake of politeness, I want to say him that I am not in a rush and you can take whatever time you need to answer me.

Could you please give me some advice? Some phrases or words maybe.

Thanks


texts: Word for flaws associated with an overly rule-based cognitive style

texts:
I am looking for a word which describes the psychology behind multiple related behaviors. I feel that it's at the tip of my tongue, but I can't seem to get it.

I want to describe this person as someone who:

1) attempts "reductionism", but wrongly, by simply choosing not to perceive the complex and mysterious parts of the phenomenon

2) neglects the big picture in favor of salient details

3) is overly reliant on formal rules to decide things

4) focuses too much on the literal meaning of things

5) displays weaknesses analogous to Spock or Data on Star Trek.

Words which I've considered but rejected: dogmatist, legalist, formalist, stickler, rigid, and myopic. I'll probably use myopic if no one suggests anything better.

Sentences this word might be used in:

  The medical system is often [blank], focusing on disease processes while ignoring overall health and lifestyle.
  The Pharisees were [blank], focusing on the minutia of the law while ignoring the deeper spirit.
  On of the symptoms of autism is [blank]: the patient will often obsessively focus on a a narrow topic, insist that their daily routine is conducted "just so", and persevere in thinking on minor details which are no longer relevant.
  Schools often take a very [blank] approach to language learning, focusing on vocabulary and grammatical rules rather than simple immersion and dynamic communication

[Edit:  I have no opinion, positive or negative, on actual Pharisees and apologize for any offense caused. It was just an example of the word I wanted which I noticed while googling for synonyms. (And preemptively, I am also not intentionally expressing actual opinions of medical systems, schools, or autism here; I'm just pulling stock phrases I've seen people use that fit the tip-of-the-tongue word the wild. In hindsight that's probably not a good practice.)]


texts: Is it correct to say "quantitative zeal" to mean an enthusiasm for maths?

texts:
If one was wanting to say that someone had a passion/enthusiasm for something like mathematics, can it be said that "they have [a] quantitative zeal" or "they are full of quantitative zeal"?

I normally think of zeal to mean excitement or enthusiasm; however, I felt that saying something like: "they had a zeal for mathematics" seemed awkward, and I would probably look for something else if I couldn't use the first usage I mentioned.


texts: What single word means "uncritique-able"?

texts:
I'm looking for a single word be for unable to be critiqued - "uncritique-able" - as in - "some people would say that the bible is "uncritique-able." I want the word to convey that one should not critique it, rather than that there is nothing worthy of being critiqued.

Not merely sacred, but something more specific.


texts: What is the difference between Community College and Junior College (JUCO)?

texts:
In American English, I've always heard Community College in academic conversations, but Junior College (or JUCO) in athletic conversations.  Such as:

I went to community college before attending State University.

Cam Newton played for a junior college before joining the Auburn Tigers.

Is there a difference between the two types of schools?  If there is no difference in the type of school, are there reasons why Junior College/JUCO is used primarily in sports contexts? any thought why I commonly hear JUCO only in a sports context, but community college in academic context?


texts: Why does "-ing" go to "-in" in some dialects?

texts: In some English dialects "-ing" is replaced by "-in" (e.g., "taking" to "talkin'").  "ng" ([ŋ]), the velar nasal consonant, is done at the back of the mouth, but "n" ([n]), the alveolar nasal consonant, is done at the front of the mouth. Why would whatever linguistic shift that happened move the sound from the back of the mouth to the front, rather than keeping the new sound also at the back of the mouth?


texts: Is there a word for a person that can do impossible things?

texts: Is there any word for a person that can do impossible things? For example a person that can walk on water. And not magician.


texts: Small Question Regarding Article the or a

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are there any simple rules for article usage (“a” vs “the” vs none)

I always don't understand which one to use, a or the or nothing.

I got a question about programming and wanted to ask something like "What would be the best way to release a beta version of a plugin?" Here I'm always not certain that a noun after the of, in this case, plugin, should have which article, a or the or none.

Which one is correct?

"What would be the best way to release a beta version of a plugin?"
"What would be the best way to release a beta version of the
plugin?"
"What would be the best way to release a beta version of
plugin?"

I understand that a means one of many and the means a specific one. So I guess #1 is the correct sentence but I'm not sure.

Also if the sentence gets more details like "What would be the best way to release a beta version of (a/the/none) plugin of WordPress?"

Then it becomes specific to WordPress so should the noun, plugin, have an article, the? But there are so many WordPress plugins in public. So it could be a; I don't know.

But what if the sentence is like "What would be the best way to release a beta version of (a/the/none) plugin of WordPress which I'm currently working on?"

This one should be the I guess because it's very specific.

This is really a hard part to get in English for me.

Thanks for your explanation.

[Update]

I found another confusing case.

  Me: If I use the WordPress caching functionality, does it slow down
  (the/a/none) page loading speed?

  Somebody: No, it won't affect (the/a/none) speed.

  Me: Are you sure? How can you tell it won't affect  (the/a/none)
  server responses?

In this case, it's specific to the speed on a server which uses WordPress caching feature. However, it could be many; there are lots of Web servers which installed WordPress and using the caching system. So it could be one of those. So I don't know if a could be applied here too.


texts: Why the shortening of "fitted" to "fit"?

texts: Which is more correct, "it fit really well" or "it fitted really well"?  The short form is something I encountered when moving to the US, I never heard it in the UK.


texts: Why was a dash placed directly after a semicolon?

texts:
In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, there was a semicolon accompanied by a dash placed immediately afterwards:

  ... [W]ith the ever-varied powers of nature; — nor can I doubt but ...

Why would she do such a thing?


texts: Is there a word in English for someone who likes to experience something which has somewhat been experienced by himself already?

texts:
For example someone who has bought a cellphone a week ago but now wants to change that and buy a new one; or imagine someone who wants and likes to have a sex with a woman or a man first he wants a tall one and just after the first or second sex he or she gets bored and wants a blonde one and then brunette and after that slender and so on . And I want to say someone who gets bored with having or doing something too soon.

To be clear, imagine someone who isn't going to be satisfied with something he has or has experienced already and wants to have and experience something else which he thinks it is better.
There is a word fickle that is kind of similar to what I mean, but the definition is not what I'm looking for.


texts: What is the effect called when one looks at a bright light, and the image "burns" into one's eyes?

texts: When I glance at the sun, or a bare light bulb, I find that when I blink, or move my eyes, a superimposed image of the bright object appears wherever I look.  What is this called?


texts: Antonym for "unify" that sounds equally as eloquent?

texts: Is there an antonym for the word unify that sounds just as "eloquent" as the word itself? I feel like separate isn't really that great of a word.


texts:
From the U.K. band Kasabian's song "Treat", there's a lyric like this:

  Everybody knows I work it work it like a treat

What's the meaning of the word treat in that phrase?


texts: Is there a single word to describe a person who bests suits the description of the old fashioned expression - "penny-wise and pound-foolish"?

texts:
I am curious to know if there is a single word to describe a person who bests suits the description of the old fashioned expression - "penny-wise and pound-foolish"

As per Cambridge dictionary, this expression means the following -

"to be extremely careful about small amounts of money and not careful enough about larger amounts of money'

Please note that this question is not a duplicate of an earlier question which was asking a term for describing someone who is "profligate with small expenditures but foolishly thrifty with big ones". If I have understood this correctly, I assume this is quite the opposite of what I have asked here. If my understanding is incorrect, I have no issues with flagging this as duplicate.


texts: Why is this use of the word "meaning" not quite right?

texts:
Today one of my students gave me some writing as part of her preparation for a Cambridge Proficiency exam.

She was describing how after she'd moved away to go to university she'd temporarily lost touch with a friend, Maria,  whom she'd gone to school with, and had lived in the same town as, for many years. Her friend had had a very bad time after a relationship break-up in the intervening period.

She explained how her friend eventually told her that she had felt:

  "we were too distant (and not only in the geographical meaning) ..."

Now it's clear that the word sense would have been better for this student's needs here (please bear in mind the very, very high level of this exam). Exactly why is sense better than meaning here?


texts:
I am reading a book about English verbs.  The first chapter gives some basic definitions, and said that "be" can be used as a lexical verb and as an auxilliary verb.  For example: "I am tall" or "I am running"; or "He is happy" or "He is reading".

My question has several parts:

1) Why can the "be" verb be used in these different ways?

2) Why does English require this "helping" verb for the progressive tenses.  When you think about it, what is it really "helping?"  It seems only useful in the sense of distinguishing the simple tenses from the progressives.  Why not say "I now read" or "I now reading" and use "now" or some other word as the "helper?"

3) When you say "I am [word]," you are saying the subject has this quality, is in this state of being, or is the word.  For example "I am tall," means you have this characteristic, "I am sad," means you are in this state of being, and "I am a fireman" means that you and fireman are the same.  So, if you say "I am reading," it seems that you are somehow saying that you and the activity of reading (the gerund sense of the word) are the same.  There seems to be a kind of relationship between you and "reading."  Is this what's really going on but is just invisible to must of us?  Is there some history to the use of "be" that addresses this (or is this more related to the development of "ing" in English?)


texts: "In general,...": do mathematicians use this phrase oppositely from everyone else?

texts:
In mathematical writings, one often encounters statements involving the phrase "in general" in the following sense:

  After the number 2, the next few prime numbers (3,5,7) are each odd numbers, and in fact it is true in general that all prime numbers after 2 are odd. However, it is not generally true that all odd numbers are primes.

In other words, the phrase is being used to stress that there are no exceptions to the truth of the claim being proposed.

It just occurred to me how strange it is that most everybody else uses this phrase with precisely the opposite connotation, to indicate what is usually the case while acknowledging that it is may not always be the case. For example,

  In general, Canadians tend to like ice hockey, though occasional exceptions do happen.

Is there any reason for how these apparently divergent meanings came to be in use?


texts: Fitting interjection for "that's nothing"

texts:
What would be an appropriate interjection to express little bit of disdain, like

I made it in 30 minutes.
Aaah, that's nothing, my friend did it in 15.

Is there something more fitting than "aaah"?


texts:
Is there any difference between these two sentences:

"The Democrats tend to increase taxes, discouraging rich people from voting for them"
"The Democrats tend to increase taxes, which discourages rich poeople from voting for them"

The first version of course sound much more formal, but are there any other (less 'obvious') differences?


texts: What is the correct pronunciation of the word “ma’am”?

texts:
Back in the day, the word ma’am (when addressing the Queen) was always pronounced “marm”. British TV shows from before the 80s confirm this.

In the movie The Queen, we are told that the correct pronunciation for ma’am is “ma’am” as in “ham”, and not “ma’am” as in “farm”. Some people seem to think this has always been the case. But it has not.

Is this pronunciation a modern development?
Is it a preference of the current sovereign?

Or have we been pronouncing ma’am wrongly throughout the centuries?


texts: Term for someone who does more for strangers than family for friends

texts:
Is there a word to describe (from a family or friend's perspective) a person that would go out of their way to do more for a stranger than for their family and friends.

I am also wondering if there would be different words if the reason or motivation for doing this is different, e.g. if this person's family is rich and doesn't need money so they give money to other people to help them out, or if this person doesn't feel close to their family (or treats them the same as strangers).


texts: What does ‘ticket to oblivion’ mean? Is this a frequently used phrase?

texts:
I found a phrase – ‘Ticket to Oblivion’ in today’s Washington Post article titled ‘State of the Union ‘response’ often a mixed-blessing for the responder.’
I understand this phrase refers to difficulty of making ‘Response addresses,’ which tend to be (or destined to be) outshone by State of Union well-prepared in advance. The article gives several examples of failed Response addresses in the past, such as one delivered by Jim Webb (D.Va.) in rebuking the then President Gorge W. Bush’s statement of Union in 2007.
However, what does 'ticket to oblivion' precisely mean? Is it a well-established English phrase? What's the origin of the phrase?
The article also says ‘Past response speeches show how hard it is to strike the right tone.’ I want to know the meaning of ‘strike/striking the right tone.’

Every year at this time, politicians say it's an honor to give the opposition party's "response" to the State of the Union Address. History proves this is usually false.
After [President Obama], as America's TV viewers get drowsier, Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) will give the Republican response. This year, Ryan's job is made even more complicated by the fact that another Republican will give a "tea party" response after him.
"Have a 'ticket to oblivion,'" said Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American University, said about Ryan.


texts: Where is the stress of the noun "Portuguese"?

texts:
Studying suffixes I've learned that "-ESE" is a strong suffix, therefore it holds the main stress when it's added to a word (e.g. China -> Chinese; Japan -> Japanese; journal -> journalese; etc.).

Based on that and on the IPA of most known dictionaries, the correct pronunciation of Portuguese would be with the stress on "-ESE". However, I've watched a YouTube video from an American guy learning Portuguese by himself, and he stated that Portuguese must be stressed on the first syllable. This really disturbed me.

I've checked many dictionaries and found on Dictionary.com and Forvo.com that both pronunciations actually exist. It's not clear, though, whether this is something regional, or why there are two different pronunciations for a word that should have only one, base on the strong suffix "-ESE".

So, I would like to understand this. Which one is "more correct" (if I could ask that), and why is this variation acceptable?


texts: Etymology of "save" in the meaning of "except", "but", "unless"

texts:
Why does save also mean

  other than : but or except "We had no hope save one."

  except for the fact that :  only —used with that

  but, except —used before a word often taken to be the subject of a clause

  "Little is known about his early years save that he left home when he was very young."

This question is specifically about the origin/etymology of this particular meaning of the word.

Merriam-Webster just says

  Middle English sauf, from Anglo-French salf, sauf, from Latin salvus safe, healthy; akin to Latin solidus solid, Greek holos whole, safe, Sanskrit sarva entire

I am able to connect solid or whole or entire with the common meaning of safe/save, but how is it connected with except/but/unless?

Supplementary question: is this usage of save now archaic? M-W doesn't say so, but I have never heard it used in a live speech.


texts:
Either they were friends or lovers, it's always just the two of them.

Though friends or lovers, it's always just the two of them.

I was wondering if both sentences mean the same thing, or does each one mean a completely different thing, and which one is more suitable in this context.
Also I'd like to know more about the usage of "though" & words of the same "family".


texts: Is the phrase "Traffic Revision" generally used to describe temporary or permanent changes of traffic flow?

texts:
When I first moved to Washington state, I would see mystifying traffic warning signs that would announce "Traffic Revision Ahead" as I was driving and then be in the midst of roadwork and lane changes a few seconds later.

I don't recall exactly what signs said in my home state of Nebraska for this situation but I think they would post a sequence of signs, a "Roadwork Ahead" followed by a "Lane Changes Necessary" indication.  Either that or a display of "Detour Ahead" before the work.

Once I understood by context what I was in for when I saw such signs, I used to imagine a civil engineer sitting at a desk thinking "I have a vision; No... I have a revision".

Is this usage of "Traffic Revision" known anywhere else in the English speaking world, or is this a coinage specific to  Washington state in the United States?


texts: On second glance, at second glance, on a second glancing, etc

texts:
Unfortunately, I've seen all of these being used in very similar contexts:

  On second glance

  On a second glance

  On a second glancing

I'm asumming there's no different for this idiom no matter the ordinal number, so it should be "at second glance".

The sentence in question is:
On a second glancing through that list...

Should it be "At second glance through that list"?


texts: What is the origin of the British slang "bare"?

texts:
In British slang, the word "bare" can be used as an intensifier, as in

  That film is bare good [That film is very good]

or, from Wiktionary,

  This porno's bare whack, bruv [This porno's very whack, bruv]

It can also be used as an adjective,

  There are bare people at this party [There are lots of people at this party]

But what is its origin and etymology?


texts: term or phrase representing a placeholder or variable

texts:
How can I express in standard American English that events occur "every X days" or end "after X occurrences" — here, "X" is a placeholder for a variable and unknown quantity — without using "X" or another single-character term?

I considered using the phrase "every so many days" or "after so many occurrences", but I fear that this is a colloquialism that may not be clear to all concerned.

The context is a set of web form drop-down menus in which we allow people to choose the basis for how they schedule recurring events. I've looked at how standard calendaring software handles this, but their solutions are not ideal for persons with low vision or blindness.


texts:
The way (that) he eats amuses me.

  I found the way (that) leads out of here.

  I love ice-cream in the same way (that) I love my mom.

1) The part of speech of the word that is conjunction in all three sentences?

2) Are all three parts in bold that-clauses/noun clauses? The second one seems to be missing a subject to qualify as a clause.

3) The parts in bold, are they appositives or complements? If the latter, are they subject or object complements?


texts: Word for morally negative sexual behavior

texts: I'm searching for a broad word that is summarized by sexual transgression. Is there a single word to describe a type of behavior of those that pursue rape, pedophilia, adultery, incest, or molestation?


texts: Question about the details in meaning between gerund and to-infinite

texts:
Consider the following multiple-choice question:

The supervisors were asked ______ tasks to new employees so that they could be trained to do them properly.
A. Delegate - infinitive
B. To delegate - To + infinitive
C. delegating - gerund
D. delegation - noun

I was wondering after improvising some structures in the sentence like below.
Question 1 - What if there is a choice E: 'delegating for'?  Would this be a valid answer?

The supervisors were asked for delegating tasks to new employees so that they could be trained to do them properly.

Question 2 - Could 'for' be a substitute for 'to'? If so, will it have the same meaning?

The supervisors were asked delegating tasks for new employees so that they could be trained to do them properly.

Could this make sense too? Under the premise that delegating tasks is the noun to have meaning itself.


texts: "Who's been waiting" vs "Who've been waiting"

texts:
Which form of this phrase is correct?

  for everyone who's been waiting

or

  for everyone who've been waiting

I've heard "who's" used more often in this context but "who have" sounds more correct than "who is" in this phrase.
However, "to be" in a state of waiting seems more logical than "to have" a state of waiting, unless it works like Tener in Spanish.


texts: Is there an English equivalent of the Italian idiom "non confondiamo l'oro con la tolla!"?

texts:
In Italy we say "non confondiamo l'oro con la tolla!" (= don't compare gold to tin!) when someone compares a (concrete or abstract) high-value thing to a low-value one.

For example:

  Joe: "LaTeX è come Word" (= LaTeX is like Word)

  Carla: "Per piacere, non confondiamo l'oro con la tolla!" (=Please,
  don't compare gold to tin!)

Is there an English equivalent one?

Edit:

Replying to some criticism about my translation of "confondiamo", I'd like to point out that "confondere", literally, means "to confuse". However, in this case, I think that "to compare" makes a better idea.

Indeed, in Italian we have another idiom

  non è tutto oro quel che luce

which is the exact translation of

  all that glitters is not gold.

The expression

  non confondiamo l'oro con la tolla!

is used as a reply when someone puts on the same level two things with different value.
Hence, I think that, in this case, "to compare" is more suitable than simply "to confuse".


texts: Using 'her' vs. 'its' to refer to a country

texts:
I am currently reading Liddell Hart's "History of the Second World War", and I'm wondering why he sometimes uses her/she when talking about Japan. In my understanding of English, it should be its or their (if you want to refer to the Japanese people).

For instance:

  From 1931 onward the Japanese were aggressively engaged in expanding their footholds on the Asiatic mainland at the expense of the Chinese, ...

makes sense to me, but:

  It is remarkable that she deferred striking for more than four month, while trying to negotiate a lifting of the oil embargo

or

  Until early in 1941 Japan's plan in case of war against the United States was to use her main fleet in the southern Pacific in conjunction with an attack on the Philippine Islands, ...

does not.

Can somebody explain why Japan is female, and are there more countries for which her should be used?


texts: What does it mean "they had going in to the project" in this sentence?

texts:
Mind mapping builds a common mind about current reality and thus decreases
people's allegiance to the solutions they had going in to the project.
Thanks


texts: In technical manual how would you write: “to run the default action press the button” or to launch the default action? Or to activate? Or something else?


texts: What do you call a player on whom his or her team depends?

texts: This athlete is very good at what he or she does. The coach counts on him/her.  He's like the trustee of the game.


texts:
The following is a quote from the New York Times. What does the last sentence "Unless it isn't" mean? How can you paraphrase it?

"On the emotional fulcrum of New York City apartment-hunting, size and setting are forever in sway. Does a park view trump a guest bedroom? Is a vast kitchen worth settling blocks from a trendy thoroughfare? Usually, a compromise is struck. Unless it isn't."


texts: What is the difference between 'Muslim" and 'Islamic'?

texts:
I have seen 'Muslim' and 'Islamic' both used as adjectives to describe things relating to Islam.  Is there a nuanced difference between the two words?
I know that 'Muslim' can also be used as a noun, as in:

Muslims as the people who practice Islam.

But, are the following sentences both correct?  Are they equivalent?

The Quran is the Muslim holy book.
The Quran is the Islamic holy book.

Now that I have written this question, and tried to think of examples, perhaps Islamic is only an adverb?
Would both of these sentences be correct?

Islamic people practice Islam.
Muslim people practice Islam.


texts: Can anyone authenticate the claim that "grungy" was used to mean "envious or jealous" in 1920s slang?

texts:
A recent question on EL&U asks "Where did the 1920s slang word "grungy" (meaning "envious") originate, if the modern word "grungy" (meaning "dingy") doesn't appear until 1965?" I ran Google Books searches and regular Google searches for contemporaneous examples of grungy in the sense of "envious or jealous" from the 1920s or thereabouts, and I consulted a number of dictionaries of slang in hopes of finding citations to actual instances of this usage, without success.

I did find, on the wider Internet,  multiple virtually identical lists of "Slang of the 1920s" that included the entry "Grungy: envious" or "Grungy: jealous"—without citation of any authority or quotation of any historical example or identification of the originator of this list of terms.

So I am looking for answers to three questions:

  What published reference work has confirmed the 1920s usage of grungy to mean "envious or jealous"?
  What are some examples of this usage in contemporaneous (1920s, approximately) sources?
  What is the source of the samizdat-like list of "Slang of the 1920s" that is circulating online?

My chief concern is that there may have been no such usage as the online list claims; but if such usage did exist, I would love for EL&U to provide the authentication/attestation that is so sorely lacking elsewhere on the Internet.

UPDATE (7/28/14)

At this point, I think I've found fairly solid answers to the first and third questions above. The earliest printed source of the assertion that grungy meant "envious" in 1920s U.S. slang appears to be Tom Dalzell, Flappers 2 Rappers (1996). The online source of the much-copied list of "Slang of the 1920s" appears to be The Internet Guide to Jazz Age Slang.

Unfortunately, question #2 above remains completely unanswered: "What are some examples of this usage in contemporaneous (1920s, approximately) sources?"

Any takers on this question?


texts: Is ‘Bash-a-thon’ a received English phrase or just a combination of words?

texts:
I saw the word ‘Bash-a-thon’ in the headline of the Time magazine article (August 3) -
‘Palin Joins in Romney Bash-a-thon’ followed by the lead coy:
“In an interview with Hannity, Palin takes Romney to task on debt. Says Bachmann performed better but "I'm not prejudging the field at this point."

I searched several dictionaries including Cambridge Dictionaries online and Free Merriam Webster for the meaning of 'Bash-a-thon,' without finding any entry. There was an example of usage of this word – “I’m ready for a bash athon today. Bring it on.” in forums.silvertails. net.

Although I understand that ‘bash-a-thon’ is ‘bash’ plus the affix, ‘athon’ meaning a long race, I wonder whether ‘bash-a-thon’ is an established English that worth for stowing in my English vocabulary, or just a casual combination of words like ‘McKinley moment,’ Reno era’ or ‘Snake metaphor’ as I posted question yesterday.


texts: Old slang words for a kiss--cherry smashes and honey cooler--why?

texts: Cherry smashes are defined as feeble kisses and a honey cooler is simply a kiss. Cherry smashes was slang from the 1920s and a honey cooler was slang from the 1930s. Any ideas why feeble kisses would be cherry smashes or why a honey cooler would be a kiss?


texts: "a rebuke to" or "a rebuke of" - are the prepositions interchangeable?

texts:
So I just came across this phrase on the Washington Post: "The agreement represents something of a rebuke of Trump..."

To me "a rebuke to Trump" would sound more natural. I'd use of if the sentence went like "a rebuke of Trump's actions". But as I can't really explain why it should be like that, I'm guessing this is just a misguided feeling on my part. Should both prepositions be interchangeable here?


texts:
What is the meaning of the phrase "get well" efforts?

For example:

"Get Well" efforts for newly deployed systems were becoming a standard practice and were consuming funds intended for more advanced systems. (Source)


texts: Adjective that expresses the scale/range of a noun

texts:
Imagine that each country has a central library and that there is a system that will connect all of them with each other.

How can I say that

  "this is a system that connects (the libraries that are on a country basis)".

What's another way of stating the expression in parenthesis - connects libraries on a country basis?

example: on the basis of ... / based on ... / on a ... level / by ... / at the scale of ...


texts:
How can I use passive voice to say this sentence with suggest? Is this grammatical:

  These models are suggested to be phased out by us.


texts: Word for the act one does with one's hand when shooing someone/something

texts: Often, when someone yells "shoo", or "get out of here", it is often accompanied by a hand gesture. It looks kind of like a brush through the air, only more aggressive, and sometimes it kind of looks like they're pointing them away.


texts:
I was told to remove the comma when I wrote:

  He resigned from his job and took on the new, difficult role.

Is this comma optional? Or is putting it up there wrong? As I understand, if the two words can be switched around while retaining the meaning of the sentence, then a comma is required. "Difficult new role" sounds ok to me.


texts: What is the subject in the following sentence? This is the book I wanted

texts:
This is the book I wanted.

In this sentence, is 'this' the formal subject and 'book' the real Subject?


texts:
I'm looking for a word that defines something that is said that ends discussions because it can't be argued with. It's very annoying and I must find the word. My brother does it. He will say, "it's all relative" to just about anything.

No, I won't be more specific; you guys are supposed to be experts on this. Did I use that semi colon right?


texts: Correction mark: a vertical dash through a hyphen, along with vertical parentheses

texts:
I spoke with a teacher about an essay I wrote recently. We talked through certain parts which couldn't be described by squiggles and dots in red ink. This helped me, but I'm having difficulty now with identifying the meaning of certain squiggles and dots in red ink.

In "never-ending," my teacher drew a vertical dash through the hyphen, and then made vertical parentheses around the dash (two arcs, each curving from "never" to "ending").

What does this mark mean? I assume it means "remove the hyphen and separate 'never-ending' into two words."

Also, "never-ending" serves as an adjective in this context.


texts:
Forgive me if this has been asked before, but I can't seem to find the appropriate article to assist me. I'm writing clinical paper work and I need to know how to write a series of question. Here's my series of questions, how would I write this whole section? Do I need to add semicolons or question marks or get rid of any commas or colons?

This is not a numbered list. We simply have to include it in a journal that we turn in to our nursing instructor. I just need to know how to write out a series of questions in a paper. I didn’t think it’d be appropriate to write a bulleted list, but I’m not sure of the grammar rules for asking multiple questions in a paragraph. She asked us what type of questions would we ask our when we assessed them. I took the snippet below from my paper:

  Some questions I would have asked my patient include: “Have you noticed any joint stiffness”, “What are your typical everyday activities and how have they been impacted”, “How would you describe the pain you’re having and what makes it worse”.


texts: What does it mean: A utility hookup or work order dated within 60 days before registration?

texts: Does it mean any day in a timeframe of 60 days max to the action, in other words: it could be 1 day or 59 days before?


texts: Can you use "it's different" in the same way as "it depends"?

texts:
Example:

-"When do you usually eat?

-It's different "

(meaning, "it changes from day to day")

If it exists, is there a difference with "it depends"?


texts:
Mr. Kejriwal has already broached the subject with Mr. Modi, who has been non-committal.

In the above sentence, please tell if who is indicated to Mr. Modi or to Mr. Kejriwal.

If it is indicated to Mr. Modi, what if I want to indicate to Mr. Kejriwal, what would the sentence be?

Thanks in advanced.

Thanks,
Charmi.


texts:
I have a doubt question. Whenever native speakers speak, do they always assimilate?

For example, for She has used you, might we hear any of these?

ʃihæʒuːzdju
ʃihæʒuːʒu
ʃihæʒuːʤu
ʃihæzjuːzdju
ʃɪəzjuːzdju
ʃɨzjuzdju
ʃɨzjuʤu
ʃɨʒuʒʤu

If those are all possible, how can I know which I’m supposed to say?


texts:
which one is correct?

  We had a very small marriage ceremony where only close relatives and friends were invited.

Or

  We had a very small marriage ceremony where only close relatives and friends were invited to.


texts: Granting someone a wish in a humiliating manner

texts:
Context: I'm an academic, and I often apply for grants in my home country. Its a tedious work, and the application has to prove that I am capable to finish the project I propose, not only at scientific level, but at management and accounting level. After passing successfully the evaluation process, a whole different process starts. It consists in you interacting with the grant agency. The grant agency assigns you a manager who makes sure your paperwork is in order. She (it's usually a she) has a very short fuse and seems hell bent on making your life miserable. To use a metaphor, it feels like you are a famished beggar and when you beg someone for food, they throw a half eaten chicken wing on the floor and then they tell you vanish because you're disgusting. In my case, the chicken wing is my slashed budget.

So, what would be a proper idiom, or expression to describe the process by which someone answers a request in a most humiliating, condescending manner?


texts: What does "If women were a country..." mean?

texts:
If women were a country, the Japanese World Cup champion soccer team wouldn’t have flown coach

The Washington Post’s (August 13) article titled “The Women’s Olympic success: a flood that began as a trickle” begins with the following lines:

“The phrase running around the Olympic Village on the last day of the London Games was, “If women were a country. . .” The phrase will be one of the legacies of the fortnight, more lasting than the British afterglow or the disposable-kit stadiums.”

Then,

“If women were a country, the Japanese World Cup champion soccer team wouldn’t have flown coach, while their far-less-successful male teammates flew first class. If women were a country, we would all understand how hard it was for Candace Parker to win a basketball gold medal with a 3-year-old on her hip.”

I’m not clear with the logic of “If women were a country” – “Japanese WC champion soccer team wouldn’t have flown coach / we would all understand how hard it was for Candace Parker to win a basketball gold medal with a 3-year-old on her hip.”

Did “If women were a country,” actually become the buzz word of London Olympic Games?

What is the analogy of “If women were a country, Japanese women soccer team wouldn’t fly in coach / we would understand how hard for Parker to win.”?

What will follow if we say “If men were the country,” as a counterpart thesis to “If women were a country”? I can’t establish the link of logic.


texts: You can say cometh/commeth and you can say hast come but not hast cometh, why?

texts:
Why is it wrong to say/write

  hast cometh

and it's perfectly fine to say

  hast come?


texts: What is the origin of using '-wise' as a suffix?

texts:
What is the origin of using '-wise' as a suffix in expressions such as the following. Is it grammatically correct? Is it strongly idiomatic, or sloppy language?

'What is he doing job-wise these days?'

'Grammar-wise it is a good essay, but content-wise it is very thin.'

'When she goes up to university what will she do accommodation-wise?'

'Have you any thoughts of the best plan transport-wise?'