texts:
Is there an expression along the lines of

  Red cars, for the man, were like the birdwatcher's spatuletail

... assuming the spatuletail is a rare find for birdwatchers. I'm pretty sure I heard something like this not too long ago, but I can't remember what. It was definitely in that format - the profession and then something someone in the profession looks for, is unexpected to come across.

edit: I think I'm starting to recall that the expression was more along the lines of

  the archaeologist's El Dorado

..or something similar, where it means a unique breakthrough or meaningful discovery of a field rather than an uncommon but still ordinary find.

Still though, I would like to know if there's an expression similar to the one in the first example.


texts: What would be the British Equivalent Words to "Freshmen" "Sophomore"

texts:
I know that to describe which year you're in, with American English, people usually use words like:

Freshmen - 1st year college/university student
Sophomore - 2nd year
Junior - 3rd year
Senior - 4th year

However, since the British universities usually have three years in total, are there any equivalent words to these American expressions?

Or Does British people just say "I'm a third-year" instead of "I'm a junior"?


texts:
I am having troubles finding the right words or labels for a part inspection as my native language is not English and I can't seem to find the right search keywords to look at application descriptions.
In the medical sense, a test is positive if the assertion (a condition/sickness) results true, e.g. "yes, I'm sick", the illness tested for is present. But what about "binary binning" of objects/parts?

Good/Bad
OK/Not OK
positive/negative
true/false
??/defective
??/error

... ?


texts: Is there any adjective or phrase to describe two people with different approaches?

texts:
I'm looking for an adjective or a phrase to describe two poets with different approaches to a particular subject:

Speaking of two (adjective) poets, it should be noted that ...

Can I use "theoretically different"? Any other possible choices?


texts: Words with Unexpected Meanings (like "restive")

texts:
I'd like to rationalise its startling "opposite" definition which acknowledges that "The original sense, 'inclined to remain still', has undergone a reversal." What induced this change?

Moreover, is there a term for such words with ostensibly contradictory definitions to their appearance? This all induces me to think about "false friends," but here I'm asking only about English, and not comparing between 2 languages.


texts: Can a verb inside an "it's possible that"-clause governing an if-clause be in the subjunctive/bare infinitive form?

texts:
An ESL student of mine wrote:

  If they don't act quickly, it's possible that new diseases appear.

I could mark it as 'off style' on the grounds that [will] is the usual tense for said verb but I would like a deeper explanation -both for my student and myself- so I started wondering about the grammaticality of the whole construction.

Here's what I have so far: if [appear] has either present indicative or subjunctive features, it's at least ambiguous. The if-clause, however, seems to me to preclude the simple present (present indicative), which expresses habituality or fact, and require a 'dynamic' form instead, which is accomplished by [will]. But what if it's subjunctive? Would it be ungrammatical, and why? If grammatical, would there be a difference in meaning with respect to [will appear]?


texts: Is it bead art or beads art? (Popular Usage)

texts:
It seems that both terms are used to refer to beadwork but beads art seems really weird to me (think Dogs Food).

To be clear, I am not only referring to the rules of usage. I would like to know what is the most common usage - this is important for us as we need to use the preferred copy in our prints. If "bead art" is technically correct, but most people don't resonate with the term, then we would still go with "beads art". Most of the people in my company insist that it's "beads art". I think it's "bead".


texts: Doesn't, Isn't, or Won't? Which is correct?

texts:
I'm currently teaching Side by Side 4 and I'm quite confused which is the right answer for the activity. Page 68 teaches two phrases "I hope it rains tomorrow" and "I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow". Here are the given sample dialogues:

  Will our team win the game tomorrow? I hope so.
  A. I hope our team wins the game tomorrow.
  B. I hope so, too.

  Will the teacher give a quiz today? I hope not.
  A. I hope  teacher doesn't give a quiz today.
  B. I hope not, too.

The positive answers are quite easy to solve but negatives are ones confusing.

For the activity's #1, "Will I get the job? I hope so."
The answer definitely, "I hope I get the job."

Here's my problem...  Which is the correct answer for #2?

  (2). Will the cake be burnt? I hope not.
  - I hope the cake won't burn.
  - I hope the cake isn't burnt.
  - I hope the cake doesn't burn.

And what about for these?

  (4). "Will our dinner guests be late? I hope not"
  (7). "Will Dad be laid off again? I hope not"

I'm really confused which is the correct answer. I hope you could help and explain it.
Thank you so much!


texts:
I understand the phrase "try as I might..." to mean "I'm trying very hard and still..." and I'm comfortable using it in the present tense.

However, I don't understand the grammar of the phrase and therefore cannot really decide how to use it in the past tense.  Specifically, I am wondering how to say the equivalent of "I was trying very hard and still..."

Is it "try as I did" or does it just not change at all: "try as I might"?


texts: How do I punctuate a quoted question that doesn't end a sentence?

texts:
I want my character to ask a question, but I don't know the rules to punctuation. I'll give an example. Is it:

  "Are you ready to go?" He asked his wife.

Or is it:

  "Are you ready to go," He asked his wife.

I'm not sure on this, because I've seen authors do it both ways, and people have said to do it both ways. I just want to do it the most correct way there is.


texts: A word to describe something of two origin/source

texts: I'm looking for a word to describe something of two origin/source . Like a river of two origin points.


texts: Does 'upskill' refer only to increasing the abilities of people with low skills?

texts:
Or does it also include anyone who is trying to acquire new skills regardless of their initial skill level? (e.g. it could be someone who is really skilled in one discipline but wants to acquire new skills in a completely different discipline).

For example, on this White House report they state: "Workers who can benefit from upskilling are both those that are in lowwage jobs as well as those with low skills."
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/150423_upskill_report_final_3.pdf


texts: Again, "if it wasn't" or "if it weren't"?

texts:
I have read a lot of information about this topic, but I still don't know why my book says that the answer is "wasn't" in the following sentence:

If the driving test ___________ so difficult, there would be more accidents.

If this is a hypothetical case (the fact is the test is difficult, not easy), why does my book say the answer is "wasn't" and not "weren't"?


texts: Is "A is associated with B" equivalent to "B is associated with A?"

texts: Can we use equivalently "A is associated with B" and "B is associated with A"??


texts: Counties with a large college population vs counties with large college populations

texts:
First, I would like to introduce two sentences I have encountered in a news article.
(1)

Since the end of August, deaths from the coronavirus have doubled in
counties with a large college population, compared with a 58 percent
increase in the rest of the nation.

(2)

In counties with large college populations and where deaths had
increased notably in the fall, local health officials offered a wide
range of explanations.

What attracts may attention is the subtle difference in these two sentences--between counties with "a large college population" and "large college populations."
To me, the phrase "counties with large college populations" is more natural because the plural form of population corresponds to the plural "counties"--different counties should have different populations as a matter of fact?
But apparently, both usage is valid as the same writer uses both expressions in the same article.
I guess the expression "counties with a large college population" maybe places some emphasis on something, but I cannot comprehend it.
What is the difference between the two phrases? Is there any difference in meaning or in how native speakers perceive these slightly different expressions? Can you also explain from the aspects of grammar and practical everyday usage.
Thank you for providing your exceptional knowledge.


texts:
I know that there is a verb "to hand in" (see Merriam Webster). Is there a noun which means the action of "handing something in"? Is this also called the "hand in"? Does a sentence like "When is the hand in of your thesis?" make sense?

Or what other noun would you propose?


texts: An idiom to describe someone who thinks he/she is wiser than others

texts:
Is there an idiom in English to describe someone who thinks he/she is smarter/wiser than everyone else?

In Polish, we have an idiom, which literally translated, would sound like:

  He/she has eaten all minds


texts: Derivative/relative of "introspection" but for external phenomena

texts:
Is there a derivative of the word introspection that does not relate to "spect"-ing oneself but external phenomena yet still contains the spection part?  Like for example extraspection (which, I guess, is not a word).  For example:

  It took a lot of extraspection to arrive to the scientific findings.


texts: usage of while and when and their interchangeability

texts:
I'd like to know whether 'when' and 'while' are interchangeable:

I was cooking when he came in.
I was cooking while he came in.
He came in while I was cooking.
The phone always rings when I am cooking.
The phone always rings while I am cooking.
The phone rang while I was cooking.
The phone rang when I was cooking.

1, 3, 4, and 6 are correct, aren't they? 2 and 7 seem downright incorrect. What about 5?


texts: Which or who after "the soldier and his sword"?

texts:
Which of the below is correct?

The soldier and his sword, which had been under the ruins, were dug out.
The soldier and his sword, who had been under the ruins, were dug out.

I tried to search the Internet for the rule for this but couldn't find any.


texts:
I know this may be a bit redundant to:

Recur vs. Reoccur

However, with less than 50 reputation on this board, I am unable to comment on that post. I have a specific question on the usage of these words:

I am authoring a technical report for our Information Technology group. We report on Incidents (tickets to our support groups when things break - think you're internet goes down and you call your internet provider and file a ticket with them) and sometimes there are many Incidents that happen many times every month. It's not always the same number of occurrences, but it's definitely more than 3 or 4 (most of the time we are talking 60 - 100 times) each month. We want to discuss this top and titling it has created some disagreements within our team about proper grammar.

Should this be titled:

Recurring Incidents

or

Reoccurring Incidents

I checked the definitions and looked at the previous post, but it seems vague in relation to my specific usage. I figured this board would be me determine the proper usage. Thanks so much!


texts: Is there a word for words that people are more likely to have read than heard, thus don't know how to pronounce?

texts:
As a software guy I find myself using words like "idempotent" and "cache", which I'm very familiar with from technical writings, but have seldom heard being spoken.

When I do hear someone using these words I'm frequently surprised by their pronunciation, and have no idea which of us is correct, if either.

I'm not asking for guidance on how to pronounce these words, I just want to know if there is a word or phrase to describe them.

(And if it's an uncommon word, how would it be pronounced?)


texts: internal contradiction about Talmud meaning

texts:
... the  young man who set out to study the Talmud, not because he had the slightest interest in God but because he was curious about its internal contradictions. -The Big Short by Michael Lewis-

What would be the meaning of "internal contradictions" in this sentence?


texts:
He was buried behind the newspaper like someone was going to ask him
  to recite it over.

In the above sentence, would it be better to use the phrase 'recite it back' in place of 'recite it over'?


texts: The passage of time and the fear of lost dreams

texts:
It's the midlife crisis.

You're fifty and a bit, and one day you wake up and realise you will never be the female equivalent of Leonardo da Vinci, and no one will remember who you were after you die. Time is slipping away. Quicker than you ever thought it would. And gravity has overtaken your skin and flesh.

Is there a  proverb, or succinct idiomatic phrase that expresses the realisation that time is fleeting and you haven't done the things you hoped to do when you were a young slip of a girl?

I know the idiom it's never too late, what I would like to know if there's  an expression that conveys the fear it is too late.


texts: When you say a man is a coward, does it imply femininity by default? Is ''girlish coward'' a common expression?

texts: I was wondering about this and would appreciate your take on the question.


texts: Is calling someone 'didactic' risking offense?

texts:
As I understand it, 'didactic' is used to mean something that has the ulterior motive of teaching especially in a moral connotation and also to mean patronising, or appearing patronising.

So does describing someone or someone's manners as didactic make it an offensive comment, or indeed simply mean they have the inclination to teach, moral or otherwise?

Greek being my mother tongue, I know the word stems from the greek 'διδακτικός' meaning 'someone who teaches' though in a non-professional manner, but I don't know if the word's meaning has been adapted through the language transition.


texts: Is there a word or phrase for someone who displays excessive prudishness in speech and behaviour?

texts:
Perhaps an endangered species in the 21st century, such a person will tend to use euphemisms for bodily functions and sex, instead of what they consider "indelicate words".

I'm looking for a noun or an adjective, a single word or phrase, but not "prude" or "prudish". Rather, I'm looking for a slang or proper word, or phrase, that means "excessively prude".


texts: "cinnamon and nutmeg" vs. "nutmeg and cinnamon"

texts:
I had a hunch that (at least in American usage) "cinnamon and nutmeg" was more common than "nutmeg and cinnamon". Sure enough, Google has 1.48M results vs. 829k results for these respectively; Bing shows 8.31M vs. 1.47M results respectively.
Why is this? It's hard to clearly make the case that one is easier to say than the other. Maybe because it's prosody -- the former feels more rythmical than the second? Or perhaps the "and" more naturally follows "cinnamon" than "nutmeg", because of the repeated "n" sound? Or is it likely just random linguistic evolution?
Google Ngram viewer shows that both phrases were used approximately equally in books in 1890, but "cinnamon and nutmeg" has developed a strong lead since then, currently used more than twice as frequently as "nutmeg and cinnamon" in English books.


texts:
That's not nice, is it?

or

That's not nice, is that?

Thanks guys. Tried googling, didn't work. Can't figure out a good way to search on this topic.


texts:
So I know that, generally speaking, the prefix "im-" means "not" or "the opposite of" which is fine in words like immobile, impolite, impossible etc. However, while helping my wife with her uni work I came across an interesting one: immigrate.

My research into my original query (whether emigrate or immigrate was the correct term to use for her essay) brought me to an interesting point: the word immigrate, from the definitions I've read, means something along the lines of

  to enter and usually become established; especially :  to come into a country of which one is not a native for permanent residence

Taking away the prefix, you get migrate, which means

  (of an animal, typically a bird or fish) move from one region or habitat to another according to the seasons.

Obviously in context this would mean a human moving from one place to another. My question is this: is the prefix still being used for negation in the word immigrate? Logic would dictate that the definition of it, given the definition of migrate, would be "not moving from one region or habitat to another" but isn't this exactly what you're technically doing when immigrating?

Is there another root/etymology for this word that differs from the usual im- words?


texts: Which order is right: "a ugly huge scar" or "a huge ugly scar"?

texts:
Which of the following is right? Why?

He has an ugly huge scar on his face.
He has a huge ugly scar on his face.

I would choose the second one, but I don't know why.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How to answer a negative question without ambiguity?

If someone ask you this question
 "Don't you have exam? "  how can I answer back using only (Yes and No).
that's funny - I  used to answer "Yes" then he/she ask me again  "when is your exam?"
that's confuse me because I answered "Yes" that mean I don't have Exam but she get it in wrong way. If I answer "No" then it will mean I have exam, but I don't have exam.

So which is right answer "Yes" or "No" ?

Hope my question will make sense!
Thanks


texts: Is there a difference in the actual meaning of these two sentences (average x mean)?

texts:
I'm really confused about if these two sentences actually mean the same, and if they're really interchangeable. I'm writing a scientific paper to be published in an Agronomy Journal.
"Mean fruit mass".
"Average fruit mass".
Looking for both sentences, for example, on Google Scholar, the sentence "average fruit mass" hits more results, although, to me, "mean fruit mass" sounds more correct.
Appreciate any help.


texts: Which is correct — "email me [on/at] x@y.com"?

texts:
Which variant is the correct one:

  email me on xxx@xxx.com
  email me at xxx@xxx.com
  email me to xxx@xxx.com

Or should another preposition go there?


texts:
Is there anything that implies that a "host" (noun- e.g. host of an event) is a male?  Is there anything preventing a female from being host (as opposed to a hostess)?

In context: An organization holds a weekly event.  One of several representatives from the organization hosts each event, and both genders are in the group of potential hosts.  Thus, is it sufficient to say "please contact your host..." or would this be inappropriate considering some of the representatives are female?


texts: Why "step into a car" but "step onto a plane"

texts: Why do we say stepped into a car with cars but can't say the same with planes? Instead we say stepped onto a plane.


texts: Term for a structure of nested holding companies

texts:
An example would be a corporation A, that holds a controlling interest (say 51%) in company B, which holds a controlling interest (51% again) in company C, and now company A has a controlling interest in company C while only owning 25.5% of its stock.

In Hebrew this is called a (literal translation) "control pyramid", but I can't find an equivalent term in English.


texts:
Suppose Sam is a kind of person who always follows his own will when it comes to taking actions.
In this case, are the two sentences below identical in meaning?

Sam is refusing to make it happen.
Sam is unwilling to make it happen.


texts: Can "Claptrap" be used to mean low quality?

texts:
In this article in The Age, boats being used by asylum seekers are described as being "claptrap":

  The boat, like many of the claptrap vessels flooding Italy's shores
  each week with migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the
  Middle East, had set out from Libya on Tuesday, according to the
  survivors.

Wiktionary defines claptrap to mean nonsense.

I suspect the author may have meant clapped out, which means "Exhausted, worn out", and may have also been thinking of the term death trap ("An extremely dangerous location, structure or device.")

Can "claptrap" be used to mean low quality?


texts:
In his book Unweaving the Rainbow, Richard Dawkins challenges the view expressed in Romantic poetry that the desire to analyse the workings of the world through examining its smallest components is merely to make a ‘dull catalogue of common things’. On the contrary, he says, ‘The wonder of the universe and our place in it is revealed through science in ways otherwise impossible to appreciate or imagine.’ Physiologist Francis Ashcroft, whose research investigates the function of ion channels in the beta cells of the pancreas, says, ‘I am piecing together the puzzle. My aim is to see the interconnectedness of it all – how all the bits fit together to produce something gloriously new.’

Is the emphasised part of the paragraph quoted above Dawkins's belief or the view of Romantic poetry? In other words does the phrase mean:

Richard Dawkins challenges the view expressed in Romantic poetry and believes that the desire to analyse the workings of the world through examining its smallest components is merely to make a ‘dull catalogue of common things’.

or

Romantic poetry expressed a view that assumes the desire to analyse the workings of the world through examining its smallest components is merely to make a ‘dull catalogue of common things’. Richard Dawkins challenges this view.


texts: Do you always have to put a comma before someone's name?

texts:
Example:

(1) Hello John. (2) Hello, John?

(3) How are you today John? (4) How are you today, John?

(5) I wish I could John. (6) I wish I could, John.

Must there always be a comma before someone's name?


texts: Difference between 'I love you' and 'I have loved you'

texts:
What is the difference between below phrases.

I love you

I have loved you


texts: Can you explain the meaning of this sentence?

texts:
I have asked for money from Jagan next time if he comes.

I am bit confused, whether it is completed in past or it will be in future.


texts: Usage of spend with preposition 'on' or without preposition 'on' in clauses

texts:
Sometimes we use spend like "spend something on doing something" but sometimes we are using without on like "I spend a lot of time working on  this project". Is there any difference between these usages? If yes, what is the difference?
Thank you for your help.


texts:
In one of the very first sentences of Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon

  ...feeling metal nearer and farther rub and connect...

am I right that the word 'connect' is used as a noun here? if so, is it a standard use? what does it mean exactly, is it some sort of material? I'm puzzled because I could not find any entry for such a noun in e.g. the OED.


texts: What do you call the intersection of a rectangle and a circle?

texts:
The intersection of two rectangles is called a corner, but is there a word for the intersection of a rectangle and a circle? Is it still a corner?

This picture I made probably explains it better:

(Obviously the reason I ask this is because a circle cannot/does not have any corners.)


texts: What to call an item that's neither an accessory nor a piece of jewelry

texts:
First let us paint a picture together.

Think of an individual whom wears clothes (like the lot of us); this individual also has an item around the wrist, which is not an item that affixes to another item (i.e. an accessory)

Accessory: Noun | A thing that can be added to something else in order to make it more useful, versatile, or attractive.

Also this item around this individual's wrist is not designed to enhance the aesthetic value of said person (i.e. jewelry)

Jewelry: Noun | Personal ornaments, such as necklaces, rings, or bracelets, that are typically made from or contain jewels and precious metal.
Ornament: Noun | A thing used to adorn something but usually having no practical purpose
Adorn: Verb | Make more beautiful or attractive.

What then may I call it? Is there no word that defines an object worn, that is not clothing, not an accessory to another object, and is not an aesthetic enhancing piece of jewelry?

Think of a tool, but a tool that is designed to be worn on the body, not a tool that can be used off body of the wearer.

An example might be like how in a game an character has an extra item on their character that is designed to enhance the player in some measure; be that via magical endowment, status augmentation, etc...

We often think of jewelry in this example (earrings, necklaces, rings). But what if the piece of jewelry was hidden from sight, (under clothing) and not design for aesthetic purposes. At this point it is no longer jewelry.

Or, maybe, as I am writing this, the word accessory is the correct word! As what the accessory is being affixed to is the human body itself... (well I'm going to go ahead and post this question to see if anyone else may know of a better word.)


texts: What really is a "Yester" in Yesterday or Yesteryear?

texts: Apparently, Yester cannot be used alone in a sentence, except when accompanied by "day (yesterday) or year (yesteryear)". It cannot be used incombination with other portions of time like; yestermonth, yesterweek, yestersecond, yesterminute, yesterhour or yestermillisecond. So what is "Yester"?


texts: Word for expressing oneself non-verbally

texts:
Looking not specifically for a word, but a description of someone who expresses their feelings, emotions in an authentic manner.  Someone who doesn't have to say much to convey their state; one can understand them by being around them, feeling rapport  not verbally.

Character examples:  Joe, from Nymphomaniac, or the main character of Under the Skin.


texts:
What are their similarities and differences? The definitions on http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/susceptible look similar: for example,  A is 'influenced or affected' by B, if and only if, "A allows B". So same meaning?

I see that the examples containing + of connotes negativity, but does this imply anything (more profound)?


texts: How could people identify words by listening if they don't actually know it?

texts:
For example, someone just said "I would take you to flower house".
If the listener does not know "flower" and "house", Can he find that there are two words that he does not know? or He can just find that there are some syllables that he can’t decode, and he may treat “flowerhouse” as a single word.
Generally speaking, It is just some continuous syllables when we hear English. How could we know some syllables belong to one word, and some other syllables belong to another word, etc.?
When I use “how people know the separation of two words by sound” to google the question, It just give answer like “How to Count Phonemes in Spoken Words” which is about how to use syllable as block to build a word. But What I want to know is how could people could distinguish two unknown words.
Any advice or keywords for further searching is appreciated.
Thank you
----------------------Edit at 2020/8/4-------------------------
Thank all you guys for replay. Can I summarize that:
1.There is no way to definitely separate each word just by listening
2.If people want the listener clearly know the construction of the sentence, they should reform the sentence in a more structured way, like “I would take you to ___ that XXX”
The reason that push me to ask this question is in some other language, such as Chinese, each character is constructed by One vowel and 1-3 consonants. So, you can know exactly how many characters you have just heard, even if you don’t know all words in the sentence. So, I want to know whether there is some parallel attribute in English.
@Edwin Ashworth
Why is ‘four candles / fork handles’ a conundrum?
“four candles” is pronounced as /fɔː kændəlz/
and “fork handles” is pronounced as /fɔːk hændəlz/.
So, there is one more syllable /h/ in “fork handles”.
Unless you don’t clearly pronounce /h/, It should be clear-cut between them.


texts: What is the opposite of numerous? I expected the answer to be innumerous, but that seems to mean too many to count. There must be a negative to numerous that isn't simply few.


texts:
Please tell me the proper use of blast  as a verb and what the difference is between

  The cylinder has blasted.

and

  The cylinder has been blasted.


texts: Is the singular "they" acceptable in formal writing?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun (“his” versus “her” versus “their”)?

I am linking to this post for reference.

The acceptability of "they" as a singular pronoun is growing.  Has it grown to the point where it is acceptable in formal publications, such as journal articles, business proposals, or political speeches?

It seems to be that it is not quite there; most people are still too concerned about being negatively judged for it.  However, the options of "one", "he or she", and "s/he" are similarly avoided for their cumbersome and pedantic tones.  I often see either "he" or "she" used exclusively as an alternative, however, as there is no official stance on one pronoun or the other referring to either or,  this opens the door for issues of implicit gender discrimination.

I try my best to skirt the issue altogether when I write, often dramatically revising paragraph -- and even paper-- structure.  This, of course, is ridiculous.   What is the best option for communicating the very commonly needed genderless singular personal pronoun in formal situations?


texts: Did the modern British accent originate from a speech impediment?

texts:
I have heard a theory that the modern British pronunciation (as compared, for example, to American pronunciation) started when somebody in the monarchy had a speech impediment (perhaps rhotacism) and, rather than humiliate the person, aristocrats adopted the same affectation, and it developed and persisted from there.

Is there any truth or substance to this theory?  Or is there evidence to debunk it?


texts: A word to describe a person who makes a lot of mistakes but is unaware of it

texts:
What do you call a person who always or gradually makes mistakes, but is unaware that they're making those mistakes? For example,

  Nicolo and I are partners in a group project. The instructor asks a question about the project and Nicolo, nonchalantly, answers, not knowing he's leading our project's performance into failure. He's very confident he's doing the right thing, but he really isn't.

Is there any word that can describe this situation?


texts: Is there a nautical equivalent for "battlefield"?

texts:
Is there a specific term to describe the area of a sea on which a nautical battle (perhaps between two large fleets) takes place?

Somehow the term "battlefield" seems inappropriate when there is no field.


texts:
I was wondering if there is a literary technique in the following quote:

  "Let us be sacrificers but not butchers"


texts: Which of the following two sentences is more correct?

texts:
Please help me with next:
Which kind of sentence is more correct:

a. We decided to present you Jim, Department Manager of Sam, as a contact person for ...
b. We decided to present you Jim, Department Manager which employs Sam, as a contact person for ...


texts: Seemingly quintessentially British non-medical meaning for "surgery"

texts:
Due diligence: I have Googled the word "surgery," and I have reviewed a couple of dozen past questions on this site related to the word "surgery." I have not found a satisfactory answer to the question which follows.

I hail from the United States. I recently had occasion to consult the website of the British Parliament. I noticed that in the sections for individual members the word "surgery" would often occur along with a listing of days and times. Internal evidence suggested that I should interpret "surgery" to mean "office hours" -- i.e., when a person could expect to find the M.P. in the office.

First of all, is my conception correct?

If so, how did "surgery" come to have this non-medical connotation?

Thanks to all who have offered, or will offer, answers.


texts: Is this the right way to use "wouldn't"?

texts:
I apologize if this is a duplicate or anything for that matter but I didn't locate any questions on it.

I have this phrase I wrote and it is confusing me a little bit.

  An OAHU Agent can help at no extra cost to you! Wouldn't you want an extra layer of protection during this very confusing time?

Wouldn't breaks down to would not if I am correct and which can also be written as in:

  Would not you want an extra layer of protection during this very confusing time?

That just doesn't make sense to me. I know I am not an expert in English language, but it does sound right as wouldn't.

Any ideas? Am I using it wrong all together?


texts: What's the difference between “vita”, “curriculum vitae”, “maintenance history” and “résumé”?

texts:
As far as I know, the words

vita
curriculum vitae
résumé
maintenance history

all mean a document that includes information about your life and your education that you give a company if you want to get employed.

Are there differences in the usage? When would you rather say one or the other? Do they have different connotations?


texts: Is "quintessential example" correct usage?

texts:
Since quintessential means "representing the perfect example of a class" is it correct to use "the quintessential example" as in this sentence:

  "Electrons are the quintessential example of (apparently)-elementary particles."

or is it better to write:

  "Electrons are quintessential (apparently)-elementary particles."


texts:
Is is possible to say that "Above" means "over" and "Under" means"below", but not the opposite?

According to my grammar:

Over - In a higher position (close or touching)
Above - In a higher position

Under - In a lower position (close or touching)
Below - In a lower position

Example:

  There's a helicopter flying round above / over the school.

I would interpret this sentence as "above" meaning almost touching the school or not. And If I hear "over", the helicopter is almost touching school.

This makes me think about "over" and "on". "On" means that something is touching something, but if "over" can mean also "touch".Well, I would never use "over" to mean "touching something", I would use "on" instead.


texts:
This is from a recent article:

  He was rushed to the hospital immediately and a battery of tests was
  conducted.

Now shouldn't it be

  He was rushed to the hospital immediately and a battery of tests were
  conducted.

Which is correct and why is it correct? :)


texts: Relative clauses. What time should I use? (Point of action?)

texts:
I have a sentence. I'm not sure if it's correct, but I have to ask. I know theory about reffering to the previous clause, but I don't know how it works here.
What I think:
a) I saw an article about guys who had been driving car while listening to their favourite artist, and who had had a car accident because of that
b) I saw an article about guys who had been driving car while listening to their favourite artist, and who had a car accident because of that
So I have a problem.
In "a" I assume that "who - clause" and "and who - clause" are subordinate to "I saw an article about guys", do in both parts I have to use past Perfect because it happened before "I saw an article about guys"
In "b" I assume that "who - clause" is subordinate to "I saw an article about guys", and "and-who clause" is subordinate to "who-clause", so I have to use in "who-clause" past Perfect because it happened before "I saw...", and I have to use past Simple in "and-who clause" because it happened simultaneously with "who-clause".
Can someone explain me that?


texts: Is the bold part of the following sentence problematic?

texts:
Vexed, I punched him in his upper arm to force him out of his trance.
Head still drooped, he responded by grabbing my wrist before I could withdraw my hand.
I want to express the idea of him not even raising his head while grabbing my wrist.
His head was originally drooped.


texts:
This is a portion of a sentence:

  ...rose suddenly and shockingly a dazzling strip of bright blossoms,
  clumped together in enormous mounds...

Would these be the nouns?

  ...rose suddenly and shockingly a dazzling strip of bright blossoms,
  clumped together in enormous mounds...

or

  ...rose suddenly and shockingly a dazzling strip of bright blossoms,
  clumped together in enormous mounds...

...in other words, does "strip" count as a noun in this case? Also, are there any other errors that I have made in identifying the nouns?


texts: "Whenever I discuss X, people don't know what I'm talking about" -- why the progressive tense?

texts:
Consider the two sentences:

Whenever I discuss X, people don't know what I'm talking about.
Whenever I discuss X, people don't know what I talk about.

I think the first one should be obviously idiomatic to any anglophone, while the second one sounds unnatural, ungrammatical, and wrong. But why?
"Whenever" implies regularity, a repeated action, so we use the Present Simple tense. Hence, it should be "discuss", "know", and "talk". Instead, "talking" is idiomatic.
Can anyone provide a good grammatical rationale for this phenomenon? I would appreciate any authoritative references since I'm drawing a blank.
Thank you!


texts: Can keep be used as a replacement for store?

texts:
One of google's definitions for keep is:

put or store in a regular place.
"the stand where her umbrella was kept"
synonyms:  store, house, stow, keep a place for, put away, place, put, deposit, stack, pile
"the stand where her umbrella was kept"

To me, the example and some of the synonyms don't quite work together. My question is can keep be used in place of store in this sentence: 'I stored my wallet in my pocket.' Would the sentence be correct if I wrote 'I kept the wallet in my pocket.' (The scenario is that the wallet is already out of my pocket and I'm putting it away in my pocket.)?


texts: what is the meaning of Colette Baron Reid quotes?

texts:
There is this quote :

Quote :

  There is a surrendering to your story and then a knowing that you
  don't have to stay in your story.

by : Colette Baron Reid

Question :

I am not a native English speaker and i would like to know the meaning of this quote, please ?


texts:
Increasingly over the last few years, UK supermarkets and grocers have offered us things called 'Easy Peelers' (also easy-peelers, and in one case I've seen, easypeelers).
It's a generic term that covers a number of similar citrus fruits, including satsumas, tangerines, clementines and the like. As far as I can tell, they use it to cover seasonal variations (satsumas aren't available all year round, but there's always something on the easy-peeler shelf). It enables them to introduce 'unfamiliar' varieties (what the hell's a minneola?), and to offer some continuity to their less discriminatory customers. In my opinion, it's now a very well understood, albeit regional, term.
The meaning is clear enough: This fruit "peels easily", in other words it can be peeled easily.
And for many years, apple varieties have been described as 'eaters' or 'cookers'. Meanwhile, "Easy-to-peel" is an adjectival phrase with some history.
"Peeler" was a name given to proto-police officers, of course, and is still used as a slang term in that sense today. It's also applied to kitchen implements, such as 'potato peelers'. Neither of these is similar to the usage of "easy-peeler".
My vivid imagination has conjured up a particulary skilled stripper who might be called a 'thrilling peeler' - but then it's him who's doing the peeling. An orange doesn't peel itself.
So, might this represent a new usage of the verb "to peel"?

"How does that banana peel?"
"Very nicely, thanks."

Dictionaries (eg Merriam-Webster) offer examples of its use as an intransitive verb ("his face is peeling") as well as transitive ("peeling the label off the can"). And of course there's the passive(?) sense "to be peeled". But for the life of me I can't find an example of it used in this way. (I'm possibly mistaken, as it doesn't feel wildly unnatural.) Can anyone else come up with one?
EDIT - @Rathony has immediately found more examples, and the relevant definition:

verb 1.2 [NO OBJECT] (Of a fruit or vegetable) have a skin that can be removed:

specifically with reference to peels easily. Is there any sign that it has been, or could be, used with another adverb?
In my defence, I'll say that this definition doesn't appear in most of the online resources. But I can see now the validity of a sentence like:

Oranges peel, but coconuts don't.

To re-iterate, it's not the same as the intransitive

His sunburnt skin is peeling very painfully.

or

The wallpaper is peeling because of the damp.

as it specifically refers to the actions of another entity: the peeler. Compare also with "Will It Blend?"


texts:
I'm describing an app.

The sentence is

  X is an app that enables you to do Y

I think it doesn't sound really well.
Would

  X is an app enabling you to do Y

be better? Is this form OK at all?

Do you have other ideas?


texts: Word for sleeping somewhere for one night

texts:
I was wondering if there is a word that means to stay/sleep somewhere for only one night.
Here are a couple examples:

Abraham's servant decided to word at Rebecca's family's house.
The kind couple suggested to the poor man that he word at their house.

If more examples are needed, I will gladly supply.


texts: Replacement for "pegged" in "pegged for disposal"

texts:
I am having trouble finding an appropriate word for the following situation:

I have a group of objects which require certain actions to be performed on them. Before performing any action on any of the objects, I assess each one and determine which action will be performed.

The action at issue is "disposal", where I am looking to say that certain objects have been "pegged for disposal".

Specifically, the word "pegged" troubles me here as it seems almost conversational, whereas the affectation I am going for is more business-oriented.

"Marked for disposal" is out of the question as no marking has been made, simply an act of judgement having passed.
"Requiring disposal" also does not fit the bill as the objects themselves do not require disposal. It is not an assessment of their state but rather a judgement that has been passed upon them.
"Selected for disposal" seems to assume that the main action we are here to perform is disposal when in fact it is but one of several possibilities.

I am looking to avoid changes of the noun to an adjective, i.e. "objects deemed disposable" as this changes the meaning of the phrase as with the earlier example of "requiring".

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


texts: I'm just trying to figure out if "neither I" is grammatically correct as a standalone statment (in spoken English).


texts:
What is the simile used when comparing to dust? And what  does that comparison imply?

Something similar to "as slick as a fox"


texts: Is there a idiom to express a retail operation that closes its door as fast as it starts?

texts:
I vaguely remember hearing a phrase describing some airline charters that operates for a short period of time. I think it was from the TV show, Wings.

TIA


texts:
Can you please explain to me, why sometimes there's no article in the movie or book titles, even if these titles are singular count nouns.

For example:

"Junky" by William S. Burroughs or "Alien" by Ridley Scott.

Edit: I know they could also be titled: "A Junky", "The Junky", "An Alien" and "The Alien". Would there be any difference in the meaning?


texts: History of using "fact" as an interjection

texts:
There is a common (maybe even hackneyed) rhetorical device of interjecting the word fact before or after spoken statements to emphasize that the statement is true.
Here's an example from a TED Talk by Jamie Oliver:

Any doctor, any specialist will tell you that. Fact! Diet related disease is the biggest killer in the United States right now.

And here is an example poking fun at the device.
Often, this device is employed repeatedly, as in the following made-up example:

Fact. 99% of all Grumbles live in swamps. Fact. If Grumbles don't drastically change their mating rituals by 2017, neighboring Floobies will be sick. Fact. Floobies hate being sick.

Oxford Dictionary does not recognize the use of "fact" as an interjection. Wikitionary, however, does:

fact
Interjection
Used before making a statement to introduce it as a trustworthy one.

My questions are:
What is the history of this device? Was there a single speaker who first used and popularized it, or did it develop organically?
I tend to think that there had to have been somebody who popularized it, since it does not seem like the kind of thing that would have developed organically. But the question seems hard to research.


texts:
I heard the soft thumps of somethings heavy on cloth.

This looks wrong, but changing it to singular makes it work.

  I heard the soft thump of something heavy on cloth.

I want to keep the operational definition of "something" to emphasize the unknown quality of the items. "Some things" and "several things" sound too vague and passive. I'm also curious at this point about the answer for the answer's sake. Can "somethings" be used as a plural?


texts:
Should one put a comma before an arithmetic operation? What about long expressions?

Example: The final distance is equal to the initial distance plus initial velocity multiplied by time, plus half the acceleration multiplied by the square of time.


texts:
Which one is correct?

  I am a new graduate and have been teaching German for a few weeks now.

  I am a newly graduate and ...

I can't decide whether to use "new" or "newly".


texts: Single word for "a chieftain of thieves"

texts: I am in need of a single word for "a chieftain of thieves", if there is any. If there is none, can I use "thieves'-chieftain" instead?


texts: Can the /t/ and /v/ sounds be dropped in "what," "that" and "of"?

texts:
Is it ok to drop the 't' sound in these example:

wha that (what that)
tha the (that the)

& the 'v' (like in the the word 'of') sound

matter o fact (mater of fact)

of course, to a native english speaker


texts: Difference between 'decided on' and 'decided to'?

texts:
Examples:

I have decided on a blue carpet for the bedroom.
I have decided to emigrate to Australia.

What exactly is the difference between "decided on" and "decided to"? Is the usage simply based on construction of the sentence, or do they differ in meaning as well?


texts: Beneath snow, under snow, or something else

texts:
How can I explain briefly (like in a headline) that the city is covered with snow? Are the following examples correct, or do you suggest something else?

  Istanbul beneath (the?) snow (piles?)
  Istanbul under (the?) snow (piles?)


texts: Is it correct to use 'being' after a noun?

texts:
I found the following sentence in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (5th Edition):

You can’t expect them to sit still for that long, children being
what they are.

For me it sounds weirdly and ungrammatically because it seems that the noun 'children' leaves with no verb. I wish to use 'being' in the following way:

Being what they are, children can't sit for that long.

Or:

When children are being fidgety, they can't sit for that long.

Is this correct use of 'being' in the first example? If this is correct use, what I miss?


texts: "I'm not crowding you, am I?" figuratively

texts:
In Persian, when we are criticized for our presence somewhere, we sometimes say "I'm not crowding you, am I?" It is used figuratively to mean "Why should you feel uncomfortable about my presence?" For example:

A: Who told you to be here? Leave at once!

B: I'm not crowding you, am I?

I wonder if there is something like that in English.


texts: When do you put the comma before "like" in a list

texts:
Is there any difference between putting a comma or omitting it when you say "like" in a list?

For example, in the phrase "While I was visiting the zoo, I saw many different animals, like zebras, giraffes, and more.

Is there a difference if you remove the comma before like, or is it a matter of choice?


texts: Double Copula or "double is" in professional/technical writing

texts:
I am proofreading a professional, technical text written by someone else. In the text, I encountered, "But, the reality is is a..." My intuition says that this should be rewritten as, "But, the reality is that a..." because it looks like a "double is" or a "double copula"

However, I can't tell for sure if this is a legitimate use of two successive copulae. Does, "But, the reality is..." qualify as a dependent clause? It seems to me that "But,..." does not make the subject dependent. Am I right? Am I wrong?

The sentence with a little more context:
"But, the reality is is a company like Spacely Sprockets cannot continue to do old fashioned things..."

(We have already had a discussion about beginning sentences with "but" in professional writing. It appears that the consensus is that it is both appropriate and acceptable here.)

I would like to see a way to clearly identify this statement as something that ought to be changed in the document. Grammar dissection, linking to authoritative works and explanations of grammar mechanics will all help me answer this question. Simple answers like, "it's wrong," don't help me be a better proofreader or editor. I already know it is wrong, but I  don't know why it is wrong.


texts: Word for not realizing that you don't have all the details?

texts:
I've been looking for a pair or words that mean that a person doesn't have all the details and doesn't realize that they do not, and its opposite counter part.

I was thinking the word "partialist" would cover the first thing, but this turned out to be a DSM-IV manual sexual disorder, despite it sounding right.

For example, "He was a partialist, he didn't know what he didn't know."

I thought that the opposite would be a "comprehensivalist" or someone who knows they have all the details.


texts:
Please help me to revise this sentence.
This technique could provide a reduction of 3%, 2% and 1% for X, Y and Z, respectively.
Should I use "a reduction" or "reductions"?
Thank you very much.


texts: How to name a tenant that need/dont need maintenance from landlord side?

texts:
I found this question but it do not answer my question.
To elaborate, some tenants call very often to landlord or property manager, asking them to come in and screw in lightbulb, change the toilet seat because it broke, etc., while the other tenants are screwing in these lightbulbs and fixing toilet seats themselves. The first ones need maintenance, and the second ones dont need maintenance from landlord side.
Question is, what is the name of the first ones and the second ones?
Google translator returned me, for that word in my language, the word maintenance-free for the second ones, but could a tenant be maintenance-free for landlord?


texts:
I am using the word 'dynamic' as the following definition from the Merriam Webster's Dictionary.

3. of random-access memory :  requiring periodic refreshment of charge in order to retain data

The phrase I am trying to write is,

... emulate the dynamicality of Python with a static programming language ...

I'm not quite sure whether 'dynamicality' is a usable English word, but 'dynamics' or 'dynamism' will surely be inappropriate in this context.

Is it okay to use 'dynamicality' to refer to a broad meaning of dynamic state/aspects/characteristics/features et cetera, simply as a noun form of the adjective 'dynamic' when either 'dynamics' or 'dynamism' does not fit?


texts:
While trying to understand the term 'photogenic' better, I came across this Wikipedia page which mentions the expression 'the camera adds ten pounds'.

  With a camera, the subject is viewed through a single lens, and thus much of the three dimensional qualities of the face are lost, and the face may appear to be fuller than it actually is in real life(which is the reason for the expression that "the camera adds ten pounds")...

Does this expression refer to people looking 'bigger' in their photographs than they actually are or to refer to people looking 'better' in them? Since adding pounds usually refers to putting on weight, I would think the expression suggests that people look heavier in the photographs. But is that photogenic?


texts: Why doesn’t the verb “read” have a corresponding noun form suffixed with “‑tion/‑ion/‑sion”?

texts:
Why there isn’t a ‑tion/‑ion/‑sion derived form for the verb read verb,
such as for example the non-existent ✼readation or ✼readition?
Example with an ‑tion form:

exsanguination
disobstruction
remancipation
overoxygenation
extrinsication

Examples with ‑ion:

annotation
conjugation
insertion
direction

Examples with ‑isation:

extremisation
molarisation
ovalisation
metroisation


texts: I didn't understand the usage. What does it mean and when can we use it?


texts:
Is the use of the introductory word first awkward or confusing in the following paragraph if I don't include another sentence starting with secondly?

  In the process of learning them, I deeply felt that there were many more obstacles to overcome for girls than for boys in order to learn technology. First, generally speaking, girls are not as good at logical thinking or as familiar with various softwares as boys are. Another related fact is that professors tend to hire boys as their research assistants, which means that boys are given more opportunities to practice their technologies.

I do not use secondly to follow the adverb first. Do you think this makes my writing less clear? I myself sometimes find the use of "first, second" awkward.


texts: What is the grammatical function of a list following a colon

texts:
My ten year old son asked the grammatical function of items in a list following a colon.  Such as the sentence "There are three countries in North America: Canada, The United States, and Mexico."

My first guess was an object complement noun, but "countries" isn't actually a direct object, it's a subject complement for "There". So my current guess is that the entire list is a subject complement, but it's complementing another subject complement. Does anyone have an better explanation or actual reference on this?


texts:
Can you please clarify for me  which is  the correct answer to the following question:

Do you often have visitors?
a. Yes, pretty much every day
b. Yes, quite often
c. Not very often.


texts: Is there a term for when a character is named after a trait they possess?  Some examples are Hiro (from Heroes or Snow Crash); a person who is constantly talking named Gabby; or a teacher named Mr. Pencil.


texts: A word or phrase to describe indirect relegion insult

texts:
Suppose I follow a different relgion/faith than person X. X had a bad experience with a person Y who follows the same faith as mine. In a conversation between me, X and other friends, X is upset about the incident and starts passing remarks about Y, and that Y follows that particular faith, mocking Y's relegious gestures and clothing, ... etc. All this while X is (or acted as) completely oblivious to the fact I am sitting there and follow Y's religion.

He does not say all people who follow that faith are bad. But he passes remarks such as f word christian/jew/mulsim/hindu.. trash and so on.

Now I follow that faith, and I felt hurt. Although not religous myself, but I still have emotional connection wtih my faith. But questioning myself, I was wondering what does X do to make me feel hurt? Does indirect insult describes it enough, given it has to do with religion?


texts: Is it "on the browser" or "in the browser"?

texts:
As a native Spanish speaker, I often get confused by the correct usage of on and in. In the following examples, what would be the correct way of referring to the font size for characters used by a web page and why?

Use the correct font size on the browser.

Use the correct font size in the browser.

Thanks.


texts:
I was recently reviewing a piece of writing for a friend of mine who wrote

  Though such a theory does not describe the world we live in, it will undoubtedly shed
  light on...

I told him to change this to

  Though such a theory does not describe the world in which we live, it will undoubtedly shed light on...

I'm not entirely sure why I think this is correct besides the indirect evidence obtained from recalling that one is not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition.

Was I correct?  Is there a general, corresponding rule?  If so, what is it?


texts: Comma usage with one subject, multiple verbs, and multiple objects

texts:
Just got a writing job, part of which involves editing. There's a pretty specific type of sentence that's coming up a lot, and I'm not sure if a comma is required or not.

The sentences look like this:

  Baxter played his role well in the first game and scored tons of points throughout the series.

My question is, is a comma required between game and and?

(The remainder of this post simply explains my attempts to figure it out myself, and why I can't.)

My first thought is that a comma is required, because the and separates two independent clauses. But I'm not actually sure if that's the case, since while Baxter is the clear subject of both verbs in the sentence, he's not actually named after the and, so I'm not sure if the rest of the sentence really does constitute a second independent clause. Furthermore, a simpler form of this sentence would be Baxter played and scored. I'm almost certain that this sentence doesn't require a comma, which makes things more confusing.

My only guess at a justification for the possible difference is that in the longer sentence, each of the verbs is attached to a different object (his role and tons of points). I'm kind of stuck.

Are there two independent clauses here? Is the comma required, and why? If there weren't two different objects in the sentence (or if one or both of them were missing or merely implied) would that change things?


texts: What do we call someone who hurriedly pounds on food and eats like as though never seen before. I would like to know an alternate word for that person, either an adjective or noun.


texts: Term for an explanation that seems plausible simply because it's more complex than a more widely accepted belief

texts:
I was recently on a lengthy flight and was pondering the regulations on cell phone usage.  I've heard that the cell phone doesn't actually interfere with the plane's flight systems (or comms, or anything at all) but that one of the reasons for the "airplane mode" requirement is that A) the phone generally just won't be able to get a signal anyway, and B) if it can reach a tower, it's expensive (computationally) for the cell network to hand-off a phone that's jumping from one tower to another at 500 MPH.  Multiply this by a cockpit full of passengers, and it's a big load on the system.  This seemed fairly plausible to me, but I wondered if that was only because it was a more complex/technical answer than the more accepted "it messes with the plane" answer.  Is there a term for an explanation which seems like it might be the real reason for something, simply because it's more complicated than the more widely accepted explanation?

It's almost the opposite of Argumentum ad populum.

NOTE: I suppose that it *is* possible that I'm the only one on the planet susceptible to this phenomenon...


texts: Is "malpractice" confined to the medical world?

texts:
Could you sue a plumber, an architect or a lawyer for malpractice or would you rather have to use a different word such as e.g. "negligence"?

The Cambridge Dictionary doesn't seem to pose such a restriction but I'm not totally convinced.


texts:
I have looked at the definition of the phrase my ass, and the definition is

  "used to convey that one does not believe something that has just been said"

Could I please get some examples of how the phrase my ass is used in a conversation?


texts: What's the proper term for pronunciation marks (or is that it)?

texts:
Never heard an official term for the marks used to describe pronunciation - the various lines, carets, accent marks, etc used in the written out version, as in "prə-nŭn′sē-ā′shən"

"Pronunciation marks" seems a logical guess, as in punctuation marks, but I've no idea if there's a more proper and fancy term for them.

Collectively, that is - I'm sure each circumflex and caret has their own name when used as such. That'd be another question.


texts: What does "I kiss my sense of social belonging goodbye" mean?

texts:
What does this sentence mean?

  Living here, I kiss my sense of social belonging goodbye.

This quote is from David Mitchell's essay about his life in Japan.

As far as I understand it means something like he was enjoying his isolated life in Japan but I'm not really sure.


texts: Is there a word which means that a subject is poignant or very relevant to the current discussion?

texts:
I was having a discussion with someone who always brings up "Jumping the shark" whenever we discuss TV programs that have run, or are in danger of running too long.

When I asked them about this they said "Well, it a very good example of something that is very relevant to my point"

And I said "There should be a word for that". What's that word?


texts: The English equivalent of the Danish word "lykkeridder"

texts: In Danish, a lykkeridder refers to a person who hopes to quickly achieve wealth or happiness through little labour. I am quite confident there is an English word for this -- it is on the tip of my tongue, but I can't recall it at the moment -- can someone enlighten me?


texts:
I'm writing an essay about why people go to college.  I want to express that there are many different reasons for going to college.

  Many people, from very different background, attend college or
  university rather than enter workforce immediately after high school.
  The reasons may vary from trying to meet parents' expectation to
  fulfilling intellectual curiosity.

I'm not sure if I have used vary from correctly.

I'm wondering is it true that when using "reasons vary from A to B" reason A must be a simple reason and reason B must be a complex reason?


texts: Is there a collective term for places which serve food? These include restaurants, cafes, food trucks, etc. Preferably a word which is commonly known.


texts:
Lindsay, with A Voyage to Arcturus, tests the same visionary and linguistic envelopes. In the Orwellian view of language, the reduction of vocabulary to a functional and brutal Sun-speak is seen as a means of limiting the population's consciousness itself; pruning the gorgeous wilderness of language back to predetermined boundaries...
source: Alan Moore's Introduction to A Voyage to Arcturus

Can you please explain the meaning of Sun-speak? It is nowhere to be found.


texts: Implied Subjects & Sentence Completeness of Mission Statements

texts:
A complaint (by others, not our client) was made about a heading on a website we recently finished. They have a large header with this statement/sentence:

  Transforming the Lives of Orphaned & Impoverished Children.

The issue in question was the period, which indicated a sentence.

My specific question is: Is that a complete sentence (implied subject or no)?

A broader question would be: Do mission statements need to be complete sentences, or can they be "complete" inasmuch as the context is determined by the company/organization to which they belong.


texts:
I am looking for an expression which shows that I'm surprised at something. For example:

  What sorcery is this?

What is a good formal expression to show that I'm completely astonished and also make it seem as if the object I'm surprised at is impossible?

Edit: formal


texts: What does Homer mean when he says, "her words had wings"?

texts:
In both The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer uses the phrase "words had wings" all over the place.  Here's one quote of many:

  Then the shadow of the swift-footed son of Aeacus knew who I was, and with a cry of grief, he spoke to me — his words had wings: "Resourceful Odysseus, Laertes' son and Zeus' child, what a bold man you are!"

(Emphasis mine.)

I assume this is a Greek idiom, but I don't really get it.  What does this phrase mean, and how did it come to mean that?


texts:
What's the etymology of the phrase dead rubber? Googling, I see references to diverse sports as well as a reference in attributes it to some obscure bridge reference. I do not understand it.

Edited to add definition from top answer supplied by @Josh61 below:

  Dead rubber is a term used in sporting parlance to describe a match in a series where the series result has already been decided by earlier matches. The dead rubber match therefore has no effect on the winner and loser of the series, other than the number of matches won and lost.


texts: What does "should be borne in mind" mean?

texts: When searching borne online, its meaning says past of bear. When reading a paper, it states: "These findings should be borne in mind by designers". Contextually it sounds like designers should keep it in mind, but is there a different meaning or emphasis that this phrasing creates?


texts:
Flapping or tapping, also known as alveolar flapping, intervocalic flapping, or t-voicing, is a phonological process found in many dialects of English, especially North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English, by which the consonant phoneme /t/ or /d/ placed between vowels is pronounced as a voiced flap under certain conditions.

In Wikipedia, it says there can be flapping with both 't' and 'd'.
But there are only examples of t-flapping on that page.

Personally, I could realize that I flap 'd' in lots of words.

For example,

  "I don't know."
  "forbidden"
  "widen"

Do you guys flap 'd' in such words too?
Is it more common to flap it or not?


texts:
The title is really the question but I will elaborate with some background and examples.

I have lately seen a number of answers (on ELL mostly) which state that something is ungrammatical because its meaning doesn't make sense (I'm paraphrasing). An example of which I of course can't find right now (will edit if I do).

I know of the famous sentence by Chomsky "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously." which seems to strictly answer my question in the negative but I think there is a bit of an issue here. That sentence is nonsensical in a very obvious way and moreover has an easy structure.

The reason I feel there might be some merit to the semantics argument is because I think it affects "introspective grammaticality judgments" (so many names for things you can find on the wiki).

Consider the following two sentences taken from this post.

  This would have been cause to doubt that divine favour has been bestowed on Romans.

and the proposed changed version

  This would have been caused to doubt that divine favour has been bestowed on Romans.

The first time I thought of the second sentence I automatically judged it as ungrammatical. But consider the situation where we are talking about two AI algorithms handling some information casting doubt on whether the favour was bestowed, and the person who utters the sentence points to the algorithm which would be caused to doubt that vs. the other one which wouldn't be caused to doubt it. In that case the sentence seems fine to me.

This might be a bit of a contrived example, but if you just consider "[Something] has been caused to doubt [something]" while knowing that the intent of the speaker was to really say "[something] has been cause to doubt [something]" I feel the original anchoring might make you judge it ungrammatical.

Is this a general effect or is it just me? Can semantics affect grammar?


texts:
I was writing my college essay and I needed to make my composition to make a bit interesting. Consequently, I should avoid cliché words and word redundancies.

I wanted to get a bit artistic on this sentence:

  Not that I am too genius to ...

I thought 'genius' was too boring and I wanted to replace it with

  Not that I am too einstein to ...

Do you think this is too informal for college essay ? Other word suggestions will also do.

Thanks in advance.


texts: A term or phrase for famous one-off events

texts:
I am looking for an expression (also an idiomatic one) which describes a single famous event such as:

  a singer who has just one most famous song and than you hear no more about them.
  a writer who writes just one very popular book (Harper Lee comes to mind) but after that nothing for decades.

Is there an expression for these persons or this kind of events?


texts: What do you call someone without a nationality?

texts:
I spend time each week to read about others who are in the same situation as me but I cannot find the word that describes it properly. My problem stems from not being able to identify with any nation.

I was born in Romania in an area where there has existed a Hungarian minority for centuries; but I hardly speak the Romanian language. My parents are Hungarian but Hungarians outcast me saying I am not a real Hungarian - and indeed I do not share the same mindset. I currently live in Denmark but I do not speak the language properly; I do feel the Danish mindset closer to mine than Hungarian or Romanian but still I a lot of things seem very strange and far from me. My primary language is English but I have never been in an English-speaking country. On the legal side, I have both Hungarian and Romanian citizenship and passports.

I tried to research the term of 'no nationality' that I can say to others without shame, but I did not find the exact word how I feel. My question does not address what I am legally but rather emotionally.

Stateless -> I am not stateless because I actually have two states
Third culture individual -> I was raised in the same area as my parents were.
Identity crisis -> Although I feel very uncomfortable talking about my nationality, I would not use the term when presenting myself as it sounds extremely depressing and negative.

I am not even sure if there is a word that describes the situation. I try to simply use 'international' but people don't generally accept it.


texts:
I have the following sentence:

  No suit you buy off-the-rack will perfectly fit you. It has to be
  made-to-measure, or you will have to get it adjusted at a credible
  tailor. It is better to get it right the first time.

However, I am unsure whether I should use off-the-rack, made-to-measure, or simply off the rack and made to measure.


texts:
Someone who picks opponents that are weaker than them, so that they can feel superior but they never pick anyone as strong or stronger than themselves.

Context, someone who brags about being an intellectual arrogantly, but only argues with weaker and dumb opponents to win debates while avoiding more intelligent opponents in case they'd be exposed.

I'm looking for a word to describe their target mostly or a phrase that cover this situation.

Words that come to mind are "They only pick on the [weakest link] or [soft targets]", but I still think there's better ones out there or better ways of phrasing this!


texts: A word for an instrumental melody which copies the vocal part?

texts:
Sometimes in rock music you'll hear a guitar solo which reproduces the vocal melody: from the verse, for example.

Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana springs to mind - here's a link to the relevant part, just before the solo starts.    https://youtu.be/hTWKbfoikeg?t=161

Can anyone think of a neat, ie terse but with a clear meaning, way to describe such an instrumental solo?

Something with a meaning similar to "vocal-melody-copying", but nicer.  If there's already an Italian word for this from the world of classical music, then that's fine.


texts:
Word(s) for a person who degrades other people's work/efforts anonymously.

meta:
I really want to know since this sickness is wide-spread across Internet.

To me, this is a filthy mix of cowardice and total lack of integrity. One word that is close (too strong, though) is 'terrorist', lowlifes, hiding behind masks or anonymous accounts, disseminating hate. It is interesting whether such a word exists because calling names is so infectious, and the immediate reaction usually is to name back, here lies the trickiness of this non-human act - to drag you in the pit.


texts: What's the equivalent of "what the hell are you doing?" in a negative sentence?

texts:
I want to use the equivalent of "hell" as in "what the hell are you doing?" in a negative sentence. I want to address someone with something like this:

  You can not do anything the hell!

By that sentence (which seems odd to me), I want to mean: "You are not capable of doing anything harmful to hurt me whatsoever".

I am looking for a better expression to convey the above meaning.


texts: Word for being naked for a religious cause

texts:
I have this festival in my country, India, called "kumbh mela" which is one of the world's largest religious gathering. In it, many sadhus called naga who live naked take part.

What is the English word for such act?


texts: I saw the usage of "shore" with "river" in a modern American book, however my dictionary says that we should use "bank" with "river". Are there any difference between using "shore" and "bank" or maybe it's Americanism?


texts: What is the real logical meaning of deny?

texts:
The definition from Google is

  Refuse to admit the truth or existence of (something)
  Refuse to give (something requested or desired) to (someone)

Now my interest is on the first meaning.

If I say, "Judas denied knowing Jesus" and look at the first meaning, doesn't it imply that the truth is Judas knows Jesus but refuses to admit this, hence anytime anybody denies something we can take it to mean that whatever he is denying is the truth.

Is it correct for me to conclude that deny can only be used when a person is refusing to admit something that is strictly the truth? e.g.:

I break a mug; mother finds it broken I say it wasn't me. This is denying.
My sister breaks another mug, mother finds out and asks me, and I say it wasn't me. This is not denying: it's true I didn't do it therefore I am not refusing to admit the truth.

Please help me understand. I'm from Africa and English is only my third language after two mother tongues.


texts: What is the name of the grammatical construct that expresses a "loophole" in a requirement?

texts:
Is there a grammatical term for "loophole" phrase? By "loophole" I mean a phrase that weakens or conditions the main clause. Examples:

The system shall calculate aircraft altitude, when necessary.
If possible, the contractor shall report progress every month.
As much as possible, the system shall display aircraft speed.

Loopholes: "when necessary"  "If possible"  "As much as possible"

I'm writing a manual for people writing engineering requirements. I want writers to avoid "loopholes" such as those in the example above. But I'd like to use a correct grammatical term for the "loophole."

Thanks for you help.


texts:
Which sentence is correct:

It gives you some clues on how to do something.
It gives you some clues about how to do something.
It gives you some clues how to do something.
It gives you some clues on doing something.

All the sentences are mine I just do not know whether they are correct or not.


texts: Dear "Name here" Vs. Mr./Mrs. "Name here" Vs. Hi "Name here" Vs. Hello "Name here"

texts:
Vs.

Mr./Mrs. "Name here",

Vs.

Hi "Name here",

Vs.

Hello "Name here"

What is better to start email or written letter?


texts: What does "fights to break out over" and "get points down" mean in the two below paragraphs?

texts:
We are also very pleased with a new installation of the Go-Kart arena which is 120 square metres in area. Again the problem is the geology; we had to level the mounds on the track for safety reasons. We wanted to enable 5-12 year olds to use the go-karts. And the main attraction here is the Formula 1 Kart. We're known fights to break out over who gets it! And the finally to our most recent development which is the landscaped ...

  Tutor: There are several study skills books you can consult.

  Caroline: Right.

  Tutor: They'll be a good source of reference but the problem is they are sometimes too general.

  Caroline: Yes that's what i've found.

  Tutor: Other than that i would strongly advise quite simple ideas like using a card index.

  Caroline: Well, yes, I've never done that before.

  Tutor: It's simple, but it really works because you have to get points down in a small space.


texts: I've read that it's somehow connected with the Canon Law, but I'm not sure. I'm really interested in finding the answer.


texts:
Can you please why author used "there" instead of "this" or "these" in the second sentence( first word)? Thanks for the help :)

  Dickie is here developing a direction pointed to in the other (and earlier) of the two most influential writings in institutional theory, “The art world” by Arthur Danto (1964) (to which I will return). There , what Danto calls “the atmosphere of theory,” and the historical relatedness or relational properties of the work of art, are identified as essential conditions for arthood.

Source- I got these lines from a textbook on art theories.


texts: Some phrases to express couples who match with each other

texts: In order to say two people as a couple, are perfect for each other, what phrases would you recommend to use as a complement? Something to express they are perfect match to each other.


texts: Form of Participle Clause Subject: 'his' being or 'him' being

texts:
I have come across the following sentence (a bit modified) in a news article:
"The opposition leader's bid for power failed to gain traction, and his claim to the presidency is rooted in his being the head of the current legislature."
I wonder why the subject of the participle clause "'his' being the head of the current legislature" is "his", but not "him."
Maybe, both "his" and "him" could be used in this particular sentence--I have no idea. Then, is there any differences between them in meaning, grammar or any other aspect?
In my understanding, a participle clause can have its own subject, as is the case above. Most of the time, the "him" form is used, but also "his" can be found, albeit less frequently.
I am particularly interested in differences in meaning between them when both forms are applicable, and in what kinds of rules are applied when determining which form to use.
Thanks for your valuable knowledge.


texts: Do you capitalize after starting a sentence with a number in parentheses?

texts:
My boss wants business proposals to start with a numbered list in sentence form. She wants the numbers in parentheses and the sentence to continue on with no capitalization. Microsoft word keeps autocorrecting against this and I personally don't think it looks correct.

(4) pieces of such and such, (10) pieces of this and that and (5) pieces of whatever.

I think it should look like this:

(4) Pieces of such and such, (10) pieces of this and that and (5) pieces of whatever.

I'm unsure which is grammatically correct, and my internet search has been in vain.


texts: Is there a word for when you tell show something and it doesn't work?

texts: E.g. "This hasn't been working all day", and then when you show it, it works


texts:
the statement 'nothing can be known' seems straightforward, right?
'nothing' is the subject, in which case the statement can be taken to mean that not a single thing can be known.  and yet, is there a way of taking the 'nothing' as adverbial, to qualify the ability to know, such that the statement negatively qualifies the ability to know?


texts: Should I speak passively in order to keep the main subject first?

texts:
For example, I have this sentence:

Galen discovered that when the roosters were bitten by snakes, those that were fed theriac survived, while those that did not died.

Microsoft Word is telling me to change the phrase "when the roosters were bitten by the snakes" to "when snakes bit the roosters." However, the following word "those" addresses the roosters and not the snakes, so how should I phrase this sentence?


texts:
What do you call water staying on a field which is not from a river or similar.

At least in Hungarian flood is when flowing water leavs its normal boundaries. But there are cases when there is not enough drainage and rain or snowmelt just stays on the fields and this is detrimental to any normal food growing activity (so not like a rice paddy). Is there a word for this kind of standing water in English? (Images https://www.google.ca/search?q=belv%C3%ADz&tbm=isch here if it helps)


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are there rules about using “that” to join two clauses?

"That" is a very difficult word for me. I keep feeling compelled to add it in just about any sentence in which I talk about an action or state something I believe/think.

  I think that you're wrong.

Or

  I hope that the company will get back to what they do best and come up with a proper keyboard next time.

Or

  And don’t tell me that the price is justified.

Or

  But I doubt that they have any programmers working on this.

All these constructions make sense without the "that", don't they? So then why do I feel this compulsion to add it?

Am I a "that" junkie? ::- D. Is there such a thing as a "that" junkie? ::- >.


texts:
Which noun is used to denote the occupation (or profession?) of a judge? I thought it was "judgement", but I looked at the definitions of "judg(e)ment" in several dictionaries and couldn't find it anywhere...
Late edit: I've been asked to add sample sentence, so here are two examples:

[Judging / The administration of justice] has always been a revered high-status occupation.

These procedural reforms were aimed at streamlining [the administration of justice / adjudication].


texts:
Please consider the following:
1. He is the worst president of America ever.
2. They are still the best students in history ever.
Is it right to put ever there or should we put it before the of phrases.


texts: Many 'this of that' - why does usage invert for dogs?

texts:
The question about 'species of moth' intrigued me because the subject of 'many this of that' reveals something about how we conceptualise unknown quantities. A countable thing (like the number of moths in the whole world) can be regarded as an uncountable entity (since I cannot possibly know the number) and therefore can be regarded, conceptually, as 'mothness'.

In which case I might express 'species of moth' rather than 'moths'.

So I looked at a number of Ngrams and was surprised at the result.

75% of people favour 'many kinds of food' over 'many kinds of foods'.
75% of people favour 'many kinds of wine' over '... wines'.
75% of people favour 'many makes of car' over '... cars'.

But the order reverses for dogs :

75% of people favour 'many breeds of dogs' over '... dog'.

I am interested in how we manage global concepts, whether fluid (wine) or disparate (food) or quantised (cars/dogs).

Can anyone suggest why there should be this reversal regarding dogs ?


texts:
What does "rock" mean in the phrase, "A bevy of rock lovelies"? This was taken from Google's definition of "lovely" as a noun, which in turn seems to come from some dictionary by Oxford, such as the The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English:

  n. (pl. -lies) inf. a glamorous woman or girl: a bevy of rock
  lovelies.


texts:
I don't understand why but I feel arrogant or ambitious when I use a simple sentence in active voice using "I" especially while I was writing my college essay or curriculum vitae e.g.

"I managed a team."
"I wanted to become successful."

This could also be limited to past tense. How could I re-phrase these such that the tone doesn't seem arrogant? Is it just me?


texts: I have noticed a lot of people use of instead of have, for example: "that must of been really annoying".  Is this correct?


texts: What is the word(s) for someone who is very particular about the small details of something?

texts: I am looking for a word or multiple words to describe someone who is very (perhaps even 'overly') concerned about the fine details of something. It could be describing someone who is a perfectionist, or someone who is overly strict with obeying rules, or someone who wants everything to be 'prim and proper'. I recall knowing a couple of words with these connotations but they have completely slipped my mind.


texts: How did 'against the outside' (without) evolve to mean 'outside'?

texts:
without (adv., prep.) [<--]
      Old English wiðutan "outside of, from outside," literally "against the outside" (opposite of within), see with + out (adv.). [...]

I am guessing that here, the prefix with- means against, per the foregoing  and this answer. However, if something is "against the outside", then it must be the opposite of 'outside': ie, INside or withIN. But then  this is a contradiction. So where did I err in interpreting  the dead metaphor?

Please expose and explain all this etymology's (hidden and missing) semantic drifts and links. What is a right way of interpreting the etymology, to understand how the semantic jumps abstracted and severed from the original literal meaning? What bridges the jumps with the original meaning?


texts:
Which sentence is grammatical? If both sentences are grammatical, which sounds more idiomatic?

  How much truer and kinder an act of giving is when one gives away what you need.

or

  How truer and kinder an act of giving is when one gives away what you need.


texts:
There's this paragraph here, and the question reads:

"The first people who invented a system of drains and plumbing are the..."

I'm convinced that the answer is People of The Secret Cities whilst people tell me it's the Romans,

If it is the Romans, can I have an explanation to why?


texts: How to indicate possessiveness of a noun of unknown plurailty

texts:
I am writing about the review process for scholarly publications. In this, I am trying to indicate the opinion of one or more reviewers. I could write "The opinion of the reviewer(s)" to convey that one or more reviewer may hold a specific idea.

If I were to use a possessive "'s" would it be "reviewer(s)'s opinion"?


texts:
I was reading a research paper on translating multi-word items, which include phrasal verbs, and I came across a passage about phrasal verbs, by Dixon, that reads:

Moreover, leftward movement will take place, as Dixon argues, when a direct object noun phrase contains new information; therefore, the noun phrase will be positioned after the verb and the preposition. However, once the noun phrase is repeated, then the leftward movement cannot apply. For example, we'll make up a parcel for them…On the morning of Christmas Eve together we'll make the parcel up. (1982: 24).

I didn't really get if the last sentence is right or not! Also, what does Dixon mean by repeating the noun phrase?

Here's the whole phrasal verb movement available:
*Regarding the syntax of phrasal verbs, Dixon (1982: 22) was able to show that there are two movements that will occur in the phrasal verb. One is the leftward movement of prepositions, and the other is the rightward movement of prepositions. An example of the leftward movement of prepositions is Put the visitors up for a night/Put up the visitors for a night.
Dixon (1982: 22) argues that leftward movement cannot take place over a personal
pronoun. For example, I put you up, not Fred, for the presidency/I put up you, not Fred, for the presidency.

Thank you.


texts: How does this sentence fit in this context?

texts:
The following excerpt has been taken from The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells.

  "Draw the bolts," said the man with the black beard, "and if he
  comes—" He showed a revolver in his hand.
  "That won't do," said the
  policeman; "that's murder."
  "I know what country I'm in," said the man
  with the beard. "I'm going to  let off at his legs. Draw the bolts."
  "Not with that blinking thing going off behind me," said the  barman, craning over the blind.
  "Very well," said the man with the
  black beard, and stooping down,   revolver ready, drew them himself.
  Barman, cabman, and policeman faced about.

How does the sentence-Not with that blinking thing going off behind me- fit here?


texts:
Which sentence is grammatically correct? And is the other acceptable or just never used in daily conversation?
1. I am someone who loves himself.
2. I am someone who loves myself.


texts:
Past participles are used as adjective in English language. But I have found a sentence on the internet.

  As She was looking at me shocked.

I do not know whether this sentence is right or wrong. Because in this sentence shocked is a past participle that has been used as an adverb. I have never learnt that a past participle can be used as an adverb. I want to know whether a past participle can be used as an adverb or not.


texts: Is there an equivalent for the French "Bonaldi effect" in English?

texts:
In France, we designate by "Bonaldi effect" a particular case of the Murphy's law which states that:

  Any demonstration of any product that worked perfectly at the rehearsals will fail miserably during the public demonstration.

It takes its name from Jérôme Bonaldi, a television host who encountered many problems when he presented unusual objects and inventions.

How would you describe such a syndrome in English?


texts:
I was watching a YouTube video about eating disorders when the American TV presenter ended a pep talk with the following words:

  If I had the chance today to spend six weeks somewhere, to better myself and work on whatever addiction it is that I have, whether it's work, whether it's bulimia, anorexia, I would take it at a heartbeat. [Name] you are young, you have the world at your fingertips. It's only going to help you become a better person.

And as soon as I heard that, I thought: "Weird, isn't it to have the world at your feet?

Now, when a person has the world at their feet, it suggests that they have achieved success, accolade and fame.  CDO defines it as:

  to be extremely successful and admired by a great number of people

So then I tried looking up to have the world at your fingertips, but surprisingly I didn't find any online dictionaries that listed this figure of speech. I'm sure the presenter's aim was to emphasize the boundless opportunities open to the young woman. She could do or be anything she wanted to be because of her youth, and the "fingertips" represented the act of grasping one's dreams and goals.  It reminds me of similar idioms, such as the sky's the limit and Shakespeare's line, the world's mine [your] oyster.

In addition, Google Ngram shows that "at your fingertips" (blue line) took hold sometime in the 1950s, a great deal later than the variant "at your feet" (red line). However, the line chart seems to display a convergence between the two in recent years.

Questions

Why isn't the world is at your fingertips listed in any of the online dictionaries I consulted? (NB: I don't have access to the OED.) If the novel term selfie made it, why not this one?
Who first coined the phrase?


texts: Equivalent for "at the heart of our society"

texts: I want to say "XXX is at the heart of our society," but I feel it's such a cliche!   Any suggestions for a somewhat equivalent sentence?


texts: How much is idiom "chew the fat" acceptable and neutral?

texts: Does the idiom have strictly negative meaning or is it neutral? Can it be used to talk not only about close people so that not to insult anybody?


texts:
Would this sentence follow the rules of parallel structure?

  In order to improve your country, you should take care of the environment, avoid throwing litter, help society, and don't use plastic.

I could make this sentence better by changing the last part to "avoid using plastic", but I was wondering if the above sentence is correct in its original form.


texts: Help with a medical term for addiction to medicinal properties

texts:
I am looking for a word I had heard on a medical show ages ago, The Good Doctor to be specific, to use on my medical project in high school. The term referred to someone who had a sort of addiction to taking medications (not referring to illicit drugs, but prescribed medications). It sounded like something along the lines of Gardiobraediactic, Gardiovradiactic, or something similar.
If anyone could help me find this, it would be greatly appreciated :)
I don't believe the prefix is cardio due to it not having to do with the heart or flow of blood
When I had done previous searches of what I had heard, I had not pulled any results at all - save for drastic misspellings like Chiropractic. I had even gone back to searching for medical terms used in The Good Doctor but it was only showing simple words like necrosis, or even simpler ones like autism.
I had also searched for "medical term for addiction to medicine" however all it had pulled was drug and substance abuse.


texts:
I speak an analytic language, Chinese, and a weakly inflected language, English. As such I'm having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around the concept of the dative case in Old English. I understand its foremost role is to mark the indirect object, but consider the following lines:

and forgif ūs ūre gyltas,
swā swā wē forgifaþ ūrum gyltendum

I've always thought that "our guilt" in the first line was accusative plural. why, then, do "ure" and "gyltend" have the dative case in the following line?

Thanks.


texts: The deliberate use of misleading terminology

texts:
Is there a word or phrase which describes "choice of misleading words", or the negation: "choice of non-misleading words"? The nearest phrases I can think of are linguistic deception, or controlled language, as in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

For example, Richard Stallman actively opposes such misuse of language:

  I think it is ok for authors (please let's not call them creators, they are not gods) to ask for money for copies of their works (please let's not devalue these works by calling them content) in order to gain income (the term compensation falsely implies it is a matter of making up for some kind of damages).

Another example is "credit" in banking, which just makes "debt" sound like a good thing.

EDIT: The term may either refer to an individual's malicious use of misleading terminology, or to widely-accepted use of misleading terminology. The answers reflect this, but my question does not.


texts:
I am sending announcements about my daughter’s graduation from college.  I want to include a sentence about her post-graduation plans.  Originally I wrote,

  Rose will pursue her master of accountancy at XYZ University, after which she has accepted a position with ABC in Atlanta.

Concerned that there should be parallel structure between the verbs, I changed the second part to

  ...after which she will work for ABC in Atlanta

but I am not happy with the words “work for.”  Does anyone have a suggestion for alternative phrasing?   Also, should “master of accountancy” be capitalized?


texts: Happy to see her, he smiled....what is the name for this usage?

texts:
Happy to see her sister, she was about to cry.

I can see that this sentence works like a participle phrase, but this "happy to see her sister" directly starts with adjective. What is the grammar term for this phrase?


texts: I'm trying to remember a word that means 'to add' to something and maybe also means 'to alter' something by adding to it

texts:
I think at least part of the meaning is 'to add' and maybe another part of the meaning is 'to alter'.
I'm sure is spelt using the letter 'x'.

I remember reading the word a while ago. I'm quite sure I was reading about the 'Siege of Jerusalem' and the word was used to say that more people were added to the populace of the city after it was conquered by their kingdom.


texts: Why do they call the counterpart “that woman” to press corps after parting from a female?

texts:
Further to my question I posted yesterday on the significance of the term “woman driver” used by Rush Limbaugh, I have another question:

Limbaugh’s use of ‘woman driver’ in a derogatory context reminds me of when President Bill Clinton referred to Monica Lewinsky as “that woman,” not Ms Lewinsky, that lady, or even “she or her” when he admitted to having an affair with her before the press corps.

When male celebrities are involved with an “improper relationship,” and have to acknowledge the affair in front of the press corps, they often (almost always to me) call the other side “that woman.”

Isn’t this insulting to not only the counterpart woman, but women in general? Why do they use “that woman” to the lady they were once intimate with?


texts: Is there a term for those large, half-cocked hats with flower-like embellishments British high society seems to favor?

texts: Is there a term for those half-cocked hats with large flower-like embellishments British high society seems to favor? I'm seeing quite a lot of them watching a live stream of the Royal Wedding, and would like to call them by their proper name.


texts: How can I write the following sentence in passive voice?

texts:
I would like to keep the note about the line of code for (Tim):

  The following module cannot be approved because, Eugene have reviewed it and found following mistakes: 'Eugene's quote here'.

Can I say something like this (?):

  The module is being reviewed by Eugene with following notes: 'quote here'.


texts:
I want to know if I should use 'Ø article' before a plural noun that is qualified by a relative pronoun clause. One way of knowing it is to ascertain if the noun is one of generic generalization (if it is; then Ø article), and to know it is a generic noun, often you insert 'usually,' 'always,' or 'sometimes' in the sentence. If you see little change in meaning, you decide the noun has a generic representation.

  Cherries that are sprayed tend to keep better.

You don't see the original sense drastically changed in 1 if you insert 'usually' before 'tend.'

However, with 'always' before 'from' in the sentence below, the original meaning would not be drastically altered, I don't think, since the fact the potatoes were from this year's crop would stay the same, but the potatoes are a definite group of potatoes here and so it is not a generic noun.

  The potatoes that you purchased in the store were from this year's crop.

Is there any other test in academia to ascertain whether a target noun is generic or not?