texts: Colloquial reductions of TO in sentences

texts:
Lately I read again my old English book and find out something that I don't understand. It's about Colloquial reductions, the book says that there are two ways to pronounce "to" in the sentences: /tə/ and /də/

Example:

/tə/: They hope to find it
/də/:  We plan to do it

==> I just want to known the rules to recognize these two cases to pronounce it in the correct way. Please give me some ideas.


texts:
I am international engineering student studying in US. I have a question regarding words that are created as a result of joining two words. Usually this happens when two technologies or methodologies are used to create something unique (I am particularly interested in fusion of two words based on abstract ideas or technology). The confusion I have currently is "How to decide the proper word fusion?"

For example: Testbed vs test bed, feedforward vs feed forward vs feed-forward, etc.

I have this confusion because certain authors use certain fusion words. I would like to know if there is a universal rule or any guidance when I have to combine two words indicating abstract concepts.


texts:
Is there a list of English words where some of their letters can be replaceed with Greek letters?

for example the word Archive can be written as arXve, where X is the Greek letter chi.


texts: What's a good word for a lack of concentration?

texts:
I'm looking for an adjective that describes not concentrated.
Something like "flying around", "not really here".

In hebrew it would've been מעופף.


texts: Is this relative clause grammatically correct?

texts:
Is the relative clause in this sentence grammatically correct? If not, why?

The screens were there for bulletins but usually showed only mindfulness videos, which made him uneasy and avert his eyes.

". . . which made him uneasy."
". . . which made him avert his eyes."

Both constructions independently seem fine to me, but when conjoined something seems amiss.


texts:
In Terry Pratchett's The Truth, Mr Tulip says "I fort" 5 times.

"I fort that at the start"
"I fort so!" (twice)
"I fort you said this city was a -ing pushover?"
"I fort we wanted to find.."

Is this a kind of mispelling for "I thought" or something else?


texts:
This book here is the one I was talking about.
  My brother here just bought a new car.

The two examples above have here following a noun. Most dictionaries say "here" is an adverb. I am wondering why it is used as an postnominal adjective in these two sentences.

You may explain that "here" is actually "in here". Then it makes sense. "In here", a prepositional phrase, can modify the noun. I would like to hear what you guys think.


texts: Meaning of "but if I can't do better, how is it to be helped?"

texts:
The following is an excerpt from the novel, Jane Eyre. I don't quite understand the meaning of the italicized sentence. Would someone please enlighten me on that?

"It is a long way to Ireland, Janet, and I am sorry to send my little friend on such weary travels: but if I can't do better, how is it to be helped? Are you anything akin to me, do you think, Jane?
I could risk no sort of answer to by this time: my heart was still.
"Because," he said, "I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you — especially when you are near me, as now; ...


texts: What is this an example of: "I couldn't fail not to disagree with you less"?

texts: Eisenhower used it constantly to fend off reporters. Is there a term to describe this type of phrase?


texts:
“ Dinner at Billy's was more a punishment than a reward, since anyone who sat at the dinner table would have to listen to Billy's father's interminable harangues against the government.”
Could someone please clarify why the author has used “would have to” instead of “had to” in the above sentence? I’m not acquainted with this usage of would; what is it?


texts: Is the question/greeting "How're you going?" correct usage?

texts:
I was just wondering if the question/greeting "How're you going?" is correct usage? I know it's more prevalent in Australia because I live here and have heard it very often. I guess the American version is "How're you doing?", but I'm not sure.
I'm assuming all these are very informal in their usage.
Any insights would be great.


texts:
I am reading a contract which is plain english except from a sentence which says:

  [your] right to be paid for work done on this contract is
  irrespective if [agency] is paid by the [client]

My brain wants to read this as saying

  "your right to be paid is irrespective of whether the agency is paid by the client"

to the point where it looks like a typographical error. Yet this is a contract which has been heavily vetted so I don't think it is an error.

Please no "ask a lawyer" answers or comments as my question is about the english language and I am specifically inquiring whether the sentence is correct english and whether it is equivalent of saying "is irrespective of".


texts: “What is the plural form of the grades A-, A+, B+, etc.?”

texts:
It may appear pedantic but "all of them received A minuses or As minus grade", does not appear to make sense.

If a subset of students received the same grade on their reports, then should the grade  be pluralized?


texts: Stress shift amongst speakers from India

texts: I've noticed that speakers from India shift the stress in some words such as 'adjective', 'sentence' or 'tendency'. They normally stress the second syllable and not the first one as most people are used to. Is there any particular reason for this? Is it a common tendency (never better said) amongst the Indians?


texts: Is there an idiom or word or phrase for having good luck when you also had bad luck?

texts:
E.g.:

  He fell off a cliff, but he only broke his leg.

Was he lucky or unlucky?
He was unlucky he fell off a cliff but he was also lucky that he only broke his leg. So he was both!

Is there a word for this? Like "bi-lucky"?


texts:
I'm about to launch a new web service, and currently we're still looking for a name. I thought it would be nice to call it a "digital butler" - my collaborator from Dubai, however, pointed out, that a big part of the world does not know the world "butler".

How true is this?


texts: a term for "I'm a father to my son, but I'm also a son for my mother"

texts:
What's the word for the situation that a thing is X for A, but is Y for B? what property does it have in order to have this ability to shape-shift like that according to the perspective of the observer?

For example: I'm a father to my son, but I'm also a son for my mother. so what is the thing that differentiated between how my mom and how my son sees me?

Another one: a man's junk is another man's treasure: what's the property that this item has that it can be viewed by different perspective?

close-related words: role, position, identity, perspective.


texts: What does "part of a settlement" mean here?

texts:
Locke tends to get linked up with rebels...He is a part of the
  settlement. (heard from an English professor)

He was talking about John Locke's life. How to understand "he is part of the settlement"? Does it mean that he participates in the process of reaching it, or that this settlement highly influences his life?


texts: I am puzzled by the the use of the word in the sense of the phrase "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny". The meaning is taken to be 're-enacts' or 're-creates'. It's entirely different from what I would expect based on the common usage of capitulate. One would think something that recapitulates has surrendered a second time.


texts: What is it called when people use words like ur and u in place of your, and you?

texts:
And why do people say it's lazy and bad? Why do people call others stupid for it, when it's intentional and I don't really think its wrong in casual conversations through text (obviously not speech)

I didn't really know what to tag it as since  I am ignorant.


texts: What is not having a dominant foot called?

texts: If not having a certain dominant hand (or "both-handed") is called being ambidextrous, what is it called if you are "both-footed"?


texts: Use singular or plural noun after "at least one"?

texts:
I am wondering which sentence is correct:

I guess there is at least one apple in the bag.
I guess there are at least one apples in the bag.

It seems to me that the first one sounds better. But I am not sure about it. Because "at least one" can mean 2 or 3...


texts: Generalized statements, mostly political

texts:
Is there a term used for statements made by politicians (and others) that are nebulous and allow people to infer what they want from them?

For example, politicians speak about "Christian values", "family values", and "American values", but often seem to purposefully ignore giving examples which would precisify which values they are talking about. Or they speak about "making America great", without explaining what this greatness would consist in.

This vagueness seems like a rhetorical trick which allows listeners to project their own fantasies into the words of the speaker.

Is there a name for this kind of rhetorical device? Is there a term for these kinds of statements?

Glancing through Wikipedia's glossary of rhetorical terms does not seem to provide an answer.


texts: What's a word for the object that an attachment is attached to?

texts: If a file is attached to an email, the email has an attachment. What does the file have? An attachee?


texts: Renumeration vs Remuneration (reimbursed financially), which is correct?

texts:
For my entire life, I thought the correct word was Renumeration. But after reading a document that used Remuneration I checked google and apparently I was wrong.

The oxford dictionary has a link to Remuneration under the entry for Renumeration but it neglects to say why.

Are they both interchangable? I live in the UK, if it is a regional thing.


texts:
Please help me to understand sentence "You got a little butterfly there when he did a little work on you" in the following dialog in movie "A violent man". Thanks a lot.

  BENJAMIN GREEN: Ty Matthews! Have a seat, take a load off.
  TY: This is a really, really nice place you have here, Mr. Green.
  BENJAMIN GREEN: Thank you. You got a little butterfly there, when he did a little work on you.
  TY: Yeah, it's just part of the game.


texts:
Citizens of the USA naturally refer to themselves as Americans and refer to the country as America.

When speaking to a person from Canada, he argued that it was incorrect to call the country America. Instead, I should be saying the United States (of America).

Is it incorrect to refer to the country as America? And even if it is, won't people from around the world understand that the USA = America?


texts:
In Russian we have an idiom that translates to English literally as "to get more milk from your cow and spend less food, you should feed you your cow less and milk it more". It's usually used sarcastically. Are there any similar idioms in English?

UPD for @Amande: let me google that for you

UPD2 It's often used in job context when talking about poor management. In other words, I'd formulate this idiom as "Be as selfish and cruel as possible, even if it harms your own interests".


texts: what does the phrase "To bid on the drumsticks" mean?

texts: I couldn't find the translation of this phrase so I'm looking for the meaning of it.


texts: What is a non-gendered synonym for "macho"?

texts:
In teaching computer science, I often want to mention certain beliefs that would normally be described as "macho", such as "Strong types are for weak minds" (translation: only lousy programmers need a compiler that catches mistakes for them) or "Real programmer use assembly language".  You can see that attitude in these cartoons:

I assume this inspired the following:

How would you describe these programmers other than "macho"?  The closest terms I can think of are "tough", "reductionistic", and "masochistic", but none are quite right.  (FWIW, I teach at a women's college, and men are the coeds.)


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "Year of built"?

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to say:

  Year of built 1922

when talking about house or some other building?

I know i should probably use phrase:

  Built in 1922

or just

  Built 1922

but I wonder if that first phrase is correct or not?


texts: Is it grammatically correct to use could in this wish-clause?

texts:
You don't own a motorbike and you need one.
You say:________________________ (own).

(a)I wish I owned a motorbike.

(b)I wish I could own a motorbike.

This is one of the questions in the test I gave my students. For the item that require the use of can, the word can is given in the parenthesis, e.g. (can/go).
For this item, the correct answer is owned, but a few students used could own. It sounds unnatural to me, but I'm not sure if I should give it a mark.


texts: What is a common English term for products sold and bought as a set?

texts: In case the price is not considered, then what are the products called? (For example, toothpaste and a toothbrush; a cleasning cream, facial mask pack, and a skin nourishing cream) In South Korea, such products are usually called 'set.' Then, is it common or does it make sense if I call them 'set products (products sold and bought as a set)'? Or is there any other term widely used in English-speaking countries?


texts: Did regular Americans speak the way actors in the 30s and 1940s did?

texts: I watch a lot of old movies, and I've noticed that American actors of the 1930s and 1940s often spoke in a quasi-generic-posh-British accent.  Katherine Hepburn's accent would be the perfect example. It seems exaggerated, and I imagine it was not common off the stage and screen. What was that? Was it just an accent or was it a dialect? Did real people actually speak that way?


texts: What's the meaning of "spit" in "my own spit and faith"?

texts:
What's the meaning of "spit" in the following statement?

  I believe in a good laugh, a day's fishing, a bit of gardening. I was very proud of my old greenhouse, made out of my own spit and faith. That’s the sort of man I am. Not size but quality.

Source: The Birthday Party (1961), written by Harold Pinter

Does it mean the same as "saliva"? If yes, what is it to do with "faith"?


texts: Is this incorrect; am I mixing tenses here?

texts:
Is this correct?

  I don't miss my deadlines, even when I worked for a high pressure educational software
  company, which required quick, effective reasoning without compromising the quality of the
  end result.

It seems equivalent to this, which sounds awful:

  Even when I worked for a high pressure educational software
  company, which required quick, effective reasoning without compromising the quality of the
  end result, I don't miss my deadlines.


texts: What does "loose change" mean and what is its origin?

texts:
What does loose change mean?
What is the origin of the phrase?


texts: What is the difference between 'Use' and 'Make use of'?

texts:
When should I use which?

E.g.:

  To use something.

vs

  To make use of something.


texts: "...[b]etween rich and poor" and "...[b]etween the rich and the poor"

texts:
My colleague and I were discussing a student's paper.

We agreed that according to our experiences and knowledge of English, the following sentence is grammatically correct: "The difference between the rich and the poor in our city stems from..."

But, another colleague claimed that it would be acceptable to say, "The difference between rich and poor in our city stems from..."

While searching for examples of each, we found ourselves befuddled.

Why are both versions seemingly acceptable?


texts:
Nonplussed is an interesting word because it appears to be a negation of 'plussed' (as in 'not plussed'). As far as I know, 'plussed' isn't a real word.

  He was left nonplussed.

How would you say the opposite of this statement?


texts: What is a better equivalent of this sentence?

texts:
The sentence goes so:

  I sit in my room, in a house that belongs to me alone.

The goal of the sentence is to say that the speaker is in a house that belongs to him only and to no one else. The other goal is to show a degree of sophistication and calmness in the speaker's diction. It is also meant to be a sentence in a diary.


texts: Learning to end sentences with "hence". Examples?

texts:
I dabble in creative writing here and there. Wordsmiths like Tolkien and Lovecraft are a pleasure to read for their sheer skill in sentence structure and plethora of words.

I'm now attempting to learn how to end sentences with "hence". I saw such a sentence recently and I enjoyed it very much. But while I've looked at the meaning to be "from here" as an archaic usage of the word, I don't entirely have a feeling and inner understanding for how this structure works. Normally I'd improve this by reading and exposing myself to it, but alas, in this case, there aren't many hence-ending sentences I'm able to find.

So I ask you here, to give me some examples of them.
Or perhaps, point me in the right direction.

Thank you.


texts: Is the term 'rubric' only used by educators and teachers?

texts:
I recently discovered one of those words that describe something you are familiar with but have never heard of or used before.

When I was in high school and university, the teachers always used the term 'assessment criteria' to refer to the standards by which our assignments would be graded. Until I recently went through some materials relating to teaching (pedagogical learning resources) that I came across the term 'rubric'.

I have never heard of people using this term outside the context of teaching, so I was wondering if this is more commonly used in particular countries or context.


texts: Opposite of "the league of extraordinary gentlemen"?

texts:
If "the league of extraordinary gentlemen" consists of good guys what do we call the analogue group consisting of bad (but not necessarily uncultivated) guys? I am thinking of members like Prof. Moriarty, Mr. Hyde, and Arsene Lupin). They are certainly no gentlemen, are they?

Context: I am looking for a title for an RPG adventure.


texts:
This comes from a software world.  There is a hidden feature in our product that is no longer needed but may be needed someday.  Typically, if we remove a feature we would "deprecate" or "obsolete" the feature.  However, we don't want to remove the feature, we simply want to stop testing it.  Over time it will rot or degrade and need to be polished if we ever want to support the feature again.

Can anyone think of a better word for what we are doing to this feature or what state we are putting the feature in?


texts: Does anyone use both "whinge" and "whine?"

texts: The words "whinge" and "whine" have separate (albeit very similar) definitions in the OED, and they have distinct pronunciations. "Whinge" seems completely restricted to BritE; I have never heard it spoken in the US. I don't know if "whine" is ever used in BritE. In other words, I'm not clear on whether they are variant spellings, or really two distinct words. If they are distinct, then does anyone use both words? Would anyone ever say "whining and whinging?"


texts: "Who" nominal relative clauses as subject

texts:
What difference in terms of usage and style would there be between the following sentences:

Those who came yesterday have already left
Who came yesterday have already left
The ones who came yesterday have already left


texts: "Good luck at...." or "Good luck with..."?

texts:
Which one is correct and why?

"Good luck at your new job" or
"Good luck with your new job"?


texts: Appropriate word order in a long sentence

texts:
I composed the below sentences to mean
The company should contribute to the sustainability by:

Proactive development of environmentally friendly products
Reducing environmental load

Which sentence from the below mean the above more correctly?

Example 1

    The company should contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by reducing and lowering environmental loads in each step of the lifecycle of environmentally-friendly products, from proactive development to ultimate disposal.

Example 2

    The company should contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by proactively developing environmentally-friendly products, and reducing and lowering environmental loads in each step of their lifecycle from production to ultimate disposal.


texts: What does "I'd kick it with who I wanted" mean in these lyrics?

texts:
If I Were a Boy

  (...)
  And throw on what I wanted and go
  Drink beer with the guys
  and chase after girls
  I'd kick it with who I wanted
  and I'd never get confronted for it
  'cause they'd stick up for me
  if I were a boy
  I think I could understand

“I'd kick it with who I wanted
And I'd never get confronted for it”

What's the meaning of these lyrics? What does the 'it' mean?


texts:
I'm a Chinese student, and in my recent writing exercise, I wrote a sentence as follows:

  Maybe he is not capable of conquering the sea now, for his flesh too
  weak, his strength so poor and his will not steady enough.

And my teacher marked that in the three separate sentences, "is" is necessary, and the correct sentence should be:

  for his flesh is too weak, his strength is so poor and his will is not
  steady enough.

I'm now confused, I've seen sentences like the first one before, so is it correct to write like the first sentence?


texts: "if it were possible" vs "if it was possible"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “If I was” or “If I were”. Which is more common, and which is correct?

" If it were possible, and it were possible to do..."

that sounds wrong, shouldn't we have was after it?


texts:
"That weather report caused the widely respected scientist to acquire a certain reputation among his colleagues as a bit unstable, an otherwise estimable fellow whose hard work may have pushed him over the edge. "  --- From an ACT reading.
First of all, I think that these two sentences are two independent sentences, so they should be divided by a period, rather than a comma.
Besides, I am uncertain about the meaning of "otherwise". Does that mean "other"?
Last, what does "push one over the edge" mean?


texts: Number "x" to "x" ascending or descending?

texts:
edit: sorry if this is a duplicate - I tried searching but didn't find anything!

Was reading Do Fathers Matter? by Paul Raeburn and came across this sentence:

  They tell us that among the australopithecines — the earliest members of the human family, who lived 4 million to 1 million years ago — mates were involved enough for males to have provided food and care for infants and protection from predators.

What really stumped me here was this part: "who lived 4 million to 1 million years ago." I swear I must have re-read this sentence ten times to make sure it wasn't myself that was getting this mixed up but shouldn't it be 1 to 4 million years ago (or 1 million to 4 million years ago, whatever).

Should it not be the smaller number first and then the larger number?

This seems like its - mistakenly - overcompensating for the whole BCE business....or I could be totally wrong.


texts: What would you call a person who is adored because of their flaws, not despite them?

texts:
Nietzsche wrote the following:

The great man of the masses. -- The great man should have all the traits of the masses: the less ashamed they are before him the more popular he is. Therefore: let him be violent, envious, exploitative, designing, flattering, fawning, arrogant, whatever the circumstances demand. [HAH 460, Cambridge]

One might hypothesize from this that the masses adore "a great man of the masses" because of his flaws, not despite them, and one could write a book on why this might be the case.
Is there a single word,  short phrase, or idiom that captures the idea of a person who is loved because of their flaws, not despite them? For example:

"A great man of the masses" is a(n) ___________: the masses love him because of his flaws, not despite them.
The supporters of "a great man of the masses" ___________ him, i.e., adore him because of his flaws, not despite them.


texts: How do you explain cubic growth of a function

texts:
When reading scientific papers I have seen people explain the growth of a variable linearly, exponentially. However how would one say for a variable which grows in quadratic fashion, or cubic?

I don't remember reading something like: "y grows cubically with x"

Can I say, y grows cubically with x?

What would be the proper way to explain cubic or quadratic growth of a variable as a function of another one?

How would you explain the given lines:


texts:
From wiki page about Michael Crichton":

  In 1988, Crichton was a visiting writer at the Massachusetts Institute
  of Technology

What does exactly the term visiting writer mean?

Does it mean he was there on a visit once or twice?

Or does it mean that he was there a permanent visitor for the whole year(1988)?

Or is it the some kind of a contract with the MIT? E.g. to give lectures on writing for the whole year 1988 to the students?

Thanks for the clarification.


texts: If parties and partying are both events, how are they different?

texts:
Smiles, walks, dances, weddings, explosions, hiccups, hand-waves, arrivals and departures, births and deaths, thunder and lightning: the variety of the world seems to lie not only in the assortment of its ordinary citizens—animals and physical objects, and perhaps minds, sets, abstract particulars—but also in the sort of things that happen to or are performed by them. In the last few decades, this view has been a focus of considerable debate in philosophy, with implications reaching far into the concern of other disciplines as well, above all linguistics and the cognitive sciences. Indeed, there is little question that human perception, action, language, and thought manifest at least a prima facie commitment to entities of this sort:

Parties are similar to dances and weddings in that they are events that occur rather than take place. However, I can't find a way to distinguish them from the gerund partying. The article linked elaborated a bit on it in the Events vs Facts section, but I didn't really understand it.

Parties are fun.
Partying is fun.

I can't help but feel that there is something different between these two sentences.


texts: "the number of" + plural or singular noun

texts:
which one is correct?

the number of family has been changed.
the number of families has been changed.


texts: Is there a better of way of "suggesting" to indicate a positive action?

texts:
I have a sentence using suggest:

  Adults with a wide range of work experience can suggest young people the most effective strategies to look for a job.

The absence of "to" in the words "suggest young people" seems wrong.  But including "to," ,as in "can suggest to young people" doesn't sound right either. Suggest to in that usage could mean that the young people have that thought occur to them spontaneously: "It suggested to the young people that..."

Here, I want to say that adults are actually making a suggestion. What can I replace suggest or suggest to with, in order to make it clear that the adults are making a suggestion?


texts: Should I capitalize "corporate communications" if it refers to a business department?

texts:
If I say "In November, corporate communications rejected the proposal," should I capitalize "corporate communications" if it refers to a team or department? Does this vary by style guide?

I've tried searching specifically for the rule for this according to the AP style guide (I looked for online commentary on this as I don't have the actual guide yet) and haven't had any luck. Any help would be much appreciated!


texts: What is the language that is used for general social conversations and interactions called?

texts: Comments and utterances such as "howdy" "hey" "what's up?" "awesome weather uh?" don't do much to give knowledge or anything. They are just tools for everyday conversations. What is this type of language called? Just "informal" or something else?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Do I need to put “the” before “most” in this sentence?

I've always thought you need the definite article 'the' before the superlative of an adjective, except when the comparison is made within the same subject: The swimming pool is deepest here.

Some people say 2 is the more idiomatic. Is this true?

  The most tuna are caught in early November.
  Most tuna are caught in early November.


texts: Is "in [some period]" different from "within [some period]"?

texts:
Q1: "I'll finish this job within 5 days" definitely means the job is expected to cost 5 days or less. However, does "I'll finish this job in 5 days" mean exactly the same?

Q2: Can we say, "I'll finish this job in 5 to 10 days" ?

This question is similar to "In 15 minutes" or "15 minutes later"?


texts: Why is there a "there" when Dickens say "After that there gallop from Temple Bar"?

texts:
In Book 1, Chapter 2 of A tale of two cities, Dickens wrote the following:

  “After that there gallop from Temple Bar, old lady, I won’t trust your fore-legs till I get you on the level,” said this hoarse messenger, glancing at his mare.

In the story, the messenger had just gotten the message and ridden the horse from Temple Bar. The sentence seems perfectly interpretable without the word "there", going as "After that gallop from Temple Bar, I won't trust your fore-legs till I get you on the level."

I am not sure what the word "there" is meant for. To me, it makes the sentence seems very unnatural.

But as I searched around, nobody seems to be taking notice of it.

One potential reason I thought about is that "there" is meant for exclamation, and conveying a similar meaning as in "After that gallop there from Temple Bar".

I am not sure whether it is a common practice, though. I am not a native speaker. I tried searching for similar usages, and the only likely candidate I found is here.

  Some dog gone bit that there kitty, and he don't take that from nobody.

The writer explained that this is nonstandard grammar, but I don't know where I may be able to find any reference for this nonstandard grammar.


texts: fait accompli – to italicize, or not to italicize

texts:
Background

I was looking up the rule about italicizing foreign phrases and found an apparent consensus that the criterion is if the phrase is familiar. Well, who gets to decide that? I know perfectly well what "fait accompli" means, and I don't know French. So I recently chose to not italicize it, but someone had a different opinion.

Here is a summary of my findings.

Wikipedia suggests:

  Loanwords or phrases that have common use in English, however—praetor, Gestapo, samurai, esprit de corps, e.g., i.e.—do not require italicization. If looking for a good rule of thumb, do not italicize words that appear in Merriam-Webster Online.

The University of Minnesota recommends:

  Italicize isolated words and phrases in a foreign language if they are likely to be unfamiliar to the reader.

Capital Community College Foundation Guide to Grammar & Writing says:

  If a word or phrase has become so widely used and understood that it has become part of the English language — such as the French "bon voyage" or the abbreviation for the latin et cetera, "etc." — we would not italicize it. Often this becomes a matter of private judgment and context. For instance, whether you italicize the Italian sotto voce depends largely on your audience and your subject matter.

University of Sussex Guide to Punctuation notes:

  If you are not sure which foreign words and phrases are usually written in italics, consult a good dictionary.

"Fait accompli" appears unitalicized in Merriam-Webster Online. I was not able to find an online English dictionary that was different. I don't have access to the OED.

Question

Is "fait accompli" likely to be familiar to readers here? Is this a good guideline to use for choosing whether to italicize it? Or is the fact that it is in English dictionaries unitalicized enough? Or is the fact that it is in English dictionaries—at all—enough?

Note: I recognize that italics are appropriate when referring to a phrase rather than instantiating it—in any language. I've instead chosen in this question to use quotes to clearly separate the issues.

Edits to correct grammar welcome. No comments necessary.


texts: Is it "Yours faithfully" or "Yours sincerely"?

texts: When should one sign a letter with "Yours faithfully" or "Yours sincerely"?


texts:
I am looking for one word, preferably from corporate domain, which can describe specific form of communication. The form I am referring to (I used the word 'pyramid' here for lack of better word) can be described as follows: We have two teams A & B, and two employees AA & BB. Instead of employee AA communicating directly with employee BB; s/he informs the superior of the team A, and the superior of team A informs superior of team B; who in turn communicates back to BB.

Is there a word/term or a phrase for such style of communication?


texts: A word for an individuals divergence from the tribe/family/cell-group to begin a new “X”

texts:
I am looking for a word for a mans journey of leaving home to gain experience and start a family of his own and/or return to the village with wisdom and riches.

There certainly is culural words that apply here but also maybe there is a biology term that would aptly fit in this context.


texts: Is it "No band practice" or "No band practise" in British English?

texts:
I understand that one is a noun and one is a verb. But is it correct to say "There is no band practice today" or "There is no band practise today"

UPDATE: I am not asking for the correct spelling of the word "practice" or "practise". The dictionary definition is clear. I am asking which usage is correct in this example sentence.


texts: how to ignore gender nicely in english? can i make the sentence plural?

texts:
why is this possible to replace:

someone removed his/her with someone removed their

can I also change:

The user clicks on the button. He/She then sees.. with
The user clicks on the button. They then sees..

or how would you ignore gender more elegantly?


texts:
What does the expression "in some ways" exactly mean, as in

  The English language is limited in some ways, and perhaps most limited in its ability to express love.

Is it generic (like in many ways) or specific (like in a few ways)? Can you give an example of an equivalent expression?


texts: She and I "had" or "have" lots of trips together?

texts:
Which one has the correct verb usage?

She and I had lots of trips together.
She and I have had lots of trips together.


texts:
Further to my question about the meaning of "If you must know" in Washington Post’s article on CPAC conference which I posted this morning in the forum, I stumbled on a phrase: the Sarah Palin impersonator.

According to the article, the votes resulted in Texas Rep. Ron Paul coming up in the 1st place, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the 2nd place. That said, why Sarah Palin impersonator is not impersonators. As long as the impersonator is in singular form, who is very Sarah Palin impersonator?  It can be simply many republicans who are followers of Sara Palin's credos and her action patterns. But in that case, inpersonator should be in plural form. Am I wrong?

Could you explain who the Sarah Palin impersonator is?

  The Conservative Political Action Conference is over. The thousands of activists who converged on northwest Washington have begun returning home. The Sarah Palin impersonator has left the building.


texts: Word for a small space/dwelling that is much larger on the inside than it appears from the exterior

texts:
I'm searching for a rare word that means a small space/dwelling that is much larger on the inside than it appears from the exterior. It has been in 2 stories I know of:

shown as a magical tent: Ali Baba and The 40 Thieves,
and most recently in the Harry Potter movies as Weasley's tent at the Quidditch World Cup. Perkin's tent / harrypotter.wikia.com.


texts: can we say 'a pain' ? or 'a piece of pain'?

texts:
Here what I'm talking about is 'pain' as a noun,  describing something that makes you uncomfortable either physically or mentally.

As far as I know, it is countable when describing physical hurts. Then what about the 'mental' case ? If it's uncountable in that case, can we say 'a piece of pain' in the context that the pain(mentally) may result from different matters or experiences in our life and we want to distinguish them.

Furthermore, if 'a piece of pain' is correct, what is the comparative form of this phrase? 'one piece less of pain'? 'one less piece of pain'?


texts: "Impregnable" and "impregnate" seemingly opposites?

texts:
Perhaps this is a weird question, but I couldn't find an answer via etymologies.

When something is "impregnable" it means "cannot be broken into."

But, when something is "impregnated", other than the analogous "to make a female with child", it means to "fill" or "saturate", but this almost seems an antonymous verb for "impregnable."

The definition of "impregnable" makes it seem as though the appropriate verb for "impregnate"'s definition should just be " pregnate."

Does anyone know why there is this discrepancy?

I hope I am being clear, thank you.

EDIT: My question has been previously asked here, for all interested. Why does "impregnable" mean *cannot be impregnated*?


texts: How did the Australian accent come about?

texts:
Can anybody tell me how the Australian accent came about?

It seems strange to me that it is not more like an English accent taking into account that the first and the majority of settlers were English.

Also, I am under the impression that those settlers were not really influenced linguistically by the native Aboriginal people much.

Please correct me if I am wrong.


texts: How would one say "An accent from the Southern States of the USA"?

texts:
One could say:

  He speaks with a strong Southern dialect.

If you are in the United States, one would picture a Texan. However, that same sentence said in Britain would mean he speaks like Hugh Grant.

If someone says:

  He speaks with a Southern American accent.

One could still picture the Texan, but one could just as easily mistake the accent as being from anywhere in South America, such as Brazil.

Is there any way to more concisely say "an accent from the Southern States of the USA" without the ambiguity?


texts: What is the meaning of "I would do for a candy bar"?

texts:
I am reading Diary of Wimpy Kid (Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Book 2 - Rodrick Rules). But when I read to this page. I get stuck about like that
What is the meaning of "What I would do for a candy bar" in this situation?
We had to do the whole skit in Spanish. Rowley asked me what I would do for a candy bar, and I said I'd stand on my head.
Here is my research(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/candy-bar) candy bar: candy shaped like a thin brick. But It seems not to make sense for this sentence.
Would you like for explaining the meaning of this in the situation?
Thank you in advance!


texts: What kind of accent is this? Is the speaker there speaking American English or Canadian? It is quite obvious it's not British or Australian accent. If it's American, can you, please, say what part of the USA it is?


texts: Term that means adaptation to a suboptimal situation

texts:
If you are not only accepting a situation that is not what you wanted, but are taking steps to adapt to that situation, is there a word/phrase that describes this?

Neither "resignation" or "capitulation" seems to imply the adaptation step.


texts: Not only not A, but also B. Does this imply B or not B?

texts:
Let's take the following two statements.

He who lives in a glass house shall not cast stones (1)
He who lives in a glass house shall have his toilet in the basement. (2)

Now, if we try to combine them like this:

Not only shall he who lives in a glass house not cast stones, but also have his toilet in the basement. (3)

Does this mean he shall have his toilet in the basement or that they shall not have his toilet in the basement? How far does the scope of the not in shall not cast stones go?
This is the actual example I was thinking about. It is possible to construct a more concise one:

Not only was it not green, but also red.

Was it red or wasn't it?
If it so happens that this is an inherently ambiguous and/or ungrammatical sentence/structure, then I am ready to accept that as an answer as well.


texts:
Can anyone tell me what's all this hype about? People consider the following sentence to be the future perfect subjunctive. There is no future perfect subjunctive in English and neither there is in this sentence:

I don't see any difference in meaning if I changed the sentence to the past perfect subjunctive:

...what would have happened had you not changed your ways.

I can't think of any instance where I would be forced to employ the form used in the picture, unless I'm gravely mistaken.
My question is the following: Is there any difference in meaning between the two?
Please, englighten me as Google hasn't been helpful. I don't see any difference in:

If I had played football
     vs
If I were to have played football

besides the aspect of formality and emphasis, so why would there be any difference between the two sentences in question?


texts: Is this way to say "to give up one thing in order to have another thing" correct?

texts:
Is the following way to say "to give up one thing in order to get another thing" correct and idiomatic?

  We should not compromise the existing differences for a unique theory.

Is the above use of compromise and for correct? If not, how else to say what I want to say?


texts: Can you treat a prepositional phrase as the subject?

texts:
I just recently read this paragraph: "Think of an ad campaign that you still remember long after viewing it. Consider a book that might have inspired you. Behind those memories are solid writing."

I would say grammatically, the subject of that bolded sentence is "writing," and "behind those memories" is a prepositional phrase modifying "writing." Therefore, the verb would be "is" not "are" since it needs to agree with the subject. (solid writing, which is singular).

But even if it were changed to "Behind those memories is solid writing," I still find the sentence awkward. I am trying to figure out how I would reword, but perhaps, I am wrong, and it is fine as is.


texts: Is a comma required / advisable / forbidden in {NP[,] such as NP}, eg 'fossil fuels[,] such as coal'

texts:
I have a doubt about the use of commas with various phrases. It is my understanding that the comma rules for prepositional phrases are as follows: If the sentence starts with a prepositional phrase, then it must be followed by a comma before the independent clause. Conversely, if the sentence starts with the independent clause and a prepositional phrase follows, then there is no need for a comma. However, I have seen several sentences in books where this rule is not applied. For instance, take a look this sentence:

  The diagram illustrates the process used to produce electricity using
  fossil fuels, such as coal.

In the second part of the sentence, we have the preposition phrase "such as coal" that is preceded by a comma.
Is this a proper usage?


texts:
What's the etymology of "chat" as in "chat potato"?

Apparently "chat potato" refers to small potatoes suitable for swine food.

Regarding the origin, Some sites online list it as "origin unknown" or similar. Is that true?

Here is an example reference to this term on the web:
"Chat or baby potatoes are ideal for roasting, steaming or boiling and are often served whole with their skins on."
From https://www.taste.com.au/healthy/articles/chat-potatoes-2/bxr6vu7m

Many/most references I can find seem to be Australian sites.


texts: the + noun describing a person to imply a generic concept

texts:
I am writing documentation for an online store platform. Can I use a construction like "the customer" in a generic sense, when it is supposed to mean "any customer of any online store that uses the platform". Or shall I start with "a customer" in every help article and then go with "the customer" only when the word appears for the second time?

Based on this article About the definite and zero article meaning generic concepts I guess the use of "the" in this sense is limited to species and inventions but I'd like to make sure nevertheless.


texts: Is there a phrase to refer to the moment of the full moon?

texts:
From Wikipedia:

  A full moon is often thought of as an event of a full night's duration. This is somewhat misleading because its phase seen from Earth continuously waxes or wanes (though much too slowly to notice in real time with the naked eye). Its maximum illumination occurs at the moment waxing has stopped. Many almanacs list full moons not only by date, but also by their exact time ...

Colloquially, I've always heard of a full moon as a night's event. Is there a word or a phrase that specifically refers to the exact moment at which the moon is brightest, one that wouldn't be confused with "full moon"?


texts: The best part of me is my hands. or The best part of me are my hands.


texts: Usage of the term "second cousin" in a formal setting

texts:
I am trying to write an engraving message for a Christening gift. I have been asked to be a Godfather of my cousin's son.

I ideally want to put "from your Godfather and second cousin" in the message, because my name is Jamie and the other Godfather is also called Jamie.

I am having an issue working out which way around to put second cousin and Godfather. I want to put it grammatically correct.

So far I have this:

  Oliver on your Christening, with love from Godfather and second cousin Jamie


texts:
Example sentence:

  I had all the evidence. Still, I __. So I decided to interrogate the suspect one more time.


texts: Comma in "still is, and will always remain"

texts:
Manchester United still is and will always remain a force despite these setbacks.

Do I need a comma after is here? I personally don't think so but would like to be sure.


texts:
I'm stuck on finding a word to say  "you can try anything" or "anything goes".

For context, I mean a word to tell a street kid or poor child who goes to a grand buffet for the first time that s/he can eat anything they want, and that they can have as much of anything that they want.


texts: Use of "no less than" and no "fewer than"

texts:
1) In fact, NO LESS THAN 20 percent of people are injured severely due to car accidents.

  2) However, because people whose cars had collided and were severely wounded were occupying the intensive units in the hospital, it took NO FEWER THAN an hour for him to have surgery despite his life threatening condition.

These are two sentences that I wrote in a practice writing, but my teacher (Canadian) said the use of "no less than and no fewer than"  didn't make sense.

I thought those are used to describe emphasis of numbers.

Could you someone help me understand why it's wrong so that I can improve my English.
Thank you


texts:
What is the history of the word "troubleshoot"?

At face value, it seems to be mean "aiming for trouble." Which must be short-hand for locating the source of the trouble by reproducing it under different circumstances.

How did the term come to be?

Who were the first "troubleshooters"?


texts: What's the difference between a cathedral and a basilica?

texts: The references I've seen so far have alternated primacy between one and the other.


texts:
I'd like to know if I can omit the definite article when I'm giving some sort of a list, like in this example:

  The company's reputation increases in the following cases:

  Interest on the governmental level, Government and non-governmental organizations involved
  Increased interest by the national and foreign media
  Possibility of making decisions on reduced work engagement

Do I need to use articles before "interest" or "possibility" in this example, or I can leave them out when listing things like this?


texts: What is an online "shop" that provides only software available for free?

texts:
I have a platform for user created content and applications that can be downloaded from within a launcher for free. I am looking for a term that tells users where they can browse extensions, applications etc.

For me the term shop sounds like something where you have to pay for new content, so I am eager to find a noun which doesn't imply this and emphasizes that the downloads are free; and if possible something that even emphasizes that all downloadable content is free.

Here are some short sample sentences:

  Head over to _____ in order to acquire three new holiday maps for your game right now.

  There is a new extension available which can be downloaded from the _____.

  We have finished some custom game modes which you can access separately via the _____.


texts: Omitting common word in all but last item in a list?

texts:
I'm wondering if lists comprised of similar or related words/phrases can be shortened by omitting the root/suffix/word that they have in common except in the last item in the list.

Examples:

"We were best-friends through elementary, middle, and high school."
"I received checks in amounts of five-, six-, and seven-thousand dollars."
"He works with para and quadriplegic patients."

I feel if any of the examples is permissible, it would be example 1.

In example 2, although riding the line of ambiguity as to the amount on the checks (it could be "$5, $6, and $7,000" OR "$5,000, $6,000, and $7,000") it seems to be a reasonable sentence that would be easy to understand in context. However, I am unsure my use of hyphens would be proper in this sentence.

In example 3, the prefix "para" is isolated from "paraplegic"

I don't think the sentence in example 3 is anywhere close to proper but I read it in a document that was sent to me for work and it prompted me to ask questions concerning similar language situations. Thanks for any replies!

-Ian


texts: A word which describes a representation of new technology by an older technology

texts: For instance, the app icon for email is usually an envelope. But of course the whole point of email is that one doesn't use envelopes. Similarly with the phone/call app has an icon of an older type of landline phone. I suppose this is a term used in semiotics.


texts: Barkeeper, or bartender? How to address them?

texts:
I dunno if I'm right about the meaning of these words.

What do you call the person who owns a bar, or a pub? And the person who serves you with
drinks at the counter? [As the two may not be identical ...]

What to yell [though maybe it is not that polite, but who cares when a bit tipsy anyway] to address either of 'em? :-)


texts: What is the person receiving sympathy called?

texts:
The person who is sympathizing is called the sympathizer; but is there any term for the person receiving sympathy?

Off the top of my head, I really want to say the word "sympathee", but it looks like it isn't a real word.


texts: What does this sentence mean? "if you just push in here to see.."

texts:
The sentence is from what a reporter said in the CNN news and I don't quite understand what that means. The whole thing is like this following.

  But here, people are describing this as devastating, catastrophic,
  historic even worse than what they saw back in July of 2016, that this
  flooding happens, so rapidly, so quickly, that it just lifted cars and
  just had the water gushing down main street, catapulting into
  buildings, buildings collapsing, people just simply running for their
  lives. Still, if you just push in here to see the aftermath of the
  devastation, I had a chance to talk to one of the officials here who
  said that there`s one person that is missing, hopefully they are OK.

When I look up for "push in" in a dictionary, I found that it means "to rudely join a line of people who are waiting for something, by moving in front of some of the people who are already there:" But if it does, I don't think the sentence is quite going with the flows overall.

Could anybody please help explain what she meant by "push in here to see" to me?
Thanks a million in advance.


texts:
I am looking for a phrase which completes the sentence with following meaning.

  Ignorance is bliss but its consequence is disastrous.

I came up with its consequence is disastrous.

Is there any known phrase or proverb close to this meaning?


texts: If an isotope(such as uranium 235) can support fission, one might say it is fissile. What would you call a material like deuterium can support fusion, what would you call it?


texts:
I want to ask you, the English native speakers, regarding to a post in my blog which was
commented by a visitor:

  Before applying for a job, please notice the following requirements:
  write down your application letter neatly, attach your latest CV, ….
  the copy of your IDCard and your latest close-up photo, and send to us
  using well-sealed envelope.

  a. to enclose

  b. enclose

  c. encloses

  d. enclosed

  e. enclosing

Here is the comment of a visitor:

  I have seen examples of national exams where the English was so wrong
  that there were no correct options. Even the example included here is
  a bit strange. We would never use ‘notice’ we would say ‘pay attention
  to’. And write down is not appropriate in this context, it should be
  write.

Could you explain me about that "wrong example"? I found that
example somewhere on net and I do forgotten the source. Is it possible
for you to mark and correct the example (plus the options)? Why
'notice' and 'pay attention' are different, and why 'write down'
couldn't fit the context?

Thank you,
Khadis


texts:
If I inherit something, what has my father done to the something? I've found the word 'bequeathed' but I'm not sure that this is the colloquial word.

I need the word to describe a programming class from which another class inherits. Rather frustratingly, in no OOP papers can I find this word being used in English!


texts:
A friend of mine, pursuing BA(Hons) in English corrected me that no one uses shall now and often it is advised to prefer the use of should, would, etc.

Although Downton Abbey is set upon a time period decades ago, the characters make use of "shall" frequently in their sentences, I have noticed in some British movies and shows that the character make use of "shall" quite often. I couldn't help but notice that I never came across and American character making use of "shall" in an American TV show or movie, or maybe I missed catching the character making use of it.

What is with "shall" in this present-day? Is it obsolete now? Was it only used until contemporary era?


texts:
While complimenting someone, what is correct to say -

You have an amazing taste, or

You have amazing taste.

I checked on online grammar checking websites, they consider both sentences as correct. I am confused about when to use or not use an with amazing here.


texts: "You're as [ADJECTIVE] as you are [ADJECTIVE]" construction: why does it sound awkward when you replace "you are" with "you're"?

texts:
I'm just wondering what it is about this construction that makes it sound "incorrect" even though technically it is grammatically correct. Is it an awkwardness arising from a lack of cadence, or rhythm of the sentence? Is it a case of rhetorical anaphora* just evolving to be more popular rather than rhetorical repetition? I'm wondering if the popularization of this construct is more due to chance than to any underlying logic.

  *anaphora (OED): Grammar ~ The use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition, such as do in I like it and so do they.

Google Ngrams: " * as you are ADJECTIVE "

Google Ngrams: " * as you're ADJECTIVE " (no results)


texts: Two Questions: Capitalization After Colon; Syntax and Punctuation

texts:
Before I begin, I just want to mention that my first question is not a duplicate of Should the first word after a colon be capitalized? The accepted answer to the aforementioned query states that “[i]f you are starting a complete sentence that represents a summation of what came before, you are certainly entitled to capitalize the sentence.” Despite this, though, some people still argue against doing it this way.

I’m typing up an argumentative essay that was assigned in an English course. I’ve been having a really hard time trying to figure out the correct orthography for this sentence, however:

  In this particular instance, she is referring specifically to moral nihilists: “‘morality’ is just part of a fairy tale we tell each other in order to keep our innate, bestial selfishness (mostly) under control. Belief in objective ‘oughts’ and ‘ought nots,’ they say, must fall away once we realize that there is no universal enforcer to dish out rewards and punishments in the afterlife.”

My first question is this: Should I capitalize the M, as it is (technically) the start of a new sentence, and refer to the change in punctuation with square brackets? Or should I instead leave it de-capitalized? Maybe I should use an ellipsis character prior to that? I’m not entirely sure, so I finally decided to just ask for feedback on here.

Another thing that I’m uncertain about is how to correctly indicate omitted text, specifically those words within the parentheses. I realize that words removed from quotes, for the purposes of making said quotes more succinct, are signified by ellipses, which makes complete sense. But I simply don’t know the “acceptable” syntax in dealing with this.

Ideally, the quote would be shortened to something like this:

  “‘[M]orality’ is just part of a fairy tale we tell each other [in an effort] to keep our selfishness under control. Belief in objective ‘oughts’ and ‘ought nots’ must fall away once we realize that there is no universal enforcer to dish out rewards and punishments in the afterlife.” (Ellipses ignored.)

I will add in the ellipsis characters after I decide what to do. As you can see above, I am planning on removing some of the more superfluous text—particularly the “(mostly)”, as it’s kind of redundant if I'm being honest. So I’m wondering: Should I leave the parentheses and put the ellipsis within them, like ( . . . ), or should I omit the parentheses entirely?

I do understand that StackExchange prefers inquiries capable of being answered, but I am honestly doubtful that either of these has a definitive answer. So all I’m really asking for is somebody else’s input, based on their best judgement.

Thanks, in advance, for any comments or answers that you all give me. Anything at all will help!


texts: What is correct: 'I did' or 'it did'? (In the given context)

texts:
Which would be the correct way to form the following sentence:

  "I just had piss shivers so hard that I almost dislocated my jaw."
  OR
  "I just had piss shivers so hard that it (they) almost dislocated my jaw."

Also, would it be correct to write it this way:

  "I just had piss shivers so hard that my jaw almost got dislocated."

The problem that I have with the first sentence is that piss shiver isn't something that I did, it's something that happen to me, so is it still "I dislocated my jaw" or do they dislocated my jaw/it got dislocated? "I dislocated my jaw" sounds like I was doing something- eating, talking, piss-shivering. Not having experienced something.


texts:
Let's say you're asked to name your top 3 songs by an artist and you can't choose would you say:
1. I can't only/just pick/choose 3
2. I can't pick/choose only/just 3

What sounds better in your opinion? Or maybe you have other suggestions?


texts:
Now banish the pathetic。 from public discourses, and you reduce the speakers merely to modern eloquence; that is, to good sense, delivered in proper expression.
  Hume, On Eloquence

There are lots of this sort of old marks in this article by David Hume. I am totally at a loss what function this special mark has.


texts: Omitting "While + subject + verb to be"?

texts:
" I hurt my knee playing soccer "
Is this sentence right? If yes, how come?


texts: The grammatical number of "Newfoundland and Labrador"

texts:
Some of the confusion among the posted answers causes me to add this prefatory note: There is one province called Newfoundland and Labrador. There is no province called Newfoundland and there is no province called Labrador.

"Newfoundland and Labrador is" or "Newfoundland and Labrador are"?

I think I would write "Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province in which license plates are pink with purple polka-dots" (except that they're not, AFAIK, but that's a different topic).

If I were going on vacation and intended to visit both Newfoundland and Labrador I might write "Newfoundland and Labrador are where I'm going", and if I were going to Newfoundland but not to Labrador I certainly wouldn't write that, nor "Newfoundland and Labrador is...." etc.

In this matter, are there standard conventions adhered to by all sober literate people and blessed by learned authorities and taught to children in all schools?

What other polities are called "A and B", where A and B are two disjoint geographic regions? (I seem to vaguely recall that "Serbia and Montenegro" was once a thing. Not sure I'd count "Budapest".) What do they do with "is" and "are" in other such cases?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "filthy rich"?


texts:
In mathematics one is often presented with a theorem, followed by a proof. At the end of the proof, one encounters commonly two phrases:

"We conclude the proof of the theorem..."

and

"We thus conclude the theorem".

Does this second sentence use the word 'conclude' properly? I believe it does, though it is obviously in a slightly different sense than the first. The first sentence says "We end the proof", while the second says "We judge the theorem to be true".

I would appreciate a clarification of this.


texts: What is the correct way to greet a specific person when only their business title is known?

texts:
I need to write a letter to a specific person, who I only know by title.  I do not know their name or gender.

I can think of a couple ways to greet this individual in a letter, however I can not decide which greeting is most preferable.

Should I start my letter with:

  Dear Sir or Madam,

...or

  Dear Manager of Standards,

...or some other greeting.


texts: "Kinda figured it out " vs "kinda figured out"

texts:
Example:

  Speaker A: Were you surprised about my confession?

  Speaker B: Not really. Kinda figured (it) out when you held my hand last night."

Kinda figured it out has 180 hits on Google Books. Kinda figured out has 394 hits on Google Books. So I'm not sure which one is more idiomatic and common in informal speech.


texts: Below are few words who appear extremly simple but have altogether very different meaning

texts:
Broadside: it means "Verbal Attack"

Aboveboard: means "Honest"

Underwrite: means "Financial support"

Can you please help me understand what are these called?
I am aware of Homonyms and Homophones but obviously these words are something different.

I want to know their classification and of course some source where I can learn more about words like these (who appear different but mean different)


texts: Do I use timeslot or time slot or time-slot?

texts: As in "the timeslot given to completing the task".  Would also be interested to hear if there's different usages for different scenarios.


texts: American English: Is "From A to B" offensive? Why?

texts:
I'm a native (British) English speaker for the UK, working in an agency with other native speakers.

We have international clients, and one from the US just sent back a piece of copy with the phrase Communicating All The Way From A to B claiming that "From A to B is offensive to Americans".

Is this phrase truly offensive? What is the meaning it construes that is offensive?


texts: Does this device to restrict access to roads have a generic name?

texts:
I'm sure we've all seen these devices which can "lock" and "unlock" vehicle entry and exit to an alley / road /etc.

They consist of one or several hefty steel or concrete "pillars" less than a metre high which can be lowered into the road surface.

They are strong enough that most vehicles couldn't just drive through them, at least not without substantial damage. But they let pedestrians and cyclists, perhaps even motorcycles, pass through easily.

Some like the one pictured have a place where somebody in a vehicle can use a keycard or such to gain access. Others I assume can only be opened by some remote access technology or perhaps by mechanical means.

In any case I don't know how to read up on them because all my attempts at Googling their characteristics to find a name have failed so far.


texts:
I am searching for a good english word that would be an analogy for russian word izuminka, direct translation is raisin, but it is used in figurative sense.
Other synonyms I've found: appeal, picanthy, zest.

Most close meaning would be an interesting feature.
So it is something that makes the object not so common
and this single feature tends to add an improvement, mostly when speaking about visual appeal or taste.

E.g.: "She is not exactly an attractive woman, but she has an ... "

Also it should be possible to use the same word in ironical sense,
so if put in quotes it becomes a mockery:

For example a new website or software feature:

  A: What is this new annoying feature?
  B: You don't get it, this is a "..."

Or nitpicking about someone's look:

  A: Why does she wear these ugly yellow shoes?
  B: It is sort of her "..."


texts:
In the 1800s the abbreviation "wid" is used in city directories.
The first speculation is with a female listed first at an address, the term is used to designate a Widow with the male name following.

For example: Scott, Matilda wid Robert = Widowed?

One contemporary site lists wid = with. Hence Scott, Matilda with Robert.

Which is it?


texts: What is the use of ain't and "not/no" in a single phrase? The question is that we usually use ain't in our writings, but when it comes to a usual expression "ain't not" or "ain't no" does the meaning differ from the one which means have not, do not, am not etc.?


texts: Is there a word that describes repeating the same word but changing the prefix?

texts:
To begin with, thank you for your help. I am looking for a word that describes repetition of word with a change of its prefix. My only thought is "the repetition of affixed antonyms." This is derived from a question I found on this site, "What do you call a pair of words with opposite meanings that differ only by a prefix?". Any type of word would work. The following is an excerpt from my literary essay. For context, this would refer to the use of fortune and misfortune:

The narrator comments, “those who had no share in the good fortunes of the mighty / Often have a share in their misfortunes” (20). The author uses blank to juxtapose...

Thank you!


texts:
They're gonna kill you. Just like they killed my parents. I was, uh, five when it happened. No one knew who did it. That's why I became a cop to find out. I never would've imagined that it would've brought me to here, but it has. I am not leaving this city until I prove it.

The above is an excerpt from a script of an American TV show.

I am very confused about this sentence "I never would've imagined that it would've brought me to here". Are two "would have done" structures in this sentence all subjunctive? If so, could you add an if-clause?

By the way, what's the difference between the two sentences below?

  I never would've imagined that it would've brought me to here.
  I never would've imagined that it would bring me to here.


texts: When should I use "Figure out the rest" vs "figure the rest out"? Does it matter?

texts:
I'm writing something where a character tells someone else vaguely something that that she did in the past and then tacks on "I'll let you figure out the rest" at the end.

Then some of the notes of the person proofreading my work suggested I have her say "I'll let you figure the rest out" instead.

What he suggested seems totally fine... but what I initially put seemed just as equally viable to me. So I asked myself if it matters and if it does then which should I use here?


texts: English equivalent of Polish saying "A yokel can leave a village, but village will never leave yokel"

texts:
Consider another nice Polish saying "Chłop ze wsi wyjdzie, ale wieś z chłopa nigdy" that literally means "A yokel can leave a village, but village will never leave yokel". Could you please help me find equivalent?

Explanation
This very ironic and self explanatory among Polish society saying is mostly used to describe a person that was born in rural area and has moved to a city but despite the time that he has spent in civilization he has still some very vulgar, annoying and sometimes awful habits. This also relates to the way of dressing, behaving among society, talking and general view on the world.

On the other hand this saying can be used very carefully as playful description only if this kind of person has lived for a long time in a city and sometimes still makes minor mistakes and saying this will not humiliate him.

Example
(walking on a sidewalk)
- Eww, how can a man burp so loud and so insolently?
- Just look at him. A yokel can leave a village but village will never leave yokel.

For curious ones
Believe me, in Polish there are a lot of words that can be pronounced very specifically so that one word can be enough to recognize whether a man is a boor or not! And it's very annoying way of pronouncing.


texts: Does the following sentence need a comma before the word "and"?

texts:
"It’s like in this time, in this age, people aren’t stressing the
  importance of grammar usage enough and it enrages me to no end."

With the addition of a comma in front of "and", is the sentence below grammatically correct?

  "It’s like in this time, in this age, people aren’t stressing the
  importance of grammar usage enough, and it enrages me to no end."


texts: Whats it called when a shirt has a rectangle that buttons on the front

texts:
In a couple fictional universes I've seen this kind of design, where the shirt will have a piece of fabric on the front that buttons on both sides...

and I was wondering if it has a name?


texts: Is it wrong to use "Did you ever" in a sentence?

texts: My German friend thinks that it is wrong to use "Did you ever" in the sentence "Did you ever fly a kite"? She is telling me it is wrong because you must use "Have" with "Ever", which would make the sentence "Have you ever flown a kite?". My argument is that "ever" is just an adverb, it shouldn't define whether "Did" or "Have" should be used. Is her argument correct?


texts:
Can I write the given  sentence 'In life all do not succeed in the first attempt.'
As
All do not succeed in the first attempt in life.


texts: What does "A horse may stumble, though he has four feet." mean?

texts:
English is not much of my first language, so I apologise for that first.

I've search around on Google, and notice that it's sort of a Dutch Proverb, but not much explanation about what it means.

May I please know what this quote mean?


texts: Present perfect with 'in the last 10 days'

texts:
I've read this sentence on TIME:

But dozens of new cases have been confirmed in the last week.

and months ago read this on a questionaire;

Which have you used in the past?

Is it OK to use the present perfect 'tense' with a past time expression, 'in the last week' or 'in the past'?


texts: Can I say "She can distinguish her baby's cry from others'?

texts: Is it OK to say this way? Or should I say "She has the ability to distinguish her baby's cry from that of others."? In this sentence she has the ability to identify the particular cry of her own baby.


texts:
“When I saw him that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set himself to hunt down.”

I have found these sentence in a Sherlock Holmes short story. What does "set someone to do" mean?

Thank you all.
Cheers,
Andrea


texts:
I need to distinguish two types of alert, one triggered when a value is below threshold and the other triggered when a value is higher than it. Is there different names or phrases meaning these two kinds of alerts?
For example, I receive almost ten e-mails from my co-workers every day.
If someday I get nothing, it's probably because the server is down. I want to set an alert to remind myself, then how do I name it?
On the other hand, when I receive over 100 e-mails, maybe our company is under attack. I also want to receive alerts, then how do I name it to make difference with the previous one?
I tried to name the first situation "Minimum Alert" or "Lower-bound Alert"; however, on second thought, these names may mean it is not possible for the actual value to fall below the set threshold. How to name or phrase them to avoid misunderstanding?


texts: Why is the indefinite article used here? A novel called “Norwegian Forest”

texts:
According to a textbook I read, we use "the" in front of nouns that indicate unique existences, e.g sun, Eiffel tower. However, today I came across this sentence:
"I would like to introduce you to a novel called "Norwegian Forest""
In this sentence, even though there is only one book called "Norwegian Forest", why is it accompanied by "a" ?


texts: Absolute phrase without a participle? Or something else?

texts:
I'm trying to learn how to break apart sentences and understand each part's name and what exactly it does (excuse my ignorance; I've read quite a bit, but I'm still new at it). I came across the following construction and, simple as it seems, I can't figure out what it's called. I thought it might be considered an absolute phrase, but those are usually defined as having a participle. So what would the second half of these sentences be considered and what is their function? Am I way off base? Are these even grammatical? Thanks!

Hens are stuffed into tiny cages, unable to lift their wings.
He moved unsteadily, clumsy enough to fall at any moment.


texts: Should words be capitalized for being religious terms?

texts:
While googling about whether "atheist" should be capitalized, and skimming past posts by people blogging about atheism rather than about English grammar, I came across http://uwf.edu/writelab/reviews/capitalization/

It says

  [Capitalize] Religions and religious terms

  Examples:

  Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddha, the Bible, Christian, the Ten
  Commandments, Baptist church, Mt. Zion Methodist Church

  NOTE: Do not capitalize the following:

  Examples:

  church, communion, atheist, agnostic, spirituality

but I don't recall hearing of such a prescription before. Wouldn't most of the examples listed be capitalized because they're proper nouns? Are there good examples of words being capitalized solely because they're religious terms?

I'm mainly interested in modern English, rather than days of past where a lot more words were capitalized than they are nowadays.

Somewhat related: When should the word "God" be capitalized? - use "God" when referring to the name of the god of Judaism and Christianity (a proper noun), but "god" when referring to the general concept of a deity (common noun).


texts: Someone (or the condition) who does not like how their voice ‘sounds’ in their head while reading silently?

texts:
My question title may be a little ambiguous, so here's a scenario to explain what I'm getting at.

Scenario

Say I'm reading a novel, but I'm not reading it out loud, just reading it to myself in my head/mind. That's the "sound"  I'm referring to (as distinct from the sound of my voice out loud, or the "sound"  of myself thinking). Now, let's assume I don't like the way that "sound"  sounds, so instead of reading novels I purchase audiobooks to hear the sound of someone else's voice reading the novel to me.

Sample sentences

John Doe never reads books because he suffers from xyz.
Because Jane Doe is abc, she doesn't like reading books!

Question

Is there a word that describes either a person who does not like how their voice "sounds"  in their head while reading silently or a word that describes the condition of someone who doesn't?


texts: if the unjustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go...perchance it will wear smooth-certainly the machine will wear out... if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another then I say break the law. let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.


texts:
I always feel uneasy about letter endings.  I sometimes use (1) Yours
sincerely, (2) Yours faithfully, and (3) Yours &c.  But none of these seem an
appropriate response to a correspondent's Best wishes.  (1) and (2) would be
too formal a response, and in (3) there is, I suppose, some jocularity and
familiarity, which may not always be appropriate.  My unsatisfactory solution
is to drop the valediction entirely when I have received Best wishes.  In a
way, I feel Best wishes is too informal---and also inappropriate because it
assumes I /need/ my correspondent's best wishes, it is almost like saying 'good
luck'---, and that in using it my correspondent has forfeited the right to
receive any valediction in return.  Or have I missed something, is there an
appropriate response to Best wishes, if my sentiments are granted?

To put the question another way, what is the most formal response to Best wishes that will not be awkwardly formal in contrast?


texts:
Parenthetical/nonessential/non-restrictive commas are proving to be the bain of my life atm.

My first question is whether they are all names relating to the same idea? Non-restrictive modifiers, for instance, always describe either a noun or verb of the sentence, yet words that are interjected into the sentence are said to have no grammatical relation to anything else. When speaking in the vocative, as well, or enclosing apoosited dates/geographical locations, some style guides recommend treating these as parentheticals; however, they seem to be functioning differently from modifiers, no? Can these interruptions or asides be almost anything, so long as they are fragments and don't contain a subject-verb agreement?

Secondly, are introductory words, phrases, and clauses also considered nonessential modifiers/parentheticals when separated by a single comma? Sometimes they contain the important info. and then a pronoun steps in as the main clause's subject.

Is it acceptable to place any type of parenthetical at the end of the sentence? It's common to see nonessential appositives or non-restrictive modifiers following the main clause, but less common to see interjections, for instance.

finally, why is it acceptable to have one nonessential being nonessential to another nonessential, which itself might be acting this same way to the main clause, as in this sentence:
The bike store included the later models, including the 9400x, which itself had state of the art tyres."
The second dependent clause is functioning as a nonessential to the first nonessential, right? Could this pattern be repeated ad infinitum?

Apologies for the length, and thanks in advance for any responses.


texts: Can we use "dynamism" as a noun for describing the amount of change and changeability?

texts:
According to dictionaries, one of the meanings of the word dynamic is:

  a system with continuous change

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dynamic
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dynamic

However, it's used as adjective. I'm writing a text in which I need to refer to continuous change and changeability and I thought of the word dynamism. In other words, I need the noun form of the dynamic. However, seems that dynamism is not used as that meaning.

For example, instead of the level of changeability and the amount of change in a system, I'd like to write system's dynamism level.

Can I use dynamism in that meaning? If not, what word should I use?


texts: In old books, why is the first letter of the word after the exclamation mark not capitalised?

texts:
I was reading Frankenstein and I've noticed that the word after the exclamation mark usually isn't capitalised (unless it's a noun). Some of the quotes I've found:

  Alas! who is safe, if she be convicted of crime?

and

  Alas! to me the idea of an immediate union with my cousin was one of horror and dismay.

and

  Great God! what a scene has just taken place!

Why the word after the exclamation mark does not begin with a capital letter?

Has the rule for using exclamation marks changed and when did it change?


texts:
Is the ellipsis of "it is" in the following sentence acceptable/preferred?

  Once [it is] put in the context of philosophy of language, the
  problem X can be recast as follows.

Such ellipse after once seems to be more popular than when full verb comes after it. Source


texts: Word for people who eat out in restaurants/eateries

texts:
Is there one word for people to substitute "people who eat out in restaurants "?- whether in quick service restaurants, eateries, or high end restaurants.
Terms used in business are preferable.


texts:
For usage like this:

I freaked out when I saw that file was not there.
Every time I talk to him, he freaks me out by his strange stories.

What similar expressions can I use instead of 'freak out'?


texts: The higher of X and Y vs the higher of X or Y

texts:
For "higher of" sentences, is it correct to use X and Y, or do you use X or Y?

The following example:

  Recoverable amount: the higher of an asset's fair value less costs of disposal (sometimes called net selling price) and its value in use.

My inititial perception was that "or" is the correct form, but the above excerpt is from a published standard in accounting, so i think it would be correct.

Thoughts?


texts: How to express a risk of breaking a target/objective

texts: I am French, and I am looking for ideally a word or a short expression to express the situation where someone is about to do something that is going to put at danger/risk a goal/target. Let's say someone is stopping smoking. What do you call the moment he fights against himself not to take a cigarette. Or someone who is making a diet and is fighting not to take that delicious pizza... I'm sure you get the idea.


texts: Is "vice-versa" to a dyslexic just plain redundant?

texts: One of my friends asked me this question, but I really don't understand what it means. Please can someone explain it to me.


texts:
I am drafting an invitation to some clients regarding an event our company is holding.

The template I am going off suggests closing the email with:

"It will be great if [FIRM] can RSVP by March 20th"

I am wondering if that should be would/could instead of will/can ?


texts: What's the word or phrase for what I'll call a dancing sunbeam? Think of a prism hanging in a window. As it swings, the light it scatters moves around the walls and floor of the room. For some reason the term "light spider" comes to mind, but I can't seem to find that usage anywhere. Is there another that I'm forgetting?


texts: Is there a synonym for lazy with a positive connotation?

texts: Is there a word or phrase to describe someone who is willing to do extra work in the short term to avoid work in the long run? I have seen "lazy" used for this, but I'd like to know if there's a more precise term.


texts: Is this proper grammar? “Can a can can a can can a can?”

texts:
Is the following structure correct?

Can a can can a can can a can?

As in:

Can a tin can put another tin can (which can put a tin can in a tin can), in a tin can


texts: Is this a correct usage of 'let alone' in the sentence?

texts:
"You cannot take care of yourself, let alone the three of us"

I just wanted to know whether the phrase let alone is used correctly or not in the above sentence. Please give your opinions. Thanks in advance.


texts: Can we omit the definite article, *the*, in front of two musical instruments?

texts:
My sentence is

  He plays the piano & the violin.

Is it correct to say

  He plays the piano & violin?


texts: "Or", or "to put it otherwise", which one is better in this paragraph?

texts:
As Benvensite wrote, the linguistic structure of Greek created the predisposition for the notion “to be” to have a philosophical vocation. To put it otherwise, as I said, to assert solemnly, as Parmenides does, that there’re things means admitting that there is what is being, or, more generally, by being, it is. (By Being, It Is, by Nestor Luis Cordero)

I want to know whether “or” could be put in place of “to put it otherwise” to make the sentence more concise?


texts: Why did American English change certain past tense verb endings from ‑t to ‑ed but not others?

texts:
I always get “mad” (we don’t actually get upset with each other) at a friend of mine because he uses the UK versions
for the past tense of verbs like spill or spell, saying spilt or
spelt instead of the American versions like spilled or spelled, etc. He’s “retaliated” (just teasing) by saying ✻feeled and ✻builded rather than felt
and built.

Does anyone know why American English changed ‑t to ‑ed only for certain
verbs but not for others?


texts: Is "submittable" a valid word to describe something that is eligible to submit?


texts:
I want to say something like:

  The system stores the crazygonuts data separately from the data feed.

I think this is wrong (maybe I am wrong in that), but I'm not sure exactly why.  One alternative I thought of:

  The system stores the crazygonuts data separate from the data feed.

I checked some dictionaries online, and I did not find separate listed as an adverb, so this also seems incorrect.  I want to keep the verb (stores) in there.  Is there any way I can keep this same sentence structure without sounding silly?  If possible, I would like to use the word separate (or something sufficiently close, like distinctly); or is this formation doomed from the start?


texts:
All the main English dictionaries give the following as the primary meaning of mundane:

  Dull; ordinary and not interesting or exciting, especially because of happening too regularly,

(ODO, TFD, M-W, MacMillan.)

Its original meaning:

  of this earthly world rather than a heavenly or spiritual one,  worldly.

appears as the second and less common usage.

Mundane meaning secular, and worldly is derived from Latin mundamus which carried the same definition:

  mid-15c., "of this world," from Old French mondain "of this world, worldly, earthly, secular;" also "pure, clean; noble, generous" (12c.), from Late Latin mundanus "belonging to the world" (as distinct from the Church), in classical Latin "a citizen of the world, cosmopolite," from mundus "universe, world," literally "clean, elegant".

Etymonline does not mention its  more recent meaning as dull, boring, while Ngram shows a considerable increase in the  usage of the term from the 1950s.

Does anyone know which period this semantic shift took place?
How did a word that originally meant worldly, and secular  evolve to also mean boring and dull?


texts: "You belong to me" or "You belong with me"

texts:
What's the difference between the titular expressions? if any, at all.

Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries could not help!!


texts: Difference between the two sentences and their usage

texts:
Why don't you join a monastery?
Why do you not join a monastery?

What's the difference between the two sentences and when do I use each of them?


texts: What punctuation should precede a multi-word interrogative at the end of a sentence?

texts:
If someone were to simply use a single-word interrogative at the end of a sentence, then it would be preceded by a comma, like so:

  You were there the night of the murder, right?

But suppose the speaker says the following:

  You were there the night of the murder [punctuation here] is that correct?

I know that a semicolon would not be suitable here, so that leaves either a comma or a period. I'm leaning towards a period, but some people have told me to use a comma. I'm a little skeptical about that advice.

What punctuation should be used in a multi-word interrogative at the end of such a sentence as the one above?


texts: A science-fictiony word/phrase for "small child"

texts: I'm looking for a word for "kid" or "child" that would apply (somewhat comically) in a space-age science-fiction setting.


texts: Why is 'c*nt' so much more derogatory in the US than the UK?

texts:
What accounts for the strong disapproval of anyone using the word 'cunt' in the US, when the sentiment doesn't exist to the same extent in the UK?

To be clear, it's still a strong word to use in the UK, but it's much, much more common to hear it there than it is here in the US.

Is it merely due to a discrepancy in popular morals, or are there specific historical occurrences at play in the US that have left their mark? Does the strong feminist movement in the US in the 60/70ies factor in e.g.?

Does anyone know how 'acceptable' the term is in other countries with a large English speaking population (India e.g.)?

I'm new here, and I ask this genuinely, as I've lived in both England and the States and have been fascinated by the visceral reaction the word tends to evoke by large numbers Americans. Per previous discussions on meta there's a consensus for not shying away from offensive words and a faction that doesn't even recommend censoring them when used in the context of discussing the English language.

I chose to only censor it in the title, so nobody can claim to be offended if they click through, and this question will still turn up in search results for the uncensored version.


texts: I'm seeing that I get a red squiggle under the words asian and european. When I right-click either, it wants to capitalize the word. I wouldn't think a general type of thing gets capitalized, such as "evergreen tree", a type of tree, versus "Blue Spruce", a specific type. I would think I need to capitalize "Chinese" or "German" or "American", but not the broader types of "Asian" or "European".


texts: Could you replace these words with simple words? "rent strike" and " mount".

texts:
The leader of the rent strike mounted the platform to deliver an effective philippic against the management.

NB I should say I looked them up in dictionaries but still I have my doubts if the word "mount" refers to plan something. I also have my doubts if " rent strike" means protest against raising cost of renting houses, does it?


texts: Is the punctuation correct? Why and why not?

texts:
In this sentence

  He took the money home, and was subsequently arrested on unrelated charges and is now in prison.

Can somebody please tell me if the punctuation is sufficient and properly placed?

I know the rule of comma before conj if it is connecting two independent clauses, but in my sentence, I am confused if the second clause is really stand alone or not?

In my second clause, is that right that He is the silent subject and therefore the clause is independent. How about the part and is now in prison — isn't that another independent clause with silent He subject?

Kindly clarify this to me. If this sentence is fine without any modification, can you please justify why?


texts: Do these sentences require a comma? "I used to feed the ducks there when I was a kid[,] growing up in Ireland."

texts:
I'm not sure if a comma should go in the following sentence:

  I used to feed the ducks there when I was a kid, growing up in Ireland.

I also have another sentence similar to this:

  I'm at the park, trying to get some exercise.

Would comma go in those two sentences? Why or why not?


texts: How do you pronounce the "ng" in "language" and "English"?

texts:
I'm hearing more and more people pronounce "language" as [laŋ-wij] instead of [laŋ-gwij]. The same goes for the word "English": [iŋ-lish] instead of [iŋ-glish].

How prevalent has this pronunciation become in the "inner circle" of English speakers? How do you pronounce these words?


texts: Difference between 'to belch' and 'to burp'?

texts:
Although most dictionaries I have looked these verbs up in define them in very much the same way,

to belch: emit wind noisily from the stomach through the mouth
to burp: noisily release air from the stomach through the mouth; belch

(Oxford Online Dictionary)
I feel (from the times I have come across these verbs in reading) that there is a  difference between these two verbs. Can a native speaker of English confirm or infirm, and, of course, should they confirm, refine these definitions, although there is nothing refined about it all!


texts: Examples of different roots (and different meanings) coming to be spelled the same

texts:
Apparently the two opposite meanings of to cleave have different roots: the to adhere meaning comes from one old English root (clifian) and the to cut meaning comes from a different old English word (cleofan). According to this wikipedia page

Similarly, in the expressions to run the gauntlet and to throw down the gauntlet, the word gauntlets in question has quite different provenances: in the fist case it is from an old Norse word for a passage (if my memory serves), while in the second case it is from the French gant (glove).

What other examples of this fascinating phenomenon do you know of?


texts: Latin words borrowed from Roman occupation?

texts:
English has a lot of words borrowed from Latin. The great majority were borrowed in the 14- and 1500's from Church/Medieval Latin, a huge influx via educated neologism.

I'd like to know if there are any more words that were borrowed into English directly via Vulgar Latin and not through Old French/Norman or Church Latin. That is, I'm looking for those words that because of the Roman invasion and occupation of England, native Latin words were transferred naturally into the local population (yes, I am vaguely aware that the occupation by the Empire was over by the time that Angles and Saxons came to the island, but vague handwaving blah blah life is complicated blah blah).

My expectation is that the set is very very small.
I already know of 'street', '-chester', 'inch':

street - from Latin 'strata' constructed road
-chester - (ending of town names) from Latin 'castrum' (better explanation at castle - from Latin 'castel' village)
inch - from Latin 'uncia' for 'one twelfth'

What are some others, if any?

(hat tip for this question to cerberus and tchrist)


texts:
Considering the following lists, what would be a good generic word or phrase describing the individual bullet point items? It seems "category hierarchy item" is too wordy/difficult, is there a better/simpler term that I'm missing?

Edit: These words came to mind just after posting this: segment, scope, dimension. But still, I'm not sure if there is word that would be a better fit.

Edit 2: I'm writing some end user documentation for an advanced search feature some software has. So I need a simple way to refer to these bullets in a generic way like "search segment" or "search specificity". I'm just trying to get the most straightforward wording to identify these.

List 1:

Artist
Artist, Album
Artist, Album, Song

List 2:

Author
Author, Book

List 3:

Continent
Continent, Country
Continent, Country, Region


texts: Is there a word that conveys this concept?

texts:
The concept being:
Lethargy or apathy caused by a continuous cycle of dissatisfaction caused by disinterest from exposure.

The best way I can think to elaborate is to describe it as a state where you no longer care to strive because it is inevitable that the thing which you strive for will eventually no longer be interesting.

Similar to the Buddhist idea of sankhara-dukkha : "A basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all existence, all forms of life, because all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance."


texts: What are the literary devices that appear in these two quotes?

texts:
Majestic and minute, remote and magically near, frank and divinely enigmatic.

It's a polysyndeton but since antonyms are used there would it be juxtaposition? I thought it wouldn't be oxymoron or paradox.

Then I knew that the hopelessly poignant thing was not Lolita’s absence from my side, but the absence of her voice from that concord.

There could just be nothing here and I'm just overthinking it. Is there any literary device for negating a previous proposition/statement and giving another? If not, I suppose I can just say that the repetition of 'absence' is used, I guess?


texts: What is the word for a certain melodramatic pose?

texts:
not akimbo
not arabesque
?

I think it's related more towards an ingenue in distress; stage and silent movie era stuff – part of the language of that era.

Today it might be used to imply sappy self-conscious melodrama – as kitsch.

THIS! ---> http://tinyurl.com/mfbh2nq

I believe there is a specific 'technical' word for that pose.

Edit:

1.) Note: - not “tableau” specifically, although the pose could be held in tableau
.

2.) This is the actual link - http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/social&CISOPTR=2247&DMSCALE=100.00000&DMWIDTH=800&DMHEIGHT=1004.1841004184&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&REC=10&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0


texts: Is the phrase "Hello, my dear fellow" considered weird nowadays?

texts:
I was wondering if the "Hello, my dear fellow" salutation is considered weird nowadays.
A friend of mine (one British chap) once said it sounded "gay" =) I'd like to ask native speakers' opinion. Thanks!

PS: of course, the phrase is meant to be used in informal speech.


texts: "You did not lose weight because of this.", and another similar phrase

texts:
I would like to know if the phrase "You did not lose weight because of this." is ambiguous or not. I think it could mean any of the following:

"This is the reason you did not lose weight."
"This did not make you lose weight." (independently of the "you" in the phrase having lost weight or not—I think that the phrase does not give information about this; it could be either case)

Similarly, the phrase "The airplane did not fall because of the presence of the dog" could mean something like: "The dog is a hero! Its presence prevented the airplane from falling!", or "The airplane did fall, but it was not because of the presence of the dog.", or "The airplane did not fall, despite the presence of the dog." Am I missing something? I am very confused about all of this.

Sorry, my English is very bad, I hope my question is presented clearly despite of that... Thanks in advance!


texts:
In a British/Australian English is there a capital placed after every ellipsis or are there conditional rules?

For example, “Even his speech… (“P” or “p”)itched so that everyone outside his door could hear…” or “It wasn’t to discuss my daughter… (“N” or “n”)o no no…”