texts: Name of ideology where 'thinking of something wrong is actually wrong'

texts:
I am thinking of the name of some kind of ideology where in a world where by the mere fact of thinking of doing something that is wrong causes you to actually be in the wrong.
e.g.

In a hypothetical universe where your consciousness can be read by authority you could be held accountable for thinking of doing something wrong.

Some religions may enforce a similar idea where you may be judged based on your thoughts.

The opposite of, you are only held accountable if you commit the act, not because it was a thought (unless they had a detailed plan of you actually going to commit it).


texts: Informal word for canned food / tin cans

texts:
Is there an informal word commonly used in North American English for canned food? I’m looking for something that might be used by a youngster to describe such a meal.

In Germany, we have Dosenfutter, which has a connotation that sort of reminds one of canned pet food.

This is needed for a work of fiction.


texts: Why is "Everybody" in the singular?   We say "People in Europe are nice".    Why,  then, do we say "Everybody in Europe is nice"?


texts:
Literature is inevitably a distorting--not a neutral--medium. Writers interpose their vision between the reader and reality.

In the above sentence, is the word  distorting a gerund or a participle ? Why  is the correct word not distortion?


texts: Difference between phrase, idiom and expression

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the difference between an expression and a phrase?
  Difference between “phrase” and “idiom”

What is the difference between a phrase, an idiom and an expression? I am looking for the context where one is more appropriate than the rest. I've been using idiom and phrase more or less interchangeably.


texts:
I'm wondering whether there is a difference between these two expressions. I never know which one to use. Google seems to return the same amount of results for both, so I suppose there might be a difference.

  What are the alternatives for this project?
  What are the alternatives to this project?


texts:
I'm not certain whether to use 'see' or 'watch'. It's about friends who have no other choice but to watch/see each other die.
I'd be much obliged, thank you in advance.


texts: Do native English speakers sometimes refer to nightclubs as bars?

texts: In Chinese, pubs and nightclubs are both referred to as bars and I've always assumed that would be wrong or weird in English (even in the past), but then again both establishments have a bar (as in barrier or counter) of equal importance.


texts: English equivalent of "brain turned into yogurt"

texts:
In Hindi, there is an idiom "दिमाग का दही हो गया" (dimaag ka dahi ho gaya) which literally translates to "brain turned into yogurt". This is used when you're mentally exhausted and unable to think with your usual speed/clarity. Example situations:

A student studying for a few hours.
A person bored by listening to speeches all day, even though they weren't paying much attention.

Is there an English equivalent of this idiom?


texts: A cell phone company talking about the dangers of texting — irony or not?

texts:
There was a presentation at our school about texting and driving. It was held by AT&T, a cell phone company. Would it be considered ironic that a cell phone company is talking about the dangers of texting and driving?

If so, which type of irony is this?


texts: Are modal verbs and auxiliary verbs actually verbs?

texts:
A friend recently told me that "can" is a rare verb without an infinitive. I have since looked it up and discovered it is an auxiliary verb. In my mind it modifies a "proper" verb in much the same way an adverb does.

"I can jump puddles"

"I could do it"

"to jump" and "to do" are OK, "to can" is wrong (meaning "to be able to").

"I am able to jump puddles"

"I was able to do it"

So, are words like "can/could", "must", "will/would", etc. actually verbs or are they only auxiliary or modal verbs and not "proper" verbs? I was also chatting to a Frenchman and he said in French auxiliary verbs are just called auxiliaries and are not considered to be verbs, so is it the same in English? It seems to me that if you can't "to" or "-ing" a word it is not proper verb.

"to jump", "jumping" - OK

"to must", "musting" - wrong

However, if auxiliary and modal verbs are actually verbs is there a word to describe a non-modal, non-auxiliary verb?

Please, no comments about canning factories or making wills. I already know that the words "can" and "will" can be infinitives but with a different meaning.

EDIT

Black bears, brown bears and polar bears are actually bears. Koalas and pandas are not bears yet some people call them koala bears and panda bears because they look a bit like bears. Likewise jellyfish and starfish are not fish but are aquatic animals as fish are. Alternative names for them are sea jellies and sea stars. Ironically, the seahorse is actually a fish. Things are not always what they're called. So are auxiliary verbs actually verbs or just called verbs?


texts: Using the article twice or once in "a more practical and a useful approach"?

texts:
In this regard, heating seems to be a more practical and useful approach.
  In this regard, heating seems to be a more practical and a useful approach.

What is the general rule for use of a/an/the in these type of cases?


texts: I need a synonom for the phrase "took place"

texts:
My sentence says

"Tom Robinson's case..."

I wanted to say "took place" but I'm using it in the sentence right after it. Help!


texts: Comment on the accentual structure of the following word: overvalue

texts:
I tried to describe the stress pattern of the word overvalue,  but the only thing that I found is that it has the secondary stress. How to describe it fully?
Thanks in advance!


texts: "To charge (that...)" for "to claim/to assert" in AmE

texts:
While browsing my bilingual dictionary, Ed. 1985, I stumbled upon the verb "to charge" in a meaning defined as an Americanism [3(b) U.S.: to charge that... alléguer que...(to assert that)] without any further clarification.

And so, I would like to know if "to charge" is currently used in the sense "to claim/assert" in modern day AmE, and also if it's appropriate in all but the least formal prose.

Consider the following sourced examples:

  Sarah Palin charged that Sen. Obama's tax plan is "so phony that it's already starting to unravel"... source

Critics charge that Mr. Obama misjudged Putin. source

  Sen. Al Franken charged that "Republicans want to go back to the dark side of the Bush administration". source

When alarmists charged that the polar bear was being hunted to extinction... source

  Glenn Beck, today, charged that Fox News is the home base for a horde of liberals. source

A registered nurse charged that there would be "legal genocide" if healthcare reform passes. source

  Another doctor charged that such healthcare program are a bargain only for people with two or three young children... source

One critic in the New Yorker pointed out punctuation errors in her own work; another critic -- this time a teacher -- charged that... source

  The humanities professor charged that Cattell had a lifetime commitment to fascist and eugenics causes and should not be given the award. source

Arthur Bester, a former teacher, charged that the diminished emphasis on fundamental intellectual discipline was anti democratic... source

Ngram source

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/charge


texts: Some idioms for "psychotherapist" and the meaning of "therapist" in the US

texts:
Some Russian-English dictionaries like Multitran suggest that the word "therapist" has a meaning of "psychotherapist" in the US slang.
Is it generally true?

Can you please suggest me some compact idioms for "psychotherapist"?


texts: Word for the act of being unwilling to forgive?

texts:
I'm developing a novel, and I'm having a hard time describing a major characteristic of the main character. We'll call him Dan for the moment.

There was another person (we'll call him/her "Francis" for now), who did something bad to Dan. Dan cannot forgive Francis for this action. Time has gone by, and Francis has apologized for the action, and is ready to make up. Dan however, remains stubbornly holding onto his ___. That's the word I need. 'Unforgivingness'.

It's more than simply not forgiving someone. It's more active than that; more like staying angry at them when you know it's over. Essentially the opposite of 'forgiveness'. Forgiveness means the 'act of forgiving', so the word I'm looking for would mean the 'act of consciously refusing to forgive someone'.

Example sentence:

  "You drove them away, through your own ___ (unwillingness to forgive them)."

Is there a single word for this I can use?


texts: "They had no visible means of subsistence" - What does this statement mean?

texts:
What does this statement mean?

  They had no visible means of subsistence. (source)

I came across this sentence while I was searching for the meaning of "subsistence" in Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. I am not sure about what the exact meaning of the above statement is.


texts: How to describe a small meaningless argument / fight?

texts:
How would you reference an issue that is of little meaning but takes lots of attention for no apparent reason than just being the only thing that is interesting?

I've researched some words such as

Petty Fight
Bun Fight

Yet I don't feel these dwell well enough with the word I'm looking for.


texts: How is "to subselect" different from "to select"?

texts:
I many times use the verb "subselect". For example:

  I subselected all individuals with age below 35 in the sample.

Apparently, this usage of the verb is correct. However, after using it today, I thought, why not simply use "select"?

  I selected all individuals with age below 35 in the sample.

I see no practical difference between the two. Is there any difference between these two verbs? For parsimonious reasons, should I simply not use "subselect" anymore?


texts: In what kind of context people would use "papoose" to refer to child?

texts:
I read the following passage in an article of The Atlantic:

In films of the period documenting orphan care, you see nurses like assembly-line workers swaddling newborns out of a seemingly endless supply; with muscled arms and casual indifference, they sling each one onto a square of cloth, expertly knot it into a tidy package, and stick it at the end of a row of silent, worried-looking papooses.

I looked it up and it seems to mean baby carrier most of the time but in this context I’m sure it refers to a baby instead of a baby carrier. So I wonder in what kind of context people would refer to a child as a papoose. Like to sound more literary?


texts: “Time-limited” vs “time-restricted” vs “temporary”

texts:
I'm writing a spec about network authorization token mechanism where tokens are like usernames, but valid in some (narrow) time span only. For example, one may issue a token which can be used starting from 2018-04-09T00:00UTC till 2018-04-11T00:00UTC. Which wording suits this situation the best?

time-limited authorization token
time-restricted authorization token
temporary authorization token


texts: Can I say "We don't must", any alternative using a modal verb if I can't?

texts:
Let me explain. Suppose someone says "We must play a game now". I disagree, but only on that we have to do it.

I shouldn't answer "We must not" because I would be saying that the game is not to be allowed to happen.

"We don't must" feels incorrect, I'm not sure if it is.

So, other than completely changing the phrase answering things like "I don't feel like playing" or "I disagree", how do I express that idea that I don't think that we must, using the verb must? Is it possible?


texts: If we write a sentence "She ousted the maid vs. She has ousted the maid". Why use HAS. Is meaning the same? Action has happened.


texts: Meaning of "to become a staple" and other phrases with staple

texts:
What does staple mean in phrases?
Examples:

Similarly, the C programming language became a staple of the computer science classroom.
When did the potato become a staple food?
http://sentence.yourdictionary.com/staple

Is it roughly something like "main" or "basic"?


texts: Which is better -- "scissors-things" or "scissors-thing"?

texts:
The other day I loaned an outdoor tool to a friend, and I could not remember what it was called.  I asked him, "Would you like to borrow my scissors-things?", showing what I meant.

(I have since learned that this is known as a "lopper".  The round thing is known as a "tennis ball"  included for size comparison.)

As I thought about it later, I wondered if I should have said "scissors-thing" instead of "scissors-things".  This is colloquial usage to begin with, so there may not be a correct way to say something incorrectly.  Non-colloquially, it probably should have been, "my scissors-like thing".  Thus I'm thinking "my scissors thing" would have been better.  Is there some sort of rule that would handle colloquial usage of this sort when dealing with singular-plural items such as scissors or pants.


texts: Is "out of … reasons" as fine as because of, due to, for?

texts:
Examples
Take sentences like:

Because of her alcohol addiction, she spends an extra $20 on booze every day.
Due to her alcohol addiction, she spends an extra $20 on booze every day.
If it wasn't for her alcohol addiction, she wouldn't spend an extra $20 a day on booze.
Out of her alcohol addiction, she spends an extra $20 a day on booze.

I think all four are correct.
Moreover, I think the following is correct:

For therapeutical reasons, she spends an extra $20 a day.

What about the following?

Out of therapeutical reasons, she spends an extra $20 a day.

Question
Is out of … reasons an acceptable phrase?
If so, is it equivalent to other expressions of causality (because of, due to, for … reasons)?
Semantically? Stylistically?

Related but different questions:
Because of a reason vs for a reason
Can “due to” and “because of ” be used interchangeably?


texts: What does "on the nose" mean in the context of horse racing bets?

texts:
In the very end of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "On the Nose" (~1957), the main woman calls her horse race bookie on the telephone and places a bet:

  Well, I'd like to put two dollars on Washington Flyer! On the nose!

What does "on the nose" mean in this context? None of the Wiktionary definitions seem to match whatsoever: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/on_the_nose

Does it possibly have something to do with the race horse's literal nose? I remember some context where a race horse won by literally putting its head forward, so that the nose reached the goal before the others, which all seemed to finish at the same time to the naked eye, so maybe it has something to do with this? (It was only revealed by looking at the "finish line footage" after the fact.)


texts:
Is there a difference between them? If so, how and when are they used?

For example:

  I fixed a little/small typo.


texts: Translation of a German word: "Gutmensch"

texts:
The word "Gutmensch" consists of

gut = good
Mensch = human

Sounds like a compliment but actually the word is very insulting.

It describes someone who (for example)

is not able to take criticism, since their cause is always just
considers objective arguments as inconsiderate and hurtful
instinctively tries to control any dispute and calm the situation
suffers ostentatively at the slightest indignation
scorns at dark humour

The list is not exhaustive, I'm just trying to convey the right frame of mind.

There is this sense of entitlement and an attitude like that of a teacher. If you argue with them, they will not listen but try to show you the error of your ways. If they are wrong, they will try to end the discussion with "it's not really that important, isn't it?".

A "Gutmensch" is not a bad person, they are perfectly normal people and can be found in any radio conversation and at most family meetings. But there is some trace of malice, some wickedness, or some almost undetectable twist of mind. This is the important part.

Let's say you dine with an activist of Greenpeace and the evening is completely filled with the fight against pollution. This person is definitely not a "Gutmensch", since he is genuinely concerned.

Or you invite a vegetarian who insists on not eating meat. Not a "Gutmensch". The person next to the vegetarian who starts the discussion about eating meat and won't accept any conclusion except "we should all stop eating meat", that's a "Gutmensch".

How would you translate this word (one of my favourites) to English ?

UPDATE:

Yes, I've tried to look up the word on my own. The results were:

do-gooder
goody two-shoes
starry eyed idealist

and

good mind, this last one was actually marked as "abfällig" (derogatory)

None of those words felt like they were spot-on.
They don't feel right, because of various reasons, I'm trying to give my personal impression of each of those words:

do-gooder : very plain, direct translation. I don't think I heard this before. Seems rather constructed to me.
goody two-shoes : I definitely didn't hear this before
starry eyed idealist : someone who is blinded by his ideals. The greenpeace activist from my example would probably be a starry eyed idealist. But that's not necessarily bad.
good mind : the dictionary says this is derogatory. But it seems rather harmless to me.

Would you say "He is such a good mind" about one of your friends ? Sarcastically, I mean ? Seems like a harmless joke, only in a specific context I would consider this insulting. If you called one of your friends "Gutmensch", he would be severely injured.

I didn't post those results, since I didn't want to spoil the question. Usually if someone asks me "do you think X is an appropriate translation for ...", all I can think of is X. And I wanted to see if those terms come up on their own.


texts: "To set up" for "to arrange/prepare" or "to organize" in colloquial AmE

texts:
I already heard and read on various occasions Americans use the expression "to set up" to seemingly mean "to arrange" as in "I'll set up reservations for you" or "I'll be more than happy to set up a custom tailored schedule of activities for as long as you're with us".

The funny thing is I can't seem to find one dictionary online that states this sense of "to set up" as fact.

Actually, the definitions of "to set up" that I found to approximate "to arrange" the most are "to make carefully worked out plans (usually mischievous ones) for" [set up a kidnapping, a jewelry heist, etc.] -- and "to assemble and erect" [set up a new machine], which, I guess, can also be used metaphorically.

And so, I wish you could tell if "to set up" for "to arrange [a reservation, a program, a schedule, etc.]" has any accuracy in modern day AmE, and if it's safe to use in every which context and register but the most formal ones.

E. g.

  Teen campers will be contacted by their group leader prior to camp to find out their goals for the week and set up a program of activities for the group. source


texts: What are alternative responses for when someone sneezes?

texts:
Question: What is an appropriate English response to reply when someone nearby sneezes?

Background: I am American by birth, and was raised to respond 'God Bless You' when someone sneezes -- though I often shorten this to simply 'Bless You'.  Once, while on Wall Street as a consultant, I replied 'Bless You' and my boss turned to me & said "they don't say that here."  At the time I was a bit taken aback, but now as a graduate student, surrounded by non-native English speakers, I can appreciate the contextual / cultural subtlety of my response -- (e.g. this question/responses ).

Being German by heritage, "gesundheit" works, but requires a multilingual explanation to my colleagues.  I have tried to switch to 'Good Health', but I find this so awkward that it often stumbles out as 'God Health'...  Shortening this to 'Health' feels equally clunky.

So... Language Experts!  What are your thoughts?  What is a reasonable, English, response to reply when someone sneezes?


texts: What does the "leave" mean in "parental leave" and "unpaid leave"?

texts:
Reading an article on The Washington Post I found this:

  "The study pointed out that the United
  States is the only OECD country that
  does not have a national paid
  parental leave policy. Some states have started to adopt such
  policies, but most parents are offered
  12 weeks of unpaid leave."

The article was about children raised by one parent. I'd like to understand two things here:

What does parental leave policy mean?
What does 12 weeks of unpaid leave mean?

The great problem is the word leave put together with parental.


texts: How did 'arching' come into use as a verb meaning 'to thwart'?

texts: I have seen the word 'arch' used as a verb in the context of a villain causing trouble for a hero, or a hero thwarting a villain.  It is also used when a villain is actively trying to become a hero's primary nemesis.  I've only seen it in comedic or informal settings, or when talking about a hero/villain relationship.  It probably sprang from 'arch-enemy', but I'm trying to find where and when this phrasing was first used.  Can this be sourced to a particular work?  How long has this usage been around?


texts: What is the legal meaning of "in dicta"?

texts:
(I realize I could post this at Law.SE, but the response rate there is quite hit or miss.)

What does "in dicta" mean in legal writing?

I checked the glossary of my paralegal textbook (by Statsky), and it says

  (1) A statement or observation made by a judge in an opinion that is not essential to resolve the issues before the court; comments that go beyond the facts before the court.
  (2) An authoritative, formal statement or announcement.

I'm not sure which one I should use.  Those two meanings seem pretty different from each other.

Here are two examples of how I see the term being used:

  While courts have routinely upheld defendants’
  convictions in the face of these objections,10
  courts have also sympathized with these
  arguments, noting in dicta that the term
  “victim” is best avoided.
  https://law.lclark.edu/live/files/21940-use-of-the-term-victim-in-crim-proc11th-edpdf
  There's a Nevada Supreme Court case that holds, in dicta, that you still need an annulment to get out of your bigamous marriage.  Which Jeffrey and the trial court seize upon to hold that, yep, the parties were not in fact married -- we're talking about Jeffrey and Patricia at this point -- because Patricia never dissolved anything with Henry before marrying Jeffrey.

  But the California Court of Appeal reverses.  Holding that, no, that was just dicta, and in a case involving a putative spouse
  http://calapp.blogspot.com/2011/11/in-re-marriage-of-seaton-cal-ct-app-nov.html

Should I think of it as "in passing" and dicta by itself as meaning "commentary"?


texts: A word meaning to change in outward appearance without altering the underlying substance

texts:
I’m working with the Latin phrase “Esse Quam Videri” (Motto of the BYU Men’s Chorus) which means “to be rather than to seem.”

I want to talk about becoming (changing underlying form into something else) and to contrast that with merely seming to transform. I’d like to say “become rather than ____”. A verb would be best.

Any ideas? Thanks. :)


texts:
I have a quick question.
If I'm writing: "Do you want to go somewhere with me?", does it sound like who is speaking has a specific place in mind or that they just want to go somewhere random?
I'm not a native speaker so sometimes it's hard for me to tell the difference with this type of nuances. Thanks a lot!


texts: Is "allied topics" a term reserved for the Academia?

texts:
Context: I recently left a comment on Area51 telling a user that their question is more suitable for X.SE since [that site] is focused on X and allied topics.

I'm sure I heard someone use that phrase during a public speaking session, but, according to Google, the only people that use it seem to be the Annual ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics.

Q. Is that phrase considered valid, every-day English, or is it perhaps laden with Academick Connotations?

N.B. I could've used related topics but for some reason I like allied best.


texts: Is there a word for the act of clearing one's throat?

texts: A lot of people, especially those with a throat infection, make an oft irritating guttural noise to clear their throat. What is the act called?


texts:
I would like to know whether or not a verb in its bare infinitive form can be used as the subject of a sentence.

In other words, is it grammatically correct to say:

  Do what her/his mother asks is something a child has to learn.

I have checked a few grammar books and none mentions this use (if any). Still, it does not necessarily exclude the case.

Thanks.

[Added] If possible, I would appreciate it if a reference source can be provided to support your input. Many thanks for the discussion.


texts: Where did "that really takes the biscuit/cake" come from?

texts:
One says that something or someone (really) takes the biscuit when it or they have done something that you find extremely annoying or surprising:
For example: "she's opening your letters now? Oh, that really takes the biscuit!"


texts: Do native English speakers know archaic pronouns?

texts: I'm writing a kinda book where it's common to use archaic pronouns like thee, thou and thy but I'm not sure if an American, a Canadian etc., will immediately know what these pronouns mean or they'll have to google it.


texts: Is using "too" correct in "As X, so too Y"?

texts:
Is the usage of "too" correct in this sentence?

  As the systems we simulate become increasingly complex, so too does the task of validation.


texts:
What may be the conceptual, phenomenal word for

  a long chain of complex causes and reasons, that doesn't believe in coincidences, accidentalities, karma etc.?


texts: What does "Alice started to her feet" mean?

texts:
In the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, what does “Alice started to her feet” mean?

  ... But when the rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet...


texts: What are white spots on the fingernails, caused by leukonychia, colloquially called?

texts:
My mother used to call them "presents". Indeed she had a little rhyme that went:

Present on the finger,
Sure to linger.
Present on the thumb,
Sure to come.

Has anyone else ever heard that? And what do others call them? Is there an everyday term? Leukonychia is the medical name, but it seems far too elaborate to teach to a child.


texts: What is the name of the amount of food that is ready to be cooked for a meal?

texts:
A meal is the amount of food that is ready to be eaten on regular occasions. What is the name of such amount of food that is ready to be cooked, one step before it is actually a meal? According to the Oxford Dictionary:

  Meal: the food eaten on regular occasions.
  Ingredient: any of the foods or substances that are combined to make a particular dish.
  Foodstuff: a substance suitable for consumption as food.

Since meal is directly eatable, it's imply that the food is cooked. Ingredient is the food to make a particular dish, not a whole meal; a meal can have a couple dishes. Foodstuff or food aren't imply anything about the cooking process.

If there is no word that satisfies completely, which of these words can be a good substitution? I guess it's meal, but I'm not sure.

A related question from mine: Is there an idiom or set phrase for “all you need to do is just cook it”?


texts: meaning of "in terms of" in the below sentence

texts:
I am translating a book called "Missing Out" by Adam Philips. In the text below I need to understand what does the "in terms of" means. Please note that I know the usual meaning of the phrase as you can find it in every dictionary but I cannot understand and fit that phrase in the below text. So please have a read and let me know what can you understand.
This text need some reflection and thinking as the language of the book is hard and not straightforward.

Not getting this coincidence of his mother’s words and his actions was
a formative anguish for him; his getting me, whether or not it was his
intention – and my guess is that it was an unconscious probe to find
out which group I belonged to, which gang I was in – was a formative
link. His reference to Walden made me feel we had a shared world. Both
experiences you will notice are fantasies of understanding, what we
might call the promise of knowing things in common; though it would be
difficult to describe what kind of experience this knowing was, or
indeed whether it was a kind of knowledge. The art teacher needs to
know, to understand, what is going on between him and his mother (and
in terms of what might be going on between me and him); I might think
that I don’t need to know what’s going on between him and me because
in speaking Walden we seem to be on the same page, even though we are
quite different people and have only just met.

note: the bold effect is applied by me


texts: Equivalent English word for the concept of "Särskrivning" in Swedish

texts:
In Swedish the word "Särskrivning" describes the incorrect splitting apart of compound words into individual words and the resulting change in meaning. An English example I can think of: groundhog vs. ground hog. The former is an animal, the latter a tasty meal when cooked.

Is there an equivalent English word or phrase for this concept?


texts: Word to describe the way cattle and buffalo consume fodder?

texts: How do you describe the the way cattle buffalo chew ("re-chewing", specifically) their food? There is a specific aspect of their food eating habit which is often related to how people work.


texts: Is "my class" generally understood as "the class I'm attending" or "the class I'm teaching"?

texts:
Example:

  I refused her invitation to join her swimming class.

For a native English speaker, does it read as "I refused her invitation to join the swimming class she's attending" or "I refused her invitation to join the swimming class she's teaching"?


texts: Time in the morning for breakfast/time for breakfast in the morning?

texts:
Can anyone help me out here?
Which is right and more standard among the following?:

I don't have time in the morning for breakfast
             **OR**

I don't have time for breakfast in the morning

While conversing with colleagues option 1) slipped out of my tongue and I'm afraid if the first sentence is incorrect.
Please share your opinions


texts:
When referring to cosmetics, which is correct? Make up, make-up, or makeup? And does it matter in case of a noun, verb, adjective?

The actor playing Frankenstein's monster wore 6 pounds of [makeup |
make-up | make up].
The [makeup | make-up | make up] professional applied 6 pounds of
cosmetics to the actor.
Go sit over there, and she will [makeup | make-up | make up] your face
for you.


texts:
Per Google "tautology" is an expression or phrase that says the same thing twice, just in a different way.

Can it be applied to a public discussion of proposed project that lasts several month where each discussion exposes a different angle but as a whole is becoming repetitive.


texts: Is *raises the need for* a valid and meaningful phrase?

texts: I wanted to use the phrase "This raises the need for ...". A simple google search brought many results, most of which were either publications by non-native speakers or english pages of foreign websites. I was wondering if this is a common or correct phrase to use. I want to convey the meaning of "This gives rise to a need for...", but the juxtaposition of words seems weird to me.


texts: Colloquial alternatives to questions regarding the ordinals

texts:
I'm very well aware that this question is asked a myriad of times before but I want to know how one would phrase a question in every-day language to get the answer "n-th".

What ordinal number reflects the position of you
in the set of candidates?
Where do you fall in order among all candidates?
In the sequence of candidates, what is the position of yours?

These were suggested in the previous questions but they all sound very formal. Could one say "What place did you take in the exam?" Are there any other alternatives? How does "how manyth" sound to a native speaker?


texts: Ordering of question mark, closing quotation mark, and citation

texts:
Let's say I am quoting the verse "Do you like cheese?" from the Book Of Cheese.

Is it:

As it is written, "Do you like cheese?" (Book Of Cheese, 43:21)

or

As it is written, "Do you like cheese" (Book Of Cheese, 43:21)?

or

As it is written, "Do you like cheese? (Book of Cheese, 43:21)"

or something else entirely?


texts: What does "indiscrete marriage" mean in the context of this sentence?

texts:
Does indiscrete make sense in the following sentence? Is this word used as synonym of indissoluble?

  The instincts and conduct of the young man who aspires to the eminence
  of a dukedom, from which he seems hopefully removed by the precedence
  of several relatives and an indiscrete marriage which his mother made,
  are elegant and impeccable.

— The New York Times, Books (Alec Guinness Plays 8 Roles in 'Kind Hearts and Coronets," at Trans-Lux 60th Street).

Oxford Dictionaries, indiscrete: "not divided into distinct parts".


texts:
What is the difference between these two:

1- It seems water.
   2- It seems to be water.


texts: Classification for phrases like "slim chance" and "fat chance" that look like opposites but have the same meaning

texts: How is it that "slim chance" and "fat chance" have the same meaning? Is there a linguistic classification for this phenomenon of seemingly opposite phrases that have the same meaning?


texts: Present simple passive/present perfect passive

texts:
I am confused/have been confused about their usage for a long time.
I have seen different people use them in different ways.
From Internet searches, i have known that present simple passive is used when we mean  regularity, or state.
For example-•I am done( state)
•Dishes are usually done by him( regularity)
And present perfect passive, when we want to say someone has done the action and its completed now
But as I said I have heard people (be it native speakers ,news reporters) say sentences that could have been used in other tense too,one of the many examples-
• Is anybody injured?
• has anybody been injured?
Could anybody clear this confusion.


texts:
I'm running a fever/temperature.

I have a student who likes to ask where idioms come from. Since the meanings are not literal, it is challenging for her to remember them. It often helps her to attach a story or explanation to an idiom, even if it is only folk etymology.

I've not had any luck searching on EL&U or in any dictionary for the origins of the phrase. It's always present in dictionaries but for etymology just refers the reader to run, which never explains the specific meaning in running a fever/temperature.

If anyone knows where the phrase actually originates, it would be helpful, but even a non-referenceable* etymology would be useful.

*i.e. heard from some guy down the pub; learnt a long time ago but I forget where; made-up; etc.


texts: Is there a way to "he put on his coat" without actually using the verb "put on"? A friend suggested "he dressed his coat" but it sounds very strange to me.


texts:
Could anyone please clarify the meaning of ‘following‘ in the extract below. For me, it refers to not the Wednesday immediately after the Tuesday but rather the Wednesday of the next week - ‘the following Wednesday’. In the context of the book though it can only mean the next day and this is where the confusion for me arises.

All the events related thus far took place on a Tuesday. On the
morning of the following Wednesday, very early, between fix and six,
Frau Rosenthal, accompanied by Trudel Baumann, left the Quangel
apartment.


texts: Word for the parameters of your question

texts:
I am looking for a specialized word that means "what you are specifically asking".

Take for example the question: "What is a green, herbivore reptile?" In that example, the thing (for which I'm looking the right word), is "color=green; diet=herbivore; class=reptile".

One word that has crossed my mind is "qualification", but I wonder if there are any better alternatives?


texts: Word for a person who's in possession of something, but doesn't necessarily own it

texts:
I'm looking for a single word or short phrase describing a person who is in possession of something, but isn't necessarily the owner, or the sole proprietor. This is somewhat specific to cars, as I'm trying to use it to describe the contact for the vehicle, but in a way that conveys they have the vehicle.

For example: "He's the _______ of the vehicle", or "Vehicle _________: John Smith"

The tricky part about this one is that "owner", "seller", and "dealer" may all be true, but may also all be false (what if the owner and seller is the brother of the guy who actually has the vehicle in his possession?) Or with dealers, the dealership technically owns the vehicle, so it's misleading to say that Salesman X is the "owner" of the vehicle.


texts: Why do you write "occurred" but "listened"?

texts:
The past tense of to occur is occurred (not occured), but the past tense of to listen is listened (not listenned).

Why? What is the general rule that is applied to make the past tense of a verb?


texts: How to use "allow to do something" without mentioning a person?

texts:
Instead of the probably correct structure:

  Our software XYZ allows the user to resize and modify PNG images.

I'm looking for a way to do it without specifying a person (or people):

  Our software XYZ allows to resize and modify PNG images.

Does the latter sound strange for a native English speaker?

Which one is more idiomatic?
("to allow somebody to do something" vs. "to allow to do something")

Is there another way to say it without involving the user
with another verb than "allow"?

Note: the goal of the sentence is to list the features of a software product,
and here is a French sentence I was trying to translate:

  Notre logiciel XYZ permet de redimensionner les images au format PNG et de les modifier.


texts: At a wedding, the son of the bride said, "I wish I could have put up a pip for you." What was he talking about?


texts:
Watching David Firth's Jerry Jackson, I noticed that he often says "rate" and even writes it "r8". From the context of the usage I'm pretty sure he means "really" when he says that.

So I'm pretty sure this is a British colloquialism for "really", but I've never heard it outside of this cartoon. It might also be a local British colloquialism.

Can somebody clear this up for me? Is this really British English? Is it common for British to pronounce "really" like "rate"?


texts: explanation of kindle in expression: "the risk of extinguishing the fire... by using too much kindle"

texts:
Can I get an explanation of the word kindle in this expression:

  the risk of extinguishing the fire... by using too much kindle


texts:
What is the meaning of Middlesex? I read somewhere that seax is an old English word meaning a type of Germanic knife, so was the county's original name Middleseax?

I'm looking for the etymology of the word 'Middlesex'.


texts: What is the origin of the word digicam? When and where did it originate?

texts: Supposedly the word digicam (digital camera) originated in 1989 as a trade name in England, but I have not found any further information.


texts: I would like to learn more about the meaning of the phrase: There's a good fellow. All that I know is that it is used for praising or encouraging a child or an animal. Is it right?


texts: What is a single word or phrase for someone who intentionally misses the point?

texts:
Examples:

  Coworker showed us a pic on her phone of a Christmas ornament given to her by her late Grandmother. All one guy could offer was how the tree looked burned.
  Another coworker was on poster to play in a band for a charity event and the same guy just made fun of how another guy looked.
  The guy intentionally miss hears something just so he can substitute it with a word or phrase only he finds amusing.

What's the single word or phrase for someone who acts like this guy does?


texts: Is there a difference in meaning of the following sentences?

texts:
With an uncharacteristic dispatch, bureaucrats rendered a judgement of history in six weeks.
With an uncharacteristic dispatch, bureaucrats rendered a judgement on history in six weeks.


texts:
What is the word for when you feel the same as someone, you see them in yourself or you are in the same situation?

I think it starts with the letter C.


texts: Which to use: "altitude" or "elevation" in regards to height above sea level?

texts:
I've developed an Android application that is used as a Car Home replacement. One of the pieces of information that I return to the user is what I originally called "altitude": the height above sea level the user is currently at while driving.

However, a user sent me an email regarding my use of the word altitude and recommended that I switch it to elevation saying "Altitude is a measurement used to show how far off the ground you are, elevation is used to show how high above sea level you are."  I started to believe that what he told me was correct, but after a search I found this interesting comparison of the two. Additionally, Android's API declares this value as "altitude" when returning it from the GPS receiver. Now I'm just confused.

Which word should I be using to express this?


texts:
Is this the proper way to use two possessive nouns in a row?

  I am going over to Lauren's parents' house this evening.

or

  The store's manager's niece was quite attractive.

What about three?*

  The United States Army's general's wife's dog is on the lamb, somebody stop it.

*Three seems both unrealistic, and in the specific example I used you could make a case for adding a fourth United State's Army's but I think that seems even more unrealistic.  Additionally, I would never write this in any sort of setting other than the purpose of knowing what the rules are.

Thanks in advance, I apologize in advance if this is duplicate


texts: What are the differences among these words: varying, varied, various, and a variety of?

texts: May I ask what is the difference between the use of 'varying', 'varied', 'various' and 'a variety of'? Many thanks!


texts: What grammar structure is "having + [verb]-ed"?

texts:
I asked this question on another site, but have not received any answers.  What grammar structures are these?

Having finished his reading he went out for a stroll.
She reproach me with having sent her to the Home.
The old fellow fidgeted a bit. Then, “Well, I know I didn’t ought to have done it,”

I am interested in 'having done doing something' and to have done structures, like "having + [verb]-ed."  What is this grammatical structure called?


texts: Confusion in was and were: The diameter length of X,Y,Z was/were 4,5,6 respectively

texts:
I am confused with the usage of was vs were in the following sentence:

The length of diameter of three plates X, Y, Z was/were 4, 5, 6 respectively.

I am not sure which one is correct: was or were.

Should it be "was" since it's referring to diameter?


texts:
"I couldn't totally understand it" Can this be sentence partial negation or complete negation? or Both?
This sentence can be said to mean - complete negation?


texts: GRE sentence completion, alternate choices

texts: What is wrong with "celebrated" as the first choice and "experiment with" or "distill" as the second? It seems certainly possible that a playwright's approach is celebrated because he/she has experimented with new techniques or that she "extracted the most important aspects" (distill) out of her theatrical techniques.


texts: Term for student who was thrown out of university?

texts:
Is there a term or even a noun for a student who was thrown out of college/universite etc.?

I want to emphasize that he was willing to continue, but was dismissed permanently (e.g. due to severely breaking rules). He may never return.

"Failed student" or the like implies that the student failed some tests, which is not the case here.
"Dropout" seems to imply that he simply dropped out voluntarily, e.g. due to lack of interest.


texts:
Here's the sentence in question:

  We had been on the train for eight hours, but it felt like eighty due to the cramped conditions.

I felt this was a compound sentence. A colleague, however, said that if the second clause were to be isolated, it would not make any sense because the word "hours" has been elided. In order for it to be a genuine compound sentence, she insists it should read:

  We had been on the train for eight hours, but it felt like eighty hours due to the cramped conditions.

Can anyone clarify this for me, please? Incidentally, if it does fail the compound sentence test, is it a complex sentence by default?


texts: What should I use when introducing dialogue, hyphens, en-dashes or em-dashes?

texts:
I have always use the hyphen when introducing dialogue.

  -I love skating, but I'm not very good at it.

But I have recently been educated about the existence and use of en/em dashes. Now, I think I got a grip on the basics, but I actually didn't find anything on using them as dialogue introductions. So, what is correct, a hyphen, an en dash or an em dash? Here's all of them lined up, in case you haven't seen them all.

-

–

—

Also, a little side question. Is it normal, and acceptable to use hyphens and dashes as dialogue starters? I'm not looking solely for your individual opinions, as that is off-topic, but rather numbers on what the majority prefers.


texts: When do I use present perfect tense instead of the simple past?

texts:
I've finished my work.
  I finished my work.

When do I use one or the other?


texts: I’ve heard of the adverb, “thereof” meaning “of that.” However I’m looking for an adverb that means “of this.” I’ve looked it up and I keep finding “thereof,” but that doesn’t really fit. I’m trying to say, “an example of this...” and I’ve been saying “of this” a lot and I just want another way to say it for the sake of variety.


texts:
For a website I am going to show a list of changes to various fields shown for various components on the screen.
There is some question as to whether this is a 'Fields History', 'Field Histories', or something else entirely.

What is grammatically correct here?


texts: Is it improper to use a colon and then another colon in the same sentence?

texts:
Can you use more than one colon in a row?

Examples:

  He follows one moral maxim: the Golden Rule: treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.
  Jane lives in an one-story house: a bungalow: a California craftsman.
  Robert remembered one thing from being a Boy Scout: the Scout Motto: Be prepared.
  This is the problem your arrogance creates: you think you are never wrong, which creates another problem: you never grow from your mistakes.


texts: What is the correct way to write 'for ever more'?

texts: I know that 'forever' is a word, and I know that 'evermore' is a word, but what is the correct way to write the phrase 'for ever more'? Is it 'forever more'? 'For evermore'? Or even 'forevermore', as a long shot? Any help would be appreciated!


texts: Use of 'are' or 'were' for this past tense sentence

texts:
The boys are Liam and Ethan.

My eight year old student is explaining her choice of 'are' rather than 'were' in this sentence from a past tense recount of her weekend, stating that the boys are still friends, so using 'were' would imply there had only temporarily been friends.

So, is 'are' correct or should it still be 'were'?


texts: What's the meaning of the expression "give that tall drink you call yer husband a break"?

texts:
Reed Richards says:

"Amazing! Psycho-Man's ship is so massive that its gravity has trapped an atmosphere shell around the hull!"

His wife asks him "What now, Reed?", but is the Thing who answer to her "Ah, give that tall drink you call yer husband a break, Suzy! He can't be thinking all the time!"

I know what tall drink is, but I did not understand what the Thing mean by saying "Ah, give that tall drink you call yer husband a break, Suzy!"


texts: "What is more", "What's more" too informal for academic writing?

texts: A coauthor of mine used the expression "what's more" in a scientific paper. My gut feeling was that this is not a commonly used expression in formal writing, but I could not find clear evidence for this so far.


texts: experienced in VS experience with VS with experience in

texts:
I wonder how to improve my sentence more intuitive in English.
I want to say 1) I am a Designer.  2) I have experience in(or with) Websites Design. 3) I researched to design the sites.

Could you please help me? I wrote 3 below sentences.

1) He is an experienced Designer in Web sites utilizing research.

2) He is an experienced Designer with Web sites by researching.

3) He is a Designer with experience in Websites using research.


texts: I was wondering whether the word nightstand has any sexual connotation. If so, are one-night stand and one nightstand the same thing? I do know that it doesn't actually have any connotation but some people were saying to me that it does so just wanted to check.


texts: ...before a bunch of economists jumps, or jump, down my throat?

texts:
In a piece I'm writing about financial markets, I'm worried that I'll stir controversy amongst economists. Do I write:
I'll clarify this before a bunch of economists jumps down my throat.
or
I'll clarify this before a bunch of economists jump down my throat.
Does the verb conjugation refer to the singular "bunch", or the plural "economists"?
I see a somewhat related question here but I'm not sure it's exactly the same grammatical situation.


texts:
In a recent question about comparatives, a dispute arose in the comments about gradable antonyms like useful/useless where English speakers strongly prefer to use comparative forms only for half of the pair.

I proposed that this is simply an example of marked word pairs, a kind of asymmetry where one word of a pair is the dominant or default form for general use. Marking explains why we normally ask, “How old are you?” instead of how young. I think it also explains why it sounds awkward to say, “This is more useless than that,” unless we add emphasis: “This is even more useless than that.”

Edwin Ashworth disagrees, claming: “Useful is not an absolute adjective, whereas useless is. The opposite of useless is possibly essential.” I take this to mean that useless properly has a complementary antonym like on/off or day/night, where the two meanings don't lie on a spectrum and don't normally permit comparatives. But essential and useless still form a gradable spectrum, and phrases like more essential are not at all uncommon. I doubt that it's even possible to find a complementary antonym for useless, as utility is inherently gradable.

However, another possibility occurred to me: Is there a class of half-graded antonyms, where the two meanings lie on a spectrum, but only one of the words is gradable, while the other is absolute? This would work like a dimmer switch, where instead of on/off, you have something more like bright/off. One such antonym might be doubtful/doubtless: Wiktionary lists the adjective form of doubtless as not comparable.

My intuition is that adjectives like useless and doubtless are simply more marked than most, such that we permit comparative forms only in very limited contexts. However, I'm open to the possibility that some gradable antonyms really are anchored at one end by an absolute, uncomparable adjective. Does one of these theories have more merit than the other? Or are we just saying tomayto, tomahto?

Update: Thanks to ruakh for helping my organize my thoughts on this question. Essentially, I noticed that there are three kinds of adjectives that are similar in form and meaning but with different limitations in common usage. Some (doubtless) are listed in dictionaries as having no comparative form at all. Others (useless) have legitimate comparative forms, but they sound awkward without other modifiers (a hammer is more useless than a screwdriver). Still others (thoughtless) sound entirely natural in comparative form (Bob is more thoughtless than Alice).

Because all of these examples naturally fall on a spectrum and share the same suffix, I suspect that these differences are a matter of convention rather than semantics, but I'm not sure. Ideally, I'd like to see an analysis of the non-comparable and less-comparable words, specifically: How common are they, how strongly do people avoid the comparative forms in practice, and what role does convention versus semantics play in determining their limitations?


texts: Expectations usage: is this sentence correct?

texts:
A looming sense of unease from a tiny bit of expectation for (or of?) things we don't know yet about.

Hey guys, I am a foreigner and would like to add this phrase in one of my texts; however, I feel like it is a bit off. Could let me know if it looks alright, and if not, where could I improve? Thank you


texts: What is the origin of the term "library" (in programming sense)?

texts:
If you talk about a library to any computer programmer today, the image they will most likely conjure up is of some software package, a body of helpful and reusable functions they can link and call to achieve certain tasks. Not likely, the original meaning of the word - that big, ugly building that is home to tons of books!

Yet, if you think about it, there is hardly any similarity between the two, a function or module is a very appropriate engineering term. The only common point is that they are both helpful reference points. But then, programming libraries aren't just "read" like books, they are integrated, called and acted upon to do one's bidding. Besides, a programming library can be compared to many other things too such as a factory, warehouse, robot, helper, assistant, supporter, etc. Each of these can equally be substituted for a programming library and the meaning won't alter much. So, why was the word library chosen to describe such projects?


texts: The same [noun] v. The very [noun] v. The very same [noun]

texts:
I'm having a bit of trouble explaining to a friend whether or not there's a big difference between the three modifiers in the title. Same and very on their own are different enough, but when combined, I find it difficult to draw a proper line on their meanings. Consider the following:

  I lived in the same house you're talking about.
  I lived in the very house you're talking about.
  I lived in the very same house you're talking about.

Here, I understand there is a nuance in sentences one and two, though I have trouble explaining just what it is. "The very same" sounds like "the exact one", but wouldn't that be what "same" means anyway? Plus, that last sentence truly boggles the mind. How do you explain the grade of intensity expressed in sentence three? How do you explain each modifier?


texts: Why is "conquer" pronounced /'kɔŋkɚ/ and not /'kɔŋkwɚ/?

texts:
In English "qu" is always used as a digraph.

The letters "que" represent the sound [k] at the ending of many words: unique, technique, antique, physique, clique, grotesque.

However, the combination "qu" has the sound [kw] instead of [k] at the beginning and in the middle of many English words: queen, quarter, quite, quiet, question, squad, squirrel, require, inquire.

Then, why is the "qu" in conquer pronounced [k]?

Would it be c+on+qu+er or c+on+que+r?

Is it anything to do with its Middle English form?

Origin of "conquer":

  1200–50; Middle English conqueren  < Anglo-French conquerir, Old
  French conquerre  < Vulgar Latin *conquērere  to acquire (for
  Latin conquīrere  to seek out). (Dictionary.com Unabridged)


texts: What do you call a person that won’t act?

texts:
What would you call a person that just stands by and won't act? Is kind of acting like a spectator when in reality that person should do something?

I know there is a word for this because I knew what it was a few hours ago but now I can’t remember it.


texts: Usage of: "What is certain is that...." common English?

texts:
Can you confirm the following expression is used in common and formal cases?

  "What is certain is that..."

As a native German, studying academic English, it sounds slightly strange. May I ask for your confirmation? Is a comma needed?


texts: What is the literal meaning of "Till daddy takes the t-bird away"

texts:
I first heard this in an audio-book. I do understand the implicit meaning but I always wondered what this really means and the background of this phrase.

I have tried searching the Internet but all I could find were lyrics of a song and other places where this is used.

I am not very good at English idioms, so please bear with me if I am asking something that's well known.


texts: Can I use gender (she) to refer to a disease

texts:
I'm translating a novel from Spanish to English, and in the very first chapter there's a sentence that roughly translates as "we followed a strict diet, especially after She appeared". In this case, she refers to leukemia, which is a feminine noun in Spanish.

Logically, in English I should use it, but there's a caveat: the disease isn't disclosed in the book until much, much later, and the use of she is intentional to avoid mentioning the disease, so it would likely give away too much and spoil the intended effect.

So the use of a personal pronoun (he/she) seems preferable in this case, but I'm unsure how to proceed, as using the feminine pronoun she works best in the context but I don't want any gender-based discord.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!


texts:
What is the etymology of "todger"? My Concise OED is rather vague:

  ORIGIN 1950s: of unknown origin (also tadger)

"Tadger" is just listed as a "Variant spelling of TODGER"

Other references are no better:

Wiktionary adds nothing but some very recent examples -- nothing back to the 1950's.
The Online Etymology Dictionary has no entry at all.
Google search is not helpful, so far.

But, Google Ngram Viewer has some interesting results (click images for larger views):

"todger" has a huge relative spike in 1722 (Update: MετάEd points out that this is due to an OCR error and misleading "Normalization" of the graph by Google.):

Recent history is interesting and doesn't really support the 1950's origin of "todger":

If we go with proper names, it gets more interesting:

More recently, name-case swamps lower-case, but is mostly flat after 1868, except for a slight blip in the 1940's (not 50's).

Upper-case (TODGER, TADGER) is not found.

So, what really is the origin of "todger"? Is it possible that it has an eponymous origin?


texts: What Do You Call Someone Who Is Being Represented?

texts: Assume Joe is sent to represent Sarah in a meeting. What would Sarah be to him? I'm looking for a more informal context, so it wouldn't be a client.


texts: "Boss shot dead his girl friend." Please elaborate the structure of the sentence. Can I replace "shot" with any other word, like stabbed,  poisoned or beat?


texts:
I saw the following sentence in today's New York Times:

  Despite questions about their coach's outsize personality, the Jets have won three playoff games in two seasons under Rex Ryan.

As the expression 'outsize personality' is quite new to me, I consulted Google and found the following example containing it:

  Obregón, Alejandro’s work was widely exhibited in Latin America and elsewhere and in 1956 he won first prize at the Guggenheim International Exhibition in New York. Edward Lucie-Smith described him as ‘an outsize personality'…

Does 'outsize personality' mean outspoken, carefree character? Does it sound positive or negative to the person when he or she was characterized so? What does it mean exactly?


texts: Where did the slang word "yeppers" come from? I have googled it and found dates as far back as the 30s and geographic areas including Florida, the midwest and Pennsylvania.


texts: How to pronounce IPA "/rɑːp/"? (Old English)

texts:
I'm making a video which includes some information about the ancient Saxon and Norman political organization of the English county of Sussex. One thing I am stuck on is the Old English pronunciation of "Rape", which is the old term for the six political / administrative areas of Sussex. There are six rapes (see Rape (county subdivision)) in Sussex. This has nothing to do with violence, as the etymology of the word is given as having descended from the Old English word for "rope". Let's not argue about that; it seems that this has been more or less settled in linguistics at this point.
It is written "...the derivation of the word from the Old English rāp (rope) has been made practically certain."  The text links "rāp" to Wiktionary and this gives the IPA pronunciation as /rɑːp/.
My problem is how is /rɑːp/ supposed to be pronounced? In the IPA pronunciation guides I've looked at online there is no character ɑː listed! Perhaps the ː isn't part of the vowel coding and means something unrelated to the vowel? I don't see this anywhere indicated, perhaps because I don't know where to look.
I'd love an explanation! I'd particularly like to know how to pronounce /rɑːp/.  If the OE were supposed to be pronounced the same as the word for sexual violence, the IPA would look like /ɹeɪp/, so THAT'S out, at least.
ETA: Since there seems to be some question on this point, I am NOT asking how the word "rape" is pronounced in connection with the term for the Sussex administrative district. The contemporary pronunciation is the same as the word pertaining to "sexual assault".  I am asking how the given IPA code is pronounced.  It's irrelevant that this is how it was pronounced in OLD English.


texts: Word for the smell of freshly printed books?

texts:
There's this somewhat distinct flavouring scent that emanates from freshly printed books, probably the chemical from the ink. I've been looking up for a word to describe this but I haven't found any.

The smell originates from newly printed books, but I'm looking for a word to describe the scent. In fact, this 'scent' in particular has garnered so much attention that  'Wallpaper magazine commissioned master perfumer Geza Schoen created a fragrance based on the smell of books as an opportunity to celebrate all the glorious sensuality of books'.

Interestingly enough, I can find a question on ELU about the smell of old books, but not for the smell of new ones.

As quoted from Karl Legerfield:

  “The smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world.”

Edit: In summary, I'm looking for a word with the emphasis of the smell in 'freshly printed books'.


texts: Techniques for easy conversion from passive voice to active voice in the third person

texts:
Recently, a scientific paper of mine was rejected.  One of the reviewers of my paper commented that I needed to convert the entire paper from a passive voice to an active voice.  Currently, I'm using tons of phrases in the passive third person voice such as:

  Two different versions of the generalized polynomial chaos finite element method were implemented and tested in this paper.

I know that it's very easy to convert this sentence into the active 1st person plural, since it only requires a minor rearrangement of the words and tenses:

  We implement and test two different versions of the generalized polynomial chaos finite element method in this paper.

But I have no clue how to convert a sentence like this into the 3rd person active.  What's the easiest way to accomplish conversion from 3rd person passive to 3rd person active?


texts: Usage: "Having children by/from different fathers"?

texts:
In the phrase having children by/from different fathers, is by British usage, and from American usage?

The collocation with by, I could find in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, but the one with from, I was not able to find in the Merriam Webster online Dictionary, although googling children by different fathers and children from different fathers gave approximately the same numbers of results.


texts:
Ser Waymar met it with steel. When the blades met, there was no ring of metal on metal;
only a high, thin sound at the edge of hearing, like an animal screaming in pain.
'at the edge of hearing', how should i understand that?


texts:
Thank so much for your help.

I found the following sentence in a newspaper this morning:

  "The virus had now been detected in 23 countries in the Americas," she added.

Is the sentence's verb "had now been detected" involved with time from the past to now? Or totally past? It seems to be a very difficult sentence for me:(


texts: "None so blind as they/them that will not see"

texts:
In the following sentence which pronoun to use:

None so blind as ____ that will not see. (they, them)

Which one and why?


texts:
I have a folder with the photos from my various vacancies, e.g. France, Germany, etc. I would like to call this folder Travel. But this folder will contain the photos from the multiple trips, thus, the questions:

Should I call this folder Travel or Travels?
Should I add an -s in order to show plural form in case of the word travel?


texts:
As the title suggests, I'm confused over the meaning of "as does/as do."

In the link, http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/as-does-meaning.2885994/
the person's example is: "Opinions of food vary tremendously as does an individual's culinary skills." In this case, "as does" equates to "like" or "also." It means that BOTH the opinions and culinary skills vary.

However, in another link How to interpret "as do" in this sentence, "as does" shows a contrast meaning. The example in the link was: "Mutexes can be applied only to threads in a single process and do not work between processes as do semaphores." It means that UNLIKE semaphores, mutexes do not work between processes.

To me, it seems like "as does/as do" has opposite meanings in these two examples. Does the meaning of the phrase "as does" depend on the context or is there something I'm misunderstanding?

Relating to this, I made my own example sentence to practice: "He showed none of a father's assiduity in devoting to his family as do his dedication to his work." I am trying to convey that the father does NOT devote himself to his family BUT DOES dedicate himself to his work. Did I use the phrase "as does" (or "as do") correctly? (I realize anyhow that the sentence  is very hard to read so I fixed it later with "He showed none of a father's assiduity in devoting to his family UNLIKE his dedication to his work." But I still would like some help with the former question please!

Thank you for your time! Please answer when you have the time!


texts: Is there such a thing as a dictionary that lists all the words for a given morpheme?

texts: I've just discovered what a morpheme is. The article I read on the subject listed many morphemes and gave examples words of each type but the list of words for each morpheme was not exhaustive. I've Google searched for lists of words by morpheme and looked on Amazon to see if they sell dictionaries that might give such information, but I can't find any. I would find it interesting to be able to search for words in both directions i.e. I would like to have a list of words for each morpheme but I would also find it interesting to see each word that consists of morphemes being broken down into its constituent morphemes. Is anyone aware of any such listings and where they may be obtained?


texts: The grammar method for a special kind of ing verbs

texts: I have recently encountered the following I had saved more of the money I made working at the restaurant and my question is which grammar method is used for the word working here ?


texts:
Future Perfect's "Is it Web site or website?" states:

  Since the World Wide Web is a proper
  noun, we use initial upper-case
  letters, as we would with your
  surname, for example.

  As for writing ‘Web site’ as one word,
  it is true that this is seen a great
  deal, but then, so is the spelling
  ‘recieve’ which is just plain wrong!

I disagree. Languages change over time, and I think 'website' has now become the accepted spelling. A Google search for 'website' returns almost 3 billion results, including the official website of the British Monarchy. If 'website' is good enough for Her Majesty, it's good enough for me :-)

What do you think?


texts: Word for someone who always uses their head before making a decision?

texts: What's a word for someone who always thinks about the consequences before making a decision?


texts: What does "Can it!" mean, as used by Alex Chadwick?

texts:
On livejournal.com there is a transcript which seems unclear.

  (fish) me! remember the fish came home in a baggy loved me for 2 weeks
  and then nothing (girl) the fish is talking! (cat) well sure he can
  talk but is saying anything? no not really no (fish) HEY socks can it.
  this cat should not be here, he should not be about he should ot be
  here when your mother is out

However to make sure I wasn't mistaken, I found in the CORPUS OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ENGLISH the 'same' transcript.

Where "Can it!" is highlighted.

After searching in several on-line dictionaries, I cannot find the definition of "Can it!" as used there.

Can anybody explain, providing a more clear example of its usage?


texts: Are there any English sayings equivalent to the Japanese proverb, “Go to bed early and wait for the good news”?

texts:
When politicians are waiting for the results in a Primary election, your son is waiting for admission to Harvard, an entrepreneur is waiting the bank’s approval for a financial loan, everyone frets about the outcome over sleepless night.

We have a proverb, “人事を尽くして天命を待つ—Do your best, and wait for God’s will (decision)” for such an occasion.
We also say “果報は寝て待て— “Go to bed early (have a good sleep) and wait for the good news” to the same effect.

I’m curious to know if there are similar English sayings to “Go to bed early and wait for the good news,” meaning “It’s no use to worry about after everything is done. Just leave it to the hands of God.”

P.S.

I happened to find the phrase which I think, is pretty close to “Go to bed early, and wait for good news” in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s remarks in the recent Diane Sawyer’s interview quoted in Maureen Dawd’s article, “When Will Hillary Let It Go?” in today's (June 14) New York Times.
It reads:

She continued: “I am over it, over it. I think I have changed; not worried so much about what other people are thinking.” She vowed to now “say what I know, what I believe, and let the chips fall (where they may).”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-when-will-hillary-let-it-go.html?hp&rref=opinion


texts:
I find some interjections to be too tricky to pronounce.

Can anyone help me with this one? Is there any specialized dictionary that reports the pronunciation of interjections?


texts: What do you call a frustrating and inexplicable ending?

texts:
I used to be a fan of the TV show Dexter, I say “used to be”, because until the last season it was a thoroughly enjoyable (and) guilty pleasure of mine. However, season 8 ruined it for me. The twists and turns in the plot were nothing short of nonsensical (I could give examples; Deborah's sudden XXX but I might spoil it for those who have yet to watch this disappointing season. A word of advice, don't.)

The grand finale of the show struck me speechless, I would describe it as being a cop-out ending,  an ending which had no premise, a desperate attempt by the screenwriters to give a final dramatic twist to the story, but which fell flat on its face. I believe that the writers were trying to attempt a sort of poetic justice, an ironic ending considering Dexter's character at the beginning of the TV show. But it just didn't work.

Is there a word or expression which describes a sudden and inexplicable "cop-out ending",  wherein the reader of a novel or TV viewer feels cheated in some way.
Can I say: “a cop-out ending”? Is it idiomatic?


texts: Is "habit of command" equivalent in meaning to "habit of commanding"?

texts:
Today I came across the emboldened phrase in a text by Bertrand Russell:

  Good political institutions would weaken the impulse toward force and domination in two ways: first, by increasing the opportunities for the creative impulses, and by shaping education so as to strengthen these impulses; secondly, by diminishing the outlets for the possessive instincts. The diffusion of power, both in the political and the economic sphere, instead of its concentration in the hands of officials and captains of industry, would greatly diminish the opportunities for acquiring the habit of command, out of which the desire for exercising tyranny is apt to spring.

I expected the author to have used "the habit of commanding" instead, because the habit of [verb]+ing is a very common structure. When is it acceptable to use the structure the habit of [noun]?


texts: A sentence consisting of two negative parts

texts:
I'm editing a text (in En) by somebody else and he uses a language construction that is not uncommon in our language. Now I'm a bit confused:

  If these two processes did not happen simultaneously, we could not
  observe the spectrum part.

1) is this sentence at all normal and understandable?
2) should we avoid this negative structure? I proposed to change the sentence to:

  Just because these two processes happen simultaneously, we can
  observe...

But maybe the original sentence is not so bad?


texts: Is there a word for someone who will fairly evaluate points of view that conflict with his own?

texts: My point of view clearly influenced her thinking.    I had no idea she was a * (person who will fairly evaluate points of view that conflict with her own).


texts: Should “round” only be used to describe 2-d objects?

texts: My high school teacher used to say, "No, the world is not round it is globular". Strictly speaking, is round more appropriately used to describe 2-dimensional objects (circle, oval, tire, plate or saucer) and globular, spherical or even cylindrical better for 3-dimensional objects (ball, egg, tube, pint glass or the earth). Or are we just dealing with a persnickety high school teacher?


texts: The relationship between negative numbers and moral negatives

texts: What is the origin of the analogy between numbers less than zero and bad things? This question just occurred to me. I have been using this analogy without thinking about its history.


texts:
Can someone tell me if usage of 'prolonged' in the following sentence is correct?

The winter season is prolonged till the first week of March.


texts: Why are Greek letters pronounced incorrectly in scientific English?

texts:
In Greek, for example, the letter β is pronounced "veeta", but in science, people use "beta". Some other offenders are η "eeta", ι "yiota", μ "mee", ν "nee", π "pee", τ "taf", χ "hee", ψ "psee".

I understand the difficulties of pronouncing the γ sound and such, but the translation of the "ee" sound into "i" is what I don't understand.

When did this start? Perhaps when Greek letters became commonly used in science? How has their pronunciation changed through the years?


texts: precondition + for / of / to - what's the difference?

texts:
This is my first post ever on this valuable forum!

I'm at a loss, since I'm supposed correct students' exams, and I started doubting the grammar book's normatively exclusive use of the combination precondition + for, as in

"A halt to the fighting is a precondition for negotiations." (Dictionary.cambridge.org)

Obviously this seems to be the preferred option and "the most correct" (if there is such a thing), but a little google searching shows that two other prepositions are frequently used with the noun precondition, namely of and to, for example in:

"They insist on a guarantee as a precondition of the deal." (Merriam-Webster.com)

and

“But what I am saying is that for me, at least, feeling loved and wanted by somebody was a precondition to health.” (Dictionary.com, originally from The Daily Beast)

It seems that the online dictionaries or forums do not address the issue of the preposition, apart from one post here that deals with the word prerequisite, which was interesting, but not necessarily fully satisfactory.

So my question is: what is the difference in meaning when using different prepositions, if any?

Since precondition is such a versatile word, are there some contexts, in which one of the three prepositions (for, of, to) would be less than preferred?
I'm especially interested in learning if the normative for would not be preferred in certain contexts.

Thank you already in advance for this answer and the countless answers that this forum has provided me in the past!

Regards,
Hylje


texts: Is "home goal" an eggcorn of "own goal"?

texts:
I used to think when a player put the ball in his own net it was called a home goal because that's what the older kids in school called it.  Then at some point I noticed that TV commentators were actually saying own goal and it was abbreviated o.g. on the score sheet.

It's obvious to even the most casual football fan that a home goal is one scored by a team on their home ground but the erroneous usage is quite common, for example in this newspaper headline:

  Piers Morgan's scores home goal as Thierry Henry comment leads to Irish heritage claim [sic]

So, does home goal qualify as an eggcorn?


texts: Why does the word 'Well-to-do' mean 'rich'?

texts:
How has the expression  'well to do' developed the connotation of being  'rich'?
Does anyone  know the origin of this expression, which accoring to Merrian Webster, dates back  to 1794, while Etymonline dates its usage from  1825.

Well-to-do "prosperous" is recorded from 1825.


texts: Definite article before an abstract noun

texts:
When is the definite article the appropriate before an abstract noun? In particular, I have the following examples.

Which are correct?

Case I

In the Theorem 4.4, we prove property A for all graphs.
In Theorem 4.4, we prove property A for all graphs.

Case II

From the Theorem 4.4, we know about property A for all graphs.
From Theorem 4.4, we know about property A for all graphs.

Case III

From the following Theorem, we know about property A for all graphs.
From following Theorem, we know about property A for all graphs.


texts: What is the term for saying something negative fishing for positive comments?

texts: Help me!  There is a term for when people say or post something negative or complaining but in reality they are fishing for positive (compliments).  What is this term?!


texts:
Do you consider the subject in the following to be compound, justifying a singular verb?

"His impact and influence is undeniable."

On the one hand, the nouns do not form a common phrase; on the other hand, they have a similar meaning so might be considered a unit. What are you views? And do you know if usage is shifting?


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "made out to", in the current context?

texts:
I have received a letter which has the following sentence. The letter is about reimbursement of my travel costs to their location.

  Please note that for tax reasons all invoices have to be made out to the company.

What is the meaning of the term made out to in the current context?


texts: Do "You see me?" and "You get me?" mean "Do you understand what I mean?"

texts:
Sometimes after finish explaining something, people will say, "You see me?" or "You get me?"

I wonder if they are equivalent to "Do you understand what I mean?"


texts:
Have I used "whom" correctly in the following sentence?
Rarely a day goes by here that I don’t witness this core value manifesting itself in a myriad of thoughtful, sincere, acts of kindness toward our residents, many of whom have enriched our lives beyond measure.


texts: “Silence” and “silently”: What is the name of the relation between these words?

texts:
Consider:

Silence is a noun.
Silent is an adjective.
Silently is an adverb.
Silence! is an interjection.

Not sure how these words actually evolved, but they were likely all derived from the noun silence. What is the name of this noun-derived relationship?


texts: What is the name for someone that wants to be a different race. Like for example if I wanted to be black but I am white what would be the name for that.I saw a post like this and I didn't get a clear answer so I thought I would ask myself.


texts: What is the meaning of `Position Fulfillment`?

texts:
I can't understand the meaning of Position Fulfillment in Human resource context.

Is it same as Position History?

an example:

Any help would be appreciated!


texts: A lot of numbers in a paragraph, how should I phrase them

texts:
The formal grammar demands that numbers be written out as words at the beginning of a sentence. I have a paragraph like the one below and I am not sure how best to re-phrase it so as to conform to the academic grammars. General suggestions on writing this type of sentences (sentences with "complex numbers") are especially welcome.
(I intentionally put all numbers at the beginning of all sentences to highlight the issue)

  4165 cases of respondents reported pain in knee joints, hand joints or
  wrists. 60.77% of them reported only knee pain whereas 64.71% reported
  pain in hand and wrist joints. 74.89% of the patients with
  osteoarthritis complained knee pain while 87.64% of the patients with
  rheumatoid arthritis complained hand and wrist pain. 69.55% of the
  patients 60 years old and above showed signs of knee pain while 46.78%
  of the patients 40 years old and younger showed similar signs. 69.24% of the patients
  40 years old and younger complained about hand and wrist pain and
  62.50% of the patients 60 years old and above have a similar complaint.


texts:
To my right, was a painting called Red Blue and that’s just what it was; a large cobalt blue canvas with a single red stripe painted vertically down the middle.

I've never used a semicolon (at least correctly, gasp). My understanding is that semicolons are best used when joining two parts of a sentence that could be sentences separately.

Is this a correct usage?


texts:
I scrape ice of the car

Can we use 'from' instead of 'of' if yes, why is 'of' preferred here?


texts: difference - availability and available in a sentence

texts:
I am answering someone at work who asked me what availability do I have over the next few weeks, in order to see if I could be assigned a task. Which is the following two forms is correct and why?

I may have up to 20% availability in the coming weeks.
I may be available 20% of the time in the coming weeks.

Thanks for your help.


texts:
I have searched every online dictionary and can not find a word which means, not depleted."Undepleted" is apparently not a word. I want to say

  "His funds remain not depleted by unnecessary expenses"

but "not depleted" and "remain full" doesn't cut it for me. Any ideas?


texts: Looking for a word that describes thinking something is more common than it is?

texts:
I'm wondering if there's a good term for assuming knowledge, or other things, is more common due to my own experience.

Essentially it's like being out of touch with reality, but a little more specific.

One term comes to mind is confirmation bias, but again I don't think it quite matches.

Essentially it's because I've self selected to receive a certain amount of information, I assume it's common knowledge, only to find it isn't.

My personal example is, I repaired a broken kindle screen by replacing it with a new one, and opening up the old kindle.

I assumed a lot of people knew this was a possibility, turns out it they don't. I was surprised to realize this, until I concluded that because I work with technology it's in my sphere of knowledge.

Something about cultural knowledge? Frequency fallacy (I see it a lot, but that doesn't mean it's really frequent) -- Is frequency fallacy a real phrase?


texts: Can I use "have many things to do with"?

texts:
Can I use "have many things to do with" to emphasize something has important relationships with others?

For example,

  this graph has many things to do with the characteristic of the
  equation.


texts: Is "How would you like your coffee?" grammatically correct?

texts: I know this is something small but I am genuinely curious about it.  Are questions like "How would you like your coffee?" grammatically correct? Isn't it supposed to be "How would you like your coffee to be?"? Are both of these correct? Could you explain the reason and the rule behind it, please? Thank you so much.


texts: Does the word "brownie" have the same implication as the N-Word?

texts:
I was watching the latest episodes of The X-Files a couple of weeks ago and in one of the episode a middle aged white man driving down the road in Texas stares at a Mid Eastern/Asian guy at a traffic stop and says:

  Looks like we got a visitor. A little brownie. Are we in the
  wrong country then? Huh?

So in the above situation, does the word brownie have the same implication as the N-Word? I did do some research on this subject albeit on the Internet only, but could not find any authoritative source that helps me to compare and consequently figure out the implication.


texts: In the sentence "You, too.", is the comma acceptable?

texts: I tend to think it is, as "too" serves the role of a referential phrase, repeating the verb-phrase of a preceding sentence, and "you" acts simply as a subject pronoun.  But, I've heard an argument to the contrary.


texts: Can we say that two people have excellent "work ethics"?

texts:
We can say that "John has an excellent work ethic".

So can we say that "John and Mary have excellent work ethics"?

Or should it still be "John and Mary have an excellent work ethic"?


texts: Is there any difference between to strew and to scatter?

texts:
I just read that :

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/strew-scatter.172228/

and it appears those two words are interchangeable, apart that strew is rather literate.

What do you think?


texts: Usage of "eggheads and fatheads" in a sentence

texts:
Recently I came across this expression "eggheads and fatheads".
I know the individual meanings of both the words. In which context should I use these two words together?


texts: Saying for Using an expensive thing for casual use

texts:
Does English have any proverbs or other sayings meaning "One should not use expensive items to do an everyday thing" ?

For instance :

  Don't buy a Ferrari to run on a dirt road or park in a multistory.


texts:
These three examples have the same construction of

  I'd appreciate it if you + past tense verb + ... + until + subject + present or past tense verb...

The first one has the present tense verb finish after until whereas the other two have the past tense verbs got and were:

From the movie 'Kingsman' (video clip):

  (1) Listen boys, I’ve had a rather emotional day. So whatever your beef with Eggsy is, I’d appreciate it enormously if you could leave us in peace until I finish this lovely pint of Guinness.

From the book "The Ultimate Plan: A Financial Survival Guide for Life's Unexpected Events":

  (2) So if you must have an attack, I'd appreciate it if you could wait until we got to Broadway.

From the book "Touching Darkness: Number 2 in series":

  (3) 'Still, Melissa,' he said, 'this is a classroom, and I'd appreciate it if you waited until you were out in the hall before turning that thing on.'

Note that all the verbs after until (finish, got, and were) describe a future situation.

Can you have the past tense verb finished in (1)?

Also, can you have the present tense verbs get and are in (2) and (3), respectively?

Is there a rule that determines the tense of the verbs after until?


texts: Why did author use a different sort of articles in sentence, which describe a picture?

texts:
I am not a native speaker.

I am doing a exercise "Answer the questions about the pictures"  from my Grammar Book and I checked Keys at end of the book:

I saw:

  In A the man is lying on the floor. In B he is standing on the chair.
  In A the woman is writing (a letter). In B she is reading a book.
  In A the man is running. In B he is riding a bicycle.
  In A the woman is driving (the car). In B the man is driving (the car).

I know, that the article "the" indicates that I am referring to a specific instance.

Could you please explain for me:

Why did author use indefinite and definite articles?

Why did author see a difference between phrases:
"a bicycle"(indefinite article) and "the car" (definite article),
"the chair"(definite) and "a book" (indefinite)?


texts:
In the context of computers and software, when a new windows appears on the screen, should we say:
a window pops
or
a window pops up

Based on my research, "pops up" is more correct, but can "pops" be used as well?

Thank you.


texts: Word/phrase for a non-secret secret identity

texts:
I've been following the TV-show "Lucifer", a show about The Devil leaving Hell and opening a nightclub i LA.  Here he starts working with a detective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4bF_quwNtw

He goes by the name "Lucifer Morningstar", which can hardly be called a "secret identity" - the first being one of the Devil's most common aliases and the second referring to the story of his fall in the Bible.

Further more, he frequently and freely volunteers that he is indeed The Devil.  To the detective he works with... to his therapist (well, he is in LA)... and to several others.  So his identity is hardly a secret.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYW8JRRZSQE

The problem of course, is that nobody actually believes him - even if he is telling the truth.  For example, his therapist believes he's talking in metaphors, and find it easiest to just go along with his obvious "delusions".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0UHQ-JHHF8  (His wings been stolen)

So is there a good word/phrase for a "secret identity" that remains "secret", not because you try to keep it hidden (you actually do rather the opposite), but because nobody actually believes you - even though your telling the truth and is completely honest about who you really are.


texts: Pronouncing x in the name of a CD product

texts: I would like to know how to pronounce 48x Cd-Rw. The problem is how to pronounce the "x" in the context of computing.


texts: Can “this time around” and “all the time” be compatible?

texts:
I was a bit puzzled to read the following sentence in the article titled “Obama showering Ohio with attention and money” in September 26 Washington Post:

“It goes without saying that, every four years, presidential candidates shower battleground states with attention. This time around, it’s Obama in Ohio, doling out the perks of office — all the time.”

“This time around” should refer to a specific point of time in contrast to the folowing “all the time,” which is separated by em dash. Don’t “this time around” and “all the time” in the same sentence contradict each other?

Though I think “all the time” means every four-year routines of every presidential candidate, is this a perfect English sentence? It may sound nitpicking, but aren’t some words missing, or redundant in the last line of the above sentence?


texts: On Passage, Objections to the Contrary Notwithstanding

texts:
What does the following mean? There seem to be a lot of double negatives in here, so I'd like to understand this better.

On passage, objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding

This assumes we're talking about political parties voting on some issue:

AYE
NAY
PRES
NV

DEMOCRAT
211
20

2

REPUBLICAN
109
66

20

INDEPENDENT
1
1

TOTALS
321
87

22


texts:
What is the third conditional for "if I could"? For example, we say:

If I had studied hard, I would have passed the exam. How about this:
If I could study, I would have passed the exam.[Is there a past perfect for could?]


texts:
There are a lot of posts asking if it's okay to mix commas and dashes like this:

I walked my dog – who is nice, around the neighborhood.

And that's definitely not correct.
But what about the case of using the dash and comma simultaneously?
Which of these is correct?

I walked my dog, Frank – who is nice, around the neighborhood.
I walked my dog, Frank – who is nice – around the neighborhood.

EDIT:
The sentence contains incidental information within incidental information.
An appositive within an appositive. This is equivalent to:

I walked my dog [Frank (who is nice)] around the neighborhood.

However, when using dashes and commas, I've read I can't do this:

I walked my dog, Frank – who is nice –, around the neighborhood.

So, I have to close two, "brackets," with one punctuation mark: a dash or a comma.
The lack of a "closing" dash troubles me just as much as the lack of a "closing" comma.


texts: Is there a term that covers body parts, tools, entities and more?

texts:
I'm trying to design a concept for a Trading Card Game and I've got this thing thought out, but I'm unsure how to name it.

The concept:

  Creatures can be divided into several parts that can be independently destroyed when a creature enters combat.

A few examples of these parts that make up a creature are the following:

Orc with Spear, consists of Orc and Spear
Bear, consists of Head, Body and Legs
Mechanized Bear, consists of Head, Body, Legs, Armor and Rocket Launcher

As you can see sometimes every part referred is a whole entity, sometimes it's a body part and sometimes it is an attachment or a tool.

I've come up with the following names, but none of them quite cuts it:

Part
Piece
Component
Modification

Someone also suggested me to use Fragment, while it sounds really cool, I'm not quite sure how I can justify that it means something like a part, a piece, etc.

Is there a word that covers what I mean?


texts: How to say thank you for someone tried but could not help me?

texts:
Today someone tried to help me to find something but failed, so I said "thank you anyway" to her in the end.

Is "thank you anyway" appropriate in this situation? And what phrase should I use to politely say thank you to someone who tried to help me but failed?


texts: What do all these words mean in this particular context?

texts:
Some short period after the above events, and Miss Rebecca Sharp still
  remaining at her patroness's house in Park Lane, one more hatchment
  might have been seen in Great Gaunt Street, figuring amongst the many
  which usually ornament that dismal quarter. It was over Sir Pitt
  Crawley's house; but it did not indicate the worthy baronet's demise.
  It was a feminine hatchment, and indeed a few years back had served as
  a funeral compliment to Sir Pitt's old mother, the late dowager Lady
  Crawley. Its period of service over, the hatchment had come down from
  the front of the house, and lived in retirement somewhere in the back
  premises of Sir Pitt's mansion. It reappeared now for poor Rose
  Dawson. Sir Pitt was a widower again. The arms quartered on the
  shield along with his own were not, to be sure, poor Rose's. She had
  no arms. But the cherubs painted on the scutcheon answered as
  well for her as for Sir Pitt's mother, and Resurgam was written under
  the coat, flanked by the Crawley Dove and Serpent. Arms and
  Hatchments, Resurgam.—Here is an opportunity for moralising!

(Vanity Fair, Chapter XIV)

I understand the context of this passage; I know what hatchment and scutcheon mean.

However I can't truly understand the sentence in bold letters. What does arms mean here? What does shield? (Is it synonymous with hatchment and scutcheon?) And what does quartered, in reference to arms, actually mean in this sentence?

If you will, please explain this sentence to me.

Also, what does answered mean in this context?


texts: I am trying to express a sentence in the language of graph theory. Is that right to say "In the language of graph theory"? I googled and did not find similar sentence. If not, how can I express my meaning?


texts: Can a dependent clause undergo inversion in English?

texts:
The grammars I've seen state that dependent clauses never undergo inversion. This agrees with sentences like

  Tell me where he is.

But how sentences like

  Tell me, where is he?

should be analyzed? Isn't where is he a dependent clause in this case?


texts:
In my communication in a translation community with one of the masters there, she used "recent future" instead of the known phrase, "near future".

From Information Retrieval perspective, we have about 680,000 entries according to Google, but my question is in which context do you prefer to use this phrase? Please provide some authenticated reference, because I couldn't find anything.


texts: Article usage in 'the widow is sister to your own noble wife', 'the Lady Lysa' phrases

texts:
I'm reading "A Game of Thrones", and I've encountered the following sentence in a dialogue between the Grand Maester and Eddard Stark:

  I recall now, the widow is sister to your own noble wife.

Why 'sister' is used with no article? Shouldn't it be 'a sister' or 'the sister'? If it is a mistake, why the Grand Master made it?

In other sentences I also see that he tells either "the Lady Lysa" or "Lady Lysa":

  ..., and the Lady Lysa was never that

  Lady Lysa would not permit the boy to enter the sickroom

Are they both correct?


texts:
I'm editing the following sentence:

ORIGINAL: "The failure to warn the borrower of an inflated appraisal of which the lender is aware is a violation."

Is the use of "of which" correct? It seems stilted to me. However, this is for a scholarly publication. Here's how I revised it. Which is best?

REVISION: "The failure to warn the borrower of an inflated appraisal that the lender is aware of is a violation."


texts: Is it correct to use "his" in this prepositional phrase?

texts:
In this chat message I was attempting to say that I was installing Ubuntu on a friends laptop.  What I wrote was,

  I had a friend for whom I installed Ubuntu on his laptop.

Grammatically, it seems like it works: if I switch around the sentence a bit, I would still use the same kind of prepositional phrase:

  I installed Ubuntu on a friend's laptop for him.

Also, if I simply replace the his for an a, it sounds right:

  I had a friend for whom I installed Ubuntu on a laptop.

However, how I initially wrote it, it doesn't sound right.  Is what I wrote initially correct, and if not, why not?