texts:
I know that the word "however" can serve as a conjunction meaning "in whatever manners". But may I confirm if this is only a practice of American English, or it is also commonly used this way in British English?

Example sentence:
//However you look at it, it’s still a mess//
Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/however

Many thanks!


texts: Pseudo-cleft sentences with the verbs of perception

texts:
I know we must use bare infinitives with these verbs in the Active.

e.g. I saw a lady cross the street.

There are other verbs with which we are supposed to use a bare infinitive in the Active.

e.g. I wanted him to leave.
If we transform this sentence into the pseudo-cleft, we see for:

What I wanted was for him to leave.

My question is can we make pseudo-cleft sentences with the verbs of perception such as see or hear? Will these sentences contain the non-finite embedded clauses or will those be transformed into the finite ones? In the case they should remain non-finite, shall we use for or not?

What I saw was for a lady to cross the street.
What I saw was a lady cross the street.
What I saw was that a lady crossed the street.

May we use here a gerund?
What I saw was a lady crossing the street.


texts: In the context of food, is the phrase "portion size" tautological?

texts:
When talking about food, to me, the word "portion" refers to the size of a serving, so to say "We should be eating smaller portion sizes" is redundant. It should be, "We should be eating smaller portions."

Although, I suppose you could say something like, "My portion has has more onion." In this case, you clearly don't mean "The size of my serve has more onion," and the word 'portion' is referring to your serve in general, rather than just the size of it.

That said, the phrase "portion size" still doesn't seem right to me. Is this tautology, or something a bit more subtle?


texts: In the sentence "Only eight apples grew on the tree."  Are both "only" and "eight" adjectives?


texts: What is the secondary part of a book/play title called?

texts:
It''s quite common for academic papers and such to have a short title intended to catch the casual browsers's interest, followed by colon and a longer more explanatory alternative.

I know this is a lousy example (I couldn't easily find a better/shorter one), but even so I'm sure this Catchy Title : Longer version conveying more information about the work format is also used in fictional works.

Is there a standard name for that secondary title. It's not really an "alternative title". The only thing that comes to mind for me is byline, but I know that's not right either.


texts: How to phrase a question to know a person's current number in a particular position?

texts:
I'm trying to figure out how to phrase a question to know a person's current number in a position.  For example:

  Mr. X is the 15th prime minister of India.

What is the correct question to ask about Mr. X to receive an answer of "15th"?


texts:
Pandit affects a down-to-earth demeanor.

What does affect mean in this sentence?


texts: Not being able to describe what you want until you see it -- is there a name for this phenomenon

texts:
Steve Jobs is quoted as saying:

Some people say, "Give the customers what they want." But that's not
my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want
before they do... People don't know what they want until you show it
to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to
read things that are not yet on the page.

I've seen a similar phenomenon when building software for users. In requirements workshops, users are not easily able to describe their requirements. But when presented with a prototype then they can suddenly tell you lots of requirements they have that the prototype doesn't satisfy.
Is there a name for this phenomenon?


texts: What's with the apostrophe in the standard spelling of the idiom "how's about"?

texts:
A recent question on EL&U asks Is it correct to use "how's" as short for "how does"? I have a series of tangentially related questions about a fairly common (in American English) phrase usually spelled as "how's about":

Does the spelling "how's about" make sense under normal conventions of punctuation, and (if so) is the "how's" component of the phrase a contraction or a possessive?
If "how's" is a contraction here, what words is it a contraction of?
If "how's" is a possessive here, how might we restate the underlying idea to indicate the possessive aspect of how, without including the apostrophe-s?
If the spelling "how's about" (with an apostrophe) doesn't make complete sense, is there a better way to spell it?

By way of background, I note that Robert L. Chapman & Barbara Ann Kipfer, Dictionary of American Slang, Third Edition (1996) offer the following entry on "how's about":

  how's about prep phr by 1925 What do you feel or think about: How's about a drink? —Budd Schulberg

The first edition of this dictionary (1961) reported that "how's about" means "how about," suggesting that the apostrophe-s is simply an instance of proparalepsis (adding an extra syllable or letters to the end of a word). But even if we attribute the additional sound to proparalepsis, we have not yet explained why orthographically the spelling came out as "how's."

Not surprisingly, an Ngram Viewer graph of Google Books content shows "how's about" as being generally far more common than "hows about," "howsabout," and "howzabout"—three possible alternative spellings.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Difference between “I have got” and “I have gotten”

In this example, my teacher thinks it should be got, but I feel like gotten is better:

  I shouldn't have got / gotten married.

Which one is correct?


texts:
I'm trying to figure out the proper word for a person who is placing bets on various matches at a betting company. I've found only these: bettor / better , punter, but I have literally no idea about usage of these.

Please give me some insight into this problem.


texts:
Many I ask if it is grammatically correct to put more than one noun in a compound adjective, e.g.,

"market-and technology-based", "market-and technology-driven"..etc?

Many thanks!


texts: What is the word for the act of drawing air through your mouthful of wine?

texts:
Some wine tasters will take a sip of wine and suck air through it making a slurping bubbling sound.

What is the word for it?


texts: Word for someone ignorant of, but not expected to be knowledgeable about, something

texts:
A discussion arose in our office which brought about remembrance of an old term used by William F. Buckley, Jr. — from his old National Review days — in his "Word of the Day."  We can't find the term on the Interwebs, so we come to SE:ELU in hopes of enlightenment.

The definition, as we recall is:

  "Being ignorant of something of which you have neither reason nor expectation to have any knowledge."

I'd really like a reference to Buckley's WotD if possible since it will be used frequently in my geek- and academic-heavy office!


texts: What are the most common english words to start a sentence?

texts:
Backstory (You can skip):
I am programming a word parser that will do things like detect acronymns and abbreviations, which will commonly have periods appended to them. The goal is to determine however when a period is meant to denote an acronymn/abbreviation, and when it is denoting a sentence ending.
Here is an example I am working with:

  In 1968 Rover and its Alvis subsidiary were incorporated into the Leyland Motor Corporation later British Leyland or BL. In 1981 the then nationalised BL sold the Alvis business to United Scientific Holdings for £27 million.

You might think this is a trivial problem that can be solved via regular expressions. One for example could just look for a proper word or an uppercase letter following it, but I assure you that it starts becoming complex. Take these snippets which have previously tripped me up:

arrived c. 1778, at which time ...
born approx. July 1941, when...
The Panzer II Ausf. A to C had 14 mm of slightly sloped...

None of those were sentence breaks, and were furthermore, followed by capitalized words. There is a lot to actually consider, and its not a problem with a perfect solution.
Anyway, In my existing code, I have been making an assumption that words that are comprised only of Latin Consonants denote an abbreviation, and not a sentence break, such as BL.
In this case, it is both an abbreviation and a sentence break.
If I had a list of sentence starting words, I could check what follows and be able to increase my accuracy.
Actual Question:
What are the most common English words to start a sentence?
Thanks.


texts:
I am trying (but failing) to understand the meaning of this life quote:

  Trying is a part of failing. If you are afraid to fail then you are afraid to try.

Can you explain what it means?


texts: Function of "too" in the phrase "so too" or "so, too,"

texts:
I just ran into this sentence in an online article:

  But as the App Store’s fortunes rose, so too did the iPhone’s, and later the iPad’s.

If I were editing that sentence, I would remove the too on the theory that it doesn't add anything to the sentence's meaning beyond what so provides. On the other hand, the phrase "so too" (or "so, too,") is quite common in everyday speech and writing, and it may be idiomatic for some speakers and writers. Site searches for "so too" and "so, too," reveal that these terms appear a total of 25 times on EL&U pages—mostly in answers, and mostly by extremely well-informed answerers.

If we think of so in the quoted example as meaning "in a like manner" and too as meaning "in addition," it seems to me that the sense of too is embedded in the sense of so, since Event B can't happen in a like manner to Event A unless it is happening in addition to Event A. But perhaps I'm overthinking this and the main point of too is simply to emphasize the also-ness of Event B.

Here's my question: Is the too after so in sentences like the one quoted above superfluous to the sense of the sentence, or does it contribute a shade of meaning that I may not be recognizing?


texts: What is the acronym for a minor in a subject at a university?

texts:
I'm filling out a resume and need to list my education.  For my bachelor's degree, it's just "B.S. Whatever", no problem.

I also have a minor.  What is the acronym that I should use for this?


texts:
What is a word or expression I could use to describe something that has a less-than-fifty percent chance of happening, but is still likelier than any other single outcome?

"The most likely outcome" is good, but ideally I'd like something more specific; i.e., which telegraphs the idea that the outcome in question is still <50% likely.


texts:
Let me provide one example from a local news:

  "Essentially what happened is the state approved the same dollar
  amount it did last year for the supplemental general fund"

My thinking is, the above, as well generally, is incorrect b/c of the verb-agreement rules -   and "what happened was" would be [more] correct, context depended obviously.  However,  based in somewhat equal google hits and in speech, I see a prevalent use of "what happened is..."

Please explain when it is correct and when it is NOT.


texts: Which word order produces the more suitable sentence?

texts:
Which of the following is an appropriate sentence?

Only he could see through the trick.
Only he could see the trick through.

According to me, the first one is right. Can you explain which one is right or more appropriate?

Also, can I say "He took leave from office because he wanted to go for hitch-hiking," or should I say "He took leave from office because he wanted to go hitch-hiking"? Which version is right and why?


texts: Can the word "orbital" mean expensive/high?

texts:
I have heard someone say "As a consultant, Dave can charge orbital fees, so we would rather have you do it."

I tried to look up "orbital" but did not find what I was expecting.


texts:
Happy tensing is claimed by Wikipedia to occur in General American and Australian English in words like "happy", "money", "valley" etc.

Here's an American lady saying "realy badly" as [ˈriɫɪ ˈbædɫɪ] at 1:07:53:

https://youtu.be/4LWKWjMNaOs?t=4073

To my ear it's nowhere near [i] as in "ease", regardless of the length.

And here's an AmEn speaker with real tense [i] in [ˈrili ˈbædli] at 1:14:05 for comparison:

https://youtu.be/Nhg1DO7xRbU?t=4445

Also, Northern English accents are claimed not to have HT and use dark [ɫ] in all positions.

Indeed, here's a northerner saying [haɪɫɪ laɪkɫɪ] at 13:17:

https://youtu.be/sJw3L_D0vD4?t=793

Australian English, on the other hand, is supposed to have HT "universally" as Wikipedia claims.

Here's an Aussie with lax [hɑɪɫɪ lɑɪkɫɪ] at 9:21:

https://youtu.be/KVqCP0C_sBM?t=561

And an Aussie with tense [hɑɪli lɑɪkli] 32:19 for comparison:

https://youtu.be/7ASjVvE1K-g?t=1939

My point is that I hear [ɫɪ]~[ɫɨ̞] quite frequently in English accents that are supposedly affected by HT. My theory is that some AmEn and AusEn speakers tend to have a darker, velarized [ɫ] in these positions which makes pronouncing a front [i] after it very awkward since [lˠ] pulls the tongue backwards towards velum. American [l] is velarized more or less everywhere.

  As for AusEn, Wiki says that [l] can be velarized in it "in
  morpheme-final positions before a vowel" which is exactly the case
  with -ly.

Edit: This statement is obviously wrong as sumelic has shown below.

English is my second language, however, so I would like some native speaker with linguistic background to comment whether my observations are correct.


texts: Gerund usage: when can verbs be used as -ing nouns?

texts:
I have a question regarding the correct usage of verbs as nouns ending in -ing (I understand that these are referred to as gerunds). Under what circumstance may a gerund be used in place of the verb it is derived from? In particular, is it acceptable for a gerund to be the subject of a sentence? Consider these examples:

1) Analyzing data is difficult.

2) The analysis of data is difficult.

Which of the above examples are correct? If both are correct, is one example preferred over the other?


texts: This program is error free. Or error-free?

texts:
Which one is correct in American English:

This computer program is error-free.
This computer program is error free.

... and why? Are, perhaps, both correct?  If so, is there any difference in the meaning? (Aside: we do not speak about "an error{ |-}free program" or "a program free of errors" here. The post-position of "whatever{ |-}free" is intentional.)


texts:
Which is correct and are there any differences in meaning or nuance?

I have the data on my iPad

I have the data in my iPad

I searched data on my iPad and data in my iPad on google, and got many results on both sentences.


texts: What does "Graduates from business school or Economics with mathematical background" mean?

texts:
Hello I have a question about "English logic".
For instance on a job offer I see this requirement:

Graduates from business school or economics with mathematical
background.

So If I understand the sentence it means:

However, how to say :

Being a non native English speaker I would say:

Graduates from business school or from economics with mathematical background.

Am I right?
Moreover, is there any field who deals with that kind of question. If possible any fields who would use the kind of notation I'm using?


texts: How do language researchers find the first written mention of a word?

texts:
There are these radio shows where people can call in and ask questions about language. The language experts (researchers I assume) then often answer "The first occurrence of that word was in 1922 by John Doe in a newspaper article, where it was used to describe X. In 1944 it seems like it took on a different meaning. ".

How do the experts know or find these answers?

That's a very broad question, so let me expand on my thoughts.

Of course there are some relatively common questions about interesting words that get asked again and again. Even I start to remember a lot of those. But no matter how smart the experts are they will also receive questions about words that they simply don't know the etymology of.

Do they have a kind of lexicon they look up in? And even if there is an etymological lexicon with a proper explanation for each word, that will not cover every possible word. So how do the experts find an answer when the word is not in their etymology lexicons?

On one hand I imagine that there are databases somewhere on the national libraries or at some universities with digitized versions of old books and newspapers. But on the other hand, I know that we are very far from having digitized all of it.

Also, I don't know what it takes to get access to such databases? Can an expert on a radio show get the libraries to help him look up some word? And then when he says that the first mention was in 1922, actually that means the first mention was in 1922 among the media that was digitized; and not necessarily the first mention at all in writing.

Also, these radio shows existed before we had any significant database of digitized books and newspapers. So how did they do it 30 years ago?


texts: Is there an idiom/phrase similar to "commentator's curse", but with positive connotations?

texts:
In sports, we have the term "Commentator's curse",

  (humorous) The supposed propensity of a player to blunder after having his/her talents pointed out by the commentator.

[Wiktionary]

Is there a phrase that emphasizes that the sportsperson performed brilliantly soon after the commentator's talk highly about their achievements?

For instance,

  a Cricket player hitting a six immediately after the commentator says that he has the highest number of sixes for his team.

Or

  a Football (Soccer) player scoring from way outside the D-box just when the commentator says that the player had scored from a similar distance in the previous game.

It might be termed as "pure co-incidence" but I'm just looking for something humorous/ emphatic as "commentator's curse" itself.


texts: What is "pendant natural" in this UN report?

texts:
I lighted upon a sentence in a United Nations report of Italy, written in English:

  On a more general note, this issue will continue to be the subject of attention during the current Legislature, of which the pendant natural is the sharing of parental responsibility in case of divorce.

The context is about family, children, and adoption, and the term pendant natural is in italics in the original text. Google doesn't seem to be of any help in figuring out what this term means. It doesn't seem to be idiomatic. What does it mean?


texts: Differences in meaning between phrases with and without indefinite article

texts:
Could you please help me by clarifying the meaning of the two phrases below:

 a profound analysis of the problem
 profound analysis of the problem

Here's the context: I want to convey information that some mathematical tool is applied to analyse extra-mathematical phenomena. Which should I use while saying: The tool is applied in (a) profound analysis of such-and-such phenomena?

Or maybe both versions are correct, but their meaning is different?


texts:
In the poem Pi, by Wislawa Szymborska, there is this line:

  in which we find how blithe the trostle sings!

A Google search for trostle turns up a few hits, mostly as people's last names. Urban Dictionary [nsfw] has two definitions, both of which were voted down. And Webster's Online Dictionary says it's a misspelling of throstle.

I understand that poets are licensed to make up words, but this poem is otherwise very plain. In fact, this whole line seems out of place.

Can anyone explain the author's meaning?


texts: You are in Jonathan’s circles: "too" or "as well" or "also"?

texts:
I just read on Google+ that:

  You are in Jonathan’s circles too

But I always thought that you couldn't use too there. Am I wrong? (because Google can't be wrong, right?)


texts:
I've always thought I should use "for ages" when, for example, I meet a person who I haven't seen for a long time, but recently I came across another expression, "in ages," as in "I haven't seen you in ages."

Is it correct to say this?


texts:
To signify someone's presence is tolerated (or event enjoyed), you may use "welcome", as in "you are welcome".
Contrary, you can be in situations where it's ok for someone to leave, without offending the host.
Example: a meeting turns to a subject which may be boring to some parties. I don't mind them staying, but want to signal they're 'welcome to leave' with no hard feelings.


texts: "Its funny how people see others as themselves" grammatically correct?

texts:
I just thought of a quotation: "Its funny how people see others as themselves".
Is it grammatically correct?


texts: Is it right 'up' your alley or right 'down' your alley?

texts:
What is the more appropriate term for this idiom, up or down?

  Right ____ your alley.

According to this idiom site, either are in use, but I would like to get the opinion of this erudite crowd.

Does the answer depend on the slope of the alley?


texts: I wanna know whether " up on your mountain top" is an idiom? And if it is, whats its meaning? for example if some one gets on some body case and critisize him/her, if his, her answer is: " up on your mountain top" does it mean critisize yourself?


texts: What is the history of "shoot" to suggest "go ahead"?

texts:
I was watching a movie with my wife, whose first (and main) language is French. On character asked another something along the lines of "Can I ask you a question?". She replied "Shoot."

That was rather confusing for my wife, who thought that maybe it implied some sense of speed/urgency. When I explained it really is just idiomatic for "Yes" or "Go ahead and ask," I had a very hard time explaining why we would use the word "shoot" for that. And an even harder to explaining the subtlety of it versus "yes" or "sure" or "go ahead."

Anyway, what is the origin of using the word "shoot" to mean it is okay to ask a question? And as a sub-question, is it used in all English, or is it particular to American English and others use different idiomatic expressions for the same thing?


texts: definite article or no article with a proper name of a particular workplace

texts:
Should I use the definite article with a proper name of a particular workplace / institution, like in the example below, or is it correct to omit it in this case?

  Workers servicing a steam engine locomotive at (the) Wolsztyn Steam
  Locomotives Depot

Both options seem correct to me, but I'm not sure. I know the definite article should be used with names of organizations, like "the United Nations", "the European Union" etc., but this is just a proper name of a particular workplace.


texts: Is there an English idiom/metaphor for "mind boggling", only more so?

texts:
In Hungarian, if you want to express that something is mind-blowing, you say megáll az ész "the mind stops". (For example, the National Geographic Channel's show Brain Games is titled Megáll az ész! in Hungarian.)

In our family, if we want to go even further than that -- to really express our utter incredulity (usually at the stupidity of something) -- we add a bit of a paraprosdokian/play on words: megáll az ész... és legelni kezd, which is something like "the mind stops... and begins to graze". As in, our mind stopped not in the expected sense of reconsidering our assumptions, nor even in the "normal" metaphorical sense of hitting the stop button on the music player, but in the (rather ludicrous) sense of a four-legged animal pausing in its amblings to nibble at a likely-looking tuft of grass.

Is there a similar two-part idiom in English for being utterly flabbergasted at something? By two-part, I mean is there a basic idiom for surprise that can be intensified by extending the idiom/metaphor? (Sort of like there's "pretty please", and then there's "pretty please with a cherry on top".)

(The root cause of this question, if you will, was a post on a blog listing newly-popular baby names that end in -er, where one of the names listed was Lucifer. I wanted to express my reaction to this, and "the mind boggles" just didn't seem to come even close.)


texts:
I would like to clarify this once and for all: What is the correct use of "consist in" vs. "consist of"?

"Meditation consists in/of attentive watchfulness."
"The body consists in/of cells."

More examples of correct and incorrect uses would be appreciated.


texts: How are multiple, alternative direct objects governed by multiple, alternative verbs?

texts:
Title 18 USC Sec. 1519 begins:
Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object . . .

Question: Syntactically, must ALL the verbs be capable of applying to ALL the direct objects? (Or may the reader "mix & match"?)

Note the disjunctive OR used to relate both the verbs and the objects.


texts:
Is it true that it is wrong to write 'a spectacular day'? I was told that spectacular can only be used together with 'event'. Please clarify.

Thanks


texts: Word for - when a tool becomes an extension of the body

texts:
In school, I discovered a word that seemed to capture a fairly important idea: That sometimes, especially with professional tradesmen, there is a proficiency using a tool such that it seems to be an extension of the body. The word referred to "glasses", a tool that extends the body, but I believe it more accurately referred to tools such as a hammer or a bat. We used it to include things like Google and cell phones.

Example

"Peter's ___________ allowed his pencil to work deftly though the pile of papers."

I have found lots of articles talking about such 'extensions' but I can't seem to find the word we used. This has been bothering me for years. I often want to talk about the concept but always get stuck on the missing word.


texts: Does my meaning come across clearly in this sentence?

texts:
‘He acknowledged, however, that this was probably nothing more than a self serving thought that belonged to him alone.’

Context: ‘He’ has just guessed (not aloud) what the body language of the person he’s watching is trying to convey in a way that makes it seem as if she spoke, though she didn’t. (Like this: She scratched her head, as if to say, ‘What on Earth are you talking about?’.) His guess at the meaning behind her body language would, if correct, please him, but he doesn’t think he’s correct or that anyone else who saw it interpreted it in the same way.

My question: I’m unsure whether or not I’ve correctly placed ‘self serving’ in this sentence. I think it might not be clear that I’m trying to say the thought was self serving to him and not anyone else. If it could be misunderstood this way, can someone let me know how to fix it?


texts: Correct order of adjectives in "A new comfortable bed"

texts:
"A new comfortable bed"" or "A comfortable new bed"

Which one is correct?


texts: What do you call an area where people can pick up flyers/pamphlets?

texts:
What do you call an area/corner where people can pick up free flyers/pamphlets/brochures?
Sometimes they're on catalog stands and sometimes they're just in stacks on a table.
My non-native speaking colleagues want to call it a "take free corner" but that seems unnatural to me...
Please help me think of a better suggestion!


texts:
David says to Jane: "Wow, that John is a really boring guy to hang out with."

(...at that moment, John walks into the room, accidentally hearing the conversation between David and Jane.)

Is there a word for these situations when you trash talk someone that unintentionally/by accident hears what you are saying about him/her?

Edit: added a Family Guy clip for extra context/explanation:
https://youtu.be/5GwAHEgOxuU


texts: Is there an adjective describing what one *is* on one's birthday?

texts:
There's this simple, efficient adjective in Dutch called jarig. It means something along the line of having your birthday. It's useful in many different sentences, such as:

  I feel so jarig vandaag.

I like this word a lot and it looks as if it's missing in English.

Is there any equivalent?


texts:
In Cakes and Ale, Maughm writes,

  She was a pattern of propriety and she would never have women in her house, you never knew what they were up to ("It's men, men, men all the time with them, and afternoon tea and thin bread and butter, and openin' the door and ringin' for 'ot water and I don't know what all"); but in conversation she did not hesitate to use what was called in those days the blue bag. (146–7)

I can't find the meaning of blue bag in this context. Anyone?


texts: How do you say " I do not know why it is so" in an academic way?

texts:
The situation is, I'm complaining about the problem concerning submitting important documents via the Internet because it seems like that document was not properly submitted.

However, I don't know if it was my fault because I didn't follow the procedure or because of the bugging system. I want to write a formal letter to my university about that, but I don't know how to say it in an academic way.


texts: Are verbs "to run" as in "to run a business" and "to run" as in "to run a marathon" considered to be homonyms/homographs?

texts: Or is there just a single verb "to run" that has different meanings and therefore it cannot be considered a homonym/homograph to itself?


texts: Could I address someone by first name in business emails if he/she addresses me by first name?

texts: I am really not sure about when it is appropriate to use someone's first name in business emails. If someone addresses me by my first name, but signs his email officially — full name, plus title, department and contact information —, should I address him by first name or still by "Mr. X"?


texts: Is there a phonetic difference between the final vowel sounds of "butter" and "action" in Australian English?

texts: The Macquarie Dictionary lists the following pronunciations: butter /ˈbʌtə/, apart /əˈpaːt/ & action /ˈækʃən/. Wiktionary lists them as butter /ˈbʌ.tə/ (RP), apart /əˈpɑː(ɹ)t/ (RP) & action /ˈæk.ʃən/. However, to me they sound like butter /ˈbʌtʌ/, apart /ʌˈpaːt/ or /əˈpaːt/ & action /ˈækʃən/. If I try to pronounce "butter" as /ˈbʌtə/ it sounds weird to me although "action" sounds fine either way. To me the /ə/ sound in "action" is the true schwa sound but "butter" has the same vowel sound twice. Also, the difference between the two vowels in "apart" just sound like a difference in length to me: /ʌˈpʌːt/. (I just noticed that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet_chart_for_English_dialects lists [äː] for "palm" and "father" and [ä] for "strut", "run", "won" and "flood" for AuE, so using that my "apart" would become either /äˈpäːt/ or /əˈpäːt/.) Are there any studies showing a split in what is normally considered a single phoneme, or am I just weird :-) ?


texts: How should I parse the sentence "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."

texts:
Why is the following statement valid, and how can I break it down so that it is easier to understand?

  Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.


texts: Does "like" mean to build a further relationship?

texts: In English, saying "I love you" for the first time is what we say when we fall in love with someone and it shows that we want to build a further relationship. In Chinese and Japanese, "I like you" really means something similar. Does "I like you" in English more or less the same if said to an opposite gender, or just a way to show friendliness?


texts: Infinitive usage (which sentence is correct)

texts:
I am working on the lyrics for one of my songs and english is not my first language.
Here's the question - which of these sentences is correct?

No thorns to prick your heart
No thorns to prick your heart with

(Meaning that the character of the song has no 'thorns' (figuratively) he/she could use to prick the heart of the one he/she addresses to)

Thanks in advance


texts:
What is the idiom, proverb for "Little problems often become big problems if no one takes the initiative to correct them"

Which means in an example that If the employees don’t bother to report a malfunctioning machine or a slip-and-fall hazard, serious injuries could occur – injuries that could have been preventable. Ignoring any hazard can be detrimental to one's business and the safety of their employees.


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase: 'down the memory hole'?

texts:
I have heard the phrase 'down the memory hole' used before, and I believe it to have originated in the novel 1984 by George Orwell, but I'm not 100% sure the definition I've found is right:

  memory hole
  noun
  a piece of one's memory that seems to be missing; also, a place where lost memories seem to go

  Word Origin
  modeled upon black hole

  memory hole. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon. Dictionary.com, LLC. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/memory-hole (accessed: April 21, 2016).

My understanding was that the phrase refers to something deleted or removed because something about it was likely to cause embarrassment or lost reputation to a person, or to persons, related to it.

Like if there was a book, or a photograph, or even a post on here, which was completely erased, because some people didn't want to be associated with it in some way...

My feeling is this rendering could use some tuning, though, so I was wondering if anyone could provide a more authoritative definition.


texts: What is the difference between a noun modified by of and a noun modified by an adjective?

texts:
What is the difference of nuance between "a man of culture" and "a
cultured man"?

Thank you


texts: Sentence phrasing 'Please don't punish/scold/penalize'

texts:
Situation: I technician came to my house for installation/demo or Refrigerator.
He was good but forgot to install a 'rat mesh' ( protect machine from rats).
 I called customer care to inform the incident. I did not want the company to punish/scold/penalize the technician as he was professional.

I know following options but somehow they are not perfect fit although '2' is close.

Please do not scold technician as he was otherwise good
Please do not punish or penalize him as he was otherwise good
Suggest any other


texts: What does “binder” mean? Why did it become a political buzzword?

texts:
I’ve been seeing a lot of “binders” in recent newspaper and magazine articles dealing with the recent Presidential debates. For examples:

Time magazines October 19 issues carries the article titled, “Romney’s Binders: The Meme Women Love to Hate - How one little phrase became a potent political symbol.

There was another article in the same issue titled, “Obama and Romney dish out jokes, Not Jabs, at Annual Al Smith Dinner,” followed by the paragraph:

  "At the outset, host Al Smith IV, the director of the Alfred E. Smith
  Memorial Foundation -- first acknowledged women in the room and said,
  “It’s good to see who’s getting out of those binders.” It was a quip
  that proved the proliferation of what’s become a new meme, after
  Tuesday’s debate when Mitt Romney explained that while serving as
  governor of Massachusetts, he was provided with “whole binders full
  of women” to help him fill his Cabinet.

In the article of New Yorker magazine October 19 issue titled “Obama on “The Daily Show”: A Gaffe is a Gaffe,” there comes again “Binder full of women”:

  “When he (Romney) said, on Tuesday night, that as governor of
  Massachusetts he got help from women’s groups in staffing his
  administration - “they brought us whole binders full of women”-he
  was trying to come across as enlightened on gender issues, but managed
  to give the opposite impression.”

My favorite Maureen Dowd also quotes “women in binders” in her articles, “Pampered princes fling Gorilla dust” (October 20) and “Of Mad men, Mad women and Meat loaf” (October 27) on NY Times:

  “Obama’s contempt for Romney gleamed through as Mitt got all O.C.D.
  with Candy Crowley about the rules, and rambled on about his weird
  retro worldview, where women in binders have to bound home to make
  dinner, - - where we just tell “our kids that before they have babies,
  they ought to think about getting married to someone.”

  “Mitt hopes Americans are ready for some rules — and binders. He is
  baked in the fuddy-duddy dad image from the era when white men ruled
  and the little women toiled over a hot stove.”

Oxford Dictionaries defines ‘binder’ as:

a cover for holding magazines or loose sheets of paper together.
a substance used to make other substances or materials stick or mix together.
a reaping machine that binds grain into sheaves.
a bookbinder.

However, the word, ‘binder’ seems to be becoming a ‘new meme or symbol’ as the authors of both of the above articles say, containing different meaning. What does it mean in those contexts?


texts: Is there a valid word for 'exclusatory'?

texts:
In my answer here, I wrote:

  Now, there is zero evidence that someone who feels marginalized was made to feel marginalized due to racism or sexism or ableism or any other exclusatory ism.

Rereading the post, I noticed that exclusatory, though fully understandable, isn't technically a 'real' word (in the sense of being included in dictionaries.)

Is there a valid subsitute with a similar meaning?


texts: Incorporating indirect third person pronouns

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

I am sure this has been asked before, I just don't know how to put the problem in a few words.

I am concerned about using third-person pronouns when refering to a person indirectly, through status, occupation, role, etc... Example sentence:

A free person can do whatever (he / she / he or she / they) think please(s) (him / her / him or her / them).

How should I avoid the controversial use of he and she? Currently I am converting these cases into plurar, so I would write:

Free people can do whatever they think please them.

But what if I must refer to precisely one person? Using "he" is discouraged, using "she" feels wrong for the same reason, using "he or she" is clumsy and sounds "over-correct". I have been encountering "she" in literature, but is there an alternative?


texts: Here's a phrase I've come across - ‘Philosophy is born of the merchant. Science is born of commerce. It's in relation to Europe's interaction with Americas in 1500s. I can't seem to figure out the nexus between terms given in the phrases. A mere guideline as to the tenor in which the phrases are meant to be, would be much appreciated.


texts:
I read this in an article

Two people meet, retreat and then circle each other, all while talking and talking.

What does "circle each other" mean?


texts:
I am looking for triplets of synonyms or words which were close in meaning in the past, but changed their meaning.

So, I want a pivot word, such that one word in the triplet used to mean that pivot word, and another word in the triplet now is now close to the pivot word.

An example of such a triplet would be car, machine, and computer. Car and machine used to be similar in meaning, but now machine is often used to refer to a computer.


texts: Use of subjunctive in English (and other languages alike)

texts:
I first learned about the subjunctive mood in my Spanish class.
The main purpose of subjunctive is to express doubt and uncertainty, what I learned in class.

I have posted about subjunctive in English on this site, but was told that there exist no such thing. When I verified, however, subjunctive form in English does actually exist. Just that it is rarely taught in school.

My question is how is subjunctive used in English? Is it the same in in English as in Spanish?
Is it correct to say: before the lion start to come at us, we should not run.( Notice the the verb start isn't in singular form)


texts: Is the use of the word "been" necessary or proper when discussing a completed event?

texts:
Is the use of the word "been" in the following sentence necessary or proper?

  The arbitration between the claimant and the respondent has already been concluded.

Someone has been editing my paper and keeps inserting "been" into the sentence, and I am trying to figure out who's right.


texts: Why "exclamation mark" but not "exclamation sign"?

texts: I wonder, why ! symbol is called exclamation mark, but = symbol is called equal sign? Is it only tradition or there is something behind?


texts: Someone has left____ wet towels on the bathroom floor. his or her or their


texts: Is there a collective term for charges & fees?

texts:
Say I have documentation of a particular account with both amounts credited & amounts charged(fees). What would be an appropriately descriptive term for the collection of credits & charges(fees)

(We can assume for this example that fee & charge are equivalent.)

update: I am currently using adjustments, but I feel that it implies a mistake in calculation of the balance of the particular account


texts: Is there a "much more" in the sense of "let alone", similar to "much less"?

texts:
I believe these two sentences have similar meaning:

A cannot do this, let alone that.
A cannot do this, much less this-and-that.

Now I want to express this sentence differently:

B prevents this, let alone that.

So, can I say the following? I feel I cannot because it sounds unfamiliar. But does it really, and why?

B prevents this, much more this-and-that?


texts: A word meaning "To bring out of retirement" / "To bring back into use"

texts:
(Re)instate? -- Seems too specific.
(Re-)employ? -- Seems to apply to both machines and people, which is useful. But re-employ seems too general.
Activate? -- Seems most appropriate perhaps, although for soldiers (people in general, even), you would say "return (them) to active duty" rather than "activate (them)".

In fact, the term that I'm looking for would be appropriate to machines and people coming out of, shall we say, a torpour of sorts.

Any ideas? The original phrase is a bit clunky, and I suspect there may be an alternative.


texts:
I'm learning English (I'm French) and I was wondering which word to use.

I met friends yesterday night but one of them left a little before I arrived. I want to tell him that next time, it won't be like this and I will manage to catch him. In french I would have said it like this

  "La prochaine fois, tu ne m'échapperas pas!"

(Literally, "The next time, you me not will-escape not", or "The next time, you will not escape me.".)

I found several translations for the verb "échapper" and I don't know which one would sound right. I thought about things like "Next time I won't let you flee like that!" or "You won't be able to escape from me next time!".

How would you say it?


texts: Can "barge in" be used as an informal and quirky way of saying "come in" and "come on in"?

texts:
I am looking for a specific US expression. An informal way of saying "all right, come on in" to a very good friend in a situations as follows:

The (drunk) friend who is barging into my suit suite unexpectedly, and asks me to let him enter.
The friend who is calling me around midnight to ask me to let him stay the night in my house.

Can I use "Barge in!" as an cool informal way of saying "come in"?
Example:

'Hi buddy, the girlfriend has kicked me out. May I stay at your place here tonight?'
'Hm... Well, you party bummer, barge in!'

Update 1
I'am looking for the exact English equivalent of Russian "заваливайся" (barge in), "вваливайся" (flock in), "проходи" (move on) or even more specifically "ладно, заваливайся", "ладно, проходи". I mean more rough, corky and informal equivalent of "come on in!", "move on!"...
Update 2
Thanks for your comments! I see the expressions like "get your ... in" and "get your ... over" can be used to reproduce the required meaning.


texts:
The expression "Italian sounding" is a recent expression used with the following meaning:

According to Confagricoltura, “Made in Italy” is now recording a turnover loss of €6 million every hour. These numbers are shocking to say the least, all caused by what is referred to as “Italian sounding”.

Italian sounding phenomenon refers to creating images, colors and names of products very similar to their Italian equivalent. This is despite the fact that these imitations have no connection to the Italian originals they have been made to look and sound like. They don’t have the same “Made in Italy” excellence and they have no link to Italy’s traditions and culture, yet they are raking in millions every hour using the Made in Italy imitation.

Probably the most famous instance of an "Italian sounding" product is the Parmesan cheese whose pronunciation reminds the original Parmigiano.

Question:
Is 'Italian sounding', with the above connotation, an expression used in English speaking countries or is it just another English expression invented by some xenophilous Italian bureaucrat?
If not, what is this phenomenon usually referred to in the U.S or in the U.K. For instance?
N.B. This is not a question about marketing, but on the use of an English expression.


texts:
I know some relative clauses refer to a whole clause.
My example:

She just thought that I was proud and stuck-up which I won’t defend myself.

Is it right to say "which" can refer to the whole of the previous clause here ?


texts: Can this sentence be correct grammatically?

texts:
Here is the sentence:

  Are we suddenly see a dozen or more sailing in the clear blue sky?

I have a bet with an editor that this sentence has a mistake, and it cant't be correct in this writing. I think there must be Are we suddenly seeing.

But my opponent declare there are invisible commas in it, and it must be interpreted like:

  Are, we suddenly see, a dozen or more sailing in the clear blue sky?

So, it's a parenthetical clause that we can throw out and the sentence will not lose its meaning.


texts:
I have a sentence where I want to say I will use couple of terms to refer to the same thing. Is the first sentence correct? or do I need to clarify that they convey the same meaning as in the second sentence?

  Throughout the paper, we will use the terms: X, Y, and Z
  interchangeably.

OR

  Throughout the paper, we will use the terms: X, Y, and Z
  interchangeably, but they convey the same meaning.


texts:
When to use it instead of "It seems..."
Below is a screenshot of a cutscene from the video game World of Warcraft. The character Lord Stormsong" was talking to "Queen Azshara" while the players approach, and Queen Azshara says

It would seem you have guests

Why use "would" here instead of simply general tense "It seems"?


texts: What does the slang moving right along mean?


texts:
Is it required that an i.e. clause have an explicit subject? Preferred?

E.g., is the following sentence correct?

  She was not amenable, i.e., turned him down.

Or would it have to be

  She was not amenable, i.e., she turned him down.

I.e., can you use i.e. to clarify only part of a sentence, or must you use the full sentence (and restate the the other part that didn't bear clarifying)?


texts:
The textbook "Oxford Practice Grammar" by John Eastwood has this example in Unit 15, Exercise 2:

  Have you ever played beach volleyball?
  Yes, we played it on holiday.

  a) The holiday is still going on.
  b) The holiday is over.

You need to choose a) or b), and this exercise helps you to learn the difference between Past Simple and Past Perfect. It's clear that b) is correct - the holiday is over, hence the use of Past Simple in the response.

However, shouldn't the response be "Yes, we played it on a holiday"?

The way I understand it, "on holiday" generally refers to time spent away from work, rather than a specific instance of vacationing ("on a holiday"). And I've been taught that Past Simple is naturally used (among other cases) when talking about a specific moment in the past.

The answers a) and b) also refer to a specific holiday ("the holiday").

Here are my questions:

Is it correct to say "Yes, we played it on holiday"?
Would it be better to say "Yes, we played it on/during a holiday"?


texts:
I read in American accent book that when a "t" is followed by an "r" sound, the "t" changes and becomes an almost "ch" sound.

"To create this sound correctly, say "ch" as in chain, but just make the tip of the tongue a bit more tense when it touches the gum ridge, and focus on creating a stop of air."

Is this true? For example when we have this phrase/command:

Try it again.

Is the "tr" pronounced as mentioned above? I would also like to know (if you are kind enough) to tell me which words should I stress more when I pronounce the phrase: "Try it again". Are both "try" and "again" stressed?

Any suggestion would be appreciated. Thank you.


texts: should a list of tokens be called a "token list" or a "tokens list"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “User accounts” or “users account?”

I ask because a list of tasks would usually be called a "task list". However a list or previous winners of a competition seems to be called a "winners list" rather than a "winner list".
Thanks.


texts: "He might could come Friday" - Can anyone use two modals for the same verb (and get away with it)?

texts: I've heard someone use two modals for the same verb more than once, in an American film. It looked like an old movie, perhaps from the 70s. The other sentence was: "I might could help you."  I wonder whether "might could" is an idiom. Is it?


texts: How to describe a confusion matrix correctly

texts:
In computer science, we a use a thing called confusion matrix for reporting results from supervised machine learning algorithms. It looks like this

The image was taken from here.

I would like to refer to the elements TP, FN, FP, and TN. Would this sentence be correct?

  A confusion matrix shows the number of true and false positives and negatives.

or should it be

  A confusion matrix shows the number of true and false positives and the number of true and false negatives.

I think I could write it

  A confusion matrix shows the number of true positives, false positives, true negatives, and false negatives.

Anyway, I would like to know what is the shortest correct form of addressing all the elements.


texts: "An abandoned cute little kitten" or "a cute abandoned little kitten"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the rule for adjective order?

  I saw an abandoned cute little kitten.
  I saw a cute abandoned little kitten.

Which sentence is correct? What is the rule for using consecutive adjectives in English?


texts: Term for a person who dreams or imagines events that later take place

texts: What is the term for a person who has dreams or thoughts that later in life become reality?


texts: Is this sentence grammatically correct? (Concerned with the usage of "have less to do with")

texts:
I think “solitude” here has less to do with loneliness or isolation, than with serving as a prerequisite for recollection and reflection.

I think the sentence reads a bit off, particularly around the second half, but I'm not sure. Help?


texts:
In Hoobastank's The Reason, a lyric is

  And the Reason is you...

Is that sentence (grammatically) correct? I'm asking because, you know... You are the reason.

Specifically, should "is" in the quote agree instead with "you" (i.e. "the reason are you")?

Answered.


texts:
Could I use "the" after "there is/are"?

E.g.:
There is the book on the table.
There are the books on the table.

Or it must be:
There is a book on the table.
There are books on the table.


texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  “A” vs. “An” in writing vs. pronunciation
  Use of “a” versus “an”

I know that "an" should be used when a word is followed by a noun that starts with a vowel.

But what about a numerical value that isn't formally written out and used as an adjective?
Such as "a 8x8 grid" is it that, or "an 8x8 grid" ?

I've received some disagreements on this in the past, so I'd just like some clearing up. Any reference to formal rules would be much appreciated.


texts: Term for letters that appear as multiple different letters

texts:
Is there a name for a letter or word that appears as multiple different letters/words. The best way I know of to explain what I am looking for is the comical true/false word ambiguity displayed below.

The picture above gives the appearance of both the word true and false. Is there a term for this word/letter ambiguity?


texts: is there a word for super general advice?

texts:
Is there a single word or short phrase that roughly means: "super general advice"

Advice that is so general and obvious that it is not really useful.  To give some background I am a new hire at a very large company.  This morning the company hosted a meeting with the CEO where he gave some steps to success.  These steps included things like: "work hard" and "try to learn".

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts:
My teacher insists that rescind and undo are related but I need to prove her wrong because I looked it up and I don't feel that way.

Undo is the reverse of action that has been done. A synonym of rescind is cancel, but cancel is preventing something from happening, thus it never gets to where you can undo it.

So this is where I think that rescind and undo are not the same.


texts: Use of an apostrophe in place values of a number

texts:
In mathematics, when you’re discussing the concepts behind different number bases, it’s often necessary to refer to a digit's place. For example, for the number 217 (in base 10, i.e., the number system most people normally use), you’d say:

  There’s a 2 in the hundreds place, a 1 in the tens place, and a 7 in the ones place

However, I’m uncertain where, (if at all), I should use a possessive apostrophe:

  2 in the hundreds place
  2 in the hundred's place
  2 in the hundreds' place

This seems like the perfect intersection of mathematics making up terms and debates about possessive apostrophes and plurals.  Is there a general rule or consensus for this sort of usage?


texts: What is a good word I can use for the talking I do with myself in my mind?

texts:
'Monologue' seems like a close fit, but I think more people associate it with one-sided conversation. Correct me if I'm wrong.

'Soliloquy' seems to be only concerned with plays and dramas.

Can I use something like 'inner monologue' to convey my precise intention? Or is 'monologue' enough? Any other good word or way to do the same?


texts:
I want a verb that means "to increase the sales" of a product. For example, what to put in the blank in the following sentence?

  That is just an advertisement that is intended to ... (of the
  product).


texts: Quotation marks or italics? His last words were "clock" and "good-bye." I could not find a definitive answer here

texts: Quotation marks or italics? His last words were "clock" and "good-bye." Clock and good-bye are used as words and are not quotations, but they are not unusual or in need of emphasis so I don't see the reason for italics. If the answer is personal preference, is one choice more popular, more formal than the other? I could not find a clear answer on here so I thought I would ask. The English Usage Stack Exchange site is amazingly useful. Many thanks to all who contribute.


texts: What term describes workers that are not "knowledge workers"?

texts:
Wikipedia describes a knowledge worker as a worker whose "main capital is knowledge". Examples include engineers, doctors, accountants, software writers etc.

Is there an "established term" to refer to non-knowledge workers?


texts: Meaning of: "If I could buy my reasoning I'd pay to lose"

texts:
In the lyrics of "It's my life" by No Doubt, there is:

  If I could buy my reasoning, I'd pay to lose

Can someone explain what this means?

Update

Does it means: my feelings tell me to go left, my reasoning to go right, if I could pay to keep my reasoning quite and go left, I would do it, but my reasoning is stronger, so I still feel I should go right?


texts:
In the email I received from IELTS notifying my results, I think the subject 'results' is not agreeing with the verb 'is' here. Can you please tell me if my understanding is correct.

The text I received is

  This is to inform you that the IELTS results for the test you sat on Sunday 1 December 2019 is now available on the Test Taker Portal.


texts: "Homeland" vs. "motherland" vs. "fatherland"

texts:
What is the distinction between homeland, motherland and fatherland?

Is there any difference in meaning of such terms?
When it comes to connotations are there any differences, except for the relation to Russia or Germany?


texts:
What is the correct way of writing 's in multiple consecutive possession?

Bob's dog.
Bob's dog's toy.
Bob's dog's toy's ears.

Is this correct?


texts: "My goal is to be happy" or "being happy" - Which of them is correct?

texts:
Which of these is grammatical?

  My goal is to be happy.

or

  My goal is being happy.

My friend told me that the second one is incorrect, but I don't believe my friend about this.


texts:
I'm going to be talking about demonstrative pronouns, and I need to say "deictic" aloud. Looking at several dictionaries, I have three options for pronouncing the word: (1) 'dīk-tik (IPA: [ˈdaɪktɪk]), (2) 'dāk-tik (IPA: [ˈdeɪktɪk]), and (3) 'dik-tik (IPA: [ˈdɪktɪk]). I'm pretty sure the third is a British usage (I'm looking for the best choice for a standard American usage). The first appears to be the most common, but it sounds odd to me.

Random fact: the first represents a modern Greek pronunciation. The second follows the Erasmian pronunciation. I use the Erasmian pronunciation when I teach classical Greek, and this might explain my favoring the second pronunciation.

Is there any source that recommends the second pronunciation as its preferred option? How have you heard this word pronounced in academic settings? Should I just go with the first option?


texts: Parenthetical sentence (double commas) followed by definition in parenthesis - where to put commas?

texts:
I am working with legal texts a lot and I was wondering about the following phrase that will show up in most US related prospectuses:

"according to the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Securities...."

However, if we define this as "the Act", where do we put the definition in parenthesis? In the parenthetical sentence with "as amended" (Version 1) or after the comma after "as amended" (Version 2):

Version 1: "according to the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Act"), the Securities...."

Version 2: "according to the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the "Act") the Securities...."

Can you please tell me which one you think is correct?

I can tell you now that Version 1 is the one I see everywhere, but to me Version 2 makes more sense.

For example, if I write "My house, which is adjacent to another house, is nice," then if I put the definition after the last comma, I define my house. If I put the definition between the commas, I define the adjacent house. ("My house, which is adjacent to another house, (the 'House') is nice" vs. "My house, which is adjacent to another house (the 'House'), is nice."). Please assume that these two options are the only options available to me.

The same would be in the case of "XYZ Inc., a company organized under the laws of India and with registration number 123456 in the local trade registry, (the 'Entity') is ...." If I place the definition on the wrong side of the comma, I am defining the registry instead of XYZ Inc.

Thanks for your help!


texts:
The word that I can't remember was in a movie where one of the main characters made flower arrangements, and this guy who liked her saw them somewhere on a table in a hallway and tilted the picture that was hung on the wall behind the flowers, then he went to a book store and looked the word up in a dictionary and its definition was something like "the popping sounds your lips make when you pop your lips".

It was a really weird sounding word.


texts: Is there an appropriate verb that can accurately describe getting into a car accident? Saying that someone was 'struck' or 'victimized', just doesn't seem right. (The family was _______ on their way home from the party) I know you can technically just say that someone 'got into a car crash', but I'm hoping there is a verb that can describe getting into such an accident.


texts: Verbs with prepositions in subordinate clauses?

texts:
When I use verbs with prepositions like "to know of" in a subordinate clause like

Examples (the 1st is wrong [genitive construction], the 2nd doesn't make sense but it's about grammar):

"I wonder if I should go visit the people I left so suddenly in that one town the name I never knew of."
"I wonder if I should go visit the people I left so suddenly in that one town I never knew of."

Is that correct English ? When can I know that I have to use them close together or separate them ?

(Sorry, I'm not sure about the technical terms. English is not my native language.)

Thanks!


texts: What does "even the Generation is still in motion" mean in this passage?

texts: The Beat Generation is a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired. Central elements of "Beat" culture included experimentation with drugs and alternative forms of sexuality, an interest in Eastern religion, a rejection of materialism, and the idealizing of exuberant, unexpurgated means of expression and being. Even still the Generation is in motion.


texts: Is there an AmE/BrE equivalent to the New Zealand English word 'whanau'?

texts:
In an MSN News article about increasing firearms in the UK, which mentioned the recent death of Sergeant Matiu Ratana (originally from New Zealand) in a Croydon custody suite, the word 'whanau' was used which I had never come across before.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, paid tribute to the officer on Facebook. She wrote: “To all Matiu’s whanau [extended family] across the world, we share your sorrow and have all our condolences.”

I could not find it listed in online dictionaries - Merriam Webster or Cambridge, but Wikipedia notes it as follows :

Whānau (Māori pronunciation: [ˈfaːnaʉ]) is a Māori-language word for extended family. It is sometimes also used in New Zealand English

Wikipedia
How is this word pronounced and is there an equivalent in BrE and/or AmE, please ?
Is it sometimes transliterated in BrE or AmE writing, if there is no exact equivalent ?

EDIT (upon comment) The word appears to mean more than just 'extended family'

In Māori society, the whānau is also a political unit[citation needed], below the levels of hapū and iwi, and the word itself has other meanings: as a verb meaning to be born or give birth.  Wikipedia


texts: How do adverbs of degree change the focus in sentences?

texts:
Examples:

A: It had become sufficiently developed
B: It had sufficiently become developed

As far as I know, both forms are correct but my question is what does each sentence put more emphasis on?


texts:
I am not convinced with this sentence somehow.
" My Dad focused on my and my brother's education"
It doesn't sound right to me. How can I write it in a better way?


texts:
I have a graphic designer friend who just bought a house. There's an unused bedroom that he's converted into an office for the purpose of illustrating, designing, and other art-oriented tasks. He has a couple art tables, a Mac, some design books, and some basic art supplies in the room.

He's opposed to calling it by the term "office", though, because he feels like it evokes feelings of spreadsheets and files rather than his focus on art/design. He's also opposed to the word "studio" because it's a small, modest room and he thinks calling it a "studio" is a bit pretentious.

Is there a term that would better describe his small, modest design room?


texts:
Further to my question on the suitability of the word, heartland to “shout-out” in today’s New York Times’ article, “The Rough Rider and the Professor,” I have one more question about the usage of the word, “stemwinding.”
In the following sentence, stemwind is used as a verb in the set phrase of “stemwind one’s way.”

"Roosevelt, who was born to Manhattan wealth but could be at his most passionate on behalf of the 99 percenters of a century ago, also spoke for about an hour in Osawatomie, stemwinding his way through what became known as the New Nationalism speech. It's worth remembering that he was no longer president at the time, but was mulling a challenge to his chosen successor, the malleable William Howard Taft."

As I found this usage interesting, I checked three dictionaries of OED, Cambridge and MW online dictionaries.
Cambridge doesn’t register neither ‘stemwind’ or ‘stemwinder’.
MW: registers stem winder as a noun meaning;

1.stem-winding watch
2[from the superiority of the stem-winding watch over the older key-wound watch]:
one that is first-rate of its kind; especially: a stirring speech

OED registers ‘stemwinder’ as a noun meaning;

1 an entertaining and rousing speech: a stem-winder of a speech
2 dated a watch wound by turning a knob on the end of a stem.

However, there is no usage of “stemwind” and “stemwinder” is indicated in all three dictionaries.
Can ‘stemwind’ be used as a verb? Does the expression, “stemwind one’s way” pass as the normal way of saying barnstorming passionately / actively?


texts: Are "straightforward" and "roundabout" antonyms?

texts: In describing a piece of computer code, I called it both "straightforward" and "roundabout", with the intention of communicating that although the code was more verbose than necessary, it was still easily understandable. However, my friend called me out on it, stating that these two words are obvious antonyms, because they both derive from the idea of travelling on a path: one is a straight path, and one is a path that moves around an obstacle. Are these two words antonyms, and is it appropriate to use them simultaneously to describe the same thing?


texts:
What is the correct relative pronoun for "government"? Which of the following phrases is correct? I am writing for an American [English] audience.

  The Queensland Government, who licenses several casinos, ...

or

  The Queensland Government, which licenses several casinos, ...


texts: Origin of saying 'Thank Buddha it's Tuesday'

texts: What is the origin of the saying 'Thank Buddha it's Tuesday.'?


texts: Where does the idiom "smacks of x" come from?

texts:
Example of usage would be:

"Weighing passengers smacks of discrimination."

The meaning here and in most situations is "seems like". Wiktionary includes the definition: "To have a particular taste; used with of"

I can imagine it might have started out referring to smacking one's mouth while tasting something, but that's just a supposition. I can't find any references of the etymology of the idiom.


texts:
The writer once told his family that he would rather be remembered as a teacher of the illiterate ______ of his books.

The answer is "than an author", but I think "than as the author" is much better in this blank.

I would like to ask which one is correct? Thank you!


texts: I am taking a course on pre-Socratic philosophers and the professor uses the terms 'Cosmogony' and 'Cosmology' interchangeably without any distinguishable discrimination.  This becomes confusing as I am unable to relate the one or the other to any specific context.  Could anyone help me understand what the main differences between the two are?


texts: Word for someone who thinks they are doing much better than they are

texts: What is the one word substitution for "one who thinks that he is doing something great but in reality there is no progress in his life"..?


texts:
Is the correct phrase “to hold your piece” or “to hold your peace”?

This matter is often mentioned together with the matter of “saying one's piece”, which has already been answered. In that context, the answer to the present question appears to also be given, but without any background or argumentation.

Hence, I'd hereby like to pose it explicitly, hoping for a somewhat well-grounded answer, hopefully with its origins


texts: What does "Prepare to have your pleasure glands carpet-bombed" mean?

texts:
Check it out inside, man. It's bigger than your house. (describing a van )
Prepare to have your pleasure glands carpet-bombed.
Watch out for the floors,'cause they're marble.

From the movie judgement night (1993)


texts: Does the order of the word 'please' matter?

texts:
Is there a difference between:

  Can I go home, please?

and

  Can I, please, go home?

I feel like the first is more formal, when the second shows some kind of irritation. Am I right?


texts: Is the sentence "Format complete" wrong?

texts:
As a Windows user, I see a message box with the message: "Format complete!" when I have finished to format a drive.

According to the dictionary, complete is a verb or a adjective.

If it is a verb, the message should be phrased as "Format is completed!" or "Format completes!"

If it is a adjective, the message should be phrased as "Format is complete!"

Why is the message "Format complete!"?


texts: Is there an alternative (more poetic term) to avoid making the choice between "simpler" and "more simple"?

texts:
I am trying to translate a Greek essay in English. Let me give you the text above and below the word "simpler":

  Actually the first, more systematic - and most effective -
  propagandists were, since the dawn of time, the founders, preachers
  and apologists of religion. Their work was arduous and complex. It
  required creativity, almost sophistic ingenuity, imagination and
  unsurpassable persuasion. Because it is much easier to propagate and
  spread an ideology than a quite complex, and in many occasions cruelly
  harsh, religious faith. It is simpler to create a positive image for a
  sovereign or political leader than to convince billions of people that
  an invisible (but almighty and most merciful) Father exists.

The word "simpler" at that particular spot does not sound good to me. Is there an alternative that I could use?

P.S: please let me know of any other mistakes that you may have noticed in my translation (:

P.P.S: Since someone asked for the Greek version. Essay Source:

http://www.ndimou.gr/articledisplay.asp?cat_parent=2&time_id=70&cat_id=2


texts:
The LED is quickly becoming a standard light source alternative to incandescent lights, when speaking to others, I have always pronounced any reference to LED as the acronym "L E D", but increasingly I have heard others refer to LED as "lead".

Staff at large box stores often use the "lead" reference, and several of my family have also used the word "lead" in reference to LED.

What I find interesting is that LED's have been around since the 1960's and were always referred to as an acronym. Anyone who studied electrical engineering in school would not use "lead" in a sentence.

Still times have changed and "lead" is increasingly being used.

Is it correct to use the word "lead" to refer to LED?


texts: What's the difference between "swollen" and "inflamed"?

texts: As the title says, what is the difference between swollen and inflamed?


texts: "A lot of nature " ....can I say it this way?

texts:
How can I use the word nature when I want to describe different places with different nature?.Can I say

  I like living in a place with A LOT OF NATURE.


texts:
What is the origin of the expression hashing out plans?
I can't find a definition when googling for:

definition "to hash out plans"
definition "hash out plans"
definition "hashing out plans"


texts:
I've come across the phrase crucially important many times. More than 100,000 hits on Google Scholar, and it even appears in some of the answers on this site.

However, crucial already means "extremely important", so is using crucially important (and by extension, of crucial importance) redundant?


texts: How can "for instance" create a comma splice?

texts:
Example sentence

Take Bartlett 29 pears for instance, unless they are treated with exactly the right amount of 1-MCP at exactly the right time, they will remain hard and green until they rot, and consumers who experience this will be unlikely to purchase them again

According to a book, this sentence has a comma splice due to the phrase "for instance"

I was wondering how is this so? The sentence seems fine to me.


texts:
Is this sentence correct?

  What is this "Email" tag? It is not HTML tag, nor I could find it in the "comfy" documentation.

As you may have already noticed I am not native English speaker, so please don't judge me too harsh. You can also comment on all the sentences in this post. It would be useful to know where my weaknesses are.


texts: Is there a word for people who worship/glorify something just because it's old?

texts:
I'm not talking about religion.  Imagine certain Ancient Egyptian writing or old Chinese poem or phrase by Shakespeare, comment on life being very short or we being puppets in the theater of life.  Some people seem to think that just because this is very old, than mere repetition of the phrase has a certain authority or importance or power above and beyond what some brilliant philosopher at present might say.  There is a kind of glorification of it beyond the thought expressed, mere reason that it's old or very old.  So these people constantly quote this or that ancient writing as if it's proof of veracity of certain view.  Is there a word for these people or this act?

Any idea?

Edit: thank you, it's similar to the other question, consider this solved.


texts: Word to describe a situation which is "untainted" by a character's usual circumstances

texts:
I am looking for a good word to describe and emphasize a duration of time in a different environment, where the relationship between two people is "unaffected" by the worries of their usual environment.

A couple of words that came to mind were "unaffected" and "untainted," but they don't feel quite right with what I'm trying to describe. I feel like those words imply too much negativity.

Do you have any suggestions?


texts:
What is the difference between concatenate and catenate?

Are the words interchangeable?

  concatenate: 1. To connect or link in a series or chain.  2. Computer Science To arrange (strings of characters) into a chained list.
  catenate: To connect in a series of ties or links; form into a chain.

Background: Which is more natural in the case of a C function like strcat(dest, src):

char* ConcatenateString(char* dest, char* src);

or

char* CatenateString(char* dest, char* src);


texts: To say in a threatening way without issuing a threat

texts:
Near the end of the movie Mirror Mirror, I heard the following line uttered by the mirror:

  "Are you ready to learn the price of using magic?"

It was spoken as a threat, but the mirror was not issuing a threat.

A similar statement was uttered in the movie series Dune, when the girl was speaking to the villain about the doom that would befall him momentarily: "My brother comes."

What is the term given to this literary device?

Edit: The movie's name is Mirror Mirror, an adaption to the snow white story.


texts: "Hence", "therefore" and "so" in mathematical proofs

texts: It seems to me that "so" is seldom used in math proofs. Instead, "hence" and "therefore" are used very often, even repeatedly appearing in several sentences in a row. So I wonder if my feeling is correct? What do you think is proper use of these words or similar ones in math proofs? Thanks!


texts: "Do you agree or disagree" and "To what extent do you agree or disagree" question?

texts: I just want to know if i can partially agree in "Do you agree or disagree" question type in IELTS test. In "To what extent do you agree or disagree" question type we are allowed to partially agree an argument but i am not sure about the former one.


texts:
I've seen that "for the nonce", which doesn't appear very often in the online versions of dictionaries, is just designated as "somewhat formal" in Merriam-Webster and not designated in the Oxford Dictionary at all. But as far as I can see (no native speaker), the word is quite archaic and hardly used in today's media and literature. The examples I've found are often (not always) like

  I pursed my lips and set aside my thirst for the nonce.

  Her tendency to discover a touch of sadness had for the nonce
  disappeared.

So would I be right to designate the phrase as "archaic" for example on flashcards?


texts: I am a bit confused on where to use "ashes" and where "cinder". Do both of them have the same meaning?


texts: If I want to say that my outfit consists of three pieces of clothing (for example: a skirt, a t-shirt, and a jacket) can I say that my outfit has three garments? Does it give the same meaning? Or it doesn't make sense?


texts: Difference in usage between "expat" and "emigrant"?

texts: Is there a difference in usage between expat and emigrant? I believe I encounter the former mostly in positive contexts, describing highly-skilled professionals ("expat guide to [country]"), and the latter in neutral-to-negative contexts, but I'm not sure if it is a coincidence.


texts: Is it right to use a verb in singular form for a noun in plural form as in “Your pigs is so much better than our pigs”?

texts:
I felt a bit puzzled to find the line “Your pigs is so much better than our pigs” in the following section of Jeffrey Archer’s novel Not a penny more, Not a penny less:

  Harvey could never resist asking a policeman the way to Buckingham
  palace, just to compare his reaction with that of a New York cop. As
  Lenny Bruce had said on being deported from England, “Your pigs is so
  much better than our pigs.” Yes, Harvey liked England.

Microsoft Word spell-checker keeps warning me to correct “Your pigs is” as “Your pigs are” at this moment when I’m texting this question.

Is the spell-checker correct, or is the rule to use the singular form verb, “is” after the plural noun, “pigs"? Does it mean the verb in singular form should be used for the noun in plural form regardless of the rule of number agreement anytime the noun is used as a generic term or a collective noun?


texts: Is there any synonym to the word "stray"? I need that to better understand the phrase "Stray observations". Word for word translation doesn't say much to me


texts:
I am seeking synonyms for the flames of Hell (hell-fire)? I cannot seem to find many at all, but I am sure there have been some numerous (perhaps poetic) coinages, especially archaic ones.
I have found the likes of "Brimstone and fire" which comes directly from the language of the bible, and also I suppose one could take creative liberties in putting something out like "nether-fire" or "Inferno's flames", but I would rather first seek if any intriguing ones have already been worked out in the English language.


texts: Referring to the last item of a list in the next sentence

texts:
She spotted things she'd never seen before like three-wheeled bikes
  and elephants. She caught the sight of one of them on the sidewalk.

I want to replace one with a word that would make it clear that I'm referring to an elephant.


texts: What does “a bookstore-counting mood in Paris prompts soul-searching over Amazon’s 41 % share of new book sales in America” mean?

texts:
In the article titled “The French do buy books. Real books” appearing in New York Times (July 9), the author, Pamela Druckerman writes:

  “Recently when I was strolling through my museum-like neighborhood in
  central Paris, I realized there were seven bookstores within a
  10-minute walk of my apartment.--Do the French know something about
  the book business that we Americans don’t?

  I was in a  bookstore-counting mood because of the news that
  Amazon has delayed or  stopped delivering some books, over its dispute
  with the publisher  Hachette. This has prompted soul-searching over
  Amazon’s 41 percent share of new book sales in America and its 65
  percent share of new  books sold online.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/opinion/pamela-druckerman-the-french-do-buy-books-real-books.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

I was interested in the usage of the word,”’soul-searching’ over Amazon’s 41 % share of new book sales.” What does ‘soul-searching’ here mean?

CED defines ‘soul search’ as:
Deep and careful attention to private thoughts, especially about a moral problem.

OED defines ‘soul search’ as:
Deep and anxious consideration of one’s emotions and motives or of the correctness of a course of action.

Merriam-Webster Online defines ‘soul searching’ as;
Examination of one's own thoughts and feelings

Common notion of ‘soul search” of the above dictionaries is attention to, or examination of one’s own emotion, feeling or motivation.

I wonder if the expression “soul searching Amazon’s 41% sales share, which is an objective figure, not personal feeling and motivation is suitable to the original usage of ‘soul-searching,’ or not.

BTW, I am interested in the usage of ‘in a bookstore-counting mood.”

Can I apply “in XXX-counting mood” to any other subjects, for instance, “I’m in a counting-mood of the present administration’s failures in Economic policies,” “I’m in a counting-mood of my boss’ mishandlings of business”? Can it be well-understood by native English speakers?


texts: How do you describe in a phrase the movement of something that you may see through the corner of your eye ? Like a slight movement that the corner of your eye may catch ?


texts:
One can establish their genetic ’distance’, which itself can be calibrated to give an indication of the length of time since these populations last interbreed.

I thought this was an appositive clause because of itself as a noun. But the answer told me that i was wrong. It said that this was a attributive clause. I was confused by this sentence. I’m so appreciated for your answer.


texts: Adjective for two effects of the same cause

texts:
Is there an adjective describing two events being effects of the same cause? For example, if A, B and C are events, such that A causes both B and C, I would like to state something along the lines of:

B and C are ADJECTIVE

or

The relation between B and C is ADJECTIVE


texts:
This is a question that people have seldom ever asked. In the English language, past participles are verbs that usually end with -ed. But bear seems to be an exception. It has bore and borne as past participles, but not beared. Why do they even exist? That doesn't make any sense.
Update: I'm not familiar with Germanic languages in general or inflectional morphology.


texts:
What's correct?

"The fact that he wears a hat, and recent observations of him in red boots, suggest to me that he has a sense of fashion."

OR

"The fact that he wears a hat, and recent observations of him in red boots, suggests to me that he has a sense of fashion."


texts: "I will rob you of it" vs. "I will rob it of you"

texts:
Which of these is grammatically correct, and why?

  I will rob you of it
  I will rob it of you


texts: Do listeners understand different adjective orders?

texts:
I found What is the rule for adjective order?,
but I keep wondering if listeners actually understand what I mean when I don't follow that order. For example, if I say, "a lovely long white coat," I may change it to "a long white lovely coat," or "a lovely white long coat."

They both sound the same to me.


texts:
It it appropriate to use the word submittal as follows?

  The report is ready for submittal.

Or, is it better to just say:

  The report is ready to be submitted.


texts: An old-fashioned way of reading the time

texts:
My elderly grandmother, before she passed away, had a very distinct way of reading the time. It has been quite some time since she passed away and I can't quite remember the exact phrasing she used when telling the time. I have searched google but unfortunately all I can find is old methods for telling the time, which isn't quite relevant (and she certainly wasn't that old).
As best as I can remember, her way of reading the time was something like this; for example if the time was 5:45 or 6:28.

'Five and forty past the five',

or

'Eight and twenty past the six'.

Is anyone familiar with this way of expressing the time and can give me more information on it?


texts: "which" as the subject - composing a complex sentence

texts:
How is the best way to compose a complex sentence with the word "which" as the subject of main and dependent clause?

How about this sentence?

Which road to take is very crucial, because that will make the whole difference.

How about this one?

Which place to go for our Spring break should be decided soon, which can be hard since every person wants to go to different places.


texts: Regarding the header (overhead) part of a network packet (made of several bytes), should one say said packet has a small overhead or a short overhead if it uses very few bytes.


texts: Is there a name for the "impact instead of affect", "myself instead of me" phenomenon?

texts:
I'm sure there is much discussion (and lamentation!) on this site about the increasing use of impact as a verb in the place of affect, along with the use of the reflexive pronoun myself when the plain old me would suffice.

It seems fairly apparent that these substitutions are the result of a population familiar enough with common grammatical pitfalls (affect vs. effect, so-and-so and I, not so-and-so and me) but not sure enough of the correct usage.

As a result, I suspect that many of these speakers/writers have become so afraid of making a grammatical mistake with these words that they stay away from them entirely, only to, ironically, end up making the grammatical mistake they were hoping to avoid in the first place.

Is there a name for this phenomenon? Can anyone think of some other good examples?

It seems interesting, to this writer at least, that grammatical mistakes can be born of grammatical knowledge.


texts:
Which is more natural and why: 'knocking on the door' or 'knocking at the door'?

And which is grammatically correct?


texts: For an assignment this term I have to come up with an anti-cliché superhero. I am going to do a superhero that changes shape from thin to big and was wondering if anyone knew a word for this change of shape/size.


texts: "No more dirty dishes shall meet the eye."

texts:
My flatmates frequently make a huge mess in our kitchen.

I created a motivational poster to hang in our kitchen with a picture of Optimus Prime and the phrase:

"Optimus Prime says: No more dirty dishes shall meet the eye!" (as a reference to the Transformers catchphrase "more than meets the eye")

I'm not a native speaker—so, does that work?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?

Mira is wondering what is the correct way to say:
"Once the client has replaced the songs" or "Once the client had replaced the songs"?
this describes an action that will take place in the future, and the question is regarding the result of this action.


texts:
In an American news story titled "Judge Orders NYPD Turn Over Public Records On Horse-Drawn Carriage Incidents", there's this passage:

On Monday, carriage opponents said the judge’s ruling is sure to shed light on many more incidents.
“It’s in everybody’s best interests to see what’s actually happened; to see the records of how many accidents that have resulted in people injured, cars ruined, and horses dead or hurt,” said Dan Mathews, senior vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Is the boldfaced portion of the quotation of Dan Mathews grammatically fine as is, if it is to be used in a formal writing?
Also, is the original closer in meaning to which of the following?

(1) ...have resulted in people being injured, cars being ruined, and horses being dead or hurt
(2) ...have resulted in people who are injured, cars that are ruined, and horses that are dead or hurt

EDIT
After reviewing the answers, an edit seems to be in order. Let me rephrase the original sentence as follows:

...accidents that have resulted in people injured," said Dan Mathews...

Now, instead of having three items coordinated, we have only one: "people injured". Is this still grammatical without "being" between "people" and "injured"?


texts: Term for numbers that have at least one non-zero significant digit after the decimal point?

texts: So, a number that is nothing but fractions is "fractional". A number that has a whole number and a fraction is "mixed", if you want to call it that. And the portion after the decimal point is called the mantissa in at least some (all?) contexts, although many would not know this word. But how about numbers that have a whole part and a non-zero mantissa, such as 1.93 or 159.2 or -0.8, as opposed to 5 or 5.00? What do you call those in more or less conversational English?


texts: A Collection of College Words & Customs written by Benjamin Homer Hall in 1856 defines a "wire" as a trick and I'm curious to know if it is of any relation to a magician using invisible wire to trick his audience? Any thoughts?


texts:
If I grant someone a Boon, I am granting them a temporary positive effect. If I were to grant someone a temporary negative effect, what would an adequate word to describe that be?

I was initially drawn to Bane, as it's another four-letter B-word, with a negative connotation, but I'm not sure if the two terms are inherently equitable. Is this an appropriate usage of Bane? Is there a better word entirely?


texts: Is there a single word that means "too much advertising"?

texts:
I'm looking for a single word to refer to an abundance of ads/advertising in a negative way.

For example:

  "That website is so annoying due to its ___"

or

  "If we put any more ads on this page, I'm afraid we'll have ___"

The only possibilities I've come up with so far are phrases, like "ad overload" or "ad blitz" (the second of which doesn't have a negative connotation anyway).

A made-up word with a clear intuitive meaning would also work.


texts: Meaning of "I tore the place down to the studs"?

texts: I know the meaning of tearing something down, but what about the meaning of to the studs. I don't understand the sense of the whole sentence.


texts:
In dictionaries, the adjectives 'fast'/'slow' are usually defined such that it makes sense for them to be applied to the actual moving or otherwise action-performing subject, such as for example here at Dictionary.com:

fast
adjective; faster, fastest.

moving or able to move, operate, function, or take effect quickly; quick; swift; rapid ...

I wonder whether it is correct to use them to describe not the subject, but its speed instead. If I think about the speed as a measurable quality, it makes sense for it to be 'higher' or 'lower', but since the speed itself is not the one performing the action, does it make sense to describe it with an adjective defined, for example, as above? In other words, the car is fast, its speed can be high, but is it correct to describe its speed as fast also?
In a broader view, similar questions could be posed about 'heavier weight', 'cheaper price', etc.
To articulate my questions more precisely:
1/ Is 'fast speed' technically correct, i.e. would a conscientious editor allow it?
2/ If not, is it at least natural enough, i.e. would a native speaker use it?


texts: Why do personal pronouns always come last after a list of nouns?

texts:
Why do we always put "I" or "me" at the end of a list of nouns in a sentence. For example we would say "John, Sam, and I are going to the mall" instead of "I, John, and Sam are going to the mall"

Is there a grammatical/logical reason for this, or is this just a convention that we're accustomed to? The sentence would make just as much sense no matter where "I" goes in the list.


texts: Examples of spoken phrases where the tone used changes the meaning

texts:
I'm looking for examples of phrases & sentences whose meaning changes depending on the tone of voice used.

For example,

'Follow me.' (Said with a falling tone) would be understood as a command.

'Follow me?' (Said with a rising tone) would be understood as a question (ie. do you understand me?)

The longer and more grammatically correct the better!


texts: Is it usual to use “full-cry” as a stand-alone adjective?

texts:
Maureen Dowd’s article titled “Spellbound by Blondes, Hot and Icy” appearing in December 1st NY-Times jumps from Alfred Hitchcock’s favor of blonde actresses to the dispute of Hillary Clinton’s responsibility for ill-handling of Benghazi attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

  “While Republicans continue their full-cry pursuit of Susan Rice, the
  actual secretary of state has eluded blame, even though Benghazi is
  her responsibility. The assault happened on Hillary’s watch, at her
  consulate, with her ambassador. Given that we figured out a while ago
  that the Arab Spring could be perilous as well as promising, why
  hadn’t the State Department developed new norms for security in that
  part of the world?”

As I didn’t know the word, ‘full-cry,’ I consulted Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, and Oxford online dictionary.
None of them registers “full-cry,” but for Cambridge Dictionary carrying “in full cry” as an idiom meaning ‘taking continuously about in a noisy or eager way’.

Google Ngram shows neither “full cry” nor “full-cry,” while showing incidences of “in full cry” since cir 1840. Its usage continues to decline all the way.

Though I surmise “full-cry pursuit” means ferocious and tenacious pursuit from the definition of “in full cry” by Cambridge Dictionary, I wonder if the word “full-cry” is received as a stand-alone adjective as used by Maureen Dowd.

Can “full-cry” be used as an adjective or a noun sui generis? If yes, is it always necessary to combine 'full' and 'cry' with a hyphen?


texts: Is there any connection between "redd" (tidy) and "riddle" (sieve)?

texts:
Fishermen use "redd" for a trout preparing a stream bed for spawning. Is the word connected to "riddle" (sieve) if you go back far enough?

The is no reference to the the above meaning of redd in Etymonline.


texts: the rest of her family was or the rest of her family were

texts:
which is correct:
a) she didn't mind a mild storm when the rest of her family were present
b) she didn't mind a mild storm when the rest of her family was present


texts:
When writing papers I find that I consistently use "that" in sentences where I describe a perspective held by an author. For example, I wrote

  From what I have presented thus far, it should be clear that Hume argues that reason has no role in moral determinations, and that the sentiments from which moral determinations are drawn are those universal, intrinsic aspects of human nature.

It sometimes feels awkward having two successive "that"'s, such as "it should be clear that Hume argues that ...".

In contrast, the forthcoming sentence seems to be grammatically correct (at least according to my limited knowledge), and perhaps flows better:

"From what I have presented thus far, it should be clear Hume argues reason has no role in moral determinations, and the sentiments from which moral determinations are drawn are those universal, intrinsic aspects of human nature"

However, I'm wondering whether a "that" is better inserted before "the sentiments...", reading "it should be clear Hume argues reason has no role in moral determinations, and that the sentiments from which moral." Alternatively, should a "that" be inserted before "Hume" if the previous "that" is inserted before "the sentiments"?

In general, why is it the case that I feel compelled to load up sentences with "that"'s like this, and which is the better option; leaving them in, or taking them all out?


texts: "Barking up the wrong tree" <- What does "bark" refer to here?

texts:
In the well-known idiom to bark up the wrong tree, what is the underlying metaphor? In particular what is the meaning of the verb bark here?

Being a native speaker, I fully understand the normal meanings of the verb bark relating to making a loud animal-like noise. However, this does not intuitively seem to be the meaning of the word in this idiom to me. Obviously, there is also the issue of the fact that bark also appears on trees, so I wonder if to bark up a tree is to shimmy up a tree by gripping onto its bark. I have no idea. I haven't been able to find any definitions of the verb bark that don't relate to making a noise.

Is to bark up something really just to make dog noises upwards towards it?

Any answers with references/sources greatly appreciated.

Here are the definitions of bark from Oxford Dictionaries Online

  bark

  verb

  [no object] (of a dog, fox, or seal) give a bark:

    ‘a dog barked at her’

  1.1 (of a person) make a sound resembling a bark:

    ‘she barked with laughter’

  2 [with object] Utter (a command or question) abruptly or aggressively:

    ‘ he began barking out his orders’

      [with direct speech] ‘Nobody is allowed up here,’ he barked.

  2.1 US [no object] Call out in order to sell or advertise something:

    ‘doormen bark at passers-by, promising hot girls and cold beer’


texts: Constructing a sentence with "in order"+infinitive

texts:
Is it a matter of writing style, or is one of these sentences more correct than the other?

In order to drive safely, you must anticipate the road conditions.
You must anticipate the road conditions in order to drive safely.

Secondary question: must the first example be punctuated? I am conscious of overusing commas.


texts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_QckQZHa1s (the first person to speak)

I was told it's Australian, but the Australians I met sounded very different.


texts: in southern Wales, in the south of Wales, in the southern part of Wales?

texts:
Can you tell me which one is correct? And if there is a difference in meaning between them, can someone explain it to me?

and here is the example of the sentence

  Cardiff is the capital and the largest city of Wales, located
  a) in southern Wales
  b) in the south of Wales
  c) in the southern part of Wales


texts: I think the meaning of this is to adjust a situation to your desired outcome, but I fail to see how this expression came to be. A curve is already bent, so I fail to understand how come this expression came to have such a meaning.


texts:
Is there any difference in the meaning between concision and conciseness? Is one preferred over the other?

My friend claims that concision is more correct.