texts: What constitutes as a restrictive or nonrestrictive?

texts:
I'm struggling with trying to figure out whether or not this sentence needs a comma before "only."
"He stopped running, only to grab a log from a stack of firewood and launch it at me."
On one hand, the comma and natural pause sounds more natural to me but I'm not sure if  "only to grab a log from a stack of firewood and launch it at me" constitutes as restrictive? It is also a dependent clause and therefore wouldn't need the comma after "only," right?
I'm very unsure of what to do here.


texts: The use of "were- should- had” at the beginning of sentences instead of “if”

texts:
Conditionals in English are usually formed by using if with normal word order; but for the three past (subjunctive) forms were, should, and had, it is also possible to express the conditional through subject–auxiliary inversion alone, with no if in the conditional clause.

Does forming conditionals in this manner differ semantically from if-conditionals? Is some aspect of the conditional statement or the conditionality emphasised more in one version than in the other? Or are there differences in how and when they are used? Or are they simply completely interchangeable?

For example:

  If I were you, I would try it again
  Were I you, I would try it again

  If I had seen it, I would have told you
  Had I seen it, I would have told you

  If you should drink, don’t get behind the wheel
  Should you drink, don’t get behind the wheel


texts: Apart from the dialect form used in the Southern US, "y'all," has English ever had a plural "you"?  If not, how does English get around using this form?


texts: What does 'live it for the best good of others mean exactly?

texts:
we were sent into this world for a wise and good purpose, and must do our duties without repining, take our life as we might find it, live it for the best good of others, and never mind about the results; they were not our affair.

from A dog's tale by Mark Twain


texts: Meaning of "appear" in "She appears to have had two children"

texts:
What is the meaning of appear in the following examples:

She appears to have had two children.
He appears to have been elected as the first pope outside of Europe.
Their aircraft appears to have crashed near Kathmandu.
Their offer appears to be the most attractive.

Or, for example, when you try to open a file in Autodesk Simulation Mechanical, you see an error message like:

  Warning: [file] appears to be open already.


texts: Meaning and origin of British/Australian slang word 'tut'

texts:
About twenty years ago I overheard a girl from the north of England laughingly advise a friend to get ready for a night out by telling her to 'slap some tut on your face'. She clearly meant 'put on some make-up'.
I had already heard an Australian informally use the same, or a similar-sounding word, 'tut', to mean 'toilet'.

I have also seen it defined on a website of British slang as: 'tut  Noun. Rubbish, nonsense. E.g."Whatever he told you about me is just a load of tut." or "I think we need to clear up all this tut before your parents arrive."

Are the three meanings of make-up, toilet and rubbish linked by some excremental ur-word, and if so does anyone know the origin?


texts: What does "face as sharp as a pen" mean?

texts:
I am reading a text and there is a phrase which I don't know the meaning of:

  His face was as sharp as a pen.

What does it mean?


texts: This or That when talking about an abstract idea?

texts:
The difference between This and That, as I understand it, is that This refers to something that is here, and That refers to something that is There.

However, when I want to talk about something that is neither here nor there, something that has more of an abstract nature, which should I use?

For example, in this (rather technical) sentence:

  ...any matching result in the DataGridView cells, is highlighted. To achieve this/that I use the CellPainting event...


texts:
I'm working on a scientific paper and I want to convey the idea that I have obtained some data by using a certain source. The phrase I wrote was:

  The turbulent fluxes at the air-sea interface are estimated by using in-situ data from a moored buoy of the Prediction and Research Moored Array over the Tropical Atlantic Ocean.

Is the by in the phrase correctly used?


texts: Why is the same modal auxiliary, 'may/might' used to ask permission and for uncertainty?

texts:
"May I go to the bathroom?" and "I asked if I might go to the bathroom."

The modal auxiliary 'may/might' is used to ask permission.

  "He may not have understood your question." and "He might not have understood your question."

The same modal auxiliary is used for uncertainty.

Why?


texts: What is a synonym for inappropriately installed

texts:
I'm trying to find an adjective that means something that was placed or installed incorrectly in a location such that it is causing problems and needs to be removed. Something like:

  Incompetent subcontractors had installed a speed bump on the highway.
  The state transportation department removed the blank device.


texts: Is this sentence valid considering the phrase after the comma is in stark contrast to what came before it?

texts:
Here's the sentence:

I used to hate planning and I still do, but once I'm done planning, everything's easier.

If I remove the phrase after the first comma, the sentence doesn't make any sense; however, since the last bit is in stark contrast to the first, wouldn't it still be considered grammatically 'correct'?


texts: Are "out of the box“ and “(right) off the bat” interchangeable”?

texts:
I came across with two idioms associated with immediacy in different context recently:

(1) Anyone who was hoping that the Watch would flop out of the box and fall short of the high standard that Apple boasts for its products is going to be disappointed. - Washington Post. April 4.

(2) Off the bat, $500,000 plus 1,200 people not traveling during our business travel season, spring and summer. In addition we track more than 3,500 negative news stories tied directly to our funny bill. – the comment of Vice president of Indiana Tourism agency on the influence of the controversy on religious freedom law - AP radio news. April 6.

I learned that “out of the box” means “immediately, from very beginning” in our comrades’ answers to my question on the above (1), which I posted EL&U yesterday.

I checked the meaning of “off the bat” with COD (10th Ed.) at hand, which shows “right off the bat” and defines it as “at the very beginning.”

Are “out of the box” and “off the bat” interchangeable as being synonymous, or are they different pieces by nature in terms of meaning and usage?

By the way, how come "off the bat" to mean “at the very beginning”?


texts: What does this sentence mean: "Troubles are poor things to hug. They've got too many prickers."

texts: This is a sentence from a book for children. I'm trying to translate it into Chinese. Not sure what this means. DO we want to hug troubles or not?


texts:
When a noun is used as a verb, linguistically, this process is termed as morphological conversion:

  Fish (n):  This is a fish.
  Fish (v): I'm fishing in the river.

Why shouldn't we call it syntactic conversion? The word itself didn't change only the grammatical role has been affected?

And if an adjective, for example, is converted into a verb by adding a derivational suffix, then it should be called morphological conversion. Am I right?


texts:
I was wondering if someone could give a more appropriate word to use in the case below other than component.

  This will allow a user to manage all components of the financial landscape.

I need the "meaning" word that can replace component to include; people, groups of people, and organisations. I feel that the word component is too cold.

Bonus if you can give me a better word than landscape!


texts: Is the Australian accent similar to the cockney accent?

texts: I notice when Australians speak there's a familiar accent they speak that is cockney.


texts:
Very long ago, when I was young, my teacher once told me that there only should a period “.” or a semicolon ”;” in front of “however”, but never a comma “,”.

To be specific,

  “xxx. However, xxx”

and

  ”xxx; however, xxx”

is right; whereas,

  ”xxx, however, xxx”

is wrong.

However, I rarely see such rules in people’s writings even those very formal ones.

The teacher was really knowledgeable that he wouldn’t have said that if that made no sense.

I’m now confused, and I’d appreciate it if any help is given.


texts: Word or Phrase specifically for a sale or transfer between two divisions or branches of the same company

texts:
I want a word or word phrase like 'Sales and Customer Service', but it applies only to the sale or transfer of stock between branches or divisions of the same company.

It's for internal transactions only, but it's still more than a simple stock transfer.

I'm thinking I could simply use the phrase 'Transfer Sales' because to me that describes exactly what I'm trying to say, but I don't know if this makes sense to other people or already means something else.


texts: What is the grammatical construction in “Be but sworn”?

texts:
I have found several questions asking for the meaning, but the thing that troubles me here is the grammar actually and i haven't found anything on that.

In Shakespeare's sentence
"Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love and I'll no longer be a Capulet."

What is the grammar behind the construct "be but sworn"?

And how can what appears to be a passive (be sworn) of an intransitive verb (to swear) still have the meaning of an active (i swear)?
Does the second person in the sentence remain the same throughout the sentence (deny thy father, Romeo...be sworn my love, Romeo), or does the interpellated person change (deny thy father, Romeo...be sworn (to Romeo), my love)?
Or is 'my love' even an allegory for Romeo?
Is the "but" here a preposition or an adverb?


texts: Which is the proper usage: a city name or its demonym?

texts:
Which is the correct usage?

  Oh c'mon New York ... how difficult is it to stay in your traffic lane?

or

  Oh c'mon New Yorkers ... how difficult is it to stay in your traffic lane?


texts: How did failing things and clothes end up with the same word?

texts: Apparently "duds" can mean "clothing" but also "a bomb or missile that fails to explode". How did we get to the point where two such wildly disparate things ended up on the same word?


texts:
I get that the origins of the word evening (being late in the day) come from æfen.

But this seems to have intersected with another word meaning 'making balanced' or 'making fair.

  They went through a process of evening it out

How did the two meanings converge on the one word like this? (To make balanced and late in the day).

My question is: How is evening even?


texts: What is a hobbyist who collects old newspapers called?

texts:
Is there an English word for someone who collects newspapers as a hobby eg. a philatelist collects stamps, a ..... collects newspapers.

Thank you.


texts:
A picture was shown to the student. In the picture a girl was missing her shoes, another girl was missing her mittens, and a boy was missing his hat. This is the student's description of the picture:

  The children either forgot their shoes, mittens, or hats.

Is either correctly placed, and is it properly used with more than two alternatives?


texts:
It cannot sensibly be said that the agent has a duty to disclose to
  each of its other principals information which it is bound, by its
  fiduciary duties to another principal, to keep confidential.

Could you kindly let me know what "it cannot sensibly be said" means in the sentence I quoted above? Does it mean something like "It doesnt make a sense to say that ..."?

Thank you in advance!


texts: How do I style book titles in a block of italicized text?

texts:
Book titles, among others, are commonly written in italics.

  She had read this quote in Pride and Prejudice.

But what should I do if a title appears in a block of text that is already italicized, such as a character's thoughts?

Do I reverse the italics?

  I've read this quote in Pride and Prejudice, she thought.

Do I use quotation marks, instead?

  I've read this quote in "Pride and Prejudice," she thought.

Or do I use another approach altogether?


texts: Any specific word for refferring and fetching back old data

texts:
I am looking for a specific word for referring and fetching some data from old document. e.g

"I pull out some points from my documents from last project."

I am trying to write something like above... I know "pull out" is really wrong choice of words. Any suggestions please.


texts: Is there a word that encompasses the concepts of cursor, caret, and selection?

texts: In the context of computer software -- you can have a "cursor" for a position between two characters of text, or a "selection" for a region of text.  Is there a word that means "cursor or selection"?  Sort of like a "brother or sister" is a "sibling."


texts: Does "end up" have a negative connotation?

texts: Maybe not, as some of the example usages in here, but it still has a negative feel to me. Is there some positive way that can be used instead?


texts: How can a wasteland be "washed in somewhat queasy-ugly bleached orange"?

texts:
I was very confused when I came across a sentence in “The body politic” in New York Times (June 28)

  Set in Tampa (but also shot in California), a palm-lined wasteland that Mr. Soderbergh has washed in somewhat queasy-ugly bleached orange, the movie opens at the club with the owner-M.C., Dallas (a spectacular, amusingly sleazed-out Matthew McConaughey), running down
  the rules for the female clientele.

I think "bleached orange" is some kind of color. Wash a wasteland in a color, in a movie, what does that mean? I'm totally confused.

I also failed to find  "sleazed-out"  in dictionaries.  I know sleaze means  tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar.  but what does "sleazed-out"  mean?


texts: Where does the word "button-down" come from?

texts:
I was wondering where the term 'button-down' comes from. I tried to do some research but I was not very successful...

How was the word button-down formed? Is it a compound ?

Does it originate from the noun "button", which then became the verb "to button" meaning to fasten? Then, how did it become an adjective ?

If the adjective "button-down" originates from the verb "to button (stg) down", shouldn't the adjective be "buttoned-down"? If so, how did it change to become only "button-down" ?

I looked up etymonline and the online merriam-webster but could not find any answer.

Can anybody answer this ?


texts:
Some weeks before, I came across the slang for ‘plot twist’ which I had never heard of.  The word ends with double 'o'. Another example of the 'mysterious word' would be this picture which you can see and read below.

The sentence where I would like this word to fit in is (one of the comments which I read on the original post):

  I love it when the OP does the ______ for us.


texts: When should I use "corpuses" over "corpora"?

texts:
I've come into a situation where I need to use the plural form of corpus, but I'm a bit confused about which plural form to use.

Merriam-Webster says the only plural form is corpora, for all senses of the word. However, Random House/Dictionary.com says it's corpora for every sense except the linguistic sense:

  Linguistics . a body of utterances, as words or sentences, assumed to be representative of and used for lexical, grammatical, or other linguistic analysis.

In this sense, it's corpuses.

In my specific situation, I have a collection of data—to be processed—about a class of objects that can be swapped out at will (thus the reference to more than one corpus). To me, this satisfies the first sense of the word ("a large or complete collection of writings")—where the plural is corpora—as well as the linguistic sense of the word—where the plural is corpuses.

So what's the significant difference between these two senses of the word? When is corpora correct, and when is corpuses correct?


texts: "interaction" vs. "interacting" vs "to interact"?

texts:
Interaction and cooperation with the young researchers will help us gain a more comprehensive understanding of our own fields.

What is the difference or which is correct here to use "interaction", "interacting" or "to interact"? Are they the same? And the same question also applies to "cooperation".


texts: She had more experience than I, she having [...] or her having [...]

texts:
Is it

  He had more experience than I, he having produced more than 10 songs already.

or

  He had more experience than I, him having produced more than 10 songs already.

The latter sounds more natural to me, but the former seems more grammatically consistent—alas I don't know what the parts are called to delve further. The questions Is "all that he have" correct? and https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/119167/he-have-a-point-is-this-correct were all I could find and didn't seem specifically relevant, AFAICT.


texts:
In the following sentence-

  As I love to read, like many others, a desire for writing grew inside me.

the part "like many others" indicates/points to which part of the sentence? i.e. to "As I love to read" or to "a desire for writing grew inside me" ?

So, does it mean

  As I love to read like many others

or

  like many others a desire for writing grew inside me

One more question: Is "like many others" a phrase? If not, what's the appropriate term for such group of words?


texts: Words that are pluralized in the middle?

texts:
This is purely a curiosity, but I'm fascinated by mid-word pluralization, even if the word in question is a compound word.

For example, passersby or standersby.

No others have occurred to me. Can you provide other examples, or a link to a resource that enumerates them?

I'm particularly interested in compounds that do not include spaces or hyphens.


texts: Is "teen-ager" correct? Still used? Etymology?

texts:
I was reading an article in The New York Times published in 1990 and came across the spelling of teenager as 'teen-ager'; is this American spelling? Archaic?

  The young man, who often said he only wanted to be treated like an ordinary teen-ager, had a date for the senior prom, and friends said he was looking forward to the dance.


texts: Which word can be used for a singer whose songs are mostly related to sex?

texts:
I'm looking for a word, more specifically an adjective, that can describe a singer who usually uses lyrics related to sex  or some full of sexual innuendo.
So, which adjective fits best in the blanks?

He is the second ______ singer in the world.
She is the most _____/ ____ est singer in the world.


texts:
Please call me when you're finished.

Please call me when you've finished.

Which one is correct?


texts: Origin of "bite your tongue" as a response

texts:
When someone says something unpleasant or rude, often the reply is "Bite your tongue!". But where did this come from? I can find a number of sources explaining that to bite one's tongue is to hold it between the teeth, preventing speech, and thus is a metaphor for not speaking; this makes sense, as I've seen "I bit my tongue" to mean "I didn't say anything". However, I can't find much about the usage as a response to something already said. Is it along the lines of "You should have bit your tongue instead of saying that"? Are the two usages actually related or just similar?

For clarification: usage A of the phrase "bite your tongue" is a synonym for "hold your tongue", whereas the usage I'm interested in is used similarly to "Wash out your mouth with soap" (though that's usually used for swear words, whereas this can be used for any negatively-perceived statement, like saying something bad about a public figure who is well respected, or implying that a woman is over a certain age)


texts: How did loophole become associated with law

texts:
...and stick almost exclusively to it?
According to Collins Dictionary:

A loophole in the law is a small mistake which allows people to do something that would otherwise be illegal.

The Grammarist notes that:

Interestingly, the word loophole goes back to the sixteenth century and refers to an architectural feature. In castles of the time, narrow slits were built into the walls where archers could shoot at attackers. These narrow slits were known as loopholes, most probably derived from the Dutch word lûpen meaning to watch.
The term loophole came into use in the seventeenth century in a figurative sense to mean a small opening or a outlet of escape.

How and when did loophole become associated  with law?
How old is the expression Every law has its loophole?


texts: Number Abbreviated as "No." followed by a Colon

texts:
As I understand it, the preferred abbreviation for Number is "No."
If we want to then follow that abbreviation with a colon, like in a form for instance, what does style dictate we do?
Is it:

"No.: 0123456789" (i.e. we preserve the period and add a colon) or;

"No: 0123456789" (i.e. we remove the period and add a colon) or;

"No. 0123456789" (i.e. we preserve the period and do not add a colon)

Is there a strict rule one should follow in this scenario?
Which is preferred stylistically?
Does the convention vary between British and American English?
Clarification
It's worth mentioning that I'm interested in how this applies to lists of data that use the following format:

First Name: John
Last Name: Doe
ID No.: 0123456789
ID No: 01223465798
ID No. 0123456789
...


texts: Is there a word meaning 'someone who is a source of money?'

texts:
Not in the breadwinner or sugar daddy sense but someone you are being a parasite to.

Does cash cow apply here?


texts: What is a word that describes the sound snow makes when hitting another frozen or hard surface. Thinking more specifically like snow hitting the frozen branches and leaves on a tree.


texts: What's a word used to describe someone that has spent their entire life either as a student or teacher in college?

texts: Academician comes to mind, but that's not exactly right, by definition. I'm looking for a word to describe the person that went from grade school to high school to undergrad school, to grad school, then straight into teaching at the college level, becoming tenured. Someone who has done nothing else in life, but spend their time on campus. No other jobs.


texts: Could somebody rewrite this sentence in a simple language?

texts: "A knight had only to swop his armorial surcoat and shield for those of another to be safely taken for that person." (Hanley, Catherine., War and Combat (1150-1270): The Evidence from Old French Literature, p33)


texts:
Please help me in choosing the right preposition in this sentence:

  The returned values seem a bit confusing on/in its semantics,

Here I'm talking about returned values of a computer programming function, after reading its expected behaviour.

Which one should I use and what is the difference about using in or on?


texts: Difference between lexicon, vocabulary and dictionary

texts:
What exactly is the difference? Around the Web, I'm finding contradictory information and sometimes circular references.

Some say the lexicon is inherent to a language (objective) while a vocabulary is only relative to a (group of) person(s) (subjective).
Wikipedia says the lexicon is the vocabulary of a language.

Dictionary should be an easy one, it's a mapping, either between languages or between words and word sense definitions. But some definitions of vocabulary seem to be equivalent to the latter.

Are there any clear formal definitions?


texts: Is there any special rules for hyphenating proper nouns? I've seen information like "never split a proper noun", but in numerous scientific papers these words are hyphenated.


texts:
In our company, at the beginning of year, we have what is known as Goals Cascading. Essentially, the senior most people in the firm set goals for the entire firm and then the people at the next level set their own goals for their respective divisions which are aligned with the goals of their seniors. This process continues until we reach the level of an individual employee.

At the end of year, there is a review process on how well we did on our goals. This basically works the other way round. Individuals' reviews are collated to form teams' reviews which are further collated all the way upwards till there is a review of the entire firm on how well we did to achieve the goals set by us.

Now, my question. How do I complete this sentence with a suitable word:

  At the beginning of year we have Goals Cascading and at the end of year we have Review  -----------.

I can think of words like collation and assimilation except that they don't give an idea of something moving up.

Any other ways of writing the same sentence while still using the phrase 'goals cascading' and the word 'review' in it.


texts:
I was just going through some book and found a word "computers" used as a class (like computer class).
But in my generation, we called it a computer class, never "computers."
Can anyone tell me what English speaking countries use this expression?


texts: adjective order: "long boring report" or "boring long report"?

texts:
A long boring annual report
  A boring long annual report

which of the above is right?

I learnt the adjective order of DOSA SCOMP, which means the adjective order should be as below:

  determiner, opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose

the answer is

  a long boring annual report

but that seems to be against the DOSA SCOMP
Does anyone know the reason?


texts: Something proved "sound" ultimately, not beneficial...in line with my skills and goals. Is there a word for this?

texts:
Although my path to radiology has been somewhat untraditional — I made the transition to nuclear medicine after transferring from radiology and, prior to that, training briefly in ophthalmology — my career decisions proved "enlightening" ultimately.

I am trying to make the point that my decision proved "sound" ultimately or "correct for me" ultimately or "in line with my eventual interests, skills etc."

I just seem unable to come up with the nuanced word for this sentence.


texts:
I can't find the abbreviation for the word formatting in the sense of formatting text or code.

I'd like to shorten commit changes on Github instead of always typing or copying the word formatting. Is there any abbreviation for this instead of fmt in the sense of formatting text or code? fmt might do, but it's connoted with format, not formatting. Is there something else?


texts: How to affectionately call someone who is always moaning/whinging?

texts: How can one affectionately call someone who is always moaning/whinging? I am looking for a qualifier with minimal negative connotation.


texts: Is there a term for solving a sub-sub problem of a problem so far removed from the main problem the link is not clear?

texts: In some situations, trying to solve a problem uncovers another problem. Attempts to fix that uncover yet another. A few more rounds and one can be doing something seemingly completely unrelated to the main problem. Is there an expression for that?


texts:
Is there a  term for losing sight of the overall goal and instead fixating on the tactical objectives initially intended as a means to said goal?

I see this happening in large corporate culture, politics, and religion,(human nature in general).  Often times the means to the end supplant the goal in terms of decision making.


texts: Is it common to pronounce 'only' as 'own-knee'?

texts: I personally find it very hard to pronounce the 'L' sound right after 'N'. Would you say it is quite common or at least understandable to pronounce 'only' as 'own-knee' (fastly)?


texts: Is there a formal name for the "where were you..." argument?

texts:
When a major event, such as a protest, happens, one of the common arguments from critics is something along the lines of "where were you six months ago?" The underlying, unspoken accusation being "you should have been organizing sooner."

This strikes me as a sort of fallacious argument, but is there an actual name for this?


texts: "everyone", "everybody", "everything", and "everywhere" - singular or plural.

texts:
Are "everyone", "everybody", "everything", and "everywhere" singular or plural.

I have found people who are say they are singular but also people who say they are plural.
I can anyone give me an explanation?

Thank you


texts: Identify the subject and predicative verbs of this clause

texts:
Can you help me in locating the subject and the predicative verb of this dependent clause?

  If by the time you graduate you still can't read and write well


texts:
I was interested to read that Paddington Bear was found on Paddington Station, not in or at Paddington Station. I would never have chosen this usage (I speak Canadian English). I had a look at Google Ngrams and found that at is by far the more common usage, with on and in coming far behind and with comparable usage. I did a similar search for on, in and at Euston Station with similar results. Then I did the same search for Grand Central Station, which, unlike Paddington and Euston stations, is in New York. Here, at and in are neck-to-neck, with on coming a distant third.

I assume, therefore, that "on X station" is a mainly British English usage. I'm curious to know why. What is it that one is on? Is it the platform that we're on? Surely not the rails? Does anyone know where the use of these three prepositions comes from wrt train stations? How does usage in other English speaking countries compare? Writing as a Canadian, I would lean toward the Grand Central Station usage i.e. at or in, but not on. How about other places such as airports? We're not on Heathrow, are we? Are we on the bus station?


texts: Free meaning “free of charge” vs “unoccupied”

texts:
I often hear German native speakers (I am one myself) ask those questions, and it seems to me that they are pretty much translated word by word into English.

Is this chair free?
There is a free room in the house.

What is the proper way of asking, say, whether a chair on a table is taken or not?

For me it seems like the second statement means that the room is free, as in one doesn’t have to pay for it (gratis). Or does it also mean that there is one extra room in the house?


texts: What is the word that means to relate one as an expert to have a stronghold of a specific field or knowledge


texts:
The proverb "More haste, less speed" apparently means:

  You make better progress with a task if you don't try to do it too quickly.
   Oxford Dictionary

What is the difference betwen 'haste' and 'speed' in this case? According to the same dictionary, 'haste' means:

  Excessive speed or urgency of movement or action

Yet if the proverb advocates more haste, surely this means even more excessive speed.  Why should one use more haste, which seems counter-intuitive?


texts: "The immobility of countenance of a red Indian"

texts:
There is a sentence in The Naval Treaty (one case included in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle):

  He had, when he so willed it, the utter immobility of countenance of a red Indian, and I could not gather from his appearance whether he was satisfied or not with the position of the case.

What does this sentence mean?

In addition to the definitions of the individual words, I feel a cultural reference is being made here as well. What did Watson (or rather, Doyle) mean by this sentence?


texts: Alternative to saying "This may be a dumb question, but..."

texts:
I am looking for an alternative to saying

  This may be a dumb question, but....

I would like to find another way to tell someone that I respect his/her time and realize I should probably already know the answer to the question I am about to ask without hinting that my question is somehow dumb.


texts:
The majority of definitions give the same meaning - "Pandora's box" is a synonym for "a source of extensive but unforeseen troubles or problems."

Are there any other metaphors with the same meaning?


texts: "Guess dress brand" or "Guess clothes brand"?

texts:
In case of process of guessing brand names while looking on logo.

Thank you.


texts: Category that contains: "renaissance painters", "Austrian economists", "beat poets"

texts:
I'm wondering if there's a proper term for a kind of collective noun that specifies a group of individuals of "great historical significance". I'm looking particularly for a kind of class that includes the following groups of nouns:

"renaissance painters", "Austrian economists", "beat poets"

"Schools of thought" is the best I can come up with, as in the hierarchy represented in this Wikipedia branch, but that doesn't return the kind of search results I'm after. (I'm really looking for a large digital representation of these kinds of nouns, so if others know of that kind of resource, that's doubly helpful!)

How would others typify these collective nouns?


texts: What's the difference between strive and struggle

texts:
According to the Macmillan dictionary, strive is to make a lot of effort to achieve something; and struggle to try hard  to do something that is very difficult.

I would like to know the grammatic and semantic distinctions, if there is. I can't see the difference between them.


texts: Is "Holy" in "Holy s**t" an intensifier or a euphemism?

texts:
I asked this question two days ago: Why is the word “Holy” used before swear words?

I got many answers, but now I have a new doubt after reading all the answers and comments.

For Example, one answer is:

  As expressions lose their shock value, they need to be intensified to maintain their value as curses. Thus, an expression that combines a blasphemy with excrement or sexual acts is particularly shocking, so the adjective "Holy" is added to intensify the "wrongness" of the curse.

Another answer is

  This use of "Holy" with swear words is a case of euphemism. It was once considered more offensive to say "Holy Christ" when there was no actual intention to call on the name of Christ. Hence, lesser forms were used, such as "Holy hell/crap/shit."

My question is how was a phrase like Holy shit or Holy crap formed? Was it by replacing the word God, Christ, or similar "holy" words in religious expressions such as Holy Christ to reduce the taboo? Or by adding the word Holy before words like shit, crap etc. to intensify the wrongness?


texts: Markup vs mark-up vs. mark up for prices

texts: I am very confused by the use of the above three terms. According to wikipedia "A markup is the difference between the selling price of a good or service and cost". However, I very often see the use of mark-up and mark up and I could not really find anything on this issue because there are many questions on mark up languages and other related topics.


texts:
There's a film just out called Salmon fishing in the Yemen.

I've also heard people talk about the country Yemen as "the Yemen".

Is it wrong to call Yemen "The Yemen" - or does it date back to some colonial era, where that was what people said?


texts: In direct speech, should there be a comma after the clause but before 'as'?

texts:
I have had a peep at similar posts but couldn't find what I was looking for, so apologies if I am repeating a question.
Which is correct?

"Wow!" gasped Sarah as she spotted the sparkling fairy from all John's stories.

or

"Wow!" gasped Sarah, as she spotted the sparkling fairy from all John's stories.

Thanks


texts:
How is parameter(s) hyphenated in UK English?

   pa-ram-e-ter (Merriam-Webster)
or pa-rame-ter  (Word XP)
or para-met-er  (TCItex)
or para-meter   (OAL Dictionary)
or pa-ra-me-ter (seems to bee the hyphenation of Parameter in German)
or pa-ra-m-e-t-er (combination of all possible locations for hyphenations)
or some other way?

Is there a difference for parameters? I know that there are rules about the minimum number of letters before the first hyphenation (two letters) and after the last hyphenation (three letters), but those don't appear to be strict rules but more like a recommendation. Or do they prohibit something like "paramet-er" and allow "paramet-ers" (regardless of the hyphenation being right or wrong otherwise)?

As there are differences between US and UK English also regarding hyphenation, please point out if US hyphenation of parameter(s) is different. (I don't need it, but the information might  be useful for somebody else.)


texts: Is there a word for being so polite as to appear insincere?

texts: I'm looking for a term in English to describe being so polite that one appears to be insincere.


texts: How to analyze 'last night' and 'last/next week'?

texts:
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 429) says:

  Yesterday, today, tonight, and tomorrow are not traditionally analysed as pronouns, but belong in this subclass of nouns by virtue of their inability to take determiners. Compare, for example, Today/*The today is my birthday. They are also semantically like the central pronouns I and you in that they are characteristically used deictically. Unlike the temporal prepositions now and then, the pronouns have genitive forms: today’s, etc.

Expressions like last night and last/next week act just like yesterday, today, tonight, and tomorrow: They cannot take determiners without changing the meaning; they are characteristically used deictically; and they have genitive forms (last night's, etc.)

Although last night and last/next week are made up of two words, some pronouns such as reciprocal pronouns (each other, one another) are also two-word expressions, so being made up of two words shouldn't stop them from being pronouns.

In the determinative section, though, CGEL also mentions in a foodnote (Page 356):

  We might also include [in the determinative category] last and next as used in temporal deictic expressions such as last week, next year, etc., where they contrast with the central determinative this.

But it's not clear how CGEL would analyze last night and last/next week.

Question 1

Would CGEL analyze last night and last/next week as pronouns or a combination of 'determiner (last, next, etc) + common noun (night, week, etc)'?

Question 2

If CGEL adopts the 'determiner + common noun' approach for last night and last/next week, why doesn't CGEL adopt the 'determiner + common noun' approach for yesterday, today, tonight, and tomorrow (with  yester-/to- being a determiner and -day/night/morrow being a common noun)?


texts: Is "Them’s fighting words" a right and received English expression?

texts:
I came across the phrase ‘Them’s fighting words,’ in the beginning part of a Time magazine (July 12) article in its Swampland section under the title “Don’t mess with the stimulus! It had all your creamed spinach and more.”
The author, Michael Grunwald, seems to be defending Obama’s stimulus plan of infrastructure. The sentence in question reads as follows:

  You know, the poor thing has no one to defend it but me. And me again. And yet again. So, its infrastructure spending was too “rushed,” and sent cash to the "least difficult and imaginative projects," huh? Them’s fighting words!

I interpret "Them's fighting words" to simply mean "They're fighting words." Can them be used as a subject being followed by the singular of "to be" and a transitive verb (fight) that takes the objective noun (words)? I’m puzzled if this is an established American usage of them or just a fashionable saying.


texts:
I saw this sentence the other day and it struck me as awkward. I went online and saw many instances of the present perfect being used in such manner.

  She has worked here since 1995

Shouldn't this be written in the perfect progressive?

  She has been working here since 1995

The Ngram shows the perfect taking over. It feels wrong. Am I justified here?

Ngram Google Books Viewer

I don't mean to sound defiant but the "HAS WORKED" gives me the impression that she has just been fired. I might be being over analytical and it seems that "the present perfect has become the standard" and that "the present perfect has been used / has been being used" since 1980. Wouldn't the exception be "subject + have/has + been + adjective/noun" as in "It has been the standard since".

I am adding some more sentences to the question and appreciate the help.

  He has travelled to São Paulo since the beginning of the year.

  He has been traveling to São Paulo since the beginning of the year.

I see it as a convention for the misuse of the verb tense.

  OXFORD
  the form of a verb that expresses an action done in a time period up to the present, formed in English with the present tense of have and the past participle of the verb, as in I have eaten.

  CAMBRIDGE
  the form of the verb used for actions or events that have been completed or that have happened in a period of time up to now:
  The sentences 'She has broken her leg' and 'I have never been to Australia' are all in the present perfect.

  BRITISH COUNCIL
  We use the present perfect tense:
  for something that started in the past and continues in the present:

  WIKIPEDIA
  The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and the perfect aspect, used to express a past event that has present consequences. The term is used particularly in the context of English grammar, where it refers to forms such as "I have left" and "Sue has died". These forms are present because they use the present tense of the auxiliary verb have, and perfect because they use that auxiliary in combination with the past participle of the main verb. ...
  ... English also has a present perfect progressive (or present perfect continuous) form, which combines present tense with both perfect aspect and progressive (continuous) aspect: "I have been eating". In this case the action is not necessarily complete; the same is true of certain uses of the basic present perfect when the verb expresses a state or a habitual action: "I have lived here for five years."

I wanna say that I stand corrected. And the evidence is here.
I will be honest with you and say that I personally disagree. Especially with "all my life" and "since"
I guess it is because I learned that the action does not continue but has implications in the present.
There is absolutely no need for the present continuous if I can manipulate the meaning of the perfect with the predicate.


texts:
This is my first question on this website. I'm a developer and my native language is Persian.

Many times I see a variable name such as isShown, hasChild, etc. in open source projects. Are these names grammatically correct for English or are they just some informal usages? If they are grammatical, then what is the English grammar rule and what is the boundary between formal and informal usages?

I think we should use isItShown instead of isShown and hasItChild instead of hasChild.


texts: Why do we refer to computers and other machines as being up or down?

texts: Generally when a machine is working we refer to it as "up" and when it's not we say the machine is "down."  What is the origin of this?


texts: Writing a postcard- Every day we eat in a restaurant or we're eating in a restaurant?

texts:
When writing a postcard from holidays. One should write: We eat in a restaurant or we're eating in a restaurant?
Most sources I've found suggest Present Simple - 'every day'. However in this case it's a temporary situation (a week).....


texts: Describe someone who is a specific type of annoying

texts:
(sorry for bad title, will accept edit of better one)

There's a specific type of person who my friends and I find annoying, but we don't know the word(s) to describe them.

The closest I can get to:
It's that feeling that you get around someone who goes on and on about their "trip to Cambodia" (or wherever), and about "how impactful it was", and about how "we should all try to live more simple lives, man".

Most sitcoms have had an episode where this character/trope occurs (The yak in Zootopia, for example).

It's kind of like "social justice warrior", but that's not quite right either. Does anyone have the term for this person?

My working terms (made up, obviously):

Round-trip philosopher
Socialist hipster
Sarah McLaughlin sympathizer (a joke)


texts: Is there a word which describes something being both beautiful and ugly at the same time?

texts:
Few days back, I saw some sculptures and paintings which were beautifully made. The characters which were depicted were ugly. When I inquired about the making of the sculptures and paintings, one of my friend told me that it is made using golden ratio (Now, I have to inquire about what is golden ratio). Those sculptures and paintings were beautifully made, but obviously they had ugly faces.

Is there any word which describes both ugly and beautiful at the same time?

This picture is not real sculptor or painting I saw, it is somewhat similar what I saw in fair.
Example:

Now, I want to tell my mom that I saw beautiful but ugly troll sculptures and paintings.


texts: Difference between logs, timber, and lumber

texts:
I'm interested in the distinctions between these three terms. Here's what I already know: timber is wood that is still attached to the ground, and still has its bark on. Lumber is already felled, and no longer has its bark. [source]

But my question is, does lumber refer to wood that is already processed into boards and planks? Or does it refer to felled wood that has not yet been processed into boards and planks?


texts: Are Pounds Sterling referred to as squid (in addition to quid)

texts:
Commonly pounds are called quid,

but I've come across references to pounds as

  squid

Is that a typo or actually a common usage?

Example from Football forums:

  It is believed they have offered them
  over a million squid to take on the
  role and gave them till this morning
  to give them there decision. Allardyce
  or O'niell ???.


texts: Does "Irish goodbye" have two meanings which are almost the opposite of each other?

texts:
Urban Dictionary gives two almost opposite meanings of Irish goodbye

  Leaving quietly out the side door of a party or bar without saying
  goodbye to anyone. Mostly due to the fact that family or friends would
  most likely take your keys away for being to intoxicated.

  next morning:

  Irish goodbye O'leary? You should not have been driving!

versus

  A goodbye taking more than 1 hour and in which a new conversation begins. People can spend hours on end standing in the driveway talking, during an Irish Goodbye. Not limited to Irish people, but very common among large Irish Families.

  This type of goodbye is different because the more serious one is about leaving, the longer they stay around for.
  T: Im going to bed for real
  H: Okay goodnight
  T: Wait, did you hear the new ___ album yet?
  H: Yes, wasnt it amazing??
  T: Most awesome of all time because...

  3 hours later
  T: Okay this Irish Goodbye must come to an end. I'm going to just hang up the phone otherwise we'll never stop talking.

I can find an example of the first meaning (leaving suddenly without telling anyone), for example in What you need to know about the Irish Goodbye this Christmas party season, but I can't find examples of the latter meaning being used, even though that's the meaning I previously associated with the term.

Oddly enough, I can't find the phrase in Google NGrams.

Related question, with an answer mentioning "Irish goodbye" but citing Urban Dictionary: Is there an English phrase for an inability to actually *leave* already?


texts: How to say "and more!" in a more professional sense

texts: We are in the process of writing an ad that details our curriculum, and the ad goes something like this - "...fall prevention, medical emergencies, AND MORE!" I keep thinking there has to be a better way to phrase that instead of "AND MORE!"  Any ideas? Thank you!


texts:
My understanding of stop in general is that we block the airflow in the vocal tract at the glottis and then release it. For example, when I say the word "pie", I 'stop' the airflow at the lips for the /p/ sound and then immediately release it - which is the reason they are called "stops".
The same thing happens with a glottal stop but instead of the lips, the glottis is used where the stoppage of air occurs. This happens for example with the 't' in the word "water" in many Englishes (Estuarian/Cockney).
Vowels by definition have no stoppage or releasing of airflow but the air moves freely without obstructions.
But what if we have vowels at the beginning of a word?
Example: Enter, important, and even the letter I.
At the start of a sentence, how is "enter" pronounced? Is it /en.tər/ or /ʔen.tər/? And is 'I' /aɪ/ or /ʔaɪ/?
I hear a clear obstruction at the beginning of those words. It is kind of weak sound but it is definitely not a vowel.
Do native speakers do that a lot? It is reasonable because when we are pronouncing words that begin with vowel and there is no other sound before that, our vocal tract is closed so It is possible to have a glottal stop.
Question:
Do we pronounce the vowel at the beginning of the word with a preceding glottal stop?


texts: Meaning of "Early days I know but may help."

texts:
I am reading an email from my client about the changes that he wants me to make.

In the end, there is a sentence:

  Early days I know but may help.

Can someone explain the meaning of this sentence?

"Early days I know" means he already knew it earlier? "But may help"?


texts:
I have read the excellent answers to Why is it "geometric" but "theoretical" - my question is specifically about usage.

Is there a best practice for deciding between the variants geometric and geometrical in writing? A google ngram search shows that geometrical was more popular until about 1965, when they switched. What grammatical rules, if any, would be relevant here?


texts:
i have problem to determine if the word bake is transitive or intransitive  verb from the Phrase "Samantha can bake at any time of the day." i am reading from a book called English grammar understanding the basic it say

  Action verbs that act upon something are called transitive verbs.
  Action verbs that do not act upon something are called intransitive
  verbs.

If a verb (in any of its forms) can be put in one of the following slots, it is transitive: (a) What did you_____? (b) Who did you______ ? If a verb cannot be put in one of these slots, it is intransitive.

  If a verb (in one of its forms) can be put in one of the following
  slots, it is transitive: (a)  He _____ something. (b) He____ someone.

  If a verb (in one of its forms) can be put in the following slot, it
  is intransitive: He____

by following the grammar i can say "he bake something" or "what did you bake" it look transitive for me


texts: Difference between "kinds of books", "kinds of book", "kind of books"

texts: I want to know the difference between the usage of "kinds of books", "kinds of book", and "kind of books".


texts:
Sorry for the stupid question, but is the following sentence correct:
"The main strength of the paper is the results"? I am always confused by the form of the verb in such sentences, so should the verb "to be" here correspond to the "strength" or to the "results"?


texts: Are there rules about using "that" to join two clauses?

texts:
He will understand that I was not joking.

He will understand I was not joking.

Which of the sentences is correct? Are there any specific rules about the use of "that" in the sentences I reported as example?


texts: What's the underlying grammatical structure of this sentence with three instances of "it" and two of "being"?

texts:
I just encountered the following sentence in The Oxford Guide to Style (p. 161) and could not figure out its structure:

  Since it⁽¹⁾ is being presented as a direct quotation it⁽²⁾ is treated as one, it⁽³⁾ being immaterial that the words are not in English.

Why can the the final instance of the pronoun it, the one labelled with a superscripted ‘(3)’, be inserted at the end?

The first two instances of it, those labelled (1) and (2), are clearly coreferential to the same earlier antecedent (whatever is being presented as a direct quotation), but what is the third instance of it referring to?

What is the grammatical structure of this sentence?

Can that third it be omitted and the sentence remain grammatical and unchanged in meaning?


texts:
Suppose I'm walking in my school corridor and there are 4–5 teachers standing in the hallway. How can I greet them all at once?

Anything better than "Greetings, teachers"?


texts: Which one is the original prefix: con-, com-, or cor-?   And which ones are variants?


texts: Why should etymology stop where it does?

texts:
I might want to go to the linguists' neck of the woods with this, but let me post it here first for the benefit of the intrepid souls who can appreciate a good challenge.

There are many words whose origin is traced through Middle English and/or French to Latin or Greek, and it just stops there.

Case in point: the word "etymology" itself:

  1350-1400; Middle English < Latin etymologia < Greek etymología,
  equivalent to etymológ (os) studying the true meanings and values of
  words ( étymo (s) true (see etymon ) + lógos word, reason) + -ia -y3

So it really means "true reason" (for being, I suppose).

I'm not saying that we should strive to trace everything back to Sanskrit. However, before Greece, there was ancient Egypt.

The Greeks and Egyptians knew each other well from very early on. ("O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are but children!" exclaims an Egyptian in one of Plato's dialogues). It would have only been natural for the inquisitive Greeks to borrow a few dozen words from their more advanced neighbors.

In their heyday, the Greeks documented everything they could, and the Romans documented and indexed everything they got their hands on, and then the medieval monks did a tremendous job preserving a huge portion of it all until finally Johannes Gutenberg invented his proverbial printing press, which quickly resulted in the creation of backup copies of everything pertaining to antiquity.

And yet nowhere in the dictionary do you see a word whose etymology is described as "from Middle English - from Latin - from Greek - from Egyptian."

Now why is that?


texts: English version of Afrikaans “gros”, meaning 144

texts: In Afrikaans we have the word gros, which means 12 dozen or 144. Usually that is how you buy eggs in large scale. Is there a English version of this word?


texts: Is it correct to use “glows” as noun representing more than one “glow”?

texts:
I was so far away, I could hardly see the nice glows of the Christmas lights decorating the outside of the house.

Is this the correct use of the word glows, as a plural for the glow of each of the lights in the decoration?

I intend to use it as plural there — but glows also mean non-plural, too, as in something like the flame glows. So I'm not sure if the sentence is confusing to the reader. Is this sentence even correct? I think the sentence I give in the box above sounds natural.


texts: Why is the antonym of "within" not "without"

texts:
I'd suspect that many people would agree with the statement that the antonym of "in" is "out", except for some peculiar situations perhaps.  My natural chain of shower-thoughts led me to the word "within".  The antonym of "within" from many online thesauri is "outside".

This seemed logical to me, but if you consider the relationship between "outside" and "inside", being antonyms, only the prefix [in-, out-] change to reverse the meaning of the words.  Shouldn't the same principle of changing the [in-, out-] to reverse the meaning hold true to the word "within"?

I suspect many people will say that "within" is a synonym of "inside", thus justifying the antonym "outside" but is there something more to this?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Which form of this sentence is correct. "No one works as hard as him." Or should it be, "No one works hard as he."?


texts: "the Red Cross" but no article in Greenpeace, UNICEF, or Amnesty International

texts:
In an English language textbook for Italian middle school students, there is a reading exercise where students have to fill in the gaps. Here is a completed excerpt

  The International Red Cross/Red Crescent is a global charity and humanitarian organisation. It believes that people everywhere have a right to life and health. …blah, blah, blah… The Red Cross / Red Crescent began its work in 1863. Today, it operates in 186 countries and every year it gives help to about 250 million people.

My two private students had to write a paragraph about a charitable institution of their own choice. We came up with 1. Médecins Sans Frontières (in Italian Medici Senza Frontiere) which is also known as Doctors Without Borders 2. Greenpeace and 3. Amnesty International. They each chose an institution and they all started their paragraphs with the definite article "the" just like in the textbook.

  The Doctors Without Borders is a global charity and humanitarian…
  The Greenpeace is a global charity and pacific organisation…

I crossed out the articles and said they weren't needed. Samuele asked me why–good for him–but I didn't know what to say, so I promised I would look into it.

While I can explain that the definite article is needed when we mention the United Nations Children's Fund because it is a collection of states/nations, and it is omitted when it is shortened to UNICEF. I don't know why the article is needed for the Red Cross but not for Doctors Without Borders or Amnesty International.

I'm also aware that if the name of a company or band starts with "The" e.g. The Beatles,  The Leathersellers’ Company, and The Body Shop  the article is always obligatory and always capitalised. However, the charity's name used in the book name is International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and yet the article is needed.

Is there a reason? Why is the definite article necessary in the International Red Cross, but not for Greenpeace or Amnesty International?


texts:
My brother could write when he was four, so he was able to finish school earlier.

or

My brother was able to write when he was four, so he can finish school earlier.


texts: English word for when avoiding being seen by people?

texts:
When I want to go outside, there are times I wish to avoid running into certain people such as friends or colleagues in order to have some private moments. In such cases, I frequently find myself finding routes different from the ones mainly used by these people, just to avoid being seen.

Is there an English word to describe this kind of action?


texts: Why do we use the article 'a' when referring to 100 items? But we don't use it when referring to any other plural count?

texts:
Edit Note:

This question has been linked to these questions about using an article before adjectives modifying numbers. This question here has nothing to do with adjectives at all:

Indefinite articles used with plural nouns: It was AN amazing TWO DAYS
Indefinite article in the "An [adjective] [number] [plural noun]" construction

The question

Why do we use the article 'a' when referring to 100, but not when referring to any other plural counting?

Here's an example:

  I saw a hundred birds today.

But when talking about other count that 100, we don't use 'a' because it's plural:

  I saw ninety-nine birds today.
  I saw two birds today.
  I saw two thousand birds.
  I saw seventy-five birds.

Is there a grammatical or historical explanation?


texts: Is /kləʊðz/ really the correct phonetic transcription of the word "clothes"?

texts:
I hope this question fits the group.

As a teacher of EFL I have come across this question several times:

Question: Does "/kləʊðz/" provide the right phonemic representation of the final sound in the word "clothes"?

"Oxford Learner's Dictionaries" gives four variants. In both BrE variant recordings, what I hear is a final unvoiced /s/ sound, and this is also the way I pronounce it.
The dictionary seems to transcribe the final sound in both cases of BrE as voiced /z/-sound.
(see Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, "Clothes")

Collins Dictionary, explicitly states that their phonemic representions follow Received Pronunciation:

  The accent represented by the pronunciations in this dictionary is Received Pronunciation.

gives the same transcription of "clothes".

It seems practically impossible to me (let alone to my students) to actually realise the pronunciation suggested by the phonemic representation provided.


texts: Where does the term jerried come from? It's an Australian slang term that means 'realised'


texts:
Are there any differences when asking the following?

Would that be fine with you?
Would that be fine by you?
Would that be fine to you?

What if we switch you and that around? Do they still make sense?

Would you be fine with that?
Would you be fine by that?
Would you be fine to that?


texts: Is there a word which means past and current but not future?

texts: For example, one can refer to "past semesters" and to "the current semester", but if you want to refer to both of those while excluding future semesters?   Something more concise -- hopefully a single word -- than "the current and past semesters".  For example, like "extant" semesters, but better -- I'm not really sure "extant" means current + past.


texts: what word class are the following words?

texts: Ok, so I would like to know what word class numbers are and also time? for example twelve or seven o'clock?


texts: Understanding sentence (at odds; critical standing)

texts:
But Mendelssohn’s
enduring popularity has often been at odds — sometimes quite sharply — with his critical standing.

What do at odds and critical standing mean in the above sentence?


texts: Why are knobs called "pots" by some sound designers?

texts:
I was recently introduced to the term "pots" to mean "dials" or "knobs" in the field of sound design and audio engineering. (It rather took me by surprise; I had no idea what the sound designer was talking about, until it was explained to me.)

Later, I looked the term up, and found - well, not much. The dictionaries and thesauri available to me didn't contain this particular meaning of the word. I was able to find the term used in a few forum posts, but what I really wanted to know was how the term came to be used at all.

So, I ask: What is the origin of "pots" as a word meaning "dials?" Is it derived from the other meanings of the word? Is it a loanword from some other language? Was it coined from a long-forgotten acronym? I can't help but be curious.


texts:
What is correct:

  helping one to accomplish the dreams?

OR

  helping one accomplish the dreams?

The question I have is about the use of to in the first sentence?


texts:
I'm working on a system that has the concept of events. Events can be in three states:

Active - e.g. a police chase has started, person entered store, car trip started
Resolved - e.g. a police chase has concluded, person left store, car trip ended
??? - e.g. a red light was crossed, item was sold, harsh breaking detected

I'm struggling to come up with suitable terminology for the last type of event. The first two, active and resolved, imply an event that can be ongoing (e.g. has a start and end time), whereas the last type is basically something having to occur at an instant in time.

I've considered potentially using Interdeminate but I feel that won't be very clear for users. I was wondering if there was a more suitable term to use in this instance.


texts: Categorize English words based on difficulty to learn by foreigner

texts:
I have a list of 8000 English words used in my application to training  vocabularies for new learners.

I need to categorize these words into three categories (easy,medium,hard).

Are there any known tactics I can employ so that I can categorize these words in such a fashion?

The students are Arab so the level of difficulty would ideally apply from their perspective.


texts: Term to describe the written, paragraph-form part of a report

texts:
Is there a term for the written, paragraph-form parts of a paper/report/etc., as opposed to the figures, equations, and their captions?  I'm reviewing a technical report for a colleague who has put a lot of numerical data in the written part, making it a bit tedious to read.  I want to suggest that he summarize this numerical data in a separate table or chart, e.g.:

  There are a lot of numbers in the written parts; you should summarize them in a table.

I feel like there should be a better word for "written part" however.  The word "copy" is close, but seems to be used specifically for the text in advertisements.


texts: Can we really "get in" or "get on" a thing?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Origin/reason for the expression “on the bus” instead of “in the bus”

Can we really "get in a bus" or "get on a bus" in Standard English usage?


texts: Implication of unstated contrasting cases

texts:
Apologies if this question is answered elsewhere. I didn't know how to refer to the following phenomenon and consequently I didn't know what to search for. I'm happy for more expert users to add/remove tags or suggest other amendments to the question.
Take as an example the following sentence:

(S1) Women are not permitted to become priests.

My understanding, and I am a native English (UK) speaker educated to PhD level in philosophy, is that when someone says this, unless they add further clauses cancelling the implication, they imply the following:

(S2) Men are permitted to become priests.

The implication can be cancelled, if the speaker adds, for example, "But nor are men, the state forbids anyone to become a priest" (Perhaps non-binary-gendered people or robots could still become priests in this case).
Is my understanding here correct? If so, is there a name for this kind of implication? Where could I read more about it or direct someone to, to learn more?


texts: The difference between revise and revision

texts:
My word editor doesn't seem to accept the past tense of the verb revision (revisioned). It's as though it's not interpreted as a verb, yet I did find it as a verb in online dictionaries.

I wonder if I should be using revise instead.

Can revision be a verb and if so what is the difference between revise and revision?


texts: Is there a single word meaning "very funny book"?

texts:
Sometimes you read a book that has you convulsing with laughter from the moment you pick it up.  For me, one of those books was Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.  What do you call this?

Perhaps there isn't a single word or standard phrase for it but I'm convinced there is and I just can't remember it.  It would be much like potboiler means a poor quality book, the kind of pulp rubbish people buy in airports.


texts: Single word for scientific studies that change two factors at once

texts:
I am reviewing a number of studies for my thesis that all manipulate the same factors A (with levels A1 and A2) and B (with levels B1 and B2). Now some of them only manipulate A while keeping the level of B fixed (comparing A1B1 to A2B1, for example), and I can refer to them as A studies (analogous with B). However, some unwittingly manipulate both A and B at the same time and compare A1B1 to A2B2.

I am not discounting those studies, as they are the vast majority and as such nicely illustrate the problem with the field. But I also use them to point out areas worthy of study (If 10 studies find a difference between A1B1 and A2B2, then there must be something there, we just don't know if it's due to A or B or both). So I don't want to refer to them as confounded studies, which is what they technically are, but which I find to have too much of a negative connotation.

I am calling them crossed studies at the moment, but am afraid that will be confused with a fully crossed study, which is the accepted term for comparing all possible combinations of A and B, and which is decidedly what those studies don't do.


texts:
Is there a specific word that denotes a group of synonyms? I thought semantic field worked, but then I read that this just pertains to discernible words in a text/discourse that can be semantically related?

Synonym field? Synonym group?

Pretty sure there is a specific word I am looking for here


texts: One word for scientist who can deal with pressure

texts:
As I am writing down my CV, there is a part where I am saying that I can deal with pressure and there are proofs about it.

So, I would like to squeeze that information in one line. As a result a word for replacing:

Able to deal with pressure = 'one word'

If it helps, I am in Computer Science. Relevant question for football: Who excels under pressure?

Wish I could summon an Ancient Spartan, which would find the laconic way into this, without having to trouble you


texts: Can the word “totem” be used as both a respectful and troublesome symbol?

texts:
Today’s (Oct. 10) Time magazine article titled “Hillary Clinton’s Burden of History” begins with the following passage:

  “Everything old is new again for the Clintons, as documents reveal
  White House secrets.

  Buried in the documents released by the Clinton  Presidential Library
  Friday is one bearing the stamp “Document  Produced To Independent
  Counsel.” It's a totem of the problem that's  dogged Hillary
  Clinton since she ran for the Senate in 2000."

  http://time.com/3491599/hillary-clinton-library-documents-history/

I was under impression that the word, “totem” is basically used as a respectable object in positive way.

OALE defines ‘totem’ as an animal or other natural object that is chosen and respected as a special symbol of a tribe or family.

Collins Cobuild English Dictionary defines ‘totem’ as “In some societies, a family totem is the particular animal, plant or natural object which they regard as a special symbol and which they have spiritual significance.

I think “a totem” in the above article is used figuratively, but I wonder if the “totem” which is the symbolic object for the group’s respect can be used as a negative symbol for undesirable object/matter such as “a totem of the problem.” Can “totem” be used in both positive and negative way like this?


texts: What is the relation between plastic surgery and plastic?

texts:
Reading some books, I am wondering if there is any connection between plastic surgery and plastic itself?

One definition from OED seems to fit:

  (Of substances or materials) easily shaped or moulded:


texts: What is an alternative word for "downvote"

texts: I am curious about what another way to describe the negative action of "downvoting" could be. Is there another word out there that could be used as a replacement?


texts:
In the sentence

  If you can change his idea, I am all yours.

What does I am all yours mean?


texts: What do we call people who go to the gym?

texts:
A group of people who regularly attend gym classes or work-out. What are they called? Is there a single-word for this particular group?

Apart from my calling them fanatics, mad (BrEng)/crazy (AmEng), body-obsessed, vain or dull.

Seriously, what are they?
Devotees? Learners? Practitioners?

I'd also appreciate any equivalent popular/recognized expressions that haven't yet entered any standard dictionary but have been buzzing around for a few years.

Trivia
In Italian, a gym is called palestra. Italians are very body conscious and tend to look after themselves very well, in fact it is true to say that it's quite difficult to find overweight, unattractive, or unfit men or women who attend these almost daily sessions. The men, in particular, can get carried away and so the expression palestrato has been coined in the Italian language. A palestrato is someone who frequently attends the gym, but is also an exhibitionist, self-obsessed, extremely vain, and very very muscular.


texts: I stumbled on the word "OKing" while reading an article. Is such Inflection of OK prevalent?

texts:
Three of the primary dictionaries–the OED, M-W, and the Australian Concise Oxford (OA)–show OK as the preferred spelling and okay as an acceptable alternative.

The Chicago Manual of Style does not include a rule in any of its numbered sections for spelling or inflecting OK, but it does use the spelling OK in some of its examples.

Is the use of OKing acceptable?


texts: Is the phrase "endemic to the problem" correct?

texts:
I heard the phrase "endemic to the problem" used in Marvel's Daredevil as follows:

A: [I could] have a little shop of my own.

B: You got your own office.

A: We have office space. An actual office would involve plantery[sic] and equipment, fax machines or whatever successful people use. (Chuckles) I don't think they use fax machines anymore. How would I know? Which is endemic to the problem.

Is this usage correct?


texts: Is "hit the nail (right) on the head" a cliché in English?

texts:
I've just read on one English-learning page (the page is actually from authors that do not have English as their first language, but mine) that using phrase/idiom "hit the nail (right) on the head" is a cliché.

Is it? How much cliché is it on a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 is the maximum-cliché?

Does it differ in GB/US English? Do US people even recognize this?


texts: old-fashioned idiom to tell someone to abandon all hope of repeating a certain activity

texts:
I'm looking for an idiom that sounds like something someone's grandpa might say.

Once again, I'm working on a translation of an English source text that is itself a translation(and I'm pretty confident it wasn't done by a native).

Some bad-ass grandpa tells an ill-reputed youngster to forget about ever seeing his granddaughter again.

The translator has written this:

  Bygones are bygones.

Let bygones be bygones seem to be the standard phrasing, but that implies forgiveness.And that's not the case here.

Offhand, I can't really think of some other idiom of the same register that could be used instead.

What do you suggest?


texts: Subject + be + verb + ed, what grammar structure is it?

texts:
I have a question about this sentence:

  Yesterday I was awarded.

I don't understand: is it a passive sentence?
Or is it: Subject + was + adjective. Is the word awarded an adjective?

Same question about this sentence:

  I am imprisoned for my religious beliefs.

Is imprisoned an adjective or is it a passive sentence?

Thanks


texts: Success is not something that just happens (by accident or by chance)

texts:
Which word is more appropriate? And why?

Success is not something that just happens by _.
 A. accident
 B. chance


texts: Is there a formal way of stating "to be appointed"?

texts:
I am currently writing the annual report for a charity. There are trustees which will be appointed, but not at the date of the report.
Is there a formal way of stating Trustee "to be appointed". It could also be that there is a latin phrase instead (such as, in other contexts, 'pro bono' or 'ex gratia')


texts: what do "free to change" and "but of all models" mean?

texts: What do "free to change" and "but of all models" mean in this sentence "Topologists, for example, do not study the singularities structuring the possibility space of a model free to change in its temperature and its pressure, but of all models with two degrees of freedom whatever these may be."?


texts: How common is the 'object-subject-verb' construction?

texts:
E.g. from Wiki: I hate oranges, but apples I'll eat! or He's not very interesting, but her I would like to know!
I understand it is a form only used for emphasis, but how common is it? Is it perceived as something strange to say or is it quite used?


texts:
Why is it ok to say, "on top of the table", but not "on bottom of the table?" Is it ok? Was it ever considered ok?

Edit: To clarify, I'm asking about the missing "the", not about the fact that tables can hold things up better if the objects are on top of them...


texts: Can pain be exquisite without masochism?

texts: Can pain be 'exquisite' without being masochistic?


texts: In web programming we use drop-down lists, but I'm not sure about the correct grammar. Wikipedia says "drop-down" when most frameworks uses "dropdown". Which one is correct ?


texts: what do you call it when an idea has so much potential it crosses over into social consciousness?

texts:
What do you call it when an idea has so much potential it crosses over into social consciousness?

Thank you in advance.


texts: ".... and then Judah decides to eliminate his mistress." Is it correct to use "eliminate" for "kill"?

texts:
In a review for the 1989 film "Crimes and Misdemeanors" a critic says: "...and after his mistress has been eliminated, Judah decides..." meaning "has been killed".  I always thought of "eliminate" as a verb meaning to remove or defeat.

  Eliminate - to remove (something that is not wanted or needed), to defeat and remove (a team, player, etc.) from a competition http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eliminate

Can we use it instead of "kill" as in "Bloody dictators won't hesitate to eliminate their opposers."


texts: Is the phrase "all to c**k" considered profane?

texts: I occasionally use the colloquialism "all to cock" to mean "disastrously wrong". I've always thought it a benign phrase, but recently I've wondered whether the use of the word "cock" in this situation is vulgar. Is it? And if it isn't rude, would the 'average' person still consider it so?


texts: What's the converse of "The straw that broke the camels back"?

texts:
A friend likes this lady for many of her nice qualities. But one of her small niceness-es made him fall for her completely.

He referred to it as "The straw that broke the camels back" which I believe is not the phrase that quite describes it.

What phrase was best suited?


texts: Where does "I could eat a horse" come from?

texts:
The popular expression I could eat a horse meaning that you are very hungry appears to be from the early 19 th century according to Google Books. One early  usage example I could find is from 1824:

From: The miscellaneous works of Tobias Smollett by Tobias George Smollett: (1824)

  "for I be so hoongry, I could eat a horse behind the saddle."

The expression is clearly a hyperbole but it is not clear why "a horse" has become the animal associated with being extremely hungry, rather than a cow for instance.

Questions:

What's the origin of the above saying?

Was it originally a BrE or an AmE expression?


texts: Cleaning up / formatting verbatim quotations

texts:
Frequently, I have situations where I am in need of the ability to quote an individual who has written something verbatim that has some type of grammatical error. Although I would like to write it down verbatim, I do not want the spirit of the comment lost to the reader on the basis of an obvious grammatical error or short form.

Here's an example:

"lking forward to seeing more gbl etfs"

Now, I know that this individual is saying "I'm looking forward to seeing more global exchange traded funds". However, this may not be clear to my reader without changing the text to reflect it.

I've seen in newspapers, where they use some nomenclature "(...)","[x]" or rules for showing where they have changed a quotation in order to fit or clarify the quotation (most of the time, in context).

My question is, where can I find these rules? What are they called?

Clarifying my Question:

I'm looking for rules for making the changes. I guess you would call it syntax. For example, how do you use [], (), ..., within a quotation to identify that a change has been made.


texts: What does the phrase "it has been" mean in the sentence?

texts:
I came across a headline on a website yesterday, saying:

  "Razer Huntsman Elite is the cheapest it has been in the UK, at £158."

I think I can roughly understand the sentence (Razer Huntsman Elite has reached its lowest price, which is £158 ), but the phrase "it has been" really confused me here.

After searching for a while, I still don't understand the grammatical function of the phrase, even though I've found a pattern like this:

  (To be) the [a superlative adjective] + it has been + (usually) [ a
  preposition phrase]

Examples:

  "The unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since 1969..."
  "Alaska's pink salmon catch is the worst it has been in 40 years."

So, my questions are:

(updated)

what the phrase is doing here in the sentence (its function)? (Resolved. Now I know that the phrase "it has been" has somthing to do with the point of the comparison. It limits the scope of the comparison. Thanks to the authors of the comments).

But new questions arise to me. I add some details that might be more grammatical:

What I'm trying to figure out now is the grammatical relationship between "it has been" and the other part of the sentence. That is, the form of the sentence (how and which part does "it has been" grammatically combined with?). I don't know how to express it more accurately, so let me take a similar but not exact same sentence for example:

  He is the kindest person (whom) I have ever met.

In the sentence, I know that "I have ever met" is a relative clause, which modifies the noun "person" before it. A relative clause usually has a relative pronoun preceded, which can be the Object, the Complement or the Subject of the clause, and "whom" is the object of the clause in this case. Those are what I am looking for.

Back to the original sentence again:

  Razer Huntsman Elite is the cheapest <something omitted here?> it has been in the UK, at £158.

My revised questions are:

Is "it has been" a relative clause in the sentence? If it is, is there any relative pronoun preceded and omitted?

Thank you


texts:
Here are two variations of the same sentence:

  He's not the same as he was yesterday.
  He's not the same he was yesterday.

Both can be encountered in colloquial speech, but I would like to know if there are any noteworthy differences in usage between the US, the UK, and Australia. Does either one sound more natural or correct, for lack of a better word, in any particular dialect?


texts: Suffix for an adherent with person's name as root

texts:
We can refer to a particular method devised by Newton as the "Newtonian method" or a distribution attributed to Laplace might be referred to as the "Laplacian Distribution".

Some colleagues were having a lively discussion on what would be the analog for the name "Jeffreys" (note the 's'). Some suggestions:

Jeffreysian
Jeffreyian
Jeffreyic
Jeffreysic
Jeffrecian

My vote is for "Jeffrecian" mostly because of the similarity of the last sound in Jeffreys to Belize, for which the demonym is Belizean. Thoughts? Note: I'm aware there is definitely not a right answer and this is mostly for fun :)

Related question I just found: Guidelines for selecting suffix when making an adjective out of a proper name (-esque, -ean, -ian,


texts: Adjective meaning "with good visibility?"

texts:
Example:

  There was a bright moon in the sky. If it weren't for the fog, the
  streets would have looked incredibly [...].

I can't think of the right adjetive (aside of clear).

Any other suggestions?


texts: What do you call a person who answers correspondence, mail, for a dog?

texts: Some children are going to be involved in responding to letters sent to a therapy dog.


texts:
In many languages, there is a different word for "Where" and "Where-to" (German "Wo" vs "Wohin", Spanish "Dónde" vs "Adónde", Hungarian "Hol" vs "Hova"...) Now, "Where-to" and "Whither", though convenient, are archaisms in English... So, how to express the difference between "location" and "direction"? How would you ask the question more precisely in order to avoid confusion? For example, in the following case:

Question: Where are they running?
Possible answer (1):They are running at the stadium. (i.e. location)
Possible answer (2): They are running home. (i.e. direction)


texts:
The word "master" when used in the sense of one thing controlling another thing (as opposed to skill mastery) has become an unword in growing circles.
In communities of people who write technical specifications, the concept of one thing (non-human) having control over other things is common. Is there a deanthropomorphized equivalent?
Examples:

Master data list -- a primary, singleton, authoritative, commanding list of vendors, accounts, files, etc. which all other lists of same must reference and synchronize to

What I tried:

Authoritative. This word can convey substantially the same meaning. But it is clumsy for having too many syllables for a very common thing: "authoritative vendor list," "authoritative account list". Also it fails to convey active command. You could describe some dictionary as authoritative but you would not say it is commanding. When an entry from a "master data list" is deleted, it is not sufficient that other references to it become invalid, instead every other reference to it must be deleted simultaneously. This is an active change which is propagated by the change above.


texts: Single word or short phrase for giving a passing mark?

texts:
I thanked my teacher for giving me a pass mark in the exam.

Is there a single word or short phrase for the emphasised phrase?


texts: In English, are words like 'English,' 'Monday,' and 'January' considered common nouns or proper nouns?

texts:
In English, are names of languages (English, French), days of the week (Monday, Sunday) and months of the year (November, January) considered common nouns or proper nouns?

I know they're all capitalized, but is there any strictly linguistic consensus as to what kinds of nouns they are?

Is there any reliable source of reference on this? After all, in other languages such as French they're not capitalized; and "Englishman" is capitalized but it seems to be a common noun.


texts: To understand the meaning of the usage of bring and take: is it correct to say 'I was picked up from the hospital and was brought home.' and 'My husband picked me up from the hospital and took me home' Thank you in advance!


texts: What do you call the university or school people graduated from in one word or phrase?

texts:
The alumni of a school, college, or university are the people who used to be students there.

But what do you call the university or school one person graduated from in one word or one phrase?


texts: A word for the thing that adds the last piece to something, making it complete?

texts: Each period has a start and an end. If we observe a period as a pair and from one pair either the start or the end is missing, how would we call something, that adds the missing part, making the period whole or complete. period completer or period finisher just doesn't sound right to me. Maybe period adder? In German, I would use the word Ergänzer.


texts: singular adjective versus plural possessive

texts:
Dynamics which are typical of (or can be found in) news websites or the life which is typical of schools may thoeretically be described by either possessive constructs such as schools' life or news websites' dynamics, or by the singular noun and adjective school life, news website dynamics.
Do both forms have the same meaning? Is one of them better than the other (in general or in particular cases)?
My question (unlike this one) is not about firm names, but rather about
plural nouns such as "websites", "working places". Should I always use the singular attributive, as in "working place dynamics", "news website dynamics", or "site operators", even while meaning multiple working places or websites?


texts: What does "receive a message" mean in the context of drinking and saloons?

texts:
I was reading a passage on the saloon history in North America, in a work titled The Saloon by  Gerald Carson, and ran into the following passage:

  A good bartender did not drink while on duty. If urged, he would say, "but I will take a mild cigar." This ultra-Colorado is known in saloon history as "the saloon cigar." At the end of the day, it went back into the box it came from, and the barman took credit for it on the cash register. If pushed hard to take something by a very special crony, the bartender would draw a "snit" of beer in a private glass he kept on the work board under the bar. It was about the size of an eye cup. The knowledgeable barman filled it with foam and could put down a hundred if necessary and still not know that he had received a message.

It's the end of the paragraph. I don't really understand the final part, what does it mean by received a message. What message?


texts: Is that "log on" the website or "log onto" the website? What is a difference?


texts: Combination of subjunctive mood and adverbial clause

texts:
Is the following sentence correct?

  If I spent all my money on my girlfriend, even though she does get instant gratification, it is not sustainable.

Or, should I say:

  If I spent all my money on my girlfriend, even though she would get instant gratification, it would not be sustainable.

Really confused, please help me.


texts: Comparative or superlative to describe a quality of a member of a set of two things?

texts:
For example, 'he's the bigger of the two guards' or 'he's the biggest of the two guards'?

The comparative indicates that something is bigger/more difficult than another member. If there's only two members of the set being described, then surely both forms are equivalent?

What about when the comparative and the superlative aren't regular? e.g., 'my puzzle is the more difficult of the two' or 'my puzzle is the most difficult of the two'?

I think I'd probably use the comparative, but it seems logical that the superlative would be okay too.


texts: The use of would and is in the paragraph

texts:
I would like to know why the author started the paragraph in the past using would and ending it in the present tense using is. Is it wrong to begin the description in the simple present or using will?

I happened to read the following paragraph from Micheal Mccarthy's grammar book -

  On a journey from north to south across this huge region, you would
  pass through a fascinating series of hot tropic landscapes and plenty of
  rain falls in the far south, whereas the arid  northerly region is
  prone to serious drought.


texts: When is it important to use the plural of "system?"

texts:
When would system need to be pluralized?

Say you offer two products that serve the same function. Do you offer two systems or one system?

To try and give an example...

I have an integrated facial recognition system built into the camera. Few years passed and I developed a new camera that also has my facial recognition. I offer both options. Would I say:

"My system integrates facial recognition..." or "My systems integrate facial recognition..."

Is there a rule for determining something like this? By sound I lean towards it being a singular system. My colleague believes it needs to be plural.


texts:
The term last year defines last year according to calender.So if I say last year in 2014, it means I refer to 2013.
On the other hand, the term last one year refers to last 12 months.So if I use this term in mar 2014, it refers to period between mar2013-feb2014.
Am I right on this? Can you explain what the following two sentences mean?

I am actively participating since last year.
I am actively participating for last one year.


texts: Using article "the" when addressing a general category in an article

texts:
I am writing an English paper; (actually translating into English from a Persian source), where the topic of "ending" in story writing is discussed. Due to frequent use of the term "story", can I use "the" before story? For example, in the following sentence:

  An ending is the last paragraph of a story, play, or a screenplay. In fictional literature, it is a description of the last part of the story describing the behavior, speech, and status of the heroes and the story’s atmosphere.

where, I am not talking about any particular story. As articles are not often used in Persian, it makes me confused in such cases whether to use a definite article or not, given the fact that "story" in the above text refers to a specific category of writing being discussed in the paper and that has been addressed several times in the same paper. That being said, is this "the" usage permissible?


texts:
I am a chemist, and I was writing the following sentence:

"The solvent mixture was non-polar due to the minimum amount of dipole-dipole forces in both constituents".

Constituents here was meant to refer to two compounds, molecules etc.

However generally I tend to use the word substituents, but looking up the definitions (just from dictionary.com), I now wonder if I am misusing this word.

So for constituent:

adjective
1.
serving to compose or make up a thing; component:
the constituent parts of a motor.

For substituent:

noun
3.
a constituent element, material, etc.; component.
So for substituent:

noun
1.
(chem) an atom or group that replaces another atom or group in a molecule or can be regarded as replacing an atom in a parent compound.

Interestingly, something I never noticed is that substituent doesn't seem to be used outside a chemistry context, while constituent is widely used.

So my questions, in short:

1) Is there another context where substituent may be used?

2) How interchangeable are substituent and constituent?


texts: for (a?) good reason: difference in meaning?

texts: Google search provides us with cca 50 million results for the article version and 28 million for the no-article variant. Is there any actual difference?


texts: What part of speech is the word "found" in the sentence below

texts:
A whale found dead on the southern Spanish coast was found to have swallowed 17 kg of plastic waste, including plastic bags.

I assumed it was a verb, as in a reduced passive form (a whale that was found dead), but the test said the correct answer was: "adjective"

Any ideas?


texts: Why do Americans say "less than five people"?

texts:
I thought "people" is countable, so we should say "fewer than five people"?

Being in the US for many years, I rarely hear people saying "fewer than," even with countable nouns like "people."

I presume this usage is grammatically wrong, but idiomatic?


texts:
I'm studying a text for translation and I'm unsure about my reading of the following paragraph.

  I asked Nuit to write the rituals, the ordeals, and the law.

  She bade me know that the ordeals may not be written, since each man
  must go through a furnace of his own kindling. The Rituals: some were
  fitted for all men: some are fitted to one person, each making his
  own; and also there are those whose virtue lies in the silence
  wherewith they are begirt.

I understand "bid" here is not "offer" but "ask", in general. But I can't go any more specific than that. What does "she bade me know" means?


texts: Is there a mutual or positive way to say "Give me an inch and I'll take a mile"?

texts:
I have been given a little bit of something which has allowed me to accomplish a lot now. The accomplishments mutually benefit both parties.

I don't want to say "Give me an inch, and I'll take a mile," because that implies that I have gained, while the giver has lost.

Also, I don't think "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" is quite what I'm after either. I think this is focused around self-sufficiency; I'm not so much thinking of autonomy as I have in mind mutually beneficial accomplishments.


texts:
I was drawn to the word, “a media shut-in” appearing in the following paragraph of New York Times’ (February 28) article that came under the headline, “Trump moves to become master of his own messages”:

  “The president reached his limit as a media shut-in after a
  particularly tough week of headlines last month, when he decided he
  wanted to fight back himself, despite the objections of some advisers,
  at a hastily arranged news conference. The result was a 77-minute
  Trump tour de force that was at least viewed as a cathartic exercise
  for a frustrated commander in chief.”

I think I’m pretty familiar with “shut＋preposition” constructions such as “shut out,” “shut away, “shut down,” and “shut up,” but not with “shut in.”

Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines “shut sb in (sth)” as:
① to put sb in a room and keep them there. ② to go to room and stay there,
but both definitions don’t seem to pertinently apply to the interpretation of “a media shut-in “ in the above quote.

What does “a media shut-in “ mean in the context of the above article? Mr. Trump cited many media including New York Times, Washington Post, CBC,  CNN as the enemy of American people. Then why is it "A media"?


texts: Is there a verb that means "talk a lot" but not necessarily annoyingly?

texts:
I'm looking for a verb that expresses the action of talking a lot or giving a lot of information.

I found the verb "to babble" for example, but I think it also means being a bit boring, annoying which is not necessarily true in my case.

Edit
I chose initially not to explain the usage because I thought nobody would take it seriously. But to make this question clearer, let's do it anyway.

First, I'm curious if there is such a verb. :)
Second, I usually try to use expressive words and verbs in my programs, but also try to avoid too long notations, hence I'm looking for a simple verb, not a "convoluted" expression.


texts: What's the difference between "seem" and "seem as if"?

texts:
What is the difference between following sentences:

The children seemed tired
The children seemed as if they were tired.

Does the second sentence indicate an imaginary situation?


texts: Using a leaders guide in a doctoral dissertation, does the title "Leaders Guide" have an apostrophe?


texts: I need some examples of synecdoche!! Can someone post a few examples of synecdoche? I found only these- "lend me your ears" and "the hand that mocked".


texts: Word for romantic partner you are living with but not married to

texts: What is a word for a person you live with but are not married to? I do not mean a room mate, but rather someone you are romantically involved with. From what I understand, spouse is someone you are married to and boyfriend/girlfriend does not state that you live together.


texts: Is this correct: "leaning against my back"

texts:
I'm writing in present tense, first person. I want to say that someone is sitting back to back with the main character (narrator). I utilized the following phrase:

  The voice comes from someone leaning against my back.

With that sentence, would you be able to tell that they are sitting back to back? If not, then what would be the best way to say this?

Thanks.


texts:
Is it correct to enumerate reasons of something after "because" in a sentence? For example:

  This product is popular because: (1) It is inexpensive. (2) It has
  two-year warranty. (3) It is made of environment-friendly material.