texts: Can "x exclusive" and/or "x-exclusive" mean that x is excluded?

texts:
Is it reasonable for the statement "y is x exclusive" to mean "y does not include the patronage of x"? For instance, is it correct to say that a "whites-only" drinking fountain was black people exclusive? If not, would "y is x-exclusive" mean that?

I understand that you can say that a discount is [brand] exclusive, and mean that the discount is and only is available with/at that brand, but this isn't quite the same situation and unfortunately I'm having a hard time looking for usage that isn't of this variety.

I'm hesitant to accept that the only definition of "x exclusive" is such that "y is x exclusive" implies that "y is x inclusive".

If "exclusive" is the improper word here, would a word like "exclusionary" be more acceptable?


texts: Specific word equivalent of phrasal "bring down"

texts:
I want to find a slightly more academic-sounding word to replace "bring down." One such application:

It was wildly amusing to witness how the addition of John ____ the
pompous elegance of the rest of the cast.


texts:
If I understand correctly, I have to use one of these 3 forms depending on the case:

verb: drop out

noun: dropout

modifer: drop-out

Are the following 7 examples spelled correctly in British English?

1) Predicting student dropout in higher education

2) Student drop-out prediction

3) A student who dropped out

4) We consider these students as dropouts

5) Most drop-out students

6) 50% of the dropouts

7) Create drop-out prediction models


texts: Can one say "I should like" rather than "I would like"? Is the former grammatical?

texts: My focus here is on the should in the sentence fragment "I should very much like...".  Why is it there in place of would? It seems strange that should is used in the subjunctive mood there -- is it grammatical? If the fragment is idiomatic, can anyone explain the history of the idiom?


texts: What's another way to say "my learnings"?

texts:
Refer to the title.

Another word, wording or phrase to say:

  learnings

For example, if I had a list of things that I had learned and I wanted to write "my learnings" as the title. So the question is what are the alternatives because it just doesn't sound right to me.


texts: What's the meaning of the term "out of touch intellectuals"?

texts:
I was reading the following sentence in Wikipedia and I couldn't realize the meaning of the mentioned term:

"In Canadian politics, latte drinking is used to portray people as out of touch intellectuals and the antithesis of the Tim Hortons coffee drinker that's considered representative of an ordinary Canadian"


texts: Could you explain the difference between these two sentences:

texts:
He was so frightened by the film that he couldn't get to sleep.
  He was so frightened of the film that he couldn't get to sleep.


texts: How do I specify the amount of syrup taken from this bottle?

texts:
When I order coffee with syrup the Barista takes the syrup from a bottle like this:

He pushes the pump down completely twice. This is too much syrup for me. I only want one complete push or even only half a push down.

What is the word for the unit of pushing the pump down once?

Example:

  I'd like a caramel macchiato. But with only half a _____ of syrup.


texts: What's the origin of the phrase "men are pigs"?

texts:
I believe every man and woman has either read about or heard this phrase been spoken at least once in their lifetime. Besides the obvious connotation ascribing men to pigs, what is the reasoning behind the phrase and how did it originate?

I googled it but didn't find much besides this About.com article on Male Chauvinist Pig and an entry in the venerable Urban Dictionary.

I also did a case-insensitive Google Ngram search and came up with this:

It shows that the phrase was been rising in popularity since the 1980s.


texts:
I am designing an online service that serves employees of customer of my customers. End users in this system are employees of customer of my customer.

And my customers are mostly organizations, not individuals.

How to call organization that is customer of my customer?
How to call employees of that organization?

UPDATE:
I also provide an Application Programming Interface for my customers to work with their customers. So, I need to describe end users in the way that my customers (its developers) understand well. Also, there are several types of end users of this software. For instance, another type is members of support team of my customer organization.


texts:
In the sentence below, does "large" modify "chicken eggs" or only "eggs"?

  There were large chicken eggs in the barn.


texts: Word for giving a name to something to legitimize it

texts:
Is there a word or logical fallacy for describing the action of giving something a name to legitimize it?
Here's a simple example:

Alice: Your jeans are too tight
Bob: No, they're slim jeans

The word should also work to describe something like this

Alice: I told her she's overreacting
Bob: You're invalidating her feelings

Ideally, I would want a single word to describe this action because it would circularly serve as an example of its meaning.
Just like how the word grandiloquent is an example of grandiloquent language.


texts:
In high school we learned to say "than I" and "as I" because you could potentially add an "am" to the end of the sentence.  Examples:

"She is smarter than I."  (Think: "...than I am.")
"He is as tall as I."  (Think "...as I am.")

So analogously, shouldn't it be "like I" as well:

"He is sincere, just like I."  (Think: "... like I am.")  But universally, it seems that we use "like me".  Where does this reasoning break down?  Is there history here?


texts: "Deciding on introducing" vs. "deciding on introduction"

texts:
The internet seems to have both examples, although the first is less common than the second one. Is there a difference in meaning or style? Does any one sound odd to a native speaker?
For example:

Deciding on introducing reforms in the country.

vs

Deciding on introduction of reforms in the country.


texts: Is the predicate missing from the sentence?

texts: Please read the following sentence "The mayor claimed to have discussions with community leaders over to call implicit or explicit bias in news coverage, but the issue to the attention of media leaders."I am not a native speaker and I don't understand the last part of the sentence" but the issue to the attention of media leaders"Is the predicate missing?


texts: Passive infinitive following an adjective

texts:
Somewhere I read this kind of rules - "you cannot use passive infinitive if it is to be followed by an adjective." Take some following examples:

Metal is not easy to be digested. (incorrect)
Correct - Metal is not easy to digest.
Our boss is difficult to be pleased. (incorrect)
Correct - Our boss is difficult to please.
He is too weak to be moved. (incorrect)
correct - He is too weak to move.

--- ?????
Are all these true?
However, I have doubt. Please clarify it.
Thanks! in advance.


texts: Is "considering stealing" grammatically correct?

texts:
I am working with a student who sends me essays and I help edit them. In one of his paragraphs, he wrote "The lecturer indicates this is illegal since it is considering
stealing." In my head, I know it should be "considered stealing." But I am having trouble explaining why. Is there a specific grammar rule? My student's first language is Spanish so I want to try and explain this in a way he can remember.


texts:
As far as I am concerned, other is always used with plural countable nouns and another is used with singular countable nouns. How come it is used in Oxford Dictionaries twice? Is the adverb in this case treated as an uncountable noun?

Is that sentence grammatically correct?

An adverb is a word that is used to give more information about a verb, an adjective or OTHER adverb.


texts: Usage of participle with and without comma

texts:
Arguing with my friend, we've both got stuck on the one question about participles, the meaning of which confused us.

I don't like myself being beaten

Does that mean I don't like it when I'm getting beaten?

I don't like myself, being beaten

Does that mean I don't like myself when I'm getting beaten?
It makes sense to me, however, everyone can be mistaken. I'm a little familiar with English punctuation. By this question, I'm testing myself. I wouldn't mind knowing whether I am right or not.
I appreciate any help. Besides, sorry for my mistakes if there're some in this question.


texts:
When I write, I treat references as though they are proper nouns; for example, Chapter 10, Section 10, Line 10, Page 10. (As opposed to chapter 10, section 10, line 10, page 10 - no capital letter.)

[My short forms would be Ch.10, s.10, l.10, p.10]

Until now, I've never been picked up on it. I wrote a piece that involved numerous references to numbered lines. Here is an example from my piece:

  Ham makes further attempts to connect with the reader in Line 26, where she writes...

This was corrected to "line 26" (no capital).

I can't really explain why I think references should be capitalised, but I surely must have picked it up from somewhere.

So, my question is - if not common practice, is there anything wrong with capitalising (line) references? Are there any style guides that have a preference for capitalised references?


texts: Comma with adverbs in front position: change of meaning?

texts:
I know that punctuation can alter meaning. Could so. help me out with these examples:

  He claims that roughly the years before the beginning of WWI are responsible for this development.

He claims that roughly, the years before the beginning of WWI...

  He claims that, roughly, the years before the beginning of WWI...

Does the meaning change here with punctuation or is it just a matter of style?


texts: "the board of directors I have just became a member of" or "of which I have just became a member"

texts:
Duplicate of:
  When is it appropriate to end a sentence in a preposition?
  Possessive connecting word for inanimate object

I am not sure about following sentence being grammatically correct:

  ..such as the X fund the board of directors of which I have just
  became a member.

OR

  such as the X fund whose board of directors I have just became a
  member (of?).


texts: "Pa. man bagged deer Wal-Mart lot deer" Is This Headline Grammatical or Sensical?

texts:
http://news.yahoo.com/charges-pa-man-bagged-deer-wal-mart-lot-145951272.html

I just cannot parse this headline.  I understand the story - a fellow was standing in a Wal-Mart parking lot, saw a deer he liked, shot it from across the highway, and is now being charged for being reckless, but I cannot make sense of the headline.  Am I missing something, or is it really nonsensical?


texts: Synonymous idiom for: You can't run before you can walk

texts:
I'm looking for an alternative way of saying "You can't run before you can walk."

This is equivalent to saying "you can't take on higher level things before you have mastered the basics".

I am looking for either a rewording of the original phrase or a whole new phrase with the same meaning. I prefer that this not have any fancy words nor leave the reader scratching her or his head. I will use it in a semi-informal tutorial for future students of a programming class I am in. I use a short phrase at the beginning of each section which establishes the underlying theme in that section. This tutorial is meant to be something fun (and useful) to read, which is why I want something that catches the attention of the reader.

For my purposes, there is nothing wrong with the original. I simply want something that is a bit more inclusive (some people can't walk or run).

Thank you.


texts:
Can of course be used in technical writing? I heard that it is used typically in informal writing. I am not sure though. For example,

  The existing scheduling techniques work well on a mix of single
  threaded workloads where half of the threads are memory-intensive and
  half are CPU-intensive. Of course, these are not designed for
  scheduling multithreaded programs.


texts:
To be a man of better literate in Finance, learning some basic concepts regarding financial assets.

One seemingly quite confusing is, the concept of "Security"

When people think of security, it is kind of object that secures my lend (maybe). So I thought it might be a very similar concept to "collateral" but existing in a much more abstracted way.

Referenced with Wikipedia and Wiktionary, Security includes more broader sense of any tradable financial assets including stocks, treasuries, bond and any other instruments also.

Hers's the Question:

How come the word Security so become popular and broad to contain any of these financial tradable objects?

Any reason with fully backed industrial and historical background would be appreciate.


texts: Can "take a shot at [someone]" be used as "try to court [someone]"?

texts:
I know that the expression "have a shot with [someone]" means "to have a chance in successfully wooing [someone]".

And I know that "take a shot at" might mean to have a try, but also literally shooting someone.

Would you recommend against using "take a shot at [someone]" as "try to court [someone]"?


texts: confusing sentence "before I'd had a chance, my sister ran up ..."

texts:
Recently, I came across this sentence "Before I'd had a chance to look at the letter, my sister ran up and pulled them out of my hand!" (it's in the book "destination B1 grammar & vocabulary with answer key" unit 5 exercise F)

The word "Before" mean "my sister ran up" happened before "I'd had a chance"
But the tense told me the opposite. Because "I'd had a chance" is in past perfect tense, so it must happened before "my sister ran up".

could you explain me why they use tense like that. and can I just use past simple tense in both parts of this sentence?


texts: Is "with Trevor" in "dined with Trevor" adjunct or complement?

texts:
We dined with Trevor the following Monday.

I'm doing a test to figure out whether the constituent "with Trevor" is an adjunct or complement to the verb "dine". It is called the "did so" test as some of you may know.

So my question is, are the following sentences correct?

As I dined with Trevor, Mary did so with Matt. (did so= dined)
I dined with Trevor on Monday, while Mary did so on Wednesday. (did so= dined with Trevor)

Here are my definitions of adjuncts and complements: adjuncts are peripheral items not lexically required by the verb (predicator), while complements are required to complete the sense of the verb. For example, the verb "put" requires a complement: He put the book on the table, where "on the table" is a prepositional phrase functioning as a complement. You can't say **He put the book.*

So, my doubt is whether "with Trevor" in the first sentence is a complement (or argument) to the verb "dine", or just an adjunct. I hope that's clear.


texts: What do you call a person who leads a charge?

texts:
What do you call a person who leads a charge, or otherwise leads a body of soldiers into combat 'from the front'?

My context is historical but with a request this specific I'll take what I can get.


texts:
The Chinese expression "smiling face tiger" (笑面虎) is defined in English at one website as  "an outwardly kind but inwardly cruel person".

More broadly it doesn't need to refer to someone who is actually positively cruel. The phrase might be used to refer to a person who superficially appears  nice/gracious/easygoing/etc., but actually is not at all nice/gracious/easygoing/etc.

Any similar expression/word/idiom in English?

Edit to elaborate: One suggested answer in "wolf in sheep's clothing". This is perhaps the closest English translation (especially since it involves animals) but I think this English/European idiom has an emphasis on the fact that the wolf is deliberately disguising himself in sheep's clothing, in order to deceive someone and achieve some malicious end.

What I am thinking of is someone less malicious than a "wolf in sheep's clothing" (but can nonetheless--though not usually--be just as harmful). Examples:

He is always smiling, greeting you, and saying "Good morning, how do you do?" and generally being absolutely courteous.
When he spills some coffee on your shirt he might say, "Oh my goodness! I am SO terribly sorry! I am such an absolute and horrible klutz! Please let me wash your shirt for you!" (but with no intent of actually doing so, knowing that you will probably reject the offer).
He often offers to help you out or do you favors (again with no intent of doing so).
When you inadvertently cause him some inconvenience, he might say "Oh that is no problem at all! Absolutely no problem at all!" and keep smiling and seem unperturbed the whole time (but in fact he is extremely peeved and if you provoke him just a little bit more, he is liable to abruptly erupt in fury).

These are just some examples. You can probably think of more.

Such a person does this sort of thing on an everyday basis. Unlike a "wolf in sheep's clothing", he has no malicious intent to disguise himself or to seriously harm anyone else. Nonetheless, he has somehow acquired the art of delivering a very favorable first impression and being very nice with his words and superficial acts. But when a problem actually surfaces, it is quickly revealed that he is not very nice after all.


texts: Why does this sentence seem to me to have an adverb for a subject?

texts:
At the bottom of the device is a microphone and a microUSB port for data connections and charging (Source)

At the bottom of the device is an adverb of place. Why is the subject of the sentence an adverb? I didn't think adverbs could be subjects!

Or, if it is not the subject, what is it? And why does the verb come right after it, just like a subject?


texts: When to use choose over, between, among and from?

texts:
I am confused about when to use the following examples(in which situations)? Could you clarify these examples for me?

Choose something over something.
Choose something between something.
Choose something among something.
Choose something from something.


texts: Why does a difference in spelling exist between British and American English?

texts:
I understand that the use of different terms for the same item (e.g., "car park" vs. "parking lot") has already been discussed, but I'm interested to know why we spell the same words differently in the UK.

Obvious examples include:

favourite and favorite
cancelled and canceled
dialogue and dialog
honouring and honoring
behaviour and behavior

My guess would be that this has something to do with British spellings preserving their Latin roots more strongly than the American equivalents, but I don't know.  I'd also like to know why present and past tense variations are derived in different ways too, as in the derivatives of "cancel" above.


texts: Is there a better way to say that a historic record "goes back to [some time in the past]"?

texts: I have a record of transactions that "goes back to 2011", but is there a better way to say that? I'm considering "a record that extends back to 2011", but I find both phrases a bit too colloquial.


texts: What do you call a community that is allergic to criticism?

texts:
I have seen a tendency online for a lot of communities - especially ones in various creative arts, populated primarily by amateurs - to want to be so welcoming that they frown on any sort of criticism, constructive of otherwise, because it's not seen as being welcoming. I am trying to find a word or short phrase that captures this tendency, specific to creative communities rejecting any sort of criticism whatsoever.

This is different than a community that is merely supportive; this is in regards to a community that is supportive to a fault and does not allow for any sort of constructive criticism that would help members of the community to grow and improve.

The closest I've seen is "hugbox," but that is an incredibly ableist slur, and is also used in other senses as well (often a casual dismissal of a supportive community, or as a form of "groupthink" which is also not the same thing).

Clarification: What I'm talking about is this sort of behavior:

  Person A: Here's a song I made. Tell me what you think!

  Person B: The music itself is pretty good, but the overwhelming effect processing on the vocals makes it difficult to understand what the singer is singing.

  Person C: B, please don't be so negative. We're trying to build a positive community here. A, your song is fine the way it is.


texts:
Is the use of "be" in the following sentence incorrect?

  "I have never before heard that be said."


texts:
The record books say that the extent of my domain is 120 acres. But it is obvious that, at every dawn, I am the owner of all the acres I can walk over. It is not only boundaries that disappear, but also the thought of being bounded. Expanses unknown to deed or map are known to every dawn.

(Link to full context: http://www.rvlt.org/newsletter/2002/Fall2002/article5.html)

What does "thought of being bounded" mean?

(1) The thought that I am bounded disappears. I don't think I am bounded at dawn. (Though I think that I am bounded at other time of day.)

(2) At dawn, I don't think about the state of being bounded / the things relating to being bounded. (Maybe from an objective view, like a psychologist thinks about the state of being angry). (Maybe I think about the moon, the wind, or what food is good for health, but not such state.)

Is one of these right? Or it means something else? Thank you!


texts:
I have seen both sentences below:

I will get married.
I will marry.

So what is the difference? Which one is recommended? Is there any difference in meaning or just grammar?


texts: Meaning of "go to!" as an (old) exclamation

texts:
I'm reading (well listening to an audio book really) Ivanhoe (19th century) and there are some old expressions and words that have rather fallen out of modern use. Most of them I can google, but the phrase "go to!" is kind of hard, since it's part of normal modern speech and is even part of some expressions.
It seems to be used to express some irritation with the one you say it to. But sometimes it feels like it's more closely related to "go on" (as in "continue"). One example would be the following passages:

"These truces with the infidels," he exclaimed, without caring how suddenly he interrupted the stately Templar, "make an old man of me!"
"Go to, knave, how so?" said Cedric, his features prepared to receive favourably the expected jest.

--

"The foul fiend take Malvoisin," answered the Saxon, "and his keeper both! I will teach them that the wood was disforested in terms of the Forest Charter. But enough of this. Go to, knave, go to thy place - and thou, Gurth, get thee another dog, [...]"


texts: Elaborating on One to Many or Many to One (Can you end a sentence with the word "many")?

texts:
Full Sentence:

  A Dynamic mapping is sometimes referred to as a One to Many or Many to One translation – implying that in a Dynamic translation, many addresses can appear as one, or one address can appear as multiple.

I'm trying to determine a better way of phrasing the bold part. That part of the phrase is elaborating on the concept of a one to many translation.

Is it grammatically correct to simply say ... in a Dynamic translation, many addresses can appear as one, or one address can appear as many"

If not, what are some other ways of communicating the same idea with proper grammar?


texts:
Most websites say that there are 14 punctuation marks, for example 'Punctuation Marks in English Grammar' or 'What Are the 14 Punctuation Marks in English Grammar?'
However, I feel like there are more punctuation marks, for instance 'How to use punctuation marks'. This website shows 16 punctuation marks?
Which one is right? Which one should I trust? How many punctuation marks are there?


texts:
Help I’m drawing a blank!
Looking for a word that describes a person as having a small build and also fits into the sentence “she was a _______ of a woman”


texts: What is a word for how a family thinks of itself

texts: Is there a word or expression that properly describes the general way the members of a family thinks of itself, including it’s history, social legends etc. The family could think of itself as being proud, independent, warlike, generous,  supportive of liberal causes etc.


texts:
I would like to know the meaning of "sold at option". Does it mean that whether the thing will be sold or not is uncertain? An example sentence is

  AAA, sold 20% of their company,and the other 80% could be sold at option in 2021


texts: Word for a woman who can be mistaken as a transexual.

texts: Is there a noun or adjective for this? Whether slang or a formal word.


texts: Should I use 'leitmotifs', the plural of leitmotif, in academic English?

texts:
Should I, in an scientific book, use the word 'leitmotifs', the plural of leitmotif?
Some dictionaries seem to know it in the plural form, but does it sound very weird or massively pretentious to the native ear?

Using 'themes' may be an alternative, but is sounds a bit generic to me.


texts: Does it mean just "hollowed underground way" or there is something else? Word is taken from fantasy text.


texts: Is there any specific words for referring to stores established in stair alcove/spandrel?

texts: There are some stores in some countries which are so little (about 1 square meter) and are usually established in the spandrel of the doorway of an apartment. Do we have any words for them in English?


texts:
There is no need for concern
There is no need to concern

Are both correct? I think that in the first one concern is a noun, and in the second one concern is a verb?
If one of these sentences is wrong, could someone explain exactly why it is wrong.


texts: Q: Why isn't he answering? A: 1) He must have already slept 2) ... must have been sleeping?

texts:
I didn't reply to a ping in the chatroom.

The English enthusiast suggested this about me at the time:

He must have already slept.

Hours (and dreams) later, I came back, I saw the above sentence, and I wrote that it suggests that he is no longer sleeping (he finished sleeping), and so wasn't grammatical at the time it was written, and should have been, for example, He must have already gone/went to sleep/bed.

But we know that the perfect aspect can generally be used when a state or action continues into the present. So the English enthusiast wonders why not must have slept in this context?

Does already make a diffrrence? Does the modal must make a difference? Are my ideas American-glish?

Further, he asks about

He must have [already] been sleeping.

in the same situation. I replied That no workie, neither and that we won't say that when we assume that he continues to sleep at the time we utter it. We need, I say: He must [already] be sleeping.

But I can't explain why.

In the context: What's wrong with 1? What's wrong with 2?


texts: What does “Stream of consciousness airing of grievances” mean?

texts:
I was drawn to the phrase, “stream of conscious airing of grievances” appearing in the following passage of the article titled “Trump wages war against the media as demonstrators protest his presidency” in Washington Post (January 21)

  “With Americans taking to the streets in red and blue states alike to
  emphatically decry a president they consider reprehensible and, even,
  illegitimate, Trump visited the CIA for a stream-of-consciousness
  airing of grievances — including against journalists.”

www.ndtv.com also wrote;

  Trump visited the Central Intelligence Agency for a
  stream-of-consciousness airing of grievances - including against
  journalists, whom he called "the most dishonest human beings on
  earth."

Encyclopedia Britannica defines the stream-of-consciousness as a narrative technique in nondramatic fiction intended to render the flow of myriad impressions—visual, auditory, physical, associative, and subliminal—that impinge on the consciousness of an individual and form part of his awareness along with the trend of his rational thoughts. The term was first used by the psychologist William James in The Principles of Psychology (1890).

I’m curious to know what “Stream of consciousness airing of grievances” used in both Washington Post and www.ndtv articles exactly means.

Are they simply saying that Donald Trump visited CIA for giving his grievance against media in endless and random way or trying to deliver profound implications?

Why did they elaborate to use such an old phrase as introduced in 1890?


texts: "The" before person name and context indication

texts:
I'm a native French speaker and the following is translated from French:

  A production still in which the beauty of the natural elements and colours evoke the Renoir of A Day in the Country (1936) and Picnic on the Grass (1959).

This is indeed something you can say in French: a person's name is preceded by the definite article and followed by an indication of "context" (here: two films directed by Jean Renoir), meaning Renoir's style as can be appreciated in those works, or the way Renoir would do things at the time.

The English translation (not mine) is literal and doesn't sound correct to me. Could you give me your opinion (and ideas to improve it)?


texts:
Early on in my career as an investment banker, I asked to work with the biggest, baddest, scariest VP that ever walked the halls of Goldman Sachs. And my staffer who put us on deals, looked at me like I was crazy. No one in the history of time had ever asked to work with Will.

According to Cambridge dictionary, "put someone on something" means to order that someone start taking a particular medicine or eating or avoiding certain foods:
Ex.
Doctors put her on antibiotics after discovering an infection.
But I don't think this definition from Cambridge is applicable to the statement above.


texts:
I'm helping to translate a math paper into English. There's this sentence that starts "By virtue of Remark 1, ...". The papers in the Google Scholar search results for the phrase seem to be overwhelmingly authored by non-native speakers. Does it sound strange to a native speaker?

The meaning of the sentence is something like "making use of the trick in Remark 1, we can simplify this a bit".


texts: When should we use -ing or infinitive verbs?

texts:
I am in doubt about what is the correct form of the verbs remember and understand in the options to the first question below:

Which is more difficult in learning a second language?

Remembering vocabulary or understanding native speakers? (Gerund)

To remember vocabulary or to understand native speakers? (To-infinitive)

Remember vocabulary or understand native speakers? (Bare infinitive)


texts: Is 'who' here a relative word or an interrogative pronoun?

texts:
(1) That's a big part of who I am.
(2) When that day comes if you don't like who you are, you're done.

At first blush, the who's in (1) and (2) seem to be relative words in the fused construction.
CaGEL* (Page 1077), however, seems to say that both these are interrogative pronouns. Specifically, CaGEL says this:

...

An example of the free choice construction is:

Invite who you like.

And I don't think the boldfaced expression in (1) or (2) is the free choice construction.
Does this mean that the who's in (1) and (2) are interrogative pronouns?
EDIT
Here's what CaGEL (Page 1076-77) says about 'how' marginally occurring in a fused relative:

Examples with how are found but they are rare and quite marginal:
%We will not change how we use future contracts during the term of this Prospectus; %I don’t like how it looks.

These examples are construed by CaGEL as possible -- admittedly marginally so -- cases of how occurring in a fused relative.
Now, returning to example (2) above, I don't know why you don't like who you are should be interpreted differently than I don’t like how it looks. That is, if the latter's how is construed as a fused relative word, albeit marginally, then why shouldn't the former's who be?
*The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Huddleston & Pullum


texts: Any where I talk to people on messages, emails, chats, etc... I find people tend to use the word "pls" instead of "please". Even my phone company texts me automatically saying "Pls call 321, You have 7 New VoiceMail messages". In business emails as well I am hearing this word. I find it unprofessional but is it just me who feels this way and should I use this or not for important emails and work?


texts: Are English speakers from post-colonial countries considered native speakers?

texts:
I am originally from the Philippines and I work as an editor for a research center in Germany. I also speak Filipino, the national language of the Philippines, but for all intents and purposes English is my first language. I can honestly say I cannot remember a time when I didn't speak English, and I have built a solid career on my language abilities that I couldn't achieve with Filipino. Yet no matter how qualified and skilled I am as an editor, I find myself constantly defending and justifying my sociolinguistic background. People at work have said rather unkind things like "I'm surprised they hired a Filipino for this job" or "But English really isn't your native language, right?" or "But your Filipino is still much better than your English, right?" Others have asked my co-editors to go over my work and would only accept my edits upon verification by my British and American colleagues. Worst case scenario would be explicitly asking my boss not to pass on their draft manuscripts to me. Usually I shrug these incidents off, but lately it has begun to weigh me down. I love editing and would love to stay in this field, but I'm afraid I will never be good enough because of something I have zero control over.

Before this post turns into a pity party, I would like to hear from you--both native and non-native speakers--about your views on varieties of English from post-colonial countries (e.g., Singapore, Malaysia, Jamaica, Nigeria etc). Maybe this can help me understand the reactions I've gotten.


texts: Is it acceptable to say "fed up OF" - surely it should be "fed up WITH" or "bored WITH something" rather than "bored OF something"?

texts: I hear people using of when I have always thought it was with in the circumstances explained above.  It seems to be getting more common.


texts: Confused with the real meaning of "QUITE"

texts:
I've been using the word 'quite' for a long time now. And I just learned its other meaning.
Based on Google/Dictionary:

to the utmost or most absolute extent or degree; absolutely; completely.
"it's quite out of the question"

to a certain or fairly significant extent or degree; fairly.
"it's quite warm outside"

I guess the question is: how would you know which of these two different meanings is used in a sentence (both in written or verbal)?
For instance, I was asked how's the exam. I would like to answer "It was a bit hard".
Now if I use the word quite: The exam was quite hard!, how would the other person know if I mean:
a. "it is absolutely hard!" or
b. "it is not so hard"?


texts: What name for bowdlerisation with asterisks (e.g., “f*ck”)?

texts:
I have always been intrigued by the English use of asterisks to replace vowels in words considered as offensive, and the reasons it seems somewhat language-specific. My (very related) questions on this are:

Is there a name for this process? This is encompassed by bowdlerisation, but is there a more specific way to refer to it?
This works fairly well for short words (f*ck, sh*t, c*nt), but how is it used with longer words, if deemed offensive (I can't think of any long word that would be very offensive, maybe that makes this a non-question)?

In my native French, words are typically bowlderized with first letter and an ellipsis: “M..., tu es vraiment c...!” (Sh*t, you're such a dumb-*ss!). It's a bit dated, though.


texts:
One of my previous professors emailed me and at the end he asked me to say hello to my mom.
I am wondering how to reply him ? Is "Thank you, she say hi back to you" sounds correct?


texts: How to acknowledge a contribution of a deceased person?

texts:
In the acknowledgement section of my thesis, I want to mention a person who is no longer alive.

What is the correct way of saying that?

  I want to thank my aunt who assisted me with financially – too pity she cannot see me graduate.
  I want to thank my aunt who assisted me with financially – your memory will be eternal.
  I want to thank my aunt who assisted me with financially – too unfortunate she cannot see me graduate.

Or any other version would be appreciated.


texts: Who vs Whom- Overthinking or Bad Tricks?

texts:
I get confused about the “tricks”
we are supposed to use to figure out the right word.
“Don’t forget about the commissions you’ll be earning coming from those who you referred.”
I realize “you referred them,” so “whom“ would make sense.
But, couldn’t I also argue that “they were who you referred”? So, “who” would be correct?


texts:
In the book of Nietzsche called "On the Genealogy of Morals" there is this sentence:

  Let us speak out this new demand: we need a critique of moral values, the value of these values is for the first time to be called into question—and for this purpose a knowledge is necessary of the conditions and circumstances out of which these values grew, and under which they experienced their evolution and their distortion (morality as a result, as a symptom, as a mask, as Tartuffism, as disease, as a misunderstanding; but also morality as a cause, as a remedy, as a stimulant, as a fetter, as a drug), especially as such a knowledge has neither existed up to the present time nor is even now generally desired.

So, does anyone know what "Tartuffism" mean? Search over the internet didn't give anything satisfactory. I didn't find corresponding noun or verb. I would be eager to find out what does it mean.


texts: What does "pulls together a distance in dialogue" means?

texts:
It was a sociotype description:

"TECHNOLOGIST (Si-ESTj)
The sensory subtype is characterized by a differentiation between their internal stability and working capacity. Internally unstable, they are likewise extremely vigorous and cannot relax without business affairs as they do not like wasting time in vain. Interested in new technologies within the professional sphere and able to adapt these to serve their needs. Possess a sense of humor. Their speech is abrupt and emotional; their smile is somewhat tense. Pulls together distance in dialogue through hospitable, friendly gestures - embraces and light touches. Briskly conducts conversation and/or jokes. An aesthete with a taste for gourmet, they love original dishes and beautiful, expensive objects of quality. Are able to relieve pressures by sitting at a table with friends but rarely allow themselves the rest to themselves that they need. Have a tendency to corpulence, their movements are gusty, sharp, quick and impulsive; often embody a restless demeanor."
http://www.the16types.info/vbulletin/content.php/14-Type-and-subtype-descriptions-Meged-Ovcharov


texts:
I am writing an academic research proposal, which has to satisfy two things: a degree of risk, and a degree of feasibility. This is slightly contradictory though, so I'm wondering what is the best word to use.

I would like to say something similar to:

"With this opportunity, I aim to investigate these ideas...".

This gives a sense of open-endedness and risk, but I also want to say something that suggests there will be tangible outputs, such as:

"With this opportunity, I aim to implement these ideas...".

However, this sounds like there is not risk or exploratory element to the work.

What would be a great word to use in this case?


texts: What are the similarities and differences between "irony" and "sarcasm"?

texts:
This seems to be one the long-standing arguments between people on the internet. When is something "irony" and when is it "sarcasm"? And can a quip be both at the same time?
Dictionary definitions don't seem to help much:

irony — the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect
sarcasm — the use of irony to mock or convey contempt

In most of the arguments I hear about the words, neither of these definitions seem to match the definitions proposed by anyone.

Per Rhodri's request, I typically see definitions such as these offered instead of the ones I found in my dictionary:

sarcasm — using a sentence to convey its exact opposite meaning
irony — a circumstance that involves one's intent or actions backfiring and bringing about the opposite of what was intended, usually through humorous or coincidental means

Note that this just my construction. People have offered all sorts of other working definitions but the big difference is that "irony" involves a circumstance instead of an expression.


texts:
I have read here that there is no consensus about the usage of a priori as italic or not. However, increasingly it is used as non-italic.

And here I read the following text:

"In fact the a priori reasoning is so entirely satisfactory to me that if the facts won’t fit in, why so much the worse for the facts is my feeling. [Erasmus Alvey Darwin in a letter to his brother, Charles Darwin (1859)]"

In my own text in a submitted paper, I have the following sentence:

"Additionally, the a priori probabilities in our work are not required to be
equal"

The editor called "the a" as a typo. This is not important at all because the work is fairly a technical work and such grammatical issues are not the most important in such works.

However, I really wonder, whether the usage "the a priori..." is correct and if not how one could resolve the issue.


texts: What's a formal/proper way of saying "the exact opposite"?

texts:
I am writing a mock memo for a university assignment, addressed to a current professor. Thus, the general tone and genre of the letter is definitely formal. I am trying to say the following:

  (The website in question) has changed its web technologies and layout within the past year with the intended goal of improving general user experience. However, the exact opposite has occurred, because...

Using "the exact opposite" doesn't sound appropriate for this type of letter. At least it doesn't to me.

Is using "the exact opposite" in this formal context appropriate? If not, what other phrasing would you consider using instead?


texts:
For this text:

  ... dreaming of houses uncluttered by reality, by half a lifetime of memories, perhaps.

What does this mean? It means that the one who was leafing through Country Living magazine was dreaming of houses uncluttered and comparing it to his  house in his reality? And perhaps in his half-a-lifetime of memories?

The context is excerpted from David Mitchell's novel The Gardener (my emphasis):

  Satin white, Persian purple, oil-paint yellow. When I planted these birches they were broomstick-height, and now look at them. They tap our bedroom window on stormy nights. Hyacinths on (what I fondly call) my rockery. Boy-blue and girl-pink. Through the kitchen double-doors I watch you eating supper – carrot and coriander soup – and leafing through Country Living Magazine, dreaming of houses uncluttered by reality, by half a lifetime of memories, perhaps. But my, how well you look. White hair endows you with the demeanour of a friendly witch. Our geriatric radio – a wedding-present from my brother – is twittering away to itself.


texts:
Sentence:
In a sense, of course, the more open-ended and free narrative approaches that
have been discussed already are intended to avoid these problems, "even if the question remains of whether research subjects can just be enabled to speak or if there is a role for the researcher, if not speaking for them at least actively drawing out the implications".

Q:
qoutationed part seems strange in overall, but is understandable exept its italic part. I can't separate its phrases: {if, not ... least, actively ...} or {if not, speaking ... actively, drawing ...} or ...


texts: When to use (or not use) commas in a sentence with conditions

texts:
Current Sentence:
The steps in this procedure must be performed chronologically until the card has been found, or all the steps have been exhausted, and an adjustment to the system must be made.
Proposed Edit:
The steps in this procedure must be performed chronologically until the card has been found or all steps have been exhausted and an adjustment to the system must be made.
Update to my proposed edit, based on comments:
The steps in this procedure must be performed chronologically until the card has been found or until all steps have been exhausted and an adjustment to the system must be made.
My hope is that the update to my proposed edit clarifies the meaning of the sentence. But absent the second instance of the word until, what is the best way to explain this to the writer so that they have the tools to avoid the mistake in the future? (Perhaps this is a training question that is out of scope for this forum.)
(The writer has been told to follow the FANBOYS acronym when separating two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction. So the writer went comma-crazy.)
Assuming my edit is correct that the remaining clauses in this sentence are dependent on the preposition until, is there an easy way to explain this to the writer? I'm new to editing and honestly don't know the best way to explain this.
Thank you for your assistance.
SPECIAL NOTE: This is not a card game. :) But it has been simplified to avoid the name of proprietary software.


texts: Usage of 'Hi' and 'Dear' in Formal Communication

texts:
I always hesitate using 'Hi' in formal mails. Is it OK to use it like "Hi Sir,..."?
Same with 'Dear Junior,...'.
Any help would be appreciated.


texts:
I am looking for a fitting end to this sentence:

With so many members around I refrained from speaking up and now my wish/plan to have a private conversation with the leader remains ______________ ( a distant dream )

Kindly suggest me the suitable phrase to fit in blanks.

EDIT

I would like to add that the missed event is not like 'once in a lifetime event' in the sense there will be more such opportunity in future (maybe a couple of months/years later).


texts: Is there a name for "I don't mean to..., but" phrases?

texts:
"I don't mean to change the subject, but..." but you are changing the
  subject.

  "I don't mean to interrupt, but..." but you are interrupting.

Is there a name for these type of "polite" phrases?


texts: Favoritism granted in politics or business regardless of merit?

texts: I'm looking for a word that describes favoritism granted in politics or business regardless of merit, but not just towards relatives.


texts:
Do the following sentences make sense and are they used commonly?

1) Listen to it rain.
2) Look at it snow.


texts:
In Google Summer of Code, they use the phrase 'flip bits, not burgers':

  provide students in Computer Science and related fields the opportunity to do work related to their academic pursuits during the summer (think 'flip bits, not burgers')

Doing a Google Search only turns up results which talk about this and not meaning of the term.

I think its used in computer science too...

What does it mean?


texts: What does the phrase "DV-Undefined" and the phrase "DV-MPS General" mean in book titles

texts:
I'm looking at a couple of books on Amazon and the they have some weird parts in the title.

see:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0735611319/ref=cm_rdp_product
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Code-Hidden-Language-DV-MPS-General/dp/073560505X

Does anyone have a clue what the phrase "DV-Undefined" and the phrase "DV-MPS General" mean in book titles?

Which is better?


texts: Why does ou change to o when adding the suffix -ous in words such as ‘humorous’?

texts:
Background
I realised today that humour when made an adjective by adding the suffix -ous, loses its -ou- spelling to -o-. There are some other words which have a change in spelling, such as miracle → miraculous (presumably from Latin influence (mīrāculum), or mischief → mischievous (probably to represent the change from unvoiced to voiced pronunciation between vowels). But there is no change in pronunciation to argue the case for a change in spelling in the word humorous, as noted in the Oxford Dictionary:

humour
Pronunciation /ˈhjuːmə/

humorous
Pronunciation /ˈhjuːm(ə)rəs/

Yes, the schwa is bracketed, but the schwa is a weak vowel in any case, and it is in both cases on an unstressed syllable; one would expect it to (have the option of) be(ing) lost when concatenated with suffixes and/or words. The dictionary further comments that:

Usage
Note that although humor is the American spelling of humour, humorous is not an American form. This word is spelled the same way in both British and American English, and the spelling humourous is regarded as an error

Here is a list of some examples:

With schwa omittable:

dolour, dolorous – /ˈdɒlə/ → /ˈdɒl(ə)rəs/
flavour, flavorous – /ˈfleɪvə/ → /ˈfleɪv(ə)rəs/
humour, humorous – /ˈhjuːmə/ → /ˈhjuːm(ə)rə
rancour, rancorous – /ˈraŋkə/ → /ˈraŋk(ə)rəs/s/
odour, odorous – /ˈəʊdə/ → /ˈəʊd(ə)rəs/
rigour, rigorous – /ˈrɪɡə/ → /ˈrɪɡ(ə)rəs/
savour, savorous – /ˈseɪvə/ → /ˈseɪv(ə)rəs/
vigour, vigorous – /ˈvɪɡə/ → /ˈvɪɡ(ə)rəs/

With schwa non-omittable:

clamour, clamorous – /ˈklamə/ → /ˈklamərəs/
clangour, clangorous – /ˈklaŋɡə/ → /ˈklaŋɡərəs/
glamour → glamorous – /ˈɡlamə/ → /ˈɡlamərəs/
tumour, tumorous – /ˈtjuːmə/ → /ˈtjuːmərəs/
valour, valorous – /ˈvalə/ → /ˈvalərəs/
vapour, vaporous – /ˈveɪpə/ → /ˈveɪpərəs/

Questions
My main question is:
Why isn’t the -ou- spelling preserved when adding -ous to humour and similar words?
From this follows some sub-questions:

Is this in some way a rule in British English when adding specific suffixes? (Talking about spelling rules in English is a challenge, I know.)
Are there etymological reasons for this, or perhaps etymological fallacies?
And finally, why is it that the schwa is optional for some of these words, but not all? (My suspicion is that it simply is an error by the editors, but I look forward to learning whether there is a method behind the madness.)

Finally, my question is regarding contemporary English, not older variants, such as with e.g. ‘behavioral’ (q.v. the comments).
Notes
These questions are tangential:

Root pronunciation change when adding suffix
How come 'ou' was reduced to 'o' in the US?
“ou” versus “o” in spelling words like “color”/“colour”


texts: Who decided to spell “phony” or “phoney” that way and why? Usually, a “ph” can be traced back to a Greek φ (phi), but not so here. Wiktionary says it may come from “fawney”, with no Greek in sight. Was it to seem more learned? That would make the word itself a bit pretentious or foney, sorry, phoney.


texts: In a story written in past tense, is using present tense grammatically correct in the narration?

texts:
For example, just something quickly made up:

  Sam started to run from the house to the nearby forest. The freezing weather caused him to shiver, but the warmth from running very rapidly heated up him. Sam, son of a lumberjack, is/was 16-years-old this year.

Given a context like that or similar to that, for the bolded text, which is one is correct? On one hand, "was" seems to be the correct one as the narration is in past tense, so for consistency, everything should be in past. But on the other hand, "is" also seems to be correct because he isn't "was 16-year-old", he is 16-years-old.

Thanks in advance for any answers, and if possible, please point to a resource I can study.


texts: How different is "I'll go out soon" from "I'll be going out soon"?

texts:
I found an interesting explanation about the above two phrases.  It said

  I'll go out soon

may include a little offensive feelings of the speaker, whereas

  I'll be going out soon

does not.

For example when asked, "Can I talk with you for a minute?", if you answer, "Sorry, I'll go out soon" implies you are a little irriated and bluntly refuse.  Conversely, the answer "Sorry, I'll be going out soon" gives you the impression that the speaker kindly refuses to talk because some unavoidable thing happened.

Do these explanations make sense?


texts:
This may seem like a trivial question, but it's been bothering me for quite some time. Which would be most appropriate? The first seems to imply that I received a single A that covers all the exams, while the second seems to imply that I received multiple As for each exam. I'm still leaning towards the latter:

I received an A on all of my exams.
I received As on all of my exams.


texts: If I accidentally pushed a chair and it fell down on the floor (it is no longer in the upright position), can I say "I (have) dropped the chair" or I should use another verb for that?


texts:
What is a respectful way to refer to a person who has died? Is it OK to call that person "rest in peace"?

  The rest in peace guy was a very generous man.


texts: Use of participle 'considered' in the sense 'currently under consideration'

texts:
I'm writing a research paper and I have to use a certain approximation in my calculations. Can I write a phrase like this?
 In the considered approximation these terms may be neglected.  This means that in the approximation I am using thoughout the paper, I may ignore certain terms in my equations. I'm specifically asking about the use of the past participle 'considered'. I have other versions like 'approximation considered' or 'approximation being considered'. Are they better or worse, or should I try something entirely different to convey the meaning?


texts: Singular/plural possessive form of fish?

texts: The singular form of fish is fish. The plural form of fish is also fish. What are their possessive forms?


texts: how to link the phrase "to attend" when pronounced?

texts:
The weak form of to is /tə/ and attend starts with /ə/.

According to the rule of linking vowel to vowel, we have to add "w" glide consonant to link two words preceding one ending with a back vowel and following one starting with any vowel.

So, do natives pronounce "to attend" as /tə wəˈtɛnd/? I feel weird when i have to follow these rules on linking vowel to vowel.


texts: What exactly does "distinguish as" mean?

texts:
I do understand how distinguish is used to differentiate between two things. However, I've also heard it once being used as: Jim distinguished it as an old dairy.

So I'm having trouble understanding the usage "distinguishing A as B". The question being, what are we distinguishing between in this case?

I was searching this website, and found that distinguish could also possibly mean difference between something and everything else. However, I believe I need more convincing.


texts:
While I am writing some health tips, I used a phrase do's and don'ts, in describing my activities. I wonder, if there is any equivalent word to do's and don'ts. I believe this phrase is archaic. Are there any phrases that can be used in place of them.

Update:
Here's the context where I am using

Do's

Sleep early and wake up early

Don'ts

Keep away from brewed beverages


texts: Apostrophe instead of the first sound. Where do I read about it?

texts:
What sources are there about rules for such contractions in American English when the first sound of the word isn’t pronounced.

There’s an apostrophe or something like this instead.

F/e, the Chicago Manual of Style mentions a certain Webster’s list.


texts:
The Helpline was set up ten years ago by the Students Union and it aims to provide new students to the university with a service that they can use if they need information about practical areas of student life that they are unfamiliar with.
I think It should be at. Or to in this context has another meaning. If it is, what it means.
By the way,in this sentence *There's* tea and coffee facilities there which is spoken by a native speaker in an English test. I think it should be There are.
Thank you so much!!


texts: What is it called when someone types a random string of characters in an online conversation?

texts:
We can often see in online group conversations messages composed of random letters like "fjqofudnelfi" as a response to something surprising or unexpected.

Is there a name for this kind of "behaviour" ?

More precisely: is there a name for the action of furiously typing a random string on the keyboard?

Thank you

P.S. I couldn't find anything online as I didn't know how to concisely describe it.


texts:
I want another way to say "as a whole" or "as a group" in the example below:

"However, even though it can distinguish between file-backed and anonymous pages in usage accounting, it is unable to solely limit the amount of file-backed pages because Cgroups limits both file-backed and anoymous pages as a whole."

Basically Cgroups is unable to differentiate file-backed and anonymous pages, and it only "looks" at them as a group, so I want another word that conveys that meaning.


texts: "Our trade and commerce has..." Is that correct?

texts: Mr Obama said "Our trade and commerce has expanded significantly." Should it be "our trade and commerce have..."? He also said "The US and Uruguay has developed..." As same as previous one, should that sentence be like "The US and Uruguay have developed.."? Thank you for addressing my question.


texts: Does "Who sings it?" express the habitual present or the present of immediacy?

texts:
Does sings as used in the quoted part refer to the habitual present tense or to the present tense of immediacy?

  I like this song. Who sings it?

Suppose I were listening to a song and asked the question "Who sings it?" as soon as the song had stopped playing.  Given that I don't even know whether the singer is dead or alive, does the question “Who sings it?” in this case therefore express the habitual present or the present of immediacy?

Source:britishcouncil


texts: Changing tense from present perfect to simple past without time reference

texts:
This is a translation of a web article. In the first two sentences, the present perfect tense is used as there is no time frame when in the past the launch took place or the quotes were said. The editor has accepted this.

However, the editor has changed the present perfect tense to the simple past tense in the last two sentences. I can find no grammar rule and my head hurts from trying to work out why in the first mention of spoken words it is in present perfect, but in the last two instances it is in simple past:

GEFCO Turkey has launched regular freight services from Turkey to Morocco and Tunisia, aiming to offer fast and cost-effective logistics solutions for sea and air transportation. GEFCO Turkey Sales and Marketing Director Serkan Çelik has said that the Turkey-Morocco-Tunisia line will enhance the commercial relations between Turkey and North Africa, especially in industries such as textile and fashion. He (editor removed "has" from here) added that thanks to its long-standing experience, GEFCO Turkey provides value-added services and innovative and digital solutions to its customers. In conclusion, he (editor removed "has" from here)stated that the logistics provider implements environmentally friendly solutions and sustainability practices such as reusable packaging.


texts: "already since a while" - is this proper English?

texts:
Consider the following sentence

  This and that is the situation, already since a while.

Question 1: Does this sound right to a native speaker?

Question 2: How could I find this out myself? I did a Google search on "already since a while" with only 11k results which indicates that it's at least not common.

EDIT following the comments: In my native language, German, we say "schon seit einer Weile". My question is whether the word-by-word translation of this sounds right in English.


texts: Which is correct "efforts have been devoted to achieving strength " or " efforts have been devoted to achieve strength

texts: I have been told to replace "have been devoted to achieving" with "have been devoted to achieve". Can you explain why?


texts: What is the difference between "It starts at 9pm" and "It is at 9pm" when we speak about future event?


texts: a positive word for "to play with something" in a passionate but unprofessional way

texts:
"She loves to ... with her computer all day."

I found to tinker with and to fiddle with" but they seem to have a rather negative meaning.

I want to express that the person occupies herself with something that she has a passion for but in an informal or unprofessional way. If there is no other word, could I use tinker and/or fiddle without a native speaker having a negative impression?

Update: Playing in the sense of physically playing with the internals of a machine etc.


texts: How should I respond to such a question?

texts:
M: Amy doesn't speak Korean, right?
W: No,* she does speak Korean. She has lived in Korea for three years!
M: Amy doesn't speak Korean, right?
W: Yes, she does speak Korean. She has lived in Korea for three years!


texts: A phrase to describe "implementation of an order in all the cases"

texts: To a query, an order has been given by the higher authority. Now, it is a question as to whether the same order should be implemented in all the cases. In this scenario, what phrase should be used?


texts: How many ways can we make inform passive?

texts: Is this sentence correct? "The results weren't informed us."


texts: Why do people say "I met him on the street" instead of "on a street", even though they're talking about a street for the first time and another person doesn't know what exact street they mean?


texts: What do you call an animal being 'personified' as another animal?

texts: I was reading a poem earlier entitled 'A walk on the Beach' by Margaret Scott (I do not believe I fully understand the poem but that is not meant for here so), but one phrase was 'the crabs writhe. I immediately associated this with a snake, but I wondered what this was called as that is personification but not?


texts:
Is the writer employing a mixed metaphor here?

A part of her was sinking languidly down into the passive pleasure of having returned to the familiar—like a pebble, she had been picked up and hurled back into the pond, and sunk down through the layer of green scum, through the secret cool depths to the soft layer of mud at the bottom, sending up bubbles of relief and joy. A part of her twitched, stirred like a fin in resentment: why was the pond so muddy and stagnant? Why had nothing changed? She had changed—why did it not keep up with her?


texts:
How did the word "Utopia" (coined by Sir Thomas More) come to mean an ideal place when the Greek etymology specifically means "Not a place."

Relatedly, while this might be the prime use of the word "irony" or "ironic", does anyone have a suggestion for a word matching the general public's ideal definition of "Irony?"


texts: Usage of the word "orthogonal" outside of mathematics

texts:
From the roots ortho (straight) and gon (angle), its meaning in mathematics is understandable. Outside of mathematics it has various meanings depending on the context:

Debate - orthogonal: not relevant
Statistics - orthogonal: unrelated
Computing - orthogonal: isolated or partitioned

There are other definitions. Most seem to imply a meaning of independence or separation. Does anyone know how it came to mean this?


texts:
An estimated 5000 primates are kept as pets in the UK.

is this sentence in the passive voice? If yes, how do I write it in active voice.
Is this a present passive voice? Is there such thing?
i have another question, the word 'as' here, is it a preposition or an adverb? if its an adverb, what type is it? – olivia just now   Edit   Delete


texts: I want to translate a sentence from Persian to English, the sentence I want to say is "the children should tell numbers from up to down and conversely" but I am not sure does it correct?


texts:
I am new here and I am beginner in English. Can anyone explain me the difference between these 2 sentences and also which one is wrong.

  "Did you see my DP?"

or

  "Have you seen my DP?"

Please explain me the Answer and which one is right and why?


texts: Please explain the: upwards vs upward difference

texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  “Backward” versus “backwards” — is there any difference?
  Afterward versus afterwards — which, and/or when?

I have seen both used interchangeably in equivalent contexts.

  Market is moving upward of 1600...

OR should have I used upwards?


texts: Does using the word "prefer" contain an implication of "necessity"?

texts:
I would prefer you come in and not your friend to get the signature.

Above is the sentence in the email I received from my supervisor.
I was in another city so I had no choice but to ask my friend to get the signature for me. When my friend came to see her this morning, she seemed angry and repeat the word "prefer" again.

I was just wondering that if the word 'Prefer' could have the meaning of 'necessity'? And if so, how can I tell?


texts:
Or simply extract the(1) file whose name is the(2) output of the(3) 'where .\%clcacheArtifactName%:.tar' command

What of the articles (1-3) should or must be replaced/removed. If there is more than one option of the sentence's look, please write which is (are) more preferable.


texts: Why two different tenses in the report from Yahoo News?

texts:
The Heart Attack Grill's owner Jon Basso tells ABC News that the woman
  is currently recovering in the hospital. Basso told ABC that he
  himself has eaten at least one single bypass burger each day since his
  restaurant first opened seven years ago.

The quote is from Yahoo News.

Why have they used two different tenses in the two different insantances: tells ABC; told ABC?


texts:
Last year I noticed some T-shirts for fans of the female presidential candidate in the US:

However, there is a female US President in one of my favourite TV shows, who is always addressed "Madam President" by her staff and opponents.

Which one of these options is right and which one is wrong? I know there has never been a female President in the US, but there are many female Presidents all over the world (Estonia, Iceland, Croatia, Chile...), so there must be a common way to address them when they visit the US.

What is the appropriate addressing for these women?


texts: How to say "She/He is my girlfriend/boyfriend" without the possessive "my"

texts: Is there a way to indicate that somebody is your girlfriend without using the possessive term my? I think saying She/He is my partner/other half is OK for married people, but it doesn't feel right for girlfriends and boyfriends.


texts:
I have a sentence:

  I do not ride a bike (neither/nor ride I a horse)

What is the correct word here and why?

EDIT:
I would like to keep the form of the sentence, I mean the brackets.

  I do not ride a bike (neither I ride a horse)

Is this correct?


texts: What could "by" mean in the following context?

texts: The width of the means of escape will normally exceed the width of the exit doors by the width of the doorframe.


texts:
As a non-native English speaker, I have a question:

Can I write (and say) "Happy week everyone" to wish a good/happy week? Is there any more common English expression in everyday conversations?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How to use: who/that

I have seen many writers using "that" as a pronoun in cases where "who" should be used. For example, a book author says

I apologize to those of you that are unable to obtain electronic copies.

Should it not be

I apologize to those of you who are unable to obtain electronic copies.

Or is it wrong to use the latter, in the modern context?


texts: Using the word "foible", and its interpretation

texts:
There are situations when I get in doubt about the usage of a word, even after having used it for long and on a regular basis. One of those words is "foible". I thought it to be related to character or idiosyncrasy or attitude untill I saw it's real definition today in Oxford dictionary. I casually used to say "hey, I don't appreciate such foible" or "I approve of such foible". Now I know that it might have conveyed the meaning to others and seemed appropriate to me but I have been wrong all that time. I need to know if this word matters that much in everyday usage if, the audience were fastidious about proper language and if they were not.

Another question that exhumes out is that whether I should use it as a synonym for weakness or character.

Also, in what way will writing or saying, " I appreciate such foible" be understood? Will the reader or listener think that I like the weakness or flaw in his character or I'm just being sarcastic about it or any other thoughts?


texts:
Is is correct to say “You’ve just checked in in one of the best accommodation facilities in the region.”, mainly the part ‘to check in in ...’

Thanks a million.


texts: Origin of the prepositions "on" vs "in" with regard to days and dates in English

texts:
The prepositions of time "On, In, and At" are generally described as:

At - specific time
On - specific days, dates
In - period of time

However, I am wondering why we use "on" to refer to a specific day instead of "in" because a day is a period of time. Is this because when something happens within a day we generally "shrink" the entire day to one discrete unit where the event happens? E.g., your birthday is the whole day, even though the actual event is a specific point of time.


texts: Today I saw this "try and avoid" phrase in a sentence .  "Try and avoid repeating the problems with the images dataset". What does "try and avoid" in this sentence mean? Is it the same with "try to avoid ? "


texts: Articles for words that function as both a verb or a noun

texts:
Do I need to include an article (if yes, which one) before words that can be either a verb or a noun?

For example, consider "install."

Do I say "After inserting the disk, you need to run install" or "[...], you need to run the install"?


texts: Is "What does the comments say" grammatical?

texts:
Is this sentence correct?

  What does the comments say?

I'm a web developer so I think of "comments" on a webpage as a singular component. So referring to a story on a website that was posted, I asked, "What does the comments say?" Comments are a big part of this website, which makes them feel like a singular noun to me.


texts:
Running outdoors burns about five percent more calories than running on a tread mill, in part because there is greater wind resistance outdoors.

Apparently this is correct and there is no comma splice; could someone please explain why? Isn't the part after the comma an independent clause?


texts: What does the phrase "lowest rated in history" mean?

texts:
Does it mean the RATINGS or QUALITY being the lowest ever?

Edit: Some context here - two days after the show aired, Trump tweeted -

  Lowest rated Oscars in HISTORY. Problem is, we don’t have Stars anymore - except your President (just kidding, of course)!


texts: Is there a word for words with specific meaning?

texts:
A word that group words that give the impression "There is a word for that!" and "Mot juste" is what I inquire. I can't find any term for it, and my search of the list only leads to a website like http://phrontistery.info/

A word for a list of words such as cajole and desiderium. I am not asking about words that have specific meaning, I am asking whether those words have a name that group them together.

Another way to see it, some words exist in dictionaries but not in thesaurus, what those words are named is my question.


texts:
The headline of a CNN news of August 11 reads, "In Trump's White House, Charlottesville was a moment that wasn't."

What does "Charlottesville was a moment that wasn't" mean?


texts:
Which of the sentences below looks more natural?

  Question answering systems that appear with the aim of providing precise textual answers.
  Question answering systems that appear with the aim of providing exact textual answers.


texts: What’s a good adjective for hyper-attentive-to-detail?

texts:
I’m trying to capture the following sense:

Primary meaning: hyper-attentive to detail
Secondary considerations:

no negative connotation indicating insincerity such as “pedantic”, “stilted”, or “bookish” (i.e., not obsessing over details in an ostentatious way)
it’s ok to imply that the person being labeled as this is a perfectionist, but not in a negative or excessive way (i.e, not “nitpicky,” “hairsplitting,” “anal”, “persnickety”, or “doctrinaire”)
this person cannot “shut it off” and stop being attentive to detail no matter how tired / if on vacation / wanting to “tune out”—s/he can’t help but notice minor details, even when s/he isn’t even trying to pay attention

Potential candidates (but let me know if these carry any negative connotation):

fastidious
meticulous

Example sentences (I’m no author; I’m just trying to give descriptive sentences with context, even at the expense of making run-ons):

The ____________ attorney immediately spotted numerous stylistic inconsistencies in the contract (as typical of documents with multiple authors), but thought it best only to voice his concern with a substantive grammatical error that resulted in a legally ambiguous clause.
She couldn’t help but notice his pallor, the tiny crumb on his shirt, a slight blue stain on his fingers, and the empty muffin wrapper in the adjacent garbage can. He never eats breakfast. His unusually-laconic reply to her question gave her pause. Now isn’t the time to ask him this, she thought to herself. Her ________ observations enabled her to deduce that she would fare better later on—after his blood sugar level increased.


texts: How to degender "separate the men from the boys"?

texts:
How can one degender the phrase "separate the men from the boys"?

Examples of how this phrase has traditionally been used:

  Math teacher: "The ability to do proofs of this type is what separates the men from the boys in this class."

What has occurred to me so far:

  Parent, talking about relative merits of several different possible independent special education evaluators: "It's the training and experience with the specific disability that's going to separate the men from the boys and the women from the girls."

Has anyone found a more concise way of degendering (is that a word?) this expression?

How about something of the form "separate the serious from the __________"?  In place of the blank, hopefully a word similar to "dabblers."

I need a phrase that doesn't show disrespect for the folks who are not up to doing the difficult proofs, or who do not have training and experience with the specific disability.


texts: Dot and parenthesis at the end of line/sentence, how to deal?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Where does the period go when using parentheses?

If I had a parenthesis at the end of the sentence, do I put the dot before or after it?

For example, do I write:

  I have an example sentence (which ends with parenthesis).

or

  I have an example sentence (which ends with parenthesis.)


texts: "Seek his benefit at the expense of yours". How to say that properly?

texts:
I want to say that if someone truly loved you, he would not seek his benefit at the expense of yours.

How can I say that better than I did in the title of this question?


texts:
A dull, static power-point presentation projected its amateur/amateurish slides that could descend a brisk subject into an impenetrable bulk of banality.

Both sound correct to me with a bias on the former.


texts:
I searched a lot but I couldn't find anything.

Does 'a' sounds /æ/?    Or   Does 'b' sounds /bə/?

If you want to teach kids the letter 'a' would you say:

The picture of this sound is this => 'a'

It's name is /eɪ/ and it sounds /æ/ like apple

It could also sound it's name like Bake

--
My questions:

Is the way above correct for teaching? I mean does 'a' sound /æ/ by default?

Is there a complete list on internet? for example 'w' sound /wə/


texts: Making sense of "What Do You Care What Other People Think?"

texts:
"What Do You Care What Other People Think?" is the title of a book by Richard Feynman.

The use of the first "what" sounds very unusual to me (a non-native speaker of English) since I've never seen the word "care" taking both a direct object ("what") and an indirect one ("what other people think").

Does the sentence has about the same meaning with "Why Do You Care What Other People Think?", which seems to be more common (e.g. 1, 2)?

Is the usage here really unusual?


texts: Is "wherever it takes to.." ungrammatical

texts:
wherever it takes to...

Is this proper grammar? I've heard,"Whatever it takes to do something", but this type is the first example for me.

  ...being a writer means going wherever it takes to find “the scale of things...


texts: Punctuation following em dash and speech mark

texts:
As I home in on the end of my first novel, I find myself vexing over punctuation and the correct use of the em dash. Having failed to find definitive answers elsewhere, I’ll get straight to the point.

While I’m aware that the em dash can be used for interruption, I sometimes use them to indicate motion or action. Three examples:

‘Here—’ she said, holding out a small parcel.
‘Come—’ and he beckoned me closer with a finger.
‘Look—’ I lifted my hand and held up the empty bottle.

I am wondering about possible lack of commas or capitalisation in some of these cases.

I am also perturbed about the following em dash, speech mark, comma combination:

‘Well, I—,’ and before I could finish, he’d gone.

All advice greatly appreciated.


texts: What's an alternative to "Take the leap"?

texts: In the context of making or executing upon a big decision: What is a simple phrase that is similar to "Take the leap" or "Go for it"?


texts: What is it called in text when a character refers to someone as "son of_____" or "descendant of_____". Like when they refer to a person as the relation to someone else


texts: Comma before "and" with two seemingly imperative clauses

texts:
Could some knowledgeable individual please tell me whether this sentence needs a comma before the "and":
“Share the good times and stay together with the family at the Grand Hotel in LA”.
I am aware that two imperatives are separated by a comma when they are of a certain length, but here,  "Share the good times" and "stay together with the family" both complete/rely on the final part of the sentence "at the Grand Hotel in LA". It is basically "Stay together with the family at the Grand Hotel in LA" and "Share the good times at the Grand Hotel in LA" as another. Does this mean that a comma is not called for because they both relate to the final part of the sentence, or is it still required?
I really hope I explained that well enough for you to understand. Any help would be very much appreciated, and lengthy explanations are extremely welcome (rules and all)! Thank you, everyone.
ADDITION: This would maybe demonstrate what I mean better: "Experience dining at its finest and get a great night's sleep at the Grand Hotel." Would there be a comma before "and" here?


texts:
just wondering what the word or phrase is for a reply that indirectly answers the following way:

Mum: Could you please do your homework?
Child: I've already done my homework.

So, the child isn't answering the question being asked directly, yet his response is fitting.
Thanks


texts: Why is butcher paper spelt without an apostrophe?

texts: Why is butcher paper spelt without an apostrophe, rather than as "butcher's paper", when "carpenter's square" is spelt with an apostrophe?


texts: Alternative for 'XXX did not need to be mentioned'

texts:
I am sure that there is something, but cannot recall what it is that I can put into a text that simplifies the clumsy "XXX did not need to be mentioned because it was already established practice."

Any help will be much appreciated.


texts:
Is there a phrase for people who love getting physically tired?

I tried to search it on the web but couldn't find a proper term for this particular personality type.


texts:
I heard it on House of Cards, the American TV series. The Congressman says it during a political discussion:

  I hate this small-ball crap!

What is its meaning and etymology?


texts: Looking for word that with meaning to reexamine your own life and point of view objectively.

texts: Word for stepping back mentally and examine objectively your own behavior and values.


texts: Is there a specific name for a portmanteau of two alternative spellings?

texts:
This question came about in a discussion between myself and another user of the Gaming.SE chat after I linked in this chiptune track called

An Eskimeau Experience

Here is the gist of the discussion:

  It's either Eskimo or Esquimaux. Not a portmanteau of both.

  "Eskimeau" is a portmanteau of two of the different spellings. It's half English, half French.
  That's like calling something a biscookie.

  So it's wrong, and I want to know the name of the 'mistake' (or stylistic device, if you prefer)

  I thought there was a specific name for a portmanteau of two alternative spellings...

This probably isn't very clear, so I suggest you check out the link below, which will take you to the transcript of the original discussion.

Original chat transcript


texts:
I have an example of Modification of Nouns in English from a realy valid book.It says there are two types of modifiers:adj. modifiers, and noun modifiers but it gives an example on both sides which is pretty puzzling:

Adjective Modifiers(modifiers are bolded):

He won a gold* medal in the 1000-meter race in the seventeenth winter Olympics.

Noun Modifiers(modifiers are bolded):

He won a gold* medal in the 1000-meter race in the seventeenth winter Olympics.

Then it says,"The word gold can be considered a noun or an adjective, depending on wether it refers to the material or the color."

But after that it indicates that adj. modifiers have 11 types which are colors,material and 9 more.So can anyone tell me why the word gold could be a noun there?


texts: can anyone help me with this:” I shivered and sweated ______ .” I’m wavering between “continuously” and “ continually “. I googled it and found that the answer is “ continually “ but my teacher said the correct answer  is “ continuously “. pls tell me which one is correct and enlight me on the difference between them. thanks in advance and sorry for my terrible english


texts: Force answers force, war breeds war, and death only brings death.


texts: Word for someone or something deeper than most would assume

texts: I was looking for a word to describe someone and I'm certain it exists... to describe a person is usually assumed to be one-dimensional but is in fact not, or even something more literal like a deceptively deep body of water. Does anyone have any suggestions?


texts:
In soccer, a flagship sport associated with Adidas since the 1950s,
  general manager Markus Baumann says he now has more control over
  sales, design, and sponsorship budgets and doesn’t need to tap
  headquarters staffers to get things done.

How Adidas Got Its Game Back

What exactly does "to tap" mean here. In informal British English, "to tap" means to ask or beg (someone) for money ⇒ he tapped me for a fiver. Maybe this is it?


texts: Is it necessary to begin a new paragraph after a person speaks?

texts:
When I was in school, I was taught to always begin a new paragraph after a quotation or after a speaker concludes a segment of dialogue. However, in recent years, I have seen authors abandon this rule, continuing a scene's description after a quotation. To clarify, I'm not asking whether I should create a new paragraph when changing speakers. Rather, I'm asking if a paragraph such as:

  Joe said, "This is a placeholder sentence." He wrote the same statement on the chalkboard.

is correct as is, or if the second sentence should begin a second paragraph.


texts: Is "Is it a girl or a boy?" really calling the infant an "it"?

texts:
So, my boss comes in, railing that "English is a stupid language!" Since this is pretty much a thrice-weekly occurrence 'round these parts, I barely raised an eyebrow, and waited for him to continue.

"Mary just wrote to tell us that she's back from maternity leave, and I want to congratulate her and ask whether she had a girl or a boy, but I can't do it without calling the child an 'it'!" I blinked, then confirmed that yes, he believes the it in "Is it a boy or a girl" is the impersonal pronoun, the same word you'd apply to an apple or a house.

Is it the 'thing' pronoun, really? Or is it just a placeholder of some sort? I used to believe the latter: I gave the boss a mini-lecture about "it's raining" and the dummy subject pronoun. He wasn't convinced, however, and now he's got me doubting too. (Harumph. I really should know better than to listen to the boss.)

I'm not asking about politeness, here; the former title was to be taken somewhat facetiously. I'm wondering about the grammar: what role is that "it" playing in that sentence? Is it a personal pronoun (and thus the infant has grounds for feeling offended) or a dummy pronoun (and thus those who perceive a politeness issue are just misunderstanding the grammar)?


texts: Why do applications and résumés use the word “sex” instead of “gender”?

texts:
We understand what the meaning of the terms name, age, and address when used in applications and résumés, but why is sex used instead of gender?

Definitions from the Free Dictionary  :

  meaning of gender: The properties that distinguish organisms on the
  basis of their reproductive roles.
  meaning of sex: Activities associated with sexual intercourse.


texts:
I keep wanting to use eminent. Maybe the word I'm seeking sounds similar.
Alright thesaurus wizards, you're on!


texts: Term for a technique intended to draw criticism to an opposing view by overstating that view as your own (often emphatically)

texts:
The reason I'm asking is this: I have a relative (real 60s hippie) who does this all the time on Facebook (note audience: Friends only), and FB doesn't understand that it's not his own opinion that he's expressing (albeit in an inflammatory way, subjectively) because FB is not a person...who either knows him well or has humanlike perception capabilities.
I'm going to just make up an example (because actual quotes are not FB Public or SE-ready). Based on a recent topic in "the news" (women serving in the military, esp. combat arms), here is a faux quote (i.e., a false quote, usually attributed to a famous person, or a personified viewpoint):

'Pack up your eggs and go home, ladies. We're busy shelling over
here!'

On the surface of it, that's not good (for so many reasons), but I think the intent is obvious--to hold that view up to criticism (and perhaps, to provoke introspection or open debate), not to disparage any group in any way (except, quite possibly, the ones actually having that point of view).
But some people don't get it, and FB is not the appropriate forum for reading comprehension intervention (IME). With that being said, the question is this:

What would you call that technique, if you will, specifically?

I don't think it qualifes as playing devil's advocate (Wikipedia). I'm not sure, but I'm hoping for a more definitive term for that, even if it's informal.

Update (21MAR21)
I found pasquinade (Wikipedia) by way of satire, lampoon, and caricature (literary). I'm not sure how closely it would actually be associated with the latter, specifically, versus the first two synonyms, generally. And it's a little fancy; we just call it "mocking" here, but I didn't want to lead with that, or end with only that.


texts: Is it true you should never put a comma after "then"? Please explain

texts:
I would like to know what the rule is, if there is one, behind the use of commas after all sequence words except then. I have seen "then" written both with a comma and without one, but I remember reading somewhere that you never put a comma after the word "then". is this true?

Examples:

-First, we went to the movies. Then we ate dinner. Finally, we went home.

-Outline your paragraph. Then write your thesis statement.


texts: Is it grammatically correct if I change "came" to "comes" in this sentence? If so, what is the difference in their meanings?

texts: If I were Joe Kelly's wife, I would never get that window fixed, and I would just make him explain what happened every time someone came over.


texts: What specifically is the difference between a 'content clause' and a 'complement clause'?

texts:
Here a complement clause is defined as:

a notional sentence or predication that is an argument of a predicate

Here a content clause is defined as:

a subordinate clause that provides content implied, or commented upon, by its main clause.

These seem to be vague definitions that can be interchanged with one other.
This article even suggests that linguists can't agree upon what constitutes a content clause versus a complement.

"There's an arrogance in the scientific community that they know better than the average American."
But we also don't call them finite complement clauses, though many linguists would. The reason is that content clauses are often complements, but not always.

What exactly is preventing the above that-clause from being a complement clause, if we take the definition that I posted to be true?


texts: Where does the phrase "get a bye" come from?

texts:
This question inspired me to look at the etymology of "get a bye". The earliest mentions in a sporting context that I found while searching Google Books were in the Coursing Calendar, the 1872 edition of which contained this baffling sentence:

  Bismarck, who was a favourite for the event, had the misfortune to get a bye of terrific length, and this doubtless lost him the stake, as, hard run as he had been, he led his opponent in the concluding course.

and this one

  Duffer ran a bye, which brought the day's sport to a conclusion at half past three.

On the other hand, we also have from the 1867 Coursing Calendar,

  Black Topsy had the good luck to get a bye owing to Blue Bock having injured himself yesterday, so much so that his trainer wisely drew him, with an eye to the future.

The first two instances seem to be using "get a bye" in a completely different sense than the modern one, in which it means to sit out a round in a tournament. The third instance, only five years earlier than the other two, seems to be used in the modern sense.
What do "get a bye" and "run a bye" mean here, and is this where the modern phrase, "get a bye," comes from?


texts: What's the phrase for reading a website "cover to cover"

texts: How do I describe having read a website completely, 'cover to cover'?


texts:
I had an English test in which one of the questions was:

'If they (listen) ____________ carefully, they might hear the woodpeckers'.

I wrote listen, and it was marked as wrong. Is there a reason to use either 'listen' or 'listened' in this sentence?
Thanks in advance.


texts: I would like to know what separated unto means in this context. This is taken from Romans 1:1.


texts: Appropriate contexts for the phrase "impedance mismatch"?

texts:
I rather like the phrase "impedance mismatch". I understand it was derived from the realm of electronics, and it's now also commonly applied to problems with object-relational database mapping.

I've heard it used to describe more general misunderstandings between people, and I think it's a very neat phrase. For example, person A wants to communicate some information to person B. The message from A to B inherently includes some assumptions about what person A believes that person B believes about the world. If these assumptions are incorrect, person B's interpretation of the message may differ from the interpretation person A expected. There is an impedance mismatch between their understandings, and so the message fails to communicate all of the intended information.

Surprisingly, Google doesn't seem to return any results for the phrase "impedance mismatch" that don't relate to electronics, sound or ORDBMS. Is this use of the phrase really that uncommon? Am I perhaps using it incorrectly?


texts: Is there any scenario in which we can use the present tense after "I wish..."?

texts:
Is the following sentence correct?

"I really wish I don't see her again."


texts:
Are there any historical or political reasons for the rather consistent refusal of the International Phonetic Alphabet on the part of American academics?

Did Mark Twain's home-made-English-spelling-centred phonetic rendering of regional pronunciations set a trend?


texts:
Starting with the Fifth Edition (1936), seven generations of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary have included (under the entry for tap) three definitions of "on tap," currently worded as follows:

  on tap  1 : ready to be drawn from a large container(as a cask or keg) ["ale on tap"]  2 : broached or furnished with a tap 3 : on hand : available. ["services instantly on tap" —Hugh Dwan]

(The first two of these three definitions go as far back as the 1864 edition of Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language.)

But the Tenth Collegiate (1994) introduced a fourth definition for "on tap":

  4 : coming up ["other matches on tap" —H. W. Wind]

The "H. W. Wind" cited by Webster's appears to be Herbert Warren Wind (1916-2005), an American sportswriter who wrote most often about golf. I have frequently heard "on tap" used in this relatively new fourth way in recent years, mostly in connection with impending sporting events. In fact, the San Francisco Giants radio network has a sponsored segment called "What's On Tap" ("brought to you by TAP Plastics") devoted to identifying and briefly discussing the next game or series of games on the Giants' schedule. I can sort of see how "on tap" in the sense of "in reserve" or "at the ready" might be extended to something like "ready to happen but still in the future"; however, the meaning "next on the schedule" seems another (and rather long) jump from there.

My questions are (1) did the fourth meaning of "on tap" emerge from one of the other three, and if so, how? (2) how far back in time does the usage of "on tap" to mean "coming up" go? (3) is this a U.S.-only usage, or do other forms of English use it, too?

I note that Eric Partridge lists two seemingly unrelated slang phrases from British English: "on the tap" ("begging for money") and "on tap" ("all modern conveniences, including h. and c.").


texts: An expression on greed mentioning the greedy people's never-ending desire for money

texts:
There is an expression in my language which translates to something like this:

  The eyes of the avaricious are like a pitcher which will never get full (they desire everything they see):
  a seashell will not host pearls, until it is content and closes up.

So, despite my poor translation, I think the message was conveyed more or less.
I was wondering, whether you guys have something like this or not,
or can point me in the right direction.


texts:
Is general knowledge only defined in relation to a specific group or in relation to the entire population?

I can think of two meanings.

General knowledge for a group of people is information you expect all people in that group to have been exposed to at some point in time (e.g. advanced calculus to math professors and history of curling to professional curlers).
General knowledge is information that you expect all people (regardless of cultural background etc.) to have been exposed to (e.g. who fought against whom in WWII, who founded Facebook).

I would tend to think of the first as "specific knowledge" and the second as "general knowledge". Is this a standard distinction or can all information be considered "general knowledge" to a specific population.


texts: Is there a word like "unary" meaning "consisting of *more than one* element"?

texts:
Unary means "consisting of one element"; is there a word meaning "consisting of more than one element"?

Poly-ary sounds wrong, as does mult-ary...

What is the opposite (in this sense) of unary?


texts: He has more money than [her/she/she does]?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  I can run faster than _____. (1) him (2) he?

What's the right was to say here?

  He has more money than she.

or

  He has more money than her.

or

  He has more money than she does.


texts: Is it correct to say "We will let you know when this option will be available"

texts:
Is this sentence correct?

  We will let you know when this option will be available.

Since this option is not available yet.
It will be available soon.

So, is it correct to say:

  We will let you know when this option will be available.

or

  We will let you know when this option be available.


texts: Hypernym for "coalition" and "opposition"

texts:
I'm looking for a word (or expression) that is a hypernym of coalition and opposition. I want to be able to ask a party whether its "type", for lack of a better word, is coalition or the opposition without using that word:

  — What is your [type]? — Coalition.


texts:
I was wondering about the following two examples if both can be used:

The preceding example sentence:

  In formula XYZ the noncentrality parameter indicates the degree of model misspecification.

The explanation why the parameter is indicative of the above:

  To see this, .....

or

  To see, ....

In both cases I want to link the explanation to the previous sentence by using to see or to see this. The latter is what I thought was right, but my 'feeling' might be biased because we use it like that in my native language (Dutch). That is, we would never leave 'this' out in the sentence.

Looking forward to hearing what's grammatically right or if both are, what would usually be the preferred way.

EDIT I somewhere came across 'to see, ...' and am since in doubt.