texts: Word meaning to be able to read illegible writing or understand unclear speech

texts:
There's a specific word I'm looking for.
For example if there is some messy handwriting, and you're able to understand it what is says, you're able to [verb] it.
eg.

I got lost on the way here! I was unable to [verb] the last line of his instructions.
Sue has a speech impediment, but fortunately for her, her husband and colleagues were very good at [verbing] her speech when she was having a bad day.


texts: What's the name for those times when your attempts to get a task done right eventually get you to momentarily perform increasingly worse?

texts:
If you've tried to perfect a difficult, long task by repeating it multiple times, you'll know what I'm talking about.

You start tackling the first few phases of the problem, until you succeed. Then you fail later on and you must start over. After enough restarts, you'll eventually start having trouble performing the first few phases you thought you had down pat, way before those where you were really trying hard to get through. It's as frustrating as short-lived however: after a few more tries, you'll return to previous or higher levels of performance.

If you are the visual kind of person, here's a terribly confusing and misleading graph about what I'm talking about:


texts: I was married and we had a daughter. We divorced. My ex-husband remarried and has a son. Our daughter and his son are half-siblings - share a dad. What am I to his son? What is his new wife to my daughter - stepmother I think?


texts: How to properly list quotes in a sentence

texts:
For a marketing class, I am listing three different slogans a company has. I have rewritten this a few times and I can't seem to get it to look correct.

My question is should I make it one big quote and place semicolons/ commas in between each quote?

The sentence I have currently is:

  Three slogans are: "Give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together", "Connect with friends and the world around you on Facebook", and "Bringing the world closer together".


texts:
I was a slow runner, so they put me at first base.
I was a slow runner so, they put me at first base.
I was a slow runner ,so, they put me at first base.
Which sentence is correct?


texts: I'm currently working on a college essay with a 350 max word count. I want the essay to be precise, dense, and meaningful. Is there an elegant replacement for "I became friends with"?


texts: How far back in time could I travel and still be understood?

texts:
I have seen several times on TV documentaries where the presenter is taken to something like a library archive, and shown a book which they proceed to read an excerpt from.

On a couple of occasions the camera has shown the text they were reading and generally I have thought that I would struggle to read the words because of how the letters were formed (e.g. The thorn, or long S).

This got me to wondering about how pronunciation and sentence formation may have changed over time as well, and how far back in time could I travel and still be understood while speaking my "modern" English in England (while obviously not talking about modern concepts like mobile phones or space travel)?


texts: What's the single word to describe the smell of the perfume of someone who just walked by?

texts:
I read the word sometime ago and can't remember it.
the smell of the perfume of someone after he/she walks by..


texts:
What is the difference between spirit and soul? Is the word soul used for only human beings? For instance,

  He [Descartes] thought the brain worked as a center for the spirits of
  the soul.


texts: This is used in Conditional Type 3. But no one knows what tense this is...


texts:
What is the proper way to punctuate this sentence:

  According to www.website.com there are 1,234 John Smiths in the world.

or is it:

  According to www.website.com there are 1,234 "John Smith"s in the world.

or could it be:

  According to www.website.com there are 1,234 John Smith's in the world.

I hope someone can help me with this question because I cant seem to find the answer.


texts: "Authorization" vs "Authorisation" - I'm in some real dilemma

texts:
I'm writing a professional business-related project summary, whereby half of the clientele is in the U.S while the other half of the same business is in the U.K. - and I don't want to disappoint either.

Question is - what shall I use between "Authorization" and "Authorisation" that doesn't make me look like I'm suffering from Dyslexia to one of the two sides?


texts: "Two films don't a revolution make": is this sentence grammatically correct?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why is “xxxx doth not a yyyy make” considered valid English?
  Proper usage/origin of the generic phrase “[action phrase] does not a [noun] make”
  “Dazzling images do not a shining nation make”

I came across an article in TOI Crest Edition about black-and-white films. It had the following sentence, which looked dubious to me:

  Two films don't a revolution make, and it would be even more simplistic to suggest that these two films are a reaction to the increasing use of CGI, motion capture and 3D in films today.

It is about the two recent black-and-white movies 'The Artist' and 'Good Night Good Morning'.

Is this sentence grammatically correct? Why?


texts: Where did the phrase "don't spend it all in one store" originate?

texts: I've heard the phrase "don't spend it [money] all in one store" a number of times, virtually always in a joking manner. Where did it originate from and has it always been said as a joke?


texts: Can I use a plural last name as my company name?

texts:
So let’s assume my last name is Norton and I’m starting a publishing company. I want it to be “Nortons, Limited”.  It is quite common to use plurals in company names — for example, Waterstones, Halfords.

However, I did a bit of research and didn’t find any media or publishing company that uses a plural last name. Instead, it’s usually something like “Norton Media”, but I don't like that.

Any help? Or should I stick with the “Nortons”?


texts: Possessive-S/apostrophe in a list, including the first and second person

texts:
When adding possessive-S/apostrophe to a list, the rule is only the last person has the apostrophe if the item is shared, or everyone has one if they have the items each, e.g.

John and Mary's houses = the houses that belong jointly to John and Mary.

John's and Mary's houses = the houses that belong to John and Mary as individuals, at least one each.

However, I am curious if the rules are slightly different when possessive pronouns are used for a single item.

You and Mary's house OR your and Mary's house?

I'm even more unclear when the first person is involved.

Mary and my house OR Mary's and my house?

Finally, when there are at least three people, including the first person, does the last named person have the possessive-S/apostrophe, or all/none of them?

John, Mary and my house
John, Mary's and my house
John's, Mary's and my house

I'd be very grateful to anyone able to clarify this, ideally with a some form of reference, as I can't find it anywhere.

There have been several suggestions to use "our", yet if the text refers to a group of people, all of whom own co-own houses with some others within the group*, then the above style wording would be necessary, so my question stands.

* eg I own a house with John and Mary, I co-own another with Peter and yet another with Philip and Sarah.


texts: I've just bought vs. I just bought vs. I bought

texts:
I bought an English grammar book 3 weeks ago. Is it correct to use any of the following sentences interchangeably to tell my friend that I bought the book, or is there a difference in meaning between each sentence?

I've just bought a book on English grammar, and it looks pretty good.
I just bought a book on English grammar, and it looks pretty good.
I bought a book on English grammar, and it looks pretty good.


texts:
Which one is right and sounds more academic?

We consider only the higher values, whereby we calculate how many ...
We consider only the higher values, with which we calculate how many
...

Any better alternative?

I'm speaking about medical data collected from a database by other people.  I'm just analyzing it.


texts: "Toward" or "towards" – what would a native speaker use?

texts:
In this question we learn that toward and towards are interchangeable, but that the former is somewhat more typical of U.S. English and the latter of British English, although there is some indication that this does not always hold true.

But how about actual use? Being a non-native speaker, I cannot completely trust my intuition about what "sounds right". Is it true that toward sounds more formal than towards to a native English speaker? Does it vary between different variants of English? Should I use one in academic text and the other in casual communication? What are the nuances? In summary, how should I choose which one to use if I want to be consistent in my writing style? I'm looking for intuition for different kinds of situations.


texts: What is an idiomatic way of saying 'Straitness is in the heart'?

texts:
Straitness is in the heart, or The narrows is in the heart is a translation from the Arabic الضيق في القلوب.

It means the "strait" is not real, it's just in our hearts. It means that we have to make more room in our hearts to accept and love people, that our hearts are the ones that need widening and accepting.

  Teacher: Adam you come sit next to Steve.
  Steve: There's no space, it's already strait here with barely any room for elbow space.
  Teacher: Straitness is in the heart.

It's meaning has evolved to say that one is most welcome.

  A: Please come in.
  B: No thank you, it's all right. It looks too crowded in there; I don't want to be more strain.
  A: Strainness and straitness is in the heart.

Any similar sayings/idioms?


texts: Part-Time and Freelance working schedules: set, or on-demand

texts:
I'm trying to find a way to use fairly formal/professional language to describe two different models for work. I have a rough idea of the two models, but I am currently only able to use informal language and examples to differentiate them. What is more formal language that I could use to differentiate these two models? I'd like to find verbiage that is clear enough that I could ask a company "If I work for you, would the scheduling be X or Y?" and they would understand.

The first model is roughly what I would describe as "Uber-like" or "on-demand:" If I want to work, I can make myself available for working at anytime, for any length of time, and if there is demand for my work (a student that wants to do tutoring, a passenger to ride in my car, a gym-goer that needs my fitness coaching) then I do the work.
The second model is roughly what I would describe as "set" or "pre-scheduled:" It occurs in some type of pattern for X number of times. Maybe this is every day from 9:00 to 10:00 in the morning for two weeks. Maybe it is every week on Monday and Wednesday evenings at 6:00 to 7:00, repeating for 5 weeks. There is consistency in the schedule over time, and as the worker I have to commit to the schedule in advance.


texts: What is a word or an expression to describe "forgetting things after being back from holiday"?

texts:
I've been away for a week or two from work and upon returning back to work, I've been a bit out-of-tune and have forgotten some normal procedures at work. Is there a word or an expression to correctly describe this situation? I want to say something like below - perhaps there is a better way to put this.

  Oh yes. I've completely forgotten! Looks like I'm still having a holiday effect.


texts:
I’ve got a text using phrases like “an L-shaped room” and “around the bend of the L”. I’ve heard this usage in speech, but not before in writing.

Is there any standard way to indicate that a letter is being used for its shape as an illustration? Switch to sans-serif, perhaps, or enclose in quotes?


texts:
How do I properly place a comma after a big block-quote? Let's say I have a sentence like this:

The author states: < a big quote goes here. >, therefore...

Since my sentence continues after the quote, it is sometimes necessary to put a comma or some other punctuation mark after the quote. However, sometimes the quote is inserted as a big block of text that is formatted in a special way (like on this site). How do I do it in this case? The following doesn't really seem right to me:

The author states:

Some big quote
goes here.

, therefore...


texts:
Is it correct to use against with mitigate as in this generic example?

  Since this risk type is rapidly evolving, our department is working to clarify the definition of (product) to mitigate against this exposure in the future.

The original did not include "against" but a reviewer (not a communications person) suggested the insertion.


texts: How to describe sand flowing through an hourglass

texts:
I'm thinking of somewhat of a poetic way to describe how time flows, via an hourglass. Does sand simply 'flow' through an hourglass?

Drip doesn't sound applicable, and 'stream' is basically like flow; while shifting feels more applicable to an outdoor scenario (like a desert).

Basically, what's another applicable word, or perhaps phrasing, to describe sand moving through an hourglass?


texts:
I'm trying to learn to imitate the accent of someone from a slummy area of Denver (for a roleplaying game). Info on different local accents is welcome; a sound bite would be especially useful.

If you live in or near Denver, and your answer is, "people from Denver don't have an accent," please refrain from posting an answer.


texts: Is this phrase correct "but slightly they succeed"?

texts:
there is this phrase is correct:

They try so hard but slightly they succeed.

To describe this meaning:
Someone try so hard but fails.

update:

For mjsqu
Actually that's the definition that I intended but failed to communicate, to be more clear here's the phrase that I'm trying to use:

  Four major product exists in the market in the time of writing this report the four of them tried to remove the constraint that the others presents but slightly they succeed.

So those Four products removed some constraints that other presented but either they presented new ones or didn't removed enough constraint to be considered a valuable change.


texts: Use of "the" for generalisation vs specific

texts:
I had a friend recently ask me about the use of the particle "the" in different contexts that she was having trouble understanding and I found I was unable to explain the use. The lesson she had done was similar to this one:

http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-lesson-articles.php

Where "the" is explained as a word for a specific noun known to both speaker and the listener such as

  The bike was red.

However a number of the examples she was given(and were not really explained in the material she showed me) were of the form

  The bike is one of the most efficient means of transportation.

or

  The squirrel is a small mammal

Neither of these examples are referring to a specific noun, they are referring to a generalization, "The bike" is true for every bike and the same for the squirrel example. Further to her confusion was that the sentences were not plural when referring to a generalization of "every bike" when she tried to correct the sentences as "the bikes are".

Would it be possible for someone to give me a explanation of this use or point me to something that has an explanation. I found it quite difficult to try and explain and the best I could come up with was that it's similar to "The idea of a bike is. . ." or "The idea of a squirrel is. . ." which I don't think is entirely accurate. The main trouble comes from "The" being used for a specific item, and in these cases the noun in question being used as a generalization. Am I just thinking about this wrong?


texts:
My question is whether indicate or indicates should be used in the following sentence:

The test ids ARB1 and ARB2 indicate(s) that two different samples were used, rather than representing different test methods.

My colleague is of the view that the subject "test ids ARB1 and ARB2" is plural, and hence the verb would be in it's plural form (without an s) "indicate". I agree with him, but ultimately we're unsure of ourselves hence the question here.


texts: Is "setup" an acceptable noun in formal writing?

texts:
I'm editing a draft of a scientific paper which repeatedly uses the word "setup" to refer to the, well, experimental setup.

Example:

  The dimensions of the setup are 250 mm × 250 mm × 50 mm.

Every time I see the word "setup" appear by itself, I cringe a little, thinking of, say, Microsoft Windows' SETUP.EXE.  However, the phrase "experimental setup" sounds OK.

Is "setup" accepted as a valid word to use for an experimental apparatus, in formal scientific writing in American English?


texts: What do you call a confusing license plate number?

texts:
I'm struggling to find a term or a single word for "confusing" (see the struggle?) license plate numbers, such as:

B8B8BB8 (California plate)

Is there even a term for that?


texts: Correct usage/distinction in these examples

texts:
The score has a real unique sound with interesting vocals; the score is also well produced and professional.

Our law firm is one of the Internet's most prolific copyright experts: firms that catch users downloading content from peer-to-peer networks will face prosecution.

We are unable to say how long it has been here — it may be 30 years or much more.

What I found was like what a dog had unearthed — what looked like an old bag of cement.

What is the distinction between the semi-colon,em-dash, and colon when used to connect related complete sentences?  To my eyes these are all the same. What is the correct use?


texts: Can you replace the present perfect continuous with present continuous when a concrete time period is specified?

texts:
As I have learnt, present perfect continuous should be used when we want to describe some activity which lasted for concrete period of time and is not finished still.
For example, "I've been waiting for her for 2 hours already" or "How long have you been waiting for her?"
These constructions (especially the question form, where 'have' cannot be shortened) look and sound rather complicated. That's why I wonder whether it's acceptable to use present continuous (especially in speech).
Another logical argument to use present continuous in question form is the analogy with questions which doesn't touch time aspects like:

What are you waiting for?
Who are you waiting for?
Why are you waiting for her?
but
How long have you been
waiting for her?

So, is it acceptable to ask

How long are you waiting for her?

One more thing: does present perfect continuous add some additional hidden value, like expectation for results or anything else?


texts: What does "double down" mean in this particular context?

texts:
Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, said this in an interview:

  We're going to double-down on secrecy on products.

I know this phrase is from Blackjack and it means to take more risk and expect higher return. But it doesn't sound like what it means by Tim. Could somebody please give me a hint?

(There is a similar question about "double down", but I don't think its explanation applies here either.)


texts: Is “Songify” a well-received word as an English neology?

texts:
I came across the word “songify” for the first time in the article of October 23 NY Times titled ‘Yes We Chant’ with the sub-head, “The Gregory Brothers songify the debate, with Gregorian chanting.”

The article is accompanied with a video, in which CBC’s Bob Schieffer as the moderator of this Monday’s Presidential debate, President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney all “songify” clips of their statements.

The text reads:

  “Our only remaining option was to songify the whole thing ourselves,
  to imagine the parallel universe where Gregorian chanting monks
  shepherded the candidates through the debate as Bob Schieffer dropped
  verse after verse. We hope that whoever wins this blasted election
  will be kind enough to sing his acceptance speech.”

Although www.definition of net. defines “Songify” as “1. to make stuff into a song. 2. to make a song out of stuff that wasn't originally intended to be a song, none of credible English dictionaries including Oxford, Cambridge, and Merriam-Webster registers “songify.”

As there is no instance of this word in GoogleNgram viewer either, we cannot tell since when and how the word “Songify” came into currency.

Is “Songify” a well-received word in modern or American English? Or is it just a wild and ephemeral journalism neology? Is it possible to say, or coin “Musicify,” "Medlefy,” “Lyricify” and “Poemify” likewise?


texts: Why is "gymnastics" plural, "swimming" conjugated and "sport" singular? Is this even correct?

texts:
If this has been previously asked I'd be delighted to be pointed to that answer but despite searching I can't find an explanation.
I'm trying to construct some lexemes to describe sports.
It's bothering me no end that in official references (eg olympics: https://www.olympic.org/sports) they seem grammatically chaotic:

sport

athletics

badminton

gymnastics

swimming

Surely an "etymologically consistent" listing would look like:

sport

athletic

badminton

gymnastic

swim

or alternatively

sport

athleticking

badmintoning

gymnasticing

swimming

(or something)
If someone would be able to explain these inconsistencies it would provide a great deal of relief.


texts: What's the meaning of "present" in this context?

texts:
The following is a tip from a poker strategy article:

When it comes down to it, poker is always going to be about making the best out of situations that present themselves, and not about forcibly creating profitable situations where they otherwise would not likely exist.

What does present mean in this context? From OALD, there are four definitions I think that could be related, but I'm not quite sure which one is the most appropriate. They are:

Def. #2: to show or offer something for other people to look at or consider

present something (to somebody) The committee will present its final report to Parliament in June.

present something (for something) Eight options were presented for consideration.

Are you presenting a paper at the conference?

He presents a convincing case.

The banks will begin to present their arguments today.

Def. #3: to show or describe something/somebody in a particular way

present something The company has decided it must present a more modern image.

It is essential that we present a united front (= show that we all agree).

present yourself + adverb/preposition You need to present yourself better.

present something/somebody/yourself as something He likes to present himself as a radical politician.

The press presents this as a kind of victory.

The article presents these proposals as misguided.

Def. #4: to cause something to happen or be experienced

present somebody with something Your request shouldn't present us with any problems.

present something Use of these chemicals may present a fire risk.

Irradiation presents environmental dangers

Def. #5: (of an opportunity, a solution, etc.) to suddenly happen or become available

Synonym: arise

present itself One major problem did present itself, though.

As soon as the opportunity presented itself, she would get another job.

present itself to somebody Thankfully, a solution presented itself to him surprisingly soon.

Or does present here mean something else that's not included in this dictionary?


texts: Alternative phrase for "breaking the glass ceiling"

texts:
I’d like to say something like:  The prominence of IT has led to significant job creation while also helping migrants break the glass ceiling.

Topic is on migrants and IT.  Particularly, those from a non-English speaking background, where they have difficulty progressing their careers.  The advancing role of IT has led to many minorities reaching higher levels at faster rates than other specialties and industries.

Is there another manner of referring to "breaking the glass ceiling" that doesn't involve use of the term "glass ceiling"?

Or perhaps a shorthand phrase?


texts: "occur" vs "occurs" with a singular collective noun

texts:
I wrote:

  The ability to guarantee that a batch of writes occurs together.

One reviewer wanted to change that to occur.

I'm not sure if this is my idiom (Australian of U.K. origin) vs American or if I'm wrong.

I regarded batch of writes as a singular collective noun.

This English Club reference and others suggest using a plural verb with collective noun is less common in American English.

edit
To clarify, the sentence is in a book about programming computer databases and the full sentence is much longer, possibly too long!

  Those three operations are all we need; everything else is sugar on top (or maybe something a bit more nutritious, like the ability to guarantee that a batch of writes occurs together).


texts: What are proper nouns of people's names called?

texts: Proper nouns include any named entities, often appearing in title case. These include places and other entities such as organisations and groups. What is the concept of a person's name called?


texts: What's the meaning of buzziest in this context?

texts:
This is the context:

Seasoned travellers, especially the sort that jet around the globe clutching laptops, know that certain words are to be avoided like the plague. This is because those who choose these words are masters of disguise : the service offered is the exact opposite of that indicated by the name used to describe it. Thus many flights described as “direct” are actually indirect, since they involve a stop, and a lengthy wait, in, say, Dallas-Fort Worth en route between Boston and Vancouver. Similarly, habitués of railways learn to shun any train claiming to be an “express” or “rapid”, since such services seem invariably to be the slowest (by design, not just by accident). Which perhaps make it fitting that some of the most seasoned travellers of all, management consultants, appear to have been inspired by just this sort of untruth-in-advertising. The buzziest among them now claim not just to be consultants, or advisers, or even experts. They are “thought leaders”.


texts: Noun or adverb function of "There" in "There is X, Y and Z"

texts:
In the sentence below, is there an adverb telling where (giving the location), or a noun as the subject?

  There are many people on the beach.


texts: Did the accent in "without" shift from the first syllable to the second in the past?

texts:
To be sure, the line from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, written in 1591, reads:

There is no world with-OUT Verona walls.

However, a passage in John Milton's Paradise Lost, written in 1667, i.e. more than seventy years later, runs as follows:

No light; but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all, but torture WITH-out end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.

With the stress on the second syllable, the line would not scan.
Was Shakespeare more colloquial and Milton more conservative? Was WITH-out the proper way to pronounce the word in those days?
And by proper I mean commonly accepted by the grammar Nazis of the day.


texts: Old nautical word for the wooden pin you tie sail ropes to?

texts:
It serves as a kind of 'lynchpin', but another word for that.

You can also take it out and use it as a bat, to bash Pirate's heads in.

I think there are a bunch of them all around the bottom of the mainmast, or maybe they are along the sides.


texts: Are "thank you for additional details" and "thank you for the additional details" phrases both correct?

texts:
My questions are the following.
Should we use the definite article here?
Are both variants correct?
Can you please provide the corresponding grammar article where such information can be found? I checked different articles, but didn't find any information in this regard. Thank you!


texts: A word for 'sampler' suitable for international readers

texts:
For a large software package we are providing a small program giving small reference examples of [how to use] the capability of the main product.  My mental image I have of this is akin to a needlework sampler (typically showing the alphabet font and some reference patterns).

For a modern technical audience the word sampler is unsuitable because of:

ambiguity with an audio sampler and other hi-tech derivatives of sample
the antiquity of the application of sampler I'm trying to convey - even for most Western colleagues it is meaningless
The audience is likely to be Asian, so needs to be something a non-native speaker of English would at least recognise for what it is

Immediate suggestions were:

Demonstrator but that has connotations of showing off the most exciting elements, not providing a reference set. It's a story not an alphabet.  We will be separately providing a set of demos.
Examples, Illustrations, Specimens all suggest a complete unit (again a 'story' using my analogy, and not necessarily using all the letters of the alphabet). In any case I need a single name for a collective package.  I want to provide one sampler to show many minimalist examples.

Other collective words such as compendium or collection again fall foul of the implication that each entry is complete and not just a sample fragment.  Library also suffers from this, in addition to being ambiguous in the software world.

In summary, I'm looking for a word that suggests a single package of multiple minimal examples.  Any suggestions?

Edit:  For the avoidance of doubt I want a word for the collective, not the contents, therefore any plural word is not going to be suitable for my needs.  We've considered (and rejected) anthology and digest but something along those lines would be good.

Edit 2: Apologies, I'd assumed it would be taken as read that the software will have user manuals, data samples, training material, demos and example applications.  My problem is that this "sampler" needs a name that makes it distinct that it isn't one of the others.


texts: Use of "here" in the middle or at the end of the sentence

texts:
I have two sentences, and the location of here bothers me. Could you help me figure out whether it's possible to use both of them or only one sentence is correct?

The object here is the chair.
The object is the chair here.

I know that the first sentence is correct according to the Cambridge Dictionary grammar. But maybe, the second sentence is also correct, what do you think?

I'm asking because I found some pattern in dictionaries:

He can find out more about these books here.
They have lived here most of their lives.

I'd really appreciate your answers!


texts:
I'm a native English speaker and I consider myself to have a very competent understanding of English grammar.

Recently, I have started believing that there is no future tense in English grammar.

Here are some examples of sentences that I previously believed were future tense, but now believe are either present tense or invalid (broken) English grammar:

  I will do my homework tomorrow.

I say that this is present tense. The full (uncontracted) sentence is

  I (have the/a) will to do my homework tomorrow.

Strictly, this sentence refers to the writer's will in the present. The usage seems to have been contracted in recent centuries, but "will" remains a noun and this seems to be the only grammatically-valid interpretation of this sentence.

  I am going to the bathroom.

I say that this is present tense.

The only valid interpretation of this sentence is that the speaker is currently going to the bathroom (in the present, right now). Whether "going to the bathroom" means traveling to a bathroom or peeing in their pants is open to interpretation, but this does not affect the tense. The tense is determined by "am", so the tense is present.

  I am going to school tomorrow.

I say this is invalid English grammar.

This is as invalid as I am going to school yesterday. The tense is present because of "am", and the sentence can not be validly interpreted as it stands.

In examples such as

  We are going to Italy in Spring,

this is invalid for the same reason as above: "are" determines that the tense is present, and then a non-present time period is appended. This is as invalid as

  We are going to Italy two years ago.

These are just a couple of examples but I have looked at many examples of future tense usage and I do not believe there is a valid future tense in English grammar.

Question: Is it true that English has no future tense?


texts: What's it called? A kind of impoliteness

texts: A person (e.g. your brother-in-law) who enters your house without being invited, opens your fridge without asking, etc. Not just "impolite" of course, something more specific and informal


texts:
I know that it is very important to be aware of "hidden meanings" of words and phrases. (Especially if the meaning is sexual.) That is why I love Stephen Colbert's "The Word" segments and usually spend some time to "decipher" all the puns

But I am really stuck with the recent one. Particularly I cannot understand the "After all 7 8 9" line here. From the reaction of the audience I can tell that it is something pretty funny.  And from the context I feel that it is something pretty dirty...

I really don't want to be misunderstood by saying bunch of numbers. So can someone explain what is going on here, so I can avoid that?


texts:
Which of these two is  correct?I assume that only one of them is correct.

How is John, Sally and Kevin
How are John, Sally and Kevin


texts:
I'm well aware that bulwark refers to something used as a fortification or a defense. However, I was wondering if the word bulwarker is an acceptable word to use in English.

I know it's possible to be a bulwark ("He built a bulwark upon the hill."), and I know you can bulwark something from something else ("I will do whatever I can to bulwark the attack."). However, I'm unsure if it is possible to be a bulwarker.


texts:
Here's from Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2.

and we here dispatch
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand,
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway;
Giving to you no further personal power
To business with the king, more than the scope
Of these dilated articles allow.
Farewell; and let your haste commend your duty.

I wonder what exactly "let your haste commend your duty" means.


texts: Is there a word to describe someone/something that is given a title prematurely?

texts: For example a coal refered to as a diamond when it hasn't been transformed into one.


texts:
I've always held on to the definition that Causative Verbs express how the Noun before the Verb influences the execution of an action.

Similarly, the Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English defines them as:

  "Causative Verbs... indicate that some person or thing helps to bring
  about a new state of affairs."

I know that the verbs have, get, make, and let are the four prototypical Causatives. But then I got to thinking that let doesn't really “make” anything happen. And I just bunch let up with the other three (also allow) because of their similar structures and because it's more convenient to teach them as a group.

When learners and teachers expand the definition beyond the four most common Causatives, in both active and passive-like structures, the lines can get blurry. There are many long lists on the Net (one listed as many as 90 and called them “mostly Causatives”). I guess the problem is the definition of what's Causative to begin with. There are also those people who would identify Causatives by certain patterns that the words follow.

In any case, for this particular question, I’d settle for one verb that I’ve seen making the rounds on Causative lists: Is want a causative verb or not? And for me to make a sharper delineation of what's causative, I’d have to ask why.


texts:
What brought this up was sabotage, is there a general modifier for a noun (so not necessarily a suffix) to describe someone as about to perform an act of that noun?

So if we did it to sabotage, I could call someone that and the meaning would be you're a person likely to commit sabotage.
But someone who is yet to, not someone who currently practices or has already done it (saboteur).

The only one I can think of is -al for suicidal, someone thinking about/considering suicide.
Maybe sabotage in particular is difficult, are there any more of these noun-adjective pairs?


texts: Does the name of an addressee's house need to go in inverted commas on the envelope?

texts:
If someone lives at a house called 'Dunroamin' or 'Rose Cottage', or 'The Pig Sty', do you put it in inverted commas in the address on the envelope? e.g. do I write:

  Mr & Mrs J. Percival,
  'The Shambles',
  Bedrock Rd,
  Little Snoring,
  postcode.

Or do I write:

  Mr & Mrs J. Percival,
  The Shambles,
  Bedrock Rd etc.?


texts: A single verb that means two entities mutually supplement one another

texts:
I'm about to take a degree in Linguistics and Japanese. I want to explain my thought that linguistics supplements Japanese, and Japanese supplements linguistics. Is there a single verb that implies two entities support each other in this way? "Symbiotic" is a useful adjective, but it's not quite appropriate, because it suggests that the two entities depend on one another for survival. I'm merely trying to express that the two entities enhance or add to one another in some way. I was thinking that a verb like "cosupplement" and "cosupport" would work, but they don't appear to exist as words.

  Linguistics and Japanese [mutually add to/supplement] one another.

A noun that refers to two entities adding to one another would also work nicely, as in:

  Linguistics and Japanese are [mutually supplementary].


texts: "Within" and "in" when referring to time

texts:
I know that both can mean "inside" but what I don't have clear is whether both mean the same when talking about time. For example:

The party is in two days = The party is within two days ??

According to this link http://oilpatchwriting.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/in-vs-within/ within means a limit that can be exceeded, so I'm wondering too if say "the party is within two days max" is correct or redundant.


texts: "Abner's hand became a vise and his voice rang as over metal"

texts:
But Randolph heard nothing, saw nothing. Only the sun entered. Abner's
  hand tightened on his arm.

  "It is here! Look!" And he pointed to the wall.

  Randolph, following the extended finger, saw a tiny brilliant disk of
  light moving slowly up the wall toward the lock of the fowling piece.
  Abner's hand became a vise and his voice rang as over metal.

It's from The Doomdorf Mystery (1918) by Melville Davisson Post.

What's the meaning of "rang as over metal" in this sentence?


texts: Word repetition when a word is part of more words

texts:
The output consists of the category bar and the navigation bar.

How do I prevent the word repetition of bar in the English language?
Is it the following?

  The output consists of the category and the navigation bar.


texts: What is the role/function and origin of "to" being used in the idiomatic phrases "there's something to him/her/it" & "there's nothing to him/her/it"?

texts:
"something to him/her/it"

Google Books (to him):

Google Books (to her):

Google Books (to it):

The phrase meaning "there's something (with respect to/about) him/her/it (that is observable/noticeable)" - my own attempted definition, since I can't find a specific dictionary entry for this idiomatic expression.

"(there's) nothing to it"

The American Heritage® Idioms

  It's not at all difficult, it's easy, as in Of course I can fix the faucet—there's nothing to it.
  This hyperbolic term was first recorded in 1934.

...

Another possible phrase:

"there's nothing to him/her/it"

Google Books (to him):

Google Books (to her):

Google Books (to it):

meaning "He/she/it has no redeeming qualities." or it can also mean that the person in question is really skinny or small.

There's also a completely different sense of "nothing to it", where it means "there is nothing about this that is believable or credible" as evidenced by this corpus search:

In another sense, it's used to indicate there being nothing serious (or to be taken seriously) about the subject in question:

Lost in a Good Book: A Thursday Next Novel

So as you can see it seems to be a very versatile phrase.

Now prepositions have been used in odd ways in idioms, such as "I will have nothing of it" but at least in this case "of" is used syntactically correctly, indicating possessive "it". Or in the case of "see eye to eye with", used in the sense of "from that point of reference to that point of reference". But in the examples above they seem to make little sense.

I suppose it can mean "with respect to" or "about" in the first idiom, but that isn't a standard definition; at least I can't find it as one: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/to?s=t

In the second idiom, it's even tougher to figure out what role it's serving. Perhaps as an implied: There's nothing (hard) (about) it. And yet even with this paraphrase something inherent about "it" is not being accounted for, for whatever reason, that (with respect to/about) don't quite manage to capture.

My questions are:

What is the exact origin of these phrases?

What role is "to" serving in them?


texts: Direct and Indirect objects in "I take my kids to school"

texts:
In the sentence

  I take my kids to school.

I would be the subject and the verb would be take.

Now, as the verb take is acted upon the kids, I thought my kids was the direct object and the school would be the indirect object.

However, my professor said that the school is actually a direct object.

I'm wondering, do I have both the kids and the school as two separate direct objects?


texts:
Would it be correct to say

  The animal that appeals to me most is...

or

  ... is the animal that greatly appeals to me.

in the meaning of "My favourite animal is..."?


texts: a word to express a feeling that is less than excited

texts:
I want to say this sentence "[an emotion] for the opportunity to learn more about..."

the emotion I'm looking for is something less than excited. It's something I'm very interested in and happy about, it makes my eyes wide but doesn't make me jump for joy?

Sorry if I don't explain it well. I don't know how to say it, hence the question.

edit: the expression I'm aiming for is something that makes me seem nonchalant but still excited about the opportunity

thank you in advance!


texts: What is a word that means "mental" but applies more to this sentence?

texts:
He believed in mental freedom from religious organizations.

I am trying to say that he believed in forming your own thoughts, without religious organizations telling you what to think. If you wanted to be part of the religious organization, then it was because you formed your own thoughts and then decided to join.

Of course I did not say everything in that single sentence, because it is currently a work in progress. I am just looking for the right word.


texts: The preposition 'Of' as in 'House of Cards'

texts:
I got two questions regarding the usage of the preposition 'of.'

First is when we say 'a house of cards' do we mean either of or only one of the following?:

I am referring to a house made of cards
I am referring to a house that belongs to cards, metaphorically speaking.

1 or 2 or either 1 or 2?

Second question is that when we say 'a cup of coffee,' I am referring to a cup that contains coffee; then the question is whether or not the preposition "of" in "a cup of coffee" works the same way as the "of" in, for example, "Such a jerk of a guy!" or "both of you."

I reckon either 1 or 2 is correct depending on the context; the 'of' in 'a cup of coffee' works the same as when you say "a picture of a bear" looking at a picture that shows a bear.


texts: Correct usage of SIC to express verbatim statements expressed vocally?

texts:
Taken literally, sic erat scriptum would imply that "[SIC]" is to be used only when expressing a written statement.

Can it also be safely applied to express that which has been expressed vocally? i.e, If someone has made a grammatical mistake when speaking; would it be appropriate to use SIC when transcribing the spoken word?


texts: What's the difference between the universe and the cosmos?

texts: Is there a difference between the universe and the cosmos? I used to think that the cosmos was a sort of container for the universe, one that could contain potentially infinite universes.


texts: The king wanted him killed VS The king wanted him to be killed

texts:
Do the following sentences mean the same thing or are they different?

  The king wanted him killed.
  The king wanted him to be killed.

Please use examples to explain the differentiations.


texts:
I was wondering whether the following sentence is grammatically correct:

  It's remarkable how many ideas for interesting programming projects pop up in your head when what you really should do is to study!

Is to study used correctly? Or should it just be study?


texts: “recommends” is to “recommendation”, as “depends” is to what?

texts:
If BAR depends on FOO – in the sense of “BAR has FOO as a prerequisite” – I can use the term “dependency” for one end of that relationship:

  BAR has a dependency on FOO.

What is an equivalent, simple term for the opposite relationship:

  FOO is a is-depended-on-by for BAR

I'm seeking a generally-applicable answer, so FOO and BAR are just placeholders for entities.

The noun should work as one of a collection of terms, “FOO is a recommendation for BAR”, “FOO is a suggestion for BAR”.

  BAR suggests FOO ⇒ FOO is a suggestion from BAR
  BAR recommends FOO ⇒ FOO is a recommendation from BAR
  BAR depends on FOO ⇒ FOO is a noun-for-other-end-of-the-dependency-relation from BAR

Note that these terms – “suggests”, “recommends”, “depends” – are not open for me to change. I am looking for the term at the other and of each of those named relations.

Examples:

  The hockey rulebook suggests the Pickworth tie breaker
  ⇒ The Pickworth tie breaker is a suggestion from the hockey rulebook
  The city guidebook recommends the seven-day rail pass
  ⇒ The seven-day rail pass is a recommendation from the city guidebook
  The state budget depends on the federal tax concession
  ⇒ The federal tax concession is a noun-for-other-end-of-the-dependency-relation from the state budget

What term goes in that place in the depends–is-depended-on relationship?

The answers to ““Employee” is to “employer” as “dependent” is to what?” don't apply, because those are specifically about people (and carry all the baggage of that, e.g. parent–child, sponsorship, etc.) that are not generally applicable.

The answers to “A depends on B, is A dependant, or is B dependant?” address the issue of parts of speech, which is not the subject of this question.

What is a noun which describes the relationship from the depended-on side?


texts:
No test that you wouldn't have had done before
https://youtu.be/4nm6Xaxvqd0?t=200 (3:20)

Is this phrase grammatical? There's no idiom such as would (not) have or have done.
What about No test you hadn't had done before?


texts: what is the meaning of these sentences? "You know where the drop is going down."

texts:
A police man said this to a man, and I don't understand the bold part.

  I know Caruso is a rat and I'm gonna clean up this sewer. You know where the drop is going down. Now give it up. Hey, I'll smack it outta ya.


texts: Can the feminine pronouns be gender-neutral?

texts:
I know this sounds weird but I've been noticing a lot of texts on the Internet like this one:

"Any citizen is concerned with her well-being ...". The word in question is "her". To me it seems like in this case "her" is being used as a gender-neutral pronoun. Is this really the case or is it something else?


texts: significance of "The" before country name

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Using the definite article before a country/state name

I am from India, and I do not say that I am from “the India”. But someone from USA  would say “I am from the United States of America.” Why do you need to use the extra  “the” in the second case?


texts: How is the word "fences" here supposed to be interpreted?

texts:
More data has emerged on many fronts. One, the extent of damage to
  water supplies has become clearer, and also the threat of associated
  damage like earthquakes. Protesters in Youngstown Ohio recently
  chained themselves to fences to try and stop more wastewater injection into wells there, because on New Years Eve it triggered a
  whole swarm of earthquakes.

The paragraph above is extracted from the website below:
https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/5062-Bill-McKibben-China-should-rethink-gas-fracking

According to the Oxford Dictionaries online, the word "fence" refers to "A barrier, railing, or other upright structure, typically of wood or wire, enclosing an area of ground to prevent or control access or escape." (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/fence)  Nonetheless, it remains confusing for me to understand.

Does it mean the "fences surrounding the wells there" or "lines formed by protesters as they chained themselves one another and thus looked like fences"?

Could someone please tell me? Thanks a lot.


texts: What is it called when something is actually true but someone mistakenly believes it is false and tells it to others intending to lie?

texts:
Sometimes one intends to lie and says something that she thinks it is false. But, unbeknownst to her, that is in fact true. Is there any word for such kind of lying/truthfulness?

I have collected almost a dictionary about different forms of lying, but for this kind I just didn't find anything. Besides, I couldn't find the same question here.


texts: Phrases similar to "pleased to meet you"

texts: What phrases can I use instead of pleased to meet you? I'm especially interested in using it as a greeting when chatting to a person for the first time online.


texts:
Looking for synonyms of 'entitled'. The dictionary lists synonyms for 'entitle' which has got to do with rightful access/privilege. I am looking for synonyms of the word in the sense of presuming (undeserved) privilege, as in entitled teenagers.

Edit:
I am not looking for a synonym in the context of teenagers necessarily –  sorry if the example implied that – just another word which means the same. The reason I want a synonym is that 'entitled', in the sense I want to use it, might not make sense to non-native speakers who might consider being 'entitled' a positive thing.

Edit2:
Have decided to go with 'acting entitled', which preserves the negative context for someone who might not understand that in the modern sense the word 'entitled' alone very often means that.

To people who never quite understood what I meant, consider the sentences:

1) He's the CEO – he's entitled to a larger office.

2) Millennials are such an entitled generation.

The difference should be obvious. The latter usage has become more popular, almost implied by default, in modern usage. Of course, the context makes things obvious. But for my purposes, I wanted the word to stand on its own and not be open to interpretation. Hence.


texts: Use of the article "the" when referring to an organization or entity

texts:
Is there a preferred use of "the" in American English when referring to an organization or entity?  For example, on an episode of the "1A" on NPR, guests of the show referred to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration  as both "The FDA" and "FDA". For example, "The FDA regulates supplements" vs. "FDA regulates supplements."

Is one form "correct" and the other not?

Is this a style choice? In British English, I am often hear statements like "John was in hospital" vs. "John was in the hospital" as one might expect in North American English.

If both forms are correct, is there a name for the two forms?


texts:
I'm struggling to find correct terminology to refer to something which is freely available (as in, no monetary cost) but is likely not free from copyright. Everyone may use a newspaper article that is online and doesn't require a subscription to view, but that doesn't mean that it is an example of "Open Data".

"Public domain"? I'm pretty sure that's not right, it's privately owned, after all.


texts:
I know it is common to use neither + nor to talk about two things, but what if I use nor as follows:

  He doesn't have permission to enter the room, nor I have the right to request permission for him.

Is this correct?


texts:
I know the common adverbial usage of "as is" as in,
Leave it as is.

As a non-native English speaker I found a strange-to-me but common English usage of non-adverbial "as is" and sometimes also "as are/was/were", which I cannot find its listing in the dictionary and in my (basic) English grammar book. With my search in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, I was able to find 4 kinds of of non-adverbial "as is".

1. as is = like

Ride quality and straight-line speed are also impressive, as is the Pro 4's resistance to tread cuts.

Certainly, looks are a factor, as is overall vibe.

As is the case in many academic libraries, space is at a premium.

2. as is = as it is

As far as is possible, populations must want to move and must have active influence.

As much as is possible, we must leave our sorrows.

3. as is = as

We experienced attrition from year 1 to year 2, as is expected in multiyear studies.

4. as is = as well as being

As is well-known, Hawthorne himself was considered a very handsome, indeed, a beautiful.

My question, simply put, "What is this?".


texts: Term for when manufacturer uses less material

texts: Is there a word for when a manufacturer removes a bit of material from the thing they are making to reduce cost? The image a have here is a drawbar lock. The circle and small square are not functional, the manufacturer just leaves out that amount of metal because it is not necessary.


texts: What do you call a minor flaw in a work that makes you realize how perfect/flawless it is otherwise?

texts:
For example, I was listening to an audio book the other day and the author mispronounced a word which got the audience laughing. Until that point, I didn't even know that there was an audience and that the whole thing was a live recording.

Another example might be that you find litter in a section of a street which is usually super clean. This gets you thinking about how the street cleaners do a really good job. Or imagine the internet connection at your house breaks down and you thus realize that it has been remarkably reliable for the past 4 years.

It's both about realizing that something is flawless otherwise and appreciating it.

Any expression, proverb, or single word is appreciated!


texts: Using "the book" and the title of the book in a sentence

texts:
Which one of these is the right way to include both "the book" and the title of the book in a sentence:

The book, Wuthering Heights, is worth a read.
The book Wuthering Heights is worth a read.

If none of them are right, what is the right way to write such a sentence. I am trying to express the idea that there is a book named Wuthering Heights and that book is worth a read.

In general, I have this problem for other types of sentences too, e.g., title of songs, movie names, etc. For example, "The song, When you say nothing at all, was written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz." Is there a grammar terminology or grammar concept that deals with introducing the type of object (book, song, etc.) and the title of the object, that I can look up to learn more about construction such sentences?


texts:
Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

Soon they were high enough so that looking down was best not
considered. There was nothing below but yawning blackness, nothing
above but moon and stars.

The author meant that you shouldn't have looked down because of this white-knuckle height. I understand that this can be paraphrased: it was best not to consider it
But what is the grammar behind this structure? I've found that there is a structure "(had) best do something". You can use it in the past like in this example: You had best have closed that door. But I couldn't find the phrase used in the book (was best not considered).
When thinking on it some time, I came up with some more phrases which are similar to the one in the book:
1.It was best not to be considered
2.It was best not to consider it

The 2nd variant sounds natural to me. The first seems wrong because to be considered means some obligation. (You must not look down!)
But what about the variant in the book? Can anyone explain it to me in terms of grammar?
Thanks in advance


texts: When is the earliest usage of 'woke' and 'wokeness' in their meaning of awareness of social injustice?

texts:
The new usage of 'woke' (being alert to issues of social justice) and 'wokeness' appears to be becoming widespread.

Merriam Webster states:

  Woke’s transformation into a byword of social awareness likely started in 2008, with the release of Erykah Badu’s song “Master Teacher”:

"To keep a healthy life, I stay woke."

Is there an earlier example of the usage of these two words ?

[EDIT : subsequent to Laurel's answer I did an Ngram of 'stay woke' in AmE.
Big blip in 1880 (interesting) and then, in line with Laurel's findings,
usage begins 1960/1980s to present.]


texts: Which is correct? 'From' or 'Since' when applied to 'time immemorial'? I have seen both around, and have a feeling it might be 'from', but would like to check.


texts:
I have seen some sentences similar to the following one in a way that -ing form of "be" is used.
The verb is "be" therein. I wonder what if it is another verb like drink, see, come, go etc. any verb.  followed by a preposition such as of, like,with, to, etc.
Could you provide some examples?
Does the topic has a special title?

A tons of lies with the gobbledygook words being their words would
ruin the relationship.
“The "left join" command with the "albums table(schema)" being our
left table would bring all the data.”
I being a doctor means I can propose a cure for the sickness.
It has nothing to do with you being a geek.

Are they a kind of simplification? For example,

The "left join" command with the fact that the "albums
table(schema)" is our left table would bring all the data.
The fact that I'm a doctor means I can propose a cure for the sickness.
It has nothing to do with the fact that you are a geek.

If it is kinda simplification, I don't understand how it is done and what it is.


texts: "cultivate" means making a lot of effort

texts:
I have found out in Cambridge dictionary that, cultivate means making a lot of effort. But I cannot find any nice example for that. Could anyone please provide me an example?

Here is my attempt at using the word with this meaning: "I've been cultivating to increase my knowledge for several years." Is it wrong?


texts:
My native language isn't English. What tense should I use to describe some actions/activities: present simple or present continuous? I don't mean actions/activities that are happening right now. For example what is the difference (in meaning) between these two sentences:

  1) When you dream and you wake up and can't move.
  2) When you are dreaming and you wake up and can't move.


texts: What is the word for working hard to "take the concerns of someone away"?

texts:
I have someone who is concerned about my lack of experience on the job I might be hired to do.

How can I reply back saying that I will work hard to "get rid of their concerns" or "make these concerns go away"?

Thanks!


texts: Someone who favors both sides of a mutually exclusive argument is called or said to be _______?

texts: Someone who favors both sides of an argument....both solutions which are mutually exclusive are said to be ______?


texts: Can any verb in the simple present tense express a scheduled future event when used in a main clause?

texts:
Here's an article titled "NBN rolling out FttDP to 700,000 premises, replacing Optus HFC footprint":

The National Broadband Network (NBN) company has announced that it
will be replacing the Optus hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) footprint with
its fibre-to-the-distribution-point (FttDP) network, with up to
700,000 premises to be covered by the new network technology.
...
DOCSIS 3.1 -- currently due to be launched in the second half of
2017 -- would enable HFC users to reach speeds of 1Gbps down/100Mbps
up.
...
In terms of FttDP speeds, the VDSL box currently being used has the
capability to deliver speeds of up to 500Mbps, but, once it is updated
to a G.Fast box, has the capacity for 1Gbps.

In the last sentence, there are two main clauses connected with but, and the verb has of the second main clause is in the simple present tense and denotes a scheduled future event.
Is this use of has grammatical?
What if has is replaced with gets?

In terms of FttDP speeds, the VDSL box currently being used has the capability to deliver speeds of up to 500Mbps, but, once it is updated to a G.Fast box, gets the capacity for 1Gbps.

In another question "Very very confused! which verbs can be used in simple present tense for scheduled future events?", the only answer there says, "Almost any action verb can be used in the present tense for a scheduled future event."
Does this mean that stative verbs such as has in the above article cannot generally be used in the present tense for a scheduled future event when used in a main clause?


texts:
At a meeting in an international corporation, a Canadian speaker mentioned having a "red chair" culture and later continued to talk about their "red chair" learnings.  I'm not sure what that implies.

I searched on Google for that phrase and broader phrases but I couldn't find any definitions.  I looked on Dictionary.com but it's not there.  I checked if it's an idiom relating to furniture without results.

What does "red chair" imply when it's used like that?  What is the figurative meaning and what history lead to the literal meaning?

Addendum.  Since posting this, I've heard from corporate leaders in Australia and New Zealand that clarify that the "red chair" represents the voice of the customer.  In practice, an empty red chair is positioned at the conference table during corporate meetings to remind staff to think about how a customer may react to the meeting's conversation.  In other words, becoming more customer centric as an organization.

I'm still not sure where the "red chair" concept originated, or why it's red, or if this technique is broadly used by many companies or not.


texts: What do you call moving a word to change a sentence's meaning?

texts:
Prosodic stress is stressing different words to change meaning:

I didn't take the test yesterday. (Somebody else did.)
I didn't take the test yesterday. (I did not take it.)
I didn't take the test yesterday. (I did something else with it.)
I didn't take the test yesterday. (I took a different one.)
I didn't take the test yesterday. (I took something else.)
I didn't take the test yesterday. (I took it some other day.)

Is there also a name or phrase describing changing the same word's position to change meaning?

ONLY she told me that she loved me. (She's the only one.)
She ONLY told me that she loved me. (She told me nothing more.)
She told ONLY me that she loved me. (She told no one else.)
She told me ONLY that she loved me. (She told me nothing else.)
She told me that ONLY she loved me. (No one else does.)
She told me that she ONLY loved me. (And nothing else.)
She told me that she loved ONLY me. (And no one else.)


texts: When did repair have the same meaning as retire?

texts:
(Migrated from https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/28043/when-did-repair-have-the-same-meaning-as-retire, on behalf of @andrew-johnson)

I am currently reading a series called, "The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica." The first book is placed near the end of WWI and the sixth book, which I just finished, ends just passed the time of Herbert Wells's death (H.G. Wells).

In the books, where one might say 'I shall retire, for I am in need of sleep,' (not an actual quote, just an example), they would replace retire with repair. As we currently know them, repair means to fix and retire means to cease work.

When did these two words have the same meaning and when/why did it change?


texts: Diversification saw the first appearance

texts:
The following quote is found in "The Mars Mystery" by Graham Hancock.

  "a profound diversification that saw the first appearance in the fossil record of virtually all animal phyla living today. With relative evolutionary rates of more that 20 times normal, nothing like it has occurred since."

Please help me to comprehend the '...diversification ... saw the first appearance...'. I guess it is said that traces of a diversification are found in the fossil. And 'saw' is the past tense of 'see'. Something prevents me from accepting it as a grammatically correct and clear statement in English language. Is it because of my poor knowledge of English or rephrasing the sentence might not be a waste of time?


texts: What can I call a "small business owner"?

texts:
What can I call small business owners or small businesses without using this miserable word small?

I'm trying to find a name for some event, trying to invent a word that will make them appear in a positive way.


texts: Italicizing titles of nonexistent or spurious works?

texts:
This is for a novel: should the title of a non-existent video game be italicized when it's spoken as a solecism by a character?

Example: the mother tells the kids to stop playing Immortal Kombat. The kid replies that it's Mortal Kombat. For some reason this seemed incongruous, or just plain misleading. I thought of not italicizing  Mortal Kombat as well, so that they match, as it is spoken in dialogue. I understand the rule is consistency, but more spoonerisms or malapropisms may be spoken later in the novel--which is somewhat rich in pop-culture references--so I'd like to know now.

I suppose the main reason that it seems weird NOT being italicized, is that I am so consistent in the first hundred pages with titles, so that any careful reader or knowledgeable consumer of pop-culture will see Immortal Kombat and immediately understood that the mother misspoke, which is what I really don't want. I want that second of hanging, that second of a reader asking him- or herself, "Huh? Is that a game?"


texts: Implementation(s) of the algorithm on the GPU and on the CPU?

texts:
The implementation of the algorithm on the GPU is introduced. The implementation of the algorithm on the CPU is also introduced.

If I want to combine the two sentences above into one, which of the following sentences is correct?

(a) The implementation of the algorithm on the GPU and on the CPU is introduced.
(b) The implementations of the algorithm on the GPU and on the CPU are introduced.
(c) The implementation of the algorithm on the GPU and the CPU is introduced.

Many Thanks!


texts: In Oral english, can we reply "I think so" to an interrogative sentence?

texts:
For instance, in Spoken English:

  Q: Has anyone seen my torch?
  A: I think so. / I don’t think so.

Or it is better to reply with a yes or no, such as:

  Q: Has anyone seen my torch?
  A: Yeah, I think so. / No, I don’t think so.


texts:
I watch many movies these days, and I often feel happy when the main character gets what they want in the end or sad otherwise. Is there an adjective to describe this? It appears to me that vicarious is not the right word because it applies only to people watching other people in real life, but I might be wrong. For example,

  I am so _____. I always feel good when the protagonist wins and bad
  when he loses.

Phrases and other parts of speech are also welcome.


texts: What is the difference between "large" and "massive"?

texts:
What is the difference between large and massive? They both seem the same but when I read this article I stumbled across this:

Scientists using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the immense halo of gas enveloping the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), our nearest massive galactic neighbor, is about six times larger and 1,000 times more massive than previously measured.
(source: astronomy.com )

EDIT: To clarify this question, I am asking for the difference between larger and more massive. How can it be 6 times larger but also 1000 times more massive? Is it talking about size?


texts:
I’m referring to the similar definitions of these four nouns – something raised and rounded.  Why do these four rhyming words have similar meanings?

I have not found very specific sources for these words on the Online Etymology Dictionary and Wiktionary.
Hump is “probably from Dutch homp.” Rump is “from a Scandinavian source,” “from Old Norse rumpr” ultimately from Proto-Germanic “rumpo.” Lump is “perhaps from a Scandinavian source” and finally, Bump is “perhaps from Scandinavian,” “probably of North Germanic origin.”

Could these words come from the same root? Other than the fact that they all might come from northern Europe, the only hint I have in
this direction is the following from Wiktionary, tracing the origin of Hump
through Dutch, Middle Low German, Old Saxon and Proto-Germanic, to
Proto-Indo-European *kumb-, *kumbʰ- (“curved”). Could this PIE root,
which is not given in these online sources for any of the other
three words, be a common root to all four words?
I find myself looking at other –ump words and “seeing” a curved or rounded line: jump (a curved trajectory), grump (a downturned mouth), pump (the action of the pump handle), clump (a rounded clod of earth, not sharp), etc. Am I just seeing this because the words sound similar, or is there something more to my tendency? For example, the Online Etymology Dictionary suggests the origin of jump is "perhaps onomatopoeic (cf. bump)" although this view is not echoed on Wiktionary. Is it possible that these words do all share a common root and are simply onomatopoeic variations of each other?
Are there other pairs or groups of words like these in English? (Wham! Bam! Ka-blam!) Does
    this phenomenon have a name?


texts: What is the identity of in - "after" or "within"?

texts:
This is really controversial in a lot of countries where English is not a native language.
I will be there in 5 minutes.
Identity A: I will be there after 5 minutes.
Identity B: I will be there within 5 minutes.
or
"in" is different from A or B and has its own something (like nuance difference) ?


texts:
Saw this thread.

In the thread, poor is implied in a sense that it is more severe than bad. I myself would choose to replace poor with terrible. But I don't see anything implying that in dictionaries. Is that always the case—poor is worse than bad—if the two words are used under the same context?


texts: Use of singular or plural in mathematics

texts:
In mathematics we often need to refer to lists of numbers in the form of a_1, a_2, etc. which we denote in totality by a_n where n stands for 1,2,3,etc. Nevertheless it is not then clear whether a_n is a singular or a plural because in one sense a_n is an individual number (if n is taken to refer to a single number). So different authors use different versions, for example:

Let a_n be a number such that ...; If a_n has the property...
Let a_n be numbers such that ...; If a_n have the property...

My impression is that the majority of mathematicians use the first version. Which one is correct?


texts: What comic device is based on unexpected changes in meaning?

texts:
To be a really good lover, then, one must be strong and yet tender. How strong? I suppose being able to lift fifty pounds should do it.

Woody Allen

I am not asking specifically about the ludicrous lowering of the tone/importance of a word; I am asking about incongruously changing the meaning of a word or phrase in a latter sentence as pointed out in Jason’s answer.


texts: Is there a word or short phrase to describe a movie that wins many awards?

texts: Like "award reaper" or "award sweeper". I know they may not be correct so I need a right one.


texts: Which term best suits to describe a part/slice/share/portion of a piechart, disregarding what the chart is about ?


texts: Is "Don't you know? " the same as "Do not you know?"?

texts:
Well, we know don't is the same as do not, right?

Therefore, can I say "Do not you know?", instead of "Don't you know?"?

Well, I know that chances are I can't do that, but technically that should be correct, no?


texts: "I will send an email to manager and copy you on that." Is this correct?

texts:
1) I will send an email to Rick and copy you on that.

2) I will send an email to Rick and I will copy you on that.

Which of the above is correct?


texts:
I was watching an episode of Friends where Ross talks about "counting mississippily".
I did not get the joke. Why would someone say "Mississippi" after every number?

Is there some story behind it?


texts:
I know that there is this issue where Worcestershire and Leicester are pronounced as "Wustersher" and "Lester", so I wonder how Brichester is pronounced.

Also, is there any special rule which could help in getting the pronunciation right or is it just a thing you have to learn by heart?


texts:
I want to describe a new product which is an improved version of an existing one. The new product has all the features from the existing product, and adds a few new features.

I am looking for a nice way to phrase the above, specifically the verb which is used to say that the new products has all the features from the previous one:

Product X keeps all the features from product Y, and adds ...
Product X retains all the features from product Y, and adds ...
Product X maintains all the features from product Y, and adds ...
... other?


texts:
I'm coding a decryption service and wondering which is the best name, Decryptor or Decrypter I had a quick look online and it appears -er and -or convert a verb to an agent noun, however is one preferable over the other?

Interestingly my Mac tells me to use the latter.


texts:
Can I say He's on a trip?
Is it correct?
if someone asks for my friend, and he is in China now. can I say He's on a trip?


texts: "a bewildering amount of choice" or "a bewildering amount of choices"?

texts: "a bewildering amount of choice" is a sentence from a dictionary. I think it should be ""a bewildering amount of choices" and I found both of them can be found from the Internet. Anyone can help to clarify please? Thanks.


texts:
What is the difference between Speak English and Speak in English?

Which one is (more) acceptable in this sentence:

"You must speak English/ in English in class."

Or, are both correct? If yes, what is the difference?

Another question:

I know it is incorrect to say to talk English. What about to talk in English? Can you use it instead of speak in English?


texts:
I am trying to teach myself punctuation rules. I have this sentence:

  The Disney version generally considered both racist and sexist portrayed the female characters in stereotypical roles and presented ethnically diverse characters with stereotypical features.

I think the sentence needs a comma after sexist and before portrayed. I also think it needs a comma after roles because of what I have identified as a coordinating conjunction. I.e.:

  The Disney version generally considered both racist and sexist, portrayed the female characters in stereotypical roles, and presented ethnically diverse characters with stereotypical features.

Did I punctuate the sentence correctly? Is this a coordinating conjunction?


texts:
I saw someone use this word before, but I cannot remember what it is. The word
describes this scenario:

Person A makes some points:

This is 1st point. This is 2nd point. This is 3rd point.
Person B refutes those points, often interleaving the original points:

  This is 1st point.

1st point is wrong because reasons.

  This is 2nd point.

2nd point is wrong because reasons.

  This is 3rd point.

3rd point is wrong because reasons.

I remember reading a word or phrase that decribed Person B’s line-by-line
response.


texts: "two children were born out of this wedlock" is the usage correct?

texts: Stella and David married in 1995. two children were born out of this wedlock. Is the usage "out of" correct?


texts:
I'm looking for a word to fill in this blank:

“They’re delinquents,” The doctor agrees. “But, don’t worry, we’re finding them, Jannie. You will get the justice you deserve.”
I let out a _______. “Don’t even try to pretend you’re doing this for me, my husband, or anyone else but yourself. You’re just trying to save your own skin."

I'm looking for a specific type of laugh, where it's a scoff that turns into a chuckle. For example, if a mother has a very rambunctious child, and he/she does something that surprises and angers her at the same time, she might do this kind of laugh. Is there a word for this? I don't want to say "dry laugh" or "sarcastic laugh" because there is a bit more too it than those. If there isn't a word for this, is there any other phrases I could use?


texts: Apart from modals what defective verbs exist?  For example beware and begone.


texts: Different meanings for phrase "off the regular price"

texts:
What is the correct way to say a product can be bought with a discount of 30%?

Is it: “Buy this by 30% off the regular price.”?

What I want to say is that a 30% discount is being given, so the product will cost 70% of the regular price.

There seems to be a difference between of and off. Will this wording be misunderstood to mean that the product can be bought by 30% of the regular price instead of 30% “off” the regular price?

How do I say it correctly and without creating doubt?


texts:
I called my friend "salt of the earth" recently. I meant it in the best way possible - he is  representative of moral goodness.

But when I looked up the definition, I became a bit uncertain of my usage. I found two definitions:

an individual or group considered as representative of the best or noblest elements of society.
Basic, fundamental goodness; the phrase can be used to describe any simple, good person: “I like Mary: she's reliable, trustworthy, and straightforward; she's the salt of the Earth.” In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers, who are mainly fishermen and other simple people, “Ye are the salt of the Earth.”

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/salt+of+the+earth

The first definition fits my compliment very well. "Representative of the best or noblest elements of society". But I dislike the second definition. I surely DID NOT mean to call my friend simple, since, after all, he is a very sophisticated scientist.

I want to know whether the connotation of "simple goodness" or "goodness in being simple" is common with this expression? Is that what people understand it to mean? Or did I use it in the right way?

Update: So there seem to be two types of responses - 1. whether I insulted my friend 2. whether there actually is an implication of being unsophisticated in the phrase.

I'm actually not interested in question (1), I'm only interested in question (2).


texts:
Let say we have a group of models (car models, for example), how would you refer to it?:
model group or models group?
and in plural:
models groups or model groups?
We wanted to create a variable for a code and were discussing about the right usage, modelGroup or modelsGroup?
Thank you!


texts:
I've already read some of your answers concerning the "rather than vs instead of" issue, but I still don't understand why in my example rather than is the correct answer.

  Our manager is concerned with efficiency.............expansion.

  a. Rather than

  b. Instead of

  c. Although

  d. Even if

The correct answer is a.

Could someone explain why? I think that both a and b are correct.


texts: Synonym for "artisan" with a more scientific connotation

texts:
Wikipedia describes "artisan" as:

  An artisan ... or craftsman ... is a skilled manual worker who makes
  items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including
  furniture, sculpture, clothing, jewellery, household items and tools
  or even machines such as the handmade devices of a watchmaker.
  Artisans practice a craft and may through experience and aptitude
  reach the expressive levels of an artist.

Since the nineties writing source code for software has been looked upon as something that you can only do well through lots of experience, almost like an art. There have been tons of books that suggest it is more of an art than a science. While I get the mindset that people had back then, computer programming has evolved, tools and frameworks have been developed so that it takes less experience to write code of good quality.

Right now, I'm writing something on computer programming, and I'm wondering if there's a word equal to "artisan", but with a more scientific connotation.

By the way: I'm not sure the word "synonym" is the correct term for this question, so if somebody has a more fitting word, feel free to edit the question.


texts: Is there a better word than "colorizable"?

texts:
In part of the software my company develops, the user is presented with a list of black-and-white images. The user can select one of these images and then can select a color for it, changing it from black and white to the color they selected.

We are currently calling these “Colorizable Images”, as opposed to the alternative list of “Existing Color” images. But I am not sure that colorizable is a real word and am concerned people may not understand.

Is there a better term for something for which one can change the color of? We considered colorable but the definition seemed completely wrong.

An example might help. The user will see:

And when they choose to colorize that blue, they get:


texts:
Can you use a word ending in -phobia as a plural, in the following context:

  Their anachrophobias led them to running away from the fake spider.


texts: "I was starting suspecting something was wrong" <-- What's the grammar problem here?

texts:
I have been using “starting suspecting” frequently thinking that it’s correct too but recently my friend corrected me. I don't understand why.

It is well-known that start to + verb and start verb-ing are interchangeable in terms of meaning:

  It started to rain.
  It started raining.

The sentences above mean the same thing.

There is also no problem with the verb suspect being used as a gerund-participle:

Consider:

I started suspecting something was amiss.

There is no problem with using the verb start in continuous cobstructions:

It was starting to rain.

So what's the grammatical problem with the folowing?

  I was starting suspecting that something was amiss.


texts:
We were silent for the rest of the drive. I could feel the waves of
infuriated disapproval rolling off of him, and I could think of
nothing to say. (Twilight)

Tension rolled off of her, nearly visible in the air. I could feel
the desire, the all-consuming passion that held her in its grip.
Almost as if I could hear her thoughts, too, I knew what she was
thinking. (Twilight 3 - Eclipse)

I could feel the tension rolling off Edward as he listened to
Aro’s assessment of Carlisle’s words. The strain mounted as the
seconds ticked by. (Twilight 4 - Breaking dawn)


texts: Is there a term to refer to an illustrator who mainly posts his or her works online? I mean, a lot of illustrators started out this way, so I am curious if there's a term that we can use to refer to them.


texts: Is there a name to describe this type of street?

texts:
I am looking for a word to describe a street type.  The street is found in city outskirts and the suburbs in the US.  The street is (for the most part) three car widths wide.  Parking is only on one side.  So really if people are parked on that one side then people that are going in that direction have to wait if there is oncoming traffic or passing is very narrow/dangerous.

Example:  Street goes south to north.  Parking is on right side (or east).  The people going north have the cars in their way and must navigate around them.  The people going south have the right of way.  Do we call this a South Through street?


texts: I just want to know whether till is exclusive or inclusive, like if someone says count from 1 till 5, should I say 1,2,3,4,5 or 1,23,4


texts:
Interviews that asked past behavior questions demonstrated superior validity for predicting performance because they provide for an assessment of motivation to apply knowledge/skills more effectively than situational questions.

In above sentence, what does "provide for" mean? I'm confused with the extra(?) "for".


texts: Is there an inverse of the word "consignment"?

texts:
Consignment is when you leave goods at a third party for them to sell as their own, and when it sells they pay you an agreed amount.  In this case the third party is called a consignment store

Is there a word for the opposite of this?  i.e. when you keep the goods on hand and a third party advertises it as their own and sells it (takes payment), and then when it sells, you deliver it to the customer.  What would the third party be called in this case?

I'm finding that the listed antonyms for consignment are lacking: holding, keeping, and retention all seem to lose quite a bit of the nuance that consignment has.


texts:
The term "maiden name" is only used to describe the name that a woman had before marriage, and as such, is not gender neutral. However, it occasionally occurs that a man will take his partner's last name, or they will choose a different last name altogether, so this doesn't work in all cases.

What is a gender-neutral way to refer to a last name that you had before you were married, in fewer words?


texts:
In a Lynda.com tutorial I came across such a sentence: "In camera uploads (folder) are all the photos that I had in my iPad". Instead, I would have probably said: "In camera uploads there are ...." Is that also correct?

To generalize, I put the question this way:

Inside the box there were five apples.
Inside the box were five apples.

Are they synonymous? Is there a slight or bigger difference? When do we choose one over the other? According to my research, they are both valid constructions. But when I asked a native British person, he said that he would never use the second construction because it seemed odd to him. I'm pretty confident with using 1st construction, whereas I'm not sure with the second one. Maybe they are synonymous in meaning but different stylistically. If so, please confirm. And it seems to me that 1st construction is much more frequent than 2nd one. Please confirm or contradict.


texts: Palatalization of the initial "s" in words starting with "str-"

texts:
Sometimes I hear native speakers pronounce the s at the beginning of a word as [ʃ]. For example, straight as [ʃtreɪt], or struggle as [ʃtrʌɡl]. It sounds like German words.

Is it a certain English dialect, a specific accent, or just an idiolect?


texts: My grandmother 1883 - 1980 insisted that a "missive" was a HAND CARRIED message or letter. I don't find this distinction in modern thinking. Any ideas?


texts:
I've never liked the use of "to grow [x]" to mean "to make [x] bigger", rather than in the agricultural sense.

Am I justified in this at all?

(If so, can we make the SE team reword our social media banner?)


texts: An 'invite to which' or an 'invitation to which' or 'whose invite'?

texts:
All prompts and learning resources will be released on our Discord server, and an invite to it shall be e-mailed to the participants on registration.

I am adding the previous sentence to an official document and am quite confused as to how this sentence shall be structured as something about it does not sound good right now.

I google'd the use of 'whose' for inanimatable objects and got weird answers so could not decide if I could say ...on Discord, whose invite shall be sent...
and, I also could not decide if it would make sense to say an invite to which shall be sent or an invitation to which shall be sent.

There are three aspects of this question and I still am quite confused, what is the best way to convey the message?


texts: Is a single-word quote capitalized? Does it require a comma to precede it?

texts:
Note: I'm not referring to scare quotes. The sample sentence is this:
I added a GIF of Meryl Streep mouthing “whoa” followed by the waving-hand emoji.
It's not really someone speaking, so I'm not sure the same capitalization and preceding comma would apply. Does it require quotes at all?


texts:
I am describing a problem regarding locations positioned next to each other where blocks are placed. For a given layout the locations next to blocks are unusable and in the next step no block might be placed here. For example, in the layout:

|_|x|x|_|x|_|_|

The first, fourth and sixth locations cannot be used later. I am looking for a word to describe it. So far i have unusable, or maybe dead space. Is there a better word for this? Thanks in advance!

Example sentence:
In the layout above there are 3 ___. In another layout there is one __ less.


texts:
Why is the word "pervious" uncommon to the point of being considered a spelling error, but "impervious" is extremely common?

For the record, it is a word, apparently. Dictionary.com defines it as:

  admitting of passage or entrance; permeable: pervious soil.
  open or accessible to reason, feeling, argument, etc.

My general sense is that these kinds of opposites (formed with in-, im-, etc.) tend to be either well balanced in usage, or the "positive" form is more common. Consider:

perfect / imperfect
possible / impossible
plausible / implausible

Google NGrams support this perception:

There are a few exceptions to this rule of thumb. "Insurmountable" seems more common than "surmountable," for example. This is again reinforced with an NGram:

The word "pervious" seems so odd that at first I thought that the word "impervious" must have derived from some completely different source and the presence of im- was just a coincidence. But, no, the etymology clearly points to a root where the positive form "pervious" (from the Latin "pervius") is (was?) valid.

I've considered that the word is just too similar to the abbreviated form of "pervert," which obviously has a strong negative connotation. But this doesn't appear to be a well-reasoned or satisfying answer. Lots of perfectly valid words are superficially similar to words with negative connotations. (Think of a "niggling" pain, for example, although admittedly this example is more common in British English and the racial slur it's similar to is likely more common in American English.) Bottom line, I doubt that people aren't using "pervious" because it's similar to other words.

So this leaves me wondering:

What happened to the word "pervious"? Why is it so much less common than "impervious"?
Is there a known class of such words where the opposite (formed by a prefix) of a word is dramatically more common than its base?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!


texts: Is there such thing as an incorrect and correct bias?

texts:
Does it make sense to say that one has an "incorrect bias"? Or is this a tautology?

Can a bias be reffered to as correct or incorrect? Positive or negative?

Thanks!


texts: How accurate is it to say I might would, if I could? Just reading on the intricacies of can and may and it got me curious.


texts: How to pronounce acronyms and initialisms with apostrophes?

texts:
Simple question:

How do you pronounce acronyms when they're used with apostrophe to express possession? For example:

  In the NIH's high-risk, high-reward programmes, “if an idea isn't developing the way it was expected to, awardees have the flexibility to pursue a more promising avenue of research”.


texts: Do "sleep in" and "oversleep" mean the same thing? If so, what is hidden after "sleep in?"

texts:
Assuming "sleep in" and "oversleep" mean the same thing,
it seems there's something missing in "sleep in."
What is supposed to follow after "sleep in?"


texts: how do you say starting something and coming back to it until it is completed professionally

texts:
If as an example a teacher gives you a 10 page paper due in a week. You start the project when you are assigned it. However, you can not finish it in a single session. Therefore, you continue working on the essay at a later date. However, you do not finish the essay in that session either. This process continues until the essay is finished.

How would you suggest utilizing this in a professional tone.


texts: Is it correct to use the suffix -ian when referring to names?

texts:
Oftentimes when reading academic texts I will come across the suffix "-ian" as a way to denote ownership.  While I find it fitting syntactically (it "feels" right), I don't remember ever learning it specifically in school, etc.  For example:

  Wilsonian (Wilson's) moral diplomacy is widely regarded as a failure.

  Carverian (Carver's) Minimalism marked a rebirth of the realist movement.

So, here are my questions:

Is this syntax correct?
If so, What mood does it give off?  Does it offer an academic tone, etc.?
Is it possible to use this with any name, or just a few popular ones?  Can I say "Flafla2-ian"?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I've read somewhere that if complex is an adjective, its second syllable is stressed (com-plex), while for noun, the first one (com-plex). But e.g. this link says that adjective can also sound as noun. I also remember that my teacher (many years ago) said "com-plex object", although complex is an adjective here.

I guess stress depends on context of usage. So, what are the cases for stressing first or second syllable in adjective complex? How do I determine which syllable has to be stressed?

For example, how are "complex numbers", "complex object", "complex problem" pronounced?


texts: What is the inverse of "detect", meaning "to lose sight of"?

texts: I'm not quite looking for an antonym of "detect" (e.g., overlook) but more of the inverse action that means "lose signal" or "lose sight of".


texts:
Please can you tell me which of the two prepositions in the examples below are correct? Is it possible to use both of them? Thanks! :)

  Translate text into German   /   Translate text to German

  It started to snow at Christmas   /   It started to snow during
  Christmas

  To ring Kitty up    /  To ring Kitty

  It starts about eight   /    It starts around eight

  To travel around Europe  /  To travel through Europe

  He looked about himself   /   He looked around himself

  To give a speech about    /    To give a speech on


texts: Proper Use of the Word "Correction" in a Title

texts:
I am employing the word, correction, in the title of a section of writing—but I'm concerned about its proper use.

Here are a few examples of the title:

Formal Correction to Smith's Conclusion
Formal Correction of Smith's Conclusion
Formal Correction for Smith's Conclusion

My writing aims to correct the invalid conclusions that another author drew, thus I need the title to embody that.


texts: Alternatives to "computationally expensive"?

texts:
The current version of a sentence I'm writing has the structure:

  Computing [such and such] is the most computationally expensive part of [algorithm].

At the moment, I cannot think of a better phrase to replace "computationally expensive".  I know it is legitimate to say this ("computationally expensive" has been published numerous times).  However, it sounds a little informal to me.

What are some alternatives to "computationally expensive" in the above sentence?


texts:
A relatively straightforward use of "cannot but help" is along the lines of

  When you use ... you cannot but help notice...

No issues there.  However, I would like to say

  If you have used ... (right form of) you cannot but help notice

I could simply duck the issue and write

  If you have used ... you will have noticed

but not being able to work in cannot but help is bothering me.  I'd be most grateful to anyone who might be able to tell me how it could be used with "If you have..."


texts: what does "feels" in the text imply and why does "feels" place in the position?

texts:
In one corner of the BrandLab, Jeff goes to work running VW's folks
  through a rapid-fire succession of video ad campaigns the BrandLab
  feels have worked.

I don't understand what the BrandLab "feels" about.

Also I'm not sure what "have worked" tries to tell... does it mean "a repid-fire sucession of video ad campaigns have worked well"?


texts:
When the adverb “however” is used to introduce a contrary statement, does it have to be followed by a comma?

I know in such usage, "however" usually accompanies with a comma, but still I found an exception here:

  The director said he was looking for girls six and up, because he didn’t think that someone younger would be able to act. However when he saw Wallis act, he knew he had found the perfect person to play Hushpuppy. He said she was “beyond anything we’d seen before.”

Is that an accidental error, or the use of "however" without a comma does exist in some nonstandard English?


texts: "Border protection" vs "boarder protection"

texts: Is the term boarder protection valid? It has 52,500 results on Google. What is the difference between boarder protection and border protection?


texts: English translation of german bureaucratic term: "Weglegesache"

texts:
The German bureaucratic term Weglegesache is used in German public administration to refer to documents that they are forced to keep for a certain amount of time, but which are very unlikely ever to get retrieved/used.

I am searching for a translation that keeps the bureaucratic context and communicates that it refers to a bureaucratic action. The term Weglegesache is intended to be used as a title for a piece of art, so I can't just describe it in the translation.


texts: What kind of grammar explains the common string "Let us"?

texts:
What kind of the grammar is shown by the group of two words "let us"?
Is it a phrase or a predicate or a clause ... or something else?