texts: An expression for "cut you off with honey"

texts:
In the Greater Maghreb of the Arab world, when two people are having a conversation and the person who is listening has to say something very important and has to butt in, that person would say respectfully:

  '(If you'd let me) cut you off with honey'.

It's also used in formal situations:

  'Sorry if you'll excuse me there, mind if I cut you off (talk/speech)
  with honey'.

The English expression 'I'll have to stop you right there' seems to me kind of improper.

Is there anything like this more polite 'cut you off with honey' expression in English?


texts: Is there a good phrase for an "alternating effect" of X on Y?

texts: X has a positive effect on Y under one condition (let's say for younger people under the age of 30) but X has a negative effect on Y under different condition (e.g. for everyone else).


texts:
Is there a 'better' or different way of saying room for improvement?

e.g.

  Despite the success of X, there is still room for improvement...


texts: I run 40 hours a week? (or) I run 40 hours per week?

texts:
I run 40 hours a week?

or

I run 40 hours per week?

[h/week] - hours a week

or

[h/week] - hours per week

Which one is "more" grammatically correct. I often see both of them being used.


texts: Why are adverbs included in the form class? Do they change forms?

texts:
The word 'green' being an adjective has other forms such as greener and greenest. The form of the word changes and therefore it belongs to the form class.
Could anyone give the explanation for the case of adverbs being included in the form class?
 Do they change form?

Thank you.


texts:
I'm trying to translate a sentence out of a book, and the author is talking about the past and I'm not sure which one is correct, the sentence goes like this:

She was so alone, I was the only one she knew, but She didn't even had me/has me/have me.

And why?


texts: Antonym of coterminous, or single word for "having the same beginning"

texts:
I find myself wanting to say that two things have their beginning together (not necessarily in time). The word coterminous came to mind, but that is the opposite of what I'm trying to say. I thought of simultaneous, but that is too punctiliar (whereas I want to express something more enduring, as implied by the word coterminous) and perhaps a little too time-laden.

So, for example:

  To know the truth and to begin to know that you know the truth are <things-originating-inseparably>.

Is there a single English word for this?


texts: Is there a tendency among native speakers of English not to use "past perfect" for past conditional sentences? Perhaps they consider it "too correct"?

texts:
I often see in movies that the people engaged in a dialogue use the past simple tense in a conditional situation where the correct tense seems to be the past perfect. Is this because the past prefect tense is too out there in an ordinary everyday conversation?
Example:
A: "Why didn't you tell me about the party Simon?"
B: "Because I didn't know there was a party. If I knew there was one, I would tell you."
In the above example (and a lot of other similar situations), I assume the correct sentence would be "If I had known, I would've told you." But hardly ever have I seen such a phrasing being used to talk about the past, especially in informal conversations.


texts: "When would be the best time" vs. "what would be the best time"

texts:
Is it more appropriate to say

  When would be the best time and date for the meeting?

or

  What would be the best time and date for the meeting?

I would assume the former and not the latter, but is it just as acceptable?


texts:
Was it specifically mentioned as part of their teaching or they have just
  happened not to have killed anyone?

Do I need have there?


texts: What is the difference between "by the method "and "with the method "?

texts:
Which  is gramatically correct to say? ;

I have gained 500 USD by this new method.
I have gained 500 USD with  this new method


texts:
Is the following phrase (grammatically) correct?

  Bill Gates, whose company is very rich, is famous.

(I couldn't come up with a better context-free sample)


texts: which word is correct to use? And or or?

texts:
In the following sentence which is correct to use? And or or?

"I have the choice between Tony or Samantha"
"I have the choice between Tony and Samantha."


texts: I work "in a grocery store" or "at a grocery store"

texts: I am not a native speaker but both sounds good to me. Which one should be more accurate or in fact correct.


texts: Difference between presuppose and postulate

texts:
Presuppose is defined as:

  tacitly assume at the beginning of a line of argument or course of action that something is the case.

Whereas postulate is:

  suggest or assume the existence, fact, or truth of (something) as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or belief.

Is it that you presuppose to gain an advantage in arguments as contrasted with postulating which has nobler intention?


texts:
I am wondering what's the right structure to make a speculation about a past event. I have a GRE writing in which I've put forth a few speculations which could weaken the argument. I've tried to use a conditional structure while sticking to past perfect tense.

  Were they, for example, to build boats using available materials such as bamboo wood or other vegetations, the vehicle would have been rotten and degraded in a few decades, let alone the eons that have been passed until this exploration.

Is this structure acceptable?


texts: Do I need to use the word 'possible' twice in the sentence 'Automating as many lucrative tasks possible as quickly as possible.'

texts:
Or can I omit the first occurrence of the word 'possible' and just write 'Automating as many lucrative tasks as quickly as possible'?
I want the sentence to mean both the numerically highest possible amount and the quickest time frame possible as well.
Grammarly doesn't see an error in either sentence so I'm asking here.


texts:
In my CV, I have following type of information.

  Gave a talk on "Tits System, Monomial Matrices and BN pairs" as a part of ’Late Night
  Seminar Series’ in IISER Mohali

  Attended a Workshop on ’Hyperbolic Knot Theory’ oraganised at IISER Pune from 7
  December to 17 December 2015

Should I add a full stop at the end? My instincts says yes becasue although it is written in bullet points format, they are complete sentences.


texts:
I was wondering how to use this properly if I want to connect it to a more descriptive verb:

For example:

"He made quick work of the thorn." doesn't really describe the specific action, "to remove" (or maybe something else was done with the thorn, like crushing it, or eating it, or whatever.)

Can you say, or is it better to say, "He made quick work of removing the thorn." or rather is it "He made quick work removing the thorn." without the "of"?

Does "quick work" have its own inherent meaning or can it be used to help another verb.


texts:
I wonder how this sentence sounds. Does it sound absurd or could it be used in some situations?
In other words, is it possible to make a correct sentence with this phrase 'if she would have studied hard'?
PS. Source: my curiosity (I maybe remember someone using this kind of sentence)


texts:
I would like some help in understing the usage of "of" in the sentence:

  Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of
  individuals based on their gender.

perceptions of individuals

treatment of individuals

To my understanding, the sentence implies something done to individuals not by individuals. But it is unclear to me how it is used here. Would anybody kindly help me to understand this usage more clearly?

thanks in advanced for any help


texts:
As a rule, we don't use the passive voice with "let". "Allow" or "permit" is normally used instead:

  We were allowed to do whatever we wanted.

  We were permitted to drive the vehicle.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, we don't usually use the passive with "let", but are there any exceptions?


texts: What does "for our sins" mean in this sentence?

texts:
I am struggling to get my head around the following:

  Hi Andrew, For all our articles we use information from national news
  organisations (for our sins). Have a look here at the Guardian
  http://gu.com/p/3xzdk, the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24104743
  and the CAS http://www.cas.org.uk/node/3330

It's a reply to a comment I made on this blog post.


texts: "It’s much more than our names that {makes/make} us..."

texts:
Hopefully someone on here will be able to help me resolve a language (grammar) question that came up at work today.

Which of the two sentences below is correct?

It’s much more than our names that makes us stand out.
It’s much more than our names that make us stand out.

I think the first one is correct as I believe that 'our names' is effectively treated as a singular concept and therefore makes (the singular verb) is the right choice. This caused some debate in the office though!

A definitive answer on this would be fantastic. Many thanks in advance for your help.


texts: What is the similar meaning proverb in English?

texts:
We have a proverb in Bengali, if I translate it directly into English, it emerges as:

  Who is in there in the temple? I did not eat the banana!

Meaning in the temple banana is used for prayer to the God. So stealing banana from temple is very bad. But the person who steals always wants to pretend that he is not responsible for that. But he has the fear in his heart. So if anybody enquires anybody, other than him, as to who has stolen the banana, the thief speaks the first(albeit he is not asked!) that he did not do anything indicating he is the thief! The whole proverb, in a short, signifies that who has done the wrong, speaks the first when asked to others, revealing he is the doer. So what might be the proverb in English or expression to express the same meaning?


texts:
Mom passed the salad bowl. “Beth, you’re sixteen,” she said. “You should know better than to ask a question like that.”
I rolled my eyes and stuck out my jaw. “Should I?”


texts: Is it "John or Mary's house" or "John's or Mary's house"?

texts:
I understand that if John and Mary own a house together, it is John and Mary's house. If they jointly owned multiple houses, they would be John and Mary's houses. I also understand that if John and Mary each own one or more houses, then one would refer to John's and Mary's houses. However, what if John OR Mary own a single house. Would that be John or Mary's house or would it instead be John's or Mary's house?

To take this a little further, substitute for John and Mary an individual person who might be an owner or a renter of a single house. You don't know or care if the house is in the possession of an owner or of a renter but you want to convey that the person might be either an owner or a renter. Would one refer to the owner or renter's house or to the owner['s] or renter's house?

In real life, I'm looking into "the Social Worker['s] or Attorney's employee identification card." A form must be accompanied by a copy of the employee identification card of the person submitting the form. The form could be submitted by the Social Worker or by the Attorney.

I'm also looking into "the child['s?] or youth's birth certificate." The birth certificate belongs to (is that of) a person who might be a child or a youth. (There is no single word we use at my job that refers to young minors and to older minors collectively).

There's the possibility of my restructuring or 'pluralizing' the sentences to convey the intended meaning but it'd be best if I don't.

A million and one thanks all.


texts: What is the difference between /ʊ/ and /ʌ/ in British English?

texts:
/ʌ/ cut, hut, bun, nothing, love, enough, flood, does

/ʊ/ put, soot, foot, good, look, cook

To me the ʌ is a more short, low front (unrounded?) vowel, but the vowel /ʊ/ which sounds like "uh" is a short, high back (rounded?) vowel but this difference is only minor that you could probably swap each sound when speaking and get away with it.

For example, pronouncing cut as /kʊt/ "kuht", instead of the short /kʌt/ "kut". I can do this with the other words too: hut, bun, nothing, love etc.

Edit: I'm talking about British English phonology, not American English...

  For example in AmE, you can say soot in 2 ways (sʊt and su:t ?), Merriam  Webster:

  \ ˈsu̇t  , ˈsət, ˈsüt  \


texts: Romeo and Juliet "Which then most sought where most might not be found"

texts:
In the following excerpt from Romeo and Juliet, what do the words "which" and "most" refer to? Does the relative clause have a main verb at all?

  “I, measuring his affections by my own, which then most sought where most might not be found, being one too many by my weary self, pursued my humor not pursuing his, and gladly shunned who gladly fled from me.”

This is said by Benvolio.

I've asked this on ELL, but I haven't received a satisfactory answer. To be specific, no one has talked about whether and how Shakespearean English allows a relative clause to lack a main verb.

I'd appreciate your help.


texts: Use of ' to indicate missing letters/text

texts:
You can write

  this ol' man 'ere

when you mean

  this old man here

But can the ' be used to indicate whole missing sentence parts?

For example:

  'been a pleasure!

for

  It's been a pleasure!


texts: Which word or phrase describes a hotel room that is a stand-alone little building?

texts:
I know about the term "bungalow" to describe some hotel rooms, but if it's not a very tropical place, what's another word that can describe this type of room?

The room is basically a little house… is there a good word for it?


texts: Quantifier + comparative - so much drunk or so much drunker

texts:
I'd like to know what´s wrong in the sentence:

  I didn't drink any more than the guys did, but I got so much drunker.

I believe it's the quantifier + the comparative that is wrong, but I'm not sure why. And one more thing: it's a teenage girl talking about hanging out with friends: when she says "guys", is she referring just to the boys in the group, or to the group in general (boys and girls)? Thank you!


texts: What is the opposite of loud in the context of alarm or phone ringtone etc.?

texts:
What word should I use to describe something that is not very loud?
for example

  I am sick of his loud alarm, it always wakes me up.

Should I use light alarm or ringtone or something else?


texts:
US entertainment media have an outsized influence on other countries and cultures. For instance, apparently in some places the emergency services now have to respond to "9-1-1" calls in addition to the usual local number such as "9-9-9".
But this one surprised me. In a crime novel set in Britain, by a British author, regarding a British police detective and a suspect:

"Am I under arrest?"
"Did you hear me read you your Miranda rights?"
"Well, no, but..."

Is this plausible? Has "Miranda" become one of those US memes passed on to other countries, to the point where everyday criminals in the West Midlands would understand it as shorthand for being questioned under caution?
I can't find any evidence of this online, but it seems unlikely that this author (English born and Black Country bred) just made it up.
Has anyone seen real-life examples of this?


texts: Best word to describe "hard to overlook" or "hard to ignore"?

texts:
What is the best word to describe something positive that is hard to overlook or to ignore?

Example:

  Her passion for dancing is ______ (hard to ignore)!

To explain the background of this sentence, I am writing a card for my girlfriend for her birthday. She's a dancer & very passionate about it. For me using the word "obvious/hard to overlook" does not sound romantic/playful. I am trying to find a playful and sweet way to tell her that her passion for dancing is very much hard to ignore/overlook & it's very beautiful.


texts: How to indicate possession when using abbreviation "Dr."

texts: I often run into a case where I need to say I have a doctor's appointment, but how would I properly punctuate it if I wanted to use the abbreviation Dr. instead of the word doctor? Dr.'s appointment looks strange to me.


texts: Should I say "Your order is now complete" or "Your order is now completed"?

texts:
When a user finishes an order on my website, what's the correct way?

  Your order is now complete.
  Your order is now completed.


texts: What is the difference between "set phrase" and "catch phrase"?

texts:
What is the difference between set phrase and catch phrase?
Do the expressions describe something without relation with each other?


texts: What are phrases for the a date meaning "never"?

texts: What are current expressions/phrases for a date or point in time in the future that does not exist, meaning "never"? In German, we have "St. Nimmerleinstag" (meaning "the day of saint never"), what would be comparable English expressions?


texts: Is there any difference between 'to affiliate with' and 'to affiliate to'?

texts:
When I was looking up the word 'affiliate', the dictionary offered the example sentences which I've been really confused from.

The actual meaning of the word 'affiliate' is

to cause a group to become part of OR form a close relationship with another, usually larger, group, or oganization.

Now, which sentence applies to which meaning?

A college affiliated to the University of Mumbai.
The school is affiliated with a national association of driving
schools.

I assume that the first sentence means that 2 schools have associated so now, they work as a whole and the second one refers to the fact, that these 2 companies have just a good relationship that helps them to be both more profitable. Am I right?


texts: What does “led by the US pressed [X]” mean?

texts:
Below is the headline of a newspaper

  The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating from its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

Can someone please explain what the headline above means? What does led by the US pressed Pakistan mean?


texts: Why is this sentence 'her train is leaving tomorrow at 10AM' correct?

texts:
The word 'tomorrow' implies that the sentence should be in the future sentence. Wouldn't the correct sentences be 'her train will leave tomorrow at 10AM' or 'her train will be leaving tomorrow at 10AM'?
How can the present tense be used for something that happens in the future?


texts: I was reading this article about eating insects. What is a word for a person who does it?


texts: Any word for battling of leaves in the wind?

texts: Is there any sound word to describe the battle against leaves in the windstorms?


texts: Why is there a "one" before "hundred", "thousand", etc. but not "ten"?

texts:
As the title says, why is there a "one" before "hundred", before "thousand", and so on, but not before "ten"?

This seems shared between some languages, including Chinese (10 = 十 = ten, 100 = 一百 = one hundred), but not others, like French (10 = dix = ten, 100 = cent = hundred).


texts: Can you say "using derivations from a mathematical equation"?

texts:
if I mean to say I took existing equations and derived from them more equations, what is the the correct way to say it?

using derivations from a mathematical equation

or

using derivations of a mathematical equation

or

something else..

thanks!


texts: Is there an American English dialect that sounds as "distingushed" as British English?

texts:
Obviously there are a lot of subjective words in the question. There are dialects of British English that don't sound distinguished at all (Cockney). Also, what sounds distinguished is somewhat (though not entirely) subjective.

However, I don't know how else to ask this. Sometimes I have heard an American speak and thought, "wow, he sounds just as distinguished as a British speaker". But I don't know where that dialect would come from. More often than not, though, I hear an American speak and think, "wow, why don't we sound as distinguished as our British counterparts?"

For what it's worth, I think what makes a dialect sound distinguished is that it sounds "educated, upper class, articulate". At least that's my guess.

Ignoring the subjectivity of the words composing the question, where would you find American dialects that sounded distinguished?


texts: Still looking for the ideal descriptor for an "ignorant blowhard"

texts:
There have been one or two past questions on different variations of "blowhard," but no answer quite gets at an emblematic recent incident.  A famous senator attributed the quote "all sound and fury, signifying nothing" to Shakespeare and a famous journalist "corrected" him and told him, "no, that's Faulker."
So, eager to one-up someone based on ignorance and laziness (i.e., couldn't be bothered to google the quote).  "Ignorant blowhard" doesn't quite capture the implied feverish desire to put one over on someone without really knowing what you're talking about.  Other words?


texts:
I am confused about the usage of the present simple in the future tense. Doesn't it refer only to schedules? The following example deviates from this rule.

We’re on holiday in Paris next week. (Taken from English File Pre-Intermediate SB)

Shouldn't it be: We will be/are going to be in Paris next week?

Thanks in advance for your contribution :)


texts: What is the difference between "wriggle room" and "wiggle room"?

texts:
The phrase "wiggle room" gives 2 million results on Google. "Wriggle room" gives 140 thousand, suggesting that both phrases are valid English.

Google N-grams seems to back this theory up too.

And what's more, it seems to suggest that both phrases first appeared at around the same time.

The dictionary definition of wriggle seems to be subtly different from wiggle- Wriggling implies an intention to move somewhere, whereas wiggling does not.

So, what — if anything — is the difference between the two phrases? And is there any evidence that one came before the other?


texts: Polite or unrectified placement of the word please

texts:
I would please prefer to take both parts of the test on Monday.

Is the placement of the word please in this sentence grammatically correct?


texts:
I have a problem in this sentence
I cannot understand the meaning of "subject" in the sentence:

Guthrie has also demonstrated that the landscape must have been subject to intense and continuous winds, especially in winter

As the Logman dictionary, "subject" can play roles as a noun, an adjective, and a verb, therefore this can different meanings. this word, subject, cannot be a verb because if it plays a role as a verb it should have been written in the past form.


texts: Does the Prime Minister meets with a voter or does a voter meet with the Prime Minister?

texts:
A caption for a picture reads, “A meets with B”.
Is there any implication from the caption as to which person is more important?
My feeling is that B is the more important.


texts:
I am looking for a word that describes audio that does not contain words.

For instance:

John William's piece Duel of the Fates would be this, since they are just vocables for their musical effect, similar to the way any other instrument is used in that context.
A recording of machine gun fire would be this, since there is no linguistic meaning.
A song where someone is singing would not be this, because there are words with actual meaning.
A book recording would not be this.

Speaking in Tongues by the Talking Heads, and the main theme of Close Encounters of the Third Kind are sort of borderline, I'm really not sure which side they would fall on.

Does anyone know of a word or phrase that would describe this category of sound?


texts: looking for a proverb regarding defeat of man

texts:
There is a saying in my local language, Urdu, which loosely translates to "Man tastes the defeat always from his favorite woman." in English. Is there any proper idiom for it in English?

The saying itself in its original form is :
"مرد کو شکست ہمیشہ اپنی من پسند عورت سے ہوتی ہے"


texts: What does “make the leap into the Richmond (or any name of the place) fishbowl” mean?

texts:
Washington Post (July 13) reports the gift scandal of Maureen McDonnell, wife of Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell under the headline, “Va. first lady plays central role in gift”.

The article reports that Maureen received a $50,000 check and other monetary benefits from a wealthy businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. and that the state and federal investigators are looking into the relationship between the McDonnell and Williams.
It says:

  Some of Maureen McDonnell’s closest friends are surprised by the
  reports, saying she is as sweet as her public image. But some people
  she has worked with at the governor’s mansion and in state government
  paint a different portrait: one of someone unable to make the leap
  into the Richmond fishbowl.

What does “one of someone unable to make the leap into the Richmond fishbowl” mean?

I know what “pop out of the fishbowl” means, but I cannot get the idea of deliberately “leaping into the fishbowl.”

If "the fishbowl" means the brilliant cream of society, isn’t the Virginia’s First Lady already there in the luminant fishbowl?

Who is “one of someone,”? Is it a person who has worked with Maureen, or Maureen herself?

Additional question:

The line, “some people she has worked with at the governor’s mansion and in state government paint a different portrait” confuses me. Does Virginia Governor’s wife work at the governor’s mansion and in state government like a staff? Shouldn’t it be “some people who have worked with her paint a different portrait”?


texts: To put something in service of, or in lower priority to

texts: I'm looking for a slick way of saying a person is able to override their ego, or place their ego in the service of a higher goal. For example "He is able to subvert his ego for the needs of the team", but that seems a bit awkward to me.  Any better ideas?


texts: What's the difference between "perchance" and "perhaps"?

texts:
I would like to know the difference between the words perchance and perhaps. I know that perchance is more literary, and a bit archaic, but that's not what I am after.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary lists perchance as a synonym of perhaps.

perchance
perhaps, possibly

The entry for perhaps.

perhaps
possibly but not certainly :  maybe

I would like to know if the two words have any differences in meaning, tone, or connotation. Does perchance imply that an event is less likely than perhaps? Is the tone more wistful? Does it connote that an outcome is more desirable?


texts: Does "having" a child refer to when the child was conceived, or to the time of their birth?

texts: If I was conceived during a romantic vacation in Paris but was born some months later in Ohio, would it be right to say "my parents had me in Paris" or "my parents had me in Ohio"? Does "having" a child refer to the time of conception or that of birth?


texts:
Source: CompTIA Network+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (Exam N10-006) by Mike Meyers (2015)

Example:

  You should also internally ask yourself some isolating questions, such as “Was that machine involved in the software push last night?” or “Didn’t a tech visit that machine this morning?” Note you will only be able to answer these questions if your documentation is up to date. Sometimes, isolating a problem may require you to check system and hardware logs (such as those stored by some routers and other network devices), so make sure you know how to do this.

What exactly is it?


texts: "It took a year until she got/had got/had gotten over it"

texts:
I am trying to figure out the correct use of perfect (past perfect) tenses:

  It took a year until she got over it.
  It took a year until she had got/gotten over it.

Are both correct?

If so, I think the latter means that it took a year until it was all gone and she was fine again (I mean that event is closed already), while the former is more "immediate"?


texts: Is there one word that means "does not imply" or "does not automatically mean"

texts:
I'm looking for one word that would more succinctly mean "does not mean" or "does not imply" or "does not predetermine." There are plenty of synonyms for "imply" or "predetermine," but not one word alone that fits the void.

The sentence would be as follows: I don't believe you should do X, but that does not automatically mean that I think you should do Y.

Even a re-arrangement of the sentence would be fine if a single word does not exist to convey the meaning.


texts:
Today, I have encountered the following sentence in a documentation:

  Department of development and support of information systems of ABC JSC

I have argued about the correctness of using this "of"s sequence - for me, it sounded both too complex and "too Russian". However, I couldn't explain why.

Which of the following sentences are correct, and why?

Department of Development and Support of Information Systems of ABC JSC
Department of Information Systems Development and Support of ABC JSC
Information Systems Development and Support Department of ABC JSC
Information Systems' Development and Support Department of ABC JSC

For me, the third one sounds the best, but how can I argue it?
If both variants are OK, then how to decide which one to use?
Does this problem actually occur among native speakers?

Another one example:

Head of Sales Department
Sales Department Head
Sales Department's head

Which are correct, and which are commonly used?

I have even stumbled upon this problem when I was writing this question.
Wouldn't "Of" prepositions sequence usage title be better?


texts: How to say "to found a new company over a previous one"?

texts:
I was just wondering how to state a company which exists today was actually "founded over" a previous one.

i.e. If X Company was sold in 1950 and new owner of the company founded a new company called Y Company by also changing the mission, vision, objectives and working field of the company, what would go in the following sentence?:

  Y company was {founded over} X company


texts: What does "it takes a tough man to make a tender chicken" mean?

texts:
I read it here.

The New Jersey guy said that the Unix solution was right because the design philosophy of Unix was simplicity and that the right thing was too complex. Besides, programmers could easily insert this extra test and loop. The MIT guy pointed out that the implementation was simple but the interface to the functionality was complex. The New Jersey guy said that the right tradeoff has been selected in Unix-namely, implementation simplicity was more important than interface simplicity.
The MIT guy then muttered that sometimes it takes a tough man to make a tender chicken, but the New Jersey guy didn't understand (I'm not sure I do either).

I don't understand it either.  Is there an American cultural reference in there?  Can anybody here explain?


texts:
For this sentence:

  I am a student who has little money.

Can I rewrite it as:

  I am a student having little money.

Do they make a same sense?

If not, when should we use the reduced relative clause instead of the relative clause?


texts: Is there an explicitly male version of “craftsman/craftsmanship”?

texts:
This is somewhat of a fringe question, I’m sure, but the recent question asking for a gender-neutral of craftsmanship thread got me thinking.

Since the suffix ‑man has become something of a gender-neutral placeholder until a more gender-explicit solution is widely adopted, it has the interesting quality of lacking the strong gender implication that the suffix ‑woman possesses.

For instance, craftswoman or craftswomanship would never be used in reference to a male’s handiwork.  What then is a term that would never be used in reference to a female’s handiwork?


texts:
How to say the factors are responsible for the lack of credibility?

  This lack of reliability can be imputed to several factors.

"imputed" is probably wrong. What word should I use, in an academic environment?


texts: What types of indirect references are and aren't allusions?

texts:
In school I learned that allusions are indirect references.

Often my teachers would give examples in the form of references to well-known literary works.

If I say "I can read the writing on the wall", I'm making a reference to the hand of God writing a prophesy of doom at the feast of Belshazzar in the book of Daniel, and comparing it to my own situation.

Or if I throw you a can of Sprite and say "here, obey your thirst", I'm alluding facetiously to the Sprite commercials from the late 90s.

These are the type of indirect references that I'm sure are allusions. But if the purpose of allusion as a poetic/rhetorical technique is to make the reader feel kinship through referencing the things we all know about, then I'm curious whether other indirect references would qualify as allusions.

A couple examples I'm curious about:

  Isn't it romantic? / Moving shadows write / The oldest magic word

—"Isn't It Romantic" by Rodgers & Hart

"The oldest magic word" is referring indirectly, and via a metaphor, to love. We all know that love is ancient and magical. Would this qualify as an allusion?

  "I know when that hotline bling / That can only mean one thing"

—"Hotline Bling" by Drake

The "one thing" that Drake's phone ringing late at night can mean is that the girl he's talking about is DTF. We understand what he's referring to and he doesn't have to say it directly. Does this qualify as an allusion?


texts: Could "there are" be removed in the following sentence?

texts:
It is possible that there are more younger, inexperienced, or more elderly, unsafe drivers in Forestville than (there are) in Elmsford.

Hi, could the (there are) be removed?


texts:
Which is the correct sentence, if there is a correct one?

  I use to be a hitman.

  I used to be a hitman.

I've read the second sentence recently in a book, but I was sure it should be I use to be a hitman.


texts: Is the word "overseas" only used to country bordered by water?

texts: Can the word "overseas" be used to country bordered by land. For example is it correct if someone says I am doing work overseas if he is is doing work in the neighbouring country border by land not water with his country?


texts: What is the origin and meaning of conniption dido

texts:
My mother who was born in 1917 used this term just as someone might use conniption fit. When I asked her where the word dido came from she said that her grandmother used it. I can't find anything that puts these two words together.

She was raised by her grandmother in Benton, AR.


texts: What is the shortest term to refer to people whose mother tongue is English?

texts:
What is the shortest term to refer to representatives of peoples and cultures whose mother tongue is English?

Mothertonguers?

Update:
Can't I call them joe?


texts:
The folk song "In the Pines" tells that the head of the dead husband was found "in a driving wheel". Some versions of the song mention a train, but I cannot imagine how a head could be found in a train's driving wheel.

What is a driving wheel in this context? And if it is on a train, as some variants suggest, how can a head be found "in it"?


texts: What's the meaning of "more apparent than real"?

texts:
In Oxford Learner's Dictionary, under apparent, it says that

apparent 2:
[usually before noun] that seems to be real or true but may not be

• Their affluence is more apparent than real.
 (= they are not as rich as they seem to be)

But I don't know the meaning of the phrase "more apparent than real".


texts: What is the original intentional use of the phrase 'systems thinking'?

texts:
I have found references in 1963 which seem to be the 'first published that google knows about', but it seems from this that the phrase was in fairly common use by then:see here
and here.
(see my research at stream.syscoi.com)


texts: Synonym for 'expression of character through posture and/or countenance'

texts:
Writing about the illustrations of John Tenniel and their theatricality (e.g.), I remembered there being a single word for the expression of character through a person's posture, movement, and/or countenance, but I can't think of the word.
I've searched for synonyms for 'theatrical' and 'caricature', but nothing came up. I feel as if it is somehow linked to 'hysteria', but idem ditto.
It's not 'histrionic', because that doesn't necessarily suggest a connection between the character of the person and their behaviour.
Neither is it limited to theatricality or the theatre, as these behaviorisms tend to occur naturally. It is however often used in theatre and illustrations, so the audience gets a direct and clear idea of the actors.
A recognizable example of the concept would be how a sly character stoops and squints. Another would be how J. J. Grandville chose the animals for his anthropomorphic characters.
NB If there is anything I can add to improve my question, please let me know!


texts: what is the correct abbreviation for millions, billions and trillions in a financial context?

texts:
I've found answers on the web but also got conflicting answers from financial professionals (coworkers).

In metric, you'd use M (mega) for million, G (giga) for billion and T (tera) for trillion. The only financial specific similar abbreviation I can find is MM for million (financial notation, according to wikipedia).

What's the AP style (or equivalent) abbreviation for billion and trillion in a financial context?

Bonus: where would I find this information?


texts: A Term for Someone Who Constantly Quotes Film/Literature/Poetry

texts:
I'm looking for a "technical" term for someone who uses quotes from movies, television series, books, poetry, etc. as the basis for conversation and/or to communicate an idea. This person might also give pop quizzes on what movie or book a certain phrase came from.

Is there an actual name for people like this? Any answers would be appreciated.

EDIT:

To clarify, the term I'm looking for doesn't necessarily denote a negative behavior. While this person may use quotes to exercise knowledge or superiority, I was thinking more in the context of someone who enjoyed a book/movie and thought that a certain quote benefited the discussion, often with the knowledge that other people involved were familiar with the reference.


texts: Which way of writing the word: "Email" or "e-mail" is correct? Both variants seem to be in wide use. If both ones are okay, maybe there is a difference in contexts they have been used (one is more formal than the other)?


texts: In the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries; suspended hyphen

texts:
How would you suggest to list centuries here:

Suspended hyphen:

  In the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries...

Separated by commas:

  In the late nineteenth-, and early twentieth-, centuries...

Spelled out in full:

  In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries...

Or, finally, condensed:

  In the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

Any help, or reference to style manuals would be hugely appreciated!


texts: If someone is detained, when that stops are they tained, or de-detained, or ...?

texts:
In England:

Ann is a child who is detained under section of the mental health act. There are no hospital places in England. She'll need to go to Scotland. She's transported, and at the border she is un-detained / de-detained / tained  and then re-detained under the Scottish mental health law.

What word should I use for instead of un-detained?

What word should I use for re-detained? Is it necessary to use a different word? I want to try to capture the fact that it's another new detention, but perhaps that not possible.

Why do we have detained, but not tained?


texts: When should I write take any chance in plural form?

texts:
I came across a shop selling the fruit jam that my sister had been looking for. But the fruit jam came in apple and peach flavours, I was not very sure which one my sister liked better, so I decided to buy both.
Now, given that situation, I want to explain why I bought both apple-flavoured and peach-flavoured jams to my sister:
I bought two fruit jams in different flavours because the jams would be sold out. I could not [take any chances / take any chance] .

Thank you

Kitty


texts:
I've written the following phrase in a technical document:

  ... the Task is exposed, so it can be waited on

In this context (.NET development), Task is an object instance, and by "waiting on" it, I mean invoking its Wait method, so the execution thread pauses until the task is finished.

Is this correct, given the specific context? Is there a better construct?

Update based on answers/comments received so far:

Essentially, what I mean to say is:

  ... the Task is exposed, so the caller can wait for it to complete by invoking its Wait() method

...but without the redundancy, and using the method name as the verb.


texts: A word for obligatory but not relevant activities

texts:
Suppose that your job is an academic, then you may need to:
1. perform the research,
2. apply for a research grant.

The tasks of the first kind contribute directly to your becoming a better researcher. The tasks of the second kind have to be performed otherwise you will not have funding to conduct the research, however, applying for a grant does not make you a better researcher, hence acts more like a distraction than as a relevant part of your research.

What are the names for the first and second kinds of activities?
I thought of words: 1. main, 2. support. However, these two words are only a bare extraction of the meaning to be expressed, moreover their meaning may be even misleading in the context I descri


texts:
What is an appropriate antonym for overlooks in following context:

  This formula, in some cases, overlooks some significant factors and, in some other cases, ____ some other insignificant factors.

I’m looking for something in the sense of taking into account unnecessarily much.
Maybe scrutinizes?


texts: Is there a difference between “antithesis” and “juxtaposition”?

texts: My question is as simple as the title, is there a difference between the two words. In my searching, I have found nothing yet, and it seems strange to have two words with not even a difference in connotation.


texts: What is the origin of (buying produce) "by the each"?

texts:
At the grocery store, I find produce sold by the pound, by the bag, and "by the each".  I would never say produce was priced by the piece or by the item.
Where does this come from?  Each is not a noun, which deserves an article.
This question asks if it is grammatical.  To me, the usage is common, and I accept it. I am asking where it comes from.


texts: Looking for a word like "gearhead" but for gadgets

texts:
The question is kind of self-explanatory. I'm looking for a single word along the lines of "gearhead" that could describe a person who is really into tech and gadgets, rather than cars. Upon Googling "gearhead," there were a few examples where the word was used more in reference to what I'm looking for, but more often than not it's used in the context of vehicles and I was hoping to avoid using it...

  Person 1: (gestures vaguely) "Look at that guy over there."

  *person in question appears to be carrying various electronic devices, has a fancy phone, etc.

  Person 2: "You mean that [gearhead]?"


texts: Can "articulate" be used as a verb to mean "Assemble"?

texts:
When referring to skeletons/ bone building, can "articulate" be used as a verb? I came across this sentence, and it is not clear to me. Does it mean "Assembled"?

Some skeletons are articulated with wires, metal pieces, and other things.


texts:
Here's my example: "If we all agree on the basic terms, can we do a proper agreement next week."
Can this be construed (in the proper context) as: "Since we all agree, can we etc."?
The entry for "if" in the Oxford English Dictionary (online edition) begins with:

I. Introducing a clause of condition or supposition (the protasis of a conditional sentence): On condition that; given or granted that; in (the) case that; supposing that; on the supposition that. and continues: 1. With the conditional clause or protasis in the indicative. The indicative after if implies that the speaker expresses no adverse opinion as to the truth of the statement in the clause; it is consistent with his acceptance of it.

The entry even notes that in some cases the indicative is preferred.
The Random House Dictionary similarly opens with the definition:

In case that; granting or supposing that; on condition that.

On the other hand, in logical or Boolean syntax, if is always a conditional.
But is that necessarily the case in idiomatic or everyday usage? Some might argue that there is a supposition missing in the bare if, but that is precisely my question: can if be understood as assuming the fulfilled conditional, such as in since?


texts:
I've been learning English in my company.
We have just started Present Perfect and encountered 1 issue I don't quite understand.

There were 2 different, not related to each other exercises.
In one we had to rephrase the following sentence using Present Perfect:

  1) I got this job in January.

In the 2nd excercise we had a list of events. The last two are:

  2001 - moved back to the USA and went to work at the M&M factory in Montana.

  2006 - moved to A new job in the M&M offices in Nebraska.

Using this information we had to make a sentence in Present Perfect out of words

  2) have/job/Nebraska

and since/for/from...to. Since the prompts clearly point out to the last of entries and we have no info on what happened to "him" further, I supposed that only 'since' could have been used here.

Most of us gave the following answers:

  1) I have had this job since January.

and

  2) He has had a job in Nebraska since 2006

Our teacher said that considering information given in tasks, the 2) answer is correct, but the 1) answer isn't. The proper answer to the 1) is:

  1) I have been in this job since January.

To me they have the same meaning and both are suitable. Both cases seems to be related, so I asked what's the difference between 2 answers and why it's wrong to say "I have had" in 1) as we did in 2) example. He said the reason lies in the fact that in 1st case there is "this", more specific, and in 2nd case we have "a", which indicates something general. Therefore, there is no way we can use "have had" in 1)

The lesson ended and he told us to investigate this as our homework. I've spent a great deal of time considering this and searching through the web, but still have had no answer.

He is a native speaker, British, wearing a bow-tie, speaking with that funny British accent, scrupulous and addicted to proper grammar. It's rather odd not to believe him.

But it still bothers me, is he right? Does the presence of this/a has so much impact on usage of have had?


texts:
In IELTS writing tasks, I often come across examples like these:

  For part-time work the opposite is true, with women earning an average of $5 per hour.

and

  Canada is the reverse of the world average, with 8% of the water consumed by agriculture.

What kind of structure is the with + number/somebody + gerund?


texts: Similar to 'inimitable', but about an experience that can't be repeated

texts:
My husband and I were talking about a song that part way through made us gasp because it was so amazing. He said to me "I need a word for when something is experienced for the first time, and you know it’s special, and nothing will ever be like that again."
Is there a word or phrase for this?


texts: Is there a term for an uplayable Solitaire hand?

texts: Occasionally I deal myself a hand in solitaire - Klondike - that is unplayable. It's so infrequent that I feel as if I've dealt myself a winning hand - in Bizzaro world possibly. I was thinking there's some poetical quality to this hand I'm unable to use. Is there a term for that I might use? Are there any playing card scholars out there?


texts: 'set to a higher value' or 'set as a higher value'?

texts:
Someone told me that it is incorrect to say
"Set the threshold to a higher value".
Instead, it should be "Set the threshold as a higher value"
because if a specific number does not come after "set", like "Set the threshold to 0", it sounds awkward. Is he right?


texts: "For + subj. + to" infinitive to indicate purpose

texts:
I would like more information about this type of construction. Good examples escape me at the moment, but it would be something along the lines of:

  These conditions need to be satisfied for this plan to be successful.

I only know of it because I've seen it in newspapers/heard it on TV. But I would like to know more. Specifically, what type of construction it is, other infinitives of the same kind or family, when it can/should/shouldn't be used, etc.

Basically, a page of a grammar textbook that mentions this construction is what I would like to see.


texts:
The speaker can still feel the pain in the moment of speaking (he's asking if he's still able to go abroad with this back pain) & it's some sort of dialogue between some ordinary guy & a doctor.
Which present tense should you use when talking about continuous pain?

I am having a pain for two days.
I've been having a pain for two days.
I've had a pain for two days.


texts: What is an example of reentrancy in everyday speech?


texts: Is "broad variety" in common usage? Better adjective?

texts: A colleague used "broad variety" which sounds odd to me. I would go for "wide range", but is there a commonly used adjective with "variety" that can be substituted?


texts: Reduced relative clauses with present perfect forms

texts:
Across multiple websites, I got conflicting information about reduced relative clauses with the present perfect form. Overall, I came up with the tentative conclusion that relative clauses cannot be reduced for the active voice of present perfect but can be reduced for the passive voice of present perfect.
I would appreciated the definitive answer from grammarians. Thank you!

Examples:

Active present perfect clauses:

Applicants who have passed the exam go through to the interview.
(wrong?) -> Applicants passing the exam go through to the interview.
The system that has implemented the new software is functioning well.
(wrong?) -> The system implementing the new software is functioning well.

Passive present perfect clauses:

A driver who has been pulled over by the police was 30 mph over the legal limit.
-> A driver pulled over by the police was 30 mph over the legal limit.
The pipe that has been broken will be repaired in a week.
-> The pipe broken will be repaired in a week.
     ("The broken pipe ..." may sound better, but that's off topic here.)


texts: "Ann's friends and herself" -- is this correct?

texts:
Is the sentence:

  Ann's friends and herself were really nice to us.

grammatically correct?


texts:
This is the message:

The user might not fall under the scope of this policy.

It denotes that a setting is not applied to the user because the user is not part of the policy. He's surely not part of the policy. In this case, which is more appropriate to use?

The user might not fall under the scope of this policy

The user does not fall under the scope of this policy


texts: I can't remember it clearly. somewhat "-ing" form as present participle can represent an event that is happening (e.g., Being given a chance, she immediately jumped at it)(as adverbial clause of time); or has been done（?); or will happen（I'm leaving tomorrow), of cause in different context. In which way "verb+-doing" can be used to mean "something has been done" or should it be used with specific verbs?


texts: "Lick on a trick for a Rolex" — meaning?

texts:
I heard this line in the rap song Ghetto Bird by Ice Cube (full lyrics here) and I'm completely puzzled by its meaning.

  My homey's here to lick on a trick for a Rolex
  And let me try the four next
  Now the four I was driving was hotter than July
  looked up and didn't see it whippin' in the sky
  Saw a chopper with numbers on the bottom
  "Calling all cars, I think we've got em."

I learned that lick can mean "easy money", and a trick can mean "a naive person", "a sex act with a prostitute", or "a robbery".

I could come up with several combinations of these meanings that would make sense on their own, but none of such combinations makes sense together with the following lines. Could somebody enlighten me what this line really means?


texts:
Suppose my boss asked me to complete a task, and the standard method takes a week of my time. But I did some research and I found another method, which only takes a day, but is equally good!

How would I refer to this without sounding like I cut corners? "Finding a shortcut", for example, might imply laziness.


texts: Word for the sentiment or behaviour of extra people putting the boot in once a momentum of social opprobrium has been reached?

texts:
Suppose someone does something a minority dislike and the majority are indifferent towards. Once the minority has struck out at the person, many of majority start striking the person out of a sense of community catharsis or joyous solidarity.

What would you call this sentiment or behaviour?

For instance, I see someone post a bad answer on a (different) stack exchange. I withhold downvoting, but then one or two people down-vote and harangue the poster, at which time I and many others start downvoting in a veritable flood; with a sense of warped pleasure that that poor poster isn't us. Isn't One of Us, at least for today.


texts:
I am looking for a single word that means to drive a vehicle slowly, especially in a way that is unexpected or looks out of place eg. blown tire on a highway or race track and carefully trying to drive out of the way. I know the word "cruise" but this has too positive connotations, since you wouldn't use cruise to describe a driver who was cruising slowly away due to being in danger or having damage to their vehicle, since it sounds like they either do not care or are even enjoying the problem.
The only other options I had considered is to add an adjective to the driving eg. driving slowly, or similarly describing the speed of the vehicle's movement eg. vehicle moved at snail's pace, but I am hoping for a better alternative?


texts: [Complex Catenation]: What exactly is going on with the verbs in these sentences?

texts:
Verbs kind of confuse me so excuse me if this sounds like a dumb question but:

  She allowed him one meal a day

vs.

  She let him one meal a day

Why exactly do I have to include the verb have in the second sentence?
Why is it that I can include the verb have in the first sentence as well but that it has to be in full infinitive form ("She allowed him have one meal a day" vs. "She allowed him to have one meal  a day")?
Are there terms for verbs with these requirements (like *transitive)?


texts: What's a word for something that requires focus for a long time?

texts:
The opposite of "quick". For a example:

  Washing the dishes is a quick task

But

  Writing an essay is a _ task

I'm looking for an adjective (so no "task that requires focus"), preferably one that isn't opinionated about the task itself, so no "onerous" for example.


texts: Joke "Hipster burns his mouth" - why is it funny?

texts:
The joke is: why did the hipster burn his mouth? Because he drank his coffee / ate his pizza / etc. before it was cool.

Why is it funny? Does the hipster have special meaning or background?


texts:
I always wonder whether the sentences which contain multiple *in*s are proper / a good practice. For example,

Edit
Ok. May be it was a bad example. Sorry about that. But it's a real question.

I meant to refer to spoken/written sentences which contain fragments like below (* is a noun phrase).

  in * in * in *

For ex. (Courtesy @fluently)

  I'll look at this issue in closer detail in 15 minutes in my bedroom in the other wing of the inn.

before edit

  He studies in the Stephen college in New City in Canada.

Doesn't it look odd? Any better alternatives?


texts:
Not a native speaker, so not sure if this question is appropriate for this forum.
Is there a difference between
"a contentious discussion" and " a discussion on something contentious".
Apparently the former is more "concise", but as the definition of "discussion" is "an act of discussing", "an examination of a matter", it seems to me that only the TOPIC of a discussion could be contentious. The "discussion" per se only describes the behavior, which should not be "contentious". I think "a heated discussion" is fine, but "contentious"? Any idea? Thanks a lot.


texts: Yiddish loan words for the foolish & incompetent

texts: Is there a Yiddish loan word to describe someone incompetent or amateurish, or who is a small-time player in a given field of endeavor? The closest I know of are general-purpose insults like shnook, shlemiel, schmuck, &c., &c., but I don't think they have the specific meaning I'm looking for.


texts:
I'm a non-native speaker. Recently, I read Child Of God  by  Cormac McCarthy.

McCarthy seems to have a habit of making up "new words" when it suits him.

E.g.

  The pipe crashed into the room in a cloud of coalsoot

Coalsoot struck me as an amalgamation of two words that I couldn't find in any dictionary online.

Now I wonder when it is suitable to employ such compounds.

For example, would it be okay to write flintshard, even though a dictionary doesn't list this term?


texts: Does "No more" by necessity imply there was some before?

texts: If I say "I have no more apples" do I have to have had some apples to begin with? Is there an instance where I could start with none and still say I had no more sensically?


texts:
Example: The Summer Scholars Program host 35 students within the last three years.

Is there a more appropriate word other than host?  Thank you.


texts: Which one to state — "We would like to thank You" or "We thank You"

texts:
I am writing an official statement for plaques, in appreciation of an employee's contribution to the company. I am not sure which one to use:

  We would like to thank you for your unstinting support...

or

  We thank you for your unstinting support...

Could you please help me out?


texts:
I'm trying to understand what is said in this video between 00:27 and 00:35...

I can understand the beginning, "With religion, community relations and tolerance", but... And then?

I'm listening this part for about 20 minutes, and the closest i could get was "is much a news in the moment"... And if I'm not mistaken, this can not be right... And the rest of this part, (00:27-00:35) I didn't understand absolutely nothing...

Can you guys help me?


texts:
Between insightful and educative, which is more appropriate in the following sentence?

  The article is very well written and very educative/insightful.

When I use Google ngrams, it gives a higher rank to the word insightful. However, I am curious to know whether the word educative is an appropriate word in this context. Is there any word better than both insightful and educative?


texts: A word/phrase to describe a person who attends vocational school to become a house painter/decorator

texts:
I am wondering how I could say this with just one or a few words, but I cannot seem to be able to find a correct sounding way of saying it. House painting student? House painter in training? Soon-to-be house painter? It all sounds very stiff and clunky, and so far google has been of no help.

I would use it in a short introduction of myself, one that is formatted similarly to "30. Male. Applied biologist. Artist.", so it does not need to be formal at all. The course I am attending is not an apprenticeship, so I am guessing calling myself an apprentice would be incorrect, too.


texts: A single word for "non-empty" or "not empty"

texts:
Much like the poster who posted this:

"Not empty" set in one word?

I'm simply looking for a single ("short" if possible) word that means "non-empty" or "not empty".  I'm not looking for the word "full".

For example, a cup can be empty, or it can contain some liquid, in which case you could describe it using the word I'm searching for.

None of the answers or comments in the above post really fit what I'm looking for.


texts: In my example, did I use brackets correctly?

texts:
I know the rules of this site state to only ask questions to get direct answers, but I'm hoping I could still get a little suggestion on what to do. I'm writing a research paper, so the context is formal writing. I'm revising the last section of my abstract. And please, if brackets do not seem essential in my case, let me know :)

Here are the original two sentences I want to combine:

  Due to the nature of this study, I used the instrumental variables (IV) approach to estimate the effect of the MLDA on mortality in terms of per person drinking. Through careful analysis I believe the IV assumptions are met, which implies that the IV estimate shows the causal effect of the MLDA on mortality in terms of per person drinking.

This is how I intend to combine them by using some form of brackets:

  Due to the nature of this study, I used the instrumental variables (IV) approach — and through the IV assumptions — to estimate the causal effect of the MLDA on mortality in terms of per person drinking.


texts: What's the difference between using the verb "change" transitively and intransitively?

texts: I am confused about using transitive and intransitive verbs for making passive sentences. Especially when that verb can be both (like the verb change).


texts:
He went to the nearest village and (
there) in the bazaar, he found various kinds of meat and fish.


texts:
What does ''grow a pair'' mean exactly? Is it offensive? Does it bring a man to a level of a girl/woman? Is it more offensive when a woman says it?

Thank you for the answers, especially from women. :)


texts: Is it OK to say: We suggest you instead to something do?

texts:
The person told to the company that he uses the machine in the evening. Is it ok to answer:
We suggest you instead to use this machine in the morning after your breakfast.


texts: What phrase can I use to describe connected concepts

texts:
I am searching for a more sophisticated phrase that would express a specific connection between items mentioned in my paper. I wish to explain that the connection is not like a vertical line but more like a circle.
I'll try to present this in form of graphs to make it a bit easier to understand.

The first one is: item A ---> item B (the importance is placed on the first element which influences the other (assumed less significant)

the other: A ---> B ---> A (sorry, I couldn't draw a circle) (importance is, to my way of thinking, placed on item A)

I wish to build build a sentence similar to :
Instead of thinking about A-B linkage "in vertical terms", it should be examined as .. circle?

It sounds MUCH better in my head :/


texts: Help me I just got in trouble with direct address comma at work

texts:
I write stuff like this:

  Karen, our team can help you.

However, in this case I wrote:

  Karen, Mike and Joe can help you.

I was trying to tell Karen that Mike and Joe could help her.  However, she read it as "Karen, Mike and Joe together could help someone else."

How was I supposed to punctuate this?


texts:
Would you be so kind to explain the meaning of the phrase "on this one" please.
A little story:
A man had a lot of tasks in a school, but he didn't do them properly. He made a mess of them.
Another man said: "Follow me on this one."
In this context does "on this one" mean "Now (from now on) you should do it as I tell you", or does "on this one" = now?


texts:
I was talking to some friends and I said "I ate (/et/) chocolate yesterday...". Then my friend corrected me: "you ate (/eit/) chocolate...". I repeated my sentence with the /eit/ pronunciation and we moved on.

But later at home I checked some dictionaries and online debates on the subject, and now I'd like to know if it's possible or not to pronounce ate as /et/ rather than /eit/.


texts: Verb + Subject + present participle or Verb + possessive + present participle?

texts:
I and my friend were discussing about which of the followings being correct.

"I can't imagine you using a dictionary"

"I can't imagine your using a dictionary"

I think that the latter is correct. My argument is that I consider "using" a gerund, and treat the whole gerund phrase as a noun.
What do you think about this case? Any comment would be greatly appriciated. Thank you.


texts:
Can you say "I left my car back on the parking lot"?

I know that people usually use in. Is it absolutely incorrect to use on?
Because I saw they use on in this bilingual magazine Báo Song Ngữ


texts: Please help me make sense of the grammar of this line

texts:
I am reading The Divine Comedy (Longfellow Translation), and ran into a sentence:

[Not very far as yet our way had gone
 This side the summit], when I saw a fire
 That overcame a hemisphere of darkness.
         (Inferno, Canto IV, lines 67-69)

The bracketed part - I suppose it means something like "we have not gone very far...", but I can't make out how it works in terms of grammar.  One would think there needs to be some kind of preposition between the side and the summit.  Then again, this is older writing and I am aware that older writing is different.

So how could I make sense of this line?

Not sure if it helps, but another translation (Cary) of the same lines goes as follows:

...We were not far
 On this side from the summit, when I kenn'd
 A flame, that o'er the darken'd hemisphere
 Prevailing shin'd.

Thank you!


texts: How do married gay couples address each other?

texts:
I know that non-married lovers address each other by saying “This is my girlfriend/boyfriend.”
I know that married couples address each other by calling “my wife/husband”.

I also know that gay lovers who are not married (yet?) address each other by saying "my boyfriend" (for gays) and "my girlfriend" (for lesbians).

But if they are married, how do they address each other?

And how do we describe them? I mean if they are gays, are they “husband and husband” or “husband and wife” (one of them acts like the wife)? And if they are lesbians, are they “wife and wife” or “husband and wife” (one of them acts as the husband)?

I know they can be referred to as a gay couple or gay lovers from here, but I couldn't find the answer to address each of the two.


texts: Is the usage of "in" in the following sentence correct?

texts:
Is the usage of in in the following sentence correct?

  She sacrificed her own life in to teach my father a lesson and hoped to keep us alive.

I am reading a book that one of my friends wrote; she asked me to read it & see if there is anything that needs to be edited.

Although I am not the person to do this job, but I am doing my best to fulfill this wish for her.


texts: Does a comment really need to be about women in general, to be "misogynistic"?

texts:
Basically, the argument I'm seeing being made is that Unnamed-Person's ugly comments are not "misogynistic" because Wikipedia defines "misogyny" as:

  hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls

because:

  women without article here means "women" in general, not "some women"

Basically the argument is that because the many comments are not being made about women in general, just some specific subset of women and sometimes very specific women, they are not "misogynistic".

To me this seems like ambiguity fallacy and maybe special pleading fallacy (because they appear to be trying to twist the definition of the words in the definition to make what they said technically correct), but it made me wonder, does any of this argument make sense? Is "misogynistic" really not applicable to comments that aren't made about women in general?


texts: Is "Where do you sit?" correct for asking someone where their workspace is?

texts: At work, if I had to ask someone where exactly they worked, as in where their workspace/cubicle is, what should I say? Is "where do you sit?" the usual thing to say? I'm from India and hear this phrase getting thrown around all the time. But when I look it up in context I get few results.


texts: What to make of the following sentences that begin with why, when, where, or how?

texts:
Why you put yourself in this predicament is beyond me.
  When you leave for work is of your concern.
  Where we spend the night depends on the weather.
  How you finish the project is unimportant.

I feel they are relative adverbs (fused) or free nominal constructions. But I fear I'm completely off.


texts:
It is common in American English and culture to refer to one's lover or significant other as "baby" or "babe", for example:

  Come on baby, light my fire! 1

or

  I got you, I won't let go. I got you to love me so. I got you babe! 2

Where does this usage come from? What's the history behind referring to one's significant other as "babe" or "baby"?

1 Credit to The Doors

2 Credit to Sonny & Cher


texts: Is a comma needed after following in this sentence?

texts: "Smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980 following a global immunization campaign."


texts:
Can you tell me which one is better?

Simulations of protein volumes
Simulations of volumes of proteins
Protein-volume simulations

Each simulation can derive slightly different volume value.

I'm just afraid too many 'of' will make the sentence wrong or hard to read. Should I avoid using  'nouns of nouns of nouns' or even more 'of' in between?

I'm not sure about the plural, should all noun be plural, can I say the example 1 means testing one protein's volume many times, example 2 means test many proteins' volume many times, example 3 means emphasizing many iterations of simulations on one protein's volume.


texts: A word that fits the concept of "only do something once, and only when it is needed"

texts:
I'm a developer, and as part of the development process we'll often 'do something once if it hasn't been done before' in certain parts of our code.
For example, if I require a connection to a database I will connect only if I'm not already connected, I will not try to connect to the database if I am already connected.
I want the word that goes into these blanks:

I am acting or am coding [......] by checking for a connection first prior to connecting.
If I connected to the database twice it would not be [.......].

There is definitely a word for this, but it escapes me.
Apologies for the example, but it's the exact context in which I'd typically use this word. Another example may be only assigning a value to a variable if it hasn't already been assigned a value. Basically, avoiding redundant and unnecessary action by checking it had already been done.
Word It's Not:

Efficient/ly, efficiency
Optimal, optimisation
Concise
Singular, single
Elegant, elegance

EDIT
Since a bounty of 100 has been assigned, I think it deserves another example:
I will give my variable the value 'A123' if I have not, previously, gave my variable the value 'A123'


texts: don't provide only vs don't only provide

texts:
I am stuck at this problem
"We don't provide only wireless equipment"
 or
"We don't only  provide wireless equipment"
In the above-mentioned sentences, which one is correct? Please help me.


texts: Is the bold part of the following sentence grammatically correct?

texts:
It was naturally assumed the temple was burned down as an anti-revolution symbol in those dark days, but as it turned out, revealed by the village elders, it was burned down under much more mysterious circumstances.
I want to express the idea that the fact that the temple was burned down under much more mysterious circumstances was revealed to the narrator by the village elders, but is it grammatically correct to insert the bold part for this purpose into the whole sentence?


texts: Singular verb after two noun phrases joined by "and" that can be thought of as a single thing

texts:
I am having trouble with the following sentence:

  "The complexity and diversity of the new platforms is worrying us."

If "complexity" and "diversity" constitute two subjects, then the verb should presumably be "are"; however, the sentence feels more natural with "is". Is this correct? Is there a linguistic term for this occurrence?

The following questions address the general topic of compound subjects, but not specific cases like this:

  [Singular] Is/Are [Plural]?
  Singular or plural following a list

And the following question seems to have somewhat inconclusive answers:

  Verb agreement in “Where is the Messiah and his Kingdom?”

So this question is not really a duplicate of these three.


texts: Is "foreshadowing" a countable noun or uncountable noun?

texts:
In my book review, I want to express that "I find well-plotted foreshadowings, which indicate the inevitable tragedy". Is it correct or not?
By the way, should I use the word "indicate"?


texts: A word for a car that always breaks down and may need to be replaced

texts:
Is there a word for a car that always breaks down and may need to be replaced?. It could be an adjective or a noun:

Joe's car is such a {noun}, he really should think about buying a new one
Joe's got an {adjective} car, he really should think about buying a better one


texts: Rase: another spelling of raze (literary)

texts:
Is the spelling using s as opposed to z really literary as the Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 purportedly explains?

Raze
1.  completely destroy place: to destroy or level a building or settlement completely
2.  U.S. scrape something: to scrape or shave something off something else


texts:
Why in some cases there is "the" before nicknames and in some there is no?I also have a question if it's appropriate to use an article "a" before nicknames.For instance:

Erwin "The Desert Fox" Rommel

Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll


texts:
In the opening chapter of Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom's aunt Polly calls out to him in a rather peculiar fashion:

She went to the open door and stood in it, and looked out among the tomato vines and "Jimpson" weeds that constituted the garden. No Tom. So she lifted up her voice at an angle calculated for distance and shouted:
"Y-o-u-u Tom!"
There was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize a small boy by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight.

What's with this "Y-o-u-u" business? How is it meant to be read? Is it perhaps an antecedent of yoo-hoo?


texts:
Is there a word that refers to a group of five words where the only difference in spelling is the vowel?  And that all five vowels (in different words) are in the group?

Slang/jargon would probably not be included.

Example:

pat pet pit pot put


texts: Uniquate = Eliminate or replace duplicates, make unique?

texts:
I am not a native English speaker and I need a word means modifying a list/set to make it a unique-values list/set eliminating or replacing non-unique values with unique ones. For instance;

"Dup", "Dup", "Dup" --> "Dup", "Dup1", "Dup2"

I am also aware of deduplication suggestion, but I can't settle for it. Because, it sounds me that it means eliminating (deleting) duplicate values, but not replacing.

So, the word uniquate meets this meaning or it is completely different thing? And any other suggestion?

Edit: I need a word reflects especially replacement, but it is OK if it also reflects eliminating. I don't search for an answer focusing to only eliminating.


texts: How were key positions on the typical QWERTY keyboard chosen?

texts:
It's hard to know where to ask this question, but I decided to ask it here because of how uniquely the keyboard relates to the language being typed.  The keyboard appears to be English-specific, but I'm not experienced enough to tell for sure.

Were the key placements chosen logically, or randomly?  Can someone explain the history behind it?


texts:
I'm looking for an adjective that describes the fact that a ship is sailing at sea. Much as "afoot" describes a person being in the state of walking. I was hoping "asail" would be a word, but can't find it from Google.

The word would replace the square brackets in the following example:

  In Plato's ship of state metaphor, a ship is [sailing at sea], helmed by a captain ...


texts: Is it appropriate to use "You're welcome," followed by my name in closing an email?

texts:
I replied to an email which mentioned at the end:

  Thank you,

  Signature

with:

  You're welcome,

  Signature

Is such a reply correct/appropriate/common?


texts: What does "the latter third of the year" mean?

texts:
I was reading a blog post on Rust's 2018 roadmap (Rust is one of programming languages), and saw a sentence like below.

  We will continue to publish releases every six weeks as usual. But we will designate a release in the latter third of the year (Rust 1.29 - 1.31) as Rust 2018.

I was confused with what "the latter third of the year" means here, but couldn't any decent explanations out there.

Is this some kind of idiom or something?

Thank you for your help in advance.


texts: "If you really need to do so, change it back as soon as possible"

texts:
The default value of X is "Off" and it's generally discouraged to change it. If you really need to do so, change it back as soon as possible.

to do so refers to the act of changing the value of X from "Off" to something different, presumably "On". That is:

The default value of X is "Off" and it's generally discouraged to change it. If you really need to do so, change it back as soon as possible. (Correct)

However, it could be misunderstood as "If you really want to change it back - don't hesitate to change it back."

The default value of X is "Off" and it's generally discouraged to change it. If you really need to do so, change it back as soon as possible. (Wrong)

How to remove this ambiguity?


texts:
English is not my first language, and I often lose my confidence when I use across in my sentence.

Could you please give me an advice on the sentence that I have written below?

  Health education is so important that it should be provided across all the students.

My mind keeps telling me the sentence should be

  Health education is so important that it should be provided to
  across all the students.

Can we use two prepositions one after another?


texts:
Which of these is correct?

  She is leaving for the USA.

or

  She is leaving to the USA.


texts:
Earlier in the day, a coworker of mine referred to a spreadsheet as "visually arresting," implying that it was pleasing to the eye. Later today on an elevator ride, we all experienced the breath of a third coworker in close proximity. I desperately wanted to say afterward to him that the smell was "_____ly arresting" but I could not find the adverb for it!

My first thought is olfactorily but I find this to be clunky. Is there a word that would have helped me make this joke?


texts: What drives the usage of 'God', 'Jesus', and 'Jesus Christ' as expletives?

texts:
I grew up in a conservative Christian home, and was taught that we do not 'take God's name in vain'.

Interestingly, among some churches I grew up in, the consensus was that the common usage of God or Jesus as an expletive offered 'proof' that there was 'power in the Name.'  Meaning, no one took Satan's name in vain because there was no 'power' in it.  (I'm sorry if this is not clear to those who don't have a Christian background)

Now I look back and find this reasoning rather self-serving; and that led me to wonder...what is the real reason people use God/Jesus/etc. as expletives?  Was that always a common part of speech?  Has it accelerated recently?  Do other cultures use the name of their local Deity as handy profanity?


texts: "One from England" VS "One of chemistry."

texts:
Jack met the student from England and I met the one from France.
  Jack met the student of physics and I met the one of chemistry.

  Note: examples are from Geoffrey Poole's Syntactic Theory.

Why one can be substituted for student in the first sentence , while in the second sentence can't be?


texts: What is a very general word to describe a country exercising control over a territory?

texts:
Countries that are not independent states are often called dependencies or territories as in “French Polynesia is a devolved parliamentary dependency”.
In the context in which I am using the word, it would be inappropriate to use the word “colonizer” to refer to the country of which the dependency is a territory. I'm thus looking for a word that captures the country that has territorial control over the dependency that is less politically charged. I do, of course, recognize that this is a politically charged subject but where I am using the term it must be as neutral as possible.
Ideally, the term should be one word and it should apply to both current dependencies and to former colonies. In a sense, it should be exactly like the word “colonizer”, but without the historical connotations.
Edit: Ideally, I'm looking for a single word. The way it would be used is to indicate the name of a dataset column, which indicates the name of the former colonizer for territories that have gained independence and the name of the country exercising control over the territory if the territory is not an independent state. An example of the former is the United Kingdom to Australia and an example of the latter is France to New Caledonia. Note, that I do not consider New Caledonia to be a colony of France (largely because a majority rejected independence in a referendum and extensive self-governance), although I do recognize that this is a contested classification.


texts:
What is the origin of "cool beans"? I know some sites (wiktionary) claim it's from the Cheech & Chong 1978 movie Up in Smoke, but I'm talking to people who remember it being used earlier.  (USA).
I remember using the phrase in  the mid-1980s (elementary school in Maryland) , and I assumed it had to do with Jelly Belly (a gourmet jelly bean company).


texts: Obtain permission to do something or obtain a permit allowing somebody to do something

texts:
Could you tell me if these sentence is appropriate ? I know it is correct though. But, sounds to me odd. "the Jewish community in Parczew managed to obtain a permit allowing them to transport the 200 bodies of people shot in Juliopol and bury them in the cemetery in Parczew."

The part of the sentence in bold is rather sensless I would say to obtain a permission/permit to transport... because if there is a permit we already know that it allows something. Am I right ?


texts: My university has a library with a large round hall/chamber where students can study. On the sides it is supported by the columns. Is there a special word in English for big round rooms covered by a roof?


texts: Hyphens with "vs." and "versus"... with time frames as well, such as a.m. and p.m

texts:
Are hyphens needed on each side of "vs." and "versus" below?

And are hyphens required/needed on each side of "to" with the phrasal adjective involving time in the last example? They are phrasal adjectives that probably need them, correct?

the Mike Tyson-vs.-Evander Holyfield pay-per-view

the Rousey-versus-Holm fight

the Rousey-vs.-Holm fight

the 11 p.m.-to-7 a.m. shift

Thank you.


texts: Is the word 'get' correctly replacing more and more words in English?

texts:
Would it be safe to say that using the word get (or phrases containing it) to replace existing but longer words is now fashionable and acceptable?  With already about 50 meanings, it is replacing words like board, mount, dismount, deplane, detrain, alight, embark, exit, escape, etc. I was told elsewhere by a teacher of English that he hadn't used the words I listed for years. "Get on" a horse, bike, plane, bus, and "get off" the same way is his norm now. Is this entirely attributable to texting convenience?

My preference would be "Upon returning from work, I change my clothes, mount my bike and hasten to the market before darkness makes me vulnerable to an accident." It appears instead more common to say, "When I get home from work, I get changed, get out my bike and get on it." "I must get to the market before it gets dark."

A dictionary does not direct people ‘not’ to overuse it and ‘not’ to replace all synonymous words with it. My question has to do with what is taught in schools and advised in forums, and includes the influence toward brevity that modern communication devices have had. Is ‘get’ to be the preferred synonym for the words I listed?


texts:
Is the following grammatically correct?

  Signing below acknowledges you agree with the terms.

Or does it need to be:

  Signing below acknowledges that you agree with the terms.

I can't think of another transitive verb where this would be okay, but it doesn't have a definite "feeling" of wrongness, for whatever that's worth.


texts: What would "they" refer to in this sentence?

texts:
The benefits of addressing, or simply displaying oneself to, a large news audience can be so great that many subjects conclude they are worth the risks of being misrepresented.

Would the boldfaced "they" be referring to

the subjects
the benefits of ~ audience


texts:
While I generally feel sure-footed on matters of literary greengrocery, I'm at a loss on this one. How would a pedant write a sign alerting others to the presence of nests of wasps to make other pedants maximally happy?

You can use the words "Danger!" "Wasp" and "Nest" and can suffix one or more "s" and an apostrophe to any of them or refrain from doing so, as you see fit.

I'm aware of the irrelevance of such considerations in the grand scheme of things.


texts: Does "She’s scarce any hose or shoes to her feet" mean dressed unkempt?

texts:
What's the meaning of this sentence?

From the book "A History of the Cries of London", page 101:

  Have you observ’d the wench in the street,  She’s scarce any hose or
  shoes to her feet;  And when she cries, she sings,  ‘I have hot
  Codlings, hot Codlings.’


texts: Meaning of "There is not a direct relationship between verb forms and time."

texts:
In Practical English Usage, the author Michael Swan says:

  There is not a direct relationship between verb forms and time. For example, a past verb like went is not only used to talk about past events (e.g. We went to Morocco last January), but also about unreal or uncertain present or future events (e.g. It would be better if we went home now). And present verbs can be used to talk about the future (e.g. I’m seeing Daniel tomorrow). Also, progressive and perfect forms express ideas that are not simply concerned with time – for example continuation, completion, present importance.

What does he actually mean by "There is not a direct relationship between verb forms and time."?

We use verb forms to talk about time (e.g. We went to Morocco last January) and one and the same verb form can be used to talk about different times (e.g. past time "We went to Morocco last January" vs. present or future time "It would be better if we went home now").

So does he mean by "There is not a direct relationship between verb forms and time.":

1.) that verb forms have nothing to do with time, or in other words, there is not a connection/correlation between verb forms and time?

2.) one and the same verb form can be used to refer to different times?


texts:
"He came by foot": correct the error.

What is the error? I guess it is not about 'on foot' vs 'by foot' as some articles show that both are correct, though I am not sure.


texts:
Is it legitimate to put "spam"  (the junk email kind, not the trademarked meat) in all caps?

An example I've recently read is

  Please read before flagging as SPAM (a reminder from your moderators)
  – ends Sep 5


texts:
Regarding the following sentence:

  I don't need to waste 2 hours on the way to and back from work anymore.

Is the phrase 'to and back from work' correct? I want to use it in an informal letter to a friend for Ielts writing task 1, so it needs to sound natural and totally correct. If not, could you please tell me the possible correct ways of saying that?

Thanks in advance,
Mojtaba


texts: What is the proper way to structure this sentence?

texts:
I have the following sentence:

  The pact brought power; power, notoriety; and notoriety, the
  authorities.

Is this the correct way to distribute the verb "brought" to the rest of the noun pairs that are strung out after it?

Sorry for the vague title, I don't know what this sentence structure is called.


texts: Can "filter for x" be used in two opposite senses?

texts:
Can "filter for" be used in the following sense:
"ABC is very important as it filters for high quality and reliable results."
Filter for has been used as filter out:
"8. to act as a filter for; to slow or partially obstruct the passage of." (The Free Dictionary)
I am aware that filter on its own is ambiguous; see Sieve vs filter? Are they opposites?
This question is specifically about "filter for" and its second usage (where it's followed by the desired state).


texts: What is meant by the verb "ship" in this context?

texts:
Getting along with a possibly passive-aggressive coworker because of different political beliefs [closed]

  Everyone in the office, including the girl, was shipping me and that
  guy because we have similar tastes in movies, we code in the same
  platform, we are both reserved in our dealings with others, and he
  speaks more often to me than to them;

I am familiar with the online colloquial usage of "shipping" (thanks tumblr) as it pertains to online "fandoms", fan communities of a particular fictional work. In this context, it means to have an affinity for a (usually romantic) relationship between two characters which may or may not exist in the narrative.

But in this real-life example, I'm having trouble understanding what the author meant to impart:

Is it implied that the female author is perceived as having a romantic interest in her coworker, because of their shared interests?
Does it only suggest that the other people in the office superimpose a friendship between them where one doesn't really exist -- in that way, they are fictionally "shipping" them?


texts: Is there a difference between these two expressions? Are they perfect synonyms?


texts: Getting on or off a horse-drawn carriage

texts: I am writing a story and I was wondering if there was any particular way of saying that the protagonist got off a horse drawn carriage? She is the passenger in the carriage and I wanted to make the point that as soon as she stepped off she notices someone following her. I might be overthinking this, but is there any specific language/jargon used to describe such action?


texts: I wish my father "were having the stuff" or "was having the stuff"?

texts:
"I wish my father were having the stuff" or "I wish my father was having the stuff" ..

"And what if I wish my father having the stuff", is that bring different time definition? Thank you..


texts:
This question is inspired by comments on a question on Stack Overflow. The original poster wrote:

  How to correct this error?

And comments say that it's an incorrect question. Better is

  How do I correct this error?

I am not a native English speaker, so the fact that both versions sound natural to me is quite irrelevant. But I would like to ask anyway whether the first version is really bad.

I have seen a lot of questions starting with How to, so if you say that the first version is incorrect, could you please summarize when it is OK to use How to and when it is preferable to say How do I.


texts: What is the difference between "You are looking well" and "You look well"?

texts:
What is the difference between:

  You're looking well!

and

  You look well!

Assuming that both refer to a specific occasion, what is it that the continuous aspect indicates here? The difference must be subtle I guess.


texts:
In his book Humorous English, Evan Esar gives example uses of devices he broadly labels synonymics. He writes of synonymic puns:

  Many a wife sends her husband to an early grave with a series of little digs.
  They are made for each other. He owns oil wells, and she's always gushing.

The cleverness of these jokes consists in their use of commonly associated words—grave and digs in the first, oil wells and gushing in the second.

And of synonym grouping:

  Our florist has two children—a girl who's a budding genius and a boy who's a blooming idiot.
  I went to see a spiritualist. She wasn't good, just medium.

Similarly, these jokes rely on the use of closely related words—florist, budding, and blooming; and spiritualist and medium (intended both as the noun meaning spiritualist and as the comparative between good and bad).

Throughout the book, which is a catalogue of comedic techniques, Esar coins original terms for the phenomena he describes, and so they aren't to be found elsewhere. The use of synonym to describe these devices seems a bit misleading, because they don't use synonyms. They do, however, use words that are quite closely related (but aren’t synonymous). Does anyone know of a technical term for this kind of wordplay? And does anyone know of any examples of its use anywhere else?


texts:
I understand as to be a conjunction and that a clause must follow. However, I've read some financial document which, in the context of how much I must pay the bank via a direct debit, said the following: "Your payments are setup as $100 per month."

Is this the same as "Your payments are setup for $100 per month", i.e., where both for and as are interchangeable prepositions?


texts: Is it okay to use the word "Negro" in a paper if it is in a quote?

texts: I am writing a paper for a 7th grade writing assignment. We have to quote our books and one of my quotes uses the word "Negro" and I do not know if I should put that in my paper or if I should put asterisks instead. (If it helps the book is "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee)


texts:
In a text I was reading about philosophy, there was the word illiberal. I guessed its meaning to be something like not liberal or against liberalism. But after checking the dictionary, I found out that it means narrow-minded which is really odd for me. Doesn't liberal stem from the French word libre meaning freedom? And isn't the initial letter i used for making something negative?

Update: What I'm asking here is not the meaning of these words, as they can be sought easily in a dictionary. Rather I'd like to see a morphological analysis of liberal and illiberal.


texts: How to say "It's not rocket science" before rockets existed

texts:
Prior to the invention of rockets, was there a phrase equivalent to: "it's not rocket science"?  If so, what was it?

Here I am looking for a phrase that makes a comparison with a difficult job/task, so "easy as pie" wouldn't work. I'm also looking for a phrase that would also have been used before modern medicine. Thus, something different from, "it's not brain surgery".

To clarify: I'm looking for a phrase that was actually used in the English language. It could have been used in any English speaking country. Any time prior to when the expression "it's not brain surgery" might have been used, so earlier than probably 1930 or 40.


texts: Does "businesses" only mean "companies"? How do you describe in saying "number or types of business model" that a single company is doing; e.g. ABC Trade & Co. is covering many "businesses" such as foodstaff trading, investmennt, financial services, logistics services, etc.


texts:
I sometimes use the word "parley" as a verb effectively meaning "to convert from one language or system to another".  Such as

  Stargate parleys the Egyptian deities into villainous star-faring aliens.

I've been told this usage is incorrect, and I can't find any definition to support how I use it.  Is there a similar word that means what I think it does, or am I totally off base?


texts:
Or "stir th'" (where I saw is printed as "stirth'").
It's from a poem from Henry Wotton.

  This day Dame Nature seemed in love;
  The lusty sap began to move;
  Fresh juice did stir th’ embracing vines,
  And birds had drawn their valentines;
  The jealous trout that low did lie
  Rose at the well-dissembled fly;
  There stood my friend, with patient skill
  Attending of his trembling quill.

  On a Bank as I Sat A-fishing
  Sir Henry Wotton (1568–1639)

  http://www.bartleby.com/331/29.html


texts: I happen to read a lot about 'wardrobe' malfunction and showing some fault in the dress they wear. Why is it called a 'wardrobe' malfunction, as though it happens only due to some messing up in the wardrobe? There must be a history behind this phrasing.


texts: "The descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar." It is a sentence from the first article of the NEW CONCEPT ENGLISH 3. I was wondering that why the determiner "the" is missing before "people" because my understanding was that people was specified to who claimed to have seen the puma.


texts: ... Since there are only about 328 wolves in a state with a historic blood thirst for the hides of these top predators, the nonprofits are probably right that lacking protection, Wyoming wolves are toast.


texts: What is the meaning of "often mistaken, never in doubt"?  In what context is the phrase used?


texts:
Word for someone who isn't jobsworth. Someone who, once he'd been given a job, is looking to get that job done the best way possible for everyone (not just himself).

I tried "proactive" but it doesn't fit:

"The ideal candidate would be a non-jobsworth teacher, who is looking to really teach people, not just clock in and spew the material"

Proactive is more about dynamics; someone who takes initiative and reaches out.
In this case, the dynamics is passive, the teacher doesn't normally reach out or take initiative.
For example: my teachers were great. They thought about how to deliver the material with us in mind. But they wouldn't reach out to us or proactively seek to find students who were trailing behind.


texts: Comma placement when joining two independent clauses with a dependent clause and the word, "and."

texts:
I'm having a problem finding an example of comma placement when two independent clauses are joined by a dependent clause and the word "and". Does the comma go before or after the "and"?

For example:

Mary asked John for the third time and, without blinking at eye, he finally turned down the stereo.  (I've placed the comma after the "and")

Here's another example:

John ignored Mary throughout the entire meal, and letting out a heavy sigh, she stood up and left the room. (I placed the comma before the "and")

Which is correct?