texts:
I sometimes act silly like this that I pick up anything comprised of many smaller parts then leave my conclusion on how it is numbered or labeled.
Piece1: Mark knows my language
Piece2: Mark knows not
Piece3: Mark knows
Piece4: Mark knows not
Piece5: Mark knows
Piece6: Mark knows not
...
PieceN: Mark knows not :-(


texts: If I have a provisional document that is listing the items that will be billed for this month (subject to change, because the month is not yet finished), then what is the better term? "draft invoice" or "upcoming invoice"? Or something else?


texts: Word encompassing the words "above" and "below"?

texts:
The word "sideways" can encompass "left side" and "right side".
Is there a word to encompass "above" and "below"?


texts:
I am writing an email reply and want to confirm if the punctuation below is correct.

*

  In response to your question, if it is available, my answer is “yes!"

*

EDIT: Also, should the exclamation mark be inside the the quotations or after.


texts: The Flesch Kincaid readability test is a measure of a written document's readability.  There are numerous methods of measuring written text's readability but processing spoken text is different than written text.  Is there a similar way to measure spoken text but with the auditory reception of speech taken into account as opposed to the visual reception of written communication?


texts: Are "that's it" and "that's all" interchangeable? Is there any specific case where I should use one instead of the other?


texts: Is there an enhancing, slangish word to put after statements, like the Norwegian slang word "ass"?

texts:
I’m making subtitles for a Norwegian TV show, and there is a very common slang word in Norwegian called ass. (Yeah, never mind the English meaning of that, it’s not pronounced the same.) The etymology of the word is actually that it’s a shortened form of the word altså (which means something like "therefore", "thus", or "verily", the latter sense being where the slang meaning derives from.)
Example:
Jeg liker det  ikke, ass.
I   like  that not   ????

Which means, “I don’t like it.” The purpose of the word ass is hard to explain, but it sort of adds some sincerity to the sentence. Without it, the sentence sounds kind of naked. A bit like English indeed, but indeed doesn’t work for a negative statement like this, and it certainly doesn’t work for informal language.
The word is extremely common in spoken Norwegian, especially among young people.
Some more examples:

Jeg vet ikke, ass. (I don’t know.)
Jeg vet det, ass. (I know.)
Du må prøve det, ass. (You have to try it.)

At the moment, I’m using man a lot, as in “You have to try it, man.” but I think some variation would be good. I realize that I could just use nothing, since the word carries only some meaning and is not that crucial, but I still feel it would be better to use something, to capture the feeling of the sentence.
So I know about man or even the word dude. I realize that you could use these words even when talking to a girl, but it doesn’t seem that perfect. And are these words natural when the speaker herself is a girl? Also, how about when talking to a group of people?
The word must be something a 17-year old might say to his or her buddy while hanging out. It doesn’t have to be slang, but it does have to sound natural in a subtitle where young people are talking informally to each other.
Details regarding Norwegian ass
It’s an enhancer, but not a very strong one. It’s more like a laid-back word like dude. You’re not that passionate about what you’re saying, but you do mean in. Ass at the end means that you mean what you’re saying. A bit like really. But it’s also a laidback word, you can certainly say it while speaking in a lazy or careless tone. Also, it’s used very frequently in informal Norwegian, so it’s a bit watered down. The word it derives from, altså (thus, therefore, verily), could be used in the same way, but hardly any young people do so in informal contexts, and it sounds old-fashioned.
I found the definition of altså in a Norwegian dictionary:

Forsterkende:

Det er helt sant, altså!
Han er veldig kjekk, altså!

Which means:

Reinforcing:

It’s completely true, verily!
He is very handsome, verily!

I guess I should just use verily in the subtitles. That sounds, like, so casual, for real.
Please note that altså is perhaps not as old-fashioned in Norwegian as verily is in English. (I believe verily is extremely old-fashioned and perhaps even pompous in English?) However, altså is still somewhat old-fashioned.
To break down the word altså even more, its etymology is alt (all, everything) + så (so).


texts: How many spaces should come after a period/full stop?

texts: In the past — or at least, when I was in elementary school — periods/full stops were followed by two spaces.  Lately, it's become more and more common to see just one space.  In the modern world, should we still use two spaces between sentences, or is just one okay?  Does it depend on the situation?  Or are both acceptable, with the choice simply coming down to personal preference?


texts: I was accused of using a fountain pen the other day (guilty as charged). Does anyone know why it is called so? The mess of ink I get on the page, the table, my person, etc when refilling it is certainly voluminous but can scarcely be described as a fountain.


texts: First conditional with "would" instead of "will"

texts:
Consider the following sentence with a first conditional:

    If it rains tomorrow, I will go to the cinema.

All the examples of first conditionals that I found use "will" instead of "would." Is it possible to replace "will" with "would" while retaining the same exact meaning, i.e.,

    If it rains tomorrow, I would go to the cinema.

Or, would I have to put the inflected verb in preterite form (as mentioned in this related posting), like this:

    If it rained tomorrow, I would go to the cinema.

[Edit 1: I clarified that I want to retain the same meaning among these examples.]

[Edit 2: Corrected silly mistake where the first example was the same as the second example.]


texts: Term for the sense that something must be true because many people talk about it

texts:
Is there an English term for the sense some people have that something "must be true" because many people talk about it, for example, a politician being corrupt or the Mayan 2012 event?

The closest I can think of is "herd behaviour" or "crowd psychology" but that describes more the effect than the cause.


texts: 'Yet' is to 'already' as what is to 'eventually'? Could 'never' do?

texts:
I don't know if my title serves well in expressing what I am actually trying to ask, so maybe an example will do better:

I have done it already. <-> I have not done it yet.
I waited patiently, and he eventually returned. <-> I waited patiently, but he didn't ??? return.

My non-native-English-speaking intuition tells me that the same word eventually wouldn't be appropriate in the negative sentence, the same way as already wouldn't in the first example. Is there any truth in this? Assuming there is, I would normally use never + Past Indefinite to express the "opposite"1 of eventually

I waited patiently, and he eventually returned. <-> I waited patiently, but he never returned.

However, I started having doubts whether this usage of never expresses what I used to assume it did, the reason being that I was unable to find this meaning of never in the dictionary (I checked Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster). According to Dictionary.com:

never  can be used instead of not with the simple past tenses of certain verbs for emphasis ( I never said that; I never realized how clever he was ), but this usage should be avoided in serious writing

So, even if never is the word I am looking for (which according to the definition above it is not), it's said to be informal.
I am hoping someone could point to the word I am looking for, if there exists one, and also throw some light on this usage of never (for example, which "certain verbs" is Dictionary.com referring to? Does my example sentence sound natural?)

1 What is 'yet' to 'already', by the way? Is there a special term?


texts: The verb associated with 'payment': come through or gone through?

texts: Is it "the payment has come through" or "the payment has gone through"?


texts: I heard this sentence a week ago but didn't get right. I told him that you are late to come. He told me, "Don't you realize-", then he stopped, turned and gone.  Someone please help me!


texts:
Is there a single word for "inguinal crease"?

In order of preference (most preferable at the top):

everyday English name
medical term
nickname
slang

Anyway it should be a single word.

Thanks.

P.S.: I am also ready to surrender to the fact that there is no such word.


texts: I have observed several people over the years refer to something that is orange in color as "yellow". Is that some linguistic difference or a difference in perception?


texts: "I think you could help me" or "I thought you could help me" on the essay?

texts:
I think you could help me on the essay.
I thought you could help me on the essay.

Which one is correct?
Sense is, one is asking other, maybe you could help me on the essay

I was talking to my friend online regarding essay submission, at that moment I wrote, I think you could help me on the essay,


texts:
Do you get bored with licking ice-cream?

or

  Do you get bored by licking ice-cream?

or

  Do you get bored of licking ice-cream?

or

  Do you get bored from licking ice-cream?


texts:
The use of "corporates" as a word to mean companies, organizations, etc., has been gaining popularity of late, at least here in India. Although I believe it is standard to speak of "corporate" life, I'm not sure there's a word like "corporates".

  . . . had been a business consultant to the top corporates in the UK

What is your opinion?


texts: Adjective vs Past Participle(used as an adjective) derived from the same word

texts:
I have a quick question: what's the difference between these two noun + adjective forms.

  The ripe apple.
  The ripened apple.

From my understanding, use of past participle as an adjective suggests the maker: as if someone has made the apple ripe.

I'll be very glad to know what native-english speakers think of that. Thank you.


texts: Closed, open, or hyphenated form for "null-space"

texts:
What is the correct spelling of the word "null-space"?

Merriam-Webster puts it in a hyphenated form "null-space", (link).

Wikipedia (link) and MathWorld (link) both put it in either open or closed form "null space" or "nullspace".

Firefox's built-in spellchecker knows only "null space" and "null-space".

I've seen all three spellings in the existing scientific literature.

What would be the correct spelling according to grammar? Is there any difference if we are talking about AmE or BrE? Or should I just pick one spelling and use it across the whole article?


texts: I'm editing a short story (for context, the author is English, living permanently in Australia, and aiming for publication in the USA). In one scene the main character says something like: "We couldn't stay here: security would throw us out." Would the word "security", as a department, in this case be capitalized here as "Security"?


texts: "I live on beans and rice" vs. "I live off beans and rice"

texts:
I wanted to refocus a related question on ell.se. towards a possible deeper and direct relationship to "on vs. off".

Consider the following two phrases:

I live off beans and rice.  (Approx 94,000 results Google Search)
I live on beans and rice.  (Approx 67,000 results Google Search)

In addition to the subtle difference in meaning, I'm particularly interested in where the semantics of the differences might come from.  Can we trace the semantic difference between "live on" and "live off" to a fundamental, "definitional" aspect of "on vs. off"?

Below, I've answered my own question as an afterthought.  It was additional thoughts that needed to be moved to an answer, and is in no way intended to be definitive.


texts: Original pronunciation of "kind" in "A little more than kin, and less than kind"

texts:
I'm wondering about the original pronunciation of "kind" in the famous line "A little more than kin, and less than kind" by Hamlet.
Was it like "keend" or the present-day "kind"?
If the great vowel shift(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift) was not completed about the word "kind", the pronunciation was like the former, but I'm not sure.

I'm interested in this problem because if the pronunciation was like "keend", the pun between "kin" and "kind" would be clearer.


texts: Is there any difference between 'often' and 'frequently'?

texts: Do both mean exactly the same or do they have slightly different meanings?


texts:
I would appreciate it if you give me a simple explanation of the Nietzsche citation in this following paragraph:

  Nietzsche instead believed that we must look beyond hope. We must look beyond values. We must evolve into something “beyond good and evil.” For him, this morality of the future had to begin with something he called amor fati, or “love of one’s fate”:

    “My formula for greatness in a human being,” he wrote, “is amor fati: [ed: my problem is with the following]

    that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it—all idealism is mendacity in the face of what is necessary—but love it.”


texts: The event before the latest one is "the last one"

texts:
Page 265 of the Collins English Usage reads

If one of a series of events is happening now or has just happened,
you refer to it as the latest one.
You refer to the event
before the latest one as the last one. If no event of the kind you are
talking about has happened recently, you refer to the most recent one
as the last one.
If someone keeps having or
producing a series of things, you refer to the one they have now or
the one they have produced most recently as their latest one.
You refer to the one before their latest
one as their last one. If they have not had or produced one recently,
you refer to their most recent one as their last one.

I do not understand the use of the last for the one before the latest one, and unfortunately no example is given for it.


texts:
In English, unlike in many other languages, signatures are typically very different from ordinary handwriting. A signature will often display all kinds of wild flourishes and elision of forms and what have you. A person usually starts out writing their name in print or in cursive, and develops the style of their signature over time.

But how exactly does a signature develop? How did mine go from a shaky, juvenile cursive rendition of "Jonathan William Purdy" to something that looks more like "Joth Wm Pdy"? (And then only if you turn your head and squint.)

Mainly I'm looking for research articles, books, and online resources on which strokes and series of characters can be elided, and what flourishes are common and allowable. This is a broad topic, and though I have a pretty clear concept of what I'm looking for, I'm finding difficulty describing it. Please ask any clarifying questions that come to mind.


texts: An expression for very tightly secured/mounted/fastened

texts:
I am trying to find a way describe a product feature, this would be that once the product is mounted, it cannot be easily un-mounted by shock, movement.

The expression in German Hält Bombenfest which approximately means bomb proof, describes it very well, please not that I am not looking for a translation of this, rather a natural way of saying it in English.

My first intuation was shockproof, but I don't feel this accurately describes it, since I think more of a camera falling down.

The closest I've found so far is something like securely fastened, since fastened describes the holding pretty well though I'm still not satisfied.

Just in case it's relevant, the product itself is a silicone mount that holds a smartphone to a bike's handlebar.


texts:
In my specific case I want to abbreviate the word section. I abbreviate the singular case to sec. and hope that's correct. I have no idea, however, how to abbreviate sections.

Is it secs? Is it sec.s? Or is it secs.?

The same goes for words such as chapter.

I couldn't find the answer on this site. I did find about abbreviations with mutliple words (e.g. PhDs). I found answers on specific time units (e.g. hours is hrs) but I don't know if this is the case for my question with any noun.


texts: What part of speech do the quoted constructions belong to?

texts:
This yoghurt is ...

"getting out of these shoes" good
"not catching the bouquet" good,
"not getting stuck with a groom's man shorter than you" good.

I have found no articles on this sort of (it seems to me) intensifiers/constructions. Any clues?


texts: Meaning "have a higher opinion of Person A than Person B"

texts:
Does:

I have a higher opinion of Person A than Person B.

mean I prefer Person A over Person B or my opinion of Person A is higher than Person B's opinion of Person A? (i.e. I have a higher opinion of Person A than Person B does.)


texts: An adjective for "exclusion" to show that it is very extensive and vast?

texts:
The Islamic tradition shows the _____ exclusion of women from scientific field.

I mean to say that there has been almost no woman in that tradition in the field of science. What adjective should I use for "exclusion"? My own suggestions are "vast", "wide", and "extended". What would be an idiomatic adjective for exclusion in that context?


texts:
My friend and I have been debating if adding 'ing' to a word makes it its own word. We said Webster would be the final answer for the debate. A search on Webster though brought back the root word as the word with the gerund version as an alteration. To me that means the root word is the word. Is this correct?

The word in question is motoring.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motoring

If we had a paper edition of the dictionary I'm arguing that motoring would not be listed. Is this correct?


texts:
Good evening everyone! Recentle I've been wondering if it's okey to use always with past simple. Here's a sentence I made up as an example:

Baking cakes was always a hard task for me.

Is it grammatically correct?
Thanks in advance!


texts: Is there a connection betweem "a parting shot at the end of a discussion" and the Parthian horse archer practice of wheeling from the battle line and firing an arrow on the run?


texts: noun for "something to use/give if no other match"

texts:
If you cannot find what you looking for use/give this instead.
What do you call this?

if someone wants a "pen" give them a "book"
if someone wants a "shoe" give them a "sock"
if someone wants a "chair" give them a "table"
otherwise give them a "paper"

  "paper" is the _____


texts:
At the website where people pronounce words from their languages, the page for the word often gives 15 accounts. 13 people pronounced it with silent t (ofen), and only 2 with strong t (ofTen).

But all ESL teachers I know (U.S. native speakers) pronounce it with strong t (ofTen).

What is the right (standard) pronunciation?


texts:
In British English should it be "Rockstar Games' products" or "Rockstar Games's products" to make it possessive?

I would also like to check if the same rule applies if the company name's first word was an adjective

eg. Happy Games

"Happy Games' office" or "Happy Games's office"?

The rule for American English would also be good to know but not essential.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

(I apologise for any other grammatical errors or poor use of English I may have made in the phrasing of this question.)


texts: Why multiple length dashes (em, en, hyphen)?

texts: I'm wondering why there are three different sizes (perhaps more?) for lines that separate characters?  I understand the grammatical usage (or rather, I could look it up), but the benefit to readers is not clear to me.


texts: Help me make sense of this use of 'hitherto'

texts:
The role this word plays in the sentence's meaning is never automatically clear for me, but this one confuses me, it seems off. Exchanging it for "so far" or "up until that point" doesn't work here.

  In the present [20th] century, starting more or less with the work of
  Ferdinand de Saussure, emphasis has been placed much more firmly than
  hitherto on language as it is used rather than on how experts say that
  it should be used.


texts: Noun for people/employees/coworkers who tend to say "it's not my job" when asked to do something slightly beyond their norm?

texts:
Is there a general term that describes people/employees/coworkers who tend to say "it's not my job" when asked to do something slightly beyond the responsibilities of their role? Not necessarily those who only say it when they don't have time (although in those cases there are certainly better ways to say it), but perhaps those who tend to use it as a crutch to prevent extraneous exertion of effort.

Lazy, may certainly describe these folks, sure. I'm looking for a noun though, not an adjective.

Analogous to a "that's not my job" mindset is that of the knowledge hoarder who tends to believe that any special knowledge and skills that they possess that no other coworkers possess are not to be shared, and they believe that tasks requiring the use of such special knowledge or skills are their job alone. They are often referred to as "heroes" and can be the same people as those who tend to refuse work outside of their role's established responsibilities, but "hero" is not the term I'm looking for. Is there a similar term that plays more to their work-refusal side?


texts: When and where did the ancient proverb "He that will not when he may, when he will he shall have nay" originate?

texts:
The proverb

He that will not when he may, when he will he shall have nay

basically states that one should not be too demanding when it comes to choosing.
According to Wikipedia:

as the ancient proverb proposes
Wikipedia, The Heron and the Fish, 02:07, 16 September 2017

it describes it as ancient but there's nothing I can find that links this proverb to a source of some sort. The footnote only redirects me to this broken link.


texts:
I was watching the movie L.A. Confidential last night, and was reminded of the phrase "on the QT", which Danny DeVito's character says several times.

  Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush...

I was wondering if anyone can shed any light on the origin and meaning of this phrase.


texts:
I have occasionally heard "for always" used to mean "forever". This is a random example from Google Books:

“Of course,” she said. “And I love you. For always.”

COCA returns hundreds of hits for "for always", mostly false positives though. And "love you for always" narrows it down to three hits. Google searches indicate this turn of phrase has been invoked in songs fairly commonly. But it apparently doesn't occur in colloquial language very often, so I wonder if it is dialectal and where it originally came from.


texts: (Statistics) Alternative phrases for growth rate?

texts:
The figures represent the number of tourists who visited a country in thousands.
The red annotations do not mean anything.
In the fifth row of this chart, we can see that the data for Europe had the highest growth (change/past) rate rather than increase over the years compared to the figures for other countries. However, since the word "growth rate" seems inappropriate here, what are the other ways to express this idea?
Thank you.


texts:
Some people go to sauna and spend there a few minutes, this is believed to have a good effect on their health.

Similarly, some people go to swim for a few minutes in water with the temperature just above zero. Or they may wear only shorts in cold weather, have a cold shower, etc. What is the verb in English for practising this second kind of events?


texts: When did 'profanity' lose its inoffensiveness?

texts:
Strictly speaking, "profane" simply means something that is not sacred.

Generally speaking though, "profane" and "profanity" are taken to mean vulgarity or offensive language or behaviour. At the very least, outside of a discussion on religion, one would assume that's the meaning.

When did this happen? Was it a simple subtle shift or was it brought about by something?


texts: The right way to describe "having proven credentials" in a resume

texts:
I need to write in short form in a resume that the person is a highly skilled and valued psychologist with proven "credentials" (in the form of recognition awards from his workplace, excellent personal recommendations, great performance reviews, etc.).

I thought about "proven credentials" and "proven abilities" but it sounds too specific to my ears.

Can anyone help me find a more accurate phrasing?


texts:
"Eliot Ness hounded out graft in all forms—he even helped nab Al Capone".

I know "hound" means "follow and pursue", but no meaning of "graft" in the dictionary seems to fit the sentence.


texts: Is there a word for introducing made-up events in a supposedly historical film?

texts:
Misdirection is used for distracting attention of an audience.

In a similar sense, audio visual artists (TV, movies, etc.) spice up historical epics.

They introduce unproven/undocumented events and figures just for the sake increasing viewership.

What would be an appropriate word for it? Would misdepiction be suitable?


texts: Is it mere slang to use the verb 'stick' in place of 'versus', as in 'Us three 'stick' you four'?

texts:
When I was a child (well over a half-century ago) in Norfolk, we would, when playing football talk of 'Team A stick Team B. When arranging sides informally we would say 'Us three stick the rest of you, meaning the three of us will play against the rest of you.

I had always assumed this was Norfolk slang dialect, peculiar to both place and time. But tonight I heard my Mancunian grandson using it with some other kids with whom he was playing football.

It does not appear as a meaning of the verb stick in the OED. So one assumes it is simply urban slang.

Does anyone else know anything about it? What further information does anyone have on the matter?


texts: Meaning of "The most I ever did for you, was to outlive you, / But that is much"

texts:
What did the poet mean by the following lines?

  The most I ever did for you, was to outlive you,
  But that is much.
  — Edna St. Vincent Millay

I am not able to understand the meaning completely, and the context in which this was written.


texts:
Please! In the sentence below I wonder what the word "double unit" means.

  "the Economics one course is a double unit so there are two lectures a week and one tutorial"

Does double unit mean these two lectures have the same content?

Thank you


texts: Word meaning anthropomorphize, but specifically regarding sexual characteristics?

texts:
To anthropomorphize is "to attribute human personality or form to things not human." [Merriam-Webster]

Is there a word that means "to attribute human sexual traits to things not human?" Think Bugs Bunny dressed in drag, Miss Piggy, etc.

The word sexualize might work, but it doesn't necessarily indicate that the subject is not human.


texts: Term for someone who leaves a relationship after the other person buys them a bunch of stuff

texts:
I'm looking for the proper term.

So there's a female. Her name is Kaylee. Knows this guy that is madly in love with her and would give anything to be with her. Well, she is struggling and needs things for her kids and wants things herself. This guy and her always talk and it seems like (as she makes it seem) like they are gunna get together. And he starts buying her everything she needs like her kids Christmas her a phone and just everything she asks for. Well one day Kaylee meets up with her ex-boyfriend (baby daddy) and all the sudden just drops Tom like nothing and pretty much says (without actually saying it) "thanks for buying all this stuff but bye."

I know there's a word or phrase for it. But it's like making someone think they're gunna be together and whatnot then leaving after the other person buys them a bunch of stuff.


texts:
I was rather old before I realized "gauge" is pronounced (and sometimes spelt) "gage".  The etymology doesn't reveal too much:

  mid-15c., from Anglo-Fr. gauge (mid-14c.), from O.N.Fr. gauger, from gauge "gauging rod,"
  perhaps from Frank. galgo "rod, pole for measuring" (cf. O.N. gelgja "pole, perch," O.H.G.
  galgo, English gallows) ... The figurative use is from 1580s. As a noun, "fixed standard of measure," early 15c. (surname Gageman is early 14c.), from O.N.Fr. gauge "gauging rod." Meaning "instrument for measuring" is from 1680s.

Is it just a quirk, or is there a deeper reason?


texts: Is it correct to say 'available drugs have...' or should it be 'the available drugs have...'?

texts:
The sentence is as follows: Available drugs - antimonials, pentamidine, amphotericin B and miltefosine - have side-effects. The writer wants to know why they cannot say: The available drugs - antimonials, pentamidine, amphotericin B and miltefosine - have side-effects.
I can quote no rule but feel the first instance is more correct.


texts: Is it ok to use the term 'before' as a synonym of 'in front of'?

texts:
There is a translation of a Chinese classic poem that goes like this:

  Before my bed, the bright moonlight is shining..

I find it a bit strange to use 'before' there, is it commonly used or is just fine because it gives a poetic style?


texts: I'm not sure if "'s" is valid in this sentence

texts:
While writing an academic paper on chemistry, I have to write a section, entitled:

Cumene hydroperoxide's dissociative adsorption.

My question is, would it be correct to write it without 's ? In other words, which one is more grammatically correct? The previous one or one of the following:

Cumene hydroperoxide dissociative adsorption.

Dissociative adsorption of cumene hydroperoxide.

My first tongue is Spanish, and I'm afraid the third option may be a too literal translation and will not sound as proper english.


texts: How did 'recoup' semantically shift to mean 'recompense'?

texts:
The OED doesn't expound. Etymonline:

  1620s, from French recouper "to cut back" (12c.), from Old French re- "back" (see re-) + couper "to cut," from coup "a blow" (see coup). Originally a legal term meaning "to deduct;" sense of "to recompense for loss or expense" first recorded 1660s. [...]

I obviously can't substitute 'to deduct' or 'cut back' for 'recoup', as then sentences like the beneath would mean something else.

Paul Richards. Law of Contract (Foundation Studies in Law Series) (2019 14 edn).

  The authority for the rule at common law can also be found in the case of Britton v Royal
  Insurance Co. (1866) 4 F & F 905 [online here] where Willes J stated:

    A fire insurance, he said, is a contract of indemnity; that is, it is a contract to indemnify the
    assured against the consequences of a fire, provided it is not wilful. Of course, if the assured set
    fire to his house, he could not recover. That is clear. But it is not less clear that, even supposing
    it were not wilful, yet as it is a contract of indemnity only, that is, a contract to recoup the insured
    the value of the property destroyed by fire, if the claim is fraudulent, it is defeated altogether.
    That is, suppose the insured made a claim for twice the amount insured and lost, thus seeking
    to put the office off its guard, and in the result to recover more than he is entitled to, that would
    be a wilful fraud, and the consequence is that he could not recover anything


texts: Which definition of "gross" is in "gross oversimplification"?

texts:
In common parlance, "gross" is often used to mean "disgusting." That caused me to immediately think the phrase "gross oversimplification" was intentionally insulting. After thought, I remembered the other definitions of "gross."

Which definition of "gross" is being conveyed, and what is the definition of "gross oversimplification" that stems from that?


texts: What’s the difference between "tire" and "tyre"?

texts:
Basically, everything is in the title.

I've seen on the web that tire is US English, while tyre is British English.

But then I asked some British friends graduating in Language and Literature, and they said to me that tyre tends to disappear in England.

Could somebody confirm this for me?


texts: A word to describe the fact to discover something thanks to a novice's idea / new point-of-view

texts:
Is there a word to describe the fact for someone to discover a new thing, thanks to the refreshing new point-of-view coming from someone who is not an expert in the domain, or who does not even posess the basic knowledge in this domain?

Just like there is a word to describe the fact to discover something else that what we were searching for (serendipity), is there a word to describe this? If no, then don't hesitate to answer "No" and I'll accept the answer (I'm not searching for workarounds but the exact word expressing the concept instead).

To illustrate it more:

Imagine someone being an expert in a very specific field of science. He knows everything that can be known about this field. But he struggles finding new things or explaining unexplained things, because he is too much influenced by his knowledge and how he sees the problem.

Now imagine another person that is far from an expert in this same field. She is simply interested in it. She puts a bit of effort to come up with an explanation or model of a particular problem, without any mathematical background or formal definitions. She writes it down or tell it out loud to the first person.

Since she had no knowledge in this field, she was not limited by it, and in fact has found an interesting different way of looking at the problem, which now leads the first person to make a new discovery (roughly: publish a paper).

Sample sentence:

  The study of WORD, or how findings were made possible thanks to inexperienced people and their new ideas.

(The idea behind this is to search if this phenomenon happens a lot or not, or if any study has been done on this.)


texts: there is, there are with personal pronouns

texts:
I almost never see "there is/are" used with personal pronouns. Why do they not get along with each other?

1 There is me in this house.
2 There are them in this town.

I think they are wrong. But why?

However, I can give one example:

Thus, when Christ promises that "where two or three are gathered in His name, there is He in the midst of them,"

IS it the case of "there is +personal pronoun" or is it something different?


texts:
According to Collins English Usage,

  Badly has another different meaning. If you need or want something
  badly, you need or want it very much: I am badly in need of
  advice; I want this job so badly; We badly need the money.

  For this meaning of badly, don't use the comparative and superlative
  forms ‘worse’ and ‘worst’. Instead you use the forms more badly and
  most badly.

Is this distinction due to its meaning "(very) much", which already uses more/most as its comparative/superlative forms?


texts: Is this statement grammatically correct? "Whether, how or to which god I pray, does not define me as a person and is none of your business."

texts: Is the above statement grammatically correct regarding use of the word 'whether' or should I use 'whether or not' instead.


texts:
Version A:

  Foresters discovered that trees killed by acid rain had begun to die four years earlier, even though the trees had shown no signs of disease then.

Version B:

  Foresters discovered that trees killed by acid rain had begun to die four years earlier without any signs of diseases shown then.

To me, B is more succinct, although it does have that element of surprise created by "even though" in A.

My grammar book says that A is clearer, because in B,  it's not clear what the phrase "without any signs of disease" is meant to refer to.


texts: Which is correct: "what if there was" or "what if there were"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “If I was” or “If I were”. Which is more common, and which is correct?

Is this correct grammar?

  What if there was a Stack Overflow on…

Shouldn't it be "what if there were a Stack Overflow on…"?


texts: Alternative expressions for "it shows" or "it can be seen"

texts:
I am writing an analytical essay but don't know what expressions I can use instead of

it shows when or it can be seen when

Are there any phrase or words I can use instead?

I am analysing a book and I don't really know how to vary the expressions in my writing when I want to analyse certain situations in the story. For example, how else could I say,

  It shows when the character...


texts: "Would have had to have been" vs "would have had to be" for past event conditions

texts:
I instinctively said

  I would have had to have been over 180 lbs for that to have happened.

I thought that seemed overly wordy. Too many "have"s and "had"s. So I tried:

  I would have had to be over 180 lbs for that to happen.

That didn't feel right, though.

My brother and I were talking of a past event. He suggested something that could have happened. (Something like, You could have hung from the chandelier to get it out). I tried the first of the above statements. I want to speak about something that would need to occur for something else to occur in that past situation.

What would be the proper way of saying what I was trying to say up there‽


texts:
Please note: This may be a complex question, references would be great, search engines do not help with "of the".

Looks like we can remove the use of "of the" with a noun adjunct switching the order of a couple of names, at least sometimes. Examples:

The name of the hotel → The hotel name
The handle of the teapot → The teapot handle
The use of the "of the" digram → The "of the" digram use
The use of the digram "of the" → The digram "of the" use (?)
The dog of the house → The house dog (?)

Looks like sometimes (when?) we need the use of the Saxon genitive. Examples:

The dog of John → John's dog.
The bag of the child → child's bag
The beginning of the day → the day's beginning (?)
The mistakes of the people → people's mistakes (?)

The questions are:

First and foremost: is this correct? (or "what is incorrect here?")
Which use is preferred? Using "of the" or the noun adjunct.
What rules apply in this context?
There may be some cases when the only correct option is using "of the", are there such cases?


texts:
Are "what day is it?" and "what day is it on?" both correct? Or is one more correct than the other? Or is one correct/formal and the other informal?

What would you use in these examples and why:

Example 1

Hi, Daniel. Is Peter's concert tonight?
No, it's at the weekend.
What day is it?/What day is it on?
It's on Saturday.

Example 2

What day is Christmas this year?/What day is Christmas on this year?
It's on a Saturday.


texts: Is the use of the word "mere" here valid?

texts:
"With the advent of the 21st century, our ability to collect and share copious amounts of data have been unprecedented. This deluge of information, coupled with the scientific advancements in recent history has the potential for us to model from the mere abstract to the practical applications that aid in our daily lives."

Also, do these sentences make sense? I am trying to convey that practical applications are now viable.


texts: term/short explanation to convey internet search conundrum?

texts:
Google (or other search engines) are pretty magical to find information, by inferring what you probably meant to ask.

In some cases though, the very high popularity of one meaning of a particular search term kinda occults everything around it.

A basic search for U2 will probably return tons of stuff around the band, rather than the airplane (easily worked around by adding airplane or -band -music).

However, say you try to find out something about Amazon Reviews however and you will be swamped with results about this or that book, and there is no easy way to look for throw them all away and concentrate on Amazon's handling of that subject.

Doesn't happen too often, but when something like that does, it's both pretty frustrating and quite hard to explain.  So, in a world where Googling means searching online for info, how do we indicate cases where it's not likely to work, but because of a forest and trees phenomenon, rather than the subject being hidden/secret/unknown.

Another example, (I am a techy), is a program that I sometimes use called runit.  Try googling up runit and you get all sorts of technical results about running program x or y, because runit is such a generic term, even without a separating space.

Occulting seems like a possibility, but its meaning in this context is not sufficiently clear on its own without needing extra explanations.

  I tried to Google Amazon Reviews and couldn't filter out all complaints about this or that book.  I just wanted to find out if Amazon still displays reviews, not hear about people paying for fake reviews.  This is another case of  __________.


texts: How do I use a question as an embedded quotation when it also deserves a comma?

texts:
So I asked "Shall I do the thing?" and he responded with "Yes."

In that sentence, should the ? exist? It kind of feels like it should be a comma, given its place in the sentence. Thing is, if I take away the comma, it loses its identity as a question.
What is the correct way to solve this?


texts: Is expression "It does us no harm." grammatically correct?

texts:
I would write it with "to":

"It does to us no harm."

or

"It does no harm to us".

Similar example from https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/do-to

"I’ll never forgive him for what he did to me."


texts: Are there good words for "non-religious" that are broader than "secular"?

texts:
I want to say "it's very something of them to be open on Christmas day." Neither secular nor pluralist feels quite right. secular suggests opposition to religion, rather than inclusive of both religious and non-religious folks. The sense I'm hoping to convey is that while most people in the US do take the day off, there's something welcoming about not assuming that everyone wants the day off.

I'm looking for a word that conveys a sense of being welcoming or open-minded and compatible with lots of different perspectives.

I've been looking through thesauruses for synonyms and antonyms to secular, welcoming, pluralist, open-minded, pragmatic, partisan and not coming up with what I want. I feel like there's a specific word that I can't zero in on. pluralist comes closest, I guess, but it isn't quite right.

Note: to answer some of the questions in comments, I am (was) looking for a word that suggests that the actor isn't assuming that everyone shares the same religion or celebrates religious holidays. By the example (which was literally the sentence I was trying to write) I meant that it was nice of the employer to not assume that everyone wants to take Christmas off, on the theory that some staff might prefer to work on Christmas and take Yom Kippur or Eid off instead. I can see how I could have explained that better.


texts: Is "pseudonym" used for names other than authors'?

texts:
A pseudonym is a fictitious name for an author.

Is the term ever used to denote an alternate or made-up name for anything else, such as a book, a product, or another kind of object?

(The use can be in a figurative way, but if so, I'm looking for examples in mainstream use.)

If not, what would be an equivalent term?


texts: Why "it’s turtles" not "they are turtles"

texts:
It is a third person singular and is used to refer to a thing. If that’s the case, then why do we say:

  A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on.” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!”
  —from A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

I would use it instead of they because the former sounds natural to me, but I wouldn’t be able to explain the convoluted details (unless they are simple) behind it.


texts:
If one fails, then he must simply try harder.
If one fails, then one must simply try harder.

I have been trying to find the answer to this one for some time now. Some books and websites say second is correct while others say they both are same. Can someone explain which one is grammatically correct?


texts:
What is the difference between Have a look and Take a look (meaning/connotations)? For example:

Have a look at the question.
Take a look at the question.

For some reason I only found first version, but Google Translate suggests second one.


texts: "Electric bill", "electrical bill" or "electricity bill"

texts: Which is correct: electric bill, electrical bill or electricity bill?


texts: Why is it "King's Road or Queen's Road" but "Princes Road"? Also Wikipedia says that "Kings Road" is okay but would it be alright to say "Prince's Road"?


texts: belligerent speeches by leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States throughout the Cold War were keeping the world on edge.


texts: What are the rules to pronounce the suffix "-tion" in English, "/-tʃən/" or "ʃən"?

texts:
Ok, we got a lot of words with suffix "-tion" in English like reflection or congestion.

But the way to pronounce "-tion" is different sometimes.

congestion /kənˈdʒes.tʃən/

reflection /rɪˈflek.ʃən/

SO, What are the rules to pronounce the suffix "-tion" in English, when to say "/-tʃən/" and when to say  "/ʃən/"?


texts:
What is the difference between the following two?

  We didn't have a chance to meet, except for the campaign.
  We didn't have a chance to meet, except in the campaign [or "except for in the campaign"].

I would also appreciate if there is a better way of conveying the same message.


texts: Meaning of the phrase "to corner the world's pleasures"

texts:
So I was baffled when the women at college accused me and my sex of having cornered the world's pleasures.

I know about the meaning of all of the words in this sentence, but I don't know the expression and I want to know about meaning of "having cornered" in this sentence

And I want to know this sentence too: "I realize now how ancient these identities are, how deep the tug they exert on men,the undertow of a thousand generations."

These sentences written by Scott Russell Sanders In patterns book lesson (Women and Men)


texts: What term is used for a person who prefers to communicate in writing as opposed to speaking?

texts: This is my first post, so please forgive me if my question has already been answered. I looked through the list quickly, but didn't see anything similar.


texts: What is the meaning of "mortal enemies"?

texts:
Can you please help me to grasp the meaning of "mortal enemies"?
Does it mean "earthling, human"?

The full quote is as follows:

  Guard me from the wicked who attack me,
  From my mortal enemies  who surround me.

Thanks a lot.


texts: I‘m looking for an idiom which describes that I put too much engagement/pressure in a thing ( a relationship for example) which eventually blew it.


texts: Given a "pledge" to complete each day, what words can represent success and failure in a motivating fashion?

texts:
If one decides that they are going to attempt to complete a pledge or task each day, what are two words (one for each) that can be used to represent the number of successes and failures, without being too discouraging?

Example pledge: "I'm going to exercise 20 minutes every day."


texts:
How do you correctly abbreviate that something is in "three dimensions" in formal writing?
As per the title, would you write either "3D", "3d", or "3-d"?

I want to write something like:

  The figure contains a 2D widget (left) and a 3D gadget (right).

Additionally, if I use the full phrase in a sentence, I gather that I write

  The three-dimensional gadget is composed of independent two-dimensional widgets.

i.e. using a hyphen and the word "three". Would it also be allowed to write "3-dimensional"?
Especially in a context where I want to contrast it with something else "2-dimensional" in the same (or adjacent) sentence, as the numerals stick out more?


texts: Does anybody pronounce the word "pillow" as "pellow"?

texts: My girlfriend giggles whenever I say it, and I never realized that I said it differently then anyone else. But now that I am listening...NOBODY says pellow?  They all say pillow.  I've listened to my family, mother & father, and grandparents...and I can't figure out where I got this from?  Any insights?


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

  This works fine

It seems that the author of the statement wanted to say that something was working, but not working well.


texts: Is inverted word order such as "Anybody else does have any other concerns?" correct?

texts:
I know that if I was supposed to spin a grammatically correct sentence with the same meaning, I would probably say:

  Does anybody else have any other concerns?

However, is the sentence in the subject of the question correct as well, even if unusual??


texts: when can you use cut your teeth on something from the first person perspective?

texts:
I was helping a friend to proof read and found this sentence very cringey.
'Also, Chambers that give their pupil first-hand experience which they can cut their teeth on their legal careers in the long run.'

Is it grammatically correct? Is the idiom correctly used? Or am I just being sensitive.

Thank you


texts: Can anyone clarify for me the differences between these two words, in their senses of "occupation by a tenant"?


texts: Can dramatic irony function retrospectively?

texts:
Please do not read the following if you have never read Oedipus or are unfamiliar with the plot of the play, in case it spoils the reading for you:
In Sophocles' play Oedipus the King, the dramatic irony of much of Oedipus' earlier words is not revealed until we learn from Teiresias that Oedipus is the man responsible for killing King Laius and setting the plague upon Thebes. Early in the play, Oedipus says the following lines:

For whoso slew that king might have a mind
To strike me too with his assassin hand.
Therefore in righting him I serve myself

Here's the source for the edition I'm using, if you're wondering.
My question is the following: could the above lines be considered dramatic irony even though they occur before the scene in which the audience learns the truth from Teiresias? That is, upon reading Teiresias' revelation, could one consider the preceding material to be dramatically ironic, even though one was ignorant of the information at the time it was read?


texts: Appropriateness of two spaces inbetween words

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How many spaces should come after a period/full stop?

I understand the justification for reverting to a single-space system (computers aren't typewriters), but is it actually inappropriate to use two spaces after a period?  I always learned to write that way, and look at a single-space paper and feel kind of... claustrophobic.


texts: How to use "until now/so far" in the past tenses?

texts:
I know that "until now" indicates that something changed.

  No messages have come until now. Now the first message arrived.

But what about using it in the past, for example in reported speech or just meaning in the past?

  It was not clear to me until now. The whole sentence is meant to refer to past, e.g. describing what happened during my studies.

  I did not know much about trigonometry. So far, I was only using algebra. When I was young.


texts: Word for the feeling of dread/complacency that comes when starting something new

texts:
Is there a word for the feeling of that comes when faced with something new and you  really have to push yourself hard to actually start and get into the flow of said task or situation? It seems to be the mental pressure or weight of some combination of dread, complacency and intimidation that causes a person to freeze. I suppose it could be described as generalized form of "writers block for life situations".

(Laziness is not the word, because it would suggest not wanting to start ;) )

I know what this feels like, but don't know how to express it, and it is highly frustrating!


texts: What does the phrase isn't/doesn't he/she just" originate?/

texts:
As The Machmillan Dictionary puts it this phrase is used for emphasis. For example:

  Person 1: Kate was angry with Mike for breaking her vase.

  Person 2: Isn't she just.

This phrase sounds so strange to my non-native ear. Why this phrase is used in the question form and the word just is there for?


texts: What is the English word that can represent the thing that a role is applied on?

texts:
Your role in the school is a teacher.
His role in the team is a developer.
Her role in the family is a mother.

human + something (e.g school, team, and family) + role

What we can call the thing that the role is applied on? Is there an English term that can represents the "something" in the equation?


texts: Blending capitalisation and abbreviation

texts:
Is there a term that describes the process of capitalising words to identify them with an acronym?

For example when writing about MS (multiple sclerosis), text can be something like "my Micro Stories" or "the works of art were Mostly Striking".

Thanks


texts:
1. ...most intriguing question about the future of wireless communications...

2. What's your view about future of wireless?

Is it possible to remove the from the first sentence or add the to the second?


texts:
I say "the transport of beer", in which "beer" seems to be correctly referring  to either a single beer or, more likely, the liquid in general.
Saying "the transport of box" is obviously incorrect, for "box" should be pluralized when boxes in general are meant.

This makes me wonder, can one say "The transport of cargo...", or "Cargo is usually transported on boats."? Or should cargo be pluralized in each case?


texts: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

texts:
The usual question and answer seem to be of the form

  What do you want to be when you grow up?

  I want to be a singer when I grow up.

Should it not be

  What do you want to be when you have grown up?

  I want to be a singer when I have grown up.

Here we have interpreted grow up as the process at whose end one becomes a singer. Should the first pair be considered correct simply because of its accepted usage, or is there an alternative explanation for this?


texts: When a sentence contains both “not” and “or”, which one has priority?

texts:
I am changing a piece of text which current reads:

  Payment not deducted

to also include the situation where payments are withheld.  The suggested revision of text given to me is

  Payment not deducted or withheld

Is this semantically correct?  To me it reads:

  Payment not deducted and payment not withheld

when what it should really read as is:

  Payment not deducted or payment withheld

The ambiguity can be removed by rephrasing as:

  Payment withheld or not deducted

but I’m curious to know the rules regarding the word not preceeding an or.


texts: Bill reading Shakespeare and Maureen singing Schubert satisfy/satisfies me

texts: Which verb form is grammatically correct here? My intuition says 'satisfy' but a textbook I'm reading says otherwise (Core Syntax: A Minimalist Approach. If interested, a legal copy is available here).


texts: In the statement "Hollywood was looking more and more like a Toys 'R' Us outlet", is there a name/term given to the "more and more"?


texts:
mel·lif·lu·ous  /məˈliflo͞oəs/
  Adjective:
  (of a voice or words) Sweet or musical; pleasant to hear.

As in the title: is "mellifluous" onomatopoeic or is the definition of onomatopoeia stricter than that?


texts: Term a 'sheet something' to prove you are a published journalist/writer?

texts:
Sometime back, I read somewhere that if you want to cover an event, the event organizer may ask to see a 'sheet something'. I don't remember what this terminology or the phrase is.

The phrase basically denotes that you will print copies of your online work, put them in a bundle and show it to the organizer. If the organizer is satisfied with the content of your work, they may choose to give you a press pass for the event.

I'm looking to know/remember the term/phrase. It comes from olden times when a journalist used to cut articles out of a newspaper and keep them in a bundle in case if he needs to show his writing skills to an editor or somebody.

Does anybody know what this terminonolgy or phrase might be?


texts: Can "for" and “due to” be used interchangeably?

texts:
Trying to understand the logic of the below sentence to make the same kind of sentences. It's pretty hard for me because I mostly use "for" something like "for me" etc.

This city is famous for its delicious food.

So in the sentence, it looks like "for" is giving a reason for the result.
But "due to" also gives a reason and modifies a noun (or pronoun). So, it seems the below sentence correct to me.

The city is famous due to its delicious food.

If so, can I use for interchangeably?


texts:
I'm editing a very bureaucratic document and I'm trying to make it less bureaucratic.
There's a passage that refers to "a session with a duration of 1-2 hours." I want to change it to "a session lasting 1-2 hours."

I don't see why that should be a problem, but it's Monday morning and I don't feel like my brain has come back from the weekend yet so I'm being cautious.

Does anyone think that is in any way confusing or less clear than the wordy "with a duration of" usage? This document is riddled with such overly wordy usages and I'm really trying to make it more readable without losing any meaning.


texts: What part of speech is "rested" in this sentence?

texts:
In the sentence, "I was well rested," is rested an adjective or a past participle?

Similarly, in the sentence, "Your room was organized," is organized an adjective or a past participle?


texts: A word for a worldly wise person who pretends to be naïve?

texts:
What is a word for someone who is experienced and wise, but who deliberately acts naïve?

I don’t intend it for sarcastic use; I’m trying to describe someone succeeding in making people think that that person truly is naïve.

Is there a word for this?


texts:
What does the phrase “eyes wide shut” really mean? It seems to be a contradiction. No one can answer this without talking about the Kubrick film, and yet I also read le Carre use the same phrase to talk about a spy walking into a “honey trap” seemingly aware but uncaring of the consequences.
Below find a typical explanation:

It's a title of an excellent movie by Stanley Kubrick (director) [1], based on the 1926 novella Traumnovelle (Dream Story) by Arthur Schnitzler.
It means a person refuses to see something in plain view, because of preconceived notions of what this something should look like. This frequently happens to naïve people. In the said movie, the title refers to sexuality, specifically to female sexuality, and refusal of the protagonist to see that women can have both sexual fantasies (besides her primary partner) and substantial sex drive.
https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-phrase-eyes-wide-shut-mean

The phrase predates the movie so I suspect the definition should not depend on it.


texts: Word for sentences which read the with their words (not characters!) reversed

texts:
I am looking for a word for sentences which read the same forwards and when the order of words is reversed?

Just to clarify, I'm not talking about palindromes, in which individual characters are reversed. I’m thinking, instead, of sentences where the characters within words are left alone and the order of the words itself is reversed, for example:

  That is that.


texts: What is the rule that causes the -ti in rectilinear to be pronounced with a short i?

texts: So, I have always pronounced rectilinear with a long i sound (recteelinear), until the other day when, much to my embarrassment, I heard it pronounced with a short i (rectuhlinear). How would I prevent this pronunciation mistake in the future? What rules are there regarding the long/short i in cases like rectilinear vs rectify?


texts:
Is there a word that can describe something is good but not better than very few others? I have found the adjective competitive.

However, competitive seems not appropriate. Because it has a meaning that the compared stuff is the best.

For example:
Joey gets 93 points in an exam.
Rose gets 99.
Chandler gets 88 points.
Phoebe gets 89.
Monica gets 98.
Rachel gets 78.

Joey's result is not better than that of Rose and Monica, but better than that of Chandler, Phoebe, and Rachel. How do I describe Joey's result in a positive way?

What I used before is:

  Joey gets a competitive result among the six people.

I'd prefer an adjective.


texts: What is the meaning of "such orders as" in this text?

texts:
Early in A.D.363 he addressed a letter to the Armenian monarch, requiring him to levy a considerable force, and hold himself in readiness to execute such orders as he would receive within a short time.
— History of the Sasanian Empire: The Annals of the New Persian Empire, George Rawlinson, pub. e-artnow 2018

What does "such orders as" mean here?


texts: What is the name of the grammar used in "he returned home drunk" and "they came into the room thinking..."?

texts:
There is a problem that I have with these sentences.

  He returned home drunk.

and

  Many of the candidates came into the room thinking they were just
  going to be talking about access to buildings.

I've seen native speakers use this type of grammar a lot and I've been using it, too. However, I'm not sure what its name is and how it works. Back in high school, as I was taught, those sentences should be like this.

  He returned home and was drunk.

and

  Many of the candidates came into the room and thought they were just going to be talking about access to buildings.

Can somebody explain to me why we put an adjective or a verb-ing right after the verb?


texts:
"Though heraldry was not exclusively military, it was important for identifying combatants, for rallying troops, and for maintaining battlefield morale."

In the above sentence What do "rallying troops" and "battlefield morale" mean?


texts: Does 'whilst' contain an invisible verb within it?

texts:
This question prompted me to consider the difference between 'while' and 'whilst'. I have already scanned the previous questions (here and here ) about this but there is still something not reported (I think).

I can say :

  He phoned me every day while he was in prison.

Or I can then say :

  He phoned me every day while in prison.

But I find that I am more satisfied with :

  He phoned me every day whilst in prison.

Is there an invisible verb within 'whilst' ?


texts: Do "radical" and "extremist" imply violence? If so, is one more violent than the other?

texts:
I'm looking at the noun form of the words "radical" and "extremist" and trying to figure out if one is inherently more violent than the other or if neither really implies violence at all. It seems like these standard definitions don't really fit in today's context, but maybe I'm wrong. I pulled these two noun definitions from dictionary.com. Do both words automatically imply violent methods in a today's context? If so, is one inherently more violent than the other?  Is one more extreme than the other?

I pulled these definitions from dictionary.com

  Radical

  10.
  a person who holds or follows strong convictions or extreme principles; extremist.

  11.
  a person who advocates fundamental political, economic, and social reforms by direct and often uncompromising methods.

  Extremist

  1.
  a person who goes to extremes, especially in political matters.

  2.
  a supporter or advocate of extreme doctrines or practices.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What are the principles that make certain lists sound euphonious?
  Name for a type of idiom with two things joined (like “raining cats and dogs”, “bread and butter”)

Is there a word to describe a preferred order in which we describe a list of items (usually two items)?

The following examples illustrate my question better:

  "Mom and Dad" ("Dad and Mom" is equally correct but sounds wrong)

  "Big And Tall" (In AmE/Culture, this refers to a clothing retailer for
  larger people; It's never a "Tall And Big" store)

  "Food And Drink"

  "Black and Blue", "Black and White" (these may just be expressions versus being
  lists)

There are certainly others but I can't think of them now.


texts: How to use two interrogatives in one sentence

texts:
Does the following sentence make sense?

  I took a survey on how many cars of which color were sold last month.

For example, this survey says that five red cars were sold, three black cars were sold, ....

I am not sure whether the "of which color" is correct.

Could you please explain why this expression may be wrong?


texts: "Disappointed in" versus "disappointed with"

texts:
I'm aware there are different prepositions possible after disappointed: with, in, of, at. I'm particulary interested in the difference between with and in.

  I'm disappointed with you.
  I'm disappointed in you.

Which one is correct? Or do they have a slightly different meaning?


texts: Where can i find the IPA sounds with example words and their pronunciation?

texts:
I want to learn the IPA but all the websites i found are incomplete. For example: it has the sounds chart but doesn't have example words (with pronunciation), and sometimes it doesn't even have the sounds of the symbols.

Do you know any resource that fits those requirements? (Preferably with american english pronunciations)


texts: To be "hung, drawn and quartered", or to be "hanged, drawn and quartered"?

texts:
I have always used the former, both as an idiom (to be severely punished, often used as a superlative in jest) and in reference to the historical form of capital punishment. I have always used hanged when referring to  capital punishment.

To be hanged, drawn and quartered sounds wrong to me (it may be useful to note here that I am from the UK), however, logically, I see that it should grammatically be correct, and is indeed the heading of the Wiki article on the topic.

Have I been wrong all these years saying hung, drawn and quartered?


texts: What does this quote from the book "1984" mean?

texts:
I'm having some trouble understanding what this quote means:

  The object of power is power

The line is from 1984, by George Orwell.

The more I read it, the more it doesn't make sense. Could anyone please explain for me?


texts: A common expression that means agreeing with what everyone else said

texts: So I wanna leave a rate my professor review and leave a comment that's pretty much consistent with what's already been said just for the sake of - in math terms - adding value for the sake of raising the average - so to speak. Haha. It's really difficult to articulate what I'm getting at but I know there's a phrase for this.


texts: What do you call the crunching sound from bone joints?

texts: When I wake up and do stretching I hear some sounds from my joints. What do you call this crunching sound from bone joints?


texts: Etymology Moderne of ... "sick", "bad", and words we hardly consider being the opposite any more

texts:
Somewhat prosaically, it was stated that the origin (or at least the coining practice likely used) of the word "sick" to mean "awesome", or "cool", or "astounding" ... itself used the word "cool", which by itself is hardly a positive absolute connotation.

In fact, "hot" would be the positive connotation.  Hot chick, hot rod, hot dinner, hot venue.

Which lead me to wonder, of all the various "social adjectives", how many relatively negative ones have become so mainstream, that they're now positive?

Like "cool"
Like "incredible"  (without credibility, false, a farce)
Like "amazing"  (early 13c., amasian "stupefy, make crazy)
Like "wicked"  (late 13c., earlier wick (12c.)/wicca - wretched)

Couldn't find any useful lists online.

Bob


texts: Can "you've" be used as a possessive "have"?

texts:
Generally, "you've" is used in conjunction with another verb, such as "I see you've arrived" or "She asked if you've seen this".

Is it also acceptable to use "you've" without a second verb, using the "have" as possessive? ex: "I see you've a new car".


texts: "One need look no further.." Shouldn't it be "One needs look no further.."-


texts: Referring to a person, should I use the capital letter for "Fascist"?

texts:
As I understand, the word Fascism must be capitalised, while the adjective fascist should not.  But what if "Fascist" is used as a noun?

Eg: "The headmaster was enlisted in the National Fascist Party and therefore he was a Fascist"

Thanks for the help.


texts: What exactly does this phrase mean and in which situations is it used?


texts: An alternative to gender specific pronouns

texts:
Is there any suitable alternative to using both gender specific pronouns in such cases?

Example:

  Client uses his/her account.


texts: What does the phrase "You can say that again!" represent?

texts:
The following paragraph is from a story "Ghost in the city"

"You can say that again!" chimed Barbara after I explained how difficult I felt the test had been.

Can someone please explain what the speaker was trying to say?
In my understanding so far, You can say that means You can tell/ask me again if you have any problem!

Please correct me!


texts: Is there a term for "mains power" in U.S. English?

texts:
I'm not sure if this is a case of selective memory, or if it's real.

It seems that Americans do not use the term "mains power," which is common in British English. The closest synonym I know is "wall power," which is imprecise.

As an American electrical engineer, I don't want to flip-flop dialects, and "wall power" is both naive-sounding and awkward when referring to 120V AC inside a device (but still coming from mains) or otherwise far from a wall.

Is there a better term I should know, or should I assume that "mains" is mainstream to my fellow Americans?

Edit: According to Wikipedia:

  In the US, mains electric power (as opposed to battery electricity, etc.) is referred to by several names including "household power," "household electricity," "powerline," "domestic power," "wall power," "line power," "AC power," "city power," "street power," and "grid power."

This insinuates that "mains" is not a U.S. term, and that the alternatives are all equally imprecise.

Conclusion: Americans are likely to use "grid" as a synonym for "mains", which isn't baseless. So really the British style only seemed better because I hadn't yet considered whether the word already has another meaning.


texts:
What's the word for the action of using a one-time special offer? I mean on that can be used by more than one person but each person can only use it once.

I'm looking for the word that describes the action and not the result.

If "X people each used a one-time special offer", so "the special offer has been "something"ed X times".

Would it be "excercised" or does that have connotations of a non-single-use action?

Maybe "redeemed"? But I'm not sure if it pertains to the actual "cashing-in" action (whatever it may involve - coupon, proof of some kind of membership or whatever). Maybe it's just a description of the result that the offer is "used-up".

Or is the right word maybe "claimed"?

What's the word that would fit the "something" above?


texts: I understand that 'really' is an adverb when it is describing an adjective in a sentence but what if it was an exclamation as in 'Really! I had no idea that was the case.' What part of speech would it be then?


texts: difference between "to grouse" and "to complain"?

texts: I've just discovered the verb "to grouse", and while I understand its meaning, I do not understand the difference with its counterpart "to complain". I've looked it up in a few dictionaries around, but most state both verbs as synonyms, and what explanations are given state they can be used interchangeably. I've also looked up the etymology of grouse, out of curiosity, and etymonline.com state the term used to be a british slang of unclear origin. Is there any particular rule regarding the usage of both verbs, nowadays? In what circumstances should I use one or the other?


texts:
'The local business community is working to amend a law that would increase foreign competition.'

Does this sentence mean:
1.  'the community is trying to amend a law that is already increasing foreign competition to one that is not'; or
2. 'it is trying to amend a law that is not increasing foreign competition now to one that is going to do'?


texts: "Will" and "Going To". What are the real differences of the colloquial usage of them?

texts:
I'm from Brasil and here we study the differences of using "Will" and "Going to" to talk about the future. But it is usually very confusing because we have a different kind of conjugation that uses no auxiliary verb, and the English Grammar has many explanations about the context we must use one or another.

So my question is. What are the real differences and needs of the colloquial usage of "Will" and "Going to"?


texts: Is "copywriting" a product of writing a copy?

texts:
I don't quite understand why this question got four close votes with "unclear what you're asking" reason. I am asking if the usage of the word in the specified meaning is acceptable. Is it unclear what it means? An opposite of the acceptable usage might be disputable. I give a specific examples when the word in question was used (which seem odd to me, hence the question). I am clueless how to further clarify my concern.

Wikipedia definition for copywriting says "Copywriting is written content conveyed through online media and print materials."

While the edit that introduced the definition is relatively recent it has already been widely quoted outside of Wikipedia. However it seems it is the source of the above definition circulating on the Internet.

Question: Is it acceptable to use the word "a copywriting" in the same sense as "a copy" (ie. as a product of writing, "he is renown for his copywritings")?

Edit: In another occurence ("revealed that copywriting from 1920 to the 1960s was incredibly verbose (and often dull)") the word "copywriting" is used as an uncountable noun describing the overall writings (ie. product of writing) of a particular period in time.


texts:
I'm an American calligrapher living in France, designing a suite of wedding invitations for a Spanish bride living in London!  Complicated enough?  I can't really go to the bride with questions regarding traditional wording in the UK, though some quick google searches have shown me that in England they don't follow Emily Post's rules...

Could someone help me with a few of these?

In America, one is invited to a wedding, not a marriage.  It would be possible to request the pleasure one's company at a marriage ceremony, or a celebration of one's marriage... but NEVER simply the marriage.  I've searched and haven't found any real authority on the British English of wedding invitation etiquette, and so I thought I'd ask here.  Many online purveyors of wedding stationery with .co.uk addresses seem to prefer "marriage" instead of wedding, though this seems grammatically incorrect...
I've always written out the date and avoided numerals for formal invitations-- "on Saturday, twenty seventh July, two thousand thirteen", but I'm seeing mostly Arabic numerals on .co.uk addresses (2013).  Is this standard?  Also-- the one example of a longhand date that I've seen on a UK site showed the year written as "two thousand and twelve".  Two thousand twelve would be standard American, without the and.  Can anyone clear this up for me?
the last line of the invitation, which mentions the reception venue: "and afterward at the Crescent Room" ----  I'm seeing "afterwards", which sounds awful to me, but is perhaps standard English?


texts: What is the difference in usages between "send" and "dispatch"?

texts: I found that both words have similar meaning as in when they are verbs, they can mean similar action. But I'm confused with their usages when this similar usage takes place, which is "sending". May I ask what is the difference in usages between "send" and "dispatch"?


texts:
Is this a single sentence. I know I can break this into multiple sentences, but I would like to phrase this in a single, non-run-on sentence.

"Sometimes, I enjoy cooking: Whenever guests come over, I always spend hours prepping in the kitchen, and I often lose track of the time I spend cooking."


texts: Are there nouns that undergo no change when used in the possessive (Saxon genitive)?

texts:
I’m looking for the existence of English nouns (common or proper) that
undergo no change when used in their possessive (Saxon genitive) form,
i.e. that do not take the usual ’s appendage the way radio’s,
or Paul’s would. If there exist nouns that end with s or x, and
for which the single possessive apostrophe ’ is widely accepted as
being optional, then that would count too.

My understanding is that every possessive noun either takes ’s
or just ’, but can’t confirm.

My question is specifically about the genitive form., i.e. Bob's car, desk's surface, crucifix'.

Since posting this question originally, I've learned a bit more about some of the taxonomy on the subject. I thought initially that the lack of apostrophe in phrases such as “boyscout club chocolate’s bitter taste” may have been a hint nouns didn't need an apostrophe in certain cases. But they're a different case.

Many have been quick to point out noun-noun compounds functioning as attributive nouns, such as in telephone pole, glee club or mountain rock peaks to express relative notions of "ownership"/"possession". Or that prepositions can also be introduced to express possession, e.g. "The book of Peter".

But, I do not mean to ask about attribute nouns, nor "x of y" constructions.

Do all nouns take the 's or ' when used on their own in the genitive?

Edit

Similar posts:

Discussion on whether mens or womens takes an apostrophe. Did not initially find that question because it was specific to those two instances of words. In my original post I'd mentioned whether womens and childrens without apostrophe would be considered to be spelled correctly, without suspecting I'd be stepping into a whole slew of other posts.
Using possessive nouns in the plural. I’ve found a similar, but different question here on possessive nouns in the plural. This kind of is what I'm looking for, but it's more about transforming nouns into attributive nouns, than nouns that don't need the apostrophe because of their nature.
It’s been pointed out that in some countries, namely US and
Australia, possessive apostrophes are deprecated in place
names. That is sort of the answer I'm looking for, but only if the last token in the chain of nouns would normally take a 's.
Are there more such cases in other fields?

I do feel at this point that the answer to my question is kind of spread on a million different questions.


texts: Punctuation for nested quotes at the end of a sentence

texts:
This is something I've gone back and forth on with a couple of writer friends and nobody is ever really sure what the correct punctuation format is, or whether there really is a format that's technically correct. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this.

If I have a sentence of dialogue with nested quotes, but the nested quote is at the very end, what's the correct way to use the closing punctuation?

    "He told me to tell you he would 'deal with it.'"

    "He told me to tell you he would 'deal with it'."

I tend to use the second option just because following a single quote > punctuation > double quote structure seems to be a little easier on the eyes, and I've read work by other writers who follow that structure as well. Another writer friend uses the first option but puts a short space (can't remember the term she used) between the single and double quote so it was similarly easy on the eyes.

Is one method more correct than the other, or are they both correct? I think I remember reading somewhere that the format differs between US and UK English, but I've seen both formats used by both US and UK writers, so I have no idea if that's accurate.


texts: Difference between 'Forgetting' and 'would forget' in this sentences

texts:
Is there only an issue of style difference between the following sentences:

  If he had to describe himself in five words, he'd say he's curious,
  forgetting to give you four more words.

  If he had to describe himself in five words, he'd say he's curious.
  And then forget to give you four more words.

Does it make sense to think that the second example emphasizes that he has forgotten to give four more words, rather than that he is curious?

Note: I'm not sure whether the first one is grammatical, and the second one is very hard to understand for a non-native English speaker.


texts: What is the meaning of "remove" in this sentence?

texts:
I read a sentence in a chapter named "The Browning's version" which was:

I'm still in the lower fifth. I can't specialise until next term - that's to say, if I've got my remove all right.

According to Oxford Dictionaries, "remove" means division in British schools. But that doesn't fit here. Shouldn't there be "result" instead of "remove"?


texts:
as clear and detailed as these memories feel, psychologists have discovered they are surprisingly inaccurate.

Since the clause, "as clear and detailed as these memories feel", modifies "psychologists", the sentence implies that these psychologists are clear that the memories are inaccurate.

But this implication just doesn't hit for me. My guess is that the clause doesn't modify the psychologist but instead serve to contrast how the memories feel and how they actually are.


texts:
Do you like the use use of propensity when talking about

tumors*
seizures (as a result of a drug's side effect)
companies
countries

Or is it used only for people?

*Example: Certainly we can't say whether the GMO maize increased the propensity for tumors.

So far I have always used propensity when talking about people's tendency; habitual tendencies.


texts:
A bill was introduced in the Legislature to wipe Mulberry Bend out
  bodily, and in 1888, after four years of pulling and hauling we had
  spunked up enough to file maps for the “Mulberry Bend Park.” Blessed
  promise! And it was kept, if it did take a prodigious lot of effort,
  for right there decency had to begin or not at all.

  -The Making of an American, Jacob Riis

I'm reading a book, and the bolded part is hard to understand. Does it mean "Since it took a lot of effort to make Melberry Bend Park, it was kept. If it was not to be kept, it should have not been started at first"? And what does "Blessed promise" mean in this context? Does it mean "The result is made!" or "Accomplished!"?


texts: A-roving, a-walking, a-verb participle: what is this called?

texts:
Is there a name for the archaic form of a-verb participle, as in a-walking?
It appears in poetry and songs, for example,

As I was a-walking down Paradise Street...

Time is the stream I go a-fishing in.


texts:
I've encountered the phrase I can feel your heart beat in and out of time in the song Call To Arms, Angels And Airwaves and can't figure out what it means.

Does it mean that the heart beat is timeless? Or that it is constant (throughout eternity)?


texts:
Say you hate eggplant, but you're forced to eat it.

Eggplant is your _____ (enemy?)


texts: What is the opposite of the perfect aspect?

texts: Most tenses exist in a perfect and non-perfect form, e.g. present vs. present perfect and past continuous vs. past perfect continuous. What is the group of tenses that are not perfect called?


texts:
I was watching a documentary recently and I couldn't understand something:

"At this point, we were running the wickets of the investigation."

What does "to run the wickets of" mean?

Thank you.


texts: Are there any English sayings to the effect that little changes may lead to big changes?

texts:
Can you think of any sayings about change, especially ones expressing

how a big change must begin with a little change?
how certain institutions, ideas, or God remain eternally unchanged?

Note: the above is an edited version of @lovespring's question. See edit history for original question.


texts: How "unless" and "until" affect the structure and meaning of a complex sentence

texts:
Here is an excerpt from a book I’m reading:

  Unless consumed in highly skilled ritual contexts, as is practiced
  in many traditional societies, what drugs in fact do is reduce our
  perception of both what can be accomplished and what we as individuals
  are able to accomplish, until the two are in balance. This is a
  pleasant state of affairs, but it is only a misleading simulation of
  that enjoyment that comes from increasing opportunities for actions
  and the abilities to act.

Can anybody help me to interpret these lines, as the usage of unless and until seems quite complex?


texts: Should the term "salutary" be used only in reference to physical health?

texts:
I'm considering using the term "salutary" in a technical document I'm writing to refer to something beneficial.  Here's the context:

  Salutary side effects of our model are to harness idle computational resources as opposed     to provisioning additional fixed infrastructure and to scale resource supply commensurate with demand.

My question is, is this correct usage of the term, or should salutary be reserved for situations that refer to things which are beneficial to a being's physical health only?


texts:
Also, what about the following:

Be safe.
Think different.
Drive safely.

My guess is that these are, but just confirming in case there is a catch.


texts: Do you use "a" or "an" before acronyms / initialisms?

texts:
99% of the time, I'm clear on when I should use "a" versus "an." There's one case, though, where people & references I respect disagree.

Which of the following would you precede with "a" or "an," and why?

FAQ
FUBAR
SCUBA

[Note: I've read the questions "A historic..." or "An historic…"? and Use of "a" versus "an", but the rules given there don't necessarily apply here.]

[Edited to add]

Here's a shorter (and hopefully clearer) version of the question…  In written English, which is correct (and why): "a FAQ" or "an FAQ"?

Some references with differing opinions:

an: the UC San Diego Editorial Style Guide and Apple Publications Style Guide
a: the Microsoft Manual of Style for Tech Publications, 3e
either: the alt.usage.english FAQ and Yahoo! Style Guide


texts: 'The origin of the problem' vs. 'The root of the problem'

texts:
If I want to say

  To prevent such a thing from happening again, we should solve this issue from the root of the problem.

Can I say

  from the origin of the problem

instead of

  from the root of the problem

Is there any difference between them?


texts:
Is there an easier way to say " an entire bar devoid of notes" in english?

I'm referring to music notation, when a bar has no notes and a whole rest must be used as a result. I want to know if there's a technical word for the quote I provided, a word that would explain that situation without having to describe it.


texts:
When it came time to...

Is the phrase technically correct, or is it an exercise of artistic license?


texts:
Is there a noun that describes the light at dawn in the same way as twilight
describes the light at dusk?

Similarly, is there a dawn analogue to the adjective crepuscular ?

Many thanks for any suggestions!


texts: What are synonyms of the word "metadata"?

texts: Metadata is "data about data". Are there other words with similar meaning?


texts:
What is the collective noun for fire?

  A ____ of fires.

To clarify: This is actually a school curriculum text question and I have never heard of such a collective noun. This is an example I can think of:

Suppose that several fires raged yesterday in the city and the newspapers wanted to say "Yesterday the fire department fought a whole bunch of fires". What word can replace "a whole bunch" in the previous statement?


texts: What does “pull sb. out of the hat” mean?

texts:
I found the phrase, “pull her out of the hat” in the following sentence of the quote from Frank Bailey, the most relied-upon former aide of Ms.Sarah Palin, whose memoir, “Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years” is due out on Tuesday this week.

“I doubt if there's anything new in this book, just more detailed views of the gruesome story of her rise and fall. What would really be interesting is an account of who made the decisions in the GOP to pull her out of the hat. It certainly wasn't McCain.”

I don’t find the idiom, “pull one out of the hat” in any dictionaries at hand. Does it mean to “pick up” (Sarah Palinfor (vice) presidential candidate) or “remove her from (the candidate seat)? Can somebody teach me the meaning of this phrase?


texts: Word for the unintended offense taken from a comment or compliment?

texts:
It is clear from experience of living in the world, that sometimes the things we say may imply something to someone else that we did not intend it to.

A seemingly harmless comment or even compliment could have different effects on different listeners depending on their personal circumstances, beliefs, etc. For example  - "I wish I could be as skinny as you!" could brighten up the day of a recovering obesity patient, or ruin that of a recovering anorexic.  Or "Oh my God!" may be be considered offensive by a devout christian, but a perfectly innocent exclamation of surprise to another person. The speaker did not intend any offense, and perhaps is not even aware of the listener's personal circumstances or beliefs at all, but the listener may still be offended or at least find the comment insensitive.
More examples of what I mean can be found here.But is there a word to describe the process of a listener taking unintended offence at a comment?
Edit
Other than 'Taking offence' , obviously.


texts:
What does creating a tight feedback loop mean ? I often see it in context of emails:

  You can also get feedback on your personal attempts, creating a tight
  feedback loop.


texts: What do we call the action of rating (with stars) and reviewing (commenting) together?


texts: A word for a collection of unorganized and unrelated little things

texts:
I am looking for a word that describes a collection of unorganized or somewhat organized and unrelated little things. The word is similar to "toolbox", which can describe a collection of unrelated tools.

I know the following sentences are awkward, I'll try my best to explain. Little things refer to an object (not neccessarily physical, could be something like computer programs or paragraphs) that is too small/little/insignificant to occupy a place on its own.

For example, I write a software that calculates the sum of two numbers. It is not significant enough for me to have a webpage for it, however, I could put it on a page for a collection of such little programs along with a software that outputs "hello, world". The title of this page would be "My _____ of programs".

Thank you.


texts: Is there a name for when the same word is used at the beginning and end of different phrases/sentences?

texts:
Is there a name for when one phrase ends with a word that starts the next phrase. For instance:

  life is a peach and cream

Or

  sunscreen in the eye for detail

Or (from Dave Eggers' Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius)

  JFKFC


texts: Looking for a word to describe someone who is overly rational

texts: I'm looking for a word to describe someone who is overly rational, in an unrealistic way.  Thanks!


texts: nouns and prepositions inside infinitives

texts:
Two phrases from English-Russian dictionary of mechanical engineering and automation:

to face harden
to through harden

That is we have the noun "face" and the preposition "through" inside the infinitive "to harden".
Some examples I could find in the internet:

barfatigueblog.org:
Two methods are often used to through harden and low alloy steels.
kundoc.com:
In doing this it is possible to through harden the gear part down to the tooth root (in the same way as the classical case hardening) or to harden the outer surface at either a uniform or irregular depth from the surface.
developmentbookshelf.com:
The cutting teeth are cut from mild steel water pipe, and untreated, although it would be a simple matter to face harden the cutting points for abrasive conditions.

What is the rule of using prepositions and nouns inside infinitives?
Thanks!


texts: The article "a/an" with uncountable nouns

texts:
Sometimes I read in books sentences where uncountable nouns are used with the article "a/an". For example

  She fades like a dew before the sun.

Is it out of the common rules?

Sorry if this question seems to be stupid. I'm just trying to figure out all the usages of the articles that I don't fully understand.


texts: Why don't "-use" verb-noun pairs obey initial stress derivation?

texts:
It's well known (and several past questions on this SE have covered) that to convert a two-syllable Latin-derived English verb into a noun, you shift the stress to the first syllable. This is apparently called "initial stress derivation". Some examples:

permít (v.) ~ pérmit (n.)
addréss (v.) ~ áddress (n.)
recórd (v.) ~ récord (n.)
expórt (v.) ~ éxport (n.)

However, I've just realized there's a class of verbs that obey a different rule: verbs ending in -use. When these verbs change into nouns, they keep the final-syllable stress, but devoice the final consonant: so the verb ends in /uz/, and its derivative ends in /us/.

abuse: abú[z]e (v.) ~ abú[s]e (n.)
diffuse: diffú[z]e (v.) ~ diffú[s]e (adj.)
reuse: reú[z]e (v.) ~ reú[s]e (n.)
excuse: excú[z]e (v.) ~ excú[s]e (n.)

My question: Why do verbs that end in "-use" follow this pattern rather than initial stress derivation?

(Or perhaps not strictly "rather than" - I can also think of one example that both shifts the stress and devoices the /z/:)

refuse: refú[z]e (v.) ~ réfu[s]e (n.)


texts: Is staubert a slang term for stylish? And what is its origin?

texts:
A listener to Words to the Wise [audio at wtcmradio.com] shared that his family used the word staubert to describe something stylish, such as a new suit. I speculate that it is derived from the surname St. Aubert, but I have no proof. Any thoughts?

October 6, 2015 around 24:10. The other family word shared by the same caller was larrapin (tasty), which is confirmed by DARE, which leads me to think that it may not be the creation of one family only.


texts: What's the origin of the phrase "fatal dower"?

texts:
I recently ran across the phrase "Constantine's fatal dower," which sounded like a quotation, so I googled it.

The specific reference to Constantine that started my quest comes from Canto XIX of Dante's Inferno. Of course Dante wrote in Italian and didn't use that phrase exactly — or even close to it, as far as I can tell!
Cary (1822) says "plenteous dower."
Wright (1833) says "fair domains."
Johnston (1867) is maybe the first to use the phrase "fatal dower" in his translation... and I believe he's using the adjective "fatal" only because the phrase "fatal dower" was a handy stock phrase.

My question is, where did this stock phrase come from?

The Fatal Dowry (1632) was a stage play. I'm not sure what the "dowry" was in that case, specifically.

1680 (Dryden's translation of Ovid's Epistles) is the earliest instance of the exact phrase "fatal dower" I can find. In this case, the "fatal dower" is literally a sword, with which Canace's father intends her to kill herself.

  Are these the nuptial gifts a bride receives? / And this the fatal dower a father gives?

And then there's nothing until the 1830s, when "the fatal dower of beauty" breaks out all over Google's search results! What happened?

1831, in a marvelously romping critique of William Sotheby's translation of the Iliad:

  [Helen's] beauty, like that of Paris, was her fatal dower.

1834: female beauty as fatal dower.

1836, poetically describing a gazelle or musk-deer. Again the idea of "beauty" is coupled with the phrase "fatal dower."

  The musk-pod is its fatal dower, / Like beauty, still the prey of power.

1839: female beauty as fatal dower.

1841. In this case I think "fatal dower" just means "undesirable marriage," not literally death-dealing and not literally a dowry-gift, although I didn't read the entire poem to find out.

  Chilly smote, at that dread hour, / Th' announcement of her fatal dower
  O'er the young heart ...

1865:

  There is no city in Europe which inspires its admirers with such passionate affection as Florence. Of the land to whom Fortune has given the fatal dower of beauty it is the eye and the light.

1867: Verdi's Don Carlos has the aria O don fatale ("O fatal dower") — again, female beauty.

1893: female beauty as fatal dower.

And then as we get into the 20th century, the phrase comes loose from its moorings and starts being used for all kinds of random things!

1893: Egypt as "fatal dower" to its masters.

1914: infertility in the male line as fatal dower of the Galton family.

1921, Bret Harte: "knowledge all alone" as fatal dower.

But where did this stock phrase originally come from, and specifically how did it get associated with female beauty?


texts: What does a girl call the second husband of her widowed stepmother?

texts: The girl's father has died and his wife, her stepmother, becomes her legal guardian. When the stepmother remarries, is her husband the girl's stepfather? If not, what is he?


texts:
I don't know how to read this expression:

  (x-y)2 — sometimes rendered in computer code or plain text as (x-y)^2

According to this answer:
How to read x^y

I should read that: x minus y to the power of two
But I'm not sure it's the way that native people read it; And I don't know how to mention parentheses.


texts: When I should use Ongoing and when I should use in progress?

texts:
If I wanted to say the meeting is still haven’t finished yet

“The meeting is still ongoing”
“The meeting is still in progress”

Which one will be more appropriate and why?