texts: What's a good word to describe a public place that looks like it wouldn't be rough?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that I can use in my writings to describe a bar / pub that doesn't look like it would be a 'rough' place, i.e. one that isn't likely to instigate trouble. I was thinking of the word self-effacing but I think maybe that would be more descriptive of a person rather than a building. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Example usage would be:

  "Maybe I'll go in here. It seems _______ enough."

Thank you!


texts: Word to describe someone who rarely gets upset

texts: Is there a word to describe someone who rarely or almost never gets upset/angry? The words that first came to my mind were non-confrontational and stoic, and though they relate, they are not exactly what I'm looking for. The word I'm trying to find describes a person that not only possesses the qualities of being non-confrontational and stoic, but he basically doesn't get upset over anything whatsoever even the most upsetting situations imaginable. He is generally a pretty happy, calm and collected individual. Is there such a word?


texts: What do you call a person who talks about their accomplishments only?

texts: What do you call a person who goes on and on about how great their accomplishments are?


texts: Framing a question whose answer is an ordinal number

texts:
I am the third daughter (or son) of my parents.
  OR
  I am the third child of my parents

How should a question that is answered with the above sentences be framed?


texts:
What's the difference between the two?

  Later the doctors found out that my case was a bit different.

  Later on the doctors found out that my case was a bit different.

Is one more common than the other?


texts: Why do we describe a problem or experience as "hairy"?

texts:
I'm curious about the use/history of "hairy", as in Golly Dan, that was a pretty hairy math exam, wasn't it?

My dictionary sources identify two definitions unrelated to hair: the first can be summarized as "causing fright or anxiety", which I semi-confidently assume relates to "hair-raising"; the other is "difficult to deal with or comprehend" (from Merriam Webster). It's this latter that I'm curious about.

How did we come to say that something difficult is "hairy"?


texts: What is a word like "languor" for a more formal setting?

texts:
Is there a noun that can be used like "languor", but is used in a mildly more formal setting? I believe languor is the stressless, lazy feeling one experiences while sunbathing at the beach or reclining on the porch. I would like a word that still denotes stresslessness/laziness, but perhaps while leaning back in a office chair or something.

E.g. Overcome by a feeling of _______, Fred neglected the urgent forms on his desk and instead opted to take a nap.


texts:
Are pronouns in English resolved syntactically or semantically? Do they always refer to the closest matching noun?

A wikipedia article has these examples:

  We gave the bananas to the monkeys because they were hungry.
  We gave the bananas to the monkeys because they were ripe.
  We gave the bananas to the monkeys because they were here.

My understanding was that pronouns are resolved syntactically, and so sentence 2 is semantically incorrect (unless the author really meant that the monkeys were ripe) and sentence 3 is not ambiguous. Is this wrong?

Citations and references are most welcome.


texts: Is there an english word that describes: hopefully-to-be?

texts:
I need a word that says "hopefully-to-be." Meaning someone is hoping that a new store will be opened.

  "The ___________ [hopefully-to-be] store would be right next to my house"


texts: What object am I referring to in this sentence?

texts:
I apologize if my question is too basic, my English is a little rusty and I have always had trouble with this concept:

Consider the following sentence:

  Once I finished the project, I found that generating a beautiful image with a ray-tracer is a lot more challenging than actually implementing one.

When I say "implementing one", am I referring to "a beautiful image" or to "a ray-tracer". I would like to refer to "a ray-tracer", but I am unsure about which one is being addressed here.


texts: That lawn will be a bear to maintain. - what types of construction is this?

texts:
That lawn will be a bear to maintain.

I am interested in the infinitival clause at the end there and how it relates grammatically to the rest of the sentence. Is is a complement or a modifier? Also how do we mentally reconstruct the clause at the end, which has no subject or object.

Is the sentence above related to the following types of sentence?

This sentence is easy to read.
It was a tough decision to make.
The prospect was too dire to contemplate.
The Shard took three years to build.


texts: 100k "thank yous" or 100k "thank you's"?

texts: I wanted to thank people for their visits to a profile but Google wasn't quite sure either. Is there another way to express the same meaning?


texts: Is it clear what the idiom "lit up like a candle" means?

texts:
Take this sentence:

I gave a beggar all my change, and he lit up like a candle.

It's used in Norwegian, but I wonder if it's perfectly clear what it means in English, and are there better idioms to use instead?


texts:
I have the following sentence in the beginning of a chapter:

  This chapter lays down the fundamentals of distributed processing. It provides the basics for data processing...

I would like to ask why I need to have "the" before "fundamentals" and "basics".


texts:
Which form of a verb should I normally use after "what you have done is"? Should it be present participle (option A), past participle (option B) or a base form (option C) :

A. I wanted you to clean the whole bathroom, but what you have done is simply washing the sink.

B. I wanted you to clean the whole bathroom, but what you have done is simply washed the sink.

C. I wanted you to clean the whole bathroom, but what you have done is simply wash the sink.


texts: What to call someone who is easily overwhelmed by new impressions and situations?

texts: One word for the above question. No matter what new situation, person or experience is encountered this person feels overwhelmed by sensory overload perhaps. He isn't scared though, just can't deal with so many new impressions at the same time. It overloads the brain.


texts:
I told him that you hate him
  I said to him that you hate him

I was choosing between these two options, and I can't help thinking about the subtle differences.

For example, "I told him your secret" refers to something real and factual. Whereas "I said to him the moon is made of cheese" can be a lie.

Is it true that when you use the word "told", people would assume it is true (a true event that happened)? And if you use the word "say", people are taking it literally as a sentence that you have said, which may or may not be true.

Or am I the only one who implies this?


texts: How to use alphabet character to pronunciation American English?

texts:
Because I don't know how to key in the special IPA symbols in my Chinese computer keyboard.

I'm wonder is there a simple system just use 62 (A-Za-z0-9) or less for representation the IPA symbol?  That means I don't need to key-in double dot above the u, etc.

For example the vowels(I'm trying to use a-z and dash for long vowels):

a - box (for o)
i - it
i- - tea (for ea)
oo - book
oo- - too
e - pen
e_ - cat (for a)
e- - name (for a)
o - dog
o- - no
u - about (for a)
u2 - bus (for u)
uu - sister (for er)
uu2 - bird (for ir)
ai - fine (for i)
au - how (for ow)
oi - boy (for oy)

for consonants

b - bad
c - chair (for ch)
d - desk
f - food
g - good
g2 - garage (for ge)
h - hat
j - joke
k - key
l - leg
m - mom
n - noon
n2 - sing (for ng)
p - pet
r - red
s - seat
s2 - short (for sh)
t - ten
t2 - thank (for th)
t3 - this (for th)
v - vest
w - we
y - yes
z - zoo


texts: What is the term for when a word begins with the previous word's ending sound?

texts:
What is the term for when a word begins with the same sound as the previous word's ending sound? For example, there are three instances of this in one line of the lyrics to For the First Time in Forever (Reprise) in the Frozen movie soundtrack, where Elsa sings:

  Just stay away and you'll be safe from me.

Just stay
safe from
from me

I don't think elision is the correct term, since all references I've found to elision show that letters are omitted when written, e.g., "going to" -> "gonna."


texts:
I am a novice translator working on a company document. I've always been confused about whether to put in 'the' or not in front of a noun in an English sentence. I know if the noun is a particular one, I should put it in, but sometimes it's confusing to decide whether I should call the noun 'specific' or 'general'. Like in this sentence:

  A charity organization established overseas must submit the following documents to Ethiopian embassy located in the particular country or an acknowledged country.

My question is, do I have to consider the Ethiopian embassies located in many countries as being 'particular/specific' or not? Is it 'not particular' because there's more than one?


texts: Can it ever be acceptable to use singular “they” with a specific referent of known but undisclosed gender?

texts:
I am not sure whether these two examples using singular they to refer to a specific, singular referent are acceptable in educated speech:

I had a friend in Paris, and they had to visit the doctor for a month. Here, they refers to a friend in Paris, so clearly a person well-known to the speaker and so of determinate gender.

A teacher asked me to give their book to John. Here, their refers to a teacher of the speaker’s acquaintance, presumably also therefore of known gender.

Specifically, I’d like to know whether there’s any difference in acceptability between how speakers of American English view such usage compared with how speakers of British English view this.
Does the Atlantic change how this comes across, or doesn’t it?
(editorial additions for broader linguistic and sociolinguistic focus)
Does one side of the Atlantic Ocean find it pretty normal for educated speakers to use grammar like this, but the other side of the Atlantic Ocean finds it abnormal in educated speech?
Or does — if you would — the “Atlanticity” of locale have less importance on its acceptability than the register being used has, such as the varying registers of casual language versus formal language, or of the spoken language versus the written one, or of spontaneous dialogue versus curated text meant for an educated readership?
Might the acceptability of usage vary more by other factors than locale or register, such as by gender or age or education or class?
Has this usage’s acceptability or unacceptability remained relatively constant over time, or have we seen shifts in that? If so, are these shifts ones of centuries or of generations, or are they quicker than that, perhaps of decades or even of years?


texts: Usage: "as soon as practicable" vs "as soon as is practicable"

texts: Advice is sought in differentiating the usage of "as soon as practicable" and "as soon as is practicable". A brief research on internet reveals that use of "as soon as practicable" is more than 10 times more popular than "as soon as is practicable" (Google search: 4,286,000 vs 344,000) However, "as soon as is practicable" is more popular in legal documents, such as law, contracts and etc. Grateful if sources could cite on the usage and difference in these two phrases. Thank you.


texts: Converting direct to reported speech: who-question

texts:
The teacher asked Marga, "Who helped you with your work?"

Would "The teacher asked Marga who had helped her with her work." be an acceptable conversion to reported speech?


texts: How can I describe the intersection between a circle and a curve?

texts:
I have a curve C and a point x in the curve. At the point x, I draw a circle B with radius r and centered at point x. That circle B will cut/intersection (with) the curve C as red sub-curve line. I would like to use English to describe the sub-curve. Could you see my describe and give me some correct and professional way for it? Thank in advance

  The sub-curve at point x, which intersects between the curve C and the circle B, is red color


texts:
Do the girl or the boys like to play soccer?
  Does the girl or the boys like to play soccer?

Which of the above is correct?


texts: Should present tense be always used when completed works / published books etc. make reference to their contents?

texts:
When the subject is certain creation (created in the past) where there cannot be changes, like:
The published book / The proposed plan / The play "Romeo and Juliet" / The poster that won the 2014 best poster award / The song "Candle in the wind" written by Elton John etc.
and the VERB refers to something in the subject that will not change (examples of the verbs are
contains / explains / covers / features / describes etc. )
should present tense be always used? Any exceptions?
The following are scenarios I can think of and what tenses I consider correct.
(1) The old book describes how to use Microsoft Word 97.
(2) The proposed plan is lengthy and covers many unnecessary details.
(3) The proposed plan contains useful information about the cost and manpower needed.
(4) The poster that won the 2014 best poster award features different types of concerts held in that year.
(5) The song "Candle in the wind" written by Elton John includes the lyrics “xxx xxx".
(6) The book explains why the author disliked cats.
(7) The book is / was / will be very helpful to teenagers (connection with something external, so the tense varies)
(8) The book became / has become / will become very popular (connection with something external, so the tense varies)
I will appreciate any answers to my questions. Thanks a lot.


texts: Exam vs. Test (British vs. American English?)

texts:
My question is about this clip of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
At 0:23, Tom Holland says:

  You know, you know when you revise for an exam and you feel like you crushed it, but the longer you wait for the results, the more you think you kind of...ruined it.

And Robert Downey Jr. interrupts:

  He's British, by the way. He means a test or a...

And Tom corrects:

  A test or something.

To which Jimmy says:

  Thank God you brought your translator.

And Tom agrees:

  Exactly, yeah.

Moreover, at 1:16, Robert even made a joke about "exam" being British English in this sense, when he said:

  And so they brought in all the finalists for the exam.

Now, I'm thinking, wait a minute. Don't Americans use the term "exam" (or examination) as a "test to show a person's progress, knowledge, or ability" as in "final exam"?

If so, where did they (Robert and Jimmy) get this idea that "exam" in this sense is British English, and that you should use "test" in American English?


texts: One word for a thing that doesn't make sense

texts:
Is there a word for a thing that doesn't make sense, a shiny alternative to 'nonsense'?

I want to use it like: <-new-word>> politics, meaning stupid, nonsense politics.

Update: by 'shiny' I mean't non-vulgar, non-tongue-twister word.


texts: Comparative/superlative forms and types of comparisons

texts:
I should complete the sentence with two to five words, including the word in bold.

  The mall isn't usually so busy. THAN

  The mall ............. today. - The mall is usually less busy than today.

The answer I wrote is not accepted by the online system that we are using for our tests. Is there something incorrect? Can you suggest me what can I try to change? Thank you in advance!

Perhaps the test wants me to add the words "it is" before "today", but then the answer becomes "is usually less busy than it is" which contains 7 words.


texts: When did "down" or "down with" in the sense of approval start to be used?

texts: Uses include: "She's down," an absent member of a group is known to think something is a good idea or wants to do it and "I'm down with that," I like that idea, I want to do that, include me in, etc. I recall hearing this expression in 1991 in New York City but think it may be much earlier. I would welcome anyones thoughts on this one as I was unable to Google it.


texts: Meaning and origin of "That dog don't hunt"

texts: Is That dog don't hunt an American slang expression? What does it mean exactly and where does it originate? If possible, please give some examples.


texts:
My homework key says that a is the correct answer, but I'm unsure why. How does the addition of "three props" change anything? In other words, how do I recognize when to apply this rule: "Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list ofparticulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation".

Which of the following statements uses colons correctly?

a.  Your dedicated whittler requires three props: a knife, a piece of wood, and a back porch.

b.  Your dedicated whittler requires: a knife, a piece of wood, and a back porch.


texts:
He went fishing in the creek nearby the grocery store.

He went fishing in the creek near by the grocery store.

He went fishing in the creek near to the grocery store.

Could anyone please show me if there is any difference semantically?


texts: How to say that an incapability would have been shared by others

texts:
I'm a non-native speaker struggling with a construct that should emphasize that someone's incapability would have been shared by others.

Picture a man with a stone in his shoe. He walks on and on but then the pain gets too much.

  He couldn’t bear it any more, no one could have / could have had

Which of the two is correct? Are there alternatives?


texts: Help me parse this sentence in The Silmarillion

texts:
I'm a native speaker, and I've always been pretty good with words, but for the life of me I can't get my head around this sentence in The Silmarillion, when Beren, Luthien, and Huan are approaching Angband.

  There dismay took them, for at the gate was a guard of whom no tidings had yet gone forth. Rumour of he knew not what designs abroad among the princes of the Elves had come to Morgoth, and ever down the aisles of the forest was heard the baying of Huan, the great hound of war, whom long ago the Valar unleashed.

Im being tripped up by the "he" - rumor of whom, exactly? The guard? And the "abroad among" is weird too, it's like a garden path sentence. Is it saying "the rumour of the guard didn't know what the Elves were planning"? But how could a rumour "know" things? Or maybe it's about a rumour that hasn't reached Morgoth? I have no idea.


texts:
In the country where I currently reside it is quite common for written text to often miss out the word "to".

e.g

  "It requires nearly all Americans get health insurance."

vs

  "It requires nearly all Americans to get health insurance."

I thought this was just one of the peculiarities of how the language has come to be used in my particular country (not the US), but recently I commented on an accidentally missed out "to" on a politics stack exchange answer. The poster of the answer was in agreement with me and happy to change it, but another commenter (Canadian by their profile, so possibly American English or maybe French native speaker) remarked that the sentence would be valid without the "to". Is the other commenter correct? Is missing out "to" like this considered valid grammar?

I am a native BE speaker myself, and it sounds, at the very least, lackadaisical to my ear.


texts: Is there a word to describe a sad or an ironic giggle as if you're actually hurt but still find the situation funny in a way?


texts:
I was recently chastised by my supervisor for describing something as being something else.

The problem:

  "Species A has genes X1, X2 and X3, Species B has genes Y1 and Y2. Protein X3 being the homolog of Y1"

I was told that "being" is plain incorrect but I do not understand why, it reads perfectly fine to me.

The proposed revision was:

  "Protein X3 is the homolog of Protein Y1"

Why is this more correct?


texts: When someone puts your integrity/reliability "in doubt"

texts:
Assume a scenario in which you talk with someone and then he puts your integrity/reliability "in doubt".
Meaning: He doubts that you are truly reliable/innocent/trustworthy.

So you want to say to him a phrase that means "Do you really put my integrity in doubt?" or something similar.
I'm quite certain that this kind of phrase exists, but I don't remember what it is.


texts:
1: There is a reluctance on the part of European companies to buy from American sources.
   2: There is an emphasis on the organic roots of spirituality.
   3: There is a tendency to make the distinction between 'art' and 'entertainment' too rigid.
   4: There is a sense that something about the suggestion is incoherent

I feel there must be more to this than simply "idiomatic preference". What is it about the first two examples that allows (but doesn't require) an article? And that requires an article in the other two?

And are there any similar constructions where the presence/absence of the article affects meaning?


texts:
It's the last day of Summer, and a question came to my mind; In Greek, every season has a meaning:

Άνοιξη    - ανοίγουν τα λουλούδια // the flowers 'open'
Καλοκαίρι - καλός καιρός          // good weather
Φθινόπωρο - φθήνουν τα οπωρικά    // the fruits 'decline'
Χειμώνας  - χειμα = κρύο,ψύχος    // an ancient word, had to ask mama

But what about the English ones? The only results I get from Google are some ridiculous pages - like what is the inner meaning for me personally and stuff..Come someone explain? Or if they don't have, state it in an answer...


texts: Difference between "when" and "if" in a sentence

texts:
I was doing a grammar activity and filling in sentences when I came across the instruction: "fill in when or if."

I was wondering, since these two can be used in a lot of same sentences, what is the difference between sentences like this?

  Chris might call while I'm out this evening. [If/When] he does, can you take a message?


texts:
At recent teleconference meetings, I've notice that the meeting leader will sometimes end the call with a phrase like, "So does anyone have any alibi's?" The context (and people's response) suggests that what is meant is not the traditional meaning, but something akin to, "any questions about anything we've discussed" or "any miscellaneous topics or loose ends that need to be addressed".  Another phrase I've heard in this context, which seems much clearer is, "Any go-backs?"

So my questions are: Is anyone else hearing this? Am I inferring the meaning correctly? What's the derivation - any relation to the more traditional meaning of the word?

Thanks


texts: Is "gone" meaning "pregnant" a Britishism?

texts:
The slang usage of gone meaning pregnant is mainly a BrE one according to

Cambridge Dictionary (mainly UK informal)  pregnant:

  How far gone is she? (= How long has she been pregnant?)

while Collins Dictionary  and The American Heritage Dictionary state that it is also an  AmE usage

(US, slang) pregnant:

  She is two months gone.

I couldn’t find other details about this usage so I’d like to ask:

Is gone meaning pregnant originally a BrE expression which later spread to AmE?
What sense of gone conveys the meaning of pregnant here?
How recent is this usage?


texts:
I have a mixture of different things and now I artificially make it so that there is more of one component or ingredient in my product. Do I then say, "A is enriched in B" or "A is enriched with B"? Is there a difference in the meaning? Which one is more appropriate?

Example:

enriched with vitamins
enriched in a certain isotope
a selection is made to be enriched in a certain type of contribution

("enriched with" yields twice as many Google results as "enriched in" but I think I would always tend to use the latter.)


texts: Is there an idiom or expression for that "squeezing sensation you feel in your chest" when you contemplate one you love

texts:
There is little doubt that strong emotions can provoke specific sensations in the rest of the body, not just mind (whatever that is...)

Emotions coordinate our behavior and physiological states during survival-salient events and pleasurable interactions. Even though we are often consciously aware of our current emotional state, such as anger or happiness, the mechanisms giving rise to these subjective sensations have remained unresolved...Emotions are often felt in the body, and somatosensory feedback has been proposed to trigger conscious emotional experiences.
[emphasis mine]

-Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States

When you hear bad news, you might feel your ‘heart drop’ or have to deal with ‘heart ache.’ There’s more to these metaphors than simply describing intense emotions – they point to the fascinating way our bodies experience these feelings, both emotionally and physically. But surely that doesn't make sense - we all know that the heart is simply a symbol for love and pain, and that all the "feeling" is done by our brains. So how exactly do intense emotions trigger specific sensations in our chest?
[once again,  emphasis mine]

-iflscience.com
We often speak of a "heart ache", or a "broken heart", but what is the opposite (if indeed it is an opposite)?
i.e., What is an idiom or phrase that describes that expansive or compressing feeling we feel in our chest...that feeling in our chest when we contemplate one we love, or something extremely cute?
For me it happened when I saw my daughter in her quinceañera gown for the first time, or I see my puppy and her kitty sister hugging each other in the cold weather...


texts: Meaning of the phrase "you're a caution"

texts: I have encountered the phrase "you're a caution" in a movie in a suggestive, possibly judgmental  context. How is this to be understood and where does it come from?


texts:
How do you express a person who never makes excuses under any difficult situations?

Example:

  When he faced difficult situations, he never backed off or never complained. He was such a _____ person./ He was a ____.


texts:
Lurk before you leap.

I know it means familiarize yourself with a discussion group before getting involved. My question is whether it can be used in any other context except online learning, forum or whatever related to the Internet?


texts:
Although he used to be a box office attraction, he's a has been now.

Does the has been mean "over" or something else in the sentence above?

Ex :

  I went to the party at 9pm, but the party was has been by 8pm?

Please correct me.


texts: Can I say "time to hit it" meaning "time to go to sleep"?

texts:
I was in NYC today and I heard someone today something like "it's time to hit..." I didn`t quite understand what he means so I asked. He said he was going to sleep.

Is there really such expression "time to hit it" meaning "time to go to sleep"?


texts: "Says we"—Why is "say" in its 3rd person singular form?

texts:
This is a line from O' Henry's The Ransom of Red Chief :

  Philoprogenetiveness, says we, is strong in semirural communities.

Is this use of says grammatical in general, or is it peculiar to O' Henry's dialect? If its generally grammatical, which rule endorses its validity?


texts:
Furthermore, Gilbert’s vibrant description of Naples’s pizza makes it
  sound unique and delicious.

Does the "it" in the sentence above refer to the description or the pizza? Would it be better to rewrite the sentence as the one below?

  Furthermore, Gilbert’s vibrant description of Naples’s pizza makes the pizza
  sound unique and delicious.

If I remember correctly, pronouns refer to previous noun mentioned. However, the word "pizza" is in a prepositional phrase. Therefore, doesn't the "it" refer to the word "description"?

(My goal is to say that the pizza sounds unique and delicious. This is pretty self-evident, but I just want to be as clear as possible.)


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "what it is they do"?

texts: My name is Tam - from Vietnam. Call me Tim if you like. I just saw this phrase in my English course book and not sure what it means. The phase is "what it is they do". Could somebody please give me a clue? Thanks so much!


texts: Is it correct to drop the repeating noun (except for the last one) in a list?

texts:
I can't find the grammar rule about dropping a repeated noun in a list. I'm not sure what it's called and Search results weren't relevant. I'd like to try this construction myself if it's grammatically correct because I love how efficient it is.
For e.g.:

Give them the blue, red, and green crayons.

versus

Give them the blue crayon, red crayon, and green crayon.

Additional question: What's the best grammar book for someone who wants to dive deep into this topic? (I am an ESL person, but learned English as a teenager. I love English grammar!)


texts: Should I use 'or' or 'nor' after a negative statement?

texts:
This document does not cover the SDK interfaces nor any other reference material.

I think the above is correct, but my grammatical checker in Microsoft Word underlines nor and suggests or. Why?


texts:
I understand that any has negative connotations, as can be seen in the above link, but I need to say that there are no pages in a book. I've come up with the following sentence:

  That book does not have any pages.

Is this a correct way to say that there are no pages in that book? It seems to be a double negation, with does not and any, so that would seem to mean that the book does have pages. Should I use a different word to any?


texts:
Which of the following sentences are correct

I found the man lying on floor  with his hand tied with rope.
I found the man lying on floor  with his hand being tied with rope.
I found the man lying on floor  with a rope tied around his neck.
I found the man lying on floor  with a rope being tied around his neck .


texts: An expression for teacher in charge of a class

texts: In China, the teacher in charge of a class is called "Bang zhu ren", who not just teach, but also take care of students' life beyond study. So in English, what's the expression?


texts:
What is the part of speech of before in the following:

Long before anyone coined the term sci-fi?

I am wondering whether it is an adjective, an adverb, or a preposition?


texts: What word describes a person who gains the trust of people on behalf of an adversary?

texts:
What word or idiom describes a person who gains the trust of people
in an organization to identify potential threats to that organization?

Example:

Say Company (Organisation) "A" wants to know how many of its employees are inclined to take part in or form unions.

Company A then sends its own person Mr "M" to locate such employees.
Mr M then starts his own Workers’ Union and performs activities and gives speeches against the interest of Company A.
All this is done to gain the trust of the employees (of Company A).
Company A not surprisingly is silent & passive about Mr M.

Mr M's union grows in size as employees seeing his actions and hearing his words fall for the snare and join his Union, hoping to fight against Company A.

Company A now possesses a list of persons that are a threat to it.

What do you call Mr M?
What are the actions & activities of Mr M called?


texts: Is there a word out there describing an overly caring parent? E.g. a mother who is constantly calling her daughter, asking where she is, etc.


texts: What's a word for "a thoroughly enjoyable experience"? Something like the opposite of a "trial"?


texts: Is “Was” needed in the sentence “The woman, who was had married John Lennon has been blamed for pulling the group apart.”

texts:
I found the following paragraph in the article with the caption, "That Settles It: Yoko Ono Did Not Break Up Beatles” in Entertainment section of October 30 Time magazine:

  The Japanese artist and musician, who was had married John Lennon
  shortly before the Beatles disbanded, has long been blamed for pulling
  the group apart. But, according to a preview of the Frost interview
  that appeared in The Guardian, McCartney dispels that notion. “[Ono]
  certainly didn’t break the group up, the group was breaking up,” he is
  quoted as saying.

I felt somewhat harsh on my ear with the expression- “was had” in the line “The Japanese artist and musician, who was had married John Lennon shortly before the Beatles disbanded, has long been blamed for pulling the group apart.”

Are both “was / had" necessary before 'married' in this sentence? Why is it? Can’t we say simply “The Japanese artist and musician, who had married John Lennon shortly before the Beatles disbanded,”


texts: Can the adverb "strongly" be use with the verb "try"? If not, is there a clear reason?

texts:
It doesn't seem to me to be possible to use the adverb "strongly" in connection with the verb "try" but I can't figure out why not. It feels as it it ought to be possible but never sounds right. Is this a correct observation and if so is there a clear linguistic reason for this?
The obvious answer is to use the adverb "hard", but why not "strongly"?


texts:
Between these two sentences, which (if either) is correct in American English:

  Our clientele range from a small non-profit to a billion dollar corporation...

or

  Our clientele ranges from a small non-profit to a billion dollar corporation...

A collective noun is usually treated as singular.  If that holds true here, then "ranges" would be correct.  But that just feels wrong.  For some reason I can't quite articulate, "range" feels right.

Thoughts?  Which is correct and why?


texts: "Board" and "go/be aboard/on board" in AE

texts:
In AE, is it acceptable to say board/go aboard (and hence be aboard/on board) for such miscellaneous and various vehicular (or mobile) devices as an elevator, a bus, a truck, a van, a people carrier, a car (auto), a carnival ride, a ski gondola, a toboggan, a sled, a sledge, a canoe, a tractor, an excavator, a baby carriage, a cradle, a crib, a coffin, and a time machine (the type of those featured in the movies The Time Machine (1960), and Time After Time (1979))?

As far as your variety of English is concerned, is such usage acceptable?

e.g.

Two of them boarded the sedan.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-manila/03/09/13/robbers-kill-french-tourist-precinct-chief-axed

Atkins said she boarded the elevator..."
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?id=9327879


texts: Correct grammar for talking about multiple, single nouns

texts:
I'd like to know the definitions of both mathematical terms "consistency" and "completeness".  Would I ask

"What are consistency and completeness?" (i.e., the two nouns are singular, but together they're a collection of things) or
"What is consistency and completeness?" (i.e., we can distribute the "What is" to read "What is consistency and what is completeness?")

Thanks.


texts: Are there shibboleths specific to native Russian speakers?

texts:
I am doing these days a lot of collaborative writing with a colleague born and raised in Russia, and now working in the US. He has a very good English and yet, as we circulated various texts, I noticed that he tends to drop the definite article, the, more than is acceptable. I attributed that to a trend of his native language.

Because I will continue working with him for some time, I hope to be aware of other such possible errors influenced by his mother tongue (especially because I'm not a native English speaker either!). So, what are common errors (or shibboleths) of native Russian speakers when they write in English?


texts: Is 'seeing' after 'open to' a correct sentence?

texts:
In a book that I'm reading, there is a sentence:

  We seem to be quite open to seeing others as people rather than coworkers or competitors.

I just wonder I should be see not seeing in the above sentence. Am I right? If no, what is the grammar point here?


texts: What does "nothing unknown" mean in this quote?

texts:
I am reading a book which contains the following quote by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe at the beginning of a chapter:

  For him who seeks the truth, an error is nothing unknown.

What does it mean? In particular, what does "nothing unknown" mean?

For those who are curious about the context of this quote, it is in Chapter 5 "Randomized Algorithms" of the textbook "Algorithmics for Hard Computing Problems" by Juraj Hromkovič, and randomized algorithms typically allow the possibility of making mistakes as long as the error probability is small enough.


texts: Grandma and Nan, origins and differences?

texts:
What are the origins and differences between these two? Same for Granddad/Grandpa?

Why was there the need for the two different names?


texts: Origin of parenthetical read, AKA "X (Read: Y)"

texts:
Something that I've been noticing more and more frequently is that sometimes writers will say something and then say (read: something else). For example (made up sentence to the best of my knowledge):

  Jane Foster was upset that Thor didn't try to stop the men who borrowed (read: stole) her high-tech equipment.

A basic Google search did not turn up any relevant examples from before computers, but I was wondering when this practice originated. Also, why wouldn't you just say what's in the parenthesis instead? (Not sure if that should be a separate question).


texts:
So, the correct plural form of medium is media.  Of course, there are exceptions, and the words have taken on new usages (such as adding a definitive article "the" to media, making it singular), but isn't the word multimedia redundant?  What you are really trying to say is multiple mediums -- or just media.

I imagine it started in the 50s or 60s. Did it start as a "buzzword" or some sort of industry jargon? Perhaps it is a byproduct of the aforementioned exceptions, in that "the media" became singular, and thus a new pluralized form had to be developed?


texts:
Some people argue that job satisfaction is more important than job security, while others believe that they cannot always expect job satisfaction, and a permanent job is more important. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

It is argued that job security is not as important as how we feel satisfied with what we are doing, while others believe that we should do jobs that help to free us from the stress of unemployment and ensure that we have a stable income. I am personally in favour of the view of the first group.

Those who like the idea of doing a long-term work say that in today's highly comparative labour market, where thousands of new graduates face unemployment annually, staying the same career is a much safer choice than switching jobs to find job satisfaction. The combination of the labour market and living costs is more and more rising mean that job security has become the most important consideration for job seekers. Many people experience temporary unemployment after quit their previous job to look for new ones that offer a higher level of job satisfaction. For those who are the primary breadwinners, This is a risky decision.

Despite these arguments, I feel that we should never stop looking for jobs that make us happy and content. I personally believe that no matter how comparative the market is,  there are always be sufficient jobs for each person. Spending a few months or even a year to seeking a job makes me happy is much better than spending a lifetime trapped in a place that we are reluctant to do because it's just as safe and stable. For example, my grandfather always regretted that he didn't follow the career of the photography career he used to love. Instead, he chose to to be a teacher due to his stable monthly salary.

In conclusion, Although some of the ideas that a secure work are more important than a satisfying work, I'm of the opinion that we should always look for a job that brings us happiness and satisfaction rather than stability.


texts:
I'm not quite sure about the future. However, I'm confident that technology will be everywhere and It will make our lives easier. But In other hand, THE development of technology will led to bigger pollution, decreasing of ecology and more people will die of cancer. I think, speaking of technology, we should be sure to maintain A balance between technology and THE environment.

Why should I use articles there, could anyone explain it to me?


texts: Being vs Getting in passive voice sentences

texts:
Are being and getting interchangeable in passive voice sentences?
Here we can see that the people have pretty much concluded they are, indeed.

However, my schoolbook suggests only being as the possible answer in the following sentence. (it is a part 2 - gap text - exercise taken from a CAE student book).

  They believe that the freedom of the individual is already in danger
  of being seriously weakened.

Can you help me find some sources that can help me understand why getting is not working for the sentence? Or have the authors forgotten to include it as a possibility?


texts: Why do the first and last "t" in "taste" sound different?

texts:
When I listened to the audio pronunciation of "taste" /teɪst/, I noticed that the first and last "t" sound different: the first "t" sounds like [tʰ] while the second one sounds more like [tsʰ]. Words that end with /t/ such as "it" and "act" also has this [tsʰ] sound.

However, words ending with /k/ or /p/ does not have this different sound (e.g. cake and peep).

Why is the ending /t/ pronounced differently when aspirated?


texts: Infinitive vs. gerund: is the meaning the same or is infinitive preferential for showing habit?

texts:
Is the meaning the same or is infinitive preferential for showing habit?

  When I pour tea I like to put the milk in first.
  When I pour tea I like putting the milk in first.


texts: Why does the phrase "to take the rag off" mean to excel in the classroom?

texts: A Collection of College Words and Customs (1851) by Benjamin Homer Hall defines to take the rag off as "to excel; to compose much better than one's classmates." I understand the phrase is quite old; however, I'm curious to see if anyone is able to explain why "to take the rag off" would have meant to excel and to compose much better than one's classmates.


texts: Use of “of” vs “from” to identify one’s company/department

texts:
I was reading this document about conducting business meetings with customers, and in the Opening meeting section I noticed this sentence:

  On joining, identify yourself (Hello everyone. This is (name) of company-name (department))

So basically they are saying that I should say

  Hello everyone. This is Abc of Xyz Development.

Isn't from more suitable? I would say:

  Hello everyone. This is Abc from Xyz Development.


texts: Can a plosive consonant in a word be pronounced as an unreleased consonant?

texts:
ESL teachers always tell people to suppress the normal release of the consonant "p b k g t d" if it's at the end of a word and the next word also begins with a consonant.

But what about words with a doubled consonant in them? Like accent, technology, do you produce the /k/ sound? Is it alright to not say it?

The Chinese people are not used to pronouncing a consonant directly after another consonant without a vowel between them, so some of us tend to remove a consonant (some may even add a vowel that isn't there); that's why I'm asking.


texts: Origin and variations of "being handed your hat"

texts: I heard the expression being handed your hat being used to mean that you are invited to leave. What is its origin and what are the possible variations?


texts: How can one best clarify the different senses of “compare”?

texts:
I have long felt that the taboo on comparing anyone to Hitler and many similar inhibitions were based on a confusion between “compare” in the senses of “liken to” and in the sense of “compare and contrast”, and this answer on Science Fiction & Fantasy gave me the idea of asking here how to express this effectively.

The formulations that occur to me are

“liken A to B” for “suggest that A is (very) similar to B” (sometimes risky)
“compare and contrast A and B” for “consider various attributes of A and B and evaluate how similar they are in each such attribute” (usually useful),

but the latter seems a wee bit long-winded. Wiktionary suggests “compare A to B” and “compare A with B” respectively, but I am not convinced that that distinction is widely recognised. There is perhaps also the sense of using one feature of something well known to make a description more effective (“thou art more lovely and more temperate”), but that seems more a matter of rhetoric than of a pitfall in thinking.

Can anyone suggest preferably terse and widely recognised ways of expressing these senses unambiguously, and of pointing out that someone is confusing them?


texts:
Please suggest the correct punctuation at points 1, 2 and 3 in the following sentence:

  If you had to write an article, for example, reporting on events in
  any institution which cares for people (1) a borstal, a hospital, a
  mental health institution, a nursing home, or even a prison (2) anywhere
  where people look after, or guard, or care for (3) you might well head
  it "My brother's keeper".

Particularly I'd like to know which punctuation mark I should use in (1) - colon or dash? - and why.
For anyone interested in the context of this sentence - it's an excerpt from the speech given by a professor about the King James Bible and its influence on the English language. https://youtu.be/lgSDd6Bkatg?t=1887


texts: What does the phrase "Have weight to " mean?

texts:
I've watched a TV show about house renovation.
After they take down a old window and carry it away. A guy says something like:

  It was a decent window. Jeepers have some weight to it

What does this phrase mean in this context?


texts:
In the sentence "Offering her license and registration, Selena sobbed in the driver's seat," offering is not a gerund, right? It isn't a noun and does not act as a subject. That made me wonder if the main verb is offering or sobbed.

I'm having a hard time trying to identify the main verb and phrase verb.
Actually I'm wondering if in my last sentence the main verb was trying or identify.

One last question: In the sentence "The man is watching the birds," is the main verb watching? or is? and why?

Please, any help is welcome.


texts: What word describes someone who would never criticize his or her country, city, community or group that he or she belongs to?

texts:
There are people who would never have any criticism of country/city/community or group to which they belong to.

For example: Most people living in a certain city have to use public transport which is extremely overcrowded for daily commute. But they would describe it as adventure. They don't like it when someone criticizes the state of public transport just because they belong to that city and won't hear any criticism of it.

Is there a single word that could describe such people?

The word I am looking for could not be "Patriotism". "Patriotism" is limited to country. It does not apply to city or group or a community. And being patriotic doesn't necessarily mean that one has to be so irrational as to praise everything about it.


texts:
I hope that professionals would be able to answer the following question related to writing the word of 'program' / 'programme'.

As far as I know the first one is used in AmEN while the latter in BrEN. I believe that predominantly the American version is more popular. Can anyone explain me then, please, whether 'programme' is incorrect or outdated?

Thanks for your answers in advance.


texts: A more formal alternative for "go with" in the context of food or literature

texts:
... or the literature on food.

I need a verb for associating things that go particularly well together. Possibly with a wine or French lineage. It is not pairing. Other ideas thrown out are go with and complement, but I think that there should be a more sophisticated word.


texts: I can't manage to find a word or phrase that will describe the process of putting off/taking off the responsibility from oneself.


texts:
To mean working hard?

Dogs just lie around and nap. That's not working hard...


texts: What is the name for a question which is answered implicitly by any given response?

texts: e.g. Are you awake? (to somebody who appears to be asleep, but for which any given reply will confirm wakefulness)


texts: What would be a more formal way to say "No way!"? For example, in a business conference setting.


texts: Which pronoun shall I use in this context?

texts:
Humans ought to  treat others as a human being would treat others.
  Never should they bully and abuse anyone. Since the ultimate goal of them is
  to let everyone become capable of living an appropriate and decent
  life, they must pay special attention to the worse-off people, while at
  the same time encouraging excellence and creativity, making every
  individual capable of fulfilling his own goal.(self-made)

Here I am speaking of a kind of universal ethic for human beings. I am using the pronouns they/them because I want to put myself in the position of a disinterested spectator. I am concerned that representing mankind with they/them might be inappropriate.


texts: Adjunct phrase in a sentence with compound verbs

texts:
In a sentence with compound verbs, such as "Roll twice and use the better result for both roles.", does the phrase 'for both roles' apply to the whole sentence, or only to the second verb?

Would the example sentence above be considered ambiguous by native reader?


texts:
What is the difference in usage of those two words? For what I know, they both mean the same and somehow I couldn't find a dictionary entry for the word Sportsgear.

Sportsgear and seen in this site, is selling sports clothing. And sportswear pretty much means the same.

So, when and why in a few example scenarios would I use each particular word?


texts:
Consider the sentence "What is the probability of Bob winning?"

What is the function of "Bob winning"? It's certainly acting as the object of the preposition, but I don't recognize this type of construction from any of my English courses. Is it even correct usage?


texts: How do you usually arrange a date? Sentence structure

texts:
How do you usually arrange a date?

What would be more appropriate and natural:

What about tomorrow/on Sunday at 5 near the Star Theater?
How about tomorrow/on Sunday at 5 near the Star Theater?
Let's meet tomorrow/on Sunday at 5 near the Star Theater?
Let's meet near the Star Theater tomorrow/on Sunday at 5?

or nothing from that?

Thank you


texts:
I was writing a letter and got confused with this line.

  I am thankful for the opportunities that have been provided me during
  my tenure.

or should it be

  I am thankful for the opportunities that have been provided to me during my tenure.


texts: She took the job at her friend's expense - what does this mean?

texts:
"She took the job at her friend's expense."

Her friend was replaced by her. (It was her friend's job)
Her friend helped her to get the job.

Which one is correct? Thank you.


texts:
In a movie I heard a character saying "Get your phalanges off me!" Why not "Get your fingers off me"? Is the speaker trying to sound impressive or well-learned?

Thank you!


texts: A word for thing(s) which are given away by relatives of a dead person

texts:
Situation: After the funeral the relatives usually give away personal things and belongings of a buried person to his/her relatives, friends, acquaintances and etc.

How would you call these thing(s)?
As far as I know, there should be a separate word for it/them.

Lots of thanks  in advance.


texts: what is more accurate seen or shown, please help.

texts:
What's more accurate
Seen or shown?

what i feel right now is seen on this picture.
what i feel right now is shown on this picture.


texts:
I have to make a dedication plaque.
do I write "restored in memory of blah blah and blah"  or "restored with memories of blah blah and blah"
thanks.. oh yea, blah blah and blah are people's names...


texts:
Many words have several meanings and some even have two converse meanings. Two examples of such words are amateur and literally as illustrated by the following:

She is an art amateur.
This is amateur work.

and

Don't take my remarks literally.
He literally lost his mind for a few seconds.

Which other words from the common vocabulary do display this feature? (Less common examples are also welcome!) Does this feature have a name?


texts: Can anyone give me examples of the relative-determinative 'which'?

texts:
I recently posted a question on a Spanish language forum asking what the equivalent in Spanish would be for the use of which in a phrase such as

  he refused, which decision proved disastrous

(which comes from the Oxford English/Spanish dictionary)

Someone on the forum is saying that this use of which is incorrect English, and that this fragment is in some way artificial, and would never occur in a correct English sentence.

I can easily think of sentences such as

  The king refused his support for this endeavour, which decision left the duke without aid.

It's a formal, perhaps unusual, use, but perfectly good English.

Can anyone point me to examples online which would back this argument?  I can't find any except in the Free Dictionary (https://www.thefreedictionary.com/which), definition 10, which is not quite the same thing.   Also, perhaps,  a pointer to the grammatical rule which defines this usage of which this is an example.

Edit: someone in the Spanish language forum pointed out this entry -- https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=606 -- which points out that this is a 'relative-determinative' usage.  Any other links would be welcomed!

Thanks very much!

Edit:  This was the entry from which I drew my example.  I don't know whether it's correct or not, or whether it was the intention of Oxford to present it as a fragment or as a whole sentence, but it does exist. From the Oxford Spanish/English dictionary that comes bundled with the Mac OS. Entry for  adjective, 2a


texts:
Today I came across this sentence in a political essay by Harold James:

  As in France in the 1790s, the revolution always eventually devours its own children.

What does "children" of a revolution mean? Is it simply used to refer to the revolutionaries?

It seems more natural to me that "children" should refer to the effects of an event, not to its causes. For example, we use "the father of modern linguistics", not "the child of modern linguistics", as a title for the founder of modern linguistics.


texts: Looking for a word that means encouragement but for ants, a word play

texts: I'm looking for a word that is "ant-themed" don't question it hahaha, for a party. And there's this section/corner where we give encouragement to each other, what would be the best word to describe that corner?


texts: "No student at your school can speak Russian or knows C++" / OR usage

texts:
I'm new at this forum and I love it already.

I had some doubts about the usage of "or" in terms of meaning.

If we have the sentence as follows:

"No student at your school can speak Russian or knows C++"

What does this really mean?

As far as I know, this means that there is an amount of students at my school and none of them speaks Russian. And, in addition, none of them knows C++.

However, today my English teacher told me that this means that there is an amount of students at my school and none of them speaks Russian or knows C++, but not both. Therefore, some students might not speak Russian but know C++, and some others might speak Russian but not know C++.

Is my teacher wrong? Or am I wrong? This doesn't make any sense to me.

Thank you.


texts: Word (or phrase) to describe someone who leaves out important pieces of information

texts:
Is there a word or phrase to describe a person, or at least the quality of a person, who tends to leave out important details when communicating? For example someone said "The store Costco is dangerous". Initially I thought he meant their have been a lot of violent crimes around Costco, but latter I found out he was trying to say Costco is so cheap you end up spending a lot of money on things you don't really need.

I would like to use the word in the sentence "Person x is very _____ " or "Person x is very _____ in his communication style".

I was thinking of the word "unclear" but often times a person is unclear for the exact opposite reason, because they add too much information.


texts: Why does "on top of" lack of an article before "top"?

texts:
I read in a children's book, Bliff’s fun phonics:

  "The duck is on top."

"Top" is supposed to be countable. Why is there not an article before "top" in the phrase?


texts: What's the difference between the words "journey", "travel" and "trip"?

texts: As they always were interchangeable in an article, I just want to know the difference.


texts:
In Scandinavian languages, ‘ansvarig’ is an adjective which means ‘responsible’, but is also often used as a noun to denote a role. E.g., every university course has a ‘kursansvarig’. People typically translate this as ‘the course responsible’ in the English versions, which always bugs me, as it sounds wrong and I can find no support for this use in English dictionaries. (And universities should not promote careless translation!) The official translation of ‘kursansvarig’ is sometimes given as ‘course administrator’, but nobody says that, in particular since a course also has a dedicated ‘administratör’ in the administrative staff, who is responsibe for keeping track of which students are registered etc., while the ‘kursansvarig’ is in the teaching staff and normally (but not always) the main teacher on the course.

Am I correct in my repugnance to the nominalized ‘responsible’ and can you see any alternative form that I could use, and try to get others to use?

EDIT: Thanks for the answers and comments. They haven't made me much wiser, but confirmed that it's a difficult subject. Many gave suggestions for alternative translations. A few of them would be quite possible, but there's no clear “solution” among them. (Most suggestions sound more like other roles.)


texts: Question about the sentence "The child stroked the cat under the table"

texts:
I'm reading a book talking about prepositions in English. The following sentence is from it.

  The child stroked the cat under the table

The author told us that "under the table" is modifying child stroked the cat. Is that correct? Why can't I understand it as modifying cat? Is there any rules for this kind of cases? Thanks.


texts: Manipulativeness of the progressive aspect in "to be wondering if"

texts:
I am around a group of people who, for whatever reason, have developed the habit of talking odd tenses.  I'm no English or grammar expert but here is what I mean.

Instead of saying "Can I borrow your car?", they might say " I was wondering if I could borrow your car." Or, instead of "Is the mechanic's name Robert?", they might say "I am wondering if the mechanic's name is Robert."

These aren't great examples but the bottom line is, when I talk to these people, I often feel manipulated or that they are generally manipulative in the language use.

Does any of this make sense?  Is it perhaps recognized as a topic of study I could research?  Say, "How people use the continuous aspect in manipulative conversation" or something like that.

If this makes absolutely no sense to anyone, feel free to heckle...

****Many thanks to all who gave an answer to this. My examples weren't the best but I think what you have shown me is that the people around me choose to speak in a very passive voice.  I think they "hedge" a lot more than people in other peer groups.  However, the feeling of manipulation comes from the expectation that I will measure up to certain norms of "nicety" or "niceness" (sorry, I don't know the right word) because they were so nice and passive they way they asked.  This may not make any more sense than my first post but thanks!  I appreciate your love for language.


texts:
What is the difference in being physically capable and physically able?

When would one choose one over the other?


texts: What's the difference between "fake it ‘til you make it" and "fake it ‘til you become it"?

texts:
From an article titled How to Fake It ‘Til You Make It (Or Become It):

  In 2012, [Amy Cuddy] gave a TED Talk on the topic, which went viral and has been watched over 34 million times. She talked about how body language affects how others see us, but also how it changes how we see ourselves. She believes that it’s possible to fake feelings of power until we truly feel more powerful. “Don’t fake it ‘til you make it. Fake it ‘til you become it,” she urged.

A Russian friend asked me to translate the meaning this last sentence, but after thinking about it I realized that I don't actually understand this sentence well enough to translate it. I don't really see what the distinction is between "faking it 'til you make it" and "faking it 'til you become it".

In both cases, it seems that the meaning is to pretend that you are confident about your competence for long enough to actually become confident about your competence. I can't see any meaningful difference, except that "make" rhymes with "fake" and thus sounds more catchy than "become", so it seems like the instruction above basically boils down to the nonsensical "Don't do X. Instead, do X."

What is the distinction between these two things, if any?


texts: What are needed  managers with new ideas and the will to apply them

texts:
According to the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Huddleston and Pullum (page 505), the following sentence is grammatical with either "is" or "are" as the verb of the main clause:

  What are needed is/are managers with new ideas and the will to apply them.

QUESTION: Would any native speaker actually use "is" over "are" in this particular sentence?

Note: This is not a duplicate of this question because that question does not deal with the specific construction: What are new here is...


texts:
I want to express "If mass deportation becomes a true plan, the positive economic effects of undocumented immigrants will no longer exist".

To make the sentence more concise, I wrote:

  Mass deportation confiscates the positive economic effects of undocumented immigrants.

However, I think "confiscate" is a wrong verb here. Are there any word can be used to mean "stopping an effect"?

Thank you for any suggestions!


texts: Why do so many names end in -May or -Mae?

texts:
I've been reading articles about trends in names. Apparently names like Bonnie-Mae, Ellie-Mae and Lily-Mae are trending up in the UK which I find odd in itself (aren't they typically Southern US?) but never mind...

You don't see many endings other than -May or -Mae in double-barreled names. -Anne perhaps, and a few other exceptions, but -Mae seems to dominate.

Any idea where this tradition stems from? Why the skew?


texts:
How do I say this properly, when I want to say that the result was not because of x but of y?

For example: The outcome was not because of x but (of) y?

Do I use of here?


texts: Where does the term "three sheets to the wind" originate from?

texts: What is the origin of "three sheets to the wind"?


texts: prefix for "possible", "supposed", "potential" etc.?

texts:
I am looking for a prefix to express the meaning of something possibly belonging to a class / category, or being a candidate for the concept in question.

For instance, a "[...]-solution" would be some statement or proposition that could be a solution for a given question, albeit its status of being so or not has still to be established. A "[...]-pathogen" would be a germ whose pathogenic character is still unclear; a "[...]-perpetrator" an alleged perpetrator and so forth. (Actually, I am mostly interested in a more abstract use of the prefix-root-combination).

The prefix should function in the same way as "pseudo-", "quasi-" etc. It would be nice to find something of Greek or Latin origin, but other proposals are fine as well.


texts:
I am writing a paper and I want to criticize some other related work. I want to say that the problem of their work is that they don't support advanced composition rules. So which one is a better phrasing and why:

  The shortcoming of their approach is that they only support simple composition rules.

Or

  The shortcoming of their approach is the lack of support of advanced composition rules.

I will be grateful if you suggest a better phrasing.


texts: What's the difference between "harrowing" and "poignant"?


texts:
Behavior dubbed reprehensible by the residents of the region is considered conventional, even compulsory by those of the neighboring region; fortunately, people traveling between the two are resigned to this disparity.

Can it mean that the behavior dubbed reprehensible is considered conventional 'generally' and compulsory by those of the neighboring region?
Or can it only mean that the 'neighboring region' consider it conventional and even compulsory?


texts:
Can someone kindly tell me which of the two sentences is more grammatically correct (and why)?

As such, I was challenged to develop exercises more suited to my audience.
As such, I was challenged to develop more appropriately suited exercises.

Thank you!

Alex


texts: Origin of “vicious circle” and “vicious cycle”

texts:
What are the earliest known uses of vicious circle, in its two senses, and vicious cycle? And can we tell anything of what motivated the variant vicious cycle?

Merriam-Webster and Etymoline are fairly detailed about the origin of vicious circle but say little (M-W) or nothing (Etymoline, cycle) about the origin of vicious cycle. And neither quotes the actual earliest known uses. From Etymoline:

  vicious […] In law, “marred by some inherent fault” (late 14c.), hence also this sense in logic (c. 1600), as in vicious circle in reasoning (c. 1792, Latin circulus vitiosus), which was given a general sense of “a situation in which action and reaction intensify one another” by 1839.

From Merriam-Webster:

  Vicious circle originally referred to a circular argument, that is, an argument that assumes the conclusion as one of its premises. That sense was first documented around the end of the 18th century. Approximately 50 years later, vicious circle acquired the now more common “chain of events” sense as people began to think of the circle as a metaphorical circle rather than a circular argument. Today, vicious cycle is a common variant for the “chain of events” sense. Vicious spiral, in which the ill effects are cumulative as well as self-aggravating, puts in an occasional appearance as well.

Google Books Ngram suggests vicious cycle  appears early in the 20th century.

My second question, can we tell anything about what motivated the variant vicious cycle, is a lot harder, but maybe someone wrote about it in the early days, either condemning or defending vicious cycle. I can think of two possibilities: people mixed up circle and circle; or someone thought cycle was a better metaphor than cycle for the ‘chain of problems’ sense. To my mind circle is the more appropriate metaphor for ‘circular reasoning’. Well it isn’t for nothing we call that reasoning circular: it ends where it had began. The chain of ill effects we name ‘vicious circe/cycle’ is especially vicious because it keeps recurring (say poor sales, firms lay off people, income and demand falls, sales get poor, firms lay off more people, and on and on). Cycles recur too, so maybe some people thought cycle was a better metaphor.


texts: How should I correctly repeat possessives?

texts:
planning of mine, the student and the company
  planning of mine, the student's, and the company's

Which is correct/better, and why?  I would assume 2 is correct, but is 1 incorrect?


texts: Is “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet” a common or respectable English expression?

texts:
Today’s edition of the New York Times (December 16, 2014) carries an article written by Mark Bittman under the headline “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” It begins with the following passage:

  “What’s more depressing, gutting progressive moves in school nutrition
  or gutting progressive moves in restaurant meal labeling? Neither.
  What’s truly depressing is the “cromnibus,” the continuing resolution
  just passed to fund the government — which contains a wide variety of
  sometimes obscure and often corrupt riders, and signals the start of
  plundering just about every good piece of legislation you can think
  of, including school nutrition.”

I was a bit puzzled by the expression, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Isn’t this a double negative, which almost 65 years ago in high school I learned was an affirmative statement?

Is “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet” a common English expression to feature as the headline of one of the U.S.'s leading newspapers? What’s wrong with saying “You’ve seen nothing yet” or “You haven’t seen anything yet”? Can I say to my friend who's never traveled abroad, "You ain't seen nothin' yet"?


texts: What do you call a person who enacts, lives, or portrays the book he has read?

texts:
For example, I have known a statesman that used all his political strategies and tactics based on a certain book (self help). One can understand the reason of every move he makes and even predict the next tactic because he knows the content of the book by heart. The book's genre is self help and if I'm not mistaken it is a fiction book.

I don't know if "living proof" is the exact term. I doubt it.


texts: Does  I'm proud of something imply I'm taking credit for something?  I just observed that the former phrase only works with my own accomplishments or with related people, but not with unrelated people, e.g. I'm proud of Tom's result works only if I have some kind of relationship with Tom, like I'm his father or teacher or trainer.


texts: A verb for 'talking about something very briefly and roughly'?

texts:
In the end I very briefly and roughly talk about the implication of
  my view for that field of study.

What verb can I use instead of [talk] very briefly and roughly? I thought of outline but I am not sure if that is good when we talk about implication.


texts: Two ands separated by one word -- is a comma needed here?

texts:
consider the following example sentence:

  This section summarizes Tom and Jerry's 1975 experimental designs and results and reviews their comparisons of the behavior they observed with the predictions of Yosemite Sam.

Should there be a comma before the bolded and?

I ask because If "designs and results" was just "designs" I would not put a comma (the sentence is clear without it, and I believe the part of the sentence after the bolded and is not an independent clause?).

However, in sentences such as this I often want to put a comma to distinguish the ands. Specifically, I see the first and as as having to do with "summarizes" and the second and as having to do with "this section". I feel like without a comma this may not be clear?

Aside:

I know there are many questions on this topic, but I was unsure of what keywords to use to find a topic search similar to this example.

If someone has a better title suggestion please let me know.


texts: I am baffled by a sentence that I came across in a book recently. "Americans are a very practical people". Why do we need the article "a" here?


texts:
Should I put spaces after periods in the following examples?

A.B. Buffington (between the initials)
Vol.2, No.6, pp.195-200

I see people missing spaces in their academic writing all the time and I am not sure if I should correct this.


texts: What does “Swish of skirt” mean? Why is it a sexist expression?

texts:
Time magazine (March 13) carries AP’s report on North Korea’s radical reaction against ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills under the headline, “N. Korea criticizes S. Korea President’s ‘Swish of skirt.’” The article begins with the following lines:’

  “The body that controls North Korea’s military is dismissing South
  Korea’s new president, Park Geun-hye, with a sexist comment about the
  “venomous swish” of her skirt.”

Though “Swish of skirt” means to me just the sound of the fluttering hem of a skirt, and no more than that, I suspect this has special meaning as the words are put in parenthesises, and moreover they were discharged from the war-mongering country.

What insinuation does the word, S. Korea President’s ‘Swish of skirt’ have?

Is “Swish of skirt” unordinary expression in English? Does ‘skirt’ really have a ‘sexist’ implication as AP says in today’s gender equality world?


texts: What is the law of "Data expands to fill the available space"

texts: What is the name of the "law" that says that data will expand to fill the available space? I tried googling it but didn't see the name. it was referred to as an instance of Parkinson's law.


texts:
I am confused on how to formulate sentences with (n)either...(n)or and the form of verb.

Which sentence is gramatically correct?

"Either my uncle or aunt are visiting me today"
"Either my uncle or aunt is visiting me today"

"Neither chocolates nor cake are sufficient for the birthday party"
"Neither chocolates nor cake is sufficient for the birthday party"

"Either the dog or the cats are going to the pound"
"Either the dog or the cats is going to the pound"


texts: How do I say whether or not a number was pronounced like a telephone number (or zip code). Are there words for this?

texts:
501 can be pronounced 'five hundred one' or 'five zero one'. How do I tell someone how it was pronounced without saying the number. The best I've come up with is 'normal style' vs 'zip code style'. How about some proper terms?
What about the distinction between 'five zero one' style and 'five oh one' style? I know this bit is a long shot but what the heck.


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "spitting nails"?  I know what it means, but am curious about its origin.  Can you help?


texts:
During the period between January and today, I have added many changes to my resume that i want to make an employer noticed of. I doubt between 'have done' and 'had done'.

  " I would like to inform you that some changes have been brought to my resume from
  the first time I had contacted you through your website(January 2014) "

  Or

  " I would like to inform you that some changes have been brought to my
  resume from the first time I have contacted through your website(January 2014)"

Please to help me resolve the problem i have with past usage once and for all, any link or doc is highly appreciated.


texts: What is the origin of the "once upon a time" idiom as the way to begin a fairy tale?

texts:
"Once upon a time" is the traditional way to start a fairy tale using the English language. But how traditional is it? I'm trying to find the first uses of this expression with this purpose. So far I have found a text from 1672 using Ngram that says:

  Could Mistriss Mopsa her self have furnished you with a more pleasant and worshipful Tale? It wants nothing of perfection, but that it doth not begin with Once upon a time?

So by the 17th century it already was a traditional expression for beginning tales. But I would like to know how far does that tradition go. What are the first English texts that reflect the use of "once upon a time" to start a tale? When were those texts written? Are there any older versions of the idiom that could be the origin of this one?


texts: Have...Reported + A Clause? Can't Understand The Structure?

texts:
today I came across a sentence:

Financial statements often have amounts reported that are a summation of several ledger accounts.

I've scratched my head for a while but still cannot figure out the structure with 100% certainty, is the trailing clause "that are a summation..." here used to describe "amounts"? But in my experience, the noun and its paired clause are usually put together side by side. In this scenario, there is another word (amounts) here, so I'm a little confused here.

Thanks in advanced.


texts:
There are several distinct ways to differentiate men and women — chromosomal analysis, self identification, and visual inspection — we review each predication below…

Here predication is referring to one of: chromosomal analysis, self identification or visual inspection. The idea is that chromosomal analysis provides a predicate ("men have XY; women have XX") which is used to distinguish the sexes.

Am I using the word correctly here?

Other options might include:

Distinguisher — I made that up
Distinguishment — also made up
Differentiator — I'd like to use word variety if possible and not reuse this word in the sentence
Discriminator — perhaps only engineers use this word, also unfortunately "discriminate" has negative baggage which is not wanted here
Standard — this is unnecessarily generic, a discriminator is more specific than a standard

In engineering and programming contexts it is common that you need to choose a word to describe each of a group of things. And then you use that word to represent those things. This is context in which I'm asking. -- For example "pick a number between 1 and 10 and then multiply that number by five". And programmers will say $pickedNumber * 5. -- This is why I'm seeking a specific word choice rather than a way to reword the sentence to avoid choosing this word.


texts: When to use "nowhere" and when "not anywhere"

texts:
What is the difference between "nowhere" and "not anywhere"; both means the same thing, I guess. Is one of them more polite or more formal?

What is the defining factor to decide which one to use?


texts:
This answer to the question Camouflage is to sight as ____ is to sound? includes the sentence:

"I obfuscated our conversation with loud music to avoid recording."

The linked definition says:

  The action of making something obscure, unclear, or unintelligible.
  ‘when confronted with sharp questions they resort to obfuscation’
  [count noun] ‘ministers put up mealy-mouthed denials and obfuscations’

  Origin: Late Middle English: from late Latin obfuscatio(n-), from obfuscare ‘to darken or obscure’ (see obfuscate).

The most up voted answer there (and the one I like) is mask. When I think of obfuscate, I think of manipulating information to confuse or misdirect someone's interpretation of a situation or a communication, so I was surprised to see this use.

Yes, sound is information in some sense, but the information we extract from the sound of speech is not the same as the initial waveforms and vibrations in the air.

Can one obfuscate a conversation by masking it acoustically? Is this a proper use of obfuscate, or is it a bit of a stretch?


texts: How to pronounce "s" at end of word when next word starts with "s"

texts:
How do we pronounce "s" at the end of the word when the next word also starts with "s"? For example,

  She has some apples: Do we need to add "s" after has and before
  some like "she has s some apples"?

  He is single: Do we need to add "s" after is and before single
  like "he is s single"?


texts: Is "revert the damage" possible? If yes, is it too official?

texts:
Can "revert damage inflicted" be used in a letter to a friend? Would it sound too official? If yes, what phrase would you use instead of the high-lightened one below?

  Not only did he type all kinds of
  nonsense and clicked on "Sent" button
  a few times on that page, he even
  tried browsing some others forums
  where I am a member and "provided some
  input" there too. I did punish him
  when I came back, but punishing him
  didn't revert all the damage inflicted.


texts: Are there cohesive ties between nouns and following relative clauses?

texts:
I am not sure if this is the place for such a question, but if I am wrong, please do not get offended.

I am reading their book and wonder why they didn't include wh- words like relative pronouns or relative adverbs in relative clauses as cohesive elements.I believe there are cohesive ties such as those like "reference" between the nouns and these wh-words initializing the modifying clauses. Although they state that sentence structure itself is a cohesive unit, they did analyze cohesive ties within sentence boundaries, which means my assumption that their exclusion of this part is because these are part of sentence structure does not hold.

I may have missed important information which seems obvious to others or I may have misunderstood their work. I believe if my proposal works they may have long done so. I guess there are reasons for them not doing so. However, I didn't find their explicit grounds for exclusion of this part.

Great thoughts welcome!


texts:
I'm never quite sure if I took a great photo, until I get home and pull it up full screen... and even then, I still have to see how it turns out after processing....
But after all that, when I produce a ringer, its the same feeling as catching a big fish  lol
Somewhat euphoric, two hands in the air, and Ta Da !   lol
—Fishchris on Digital Photography Review Forums

I thought it is like, 'a contestant you bid to a competition (such as an animal (a horse, a bull..etc.) or a robot, an athlete,' or as in here, 'a photo you submit for a competition'.
But, this ↓ definition says it means something like 'an athlete you illegally bid for a competition'... kinda?

An athlete or horse fraudulently substituted for another in a competition or event.
Oxford Dictionaries


texts:
Her energetic activities in the function belied her old age.
He could not belie his identity with all the makeover.

Is the usage of belie correct?


texts: What are the connotations of a "foot-washing baptist"?

texts:
In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, the foot-washing baptists seem to be painted by Miss Maudie to be evil and to have a strict adherence to the "cleanliness of the soul."

When Scout asks Miss Maudie if she is a "foot-washing baptist," Miss Maudie replies with "my shell's not that hard." To me, that means that being a foot-washing baptist has negative connotations, as Miss Maudie does not want to associate herself with such a group. Am I right in inferring that a "foot-washing baptist" is dissimilar from a baptist that practices foot-washing?

What are the connotations of "foot-washing baptists" outside the context of the book?


texts: Word for "personify" when you're talking about an animal

texts:
For example:

"The moose personifies Maine's wilderness."

I know personify isn't correct since it's not ascribing human form to the wilderness, but it does animate it and bring it to life in a way.


texts: What is the verb for shoppers buying from a wholesale?

texts:
Wholesale is defined as the "selling of goods in large quantities to be retailed by others".

What is the verb for buying goods in large quantities?


texts: Can the verb 'desire' be used in formal email?

texts:
Here is the sentence (a request for a client's feedback):

Should you find time and desire, please be so kind to briefly express your point of view and compile relevant text in English or German.

I am supposed to evaluate a translation made by a new employee, the whole construct does not seem right, but I don't want to be too critical... 'Please be so kind' and everything... But it made me wonder about that 'desire' most of all.

Thank you!


texts: What is the difference between 'need' and 'want'

texts:
Helping those who are in need.

What does that mean?  Does that mean to help people with anything they want, i.e. buy them the latest fashion accessories, or does it mean to help them with their basic needs, i.e. food, water, shelter etc?


texts:
Which one is correct and what's the difference?:

I was in a shop yesterday.
I was at a shop yesterday.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Difference between "computation" and "calculation"?

  Speed is calculated/computed as distance per time.
  Speed is a quotient ratio of distance and time.

"Calculated" and "computed" can be used interchangeably, can't they ? In the first and the second sentences, which one is correct?


texts: What is another word for a person who likes to talk too much. I was thinking bigmouth, but bigmouth could mean "somebody who likes carrying messages voluntarily".


texts: Word for someone who is too empathetic (possible antonym of narcissism)

texts:
I am looking for a word describing someone who has an "unhealthy" amount of empathy to the point where it may be detrimental to their well-being.

For example, on the other side of the scale, one may have confidence in a healthy way. Such people may proud of themselves, expressive, independent, and not overly concerned with how people view them. Taken to the extreme, this might become arrogance or narcissism ("unhealthy confidence").

At the other end of the scale, someone might very empathetic and humble. They may care deeply about the feelings of others, able to sacrifice their immediate needs, and not overly concerned with expressing themselves outwardly. Taken to the extreme, they may place others before them so much that they end up hurting themselves or fail to advocate for themselves. Is there a word for this kind of "unhealthy empathy"?

(Note that confidence and humility are not necessarily mutually exclusive... I think what complicated this question is that I am mixing too many related, but not the same, ideas together).


texts: Is "Perl Monger" derogatory when used by non Perl programmers?

texts:
The two most common uses of the word "monger" I've heard of are rather derogatory: whore-monger and warmonger. Wiktionary reflects this in its second definition:

  A person promoting something undesirable, always used in combination

  warmonger, sleazemonger

When used by someone who isn't a Perl programmer themselves, is "Perl Monger" derogatory?


texts: Is it "a honor" or "an honor"? is h silent in this word in American English?

texts:
I read a tweet of President Obama:

  An honor to address the Coast Guard class of 2015. Confident they'll help us meet big challenges like climate change.

Is h  a silent letter in this word in American English?


texts: "Almost until 1900" or "until almost 1900": which one is correct?

texts: Although various eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American poets had professed an interest in Native American poetry and had pretended to imitate Native American forms in their own works, it was not until almost 1900 that scholars and critics seriously began studying traditional Native American poetry in native languages.


texts:
Suppose a person has been accused of doing something wrong and a cunning policeman is questioning him. Suppose the police is asking questions in such a way that it is very likely that the accused person is likely to be found out if he, in fact, had done something wrong.

What can we say about the type of questions the policeman is asking. I am looking for an adjective like "trappy", if there were such a thing, meaning "full of traps". Are there any words like this?

EDIT- I would like to point out that please don't take my example as if the word could be used with Police procedure only. That was mere an example to let you understand the scenario. The word may describe conversation by anybody. Even one of my friends can also ask such questions of me if he/she has some doubts about me.


texts:
Which one is more grammatically correct?
In my opinion, "outwardly beauty" sounds better but I wanted to be sure it's grammatically correct.
If neither is correct, what is alternative? I considered "external appearance" but that doesn't sound as nice to me


texts: What does "I have been out late the night before" mean?

texts:
What does

I have been out late the night before

mean?
Does it mean that I come back home late?


texts: Is there an adjectival form of "recipe"?

texts:
Is it possible to use "recipe" as an adjective as in the following sentence:

  These are some reciptial suggestions for you.
  (These set of suggestions are like a recipe to your problems.)

What other word can I use if the example above is erroneous?


texts: Happening of something that is beyond of one's expectation

texts: Is there an idiom or phrase or word associated with something good that is beyond of one's expectation and happens to him or her?


texts: "By" vs "Per". Which one should I use on expressions like "P&L/Geography" or "VaR/Asset"?

texts:
In the finance field, it is quite common to express some measures in relation to some grouping criteria. Some groupings can be temporal (year, month, etc.) and others like greography, asset class (e.g. a financial product), strategy (used in trading), and others.

Which one is the most appropriate preposition to apply in this kind of expression ?

"VaR per asset" or "VaR by asset"
"P&L per strategy" or "P&L by strategy".

Is there any well defined rule behind the most appropriate use ?


texts: Does the word “midget” have any negative connotations? What would be a non-offensive term today?

texts:
Midget is a word that is usually not said because it is offensive to the "Little People". In no way am I trying to offend anyone. But my question is, is it official that the word midget has negative connotation? Or does it still have some neutral connotation, even though some people get offended by it.

Another question of mine is, what would be a non-offensive term to call them?


texts: Phrases using the Arabic particle "al" as a separate word apart from "Al Qaeda" and "Al Jazeera"

texts:
Many words incorporated into English a long time ago have the Arabic particle "al" incorporated into them. For example, "algebra" and "alcohol".

But does English have commonly used phrases with the Arabic particle "al" as a separate word apart from "Al Qaeda" and "Al Jazeera"? I can think of "El Alamein" (why is it "El"?) and Al-Shabaab, but nothing else.

I tried looking for Wiktionary's entry on "al" to see if there's a list of compounds formed from it, but the only info it had was under the non-Latin version ال and therefore doesn't have a list of English phrases using it.


texts:
Please help me and tell if the sentence in the title is grammatically correct. When is it possible to use it ?
Peace.


texts:
I am always unsure about the position of "only" in the sentence. For example:

  This ticket only costs 5 dollars.
  This ticket costs only 5 dollars.

Are there any difference? Which one is better?


texts: "whence" means "from where" or "from which". Does English have an analogous meaning "to where?"


texts: Does this comma make the sentence mean something different?

texts:
Answer the multiple choice questions and fill in the blanks, if known.

Do the words after the comma only refer to the words immediately preceding it? Meaning-- Answer ALL of the questions but only fill in the blanks if you know it.
Without the comma, does it mean you only have to answer the questions and fill in the blanks if you know them?


texts:
What in God's name have we done?

It seems 'in God's name' = 'on earth'.


texts: Is it "Seeking a bigger challenge" or "Seeking for a bigger challenge"?

texts:
Sometimes in a job application form, it asks you for the reason of leaving the previous company, and if the reason is to look for a bigger challenge, would it be

Seeking a bigger challenge
Seeking for a bigger challenge
Searching for a bigger challenge

The phrase "Seeking for a bigger challenge" sounds more right and more comfortable to the ears, but maybe seek shouldn't usually be used with a preposition?  Google search showed about 11,000 results for "Seeking a bigger challenge" (with the quotes), vs 3,600 results for "Seeking for a bigger challenge" so the first one seems to be more correct according to collective intelligence.  Is it more correct to use "Seeking a bigger challenge"?


texts:
A man was wearing two collars, but the top collar! Phew! It had kept on slipping off the back stud.

There are a million meanings of studs reaching from sexually attractive man to a covering. But what's its meaning here. I think stud here refers to the back collar. Isn't it?


texts: Best short way(s) to say "hour starting from [some moment in time]"

texts:
I'm working on a software application where the user can add tabs showing items of the last xxx (last day, last hour, last 4 hours, last week, etc.).

These tabs do not update (we have other tabs that do), so it isn't sliding window: If the user adds at 9:00 a tab 'Last hour', it will always display the items from 8:00 to 9:00.

Now I'm looking for a good way to name these tabs. English isn't my native language so I'm thinking I may be missing some possibilities.

Requirements:

It can't be too long.
It must be clear to the user very fast what type of tab it is. For example just showing the timerange (for example "01/15/2017 8:56 - 01/15/2017 9:56" is too difficult to quickly see this is an hour. Especially if the user has for example 15 tabs open).

What I thought of already (but not even sure if they are correct English):

"Hour starting from 01/15/2017 8:58", but this is a bit too long
"Last hour since 01/15/2017 9:58"

Which one is more clear/correct? Any other ideas?

Also: what about custom time ranges? If the user for example selects 2 hours, 57 minutes and 31 seconds. How can we name the tab user friendly?

Edit:
I'm going for "xxxx up till yyy", for example: "5 hours up till 14:43". If possible I'll round the timespans and make it: "About 5 hours up till 14:43".


texts:
When would I use one over the other?
Found this comparison, which did not clarify it for me:
https://wikidiff.com/palpable/tangible


texts:
I red somewhere that "see" doesn't form present participle. Is it true? For exemple in sentence:

I'm seeing my doctor today.

We use -ing form. Can we call it present participle in sentence or should we call it differently?


texts:
How does this proof that the halting problem is undecidable work?

I am essentially asking how something works; in this case "this proof that the halting problem is undecidable."

BONUS: Is the following sentence, which is how someone "corrected" me, grammatically correct?

  How does this prove that the halting problem is undecidable work?


texts: What does dialogue from "Prison Break" "as in not in code" mean?

texts:
At the beginning of Prison Break Season 5 Episode 2, Lincoln was holding a paper swan supposedly from his brother,and the man with a kufi said:

  Back in the day, he never talked to you straight, as in not in code?

What does "as in not in code" mean?


texts:
When do we use 'governmental' vs 'gubernatorial?'

I was writing:

  How did this lead to new legislation and *** policies?

When I noticed that although 'governmental' sounded more fitting, 'gubernatorial' is another similar adjective that is perhaps more correct.

A related question on etymology is here.

Any thoughts?


texts: Words for: Utter absurdity competitively proclaimed as obvious truth

texts:
I'm looking for words to describe an utter absurdity competitively proclaimed as an obvious truth.

Something Orwell "1984"-ish (like "We have always been at war with Eurasia", but that's too long), or with a Gilliam "Brazil" ring, or, preferably, something from dystopian Soviet times, something more powerful than "The Emperor's New Clothes."

But "The Emperor's New Clothes" may be useful to describe what I mean.

Imagine that in the society of the naked Emperor, people compete with each other to show their loyalty to the Emperor, and thereby become successful in that society, by expounding on the absurdity, professing their deep commitment to the absurdity, such as proclaiming how wonderful the Emperor's tunic is, how exquisite the woven material, how it must have been carefully woven by the most talented artisans, etc.

"Orwellian" is too broad.

"Doublethink" doesn't seem to fit.

"Pravda-esque." I like the Soviet angle, but still seems a bit off.


texts: How to say one observation sparked the remembrance of a concept

texts: When I looked at two of my friends fighting, it made me remember of a scene in a book I read. Is there any word to say "remember" but in the sense that you time traveled to a particular experience or story that was originally sparked off by an observation you had in the present.


texts: How to refer to a collection of paintings by a particular artist?

texts:
For example, suppose that in an art museum a tour guide wants to refer to a room that displays paintings from Pablo Picasso, so he says,

"This room has the Picasso's."

Would this be correct? Or should it be,

"This room has the Picassos."


texts:
When naming multiple things in the form in a list is it singular or plural?

i.e.

  The charts can be found in Appendix A, B, and C.

or

  The charts can be found in Appendices A, B, and C.


texts: Should foreign words used in English be inflected for gender, number, and case according to the conventions of their source language?

texts:
Is there a general rule for whether, for, example, foreign nouns and adjectives used in English should be inflected for gender, number, and case as they would be if the entire text were written in the source language? If not, what form should the foreign words take? Might the rules be different for gender, number—i.e., plurals—and case?

Should the English surrounding the foreign word be made to correspond with the foreign gender, number, and case?

Examples:

The data tells us that the earth is getting warmer.
I hadn't realized that my bananas would be flambé.
I have no desire to read another poshloe book by a novyĭ russkiĭ.
I, too, said na'aseh v'nishma at Sinai.
I asked a khosheve rabbi this question.

Related:

Re: Names
Plurals of foreign words—only addresses the question of number and does not give a categorical answer
Preceding article in foreign words
Should I follow English conventions, or write what sounds better?
Use of plural pronoun to avoid mentioning of gender
Anglicized plural and zero plural
Which style of Latin plurals should I use?
Pluralisation of Latin Words
https://english.stackexchange.com/a/38113/98198


texts:
I wonder if no one has asked it simply because it is so obvious, but I really can't grasp the exact meaning of there you have it (again). I occasionally infer it from the context but not every single time.
Here are some examples:

1 There you have it again: a baseless assumption that some undefined external “force” has a mind of its own, and the faint but menacing suggestion that anyone who disagrees is in some fashion opposed to the holy or paternal will.
2 There you have it again. He’s realising again how deeply he cares about her and he doesn’t know what to do with these feelings. He’s lost her twice and he fears to lose her again that’s why he’s afraid to acknowledge that he does feel something for her.
3 There you have it again – the same company, the same city and a very similar incidence.
4 If you missed the news, there you have it again.

Oxford Learner's Dictionaries state that:
So, there you have it means that's how it all started.
Can I assume that the above phrase (without again) applies to all the examples I've given?
Thank you.