texts: What do you call the noise(s) that block you from hearing?

texts:
I am looking for a particular word to describe absurd noises which block your hearing.

Not so long ago, I was talking to a friend of mine in a public place and we were unable to hear each other well, due to the surrounding voices and noises.

Is there a word that fits this description?


texts: Has the use of these prepositions evolved?

texts:
I have been working with an extract from an 1861 newspaper (in Queensland, now part of Australia) concerning an act of mass insubordination by seamen.

The text reads

  The whole of the men, I am told, belonged to the same "watch", and they adopted this manoeuvre in order to get three months imprisonment, and so free themselves from the ship, the men having a particular dislike to the mate appointed over them.

I am intrigued by the construction "having a ... dislike to...". In modern writing, I would expect "taking a dislike to" or "having a dislike for".

Was the forming having ..to once common, and when did it change?


texts:
We have a service that essentially dropships products for merchants, but most of them don't know what that means.

We've found better results with the phrase "ready-to-ship products", yet this too feels lacking.

Is there a better plain-language synonym or phrase for "ready-to-ship"?


texts: How to ask a knowledge question without causing offence?

texts:
By "knowledge question", I mean any sort of question intended to check whether the listener already knows the answer or not. For example:

Are you familiar with how an operating system works?
Do you know how to vote?

Unfortunately, in certain contexts, these sorts of questions can cause offence because those being asked either

A: Don't know the subject but feel it is common knowledge and so they should know about it

B: Do know the subject and feel they are being patronized

This creates a problem because it is often difficult to tell which way a person is going to go in taking offence, especially if you don't know them very well. Therefore, I can't simply modify the question to "Of course you are familiar with how an operating system works, right?" as this will comfort B but offend A. Similarly, skipping the question entirely will comfort A but offend B.

I work in technical support and usually deal with this situation beginning any conversation with a short script explaining that I try not to assume any knowledge on the part of those I am talking to and that they should ask me to skip stuff if I am going too slowly. I think this is quite clumsy, however, and not always appropriate in less formal situations so I am wondering if there is a way to ask this kind of question more neutrally.


texts: "who" or "whom" as a relative pronoun - not always so easy

texts:
I take it for granted we all know when to use the relative pronouns "who" and "whom".  And we also know that since the early nineteenth century there has been a steady decline in the use of "whom" especially in speech, and people tend to use "who" most of the times. Let's assume, however, that someone is writing a formal letter and that he prefers to use "whom" whenever possible.  He got stuck on these two sentences:

  They chose the candidate who they thought would have the best initiative.
  They chose the candidate whom they thought would have the best initiative.

If "whom" is the right relative, he will have no problem using "who" because it's also acceptable.  But if the right relative is "who", then it would be a mistake to use whom. My question is: "In the above sentence, is the relative pronoun the object of "thought" or is it the subject of "would have".

PS I'm aware that some scholars advise against asking questions about "whom" because "who" is the relative pronoun most people use. But I understand it is not obsolete and is still used by a few people, in formal speech, in documents, etc, especially in the UK.


texts:
I am not a native speaker.

I am writing a technical report and I should numerate/enumerate several equations in the entire document. Thus, is there any difference in using Numerate or Enumerate as verb?

Example: We enumerated (or numerated) several equations in the manuscript.


texts: What is a polite way to decline an invitation to hang out with someone?

texts:
If someone asks me to do something with them and I don't want to do that activity, how can I tell them "I don't want to hang out with you tonight" and not hurt their feelings?

Normally I say something like, "Not really". I once had a friend say "We are not interested" when we asked them to go to a baseball game. To me that seemed really abrupt and somewhat rude.

What is the best way to say "I don't want to go"?


texts: "On the underground" vs "in the underground"

texts:
Which is correct?

  I travel on the underground/subway to work.

  I travel in the underground/subway to work.

I'd choose the first option as we say on a bus/tram/street car.


texts: Whats a word for a person who pretends to be a administrator?

texts:
For example,

  person 1 is in a forms website and breaks the rules.
  Person 2 who is not a administrator tries to imposternate being one by informing the rules.


texts: What is the answer to the question "Who came yesterday?" — "I" or "Me"?

texts:
Duplicate of:
  Who wants ice-cream?

What is the answer to the question:

  Who came yesterday?

Is it "I" or "Me"?


texts: Is it redundant to say "percentage of one hundred"?

texts:
I have seen the word "percentage" defined as "a number or rate that is expressed as a certain number of parts of something divided into 100 parts".  It seems to follow that 50% means "50 parts of something which is divided into 100 parts".  Does the word percentage implies that the whole is 100?  Am I being redundant if I use the phrase "percentage of one hundred"?

Context: I am trying to state explicitly that a number provided to my software should be in the form of "50" for 50%, not "0.50" (which, to be consistent, I would refer to as a percentage of one).  My usage is as follows:

  Provide the minimum discount given to this customer as a percentage of one hundred (15 for 15%).


texts: What does Pope Francis “called out him (Pope Emeritus Benedict) on it” mean?

texts:
There was the following sentence in the article titled “Pope Francis tells Pope Benedict to stop rolling his eyes in meetings” in May 2nd New Yorker magazine - http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/05/pope-francis-tells-pope-benedict-to-stop-rolling-his-eyes-in-meetings.html

  Pope Emeritus Benedict’s return to the Vatican began on a sour note
  today as the current Pope, Francis, reprimanded him for rolling his
  eyes sarcastically during meetings, observers said.

  The trouble started when the former Pope showed up at a meeting that
  “Benedict wasn’t even invited to,” a Vatican source said. After about
  ten minutes of suffering through Benedict’s sighing and eye-rolling,
  Francis “totally called him out on it,” the source said, adding, “What
  Benedict was doing was totally disrespectful. Plus, he is supposed to
  be retired, so he shouldn’t have been wearing his Pope costume.”

Though Oxford English Dictionary defines “call someone out” as

summon someone to deal with an emergency or to do repairs
order or advise workers to strike.
(archaic) challenge someone to a duel,

none of the above definitions seems to fit to “Francis ‘totally called him out on it.’”
There is no entry of the idiom, “call someone out” in either Cambridge or Merriam Webster English Dictionary.

It looks like the phrase, “Pope Francis “totally called him out on it” to mean he was totally upset with Benedict’s presence accompanied with exaggerated gestures during the meeting, but I’m not sure. What does this sentence and idiom,'call sb out on stg' mean?


texts: Shorter way to say: "regardless of whether it would..."

texts:
Is there a shorter way to say that phrase. As in a sentence like:

  Regardless of whether it would happen or not, all she wanted now was
  to go back to her apartment.


texts:
If we say something has advantages over something else, should we write ":" before the reasons or not?

For example,

  A has advantages over B: The value of A is more than B and…

or

  A has advantages over B. The value of A is more than B and…


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "I'm done with my apple pie" to indicate that you are finished eating it. I don't want to necessarily imply that I didn't like it.


texts:
In our application, when one deletes a room, a notification message pops up. It says "Your room has been deleted successfully". I have been taught that adverbs are often supposed to precede the verb, as in "Your room has been successfully deleted". However the original version with the adverb at the end does sound somehow appropriate to me, although I can't tell why.

Your room has been deleted successfully.

Your room has been successfully deleted.

Which version is preferable? Are they both grammatical?


texts:
My friend and I heard someone on the phone say the phrase 'mailbox money'.

The sentence was 'mailbox money is always nice'

My friend told me that 'mailbox money' means money/checks that you keep getting in the mailbox (not necessarily in the mailbox, but usually), by doing only one thing once. For example, if you developed an app, you would work on it once, but keep getting money/checks for it. Same goes for developing a website and putting some ads on it. (I understand that websites need maintenance, and apps need to be updated, but the general idea is that you do something once and you keep getting money/checks for it.)

When I Googled it I could not find a really good website/reference for any legit definition for that phrase. I read on this website that it means money that you're not expecting.

Any enlightenment?


texts: What's the word that combines inclusion/exclusion?

texts:
Like visibility combines show/hidden, what's the word that combines inclusion/exclusion?

EDIT:
The problem is inspired by the VIM reference manual:

  A character motion is either inclusive or exclusive.  When inclusive, the
      start and end position of the motion are included in the operation.  When
      exclusive, the last character towards the end of the buffer is not included.
      Linewise motions always include the start and end position.

I want to know what's the right word to use for describing the inclusive/exclusive property of a character motion, which I thought is like visibility to show/hidden.

As RegDwight said, I am looking for the hypernym for inclusion/exclusion for this content/condition. Sorry for my poor and misleading English.


texts: Does this ‘twice’ mean two times, or double in quantity?

texts:
She caught sight of Mr. Diggory’s feet, and slowly, tremulously, raised her eyes to stare up into his face; then, more slowly still, she looked up into the sky. Harry could see the floating skull reflected twice in her enormous, glassy eyes.
  (p134, Harry Potter 4, US edition)

NB – The floating skull is an ill omen, which a gangster launched into the sky by using magic, to show that his group is going to do bad things.
The sign is illuminating the entire wood like some grisly neon sign.
‘She’ is an innocent passerby with big eyes. Mr. Diggory is a kind of policeman who thinks she is the gangster.

I’d like to know what the ‘twice’ means.

When I ran into the sentence, I thought she blinked and the sign reflected two times in her eyes, though there’s no ‘blink’ like expression around the sentence.
Then, another idea occurred to me that the sign reflected in her two eyes, one by one.

Would you give me the right meaning of the ‘twice’?


texts: “Have been occupied” VS. “have been being occupied”

texts:
I have a question about the present perfect. Here's a sample dialogue.

Mary: Hey, John...Are you listening? Hello??
John: Oh hey Mary...I've been occupied with this dreadful thought.
Mary: What might that be?
John: I don't even have the courage to talk about it....

In the dialogue, John says,

"I've been occupied with this dreadful thought."

Am I right in saying that this implies this dreadful thought has been occupying his mind?
I've seen this sentence too.

"I am tired now since I've been running for hours."

Here the effect of the present perfect is the same but it's present perfect continuous.
So, in the above example,"I've been occupied..." should it be

I've been being occupied with this dreadful thought

or are they both the same, but it's that the former is more common?


texts: Is there an idiomatic expression in English for a baby urinating?

texts:
I'm translating a children's story from Russian into English, and there is a phrase that I'm having trouble translating into a way that sounds natural in English.
A baby boy urinates unexpectedly and in large quantity. I have translated the phrase literally from Russian into "let up a fountain", but it sounds odd to my ear.

Однажды утром папа и мама распеленали младенца, положили на спинку и уже собирались в очередной раз с ним поагукать, но тут малыш вдруг, сам для себя неожиданно, как пустит вверх фонтанчик. Обоих родителей облил.
One morning the mother and father unwrapped their youngster, put him on his back and were about to coo at him once again, but the baby suddenly, and unexpectedly even to himself, let up a fountain. Both parents were drenched.

Can you think of a more natural way to phrase this?


texts: How does the word "cardinal" relate to "cardinal numbers"

texts:
Cardinal number
In linguistics, more precisely in traditional grammar, a cardinal number or cardinal numeral (or just cardinal) is a part of speech used to count, such as the English words one, two, three, but also compounds like three hundred and forty-two

cardinal (adj.)
"chief, pivotal," early 14c., from Latin cardinalis "principal, chief, essential," from cardo (genitive cardinis) "that on which something turns or depends; pole of the sky," originally "door hinge," of unknown origin.

What's the relation between the two?


texts:
We have learned the rules concerning sequence of tenses in Reported Speech. I have one question.
Is the one and only possibility according English Grammar to say or to write: She told me that he loved me. Even if I am just now reproducing the sentence which was told before one hour and I want to express the fact that she loves me constantly. Is the sentence  She told me that he loves me? in every occasion wrong?


texts: already , southern pronunciation ≈ [ʰɑɾi] "oddy"

texts:
Cut to the chase pals

Could anybody confirm the southern pronunciation of "already" as something like oddy ? if so, What's its phonetic transcription? is there any eye spelling for it? I've noticed Jessica Simpson in this video pronouncing something like "haddy or haddie", kind of [ʰɑɾi], adding even a bit of aspiration.

Thanks in advance!


texts: The order of noun-modification patterns in IT

texts:
For example:

The field Media/Media field contains all necessary information about the content.
The Address section/section Address is located in the lower section of the window.

Does the right variant work both for short and long titles? E.g. "Enter the value into the Default Type of Start field", or "into the field Default Type of Start".


texts:
This question asks about the positive or negative connotations of the word erstwhile.

Erstwhile means former by dictionary definition and as discussed and mentioned on this English Language & Usage site, and here and there on the wider internet. It's also considered archaic.

I'd like to know:

does (or did) erstwhile consistently carry any positive or negative connotation, or was it a clinically neutral term?

For example, does one remember an erstwhile friend more fondly than a former friend; or would one more readily embrace an erstwhile enemy than a former enemy?

What I've found so far: the ODO and MW dictionary and etymology entries are clinical, the ELU references similarly deal with denotation rather than connotation, the first web reference cited above deals with a connotation arising from an erroneous presupposition, and the second claims without proof that erstwhile references both beginning and end.


texts:
Is it a comma splice if followed by an incomplete sentence staring with an 'ing' word? I don't know exactly how to explain this properly or clearly, so I'll put up a few examples. I have seen it a lot in online writing, but that doesn't make it right. Would the following be considered incorrect:

  Jenny replied, forcing her eyes away from his.

  Michael put on his skates, slipping his feet in carefully.

  I held the cone above my mouth, licking up the dripping cream.

  We hurried home, jumping into the car without looking back.

Sometimes I don't want to make two sentences or use 'and, so, then, etc'. What should I do in that case?


texts: Syntax of "two-letter word," "five-mile run," "three-hour play"?

texts:
Araucaria's answer to the following ELL question ("Why is “letter” not plural in “two letter words”?") brought up an interesting issue that I am still unsure about. What is the internal syntactic structure of modifiers like "two-letter" (in "two-letter word") or "five-mile" (in "five-mile run")?

Araucaria left a comment saying

  H&P call them compound adjective constructions

While BillJ thought

  I think "three-letter" is a noun-centred compound noun (det+noun) as attributive modifier of "word" in your example. I know dictionaries are unreliable, but they all give "four-letter" as a single noun in "four-letter word". The fact that it is hyphenated is an indication that "four-letter" is single lexeme, not a syntactic construction of modifier + noun (see CGEL p1644) [...]  If the main component of a compound word is a noun, then the word can only be a noun. There is nothing adjectival about "three-letter" in "three-letter word". "Three-letter" is a noun-centred compound noun modifying "word".

I am not convinced hyphenation practices are relevant, since not everyone uses hyphenation in these circumstances anyway. Also, entire sentences or prepositional phrases can be hyphenated when they are used as preposed attributives, but I don't think that this means that they change their part-of-speech to become adjectives.

At least, it seems to me that Benjamin Bruening says these are syntactic compounds in The Lexicalist Hypothesis: Both Wrong and Superfluous, giving the following examples:

  (1) a. I gave her a don’t-you-dare! look.
  b. She baked her fiance a sweet I-love-you cake.

(I also found some other papers mentioning "phrasal compounds" like this; here are the download links: https://is.cuni.cz/webapps/zzp/download/130072761/?lang=en, ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/000599/current.pdf)

So, what evidence is there about the syntax of this construction? Should "two-letter" etc. be analyzed as compound nouns, compounds that are adjectives, noun phrases, or what?


texts: Why is Geography is sometimes pejoratively referred to "Advanced Colouring In" as a subject? I have seen people use it as a joke but I don't understand what the joke is about.


texts:
What is the meaning of down to the?

E.g. in this statement:

  In order to use this feature, the statements must be exactly the same
  - down to the number of spaces, tabs, capital/small letters.

My understanding of the above statement is that the statement must be exactly the same, including the number of spaces, tabs, capital/small letters.

Am I correct? If not please correct me.


texts: What's an adjective that describes Ophelia or someone who gives in to fate?

texts: In the Shakespearean play, Hamlet, Ophelia is found drowned in a body of water. I believe she saw all of her opportunities in front of her but as the people around her (i.e. Polonius, Claudius, Hamlet) made choices she saw each outcome of her life disappear until her only fate was to take her own life.


texts: What connotation do these words describing "someone who straightforwardly expresses their" opinion have?

texts:
The adjective ones I have heard recently are

forward
straightforward
forthcoming
frank

I was wondering if each of them has positive, negative or neutral meaning?

What are other similar terms that are used for positive, neutral and negative intention?


texts:
Is it ok to use "is it" to emphasize?
Like in the sentence:
"A meal like that may be pricey, but boy, is it delectable."

Many thanks!


texts:
If a person is in love with someone, can I say that she has got a smile in love?
I need it in a sentence where smile (or a synonymous) is the subject and "in love" (or a synonymous) is the attribute.

EDIT: or "loving smile" perhaps? Here loving means "of a person in love" or just "cute"?

MORE EDIT: this is a sentence I wrote in italian, that I'm trying to render in english: "ci si può annoiare di tutto, tranne che di un sorriso innamorato". Google Translator says: "you can get bored of everything but a smile in love". Innamorato usually requires a person, as in "woman in love". In this case it stands for "... but a smile of someone in love".

As "sorriso innamorato" is more poetic than "sorriso di qualcuno innamorato", I ask if there is a similar shorter form in english


texts:
My brother and I are having a discussion, whether it is grammatically correct (or any native speaker would ever say a sentence):

  Tomorrow, I will buy it.

I think it is not correct, it strikes me as very weird order of words, but he says it's unusual but correct and that native speakers would have no problem constructing sentence like this. Who is right, and why?


texts: What do you call a person who loses interest after achieving something?

texts:
I know about the term butterfly, but I am looking for something a little different.

What do you call a person that is greatly motivated to achieve a goal, but loses interest the second after that goal is achieved?

The difference to the butterfly example metioned above would be the provided achievement of said person.

It would also be great if anyone could mention a literary reference to such a character.


texts:
What's the difference between "came across" and "comes across" when used in the following sentence? Are both correct?

Steve Irwin tells the story of a boy who was walking through a swamp when he [came | comes] across a crocodile. The boy was trying to get home, but the crocodile started following him ...


texts: What does the phrase "praise from Caesar" mean and where does it come from?


texts: Is present perfect necessarily definitive action in past

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?

If I say "I have worked in a supermarket." does it mean that all the work is in the past and that now, I definitely do not work in a supermarket?


texts: Is there a non-gendered term for "gentlemanly"

texts:
Opening doors, offering to pay the tab, helping with a coat or a light of the smoke: we may describe these acts of a man to be gentlemanly.

In a word, how may we describe these acts of any person?


texts:
This is the sentence I would like to review:

  The reason for that is easy of programmability for emerging platform.

Sounds wrong to me since I believe "a Noun" of "another Noun" is more grammatically correct. Thus, it should be:

  The reason for that is the easiness of programmability for emerging platform.

Which one is correct, if either?


texts: Is there any adjective for describing a person who prefers his/her friends to his/her family?

texts: I'm looking for an adjective /idiom /expression /phrase with a negative connotation, for describing someone who spends their time mostly with their friends, and prefer their friends to their own family, even though they are married.


texts:
I recently posted a picture on my facebook showing an image of a wallet with a married couple photograph in it. The image itself already had a funny caption. I added my own caption for the picture just like the following :

"The important function of putting wife's photographs in the wallets"

Before the words "important", should I use "an" or "the",
Before the words "wallets", should I use "the" or no articles?


texts: I found a reference to ‘naysmith’ in a work of science fiction. Is anybody familiar with the term?

texts:
I could not find any references to ‘naysmith’ as an actual historical term.  Following is an excerpt from the book ‘Horus Rising.”

‘Then it occurs to me, Garviel, that only a weapon which questions its use could be of any value in that role. To be a member of the Mournival, you need to have concerns. You need to have wit, and most certainly you need to have doubts. Do you know what a naysmith is?’
‘No.’
‘In early Terran history, during the dominance of the Sumaturan dynasts, naysmiths were employed by the ruling classes. Their job was to disagree. To question everything. To consider any argument or policy and find fault with it, or articulate the counter position. They were highly valued.’

- Horus Rising, pg. 68


texts: Verb inversion with possessive pronoun + interrogative

texts:
Is it yours?

vs

  It is yours?

Can #2 ever be appropriate? Does it exist to facilitate placing emphasis on the personal pronoun?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  User’s Guide vs Users’ Guide
  should a list of tokens be called a “token list” or a “tokens list”

I know we can use list of employees, but I'd like to know which is preferred or more correct: employee list or employees list?


texts:
Heyho!

I've been discussing the following sentence with my girlfriend for days. For me (the author :)) it is understandable. She thinks that the point is hard to get and the sentence could be better constructed. Neither she nor I am native speakers. What do you think?

  Therefore, structuring and planning technically complex products
  together with engineers have always been successful and productive.

Thanks in advance!
Florian


texts: Using "isn't" in place of "is" to imply how thorough I will be

texts:
I'm using a phrase like "We will see if there isn’t a way we can help you with that problem" and I've done this many times before. The (perhaps incorrectly) implied meaning is that I'll exhaust all possible ways that I can help, and not that I'm actively looking for ways to NOT help.

Does this make sense? I've been doing this for years, and presumably I picked this up somewhere, but after a thorough Googling I can't find any reference to it.


texts: What is the independent and standalone meaning and origin of phrase "veiled grab"?

texts:
Reading thro' linked articles in Wikipedia, I have found a phrase, the definitive meaning or synonym of which, I haven't found, searching thro' online dictionaries.

Though I am mentioning the example of one such sentence here, where the phrase has been used, I don't want just the implied/in-context meaning, but a complete, self-contained meaning and origin+development of the phrase, as I have asked in question.

Wikipedia HeForShe:
"Some critics also believe that the campaign sidelines or discriminates against men (some detractors have interpreted "HeForShe" to be a veiled grab for female superiority at men's expense disguised as a push for gender equality)."


texts: Origin of the phrases “third time’s the charm” and “third time lucky”?

texts:
What would the origin of the saying “Third time’s the charm”?

I’ve also heard “third time lucky” used as well. Are these two expressions related to each other?


texts: Meaning of *light of the view* in "The question makes light of the view presented..."

texts:
What does the phrase "light of the view mean"?
Context:

  The question makes light of the view presented in the first paragraph.


texts: What's the difference between unapproachable and inapproachable?

texts: Could anyone explain why does it have two versions, because as far as I know, there are some rules of formation of antonyms. Isn't there should be only one proper prefix? Or both are possible? Thank you in adavance.


texts: Are Subjects Joined by And Singular or Plural?

texts: Fresh air and peace of mind are on the cards. are we supposed to use "is" here or "are". could anyone tell me about the usage, please?


texts: What does "You have successfully split a hair that did not need to be split" mean?

texts:
What is the meaning of the following sentence?

  You have successfully split a hair that did not need to be split.

Source: this post on the Programmers Stack Exchange.


texts: What is a word to describe one's force of personality

texts:
I'm looking for a general term to describe an innate ability to compel others to obey.

This effect might take the form of seduction, charm, intimidation, inspiration, etc. I do not mean a measure of how likable someone is; only how effective they are at convincing others to comply with their agenda.

The closest term I can think of is 'presence', but I was hoping for something a bit more exact.

Context

I'm writing a roleplaying game in which the player has your classic attribute map:

Strength
Agility
Intellect
(subject of this question)
Vitality
...


texts: Is "ask questions without hesitance" a correct phrase?

texts:
more specifically, I was corrected when using "...without hesitance" and was asked to change it to "... without hesitation". Now I am confused. Was I wrong to say "ask questions without hesitance"?

To be even more exact. It was mentioned as a suggestion or a goal. For example:

Goals for Tom: Ask questions without hesitance

Which I was made to change to:

Goals for Tom: Ask questions without hesitation

After searching the internet a little bit, I think that they are synonyms so they should be interchangeable right? Or atleast interchangeable in that context? Basically what I want to know is was what I wrote downright wrong or in any need of correction?

Thank you


texts:
In one of my lectures after learning about several processes of connected speech (namely assimilation, elision and linking) we were faced with a transcription exercise with which I have slight problem concerning the use of linking /r/ and elision in RP.
The affected letters were colour-marked in the example sentence, I will write the letters affected by elision in italic and the linked ones bold (as marked out by my professor).

John bought ten packs of star alliance stickers for her and him.

I understood when to link and when to elide (at least I hope so), that's why I asked myself whether the /r/ in 'for' in the sentence part 'for her' is a linking /r/ and therefore pronounced and my professor just forgot to colour-code that letter.


texts: Would it be correct to say, "I'm walking by my own"?

texts: I'm writing a song and the line "I'm walking by my own" fits better than "I'm walking all alone". Would it be correct to write it like that or that doesn't exist? Thanks to everybody.


texts:
I have 3 questions regarding she/her and my logic is posted below:

Only one of the contestants was chosen, she/her.

I think the answer is "she" and here's my logic:
This sentence is written in the passive voice so the subject no longer "does" an action or "is" something, but rather is acted upon. "One" is the simple subject here despite the fact that she is not choosing.  And I believe the "she/her" is an appositive that's placed at the end of the sentence instead of placed right next to the word it's describing; therefore, the proper pronoun here is "she" because subjects take the nominative case. If I place the pronoun right after "one of the contestants", "she" would be the appropriate appositive here in formal language.

"Only one of the contestants, she, was chosen"

Was it she/her you hoped to find?

I think it's "she" because "she" is a predicate nominative here so it takes the subject form in formal language. If I mess with the syntax, I can get the following:

"It was she you hoped to find."

In this rearranged sentence, "she" is the predicate nominative and takes the subject case, while "you hoped to find" is just some adjective clause describing this woman.

Congratulations on beating everyone else in the Pokemon League...but there's still one more opponent left--me!"

I'm assuming the "me" part is shortened for "It is me" In that case, I would go with "I" because it's the predicate nominative of the clause.

Do we choose "me" or "I" in this sentence? "Me" sounds better, but is there some rule here I'm missing?

-

I'm not sure if my reasoning is entirely correct. Thanks in advance.

Link on Predicate Nominatives:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/it-is-i-versus-it-is-me


texts:
I was trying to think of a word to describe a female acquaintance and came up with arrogant, but immediately wanted to discard this as the word itself felt masculine to me.

I later settled on deluded (which for this individual is more appropriate) but I was wondering whether there was a solid reason for my opinion. I would be keen to know if there is anything aside from perhaps my connotations of the people I would describe as arrogant, the pig-headed co-workers or stereotypical jocks who, from personal experience at least, are predominantly male.

I appreciate this may be erring on the side of opinion, but to be clear I am asking specifically if there is any objective reason, perhaps the origin of the word or some such. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary it derives from the Latin arrogare, but found nothing gender-specific, and have rarely come across people using it day-to-day to describe women.


texts: How can I unambiguously differentiate between the absence or presence of a period in a quote?

texts:
For example, take the following sentence that refers to a text message:

  This happened after she told me "Okay."

If the original contents of the message did include a period, it would serve a double purpose. However, if it did not, one must be added. This means that there are two equally valid interpretations of what the actual message was. It could either be "Okay" or "Okay."

I believe that the latter has a colder and more rigid tone to it, and therefore I would like to clearly convey that the exact contents of a given text message either contains a period or does not – without changing the structure of my sentence. How can I do so?


texts:
Could anyone please explain me why the author of the book that I'm reading used the definite article in the following figure:

  "Figure 2.2. The population of the module.exports property or the exports object allows a module to select what should be shared with the application."

I'm interested in the part "with the application" because there was no previous mention of this application in the book.


texts:
My colleagues and I are working on something and we have to frequently reference English dictionaries. We use all of them, Merriam-Webster, Oxford, Cambridge, Longman, the works.

Anyway, we came across reflexive collocations, such as "make yourself understood" in the dictionary. But why wouldn't "oneself" be better than "yourself" and used more frequently in a dictionary, if "oneself" is the impersonal form of it?

What's the difference between using "oneself" and "yourself" in a collocation? Is there a difference when one is used rather than the other?


texts: The usage of "think" followed by an object and an objective complement

texts: If you can say "I think him a great man.", can you also say "I think him great."?


texts:
As it is the season of pantomime, I have three questions:

Can anyone think of a name for the traditional comic contretemps between the show's villain and kids in the audience when the former shouts something like 'Oh no I didn't (throw the cat in the loo!)' and the audience screams 'Oh yes you did!'?

If a 'double entendre' is a joke with two meanings, what is a joke which has a funny meaning which the kids can laugh at, and a deeper, usually obscene, meaning which the mums and dads find hilarious?

What do we call the age at which you stop laughing at the simple meaning and first understand that the Grand Dame is actually talking about her testicles?


texts:
Cambridge Dictionary always disappoints me. In the entry of "worth", it is said that it is an "adjective":

[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-simplified/worth][1]

e.g. Our house is worth £200,000.

In fact, Longman is correct in regarding it as a preposition:

[https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/worth][1]

e.g. The company’s assets are worth $70 a share.

Am I right?


texts:
While reading a newspaper I saw the word nonchalance, looked up in dictionary, and dictionary says, it is a negative word meaning "indifference; carelessness; coolness." It looks like the opposite of chalance, but I was surprised to see there is no word as chalance. I am wondering if:

Isn't nonchalance made by adding non to chalance similar to nonsense?
What is the opposite of nonchalance? Can I write nonnonchalance just for the fun of it?


texts: Placing a question mark after an em dash

texts:
Is it proper to place a question mark after an em dash?

I have seen it both ways in books. Perhaps it is correct either way? Simply a matter of the author's style?

Example: "How do you know so—?"


texts: Is it grammatically incorrect to use "It was double the pleasure..."?

texts:
English is my second language and somebody told me that the second sentence I created is grammatically incorrect:

  It was a great pleasure to meet you. And it was double the pleasure to share a wonderful dinner.

Is it grammatically incorrect to use "it was double the pleasure..."?


texts: Reading date with numbers such as "27.10.82"

texts:
Can you please say how to read if the date is written like this: 27.10.82

Should it be pronounced - 27th October, 1982 or can we say just the numbers? If only numbers are enough, should we say point or dot?


texts: Idiom or phrase or proverb for When ever you need me you conveniently declare me the head of the department, other times i am no more than a nobody

texts: Idiom or phrase or proverb for When ever you need me you conveniently declare me the head of the department (of course an acting head usually to throw me under the bus to deal/make difficult decisions or give the bad news), other times i am no more than a no-body (or usually treat me like a slave).


texts: What is the meaning of the phrasal verb 'move about'?

texts:
In the Xenophobe's guide to the English, page 54, under the heading Sense of Humour, the authors, Antony Miall and David Milsted, state that:

  English humour is as much about recognition as it is about their ability to laugh at themselves, for example: 'I thought my mother was a rotten cook, but at least her gravy used to move about a bit.'

I am not certain I get the joke. Does 'move about' have two 'opposite' meanings on which the joke plays?

Googling the joke, I got a reference to another book, Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson, which reads:

  Growing up through the radio age you had Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's brilliant dialogues for Tony Hancock. Lines like 'I thought my mother was a rotten cook, but at least her gravy used to move about' are indelible in my mind.


texts: What is difference between "put on" makeup and "apply" makeup? please explain with some sentences.


texts: Is there a word for event-based like spatial is for space?

texts:
Time → temporal

Space →  spatial

Event →  ?

Specifically, I would like a word that works in this context:

  Proust was invoked by the event of smelling cookies to pen his
  masterpiece In Search of Lost Time. Hence his inspiration was ______ .

I am looking for that one word which would indicate it was an event-based trigger.


texts: Can you omit "which was" in this sentence?

texts:
For example:

"The song, which was released in 1982, has since become a hit."

"The song, released in 1982, has since become a hit."

Do these two sentences mean the same thing, and are they both grammatically correct?


texts: Is "congratulations" a sentence, and if so, why?

texts: I was looking over a test preparation book, and I found out that "Congratulations to the winner of the big contest" is in fact a complete sentence. This led me to question whether or not "congratulations" itself can serve as a sentence. After all, it is just a simpler way to state the former.


texts: Patient vs. subject in clinical research

texts:
What is the difference between patients and subjects, in clinical research?

I read this paper abstract:

  The terms “patient” and “subject” are often used interchangeably when proposing, conducting, or reporting on research. This error is not just a semantic one but also a conceptual one. Proper use of these terms is essential for all parties involved in the research to understand clearly their roles, expectations, and obligations.

which tends to make me think there might be some differences but the actual article is behind a paywall.


texts: Generic word for firearms with long barrels

texts:
What's the generic word for a firearm that has a long barrel? Like in the following picture, what is the man holding?

I've always called it a rifle, but recently I realized that this generic meaning is not in the dictionary. So either I've always been wrong, or there's something wrong with every English dictionary I consulted.

Merriam Webster: a shoulder weapon with a rifled bore; a rifled
artillery piece; rifles plural : soldiers armed with rifles.
Wiktionary: a shouldered firearm with a long, rifled barrel to
improve range and accuracy; a rifleman; an artillery piece with a
rifled barrel; a strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes;
Dictionary.com: a shoulder firearm with spiral grooves cut in the
inner surface of the gun barrel to give the bullet a rotatory motion
and thus a more precise trajectory; a cannon with such grooves; etc.

Similar definitions can be found in other dictionaries (American Heritage, Collins, etc.), and they all specify that the barrel is rifled. The word shotgun would have more or less the same problem, that is, it's a specific type of firearm according to the definitions, although I have to say that Merriam Webster defines it as "a usually smoothbore shoulder weapon [...]".


texts: Technical Names for Body Halves – Upper and Lower

texts:
If I drew a vertical line from my head to my toes, my left and right halves would be bilaterally symmetric.  What do you call a horizontal division? If I drew a line at my waist that separates my legs from my "top half", how would I refer to those halves? Cranial/Caudal? Superior/Inferior?

Thank you.


texts: Is "stripling" commonly understood in US English?

texts:
"Stripling" is an alternative word for a youth. According to the Cambridge Dictionary:

  stripling noun [ C ] /ˈstrɪp.lɪŋ/
  old-fashioned or humorous
  a young man.

It is derived from the use of the word "strip" as a description for something slim or narrow.

I used the word in an essay for publication recently and was surprised when my well-educated US proofreader confessed himself ignorant of its meaning. It's a little archaic but I think most British speakers would be familiar with it.

Is it a word that's absent from US English?


texts: What does it mean and where would I use it?


texts:
What is the difference between naïve and ignorant? I want to make sure I understand the proper meaning and connotation of each word.

For example, how would you describe a person who makes inappropriate (e.g., discriminatory or offensive) comments about something due to lack of experience or knowledge? Is this person naïve, ignorant, or both? What connotation does each carry when used to describe the person in this case?


texts:
Do we add a full stop after an ellipsis at the end of a sentence?

eg ‘There is a problem...’.


texts:
I have sometimes heard the word "indisposed" use as synonymous for "unavailable." Especially in the context of leaving a message. For example:

  "Hello. You have reached X. I am currently indisposed. Please leave a message and I will return your call soon. Thank you."

I am almost certain that the way this was used is intended to convey unavailability. However, the word's literal meaning is "feeling slightly unwell; averse or unwilling." Can someone clarify its usage & meaning in this context?


texts: When or where did "sth" come to mean "something"?

texts:
This is not the same question as What is meant by "sth"? although one of it's answers is a partial answer to this question.

This question does not relate to "what does sth mean?" but those that it has that meaning for.

In What is meant by "sth"? user @jon-hanna explains that the abbreviation originated in dictionaries, guides, and reference books, misleading readers into thinking that such abbreviations are standard use.

This answers one meaning of the where part of the question, leaving open the when which @jon-hanna has not addressed, and where this has been observed.

I'm a native speaker, born and living in england, and widely read from modern books and many classics.

I've seen sth as an abbreviation of something, but only informally from those who have learned English as a second language.

I've seen this from Chinese and also those from eastern Europe.

I the late 1990's I asked one user where he learned the term and he reported that his language teacher taught that abbreviation as being current in the English speaking world.

When I first saw this on a computer forum I had to ask what it meant, as the obvious sexually transmitted herpes (derived from STD) did not fit the context.

So the questions are:

where and when did this abbreviation originate?
have you seen this used by native English speakers anywhere in the world? (particularly pre-internet age, ~1990)


texts: Pronunciation of prefixes or letters like "acc-" , "ent-", "tri-" in various words like accent, enter, trivial?

texts:
I am not a native English speaker and thus the variation of pronunciation always amazes me. How can the exact prefix or letters pronounced so differently in some words, for example:

Accent is pronounced as "æksənt" and Acceleration as
"əkˌseləˈreɪʃn" - almost as if it is written with an "i" as (icceleration).
Enter as "entər" and Entangle as "Inˈtæŋɡl" - again as if written with an "i" .
Trivial as "trɪviəl" and tribunal as "traɪˈbjuːnl"

These are only few examples as there are many other prefixes with this type of  variations in pronunciation. Why is this, What am I missing and is there a rule of thumb for pronouncing these kind of prefixes?

Every answer and opinion will be greatly appreciated.


texts:
I heard this in a casual how-to video. It seemed random and not associated with anything they were doing. Someone said, "My favorite one is... your baby is going to come out naked. If you keep working around those chemicals, your baby is going to come out naked."

What is the history and application of this phrase or pun? The film was made in Georgia, so I suspect it has a southern origin.


texts:
There was the following sentence in the commentary of Joshua Rothman, the New Yorker’s archive editor on Amy Chua’s memoir, “Tiger Mom” under the title, “The Battle hymn of the Tiger Family” in the online New Yorker February 4 issue:

  "Why didn’t all sorts of families, and not just Asian ones, send their
  kids to cram schools to study for Stuyvesant entrance exam? They
  regard the usual explanation, that Asian-Americans have an ‘education
  culture,’ as circular. The challenge is to delve deeper and discover
  the cultural roots of this behavior – to identify the fundamental
  cultural force that underlie it. - -

  The thing is, though, that often, cultures really are circular. All the
  time, communities judge their members by standards that are, on some
  level, arbitrary."
  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/02/the-battle-hymn-of-the-tiger-family.html

I’m not clear with the meaning of the word, “circular” used here.

Cambridge English Dictionary defines ‘circular’ only as an adjective, meaning;

Shaped like a circle:
Describes an argument that keeps returning to the same points and is not effective.

OALD adds to;

Moving around in a circle as adjective, and
A letter sent to a large number of people as noun.

There is no mention of “circular” as a verb in both CED and OALD.

However, none of the above definitions seems to sit well with “culture(s)” in the above context to me.

Does “culture as circular” mean culture is inherited generation to generation?
What does “have an education culture as circular” and “cultures really are circular” mean?


texts:
In economic circles, the idea is occasionally floated that the etymology of Monopoly, is something along the lines of:

Mono - One
Pol  - Political
Y    - Entity

Working under the idea that the only way monopolies emerge is if an entity is given a legal privilege. For example, tariffs on imports on widgets, grants the local widget producer a monopoly.

This makes sense to me, however when checking https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=monopoly -- Pol is referred to  pōlein "to sell," from PIE root *pel- (4) "to sell." and makes no reference to politics

Etymonline is not always the most reliable source, and there could be ideological pressure to not associate Monopoly with the State. Thus I am asking for a second opinion.

Is there any etymological link between Monopoly and Politic?


texts: What is the grammar in: "in the year to come"?

texts:
Could you please explain to me what grammar is this

  "…many blessings in the year to come".

I mean I'm having difficulty to understand why there is "to" before "come".

They teach us here that part "to" means infinitive "I want to dance" and "what do I want to do." And it's clear for me. But how come "blessings to come" is infinitive... or what is this? What should I search in Google to read more about it?


texts: What is the difference between a cable and a cord?

texts:
As far as I know, a cable and a cord are both constructed from wires and some kind of housing, and the words are used interchangeably by most people (in my experience). Are they interchangeable, do either have more specific connotations that the other does not, and is there consensus?

This post on reddit suggests they're similar, and includes links to definitions that suggest a cable is bigger / stronger etc.


texts: Does the phrase “so long as” have a negative sense?

texts:
Can I use neither . . . nor following the phrase so long as?

I read this sentence in an article:

  When I was in college a Marwari friend of mine told me that her parents would be totally open to her marrying anyone she wanted so long as that person was neither A nor B.

(Here A and B are two ethnicities)


texts: Work(ing) atmosphere vs. work environment

texts:
I was wondering which form is correct and how the words are usually used. I am asking, because I couldn't find a definite answer online.

question: which form is correct? Work atmosphere or working atmosphere?
question: are atmosphere and environment synonyms in this context?

Google ngrams shows me that two forms, work atmosphere and working atmosphere, exist and that "working atmosphere" is slighly more common (which surprised me). However, compared to "work environment", both forms are rarely used.
I know that I am a bit biased as a German native speaker since "work atmosphere" is a direct translation, so it might simply be a germanism?
So do the words atmosphere and environment actually mean the same in this context? To me, it feels like environment is more physical, while atmosphere rather relates to the mindset of people.

I am asking, because I wanted to write something like:
'His energetic, “can-do” attitude contributes to a positive work atmosphere within the team.'

What is the best version of this phrase in your oppinion?

Thanks for your feedback & all the best


texts:
In the text below, what does "butt-high" mean?

  "The bathroom was an olive green. The middle of the wall that led to the sink had a heating vent in it. That always came in handy when I came in from the snow because it was butt-high."

Can it mean "something warm"?


texts: We use reflexive pronoun after some verbs like *avail ourself, acquitted himself, absented themselves * etc and some time we have to avoid from reflexive pronoun after some verbs like break, burst, draw, and enlist etc so is there any rule to use and avoid reflexive pronoun after certain verbs?


texts: What do you call a web advert that obscures page content forcing you to look at it?

texts:
When you visit certain annoying websites, as soon as they load, they display a full-page advert that blocks the content. And you usually have to click "Skip ad" or similar to get rid of it.

Is there a name for that kind of ad?

Clarification: I don't mean those banner ads that expand when you roll over them, partially obscuring page content... I mean the big ads that appear before you see any content, when you first open a web page, almost like a splash screen. Sometimes they disappear after a few seconds, and sometimes you have to click to skip past them.


texts: Usage of third person form for first person

texts:
Recently, I discovered the following sentence in a Terry Pratchett book (which was not a typing error, since it appeared several times):

  I sees what he's doing.

Presumably, the wrong usage of the third person form for the first person is some kind of slang, right? Where does it originate?


texts:
I'd like to know when to use "ideas on" and "ideas for". I think these are correct:

  I'd like some ideas on how to improve my team.
  I'd like some ideas for improving my team.
  I have some ideas on that subject.

This feels less correct to me:

  I'd like some ideas for how to improve my team.

This feels plain wrong:

  I have some ideas for that subject.

However, I don't know why. Which phrase should I use, and when?

Edit: I'm specifically interested in the grammar breakdown — is that last one wrong because it's a noun? What about "how" — how does this change it? What are the rules?


texts: When is it appropriate to use "adjustor" instead of "adjuster"?

texts:
I found out recently that there are 2 different accepted ways to spell the word "adjuster". My question is whether or not there is a difference between the two spellings and when it's appropriate to use one over the other.

I've read similar questions with answers that seem to vary depending on the word and was wondering if there is a distict difference in meaning or application between the two spellings.

Thanks!


texts:
There seem now to be as many tribes, and as much conflict between them, as there have ever been.
-> Would it be safe to say that this as ~ as have ever been structure is used to make a statement that there haven't been as many tribes as well as the conflicts among them as there are right now in the course of our history? (used like a superlative)


texts: Meaning of "Men are decayed, and studies: she is not." (17th century English)

texts:
Came across this passage from Ben Jonson's Discoveries(17th century):

I cannot think Nature is so spent and decayed that she can bring forth nothing worth her former years.  She is always the same, like herself; and when she collects her strength is abler still.  Men are decayed, and studies: she is not.

Basically I struggle with the word studies here, both with respect to it's meaning in this context, but also to its role in the sentence (i.e adj/verb)


texts: Idiom for "just because you give something a different name, it doesn't change what it is"

texts:
I'm looking for a way to idiomatically express the sentiment that just because you give something a different name, or precede it with a disclaimer, it doesn't change what it is, e.g.:

"I mean this as constructive criticism, not an insult, but ..."
"I'm not racist, but ..."
"With all due respect ..."


texts: Is there a term for a foreign word that looks like an English word but has a completely different meaning?

texts:
examples:

  Gift (German) = poison
  poisson (French) = fish
  embarazada (Spanish) = pregnant
  sauce (Spanish) = willow
  triviale (Italian) = vulgar
  parentes (Portuguese) = relatives
  slim (Dutch) = smart


texts: usage of unreal hypothetical when speaking of something unlikely to happen

texts:
Is this correct?

  When a student asked if he was “a dictator like Hitler,” Patterson asked, “If I was Hitler, does that mean I put you in an oven?”

Isn’t that supposed to be “if I were” there?


texts: meaning of '' with her one gets a fresh start, this time is the one that counts''

texts:
Nature is impersonal,impartial,and indifferent. she does not give opinions, or make judgements; she can't be wheedled,bullied, or fooled;she does not get angry or disappointed;she doesn't praise or blame;she does not remember past failures or hold grudges; with her one always gets a fresh start, this time is the one that counts.
What does that mean "with her one always gets a fresh start, this time is the one that counts."?
What does one  mean here?


texts: What is the difference between "Lisbon is a city on the water” and “of the water"?

texts:
There was the line, “It’s one of those places that’s not on the water but of the water,” in the article of May 25 New York Times titled “How I fell for Lisbon,” an enticing reading for anyone who has ever been there.

It goes as follows:

  A major port in a country with a rich and proud seafaring history,
  Lisbon has a connection to the ocean – the Tagus meets the Atlantic
  only a dozen or so miles away – that is essential, intimate and
  palpable. It’s one of those places that’s not just on the water but
  of water.

I’m not able to get a clear idea about the difference between ‘place on the water’ and ‘place of the water.’ How can I interpret the difference of 'on' and 'of' (the water)?


texts: Is there any online tool to read (pronounce) IPA and APA written words?

texts:
I am looking for a tool to read a word written as phonetic transcription (IPA or APA).

I need it to provide users with a tool to verify if they've chosen correct IPA transcription (users will need to provide a word and its transcription, users are not experts in IPA and APA, so there should be an easy way for them to verify what they use).


texts:
So I was watching The Simpsons just before, the episode being "Fraudcast News". At the end of the episode many Springfield residents follow in Lisa's footsteps and start to print their own newspapers. Willie says that he reviews all the new tractors in his, 'and they're all shite!' Curiously, "shite" wasn't bleeped or edited out, which made me wonder, is "shite" really a swear word?

(For the record, the epsiode was a recording from FOX, just in case they have their own "swear word hierarchy".)


texts: Term for being unable to see glaring errors after working for some time on a task?

texts:
Back in the day, I used to do a lot of CAD drafting.

There is a well known phenomena whereby your ability to see mistakes, errors, omissions or plain nonsense in your drawing diminishes sharply after working more than a couple of hours on the same drawing or draft.

Our engineering department even had a policy, that required every drawing, no matter how simple, had to be reviewed or "Redlined" (used a red marker on a printout to circle mistakes) by at least one peer drafter before submitting it to your supervisor, This saved a lot of embarrassment to everyone, especially the company (it saved a lot of money too) since simple mistakes were caught even before hitting version control or structural assessment, even production line assembly, let alone the final customer.

Most of the errors caught by peer re are simple, basic omissions like a missing dimension, missing notes boilerplate required by specification, etc. Sometimes glaring errors are caught like personal work-notes or calculations making it to the final document, duplicating sections of the drawing, etc... however the drafter that had been working on the drawing was simply "blind" to the error until someone else pointed it out.

Also, incidence of this is noticeably higher when working on a computer (v. gr. CAD Drafting) vs doing "old school technical drafting" by hand on paper using a drawing board.

Quite frequently, simply printing or plotting your CAD draft to paper, will make you see and catch some errors, invisible to you on-screen, but a "fresh pair of eyes" will catch some that you yourself can't see even on paper.

This also known to happen in other professions that require working for extended periods on a computer document, for example, Software programmers, lawyers, technical writers, etc.

In spanish we call this phenomena "Ceguera de taller" literally "Workshop blindness" however my research (below) shows it does not translate well to english.

I thought of "Mental fatigue" however I don't think it conveys the same meaning, since mental fatigue reduces your overall awareness and acuity, and you would be blind to other's mistakes on a similar drawing or document, however (surprisingly) if you look at a document that you didn't work on yourself, you'll notice immediately any mistakes even if you have just committed them on your own work.

I came up with 3 alternatives for a literal translation (Workshop Blindness, Drafter's Blindness, and Drafter's fatigue) and tested them using Google's N-gram viewer, but none of them yielded any results, so they are probably meaningless or nonsense. Ceguera de taller, however, is widely used in spanish since around the 70's which matches the time period when PCs became affordable.
so, in short:

What would be a well understood term or idiom for the inability to see your own mistakes or omissions after working for some time on the same document.

Many thanks to everyone for all the wonderful and enlightening anwers! I tried several in actual conversation and tunnel vision required the least explanations, although several ideas here work in different situations. Like "Im having tunnel vision issues with this document” when explaining I am having the condition, or the very friendly, funny and kinda ice-breaker captain obvious!  Again, thank you to this wanderful community


texts:
There are many internet forums out there and I am wondering which would be the most correct way to structure one's own forum.
For example, many forums are stated as "Forums" (even more use the singular "Forum" form or "Board"), then coming up with "Categories", "Discussions" or "Topics" and finally "Posts" or "Comments".

I would like to know what you would prefer and if you would make some distinction between some forms of "Forums" when naming their structure.


texts: When did we start naming our dogs Rover, and why?

texts:
One stereotypical name for a dog is Fido, from the Latin for faithful.

Another stereotypical dog-name is Rover.  How long has Rover been a common name for a dog in English?

Does it have anything to with the the famous Sea Dogs from the dawn of the Age of Sail, who would often do battle with sea rovers, if not indeed become such themselves?  Were ships’ sea-dogs the first ones to be named Rover?

Another way to phrase the question is, during what period of English literature did Rover first begin to appear as a common dog’s name? 1300s?  1900s?  There should be a discrete answer here.


texts: How to do you know when to add "the" before organisations' names?

texts:
On my grammar book, it says;

  many organisations have names with 'the'. ex. the European Union, the BBC

How do you know when you add the with organisations names?
Do most organisations names have the in front?


texts:
What does "3-sigma" type of event mean? For example,

  Hurricane Sandy is a 3-sigma type of event.


texts: Comma use dividing two lists in one sentence

texts:
How do I properly punctuate this sentence: "I prepared, packaged, and priced beef, pork, chicken, and seafood."
I am trying to say that I did those three actions to those four kinds of meat, but I am unsure of what to do.  Should there be a colon or semi-colon between priced and beef?


texts: Is it possible to define the main difference between ”out” and ”off” as particles when they are part of a phrasal verb?  I have read the definitions given in the Collins dictionary. And they are many and varied. Is it possible to explain why for example ”out” and not ”off” is used in this or that phrasal verb? For example, to blow off and not blow out? Is it possible to define the etymology of phrasal verbs?


texts: "At the service of" versus "in the service of"

texts:
In doing a translation on duolingo, another translator had translated a phrase to say "at the service of X". I edited this to "in the service of X" and left a comment that as a native speaker, hearing "at the service of X" makes me think that one is at X's funeral, whereas "in the service of" seems relatively common. He followed with this link to Reverso, which lists "at the service of" with a meaning along these lines: dictionary.reverso.net, but does not come up with anything for "in the service of". I went to ngram and it appears to support my experience, though of course there is no context. Also, Thesaurus.com lists synonyms for "in the service of" but not "at...".

Is "at the service of" perhaps a British-ism?


texts:
What is the meaning of the verb "market" here?

  People who send mass marketing email really care about subject line
  length (or at least the people who market to email marketers like to
  write about it, when they’ve run out of other things to write about).

[Source]

There are two main definitions that I found:

  to do things that cause people to know about and want to buy (something)
  to offer (something) for sale in a market

So can I consider it as synonym of to "advertise"?


texts: Simple term for someone undergoing rehabilitation

texts: I'm due to write a pretty lengthy text about the rehabilitation process of a disabled person, and I'd like to avoid repeating complex constructions such as "person undergoing rehabilitation". If I understood correctly, both "rehabilitee" and "rehabilitant" may have been used at some point, and they could be acceptable to me, but as a non-native speaker of English, both options seem somewhat "translationese" to me. Can anyone verify if either of these is actually used in health care or if there are other terms that I've missed completely?


texts:
English (other than American English) has a clear differentiation between the two words. Both are about translocating something. In "bring" the something of somebody is moved to where the speaker is currently situated. "Take" is used to translocate something or somebody to a place that the speaker is not currently at.

You cannot “bring” your books to school if you are currently at home. You can only take them to school. Most of the time one can get the meaning from the context of the sentence but it can get very confusing when the other party is on the telephone and you do not know their location.

Why does American English not differentiate and when did it lose the differentiation?


texts:
I am writing a comparative analysis paper of Walden Two and Brave New World from a political theory perspective. What I was wondering is if there is a term for these kinds of work which bridges the negative/positive divide? In other words, utopia doesn't describe BNW, and dystopia doesn't describe W2, yet I need a term which describes both books.

Any literature analysis folks have suggestions or know what the commonly used term for this kind of work is?


texts:
Which one is correct? in or of?

  I would like to come back to Slovenia. If I do that , I'll make sure I can speak more in/of your
  language.

Thank you so much!


texts: When is "loved" a past participle and when is it simple past?

texts:
Some one asked this question:
He is loved.
This is something that I've always kind of wondered.

In a sentence like this, is loved a verb or an adjective? Can it be considered either?

The simple answer was this:
Loved is still a verb, but it's the past participle, so it plays a similar role to an adjective.

My question is why is loved here classified as a past participle and not simple past.  If the sentence was:
He was loved.
In that sentence would loved still be a past participle or would it be simple past?

Thank you.


texts: Adjective - is there a word for a word that is "of or related to" another?

texts:
This has been plaguing me for the last hour or so - is there a word for this type of word, specifically an adjective, whose definition involves it pertaining to another?

To give you an example: sexual, relating or pertaining to sex. Or familial, relating to or occurring within a family.


texts: Are "not because" and "not just because" opposites?

texts:
"They aren't playing as well as they always do. Not because they have lost motivation, but because their key players are suspended."
Which of the following is implied in the above example:

They have lost motivation, but that has nothing to do with their not playing well.

They haven't lost motivation at all, and the only reason they aren't playing well is the absence of their key players.

If number 1 is correct, that means "not just because" is only a more emphatic version of "not because".
But if number 2 is correct, does that mean "not just because" means the exact opposite (i.e. they have lost motivation, and while that partly accounts for why they aren't playing well, the other and perhaps the main reason is the absence of their key players)?


texts:
After pressing it shows a message box asking whether the user wants to take a picture with the device, or better attaching a picture from the device's gallery.

I am not sure about the gerund or what structure should be going with it because it depends on the "whether" in the above line.


texts: Preparation of exam or preparation for exam. Which is correct?


texts: Is there a Male suffix equivalent to -et/-ette?

texts:
I wanted to add a suffix to crone and damsel that would make them masculine without resorting to a male equivalent word, (that's a different question.)

We have the male-to-female conversion example of bachelor → bachelorette

Is there a reverse suffix for traditionally feminine words?

Croner and damseler (following widower ← widow) seems lacking.


texts: What is the meaning of "to dance jam bone"

texts:
In the book, Inside War: The Guerilla Conflict in Missouri during the American Civil War, the author, Michael Fellman, presents  at page 40 evidence of civilian testimony and depositions. One such piece of evidence is set out in the paragraph below. The words in quotations are from the original document. The phrase in the title is found in the quotes.

Griffith ... burned a photograph of Bean's son-in-law, a Union officer, saying, "boys did you ever see a God Damned Federal Officer burn before?" Bean continued, "Well, they just danced jam bone, sung rally round the flag boys (a Union anthem), while burning the Stars and Stripes."


texts: Correct use of hyphen to prefix multiple words with one

texts:
I wrote:

  An open -source and -society loving person

and had this corrected by a native English speaker to

  An open-source-and-society loving person

Which to me changes the meaning of the phrase. The first one is meant to be short-hand for prefixing both "source" and "society" with "open", while the second one does not seem to connect "society" with "open".

Is either of the forms more correct than the other? Should it be written differently all together?


texts: What is it called when I got enough sleep?

texts: Do we just say, I’ve had enough sleep, or I’m full of sleep or something else?


texts: What does the word "literal" or "actual" mean as in a literal or actual something?

texts:
I mean like when someone uses a certain word with more than one meaning, they often say it's a "literal" something. For example: (something I made up)
"John's corporate seal logo for his company has a literal seal on it"

"The sign-in seal for his Yahoo account is a picture of an actual seal"

What is a "literal" seal exactly? What is the usage of the word "literal"? Literal and actual are supposed to mean exactly, so what does it mean in this context?


texts:
I want to ask if anyone can explain to me when to use "percentage of" vs "percentage for". Let say you have a pie chart like this:

I'm thinking you use "for" when you want to describe the figure for one individual thing in the whole, as in:

"The percentage for Australia visitors is 40%"

And when you use "of" then you must first refer to the whole thing, and then give an indication that which part of the whole thing you are talking about, like:

"The percentage of visitors from Australia is 40%"

Thanks for any kind inputs.


texts: Professional way of saying "without having to worry about"?

texts: I am writing a scientific paper in which I am faced with writing a sentence like the following: "We can perform X without having to worry about the effects of Y". The phrase 'without having to worry about' doesn't seem very professional to me. One alternate way that comes to my mind is "We can perform X independently of the effects of Y". However it doesn't seem to convey the message strongly enough.


texts: A word similar to "fleet" that would apply to IoT technology?

texts:
If the navy deploys a fleet of vessels or a courier deploys a fleet of trucks, what would a hardware manufacturer deploy if each unit was part of a collective that connected to a cloud infrastructure?

Think of Nest thermostats as an example. Something similar to "arsenal" or "inventory" etc.., what word would describe all the thermostats that are working in people's homes that Nest could consider part of their ______ ?


texts: Is it common to omit a preposition (in / on / of) before “the month (year / week /day) when they are used adjectively and adverbially?

texts:
There was the following sentence in New York Times (April 12) article titled, ‘Lone Wolf’ Theory Gains Ground in Texas Deaths”

  “The Kaufman County district attorney’s office is small compared with
  those in Houston or Dallas. It has about 13 prosecutors, and Mr.
  Hasse’s docket the month he was killed provides a glimpse of the kinds
  of cases common in the county: burglary, aggravated assault, forgery,
  theft of a firearm.”

Is it common in today’s English not to use prepositions such as “in,” “of,” or "during" before nouns specifying time?

I know the expressions like “It happened the day he arrived in New York” is prevalent, but does it look redundant or outdated if I put “Mr. Hasse’s docket of (in) the month he was killed ....”?

Are there any handy rules with which I can judge easily when I should use and not use prepositions before nouns of time - year, month, week, day, and hour?


texts:
One of my friends has corrected someone on their grammar on a social media site. And they think they should say "Nice to talk too". I think it is "Nice to talk to", because "too" is an adverb meaning "also"

Am I right? A more detailed explanation than mine would be great!


texts:
I know what the verb leer means:

  to look at someone in an unpleasant way that shows that you think they
  are sexually attractive

[Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English]

What does 'leering' mean in this context?

  The edifices were in a state of decay-shutters torn off, roofs
  crumbled under the weight of heavy snows gone by, windows dusty and
  leering.

from'Night shift' by Steven King


texts: Should I use ‘gotten’ or ‘got’ in this sentence?

texts:
I think ‘got’ sounds better, but I’d rather my sentence be correct than pretty.

My sentence: The things she’d told him couldn’t be got out of her by just anyone.

Is ‘got’ correct or should I use ‘gotten’?


texts: Rosa Parks is a [symbol?] for the civil rights movement?

texts:
What's the term used to describe a figure who comes to represent a movement in the common perception of the population?

I don't mean a leader or a spokesperson, I'm meaning more that they're a mascot for the movement.


texts: What does "don’t get us started on" mean?

texts:
The complete sentense is "On average, the more public member functions are, the harder it is to find bugs — and please don’t get us started on the complexities of debugging classes with public data."

I've found some similar phrases, but they don't fit in this context:

start on - to begin dealing with someone or something (but then why "started on"?)
get smb to do smth
don't get me started - Used to attempt to avoid or abbreviate a discussion that speaker or hearer may wish to avoid.


texts: The meaning of the word " Host" in a sentence of a story

texts:
What does the word "host" mean in the sentence below?
" father O'Mahoney as the light failed, Blacker than ever in his suit and with the black-fringed stole hanging over his shoulders and the white host in his pocket and the darkness in his eyes."


texts: "Seems like an overkill" vs. "seems like overkill"

texts:
I’m wondering if an article is used with the word overkill:

Something seems like an overkill (to me).
Something seems like overkill (to me).

Which is grammatical?


texts: Why is the negation of comfort discomfort but the opposite of comfortable is uncomfortable? Or is the word "discomfortable" accepted too?


texts: Should "which percentage" or "what percentage" be used within a sentence?

texts:
I have the following paragraph:

"The contents of a fish tank with 70 fish, of which 10 percent are goldfish, are added to another fish tank with 130 fish, of which 20 percent are goldfish.  After the tanks are combined WHAT percentage of the first are goldfish?"

The "what" in question is "WHAT".  Should it be kept as "which" to match the previous "which"-'s?

Also, where would one place commas for the sentence?


texts: How to pronounce (OS X) Yosemite in Australian English

texts: In Australian English, is (OS X) Yosemite pronounced to rhyme with "vegemite", or the same as in Yosemite Sam, who is named after the national park?


texts:
I am looking for a way to describe a business that has sacrificed traditional prestige for effectivity. I understand the most direct antonym is unprestigious, but I'm not sure this word conveys what I'm trying to express.

I have considered the words “humble” and “modest” too, though in a business sense these words have different connotations attached to them, e.g., small-scale, unassuming, unambitious, etc.


texts: I'm writing an essay on how immigrants came to the US in the 1900s for salvation, but instead, they got the opposite. However, I'm looking for a more complex word; it'll sound boring if I just say it was the opposite of what they expected.


texts: "The Moving Finger writes even in Heaven."

texts:
Following is an extract from a Rabindranath Tagore story called, "A Wrong Man in Workers' Paradise". I need help in understanding the contextual meaning of a line in it.

The story is about a man who never did any useful work and lived a leisurely life devoid of all care.

  Some boys seldom ply their books and yet pass their tests. A similar thing happened to this man. He spent his earth life in useless work and yet after his death, the gates of Heaven opened wide for him.

  But, the Moving Finger writes even in Heaven. So, it came to pass that the aerial messenger who took charge of the man, made a mistake and found him a place in Workers' Paradise.

  In this Paradise you find everything except leisure.

Upon a quick search over the Internet I found this explanation to the phrase.

However, I am not sure –

a) what 'Moving Finger' means here
b) what figure of speech is used
c) what is the contextual meaning of the whole phrase


texts: What is the difference between born and borne?

texts: What is the difference between born and borne. Can anyone cite any solid examples?


texts: "To comprehend x, it is necessary to understand y." Is this a dangling modifier?

texts:
Because I often think of sentences in the "we must"-form, as in:
"To comprehend x, we must first understand y."
when I write things that demand I do not write "we," I instead often write sentences like this:
"To comprehend x, it is necessary to understand y?"
Is this a dangling modifier? Or is it wrong or ugly in some other way?


texts: How to address today and the following 9 days

texts:
Would you think "the next 10 days" includes today?

If not, would there be a clearer way to put it, to refer to today and the following 9 days?


texts: When someone applied for something and reasons for the application are not enough or not subject to even consideration, how do you say in English instead of unacceptable?  Does this sentence make sense? : The reasons do not come under the rule.  I have been searching what idiom fits in this situation for last 2 hours, but never found. Help me out please.


texts: Difference between "restricted" and "limited"

texts: I'm a non-native speaker of English. When I want to express the meaning of “Something，especially for some techniques, is not widely used yet ” in my paper, which word would be better? I don't quite understand the difference between these two words. Could you help me, please?


texts: What is the origin of the term "screw" in the case of a prison guard?

texts:
The term screw can refer to a prison guard. An example of this is seen in the folk song The Catalpa:

So come all you screw warders and jailers
Remember Perth regatta day
Take care of the rest of your Fenians
Or the Yankees will steal them away

My question is, where did this term come from?
I have found this page which provides an explanation, but there are no citations as to where it got it's information from. There is also this page which provides two different explanations, both of which have sources.

Which is correct and are there sources to back it up?


texts: IELTS sample test: Identifying writer's views, why question 4 is NO?

texts:
I am new at IELTS test and am looking at the sample tests from IELTS' official website. I have a question regarding the question 4 in the sample Academic Reading sample task – Identifying writer's views:

  Thirty per cent of deaths in the United States are caused by
  smoking-related diseases.

I think that the answer to this question should be NOT GIVEN as the text only indicated:

  Smoking, it is believed, is responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths
  from cancer and clearly represents the most important preventable
  cause of cancer in countries like the United States today.

However, as the text, itself, did not make clear whether smoking-related diseases are responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths in the United States, I believe that the answer to the question 4 should be NOT GIVEN.

Can anyone enlighten me with some explanations? Should I employ outside knowledge in IETLS or shouldn't I?


texts: Is there a saying in English that basically means "adapting to your target audience"?

texts:
There is a saying commonly used in Turkish, which goes something like: "serving the syrup according to the arteries" (quite literally translated). The meaning behind it is to adapt what you are saying/doing so that it fits the audience and does not irritate or annoy them.

Are there any counterparts in English that convey the same or a similar meaning? I seem to recall that there was one such saying I learned at some point, something with "sail" and "wind".

PS: If the meaning of the original saying does not make immediate sense, think along the lines of syrup being very sweet and heavy, or somewhat lighter and watered-down. And if you have someone that's not well trained and have clogged arteries a heavy-syrup might not go down very well, so you adapt what you serve. (That's how I make sense of the saying, at least)


texts: Which is correct, "summiting" or "summitting"?

texts:
This form of the word is not very common but does see some use as the present participle/gerund of "to summit" as in "Upon summit(t)ing the mountain we took photos but had to begin our descent immediately to make it down before dark".

Wiktionary only includes "summiting" but of course its publicly editable so no guarantees it's right.

Google suggests "summiting" as a correction when you search for "summitting" but there's not really many Google hits for either to be truly conclusive.

Google Ngram Viewer shows "summiting" in the lead recently...

... but "summitting" has the highest peak in the graph around about 1910 and was also in the lead from 1974 to 1980...

So I'm interested in whether any of the style guides, usage guides, or trusted English dictionaries such as OED or Websters Third have anything to say.


texts: "Psychological disposition of car ownership" - is that a term?

texts:
I am searching for a term to describe the following:
The psychological value that is attached to car ownership.

The context:
I am doing a research towards carsharing and writing about factors that influence the decision to participate in a carsharing program or not. It is found that some people derive more status from car ownership than others do and now I would like to refer to this with a simple term, so I can actually make nice schemes and infographics without long sentences. It should be some kind of term that can become larger or smaller (like household size, environmental concern or PT accessibility).

For now I have come up with: 'Psychological disposition of car ownership'. Is that actually a term that works in English?

P.S. I am writing my thesis in British-English.


texts: Is it correct to use "and" immediately followed by "or" or "or" immediately followed by "and"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is using “and/or” recommended for formal writing, or is it frowned upon?
  Alternatives to “and/or”?

Is it correct to use and immediately followed by or, or or immediately followed by and as in the following examples?

You can use x and or y.
You can use x or and y.

The meaning I want to say in the given examples is "You can use x or y or both".


texts: What is the meaning of rubber stamp in "rubber stamp National Assembly"? Does this imply that the assembly has no real power? Where did this originate?


texts: Comma placement for a parenthetical after "and"?

texts:
I find myself writing sentences like this often:

  A. Here's a summary of our discussion, and if needed, more detail can be found at www.website.com.

I'm not sure if the commas there look quite right. Assuming that "if needed" is in fact a parenthetical, then I'd thought it needed a pair of commas (or parentheses, em dashes) to separate it:

  B. Here's a summary of our discussion, and, if needed, more detail can be found at www.website.com.

This continues to separate the two independent clauses with a comma (the one after "discussion"), but that's a lot of commas. Alternately, there's this one.

  C. Here's a summary of our discussion, and if needed more detail can be found at www.website.com.

But this reads awkwardly to me: it feels as though there's a "you" missing after the "if."

I'm looking to understand the core issue with comma placement for this particular sentence structure. So, here are my questions:

Is "if needed" a parenthetical statement?
Without rewording the whole sentence, what comma placement is grammatically best?


texts:
On purchasing the phone, I was assured that this was the latest and the best model available there.

What is meant by "On purchasing the phone" here exactly? Does it mean "While I was purchasing the phone"?


texts:
I thought the following rule was set in stone: don't use 'and' between a pair of adjectives preceding a noun:
http://www2.estrellamountain.edu/faculty/stonebrink/ESL022/Paired%20Adjectives.htm#:~:text=bag-,Using%20%22and%22%20with%20Paired%20Adjectives,called%20coordinate%20%26%20cumulative%20adjectives
However, someone in the comments on the following question disagrees, saying: it's not a hard rule, it's a matter of style, and here are some examples to back it up.
https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/284703/implied-plural-before-vs-implied-singular-after
I thought to get confirmation and a second opinion.

EDIT 1
It can probably be generalized to a list
Is it better to list adjectives, with an "and"?

EDIT 2
Thanks for confirming what @Lambie said.
I have to admit that
It involves a technological, theoretical challenge
didn't sound so good, or at least
It involves a technological and theoretical challenge
sounded better (in the first place).
Moreover, the link that I supplied does say in the beginning that there are exceptions such as a black and white shirt.

EDIT 3
Regarding the suggested link
Commas for multiple adjectives
It suggests a test for coordinate adjectives.
First, the test of replacing the comma with an 'and' doesn't clearly say (like @Anton confirmed) that it's a correct option that can be used (until @Lambie corrected me, I thought you can't use 'and' at all). In both cases, it says you shouldn't.
Moreover, according to the test, both of my examples

It involves a technological and theoretical challenge.
He wore a black and white shirt.

fulfill the coordinate adjective test, and the link says that comma should be used instead of 'and'. I believe this to be incorrect.
If I had to guess, I think the rule might be related to the order of adjectives:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/adjectives-order
If the adjectives belong to the same category, then they would naturally pass the coordinate adjective test. However, since they belong to the same category, 'and' should be used instead of a comma. At least I think it applies to my two examples above.
A link on the subject that might be useful:
https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar/adjectives/what-is-a-coordinate-adjective.html


texts:
I'm looking for a word that is basically like crowdfunding/crowdfunded, except it's not about funding specifically and instead can mean any activity that involves a large group. Example: how would you describe Wikipedia? Crowd... written? Crowdproject? Obviously those aren't real words, those are just examples of what I'm looking for.

You have a sentence like this:
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform.

and I need something like this:
Wikipedia is a (adjective that implies it is written/contributed to by a large group of people) website.


texts:
Can someone explain to me which would the correct form of ones in this statement:

  Have family members stated it took too long to respond to their loved
  one's/ones' complaints?

I know it would normally be one's but because of the "their" before "loved" I just was unsure if that would make it multiple loved ones which therefore would be ones'. It just does not look correct though. Any advice is appreciated.


texts: Correct word for a triangle with truncated points?

texts:
Is there a correct or technical term for a two-dimensional hexagon in which three sides are significantly longer than the others, resembling a triangle with the points cut off? Specifically, a shape similar to each of the letters in this logo:

So I'm looking to fill in something like "The logo shows the letters E and A in the form of a _______, one over the other".


texts: Is "Drawn" adjective or verb in "Beth felt strangely drawn to this gentle stranger"

texts:
To feel drawn. Is "Drawn" used as an adjective or a verb in this sentence
"Beth felt strangely drawn to this gentle stranger".
The trick here is to identify whether "draw" can be used as a verb after feel. It is usually the case that an adjective is used after "feel", for example: "I feel good", "Mike feels bored". Looks like even in your example you are using "attracted" as an adjective: Beth felt strangely attracted to this gentle stranger. So is it legitimate to use a verb after "feel"?


texts: Difference between multilinguists and polyglots

texts:
A multilinguist  is one who speaks or knows many languages.

  A polyglot is one who speaks or knows many languages

What is the difference between a multilingual , multlinguist and a polyglot? can we call all multilinguals polyglots?

Here are the two links.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/multilinguist

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polyglot


texts: is "I've been scared of..." a passive sentence?

texts:
my teacher said the sentence "i've been scared of..." is not considered a passive voice. but I can't understand why (not sure if she was right about it). on the one hand, we have the "subject + have + been + past participle". on the other hand, the preposition is "of" and you can't fit a "by phrase" anywhere in the sentence in a sensible way.

thanks in advance


texts: There is a book named "Infinite Dimensional Analysis: A Hitchhiker’s Guide". I was wondering what "Hitchhiker’s" means as a metaphor in general?


texts: Word/phrase meaning: during debate, telling opposing party to read 1000s of pages

texts:
I'm currently engaged in a debate where the opposing party has said:

"I'm right because I've written 1000 blog posts on this issue. Go read
them before replying"

Is there a name for this technique/fallacy? I realize it's an
"argument from authority", but I'm looking for something more
specific.

The general idea is that, instead of arguing the subject directly, you
claim the opposing party has insufficient knowledge, and tell them
they should read a timeconsuming corpus before responding.

Note: this isn't the same thing as saying "we've already answered this
argument in these 3 posts" or "read the FAQ", since, in both cases,
you're directing the opposing party to short, specific documents.

The technique/fallacy I'm looking for is the one that intends to
overwhelm the opposing party with the quantity of documents, with the
implication the opposing party is unqualified to continue arguing
until he/she has read the large quantity of documents.


texts:
I guess this might have been asked before, but I want to know which is correct in the following context. I'm sorry that my English might not be as good as yours, I'm not a native English speaker and rarely use the language.

I ordered personal license plates for my car. The plates have the text "Nevr2L8" (Never too Late). Shortly after recieving them, I ordered new frames with the text "Except on Mondays". I picked up the frames today, went inside my house to fit the new plates and thought... holy mother... isn't it except for?

So which is correct:

  I'm never too late, except on Mondays.

or

  I'm never too late, except for Mondays.

I don't want to drive around in a nice car looking (thinking of looking) stupid.


texts: What is a word that describes a person who has difficulty speaking with girls?

texts: What is a word or phrase that describes "a person who is having difficulty speaking with girls?"


texts:
Is there a name for a place where total character change occurs? A place specifically meant for human inner metamorph?

Metaphorically speaking, it is meant to refer to the place where change occurs as when diamond is created from carbon under immense pressure or how an egg changes when boiled. A place meant to incite inner change.


texts: Never have I had seen such a beautiful lady ( is it correct? )

texts:
Is it correct to say :

Never have I had seen such a beautiful lady

and what's the difference between this latter and this one :

I have never had seen such a beautiful lady


texts:
You might be familiar with the tv-series the Big Bang Theory. Sheldon, one of the main characters, often says "bazinga". How would I write this in IPA? This is what I have, does that make sense?

/bəˈzɪŋɡɑː/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skQGve3XksU


texts: Where to put the hypen (if any) in "status quo oriented"?

texts:
Writing the following sentence,

  During the negotiation of both regulations, bargaining
  power was distributed in favour of the status quo oriented states.

I wonder where to put a hyphen, if any? Status-quo oriented, status-quo-oriented, status quo-oriented?

Does a rule exist for such examples or is the placing of a hyphen here left to the taste of the writer?


texts: Why are pronouns always given in the same order? I, you, he, etc?

texts:
Not just English

Why are pronouns when conjugating verbs always given in the same order.

I
You
He
She
We
You Plural
They (or he's and she's depending on the language)

Does anyone know?


texts: What is the appropriate phrase to say if two people are on the same track?

texts:
I am sharing my understanding regarding a particular matter with a colleague just to make sure that both of we have same understanding. This is just to avoid any conflict or confusion among us. Phrases coming to my mind are like:

making sure we are on the same horizon or stage
making sure we are aligned
making sure we are on the same track

What would be the most appropriate sentence in this regard?


texts:
I wanted to see if anyone can confirm the following sentence reads correct, with proper agreement:
"Now remember, your sales and marketing teams are the life force that keeps business flowing to you."
I believe this is correct because the nearest noun to the verb "keeps" is singular, but I wanted to make sure. I also believe it is okay to say "sales and marketing teams are the life force," turning these two groups into a singular noun, but again, I wanted to be absolutely sure. Combining singular and plural always seems a little uncertain to me. Thank you all in advance!


texts: Meaning of a sentence from the novel, “It”

texts:
Behind the papers, which were only currency's second cousins, was the real stuff.
  — It, chapter 3

I don't understand what does currency's second cousins mean. I even searched in the Internet, but I didn't find any result. Can someone help me ?


texts: Does everyone pronounce these the same way? (I mean all 4 words - not American vs. English)


texts:
I have some questions concerning sentences.

... majoring in Biological Systems Engineering chosen by [full name] conclude with preparation of a thesis and the engineering exam. The title
of the thesis prepared by ...
... majoring in Biological Systems Engineering chosen by [full name] conclude with preparation of the thesis and the engineering exam. The title
of the thesis prepared by ...
... majoring in Biological Systems Engineering chosen by [full name] conclude with preparation of thesis and the engineering exam. The title of
the thesis prepared by ...

Which sentences is correct?
Which sentence is better?

Thank you for your help in advance.


texts: Does this sentence "it doesn't meet the blind's need who want to read." make sense?

texts:
Does the following sentence make sense grammatically or practically? Can I use it as it is without any correlation?

"it doesn't meet the blind's need who want to read."


texts: What is the difference between fervor and ardor?

texts: I am trying to increase my vocabulary skills and I have a hard time seeing the nuanced differences between these two words. Both have intense passion and enthusiasm as their common dictionary meaning. Etymology of ardor says it means to burn while etymology of fervor says it means to boil. I am trying to see a concrete difference between burn and boil and see in what instances/context it would appropriate to say feelings, passions are burning vs feeling, passions are boiling. They don't seem so different to me when I examine them that way, but by seeing their usage in variety of sentences it seems like there is a difference between them. Can anyone expound on this? Thanks.