texts: A word for "picking up extra supermarket items"

texts: Is there a word for when you go into the supermarket to buy a single item, and you end up buying half a dozen or more things that you didn't realize you needed, or wanted?


texts: Are there any words in English pronounced with /eː/ which aren't spelt with a following "r"?

texts: In Australian English (non-rhotic) the word "air" is pronounced /eː/, in Canadian English (rhotic) it is pronounced /ɛɹ/ and most other dialects pronounce it as somewhere between those two. All the words I know of with that sound have an "r" as part of the spelling of the sound, e.g. hair, care, there, bear, aeroplane. Are there any words which have the same sound where the spelling does not include an "r"?


texts: my question is that if a person A does something bad to another person B but regrets it and helps B so that A can forgive himself.....is there any English word to sum up that sentence?


texts: The meaning of the expression "Never laugh at live dragons"

texts:
I'm a big Tolkien fan and have read LOTR and The Hobbit many times. However, there's one quote from The Hobbit that I've never fully understood, and that is the phrase, "Never laugh at live dragons". From the book, the passage reads:

[Bilbo] had been feeling rather pleased with the cleverness of his conversation with Smaug, but his mistake at the end shook him into better sense. “Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo you fool!” he said to himself, and it became a favourite saying of his later, and passed into a proverb.

Given the context behind this scene (Bilbo getting cocky and snubbing Smaug, only to be nearly burned in the process), I'd interpreted the expression as meaning "don't get too cocky / overconfident, no matter how well you're doing, or it'll backfire on you" or something along those lines. But that's only my interpretation, and whenever I try googling the phrase there doesn't seem to be a consensus on what it means exactly.

So, Tolkien fans and non-fans alike, what are your thoughts on the meaning of this phrase?


texts: Proper way to say you haven't met someone

texts:
What options are there to politely say you haven't met someone yet? For example if you have a common acquaintance online who asks if you know each other.

"I haven't had the pleasure to meet him yet"

or

"I haven't had the opportunity to meet him yet"

Are there better expressions?


texts:
If a speaker clearly emphasizes a word or a term, should it be written down in quotation marks?

e.g. Everyone's so intimidated by "big data."


texts:
The Cambridge Dictionary defines boo as an AmE expression meaning:

(US informal) someone you care about, especially a boyfriend, girlfriend, or other close friend:

You will always be my boo.
Come on, boo. Let's go.

The
Green’s Dictionary of Slang suggests a possible origin  from  black AmE with reference to the term “baby”. Its earlest citation is from 1990.
Boo

[? baby n.]
(US black);  a sweetheart, a loved one; a close friend.

(1990)      Grand Daddy IU ‘Sugar Free’ [lyrics] Yo, boo, I like you, but I like others too.

while  the Random House Unabridged Dictionary suggests that the origin of boo is:

1985–90; possibly an alteration of French beau;  boyfriend, admirer.

Boo is more commonly known as an expression of surprise  or disapproval and it is curious that it is used also  as a term of endearment.
Does anybody know more about its origin? Does its pronunciation recall that of “baby” in black American?
Related: Meaning of the slang Boo


texts: What does this quote mean? "whenever anyone says, 'theoretically' they really mean, 'not really."

texts:
Whenever anyone says, 'theoretically,' they really mean, 'not really.'

Dave Parnas


texts: How do you proceed from pronouncing "t" in the regular way to t-glottalization, as found in various English accents?

texts: It's just strange to me because "t" is pronounced with the front teeth, while the glottalized "t" is produced with the back of the throat; that seems like quite a noticeable journey that couldn't have happened all at once.  If I'm correct, do linguists have any clue what intermediate steps would have been taken, and can someone demonstrate a couple of those pronunciations with English words?


texts: What are other words or phrases for "total catch", "whole package", or "perfect 10" when referring to an attractive bachelorette?

texts:
I've found it difficult to search for synonyms.

I'm hoping for some noun that signifies a really impressive woman that any man would want to share life with.

"Perfect 10" and "bombshell" are probably too focused on physical appearance than I'm intending. "Eligible bachelorette" is too clunky.

I lead a group of women who are single and looking for a male life partner. These women are amazing: successful, fit, attractive, and intelligent. And they're actively dating--hoping to find their match.

And our tribe wants a name!  We'd love to call ourselves The ______s* and say that our weekly group call is The _______ Hour, or something like that.

*plural variation of the word or phrase I'm asking for


texts: How do I address an envelope where one person has a professional title but their spouse does not?

texts: When addressing an envelope to Dr John Smith and his wife, Jane Smith, what would be the proper form to utilize?  I have been using "Dr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith", but I was told by my co-worker that it should really be "Dr. and Mrs John Smith".  Which, if either, is the correct format?


texts:
According to the article Quran or Koran?, in 2000, AP started to use Quran instead of the more familiar Koran.

Does anybody have information as to why this happened, and why newspapers today are using Quran instead of Koran?


texts:
what does 'measurable life' mean? I found this usage in the end of a sentence that criticized the youth of today.

Update

I saw its usage in this comment: Insensibility is wide spread today. Market economy sets an unfortunate culture, 'it's me only.'Unfortunately, our youth is succumbed to it .. measurable life !


texts: What is the correct way to pronounce such complicated combination of sounds when not pausing for breath? As an example, how would one pronounce something like "The Eighteenth century"?


texts: Why does “the one” pass as the moniker of President Obama? What does it mean?

texts:
There was the following paragraph toward the end of the article written by Maureen Dowd that came under the headline, “Thanks Obama” in July 30 New York Times:

  “He argued that there is no choice but to support Hillary against a
  “self-declared savior” like Donald Trump, perhaps forgetting that
  Obama was once hailed as such a messiah that Oprah introduced him in
  2007 as “the one,” and it became his moniker.”

I’m curious to know what “the one” means as a President Obama’s moniker likening him to a messiah, because the word – “the one” is just the one, and can be applied to anything like saying "he is the one I trust on," and doesn’t sounds particularly cute and impressive to me.

P.S.:

After posting this question, I found the definition of “the One” as 4ɑ.God under the heading of the word, “one” in Readers Plus English Japanese Dictionary published by Kenkyusha Publishing, but I don’t find the same definition, “God” in either of Oxford English Dictionary or Cambridge English Dictionary.

I’m still curious to know whether the usage of "the One" for comparing a contemporary person - no matter how great he or she is - to God is common practice among native English speakers or not.


texts: Reading blog entries about computing I often see "like so" instead of "like this". Is this correct english? It sounds to me like a word by word translation from german ...


texts: Can "look" be transitive in the meaning "look at"?

texts:
For example:

  He examined the body indifferently, much like one would look a dead animal on a roadside.

I would like to know if to look can be employed transitively like this. I'm sure I've read it used in this way before, but my search was inconclusive. (I know I could write "look at" or "look over", but I'm curious about that particular possibility in the example.)


texts: What's the word for something that's too direct and plain rather than poetic?

texts:
When someone writes poetry that's almost like plain English sentences, what may we call that?

Consider this, for example. This is an example of that plain, stated as it is, poetry (completely made up):

  I did this.
      Then I did that
      Life is great
      Then I wore my pants
      But life is also a struggle

and so on...

It gets tiresome after a while.

As against that, consider the more romantic prose. This is, as it should be, poetic.

  If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
      It may be, in yon smoke conceal'd,
      Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
      And, but for you, possess the field.

  For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
      Seem here no painful inch to gain,
      Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
      Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

From: http://sathyaish.net/poetry/SayNotTheStruggleNaughtAvaileth.aspx


texts: What is the grammatical topic of this shortening technique?

texts:
Extracted from English cloze test:

  .....these virtual selves exist in the same online spaces that many people use every day. And this is a new and unfamiliar phenomenon that some people might find___________ -- previously dead people were not present in this way.

trouble
troubled
troubling
be troubled
to trouble

The answer is 3 because the key said find troubling stands for find it to be troubling, but I don't understand why it stands for that. I want to know what grammatical topic is related to this sentence.


texts: How to name a date that is half a year after the date of an important or special event?

texts:
An anniversary is

  a date that is an exact number of years after the date of an important
  or special event

I'm wondering if there are some words indicating a date that is half a year, a fortnight or even a month after the date of an important or special event.


texts: Is there a proper way to differentiate an and/or clause grammatically?

texts:
For instance, if you have

(A and B) or C - ex. Fish and Chips or Burger

The implication being that fish and chips are grouped, then you could also choose a burger vs.

A and (B or C) - ex. Salad and Rye Toast or Sourdough Toast

Where the implication is that you get Salad and then your choice of toast.

Both are written the same way, but other than context this could be interpreted either way. So is there a way to grammatically differentiate the two that would never allow for this ambiguity?


texts: Most common term for insect repellent in AmE

texts:
What is the most common term for a substance that discourages insects from landing on you?
I tried Ngram and the results favored insect repellent. However, bug spray yields more results in a Google search. Another popular term is bug repellent.
Which term is most commonly used in casual AmE?


texts:
I have come across the following sentence but it doesn't quite sound right.

  Absent additional configuration, permits will be distributed at a fixed rate.

Is the first part of the sentence correct?

If not, then what is a good way of phrasing it?


texts: Is "surveillance" adequate for observing a patient in a hospital?

texts: Can this word be used to mean observing the patient's condition in a hospital in order to make a diagnosis?


texts: Why do we invert word order when asking a question?

texts:
What's the difference between an inverted question and a normal-order question?
Why invert? Is there a reason or a benefit?

  I love you?
  Do I love you?


texts: How do you describe a person who is proud of being wrong /someone who revels in not knowing the correct answer to a simple question? I think it might be 'inverted ....' but all suggestions welcome.


texts: Specificity - inferring or adding "all" in someone's statement

texts:
I see this issue come up very frequently in arguments, for example. Person 1 might say: Trees have leaves or Christians attend church.

Person 2 will then step in and retort that "not all trees have leaves!" or "not all Christians attend church, you dummy!".

Obviously this isn't a very useful discussion as Person 1 was generalizing and did not mean to claim that all trees have leaves. (I think you can only make an absolute claim about all trees if it's implicit in the definition of a tree or follows logically from it - a tautology, and not very useful. But generalizations and approximations are very useful - indeed necessary - for humans. Science, for example, is based off of statistics, not logic. Our whole system of naming "things" in the world is based off of generalizations and arbitrary delineations.)

So my question is: Is it correct to insert the word "all" into someone's statement like that? How about "some"? Is there a default that should be used? Is it context-dependent?


texts: Alternative terms to "Blacklist" and "Whitelist"

texts:
In short, my company is developing a management tool for managing SIM cards. One of the features of the tool is to block the SIM card if it's put into a  disallowed device by device IMEI validation.

The feature for this was mocked up using the terms blacklist and whitelist. However, after a while someone raised the point that these terms could feel a bit controversial.

The advantage of using these terms is that they are clean and easily understandable, but then again if they could invoke any racial issues we don't want anything to do with them.

So far we've come up with these possible alternatives:

Blocked List
Unblocked List
Allowed List

And honestly, we're not very excited for any of these words.

Do you feel that these words are controversial? Are there better words we could use?


texts: What is grammatically wrong with the sentence,  "I feel to eat."?  After the verb feel, can the infinitive of another verb be used?


texts: Two main clauses one after another or another meaning?

texts:
I got a letter which says

  Your admission is on the basis that you will be classified as a Home (EU) student for the purpose of University fees and College fees will be paid on your behalf by the University at the publicly funded undergraduate rate.

Does the meaning change if you just split it up into

  Your admission is on the basis that you will be classified as a Home (EU) student for the purpose of University fees. College fees will be paid on your behalf by the University at the publicly funded undergraduate rate.

Or is there another meaning to it that I don't get?


texts:
A topic came up today concerning the usage of the word "half".

I was describing a separation of labour into two obviously unequal groups. A colleague corrected me, saying that the word "half" necessitates an equal division into two parts. By my understanding, a half can, outside of the mathematical definition, mean any binary division regardless of ratio. A look into the etymology seems to support this.

My question is:

Is it acceptable to use "half" in this fashion?
Is it more acceptable in certain situations?
Is there a less ambiguous term that can be used here?

Edit:

To be clear, the reason for my confusion is the origin of the word. A few sources show its original meaning to be side and even part, without necessarily being equal.

The former term is reflected in the word behalf: on one's side and is related to the German halbe which is the preferred term for side, whereas hälfte is used for an equal half.


texts:
Is this kind of conditional sentence grammatically correct?

  If x weren't y, I couldn't -insert verb- z but I can -insert verb- z, therefore x is y.

As requested, here is an example for complete sentence:

  If I weren't rich, I couldn't afford this house but I can afford this house; therefore, I am rich.

I have one more question: Is the italic part of example sentence necessary?


texts:
How would you describe grabbing the hem of a skirt so you could carry something? I hope it's clear what I am getting at.

For example, you are wearing a skirt, or apron, and sitting down with something in your lap. You want to stand up and walk away carrying the items on your lap. You could grab the hem of the skirt to create a pouch-like place to carry the items in the skirt while you walk.

How would you describe that better than I have?

Using the picture sumelic linked, and the suggestion by Mathieu K, what would be best for the bolded word in the example below?

Example:

  Sally _________ [gathered] apples in her skirt and headed home to make a pie.


texts: Degree of Potentiality: Would vs. Should: Which indicates a greater possibility?

texts:
People in my new workplace hold that "should" is less definitive than "would," for e.g., in the sentence:

Commodity prices could be depressed in 2016 due to oversupply, which should pressure power prices.

To me, "should" here indicates a certainty (that oversupply has a relation to power prices) given some condition (that has been (naturally) left unsaid).

Which word/verb/mood of the two is more preferable if the author's intention is to play safe?


texts: How to avoid bullet points and use a longer sentence instead?

texts:
I can do many things:

write with a pen while sitting
smuggle milk through border crossings
repent for thy sins with my sins

I would like to say what I have said above without using bullet points but I am not sure how to do it. Here is my take (please suggest something better):

I can do many things; one, write with a pen while sitting; two, smuggle milk through border crossings; three, repent for thy sins with my sins.


texts:
Is there something like a thesaurus that offers terms more often used in the past?

For instance, I beg you would, in Shakespearean times, be prithee, while chicks during the 1920s would be dolls.

Meta: Seeing how the question on a thesaurus with archaic and obsolete words and several other thesaurus-related questions have been closed, I  fear this one might be, too. However, I am hoping it’s more on-topic. Please, if this must be closed, at least tell me where I should go to receive a good answer.


texts: Is there a single word for "a sub-component of a scientific contribution?"

texts:
A fictional example for illustrative purposes:

At the 2020 Conference on Hypothetical Nonsense in 2.5 Dimensional Space (HNTPFDS 2020), Dr. Alpha B. Chi presented his 40-year monograph entitled "A General Theory of Chrono-Fizzwidgets in Pseudo-Random Cosmic Disentanglement" - a scientific contribution composed of five* _____________, each of which stands alone in its own right. His first _____________ disproves the Orbital Chronometric Dissolution Hypothesis, a highly contested hypothesis forming the basis by which the theory around anti-matter fizz widgets was previously discussed. The following four* _____________s develop the mathematics and provide the schematics for the development of a so-called chrono-fizzwidget(CF) for use in pseudo-random cosmic disentanglement. The scientific contribution comprising these five* _____________ is an achievement which will outlast his name, as the human race goes on to explore the darkest reaches of inter-cosmic chaos.
*plus or minus two

What is the most appropriate / closest word that could be used to fill in the blanks above?
*Edits:

This is for my dissertation which contains thirteen "Sub-contributions", but one over-arching "contribution" which is summarized by the title.
Each of the _____________ would be stand-alone abstract or theoretical concept similar to how "special relativity" and "general relativity" subsumed by the "theory of relativity".
For argumentation purposes, premise, co-premise, or antecedent would also be correct. For mathematical purposes, lemmas are used to prove theorems. In engineered systems, components make the whole. My difficulty lies in finding a term which equally aptly could be used to describe theory, analysis, experimentation, as well as implementation.


texts: Can I use "respectively" to refer to a list in the previous sentence?

texts:
Is the following sentence a correct usage of the word "respectively", or can it only be used if the things it is referring to are listed in the same sentence?

  "There was a dog, a cat, and a hamster. Their names were Jess, Marc and Sam respectively."


texts:
When setting off a person's age, one uses comma before and after:

John, 18, lives in France.

Is it proper to do the same when "John" is possessive?
 For example:
John's, 18, labrador is white.

Regards,
John


texts: Is this available yet? or Is this available already?

texts:
I hear Americans sometimes say

"Is this available yet?"

and it seems not right to me. It just sounds weird,
IMHO the word yet doesn't fit there (but hey, I am not a native speaker).

Isn't it better to say

"Is this available already?"

Is it only Americans saying that, or also British?


texts:
Can anyone tell me if all the forms mentioned below are correct? If not, which one sounds most natural?

  We will wait for the parcel to arrive and reimburse you then.
  We will wait for the parcel to arrive and will reimburse you then.
  We will wait for the parcel to arrive and we will reimburse you then.


texts:
I'm not really sure about my grammar, and I think I need help. I'm a bit confused with the "These" and "This", and the "Nor" or "Or". My wedding is in a few hours and I just finished composing my vow. Here's my vow:

My love, you are my only best friend, the best friend that I've ever had. I promise you these:

I won't do things that will make you mad, make you sad, and most importantly, things that will break your heart.
I won't fight you as much as possible, I will try to understand you first.
You can count on me every single time. I will be your best friend forever no matter what happens.
I will respect you, I won't hurt you emotionally nor physically.
Lastly, I will love you forever, until the Lord take my life here on Earth.

I would greatly appreciate if you can point out to me as well the wrong grammars here. Thanks!


texts: What is the difference between "Made in..." and "Product of..."? Both are often seen on product labeling; my understanding is that "Made in" is not used for agricultural goods while "Product of" is?


texts: Can “refute” be used with “that” clauses, and if so, what is the meaning?

texts:
I refute that A is B.

If this structure is ok, which of the following does it mean:

I argue that A is not B.
I argue against some other position (such as X is Y), by arguing that A is B.


texts:
I'm not a native English speaker, but I do understand and personally appreciate the use of the term "xyz Nazi" to say that someone is a bit dogmatic about their point of view, without necessarily offending them. A related question here on SE is:

Is "grammar nazi" politically correct?

But most often, my writing doesn't address only English speakers, but also others. Being a native German speaker (although not from Germany), I'm a bit more sensitive to how this might be received with my every day audience.

What would be an equivalent term with a similar semantics (funny, slightly reproachful, but not really offensive)?


texts: Mixed person subjects and verb agreement

texts:
Please consider this sentence.

"Not for as long as I or Patricia Smith live will you be allowed to forget that."

In this sentence, I've chosen to write live as I believe it is more correct as it agrees with the speaker, I. But try this.

"Not for as long as I or Patricia Smith lives will you be allowed to forget that."

Now lives agrees with Patricia Smith and sounds much more natural as it agrees with the subject immediately in front of it.

The sentence is to be used in dialogue and cannot be rearranged as it is precisely what the speaker wants to say. Can anyone throw any light on which would be considered the correct grammar, or whether you agree that the second option is wrong, but sounds right so run with it.


texts:
In this sentence from Wuthering Heights

  I declined joining their breakfast, and, at the first gleam of dawn,
  took an opportunity of escaping into the free air, now clear, and
  still, and cold as impalpable ice

Do the adjectives "clear", "still" and "cold" refer to "ice" which is used as a comparison to the air? Or is it only the adjective "cold" that refers to ice because it is preceded by a comma which separates it from the adjectives? What if the sentence went like this

  I declined joining their breakfast, and, at the first gleam of dawn,
  took an opportunity of escaping into the free air, now fragrant, and
  light, and cold as impalpable ice

Would you say that it is clear that "cold" only refers to the phrase "as impalpable ice" or is it possible that a reader would think all those adjectives are like impalpable ice?


texts:
I need to make a poem in my English class, and I'm not sure if the way I used refraining in the last line of this stanza is correct. Could you check it out?

"I was the one who retreated from the rain,

And watched other children play in it from my home,

As I wished it would stop raining,

So I could stop refraining."


texts:
I came across this senentce in a book:

What does your life tell you?

I guess the author italicized "does" in order to emphasise it, but what meaning behind "does" did she want to highlight? The current time, as opposed to will or did? But if that's the case, shouldn't it be "is telling"?


texts: "A friend of my father" vs. "a friend of my father's" — which one is right? Why?

texts: I have seen them both in my reference book, which is written by a native speaker. I wonder why there are two different phrases to describe the same meaning and am looking forward to some reasonable details to explain why this is so.


texts: Is it grammatical to say "You're already away."?

texts:
I wrote a song including the following lyrics:

When I take the time it takes to get near
You're probably already away...

And I don't want to change the rhythm of it.
Now my bandmates tell me, I have to add "far" or "gone" before the word "away" i.e.  far way and gone away to turn it into proper English.
Are they right?


texts: Does the verb 'to tank' meaning to lose deliberately, or fail to finish, only apply to lawn tennis?

texts:
The Australian tennis star, Nick Kyrgios, is proposed in the Australian press to have tanked in his second set at Wimbledon, yesterday.

According to the OED sense 6 of tank when used as a verb appears to apply exclusively to Lawn Tennis. Do contributors agree with this? And what is the origin of tank when used in this way?

  intr. In Lawn Tennis, to lose or fail to finish a match deliberately; to default. slang.

  1976   Times 30 Sept. 11/5   Too many..singles players do not enter
  for the doubles. Either that, or they scratch or ‘tank’ (in boxing
  parlance, ‘take a dive’).

  1979   Guardian 13 Jan. 11   But it is ironic that Connors, a player
  generally considered too honest to ‘tank’ to anyone, should be the one
  to suffer.


texts: You can spend all your love making time?

texts:
"You can spend all your time making money; You can spend all your love making time." from the song Take it to the limit by The Eagles, the phrase "love making time" makes me wonder.

Does it mean someone refuses to make love (supposed that takes a long time on dating) in order to spend more time to make more money? I mean, "love-making" is a phrase to decorate the word "time", just like "you can spend all your precious time".

or

Spend love to make time, just like "Spend time to make money"? This becomes obvious when I read the answers to this question. So my question: How can one spend love to make time? Love is what you gain after spending a lot of time with other (if lucky), how can you spend love if you don't gain it first by spending time?


texts: Is there a word that describes seeing and hearing as one thing?

texts: I'm looking for a single word that is the synthesis of seeing and hearing together.


texts: Word for working with templates in a software setting

texts:
I am looking for a word for the concept of using a template in a software setting, in order to be able to edit e.g. multiple powerpoint slides with the same element in one place as opposed to editing it on one slide only.

Another example would be using a \newcommand{} in LaTeX to define a string which should be used throughout a document, but be easy to edit in one place.


texts: What does "these" in this sentence refer to?

texts:
Here is the quotation:

In support of his thesis, Dr Wrangham, who is an anthropologist, has ransacked other fields and come up with an impressive array of material. Cooking increases the share of food digested in the stomach and small intestine, where it can be absorbed, from 50% to 95% according to work done on people fitted for medical reasons with collection bags at the ends of their small intestines. Previous studies had suggested raw food was digested equally well as cooked food because they looked at faeces as being the end product. These, however, have been exposed to the digestive mercies of bacteria in the large intestine, and any residual goodies have been removed from them that way.
— The Economist, 19 February 2009

My question is how to understand the red part? Which one does "these" refer to?  "studies", "faeces", or"intestines"? If it means "studies", does this sentence means "the results of the experiment are rendered inaccurately because of the digestive effect of the bacteria"?


texts: I am confused to use have got in the sentence: "so you have got here at last!"

texts:
This phrase from "The Hobbit".
"So you have got here at last!" That was what he was going to say Gandalf this time. But it was not Gandalf.


texts:
Is the word "stool" an informal word or a  formal word?
I think it is a kind of formal word, especially a medical word.
It is used in several academic papers and articles, and also doctors like using this word when they want to talk about status of patients' excrements.
However my English teacher(not native speaker) said that the word stool is an informal word, like poo and I should use "feces or excrement" as formal language.
So I told him that I think it looks like a formal word than informal word because basically it is a specialized word.
Then he said that "Native speakers" use the word stool in informal conversation as using phasal verbs like"have a stool", "after stool", or "go to stool".
I have never heard of those kind of expressions before.
Is he correct?


texts: What does "to trap in amber" mean and where does it come from?

texts:
I guess that’s one of the reasons I do write here, to trap in
  amber these states of emotion and experience in some way so I can
  look back and ultimately think that I was writing a lot more in
  [insert year here] even though I probably at that time felt I did a
  lot more writing in some other era of my life


texts: "Many" as a pronoun at the beginning of a sentence

texts:
I am unable to decide if I should use 'many' to express "many people" in an academic writing. It goes like:

  Many claim that ambiguity is a result of an inefficient parsing.

Do you see any problem with this sentence in a formal way? Should I cite this (I know this is a separate question but well)?


texts: "Everybody has an addiction ,Mine just happens to be you" in this sentence can anyone tell me how "happens" is used? and other usage of word "happens"?


texts:
Is the phrase

  what are wrong with XY and ZZ

correct English? I stumbled upon it in a question on movies.SE: What are wrong with the bleach and the fish in the Machinist?, and instantly thought "That has to be an error!"

Not being a native speaker, I thought before correcting it, it'd be better to Google it first (you never know) and it actually returned over 13 million results.

I'm stumped, is this actually correct? Or just a common mistake?


texts: What's the difference between using "of" and using "with" when showing a cause?

texts:
What is the sense of a sentence when of and with are variously used to show the cause of something?

He died of cancer.
He was shivering with cold.

Why isn’t it like this, or can it be? If it can be, do they mean the same thing as the prior pair, or do they mean something else again?

He died with cancer.
He was shivering of cold.


texts: Why present perfect in "How many points have you scored this season"?

texts:
Normally we use the past simple instead of present perfect when an action happened at a specific time in the past and is not linked with the present.

Why is this sentence grammatically correct?

  How many points have you scored this season?

Don't the words "this season" indicate a specific time here? Why can't I use past tense instead? As in, "How many points did you score this season?"

Why is the latter wrong?


texts: Which is correct: “night shift” or “nightshift”?

texts: Which is the correct way, Microsoft word seems to accept both ways but doing a test in English "night shift" was spelled as two separate words in an answer.


texts: What's a negative personality trait that describes one's desire to be perfect? Also, a word for someone that is too forgiving

texts:
Thanks in advance, guys.
If anyone's got a term for someone that is always blaming themselves, that would be pretty sweet as well.


texts: Why a past perfect tense is used in a more recent past time event instead of an older past time event?

texts:
The past perfect tense describes an action or event that happens before an action or event in the past tense. However, I found some sentences confusing:

ex: The man arrived at the store before it had opened.

Based on the definition, shouldn't it be "The man had arrived at the store before it opened"? because the man arrived at the store first and then the store opened?

Another example: My bicycle got a flat tire before we had gone two miles.

Shouldn't it be "My bicycle had gotten a flat tire before we went two miles?" because the action of the first clause takes place before the second one?


texts: A shorter phrase for "is a poor predictor of"

texts:
This is a bullet point in a presentation:

  Coronary angiography is a poor predictor of the hemodynamic relevance of stenosis

"is a poor predictor of" feels very round-about, but I can't think of a better way to phrase it. Is there one?

The phrase is meant in the sense of "is not a good method to decide".


texts: Meaning of "proportional" in Merriam Webster's interpretation of "scale" in business

texts:
Merriam Webster has an article explaining the meaning of “scale” in business.

  'Scale' is increasingly being used as shorthand for 'scale up' (“to
  grow or expand in a proportional and usually profitable way”)

  https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/scale-the-business-meaning-origin

How can I interpret “proportional” here?

I checked this thread What does “scale” mean in “scale a media company / make media more scalable?

  Or as a production process: if my plant costs $1B and produces X, a
  plant that produces 2X will not cost $2B, and the cost of my products
  will go down. Therefore I would rather build one giant refinery than
  many smaller ones (prices not... in scale).

I also checked this article. https://newdirectioncapital.com/difference-growth-scaling/

  Scaling: When a company scales, it increases revenue, often at an
  exponential rate. But, the increase in resources required occurs at an
  incremental rate, if at all. A company that is scaling effectively is
  able to bring in $20 million worth of revenue for the same cost or
  nearly the same cost as it brought in $10 million.

If according to Merriam Webster, scale means “expand in a proportional way”, I don’t see how “scale” can mean increasing the revenue while keeping the same cost.


texts:
I have this situation in the English course book :

5.6 million Swiss Francs - read as five point six million Swiss Francs
£16.60 - read as sixteen pounds and sixty

The question of my students: Can we read sixteen point sixty ?


texts: IF: When not to use the subjunctive mood

texts:
I read there are two purposes of using the subjunctive mood. One of which is to describe an unreal or doubtful condition. Often in a clause beginning with the word "if."

My question is: are there times when we can use the subordinating conjunction "if" without using the subjunctive mood?


texts: How to handle the possessive case of the name Franks

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?
  When did it become correct to add an 's' to a singular possessive already ending in 's'?

Hey guys I was wondering where to put the ' when using the possessive case of my surname, Franks. I've seen it done all the ways given below, depending on what family member wrote it, but I was wondering which one was correct?

Franks'
Franks's
Frankses'


texts:
I’ve always wondered whether you should put a full stop or a comma after come on.

  Come on, it’s just over there!
  Come on. It’s just over there!

Which one is right?


texts: “There lie targets” vs. “there lies targets”

texts:
I have a sentence:

  However, until then it is obvious that there lie intermediate “targets” — foo, bar and baz.

Is the use of lie in this way correct? The targets still exist, so I don’t want the past tense.

I don’t think that lies sounds correct, because there’s are multiple targets and I'd say the dogs lie rather than the dogs lies.


texts:
I found this phrase in comment for one song - "I really like this song, and i really like how diverse shawns family is, thats quite a combo."

It seems, that it's a some kind of idioms.

I really can't make sense of this expression. Could someone explain?
Google and translators didn't help ))


texts:
A forum poster was giving an account of his visit to his friend who is an owner of a burger shack, and in one part he said:

  We smoked some of the Mr. Nice I brought along to give him and his employee for the trouble and blew it up into the hood in classic poverty restaurant style :coolface:.

What is a hood? Is that the ceiling of the restaurant? I was thinking this couldn't be the folding hood of the car.

Edit:

This is the picture of the kitchen he posted (couldn't scale it down unfortunately I'm on iPad :(), not sure if that device on the top left corner is the extractor or not, but could possibly be since I think there's what it looks like a fryer on the far right below it.


texts: Is it safe to equate 'less evil' to 'more good'?

texts:
We had a bit of a debate with this one. He, a native speaker (unlike me) went for:

  "less evil" implies that you are comparing evil people and "more good" implies that you are comparing good people

I always felt that there's no difference. Am I on the minority of English speakers? Who is more correct between the two of us?


texts:
Is there a term for the sound word associated with a certain type of animal, that is considered the most frequent or usual representation?
e.g. Cat - meow; Duck - quack; Owl - whoo; Frog - ribbit; etc.

Generally, I guess these are all animal onomatopoeias. But wondering if there might be something more exact.


texts: "Far from happy" Preposition followed by an adjective?

texts:
It occurs me that in such sentences as

He is far from happy.
However, just as the critics are not of one mind in their criticism, so they are far from united on what to do.

the preposition from is followed by adjectives. Since prepositions by definition are placed before nouns/noun phrases, I wonder if far from is a unique case. Are there other similar cases? I can't think of any.
Is this simply an omission of being? Does this omission occur with other prepositions?


texts: A futuristic Phobia in the scientific context (Related to Artificial Intelligence)

texts:
Is there any specific term to describe a phobia about future of relationship between humans and (intelligent) machines? One may think it could be Cyberphobia or Mechanophobia, however these options are far different from what a top scientist such as Stephen Hawking warns about: "the development of full artificial intelligence [AI] could spell the end of the human race."

No matter how much such a prediction is true and possible, how should refer to that?


texts: prepositions - "increase of" vs "increase in"

texts:
Which one is correct or if both are correct, is there any difference?

The change is a 10 percent increase of tuition
The change is a 10 percent increase in tuition


texts: How to Pluralize a Proper Noun That Already Has a "'s" In It

texts:
How does one pluralize a proper noun that already has an apostrophe in its singular form?

for example, McDonalds'...  How would I say there are three McDondald's in California?

Please note: I am not asking how to write a possessive form for a proper noun that already has a 's in it, I am asking how to pluralize a proper noun that already has a 's in it.

(The first instance has already been answered previously, and used McDonald's for an example as well)

Thank you!


texts: What is the story behind the expression "Would you buy a used car from this man?"

texts:
Would you buy a used car from this man? is a fixed expression meaning:

  Can this person really be trusted; is this an honest face.

According to the AHD the expression is from he '60s and refers to the alleged bad reputation of used-car dealers:

  [1960s+; fr the belief that used-car salesmen are notoriously dishonest; popularized as applied to President Richard M Nixon]

I couldn't find further evidence about the above assertion, but it appears that the expression was already in use before it was applied to president Nixon:

 finearteamerica.com

Questions:

is there evidence of used-car salesmen as object of popular sayings or was the expression just invented to denigrate President Nixon?
when and by whom was the saying first used in politics?

Edit: curiously, according to the following OLD entry the expression originally refers to a BrE idea which, apparently, was later adopted in AmE:

  (British English) a man whose job is selling cars that have already had one or more owners. Used-car salesmen are often presented in jokes, cartoons etc. as not very honest or reliable. The British television character Arthur Daley is regarded as a typical used-car salesman, i.e. confident and friendly, but dishonest and not very successful. Opponents of US President Richard Nixon used to show his picture with the words, ‘Would you buy a used car from this man?’, suggesting that he could not be trusted.


texts:
Can someone explain to me what vrit stands for, please? I can't find it in any dictionary.

The Interventionists is a half-hour vrit documentary that follows the days and nights of a unique mental-health crisis team.
Frederick Wiseman's no-holds-barred look at the horrors inside a prison for the criminally insane set the standard for vrit indictments, and not even a 24-year ban on public screenings stopped Wiseman from forcing accountability.


texts: Someone who thinks they are overly special/out of the ordinary

texts:
What do you call someone who thinks they are overly special/out of the ordinary?
Examples:

Sally believes she has been touched by the hand of God
Mike is attractive and is always successful with the ladies. He believes he is God's gift to women
Tom is smartest in his class and people always praise his intelligence. Tom believe he is one of the smartest people in the world because he never met anyone smarter than him.
John is a businessman. He believes everything he touches turns to gold

The word exaggerate doesn't fit the above context because  it cannot be proven they are exaggerating since they haven't failed yet, they are definitively not delusional  because they are  successful in life and their assertions haven't been disproven.
Telling them they  exaggerating their abilities will result in them scorning you and since your skills or success don't compare to theirs you will always lose any argument.
What are word(s) to describe them?


texts:
In the negro spiritual Jonah and the Whale, I found the word waddnat:

...
Now the Lord made a whale, long and wide
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
And he swallowed up Jonah, hair and hide
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
Mmm, Lord, mmm, Lord
...
From AZLyrics

What is the meaning of waddnat? Is it like a combination of multiple words?
I couldn't find any reference on the internet.


texts: What does "... which is somewhat long in tooth" mean, and what is the source of the phrase?

texts:
This is the complete sentence where I found it. It is from an online training about the Linux operating system.

e4defrag is part of the e2fsprogs package and should be on all modern Linux distributions, although it doesn’t come with RHEL 6 which is somewhat long in tooth.

What does which refer to? What is the meaning of the expression "somewhat long in the tooth," and where does it come from?

Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms(1998) has this entry for the expression:

be long in the tooth humorous
to be too old | The older a horse is, the longer its teeth are | I'd have thought she was a bit long in the tooth to be starring as the romantic heroine.

This explanation suggests that the long teeth in the original expression belonged to horses—and not, say, beavers (or human beings). But it doesn't identify how far back the expression goes, and it doesn't indicate when it went from exclusively describing a physiological characteristic of horses to alluding figuratively to the advanced age of a person or other living creature or nonliving entity (such as RHEL 6 above).


texts:
I'm looking for a word or short phrase to refer to the CIA or CIA operatives which has a similar connotation to "feds" used to refer to the FBI or other federal groups. Specifically I'm looking for something used pejoratively, whether or not that use is common within America itself.

I've tried finding synonyms to things like Feds, Pigs, Spy, etc., but didn't find anything that felt obviously applicable to the CIA specifically. "Feds" itself doesn't feel appropriate to use for an agency which works outside of the US, even though the CIA is technically a US federal agency.

Sample Sentence: "We were in Russia on vacation, when the [American CIA] overthrew the government."


texts: Quotation: If I quote a nickname for a team do I have to quote it everytime I use it?

texts: I'm writing an essay about the violence caused by Manchester United fans during the 1990s. In the article I'm basing my essay off of they say they call themselves "Jibbers." If I quote the nikcname and provide insight citation do I have to continue to quote it each time or what would I do so its not plagiarism.


texts:
There is a framework called Grails.

Is that sentence correct?

  The Grails have integration with jUnit


texts: Separated (nonrestrictive) relative clauses

texts:
This question concerns relative clauses describing the subject noun phrase but separated from it by the predicate.
I first took notice of this phenomenon with Javert's Suicide song in Les Misérables:

And must I now begin to doubt,
Who never doubted all these years?

This formation struck me as odd and it stuck with me until I just came across a similar usage in the trial of Charles I (Salmon 1719):

That is, in your Apprehension; we are satisfied that are your Judges.

This question brings up a similar sentence from a draft master's thesis:

In this chapter, the fundamental physiological principles will be presented that underlie the mathematical models and simulations of the subsequent chapters.

This example, while perhaps not the best style, sounds much more acceptable and normal to my ears. Is the difference that the relative clause in this example is restrictive, as opposed to the nonrestrictive clauses in the first two examples?
Another question asks about the acceptability of a sentence using an nonrestrictive relative clause in this manner:

It is a fault to expect Emily to be a good teacher who doesn't like children.

I and the answerer agree that this usage is unacceptable. Describing the reason why, the answerer explicitly states that this usage is ungrammatical with nonrestrictive clauses:

Nonrestrictive clauses occur next to the NP they go with (they are not modifiers). Your last example violates this rule, so it is ungrammatical.

And so we are back to my two initial examples. In present-day English, this formation is as odd as I think it is, isn't it? Then, is this an instance of diachronic change? Did this (nonrestrictive) usage used to be common (or at least more acceptable) and now has become odd? (The Les Mis example isn't that old though.) Does restrictive vs nonrestrictive factor into this as it seems? What's going on here? I need your help, who have become confused by this ;)


texts: Phrase for "suddenly wake up from a dream"

texts:
What is a natural thing to say when you suddenly wake up from a dream?

The impression I have in mind is of something like burst/tear apart or escape from the dream scene by waking up.


texts: to display/show vs to be displayed/shown

texts:
The user can choose which elements to display/show

The user can choose which elements to be displayed/shown

Which sentence is more correct? Is there any difference when using show or display.


texts:
I'm having trouble putting the difference in meaning between "point to" and "point at" into words and my Longman dictionary isn't helping, I'm afraid.

I'm not a native speaker, but I feel there is a definite difference; however the only thing I can say is that 'point at' feels more aggressive whereas 'point to' feels more casual. Can anyone help?


texts:
A simple Google search reveals that the word that can be used in many ways: as a pronoun, determiner, adverb and conjunction. I'm wondering about its usage specifically as a conjunction.

Take the following two examples:

  I think that I know who sings this song

and

  I think I know who sings this song

From a colloquial standpoint, I would use the shorter version (the latter).

However, what is the grammatically-correct form? Is the word that, when used as a conjunction, necessary from a grammatical standpoint? It seems superfluous to me.


texts:
I know that "consumption" is a mass word. But my question is:
In sentence: Water and electricity consumption in the hotels HAS FALLEN or HAVE FALLEN? Which option should I use.


texts:
In English language, the government structure of all countries is referred to with the terms of minister and ministry.

However, in English-speaking countries, Secretary and Department are used instead.

UK/US Secretary of State at UK/US Department of State.

Despite this terminology, the head of secretaries in the UK is still called Prime Minister (not Prime Secretary).

Why in English speaking countries, the terms ministry and minister are avoided for the government structure?


texts: Why is "For Sell" replacing "For Sale" in common usage?

texts:
I absolutely cringe when I read advertisements offering items "For Sell" rather than "For Sale."

I do not claim to have a good command of grammar, spelling, or appropriate American English usage.  I did work hard to acquire the limited skills I posses, and so it bothers me deeply when I regularly read "Sale" in place of "Sell" in ad.  What happened?  Why is this happening?


texts: Does "eschew" have negative connotations?

texts:
For example, in the sentence:

  He eschewed his father's profession.

does this have the implication that he found it somewhat repugnant, or does it just mean he decided it wasn't for him?


texts: Is a comma used when "like" is an approximation?

texts:
Given the following sentence:

  There were about a dozen of them.

if "like" is used instead of "about", what would be the correct way to write it?

There were, like, a dozen of them.
There were like a dozen of them.

Edit: Assume the speaker isn't pausing because "like" isn't being used as filler. It's being used to convey an approximation.


texts: Is there a specific for a voluntarily made monosyllabic sound from the mouth used to express humor/laughter/cynicism?

texts:
The sound I'm thinking of isn't so much a snort, it's not expelled from the nose, however, a sound used to express humor or amusement that doesn't quite hit the laughter threshold. I notice I do it and was trying to use it in writing. Normally it's a "T" sound or sometimes an "heh" as I expell a forceful puff of air. Usually I notice my tongue is pushed against the back of my upper front teeth, not touching my palate but don't know if that differs for people and it's more the action of air expulsion than type of sound?
Hopefully this makes sense, I've had issues here with people being mean on this site with legitmate questions so I hope I covered bases ok. Looking for a name for this or anything else relevent to it for descriptive purposes. Or is there a more universally accepted way to spell out the sounds that are lumped with this? I appreciate any insight!


texts: Should I use the definite or indefinite article in this case?

texts:
He tried to take a photograph of a beautiful butterfly which was
  flying past his left ear.

or

  He tried to take a photograph of the beautiful butterfly which was
  flying past his left ear.

Also, is "which was flying past his left ear" a restrictive or non-restrictive clause in this sentence? I feel like it could be presented either way. Can please somebody clarify these 2 points (a/the and restrictive/non-restrictive) in this particular case.


texts: Can answering questions on Stack Exchange sites be called volunteer work?

texts: Can the term "volunteer work" be applied to answering questions on Stack Exchange or Stack Overflow trilogy sites?


texts: Curious about “en-” and “-en” in the same word…

texts:
There’s a motorcycle part called the “enrichener.” To my ears, it sounds like the “en-” prefix and “-en” suffix (in the enrichen part of enrichener) are redundant.

Of course, there is also “enlighten” which follows the same “en- -en” pattern (and, before someone else mentions it, The Simpsons’ contribution to redundancy, “embiggen,” is closely related).

What, exactly, is going on with words formed with this kind of “circumfix?”


texts: Was the usage "Spaghetti were" ever acceptable or common?

texts: In W. Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence, there is a line about Dirk Stroeve which goes His spaghetti were …. Spaghetti is plural in Italian, but is this ever a normal usage in English? Spaghetti seems to be entrenched as an uncountable (mass) noun these days.


texts: What's the meaning of "when nothing is happening"?

texts:
http://www.book-ebooks.com/products/reading-epub/product-id/9586453/title/Irresistible.html?voet=02.03.2017&order=voedatz

The main text: Seventy-seven percent of eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds claimed that they reached for their phones before doing anything else when nothing is happening.


texts:
Is there a word or phrase (in particular)  that exactly give the meaning of the page coming after the next page.

For instance, I am reading a book at page 203, but someone suggests me to read the page 205 which comes after 204 [the next page]. Here, what phrase or a word can be used for the page 205 after the next page.

I by my observation found the following phrase to define this: second next page. As we say second last (usually to mean before the last). But unfortunately, no google search results shows this phrase: neither here nor here.
 The following picture might help what I am asking over here:

 The example sentence to consider:

  He suggested me to read a [page that comes after the next one].


texts: Terms for traversing time with direction to the past or with direction to the future?

texts:
Consider a collection of artworks ordered chronologically. I would like a term which describes moving through the collection from present to past and a term which describes moving through the collection from past to present.

Traverse meaning moving back and forth seemed to me an interesting starting point.

Retrospective is clearly a related term. However to my mind this means looking with a view to the past from the present. I would like to convey movement towards the past.

Chronological is also related.

Progressive is a candidate for describing moving from past to present, or perhaps even moving from present to past. Time is often described as progressing. However I'm not keen on the connotation of improvement which progression has. I would also like two opposable terms, one for a direction to the present and one for a direction to the past.

Retroverse is a candidate for describing moving from present to past, which I like. It seems to have some precedent. However what I image would be the complementary term, proverse, seems not to exist. What do any of you think about this, does retroverse seem like a suitable term to you? Can anybody think of a more suitable complement to retroverse than proverse? I'm considering using these terms despite proverse perhaps being made up.

Retrochronological perhaps could mean moving from present to past. Does this word exist? It seems a bit unwieldy, I prefer the flavour of retroverse. What would the compliment be? Perhaps simply chronological? Is there a better compliment to chronological than retrochronological? Would you consider retrochronological / chronological to be more proper than retroverse / proverse? Which pair do you prefer?

Can you imagine any other potential terms?

Many thanks for your help!


texts: What's the '[sic]' in Newton's quote about standing on giants?

texts:
I was going through this Wikipedia page and came across the following section:

Isaac Newton remarked in a letter to his rival Robert Hooke dated 5
February 1676 [O.S.][9] (15 February 1676 [N.S.]) that:
What Des-Cartes [sic] did was a good step. You have added many several ways, & especially in taking the colours of thin plates into philosophical consideration. If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders [sic] of Giants.

The [sic] in the last sentence confused me, what is the error in Newton's quote? I'm guessing Newton intended that giants have two shoulders, and that he was presumably standing with one foot on each shoulder, so it makes sense to use the plural "shoulders". I am not sure why "Giant" is capitalized, but I don't think that is the error due to the placement of the [sic].


texts:
I want to rephrase this:

  "No member in my group is pending to clear the certification".

May I say "No one is yet to be certified"?


texts:
Metonymy is often used in every day speech.
One of the examples of metonymy is to refer to the content by the container (ex: I drank a glass).
I was wondering if using the container to refer to the set that comprises the container and the content is considered a metonymy?
If not is there a word for it?


texts: Placing an article before or after an adjective

texts:
Why does the article change positions in the following?

such a good person

so good a person

Haven't been able to answer my student's question on this one, and if you change the adjectives to "very good", it becomes a very good person or so very good a person. I'm sure there must be a reason. :)


texts: Is there a term for a euphemistic term being used literally?

texts:
Is there a term for using a word that's often a euphemism to mean exactly what the word means?

For example, in Terry Pratchett's Discworld, what would the act of using the word "seamstress" to refer to someone who actually mends clothes, rather than someone who is a prostitute?


texts: Payable to the order of you or Payable to your order

texts: Which phrase is correct "Payable to the order of you" or "Payable to your order".


texts: 'office' or 'the office' in this context?

texts:
Here are my constructions:

  Administration of office network infrastructure and implementation
  of new services
  Administration of the office network infrastructure and
  implementation of new services

So my question is, should I use 'the office' or 'office'?

P.S.
This is for use in a bullet-point list.


texts: Should it be written due date or date due?

texts:
Is it better to write:
Please pay by due date or
Please pay by date due?


texts: What is the difference between "Human brain" and "Human's brain"

texts:
Many times i get confused whether i should use 's with a noun or not. For example:

Engine parts or Engine's parts
Human brain or Human's brain
Wordpress plugin or Wordpress' plugin
Computer program or Computer's program etc.

I want to know why and when we use one or the other. What do you call such a group of words? Is it a phrase?
It should be noted that English is not my native language so pardon my ignorance.


texts: Move one position forward and one position back

texts:
Looking for a pair of words that compactly express the notion of moving one position forward, and one position backward.

I had thought to use "advance" for the first, as you might say a clock's second hand advances to the next position. But I'm having a hard time coming up with a corresponding word for the opposite direction. I had thought of regress, and recede and some others but they all seem to me to have a connotation of reverting to a previous state instead of simply moving in a rearward direction.

I think "recess" (as in astronomical "procession" / "recession") almost has the right flavor but that meaning of recess is not well known.

Context: This is for naming a pair of subroutines for navigating a list or array in a software system. One can advance one position in the array or <move backward> one position.


texts: Word for talking to a stranger with the purpose of befriending them

texts:
I'm looking to translate a word from my local dialect (Algerian) to English.
The exact word is dsara which means trying hard to talk to a stranger with the purpose of befriending them with no mutual feeling.
An example of this would be a taxi driver who tends to talk to his customers about personal things and try to befriend them quickly.
A typical response would be:

  "Hey am not your friend, just a customer so don't [missing word] me"

I hope I made my point clear


texts:
I've admired @BernieSanders' courage for 20 years and loved getting to know him this last year on the trail.    —Pete Buttigieg

It seems to mean "in the past twelve months" according to my research.


texts: What are questions like “why did the chicken cross the road” called?

texts:
What are questions like

  Why did the chicken cross the road?

called? I want to know if there is a particular term given to these type of questions.


texts: Supine - what is supine in English grammar?

texts:
Prompted by the use of a poster who obviously uses supine as a variant for to-infinitive I was really a bit annoyed about such confusion of terms, as supine is a term in Latin grammar for a rare verb form.

So I googled for supine and looked up the word in Oxford Dictionaries. They  have nothing about the use of supine /'su:pain/'sju:pain/ as a variant for to-infinitive.

Astonishingly en.wikipedia mentions that supine is sometimes used for to-infinitive, but only when it is used in subject position. I have the impression wikipedia has digged up a term that was last used a hundred years ago. Wikipedia has a preference for rare grammar terms.

As I said this is my impression. But I would like to hear views of members of this forum. The term is not listed in the register of Oxford Guide to English Grammar nor of Longman English Grammar.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/supine

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supine


texts:
Why is the following sentence wrong?

  Usually we grow vegetables in our garden but this year we don't?

Since the simple present shows habitual behavior, can we show an exception to the habit also in the simple present? From my perspective, to say "this year we didn't, or this year we won't" makes perfect sense and sounds correct. I am looking to find a rule, or exception, that would make this clear for a student.

Is there a rule that makes this incorrect?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase - "the world over"?

texts: The phrase "the world over" was used in an article from The Economist. I'm curious to know its origin.


texts: I work at Microsoft or I work in Microsoft?

texts:
Which of these is correct and why?

I work at Microsoft
I work in Microsoft

I've seen 'at' everywhere but nobody uses 'in'. Why?


texts: 'Liege' seems to most often refer to a man.  Is that because most lords in history and fiction are men, or because 'liege' is a masculine noun?  If the latter, is there a feminine counterpart?


texts: I find myself confusing 'physician' and 'physicist' occasionally. While I know what they both mean, I am a little confused as to the use of 'physics' in 'physician'. How did the term 'physician' come to be used the way it is meant today? Lucky coincidence?


texts:
I've been thinking about the following pattern for some time:

Linseed oil... soaks into the (visible and microscopic) pores

When I was a kid, this wasn't the way I was taught to use parentheses: they go after an idea, and explain it further. Yet it makes perfect sense--"visible and microscopic" is an aside, explaining details.

Is this the right punctuation? Is it informal, or only acceptable in technical writing? My gut says brackets might be more correct, but I can't justify it:

Linseed oil... soaks into the [visible and microscopic] pores


texts:
What does this sentence mean?

  Explore how Lee's writing here vividly conveys to you the drama in the courtroom.


texts:
Metaphor is a deep thing, it's very hard to discern the presence of which.

When I very learned the term. All I was is "no 'like or as'". Typically you say "is" to connect one thing to the other (which if I remember correctly are called "tenor" and "vehicle"), but a metaphor isn't really limited to it.

Now here are some examples, I am uncertain whether which are metaphors.

  Book makes a great gift. (Whether books are great gifts)
  The dance revolution was fought on many fronts, but the key battle took place at Vermont's Bennington College. ( dance revolution is a war? Anything else?)


texts: closing words for e-mail to person with incurable disease

texts:
What kind of closing words as an alternative to

  We wish you full and quick recovery

can be used in a formal letter when writing to a person with an incurable disease.

  I/We wish you all the best for a good and efficient treatment so that you can continue your personal and private projects for a long time

Is something like this appropriate?

Thanks, B.


texts: What do you call a poem or song that sets up a rhyme and then ignores it?

texts:
Here is a line from the song "Popular" in the musical Wicked. I am trying to explain what we call the anticlimax of the last three lines, where a rhyme is expected but not delivered.

  When I see depressing creatures/
  With unprepossessing features/
  I remind them on their own behalf/
  To think of/
  Celebrated heads of state or/
  Specially great communicators/
  Did they have brains or knowledge?/
  Don't make me laugh!He,he!/
  They were popular!

Is there a term for the rhyme scheme where we (arguably) expect knowledge to be rhymed with "college"?

Another example:

  Roses are red/Violets are blue/Sugar is sweet/And so am I

The comedic effect of that poem is in the anticlimax of the final line. Is there a term for that anticlimax created from an unmade rhyme?


texts:
This has been bothering me for the last day or so.

Would you say:

  "I have a mind to send him a strongly-worded letter, just to see if he can read five words of it."

Or:

  "I have a mind to send him a strongly-worded letter, just to see if he can read five words in it."

Personally, I am leaning toward "of," but have come here to see if others agree with me. Thanks!


texts: i don't understand why the sentence is wrong

texts:
both of these sentences sound correct to me:
1) He wants to know what she said;
2) He wants to know what did she say.
Why the second one is wrong?


texts: What's the correct way of using hyphens while wrting time with words (e.g. 7:20)?

texts:
Really confused with how hyphens must be used in the following examples:

7:20 - "seven twenty" or "seven-twenty"?

7:25 - "seven twenty-five" or "seven-twenty-five"?


texts:
Is this sentence sarcastic or sardonic?

"But that, as far as I can tell, is not my point." (from Dave Barry's "Lost in the Kitchen")


texts: How to write when you're comparing dates

texts:
I want to express in a technical specification document the outcome when comparing two dates. In programming language I can simply say if DateA is smaller than DateB but when translating this to regular language I'm not sure how this is written in English (not my main language).

For some reason saying that

  DateA is earlier than DateB

sounds strange to me. That's how I currently have it written.

Thanks!


texts: "Is used" vs. "has been used" vs. "was used"

texts:
I have three sentences of which I'm not sure which one is grammatical, and why.

It refers to the Eiffel Tower.

  It is used as the symbol of Paris and of France for over a century.
  It was used as the symbol of Paris and of France for over a century.
  It has been used as the symbol of Paris and of France for over a century.


texts: Sentence analysis for "Who would it benefit you to know, or what type of person would it benefit you to know to grow your business"

texts:
On a rather big (and I guess copy-edited) blog by Chris Brogan, I read this:

  Who would it benefit you to know, or what type of person would it benefit you to know to grow your business.

And I cannot fathom it. I do understand the meaning out of context but I am at loss when it comes to analyzing the whole thing. I guess the "normalized" version would be

  It benefits me to do something

which is incredibly German-sounding to my ears. If this is the underlying phrasing then I still don't understand the function of "it" in the question.

What grammatical function does the "it" have? Is it an object or a subject or a predicate nominative or even an explicative? And also,
Shouldn't the question word be "whom"?


texts: What is the difference between totally agree and completely agree? In other words, what is the difference in meaning between totally and completely in such combinations in conversations?


texts: Is there a word that means "full of spiders"?

texts: I'm just wondering if there exists such a word that means "full of spiders"?


texts:
Sometimes people use the word "satisfied" in the following manner:

  I don't have what I want, but I have all that I need, so I am satisfied with everything in my life.

In the case above, is the person said to be "completely satisfied" with everything in his life?

If you are "completely satisfied" with your life, for instance, then you don't want anything more than what you have because you already have everything you want?


texts: Word that describes a word which isn't normally used in an everyday conversation

texts:
I remember there was a word which describes a word which isn't normally used in an everyday conversation. Ironically, that word isn't normally used in an everyday conversation.

It's an adjective. In a sentence:

  That word is ??????, you don't see it often.

I can distinctly remember that it is used to specifically describe words (and not general events, knowledge etc). A word which is rare/exquisite and isn't seen very often.

What is a word that describes that? I remember it was quite the highbrow word.


texts: What's the correct way to parse this sentence structure?

texts:
Consider the prototypical sentence:

  Let us get back to me watching TV.

What's the correct breakdown of each piece of this sentence? I was trying to use this as an example of why the correct pluralization of the object should be, e.g.,

  Let us get back to John and me watching TV.

vs.

  Let us get back to John and I watching TV.

I realized that I was not actually sure of the correct way to parse the sentence and I was relying on the logic that "me" should become "John and me" rather than "John and I" but I could not come up with the correct grammatical argument. It seems that the prepositional phrase "back to" takes an object and so the objective form "me" is invoked. What's the explanation for the prepositional phrase requiring an object in this case, though?

Edit: Some comments take issue with my example sentence. Consider instead, then:

  Let us returen to discussing me watching TV.


texts: Placement of adverb with gerund-participle that is the object of a preposition

texts:
I have a rather fussy grammar question, and I'm having a hard time finding out whether there even is a rule that applies here. Even describing the structure correctly is a bit of a challenge.

The sentence in question is this:

  Current data collection practices in the country hardly inspire confidence, with personal information regularly being shared among different parties without the knowledge of customers.

This sentence comes from a test of English grammar used in certain countries for English language learners. (For what it's worth, the credited answer, according to the test, is that the sentence contains no error.) I have ended up in a discussion with a grammar teacher over the placement of the word "regularly".

The question is this: is there any standard rule addressing the difference between

  ...information regularly being shared...

and

  ...information being regularly shared....

I should clarify exactly what I am asking, and what I am not asking.

My question(s)

Is there any specific rule in a standard English grammar reference (US- and/or UK-based) that addresses this issue? Ideally, a citation to a dusty old grammar reference could be provided. That would somehow be an ideal answer.
How exactly does one analyze this structure in the first place?
(Bonus) Is anyone brave enough to diagram this beast? :D

Regarding question 2, I'm seeing a preposition (with), whose object is everything that comes after it. Stripping off all inessential pieces, I get "information being shared" as the bare-bones object of the preposition. What, precisely, is that construction? It must be a gerund phrase, but what is "shared" doing in there, exactly? Is is a participial adjective, completing the linking gerund "being"? Is there something passive about the construction? A lot is going on here!

Anyway...

Not my question(s)

Which version do speakers prefer/which is more natural? I don't mind comments addressing this point, but they will not help with what I'm asking.
Any philosophical/sociological points about prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar. That's a different conversation, and I know where I stand on those questions. This is just an instance of two people grammar-geeking out because we can.
How you might rephrase the sentence to avoid this matter. That's neat and all, but again, I'm just trying to find out whether any of the standard prescriptive grammar books address this very particular issue, and if so, what do they say.


texts: What English homophone corresponds to 'oise salon'?

texts:
This is something of a fringe question. I hope it's considered on-topic.

There have been two books published which purport to be French poetry. The joke is that when read aloud, the poetry sounds, with some artistic license, like well-known English texts.

The first book is 'Mots D'Heures: Gousses, Rames', which 'translates' to 'Mother Goose rhymes'.

The other book is 'Guillaume Chequespierre and the Oise Salon'. I can't work out what English phrase could be meant.

What is the English almost-homophone for 'Oise Salon'?

EDIT: From the front pages of the book. This lends credibility to mplungjan's answer.


texts: Proper usage of passive voice in the literature survey of scientific article

texts:
I want to write following sentence in the literature survey of scientific research paper in the Mathematics field.

  Author A and B proposed a convergent iterative method for computing matrix inverse.
  Error bounds of the method were/are also obtained by them. Necessary and sufficient conditions for convergence were/are also proved.

I often got confused about using were/are in such sentences as above. Please clear my doubt.


texts: I invite X and Y to add "their" or "your"

texts:
Which is correct:

  I invite X and Y to add their presentations to the repository.

or

  I invite X and Y to add your presentations to the repository.

X and Y are personal names.


texts: Is there an English word for non-vegetable fruits?

texts:
Is there an English word or phrase that describes the category of fruits that are not vegetables, i.e., that are sweet and mostly used as dessert? For example, apples and berries should be included, but tomatoes and bell peppers not.

In German, this is called Obst, in Spanish it is fruta. This article describes the difference to the English word fruit quite well. But I did not find any statement if there is or has been an English word for it.


texts: Can the word 'slab' be used to mean 'range'? For example, distance slab and weight slab (in technical specifications), income tax slab

texts: In Merriam-Webster dictionary, none of the meaning of 'slab' is 'range'. But slab is also used to mean range in India. For example, limit X1 for weight slab 10-20kg, limit X2 for slab 20-30 kg.


texts: What is the difference between "appropriate" and "suitable"?


texts: Is there an adjective for people who prefer seeing diagrams rather than reading words?

texts: I have a friend who prefer seeing diagrams rather than reading words. Is there an adjective to represent his character?


texts: Word for compound event: "At least one of these events will happen"

texts:
Over on Math.stackexchange I was discussing probability jargon. Typically the events considered in probability theory are constructed from other, simpler events by a series of unions, intersections, and complements, which have the following meanings:

Complement of event A: "Event A does not happen"

Intersection of events A and B: "Events A and B both happen"

Union of events A and B: "At least one of the events A, B happens"

The existing jargon to describe these is imperfect for events. Although opposite for complement and coincidence for intersection work well, I had trouble finding a good event-based name for union:

The union of two events, though, is harder to come up with a good informal name for. Terms like umbrella, compass, ambit, scope, range, orbit, menu which describe a list of possible selections sound weird when phrased as events that happen: "the umbrella of A or B happens if..." I thought of terms like participation, intervention, intrusion, inclusion, but these all have (literally) unwanted overtones and/or make the events sound personified in a weird way. Occurrence and instance sound better to describe "at least one of these events happens" but have the drawback that they apply to single events; there's no necessary reason for them to apply to a union of multiple events. Concurrence sounds like another description for intersection, as does conjunction, which is too jargony. Disjunction is also too jargony and sounds like "A or B but not both". Option and choice imply that someone in particular is picking which event happens.

The least-bad idea that I came up with for union is alternative: the alternative of A or B happens iff at least one of A, B happens. Could not be used as a verb ("A or B alternate"??) but implies two or more possibilities without also implying that someone is picking which event happens, or that the events are like people "participating" or "intruding". Does anyone have a better one?

So I put it to you: what's a relatively informal, single-word English expression for "the event where at least one of this group of events takes place?"


texts: Term to describe a collection of expenses you didn't think of

texts:
When making out a expense chart for example I know there is a term (as I have seen it before) where you can put it in for expenses that may come up that you initially didn't think of - it's not miscellaneous as that still describes items, just items that don't really need their own line item.

Does anyone know the term I am talking about?


texts: What is the meaning of "six ways from Sunday"?

texts:
This is a line from the book Test Driven Development by Kent Beck:

  Fortunately, we are well rested and relaxed and unlikely to make
  mistakes, which is why we will go in teeny-tiny steps, verifying
  every- thing six ways from Sunday.

What does six ways from Sunday mean? Also, has the meaning changed over time? And are there any variant forms of the expression?


texts:
Consider the two sentences

John taught himself calculus.
John taught himself.

In the first sentence 'himself' is the indirect object and 'calculus' is the direct object.  In the second sentence, does 'himself' become the direct object?
An interesting observation:
If we drop the direct object from

John gave himself a massage.

We get 'John gave himself' which is not a grammatical sentence. Yet, we can drop 'calculus' in the above sentence, and still get a grammatical one. Furthermore, to both trimmed expressions, a listener can respond 'Taught himself what?" and "Gave himself what?" respectively. This is why I'm not sure whether 'himself' in the second sentence is a direct or indirect object.


texts:
When writing a presentation in portuguese, my native language, I sometimes include Pontos de Atenção which literally translates to Attention Points. Those are items (points) that one must pay attention to, otherwise the project/endeavor might fail.

It's something like a risk, but much less intense than that.

So, when designing presentations, how would you call a number of items that are important to the success of whatever you're talking about but are not yet to be considered risks?


texts:
What might be the meaning of the phrase "reserve of living"
The quotation comes from Maeve Gilmore's, A World Away.

  How foreign to the spirit's early beauty
  And to the amoral integrity of the mind
  And to all those whose reserve of living is lovely
  Are the tired creeds that can be so unkind
  [...]

It is this "reserve of living" what troubles me. I am not sure if "reserve of living" might mean "to keep one's living to oneself", in the sense of not living life as most people do, to remain uninvolved, to refrain from life...

PS. I am not a native speaker and I do not know what this "of" does to the "reserve".


texts:
Is there a word to describe a group of politicians and judges?
The best I came up with is "public figures" which is both too wide (there are lots of public figures which are not politicians or judges) and too long. Is there a single word grouping or describing politicians and judges?


texts:
When using range from with two examples, it could be:

  I should note that our current users range from juniors to graduates.

But when using three examples:

  I should note that our current users range from juniors, to seniors, to graduates.

It doesn't sound correct? What are the rules?


texts: A word for someone who doesn't put up a fight in a bad situation

texts: Any help would be appreciated. I'm trying to describe how the people in William Blakes' world don't do too much to break free from the control of the church and state


texts: Word for the belief people are incapable of being selfless.

texts: It's not nihilistic, I just can't remember. It is when you hold the belief that no one does something unless they benefit from it. The belief people are incapable of being selfless.


texts:
During the paper writing, a question came up into my mind: can abbreviations be used in these articles?

There are at least 2 kinds of abbreviations, one is the so-called terminologies(or jargons?) which are too verbose for us to write all the alphabeta in the words every time. Though some of them have already been well-known in daily life(e.g., MP3, PDF), for others we are told to use the full name of the phrase and add the abbreviation in a parenthesis as its first occurrence and then use them in the following paragraphs.

The other group is about those abbreviations that are more commonly used in informal situations, such "a.k.a", "e.g.".

Though several of them have already been used in a number of papers, like "e.g.", "et al", "etc", "i.e.", most of the cases I hesitate to use them in the papers or other academic articles. Is it suggested not to use them? Here are a few that I can think of.

a.k.a.
don't
doesn't
mustn't
won't


texts: Word Stress Within a Sentence: Adjectives

texts:
I read this in American accent book:

"Place full stress on an adjective if it's not followed by a noun. If it is followed by a noun, stress the noun more."

For example I have this phrase: Have a good time. [hæ_və gʊd taɪm]

The context is something like this:

I'm going to the party.
Okay. Have a good time.

I would like to know when a native speaker pronounce the phrase above, does it really put the stress on the noun? I imagine the stress pattern to be something like this.

ˌHave a good ˈtime  (low stress on have, higher stress on time) or

ˌHave a ˌgood ˈtime (low stress on have and good, higher stress on time)

Any suggestion would be appreciated. Thank you!


texts: Is there anything wrong with my interpretation of this sentence?

texts:
I'm not sure about the meaning of

  Flights arriving on Jet Green Air have been delayed intermittently.

This sentence is found on this website.

The following is my interpretation of this sentence:

Jet Green Air is a company.
Flights arriving on Jet Green Air refers to the company's flights that have arrived at this airport.
delayed intermittently means that some of the flights were delayed, some were not (Actually I'm not sure how delay can be intermittent).

Is there anything wrong with my interpretation?


texts: How should I punctuate around quotes where the punctuation required by the quote interferes with the punctuation of the sentence?

texts:
The American convention in quotations is (typically) to place punctuation inside quoted text. But I always run into situations where the punctuation of the quote interferes with the punctuation of the sentence. How would you punctuate this (American, non technical)?

  When my friends ask, "What do you want for your birthday?", I never know how to respond.

It seems odd to place the last comma outside the quote simply because of the question mark. Is that the preferred (i.e. most often accepted) standard?


texts: What's the relationship between various Oxford dictionaries? (OED vs ODO vs ODE vs NOAD)

texts:
Things I know so far:

The OED is the Oxford English Dictionary. It's widely regarded as the definitive record of the English language.
The ODE is the Oxford Dictionary of English, previously The New Oxford Dictionary of English (NODE).
The NOAD is the New Oxford American Dictionary.
The ODO is Oxford Dictionaries Online but has since been rebranded as Oxford Living Dictionaries. This might not be a separate dictionary and may be an umbrella term for the ODE and NOAD?

I believe all of these are published by Oxford University Press.

And I believe Google has licensed ODE and NOAD for its definitions. (And Apple and Microsoft too.)

I have a huge beef with those definitions so I'm trying to get clear on exactly which dictionary or dictionaries I'm complaining about and who publishes them.

PS: There's also the Oxford Dictionary of Current English. I haven't figured out yet if that's something distinct or another name for one of the ones above.

PPS: I think the OED and these other shoddy dictionaries are all published by Oxford University Press but are the same actual people responsible for them?

PPPS: More confusion to add to the mix:

Defunct OAD
Print: Oxford Dictionary of Current English
Print: Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
Print: New Oxford American Dictionary (Claims to be the most comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of current English. If this is the same as the online version of NOAD at OxfordDictionaries.com then that is lies. Is it the same?)
Print: Concise Oxford English Dictionary
Print: Canadian Oxford Dictionary


texts:
My site has a feature where users can buy, or they can obtain a code that will allow someone else to buy it for them.

The part of the page that lets the buyer input the code and gift the item to the user who gave them the code is labelled like this:

  ___ a Gift Code.

What can I put in the blank? Or is there a better label I can use?


texts:
It's a test question from my daughter's English teacher. Here is the question.

There are some other things for her birthday. ____ are apples, bananas and some toys.
A. They   B. These   C. That

I thinks the answer should be 'These', but the teacher said 'They' is correct. Is it wrong to use 'These' here? What's the difference?
Thanks.


texts: Meaning and origin of "dog whistle" (e.g., Trump's Assassination Dog Whistle)

texts:
The recent United States political cycle has been using the term "dog whistle" a lot. From a recent Rolling Stone headline:

  Trump's Assassination Dog Whistle Was Even Scarier Than You Think

And their article:

  Stated differently: Trump puts out the dog whistle knowing that some dog will hear it, even though he doesn't know which dog.

I assume that the meaning is something similar to double entendre where a statement can be interpreted a few different ways. But why use "dog whistle", specifically? And where did the term first originate?


texts: What was the crime described as "letting out of ponds" during Elizabethan England?

texts:
During Elizabethan England, "letting out of ponds" was a crime:

  In like sort in the word felony are many grievous crimes contained, as
  [...], stealing of whatsoever cattle, robbing by the high way, upon
  the sea, or of dwelling houses, letting out of ponds, cutting of
  purses, stealing of deer by night, counterfeits of coin, evidences
  charters, and writings, and divers other needless to be remembered.

   [source]

What does "letting out of ponds" mean?


texts:
What would be the correct usage to refer of a timesheet that was due on a previous pay period?

'...pay period ending on 5/01/2016'

or

'...pay period ending in 5/01/2016'.

I struggle a lot with in/on usage. I would appreciate some didactic knowledge in the correct usage for 'on/in' in your answer.


texts: Looking for a position "with a stable company" or "in a stable company"?

texts:
I would like to know which of the following is correct:

  I am looking for a position of Senior Developer with a stable company.
  I am looking for a position of Senior Developer in a stable company.

For instance, in the article "Job Interview Question: Why Are You Leaving Your Job?", the author — who is, as far as I understand, a native English speaker —, gives the following example:

  I am seeking a position with a stable company with room for growth and opportunity for advancement.

Here is another example at the website of the company Pacific Drilling (quote):

  How do I apply for a position with Pacific Drilling?

I just want to make sure, is the use of "with a company" the correct form for my example sentence?  Or maybe such usage is common in the US?

Would be highly interested to hear the opinion of native English speakers.

Edit: I emphasize, what is the correct/common form with respect to my particular sentence: "with" or "in"?

Of course, I know there are cases when you can use one or another.


texts: Conundrum: "cleverer" or "more clever", "simpler" or "more simple" etc

texts:
I know the rule for making the comparative and superlative form for two-syllable words ending in y, replace the -y with i and use -er and  -est:

hap.py → happier → (the) happiest
ti.dy → tidier → (the) tidiest
fun.ny → funnier → (the) funniest

Instead for two-syllable adjectives which do not end in -y, use more and most:

bor.ing → more boring
wor.ried → more worried
care.ful → more careful
tra.gic → more tragic

However, there are inexplicable exceptions: The Free Dictionary says the comparative and superlative form of clever is cleverer and cleverest. Yet to my ears

  He's more clever than I thought

sounds more formal and correct.

Google produces a total of 15 pages for “he is more clever than” and 16 pages for the contracted form,  “he's more clever than”. Similarly, Google yields 16 pages and 15 pages for “he's cleverer than” and “he is cleverer than” respectively, which suggests there is very little to choose between the two comparative forms.

Meanwhile, TFD insists that the comparative and superlative form of simple is  simpler and simplest. Google seems to concur and produces 17 pages for “it is simpler” compared to only 9 pages for “it is more simple”.

The two-syllable adjectives that I am aware of, which have both kinds of comparative and superlative forms are:

clever → cleverer/more clever → cleverest/(the) most clever
common → commoner/more common → commonest/(the) most common
gentle → gentler/more gentle → gentlest/(the) most gentle
humble → humbler/more humble (etc.)
hollow → hollower/more hollow
narrow → narrower/more narrow
polite → politer/more polite
quiet → quieter/more quiet
simple → simpler/more simple
stupid → stupider/more stupid
subtle → subtler/more subtle

Etymologically speaking, is there any explanation for this?  Is it a recent trend?  It seems to me that the number of two-syllable adjectives that add the suffix -er and -est are increasing.

And finally, is there a trick or rule which I can teach my advanced private students? With younger learners and beginners I teach the “rule” that I mentioned at the beginning—so much simpler! :)

EDIT  December 11, 2019

I shall never ever understand Google's algorithms and how they produce their statistics. In the end, for the sake of clarity, the number of results have been substituted and updated with the number of pages each search produced.


texts: Why can't "being" come after the verb "feel"?

texts:
The question is completely edited.

  *I felt being dragged by a beast.

The word being cannot be used here, and that's for sure. It sounds wrong. What I am trying to find here is why it is wrong. Well, it seems possible to say "I felt dragged by beast". As you all know, dragged is a participle phrase. Past participle. So, why is it not possible to use present participle "being", if we are able to use the past participle here? What is the grammar rule that prevents it? I've read some of Tim Romano's comments below, but could not fully understand it. Is it different from other participle phrases? Any type of examples, sources, references, etc. would be greatly appreciated.


texts: I have been wondering recently if there are any Pronunciation "Easter Eggs" in the English language (not unlike how "Ghoti" is pronounced like "Fish"). Are there any others? Please provide phonetic proof if you claim so.


texts: "The missing ingredient in your recipe" or "The ingredient missing in your recipe"?

texts:
I'm currently creating a slogan for a company and I'm struggling to decide on how to formulate it.

I would really appreciate some feedback as to which option sounds more "natural" and is grammatically correct (sample sentence below):

  Cinnamon : the missing ingredient in your recipe.

or

  Cinnamon : the ingredient missing in your recipe.


texts: Cardinal or ordinal numbers when the word "number" is used

texts:
In the sentence "He was number three to finish the race", is the word "three" an ordinal or cardinal number?

My gut reaction is that it's a cardinal number, but I'm having a hard time arguing for it.


texts:
Where did this term originate from? According to Etymonline.com, it originates from  O.E. eaca, which means to "increase". However, I can't see how the "n" got stuck in there too.

Does anyone have any relevant information?


texts: What is the grammatical function of this 'action' in this sentence?

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I read a sentence from the economist

Fed also propped up the corporate-bond market, action it had shied away from during the financial crisis a decade earlier.

Although I know the meaning of the sentence,I can't understand the grammatical function of the 'action'.At first, I thought it was an Appositive or Complement.Then I realized that appositive and complement can only supplement or replace the noun component, but can not explain the predicate component.In meaning, the action refers to the preceding predicate action——propping up.But as far as I am concerned, no word appears for no reason and always needs to be used as a grammatical element. It can only be subject, predicate, object, adverbial, attribute or appositive.So I hope you can help me to explain the grammatical function of this word action.Thank you!


texts: What is the difference between reference and deference? Is it true that it could be that reference is giving respect or showing respect, which means that reference could mean deference? Deference's meaning is what I don't get.


texts: What is the difference between "by contrast" and "in contrast?"

texts: Can anyone explain the difference between by contrast and in contrast?


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I see this cropping up more frequently, particularly in legal discussions. My understanding was that OR included both logical clauses of AND and OR.

Has it become necessary to specify "and/or" vs. plainly "or"?


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The opposite of like is dislike. The opposite of assemble is disassemble. So here, “dis” is a prefix that acts as a negation.
Why is the opposite of “I’m disappointed in you” not “I’m appointed in you”? Is the “dis” actually a prefix or not?


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What is the meaning of the name April? Any ideas?

I have a friend who wants to know the meaning of her name.


texts: How common is it to use the present tense when speaking of deceased persons?

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In my native language (not English) it is customary to use the past tense when speaking of properties and (posthumous) actions of deceased persons.

But in English, I occasionally encounter statements like: "[A. A. Milne] is the father of bookseller Christopher Robin Milne [...]" (from the Wikipedia article on A. A. Milne; my emphasis). Both A. A. Milne and his son are no longer with us, by the way.

Is this standard practice, an idiosyncrasy of certain writers, or simply a common error? In any case, the present tense for dead people mildly irritates me, but perhaps that's unreasonable.


texts: Difference between "understood that to be" and "understood that as"

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If both sentences below are grammatically correct, are there any differences between them?

(1) I understood that as your question.

(2) I understood that to be your question.