texts: Are articles exactly even required for English language?

texts:
My native language is Finnish that doesn't exactly have articles. It has never felt like limitation. This why it has been hard to understand why there is need for the articles. I feel like I'm just using huge amount of time for trying to remember grammar rules. Like when to use articles and when to not while not gaining any benefit from it.

EDIT:

Obviously, I understand that the rules say they must be there (Because I already said so). My question is this:

What bang do speakers get for their buck in English, for using articles—when so many languages don't have them at all?


texts: What does it mean to say, "Everyone in this city has 2.1 kids"? Is this an idiom?


texts: What's the meaning of this sentence? "Don't grind your pearls"

texts:
In the first episode of Barkskins (France circa 1600s), an immigrant is watching a carriage full of women. then his master tells him "Do not grind your pearls"

He answers "Come on, they are beautiful"

And then his master replies "They are the king's, not of your station. It is men like myself who will have a wife to fill this land with sons and daughters."

Does anybody know what does "Do not grind your pearls" mean?


texts:
Here is such a sentence on a workbook for middle-school students in China:

  Because they think taking too much car is bad for the environment.

I suspect the use of “taking too much car” here is Chinglish and would not be acceptable to native English speakers.

But another Chinese teacher said that the noun car here could be understood as an abstract noun, and therefore could be modified by too much.

So I wonder what you native speakers  think of the sentence. Do English-speaking people speak that way?


texts: What are the differences between "ghost", "phantom", "wraith" and even "haunter"?

texts:
I think that "ghost" refers to just a "spirit of someone who just died randomly". In superstitious/religious/occultist circles, I think that this is the word that would be used to refer to some random folk that just died, and that for some reason became "communicable" or "visible" in our "reality of the living".

I see "phantom" as a "non-random-ghost". I mean, a more serious and well-known subject, for example: "Do you mean the phantom of THE princess who died in THAT castle in THAT century?" (And therefore it's "more known" and more frequent in legends or whatever).

I see "wraith" as something similar to a phantom, but less well-known and that for some reason just became "visible" (Not communicable).

And "haunter", just a ghost (random human) who insists to stay in one specific place due to some traumatic death or whatever.

What do you think about it? I would really like to know your answers for this.


texts: Is the following ungrammatical expression common in speech?

texts:
Don't be ashamed. It was cute, like a shy teenager.

I'm not very sure if this is a grammatical mistake, but I think the correct version would look like this:

  Don't be ashamed. It was cute, you were/acted like a shy teenager.

Is this a common mistake/omission in speech (by native English speakers)?


texts:
What is the meaning of this phrase?

I'm all the wiser for the many wrongs I've done.

This is from Armin Van Buuren's Take A Moment song.

Wise - having or showing experience, knowledge, and good judgment.
Wiser - adjective.

Particularly, I'm confused with the form I'm all the wiser — I've never heard someone saying I'm all the [something].


texts: "She lay inert in her bed"—is this sentence right?

texts:
She lay inert in her bed.

I found this sentence by Googling "inert". As "inert" is an adjective word, I think using "inert" to describe the verb "lay" is not correct. Is this sentence grammatically correct?


texts:
When I submitted my Sociology M.Phil study proposal, the adviser wrote in the comments section:

  Very good in theory, not at all very good in practice.

That sounds odd. What creates dissonance is the juxtaposition of "not at all" and "very good" which are opposite in meaning to each other.
I suppose "not very good", "not so good" or "not at all good" would have been more typical constructions.

Research done: I Googled the exact phrase and found a few examples, usually in reviews. It's definitely not commonly used.

Recent example:

  [...] I am not at all very good at this game as many here like to point out [...]

from http://forum-console.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/204294-high-win-rate-gaming-the-system/page__st__20

Another recent example for "not at all very":

  [...] the way they treat their workers is completely unfair and not at all very professional [...]

Source: https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Gms-Mine-Repair-&-Maintenance/reviews

Is "not at all very good" correct usage? Also, how should it be logically interpreted on an arbitrary 6-point scale of quality from 'very good' through 'good', 'not very good', 'not at all very good', and 'not good' (I am not sure those 4 points are sequential) to 'not at all good' which basically means 'bad'? Please give your reasons why or why not and try to support them with adequate references to avoid any objection of being "primarily opinion based."

Note: I am not sure I used the appropriate tag. Please advise or edit.


texts:
"the new design allows a single car to be used as both truck and bus"

"two people can use a single computer at the same time"

Can a single thing used like that to emphasize that only one thing is used (formally)? Or should I say "two people can use one computer at the same time"


texts:
I am reading a paper and was confused about how exactly the commas should be used in the following phrase:

  Additionally, if the sensor is housed in a metal pod the readings can be near useless.

Does it make more sense to place a comma after "pod"? Like so:

  Additionally, if the sensor is housed in a metal pod, the readings can be near useless.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say ( can I kindly bring your attention to .... )?

texts: Is it grammatically correct the position of the adverb in the following question ( can I kindly bring your attention to .... ) ?


texts: What's the appropriate word for "ending a streak"?

texts:
I'm looking for the verb that best fits this situation.

  You promise yourself not to eat chocolate for 7 days. However, on the fifth day, you eat it. You could say you interrupted the streak.

Is there a more elegant and appropriate word to replace interrupted in the sentence above?


texts: What does "He is one of the greatest writers if not the greatest writer" mean?

texts:
He is one of the greatest writers if not the greatest writer

What does it mean? I am confused and cannot understand it.
Please help me


texts: 2 forms of past participle with different meanings

texts: I'm looking for more examples similar to this: "hanged vs. hung", namely the examples where both forms are correct but the meaning of each one is different. Can anyone help?


texts: What is a word that means pitches above (or below) the range of human perception?

texts: See the title. This would be analogous to "ultraviolet" and "infrared" for color.


texts: the meaning of 'tote bag' in the context

texts:
The passage below comes from a book, What The F.
The author says this when announcers make speech errors.

“Come on, step up your game! This is public radio! You don’t think I donated just for the tote bag, do you?”

In this I cannot figure out what the tote bag means in this context.
I know its literal meaning but that meaning doesn't make any sense in this sentence.


texts: Meaning of "up" and "off" in "I live up north off some_region"

texts:
I am only familiar with sentences like

  I live in New York
      I live on the north side of New York

I guess

  I live up north off some_region.

means the place I live in is a little bit northern than some_region.

Do the following sentences make sense, too and mean the same thing?

  I live north off some_region.
      I live up north of some_region.
      I live north of some_region.


texts:
Which of the following is grammatically correct?

  It is important that the bandwidth, which controls the function, be allowed to vary...

or

  It is important that the bandwidth, which controls the function, is allowed to vary...

Should the word "is" or the word "be" be used in this sentence? Why?

(I originally had it written one way, and I was advised by peer-review to change it to the other.  The meanings seem the same to me, and in fact both grammatically correct.  But given the change was suggested, I assume I was in error.)


texts:
I want to be sure of the meaning to "dedication" and "dedicated to" phrases.

I am sure about the inscription meaning, but I want to ask a specific question:

Can someone be "dedicating their comments (positive or negative)" to "some others' activity or thoughts in any form"?

I mean, is there any degree of similarity between "to dedicate" and "to comment on" ?

This is the lastest place to make any English mistake :) Sorry if any exists above.

Edit: I am trying to establish a web site, which will let users to comment on things they see while surfing the net. I am interested in a domain name containing the word "dedication" but I couldn't be sure whether a comment on a video or an article can be said to be "dedicated to" that subject.


texts: Is there a single word that denotes the meaning "without any mistakes", or "without any errors?


texts: "has changed" or "had changed" or "was changed"?

texts:
If I want to say

  Let's check if the entry ____, and do this and that if so.

which one should I use?

has changed
had changed
was changed
has been changed

And an explanation would be great!


texts:
I had a notion that cot is the wooden (Steel) frame where the bed lies.

But recenlty I came to know it isn't. Cot is for a baby? And bed is the whole thing that we sleep. Correct me if I am wrong. So what can you call the bed frame alone? Again a bed?


texts: Capitalization when referring to two titles jointly

texts: Is the combination of the Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen and the Task Force on Techno-Economic Issues either (a) the task forces on reactive nitrogen and techno-economic issues, or (b) the Task Forces on Reactive Nitrogen and Techo-Economic Issues?


texts: Why "house" /haʊs/, but "houses" /ˈhaʊzɪz/? "s" changes to "z"?

texts:
OK, "house" /haʊs/, but "houses" /ˈhaʊzɪz/ Source

Why does "s" changes to "z"? I thought it should be /ˈhaʊsɪz/.


texts: Alternate, archaic meanings of "such as"

texts:
such as {prepositional phrase} = 1. For example
  2. Of a kind that; like
   3. (archaic) Those who

I tolerate and so ask NOT about 1 above. Despite this dated 2014 Nov 30 and this dated 2013 Oct 23, I still can't relate definitions 2 and 3 above to 1? Please explain how? What are some intuitive derivations of 2 and 3 that help to remember their meaning?  I heed the Etymological Fallacy.


texts: Doubt between two similar-looking simple sentences

texts:
I was just wondering what the difference is between these sentences:

Instruments are to be machined...
Instruments have to be machined...

I would be highly glad if anyone helps by giving intellectual reasoning of the difference.


texts:
My teacher said "Are you one of my students?".

Can I reply with " Fortunately, and I am glad to be so".

?

Another queation about English accent.
English don't pronounce the letter R when it is followed by a constant, but they do pronounce it when it is followed by a vowel letter.

Will they pronounce it if it is in the end of the word but the next word starts with a vowel sound?

Thank you in advance.


texts:
I am a high school student. While doing my weekly assignment, I came across a question which asks me to write in active voice

  Have they been told to be ready?

Can anyone help me out with this one?


texts: Undescriptive, indescriptive, nondescript or indescript?

texts:
I was hoping to use a word which means something is not descriptive.
(In this case it was an error message which provided too little information.  It just said "Operation Failed".)
My spellchecker complained when I tried to use the words 'undescriptive' and 'indescriptive', and the definitions of 'nondescript' and 'indescript' did not sound quite right.

So which is the best word to use to mean "not descriptive" or "lacking description"?
And what are the difference or similarities between the four words I have mentioned?


texts:
I'm looking for an alternative to the term "about me".

It's for a navigation entry on a website and I'm tired to see "about me" everywhere on the web.

As I'm not native speaking english (german) it is quite difficult to find another term. Even though in german it is not easy to find one.

Any ideas?

EDIT

The question mentioned in the "This is a duplicate" section "Another word for the “about” section of a personal website" is different. What I'm looking for are synonyms, other words for the meananing of "about me". I just mentioned the website navigation to make clear that it's not used in a entence or text.


texts: Difference between "estimation" and "evaluation"?

texts:
I know they have different meanings, as I can find both in some texts, where they are not considered as synonyms. I give an example, but my question is not limited to this example.

  We then contrast the predictions of this price image model with the
  predictions of reference price models in four domains: price
  evaluation, price estimation, choice, and inference making... Source

My question is:

What is the difference between "estimate/estimation" and "evaluating/evaluation".

What is the difference when I talk about prices?


texts: Synonym for: It may take longer than expected (ie. a meeting)

texts:
For instance:

  I have a meeting today that is scheduled until 15h00 but it may take longer.

In dutch we would say: Het kan uitlopen.

How would I say this?


texts:
If someone says "Fifteen divided by half", I would interpret that literally to mean 15/0.5, or 30. However, I usually see it interpreted as 15/2, or 7.5.

Which interpretation is correct?


texts: What is a word for granularity that spans the entire range?

texts:
Background

I want customers to be able to construct and view a histogram. There are two inputs I need for this histogram: interval, which defines the total date range for the diagram, and granularity, which defines the scope of each bar of the histogram.

Example granularities include, daily, monthly, yearly and so on.

Question

What is a word for granularity that spans the entire interval?

To clarify, this would mean that there is only one bar in the histogram.

Less than perfect answers

Possibilities include unbounded, all, total, aggregate, and everything.

Update

To clarify, this makes sense outside of the context of a histogram as well.

For example, you might ask a friend "How was average attendance in your class this year?"

They might ask back, "At what granularity?" (Or maybe there is a better way to ask this, but it escapes me.)

"Semester."

"Well, the the Fall semester was great. Almost everyone attended all the time. 95%. Spring, however, is another story. An abysmal 45%."

Alternatively, you might have answered back, "Everything." In which case, your friend may have responded, "Overall, it wasn't great. About 70%."

This response of "Everything." is the word or phrase I am looking for. A word referring to the granularity that spans an entire range.


texts: Name of the quality of the bad sound that you have in Skype

texts:
When you talk through the internet by using some programs like Skype or Hangout, the quality of the sound may not be good. What is the name of that quality? There are some idea in my mind, but I don't really satiate with:

Bad quality: It's not wrong, but it may not describe that quality exactly.
Noised, lagged and not cleared: more specific, but it's too long.

I have tried to search on the Skype's Speakers/Headphones Troubleshooter page, but they don't contain the word I'm looking.


texts: Is there a phrase meaning that we do not want to talk about something regrettable that we wish to forget?

texts:
In italian we say:

  stendiamo un velo pietoso

when do not want to talk about something regrettable or embarrassing that we wish to forget.

How can I translate it in english?


texts: What is a word for when someone likes bodily harm done to oneself.

texts: What word would work for someone who likes to be hurt by other people? Physically, like it may even be a turn on.


texts: Does this phrase take an adverbial or adjective role?

texts:
"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his
  half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous
  before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even
  remember! Can’t you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away
  from all that until he's ready to take it?" (Harry Potter and the
  Sorcerer's Stone)

Does the participial phrase take an adverbial role implying the cause of him being better off, or adjective role modifying ‘he’?


texts: I'm looking for a word that implies that someone can do a lot with a little

texts:
To be more specific, I'm working on an MMO where players can pick different prophecies when creating their character.

This specific prophecy will limit players to only wearing common items with few stats on them (as opposed to epic or legendary items with 4 or 5 stats).

So the word needs to describe someone who makes the best of this situation.

So far, 'efficient' and 'resourceful' are the best ones I've been able to come up with but there's this little voice in the back of my head that's trying to remind me of a better one.

EDIT: Thanks so much for everyone's input. You gave me some great ideas and guided me in the direction I needed to go. In the end, the contenders were 'Scrounger', 'Resourceful' and lastly, 'Austere' which I decided to go with.


texts:
I am writing an article and want to simplify the content by avoiding repeating a long sentence to represent a waiting period between 2 consecutive harvests.

What is the terminology of the waiting period between two successive harvests?

Any activities are allowed during the waiting period, whether the plant is growing, or anything else.


texts: When should I add "The" and when is it ok to drop it?

texts:
I'm developing a messaging platform for a new foundation. Let's say, their name is "The ABCD Foundation."
I'm trying to craft some guidelines about when they should refer to themselves as "ABCD" and when as "The ABCD Foundation." I'm trying to explain why it varies, and I'm not sure what grammatical principle I should reference.

For example: "The ABCD Foundation was established by..." seems more correct than "ABCD was established by" BUT "decades of experience have equipped ABCD's team with" sounds fine and "decades of experience have equipped The ABCD Foundation's team with" sounds too long.

In addition to attempting to keep some consistency, I feel there is a correct and incorrect way of doing this. Maybe I'm wrong? Any help would be appreciated!


texts:
It is common to use proper names as adjectives. However, the right use is not always clear to me. To illustrate the question, I'm considering the examples below:

In Newton's theory, objects have mass.
In the Newton theory, objects have mass.
In Newton theory, objects have mass.

According to me, 1. and 2. are correct, above. I am not sure about 3. Are there systematic rules on this matter? Also, there might be additional difficulties when a sentence is started with the proper name:

Newton theory was developed...
The Newton theory was developed...

I am undecided. We could also have an additional adjective as follows:

The preferred Newton assumptions are...
Preferred Newton's assumptions are...

Not to be confused with Newton's preferred assumptions.

[EDIT] What happens when two proper names are combined, with for instance, something like:

In the Lebesgue-Kolmogorov theory
In Lebesgue-Kolmogorov's theory


texts:
The common usage I have been exposed to is that punctuation should only be in a quotation if it’s contained in the original source. So what if your quotation ends in a period and your quotation is also the end of your sentence. Do you need two periods?

I asked my son to visit his grandma; however, he said, “No, I won’t go.”.

Is the above correct?


texts:
In logarithms, a decade is a range of values from N up to 1o×N.

What term should be used to describe a range from N to 2×N, when using binary numbers?

A musical octave covers such a range of audible frequencies, but that term is probably too foreign.

Googling "binade" turns up a Wikipedia page, but also evidence that it's not a real word, but rather a neologism that's happened to get coined a few times.

I feel like I'm forgetting something from engineering school.


texts: Can anyone suggest any good resources describing the grammar of traditional Somerset English (not accented standard English)? The Wikipedia article for the West Country dialects provides a good introduction, but I am looking for sources that go into greater depth regarding the grammatical differences between Somerset and standard English.


texts: How do you describe states of a change while the change is in progress?

texts:
For simplicity I will give an example.
I have a document with a title and my boss asked me to update it.
Before the change happened I would call the titles "current title" and "future title".
After the change happened, I would call the titles "previous title" and "current title".
Now if the boss calls me while I am in the middle of updating the title, how could I describe these two him?


texts: Is there a phrase for 'attending for the longest time'?

texts:
I am trying to find a phrase to replace 'longest-serving'. It is in regards to a customer who is the customer who has come to a store for the longest amount of time so they are not really 'serving' more like 'longest-attending' but obviously this does not sound very nice, something along those lines.
Any ideas?
THANKS


texts: What is the noun for "marks you make on your book"?

texts:
I want a noun for "notes you take and marks you make on your book while reading"?
Should it be "markups" ? or something better?


texts: Can a writer refer to himself as "your author"?

texts:
I am drafting a nonfictional manuscript that, not being about me, seldom refers to me. I do nonetheless appear in the manuscript, though—or at any rate my perspective explicitly emerges—a few times, as for example in this instance:

  The writer lacks a preference between [A] and [B].

Many writers would rather put such a sentence in the first person but my manuscript is to avoid the first-person singular in instances like this.

Question: can I vary the word choice in the following way?

  Your author lacks a preference between [A] and [B].

Or is such a word choice likely to confuse my readers? And even if it is not likely to confuse, is it just too offbeat? Why, please?

My manuscript is not a thesis, report or petition. Thus, my audience are not my superiors. Cheek for the mere sake of cheek would be distracting, but I can very slightly color the prose without inconsistency of tone.

The manuscript is neither about authors nor about things authors write, so no other author is mentioned nearby. Citations are footnoted to support facts but, in the passage in question, cited works are not quoted or otherwise discussed. Thus, no other author is in play.

Can I be "your author" in this instance?


texts: I have been corrected by a person more educated than I for my use of going to go as in a statement of intent. Is my critic correct?


texts: Idiom or saying for "nothing is bad without being good for something"

texts:
In Danish there's a saying:

  Intet er skidt uden at være godt for noget

Which means (literally)

  Nothing is bad without being good for something.

I want to say that this exact wording is also a saying that English people will recognize (not just understand), but Google returns only one result which seems to be from another Dane, so now I'm beginning to have doubt. If this particular wording isn't common in English, is there another saying or idiom with the same meaning?


texts: 'What does the abbreviation RE: means when referring to something?

texts: What does 'RE means when referencing to something?


texts: How to Say Something was 'Not an Improvement'

texts:
There is a mother, Ann, who has a stereotypical 'good' personality: she is religious, a teacher, and a very generous lady.

Her daughter, Emily, isn't the nicest lady: she whines a lot, insults people, and is ignorant to her family history.

My professor asked to mention in my essay that Emily's personality was an 'un-improvement', as compared to her mother's.

I can't find a way to say this without sounding awkward.  What I have so far is: "Emily's personality shows a degraded structure as the generations of her family trickle down."  I already know that I do not want to use that sentence: it sounds awful and confusing, in my opinion (I can bet that you had to read it twice before understanding what I was trying to say).  Can anyone else think of a way I could say this?


texts: Person who fills out a form - single word

texts: What single word would I use to describe a person who fills out a form? So if Abigail fills out a form she is a... whatever the term should be. The form is an application but the applicant does not fill it in himself. The person who fills it out may be a secretary or a manager. It needs to be one word. "Filler-inner" does not sound right. Data-capturer is two words.


texts: is there any idiom to refer to information that comes from the 1st line of battle?

texts:
Would "news from the trenches" be acceptable and understood?

I am not sure if it is proper English or a direct translation from the Spanish idiom "desde las trincheras".


texts: Term of solid phase floating on surface of liquid phase

texts:
I am looking for what to call the solid or dust particles that reside at the surface of a liquid after density separation by flotation.

I had the term supernatant in mind, but I looked it up and it seems the supernatant is the liquid resting on top of another liquid or on top of a solid phase (the pellet) after centrifugation or similar procedure. What do you call the solid phase that floats at the surface of the supernatant after centrifugation?

Example

During density separation by flotation, there are particles heavier than the fluid, and those will sink to the ground. Those particles can be called the pellet. However, there are particles, that are lighter than the fluid, and those particles will float. Assume you have tiny bits of candle wax in water. Those bits are so small that -- instead of floating right away -- they remain in suspension in the water. After sufficient centrifugation, the wax will float, since it is lighter than the water. What do you call the wax floating on top of the water? (Wax, obviously, but that's not what we're looking for in this example.)


texts: Correct usage of (n)fold, where n is any integer greater than or equal to one?

texts:
Writing a rhetorical piece for my high school english class, I wanted to emphasize the sheer increase from 10 million to approximately 2 billion.

Conveniently, 10 million is 200 times smaller than 2 billion.  That makes a nice, clean number to work with, even though it really doesn't have any significance on the quesiton I'm asking here.

What I wanted to do is to say something like this:

two hundredfold

or

two hundred-fold

Just as

twofold

means two times as many.  The pattern appears to be placing the number before fold like threefold, fourfold, fivefold, etc.

Yet, with something like two hundred, how should I space, hyphenate and spell it correctly?

Just wondering because I'm a little ocd about this and would like to get it right.


texts:
As far as I've seen, it seems like whether or not one should use suspended hyphens is determined on a mostly ad-hoc basis. So, I was wondering if someone could give me advice on whether or not the following usage is OK:

  Our system uses four triaxial accelerometers, so each outputs an x-, y-, and z-acceleration.


texts: Joining homogeneous parts of the sentence

texts:
How can I join homogeneous parts of a sentence that determine each other? Can I use commas or should I also use some linking words such as that is?

  Example:

  By “circumstances” I mean not just the world around, but the society, (that is) the mob able to make anyone behave in any way, the mob that
  influences on our decisions, actions and individuality.


texts: What do you call a right, but insufficient measure?

texts:
Imagine, there is a big fire in a house and someone is trying to extinguish it by pouring water from a coffee mug. This person has the right intention (the vector of his deeds points in the right direction -- stopping the fire), but insufficient (the vector length is too short compared to a fire -- too little water).

What do you call a situation like this in English?

In other languages there are following idioms I'm aware of:

Drops on a hot stone in German (Tropfen auf dem heissen Stein)
Drop in a sea in Russian (Капля в море)

Note that it's different from fixing a hopelessly broken process in that the process the person in question is doing is generally right (pouring water to kill a fire), but its intensity is insufficient.


texts: As I understand, the term wet dreams applies only to masculine gender? Then, unless it's unisex in nature, is there a specific term applicable to feminine gender?


texts: Etymology of "boy" as an exclamation/interjection

texts:
In the sentence "Boy, is there a lot to answer for" (from a recent EL&U comment), "boy" is used for expressing a strong reaction, especially admiration or excitement.

How did this meaning/usage come about?  It doesn't seem to be some sort of minced oath, and an association with the pejorative term "boy", used to mean "black male", seems a bit far-fetched.

The suggested dupe fails to satisfactorily explain the origin of the term.  It's easy to explain how "Gee" is a minced version of "God", but I don't see such a pathway for "boy".  And the condescending sense suggested doesn't explain why "Oh, boy" expresses pleasure or excitement.


texts: Is a smiley at the end of a sentence like a period?

texts:
How do you treat an emoticon at the end of a sentence?

  He probably caught his cold from the kids at school :(

Should there be a period after the :(, or should I go straight into the next sentence (capitalizing the next word)?


texts: Adjective if adjective usage with commas

texts:
What's the correct way to construct the following structure?

adjective + if + adjective

Her careful, if paranoid, approach meant that she didn't make any mistakes.

Have I put the commas in the correct place?


texts: Difference of the usage of past simple and present perfect tense

texts:
What is the exact difference between-'i had breakfast' and ' i have had breakfast'?
What are the precise meanings these convey and how do they differ?


texts: Correct word for something less believed in society

texts:
What is an appropriate word to describe something, a section of society wants or looks forward to it or believes in, but rest of the society/majority will not accept it at all or gives importance to it.
Like online petitions (in my country atleast)


texts: Is it redundant to say "a spelling bee contest"?

texts: A "spelling bee" is an expression usually used to describe the spelling contest, but not necessarily. With that in mind, is it be considered redundant to call it a "spelling bee contest" or a "spelling bee competition"?


texts: With what word might I substitute 'forward-thinking'?

texts:
I wrote the following sentence:

Driverless cars have already been tried by forward-thinking countries.

Yet, I am not sure if forward-thinking is the best choice. What other word could be chosen instead of forward-thinking?


texts:
In the movie, Tenet, when the protagonist goes to the restaurant to meet Mr. Crosby, the steward asks him "I presume you mean Sir Michael Crosby's lunch?"
Then the Protagonist says "presume away."
I can't understand what it means. Does it mean 'think as what you want'?


texts: Do you always Capitalize after a question mark?

texts:
I'm about to send out some questions to someone.

How was it starting your own business? tougher,easier than you had expected?

Does "tougher" need to become "Tougher"?


texts:
I am really looking for the answer. I will be happy to hear your answers. Thanks
Question:

She brought her three friends, none of .... I have ever met before.

who
which
whom
whose


texts: What is the meaning and derivation of 'cowp'?

texts:
I just received an email from Scotland with the word 'cowp' in it. I had a vague recollection from my own Scottish background of such a word but could not remember what it meant.
The OED has only this :

Origin: A borrowing from early Scandinavian. Etymon: Norse kaup-a.
Etymology: < Old Norse kaup-a to buy, bargain, barter, exchange, = Gothic kaupôn ... (Show More)
Scottish and northern dialect.
Thesaurus »
Categories »

†1. transitive. To buy; figurative to abye, pay for, suffer for. Obsolete.

to exchange, barter

Wiktionary has this :

cowp (plural cowps)

(Scotland, Ireland, slang) A filthy and disgusting place.
(dialect) A reversal of fortune; An unexpected misfortune.

Verb : cowp (third-person singular simple present cowps, present participle cowping, simple past and past participle cowped) To fall or tip over.

As used in the email, the writer is referring to the Council Refuse Dump (they 'went to the cowp' and they clearly had something to dispose of) so it seems to me that 'cowp' as a verb means to tip something, either an accidental tip (Wiktionary-dialect) or a purposeful disposal into a cowp (the noun) being a place of refuse (Wiktionary - Scoland Ireland slang).
But none of this appears to agree with the OED.
Has anyone more background to this ?


texts: What will "this country" refer to after mentioning a foreign state?

texts:
As far as I know, it is typical to refer to the country where the speaker lives as this country. For example, if a person lives in Great Britain and he wants to mention weather in Great Britain, he might say "Weather in this country is blahblahblah".

Now we have a text written by a citizen of Great Britain saying something like "Patent law is quite complicated in the USA. In this country blahblahblah..."

What will "this country" naturally refer to in the second sentence - to the USA or to Great Britain? How would the author change his text so that it is clear that the second sentence also refers specifically to the USA or to Great Britain?


texts:
Is it natural to say "he explained the reason why he was late"? I suspect that it doesn't make sense.

But I reckon "That is the reason why he's sick" is acceptable with "the reason".

Could it be that the crucial difference lies in the verb we select? The verb explain has as its object a situation, a problem, etc., not a reason.

What do you think?


texts:
I get confused about tenses so I'm going to post an example of what I'm working on. My question will follow.

Example text: Surely, I’ve been gone long enough for someone to notice my absence. Perhaps, time has passed more then I suspected and they are searching for me at this very minute. Could that be the reason for his frequent ventures to the outside world? Is he ensuring I am hidden away beyond their detection?

I believe my story is in a present-past tense? Whatever that would be called. But I'm a little strung up on the proper word usage for this tense in the following sentence. I would be grateful for any advise pertaining to the matter.

Question:"I have to wonder if his constant vigilance was the driving force behind the rage he bears towards me."

Is this usage of the word "bears" correct with this tense? Or would it be more appropriate to say 'the rage he bores towards me' or should it be reworded to say 'the rage he has borne towards me'?

I'm told that borne is considered past participle (not to sure on what that is exactly) but if this last option is the current usage then it could possibly change the way I address the remainder of the story and save a lot of time on corrections. I'm only asking about this because online search examples have only taken me out of context and I've already had to correct this story twice due to tense changes midway through, so I'm trying to become more diligent and aware of my structures.


texts: For a business document, what term would be used for stating the last time the document has been modified?

texts:
I need to translate a german business document where in the footnote of each page a single word or term determines the last approved modification of the document.

So far, I found "as of", "as from", "Update" and "effective".
The second of which sounds very weird to me. My collegues so far seem to prefer "update", but which is actually used in documents? Is there another term that describes appropriately what I want to convey?

The page footer looks something like this:

As Of 01-01-16                                                           Page X


texts: Does the word "extravagance" only have negative connotations?

texts:
Case in point:

In his opera Rigoletto, Giuseppe Verdi really goes to town showing off his prodigious melodic gift. Themes, lines, full-fledged melodies: he does not economize. He just throws them right and left, all original, all unique, never repeating. The brief intro to Act Two is a melodic jewel, and yet all it does is convey to the audience a bit of tension: Verdi just leaves it there, never developing it later.

I would call it melodic extravagance - if it weren't for the fact that the word extravagant always comes off as negative to some degree these days.

If I'm wrong, please say so. If I'm right, is there a better word for it?

UPDATE:

What I'm trying to convey here is that Verdi was generous with his gift. As in, "Hey, you want more melodies? Here, take another dozen."

Melodic generosity comes to mind. The only problem is, it could easily be misinterpreted ... uh ... misconstrued.


texts: What's the difference between "universality" and "pervasiveness"?

texts: The meanings of these two words seem the same, but their spellings are very different.


texts: A word for expressing an opinion that one does not subscribe to?

texts:
Why I'm asking: I recently wrote a blog post in which I used an example that might be (and, it turns out, is) considered sexist. I'm not sexist whatsoever though, and used this example merely because it's a cliché theme everybody is familiar with which served the purpose of the blog post well. I then kept returning to this theme throughout the post as a running joke.

My Question: Is there a word for the approach I chose in my post of writing from a perspective where one seems to subscribe to certain principles or ideas while the author's mentality in the matter is in fact the opposite of what he expresses in writing?

The word 'Irony' does not quite seem to fit the bill in this case, I believe?

(I hope my question is clear, kind of hard to explain the concept.)


texts: Dropping the second "the" in sentences: the X and the Y vs. the X and Y

texts:
Is there any difference between these two examples?

  1. (Both) the Senate and the House of Representatives are legislative bodies.
  2. (Both) the Senate and House of Representatives are legislative bodies.

Is dropping the second "the" correct form? Do the two examples have the same meaning, making it but a stylistic choice?

What about in these two examples:

  3. (Both) the Olympic and the Paralympic Games...
  4. (Both) the Olympic and Paralympic Games...


texts: I've heard that the words "non-veg" and "non-vegetarian" are not legal English words (i.e aren't in the dictionary). Is this true? If so, what is the right way to say that something contains ingredients that are not pure vegetarian or that someone eats meat?


texts:
Should it be apposed or opposed in testing for non failure as apposed to success?

I initially thought it should be apposed, because opposed seems to suggest opposition. Interestingly Chromium flags apposed as an unknown word!


texts: What is the meaning of the word "cop-flat"?

texts:
From the novel Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts), 2015:

  To discourage any more questions, Eve turned away. She and Peabody had sealed up on entering the apartment. She’d turned on her recorder before stepping into the bedroom. Now she stood a moment, a tall, slim woman with short, tousled brown hair, with long-lidded eyes of gilded brown cop-flat in her angular face.

I don't know the meaning of the word cop-flat. I have searched all the relevant materials on the internet, but I still couldn't find what this word means. Please advise.


texts: early on, later on - How to explain "on"?

texts:
I have been thinking about these adverbials for a long time to understand this connection of "early/later" with "on". These adverbials are used for introducing a sentence or they are placed at the end. My first explanation was "on" is a kind of intensifier, almost meaningless. Now I tend to see this "on" as a clear marker to indicate that "early/later(adj/adv)" are used as adverbs.

But all the same I don't find a formula from which I can derive these adverbials by using the two words. ... early ... on ... / ... later ... on ... - What words could one use to get a formula that means "early/later on"?


texts: What would you call a picture where all the main characters are together?

texts:
What is a picture showing the main cast, called in English?
For example, in this picture:

What would you call this kind of picture?


texts:
I have problems with this sentence.

"Two weeks off work sounds great or sound great". What form of the verb should I use in this case (and in similar sentences), if "weeks" is a plural noun?


texts: What's the semantic difference between "overrated" and "overvalued"?

texts:
I often see those two words used together like "overrated & overvalued". That implies that they have different connotations. I wonder if that's really the case or they are used together just for emphasis.

Although there is a slight difference between the meanings of "to value" and "to rate" I wonder if that's reflected on their "over" counterparts.


texts: Object pronoun: me and John, or John and me?

texts:
When using ourselves and another person as the subject of a sentence, we use their name first (like "John and I"); but when the same two people become the object of a sentence, which order should the two people appear in? (I recognize that the object pronoun should be me and not I, but I want to know whether me should appear before the other person's name or after it.)
Which one is correct?

Sean eats pizza with me and John.
Sean eats pizza with John and me.


texts: Uniquely identifiable item vs. nonunique identifiable item

texts:
Edit: The question itself is not about naming variables, but about finding two words that properly differentiate between two meanings.
I am in the process of building a system that stores entities in a database. But I am having a hard time coming up with the proper nouns for two entities.
One entity is uniquely identifiable by a serial number. For example a laptop.
The other entity is not uniquely identifiable. For example a mouse or keyboard (I know they usually are identifiably, but that is not required in this system).
How would you name each entity? I was thinking about Item/Miscellaneous Item but that just feels weird and wrong. I have also thought about Product/Item as that differentiates a bit more.


texts: What is a word or phrase that indicates asking all participants in a meeting to speak in turn?

texts:
I'm looking for a concise and unambiguous phrase (or word) that indicates a structure where everyone will be given a turn to talk (ideally without interruption for debate).
Example:
"After a period where everyone will be given, in turn, an opportunity to share their point of view, we will have an open discussion of the points raised".  The phrase in bold is what I would like a concise alternative for.
Example 2:
"Please save the debate until after the XXX" (instead of "please save the debate until after everyone has had their turn to talk")
Rejects:
I've been using "round-robin", and "round-table", but I suspect both of those are wrong, as round robin in sports generally indicates all permutations of pairs, and round-table is open to a more free-style discussion format where louder and more outspoken participants might dominate.


texts:
Is it correct that I say to my teacher "would you please start the class 30 minute late?" if I want to ask him to change the time of class from 16:00 to 16:30.
and what do native people say?


texts: What does the phrase "What's your bag?" mean?

texts:
What does the phrase "What's your bag?" mean in the following 2 sentences:

  I tweeted to the Yahoo help center, and they replied:
  - Hey man, what's your bag?

  At a party, someone asked me:
  - So, what's your bag?

I know the first sentence means that Yahoo was trying to find out the problem I was having.

But The second sentence is confusing me. I went to a party, and there someone asked me "So what's your bag?" but I did not have any problem and I did not ask for help.

Can you explain what the second sentence represents?


texts: Can "I was married two years ago" have more than one meaning?

texts:
The simple past tense has various uses; here are two:

  First Use: Simple past is used to show a completed action in the past and we know the time that the action completed.

  I saw a movie yesterday.

  Second Use: But the Simple Past can also be used to describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true.

  So, when we say "He didn't like tomatoes before.", we imply that
  "Now he likes tomatoes"

mar‧ried /ˈmærid/ (adjective): having a husband or a wife

See this sentence "I was married two years ago"

Now, if we apply the First Use to that sentence, it means "I had a wife
two years ago". But the First Use does not say that is no longer true. So,
it could be I still have the same wife now.

But, in reality, people often say "I have been married for two years"
instead of "I was married two years ago"

If we apply the Second Use, it means that I do not have a wife now.

I am having some feeling that the First Use does not apply to State verbs
such as be, see, hear, want, and need. In other words, State
verbs only have the Second Use and not the First.

So, "I wanted an apple yesterday" means "I don't want an apple now
But maybe I am mistaken.

So, could "I was married two years ago" have many different meanings?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "buck naked"?

texts:
The phrase buck naked is well known and means "completely naked". It is synonymous to butt naked and stark naked, both self-explanatory. However, there are a few confusing aspects to the etymology of buck naked.

My research brought me across a few plausible explanations:

The word "buck" comes from buckskin, which is a deer/horse like animal.
A slang used by Americans against natives(Indians) for young males who often fought or hunted without clothing.
It is a Bowdlerization of "butt naked" so that it can be used in public without causing unnecessary discomfort. A euphemism of some sort.

All three explanations seemed equally possible to me and I failed to unearth an authoritative source to confirm any of them.

It would also be interesting to know if the phrase is more popular in some parts of the world than others.


texts:
My draft says:

  Weyl wrote these words in 1925, since when a long torrent of mathematical
  development has surged under the bridge of time.

Unsure that the phrase "since when" is sufficiently acceptable in formal writing, I went to substitute the phrase "since which time"—except that, in this particular sentence, that doesn't work. (Reason: it inadvertently creates a false parallel, for the word "time" appears with different meaning in the same sentence.)

I don't actually like my sentence, which smacks of a freshman's attempt to overreach for eloquence. I mean probably to strike it out and write something different (as soon as I think of something different to write), but meanwhile I wonder: is "since when" actually wrong in such a use?  If it is, since when?


texts: Usage of "screenshot" vs. "digital photo"

texts:
This morning I had a customer service agent ask me to send her a "screenshot" of a mailing label from a package that I had received erroneously.

My first impression was that she had misspoke, or she didn't understand the difference between a screenshot (capturing the digital rendering of an image by the same device that renders it) vs. a digital photo (capturing a live image in digital form).

Then it occurred to me that for someone who has only ever used a device with a digital view finder, that they may conceive of taking a digital photo as capturing the actual image that is displayed on the device's screen. Under that conception, I can see why a digital photo might be considered a "screenshot."

Now, I know that conception is wrong (since the image captured is (usually) of higher resolution that the resolution of the screen).  And I'm not asking for the technical or dictionary meaning of "screenshot," since I can look that up myself.  But the user experience is surprisingly similar. The devices will often make a clicking sound effect for snapshots and screenshots alike.  So I can see how the meaning of "screenshot" may be morphing over time.

What I'm asking I this: Do children of today (mostly high school, college, or young adults) tend to use "screenshot" to refer to any kind of digital image?  Or do most still distinguish between "screenshot" and digital images that were captured live?


texts: What is a word that describes when someone requires a certain quality of another person in order for them to be a possible dating option?

texts:
This has been bugging me for the past 30 minutes. It's basically some sort of specific criteria you hold in order to even consider dating someone, like "My girlfriend has to like Star Wars," or "My Boyfriend needs to be muscular" or something of the like.
It's also a Slang term.


texts: When does a 'loan word' cease to be defined as such?

texts: At what point does a 'loan word' cease to be defined as such? Does it depend on for how long, or frequently a word has been used?


texts: Replacement words/phrases that make you sound "wiser"?

texts:
I don't know how else to phrase this, but my Literature teacher, when speaking, uses words that make him look wiser or more mature. Instead of saying everyday phrases, he replaces them with more elegant terms.

For example,

"perhaps" replaces "maybe"
"rather" replaces "kind of"
"in reality" replaces "actually"
"in the sense that" or "to the extent to which" replaces "just as" or "like"
"I suppose" replaces "I guess"

These phrases/words that he uses aren't sophisticated I guess, but they deviate from everyday lingo you hear. Does anyone know what these replacements, the classy diction he uses, are called?


texts:
In the line from the song ‘Million reasons’ by Lady Gaga, what does look off mean?

  Head stuck in a cycle, I look off and I stare.

I searched an English dictionary. There’s no specific definition which I can understand. Can you explain with some examples how to use this term?


texts:
What does 'camp down' mean in the sentence: the army camped down on them with rape and murder?

Does it connote something like attack or offend?


texts:
As I speak, I noticed that I use the word "have" a lot! Also, I was wondering whether this over-usage is right. For instance,

  I have copied the file to your computer

where I could've used

  I copied the file to your computer

instead! Am I right or do they differ subtly?


texts: What is a word for a situation in which one thing becomes the be all end all for everything in that group?

texts: Ex: Burning man makes every other festival you go to boring after it.


texts:
The Longman dictionary of contemporary English lists the following example for the word "weekend"
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/weekend_1

I never work at the weekend.

However, I think the sentence

I never work at weekends.

is more appropriate. What am I missing?


texts: Hidden Agendas Meaning American vs British

texts: Does Hidden Agendas mean the same in American English and British English? Or is there a different vernacular use?


texts: "Stand up comedy", "standup comedy", or "stand-up comedy"?

texts:
I've seen all three versions for describing a person on stage performing comedy: "stand up", "standup", and "stand-up".

My guess is that the term started as two words, but as the performance form itself became more established in the culture, the set of the two words together became perceived as a single unit. Reflecting that, in writing, some people even started merging the words or joining them with a hyphen.

Based on that assumption, I'm extrapolating that it's a term in the midst of evolving, and so maybe there might not be an absolute answer on this.

Still, I'd like to be consistent myself and settle on one. Is there any particular reason I should choose one over the others?


texts:
Pardon if this has been asked and answered already here, I couldn't find it by myself.

What is the difference between giving in and giving up? I know one means that you're giving up/in and letting someone else do it, other has no continuous actions.

Could someone explain this, please?


texts:
I'm a native speaker, but I'm a bit of a language lover and I'm afraid some other grammatical structures have encroached on my use of English. Another native English speaker looked at me funny the other day while we were talking about a document when I asked her to "send it me".

If I were speaking German, I could say

  Schicken Sie es mir

or

  Schicken Sie es nach mir

Basically, the preposition is optional because the inflection and position imply its relationship. Can I do the same thing in English? It wouldn't be inflection in this case, but can position imply the relationship such that the preposition isn't necessary?

I've said it out loud a lot of times in my head, but it sounds natural to me.


texts: I am writing a novel with a narrator, a Victorian doctor, writing in the year 1854. Would he have used the expression "common sense" in the same way that British writers use it today?


texts:
I know, this problem is quite ordinary, and given enough time, I might be able to figure this one out myself, but I am also a little bit pressed for time. I'd like to include the following sentence in an application paper for a conference:

The philosophical question What is truth?, and the seemingly “moral” question What is good (behavior)?, ultimately refer to the same process...

Simple question: Is the punctuation admissible in formal english?

Thanks and best regards


texts:
When is it better to use passive voice in writing and speech?

When is it better to use active voice in writing and speech?


texts: The English translation for the Chinese word "剩女", meaning an unmarried girl over 27 without a boyfriend

texts:
The Chinese word "剩女" means "an unmarried girl over 27 without a boyfriend". Since better girls are already in love or married, some girls are left and it seems that no men are interested in them. The word has a negative meaning. A TV station in China translates the word into "leftover woman". I searched some English corpora and the data show clearly that the adjective 'leftover' is invariably collocated with food. So I think "leftover woman" is a miscollocation.
Do native speakers understand the meaning  of "leftover woman" if it is used at all? Is it offensive?
I want to use the word "spinster", but it is a negative word. "Single" is unsuitable here because its meaning is too broad. What is the best neutral word or phrase for that meaning?


texts: How to write this kind of sentence for a distinguished lecture series?

texts: I work in a Chinese university and recently our department has decided to start a Distinguished Lecture Series in Physics. We want to give the invited speaker some kind of document showing that, basically, he has been a speaker at this series. I'm not sure what's the best way to write this sentence. I'm not even sure what this kind of document should be called. A certificate? Some kind of award? Please give me some clue. Thank you very much.


texts: What is the difference in meaning between 'nonchalant' and 'insouciant'?

texts:
OED defines them as:

nonchalant adjective (of a person or manner) feeling or appearing casually calm and relaxed; not displaying anxiety, interest, or enthusiasm
insouciant adjective showing a casual lack of concern; indifferent
blithe adjective showing a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper:
a blithe disregard for the rules of the road;
happy or joyous: a blithe seaside comedy

So, what would be the difference between say, "a nonchalant shrug" and
"an insouciant shrug"?
Also, what context are these words used in the following sentence:

"I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance Were it not
for making a living, which is rather a nouciance." Ogden Nash, poet
(Hard Lines, 1931)

Also, what does 'nouciance' mean? Is it simply a play on words?
Last, but most important, what word would best fit the following situation:

He was (nonchalant/insouciant/blithe) about the poor living conditions of the animals in his farm.


texts:
Would you please tell me the right choice to this question:

Liverpool's players are known to be skilled. They (are going to win / will win) the match easily.


texts: How do you use ellipses in conjunction with semicolons in MLA quoting?

texts:
Here is a line of text from Willa Cather’s My Ántonia.

  There was only—spring itself; the throb of it, the light restlessness...

I wish to end the quote at the semicolon. Eg:

  "There was only—spring itself;..." Jim says (Ln 5).

Is this correct?


texts: what's the English phrase for the Chinese one "Destination at south, heading to north"?

texts:
There's a famous Chinese fable:

　　Once a man wanted to go to the south, but his carriage was heading north. A passer-by asked him: "If you are going to south, why is your chariot heading north？"The man answered, "My horse is good at running, my driver is highly skilled at driving a carriage, and I have enough money." The man didin’t consider that the direction might be wrong; the better his conditions were, the further he was away from his destination.

So by and by it comes to the Chinese phrase "Destination at South, heading to North", what would be a comparable English phrase for that?


texts: does this sentence sound right? "Thank you for your consideration and I am glad to hear from you."

texts:
I got a response from the company that i applied on indeed,
I was going to start my reply with the beginning of this sentence.
Does that sound weird or like not a native? (English is my 2nd language)

"Thank you for your consideration and I am glad to hear from you."

Thanks,


texts: Can we tell when a distinction (e.g., infer vs imply) is likely to be lost?

texts: Is there some way to tell that a distinction is doomed to disappear?  When did the difference between presently and currently disappear?  Presently and momentarily? The distinction between imply and infer seems to be hanging on, but will spell-check inevitably kill the difference between principal and principle?  The question is not whether the disappearance of distinctions is good or bad, but when the tipping point -- or tipping range -- occurs.


texts: How do I use a quote that was basically made up?

texts:
I know the title sounds a bit ridiculous, but that's actually what I'm asking. The sentence in question is as follows:

  "Well, of course robots don't deserve rights, they're not even living things!", may be a common response to the problem dealing with future robotic ethics.

I don't know if I'm correct in using it like that, but I would like some feedback on if this is right, and if not, what should I do?

By the way, I'm using MLA format and I couldn't find anything useful on the internet about this situation. Honestly, I don't know what to call this type of quote so I had a hard time looking it up in the first place.


texts:
What is the difference between rainwater and stormwater?

Which form is correct: stormwater or storm water ?

Can I use words stormwater and rainwater as a synonym?


texts: What is a word for a condition one is born with?

texts:
I want to say something like:

  From Freud's perspective, sexual deviances are not [manifest in humans from birth / present in humans from birth].

I need a word that describes a condition that one is born with; specifying that the condition was present from birth.


texts: Syllable division of VCV pattern in words such as "salad" and "lemon"

texts:
In words such as salad /sæləd/, you have a VCV pattern (vowel-consonant-vowel), in which the first vowel is short. The syllable division of such words is generally done after the consonant, i.e, as VC-V. Here are a few examples:salad  /sæl-əd/lemon  /lem-ən/never /nev-ər/balance /bæl-əns/This division is in agreement with the notion that generally, a short vowel do not end a syllable.
Cambridge and the American Heritage dictionaries divide these words this way. Also, phonics and spelling textbooks do the same. However, Merriam-Webster dictionaries, such as the Collegiate and the Unabridged, divide these words before the consonant. So you have:salad /sæ-ləd/lemon  /le-mən/never /ne-vər/balance /bæ-ləns/I would like to ask why there is such a disagreement between the dictionaries, and which division is natural for you. You may want to mention whether your English is American, British or other.


texts: Not sure if this is correct or not: "the ability to be able to"

texts:
The sentence:

  Problems are an inevitable part of life, and one could argue that
  happiness is not the absence of problems, but rather the ability to be
  able to deal with them.

Is it to be able or being able?


texts: What single word (verb) means 'to assert as a moral norm' or 'to support as a moral norm'?

texts:
Imagine that the term "grrfumblezig" is a verb, defined as "to assert as a moral norm".

An example sentence using this term is: "When disciples of the philosopher Milosh Miloshkovanavich are unable to defend his later positions against the rigorous logical analysis of his rivals, they often fall back to defend his earlier positions, in which he grrfumblezig absolute rejection of all truth claims.

A second example sentence is: "I grrfumblezig skepticism in the absence of sufficient evidence."

What term could replace grrfumblezig in this sentence, to mean "to assert as a moral norm"?


texts:
What's the suitable preposition for the word 'style'?

For example:

I want to do this job in/with/on Asian style.

I mean the shorter form of this sentence: I want to do this in the particular way that an Asian person do it.

Is it correct to use the word 'style' for such purpose?If yes, what's the preposition before it?

(I am new to this specific community of stackexchange, please excuse me and inform me, if this question is not suitable for english.stackexchange)


texts: If the question "Dear school teachers, are you a good student?" correct? I have addressed teachers as plural, whereas the question


texts:
Is this sentence correct?

  We had published the OpenCCU source code at the beginning of 2002. At first we had uploaded source code on Sourceforge and immediately began receiving thanks and wishlist items for the future OpenCCU development.

The whole narration is in the past tense and the publication of the source code and subsequent feedback precedes other events.


texts: Should I put an indefinite article in front?

texts:
There are two main approaches to extracting information from less
  structured or even free text web pages: classification-based approach
  and sequential labeling-based approach.

It is from my thesis. A revision suggestion from the committee is that I should add an indefinite article before "classification". In other words, change the whole sentence to:

  There are two main approaches to extracting information from less
  structured or even free text web pages: a classification-based approach
  and a sequential labeling-based approach.

The revised version would sound a little strange to my ears. Is it correct?


texts:
How does the comma change the meaning in these statements?

  a) Ms. Harris was not defeated, because she changed her position.
  b) Ms. Harris was not defeated because she changed her position.


texts: How can I describe the status which indicates that it's not the time to start the scheduled task

texts:
Suppose there is a task scheduled to be started at 15:00, and now it's 14:50. How can I describe this status which indicates that it's not the time to start the scheduled task, and still need to await 10 more minutes to start?
I'm looking for a word , a phrase or someway the natives speakers would say.


texts:
Who turned off the lights?
  Who are you?

Why do the words in those questions have a different order than the following questions?

  Does she like ice cream?
  Where do you live?
  Where do you come from?
  Where are you?


texts: Do speakers using [ɪu] instead of /juː/ use “an” as the indefinite article before this?

texts:
There are quite some dialects that use vowel-beginning diphthongs like [ɪu] for what is /juː/ in the Received Pronunciation and General American dialects.

Do speakers of these dialects (tend to/want to) use an, not a, before words beginning with this diphthong, e.g., do they say:

  an university

Do they use an nearly all the time, sometimes, or about never? If they do use a, is there an explanation? Is there a pattern of distribution of the two forms of the singular indefinite article?


texts: Term for original use or first intention

texts:
I'm writing about a cultural artifact that is now used as an aesthetic object in a museum but, prior to this ethnographic view, was used as a ceremonial object. I'm looking for a term that refers to this initial use. (I'd use it for a section heading.)

To clarify from the comments, I am looking for a single, detached term/noun particularly because "original purpose/use" can connote that the object has lost that first intent. In my case, the object was really just stolen and could still be used for its original intent if someone were returned to its creators.

In a sentence: "While the mask today is appreciated for its aesthetic qualities, its [original usage or first intention] was as a ceremonial totem."


texts: Do desultory, result, consult share the same root?

texts:
In desultory, result, consult, do sult all mean jump and leap?

I searched etymonline, which gives different interpretation, especially in consult, sult seems to mean gather together. But I hope the three words have the same root with the same meaning.


texts: Introducing yourself to someone you have never met

texts:
Today, my manager introduced me to an employee who's visiting us from a different geographical location. The person is visiting our office for 2 weeks. I don't know anything about him and I don't have any working relationship with him either. Being an non-native English speaker, I couldn't think of more than 2 sentences to say and there is an awkward silence that followed. All this while, my manager was observing me, which makes me even more nervous. I would like to know how to engage a stranger casually, without thinking too much?

The conversation went something like below.

Manager : Hi Peter, this is Mr.X visiting us from UK regarding project-Z.

Me(Peter): Hi Mr.X, how are you? welcome to our office.

Mr.X: I am good, thanks.

Me: Couldn't think of anything else to say!!!


texts:
Let’s assume I will be dying, and I’m near to death, but I don’t die now.
Why is ‘I almost die’ appropriate, not ‘I will almost die’? The action of death will be in the future. Is it like perfect tense?


texts: Enjoys his fair share to work hard and smart to meet commitments

texts:
Received a resume lately. One of the sentence, in summary section, doesn't look right to me. It may be not a very obvious mistake, or may not be a mistake at all. But I can't say anything for sure, as I am not a native speaker and neither I find myself eloquent in writing English.

  .... blah blah. A reliable team member who gets work
  done and enjoys his fair share to work
  hard and smart to meet commitments. blah blah ....

Now, if you tell me to correct it, because I think it's not well written. Then I would make something like below, using the same words without trying to make it spiffy,

  .... blah blah. A reliable team member
  -- very smart to meet commitments, who gets work done and enjoys his fair
  share in working hard. blah blah ....

What do you folks think? Is there something wrong with the original sentence structure?


texts:
Which of these two sentences is more correct?

This method is helpful in order to make sure that he know the directions.
This method is helpful in order to make sure that he knows the directions.

Should the subjunctive be used in this instance?


texts: Looking for a verb formed from a plural noun

texts:
Almost any singular noun can be verbed, transformed into a verb means to remove (skin), apply (paint), use (bus), or otherwise interact with the noun.

I'm looking for a plural noun that can be verbed.  I have only two, frankly terrible, examples:

times, which has a very childish sound to my ears
mules, which refers to a surgical procedure performed on sheep, and is named for a Dr. Mules, and not the sturdy equine, although I assume the name of the eponymous vet originally derives from that animal.

Is there a true example?  Tell me that to cats someone is a thing.


texts: Difference between "implementing" and "executing" in this context?

texts:
I would appreciate it if you could explain to me the difference between implementing and executing in the context of the following sentence:

  The implementing agency(ies) for this project is UNEP and the national executing agency is the Department of Environment.


texts: Word for "having horizontal and vertical directions" that a mathematician doesn't use

texts:
As the title says, I'm looking for a word that means "having horizontal and vertical directions."

The catch is that I'm a mathematician trying to describe notions similar to "horizontality" and "verticality" to other mathematicians, so there is an extra criterion: the word should not have a common specifically mathematical meaning. For example, "planar" and "orthogonal" might be passible when talking to non-mathematicians, but their use when talking to a mathematician would probably cause confusion.

Edit: to reiterate, the word should not have an existing common mathematical meaning.


texts:
I want to know what the "physical" counterpart to safety measures is called. An example: we take safety measures, such as securing our home from illegal entrance. This may take form of installing locks and alarms, but how would you refer to the physical implementations of these safety measures?

I understand safety measures as something abstract, referring to the idea of securing my home with a lock or an alarm. But if I'm about to talk, generally, of these installations taken as safety measures, what do I call them? Especially if the kind of safety measures taken is not fully known to me. I don't think "installing safety measures" or "disabling safety measures" are the proper way to describe the activity of installing alarms and locks, or disabling them.

EDIT: My example may have been a poor one, as it has been suggested that security measures is a better way of describing it that safety measures. I want to emphasize however that I am also interested in the physical counterpart to safety measures, as well as security measures (not restricted to alarms and locks, or even home security), if there is a difference. I suspect that security measures may be only one kind of safety measure, and that there may be other types of measures which may be characterized under the umbrella term of safety measures.


texts:
Ex 1) Direct speech: He said " We lived here for 5 years"
Indirect speech : He told me that they had lived there for 5 years.

Ex 2) Direct speech: He said " We have lived here for 5 years"
Indirect speech: He told me that they had lived there for 5 years.
But how come I arrive at a conclusion when the indirect speech i.e, He said They had lived there for 5 years" does not specifically say whether they once lived there or the have been still living there? Could you pls help me how a context helps us to arrive at a conclusion on what exactly one is referring to( past simple or present perfect).

Indirect speech: She said she had to leave. when we convert it into a direct speech, which of these is correct and which of these is she referring to?
a) she said " I have to go", or
b) She said " I had to go".

Indirect speech: He said she had been writing when he had gone there. when we convert it into a direct speech,which of these is correct and which of these is he referring to?
a) He said " she was writing when he went there", or
b) He said " she had been writing when he went there".

Indirect speech: He said Everyday the train passed by while she was reading a newspaper. when we convert it into a direct speech,which of these is correct and which of these is he referring to?
a) He said " Everyday, the train passed by while she was reading a newspaper ", or
b) He said " Everyday, the train passes by while she is reading a newspaper "


texts: Can 'home' be an adjective as well as an adverb or a noun?

texts:
All the dictionaries I've consulted say that 'home' is an adverb and a noun, depending on context.
For example:

(1) He went home. [adverb]
(2) He is at home. [noun]

Also, there's this answer of John Lawler's that seemingly resolves the issue of why 'home' sometimes should be analyzed as an adverb.
But what about this example?

(3) I can find my way home.

Can you also say that home in (3) is an adverb?
It seems to me that home in (3) cannot be an adverb, because I think it functions as a complement of the noun way and that my way home as a whole is a noun phrase.
Even if we accept John Lawler's analysis in the above quoted answer of considering home "one of those idiomatic locative nouns that are allowed to drop determiners and occasionally even prepositions," we cannot say home in (3) is an example of "how a noun can be used as an adverb", because (3) can be analyzed as John Lawler suggests:

(3') I can find my way (to my) home.

Here, to my home is not an adverbial prepositional phrase but an adjectival prepositional phrase that acts as a complement of the noun way. So, to take what John Lawler said and adapt it to (3), "what it is is an [adjectival] prepositional phrase that has been stripped of its prepositions and determiners, leaving only a naked noun to stand for the whole phrase. That's how a noun can be used as an [adjective]."
Now, does this mean we should call home a noun, an adverb, or an adjective, depending on context?


texts:
I have a question, which I have been thinking about the last 50 years. I know, that the word "blood" is prononcued "blaad" and I know. that "roof" is prononcued "ruuf", boot like "buut" , tool like "tuul". They all have 2 oo, which gives "UU", but why is blood then "blaad" and not "bluud".? Do you understand me. :)

Best regards

Kurt
Denmark


texts: What is the English idiom about "expensive" that expresses the idea that "It is so expensive that you feel like you got ripped-off"?

texts:
Ok, if I say "this car is too expensive" or "this car is very expensive", then I can not express the connotation of "expensive".

However, if I say "this car is damn expensive" then I better convey the connotation of "expensive".

So my question is:

What is the English idiom about "expensive" that expresses the idea that "It is so expensive that you feel like you got ripped-off and/or overcharged and/or unmeaningfully expensive"?

For example, "damn expensive" could be ok but is there any other term?


texts: I'm trying to describe an approach that doesn't just blindly follow established opinion, but seeks validation through experimentation. Any ideas?


texts:
I have come across a number of expressions (both...and..., if...then...) which are named as "correlative" in different grammars (namely Quirk et al.).

The question: What makes an expression a correlative one? Do you know any definition in the Literature?


texts: Offensive phrase: what does "**ck my brains out" mean?

texts:
Does this expression have to do with actual sex intercourse?

Or it is mostly used to describe a situation of some conflicts over little petty meaningless things, for example, preparing a work report?

"The boss totally **cked my brains out! I can't think anymore about that work report"


texts:
What is the word for "victim" but with a positive connotation?

For example:
Bill Gates was not successful just because he was smart and hardworking, he was also a "victim" of good luck.

Obviously, victim would not be a good word because victim implies something bad. So what word would fit here?


texts: What is the meaning of this sentence: "how many Xs exist as of the last block?"

texts:
I want to know the exact meaning of "how many Xs exist as of the last block?"

Does it mean "how many Xs exist in the last block?"

Or does it mean "how many Xs exist in all blocks including the last block?"


texts: What is the verb or expression for describing some kids in this situation?

texts:
Suppose there are some naughty kids who are playing with each other in a room, they nudge each other and wrestle and climb (?) on each other! I want to tell them to stop. Which verb should I use? "Hey kids! Stop ...?"
(Like the baby elephants in the picture.)

I also want to know if there is some verb that describes the activity shown in the second picture; "A group of refugees are ....(verb) for their gifts."


texts: At my business most of the employees use the word inactivate frequently. Is this proper grammar? I've always used deactivate.


texts: Idiom or proverb that implies " the evidence contradicts what you claim"

texts:
Is there any idiom or proverb that means "the evidence contradicts what you claim"?

There is a proverb in Persian that says:

  "Should/ shall we believe the rooster's tail or the fox's oaths to God?!"

It's etymology is like this:

Once a fox who was passing a village, stole a rooster/ cock  and put it into his backpack and ran away. But a villager saw him and informed everybody; so some villagers ran after him and finally got him in a corner. The villagers asked him to give back the rooster to them, but the fox repeatedly was saying:

  "I swear to the God that I have no rooster with me, I don't know what you are talking about", but he didn't know that tail of the rooster was sticking out his backpack.

So the people replied him sarcastically and mockingly:

  "Should/ shall we believe that rooster's tail or your oaths to God?"

It implies that "the evidence contradicts what you claim" ( i.e., we know that you are lying!) or " your actions contradict your words".

Example:

A famous merchant claims that his business is not doing well, for avoiding paying his taxes, but lives in a mansion and has many other luxurious items under his name. So the officials would say him:

  "Mr.___! Should (or shall) we believe the rooster's tail or the fox's oaths? [ Should we believe what you claim (=not having good income) or what we have as evidence (=list of your properties) ?!] Unfortunately, all the evidence contradict what you claim and you should pay your taxes!!"

Is there any idiom or proverb in English that would convey the same connotation?

PS:

This proverb is used among politicians a lot! For example; you can see that its connotation is shown in the following picture. This man is a former president and has stated something about parliamentary elections, but one of his opponents has put this picture in his blog trying to say "the evidence contradicts what you said".


texts: Is there a single word for inference of a past state?

texts:
In many fields of science, such as population genetics or climatology, we are uncertain of past conditions but have knowledge that makes some scenarios more likely than others. We can estimate the likelihood of various past states in a way that is very similar to predicting of future conditions from current knowledge. This gives useful insight into the processes leading to the present, which inform our predictions of the future. As an example, we may wish to infer the number of founder individuals of an invasive species based on genetic diversity observed in the current population.

Historians also use a similar approach when considering the consequences of particular events and actions, particularly through the lens of alternate histories.

Does anyone know of a specific word for this retrospective prediction?


texts: I would like to know what is the difference between "How is your day thus far?" vs. How is your day so far? and if there is any significant difference between the two questions. I always assumed that they essential meant the same thing, but I am uncertain at this very point. Is there any one who would be willing to help me understand the differences between the two. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Exceptions that allow the use of "will" after "if"

texts:
This as what I've been able to establish:

The use of "will" after "if" is legal only when any of the following conditions apply:

The "will" is used as a verb (equivalent to "want"), for example, "If you will".
The "if" can be replaced with a "whether", for example, "I don't know if I will make it on time".

Is each of the two conditions above sufficient to make the use of "will" after "if" legal?

Are there any other cases that I've missed, which make the use of "will" after "if" legal?


texts: How to cite a play with no line numbers?

texts:
First off, this may not be an appropriate question for this site. I'm not sure. But I'm kind of in a hole and I'd really appreciate some help with this.

I need to integrate a quotation from A Raisin in the Sun. But, it doesn't have line numbers.

The manual I use (Diana Hacker's A Pocket Style Manual, 6th Edition) says it should be something like this:

blah blah happens when he/she says "blah blahdee blahdee blah"(1.2.48-49)

With the parantheses being (act.scene.line-numbers).

It also gives an example for if there are no parts or line numbers; it says to cite the page.

But, this has parts, but not line numbers.

What do I do since there are no line numbers?


texts:
I sometimes get confused and it looks like they mean the same. E.g.

Success is hard to achieve.
Or
Success is hard to be achieved.

Can anyone please explain this in detail.


texts: What is the symbol that shows word blending called?

texts: What is the name of this symbol that I marked in red? What is it's Unicode value?


texts:
I've bumped into a great pun from the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera (transcript)

I didn't get the reference/joke/idiom on "out on a tear last night".

  Fiorello: No, that's no good, too. (they rip the contracts again until there's practically nothing left.) Hey, how is it my contract is skinnier than yours?

  Driftwood: Well, I don't know. You must've been out on a tear last
  night. But anyhow we're all set now, aren't we?

  Fiorello: Oh sure.

I've checked the definition on Merriam-Webster and it makes no sense to me. Definition:

Definition of on a tear (US, informal):
having great success over a period of time
The team has been on a tear in recent weeks.
The economy is on a tear, but can it last?


texts:
What's the name for a part of speech which is not quite rhetorical, but not expected to be answered directly, either? I know the word exists, it refers to greetings such as "How are you" and similar. There's a very specific term for those greetings and I cannot recall it.

It's not perfunctory or pro forma; it very specifically refers to a common query that isn't really a question but a conversation opener. Might be from a specialized field like linguistics.

Frustrating!


texts: Proper Acronym Usage With Multiple Plurals

texts:
Given that MOTU -> Master of the Universe - One master of one universe
  .
  Would the following be correct? And if not, what would be correct, and how would I answer the plural-plural problem at the bottom?  Again, I'm looking for the multiple plural situation

MOTUs -> Masters of the Universe - Two masters of one universe
MOTUs -> Master of the Universes - One master of many universes
????? -> Masters of the Universes - Two masters of many universes

The usage would be something like-

The MOTU has spoken- the master of the universe has spoken
The MOTUs have spoken- the masters of the universe have spoken
The MOTUs has spoken- the master of the universes has spoken
The ????? have spoken- the masters of the universes have spoken


texts: "To do as he did" vs. "to do as he had done"

texts:
He advised me/ to do as he did/ but I did not pay any attention/ to his advice. /(No error)

The answer is no error , but I think the sentence should say "to do as he had done".  Why is "as he did" acceptable?


texts: Using “nor” without “neither” — special case

texts:
I wonder if this sentence is OK:

  This person looks nothing like you, nor anyone.

I know there are a lot of questions about nor, but I could not find a sentence similar to this one.


texts:
Fakability is not an actual word. I came up with it to explain what I am looking for - a word that aptly describes something that can be easily faked. For example,

  The fakability of this device is so high that we can never be sure if
  the sample we are holding came from the original source.

you see, there is a technical context here,

  Those parameters have high fakability, you must double check their
  values as a script kiddie can easily simulate them.


texts: (raised) object or subordinate subject in catenative clauses

texts:
I have a question about objects/subjects in catenative clauses such as He told his daughter to tidy her room.

I’ve found two main kinds of analysis of clauses such as these – those where his daughter is considered an object in the superordinate clause, and those where it’s  considered the subject of the embedded non-finite clause.

In a couple of comments to an answer at What are these Auxiliary-like verbs?, Bill J mentions the idea of a raised object, which somehow seems to indicate that his daughter can be simultaneously analysed as being an object in the superordinate clause (a raised object), and, at the same time, a subject in the non-finite subclause. Is this a correct understanding?

It seems very odd though... Any clarification would be much appreciated.


texts: In the context of silicon wafer manufacturing, what is the relative frequency of the three major plurals of "die"?

texts:
A die is a unit of circuitry and substrate that occurs on a wafer and is cut out from its (often identical) neighbors.

I often hear this pluralized as: dies, dice, or die. I believe all may be correct. How common is each one? Is it at all regional?


texts: A word that means "it only works if everyone does it".

texts: For example, fiat money or Facebook.  Fiat money only works because the whole community accepts it. Also, Facebook only has value because all your friends are on it.  I can't seem to think or find a word that embodies these properties.


texts: Word that means "reduce to unique parts"

texts: I'm working on a program that essentially removes all duplicates from a list, i.e. reducing the list to its unique components. Is there a single word or small compound word that conveys this transformation?


texts: What tense is "I have never been so hungry"?

texts:
What tense is "I have never been so hungry."

I can guess that it is present perfect continuous but it doesn't have verb+ing.

Or the verb might be "feeling" like, I have never been feeling so hungry. But is this sentence still correct if we drop the "feeling" verb.


texts: Does English use "red thread" as expression for theme?

texts:
In Swedish the expression "röd tråd" (literally  "red thread") is used to describe that something follows a theme. For instance, if a piece of text has a "red thread", it's written with a consistent thought throughout the text.

The expression originates from the Greek mythology where King Theseus found his way out of the Minotaur's labyrinth by following a "red thread".

It could also be derived from that formerly a red thread were found twisted in some cordage belonging to the English Navy. In a figurative sense first used by Goethe in his work Wahlverwandschaften.

Is this used in the same way in English or is there another expression that is more commonly used?


texts: Can I use the word "milks" when discussing KINDS of milk

texts:
Heard at the cafe: "We have three milks: soy, almond, and cow."

Is it ok to use the word "milks" in this context? I've heard it in other uncountable nouns, like "essential oils", or "simple sugars", or "red wines", so why can't we ask, "which milks do you have?"


texts: “On the principle” versus “Under the principle”

texts: Is there a significant difference between the two? As far as I can tell, they seem to be used interchangeably.


texts: Why do we use "War is horrific" but not "Wars are horrific"?

texts:
I saw sentences like

  War is horrific… War is hell,…

I'm confused by that, I really appreciate if anyone could explain that for me.

And can I say “Dog is…” and when should I say that, instead of “Dogs are…”


texts: Which of these two possible meanings of this sentence is correct?

texts:
I have a question regarding this quote from "Ravens" by "Mount Eerie":

  And in every dream I have at night
  And in every room I walk into like here
  Where I sit the next October
  Still seeing your eyes
  Pleading and afraid, full of love
  Calling out from another place
  Because you're not here
  I watched you die in this room
  Then I gave your clothes away
  I'm sorry, I had to
  Now I'll move

The writer of this song is addressing his dead wife.
Originally I thought that "Pleading and afraid, full of love" is referring to his wife's eyes (mentioned in the preceding sentence).
Then I wasn't so sure. I started to think he might be referring to himself  - i.e. he's the one who is "pleading and afraid, full of love", when he is thinking about his wife, since she is not actually there.

Based on the phrasing of this sentence and the context in which it appears, are both meanings equally valid, or can we determine which one is correct?


texts: What is the point of prescriptive grammar?

texts:
There seems to be a distinction and even rift between descriptive and prescriptive grammar, though wikipedia points out that they can apparently "inform each other":

  Despite apparent opposition, prescription and description can inform each other,[3][page needed] because comprehensive descriptive accounts must take into account speaker attitudes (including prescriptive ones), and some understanding of how language is actually used is necessary for prescription to be effective.

But I've just never really understood prescriptive grammar -- it seems like language is constantly being added to (and to a lesser extent, losing some words because they're becoming so archaic it's not even really the same language anymore), so saying what's "right" or "wrong" in terms of grammar is basically choosing some specific moment in time and arbitrarily deciding that that's the "proper" form of the language, and the one to strive for.

It just seems like an inherently losing battle, and one that makes no sense to fight -- if 100% of people understand a word, what's the point in saying it shouldn't be used? E.g., "I ain't" is definitely not considered correct, but there's no real reason it shouldn't be allowed as an alternative to "I'm not".

I understand one reason for prescriptive grammar, essentially to make communication possible. It essentially establishes rules, and speech would quickly get confusing if we had no rules. But some of the things it prohibits seem to have little to do with facilitating communication, and more with just upholding some arbitrary status quo. "Swag" is a really annoying word, but it doesn't really make sense to say it's not an "official word" or something if millions of people are using it and all know what it means among each other.

Why exactly do prescriptivists even really want this? Is it some sort of weak attempt at "seeking permanence in an impermanent world"?


texts:
I am a cartographer and am working on a map for a region in northern India.  My map source is quite old (1910-1920).  There are several named places on the map referring to Ghāts.  Many of these named locations are along rivers or were, at one time, along a river [note that the river is not the Ganges] that has since shifted to another location.  Examples of these names are: Lachhman Ghāt, Bānsdeo Ghāt, Rām Ghāt, etc.

I have researched this word online and have come to the conclusion that the word (translated from Hindi) likely means "passage" or "landing".  Here is the Hindi word for ghāt - घाट.  Several sources suggest that the word defines a wide set of stairs that descend to a water source for the purpose of bathing/cleansing or for funereal cremation.

Here's my problem:
Presuming that the geographic feature is still at the same location in modern day, I cannot discern from online imagery (Google Earth) if these features are still present.

Can the geographic term "ghāt" refer to some other type of feature than what is suggested above?  Can "ghāt" refer to a populated place or a locality/neighborhood?  I have read that the term ghāt can be used to refer to a mountain range or hill, but I don't think this definition applies in this situation.

River of Colour: The India of Raghubir Singh (Phaidon Press Limited, 1998) mentions ghāts as thus:
"During the past thirty years Raghubir Singh has made countless personal journeys across the vast Indian subcontinent. He has traveled along the Ganges, toured the ghats and alleys of Benares and explored the cosmopolitan cities of Calcutta and Mumbai."

This example suggests that the term "ghat" refers to the steps down to a river as outlined above.  However, I question whether the usage of the term on my map source may be referring to some other named map feature.  Any ideas are appreciated.


texts: Can "during which" be used in this context

texts:
The text comes for an academic publication and thus it should be as close to perfect grammar and    unambiguous as possible. I am introducing a set of properties and if not self evident also defining them.
Can "during which" be used in a case:

  ..., time window during which the action must take place, ...

or do I need to say:

  ..., time window that is the time interval, in which the action must take place, ...

That extra comma would break the nice structure: "thing1, thing2 and thing3"


texts: How do 'area', 'region', and 'territory' differ?

texts: When you consider separation for easy identification and management in sales, what would be the best explanations for area, region, and territory?


texts: A word that describes two opposing effects rooted in the same thing?

texts: For example, when a law might cause a good effect to the poor but a bad effect to the rich.


texts: Initials representing a letter instead of a word

texts:
Harry Truman's middle initial is rather unique because, unlike most middle initials, it doesn't just represent the first letter of his middle name - it is his middle name.

  His parents chose the name Harry after his mother's brother, Harrison "Harry" Young (1846–1916).[2] They chose "S" as his middle initial to please both of his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. The "S" did not stand for anything, a common practice among the Scots-Irish.

Harry S. Truman - Wikipedia

It appears that the period after the "S" is generally either included or omitted based on the author's preference alone. This brings forth some interesting questions:

Can a letter be considered an "initial", or part of an initialism, if it isn't actually "short" for anything?
Is there technically a "right" way to treat initials like this, or is the inclusion or omission of the period entirely a matter of preference so long as one is consistent?
Is there a specific word to describe these sorts of initials?


texts: conduct vs undertake vs pursue vs carry out

texts:
I don't see any difference in meaning of these four. Can anyone explain me like I'm 5.

conduct a study
undertake a review
pursue a policy
carry out a research

In Russian we'd use one word in all these sentences. And the sense of it looks the same to me as well.

UPD: I think it'd be easier to figure it out using one activity, e.g. review:

conduct a review
undertake a review
pursue a review
carry out a review


texts: Would "..., which is what X would help me do." be correct?

texts: This would be the context, roughly: "I want to (verb), which is exactly what X would help me do." Is this proper usage? It sounds somewhat awkward, but I'm not sure as to what the actual problem is. Could I replace it with something like "... which is what I believe X would help me do." or would that be equally wrong? Thanks.


texts:
Would the following sentence be grammatically correct: "For practical co-operation it is essential to have a uniform interpretation of the used terms and definitions."
Thanks!


texts: Adjective describing someone who is in constant communication with someone else?

texts:
I'm searching for a good synonym for communicative, but with an emphasis on being in constant communication over time, not merely the "amount" of communication (so talkative and such don't work). A short phrase will work as well.

Example context:

  Unlike our inferior competitors, we are great because we are communicative (e.g. we constantly stay in touch with you).