texts: Do you have English counterpart to “To ask a question is a shame of a moment. Not to ask the question is a shame for whole life”?

texts:
I doubt whether my question is worth asking or being answered every time I’m posting a question, and ask myself, “Doesn’t it look too naive or primitive a
question?”
However, I keep posting questions anyway, encouraged by the old Japanese saying, “Kikuwa ittoki-no haji, Kikanuwa matudai-no haji” meaning, “To ask a question is a shame of a moment. Not to ask the question is a shame (regret) that lasts for your whole (eternal) life.”

Confucius said, "It's not a problem that you don't know. It's the problem that you don't know what you don't know."

By following this maxim, I think I’m able to build knowledge of English expressions.
I’m curious to know whether you have an English counterpart to “To ask a question is a shame of a moment. Not to ask the question is a shame for whole your life”, or any proverb encouraging questions.


texts:
In Dutch we can say 'ik gun jou de opdracht', meaning 'I ... you the assignment'. It's mixture of allow to have and don't begrudge I guess. If I translate the dictionary, it would be 'to desire or approve that somebody else has or gets something'.

A related word would be 'gunfactor', used in business and making deals. It almost sounds like giving an contract to a party you approve of, but that's not quite it. In this case one approves, desires and doesn't begrudge.


texts: Can a colon join sentence fragments for emphasis?

texts:
In this sentence, can a colon be used (after "zone") to put emphasis on the two fragments that follow it?

Ex: His room was a chaos zone. Clothes haphazardly tossed across the bed. Books scattered this way and that.


texts: "A beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourn'd longer" in Hamlet

texts:
Here's from Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2.

  and yet, within a month,—
  Let me not think on't,—Frailty, thy name is woman!—
  A little month; or ere those shoes were old
  With which she followed my poor father's body
  Like Niobe, all tears;—why she, even she,—
  O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason,
  Would have mourn'd longer,—married with mine uncle,
  My father's brother; but no more like my father
  Than I to Hercules:

I think "a beast that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn'd longer,"
is an apodosis of a conditional sentence whose protasis is omitted. Right?
I wonder what the protasis is.
Is it "if she(= Hamlet's mother) had been a beast that wants discourse of reason"?


texts: Need help on writing a Phrase or line in the Lyrics

texts:
This is the original line, " I have anger and sorrow for you  "

I have to rewrite this line in a rhythmic format
Line should intrigue a person

Need some help from the experts


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Which day does “next Tuesday” refer to?

I got a fortune cookie with the message you will have lots of fun next weekend on a Wednesday. Which weekend does this refer to? Is it the one in three days or the one after that?


texts: She may have reasoned that it 'would have been' against her own economic self interest

texts:
She may have reasoned that it would have been against her own economic
  self interest to disclose the worst case scenario Source

My question is: In this sentence why are we using "would have been" instead of "would be"?

Because if I wrote the same sentence I'd write it with ".....would be...."

Kindly don't mark it as duplicate as other "would have been" vs "would be" questions don't help me figure out this sentence structure.


texts: When you make a glottal stop in English, does the front of your tongue touch the roof of your mouth?

texts: When you make a glottal stop (or a glottalized t/stop t) in English, does the front of your tongue touch the roof of your mouth? For example, the word "hit".


texts:
What’s the difference between particulate and particle?

Should it be diesel particulates or diesel particles, and why?

Could you provide three or more examples where it should use particulate rather than particle?


texts: Word meaning "influences of / effects of"

texts:
Is there a single word that is a noun meaning "influences of" or "effects of"?
For example, suppose I had a table like this:
Property         |    XYZ
----------------------------------
Skin color       | Cultural perceptions, ease of sunburn
----------------------------------
Moisture content | Rate of food spoilage, hardness
----------------------------------
Wavelength       | Ability to transmit through different media, photon energy

This is an awful contrived example, but for each term in the "Property" column, the corresponding content in the "XYZ" column notes what kinds of things the property influences or affects.
My problem is what to put instead of "XYZ".
I don't like "Affects" or "Influences" as verbs, because they have other meanings as nouns. "Impacts" also has noun and verb form.
The word "Implications" is close to what I'm looking for, but not quite.
Any suggestions?


texts: Colon designated list of colon itemized sentences

texts:
I'm just seeing dots, working with colons. Is it correct to use a colon to introduce a list of items which begin with colons? Or is it quite superfluous?

Typically, I seem to employ this for lists of definitions, for example:

  The database stores three types of data:

  junk: data that no-one wants anymore.
  useless: serves no purpose whatsoever.
  irrelevant: haikus about birds.

I've found this resource to be pretty helpful when considering how I'm using colons, but as I'm writing a list like this I keep thinking there might be a better way, something clearer that doesn't overuse the punctuation.

All help appreciated!


texts: Preposition to choose when referring to something from a book

texts:
Which would be better to say?

  He reminds me of Dill from To Kill a Mockingbird.
  He reminds me of Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird.
  He reminds me of Dill of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Also, which is more appropriate in a formal context?


texts: Should this be "not annoying me" or "not annoy me"?

texts:
Which one is correct sentence? Thank you very much.

Can you make strong coffee, never wear perfume and not annoying me?
Can you make strong coffee, never wear perfume and not annoy me?

I'm watching an American drama that called Younger in Season 1 episode 1, 10:00. I heard not annoying me but subtitle was not annoy me.


texts:
I am reading the paper : http://mi-lab.org/files/2014/10/FlexSense_web.pdf .
I have problems understanding use of ground truth the following :

  Main Pipeline
  Reconstructing the full 3D surface shape from a sparse set of
  sensor measurements is clearly a challenging task. Each sensor
  reading from our foil is an amplified voltage measurement,
  and somehow we need to map these combined values to a
  real-world reconstruction of the surface. In this section we
  present two data-driven algorithms that tackle this problem.
  Both of our methods are first trained using pairs of sensor
  measurements and ground truth 3D shape measurements of
  the foil. This pre-processing training phase is what enables
  our algorithms to infer the shape of the foil from the sparse
  sensor data at runtime.
  To collect ground truth measurements of the shape of the foil
  together with corresponding sensor measurements, we follow
  the approach illustrated in Figure 5. We print an array of
  markers on a sheet of paper covering our sensor foil. Then
  we use a custom-built multi-camera rig (described later) to
  track the 3D position of the markers with high accuracy. We
  leverage multiple cameras in order to track as many markers
  as possible despite occlusions due to the deforming foil and
  interacting hands.

What exactly does ground truth mean ?


texts: The "tank" in think tank - is it a fish tank or a battle tank?

texts:
This morning I read about a think tank somewhere having this or that opinion on some policy.

I suddenly had this image in my head of brains free-floating in some kind of big fish tank, exchanging thoughts and ideas to come up with something brilliant.

Then I remembered "tank" having other possible meanings in English. Like the battle tank, designed to overcome evil by brute force, armored to sustain heavy enemy fire.

And I wondered - is this what a think-tank is? Some massive brainy killing-machine, immune to outside agression, designed to come up with the one great idea that will win the war?

If anyone could point out what kind of tank was initially meant at creation of the first think-tanks I'd be very thankful.


texts: I'm on the topic of countability and an example in my book says that "collect a coin" is ungrammatical, and that you say "collect coins" instead. But why? Is it because "collecting" is not appropriate for one coin?


texts: Is it VL (Linking Verbs) or VT (Transitive Verbs)?

texts:
Federal Reserve remains patient about next U.S. rate hike.

Is this sentence "linking verb" or "transitive verb"? I think it is VL but not quite sure about it.


texts: "I just ate them" and "I've just eaten them" — What's the difference in American and in British?

texts: I know there are differences between American and British English in this area. So when answering, please specify whether you speak American or British English.


texts: Can some refer pseudoscience by quasi-science?

texts:
reference link for the difference between pseudo and quasi at pseudo, quasi and semi

Thanks to stack exchange [users] for making it clearer. Meanwhile, i found another useful blog defining the terms while making the differences: Non-science, pseudoscience, quasi-science and bad science; is there a difference?


texts: Is the following sentence a parallel structure?

texts:
I bought not only a Christmas tree but also lots of presents.

The key for the exercises marks the sentence as a parallel structure, though I think it is not.

To be a parallel structure, the parts after the connectors should have the same forms. Considering the connector as not only... but also..., I don't see a Christmas tree and lots of presents as having the same form.

Am I wrong?


texts: Word to describe ideology of unfettered belief in rational self-interest

texts:
I'm looking for a word that captures the ideology of believing everything can be traced back to rational self-interest. I know that this is a form of weak altruism, and that many ideas of economic rationality, capitalism, and Enlightenment/neoliberal ideologies tend to be rooted in this, but I can't place the exact word for it.

In fact, the definition of neoliberalism comes close, in how it is described as a faith in the value of the free-market in itself. I am looking for the definition of "faith in the fundamentality of human self-interest in itself." A sort of reductionism where cooperation, community, and all those other good things get traced back to self-interest.

This came about in a discussion about neoliberalism. We began to conflate neoliberalism with this idea, which I think has its own word.


texts:
What is the difference between "As I was saying" and "As I said"?

They sound so similar that I can't distinguish them.


texts: This is the first post of the series / This is the first post in the series

texts:
When writing a series in a blog, with which of the following sentences could you start the first sentence? Are they all correct, is only one correct, are there semantic or only aesthetic differences?
'...' = the title of the series

This is the first post of the '...' series.
This is the first post in the '...' series.
This is the first post of the series '...'.
This is the first post in the series '...'.


texts: 'The snap election results' or 'The snap-election results'?

texts:
Which of the two is grammatically correct?

The snap election results are in.
The snap-election results are in.

The sentence should refer to the results of an election that was announced suddenly and unexpectedly.


texts: Can or could, which is correct, or at least better? Why?

texts:
She has forgotten how she could open the window.
Vs
She has forgotten how she can open the window?

In a sentence like this, which is correct or better ? could  or can? Why?
Thanks!


texts: "Departed" or "departed from" before place/object?

texts:
I'm working on an essay and the first line of my introductory paragraph currently reads as:

  Too many times, when sitting in an English classroom, have bitter
  groans departed the lips of around twenty students when
  Shakespeare’s name is mentioned.

This probably seems like a very facile question, but it's somewhat confusing to me; the main definition of "depart," according to the dictionary, is "to leave, typically in order to start a journey." However, when reading, the word is often formatted such so that "from" is put in front of it, right before the area of question–– i.e., "he departed from his home in Alsace." In this case, when referring to that definition, doesn't it translate to "he left from his home in Alsace"? Wouldn't "he departed his home in Alsace" ("he left his home in Alsace") be more suitable and also less wordy? Are both usages grammatically correct?


texts: Much like & % #, or how "that" used to have the thorn and T, does anyone know if at any point in the English language the word "as" had a symbol?


texts: What nouns of German origin should be given capital letters?

texts:
On another post an interesting fact has just been discovered about the OED's treatment of nouns adopted into English from German (loan-words).

A lot of them e.g. Nazi are spelled with a capital letter. Similar words, which are not of German origin, such as communist or socialist are not spelled with a capital.

Equally Zeitgeist, and Blitzkrieg are also given capitals, but interestingly not kindergarten or bratwurst.

Of course, in German all nouns are given capital letters, not just proper nouns as in English.

What is it that determines whether a noun adopted into English from German should have a capital letter?


texts: Does the structure "an example of" take a plural or a singular noun or both?

texts:
For instance, are the following sentences grammatical, and do they mean the same thing or have different meanings?

Cheese is an example of protien-rich food.
Cheese is an example of a protein-rich food.
Cheese is an example of protein-rich foods.


texts: Graded/ungraded adjectives and grading/non-grading adverbs

texts:
I saw in the Farlex Grammar Book an explanation of gradable adjectives and graded adverbs. It lists the following words as examples of each category:

Gradable adjectives
small
cold
hot
difficult
sad

Non-gradable adjectives
tiny
freezing
boiling
impossible
devastated

Grading adverb
absolutely
utterly
fully
virtually
completely

Non-grading adverbs
a bit
dreadfully
unusually
extremely
slightly

The rule it states is that non-grading adverbs "can generally only" modify non-gradable adjectives, and grading adverbs "are generally only paired with" gradable adjectives. So:

absolutely small
(wrong) non-grading adverb and gradable adjective
a bit small
(correct) grading adverb and gradable adjective
completely sad (wrong) non-grading adverb and gradable adjective
slightly sad (correct) grading adverb and gradable adjective

It contains this note:

  Note that in informal speech or writing, many grammar rules are often ignored, misused, or misunderstood, so you may come across non-grading adverbs used with gradable adjectives (e.g., “utterly surprised,” “absolutely interested”) or grading adverbs used with non-gradable adjectives (e.g., “extremely certain,” “very tiny”). However, other than the exceptions listed above, this usage should be avoided, especially in formal or professional writing.

The exceptions it's referring to are the adverbs really, fairly, pretty and quite, which can modify both gradable AND ungradable adjectives. And so considers the following acceptable:

pretty freezing
fairly impossible

I consider it strange that it implies "utterly surprised" or "very tiny" to be ungrammatical (or at least bad style), and yet considers "pretty freezing" and "fairly impossible" to be fine.

I started experimenting with mixing mismatched adverbs and adjectives from the above source, along with a couple of others, including (englishclub.com [grammar]) that is, gradables with non-gradeds and vice versa. Some examples I found to be fine (by my standards, at least) were:

perfectly happy
(non-graded adv. + gradable adj.)

very awful / extremely awful
(graded adv. + ungradable adj.)

nearly dead / almost dead
(non-graded adv. + ungradable adj.)

virtually unknown
(non-graded adv. + ungradable adj.)

more terrible / more terrifying
(graded adv. + ungradable adj.)

The Farlex source seems to imply my above examples are ungrammatical or at the very least should be avoided in formal writing.

The same thing seems to be implied at the other source (englishclub.com).

I'm wondering if either is true, whether they're ungrammatical or to be avoided in formal writing?

Also, a quick second question, if I may:

At learnenglish.britishcouncil.org it says:

  Adjectives like ‘terrifying’, ‘freezing’ ‘amazing’ are also non-gradable adjectives. They already contain the idea of ‘very’ in their definitions – ‘freezing’ means ‘very cold’.

And at englishclub.com

  Non-gradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative forms.

And gives the example that you can't have "more dead" or "more freezing". I agree with that, but that definitely doesn't seem to be the case for amazing, terrifying, and terrible, which are all considered ungradables. Also I see nothing wrong with saying that Village A was more devastated by the war/drought than Village B (devastated being an ungradable adjective).

Am I wrong in thinking that there's nothing wrong with "more amazing" or "more terrifying"? Example: "It's more amazing/terrifying than you can imagine." It seems the sources are telling me these words shouldn't be comparable. Are they right?


texts:
I'm looking for a better way to say that once a new kind of virus is discovered, various gene analysis methods, such as A B C, are already in stock (or at hand) to be used.
Thanks.


texts: The Phrase "off-cycle internship experience" in CV

texts:
While looking over some example templates of CV, had bumped over a phrase "off-cycle internship" under Work experience slot.

Any idea what does it mean?

"off-cycle" is not listed in Wiktionary but it would be in another dictionary.

Anyway, for clarification of its conventional use of meaning

I need your help and references.


texts: Which one is correct? vector "b" or "b" vector?

texts:
In mathematical writing, when b denotes a vector, which sentence is correct when we want to mention that b is a vector?

a) We multiply the b vector by ...

b) We multiply the vector b by ...


texts: Etymological origin of "deosil" and "widdershins"

texts:
I've been hearing the words "deosil" used for clockwise and "widdershins" for anticlockwise, but where do they come from?

I'm told that "widdershins" is from a Scottish term meaning "against the way", is this correct?

I can't find any evidence of the origin of deosil. Where did it come from? Did it originally mean something else?


texts: Could someone help me understand the difference between a cloudy pillar and a pillar of cloud? I know they could be used synonymously, but I want to know if there is any discrapancy between the two in english.


texts: Noun for a man who is turned down for a date regularly

texts:
Is there a noun to describe a man who is unsuccessful with women and turned down for a date regularly. Women don't see him as a lover and don't want to engage in sexual relations with him because he is untidy in dress and appearance. He is unappealing and unattractive because of unwashed hair, overweight, smelly socks and yellow underarm stains on his clothes.
The example:

A: He asks random girls out on a date. They always reject him.
B:  You know he is such a ____


texts: Difference in meaning between gerund and infinitive

texts:
The whole class was working hard preparing for the exam.
  The whole class was working hard to prepare for the exam.

What are the differences between these two sentences?


texts:
Can you, please, consult me. Do we need a comma before a verb in sentences like this?

On the left menu item, select the needed device group.


texts: Is the comma before the verb "completed" used properly? The excerpt from Barron's SAT Practice Test - Test 3.?

texts:
In an excerpt from Barron's SAT Practice Test - Test 3.

  A tiny pestle and mortar for color-grinding, and a cup of water in which to clip and wash the brush, completed the apparatus of the student.

I know that you cannot separate the subject from its verb. I wonder why there is a comma before the verb "completed". Doesn't it separate the verb from its subject A tiny pestle and mortar for color-grinding, and a cup of water in which to clip and wash the brush, where we are given a list of items in the following form: A and B, and C?


texts: "the stir and keep of pride" in G.M.Hopkins' poem

texts:
From The Habit of Perfection by Gerard Manley Hopkins:

Nostrils, your careless breath that spend
Upon the stir and keep of pride,
What relish shall the censers send
Along the sanctuary side!

What is the stir and keep of pride here? Stir = commotion? Keep = stronghold (metaphorically, the body)? And what they may mean combined in one sentence?
I understood the bit with censers that send fumes along the wall of the refuge, but the first half of the stanza is misty.


texts: I'm looking for a word opposite to dying

texts:
When something is dying it is not completely dead. Only half or almost there. I need a word that means gaining life, as in almost completely alive. Like the reverse of dying. When you die the flame of life dims and burns out. I'm looking for a dim light that increases its intensity as fuel is added. I can think of perfectly good antonyms like waning, dimming, dwindle, ebbing, fading, but not many synonyms. It doesn't sound right.

It's a weird description, but it doesn't have to necessarily be about life. Maybe light, or fire or anything. Does such a word exist? If not, is there any word or several words that sound like this?


texts:
I have recently seen weather forecasters making predictions for Christmas Eve Day, Christmas Eve Night, and for Christmas Day.  One also reads of Christmas Eve Eve, with two eves.

Are those all meaningful and distinct (and clear to all!) , or  are there redundancies or contradictions there?  Is there a better way to say those?

Given the apparent existence of a Christmas Eve Day and a Christmas Eve Night, is the period between those Christmas Eve Eve, or is it just Christmas Eve? Or does Christmas Eve Eve mean the day (or the night?) before Christmas Eve, so two days then before Christmas proper?

Me, I always thought of the eve as being the night before a holiday (or anything else), not the entire calendar day before as it seems now to mean — and I wonder when and why that has changed.

So Christmas Eve Night seems like a pleonasm to me.  And it seems that I am not alone based on this article published on Christmas Eve Eve Eve of 2012:

  Just when I thought I was catching on to all the Christmas traditions, I hear the phrase “Christmas Eve eve” or “the eve of Christmas Eve.” When did that sneak in, and what the heck does it mean?

It looks like Easter Eve is (or at least was) sometimes used for Holy Saturday, sometimes the same as or related to Easter Vigil. Indeed, Anton Chekov wrote a story with the title Easter Eve about the night before Easter. But now we see people talking about Good Friday Eve instead of Maundy Thursday.  Thanksgiving Eve has now been seen in the wild, and even Halloween Eve to mean October 30th, which seems to go by the name of Devil’s Night in some circles.  Even so, Halloween Eve seems like another double: All Hallows’ Eve Eve.


texts:
I searched Macmillan dictionary for "going after someone"; it means "to try to catch or stop someone". I'm not native. But is this the only meaning? Doesn't it mean "to look for someone" too?

As an example: Suppose there has been an accident in the nearby school and your little brother studies there. You want to go and check if he's OK,
so you tell your mom, "I'll go after him, Mom." Is this correct?


texts: "The Germans were attacking, and the French". Why is it wrong?

texts:
I worked on my paper, and my brother on a project.
  The width was 3 meters, and the length 4 meters.

These are omitted version of those sentences below, grammatically correct, and make perfect sense.

  I worked on my paper, and my brother (worked) on a project.
  The width was 3 meters, and length (was) 4 meters.

But when only the subject of the second clause is different from the  first clause, it does not seem to be working.

  The Germans were attacking, and the French (were attacking).

This does not sound very good, and I am not so sure if it is grammatically correct, which lead me to adding "too" at the end.

  The Germans were attacking, and the French, too.

So, why doesn't "The Germans" sentence work like "I worked on paper" sentence? Is fifth sentence,  "the Germans were attacking, and the French", considered grammatically correct? If so, why don't we use it very often?


texts:
In some languages "new" could be used both as a noun or as an adjective. I read that in English, "new" is only an adjective. Is it true? When I say: "a new", is it wrong? How else can I properly say something along the lines "a new"?

In other words, is it ok to say: "a new is being created"? If not, how to say it properly?

Edit:

Example - hmm, I cannot really think of one. Maybe: "a miracle is when a new comes to life out of nothing". I try to name the result of a creation.

The problem is, in my native language there is no distinction between "new" as a noun and "new" as an adjective. "Newness" is, if I understand correctly, the general quality of "a new" or of "something new", hence it is a bit different from what I'm looking for.

"The new" is almost perfect - but I'm not sure if I can use "the" as this is the first time I talk about that "new".


texts: A word that represents both getting on and/or off of something (in general)

texts:
Is there a single word or phrase that exists to represent the action of both getting on and/or off of something such as public transport in general?
I understand there are words like ingress/egress, embark/disembark, ascent/descent, board/deboard, etc. but these only represent one or the other.


texts:
When I am describing a service that is billed for once a month I write, "This is a monthly service."  When describing a service that is billed for once a year I use, "This is an annual service."

Why would using "This is an annually service." sound incorrect?  It's as if 'monthly service' is used as shorthand for 'monthly billed service', and 'annual service' is used as shorthand for 'annually billed service'.  Is my problem that 'monthly' is used incorrectly in the first case?


texts: Using "angels of mercy" to refer to nurses

texts:
I wonder if "angels of mercy" by itself (not in context) will be understood to mean "nurses."

I have googled this term, but the results I got referred to the angels from religions.


texts: How to write letter "K" as a full word correctly?

texts:
If I want to write for example "Mr. K". I don't want to use just a single letter. Should I write it like "Mr. Kei", "Mr. Kay" or "Mr. Key"?

Update:

Let us imagine there was somebody with name Mr. King given at birth. He doesn't like his surname, but he likes when others address him as "Mr. K". So, he wants to change his surname. But he doesn't want to use just a single letter - it is too short. So is "Mr. Kay" the right way for his purpose?


texts: What is the difference between obsolete and deprecate in computer science?

texts:
Given the two terms "obsolete" and "deprecate" in computer science, what is the difference between them?

What I understand,

Deprecated means still available for use but will no longer be developed or supported and may be discontinued in the next release or so.

Obsolete means a better alternative is available so this is now deemed redundant and will probably be discontinued in the next release or so.

It's what I believe and may be incorrect and if so then what is the actual difference?


texts: How do you parse a sentence containing only "buffalo" n times for different values of n?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo

This wiki page asserts that the sentence comprised of n "buffalo" (for all n) is a valid sentence.  E.g. "Buffalo!" and "Buffalo buffalo." are valid sentences.

How exactly does one parse the n-buffalo sentence?  For example, how would one parse the sentence "buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo" (n = 20)?

There is nothing special about eight "buffalos"; indeed, a sentence with "buffalo" repeated any number of times is grammatically correct (according to Chomskyan theories of grammar). The shortest is "Buffalo!", meaning either "Bully (someone)!", or "Look, there are buffalo here!", or "Behold, it is the majestic and grand city of Buffalo!"


texts: What is the difference between "keep on challenging" and "keep challenging"?

texts:
As I listened to the English radio, the DJ said "keep on challenging yourself". But I have known that we can also say that "keep challenging yourself". What is the role of "on" in the former expression?

Thank you in advance.


texts: Difference between it's been 2 weeks since I spoke vs since I was speaking

texts: I usually say "It's been two weeks since i spoke with him" to mean that i spoke with him 2 weeks ago.  Is it grammatically correct to use the past progressive (I was speaking with him) instead?


texts:
Is it valid in English to use a construction like:

  Fog consists of tiny water droplets or, rarely, ice crystals.

If not, how can I elegantly solve this problem?


texts: Seeking single word denoting a word pair in which one cannot exist without the other

texts:
Years ago a friend told me about word pairs in which one word cannot exist without the other word. The example he used was inside and outside. That is, inside cannot exist without its necessary other half outside.

At the time he told me a name for these word pairs, which I have long forgotten. What is the name describing these word pairs?


texts: -y is a common baby-talk suffix appended to words such as pig (to make piggy), kitten (to make kitty), etc.  As babe used to be a common word for infants and young children, I thought it would be likely that baby is a hypocoristic form of babe, originating from baby-talk.  However, I have no way to back up this hypothesis, and am wondering if someone else knows how to prove or disprove it.


texts:
I have searched "beat around the bush" but it seems that it has two meanings based on my understanding.

First is it's like you're insinuating or implying a topic/question to someone so it is not directly stated but that's really what you want to be answered by the one you are talking to.

Second is digressing from the topic to avoid for some reason, like you're in a conversation with your friend, and he keeps telling a story about your ex-girlfriend without knowing you and your girlfriend already broke up, then you digress from it by inserting the school-related topics.

I'm confused whether I just misundertand it or it really has two meanings, if it has, which one of these is mostly used?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
As I see some people, especially internauts, just by thinking that they had posted a video in youtube, or they have a facebook account, or they've created a blogger website etc..., they simply call themselves 'geeks'.
Then, according to Merriam Webster , there are two possible definitions of 'geek' :

  a person who is socially awkward and unpopular : a usually intelligent person who does not fit in with other people
  a person who is very interested in and knows a lot about a particular field or activity

So, that's what makes me confused!

Does the term 'geek' stands for a facebook addict, generally computer addict ?


texts:
I've read both of them, but I don't know if both are equally correct and widely used.

Just to clarify after receiving the first answers: I meant real miracles (like god-related), not something that gave good results. So I guess the "work/perform" idiom doesn't apply, right?


texts:
Looking for a word meaning "run over by a wheel".

My first though was something like:

 ... as the body is trampled by the wagon wheels ...

but in my mind, trample is really something under foot, people walking over, not run over by wheels.

My mind is nagging me for a simple word the seems just beyond my grasp, so I thought I'd reach out for any ideas.

Thoughts?


texts:
On my security card at work is written "Contractor" in big, bold, capital letters.
A thought just crossed my mind (as I work for a medical company):

If I am the contractor, am I the one passing the disease to others? Is it correct to call the other side of the contract the Contractee?

And what does it say about our work relations, if this is how they see me? :-)


texts: What word can I use to describe a design that is focused on function as opposed to form?

texts: A product is designed in such a way that it is highly functional but the form is entirely reliant on the components pre-existing form - for example an anglepoise lamp's form is shaped by the springs, metal structure and lampshape. There is no additional ornamentation.


texts: Using plural for two individual objects of the same kind

texts:
Assume Einstein conjectured something (in Mathematics) and Zweistein conjectured something slightly stronger (implies Einstein's conjecture).

Which one of the following is correct?:

(a) Every X satisfies Zweistein's and thus Einstein's conjecture.
(b) Every X satisfies Zweistein's and thus Einstein's conjectures.

How about:

(a) Every X satisfies Zweistein's and Einstein's conjecture.
(b) Every X satisfies Zweistein's and Einstein's conjectures.

I went with (a), but was corrected by a native speaker. My feeling was that there are two separate identities and that "Zweistein's and Einstein's conjecture" is short for "Zweistein's conjecture and Einstein's conjecture".


texts:
According to the Oxford  dictionary online (ODO), "heaps" is an adverb meaning a great deal.

But in Gone with the Wind, there is this sentence, containing "heap," most likely meaning the same thing as "heaps":

  I'd heap rather go to a war than go to Europe.

Is "heaps" the same as "heap," as is most likely the case; and if so, how can the variation be explained between "heaps" and "heap"?

Try this link for the Google book source if the other one doesn't work.


texts: Is it ok to use just "Careful!" instead of ”Be careful!” preceded by “be”?

texts:
Is it “correct” if I say Careful! here without be in front of it?

Careful! There is a car coming!
Careful! Just one step back and you will fall off the cliff.


texts:
This compliance, though inadequate, was sufficient to raise Manfred’s hopes.  He trusted that his power and wealth would easily advance his suit at the court of Rome, whither he resolved to engage Frederic to take a journey on purpose. That Prince had discovered so much passion for Matilda, that Manfred hoped to obtain all he wished by holding out or withdrawing his daughter's charms, according as the Marquis should appear more or less disposed to co-operate in his views.

This is a sentence from "The Castle of Otranto." And I'm confused as to how I should understand this sentence structure. It starts with that and again it's followed by "that"(that Manfred hoped to...)
 Since I can't understand this structure of these sentences I have difficulty interpreting what it actually means. (Especially the part "by holding out or withdrawing his daughter's charms")

Can you explain and help me understand what it means? Thank you!


texts: Is "in order to" correct to be used in a simple sentence?

texts:
Can the clause "in order to" be used in a simple sentence?
I'm confused... Please let me know...


texts: the 200 mile-journey or the 200-mile journey

texts:
The original sentence:

  Because the Moon has only an eightieth of the Earth's mass, it
  requires 97 per cent less energy to travel the quarter of a million
  miles from the Moon to Earth-orbit than the 200 mile-journey from
  Earth's surface into orbit!

Is the boldfaced part supposed to be “the 200-mile journey” in standard English?

Thanks for the help, as always.


texts: Difference between "Do it yourself" and "Do it by yourself"

texts: What is the difference between "Do it yourself" and "Do it by yourself"? and how and when can I use each one of them?


texts: "Major location" versus "primary location"

texts:
I have a requirement that includes references to "major" and "minor" locations (referring to one main location and less significant ones). I have a feeling that "primary" and "secondary" are more correct in this context, but I can't prove it.

Am I correct? And, if I am, where should I look to prove my point?


texts: can "coexist" cover animate and inanimate things?

texts:
We can talk about different animals, plants, groups of people, and belief systems "coexisting," by which we mean not just

  To exist together, at the same time, or in the same place. [definition 1 from TFD]

but

  To live in peace with another or others despite differences [definition 2 from TFD]

Would it be incorrect or confusing to combine these senses and lump living and non-living things together, like this:

  We need to create sustainable cities where people, animals, plants and resources can coexist.

Does "resources" not belong?


texts: What does "I've been sick lately" imply?

texts:
The sentence "I've been sick" can either mean:

-I'm still sick;

-I was sick;

Although, putting a "lately" at the end of the sentence implies what? That I am still sick, or that I was sick in a time of the past?

Thank you in advance.


texts: Is using an apostrophe for omission more correct than not?

texts:
I recently submitted my product design coursework to my teacher, for them to check that everything was okay. And besides from the few spelling mistakes that I'd made, the only other thing I was told to do was to change all of the contractions to being two separate words.

This meant going through and changing all of the "it's"s to "it is", the "we're"s to "we are" and so on. This was because, and I quote, "The exam board see it as more correct to not use things such as contractions."

So is this really the case, is it more correct not to use an apostrophe for omission? Or is this just a miss understanding between my teacher and the exam board?

Personally I'd have though it to be the other way around, as in French it is grammatically incorrect to say "ce est" or "que elle". These should instead be written as "c'est" and "qu'elle" respectively.

Any thought on the matter would be appreciated.


texts:
When is it appropriate to use a hyphen when naming colors?

For instance Blue-green has a dash but Teal blue does not.

Is there some general English rule that applies?


texts: Which word best describes something opposite to "delay"?

texts:
My application displays a column which shows if tasks are delayed or not and how big the delay is. The delay may be positive (if a task is delayed) or negative (if it's on time). The time difference between now and the scheduled date is shown.

I'd like to describe this column in a short way. How to call something opposite to delay in this case? Ahead? Advance?


texts: What is the verb for the action of a coward?

texts:
I wonder what the verb for the action of a "coward" is.

I remember there seems to be a verb form similar to coward, but coward cannot be a verb.


texts: Is there any relation between "genius" and "ingenious"?

texts:
They seem to mean the same thing, yet when spoken they sound like the negative of each other.
What's the secret behind those two words?


texts: What’s the etymology of the word “unstable”, in the context of software?

texts: Approximately when in the history of computing did unstable come to be commonly used to refer to computer software? Can this time in history be linked to the release of a certain product (no jokes please, unless the truth is sadly funny). Is it a euphemism synonymous with buggy or subtly different? If different, then how?


texts: Where does the name "Hot-dog" come from?

texts: I am curious: where does the name "Hot-dog" come from? I was thinking about the food.


texts:
"The line graph illustrates the amount of goods which was delivered by road, water, rail and pipeline in the UK from 2000 to 2005".

Should I use "amount" or "amounts" in this case? (I am writing a report of a line graph with 4 lines, each of which depicts the amount of cargo transported by a particular mode of transport shown above)

Thanks in advance!


texts: Comas, Punctuation and grammaticality...

texts:
Life was never so grisly an experience as it has become now. People, who often give pat on my back, seem to have lost what we call “empathy” in them. They, yell at my conscience, try every way to break my lingering ideologies- just a change of livings that they have turned into a beast mode.

Are the usage of comas correct in the aforementioned paragraph, also is it grammatically correct. Please help.


texts: Is there a better noun form of "unreasonable" than "unreasonableness?"

texts:
I simply can't bring myself to use unreasonableness, but can think of no synonym or alternate form with comparable meaning.

I'll restructure if necessary, but wonder if I'm missing a suitable alternative.


texts:
I see the above two phrases used interchangeably.

Google n-gram viewer prefers "sought solace".

Are they both correct?


texts:
Is this sentence sound native to English speakers?

Fall falls on falls.

Which I intended to say "Autumn comes to the waterfalls."
If this does not sound native, how would you use the word "fall" to make jokes like this?
Thank you in advance!


texts: Why does letter 'P' is not doubled in jumping but in mapping?

texts:
I just find out that 'jumping' is not doubled P but 'mapping' is and really don't know the rule for this.

Further explanation links are welcomed.


texts: A question of interpretation: single word parenthesis

texts:
To my mind this:

  Entity foo varies seemingly at random.

is semantically equivalent to this:

  Entity foo varies, seemingly, at random.

However, is this necessarily the case? What alternative, dissimilar interpretations might exist for each sentence?


texts: Using "rather/more" and "than" to compare two things in the same sentence

texts:
I wonder which one of the followings is correct or more preferable:

... is rather related to X than to Y.
... is related to X rather than to Y.
... is more related to X than to Y.
... is related to X more than to Y.

Any ideas?


texts:
What is an adjective for genuinely thinking oneself as skillful or knowing a lot about a particular subject but is actually inexperienced?

Example:

  Jack thought knew a lot in this area, but he actually didn't. Jack was ____.

This is different from the question What is a word or phrase for someone who professes to know something but actually doesn't? : This question is asking about a deliberately false claim, but I am asking about a genuine claim.

EDIT: I'm not looking for a slang expression. I updated the example. I am looking for a formal word.

It has some meaning overlapped with "overconfident."


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When is it okay to end a sentence in a preposition?

Does this sentence make sense "I would like to propose forming a partnership where we work together to provide optimal service to the new developments you are building, or have already started construction on."


texts: What's a word that means "not omniscient"?

texts:
What's a word that means "not knowing everything"? This would serve as a complementary antonym of omniscient, which means having infinite knowledge, or simply "all-knowing".

Thesaurus.com shows these possible words:

stupid (opposite of being clever, which ≠ being omniscient)
unknowing (opposite of being knowing, which ≠ being omniscient)
fallible (opposite of being infallible, which means "not able to make mistakes", which ≠ being omniscient, since I can know everything and still make mistakes)
erring (which means "capable of making mistakes", which ≠ being omniscient, since I can know everything and still make mistakes)
imperfect (opposite of being perfect, which is a superset of being omniscient... how could I be perfect if I'm both omniscient and fallible?)
faulty (which means "to have fault(s) / defect(s)", is the opposite of "to have no fault(s) / defect(s)", which means being perfect, which ≠ being omniscient)
ignorant (which means "having inadequate knowledge", is the opposite of "having adequate knowledge", which ≠ having infinite knowledge)
uneducated (opposite of being educated, which ≠ being omniscient)
unaware (opposite of being aware, which ≠ being omniscient)
uninformed (opposite of being informed, which ≠ being omniscient)

Yet, none of them are true antonyms for omniscient. Is there an alternative?


texts: How do I see the equivalence of these two definitions of risk homeostasis?

texts:
These two definitions should be equivalent, but correct me if I'm wrong.
Definition 1. Risk homeostasis is that when something becomes less risky, the more risk is taken, in order to keep the expected risk constant. (Source: Wikipedia article on Risk Homeostasis)
Definition 2. Risk homeostasis is that people at any moment of time compare the amount of risk they perceive with their target level of risk and will adjust their behaviour in an attempt to eliminate any discrepancies between the two. (Source: BMJ)


texts:
It is shown in a book (Essential grammar in used: unit 22)

"Football matches are often played at the weekend, but no matches are being played next weekend."

In my opinion it should be:

"Football matches are often played at the weekend, but no matches will be played next weekend."

Edit: Just to point out that my wonder is in the present form are being when referring to a future event next weekend. So in my opinion it should be will be instead of are being.


texts:
Which sentence is correct? Why?

He was laid up with fever yesterday.
He was laid down with fever yesterday.
He was laid down by the malaria parasite last month.


texts: How to compare two products produced by different objects

texts:
I have made a sentence like:

  A produced by B is better than A produced by C.

Can I change it to:

  A produced by B is better than C.


texts: a word or hyphenated term for a resource harvester?

texts:
I need a generic term for mines, farms, collectors, and anything that harvests a resource (iron, food, water, etc). The closest thing I've thought of so far is "resource harvester", which is a little too wordy. I'm hoping something more concise exists.

Preferably this needs to be catch-all for ANY harvester of ANY resource, even solar panels that collect sunlight, oil wells, etc.


texts: Type of usage in these examples? Clauses/fragments

texts:
Peter senses his father's danger and tries to reach him,
but is forced to watch helplessley as his father is driven away.

Her father struggles with complex emotions about the child he raised as his own, but to who he behaves in an unfatherly manner.

It was also a commercial success, but did not perform as well at the box office as the first film.

I understand there is an implied repetition of the subject in the bolded parts of the sentence but where do they
stand grammatically as they are alone and is the comma neccessary?

Are they sentence fragments or clauses ?

*is forced to watch helplessley as his father is driven away, for instance?


texts: Giving both page number and number of definition / proposition / theorem / lemma etc

texts:
I imagine this may be an overkill, but when making references to large e.g. mathematical books, I find it helpful to have both the page number and the definition / proposition / theorem / lemma (etc.) number.
Having both allows the reader to directly flip to the correct page, and then to have a good tool to "locate" the quoted part (as e.g. "Definition 3.1.10" can be on the same page as 10 other definitions, and could be on page 10 or 13208, depending on the numbering convention used by the authors).
I have two questions:

Is this practice strongly frowned upon? I don't remember seeing it in my field (computer science  / mathematics), but at the same time I don't remember seeing any indication given at all (that is, no page number, and no definition number),
What should be the correct order to display the information, using  e.g. Bibtex's plainurl style:

As you can see in the usual definition [10, p. 23, Definition 12]…

or

As you can see in the usual definition [10, Definition 12, p. 23]…

?


texts: "Near St. John's church" vs. "near the St. John's church" vs. "near the St. John church"

texts:
When it comes to churches and so on, which one is correct?

  Our hotel is near St. John's church.
  Our hotel is near the St. John's church.
  Our hotel is near the St. John church.


texts:
My day’s been good as well, thanks, if not a little long feeling.

Is that grammatically correct or am I expected to break it apart into two sentences, leaving the “if” section to stand alone? I feel that it looks wrong, but I also feel that the “if” section belongs with the sentence.

^ Is that grammatically correct? I am skeptical about the comma before “but”. My English teachers didn't teach me well enough . They would always just dock points and never explain why.


texts: Phrase for being robbed/deprived of my money

texts:
Here is the situation: I provide services to a client through a company's platform. The company provides a software that keeps track of the amount of time I spend and automatically bills the client accordingly. Recently I found that due to a technical problem in the software, it was under-billing the amount of time and in the past few years, this has cost me thousands of $$. I talked to the company about it and they are now advising me to claim this money from the client directly trying to convince him about the issue.

I'm now writing to the company and want to express that he would find this claim deceitful. What would be the proper words to express my feeling? I'm considering words like underhanded, deceiving etc.

Also what would be the proper word or phrase for my feeling of being robbed and deprived of my money?


texts: I was waking up or I was going to wake up or i would wake up

texts:
I heard such sentence in a movie

"There was no chance I was waking up in the morning"

i understand the context and what the speaker wanted to say but
can I say it this way:

a) "There was no chance I was going to wake up in the morning"
b) "There was no chance I would wake up in the morning"

what are the differences to the original statement?


texts: Less technical term to describe how often a recurring schedule repeats itself?

texts:
Defining a recurring schedule requires two steps:

How often the schedule repeats itself (e.g. weekly, every 2 weeks, every 3 weeks, etc.)
Inside each repetition, when the recurrently scheduled event actually happens (e.g. 1:00PM on Tuesday and Thursday of the first week, and 3:00PM on Monday and Wednesday of the second week)

The combination of these two things can be called "schedule" or "frequency" or another simple term.

But what is a good name for step #1 alone?  Microsoft Outlook calls it "Recurrence Pattern" which to me seems intimidatingly technical. Is there a plainer English term that will work instead?

The word will be used as a label in a website form where users choose how frequently (how many weeks) the schedule repeats itself.


texts: Where did the expression "my two cents" come from?

texts:
I've seen "$.02", "2¢", "just my two cents", etc, similar in meaning to IMHO, except usually appended to the main text.

As the Ngram shows, it is only "two cents" that is popular in this usage:

How does "two cents" express humility of opinion?


texts: How should you wish happy birthday to the (British) Queen?

texts:
(As it's the Queen's 90th Birthday today)

What is considered a polite way to wish the Queen a happy birthday? Is 'Happy birthday' too informal?


texts: Expression or word that means "a tactic is stolen by the enemy and used against oneself"

texts:
I'm looking for something different from Word for “to use someone's own tactics against them”. I'm considering a scenario in which one intends to use a certain tactic to defend oneself against some enemy. However, before the tactic can be used, it is stolen by the enemy and used against the person him/herself.

Example: Alex told the plagiarizer he'd sue them unless they delete the video. However, that only prompted the plagiarizer to ______ with a defamation lawsuit.


texts: In the sentence below, is the verb 'render' used correctly?

texts:
Consider the sentence:

  What matters is to render the idea from the field of theory into
  practice.

Could the verb render be replaced by the verb translate without changing the meaning? Which is the better choice? If neither is a good choice, can you think of a more appropriate verb?


texts:
A doll house or a dolls house? Which is correct for the toy? ...
There's that thing called Same Sex Couples Act; how about calling it Same Sex Couple Act?

The question is - when should I put attributives in plural? As far as I remember, Bill Bryson claimed in his Dictionary of Troublesome Words that - and that's what I vaguely recall from my classes - attributives should be in singular. Except for some exceptions. If so, what are they? I'm looking for some rule of thumb here other than "when in doubt, JFGI", of course.

NOTE: I leave out forms like a doll's house/dolls' house as they're pretty clear to me, as well as cases like The 'Big Boys and Their Motors' Club in which attributives are separate entities.


texts: The meanings of the expressions "big air quotes" and "might as well"

texts:
I wrote to my friend:

  "Are you available sometime between the 27th of January and the 3rd of February? I plan to stay in Tokyo for a week to take part in a musical event and then unwind a little."

And the following was his reply:

  Are you looking to "unwind" in Tokyo of all places?! (<- those are BIG air quotes!)  You might as well run a full marathon to get you rejuvenated. (ha-ha) Seriously though -- who am I to say no to that? I'll be sure to make some time. :D

These two expressions "big air quotes" and "might as well" elude me. What do they each mean?


texts: Is it a case of a sloppy conditional, a rare past habitual, or...? "Sometimes he would have come back"

texts:
I was reading this article in The Guardian, and I came across an odd-sounding sentence:

  Sometimes Toby would have come back, and there would be loud music in the drawing room;

My impression was, the author portrays a habitual occurrence in the past. Some kind of a repeat activity.

If that's a correct interpretation, shouldn't the sentence instead say:

  "Sometimes Toby WOULD come back..."

I'm used to thinking of a "WOULD HAVE COME" construction as a hypothetical event that never actually took place.

Please correct me if I am wrong.


texts: Contentious vs Contentment - same root but different meaning

texts:
I am having trouble in figuring it out why there is a difference between their meaning as i think that the root "content" is shared by both the words
content + ious ; content + ment
where contentment means a sense of satisfaction and contentious is being argumentative
- newbie (please correct me if i am wrong)


texts: What word means "an event that can occur without an appointment/schedule"?

texts:
I'm trying my best to describe an event people don't need to make an appointment for ahead of time or schedule. It should sound more formal than "drop-in".
An example usage:

A doctor's appointment must be arranged ahead of time whereas this event is _______.


texts:
Is there a name for the type of figure of speech exemplified by the following?

Adam’s ale

Shanks’s pony

Glasgow kiss

Croydon face-lift

country mile

The common feature being a noun phrase of the form modifier noun which ostensibly refer to a type of noun but in fact refer ironically to something quite different. E.g. Adam’s ale means water, Shanks’s pony means travelling on foot etc. These are also usually slang phrases.


texts: Is there any word for a person who ruins magician's trick?

texts:
Is there any word for a person who ruins a magician's trick?

I remember that I heard that word, but it's now lost somewhere in my brain. Can someone please help me to remember that word?

Before asking here I asked in chat, where I got the response that there is no specific word for it. But I still think there must be.


texts: What word would best be used to describe an entity that "cancels" something?

texts:
I am writing some code for an application that initiates an asynchronous action and returns an object that can be used to cancel the action before completion.

However, I am having difficulty naming this object. Basically I need a word that means "that which cancels". "Cancellor" doesn't seem to be a word. "Terminator" may be suitable in theory but I would prefer an alternative if one exists.

Does anyone know of such a word?


texts: Is there a word for someone who inadvertently makes your point for you?

texts: For example: If a person tells another person, "You're racist" and the other person responds, "No, I'm not racist. But I just don't like to see Black and White people dating because it's not right", then the other person responds back, "Thanks for making my point."


texts:
Large hardbound books are printed on little 'booklets', all of the same page count, and then bound together to form one book onto which the hard cover is then attached. Is it wrong to call these separate 'booklets' by the name of 'folios', which I thought was only used to describe the single pages? If not is there a better word than 'booklets'?

A recent discussion with a well known printing company introduced me to this particular usage of the word 'folio' by them...


texts: I know that a lot of people use the word "Einstein" to convey someone as a genius, but I was wondering if Einstein, as a verb, is an official term.


texts: Idiom for the phrase "someone who gets what he deserved"

texts: Is there an idiom for someone who gets what he deserved? Like someone receiving punishment for his evil deeds or someone getting awarded for his good deeds?


texts: Who, the subject or the object of the main clause, does the subject pronoun of a subordinate clause refer to?

texts:
It goes as follows in an un-manipulated text about websites serving as social networks:

  They are sweepingly putting many users on the brink of
  addiction, if they are not already victims of it.

[To ask my question and to clarify, changes are made below :]

  They [ = social networks] are sweepingly putting many users on the brink of
  addiction, if they [ = users inclined to addiction] are not already victims of it.

Considering that the if clause is set out to mean  possibly, some users are addicted already, the question is:

Does they [ = users inclined to addiction] possibly put readers off the clarity of the whole text, since it sounds to refer to the subject They ( = social networks) rather than many users.How do you feel about this?

One second thing:

How would it sound if we leave out the second they? :

  They are sweepingly putting many users on the brink of addiction, if
  not already victims of it.

hoping i have been clear enough, many many thanks.


texts: What is a word for someone who likes bossing people around?

texts: I'm looking for a term for someone who get kicks by being bossy, or getting people to do what they demand.


texts: I am a native English speaker working in a team of writers for whom English is their second language. Although their level of English is very high, I do a lot of editing. We create training and in some manuals we include an 'Answer Key'. I often see people use 'Answer Keys' as a heading for this section. I instinctively change that to 'Answer Key' even though there are 'keys' to multiple assignments included in that section. I can't explain why but I think it should always be singular, although 'key' used in other contexts can undoubtedly be plural. Can anyone shed light on if I am following a rule correctly or if it is just a personal feeling?


texts: Is there a word for animals that have two arms?

texts: I know there's bipedal for animals that have 2 legs, but what of animals with 2 arms?


texts: I would prefer + (to infinitive) + rather than + (bare infinitive) or (to infinitive)?

texts:
I've found this during my studies:

  I would prefer to die in a car crash rather than to die in my sleep.

Is this correct? Shouldn't it be:

  I would prefer to die in a car crash rather than die in my sleep.

I thought you should use bare infinitive after rather than (in this type of sentences). Also, can I shorten the second sentence to:

  I would prefer to die in a car crash rather than in my sleep.

...because it's the same verb (die)?


texts:
We must stop, even if briefly.

I suppose this is equivalent to even if it is/be briefly?

But what does "it" stand for? The act of stopping? But a noun cannot be connected to the adverb "briefly" like that, right? I suppose we could assume this is a passive construction where "done" is deleted, but I don't really think that's correct.


texts:
I know that its is the possessive and it's is the contraction, and know when to use them.  But why doesn't the possessive have an apostrophe?

"The bear's eating a fish." [contraction]
"The bear's coat is brown." [possessive]
"It's eating a fish." [contraction]
"Its coat is brown." [possessive]
"One's eating a fish." [contraction]
"One's coat is brown." [possessive]

Wiktionary lists the etymology as "From it + 's", and Online Etymology Dictionary says that this is actually the original form:

  Originally written it's, and still deliberately spelled thus by some writers until early 1800s.

So what happened to the apostrophe?  When did people stop using it, and why did they?

It seems that it's as the possessive is more natural, as most people do this until they're taught that it is wrong (or even after).

Update: Online Etymology Dictionary has been updated to include two potential explanations:

  The apostrophe came to be omitted, perhaps because it's already was established as a contraction of it is, or by general habit of omitting apostrophes in personal pronouns (hers, yours, theirs, etc.).

Can anyone back up either of these arguments?  The possessive one's still has the apostrophe, despite these.


texts: How to wish someone "good luck" without implying that luck is involved?

texts:
When you wish someone to succeed, the standard phrase seems to be "Good luck!" For instance, here is a definition borrowed from Merriam-Webster:

good luck [idiom]:

—used to say that one hopes someone will succeed. • We're sorry that you're leaving. Good luck in your new job.

What I don't like about this phrase is that it implies that the wished-for success is a matter of luck as opposed to all the other factors, such as the effort put in by everyone involved. In fact, if one was to interpret "good luck" literally in the example above, it is pretty offensive: you're basically saying that whether or not the person you're speaking to succeeds in their new job is a matter of luck rather than their hard work, skill, wise choice of the new employer, and so on. Of course, I'm not assuming anyone would interpret it like this unless they're just learning the language or are trying to be picky (the image of Gandalf musing on the meaning of "Good morning!" comes to mind).
In my native language (Polish) the usual phrase used in place of "Good luck!" is "Powodzenia!" which translates roughly to "I wish you success!". I like this frame of mind much more - you're expressing the hope for success and not making any judgements about how the success is achieved. Unfortunately, "I wish you success!" doesn't quite roll off the tongue, and I feel like it would be awkward to use in a conversation.
Is there another well-established phrase that can be used in place of "Good luck!" which does not imply that luck is actually relevant to the situation?


texts: Is it true that "tuppence" refers to a woman's vagina in British English slang? If so, why?

texts:
I was looking up a definition online, as I often do, in this case the British slang word tuppence; I got the standard "a slang reference to a coin denomination" definition from Wikipedia, but stumbled on these interesting ones given at The Urban Dictionary:

tuppence
Olden day word for a little girls [vagina]. Was once also slang word for money in ye olde england.
Fanny wiped her tuppence with a dish rag. Tally Ho.

Another word for a females Vagina.
A man has a winkle and a woman has a tuppence.

On one hand, those are two presumably independent contributors giving the same definition.   On the other hand, you often can't trust The Urban Dictionary on some types of words, especially ones that have sexual meanings, because it's titillating for some people to give outrageous sexual definitions.
Some my questions are:  Are the definitions given by these two correct? If so, what's the thinking behind the term?


texts:
I come across following statement:

  Enabling this behaviour may reduce performance and increase stream state requirements in streaming mode.

I am confused with "reduce performance" is in parallel with "increase stream state requirements in streaming mode", or "increase stream state requirements".

If "reduce performance" is in parallel with "increase stream state requirements in streaming mode", it means "reduce performance" can occur in any mode, not only streaming mode.

If "reduce performance" is in parallel with "increase stream state requirements", it means "reduce performance" only occur in streaming mode.

Which one is correct?


texts: Is "release stress" acceptable in English?

texts:
Would it be correct English to say "release stress", for example: "If you do not find a way to release stress, you will get tired, you may even fall ill."

Is "release stress" an acceptable collocation, or are there other ways to express the same idea in more idiomatic English?


texts: "I hope it will be going well or I hope it will go well?"

texts:
Can I say "I hope it will be going well?"
My friend's going to an interview tomorrow

Thanks everyone


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

texts:
I'm currently studying to pass the TOEFL test with a high score, but I have encountered a sentence in an app that I fail to see why it is correct:
"The committee members resented the president's not informing them of the meeting."
Can someone explain to me how the mentioned sentence works?


texts: What does the symbol ≪ mean in word origin description in dictionary.com?

texts:
What is the meaning of the symbol ≪ in word origin description in dictionary.com?

e.g. in https://www.dictionary.com/browse/-ule

  ORIGIN OF -ULE
  < French < Latin -ulus, -ula, -ulum diminutive formative with nouns of the 1st and 2nd declensions ≪ *-el- (cf. -cle1, -elle, -ole1); the deverbal suffix -ulus, etc. (cf. cingulum, tumulus) is of distinct orig.

Search for more examples.

Is this symbol common among many dictionaries?


texts:
Which of these verb forms is correct in each case?

I hoped/was hoping to go away this weekend, but my boss give/was giving me some work that I have to finish by Monday.
I bumped into Lena last week.She ***looked/was looking***a lot better than when I last spoke to her.


texts:
I'm looking for a less clumsy way to say:

  The phase advance in the measurement plane was varied between the corrector lenses and the measurement screen.

Also with the additional constraint that the variation has to be equally spaced which is defined in the next sentence. I would prefer to put all the information into one sentence. The context is a scientific paper.


texts:
I was conversing with a friend and she told me that, "Only the hardcore survive". I replied with "I believe only the calm survive."

I'm not a native speaker so I don't know if we can use calm in this situation. If we don't, can someone suggest some alternatives instead of calm?


texts:
I have trouble understanding why some words change "s"-es to "z"-s from BE to AE and some not. For example:

analyse -> analyze
characterise -> characterize
hypnotise -> hypnotize

But:

compromise -> compromise

Is there any rule to this?

Slightly related: Why isn't "citizen" spelled as "citisen" in British English?


texts: Use of reflexive pronoun in an imperative sentence

texts:
I'm writing a letter for an attorney. I need to know which sentence is grammatically correct so he doesn't sound uneducated. Which sentence is more in accord with standard English?

  Please have the president and yourself sign the document.
  Please have the president and you sign the document.


texts:
When contacting different departments of companies many will end an email/letter with something like

Sincerely,
The [Company Name] Support Team.

additionally they will refer to themselves as "we"

We don't have any further information on this.
We are working on a fix.

If the team/company/department consists of 1 person, would it be ok to refer to yourself as a team and we?


texts:
One of the features of a technology i'm working with (entity framework) is that it can automatically pluralise database table names. It usually does this with a surprising degree of accuracy - not just adding an 'S' i.e. 'HelperHistory' becomes 'HelperHistories', 'Person' becomes 'People'.

However I noticed that 'EmailSentTo' became 'EmailSentToes' and this seems odd. I can't see a reference to 'Toes' being the plural of 'To' from searching around.

Is this some regional or arcane rule that changes it? And what is the plural of 'To' - for example, in the sentence
"Here is the email, John is third in the list of [toes?]"

Something is afoot.


texts: Whats a word for guilt for not doing something you want to?

texts:
e.g
"What are you up to these days? What about your violin gig? Going good?"
The question filled him with ___________. Since Laura passed away, his violin had been catching dust.

Here, central character is a violinist and used to love it and play at some point of time in past. But now since his wife is no more, he doesn't feel like playing. But the question reminds him of the times when he was in love with violin

I hope I am able to convey


texts:
I've got this piece of my text:

  In my humble opinion, a movie can be just as good and entertaining on a low budget with certain key elements.

Is it correct to say 'on a low budget' or it's better to use 'with' here?


texts: How to understand "evolved" in this sentence?

texts:
The following is an excerpt from Scientific American:

  Psychologists have been interested in empathy for decades, but the approach of bringing in neuroscience to study the emotion is only in its adolescence. The first decade or so of work focused on establishing the independent yet interacting neural networks that underlie emotional and cognitive empathy. In 2004 neuroscientist Tania Singer, now at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, and her colleagues published a groundbreaking paper in Science that compared brain activity in a person experiencing pain with the same person's brain activity when observing a loved one experiencing pain. Sixteen women underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while their male partner sat nearby. Varied levels of painful stimulation were administered by an electrode to one or the other partner. A signal alerted the women when their partner was feeling pain. Some areas of the women's brains were activated only on receiving pain themselves, but others—most notably parts of the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex—lit up no matter who was hurting. Empathy activated the affective, or emotional, parts of the pain network but not the physical sensation of pain. That study and the many imaging studies that followed indicate that our core ability to empathize begins with the way the brain represents our own internal states and evolved to include our perception of what others are feeling.

I don't quite understand the last sentence: why is "evolved" instead of "evolves" used? What should be the subject of the verb "evolved"? If one parses this sentence, what are the two parts that the conjunction "and" right in front of "evolved" connects?


texts: 3 course menu, al carte, buffet etc. what do you call these "dining format"?

texts:
I want to describe that there are different "dining format" in different cultures.

What is the correct terminology instead?


texts: To think a little about it VS not thinking at all

texts:
I have found difficult to find an expression for the act when you stop your answer, think about it briefly, and then answer. EX: "Well, you know....." "I am not going to do it"

And in contrast an expression for doing something without thinking like: he talked without giving it an ounce of thought (but I am not sure if that expression is correct"


texts: What is the correct way to write "God bless America"?

texts:
I've seen people write "God bless America", and it drives me nuts.

Shouldn't it be "God, bless America"?


texts:
Like this sentence:

  A heavy use in X taught me how to X.

What are the other sayings of "heavy use"?


texts: What's a word that captures the sentiment of "inside looking outwards"?

texts:
I'm attempting to title a paper I'm writing about the traditions of a certain group of people; and my analysis is focused on what these traditions mean to them, and how they see others interpret their traditions...

I've been trying to come up with a phrase or a word that captures that sentiment, because An Inwards Looking Outwards Analysis of X sounds awkward.


texts: Is "working good" correct in "The server is not working good"? Why?

texts:
Take the sentence

  The server is not working good.

I think that working good is right here, but why is it right? Is good an adverb in this position?


texts: Meaning of "conferred obligation" and "conferring obligation"

texts:
What does “a conferred obligation” mean? Given that confer has a positive sense to it as a transitive verb, could it be used to refer to an obligation which is favorable for the obligor or considered an opportunity for them? Or does it simply mean that it is expected from the obligor to feel indebted? If the latter is true, how the former should be expressed?

The following might provide some context:

A Roman proverb:

  “Be not unmindful of obligations conferred.”

A passage from an essay on Aristotle and Shakespeare:

  “Friendship cannot be purchased; such a conception is false and unphilosophical neither love nor friendship are to be obtained by gold although when possessed both may be strengthened by its influence. [...] In those however who belong to the higher walks of life it is very much to be doubted whether a conferred obligation which circumstances may not enable them to expunge is not a barrier to real friendship [...]”

An excerpt from Continental adventures:

  “Nothing attaches woman to man so strongly as the sense of obligation She is proud of his superiority not humbled by it. With man it is the reverse He loves the woman on whom he has conferred obligation who clings to him for protection and looks up to him as a superior being.”

An excerpt from The Fortunate Union: A Romance : in Two Volumes:

  “I merely righted a case of oppression in my path and had no reason to think that I either conferred obligation on the one hand or excited enmity [...]”

And used in a definition in a scientific paper:

  “Responsibility: A conferred obligation to behave in a specific manner and/or to ensure that others do.”


texts: What's the meaning of "or so I read", usually at the end of a sentence?

texts:
I didn't find anything online about this term and I can't quite remember where I caught it the first time.

Can you please elaborate where it is used and what it exactly means?


texts: "Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten": what is forgotten?

texts:
Inspired by this question (which in turn was inspired by that one), to what name does "that is forgotten" apply to?

Many are my names in many countries: Mithrandir among the Elves, Tharkûn to the Dwarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers

There are currently two competing top answers: the first one says that his "youth in the West" is now forgotten, because it was so long ago and in a different place, or "the West", because it is unreachable and mythical to humans.
How should this sentence be parsed?

For people unfamiliar with the Lord of the Rings, the person speaking in the quote is Gandalf. Gandalf is a lesser God (an angel, or Maia) who might have been born "outside" the world. He spent his "youth" (Maiar do not age, but they can grow in experience and wisdom) in "the West". In a sense, his youth happened either before Earth was created, or in its infancy.
The West is the name given to a continent (Aman, The Undying Lands) that was once west of Middle-Earth, on the other side of the sea. This is where the Gods live. By the time the story takes place in the Lord of the Rings, this continent has been removed from the world, so that

those that sailed far came only to the new lands, and found them like to the old lands, and subject to death. And those that sailed furthest set but a girdle about the Earth and returned weary at last to the place of their beginning; and they said:
'All roads are now bent.'
The Silmarillion

In this sense, both can be considered "forgotten", either from a time, space or knowledge point of view.

Although it might be a mistake from the translator, the French translation applies "forgotten" to "youth", not West:

Mes noms sont nombreux dans de nombreux pays, disait-il. Mithrandir chez les Elfes, Tharkûn pour les Nains ; j'étais Olorin dans ma jeunesse dans l'Ouest, qui est oubliée, Incanus dans le Sud, dans le Nord Gandalf ; dans l'Est, je n'y vais pas.

I know Tolkien was very protective of his texts and would actively verify translations. He also knew French.


texts: Is the sentence "Whoever is at door, they can’t come in right now" correct?

texts: More exactly, is "at door" correct? Thanks!


texts:
In the Wikipedia article for Freemasonry, it gave a picture regarding the emblem of the Freemasons:

The caption below reads:

  The Masonic Square and Compasses.
  (Found with or without the letter G)

Just wondering, is "Compasses" correct? Shouldn't it be compass? I looked this up on several dictionaries, and I don't seem to find "compasses" when referring to a tool for drawing circles, only "compass". However, "compasses" makes sense, as it looks something similar to "scissors".

Should it be "compass" or "compasses"?


texts:
Kindly let me know which one is correct and why ?

A diet high in oil causes more obesity than diet high in sugar.
OR
A diet high in oil cause more obesity than diet high in sugar.


texts: do [something] to [something] like [something]

texts: The phrase "don't talk to me like a child" means "don't talk to me like I am a child". Does it always work that way? Could this phrase ever mean "don't talk to me like you are a child"?


texts: Is there any scenario, situation, or way to make "doing something selfishly" have a positive connotation?

texts:
The thing is, I am confused whether the word selfish itself can be used without expressing a negative connotation. I am a bit biased about it since I believe that by using this word it automatically implies that a third party will be affected by the action.

The thesaurus provides self-interested, self-seeking, egoistic; illiberal, parsimonious, and stingy as its synonyms; and I am aware that some can be used in a positive manner. For example self-seeking doesn't necessarily mean I am affecting someone else.

In other words, will everyone who hears selfish automatically perceive a negative meaning for the preceding action?

Could there be a better word that could express a similar meaning without being negative?


texts:
Recently I read a book where I found a word which meaning, after I checked, is something like this:

  Used to refer to what has been just mentioned/said previously.

Now I need that word because I am writing something. Do you know what is it?


texts: Word for describing someone whose name is the opposite of what they are?

texts: I was wondering if there is a word to describe someone whose name is diametrically oppossed to who they are. For instance a firefighter whose last name is "Arson" or a swimmer whose last name is "Dry".


texts: I was taught to say "Bob went to the store", and never say "Bob, he went to the store." I have been hearing the latter construction a lot lately. Is it okay, now?


texts: What is another phrase to describe people “on the front line”?

texts:
Another way to say it is that these are the people in an organization who are “in the trenches”.

They are doing the hardest or most important work.

I would like to find a non-militaristic way of saying the same thing, but am having trouble finding a good one.

My goal is to find ways to describe the value of these people in an organization in contrast to those in roles removed from the core business (for example, administration, which is also important but is not the reason for the existence of the organization).

In this specific case, the core business is education and military metaphors don’t seem appropriate.

Another close alternative could be: “where the rubber meets the road”, but that’s not quite it either.

Yet another recently discovered possibility, but not commonly understood is:

  Genba (現場, also romanized as gemba) is a Japanese term meaning "the
  actual place". Japanese detectives call the crime scene genba, and
  Japanese TV reporters may refer to themselves as reporting from genba.
  In business, genba refers to the place where value is created; in
  manufacturing the genba is the factory floor. It can be any "site"
  such as a construction site, sales floor or where the service provider
  interacts directly with the customer.

Source: Gemba, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gemba&oldid=871163314 (last visited Dec. 13, 2018)

which was originally quoted from:

Imai, Masaaki (1997). Gemba kaizen: a commonsense low-cost approach to management. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-07-031446-7.


texts:
I am not an English expert. I need to know if I get the comma usage correct or not.

  John usually gets up before 7 o'clock, but yesterday his alarm clock did not ring, so he was still asleep when his boss called him at 10.30 to ask where he was and tell him that he would lose his job if he was late again.

The problem is, should I use comma before "and tell him that he would lose his job if he was late again."?


texts: Phrasal prepositional verbs with objects and adverbs?

texts:
"We fixed Tom up quickly with new tools"

Hi guys, here's a doubt I have.
Although I would more than likely place the adverb "quickly" between the subject "We" and verb "fixed" in this sentence to get "We quickly fixed Tom up with new tools", would this other order be grammatically correct and possible?

My question is basically the following:
Do these multi-word verbs that take 2 objects such as "let X in on Y / put X down to Y" accept an adverb between its two particles?

-We let John in quickly on our plan
-They put their bad performance down angrily to their slack preparation

I hope I made my doubt clear enough guys,
Thanks in advance

John


texts: An expression for the trigger of something that was inevitable

texts:
I'm looking for a way to describe the thing that finally triggers something after rising tensions. For example, some isolated incident triggers massive protests, but the protests are really due to decades of rising tensions.

The isolated incident itself is somewhat arbitrary and could have been one of many things, but the rising tensions were already ready to explode.

Preferably the expression wouldn't trivialize the triggering incident.

Any ideas?


texts: Is the phrase "in that" interchangeable with "since"?

texts: My boss likes to use "in that" when he really means "since." Is this acceptable? If not, what is the rule that I can tell him?


texts:
I was taught that the word postpone was spelled as I just spelled it, but recently I have seen a rise in the spelling postphone (or post phone). At first, I thought it was just a spelling error, but I have begun to see it more and more in official contexts.

Historically, the first spelling is definitely more accurate as you can see in the Online Etymology Dictionary and in Google Ngram. But also notice in the Google Ngram results that recently there has been a slight decline in the use of postpone. If you remove postpone from the Ngram query, you will see that the decline is accompanied by a rise in the use of postphone and post phone.

Are these new spellings becoming an acceptible alternative? Or is this simply a case of the rise in a misspelling accompanying more people having access to publication?

An example of 'postphone'
An example of 'post phone'

BONUS: The best answer will explain why this variant spelling is so common, if possible.


texts:
I'm a developer. In our system, we have "jobs". When a job fails, I write

  "Job has been failed".

But a fellow-developer says that this should be:

  "Job was failed."

So, what is the best way to say it?


texts: Why are figures 1-9 written as numbers, but after 9 written in alphabet form?

texts: I have tried to research this .. could anyone answer why figures 1-9 are written as digits/numbers and then from 9 onwards they are typed in alphabetical form?


texts: What does “fresh-off-the-vine technologies” mean?

texts:
Time magazine (February 11) carries an article reviewing the fast evolution of drone technology and problems and opportunities involved with President Obama’s “drone campaign”, under the title Drone Home.

It says:

  Five years ago the Parrot (drone) couldn’t have existed; it’s an
  anthology of fresh-off-the-vine technologies. Five years ago there
  weren’t cameras as tiny and sharp or chips as tiny and fast.

As I did not find the phrase “fresh-off-the-vine” in any English dictionaries at hand, I checked the phrase online to find only irrelevant lines such as:

  Ask the guys from Fresh Off the Vine what kind of music they play, and the first word that comes to mind is “mystical.” - www.dailyinterlake.com

Though I surmise that “fresh-off-the vine technologies” means just newly born technologies (please correct me, if I’m wrong), is the phrase, “fresh-off-the-vine” widely and frequently used to imply "fledgling" or "brand new"? Can I say 'fresh-off style / fashion / idea etc' in the same way?


texts:
I do not understand the usage of "why" in this sentence. Here, this word seems to be used as "because". Is this some kind of archaism?

(Dr. Dolittle, emphasis added):

  … You are the very first man to talk like us. Oh, sometimes people annoy me dreadfully—such airs they put on—talking about ‘the dumb animals.’ Dumb!—Huh! Why I knew a macaw once who could say ‘Good morning!’ in seven different ways without once opening his mouth. He could talk every language—and Greek …


texts: What does "..., with similar emphases arrived at partially independently." mean?

texts:
Can someone help me understand the meaning of the bolded part of the following passage from The Meaning of Anxiety by Rollo May:

Behind statements like these lies Adler’s whole positive evaluation of the social nature of man, an emphasis radically different from Freud’s and involving radically different implications for the overcoming of anxiety. Despite his oversimplifications and generalities, Adler has contributed perdurable insights, particularly in the realm of the power struggles between persons and their social implications. These insights are especially valuable because they generally occur in the areas of Freud’s “blind spots”.
As will be indicated later, the valuable insights of Adler have to a large extent been incorporated in more systematic and profound form as parts of the emphases of such later psychoanalysts as Horney, Fromm, and Sullivan. The influence of Adler on later analysts is no doubt both direct and indirect, with similar emphases arrived at partially independently.

To me the confusing part is: “…, with similar emphases arrived at partially independently.”


texts: "at the time" and "at that time" usage and differences

texts:
Are the expressions "at the time" and "at that time" interchangeable?

What are the differences between the two? How do use them?


texts: Difference between a "movement" and a "campaign"

texts:
A campaign means:

  an organized course of action to achieve a goal

A movement means:

  a group of people working together to advance their shared political, social, or artistic ideas

Are there any differences between them?


texts: Meaning of ' our collective and collectivist leg'

texts: This sounds very fishy. I think Mr xxx is pulling our collective and collectivist leg.


texts: As per the title, is the proper usage "ongoing" or "on-going" when writing something such as ongoing research projects?


texts:
I want to use two sentences as examples for my questions:
i) The amount of A will not be matched by that of B.
ii) The amount of A will be unmatched by that of B.
Is it correct to say that: ii) only suggests that B's amount will be greater; whereas i) shows at least two possibilities---either B's will be greater or A will be greater?
I am not sure but it seems to me that "not matched by" suggests a difference, unlike "unmatched" which shows one is greater than the other.
Could anyone help explain? Thanks!


texts: You [noun] you -what does it mean and when to use?

texts:
In few occasions I've heard that actors and characters in tv add another 'you' when they are talking to somebody else resulting in an odd "you [insert something here] you" -sentence.

Example: Guy 1: "I finally did it!" Guy 2:"You sure did, you sly dog you!"

Questions that bother me:
What is this sort of sentence/idiom/expression called and what is it for? Is it proper language or slang? What does it imply and why would you use it?


texts: What form of emphasis was used before printing?

texts:
Nowadays we use bold, italics <u>underline</u>(but not on SE) and even monospacing to emphasise words. However, before the invention of typewriters what emphasis could they use other than underlining?

If you've ever tried to embolden text on paper you will know that it is very tricky and ends up with a big blob of ink obscuring half of your sentence. Italics are also tricky as many handwriting styles are written at a slight slant and it is difficult to distinguish whether or not text is italicised.

How would a writer be able to emphasise text?


texts: Used since sometime in the past until now (and still continuing)

texts:
How can I express that something has been used for a while and is still being used?

  …used a xyz system that has been in daily use for several years.

I'm not sure whether this expresses that the system is still in use.


texts: May I know which one is correct, "Our family got a surprised time" or "Our family got a surprising time" or Our family got a surprise time"? Thank you so much.


texts:
In Boston Legal (TV series) married couples are announced as "Mr and Mrs Ivan Tiggs" or "Mr and Mrs Denny Crane" - including the husbands' first names.

Why is that?
Is it used commonly or only in this series?


texts: What does Albert Einstein’s epigram, “Many of the things you can count, don't count. ...” mean?

texts:
This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics were given to American physicists, Dr. Saul Perlmutter and two other American physicists for “the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae."

Their work is said to have proved infallibility of the hypothesis of Albert Einstein’s ‘cosmological constant.’

Speaking of Einstein, it reminds me of his well-quoted remark, “Many of the things you can count, don't count. Many of the things you can't count really count.”

I know this epigram, but not its exact meaning, because you can count “number (related with physics such as quantum, diameter of cosmos),” as well as you can count (regard) something as important. You can take it either way.

I searched for explanation of this epigram on internet. Only Quotationbook.com carries a note – “This quote is about money,” which I can not swallow easily.

Can you tell me what Einstein really tried to say, in what context (hopefully, the source) with the words, “can count, don’t count, really count,”?


texts: I'm having trouble understanding this sentence "on the marriage of one of her step-sons to a princess of high rank when the couple were impossibly ill suited". What does "impossibly ill suited" mean? Does it mean they are very well suited or they are so not suitable for each other?


texts:
Some years ago there were a few quite amusing, albeit slightly derogatory terms for plastic surgeons.
 A cursory Google has revealed but one: Sellout, which is a reasonable start. Others may exist, not noted in any of the old fortune lists, but in a book somewhere- or better,- in the memory of a subscriber willing to share.
Thanks.


texts: What kind of character does a person who makes loud exclamations have?

texts:
Here, I am trying to find an adjective to describe a (relatively poor) person who is open but attracts a lot of attention (not attention-seeking though). As an example, I found this video.

I’ve thought of exuberant but I feel that it reflects energy and excitement in youth rather than the kind of personality you might find in the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet.


texts: Can I reduce the relative clause after 'since' to a phrase?

texts:
The title might be confusing because I don't know how to phrase the question correctly. Here is an example:

  The Asian Games have been promoted in all aspects since the first Games which were held in 1951.

Can this be reduced to
"The Asian Games have been promoted in all aspects since the first Games held in 1951"?


texts:
My question is quite broad, thus I wasn't able to close it under a single title, so forgive me.

Background:

I can work between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on on Tuesdays and Thursdays and between 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Fridays.

During that time I can have many appointments.

Questions:

How do you call an individual time period during which I work?
How do you call a group of all of those periods?
How do you call a time at which a single appointment starts?
How do you call the whole thing that would describe the time I usually work at and my appointments?

My suggestions are:

Working hours
Availability (but if I choose this word, how would I call my true availability, so working hours minus appointments?)
In polish we have a word for it, but it seems that in english you use appointment to describe both the date as well as the whole thing.
Schedule


texts: Words that can be repeated and still make sense

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are there other repeated single word sentences like the Buffalo sentence?

Are there words in English like had that can be repeated while still making sense?
For example,

  The faith that he had had, had had an affect on his life.


texts: Are there meta-plurals beyond "peoples"?

texts:
The plural of "person" is "people".  The plural of "people" is "peoples". Person-people-peoples is the only sequence like this that I know of, but I'm looking for another.

(The equivalent question is, is there another plural noun which has become a singular countable collective noun?)

EDIT

For those of you that think that people is nothing but a collective noun (and not an irregular plural, like mice), I urge you to consider:

Do you treat other collective nouns as plurals?  One person, two people, but one star, two galaxy?
Do you treat other plurals as collective nouns?  You can certainly say "a galaxy of stars" but do you say "a mice of mouses"?

For those of you that think the customary plural of person is persons, try it on the next three, uh, persons you see: "Finish this sentence: 'one person, two _ ?' "


texts: General term for something real as opposed to digital/virtual?

texts:
I'm looking for a term that encompasses physical objects, people, processes. Basically everything from the real world as opposed to the digital. I have considered entity, but I am not sure, whether it fits the bill. Also I would need an attribute to differentiate it from digital things like software.

My context is general modelling. Intended usage would be: A model is a representation of ...


texts: Why is cat spelt with a 'c' while kitten is spelt with a 'k'?

texts:
On the one hand I would expect these words to come from the same roots, and yet one is spelt differently from the other.
I've encountered this phenomenon in a few other words as well (revoke and revocation come to mind).
Is there a specific, known, etymological reason for this apparent discrepancy?

The relevant etymology page on wikitionary does not mention the issue, and I've turned up two possibilities while searching the web:

Due to the succeeding 'i' the pronunciation of "citten" would not agree with that of "cat", hence "kitten" is used.
"Cat" originates from the French "chat" while "kitten" originates from the German "Katze".

The first option is interesting, but seems rather artificial to me, and not part of 'organic development of language'. It would make perfect sense if the spelling was deliberately designed to adhere to the above rules, but I am unfamiliar with any references which may confirm this.

Regarding the second option, it just seems like a very specific guess. It is believable enough, but I could find no evidence relating to this hypothesis either.


texts: Are "I scream" and "Ice cream" homophones, or do we have another term here?

texts:
When two phrases are pronounced alike but have different spelling and meaning, can we call them homophones?  e.g. "ice-cream" and "I scream", "nitrate" and "night rate", "that's tough" and "that stuff".  Or is there another term for them?  What linguistic phenomenon distiguishes these near homophones?

I've checked the putative duplicate at "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream"- Is there a term that describes this 'word play'?
but it isn't exactly what I'm asking here.