texts: Should there be a comma before a person's name midsentence when you're addressing them?

texts:
Take the following sentence I found myself typing in an email today:

  Thanks for the update, Mark, good to hear.

That first comma had me hesitating for an embarrassing length of time. Consider the alternative:

  Thanks for the update Mark, good to hear.

Honestly both look strange to me now that I'm overthinking it. Is there a rule I can defer to so I can make this easy and stop thinking about it?


texts: Meaning of "What are your new coordinates"?

texts:
I have moved to a new job in a new country. One of my old colleagues send me an email asking "what are you new coordinates?". Does he/she mean what is your new contact information? Or it is an idiom and he/she means how things are going at the new country/workplace?

Sorry if my question seems silly, but I am not an English native speaker.


texts:
A Margaret Atwood story taking place in a summer camp features the following passage:

  The smell of grime and sweaty feet and wood smoke is getting too
  potent at close quarters; the sleeping bags are high as cheese.

What does she mean by the simile "high as cheese"? I just don't get it.


texts: Did the English language ever have noun genders?

texts: And if so, how did they differentiate between male, female or neuter nouns? Did English ever have gender-specific (in)definite articles? (like der/die/das in German)


texts:
They are seems to be similar in meaning, however in a specific context Googling vote for the first.

  ... teaching users for free.

I think free of charge(s) is more appropriate choice but I couldn't find convincing support for the idea.

Are those really equivalent and what is the best for the context? Is there another alternative?


texts: He is respected every where but not at home.He is a --------------

texts:
What  is a man who  is respected  outside  everywhere  but  is  not  liked  by  the  members  of  his  family.

X   is  respected  everywhere  but  he  is  not  respected  at home  ,   he  is  a --------------------

I would like  to  know  the  word  that  is  suitable  in the  blank.


texts: If something can be "on par", and "subpar", can something be described as "superpar"? Is there an accepted way to describe something as extraordinary with this term?


texts:
In British English, practice and licence are nouns while practise and license are verbs. This seems a very logical state of affairs.

In American English, practice is both the noun and verb and the same is true of license. Even more bewildering is the fact that the former ends with c while the latter ends with s.

How did the words come to be used this way in American English?


texts:
What are the parts of an air ventilation system called?

Specifically, I'm looking for two things:

The "tubing" that the air goes through (and you can climb into)
The part that connects to the room, where air flows out (and you can take off to climb into the system)

It doesn't have to be technical, it's for a short story that I'm writing. Children climb into "1" through "2".

What I had in mind was "shaft" for the first one, and "grate" for the second one.

What are better words for these?


texts: Can a present participle follow a subject?

texts:
Which is correct, and why?

  some days we went on adventures — him maneuvering our scooter, me resting my chin …

or

  some days we went on adventures — he maneuvering our scooter, I resting my chin …


texts: “The election finished the democratic party as a force in national politics.”

texts: It doesn’t matter the results of the election or the specific election, I just need to know if this means the party had no influence after the election or if they finished as a force, ie. gained power again? Is this sentence open for interpretation? Thank you so much.


texts:
In my language I can say "I don't remember I've ever watched that film" or "Never in my life have I remembered watching that film" to suggest that as far as I can remember I've never done something, or in a stronger sense that I can recall I never did something.

Do you, as a native speaker, use "don't remember" in such sense? Otherwise, what is the natural way to put it across?

Edit: Thanks guys for your inputs, but I still have a question. Let's say somebody told you your friend Ken has a ring, but as far as you know or could recall he doesn't have one. My immediate response would be like "Oh? But I don't remember he ever has a ring" Would this be okay? I know how it sounds, it may sound like I just forgot the fact that he has a ring. What would be a commonly used expression for such situation?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “User accounts” or “users account”

Which is correct: book market or books market? Similarly, is it pirate bay or pirates bay?


texts: What do you call the piece of paper given by a parking meter?

texts:
According to Longman dictionary  (and also Oxford dictionary), a parking ticket is "an official notice fixed to a vehicle, saying that you have to pay money because you have parked your car in the wrong place or for too long".

I don't know what is the right word for the piece of paper you get from a parking meter. Can we call it a parking receipt or a parking permit?


texts: A question about the distinction between 'sex' and 'gender'

texts:
An article entitled 'Sex and gender distinction' on Wikipedia states :

  The sex and gender distinction is not universal. In ordinary speech, sex and gender are often used interchangeably. Some dictionaries and academic disciplines give them different definitions while others do not.

In my occupation I sometimes have to identify individuals, name them, describe them to Police and document exactly what I have done.

It seems to me that in the UK at least, and possibly elsewhere, the distinction between sex and gender is blurred and the Wikipedia article agrees.

If I say a person is 'of the male sex' then I understand that I am referring, in fact, to the presence of X and Y chromosomes in the diploid cells of the body and I am making no comment otherwise.

Am I correct ?


texts: Can "they" be used without an explicit antecedent noun phrase in a sentence like this?

texts: Can I say "His wife is named Jane, and they have two sons," or do I have to say "he has two sons" instead of "they have"? My paragraph was about the man, so is it wrong to say "they have" instead of "he has"?


texts:
Oxford dictionary defines the word lagniappe as something given as a bonus or gratuity.

Is it only used when transactions (by transactions I mean a gift given to customer when he shops a lot.) are considered or can I say "you help has been a lagniappe" or "That late-night call proved to be a lagniappe and absolved me of my guilt"?

What are other possible implementations?


texts: Difference between screen, display, monitor, and display monitor

texts:
As I am not a native speaker of English, I am not sure about the actual meaning and differences between the following words and a phrase:

display
monitor
screen
display monitor

I want to know which word is suitable to specify physical display devices of a part of computers (to see pictures, movies or something results of computing by the light through my eyes).

I see amazon.com and the result of displays and monitor shows what I want to express.
It seems that some manufactures name their goods as display monitor.
I also want to know the difference of overtones.


texts:
"Emissions with global warming potential and eutrophying effects were significantly reduced with the ICSs but not with the biogas system, due to emissions from slurry storage and biogas leakages from the digester."

Is "due to" appropriately used here and is the comma correct?
Or is there another more elegant solution for the sentence?


texts: Does the word "please" come from "plea"?

texts: I thought that the word please came from the plural of plea. But then why is it please instead of just pleas? Why the e? Are "plea" and "please" really related to each other?


texts: Should I use Singular or Plural for "Donor(s) List"?

texts:
To be recognized in the Saddle River Donors List and help the Saddle River community, please include your tax free donation:

Should it be Donors or Donor?


texts: Does first come, first served need to be hyphenated?

texts:
Is first come, first served hyphenated (first-come, first-served?
Thank you.


texts: I like dog or I like dogs which is correct and why?

texts: Why do we say 'I like dogs'? Why can't we say 'I like dog' if we are referring to a particular dog? Most people use 'I like dogs'. Which is correct and why?


texts:
When Printing is a subject (nominative to a verb) what is the correct option:
1) Printing [PDF/Word/TXT/JPG] files or
2) Printing of [PDF/Word/TXT/JPG] files

For example,
Batch printing [of?] PDF files is a new feature of our program.

Are there any special cases, on how to say print(ing) + documents, books, filetypes, etc.?

Please refer to a guide where I can read more on this. Thanks!


texts: Can I say "Draw a triangle around the strawberry"?

texts: Can I say "Draw a triangle around the strawberry" when I want someone who is reading a book, in which there is a picture of a strawberry, to draw a triangle in that book in such a way that the strawberry is inside of the triangle (in which case the triangle must, of course, be bigger than strawberry)?


texts:
I cannot find this word in any dictionary, but found a couple of examples of its use in books:

(1) The way those underlickers are lounging around, they don't seem in any hurry to leave.
(2) It now, therefore, struts forth like the Spanish Armada, having received the blessing of the Pope, cardinals, understrappers, and underlickers of the company, who have pronounced it invincible.

What is the meaning of this word?


texts: What do you do with a comma that would come after a dash?

texts:
One common use of em dashes is to offset parenthetical phrases. But if a comma outside the parenthetical phrase immediately follows the parenthetical, what do you do with the comma?
I realize that that explanation is a little long-winded and confusing, so here's an example of a sentence that I'm unsure about (should there be a comma after the closing dash?):

I am a man ― a strong, burly man ― but I cannot endorse your claim.

Without a parenthetical, it is straightforward; there is a comma:

I am a man, but I cannot endorse your claim.

With parentheses, it is also straightforward; there is a comma:

I am a man (a strong, burly man), but I cannot endorse your claim

In the first example, what do you do with the comma after "man" that appears in the second example? Does you put it in a different place or cut it out entirely? Should it be:

I am a man ― a strong, burly man ― but I cannot endorse your claim. (No comma, as written above)
I am a man, ― a strong, burly man ― but I cannot endorse your claim. (comma before the opening dash)
I am a man ― a strong, burly man, ― but I cannot endorse your claim. (comma before the closing dash)
I am a man ― a strong, burly man ―, but I cannot endorse your claim. (comma after the closing dash)


texts: What is the Plural form of Mongoose?  I guessed that it should be mongeese, but is sounds funny. Mongooses also sounds funny.So what is it?


texts: what is the role of the bold part in the following sentence:

texts: Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free. What then must we do? Why, work night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to you, comrades: Rebellion


texts: Capitalisation of "Many thanks" as a stand-alone term

texts:
I am having a brochure designed and wish to place the words "Many Thanks" on the very back of it after all the policies are listed.

Which is more correct? to capitalise the first letter of the first word only--or the first letter of both words?


texts: If a manager sees someone breaking a rule but doesn't say something to that individual, the manager is basically saying that doing that is ok. I thought the words sounded like plausible deniability but it is not those two words. What words are they? 2 in total.


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

texts:
I couldn't understand the meaning of "little twist" in this sentence:

  Prime Wardrobe offers a little twist, however: The more you keep...

Complete Sentence:

  Amazon today launched Prime Wardrobe, a service like Trunk Club and other online retailers that lets you order clothes and return them free if they don’t live up to your expectations. Prime Wardrobe offers a little twist, however: The more you keep, the more you save. Keep four items in your box and get 10 percent off. Save five or more and receive 20 percent off. Boxes are resealable and come with a shipping label.

Link: Original text.

All the meanings that I've found for the word "twist" sound weird in the context of this sentence. What is the correct meaning of "little twist" here?


texts: A person or entity that decides how an obligation should be fulfilled

texts:
Let's say that I caused some nasty accident and someone was hurt and a judge told me that I have an obligation to amend their damage somehow.

However, some other person (or entity) will decide how these damages should be amended. E.g. paying the claimant 1000$ or helping mow their lawn for a month. What could this person be called in this context? Something more graceful than damage-fulfilment-decider.


texts:
I've heard many people use the term "goose bumps"; in my family, they were "goose pimples," but I don't know if this was peculiar to us, or if others also use it.

My wife's family's saying for this was "Chilly bumps."

Are there others? Is one considered the "most correct"?


texts: What is meant by the action to ‘curl up your fingers’? Is “Curl up one’s fingers” an English idiom?

texts:
I came across the phrase “His cheeks reddened as he curled up his fingers” in the scene,  a six-year-old Ruthenian boy, Lubji Hoch, who later becomes one of the world’s most powerful media moguls, tries to buy an expensive brooch for his mother with small changes at a jewelry shop in Jeffery Archer’s novel, “The Fourth Estate”- P.35:

  “The old man didn’t laugh, but gently explained to Lubji that he would
  need many more coins than that before he could hope to purchase the
  brooch. Lubji’s cheeks reddened as he curled up his fingers and
  quickly turned to leave.

What does it mean to “curl up one’s fingers”? I curl in (or inward) my fingers to sqeeze my hand, but I  don't think I can curl up my fingers backward without being forced?

Is “curl up one’s fingers” an idiom or cliché to describe special emotions such as an extreme tension or embarrassment, or just a plain description of a bodily reaction?


texts: Where did this usage of "something" originate: "I need a nap something terrible"?

texts:
I need a nap something awful!

I know what this means, but I could never understand it: it's not easier to say, it's not more efficient, and it doesn't make sense!  When was it started (and why)?


texts:
Would you say that both sentences sound correct?

On the whole, I think you came ON as sincere and credible, and your soft-spoken demeanor, laced with a dash of wry humor, was quite charming.
On the whole, I think you came ACROSS as sincere and credible, and your soft-spoken demeanor, laced with a dash of wry humor, was quite charming.

The McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs seems to suggest that both phrasal verbs are synonyms:

a. come on as something:
to appear to be something; to project one's image as something. (The senator comes on as a liberal, but we all know better. He comes on as a happy guy, but he is miserable.)

b. come across like someone or something (to someone)and come across as someone or something (to someone):
to appear or seem like someone or something to other people. (You always come across like a madman to people. She comes across like the Queen of the Nile to most people who meet her.)

Your thoughts? Thanks a lot!


texts: A person who is super excited for something

texts: What do we call a person who is super excited for something?


texts:
What is the proper spelling: St Matthew's or St. Matthew when not followed by the word "Church".

*

  "There will undoubtedly be tradeoffs that I will have to make if I stay
  with St. Matthew’s."

*

My contention is that when St Matthew's is written as plural possessive without the word "Church" following it, then Church is understood to follow.


texts: Verb form of "drive" after "see" in a sentence

texts:
I saw him .... off.

A.drive
B.to drive
C.driving
D.driven

I chose C but the key is A. I don't know why. Can you help me explain the reason?


texts:
Can I use "bright example" to mean a good example of something just has been  described. For example:

  Such devices never work more than a year, my mp3 player is bright example


texts: What is the reasoning behind the "urban" slang word "tight" coming to mean "cool/great/slick"?

texts: How and why did the word tight come to be appropriated in this sense, for example as in, "That car is tight, cuh!" ? I mean, one easily extrapolates from the "normal" definition to understand why slang would appropriate tight to mean "close" —  as in "Nah, we cool cuz we tight like that" — but this other sense is significantly opaque to me.


texts: Is there a name for the category containing the words trans and cis?

texts:
Gender is the name of the category that contains the words male, female, and others. The words trans and cis are not genders, rather they describe the state of one's gender: i.e. trans refers to one whose gender has changed from that which they were assigned at birth, while cis refers to one whose gender has not changed.

Is there a word that describes the category of words that includes trans and cis? In other words, similarly to how one could say "My gender is female", is there a word that fills the blank in "My ____ is cis?"


texts: How does the word "to" function with an infinitive?

texts: I've gone through all the questions and answers on infinities and although they explain whether or not an infinitive should be marked or bare with certain words, nowhere can I find an explanation as to the function of the marker. Is there a specific rule as to when infinitives should be marked or bare or when it is optional? And what is the actual function of ''to" with infinitives?


texts: Add parentheses when using alternative content?

texts:
Would you add parentheses in the first place when you write alternative content?

Example:

"This car has a(n) (optional) navigation system."

or

"This car has a (optional) navigation system." ?

Remark: I am not an native English speaker, so please be gentle.


texts: "Try to remember" vs "Try to remind yourself"

texts:
I've always been confused between these two and not able to understand which one to use and when. Help Please

P.S.-Help me with good tags if possible


texts: I'm trying to phrase the following sentence for my portfolio: "I'm a C#/Js/Python developer with 10+ years of experience creating software at corporations and cutting-edge startups". I'm confused whether it's necessary to put of between experience and creating. Two of close to each other seem to sound a little off, so may be if of is necessary, it would be better to rephrase it to sound more native-like?


texts:
I wanted to shorten a sentence: "Let the procedures leave in their original state."
I wrote "Let the procedures leave  as-is."
Is it correct or I had to use "Let the procedures leave  as-are."
Has the expression as-is plural?

Thanks
   Frank


texts:
In Richard Philcox's translation of Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks, he includes the following sentence:

  I try to read admiration in the eyes of the other, and if, as luck would have it, the other sends back an unpleasant reflection, I run the mirror down: the other is a real idiot.  (Italics mine)

What does to "run the mirror down" mean?  I've never heard this phrase before.  Is it an unfortunate translation of a French idiom?

I assume that the "run" in this case is used in the sense of running a flag up or down a flagpole, but then why is he running the mirror down?  Isn't he bringing the mirror to bear, i.e. running it up the flagpole of his body?


texts:
Decision making is an increasingly global challenge.
Is the word "increasingly a proper usage of the word?


texts: Is "I’m writing to request the username ‘log’ be released." correct?

texts:
This sentence left me thinking:

  I'm writing to request the username "log" be released.

Is this sentence grammatically correct, or is it missing something?


texts: Is there a word for when the light is dusky all day?

texts: Is there a word for when it is dusk all day? Like in the arctic circle at a certain time of year, the light is dim and red-purple-orange, all day long


texts: Is there a word for this type of overhearing?

texts: just those snippets of conversations that you're not involved in that you overhear and its not even louder than the rest of their conversation it just stands out to you. I feel like that deserves an artsy vaguely pretentious word like on par with "wanderlust" a fancy pretty sounding word like that.


texts: Is there a better way to structure a sentence with two separate points?

texts:
I have the following sentence:

  I improved the usability of the company's website and optimized the
  website's rendering speeds.

Is there any way I can say this by using "company's website" only once? Thanks.


texts: What's the meaning of "you need to grn"?

texts:
Recently I received this email from a client with reference to a purchase order:

  If you have received I will have to reinstate the lines on the po and then you need to grn.

I can't figure out what the meaning could be.


texts: Is there a term for solving a problem you intentionally created?

texts:
Let's say for example, lighting a fire in order to put out the fire in order to seem like a hero. Or for example, to increase your position, create additional problems to put strain on higher ups (and these problems would just go away if you were promoted)

Is there a term for that? Looking elsewhere on the site the only questions seem to be about problems you unintentionally created. What about the opposite?

Single word or phrase


texts: Hyphenating words with words in parenthesis

texts:
I know we could write

  between high- and low-yield crop rotation groups

but how do we write the same sentence if we have to write

  between high (CC and CCS) and low (CS and SCS) yield crop rotation groups?

Should I write

  between high-(CC and CCS) and low-(CS and SCS) yield crop rotation groups?

Can someone please shed some light on this?


texts:
We are going to establish a company in order to commercialize a stuttering treatment/therapy program.

The treatment/therapy is really effective and backed by a lot of scientific research.

In our recent discussions, some disagreement has come up whether to market it as the "XYZ stuttering treatment" or the "XYZ stuttering therapy".

On one hand, calling our product the "XYZ stuttering treatment" might be advantageous, because in all the research literature it is referred to as such.

On the other hand, calling it the "XYZ stuttering therapy" could be better, because all the competition markets/offers their programs as "therapies", and having the term "therapy" appears to be more serious and seems to imply effectiveness. Also, the word "therapy" appears to be more international, which could help if we offer the program abroad.

I'm not a native speaker though, so I wanted to hear your opinion and feedback.

What's really the difference between "treatment" and "therapy"?

Would you rather recommend calling it the  "XYZ stuttering treatment" or the "XYZ stuttering therapy"? Why?


texts: Usage of 'comprise' in a linguistic manner

texts:
The small man did not hesitate. "I'm stealing.", he declared in a soft, simple voice, that did not comprise even the faintest tremble.

Is this a good, nice-sounding way of describing a way of speaking, where one sounds confident in his statement, or is the term 'comprise' not to be used in a linguistic manner (in works of literature)?


texts: What is the plural of 'head of agency'? 'Heads of agency', 'head of agencies', or 'heads of agencies'?


texts:
"Perish the two hands of Abu Lahab [an uncle of the Prophet], and perish he!"

Perish is verb and he is a subject pronoun, so why is "perish he!" used here?


texts: I need to translate a word combination 'ego-driven insecurity' into my language, but what is ego-driven? The Babylon dictionary gives a definition 'the need of one individual to persuade another to a particular point of view and feel satisfaction in having done so". How to say it simpler? I can't find an equivalent in my language, maybe there are any synonyms to help me?


texts: Writing style guidelines on gerund (ab)use

texts:
In novel writing, there is general advice not to use gerunds (i.e. verb forms ending with -ing). In general, that makes sense. "She was going to the store" -> "She went to the store". It's shorter and more immediate.
However, it has an implication of simultaneous action rather than sequential action and so I often use it and probably do so too often.
Example 1:
"John descended from the bus, wrapped his trenchcoat around himself, and watched his breath fog into the cool air."
vs
"John descended from the bus, wrapping his trenchcoat around himself and watching his breath fog into the cool air."
In this case, "wrapping and watching" implies that it's happening while he descends from the bus.
Example 2:
"The group huddled together in the little passageway and looked out over the quad."
vs
"The group huddled together in the little passageway looking out over the quad."
Here the gerund reduces the word count.
So the question is: how strict is the style guide to avoid gerunds? What are the situations where you might break the rule? And what are the real reasons for being down on it? What's the rule behind the rule, if you like?

Edit: Apologies. I got my definition wrong for gerunds.
Here's a source for avoiding -ing words generally:
Avoid -ing words


texts: Rules for spelling double consonants in roots of words

texts:
I would like to understand by what rules I should know when the consonant in the root of a word should be doubled and when it should not. I understand doubling rules resulting from adding suffixes like in "swimming", "knitting", "recalled"; and from other verb conjugation like in "bitten".

But I do not understand general rules applicable to the roots of the words. In particular, by what rules do we spell the following:

"necessary" - with one "c" rather than two and two "s" rather than just one.

"suppose" - with two "p" rather than one and one "s" rather than two.


texts: Is "already" okay (vs "yet") in a negative conditional clause as part of a positive thought?

texts:
original thread

On HiNative.com a Taiwanese person asked about the meaning of "cool", as in "cool friend" or "cool girl".  I answered:

  It means you admire something about them and would like to know them (if you don't already).

A Brazilian person asked if I should have used "yet" instead of "already".  I replied that in this instance I believed either was okay, but "yet" would have been slightly better.  He asked for further clarification, because he had learnt that negative sentences or questions had to use "yet".

I'll quote my answer below and would appreciate feedback about both the validity of my answer as well as my reasoning.

  You have learnt correctly, and the page I linked to says it as well. Languages sometimes are fuzzy, and a good general rule can sometimes be bent. However, it was not my intention to "bend the rules", and in truth I did not even think about it as I wrote it. Since you are challenging me to think about this (in a good way, thank you) here is what may have gone thru my mind.

  1) I was typing on my smartphone at the time, and I chose to shorten the parenthetical phrase. So, instead of typing "(if you don't already know them)", I typed "(if you don't already)". To my ear, it sounds better to end the hanging phrase with "already" than "yet". Other ears may differ. :)

  2) Look at the entire thought.

  It means you admire something about them and would like to know them (if you don't already)."

  Even though "not" is there, the thought is positive -- you would like to know them. The conditional parenthetical thought does not change the tone of that idea.

  That all said, yes, "yet" would have been better. It would also have been better to complete the hanging parenthetical phrase. But it is what it is, and I do not believe what I wrote was actually incorrect.

If I am wrong, let me know so that I may correct myself in that thread.


texts: Term for the property of having a formal and transparent track record

texts:
In Norwegian, there is a single term ("notoritet") that basically means that some process is tracked in a formal manner. A typical use case is keeping a track record on a servitude on a piece of land. Every time that servitude changes hands it is recorded in a specific registry, so one can look up who the servitude belonged to at any point in time.

Looking it up in a Norwegian/English legal dictionary, the translation "notoriety" is what is suggested.
However, looking up "notoriety" in an ordinary English dictionary (M-W - I don't have access to an English legal dictionary) yields:

  the condition of being famous or well-known especially for something bad

which is not the meaning I am after at all.

After being asked about my specific use case in a comment, I added this:
My specific use case is that I am writing policy guidelines for a software development project, and want to include the sentence:

We require TERM for all changes done to the source code.

However, please do not get mislead that this specific use case. The target audience, unfortunately, do not know the meaning of software engineering terms such as "version control".  I am looking for a general term for keeping a track record that  will be understood by non-engineers.

Other variations of use may be:

We require this process to have TERM.
We require this process to be TERM.

What TERMs could be used here?


texts:
Is the sentence "You have to be ascetic about eating junk food" correct?

Ascetic: Practicing severe self-denial


texts: What's a word that means both 'source' and 'sink'?

texts: In the sense of: it can emit data but it can also receive data. Or water. Or gas. Or whatever.


texts: Name for balls of dirt made by rubbing hands

texts: When your hands are dirty, you can rub them together vigorously, and small pills of dirt and oil will form that fall away. I have an inkling that there is a name for these things, or this action, but I can’t seem to find it by searching. Is there one? If so, what is it?


texts: What word or phrase represents this notion?

texts: It is a traditional word or phrase which when used in the context of politics means that a territory or a nation, is capable of sustaining itself and flourishing by virtue of some inherent natural advantage. It is generally used to denote the geopolitical aspect of it, like a nation with lots of fertile land can obviously support more cities and a higher population. Or that a coastal city can trade and make money, and support itself in the process. Eg. The Mediterranean coast forms a ___________, which enabled multiple sovereign power centers to exist historically from Anatolia to Carthage. The western coast of India has for millennia been a ___________, which led to a differential economic development vis-a-vis the Gangetic plains.


texts:
Team sports are considered as team building activities to keep an individual fit and healthy. While some people think that the team sports help in building a good personality and health.
Sports are considered as the personality building activities that will keep a person healthy and fit. The sports are very important to keep yourself healthy, happy, and cheerful.
Just want to know why the use of the before team sports/sports is wrong here. Apologies if this is a silly question.


texts: Difference between "on the level" and "at the level"

texts: Specifically I'd like to know when you would say "at the behavioral level" and when "on the behavioral level."  It feels like there is a difference, but I can't put my finger on it.


texts: "This is a song by Lady Gaga" or "this is the song by Lady Gaga"?

texts:
Which article is appropriate in the blank below, a or the?

  — What are you singing? I've heard the song many times.
  — This is __ song by Lady Gaga.


texts:
Are all the following expressions correct? What are the differences?

I will arrange for the manuscript to be sent on to you.
I will arrange that the manuscript will be send to you in time.
I will make sure of the manuscript to be sent to you in time


texts: Is there a means of using indefinite articles with plural nouns?

texts:
I encountered the following sentence:

  In programming, types are a means of classifying values.

According to Google, "are a means of" and "is a means of" are used a lot.

According to "A Concise Dictionary of Correct English",

  the plural of the noun mean, may be treated as a singular, as in a means to an end.

I wonder, in which cases it is appropriate to use indefinite articles with plural nouns. Is it reserved only for special cases or it can be used whenever someone feels that something is singular?

Fox example, subtitles distributed in a file look like a singular thing. So, at some point of my life, I wrote something like

  The torrent has only an English subtitles, but I want a French ones too.

I still have a feeling that I did something wrong, but I don't know how to word it better.


texts: Should "repetition" be singular or plural?

texts:
We all know what repetition is.

I'm trying to construct the following sentence:

  He called out her name in an earnest, helpless repetition.

or should it be

  He called out her name in earnest, helpless repetitions.

or even

  He called out her name in earnest, helpless repetition.

This "repetition" I have in mind is multiple in count.

Of course, I can rewrite this using an adverb.

  He called out her name repeatedly.

But my goal here is to describe the way he called out her name: earnestly, helplessly, repeatedly.

I have a sense that "repetition" can mean the act of repeating, so in this case, it's not countable.  But isn't repetition also countable too?

Thank you for shedding light on this confusing situation.


texts: What is the grammatically correct sentence (which or where)?

texts:
Of these two sentences, is there a grammatically correct sentence?

This is the point beyond where we have never been.
This is the point beyond which we have never been.

and if possible, I would like an explanation.


texts:
To a ESL student like me, below sentence is very difficult to understand. I've read this sentence like 20 times and I still don't get it 100%.

"Investors in the past have expressed to us that they do not understand why Tesla shares are rising as much as they are as the stock became included in the indices against which they are benchmarked, they opted anyhow to take it equal weight in their portfolio relative to their benchmark, so as to concentrate on generating alpha in other areas of the market in which they felt they have more of an edge," he added. ( Original article link )

I can get the general sense from the quote.

Investors don't understand why Tesla stocks are rising.
They somehow adjusted weight in their investment portfolio to earn more profits.

But I'm confused about the details. I'm really not sure about these.

Did the investors feel TESLA didn't have an edge against other portfolio items?
So they see the rising stock price of the car company, change their mind, and decide to take the electric car maker equal weight in their portfolio? say increase TELSA 10% to 25% like the other 25% items?
Or did the investors think they missed the opportunity and start concentrating other sectors in their portfolio??

And what bothers me a lot is the confusing pronouns ( to me ). Are these replacements correct?

"Investors in the past have expressed to us that (1. they) do not understand why Tesla shares are rising as much as (2. they) are as the stock became included in the indices against which (3. they) are benchmarked, (4. they) opted anyhow to take (5. it) equal weight in their portfolio relative to (6. their) benchmark, so as to concentrate on generating alpha in other areas of the market in which (7. they) felt (8. they) have more of an edge," he added.

"Investors in the past have expressed to us that (1. Investors) do not understand why Tesla shares are rising as much as (2. Tesla shares) are as the stock became included in the indices against which (3. Telsa shares) are benchmarked, (4. Investors) opted anyhow to take (5. the stock) equal weight in their portfolio relative to (6. Tesla shares) benchmark, so as to concentrate on generating alpha in other areas of the market in which (7. Investors) felt (8. other areas of the market) have more of an edge," he added.

It'd be grateful if somebody could rephrase this sentence with easy sentence structure for ESL learners.


texts: Do I use the singular or plural form of a noun when describing an attribute of a plural noun?

texts:
Take these two sentences for example:

  This is to compensate for the fluctuating character length in the sentence.

vs.

  This is to compensate for the fluctuating characters length in the sentence.

Which is correct? I would assume the latter but it sounds a bit awkward when spoken compared to the former.


texts:
Context: One (younger one) of the father's sons furtively watches his dad trying to do a mediocre enough back flip but he generally never ever has tried doing it, couple of seconds later his older brother passes by him, so would the first son say the following statement to his big brother when big brother asks him what he is doing?

"Watch our father DO a back flip" (Subjunctive or Infinitive?)


texts: what is the usage of 'so much going for it that' here?

texts:
"Lynn Margulis, to her everlasting credit, saw that separate DNA complements imply the fusion of at least two different kinds of other organisms, each with its own DNA complement, to form a single, complex "eukaryotic" cell. Initially condemned as heresy, this elegant idea had so much going for it that the biological world has long since accepted it."

What is the usage of the phrase had so much going for it that? Espeically how that and it are used here?


texts:
I’m looking for the English equivalent to the German expression: Wasch mich, aber mach mich nicht nass (Wash me, but don’t make me wet!).
It can be used and interpreted in various ways, but it is typically employed as a stand-alone derogatory comment to malign people who want the advantages of a situation (including holding the moral high ground) as long as they do not suffer any personal disadvantages. Below are four recent examples found on the websites of German newspapers. I have paraphrased them in English and anonymised them.

So, Frau X is a member of the Green party and campaigned for the closure of nuclear power stations. But last week she joined a demonstration to protest about the siting of a wind turbine in the field where she walks her dog. Wash me but don’t make me wet!
So, country Y is happy to benefit from EU funding but not prepared to abide by decisions democratically made by the EU parliament. Wash me but don’t make me wet!
So, Frau Q is a minister in the left-wing party that campaigns for comprehensive public education, but she has just registered her daughter at a private school. Wash me but don’t make me wet!
So, Herr Z is a member of the right-wing party that agitates against migrants, but he has employed a refugee to clean for him. Wash me but don’t make me wet!

There is a discussion of the expression on the Leo dictionary site at: https://dict.leo.org/forum/viewUnsolvedquery.php?idThread=672587
The suggestions there include "Make me an omelette, but don’t break any eggs!" and "Let me eat my cake and still have it". The best I can come up with is the single word:

Hypocrite!

Does anyone have any other suggestions?


texts: "I want to come there" or "I want to go there"

texts: When someone is away from you and wants to be where you are, do they tell you I want to come there or I want to go there?


texts: Do I need to add an article before "weekend"?

texts: When I’m going to have a weekend, can I say “It’s weekend,” or do I need to add ‘a’ or ‘the’ in front of the word weekend?


texts: Synonym or another way to say 'From theory to practice' or 'From policy to implementation'

texts: I'm trying to come up with a thesis title looking at how policy is implemented. It seems, however, as though 'From Theory to Practice' or 'Turning Policy into Practice' or 'From Policy to Implementation' (or variations of this) are used quite frequently, and I'm struggling to think of something more unique. Any ideas? One day before submission and my brain has been reduced to mush.


texts:
Whats the single proper word for spelling mistakes are done for style?

Spider = Spyder

Crack = krack

Creation = kreation

Cat = kat

Inglorious  basterds  = Inglourious Basterds


texts: What comes after (Primary,unary),(secondary,binary),(tertiary,ternary),...?

texts:
I was curious to know what comes after:

  Primary, secondary, tertiary, ...

This Oxford website says it is "quartenary, quinary, ..."

But they are already taken!

  Unary, binary, ternary, quaternary, quinary, ...

And according to this EL&U post deriving from the Latin originals should give:

  Primary, secondary, tertiary, quartary, quintary, ...

Wiktionary says that "quartary" (from the ordinal) is correct, but "quaternary" (from the distributive number) is common especially in biology.

So, what should it really be in English?


texts: Formal alternatives for: "There is not a need"

texts:
I am writing a formal technical report and I would like some advice about an expression I want to use. I have a sentence which I want to make more formal:

  The merit of their  approach is that there is not a need of designing  a fusion strategy for the several modalities.

Basically I want to change the ‘there is not a need for’ to something more formal.   Any suggestions?


texts: Analyze the role of "had the Chinese not come" in this sentence

texts:
What is the role of had the Chinese not come in this sentence?  What is the relationship of the second half of this sentence to the first?

  The significance of decorations on Chinese pottery may have remained clear had the Chinese not come under foreign influence.


texts: Why does "too [adjective] a [noun]" require the determiner to come *after* the adjective?

texts:
Example: John is too good a person to do something like that.

If you can say John is "a very good person to do something like that", then why not "a too good person to do something like that?"

Why does "too good" have to come before the determiner in this kind of construction? And parenthetically, is there a term for this particular syntax?


texts: School students are instructed, self-taught students [self-study?]

texts:
"You will be instructed"
"I have been taught for 4 years"

To

"You will [self-study?]"
"I have been [self-learning?] for 4 years"

Both seem kind of clumsy. Is there a better word or phrase?


texts: How did the word "important" come to mean "significant"

texts:
I understand the word "import" meaning "to bring or carry in" from the Latin.

I have also read sources which say that the word "important" comes from "importare" meaning "being of consequence"

But how and why did the root word for "bring in" lead to a word meaning significant or being of consequence?


texts: Any diﬀerence between "give ﬁve dollars to him" and "give him ﬁve dollars"?

texts:
This might be a most frequently asked question, but I am quite confused
about the diﬀerence between the transitive and the ditransitive usage of verbs
such as give, write, and buy which can take an indirect object or a prepositional phrase.

I wrote a letter to John. (with prepositional phrase)
i wrote John a letter.  (with indirect object)

In (1), the letter has already arrived and John now has the letter
in his keeping.

In (2), it is not clear whether John has received the letter and now
possesses it, right?

Then, how about give?

I gave John ﬁve dollars. (with indirect object)
I gave ﬁve dollars to John. (with prepositional phrase)

I understand that in (3), it is apparent that John has got ﬁve dollars (meaning he possesses it, not that he has received it).

However, if the diﬀerence in (1) and (2) is applicable here, we would
expect that (4) means either

(i)  John has got ﬁve dollars.

or

(ii) John has not got ﬁve dollars.

The question is: Is it possible to interpret (4) as (ii)?

I ﬁnd it confusing because I think as soon as someone give something to
someone the receiver gets the thing.  I really appreciate any answer,
suggestion, or intuition.


texts: Does the phrase "second off" make sense?

texts:
When listing out items, we sometimes prefix the first item with "First off...".

Sometimes I hear people prefix the second item with "Second off...". This doesn't sound right to me? But, is it correct to use?


texts: There are 3 topics and i will say "These topics can merge in one page" OR "These topics can merge into one page". Which one of them are correct?


texts: What are some synonyms of "as a consequence"?

texts:
What are some other phrases/words with similar meanings to "as a consequence"?
For example,

Temperature is increasing. As a consequence, the number of cyclones is
increasing due to [.......]

I would like to start another sentence just after the above sentences with exactly the same meaning as  "as a consequence", e.g.,

As a consequence, the damages to the societal values is increasing.


texts: What does ‘as little as the next guy’ in “I want to watch a piglet get tortured about as little as the next guy,” mean?

texts:
I came across the line, “I want to watch a piglet get tortured about as little as the next guy,” in the article titled “China’s bizarre Food ‘Safety’ scene, and our own” in
today’s New York Times’ (July 7). The article deals with prevailing deceptions of food stuff, lack of control of food safety, and ubiquitous torturing of livestock not only in China but also observed in the United States.

I’m not clear with what ‘as the next guy” means. Does it mean “as a (mere) onlooker,” or “as the next-door neighbor,” or “as a guy expected to get tortured in the same way as the foregoer in the next turn,” or otherwise? Please teach me.

The sentence containing the phrase in question reads as follows:

“Reports like these are unpleasant at best, and downright nauseating at worst. I want to watch a piglet get tortured about as little as the next guy, but if we’re never (or seldom) allowed to see how screwed up our food “system” is, how will we ever know to make a fuss to fix it? Same goes for China, but let’s clean house here first."


texts:
Here are two compound nouns

Heavy pipe fitting works.
The biggest pipe fitting works.

In the first compound noun the adjective heavy qualifies the first noun pipe. But in the second compound noun, the adjective biggest qualifies the second noun works, while the place of both the adjectives in both the sentences is same.

I want to know what the rule is of using adjectives with compound nouns. How do I know which adjective qualifies which noun?
What is meant by works? In what sense has it been used. Is it plural or singular? I tried to search this word on the internet and in a dictionary but found nothing.


texts: is there any difference between "you'd" and "you would" in the meaning?

texts:
As in the title, is there any difference between the following sentences?

You'd better put your results to another place.
You would better put your results to another place.

And, when do I use any of them?


texts:
Recently, I started using just 'That' instead of 'The fact that' at the beginning of some sentences. What is your opinion on this?

Example:

  The fact that he answered the question wrong shows...
  That he answered the question wrong shows ...

What is better style? 1 or 2?


texts: Adjectives or words inspired by Helen of Troy's beauty

texts:
Are there any adjectives inspired by Helen's beauty?

I can see examples from more recent history like:

Boycott from Charles C. Boycott

or Bowdlerize from Thomas Bowdler.

Some Greek mythology inspired words/phrases are :
Herculean

Achilles Heel

Narcissistic

However I could not find anything that refers to Helen of Troy's beauty.If you could also talk of some other lesser known mythological figure based adjectives/phrases, kindly share.


texts: What is the difference between “You’ve made X?” and “Have you made X?”

texts:
My name is Micheal Gignac. I am new here. English is my native language, and I know a little bit of French. That is part and parcel of being a Canadian, you see.
I probably should explain the context surrounding my question. I found a game (or more accurately, interactive movie) titled “Cyberswine” on YouTube. It seems that it is an adaptation of an Australian short comic book series.
The game takes place in CyberCity in the year 2070. The protagonist is a Cyberswine, a cyborg who has a combination of a pig’s brain and a human brain as well as mechanical parts. He is brought in as a secret weapon for the police department. In case you are wondering, the premise has elements of “RoboCop” mixed in it, but the story plays out differently from that.
Cyberswine has four computer chips implanted into his system: the first one for combat, the second one for logic, the third one for public relations and the last one for emotion control. Early on, it becomes clear that two sinister characters have Cyberswine under surveillance. They are Vice-President Bryce Gets and the Scientist. Bryce basically sees life as one big chess game, and the conversation between him and his minion is as follows.

Vice-President Bryce Gets: Good. The pawns are now in place. You’ve made the modifications to his personality chips?
The Scientist: Yes, sir. As you ordered.
Vice-President Bryce Gets: Good. Let the game begin!

I apologize for the long explanation, but I wanted to make the context surrounding the above conversation very clear. If I changed “You’ve made the modifications to his personality chips?” into “Have you made the modifications to his personality chips?”, would you detect any difference? If so, what is it?
It feels strange, doesn’t it? I’m a native speaker of English, and I’m asking a question about it!


texts:
Typically without is used to mean not having something.
E.g.

He went to work without his pants on.

However, I'm wondering if it can be used for outside the bounds of.
We do this with within. For example:

Please keep your children within the bounds of the school.

So could the following:

The vigilante was operating without the bounds of the law (or)
The shop refused to refund my item, as it was without the warranty period.

be viewed as being acceptable?


texts: What is the name for the hole in the head of a screw?

texts:
Sure, the screw itself would be a "phillips head" or a "flat head" screw, but what would you call the hole in the head? Surely "phillips head hole" or "flat head hole" just doesn't seem right - is there a technical word for "the thing which you insert a screwdriver bit into on the face of a screw head?"

Every resource I can find just talks about types of "screw heads", which is great, but in a field with as many technical words as assembly, I feel like there must be a name for this whole class of specially-shaped holes.


texts: What is the difference between "meat" and "flesh"?

texts:
When do we use "meat" and when do we use "flesh"?
I think the difference is very subtle: maybe meat refers to food, and flesh to human or animal bodies, but as English is not my mother tongue, I want to be sure of the specific meanings and usage of both words.


texts:
I use "multi-context-type device" to name the "device" that works in different modes for different types of context. For example, type of context is like "classroom", "office", and context is like "the classroom x by y at z hour yesterday".

I also use "multi-context-type object" to name "objects" that each is defined for one type of context.

The two cases are different, each usage above sounds uncomfortable to me. Is there a better way to say "multi-context-type" for these two cases?

Update:
I think about using "multi-context-type device" for case 1 and "context-type-based objects" for case 2. Are they better? Is there more concise and principled way to express these meanings?


texts:
I am looking for a single, or multiple term(s) conveying something not living up to expectations.

Like in the sense of a new system is advertised as doing everything you need for a process at work; but, once you start using it, you discover it doesn't do exactly as promised. So, you have to create work-a-rounds.


texts: 'Sag' and 'slant': Is the vowel /æ/ the same in both words?

texts:
/sæg/
/slænt/
Transcriptions from Cambridge American English Dictionary

Both the words' IPA transcriptions have an /æ/ symbol. Do those two /æ/s sound the same?
Are they both short or long?
Is /æ/ sound the same length in all the words?


texts: Effective DD/MM/YY - Does it include the date or not?

texts:
End of Service for Photo Printer effective January 31st, 2019

In this sentence, does "effective January 31st, 2019" mean that the service won't be available after January 31st(which means that users can use the service on January 31st, but can't do that on February 1st) or after January 30th?


texts: Is there a single word for the number of people currently in a room? For example, the room has a capacity of 50, but the current ? is only 3.


texts: Preservation of the en- prefix form of Latin negative prefix in-, in enemy & enmity

texts:
The en- in enemy is a prefix meaning "not": the origin is Latin inimicus, from in- + amicus — a "not friend" or an "unfriend" (Online Etymology Dictionary—enemy).

The Latin in- changed to en- when the word passed through French and into English. Compare enmity, which keeps the en- form, and inimical, which is the same origin, but uses in-. I assume the difference here is the difference in their relative dates of entry into English. The Online Etymology Dictionary dates enemy to early 13c. and inimical to the 1640s.

In the entry for in-, the Online Etymology Dictionary notes:

  In Old French and Middle English often en-, but most of these forms have not
  survived in Modern English, and the few that do (enemy, for instance) no
  longer are felt as negative. The rule of thumb in English has been to use in- with obviously Latin elements, un- with native or nativized ones.

By "these forms have not survived", does this mean the prefixes were changed to in-, or have these words disappeared altogether? Why did this change occur? Are there any other examples of the en- form surviving as a negative prefix besides enemy and enmity?


texts:
I could not find the meaning of "the scales begin to tip" in online dictionaries.

Here is the sentence:

"Every era has a moment when the scales begin to tip." The next sentence is "That moment has come for the world's transgenders".

Could you please rephrase the first sentence?


texts:
As a non-native speaker, I often hear the word ‘been’ pronounced as /bɪn/ instead /biːn/ as I expect from the double ‘ee’.

The phonetic transcritpion in the MacMillan dictionary is /biːn/ for the British entry, but in the American entry is /bɪn/. Nonetheless, when I heard that word pronounced in British English in sentences such as ‘I could've been…’ or ‘I've been…’, it sounds to me as /bɪn/.

It's this the correct way to pronunce it?
It's always in this way or there are cases or exceptions?
Does it happen the same in other verbs like ‘seen’?, e.g. ‘I've seen things’.


texts: What is a better way of saying the following-

texts:
I want to express

  "... our beliefs which are not necessarily true or rational affect of our perception ..."

in a better way.


texts: What is it called when someone is interrupted mid-thought, then a person stores that thought and brings them back to it when the interruption is over?

texts:
For instance:

Person A: I have wondered how healthy it would be to–[interruption]

Person B: What do you think about a vegan diet?

Person C: remembers the beginning of the thought that got interrupted

Person A: I don't think veganism is the healthiest diet.

Person C: [to person A] What were you saying about what you were wondering would be healthy?

Is there any term for this where someone stores the beginning of another person's interrupted thought on their mental stack, and then brings that person back to the thought to complete it using the context of that thought's beginning to jog their memory?


texts: Do AmE and BrE dictionaries treat compound adjectives differently?

texts:
My (BrE) OED and (AmE) dictionary.com both list the adjective 'middle-class' with a hyphen.
The OED provides these examples:

  a middle-class attitude
  The magazine is very middle-class.

The (AmE) CMOS provides these examples:

  a middle-class neighborhood
  the neighborhood is middle class

OED lists the adjective 'up to date' with no hyphens and provides these examples:

  This technology is bang up to date.
  up-to-date clothes

dictionary.com lists the adjective 'up-to-date' with hyphens CMOS and provides these examples:

  His equipment was up to date
  an up-to-date solution

It appears the principle of hyphenating compound adjectives before nouns is treated differently by dictionaries using BrE and AmE. It appears:

BrE dictionaries may list compound adjectives as hyphenated or not; they assume writers will always hyphenate them before nouns, but
AmE dictionaries always compound adjectives as hyphenated; they assume writers will NOT hyphenate them after nouns.

I hope someone has a satisfactory explanation. I fear I'm about to have a nervous breakdown. :(


texts:
What's the difference between "can't help but" and "can't help"

Consider two examples:

I can't help thinking about you.
I can't help but think about you.

Do the two sentences mean same, or is there a difference?

I have no problem about understanding with first sentence, but I'm confused with the second sentence. Please explain with some examples.


texts:
I'm writting a table for a scientific paper and I'm not sure what to capitalize in the column-headings. Which rule should be used? Normal English capitalization (then the next question is: write the first word upper case?) or the one where everything except for some words (of, in...) is written in uppercase?

Example for the possibilites:

         | Programming Language | Programming language | programming language |
         ----------------------------------------------------------------------
System 1 | Java                 | Python               | Erlang               |


texts: What is another way to say "I needed to explore beyond my comfort zone"?

texts: I'm writing an essay for medical school applications. Both my parents were physicians, so it is what I was familiar with growing up. Instead of pursuing medicine in college, I decided to pursue something else and try a few different careers after college. Now I'm back on the medicine path and I'm trying to explain why I needed to try other stuff first. I'm hesitant to use the word "comfort zone" because I think it implies that medicine would be the comfortable (i.e., easy) path, when that is not the case. Any other phrases come to mind that explain this sentiment?


texts:
1  As a result of four two-for-one stock splits on the Common Stock
  effective October 20, 1989, May 15, 1992, August 22, 1997 and May 21,
  2004, the number of shares of Series A ESOP Convertible Class A
  Preferred Stock authorized as incorporated automatically
  increased to 145,454,544 in accordance with the terms of paragraph
  9(A)(1) of Appendix A. (This footnote is not a part of the Company's
  Amended Articles of Incorporation, but is included to provide
  up-to-date information on the status of Series A ESOP Convertible
  Class A Preferred Stock.)

This is a footnote from the P&G Articles of Incorporation (https://za.pg.com/who-we-are/structure-governance/corporate-governance/articles-incorporation).

What does 'authorized as incorporated' mean here?


texts: Which of the following sentences is/are incorrect? ("Permit" vs. "allow" vs. "let")

texts:
Which of the following sentences is/are incorrect? Why?

The visa permits you to study for two months.
My father would never allow me to study English
Let me to go. You're hurting me.

This is question from an English learning book. All the sentences seem right to me. Do you know which one is incorrect and why?


texts: Capitalize names of a company's departments?

texts:
My understanding is that if the term department, unit, etc. is omitted, the name of a company's department becomes a proper noun and hence is capitalized:

Lisa works in the marketing department.
Lisa from Marketing called. She is waiting for Accounting to approve her project.

Is this correct?


texts:
Could you give me some tips on how to determine the role of the word “as” in titles so that I can see whether to capitalize it or not?

What kind of role does it have in idioms like as is, as if, and as it were?

I presume that no matter what part of speech a word belongs to, it gets capitalized when between quotation marks, such as in the title of this question. Is that correct? Is that comma after to and before it correct, or should it be removed?


texts:
I have seen many types of translation/transliteration of my Russian first and last names to English by different people. At the current moment I don't know what to choose when I want to introduce myself.
So, my first name is Вячеслав

Vyacheslav
Viacheslav
Vjacheslav

My last name is Карбовничий

Karbovnichii
Karbovnichiy
Karbovnichij
Karbovnichy

What is the best transliteration from the view of the native English language speaker?


texts: The single word for "without any constraints"

texts:
What is the single word for "without any constraints"?
Or the words in the similar context.

For example,

  They express their thoughts _________.


texts: The subject-verb agreement with existential 'there' in a relative clause

texts:
So I was reading the urban dictionary for the definition of the term 'LibLabCon', and the entry seemed grammatically correct:

LibLabCon is a phrase used by Britons who hold the belief that there is no real discernable differences between the mainstream political parties in Britain, and that the country is thus technically a one-party state.

Fair enough. No big deal. However, I noticed something weird in the relative clause that modified the noun phrase 'the belief'. The auxiliary verb 'be' didn't agree with the plural 'differences' in the clause's noun phrase ('no real discernable differences').

Is it grammatically correct to use the singular 'is', or should it be the plural 'are'? I am curious as to what governs the auxiliary verb in this relative clause so that I can answer this question.  I thought it could be three things:

The relative pronoun 'that'. This is because I have seen 'that' govern the auxiliary before (e.g. 'the people that are working hard will earn more' and 'the person that works the hardest will earn the most'). The antecedent 'belief' is singular.
The grammatical expletive/dummy subject (or pronoun, whatever it's called). I believe that this would mean that the 'is' is correct.
The noun phrase (this is what I believe actually governs it). Due to the fact that 'differences' is plural, the auxiliary verb 'are' would be correct instead of 'is'.

As you can tell, I'm a little confused. Any help would be much appreciated!


texts: Are these two meanings of "phenomenal" related?

texts:
I had seen the word phenomenal translated into Chinese words with an equivalent meaning "of phenomenon" in more and more text especially regarding sports. For example,

  LeBron James had a phenomenal performance last night

is translated into Chinese words with equivalent meaning of

  LeBron James had a performance at the level of phenomenon last night

Needless to say, that is not right in any language. However, this translation of the word phenomenal from English to Chinese is getting popular. And it becomes one of those new internet words that no Chinese reader truly understands but they sort of get it just because they have seen it many times in the same context of praising an exceptional performance of some player.

Initially I laughed at the translation. It must be a joke, I thought. Someone started this not knowing phenomenal means "exceptional, especially impressive, fantastic". But to my surprise, this translated word sticks and its Chinese version is being reused more and more popularly by the day, especially in online text. And most of these usages were not in the context of a translated English text but original writing in Chinese. I have seen more and more main stream Chinese media start to use the (Chinese version) word as if it is an accepted Chinese word.

This makes me wonder. And I actually looked it up in the online English dictionary. To my surprise, two meanings of the word phenomenal were given.

  Of, relating to, or constituting phenomena or a phenomenon.

and

  Extraordinary; outstanding

I was not aware of the first meaning before this. Now my new theory is the translation at word level is OK. But given the context, the second translation should be picked instead of the first one.

Maybe the first translator looked up the word in a English-to-Chinese dictionary and picked the first translation. He might be in a hurry and did not do proof-reading and no one questioned him. Apparently the second meaning should be picked in the context. (EDIT: or maybe the dictionary he used did not have the Chinese version of the second meaning) Maybe a lot of careless translators did this in a long period of time, and in the end the Chinese readers sort of accepted the word.

Well, the question here is if the two meanings are sort of related, or the second meaning (which is more popular in English writings I assume) is derived somehow from the first meaning. And maybe, the translators were correct and the guilty party is myself! What do you think?


texts: Use of verb forget and adverb constitute a collocation?

texts:
My question relates to the following passage/excerpt produced by a participant (an EFL learner) of my MA study:

  "I forgot my laptop on the bus".

I had three raters analysing accuracy (one is a native speaker). The sentence above was the source of a discussion that has not reached an end.  According to one of the raters (native speaker) there is a syntactic issue with the sentence. The correct would be: "I left my laptop on the bus." Well, I really could not find an explanation for that.

If there is a issue I would say it is of a semantic order, but not syntactic. To make things worse I then asked a fourth rater (native speaker too) to evaluate the sentence and this last rater said the sentence is correct.


texts: shalt: used with the pronoun thou or its relative equivalent

texts:
Shalt is used with the pronoun thou or its relative equivalent https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/shalt

What does relative equivalent mean here?


texts: Can vulgar be used to describe someone's life meaningless and lacking in ambition?

texts: Recently I wanted to write an essay about the women in Jane Austin's time. I wrote the women at that time were concerned much about how to be engaged to a decent husband. Not like women nowadays, they want to be treated equally as men and realize their value in society. So I want to say the women back in Jane Austin's time, their viewpoint toward life was too vulgar. I am not sure if I use this word correctly or it will convey a totally different meaning. Could you please help me?


texts: How to write Vietnamese names in English correctly? ("Việt Nam" to "Vietnam" or "Viet Nam"?)

texts:
Commonly, in writing, the country name in Vietnamese is Việt Nam, in English is Vietnam; its capital city name in Vietnamese is Hà Nội, in English is Hanoi; its largest city name in Vietnamese is thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, in English is Ho Chi Minh city.

My questions:

Should this rule apply to other normal city/province names like Đà Nẵng (to Danang?), Nha Trang (to Nhatrang?), etc?
There are place named after a person name: Hồ Chí Minh, Hai Bà Trưng. Will it be written as Ho Chi Minh city or Hochiminh city, Hai Ba Trung ward or Haibatrung ward?
There are names formed by other names, like Bình Trị Thiên is formed by Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên. So will it be written as Binhtrithien or Binh Tri Thien?
Lastly, how should I write people names? Mostly, people will change the order of the name in Vietnamese (last - mid - first) to English order (first - mid - last), like Lý Minh Nhật to Nhat M. Ly or just Nhat Ly. As a consequence, Hồ Chí Minh should also be written as Minh C. Ho or Minh Ho. Why don't people do that? What about not-that-much-well-known but important person like the current president? Nguyen Tan Dung or Dung Nguyen? And should I keep the tones of the names or subtract them (Nhat Ly or Nhật Lý)?

I want to know the answer from the view point of a native speakers.


texts: Can't read a word from a 187-year-old document

texts:
I have a land deed from the year 1824 for some land in the province of Upper Canada (back when that was a province).

Some photos of the deed can be seen in this imgur album.

I am attempting to read which day March 1824 the document was signed. The hand writing is simply indistinguishable from our modern form, so any help would be appreciated. Logically, it would make sense if it was a number of the month.

Here is the specific section towards the end of the document:

Here is the word with some editing to make the shape stand out.

My guess is: "Hveutitath", obviously not a word.


texts:
A: What do you want to eat for dinner?

  B : No difference/No different.

Which is correct and why?


texts: Do you know any synonymous phrasal verbs or the like for 'bear down on'?

texts:
What first comes to mind as far as I am concerned is 'close in on' , and that's not saying much. I've looked on every dictionary as well, but I have found nothing that conveys the precise meaning, as defined by oxford dictionary : 'move directly towards someone or something in a purposeful or intimidating manner.
Close in on suggest the two objects are both in motion to me, and in can also imply speed (the cheetah was closing in on the  antelope). In the case of Bear down on, one object is quasi motionless, and there's also the ' purposeful, intimidating manner, that the former fails to convey.  To my ear, it also implies a slower approach, prolonging the anxiety( ex: the huge ship looming in the distance was bearing down on us).


texts: Is my use of "the" in this example correct?

texts:
I encountered many rules and even this article here on StackExchange. However, this is not about going to "college" or "the college", I think it more difficult.

I wrote:

  "Bad recommendations that might occur when testing could decrease [the?] customers' trust in the quality of the system."

Is the use of "the" correct here? In my opinion, it is as follows:

I describe any bad recommendation; no "the"
I do not talk about a certain customer but about customers in general; no "the"
The system has only one state of quality, so it is "the" quality
There is only one system, so it is "the" system

I'd like to do this correctly as I write abstract and mathematic articles; often it is difficult to distinguish between a certain instance and the abstract concept of a word when the whole text is rather abstract.


texts:
Is shh a word?

If it is, why is it a word?
If it is not, why isn't it a word?


texts: What does "If you are playing the Yankees, you don’t want the umpires to show up wearing pinstripes" mean?

texts:
The sentence goes:

  A good judge, like a good umpire, cannot act as a partisan... If you are playing the Yankees, you don’t want the umpires to show up wearing pinstripes.

I cannot understand the part after the ellipsis. "Show up wearing pinstripes" seems to be a proverb or slang. Could anyone help explain?


texts: Are there clear differences in formality of words between British-English and American-English

texts: I wonder if there are any clear distinctions regarding using formal words in British-English and in American-English. Do American and English people use different words when for instance asking a question or handling a formal situation?


texts:
Please look at the following sentence and tell me which sentence is correct?

1) "I play viola well for someone having taught themselves"

and

2) "I play viola well for someone having taught themself"

And

3) "I play viola well for someone having taught myself"

Thank you.


texts: Is It possible to use passive voice in the infinitive form without "to"?

texts:
I have read in a book sentence:
"operation first requires that a permit be obtained"

As I understand this sentence is a passive voice in the infinitive form but why here "be" is used without "to"?

Thanks!


texts:
When referring to a device that measures tensile or compressive force, is the correct spelling strain gauge or strain gage?

I realize that in general gage is an archaic spelling of the word gauge, but which spelling should be used in this compound?  (Context is an engineering dissertation on signal processing)

Google Ngram viewer


texts: What does 'it' refer to? Money or happiness?

texts:
Poppy sings:

  "If money can't buy happiness then why is it so fabulous?"

But what is "fabulous"? Is it money or is it happiness? Or is it (as I believe) ambiguous?

Does English grammar dictate one of these interpretations given no other context than the sentence alone?


texts: What part of speech is "why" in the following example?

texts: In the sentence "Why is this here?", is "why" an adverb? What part of speech is "why?" I think it modifies the verb "is", so I think it is an adverb.


texts:
The above-mentioned idiom comes from my native language. We use it when we are referring to a person ( often tasteless and unsophisticated one ) who finds it hard to  appreciate a good thing or does not understand the ( aesthetic ) value of something. More or less similar expression in English I have found is this - "Caviar to the general" but it does not fully convey the same meaning. Is there an idiom or expression in English which would carry the same meaning ?

  Yesterday we were talking about food and do you know what John said ? He said that he preferred fast food restaurants over expensive ones. Well, A donkey does not know what kind of fruit persimmon is.


texts: Why is the "s" in "island" not pronounced?

texts: Island is pronounced as 'aɪlənd and I can't help thinking about why the "s" is not pronounced. Is there a special list of words in English where "s" sound is omitted, or is this a special case just for "island"?


texts:
What is the word for an inline editor's comment?  As an example, I was reading a particular software product's online documentation (more of a wiki) and I was surprised to find that there were certain sections that had author/editor notes where I expected documentation content.  For example, there was a feature that was described under the subheadings: Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007/2010, and Outlook 2013.  The Outlook 2003 and 2007/2010 sections had several paragraphs and diagrams of content, but the Outlook 2013 section just had a couple sentences of content, followed by the sentence:

  Please include registry edit necessary for enabling the editor dialog

What is the proper word for this sentence, that is, an editor comment or author's note to oneself in the body of the content?


texts:
How do I list a list of PhDs?

Usually names and abbreviations are separated by a comma. For example:
John Doe, Ph.D.

So if I have a list of Ph.D. holders:

John Doe, Ph.D., Jane Doe, Ph.D., John Smith, Ph.D.

Or would it be:

John Doe Ph.D., Jane Doe Ph.D., John Smith Ph.D.


texts:
Not being a speaker of British English, I was much amused on discovering the new adjective toffee-nosed. The American Heritage dictionary doesn't list it at all, but I found a definition in Collins:

  snobbish; pretentiously superior

The Phrase Finder (UK) goes on to explain that it derives from toff, a slang term given by the lower-classes to stylishly-dressed upper-class gentlemen. So immediately there is a classist aspect to it. Apparently it is also >150 years old, and not used throughout the UK.

I have two (well, more technically) questions about this word.

Is the word itself still understood as being used by the lower class, or does its use connote something about the user other than disdain for the upper class? (Rephrased, is someone who uses the word toffee-nosed today,  actually "toffee-nosed", that is, pretentious?)

And why is this illustration of a man with a pineapple (ananas) on his chest found with the definition of toffee-nosed? Does it imply anything about language?


texts: Can or should you use two ellipsis points in one large quote?

texts:
So if i were to quote an author and I want to add a later part to an earlier part by putting it in the middle of the first quote? an example :

  The researcher, led by Woo-Suk Hwang, insist they cloned an Afghan hound, . . . [and] [o]ne of the dog's co-creators, Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, described Snuppy . . . as 'a frisky, healthy, normal, rambunctious puppy.'

Would that be how to properly do it?


texts: A word/phrase to express deep sadness at a friend or loved one's stupidity?

texts:
I'm looking for a way to describe the feeling you get when someone you care about is being aggressively, intractably, and willfully ignorant or stupid about something.

It's something of a blend of disgust, disappointment, pity, and a sense that you wish you knew better people.

Something German+shmertz, perhaps? Mittleshmertz sounds appropriate, but given its existing meaning, I don't think it fits.

Ex. "His friend was filled with X as he realized his support for Trump was serious and not brilliant satire."

EDIT: The political example is just that, an example.  I'd also be willing to accept a word or phrase in another language that could be appropriated into English usage.


texts:
Female equivalent of "creator"?

Or is it unisex?

I'm a programmer and I named a variable "creatingFunction", which sounds even worse than "creatorFunction".


texts: Is there a list and/or a rule for nouns that must be pluralized when not preceded by a definite article or adjective?

texts:
I recently came upon the following sentence:

  Their job is to create advertisement.

As a native speaker of American English, this sentence sounded really odd to me, so I ran it through Google's Ngram, discovering that the phrase "create advertisement" was not found (for either American or British English) as you can see from the image below:

I've also done some searches of Google web pages and have come to the same conclusion.  So, I have further concluded that "advertisement" must be pluralized when not preceded by a definite article or adjective.  (If I am incorrect in this assumption, please let me know.)

I wanted to explain to those who had created the sentence above (non-native speakers, presumably), from a grammatical or usage standpoint, why it wasn't correct, but my initial searches have not yielded anything worthwhile on this topic.  I always feel as if I am somehow falling short on explaining the nuances of the English language whenever I have to fall back on the line, "Well, it just doesn't sound natural to me."

I've visited web pages that list words that are only plural and others that discuss when and when not to use an article with a singular or plural noun and still others that delve into the topic of count vs. non-count nouns, but, thus far, I have not seen anything that discusses nouns that need to be plural when not preceded by a definite article or adjective.  I'm assuming "advertisement" isn't the only such word and that, if there are others like it, some sort of rule about their usage has evolved.

Thank you for any insight you can provide, either through your own knowledge of the English language, good logic, and/or references to other material.


texts: Form using article 'a' with the phrase panic mode

texts: Which sentence is correct? They went into 'a panic mode' or They went into panic mode?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Money vs Monies

I have seen the plural of money, monies, used.  It sounds a bit awkward but extravagant and I like the sound but not sure when it is correct to use it instead of the regular singular.  Any idea?


texts: Meaning of 'we are following up on the correspondence below'

texts:
Two days after being asked to fill out a document and get it signed, I receive an email just saying:

  "We are following up on the correspondence below".

I'm not a native speaker, so I'd like to ask if this is a kind reminder or if it has some other meaning. The conversation occurred with a law firm.


texts: Parallel negative verbs in Present Perfect

texts:
Which one is correct?

"I have not done(any verb1) or done(any verb2) something"
"I have not done(any verb1) or have not done(any verb2) something"
"I have not done(any verb1) or not done(any verb2) something"

where something part is related semantically only to second verb.
I.e: "I have not showered or have not eaten breakfast"


texts:
The Economist often describes economic statistics like this:

published on Jan 27th 2000

  MONEY AND INTEREST RATES Britain's broad money-supply growth edged up to 3.6% in the year to December"

I don't understand the phrase "in the year to month". Does it mean

The supply grew up 3.6% from Jan 1999 to Dec 1999
The supply grew up 3.6% from Dec 1999 to Jan 2000

Thanks a lot.


texts: "the average person" vs "an average person"

texts:
There's a question in a forum I frequent, and I'm trying to decide whether "the average" or "an average" is appropriate in its title.

Let's say the question is:

  "Why is the average Canadian more polite than the average American?" [see note].

Another member of the forum feels that this is incorrect grammar and wants it to be changed to:

  "Why is an average Canadian more polite than an average American?".

I disagree on both counts with him: I don't think the original question was grammatically incorrect, and I don't think the edited version conveys the same question as the original. However, I only have a vague sense of the difference, that "the average Canadian" talks about the average of all people in that society, whereas "an average Canadian" refers to a particular segment of the society, the segment which is nearest to the average (in some measure) of the society.

Is the original title correct, and does the edited version convey the same meaning as the original? What exactly is the difference between "an average" and "the average" in this use case?

[Note: The original question was equally loaded and stereotyping, which is one reason I'm not linking to it here.]


texts: How do I perform presidential proper noun declension?

texts: I'm unfamiliar with how one approaches the declension of proper nouns, especially as it pertains to presidents, e.g., Jeffersonian. I suspect it's kind of a black art. I need to do this with Coolidge and have no idea where to start. What would be an acceptable form? Coolidgean?


texts: What's the difference between "net" and "netting"?

texts:
I recently heard the word "netting" in a conversation with an Englishman. Then looked it up to figure out what makes it different to "net". These are the two definitions I got from the Oxford dictionary:

netting: material that is made of string, thread or wire twisted or tied together, with spaces in between

net: a type of material that is made of string, thread or wire twisted or tied together, with small spaces in between

A search on the internet didn't help much. What is the difference (if any) between these two words?


texts:
Can someone be oriented 'on' something?

For instance,

  oriented on content instead of process

or

  oriented on the long term instead of short term

Or should it always be used with 'towards' like 'oriented towards'?


texts: In British English, should it be "licensee" or "licencee"?

texts:
We all know that "license" in American English is "licence" in British English.  But what about the person to whom the licence is given?

Various dictionaries show the 'c' version, e.g.:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/licencee

Additionally, I can see other resources in my own country using this spelling, e.g.:

http://www.centennialparklands.com.au/about_us/event_organisers/toolkit/glossary

But managers in my own company (in Australia) claim to have done "a lot of research" on the subject, and decided to use the 's' version.  This seems wrong to me, but I would like a better answer to the question before I decide whether to request a change or just change our spell checking to allow their spelling.


texts: Is "consecutive" a subset of "sequential"?

texts:
Going straight to the dictionary, we can see that:

Consecutive means: something following something else without interruption.

Some examples:

He did 100 consecutive push-ups (1, 2, 3, ..., 99, 100)
He scored 3 consecutive goals (meaning that a player scored 3 goals without any other team-mate scoring in between)

2.1 Ronaldo scored in min. 25, 50, 75. He scored 3 consecutive goals. Had somebody else from his team scored anywhere between 25-75 his goals wouldn't have been consecutive.
He had to take his medicine for 14 consecutive days (2 weeks straight, without interruption).

Sequential means: following a particular order.

The above doesn't mean without interruption though. It just has to follow a predictable pattern.

Some examples:

Computer instructions are always executed sequentially, the order being top-down as they are encountered in the program.
The Fibonacci sequence: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, ... is a sequence where each number is the sum of the preceding two numbers.
I described the events sequentially, but in reverse order, starting with the conclusion.
We were given a list of sequential numbers comprising even multiples of 10. (20, 60, 100, say every 4 multiples)
He was used as a defender every 5 games for 6 sequential World Cups (this is a case where you might substitute sequential with consecutive but it's also correct to interpret this as say every 2 World Cups, or every 3 World Cups is it not?). Without knowing further information this is ambiguous just like biweekly which can mean both every 2 weeks and twice a week.
They were using a sequence of numbers comprising multiples of five. Note that this can also be interpreted as consecutive since it doesn't specify any further details about the multiples.

So all in all I've seen folks using these 2 terms interchangeably. While this might be true it's not always the case. They can be used interchangeably when the elements that they're describing are immediately following one after another but not otherwise.

Is the above correct or did I misunderstand anything?


texts:
The following is from Pride and Prejudice:

  Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character.

What does the phrase quick parts mean?


texts: Is "that" the right complement of the verb "require"

texts:
Here are original sentences: "Sometimes a creative problem is so difficult that it requires people to connect their imaginations together; the answer arrives only if we collaborate"
But how about the following sentences: " Sometimes a creative problem is so difficult that it requires (that) people connect their imaginations together; the answer arrives only if we collaborate"
I want to know whether the latter sentences are grammatically correct.
Can you help me?


texts:
I am looking for a countable noun which can stand for either a coin or a banknote. Currency and money are the only two words I can think of, but not being countable they don't fit what I'm looking for, and they can also be interpreted as other forms of payment, such as credit/debit cards.

  Open your wallet, find the [coin or banknote] of highest denomination, and write it down.

Does such a word even exist, or should I settle for using piece of currency or simply coin or banknote?


texts: Why are detectives/investigators referred to as "gumshoe"s?

texts:
Why are detectives/inspectors colloquially referred to as Gumshoes?

Is it anything other that they would travel a lot in investigations and, presumably, wore hard-wearing shoes?


texts: I'm looking for a word to describe artificially inflating a price to keep it consistent

texts:
As the title says - I'm struggling to find a word to describe the value that is added to the price charged for something to avoid passing on manufacturing savings to the customer.

For example if building a ship costs my company $1000 and we charge $2000 to the customer.

We then change suppliers and the ship now costs $800 to build.

However we want to still charge $2000 for the ship, so is there a name for that $200 we add to into the price to keep it the same?

Note that it doesn't have to be an actual technical financial term - just an English word that  has this kind of inflation meaning


texts: Is the word 'places' an 'adverb of place'?

texts:
Please may I ask if the word 'places' is considered an 'adverb of place'? Here is a sentence example:

The dog takes his bone places.

I have a student who has asked this question. As far as I know, the noun 'place' is not considered part of the 'adverbs of place' list. I have searched far and wide to make sure I am correct, but cannot find a definitive answer.


texts: Nested parentheticals -- restructuring for clarity

texts:
It's widely known that the name "JavaScript" is trademarked by Oracle (formerly a trademark of Sun, formerly a trademark of Netscape).

What was formerly a trademark of Netscape?
Sun?
Oracle?
JavaScript?

How would one recast the sentence to unambiguously give each of the alternate meanings?

[EDIT]
The sentence is merely an example. The question relates to correctly structuring a sentence for clarity.


texts: What are some words for something that is not organised?

texts:
What are some words that describe precisely, something that is is not structured, ordered and not a system. However the word I'm looking for is not something like anarchy, I want a more neutral sounding word with no real negative slant/connotations to it.

There is a certain word that I've seen before that I'm looking for, however I can't find it, even after trying numerous thesauruses, which is weird because it's not a very complex word, it's just a bit uncommon.

An example of usage would be:

  Rules do not work in a world that is ___. Nature is not an organised system it is ___.


texts: Parsing the sentence "the number of people..."

texts:
Here's a sentence I randomly thought of:

  The number of people [who/that] don't give way to buses is staggering.

This sentence got me thinking about grammar and sentence structure and thus prompted this question. There are two parts to my question, which somewhat go together.

The first part is this: is "who" or "that" correct? I was fairly sure of "who", but then I thought, maybe it depends on how the first part of the sentence is parsed. Again, I'm fairly sure that #1 is correct; if it is, I'd also like to know whether #2 is plausible.

  (The number of) people who...

In #1, people are the focus, so "who" is used.

  The number (of people) that...

In #2, the number is the focus, so "that" is used (because the number is a concept).

This leads me to the second part of the question. What is the structure of the sentence? Below is what I think it is:

  [The number of people] subject who [don't] verb [give way to] verb [buses] object [is staggering] phrase

(Is this also a clause on its own? Or is it a clause + a phrase?)

Now, if my breakdown of the sentence is correct, and the number of people is a compound subject, does that mean that (1) the first part of this question is moot, and (2) The number of people that doesn't is correct, despite linguistic norms?

In summary:

Is "who" or "that" correct? Why?
Have I analysed the sentence correctly?
Is the number of people a compound subject? If so, why don't we say the number of people that doesn't?
Is the entire sentence a clause, a clause + a phrase, or multiple clauses?


texts: 'make you even a coin' vs 'make you earn even a coin'

texts:
There's a Korean saying that 'Making some money is not just simple or easy but really hard.'

So, I want to translate this saying in its Korean literal meaning,
but It is hard for me to choose which makes more sense.

"Digging in the ground doesn't make you even a coin."

"Digging in the ground doesn't make you earn even a coin."

I would really appreciate if you guys help me! :)


texts: What is the difference between "getting mad" and "getting upset"?

texts: Does getting mad mean the same thing as getting upset? Is there any difference at all?


texts:
"There are many ways to save the environment, like saving energy, reducing rubbish"
Is the ing Form correct in this case?
Is it a gerund? Or is this Form calles differently ?


texts: What is the difference between "What got into her" or "What has gotten into her"?

texts: What is the difference between "What got into her" and "What has gotten into her" ?


texts: Something similar to "paranoid", but with a less negative connotation?

texts:
Paranoia is an irrational feeling that people are out to get you (in a bad way). But what's a term or phrase for a situation where it irrationally feels like people are giving you positive attention or are harboring positive thoughts or intentions for you?

I'm looking for something for the following situation:

  Maybe I'm being paranoid, but since I cut my toenails, I feel like every girl in here is checking me out.

I'm leaning towards "delusional", but that also has a slight negative tinge to it, so I'm seeking other options. I especially like options that come from literary/cultural allusions if I come across one, like:

  Maybe I'm having a <insert some character who has experienced a similar situation> moment, but since I got that bikini wax, I feel like every girl in here is checking me out.

Or maybe some idiom or foreign expression that I can add to my linguistic repertoire:

  Maybe I'm experiencing a little <insert some French expression>, but since I deodorized this morning, I feel like every girl in here is checking me out.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to use "Wake" without "up"?

texts:
Is it possible to use "wake" as a standalone verb, without it being followed by the preposition "up"?

I heard the phrase,

"I woke at 9:00 AM and felt strange",

but it quickly got corrected by someone else to,

"I woke up at 9:00 AM and felt strange"

Is the latter more correct than the former?


texts:
While watching this video about which is the correct plural of the word 'Prometheus', I realized that some of the cutting edge technologies like:

Prometheus (from: Προμηθεύς)
Kubernetes (from: Κυβερνήτης)

use names related to greek. So, I wondered if also Docker has any "greek" roots. (To say the truth, I thought of the word: Δοκός)

According to this site: http://ewonago.blogspot.gr/2008/06/dock.html, dock is related to the verb Δέχομαι which means: receive, contain.


texts: I know that Enjoy is always used as a transitive verb and only as an intransitive in imperative sentences in some specific context. However, as native speakers, do you think enjoy is correctly used in this sentence: '' Enjoy upon your personal preference'' (it's written on a noodle package), or should it be '' Enjoy it upon your personal preference''?


texts: What's the origin of the second-person 'we'?

texts:
I've often heard the phrase what do we have here to mean what do you have. And also, recently, I've heard a teacher ask one of his students struggling with an assignment: do we have a problem?, as in do you have a problem?

I simply want to know how exactly such a rearrangement of pronoun usage became a thing and maybe if other languages do something similar. Thanks.


texts:
I question the usage of "stack of paper" vs. "stack of papers". I purchase a ream of paper, and set it on a desk. In that process, does it change from a ream of paper to a stack of papers - changing from a singular word to a plural?

In both cases it is still 500 sheets of paper.

When is it proper to use stack of paper vs. stack of papers?

A stack of bricks is always plural isn't it?


texts: Forgot in this sentence: Transitive or Intransitive?

texts:
"Today is Friday, but Adae forgot."
Hi everyone, so I encountered this sentence in a writing book . I believe "forgot" in this context is intransitive since there is no object in the second independent clause. If I were to re-write this, would it technically mean the same as :
"Today is Friday, but Adae forgot about it."?
Does anyone disagree that "forgot" is intransitive here? I can't really find anything in the dictionary to help me because all I see is forgot + "about" or "to" which would be intransitive.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/forget


texts:
(I'm not sure if the title is absolutely correct, so feel free to fix it)

Is it suitable to enumerate verbs without modal verb?

Example:

  File already should be created and contain some data

in comparison to:

  File already should be created and should contain some data


texts:
When did "call out" become so widely used as in:

  To combat authoritarianism, to call out lies, to struggle honorably
  and fiercely in the name of American ideals

(from the New Yorker)