texts: Should punctuation marks be underlined, bolded or italicized?

texts:
I have read previous threads that punctuation marks should not be underlined at the end of a sentence unless other more specific rules apply (e.g., titles). My question is what to do and what to underline/bold/italicize when two punctuation marks are used?
For instance, should the following sentence underline/bold/italicize to the last "t" in Significant, to the period, or to the last quotation mark? I would assume the quotation mark would not be marked as underlined based on previous forum threads read indicating NOT to underline punctuation marks, although it doesn't appear correct when bolded. I am assuming there must be different rules for underlining, bolding, and italicizing, with italicizing and bolding being more in line with each other. The following examples are in bold, but the answers might be different if the same examples were underlined.
Bolded Examples
Example 1 (Bolded to the very end of the quotation mark): Note, if an examinee only has an error, all other questions should be marked as “Significant.”
Example 2 (Bolded to the period): Note, if an examinee only has an error, all other questions should be marked as “Significant.”
Example 3 (Bolded to the letter t): Note, if an examinee only has an error, all other questions should be marked as “Significant.”
How about the same sentence underlined? Which one would be correct?
Example 4 (Underlined to the very end of the quotation mark)
Example 5 (Underlined to the period)
Example 6 (Underlined to the letter t)


texts: What does 'Hitlerian' mean, extract from Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita

texts:
With Mr. West, retired executioner or writer of religious tracts—who cared?—I saw neighbor what’s his name, I think they are French or Swiss, meditate in his frank-windowed study over a typewriter, rather gaunt-profiled, an almost Hitlerian cowlick on his pale brow.

Excerpt From: Vladimir Nabokov. “Lolita” iBooks.

Google returned zero results for "define Hitlerian lolita"

I don't understand this reference? It can't be a reference to Hitler himself because the book was written in 1955...


texts: Word to describe flavor of anise, licorice, and fennel?

texts:
Is there a word to describe the flavor common to anise, licorice, and fennel? It tastes kind of sweet, but has a "bite".

Edit: here it is described as "licoricelike": http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aniseed


texts: Word to describe parent or category word

texts:
I am looking for a word...

  Red is a color
      Blue is a color
      Color is a ____ of blue and red

What word goes in the blank?


texts: I am wondering if there is a word that essentially means "intentional bug", that the designers or maintainers of the software either introduced knowingly or preserved after recognition of its existence.


texts:
'Houses sprouted like mushroom colonies'
I am not sure if this is a simile or a metaphor. Please help. Ty!


texts: What does “do not get (too) vibed that something happened” mean? There is no clue in any dictionary

texts:
I stumbled upon this construction: “don’t get (too) vibed”, but I couldn’t get what does it mean. And there is no dictionary that gives an explanation, as far as I can see. “Vibe” is a very special word suitable for use in many situations, but what exactly is “don’t get vibed that [something happened]”?

The first example:

  Though TBH I do not get vibed that he really enjoys playing it.

(Source: forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?s=44516facf13f7525c31971c6e5693854&p=10689339&postcount=12726)

The second example:

  don't get too vibed that the MRI showed nothing, it's actually rather good!

(Source: www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/health--injury/mild-curiosity/185484.html)

Interestingly, the sources come from .uk sites. Is this a UK-specific phrase?


texts: which one I should use Noun or Gerund? Are both sentences correct?

texts:
Run is good for your heart

or

  Running is good for your heart

I cannot understand what the differences between these two sentences are.


texts: Difference between “with”, “at” and “for” with a business title and a company name

texts:
The prepositions “with”, “at” and “for” are also used to associate a business title with a company's name. It seems that they are interchangeable, with no (significant) difference in meaning. The following examples taken from The New York Times website seem to confirm that:

  Until now, said Justin Nielson, a senior analyst for the media
  research firm SNL Kagan, “there really hasn't been any direct
  competitor . . .

  “The consumer is still deleveraging,” said Jason Goldberg, a senior
  analyst with Barclays. “It's not a lack of supply; it's a lack of
  demand.”

  “There’s the party of fear and the party of despair,” Nikos Xydakis, a
  political analyst and an editor at Kathimerini daily, said.

Are they really the same as for meaning? If it isn't so, what is the difference between them?


texts: "Welcome" or "Welcomed" in British English or American

texts: I thought about telling someone "You're most welcome, and accepted." Should I have said most welcomed instead of welcome?


texts: What is the proper comma placement around an Author's Name?

texts:
The Gregg Reference Manual, by William Sabin, was a bestseller.

Are the commas correct in this sentence?

  She loved the Gregg Reference Manual, by William Sabin.

Is the comma correct after the word "Manual"?


texts: Why is English written and read left to right?

texts: Why is English written and read from left-to-right as opposed to right-to-left, top-to-bottom, or (not even sure any language does this) bottom-to-top?


texts: "exhibition" vs. "exposition" vs. "exhibit" in AmEng

texts:
What's the difference between those words with regard to a public showing, as of goods or works of art? Can these be used interchangeably?
Both "exhibit" and "exposition" are marked as Americanisms by Adrienne's English-French Dictionary, Ed. 1991.
EXPOSITION

A public show or exhibition (M-W)
Bertha, by this time a writer and critic, had attended an exposition in Cologne where she had seen Gropius's work enthusiastically received.
Gustav Mahler: A Life in Crisis
Werkbund Exposition, 1914. Deutz machine factory and office building. Court elevation, showing glass-walled offices & the covered terrace on the roof.; Walter Gropius; 1914
University of Michigan Library

EXHIBITION

A public showing (as of works of art, objects of manufacture, or athletic skill) a one-man exhibition; an exhibition game (M-W)
Merriam-Webster
An auto show, also known as a motor show or car show, is a public exhibition of current automobile models, debuts, concept cars, or out-of-production classics. It is attended by automotive industry representatives, dealers, auto journalists and car enthusiasts.
Wikipedia

EXHIBIT

North American An exhibition: people flocked to the exhibit in record-breaking numbers
Oxford Dictionaries Online
There he attended an exhibit of Nazi paraphernalia held on the campus of Tubingen University
The Pot Plan: Louie B. Stumblin and the War on Drugs
His one great success was a highly innovative glass house exhibited at the Cologne Werkbund exhibit in 1914.
Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy


texts: Can I say "more better" in unusual circumstances like this?

texts:
I was talking a few minutes ago and found myself completely stumped as to how to phrase a statement without taking thirty minutes to say what I was trying to say or breaking a grammatical rule and saying "more better."

"Hey these peanut butter cup oreos look good."

Now what I wanted to say was that I had heard about them, and supposedly they were better than the regular peanut butter oreos, but they were even better than you would expect them to be if someone just told you they were better. So, they're not just better than the peanut butter ones, they're more better than the peanut butter ones than you'd expect.

Like if I were to define a new word, plok. Plok means "better than peanut butter oreos". These peanut butter cup oreos are more plok than you'd expect.

I don't know if that makes any sense. I hope so. So my question is, is this acceptable in English grammar? They say you're never supposed to say "more better" but that's if they're to be used to modify the same word or phrase, which they aren't in this case.


texts: Phrase to say that something which happened twice already is likely to happen again

texts:
In French, there is the expression "jamais deux sans trois" (literally: "never twice without a third [time]").

We use it to express that something which has already happened twice is likely to happen again.

Can someone point to a good, idiomatic, English equivalent?


texts:
At the next village, the team tossed out the trial booklets, but when the villagers began collecting them, the team shifted to handing the booklets out—as insulation for the villagers’ homes.

An excerpt from book "Atlantis: Gene".
How can booklets be as insulation?


texts: Can one say 'hi' to a person older than oneself?

texts:
Would it be appropriate to say 'Hi', for example, to a person at the ticket window who is seemingly much older than yourself?

Would it be a different case, say in Australia, where people usually refer to each other just by given names?


texts:
I would like to know if there are any words that express the idea of something being "different, but the same". I'm open to interpretations, such as negative/duplicitous (wolf in sheep's clothing) but I'm really wondering if there's a specific term for this idea that something appears to be new and alien, but is actually familiar.

I realize there's an asian phrase "same-same but different", and that seems to be the reverse of what I'm looking for, as it promises something you know but is quite disparate in the end.


texts: Why is accent less distinguishable when singing?

texts:
British and American accents are distinguishable, and when someone talks I can tell if he is British or American within a few seconds. However, when listening to music, the accents are not easily distinguishable. I can hardly find if a singer is American or British from a song.

Is there a technical reason for less visibility of accent when singing? Or it is just my ignorance?


texts:
I saw the following sentence in a book:

  That people were so willing to respond is one measure of the
  importance of the topic.

Is there any reason to bring the "that" clause to the beginning of the sentence? Does it differ in meaning from the normal sentence?


texts: Why do we use the definite article in "the other"?

texts: Why in the sentence "One suspect was a male youth, while the other was an adult man." we use 'the' before 'other'. I have to explain its function.


texts:
I'm aware of what phrasal verbs and the fact they are typically accompanied by a word like up, down, or in in order to add meaning to the verb. But, in the sentence: The subject is whom or what the sentence is about, is 'is about' a phrasal verb? I know the object pronoun whom here should be the object of the preposition about, but isn't the word 'about' here linked to the verb 'is'? If so, then shouldn't whom be changed to who? If so, are there any other examples of linking phrasal verbs?

I may be completely wrong on this, I am just a bit perplexed and curious to know. Thanks!


texts: A person who reads is a "reader". What is a person who peeks called?

texts:
Is there a name for a person who peeks?

I have tried looking up merriam-webster for the term "peeker" (as I expected this is a real word), to no avail.


texts: How to explain the portion of the hand that holds less than the other?

texts:
When you hold a handful of something, the enclosed portion below your thumb can generally handle a larger quantity than the area circled red in the photo below...

How can this less-supported area be briefly described (if there isn't a single word for it)?

For example, here's what I quickly came up with: I grip [the coins] harder, losing one from the unfortunately large exposure where three more fingers next to my thumb would benefit me greatly. haha!


texts: What is the difference between if and whether?

texts:
Let me know if I picked up the right file
Let me know whether I picked up the right file

Could anyone tell me the differences between them?
Can we use ‘if’ and ‘whether’ in present, past, and future tenses as well?


texts: Does the electricity "go or cut" "off or out"?

texts:
Which of the following choices are correct?

  While I was reading a book last night, suddenly the electricity ______.

  cut off
  cut out
  went off
  went out

What are the differences between them, if any?


texts: A better way of expressing "burst like a soap bubble"?

texts:
So the other day my friend was telling me about this employment contract which he said would "burst like a soap bubble".  It doesn't seem to be a common idiom in English, but he seemed to mean by it that the contract would fail miserably, or 'fall through'.  As he is German, he may have gotten inspiration from the idiomatic German phrase (which also means "burst like a soap bubble"):

  wie eine Seifenblase zerplatzen

Is there a good analogous English expression?  The only one I can think of is "fall like a house of cards", but that implies that the thing that will fail was weak to begin with, which I don't think the German expression implies.


texts: Why does the name of a ocean and river come first (Pacific Ocean, Mississippi River), but for lakes it comes second (Lake Michigan)?

texts:
In every example but lakes that I can think of — oceans, rivers, etc. — the name comes first. (An exception is counties in Ireland, e.g. County Cork.)
This makes sense — in English, we say "red shirt," not "shirt red."
Why are lakes different?


texts: What is the nature of That-complementizer here?

texts:
It was in 1945 that World World 2 ended.

I think that is a complementizer, but I'm not sure of the nature of this complement. By nature I mean the part of speech of the complement clause and to what is it a complement.
It's neither the subject nor the object of this sentence. (compare I think that World War 2 ended in 1945.)
It not the complement of a predicate adjective either.
(compare I am sure that World War 2 ended in 1945.)
Maybe it's the complement to the prepositional/adverbial phrase in 1945? The reason I say this is because the that-clause couldn't just complement the was if the in 1945 was removed.


texts: What is the significance of "it did" at the end of a sentence?

texts:
Nevertheless, such a generalisation does not take us far towards an understanding of why the revolution broke out when it did, and why it took the remarkable road it did.

I wonder why the last words "it did" was put at the end of this sentence?
Is it for emphasis? Then, is this regularly used for emphasis?


texts: Is there a pun in the name "Crodfoller T. Rhubarb"?

texts:
In the 1992 adventure game The Dagger of Amon Ra, the protagonist Laura Bow has the following conversation with her colleague, Crodfoller T. Rhubarb:

    Laura: What can you tell me about Crodfoller T. Rhubarb?
    Crodfoller: You're talking to him.
    Laura: No, I mean the real Crodfoller T. Rhubarb.
    Crodfoller: There's another Crodfoller T. Rhubarb? No two sets of parents would be that cruel.

That makes me think that the name "Crodfoller T. Rhubarb" must contain some sort of pun, but I can't see what it is. I'm not a native speaker, though. Does anybody see the joke in this?


texts:
Comma misuse is nothing to take lightly. It can lead to a train wreck like this:
Example: Mark Twain's book, Tom Sawyer, is a delight.
Because of the commas, that sentence states that Twain wrote only one book. In fact, he wrote more than two dozen of them.

Source
Why is this sentence a trainwreck? What is the correct placement of commas to un-train-wreck it?
How about this?

Mark Twain's second book, Tom Sawyer, is a delight.


texts:
"More perfect" is presumably bad English (Preamble to the US
Constitution notwithstanding), since something is either perfect (and
thus can't be improved) or not.

"Less imperfect", however, seems to make sense. It means "having fewer
flaws" or "closer to perfection".

The paradox: "more perfect" and "less imperfect" should mean the same
thing, no?

The real question: is "perfect" binary or continuous? Or is this a
weird case where "perfect" is binary, but "imperfect" is continuous,
meaning these words aren't true opposites?

[I tried to work in a joke about English being imperfect, but couldn't
find the perfect joke]


texts: A word that means “taking your time and doing things correctly”

texts:
I am looking for a word that would describe someone who always goes out of their way to take their time and do a good job. Sort of the opposite of half-assing something.

I am looking for something that is more about a work ethic than a technically proper way of doing things. Something like canonical or protocol would not be a good fit.


texts:
I'm not a native English speaker and the American accent is the most familiar to me.

I plan to visit NZ for a Working holiday program, but I'm concerned that I won't understand what they say. I can fully understand the North American speakers, but when I heard New Zealanders speak on TV, I couldn't understand half of it.

How to make sure that I will understand this accent and will it make my English worse for other places if I stay there long term?

Thanks


texts:
I have to choose the correct word in the following sentence:

  In the 1730s, Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus set out rules for
  classifying species, the most basic biological category/section.

According to the key, it is category. However, I do not have the slightest notion why section doesn't work either.

Here are the Cambridge dictionary definitions:
category section


texts:
In basketball, football, hockey, and many other sport the teams get a set number of timeouts.

I was watching a summer league NBA game and there were some stat nerds talking and one referenced that "timeouts" was the incorrect plural form for a timeout.  He said it should be times out.  This to me is nonsense and hits my ears bad but a few others agreed with him.  What is the plural of timeout?


texts:
I wonder, which sentence fragment is better?

  ... effectiveness of the interface failure detection
  ... effectiveness of the uplink failure detection


texts:
I was contemplating over the two words - impel and compel.

consider the examples:
1. she impelled me to take the job
2. she compelled me to take the job.

is the word compel somewhat derogatory or coercing something against one's will? Can one be used in place of the other. someone ratiocinate please.


texts: Having a Run-on Sentence Inside of Quotation Marks

texts:
I have a sentence that says this, "'They probably want us, let’s get out of here,' Jake said to Adam."

In a situation like this, is using correct grammar necessary? Do I have to say, "'They probably want us; let's get out of here,' Jake said to Adam.", or can I leave it as it was stated above?


texts:
What does proper mean in this context?

  "Perhaps not surprisingly, many participants initially struggled to recognize the alleged subtle difference between the two conditions, and so were required to complete more than ten thousand trials before moving on to the experiment proper."


texts: "noun + not + modifier"--- is it only for a noun

texts:
In a country not their own, they suffered a great deal.

In this sentence, I can see how it works.

But we never say "in a country their own", do we?  We say " in their own country." Here is how the logic is drifted away. With adjectives, we say "good person," just as how we say " their own country." However, we neither say nor write " person not good."

  Your wife is a not a good person.

  Your wife is a person not good. ?????

Does this "noun + not + modifier" structure work only with nouns? Or is there any instance of this structure with adjectives?

P.S. Sorry for any wrong usage of grammar terms.


texts: 'The thread with which I used to tie her hair tight' or 'The thread in which I used to tie her hair tight'?

texts:
In this two sentences which one is better?
Also, tight has to be at the end of the sentence because it is part of a poem.


texts: Meaning of "No dark sarcasm in the classroom"

texts: The phrase is, of course, from one of the good Pink Floyd songs: Another Brick In The Wall. I  always wonder what could it possibly refer to in the context of the song and in general context. I mean, what kind of exchanges would you term 'Dark sarcasm in the classroom'?


texts:
The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition contains the following (on the hyphenation or otherwise of compounds):

  6.38: The trend in spelling compound words has been away from the use of hyphens; there seems to be a tendency to spell compounds solid . .
  .

One could argue that the word 'solid' is being used as a predicative adjective here (as in the lake froze solid) - but the semantic analysis is indeterminate, in my view, between adjectival and adverbial usage of 'solid' in the CMoS usage.

AHD lists the adverb polyseme:

  solid adv.
  1. As a whole; unanimously: The committee voted solid for the challenger.

  2.. Without a break or opening; completely or continuously: The theater was booked solid for a month.

To my surprise, Collins doesn't list it, though 'booked solid' is very common in the UK.

What word-class would people plump for in the CMoS usage - and, more importantly, what verbs (other than obvious link-verbs) may 'solid', when not obviously accompanying a noun, follow?


texts: Technique for saying the title of the text

texts: Is there a technique for when the title of the text is explicitly mentioned. For example; Cersei Lannister says "In the game of thrones, you win or you die", even in the 5th season of G.O.T. a dance of dragons is also explicitly mentioned.


texts:
To me as a non-native to the English language, it reminds funny, geeky, nerdy hero,
like Tony Stark (Iron Man) excluding his riches and Iron Man suit.

But what are the nuances of "intellectual bad ass" to a native speaker of English?


texts: Do you hyphenate half-in half-out? He was half-in half-out. (of the window). Or half in, half out? Sheesh, nothing coming up on google. Any ideas/help please?


texts:
In academics, the note [sic] is used to make it clear that material lifted from a secondary source was incorrect as the author found it, as opposed to a mistake in the text.

Is there an opposite term which can be used to denote a paraphrased usage, informing the reader that the source material has been changed.

For instance:

  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
  – 1 Timothy 6:10

Is often mis-quoted as:

  Money is the root of all evil.

Could I make it clear that if I was using the second version, that I know it is a variation on the actual source?

Update: It has been suggested that this question is a duplicate of one about using squared brackets to fill in possibly missing words. This is a question about denoting a paraphrase, or changed meaning, in texts which sit between the source and my own writing.


texts:
As I understand another = an + other, which has turned into a single word through the history of English. As a consequence, it refers to a single object (another car = one car, another bite = one bite). But I wasn't sure about the expression "Another four chickens". The expression sounds good to my ears, but bad to my (little) grammar knowledge.

My two questions are:

  Is it correct?
  If so, when can another be used for plural?


texts:
Recently, I pronounced the word enqueue as ahn-queue.  The person I was talking to said he would have pronounced it with a more normal en sound (like in Ben or den).

I'm not sure why I thought that ahn- was the way to pronounce this—it seems to be wrong according to the dictionary.

The cases that ahn- seems to be correct are two-word french phrases (e.g., en route).  I also thought of envoy, which does allow the ahn- pronunciation as a second option.

Is there a pattern for which words allow or require en- to be pronounced as ahn-?  Or is this just something you have to know word-by-word?


texts: Other analogies similar to "flu and "influenza"

texts:
Medically speaking, flu is a derivative of influenza; but in common usage flu includes colds and other flu-like symptoms. Influenza is a condition caused by specific viruses. While colds are also caused by a virus, the viruses are different and distinct and produce different though similar symptoms.

I want to find another example of words that describe specific as well as global situations/conditions that are used interchangeably by the public yet have distinct technical differences.


texts: Word meaning a piece of fiction about a work of art

texts:
I'm seeking a single English word I recently learned (and then promptly forgot!) --a specialized technical term meaning fictional writing focused around the depiction of another work of art (e.g. a painting, piece of music or a play).

Example:  Walter Moers' ______ book The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books really strongly evoked the sensation of sitting in a theater, watching a play.

This is a real English word, but not one in common general use --you would expect it in an academic context, or to be used by a professional critic.


texts: Question tag for "you must have felt it too"?

texts:
Which of these question tags is most appropriate for

  There has been an earthquake. You must have felt it too, __ ?

– , haven't you?
– , didn't you?
– , mustn't you?


texts: I have heard that in the Midwest region of the United States (Nebraska, etc.), people do not have an accent when speaking compared to people from the south or either coast. Is this true? Why? Please add sources to back up what you say.


texts: When should I add "to" before an infinitive in a parallelism sentence?

texts:
Here is a sentence I wrote:

  All he can do, as it turns out, is to stay by her side, take her to wherever he goes and hope someday she will wake up.

I added to ahead of take... in the first place, but my foreign teacher told me there was no need to do that.

Here is another one:

  I won’t elaborate on his excellent judge of character or other things like willingness to take responsibility and to trust in his team here, determination and so on.

This time my teacher didn't tell me to delete the second to. I want to know if the second to is necessary? When should I keep the to ahead of the infinitive in a parallelism sentence and when not?


texts: A term for a woman complaining about things/begging in a cute/childish way

texts:
I'm trying to find a fitting translation for a Chinese term, which means that a woman is trying to be cute in front of her man in order to get what she wants. While she does this, her voice will change to almost like a child, and so will her body language.

This is very common among Chinese women and often seen as a positive trait by many Chinese men.

Is there an equivalent term/phrase in English for this behavior?

=============================================================

Thank you for all the answers, I decided to use a combination of "coy" and "kittenish" in the sentence. Since there didn't seem to be one single word that can describe it.
Yes, the Chinese Term is 撒娇 or anything along that line.


texts: A verb for talking about someone who hurt you

texts:
Consider: A boyfriend cheated on her girlfriend, so she broke up with him. She didn't make a big stink about it, but when she dwells on it, she feels so upset and angry she cannot help saying to herself:

  "I hope somebody will betray him someday."

She does not say these bad wishes to his face, but expresses her anger verbally in her own mind.

Is there a verb which can be used for what she is doing in this situation?

I thought to cuss out, curse out or to swear at, but I think these phrases would imply she says foul words to his face.


texts: Meaning of "taking a woman off to the hay bales"

texts:
What is the meaning of "taking a woman off to the hay bales"?

For example, a group of friends is doing the famous Route 66 and, while crossing Arizona, one of the guys writes about the day on its Facebook:

"Seven vultures seen circling a carcass. Six Mustang horses seen trotting through the hill. Two cowboys seen taking Mary off to the hay bales. Etc."

(added a bit more of context - I thought it was a common expression which would be understandable easily and feared that the context could bias or something)


texts: A word that refers to saying something in an attempt to anger or embarrass someone into doing something that they don’t want to do?

texts:
I’m looking for a word to refer to the act of trying to embarrass someone to the point that they do something they don’t want to do.

Example: Let’s say all of your friends are jumping off of a cliff into a lake, but you don’t want to, for whatever reason. One friend remains at the top with you, trying to convince you to jump. One tactic they use is to try and embarrass you enough or anger you into doing it by saying something along the lines of - “So, basically, you’re too chicken to jump, right?”

I believe I could use the phrase ‘egg on’ for this, but would rather have a singular, more specific word for it. I’m pretty sure there is one, but I just can’t bring it to mind. I’ve considered ‘reverse psychology’, too, but it just doesn’t fit what I’m trying to say.


texts: What is a good word to describe a poem that always seems new and relevant?

texts:
What is a good word to describe a poem which always seems new and relevant (despite the passage of time)?

For example, "William Shakespeare's .......... sonnets are still popular today."


texts:
I think I understand the use of semicolons reasonably well, but could someone tell me if I am using it correctly here please:

  My research focuses on pulsars; exotic remnants of dead stars.

Thank you.


texts: Word for a "blackened" and "abhorred" sky

texts:
Salutations, I am looking for a single word that alludes to a sky that is very hated and repulsed due to its utter deathliness.
for example: "God's angels swarmed into the "nihility-like sky (THE REQUESTED WORD)" and painted it with a heavenly hue of red"
Now, it is most imperative for this word not to have any connotation with "incarnadine" and that "hell-firey" atmosphere which dystopian skies so often are presented with, but rather a sky abhorred for just how "dead" and "oblivion-like" it is--so I guess it would be a more by melancholy, maddening just because of how lifeless it is.
Thank you with perpetual heaven-lit skies.


texts: a term for a "not web" traditional application

texts: I am writing a cover letter and I would state my experience in both web application and "normal programs". "Normal programs" sounds so bad, what is a good term that I can use without delve into technical details?


texts: Semicolon usage for question-statement combos

texts:
I have read the various postings here about how and how not to use semicolons, but I've not seen and answer anything about how to deal with end of the sentence punctuation with sentence-statement combination. Here's my current example.

Did you send the revised report; I have not seen it.

I believe this is a correct usage of a semicolon, but I'm wondering whether there should be a question mark at the end.

I suppose I could reword to I have not seen the revised report; did you send it?, but that just sidesteps the question.


texts: Are nominal adjectives and fused-head NP just two different explanations for the same thing?

texts:
Are nominal adjectives and fused-head NP (e.g. "the poor") just two different ways of describing the same thing, or is one considered a subset of the other, or are they different types of classification? Aren't both ways of describing nominalization occurrences?
Or does nominal adjective just refer to the adjectival portion and a fused-head construction a more general classification that can include accompanying determiners?
Further, and related, is "beginning" (as in, "it was just the beginning") an example of using a present participle as an adjective and then as a nominal adjective/fused-head NP.


texts: Is there a difference between "tech-savvy" and "nerdy"?

texts:
I had a disagreement regarding this topic recently.

To me, a person, who is tech-savvy does understand technology well, may follow the tech trends, even be a programmer, but will gladly accept a solution that works seamlessly for them (such as AI technology that automatically sets up stuff from them) without needing to overly fidget with everything in their hand.

A nerdy person however, will try to dig as deep as possible to fine-tune the system to work exactly as they want to and will be delighted by the process. They will probably reject an out-of-the box solution because they believe they can set it up better.

Am I wrong? Am I right?

Edit:
I didn't want to drag it here, but now I think I should clarify why I am asking, as it will give the question a clearer context. I was supposed to come up with an idea (product design if you will) for a smart home app (that allows you to control the temperature and lights) aimed at tech-savvy people.

What I came up with was a concept using technology such as AI and machine learning that made the interactions with the app as short and easy as possible. AI basically created a level of abstraction that simplified using the app, however, it also prevents the user from fidgeting with the individual heaters and lamps.

I was told that this app is not aimed at tech-savvy people, because they would actually love to play with the individual settings. <- this is what doesn't make sense to be, because that would make the person geeky, or rather, nerdy as Flater pointed out.


texts:
I would like to know which of the following fragments is correct when referring to somebody who is part of the team that won a championship:

  Member of the winning team of...
  Member of the winner team of...


texts: Word/Phrase for the 'news is always wrong'

texts:
Not entirely sure this is the best place to ask, but I'm looking for a word or phrase that I possibly heard a long time ago. It encapsulates one or two ideas:

The first (and possibly more important) idea is that the more you know about a subject or event, the more you see that news reporting on the subject or event is incorrect.

The second is that because of this, news reporting about something you don't know about should be treated with suspicion.

I thought there was a 'blah blah effect' or 'blah blah principle' describing this, but I've come up empty handed in my searches.

Edit: Maybe I'll clarify slightly. For example, if you know a lot about cars, it will likely seem that many news articles about cars contain incorrect details and factual errors. But at the same time, if you don't know much about computers, news articles will seem to make sense to you. But given your experience with the news about something you know a lot about (cars), you should be distrustful of the news about computers.

Maybe it was only in my head that there was a term for this. If not, I call dibs!

As a side note, if this is not the proper place to ask this, where else could I ask?


texts: What is an intuitive synonym for an "implementation" of an idea?

texts:
I am trying to build a website/community around 3 types of content;

Problems (I get sunburnt and really hot in summer)
Ideas (A hat with a built-in fan that protects you from the sun and keeps you cool at the same time)
Implementation (Here's a link to an online store that sells solar-powered hats with fans)

The notion that Problems can spawn ideas to solve them is intuitive to me (and hopefully to the user), but I'm struggling to find a better word for the implementation (ie. the tangible thing that makes the idea happen).
Note that this concept doesn't have to be a product as in the example above, it could be Here's a schematic I came up with for building a hat with a fan built into it.
For context, this is for a public-facing website designed to foster innovation and collaboration, so understanding by a wide range of speakers is essential. I think the word "Implementation" is not intuitive, as it won't be clear to the user that an implementation follows from an idea.
Some synonyms I've considered myself are;

Product - the implementation may not be something that is actually sold or marketed, it could be something as simple as life-hacks.
Solution - I'm concerned this might imply that "Solutions" are the thing that follows from "Problems", whereas that's already used by the concept of an "Idea"
Outcome - too vague and doesn't intuitively follow as the implementation of an "idea".

What's a better synonym for "Implementation" here?


texts: Adjective for someone who's quick and easy to become close to

texts:
I'm looking for a 1 word adjective to describe someone who very easily builds close and personal relationships with other people, in a way that almost seems magical to everyone else.
Charismatic is close, but not quite, as this person doesn't necessarily inspire devotion or admiration, just quickly becomes people's best friends.
The closest word I've found is "palsy-walsy", meaning someone friendly in an intimate/hearty way. It doesn't quite describe the effect it has on the people around them though.


texts: Expression for a perverted idea of fidelity

texts:
I'm looking for an expression describing a situation when two people stay married to each other even though it would be better for them and others if they separated.

The primary reason are perverted ideas of fidelity. The correct version can be formulated like this: If you have a working relationship that doesn't harm you and others, you shouldn't destroy it by having affairs with other people.

However, if the relationship

does not work and/or
harms someone,

it may be a good (not immoral) idea to terminate it.

Example 1: Think of a couple with two kids. Wife and husband hate each other. This has been going for so long and the hatred runs so deep that no therapy can change this, especially because both are extraordinary liars. They fight regularly, but don't even think about a divorce. There is no physical violence, but only because the husband channels his rage in destroying furniture instead of hitting the wife.

The kids are constantly terrified and grow up with a bunch of complexes (like aversion to relationships and marriage). In this case it would be better for the kids (no fights, no trauma), if both marriage partners separated peacefully.

Example 2: A woman is regularly hit and/or raped by her husband. She refuses to call the police because she thinks that by doing so she would violate her duties as a wife.

What are good words or expressions describing the perverted understanding of fidelity?

One time I heard an expression in Russian meaning roughly Your fidelity is worse than adultery (Ваша верность хуже измены). It's too soft. I'm looking for something more dramatic. Slang, regional expressions, and obscenities are welcome.


texts: Is 'pin-up' considered to refer specifically to glamorous/sexy images?

texts:
Some magazines often offer, as their center page, a pin-up poster. Playboy's centerfolds are an obvious example, but plenty of other magazines do the same, from celebrity magazines to children's periodicals.

I'd always thought these were called 'pin-ups', but the Wikipedia article seems to consider the phrase primarily referring to "photographs of celebrities who were considered sex symbols," and the general sense that I get is of a very sexual connotation to the phrase. If this is the common understanding of the phrase, I'm concerned that using it in other contexts may be inappropriate or offensive.

Is this the case? If so, what phrase could I use instead? It's important for me to convey the type of cheap, simple poster I'm talking about, so simply switching to "poster" wouldn't be enough.


texts: I need to find a single word (noun) for a person who acts as a " work-stopper"

texts:
I need to find a word (noun) for a person who acts as a "work-stopper" and creates hurdles for others so that the work cannot be completed.
For example, some government officials force people to follow long bureaucratic procedures to create delays or put-off the worker (use of delay-tactics).

Example sentence:
David is a ...


texts: Where did the expression, "I can't win for losing" come from and what does it mean

texts:
I was thinking this expression the other day when it seemed that the odds were stacked against me.

I thought, why do I use the words, "can't win for losing"?

What it that actually mean?

Where did saying that come from and how do those words equate to "the odds are stacked against me"?

Which is a more clear-cut expression?


texts:
I've been given the following question as a homework:

  If h is consistent, then A* - CSCS will expand at most as many nodes as A* graph search.

English not being my native language, I'm kind of struggling to understand the true meaning of the text in bold in the context of this sentence.

From what I understand, A* - CSCS will always expand fewer or the same amount of nodes then A* graph search. That is, the number of nodes that A* graph search expands will always be larger or equal to the number of nodes that A* - CSCS expands.

Is this correct?

Sorry for bringing out the question involving mathematics. What I need is a linguistic explanation of the sentence, not help in mathematics.


texts:
This sentence is from South Park. There was a lice problem in the school and the children demand that their teacher Mrs. Garrison tell them who exactly had the lice. She says that it's not important because

  Whoever had the lice, they're dead now.

Now, obviously she means that the lice are dead, not the person who had them. But doesn't her sentence mean (strictly speaking) that the person is dead? In similar constructions in Standard English, can they refer to the object of the main clause? I see no syntactical difference between the first sentence and the seemingly wrong

  Whatever damaged the keys, they're in my pocket now. (= the keys are in my pocket)

I guess my question is

How should I parse the first sentence?
Is the second sentence wrong?
If so, What would be the difference between the first and the second sentence that makes the first sentence OK, but not the second?

Hope the question is on topic.

I am having some difficulty properly tagging the question. Please help :)


texts: "Help save the planet with your mobile phone"

texts: Does "help save the planet with your mobile phone" have a different meaning or connotation than "help save the planet using your mobile phone?"


texts:
I cannot find the answer to this in the EL&U archives but I am sure it must be there somewhere and that this is a duplicate question.

Singular :

  He/she goes to the shops every day.

Plural :

  We/they go to the shops every day.

Why am I plural ?

  I go to the shops every day.

EDIT : The supposed duplicate is an interesting question and has a very competent answer but the answer is very broad and does not specifically answer my own question. People learning English often err in this very matter and it would be interesting if someone could answer more specifically to give an orderly reason why we do something in English that appears to be either completely chaotic or strangely contradictory.


texts:
I came into this sentence while reading a newspaper.
Although I think it's a simple mistake overlooked by the writer,
I'd like to have a confirmation by a native speaker.

"The prince, who five years ago proposed a retirement age for
emperors, said he hoped his father would have time to for what
he wants to do, such as research of gobioid fish and music."

Have a good day


texts: I am having difficulty structuring the following sentence based on the following words

texts:
I want to ensure that the following words are conveyed in the sentence:

Competency
Cultural-fit
Inclusion (inside of culture)

My attempt has been the following, but I feel it could be ungrammatical and because of the comma splice, the meaning may not come across as intended.

  Companies will hire for competency, fire for culture fit


texts:
Can anyone help me, please?

In this context, "so that they [shoppers] buy products which their reasoning higher brain knows that they do not need or particularly want," is "reasoning an Adjective or a Noun?

More likely an Adjective, but the Adjective of "reason" appears to be "reasonable".

Any ideas?


texts: we [go]/[are going] to the beach every day

texts:
Sentences:

While we are here we go to the beach every day and dine out every evening.

While we are here we are going to the beach every day and dining out every evening.

Question:
Are the tenses in bold correct in the above two sentences? Are both versions equally natural? Thanks.


texts: Word similar to relief, on the tip of my tongue

texts:
I'm trying to think of a word that would be used to describe the only relief out of a bad scenario, kind of like the silver lining, of the only redeeming quality of a ln unfortunate event.

Example: description of the bad event "my only ______ was that the phone didn't completely break"

I initially was going to write "solstice" but my brain kicked in and realized that's not the meaning of that word at all, but maybe the actual word sounds similar to "solstice".


texts: Correct grammar when listing objects with an attribute

texts:
I have three cars, all of them are white. I wish to form a sentence where I list the cars separately as: first, second and third, and then say they are all white. I'm unsure what is the correct form:

First, second and third car are white.
First, second and third cars are white.
First, second and third car is white.

I do not wish to change the structure of the sentence. Unless none of them are correct, what is the closest possible correct form?


texts:
I do not understand what should be here:

  He wants to be able to see all users whose data he has an/the... access to.


texts:
Let us suppose we have such a sentence:

  John says Marry may have fallen ill.

How should we change the sentence if we talk about the past?
Is it correct?

  John said Marry might have fallen ill.

And what about can and  must?

And also I am curious about might in the past, that is may, but with less certainty. That is might have been in the present expresses lesser probability than may. Can we convey this subtlety in the past somehow?


texts:
I came across this literature recently:

  An Owner may apply for a Change of Name of a registered Greyhound by submitting to the GBGB the appropriate form duly completed, which form shall include details of existing and/or prospective Part-Owners of the Greyhound, where relevant.

Is "which form" correct in this example?  Why does the noun "form" need to be repeated; isn't the word "which" supposed to imply a noun from the previous clause?  If the noun being implied is ambiguous, is it standard practice to clarify it by repeating it after "which" or not?


texts:
"If a character is immortal — even if it's the "immortal but can die temporarily" type — then their opponents don't need to hold anything back. Not even if those opponents are good guys.
  IMMORTALITY IS A SWEET GIG. Whether it's because the character can download into a new body as part of a Hive Mind, has a Healing Factor strong enough to reconstruct From a Single Cell, or possesses some even stranger way of staying among the living. The downside is everyone else now considers you fair game for target practice."

What does "a sweet gig" mean here?


texts: What is the question asked by workers in departure when they want to know if you are on a connecting flight?

texts: Airport workers ask you a question to know if you are on a connecting flight but they use a different term for it.


texts:
I typed fuzzily in a spell-checked field on a website and was surprised to see it said it was correct.  I looked it up on Merriam-Webster, and sure enough they list it as a word:

  fuzz·i·ly \ˈfə-zə-lē\ adverb

Is it possible to use the word fuzzily correctly in a sentence without sounding ridiculous?

Obviously the "without sounding ridiculous" being subjective, it may be hard to determine. So if ridiculousness can't be determined, can fuzzily be used in a sentence that is grammatically correct and the usage conveys a clear meaning?


texts: Why is it common to hear "women writers" or "woman doctor" but not "man author"? Isn't an adjective required in both cases, thus "female guitarist" and "male accountant"? I am asking about why the noun woman is used instead of the adjective female and why this error seems to be made only in relation to women, not men. This is not a question about the appropriateness of such qualifiers.


texts:
I am aware that some verbs require the use of a gerund in certain constructions like

"to avoid doing something".

However, does this rule extend to the case that avoid is also used in an -ing form?
For example:

"By avoiding doing something, ..."

or do I have to write

"By avoiding to do something, ..."

to obtain a correct English sentence?


texts: Is there a word for "considering multiple view points"

texts:
We know how different sources of media can bias how they present information.
So I want a word that says I will take into consideration "all" those different viewpoints.
For example a sentence:
"...different media, whether distinguished by country, culture, or politics often portray the same event in different ways. Because of this, I'll be taking a more [word] view analyzing the event."
I was thinking of the word "holistic" to take place of [word], but would that be accurate?
Thanks in advance.


texts: A word for being willing to accept the decisions and/or actions of machines

texts:
Is there a word that describes the attitude of a human willingly accepting the decisions and/or actions of machines (automation, robots, control systems, etc).
e.g. I have just bought a new car with autonomous braking which initially I did not trust and tended to turn off. Some models of human/machine interaction are based on trust building as the person’s knowledge of the purpose of a machine, how it functions and what is its actual performance becomes clear and understood. I distrust the autonomous braking on my car even though I have some idea of its purpose and how it functions. I cannot however verify its performance because I cannot test it without potentially wrecking my new car (simulate a frontal collision). The essential characteristics of the relationship between human and machine seems to be that the machine extends human capability and can do things (in the case of autonomous braking) beyond our cognitive ability and speed of response. Also the human's life or safety depends on it and there is no alternative or escape because the actions needed when the machine detects danger and intervenes happens independently of our own ability to act.
I welcome any suggestions for a term that describes our attitude towards "submission to  machines" in this particular context that involves our personal safety.


texts: Grammatically correct synonym for "level of catastrophicness"

texts:
I'm trying to say something like this:

  We have developed a strategy to numerically rate the relative level of catastrophicness of a potential hardware failure.

Looking at a thesaurus hasn't really helped me with this one. Can someone help me to convey this without using this ugly, incorrect grammar?


texts: Is it grammatically correct to use "after" or "before" (without a noun) at the beginning of a simple sentence?

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to use "after" or "before" at the beginning of a simple sentence? I suppose it is technically an adverb, but it somehow seems like an incomplete preposition phrase to me.
Example 1: We sat in the sun. After, we went swimming.
Example 2: It was easier to find a job in the past. Before, there was less competition.


texts: Why are varnish (varnish the truth),gloss (glossed over her faults), and paint (paints him more innocent than the evidence suggests) used metaphorically, but not lacquer?


texts: is quickest or fastest or another word choice better here

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  the difference between fast/quick/rapid

In this sentence:

  My supervisor reported I finished quickest among other trainees in that period.

What is the best word to use for quickest? Should it be quickest, or fastest, or is there a better word choice entirely?


texts: What's the difference between "slap-up meal" and "gourmet meal"?

texts:
The following quote comes from a collocation book for ESL purposes. I can see it's trying to teach us about the usage of different expressions to describe different kinds of meals.

"Whether you want a slap-up meal, a gourmet meal or just tasty, home-cooked food, there’s something for everyone in the Old Port restaurant area.

I'm interested in the difference between "slap-up meal" and "gourmet meal". My initial thought after doing some google search is this: A "slap-up meal" is an excellent meal which tends to be heavy and substantial. A "gourmet meal" is also an excellent meal, but usually calls to mind the delicate and exquisite type. Both are tasty of course!


texts:
I just wrote a sentence like this and I'm wondering I've used the word compose correctly.

  In order to find the length of the train, you'll need to measure the individual cars it composes.

Is this correct, or would it be better phrased as "... of which it's composed"? Should I use another word, like comprise?


texts: Your teeth will ache/hurt. VS You'll get a toothache

texts:
Your teeth will ache/hurt.
My teacher told me this sounds unnatural. I think my grammar is correct and the thought can be understood. Does it sound weird for native speakers?


texts:
In the following sentence,

If you had tried harder you could have succeeded.

does could have succeeded mean would have been able to succeed, or might have been able to succed, or is it ambiguous if no further context is provided?


texts: How to reply to "congratulations" other than simply saying "thank you"?

texts:
Imagine someone important congratulated you at work (getting a big client, swiftly solving a burning issue) by email. How can one reply to that in the most formal way possible?

  Thank you for your kind words.

and

  Thank you. I appreciate your kind words.

seem unnatural to me.


texts: What's the source of "shipped" in a romantic sense?

texts:
While Urban Directory is by no means a reliable source, I see the word shipped used in the sense they describe:

  the strong desire for 2 or more fictional characters to be in a romantic relationship.

For example, https://twitter.com/PANDAEMONlUM/status/743419040337661953

  i always shipped tom hiddleston and emma watson

Or check https://www.reddit.com/r/zootopia/comments/4m08f0/the_reason_why_people_love_to_ship_nick_and_judy/

  Everyone says they ship Judy and Nick because of their amazing chemistry.

This is obviously slang and new slang at that but where does it come from?


texts: Regionality of "scarf" vs "snarf" as in "to scarf down food"

texts:
A friend asked in a group chat who uses "scarf" and who uses "snarf". Some of us had only heard one or the other.

I was reminded of the American English dialect heat maps (e.g., LINK), and I was curious if there were any resources to find out if these words were regional.

Thanks!


texts: What does the phrase "spread crossing" mean?

texts:
Kindly explain the term spread crossing or crossing the spread. I know that it is connected with stock terminology, but I can't find a definition.

  Figure 4 reveals that, broadly speaking, we have
  learned momentum-based strategies: for instance, for each of the four features that contain directional information (Price, Smart Price, Trade Sign, Bid-Ask Volume Imbalance, and Signed Transaction Volume), higher values of the feature (which all indicate either rising execution prices, rising midpoints, or buying pressure in the form of spread-crossing) are accompanied by greater frequency of buying in the learned policies.

From the paper "Machine Learning for Market Microstructure
and High Frequency Trading" by Michael Kearns and Yuriy Nevmyvaka.


texts: Is there a pre-defined way to describe this grammatical mistake?

texts:
I'm wondering if there's a dictionary defined expression for expressions like:

"There are many facets to the world in which we live in".

One of those "in"s is redundant. But I'm curious if there's a predefined way to describe that mistake.


texts: Can we substitute "would have had" with "have" without altering the meaning?

texts:
The following sentence seems needlessly cumbersome. Can we rewrite it without changing its meaning?

  But what I will say is that at the start of the season I'd have said
  they would have had absolutely no chance of finishing in the top four.

Is the use of would have had necessary? Can we rewrite the sentence to use have without changing the meaning? For example:

  But what I will say is that at the start of the season I'd have said
  they have absolutely no chance ...

Here's the full sentence for more context.

  Do I think Arsenal will finish in the top-four? Right here, right
  now...no. I think they'll finish fifth. But what I will say is that at
  the start of the season I'd have said they would have had absolutely
  no chance of finishing in the top four.


texts: What do you call someone with only technical knowledge of sex?

texts:
So, I was reading a Futari Ecchi by Katsu Aki the other day and one of the characters is a female gynecologist and obstetrician, and at one point in the story after we meet her but before she has her first "experience" the narrator says that she is a ____, meaning she only has a technical knowledge of sex without any experience.

Does anyone know of what this title might be?

Edit to include all of the information from the comments:

The term was not virgin, dilettante, sexologist, sex therapist, theoretician, unsexperinced, prude, asexual, celibate, or abstinent.
It was an English word.
The term was not vulgar.
As far as I could tell, it was also more of a technical term.


texts: How to refer to dead and alive persons together?

texts:
Usually we refer to a dead person using the past tense. For example:

Albert Einstein was wrong about...

But when we are talking about both dead and alive persons in the same sentence, should we use past or present?

a) Einstein and Tarantino are wrong.
b) Einstein and Tarantino were wrong.

The alive person (i.e. Tarantino) is still wrong about things and still doing it.


texts: Tense to use while describing a place in a fantasy novel

texts:
While writing a fantasy story, should one use the past tense or present while describing a place that is still relevant today? I'm confused because the rest of the story is in past tense.

For example, the plot might take place a thousand years ago, but if the location is, say, Hell or Heaven, which is correct—

“Hell is a place of...” or “Hell was a place of...”

Hell is still relevant in belief today, so which tense is more appropriate? Also what if this is the first time readers are being introduced to the place?


texts:
I'm hearing all kinds of pronunciations for antifa :

ən'ti:fə
æn'ti:fə
'æntɪfɑ:
æntɪ'fɑ:

The word has recently become more prominent.  Do fascists and antifascists say it in the same way?  Any difference between American and English pronunciation?


texts: Is the preposition optional in "going down (to) the store"?

texts:
Cambridge Dictionary says:
In informal situations, we can use down to talk about a quick trip to a destination which we consider to be less central than where we are. In this meaning, we can use it with or without to. Without to is less formal:

I’m just going down (to) the shop. Do you want anything?
Are you going down (to) the golf club tonight?

Is Cambridge wrong here?
I haven't ever heard "I am going down the shop" unless used to say "I'm perusing the aisles of a store", and not "I am going to the shop."
Maybe it's different in the UK? I can't even see how this would begin to be right.
I understand that

I am going down the store

and

I am going down to the store

are two different things. Is there a dialect / is it "informal" to mix those two phrases into the 2nd definition?


texts: Are there rules governing pre- and/or post-modification of noun groups by participial adjectives?

texts:
Which of the expressions "supplies needed" and "needed supplies" is / are correct?

  Have we now received all the needed supplies?
  Have we now received all the supplies needed?

Is there a pattern one can use to predict whether a participial adjective is used prenominally, postnominally, or both? And if both, may there be differences in meaning?


texts: Contrasting emphasis of an uncountable noun

texts:
In this translated sentence, water is supposed to be emphasized in contradistinction to the sand in an hourglass/sand clock:

  Like an hourglass, the device is made of glass and metal, except that in this one the water flows from one vessel into another.

The supposed [i.e. from the context as well as the wording of the original text] meaning is in this one, it is water, not sand.

Is this meaning grammatically and semantically clear from the quote, or should it rather say something like »in this one, water flows from one vessel into another« or »in this one, it is water which flows from one vessel into another«?

Being not a native speaker of English, my feeling says that in the quoted sentence the emphasis (i.e. purely syntactical without any semantic context) would rather be on »from one vessel into another«.


texts: Is the English imperative ever different from the infinitive

texts:
All the English verbs that I can think of, take the same form in the infinitive and in the imperative. For example "to jump" and "Jump."

Is there any English verb for which the infinitive and imperative forms are different?


texts: Pronunciation of "the": thee versus thuh

texts:
We were taught in school that when followed by a noun starting with a vowel sound, "the" is pronounced "thee". In other cases, it's pronounced "thuh" (aside from the emphatic "the").

I have noticed that some Americans say "thuh only" and "thuh hour" (these are the only examples I could find off the top of my head). Is this just a regional accent thing or are there exceptions to the simple rule I was taught in class?


texts: Any difference between "give up something" and "give up on something"

texts:
Do both of the following two sentences make sense and, if so, is there any difference in meaning or nuance between the two?

  I have given up the idea of going to college.
  I have given up on the idea of going to college.


texts:
While reading through an open source book I read the following sentence:

  This chapter covers basic Elm syntax that is important to get familiar with.

I may be nitpicking (no, I am nitpicking, without question), but it really bothered me. The verb is fine, but I felt it should read:

  This chapter covers basic Elm syntax that is important to familiarize.

My problem is, I'm not sure if it's correct. I failed at finding an example of the verb being used similarly. All examples I found were about familiarizing oneself with something, or someone else on something. English being a second language to me, I'd like confirmation either way, before I make an ass of myself.


texts: Use of the adverb first in conjunction with then

texts:
Are the use and the positions of the adverbs first and then correct in the following two sentences?

We prove, first, two preliminary properties, and, then, the whole theorem.
We first show the formula, and then prove that its value is positive.

If the sentences are incorrect, or if they do not flow smoothly, how could they be fixed or improved?
Thanks.


texts:
What word describes the shape of a whirlwind when seen from above?

Swirl
Whorl
Radial

  The shape they make when seen from above resembles a radial pattern or even a whorl.


texts: What word (adverb, preferably) can we use to show that we need to study harder and cover more stuff than usual in a short amount of time?

texts:
"We need to study ___________(ly) in order to not fall behind."
Being a non-native speaker, I'm thinking of the words "compactly" and "compressedly" (whose translations are exactly what we use in Farsi in such situations). But I don't think those would be natural-sounding in English.
Edit: Obviously, "hard" wouldn't fit well there since it doesn't emphasize "a lot of stuff in a short amount of time"


texts: The name of the area leading to a building's entrance

texts: What are some names for the outside area of a building called, specifically the one leading to its entrance? I know the word "plaza" would come to mind but I'm thinking more of the steps, especially a wide circular-type layout of steps climbing to its entrance.


texts: Verb meaning "Verbally correct"? [Translating "Regañar" from spanish]

texts:
Talking with my spanish colleagues one used the word Regañar and explained that it means 'tell someone what they are doing wrong', like telling a child to correct their behavior.

Can anyone think of any English words that translate more literally than browbeat, verbal smackdown, set them straight?

Google translate says quarrel, argue, complain which my colleagues agree is not correct


texts: When present form of verb is used instead of past or past participle form of verb?

texts:
Travis , Tammy , and Shane, from Composition 115, spring semester , were sitting together on a leather bench in the sleekly lit lobby of my apartment building. The three of them had attended the same one-room schoolhouse, and they constituted the majority of their graduating class . Shane was holding a big carton that said " Xerox Paper " on the side. From deep within the box came a murmurous grunting and a sharp , rhythmic pulsing, as if it contained an internal organ . Everyone walking through the lobby looked at the box.

Tammy wore her hair in a high, stiffly
sprayed froth of curls . She pushed back some strands and said, " Miss Diana, we just wanted to thank you for how much you've helped us with our thesis statements this year, and correct speech and whatnot, and Travis and Shane thought of this sweet little gift. "

The sentences stated above have been chosen from the following link:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2004/07/11/the-goddess-of-flowers/f0ca69bf-fb03-47e2-bd6a-460073fbdf52/

1) I think by " you've helped us with our thesis statements this year, and correct speech and whatnot, and Travis and Shane thought of this
sweet little gift." it is meant that she (Miss Diana) helped her students (Travis, Tammy and Shane) by correcting the wrong sentences written in their thesis statement. Am I right? If it is, the writer should write "corrected speech" (You have corrected speech) instead of "correct speech". So please tell me, why it is not written.


texts:
I'm wondering which option is the right one:

  Who is he having lunch with?
  Whom is he having lunch with?


texts: Has the illogical "three times bigger" replaced "three times as big" in common usage?

texts:
If A is one time bigger than B, it is equal to 2B. So if A is three times bigger than B, it is equal to 4B. Yet I am seeing "two times bigger" to mean "twice as large" in more and more places.

Any insights?


texts:
I still don't grasp how the comma in the embolded sentence  below "is technically incorrect". It can be rewritten without the comma as

The contract allowed the
defendant to deliver apples or oranges. Therefore the contract was not breached upon delivery
of oranges.

3 There is one exception to the general rule that you should not separate a verb
from its subject. If a comma is necessary to make the meaning clear, then you can
insert one. For example, the comma in the sentence, ‘The contract allowed the
defendant to deliver apples or oranges, and therefore was not breached upon delivery
of oranges’, is technically incorrect. However, because the comma groups the term
‘apples or oranges’ visually, it helps the reader understand the meaning of the sentence
and is therefore an exception to the general rule. Usually the ‘extra’ comma occurs
(properly so) in sentences that have multiple conjunctions and need clarification.

Stacie Strong BA English literature (UC Davis 1986), MPW (USC 1990), JD (Duke 1994), PhD Law (Cambridge 2002), DPhil (Oxford 2003). How to Write Law Essays & Exams 5th Edition (2018). p 138.


texts: Participial Phrases As Objective Complement

texts:
Can a participial phrase be used as an objective complement?  If so, is there a way to tell when the participial phrase is or is not used as an objective complement?

How would this sentence be diagrammed?

  Leonardo drew many pictures showing birds in flight.

Subject = Leonardo, Verb = drew, Direct Object = pictures, Participial Phrase = showing birds in flight, Participle = showing, Direct Object of Participle = birds

Would "showing" be diagrammed below the direct object "pictures" like most participles or would it be diagrammed right next to "pictures" as an objective complement, therefore having two direct objects on the same diagram base?


texts: Can-do attitude but person go beyond limits

texts:
I am trying to find a single word for behavior stated below,

  When a manager assigns a task to an employee, they do anything to
  achieve the goals regardless of thinking what they are doing is right
  or wrong to complete the task. They also ignore the risks involved.

Example sentence

I will use this word as a heading to a point in improvements area.

// This Word Goes Here //

We love your can do attitude but we have problems with your _____ attitude.


texts: "practitioners' community" or "practitioners community"

texts:
I would say the first is the correct one (with apostrophe), but I see the other one much more.

Don't know if it is relevant, but I'm a British English user.


texts: Is an article "written in a journal" or "written on a journal"?


texts:
What is the origin of the phrase "fail spectacularly"? According to Ngram the expression is from the '30s and became popular from the '70s.

Probably the quote from Ramson Riggs “If you must fail, fail spectacularly!” is responsible for its recent popularity, but when and by whom was the expression coined?


texts: Short phrase for "things I did (wrote, drew, created, etc) when I was younger"?

texts: What's a one or two word phrase that conveys the meaning "These are some things that I did when I was younger."?  The context is a blog that features Writings, Photography, and Artwork. The short phrase will be used as a possible category of the blog's posts.


texts:
At our regular supermarket this morning I noticed that they have put stickers on the check-out conveyor which say 'Lay bottles this way' with an arrow indicating that they want them parallel with the belt.

I don't think one can form the imperative of 'lie' in that way. 'Laying' wine bottles sounds potentially painful on the abdominal muscles. I think they should say 'lie bottles this way'.

Does anyone agree?


texts:
I have recently started playing a board game (A Few Acres of Snow) that pits the British against the French in 18th century New England.

I know how to mock others in general, but in order that trash-talk would be appropriate for the setting, I'd like to know: What are insults/taunts specifically targeting the French, ideally ones that were in use in the 18th century?

Note that I'm looking for English words to mock the French.

French expressions to mock the English can be found on french.stackexchange.com.


texts:
"Your wife, sir, under the pretense of keeping a bawdy house, is a receiver of stolen goods" -Samuel Johnson

I cannot find an explanation anywhere on the internet. Is "stolen goods" a euphemism, and if so what for?


texts: Is the phrase 'get along with' formal enough to be used in a personal statement?

texts: If not, can you suggest any other way to express that?


texts: It is common to use zzzzz (or some other number of z letters) to indicate that the "speaker" is asleep. What is the origin of such a usage?


texts: When did the South start using the +es third person, present tense verb inflection in Middle English?

texts: In Middle English the Northern speakers started using the +es inflection whilst the South continued to use the Old English form +eð/+eth. When did the South finally catch up with the North and use the +es form too?


texts:
I have a problem with this sentence:

  If the world was dominated by emphasis, the Monarchy preferred discretion, restrained passions, a calm tone of voice.

I can't get the first part. What is the meaning of "emphasis" here? And
what is the meaning of "If the world was [were?] dominated by emphasis"?

In order to get a proper answer, I think this question needs more explanation, therefore I decided to write the whole paragraph here. It is about Joseph Roth, a great Austrian writer of Galician descent, and his good experience in his Austro-Hungarian fatherland. He says:

  Everything in this world was continuously in a state of constant
  change: familiar and strange, quotidian and remarkable, ‘that, which
  was strange, became familiar, without losing its colours, and the
  homeland had the pleasing charm of abroad’ [ . . . ] It was thus a
  cheerful and bright place, downright innocent [ . . . ] If the world
  was dominated by emphasis, the Monarchy preferred discretion,
  restrained passions, a calm tone of voice. It was often irresistibly
  funny, very much like an operetta put on by third-rate actors.


texts:
1) One-third of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is undernourished.

  2) Nearly 70 percent of the population still live in the countryside.

  3) One-third of the residents live below the poverty level.

Why is a singular verb "is" used after "One-third of the population" while a plural verb "live" is used after "70 percent of the population"?

Why is a singular verb "is" used after "One-third of the population" while a plural verb "live" is used after "One-third of the residents"?


texts: Single word for people who are like "a frog in the well"

texts: Is there a single word describing someone who is like a frog in a well? The frog believes the well is the entire world. How can I describe people who think that their own small environment is the entire world?


texts: Can "zero hours contracts" be considered as not grammatical?

texts:
Zero hour contract (or zero-hour contract) can be found :

  Number of workers on zero-hour contracts in UK rises to 801,000

  Zero hour contracts are a hot topic in employment.

  Zero hour contracts are history

But more frequent with an s:

  Zero hours contracts: guidance for employers

  Zero hours contracts have been in the news...

or hyphenated:

  Number of people on zero-hours contracts in UK...

(to note that this Independent article mixes hyphenated and non hyphenated forms in the same article)

My question is not about zero+plural noun, I am aware of this ELU answer,  but on the "s" being left when "zero-hour" is used in front of a noun, i.e. as an adjective.

I've noticed that "hours" is sometimes (but rarely though) used, in for instance, "eight-hours shifts" or "eight-hours day" but "eight-hour day" and "eight-hour shift" seem to be more frequent.

The only explanation I can think of is that an apostrophe ('s) has been lost somewhere in the process and thus should not correct spelling have been either zero-hours' contract or zero-hour contract?  If not why are the usual forms "eight-hour day" (no s) and "zero-hours contract"?


texts: Attribute to describe about doing something smartly with clear direction

texts:
When I research about wolves, I found that they have a very interesting attribute: they always do things (hunting, "trekking", caring...) with a well-planned & clear direction/strategy and do smartly. In English, is there any word describe that attribute?
Thanks!


texts: What is the grammatical nature of the word "been" in perfect progressive tenses?

texts:
The word been appears to be simply an auxiliary verb in all perfect progressive tenses (also in some perfect tenses with passive construction) and it is easy to see it that way. However, from a classroom perspective, it seems to confuse a lot of students because unlike other auxiliary verbs, been does not appear to be a finite verb as it is a participle form of "be".

They have been planning it for weeks. [perfect progressive]
All the work has been done. [perfect, passive construction]

Let me rephrase my question into two parts:

Is been an auxiliary verb in the example sentences quoted above?

If yes, is been the only auxiliary verb that can be non-finite?


texts: Fox News comment on Romney--"self abjination?"

texts:
Watching the discussion led by Dana Perino after the GOP debate this evening, Perino asked if "humility" was a good thing.

Another commentator remarked, "humility yes, self-abjination no." (The spelling is a guess.)

Perino said, "abjination?  I don't know that word."  Someone else said "must be one of those Harvard words."  The commentator said, "it means self deprecating."

So what is the word?  I tried Googling some variants, but came up dry.


texts:
Not sure if the tag I've selected is appropriate. Feel free to correct.

Google's definition of gambit is shown below. Interestingly, the ngram usage graph shows that the popularity of the term dropped around 1800 and then rebounded in mid 1950's.

Why is it so? Has the raise any connection to WW2 or the Cold War? Any thoughts on the fall of popularity two centuries ago?

Or is it perhaps due to the way that the popularity is computed?

gam·bit
ˈɡambət/
noun
noun: gambit; plural noun: gambits
(in chess) an opening in which a player makes a sacrifice, typically of a pawn, for the sake of some compensating advantage.
a device, action, or opening remark, typically one entailing a degree of risk, that is calculated to gain an advantage.
"his resignation was a tactical gambit"
synonyms:   stratagem, scheme, plan, tactic, maneuver, move, course/line of action, device;

Origin

mid 17th century: originally gambett, from Italian gambetto, literally ‘tripping up,’ from gamba ‘leg.’

ngram chart link


texts: The em dash, and correct usage in the sentence that follows

texts:
As I walked through the channel — I knew it was over.
Is this a correct usage of the em dash?


texts: When should I use indefinite article ahead of "certain"

texts:
The system determines at what altitude can a plane fly in a certain
  airspace

or

  The system determines at what altitude can a plane fly in certain
  airspace

Word complains when using "a certain". Yes, I know I should be guiding myself after Word, but it often led me to insightful answers. In this case, I'm curious not only why it complains but also why to me the 1st version sounds better. I'm not a native speaker :)


texts:
I have no idea whatsoever about IPA, so I apologise now for any ambiguity or difficult-to-understand-ness in this question.

Me and a friend both disagree on the correct pronunciation of "worried". I pronounce it "worried", he pronounces it "wurried". I shall expand:

My pronunciation: if you will, rhymes with "lorry". Lorry, worry (woh-reed)
His pronunciation: if you will, rhymes with "curry". Curry, worry (wu-reed, wuh-reed)

Once again, I apologise if you think these explanations are awful, but they were the best I could do.

(We speak standard English, at least I think we do). We have no northern, western, midlands etc. accents. We come from the south east, if that's of any help.

I'm also not passing the fact that they could both be correct and that it doesn't matter, but it'd be interesting to know which one is correct.


texts:
Obviously we can use "circa" for approximate dates in the past.

But it doesn't feel correct for use with future approximate dates.

e.g. "The release will go into live circa 20th May."

It still doesn't feel correct even if we're using years rather than specific dates.

e.g. "The new development will be completed circa 2019".

Thoughts?


texts:
First of all English is not my native language so I  apologize if the question seems somewhat simple.
Reading through A Complete Collection of State-Trials, and Proceedings upon High-Treason, and Other Crimes and Misdemeanours; from the Reign of King Richard II to the End of the Reign of King George I and especially the part regarding the pirate Henry Every we can see the famous quote of his:

"I am a Man of Fortune, and must seek my Fortune."

However, nearly all the modern versions of this exact same quote are rephrased slightly:

"I am a Man of Fortune, and I must seek my Fortune."

No doubt the original text has been valid at the time of the writing, but that was nearly 300 years ago. The question is whether it would still be 100% grammatically correct sentence in today's English if the second "I" is forfeited? I wouldn't know if the rephrasing has grammatical or aesthetic reasoning behind it.


texts: Are there any words in English pronounced with /e/ at the end?

texts: In first-language English pronunciation (Australian, British, American, etc., not Indian, Malaysian, etc.) are there any words with the /e/ (or /ɛ/) sound in "bed" /bed/ at the end of a word? As a counter-example "me" is pronounced /miː/. I don't know of any words ending in "e" where it is pronounced /e/; it is usually either /iː/ or silent. If you do know of any words please specify if they're limited to a certain dialect, region or accent.


texts: "Cog" word's meaning doesn't follow in joint-word usages like "incognito" and "cognito" which refers to mind and knowledge

texts:
I have observed some mistakes or maybe called blunders in the usage of word "cog" joined with letters to make words.

Though the words made or built by using the word cog like "incognito" or "cognition" deals with concepts relevant to mind and knowledge, there's not a single hint or form or slang in the list of "cog" word's meaning that suggests "brain" or "mind" as one of it's meaning or related meaning.

I have searched many popular online wikis and vocabularies but all failed to establish relation between cog and mind and still use the words "incognito" or "cognizance" to refer to mind-related scenarios.

Can someone clarify or shed light on this mistake and how it can be rectified ?


texts: Idiom for tinkering and then returning to what you had at first?

texts:
I'm trying to think of a good idiom/phrase for the process of questioning what you have, tinkering with it and finally returning to what you had at first. Specifically returning accidentally, then thinking "oh that's exactly what I had originally."

Reason - I do this a lot when writing essays, just curious if there's a phrase for it.


texts:
Except when we use right to denote direction, what is the difference between these two terms?

Also, which one is the preferred construction between these two

  Am I right?

or

  Am I correct?


texts: Difference between Co-curricular activities and Extra-curricular activities and Hobby

texts:
What is the difference between these fields in a resume primarily Co-curricular activities and Extra-curricular activities ; Extra-curricular activities and Hobby.

I wan to know The meaning and usage mostly pertaining to a resume and as to what things are to be filled in each of these fields and how (much) do they differ from each other

//...
Filling a resume recently i got confused as to the real meaning of these 3 fields.
The internet has very very vague answers to each of them with each source saying something different from the other.

P.S. my first post. I dont really know where this questions belongs to.


texts: What is the term for a whistle done with two fingers in mouth

texts: Is there an English term that describes the whistle you'd make with two fingers/one finger and thumb in your mouth? Maybe those variations have separate names. Googling got me wolf whistle but that looks like it's specifically about a two-note thing and not so as much about the putting hands in mouth format. Also there is a kind of expressing lasciviousness vibe which is not what I'm after.


texts: Why does the diphthong /aʊ/ not occur before /k/, /m/, /p/, /b/, /g/ etc?

texts:
I have noticed that the diphthong /aʊ/ occurs before certain consonants. We have:

/aʊd/ in loud
/aʊt/ in out
/aʊs/ in house
/aʊn/ in town
/aʊtʃ/ in pouch
/aʊl/ in owl

BUT, we don't have /aʊp/, /aʊb/, /aʊg/, /aʊk/, /aʊm/ (although I only know one word, trauma in which it occurs) etc. Is this a coincidence or is there is a rule for /aʊ/ to occur in certain environments? I guess there's something that needs uncovering but I really don't know what. Can someone please explain this?


texts: Following a listing and ellipses ... How should this sentence be punctuated?

texts:
I'm trying to puncuate this sentence, and am not sure if I should use ellipses or an em dash, or simply put a period after the fragment and start a new sentence with "No one."

Job loss, major illness, family issues, natural disaster ... no one is immune from difficulties like these.

It's for a brochure for a nonprofit, so I'm straddling the line between advertising speak and journalistic style.


texts: If he had known she had too many commitments, he would have done something about it. (Backshifting within the scope of a modally remote preterite)

texts:
If he knew she had too many commitments, he would do something about
it.
If he had known he had too many commitments, he would have done
something about it. (This sentence is made up by myself from the above sentence taken from CaGEL)

What would be the grammatical reasoning behind the second "had" (rather than "had had") in the second sentence ("she had too many") taking a past form (if correct)?
Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, p. 152:

There are two reasons... why we need to recognize a backshifted preterite as distinct from an ordinary preterite.
(a) Backshifting within the scope of a modally remote preterite
[11]
i  If he knew she had too many commitments, he would do
something about it.
ii I wish he realised that she had too many commitments.
Example [i] is a remote conditional, with the preterite in knew
expressing modal remoteness, not past time: the time of knowing is
present. So too (certainly in the salient interpretation, the one we
are concerned with here) is the time of her having too many
commitments: it is a matter of knowing in the present about a
situation obtaining in the present. And the same applies to the wish
construction [ii]. In both, therefore, we have the preterite form
had even though there is no reference at all to past time: this cannot represent the ordinary use of the preterite. Nor would it be
valid to subsume the preterite in had in these examples under the
modal remoteness use which applies to the matrix clause preterite
verbs knew and realized. For clearly the unlikelihood in [i] and
the counterfactuality in [ii] apply to his knowing/realizing but not
to her having too many commitments. There is no modal remoteness
meaning attaching to had, for, certainly in [ii], you will in fact
infer that she does have too many commitments. From a semantic point
of view, therefore, the preterite carried by have must be
distinguished from that carried by know or realize, and this
distinction is reflected in the grammar in that irrealis were is not
suitable for was in this construction: If he knew she was/*were too
busy, he would do something about it; I wish he realized she was/*were
too busy.


texts: Is there any equivalent to this Persian proverb? "A bad or faulty item should inevitably be kept by its owner"

texts:
We use a proverb that implies "A bad property (i.e., a thing belonging to someone) or item should inevitably be tolerated/kept by its owner" when we want to say "This bad item won't be accepted by anyone else except its owner, no one is obliged to get, accept or tolerate it but its owner." We use this funny and sarcastic proverb specially when we are returning something to its owner/seller because we have noticed it is faulty.

For example:

Suppose  I have a hairdryer that has some problems in turning on and off. Some day you (as my roommate in a dormitory) ask to borrow it while you know it is a faulty device. When you are returning it to me, I say: "You can keep it for yourself if you like!" and then you reply smilingly and sarcastically: "Oh, no! Thanks, but a bad item should inevitably be kept by its owner!" (In other words, you'd better keep it for yourself, no one is ready to accept it even for free;or :don't try to give/ sell a faulty item to others.)
A factory produces a product that customers stop buying because it hasn't achieved good reputation in the market, and those who have bought it are trying to return it. When they are asked the reason they say: "This is a useless and faulty product, so it's better be kept by its owners (producers); and it serves them (the owners) right that no one buy this poor quality product."

Is there any equivalent to this Persian proverb?

PS:

1-The word for word translation of this funny proverb is "A bad possession/ property (eventually) would be stuck in its owner's beard !"(somethng will be stuck in someone's beard: is an idiom and means someone won't be get rid of something!)

2- Actually we use this proverb mostly when we are talking with our friends while rejecting a faulty item they are offering us, or when we are angry at a seller whom we think has deceived us by selling a faulty item and now we want to return it.


texts:
I am looking for one word that would mean "assign" and "unassign" something to a user.

I have a software which has a page full of usernames. Next to each username we have a button which will take me to another page where I can "assign" an application to that particular user or "unassign" if it is already assigned.

So I want to know if there is a common word for "assign/unassign" which I can use for that button.


texts: How to politely say I worked at the same company for 4 years in a specific period?

texts:
I worked at the same company for 4 years as a summer job between November and January on every year. I am graduating and I would like to write it into my CV/Resume because I don't really have a rich work experience in other area and the skills that I learnt from there are particular useful and relevant to the career that I want to get in.

Would it be inappropriate to just put 2013-2017 in my work experience ?

What is the most suitable way to express this ?


texts: Is "go to the papers" a standard idiomatic expression?

texts:
"I'll go to the papers since it's the most appropriate thing to do."

I received this email not long ago from a blogger. (He is Scottish by origin.) He was complaining about plagiarism of an article written by one of the members of the team. (The article was later declared free from plagiarism.)

SOP of my company dictates that any issue with a potential of a lawsuit or negative publicity must be escalated.

That time, I figured his sentiment fell into that category. Upon escalation, the team leader called my attention, saying that she was not particularly sure if it warranted the action. Apparently, that was the first time she heard of go to the papers. (She is American.)

I told her the same was true for me. (English is not my mother tongue.) And that I only deduced what the words meant in context. I assumed go to the papers could mean:

  to publicize, as in approach a press member to put this on paper;
  proceed with a legal case, as lawsuits involve a lot of paperwork.

I doubt the latter is the case. It is both pretty silly and far-fetched. Still, as I am not 100% certain with the first one, I included this here just in case.

I searched almost everywhere on the Internet. But there seems to be only one reference to this: here. Unfortunately, Randy Orton does not seem to be an authority based on the comments of the video.


texts:
Macmillan Dictionary gives the following example sentence for the word "society" as a countable noun:
"Good writing still has a place in contemporary society."
(http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/society)

I know "society" can be used both as a countable and uncountable noun but if it is used as a countable noun in this sentence, why is an indefinite article not required (i.e. in a contemporary society)? Is it something to do with "contemporary"?

I hope anyone can help me with this question. Thank you!


texts:
"Does anyone recommend a place to go in New York?"

can "a place to go" be a variable?

"Does anyone have a recommendation for a place to go in New York?" sounds better, but is the above sentence grammatically legal?


texts: What's the correct one: "one did show up" or "one showed up"?

texts:
Is there any difference between these two sentences? Is one of them wrong?

Even if a ship did show up
Even if a ship showed up


texts: Meaning of "of near-religious proportions"

texts: What does "of near-religious proportions" mean in this sentence: "Gromyko's response evinced a belief in Marxism of near-religious proportions" (The Triumph of Improvisation p 85)


texts: Is it proper to use a colon followed immediately by a hyphen?

texts:
I have seen some writing where people have a list or a figure in writing and they will write something like this:

  The information is provided in Image
  3:-

Is that correct? Is this a British style?


texts: What is the term for paint which is suitable for our skin?

texts: Like paints which are ok to eat are called edible paints. What is the term we can use for paints which are suitable for our skin?


texts:
Are they the same as the "verbs-of-being" I was forced to painstakingly memorizetaught in Middle School? I.e.

Be
Am
Is
Are
Was
Were
Being
Been
Have
Has
Had
Shall
Will
May
Can
Might
Could
Should
Would


texts:
The design of the green and blue tiles on the wall remind people of the sea, while the curved window frames were inspired by ocean waves.

I can’t understand the form of verb remind.

I thought it has to be reminds since the subject is design.


texts:
The expression "from the trenches" implies a down-to-reality focus as in "a view from the trenches".

Is there any other english expression implying the same meaning ?


texts:
I was laying in bed or lying in bed?
I was laying in bed or lying in bed?


texts: What is the difference between "seatways" and "gangways"?

texts: These two words appeared frequently in a passage, for example: "There is no reason to limit the number of seats in a row other than by travel distance, provided there is an adequate gangway at both ends of the row so that escape is possible in two directions and the seatway is generous." To my understanding, seatway is the horizontal passage between rows of seats while gangway is the vertical passage. But I can't find much explanation about "seatway" on the Internet. Can't be sure whether I am right or not.


texts: Could you elaborate how to use the pattern adjective + to infinitive?

texts:
I am still confused in using the pattern adjective + to infinitive.

The 2 sentences below are given for examples.

I am lazy to study.
It is lazy for me to study.

Could you elaborate how to use the pattern ?


texts: "Having said that" vs. "That being said"

texts:
I want to know the meanings of these phrases Having said that and That being said, the difference between them, and in which context I can use both of them.

According to my first understanding of these expressions, I think they are equivalent to the phrase "Considering what was said before" or in "reference to what has already been said". I am not sure of the meaning, but hope to find its exact meaning.


texts: 'I suppose the country can only properly be given to a child – as from birth it was given to me.' Does this sentence make sense?

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In The Firstborn, British author Laurie LEE, famous for his autobiographical novel Cider with Rosie, wrote – about his newborn daughter Jessy:

  I suppose the country can only properly be given to a child – as from birth it was given to me. And as it was given to me, so I'd like to show it to her, and see it again through her eyes – the veils of blue rain wandering up from Wales, streaking the sky before they hit the ground; copper clouds of thunder towering over the Severn, mist wiping great holes in the hillside, the beech-tops breaking into a storm of rooks, the light on the cows in the evening....

Isn't the phrase 'from birth' placed in the wrong clause for the first sentence to make sense?
Shouldn't it be

  I suppose the country can only properly be given to a child from birth – as it was given to me.

? Isnt' the first clause missing a complement (in what manner or when should the country be given to a child)?

The author must have rewritten the sentence a certain number of times and mixed things up in the end, mustn't he?


texts: what's the difference between "past tense" and "past participle"?

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For example,in this sentence:

  Begun in 1078, the Tower of London was built in London’s southeast corner by William the Conqueror.

Why does that sentence use begun not began?


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Is there an accepted word that means a man (boy) ready for marriage?

I only found sites having nubile males or faunlets as near alternatives.


texts: "With all that said" in spoken English, contradict or not?

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I know "with that said" or "that being said" or "having said that" can be used as an alternative to "though" in written English, to introduce something that will contradict what has been previously said. As explained here: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=862674

But how about "with that said" or "with all that said" in spoken English? Is the meaning different?
In this video at 0:27, it looks to me that the meaning is different. It is more like a linking phrase to indicate that more details of the same ideas will be discussed.


texts: difference between "heritage" and "inheritance"

texts: What is the difference between heritage and inheritance in meaning?


texts: Asks a question; never responds to answers/comments

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What do we call someone who asks a question and never responds to answers/comments?

Think of it more as "a pattern of behavior" (somebody who has asked many questions and never responded).
I had unresponsive in mind, but that doesn't say that they asked in the first place.