texts: "Race" is to "racism" as "religion" is to what?

texts: I've heard "racist" being used in a few cases to describe bigotry towards people of a certain religion. It's a bit annoying because it implies that all people of a religion are the same race, which is hardly the correct case. However I'm also bewildered that there doesn't seem to be an appropriate one-word substitute coined to describe prejudice/discrimination/sense of superiority in terms of religion. What (if any) word exists for it?


texts: Clarification on “Who stars opposite X in some film?”

texts:
I’ve always understood the phrase

  Who stars opposite [x] in [film]?

to mean:

  Who is the deuteragonist in [film]?

specifically where the deuteragonist is on the same side as the protagonist.

Can it also mean this:

  Who is the antagonist in [film]?


texts: I'm trying to help out a friend with something. Is there any expression for when something has been done, but nobody knows whom by? In Dutch there is an expression which translates into "the gnomes must have done it".


texts: What exactly falls under the label of "complement"?

texts:
There seems to be a lot of contradicting beliefs out there regarding complements and what they cover -- or maybe I am just confusing myself. However, I cannot seem to find an answer that I understand.

Here are some of the things I have heard:
"Relative clauses cannot be complements..."
"Complementizers are just a special type of conjunction..."
"Complements are noun clauses..."

There is a lot more, but I do not think its necessary to list them all. Basically, I am just wondering if someone can give me a good, solid definition for "complement" and "complementizer." And, can relative pronouns (simple and fused/nominal) be considered complement? What about relative adverbs?


texts: What do you call those films with nudity, if not pornographic scenes, but not marketed as porn?

texts: Probably has the same audience as porn but instead has mainstream studio producers and full-length cinema release.


texts:
My father just used an interesting phrase:  hello the fire.  He said it was a way to let me know he was coming without startling me.  I've never heard this phrase, and I can't find anything about it online.  He said he remembers it having to do with the Old West, but that was all he could recall.

What is the origin and meaning of this phrase?


texts: How would i ask for application process completed succesfully

texts: We applied to International Revenue Service for obtaining ein for our new established USA based company, filled out and thereafter sent SS-4 form through fax and I need to check out on the phone whether the application process would complete successfully or not? However, I couldn't set out the right sentence to get an answer for this question from IRS representative? could you please help me out for this conversation.


texts: What's the sound of wolf's footsteps called?

texts:
I am trying to write a paragraph and I need to describe the sound that a wolf's  paws/footsteps will make whilst running.
Can anyone recommend me a word?


texts: Is there a word that describes the swift and skillful covering of the natural emotions?

texts:
Some people become adept at completely hiding their natural reaction to a situation. Some may call this lying, or just control.

Neither of these describes when it is done swiftly in the moment, and done with such skill that most observers will not see the 'glimmer' of the natural reaction.

I think this is a form of lying, psychoanalytically-speaking, but I do not think malice is an inherent condition here - sometimes a leader or a parent will swiftly hide concern from their children or those who look to them for guidance. This latter case is not evil.

I would think that 'deft' is related, but am unsure if the element of concealment is an inherent quality of deftness.  I am speaking to the swift-covering of the natural response, and want a word identifying that a natural reaction began, evanescently, and was deftly replaced by another visage.


texts: I wanted to use the word "unwaning" (or, perhaps, un-waning), as in "for his unwaning enthusiasm". However, no decent (online) dictionary I've consulted seems to recognize it. What other word would you use? Does "unwaning" sound weird, or does it sound right to a native speaker?


texts:
I am a computer programmer and I come across the word "default" a lot, usually a statement would say:

Default A to B, and I understand it as follows:

A has the value B by default

is this a correct understanding?
What is the difference between this statement and

Default A from B

--Edit

to explain more, consider the following paragraph:

  The user clicks on the registration link, fills in his personal details (Name, address..), clicks the "Next" button, the account owner details page will be displayed. There is an "account owner name" field and a "default account owner to the user's name" link, if the user clicks on this link, default the "account owner name" field to the current user name.

Does the last sentence in the paragraph mean "set the value of the 'account owner name' to be the current user name"
or
Does it mean "get the current user name value and set it into the 'account owner name'"?


texts: Is it "look in the eye" or "look in the eyes"? Or are they both correct. For example in russian eyes are always plural in literal meaning and when used as idiom (be able to look at somebody directly (because you dont feel embarrassed, ashamed, etc.)). On one hand idea of looking in just one eye is odd, on the other hand it's obvious that person can't look at two objects simultaneously, it's not how vision works.


texts: Is there a word that means to like part of something, but not the whole?

texts:
Is there a single word that means: to like an aspect something larger, but to dislike the whole thing?

As an example, someone might say, "I'd like to be fit", meaning that they would genuinely like the benefits of being fit, but omitting the fact that the only thing stopping them from being fit is that they don't like exercise. That is, they they would like to be fit if it didn't involve exercise.

For simplicity, I'm going to use 'half-like' as a place holder in a few more examples.

"I'd half-like to buy that new car", meaning "I'd like to buy that new car (if I could find it cheaper)".
"I'd half-like to be paid more", meaning "I'd like to be paid more (but I don't want to work harder)".
"I'd half-like to learn a language", meaning "I'd like to learn a language (but there's so much to watch on TV)".
"I'd half-like to retire", meaning "I'd like to retire (but I'd miss my colleagues)".

I'd prefer a non-judgemental term but any single word that has this meaning would be appreciated, even a word in another language.

As per comments, in spoken English, this can be expressed using stresses and pauses.

"I would like to buy that car ...", meaning the same as the above; the stress serving to draw attention to the implicit "but".

Also as per comments (thank you all), this can be expressed by adding a few extra words, for example "quite like", or "like the idea of ...", or by making explicit the overriding "but ...".

I'm coming to suspect that there may not be a single word that captures what I want, but that there might be several single words that capture different variations of what I want.

In the above samples, if the speaker is aware of the conflict between what they want and what they don't want, then as per Jason and user888379, they could say "I'm ambivalent about ..." or "I'm conflicted about ...", and especially so if the desires are closely balanced.

But if the person doesn't accept the conflict, then those constructs don't work as well.

To rework the previous examples:

"He half-wants to be fit."
"He'd half-like to buy that new car."
"He half-wants to be paid more."
"He half-wants to learn a language."
"He'd half-like to retire"

"Dreams of" might work, though it doesn't distinguish between "can't" and "could but won't". "Dreams of" could even be used for a person who is working towards a goal, which isn't the intent I want to convey.

"likes the idea of" could work too, though it isn't perfect either. It doesn't distinguish between a weak inclination towards something and a strong inclination countered by an even stronger disinclination.

"deluded", "denial" or more kindly, "unaware" are all potentially applicable, but they would describe the person themselves, rather than their half-want for something.

You could use "unrealistically wants", but it would be a clumsy construction, and perhaps imply an impossible desire, rather than one that would be possible, if the person wanted it a bit more.

"Supposedly wants" is maybe a better expression of this key concept I want to capture: the difference between 'expressed opinion' and 'observed behaviour', the "he's just not that into you" factor, a word to describe someone complaining that they want something that is actually within their power to have, if they really wanted it as badly as they claim to want it.


texts: 'more than 200 times that of ...' vs. 'more than 200 times than that of ...'

texts:
While I was studying a textbook, I came across a sentence like this: ''The affinity of carbon monoxide for haemoglobin is more than 200 times that of oxygen.''
Am I correct in assuming that there should be another ''than'' in the sentence and the whole sentence should be like: ''The affinity of carbon monoxide for haemoglobin is more than 200 times than that of oxygen.'' ?
Thanks.


texts: What sentence adverb to use to introduce a sentence expressing the reason for something?

texts:
I am trying to 'conjure up' a chart on result, reason, purpose, and contrast for my students, and I am really hard put to come up with a satisfying adverb to introduce the sentence mentioning the reason for something.

Result: I work hard. Therefore, I am successful. (adverb introducing the sentence mentioning the result)
Reason: I am successful. Naturally, I work hard. (adverb introducing the sentence mentioning the reason)

Is there an adverb other than 'Naturally' for reason, as obvious as 'As a result/Consequently/Therefore' for result?
I have thought of 'Obviously', 'Evidently', 'Of course', but they are hardly more satsifying than 'Naturally', aren't they?


texts: Are there other idioms like "a stone's throw away" that both describe an activity and act as a measurement?

texts: If something is quite close by, it could be described as being a stone's throw away; even closer might be a hop, skip and a jump. I'm interested in these "units" of measurement based on human action. Do you know of other similar words, phrases or idioms that both describe an activity and act as a kind of measurement? They do not have to be limited to distance measurement.


texts:
My understanding is that the "par" portion of "subpar" comes from the sport of golf, as in the phrase "par for the course".  However if this is the case, then the construction of the word doesn't seem to make sense.  In golf, the farther below (i.e., sub) the par you are, the better you've done and the better your score is.  Likewise, the farther above you are, the worse you've done.

Is there a legitimate etymological reason for this word's construction in relation to its meaning?

Note that I saw this question, but it's completely different and unrelated.


texts: Correctness of the usage of the phrase 'by (or in) virtue of'

texts:
Is the following sentence grammatically correct? Are there any alterations I must make?

  I am very much observant in virtue of my tendency of being silent.


texts:
I've always known this fruit as papaya. It was only in recent times that I started hearing "paw-paw" used instead of "papaya". I also looked up the dictionary, but no relevant word came up.
Where did this term originate from?


texts: What's the exact meaning of 'splitting the bill'?

texts: Does splitting bill mean each person paying for what they actually had, as in 'going Dutch'? Or Does it mean dividing the bill equally?


texts:
I'll appreciate, if anyone could explain me the usage of past perfect in the following sentence, since the past perfect, I assume, is unusually referring to 'later past'.

  "The frustrated interrogator was not going to give up easily. “Are you both still working in the company?” Barbara, appearing not the least disturbed by the woman’s incontinent insistence, scooped the last cherry out of her dish, smiled, looked directly at her, and said in the identical tone of voice, “We’ve separated, but the company is unaffected.” That shut her up. Barbara had shown her big winner’s badge by using “The Broken Record” technique, the most effective way to curtail an unwelcome cross-examination."

(https://howtotalktoanyone.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-respond-when-you-dont-want-to.html)


texts: How to call the two points at each end of a path?

texts:
By "path" I mean a route that has been walked by.

The best I could come out with is starting point and ending point.

Is there a shorter way to refer to them?

(Maybe end points?)


texts: What is the meaning of '...' and '--' when encountered in a dialogue?

texts: While reading novels I come across'...' and '--'. (Three dots or a long dash). I was assuming it means a long pause but I am confused of alternate usages.


texts: What is the name of this type of adjective?

texts:
Okay, I've been wondering this for a while. There's a specific type of adjective, and it seems to me that it should have a name, but I'm not sure if it does. It's the class of adjectives that can be defined as "of or having to do with [noun]." I'm adding a list at the bottom of this post, but one example would be [noun: space, adjective: spatial]. I've noticed that a lot of them end in -al, but not all of them. If anyone can give me a name or even point me toward any mention of these guys in a grammar book, I'd really appreciate it. Here's my list:

Rock, stone: Lithic

Title: titular, eponymous

Palace: palatial

Space: spatial

River, stream: fluvial

Profession: professional

Fantasy: fantastic

Gelatin: gelatinous

Mercury: mercurial

Time: temporal

Law: legal

Text: textual

Word? Lexicon? : Lexical

Example: exemplary

Worm: vermicular

Twin/pair: geminate?

Motif: motivic

Theme: thematic

Pivot: pivotal


texts: Why is "genera" the plural form of "genus"?

texts: I'm not familiar with irregular Latin pluralization, so this may be a simple question with a simple answer. Other Latin words ending in "us" don't pluralize to "era"


texts: Past Continuous Tense vs Past Perfect Continuous Tense

texts:
In the following sentences, which of the expressions in bold is correcet? Why is the other one not correct? How does the meaning change with each one?

  My parents got engaged in 1990. They had fallen in love two years
  before, while they were working/had been working in London?

Thank you :)


texts: Word to Describe the Property of a Notebook Binder

texts:
I am looking for a word that describes the following idea:

  This binder is a spiral binder that has the ability to be opened and allows one to change, add or remove sheets from the notebook.

Thus far, my best idea is "expandable spiral-binder", but it feels inaccurate and incomplete.

Suggestions are appreciated.


texts:
Which version is grammatically correct (given that I hopefully provided at least one correct alternative)?

  [...] the company yielded a result to the amount of −€6.680 billion in 2008.

or

  [...] the company yielded a result to the amount of €−6.680 billion in 2008.

Since I'm not a native speaker, I'd appreciate any other tips/corrections as well.


texts: A single word for "very steep", in reference to hiking

texts:
Is there a single word that can be used instead of very steep when talking about hiking? E.g.

  The last part of the hiking trail was very steep.

Sheer might fit but it seems to refer more to a straight cliff than a steep trail.


texts:
I have the following sentence:

"In Europe, the transport sector accounted for 22 % of (the) final energy consumption"

Would you use 'the' or not? I'd appreciate every comment.


texts: Past tense of "mind" in "mind your own business"

texts:
With a saying such as keep it to myself you can say the past tense as kept it to myself.

How about mind my own business? Should it be minded my own business, mound my own business or something else?


texts: What's the linguistics term for "Schubertiaden" and similar words?

texts:
What's the linguistics term for "Schubertiaden" and similar words (that refers to a group of people based on a person's name)?

"Schubertiaden" refers to the group of people of similar interest and activity with musician Schubert.　What are some other examples?


texts: Is this a mixed metaphor: 'That initial resentment POISONED our relationship and then GREW with every perceived slight'?

texts: If so, what would be a better way to phrase that sentence? I don't think "spread" is the right word.


texts:
I watched this Monty Python about describing words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gwXJsWHupg

The characters give words different descriptions such as "woody" (gone, vacuum, caribou) or "tinny" (newspaper, litter-bin).

Is there a word to describe the emotion,  sound (not in a onomatopoeic sense), mood, or feeling of a word? The context I might use this word in is: "the XX of the word lugubrious is slimy."

I do not quite understand ideophones and that may be appropriate.


texts:
I read the answers to similar questions, but I need to be sure.

I chose the sentence: "Connecting solutions with people" on my business card and want to be sure it's not suppose to be "Connecting solutions to people".

I wanted to emphasis that the solutions often comes from looking at peoples' behavior so the people are who supply the solutions (even if unaware of it), and sometimes the solutions are coming from the technology itself.

Hope I managed to explain myself.

Thanks,
Iris


texts: A word or a phrase that encompasses TV shows and movies

texts:
I want to think my friend for always providing me with quality TV shows and movies. In my native language there is a single word that describes both of those things. What is the English word or phrase?

... for being a bottomless source of TV shows and movies?
... for being a bottomless source of quality television?
... for being a bottomless source of television entertainment?
... for being a bottomless source of visual entertainment?


texts: Looking for an analogy for using the wrong solution

texts: I am looking for an analogy. I am trying to convey the message that if you have disordered eating and you are trying to fix it with weight loss, it's like....and here I am lost with an analogy that will help people understand that weight loss isn't the right tool in this case.


texts: Difference in tone between Regards, Best regards, Kind regards and Sincerely in emails

texts:
I often end my emails just with "Regards, FirstName".

But I also often see "Best regards", "Kind regards" and "Sincerely".

What is the difference in tone and meaning? Is one more formal than the other? Is there a difference between US and UK?


texts: What is the verb for "concept becomes word"?

texts:
The formation of concept from something is "conceptualize". But what about the formation of word from concept?

I can only think of bad substitutions like: "materialize from concepts" or even "wordify".

As a bonus, it would be even better if your suggestion originates from Cognitive Psychology, Psychology, or Philosophy.

Edit: What about specifically in the sense that "an abstract idea (conceptual meaning) becomes a concrete representation (lexical form)"?


texts:
When I am introducing an article to another person, I would like to point out the specific parts to look at. I am not a native English speaker, and the sentence that comes to my mind is like

From this point to that point is important.

It is not a correct sentence because the subject is missing. But

The paragraphs/contents from this point to that point are important.

sounds redundant and stiff. What would be a better way to say it?


texts: What is the vapour coming out from the mouth called?

texts: In cold weather, we get water vapour coming out of the mouth as we breathe. What is that called?


texts: Question regarding the order of adjectives, strictly for native American English speakers

texts:
I am a native American English speaker, although, I am interested in the following syntactic aspect, regarding the order of adjectives, as, here in the U.S. (Savannah, GA, to be exact), I've come across both versions - what's the correct order of adjectives, in the following question: "a luxury 4-door sedan" or "a 4-door luxury sedan"? The one I've used all my life is: "a 4-door luxury sedan", although, I've heard quite a few people saying "a luxury 4-door sedan", in spite of the fact that the one I've used seems to be much more frequent, here in the U.S., statistically speaking, from what I've seen. I'm not exactly sure which one is syntactically correct and which of the 2 is the most commonly used phrase, that's why I'm asking this question.
My question is strictly for native American English speakers, as myself. All help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you anticipatedly,
The Unknown One


texts: What's the raised part of an arch called?

texts: What's that embossed or raised part of an arc or arch called? I am looking for the upper part of the shape, which is kind of raised and forms a mini circle.


texts: What is the origin or history of using "skin" to refer to "money?" For example, a golf competition called a "skins game" or, referring to an investor who, "has some skin in the game."


texts: What is a verb to describe someone speaking honestly? Instead of "Joe speaks honestly about today", I'd like to say "Joe honests about today". But an actual, real word.


texts:
IT professional with 10+ years of experience.

Do I need to put "of" between "years" and "experience"? I would have put it without any doubt if I hadn't read a few examples without "of" in the book ACE the IT Resume: Resumes and Cover Letters to Get You Hired


texts: During my final year at university, I wrote what I thought was a "bachelor thesis". Right before printing it I stumbled upon several documents stating the name "bachelor's thesis".  (Here we do not call it a dissertation just yet, so this question is only about the possessive bachelor's vs. bachelor.) A couple of Google search queries later, I had not found out which of these terms is correct.  Which should I use?


texts:
After my mother lost her job, she couldn’t afford to provide for me
  anymore. She gave me to my grandmother, who lived out in the rice
  field.

May I know what ‘lived out in the rice fields’ means?

Here is the context...

  ‘My father died when I was a year old. My mother did her best to take care of me on her own, but after she lost her job, she couldn’t afford to provide for me anymore. She gave me to my grandmother, who lived out in the rice fields. I missed my mother. I felt alone without her. So alone that sometimes, I saw things because I wanted to see them.  ’


texts: Is "I just spent all my money" grammatically incorrect?

texts:
Lyircs of Free by Natalia Kills:

  I'm free

  I just spent all my money

  but I rocked that like it don't cost a thing

Shouldn't it be "I've just spent all my money"? As far as I remember, our English told us to use Present Prefect in such case because of the just.


texts:
Helping others is a good habit.

Which part of speech is "Helping" & "others" here? I think helping here is noun & others is pronuoun.


texts: How can I perfect the sentence "Guy explains harmony to people who already know what it is"?

texts:
I wrote it, and it's bugging me. It smells of bad grammar. I am not concerned about the colloquialism at the beginning ("Guy explains"), but I am concerned about the end ("to people who already know what IT is").

I can see that the "it" is not ambiguous. It refers to "harmony" unambiguously, but the "what" seems like a poor choice.

I don't want to expand it to read "... explains harmony who already know the meaning of harmony".

One option does, indeed, roll off the tongue:

"Guy explains harmony to people who already know what harmony is", but this seems to have a redundant "harmony".

There's this: "Guy explains harmony to those who already know what it is". Still, the "what it is" does not seem correct to me.

Any ideas?


texts: What do you call the frequent conjunction {juxtaposition} of two words?

texts:
The statement that I want to make is:

  "Impostor syndrome" ... why does this (conjunction of words) sneak into every text I read these days?

What is the right or best expression for "conjunction of words"? In the statement I don't want to refer to the syndrome itself, but rather to the expression. If it was one word instead of two I would want to say

  ... why does this word sneak into every text I read these days.

However, writing

  ________ why do these two words sneak into every text I read these days.

would miss the point, because it's not these two words that sneak into every text at various location but rather their conjunction.


texts:
Please could you tell me the subject of the sentence below? Is it 'He' or 'she'? Thanks.

  He believes she went to London.


texts: What does the phrase "chuck something in" mean?

texts:
I was doing the bilingual subtitling for a video recorded last year, on the first day of same-sex marriage debate in the lower house of Australia. There was a marriage proposal from an MP to his partner. After his partner's "yes", Tim said, "We'll chuck that in the memoirs and Hansard."

At first I thought "chuck that in" here means "keep it in", however, according to the this news report, it seems that "chuck" means "delete".

On Oxford Dictionary, the word CHUCK means:to throw carelessly or casually, and it can be used with both prepositions in or out/away, but with opposite meanings, which is why the interpretation of that news report seems odd to me.
I'm really confused here. :( Any help would be greatly appreciated!


texts: Why is "go" spelled with the same vowel as "do" and "to" since it is pronounced differently?

texts:
These two-letter words ending in -o are pronounced with the  vowel /oʊ/: bo, go
ho, jo, lo, no, so, and yo whereas do and to are pronounced with the vowel /uː/. Is there an explanation for the discrepancy in pronunciation?


texts: Why do American speakers pronounce "the" as "/ðə/" before vowels?

texts:
I learned that we have to pronounce /ðə/ before consonants & /ði/ before vowels.

For example, the /ðə/ car, but the /ði/ earth.

But it seems that a lot of American people pronounce the /ðə/ before vowels, for example the /ðə/ era.

Are these native speakers pronouncing wrong? or it is a dialect or something?


texts: Double of, double than. Triple of, triple than

texts:
Googling those expression between quotes does not help (about the same number of occurrences). Do Double/triple use "than" or "of" after them?

eg: the monthly-averaged discharges flowing through that river are as nearly as triple than/of those flowing in the Mississippi river


texts: "Director at", "founder of". What is the correct usage of "at" and "of"?

texts:
I have a twitter account and I see some people having in their profiles mention:

  Company Director at ABC

and others

  Company Director of ABC

Also, I come across:

  Founder of ABC

and

  Founder at ABC

As English is not my mother tongue, my question is: what is the correct usage of at and of in the following examples?

  Company Director __ ABC
  Founder __ ABC


texts: If a letter isn't pronounced but affects pronunciation of other letters, is it still 'silent'?

texts:
The 'e' in paste isn't pronounced on its own, but changes the pronunciation of the 'a'.

In that case, is the 'e' still referred to as silent?


texts:
Is there a polite word that can be used to designate someone who didn't really understand what he or she was doing? Or, in general, someone who is intentionally ignorant of how things work. A "lamer" doesn't fit for being impolite, and seemingly harming some people's ears too much.

Edit: Another good definition is

  It distinguishes between people who
  are ignorant by chance from those who
  are ignorant by choice.

And it makes me think that there is no polite substitution just because the meaning itself being impolite and abusive. Right?


texts: "... help you get oriented for ..." or "... help get you oriented for ..."?

texts:
We will look at just a few key things to help get you oriented for the recipes discussed in this chapter.

or

  We will look at just a few key things to help you get oriented for the recipes discussed in this chapter.

?


texts: Subject verb agreement in case of sentences having "along with"

texts:
In my text, for the question, The dog along with his master ___ for a walk.,
the answer is marked as "are going"
And for another question, The dog, along with his master, ______ for a walk.,
the answer is marked as "is going"
I think both sentences are the same and that the usage of comma in the second sentence is unnecessary. Since 'along with' is not a coordinating conjunction, the part before it, is to be considered subject. So I feel "is going" should be the answer. Am I wrong? Please clarify


texts:
I'm looking for a more suitable word than recalibrate in my sentence below. I think the context of the word I'm looking for is clear here from the sentence.

After spending years having a chummy relationship with my boss, the
party incident forced us to recalibrate our relationship into
something more formal.

PowerThesaurus provides over 250 synonyms (adjust, change, restore, revise, amend, change, remedy ...), but not all are equally appropriate here.
Bonus: Is there anything else stylistically or grammatically unsatisfactory with the sentence? It bothers me that I'm using the word something.


texts: Why did "insofar" become a word, not "insofaras"?

texts:
So I'm thinking about how "insofar" became a word. This slightly unfair comparison shows that it happened relatively recently.

Now, whenever I've seen it written, "insofar" is followed by "as". So I did some more digging.

insofar versus insofar as
in so far versus in so far as

This is terribly unscientific, I know. But it seems like the majority of uses of "insofar" are followed by "as". So here's the question:

  Why did "insofar" become a word, and not "insofaras"?

Put differently (from a comment below): Long and regular association of these words in this order: "in so far" led to them being written as one word. Why didn't the same process produce "insofaras" given that almost all case of the former are cases of the latter?

A similar question could be asked of "inasmuch"…

I'm not looking for a historical explanation, rather a (possibly speculative) linguistic answer that explains why this happened as it did.


texts: I have to write "you can find ... on http://www.blablabla.com". But I am unsure, if I should write "on" or "at". May anybody help me with that?


texts:
I have seen that movie six times in the last month.
  I have seen that movie six times last month.

Why?


texts: Can you explain the end of this long law sentence for me

texts:
This is the sentences. It's really long and complicated and I'm not native English speaker. The end is not clear for me and I don't understand the parts about foreign law and award and etc.

  Slade conceded, However, that if a foreign law were to provide for the
  plaintiff to serve a notice specifying a sum claimed as damages, and
  then for a default judgment to be entered for that sum without proof
  or judicial assessment, such a procedure would usually be considered
  unobjectionable, provided that, after due allowance had been made for
  differences between the foreign law and English law in levels of award
  and in substantive law, the amount of the actual award was not
  irrational.


texts: What is the origin of "dead end" on a road sign?

texts: Unless one has grown up with it, I cannot see that the intent of "dead end" on a road sign is at all obvious. The oft-used alternative "no outlet" at least means what it says. And while a non-native English speaker might have difficulty with "no outlet" I suspect that it could be looked up in an English-to-x dictionary, but "dead end"? I think not. So why did "dead end" come to mean that the end of a road is imminent?


texts: Like it's said in the title, is the "What have I to write?" phrase correct? Or is it necessary to use the form with "do" as the auxiliary verb?


texts: In a company or business the amount of money that you take in is usually referred to as turnover, but if you are a public authority (Local Council) where the money comes in the form of taxation and government funding and goes out to suppliers for services not for the organisation (eg schools, home care etc). What would that still qualify as turnover or is there a more appropriate term.


texts: A term for a wiki-like website, but without the visitor editing abilities?

texts:
What would be the correct term for a website that contains information akin to a wiki, but does not offer the ability for guests and members to edit the content?

I am rather baffled by this. 'Information repository' came across my mind, but it occurred to me that a repository most likely gives the impression that the data is never modified once it has been provided, which is not what I am going for.

Any ideas?


texts:
There are two sentences;

The graph can not be decomposed into two cycles.
The graph can be decomposed into two paths.

When I combine them, which are correct?

The graph can not be decomposed into two cycles, but can be into two paths.
The graph can not be decomposed into two cycles, but can into two paths.
The graph can not be decomposed into two cycles, but two paths.

Thank you for reading my question.


texts: Usage of the subjunctive mood for yet-to-complete events

texts:
I am aware of this question, but it and its answers either are not what I need to know, or are so broad on the subject I could not figure out the exact situation I am confused about.
What I need to understand is the use of a real future subjunctive mood in English. Take, for instance, the following sentences:

"If he doesn't stay true to himself, he is never going to get other people to join his cause."
"We three shall have a talk once Mary gets home."

It's clear to me that one should use the bare infinitive of a verb to form its present subjunctive, for example in subordinate clauses after verbs like beg and advocate, which is used for events placed in the future in spite of the tense's name.
Because of this, one could assume that in the sentences above the verbs/verbal phrases in bold should be changed to not stay and get respectively (since both refer to future, either immediate or distant/undefined, and could be considered subjunctive due to untruth of the sentences as of the moment of speech). Is this assumption correct?


texts: How to highlight model or category names in scientific text (if they are ordinary words)?

texts:
For example, there are two sentences

The government is considering that the crisis will follow a soft scenario ...
Dr. Jones has calculated soft and hard crisis scenarios. The input data was ...

In the first case, soft is just an adjective (not about a chair, but still one of the usual meanings).
In the second, soft and hard are, of course, also real features. But in addition they are the names of the models and they are used in this way in the following text. I have a suspicion that they should be set off. Italic (like terms or emphases)? quotation marks (as non-standard(?) sense)? capital initial (as for proper names)? Something else or nothing?


texts: What's the difference between the words “heir”, “heritor” and “inheritor”?

texts:
What is the difference in meaning and/or usage between the words “heir”, “heritor” and “inheritor”?

Are they interchangeable synonyms or are there situations where some either don't apply or are preferable to use?

Related question with some information: https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/432460.

Definition of “heir”:

noun 1  a person who inherits or has a right of inheritance in the property of another following the
    latter's death.

 2  Law.

    a  (in common law) a person who inherits all the property of a deceased person, as by
       descent, relationship, will, or legal process.

    b  Civil Law. a person who legally succeeds to the place of a deceased person and assumes
       the rights and obligations of the deceased, as the liabilities for debts or the possessory
       rights to property.

 3  a person who inherits or is entitled to inherit the rank, title, position, etc., of another.

 4  a person or group considered as inheriting the tradition, talent, etc., of a predecessor.verb (used with object) 5  Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. to inherit; succeed to.

Source: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/heir.

NOUN1  A person legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that person's death.

   1.1  A person inheriting and continuing the legacy of a predecessor.

Source: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/heir.

noun1  : one who receives property from an ancestor : one who is entitled to inherit property

2  : one who inherits or is entitled to succeed to a hereditary rank, title, or office

3  : one who receives or is entitled to receive something other than property from a parent or predecessorverbtransitive verb
chiefly dialectal
: INHERIT

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heir.

Definition of “heritor”:

noun 1  inheritor.

Source: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/heritor.

NOUN   A person who inherits.

Source: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/heritor.

noun: one that inherits : INHERITOR

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heritor.

Definition of “inheritor”:

noun 1  a person who inherits; heir.

Source: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/inheritor.

NOUN   A person who inherits something; an heir.

Source: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/inheritor.


texts: What is the difference between "blurry" and "blurred"?

texts:
The two quotes below discuss the same topic.

Terry's tortured season took a surreal twist on Tuesday when a blurry image resembling him appeared on cigarette packets in India. GUARDIAN
A blurred picture closely resembling the 31-year-old appears above a "smoking kills" slogan. CNN

The definition of blurry and blurred is very identical whereupon blurred has an extended definition. From OALD:

blurry:
without a clear outline; not clear
blurred:
1 not clear; without a clear outline or shape
2 difficult to remember clearly
3 difficult to distinguish, so that differences are not clear

I think that blurry is a derivative of the noun blur while blurred stems from the verb blur. But I wonder why there exists two forms. I tried to find other words where derivatives of both noun and verb with seemingly the same meaning exists to compare their meanings but I didn't find any. Those words which came to my mind have in my opinion a distinction. For instance, washed and washy.
Even though the quotes from the articles give the appearance that they are identical, is there any subtle distinction between blurry and blurred or are they interchangeable without changing any connotation?


texts: Can I use "final copy" loosely and still sound correct?

texts:
I was working with a graphics designer who gave me three different iterations of a company logo. The last image looked identical to the second, to which I questioned, "is this the final copy?" He replied, "you should not use "final copy" as it refers to literary composition as in essays."

I don't understand why it could not be used to describe a company logo, graphic design, book, etc..

I searched the internet and found "final copy" used to describe research papers, letters, legal documents, and even manuscripts of the Hebrew bible.

In my example above I'm putting two words together "final" and "copy". They carry their literal meaning separately, where I find the context of "did you hand in your final copy to the professor?" is really just a lazy human shorthand to mean, "final copy of the research paper".

That being said, I feel in this context, "is this the final copy of the image?" --"final" is acting like an adjective and "copy" as its noun. Where as "did you hand in your final copy to the professor?" is acting like a two word noun.

Albeit the later seems like a more common expression, so that is maybe why the confusion?

Am I correct in my usage of these words?


texts:
What is the correct word to describe the level(degree) of greed?

Let's say in range between 0 (not greedy) and 10 (very greedy). Greedy or greediness?


texts: Does “to flatline” only means “to die”, or can it refer to an actual flat graph?

texts:
I was looking at this ngram which features a flat line meaning absolutely no usage of the word I was looking for. I thought about describing it in these terms:

  The Google ngram clearly flatlines

But then, I checked the New Oxford American Dictionary, which says:

  flatline  (verb intrans., informal)
  [of a person] die.

So, can flatline be used to denote an actual flat line on a graph, or is it only used figuratively?


texts: Is it "a grammar mistake" or "a grammatical mistake"

texts:
It seems to me that when we say "a grammatical mistake" it means a mistake that is grammatical in nature (something that is grammatical can't be a mistake, right?!), so i'd say "a grammar mistake" is correct. However, I've seen a lot of controversy about it. which one is correct?

thanks in advance


texts: "You reduced me to tears", What does it mean?

texts:
It is from an old movie. I don't remember the title but this sentence is also used in 'Grace Kelly' of Mika.

Does it mean 'You made me cry'?


texts: What is more appropriate to say “pay especial attention to” or “pay special attention to”

texts:
Merriam Webster

  Special

  1 : distinguished by some unusual quality especially : being in some
  way superior   2 : held in particular esteem   3 a : readily distinguishable from others of the same
  category : UNIQUE
  b : of, relating to, or constituting a species : SPECIFIC  4 : being
  other than the usual : ADDITIONAL, EXTRA  5 : designed for a
  particular purpose or occasion

and

  Especial

  being distinctive: as a : directed toward a particular individual,
  group, or end   b : of special note or importance : unusually great
  or significant  c : highly
  distinctive or personal : PECULIAR
  d : CLOSE, INTIMATE  e : SPECIFIC, PARTICULAR

Online Etymology Dictionary

  especial (adj.)

  late 14c., from Old French especial "pre-eminent, important," from Latin specialis "belonging to a particular kind or species," from
  species "kind" (see species).
      Latin words with initial sp-, st-, sc- usually acquired an e- when borrowed by Old French. Modern French has restored the word to
  spécial. Originally with the same sense as special, later restricted
  to feelings, qualities, etc.

I gather from these definitions, the proper adjective to use is “especial”- to pay especial attention to.  But I hardly encounter this use in common usage.

Any insight would be highly appreciated.


texts: Are all these prepositional phrases equally correct?

texts:
I'm trying to understand when to use classic compound prepositions. Is there any particular reason to prefer/avoid any of these patterns?

In what field could we put it where it wouldn't interfere with the existing code?
What field could we put it in where it wouldn't interfere with the existing code?
What field could we put it wherein it wouldn't interfere with the existing code?


texts:
Looking for a phrase or single word to describe the strategy which a person employs when she deals with another person in their own style.

For example: Let's say a person constantly says that God controls everything. Then one day that person whines about some event in her own life. You console her by saying to her the same thing which she constantly says - God controls everything.

You weren't really trying to console her. You just said this same sentence that she repeats so often without any seriousness.

This may be referred to as giving someone a taste of their own medicine but the difference is that you are not arguing/fighting with the other person. It is a friendly conversation in which you gave a smart answer.


texts: Is 'compatriate' really an English word?

texts:
I recently saw the word 'compatriate' used in a newspaper article. Upon looking it up, suspecting a typo (or even an eggcorn: it is easy to see how compatriot would be mixed-up with expatriate etc.), I was surprised to see Wiktionary vouch for the word with the sole explanation: "Alternative spelling of compatriot".

However, not only did my googling yield extremely few credible uses of this spelling, none of the dictionaries I have access to have ever heard of it: both dictionary.com and Merriam Webster do not return anything.

While I don't want to cast unfair aspersions on Wiktionary's reliability, I find it slightly suspicious that no other online sources mention this spelling...
And if it is an acceptable spelling, I would love to know what is its relation to the main spelling and whether it is tied to particular regional or historical practices.


texts:
I'd like to know what "the which" in the following passages refers to. While the "the which" in the second instance clearly refers to the large parlour, that in the first is quite unclear, even dubious on grammatical grounds.

The fearful passage of their death-marked love,

And the continuance of their parents’ rage,

Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,

Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;

The which if you with patient ears attend,

What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

(From Romeo and Juliet)

Then he took him by the hand, and led him into a very large parlour that was full of dust, because never swept ; the which, after he had reviewed a little while, the Interpreter called for a man to sweep.

(from The Pilgrim's Progress)


texts: What does “a Kosher ham” signify in the line, “Stone described himself as a kosher ham ready to go to the opening of door.”?

texts:
I found the article titled, How Jackie O played matchmaker to two of America’s greatest minds appearing in Vanity Fair (May 18) very interesting and informative, but am curious to know what the expression, “a kosher ham” in the following passage in the essay implies about the investigative journlist I.F. Stone:

  Stone had once described himself to me as a kosher ham ready to go to the opening of a door, and when I called him he accepted immediately. Finley was tougher—not exactly a recluse but also not known to stray frequently from Cambridge except to go to his summer home in New Hampshire. Yet he’d read the Times piece on Stone and said he’d be delighted to come. [Emphasis added]

What does “a Kosher ham” mean as a metaphor for someone who is ready to go the opening of a door?


texts: When one have a Master's Degree, he's educated to ... level?

texts:
For example, if someone has a Bachelor's Degree, we can say that he's educated to degree level.

So, when the same guy obtains a Master's Degree, how would you say that same sentence? He's educated to ... level.


texts: How to write a date range (e.g., 6 May to 8 June) in a way that is concise and unambiguous?

texts:
In general, I try to write dates as one of:

2014-01-03
3 Jan 2013
3 January 2013

avoiding slashes altogether so as to avoid any ambiguity with American date formats.  That said, I've never found a good solution for situations where you need a short format (without the year), especially when dealing with ranges.
What's a good way of handling something like:
E-mail support rotation

 | Date        | Name |
 | ----------- | ---- |
 | 1/3  – 1/9  | John |
 | 1/10 – 1/16 | Jill |
 | 1/17 – 1/23 | Mark |

in a way that works on both sides of the pond?


texts: Word for "picking up something quickly/abruptly?"

texts: Say, you'd been expecting a call and the person suddenly calls. Is there a word that feels more 'rushed' than pick up? I checked Thesaurus but none of the synonyms seems to fit the purpurse.


texts: Positive single-word adjective for "second best"

texts:
I am giving myself a performance review and I want to say that I am assigning myself the second best rating possible (as we all know that picking the top choice will lead to eye-rolling).

Simply stating "I have chosen to give myself the second-best possible score" doesn't show the regard that I have for that ranking. Second-best often has a negative connotation, and I do not wish to make that connection.

I want a word that is strictly ordinal along the lines of "the penultimate ranking" but as our rankings go from best to worst, I believe penultimate will imply that I am choosing the second-worst ranking.


texts: What is the origin of ‘turnout’ as it relates to attendance?

texts:
I have searched but can’t find an origin of turnout, especially as it relates to attendance and/or elections.

Example sentences

  They had a large turnout at the meeting.
  35% turnout is pretty good for a school election.

Also I can’t find if 'turnout' in the meaning of attendance is related to ‘turn out’ as it relates to an outcome.

Dictionary.com says the first recorded use was in 1680-90, but I couldn't find a source for that on the page. Wiktionary lists the 3 uses of the phrase, but not its origin.

  Etymology
  turn + out, from the phrasal verb.

This question asks about the origin of the phrase 'turns out' when used as 'prove to be, transpire, become apparent' but not as it relates to attendance.


texts:
I have two notions that are similar the one is called "full group algebra" and the other "reduced group algebra".

How do I combine those with an "and"? Can I abbreviate it to

"there is the full and reduced group algebra",

or do I have to say "there is the full group algebra and the reduced group algebra"?

Thanks in advance!


texts:
"His wife was of Chinese ancestry."

What does it mean by "was of"?


texts: "I thought about how this machine works/worked." (confusion about past vs. present)

texts:
I'm not certain about which tense to use in this sentence: "I thought about how this machine _____." (This is coming from a scenario where I had previously used the machine and started to think about its inner-mechanisms.)

Would I use "worked", since my thought occurred in the past, or "works", since I am assuming the machine still works to the present day?


texts: Something describing a fully-fledged idea, full-blown

texts:
I'm looking for a word, or concise phrase that describes something. (So, this isn't just a single-word-request, and I'm unsure how to tag it.)

First, some examples of things that are close, but may not quite be what I'm trying to describe:

Visual artists (painters, sculptors, etc), often get a vision of something, then try to render their vision concrete using a medium and/or particular style.

  "When Michelangelo looked at the block of marble he was to carve he looked beyond the outside and saw the shape of the statue he was about to create."

Musicians often have a 'sound' (or melody) in their head, that they try to make real.

(I can't find the good quote I recall):

  "You will never come on anything in nature that sounds like a symphony."

So, for those artists it's not unusual to say that what they're aiming for is fully-formed in their head (yes, I realize not all visual or sound (aural? auditory?) art is created this way).  The only problem the artists with these visions encounter is the time, labor, and the struggle with materials and technique to get something close to their vision out into reality.

But it is unusual, but not unheard of, for authors to get something like this artistic vision.  Sometimes the muse (or monkey on their back) is beating down the doors - and things blossom, fully-formed - just sitting in their head, just waiting to come out - they flow.

  "Well, The Princess Bride opened itself to me. I never had a writing experience like it. ... and it all just came out."

...

  "The first time I wrote a real play, I was in college, eating breakfast, and heard a single line of dialogue echoing over and over in my mind.  Intrigued, I moved to the typewriter (yes, it was that long ago) and took dictation (there's no other word for it) for two straight hours during which the characters, their plight, and every aspect of the drama was thrown at me at blazing speed without a moment of hesitation, doubt, or contemplative thought.  The play (a one-act) was produced in college, produced professionally, and hardly a line changed from that first astounding burst."

A word that doesn't quite capture this experience: Promethean (the experience or result doesn't have to be boldly creative, which Promethean implies).

@vstrong has mentioned, and I have thought of describing it as Athenian, but is that a recognized/popular meaning for that word (is that word popularly used, even)?  If I use that word, are most literate people going to understand my meaning - or are they going to have to derive it from their knowledge of Greek/Roman myth (scanty in this day and age) and contextual clues?  Because mostly, when I run across that word, I associate that with residents of Athens, Greece - and I have a fair grounding in myth, which it seems most people do not.


texts: What is the origin & meaning of "It used to drive me spare"?

texts:
While watching the eponymous documentary on Stephen Hawking, his wife described her husband's behaviour when he was deep in thought. She said he could be surrounded by children and not even notice what was going on. She then said, "It used to drive me spare."
I got the gist that she meant it drove her perhaps crazy or to despair. Is this a British idiom? If so, how did it originate? Was there an omission in the phrase?
How does one get to spare from annoyed/upset?
I think that while the previous post is somewhat plausible, it is rather tenuous. To go spare (becoming unemployed) and being driven spare (getting angry) seems quite a leap to me.
To me, even extreme anger and being distraught are two entirely different emotions. The link to loss of employment appears speculative in my mind.


texts:
Hello everybody I am an enthusiastic English learner and I would like to ask a question about noun clauses. Knowing the fact that noun clauses are group of words that take place as a noun in sentences I still feel indecisive about the following usages.

  The error is resulting from that the information is not returned correctly.

The part

  that the information is not returned correctly

is a noun clause, and what I initially thought was that I can use this like a noun in a sentence. However, after a bit of a search I have not encountered any example like this. Another example can be :

  We are talking about that he is not as hardworking as Clara.

But the following sounds more correct :

  We are talking about the fact that he is not as hardworking as Clara

Are the above sentences correct ? If not what is the  part that I am misunderstanding here ?
Thank you all for your time.


texts: We had an English test today and the correct answer to one question was "I am not about this week. I work in Romania" Is this correct and if yes what does it mean?


texts: Single-word/Expression/Phrase for a name which pretends to be represent a thing that it is not. Example: PATRIOT Act

texts:
"The Patriot Act is anything but patriotic, it's a _____________."
Not the greatest example depending on your political view (sorry AuthRight), but I'm going off of the interpretation that the legislation named the USA PATRIOT Act purports itself to be something you would of course support if you were a patriotic person. Despite this, many believe the PATRIOT Act to be something entirely the opposite of patriotic.
So the term should describe something intentionally deceptive (perhaps to gain psychological influence). Homonym doesn't convey this intent. Malaprop describes a mistaken intent to a similar sounding word, but not a deceptive one. Contradiction in terms or Oxymoron describe a phrase that self-contradicts, but only one between the words it uses, not its external interpretation.
Single-word, phrases, and expressions all acceptable.


texts:
A quick question. Is it possible to use 'so' for emphasis in the following sentence:

Indeed, the religious ethos so permeates the book

If so, should the following clause be a that-clause? '..so permeates the book that..'

Thank you!


texts:
What is the correct term for this kind of short dialog with a moral?
I heard this short story about a Native American woman and her grandson:

Grandma: There are two wolves in my heart.  One is loving, the other is vicious.  They are at war.
Grandson: Which will win?
Grandma: The one I feed.

When I read this, it was tagged as a "proverb".  But I think a proverb is a statement, not a dialogue.  That means "proverb" would be the wrong term for this.


texts: What is the meaning of *them* in this sentence? I mean what does them refer to in this sentence?

texts:
Do you remember the first time you talked about our future together and I said: “I’ll think about it later”?
  I lied. I lied that I can be with you forever and never leave.
  Do you remember our movie nights when you said how fun it would be if we’ll stay like this forever? I was afraid. Afraid, that I can’t stay like that forever.
  The kindness and love that you carry inside your heart can melt anyone. But why didn’t those three magical words try to come outside of me, ever wondered? The answer is commitment.
  Commitment, which forces you to stay there and stick. Commitment has always been a scary thought to me. Maybe I’m afraid of a forever.
  Do you think I’m the only one who tries to repel people who get too close to them?

(Story by Rashi Arora (@rashiousness) for The Scribbled Stories)


texts: What are general rules of thumb for creating adjectives with -able? I wanted to denote an object as having an ability to be tiled, but "tileable" and "tilable" both yielded as incorrect words by spell check and standard English dictionary used by Mac OS X dictionary widget. Is "tileable" or "tilable" a correct word/form for denoting an object having an ability to be tiled?


texts: "To market, to market, to buy a fresh pig" vs "To the markets" valid English?

texts:
Is the phrase "to market" as in "going to the markets" valid use of the English language?

I can think of two examples in local Australian vernacular:

The Nursery Rhyme:
"To market, to market, to buy a fresh pig"

[Going to the markets, to the markets, to buy a fresh pig]
An advertising jingle:
"You haven't been to market until you've been to Paddy's"

[You have been to an authentic markets until you've been to Paddy's]

Or this is just an historic use of the English language that we never lost?


texts: Term for actively opting out of a requirement to see if it is truly required

texts:
There was a term or phrase I encountered years ago which encompassed the idea of not doing an action to see if there is any blowback.  If no blowback occurs then it is considered an efficiency improvement as that requirement can be skipped/omitted in the future.
Worker "I stopped filing my weekly TPS reports months ago and nobody has said anything so it seems clear they aren't looking at them."
Manager "Good catch, this is a XXXXX.  We will decommission this process and roll it out across the department."
I want to say this came either from accounting or corporate management domain.
EDIT:
As per clarification request, this would be the noun of what an improvement of this nature is.  Process improvement would be the general term, however a specific term for this type of process improvement exists.  Also it is specifically just not doing it rather than bringing attention to it as a problem.


texts: Word to encompass service, booking, order and reservation

texts:
I'm looking for a word that can be used for services, bookings, products and reservations.

For example, at a hotel you can reserve a tennis court, book a conference room, order room service and request a wake up service.

What single word can I use that encompasses all of these?


texts:
Which one is more correct?

  Money transfer

or

  Wire transfer

EDIT: the context is the typical web form where a user can choose the type of payment. "Credit card", rather than "Paypal", rather than "Money/Wire transfer".

In Italian there is a specific name for such type of transaction (the Money/Wire transfer, this is the reason why I'm asking).


texts: What does the term 'labels' imply in this context?

texts:
"Labels are a necessity in the organization of knowledge, but they
also constrain our understanding."

I'm interested in what the word labels implies.
According to the definition in the Cambridge Dictionary, it means: a word or a phrase that is used to describe the characteristics or qualities of people, activities, or things, often in a way that is unfair.
In light of that, does it strictly refer to describing characteristics in an unfair fashion or does it simply refer to the use of adequate terminology, which can be unfair in some respect.


texts:
What is the opposite of interorganization? Is it even a correct word?

Interorganization means the things that happen inside the organization (I think). What about the things that happen outside of the organization?


texts:
I am grading papers and came upon the following sentence: "Candide becomes immoral..."

It bothers me -- I am of the sense that a person can become amoral, but I'm not sure what it would mean for a person to become immoral. A person can certainly perform immoral actions or espouse positions which go against a standard of morality, but can the person be immoral -- can "immoral" modify the person in some sense? Is this too much a philosophy question and not enough an English usage question?


texts: What is the rhetorical device in this type of sentence?

texts:
When she sang she could make a fence post cry.

I received this answer from a reliable source that the whole thing’s a metaphor, last part is anthropomorphizing (the fence crying).


texts: Does a possessive still require an apostrophe when a noun has been omitted to avoid repetition?

texts:
This is quite hard to explain (and seemingly impossible to search for on Google) so here's an example: In relation to dogs and their owners (masters), I saw this sentence: "Their understanding of the subject is as good as their masters."

Does the word "masters" require a possessive apostrophe, even though the noun "understanding" has been omitted from the end of the sentence in order to avoid repetition?


texts: What's the auditory equivalent of seeing at a glance and smelling in a whiff?

texts: I'm thinking of something like listening/recognizing at a beat/heartbeat.


texts: Can you refer to yourself with "yourself" instead of "myself"? Is this interchangeable?

texts:
For example:

"Yes, I like to read news from other part of the world because it's a good way to keep yourself up to date with the rest of the world."

using yourself to refer to reading news as "a good way to keep up with the rest of the world" while still referring to myself as the subject

instead of going with "Yes, I like to read news from other part of the world because it's a convenient way for me to keep myself up to date with the rest of the world."


texts: Is there a noun denoting a person who is confused and awkward due to trauma?

texts:
What I'm looking for is a noun describing someone confused and awkward as a result of trauma.

The word should replace MAN in the following sentence:

  He's no longer the floundering MAN I remember from the day of the accident: his eyes are focussed and determined, his gestures commanding.

This would be similar to the noun "coward" describing someone who lacks courage.

Is there such a word for someone who is confused or insecure?

Also, the one answer offered ("wallflower") perfectly describes someone who is awkward, but not in this context (not related to trauma). I need something more formal, a noun for a person traumatised rather than shy.


texts: Comma after ellipsis when ellipsis is used to show hesitation?

texts:
I like using ellipsis for hesitation, but I'm not sure how to correctly punctuate when I use it in the middle of a sentence. Here's a sentence I quickly made up. Which one would be the correct one?

One:

  "I went to the store today...and I bought you your favorite drink!"

Two:

  "I went to the store today...,and I bought you your favorite drink!"

Three:

  "I went to the store today... and I bought you your favorite drink!"

How would I go about punctuating this if a comma goes before "and," but an ellipsis is placed before "and"? Since ellipsis is technically its own piece of punctuation, would example two be correct?


texts: "Approach mathematics like/as a creative activity"

texts:
Given the sentence:

  Teachers in this country have generally been trained either to approach mathematics like/as a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles without truly understanding how to apply them.

Should I use like or as?


texts: I'm confused about the usage of "grade" in educational contexts in the UK. Can you please give me some examples on how you would use it?

texts:
I have searched the web but I can't get my head around it still. I know that "grades" are used in the US system, but I've read that this will be the case in  the UK in 2018 too.

In this case would the word be used in the same way it is used in the US?

Here's the link in case anyone's interested:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/844937/GCSE-results-day-2017-grades-what-are-new-grading-system


texts: Is Anglophone interchangeable with English speaker?

texts:
I found the following answer to the question asking “Language understandable to English speaker without learning” posted in EL&U site:

  “Conversational German would be somewhat accessible to a native
  English speaker, but aside from conversational pleasantries afforded
  us all by UG, most Anglophones do not understand German.”

I’m curious to know whether there is a significant difference of meaning and nuance between English speakers and Anglophones.

OED simply defines ‘Anglophone’ as an English-speaking person, while CED defines it as a person who speaks English, especially in countries where other languages are also spoken,-e.g. Kenya and Zimbabwe, and Merriam-Webster defines it as the adjective and noun - consisting of or belonging to an English-speaking population especially in a country where two or more languages are spoken.

What is the exact definition of Anglophone? Does it mean only English speaking people of the countries that once were ruled or under the influence of the British Empire including India, Hongkong, Singapore and South Africa?

Are English speaking Belgian, French, Dutch, German, Swiss of the countries where other languages are also spoken Anglophone? How about Japanese, Chinese, or Korean English speakers?

Is there word, native Anglophone as well as native English speaker?


texts: Dear Dr. vs Hi vs none in E-mail communication

texts:
I am in contact with the my doctor by email. We exchange about 3 messages per week, today we exchanged 2 messages. Now I have a situation where I think it is a bit silly to write each time Dear Dr. Lastname. For example:
I send him question

Dear Dr. Lastname,
question here
Kind Regards,
FirstName LastName

he reply me within 2 hours. Should I write again Dear Dr. Lastime? And the same each time? Or maybe just Hi or just short answer for example

Yes, I confirm.


texts:
A case refers to a "binding" or authoritative decision made by the court.
Binding is a verb, noun or an adjective?


texts: Expression for a frustrated, annoyed double-take

texts:
Let us take a specific situation.

You are facing a person you find extremely annoying. The person is finding faults in your ways and pointing them out in a rather blunt manner. They are making high demands, being obnoxious and really getting under your skin. Worst of all, they are right on all accounts and your argument with that person is quickly turning into a losing battle.
And on top of that, the person is using a really annoying dialect, something you can't hold against them but it really brushes you the wrong way.
Yet another point in your argument is raised, stated in that annoying dialect, and as you utter your angry, frustrated (and wrong) rebuttal, you find yourself replying using the same terrible dialect. You stop and correct yourself immediately, but during the second before correcting yourself, you...

scoff? The dictionary definition suggests scoffing is more similar to annoyed, dismissive laugh. This is more about grinding your teeth in frustration. How would you describe such an expression?


texts:
What is the difference among expressions of "classify something as"

classify something as A or B
classify something as A and B
classify something as either A or B
classify something into A and B


texts:
Is there one? Context: Trying to define a learning workflow like below in trello

Knowledge deficit area => Getting a rough idea => Building a foundation => Applying the knowledge


texts: "Scare quotes" and placement of question mark--inside or outside?

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  Did you know you can donate "stuff"?

"Stuff" in this case means "anything besides cash." It's the lead-in to an article informing users on a charity's website that they can gift things like stocks, bonds, vehicles, real estate, commodities, jewelry, and other non-cash assets.

The APA Style Guide says to put question marks:

Inside, if question mark or exclamation point is part of quoted material
Outside, if question mark or exclamation point is not part of quoted material

What makes me uncertain about my example sentence is that I'm not sure how to properly apply the "quoted material" test. It seems to me that the quote marks are being used here as scare quotes, to signal unusual usage, or perhaps it's nonstandard usage where a typographic change, like italicizing or bolding, would be more appropriate.

In any case, the bottom line is the quotes are not being used to denote "quoted material," at least in the sense of "material that is being quoted from elsewhere." This APA rule seems to be only addressing that type of quotation mark usage. So I'm not sure whether the question marks should go inside or outside the quote marks.

The simplest "solution" is to interpret "quoted material" to mean anything that is in quote marks, whether or not clearly a quote of content from another author or location. Is this an appropriate interpretation?

I'm particularly interested in references to reputable sources that address this question. Thank you!


texts: Word/Idiom/Phrase to describe a stage in a project's life-cycle when you are stuck and thus no progress is happening?

texts:
Sometimes while working on a project, we get stuck. We run into a problem which we are not able to solve despite of trying for some time (a few days or weeks). Sometimes we don't even know what is causing the problem, and hence we can't find a fix.

This is a state in which all progress in the project is halted (till the problem is solved).

Is there a word/idiom/phrase to describe this state, or to say that you are in such a state?

I'll appreciate appropriate expression(s) in the context of programming projects, as well as those for any kind of project really.


texts:
So I heard this sentence and also few contradictions about that.
Does it mean that when they entered, he was already gone because he had there been before them?
Or he just was there before them and still is..


texts:
When I explain something to my friend and I want to make sure they got what I said, what should I say?

"Do you understand?"
"Did you understand?"
"Have you understood?"

etc.


texts: Something that sounds good but has no true meaning

texts:
I am looking for a single word to describe this case.

Lets say someone makes a claim and tries to back it up but fails at doing so.
These words do sound pleasurable perhaps filled with platitudes, often used to communicate good intentions but lacking meaning or reason.
It's the best I can do to describe this.

The word is close to something like this "those are just a bunch of syllables"


texts: Can I use "here" when I am not physically in a place?

texts:
Let's say I am on a trip (in France) and I am telling a story, in some place from this history I say:

  I lived in Alabama for about a year and worked as a musician but last year I moved to New York; here the people speak really fast and sometimes I do not understand them.

If I am speaking over that specific time. Is that here right? Or should it be there?


texts: What's the difference between: Is it ok for you?, and: Is it ok with you?

texts:
What is the difference and in which context you can use:

Is it ok for you?

or:

Is it ok with you?


texts:
Compare these 2 sentences:

The capital of Belgium is Brussels.
Brussels is the capital of Belgium.

I have a few questions:

What is the grammatical name of the non-subject, non-verb part in the first sentence?
If you dissect these sentences, you have the structure noun-verb-noun (I think). How can you can you tell which of the 2 nouns is the subject and which is the other grammatical construct?
is the verb "to be" transitive or intransitive in this case?


texts: Word for the property changed by reflection

texts:
If I take a shape and its mirror image, what is the word for the property in which the two differ? For example, they differ in position after a translation, or orientation after a rotation.

If the original shape had its vertices labeled clockwise, then this word would pick out whether or not the vertices remained clockwise or not (and would still apply for non-chiral shapes like squares where the mirror image would otherwise look the same).


texts: Are adverbs frowned upon in proper English (academic writing)?

texts:
I understand that "proper English" is vague, but what I mean is, are adverbs to be avoided in scholarly writing? For example, let's say that I am wanting to publish an article in scholarly magazine for college English professors. Would the readers of that magazine generally look down upon a frequent use of adverbs as "fluff."

The reason I ask is because my English professor showed our class the "Hemingway Application." According to hemingwayapp.com, the purpose of the program is to make your writing "bold and clear." One of the ways it supposedly does this is highlighting the adverbs so that you can replace them with "verbs with force." So, what is the problem with adverbs, and what would be an example of a verb "with force?" Lastly, could you please use an example where an adverb is used, then replace it with a verb "with force."


texts: Is there a phrase that sounds like "perform our cell"?

texts:
It sounds like the lecturer is saying

  Before solving the puzzle, let's write a
  second version of this function that is
  more compact. We will call this function
  random walk 2. We will perform our cell
  and programmers duty and write a
  docstring.

I am confused about the last sentence. Writing a docstring is one of the duties of programmers; this is easy to understand. What does "perform our cell" mean? I searched this phrase on many online dictionaries and got no results.

Could someone give a clue?


texts:
According to Longman Dictionary, painfully means :

  1-  very – used to emphasize a bad or harmful quality that someone or something has
  2- needing a lot of effort

This is the text:

  "...and his college basketball days are far enough behind him that his chest muscles have turned into saggy manboobs that were painfully obvious through his freebie dot-com polo shirts." - Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Is it "very obvious to find out" or "it needs a lot effort to find it out"?


texts:
I wrote the following line in my thesis acknowledgment, while talking about my supervisor who carefully edited my thesis.

  If this thesis reads uncluttered and effective, it would be for his elaborate, meticulous feedback.

I am not sure if this sentence is grammatically right (reads - would). Also does it make a claim that my thesis is so and so, or rightly conveys the conditional context?

My brain became completely numb after two months of writing. Can anyone please edit this sentence for me?


texts: Is there a word or term for condemning/ judgmental rage?

texts: I was simply looking for a better word/ term to replace condemning/ judgmental rage. More basically, I'm looking for a word/ term for when you are openly and angrily judging someone.


texts:
We use this phrase to announce some voting-like results:

  1 million and counting

This is for something which we expect to increase in the future, but what phrase can we use for something that will decrease in the future, like time,

For example, for the phrase 50 days are left,

  50 days and reverse counting

Is this the phrase to use, or is there any other term or phrase that can be used?


texts: I'm worried that 'take advantage' could have a slightly negative connotation. Could you say "make advantage [of a situation]"?


texts: Error with "...underachievers who loaf around the house until well passing their college years."

texts:
I'm having a problem with this error identification test. The question goes...

  The cost of living has skyrocketed, unemployment has gone up, going to
  college doesn't guarantee you can get a good job, and many young
  people are underachievers who loaf around the house until well passing
  their college years.

  Skyrocketed
  Going to college
  Loaf around
  Well passing

I am rather confident that the answer is 4. Well passing, but I'm having a hard time finding a reasonable explanation and coming up with how 'well passing' should be changed to make this sentence grammatically correct.

I thought about changing it into its present form, which is 'well pass'. Though I am not sure if that works. It sounds kinda odd to me.


texts:
So I know that the following sentence is correct:
"Had I known about that, I wouldn't have talked to her."

However is this one correct too?
"I wouldn't have talked to her had I known about that."

Edit:
I specifically mean using the inverted form in the second part of the sentence. I spoke to my English teacher about this and she insisted that the inversion can only be used at the start of the conditional sentence. That's where my question comes from.


texts:
According to Phrase Finder the expression "mad as a March hare" dates back to the 16th century and refers to the breeding season of hares.

Is there evidence of a different or earlier origin of this saying?


texts:
What does "double up" mean in the context of a military formation?
Here are some example usages:

upon the appearance of any troops [...] the battalion should then
march in four grand divisions, the platoons being ordered to double up
to the left
A treatise of military discipline, pg. 148
"Left file!" ordered Luerryn. "Wheel out into the beans! Double up!
Staggered formation! Right file! Double up! Staggered formation! Keep
firing!"
Treachery's Tools ,pg. 430
The gunnel men double up for the ways, and bring them down to the water edge.
Military Bridging, pg. 87


texts: Are obvious and evident totally synonymous?  I've noticed that both are generally translated to the same French word.  However, as a native English speaker I kinda interpret them differently; obvious indicates that something should be known to people already because it is common knowledge, or because it doesn't require complex thought to determine, whereas evident suggests that something is obvious because there is a lot of evidence showing its truth.  Do others make this distinction or am I alone here?  :-)


texts:
I am trying to figure out what the correct preposition would be (and why):

  Camera calibrated to/into/? optimal settings

Thanks


texts: Can I "denote X by Y" in a mathematics paper?

texts:
It comes as no surprise that the word "denote" appears quite frequently in mathematics, mostly in the context where succinct notation is being introduced for
some object.

As far as I understand, it's uncontroversial to say "Let N denote the set of positive integers".

However, that does not quite convey the intended meaning (at least for me): It's the speaker(s) who assign the meaning "the set of positive integers" to the symbol "N". This tempts many (myself included) to instead say:

"We denote the set of positive integers by/with N".

This is often criticised as incorrect, but I've also heard it being defended. So, is the latter usage correct?


texts:
Computer science uses the term "persistence" to describe, basically, data that sticks around after the device is turned off. The corresponding verb is "to persist".

What I'm looking for is a noun to describe the object doing the persisting.  Should it be persister or persistor?  And more importantly, why?

"Persister" is actually recognized by the dictionary and the spell-checker, so it would seem to be the obvious choice.  It is also far more common on a NGram comparison.  However, most of the uses appear to be education-related (one who persists with their education) or biology-related, not computer-related.

On the other hand, a Google search for "persistor" turns up mainly computer science results, like Persistor.Net and mongo-persistor.  Personally, this usage feels like a more intuitive spelling, perhaps due to the correspondence with "actor".

I know from this related question about -er and -or that both are valid suffixes to form an "agent noun" and that -er is more common in English.  But does that make -er more correct in this case?  Is there some linguistic reason driving the more prevalent use of -or in computer science circles, or is it simply a stylistic choice?


texts: I'm confused by the following sentence, can somebody explain to me about its sentence structure?

texts:
"She visits weekly to verify addresses, and check residents have
  registered all their details in accordance with the law".

What does it really want to illustrate? Does it mean that she checks to confirm whether all of the residents have registered all their details in accordance with the law? Or is it just an assertive sentence? I'm so confused by this kind of structure, because I'm a Chinese speaker.


texts:
[OED:] want {verb} = 1. a. intr. To be lacking or missing; not to exist; not to be forthcoming; to be deficient in quantity or degree.
   In early use const. with dative or to. rare since the 17th c., and now arch.

  3.
  †b. to want of : to lack, not to have, or to have in insufficient measure: = the trans. sense 2.

  3. c. to want for: (chiefly in negative context) to suffer from the want of; to be ill-provided with; in later use also, to be lacking in (some quality).
  to want for nothing: to have no lack of any of the necessaries or comforts of life.

Here, I ask only about the olden definitions of 'want', namely those that mean 'to lack'.
Particularly, what are the origins of the prepositions in the prepositional verbs containing want, such as 3b and 3c above? Do these prepositions mean anything?

Per Wikipedia, the prepositions in certain 'phrasal verbs' can be interpreted as metaphors of the original core meaning (except those that defy the principle of compositionality).
So can the prepositions for want above be explained likewise?  Please expose and explain any (hidden and missing) semantic drifts and links.


texts:
If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20003949-71.html#ixzz1E2gBVWga

What does the which mean?


texts: "Check out the big brain on Brett!" Is there a word or phrase to describe verbatim quotations from films?

texts:
There are quite a few examples of idioms, phrases, or even single words, specially coined for a movie scene or a television sitcom.  When adolescents hear these new expressions and find them interesting, they incorporate them into their vocabulary. That tends to be short-lived, though. Here are a few examples:

"Check out the big brain on Brett!"  If you saw "Pulp Fiction", the movie, you probably remember the scene when Jules and Vincent ask Brett "what do they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France?".
Fred Flintstone's "Ya-ba da-ba doo"
Monty Python's "upper-class twit"

They are not exactly slang phrases. Is there a word or phrase for these temporary acquisitions?


texts: What is the difference between using a colon and a semi-colon to join two sentences?

texts:
I've seen a few questions on this site relating to semi-colons, which I believe I correctly understand, but what I'm not as clear about is colons.  For example:

  The man ate the apple; it tasted good.

Is this not correctly also written as:

  The man ate the apple: it tasted good.

In this case, what is the difference between the two sentences?


texts:
What would you paraphrase the following sentence?

  The body is limited in ways that the mind is not.

I think this sentence means, "The body is limited, but the mind is not."

Am I right?


texts: Looking for a formal equivalent phrase for the adverb "personally"

texts:
Which one is correct: "personal basis" or "individual basis"? I want to use it in a formal letter. I want to say: "I don't know Mr. X on a personal basis (or individual basis) and I have not had an opportunity to work with him". I want to avoid saying "I don't know Mr. X on personally". In fact, I am looking for an equivalent phrase for the adverb "personally".

Could someone help me?


texts: Is there a word to describe when an argument is pulled to the same topic

texts:
I often end up debating politics and the general state of the world with a friend, however, the friend now believes that all issues are related to essentially 2 root causes. It is now at the point where no matter which topic we open for discussion, the discussion will be short circuited within minutes to 1 or both of these 2 root issues.
Needless to say, this doesn't leave for a very rich conversation or debate.
Is there a word to describe this?


texts:
How can I describe that the financial crisis got worse in two ways:

it involved more people
it increased in intensity

Is there a particular phrase I can use that captures both aspects?


texts: Expression to describe 'making a final effort'

texts:
I wonder if there is an idiom for this sentence: "After so much work, you must make a final effort." or "You got this far, just another step"
Many thanks


texts: The difference between 'I don't know nothing else' and 'I know nothing else'

texts:
What is the difference between the following?

I don't know nothing else

and

I know nothing else

There's a don't in the first sentence, however both sentences translated the same in google translator. So, are they used interchangeably?


texts:
My friends have a variety of ways of pronouncing "Tuesday":

Tooos-day
Tyu-sday
Choose-day

Which one is considered correct?


texts: Should "Holler Nuff" be considered archaic?

texts: I faced this expression when I was reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. At first, it was easy to understand, because "Holler" and "Nuff" make sense in the context. However, I had some difficulty finding it on the web or dictionaries.


texts: Difference between "Never Yet" vs "Ever Yet" vs "Yet"

texts:
What is the difference between the three?

Specifically, I always thought that "yet" has an implied "never". Is this not true?

Edit: No sources or research material here listed because I was unable to find a site that explains these adverbs in these orders or contrast them.

If you would like to suggest a site, I'd happily oblige. Moderators: I could move it to English Learners Stacks, as you guys have suggested for my previous questions, but answers have been less than helpful in past experiences. (I.e. "It depends on context" - with no further explanation of context).


texts:
I've just finished to read the book "Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death" and there is one sentence I don't really understand... What does "Real knicker-rotter" mean? Is there any word going instead of?
Sorry if my english is too bad, I'm not fluent, ahah.

['Here she comes!' screeched Roy, one of her assistants. 'Made some special champagne punch, Aggie. Real knicker-rotter.']


texts: Why do some people refer to jars as "glass jars"? Aren't all jars made of glass?

texts: A jar is defined as "a glass container with a lid" (MacMillan). At one time, people differentiated between glass and earthenware jars but to my mind, there are only glass jars these days. Is there a need to refer to a jar as a "glass jar"? Isn't it sufficient to simply call it a jar?


texts: 'Forward' pronounced more often as 'foward'?

texts:
'Forward', in General American English (GenAmE), is typically pronounced

  ˈfȯr-wərd

with strong first r and a little weaker second r (GenAmE is very rhotic).

But anecdotally, I'm hearing more and more people pronounce it by dropping the first r:

  ˈfow-wərd

the first r dropped and vowel hanged to a diphthong (to rhyme with 'toe').

The phenomenon would be classic dissimilation ... except I am unsure of how widespread the change is.

Is there any evidence that this is widespread? Or am I just happening to hear the very earliest stage of the change? Or are the couple of people I hear this from just making a mistake?

(I hear the word often enough in the relatively new phrase 'going forward' to mean 'in the near future')


texts: What do you call doing someone a favor but then talking about it making her feel indebted to you?

texts:
This friend of mine did me a favor but he then talked about it as if I now owe him.

What is the verb for such an behavior?

Example:

  Alan: Hey I did that but it was really hard. I usually don't do that for
  anyone. It took a long time of me.
  Bill: Ow, yeah, now you are ________ . When you do someone a favor, it is not nice to ________ [about it].

I am looking for a verb to fill in the blanks above.

One might call it "bragging" but that is not the word I am looking for. This type of behavior, usually in the form of talking, makes the other party feel as if he or she owes something to the speaker. We do not like people doing it: if someone do us a favor, we like that they do not talk about it as a favor, making it like a big deal, and making us feel as if we owe them. I want a verb for that act.

I found this idiom which means what I want, though the source might not be that reliable:

  To cast a favor in someone's teeth

    When you cast a favor in someone's teeth you want to make that person
    feel that s/he is indebted to you.

But I am still looking.


texts:
The phrase is "this is beyond uninspired".
Thank you for your answers.


texts:
If I want to question someone about for how many hours a computer is turned on and running - and by the time of the question it is still running - which of the constructions below is more appropriate?

For how long has your computer been running?

For how long has your computer been run?

First of all, I'm not sure if construction number 1 is grammatically correct,
and secondly, in construction number 2 it seems the computer is not running anymore;
am I right?


texts: What word best represents the concept of data that can be easily used by a computer?

texts:
I want to find a word that encapsulates the concept of information that can be easily parsed by a computer and does not require a human to interpret the concepts.

Imagine you are filling out a form at your doctors office.  One section is for describing your illness.  One form may have a large blank area for you to write a paragraph describing your symptoms in sentences.  Another form may have check boxes with predefined symptoms and you select those to best describe your illness and assign numbers to indicate how bad that symptom is.  The form with check boxes and numbers is easily parsed by a computer, the form with a blank text area requires the computer to understand your language and also understand the concepts of your illness.

What word describes the data that comes from these two forms?  The form with check boxes provides data that is not open to interpretation and is better for computer processing.  The form with the open field for using natural language is loose and open to interpretation and probably requires human interaction.  I feel like there is a word that a data scientist would use to describe the quality or accuracy of the data. The best I can think of is objective.


texts: If we divide 'withdrawal' into prefix, root, and suffix; how will it be?

texts: Like when we say un-happi-ness (prefix, root, and suffix), how can we divide withdrawal?


texts: What would be the closest thing to an antonym for the word "Perception" (noun), which means "that which is received through the senses"? It seems like there are no definite antonyms for this word.


texts: Difference between an adverb modifying an NP consisting a single noun, and an adverb modifying a noun

texts:
Consider the following examples:

The work is mostly Kim's.
Only Kim resigned.

A question some of us had (e.g. here and here) was, aren't these examples of adverbs modifying nouns (which they are not supposed to do)? Isn't mostly modifying Kim's, and isn't only modifying Kim?

In both cases, the accepted answer is this: in these examples, Kim and Kim's are not simply nouns. They are nouns, of course, but in addition to being nouns, they are also entire noun phrases (NPs). And adverbs may modify NPs.

I somehow didn't like this answer, for the following reason: it seemed to me to open a Pandora's box. After all, any noun can be the sole constituent of an NP. This analysis would imply a vast number of circumstances under which nouns may be modified by adverbs---potentially, all circumstances in which a noun is the sole constituent of an NP. What then remains of our analysis of adverbs as those words one of the key characteristics of which is that they don't modify nouns?

I got the following answer, from Greg Lee: "The NP answer is correct. Your objections to it are no good. The Pandora's box argument doesn't make sense---just because an adverb immediately precedes a noun and there is nothing else in the NP, this doesn't mean the adverb modifies the noun. That is what your argument assumes, and it is just not so. In such cases, the adverb modifies only the NP and not the noun."

I do believe this is the correct answer. The problem is, I just don't quite get it.

Let me try to sharpen my question. Consider the following two sentences:

Adverbs never modify nouns; they may, however, modify NPs, even when the NP consists of a single noun.
Adverbs may modify nouns, but only when the noun is the sole constituent of an NP.

As far as I understand, the difference between 1. and 2. is no mere semantics. Could anyone clarify? For instance, could anyone give an example where 2. would make a wrong prediction (about whether some sentence is grammatical) but 1. would not?


texts: The right, concise way to indicate current enrollment in multiple specific master's degree programs

texts:
EDIT: I originally titled this "Master of Architecture student" or "Master of Architecture candidate"? My apologies if the question was unclear, I couldn't think of a better title at the time, I hope this title is clearer. I'm not asking the definition of "candidate" vs. "student". Despite being a less common usage, "candidate" is sometimes used to describe students who are working towards a degree.

My question is about achieving the correct formal tone and concision for the context: a business card. A full sentence seems inappropriate in such a context, and I'm hoping to avoid acronyms because they are typically meaningless to those outside the discipline.

I'm looking for the right, concise way to indicate current enrollment in multiple specific master's degree program on a business card. I sometimes see "candidate" used for master's students, but it seems much more common for PhD students. Does "candidate" denote something more specific than "student" in this context?

Furthermore, if one were enrolled simultaneously in two master's programs, would it be appropriate to combine the two into "Master of Architecture and City Planning student" or "Master of Architecture and Master of City Planning student"?


texts: What is the word that describes the human female breast’s shape?

texts:
Phallic is fairly common. Yonic, vulvic, or labial were suggested as antonyms.

What is the word to describe the breast’s shape?

We cover up three areas: the male groin, the female groin, and the female chest. Why are there special words for the first two but not the last one?


texts: "Living like Jim Morrison" . what does it imply or refer to?

texts:
In the Gods and Monsters song by Lana Del Ray “No one’s gonna take my soul away”, there is the line:

  I'm living like Jim Morrison

What does this line mean?


texts: Origins of negative prefixes like in-, un-, il-, ir-, dis-, a-

texts: I've read here about origins of in- and un- negative prefixes. Are there any known origins of other negative prefixes such as il-, ir-, dis-, a-?


texts: Today is Thursday. Is "next" Saturday the day after tomorrow or nine days away?

texts:
Some people are telling me the day after tomorrow is "this Saturday", and "next Saturday" is a week later.  To others, "this Saturday" is synonymous with "next Saturday".

A few people claim that "this Saturday" is synonymous with "last Saturday", but I am reasonably certain those people are nuts.


texts: What is the correct pronunciation of the word "solder"?

texts: I have been listening to a podcast where the host pronounces the word solder as "sodder" or "sod-der", even "saw-der". Same thing happened when the lecturer of one of my EE classes pronounced the word solder. As for me I pronounce the word solder as "sole-der" with a distinct L and a longish O.


texts:
I came across a diagrammed sentence in a Houghton Mifflin English (Level 10, Pub. date 1992) book where the verb act was implied to be a linking verb. To simplify, the sentence in essence said, "He acts proud." Proud was diagrammed as a predicate adjective (and, in fact, most dictionaries will say that proud is an adjective, and not also an adverb).

So, the diagram showed act as a linking verb with proud as the predicate adjective.

I balked at that, thinking that act is an action verb; however, to use proudly does not quite sound right: He acts proudly.

Assuming act is indeed a linking verb, would someone please help me understand how act might indeed be a linking verb in this case--even though when I think of act, I think of literal action, not linking.


texts: I have recently had a lesson about jobs. I noticed that a different term 'childminder' is used for a babysitter in the UK. Is that right? Does anybody know if it's common?