texts: What is a scientific term for a "game trail"

texts:
I've been trying to find scientific research concerning animals' tendency to adhere to certain worn paths, or "game trails". However, I have found very little and suspect the problem to be that a different, more scientific word is usually used instead.

A "game trail" is a clear path in a forest lacking substantial undergrowth due to the frequent passage of animals, such as deer.


texts: "Committed to build" vs. "committed to building"

texts:
If this were a mere tagline, not a complete sentence in a full paragraph, which would be more correct?

  Committed to build a better world
  Committed to building a better world


texts:
Is their a word that can be used to mean "the thing that this addict is addicted to"?

An addict has addiction, which drives them to consume their "______"?

Addiction Target?

By comparison: A Manager manages their managee.


texts: What are words like "Hey Man", "Hey you", "Hey Dude" called

texts:
Is there a term for words that summon someone like "Man," "Dude," "Kid" in sentences such as "Hey, Dude," "Listen up, kid," etc?

I am sure there is, but I can't really remember what it is.


texts: Is it 'medium-to-long term' or 'medium to long-term'?

texts:
I'm having difficulty putting something on my resume. I'm stuck between

"... medium-to-long term trend following strategy"

or

"... medium to long-term trend following strategy"

I've seen the latter used more frequently, but it looks really odd to me. Help would be appreciated!


texts: sentence structure: Why is the subject placed in the end of this sentence?

texts:
While I was reading a Barron's book, I saw this sentence. Its structure is not as what I always knew, but it seemed much more beautiful to me.

  "Along with the rise of agricultural societies came the development of property ownership and the need to keep records of it."

or simply: "Along with B came A."
But I always knew another form of sentence: "A came along with B."

I'd like to know:

The rule on which this sentence structure was based.
One or two other examples of this structure.
The subject I need to study in a grammar book to understand it better. (I use Swan's)


texts:
I need to find the proper abstract noun that can describe rules that are either issued at ministry level in some government and laws that are issued at the nation/presidential level.

After making some research on dictionaries and Wikipedia I found that:

Law is only at the country level not at ministry level (My understanding)
Rule can better be used for lower authorities (My understanding)
Pronouncement does not necessarily imply rules
Edict "often associated with monarchism, but it can be under any official authority."
Decree "usually issued by a head of state"
Proclamation "usually issued in the name of the head of state"

I checked also ordinance, dictum, ruling with no luck to get a clear idea

I need a term that can be generally accepted for use in most countries in official use (like in courts)

If it is hard to find a term that can generally fit, let's consider Egypt.


texts:
I am reviewing rules for past perfect tenses. I found the sentence below that is mentioned as example.

  You had studied English before you moved to New York.

What is the difference in meaning between this example and a sentence using 2 past simple?

  You studied English before you moved to New York.

Is the tense with 2 past simple correct or is expressing no meaning at all?

Another example where I cannot see the difference is the following

  Tony knew Istanbul so well because he had visited the city several times.

How does this differ with

  Tony knew Istanbul so well because he visited the city several times.


texts: what is the meaning for "divers for crotchets"?

texts:
I'm reading Eureka by Edgar Allan Poe and he says a phrase that I've been looking for everywhere but couldn't find anything.

The context is this

  An ocean well described by the Nubian Geographer, Ptolomy Hephestion, But little frequented in modern days unless by the Transcendentalist and some other divers for crotchets.

Is the phrase an old saying for someone who's been looking for something precious and marvelous?


texts: Punctuation in a sentence including a quotation and the citation of it

texts:
In the following sentence, am I right in thinking that there should be a comma after "that" and a capital "I" in "if"? And then I'm completely foxed as to where the full stop should go in relation to the in-text citation:

  Nash argued that “if the full value of Bourdieu’s method is to be achieved, it will be through the close investigation of definite habitus, as states of mind or effective dispositions”  (Nash, 2002, p.46).


texts: What is a less campy way of saying "Treasure hunt"?

texts:
I've been trying to find a more modern way/phrase of expressing the idea of a treasure hunt and I am falling short. I've thought of "fortune-finding" but I'm hoping for something better.
EDIT: Sorry, I shot from the hip a little bit. Also, I guess there are other definitions of "campy" I wasn't aware of?
Context: Say I was thinking about hiding something on a trail or in a city and whoever finds it wins some money. And I want to tell the the outdoorsy/hiking community about it. I don't like "treasure hunt" because it feels a little too juvenile. I'm hoping for something that will convey a competitive/adventurous feel (race, expedition, sprint).


texts: Window shopping - shop with the eyes only -Is the term applicable to online browsing (shopping) too

texts:
"Window shopping" is used for a consumer who has no intent to purchase and I believe the term originated well before shopping became accessible online.

Is there a different term for online-window-shopping.


texts:
What is the correct proposition used after solution if we want to state the people who provided the solution? More precisely which one of the following is true:
Solution by X and Y:
Solution of X and Y:
Solution from X and Y:
I think "solution by X and Y" is more appropriate.


texts:
source: AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND | GEORGE MACDONALD

  But for a four-wheeler as takes families and their luggages, he's the very horse.

I was searching for the usage of luggages and found the above sentence. I don't understand what it means.

I found another version, as below, which is more comprehensible to me.

  But for a four- wheeler that takes families and their luggage, he's the very horse.

Are both versions correct?


texts:
Having only seen this word in writing, I assumed it's pronounced "plate". howjsay (whose author is british) suggests the pronunciation that rhymes with "flat", but also offers the "plate" one. This thread, however, has several people who perceive the "plate" pronunciation to be completely wrong.

So how would most people say this in the UK? Is it "plat", and would people in the UK consider the "plate" pronunciation wrong? Does it vary by location within the UK?


texts: What would you call someone interested in many things?

texts: Is there a word for a person who is interested in many things? (Not dilettante)


texts: What is the opposite of decoupled (computer science)

texts:
The image of decoupled (two train cars separated) is clear.  In computer science, writing "decoupled" code is a Good Thing, it implies breaking code into discrete pieces that can be tested independently, but put together easily.

What would be the opposite, in this context?  Coupled is an obvious answer, but that seems to be more the fact of pieces being put together.  I'm looking for something that represents bad design, such that pieces are too tightly integrated and can't be split apart.

Monolithic is the best I can come up with, but isn't great.  Monolithic could be something that can/should be broken up, but could also mean something that can't/shouldn't be broken up.  I'd ideally like something that is unambiguously negative, if possible.


texts: Could you please explain to me which answer is correct and why?

texts:
She is really a good friend and she ........... to send me a letter each month .

( never failed / never fails )

Does " each " here refer to the present  simple or  the past simple ?


texts:
What is the meaning of “in a medium” in the following sentence?

  A major objective in a heat transfer problem is to determine the temperature distribution in a medium resulting from imposed boundary conditions on the surface of the medium.


texts:
I am correcting technical writing for a friend of mine, and I am running into the issue of separating short lists.

Example: There is a relationship between NH and CH and CH and OH.

The sentence should make clear that the relationship exists between the first two and the last two, but not the two sets. What is the best way to clarify this sentence?


texts: Is it right to say "restaurant supplies made easy"?

texts:
I'm not a native speaker, but I am trying to structure a tagline for my school work commercial. The commercial is trying to say that we can help you make restaurant supplies purchasing (this process) much easier.
I have seen many expressions like "Gardening made easy ","restaurant management made easy", or "payments made easy". However the subject is always referring to an action, like gardening, management, or payment.
I am wondering if "restaurant supplies made easy" could deliver the intention, and if it is a correct tagline. Or should I use "restaurant supply made easy"?
Need your wisdom. Thanks guys!


texts: The second form looks more correct to me, but the first expression is present in several titles of movies and songs. Which form is preferable?


texts: "Material world", "Physical world", "Corporeal world" - what's the difference?

texts: What's the difference or different hues of meaning between these three phrases?


texts: Semantic sense of word ‘with’ in sentence

texts:
The sentence:
“The midwife took 40 roubles for two months' board and attendance, 25 went to get the baby into the foundlings' hospital, and 40 the midwife borrowed to buy a cow with”
What sense does the word “with”(the last word in the sentence) have?


texts:
But the worst part of it was being tried as a . . . criminal, as though his work hadn't had any political consequences. He'd tried hard to set that aside, but the prosecutor hadn't let go, his voice dripping with contempt in his summation —actually worse than that, because he'd been so matter-of-fact in the presentation of his evidence, saving his contempt for later.
Rainbow Six, by Tom Clancy

It is one of my favorite metaphors and it seems to be on the increase in recent years.  When something is soaked to the bone, in both the figurative and literal sense, it is saturated and begins to leak; it drips, hence the phrase in bold suggests the person's contempt was audible enough to actually hear or see it dripping.
It's an effective turn of phrase, but I believe the older expression is dripping with sarcasm, and Google Ngram seem to agree

What really surprised me was how recent its coinage seems to be, the earliest example I found is dated 1921:Arne (in a voice dripping with sarcasm) Well, are you tired of life? Although I did also find a 1913 source that had dripped with sarcasm

Mrs. Pennycook's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Yes, I've been away three years, but I see time ain't softened the tongues nor sharpened the consciences o' some of my old lady friends.

In British English there is a more jocular variant

be dripping with sth
to be wearing a lot of something:
She was absolutely dripping with gold/jewels.

Although, truth be told, dripping with bling appears to be American, and coined in the early 21st century.
Questions

When did “dripping with sth” as a metaphor, first appear in print?
Is it American or British English in origin?
Who wrote "dripping with contempt/sarcasm" first?


texts: Idiom for people complaining excessively

texts: What is an idiom applicable when someone is voluntarily participating in an action, and complaining excessively? I thought of using "don't let the door hit you on the way out", but I don't want to tell the person to leave, just want to say something along the lines of "nobody is holding you here"?


texts: On The Formality Of The Usage Of The Word "Their"

texts:
Is using "their" in a phrase "Everyone has their reasons for doing something" informal? This reason I'm asking this is because a test book I'm using claims that using their in the situation above is informal, and that "his or her" is the more formal alternative. I find this very strange however, and would like someone to verify this claim. So is using "their" in the situation above considered informal?

Thanks.


texts: What's a non pejorative way of saying that a woman is bigger?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Euphemisms to replace “fat”

In French you could say that a woman is plus en chair, plus ronde, which are not necessarily pejorative.

How can I say the same thing in English?

  Lindsay Lohan was cuter when she was […].


texts: Usage of the idiom ‘Crossing the Rubicon’

texts:
Wikipedia gives the following information on the search “Crossing the Rubicon”

  Julius Caesar's crossing the Rubicon river was an event in 49 BC that precipitated the Roman Civil War, which ultimately led to Caesar's becoming dictator for life and the rise of the imperial era of Rome. Caesar had been appointed to a governorship over a region that ranged from southern Gaul to Illyricum (but not Italy). As his term of governorship ended, the Roman Senate ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome. He was explicitly ordered not to bring his army across the Rubicon river, which was at that time a northern boundary of Italy. In January of 49 BC, Caesar brought the 13th legion across the river, which the Roman government considered insurrection, treason, and a declaration of war, on the Roman Senate. According to some authors, he is said to have uttered the phrase "alea iacta est" — the die is cast — as his army marched through the shallow river.

Today, the phrase "crossing the Rubicon" is an idiom that means "to pass a point of no return".

Historically it refers to the act of Julius Caesar crossing the river in 49 BC that led to establishment of imperial Rome. Idiomatically it means to pass a point of no return.

My question is “When did the idiomatic use of this phrase start and come into common usage?”


texts: Wrote first letter of a specific course with capital letter in a paragraph, but marked as grammatically incorrect!

texts:
I have a quick question for you guys. In my resume, I wrote this:

Repaired computers in the computer lab along with the instructor and team members, for current Hardware and Software course students, to do the practical exam.

The instructor pointed out a grammatical error in "Hardware and Software", and says to use the use lower letter for "H" and "S" like this "hardware and software".

I have an objection to it because this course name is a specific course name, and not a general course. So, I think I'm correct, and it should be capital.

What do you think, who is right? Thanks a lot!

NOTE: The instructor is not an English instructor. She helps me in resume stuff.


texts: Using "non-" to prefix a two-word phrase

texts:
Does "non-" prefixed to a two word phrase permit another hyphen before the second word?

If I want to refer to an entity which is defined as the negation of another entity by attaching "non-" it seems strange to attach the "non-" only to the first word when the second one is really the word naming the entity. For example,

  non-control freak

looks like a person obsessed with not being in control rather than one who is simply not obsessed with control.

  non-control-freak

actually looks better because the "freak" is attached to the "non-" as much as it is to "control-", without the space implying the presence of a phrase break.

This question and its answers make it sound like totally detaching the "non" could be an option, but if I were following the convention of hyphenating "non-" could I add a hyphen after the next word to resolve this problem?


texts: Word for lack of comprehension of something easy to comprehend

texts:
So, I was watching this Vsauce youtube video, which discusses Déjà vu, Presque vu, and Jamais vu.  Now, all three concepts are something I'm aware of and have experienced, but it made me think of another experience that is somewhat simpler.

There are times, especially back when I was in college, where I would read a paragraph of a text.  After reading it, I'd realize that none of what I read "sunk in" - I don't understand what I read or maybe can't even really recall what I read.  I'll have to reread the same sentence or paragraph 3 or more times before I finally grasp it enough to move on.  Typically, these passages aren't complex - they don't have any long words and don't discuss any complex topics but still for whatever reason I just didn't "get it".  After that line, I'm quite capable of continuing to read with no other issues, so it's not just a pure lack of concentration or being tired or whatnot.

Is there a term similar to Déjà, Presque, and Jamais vu for this phenomena?

Also, I apologize if the title doesn't perfectly fit the question...I was having trouble explaining the question in so few words...


texts: What is the difference between landlord, lease tenant and tenant?

texts: Is lease tenant the same as landlord?. I am having a rough time understanding this meanings.


texts: How to pronounce the Polish name "Aronszajn"

texts:
Nachman Aronszajn was an American mathematician born in Poland.
I will make  a talk (in English) on a subject for which I would like to cite some of his works. But since I am not a native English/Polish speaker, I really don't know how to pronounce it.


texts:
I have always thought that colons were used to clarify, expand, provide evidence for the preceding sentence, or show an example. I have heard that this is not true. (Truly, it is a shame if it is so: colons are my favorite punctuation.) Which of the following sentences uses the colon correctly:

There are three children in my class: two boys and one girl.
There are three children in my class: Jack, Larry, and Susan.
He is undoubtedly a true man: his beard is long and his hands are strong.
It was a big fireplace: not one of those ornamental dainties you find in the houses of snobs, but a real fireplace that had a utility surpassed only by the greatest furnaces.
She was a promiscuous fiend: she had seduced every guest who had dared to pass her threshold with her fiery eyes and her wealth.
This is the problem with your stubbornness: if you happen to be wrong, it will be all the more embarassing.
Never in my life have I been homesick: perhaps I am emotionally stronger than others, or perhaps they have a better home than I.


texts:
I want to know if this sentence is correct:

  Are there any opened supermarket near?

If I want to place "Do you know" before the question, which is preferred?

  Do you know if are there any opened supermarket near?
  Do you know if there are any opened supermarket near?


texts:
What's the difference between these two sentences?

  How could you do this to me?
  How can you do this to me?

If a friend is stealing or stole from me, which would I say?


texts: Word/phrase for "process of joining a group or a club"

texts:
Example:

  Mary began telling about her [...] to the club.

I thought of the word initiation but I think an initiation is more like a "rite." I'm looking for something that just means the process of joining a group or a club.


texts: Is “prime candidates” in the sentence below used as a metaphor or personification?

texts: Finally, states should reduce or eliminate the least useful graduate programs. Journalism (now dubbed “communications”), business and education are prime candidates. Is “prime candidates” here used as a metaphor or a personification?


texts:
According to Merriam-Webster, jitney is slang for nickel:

  Jitneys weren't worth a dime—just a nickel. In the early 1900s, jitney was slang for "nickel," but it wasn't long before the term was applied to a new mode of public transportation that only cost a nickel.

It also says the etymology is unknown. Are there any theories as to the origin of jitney?


texts: What's the word for "changing the discussion level/style"?

texts:
Imagine two people talking about politics, using rational arguments and philosophical theories, and suddenly a third one comes in and starts ranting about the same topic, but from a very subjective perspective.

Or else, someone posts a humorous, yet shallow picture on facebook, related to recent events, and someone else comments, but in a highly elaborated manner.

In general, a discussion could be led for example in an academic way, it could be pub talk, it could be over-emotionalised, childlike, silly, precocious, relaxed, it could be in the style of a BBC interview or a heated quarrel. I would call all these "discussion styles" in lack of a better term.

What is a word (or an expression) for changing the discussion style or conversation level in such a way? Or is there even a better word for "discussion style"?
In particular, I'm looking for a technical term possibly used by linguists.

An example sentence for the first question might be "In facebook conversations between people of different educational levels, [?] are frequently observed.", and for the second question "Alice and Bob were discussing politics when suddenly Charlie came in and completely changed the [...]"

Note that I'm not looking for an idiom for changing the subject in a conversation. The subject should stay the same, only the way the conversation is led should change.

I am also not looking for a specific way how the discussion changed, like "escalation".


texts: What's the difference between "yet another" and "another"?

texts: What's the difference between yet another and another?


texts: Comma before "yet" when used in statements like: "We'll make a man out of you, yet."

texts:
Would you use a comma before the word "yet" in a statement like: "We'll make a man out of you, yet"?

Version 1: We'll make a man out of you yet.

Version 2: We'll make a man out of you, yet.

What about:

We're not dead, yet.

We're not dead yet.

There's a distinctly different meaning between the two, correct? This first one is an idiomatic reminder that life is long, or something, while the second one is more like a statement of fact that we're not dead because we actually expected to be.

More examples:

We'll make you into a star pupil, yet.

We'll get this all panned out, yet.

What part of speech would you call this use? It still seems like an adverb to me.

Thanks!


texts: How to pronounce fractions with denominators larger than 20 where the last digit of the denominator is 1 or 2? eg 4/31

texts:
Disclaimer: I speak British English.  I've noticed a lot of differences between the way Americans and Brits pronounce numbers.1  Since the question concerns this, I thought it might be appropriate to draw attention to it case we inadvertently confuse each other.  My question is not about these differences, I just wish to highlight them in case they cause confusion.

1. You seem to happily call a quarter "a fourth" sometimes,
we always call 131 "one hundred and thirty one",
we pronounce double digits in phone numbers like 12449 as "one two double four nine", and
I think we are much more likely to use expressions like "thirteen hundred" to mean 1300.

Question

When talking about fractions, I have frequently heard

1/2    a half
1/3    a third
1/4    a quarter
1/8    an eighth
1/64   a sixty fourth
1/56   a fifty sixth

etc.

Essentially the rule seems to be that, except for "a whole", "a half", and "a quarter", the word matches the ordinal number; that is to say:

    Numeral       Ordinal         Fractional
    one           first           whole
    two           second          half
    three         third           third
    four          fourth          quarter
    five          fifth           fifth
    six           sixth           sixth
    fifty-seven   fifty-seventh   fifty-seventh

Even though 1/4 is a quarter, 1/64 is a sixty-fourth.

So what’s 1/62?  A  sixty-twoth?  A sixty-second? Surely not a sixty-half!

I know that simply saying one over sixty-two can usually work, but I'm asking specifically for the word itself, i.e.  if I divide a huge pizza into 21 pieces, what are the pieces?  Other than baker’s twentieths.

Summary: Can anyone point me to any sources (whether style guides or common usage studies or anything else) that discuss the pronunciation of fractions; specifically one that discusses this separately from ordinal numbers, rather than how to form ordinal numbers in the first place.


texts:
I have two variants of one sentence and I want to find out which of them is correct and why:

So you'll see immediately the notification when the crucial for you information changes.
So you’ll immediately see the notification when information crucial for you changes.

Main concern is position of "immediately".


texts: What does `exchange' mean in this sentence?

texts:
I am trying to understand an English passage about beauty and the Trinity:

  We can define beauty as “that which, when seen, pleases.” But there is something going on at a deeper level—--an exchange—--that is a mystery. This is because both the Trinity and the transcendentals are known and experienced only relationally.

I'm struggling understanding 'an exchange' between the dashes. What part of the sentence is decorated by the phrase enclosed in dashes? If the word 'exchange' means 'changing one thing with another,' what is it changing with what?


texts:
I have a question regarding the usage of articles.
What is the difference between "a" and "the"?

Why do I need to use "a" in "that was a winter I"ll never forget."? Can I use "the" instead?

Also, why do I need to use "the" in "that was the winter we went to Norway"?

Thank you very much!!^^


texts:
Granted that it is an idiomatic phrase, I still wonder how people came to say it*.*

  Granted that it is an idiomatic phrase, I still wonder how people came to say it*?*

  Granted..., I still wonder how did people came to say it*?*

I am interesting in wonder governing clause, but not exactly know how to use it. Which version is right? Which is the best?


texts:
Lately I've noticed increasing usage of the phrase "free reign". Is this a legitimate usage of the word "reign", or is this a corruption of the phrase "free rein"?

I've been dismissing usages of "free reign" as grammatical errors, but I'm beginning to see this phrase used even in print, so I'm questioning my initial dismissal of this phrase.


texts: What is the meaning of "zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness"

texts:
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness

What's the being at one?
What's the two'ness?
Why two'ness not twoness?

I just don't know the meaning of this sentence.


texts: Help with a good word to describe a personality

texts:
I am a member of a maker space in a large city. It is something of a club where people work on different projects together. Recently I encountered several individuals who were being obnoxious and not fun to be around. They showed up at different times attempting to gain entry and become part of the group. All of them exhibited very similar personality characteristics, and as I was trying to communicate this to a friend of mine, I realized there isn't a word that I know that describes this personality characteristic.

This is a description of one specific individual's behavior (others had very similar traits):

He showed up unannounced to the space and attempted to insert himself into the group by announcing loudly that they are the expert in their chosen field. When they felt he was not getting attention due to him, he attempted to engage members in random conversation and strike a loud argument with them, to prove their superiority (extreme attention seeking, and one-upmanship) He behaved as though he was inherently superior and deserved immediate admiration and recognition. Finally when those attempts were ignored he proceeded to cause attention to himself in other ways, such as interrupting other members' work by asking question such as "where can I find a /piece of equipment here/". He got increasingly frustrated when he didn't get an answer he was looking for, it seemed like he just couldn't comprehend the meaning of "open community" and wanted to be served and assisted. This person clearly lacked understanding of social norms and cues, but rather than attempting to gain understanding of the situation he chose to act as though he was not required to abide by our silly social conventions. He simply didn't understand why people couldn't just accept him and give him what he wants.

I feel like there should be a word to describe this individual, or this personality trait. I have definitely experienced something similar more than once.


texts:
Should, "romaji", a loanword from Japanese, be capitalized because it is ultimately related to "Rome", which is a proper noun?

I came across Should capitalization be preserved in loanwords? , but "romaji" is usually not written in romaji in Japanese. For example, it's written ローマ字 in the Japanese edition of Wikipedia. How heterological!


texts: Which of these two phrases would be correct in a sentence:- 'To better share' or 'to share better'?


texts:
How do I correctly pronounce the Anglo Saxon word sóncræft (music)?

I feel it should be "sonn crayfte" or "sonn creft".


texts:
I'm trying to check if this sentence is correct.

  Is this reservation for the Holiday Inn?

Or, should I use

  Is this reservation at the Holiday Inn?


texts: What is the uppercase version of "McDermott": "MCDERMOTT" or "McDERMOTT"?

texts:
How should "McDermott" be typed in uppercase? Should the c after the M be lowercase?

MCDERMOTT or McDERMOTT

Which of the above is right?


texts: Difference between 'If ..was' and 'If ...were'

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “If I was” or “If I were”. Which is more common, and which is correct?

Hi,

I have seen different usage of the phrase 'If..was' and 'If..were'.  But I find it difficult to understand when to use which.

e.g. If I were the President of the United State, I would get the hell out of Iraq.

This looks correct. Can I use 'If I was' here?

Is there a rule?


texts: Is there any word for "small hand written note/letter" in English?

texts: In some languages there is a name for a amicable note that you hand write to a lover or to someone to show appreciation, it's not as long and less formal than a letter. does english have an equivalent for that?


texts:
Would you agree to the following guidelines:

In the Passive voice, the causatives "have" and "get" have the same meaning, but 'get' is less formal

In the Active voice, the causatives "have" and "get" have a different meaning: Have (ask for a service),  Get (persuade)

Thank you


texts:
So, I typed the parenthetic statement 'Asked why did he come here'. Microsoft Word suggested that I change the sentence to 'Asked why he came here'. I agreed with the correction, but when I had word explain the change, the following came up:

Order of Words
If your sentence includes a statement about a question rather than a direct question, the subject should come before the verb.

It then went on to give these examples:

Instead of: He asked the bus driver when would the next bus come.
Consider: He asked the bus driver when the next bus would come.

Instead of: I wonder what did they serve for lunch.
Consider: I wonder what they served for lunch.

Now, I agree with the change to my sentence. It seems 'better sounding' and less awkward, and I thought that if I really wanted to keep the did, maybe the sentence would be better written: Asked 'why did you come here?'. But in the examples Word gives the subject comes before the verb in both the erroneous and correct versions.

Was Word on to an actual grammatical rule, and if so, could someone clear it up for me?


texts: A word describing two cognate forms of a word within the same language

texts:
A while back, I read an article that mentioned how certain words, like "Guardian" and "Warden", both entered English as different forms of the same original word.

E.g. The original French word "guarder" mutated into "warder" in Norman French, but both variants entered English at different times in history, and both forms survive today. There are undoubtedly other examples in English and in other languages.

The article also used a single word that described this phenomenon, but I can't remember what it is. "Cognate" seems like a fair description, but I seem to remember there being a more specific way to describe the same word in two different forms in the same language.

Does anyone know of a word that describes this exact phenomenon?


texts: How is the usage of 'during' as opposed to 'while' explained?

texts:
"While" is a conjunction and "during" is a preposition, but how is the different usage explained? For example, why can the following not be said:

  "While the project I learnt a lot."

Obviously, it has to be "During the project..." but why? Preposition plus noun and conjunction plus noun plus verb, or what?


texts: "Try and get some rest" OR "Try to get some rest"?

texts:
Which sentence is grammatically correct?

  Try and get some rest
  (or)
  Try to get some rest


texts: Is "landscape filled with nature" a pleonasm?

texts: Does the sentences "landscape" and "landscape filled with nature" mean the same thing? In other words, does a landscape always have to have nature in it?


texts: Origin of the journalistic sense of scoop

texts:
The most common figurative usage of the the term scoop is related to news:

In journalism, a scoop or exclusive is an item of news reported by one journalist or news organization before others, and of exceptional originality, importance, surprise, excitement, or secrecy.

(Wikipedia)
but

The journalistic sense of "news published before a rival" is first recorded 1874, American English, from earlier commercial slang verbal sense of "appropriate so as to exclude competitors" (c. 1850).

(Etymonline)
The only related sense of the verbal usage of scoop which dates to about the same period is the one suggested by Green’s Dictionary of Slang

scoop in (v.) (also scoop, scoop up)

[mid-19C+] to gather or gain something, often in large quantities (esp. to the exclusion of others).

So, to sum up, it appears that to “scoop in” influenced the commercial sense of the verb to scoop which ultimately gave rise to the contemporary usage of the noun scoop used in journalism.
I couldn’t find other evidence to support the history I traced above, so could  anybody prove I am right or wrong in my assumptions? And in case I am wrong, what is the more likely origin of the term?


texts: Can “Any Other Business” be generally perceived, and used as the legit business terms?

texts:
I was interested in the fact that the first letter of the each word of “Any Other Business” is shown in the upper case in the following sentence:

“At the first meeting of the new bard, Townsend proposed that Sir
Walter (Age 66) should remain as chairman on his present salary of
￡100,000 a year. The old man smiled and made a flattering speech
abouthow the reader had unquestionably made the right choice (in
approving Townsend as the new owner by vote.)
Townsend didn’t speak again until they reached Any Other Business,
when he suggested that all employees of the Globe should automatically
retire at the age of sixty.” –  Jeffery Archer “The Fourth Estate” –
P483.

I think “Any Other Business” can be simply rephrased with “Miscellaneous or addendum subject(s),” but I’d like to know:

Why A, O, B of “any other business” are  shown  in the capital letter here?

Is “any other business,” which I think is just a plain and colloquial expression for asking someone if he or she has a question or opinion, used as the legit business terms or prevailing orthography of the last heading of the agenda for an official meeting like a board meeting?
Why can't it simply be "Others" or "All Others," which I THINK I've seen a lot?


texts: The word describing being in a steady & boring situation for long time

texts: What word describes the situation where you have to stay in a boring condition for a long time? For example when a doctor tells you you have to stay in bed for two days without leaving it at all! The words that come to my mind are "boring" and "tedious". I just thought there might be a better word choice.


texts: In India, this word is quite frequently pronounced as e-JU-cate (with a J-sound). In the dictionaries I have referred to, the pronunciation is the predictable e-dyu-cate. Is the Indian pronunciation common worldwide? Is there any reason for the shift from the dictionaries? Did some look up the phonetic representation, find ɛdjʊˌkeɪt, but mistook this 'j' for 'Y'?


texts: What are people in big groups who move a lot called?

texts:
Are people who move a lot in groups called settlers?

I don't know what else; I'm doing an report on native Americans and the Wyandotte culture. They move in big groups I don't know what that's called but I really need to know.


texts: What is the difference between "withered" and " shrivelled"?

texts: Is There a kind of nuance between those two words? Can I use them interchangeably? Can I use them in other scenarios besides plants, roots, leaves? (e.g. His generosity has withered)


texts: Wording and Capitalization of Western food

texts:
I have two questions on the following sentence:

  Have you ever been in a foreign country for half year without eating western food?

Q1: Do I need to capitalize Western ?

Q2: Assume the writer is Asian, and he used "western food".

Could you understand the phrase "western food" in the first place? If not, how would a native speaker write it?


texts: Is this correct: "Our listeners are what make X"?

texts:
I listen to a podcast that I like, but every episodes ends with

  Our listeners are what make [podcast name] possible.

which makes me cringe a little each time I hear it. Is it just me, or is the sentence wrong? And if so, what is the correct form - should both verbs be singular?
And is there a difference between UK and US usage? (The podcast is based in the USA).

I found a similar question, but it does not apply exactly (and the  one it links to only discusses cases where the sentence stars with a time interval).

Thank you.


texts: What's a word for someone who recruits new members and reminds people to take part in events?

texts: In particular our student group/club in college has a new officer position that performs these duties, but we don't have a good name for it yet. "Recruiter" captures the first part, but it doesn't seem to capture the second part.


texts: Enumerations and conjunctions "and" and "or"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Should I put a comma before the last item in a list?

How do I know if I need to add a comma or not before a conjunction preceding the last item in an enumeration?

For example, which of the following sentences is correct?

  I have a house, a car, a bicycle, and an airplane.

  I have a house, a car, a bicycle and an airplane.

Are there any free online references on this matter (with examples, if possible) for the layman?


texts: Skill or having the ability to pack/organize space well

texts:
How would one describe, having the ability to pack well.

Example: being able to pack/organize the car for a long trip. Or being able to organize a cabinet, refrigerator, or freezer?


texts:
What is the word for “changing one’s opinion”?

I’m looking for something similar to concede, but that implies that the person knew the right answer all along but was just pretending that the answer was something else. What if I want to imply that the person was sure of something, but something changed what he thought?

More specifically, the sentence I’m writing is

  He thought this . . . but after being criticized, he __ that the critics were correct".

It’s actually a negative effect, his way of thinking permanently changed due to criticism (and I’m trying to say his original opinion was better).


texts:
Many nouns that end in ‑f are made plural by changing the ‑f to ‑v‑ and
adding ‑es.

+----------+-----------+
| Singular |   Plural  |
+----------+-----------+
|  half    |  halves   |
|  leaf    |  leaves   |
|  shelf   |  shelves  |
+----------+-----------+

But some nouns that end in ‑f are made plural simply by adding ‑s.

+----------+-----------+
| Singular |   Plural  |
+----------+-----------+
|  chief   |  chiefs   |
|  roof    |  roofs    |
|  cliff   |  cliffs   |
+----------+-----------+

Some nouns that end in ‑f can be made plural in two ways, either by adding ‑s or ‑ves:

+----------+--------------------+
| Singular |      Plural        |
+----------+--------------------+
|  scarf   |  scarfs or scarves |
|  hoof    |  hoofs or hooves   |
|  dwarf   |  dwarfs or dwarves |
|  wharf   |  wharfs or wharves |
+----------+--------------------+

Now my question is how to determine whether to use only ‑s or to change the ‑f to ‑v‑ and add ‑es?


texts: How can you turn normal sentences into metaphors?

texts:
I want to rephrase this into a metaphor with impact.
Sentence: Today was judgement day. Except Morris had the judge wrapped around his fingertips.
All answers appreciated, thank you.


texts: When and when not to use the definite article?

texts: Help please. I am translating a text about a comedian. The foreign text says "Comedian Bill Blogs will be appearing at...". I tend to write "The" comedian Bill Blogs in this situation. Are both correct (with or without a definite article) or is there something more subtle implied in both cases?


texts: Parse tree of "several more successful books"

texts:
Let us consider the following sentence:

  After that first attempt, she wrote several more successful books.

Does this mean she wrote several additional books that were also successful? Or that she wrote several books that were more successful than the first?


texts:
Why do you say ‘natural resources' in plural?
We can't count  coal oil nor coal in earth.


texts: what is the word for the "thank you" section of a document called?

texts:
So in a typical letter document that may span multiple pages

At the end of the content, there is paragraph for "thank you" or "signing off"

This paragraph/section only appear once, at the end of the content

however it is NOT a "footer" that appears on every page (as in MS Word treats footer to appear on every page)

i have been resorting to calling it "pre-footer" but wonder if there is a proper term for it

i am just trying to create a letter template, and there is a section for signing-off/thank you which i am trying to appropriately name the section


texts:
This 1921 article gives "Ten Pointers for Domestic Happiness".

Pointer V reads:

  Make love to your wife; continue to be her sweetheart. Neglect begets indifference that is fatal to married life. Every true wife expects to be a sweetheart, and rightly. More than bitter disappointment follows disillussionment.

Did "make love" here just mean "be loving; be nice; etc."?


texts: Any difference between "ashamed of something" and "ashamed of self for something"?

texts:
So I did a quick drawing and I was trying to decide what to say to my friends in regards to how I felt about it, and this idea came up. I could either say, "I'm proud, yet ashamed of myself for doing the drawing," or say "I'm proud, yet ashamed of the drawing." Is there any difference between these two statements? And if so, which is better to use?

Thanks in advance!


texts: What tense are wishes, not questions that start with "I wish..."

texts: Given a wish of the form, "May he rest in peace," what tense is being used?


texts:
Taylor Swift:She won by being a female applying to the kind of female males want us to be in the horrendous 1950s world.

Context: I can’t believe she gets to be the first female senator in Tennessee.And she’s Trump in a wig.She represents no female interest.She won by being a female applying to the kind of female males want us to be in the horrendous 1950s world.


texts:
I'm not a native English speaker, and yesterday I entered a [short] debate with a French guy  (again, not native English speaker) who insisted that "the task was scheduled" is not valid from a grammatical point-of-view, and "the task has been scheduled" should have been used instead.

He was making the point that in French, translating the words separately gives an expression that doesn't follow proper grammar. To this I replied that grammar rules from one language rarely apply to other foreign languages.

To me, both cases seem correct, especially taking into account we're not writing historical documents, but comments in software code :) Am I wrong? That is, "the task was scheduled" is a wrong construction in English?

Thank you for your help,
Adrian


texts: Is this genitive correct? “... the sustainability performance of firms”

texts:
I read the following sentence and I was wondering if this is correct:

"Society and activist, non-governmental organizations monitor the sustainability performance of firms."

Or is "monitor
 firms' sustainability performance" preferable, using the Saxon genitive?

Thank you!


texts:
I received a Location error on a website that suggests me to try subscribing of Romania's service when within its boundaries

Basically I'm trying to subscribe to a Romanian service, but I'm not in the country, and they detected that based on IP probably, so they threw that error.

However, is the sentence correct grammatically?


texts:
Hi could anyone tell me if my following sentences are right? (English U.S about "have somebody do something")

I made Mary take out the trash
I usually have her take out the trash
I'm having her take out the trash
Did you have him take out the trash?
Have you had her take out the trash
Did you make her take out the trash?

Thanks for everything


texts: Word for someone who wants to know everything about everything

texts:
With Youtube, I find myself learning about everything - in depth!  Is there a word for someone who is a visual learner, who desires to learn everything about anything and everything?  I am not a scholar or necessarily desire "book" learning.

I just really enjoy learning about things that interest me, including the history of such things (as in knitting), the methodology of things (fishing, cooking, boating, gardening, etc. etc.!)

Is there such a word?


texts:
Please consider the following question below:
“Did you ever stop to consider all the germs you pick up dragging a stupid blanket around?”
Is this sentence correct? Shouldn’t the sentence go like this:
“Did you ever stop to consider all the germs you pick up BY dragging a stupid blanket around?”
Shouldn’t the preposition “by” come right before dragging and if it needn’t be so, why?


texts: Is it grammatically correct to use 'now' third person past tense narration?

texts:
Here's my specific example:

  Puffing, Ralphie rested her elbows on the guardrail. Body Woman was now talking to a bald super spy.

(For context, Ralphie is on a balcony looking at Body Woman and the super spy.)

Is this grammatically correct for what is supposed to be a third person past tense narrative, or does it ruin it by bringing in the first tense? I don't want any 'it depends on the writer' nonsense. Just yes or no answers backed with arguments please. Also, if it is not grammatically correct, what should I replace 'now' with in a sentence like this in order to get the point across that there has been a change in the situation and now something is happening which was not happening before? The best answer gets a prize.


texts:
I am writing a text about relation of social moral and body shame, and I am kind of lost in vocabulary.

I am looking for a word which means at the same time:

Tendency to hide body from exposure
General modesty
Tendency to feel ashamed
Non-sexualized behavior

And also the term must be well recognized and widely used.

I have found two words so far, both seem to be close: "pudency" and "pudicity". I cannot understand the difference, so I cannot choose the right one.

Can anybody please, explain me the difference?

Or maybe suggest some other words close in meaning?

Update

From the answer below, now I see that sticking to those pu* words was definitely a mistake. Now I am more interested to find the right word instead.


texts: Who first objected to the term "chain mail"?

texts:
Recently, I've become aware of a new (to me) peeve: some people say that chain mail/chain-mail/chainmail is incorrect in some way when talking about armor, and that the proper way to refer to it is mail or maille.* Now, it's true that it's not exactly composed of chains, although loops of mail are closer to being a chain than a chain link fence is. But anyway, the point of this question is not to ask for an evaluation of this peeve, or your opinion of it. What I want to know is if all these people independently came to the conclusion that the term was illogical, or if they absorbed this idea from some common source.

The term chain mail has been around for a while. The OED's earliest citation is from 1822; using Google Books, I was able to find what seem to be even earlier examples:

1789:

  The Haubergeon was a coat compoſed either of plate or chain-mail
  without ſleeves.

– Original Letters, Written During the Reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV and Richard III., edited by Sir John Fenn

1796:

  The hauberk was a complete covering of double chain mail.

– Fabliaux Or Tales, Abridged from French Manuscripts of the XIIth and
XIIIth Centuries by M. Le Grand

So, I'm curious about the first attested objection to the term. How early is it, and who made it? What was the reason given, if any?

*Examples:

  The modern usage of terms for mail armour is highly contested in
  popular and, to a lesser degree, academic culture. Medieval sources
  referred to armour of this type simply as “mail”, however “chain-mail”
  has become a commonly used, if incorrect neologism first attested in
  Sir Walter Scott’s 1822 novel The Fortunes of Nigel.

(The Wikipedia article on "Mail (armor)")

  First my standard critique: it’s mail or maille not chainmail, since
  that’s chain chain (insert song here). Otherwise an excellent point
  that I wish was followed more.

(Comments to this article "It’s Time to Retire “Boob Plate” Armor. Because It Would Kill You.")

  It is called mail not chain mail, you don't tie up someone with a hauberk.

(Layering system and medieval clothing explained)


texts: Which pronoun to to replace single antecedent?

texts:
This is my all-time question. This time, I was writing specifications of my application and came up with this question. Which one of the following is more commonly used than the others? Note that I'm talking about a case without a relative pronoun.

When a user logs in for the first time, the user has 6 invitations remaining
When a user logs in for the first time, the one has 6 invitations remaining
When a user logs in for the first time, one has 6 invitations remaining
When a user logs in for the first time, he/she has 6 invitations remaining
When a user logs in for the first time, he has 6 invitations remaining

Or, any other suggestions to get the sentence more natural?


texts: Can I call a lifeless thing the ancestor of another lifeless thing?

texts:
If the title is not understandable, I meant can I call for example a rock ancestor of something? I saw that the ancestor form is used for animals, plants or humans, but not for insentient stuff.

For example:

  Rocky boulder, much harder and larger than its sandy ancestor (mean sandy boulder)


texts: What's the difference between after and afterwards?

texts:
What are you going to do afterwards?
  What are you going to do after?

Which one is the correct one and why?


texts:
As far as I know the words realm and field can have similar meanings but when I read the following sentence, it made me asking if there was a special purpose for using these two words in the same sentence?

  You can't solve all Europe's problems in one summit. What we have to
  do is show in our deeds we can do things better in the realms of
  security and fighting terrorism, and in the field of defence.

Can I shorten the sentence by using only one of them as follows? Is there significant difference between  the original sentence and following sentences in terms of meaning?

You can't solve all Europe's problems in one summit. What we have to do is show in our deeds we can do things better in the realms of security, fighting terrorism, and defence.
You can't solve all Europe's problems in one summit. What we have to do is show in our deeds we can do things better in the fields of security,fighting terrorism, and defence.
You can't solve all Europe's problems in one summit. What we have to do is show in our deeds we can do things better in terms of security, fighting terrorism, and defence.


texts: Is it okay to use the word "Negro" in a historical context?

texts:
In a few days, I have to do a class presentation project about the 1920s Harlem Renaissance.

I want to say that the movement's original name was the "New Negro Movement," but I'm not sure if that's okay. I'm white, and I really don't want to offend anybody in my class.

Is it all right to say this word in context? Or, should I ignore its original name, and only refer to it as the Harlem Renaissance?


texts: verb meaning "to suggest that something is false"

texts:
I cannot find an antonym for to suggest with the force of to suggest that p is false if to suggest is used with the force of to suggest that p is true. The context is a sentence that looks approximately like:

  The proposition that proper names have senses is suggested by P. The proposition that proper names are definitionally equivalent to definite descriptions is [...] by Q.

Where P and Q are lists of reasons that aren't important here. The meaning of the passage should be equivalent to the following:

  The truth of the proposition that proper names have senses is suggests by P. The falsity of the proposition that proper names are definitionally equivalent to definite descriptions is suggested by Q.

I recall having attempted to find a suitable word to replace [...] in the first set of sentences before. However, I was unsuccessful and rephrased the passage. Even if the passage would work best rephrased, such a word would be useful For reference, the context is an introduction to a discussion of the problems raised by P and Q.


texts: A word or phrase for someone who is sure of himself

texts: Is there a word or phrase for someone who is sure of himself, someone who acts like everything they say is a fact even when it's not.


texts: What's the word for billing based on partial usage?

texts:
When I moved into my new apartment, the first bill only charged me for what I used from the 3rd (when I moved in) to the 12th of the month. This is called [insert word here] billing.

Another word or phrase that describes this same situation but doesn't fit into the previous sentence is also acceptable.


texts:
I was told that a person who delivers long speeches but no information is called a windbag. A demagogue is a political leader who represents popular tendencies (it has a negative color likewise we do not have the democracy and true democracy is bad). Meantime, a prominent writer and theorist of logical debate, Paul Graham says

  An eloquent speaker or writer can give the impression of vanquishing
  an opponent merely by using forceful words. In fact that is probably
  the defining quality of a demagogue.

It seems to me that he meant to say windbag here. I am asking because I use the Greek work demagogue for windbag. Might be the demagogue and windbag are just synonyms (and we must blame the vocabulary compilers that they do not include windbaning notion into the demagogue article)?


texts: Is there a term for using capitals mid-word (such as SmartTask and HiSuite)?

texts:
So far, I have only noticed capitals being used in the middle of a word in products marketed as computer applications.

I wondered if there was a term for this and I also wondered if it ever occurs outside of that particular context.


texts: What are some good sites for researching etymology?

texts:
I'm wondering about the origins of a particular word and, while my first thought was to ask the ELU community, I decided I should do the work myself.

Where should I start looking? I'd love to see some suggestions.


texts:
Can anyone help me find the meaning of the sentence "kick him off his feet"? This is the context of it...

  Send him to school.
  Force him to crawl.
  Teach him how to cheat.
  Kick him off his feet.


texts: History of the use of "none" for countable nouns

texts:
The concept of countable nouns seems to be rapidly disappearing from modern English (e.g. I'm seeing "the amount of people" with increasing frequency, even in reputable publications, which makes me think of their combined weight).
But before that transformation is complete, I'd like to know about "none".
I tend to use "none" for substances, and "not one" for countable objects.
It's a simple and obvious rule, with no ambiguity or confusion.
My conjecture is that this was the original correct usage, but that over time "not one" eventually became shortened to "none", and people started using "none" for countable nouns,
leading to the frequent question about whether "none" is singular or plural.
Is my conjecture correct, or was "none" always acceptable for countable nouns?


texts: A word for a person who looks evaluates jewels for their authenticity and purity

texts:
In everyday spoken English, what do you call a person to whom you take your ornaments or jewels and he tells you whether or not the ornaments or the jewel are real, and also how pure the jewel is?

It's not goldsmith that I am looking for. I guess a goldsmith tells you this only about gold and ornaments made of gold, and he makes and sells ornaments made of gold.

But if you were to take a ruby, for instance, to sell or to some shop to just ask them about how pure it was, would you call that evaluator a jeweler? May be you would.

Is there a word that conveys "evaluator of the purity of jewels" and at the same time is in common parlance?

Some more information

A commentator to this question trying to help asks for an example usage so they can help me better.

I am trying to translate a Hindi poem written by a 15th century mystic named Kabir who lived in India.

A few lines of the very short poem can be found here:

https://youtu.be/O5-bpBHvnIA

I am trying to do a better translation than the one done in the video above.

The import of the poem, as it refers to this word, is:

That God, who is the most precious jewel of jewels, and also is the appraisal of all jewels, resides in our own hearts.

And since I am translating a piece of literature, I should probably have said that I am looking for a translation that's common but at the same time not just restricted to the spoken vernacular. It could also be a common usage in popular literature.


texts: Leaped or leapt, past and perfect tenses

texts:
Here is my passage, more or less:

Dick and Jane leapt from the boat into the icy waters of the North Pacific. Had they not leaped, they would not have been eaten by sharks as the rescue helicopter was just minutes away.

Leaped or leapt?
Had leaped or had leapt?
Has leaped sounds better to me than has leapt, right?


texts:
I found the word ‘marquee chefs’ in an article in today’s New York times in the following context.

‘From new offerings by marquee chefs to more modest openings in out-of-the-way spots, here are 10 restaurants around the globe to keep an eye on in 2011.’

I consulted Oxford English Dictionary at hand to check the meaning of ‘marquee,’ which it defines simply as 1.a large tent used at social events. and 2. (AmE) a covered entrance to a theater, hotel, etc. Often with a sign on or above it, both of which meaning are irrelevant with chef, if take literally.
I interpreted “marquee chefs” here means chefs of well-known restaurants or hotel restaurants. Am I right? Is ‘marquee chef’ commonly spoken in your daily conversation? If not, why did New York Times writer use such a word?


texts: What is the overall meaning of the sentence?

texts:
I came across the following sentence and could not understand the gist of it:

To the extent that it foresaw the effect the Internet would have on society, what makes the Frankfurt School—an early 20th century school of thought concerned with how rampant consumerism harms the self— suspect is not so much that it explodes much of what has sometimes proven to be a symbiotic relationship between our “real selves” and our “digital selves” as that it imagines a world so positively dystopian that it becomes but a(n) caricature of the times in which we live.

I can see that there are a lot of things going on in this sentence. I don't understand the  structure, the dashes, the gist and also how to tackle these kind of sentences in the future. How to break them into parts and understand the meaning to get the overall gist?
Any help is appreciated.


texts: Name for words with same consonant sounds but different vowel sounds

texts:
Is there a name for words with the same consonant sounds, but different vowel sounds?  For example:

talk, take
sit, site
taught, tote
bough, bow

My son has been mixing up these sets of words.  I'd like to find a list of them for him to practice (we homeschool him), but I don't know what to search for.


texts:
For example,

The key benefit of using A is that you can make even more money.
The problem is that you have to do it by yourself.

Are there any better alternatives for expressing is that? I'm using is that clause too many times in a paper, and starting to be sick, to be honest.


texts: Journalistic term for front-page promotional strip

texts:
The Financial Times, like many other newspapers, has a strip under its title on the front page, split into several items (three in today’s paper — see illustration) promoting articles on internal pages. I was wanting to refer to one of these in a letter but realized I had no idea what the technical/journalistic term for it is. There must be one, because people working on the newspaper have to refer to it, but it’s something that is quite difficult to formulate an internet search for. Does anyone know what it is?

Addendum

Apologies, but it didn’t occur to me that US journalistic usage may possibly be different from British usage, which is my practical concern in this case. I’ve addressed that myself.


texts: Should "gerund + objective" be modified by adjectives or adverbs?

texts:
I read from TheFreeDictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Gerunds.htm the examples "Studying too hastily will result in a poor grade." and "Working from home allows me to spend more time with my family." with the specification

  ... in this case, it is the gerund phrase that is functioning as a noun, so the gerund itself can still be modified by an adverb in the same way as a normal verb.

However, I read from some posts regarding gerunds in the current site English Language & Usage that gerunds can also be modified by adjectives.

Then, I found from the above webpage the further example "She started going crazy from so much waiting." I wonder whether "so much" here works as an adjective or adverb modifying the gerund waiting. I feel it's like both ways are OK.

In addition, I also looked up "persistent" https://www.thefreedictionary.com/persistent, finding an example which uses the adjective persistent to modifying the gerund questioning: "your persistent questioning". And then, I looked up "continual" https://www.thefreedictionary.com/continual, finding a further example of this kind: "a process that requires continual monitoring", wherein the adjective continual modifies the gerund monitoring.

Nevertheless, I have never seen an example of "gerund + object" with modifiers modifying the gerund therein, so I wonder which of adjectives and adverbs should be used to modify the gerund therein. For example, is it OK to say "With my persistent broadening the horizon of my knowledge of cosmology, my interest in it is ever growing."? Or should I say "With my persistently broadening the horizon of my knowledge of cosmology, my interest in it is ever growing."?

After some studying about gerunds, I feel real gerunds should be modified by adverbs and those terms with the form v.-ing modified by adjectives should be viewed as nouns rather than gerunds.


texts:
Let say, A and B work in the same office. Every time A talks to B about his idea or working style, B always takes that idea to his boss and acts as if it was his own idea.

What are words, phrases or idioms that I can use to call B?


texts: English pronunciation: I'm sorry for your loss

texts: the phrase "I'm sorry for your loss" phonetically looks like [aɪm sɔri fər_yər lɔs]. When I heard this phrase in a movie, it seemed that the words "sorry" and " loss" were a bit more louder, but I may be wrong. I think the strongest emphasis is on the last word "loss". I would be grateful for any suggestion.


texts: What is the name of term/rule/guideline for "one is only rewarded once one's efforts are spent"?

texts: So I'm doing an essay on spoiled child's behaviours and stuck at presenting this point. What I want to write is "... The child will fail to understand .. rule/notion when he proceeds in life.".


texts: Does saying "I think" imply subjectivity?

texts:
I feel like this is a dumb question because I've always thought this to be true and never had anything or anyone disagree with this idea, but recently I've come across two instances where someone has said something along the lines of "I think X is objectively Y" and vehemently defended their usage of "think". Isn't this contradictory? If you say "I think blue is the best color" doesn't that imply it is your personal opinion that blue is the best color and nothing more? It was my understanding if you wanted to convey objectivity you can't use "I think" and instead would use "is". "Blue is the best color".

If I were to replace "I think" with "it is my opinion" and "is objective" to "is not a personal opinion" then this should be correct:

"I think X is objectively Y" -> "It is my opinion of X that Y is objective" -> "It is my opinion of X that Y is not a personal opinion" which is a contradiction.

Maybe I messed up somewhere but it seems like that is correct. It might be unnecessary to go that in depth but I can't figure out any other way to prove whether it's correct or incorrect to pair "I think" with "objective".
I would appreciate if someone could help me out with this. Thanks!


texts:
There was the following passage in an article written by Jhumpa Lahiliri, 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner that came under the title, “Teach yourself Italian” in The New Yorker (December 7, 2015):

  “I’m very fond of my teacher. Although for four years we use the
  formal lei, we have a close, informal relationship. We sit on a wooden
  bench at a small table in the kitchen. I see the books on her shelves,
  the photographs of her grandchildren.”

As I was unable to catch the meaning of “We use the formal lei,” I consulted English dictionaries online, and found that almost of all dictionaries provide nothing more than a definition of “lei” as “a necklace of flowers that is given to a visitor in Hawaii” like Merriam-Webster.com/dictionary does.

But a Hawaiian necklace doesn’t seem to have anything to do with learning Italian or fit well in the line, “Although for four years we use the formal lei” to me. What is “lei” here? Why is it shown in italic? Why is it the formal lei even they have an informal relationship?


texts: Is there a word for someone who is not a parent?

texts:
You can say of a person that they are single/married/divorced/widowed, even that that person is a parent (father or mother). But is there a single word to refer to someone who is not a parent?

I can only think of some compounds such as childless or kidless, but I'm not sure if they convey the meaning proposed. I have read somewhere that there is an acronym but I don't know if it's widely used: DINK, but it refers to couples without kids (Double Income No Kids), not to a single person.


texts: Does "scientific research" only include ones about physics, biology, etc

texts:
Students who have worked on a scientific research project outside of high school classes are welcome to submit a research supplement via Slideroom.

According to dictionary, "scientific" means "of, relating to, or exhibiting the methods or principles of science." And, the "science" means

  knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation.

However, it also means

  the state of knowing :   knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding
  a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study.

So, I think I can submit a research paper on the subject of East Asian Geo-political relations. Is this right?


texts: How to say "we thought about" in an academic way?

texts:
In the following sentence:

  Since there are many row values at each step of the process, one approach we thought about is to aggregate all the row values into a single value

What is the alternative of one “we thought about” in academic writing?


texts:
I would have thought "elope to (destination for the marriage)" was correct.  However, I recently saw someone write "elope in (destination for the marriage)," and when I looked it up, the answer wasn't clear as Google Ngrams shows both are used, while Merriam-Webster dictionary only gives examples with "elope in".

Here's how I think they should be used:

"They eloped in New York" = "They were in New York, and they went
away from their families and got married in New York."
"They eloped to New York" = "They were in another city, and they went
away from their families to the city of New York, where they got
married."

What do you think?


texts: Clear terminology for "single", "return" and "return-only" journeys

texts:
Normally when talking about journeys or buying tickets (e.g. for a bus or train) you have "single" or "return", when return means "there and back again". If you want to "just go home", you can buy a "single" ticket in the other direction.

However, what happens if I wish to make a distinction between "single", "return-only" and "return"?

When presented together, the 3 options seem clear enough to me. But "return" becomes ambiguous when used on its own. I am considering using "full-return", but it feels a bit clumsy. Is there any clearer terminology?

Other possibilities:

"Single", "Return-only", "Return"
"Single-outgoing", "Single-return", "Full-return"
"There", "Back again", "There and back again"

Edit: I should clarify that this is for transport software where the distinction between "single" and "return-only" matters (because one end is always the person's home address).


texts: What does "to be a range of time shy of a date" mean?

texts:
Consider the following paragraph (Huffington Post):

  Ronald Post died Thursday morning at a prison hospital where he'd been treated on and off since 2011, a state prisons spokeswoman said. He was a week shy of his 54th birthday.

What does the last sentence mean? What are its particular connotations?


texts:
Hannah: Now, if they ask you if it's real butter, what do you say?
  Clay: It's a butter-based product.
  Hannah: And you have to smile too when you say this.
  Clay says nothing.
  Hannah: I know, it's terrifying. But, it sells the big lie.

What does "it sells the big lie" show here ?

Possible meaning of "the big lie" here.

My interpretation :

The big lie could mean "it's a butter-based product".
"It" could mean "smile".


texts: How to interpret a statement consisting of two ORs?

texts:
I found this statement on a newspaper that is the subject of a recent controversy:

  "no guarantee or loan shall be given or raised by the Government
  except under the authority of any resolution of Parliament with which
  the President concurs"

There are two possible interpretations:

  "(no guarantee shall be given) or (no loan shall be raised) by the
  Government except under the authority of any resolution of Parliament
  with which the President concurs"

OR

  (no guarantee or loan) shall be (given or raised) by the Government
  except under the authority of any resolution of Parliament with which
  the President concurs"

I am confused. Which should be the correct interpretation. I am looking for answers that provide references, not personal opinions. Thanks.


texts: Word to describe "beautiful but worthless"

texts: I have a family member who worked at a cat boarding facility. There, she met a couple who jokingly described their cat as "beautiful but worthless." Is there a word in the English language to describe such a purrradox? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)


texts: Need to find the specific term used for someone who has something unexpected and bad happen to them and who then alerts others to be on the look out

texts: I am trying to respond to a co-worker who sent an email to all staff to warn us to lock our cars and close windows tightly because her car got broken into the night before and she had left her windows down a crack. I wanted to send an email to thank her for the warning but sorry she had to be the “____”. “Guinea pig”, “first victim”, “example”, don’t feel right in this context. Any other suggestions? I thought there was a word for someone who has something happen to them who then alerts others to be on the look out.


texts: When does "nature" require an article and why?

texts:
I was wondering about a sentence like this:

If nature were to design a bicycle, how would it look?

Is nature missing an article? Should it be a nature or the nature, or is it correct as is?

If a nature were to design a bicycle, how would it look?
If the nature were to design a bicycle, how would it look?

Could you also explain why?


texts: What is a word for annoying behavior which decreases enjoyment for the other players in a game?

texts:
I'm looking for a word which describes an annoying behavior that decreases the overall quality  of a game or match, specifically in online gaming (Halo, Call of Duty, etc.) The behavior, while not expressly prohibited by the rules and thus not technically cheating, is generally agreed to be undesirable or even unfair by the other players and puts the offending player at a distinct advantage.

The following words come to mind, but do not precisely fit: annoying (too broad), trolling (mismatched intent; the player is still trying to win the game, not merely annoy others), ungentlemanly (I'd prefer an genderless term.)

I believe unsportsmanlike could be a good fit; I'm looking for either a better fitting word, or a sound justification that one of these words is correct.

edit: To be clear, I am looking for an adjective to levy at someone as an insult for behaving in this way. Also, the interest of the offending player is to win the game at the expense of others. The example camping in the comments is precisely the kind behavior I'm talking about.

I'd like to complete this sentence:

  Don't camp; that's ______.


texts: What does someone do or what someone does?

texts:
Should it be what does someone do or what someone does?

For example, is it..

  Jerry will have to think about what does he want more.

vs

  Jerry will have to think about what he wants more.


texts: Is there a word or a special phrase in English to describe the curvy upper lip that some people like Rio Ferdinand have?

texts:
I don't think many have people have that kind of upper lip (probably 10% of the population). To me personally, that kind of upper lip definitely makes a person more attractive regardless of gender. For example, Angelina Jolie's upper lip is also a little curvy although I believe people recognise the thickness of her lips more.

My point is that having a curvy upper lip is a outstanding facial feature and so people must have given it some name. What is it?

Intended usage:
I want to give compliment to person: "It's wonderful that you have the ... lip"

I remember watching Peter Pan on Vietnamese television when I was a kid and Wendy Darling's curvy upper lip were described with a very beautiful (and rare) phrase (in Vietnamese). Unfortunately, searching along that line didn't get me anywhere.

Below is Rio Ferdinand's super curvy lip (I count 5 curves there) vs. a Cupid's bow lip which has 3 curves (most people including myself would have this, as I have observed):

And this is Rio's original lip without any of my drawing:


texts: Assume you read a text discussing the total value of all IPOs world-wide and those in France, stating France's IPOs' total value is 9% of those world-wide. Is it valid to refer to this percentage as "proportion of IPOs in France"?


texts: "At least one" - singular or plural subject?

texts:
In other words, which sentence is correct?

At least one of them is not coming.
At least one of them are not coming.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why is it incorrect to start a sentence with “and”?

In grammar school, my English teachers taught me that I should never begin a sentence with a conjunction.

Of course, that was before the advent of email, instant messages, text messages, Twitter, and Facebook updates.

My Question: Does the conversational nature of email allow us to begin sentences with conjunctions?


texts: Can I use the F-word in a formal context?

texts:
I want to ask whether I can use the word "Fuck" in a formal context.

Apparently, the word dates back to the early 16th century, so it shouldn't be considered slang (although, it is misused as slang for other reasons), but regardless of its vulgarity, could I use it in a formal context with its original definition? I imagine that people will be surprised, but when realizing in what context I am using it in, then it will be more understandable and acceptable to use it.

Firstly, I do not even know the definition of the word due to its vastness in meaning, I always thought it was an exclamation-like word meaning nothing (for it to mean sexual activities is a slang definition, is that not correct?), but used purely for emphasis. What does it first and foremost mean in its original/accurate and/or formal definition?

I also know of another definition of the word "Fuck," which is "I will fuck you" as in "I will defeat you" (in context of fighting or combat), is that a formal definition as well? I mainly ask for this, because I need to use the word in this context, specifically and especially.

Also, side question, is it possible not to always make it a vulgar word?

Thanks in advance.


texts: How to capitalize and italicize proper nouns with the same ending

texts:
Let's say there's an English Language Questionnaire and an English Usage Questionnaire (I want them to be italicized), and I want to refer to them together, by name. What should I use:

The English Language and English Usage questionnaires are...

The English Language and English Usage Questionnaires are...

The English Language Questionnaire and the English Usage Questionnaire are...

Or something else? If it makes a difference, note that by this point in my paper I have already described each of them separately, so the reader has seen both of these names before.

PS: Feel free to edit the title, as I had no idea how to ask this in one line.


texts: Word for part of speech before the main speech

texts:
I am not trying to troll anybody, although it might seem like it. Also, this is not intended to be funny or anything. The question I wanted to ask is what do you call the part of a narration/talk/speech/short-paragraph such as this, that is dedicated as sort of disclaimer, preface or something secondary to the main topic. For example, the bolded part of this paragraph.

Example: Your #the-word-i-am-looking-for#* is unnecessary; I wouldn't have taken it as a troll.

Sorry for repeating myself, but this is another example.


texts: Does one say "subscribe to insurance" or is "enroll" or "buy" a more fitting verb?

texts:
This is for use in an apartment lease. The lease is translated from Japanese for reference only for expats living in Japan, and will not be legally binding.

"The Second Party shall, for the duration of the validity of The Agreement, subscribe to the insurance defined separately ..."


texts: How can I politely express that "I have understood"?

texts: When my professor instructs me during his/her office hour, I may simply show my understanding by "Got it" or "I see". But I wonder how to say that politely and professionally in written English, especially in an email.


texts: Analog of "innovative" for a well-executed engineering project

texts:
The Curiosity rover was a  ________ program worthy of applause

  While many of the technologies existed for decades, Steve Jobs was ________ for making them usable for end-users

I am trying to find the correct adjective here.

"Innovative" programs or products are worthy of applause, but the term seems inaccurate and cliche-d. The other adjectives that came to my mind belittles and are narrow; for example calling Steve Jobs a "tinkerer" fails to describe him.

What word is suitable for these cases?


texts: How do I describe a "complex nature" of a character which consists of two "competing" personality traits in one sentence?

texts:
My character has two contradictory personality traits, a sense of duty and a sense of love, that clash together a to provoke an inner dilemma in him. How do I put this "complex nature" of his into a sentence?

Here is a start, but I really don't want to use the phrase "complex nature" in the sentence.

"Author examines protagonist's complex nature,...(description of the two traits)"


texts: What does Donald Trump's: ...it was time to “turn them in”... mean?

texts:
The Washington Post (June 13) reports that Mr. Donald Trump told “It was time to turn them in” on Fox News in the article under the title, “Trump just faced his first big leadership test. He failed miserably.”

  “The problem is we have thousands of people right now in our country.
  You have people that were born in this country” who are susceptible to
  becoming “radicalized,” the billionaire real estate mogul told Fox
  News Channel’s “Fox & Friends. He claimed that there are Muslims
  living here who “know who they are” and said it was time to “turn them
  in.”

There are hundreds definitions of dozens of idiomatic usage associated with the word, “turn” on English dictionaries at hand, and I’m unable to identify which definition is applicable to the phrase “turn them in” that came in with quotes.

For instance, Readers English Japanese Dictionary at hand gives following definitions under the heading of “turn in.”

vt. ① bend fingers of foot inward.　② put inside. ③ drive (animals) into the enclosure. ④ plow (fertilizers) into the ground. ⑤ submit (documents, resignation.) ⑥ hand out,　deliver. ➆ return, give back. ⑧ turn over (to police).　⑨ tip a person off (to police). ⑩ achieve, record, mark, take in.　⑪ (colloquial) give up (a plan).

vi. ① (disease) retrocede. ② drop in. ③ (colloquial) go to bed. ④ (Foot fingers) bend inward.

Does “turn them in” means ⑧turn over them to police, which appears to be most likely to me? Though the answer will be a single and simple one, which one should I pick up from 14 usages of “turn in”? And why did the writer deliberately put the word in quotes


texts: "Are they American?" or "Are they Americans?"

texts:
What is the difference bewteen

  Are they American

and

  Are they Americans?


texts: Is "put someone on/over to" for "put someone through/connect someone to" idiomatic?

texts:
Where in the English speaking world do they say, "put someone on/over [to]" for "put someone through/connect someone [to]" as in:

If you'd like to speak direct to one of our technicians about anything, feel free to call me at 0088000900 and I'll put you over to them.
(Telec) put me on to Mr. Brown passez-moi M. Brown; (Telec) would you put on Mrs. Smith? je voudrais parler à Mme Smith; passez-moi Mme Smith. (Source: Collins-Robert English-French Dictionary)
PUT ON
To make someone (or something) available for talking to, listening to, or watching via some communication medium or broadcast: Will you put your mother on the phone? (emphasis is mine.)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs
To pass the telephone to someone so they can speak to the person you have been talking to Wait a minute, Mum, I’ll put Joe on.
McMillan Dictionary

Is this usage common and widely accepted?
I looked up put over online, but I could not seem to find an authoritative resource to support that "connect/put someone through to" meaning to it.

PUT OVER

Make successful, bring off, as in Do you think we can put over this play? [Early 1900s]

Make something or someone be understood or accepted, as in The public relations staff helped put our candidate over to the public. [Early 1900s]

put over on. Fool, deceive, as in We can't put anything over on Tom. [Early 1900s]

(US) Delay, postpone, as in The meeting was put over until tomorrow. [Early 1500s] Also see put off.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer

Please, consider these sourced examples:

So, I just got off the phone with Plat AMX customer service. I called and told them the offer BoA had given me to move my business. The rep went through all the benefits of the card, and I reminded the agent I had been using them and was familiar. (Yes, I was very friendly and cordial.)
She then said, "Well, let me put you over to Centurion Card Services and see what they might be able to do for you."
A few minutes later, a rep from Centurion was on. She went through the normal security checks and such, then proceeded to thank me for our business and being a good customer, etc. Then came the death nail...."I will notate your interest in the Centurion on your account, and the next time they process invitations, your account will be reviewed." (emphasis is mine.)
FlyerTalk
10:03 a.m. – A call comes in that Mariano answers, this one a 911 call. Two vehicles are involved in an incident. “What are they doing? Let me put you over to Phoenix PD. Don’t hang up, OK?”
Arizona State University

EDIT:
If that usage of "put one on to someone/put one over to someone" actually is acceptable, how do using these phrases in a telephone conversation differ from using "put one through to someone/connect one to someone"?
You might consider the following example:

Mr. Brown - Hello, this is Mr. Brown. May I speak to Dr. Capwell, please?
Receptionist - Surely, Mr. Brown. Just a moment, I'll put you right through to him.
Receptionist - Surely, Mr. Brown. Just a moment, I'll put you right on to him.
Receptionist - Surely, Mr. Brown. Just a moment, I'll put you right over to him.


texts:
Is this grammar just for regular verbs?
Or we can use irregular verbs, too.


texts: What is a person called who makes history

texts: I am doing homework for a newspaper report about Neil Armstrong and i need a word that means "someone who makes history" or "marking a time in history". Please answer so I get a good grade, really confused right now.


texts: What does "in prose" means in this context

texts:
Now that you have identified what the scholar is arguing and how the argument is constructed, you will write a summary, in prose, of the argument in your own words.

Does the instruction means that we now write a summary of the argument in our own words?

What is the "in prose" emphasizing here?


texts: Which is correct: "So far as I know" or "As far as I know"?

texts: Which is more appropriate: "So" or "As"?


texts:
I want the audience to be sure what was crunching was torn apart deer bones, not the crunch of the joint capsules of the old wolf, whenever it bent its knees to take another bite. What word or phrase to use for predator gnawing bones of its prey. Referring to the bone breaking sounds?

I could hear the sound of ____ bones behind the tree. The wolf had its feast.

Edit. Does the word crunch unambiguously paint the poor deer? Or may it evoke a parallel image of an old wolf?


texts: When was "goodbye" in its most modern form first used?

texts: I've seen when the word transitioned from Godbwye to goodbwye, but when did it become goodbye?


texts:
Say I'm comparing different models of a particular car. There are four models in total, each released a year apart. The current model would be the newest one, and the "prior" model would be the one before the newest one.

Is there an equivalent adjective that describes the model before the prior one? I could call it the "second-generation" model, but then that's no longer relative to whatever generation the current model is (unlike "prior," which always means "the one before the current one").


texts: Metalanguage to describe expressing an idea in many different ways

texts:
I am looking for a term to describe expressing an idea in many different forms yet the meaning remains the same in each rendition.

An example of this:

The Australians, Australians, the Australian people, the people of Australia, Australia's people etc.

All the phrases above virtually express the same thing yet they are all different, lexico-grammatically speaking.

Help would be much appreciated :)


texts: Is a "camelopard" part-camel, part-leopard or part-camel, part-pard?

texts:
I'm honestly not sure if this belongs more on Mythology.SE, but I think it's (just) more of an etymology question.
The English word 'giraffe' derives from the Arabic word zarāfah (زرافة) which translates as "fast-walker", via the French girafe, and is first recorded in English in about 1600. Before that, the now archaic name camelopard was used. Wikipedia asserts that this is a portmanteau of "camel" and "leopard", but I'm not sure why an equally (if not more) likely explanation is that it's a portmanteau of "camel" and "pard", a pard being (as I'm sure we all know) a mythical spotted African animal that hybridises with lions to form "leo-pards" (as helpfully explained in Pliny the Elder's book "Natural History", chapter 17: "Lions: How they are Produced").
What evidence is there for each of these explanations? And whichever is true, has it ever been meant to imply that giraffes are literally hybrids?
(I still have some sources to follow up so I may be able to answer this myself eventually, but I also thought the story so far was odd enough to share in the form of a question.)


texts:
Is there a verb I could use to condense "make consistent" or "consistentize" in one word?  E.g.

  another item to  across different groups in our process is...


texts: Which of these two sentences is (more) correct?

texts:
"The average number and total number of dogs and cats are presented in the following table."

"The average number, and total number, of dogs and cats are presented in the following table."

The table has four entries: average number of dogs, average number of cats, total number of dogs, total number of cats.


texts: Past Perfect or Past Simple in the sentence where there are two events

texts:
which option is correct in the following sentence?

  I ___ for my exam all morning so I was really upset when I didn't do
  well.

  a) revised

  b) had revised

I would say that both options make sense. How can I understand whether I have to use past perfect (which I use for a sequence of events which happened in the past, therefore I had revised for my exam and I was really upset) or past simple (which I use for something that happened in the past, therefore I revised for my exam...) in such cases?

Does that so (so I was...) in the sentence make me somehow understand that I should opt for past simple, which claims to be the correct answer?

Thank you for your attention!


texts: an adjective meaning a question which can be answered several ways

texts: It's sort of similar to the term open-ended. It's also sort of similar to the word ambiguous.


texts:
For example, it is the second more emphatic or just more words(unnecessary):

She went up to the door
She went right up to the door


texts:
I have been tutuoring a Chinese boy in English, and I am having trouble explaining to the kid why he shouldn't be using the word, "those", as much as he is.

The kid:
Those two strategies help Churchill to get to his goal: to express the anger towards those terrorists.

Personally, if I was going to write this sentence, I would probably write: "These two strategies help Churchill get to his goal: to express anger towards terrorists". I've changed "those" to "these" and dropped "those" completely in the second clause.

The kid:
However, those people who watched the hanging were like a dog, which means they had less humanity but more brutal. Those human beings, compared with dogs, seemed to be much more cruel and cold-blooded.

Again, if I were writing this sentence, I wouldn't really be using "those" in any of the two cases here. I would have written "the people who watched..." and "These human beings, compared with dogs..."

The kid is trigger-happy with "those" -- I feel like he's wrong, but I can't say why, if he indeed is. Any insight would surely be appreciated.


texts:
Stack Exchange has a special feature that displays the hottest questions from its 170 or more sites across the network, it's called Hot Network Questions or HNQ for short.

Most users will see to their right a short list of “hot” questions but   HNQ also has its own page, which complicates things a little, so do the most popular/highest rated questions go on or in HNQ? Do they appear in or on a list?

  a question appearing on/in HNQ
  a question was on/in HNQ
  questions listed in/on HNQ
  questions can linger in/on HNQ

I searched the following words on in list preposition in the EL&U archives and this post turned up
When should I use "in" or "on"? the accepted answer said

  For my dialect, it's: "good luck on" and "on the list".

Does Alan Hogue's answer suggest there are no fundamental differences?
Are there any differences in usage between American and British English?


texts: I was listening to the radio today, and someone said, "The couple came across a literal 'pot of gold.'" It made me think: how do you say the opposite of that?  I'm looking for a statement or phrase that lets you know that an idiom is an idiom and not to be taken "literally."


texts: What do you call the use of a negative in order to emphasize?

texts:
In particular, I was looking at this quote:

  Adam (Paradise Lost): ‘nothing lovelier can be found / In woman, than to study household good’

Here's 'nothing' emphasizes 'lovelier'. Is there a term for such usage?


texts: "My question regards/concerns/relates to the following topic"

texts:
Can I say

  My question regards [an object]"

as a way of saying

  My question is regarding...
  I have a question regarding...

I like the brevity of it.


texts:
Someone who has come to represent or be a symbol of some ideology, someone who others follow and have deified, but who is still alive.

Preferably with religious connotations.

  Tyler Durden, in pop culture, has come to be a _______

Noun

This question was previously phrased as asking for a word that would describe a living martyr - someone who has come to be iconic and represent a particular cultural movement.


texts: I want to find dictionaries for word forms

texts: I takes exams in word forms regularly and it's so hard (an example: lip → bilabial). What dictionaries do you guys suggest? Thank you, i'll greatly appreciate.


texts: Usage of "so to" in the place of "to" as part of infinitive construction

texts:
Example:

  We make wine by hand in small lots and taste the wines constantly so to profit from its constant change.

I would normally drop the "so" and phrase it like "we do it to profit"

Are both correct?

Bonus: would "as to" or "so as to" be the same thing?


texts: What does “You can’t lead an organization whose case officers must be impervious to blackmail” mean?

texts:
Time magazine (November 9) carries an article dealing with the reason why the CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus had to resign under the caption, “Resignation at the CIA: Why Petraeus had to go.”
There is a paragraph:

  “In the world of spies, there is a short list of weaknesses you can
  exploit in your opponents:  People have spent centuries figuring out
  how to get people to commit treason. Arguing the other side is better
  for humanity, offering to help someone who’s deeply in debt or paying
  hard cash to the greedy are classic methods. But few are more
  effective than blackmail, and even in the post-Lewinsky era in
  Washington, infidelity leaves officials vulnerable.

  You can’t lead an organization whose case officers must be
  impervious to blackmail if you’re vulnerable to it yourself.”

I cannot understand what the last line, “You can’t lead an organization ‘whose case officers must be impervious.’ “means? What does “case officer" mean?


texts: What's the word for spotting flaws in news articles you are expert in, but happily accepting reports in other fields?

texts:
I'm sure I came across a "syndrome" to describe this. Say you're an expert in physics, and read an newspaper article where the reporter has completely misunderstood the Large Hadron Collider. You laugh and say "this person has no clue what they are talking about!"

You turn the page, and read an article about something you know less about, say, economic theory. "Hmmm, interesting!" you think, immediately forgetting that the reporter may have got this wrong too.


texts: Difference between "the very first" and "first"

texts:
I have the sentence:

  Who wrote the very first dictionary ever?

Is it any different from

  Who wrote the first dictionary ever?

I don't get how something could be more first.


texts: Can one "derive something" without specifying from what/where you derived that thing?

texts:
Is it possible to say that "I derived my research question", without having to say where you derived it from? E.g.

I derived my research question.

OR

I derived my research question from this data.

Which would be more appropriate?


texts: Attorney at law, is there any other kind?

texts: I have wondered from time to time about the phrase "attorney at law." Are there other kinds of attorneys? Attorneys at arms? If not, why do we specify?


texts: In mathematics, when referring to pure numbers is largest or biggest correct?

texts:
When referring to a list of number is largest or biggest correct?  For example, I want to find the biggest number in an array.  Or should it be the largest number.  Finally, would either biggest or largest be correct in this context?

[EDIT]

In this instance I am looking for a synonym for maximum in the context of an array.