texts: What word, in the a casual conversation would be equivalent to the word “deal breaker”?

texts:
I am looking for a synonym of deal breaker but it should be used in a casual conversation because the word, "deal breaker" is often used in transactional or business setting.

I am looking for a equivalent word which precisely means "this conversation wouldn't last long".


texts:
Rock-paper-scissors is a zero-sum game, however I remember a different phrase that means essentially the same thing - when each member of a group of objects has exactly balanced strengths and weaknesses.

Edit: The phrase I'm looking for is not a synonym for zero-sum game, I'm looking for something that describes a scenario in which A trumps B, B trumps C, and C trumps A. Are there any words that describe non-linear ranking?


texts: What is the comparative form of the adverb always?


texts: What is the correct way to respond to a negative question?

texts:
If someone asks me the question

  Do you want to come to my house?

If I say yes- I'm accepting their offer. If I say no- I'm declining their offer... simple.

If someone instead asks

  Do you not want to come to my house?

It feels weird to answer.

If I say yes- I could be agreeing with them "Yes, I do not want to come to your house", But it also makes sense to say "No, I do not want to come to your house."...

Can this kind of question simply not be answered in a "yes" or "no" without ambiguity?

  A: "I'm tired today..."
  B: "Do you not want to play football then?"
  A: "Yes" and "No" Have the same meaning!


texts: The diagram for showing Future-Perfect-In-Past Tense

texts:
Consider this example:

He said that he would have finished his task before we arrived.

Let's assign a number to each clause:

He said
that he would have finished his task
before we arrive

If we want to show the time scheme for this sentence in the diagram below, each number would be corresponding to which letter?


texts:
In “Toward a Cognitive Semantics”, Leonard Talmy writes:

  I walked through the tunnel in 10 minutes.

  I walked along the shore for 10 minutes.

  In both sentences, the time period is the same, 10 minutes, the
  traversed path is bounded and finite, (perhaps even the same length),
  and the progression of the cited time period is coextensively linked
  with the traversal of the path. The main difference between the two
  boundedness types is that a sentence with the in type of temporal
  phrase indicates that the reference object with respect to which the
  path of motion occurs has a physical or conceptual boundary coincident
  with the beginning and ending points of the path, while a sentence
  with the for type of phrase indicates that there is no such
  coincidence and, in fact, that the reference object extends beyond the
  path's end points.

“For” means I hadn’t reached the end of the shore after I walked for 10 minutes.

“In” means I had crossed the tunnel after walking for 10 minutes.

However, according to this thread "In a while" vs. "for a while":

haven't for a while

If you haven't seen him for a week, then he was absent for that duration. Because for indicates a limited time, this often implies that the absence has ended (as RegDwighт suggests).

haven't in a while

If you haven't seen him in a week, then he disappeared a week before now.

This usage indicates a time some distance in the past. There is no implication that the period has ended.

Now I am confused.  The rules from Leonard Talmy seem to contradict those from the thread.  How can I understand the difference between “in” and “for”?


texts:
"Bess holds the queenly hand, caresses the royal head and keeps the imperial body intimate company, suggesting that Elizabeth (the Queen) abandoned the metaphoric sword but not the chalice."
What did they mean? this has to be some kind of attribute but I cannot resolve this riddle

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/movies/12gold.html?_r=0


texts:
I don't understand the meaning of "elsewhere" in this sentence "Most units raised in Britain went elsewhere on the European continent, although one is recorded in Morocco."

Does it mean, all the soilders were sent to other places, except Europe. But there were still a portion of military were sent to Morocco, which was in Europe (Morocco was a exceptional nation in this case?)

Here's the full text

The army also provided a mean of personal advancement for auxiliary soldiers recruited from the native peoples, as a man obtained hereditary Roman citizenship on retirement after service in an auxiliary regiment. Such units recruited on an ad hoc (as needed) basis from the area in which they were stationed, and there was evidently large-scale recruitment within Britain. The total numbers were at least 12,500 men up to the reign of the emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138), with a peak around A.D. 80. Although a small proportion of the total population, this perhaps had a massive local impact when a large proportion of the young men were removed from an area. Newly raised regiments were normally transferred to another province from whence it was unlikely that individual recruits would ever return. Most units raised in Britain went elsewhere on the European continent, although one is recorded in Morocco. The reverse process brought young men to Britain, where many continued to live after their 20 to 25 years of service, and this added to the cosmopolitan Roman character of the frontier population. By the later Roman period, frontier garrisons (groups of soldiers) were only rarely transferred, service in units became effectively hereditary, and forts were no longer populated or maintained at full strength.


texts:
I am wondering if the following sentence reflects a correct usage of pretentious:

She put on a pretentious happy face.

The definition of pretentious says "adjective attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed"

I do not know if pretentious can be used as compound adjective.

What other features can etc. include in the definition of pretentious?


texts: How to formally say "they didn't want to finish their work"

texts:
I'm trying to write an essay about our group, and specifically I want to write that one group of people didn't want to finish their work. What would be the most appropriate way to say this because I don't want it to look like I hate them because of their bad behaviour.

The sentence would be: "As the deadline was approaching, I realized that a group of four people didn't want to finish their assigned work."


texts: Name for a company that resells products

texts:
I'm looking for a single word to call a company that does not manufacture products, but instead buys them and sells them again at a different price.

I came up with "reseller company"; is this a good description? Is there a better one?


texts: The origin of "the long and the short of it"

texts: I am not after the meaning, I am wondering how this phrase originated.


texts:
They write we must use adjectives rather than adverbs after linking verbs. For example https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/taste_2:

  Food can taste sweet like sugar.

But here's an adverb https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/smell_2:

  The laboratory smelled strongly of chemicals.

"to smell" as "to have a particular smell" can be only a linking verb. Therefore we must say:

  The laboratory smelled strong of/like chemicals.

I'm confused in what cases we must use adjectives after linking verbs and in what cases adverbs. Help me please.


texts: Question for which the asker intends a specific answer

texts: Suppose your boss asks if you are willing to work extra hours for no extra pay, with the implication that the expected answer is yes and you will face repercussions of some kind (e.g. dismissal) if you do not agree. Is there a name for this type of question?


texts:
I'm watching SOA and a guy who says "oh, it's a twist-off", referring to the bottle cap that is supposed to be twisted off the bottleneck, rather than being leveraged by a bottle opener.

Then I've realized that I don't know the name of the alternative(s). What'd he say if he'd be expecting a twist-off but discovered that the opposite was the case? Are there several alternatives in this case?

And grammatically prone to nitpickiness makes me wonder if it's correct to spell the term hyphenated, "twist-off" or unhyphenated "twist off". Perhaps both are correct?


texts: Is "an obstacle/obstruction against something" grammatically correct?

texts:
Recently I've been asked to edit a text and there I observed a phrase that could be simplified to: "Against young professionals trying to find a job in [certain profession], there are two obstructions ...". Alternatively, we discussed a version ending with "... are two obstructions" (without "there").
The "obstruction against [something]" part seemed weird to me, and to prove or disprove my gut feeling I did the following:

Checked usages of the word "obstruction" in several major dictionaries (no usages with "against")
Looked up "an obstruction against" and "an obstacle against" in Google (very few results, absolute majority of which from non-English websites)

Even though the above might seem like a sufficient proof of the wording being incorrect, I, being a non-native English speaker, decided to check it here, just to be extra sure.
Is "obstruction against something" grammatically correct? What about the whole phrasing I presented above? If not, how could the same meaning be conveyed in a grammatically correct fashion?


texts: How to know which part does the "in which" clause describe?

texts:
Below is an example:

  Suppose a coin is either unbiased or biased, in which case the chance
  of a "head" is unknown and is given a uniform prior distribution.

In this sentence, I can know from my common sense that "in which case the chance of a "head" is unknown and is given a uniform prior distribution" is used to describe "biased", because a chance of "head" is known for an unbiased coin (50%).

If I meet another sentence, how should I judge which component the "in which" clause describe? Does it describe the "nearest" word? But why does it not describe the whole words (e.g., "either unbiased or biased" in this example)?


texts:
Could anyone tell me whether the following sentence is correct? I don’t know why, but the first part sounds a bit strange to me.

‘Because she gave him enchanted Turkish delight, an enchanted hot drink and a false promise, the White Witch managed to trick Edmund into betraying his brother and his two sisters.’


texts: What is a term for a word or phrase whose literal wording differs from its actual meaning?

texts:
What is the definition of a word or phrase that does not describe properly what it is or does?
For example a black box flight recorder is not black but orange.
Are there any other examples of such words or phrases?


texts: Word or phrase describes place where I find people of similar taste or personality

texts:
I am looking for a single word of a phrase that describes a place (could be metaphoric or fantasy) where I meet people who have similar taste and/or personality like mine.

For example, a place where I find people who have the same taste as mine about movies, book, or food selections. I think such a place does not exist in real. Hence, I wonder if it exists, what would be the proper name for it?

I thought of My Club, but I wonder if there is more accurate word.


texts: How to say that something is the same regarding each pair in a group of different pairs of things?

texts:
They are two scenarios that I am comparing. Each scenario has 2 variation that slightly differ from one another. The first variation of the first scenario parallels the first variation of the second scenario, and the second variation of the first scenario parallels the second variation of the second scenario. The number of people involved in each variation in each scenario is the same as the number of people involved in its counterpart in the other scenario.

Now I want to say the content of the last sentence differently as something as

  The number of involved people are the same in each of the paralleling variations.

or

  The number of involved people are the same in each pair of the
  paralleling variations.

Which way of saying the strong part is correct/preferred? Or maybe both are problematic?


texts: Is it correct to say "I found the map" or "I have found the map"?


texts: What are alternative expressions being taken place with “pull off the upset”?

texts:
I came across the phrase “pull off the upset” in the following sentence of Washington Post (January 4) article titled “Eight lessons the Iowa caucuses taught us.”

  “In the early going last night, it looked like Paul might pull off the upset. But as votes streamed in, it became clear his ceiling was simply lower than his rivals. Paul wound up with 26, 219 votes - more than double the 11,817 he received in 2008 - but it still wasn’t enough to keep pace with Romney and Santorum."

As I am unfamiliar with the phrase "pull off a (the) upset,” I searched the definition online:

Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘pull off’ as a verb, meaning ‘If a vehicle pulls off, it starts moving.’

Oxford Dictionary registers "pull-off” as a noun meaning ‘an area on the side of a road where a motorist may park.”

Merriam-Webster defines ‘Pull off” as a verb meaning ‘to accomplish successfully against odds,” from which I can guess what “pull off the upset” means. Although I found no dictionary carrying “pull off the upset” as an idiom, there were a lot of quotes using this phrase in the Google search.

On the other hand, Google NGram shows the usages of “pull off a (the) upset” emerged in around later than 1960 and its noticeable rise around after 2000.

I’m curious to know (1) how widely or dominantly this idiom is being used today, and (2) what were popular alternative expressions (e.g. snatch victory from the rival’s big jaw) to “pull off a (the) upset” that were taken place with this idiom.


texts: Is the following question grammatically correct? "I have found a solution I am happy with."  I've been told the word "with" is a dangling participle.


texts:
I'm proofreading a report and stumbled on this in the following form:

  His final intention is to create a large flying city.

Is “final intention” a pleonasm in this sentence (or always)?


texts:
I'm looking for a single word that means "out of place":

? is to "out of place" as "anachronism" is to "out of time".


texts: Which variant would be preferable or more precise for a title: 'Reindeers and People' or 'Reindeers and Humans'

texts:
I would much appreciate your help with an adequate translation of a photo book title. It is about life in Chukotka peninsula that is inhabited by Chukchi people, who are reindeer herders. I had furst translated the title as 'Reindeers and People' but started hesitating. The book is not focused on those people as an ethnic group. It is rather about life conditions, daily interactions with reindeers, common life of reindeer herders etc. Wouldn't a word 'humans' (rather than 'people') be a better alternative?
Thank you so much in advance!


texts: Does The Following Sentence Contain Grammar Mistake?

texts:
I feel as though the following sentence lacks commas and such, but I wouldn't know. I'm in the middle of working on an article.

  Thanks for asking, imaginary person I just created to get my point
  across.


texts: Term for discrediting an entire argument based on discrediting a single point of it

texts:
I'm trying to think of the name of this fallacy, and it's driving me crazy. The typical situation is this: I make a claim, and list several examples supporting this claim. Someone then discredits one of the examples, focuses on that example, and insinuates that the entire argument is invalid based on this.

Example (I do not want this to turn into a political conversation, so please do not focus on the example topic in your response):

Hypothesis: Political campaigns have emboldened racists to be more open with their hate.
Evidence: multiple news articles showing examples of political activists acting in hateful ways this week.
Counterpoint: one of the articles was later shown to be a hoax.
Counter-conclusion: These articles can't be trusted, so your claim is false.

Your input would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Use of auxiliary verbs in a comparison structure

texts:
Think about the following sentence.

  A culture in which the citizens share similar religious beliefs and values is more likely to have laws that represent the wishes of its people than is a culture where citizens come from diverse backgrounds.

I have 2 questions regarding this sentence.

1) Is that highlighted is a main verb of the second part of the sentence or is it just an auxiliary verb?

2) Is it grammatically correct to omit this is.


texts: Where does 'doofus' (or perhaps 'dufus') come from?

texts:
Both Dufus and Doofus seem to be common on the web, so I'm not sure which is the correct spelling, if either.

It's kind of a cool word. Do we have any idea where/how it originated?


texts:
In the emergency dive scene one seaman is carrying a box with eggs which also has the convenient inscription "Vorsicht Eier!" (Careful, eggs !). On 0:14/0:15 he says on German: "Wahrschau ! Eier !" which means "Caution, eggs !" because "Wahrschau!" is a German warning in seaman's language.

Now the English translation is "Screws, eggs" on 0:15.

Screws ? Neither the Oxford Dictionary nor Seaman's language dictionaries were able to help out. Is "Screws" an existing expression and if not, how on earth did the translator come to the conclusion to use "Screws" ?


texts:
I am debating between using "And Next?" and "What's Next?". I understand that they are not comparable. However, I want to ask for your feedback on the two terms.

Let me describe in what context I am using it. This is going to be a title for a three-step model that I am developing. The last step of the model is about actions or help etc.

Which one do you think is most suitable to use? "What's Next?" or "And Next?"

I have a feeling that "And Next?" implies there should be something next and what is it, while "What's Next?" is more of a neutral position.


texts: When is a English dialect considered to be non-grammatical/have non-grammatical phrasing?

texts: So the question is when a dialect of English is considered non-grammatical. I am aware that it can be considered non-standard, however some phrases can be to an extent not to be considered non-grammatical. So where the cases in which it is actually considred non-grammatical. Thanks.


texts: Comma needed using and em-dash paranthetical within a list?

texts:
What's the correct use of an em-dash within a comma-separated list?
E.g. is, "Tom only likes four colours: red, blue—although he's on the fence—, green, and yellow" correct or is, "Tom only likes four colours: red, blue—although he's on the fence— green, and yellow"? Neither looks correct to me...


texts: "Skyscrapers are of various shapes" vs. "skyscrapers are various shapes": Preposition Deletion

texts:
Skyscrapers are of various shapes.
  Skyscrapers are various shapes.

Why do we use of in the sentence above?

Is there any difference in meaning between the two sentences?


texts: What is the difference between "pace" and "speed" in this context?

texts:
I understand that pace and speed are often interchangeable, however, why are they not in this case? Only the latter is correct according to the answer key.

  The lifeguards were on a training exercise in the sea when the
  dolphins swam towards them at considerable speed, then circled them
  repeatedly, hitting the surface of the water with their fins.

Here are the Cambridge definitions:
pace speed


texts: How do dictionaries cope with new meanings of words?

texts:
Scientists are working on every aspect of our lives and find out different information which is sometimes contradictory to the previous information or definitions.

Or sometimes there are some definitions that are not accepted universally.

How dictionaries update these changes?


texts: What does “I believe in making America safe for old-fashioned light bulbs and not those weird curly ones,” mean?

texts:
I saw the line, “That’s all I believe in. That and making America safe for old-fashioned light bulbs and not those weird curly ones,” in the speech of Michele Bachmann quoted in Maureen Dowd column in today’s New York Times (August 9) titled “Withholder in Chief.”

  The president has been so spectacularly unable to fill the leadership void in Washington that the high-spirited Michele Bachmann feels free to purloin Obama’s old mantra.
  ‘The power behind our campaign is hope and a future,’ she chirped to a sparse crowd Monday in Atlantic, Iowa. “That’s all I believe in.” That and making America safe for old-fashioned light bulbs and not those weird curly ones.

To me, “make America safe for old-fashioned light bulbs and not those weird curly ones,” appears to be a metaphor indicating Bachmann’s attachment to American establishments’ values as against liberal value, but I cannot get across the exact idea of this message.
Could anybody paraphrase the line for non-native English speaker like me easily to understand?

By the way, is the sentence, “That’s all I believe in. That and making America safe for old-fashioned light bulbs” grammatically correct? To me, it’s confusing.


texts: What is the correct word for moving part of the ground to another place?

texts:
I would like to know the correct english word for this
activity:


texts: Is FOR in the given example equivalent to BECAUSE?

texts:
I learned that in the past it was acceptable to use "for" to mean "because", but I also learned that it's not acceptable anymore. When I need to write some texts in English, I often type them in Google Translator in my mother language and then I just check for any grammatical errors (because I'm lazy sometimes). Google often uses "for" as in the following sentence:

  His eyes widened and he was speechless, for he was sure that the darkness in the room was an absence of physical light, when in actuality it was due to the absence of spiritual light.

The above example was taken from a 2009 book and the author is young.

I like to use "for" in this way to be honest but I'm afraid it's something archaic. But if it's archaic I don't know why many books have "for" used in this way and why Google Translator keeps giving me it instead of "because".


texts: A word for the person after whom someone or something is named

texts:
I believe it's a common practice in some communities to name children after their grandparents or parents or relatives and sometimes even friends and popular people. Places, roads, streets etc., get named after famous people, too. Many inventions and discoveries have been named after people who invented or discovered them.

But I am not yet aware of a term that refers to the person whose name is given to people, places or objects this way. Is there a suitable word to fill in the blank below?

  They named their son after the famous football player, David Beckham.

  David Beckham is .......... of their son.


texts: How to say "A has X, and B has X" in a single clause

texts:
How can we say

  Mike has an apple, and Jane has an apple

in a single clause? Can I say

  Both Mike and Jane have an apple

or

  Mike and Jane each have an apple?

They sound fine to me but I am not sure. Is there any alternative?

  Each of Mike and Jane has an apple

might sound too complicated.


texts: Hydrophobic, hydrophobized, or hydrophobicized?

texts:
I found three adjectives which can be used in the following context: "velour (HYDROPHOBIC / HYDROPHOBIZED / HYDROPHOBICIZED) with alkenyl maleic anhydride composition". Which one should be used, if any of them, in the sentence and what is the rule for it? It seems that the last two adjectives can be incorrect, but I am not sure if they are - I could not find the rules to sort it out. Also, what would be a noun which will describe the process of making surfaces hydrophobic?
I would appreciate if you could help me to find out more about correspondying rules for making similiar adjectives and nouns.


texts: What does ‘engorgimpressed’ actually mean?

texts:
In the script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne, I found this word extremely confusing.

SCORPIUS: So let me get this right — the plan is Engorgement …
ALBUS: Yes, Scorpius, that soap, if you may …
Scorpius fishes a soap out of the sink.
Engorgio.
He fires a bolt from his wand across the room. The soap blows up to four times its size.
SCORPIUS: Nice. Consider me engorgimpressed.


texts: What is the meaning of 'Wouldn’t you know?'

texts:
The passage below comes from Emily's runaway imagination by Beverly Cleary.

  During the week the stationmaster at the depot telephoned Mama to say
  that a crate of books had arrived from the state library. Mama had
  Grandpa pick up the crate in his Ford and deliver it to the Commercial
  Clubrooms. And wouldn’t you know?

  That was the week the tomatoes were ripe and Mama was so busy canning
  tomatoes and selling tomatoes to other ladies who wanted to can them
  that she did not have time to go uptown and open that crate.

Could you explain to me the meaning of 'wouldn’t you know'?
And if you don't mind, give me another example of this phrase with common words but with difficult nuance to me.


texts:
Does "whose" correlate with a noun or a possesive determiner? For example:

"Whose dog is that?"
"That's Johnny's dog."

This would imply that "whose" correlates with "Johnny's" or that "whose dog" correlates with "Johnny's dog". This makes intuitive sense, as they serve the same syntactical function. Yet, the following noun phrase can be made:

"Johnny, whose dog was hungry."

If this is grammatically correct, it would imply that "whose" correlates with a noun. It would thus seem that this construction is incorrect, yet it has become so generally accepted that no one bats an eye.

Thoughts?


texts:
In some situations things relate to personal life in a weird way, like for example a school lesson on the phases of grief while you happen to be in said phases of grief (not that this is the situation for me)

I cannot think of any better word than "irony" but it seems really off

Is there a better word or phrase that carries this meaning?

Edit:

So let me briefly describe the situation

In a roleplay the GM is describing how my character feels uneasy/anxious and is shaking for unknown reason, which is quite ___(ironic?) because indeed, I in real life am shaking and feeling anxious for unknown reason. I herewith hope to clarify what I am looking for


texts:
Why we used " see a movie theater " instead of " watch a movie theater " ?
2 . And which one of this are right " I want to see a film on TV everyday " or " I want to watch a film on TV everyday " ?


texts: "Needs cleaned" or "needs to be cleaned"

texts: I'm from Western Pennsylvania. Until I moved away, I never realized that when I omitted the to be from phrases like needs to be cleaned, my usage was different than what most English speakers are accustomed to. Is it wrong?


texts: What do we call something that is not toll-free?

texts: What are we supposed to call a number that is not free and we have to pay for it? Paid call? Toll call? The call is made in the hometown.


texts: How are these two nouns different when used in scientific papers? I'm not an English speaker and was having a hard time choosing the proper word.


texts: "Already" at the beginning of a sentence

texts:
Is it considered good form to use the word already at the beginning of a sentence? For instance:

  Already in 1930, certain people were watching television in their homes.

I have seen it used in many history books and even in a speech by President Obama, but a friend of mine who is an excellent writer and one of the most prolific Wikipedia editors said that it was not good practice to use it like that.


texts: I just heard about the phrase 'crying fit' or 'crying fits'.  What does the 'fit' mean here?


texts:
What's the word that describes the "core" of a person, their spiritual core, the place where their soul resides— these kinds of concepts.
It pertains to the heart and throat area of the body. Like you can feel an extreme emotion in your heart but often in reality it manifests itself in your throat.
This area of the body can easily be told apart from the rest of the body in orcas and frogs, because it is uniquely coloured. Lots of other animals also have some kind of separation of this area from the rest of their body, to varying degrees.
I think there is at least one loan word that describes this area of the body, ideally with these kinds of connotations.


texts:
I am unsure whether to use "a" or "an" in the following sentence:

Video games have become a/an ubiquitous part of American culture.

For me, saying the two sentences out loud makes "an" seem like the right choice but Microsoft Word proofing disagrees.


texts:
There is an "oligopoly", which is the dominating of the market by a select few businesses. Then there's __, which is when no single business dominates their respective market.

What's that called?


texts:
Could you tell me if the sentence below is grammatically correct?

We usually grow vegetables in our garden, but this year we are not growing any.

I'm not completely sure that in the second part of the sentence I should use Present Continuous. If it's wrong to use this tense here, could you explain why?


texts:
I know:

Single
Double
Triple
Quadruple

But what comes next? Up to 10 would be fine.


texts:
I need a good word for the object a care-taker is taking care of. The term will be used in scientific environment, more specifically in IT: we have an application which is "monitoring" other applications's status and in case it senses some "deviation" from normal behaviour it takes specific actions (restart, allocate more resources, etc, not relevant).

But I just don't know how to call these "applications that some other application takes care of" ...


texts: Word for attending lectures without seeking a degree

texts:
I am looking for a word that would describe a person attending all the lectures of a program at some university but without seeking a degree. In the French language we call that an "Auditeur Libre" (ie. literally a "Free Auditor"), such persons are not registered as regular students. For example they are not required to take the end of term exams.

I'm struggling to find the appropriate English equivalent.

Any idea?


texts:
I just wanted to know what is the English full form of "RSVP", a word which we usually use on invitation cards? I read somewhere it's a French word.

So I wanted to confirm if it has any English full form and if it does, what it is?

I googled the same but didn't get the correct thing, so thought of asking here.


texts: "You have no money" or "You don't have money"

texts:
You have no money.
You don't have money.

Which is the right way to phrase the message here?


texts: A verb for performing foot tricks with a ball?

texts:
Is there a word for when a soccer player does the kind of tricks where he would try to kick the ball with his feet into the air, catches the ball with his knee cap with another hit to bring the ball higher into the air, and then hit the ball with his head and so on?

I don't know how I can describe it, but it's a common move/trick that soccer players do. They would "play" around the ball with different moves.

I used to think that a verb for performing such actions is shuffling, and would say:

  "The soccer player is shuffling the ball."

But now I think I'm wrong because shuffling sounds more for something else.

So, is there a verb for performing such an action?


texts: Using comma to delimit the name of a group and its constituents?

texts:
You are probably familiar with this comic which illustrates the possible ambiguity caused by leaving out the Oxford comma:

However, this strikes me as plain wrong. I thought comma would not be used to delimit the name of/word for a group and the listing of its constituents. The sentence given as an example on Wikipedia regarding the usage of the em dash indicates one would use either an em dash or a colon for this purpose:

  Colon-like use

  Simple equivalence (or near-equivalence) of colon and em dash

  Three alkali metals are the usual substituents: sodium, potassium, and lithium.
  Three alkali metals are the usual substituents—sodium, potassium, and lithium.

(Wikipedia)

So one would think that, in order to convey what is portrayed in the second picture in the comic, the sentence should be:

  We invited the strippers: JFK and Stalin.

or

  We invited the strippers—JFK and Stalin.

So, with all that said, my question is:

Is the sentence without the Oxford comma considered ambiguous because too many people are not familiar enough with the rules of punctuation of the English language, or are the rules laxer than I thought and it is valid to use a comma in this case as well?

(Bear in mind—English is not my native language, so the latter may well be the case.)


texts:
I heard this phrase long ago. I have always wondered the obvious WHY?
Why is it that we park in our driveway
and drive on a parkway?


texts: Whether to use past or present tense with an "if"clause

texts:
Which is correct?

  George starts to realize how many lives he has changed and impacted, and how they would be different if he was/were never there.


texts: Can we use "I wish I saw" for a past situation?

texts:
In the series F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Joey makes a pass at Rachel because, according to himself, he saw Rachel first. When Rachel rejects and convinces Joey that this would be a mistake, Joey says,

"Yeah you're right. But man I wish I saw Phoebe first"

instead of

"Man I wish I had seen Phoebe first".

This is only one of the many occasions in which I've seen people avoid using past perfect and use simple past instead. Sometimes they use "simple past + would" structure because they are generalizing a statement, but in this particular situation and many others I'm sure they are talking about one particular event in the past.
P.S. I've asked a similar question before regarding whether the past perfect tense is considered formal, but I didn't have an actual example then and therefore couldn't get a clear answer.


texts: What does "Come on, let's wrangle up the cattle" mean?

texts: Andy said this to Woody in Toy Story 1. Is this idiom?


texts:
I'm wondering about the usage of the words conscript and conscribe in terms of the meaning they share.

I went to use the word conscripted as in "conscripted for duty", and the word conscribe also came to mind, and I wasn't sure which to use. Looking around it seems like conscribe isn't used much and isn't in all dictionaries. Is it an outdated version of the same word from Latin?

Also, what about the preposition? I see instances of both "conscripted into" and "conscripted for" in Google results. Is there a difference?


texts: 'of all the reasons' vs. 'of all reasons'

texts:
Given:

  Of all ____ reasons for my decision to become a university professor, my father's advice was ____ most important one

Which of the following choice is correct?

A: the; a
B: /; a
C: /; the
D: the; the

The slash ("/") here means "don't fill anything".

The author says the correct answer is D, but I think C is also correct. Why is "the" required before "reasons"? What is the explanation from a grammatical point of view?

Actually I am an EFL teacher and my native language is Chinese. I am quite confused about the question. I've asked the question somewhere else, but they failed to explain why "of all the reasons" is grammatically correct while "of all reasons" is not. Or do you also think they both are correct?


texts:
My AP English Literature and Composition Teacher was reading aloud a piece on comedy and satire:

  Characters in the novels are not always morally and socially obliging to each other, however, but there is differentiation between the upstanding hero or heroine and the socially less acceptable characters.

She then proceeded to correct the punctuation preceding the however, stating it should be a semicolon rather than a comma; my gripe is whether or not this correction is proper. If I'm not mistaken, she believes the however is intended to be used as a conjunctive adverb; however, the however is immediately followed by a but indicating the following phrase to be a dependent clause regardless of the however. The however seems like it's added in contrary to the preceding statement, but really, that's where I start to doubt myself.


texts: Is Nabokov's Pale Fire really in iambic pentameter?

texts:
The poem is described as written in heroic couplets (iambic pentameter lines with end rhyme).  When I read it, it seems to be to be free verse with end rhyme.  I can't consistently identify the iambs (da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM) And when read aloud, it sounds like prose mostly with rhyme.

He's fairly consistent in having 10 syllables in each line. But they don't seem to be made up of 5 iambs.


texts: What does “shooting trout in a demitasse cup” mean?

texts:
I came across the phrase, “shooting trout in a demitasse cup” in the New York Times’ columnist, Maureen Dawd’s article titled Coffee Cups in Hell. Incidentally, I as a non-native English speaker often feel her writing style studded with novel and cool phrases difficult to comprehend.

Though I guess this phrase means ‘100% certain' (Please correct me if I wrong), is this an established expression? I wonder if she deliberately used this phrase in association with Mormons’ shunning caffeine.

The phrase is used in the following context:

  They (Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Robert Lopez) pushed the limits at Comedy Central when they put the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit. But as Terry Teachout wrote in The Wall Street Journal: “Making fun of Mormons in front of a Broadway crowd is like “shooting trout in a demitasse cup.” ... If the title of this show were ‘The Quran,’ it wouldn’t have opened.


texts: "glad to know you?" or "nice to meet you"

texts:
can we use this sentence ?

  glad to know you?

I didn't met this person so I think I can't use "nice to meet you"


texts: Word for a jazz style where a vocalist sings what was previously an instrumental solo

texts:
Is there a word for a group doing a cover of an originally instrumental tone, where the vocalist carefully matches the original instrumental solos' pitch and rhythm?

For instance, here is a Weather Report performance of the Joe Zawinul composition Birdland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqashW66D7o

And here's Manhattan Transfer covering the same tune vocally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1nj6Yla_Vg

Another example: here is Blue Rondo à la Turk by Dave Brubeck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9GgmGLPbWU

And here is the same tune as covered by Al Jarreau: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFf2w7O3bDo


texts: How to translate "Facéties de Descendre" from French in the context of a board game?

texts:
I'd like to translate a card from a French board game. In particular, I'm interested about one of the names of the abilities. Now, I'm not a native English speaker, but I'm pretty sure that the official translation is incomplete and too literate:

"Humour Noir" was translated to "Black Humour", while I believe the correct phrase would be "Dark Humor".
"Facéties de Descendre" was translated to "Descendre Pranks". As far as I know, "Descendre" does not function in English. After basic translation, it would seem that it roughly means "pranks in descend".

The character itself is a demon that "descends" to fight the mortals.
Now, the game is known for its puns and wordplay. I suspect that the ability name was supposed to sound like "decent pranks" or "indecent pranks", although I'm not sure if it's originally a pun name in French. With that in mind, I have 2 questions:

What would be the correct literal translation of the ability name?
In your opinion, what would be the best translation in this context to preserve the pun (if there is one)?

I've thought about "Descend Pranks", "In-descend Pranks" or "Pranks in Descend", but I'd like to hear your opinions.


texts: Exceptions to the rule that AAVE can omit "is" and "are" iff the corresponding form in standard English can be contracted?

texts:
According to the Wikipedia page for African-American Vernacular English:

  Only the forms is and are (of which the latter is anyway often replaced by is) can be omitted; am, was, and were are not deleted.
  These forms cannot be omitted when they would be pronounced with stress in General American (whether or not the stress serves
  specifically to impart an emphatic sense to the verb's meaning).
  These forms cannot be omitted when the corresponding form in standard English cannot show contraction (and vice versa). For
  example, I don't know where he is cannot be reduced to *I don't know
  where he just as in standard English forms the corresponding reduction
  *I don't know where he's is likewise impossible. (I don't know where he at is possible, paralleling I don't know where he's at in standard
  English.)

Are there any exceptions to this rule?


texts:
I found some text, which has weird (for me) usage of auxiliary verb - do:

  Although C# doesn't strictly speaking have a pre-processor, it does have conditional compilation symbols which can be used to affect compilation.

I cannot understand correctness of this phrase. I thought that correct variant is:

  it has


texts: Is the word "wotcher" British slang? What does it mean?

texts:
I was reading a Harry Potter book the other day and one of the characters, Nymphadora Tonks, greets Harry by saying "Wotcher, Harry".

What is "Wotcher"?


texts: Does this use of 'as to why' make any sense?

texts:
Im wondering if this sentence makes sense, characters speaking are both military officers

"I’m assuming you have been informed that you will be the only officer
stationed here today?”
"“Yes I have sir, but I was not informed as to why.”


texts: What is the exact syntax format of "substitute this for that"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Substitute X for Y

Many times people say "You want to substitute this for that?" What are they talking about putting in and what are they taking out. Is it based on context or the definition of substitute? Or is it just plain ambiguous, and are there less ambiguous ways of saying it?


texts:
I've noticed that historic ads often contain periods (full stops) in the headlines (this is no longer common practice). An example is a ghostsign (old faded building sign) in Cleveland, Ohio, that reads:

[Name of Company]. Millinery.

My question: When were periods commonly used in headlines and after company names, etc., and when did that come out of favor?

I've noticed that periods also sometimes appear in mastheads and newspaper headlines, historically, and that periods don't seem to show up in ads in the late 20th century or early 21st. I'd like to try to date the ads based on the punctuation. I know that David Ogilvie advised against using periods in ad headlines in the 60s.


texts: The subject of "and" in a compound statement

texts:
I'm wondering the subject of the second clause in a sentence like

You should tell him to get up and get back to work

The subject of get back to work is ambiguous to me. It could be interpreted as either

You should tell him to get up and [you] get back to work

or

You should tell him to get up and [him] get back to work

How should I form the sentence so that either option is explicit and unambiguous?


texts: Did Shakespeare use dactyls or dactilic meter?

texts:
While reciting "To be or not to be" recently, I discovered a rhythmic pattern that I hadn't really noticed before. At least to me, there seems to be quite a few dactyls, especially in the second half of his famous soliloquy.

Could these interpretations be correct?

  The | ìn-sol-ence of| òf-fice, and| the spùrns
  That pa|tient mèr-it of |th' ùn-wor-thy takes,

OK, this isn't a dactyl but I didn't know what else to call it. Notice the 2 lines are treated as one and it has a feminine ending.

  When he him |sèlf might his qui|èt-us make
  With a bàre |bod-kìn?| Who would fàr|dels bear,
  To grùnt| and swèat| ùn-der a| wèar-y life,| (or alternatively |un-der a wèar|y life|)
  |But that the drèad| of some-thing à|fter death,

(I really don't know what it is I'm supposed to be doing to indicate the diactrics... I hope you will understand me)

To me it seems more natural that you group a bunch of the syllables together (like 3 or 4 of them) in a rushed or slurred speech pattern like someone who may be a little scared or hurried.

Also it seems like at times he is alternating between thought processes, as if he were weighing options on one hand, then on the other hand, so it'd be like:  "with a bare bodkin?" (one thought, but then like in a piece of music you have one cadence already but you want to keep the flow going he jumps right into the next) "who would fardels bear".... etc etc etc...

What are your thoughts?


texts:
Would the following sentences be correct?

  You were more concerned with being
  pedantic.

  I felt you were being pedantic.

  You wanted to have a pedantic
  conversation.


texts: "The cohort were followed up at 2 months" or "The cohort was followed up at 2 months"

texts: Here, cohort is a group of 12-13 year olds.


texts: Can 'Yes' and 'No' be used other than to answer questions?

texts:
Is there any way you can use the words 'Yes' and 'No' without it being in the context of answering a question?

Both words can be used to answer yes/no questions like 'is X true' or 'are you X'.

Is there any case where you could simply respond with either single word without it being a question?

If you say 'I am X' for example, and someone says 'Yes', that doesn't actually make sense, does it? You'd have to say 'That's true' instead, right?

Edit:

Sorry, should have been more specific: I mean just 'Yes' or 'No' as a single word sentence. Can you say just 'Yes' or 'No' in response to a non-question and have it make sense?


texts: Can we use "if it weren't for" and "if it hadn't been for" interchangeably?

texts:
In the sentence
"If it hadn't been for the accident, he would be alive right now"
we are using mixed tenses since that's what the context entails. The cause was in the past but the result is presenting itself right now. Now, given that the cause happened in the past, would it be wrong to say
"If it weren't for the accident, he would be alive right now"?
Can we always use them interchangeably when the result clause is in the present?


texts: What is another way of saying, "I understood this as saying..."?

texts: I need to explain how I interpreted a poem and compare that with another translator's. I'm essentially trying to say something like: "I thought he was saying that _______. The other translation thought he was saying something else." I think I could say "I took this as meaning __________." Is there an alternative that doesn't require "as [meaning/saying/etc] that"?


texts: Is there a word that describes a list of lists? Does a "masterlist" describe it, or is there something more specific?


texts:
From TheFreeDictionary, pushing somebody over the edge is defined as:

If an unpleasant event pushes someone over the edge, it makes them start to behave in a crazy way.

Can crazy here be to mean all of the following: non-sensible/stupid, very angry, and mentally ill/insane?


texts: Words for the "essential character" of each sense organ?

texts:
Looking at the definition for flavor and timbre, both are used to describe the "essential character" of a particular sense.

If flavor is the essential character of our taste sense, and timbre is the essential character of something we hear, does English contain similar words for sight, smell, or touch?

Is there a better answer for touch than "texture"?

I suppose flavor could be used generically for any of them, but I would be most interested in a similar word used specifically for the essential character of something we perceive with our eyes.

EDIT: This isn't quite the same as this question, because I'm interested  more in the "essential character" part of the definition that "timbre" implies.

It's almost a specialized domain-word in music, but this "essential" can be characterized as follows:

More than one type of instrument can produce the same pitch.  Similarly, many types of instruments can achieve the same dynamics (or loudness).  But a violin's timbre is uniquely its own.  A flute can never sound like a violin.  You will hear musicians use words like bright, penetrating, acerbic, keen, biting, rasping, reedy, powerful, robust, full, or insistent to try to describe a timbre.

Approaching it from another direction, if you've ever seen a recorded sound waveform (with all the wiggly lines):

Dynamics/loudness are related to the height or magnitude of the wiggly lines.  (Any waveform can be stretched vertically to match another's loudness.)
Pitch/frequency is related to how closely packed the repeating sections of wiggly lines appear.  (Any waveform can be played back faster or slower to match the pitch of another.)
Timbre refers to the actual shape of the repeated sections of wiggly lines.  There is no simple transformation that allows you to match those patterns to a different recorded sound.

That last sentence is what I'm looking for with the other senses.

Trying to apply those same rules to vision ("what can or cannot be accomplished via a simple transformation"), the answer is probably "texture" and/or "shape".  You can make a rubber ball in any variety of colors, but that ball can never be made to look like a cell phone, owing to texture and shape differences.  Their essential characters are different.


texts: Distinguish "naming" and "telling" part of simple sentence with compound predicate

texts:
Dad caught fish and cooked them for supper.

This is a question from a test that my son missed; he is in the second grade.

The instructions for the test are as follows:

  Put one line under the naming part of the sentence, and two lines
  under the telling part.

My B average from high school English tells me the following:

Naming Part = Subject
Telling Part = Predicate
The subject of the second independent clause is omitted because it is understood to be Dad (What is the term for this?)

What part of the above sentence would you put a single line under? What about the double line?  Specifically, I'm curious about the conjunction and.  Is that naming, telling or neither?


texts: Should I use "Written quote […]” or "Written quote […]”. with a period?

texts:
The full sentence is:

  According to Zhao et al. (2019), “[there] is no convenient
  experimental access to the internal variable D[…]”.

I'm uncertain if I need that last period.


texts: Its social web services initiatives have been patchy at best, so Google hasn't managed to muscle in on Facebook or Twitter like it has with Microsoft and Yahoo.


texts: What are the names of the pieces of a question mark?

texts: A question mark ? seems to be composed of two distinct pieces, top and bottom.  Do these pieces have their own names, and if so, what are they?


texts: When saying 'He pointed out the bank of England' which of the following statements is correct?

texts:
He pointed out the bank of England...
  ... he said that London's City was a village in its way....

Do the extracts above mean:

one time in the past he pointed out and he said...
more than one time or every time they were out, he kept pointed and said...

NB As we know simple past does not always refer to completed action in the past. I want to translate it to Farsi and I do not know which one is correct.

Here is the passage:

  Among these adult people Cecilia was lonely, and friendless, too, in Buckingham Street. At weekends her father did his best, making an effort to be interesting on their strolls about the deserted city streets - the Strand and Ludgate Hill, Cheapside and Poultry, Threadneedle, Cornhill. He pointed out the bank of England, the Stock Exchange: he said that London's City was a village in its way. Sometimes, as a change, he booked two rooms at a small hotel in Suffolk, usually at Hintlesham or Orford


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How should I use quotation marks in sections of multi-line dialogue?

Sometimes when reading, I will see a " at the beginning of a paragraph [When someone is speaking]. It is not closed anywhere, and at the end of the paragraph, there is no ending ".  How come?


texts: Word for "words whose origin is another, misheard word"?

texts:
Consider the example of the etymology of the phrase "10 gallon hat":

  Cattle drivers and ranchers in Texas and the Southwest often crossed paths with Mexican vaqueros who sported braided hatbands—called “galóns” in Spanish—on their sombreros. A “10 galón” sombrero was a hat with a large enough crown that it could hold 10 hatbands, but American cowboys may have anglicized the word to “gallon” and started referring to their own sombrero-inspired headgear as “10-gallon hats.”

-- From history.com

The veracity of this particular etymology aside, there are words and phrases whose origin is a misunderstanding or mishearing of some original word or phrase -- foreign or otherwise.  This mistake then sticks, and the misheard word becomes the dominant, standard word in daily usage.

Is there a linguistic term for words that originate this way, or for this specific process of word transformation?


texts: "There do not appear to be any comments to delete."

texts:
In a CMS I am using, when a user with the right permission tries to delete a comment that is not found, the CMS outputs the following warning message:

  There do not appear to be any comments to delete, or your selected comment was deleted by another administrator.

Is the sentence correct?
Is it the accepted way to write such sentences?
What is the difference with it seems there are no comments to delete, or there are no comments to delete?


texts:
I am a little bit confused in meaning of "as" and "because of". there are two sentences:

I felt tired today as I worked hard yesterday.

I felt tired because of I worked hard yesterday or I felt tired because of working hard.

Do those sentences have same sense?

i have suspense in second sentence. Is that correct? I am unable to understand second sentence as I am not native speaker of English.

Can anybody tell me about usage of because of and as?


texts: "a group of dancers who perform..." or "a group of dancers who performs..."?

texts:
The poet represents the daffodils as a group of dancers who (perform) a beautiful dance.

Is it correct to write (perform) or I should write (performs).


texts: Drywall "mud": modern slang or continuous usage from ancient times?

texts: "Drywall compound" is used to fill in the gaps between sheets of gypsum wallboard. In the trade this is referred to as "mud". At first I thought this was modern slang, but I am wondering whether the word has been continuously used in the plastering trade since back when it actually was mud.


texts: Asking a small group of two or more people a personal question?

texts:
So, I visit casual group chats regularly, both in person and over internet messaging, and often a question is asked, "How is everyone doing?" Or, something along those lines.

Now, this all seems fine and dandy. In a perfect case, each person would respond, and then the questioner could comment after each other user has responded and relate their answers to how he or she is doing. But, it almost never works out like that. Here's the problem.

Most people like to respond with their own answer, then immediately ask how the person asking the question is doing, such as:

Questioner: How is everybody?

Responder 1: I'm fine, thank you. And how are you?

Responder 2: ???

How would one continue that? Does Responder 2 simply state how they are, and ask the same question to the questioner? Or, should the questioner answer Responder 1, then let Responder 2 answer how they are afterward? I don't see a polite way to continue this, because once someone asks the questioner how they are doing back, any other answers to the question are effectively halted due to politeness toward both the Questioner and Responder 1. Should personal questions directed at a group simply not be used, and each person should be talked to individually? Or is there a polite way for one person to ask a group of people something that they're expecting a response for?


texts: I heard people using colloquial expressions like "I like to eat cheap". What is the opposite colloquial expression of eating cheap? Is it eating expensive? I tried googling "eat expensive", but found no expected results.


texts: What does this poem mean? "It's not the cough that'll carry you off It's the coffin they'll carry you off in"

texts:
What does this poem mean?

  It's not the cough that'll carry you off
  It's the coffin they'll carry you off in


texts:
What is another word for "predictor"?

  "...peer alcohol use is one of the strongest predictors of adolescent alcohol use."

The word "indicator" isn't quite right, because I am looking for a word that literally means "predicts" or "forecasts" (forecaster is a bit awkward in this sentence, but something with a similar meaning would be great).


texts:
I was watching "Friends" the other day when this conversation popped up. I am a little bit confused with this expression-"You got me." What does it mean?

What does the speaker intend to say?

  Phoebe : I can’t believe you--did this.
  So, what’s the deal with uh you and Joey?

  Ursula : Oh, right. He is so great. But that’s over.

  Phoebe : Does he know?

  Ursula : Who?

  Phoebe : Joey. You know, um, he’s really nutsy about you.

  Ursula : He is? Why?

  Phoebe : You got me.


texts: Usage of "compensate" as a recompense for gain instead of loss

texts:
To keep this PG, I've changed the popular saying we've all heard:

  "He has a huge truck to compensate for his small ego"

But I've recently been using a sort of counter to the joke, in one form or another (which will need some translation to be funny, or funnier I guess):

  "I have a small truck to compensate for my large ego"

My question is, is this a correct usage of the word compensate?  Can you compensate for something large with something smaller?


texts: Inversion with "many times" at the beginning of a sentence

texts:
I am having a discussion with my friend. I said, "Many times I have seen him washing his car." He says it should be, "Many times have I seen him washing his car. Much like "Often do I see him", and not "Often I see him."

While I agree with him on 'often,' I am skeptical about 'many times.' I hope somebody can help.


texts: what doest it mean the " susbscriber" in the sentence  "subscribers of the memorandum&Articles of Association were as follow :


texts: What to put in a future work schedule section's title of my pre-thesis

texts:
I'm writing my doctor's degree "qualification" (that's what we call in Brazil), I'm not sure if something similar is required in other countries, but it's like a pre-thesis that you have to present after 2 years of work. Even tho I'm in Brazil I'm writing it in English, it just makes it much easier to write papers afterwards.

There is a section/chapter where I must describe what is my schedule for the next years to finish the research to get my degree, but I'm not sure how one would call that in English. In Portuguese it's called "cronograma", but "chronogram" in English means something completely different.

Any suggestions? Is it a common practice in other countries?

[Side question]
what is it called the event of presenting your thesis to the examining board(??)?. In Brazil it is called "the defense"-of-[title].


texts: Difference between "to cost" and "to be worth"

texts: What is the difference between "to cost" and "to be worth"? Are they mutually replaceable and if not why? For example, is it correct to say that something costs its price.


texts:
I've noticed there are a lot of alternatives in English to "Thank you", but I am struggling to come up with any for "You're welcome", though it would be said nearly as often.

Can someone please point me to some good alternatives, or a resource that could provide them?


texts:
I've found this phrase here on a recent BBC report:

"...the mare in the video died after suffering a cardiac arrest on a gallops in April 2016."

The same article has:

"A video on social media shows James mount the animal at a gallops while some present can be heard laughing."

(emphasis mine)
It's a bit of a sad story, but I want to know what "a gallops" is.
Google Ngrams has some indication that it might be a phrase rather than just a typo, and also that it might be rising in popularity.
TheFreeDictionary redirects me to gallop. I know what "a gallop" is. It's the plural noun ("a gallops") that I have never heard used before. It feels like some kind of horse racing meet.
Any formal (or informal) definition that fits this word? Is it short for something?


texts: Substance made softer by moisture from humidity

texts:
As we were enjoying some peanuts that have been sitting out in the Wisconsin humidity the last several days, this question came to mind:

What do you call a substance (especially a food) that is made softer (less crunchy) after it has taken on moisture from humid air?

The word soft doesn't capture it - there's still some crunch. They're not stale either. Nor is delicious a good choice (my personal opinion). :-)

Sample sentence: "On a hot, humid summer day at the ballpark, the sun's heat kept the original roasted crunchiness of our bag of peanuts. The leftovers that sat home in the kitchen through the following cool, humid spell didn't fair so well; they mostly went _________."

Disambiguation: I'm specifically looking for what you call the substance after it has taken on the moisture (as compared to the ability of the substance to take on moisture).


texts: with atleast 60% marks in either of the degree examination-

texts: a candidate must possess the minimum qualification of a Graduate/Post Graduate in any discipline from a recognized University with at least 60% marks in either of the degree examination: Does it refer to both graduate and post graduate marks or any one of them?


texts:
I would like to say that since one of my colleagues left, nobody cares about our project anymore. Or nobody has cared?
EDIT: I want to say that nobody cares now and it started when X left.


texts:
I haven't eaten rice nor potatoes.
I looked up that nor is usually followed by neither on this site: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/when-use-nor
However, I would like to know if the way I used it in the example is correct to use.


texts: Correct to use "index" for marking "first occurrence"

texts:
I found that several studies have defined the first occurrence of hip fracture diagnosis as "index hip fracture" (https://www.google.com/search?q=%22index+hip+fracture%22&rlz=1C1CHBD_enEE888EE888&oq=%22index+hip+fracture&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j35i39j0i22i30l3j0i390l3.3229j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8).
However, when checking the meaning of "index" then such meaning is not that clear.
Should I use the same approach or are there better options?


texts:
She asked, "Will you come sit at the VIP table with us?"

In dialogue should it be V.I.P.?

thanks


texts: Trying to understand the structure of "fear the walking dead".

texts: Is it like "fear of walking dead" or as in "I order you to fear the walking dead"? Can one paraphrase this phrase? Isn't this a so peculiar naming?


texts: What is the correct word for a group of categories, tags, and roles?

texts: I want to create a database table that will hold all categories, tags, and user roles. I see WordPress uses "taxonomy" and "term" for this concept. Are there any other words to name it? If not, then which is better: "term" or "taxonomy"?


texts: Why is "banging his nose" possible but "answering the phone'' not possible?

texts:
He ran into the wall, banging his nose.
He got out of bed, answering the phone.

Why is the first one possible but is the second one not possible?


texts: what's the meaning of "it is not the case that"

texts:
what's the meaning of: "it is not the case that"

However, it is not the case that there has been
substantial, or even adequate, theoretical conversation and debate
about these terms and their usage


texts: What does “I intentionally shorted you” mean?

texts:
From Better Call Saul:

  PRICE : We're short . Twenty dollars, That's fine.
      MIKE: Agreed amount or no deal.
      NACHO :You serious? You saying I intentionally shorted you?
      MIKE:No. Mistakes happen.

Is "shorted you" an idiom? or is it a common expression?


texts:
The longstanding question of whether "data" is singular or plural has a very appropriate answer in: Is "data" treated as singular or plural in formal contexts?

Yet, I wonder if the same arguments hold true for the related "metadata".  In the same "technical paper" context as the linked question, is it appropriate to use "metadata are"?  Or does it perhaps depend on the context?


texts: Are "betwixt", "trebble", etc., acceptable in American English?

texts: I grew up speaking British English. The words I learnt were occasionally marked off in papers, despite their being English words. Are words like betwixt, trebble, learnt acceptable in papers for English classes for professors in America, specifically Texas?


texts:
Not sure if that has a special meaning but I heard it in a movie:

  Just once I’d like a PB & PB.

What does it mean?

Here is a cartoon:


texts: I have a doubt about the following sentence: "they are experiencing their languish". Should "languish" be kept or replaced by "languishment" as in "they are experiencing their languishment"? Or are both valid?


texts: Only answering questions asked directly, only volunteering specific details

texts: I've seen several characters in different mediums do this, and I was wondering if there is a word or phrase to more easily explain it. I'm referring to when someone gives specific details about something in a way which serves their purposes and refuses to volunteer information that might be useful to who they're talking to without being directly asked, but will be absolutely truthful in their responses to direct questions. I see a lot of villains and demons do this sort of thing in a lot of stories.


texts: What is a word to describe how something bad looks good because it is being contrasted with something worse?

texts: I was wondering if there was any word or terminology for any such literary device that uses this effect.


texts: "Should be" is to "Should become" as "Should have" is to what?

texts:
I'm trying to express an assertion that someone should have something, not right now but in the future.

What I'm looking for is analogous to the relationship between "should be" and "should become".

Hence the title of the question: "Should be" is to "Should become" as "Should have" is to "should what?"


texts:
What's the difference between these two? I found the following after some research,

  “Extended” has to do with time, “extensive” with space. An extended tour lasts  a long time; an extensive tour covers a lot of territory.

But in the definition of "extended", it seems that it can also mean to enlarge or stretch in space. Any ideas?


texts:
From this excerpt:

"How the situation of Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong evolves in the coming months and how much of the repression leaks over from the mainland is a very important space to watch,"

I suppose it is a phrasal verb, but I couldn't find any other occurrences of "leak over" as phrasal verb on the internet. All matches of those two words together are such that over functions as a simple preposition (not what I'm looking for), like below:

Hackers leak over 20,000 unemployment applicants' bank...
Any leak over 2,000 square feet being prioritized for repair
Labor demands Dutton shed more light on media leak over medevac bill

So is to leak over any different from simply to leak?
Thanks!


texts: Punctuation confusion, commas, semicolons, and em dashes

texts:
I'm having a hard time trying to punctuate the following sentence.  I have it using just commas right now, but I do not think that is right.

  On Earth they see the Sun every day, it’s always there, from when they are born till when they die.

Or how about:

  On Earth they see the Sun every day; it’s always there--from when they are born till when they die.

Also, does example 1 bring any confusion? Thanks a lot for your help!


texts: What does "blue's my colour" mean in this context?

texts:
Monica: How are you?

  Fake Monica: I'm not too bad. Fortunately, blue's my colour. How-how
  did you know I was here?

  Monica: Because... I'm Monica Geller. It was my credit card you were
  using.

It is from the sitcom Friends season 1 episode 21.

To me, "blue's my colour" barely makes any sense in this context.


texts: How do you say (adjective) you are wearing cold clothes?

texts:
In portuguese there is the word:

  Agasalhado

which is used for people who are wearing clothes for cold seasons.

I would like to know if there is an equivalent word.

"Clothed" seemed to be right, although not sure about meaning it is wearing cold clothes or just opposite of naked.


texts: On the origin and usage of 'mainstream'!

texts:
Mainstream is a very common expression mainly used, both as an adjective and a noun, in its figurative sense to refer to:

  the prevalent attitudes, values, and practices of a society or group the common current thought of the majority.

According to  Etymonline:

  also main-stream, main stream, "principal current of a river," 1660s, from main (adj.) + stream (n.); hence, "prevailing direction in opinion, popular taste, etc.," a figurative use first attested in Carlyle (1831). Mainstream media attested by 1980 in language of U.S. leftists critical of coverage of national affairs.

According to Ngram the expression became more and more popular since the mid 50's, probably with the diffusion of mass media. The term is currently often used in a good number of fields  such as music, science, sociology, politics, education etc. to indicate the prevailing trend , but what was the initial context ( in the 50's) where this expression was first consistently used? Or was it just a common term that easily and quickly spread to all direction without a precise context?


texts: Present-Perfect: "hadn't heard" vs. "haven't heard"

texts:
Let's say I have just listened to a beautiful song wanted to immediately tell my friend about it. Which sentence should I use?

A. I haven't heard a song this good for a while.
B. I hadn't heard a song this good for a while.

Should I say A because I am currently still excited about the song? Or should I say B because the act of listening to the song started and ended in the past?


texts: Is this a valid sentence structure, and what is it called?

texts:
I have been writing short stories for the last few months, and have a bad habit of overusing certain sentence structures. Now I think I overuse a particular remedy to the original problem. Oh dear. When I started thinking about it, I was suddenly unsure if it is even a valid structure.
To take a simple example:

He stomped off, muttering to himself.

The intention is that both actions happen at the same time. Alternatives include:

He stomped off while muttering to himself.
He muttered to himself as he stomped off.

I dislike the second version, as stomping off is clearly the more important action; stomping off without muttering is closer to my meaning than muttering without stomping off.
My intuition is that it is valid, but I have struggled to find out what this type of sentence structure is called. I think it is a compound sentence, but the second part seems to be dependent on the first because of the time correspondence.
If it is valid - and I know this may be purely subjective - is it a good style? Do you think it is better or worse than the alternatives I gave? Is there a good variation I missed?


texts: What does "[Country] out" mean in the context of a photo description?

texts:
In the last photo of a slideshow of the 69th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing, there's a description of the photo, plus what I assume is metadata-ish content (emphasis added):

  U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy attends a ceremony at the
  Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, Wednesday,
  Aug. 6, 2014. Japan marked the 69th anniversary Wednesday of the
  atomic bombing of Hiroshima. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT,
  MANDATORY CREDIT

I assume "Mandatory credit" means that any news organization using this photo has to credit the organization that took it. And obviously, the photo was taken in Japan. But what does "out" mean?

Likewise, I can see "China out" in this article featuring a photo taken in China.


texts: Difference between "open up" and "open", optional "up" & "down" words

texts:
I don't really understand why we add the word up or down even if it is not needed, example : open up! when requesting/ordering someone to open the door.
Why not just say open the door!, or open!, what's the purpose of up in examples like these ?

The same thing with adding the word down, that I hear in many sentences, but I don't really have one in mind right now.

EDIT : What's the difference between open the door! & open up the door! ?


texts: Is "to wear" also used as a "dynamic verb" meaning "to don", "to put on"?

texts:
My intuition was that the verb to wear could be used in two ways (besides all its other senses that is.)

A "stative" sense related to the state of having clothes (etc) on.
A "dynamic" sense related to the action of putting clothes on, donning clothes.

I was surprised to find that all the dictionaries I've checked online support only the first, stative sense, and none supported the second, dynamic sense.

Is my intuition at fault? Are the dictionaries just being a tad prescriptive with this? What do other sources such as grammar and other fields of linguistics have to say about this, if anything?

I've found some supporting evidence for my intuition in the Wikipedia article for stative verbs:

3. They do not occur as imperatives, except when used in an inchoative manner.

Run!
*Know the answer!
Know thyself! (inchoative, not stative; archaic)

Examples of dynamic wear I can think up are mostly imperatives:

Wear a coat if you're going outside!

(But I've never had a good grasp of the inchoative, so maybe there's a gap, or maybe it depends on who is analysing?


texts: Do the adjectives always precedes the noun or pronoun?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why do some adjectives follow the nouns they modify?
  Attributive and predicative position of an adjective
  “A place nearby” but not “A place good”

My natural language is French, and I am full fluent in Spanish. Since in Spanish we can use almost any adjectives to precede or go after a noun or pronoun. I would like to know if in English is the same case, or do the adjectives always precedes a noun or pronoun?

Is there any exception? What are the grammatical rules involved?


texts: What do you call words that are separated by a hyphen?

texts: What do you call words like one-note that are separated by a hyphen?


texts: What is the difference between "house" and "home"?

texts:
What are the differences in meaning between house and home?

When do I use one or the other?


texts: Are there any single-word alternatives for the phrase "on bench"?

texts:
The phrase "On Bench/ On the Bench" indicates an employment status wherein you haven't been allotted any project in your company. The term is quite used in the IT industry and several people dread getting into the 'on bench' mode.

I was curious to know if there are any single-word alternatives for the phrase "on bench". Synonymous idioms/ phrases to "on bench" are also welcome.

An example sentence where this word could fit in is the following -

Yes, I am employed, but I'm currently ... (on bench)


texts: Official US term for a scientist or science

texts:
I am searching for the official or widely accepted US term for a scientist or science, which work on growing human organs in animals.

Google search: growth of human organs in animals

I saw it in a documentary, erased it and have no idea if this would be acceptable for a logline:

  "A pregnant, growing human organ scientist turns unwanted homegrown terrorist…"


texts: A word for someone (or something?) that is totally different from how they (or it) appear?

texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe someone who is totally different to the impression they give? It is actually one of my son's teachers whom I am looking to describe. He comes across very gruff and tough, but in actuality is one of the kindest teachers in the school.
Thanks :)


texts: A noun that means "something that is notable or noteworthy"

texts:
I'm looking for a noun that means "something that is notable or noteworthy".  It seems like the word "notable" itself should suffice, but according to Dictionary.com, the noun form of the word obsolete:

  Obsolete. a notable fact or thing.

Given that there doesn't seem to be a great replacement, I'm wondering why the word (i.e. the noun form) would ever have become obsolete.  Is there another word I can use instead?


texts: The question "What's your poison?" is an informal way of asking someone what they would like to drink. Apparently it has been used in this way since the mid-1800s. I read recently that the word "poison" derives from the Latin word for drink (potio, which also gave us potable). It may be just an interesting coincidence that "poison" is being used with the ancient (harmless) meaning. Is there any evidence of the word being used with the harmless meaning in the centuries between?


texts: would this be considered a 'methodology' or a 'method'?

texts:
Say I developed something called "Methodology for Establishing Remaining Life of Components". Basically, at work, we have components (or equipment). I wanted to develop a way to identify how much longer the components / equipment can last before they ware out and cannot be used.

It takes into account "the degree of damage currently in the component, the rate of future damage accumulation based on realistic operating scenarios, and the degree of damage required to cause failure." Taking these three into account, the remaining life of a component can be assessed. This is what I call "Methodology for Establishing Remaining Life of Components".

My question is, would this be considered a 'methodology for establishing remaining life of components' or just a 'method for establishing remaining life of components'? Or do you need more information to figure out if it is a method or methodology?

I cannot provide all the information for business purposes, but if additional  information is required to figure out if it is a method or methodology, I will provide it.


texts: Why do you write "receive" with "ei" but "retrieve" with "ie"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why is it true that “I before E, except after C”?

Both words are similar in pronunciation but different in spelling. Why is it that receive is written with ei but retrieve has the diphthong the other way round?


texts: What is a correct word for a teacher who gives additional lessons to young students?

texts:
Most teachers just teach a classroom in something like mathematics, geography or grammar. However, there are also teachers who give additional lessons to a single student or a small number of students.

An example situation could be a teenager who is working really hard to get nice grades for mathematics but he is failing all the time. He needs extra lessons to succeed which can be helpful in some situations.

Is there a nice word for such a teacher and a word for teaching such lessons? In Dutch, there is a word "bijlesleraar" where "bijles" means "additional lessons" and "leraar" means "teacher". An obvious translation could be "additional lessons teacher". However, when searching on linkedin, only Dutch people seem to have this profession.....

So it is likely to be an incorrect term, translated from Dutch to English literally.

So what is a good term for an "additional lessons teacher"? Is there also a nice term for teaching such additional lessons?


texts:
Can anyone explain to me what this sentence means

{don't be lengthy you should talk concisely} ????
thanks


texts: Which is correct: "is it worth it?" or "does it worth it?"

texts:
Which one should I prefer?

  Is it worth it?

or

  Does it worth it?

Additionally, is the following form (without it) correct?

  Is it worth?


texts:
I faced with interesting (in my opinion) questions.
I have an exersice I must choose the correct tenses for:

He was going along the beach one day. He (not / look) where he was going.
"What (be) this?" he said, picking up the object he (trip) over.
"I (never / see) anything like it before".It was, in fact, a very old lamp, and as he (rub) it, suddenly a genie (fly) out of it.

I put next items:

wasn't looking (at that moment)
is, tripped
I've never seen (experience), rubbed (succession of actions), flew (succession of actions)

But there were other answers in the keys:

hadn't been looking (action of some duration before another one continuing up to that time???) / was looking
is, had tripped over (action happend before another one???)
I've never seen, was rubbing (as it was a process, but my answer is correct too???), flew

Help me, please


texts:
Is the use of comma before "and" in the following sentence correct?

Interviews are by invitation only, and conducted during the admissions review process.


texts:
(Not to be confused with "to be done with stng")

I've seen several times the expression "to be done for", not followed by anything.
Here is an example not so far from what I could actually read or hear:

- John, the boss wants you to send the client a complete proposal by 6 today.
- Gee... I'm done for.

My understanding is that this means "I'm scr**d/ruined", and probably less derogatory than the first. Is this correct, and is this the only usage of this expression?


texts: Are there any common informal terms for referring to corrupt politicians?

texts:
I’m Brazilian and I’m curious to know of common English expressions use to refer to corrupt politicians. Here we use the idiomatic expression ficha suja, which literally translated would be something like “dirty card”.

What single words (nouns or adjectives) or idiomatic expressions in English might roughly correspond to that Portuguese term, and which are in everyday casual use somewhere in the English-speaking world?


texts:
This is a comment made on a discussion on a roadrage incident,

  Anyone attacks me in traffic while I'm on my bike, I'm beating the f-ck out of them with my gloves on.

What does he mean by "with my gloves on"? I looked it up and I found that there's an idiom the gloves are off, which is,

  used to say that somebody is ready for a fight or an argument

or, with the gloves off meaning

  With or ready to dispense rough treatment.

But with the gloves on does he mean he will beat the attacker not as roughly, or unexpectedly? What does he mean?

Edit:

This is the actual full comment:

  Wonder if you could have pulled a gun on that guy and watch him sh-t himself.
  Anyone attacks me in traffic while I'm on my bike, I'm beating the f-ck out of them with my gloves on.

And the comment was made based on this video of the incident.


texts: Is not it better to use adopt rather then use revert to

texts:
Recently, I have faced a question like below:
The new systematic nomenclature was so (i)__ that many chemists preferred to (ii)__ the older trivial names that were at least shorter. At least, that is the ostensible reason. Actually, tradition seems to carry more weight than (iii)____ with some scientists.

Blank (i)
A. succinct
B. cumbersome
C. irrational

Blank (ii)
D. revert to
E. adopt
F. suspend

Blank (iii)
G. chronology
H. longevity
I. system

And I answered it:
BEI
whenever the answer given is:
BDI.

My question is if it is not much suitable to use adopt the system rather than going back to the system?


texts: What is the origin of the term "ask for her hand in marriage"?

texts: Why does a man ask for a woman's "hand" when he is proposing? It seems he gets much more than that!


texts: "Look into" vs. "look at" in the 'investigate, explore' sense

texts:
Are look into and look at interchangeable? If not what are the differences between the two?

I will look at my options and see what I have.
I will look into my options and see what I have.
I will look into it and let you know. Or the government is going to look into the case.


texts: What term includes words and parts of words?

texts:
Is there a single term which includes words and parts of words, e.g., the term could be applied to any of these:

the word “international”
the root “inter-” taken independently of the words it fits in
any segmentable part of a word, e.g. “in”, “ter”, “na”, “tion”, “al”, which is in this case segmentation by syllable

The term could, but need not necessarily, include letters.


texts: "Professor of entomology" or "a professor of entomology"

texts:
Which is correct?

This is Dr. Yang Jeng-Tze, professor of entomology.
This is Dr. Yang Jeng-Tze, a professor of entomology.


texts: "trade" for "business deal; transaction" in North American vernacular

texts:
Harrap's New Shorter English-French Dictionary, Ed. 1982, states,
trade

[...]
2. (b) NAm (i) transaction (commerciale); (ii) clientèle f (d'une maison); carriage trade, grosse clientèle.
[...]

Now, looking up "transaction" in the French-English section of the dictionary, here's what it says:
transaction

n.f. 1. (a) Com: transaction; pl. dealings, deals.
[...]

Random House Webster's College Dictionary, Ed. 1991, supports that "transaction" sense of "trade."
trade

[...]

a purchase or sale; business deal or transaction.

[...]

My question is, is this usage of "trade" actually restricted to North American vernacular or has it since spread into other regions of the English speaking world?
In addition, can "trade" work fine as a substitute for "business transaction" in all senses of "a purchase or sale; business deal or transaction"?
Please, compare:

carriage trade: Wealthy, well-to-do, or upper-class customers receiving special treatment or the transactions conducted with them, as distinguished from the working class. Businesses catering to these customers sell high-end, or high-priced, goods and services and tend to offer amenities in their shops not ordinarily found in standard retailers or service providers. The term originally applied to rich theater patrons or store clients who traveled in private carriages.

-and-

carriage trade: Wealthy, well-to-do, or upper-class customers receiving special treatment or the trades conducted with them, as distinguished from the working class. Businesses catering to these customers sell high-end, or high-priced, goods and services and tend to offer amenities in their shops not ordinarily found in standard retailers or service providers. The term originally applied to rich theater patrons or store clients who traveled in private carriages.

Source: Business Dictionary


texts:
Is there a general rule governing the usage of "Of" and "For" when used in the following way:
Which is correct "My love of animals" or "My love for animals" ?


texts: what eigen originally means in English or Latin?

texts:
In mathematics, there is a very important concept of Eigen-decomposition.

I think I understand this concept reasonably well. However, I don't understand why it is called "eigen", rather than other names.

My question is, what does Eigen originally mean?

Can you give me a clue?

Thanks


texts: Regional dialect or just improper grammar? Eating on leftovers or just eating leftovers

texts:
On several occasions I have heard white people from the deep south part of the United States (Louisiana to Georgia) say that they will be eating ON leftovers, instead of just eating leftovers.

For example, I would normally say: I'm going to eat the leftover spaghetti all week.

However, some people say: "I'm going to eat on the leftover spaghetti all week."

Clearly, you don't eat ON spaghetti, but it may be a regional thing that is acceptable. Can anyone explain this?

NOTE: Also, I recently heard Maggie, a southern character presumably from Georgia on the TV show Walking Dead, say "I'll think on it", which made me think it might be a southern dialect thing, as opposed to just improper English.


texts:
What figure of speech is the following statement?

"If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"

A friend said that to me today.


texts: "I am good!", different meaning or just sloppy English?

texts:
Apparently over the last decades the standard reply to "How are you?" has become:

  "I'm good."

I am not a native speaker but it still sounds bad to me. What is your reaction to that, is it more AE than BE, is it  in your opinion colloquial, slang,  just sloppy English like ..ain't or it has gained a standard status with a slightly different meaning?


texts: What is the difference between taking courses, classes or lessons?

texts:
Currently, I am preparing a letter of my study objectives for an university application.
I ask myself what is the exact difference between the following terms? Or can I use them synonymously?

taking courses
taking classes
taking lessons


texts:
Sample sentence - A cave was _________ into the cliff.

I'm trying to say that the cave was built naturally without any human intervention in any way.

The alternatives I can think/search of - carved, cut, built, slice but all of do carry a connotation of having human involvement.

Feel free to modify the sentence. Thanks in advance.


texts: Is it logical - and grammatical - to say "that husband of yours"?

texts: I've heard it many times and I know it's current usage but, when you get right down to it, does it make sense to say "that husband of yours" or "that wife of yours"?  Wouldn't that mean "one among several husbands/wives"? Any idea of when and where this construction originated? Is it logical and grammatical?


texts: What do you call a robe that's parted in the middle and is longer in the back?

texts: I have a reference picture of what I'm actually talking about, it's the.. coat/robe that the elf is wearing below. It's got like this tear-drop skirt, and I'm not sure whether 'coat' or 'robe' is more appropriate or if there's something better.


texts: The meaning of "I never take it for granted"

texts:
I was recently translating a subtitle and I couldn't totally get the meaning of this sentence:

  Coffee is something I drink every day; But I never take it for
  granted.

I'm not sure if she's talking about not knowing the value of it,
or if she has no expectation from her coffee,
or something else.

Thank you

EDIT

Well since it's hard to tell the true meaning of it without more context, here's the whole dialog:

  Coffee is something I drink every day. But I never take it for
  granted. There’s always this moment when I’m holding the cup of
  coffee. I’m, like, grateful for it... and then there’s just this
  moment there that feels... sacred.


texts:
To my understanding it's an acronym for "Not Applicable", but I've noticed it written the following ways:

na
NA
n/a
~na~

Is there a standard? What do different style guides say? Why have I never seen it written "N.A"?


texts:
Can the expression "there it is" be used with the meaning of "Oh, now I understand what you were talking about!" or "Oh, now I see what the problem was"?

Also, what are the alternative meanings of "there it is"? (Beside an exclamation that I have found something I was looking for).


texts: Order of prefixes when more than one is present

texts:
In Words having two prefixes incorporated the person asking the question is curious about the name for words with more than one prefix. I am interested in knowing the rules dictating their order. Why is the word not 'disantiestablishmentism' or 'preunmeditated'? Maybe those are bad examples?

The specific word I am interested in is 'xenocryptobiology'/cryptoxenobiology'. What are the rules dictating the name of the combination of the two sciences cryptobiology and xenobiology?


texts: Word meaning: "The act of taking/obtaining that of which is rightly yours, but you've never had."

texts:
Other examples include:
"Liberating oneself by obtaining a right or value one deserves, but has never had."
"To have the ability to do something for the first time."

Something like secure, capture, or seize, except case specific and all encompassing.

Is there a word for this? Thanks!


texts: How to correctly name a multi-select element in forms?

texts:
How to correctly name this in English (in an official documentation for an IT system or in an instruction for filling up some form):

Should I name this:

a checkbox,
a check box,
a tickbox,
a tick box,
other name.


texts:
Can "installation" be used to mean software installed in a computer? (e.g. portable or stand-alone USB installation)

Example sentence: This feature works in my standard installation of the software, but not in the portable USB installation.

If not, what word could be a good alternative for "installation" in my example above?

I am wondering about this because some software installers, like Opera's (screenshots: example 1, example 2), seem to use "installation" to mean software installed in a computer. But dictionaries like Oxford's Advanced Learner's Dictionary and Wiktionary, don't seem to include that definition for "installation", despite including the technical, computer definition for "install": OALD, Wiktionary.


texts:
Which of the following is acceptable?

That is a big dog. Its equivalent in size is a goat.
That is a big dog. Its equivalence in size is a goat.


texts: Is there a word for happiness made possible by a tragic situation?

texts:
I frequently find myself needing a word to express happiness that acknowledges a tragic or unfortunate circumstance underpinning that happiness. Preferably the word could have both adjective and verb forms. For example, "Gregory [verb-ed | felt adjective about] the balmy February day, suspecting it was yet another consequence of catastrophic and irreversible climate change."

"Bittersweet" is close, but not precisely right. It implies ambivalence rather than genuine gladness. "Schadenfreude" is also in the neighborhood, but I don't want to imply that the tragic part of the situation is what causes the pleasure. (Also, I recognize that the word may not quite exist in English, and I don't know if this is forbidden for this forum, but I'd welcome a loan word or phrase if there's a better one.)


texts: Difference between "wedding" and "marriage"

texts:
What is the correct usage between the following?

A wedding anniversary
A marriage anniversary?

What differences are there, if any.


texts: How many hours of sleep “is” or “are” needed?

texts:
Time, distance, weight are treated as singular, like "3 hours is too long." Then, in this instance,

  How many hours of sleep is /are needed to keep fit?"

Is "is" correct?


texts: Starting an independent statement with "I mean, ..."

texts:
A friend was noting that his daughter would occasionally start sentences with the phrase "I mean, " simply for emphasis, not for clarification:

  Friend:  How was the Miley Cyrus concert?

  Friend's daughter: I mean, it was the best concert ever!

I have typically seen "I mean" used to join two statements - for example, as a correction:

  This juice is orange.  Well, I mean, more of a yellowish-orange.

or for clarifying emphasis:

  This juice is orange.  I mean, it's the most neon orange you've ever seen!

However, his daughter's usage seems to combine the two parts of the "emphasis" example, creating a single independent statement that begins with "I mean":

  I mean, this juice is the most neon orange you've ever seen!

Considering that teen girls are leading language change, has "I mean" just been co-opted as an interjection?


texts: When and how did the word hashtag come about?

texts: What caused the change from calling "#" a pound sign to calling it a hashtag? Why? I know that Twitter had much to do with the coinage, but how and why did it come about?


texts: Is the following usage of the verb "be" correct? Why do people keep telling me it's wrong?

texts:
There is a plethora of other examples of blatant mistreatment which
I'll gladly share with anyone who cares enough to listen.

Should I use the plural instead?

There are a plethora of other examples of blatant mistreatment which
I'll gladly share with anyone who cares enough to listen.


texts:
Can we use "the" (definite article) with nouns to refer to a group of that name?

For example, on learnenglish.britishcouncil.org and this article said:

  to say something about all the things referred to by a noun:

  The wolf is not really a dangerous animal (= Wolves are not really dangerous animals)
  The kangaroo is found only in Australia (= Kangaroos are found only in Australia)
  The heart pumps blood around the body. (= Hearts pump blood around bodies)

Is that really right?

Because I only saw in that site and I know that when "the" comes before adjectives it refers to a group of people.


texts: Use of "low" in a dictionary definition as a paralexical indicator

texts:
What is the meaning of "low" in this definition?

  puff, … 4. Life; existence: tailors' > (low) gen.: from ca. 1880. As in  never in one's puff, never …

In Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, eighth edition (1984), page 930, entry for "puff".

Notes:
1. The sign > means become(s); became.
2. "gen." stands for general(ly); usual(ly),
as explained on Page xxix, Abbreviations and Signs.

This answer gives some clues, but not enough for my understanding.
Does "low" refer to the low frequency of use of the word "puff"? In this case, it is surprising that it does not appear in the abbreviations page.
Unless its meaning is too obvious to be explained.


texts: Which one is right? "Check out for... online" OR "Check out online for..."?

texts:
Which one would be right?

Check out for offers online. OR... Check out online for offers.


texts: Why are consequences usually associated with something negative?

texts: Consequence often has a negative tone. For example, we are more likely to say, "Bob did not study, as a consequence he failed his test." But for the opposite we usually say, "Bob studied, therefore he passed his exam." Consequence actually just means as a result of so you could actually say, "Bob studied and as a consequence, he passed." Instead we usually associate consequence with something negative instead of positive, what is the reasoning behind this?