texts:
How do you read this sentence:

"Mischel remembers graduate students’ desks giving way to mattresses, and large packages from Ciba chemicals, in Switzerland, arriving in the mail."

The first part is clear: students have a mess on their desks. But after the comma it becomes weird, Ciba is a company based in Switzerland so I guess the author wrote a minimal description of what Ciba chemicals are.
Is it ok to write about the desks and then about the contents of the mail like that? How would you rewrite that sentence so that it is easier to read?


texts: Punctuation with unusual element in begining of the sentence

texts:
I want to bend English a bit and put weird elements into position one, mirroring the more idiomatic constructions there are. Here's the "standard"sentence

  The rule is clear, but it makes no sense and people do not care.

And here's what I'd like to do with it

  The rule is clear, but sense it makes not and care people do not.

Once again... I know that this is not proper English but I feel that it is still in the grey zone and I have little doubt that people would understand me if I was say that. But I want to write it.

How would I punctuate this?
Should I use commas or hyphens or nothing? What's the easiest for a reader to comprehend and parse?


texts: I had always thought a vest implied a sleeveless garment of clothing, but I find several instances of the phrase "sleeveless vest."  Isn't that redundant and is there any reputable, somewhat definitive resource that supports this view (or at least discusses the usage of it)?


texts:
Is it okay to skip of in the following statement:

  Android is built on top of the Linux.


texts: Why is it "to take someone seriously" and not "to take someone serious"?

texts:
Obviously the difference between these two sentences is that one is using an adverb while the other one is using an adjective.

The reason why I think that an adjective should be used, is that the adjective refers to the object. By my understanding, if I take someone serious, I take them as a serious person.

When using an adverb, on the other hand, it refers to the verb, so whatever I am doing (in this case "taking someone") is being done in a serious way.

  I can't take him serious. -> I am not able to take him as being
  serious, or as a serious person.

  I can't take him seriously. -> I really am unable to take him, or I
  can't take him while being serious myself.

I think in this case "to take someone (serious)" is equivalent to "to consider someone (serious)". If instead I said I can't consider him seriously, I think the sentence would be missing an adjective, and also the adverb would be in the wrong place, e.g. I seriously can't consider him a serious person.

So in conclusion I think the sentence should be either:

I can't take him serious.

or using the adverb in front of the verb, e.g.:

I seriously can't take him anymore.


texts: What does "be proactively available to help others" mean?

texts:
Actively going to others to provide help even if they don't need it?
Being available actively to help others whenever they need it?
Or something else?


texts: Is there a word or frequently-used analogy for something that everyone does but nobody talks about?

texts:
There's a common saying that goes like this:

XYZ is like sex in high school, everyone's talking about it but nobody does it.

Is there a frequently-used analogy or word for the opposite of that? Something everyone's doing but nobody talks about it.


texts: Is ‘toasty-roasted’ well-received English?

texts:
I found the word, ‘toasty-roasted’ in the article of the Art section of Time Magazine reporting the reputation of the recently released movie ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ under the title, ‘Box Office: Why Cowboys & Aliens Got Smurfed. The corresponding lines read:

  “A farrago of live action and animation directed by mixed-media master Raja Gosnell (Scooby-Doo, Beverly Hills Chihuahua) and starring Neil Patrick Harris as the main human, the Smurfs movie got toasty-roasted by the critics: a hapless 20% score on Rotten Tomatoes.”

From the context of the above sentence, I (could easily) guess ‘get toasty –roasted’ means receive ‘harsh criticism or grossly underrated’ by the critics. If my interpretation is wrong, please correct me. Meanwhile I checked the exact definition of the word on both Cambridge dictionary and Merriam-Webster online, neither of which has registered ‘toasty-roasted.’ while the latter shows the definition of ‘toasty’ as ‘pleasantly and comfortably worm accompanied with the example - ‘The room was nice and toasty’ which appears to be remote from being 'toasty-roasted' to me.

Is ‘toasty-roasted’ a popular English word? I’m asking this because I was unable to find the word in dictionaries available.


texts: What's a word for the percentage of votes needed to reach a decision?

texts: Sometimes it's 51%, sometimes it's 66%, sometimes it's 100%. But what do you call that number?


texts: A word for stripping someone of something hard-earned

texts:
It is like taking away the fame, wealth or influence of a celebrity.

The police ____ Alan Turing.
Alan Turing was unfortunately ____.


texts: What is a better way of saying "building a building"?

texts: My sentence is "Creating Software is akin to building a building". This sounds weird and I am looking for a better way to phrase this analogy.


texts: What is the reason that "no" after "there is" cancels articles?

texts:
What is the reason that "no" after "there is" cancels articles while "not" doesn't?
For example:

There is no  apple on the table.✅
There is no an apple on the table.❌

versus

There is not an apple on the table.✅
There is not apple on the table. ❌


texts: When is it appropriate to send Seasons Greetings?

texts:
During what time of the year is it appropriate to close semi-formal written conversation with "Season's Greetings"?

Obviously sometime around December 25th, but how much in advance and how much past this date?

Or isn't it ever?


texts: Avoiding stuffy language: "Therefore", "Thus"

texts:
In my thesis, I'm using "thus" and "therefore" a lot.  This is repetitive and it sounds stuffy.  Is there any alternative which sounds a bit more relaxed but is acceptable in scientific writing?  "So" would be too colloquial, I suppose.
Example for "thus:"

Later in life, neural responses to sensory input become highly
differentiated, as do overt reactions. Thus, it can be assumed that
neurons adapt their responses mediated by experience...
The neural responses used by the SC to localize stimuli are stochastic.
Thus, the SC’s task can be described as a statistical inference
problem: ...

(Sorry, I didn't find any examples for "therefore" which would make sense outside of the thesis.)


texts: Does the term "walkable roof" exist in English?

texts: I'm writing a paper about flat roofs. I wanted to use the term "walkable roof" to describe a roof that can be used on a daily basis (e.g. a roof terrace), but I'm not sure if this term exists in English language? What name would you suggest for this type of a roof?


texts:
The book that a person might keep on their table, because they read it so often.

In Russian, there is an idiom with this meaning—"настольная книга", which literally means "an on-table book".


texts: "I hope I enjoy myself very much" is this correct?

texts:
I hope I enjoy myself very much

I came across the above expression when I was reading something, the writer wasn't a native English speaker. She was talking about visiting a place she wanted to go, but I'm not sure if the sentence is grammatically correct.

I'm not sure what is wrong, but it doesn't feel right.

I would appreciate very much if you could tell me what kind of error this is, if it is, and how I can change the expression to make it right.


texts: I've been futilely searching around for a word for someone who readily embraces change, or, is enthusiastic about it. I thought about an antonym for metathesiophobic, which is fear of change, but I couldn't even find anything for that. "Metathesiophilia" doesn't seem to be a word. Any suggestions?


texts:
We know that a noun phrase contains at least a noun or a pronoun and for the most part, these phrases can be replaced by a pronoun.

Ex: "We spoke to [the old guy that lives in the little shed on the last farm to the left.]

I made that example long just to illustrate the potential of a noun phrase.

But what about this?

I already spoke to [the good-for-nothing slob.]

Is "good for nothing" modifying slob as an adjective?

If so, is the entire phrase an adjectival phrase within a noun phrase?


texts: I want to know why eleven is not called "onety one"? Since eleven comes after ten, why is not "onety one"?  and why ten is not called onety ?


texts:
I just had a linguistics test (it's called UKLO) that measures you're ability to problem solve and translate languages you know nothing about.

For one of my translation answers I wrote 'Don't go and sleep!'. Is this incorrect, or just a dialectal (Northern English) way of speaking. Should it be 'Don't go to sleep!'. I usually replace 'to' with 'and' in verb constructions like this, for example: 'I'm gonna go and leave now.' instead of 'I'm going to leave now.'

Thanks,

Sam


texts: A linking word that expresses contrast but in a positive context

texts:
Is there a linking word that expresses contrast but in a positive way in this sentence, I have thought of ( Fortunately) but am looking for something more formal

This fact raises questions as to how to approach rape in other universities, where incidents have been ever publicized. [......] a crime like rape, is manifested within its social context through peoples' attitudes and behaviors. Accordingly, even if there are no publicized incidents or statistics, some signs  can be identified, in any given campus where rape is of prominent occurrence


texts: Is there any word available for an incident occurred and vanished in front of eyes?

texts:
I was confused, when one of my friends was writing his name on a lead from vapor of mouth: I saw his name for a few seconds and after that it automatically disappeared.

So what can I call this incident? Is there any word available for this incident?


texts:
I was chatting with a course mate in the morning and we talked about alcohol, then he mentioned ''in Poland you can't drink publicly, as the 'civic guard' may talk to you.''

Neither of us knew what the appropriate word for 'civic guard' would be.

It's not like the policeman but more like police only for some certain districts, like a superintendent? Is there any term for it?


texts: Does "pro-" always precede "pre-" in a sequence? Why?

texts:
In biological vocabulary, sometimes both pre- and pro- are used as prefixes to indicate something earlier in a sequence. For example, pro-B cells develop into pre-B cells, which eventually develop into mature B cells. And pro-microRNAs develop into pre-microRNAs, which develop into mature microRNAs.

When both pro- and pre- are used to mean "earlier to/prior to/before", does pro- always come first? Is this distinction used outside biological vocabulary? Does this come from some subtle difference in a classical language?
* Of course, pro-B cells come after pre-pro-B cells. And pro-microRNAs come from pri-microRNAs, but "pri" is an abbrevation for "primary".


texts: What is meant by "Curb lane" in American English?

texts:
I am reading a text about the recent Open Restaurants initiative in the NYC area (following the covid crisis), and they are talking about the ability of restaurant owners to use the "curb lane" to put tables.
Am I right in assuming that "curb lane" means the lane closest to the sidewalk? And is it necessarily the parking lane or can it be any lane, like a normal road lane?


texts:
I understand the basic difference between metonymy and synecdoche (thanks in part to this question) but got stumped on "baby blues" as another way of saying eyes. Am I right that it is synecdoche as the "blue" iris is a part of the eye, even though blue is an attribute of the iris rather than the iris itself?

Edit: An example of what I mean by "baby blues" for eyes is "She looked away, tears sparkling in her baby blues."


texts: What's the proper American English and British English word for the wind shield used on beaches?

texts:
In England, the beaches can be windy.  I have seen people put up a "wind shield" like this.

I haven't seen people use this in America or Europe, but I haven't been to many beaches there.

I'd call this wind shield, simply because it shields the wind.  But in America,
windshield means the frontal glass of a car.

Is there a more proper name for this in British English, American English
and other English (South African, Australian, etc)?

Thank you


texts: Word order: Neck & Back Pain VS Back & Neck Pain

texts:
I'm working on a website and I'm trying to figure out which one is correct:

Neck & Back Pain

or

Back & Neck Pain


texts: Parallelism in a sentence regarding transitive verbs, gerunds, and objects

texts:
I'm trying to write this sentence, but something doesn't seem right:

Walloopp.com is the place to discover, collaborate, and create what's next.

The first two are just options for actions on the website (you can discover, and you can collaborate,) and the third is the option to create what's next.

However, it seems like creating what's next is the object here, and collaborate would thus require "on" for it to make sense since you can't "collaborate what's next".

The question is (I think) can you have an intransitive verb, set off by another infinitive, followed by a transitive verb with an object without the previous verbs also having to modify it?

_

p.s. this could be fixed with recasting it e.g., "The place to discover and create what's next—together." but in this particular case (my job) that would require a lot of time (coding).

Merci d'Avance!


texts: Term for the brain's automatic [psychological] response to being told to do something; to not want to do that thing anymore

texts:
I was wondering if there are any terms that describe a psychological response to this specific type of interaction- something along the lines of:

You know what academic work you have to do for a given day, have everything laid out and prepared, and are about to start when a [parent, sibling, significant other, etc.] comes up and tells you that you need to get the work done and that you should start soon; and suddenly you don't want to do it anymore.

When I was originally looking for an answer I found a previous question in the same vein, but none of the responses seemed to fit: recalcitrance, psychological resistance, psychological reactance, oppositional, and contrarian being the main ones.  The issue there is that, because of the way the question was worded-

  "What’s the psychological effect of when someone tells you to do something, and even if you were already planning on doing it and getting ready to, the second they tell you to, you just despise the idea of doing it."

-there is a base level of extremity above what I'm looking for.  A person's reaction to being in this sort of situation can manifest in a million different ways, but I'm trying to find terms for a reaction absent of excess emotion; where the primary impact on the individual is a subconscious undermining of motivation and desire to see the task through, both of which would have existed prior to the interaction (possibly coinciding with some of the terms mentioned in the linked question, but ultimately acting as an independent concept).


texts: Was ''millionth'' once spelled as ''millioneth''?

texts: I've seen ''millioneth'' a few times in older books. Dictionaries seem to all say ''millionth''. Is ''millioneth'' simply incorrect or could it be that it is an old non-standard spelling.


texts: What is idiom or proverb that is used to indicate 'the abuse of authority or money by foolish persons'

texts:
When a foolish person gains wealth suddenly, s/he might start to spend it ostentatiously and sometimes even talks rubbish. If such people get a powerful position, they might even abuse it foolishly. Such persons need not necessarily be evil ones, but the results could be because of their foolishness.

There are a few proverbs in Telugu language which translates to when a poor person became rich all of a sudden, he asked the barber to dress his hair at midnight.

To take one a peg lower - does this convey the appropriate meaning?
What are the other English equivalent proverbs or idioms for the same?


texts:
He swam slowly to the island.

He slowly swam to the island.

Some experts say that there is a “slight difference” in meaning.
Would you please tell me that difference?


texts: What is the meaning of "shoot the average"?

texts:
Could someone explain the meaning of "shoot the average" in the context below?

  I didn't change the median age of the group that much, but I think I really shot the average.

Edit: This came from the book "Unix: A History and a Memoir", and it's a part of email (paraphrased) from the Ken Thompson who were asked for confirmation about his move from one company to another. He was 63 years old at the time.

I couldn't find it on any dictionary or via web search, so I guess it's quite colloquial usage.

Thank you.


texts:
I have hard time understanding why in this phrase, property is preceded with a definite article. As this book is one of many properties, the indefinite article sounds more natural, to me.

Of course, I'm wrong, but I would like to know why.


texts:
What's the meaning of dip into?

  Anyways, the guy I was describing earlier was in the bathroom at the sink and saw me dip into one of the stalls with the laptop.


texts: I need a word for 'animal demography'. I would prefer it a single word but I will accept a phrase if no single-words are available.


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "Top of the morning to you"?

texts:
Each morning, a colleague of mine greets me with the phrase:

  Top of the morning to you!

I've tried to figure out what the meaning of this really is and how to properly respond, however there seems to be dozens of interpretations as to what this phrase actually means.

Does anyone know what the origin and original meaning of this phrase is?


texts:
In using a title for a particular function of a person (for example, "supplier", "seller", "buyer", "exporter"), is it proper to use the word "it" and "that" and "itself", instead of "he or she" and "who" when referring to the function?

Examples:

  The supplier will respond after it has received a communication.
  A seller that is interested will follow up the transaction.
  The buyer itself may take on the responsibilty.
  The exporter must disclose its supply capacity.


texts: What's the difference between "menage" and "family"?

texts:
I was wondering if these two words "menage" and "family" had any differences in use.

According to OED, "menage" means "the members of a household", but their example sentences make "menage" and "family" appear interchangeable. For example, "You'll find your ... square tables, some even set for three for ménages of the same size...".

Are they truly interchangeable or are they differently nuanced?


texts: "crash someone's couch” vs “crash on someone's couch”

texts:
I am wondering which one is the exact expression.

I thought that here "crash" is used in place of "occupy", which means the first one is the correct expression. On the other hand I have always heard the second expression.

A "google-fight" suggests to use the second one, but I get hits for the first phrase too.

Which of the two is correct?


texts: What do you call a person who gets hungry easily?

texts: Is there a word to describe a person who gets hungry easily? If there is, are there any antonyms for it?


texts:
I’ve always had trouble with noncountable nouns.
I understand that cake, bread, food can be either noncountable and noncountable depending on the context.

I’m writing about different professions and what they do in general.

  I’m a chef. I cook food.
  I’m a baker. I bake bread and cake

These noncountable nouns - food, bread, cake are supposed to be treated as ‘countable nouns’ in this particular context?

Should I change it to 1. “I cook foods.” 2. “I bake breads and cakes.”


texts: What is the umbrella term for being bilingual or monolingual?

texts:
I want to statistically analyse data which includes bilinguals and monolinguals. Being bilingual or monolingual are my independent variables. To analyse I need to write a column referring to bilinguals and monolinguals. For example column name "age" for participants who are 15 or 17.
Example sentence:

The variable that indicates whether a person is fluent in one or two languages is called ...


texts: 'Were' or 'are' in the conditional tense?

texts:
I am not sure how a sentence I want to write should be written:

  I would choose the apple in the case where an unknown number of apples were to be stored in the box.
  I would choose the apple in the case where an unknown number of apples are to be stored in the box.

Should I write were or are, please?

I am new to this forum, so I apologise if this question has been asked before.
Furthermore, I apologise if I have not correctly worded my question.


texts: correct term for the "next to latest ( item before the latest)

texts: i am informing my website readers that i have added the latest page. please tell me the proper name for the page that is now just before the latest page. it is not the "next to last" as, hopefully, there will still be more to add soon


texts:
I'm really having trouble figuring out how to describe a clause describing a subject which contains a comparative adjective (or an adjective of equality). For example:

Children [shorter than four feet] are not allowed on the ride.
Words [larger than eight letters] confuse me.
The number [equal to 6] is the correct answer.
Which word [synonymous with "sad"] is also a color?

Is this a relative clause without a relative pronoun? Also, would these clauses be considered non-restrictive, therefore requiring commas?


texts: Using the proper particle in: "Spirit, we are going to call you [x]!"

texts:
Suppose we want to talk to a spirit of a deceased person and so, using magic, we  want to make the spirit appear.

Surely, first of all, we should "call" for their presence in the place where we are, so the word "call" is involved.

However, since the deceased person was a native English speaker, and since they only respond to other mother tongues, we need an English flavour in our speech; and, as is well, known, for this purpose there is no better way that correctly using phrasal verbs and/or prepositions.

Nevertheless, there are so many phrasal verbs where "call" is involved, and the following is a short list of the ones that, at first look, seem excellent candidates in order to make the aforementioned "call":

call back, "To communicate the need for (someone) to return from one situation or location to a previous one."
call down, "To invoke, as from heaven."
call in, "To summon for assistance or consultation."

So, which one is proper English:

Spirit, we are going to call you back!
Spirit, we are going to call you down!
Spirit, we are going to call you in!

If none of the above is correct, what is the right particle in this case?


texts: Is it possible to use the past and present tenses in the same sentence?

texts:
Which sentence is grammatically correct?

I did not complain and tell myself to calm down and try to solve this difficult problem.

Or:

I did not complain and told myself to calm down and try to solve this difficult problem.

Some notes:

I want to mean that I did not complain, and I did tell myself to calm down, instead of complaining and not telling myself to calm down.

I don't know whether I should use told or tell in this sentence. Since "complain" is present tense, I should be using "tell", right? But it sounds (to me) weird to be using tell. But if I use "complained" it seems wrong...?


texts:
In Steve Jobs's biography by Walter Isaacson, the author writes:

...another health issue that became increasingly problematic, one that
medical researchers didn't focus on as rigorously as they did cancer
or pain.

I feel like you need an additional on after they did:

focus on as rigorously as they did on cancer.

It wouldn't be necessary if there were no they did but maybe I am missing something?


texts: Is there a difference in these two sentences?

texts:
Are these two sentence equivalent in their meaning, or is there subtle differences because of where the word who is placed?

  No one has come forward who remembers seeing Bill that Monday.
  No one who has come forward remembers seeing Bill that Monday.


texts: A word to describe a company which other companies measure themselves by

texts:
I am correcting the following translation from Portuguese and I don't believe the word 'reference' is correct:

Ikea, furniture manufacturer and reference in retail, have already been called 'the company that makes the most mistakes in the world'.

I have checked the Cambridge dictionary and Oxford dictionaries, but I can't find something better than 'market leader' which I don't think is exactly what the writer is looking to say.


texts:
I am looking for a word to describe the "doing" of a new mission.

In context, I would like to say something like (or hear as an announcement in the news):

  The Bohemian Space Agency has just ____ a new satellite mission to
  planet X.

Here the missing word should be related to mission, and not to satellite.

I have some ideas of my own, but I don't want to be suggestive, or write the answer into the body of the question.


texts: How to ask a shop assistant if the shop has already started servicing?

texts:
I do not know what would be the best way of saying this:

Suppose you walk into a shop and you notice there is not a single customer in the shop. So you cannot be sure if the shop has already started its business for the day. How can you ask the staff?

Can we say-

  Have you started servicing?

or,

  Are you open now or sth ?

Thank you.


texts:
I am confused with the correct usage of in which vs. where in the following example:

  However, this pros, is limited for the objets where an edge resides
  perpendicular to the ridge-line and connects via two other edges.

I feel I should use in which instead of where.

Which is grammatical? Are both?


texts: What does “#Race together” mean? Is this a perfect English sentence?

texts:
Starbucks decided to stop their baristas writing “Race together” on customers’ cups in response to raging public criticism.

Totally apart from political, social, or racial dispute involved in this issue, I as a non-native English speaker, am not clear with the meaning of “#Race together” slogan, which should be obvious to most of all Anglo-Americans.

To me it looks like simply saying “Let’s join the race together.” What does it exactly mean? Does it mean "let’s join the race together" or "let's talk about race"? Why # is necessary before “Race together”? Is this line grammatically right? Is “Race together” a common English expression?

I'm asking this question purely from language point of view.


texts:
Can we use "fury" to refer to a large crowd? As in this sentence:

  There was a fury of people around the crashed building after the bombardment.


texts: Where is "tofu" for "font fallback box glyph" coming from?

texts:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noto_fonts#Origin_of_Noto_name:

  sometimes there will be characters in the text that can not be displayed, because no font that supports them is available to the computer. When this occurs, small boxes are shown to represent the characters. In slang those small boxes have sometimes been called "tofu".

Apart from the Noto font authors, I can find no further evidence for that use of the word tofu. What's happening here?


texts:
Could you tell me should I use singular or plural form of the verb to be here to make the present simple passive voice sentence

"Strawberries and cream are a very British tradition in Wimbledon.Every year,around 27,000 kilos of strawberries(1.eat) , and 7,000 litres of cream (2.use), too."

I think it's- are eaten/used  in both parts because "litres" is plural. But it gets confusing when I remember some can be exceptions even though it's plural:"a million dollars"-dollars is plural but we still use the singular article "a". as in this case, I know strawberries _is plural and cream is singar so should I say "27 000 kilos of strawberries are eaten and 7 000 litres of cream is used"?  I know cream is uncountable and with uncountable nouns if we say like litres before the word we could say plural or singular but it will depend on the context like:two litres of water is used -we mean water as a whole substance? and when we say "are used"-we mean only litres?
Thanks everyone for explaining in advance and sorry for any mistakes :)


texts:
Are the apostrophe placements correct in every example?

• two weeks' vacation
• four days' personal time
• three months' sabbatical time
• ten nights' accommodations
• three hours' sleep
• eight months' pregnancy
• eight months pregnant
• five minutes' time
• a penny's worth
• two pennies' worth
• a nickel's worth
• two nickels' worth
• a dollar's worth
• five dollars' worth
• two seconds' time
• five years' probation

Thank you kindly.


texts: A word for something familiar, but in reality not

texts:
Specious would be a great analogy to the word I'm looking for. It is something that it is true on the surface but really is not, i.e. superficially familiar, but not if we look closely.

Example sentence:

  Mushrooms resemble plants, they are _____ to plants, they look like plants and consumed as vegetables. However, if look deeper they are completely different living organisms.

The word would represent a thing to be "familiar", "relatable", "recognizable". (Not necessarily physically familiar). Yet, it would also convey the thing to be "alien", "unrelatable", "different".


texts: Conversion to reported speech with multiple events

texts:
Which of the following is the  correct conversion to reported speech?

Ms. A said: “She gave up on the justice system and on the government.  That's why she committed suicide.”

Ms. A said that she had given up on the just system and on the government. That's why she had committed suicide.

Ms. A said that she had given up on the just system and on the government. That's why she committed suicide.

Doesn't the first conversion makes it confusing as to which action happened first?


texts:
What does "Thanks for your insights" mean?

And how should I use this sentence?


texts: What’s a catchy phrase that means get the most out of your dollar?

texts:
I’m trying to finish a speech, and I was thinking of a catchy last idiom to wrap it up. It was on the tip of my tongue and it I think it mean get the most out of your dollar or something like that....

“So next time you hold a dollar in your hand remind yourself , ___(PHRASE______.”


texts: What's the meaning of 'annoyingly good'?

texts:
One student was describing his advisor as 'annoyingly good'.

I was wondering what that means, and is it rude to say or write it on your homepage?

I'm guessing it might mean he's the 'tough love' kind of advisors, or maybe he's 'annoyingly good' because he's much better than him. But that's my guess and would like to make sure.


texts:
Here is my example (from an SAT question):

  No one is sorrier than I that you missed the awards ceremony

I don't know understand why it is "I". Shouldn't it be "me" since "I" is the subject here? Thanks


texts: Use of seemingly wrong grammar in the poem(s)

texts:
I read the poem 'A Roadside Stand' by Robert Frost, and I have accumulated a few questions through the poem. So, I will be posting some questions from the same poem, if you can, then please answer my other questions as well. Thanks to all :)

Have a look at the picture of the text I have added.
I have highlighted two things in the poem, which are concerned to this post.

First, the use of 'rest' instead of 'rested' seems wrong to me. Is poet's use of 'rest' really wrong grammatically? If it is not, then what difference it will make if 'rested' was used instead of 'rest'?

Second, the use of 'why keep their money' where I feel like 'why not keep their money' should be there. Is poet's sentence correct or incorrect grammatically in this case? If it is correct then what difference it will make if 'why not keep their money' was used?

I have seen this kind of grammar being used in several poems, is it a kind of a feature of poems in general?

(I'm not a native speaker, probably that's why I have these questions in my mind. I will be really happy if you could help me reach the answers to my questions.) Thanks again to all :)


texts: How to express that a decision has developed from a thought?

texts:
Good evening from Germany!

I'm currently writing a personal statement for my UCAS application and have got a problem concerning one of my sentences. Originally, I wrote:

The decision to study X emerged during the last year and was...

What I would like to express is that this is not something that I've always wanted to do, but that I first thought about studying X about a year ago and that it developed into the decision to apply for this course.

Not, I revised my personal statement with a former tutor of mine, who said that the verb “emerge“ (obviously) is not correct in this context. It's just that the German translation emphasized exactly what I wanted to express with this sentence. My tutor told me, it was better to write it like that:

The decision to study X came during the last year and was...

Personally, I'm not sure that is exactly what I want either. Sure, it expresses very clearly what I try to convey with this sentence, but still, it just doesn't seem elegant or formal enough for a personal statement that tutors of some of the best universities in the U.K. will read. Especially since this is the opening sentence.

Unsure if my tutors approach was the best, I contacted an online service that offers to revise your personal statement and improve it. Their approach, given my original version, was this:

My decision to study X is one I have contemplated during the last year and...

So, they changed it to my decision and obviously used a pretty different expression which I am not sure of if it conveys exactly what I want to say.

Now you may say, that's only one sentence in a 4000 character long personal statement! Sure, but it's the opening sentence and, as I said, tutors of some of the best universities in the U.K. are going to read it, so I want to make a strong first impression.

What do you say, how would you write my opening sentence? And what do you think: my decision or the decision? Thanks in advance.


texts:
If I were an Englishman I wouldn't prefer a "B plan" to a "plan B".
Why is it so?


texts: Should a capital letter be used after an ellipsis?

texts:
I was talking to a friend of mine over Skype, and I typed this:

  Ok... Now I want more pork pie.

I'd like to know, should there be a capital letter after the ellipsis "…"? Should it be written the way I typed it:

  Ok... Now I want more pork pie.

Or should it be a lowercase "n":

  Ok... now I want more pork pie.

Do ellipses break a sentence so that a new one must be started after them (hence the capital "N"), or do they behave similarly to commas and dashes in that they serve as a "pause", with a lowercase "n"?


texts: How to pluralize the following initialism

texts: I'm having difficulty finding an answer to this. If I need to pluralize the following phrase "Request for Support" to "Requests for Support" would I put it as, RFSs, RFS's, RsFS, R.F.S.'s, R.'sF.S. or RFSes? This is an honest argument I am having at work and need an answer ASAP. Thank you!


texts: American English: Gliding of the long "ee" sound: [i] to [ɪi]

texts:
I have noticed that Americans have (broadly speaking) two ways of pronouncing the long "ee" vowel as in "fleece".

A simple [i] that ends with the same quality it starts with: listen to user MinimalPairsChicago from Chicago
https://forvo.com/word/bean/#en_usa
[bi:n]
A glide, (diphthong?) that starts from a position similar to the vowel in "bit": /ɪ/ and ends in /j/: listen to user falconfling from Texas
https://forvo.com/word/bean/#en_usa
[bɪjn]

I have found that people who pronounce the glided version (ɪj), also pronounce the simple vowel in other places: listen to falconfling say [tɹikəɫɪj]

https://forvo.com/word/treacly/

Also, the glided version occurs more often at the end of words, e.g.: "Danny", "really", but I haven't been able to hear it when it is fortis-clipped (before voiceless consonants like k,p,t and others). Also, when shouting, people usually glide the vowel.

My question is: How do Americans perceive this difference? Is one pronunciation more dramatic/educated/melodic than the other? Which accents tend to use which type of sound? Is there a more structured way of saying which sound is used depending on the environment (e.g. according to adjacent sounds)? Is there any research done on this?


texts: Which is more appropriate — "I work for" or "I work at"?

texts:
If you are working as an employee at an organization, when you tell about it to others which usage would be more appropriate?

  I work for company.
  I work at company.

Or are both usages correct?


texts: What is the correct word to describe something that’s not in the center of a container?

texts:
I took a picture of my new cushion but just realized the puff wasn’t in the right position when I took it. It’s not in the center of the container (?).

I want to say that the puff is a little bit too “high” but I’m not sure if “high” or “not in the center” is the correct expression for this.
How would a native speaker describe it?


texts: How do I show that a singular word is louder than any other in a sentence when writing it?

texts:
I know that when a word is capitalized it expresses yelling.

What about text showing someone is talking and emphasizing a particular word, but he clearly isn't yelling the word out?

How is a "non-yelling" emphasis shown in text?


texts: How correct is the Southern colloquialism "y'all" in correct English grammar?

texts: Have I capitalized and punctuated correctly above?  (Note the space between last letter and question mark in title? (We'll, it was there!))


texts: Plurals of quotations: “Chorus of ‘Hello’s”; “Ooh”s & “Ah”s

texts:
Is there a way to pluralize a quotation? E.g.,

  He was greeted with a chorus of “Hello”s.

or

  Her daring earned “Ooh”s & “Ahh”s from around the room.

With actual dictionary words (“Hello” in the first example), simple plurals might do, without quotes: “He was greeted with a chorus of hellos.”

With ad hoc onomatopoeic words like “ooh” & “ahh”, though, can I pluralize them without confusing the reader? Is italicizing part of the word acceptable: “Her daring earned oohs & ahhs from around the room”?


texts: Can "myself" stand for both "me" and "I" in "my mother and I/me"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When is it correct to use “yourself” and “myself” (versus “you” and “me”)?

In one of my older questions I asked for an explanation of the difference between “people like you” and “people like yourself”, where it's clear that yourself can stand instead of you in such sentence.

What bothers me more is another, more difficult situation:

Let's define the correct sentence:

  My mother and I were standing at the bus stop.

Now, in the above sentence, can I emphasize my own person by doing the following?

  My mother and myself were standing at the bus stop.

Also, trying with another sentence, but a bit difference:

  They saw my mother and me standing at the bus stop.

Can I do the same with this sentence too?

  They saw my mother and myself standing at the bus stop.

If both of the above situations are correct, that means that myself can be used instead of both me and I, thus becoming ambiguous?


texts:
To have a beef with somebody/something means:.

  to think someone or something should be changed.

  I've got nothing against advertising, but I do have a beef with how many bad ads there are on TV.  (Cambridge Dictionary)

Is it more British or US in usage? But mostly, where does this "beef" come from?


texts: punctuation: the 20 to 30 year old age group

texts:
I'd like to know how "the 20 to 30 year old age group" is punctuated in standard English.
"30-year-old" should be hyphenated. What about "20 to 30"?

Any principles at work?

I'd appreciate your help.


texts: Does 'I certainly will not apologize for doing good journalism' make sense?

texts:
I recently watched an interview with a terrible journalist and she said the line:

  I certainly will not apologize for doing good journalism

I'm specifically interested in

  doing good journalism

Does that make sense? It just doesn't sound correct to me.


texts: I could see them run towards the shop; I could see them running towards the shop

texts:
Which one is right? And WHY?
1 I could see them run towards the shop
2 I could see them running towards the shop


texts: Question about word choice in this sentence: "Although he’ll be moving into a postdoctoral position soon, he's going to miss John."

texts: Do people usually say someone is "moving" into a postdoctoral position? Or is there another word?


texts:
1:

a: I entered the house, through the window, and saw a few dancing cats.
b: I entered the house through the window and saw a few dancing cats.
c: I entered the house through the window, and saw a few dancing cats.

Which is one is the most correct? Which one would you most likely see in a book teaching about grammar.

2:

a: Which one would be considered the most correct, by rigorous standards?
b: Which one would, by rigorous standards, be considered the most correct?
c: Which one would be considered, by rigorous standards, the most correct?
d: Which one would by rigorous standards be considered the most correct?
e: Which one would be considered the most correct by rigorous standards?

Which one of those would you most likely see in a grammar book? Which is the most correct and formal sounding. If more than one are correct, just tell me.

I hope somebody can clear up my confusion.

Greetings :)


texts:
In an article today in the Christian Science Monitor, they give a Fox transcript of Palin's recent speech as follows:

“Somebody like me – is a title and is a campaign too shackling?” said Palin. “Does that prohibit me from being out there, out of a box, not allowing handlers to shape me and to force my message to be what donors or what contributors or what political pundits want it to be? Does a title take away my freedom to call it like I see it and to affect positive change that we need in this country? That’s the biggest contemplation piece in my process.”

Question: Is it possible that "affect" was intended there?  Or was the more natural "effect" intended, and the above is a typo?


texts: Is "which I thought was strange that" incorrect grammar?

texts:
From "The Craft of Family Therapy" by Salvador Minuchin, etc.:

  The therapist says to a family:
  "So you gave birth to a genius?" The family agreed, which I thought was strange that a child so young could have so much influence.

I suspect the sentence is grammatically wrong.
Thanks for response.


texts:
I would like to use both insert and remove in the same sentence. However, I would like to know how I will use the prepositions because the verbs have different prepositions into/from.

There are some posts about this issue; however, mine is a little bit different because there is an object after my verbs as seen below.

  This method either inserts or removes some parameters from queries.

What is the correct way of writing this sentence? I am not sure because both insert and remove needs some parameters.

  This method either inserts into or removes some parameters from queries.

I think the above does not sound well,

or

  This method either inserts or removes some parameters into or from queries.

Thanks


texts:
In the sentence below, is the word "prepared" used correctly? I my opinion, it was incorrect, since the sentence is a general statement, therefore the verb "prepare" hasn't been been performed so therefore it should be "prepare" instead of "prepared".

  The more prepared you are going into the exam, the better off you’ll be.


texts: Using 'that' with 'who', 'whom', 'which'

texts:
A child that, who becomes
A child that becomes
A child who becomes
A child who, that becomes

Which is more appropriate and which ones are wrong if any?

The problem is not if they are interchangeable or not rather if I can use them both at the same time. My punctuation may be off, if you can correct that as well, I'll be happy.


texts:
What is the meaning of "need not" in the following sentence?

  The amount withdrawn need not be repaid.

Does it always mean that it must not be repaid, or does it also extend to persons who may wish to repay?

I am confused as to its interpretation. In my view it gives an option to the borrower to not have to repay, whereas it could also mean that the money should not be repaid.


texts:
Using "choose" as present tense is correct at below? I am not native English speaker, when I thought my language, logically I would use "and parents could choose school offering .... "

"In ancient Greece, anyone could open a school and decide which subject to teach, and parents choose school offering affordable monthly fees and the subjects they wanted their children to learn."


texts: A situation where the adjective being used to describe the noun is actually the opposite of the adjective being used

texts:
Forgive me, for I am not very eloquent.

If someone were to tell a bad joke  but in the given scenario it got some laughs and could be recounted as a “good joke” then the joke was _____.

On the surface and out of context, the object of the sentence (in this case the joke) was bad, but in the given situation it was actually good, what would be a word to describe that?

When something could be described as one thing, but in a certain situation it is exactly the opposite. It would be _____.


texts: Are there any differences between fund and funding when used as a noun? They seem both to have a meaning of "money made available for a particular purpose", and I was wondering why we need "funding" when "fund" means the same. Is it because "funding" is the gerund of the verb form of "fund", and therefore more emphasizes on the action than fund(n.) does?


texts: Word or phrase for literally and figuratively?

texts:
Say, for example, you and a group of people were all sailing out in the ocean and something happens...then you say,

"I guess we are all in the same boat"

You are literally in the same boat with everyone else, and your current situation is the same as everyone else.

Now such a phrase can be applied literally and figuratively. I was wondering if there was a word that would mean both literally and figuratively. I know this is a tad bit of an oxymoron, but I was curious to see if there was such an "all encompassing" word for this.


texts:
I could not find a definitive answer to this question.

When using U.S. (or US) in a sentence, would it be more appropriate to say:
“The U.S. were founded” or “The U.S. was founded”

I know that the grammatical number of USA is widely accepted as singular, but could not find anything about U.S. (or, by extension, US).


texts:
I wonder what is the meaning of the bold expression:

  They flew out to another state, on their own dime, to help brainstorm
  solutions for a colleague.

I searched for the definitions of dime and on a dime, but they do not seem to be helpful.


texts:
When you hate both books, do you say
   ● "I don't like both" or
   ● "I don't like either" ?


texts: Using "Inc." when referring to 2 companies

texts:
I'm writing a manual for 2 entities but one is partially owned by the other. Both of them are incorporated. I'm wondering if I can refer to them in a sentence like this?

  Tom Shoes, and Tammy Shoes, Inc.

Or, should it be this?

  Tom Shoes Inc. and Tammy Shoes Inc.

The reason I'm skeptical is because Tammy Shoes, as mentioned previously, is partially owned by Tom Shoes Inc. Also please look at my use of "commas" in "Inc." if they are appropriate.


texts: How to refer to the most recent incident happening before or at a given time?

texts:
I am tracking the times of occurrence for a certain type of event (e.g., car accidents). For a given time n, I want to refer to the most recent event which occurred at a time no later than n.
Is it correct to refer to this event as "the last event prior to and including time n"?
Would it be better to say "the last event to occur prior to and including time n" or "the last event to occur prior to or at time n"?


texts:
Everyone heard Ariana's Side to Side. Yeah? I've been listening it since it was released, but the meaning of the title, i didn't get. Can someone please clarify the title.

My thoughts:

Got me walking side to side: Hey boy, take me with you, we will scrounge the beauty and thrill, we will walk together facing the same way.

I also thought it could be replaced with side by side...isn't it? Please Clear!


texts:
I wanna say the following:

  "I'd like that we had (something)".

Can I say:

  "I'd like we had (something)"?

I remember something like this from English classes.


texts: What's the difference between It's like to ~ vs It's like ~ing?

texts:
What is the difference between using to ~ and verbing after "it's like".
For example,

What it's like to leave a company you started
What it's like leaving a company you started


texts: Meaning of "... relieved me of my artisanal meat platter"

texts:
Nick Dunne: It could. I mean, the Amish are on a rumspringa.
  [Amy looks across the room at the three Amish looking men and chuckles]
  Amy Dunne: They already relieved me of my artisanal meat platter.
  Nick Dunne: Finally, someone tells me how to pronounce that word.
  Amy Dunne: “Meat”?

  From the movie Gone Girl

Does the sentence in bold mean she received compliments on the dish she made?

My research:

relieved means feeling happy.
artisanal means some skills where something is made especially by hand.
platter means a large plate for serving food.


texts:
J. R. R. Tolkien wrote in chapter III in The Hobbit the following phrase:

  “There were moths fluttering about,”

I know how to use the word about in most contexts. In this I don't understand what is the meaning of the word, what is his function.


texts: Spelling "-sed", like in analysed, for some other words

texts:
I'm writing a paper in Brithish English so I write "analysed" instead of "analyzed" but there are some other words that I'm not certain what would be the appropriate spelling, mainly because these words are not commonly used...
If I write transitivized, should I spell it with s or z?


texts: Is "kind", as a noun, singular, or plural? People nearly always say "these/those kind of (things)" rather than "this/that kind of (things)" makes more sense.


texts: I work for a transcription company where my job is to both review files for accuracy and oversee and coordinate with other people who also will review files.  Is it more accurate to say that I am the Reviews Manager (Because I am overseeing all incoming reviews), or Review Manager (because I manage the review process)?  Or is there another title that would be more appropriate?


texts: Past simple vs past perfect; British- vs American English

texts:
According to this site the use of past simple and present perfect is quite strict in British English, while in American English you can normally use simple past instead of present perfect:

In British English, the use of Simple Past and Present Perfect is
quite strict. As soon as a time expression in the past is given, you
have to use Simple Past. If there are no signal words, you must decide
if we just talk about an action in the past or if its consequence in
the present is important.
Note that the following explanations and
exercises refer to British English only. In American English, you can
normally use Simple Past instead of Present Perfect. We cannot accept
this in our exercises, however, as this would lead to confusions
amongst those who have to learn the differences.

In the case of the noun to choose, if I'm correct, the difference between "did choose" and "have chosen"; the second is more definitive than the last.
Can somebody give me a clear example of where the British use diverges from American English?
As a non-native speaker, I find it hard to see/feel the difference between its use in British- and American English respectively.


texts:
What is the origin of the word whee, used as an interjection to express enjoyment or delight?

The only information I can find is that it is  "natural exclamation" first recorded in the 1920's.  This seems a bit vague to me, so wondering if anyone has further information. I'm also curious to know if the word is a natural exclamation globally, or a social learning.


texts: Can "must have" be used to indicate an obligation?

texts: I have searched an answer for this one and thr closest I could find was that when one means obligation in the past, one should use "had to" rather than "must have", and on the other hand, when a strong conviction or opinion is to be expressed, "must have" should be used, as in "He had to do it because he was charged with it, and "he must have seen her in the party because there is no way he wouldn't have seen her and gone to the party". I wonder if I can use "must have" to mean "will have had to" in the future. For example, is it grammatically correct to say "you must have finished your homework by the deadline or you will be expelled from the school.". If yes, can we use the same structure for the past events as in "he must have finished his homework or he would be expelled from the school".


texts: Is it better to use a plural noun or definite article?

texts:
For example:

Multicopters belong to a family of aircraft called rotorcraft, which also includes helicopters, and although they appear to be similar, the multicopter's design is mechanically much simpler.

The multicopter belongs to a family of aircraft called rotorcraft, which includes the helicopter, and although they appear to be similar, the multicopter's design is mechanically much simpler.


texts: Meaning of "sup my homeslice? harvard jv field hockey is da bomb..."

texts:
I completely don't understand what this star's line means, even though the words are simple.

  sup my homeslice? harvard jv field hockey is da bomb...

What's homeslice?
What does da mean?


texts: Is the -re "supposed" to be silent in the pronunciation of "macabre"?

texts: Is the "-re" supposed to be silent in the pronunciation of the word macabre?  I'm aware that dictionaries give two pronunciations, \məkäb\ and \mekäbrə\, but is one of them just a fixed "error" of the other, when the loan word from French was first imported?  In other words, which pronunciation is more historically true?


texts:
Two good friends see each other after many years. They are happy and have a lot to talk about. They are headed towards somewhere together, laughing.

What is the most appropriate single word to describe their joyful walk? I am looking for a verb to replace walk with.


texts: Why the phrase "That this House do now adjourn" contains "do" and not "does"?

texts:
In the UK parliament and also many other parliaments, there is an adjournment debate. It is a debate on the motion, "That this House do now adjourn."
I assume that this is an example of using "do" (or "does" in 3rd person singular) in a positive sentence for emphasis.
The phrase "That this House do now adjourn" contains singular subject ("this House"). Then why the third person singular form "does" is not used?


texts:
I'm working on an email to my supervisor with feedback about department meetings. I want to say:

  Our meetings have been increasingly less productive recently.

I could probably re-word it to say "The productivity of our meetings has been declining recently," but I don't want to.    :P

If increasingly means a situation or quality is becoming greater in intensity or more common, can it be used to indicate a more and more severe reduction in a quality?


texts: An alternative saying for "it may be cheaper to build a new house than to renovate an old one"?

texts:
I'm looking to communicate the idea that performing a task would be less costly (more than just financially; technically, or when risk is considered) if you start from scratch or anew, instead of attempting to alter or change some existing object or entity.

The closest phrase I can think of that satisfies this is "it may be cheaper to build a new house than to renovate an old one". What other sayings exist?


texts: "must": obligation x certainty. Which meaning developed first in the English language?

texts:
ORIGIN OF MUST - Middle English moste, from Old English mōste, past indicative & subjunctive of mōtan to be allowed to, have to; akin to Old High German muozan to be allowed to, have to
  First Known Use: before 12th century

  Definition of must (verb) \məs(t), ˈməst\

  used to say that something is required by a rule or law ("You must present your passport.")
  used to say that someone should do something ("We must hurry to the airport.")
  used to say that something is very likely ("You must be John.")

Which meaning developed first in the English Language, "strong obligation" or "certainty"?


texts: Can you place a cardinal number after a noun?

texts:
Is it possible to express a number of something by placing the cardinal after the noun?
I know the concept of postpositives, like snow galore etc. but does this apply to cardinals?
E.g. you can say walking on four legs, but would it be possible to say walking on legs four? Would it sound poetic/archaic or just plain wrong?

EDIT: After Andrew's comment - I am talking here about expressing the quantity of things. I.e. a situation, where there is a plural form of a noun and then a cardinal, like the above legs four as opposed to Andrew's platform four, which would be just saying the numeral.


texts: Antonym of black and white thinking (or splitting)

texts: Splitting is a type of cognitive distortion where one sees a situation from an all-or-nothing perspective. What could we call the type of thinking that is not based on extremes? Would "balanced thinking" work?


texts:
I came across this word in David Foster Wallace's short story "Another Pioneer":

  the child's response appearing to become more and more digressive and paenistic as the conventionally pious villager and the whole rest of the monthly queue stand there with eyes wide and mouths agape and so on

The OED has failed me.


texts: Does "also" in a simple interrogative sentence affect the subject or the verb?

texts:
"Should I also join the team?"
Here does "also" affect "I " (the subject) or "join" (the verb)?
Does it mean
A) Other people are joining the team and you're asking whether you should.
B) There are other activities you're pursuing and you're asking whether "joining the team" should be an additional activity.
In a declarative sentence the difference would be clear with the placement of also:
"I also should join the team." (Meaning A) - Is this grammatically correct?
"I should also join the team." (Meaning B..or A?)
Another example
"Should the infant also wear a mask?" means
A) There are grown-ups around wearing masks and you're asking whether the infant should.
B) The infant is already wearing a lot of things, you're asking whether she should additionally wear a mask.
Declarative sentences :
A) "The infant also should wear a mask." (Meaning A) - Is this grammatically correct?
B) "The infant should also wear a mask." (Meaning B or A?)


texts: "Walk in" or "Walk into"? How to decide whether to use "in" or "into"?

texts: "You can't just walk in/into the class without permission". What is the word to go by in this statement?


texts:
Just saying "thanks" is a polite way to say "no" in my native language. Not technically, but in daily use... I wonder whether there is a similar use in English?

If I have the following conversation at a restaurant, is my answer ambiguous?

  - Would you like something to drink?

  + Thanks.


texts: Meaning of "one in his/her own underwear"

texts:
I wonder what it means by "someone is in his/her underwear" both literally and figuratively? For example:

  When people downvote your posts arbitrarily just imagine them in their underwear.


texts: Can a subordinate clause split subject and verb in the main clause?

texts:
E.g. are these correct?

  Following the rules, even if it's difficult, is essential.
  Following the rules, although it's difficult, is essential.


texts:
Let us pay attention to the terms back and forward in the quote below.

  On the 4th of June they had the drill for independence day. But if you
  go back further you'd find that around mid-May, they were nowhere near
  planning the event. But if you move forward (to around the end of
  June) you should find yourself in shock with the level they've
  reached.

Observe that I refer to back as going further into the past and forward, into the future.

Strangely though, I found some colleagues (teachers in one of the scools I used to work with), using the words differently like this:

  This is still September. So let's have our prize-giving around
  mid-November. On the other hand, let's move it forward to around
  October. But then again we don't want the sports event causing any
  trouble so let's move it backward to early December.

I find this very difficult to accept. They even argue that the 10th of a month is after the 5th and thus it's behind.

Thus my question: Is this how the terms are used in most countries or is this unacceptable?


texts: It's one of the best [plural noun] that + has (or) have

texts:
In the sentence

  It's one of the best films that has/have ever been made

What should the verb agreement be?


texts: Word that means "excluding something from a calculation."

texts:
Example:

  I asked the teacher if he could [...] my attendance record from my final score.

I think omit sounds too light, almost like a joke. And ignore as thought it were an act of corruption.


texts: What's the best name to define the profit generated by someone in his company?

texts:
Let's say you have two kind of people in a company: Workers and Sellers.

Workers produce things, the amount of things they create is measured by their productivity.

Sellers sell things for money, the amount of money they earn (for the company) is measure by their ______ ?

I was thinking about profitability but I'm not sure about it... What do you think?


texts: Is there any place that I can find words whose spelling looks opposite to its own meaning?

texts: I am preparing for GRE exam and I found there are words that looks opposite to its meaning. For example, the word "restive" actually means "unrest" and the word "factitious" actually means "not actual fact". I am wondering if there is a classification name for such words and/or is there any websites where I can find a list of such words.


texts:
If I write, "Destroying forests is a heinous action, a cruel tragedy if trees are cut for paper.
Does the "if" statement correspond to "a cruel tragedy" only or both "a heinous action and a cruel tragedy."
I am inclined to say "both" noun phrases. In my interpretation, the "comma" after action, is serving to show an example of asyndeton, in other words, the comma is basically replacing an "and". So the that sentence means, "Destroying forests is a heinous action and a cruel tragedy if trees are cut for paper.


texts: Can locative "there" be omitted when the location is explicit?

texts:
Is

  In the park is a tree.

grammatical as

  In the park there is a tree.

? Moreover, how about inaccusative verbs like:

  In the park sits a dog.

?

Thanks for any help.


texts: a question on a dependent clause of manner with direct quotes

texts:
The following is the last sentence of the text in a reputable textbook.

As Daniel Goldin of NASA observed,'Finding life elsewhere would change everything. No human endeavor or thought would be unchanged by it.'

Please note the comma after 'observed' and the direct quote marks(i.e., '  ') around the two sentences after the verb 'observed.' It appears to me that the quoted ones are the object clauses for the outer manner clause introduced by 'As.' Has the entire sentence missed an independent clause?


texts: "Forget" vs. "would forget" vs. "forgets"

texts:
Is the format of this sentence correct:

  If he had to describe himself in 5 words, he’d say he’s curious. And then forget to give you 4 more words.

There were some conflicts between a colleague and me, whether or not the sentence should be one of the following:

  If he had to describe himself in 5 words, he’d say he’s curious. And would then forget to give you 4 more words.
  If he had to describe himself in 5 words, he’d say he’s curious. And then forgets to give you 4 more words.


texts: I am reading stories by Jack London, and I have noticed that often wild animals are referred to as game. It sounds funny to my non-English-native speaker ear. Is there some reason why the word game is used? Or did the word have a different meaning 100 years ago?


texts: Is the "overseas" bushism really so absurd?

texts:
A famous quote by George W. Bush is

  More and more of our imports come from overseas.

Which is spread with the implication of being particularly stupid because "overseas" is a term to describe foreign countries, which would mean that every single import would come from there, not just "more and more".

However, doesn't "overseas" also mean the more literal "coming over [a] sea, e.g. with a ship" or at least "coming from a country that is separated from the USA by water"? In that case, imports from, say, Canada would not come from oversea and the statement could make sense if the USA was reducing its imports from Canada (whether it's true or false would be a different question and off-topic, here).

Is that a legitimate interpretation of the statement or can it really only be interpreted in the tautological way?


texts: How to refer to a specific anatomical structure with variation?

texts: How to refer to a specific anatomical structure with variation in the scientific context, say in an academic paper? I can think of: "In Figure 1, you can see the variant muscle running from..." or ""In Figure 1, you can see the variational muscle running from..." or variated or variating. Thanks in advance


texts:
Is it intrinsically means that these both are almost equal ?

Does "Kindly apologize.."  always means "I kindly apologize.."

or

"Kindly apologize for the issue" can also mean "You kindly need to apologize for the issue"

Please throw some light on the usage and how it can be interpreted ?

This was put on an email thread at the bottom of the mail.
I had checked few references but none of them gave a clear picture of the situation.


texts: What is wrong with this sentence, and how should I fix it?

texts:
I am proof-reading a short CV that details an employee's volunteer achievements. It will form part of an application for a committee position. The following sentence makes my brain itch, but I am having trouble deciding:

Why it sounds wrong (something with the tense, I think)
How it should be written

  I am fortunate to have been named as chair of this board shortly after I joined.

A little help would be appreciated!


texts: "Education is enlightening". What is "enlightening" in the sentence, gerund or participle? I think it's participle, because it's the second verb in the sentence which is continuous form.


texts: Word for a wasted, lost, or forgotten opportunity

texts:
We are a community of field hockey goalkeepers and we are trying to get field hockey goalies to record their game stats, to raise their profile and credibility worth as a player and their status.

It's commonplace in ice hockey. Much more funding there so they have someone to record the stats.

Can we please get some help with good words explaining missed opportunity and wasted chance for record your stats and performance?

We have a site that allows goalkeepers to do this free and want to get the message across.


texts:
In an app's description, I found the following sentence:

  The game has a frozen wasteland that is full of beautiful scenes. You
  will want to replay it many times to ensure that you don't miss a single
  snowy detail.

The M-W dictionary mentions the following meanings of the word "detail":

  1 : extended treatment of or attention to particular items

  2 : a part of a whole a : a small and subordinate part : PARTICULAR
  also : a reproduction of such a part of a work of art

  b : a part considered or requiring to be considered separately from
  the whole

  c : the small elements that collectively constitute a work of art

  d photography : the small elements of an image corresponding to those
  of the subject

  3a : selection of a person or group for a particular task (as in
  military service)

  b(1) : the person or group selected

  (2) : the task to be performed

However, I do not find any of the above-mentioned meanings relevant to the phrase "snowy detail".


texts: One word that means "something that is standard/uniform and meant to be copied and modified as needed"

texts: What is one word that means "something that is standard/uniform and meant to be copied and modified as needed" Like a spreadsheet that has all the basic info and only requires unique data.


texts: meaning of community change organizations

texts:
what is the mean of this phrase in the following sentence ?

  refurbished computers are either granted to schools, churches, non-profit or community change organizations, given to volunteers, or sold in Free Geek's thrift store.


texts: Is there an umbrella term for "inflation" and "deflation"?

texts: I am writing a software module that takes polygons and either inflates them or deflates them based on user input (i.e. if the user supplies 0.5 as input, the polygon is deflated to half of its size, whereas if they supply 1.5. it is inflated to 150% of its size). I'm having trouble naming this module, because I want it to be obvious what it does, but the only name I can think of (PolygonInflaterOrDeflater) feels like too much of a mouthful, even for software lexicon. Maybe a bit redundant, somehow, too... Anti-redundant, if that's a thing). Furthermore, there are other parts of the software that are named according to its function, such as attemptPolygonInflationOrDeflation which I feel suffer from the same problem. Is there a term that would obviously cover "Inflation" and "Deflation" simultaneously? I'm racking my brain and I can't think of one.


texts: "Floating in an asteroid," vs "floating on an asteroid."

texts:
The dog was in space, floating around in/on an asteroid.

Is the sentence above ambiguous? I'm not sure but I think it could mean that the dog was floating on the surface of the asteroid and also that the dog was floating around in space together with the asteroid

Which one makes the less ambiguous in or on? (I'm also open to other suggestions).


texts: What is a more refined & formal way to say 'we eat our own dog-food'?

texts: In some formal communication, I would like to use that phrase to indicate how reliable my product is, because we use it on a regular basis, and thus serve as a reassurance.


texts: Hypernym for "audio podcast", "radio drama", and "audiobook"

texts:
I'm setting up my media library to contain music, movies, shows, audio podcasts, radio dramas, and audiobooks.

I would like audio podcasts, radio dramas, and audiobooks to be in the same category, but I can't think of any term that includes all three. (The closest I can think of is Non-Music Audio.)

Is there any good collective term for audio podcasts, radio dramas, and audiobooks?


texts: "By when you want it completed" vs. "when you want it completed by"

texts:
Which of the following is grammatical?

  Can you please let me know by when you want it completed.
  Can you please let me know when you want it completed by.

I am preferring the latter, but will really appreciate your professional advice.


texts: Does the word "since" ever have a meaning of "thus", "hereby" ones?

texts:
Here is a sentence from "Programming Perl":

  They [constructors mentioned above in the book — OP's note] don’t really care whether they were invoked from tie, nor do any of the other methods in the class, since you can always invoke them directly if you’d like.

In my dictionary since is translated only as "because", "from the time when" etc. But it appears to me that in this sentence since is a synonym of thus, as "you can always invoke them directly if you’d like" is the consequence of the first part, rather than the cause of it.

Is my assumption correct?


texts: Improving the English of these 2 sentences

texts:
I've written the below 2 sentences. Just so you know 'Chien' is the name of the chalet. Also not sure if it's clear but I'm trying to say all of my company's chalets have their own playroom and also all of the chalets have their own hot tub as well, however not all of them have these great views. Hope that's how you interpret it too.

"Enjoy Christmas in this truly special chalet right beside the piste. Like all of our chalets, Chien has its own playroom and hot tub, and the chalet also offers great views of the surrounding mountains from its top floor living area."


texts: Term for "bending in multiple directions at the same time" - "mind bending", actually

texts:
I want to extend the expression "mind bending" to mean "mind bending in multiple directions at the same time".

My intuition to "mind bending" is an object becoming curved to roughly a quarter  circle - with no reference to the previous shape. So the "bending in multiple directions" could be a sequence of circle sections of random size and curvature. *

The term "mind curling" is the best I came up with - it would fit, except that it describes a well defined high level structure. The somewhat random aspect is relevant .

I like the term "mind bending" - so I prefer it as a base. But an alternative expression with the same meaning based on something else or novel would still interest me. My interpretation of "mind bending" is something like "rationally irritating in a structured way".

* While I find the expression fascinating in general, I can actually cite a source for the intended primary use. The lecture/work of art/emotional performance Suic!de and Ment@l He@lth of Philosophy Tube could be described as seriously irritating in a surprising number of ways, on rational and emotional level. Known terms like "mind bending" or "mind boggling" just do not cut it. So it deserves a new term. (And a content warning in relation to the topic of suicide.) (Ending with that word feels spooky, so it's continued.)


texts: If it's 7:30pm, which of these phrases is correct, Good night or Good evening?


texts: Latin phrase for "at the moment" or "immediate", temporal equivalent for in situ?

texts: I know phrases like "in situ" which means in the current place/position, is there another phrase for the temporal equivalent which means "at the moment"?


texts:
I came across this weird uncommon usage in a documentation page.
Can anyone help me understand the meaning/stipulation here?

It says "value x can be no higher than "some value"

Does it mean that "x" should be less than this value ??
I have seen similar usage like No More than and others but couldn't find this particular one anywhere.

It would be wonderful too if someone can get a link to something concrete to set things beyond doubt about the meaning of the usage

Thank you all in advance


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When are “if” and “whether” equivalent?

I was told that one can use if in constructions like:

  ... if A, then ...

But that whether should be used when there is more than one option, like:

  ... whether A or B, then ...

Is it good practice or common to use whether when giving only one implicit or explicit option?

  ... whether A (or not), then ...

  ... whether A, then ...


texts:
I was asked by a potential employer what time I would be available for a phone interview and they gave me the times available for them. I replied with a suitable time for me.  They responded with an email that read:

  Please allow this email to confirm a telephone interview with John and Jane
  at 9am the 12th of...

Are they saying I don't need to reply?  Or should I reply to confirm the time?


texts:
The following seems wrong and confusing to me:

  Gifting is not available for split orders. Because you already have items in your cart from Zanybobs shop, adding items from different stores will not make gifting possible

Is there a reason why "adding items from different stores will not make gifting possible" seems confusing, or is it just confusing to me.

Is there a better way to say this?


texts: Bayes' Theorem or Bayes's Theorem? (Similarly, Charles' Law or Charles's Law?)

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
When did it become correct to add an ‘s’ to a singular possessive already ending in ‘s’?
Which singular names ending in “s” form possessives with only a bare apostrophe?

Which one is correct?
I thought the latter would be correct but apparently the former is always used; why?
Edit:
Another (confusing) example: Charles'(s?) law


texts: Are pled and pleaded interchangeable past tense of plead?

texts:
From this article: http://nation.time.com/2014/02/03/stand-your-ground-michael-dunn-jordan-davis-killing-loud-music/

"Dunn has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges along with three counts of attempted murder."

To my ears, "pled" as the past tense form, sounds better.  "Pleaded" to me conveys the notion of pleading in sense of begging.  "He pleaded with the king for mercy."


texts: Past simple "We were late for the plane"

texts:
We were late for the plane because we had forgotten our passports.

By this sentence is it possible to decide whether they departed or not?


texts:
I came across one sentence that puzzled me: 'Look after yourself because you only have one health.'

I thought that 'health' was an uncountable word, so why is 'one' used here?

I know you cannot say 'two healths'.


texts:
let me ask a question of an usage of schwa as a phoneme and [r].

Schwa can be regarded as an independent phoneme, apart from weak forms of other vowels, I heard.  And here, I treat this idea as true.

Then my question is:
Is this schwa phoneme can be followed by consonant [r] in the same syllable?

If so, I think that this schwa phoneme can take two forms, one just the ordinary schwa or little bit rhotic schwa, the other completely rhotic schwa, that is rhotacized schwa, because other vowels can take these two forms when being followed by consonant [r] in the same syllable.

Please think about it.


texts:
I'm creating a database that will include many types of people, and am faltering on the best way to classify "clergypeople".  I'd prefer not to have separate entries for Deacon, Pastor, Priest, Preacher, Reverend, etc.  "Clergyperson" or "Clergy" seems technically ok, but I'm wondering if there's a more mainstream word that's just not coming to mind.

Update: Thanks all for the feedback.  The context is pretty simple, more or less just tags that can be associated with an individual, for example:

Architect, Builder, Athlete, Entertainer, Plantation Owner, Artist, etc.

At this point I'm leaning toward "Clergy", but a better synonym (that I don't want to use) would be "leader of church", i.e. I'm more concerned with aggregating the terms I originally listed above than including nuns/monks, etc.

As @Peter Turner pointed out, cleric is really the best fit, but it sounds too medieval for this application.

Thanks for all the input.  Ultimately, I think Clergy is going to work, so I'll accept that answer.  "Church Leader" is a little more specific than I originally asked for, but I'm going to consider using that as well...


texts: Is the question "Does KFC have a queue?" strictly correct?

texts:
As a non-English speaker dabbling in Natural Language Processing, I'm trying to generate meaningful Yes/No-question based in hotel and restaurant reviews. This includes 2 types of "exists" questions: "Is/Are there ... at KFC?" and "Does KFC have ...?" I can see that in some case they cannot be used interchangeably. for example, here works both

Are there parking lots at KFC?
Does KFC have parking lots?

However, in the next example there sounds something off with the "Does ... have ..." question:

Is there a good experience at KFC?
Does KFC have a good experience?

That clearly has different meanings, and I understand that my 2 types of "exists" questions are semantically equal, in general.

Now I was trying to figure out how I can decide which type of question I can form depending on the "exits" noun (here, "parking lots", "experience"). Intuitively, I thought I can do this be check if the noun is an "abstract entity" or a "physical entity". WordNet gives me this information. Thus, with "experience" being an abstract entity, I can say that "Does KFC has a good experience?" does not work.

However, I now noticed that words like "queue" and "service" are also considered abstract entities, but to me the following questions sounds quite alright:

Does KFC have a queue?
Does KFC have a good service?

Do these question only sound correct or are they really correct (in the most picky sense). Because if so, simply looking whether the noun is an abstract or physical entity won't do. In this case, how else can I (programmatically) decide when "Is/Are there ...?" and "Do/Does ... have ...?" can be used interchangeably.


texts: The continuative and non-continuative readings of the perfect form (have + past participle)

texts:
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 141) has this section:

Here, Tr is the time referred to (by the verb or verb group, e.g., have told, have been, told, was), and To is the time of orientation, which equates to the time of utterance in this question.

Now, my question is about the distinction made in the quoted portion of CGEL between the continuative and non-continuative readings of the perfect. If I understand it correctly, CGEL is making the distiction that the perfect locates Tr "before and up to To" and "wholly before To" in the continuative and non-continuative reading, respectively.

The following perfect in bold I think has the continuative reading:

  (1) She has been writing the book since she was in her twenties and at last it's finished.

But here, Tr, the time referred to by the verb group has been writing, doesn't seem to extend up to the time of utterance (To), because at the time of uttrance, she's not longer writing the book.

Am I misunderstanding CGEL or is CGEL's distinction between the continuative and non-continuative reading of the perfect doesn't really apply to example (1)?

EDIT

Here's some evidence supporting CGEL's claim that the continuative reading's Tr includes To:

A 2002 linguistics paper titled "Event Structure and the Perfect - Stanford University" by Paul Kiparsky (page 5) quotes another paper (Mittwoch 1988) to say this:

  The universal reading requires an adverb specifying a duration (such as
  always, since 1960 or for two years)...

  [T]he boundaries that define the duration are understood in an exclusive way in the existential reading but in an inclusive way in the universal reading (Mittwoch 1988). The sentence

  [10] I have been in Hyderabad since 1977.

  is false on the existential reading if I last was in Hyderabad in 1977 or if I
  have just landed on my first visit there; it is the intervening time that counts
  (exclusive boundaries). For the universal reading of [10] to be true I must
  have been there in 1977 and I must be there now (inclusive boundaries).

(Boldface mine.)
(Here, the existential reading refers to the experiential reading, whereas the universal reading refers to the continuative reading.)

So what this paper is saying is that the continuative reading must include the boundaries that define the duration specified by an adverb (e.g., since 1977).

Since this 2002 paper by a reputable linguist quotes a 1988 paper to make this point, I highly doubt that this specific claim made by this paper is questionable. Moreover, this paper's claim is in line with CGEL' explanation that the continuative reading's Tr includes To.


texts:
Here the commentator writes:

  I think there are two interpretations and @dewster probably wants to refer to only one of them:

  Knowledge that is implicitly contained in larger objects or concepts, but there is no need for users of those larger objects/concepts to know them. That is the vast majority of all knowledge and encompasses the things we don't even know we don't know yet. You can use a hammer on a nail without knowing anything about what is holding that hammer together or about Newton's laws.
  Explicit knowledge that you use directly. The comment is about this. Meaning, a response that lambda calculus is with us here and now implicitly falls into the first category above and is not what is meant, but why would you be better off knowing the concept directly apart from intellectual curiosity - which we can fulfill on only an insignificantly tiny fraction of the things we do.
  Each time people want to add to the curriculum "you absolutely must know this!" they seem to be missing this distinction.

  Given the incredibly amount of knowledge and how each and every piece of it is somehow important - but almost always only implicitly - I prefer a mindset that strives to reduce the amount I want other people to learn. Saying "no, you don't have to know/learn this" seems to be a better goal than trying to list ever more stuff. Also, the "need to know" should be much more targeted - "every programmer needs to know" is probably wrong for a lot of (most?) stuff that is labeled thus.

My question is: What is the name/terminology for these two types of knowledge?


texts: Variations on “a [technical term] is said to be [adjective]” suited to scientific publications

texts:
(I'll use “spooky-graphoid” as a randomly made-up technical term and “saturated” as a random adjective from the scientific vernacular.)

First, when it comes to the definition of a “saturated spooky-graphoid”, which of the following phrasings are grammatically acceptable?

A spooky-graphoid is said saturated when/if…
A spooky-graphoid is said a saturated spooky-graphoid when/if…
A spooky-graphoid is said to be saturated when/if…
A spooky-graphoid is said to be a saturated spooky-graphoid when/if…
(something I didn't think of, or something that involves a rephrasing. E.g.: A saturated spooky-graphoid is a spooky-graphoid such that [rephrased part].)

Then, which is the most advisable, considering criteria such as grammaticality, reading ease, and space occupation (which, for scientific publications, possibly does matter)?


texts: Is a comma still required before the name of the addressee when there's a tag question?

texts:
For a sentences like "You're a good person, Tom." and "You're a good person, aren't you?" There's no doubt the commas are required.  But what about:

"You're a good person, aren't you, Tom?"

Are both of these commas required?


texts: "in processing customer orders" or "in the processing of customer orders"?

texts:
Most of the time I see people use a gerund this way:

The storm caused delays in processing customer orders.

However, sometimes I see something like this too:

The storm caused delays in the processing of customer orders.

Are there any hard rules so we know when to use one way and not the other?

Thank you.


texts: "When did you go there?" vs "When you went there?"

texts:
Could someone help me to understand the difference between these two sentences.

When did you go there?
When you went there?

What is the correct way of using these forms?


texts: What do you call words that are misspelled to add effect?

texts: The most obvious example I can think of is the Mortal Kombat series. They replace almost all hard sounding C's with the letter 'K'. A couple other examples off the top of my head are 'Froot Loops', 'The Beatles', the Red Hot Chili Peppers album 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik'. There's a tonne more. I'm just wondering if there's a proper term for these types of words.


texts:
I would like to ask if the words oblige and accommodate are synonym ,to some extent, in a sense of "to help or to support" and so they can be replaced  in the following sentences. Does it sound unnatural to use them instead of "help" in semi-formal context as in my sentence?

For example :

  We always try to accommodate(oblige) our clients with financial
  assistance if necessary.

  Could you oblige (accommodate) me with a pen and a piece of paper,
  please?

  A new initiative launched by the government aims to
  oblige/accommodate the new graduates who want to create their own
  start-up. ( This is my sentence)


texts: What rules determine whether "could" can be ambiguous in some sentences?

texts:
I've been trying to explain to a non-native English speaker why "We could lift the rock" allows two interpretations:

"We were able to lift the rock"
"We might be able to lift the rock [in the future]"

but "We could get caught" only allows one:

"We might get caught [in the future]"

I realize that one would need to say "We could have gotten caught" if one meant "There was a possibility that we would be caught". However, I can't put my finger on what makes the instances different. Is it the use of the passive? Is it the semantics?

UPDATE: I understand that one can add more context that makes the "past" interpretation acceptable: "He thought that we could get caught." My question is: in the absence of such additional context, why is "We could lift the rock" ambiguous while "We could get caught" is not?


texts:
Is the following sentence correct?

  Had I had a lamp, I would have had light.


texts:
I would like to express "an interpolation scheme which is not based on grids". But among the following options:

"non grid based", "non-grid based", "non grid-based" or "non-grid-based"

I am not sure which one I should use. I have tried google and google ngrams and found no answer. I neither found any straightforward guide or rule from some related posts (eg. 1,2,3) on this site. Which one is better for a native speaker?

Edits:

I am not sure about the rule when there are multiple adjectives with some hierarchy among them.
I guess it should be "a non grid-based interpolation".(?)


texts: "His instructions were to not run" or "His instructions were not to run"?

texts:
Which of these sentences is grammatically correct and why?

  His instructions were to not run

  His instructions were not to run.

Without the word 'run' the word 'to' would immediately follow 'to', like: "His instructions were to run." If we had to construct a negative out of this, should we say "were not to" or "were to not run".

What I think is that we should use the former ("were to not run") because "His instructions were to not run" makes it sound like someone instructed, specifically, to not run. The latter ("were not to run") is more like saying that someone did not instruct to run (but he did not instruct to not run, either).


texts:
Is there a word for days you don't work?

In portuguese you have the term "dias de folga" that means the days that you would normally work but will not because the company gave you those days to rest.

One is said in portugues to be in "folga".

Is there a correspondent word or term in english?


texts: Word/phrase for when an incorrect approach leads to an unexpectedly great result

texts:
Related question on Chinese.SE

There is a phrase ("歪打正着" in Chinese and "怪我の功名" in Japanese) which roughly means "do the wrong thing but achieve the right result anyway". Is there a similar phrase or idiom in English?

Examples:

(From the related question): The subject brings a gift to a friend but the friend wasn't present. When the subject tried again on another day, the friend was present, but - unknown to the subject - it was also the friend's birthday, so the gift became a birthday gift too.
When you lose your job/lover but this leads you to find a much better one

Some translations available online are "score a lucky hit" or "hit by a fluke" but I feel these do not capture the incongruity between approach and outcome.

Compare this with situational irony, which is often used when the aim or intent is good but the outcome is incongruously bad.


texts: Which one of these 2 sentences is correct?

texts:
There are no longer big public parks in the city center like we used to have 10 years ago

There are no longer big public parks in the city center like there were 10 years ago

If both are correct, which one is better?


texts: When an objective is accomplished, do we talk about it in the past tense?

texts:
I spent the past 6 months working on a software project. Now that it is finished, I am writing a report about it. The sentence below describes the purpose of my project:

"The purpose of this project is to allow its users to generate images programmatically."

I am confused about the correct tense for this sentence. Since the purpose has been fulfilled, should I say "The purpose of this project was..."?

I am also unsure about whether the word purpose is the most appropriate one. Consider this version:

"The objective of this project is to allow its users to generate images programmatically."

The same question applies in this case: since the objective has been accomplished, should I say "The objective of this project was...?"


texts: Use of "is" versus "are" in a particular case

texts:
I need some help, because this is confounding me. I have the following sentence:

"The second column of leaves are to be submerged in distilled water (set DS)."

When I run this sentence through Microsoft Word's spell checking, along with other spell checking services, they say to correct "are" to "is". This seems wrong to me, but I am no professional. Would I correct it to "is", or keep it at "are".

The reason why I am asking on here is because this sentence seems to me to be some "exception" to the are versus is rules. If anyone could help me, I would appreciate it.

-Thanks


texts: What is a word for deliberate dismissal of some facts?

texts:
For example: A situation needs both Fact A and Fact B to be explained, but a person accepts Fact A and rejects Fact B, misconstruing the situation?

  Do you think this is just ignorance or deliberate _____?


texts:
Is there a word which describes the relation of, when associating or committing, an added suffix such as “-ian” (or “-ic”, et al.) to its subject?

For example:

“Orwellian is the _____ of/for Orwell.”

Or:

John: I know what ‘encyclopedia’ means, but what does ‘encyclopedic’ mean?

Doe: Encyclopedic is just the ________ of/for ‘encyclopedia’.


texts: Is 'broad and narrow features' metaphorical?

texts:
When I say broad features and narrow features, are the "broad" and "narrow" here metaphors for "general" and "specific" or do they mean "big" and "small"?

Supposing broad features of the American economy and we mention one by one its employment, industries etc. Here is the word broad a metaphor for general?

Actually what I am confused about is when we say "broad" features or "narrow features" do the words "broad" and "narrow" here mean literally big and small or metaphorically general and specific? what do "broad" and "narrow" here mean?


texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  Rule for using “for” vs. “to”
  When to use “to” and when “for”?

To me the hardest thing in English is preposition and i make mistakes here. Fore example i confuse: "it is difficult for me" and "it is difficult to me"

Is there any rule?


texts: Should it be "persistent [high] levels of unemployment" or "persistently high levels of unemployment"?

texts:
Here is a sentence that I wrote for an academic paper:

... the provision of longer benefit durations in regions of high unemployment creates long-term EI dependency among seasonal workers, which then results in persistent high levels of unemployment in those regions.

Question: Which phrasing is the most idiomatic (correct usage)? My research tells me I should go with C (but my research is based on the graph, google hits, and reading some of the lines on those hits). However, google hits for all three options are similar in number: around 130.

A. persistent levels of unemployment
B. persistent high levels of
unemployment
C. persistently high levels of unemployment

Details:
Let's start with the definition: according to Cambridge, "persistent" (adj) means

lasting for a long time or difficult to get rid of

The intended meaning is that unemployment in those regions stay up high year after year, as seasonal workers don't relocate to other regions for new jobs. They prefer being unemployed in the high-unemployment regions so they can get unemployment benefits for longer durations (benefit durations are shorter in low unemployment regions).
My original phrasing was option A, "persistent levels of unemployment", which turned out to be very unpopular/uncommon. "Level" is like a scale ranging from low to high. I wonder if that is the problem: "persistent" and "level" does not work together.
In google news, there are only

A. 4 entries for persistent levels of unemployment

B. 11 entries for persistent high levels of unemployment

C. 24 entries for persistently high levels of unemployment

Simply looking up google all reveals around 130 entries for all of the above options (google returns around 10,300 entries, but if you click page 15 or so, you will see google revises its estimate to around 130 entries). Provided is an ngram for comparison. One term that is way up higher than all three is just "persistent unemployment" (not in image). I wonder why the green (A) and the red (B) line cross like that.


texts:
Merriam Webster defines acreage as:

  area in acres

oxforddictionaries.com defines it as:

  An area of land, typically when used for agricultural purposes, but
  not necessarily measured in acres.

To a native speaker, does the word acreage have a "business-like" connotation that would imply that the land is for sale or part of a deal?

Would it be pragmatic to use acreage to refer to any plot of land that, theoretically, could be used for agricultural purposes?

Please note that I am not looking for alternatives, such as plot or parcel.

@the guy who edited this questions' title: Whether or not the land is up for sale is not my main question. Sorry if this has been unclear.


texts: I'm sure we all know its profanities, but is there any word or phrase that can represent "#@$%!"?