texts: Using colon in display of numerical time DURATION

texts:
What was Jeff's time?

+--------+----------------------+
| Person | Time taken (minutes) |
+--------+----------------------+
| Jeff   | 0:06                 |
| John   | 0:07                 |
| Peter  | 0:05                 |
+--------+----------------------+

I have a few questions (beyond deciphering its meaning):

is this ambiguous?
is it correct and/or established to use the colon in time durations in general?

I would expect to see time durations like "5 minutes and 30 seconds" or "5.5 minutes" or "320 seconds" (and understand them all to mean the same thing).

I think if I were to receive a written message "see you in 5:40" I would interpret that as "see you in 5 hours and 40 minutes", but I am not sure if this is well-defined in English.


texts: Is the word 'consort' still considered an insult in the modern usage?

texts:
In Romeo and Juliet, Tybalt says to Mercutio: 'Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo.' Mercutio replies 'consort! What, dost thou make us minstrels?... Zounds consorts!'
Bloodshed followed shortly.

It's very clear that the word consort here is very emotionally loaded so as to lead to murder.

What I'm interested to know is whether the word consort still carries this highly negative connotation today. If not, can it be used interchangeably with partner, associate or even friend?


texts: Is the use of punctuation appropriate here?

texts:
For most people, football might just be a game, but for me, it is a way of life.

Is the above sentence correct in terms of punctuation? Or should I write this in the following manner:

For most people football might just be a game, but for me it is a way of life.


texts: Pronoun agreement: His and my house vs Our house

texts:
Would "her and my" be plural?

I know that "Sue and I moved into our house" is correct PN agreement.

But wouldn't "Sue and I moved into her and my house"?

I know it's awkward but wouldn't the "and" instead of "or" make the phrase "her and my" a compound object which agreed with the compound subject?


texts:
I saw these two sentences and was wondering which one is right,
1) If you are a well-organized person you manage your time.
2) If you are a well-organized person you will manage your time.
I know zero condition is used for facts, so I say it should be the right one, others don’t agree, please help.
Edit: I saw this: http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/1531/1/elt.ccp101.full_1531.pdf
Now I know it’s ‘wrong’ to say zero, first conditionals bit still I need to know which one is right.


texts: What's a word for the fear of eating hot peppers?

texts:
Is there a word for the fear of eating hot peppers? By hot peppers, I mean fruits from plants that are members of the Capsicum genus of the Solanaceae family that contain capsaicin to any noticeable degree, or have an SHU rating greater than 0. This question does not pertain to temperature or flavor.

Example sentence (where [x] represents the word): "Ever since he had licked a chile pepper as a child, he had maintained a moderate case of [x]."


texts: Why plural noun and verb in singular form, present tense takes 's'?

texts:
Acting in reverse manner, plural noun takes ‘s’ (apples, chalks) while verb in singular form, present tense takes ‘s’ (she prefers, he attends). Why is it so?

Wrote Miss syndrome under Creative Writing category sometime back which not sure keep live.

Acting in reverse manner, plural noun takes ‘s’ (apples, chalks) while verb in singular form, present tense takes ‘s’ (she prefers, he attends). Miss acts both as noun and verb. Miss as verb means something not attained like X misses Y while on vacation. Subject to Y being female, this can be rewritten: X misses Miss Y where capital Miss is noun (abbreviated as Ms.).
When hit is excess, reverse rule comes into action in behavior so often like a cool character converting to earthquake-like personality after a period of stress. Missing your favorite miss can overwhelmingly redefine your perception where anything you could not hold is a miss, be it catch miss, goal miss…

So, should I immediately remove the above or the writing makes some sense?


texts:
I understand how monads work, and I use them on a routine basis.
However, I've been wondering where the term actually comes from and what does it mean?

Edit: To clarify, I'm specifically referring to the origin of the term.


texts: "Lately" and "recently" in Present Perfect

texts:
If I use Present Perfect Progressive and Present Perfect with an expression of unfinished time, it implies that the action is continuing.

But what about recently and lately — when used with Present Perfect Progressive and Present Perfect do they imply, like expressions of unfinished time, that the actions are still continuing?

And if lately/recently are not used in a sentence (with either Present Perfect or Present Perfect Progressive) would it imply that an  action is  complete?

E.g.

  Recently/lately, I have been feeling  really tired.
  Recently/lately, I have felt really tired.
  I have been feeling tired.
  I have felt tired.
  She has been watching too much television lately.
  She has watched ... lately/recently.
  She has been watching too much television.
  Have you been exercising lately?
  Have you exercised lately?
  Have you been exercising?
  Mary has been feeling a little depressed.
  Mary has felt depressed lately/recently.
  Mary has been feeling a little depressed lately/recently.
  Lisa has not been practicing her English.
  She  has not practiced her English recently/lately.
  Lisa has not been practicing her English lately/recently.
  What have you been doing?
  What have you done? [a completed action]

What have you done recently/lately?
What have you been doing recently/lately?


texts:
He said with a smile as if he were talking about an old friend.
He said with a smile as if he had been talking about an old friend.

What the difference between two sentences?


texts: Is "get off this station" instead of "get off at this station" not gramatically correct?

texts: Can you write get off this station or get off the next station without using the preposition at?


texts: Slang for someone who gives opinions unasked

texts:
I'm looking for a good English slang for someone who gives opinions — usually negative — without being asked for them.

Are there any? I know in Hungarian they are called megmondóember but I can't find any good word for them in English.


texts: difference between "remains only" and "only remains"

texts:
I wrote the following in an article.

  It remains only to eliminate the intersections which can be proven to
  be empty.

My proofreader corrected to the following by changing the word order.

  It only remains to eliminate the intersections which can be proven to
  be empty.

I prefer my formulation, because I feel it expresses my sentiment correctly.   However, when writing for an international readership, is my formulation wrong, misleading, or confusing?

What is the difference in meaning between the two formulations?


texts: Question about the literary device personification

texts:
But what I miss,
Among these mahua trees,
When merrily I pace,
Is the beholding pleasure
Of her face.
This is a stanza from a poem.I would like to know if 'beholding pleasure'could be an example of personification or it is incorrect.


texts: How to interpret this sentence, "Apple didn’t update the iPad Air, which could have hurt the sales numbers."

texts:
I found this sentence in this article.

  And yet, it’s a bit intriguing that Apple is choosing to raise the
  price on the mainstream iPad. In the most recent quarter, iPad sales
  were down 25 percent year-over-year. Arguably, Apple didn’t update the
  iPad Air, which could have hurt the sales numbers. But it’s been an
  ongoing trend for a couple of years now.

As an non native English speaker, it's difficult to understand the meaning of the sentence.

I think there are two possible ways to interpret it.

1.
If Apple had updated the iPad Air, it(=update) could have hurt the sales numbers.

2.
The fact that Apple didn't update the iPad Air might have hurt the sales number.


texts: Word for the river emptiyng into the ocean

texts:
In Portuguese we have the word "desaguar", which would roughly translate to "to release water" but is almost exclusively used to mean the offloading of water by a river into another body of water. We use it as such:

  The Mississippi River "desagua" in the Atlantic.

Is there an equivalente word in English? It would be nice if the English word would "behave" in the same way as the Portuguese one, where it immediately makes the user think of a river, as opposed to for example the word "drain" which is far too general.

For reference, the sentence I am trying to translate is from a song/poem and reads

  The river from my land*, "desagua" in my heart.

*: Land could possibly be translated as home too.


texts: Is the statement "Jennifer is on the front row." grammatically correct? I was told that this statement is incorrect because Jennifer cannot get on top of the row but she can get in the row.  Please clarify which is correct to use in the sample sentence above.


texts: Consider the word 'future.' Cambridge Dictionary shows the transcriptions /ˈfjuːtʃəʳ/ and /ˈfjuːtʃɚ/. Are they different?


texts:
French surgeon Ambroise Paré (c.1510–1590) is considered one of the fathers of surgery; he was leader in surgical techniques and battlefield medicine, especially the treatment of wounds.

This sentence is from Wikipedia's scientific revolution article.

Why we don't say "he was a leader" or "he was the leader", is "he was leader" right?


texts: Why do some words in the simple present end in -ed

texts:
I am helping two students with their English. They asked me why there is -ed at the end of some words in the simple present tense, e.g.

Are you married?
He is annoyed.
I am worried.

I wasn't sure how to answer this.


texts: Why is a drunk person often said to be "cut" or "half-cut"?

texts:
The usage is confirmed as sense 8 of the adjectival cut per the OED - see below. However no etymology is given.

  slang. Drunk, intoxicated. 1673   R. Head Canting Acad. 171   He is flaw'd, fluster'd, Cup shot, cut in the leg or back. 1699   B. E. New
  Dict. Canting Crew   Cut, Drunk; Deep Cut..Cut in the Leg or Back,
  very drunk. 1760   C. Johnstone Chrysal I. ii. i. 137   Your
  excellency was a little cut, but you broke up much the strongest of
  the company. 1823   J. G. Lockhart Reginald Dalton I. i. vii. 73   I'm
  sure we had not much more than a bottle a-piece..I was not cut. 1848
  Thackeray Bk. Snobs xli. 160   I was so cut last night.


texts:
I am translating a text in Portuguese to English from a Message of Our Lady, and there is this expression on the URGENT APPEALS Message nº 2,797:

  "O Senhor dirá: Faça-se; e tudo será transformado."

The context is similar to:

  "FIAT LUX"
  "Faça-se a luz"
  "Let there be light"

I translated it as :

  "The Lord will say: (FIAT) Let there it be; and everything will be transformed."

Did I translate it correctly? If not, can somebody please answer a more perfect translation?


texts: How do you say "hasn't been much activity" using "to go on"?

texts:
"In the ensuing few months there hasn’t been much to go on in terms of new hints of what it might look like."

I read this sentence in an online article and interpreted it as "there hasn't been much activity regarding xyz" but shouldn't it have been written as "hasn't been much gone on" instead? Although I admit, that sounds weird - what is the correct grammar of "to go on" ?


texts: Is there a descriptor for courses/classes you take without necessarily being in college?

texts: For example, if you take a class on sewing or boating, basically any class you might take for your personal development or wanting to learn a new skill. It might be offered by a school, or maybe by a local community organization. Could there be a word to describe that type of independent class? I feel like saying "classes" automatically makes people think of school. So, just like the way we say "college classes", might there be a "_____ classes" for this other scenario?


texts:
Is there a single word to describe the loss of a sibling?

Without a proper name it is hard for the grief to be acknowledged.


texts: Is this example correct? (omitting subject in compound sentence)

texts:
Had an argument with my colleague regarding the example from "Advanced Grammar in Use" by Martin Hewings:

  In two years time Morneau will have been acting for 50 years, and
  shows no signs of retiring from the theatre.

To me it sounds a bit fancy, but clear and grammatically correct. However, my colleague insists that it should be corrected in one of these ways:

In two years time Morneau will have been acting for 50 years, and he shows no signs of retiring from the theatre.
In two years time Morneau will have been acting for 50 years, and yet shows no signs of retiring from the theatre.
Morneau will have been acting for 50 years in two years time, and shows no signs of retiring from the theatre.

So do you think if it's correct grammatically and stylistically? Can someone think of similar sentences, some real life examples?


texts: Number agreement of verb with plural algorithm name as subject

texts:
Should I say:

  Geodesic Active Contours (GAC) are a method for shape approximation that have demonstrated excellent performance for abdominal wall segmentation.

Or:

  Geodesic Active Contours (GAC) is a method for shape approximation that has demonstrated excellent performance for abdominal wall segmentation.

Thank you!


texts:
I asked my gf if her family was okay due to a natural disaster in her hometown. She replied to me, "our family are okay."

To me, I can't help smiling. I feel like she counts me in. In fact, I know that she doesn't mean that way. Both of us are not native speakers.

So, is this reply grammatically correct? Is it okay to use that way? I am not sure native speakers will think the way I am thinking.


texts: What punctuation to use for "X or equivalently Y" and where does it go?

texts:
Suppose I have a phrase that expresses two statements as being equivalent. The details aren't important (they happen to be mathematical statements, and for the purpose of illustration, let's use "A is greater than B" and "C is greater than D"), but the structure of the phrase is:

A>B or equivalently C>D

What's the correct punctuation here - comma or semicolon, where does it go, and why? Possibilities (which all seem somewhat reasonable...my intuition is failing me here):

A>B or, equivalently, C>D

A>B or equivalently, C>D

A>B, or equivalently C>D

A>B or equivalently; C>D

A>B; or equivalently C>D


texts: "Tom would know about the ledger" in this example the said person is deceased (not alive at the moment) so why can't we use would have in this sentence. Which is more grammatical?


texts:
I am looking for a word that describes a skill a person possesses but does not enjoy. For example:

  Although Robert does not like tennis, he is very good at it.

What word could be used to describe Robert's skill?


texts:
What does the word "however" mean in the sentence below?

A nonlinear system's state, however, can go to infinity in finite
time.


texts: What would be the proper syntax for the phrase- "The what now?" in response to some word they don't understand?

texts:
Like-
"This can easily be explained by the concept of quantum tunneling," he said.
Lara did a double-take. "The what now?"

  "The what now?"

is this correct?


texts:
I am German and my girlfriend is an native speaker of English from Malaysia.

I saw that she referred to a very good friend of hers as "My love" in a text chat. I am confused by this statement because if I try to translate it back it would be ever only used for someone you have serious romantic attachment towards.

So is "my love" used for someone close in a platonic sense as well, does it sometimes depend on personal preference, or is my assessment correct?

After he wished her a good birthday, she replied to him something along the lines of

  "my love, I wish you were here"

Im not looking for comments on the relationship, just seriously interested in the linguistic background and usage of the term.


texts:
Can anybody help me to explain the meaning of this sentence, i dont understand its meaning, it's about when Andrew Marr (a Historian) make a conclusion about History of the World, he concluded about the entire human history:

" It's all a shaggy-dog story of unexpected consequences."


texts: What is an idiom, phrase or expression for situation such as "throw a pigeon among cats"

texts:
Normally there is a idiom "throw a cat among pigeons" but what is being  inquired here is  "throwing a pigeon among cats" where cats are predator and pigeon is the prey and pigeon is trapped between the predator cats who are out to get at the drop of a hat.

Typically, an example of this would be a employee (the pigeon) working for more than 1 tyrant boss (predator) ideally for more than 4-5 toxic tyrant bosses  (predators) helicoptering you, ripping you off of your negligible mistake, etc..

PS: Basically the boss here can be empty suit freeloaders


texts: A verb to mean "go to the end of the road"

texts:
I would need a transitive verb which would have "road" or "way" or "path" as the direct object. I want to say that a person walks this road to the end in this context:

This will give them the support and motivation to ______ (meaning follow to the end) the path back to safety.

Does such a verb exist? If a single word is not possible, is there a more idiomatic phrase than follow/go to the end of a road?
Edit 1: I know you can say that you traverse a distance. For example, if you say that you traverse the desert, it means you go from one end to the other end. However, I find it awkward to say traverse a road to mean go all its length.
I need this verb in other contexts as well. It must mean "to go all the length of".
Edit 2: The French have the term "parcourir" which is a transitive verb and means to cover the whole distance of something. But I cannot say "cover a path" in English.


texts:
According to Dictionary.com, one of the meanings of the word 'ax' is...

  '(informal) to dismiss, restrict, or destroy brutally'

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ax?s=t)

  Labor reforms should be accelerated so that the younger generation can find work, and regulations must be axed so that companies will be encouraged to make new investments.

I quoted this sentence from the newspaper article in the Korea JoongAng Daily, and I want to know if it is fine to use the phrase "be axed" in formal essay writing.


texts: What is the word that denotes the words preceding these nouns?

texts: What word describes/denotes the words that precede vision in the following two words: computer vision and machine vision?


texts:
It is an "idiom".
OR
It is "idiom".
Which is correct? Is "an" necessary before "idiom"?


texts: Usage of Oxford comma in particular case

texts:
In the sentence

I had eggs, toast, and orange juice.

we're clearly speaking of three different items (eggs + toast + orange juice). My question is, if I don't use the oxford comma in that case

I had eggs, toast and orange juice.

will I be speaking of only two items (eggs + toast with orange juice in it)?


texts:
Is it conventional to address attorneys general as "General", in the second person?

In 2012 New Hampshire's attorney general Michael Delaney met with Vermont's attorney general William Sorrell, and an account I read of the meeting said Delaney said "Good morning, General Sorrell." Is that a standard usage?


texts:
At Planetary.org I read this:

Below is a photo of a flight wheel -- that is, one of the six that's sitting on Mars today.

Never heard flight wheel before and couldn't find anything when I searched for the expression. To me it looks like a regular wheel (how regular a wheel that is used on a vehicle on Mars can be).
Edit: and, BTW, I associated to "fly wheel", which seems far fetched and probably isn't correct.


texts: For example, is the phrase "Stars, to a good approximation, are spherical." correct and idiomatic English?


texts:
I am looking to describe a flower such as the one in the following picture for a game:

After showing the game to a number of beta testers, I noted that about half of them were fine with "violet" while the other half seemed confused by the term and insisted it was "purple".

After doing some research, it turns out that the definitions for these terms are (roughly):

Purple: "A color between red and blue"
Violet: "Light with a wavelength between 380nm and 450nm"

Those definitions overlap.
It seems to me (subjectively) that Australians and British are in favor of the term "Purple", while US Americans prefer "Violet". However, I was unable to find any statistical proof or study on the subject.

Question: What is an adequate word to describe the flower above to the majority of native English speakers?


texts: Why is the past tense of vomit generally spelled 'vomited' rather than 'vomitted'?

texts: "Vomit" is not a recent addition to English, and nor does it have a peculiar pronunciation. Yet, the past tense of vomit does not follow the notion that a vowel followed by a consonant and emphasis on the consonant. (For example, past tense of 'emit' is 'emitted'.)


texts: What is the English equivalent to the Japanese word 学者バカ, "Scholar’s fool"?

texts:
I’m interested in the words “instant omniscience,” which Calvin Trillin, a former editor for Time magazine, used in a New Yorker magazine article (March 20) entitled "Time Edit":

  “There were some enjoyable aspects of being a floater. When I settled
  into the desk chair of, say, the Education writer, someone who
  presumably pored through the education quarterlies and lunched with
  school reformers and kept abreast of the latest disagreements about how
  best to teach reading, I could feel myself imbued with the
  authoritative tone favored in those days at Time; I called that
  ‘instant omniscience'."

The expression “instant omniscience” made me think of the Japanese word, “学者バカ- -Gakushabaka," the literal translation of which is “scholar’s fool” or “expert’s ignorance.” A "scholar's fool" is ignorant of everything but his area of specialty (e.g., quantum physics, aeronautics, neurology--you name it).

The expression "instant omniscience" also triggered this question:  What is the English equivalent of “学者バカ- scholar’s fool”?  In other words, how do you characterize in two or three words the person who is an expert in one area but seemingly ignorant in all other areas?


texts: Can adverbs of frequency modify an adverb?

texts:
Adjectives can be modified by adverbs of frequency.
Example: Sometimes-happy sometimes-sad guy
Then, can adverbs of frequency also modify an adverb?
Example: Sometimes-happily walking guy


texts: Is there any specific word for a portion of a house either attached with main building or at the back of the house having one or two rooms specifically for guests?


texts: Use of article in front of product names

texts:
In English, a definite article is not typically used in front of company names, except if you want to refer to some particular building (e.g. I went to the McDonald's around the corner).

However, does the same thing hold for product names? For example, which of the following sentences would work better?

Logitech's new S30 is an improved version of the S29.
Logitech's new S30 is an improved version of S29.

The former sounds much better to me, but that may be because we throw around a lot of definite articles in my native language :)


texts: What word is an adjective meaning "not first"?

texts:
In the following sentences, what single word can I use to summarize the ordinal numbers second, third, fourth, etc.?

When you take your second, third, fourth, etc. flu shot, call me.
If you have your second, third, fourth, etc. dessert, you might get a stomach ache.
When you have your second, third, fourth, etc. child, avail of this family planning class.

I've looked at this related question but the words subsequent, later, other, and contender do not seem to fit this context.
In particular, taking the first example, using "subsequent" changes the object to plural.

When you take your subsequent flu shots, call me.

I'm looking for a word that keeps it in singular form as I am not referring to the whole set of flu shots after the first one, but rather to the specific second, or third, or fourth, etc. instance of that flu shot.


texts: What is a word for someone who always feels (inclined to feel) pity for others?

texts: Doesn't have to be "always", could also just be someone who shows a lot of pity for people around him. Could also be that some people may not always show it, but do feel very inclined most of the time to feel pity for others.


texts: Why do this book telling a story in the past but they use present tense?

texts:
I was reading a book "Call me by your name" and I was so confused by the tense they use in the book. It is obviously the story they tell happens in the past but they use present tense. I am trying to understand but have not figured out yet. Someone please takes a look and help me:

"Later!" The word, the voice, the attitude. I'd never heard anyone use "later" to say goodbye before. It sounded harsh, curt, and
dismissive, spoken with the veiled in-difference of people who may not care to see or hear from you again.
It is the first thing I remember about him, and I can hear it still today. Later!
I shut my eyes, say the word, and I'm back in Italy, so many years ago (IT IS OBVIOUSLY IN THE PAST BUT THEY USE PRESENT TENSE) , walking down the tree-lined driveway, watching him step out of the cab, billowy blue shirt, wide-open collar, sunglasses, straw hat, skin everywhere. Suddenly he's shaking my hand (WHY DO THEY USE PRESENT TENSE????) , handing me his backpack, removing his suitcase from the trunk of the cab, asking if my father is home. It might have started right there and then: the shirt, the rolled-up sleeves, the rounded balls of his heels slipping in and out of his frayed espadrilles, eager to test the hot gravel path that led (WHY IS THERE A PAST TENSE IN PRESENT TENSE???) to our house, every stride already asking, Which way to the beach?
This summer's houseguest. Another bore. Then, almost without thinking, and with his back already turned to the car, he waves (WHY DO THEY USE PRESENT TENSE) the back of his free hand and utters a careless Later! to another passenger in the car who has probably split the fare from the station. No name added, no jest to smooth out the ruffled leave-taking, nothing."


texts: A word similar to "reckless" but where the failure is both unavoidable and unexpected

texts:
An example: I discover there is a fault in my materials but I continue to use them, knowing the result will be a failure but in the hope it will be a success. I should have rejected the materials as they were never going to become good.

Second example: The lawn mower is broken and wont start. I decide to make all the actions and effort of mowing the lawn. I still expect payment as the client should be happy, even though the grass is uncut.

I considered reckless or delusional as close but it is not quite it.


texts: Why do we say Undisclosed or Non-Disclosure instead of Closed or Closure

texts:
According to Wiktionary, disclosure's etymology comes from Latin dis-+clausus, literally away+enclosed.

I wonder why do the term closed is not in common use as the term undisclosed.

Not Not True is simply True, and Not Not False is Simply False (!!1==1)


texts: Capitalization with quotation marks when the quote is not direct speech

texts:
I have this sentence:

  We recommend that parents consciously convey the message, "Everybody needs to follow the safety rules" rather than "Do what the babysitter says."

My inclination is to lowercase Everybody and Do. What are the style rules for capitalization of this kind of quote, especially in the middle of a sentence?


texts: meaning of: "necessity does not freedom make"

texts:
what's the meaning of this sentence:
"necessity does not freedom make"

in

Freedom is possible only in society, not outside of it.
But necessity does not freedom make. Rousseau’s promises notwithstanding – that we would be as free “as before” – counterfactual comparisons are irrelevant.


texts: A word or phrase that means the most in the future

texts:
I am looking for a word or very short/concise phrase that would mean the furthest in the future given a collection of dates.

I am currently using Most Distant, but it feels very esoteric, and previously it was using Most Recent which I think is just plain misleading.

Some quick background, this is for use within an application where a group of objects have a date attached to them and they also need a property to denote the one that is farthest in the future so I'm looking to come up with a good descriptive name for that property.


texts:
Which one is a correct and effective way of giving someone a compliment.

Jon helped us scale our business up to 40%

OR

he helped us scale our business by 40%

Are both phrases correct? If yes then which one is more effective/convincing?


texts:
What does the expression

  [x] for the money

mean?

I remember hearing the topic title in a rap song (can’t remember which, might be Eminem), and there seem to be movies named after this pattern: Two For the Money with Al Pacino and One For the Money, an upcoming comedy.

Urban Dictionary does not seem to know this expression, neither does dict.cc give a proper translation.

What does it mean and where does it come from?


texts: What's the difference between "care for something" and "care about something"? English is not my first language so I'm looking for clarity. May use them interchangeably?


texts:
Which of the sentences is correct?

I go skateboarding every week.
I skateboarded last Sunday.
I went skateboarding last Sunday.


texts: "Ten times fewer the number" versus "one-tenth the number"

texts:
Lately I've been hearing and reading statistics that are communicated in wording that, frankly, confuses me.  Forgive me for not citing specific instances, but I can give a hypothetical statistic that exemplifies the kind I'm referring to:

  Comparing the number of tax returns the IRS audited in 2002 and 2010, the number of unlucky folks who had their returns audited in 2002 was ten times fewer than the number in 2012.

There is something about that wording that bothers me, and I'm not sure why.

After a fruitless search on the internet using numerous combinations/permutations of words and phrases such as "X times fewer," "X times less," "mathematical expressions of 'times fewer' as opposed to 'a fraction fewer,' or 'a fraction less,'" and more, I came up empty. Perhaps this question is more appropriate on a math website, but in the off-chance members of EL&U might give their imprimatur to this question, here goes:

Here's a second hypothetical example.  Is it grammatical—not to mention mathematical—to say the following?:

  There are ten times fewer pollinating honeybees worldwide today than there were in 1912.  [Though this is a made-up statistic, there has been a dramatic reduction in the number honey bees in America of late!]

Should not the expression be:

  There are one-tenth fewer honeybees worldwide today than there were in 1912.

On the surface, the "ten times fewer" locution seems to me to be a contradiction in terms.  How can something less be 10 times fewer?

I can understand readily how, for example, 2012's bee population of, say, 90 million can be one-tenth (point one) less than 1912's population of 100 million, but ten times fewer?

I'm confused.  Which expression is "more" correct?


texts: Which one is better: "wipe out" or "wipe away"?

texts:
If justice is wiped out, then society will fall apart in no time.

I vacillate between "wipe out" and "wipe away". I do not know which one is better in this sentence.


texts: "The soil is too arid to plant seeds." Is "to plant seeds" correct here?

texts: I  feel something's wrong with the part "to plant seeds", whose logical subject should be a person. I wonder if the sentence is right or how to correct it the other way around.


texts: Term for: Simultaneous rare experience/occurrence

texts:
I'm talking about a situation where I hear a word, phrase, or telling of an actual experience from one source (e.g., a friend's mouth), and almost immediately hear the exact same word or phrase from a different source such as the radio or TV.

For example, while driving and listening to the radio I might drive around a round-about and at the same time the word round-about comes on the radio in a song. But the word round-about is extremely rare in either fashion.

Is there a term for this experience?


texts: 'Trying to help someone, but the other party doesn't appreciate it'

texts:
What is a word that best describes trying to help someone, but the other party doesn't appreciate it?

I'm looking for a word.


texts:
What adjective can you use to say that something can be activated or enabled? (Something akin to "active-able" or "enable-able", which are not recognized words.)

"You can activate this product" -> "This is a _______ product"

"Given a _______ product, you can press this button"

NOTE: togglable is not a valid response, because togglable implies the change is two-ways, and I want it to be one-way (inactive -> active)


texts: Which valediction should I use with my boss?

texts:
I work as a freelancer for a company and I do most of my communication via e-mails.

My boss usually ends his mails with "cheers" whereas I always use "regards".

Are there any alternatives to "regards" that will be formal but not too formal?


texts:
I wanted to have a word to refer to the thing being thrown, so I decided to use the word "throwee". I can't find this word in online dictionaries, so I guess this word does not exist in the English language.

However, I really like this word and I would like to continue using it in my written communication. I'm not a native speaker, but from my experience with the language, "xee" means "object/person being xed" (where "x" is a verb, e.g. "employee" - "person being employed").

So, what do you think? Is the word "throwee" acceptable? Is it OK if I continue to use it? Should I use a different word?

To provide context, I'm a JavaScript programmer. In the JavaScript programming language, there exists a throw statement, which throws values of various types (e.g. strings, numbers, objects).

// code examples
throw 123;
throw "Invalid argument";
throw new Error;

An usage example would be:

  If the throwee is a Number value, then... .

which is more terse and IMO more readable than:

  If the value being thrown is a Number value, then...


texts:
When estimating (time, for example), it's common to either ask for or offer a "conservative" estimate. Irrespective of political connotations, how does "conservative" describe a given estimate?

Is a conservative estimate the one the causes the least disruption, regardless of whether the estimate is an overestimate or an underestimate?


texts: Staying at Ace vs staying at the Ace; Ace Hotel

texts: Name of hotel is "Ace Hotel". Which is correct: "I am staying at Ace", "I am staying at the Ace" or neither?


texts: What is the grammatical construction behind the word "climbing" in the phrase "climbing wall" or the word "running" in the phrase "running" shoes?

texts:
I am curious about the grammar behind the word "climbing" in the phrase "climbing wall" (or the word "running" in the phrase "running shoes," etc).

I first thought it was an adjective describing the noun wall. However, I am wondering if these cases are the closest the English language gets to a gerundive? Both "climbing" and "running" are forms of a verb, and moreover, the phrase could be said as "the wall about to be climbed." In Latin, the "about to be climbed" would be the future passive participle, also known as the gerundive. Furthermore, in Latin, there also are gerundives of purpose, which would translate these phrases into "the shoes for the purpose of running" or "the wall for the purpose of climbing."

Is there an official name for these types of grammatical constructions?


texts: How did the informant bird become a "little bird?"

texts:
"A little bird told me..."  is defined by Phrase Finder as:

  I was told by a private or secret source.

The phrase in this exact form can be found pretty frequently by, for example, perusing online news sources.  Here is one recent example from July 2017:

  Maybe I’ll miss the camaraderie of the bond desk, but somehow I doubt it. I glance at my boss’s corner office, which looks like a Siberian ice cap on a winter’s evening - darkened, empty and unloved. A little bird told me he’s on his way out too.

HITC

Phrase Finder asserts that the origin goes all the way back to the Bible, but the phrasing is vastly different in the example provided:

  Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

Ecclesiastes 10-20 (King James Version)

OED also provides figurative uses of "bird" in a similar phrasing with a similar meaning from very early writing:

  I dyd lately here..By one byrd, that in myne eare was late chauntyng.

John Heywood · A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the englishe tongue · 1st edition, 1546.

Accepting that the general figurative idea of a bird acting as a clandestine messenger is very old, how did the phrase arrive in its current form, a little bird told me?  Why exactly did the bird become little?


texts: Suitable idiom for using instead of immunize

texts: We have water that is not drinkable, we boil it for killing the microbes, is this sentence correct “I immunize the water ” or there is an idiom for this action?


texts:
What word or phrase best communicates the idea that a human (or other sentient being) is easily swayed, particularly between moral good and evil? Words I have found that are close are:

Impressionable - Easily influenced because of a lack of critical ability.

Implies that the subject lacks critical skills, and misses the concept of good and evil.

Gullible - Easily persuaded to believe something

Misses the concept of good and evil

I created a typical angels and demons scenario to demonstrate the polar extremes of the the spectrum. In this scenario, I lack the word to describe the humans, who can be influenced towards either end of the spectrum if impressed upon by an external entity.

  The angels are devoted to good, and are immovable in their ideals. The demons are wicked, and will feign morality only to manipulate others. Both prey upon the humans, who are ____________.

I think that the key here is the spectrum of good an evil. Here are examples of other spectra and their associated words, for comparison.

Easily pushed from calm to angry: Temperamental
Easily moved from determined to hopeless: Weak-willed
Easily influenced by propaganda: See answers here


texts: "But had events gone another way"(grammar)

texts:
The whole sentence is "But had events gone another way, this would be a rather different memoir."

Why is the sentence not like "But the events have gone another way"? "Have" and "events" are reversed, is this first conditional?


texts:
In Japan, it is occasionally said that x' should be read as eks-prime in mathematical contexts. However, there are several cases to read eks-dash. In addition, a person says that eks-dash was originally used in the UK and it has been changedas eks-prime in USA.
Is this true?

In Japan, the ration to read eks-dash vs eks-parime is about 8:2. I know that "eks - dash" is not majority.  But, I would like to ask as follows;

How this rate changes in another countries?


texts: Why does "written" become the past participle in this sentence?

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

Harry Potter is the best book ever written.

The word "written" is the past participle, but why?

I believe it's the passive voice, but I have a friend who disagrees.

From my understanding, Harry Potter is the direct object of the verb "write," but has now become the subject.


texts: What's the complement or corollary of "influences"?

texts:
An article on Wikipedia about a literary work might include a list of influences, i.e. a list of earlier works that influenced this one.

What about the other way around – a word for a later work that was influenced by this one? Is there a noun for that?


texts:
What is a verb for illusion? I want to use it in a sentence like the following:

  The optical effect [illudes] my perception of its real shape.

But illude does not exist. But I cannot find illude in my Dictionary (OS X Dictionary.app). I want to find a verb that is somewhere between deceive and confuse.


texts: Teach in / teach on; class in / class on

texts:
Is there any difference between the usage of "in" or "on" in terms of class?

I'm teaching a class in/on math(s).
My father teaches a class in/on marine biology.

I have a class in French to go to tomorrow.
I have a class on historical artwork that I love.

I take a class in physics.
I'm not taking any classes on Spanish history this year.

The difference seems minimal, but it also seems to exist. For instance, "I'm not taking any classes on Spanish" sounds odd to me, as if to say you could take classes on Spanish as a whole language, and not as a student of the language, if that makes any sense.

Anyone have any idea what's going on with these two prepositions?


texts: Expression for liking a thing after discussing about it

texts:
Is there an expression for this example situation?

When you've watched a movie but donot carry much of an opinion about it. But after discussing with someone you feel that it was not bad after all. After further discussion (with others), it slowly grows(?) on you until you feel that its the best movie you've ever watched.


texts: Can one form an adverb from any adjective?

texts:
I'm trying to form the following sentence:

  ...we can talk more substantiatively in the event that X occurs.

The term "substantiatively" isn't in either the computer dictionary or online at m-w.com. However, it seems to me that if something can be substantiative, then something can be done substantiatively. More generally, if something can be described as <adjective>, then one can do it <adverb form of adjective>. Is that assertion incorrect?


texts: Can "in between" refer to a single continuous action?

texts:
Can we say in between if we are in the middle of an action? For example:

  The doctor told me not to eat anything after midnight. In the morning I accidentally ate a seed and recalled as I was in between [eating].


texts: Am I using the word 'arbitrarily' correctly?

texts:
For example, if I were to say:

  "What? Just because I was arbitrarily born as an Asian, that means I have to stick with my own kind?"

If that is wrong, how would I change it so it makes sense? Is there a way I can still use the word 'arbitrarily'? I'm really just trying to figure out how to use the word.


texts:
I am reading Candide by Voltaire. Candide urges a sick man to find a cure for his illness, and the man responds with

  "Alas! how can I?" said Pangloss, "I have not a farthing, my friend, and all over the globe there is no letting of blood or taking a glister, without paying, or somebody paying for you."

A search of the word glister typically redirects to glisten or glitter. But these lead to the expected definitions about the behavior of light.

Searching the phrase taking a glister led to a result that claims the action can break a fast, which may imply impurity or consumption.

From the information I found I think it may be:

Slang for a hygienic (like "take a shower") or medical (with "letting of blood") practice
A form of measurement, perhaps like "take a pill"

What does the phrase "taking a glister" mean?


texts: Subject + caution; advise +object + recognize; acknowledge

texts:
I am in limbo about the syntax of a certain sentence I am formulating. To me, the following sentence (with the alternative word choice combinations) is intelligible and grammatical; however, when I did a corpus search, to my surprise, only a handful of search results came out, which made me a bit doubtful. Can you guys tell me how it reads to you?

They cautioned (advised) researchers to acknowledge (recognize) that...

At first, I thought the reason for the low search result was because the verb caution is usually followed by a negative action (not to). But then, why there also came low search results for the verb advise?
Thank you!


texts: "...and who knew?" or "...,and, who knew..." or "..., and who knew..."?

texts:
Maybe by joining that religion I'd be able to understand myself, and
  who knew? Maybe I'd find the meaning of life.

  Maybe by joining that religion I'd be able to understand myself, and,
  who knew, maybe I'd find the meaning of life.

  Maybe by joining that religion I'd be able to understand myself, and
  who knew, maybe I'd find the meaning of life.

What the most grammatical choice? If all of them are, what's the most commonly used?


texts: Formal alternative to phrasal verb "turn down"

texts:
I wish to state on my curriculum vitae something along the following line:

Scholarship turned down to pursue a career in industry.

I find phrasal verbs (like turn down) rather informal. Is there a more formal way to make such a statement?


texts: What is the difference between "depth of the trench" and "trench depth"?

texts:
As a non-English native speaker, I don't know what is the difference between these following expressions and whether or not the first expression is correct?

The first expression:

  Then you sometimes check the depth of the trench when you are
  pulverizing, dragging soil up, and then recreate your digging process.

The second expression:

  Then you sometimes check the trench depth when you pulverize and drag
  the soil up, and then recreate your digging process.

Are the depth of the trench and the trench depth exactly the same? if they are different, then what is the difference here?


texts: Word for a physicist studying mechanics?

texts:
For many fields there is a word for a person studying it. In math there is analyst for analysis, algebraist for algebra, and geometer for geometry.
Is there an equivalent word for a physicist studying mechanics?


texts:
When you consider the word "virtual" you would usually picture something that is simulated or exists in a computational manner.

Does this mean that virtual reality is actually contradictory? After all, reality is literally reality.


texts:
Some children use the word "omm" to shame their siblings when they catch them doing something naughty:

  "Omm, I'm telling Mother."

This is not the same word as "um": it is pronounced differently (in American English, it rhymes with "mom") and used differently (it means "Oh, now you've misbehaved" or some equivalent, and could be accompanied by the gesture of sliding one index finger down the other from knuckle to fingernail).

But I do not recall ever seeing the word in print, hearing it used in the movies or on television. Yet, it appears to be widely understood in different parts of the United States. Just by asking acquaintances, I have found that 'omm' is either used or understood in several parts of the US so there is the possibility that it is a borrowing from one of the many other languages brought here by immigrants.

Are there English-speaking countries or areas of the United States where the word is unfamiliar?


texts: "Pot calling the kettle black" ... but what if the kettle isn't black (figuratively speaking)?

texts:
The pot calling the kettle black is a well accepted idiom in English, and has many equivalents in other languages.

But there are some occasions when this phrase is not quite appropriate. When one uses this idiom, it seems that one is acknowledging that the transgression is equally applicable to both parties being referenced.

What if the accuser (i.e., pot) is known to be guilty of a perceived transgression, but the target (kettle) is unjustly accused?  Is there another appropriate idiom that captures the essence of the situation?


texts: How is "all your data are belong to US" grammatically correct?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “All your commas are belong to Array” and similar — is this grammar form “proper”?

What's the necessity of "are" before "belong" in this sentence?

  All your data are belong to US.

I don't understand the point of using "are" before "belong" here. Isn't it just fine to say: all your data belong to US?


texts: Difference between "plenty of money/friends" and "a lot of money/friends"?

texts:
What is the difference between:

  I have plenty of money/friends.
  I have a lot of money/friends.


texts:
I recently learned about the phrase "over-the-road trucking", which is commonly used in the US to refer to long-distance trucking (normally with large semi-trailer trucks) as opposed to smaller trucks making short-distance deliveries.
However, I'm uncertain about the origin of this phrase and how it came to mean long-distance trucking. After all, unless the truck is offroading, all trucking is "over-the-road". Merriam-Webster unhelpfully defines the etymology as:

from the phrase over the road

How did this phrase originate?


texts:
Could you advise - which is correct?

It's my and Louise's cat.
It's mine and Louise's cat.
It's Louise's and my cat.

Thanks


texts: Is there a word for a person who avoids their responsibilities?

texts: What do you call a person who avoids their responsibilities by disregarding them and just continue doing other things?


texts: "To wait to do" or "to wait before doing"

texts:
I recently saw the sentence

  You won't have a long time to wait to do something.

I would have used

  You won't have a long time to wait before doing something.

By the way, is there a difference between

  I have waited to see the moon

and

  I have waited before seeing the moon?


texts: Are initialisms that sound like existing words in English still called initialisms? Or are they called something else?

texts:
An initialism has come into common parlance as a word on its own.

An initialism is a word made from the first letters of each word in a phrase. Unlike acronyms, initialisms cannot be spoken as words: they are spoken letter by letter.

These are examples of initialisms:

DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)
CPU (Central Processing Unit)
CD (Compact Disc)

Is initialism the correct term for the small set of initials that, when spoken aloud letter by letter, sound like existing words in English?
Examples:

The initials D.K. when spoken aloud sound like the word "decay"
The initials M.T. when spoken aloud sound like the word "empty"
The initials C.D. when spoken aloud sound like the word "seedy"

Is "D.K." in this usage an initialism?  If not, is it called something else?
I have read this question and I do not believe this is a duplicate. I am not asking about the existing words okay nor emcee which start from the initialisms and have become accepted spelled-out words.  I am starting from the accepted words and wondering about the matching initials.


texts: Replace "follow" in "Something follows the following steps"

texts: The sentence "The analysis follows the following steps" doesn't sound good, but I can't think of a more formal synonym to either of the follow-s.


texts: grammar - No + singular/plural noun + singular/plural verb

texts:
Which of the following phrases is grammatically correct?

no animal is no animal are no animals is  no animals are

Thanks.


texts: Is it correct to use “offing” to mean “deliberate avoidance/exclusion”?

texts:
I keep wanting to use “offing” in the sense of “conspicuous and deliberate avoidance/exclusion,” which I finally figured out I inferred from this usage in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

  “Remember what Muriel said?” he asked eventually.

  “Who?”

  “You know,” he hesitated: He did not want to say Ron’s name. “Ginny’s great-aunt. At the wedding. The one who said you had skinny ankles.”

  “Oh,” said Hermione. It was a sticky moment: Harry knew that she had sensed Ron’s name in the offing.

In looking it up (as I’d forgotten where I got it) I was surprised to learn “in the offing” usually means “anticipated” (from the nautical definition of “offing”). This doesn’t seem right in context so I assume the exact phrase match is a coincidence, but I’m having trouble finding any other good references of even “offing” having the sense I inferred. Maybe it’s meant in a Mafia-like “killing” sense?

Is this a common enough usage, maybe in the UK (I’m in the US)? Or is Rowling just being creative? Or did I completely misunderstand the HP usage?


texts:
Egypt and Tunisia have both taken steps to form a new government after the overthrow of Mubarak and Ben Ali respectively.

In this context, does respectively describe the steps that have been taken,
or the overthrow of Mubarak and Ben Ali?


texts:
In the case of Company A, as well as in the case of product B, there were companies and businessmen who were eager to trade with XY.

In the use of that vs who, I usually stick to the subject rule (who = animate, that = inanimate). But in this case, the subject is both companies and businessmen (marked italic), rendering the grammatical subject both inanimate and animate. Does either of the pronouns take precedence over the other?


texts: "A qualified teacher" vs. "A credentialed teacher"

texts: What's the clear-cut difference between "A qualified teacher" and "A credentialed teacher"?


texts: An English word for deception without telling a lie?

texts:
For example

In Sim Lim Square cheat cases, a person paid $1k for iPhone insurance. He "agreed" to buy it because the price was not clearly written.
In some restaurants, prices are not written clearly and people can then be charged exorbitant prices.
Insurance costs can vary by up to 100 times because the cost is simply not written clearly.
Many politicians use deceptive language. Also, they tend to tell only the benefits without telling the negatives.
Say you are a scientist. You have 10 studies supporting your theory and 90 studies showing you are wrong. You only quote the 10 studies to people that can't expect.

All of these are deceptions that would make people choose really really "bad deals". Is there a word to describe such deceptions?

Lying? Sophism? Fraud? Scam? Pull a fast one? What?


texts: Is there a plural of "metropolis", not "metropolises", that would sound better in a less formal register?

texts:
I am aware that the plural of metropolis is metropolises, but to me it sounds stilted and to be honest I cannot recall ever hearing it used.

Is there an irregular plural of metropolis that would be in a less formal register. Any common mistaken pluralizations?


texts: Why do we walk on "dry land" when we should be just walking on "land"?

texts:
land |land|

  noun

  the part of the earth's surface that is not covered by water, as
  opposed to the sea or the air.

Many writers in countless books and various writings use the terms "dry land" to describe earth's surface that is not covered by water.

  "They walked on dry land."

Why, when simply, "land" will suffice according to its definition?

Do we call the earth under our oceans, or any body of water, land? If so then I would agree that using "dry land" is not redundant, but by definition it is.


texts:
Should this question begin with Whoever or Whomever:

W--- we trust the most is really our master.

Clearly the clause "W-- we trust the most" is in the subjective (nominative) position in the sentence as a whole, followed by "is" and a predicate nominative. However, if "We" is the subject of that clause, it would seem that the objective (accusative) case (therefore "Whomever") would be correct. Our current sloppy and hideously erroneous usage tends to obliterate objective forms ("whom") in most cases, but what is the correct usage?


texts:
I am aware that when referring to "the City of," you should capitalize the word "city." I am just wondering, do you still capitalize the word "city" if it comes after the name of the city rather than before?

This was a direct quote I am writing so I cannot change the way it was said. But the person said "Albany city said we could recruit there." He is referring to a school district in the City of Albany. Would city be capitalized? Thanks so much in advance.


texts: Using the conjunction "as" to express similarity

texts:
Is the following sentence gramatically corrent?

  He has shown sufficient technical aptitude, as has he high motivation to complete the project earlier.

In this sentence what meant is that the person has shown both the technical aptitude and the high motivation.

I am not sure the as - aux. verb. - subject (e.g. as has he) construction is gramatically correct in such a context. And if it is, what are other conjunctions that could possibly replace it in this context without much changes to the rest of the sentence?


texts: How to correctly express “I don't like it too”?

texts:
What are correct ways to express that one also feels the same way with statement such as, “I don't like it.” or “I can't do it.”? E.g., do all of these have the correct form and same meaning?

I don't like it too.
I don't like it also.
I don't like it either.
I don't like it neither.
I also don't like it.
I too don't like it.

Are there any other ways to express this meaning, which don't change the form too much?


texts: What is a word similar to "amateur" yet having a strong connotation of someone who likes something?

texts:
The etymology of "amateur", according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, is:

  1784, "one who has a taste for (something)," from French amateur "lover of," from Latin amatorem (nominative amator) "lover," agent noun from amatus, past participle of amare "to love" (see Amy).

Yet in English, this has taken the connotation of unprofessional (as in, not done for money) and, from there, even inept or unskillful.

In Romanian, the word "amator" preserves the meaning from the etymolgy, meaning somebody who enjoys doing something. Someone can even walk around with a wine bottle, asking "Cine e amator?, meaning, "who [cine] is [e] up for doing this [amator]/who wants to do this?", in this case meaning "who is up for some wine?"

I wanted to post a partial answer to a StackOverflow question, saying it is "for future *amateurs", i.e., for people in the future who will enjoy tackling the question and can thus use my answer as a jumping-off point. Yet this would sound weird and perhaps even taunting, which is not my intention.

What would the equivalent word in English be - someone who enjoys doing something - even if it doesn't come from the same Latin root? There are various "...(o)phile" words but they are all specific - is there a general term that would be apt here?


texts: Should I place a comma here—and if so, why?

texts:
In the following sentence, should I include a comma after "acquiring"—and if so, why?

  German residents who agree to declare that they possess, or have begun
  the process of acquiring**,** documents...


texts: Do "traditions say" or "traditions hold" or do they not have a verb and are usually the object rather than subject of the sentence?


texts:
I am looking for a translation of the French "la vie est dure sans confiture".

Babel Fish gives me "life is hard without jam". But I am not sure whether this phrase is really in use.

Are there equivalent English phrases for this French proverb?


texts: Is it "to shave my beard" or "to shave my face"?

texts:
I shaved my beard this morning.
  I shaved my face this morning.

Which one is the correct sentence?


texts:
I recently saw this sentence by Lou Reed:

  Anyone who gets to side four is dumber than I am.

On Flavorwire: "The Funniest and Meanest Things Bands Have Said About Their Fans"

What does "side four" mean? Is it an idiom?


texts:
I'm new to this site so i don't know the proper formatting for questions here.

My friends and I were having a debate whether or not saying "I ordered it offline" was a correct way to say "I ordered it online" or "I ordered it off the internet". It seems as though its more of a preference however are they all grammatically correct, and which one do you use/hear more often?

UPDATE

I didn't make it clear enough, when I'm referring to "I ordered it offline" I am referring to ordering something online or off the internet


texts: Place of an adverb in the passive present perfect progressive

texts:
I was wondering where an adverb should (or could) be placed in the passive present perfect progressive in English.

  I have been being carefully tickled.

OR

  I have been carefully being tickled.

OR

  I have carefully been being tickled.

An alternative position of an adverb is after the lexical verb, but I do not think that it is the only possibility.

  I have been being tickled carefully.

Do all progressive tenses share this place for the adverb?

Please provided references and/or sources if possible.


texts: Do we use "early" or "late" to refer to the end of a decade in BCE?

texts: So I'm writing an essay in which I want to refer to the years 483-480 BCE. Are these the late 480s or the early 480s? 83-80 are less than 89-84 in magnitude, but in BCE they are more recent than the latter period. So, is that period the late or early 480s?


texts:
I'm proofreading a text for the magazine, and came across coworking.  I prefer to spell it co-working with a hyphen -.

I've looked on Ngrams, wikipedia, and several dictionaries, and as usual with punctuation issues this one's all over the map.  People in the office say everyone spells it without a hyphen and that I'm being too picky or old-fashioned.

What are justifications for using or not using a hyphen in coworking/co-working?


texts:
Is this sentence correct with regard to commas? Especially around "...let alone attain...". Thank you :)

  In a dynamic market, the Central Planning Board would be too slow to significantly approach, let alone attain, equilibrium.


texts: Adage or epigram for something not working until someone else looks at it?

texts:
It's a pretty common occurrence. My code doesn't work. Why? I have no idea. So I call over a coworker to look at it, but the instant he looks at the code it is magically working.

Another situation -- my mother in law's DVD player is not working so she calls and asks for me to fix it. She promises that if I fix it she'll cook me a delicious roast for dinner. I drive four hours to her home and turn on the TV and the DVD is playing.

Does anyone know if there is a well known adage or epigram that goes along with these occurrences of something not working until a third party looks at whatever is broken?

EDIT - I'm going to go out on a limb and say that all of the answers to the previous question don't actually answer this. All of the terms are either personal terms that are used in a small group of people e.g. proximity fix, or are inaccurate e.g. intermittent fault.

Intermittent Fault would explain if it happens occasionally without any explanation. In my situation the problem never arises again after someone else looks at it.

Repair Phobia would imply that the individual is afraid of actually fixing it, which I'm not afraid of when I'm fixing my own code.

See also this question that doesn't give an already existing or well known epigraph or adage. : Is there a term for when just by saying that something is broken and showing it to someone fixes the issue?


texts: How should I interpret the boldfaced lines in the paragraph?

texts:
I am reading an account written by Charles Dickens in his American Notes for General Circulation which was published in 1842.

In the paragraph from an excerpt below, Dickens is describing American friends he had met during his travel.

  They are, by nature, frank, brave, cordial, hospitable, and
  affectionate. Cultivation and refinement seem but to enhance their
  warmth of heart and ardent enthusiasm; and it is the possession of
  these latter qualities in a most remarkable degree, which renders an
  educated American one of the most endearing and most generous of
  friends. I never was so won upon, as by this class; never yielded up
  my full confidence and esteem so readily and pleasurably, as to them;
  never can make again, in half a year, so many friends for whom I seem
  to entertain the regard of half a life.

Do the boldfaced lines mean that Dickens was so fascinated by the Americans that he would wish to spend half of this life with them?

And what does the phrase the regard mean in the boldfaced lines?


texts: What is a word like "perfectionist", but without the negative aspects?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that describes people who have high standards for themselves and others and strive to achieve them, but don't expect absolute perfection. They are satisfied with realistic results. As in

  Being a ________ [perfectionist], John spends a great deal of time ensuring the quality of work is above reproach.

I like "perfectionist", but it's too closely associated with words like "persnickety", "hypercritical", "nitpicky", "punctilious", "anal", "pedantic", etc.

I'm finding words like "meticulous", "rigorous", "conscientious", and "thorough", but none of these really fit quite right.


texts: Proverb or expression for a situation with two choices, both leading to a different kind of trouble

texts:
I'm searching for a proverb or expression that describes a situation which has two choices or two ways out (that is, somewhat of a forced choice) where both lead to some kind of trouble (but not the same trouble).

As an example: Let's say that you can chose to go either left or right. If you go left, you will have to fight your way through an army of trolls. If you go right, you will have to go through a desert without any food or water for one week.


texts: What does “The insolence of wealth will creep out” mean?

texts:
Can anyone paraphrase the following statement by Samuel Johnson?

  The insolence of wealth will creep out.


texts: Is it month of year or the month of year?

texts:
Which of the following is correct:

With the marketplace opening in July of 2017.
With the marketplace opening in the July of 2017.

I've usually seen the latter being written but have recently seen the former in a  few places. Which is correct?


texts: Proper propositions in the present perfect

texts:
I found a sentence: The levels of biodiversity have decreased in the last three decades.

I thought the present perfect tense usually requires "for " or "since ", but this sentence has "in the last three decades" instead of "for the last three decades".

Could you teach me which I should use "for" or "in", or what is the difference?


texts: Can all verbs ending in "-ise" be written with the suffix "ize"?

texts:
Are there any "-ise" (or "-yse") words which cannot be (or are never) written using "-ize"?

I searched for prior questions, and came across:

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/47785/correct-use-of-ise-vs-ize-at-the-end-of-words
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/47785/correct-use-of-ise-vs-ize-at-the-end-of-words
Are the endings "-zation" and "-sation" interchangeable?

But I have seen no mention of the rule I was taught at school, which is that while verbs derived from Greek may receive the "-ize" suffix, verbs derived from Latin may not. All the answers to the questions above simply focus on the fact that Americans prefer the "-ize" form and the British tend to use "-ise" for words with those endings.

Has usage changed in the 21st Century? Can we spell all the following verbs with "ize"?

advertise
advise
paralyse
analyse
despise
exercise
revise
supervise
surprise
compromise

If we can use either ending for some of the words, but not others, what is the governing rule?


texts: Breaking comma rules to emphasize a pause in a character quote or elsewhere

texts:
My wife is writing a book, and just got a draft back from an editor.

The editor noted extra commas in numerous sentences like this:

  He looked at her closely, but all she said was, "I am truly glad we will be living in a nice, safe fort, and not one of these wild frontier towns."

The extra comma in question is after fort.

The argument was that the comma was not needed because it was separating dependent clauses.  My wife put the comma there to create a verbal pause.

There were other places for which similar commas were not within character quotes (a character wasn't speaking).  This may be a different animal:

  Dani had begged for a day to rest some, and to catch up on the numerous small duties she'd not been able to see to during the past week.

She's gone through all of the grammar and style guides she has access to, and hasn't found whether it's permissible or not.  I'd guess at least that it should be done consistently one way or the other, but don't know which way.


texts:
There is a lot of statistical criteria/tests (statistics) named after a statistician/mathematician/biologist/economist, etc. But for instance, this and this examples have different spelling...
Do I have to write an apostrophe after a surname in such a situation or not?


texts: When you drive a car and bring people somewhere what you do with them? I mean, the delivery process of people. How to pronounce the complete sentence?


texts:
What is the correct tense in the following?

  One day, I will be playing the piano and I will be getting money from it.

Is there a better way to express that I would be making money as a pianist?


texts: What to group planets, moons, and stars under?

texts:
I am working on a space game, and I need to group the planets, moons, and star objects under a single term. What should I call them? I can't think of anything other than "Space object".

These all have a radius and color.


texts: When you come back / when do you come back / when are you coming back?

texts:
I'm confused about the right way to ask this question:

  When you come back to London?
  When do you come back to London?
  When are you coming back to London?

Which one should I use?


texts: "If you do..., then you are not..." vs "If you do..., then this is not the way of"

texts:
I wish to know the difference between the following phrases that are in bold:

(1) If you know clearly that it is wrong, yet do not stand up and point out that, then this is not the way of someone who practices the truth.
(2) If you know clearly that it is wrong, yet do not stand up and point out that, then you are not someone who practices the truth.

I don't know their differences, could you help me out? Thank you very much.


texts: Is "sb." a commonly accepted abbreviation? What does it mean?

texts: What does sb. mean? I keep seeing it certain posters' questions and I'm not sure what it's supposed to stand for — the word something, my initial guess, doesn't have a 'b' in it. So my questions are: Is it a known abbreviation? What does it mean?


texts: How would you describe an operator which has no fixity?

texts:
Traditionally mathematical operators are either prefix, postfix or infix. All the three forms of notation are equivalent and can be converted from one to another.

Formal systems such as programming languages usually enforce a certain fixity. Most languages are infix, LISP and its derivatives are prefix and concatenative languages are usually postfix.

If a formal system allows an operator to be used as either prefix, postfix or infix depending upon its position relative to its operands, how would you describe its fixity?

I was thinking along the lines of "unfix" or "nofix", but I'm not sure which one would be appropriate. I believe "nofix" is more accurate. Unfortunately there's no such word. On the other hand "unfix" means "to unfasten" or "loosen". Clearly not very accurate.


texts: “5-min” video vs “5 min” video vs “5min” video

texts:
Example:

  Paul and Jake discuss the Frame Timing API in this 5-min video: …

Which character (if any) should be put between the number and the word “min”?


texts: What are the different ways to punctaute "therefore"

texts:
I have been wondering the different ways to punctuate "therefore."

"The population became larger as time went on, therefore increasing the need for more municipal supplies."

Usually, you would put a semicolon before "therefore" when acting as a conjunctive adverb, but in this case is it not acting as a conjunctive adverb?

Also, as a separate question, would having "and therefore" preceded by a comma in a sentence be grammatically correct?
(for example "The boy was very sick, and therefore decided that he would stay home)

Thank you, I would just like some clarification


texts: What to call a brief sentence that comes before/after the main clause with only a comma

texts:
Here is my passage. I believe I'm doing it right, but I'm not sure why.

Does this have a specific name? It doesn't seem like an interjection to me, so I'm not sure why I'm so comfortable using a comma rather than a semicolon.

  "Do you come here often?"
  "I guess I like the ambience, I don't know."

There are some other examples besides "I don't know", but I'm blanking on them right now.

Edit: I thought of a couple more examples that are a little less obvious of a comma splice

"Truth is, I really don't like Cheetos all that much." I used to use a colon for "Truth is ..." but now I use a comma.

"I know why you know why I know that, you know." I have always used a comma for "you know" as an independent clause.


texts: "personal issue", "private issue", "personal affair", or "personal business"?

texts:
I need to send my boss mail explaining that because of a personal issue I need to handle, I can’t attend the conference.  Which of these phrases would best express that I have my own business to deal with:

personal issue
private issue
personal affair
personal business

What are the differences between those expressions?


texts:
I am puzzled on how to pronounce cha- words. For example, I know that "chameleon" or "chamomile" are pronounced with a hard "c" like in "camel", not with a soft "c" like in "change". "Charity", on the other hand, is pronounced as in "change".

Is there some rule to infer the correct pronunciation?


texts:
Whereas " belisle "  is a  French word as well as English indicating a trap for foxes,
http://www.snareshop.com/products.asp?dept=468
it's surprising to find it elsewhere with a  very shocking meaning  as shown there :
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Belisle

the etymology of belisle is "belle île" which means "beautiful island"

but I don't know why "belisle" means "fox trap" nor the link between it and a sexual violence.
Could you explain where this distortion comes from ? Many thanks


texts: Is "Black" correct, incorrect, or could it be used as either "Black" or "black"?

texts:
I was reading an article that I was assigned by my professor, and I came across the following:

“We’re the ones getting killed,” Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, who is Black, said in an emotional postgame speech Tuesday
night.

Is the usage of the capital B in "black" correct, is it incorrect, or does it fall into a completely different category altogether? Also, is it racist to say "black" with a capital B, but not for example, 'the white man' not using a capital W as I have seen in the past? And this is not a typo because it also turned up earlier in the article:

Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot when police officers burst into her Louisville, Kentucky apartment using a no-
knock warrant during a narcotics investigation on March 13.

Here is a link to the article: Article about BLM and sports


texts: What does ‘If she’s a feminist, then I’m a T. Rex’ mean?

texts:
There was the following passage in New York Times’ (October 6) article commenting on GOP Presidential candidate, Carly Fiorina under the headline, ‘If she’s a feminist, then I’m a T. Rex’:

  “Her record at Hewlett-Packard — firing skilled Americans by the
  thousands and outsourcing their jobs to China and India, while almost
  running her company into the ground with an ill-advised merger — is
  hardly a sterling record for any sort of candidate, assuming we
  actually want a president of all the people rather than a modern
  Ebenezer Scrooge, - - This is a woman who would deny other women
  control over their own bodies, as well. "If she’s a feminist then I’m
  a T. rex.”

According to Jurassic wiki, Tyrannosaurus rex, the most famous of all dinosaurs species and commonly known as T. rex, was the largest of the Tyrannosaur family — and by extension one of the largest theropods, reaching 12 to 13 meters in length.

But what does ‘If she’s a feminist, then I’m a T. Rex’ mean? Does the writer sarcastically admit herself being anachronistic? Why should it be a T.Rex, not other monsterous or supernatural creatures, say, Moby-Dick and Godzilla?

Is this a cute turn of phrase?  Could you translate “I’m a T.rex” into plain English?


texts: Why is a comma used here when paraphrasing a talking point?

texts:
I was reading this article, and I came across this sentence:

  In a quieter response, the University of Minnesota announced that it was immediately limiting its links with the Minneapolis Police Department, saying its Minneapolis campus would no longer contract with the department for extra security support.

I was analyzing the grammar of the bolder area, and I couldn’t figure out why there was a comma. Let me know if you guys can figure it out. Thanks


texts: More professional way of saying Correcting a Mistake

texts: I need to rewrite "correct a mistake" into something more professional. I can think of "amending a mistake" or rectifying it, but none seems to sound well (I want to put emphasis on a word that's accepted in English literature). THe idea is to say: Correct a mistake made in the system (say because of spelling error).


texts: Source and popularity of the recent slang word "cuck"

texts:
Recently, I started noticing the word cuck appearing in internet discussions as a pejorative.  I first encountered the word after a news media discussion on the term cuckservative last year, which was claimed to be a portmanteau of cuckold and conservative, denoting those in U.S. politics who claim to be conservative but give in to some demands of liberals.

However, upon further investigation, it seems like the derivation of cuckservative and its use likely relate to a pre-existing internet tradition employing the word cuck (rather than cuckold).  Though the exact connotations seem to vary, cuck generally seems associated with a weak or emasculated male, often in a sexual and/or racial context related specifically to a white male.  Unlike with cuckold, it seems the implication is not necessarily literal sexual abandonment: cuck (as in cuckservative) can also denote a metaphorical or generic weakness. It also often seems connected to political correctness.

I've seen discussions claiming a number of different possible etymologies:

There's clearly a relationship to the term cuckold, but I don't know if the derivation is direct to the current popular slang term.
I've seen repeated claims that the term is more directly derived from cuck fetish, apparently a type of fetish (and pornography) characterized by a female lover abandoning a male lover to seek sexual gratification elsewhere, frequently abandoning a white male for a black male.  (If true, this seems obviously related to the previous derivation, but it would be an intermediate step.)
Some have claimed a connection to the archaic term cucking stool, which denoted a punishment (often for dishonesty) via public shaming.
Lastly, I've seen claims directly connecting the word to the near-obsolete cuck, referring to excrement.

Does anyone know when this modern slang term emerged and how it became popular?  My first guess was that it was just an abbreviation of cuckold, but the racial connotation the term sometimes seems to carry makes me wonder if there's any truth to the second etymology, or if it comes from elsewhere.  (The other theories intuitively seem less likely, but I've seen them and mention them for the sake of completeness.)


texts: Is the expression, “the difficulty Perry has had planting doubts” about Romney right?

texts:
There was the following sentence in the New York Times (September 24) article, titled “Perry and Romney set clear lines of attack”:

  “His (Rick Perry’s) shaky debate performance Thursday night in Florida underscored concerns among establishment Republicans and donors about his electability and his skills as a candidate on a national stage — and the difficulty he has had planting serious doubts about Mr. Romney. He also finished a distant second place in a weekend Florida straw poll."

I was arrested to the line, ‘His shaky debate performance underscored audience’s concerns about --- and the difficulty he has had planting serious doubts” about Mr. Romney.’

Is the expression, “have ＋_ing” like “He has had planting serious doubts” common English usage? Shouldn’t it be either ‘he has (had) planted,’ or “he has (had) been planting.” I’ve barely seen the expression “have (had)” directly followed by a gerund or a verb in progressive form.


texts: 'going for me' vs. 'going instead of me'

texts:
Is this phrase correct?

  They will be going for me.

or can you use this wording?

  They will be going instead of me.

Is either expression usage correct, or it needs to follow some rules?


texts: word for "Capturing one's attention by means of a great tragedy"

texts:
I am looking for a single-word which distinctly means "to captivate the attention in a profound and stupefying way", but such that it would carry a strong connotation of this "captivated attraction" or "calling" being due, very distinctly, to a tragedy.

For example:
"The affixed ears of England were (single-word for suddenly being captivated by some great tragedy) by the King's untimely death."

or for another example: if you had to put the adjoined phrase: "Distraughtly fascinated" in one word.


texts: Single word to describe a single planet and all its moons?

texts:
I have a collection of planets around a sun in my game, and each planet can have a set of moons. I'd like to know how to call such a single planet and moons system.

This is in distinction to all the satellites (and their satellites) around a star. I am asking about how to refer to a single planet and its moons.


texts: A simple and common word probably with rare definition

texts:
I am pretty sure I saw this rare definition in Wiktionary, which might not be 100% accurate with the wordings, but it goes like "put the male genital from one side to another in trousers". At the first glance, I thought it's so hilarious but the next day I totally forgot which word it was. All I can tell is that's a common and simple word we might use in daily life.

It's definitely a definition from wiktionary.


texts: What is the word for unconsciously blocking out background noises?

texts:
What is the word for the phenomenon where your brain blocks out background sounds, because they are constant?

For example when you don't hear the air conditioning whirring away until it stops.


texts: Which words of foreign origin kept a distinctive feminine?

texts:
The feminine of confidant is confidante, probably due to the French origin of the word (confident, whose feminine is confidente). I wonder which other words of foreign origin commonly used in English have kept their original feminine?

Edit: so there may be entire categories of such words, of course, I should have thought of that. Do people have examples other from languages other than French, Italian and Latin? I was trying to think, for example, of a pair of such words of German origin, but can't find any.


texts: What is the "how" doing in one sense of the sentence "How would you like to die?"

texts:
The eighth episode of HBO's Game of Thrones series aired last night, and it was another fine one, full of wit and high drama.  One particular scene in the episode, though, prompted an English language question in my mind that stuck with me.  In the dialogue, one character, in fear for his life, but known for his wit, puns on the meaning of the sentence:

  How would you like to die?

by replying, "in my bed, at the age of eighty, belly full of wine..." so as to mean in what manner would you like to die? However, that's not the only way the sentence can be interpreted — his accoster obviously meant it in the sense do you want to die?

My question is: What is how doing there?  It seems almost superfluous; I can't see how the meaning changes from asking would you like to die?  Is there a grammatical term for its function in the sentence in that first meaning?


texts:
I have two questions about predicative complements:

1) I've been scouring CaGEL* in pursuit of some kind of survey of forms functioning as subject predicative complement, but have failed miserably; I've found lots of comments as to what forms typically function as subject predicative complement, but no exhaustive discussion of all the forms that actually can function this way. Is there anyone who happens to know of any such discussion/survey?

2) On a more specific note, I'm wondering about the phrase in bold in [1]:

[1] I am very (much) against the whole idea

What is this?? From a function perspective, it clearly relates to a predicand (the subject I), so I guess it has to be a subject predicative complement, right? But what is it from a formal point of view? It’s like an adjective phrase in that it can be modified by very or very much in the sense 'decisively', but it’s obviously more like a PP in that it contains a complement in the form of a noun phrase (the whole idea), and in that against is listed as a preposition (and once as a conjunction, but never as an adjective) in the dictionaries I’ve checked (Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam.-Webster) – plus, as far as I can see, it's treated only as a preposition in CaGEL. Now, if PPs can’t function as predicatives, I suppose the only possible analysis is to see this phrase as an AdjP, but since I’m not sure they can’t (hence my first question above) I’m still wondering…

*Huddleston, R., and Pullum, G. K., 2002. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


texts: What is the word for "nuisance" as an  adjective?

texts:
Can anyone propose an adjective of nuisance? Or a word that can be used to communicate that sense?

The place where I want to use the word is as follows. I am talking about when children are abused and ignored by parents (as a result of high population and no family planning) and the children grow up to become not-so-constructive citizens, such as thieves and petty criminals.

What could be the word for such an outcome?
Also, what is an adjective for nuisance?


texts:
Definition of the " leave" :to make or allow sb/sth to remain in a particular condition, place, etc.

Leave the window open.    (verb + object+ adjective)
I Left the headlights on.  ( verb + object + preposition)
Don't leave the water running. (verb + object + verb-ing)
He left the children to sleep in class. ( verb + object + to-infinitive)
The hurricane left hundreds of tourists stranded at the airport.  (verb + object +?)

Example 1 to 4 can be found in Oxford English Dictionary, Cambridge Dictionary or Collins Dictionary, yet Example 5 doesn't appear in these dictionary. Is "stranded" a past participle or an adjective?


texts: Sides of a chimney - Single word request

texts:
In this sentence, I'm describing the sides of an underground forge's chimney:

It was an underground cavern with a shoot leading up in the middle.

I would need to find a better substitute for shoot. I'm positive a word exists with the same or similar pronunciation, but I just can't seem to find it anywhere on the internet. I've been thinking about using chute, but that specifically describes a hole in the ground where you put things to transport them somewhere.
I'm looking for the word for the outside walls of the chimney, yes. But with the caveat that said chimney is underground and we cannot see the top of it.
I would accept having to rewrite the sentence if nobody has any suggestions.

[graphic  from OP comment, Pinterest]


texts: Is it correct to use "most" + "-est" together?

texts:
I was over exaggerating while writing something for class and I wrote

  Welcome to the most wildest show on earth.

Someone pointed out the most wildest and I was wondering if it was OK to use most with a word that ends in -est together.


texts: "Something to the rescue!" vs "Something for the rescue" — which one is correct?

texts:
I was wondering which one of the following constructions below is grammatically correct? Or both are acceptable?

  Something to the rescue!
  Something for the rescue!


texts: Asking someone if they can feel the blow of the fan in a room

texts:
In my EFL class, I wanted to ask one of the students who was farthest from the fan if they could feel the blow/wind of the fan, or if I had to place the fan somewhere else in the class.

Imagine I wanted to ask the two students in the back if it was hot/cold, so that I knew whether to move the fan.
The following sentences came to my mind at that moment, but I was not sure:

Do you feel/sense the blow/wind of the fan?
Does its blow/wind hit you?

What's the most natural way to convey such a meaning? Is there an expression that serves this purpose?
Thanks


texts: Online rhyme dictionary/rhyming resource that lists rhymes by vowel sound (assonance)

texts: Anyone know of an online rhyming dictionary or rhyme resource that lists rhymes by vowel sound (assonance)? RhymeZone.com doesn't have such an option.


texts: Home screen, main window, start screen or something else?

texts:
Could you please help me to find the right term for a starting (home, main) window or screen of the programme, i.e. when one launches a program on a PC or Mac and starts it, a ... window (or screen opens)?
Thank you.

P.S. Below is the sample of the window. It is the main window where users do the most of the work. Often it has an application menu (file, view, edit, about, etc). Here a user can click on "file" for example and open this menu item.


texts:
I stumbled upon this line in a book (Singer's Practical Ethics):

Less violent protests took place at Princeton University when I was appointed to a chair of bioethics.

It struck me as odd as the way I understand it there is only one chair (the chairman / chairwoman) of bioethics, so shouldn't it be the chair of bioethics?
I have found similar phrases:

Joseph Moran, director of the Scottish centre for Japanese studies, has been appointed to a chair in Japanese studies.

It is an honor to be appointed to a chair bearing Arthur Burns' name and to succeed the distinguished AEI scholars who preceded me.

Although according to Ngram the usage of the indefinite article is orders of magnitude more rare compared to the usage of the definite article, there is still plenty of examples of the former.
Could it be that it means that when a person is being appointed to a chair, they are being given a position that serves under the chairman / chairwoman?


texts:
Is the word "deficitary" (meaning "having some deficit") admissible?

Although it does not appear as an entry in most of the standard dictionaries (Merriam-Webster, Cambridge,...) it seems to be used quite often in many reputable books and media.

Is it ok to use it (in particular, if it is used with a precisely stated meaning in a technical context)? Concretely, I would like to call "deficitary" any state in a deterministic automaton which does not have every possible transition departing it. Even more precisely, if some state is lacking one particular kind of transition (say a) I would like to call it a-deficitary.

If not, which would be appropriate alternatives?


texts:
How ought one best understand an 'apophasis'? Is it the act of mentioning something by not mentioning it, or mentioning it by explicitly saying you won't mention it? Or does it encompass both meanings?

I'm aware that in rhetoric one can, by way of apophasis, employ a sneaky ad hominem. So, for example, a person could say of his opponent:

  "I won't even begin to address my opponent's gambling problem".

They've effectively addressed their opponent's gambling problem by means of saying they won't address it.

However does this word enable one to address something by not addressing it?

Let's say in a politician's ten minute media campaign they address many things, but leave out climate change. Could this be considered an apophasis on their part, effectively addressing climate change (or their disregard for it) by not addressing it?

I'm very interested in this... any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks.


texts:
I've heard in that used as a synonym for because, but I don't think that this is semantically correct in all cases.

  That car is nice, in that it is blue.

This sentence generally makes sense to me, but it also sounds funny. But I don't know enough of the technicalities of English to diagnose the problem.

It's hard to research this because I don't know what the correct part-of-speech term is for in that. I want to call it a phrase but I think some of you will cringe if I do this.

Can someone give examples of when and when not to use in that, or point to a resource that can explain it?


texts: Differences: "in some recent years" vs "in recent years"

texts: I can't distinguish the differences. When(how) to use them, and context?


texts:
In his younger days, my grandfather wore little leather thongs pulled tight on the sleeves of his upper arms, so that his cuffs would not pick up ink, brushing what he was writing. I've heard someone else describe ribbons used for the same thing.

I am wondering if there are standard names for those thongs or ribbons. Is "garter" the right word? Are there others? I see "tie-up" in the OED, defined "(makeshift) garter", with two citations from the 1970s, one of which is in connection with shirts.


texts: Is "my horse had been stolen" or "my horse was stolen" better in this sentence?

texts:
I'm Mexican and I have had English class since kindergarden, now I'm in eighth grade in middle school.
Some days ago, we had the fourth term English exam, and I was surprised because the teacher had marked one sentence I believed was right, wrong.
I was hoping you could help me and tell me if this sentence is wrong or not and why, please.

  I've just had a call from the stables to say my horse _______________ (steal) I can't believe that's happened.

(In the blank space I had written "had been stolen" but my teacher said it was "was stolen")


texts: Why would a cynic be offended by fantasy?

texts:
I just came across the sentence

  Like most people today, Judy was a cynic and was offended by the slightest hint of fantasy.

According to the dictionary, a cynic is :

  a person who believes that people are motivated purely by self-interest rather than acting for honourable or unselfish reasons

Then, how does cynic fit into the above sentence?


texts: use of I and me at the beginning of a sentence

texts:
Which one is correct:

I and my father are going to the market.

Me and my father are going to the market.


texts:
This is from a news article:

"Mr. Trump’s desire to be friends with the “short and fat” ruler of North Korea"

My doubt is that, can we use friends here because friend seems better here. Other examples to take can be:

I want to be friend with him.
I want to be friends with them

Which is the way to use "friend" with a "s"


texts: A word that describes a statement that is untrue based on anecdotal evidence

texts:
SO if someone tells you that they took cough syrup and they don't have a cough anymore so therefore cough medicine works. I have kept a virus scanner and malware scanner on my computer and never got a virus so it works.

There is a word that I know describes these false correlations but its all about the fact that they cannot prove it. You can't go back in time and then not take medicine and see if the same thing happened. You cannot go back in time and do the exact same thing with your computer to see if you still don't get a virus.

I am struggling to find the word that describes this and cannot remember what its called. Wondering if someone else can help.


texts: Saxon genitive to identify algorithms, methods, techniques, theorems,

texts: When identifying an algorithm or theorem, which of these two sentences is preferred, Seifert's algorithm or Seifert algorithm? Does it have to do with the "prestige" of the algorithm/theorem? I mean that we conventionally say Newton-Raphson method and not Newton-Raphson's method, but it seems to me that when the method is not so known the possessives formed without an apostrophe 's appear to be preferred.


texts:
In maths we sometimes want to show that a quantity can obtain different values depending on what case we consider. We call this cases.

I cannot draw it here for you because LaTeX is not enabled here, but if you click this link you will know what I am talking about. As can be seen in the link, commas are not used inside the "cases"-bracket. I think this looks nicer. But should one use commas? What is the correct thing to do here?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How obsolete is the word “overmorrow”?

Is there a one-word English term for the day after tomorrow? Perhaps a term that has fallen out of modern English usage.

One that would complete the sequence of: today, tomorrow, ...


texts:
What's the correct meaning of the right in the following sentence:

  "when the right virtuous Edward Wotton and I were at the Emperor's Court together ".


texts:
Is this a correct usage of upon ?

  Please update this document upon deprecation of the current policy.


texts: 'reflect back on' or 'reflect on' some event in the past?

texts:
As the title suggests, should I use "reflect back on" or "reflect on" when talking about something in the past?
For example:

I find myself reflecting on the journey that has led me to where I am today.

I find myself reflecting back on the journey that has led me to where I am today.


texts: Do I need a comma in the following quoted text?

texts:
He’d never said anything apart from the customary, “Hello(,)” and “May
  I take your order?”

Do I need that comma? Why or why not?