texts: What is a word to describe the standards that people in the business community just know?

texts:
For instance, tonight I was trying to calculate my gross salary for unemployment and I got the calculation wrong because I didn't know if the start and end date of the pay period was inclusive or not (on both ends).

Business people just know this stuff, and I don't know what it is called.


texts:
Is "fighting" used as a gerund in this sentence?

  A soldier’s death is a grim reminder that more Americans have died fighting the Taliban and other insurgent groups in 2019 than in any other year since 2014, when the Pentagon euphemistically announced the “end of combat operations” in the country

Is "fighting" used as a gerund in the above sentence, or in the sense "when they were fighting (the Taliban)?


texts: Noun meaning "something that stays the same"

texts:
What is a word for "something that stays the same"?
Like an antonym for "a change".
Similarity? Continuity? Sounds off.
Ex:

While ABC was a change, XYZ was a __.

This quarter, while ABC changed, XYZ was a __.

(To mean that XYZ stayed the same)


texts: How may I say something has been done by a group of people? Is "a group study" correct to refer to a study performed by a group of people? If not, what are the alternatives?


texts: Word for how well something actually works

texts:
It's a one word term that means how well something actually works??

Different from something that works well, it's like.. imagine shopping for bras:

  Some people buy bras based on looks, but some people don't value looks over {blank}.

(Meaning how well it supports, and all that.)

I think it starts with a c but I could be wrong.


texts:
Can anyone help me identify a proper word for a person or persons living in poverty?

I'm looking for a noun that satisfies the description, which isn't just an adjective turned noun (ex. the poor).


texts: Looking for a verb that means the same as this proverb.

texts:
After black clouds, clear weather.

I'm looking for a verb for 'clear weather' here. I want to comfort someone but by using a verb that carries the meaning of this. That there will be relief and comfort at the end.

Don't get/weigh much down on yourself, it will 'clear weather'.

I'm looking for a suitable verb or phrasal verb that be fitting.


texts: I can't seem to find any definite earliest example of this expression, or a reason why "hissy" was chosen to describe a tantrum.  Does anyone hiss when they are angry?  When and why was the phrase coined?


texts: wipe/wipes, is correct in this sentence?

texts:
In this sentence two characters only.
“Barlo finds the sheep wipe[s] his tears.”. Do I need to add "S" for "wipe" or not ? and Why ?


texts: How to properly emphasise words with italics in sentences?

texts:
I'm not sure if I can ask this question here, because it is more of a writing issue. My native language is French and I have been reading and watching stuff in English and I am quite fluent with the language now (I think).

Though I find some things kind of weird as to emphasised words in sentences. For example, the following sentence (seen this somewhere on the internet, not really important) :

  So what can you do?

To me, the emphasis is on the wrong word here. It does not punch enough. In French, I would rather write it like this:

  So what can you do?

It is not the first time that I see emphasised words in a sentence and I think: well I feel like the emphasis is on the wrong word. It could be moved to another word to make the sentence more punchy.

Am I the only one who finds this weird? Any other french-speaking people here that feels the same as I do?


texts:
"Mike is kind to Sarah, and his other friends."

or

"Mike is kind to Sarah and his other friends."

Sarah is Mike's best friend.


texts: Can "the day after tomorrow" be used as an adverb?

texts:
I've come across this expression while having a conversation over the phone with a native English speaking friend. However, I am not sure if he said "at the day after tomorrow" or "the day after tomorrow".

Can this expression be used as a adverb?


texts: Linguistic connection between the geophysical "bluff" and the deceptive "bluff"?

texts:
I know that words can have their etymology independent of words that share the same spelling, but according to Etymology Dictionary, both the geophysical "Bluff" and the deceptive "Bluff" originate in the Dutch language. But... what is the linguistic connection between them?

The first usage is the geophysical bluff:

  "broad, vertical cliff," 1680s, from bluff (adj.) "with a broad, flat
  front" (1620s), a sailors' word, probably from Dutch blaf "flat,
  broad." Apparently a North Sea nautical term for ships with flat
  vertical bows, later extended to landscape features

The deceptive bluff: seems to relate to poker and bragging.

How do cliffs & the action of deceiving relate? Is it because they are both dangerous/risky? Or that a lie is as big as a mount?

Do we know the semantic drift and the historical relationship?


texts: An expression for quick and nervous behaviour

texts: I am looking for the verb or expression to use to describe when for instance you type quickly and nervously on your computer keyboard, perhaps to find something (on a search engine for instance).


texts: Is there a meaning for the word "cegon"?

texts: I came across this word, as in Cegonsoft, cegon+software.. what is cegon?


texts: "Thank you Andy and Sandy", do I thank Sandy more or Andy more?

texts:
I want to thank two people in my thank you email. In particular, I want to thank Sandy more because she has helped me a lot. So, if I say "Thank you Andy and Sandy", does the placement of the two names matter? According to my friend, the position after "And" places more emphasis than the position before and.

So, if I say "Thank you Andy and Sandy", do I mean I want to thank Sandy more?


texts: "Patients' Lifts" and "Consultants' Payments" - are these correct?

texts:
I saw some sign boards in a hospital which had the following description:

Patients' Lifts
Consultants' Payments

As far as I know, the above signs should read Patient's Lifts or Patient Lifts and
the same rule applies to the #2 sign.

Please correct me if I am wrong and I welcome your valuable ideas.


texts:
Is a table of contents considered an index?

Typically, I would consider an index to be a sorted list (e.g., the alphabetical list that appears at the back of a book). However, dictionary.com defines index as "a sequential arrangement of material" in general.

If that is indeed the case, is it correct to use the verb index in the context of adding something to a table of contents?


texts: What do missing an Oxford comma and having it mean respectively here?

texts:
A tweet in trending says

The highlights of his waning administration include encounters with Rudy Giuliani, a healthcare disaster and a dildo collector.

A response says

People keep telling me this sentence is a perfect example of the need for the Oxford comma, but I am here to tell you that
@BCDreyer
knew EXACTLY what he was doing when he wrote this sentence, and I am fully here for it, one hundred percent.

What do missing an Oxford comma and having it mean respectively in the first tweet? (I am having trouble to understand why it is being discussed.)


texts:
I"am building a user interface for a web application and I have hit a brick wall for copy-writing.

Here is the premise:
I have a form where the user is given two options and must select one:

Option1 => Request a Copy

Option2 => Request Deletion

How do I ask the user what he/she would like to do?

It seems a little too blunt to just say "What do you want to do?", and "Select an Option" is too short i need something with at least 4 words to visually fill up enough space in the user interface.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Regards, Mike.


texts:
I would like to know what punctuation mark need to be placed after the word like in the sentence below:

Filter by genre shall display the list of genre like,  Action, Adventure


texts:
I have constructed below two sentences using "neither", "either" -

  An item which is not present in both menu-source and menu-editor is

  neither edited nor added.

  Why either key-up or key-down is not used in both cases?

Are these above two sentences are correct?


texts:
I have a very simple question. When we are writing compound sentences, it is possible to write sentences below.

  He was playing soccer, and while he was playing he got injured.

  He was playing football, and even though injured he kept playing.

So, if we can delete the comma that comes before the subject of second independent clause, why can't we say this?

  While he was playing he got injured. X

  While he was playing, he got injured. o

  Even though injured he kept playing. X

  Even though injured, he kept playing. o

Why can't we use the ones with X marks? Or is it actually possible/formal? Any type of explanations would be deeply appreciated. Thank you.


texts:
He discovered that his father had a special box in the basement

I was told that I should not use "that" in the above sentence although it is grammatically correct to use it. Why I shouldn't use "that" here?


texts:
In the sentences below, is what and as pronouns or conjunctions? And how do you parse the sentences?

Facebook is to Sunday morning what karaoke is to Saturday night.
Afghanistan is to the United States as Afghanistan was to the Soviet Union.


texts:
In some scientific papers, we see that some professors write "University of Bla" on their papers, while others write "Bla University".
What is the difference between "University of Bla" and "Bla University"? Are there any differences at all?


texts:
Is it crack? Snap? Wh-tch? Whop-eesh?

Alternatively, if I don't use the actual noise. Do I write: The whip rang out? Cracked?


texts: "We are confirming your order within 24 hours." vs "We will ~ "

texts:
Simply select from our online catalog and we are confirming your order within 24 hours.

Is this sentence wrong?
I would get that as "We are monitoring your orders", but it seems that I can't use "confirm" for that meaning.

Am I right?


texts: "an NLP" or "a NLP"; which one is correct in written English?

texts:
Which one is the correct form in written English?
I am leaning towards "an NLP", since "N" starts with "e" but not sure.


texts: Why is 'in danger' considered by most conventional dictionaries to be an idiom?

texts:
Merriam Webster defines an idiom as:

an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but that has a separate meaning of its own<

It then goes on to categorise the phrase 'in danger' as an idiom. It literally means that someone or something is facing a danger of some sort.
I would imagine an idiom to be something more like 'a piece of cake' or 'spill the beans'.


texts: Pre-assembly or Pre assembly or Preassembly

texts: I am in the process of writing a publication and I use the term 'pre-assembly' quite frequently. However, my grammar-checking software shows the dreaded red line beneath the word. Hence, as the title says, is is pre-assembly or preassembly or, on an unlikely level, pre assembly?


texts: An adjective for a secret that is known to a third party

texts:
I am writing some text for a piece of software and am stuck with this sentence:

  Use this function if you think that your private key has become known to a third party.

While the sentence explains very well when you should use a specific function, I take issue with the last part has become known to a third party. I feel that it's too long and not good enough to emphasize what I mean.

I have been looking at compromised, but that means that the situation happened because of indiscreet, foolish, or reckless behavior (Oxford American Dictionary), which might not be the case.

I also gave leaked a try, but that has the connotation that something was knowingly published to a broader audience, which is not what I am looking for.

What I am looking for is an adverb that explains exactly the situation, where a private key to access certain information was obtained by a third party, which can then use it for malicious purposes (they use it for themselves).


texts: Technique relating environment and emotions/personality

texts:
I was wondering what is the technical term for the technique relating a physical environment to the mental state.

For example, I am writing about how the dim lighting and cluttered workspace of Deckard in Blade Runner reflects his detached/apathetic nature etc.
What is the term used to describe this? (sort of similar to pathetic fallacy...)


texts: Using both “one’s” and “their” to refer to the same entity

texts:
Consider this example:

  Sustainability management in large organisations is an important activity that helps to achieve one’s business goals while at the same time reducing their environmental impact and improving benefits to wider society."

Does it make sense to use both one’s and their to refer to organisations in the quoted sentence above?


texts:
In the sentence below:
"In user-based approach, the recommendation is based on users of the same neighborhood, with whom he/she shares common preferences."
why can't we say "In user-based approach, the recommendation is based on users of the same neighborhood, whom he/she shares common preferences with."


texts:
The Microsoft .NET Framework API¹ has a curiously named interface ILogicalThreadAffinative. According to their naming standard, namely concatenating capitalized meaningful English words into a single string, this represents something which is “logical thread affinative” (and the prefix “I” is for “interface”, which is irrelevant to this question), or, how I read it, affinative to a logical thread.

While the meaning of the “logical thread” is clear to the user², I am curious what could the word affinative mean, and is this not an invented word at all. To me, it looks like a two-stage suffixal defivation:

affine (adj.) > ?affinate (adj.) > ?affinative (adj.),

but I cannot find either of the latter two words in any dictionary, or even Google. I have been in this business for 30 years, give or take a few, and never heard them. Also, as documented, the concept is nothing more than being simply affine to a logical thread; the entity having this property simply “sticks” to the logical thread and follows it as it spans physical threads³.

Is the word affinative (and/or affinate) is, well, a meaningful word? And if it is, how is it different from affine?

Update: From @ZebraFish's answer it appears the correct spelling of the adjective is affinitive, and, by extension, that my own use of affine (including this post) in the sense “exhibiting affinity” is probably not correct or, at the very least, is not the best word choice.

¹ For the inquisitive but uninitiated, the acronym API, or Application Programming Interface, in this context means a very general set of programming functions for anyone writing a program to use. Usually, at this scale, when such a set is designed for literally tens of millions of users, the API design passes a long, stringent, iterative review for consistency, well-defined behavior and, not the least, naming. I would not even bother asking this question if the case in point was a set of narrow purpose functions developed by a small project (I have seen much worse), but this one is a general-purpose interface to a very popular, flagship platform from a very large company. This is why I am in doubt.
² Understanding what is a (logical) thread is probably not essential here. Simply speaking, it is merely a programmed sequence of actions that is logically causal and continuous, but physically executes on different parts of a computer or even different computers at different times.
³ To give an analogy, suppose you read a Kindle book on your phone, put it down, then later open the same book on a tablet and continue reading where you left off. The page number where you stopped and then continued goes along with, or is affine (or “affinative”??) to the “logical thread” of reading the book.


texts:
I have a problem in understanding the meaning of this sentence:

"Perhaps less romantic than the mining booms, the exploitation of forest and water resources was just as vital to national development."

What is the role of the first part? Booms would play the role of a noun or a verb? Moreover, the connection between the first part and the second part is unclear for me?
I would appreciate it if someone explains to me the exact meaning of this sentence.
Thank you


texts:
In my language when a question is asking something really obvious we are using a phrase that if translated means:

  What is making a "meow meow" sound on the roof/rooftop?

Is there an equivalent phrase to that in English? Kind of slang but with nothing that can be considered rude in the sense of "Do bears shit in the woods?"


texts:
The law of sines is a mathematical formula. I have seen it written as both Law of Sines and law of sines. Which one of these is correct?

Edit: According to Google Ngrams, the lower case option was preferred historically, but the title case version has gained in popularity in the past couple of decades.


texts: Do the DRESS vowel (/e/) and SQUARE vowel (/ɛː/) have the same vowel quality in contemporary RP?

texts: I understand that the SQUARE vowel is now often realized as the long monophthong /ɛː/ instead of the traditional diphthong /eə/ in contemporary RP. Do /e/ from the DRESS vowel and /ɛː/ from the modern realization of the SQUARE vowel share the same vowel quality then, differing only in vowel length?


texts: Title Case: should I capitalize word 'From' if it appears on the first word of the second line?

texts:
I know 'from' shouldn't normally be capitalized (there are numerous articles on Title Case rules here, and here) but I seem to remember the English teacher taught us to capitalize the first word of every line if the headline is more than one line.

So the headline:

A Magnificent and Rare Bodhissatva from the British Museum

if wrapped, should be:

A Magnificent and Rare Bodhissatva
From the British Museum

Or am I wrong?


texts: What does 'triumphs' mean in Bacon's essay?

texts:
But I cannot tell; this same truth is a naked and open day-light, that
  doth not show the masks and mummeries and triumphs of the world,
  half so stately and daintily as candle-lights.

  "Of Truth" by Francis Bacon (1561–1626) from Bartleby

The word 'triumph' usually means victory, or a state of being victorious. Websites like Oxford-Dictionary and Merriam-Webster more or less show the same explanation. However, I felt it much farfetched to understand it as 'victory' in this context (Of Truth);

The reasons are:

Victory is an abstract noun, while its parallel words masks and
mummeries are concrete;
Triumph's meaning should be as close as both
'masks' and 'mummeries'; It might be best to interpreted as a kind
of 'ceremony' or 'show';

This is just my guessing, and I am not able to find any proof to it. I don't have OED at hand, and if someone who has the access can show me the relevant entry, that will be of much help.


texts: What is the term used to describe the aesthetic value of the wearing effect that comes from usage of an object?

texts:
The examples typically cited are well-worn bicycles, the steering wheel on a vintage car, a leather wallet, etc. Seems related to patina but not the same. This may be a neologism.

E.g. "The ______ of the steering wheel speaks to the years of use and loving care John put into his Roadster."

Interesting, here they call it "aesthetics of use" but I'm certain there is a single term.


texts: Why is this sentence grammatically correct?

texts:
What grammar elements have been used to construct such a sentence?

For music isn’t just something nice to listen to.


texts: I just created an inch to mm conversion calculator and I am writing a blog post announcing its launch.  When should I capitalize the terms inch and millimeter?  Does it matter if I'm spelling it out?  What if I'm using an abbreviation or symbol?  What if it begins a sentence?


texts: When did "Whatever." begin to be used as a sentence?

texts:
"Whatever." is often used in slang as if it were a complete sentence, vaguely conveying meanings such as "I don't care" or "I'm not going to challenge what you say, but I'm not necessarily going to agree to it."

Does anyone know when this usage of "whatever" first occurred, and when it became popular?


texts: How accepted is ‘f***ing’ in informal conversation?

texts: For the past twenty years I've heard people use the adjective "fucking" more often than ever before in the US: in real life, in movies and on TV.  Sentences like "You fucking idiot."  I've also heard the word being used as an adverb. My question is: how acceptable is it in informal conversation, at work, among friends, talking to a stranger, etc. Does anyone get shocked if you use it these days?   Whatever your answer, can you say whether it applies to England and other English speaking countries?


texts: I understood the word bulkhead to mean a structural wall or barrier, particularly relating to naval architecture. I am now seeing the term applied to certain interior design treatments where box shaped protuberances or recesses are made to a ceiling for decorative purposes. I can see how such decorations may be called bulk as they tend to be large and blocky and they tend to be at or above head height, but it seems to be a very odd appropriation of the word. Can anyone explain how this came to be?


texts: Which word is most appropriate "delay" or "pause"?

texts:
Suppose some machine sometimes stops its work and waits for water in the tank to be replaced.
What word (delay or pause) should be used in the sentence below?

  The machine resumes its work after ______.

Here are other examples.

Suppose somebody was cooking soup. According to the recipe, (at a certain step) he stirred for some time, then added some ingredients, waited for 10 minutes, and then stirred again. (We don’t know what he did during those 10 minutes. He could have slept or talked on the phone, but he didn’t work).
Suppose a machine was cooking soup. According to the program, it stirred, added the ingredients automatically, waited for 10 minutes, and then stirred again. (During those 10 minutes, it didn’t stir, didn’t add ingredients. However, it wasn’t absolutely idle because it had to count down the interval of 10 minutes).

  He (it) resumed stirring after ______ of 10 minutes.

What word is more suitable in the blank: delay or pause (or something else)?

I would prefer “pause”, but there is a command “delay” in some programming languages.
delay 1000 means that computer should wait for 1000 milliseconds before executing the following command. It resembles very closely to the examples above.


texts: Should acronyms that are actually hidden plurals be treated as plural?

texts:
The term Generally Accepted Accounting Principles is abbreviated as GAAP. (Actually, I don't know if it is an initialism and each letter is spoken, or whether it is pronounced as gap, sorry.)

Now, I just read the phrase, "GAAP rules dictate that ... ." and noticed that if you expand the acronym, you get "Generally accepted accounting principles rules dictate that ... ", which is redundant since rules is a near-synonym of principles. The word was likely added by the writer only to make GAAP function like an adjective rather than the plural noun that to me it properly seems to be.

Would it be grammatically correct, then, to say "GAAP dictates that ..." and accept the mild discomfort with this construction that I feel as a native English speaker? Or is it better to ignore the behind-the-letters meaning and use it as the adjective it seems to "want" to be?

The link in my first sentence above does use the plural, though: "GAAP are a combination of authoritative standards ... ." So it is used in the plural sometimes.

I did read some other answers here that covered more specifically how to pluralize acronyms (such as "GAAPs dictate that ... ") but doubt that any in the relevant industry would think this acronym could properly take an s for pluralization.

Please guide me.


texts: I came across some manuals that refer to end-of-period. I wonder as to when and why they would use this style? Please support your answers with examples.


texts: Whether to use a verbal or a deverbal noun as a modifier?

texts:
Which is more grammatically correct:

an XXX-inhibiting drug, or
an XXX inhibitor drug?

It would seem to me that the use of the verbal noun ("inhibiting") as a modifier is more grammatically acceptable than the deverbal form ("inhibitor"). I say this based on the observation that verbal nouns are generally more grammatically flexible since they retain verbal characteristics. However, I most often see cases of "inhibitor drug" in the literature than instances of "inhibiting drug".


texts: What can I replace the word “I” with in my cover letter?

texts:
When proofing my résumé’s cover letter, I found that I am writing I way too much. I have read that this is a potential turn-off for employers.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to replace I with something else?

This seems to happen more frequently at the beginning of my sentences.


texts: Is "He should be consequenced" an error?

texts:
I've been watching The Sopranos recently; a very useful vehicle for picking up American pronunciation and mob slang.  In series one, episode seven, Tony Soprano and his wife Carmela are in the school principal's office. A.J their 13-year-old son has been suspended for stealing and drinking sacramental wine. The school's psychologist (and therefore someone who is educated) tells the parents

  Anthony has misbehaved. He should be consequenced

At this utterance my boyfriend and I both gawped at each other in disbelief. He said that the phrase should have been "He should face the consequences" whereas I believe the phrase "He should be disciplined" would have fitted better.

There are 3,310 results for be consequenced on Google, which I think is pretty astounding. Some examples:

  Return to your homes, or you will be consequenced. I, Robot
  He was consequenced, or appeared to be consequenced, in his romantic notions and the way he lived.
  Nicolas: A Mother's Search for Her Son
  Should they deviate, even in thinking and regardless of behaviour, from institutional compliance, they may be consequenced and further stigmatised by everyone from institutional staff to probation officers ...
  Humane Prisons
  We did have to work on his defenses, what purpose they served, how he might be consequenced if he hurt others, and what more helpful responses than opposition and control might be.
  Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma

For what it's worth my spell-checker (USA and UK) underlines consequenced in red. TFD lists a few idioms using consequence as a noun: 1) in consequence 2) of consequence 3) face the consequences 4) suffer the consequences

What type of error is this? And is this mistake often heard in speech? (I mean, it is an error, isn't it?)


texts: Is there a word for someone who is usually in the minority?

texts:
My original question was "Is there a legitimate word for 'a balancer'?" but I think it's a little hard to understand...

Let's just say there is a person, and most of the time, he is in the minority. It can be very simple, such as: he simply hates a song everybody likes (and vice versa), or he has a very long list of 'underrated movies'. I guess he has a different (if not eccentric) taste comparing to most people..

On the other hand, he often does things that most people would refuse to do, too (whether he wants to or not). For example, most people wouldn't buy damaged goods, but he would. You can say he is sacrificing himself. To his mind, "If everybody wants perfection than who will care for the damaged?" or "There are certain people who would only accept the best, so there must be people who accept the worse, coexisting with the former."

This person does things that most people would never do, he stays in the minority so other people can be in the majority => some sort of "balancer"? You know, since he balances everything.. So, is there a word for people like him?

I know this is a long shot but please help me if you can, thank you!


texts: Why do they use "in" like random in the sentences?

texts:
How can I understand the usage of in which comes after have in the sentence below?

From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlett, Chapter 3:

  There still remained some lurking suspicion in my mind, however, that the whole thing was a prearranged episode, intended to dazzle me, though what earthly object he could have in taking me in was past my comprehension.


texts:
Is use of present simple correct in these examples?

  My daughter goes to school tomorrow [for the first time].
  I go to school to talk to my daughter's teacher tomorrow [and this happens regularly].

As far as I know from books, present simple is used for actions that happen regularly, and for scheduled events,  but what about the situations above?  Suppose the second action may take place regularly, but not the first one. What tense would a native speaker use for an action that happens for the first time?


texts:
What is the difference between these phrases?

  now and then

and

  now and again

Google says that they mean the same. So saying "Every now and then I go for trekking" is same as "Every now and again I go for trekking", right? If not then what would be proper use case for each of these?


texts: What is the difference between a "category" and a "type"

texts: Is there a difference between the terms category and type? I can't seem to figure out when I should use one over the other.


texts: What is a more formal alternative to 'downsides'?

texts:
Original sentence from scientific article:
Current treatments are...[details of treatments], but there are some downsides of these treatments.

I realise that it should be 'downsides to', but I feel it could be more formal. Any suggestions?


texts: Are there any formal alternative expressions for "hold the urine"?

texts:
Is there any similar and formal expressions to say "hold the urine"?

I'd like to know some formal expression to say "hold the urine".


texts: Term for the use of "you" to refer to "the hypothetical person in question"

texts:
My wife was discussing pudding consistency this morning and used a sentence along the lines of, "I only like the pudding you make". I blinked and asked if she really liked the pudding I make and she replied, "No, I mean the pudding you make, you know, like if I were to make some pudding". She was using the "you" in a sense of a hypothetical person, I guess, like saying, "That's what you do in a crisis" when commenting on a riot scene in the news. You're not using "you" to refer to the person you're speaking to, but rather a form of general humanity.

Anyhow, is there a term for such a usage such that you might be able to answer, "Oh, sorry, I was using 'you' in the [term] context, not referring to you specifically"?


texts:
I came across a different symbol for the letter 'S' on Wikipedia:

Paradise Lost advertisement

What is the symbol called, replacing the letter 'S' in "Paradise" and "Lost" (and lower down in many other words, like "Bishopsgate-street")?

Further, why does it only replace some 'S' symbols? It seems that when used for pluralization, the modern 'S' is used. Examples in the image above are "Books" and the first and final 'S' in "St. Dunstons", but not the 'S' in the middle of that word.

What are the rules for when to use one vs the other?

The symbol looks rather like a lowercase 'f'...


texts: What do you call that snorting noise/action people make when drawing phlegm to their mouth?

texts:
It's done by narrowing or tightening the back of your tongue by pressing it to the roof of your mouth while forcefully "inhaling through your nose with your mouth closed" to draw in the phlegm. It has a snorting/snoring sound.

Edit: NOT hacking, or hocking or hawking.


texts: Single word for "less mass per unit volume" (the complement of "dense")

texts:
I've been looking for the antonym of dense. I'm looking for an exact opposite: a single word the means, precisely, "having less mass per unit volume than another object".

That is, I'm seeking a scientific word which could be put into this sentence, and have it make sense:

  Wood is more _____ than metal

To mean precisely the opposite of:

  Metal is denser than wood

And precisely the same as:

  Wood is less dense than metal

Only using a single word (as an atomic comparative), as opposed to the two words "less dense".

As analogies, we have the pairs "heavy"/"light" and "thin"/"thick", and thus needn't to resort to circumlocutions like "more massive" or "less wide".

For similar reasons, I find "light" (the opposite of "heavy") and "spread out" (the opposite of "congested", i.e. "smaller population per unit volume") unsatisfying. I would like a single, atomic word that enjoys some currency in scientific prose, which means precisely "less mass per unit volume".


texts: Term describing a zone subject to speeding

texts:
There is an English term illustrating the situation where the police conspired to collect fines by intentionally capturing on a security camera speeding vehicles passing through an area that few people know is readily subject to speeding if not paid extra attention to.

Can someone please help me out here? Any contributing response would be greatly appreciated.


texts: What verb akin to "refine" more clearly describes improving a skill that somebody is already good at?

texts:
What other verbs can be used to say "refine analytical skills"? I found "polished" and "sharpen," but I am interested in something better if there are any. The verb shouldn't indicate weak skills, but good ones that can be better. Any suggestions?

Thank you!


texts: A sentence using negative construction expresses bad news or the writer’s dissatisfaction or unhappiness. True or false?

texts: 'A sentence using a negative construction always expresses bad news or the writer’s dissatisfaction or unhappiness.' Is this strictly true?


texts: What do introductory non-finite clauses modify?

texts:
I posted the following question in Linguistics Stack Exchange, but since I'm asking about English grammar, I'm thinking that this is a better forum for it. The question:

The introductory non-finite clauses below (in bold)

Speeding down the road, Peter ran a red light.

Discouraged by his losing record, the boxer quit boxing

what, if anything, do they modify?

Do they modify the subject of each sentence ("Peter," "the boxer"), the main verb ("ran," "quit"), or the entire main clause ("Peter ran a red light," "the boxer quit boxing)?

How do grammarians/linguists analyze such introductory non-finite clauses? And if they are not "modifiers," what's the syntactic function of such non-finite clauses?

Thanks in advance


texts: Is building site the British English equivalent of construction site in American English, and is it used in American English?


texts: What do you call the act of searching for something by walking?

texts:
Example:

  The police and dog spent the whole night [...] the area.

Is searching the only word? Or there are other ones?


texts:
Which of the followings is/are the correct usage of the word "lest"? How are these different from each other?

...hesitant to speak out lest he be fired.
...hesitant to speak out lest he'd be fired.
...hesitant to speak out lest he would/will be fired.

P.S. I took point number 1 as the reference for this question from the definition of lest from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.


texts: Is 'hmmm?' an interjection? If not, what is it?

texts:
I hope this isn't obvious (although maybe it's better if it is)! I'm working with an interview transcript and I have a participant who says 'Hmmm?' in a way that I want to discuss. Unfortunately, I don't know how to refer to it. Here's an example of what he's saying (note, he's a non-native speaker):

Interviewer: Did you help them yourself?
Participant: Hmmmm?
I: Did you personally help them, or was it..
P: Oh yes, I...

And so on. I don't think it's a vocalized pause or a filler word, since he's not speaking at length, just prompting the interviewer to provide clarification. Does this type of sound/question have a name, or am I completely off track?


texts: Is there a word, phrase or idiom for "a person who is incapable of thinking about the future"?

texts:
I need a word/ phrase/ idiom to describe a (real) person who is always living in the past and present, but is incapable of thinking about the future. He has often been criticized by someone for being unable to think ahead or make long range plans.

He is a close friend, and told me himself that he has vague anxieties and fears about various things in the future and is also quite capable of vividly grasping past and present situations, but cannot constructively or even literally conceive of what is yet to happen, and considers only the past and present as concrete realities.

Other people I know can actually visualise where they will be (in terms of what they want to achieve) 5 or even 10 years later but the future appears so nebulous and unreal to this person that he cannot  imagine what his life could be like a year hence or even 2 months into the future.

Qualifications of meaning, and research already done:

I have considered and discarded phrases like 'short term planning' and 'living in the present' as not really expressing the right meaning here.
I would also rule out elements of heedlessness/ recklessness or lacking foresight (as kindly suggested by @aparente001 in a comment), or the inability to understand potential outcomes of policies or actions. My friend can actually reckon the consequences of actions and is a very cautious person.
Note too that words literally meaning "inability to visualise" such as 'unimaginative' do not fit the case because he can actually visualise in vivid detail various things such as for example a plywood cabinet he proposes to make, and also project all possible future outcomes of a certain logical problem, but simply can't visualise the shape of future life to come. Words that imply an inability to visualise may be suitable as metaphors.
It is not a cognitive or psychological impairment or disorder in his case, but words or phrases indicative of such disorders might possibly be used as metaphorical descriptors here.

Example sentence:

  Jack cannot make any long range plans because he is incapable of thinking about the future: he is __________ (adjective) // he is a ____________ (noun) // it is a case of ___________ (expression/idiom)

Is there a good word/ phrase/ idiom to describe such a person? It can be an adjective, noun or allegory.


texts: Plural of "radiation", "reflectance" and similar words

texts:
I am not a native speaker, nor do I know the proper grammatical name of this kind of words to look up this question. So please excuse the possible duplication or simplicity. But as far as I know, the words mentioned in the subject cannot be used in plural, although they have a grammatical plural form. So you don't say

  These two parts have different reflectances.

  This document describe radiations reflected from different parts of the machine.

but rather reflectance and radiation.

Am I correct?
What is the proper explanation for this? I need to tell it to a colleague.
How can one determine if this rule applies to a specific word or not, besides the gut feeling?


texts: Use of the apostrophe when possession is not the issue

texts:
What would be the best way to write "Beginners group" or "Childrens group" in "I'd like to teach the Beginners Group"? Both feel as if they need an apostrophe before the final 's', but this is not possession: the group does not belong to the beginners or to the children, the group is composed of beginners or children.
Any ideas?


texts:
If I am writing a tour description, what is the correct way to write up days and nights? For example in this short description:

'Summit Java's highest peak for sunrise, trek through lava fields and camp in stunning spots. 4 days, 3 nights.

Your adventure includes:

4-day guided hiking
3 nights camping
Return transfer from....'

etc

Would it be different if it was 1 day, or 2 days? (or 1-day or 2-days?)

We are trying to stick to AP style, but it is not clear on this subject.
If someone can clear this up we'd be very grateful!


texts:
In January, he was convicted of bribing South Korea’s former president
Park Geun-hye to obtain government support for a merger of two
Samsung subsidiaries in 2015. The merger was meant to tighten his
control over Samsung.

I am curious and wonder about the way a definite or indefinite article is used in cases such as "a merger of two Samsung subsidiaries" in the first sentence above, from a New York Times article. I am very much interested in the logic behind the use of the or a.
Numerous pairs of two could be randomly picked from group firms, but when combining a pair of two subsidiaries--let's call them X and Y--this merger is one unique combination involving X and Y; indeed any randomly selected two could together be considered a unique pair; therefore "the merger of two subsidiaries," X and Y, is more logically natural to me than "a merger."
Could you please point out any fallacy in my logic or explain the reasoning behind the use of the indefinite article a before merger in the quoted sentence?
I guess that this case is similar to "father of two" in terms of whether the or a is used in front of the noun, an article usage question I still could not wrap my head around.


texts:
I was the following in a journal homepage.

  To defray the publication cost, authors are requested to arrange print charges of their accepted papers at the rate of US$ 40 per page from their institutions/research grants, if any.

I don't understand the meaning of if any in the above sentences. I have a paper with no grant. Should I pay any thing?


texts: General word for element in binary relation

texts:
I am looking for a word to denote an element in a binary relation, which in itself would connote the duality of the relationship. For example, a binary relation is the one between the east and the west half of a sphere so we call each a hemisphere:

  From Latin hemisphaerium, from Ancient Greek ἡμισφαίριον (hēmisphaírion), from ἡμι- (hēmi-, “half”) + σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “sphere”); hemi- + sphere

So I am looking for a more abstract/general word (that could be applied to something other than a sphere) that would indicate that the entity in question is one of the two sides in a binary relation and would like that word to unambiguously mean that (and remove the possibility of having more than two sides) and that it's not necessarily half because that implies a 50/50 split, which shouldn't be implied by that word.

Another example could be the word wife meaning (in a traditional sense) one of the two spouses in a marital binary relation: "the wife is a [X] of the marriage"


texts: I'm not entirely sure of my placement of commas

texts:
I just have a quick question.  I'm having some difficulty determining whether or not the comma use in the following sentence is correct.

"The essential destruction of the human species, and the state of society that follows, act as a metaphor for the technological desensitisation of human society."

Thank you in advance to anyone who could answer my question.


texts: I'm looking for phrase/proverb about unimportant persons?

texts:
The phrase I'm looking for has similar meaning to "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king". When someone is important but the place that person is in not big or important, or when someone is around bad looking people so he/she feels/thinks good looking.
How can I say someone is good/beautiful/cool/important in a certain place, but if that person leaves that place this person is nothing?  For example, a kid is cool in high school but when that kid goes to college there are thousands of other cool kids. Maybe it could be a insult to say to these person like "you are king of nothing".


texts: Have any words experienced sustained frequency growth greater than the word "sustainable"?

texts:
XKCD comic 1007, "sustainable", has indicated that the frequency of the word "sustainable" has undergone significant growth. According to explain XKCD, it has gone from 0.000005% in 1960 to approximately 0.003% in 2012 - an increase in almost three orders of magnitude in half a century.

Have any other words experienced a sustained frequency growth greater than that?

Criteria:

Relative growth, not absolute growth: the word "a" going from 1.4% to 1.5% is a large absolute growth, but very small relative growth.
A non-trivial frequency at the end of the growth: "aimag" going from essentially zero before 1970 to 0.0000035% in 1999 isn't that significant. An ending frequency of at least 0.0001%, or preferably greater than 0.001%, would be good.
Having a growth rate (measured over a period of at least two years) greater than that of "sustainable"'s half century average.


texts: "Key to the relationship are ... not just X, Y & Z, but also...": Why does this sentence use "are" instead of "is"?

texts: In this sentence, why is "are" used instead of "is"? I think "key to the relationship" should be followed by "is" because the word "Key" is acting as a singular subject. But in the image it is "are". Help me out; I am confused.


texts: Is "from whence" correct? Or should it be "whence"?

texts:
I just saw a parody on the Lord of the Rings, where one of the characters says:

  it must be cast back in the fire from whence it came!

This struck me as odd, since I expected them to say "whence it came"; but now I find that "from whence" seems to occur as well.

Does anybody know whether this is correct, or whether it has been correct at some point and subsequently fell into disgrace (or vice versa)?


texts: "absent in" or "absent from": word usage and prepositions

texts:
Notably, a term x is absent in/from Eq. (4).

After consulting Gartner and online common use, I remain confused about how to decide which the correct preposition to use should be?

For my colleague, it was self-evident that it should be "in," but perhaps someone can help explain how one could reason this?


texts:
I can't find a consensus in dictionaries on the accepted plural form of the word Riviera.

Is it I'm going to see all of the Riviera of the world or I'm going to see all of the Rivieras of the world?


texts:
While reading about 'defective verbs' on Wikipedia, I came across this term – preterite present verbs.

The most commonly recognized defective verbs in English are auxiliary verbs — the class of preterite-present verbs — can/could, may/might, shall/should, must, ought to, and will/would (which was not historically in Old English a preterite-present but has joined the class in modern English) [Source]
The so-called preterite-present verbs are a small group of anomalous verbs in the Germanic languages in which the present tense shows the form of the strong preterite, and the preterite is weak. [Source]

I understand why modal auxiliaries are referred to as 'defective verbs' as far as their incomplete conjugation (lacking an infinitive, future tense, participle, imperative, and gerund) is concerned. But I do not understand why they are also referred to as 'preterite present verbs'.
'Preterite' expresses a past action or state, but how is that sense applicable to all modal auxiliaries?  I don't see how can, will, may and shall express a past action or state.


texts: Which is better style: "is linked" or "it is linked"?

texts:
Does it improve an English sentence's style? Which of the following is "more English"?

The table exists and it is linked to a correct server.
The table exists and is linked to a correct server.

Where can I read about this?


texts: have somebody do something vs. have somebody doing something

texts:
History, as recounted by the victors, had the capitalists winning.

I think that the above sentence means that history caused the capitalists to win. Can I say

History, as recounted by the victors, had the capitalists win?

What is the difference between the structure have somebody doing something and have somebody do something?


texts: Comma before "and" in "alleging harassment, and retaliation, which has now been..."

texts:
Please be advised that the clerks Intake Specialist Unit  is in receipt of the complaint you filed against Maple Lee alleging harassment, and retaliation, which has now been assigned Intake #123425.

My question is, should there be a comma before and in "alleging harassment, and retaliation"?


texts: Can “thanks in advance” be considered rude?

texts:
Some argue that because “thanks in advance” is written before any help has been offered, it adds an expectation of help and thus can be considered presumptuous.

Is this reasonable? Would it be appropriate to use this phrase in business correspondence? If not, is it possible to demonstrate gratitude without coming across as presumptuous?

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I am working in a text that I use the following:
"I measure the similarities between companies."
There are many companies, but I evaluate the similarity "between" 2 companies. I mean if I have 3 companies, namely A, B, C, I have to evaluate the similarities in pairs and I provide the similarity between A and B, B and C, and A and C, i.e, three measures of similarities.
My doubt is the text above should be
"I measure the similarities among companies."
Or is it correct?


texts: Pronunciation of "bifurcate" as an adjective

texts:
It appears that the word "bifurcate" has a single spelling, but two possible pronunciations.

As a verb, according to both Wiktionary and dictionary.com, the pronunciation of the verb is:

  /ˈbaɪfɚkeɪt/

Wiktionary additionally lists the following pronunciation for the adjective:

  /baɪˈfɝkət/

And dictionary.com says:

  /... adj. also ˈbaɪ fər kɪt, baɪˈfɜr-/

Forvo.com  has the adjective sounding the same as the verb.

What is the proper pronunciation of "bifurcate" as an adjective? Is it always different as Wiktionary indicates? Can it be sometimes different (I think that's what dictionary.com is saying)?  Is it usually the same (as Forvo might be suggesting)?


texts: Is it correct to say "files from 3 days ago" or "files of 3 days ago"?

texts:
The situation may be as follows:
A computer crashed on 12 January 2020, but we need to get some files as the status on 9 January 2020.

We need the files from 3 days ago.
We need the files of 3 days ago.

Are they both correct?


texts: What is the meaning of the verb "step across"?

texts: I am quoting from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Reigate Squires by Arthur Conan Doyle :"The colonel waved his hand towards my friend and the inspector bowed.'We thought that perhaps you would care to step across, Mr. Holmes'"(end of quote). It is clear from the context that the inspector is asking Holmes if he wanted to intervene in the ongoing investigation, but the usage of 'to step across' confuses me, especially as I couldn't find the verb in online dictionaries. Had he used 'to step into', it would have made sense, but not 'to step across'. Well, at least to me.


texts:
I have read that even though it is the not the most common structure, we can use "be going to + infinitive" in the first conditional. Is there a difference in the meaning of these sentences?:

If it stops raining, I'm going to walk into town.
If it stops raining, I will walk into town.


texts: Is the sentence “It is hoped that the Coronavirus would disappear soon” correct formal speech?

texts:
Today I had my English finals, 12th grade high-school. I live in a third-world country, and so the quality of the questions/answers is not always guaranteed. One of the questions was:
Which of the following is formal speech?
A. [something which was obviously wrong]
B. [Another obviously wrong option]
C. It is said he has a map.
D. It is hoped that the Coronavirus would disappear soon.
I chose "C". However, just now our Ministry of Education has published the correct answer key on their social media account, and there, option "D" is said to be the correct one. Now, I think this option is wrong because "would" shouldn't be used here; it should be "will", which would make option "D" look exactly like this: "It is hoped that the corona virus will disappear soon"
Please help me. If option D is incorrect, then what I need to do is to get some evidence and backing that it is the case after all, and I plan on contacting both the Ministry as well as the Minister himself (these technical mistakes happen a lot, and in many cases they will just give everyone the 2 marks that the correct option is supposed to provide). What makes this all the more urgent is the fact that I have only a small window of time to make my complaints heard, and although I hate to be in this state, I literally beg the mods not to remove this question if it is inappropriate, because possibly the fate of at least 100,000 students in my nation is at stake.


texts:
I have this:

  link
  On 21-22 April 1914, while leading three picket launches admist heavy enemy fire, McCloy was wounded but remained on his post, enabling cruisers to save American lives. For his gallant heroism, he was awarded his second Medal of Honor.

  For heroism in leading 3 picket launches along Vera Cruz sea front, drawing Mexican fire and enabling cruisers to save our men on shore, 22 April 1914. Though wounded he gallantly remained at his post.

Is one of "at his post" or "on his post" wrong?  Or are they both the same?


texts: suitable positive alternative to unimpaired (e.g. in neuropsychological function)

texts:
I'm translating a neuropsychological assessment report into English and I'm not sure which word/phrase to use here:

The neuropsychological functions related to the performance of volitional and differentiated actions, motor production, perception, verbal memory and attention are...

The idea is that these functions are unimpaired, or functioning normally/properly. "Unimpaired" is a negative word, with a negative prefix. I'd like to use a positive word. "functioning" sounds clumsy: "the functions are functioning".


texts: What are the connotations of "ignorant?"

texts:
As I understand it, "ignorant" means "lacking in knowledge." Dictionary.com supports that belief.

  "adjective
  1.lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned:
  an ignorant man.
  2.lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact:
  ignorant of quantum physics.
  3.uninformed; unaware.
  4.due to or showing lack of knowledge or training:
  an ignorant statement."

But when I used it as a translation from what I believed to be the German equivalent, a native German speaker wrote,

"Well, I would actually avoid translating to ignorant as it would sound way more offensive then uneducated...The way Germans would use [th [e German equivalent] has a slight remark of disdain, but it's not even close to what would be in english to call someone ignorant."

The context was describing someone lacking in manners, or unaware of etiquette.

Does igorant "have a slight mark of disdain," or does it have much stronger connotations? And is "ignorant" or "uneducated" the better word for this context? This question is for a native speaker.

Bonus question: How would a German non-native speaker feel about use of the term "ignorant?"


texts:
I know that amounts of money are followed by a singular verb. But l am not sure if we can use a singular or plural verb in the following sentence:

Thirty dollars is/are found in the drawer.

I guess we can use "are" because we are talking about a number of dollars. But what if the speaker was talking about an amount of money?

Any help?


texts:
I would like to pose the following question:

does the expression "without one X"

mean unambiguously "without any X",
mean unambiguously "without a(n) X" or
can have both meanings and thus is an odd and ambiguous expression which should best be avoided?

To clarify my query, I will provide a practical example: if a legal act provides for a number of conditions, and then goes on saying that, under special circumstances, something can be done "without one condition being respected", how would you understand this last sentence? Meaning 1) "even if NONE of the above conditions is respected" or 2) "even if ONE of the above conditions is not respected"? Or is it 3) grammatically unclear?

Thank you very much in advance for your help!


texts: Simple word/ slang for "Re-share a content"

texts:
I need a simple(commonly used/known) word or short slang(2 words max.) which means to re-share a piece of information with your network of friends.
Something just like "Share" on social networks.

The word/slang is to be used in an application to let the user share a content with his friends. The content is not owned by him but just found by him & what he wants to also Re-Share with his network.

Something similar to Re-Share or like  Re-tweet(as used by twitter) may be  a good fit. Could you suggest some simple word/slang to imply this ?


texts: What's the verb for 'to confer the title of Dame upon'?

texts:
If a man becomes a Knight, he does so by being knighted.

What word describes the action by which one confers the title of Dame upon a woman?

Is she damed? Or knighted? Or something else?


texts: Does it need to be in base form, present tense , past tense , past participle or continual tense ? EXAMPLE: She never (*forget/ forgets/ forgot / forgotten/ forgetting ) to do her homework.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Any examples of where a full-stop can't replace a semi-colon?

"I stepped outside to check the rain; it calmed down."
or
"I stepped outside to check the rain. It calmed down."

If the former is correct, then it seems like a bunch of sentences can be joined with a semicolon.


texts: What would you call a person who helps you only to later boast about it or repeatedly, emphatically mention it during a fight?

texts: Say someone helped you of their own volition. You express your gratitude for it. Then, whenever you have an argument over something, anything, they see it fit to repeatedly mention the fact that they helped you this one time or two times or so. Is there a word or an idiom fit for this situation?


texts: Strange Omission of "to be" in The Onion Headlines

texts:
So I've noticed a pattern lately on the TheOnion.com of omitting 'is' from their headlines.  I get shortening headlines but I can't say this pattern is familiar to me.  It strikes me as obtuse and hard to read.

Here are some links of examples I could drum up.  There are many more:

Report: It A Miracle Nothing Has Punctured Your Eye Yet (9-25-2017)

Hope Hicks Praying She Not Still in Same Shitty Job By Time She Hits 30 (9-15-2017)

Man Must Think It Enough to Wear Blackhawks Jersey at Cubs Game (9-12-2017)

Are they just trolling?  Is this accepted journalistic style?  Is there a name for this?


texts:
I recently heard this:
Before I used to do something, all I cared about was something else.
And she meant that she still does something and before starting it, all she cared about was something else.
And this meaning is not what used to means.
Because it's supposed to mean that she was doing something in the past but not now.
I couldn't find any grammars that explains this before + used to. Can anyone explain?


texts: When did split infinitives become poor grammar?

texts:
I recall reading an article a few years ago that discussed a period in English when intellectuals began forcing Latin grammar onto the English language, and split infinitives (among other grammatical quirks) became "bad English". My hazy memory is telling me this was some time around the 1700s or 1800s (so this would be unrelated to the Norman Conquest and Middle English).

I also found this stack from English Language Learners that quotes A Brief History of English by Paul Roberts which seems to support the article I'm having trouble remembering:

  Another product of the eighteenth century was the invention of "English grammar". As English came to replace Latin as the language of scholarship, it was felt that one should also be able to control and dissect it, parse and analyze it, as one could Latin. What happened in practice was that grammatical description that applied to Latin was removed and superimposed on English. This was silly, because English is an entirely different kind of language, with its own forms and signals and ways of producing meaning. Nevertheless, English grammars on the Latin model were worked out and taught in the schools. In many schools they are still being taught.

Can anyone help me find some specifics on this movement (that is, dates, persons, sources or even quotes)?

That is:

When did this movement to force Latin grammar onto English gain steam (I'm aware this is something that has been brewing for a long time)?
Who were some of the main proponents of this  movement?

Any other background information is a plus, but answers to those two questions should help me do further research on my own.


texts: Idioms for people who are tight with money

texts: Is there an idiom which describes a person who is tight with his/her money, never wants to chip in or treat themselves or others and worries too much about money.


texts:
I encountered the following usage on a barrister's blog: '...not sure of both of the following limbs to the prosecution case,'.

I would've written 'the following limbs of the...'.

I searched Just The Word and checked for google hits of the exact phrase and it seems the first is uncommon.

Is this a correct usage?


texts: Exercies on right usage of english words

texts:
Could you find out, where are from the current exercises or advice a similar text book?

I have problems with determining right usage of different words, and such textbook will be quite useful for me.


texts: Does "unrenamed" mean "not yet renamed"?

texts:
I am writing a software and the following description cannot be more than 15-20 characters long. I need to concisely say

  “files that have not been renamed”.

I think “unrenamed files” works, but I'm not sure, since ‘undo’ does not mean ‘not yet done’ but “reverse the last done action”. Also the spell checker complains about it. Please advise.


texts:
The neon signs brought a city feel/city air to the countryside.

Which alternative is more adequate? Or is there a better option?

The example above means  that the neon lights made the countryside feel like the city.


texts: Can I use the word "canceled" to refer to someone not attending to a gathering?

texts:
Example:

  She decided to come to the party even though her friends cancelled.

Or is there a more appropiate word/phrase for this case?


texts: introduce a restrictive clause without using that

texts:
That/which/who are commonly used to introduce a restrictive clause. But some sentences sound fine even without it.

Example:

  John received medicines under development in the research lab.

OR

  John received medicines that were under development in the research
  lab.

Is there a grammar issue with the first sentence for formal piece? If so, why?


texts: Imaginatively yours or Yours imaginatively or stick with Kind Regards

texts:
I own a design studio. We are currently rebranding. To add a little twist to our email correspondence, we decided to forego the generic "Kind regards" for imaginatively yours or yours imaginatively. Would that be appropriate in this case?

Example:

Dear Jane

Thank you again for your continued business.

Imaginatively yours,

Stalin


texts:
I am applying for a job and in my proposal my mentor commented the following.
Please explain me what it means.

ME: Finally I found something promising. Please have a look

Mentor: That's a good find Atul :)
These are good open source tools and we can use off-the-shelf.

What does 'we can use off the shelf' mean here?


texts: "1 out of 100 chickens is" or "1 out of 100 chickens are"?

texts: I'm in an argument. To me "are" makes more sense. I understand the rationale for is because it's only one chicken, but chickens itself is plural. Help?


texts: What to call a person with whom you spend time just because?

texts:
What to call a person with whom you spend time not because you like them but because you haven't found anyone better?

EDIT: I am asking more about a romantic kind of relationship than mere companionship, and about a situation when one person kind of uses another.


texts: "one is ... another is ... " and "the first is ... the second is ...."

texts:
I am writing an academic paper. I use the following representations:

However, up to now, far too little attention has been devoted to two
problems of the state-of-the-art proof automation systems. One is ...
Another is ...

Somebody advises me to use

However, up to now, far too little attention has been devoted to two
problems of the state-of-the-art proof automation systems. The first is ...
The second problem is ...

Does the reason come from that "The first is ... The second problem is ..." is more formal, or
more clear?
Thanks in advance!


texts: Should an article be used when enumerating items?

texts:
Which form is correct?:

  This technique improves a speed and a performance

or:

  This technique improves speed and performance

If there are two and more items, should each one be preceded by an article, or should I skip all articles, as there are more than one item?


texts: "For X, use Y" vs. "To represent X, use Y"

texts:
Is it grammatically correct and idiomatic to use "For X, use Y" in the meaning of "To represent X, use Y"? The target document is a programming style guide.
I like the brevity of this construction, but I'm not sure it's a right way to use it.

For an escaped quotation mark, use $".
For CR and LF, use \r and \n.
For capture groups, use ?<...>.

To represent an escaped quotation mark, use $".
To represent CR and LF, use \r and \n.
To create capture groups, use ?<...>.


texts:
Which form of this word is more appropriate for general use?

I would expect someone to misread reestablish more often than re-establish, however it is more consistent in context with renew, reconnect, and retry.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why should the first person pronoun 'I' always be capitalized?

I'd like to understand the phenomen, why writer's person is so important in English, that i can't write 'I' intentionally lower-cased. I don't like to emphasise myself, writing 'I' makes me more important, i think, i prefer to write 'You' as capitalized.

In German to address formally i could use 'Sie', but myself is still 'ich'. So in Russian 'Вы' and 'я' or in Estonian 'Te' and 'ma' and in other languages i know. AFAIK, formal address in English has still 'You' too, but 'I' is always 'I'.

There is so many people who write their names intentionally lower-cased, but 'i' is still 'I'. When i write to some moderated or edited site, my 'i'-s are still growing all the way up. Why?


texts: Idiom for a speech with redundant information

texts:
What idiom can be used to name an action when a person tells a lot of redundant information?

EDIT:
To be more precise I am trying to describe an action when a person speaks about the subject but there is also a lot of redundant information.


texts:
Are there guidelines for when to use to or for with appealing?

I was writing this sentence: '... choose a time that is appealing to you', and then thought it was likely for, but either seems to make sense or "sound right".

Any advice?


texts: Odd sentence structure used throughout Dune

texts:
I'm reading Frank Herbert's Dune and I've noticed a certain type of sentence structure he uses quite often.  It seems to me to be wrong, or at least non-standard, but I cannot find an explanation of the proper grammar rules regarding these types of sentences.
Here are two examples:

"Jessica felt the back of the note, rubbed the surface for coded dots."
"A gentle draft feathered her cheeks, stirred her hair."

It seems to me that the phrases after the commas should either be present participle phrases ("Jessica felt the back of the note, rubbing the surface for coded dots") or there should be a connecting word included ("Jessica felt the back of the note and rubbed the surface for coded dots").  As it's written it reads awkwardly.
Does this type of structure have a name?  Is it considered correct?


texts: Difference between at every step and on every step

texts:
I'm trying to translate a poem from my native language to English. And I don't know what's the appropriate preposition for a sentence. Should it be,
'At every step, at every path, I've protested/objected OR
On every step, on every path, I've protested/objected?

Would someone please explain the difference between at and on here. Which one is the right to use here.

Thanks in advance.


texts: What is a specific word for "loving a friend"?

texts:
In Italian, "to love someone" has two translations:

amare qualcuno, meaning "to desire a romantic relationship with someone";
voler bene a qualcuno, meaning "to care for someone" (literally: "to wish for someone's good") - for example, "to love a friend" is translated as "voler bene a un amico".

I don't know of any word in English which is as strong as "to love", yet cannot be misunderstood for interest in a romantic relationship. Is there such a phrase?

So far, the best I came up with is "to care for someone", but it doesn't express the same strength, so to speak, as "to love [a friend]".


texts: Would "I poke you later" a rude expression?

texts:
I would like to know how rude or informal is tell to someone "poke you later..." or "poke me when you're done with XYZ...".

First question after a search, still getting used to the language stacks...


texts:
What is the difference between shepherding and sheepherding (sheep herding?)?

What is the difference between shepherd and sheepherder?

I had only heard shepherd until I found sheepherder on a page on the California minimum wage.


texts: What's an accurate easy-to-understand way of referring to the brown outer part of a fried egg?

texts: The outer brown part. What's a good/easy-to-understand to refer to it?


texts:
Here supposition is used as a noun. How can I transform this sentence using "suppose" as a verb?

◆  It seems a reasonable supposition.


texts:
I'm trying to figure out how to use the word "group" with the determiner "such". I have seen it both with and without the article "a" in multiple different publications.

"It would be amazing to be part of such group"
"It would be amazing to be part of such a group of people"

I understand this may be a tricky issue as "group" can be considered a collective noun, thus messing with the whole countable/uncountable issue.

If anyone could enlighten me on this, I'd be most grateful.


texts:
What would be the syntactic function of Intikas in the following sentence?

  They are called Intikas in their language.

It seems to me that in this case the verb call is behaving as a copulative verb, since Intikas can be identified with the subject they and, as a consequence, work as a sort of nominative predicate. But maybe this whole analysis is just misleading.


texts: What is the proper use of “The” in front of certain nouns?

texts:
I was reading a novel (The Stranger) that included the usage, “...speaking the French.”; another (Radio Free Albemuth) included, “We were listening to an LP of the Jefferson Airplane at that moment.”

I would have omitted “the” in both cases, or extended them to their full expression: “the French tongue/language”, “the rock band Jefferson Airplane”.

I can’t see their decisions as purposefully colloquial, or as an intended stylistic tool.  I suspect something larger is afoot - some dastardly rule.

(I’m also reminded of The Hague, which may or may not be related.)

Clearly I'm missing something.  What?


texts:
In George Orwell's novel 1984, Part one, Chapter IV, there is a sentence:

  In the corresponding cubicle on the other side a small, precise-looking, dark-chinned man named Tillotson was working steadily away.

I've looked up 'precise' in dictionaries, but still cannot understand what a precise-looking man is like. Can you guys help?


texts: What is the origin and meaning of "Save some for Jehoshaphat"?

texts: Back in the late 1950's, during Sunday dinner (here in Tennessee), my mom would often exclaim "save some for Jehoshaphat".  What is the origin and meaning of that phrase?


texts: Use of plural form when applied to both singular and plural cases

texts:
There is a situation where I have never worked out the correct thing to do.  For example, here is a sentence I just used in a comment on Stack Overflow:

  The 'strong disagreement' was about using those methods in this (or indeed most) cases.

If (or indeed most) were removed from the sentence, it should read..

  The 'strong disagreement' was about using those methods in this case.

However, if the bracketed part is left in, it just does not seem to 'read right' unless 'case' is plural, as in the first quoted text.

Is there a proper way to handle this?

If not, how could that first sentence be reworded, restructured or changed, to remove the problem?


texts:
Normally, I only use "despite" with a noun followed but now I see this sentence: "despite people having different opinions, we still managed to get everyone on board".
Is the use of "despite" in this sentence correct or not?


texts: English Expressions that mean 'almost always'

texts:
I'm looking for an adequate expression for 'almost always':

The sentence I want to use is like
"It almost always happens."

I think 'very often' is a bit weaker than I want.

Any good expression for the above?


texts: The necessity of an indefinite article: The drinking segment is estimated to hold about 44.8% volume share by the end of 2026

texts:
I'm not sure if an indefinite article is required in the below sentence:

The drinking segment is estimated to hold about a 44% volume share by the end of 2022.
The drinking segment is estimated to hold about an 84.8% volume share by the end of 2022.

The original sentence is given below. I stumble upon similar sentences while editing some work, but I'm never quite certain.

The drinking segment is estimated to hold about 44.8% volume share by the end of 2026.


texts:
In the context of a computation, I would like to refer to “the sought value”. I think this is the most precise and terse formulation. However, I have noticed that people often use “sought-after” rather than “sought” in some similar situations. I could certainly say “the sought-after value”, but it’s a bit clumsier, especially if it isn’t necessary. Dictionary entries for ‘seek’ don’t seem to indicate that a preposition should be necessary.

Of course, “the value sought” or “the value sought after” (again, which is best?) could do the trick, and perhaps that’s better English in general, but in my mathematical context, I think the precise meaning gets through more clearly when I use ‘sought’ in an adjective-like manner.

So, is my preferred formulation “the sought value” kosher, or should I modify it with a preposition or otherwise?


texts: How do I say "now it holds" in past tense?

texts:
I'm writing a short story, and came across a weird grammar issue. Here's a simplified snippet:

  The holding cell was spacious, originally intended to hold a dozen prisoners. But now it held a single woman...

Now and held don't really agree because the first suggests present tense while the second suggests past tense. I could write "then it held", so then and held are both past tense, but I would interpret that as "first, the cell was spacious, then it held a woman and was no longer spacious", rather than "despite being spacious, at that exact moment the cell only held one woman".

I could also write "it held a woman", which would be accurate, but the idea is to differentiate between the past tense where the cell was designed (and presumably used) for a dozen prisoners and the past tense where the cell was holding a single woman.

This is similar to historical present tense, but I don't think it's the same. I feel like this is a common problem that has an easy solution, but I'm drawing a blank right now.

Can I just write "now it held", and it be obvious that now refers to "the point in the story currently being narrated" rather than "the point in time the reader is reading this point in the story"?

I want to show the woman's isolation and give the sense that even inside a prison cell, she feels almost insignificant, without saying that directly. Hence the contrast between a cell designed for a dozen prisoners and her being alone.

I'd welcome suggestions on better ways to write the sentences in general, but this question is specifically about how to say "at this moment relative to the narrative, < something >" in a concise, grammatically-sound manner.


texts: For whom the bell tolls - origin of "ask not" instead of "never send to know"

texts:
"Ask not for whom the bell tolls" is a popular cliche. My understanding is that it comes from John Donne's Meditation XVII (1623). But in Donne's poem, the line is

  any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

So where did "ask not" come from? Is it a common mistake (or deliberate modernization) or is there another source for this quote?


texts: Why Does "Results Processor" Sound Okay But "Scans Processor" Doesn't?

texts:
Why does "Results Processor" sound correct? A follow-up question would be, is it in fact grammatically correct? Plug in other plural words, though, like "Scans Processor" or "Apples Processor" and it doesn't sound right at all.

Is "Results" acting as a plural noun in that phrase or something else? Google shows that "results" is also a third person present verb, but I wouldn't think a verb fits in front of "processor" like that.

Can someone explain?


texts:
I have seen artwork used as a mass noun, as in:

  Look at all of the artwork, it's beautiful!

As well as:

  Look at all of the artworks, they're beautiful!

Per my understanding, there's no need to pluralize a mass noun, so I'm unclear as to which sentence is correct.


texts: What do you call the reward money for the profit you made?

texts: When you do the trading in the stock market for a company, you make money from trading. And the company gives back the percentage of profit you make as a reward. How do you call the reward money?


texts: What is the proper usage of "however" and where is it placed?

texts:
What is the correct usage of however; and however?

  I sometimes find myself not really checking my email on a daily basis
  but, I do however; find this to be very helpful to keep up with what's
  going on. Now that I am in school I will make sure that I check
  everyday just to make sure that I stay on top of my work and
  schooling.


texts: Can I use the word "precipice" to mean "cutting edge"?

texts:
For example can I say, "Working for Apple in the 1980s, surrounded by innovation, it felt as though I was on the precipice of computer technology"?

I would like to find a good word here to replace the horribly clichéd cutting edge.


texts: I have been looking for a word that means kickassiness, but haven't come across one. Is this an accepted word? If not, what word can be used in its place?


texts: Word meaning "being tossed up and down?"

texts:
I'm looking for a word to replace the phrase "being tossed up and down." To be used in something like:

  The tree trunk [...] between the waves.

Any suggestions?


texts: Do I capitalize "sincerely" in a correspondence signature?

texts:
I've been unable to find a consensus on whether or not one should capitalize the salutation before your signature in correspondence, email or otherwise.

For example:

  Sincerely,
  XedMada


texts:
I have been thinking about Mary.

vs

  I have been thinking of Mary.

Is there any slight difference? I think the above two sentences are almost the same.

Let's say that the speaker broke up with Mary two years ago, and that since then the speaker has been missing her. In this situation, which of the two sentences highlighted above better expresses the speaker's feelings?


texts: Need help with nonrestrictive clauses and "having v-ed" clause offset by commas

texts:
I have a question about restrictive/nonrestrictive clauses, and more specifically if they apply to the following sentence:

  A group of Spartan soldiers, having hidden themselves in the hollow wooden horse, crept out and opened the city gate when night fell.

In this sentence, is the clause beginning with "having hidden" a nonrestrictive clause?

Another example:

  Aphrodite, having won the contest, helped Paris take Helen to Troy as she had promised.

Again, is the "having won..." clause nonrestrictive?


texts:
Consider this sentence of mine, please:

  If you wanted to enhance the soil, you might be able to put the ashes in your garden.

Does the second part of the above sentence suggest that the speaker is doubting "your" ability to put the ashes OR does it suggest that the speaker is not sure about their suggestion that "putting the ashes enhances the soil?"


texts: A word or phrase to describe a plan that helps people achieve their goals?

texts:
I've created an online web form.

The web form has a step-by-step guide which asks the user to provide a detailed answer for each question.

Once the user has finished the form their feedback will be arranged in a final overview document which they can use as a plan to share with others and help them reach their goal.

What is this called? Did I just answer my own question? Thanks for humoring me.


texts: Which is higher — "hyper-", "ultra-" or "super-"?

texts:
According to OED,

hyper-:

over, beyond, over much, above measure

ultra-:

beyond

super-:

over, above, higher than

They all have the meaning "higher than", but what is the order of them? That is, which one is the highest? Which one is modest higher? And which one is middle higher?
Update: Thank you all.
I have searched by myself and spotted that, according to Taxonomy, hyperfamily is larger than superfamily. Moreover, as Kris, Mitch and Robusto pointed out, hyper is higher than super in many other usage such as hypersonic/supersonic and hypermarket/supermarket. In addition super is higher than ultra in Audiology. So it seems

ultra < super < hyper

in common usage. On the other hand, in taxonomic ranks of biological classification, the rank hypoorder is larger than suborder, which is larger than infraorder. So a conclusion seems can be made as infra < sub < hypo.
Overall, does it seem the order is

infra < sub < hypo < ultra < super < hyper

in most usages?


texts:
Not necessarily from those specific words, something that conveys an accurate meaning.

For example, an adjective like:
'Longing' messages.


texts: Can 'how easy something is' be used as equivalent to 'how difficult something is' or are they already implying something?

texts:
I'm currently writing a text and I want to explain that I conducted some tests to see how easy/difficult it is do perform a certain process. Therefore I want to write:

We now want to test how easy it is to [...]

or

We now want to test how difficult it is to [...]

Does either of those two sentences already imply a certain meaning towards the actual difficulty of the task? Or are they both equally neutrally usable?


texts: Splitting of a word to create a past tense or verb

texts: So, I was looking at the word "backup" recently. This is the only word I know of that splits the word to indicate an action("I'm backing it up now.") or for past tense("When was it last backed up?"). Are there any other words that do this? If not, why is this word so special in it's use?


texts:
Can this sentence "I have applied for samples that you requested." be replaced by this sentence"Samples that you requested have been applied"?

As far as I know, when the word "apply" means "ask", its part of speech is intransitive.But I have seen some sentences that use "apply" as passive voice. So it's quite confusing to me.


texts: What's the English equivalent for the Indonesian old saying, "a grill that is far from the fire"?

texts:
Jauh panggang dari api in English is a grill that is far from the fire (it's a rough translation). This proverb refers to reality that doesn't fit what you've hoped or a result that doesn't fit what you've done. Or simply you don't get what you want.

Let's say that you've just moved to the states. You hoped that you can change your life entirely in this land of opportunity. But when you arrived there.. You were disappointed because you don't get what you expected. That's why you say, "God, the grill is far from the fire"

Or maybe you are a researcher and trying to find an answer or solutions for your research and problems. After many scientific methods that you've done, you haven't get the answer that can satisfy you. So you say, "The grill is far from the fire".

Or when something theoretically true, but in the reality isn't. So that the grill is far from the fire.

This proverb applies to situations where you feel disappointed because you expected more. Now, is there any English equivalent for this proverb?


texts: How do you say in English to "Declare something ownerless"?

texts:
What is the act of making something ownerless?

All I've seen is to "declare something ownerless".

However, in this statement one isn't so much as announcing as he is transferring something property. Moreover, if one wants to discuss his act of transferring, it wouldn't make sense to use the word "declare" (i.e "his declaration of making this item ownerless was ineffective" sounds like a mouthful).


texts: "The example was not leading" -- definition of "leading" here?

texts:
I have come across the expression "unfortunately, the example was not leading" in the context where someone asked a question accompanied by an example and someone provided an answer that addresses the specific example but not the question in general.

Given this context I understand what "the example was not leading" conveys. It's also easy to see a parallel with e.g. Wikipedia's definition of "leading question":

  In common law systems that rely on testimony by witnesses, a leading
  question or suggestive interrogation is a question that suggests the
  particular answer or contains the information the examiner is looking
  to have confirmed.

So by the same token "not a leading example" would mean "an example that does not specifically illustrate the particulars of the problem".

My questions are:

Is this a well-known expression, just as "leading question" is?
Is the definition I reached above correct? If not, what would a better one be (with references if possible)?


texts: What is the difference between "transportation" and "transport" (noun)?

texts: I know the meanings of "transport" and "transportation",are they just  synonyms  as Merriam-Webster appears to suggest or is there any  difference in usage?


texts:
Is there a term for someone who uses idioms (e.g. right off the bat, lowest hanging fruit, living under a rock) excessively (but correctly)?

To clarify the confusion in the comments: I'm referring to someone who in addition to speaking idiomatically (ie like native speakers do), uses idioms far more often than the average native speaker does.


texts:
I came across the word "Noel" in a Christmas song recently. I only knew the French word "Noël" before so I looked "Noel" up in Leo.

  [Leo states]
  Noel   also: Noël   French  - used especially in refrains of carols

Are carols the only context in which "Noel" can be used without appearing out of place?


texts: Is the successive use of "to" in any sentence grammatically correct?

texts:
I am wondering whether there is any correct use of "to" successively, one after another, in any English sentence.

Here is an example:

  Our team is too accustomed to following the process everyone is used to to change anything now.

The sentence sounds clunky and I've rewritten it:

  The process our team is used to has been followed for too long to change anything now.

Better. But, is a sentence written like the original given incorrect, or just ugly and nonetheless correct?

Given how language evolves, I could see someone concluding that because it is ugly, it is wrong (or will be.) I'll clarify a bit further for this case and ask, "Would such a sentence written with successive 'to' be likely to get deductions in a college level English course?"

EDIT: I would consider correct to mean that it must be generally acceptable in all but the strictest standards of academic writing (e.g. Scientific Research papers, Master or Doctoral Thesis.)


texts: Word for children that have a babysitter or au pair

texts:
In Dutch a babysitter is called an "oppas". This gave rise to the word "oppaskinderen" which translates literally to "babysitter children".

As far as I could research, there is no single English word for this. Is there any combination of words that convey the same and doesn't sound like crap?

Example sentence
Dutch: "Hoe gaat het met de oppaskinderen?"
English: "How are the [babysitter children] doing?"


texts: What does "I don't have it in my heart" mean?

texts:
I can't get the meaning of the phrase "I don't have it in my heart".
In this context:

How many times she said, uh, first female president first female president of the United States like, it's like her gender argument. It's a great step forward, but you still have to be for the rest of the population too, like it's not just basing your election on that. Clinton, I don't have it in my heart.


texts: How to know the commonality degree of a given phrase?

texts:
We encounter a lot of phrases/expressions on a daily basis:

What's up
It's up to you
It's your call

How do we know which one is more common?

One might hear a phrase in a movie, and enjoy that seen and based on some cognitive bias believe it's a common phrase. He perceives it as common, because of his joy. In fact, one phrase might be rare and we percieve it as common and use it a lot in our idiolect. Do we have objective measures to find out which phrase is more common than the other?


texts: Is the past participle becoming obsolete? (I have went)

texts:
I noticed someone saying "I have went" about a month ago and it jarred me. Then I heard it again, and again, so I started paying attention. I noticed that the first couple of people I heard say this were Black, so I figured it was maybe a feature of Afro American Vernacular English. Then I heard a White person say it, and as he was from the South, I figured it was a feature of both AAVE and Southern English. In the meantime, I noticed the same phenomenon with other verbs. Soon I started noticing people from other American regions doing this, people of all colors. Then I began to worry that the past participle was disappearing and when I complained about this to a friend, noticed myself doing it!
From browsing around here and elsewhere on the web, I have discovered that "I have went" has always existed. I don't know why I didn't notice it before and I also don't know if my increasing observation of it has to do with my increasing awareness or if the past participle is slowly ceding ground to the simple past form.

What do you think?


texts:
My English teacher feels very strongly that exact same is redundant and therefore incorrect. I disagree with her.

She feels that exact should be used in place of exact same, but I have rarely heard someone use exact by itself. For example:

  I have the exact same shirt
  I have the exact shirt

In the same manner, I believe that she shuns exactly the same as well.

What support is there (if any) supporting the use of exact same or exactly the same? What proof can I provide for using exact same when challenged?


texts: What is the pronunciation of the possessive words that already end in s?

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

My name is Greg — this is Greg 's post.

If my name ended with an 's', I am aware of the proper apostrophe usage (James → James'), but how should this be pronounced?

Phonetically, am I Jameses best friend or James best friend?


texts: They didn't object to his (being given a second chance)

texts:
a. They objected to my being given a second chance, but not to his being given a second chance.

Can you omit the second verb phrase being given a second chance as in (b)?

  b. They objected to my being given a second chance, but not to his.

If so, is this a case of ellipsis?

If not, why not?


texts:
"make a monkey of someone", " don't monkey with that lock!", and "where have you been, you little monkey!" are examples of sentences where monkey have different meaning.

Should the comma be placed inside the quotes, or outside?

To make it clearer, I am referring to placing the comma when the quoted sentence already has a punctuation like the exclamation mark, or the question mark.


texts:
I found the following sentence. But I couldn't understand the meaning of "come as many airlines".

JetBlue’s budget cuts come as many airlines continue to struggle
financially due to a significant decline in demand for air travel.

I feel it sounds like "same as other airlines". However, no sites mentions about it. Please help me to understand this sentence.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Origin of “Too Clever by Half”

We say "by half" to emphasize the degree of something in an idiomatic way, and often as a slight on the person we're talking about.  For example,

  He's too clever by half.  You're too complacent by half.  He was too good a teacher by half for that school.

How did this phrase originate?  What relevance does "half" have to do with the superlative nature of an attribute?


texts:
We're developing a software feature that allows the user to examine the result of a series of rules after those rules are executed. We've tentatively called this feature running an "autopsy". Unfortunately, the word autopsy has negative connotations in its primary definition. We realize a secondary definition ("A critical assessment or examination after the fact.") expresses exactly what the feature does but the negative connotations are inescapable.

We're looking for an alternative to autopsy for naming this feature. Synonyms such as checkup, inspection, review, or examination don't seem to capture the spirit.


texts: Covering cars or vans with advertisement images, what is this called?

texts:
I have been working as a graphic designer for a while and we design and print advertisement material and cover cars / vans with it.

What do we call this in English?

I am preparing my CV and I don't know how to put it there.
Thanks.


texts: A word for unhealthy and dirty lifestyle

texts:
Can somebody help me with a word for unhealthy and dirty lifestyle.

Example: Colin is a rather obese boy, spends most his time playing video games and eating junk food. He follows such a _________ lifestyle.


texts: An idiomatic expression for "overconsumption in the face of a shortage"

texts:
I would like an idiom to describe a situation:

Examples:

During World Wars I and II, food was not really scarce in the US and UK, but there was a lack of variety and rationing.  There was “hoarding” and black marketeering, which actually created the impression of shortages.

During the 1950s in the US, there were rumors of an impending meat shortage, leading to millions of housewives running out to stock up in preparation against it. However, this rush on meat led to a later massive dumping of old stores which were well beyond the expiration. This was later confirmed in an Anthropological study done on landfills  in the 1980s.

[This resulted in a brief meat shortage.]

“Self-fulfilling prophecy” does not make it, as I am looking for the word or expression  to describe the phenomenon of mass consumption in anticipation of a shortage.

Another example:
An alcoholic or drug addict, confronted with a looming lack of preferred mind-expanding substances, will often overdo it by imbibing to the point of toxicity.

It  might be as simple as describing the situation from John le Carre’s novel “Smiley’s People”, in the scene where he is going to pick the destitute Connie’s brains, bringing with him a bottle when she has scant hope of getting another, and she says:

  ”Goody…Let’s have lots.”

I think that sums it up.


texts: What is an equivalent to saying "for the purpose of this essay"?

texts:
I cannot think of another formal way to say "for the purpose of this essay."
The following sentence shows some context:

  For the purpose of this essay, it is not necessary to dwell any further on particular conditions...


texts: "a 0.22 μm filter" vs. "an 0.22 μm filter"

texts:
Reading "0.22" as "o point two two" should make "an" correct. Reading "0.22" as "zero point two two" should make "a" correct.

Can the author decide? Are both correct or is only one of them correct?

Before posting this, I checked When should I use "a" vs "an"? and Google - but googling that proved difficult.


texts:
"Globalization, that is, the international trade among different nations, demands the use of the same language in order for it to become feasible."

It somehow sounds a bit off to me and I would re-write is as follows:

"A common language needs to be used to make globalization, the international trade among different nations, feasible."

If the first sentence isn't in the passive voice, what then is wrong with it / or how could it be improved?


texts:
Breakfast made me feel sick.

In the sentence, I understand that the subject is breakfast, and the verb is made, but is "made me feel sick" a noun clause or do these all start with wh** words?


texts: Is there a phrase that means treat someone dismissively

texts: A financial planner treated us in a dismissive fashion and I want to say that he "gave us the back of his hand" but that phrase doesn't seem to have the meaning of dismissive. Does it or is there a similar idiom?


texts: Kind of urgent: I need to find the grammatically incorrect sentence, but can't

texts:
folks! So, I was training for a test, but I just can't figure out two questions. In them, I have to identify one excerpt with a grammar mistake. I have the test final results, so I know which sentences are wrong, but I don't know why. Could you please help me? I'm taking this test on June 8 :/

1 - Where is the mistake in the sentence

  Yet in the years since the late 1980s, gyrating oil prices – with the
  exception of a brief spike during the Gulf War – have become a thing
  of the past.

2 – What about this one?

  The tower, built in Tokyo's eastern ward of Sumida, will replace the
  existing Tokyo Tower in 2012.

Thank you so much!!