texts: How is the word "confusion" being used in: "drank/drinking confusion to"?

texts:
I'm reading a book called The Good Companions by J.B. Priestley and I came across an odd usage of the word "confusion":

  "She's out," said Fauntley, "and I don't know if it would matter if she weren't." And he drank confusion to the woman.

This is the first time I've seen it used like this, so I initially thought it was an error. But then it came up again later in the book:

  Few people who came upon Miss Trant sitting erectly with a book ever imagined for a moment that she was happily engaged in drinking confusion to the League or firing a matchlock.

I've been searching on Google and can't seem to find anything. I'm assuming it's some sort of old British saying, which obviously has to do with drinking and (perhaps) the act of drinking in honor of something or as a toast to somebody. But why the word confusion? Are they drinking until they're delirious or what's going on here?


texts: Replacing "When" With "For / Since" In A Question?

texts:
Does "for" or "since" work in place of "when" in this sentence?

Why do you keep buying plants when you just end up killing them?

If not, why?

Thank you.


texts:
A crossword clue in the Times 2 Jumbo Crossword Book—an assemblage of crosswords published in the Times—reads "use obscene language". The answer given is "eff and blind", confirmed by the entry in the Collins English Dictionary which is used as the authority for the crossword.
I'm a native (Australian) English speaker but the answer doesn't make any sense to me. An Australian driver might shout "Are you effing blind?" when another driver cuts across their path, but how is "eff and blind" actually used? The dictionary entry implies that the phrase is somehow the infinitive form of a verb ... but how is it used?


texts: What is the future of English as a lingua franca?

texts:
English may now be the world's lingua franca, but according to a review of Nicholas Ostler's latest book in The Economist the future is uncertain:

  English is expanding as a
  lingua-franca but not as a mother
  tongue. More than 1 billion people
  speak English worldwide but only about
  330m of them as a first language, and
  this population is not spreading. The
  future of English is in the hands of
  countries outside the core Anglophone
  group. Will they always learn English?

  Mr Ostler suggests that two new
  factors—modern nationalism and
  technology—will check the spread of
  English.

  ...

  English will fade as a lingua-franca,
  Mr Ostler argues, but not because some
  other language will take its place. No
  pretender is pan-regional enough, and
  only Africa’s linguistic situation may
  be sufficiently fluid to have its
  future choices influenced by
  outsiders. Rather, English will have
  no successor because none will be
  needed. Technology, Mr Ostler
  believes, will fill the need.

  This argument relies on huge advances
  in computer translation and speech
  recognition. Mr Ostler acknowledges
  that so far such software is a
  disappointment even after 50 years of
  intense research, and an explosion in
  the power of computers. But half a
  century, though aeons in computer
  time, is an instant in the sweep of
  language history.

What do you think? Are the days of English as a global second language numbered?


texts: Should the definite article 'the' be used or ignored?

texts:
The Ganga is the holy river of the Hindus.
Why can't we simply say, Ganga is the holy river of Hindus. why should we use the definite article 3 times?


texts: Compound subjects and compound sentences

texts:
Is this a compound sentence? 'John and Hary sang well.'

This sentence can be resolved into two independent clauses: John sang well, and Hary sang well.

Wren and Martin grammar says that if a sentence with compound subject can be resolved into two independent clauses, it's a compound sentence. But I'm confused. Please clarify how to distinguish between simple and compound sentences when compound subjects or compound verbs have been used.


texts:
If you look at texts from a few hundred years ago, they’re almost illegible, what with all the superfluous e’s and y’s running about, the long-S’s (  ſ  ), and so on.  Texts from 100 and 120 years ago seem only to have cleared up some punctuation issues (in an original Sherlock Holmes story you’ll find rôle and coöperate) and regularized foreign words (Esquimaux, Corea — I swear I do read things other than Conan Doyle, but I’m thinking of the best example from him).  Novels from the 1950s and and 1960s have very different styles than more modern books, but the spelling seems to be identical.

I have two contradictory theories:

Spelling drift is constant, but slow, so you need centuries for really noticeable change to occur.
Spelling drift has been slowed or halted by modern proof-reading and by technology.

If anyone has any evidence for either theory (or a third), I would be glad to hear it.


texts: What is the term used for a place name that represents something other than the place itself?

texts:
There is a special term for when a place name is representative of something other than the actual place itself but I can't remember what it is.

For example: 'Brussels' may be used to refer to the European Union or 'Washington' to refer to the U.S. political establishment.

Does anyone know what this term would be?


texts:
I would like to ask you what do the native speakers of English mean when they say a thick loaf of bread? Does the adjective "thick" describe the bread's texture or size? Does it just mean that the loaf is big or high? I tried to google it but "thick" seems to be used mainly with the word "slice".

Here's the original sentence:

  The oldest surviving recipe for beer dates back about 4,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia and calls for thick, multi-grain loaves to be mixed with honey

I need it for translation purposes.

Many thanks in advance!

/source: Manitoba Co-operator, April 23, 2015/


texts: What is the opposite action of "enlist"?

texts:
What is it called when someone is done with the task that he/she enlisted for?

I.e.:

They enlist.
They do what they signed up for.
They __.


texts: Difference between "socle", "plinth" and "pedestal"

texts:
What are the (maybe subtle) differences between the three words in the question? Which one would you prefer in which context?

I am translating a text from German where the word "Sockel" is used, and in the text it has the three meanings:

basis or ground layer of a natural structure
metaphorically, something which serves as a base for higher (mental or spiritual) achievements
something on which you put a statue

Ideally, the English word should have all these connotations too.

Additional question: Could a simple "base" or "foundation" work too?


texts:
What is the explanation for the following sentence being written as it is:

  The newborn baby was discovered by passing cyclists on a day when temperatures surpassed 40 degrees Celsius.

The singular temperature sounds much better to me while temperatures sounds a little odd. There is only one temperature - it can be either high or low, rising to 30, 40, 50 degrees or decreasing to -20, -30, etc. In which context should one use temperatures?


texts:
Ali has few friends, does he?

Is using an affirmative question tag after that sentence a sound structure or not?


texts: "Out of the box" — when should I use this phrase?

texts:
I send a lot of unsolicited emails. In many of them, I ask to buy traditional advertising spots or to help conceive a non-traditional campaign. Oftentimes, I find myself describing these non-traditional campaigns as "out of the box," as in "let's think outside the box!" But I realize this phrase can also be interpreted as "ready-to-go," "turn key" or "prefabricated." That's not what I'm going for.

Am I using the phrase correctly? Is it easily interpreted as I intend? Is there a better phrase?


texts: When should I write "some stratagems" and when "some stratagem"?

texts:
Instances of "some stratagems":
1
,
2
,
3
,
4

Instances of "some stratagem":
1
,
2
,
3
,
4

Is "stratagem" plural noun itself? (like phenomena) If so, is it possible to use "s" to make it plural again? Which form of plural is correct for "stratagem"?


texts: Can "since" and "for" be used interchangeably?

texts:
Example:

  I had no idea how deep the forest really was, though the people around
  often used the word endless to describe it. And I believed that was
  the case, for I'd never seen the end of it, not even
  standing from the tallest balcony.

Will the meaning change if I use since, instead? I'm not sure why, but I feel using for will make the passage sound a bit "dated"?


texts: Are hard waves crashing on rocks? Do waves collide in the ocean?


texts: Do native English speakers use the word "touristic"?

texts:
A word usage that always annoys me and feels like Euroenglish to me is "touristic".

I don't believe I've ever seen it printed or heard it used by a native English speaker and I've travelled in most of the English speaking countries and work in tourism.

But it's very very common to hear "touristic" from Europeans who speak very good English. Also at least on the web if not in printed media which I'm less aware of.

To me as an Australian the word to use is "touristy". It does sound more colloquial when I compare the two but it is used by all levels of society. Interestingly my web browser is marking "touristic" as wrong and accepting "touristy".

I have checked in dictionaries and both words are listed but they don't break down historic or demographic usage.

So is "touristic" Euroenglish or plain old normal English? Is it more or less formal / more or less artificial than "touristy"? Could it even be that they're not quite synonyms?

(Example usage from travel.SE: "During summer touristic places are open everywhere")

Since this has seemed to be a little controversial so far I did some Googling and found:

A thread on this topic on a site called Word Reference
Google Ngrams shows results for the English spelling "touristic" under three foreign European languages besides English but shows results for "touristy" only for English.


texts: Equivalent of “married” for people in a relationship?

texts:
When asked the question “Are you in a relationship?” an appropriate answer would be “No, I’m married.” However, if asked “Are you married?” you may say "No, I’m in a relationship.”

But my question is, what is the equivalent of the word married for people who are in a relationship?


texts: Correctness and meaning of "zero tolerance regarding child safety"

texts:
Here is an excerpt from IKEA Singapore's Facebook page:

  A third party investigation has shown that the locking mechanism is
  not reliable, posing a risk for young children, despite approved tests
  to applicable standards.
      “At IKEA, we have zero tolerance regarding child safety. We want to offer safe and healthy products and we think that children are the
  most..."

I am interested to know if the choice of words as "zero tolerance regarding child safety" is correct. In different contexts for example "zero tolerance towards sexual harassment" seems correct, since sexual harassment is a negative thing. But child safety on other hand is positive, so why would one show zero tolerance towards it?


texts: Is there a word for a group of numbers which have equal mantissa in some base?

texts:
In music, the letter A denotes multiple pitches: not only 440Hz, but also 220Hz, 110Hz, 55Hz, etc. and 880Hz, 1760Hz, 3520Hz, etc. (these are approximations). The common feature of these is they are all powers of two times each other - i.e.:

I would like to say:

  The note A in music is an example of a(n) _____, since it represents all numbers of the form  for  and .

As in the title, mantissa means roughly what I want (though its meaning varies from context to context). Is there any word or common phrase that describes this situation?


texts: Are there specific words for the siblings of my brother-in-law (or s.i.l.)?

texts:
Having a conversation this weekend, and this came up. Naively, I'd be inclined to simply label the brother of my brother-in-law a brother-in-law as well, since we've joined the families in a sense.

Specifically, my wife's sister's husband has two sisters. I call him my b.i.l., would they be s.i.l. by extension? Is this acceptable usage, or must I trod laboriously through the above description every time I describe the relationship?


texts: The plural of the English loadword vena cava from Latin is venae cavae. What are the etymological and grammatical reasons for this plural? Why are both words in a single term pluralized? And are there other similar terms in English?


texts: Repeat vs Repetition - are they exactly the same?

texts:
Can the proverb "Repetition is the mother of studies" be replaced by "Repeat is the mother of studies"? Repeat can also be used as a noun, and according to many dictionaries, both repeat and repetition mean "the act of repeating".

My gut feeling is that repetition is more natural English. Any comments?


texts: Pronunciation difference between waist and waste

texts:
I played both words on Google translate and they sound exactly the same.
I checked YouTube and there is a video that is supposed to show the difference but nothing that I could notice plus a other video of English speaker saying both sound the same.

So, regardless the context where the words are used, is there a way to notice the difference between those words when they are pronounced?


texts: What does this quote of Elizabeth Gaskell mean?

texts:
How easy it is to judge rightly after one sees what evil comes from judging wrongly!
-Elizabeth Gaskell


texts:
This is a simple question - what is the name for a person who orders something?

The word should be 'orderer', but this is incorrect - 'orderer' is not a word.

As an example, I want to buy a product, and I ask my friend to order it for me. I am the buyer, she is the [orderer]?


texts:
A very recent and similar question was closed asks what "for good" means.  While general reference can answer the question, I became curious as to the etymology of the idiom.  Googling around got me nowhere, which is unusual.  The closest I found was a thread in wordorigins.org:

  OED
  for good (and all): as a valid conclusion; hence, as a final act, finally.
  15.. Parl. Byrdes Aij, Than desyred al the Byrdes great and smal to mewe the hauke for good and all. 1603 in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1849) I. 25 D’Auval.. is gone for good and all. 1687 CONGREVE Old Bach. I. i, Ay, you may take him for good-and-all if you will. 1711 SWIFT Jrnl. to Stella 4 July, This day I left Chelsea for good, (that’s a genteel phrase). a 1732 T. BOSTON Crook in Lot (1805) 37 He was obliged for good and all to leave his country. 1850 J. H. NEWMAN Diffic. Anglic. 324 Throw off, for good and all, the illusions of your intellect. 1882 W. E. FORSTER Let. To Gladstone 10 Apr. in T. W. Reid Life (1888) II. viii. 421 This morning we released Parnell—not for good, but on parole.

However, this only traces some historical usages, and suggests that for good and all used to be a more popular version of the current idiom.  Is there anything more substantial?  Why did "for good" come to mean "forever"?


texts: Word for a person who just talks but would not do what he/she says

texts: I'm looking for a word which describes a person who just talks but would not do or practice what he/she says - like somebody who doesn't practice what he/she preaches.


texts: Concisely wording the sentence "compare X's Y to Z's Y"

texts:
How would one go about concisely wording the sentence "compare X's Y to Z's Y." I've seen it done in a few ways:

"compare X's Y to Z's Y" (e.g. "compare Mary's lamb to Phillip's lamb")
"compare X's Y to Z's" (e.g. "compare Mary's lamb to Phillip's")
"compare X's and Y's Zs" (e.g. "compare Mary's and Phillip's lambs")

However, all three of these sound slightly incorrect to me.


texts: What is it called when you pass a question to a higher up


texts: "They be paid" or "they should be paid"?

texts:
Here is a sentence that I am trying to understand grammatically:-

  Defrauded depositors of XBANK staged a protest march from the New Town
  hall to the Fountain circus this afternoon demanding that they be paid
  immediately.

How can we just use:-

  they be paid

In my understanding, the correct way should be:-

  they should be paid immediately


texts: Did English "borrow" or "inherit" from Proto-Germanic (PGmc)?

texts:
I wanted to see a cage match on this question, which started in the comments to this answer.  We were left with these opposing assertions:

  PGmc was never homogeneous. Most English expressions "borrowed" since
  Old English (OE), also trace to Proto-Indo-European (PIE) with
  analogous Germanic cognates. Heretical as it seems, a straight line
  through Germanic stock is an arbitrary designation of English, which
  "borrowed" more from PGmc than any other source.

Or,

  PGmc was probably quite homogeneous at some point: it obviously
  developed far and wide, but at the starting point when it first
  separated itself enough to be a thing of its own, it must have been
  quite homogeneous. Yes, all IE languages have borrowed extensively
  from their neighbors (most of which have been IE also). There are lots
  of English borrowings that have analogous Germanic cognates, yes. But
  there are also lots of words which have not at any point since PIE been borrowed in any ancestral stage of what is now English from any other language: they are purely inherited.

The latter, if true, seems to argue that modern English does have a core that was inherited.  The former makes the more facile (but perhaps correct) argument that no modern language can claim direct inheritance; only different proportions of "borrowing" from an evolving patchwork of languages.

What are the strong arguments on each side?


texts: "You've been living here [for] too long"

texts:
Is it correct to say "You've been living here for too long"?

Or is it better to drop the for? "You've been living here too long."

Is either preferrable over the other for some reason?


texts:
Our enemy is the virus - NOT EACH OTHER!
This sentence is quoted in
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/14/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html
Does this sound right? If so, does it mean that (from a grammatical point of view) one could say "Our enemy is each other"?


texts: Are reduced relative clauses still a subordinate clauses building a complex sentence?

texts:
Do relative clauses count as dependent clauses after reduction? Or is it different case by case? for example:

The man who is in the house is my father. (complex sentence)
The man in the house is my father. (Still a complex sentence?)

The Evening Show which is airing this month has a new host. (a complex sentence)
The Evening Show airing this month has a new host. (Still a complex sentence?)

What about appositives?

Her hair, which is long and golden, reflected the sunlight. (a complex sentence)
Her hair, long and golden, reflected the sunlight. (Still a complex sentence


texts: Why was the color yellow chosen? Why not the green pages or blue pages?


texts: Greetings when replying to the other party's response

texts:
Writing formal emails, When I reply to the other party's email, how should I start my e-mail?

Starting the email for the first time, I'd say Dear XXX. But should I say it again when I write to them for the second time in reply to what they've said or no greetings is needed in that case? Should I simply just say hello again or something like that?


texts: What's the difference between "awesome thanks" and "thanks very much"?

texts:
I've found "awesome thanks" in a forum reply. I wonder if there is difference between these two expressions?

  awesome thanks
  thanks very much


texts: Compound Sentence with Questioning Conjunction

texts:
Of the two sentences below, which one is correct and what is the related grammatical concept?

  I can't figure out where the above identity comes from.
  I can't figure out where does the above identity come from.


texts: Is it correct to use the word aforementioned in an open-ended chatting context in which the conversation backtracks, such that the item that was mentioned before (as in, earlier in time) in the conversation actually appears undermentioned in the view?  This might also occur in a conversation about a collaborative document that is being discussed within the document. If this is not correct usage, what would be correct?


texts: is it correct to use "behind" and "back" at the same time?

texts: I understand if something is done behind you, it is already unknown to you. Your back has no eyes and therefore one cannot see what's done at their back. I am driving towards the use of "behind my back". it sounds like the opposite. for instance, if someone says the pen is "behind the back" of the book, the person may literally mean the pen in front of the book.


texts: Their countries or their country, referring back to 'Less developed nations'?

texts:
I am confused with the use of their + noun. I have two examples below. Which one sounds reasonable? Please help me clarify it. Thanks!

Less developed nations need foreign aid from developed nations in order to develop their country.
Less developed nations need foreign aid from developed nations in order to develop their countries.


texts:
I was reading an article which included the sentence:

  He claimed that the letter was satire.

I scoffed and wanted to exclaim, "satire against what?" -- but I'm not sure that's the correct or most appropriate phrasing.

Ngram viewer indicates that "satire of X" is most popular (between "against", "of" and "for"), but is one more correct than another? Are there meaningful differences for when I would use one vs. another?


texts: Internal Citations when Multiple Sources are Similar

texts:
For my research paper, I have multiple sources with the same title. I have 3 different sources all named "The Treaty of Versailles", with no author.

They are all from internet sources. One is from the U.S. Senate website, another from the British National Archives, and a third from an online encyclopedia.

How would I write the internal citations for this? I hardly think that writing ("The Treaty of Versailles" 1) for all three sources would be acceptable. Thanks for your help!

EDIT: My teacher told us that we can use internet sources without listed authors. He said I definitely could use the sources because two of them are from respectable organizations (US Senate and British National Archives).

He forwarded us to this website: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

On this site, it says,

  Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited
  entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article
  name, website name, film name).

And for my works cited entries, they all have "The Treaty of Versailles" as the first item.


texts: Is there a single word for people who inhabit rural areas?

texts:
Even today, _____ have been living in the past

( ____ = habitants of rural areas)

Note- The inhabitants can be sophisticated or unsophisticated, literate or illiterate. They should just live in a non-urban place.


texts:
In the following sentence, although a gerund would be preferred, is the usage of "to spend" correct?

"Do you really think it's worth it to spend hundreds of pounds on video games?"


texts: Is "I am going to bath" a correct use of the word "bath"?

texts: I keep hearing from Zimbabwe people living in UK the expression: "I am going to bath" instead of I'm having a bath or taking a bath, or even I'm going to bathe. Are these foreigners using the word bath incorrectly? To me going to bath is travelling the M3 to the west country.


texts: What is the rule for using the words "this" or "that" at the beginning of a sentence

texts:
I tend to use the word this at the beginning of a sentence when I want to refer to something I said in the previous sentence. For example:
The purpose of a singleton pattern is to allow only one instance of a class. This is beneficial when a program requires only one object to carry out operations for a class.
Grammarly gives me an "intricate text" warning when I use the word "this" instead of "that."
Can someone give me intuition to know which word to use? Thank you.


texts: When, if ever, can I use "balded" in modern English?

texts:
"balded", as in the past tense of the verb to bald, is apparently a word.  But when, if ever, would I use this?

If a person is losing their hair, they are balding.  If they have already lost it, they either are bald or have gone bald -- but they are not balded.

If I'm describing a hairless head, it's a bald head, while if there is some hair left, it's conceivably if somewhat awkwardly a balding head.  But a balded head?  Nope.

What, if anything, am I missing?


texts:
Do people's names have meanings in English?

If so, where can I look up names to find their meanings?

If not, where did these names come from originally?


texts:
"Anniversary" comes from Latin: "anni" [genitive of annus = year] + "vers(us)" [past participle of vertere = to turn]. I am interested in constructing a similar word which means "reoccurring every 1000 days".

"One thousand", in Latin, is mille and the genitive plural of "day" is dierum. Hence: mille-dierum-versary. However, this doesn't sound brilliant -- I know very little about Latin, so am not sure how its affixation works -- so does anyone have any better suggestions?


texts: Does one hyphenate height when given in feet and inches?

texts: In a work of fiction I'm writing, I'm using the colloquial phrase five-one to refer to someone's height. Should that be hyphenated as five-one, or should it just be written woth a space separating the two parts, so as five one?


texts: Re: Collective noun and personal pronoun agreement (e.g., "The staff is deciding how they want to vote.")

texts:
This NOTE (found under Rule 9.) states the following:

Anyone who uses a plural verb with a collective noun must take care to
be accurate—and also consistent. It must not be done carelessly. The
following is the sort of flawed sentence one sees and hears a lot
these days:
The staff is deciding how they want to vote.
Careful speakers and writers would avoid assigning the singular is and
the plural they to staff in the same sentence.
Consistent: The staff are deciding how they want to vote.
Rewriting such sentences is recommended whenever possible. The
preceding sentence would read even better as:
The staff members are deciding how they want to vote.

The three given options:

Flawed: The staff is deciding how they want to vote.

Consistent: The staff are deciding how they want to vote.

Even better: The staff members are deciding how they want to vote.

Question (1 of 2):
Would you agree with those general assessments? As I understand them...
The 1st is flawed because it's inconsistent (re: they/is).
The 2nd is consistent, but such sentences should be rewritten whenever possible.
The 3rd is even better, specifically meaning it reads better than #2.
Question (2 of 2):
If #2 isn't flawed in some way, why should it be rewritten? Either it's idiomatic (somewhere, I suppose) or it's not.
I'm not sure if that's about grammar or a writing tip.

Thanks for the answers and comment. Since this posting, I've seen the workaround option (#3) being suggested as though it were preferred, presumably, by most AmE speakers (but not BrE; they differ in this regard, and many others). That's enough for now. I'm not really interested in stats re: idiomacy; it varies.
Note: I no longer use this source, but I see no way to work it out of this particular question.


texts:
I came up with an idea that I want a Court to grant. I am not sure if I should refer to it as a "proposition" or "proposal" and I feel like the two can be used interchangeably.
This is how I would say it in Court "Here's a proposition that I came up with that I think the Court should consider" or "Here's a proposal that I came up with that I think the Court should consider."
Which one is more appropriate?


texts:
I just received an email that included the phrase

  soup-to-nuts

meaning "end-to-end." Are there any other alternatives to this? eg cradle-to-grave? I want to include some in the reply email.


texts: What term means "the places in an episode where commercial breaks once were"?

texts:
When a television episode is played on TV, it often has many commercial breaks. When the same episode is transferred onto other formats, such as VHS, DVD, or streaming video, the commercial breaks are deleted. What remains is a very short period of black.

What special term can be used to refer to this place? The term "commercial break" is not so suitable, because my readers will not see any commercials and they might also not recognize that such a place once had a commercial. "Scene change" also does not seem to be a good fit, because many commercial breaks were places in the episodes in places that were not scene changes. Furthermore, scene changes can occur at other times in a film too. Does the television industry have a suitable term?


texts: Placement of commas and 'and' in English numerals

texts:
I have a similar question to the one below
When writing out large numbers in words, should commas be placed at thousand separators?
I'm writing a program to spell out large numbers, and am unsure if there should be a comma or an "and" in the following numerals, before the "24":

101024
"One hundred and one thousand, and twenty-four"
1024
"One thousand and twenty-four"

I think that this is rarely a problem in real life, but what would be the correct way of doing this?


texts: Is the word "data" now considered singular? If so, what about "datum"?

texts:
I know that the singular of data is datum. I know that data is a plural.

However, common usage of the word "data" suggests it is used as a "collection of data".

  Here is [the collection of] data.

In which case, is the word data now a singular again, or still the plural? If so, what is the correct use of the word data and datum now?


texts: What does “It’s just another day in paradise.” mean in political and diplomatic context in association with U.S. and Russia summit talks?

texts:
I came across a phrase, “It’s just another day in paradise” in an article by The Hill (July 20) that came under the title, “Trump demoralized his own team with dizzying Russian moves.”
It reads;

“Rank-and-file intelligence and national security official feel demoralized by the president’s failure to publicly call out Putin for interfering in the 2016 election.
“It’s just another day in paradise,” said one former White House official. – Russia narratives have been a daily ordeal for two years. Nobody knows what the president will do or say and nobody knows what they don’t know.”

I can’t find the exact meaning of “It’s another day in paradise” in dictionaries at hand nor in online dictionaries, except the quote from Phil Collins’ title of a song, “Another Day in Paradise.” and lyrics I googled;

"Oh, think twice. It’s another day for you and me in paradise.
Oh, think twice. It’s just another day for you, You and me in paradise."

It may not be a positive remark here anyway. But, I’m curious to know what “It’s just another day in paradise,” exactly means, when it is used in the specific context of political / diplomatic deals.


texts:
As far as I understand, this structure is grammatically correct:

  Not only would it provide ..., but it also would...

Can we omit "but" without introducing a mistake?

  Not only would it provide ..., it also would...

I've found the following explanation here but I think this example has slightly different meaning:

  Usually, a "not only" feels lost without a "but also" to pal around
  with. However, it is idiomatically possible and acceptable to omit the
  "but also." Burchfield gives this example: "Rowers not only face
  backward, they race backward." Authority: The New Fowler's Modern
  English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford,
  England. 1996. Used with the permission of Oxford University Press.
  (under "not")


texts: Phrase for when you pretend to put up resistance to something but really you want it to happen?

texts: For example if someone says "Do you want a beer?" there’s a phrase which means "you've convinced me" or "if you're going to force me". It's as if they've had to put in effort to make you say yes when you haven't really.


texts: Why would we say by car or by bus instead of saying by a car or by a bus, or by the bus or by the car? Because when I want to refer to a specific kind of a car, how would I say it? Such as: a gang ran away by a car or by the car.


texts: How could I rewrite the sentence in active voice?

texts:
I have a passive voice as follows:

  The algorithm is naturally designed for texture classification.

It is a passive voice. Could I rewrite the above sentence in active voice?


texts: Is it necessary to use "a" before "lot" in a sentence

texts:
Which one of the following is grammatically correct -

He is going through lot of stress.
He is going through a lot of stress

On one of online platforms it suggested to use a lot


texts: "To increase competitiveness in" or "to increase competitiveness on"?

texts:
Which phrase is the correct one?

  to increase competitiveness in the EU labor market
  to increase competitiveness on the EU labor market


texts: Formulation for making a binding choice in an online application

texts:
I need a formulation that clearly indicates that a binding choice is made by pressing a button. The expression is written on a Button, so it has to be concise.

I currently use "Select X bindingly", which sounds awful.

Any ideas are appreciated.


texts:
I have found the sentence which uses a structure following below:
S + having + O
The sentence is like this :
A name having some properties

In here, I am confuse, does the sentence refer to simple or continuous verb?


texts: Is there a name for this type of insult: "I am friends with many manly men. And Gary."?

texts:
Is there a term or word appropriate to describe the trick of using a general term and then explicitly adding a specific term to strongly imply that the specific is not part of the general? The trick I see never uses a negation or a word like "except." It simply "adds" something at the end as a slight or insult to the thing being added:

My classes are filled with really smart people. And John.
Before you are the best and most clever and most attractive and Susan.


texts: What is difference between outsourcing & delegation?

texts: i was writing an article about cad drafting services, could you let me know which one will be appropriate to use outsource or delegate ?


texts: Is the sentence "Lúthien was fled." in Tolkien's Silmarillion an example of perfect tense using "to be" as the auxiliary verb?

texts:
Or is "fled" an adjective here?

Some automated process is saying to me: "Your question has been identified as a possible duplicate of another question. If the answers there do not address your problem, please edit to explain in detail the parts of your question that are unique."

I'm to answer to the charge that my question is the same as this question: "Is it acceptable to use “is become” instead of “has become”? 6 answers"

To this charge I say: I am very aware that "is become" is an archaic form os "has become". That is not my question.


texts:
I have a simple question — in a greeting or salutation such as "Good Morning Jane", since I believe it is a contraction, is Jane the object (as in "Good Morning to Jane") or is it the subject (as in "Jane, a good morning to you")?

What about a common salutation such as "Dear Jane"?


texts: Can we use "as per your asking" when replying to queries?

texts: I am very confused at this usage, very common among my friends. As far as I understand, the correct usage is as per your query or as per your request. My friends though use as per your asking. Which phrase is better?


texts: Subordinating conjunction or preposition

texts: Why is the existence of subordinating conjunctions not accepted by many on this forum. Instead they call these words as preposition .examples-Than, before, after, while,  because etc.


texts: Why use "what is ... to/by me" rather than "my ... thing"?

texts: I noticed that in English we say, "My favorite thing", and it's okay, but we don't say, "My well-liked thing".  Why is this?  Why use, "What is well-liked by me ..."?


texts: What is the word for letters that do not ascend above the midline / uniform height? (i.e. aceuomnwxz, not btlj)

texts:
I found the word for the part of letters that rise above the midline (ascender: The part of a lowercase letter that rises above the main body of the letter (as in b, d, h). The part that extends above the x-height of a font.), but I seem to be unable to find a word that denotes the letters that do not ascend (or descend) above the "x-height."

A word that categorizes the letters "weruoaszxcvnm" but not "qtyipdfghjklb".

Also, is there a word for words composed solely of these letters? (e.g. erroneous). I was trying to find the longest such word of letters with uniform height.


texts: What is a real word that means "disenthused"?

texts:
I want to get across the point that I was no longer enthusiastic about something:

  When I walked in the room I was disenthused by what I saw.

AFAIK, disenthused isn't a word.

Edit: Chasly was right about my question being more vague than I intended.  Lots of great answers which can only be discriminated by criteria I failed to include in the original post.  I will not repeat the mistake for future postings.

Thank you all for the help.  I've marked the answer that best fits my situation as "accepted", but future Googlers should scroll through the list of answers for their needs.


texts: I am writing a report about an assessment, the subject of the assessment is a large group of patients and their health. The report refers to the patients repeatedly. my question is : how proper/common/fitting/understood the word "assessee" would be ?


texts:
Sometimes I encounter sentences that are very difficult to unpack into coherent thought. Sentences with tautological double or triple negatives; and sentences where one part contradicts another in grammar or vocabulary.

Since tautologies and oxymorons needn't necessarily operate at the same level of context in a sentence -  Can a sentence be both a tautology and an oxymoron?


texts: Difference between "World" and "Universe"

texts: What are the differences between the two? I thought that "World" means everything, i.e the same as "Universe" (disclaimer: I'm not making a statement about multiverses here, don't take it as a scientific text). But people seem to think it means the same as "Earth".


texts: 1st hour, 2nd hour, 3rd hour... But how to say "zero"-th hour?

texts:
E.g. in School we have 5-7 or 8 hours every day (Math, History, Biology, Chemistry, English etc.).

The first hour starts at 8:00 A.M.

But every Thursday we have an hour that stars at 7:10 A.M.

In the table it will look like this (just random picture from the web):

In Czech language we call it:

nultá hodina which is something like zero-ish hour

and then 1st, 2nd and 3rd: první, druhá, třetí hodina

How is nultá hodina (the hour that is before the first hour) called in English?

And how do you write it "shortly"? As 0th ? Or somehow else?


texts: Can you say "He is fluent in his native French and Mandarin"?

texts:
I know that this sentence is correct: "He is fluent in Swahili, besides being fluent in his native French".

Is it possible to say this with two languages though?

"He is fluent in Swahili, besides being fluent in his native French and Mandarin."

Thank you!


texts: What characters are used in English for a person's name?

texts:
[Edit]

To be clear, this is not a programing question. What is sought an example of set of rules, a government or a business (in an English speaking locale) uses to determine the acceptable character set of people's names.

I am not trying to limit names, but to understand what limits have been applied  in English speaking locales.

[Edit 2018] I did find one about length:
Hawaiian Woman Gets IDs That Fit Her 36-Character Last Name: the state's cards will have room for 40 characters in "first and last names and 35 characters for middle names,"

Any other examples appreciated.

@Mark Beadles suggested addressing what problem would an answer help one solve.  My primary interest stems from decoding old and new government/business records (death certificates, city directories, phone books), both typed and some hand written.  How would various names using atypical letters get mangled, restricted and how that changed over time to accommodate?  Yet much of that could interpretive and opinionated.  Instead, I am looking for rules, preferable published, that specified what names could be published in some English speaking locales.

Obviously the letters A-Z (upper and lower case) are used in a person's name.

Last names like "Smith-Brown", "Van Buren", "O'Brian" also use -, space and '.

Historical ÆLFRÆD and novel names like "Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence" push the range of acceptable characters.

I am looking for a modern example of some English speaking country or business (like a phone directory publisher) published rules that define acceptable/non-acceptable characters of a name of more than just the usual A to Z.

Other posts:
What non-alphabetic characters are valid in English spelling? discuses English words, but I suspect names have a broader range. I suspect acceptable characters used in names in English speaking lands have a wider range characters than the rest of the language.
Any other letters lost besides thorn, edh, and yogh? discuses early words.


texts: What style should I use in e-mail salutations to superiors, colleagues, or juniors?

texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  Salutation in an Email
  How do you greet multiple recipients in an e-mail?

How do I use the initial words while writing an e-mail, in particular, to my superiors?

Suppose somebody is writing a letter to the HR representative of a company, requesting a letter, approval, information, etc. Should the salutation be written like:

  Hi

or:

  Dear

or her/his name:

  Dear Jenny

Are any of these proper way? Or, should I leave it blank and start with the crux of the matter right away?

Does it matter whether I know the person or not, or if the person is not my superior but is a colleague or junior?


texts:
I have a parallelism question. I want to convey that Kenny wrote a book on Eric Cartman's life. Please see the two versions below and see whether my reasoning next to them makes sense.

In 2005, Kenny wrote a book titled "Life and Times of Eric Cartman," which is based on Cartman's life. --> This reads like I am conveying that Kenny wrote a book with this title, and the fact that it is based on Cartman's life is a secondary information.

In 2005, Kenny wrote a book based on Cartman's life, titled "Life and Times of Eric Cartman". --> This reads likes the book title is a secondary information. The primary information is that Kenny wrote a book Cartman's life.

thanks,


texts:
Suppose you are a guard at a prison, watching the surrounding scene from your observation tower. You have a gun and you are instructed to shoot any escapee you witness.

One day, you indeed witness a prisoner trying to escape from the prison. Though you will be punished if you do not act as instructed, you decide not to kill the prisoner.

So you shoot but intentionally miss. Is there a word for intentionally missing with a gun?


texts: sentence with two meanings... how can I make it have only one meaning?

texts:
Prosecutors have filed charges against a man who was shot when he
  allegedly tried to rob an Independence homeowner in the middle of the
  night.

It seems, to me, to be having two meanings.

  The first one is that "a man who was shot when robbing a homeowner was
  charged by prosecutor."

  The second one is that "a man who was shot previously was charged by
  prosecutor when he attempted another robbery."

According to the context, it is most likely that the author was trying to express the first meaning. But how is it possible to know which one of those two meanings he was trying to express if I do not have any context clue? Is there a way to do such thing?

I think it is possible to attain the second meaning with a simple comma...

  Prosecutors have filed charges against a man who was shot, when he
  allegedly tried to rob an Independence homeowner in the middle of the
  night.

By making the "when..." parenthetical, it becomes easy to make the sentence mean the second meaning.

But how can I make the sentence mean only the first meaning without changing the structure of the sentence?


texts: Quote similar to "the pen is mightier than the sword"

texts: I'm looking for a quote that is similar to "the pen is mightier than the sword", which is commonly credited to Edward George Bulwer-Lytton. The quote should state the same thing, namely, that words are very powerful, and in the best case be attributable to some author / historic figure. Thanks for any ideas or thoughts.


texts: What's a better way to say, "I'm a TV whore"?

texts:
A friend uses this ____-whore construction all the time. I challenged her to find a better way to say it. I suggested addict, enthusiast, devotee, and several other words. She said none of these convey her meaning the way whore does. She says she'll watch anything. I told her she's not being paid to watch, and whore would imply that she is.

Can anyone suggest a better alternative?


texts:
I would like to continue the sentence with the idea that we will work tuned in. Is it...?

we need to be sure that we are in the same page for this work
we need to be sure that we are in the same page to this work
we need to be sure that we are in the same page in this work

or any other correct ussage
It just seems to me that none of them is right, and I would like to know how that expression is used


texts:
I am writing a piece of software related to meetings.

Participants are invited to a meeting using a button which the command "invite" is written to be pressed by the person who wished to do the inviting. Is the word "invite" in this context the imperative form of the verb?

If I now look at a list of my own meetings to which I've been invited my status is "invited" with respect to those meetings. What is the form of the verb of my status?

I can now "accept" or "decline" using similar buttons. Are these also imperative?

Both requestor and requestee can view their meetings. In each case there will be a status for each participant of "invited", "accepted" or "declined". I take it they have the same form as "invited", above and are the same for no matter who is looking.


texts: What is the meaning of the word “larriking”?

texts:
From “Holiday Memory” in  Quite Early One Morning by Dylan Thomas

  Lolling or larriking that unsoiled, boiling beauty of a common day, great gods with their braces over their vests sang, spat pips, puffed smoke at wasps, gulped and ogled, forgot the rent, embraced, posed for the dicky bird, were coarse, had rainbow-coloured arm-pits, winked, belched, blamed the radishes, looked at Ilfracombe, played hymns on paper and comb, peeled bananas, scratched, found seaweed in their panamas, blew up paper-bags and banged them, wished for nothing.

I searched the word in Google and in the Thesaurus but that didn’t help much. Could anyone provide the meaning and possibly the etymology of the word?


texts: "Not to worry" — unknown grammar category?

texts:
The phrase "not to worry" feels more like German grammar than English.

What category of grammar is this, and are there any comparable examples?


texts: What grammatical roles do infinitives and participles assume when used predicatively?

texts:
A non-academic grammar site I was reading says:

A linking verb will always be completed by an adjective (a predicate adjective) or a noun (a predicate nominative).
...
A linking verb can only be completed by a predicate adjective or a predicate nominative (i.e., a noun or a pronoun). (source)

This, of course, is incorrect. I am thinking participles, infinitives, and predicative clauses which I am not sure fall under either one. But it occurred to me that I don't know what the former two are called grammatically. I know in a sentence predicate a clause would be a predicative clause, a gerund a predicate nominative. And those mentioned are probably all predicative expressions.

She is running. (present participle)
She is stunned. (past participle)
The only thing she can do right now is wait. (infinitive)

So do these have specific names in grammar?


texts: Is it still genocide if it's everyone but a particular group?

texts:
a google definition of genocide is

  the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group.

but what if the deliberate killing was everyone but those of a particular nation or ethnic group, for instance a religious group who believes their god seeks to purge the world of all life with the exception of the faithful. this also includes other non-human races (elf, drawf, orc, etc) and animals

So would the deliberate killing of everything but a single group still be a Genocide? is not what word would be used?


texts: Is it common to use "mule" to refer to stupidity?

texts:
Example:

  I'm a mule when it comes to math.

Is this usage common? If not, what other animal or object is more widely used by native English speakers?


texts:
I have just watched the "Jungle Fever 1991" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_Fever) film which tell a story a white woman dates a black man. So,

Does "Jungle Fever" mean a white woman dates a black man? (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jungle+fever)

If it does, then why they say "Jungle Fever"?


texts: Hey could someone please tell me what is the word or synonym for "copying someone's pose, style , get up"?


texts: Can adverbs be qualified as transitive/intransitive?

texts:
In my english lesson today i was told that "afterwards" is an intransitive adverb (I cannot write "afterwards this") while "after" is a transitive adverb.
Is this distinction transitive/intransitive grammatically correct?


texts: What's the difference between a murder and an assassination?

texts:
I am unsure what the technical difference is between a murder and an assassination. Instinctively I feel it's to do with the victim - perhaps their fame? Royalty?

What is the distinction between the two?


texts: Is there a word to refer to the cap some British soldiers wear?

texts:
Whenever Britain is abuzz with some celebration, I find these people (cops or soldiers?) in red strutting about in parades wearing an elongated black headdress.

Is there a word for this peculiar hat, just like there is a zuchetto to refer to the Pope's cap?


texts:
While researching for the rhyme scheme used by hip-hop artists (Hail Eminem!), I found this wikipedia article:

  A feminine rhyme is a rhyme that matches two or more syllables, usually at the end of respective lines, in which the final syllable or syllables are unstressed. It is also commonly known as double rhyme.

An example of a rhyme that qualifies as feminine is fashion with passion.

Now, as Wikipedia articles go, this isn't one of the better ones. There is no clue as to why it's named that way.

Consulting Etymonline and Oxford didn't help.

Does anyone know why is the double rhyme also called the female/feminine rhyme? And please shed some light on the origin of masculine rhyme as well.

PS - It seems hip-hop artists call these 'multies'. Short for multisyllabic rhymes.

EDIT: My reasearch has taught me what these terms mean. So please answer regarding the origin only. And it would be good if there is some attribution, because the terms invite speculation.


texts: What is the name of this "yawning like" movement?

texts:
You may do this when you're tired or after a nap. This movement is usually called "yawning" but I think yawning is a bit different. With this movement, we may yawn too. After waking up, it usually comes with a yawning but when we are tired, we usually don't yawn with. And this movement makes us feel better.

The picture below is an example of this movement:

The picture's source: nordic-comfort.co.uk
In some languages, like Persian (aka Farsi), there is no difference between yawning and this movement but in some other languages like Azerbaijani, there is a difference.


texts: Is the phrase "in function of" proper English?

texts:
I'm not sure if this is pure English, or just something I picked up as a direct translation from my native language (Dutch).

It applies to maths/computer terms.

An example usage would be:

  X is created in function of Y.

Someone I know claims this is not English. He suggests I use

  X is created with respect to Y.

instead. Please help me prove him wrong.


texts: Term: what kind of data should we call things like 'periodic table' etc

texts:
I am not sure if this should be an English language question but to me I think it is very appropriate...
I am writing an article where I describe different types of data that scientists often use to predict the flooding incidents during a rainfall. To give you some examples, such data may include

hydrological data (rainfall intensity, watercourse)
urban planning data (e.g., drainage network)
topographical data (street elevation etc)
evaporation

For the last item, people often use a look-up table that defines water evaporation as constants under different temperature conditions. In a way, this is like things like periodic table, where attributes of chemical elements are constant and will not change; constant parameters in other science domains such as speed of light, sound, or mathematical constant pi, ... Such are not data that need to be collected during the flooding incidents, but certainly data that needed to for the prediction tasks.
What should I call such data? Scientific variables? Common sense constants? Or are there any better terms?
Thanks


texts: Is using "Says" in the beginning of a sentence correct?

texts:
A listed company uses the following sentence structure in all its press releases:

  Says John Smith, Director, ABC Ltd, “The credit profiles of FMCG companies are likely to remain stable, supported by ...”

Is using "Says" at the beginning of a sentence grammatically correct?


texts:
Is it same as come from, but use in formal relationship ?

This is the context.

I hail from commercial division of midas bank.


texts: What's the neutral measurement unit for masculine and feminine?

texts:
When we want to know how tall or how short someone is, we can query for his tallness, shortness, or height (neutral measurement unit).

Is there such a neutral measurement unit for the adjectives masculine and feminine?

E.g. When we want to know how masculine or how feminine someone is, we can query for his masculineness, feminineness, or ______ (neutral measurement unit).

Gender wouldn't work, since it seems to suggest only two points, either male or female.


texts: Using single quotation marks for shorter quotes, and double quotation marks for longer ones?

texts:
Background
This website has had a fair share of questions on the use of single versus double quotation marks. The most popular question on this topic is a good resource on their use in American and British English.
To summarize, American English mostly uses double quotes and reserves single quotes for specific use cases, while British English theoretically prefers single quotes, though this is not necessarily the case in practice.
Question
However, I have noticed a pattern in the way some people use single and double quotes which is not mentioned in any of the style guides referenced in the question I linked to. Some people seem to use single quotes when quoting a single word or a phrase, and double quotes for anything longer than that. This would look like the following example.

While Alice said that this constitutes ‘proof’, Bob insists that “more evidence is needed before a conclusion can be confidently reached”.

I am not the only one to notice this use pattern. In his answer to the question I linked to above, a user called “mafu” notes that

I found that in practice single marks are commonly used for single words or short sentences while double marks are used to denote longer passages of text.

Is this a legitimate thing? Is there any style or grammar guide that recommends or accepts this?
More Details
I was trying to figure out the origin of this use pattern.
A user called “jbelacqua” explains in a comment that he/she does this because he/she feels that, since double quotes require more effort to input on a keyboard, they befit longer quotes which justify that effort.
Also, this use pattern might have been inspired by programming, as discussed in this question. However, that refers to quoting single versus multiple characters, so I’m not sure if that could have carried over to quoting single versus multiple words.


texts: Should I use "have" or "had" in this sentence?

texts:
The person I'm talking to says something like "Did you just insult my sense of humor?"

Then I reply "I didn't say you __ one"

Should I use "have" or "had"?

I'm trying to convey that he doesn't have one but using "had" sounds like it limits it to past tense.


texts: Meaning of "To be the last person to do something" in a group of people

texts:
Me and two of my friends share a pie. They ask me: "Do you want to be the last person to take a piece from this pie?" I answer: "Yes".

Do I now get to eat only the last piece or the third piece which might not be the last one?


texts: Single opening with multiple doors: "trapdoor" or "trapdoors"

texts:
Is it "a trapdoor" or "trapdoors" for one opening with two or more doors covering it? One example is the one(s) covering Black Horse Inn's cellar.
Clearly it is plural when there are two or more separate openings each covered by one or more doors, and it is singular when there is one opening covered by one door. Cambridge Dictionary says a trapdoor is "a small door in a ceiling or floor", and Merriam Webster and Oxford similarly describe a single door covering a single opening. The title on the Black Horse Inn Cellar example image refers to a "trap door", which is singular but also an open compound word rather than a closed compound word.
I cannot find an official reference disambiguating this, so perhaps either way is correct?


texts:
If I want to question someone about what makes up a given dish, which of the following sentences is the most appropriate ?

What is this dish made up of ?

What is this dish made from ?

It seems to me that the first sentence is more appropriate when we want to know all of the food found on a dish while the second one is more for ingredients, am I right ?
In addition to the proper way to question a person, how can we answer someone who asked us to describe a given dish ?

This dish is composed of eggs, french fries, rice ...

Is this construction fine or is there a more proper way to say that ?


texts: full time or full-time, what is the rule here

texts:
It is a sentence completion question from IELTS. I got it wrong because I didn't have the hyphen. I want to know what is the general rule here. I only found This pagesays that :generally, you need the hyphen only if the two words are functioning ttogether as an adjective before the noun, if the nouns comes first, leave the hyphen out.
That probabbly doesn't apply to this situation. So I wonder is there is a rule to explain the use of hyphen in full-time or if I just have to memorize it.


texts:
Can I consider both noon and evening meals as dinner?

So, I have been thinking about the conflicts among the meanings of Lunch, Dinner and Supper. I have found many satisfying answers. But the thing is, I am from a South-Asian nation where people have meals 3 times a day. While we have light food for morning meals, we have heavy food both at noon or in the afternoon and in the evening or at the night(Normally 9:00 pm - 12:30 am). We do have light meal in the evening but we don't consider it as a proper meal. In that case, can I consider them both as dinners? Sorry, my English skill is very poor.... .


texts: What is the difference in meaning between 'stoked' and 'psyched'?

texts:
I've heard both stoked and psyched used by native speakers quite a few times, and I thought they meant basically the same thing: 'excited'.

Then, I came across this slang expression:

  styched

claimed to be meaning:

  Being stoked and psyched at the same time

But now that the slang styched is claimed to denote both these words at the same time, there must be some difference between stoked and psyched.

What would that be?


texts: What is a single-word adjective for: "unable to help"?

texts:
I want to use an emotionally-charged adjective to express someone who witnesses the grave situation but cannot help in any manner. The context of the word:

  My grandfather narrated how during WWII, his step-father’s entire household starved to death. Imagining the gradual death of those children and a ___ mother made my eyes swell.

I want to use one word to describe the mother here as observing everything but unable to help.

Also, it would be extremely helpful if someone could make a suggestion on how to make this part sound better.


texts: How to explain sorting by time descending in colloquial English

texts:
I am writing a program where I need to ask if the user would like to sort the results by time ascending or descending. The program manages appointments.

So if time were sorted ascending, the appointments coming next/soonest would be displayed first. If sorted descending, the appointments furthest in the future would be displayed first.

My question is, how do I put this simply, in just a few words. I need everything to fit on one line so it is really a character limitation of about 30-40 chars (including spaces).
As an example, for sorting by name alphabetically (in order and reverse) I have:

  To sort A-Z: ' and 'To sort Z-A: '

So I was thinking of trying to use 'To sort by SOONEST' by then what is the opposite? FURTHEST doesn't make sense, and furthest in the future is too long.
Am I missing something obvious here? Thanks for your help!


texts: Direct antonyms of bifurcate / trifurcate?

texts:
I am looking for two words that would describe:

merge from two branches or forks;
merge from three branches or forks.

PS: am I "allowed" to continue the respective series by applying different numbers in Latin?


texts: Meaning of "You missed it by just a hare"

texts:
What does the sentence "You missed it by just a hare" mean, in this context:

Think these are rabbits?
You missed it by just a hare

If the context is about rabbit. What are the possible meanings of the bold sentence?


texts:
Is there any rule as to what is used in the beginning of a sentence, 'I' or 'Me'?

Example: 1) I and x are good friends.
         2) Me and x are good friends.

Which is correct? Or are both of these correct?


texts: Definite article or no definite article before "Americans" in this sentence from "The Adventure of English"

texts:
The Adventure of English, page 286, reads "The Americans are more polite about the English than the English are about Americans"

I wouldn't use the definite article before "Americans" in this sentence, and I can't understand why it is used at the beginning of the sentence but not at the end. Are both cases correct (using and omitting)?

For clarity: the sentence is the beginning of a paragraph that goes on: .... "The British feared that "their" English had been taken from them; that its new owners were not looking after it as deserved; and a deeper fear that they were at the cutting edge now: it was not the British who propelled the adventure.


texts:
I am looking for a word that means 'to be pulled' in that same sense of propelled or compelled means to be forced or urged forward.

Ideally, it would use the same base pel. Searching Google and Wiktionary isn't helping much.

Clarification

I am not looking for an antonym, per se.

When you say "I am compelled to ..." you are implying something unstated is acting upon you. For all intents and purposes "I am compelled to (do thing)" is equivalent to "I am compelled (by unstated thing/person) to (do thing)"

Using compelled can imply an actor, that isn't you, moving you in a direction away from itself.

I am looking for a word that, in a similar sense, has an actor acting upon you, but moving you toward itself.

Drawn would be a a good example of the kind of word I am looking for, but it doesn't (in my mind) imply an actor in the same way. I guess, because one is compelled to action, but one is drawn to a person or place.

A Note

Upon further thinking, the closest word I can think of is called, as in "I am called to (do thing)". There can be an implication of a hidden actor, but one cannot be called to change his/her state. One can be compelled to change his or her state. This is to say, one can be both compelled to do and compelled to be, but only called to do.

I do accept that there may not indeed be a word well-suited for the idea I am trying to express.


texts: Word to describe something characterized by facades?

texts:
Is there a word like facadal or facadeous? The context it is being used in is -
"in an increasingly ___ society".


texts: " 'Last' need not mean that there was something before it." Is this true?

texts:
I asked a question in another SE network, about the expression "Last Judgment". The question assumes that if "last" is used in such expression, there must be a sequence of events of size larger than one, to which such event is the last one. However, I got this comment, which states:

  'Last' need not mean that there was something before it. It can indicate that it is final with nothing to follow it.

Is this interpretation of "last" correct? Do you know of examples where "last N" is used to refer to an instance of N which has cardinality of one?

I looked at the ODO but to me this expression seems to be always used in reference to a series of events. As an adjective, points 1 and 2 are clear. Point 3 refers to most recent in time, or latest, but this seems to be about past events. The Last Judgment is always referring to a future, never to the past. Same conclusion follows when "last" used as an adverb.


texts:
I have searched in Reverso Context to find out how to say in English that I want to work in a different field (one, not several). The expression I have found is change jobs.

But if I had literally translated from the French expression, I would have written change job without an "s".

I would like to know which translation I should use. If it's the translation with "s", why is there an "s"? Normally I quit a job to take one other job, not several jobs. Therefore I don't understand why jobs should be plural.


texts:
everyone!

I need some help with the following:

He didn't tell me his secret and I was curious to know that I made up my mind to find it out with him. >>> Why is with used here? Is it possible to say from?
She lay awake all night thinking ____ what had happened. The answer which is given in the book is of. Why can't we use about (if it's implied that she had given some thoughts to the matter bafore)?
She felt that Jean had taken against her ____ the very start. The answers here are in and from. I understand 'FROM' but 'IN'?

Thanks a lot!


texts: I have a friend who acts horribly mean to people but whenever he needs something from the person he has been mean to, it is like he becomes another person. He acts extremely nice.However, even if he does get the thing he wants he instantly goes back to being mean. I have been trying to find a word that describes this person but I can't seem to find it. Any ideas?


texts: The term for misspellings that change the meaning of a sentence?

texts:
I am looking for the term that describes the use of a certain word in a sentence in place of the correct one; a word that happens to look very similar to the one actually needed, but has a different meaning, and that, in turn, causes a big change in the meaning.

A little example: convolution and convulsion.

I know there is a word for this because I've read about it in Wikipedia, but forgot the term.

EDIT: Thank you all! The term I was looking for was malapropism.


texts: I will think as if I had already taken it???(as a rejection)

texts:
The situation is that somebody tries to give me something as a reward(a kind of gift?). But I don't need it, but also I don't want to say to him/her, " no thanks!" I think it's kind of rude because he/she tries to show me his sincerity. So hmmm, in this case, I want to express like this, even though I didn't actually take it, I want to say as if I had already taken it. Are there any proper expressions for this situation?
How about this.. I'll think it I had already taken it. Haha this is literally translated. Tell me how to say in this situation. Always thanks. :}


texts: What is the grammatical function of "in my opinion"?

texts:
In phrases such as  "X is better than Y in my opinion" what is the grammatical function of the phrase "in my opinion"?

I know that prepositional phrases can function as adverbs or adjective depending on the context. I'm having difficulty understanding this usage in terms of either of those functions.


texts: Term describes the feeling of weariness or boredom

texts:
What do you call the state of tiredness or lack of interest. It is subtly different from ordinary boredom.  A feeling like "the world is so boring"but just a little different, implying that the state of weariness is a result of too many encounters with others.
There is an exact term but I can't remember it.


texts: Why do people say "that-a-way" instead of "that way"?

texts:
I've often the following:

  Bob: Have you seen Ian ?

  Geoff: Yes, he went that-a-way.

What is the reason people sometimes jokily add the extra "-a-" into the phrase? Where did this come from? It always makes me think of black-and-white gangster movie chase scenes. But that's probably just me.


texts: Does the word "spicy" predate the Columbian exchange, and if so, in which ways was it used?

texts:
Europe did not have any kind of capsicum or chili pepper before the Columbian exchange of the 15th and 16th centuries.

These days many people feel that the word "spicy" only describes the kind of "spicy hot" of chilis and not of the heat of black pepper, horseradish, mustard, wasabi, etc.

But was the word already in use before we knew of chilli peppers, I guess in the period roughly at the cusp of Middle English becoming Early Modern English?

If it was already a word then, how did we use it at that time, which foods, condiments, etc was it used to describe?

Even if the word came to us after chilies were already known, was that one of its major uses at first?


texts: What is the structure of "dorm room door"? Is it genitive?

texts: I wonder where we can make genitive without 's or of. I know that using "of" in "dorm room door" might be complicated but the question is when we are allowed to make such phrases.


texts: How to add emphasis without using profanity

texts: My son uses fuck or fucking to emphasize his statements. I told him there are words that you can use that aren't so offensive for my 3 year old grandchild to parrot!  He asked what word is so globally understood to add emphasis. Also, I am looking for a list of words.


texts: Why do we spell the word “who” with a silent “w” when it isn’t needed?

texts: If we spelled who without the W – making it ho like with do and to — it could still make sense, so why is there a silent W in the word who?


texts:
I'm trying to find a word or phrase that is a bit softer than the word "ruminating" or the phrase "mulling over."

A person who is contemplating something, a decision or whatnot, but not in such an fervent way as "rumination" implies.


texts: Is there a word to describe an offensive term reclaimed by the offended group

texts:
Is there a word to describe the process, or result of the process of, an offended group reclaiming a word for themselves. For example, it is common for gay people to call themselves queers, or sexually liberated women to call themselves sluts, or black people to refer to themselves by various offensive terms.

I seem to remember there is a term for this process. Wikipedia suggests "reappropriation" but I seem to remember there is a more specific term.


texts: Talking about a great fantasy hero, it was said that he "was the hero of ages". What does that mean?


texts: idioms that mean being good at something

texts: I am looking for a few idioms that mean either being good at something or simply being generally good. "Ace" is the word I have in mind, unfortunately not an idiom.


texts: What is the correct spelling for "Hippie-Dippy Bologna"?

texts:
Because while that is technically the correct spelling for each word, but as a phrase it doesn't seem to work well together.  It lacks symmetry (Hippie vs. Dippy) and uses the extremely rare-yet-proper Italian "bologna".

Origin:  The phrase is used with delightful comic effect in The Lego Movie and quoted on wikiquote as "hippie, dippy baloney".

Consider:

"Hippie-dippie" for symmetry?  Merriam-Webster supports it.  (Wiktionary includes it as a short entry).
Hippy?  Would match "Dippy".  Although "Hippie" has the most support in usage and prescription (on wiktionary and English stackexchange)

And yet Google suggests "Hippy Dippy Baloney Lego" for a "Hippie Dippy Baloney Lego" search, as if "Hippie" were misspelled based on the comparative number of search results.

Dippie?  Would match "Hippie".

And yet scarce presence among Internet dictionaries.
Whereas Dippy

Baloney?  Far more common in usage and growing in dictionary acceptance.
Dash between hippie and dippy?  Dash between all three?

The question is: How best to spell "Hippie-Dippie Baloney"?


texts: I have a page - similar to a wiki page - that contains descriptive information in paragraph form as well as a side bar with labels bits of information. This is a good example, the right size information bar. All the labeled bits of information; could I label that as "Discrete Data" or "Discrete Information"? Is there a more correct term for it?


texts:
I receive various requests -- over email -- of the form "Would you mind please..." or "Would you please mind..." with and without punctuation.  Neither of these sound quite right to my native AE/Californian ear.

Would you mind, please provide some details for us to capture the steps required for future requests?
Would you please mind providing some details for us to capture the steps required for future requests?

Are these grammatically correct?  Is there a better way to express these?  Is the "please" necessary and in what position in the sentence?


texts: Is it acceptable to use a tilde symbol to sign your name?

texts: Should the tilde symbol (~) be used to sign your name? It seems quite commonplace on Internet forums but I don't believe I've ever seen it used in books.


texts: Reported speech with “never”, which one is correct?

texts:
Direct speech: “I never lose my books”.
Which one is correct in Indirect speech:
“He said he never lost his books.”
or
“He said he never loses his books.” ?


texts: Different uses of 'kaffir' by white South Africans and Muslims

texts:
Back in apartheid-era South Africa and, in camera, probably even today, the word 'kaffir' is used in much the same way 'nigger' is used in the western world, ie. as a racist epithet directed at black people.

Recently I realised that Muslims use the word to indicate non-muslims or non-believers. Is there any connection between these two usages?


texts: Word for someone who puts on too much perfume

texts: Is there a word for someone who puts on too much perfume ? cologne ?


texts: “situation where” vs. “situation in which”

texts:
In my mother tongue I can use the word where not only to describe something connected to a location, but also to substitute in which.

My question is: Is it correct to use where in a sentence like this?

  Describe a situation where you had to show leadership.

Or it would be better to use in which instead?


texts:
If I say this sentence, would it be meaningful?

  Similarly, trees can be described by neighborhood relations which we
  can see how trees exist with other objects in reality

Actually what I want to say is: trees can be described using neighborhood relations that they make with other objects in their vicinity.


texts:
What is the difference between finally and eventually?

  He eventually escaped and made his way back to England.
  He finally escaped and made his way back to England.


texts:
Trying to think of a word or phrase for someone who was instrumental in getting a project started but was only minimally involved with the project itself. Needs to be humble.

Example:

  She was one of the people who requested the course of study and was
  part of the focus group in determining the curriculum. She was also
  one of the first people to graduate with this newly created degree.


texts: Edited: One Word like Eulogy in case of Superannuation(Retirement)

texts:
Eulogy: a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly, especially a tribute to someone who has just died.

When the person is retiring from work, what would the corresponding term be?


texts: Building a phrase structure of "On the weekend ..."

texts:
I'm reading Foundations of Statistical Natural Language Processing, and I'm doing one of the early exercises, trying to work out some of the language infliction about the word 'fun'.

  On the weekend the children had fun.

Trying to make a phrase structure parse of the above sentece, I'm not sure how to structure it. All formal grammars I've read describe a sentence as:

S → NP + VP

But I don't see how "on the weekend" could be a noun phrase? So far I've got this, but it doesn't seem right:

(PP On)(NP (D the)(N weekend))(S (NP (D the)(N children))(VP (V had)(NP (N fun))))

Resulting in this parse tree:

So my question is: What's the correct Part-of-speech tagging for (1)?


texts: How to properly organize grammar with complex sentence with dashes?

texts:
Alright, Im writing an APLAC paper and don't know if my word choice and more importantly grammar in the following is correct:

  I left my residence, embraced teary-eyed peers and entrusted my possessions to Home Depot - this is the customary performance - and set out four weeks ago to construe a brand of the American high school unfamiliar to me.

Not sure if my use of a conjunction in the first part is accurate, and can construe be used there? Would appreciate the help.


texts: Word for a gift you get by virtue of your job

texts: I am certain I once read a definition of a word that describes the gift you get only by virtue of your job and not really given to you personally. Like, when the US President gets a rug from the Ambassador from Afghanistan, it's not for Barack Obama the person, it would have been given to whomever the US President was at the time. I have searched and searched, and although I have found amusing examples of gifts and the laws, rules and etiquette around them, I haven't found this word. Can anyone help?


texts:
The sentence is as follow: "... this view of things, recommending itself equally to the intelligence of thinkers and to the inclination of those important classes ..."
In this sentence, what does "recommending itself" means?
Thank you.


texts:
What does the phrase "there are many and several" mean?

  ...which represent the highest quality properties in the market of which there are many and several.


texts: What do you call a provider who works on a offshore outsourced project?

texts:
I just started working online and I want to know the proper term (noun) for that kind of worker. I work for a foreign company from home. They pay me monthly as a full time employee and we have a long term agreement like a regular day job. So I can't call it freelance. What is the term that would define what I am doing?

Another term I am also confused with: "outsourcing/outsource." According to the dictionary it means:

To delegate (a task, function, or responsibility) to an independent provider

So in my point of view the company I am working for is "outsourcing." So what do you call the term that I am doing? Is there any fancy word for the worker?


texts: Is "the meaning of these signs" a singular or plural?

texts:
Which of these sentences is correct?

"The meaning of these signs are well-understood."

"The meaning of these signs is well-understood."


texts: What does the word "stock" mean in the word "Stock Media Product" on an agreement of 3Dmodel?

texts:
There are many meanings in the word "stock", but it's hard for me to figure out which one it is in the web dictionary.

The web dictionary:
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/stock

And here's the definition of “Stock Media Product” in the document:

  “Stock Media Product” is the collection of one or more digital files, packaged in the form of a product on the Site that can be identified by a product ID, and that is uploaded by you, or otherwise made available to you, for Purchase on the Site. A Stock Media Product may include 3D models, texture maps, motion captures, photographs, imagery, application and plug-in software, materials and shaders, shapes and vector graphics, training materials, building components, sound effects, stock music, and videos. Additionally, a Stock Media Product may include a number of individual files of different file formats to make it easier for Customers to work in a variety of software applications (such as 3ds Max, Maya, and Cinema 4D), and may also include other files (such as jpeg images used for texturing), and images or other files that are used for promotional purposes. For Customers and their use in Creations, this definition also includes derivative and intermediary files used for that purpose.

from:
https://blog.turbosquid.com/royalty-free-license/


texts: Is it necessary to use 'then' in the second/main clause of a conditional sentence?

texts:
If there is a problem, you need to communicate it.

vs.

  The question is that is there a difference between the two phrases? If
  yes, then what is it?

Both of them seem correct. So what is the rule here (in proper/standard English Grammar)?


texts: Meaning of the Oscar Wilde quote about the "tragedy of old age"

texts:
What does this quote by Oscar Wilde actually mean?

  "The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young"


texts:
Consider this situation: A girl has been lost and her parents are trying to find her. Hence, can I describe this circumstance as the following:

The child, who has been lost from her parents, is crying as she is watching thousands of strange people passing by.

Is the bold phrase accurate? If not, what is the best substitute for it? Thanks for any help.

Best regards


texts:
Is the sentence

  I used to be wandering at 7 a.m

Correct?

Or should i just say

  I used to wander at 7 a.m


texts: My friend said this to me when I suggested a place to go, "Anywhere but there". I asked my friend if he meant "Anywhere but not there", and he said both are equivalent. Is this true or is one of them more appropriate?


texts:
Just wondering if there is a Short form or a single word for 'Lab Supervisor'? I need the short form / single word to be at most 8 to 9 letters as the short form / single word will be placed on a menu (which have limited space).

Thank you.


texts: What does the joke with the punchline about Chrome and Hollandaise mean, and why is it funny?

texts:
A joke goes like this: A friend at work had an unusual dental related problem recently. About a month ago he had to have a small steel plate inserted in his mouth. A week later he noticed the plate was starting to rust. The dentist asked him if he had a change in his eating or drinking habits that may have caused the problem. My friend explained that he had tried hollandaise sauce for the first time recently and liked it so much he put it on everything. The dentist advised that the solution was to remove the steel plate and replace it with a chrome plate. When my friend asked why chrome the dentist replied, "There is no plate like chrome for the hollandaise!"

What does the punch line mean, and why is it funny?


texts: Is "Four times more" grammatically correct? And, if so, what precisely does it mean?

texts:
I have 10 beans. Jim has four times more.

Is this a valid sentence? And, if so, does it mean Jim has 40 or 50 beans?


texts: What is a natural term for the "partial word" in a game of hangman?

texts:
Halfway through a game of hangman, the piece of paper you are playing on might look something like this (omitting the partial drawing of the hanged man).

_AN_MAN
Guessed letters: EASTNRM

What is a natural term to use for the "partial word" _AN_MAN? I have tried googling, but to no avail. I am looking for a single word or short phrase that would be understood by anybody, and is less clumsy than "partial word". In my head I've been calling _AN_MAN the board, similar to how I suppose you might call a particular arrangement of chess pieces on a chess board "the board", but I do not think this would be immediately understood/considered natural.

Example sentence:

  After guessing seven letters, the _____ was _AN_MAN.


texts: Gype or Gyp researching into the origin of this word

texts:
I am trying to research the word Gype or I think it is spelt that way.  I have heard it to describe people.  "Oh he's a bit of a Gype/Gyp" meaning he is a bit of a Gypsey.  The phrase is meant to suggest a dishonest or dirty character.

In Irish it means stupid, and I think in Welsh it means Gypsey.  I am from North Yorkshire, but first heard the saying in the East Riding where is also meant Gypsey.

Has anyone else heard it and can you confirm what it means please?


texts: now it seems / as I see it now / as now I see it / to see it now / as for now / as of now What's the phrase I am looking for?

texts:
I came up with the following phrases to start the sentence, but I am not sure which one is proper.

Now it seems, that ...
As I see it now, ...
As now I see it, ...
To see it now, ...
As for now, ...
As of now, ...

My sentence is:

INSERT HERE the “learning-by-doing" philosophy did play an important role in consolidating my undergraduate knowledge.

The context of this sentence is that I did not realize the importance of the philosophy before, but finally, I do now when I look back.
I'm not sure if any of those is proper to fit the context; if not, please suggest better ones. Thanks!!
p.s. I am doing some formal writing, so I would like to make sure the usage of words is both proper and formal.


texts: Should I use a question mark when the second independent clause of my sentence is not a question?

texts:
Is it appropriate to use a question mark at the end of a compound sentence where the first independent clause is a question but the second is a statement? For example:

  Do you want attribution for that quotation, because I'm definitely sharing it and want to know if I should give you credit?

or

  Do you want attribution for that quotation, because I'm definitely sharing it and want to know if I should give you credit.

I suppose this could work, but it's a little niche, as the second clause might not always be appropriate for a parenthetical.

  Do you want attribution for that quotation (because I'm definitely sharing it and want to know if I should give you credit)?


texts:
In double-entry accounting, transactions are a series of debits and credits applied onto various accounts.

What English term could be used to represent something that is either a debit or a credit in a transaction (without specifically saying which one it is)?

Something like "ledger entry", but "ledger entry" is too vague.


texts: I want to know if this sentence is correct. Can we say "Most Legendariest ....."? If not, what is the alternative I can use? Thank you very much.


texts: In the following sentence, why is perfect conditional used instead of present conditional

texts:
From the Economist(soft paywalled)

  The well-respected senator, who said he was stepping down because of “mounting health challenges”, would not otherwise have been up for re-election until 2022, when he would probably have kept his seat.

The author was describing a future unreal event. According to what I learned in high school, he should have used present conditional instead of perfect conditional, which is used to describe unreal events in the past.

  The well-respected senator....otherwise would not be up for re-election...when he would probably keep his seat.

I always find conditionals very hard to grasp while learning English. I don't know if I made a mistake or if the venerable TE did. Thanks for your time.


texts: A combination of questions (Grammar, Writing and phrasal verb)

texts:
Q.1 what should I choose in the following context and why ? (early vs earlier)
1- I have been doing this since early/earlier this year.
2- This occurred early/earlier this year.
Q.2 is the following context makes sense ??
They want to break us of our traditions. ( I mean they don't want us to follow our traditions anymore).
Q.3 Checking writing: which of the following is more correct, in terms of writing ?
1- it is a round seat with soft top, no back and no sides.
2- it is a round seat with soft top and with no back and no sides.
3- it is a round seat with soft top and with no back and sides.


texts: Which diphthong takes place in 'desirous'?

texts: The phonetic transcription for desirous (in its BrE pronunciation) can be written as [dɪˈzʌɪərəs]. I wonder which diphthong—ʌɪ or ɪə—takes place in this word? Maybe here we can see a kind of haplology?


texts: The Condition Holds vs is Satisfied vs Obtains

texts:
In mathematical/scientific texts, conditions that are true (within context) are said to

hold
be satisfied
obtain

(the last one was news for me)

My question is whether there is nuance in meaning among the three versions or are these completely interchangeable (within this specific meaning referring to conditions) and are meant to be frequently interchanged to avoid repetition.

I did check NGrams for relative frequencies of these, but it doesn't tell me anything about difference in meaning.


texts: What does it mean by "they see me rollin', they hatin'"?

texts: I have seen a lot of teenagers nowadays going by the lingo "They see me rollin', they hatin'". I'm sure they use it to address their haters but what does it necessarily imply when they relate themselves to a 'rolling' action?


texts: What do you call a verb which accepts 2 nouns?

texts:
In English, there are intransitive verbs which can't used with a noun, or aren't being used with a noun (eg. listen, die, ...), and transitive verbs which can be (eg. almost all of them).

However, amongst the transitive usage of verbs, often a verb can be followed by two nouns, eg. "bring me dinner", or "write John a letter".  What's the name for this usage of a verb, and does it only ever apply with 2 nouns?  Can any be used with 3 or more nouns?


texts: Why might 'undelivered' be preferred to 'undeliverable' regarding mail?

texts:
In the UK, I have noticed that on envelopes, the text preceding the return address has changed from "If undeliverable, please return to:" to "If undelivered, please return to:".

To me, the term "undeliverable" seems more logical. Something is always "undelivered" until it has been delivered, so the "undelivered" form almost suggests that no attempt need be made at delivering it before returning it.

Therefore, I'm interesting in knowing the perceived advantages and disadvantages of each phrasing, and any suggestions as to why "undelivered" seems to be the norm these days.


texts: How many times is this that you've broken your promise. <Is this grammatically correct?

texts: How many times is this that you've broken your promise? I am reasonably sure that "How many times does this make it that you've broken your promise?" is correct. However, both sound fine to me and I can't be sure that the former is grammatically correct.


texts:
“Stephen felt his heart filled by Fleming’s words and did not answer.”
I read this sentence, from Portrait of the Artist, and wondered if the use of the past participle filled was an abbreviation or ellipsis of a larger construction and whether there would be much difference between the verb fill and participle filled had Joyce chosen the former instead of the latter. One describes an action, the other a state, right? But each is fine?


texts: What does the phrase "improve one's decision making" in this sentence refer to?

texts:
The expectation of intelligent gossip is a powerful motive for serious
  self-criticism, more powerful than New Year resolutions to improve
  one’s decision making at work and at home.

What does "improve one's decision making" in the above sentence refer to - "expectation of intelligent gossip" or "New Year resolutions"?

Is there a general rule of thumb to identify what phrases such as this, refer to? Also will there be any change in the meaning if a comma is introduced between "resolutions" and "to"?


texts: Why does "pre-" change the meaning of "dominantly" to mean "for the most part; mainly"?

texts:
Consider the following two sentences:

People in North America are predominantly English speakers.
People in North America are dominantly English speakers.

Merriam-Webster defines predominantly as "for the most part; mainly"; and while it doesn't directly define dominantly, the definition for dominant is "commanding, controlling, or prevailing over all others". Therefore, I would take dominantly to mean "in a commanding or controlling manner".
What I don't understand is how adding the prefix pre- changes the meaning of dominantly to the aforementioned definition.


texts: Using quotes when referring to word as word

texts:
In the example

  I did not think about using the word "about".

I feel that the word, about, should be wrapped in quotes. Is that correct?


texts: Does the word 'contribute' have a positive implication? Do I have to say , "We aspire to be a community that will contribute positively within and beyond this institution" or just say, " "We aspire to be a community that will contribute  within and beyond this institution"?


texts:
For the plural possessive of a surname, would you concur that these are correct?
the Rogerses' house
(surname is 'Rogers')
or should it be "the Rogers' house" for the plural possessive because 'Rogerses' is awkward?
the Hastingses' property
(surname is 'Hastings')
or should it be "the Hastings' property"for the plural possessive because 'Hastingses' is awkward?
Correct to these four?

the Williamses' property line
the Kennedys' house
the Joneses' dog
the Goronskys' pool

And lastly, would the following be a possessive or descriptive? 1 or 2?

(1) the Stevenses' family tree
(2) the Stevens family tree

A big and appreciative thanks.


texts:
I found this expression ("Plague it!") in a correspondence between two people. One of them starts her reply to the other one with this. The other person had expressed his despair to her.

I've found "Plague on it!" in SOED. Does this have the same meaning?

PS : The correspondence is between Bertrand Russell and Alys Pearsall Smith (his 1st wife) in December 1893.


texts: Generic term to describe how the lack of a normal limiting factor will allow an undesirable overuse of another resource

texts:
I'm looking for a word or phrase to describe the natural forces or factors that would normally either encourage or discourage a particular course of action if that factor is either present or not present. It is similar to "supply and demand" but should imply multiple factors (such as money, time, knowledge, etc.). It is also similar to population expansion models where the lack of predators or the overabundance of food might lead to unrestricted growth.

The terms that I'm looking for are most closely aligned with examples of the way that government subsidization or insurance company involvement has (arguably) led to runaway abuses of medical resources by individuals.  If the individual had to pay the full cost of the service they're consuming, they would be less likely to consume that more expensive service.  They'd choose to consume a less expensive service or change their behavior so they didn't need those services.

I can come up with metaphors and comparisons, but I'm looking for a succinct but meaningful/powerful/vivid way of expressing it.  The target audience has limited time to evaluate lengthy examples, yet their choices can make or break the proposed projects.  Think of having only 15 seconds or less to convey the concept before the window of attention span is lost if it isn't captured.

Examples of potential usage:

"Company B is being indirectly penalized because Company A has an advantage by (not having the same limiting factor)."
"Country A has an unfair advantage over Country B because Country C is subsidizing the war efforts of Country A.  Since Country A isn't seeing its own resources diminishing, they don't have the same warning signs that would prompt them to consider negotiation or truce instead of waging war until Country B is conquered."

"Country B is in a state of ___."
"Country A has a/an ____ advantage."
"Country A lacks motivation to work for peace because ____."
"Country A and B's conflict is unbalanced because ____."


texts:
I seem to have a problem with using the word "that" before pronouns and have been told that it is wrong.

Examples:

  They were playing a piece of music that they had only heard once before.
  I am going to a shop that I like.

Is it really wrong to put "that" before pronouns and if so, why is it wrong?
What is the rule that goes with this?


texts: word choice: someone who sticks with their group

texts:
I'm trying to find a word to fit in this context:

you are a sitting _____

I want the word to show they are a follower in a teenage girl group. Like one with a head girl and the person I'm describing being a follower.
I'm trying to write a song. Is there any way to do this?

Thanks


texts: Word for not knowing if something is good or bad?

texts: So I'm trying to find a word for if you are unsure whether something could be good or could be bad. The context I'm using it in is that a character noticed something about themselves that they are unsure whether it is a good or bad thing. Thanks!


texts: When should I use 'sounds like, and when 'sounds as if'?

texts:
'It sounds as if Jack has found the perfect job'!

'It sounds like a violin, but I think its a viola'.

Are these the correct forms?

It was drummed into me at school over half a century ago that to say 'It sounds like he's in trouble' is very bad English. You only say 'sounds like' if it is something you can hear.