texts: Where should adverb "carefully" be placed?

texts:
The lady listened carefully to my complaint.
The lady listened to my complaint carefully.
The lady carefully listened to my complaint.

Which ones are grammatically correct? Please mention if there are any differences in their meaning if more than one of them are grammatically correct.


texts: "Right now in this room" or "Right now, in this room"?

texts:
Is the comma after "right now" necessary in this sentence?

  "Right now[,] in this room, blah, blah, blah."

Would the writer choose to make it non-restrictive?


texts: What should we call our elder cousin's wife?

texts:
We don’t call our cousins cousin Somebody the way we do with uncles and aunts; we just refer to them by their given name directly.

But sometimes we cannot use their name to address them, such as if they are older than we are, so then we refer to them as brothers or sisters.

One of my cousins, who is older than me, recently got married. What is the appropriate way to call his wife in this case? Calling  her my cousin-in-law is little embarrassing to me, so I would like a word that does not embarrass me.


texts: How do you casually describe in English a possession of thing(s) belonging to/shared by two people?

texts:
Neither of the following sounds quite "right" to me:

This is the book of Kelly and I. (Maybe valid but still sounds too rigid)
This book is of Kelly and mine's. (I know, sounds the weirdest)
This is mine and Kelly's book.
This book, Kelly and I own it.

In my native language (Indonesian) we have a phrase or a way of saying this without sounding weird or overly formal. Do you use any of the above at all, or is there any different sentence pattern for describing this kind of situation?


texts: Why is it 'a Ukulele' and not 'an Ukulele'?

texts: To the best of my understanding 'an' is used when a word starts with a vowel (an occasion), or sounds like it does (an honour). Ukulele sounds like it start with a u, so why isn't it prefixed with an 'an' ?


texts: Doing something in/at the company, which one is correct?

texts:
Would you say?

I won employee of the month in my company.

or

I won employee of the month at my company.


texts:
I know that if I was there is a simple tense and if I had been there is used in conditional sentences.

But do both mean the same, or, if there is any difference, then what is it?

Can I use if I was there instead of if I had been there in a conditional sentence?


texts:
How would I say the plural form of "Fisher's exact test". Would it be "Fisher exact tests?".

Here's a  fragment:

We also compared different groups using "Fisher Exact Tests".

Thank you for your help!


texts: "Direction" or "instruction" or other: outsourcing illustrations

texts:
I want to outsource illustrations. I'm writing a document to specify requirements (the sizes, resolution, what to include in, pose of a character, etc...).

What's the apt name for this document? Illustration Directions? Illustration Instructions? Or other?


texts: Are there similar figurative expressions in English to Japanese proverb, “メッキが剥げる – the gilding peels off” to describe to show one’s true color?

texts:
When I’m reading U.S. newspapers reporting Presidential campaign almost every day, and watching consistency and inconsistency of the claims of candidates or nominees in their speeches at rallies and press interviews, I feel like I’m getting to know what really they are like.

Whatever you say, it becomes clear who you really are over the long term and through repeated tests, no matter how you decorate yourself beautifully. When we recognize one’s true character, we call it “メッキが剥げる- the gilding comes off (and shows true color of the ground metal)” in Japanese saying.

I'm curious to know if there is the similar figurative expression to “the (gold) plate comes (peels) off” in English. Is there the one?


texts:
I am a mathematics student and not a native English speaker. There is something that has always been unclear to me. I am writing an essay right now and I want to construct the following sentence:

  "This is best understood in the following way; when considering the kth product we can either choose to produce it or not."

Is the semicolon here correct?. I know for sure that I do not like the idea of placing a full stop there because it does not feel right. However, I am not sure at all if this is correct as it is. If anyone can correct me or confirm that it is correct that would be great.


texts: Can a word countability change when you are able/unable to count it?

texts:
A word's countability is basically defined by its own definition and it seems they generally do not change but are there any exceptions under some circumstances? Or do grammar rules never care about any situation that the word is used for?

For example:

Sugar (uncountable)

Let's say we are looking at a magnifying glass to see a few grains of sugar. Can it be countable, like "a sugar"?

Person/People (countable)

Let's say we see so many people in a crowded station that you can't count them at a glance. Can it be uncountable, like "much people"? (I have personally never heard that before..)


texts:
I come from a family of completely Italian lineage called the Carusos.

Since "the Carusos" is the antecedent of "family" is it that bad to have it come after lineage? Would it be better to say:

I come from a family called the Carusos, which is of completely Italian lineage.

I just like the first one better, but if it's technically wrong...


texts:
Is there a word which means one who prefers older ways?
I don't mean a Luddite or a technophobe, or a misoneist, or a neophobe. Not any fear of the new, but rather one who, given no perceived benefit of doing something the new way, prefers an old way.
Examples:

Even where the new lanes have been added, traffic permitting, John prefers to make lane changes to conform with where the older lanes used to take him; he's rather ________ in that behavior.
Mary is quite the ________, preferring to use a manual pencil sharpener to an electric one.


texts:
In an article in yesterday's European, on the US election, Kevin O'Sullivan, writing of Hillary Clinton says,

In fairness, on the barnet front she's head and shoulders above her rival. But then, again, who isn't?

The text had previously just been referring to her lack of sartorial elegance, and then this mention. What is the barnet front?


texts: Where to put the preposition of "approve"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When is it appropriate to end a sentence in a preposition?

In this answer I wrote

  [You can use it] to take pictures of a movie in a cinema, of which the
  cinema guys probably wouldn't approve.

but I am not sure if it should rather be

  [You can use it] to take pictures of a movie in a cinema, which the
  cinema guys probably wouldn't approve of.

I found this page but I'm still unable to find out which example it relates to. (... to which example it relates?)


texts: Is it “Macaroni, cheese, and steak” or “Macaroni and cheese and steak”?

texts:
I want to list two things: "macaroni and cheese" and "steak". It should be clear that "macaroni and cheese" is one item.
Because "macaroni and cheese" has a conjunction in it and is used in a list, should a comma replace the conjunction, or should the conjunction stay?
In other words, is it

Macaroni, cheese, and steak

or

Macaroni and cheese and steak

?


texts: Single adjective meaning "as a mentor" or "with foresight"

texts:
I had a conversation with a friend to describe how my divorced parents raised my brother and me:

  My mom just had kids; my father knew he was raising future adults and took care in his instruction.

I am looking for a single word to describe my father's view of raising children, i.e., with foresight or in the manner of a mentor and guide with an eye to the future. "Foresightly" and "mentorly" aren't really words. Is there such a term for this?


texts:
In the following statement, I am confused with the meaning of "whether" in the second sentence. Could you please advise which one is the meaning of this statement? a or b?

The statement:

"For the grant of the permanent Partner visa, you can be either in or outside Australia. This is the case whether you lodged your original application in or outside Australia."

The meaning:

a) You can be either in or outside Australia for the grant of visa and it is not important where you have lodged your application.

b) If you have lodged your application in Australia, you have to be in Australia for the grant of visa and if you have lodged your application outside Australia, you have to be outside Australia for the grant of visa.

Many thanks,

Kourosh


texts: Word for unquestioning belief/opinion.... Doctrine? Ideology?

texts:
What is the word when someone considers any questioning of their view to be a moral failing or blindness of the questioner?

I'm thinking of a bottom up, community driven acceptance of a view or analytical model. I can think of a few examples in the current public conversation but I don't want to name them for fear of politicising the question.

'Dogma' may just be the word, but perhaps'dogma' suggests a 'Truth' mandated by locus of power rather than the crowd wisdom I have in mind. An example of dogma would be the biblical creation story where it is held to be true through reverence for its source.


texts:
I have asked an English well versed friend to translate an usual expression in my mother tongue (as is, not so relevant for the post) who prompted me: To be in limbo.

The only relevant point is that the expression I submitted for translation has nothing to do with religous matter.

I need an explanation in layman terms of all usual meanings of the expression when used in every day life.


texts: When to prefer the -ing ending over "which" / "who" / "to" / "that" etc. and vice versa?

texts:
It seems to me that in many English sentences the -ing ending can replace words like which / that / who / to etc. Some examples:

"I prefer to study in the library." OR "I prefer studying in the library."
"I saw the car again which hit me when I crossed the street. OR "I saw the car again hitting me when I crossed the street.
"I thing the man who is wearing the hat is wanted." OR "I thing the man wearing the hat is wanted."

When to prefer the -ing ending and when not? Are there rules? Does it depend on the tense or is either more common in certain regions or the target audience (official/colloquial)?
I am looking for general laws rather than for the best choise to those stupid example sentences.
(Feel free to edit, especially the tags)
Whether duplicate or not:
The linked question is just about the to and the -ing ending. I am not sure if this applies also do which, who, that etc. Also the linked question and answered doesn't say anything about regions and target audiences.


texts: What does “Lead from  behind” exactly mean?

texts:
I learned from a news paper that the President  said the country will take a position to “Lead from Behind” on internal conflict issue on a Middle East country in his speech.
I also learned the phrase is the borrowing from a notable African-origin politician's biography, and that “Lead from Behind” is an antithesis to “Lead from Front.”

To me this expression sounds pretty illogical for logical English as a language, even though it’s a simile, because you do not push the trains usually with a locomotive fixed at the rear.

Although it is clear that he does not want to make positive involvement in internal matters of a Middle East country,
I’m looking for the exact meaning of “Lead from behind” in this particular case.

Does it mean;

It (His country) will pull the wire from behind the scenes, or,
It  will cooperate with but not enter, or
It will play second fiddle, or
It will sit on the fence?

Which is closer to as an interpretation of his remark? Can you give me exact meaning of his quote if you have something else?


texts: What does this mean: "Why would that be the case?"

texts: What does a person mean when they ask this question: "Why would that be the case?"


texts: How can I describe someone that acts like they don't care about others opinions, but does.

texts: I am writing a book and this character cares about his friends but doesn't like to show it, he acts like he doesn't care about them, but in privet he is like a dad to them. He wants to protect them but he doesn't want to ruin his reputation as a bad boy.


texts: Is it bad to use wrong measurement system with a particular English style

texts:
We have two major English styles: American English (AmE) and British English (BrE).

If I use AmE in a question, should I also stick to the system of measurement that most Americans use (Fahrenheit scale, pounds, feet etc.)? Or can I use the SI system (kilogram, Celsius scale1 etc.)?

1 No, Celsius isn't in the SI system, but AFAIK no one uses kelvin in everyday life.


texts: Does the phrase "engage with" imply anything about power differences?

texts:
I was under the impression that there was no implied power difference in the usage of the phrase. But I came across an answer here that mentioned that engaging with someone is taken to mean interacting with them "usually from a position of greater power".

I've often seen the phrase used in contexts like, "The government refused to engage with the anarchists." But now that I think of it, I can't recall seeing it used for someone with less power.

Would it be ok to say something like, "The priest was advised to spend more time engaging with the bishop."? Would it offend your business client if you told them that you hope to engage with them frequently in the first stage of the project?


texts:
The situation is as follows: I was waiting for my friend Kate to visit me. It was time for her to come but she still didn't show up. When I called her, she replied that she had a meeting right at that moment. Then she asked me, "Did you forget about it?" I realized that I completely forgot about it. And I wanted to answer in a kind of sarcastic funny way. So I said, "If I did (remembered), I wouldn't have called you NOW".

Was my reply grammatically correct?  Or I should have said, "If I had remembered, I wouldn't have called you now" instead? If both sentences are not correct, what would be a better way to reply?


texts:
I visited darkest Devon recently, and happened to pass through a couple of places named "Week". On studying the map I found several others, such as James Week, Mary Week, Chawleigh Week, and so on.

Does "Week" had a special meaning in place names, and if so, what is it?


texts:
I want to write a sentence something like this - >

I like to meet people of my native origin(country, city, town and so on).

How can i write the things that are in bold in one word - >

I like to meet ____


texts:
The dictionary defines the verb "upsell" as such:

Main Entry:       upsell
Definition:       to try to
persuade a customer to buy a more expensive item or to buy a related
additional product at a discount

It's a fairly common word that gets used a lot in most retail trades.
But the dictionary does not list "downsell" as its opposite. However, it seems to me that the concept of upselling does have a clear opposite concept. i.e. Trying to persuade a customer to buy a cheaper item or fewer items.
Granted, there are fewer situations where this would be used, but I wonder why the word does not exist, and whether there is another word that could be used in its place.


texts: unconventional vs. nonconventional (or non-conventional?)

texts:
Tried this: https://wikidiff.com/nonconventional/unconventional
But, yeah, that doesn't help me understand any subtle differences (or is it trying to say there are no differences?)
Spell-check doesn't like the un-hyphenated version, but, errrhm, it's spell-check.
A lot of dictionaries seem to like it un-hyphenated.

Does 'nonconventional' need a hyphen?  Is an hyphen an appropriate use option, or disparaged?

What's the difference (if any) between unconventional and nonconventional?


texts: Is it OK to use the phrase to stay for a week?

texts: Is it possible to say: " I stayed there a week" or must one use the preposition for: "I stayed there for a week"?


texts: Does using 'pen' as a verb unambiguously mean that what is written was written with a pen?

texts:
I am rewriting an employee handbook.  I have a goal of making the handbook more understandable.  In some cases this means I have to put more ideas than what the previous handbook has, because the previous handbook was ambiguous (or sometimes it didn't even explain something that we have treated as a rule anyway).

However, putting new ideas means putting more words.  Putting more words can slowly deteriorate understanding (people can only pay attention for so long).

In an effort to be more concise, I considered changing the sentence "Please sign your name legibly and in pen" to "Please legibly pen your signature."

In retrospect, I realize that this probably won't make things much more understandable, but I still wonder:  If I say someone should pen their signature, does that unambiguously mean that they should use a pen?


texts: Is there a word for the day after a due day?

texts:
Is there a word for the succeeding day after the last day of a period?

Let’s say I had to do a homework assignment and I had to submit it before a specific date. One that due date passes, I may be subject to penalties according to the number of days late.

Here is another example. Suppose I had to pay a bill until a specific date. I'm running late by one day. I can still pay, but I have to pay interest too, according to the number of days in late.

If it was one day late, is there a word for that?

What if it were two days late? Is there a word for the second of the two, or for both these days together?


texts: What is the difference between "hurry" and "rush"?

texts:
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English in a THESAURUS section for "hurry" defines/compares "hurry" and "rush" as follows:

hurry: to go somewhere or do something more quickly than usual, for example because you are late or you must finish something soon

If you don’t hurry, you’ll miss the bus.
We have plenty of time. There’s no need to hurry.

rush: to go somewhere very quickly, or to do something too quickly and without thinking carefully enough

Everyone rushed out into the street to see what was happening.
Try to answer the questions calmly, without rushing.
A police car rushed past.

In a THESAURUS section for "rush" it defines/compares "hurry" and "rush" as follows:

rush: to move very quickly, especially because you need to be somewhere soon

He was rushing out of his office in order to go to a meeting.
There’s no need to rush - we have plenty of time.

hurry: to do something or go somewhere more quickly than usual, especially because there is not much time

People hurried into stores to escape the rain.
You ll have to hurry or we 'll be late for breakfast
I hurried through the rest of my workout and showered as quickly as I could.

Actually, I don't get the point! It seems that they can be used interchangeably. If it is not the case, then when should I use hurry and when should I use rush?


texts: Is there a single word that means 'adding more details' or 'enriching with information'

texts:
What is the right word (verb) for a process of adding more details to something that's already been defined?

UPDATE:

Thank you for your answers!

The precise context is as follows:

  I have a base entity which describes a whatever (very general) camera that has a few parts which are whatever lens, batteries, memory cards etc. This is what I referred to as "something that's already been defined". Now, I need to define a very real camera which is 'D700 Nikon' that has specific lens, batteries, etc. So I take my general definition and create a new definition by adding more details specific to the 'D700 Nikon' camera.

So the question is: what am I doing with the base definition?


texts: What is the origin of the slang term "get out of here" to mean "you're kidding"?

texts:
What is the origin (first recorded use) of the slang term "get out of here" to mean "you're kidding" rather than "go away"
?


texts: Are these called synonyms? What grammatical elements are constraining the meaning?

texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  Due to my low reputation on SE, I was tentative (okay, "fearful" is more _____) in posting to meta.SE.

The context of the statement might the top of a post, as a kind of "apology introduction" before moving on to the main topic. I consider this to be in the realm of informal conversational English.

I find it interesting that a lot of words can fill in the blank. For example:

  okay, "fearful" is more apropos
  okay, "fearful" is more realistic
  okay, "fearful" is more like it
  okay, "fearful" is more timely  [an "almost but not good enough" fit]
  okay, "fearful" is more right
  okay, "fearful" is more descriptive
  okay, "fearful" is more honest
  okay, "fearful" is more true
  okay, "fearful" is more exact
  okay, "fearful" is more indicative of the situation

These all say "pretty much the same thing". It seems like they are synonymous but not necessarily synonyms. Could it be the idiomatic phrase/style/humor is guiding the meaning:

  [Main clause stating some condition with an understated tone] (well, perhaps [emphatic tone word] is [what goes here is allowed more variation than normal])

So this is my question:

Would these just be called synonyms?  Distant synonyms?  Synonymous?  And also, is the idiomatic construction allowing a wider semantic distance for the blank?


texts: What is the correct plural of "chaise longue"?

texts: Is it "chaises longues" or just "chaise longues"?  Both examples exist in different dictionaries. Or should it be something else entirely?


texts:
What are the differences between work and working when used as nouns?

For example:

  Advocates claim that work/working brings a lot of benefits for young people.

Which one is correct? I have searched in a dictionary but they are defined with nearly the same meaning.


texts:
I want to ask about sufficiency of a document. Is this sentence applicable?

  Can an English abstract be enough?

Is it better to use "could" instead of "can"?


texts: Etymology of "to be like" meaning "to say"

texts:
It seems that "to be like" is an informal phrase for "to say". E.g.

  She was so angry, she was like "I'm breaking up with you", and I was like "I'm sorry", and she was like "Go away".

Is this a recent thing? When did "to be like" start to be used to mean "to say"? It doesn't seem to be in any dictionaries (yet) (I might be wrong, though).

It would be interesting to know why the words "to be like" came to mean "to say", although I realize that the answer to the majority of "why" questions is "just because".


texts:
What is a term for the category of global and local in programming? For example I want to use local/global in my game, but I need a word that means global or local. The word be used like so:

  The ____ is global.

For programmers

I'm trying to make an enumeration that uses Global and Local, except I need a word to categorize the enum.

Edit:
To clarify why the answer is definitely scope:
I am making a high score system and I would like there to be the local high score and the global high score.


texts:
I wonder if there is a significant difference at the semantic or pragmatic levels in using the compounds structures noun of noun or noun+noun. For example, is it the same to say "the consumption of energy" or "energy consumption"? Do these forms have a specific name in the English sintax?

I would really appreciate if somebody can help me understand the difference between these structures, if any.


texts:
In the project that I'm currently working on, we often use so called "key points" - in image processing these are characteristic points (interest points) on images.

I'm wondering - is it okay to use "keypoint" as a single word instead of "key point"?

(PS I'm not into language-stuff, so I don't know what are the appriopriate tags for such question.)


texts:
The hungry python goes to the farm.

What is wrong with this sentence? I tried using a proofreading online tool and it marked the goes to as general wording issue. I can't really understand it but should it be replaced with something like slithers to which is more synchronize with the characteristic of a snake?


texts: Comma placement when using quotes that end with a question mark

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How should I punctuate around quotes?

I've been writing a letter to an editor, and one line of my response reads:

  In your article "What Makes Free Will Free?" you mention...

My question is: where should I place a comma to transition from the quoted article title to words you mention... after it?  Should I place the comma in the quotes, or outside the quotes? Traditionally, I would place it in the quotes, but I wasn't too sure if I could place a comma right after a question mark like that.


texts: What does "I have no idea what I'm talking about" mean?

texts:
Currently I am learning English language. I found something that I don't know what it means.

Some people on the internet put their disclaimer using one sentence

  I have no idea what I'm talking about

or something with

  I have no idea bla bla bla...

for instance,

  When somebody says "you're smart," make sure they don't mean "I have no idea what you're talking about" - Ariana Lenarsky tweet.

I found the meaning of that sentence on random forum that "I have no idea" means "I don't know at all". There is no clear explanation, though.

What exactly does it mean?


texts: What is it called when a noun belonging to a person is described by a human adjective?

texts:
What is it called when a noun, that is part of a person, is described by a human's behavior ?

For example, "rebellious" hair:

Rebelliousness is a adjective for human action but frequently used to describe frizzy hair.

Another example, "stubborn" fat:

Describes difficulty losing weight.

What are these called?


texts:
Is it correct to say:

  “I'm not planning on leaving the country any time soon, but you just
  don't know when a passport may come in handy”?

One issue raised about the sentence was the usage of "may". Some people suggest I replace it with "will".

I was wondering if the present construction is acceptable.


texts:
which of the following is correct?

Rome was threatened by Hunnish troops who showed their superiority ......
Rome was threatened by Huniish troops which showed their superiority .....

Is troops a collective noun and can we treat collective nouns like objects?

Thank you.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "I invited him to join others and I for basketball practice."

texts:
Or would the correct sentence be:

  I invited him to join I and others for basketball practice.

or

  I invited him to join myself and others for basketball practice.


texts: Which is correct: "one or more is" or "one or more are"?

texts: Should the phrase be "one or more is...", or "one or more are..."?


texts:
I am getting confused about the meaning of the following sentence.

  The talk about the end of ideology only confirmed intellectuals from these countries in their opinion about the pervasiveness of the ethnocentric bias in so much of what passes for sociology in their Western world.

What exactly does the author mean by the phrase so much of what? Does it emphasise  some contradictory or approving fact?


texts: Whats wrong in using the words Whilst and Due to?

texts:
I remember reading in an English style guide (The Scott Foresman Handbook for Writers) that the words whilst and due to were quite redundant and not to be used. The author did not seem to like them as whilst was just another word for while and due to was a rough form of saying because.

However, I've found myself using the due to quite often. For instance, I'm writing a long sentence that can have two becauses. In that case I end up using due to in place of the second because. For example:

  For a sincere and talented writer, all barriers to entry are finally removed because of the e-publishing phenomena, and that was only possible due to the Internet revolution pioneered by Tim Berners Lee in the early nineties.

What can I use in place of second because if I don't want to use due to?

Also, I personally find it more elegant to say "Whilst" instead of "While". But is that the perception of most modern readers or not?


texts: My granddaughter's first-grade reading papers frequently use the term "high frequency words."  I'm guessing it refers to words used frequently.  But, if the term "high frequency words" is correctly used, shouldn't it then be "high-frequency words"?


texts: When do you use "relate to" versus "relate with"?

texts: I have a feeling that maybe you use one preposition with people, and the other with situations. For example, you might relate with a student who's nervous about an exam, whereas you relate to test anxiety. Am I correct in assuming this? If not, what grammatical rules determine whether you use "to" or "with" following the verb "relate"?


texts:
I've been brushing up on the past perfect tense recently, and after reading the following sentence on a website, I feel like it's missing a key element:

  "Many progressives, who thought well of Wilson's dream of a new world order, drew back in revulsion
  when the terms of the treaty were published."

Shouldn't there be a had after who?


texts: Between '(s)he' & 'he/she' -- which is recommended/ preferable?

texts:
When talking about or referring to someone who could either be a male or a female, I usually write it as (s)he but I have also seen usage like he/she, which also seems correct to me.

I use (s)he mostly because I find it shorter (fewer keystrokes). Are both (s)he and *he/she" correct? Any references are welcome.

And could s/he also be used?


texts: What is the difference “in the nude” vs “nude”?

texts:
What is the difference between the following sentences?

I caught them watching tv in the nude.
I caught them watching tv nude.


texts:
I want to say this quote in my essay:
"Jefferson is in every view less dangerous than Burr". I want to emphasize the word "every", so can I italicize it?


texts: What is the the word refers to heating and cooling at the same time?

texts:
I am going to open a new store, which contains heating and cooling devices. What is one word that refers to both? I want to use it in the name of the store, for exmaple:

  {Heating and Cooling} Supplies


texts: What does the expression "so we can short it" means?

texts:
I was browsing the internet and found the following discussion

  Their rules are remarkably lax. I would fire the shit out of anyone who wrote a 60 line function, without any hesitation (barring extenuating circumstances).

  Please let us know what company you work for, so we can short it.

But I can't figure what the last person meant by "so we can short it", I can come up with 2 interpretations "put it on our shortlist, so we can look into it later" or  "so we can stay away from it and make our options shorter"


texts:
There's a question in American English:

  Who has an extra ticket?

How to answer more correctly:

  That guy has.

or

  That guy does.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to place the object of preposition before the preposition?

texts:
In conversation, it's normal to say:

  What time do you have to be at the train station by?

Note: What time do you have to be at the train station vs What time do you have to be at the train station by, mean 2 completely different things, right?

1) The question in the title

2) Whether by is a preposition or not.

Winston Churchill once said

  "That is the sort of thing up with which I will not put!


texts: Are general questions formed in plural or in singular?

texts:
When asking a general question about something in English, should they be formed in plural or in singular? Or rather what is a good way of forming it?

  How are articles used in English?

Or

  How is an article used in English?


texts: Thesis project: Is it the last project required for a degree or a paper?

texts: If somebody is studying arts and he doesn't have to write a thesis but to complete a project as his last assignment before he can get his degree, can this project be called "thesis project", despite the fact that it is not a paper?


texts: I am curious to know the correct usage of these words as it seems to be misused often. See https://homebrew.meta.stackexchange.com/q/202/59 for a related question.


texts: What to call a chandelier's crystal drop?

texts: What's the English name for those drop-like crystal prisms used to scatter the light from a chandelier? I was thinking to buy some on the internet when I realized I don't even know what to search for.


texts:
In this interview on the TV show The Wire, David Simon (the show's creator) says:

  Much of our modern theater seems
  rooted in the Shakespearean discovery
  of the modern mind. [The show is]
  stealing instead from ... the Greeks
  ... to create doomed and fated
  protagonists who confront a rigged
  game and their own mortality. The
  modern mind ... finds such fatalism
  ancient and discomfiting ... We are a
  pretty self-actualized,
  self-worshipping crowd of postmoderns
  and the idea that for all of our
  wherewithal and discretionary income
  and leisure, we’re still fated by
  indifferent gods, feels to us
  antiquated and superstitious. We don’t
  accept our gods on such terms anymore
  ... we don’t even grant Yahweh himself
  that kind of unbridled,
  interventionist authority.

What exactly is meant by "the Shakespearean discovery of the modern mind"?


texts:
Is wassup hussla? (also gangsta, killa etc.) appropriate to say to a friend or a colleague?
I mean, I know that it's not any sort of an official phrase I'd say to my boss. What I mean to ask is whether this word may be taken offensively, like nigger in the US.


texts:
What are the rules for comma placement when it comes to partial quotes?

My intuition is that a comma should be placed outside of the quotations marks if the comma is related to the overall structure of the sentence. However, the various sources I have looked to (APA, MLA, and others) have stressed that commas (and periods) should always be placed within quotation marks.

For purposes of illustration, would the second comma go within or outside of the quotation marks below?

  As Andrew argues, peanut prices “can be ridiculously overpriced", leaving many Americans to resort to jelly sandwiches.

or

  As Andrew argues, peanut prices “can be ridiculously overpriced," leaving many Americans to resort to jelly sandwiches.

An explanation of the general rule would be lovely as well.


texts: Is there a word for a divorced father who you don't live with?

texts: If your parents are divorced and you live with your mother, not your father, what would you call your father?


texts: What would be a word describing the connection between two seemingly unconnected things?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that describes the invisible connection between seeming unconnected things. Like the area below the surface connecting an island chain, but that could potentially relate to people/ relationships as well. The closest things I've thought of is entanglement.

ie. a single work for degrees of separation

looking for something with more of a pulse than tie or bond. Like synapse, but not just for nerves.

Sentence: Everyone in the room was working independently, but could feel each other's humanity through _____.


texts:
Is there a word for "more experienced colleague?" In particular, they have the same rank, but more experience on the job.
Edit: Thanks for the answers! I was wondering, is there a word like senior except with this connotation (like "my senior," except "my more experienced colleague?")


texts: Why do people sometimes use the past perfect form of a verb when the past would suffice? (e.g. "you had mentioned")

texts:
I noticed that my American friends tend to use the past perfect form when they use the verb mention in its past form, almost despite of the context of the sentence. I hear them say
"you had mentioned" a lot more often even in situations where the use of simple past would have been perfectly fine.
Have you noticed it too and is it one of those unwritten rules, or is there a more formal explanation to it?

It seems like there was more verbs like that, but I am having a hard time remembering it now. If I do, I will edit the post and likely change the title to accommodate other verbs.


texts: What is the best / professional sentence to use between these two options

texts:
Just a friendly reminder about the importance of utilizing the E Drive for documents relating to the Science Initiative and Doctors for Science.

or

Just a friendly reminder about the importance of using the E Drive for documents relating to the Science Initiative and Doctors for Science.


texts: What is a difference between 'I was riding my bike all day yesterday.' and 'I rode my bike all day yesterday.'?

texts:
The below sentences are extracted from this website.

The PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE indicates continuing action, something that was happening, going on, at some point in the past. This tense is formed with the helping "to be" verb, in the past tense, plus the present participle of the verb (with an -ing ending):
I was riding my bike all day yesterday.
Joel was being a terrible role model for his younger brother.

I get confused between past tense and past progressive tense. For example, what is a difference between the first sentence above and

I rode my bike all day yesterday?


texts: Supporting or Not Supporting a Hypothesis

texts:
I want to know if there is an appropriate one word antonym to "support" that I can use in the following context:
I collected the data and it did not support my hypothesis.
I considered using "it dismissed my hypothesis," but I'm looking for a better option. Dismissed seems to imply that my hypothesis was frivolous.


texts: What verb for taking advantage fits in "I don't want to ________ on the friendship"?

texts:
What word am I misplacing that means 'to abuse' but takes the preposition 'on.'
For example,

My best friend the attorney could give me some free advice here, but I don't want to ____ on the friendship.
My sister's wife is a doctor and could probably solve this, but I don't want to _______ on the relationship. (get free advice at someone else's disadvantage)


texts:
I've grown up on a farm, and my dad and his dad, apparently, always used "cattle" to refer to both the singular and plural forms of the domestic bovine. I've always assumed it's how the word "deer" is.

However, I've heard people say that this is incorrect and the singular is just "cow", but this has always offended us as a cow is a mother cattle, and is incorrect if you're referring to a steer, a bull, or a heifer.

So, is cattle singular as well as plural? If not, is there some general, non-gender-specific word that should be used instead?


texts: Word/phrase for "created by someone with poor imagination"

texts:
Is there a word or phrase for "created by someone with poor imagination"?

(Preferably not very offensive. "Think big" is not offensive, so maybe this doesn't need to be offensive either)


texts: Is it acceptable to use "blog" to describe a blog post?

texts:
I've seen people, including people who write for a living, say they wrote "a blog" about this or that topic, when they obviously mean a specific post.

I find this incredibly grating. Dictionaries don't seem to include this sense, which leads me to think this is a misuse of the language.

On the other hand, blog is a portmanteau of web and log, and one could (I think) use log to refer to a specific entry in a record.


texts: What does a phrase "such is life in the tropics" mean?

texts:
Recently I've read and article about one of Latin American countries. The author was explaining why the life there is easy in terms of natural resources: there is no winter, the people have fresh water and rich soil. And then he concluded that there is one English phrase that describes this situation:

  Such is life in the tropics.

What does this phrase mean?


texts: Question regarding capital letter in scientific report

texts:
I'm writing a scientific report (due this evening), and I'm having some problems regarding capital letters. As usual, figures, tables, sections, etc., are given capital letters.
Example:
Results given in Fig. 2.
See Tabs. 4-5.

In one of the tables I have defined 14 integrals, where each integral is paired up with a number. These integrals are referred to by:
Integrals 3-4 in Tab. 2.

My question is this. Should I capitalize the I in integral, when referring to them in the middle of a sentence?

Should I say: When testing with integral 4.
Or: When testing with Integral 4.

If the latter case, should I use an abbreviation for Integral, like I do for Figure (Fig.), Table (Tab.) and Section (Sec.)?


texts: Is there a grammatical term to distinguish the different functions of the verb "married"?

texts:
Sense 1:

  The husband married the wife.

Sense 2:

  The priest married the couple.

Is there a grammatical term that characterizes the different ways the verb is used in these two senses?  I'm struggling to articulate exactly what the pattern is, but it has something to do with the manner of participation between the subject and object.  In the first sense, the subject is changed as a result of the verb; in the second sense, the subject causes the objects to change (without changing themselves).

Another seemingly similar example (even though it may be an incorrect usage) is:

  The participants consented to the research.

The participants were changed through the process of consenting.

  The researcher consented the participants.

The researcher completed a formal process of obtaining consent, but wasn't involved in the consenting; that is, the researcher caused the participants to give consent.


texts: What's the word for multiple groups of criteria

texts:
What word would you use to refer to multiple groups of criteria?

I'm building an application in which I'm performing several kinds of searches for specific records in a couple of tables. Each table has a specific set of values in various columns I need to search for to find the records. e.g.:

Table 1

Search term a
Search term b

Table 2

Search term a
Search term b

Table 3

Search term a
Search term b

Normally if I were to give a name to each of these levels I would call the second level (search term a and b) Search Criteria.

What would I call the top level? The grouping of various sets of criteria. Would that be "criterias"? Similar to "peoples" representing multiple groups of people?


texts: Word for "function performed on top of job description"

texts:
In a resume, I want to tag various things done as "extraneous to what the job description specified".  These things were achieved on top of regular tasks, so the candidate went above and beyond what was expected and contributed those too.

The goal is both to justify/explain the presence of those accomplishments despite them being outside the stated professional role and to prop up the candidate for surpassing expectations.

"Extracurricular" came to mind, but has a strong 'school' connotation that I'd like to avoid.

I was tempted to invent something like "Ex-Role"?  Or maybe just "extraneous", but that seems entirely too dismissive.

Thanks.


texts:
I came across the phrase absent fraud in this article.

I searched for its meaning on Google but didn't find anything.

What does absent fraud mean?

  I can’t help but empathize with an employee being fired and will ask multiple questions before any termination. Was there one bad act or a series? Did they have feedback and a chance to change? Was it performance or personality? Absent fraud or transgression, is there a different job in the organization the employee could succeed at? How do we tell them and what, if any, severance is offered? What help can we offer in finding another job more suited to their skills? How can we preserve their dignity?


texts: "Arguments to the topic" or "arguments for the topic"?

texts: I'm not sure whether it is possible to say "arguments for the topic" or "arguments to the topic" when I want to express opinions that would relate to the given topic.


texts: Why is it incorrect to say "Without a car, it takes a long time to get from a place to another."?

texts:
This is the exact text from the Longman dictionary of common errors:
Incorrect: Without a car, it takes a long time to get from a place to another.
Correct: Without a car, it takes a long time to get from one place to another.
from one ... to another (NOT from a/an ... to another): 'The job involves traveling from one country to another.'
So, why can't we say from a place to another?


texts: How to say that I am asking you a common sense question?

texts:
I said, "My question is of low standard". My teacher replied, "I don't know what do you mean by low standard question".

My question is how I should have said that the question is of low standard. Is low standard a wrong way to say? How I should articulate?


texts: What's the difference between "scribbled" and "scribbled down"?

texts:
Example:

  Scott scribbled a few words.

  Scott scribbled down a few words.

What's the difference? I checked on Google Books and it seems like "scribbled a few words" is often immediately followed by something:

  "Sometimes he scribbled a few words on a note pad."  [link]

While "scribbled down a few words" isn't:

  "After wiping his forehead he scribbled down a few words."  [link]

Is that the main distinction? Are there others?


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "moving the needle"?

texts:
Here is the context:

The network has geographically distributed upload endpoints, featuring end-to-end encryption as well as patent-pending routing and optimization technology, letting Box process uploads at a speed up to 10 times faster than currently possible.
"From an end user perspective, this is moving the needle," said Jeff Queisser, vice president of technical operations at Box.


texts: Are there any English words starting with an "ny" sound?

texts:
Plenty of English words have an "ny" sound (/nj/) in the middle, like onion and canyon.

Are there any American English words that start with this sound?

My native-speaker intuition tells me this is probably allowed in English phonotactics, but I can't think of any examples.


texts: Simple yet interesting English game for class?

texts: I'll be hosting an English activity this week. Could you share some interesting English games which impressed you the most?


texts: ..until the issue will be resolved. WILL?

texts:
I always thought you cannot use a future tense after "until" or "unless". But recently, in a very famous IT system, I found the following:

  An estimate of how much work remains until this issue will be
  resolved.

Is that correct? Why it is not "until the issue IS resolved"?


texts: Terminology for asking a question "by proxy"

texts:
A common strategy that is sometimes used when a person asks questions that pertains to themselves, but wants to disassociate from (for any reason), is to frame the question as being about somebody else, or otherwise externalizing it. "My friend" is a classic example of this:

  A friend of mine wrecked into their boss's brand new car in the parking lot. What should they do?

Another example often starts with "let's say", presenting a real situation as a hypothetical one in order to artificially distance the asker from a questionable
 situation:

  Let's say a teacher unfairly gave a student a poor grade on an assignment. How can that student get revenge?

Note that we assume through context that the above examples actually pertain directly to the asker (i.e. they do because I said they do, it's the basis of this question).

Is there a name for this strategy / style of presentation (applies to both speaking and writing) / whatever it is? I'm not even certain that "by proxy" was the correct phrase to use in the title.


texts:
It says that we use present perfect for actions in the past that have a result now. No matter how much I try to figure out this, sometimes it is pretty hard.

I have also read the followings as well, but it seems like that I can't grab this correctly. (Even when I write this, I am doubtful whether I should want to use I read or I have read)

https://www.ef.com/wwen/english-resources/english-grammar/present-perfect/

Does the present perfect imply an action finished in the past?

Which is correct: "has died" or "died"?

Let's assume a situation. I went shopping and while coming back from shopping I meet someone and ask me where did you go? (again I don't know whether it is "where have you gone" or "where did you go?")

What should I need to say? I went shopping or I have gone shopping.

I have gone shopping seems like that I went shopping and still shopping kind of.

But if we look at the rules, it says that

  We use present perfect for actions in the past that have a result now.

So, I went shopping it is an action in the past, now I am here with all the shopping bags (result) and saying, I have gone shopping. Can I say like that? It feels somewhat wrong to me, I don't know.

After reading these grammar rules, I am pretty confused now. Before reading these things I didn't care about these things at all. I just say. Someone, please help me to clarify this?


texts:
I need to use this word with the following meaning:

the way in which data is stored or held to be worked on by a computer

This particular dictionary doesn't say anything about whether this word is countable or not. The given example though contains an indefinite article:

The images are stored in a digital format within the database.

So, it is supposed to be a countable noun. But when I reviewed some other examples I've discovered that putting an indefinite article along with the noun is not always the case:

However, neither the raw nor the processed data were provided in digital format.
No data were reported in digital format.

Could you please clarify the cases for me?


texts:
I've noticed people use (in speech) the word godness for "feminine god", e.g.:

  Oh my godness!

However, in classic texts it is goddess, e.g. Shakespeare's "King Lear":

  Hear, nature, hear; dear goddess, hear!
  Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend
  To make this creature fruitful!
  Into her womb convey sterility!

It is my understanding that godness can be an urban slang for "divinity", but not for an impersonated deity.

Is godness just a mistake?


texts: Correct term to describe how many % a portfolio consists of a certain stock?

texts:
I'm looking for a simple word used to describe how many % a portfolio consists of a certain stock.

I.e. "The GOOGL shares takes up a large ____ of my portfolio."
Or "The ____ of the GOOGL shares in my portfolio is 30%"

What word should be filled in in those sentences?
Ratio? Portion? Proportion? Part?


texts: Use of plurals when talking about a boxes owner?

texts:
I have the following technical detail to log in work:

  There is no communication between each
  of the ComboBoxes containers

The component is called a ComboBox in singular. Is this correct, or do
I need to add an apostrophe to ComboBoxes?


texts: How to differentiate between two usages of a word that have different meanings in different contexts

texts:
Suppose that I am a mobile application developer and have defined a feature in my app called 'events' that are representatives of real life events (birthday parties, marathons, etc.).

How would I, in the same sentence, use the word 'event' to mean the application's feature and another word 'event' to refer to the meaning of this word as it appears in the Oxford dictionary, without using capitalization, quotation marks, italics or any other formatting?

Sample sentence: "Events [the one in the app] are indicative of various events [the English one]."


texts:
In Oxford Dictionary, under 'allot', it says that

  to give time, money, tasks, etc. to somebody/something as a share of what is available

Then, what does "I have been allotting upon going." mean?
And how  to use "allot on/upon" in sentences?


texts: What is "regional", but relating to time instead of location?

texts:
You may describe something that's specific to an area as being regional - the set containing a thing specific to Wiltshire, something else specific to Brittany, and something else specific to Moray might be described as a set of regional things.

What's the word for something that's specific to a time period, rather than a location, especially in the past? Not a given time period, just specific to any time period.

A set containing nuclear weapon use (second world war), data storage format wars (digital era), and major crusades (medieval era), might be described as being a set of ____ things.

"Chronodemic" feels like it should be the right word, but that doesn't appear to be a word.


texts:
For hypothetical situations, I've read that mostly, it is safer to use "were" for ifs.

  If the world were peaceful, there would be no wars.

But, I've also read that for some unhypothetical/past situations, it is correct to use "was".

  If he was here, he would have gotten perfect.

That's indicating the past, not the future. "If he were here" conveys a slightly different meaning I believe.

Though it is understandable, it is still quite a blurry line, especially when "as if" comes into place, which is my original question:

For "as if" circumstances, like the one below, is "was" or "were" more appropriate?

  He gazed upon the massacre before him with tranquil eyes, as if he was/were a spectator unrelated to it all.

The above does seem to be somewhat hypothetical, so "were" would seem to be the correct answer. However, it also seems like a comparison, as it is comparing a spectator to him.

So, question: For "as if" cases, should you always use "were", and if not, in what situations should "was" be used?


texts: Participle modifying a noun other than a subject

texts:
Example:
"John jumped over the girl shouting angrily."

I assume the participle construction replaces a relative clause in this case.
("who shouted angrily").

My question:
Can a participle modifying a noun other than a subject also replace an adverbial clause?

Thanks for your help!


texts: Does "exact" determine the precision or the accuracy of something?

texts:
When I say "the speed of light is exactly 300000000m/s", is that an incorrect or a correct statement?

That is, does "exactly" refer to the precision of an estimate (then my statement would be correct, I think, because I wouldn't have asserted that my statement doesn't deviate from the correct speed) or does it refer to the accuracy? (then my statement is incorrect, because the speed of light is slightly less than that).


texts: Does Bender from Futurama sound like a non-American?

texts:
Robot Bender is one of the main characters in the animated television series 'Futurama'.

Bender — Best moments (5 minute video).

Does Bender speak ‘proper’ American English? Does he have an American accent?
Are there any features in Bender's speech which suggest that English is not his native tongue?

I did not provide any dialogue or script excerpts because I am only interested in the character's pronunciation and if native speakers consider him foreign-sounding. Does he?


texts: Word for the falling action of a stick with one end is at the ground, not falling freely in the air

texts:
When I am reading the question Can adding weight to something make it fall slower? in Physics SE, I notice that (or think that) the reason it can get to the Hot Question zone is the misunderstanding of the word fall that the OP (and I (and even you)). For anyone who has learnt physics, when they see the keywords "add weight" and "fall", their mind will automatically recall to the famous experiment of Galilei in the Pisa tower. That experiment is about the freely falling of the object, while the phenomenon that the OP trying to explain is the falling of the tip of the stick whose the other end lays on the ground. I think changing the title will make it clearer, but I don't know how to change.

I think that the word fall when it doesn't have context will be thought to fall freely in the air. Is there a word for the falling action of a stick with one end is at the ground, not falling freely in the air?


texts: Is there a distinction between composability and compositionality?

texts: I was reading a blog post titled On Compositionality. In the post the author talks about how compositionality is important for software design and programming language design. However, it seems that the author's meaning of compositionality is very similar to that of composability which means that you can assemble complex structures out of simpler components. Is there any meaningful distinction between the two or are the two words interchangeable?


texts: What do you call second-party quotes within a quote?

texts:
On NPR this morning I heard a newscaster say a phrase something like this: (paraphrased)

  … Bank declined to interview, but in a phone call said, "We are making (quote) every effort (unquote) to …"

I assume that the bank spokesperson didn't actually say "quote" and "unquote", and that that was added by the journalist. It seems to me that the journalist (consciously or unconsciously) wanted to communicate his own doubt about the meaning of "every effort".

I'm curious what this journalistic/rhetorical device might be called. Is there a word for it?


texts: Why does Articulate have a different pronunciation between verb and adjective?

texts:
As the question states, I would love to know why the two uses of Articulate are pronounced with endings 'lit' vs 'late'.

There is a large list of grammatical use heteronyms of this type, but I cannot find information on the possible formation of this aspect of english.


texts: Word that means to fit together in a limited space?

texts: So I work in delivery, and I am trying to describe the act (verb I guess) of fitting parcels in the back of a van in the most efficient way possible. I thought about using the word "Tessellation" in a verb like way "We tessellated the packages as best we could". I also thought about using the classic "We Tetrised... tetrissed?" the packages as best we could. Does anyone know a good word I can use?


texts:
The two leadership styles combined have a demonstrable effect on team effectiveness

or

The two leadership styles combined has a demonstrable effect on team effectiveness


texts: How is the gender of cities/countries determined in English?

texts: In my native language there are gender markers so depending on how a word ends, its gender becomes male, female or neuter. Since English has no gender markers, how are the pronouns of cities (such as Rome, which in my native language is masculine) or countries determined?


texts: What is another word for 'all round' capabilities?

texts:
I am looking for a positive, passionate word to describe the all-round capabilities of a person.

Are there any words better than 'all-rounder'?


texts:
I want to get some advice. From Korean high school test, the response to the answer was divided "firmly or sensibly". I can't tell [firmly / sensibly] below summary box. Please tell me "what difference ", "this options are properly presented", and "the possibility that "firmly" can be answer. (+ If I consider firmly as strongly, Can "firmly" be a answer in summary box?)
In Cambridge Dictionary,

Firmly : strongly and tightly
example) He shook my hand firmly and climbed into the taxi.
Sensibly : in a sensible or practical way:
example) The police praised motorists for driving sensibly in the appalling conditions.
She wasn't very sensibly dressed for hiking.

It is important to remember that computers can only carry out instructions that humans give them. Computers can process data accurately at far greater speeds than people can, yet they are limited in many respects ― most importantly, they lack common sense. However, combining the strengths of these machines with human strengths creates synergy. Synergy occurs when combined resources produce output that exceeds the sum of the outputs of the same resources employed separately. A computer works quickly and accurately; humans work relatively slowly and make mistakes. A computer cannot make independent decisions, however, or formulate steps for solving problems, unless programmed to do so by humans. Even with sophisticated artificial intelligence, which enables the computer to learn and then implement what it learns, the initial programming must be done by humans. Thus, a human‒computer combination allows the results of human thought to be translated into efficient processing of large amounts of data.
Summary Box
: Integrating the advantages of computers running accurately with the strong points of humans working [firmly / sensibly] generates synergy.


texts: Is "the bar", as in the bar that barristers work at as lawyers, capitalised or not?

texts:
I'm applying for lawyer jobs and training, so I have to use the word "bar" a lot, and I've noticed that small and upper case B is used. I'm afraid my English isn't good enough to work out why. I know that "mechanical engineer" is lower-case and the job title "Mechanical Engineer" is upper-case, but for Bar vs bar I am confused.
Some examples I've found:

Wikipedia refers to "the bar".
The Bar Council refers to "the Bar" throughout its pages
An example chambers using upper-case "Bar"
An example law newspaper using lower case "bar"

So what are the rules for Bar vs bar?


texts: Is there a more formal way to the expression "Telling it like it is"?

texts:
I'm rewriting a guideline of professional conduct for my small company. One of the points mentioned requires managers to

  Tell it like it is: don't argue that a routine (but necessary) task is beneficial to your team's professional knowledge/ value to convince them of doing it. Instead, publicly acknowledge that there're more important tasks yet these routine ones are necessary.

I realize that "Tell it like it is" is a bit informal. Is there an alternate word/ phrase to it?


texts: When you use the term stereotype in this context, are you implying it's true or relatively accurate of a group?

texts:
When someone says something along the lines of:

  Well I don't agree with you, because you're a typical so-and-so X.

X being the culture/group of people.

If you make a reply along the lines of:

  Wow, what a stereotype! I can't take you seriously.

Are you implying it's "sort of" true? Because the definition of a stereotype seems to state there's some accuracy to a stereotype, unless I'm completely interpreting the definition wrong.

  a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person
      or thing.


texts:
What is a classic saying for a third party getting all the benefit while two others are fighting.

For example (from wikipedia):
Two dogs fight for a bone, but a third one runs away with it.


texts: Is there a straightforward word for "The thing in between first and second"?

texts:
Sometimes when writing I find myself looking for a word to describe something in the “³⁄₂th” place — exactly between first and second.  I would like to ask, does there exist an easy expression for this?  If so, does it generalise to other “in-between” places as well?

(I mostly encounter this problem when writing mathematics, where I wish to write the “³⁄₂” order derivative, and normally have to endure clumsy or imprecise expressions (“Taking the fractional derivative. . . .”).)


texts: Tense choice for actions that have been recurring simultaneously

texts:
The goal is to convey the idea that a story undergoes a change every time it is retold and that this pattern of modifying the story when retelling it began in the past and continues to this moment. There seem to be two ways to do it:

Example 1:
Syria Truth’s original ruse has been enriched with new details every time it has been retold by journalists. [Present Perfect Continuous is used both times] Source: http://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/53995

Example 2:
The story has [been] changed every time it was retold until it has become so skewed that the solar sister feel they need to retell it correctly. [concurrence is expressed using Present Perfect/Present Perfect Continuous and Past Continuous]
Source: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/355536/the-true-battle-for-harmony

So, should it be "every time it was retold" or "every time it has been retold"?

My intuition tells me "has been" makes more sense but it would be great if someone could recall a specific rule that can be applied here or at least provide a logical argument why "was" or "has been" is correct / preferable is this situation.


texts: 90s kids or 90's kids or 90s' kids or '90s kids

texts:
I have been checking on which of these is grammatically correct. Should we use "90s kids" or "90's kids" or "90s' kids" or "'90s kids"? I checked on many forums and platforms like Reddit, Oxford, and many others. People discuss 90s kids and 90's kids and '90s kids, but no one talks about 90s' kids which I think is most appropriate as we use s' for plurals. Here is my research:
Oxford Dictionaries: How To Use An Apostrophe (’).
Reddit: 90s vs 90's. Which one is correct? (August 2015).
Some even say that it should be written '90s as we are omitting 19 from 1990. So what do you all think?


texts:
I have to take minutes of a meeting, but I am quite confused at the moment. Here are some sentences which got me confused:

''Mr Johnson: Latin America and Asia produce the same products, so I suggest to close the factories in Latin America''

Since everything has to be in reported speech, I wrote this: ''Mr. Johson said that Latina America and Asia produce the same products. He suggested to close the factories in America''.

I have my doubts about my reported speech version. Since most of the time Simple Present become simple past in reported speech, should the word ''produce'' be changed in ''produced''?, if so, won't this change the meaning of the sentence. Won't it mean that they produced the same products in the past, but nowadays they don't. My teacher said that everything has to be in reported speech, but since this kind of changes the meaning of the sentence, I got confused.

Here is another sentence which got me confused:

Mr Johnson: I do not want to downsize because my companies are profitable.

what is the reported speech of this when taking minutes?

Please help me out, the assignment is due tomorrow morning.


texts:
Is approximately used correctly in the following sentence?

  Our congregation is comprised of approximately sixty to eighty different ethnic and cultural groups.


texts:
Is there tense shifting in this sentence?

Comparing Q2 2016 sales volume to the same time last year, it was 2% points higher.

Or, should it be:

Comparing Q2 2016 sales volume to the same time last year, it is 2% points higher.


texts: "High aspirations" vs. "large aspirations"

texts: When you intend to say someone has a strong desire to achieve something high or great, is it proper to say they have "high aspirations"? Or would it be "large aspirations", or something else?


texts: Past Perfect Continuous: should I use 'had' twice?

texts:
Should I use 'had' twice in a Past Perfect Continuous sentence?

Which of two sentences is correct?

  ...you know nothing about it until you had been smacked on the back or yelled at.

  ...you know nothing about it until you had been smacked on the back or had been yelled at.


texts: What's the difference between "stochastic" and "random"?

texts:
Is one just used to sound fancy?

Webster defines the former as the latter:

  Definition of stochastic
  1 : RANDOM
   specifically : involving a random variable
   a stochastic process
  2 : involving chance or probability : PROBABILISTIC
   a stochastic model of radiation-induced mutation

It seems given the etymology of stochastic ("to aim at"), it would mean something a little less than "random."


texts:
Hello English StackExchange community,

As I'm attempting to type this out very carefully, I wanted to know of another way to describe the following:

Large networks that are linked together
Something that branches off
Connection between things

The examples I've thought of so far that I've liked are branch, web, and circuit. As all three are large series of things that are connected. For example a branch branches off into more branches, while webs are basically a huge connection of smaller webs, and circuits are connected.

If I've explained well enough, can anybody think of words that can be thought of as something that branches off, connects numerous times, or is a large network of sharing? The reason I need this is for a title for a small applet I'm developing.


texts: How can I describe it when you want to "sell" your personal image?

texts:
How can I describe when you want "sell" your image, sell how good you are at your job, for example?

What phrase or idiom can I use for that?

Here in Brazil (Portuguese) we have a metaphor like: "He sells his fish...", which means that the guy did his job very well.

Is there something like this in English?


texts: Phrase meaning "To have passed or currently be at"

texts:
I have 40 characters, (broken up into two lines of 20,) to send hints to users about the location of a "prize" buried somewhere in a grid.

There is ambiguity when I tell the user if, at any time during the exercise, they have visited the same square as the prize. Previously I would send one of these messages:

You have not passed
   the prize yet.

  You have already
  passed the prize.

If the user has just entered the same square as the prize, it should count as a pass. This is problematic, because the phrasing of the hint makes most users believe they have already missed it, while it's entirely possible the prize is currently below their feet.

Users agree that a "pass" involves walking into the prize's square, then walking away from it - which is not what I mean to imply.  This is confusing for everyone, but I can't seem to rephrase the hint without it becoming more confusing, or completely giving away the position of the prize.

How could I unambiguously convey this in 40 characters or less?


texts: Is letting someone know you'll provide details "to follow" correct?

texts:
I was told it is incorrect to send a meeting invite and note "agenda to follow"
I cannot find any grammatically info on whether this is incorrect. Is it because I have to say "Agenda to follow shortly"? Thank you!


texts:
What does Tinder mean?
I mean the name of the popular dating app.
Is it a word or a derivation or misspelling of an English words or expression?
Or is it just a fantasy word?
I am not a native English speaker and other than the suffix 'er it doesn't mean anything. Does Tind mean something, is there a verb to Tind.
Thanks


texts:
In accounting, we use compound words like "electricity expense", "utility expense", "salary expense", etc. These all belong to one category of operating expenses. I also have compound words like "deferred expenses" and "prepaid expenses" which belong to the balance sheet.
Is there a fundamental difference between phrases like "salary expense" and "prepaid expense"? Is the below statement correct?

"Salary expense" is a compound noun where "salary" is a noun and "expense" is a noun, and "prepaid expense" is a compound noun where "prepaid" is adjective and "expense" is a noun.


texts: Are there standard words for representing pronunciation?

texts:
I have come across a number of questions on the site recently where someone asks how something is pronounced.  Someone will give a sample word to illustrate the pronunciation (e.g., a rhyming word for a vowel sound or one in which the relevant consonant sounds the same).  Someone else will point out regional variations where the pronunciation is very different, so the sample word is useless as a "universal" example.

An illustration:  There was recently a discussion about Mary/merry/marry/Murray pronunciation.  I commented about "marry" rhyming with "Barry".  Someone pointed out that in some places, "Barry" rhymes with "berry", if I remember correctly.  So I offered "Sally" as an example of the "a" sound, just guessing that there isn't much variation in pronunciation.

There was another recent question about "gin" vs. "jean", and tchrist commented, using "fleece" and "kit" as examples.  Those seem like pretty safe word choices.  Were they good guesses or are those "standard" words that are known to have pretty universal pronunciations?

Most people are not familiar with the letter-like codes used to document pronunciation in places like dictionaries.  I assume that there must be a reference to those symbols that says [X] is pronounced like the [Y] in [WXYZ].  The choices for the WXYZ words must be words where at least the relevant portion of the word is universally pronounced the same.

Is there a collection of such "WXYZ" words that can serve as universal examples of what I mean as to how a vowel or consonant sounds?


texts:
Would it sound appropriately if to relay a sentence: "We expected him to make a good job of that" in the following ways:

We expected for him to make a good job of that.
We expected it for him to make a good job of that.


texts: Difference between "Knock it off!" and "Drop it!"

texts: What is the difference between "Knock it off!" and "Drop it!". I do translate both as "Stop it". Is there any context-based usage difference? Thank you.


texts: What do you call it when your unit does physical exercise as punishment because one soldier did something wrong?

texts:
I served in the Russian military and we weren't allowed to use our phones when we were on duty. So whenever someone was noticed using their phone, the whole unit had to do push-ups, squats, etc.

In Russian the term for it is "качать", it's a verb, meaning to "buff up", our sergeants thought that if we don't get these rules through our heads, we will get them through our arms/legs. Is there a similar term in English?


texts: What exactly is a "figure" in a scientific paper?

texts: I'm writing a thesis and I would like to direct the user to an algorithm description. The description is in the form of numbered (and lettered) list. I would like to write that "the algorithm is presented on fig. 1.1", but I'm not sure if that would be correct. I've been thinking that a "figure" is a drawing or a schematic, but recently I've been seeing this word when referring to lists or even blocks of text.


texts:
I encountered this term in the following text of this article about Sir Richard Branson by James Clear:

  Four years later, he was looking for ways to grow his small magazine and started selling mail order records to the students who bought the magazine. The records sold well enough that he built his first record store the next year. After two years of selling records, he decided to open his own record label and recording studio.

I especially have trouble with the meaning of record here: Usually, a record is something done with a camera or something similar. However, this does not make much sense here, at least not for me.

Could you please explain the meaning and the context in this text? Thank you!


texts:
Does "you would know from experience" in the following dialogue mean "so, your experience tells that"?

Context:

American: Coffee for me.

Turk: Tea if you please.

American: I should think you'd prefer...

Turk: Pardon me for saying, sir... we do so many things well here in America,
but coffee is not one of them.

American: Ha! Well, you would know from experience.


texts: words/phrases for overtaking cars in a race

texts: I want some words or phrases that describe overtaking car or cars, like in a race. I've heard "make up places" in Top Gear and have been wondering about other ways to say it.


texts: Which modifies which in the following sentence?

texts:
Please tell me which modifies which in the second sentence.

It is evident that there are two modifiers in the first sentence, "not" and "in the least". The words or phrases in round brackets are modifiers, and those in square brackets are the elements modified.

But things seem to get difficult in the second sentence. Is my grammatical analysis of the sentence correct?

1/ Gibbie was [(not) [disappointed]] (in the least).

2/ Gibbie was ((not) [in the least]) [disappointed].


texts: Where did the expression "achievement unlocked" come from?

texts:
Why achievement is unlocked? Achievement is not a lock, door or safe. You don't get anything after unlocking.

I have an assumption that it came from gaming history, word "unlocked" just transferred from secrets to achievements by similarity of their concept. My hypothesis is based on this wiki article. There were

  ... secrets, which traditionally provided some kind of direct benefit to the player ...


texts:
I recently have come across a clause, his delight evident, reading a novel. Which I have found tricky to understand. I have been able to get to the meaning yet not to the structure it possesses.

Here are some improvised sentences I've just made.

He ran over to me, his delight evident, and hugged me already.
"Absolutely," said the man, his delight evident.

Could you please explain how the clause works?

Thanks.


texts:
Something that refers to a breathless, quiet speech, not absolute silence like most synonyms for "dumb". Such as when someone is in shock or disbelief.

  "I... I just saw her last week," he said dumbly. "She can't be..."

"Dumb" as a synonym for "mute" or "quiet" has bad connotations and I'm trying to avoid it.


texts:
I am not a native speaker. So please excuse my "silly" question.

I have learned in my school that one can only use the word "where" in contexts describing locations, positions [or directions]. But I have come across two sentences used by a native speaker and I wonder if they are correct.

  1) It can fill in details where experimental methods cannot.

  2) Computer simulations are accurate on predicting molecular motions
  but work poorly where quantum effects are important.

Can someone explain to me why he can use the word "where"? Many thanks!


texts:
Is it correct to write: "An agreement is imperative to tackling the problem"?

Or should it be: "An agreement is imperative to tackle the problem"?

Thanks


texts: Difference between "accountability" and "responsibility"

texts: I've looked them up in many dictionaries, it seems the two words have the same meaning, right? I don't know when we use each of them properly.


texts: Syntax question for an English native speaker

texts: For the life of me, I can't seem to think of the correct way of asking the following: say one wants to ask which teams/clubs a store carries a specific apparel item in would it be: which teams do you sell these tracksuits for? For which teams do you sell these tracksuits? Or something else? I can't think of a right way to say this. Thanks!


texts: In the movie "The Book of Eli", why did the writers not conjugate the verb in "Cursed be the ground for our sake"?

texts:
In the movie The Book of Eli, Denzel Washington's character, Eli, says

  Cursed be the ground for our sake. (as opposed to "cursed is the ground")

You can watch the scene here. It's the first line he says. Before this, he knocks out a guy who is not a very good person and the guy's friends stand up, ready to rumble. They all are in the bar of a brothel. Eli went there for water (he's a christian).

The quoted Bible verse, Genesis 3:17, can be viewed here.

I am guessing the writers chose not to conjugate be, as the Bible does, to change the sentence to an imperative,

  [It's necessary that] Cursed be the ground because of you. (not the actual verse just my interpretation of the movie's modification of the verse)

which to me kind of makes sense given the context of the verse. I don't know.

Why would the movie writers not conjugate be? Is this acceptable in certain contexts?

Or was it done to make the verse sound cooler?

UPDATE: so, it appears (from @Rathony's link) that the be is not conjugated in the Darby English Version of the Bible. And from @Josh61's comment this is a subjunctive.  But is it an outmoded method of writing a subjunctive?

UPDATE in response to request by @RegDwight.

The verse in the NIV version of the Bible is:

To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.


texts:
Should proper nouns be capitalized when used as verbs?

For instance:

"I Googled it"
"I googled it"


texts:
For the longest time, as I try to think a sentence, the word "which" always confuses me.

Example:

  "I am British, which is the reason I can speak it so well."

or

  "I am British, which it's the reason I can speak it so well."

Another example

  "I love him, which is the reason I'm going to marry him."

or

  "I love him, which it's the reason I'm going to marry him."

Which one is correct? And I can put a subject after which? Can someone give me  a proper explanation on this, because I keep not getting it.


texts: Word for an idea that appears often in literature/film?

texts:
The closest thing I can come up with is trope, but it doesn't quite embody what I'm after.

Ex) The idea of having to balance life with work comes up often in film and television. It is a common ____.


texts: Using a comma before “and we already have a toaster.”

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

No gifts please, we don't need any orchids and we already have a toaster.
No gifts please, we don't need any orchids , and we already have a toaster.


texts: How to use "It ain't over till the fat lady sings"?

texts:
I know the meaning of this phrase: One should not assume the outcome of some activity (e.g. a sports game) until it has actually finished.
I'm curious as to whether it would more likely be used when

the speaker refers to an assumed favorable outcome that might turn unfavorable:

"The Giants are going to win this game, no question!"
"It ain't over till the fat lady sings."

the speaker refers to an assumed unfavorable outcome that might turn favorable

"Might as well go home, no chance the Giants are going to win this one."
"It ain't over till the fat lady sings."

Or does the phrase apply to both situations equally?


texts:
What is the correct way of saying the following sentance..

This experience has taught me the importance of waiting.

This experience showed me the importance of waiting.

I think the second one makes more sense, but I am still not sure.


texts: On rare occasions, whether it be a Tuesday or not, when I write about plots, as in graphs, I see spell checker complaints where both alternatives are rejected.  Is it plotable or plottable?


texts:
If I want to make clear that one object is being affected by the gravity of another object, for example the Earth and the moon.

Would I say:

  The moon has a gravity, just as all mass does.

or, would I say:

  The moon has gravity, just as all mass does.


texts: Preposition between "invoice" and "order"

texts:
Is against a correct and common preposition in the following sentence? Is there any frequently used preposition for this sentence?

  I have to create invoices against these orders.


texts: On the use of “technique” as a mass noun

texts:
The following passage appears in the preface to the first edition of P. Morse’s Vibration and Sound (1936).

  The vacuum tube and the other applications of electronics have provided immensely powerful tools for the measurement, recording, and reproduction of sound; tools which have revolutionized acoustic technique.

The word technique is apparently being used as a mass noun, though my intuition is that in today’s American English such a usage is not common. Would someone care to discuss on the mass/noun status of this noun in different dialects of English during different time periods, or provide a general discussion of historical changes between mass/count status?

I have made no effort to consult readily available reference works in order to answer my question before posting here.


texts: What is the verb meaning someone is stuck at home for such a long time that the person starts to exhibit psychological issues?

texts: I saw it on Youtube one time showing people started looting and other violence in the street as a side effect of the COVID-19 lockdown.


texts: What is the best verb to use when talking about going after someone (to pick them from home, etc.)?

texts:
I am looking for a verb either one-part or two-part, to describe going after someone for example your mom to take them from home for example on your car. First I wanted to use come after, but it seems it has a negative implication like hurting someone. Also, go after seems to mean following and chasing someone rather than going to pick them. What is the best verb to use here?

An example of how I want to use it is as follows:

  -Were not you supposed to come after me in the morning so we would not get stuck in traffic?
   - That's right. Sorry mom for being late. The road will open now and we will go.


texts: "But no man's charm is so practiced who knows himself well."

texts:
What does this sentence mean? I can't seem to make sense of it grammatically:

  But no man's charm is so practiced who knows himself well.


texts: Where to put commas in a long sentence with multiple ands

texts:
I am having a lot of trouble figuring out where to place commas in my long sentences and was hoping to get some guidance for this particular sentence so I can use it for reference.

Specifically, our architecture takes as input the giver and receiver pose that we denote together as Pi, and the object label O in the form of a GloVe embedding, and forecasts both their poses Ph and the orientation of the object Or centered on the giver's grasping hand at handover

vs.

Specifically, our architecture takes as input the giver and receiver pose that we denote together as Pi, and the object label O in the form of a GloVe embedding and, forecasts both their poses Ph and the orientation of the object Or centered on the giver's grasping hand at handover


texts: One word for "The amount paid to a person A because of the damage caused to him by person B"

texts:
I know there's a word for this but can't remember it. Can someone please help me figure this out.

It also means, amount paid to a king after winning a war by the defeated king.

Thank you :)


texts: What is a technical word for an event causing conflict to escalate to war?

texts:
The word I am searching for is used in the field of International Relations. It is used to describe a specific event that causes an ongoing passive conflict to escalate into active conflict. It is similar to, but is not the word 'catalyst'.

The term indicated an event triggering a direct change from non-violent to violent action.

For example: The use of beef grease (tallow) in cartridges as the spark to the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Example sentences:

  The use of tallow in rifle cartridges [term] the Indian Rebellion of
  1857.

  In the case of Sri Lanka the two peoples had lived together under
  British rule but following their departure the desire by some
  Sinhalese to assert their culture as dominate over another was brought
  into the public sphere of politics by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and
  became a [term] for violence to begin.


texts: Where does 'po-faced' come from etymologically, geographically, and chronologically?

texts:
The entry for po-faced in Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) reads as follows:

po-faced adj {perh. fr. po chamber pot, toilet, fr. F pot pot} (1934) Brit : having an assumed solemn, serious, or earnest expression or manner : piously or hypocritically solemn

The upshot of this entry is that in MW's view the term may have originate as a reference to a chamber pot, in Great Britain, in the 1930s. The chamber pot source strikes me as rather odd, but perhaps I'm less inclined than most other people—British or otherwise—to assume an air of artificially studious solemnity when parked on a toilet.
Nevertheless, when I ran a Google Books search for po-faced, the earliest match I could find was this one, from Kate Trimble Sharber, The Annals of Ann (1910), where the speaker is a middle-aged Southern Black cook/servant named Mammy Lou:

She [Mammy Lou] was curious to see the young man "Miss Cis was settin' up to, to see whether the match was a fittin' one or not." She took a good look at him, then called Miss Cis into the hall to speak her opinion.
"He'll do," I heard her saying, while Miss Cis was telling her to "s-s-sh, Mr. MacDonald would hear her."
He'll do," mammy kept on, not paying any attention to what was told her, like she always don't. "He must be all right for bein' a frien' o' Mr. Juliuses would pass 'im.' But, honey, he is tolerable po-faced, which ain't no good sign in marryin'. If thar's anybody better experienced in that business than me and King Solomon I'd like to see the whites o' ther eyes; an' I tell you every time, if you want to get a good-natured, wood-cuttin' baby-tendin' husban' choose one that's fat in the face!"

Sharber was an American novelist, born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1883. My impression from this excerpt is that "po-faced" here means "poor-faced" and suggests a thin, gaunt, angular, or haggard face, in contrast to a full, fleshy, or round face.
The earliest instance of "po-faced" that Google Books finds from a British source is from Louis Golding, Who's There Within? (1942) [combined snippets]:

But how could she act like that, like an outraged Victorian matron, how could she? How could she be so po-faced! (She was using the favourite word of the Bohemians in the London of the early twenties, the Cave of Harmony, and Harold Scott, and Elsa Lanchester, and all that.) It would be too unfunny! You don't get rid of a man because he wants to go to bed with you, but because he doesn't.

The author here specifically asserts that "po-faced" was "the favorite word" in Bohemian London in the early 1920s—and that level of precision is striking. Still it comes anecdotally and twenty years after the claimed fact, so its reliability is by no means assured. In the context in which Golding uses it, "po-faced" seems to mean something like artificially or hypocritically solemn (the MW definition), but there is no indication of the etymological origin of the term.
Meanwhile, the full-length OED of 1971 has nothing for po-faced and nothing relevant for po.
My questions are as follows:

Is the 1910 U.S. instance of "po-faced" directly (genealogically, as it were) connected to the British slang term or are the two forms of "po-faced" unrelated and merely coincidental?
Is the 1910 U.S. instance of "po-faced" unique and idiosyncratic, or does it represent a contemporaneous idiomatic usage of "poor-faced" in the United States during the early 1900s?
What is the earliest documented print instance of "po-faced" in the British English slang sense?
What evidence is there in the historical record that "po-faced" derives from "[French] pot-faced" rather than from "poker-faced" (or in the Annals of Ann instance, from "poor-faced")?


texts: How to better reword this sentence? (SAT Writing question)

texts:
The security office recommends that, when asked to provide a computer password, do not choose any string of letters that can be found in a dictionary.

a) do not choose (incorrect, I think this would make the sentence a run-on)
b) not to choose (what I had thought was correct because "The security office recommends not to choose any string of letter that can be found in a dictionary." sounds correct to me)
c) not choosing (incorrect, doesn't "sound" right)
d) you not choose (includes the pronoun "you," so I had automatically ruled this option out)
e) your choice should not be (too wordy)

But the correct answer had turn out to be option d. Please explain why, in the end, d is the correct answer?


texts: Is there any difference between "result in" and "end up with"?

texts:
Seeing some example sentences of each phrase on my dictionary, I felt "end up with" was used for a kind of negative result and "result in" was more general.
Is that correct?

Here are some of the examples I saw :)

The game result in a draw.
A constant effort will result in success.
After years of overwork, he ended up with an incurable disease.
to end up with a repair bill of 200 dollars.


texts: I vs myself when talking about 3 people (including me)

texts:
I’m talking about something I am doing with 2 others. Would I say
1.) My sister, cousin, and I are blah blah blah.
2.) My sister, cousin, and myself are all blah blah blah.
Or neither?


texts:
Even with reading Meaning of “as it was” in context I am not sure I understand this in the following passage:

  Myers had as it were to re-create his personality before he became the wary
  critic of evidence, the skillful handler of hypothesis, the learned neurologist and omnivorous reader of biological and cosmological matter, with
  whom in later years we were acquainted.

Is this to only specify that Myers indeed re-created what he did or a is there a more complicated thing to it?


texts:
This may not be appropriate for this site, I couldn't tell from the FAQ or a quick search on meta. I am looking for the proper attribution, origin, and correct version of the quote:

  That which is measured, improves.

I've seen various versions and attributions to different people.

Some versions of it:

Pearson's Law:
"That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported
improves exponentially." - Karl Pearson

"When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance
is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates." - Thomas S. Monson

A few sources say it was used often at Sun Microsystems but do not attribute it to anyone.


texts: How should I arrange a foreign word and its translation in middle of sentence?

texts:
I'm having trouble with this sentence:

  "I possess what in spanish we call ganas, the desire, to attain a graduate degree."

I think it's clear what I'm trying to say, but it sounds wrong. It feels like I'm saying ganas means "the desire to attain a gruduate degree" instead of just "the desire".

What is the correct way to write this?

Thanks!


texts:
I read a "I'm Not There" movie review in Times.

Vulnerable as Mr. Dylan is to misunderstanding (“I couldn’t believe after all these years/You didn’t know me better than that” in “Idiot Wind”), he also actively solicits it (“Something is happening here/But you don’t know what it is/Do you, Mr. Jones?” in “Ballad of a Thin Man”).

Article as below link
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/movies/21ther.html

For the sentence "Vulnerable as Mr. Dylan is to misunderstanding , he also actively solicits it."

I wonder why this sentence has no conjunction?
And does this sentence mean:
"Dylan is easily misunderstood, but he still seeks to be misunderstood."

Thanks for your time.


texts:
What can you call a joke, pun, or anything funny that likely needs intelligence to get?

All I can come up with is intellectual jokes; is there another word for this? A one-word answer would be great.


texts: Other examples of or name of an indefinitely repeating phrase in a sentence

texts:
I'm looking for other examples of or the name of this kind of structure from The Stanley Parable:

  "The end is never the end is never the end is never the end is never the end is never the end is never the end is never the end is never the end end is never the end end is never the end end is never the end end is never the end end is never the end end is never the end end is never the end end is never the end end is never the end end is never the end end is never the end..."

Is there a term for this kind of thing? A phrase that makes sense when repeated over and over.


texts:
what can I use to replace a large number of or a growing body of?
I want to say "a large number of studies found something". But I have used this before, I want to change it to other words to describe a lot or many.

Thanks!


texts: Please tell me which one of these sentences is correct?

texts:
I want to request people to update my contact number.
Here's the message I wrote:

  Hey! I am changing my WhatsApp to a new number.  Here it is: XXXXXXX.

Should I then add

  Please update your contact information for me.

or

  Please update your contact information of me.


texts: “Your interview with him.” Who is the interviewer?

texts:
You write something like this:

  I'm interested in your interview with Barack Obama.

Most people would take this to mean that it was Obama who was the interviewee (the one answering questions). However, couldn't it technically have been the other way round, i.e. that Obama was the interviewer?


texts:
She was "in" or "on"?
Example sentences:

She was (in, on) (a, the) drama 'Title of the drama'.
She was (in, on) (a, the) show 'Title of the show'.


texts:
I will try to explain it as much as I can, so please bear with me. I am looking for a word which means/implies "I am here" but not for humans, please consider the sentence below:

  Using "SomeCompany.com" instead of "somecompany.com" looks much better
  as capitals letters make your company name say "I am here" within the given domain.

What I am thinking is "stand out" as a possible word. But getting more ideas from experts is always the best.


texts: What does "to pick someone's cherry" mean?

texts: Does it strictly refer to taking someone's virginity, or does it express sexual intercourse in general?


texts: "and counting" "and holding" - what does this mean?

texts: When listening to Space Shuttle countdown I notice the endings "and counting" and "and holding". I can imagine what "and counting" means, but what is "and holding"? Countdown has stopped? Why?


texts: Why is it "could" and not "can" in the famous line: "If a face could launch a thousand ships"?

texts:
This is from a song lyric

  If a picture paints a thousand words,
  Then why can't I paint you?
  The words will never show the you I've come to know.
  If a face could launch a thousand ships,
  Then where am I to go?
  There's no one home but you,
  You're all that's left me too.
  And when my love for life is running dry,
  You come and pour yourself on me.

First the singer says If a picture paints a thousand words.

Followed by, If a face could launch a thousand ships.

Why does the singer sing "If a face could launch a thousand ships"?

Why not, "If a face can launch a thousand ships"?

Why is  can used in the past?