texts: How can I describe someone who has the 'law of the instrument' cognitive bias?

texts:
The law of the instrument is a cognitive bias where "if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail".

What would be the best word or short phrase to describe someone who exhibits this behavior?


texts: Is there an adjective that begins with the prefix omni that means all-hearing? I thought that an aural counterpart to omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient must exist, but after a few minutes of Googling, I've failed to find any synonyms for all-hearing.


texts: Usage of "taken" regarding the time a picture was taken

texts:
I'm not a native English speaker, but I have lived in the US for one year. I'm developing software (i.e. an application programming interface, API). There is one property that is supposed to store the date and time that an image was taken by the user. When I was creating the model, I came up with this name for the property: DateTaken.

This made total sense to me. But some coworkers asked me to change the property name to TakenDate. TakenDate, to me is wrong. I honestly don't know why, but it just sounds wrong when said out loud. Could someone please explain a little more?


texts: Grammatical Rules of Construction. Conjunction-reduction

texts:
I'm struggling to understand the meaning of certain phrases that follow a particular pattern. Since I lack the vocabulary to define that pattern, I'll give some examples instead:

The pet-friendly apartment complex permits dogs of all varieties except retrievers, labs, and pit bulls over 50 lbs.

Does the weight limit apply to all three dogs or only pit bulls? Sometimes the language seems to favor one interpretation:

It’s unlawful to offer, negotiate, or arrange to sell U-235 uranium.

Here, "to sell" seems clearly connected to the three preceding verbs. But, changing the first two of those verbs seems to favor the opposite interpretation:

It’s unlawful to deposit, transport, or arrange to sell U-235 uranium.

This time "to sell" seems to stand independently from all but the last verb. How then are we to derive the proper meaning from such patterns when each interpretation seems equally plausible, as it does in the first example? Do sentences like these merely exemplify tragically poor and ambiguous writing to be endured, or are there grammatical rules of construction that can guide us through interpretation?
There are practical implications. I run into this all the time when trying to interpret legislation. The following is not the best example, but it's one I had to deal with today.

California law allows schools to discipline students found to have "offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell a controlled substance." (Cal. Ed. Code §48900(d))

Is it a violation to offer a controlled substance gratuitously or only for sale? Certainly, the word "arranged" suggests the latter, given that it doesn't make sense to say that it's unlawful to "arranged a controlled substance." Still, since the language in statutes is often devoid of such clues, it would be nice to know what, if any, grammatical rules exist to describe the relationship between words like "sell" and the preceding verbs.
I've done a good bit of hunting on the internet in hopes of finding the answer on my own. The closest I could find was this site, which discusses "coordinate adjectives". The examples found there have some loose similarities to my issue, but not enough to give me confidence that the rules are applicable to my problem. I've also spent a fair amount of time thumbing through Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik's "Grammar of Contemporary English". That book is so large and technical that I'm convinced the answer lies somewhere therein; however since I lack the technical vocabulary to describe what I'm looking for, I have been unable to find the solution.


texts: alternate phrases for "Not well thought out"

texts:
I need a phrase or word that with the same meaning as the phrase "not well thought out."

I am writing a major term paper on war. I am currently just creating a mindmap (I use them in the same way as an outline, because I tend to overthink outlines). My thought is that "war is never well thought out," or perhaps "war is not very well thought out." (Actually, the latter of those should be removed, it sounds rather daft.)


texts:
What does Middle English "bihiȝten" mean?

Wycliffe's Bible (page 87)

Mk.14:11

Studylight:

"And thei herden, and ioyeden, and bihiyten to yyue hym money. And he souyt hou he schulde bitraye hym couenabli."

King James Bible:

"...And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him."


texts: What is the difference between being imaginative and creative?

texts: I cannot understand the difference between being imaginative and creative, sometimes I get either of the words but thinking or relating  it to the other confuses me and I reach back to where I started. Could someone please help me?


texts: Expression "making a bid/break for freedom"?

texts: What is the difference between "making a bid for freedom" and "making a break for freedom"? In which situations would one use one and not the other?


texts: Thanks for help vs. Thanks for helping me

texts:
Is the sentence 'Thanks for help' easily understood?

Should I use 'Thanks for helping me', or 'Thanks for help me'?


texts: A word or phrase for a fake doctors or healers

texts: I am looking for a word to describe people that proclaim that they possess healing powers or know remedies to cure incurable conditions or even to poses spiritual powers. A general term would be a charlatan but I want something specific. Something like the word alchemist compared to a chemist. Few words, I can think of are fake shaman, fake healers, plastic shaman, voodoo priest.


texts:
Could someone suggest what preposition to use after 'Follow-up'? Is it 'on' or 'of' or 'to'?

The background to the question above is an event that has happened, and (which) needs to be 'followed up': for example, consider the following sequence of events:

a person enters into an email conversation (series of back and forth emails getting exchanged)
After a while, he wants to sends a separate mail to pursue (follow-up) the earlier matter.

The question is, what should he use as the subject of this new email. Should it be:

(a) Follow-up on the earlier matter (he means to say, I am following up on the earlier matter)
(b) Follow-up of the earlier matter (meaning - this new email is a follow-up of the earlier matter)
(c) Follow-up to the earlier matter (intention to state that the new email is a  follow-up to the matter that was earlier discussed)


texts: "Lunch" vs. "dinner" vs. "supper" — times and meanings?

texts: I've seen cases where a noon-time meal is referred to as dinner, and the evening meal is called supper. There's also lunch around noon followed by dinner in the evening. Is there a particular difference between dinner and supper, or a circumstance where lunch becomes dinner?


texts: Is it necessary to put a comma before since clause?

texts:
Is it really necessary to put a comma before since clause?
If I omit the comma before since clause in formal writing, will that be taken as a mistake?

  We often use as and since when we want to focus more on the result than the reason. As and since are more formal than because. We usually put a comma before since after the main clause:

    [result]I hope they've decided to come as [reason]I wanted to hear about their India trip.
    [result]They're rather expensive, since [reason]they're quite hard to find.

  Cambridge Online Dictionary: As, because or since?

  We use since as a subordinating conjunction to introduce a subordinate clause. We use it to give a reason for something:

  Sean had no reason to take a taxi since his flat was near enough to walk to.

    Since her husband hated holidays so much, she decided to go on her own.
    They couldn't deliver the parcel since no one was there to answer the door.

  Cambridge Online Dictionary: Since


texts:
I am a bit confused about selecting the appropriate word for the following sentence. Should I use interact with or watched?

32 students (16 male 16 female) interacted with (or watched) these videos on an eye-tracking device in a human-computer interaction lab one by one and filled a retention test.


texts:
I have an interface which limits users' access. I want to write a phrase that expresses it differently.

Here is what I come up with

  The interface offers the option to pick which ones* to authorize
  client access.

ones refers to clients. I feel that the sentence is not right, as I'm not sure if the usage of "to authorize" is correct.

Looking for feedback on this; different formulation are certainly welcome!


texts: Word-choice when modifying preceding nouns, among past participle, "which", and "as"

texts:
Please see the following phrases.

(i) "the language used in"

(ii) "the language which is used in"

(iii) "the language as used in"

(iv) "the language as it is used in"

I understand that a past participle only, the relative pronoun "which", and the conjunction "as" respectively can modify preceding nouns by specifying/limiting (or otherwise) the meaning of them.

However, I am not yet confident about difference of nuance or word-choice.

I can say that (ii) and (iv) styles are preferable when specifying tense is critical in the context, but I'm not sure in other respects regarding word-choice/difference of nuance.

So, could someone explain any difference of nuance and word-choice among them?

Thank you.


texts: Divide or Divide it Up: Which is correct in the following context?

texts:
They divided the money up among their three children.

They divided the money  among their three children.

Is there anything wrong in my second sentence?!!


texts:
In German there is an abbreviation for so genannt, which is sog.

Is there a known popular abbreviation for the equivalent so-called in English?


texts: Semicolon usage: I've got the truck; now I need some muscle

texts:
In the sentence:

  I’ve got the truck; now I need some muscle.

Is the semicolon the correct punctuation to put just after truck, just before now?


texts:
which one is the correct phrase to say?

I have always been confused by that.

  My {younger|little|smaller} sister.


texts:
In Holland we use commode to indicate a dressing table or lowboy specifically for changing diapers and dressing a baby:

The commode is usually ditched after the babies have grown out the diapers. I can't imagine this piece of furniture being absent in the English speaking world but when I look on ebay, Etsy and others for commodes, lowboys, or chest of drawers I don't find anything related to changing baby diapers.

What would be good translation for the Dutch word commode?


texts: Is there a word for stopping in the middle of the sentence?

texts: Lately, I suffer from an unusual habit. I simply don't finish my sentence while typing and I don't even notice it. Afterwards when I take a look at (for instance) the email I sent, I can clearly see that I've stopped in the middle of the sentence. I wouldn't believe my colleagues if I couldn't see my email history. So I'm wondering if


texts:
I must remember to bath within ten minutes time.

Is the word "time" needed in this sentence, or is it superficial? Is it even wrong to remove it?


texts: (conjunction) 'as' in 'at the same time as when'

texts:
This happened at the same time as when the window decorations disappeared.

I don't know the meaning of 'as' in 'at the same time as when' and the usage of 'as' in this situation.

What do you think of four sentences?

The first: This happened at the same time as when the window decorations disappeared.

The second:This happened at the same time as the window decorations disappeared.

The third: This happened at the same time as the time the window decorations disappeared.

The fourth: This happened when the window decorations disappeared.

I think the first, the third, and the fourth are right, but the second is wrong.

I wonder how you feel.


texts: What are some actual polite words for filthy words?

texts: I have a habit of cussing a bit. I don't wanna use cute words for filthy words. I wanna use polite sounding words, that mean the same as the filthy sounding cuss words.


texts: What is it when... it is not hubris or self mocking or self disgust, but funnier?

texts:
Situation:
a man assumes a woman is delicate and will need someone to fight her fights for her. he stumbles on her fighting her own fight and realizes his ego and adherence to sociological stereotypes has given him the wrong opinion.

at this moment his realization of incorrect assumption cause him to feel hubris, or a self mocking.

is there a word that falls in between "hubris" and "self mocking" when acknowledging one's own erroneous prejudice....but not self disgust.  looking for a more humorous word. less degrading than mock.

Sample sentence: "He smiled and waived his hand in acknowledgement of his earlier ????? assumption that she would require his interference."


texts:
Which of the  2 sentences is correct?

Sam is looking forward to see the Rocky mountains.

Sam is looking forward to seeing the Rocky mountains.


texts: Differentiating the meaning of the -able suffix ('able to be' vs 'to be')

texts:
The suffix -able has several meanings, one of them is:

(forming adjectives) to be: payable

How does one differentiate this meaning from the other meanins of -able? For example, how does one know whether payable means able to be paid or to be paid?
By the way, I didn't find other examples for the "to be"-meaning except for payable. Could you provide other examples?


texts: When to use a comma and a semi-colon when a word is repeated (repetition).

texts:
I'm confused with when to use a comma or semi-colon when a word is repeated for emphasis because it's a general rule if you are to write two independent sentences together, they must have a conjunction to join them or a semi-colon. Yet, on Facebook or other writings I always see a comma used.

For example, Let's say I'm repeating "I". Is it:

I am the best; I am strong; I am dangerous.

Or,

I am the best, I am strong, I am dangerous.

Another example.

The car is black; the car can fly; the car is wet.

Or,

The car is black, the car can fly, the car is wet.


texts: Word for the feeling when you are looking for an solution

texts:
The title is kinda self-explanatory, but what I'm looking for is a one single word describing your desperate need/desire to find the solution of your problem/situation.

I'm writing a story where a character is cheated out of his price and I try to describe how he felt:

“But I… But he…!” stuttered Adam, a third bewildered, a third furious and a third [insert word here].

He feels cheated, confused and angry by what had just happen, but are desperately looking for a way he perhaps won or finding a way to dismiss whatever foul play he had been subjugated by, and I want to sum it up into one word that would match the sentence above.

I'm mot even sure that what I look for exist, but I have this gnawing sensation in the back of my neck that makes me suspect that it just might.


texts:
I am bit confused about the differences between lead to + gerund and result in + gerund.
Example:

This process might lead to increasing the costs.
This process might result in increasing the costs.

In essays, should I prefer one of lead to and result in to the other?  Why?


texts: Can i know what is the meaning of "Nothing Like That"?

texts: I asked a person, "Aren't we meeting in next 2 or 3 years?" The person replied saying: "Nothing like that." What does he mean? Will the person will meet me or not?


texts: can someone let me know the meaning of "through the roof" in this sentence? "Your mom was just probably through the roof". Online I found the meaning of the expression "go through the roof" = "to get very angry", but a friend of mine told me that that expression means "very excited", so according to him "the mom was very excited". Which one is correct?


texts: Can gerund and infinitive forms be interchangeable when functioning as subject of a sentence?

texts:
I am having trouble using gerund/infinitive forms when functioning as subject of a sentence. For instance, which one of these two sentences is correct?

  Eating ice cream on a windy day can be a messy experience if you have
  long, untamed hair.

or

  To eat ice cream on a windy day can be a messy experience if you have
  long, untamed hair.

If both sentences are correct, are these two kind of constructions always interchangeable? Would that only be up to one's stylistic choices?
I am looking for some explanations online but I cannot find anything about them being interchangeable. For instance, on this website called Grammar Bites!, it is said that both constructions can function as subjects but nothing else.

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/infinitivephrase.htm
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/gerundphrase.htm

This is my first post so I hope I did not do anything wrong. Thanks!


texts: Why is it always "gnash one's teeth"?  Is anything else ever gnashed?


texts: Single-word synonym for a  “pedantic rule-follower”?

texts: What do you call a person who always follows the rules, at the expense of everything else?  I’m thinking there’s one word that can describe this, but I can’t place it.


texts: Is either "and" or "or" necessary when listing things?

texts:
Something I read today is a publish article raises my doubt about whether "and" or "or" is absolutely necessary when enumerating.

It runs:

  A book makes the perfect gift, the perfect giveaway, the perfect method of saying, "Consider the following..."

After reading this, I felt inserting either "and" or "or" makes the sentence sound quite weird.


texts: Why is "pound" (of weight) abbreviated "lb"?

texts:
Answers to Correct usage of lbs. as in "pounds" of weight suggest that "lb" is for "libra" (Latin), but how has this apparent inconsistency between the specific unit of weight "pound" and the more general concept of weight "libra" arisen? It seems analogous to abbreviating "grams" to "w" for weight which makes no sense to me.

Update: very nice historical context provided in your answers. Interesting that the Latin term has evolved into both pound (weight) in English and liter (volume) through Greek. I wonder if this is related to how "ounce" can refer to both weight and volume (fluid ounce)?


texts:
Which of the following two sentences is correct?

A: The training course will give the opportunity for the teachers to enhance the understanding of emotional intelligence.

B: The training course will give the opportunity to the teachers to enhance the understanding of emotional intelligence.

Where the difference between both of them is the 8th word (for and To).


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "(play) out of [their] skin"?

texts:
The phrase "play out of their skin" is frequently used in sports commentary, and to a lesser extent in describing exceptional performance in other areas, especially where physical exertion and/or some competitive nature is involved.

However, a search on English Language & Usage doesn't provide any insight, nor does a reasonable Google search turn up any information on the etymological (just its definition in various forms, which is already known here).

Where did this phrase come from?


texts: What is the correct capitalization of the words earth and moon?

texts:
I believe that Earth means planet and earth means soil. But I've seen earth used in published works to mean the planet earth. But no one writes jupiter.

Similarly, Moon should mean the name of Earth's moon and lower case moon means the general category. This one is more complicated because I've read that the name of Earth's moon is Luna. Except no one calls it that. We don't say "Neil Armstrong was the first man on Luna."

Am I correct or is this a matter of convention?


texts: reported speech causing tenses confusion

texts:
You didn't tell me that you have a girlfriend.(Does it mean that he still has a girlfriend)

                     or

You didn't tell me that you had a girlfriend.(Does it mean that he no longer has a girlfriend)
I knew that you have a girlfriend.

                  or

I knew that you had a girlfriend.

which of them is grammatically correct and why not the other one? Please explain every detail about such sentences which give confusion of tenses to the non English speakers.

P.S  The person does  have a girlfriend at present, as he never broke up with her.

thanks in advance :)


texts: What does “fleek” mean and when was it first used?

texts:
The word fleek is all over Twitter.

The @lovihatibot Twitterbot routinely finds it in searches for "I love the word [X]" and "I hate the word [X]", in fact it's the third most hated word over the past 30 days, and the 15th most hated in all of 2014. That's a lot of hate for a little word, it can't be random babble to cause such a reaction.

Similarly it regularly shows up in @favibot's searches for "[X] is my new favorite word".

What does fleek mean?

Where does it come from and when was it first used?

Was there a single person or event which popularised it, and when was it? Or if it's an older word, what accounts for its recent popularity?


texts:
I am looking for a term which clearly defines somebody as a non-geek, without being derogatory. The best example I have seen is muggle, but it needs context to be understood, as in "You don't meet many muggles at a comic convention", or "even my muggle friends like my autologlyph fractal decal". But while "muggle" makes it clear that he is a part of the "majority which is different", it is often hard to guess who the minority is.

There are also more specific words, but they are mostly so derogatory that I would consider them rude even in a joke, like luser or n00b. I definitely don't want to use them in a normal conversation.

A search in antonym dictionaries didn't bring up anything. Is there really no such word?


texts:
I'm looking for a term (ideally, word) to describe an event or its main participant.
In military, athletic, or heroic stories a person may be set apart from others to improve.
This question was inspired by reading Orson Scott Cards's Ender's Game.
The summary from Wikipedia says:

  [Colonel Hyrum] Graff... offers [Andrew "Ender" Wiggin] a place in the Battle School,
  situated in Earth's orbit, where Graff quickly isolates Ender from the other cadets, but
  encourages him to continue training despite frustration...

The solitude I want to describe also has its place in philosophical and spiritual works.
In philosophy, there is Henry David Thoreau's retreat to Walden Pond, about which he says:

  I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential
  facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to
  die, discover that I had not lived.

And the Christian Messiah spent 40 days and nights in the Judaean desert, where he was
tempted.

This seclusion may not be total, allowing for a trainer or emotional support.
Examples include:

Luke and his trainer Yoda on Dagobah in George Lucas's The Empire Strikes Back
Jonas and the Giver in Lowis Lowry's The Giver:

  So it is without real protest that [Jonas] initially accepts... a job he is told will be filled with pain and the training for which will isolate him from his family and friends forever.

Rocky Balboa, his trainer Duke, and Rocky's brother-in-law Paulie in Rocky IV

  [Rocky] flies to the USSR without Adrian, setting up his training base in Krasnogourbinsk with only Duke and brother-in-law Paulie (Burt Young) to accompany him.

The isolation need not be voluntary. The IMDb synopsis of 2002's film The Count of Monte Cristo says of prisoners Dantes and Abbe Faria:

  Dantes befriends a fellow prisoner named Abbe Faria (Harris), who is a great scholar and
  who, very gradually, transforms the unworldly Dantes into a wise, learned and cultivated
  man.

I would like an emphasis on isolation; there may not be an opportunity to do other things
for a while.
The work to improve during the seclusion is trying (or rigorous) and sustained over a period of time.
I can't remember if Daniel in The Karate Kid, for example, spent the summer with Mr.
Miyagi, which I would consider isolation, or visited him after school, which is less so.

And I consider Bruce Wayne's training under Henri Ducard at the League of Shadows headquarters in Batman Begins to be isolation, even though there are many other people there.
Because those other characters are peripheral, the effort to improve Bruce seems as focused as Eliza Doolittle's in My Fair Lady or Alejandro's in The Mask of Zorro.

The best words I know, metamorphosis and transformation, by themselves emphasize the change (or improvement) but not the isolation.
An analogy can be made with metamorphosis and a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but until it's made my audience may not know that that's what I'm getting at.

Other terms I can think of are too general or too specific:
Back-to-basics and
meditation, for example, are about
specific types of self-improvement that can be done during solitude;
others are synonyms for solitude, which itself can be isolation for any number of reasons, like

  ... bad relationships, loss of loved ones, deliberate choice, infectious disease, mental
  disorders, neurological disorders or circumstances of employment or situation...

Is there a term, preferably word, that more concisely expresses "isolation for the sake of (self-)improvement"?


texts: The term for the space beneath a “cathedral” ceiling

texts:
The background to the question:

If there is a horizontal ceiling that is attached to the tie-beams of a roof, creating a space above it, the space above is called an “attic” whether used as a living, storage, or simply ventilation space. If there is no ceiling but a portion of the area under the roof is sectioned off to create a usable space, that is usually called a “loft”. If there is no horizontal ceiling, but there is some form of internal covering, that does not follow the contour of the roof exactly, then it is called a “vaulted ceiling”. If there is no ceiling at all, or the ceiling exactly maps to the contour of the external roof, then it is called a “cathedral ceiling” - one can usually see the trusses and tie beams, which are painted or varnished wood, or decorated iron-work.

The question:

If when there is a ceiling, you can refer to that space above it as the “attic” of the house (whether that space is converted to a living space, or left untouched as simply the inside of the roof), what do you call the same space when there is no ceiling to define it? The space does manifest as a discrete space, even if there are no tie beams to physically demarcate it, as the eye divides the space into the rectangle of the living space and the triangle of the roof?

I am writing a poem, and hesitate to use the word “attic” as the first meaning of this will inevitably invoke the reader to imagine a ceiling, when there is none. I am interested in invoking this space as a space that is not occupied and so has a different deictic manifestation, a different mode in relation to the mimetic perception - it has a different meaning because it is not a space that one can readily occupy, the reader would not usually imagine themselves in (project themselves into)that space (unless watching the film Mary Poppins) and so it retains a sense of mystery even though it is clearly visible and, to all intents and purposes, part of the same space beneath it that the person does normally occupy.


texts: What do you call glyphs representing kills painted on a weapon or vehicle?

texts: Media depictions would have it that in some militaries, soldiers traditionally paint icons representing enemies they have killed or materiel they have disabled on the weapons used or vehicles operated in doing so.  What terminology is used for these images?


texts: What is the cadence in one’s voice called when speaking parenthetically?

texts:
When speaking, is there a specific term for the inflection of one’s voice when adding a parenthetical comment such as,

  "I am, however,  unsure about this."

That drop in pitch when one says “however,” that is what I’m asking about.

Thank you


texts:
I will explain the scenario first.

"I was trying to talk to my friend for many days. But he was busy with his own works. Then he messaged me that he would call me the next day for sure. But he didn't call me even the next day."

I have a complaint with him for not calling.

But I am thinking that the word "complaint" is kind of a formal word. I would like to know about some casual word for it.

I tried Googling and found the synonyms quarrel, disagreement, gripe etc..

But we can't use those words in a casual way.

What are some thoughts on this? :)


texts:
Is it correct to use "with" twice in this phrase?

The ability of the people to acquaint themselves with and work together with ..."

Or should I say: "The ability of the people to acquaint themselves and work together with ..."


texts: what is a "positive" synonym for 'target'?

texts:
e.g.: I was a(n) _____ to/of his kindness.

Not 'object'.


texts: Adjective meaning "nothing can be added to it"

texts: I'm looking for an adjective, and thesauri have failed me. I'm trying to create the sense of "nothing can be added to this thing", which the words "complete" and "incorrigible" don't capture. Like if I was talking about two people who were in a "happy, complete and __ relationship", if I wanted to describe the relationship as so perfect that it needed no improvement. I thought I was onto something with "unameliorable", but I haven't been able to find any dictionary entries for it, nor on wiktionary.


texts:
Why is this caption funny?

"Faster! By God, you will earn that tip yet!"

Source

Since this is about American humor, I'd appreciate an answer from Americans.


texts:
I am quite confused as to when to use the words show and show up.

I have been thinking show is an action conducted by a person, and show up is used

when someone appeared, like "He has been showing up recently in the party."

However, I have seen someone saying "an error message keeps showing up", and became confused since then because I have been using the expression "an error message keeps showing"

I've become curious about the exact usage of those words in different situations.

Which word do I have to choose in that situation?

Is it "an error showing up" or "an error showing" ?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Should nouns borrowed from Japanese be pluralized?

I am having a hard time trying to find out the plural form of "sushi". Is it "sushis" or something else?


texts: Adjective for "can't think of it now, but I'll know it when I see it"?

texts:
This happens when someone asks you about a fairly new song. You can't remember the lyrics or the music, but when it comes on the radio, you'll know that's the one. What adjective would describe that "elusive" song? I don't think "elusive" is the right word here because the song itself isn't sneaky or hard to identify or define (according to general consensus).

This works the same way when you can't remember a face, but when given a bunch of photos, you'll be able to quickly identify that adj. I need here person you're trying to remember, if among those photos.

I would be having what I've been told a "brain fart" or a "senior moment", but what would you call that which you just can't think of at the moment? Is there also a noun form for it?


texts: Difference between obsession and absorption

texts:
Absorption means a state of being completely engrossed in something.

An obsession means being continually preoccupied with something.

In context to someone's working habit do they both mean same?

Thanks


texts: Is there a saying like 'those who find faults with other people tend to be blind to their own faults'?

texts: Is there a saying that could be explained as 'those who find faults with other people tend to be blind to their own faults?' As with people who are picky; their criticism of others often applies to themselves.


texts: What does "shareholder" mean in the Guy Ritchie's movie "Revolver"?

texts:
I sure it doesn't mean "an owner of shares in a company". In translated movie in my native language this word was missed, and I don't understand what does in mean in this situation.
One character asks "How deep did you bury that shareholder?", the second character answers "Deep". The situation is that soon they will meet the person who was in a prison for 7 years because these two guys betrayed him and now he wants to revenge.
Please sorry if this question not for this forum :)


texts: Non defining or defining relative clause?

texts:
"I've a labrador that has one eye."

Hi guys, is "that has one eye" a non-defining or defining relative clause here?
Suppose I only have one labrador, is "that has one eye" nonessential additional information here, therefore rendering it a non-defining relative clause? Or is it defining my labrador? I'm a little bit lost.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

John


texts: Punctuation of a sentence that starts with a question and ends with a declaration

texts:
I'll provide the sentence and some context.

  There is still so much that I do not know about college. How do I pay
  bills, which classes should I take, what do TA's do, how to write a
  college essay, and so many more questions

Do I end the last sentence with a question mark or a period?


texts: What word/term could explain the "food sufficiency"?

texts:
I need to display a percentage of "food sufficiency" for a population.
This is how it works:

X > 100% : abundance, wastes
X = 100% : enough food for everyone, perfect production, no waste
X < 100% : not enough food for newcomers (growth lowered)

I need to give a label to this indicator. What is the most appropriate term for it? Do you think "food sufficiency" is understandable?


texts:
when the question "Can I help you?" is pronounced it sounds like "Can I" is reduced to "knai". It's short and quick, but the verb 'help' is stressed, the voice goes up at the end of the question. It's a YES/NO question, so we have a rising intonation.

Now, does the same apply to "Can you" ? Is "can you" usually reduced to "knyu" ? For example in "Can you talk?" only TALK is more prominent? Thank you.


texts:
Dictionary.com doesn't even allow for the pronunciation "beyd", which is how I thought it was pronounced until very recently.  Forbade is similarly pronounced, though the dictionary generously gives [fer-beyd] as the second pronunciation.

The etymology doesn't support a short "a" there at all, as far as I can tell.  Where did it come from?


texts: Is "offer sb with sth" ungrammatical? If it is, why do so many people use them?

texts:
I've looked in all the major dictionaries and there is no such way of using "offer."

I offered him with a raise. <= incorrect (according to dictionaries)
I offered him a raise. <= correct

But a quick Google search shows that many people use (1). Is it because it's correct or is it because it's natural to some people?


texts:
Is there a good, compact word or phrase that would explain one's ability to make typos?
I mean, I'm trying to write something like this:

  Now you can use this feature without either non-predictable XML, or easy-to-make-typos "magic strings"

It regards a fluent API project.


texts: Why is a bad bowler called a 'pie-thrower'?

texts: A poor bowler is called a 'pie-thrower' or a 'pie-chucker'. Does anyone know why this is so; particularly, why 'pie' was adopted for this phrase when it could have been just about anything?


texts: What is the word for a benefit of a condition?

texts:
I feel that this is a difficult question for me to explain, so please feel free to reword my query.

In context, the protagonist is explaining to the reader that he does know whether he should feel honoured that his friends would have prefered to watch him - ahem - copulate due to his popularity, or rather disgusted and uncomfortable. I've chosen to phrase it like this:

  "It's a massive deal. And yes, we did [expect you to wait for us to watch]." Aline says, releasing me. I can't tell whether her response is _______ to my popularity, or, rather, something they should get checked out.

Someone suggested to me "as a result of", but this seems too ambiguous and I feel that it relies too heavily on context not given to indicate that the protagonist believes this is a benefit of his popularity. The word perquisite sprang to mind, but, given the colloquial tone of the narrator, it seemed inappropriate.

Many thanks.

Edit: The word owing does seem to work, but I'd prefer to rearrange the sentence in order to use it. I'm wondering if it loses its meaning:

  "It's a massive deal. And yes, we did [expect you to wait for us to watch]." AQline says, releasing me. I can't tell whether to owe her response to my popularity, or consider asking them to seek medical help."

Does this lose the initial meaning, or sound scrappy?


texts:
I can't decide, both sounds right and return results on Google.

So is it "any product group" or "any product groups"?

Context: The context is that some product can has sub-product that are part of groups, some have products and some don't. So I will add a method to know "any_product_groups?", "has_product_groups?", "any_product_group?", ... I'm not sure.

Example: "Has this product any product group(s)?"


texts:
He came in, big and smiling, with his right eye completely close.

“Your mother put a silver knife smeared with butter on it last night. Quite a person, Mother.”

(He had a black eye, after struggling with a murderer.)

Is it a sort of folk remedy in America? Or is there another meaning to its expression?

(It's from 'Lipstick' by Mary Roberts Rinehart.)


texts:
I am not looking for phrases that mean to keep your poise or have courage.

I am looking for something - word or phrase - the succinctly describes someone who is better under pressure.

An example would be a basketball player who shoots 3 pointers 35% overall but if he has a guy in his face he shoots 45% and if he has a guy in his face and in a close game in the 4th quarter he shoots over 50%.  Is there something that summarizes the relationship between more pressure and more performance?

Edit:  Clutch is a really good term and we had thought about using that.  We need a term t:that fits into our database model for football/basketball advanced metrics.  Was looking for something that is a little more scientific and not a current cliche but if the shoe fits we will use it.  Still open to more suggestions.


texts: What do all capital letters typically refer to in writing?

texts:
In many error messages and conversations, I come across words in all capital letters, as demonstrated in the examples below.

  ERROR: Please type your e-mail address.

or

  ME: I can't make it
  SHE: I HATE you.
  ME: I'm soo sorry.

What is the typical meaning of or reason for these words written in all capital letters?


texts: Let's say I am writing some code which inspects the SSL Certificate issued to some website. There is the issuer which can be, for example, Verisign. How would you call the organization which was issued the certificate? I am looking for a 1-2 word name, such as "Issue-ee" vibe. So essentially I am looking for a way to say "The organization which the certificate was issued to".


texts: Which is the correct way to write "Back-end Engineer"?

texts:
On the web, I find the following common ways of punctuating and capitalising "Back-end Engineer" as a job title.

Back-End Engineer
Back-end Engineer
Backend Engineer

Which of these is correct?


texts: They are scary looking vs they are looking scary

texts:
What is the difference between these two sentence

1.They are scary looking

2.They are looking scary

The second one I think scary is a subject complement in that they=scary

But I am not sure about the first one.


texts: Does inscrutable mean "hard to figure out"?

texts:
To figure out usually means to find out.....although on Dictionary.com, it's defined as "hard to understand or solve" with none of its definition close to "to find out". What puzzles me more is the example it gives for the meaning "hard to understand or solve is "we couldn't figure out where all the money had gone." (Obviously, neither of these meanings apply here; solve is close)

So if "inscrutable" does mean hard to figure out. It will be hard to understand, which conform with all of its other meanings. It would be weird to see it mean "hard to find out."


texts:
Is there a reason behind the ordering of letters in the English alphabet? i.e. why are we taught “A,B,C,D,E,F,...,Z”? Why not “L,A,S,U,I,Z,...,C”?

I am asking this because, in some of the languages I know, I am told that the ordering of the letters in the alphabet is based on the ease with which they can be pronounced or the frequency with which they are used or depending on the part of the vocal cord that needs to be stressed to pronounce the letter.

Is there a similar rationale?

EDIT

You can see a couple of references for arrangement of letters in Sanskrit here and here.


texts:
On a rather formal ecommerce website I am talking about safety features a product has which competitors are lacking. The customer is considered business-like, and not as a buddy.

  Play it safe. [Our product does ...]

Can I use this phrase in the given context, or is it too informal?


texts:
Would anybody indicate me what is the grammatical structure applied in this sentence?

  This is too vague a term

I have seen this structure sometimes and, although they sounded strange in the beginning, I'm starting to naturally use it on my essays.


texts: Is it correct to say "a friend of X and mine" if both X and I know each other and the friend?

texts:
As I understand it, if X and Y independently have the same friend Z, we should write

  Z is a friend of X's and Y's

but if X and Y collectively have Z as a friend (e.g., X and Y are a couple), then we should indicate that by making the possessive "'s" refer to "X and Y" collectively:

  Z is a friend of X and Y's

But if Y is me, how do I write the latter?  I think the answer is

  Z is a friend of X and mine

but it sounds awkward to me (maybe because the possessive in "mine" sounds like it only refers to me, not to X and me). It sounds better to my ear to write

  Z is a friend of X's and mine

but this loses the subtlety that X and I collectively have Z as a friend.


texts: Is there a specific word for "sheet music portfolio"?

texts: Is there a specific name for a portfolio (a type of briefcase) that is used exclusively for holding sheet music?


texts:
Im trying to understand the idiomatic expression "at a loss." According to this source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/at+a+loss it can either mean "Below cost" or "Perplexed; puzzled." However, I'm wondering if it can also be used to mean the same as the definitions of the word "loss."

Can one say:

  "I'm at a loss of a pencil, can you help me find it?"

And would this have the same meaning as:

  "I lost a pencil, can you help me find it?"


texts: The light's path or light's path? Can I use articles with apostrophes?

texts:
I've been told that "The Dirac's equation" is not grammatically acceptable. The correct should be "Dirac's equation" or "The Dirac equation".

I'm wondering if this has something to do with Dirac being the name of someone or if this is a general rule. My case, specifically, concerns the phrase I used in the title. Which one is the correct version:

a - "(...) the correction of the light's path"

b - "(...) the correction of light's path"

c - "(...) the correction of the light path"

What I mean is the path that a ray of light follows.

Thank you very much.


texts: What does "You shake my nerves" and "Shake off the nerves" mean?

texts: Yesterday,I was having conversation with my friend and i told him something about someone which was really surprising and he replied to me "You really shake my nerves" and i didn't get him but later i was trying to search online the meaning but i didn't find any pleasing answer instead i get more confused because i found some new phrase like "shake off the nerves" which i also don't know what it means? I also found some questions on internet where people have asked like "How to shake nerves before interview?" so i also want to know difference if there is any between "shake off the nerves" and "shake nerves".


texts: Is there a word for the state when something has "hit the mark"

texts:
In Dutch one can say

  Schiet raak!

meaning

  Shoot in such a way that you hit what you intend to hit!

'Raak' is a word that is literally defined as "hitting it's goal" and it can for example also be used as a single word exclamation when something has hit it's intended goal ("Raak! Look, I hit triple 20 on the dart board!!!"). How would the same concept/sentiment be expressed in English? The closest I have come is "Don't miss!" and "Yeey, I didn't miss!", but that still feels quite a bit off.


texts: Trying to state that you "may not have a future in this position"?

texts:
I'm currently doing work for one company on a trial basis and hence since I don't know 100% if I will be kept on or not at the end of the trial I have still been looking out for other positions.

Now, I am trying to write a cover letter stating something like..

I am currently working for one company but the work there is not ______ so I still am looking for other opportunities.

What word am I looking for here? Guaranteed and sustainable don't seem like the right word?


texts:
Countries like Bulgaria have spent decades balancing East and West,
  and playing one off the other. But the prospect of President Trump’s
  moving closer to Mr. Putin has scrambled that strategy, as have the
  conflicting messages coming out of the new American administration.

Bulgaria Grows Uneasy as Trump Complicates Its Ties to Russia
the New York Times

Shouldn't this be: play sb off against sb


texts: Is there a word for being on the receiving end of a grudge?

texts:
For example; Billy holds a grudge against Sally for something the happened. Is there a concise way to describe the situation from Sally's perspective?

EDIT: I'm looking for Sally as the subject, not the object. Also, kind of an employer/employee relationship (grudge-holder vs. grudge-receiver, but a real word)


texts: Is there an instance where 'and' could not replace 'but'?

texts:
For instance, I would normally write the following sentence:

  Many were the dangers arrayed against me, but I had no fear.

Is it grammatically incorrect to write instead:

  Many were the dangers arrayed against me, and I had no fear.

I noticed this whilst speaking with a co-worker, and found he extremely rarely used the conjunction 'but', favoring 'and' instead. Though it sounds strange to me, I cannot find anything to say this is grammatically incorrect.


texts: Do adjectives refer to the past or present when used with the perfect aspect?

texts:
In a sentence like

  I have eaten a red apple.

does the sentence translate to

  I have eaten an apple that is red.

or

  I have eaten an apple that was red.

In other sentences with present perfect like "I have found someone who has a car for us to drive," present tense verbs like "has a car" seem to be used, but I'm not sure if that applies to adjectives. Perfect aspects refer to the past, so it would seem strange to use "is red" rather than "was red" and I'm not sure why people tend to use present tense with present perfect like "has a car" rather than "had a car" in the first place, even if the former feels much more natural.


texts: Words for a place that a group of birds might be

texts:
I'm looking for single words that could replace "coop" in the following sentence.  It must be specifically related to birds.

  The birds are in the coop.

I have come up with several options, but I'm looking for more.

Already considered: aviary, hatchery, henhouse, roost, menagerie.

There's not a particular structure I have in mind. I'm looking for the word that feels most fitting for my bird themed project. It might be more accurate to say I'm looking for the name of a place a group of birds (free or captive) would "call home."


texts: My English vocab is not so good(as it is a second language to me). What i wanted to know was, is there another word for breakfast. Specially if its something that is being eaten right after waking up. Is it still  called breakfast or is there another word for it?


texts: What does it mean if someone said "scratch my last email"?


texts: Triggered by an interesting but speculative and open-ended discussion in a scientific blog article, I want to ask what the meaning of research is/was according to its etymological history. Maybe the knowledge here and wizard-like tools like ngram can shed more light on this question, at least I would like to see how people interpret/vote research. Please do not just simply reword different theories in this blog article, but add some traceable clues or a analysis how the meaning of the word changed gradually.


texts: What is the root morpheme of a word when 'y' turns into 'ies' or 'ier'?

texts:
Suppose I have to write out the root morpheme and the bound morpheme. Consider the word 'happier'.

I've seen some examples, for example here on the second slide: http://www.slideshare.net/mobile/fatmasima/morphology-son where the root is 'happy' and the bound morpheme is 'er'.

However, on another website (I forgot the link but I will post it if I find it), the example was 'prettier' and it mentioned that the root was 'pretti' and the bound morpheme was 'er'.

My question is, when y turns into ier or ies (for example supplies or prettier), what is the root and bound morpheme?


texts: Why is there an apostrophe followed by "s" in "Miss Sullivan’s having a sister"?

texts:
In this sentence:

  Cherry had never conceived of Miss Sullivan’s having a sister.

Why is there an ’s right after Miss Sullivan?


texts:
Is it polite to use "how about..." in formal message or it will suit for close relations only?

What should I use instead for stranger or boss?

UPD: Example: You have just provided me with your phone number. How about e-mail address?


texts: I am providing a quotation for work and I want to include the currency notation. We are both in the same country. Is it appropriate?

texts:
I am providing a quotation for work and I want to include the currency notation.  My potential client and myself are both in the same country.

Is it appropriate to use the currency notation?

I know that if I'm doing things internationally and potentially dealing with clients that are based in a different country than my company, that I would want to be clear which currency I am quoting in.
What is not clear to me and has been hard for me to search on, has been whether to include the currency notation or not.
I've asked around in "real life" and I've heard varying accounts without any references.  Mainly it ended up being a discussion on culture and customs boiling down to "whether it might offend them".   But I'm not convinced.

for example

Can I use both or just one?

a. Hi im bob i'm going to do xyz for you and it will cost you $400.

b. Hi im bob i'm going to do xyz for you and it will cost you $400 USD.


texts: Is it proper to say something "used" to be a certain way?  Not sure how the word used should be used.


texts:
Could someone explain it for me. I googled it but couldn't find any useful information.
I would appreciate it if you could tell me what it means.

Example usage...

  The antimonopoly committee has oversight responsibilities for antimonopoly issues, but the line ministries are responsible for implementing the antimonopoly laws.


texts: What phonetic notation is Google dictionary using?

texts:
I think Google dictionary is not using IPA. But I don't know what phonetic notation it is using.

For example, the "y" in prefix "hypo" is pronounced differently with following phonetic notation in Google:

  hy·poc·ri·sy, noun /hiˈpäkrisē/

  hy·po·ten·sion, noun /ˌhīpəˈtenSHən/

I don't know how to understand it either. I know about IPA, so it will also be helpful if there is some online material for interpretation of the phonetic notation in terms of IPA.


texts: Is there a special English name for one’s mother’s sister’s son?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Family Relationships

My friend is trying to find out what is needed to apply for a work visa in Canada. You get extra points for having a relative with citizenship. However, we’re confused about whether his particular family relationship counts.

I’ll quote the text:

  Family in Canada (parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, niece, nephew, child or grandchild, spouse or common-law partner who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident living in Canada)

In our language, there is a separate word for mother’s sister’s son, but is there a word for that in English, apart from cousin and relative? Could we unambiguously conclude that he’s not eligible for extra points based on the quote above?


texts:
Everyone's Problem, nobodies job.

or

  Everyone's Problem, nobody's job

What is the correct use for this sentence?


texts: Need word for "remove duplicates and keep unique instances"

texts:
Here is a sentence.

Combine all Points and keep unique Points.

For example:

Points->  1,1,1,1,2,3,3,3,4,4,5,5

Remove duplication and keep uniqueness

Unique Points->  1,2,3,4,5

I  need a word to express "remove duplicate Points and keep the unique Points".


texts:
Is there a word of phrase for someone who denies their own statement?

It’s like when somebody snitches and then denies having done so.


texts:
I remember reading somewhere that if a unit is abbreviated as one character, there must not be a space between the number and the unit (e.g., 5m, 26K). If the unit is abbreviated as two or more Characters, there must be a space between the number and the unit (e.g., "10 km", "USD 5").

Can you please help me find the source again?
Is this recommendation correct?


texts: What is more appropriate, "data" or "information" when referring to facts about something. What's the difference really?

texts:
The Computer Studies teacher quipped, "There is a lot of data out there regarding HTML programming".

What does this really mean? Will it make any difference if the teacher had used "information" in place of "data"?


texts: In English as Germanic language K is ignored at the beginning of word in speech. Night and knight have to be pronounced similar. Then how to differentiate?


texts: required PPE "of" or "for" the HAZMAT they are using

texts:
Should I use of or for in this sentence? Are both correct, and if so, how are they different?

  Make aware of the hazards and required PPE __ the HAZMAT they are using.


texts: Difference between I see and I understand

texts: What's the difference between "I see" and "I understand" ?


texts:
I would like to tell my friend to stop dating men who are so superficial, but state it in a positive way.

Please help me complete the sentence: "You should date men who are more __________."

So far the only word I've been able to come up with is "real" which seems ambiguous and lacks gravitas.


texts: Why/When need some kind of short spelling or pronunciation?

texts:
In regular usage, nowadays we use short spellings of words in speaking or writing.

For example:

They are in the cinema. => They're in the cinema.
We have been waiting for me. => We've been waiting for me.
etc...

I know it makes our vocabulary and understanding easier than the real spelling of words, but my question is: why do we need that type of change and how should it be applied to our regular usage?

Most importantly when should we use this kind of short word when writing or speaking?


texts:
From a recent issue of The Economist (vol 426 no 9074):

  After China, where next? Over the past two decades, the world's most populous country has become the market qua non of just about every global company seeking growth.

What is the meaning of ‘qua non’ here?

I feel that ‘market qua non’ more or less means ‘indispensable market’, but that’s just speculation based on the context.


texts: Separating sentence into two simpler ones

texts:
In this sentence:

He must be keenly susceptible to people's wants and be able to assess the price at which they would be prepared to satisfy them.

Can you help me to separate this complex sentence into two sentences?
The relative pronoun at which kinda throws me off. Is which referring to the price? If so, why the preposition at not with?


texts:
I want to know what is the opposite of 'owe'.
For example,

I owe you $10

If I want to say the opposite I have to reverse it and say,

you owe me $10

But sometimes I feel I should start with 'I' not 'you'.
Another example, if we said,

John owes Peter $100

We can say also that,

Peter xxx John $100

to mean the exact thing.
What is the proper word to replace xxx?


texts:
While reading an article on statistics I stumbled upon:

Nothing in the previous text indicates what the meaning could be.


texts: Is there a linguistic difference between state-of-affairs and action-occurring phrases

texts:
Compare

Alice married Bob on Labor day.

with

Alice and Bob are married.

The former relates to an action occurring at a time and place with a resulting change in the state of the world.   The latter relates to a static relationship that isn't directly limited in time or space.
Is there linguistics terminology that corresponds to this distinction?


texts: Is it "deep-sky object" or "deep sky object"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When is it necessary to use a hyphen in writing a compound word?

What is correct, deep-sky object or deep sky object? Does common usage trump grammar?

Or, alternatively, if they are both correct, which one should be preferred?

Inconclusive discussion on Wikipedia.


texts: Duane "Dog" Chapman, what is the word for the part in quotes between forename and surname?

texts:
Apologies if this has been asked before, I found it quite difficult to phrase what I meant!

As the question title states:

Duane "Dog" Chapman.

What is the correct word to describe the part that is intentionally in quotes?

e.g:

Jimmy "The Greek" Smith.
Anthony "The Executioner" Thomas.


texts: Is there a single word for "moving unhinderedly"?

texts:
For example, in a novel, if someone is so powerful that no one can stop him, something like this would be said:

  He [insert word] in the continent [or some other location].

"Moved unhinderedly" somewhat fits it, but it doesn't really seem like the right term.

The word I'm looking for describes a few things:

Should have an implication that the person himself is powerful
That person can go wherever he wishes to, and cannot be stopped because of his strength
That person can do whatever he wishes to, and like above, cannot be stopped because of his strength

The other word I have is "swept", i.e.:

  He swept through the continent.

I used "swept" because when you sweep the floor, nothing stops you and everything is swept away, similar to the example. However, the dictionary definitions don't match up, so that isn't the word either.

Any suggestions?


texts: Combining open compounds using hyphen in enumerations

texts:
In German, when enumerating stuff, one could use an "Ergänzungsstrich". This means that parts of compound words in enumerations that are equal can be shortened like this:

  Ich mag Eisenbahn-, Straßen-, Luft- und Schiffsverkehr.

Which is short for:

  Ich mag Eisenbahnverkehr, Straßenverkehr, Luftverkehr und Schiffsverkehr.

Notice that German mostly uses closed compound words.
As English uses open compound words a lot: Does a similar concept exist for open compounds in English?

For example, consider this sentence:

  I like rail traffic, road traffic, air traffic and maritime traffic.

Could this be shortened to something like this?

  I like rail-, road-, air- and maritime traffic.

or

  I like rail, road, air and maritime traffic.

It seems odd to me. Does omitting the hyphens work? Does this language feature even exist? How is this word-repeating problem solved in the English language?


texts: The Present Perfect vs The Past Tense in English

texts:
Would you agree that the present perfect is used more than the past tense by native speakers to emphasize the situation at hand? Some languages, like Arabic and Japanese, use the simple past much more. And the Japanese seldom use their version of the present perfect.

So why are English speakers so enchanted with the present perfect?


texts: Why is "omnipotent" stressed iambically?

texts:
"Omnipotent" is stressed like omˈnipotent, with a stress on second syllable. But both components are stressed on the first syllable ('omni and 'potent). And a comparable word, "omnipresent", has the stress on the third syllable (and secondarily on the first).

Why does the stress of "omnipotent" go against that of "omni", "potent", and "omnipresent"?


texts: When did 'permission' become popular as a therapy term

texts: Permission has several uses, but somewhere around the 1990s it became common to hear it in the context of therapy sessions as in "you need to give yourself permission to..." do this or that. When did this happen?


texts: Word for a moment in time defined with beginning and end

texts:
What would be a word for a moment in time defined with beginning and end?

This is for a database system where people have predefined time spans that are defined with a beginning and an end point in time (like 2014-04-11 22:15 UTC until 2014-05-22 18:22 UTC). I don't find a decent term for that. The best I could come up so far is "time frame".


texts: Phrase meaning whoever is buying can choose

texts:
I was at the pub the other day, and it was my friends turn to buy a round. As he left the table, he asked what beer we wanted, and I replied with "Dealers choice", meaning that since he was buying the beer, he could choose whatever he liked. He didn't understand what I meant.

Is this an appropriate use of that phrase, and are there other/better phrases that I could use in that kind of situation?


texts:
Sometimes it happens that reading texts with sentences that are too short I feel like there is no fluency, as if someone talks hiccupping. Language is obviously a cultural formation and where I am from there is no such apparent need for always formulating the shortest sentence as possible.

I wonder if you have any clue on this English peculiarity (which is perhaps not only English, I don't know!) What are the reasons behind English passion for short sentences?


texts: What are standard ways for an editor to specify he is making a correction?

texts:
Suppose I am a reporter quoting someone, or an editor for someone's article. The original speaker/writer has made a mistake and I want to correct it in the edited version (while still being true to the original). What are standard ways to do that?

That's kind of a reverse "sic" - I use sic when I want to keep the mistake intact, what should I use when I don't?

I thought about using S/B for "should be", e.g. "What a beautiful green (S/B blue) sky", but I'm not sure this will be widely understood.

I also know of a practice of specifying the editor's initials, e.g. "What a beautiful green (blue. MR) sky", but in my context people aren't necessarily supposed to know the editor's name.


texts:
I'm having a debate with a colleague about whether a comma is needed in this phrase. I think it reads odd without a comma. From my understanding, 'further' is an adverb in this phrase, and 'faster' is an adjective. I know that adverbs can modify adjectives (in which case a comma would not be needed), but I think the meaning is lost if you don't have a comma in this phrase.

If anyone can clarify this for me, I'd appreciate it!


texts: Is a future continuous sentence with an embedded intention a valid construction?

texts:
The particular sentence that I have in mind is

  I will be going to go to the store once I'm no longer sick.

It seems off, but I think it's a valid construction. The sentence

  I will be intending to go to the store once I'm no longer sick.

carries the same meaning and doesn't sound odd, so I don't see any reason why the first construction should be considered incorrect. Is this a valid construction?


texts:
I was reading a contract and I found this usage of "be able to" very unfamiliar.

  If during the execution of the Project any product from which
  intellectual and/or industrial property may arise, the Receiving Party
  shall immediately inform X of the content of such rights. These rights
  shall belong exclusively to X, being able the latter to register
  in the corresponding Registers as the owner of such rights.

I guess it's just an inversion of "X being able to" but I'm not so sure. I googled this and I think it's a bit old and probably not common.


texts:
I'm a Software Engineer and I like to spend my free time developing new software/ideas.
When people ask me what I've done this weekend, I typically reply 'I worked'.
'Work' is misleading here as it is automatically associated with professional work.
I'd like to find a word (a verb) that could mention that I worked during my weekend but for leisure, not as a constraint, and whatever the underlying discipline. Like when the painter said 'I paint', we automatically know that is for pleasure.
I hope to be clear enough...


texts: Questions about the subtleties of the genitive case

texts:
The AP style guide suggests that things like "Farmers Markets" or "Veterans Cemeteries" cannot "belong" to the members of the groups for which they were set up.

I would posit that a thing for the use of a group (e.g., farmers or veterans), has an implied ownership...more collectively, but I feel it's ownership nonetheless, and would write farmers' market and veterans' cemetery.

Anyone have any experience with this, and can anyone explain the subtleties of ownership vs non-ownership in these cases? I'm trying to wrap my head around why AP chose the guideline they did.


texts:
I am currently writing my English coursework to hand in tomorrow and would very much appreciate some quick help. I would like to know whether I should insert commas into a quotation to make it read better. Here is the quote:

Don’t Spy On Us is targeting UK based mass surveillance and wants to “let judges not the Home Secretary decide when spying is justified”.

Here is how I would change it:

Don’t Spy On Us is targeting UK based mass surveillance and wants “to let judges, not the Home Secretary, decide when spying is justified”.

Is this grammatically correct and if so, should I be adding commas or just remove the quotation marks and keep the commas?

Thank you in advance


texts:
I am studying the difference between coupon and voucher. I talked to three natives today:

US guy: voucher can be used only once, and it is either a discount or you can have a sample product for free.

US guy number 2: coupons can be used repeteadly until its credit is used up.

UK guy: voucher is more common in the UK, coupon in the US

hypothesis: Maybe that coupons are sold for a particular value, eg 20 USD each coupon. And someone has eg 5 of them. Voucher means a discount from the purchase that you make.

hypothesis: Maybe they use these two words differently in the UK and US.

Wikipedia writes that voucher is a synonyme for receipt. That confuses me a bit. Does it have more meanings?

What is the difference?

wiki pages

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voucher

Thank you.


texts: Where did the phrase "sidewalk prophets" come from?

texts:
Where did the phrase “sidewalk prophets” come from?
Is this a phrase coined in a song or literature?
I know it is a Christian band, but it seems too familiar for just that.


texts: Origin and Meaning of "just for namesake purpose"

texts:
I found some online references to the phrase "just for namesake purpose", and as per namesake's definition, this seems to be wrong usage of the term.

Can anyone explain the origin and meaning of the phrase?


texts: Why do we use the word "Do" when connecting a sentence?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Sentences using: [something] + have + they
  Use of “do” in affirmative statements

I was reading a news paper article of Times Of India, and came across a  sentence-

  To begin with, a woman's right to property has already been established under law. This means that she has equal rights to her parental property as her male siblings. In such a scenario, according women an extra legal right over their husbands' residential property - which too could be inherited - is unfair. Neither do men have the same rights over their wives' property nor can they claim emotional damages during divorce.

Why there is a word "do" in between "Neither" and "men have".?

From my pointing of view It might be -
"Neither men have the same rights over their wives' property nor can they claim emotional dames during divorce".

I have also heard people saying that
 "I do agree with your statement".

Why could not it may be "I agree with your statement".

Is There any grammatical mistake in these sentences or both I can use interchangeably?


texts: When did the valediction 'best regards' come into use?

texts:
Best regards seems to be quite a popular valediction used in business emails, along with variants kind regards, or just regards.

The spoken expression "give him my regards" would appear to be a suitable starting point for the written valediction Regards, but when did this become best regards? Has it ever existed in written letters?


texts:
I practice and teach survival skills such that I might survive in a sticky situation. These are things like wild water treatment, fire lighting, etc.
A survivalist is one who makes preparation to survive disaster by storing food, etc. It's largely used in the US to mean prepper.
A bushcrafter is one who practices bushcraft.
Since survivor is reserved for those who have survived, what do we, the ones who practice survival skills so that will survive, call ourselves?
UPDATE
This is for the UK where survivalist means prepper


texts: Is there any standard terminology to describe how advanced a topic is?

texts:
Background:
I have been searching for succinct language for referring to how "advanced" a topic or skill might be. I've found things like Integrative Complexity and the Model of Hierarchical Complexity, which seems to describe a school of thought, but falls short of providing consistent language for comparing examples within that school of thought.  By "advanced", I am intending to communicate a greater amount of pre-requisite knowledge and/or a higher degree of complexity.
I toyed around with some terminology such as "Depth of Knowledge Required" at first, but it seemed lacking to me for some reason.
Question:
Is there a published set of language one could refer to in order to describe the concept of how advanced/complex a particular topic or skill is?
Edit:
An example application where this terminology would be helpful could be in determining what the appropriate course of action would be to introduce a concept/topic to another person.
For clarification, how would I compare the following two examples:
Computational Genomics in general might require additional knowledge compared to biological taxonomy
Non-linear dynamics involves many more pre-requisites than does algebra.
It's not that either option can't be complex or involve high level work, but to engage with the topic for the first time one clearly would be more difficult to approach than the other.


texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  The main culprit together with his associates was/were arrested.

Which should be used, was or were?


texts: Is "save some trouble" a correct phrase?

texts:
Today a friend of mine asked me to teach her how to fix her computer. The procedure was a little too technical for a layperson so I asked her out so that I can fix it for her in person, that she can avoid going through all the technical "trouble". I instinctively used the phrase "so you can save the trouble". In retrospect, I felt something was wrong with the phrase. However, on second thought, the sentence structure seemed quite similar to "so I can save you the trouble", both having "save" as the verb and "trouble" as the direct object.

Therefore, I'd like to ask, if this phrase is actually correct. What I want to know is an answer for whether the phrase is grammatically and semantically correct, instead of what other phrases may correctly express what I want to mean.


texts:
Is it correct to use commas around therefore in the following quote?

  An important prerequisite to meet the requirements of ... is, therefore, the ability to ...

Or should I omit the first comma to make the sentence correct?

  An important prerequisite to meet the requirements of ... is therefore, the ability to ...


texts: Choosing a title of academic article about theoretical comparison and implementation

texts: First, I am not looking for title suggestions. I am wondering if there is a proper expression that express very well the content of my paper. The article theoretically compares between four algorithms and nominate one of them as the best and implement it. I found many use comparative analysis but these article compare and implement all of the algorithms. Does it apply to my situation? What alternatives could be ?


texts: What would be the difference between past and present tense here?

texts:
1.) I assumed you were the type who kept your promises.

vs.

2.) I assumed you were the type who keeps your promises.


texts: Is "repository" pronounced /rɪˈpɒzɪt(ə)ri/ or \ri-ˈpä-zə-ˌtȯr-ē\ or /rəˈpäzəˌtôrē/?

texts:
Is it  /rɪˈpɒzɪt(ə)ri/ or  \ri-ˈpä-zə-ˌtȯr-ē\?

I'm confused, I've seen it pronounced both ways and I'm not not sure if it's an American/British thing or do people just use different pronunciations on special occasions.

Merriam Webster only lists one pronunciation which it says is  \ri-ˈpä-zə-ˌtȯr-ē\:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repository

Macmillan Dictionary only lists one pronunciation which it says is  /rɪˈpɒzɪt(ə)ri/:

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/pronunciation/british/repository

and the Google Translator lady is pronouncing it /rəˈpäzəˌtôrē/.

Which one is it? More importantly for me, which one is the one most commonly used in the domain of programming (that is, in relation to git repositories).


texts: Changing of emotions to deal with a given situation?

texts:
What do you call it when we change one feeling to another , more like channel it to something more applicable at that given at the time.
Something like channeling anger to determiniation?
Fear to anger?
Love to wariness.
Im not sure how to describe it to the the tiny detail.
But is something to the the point of changing one feeling to another that is not closely related.


texts:
Is the following sentence correct to describe a young man?

  He should be seventeen.

My colleague was absolutely sure it was correct. I disagreed, so we had a bit of an argument. I would agree on either

  He should be seventeen before he. . . .

or

  He should be seventeen by now.

If the original sentence (“He should be seventeen.”) is actually correct,  what makes it so?


texts: "... the top ten issues that the voting public care about"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are collective nouns always plural, or are certain ones singular?
  Is “staff” plural?

This feels wrong to me (sounds like it should be cares) but issues is plural and in the case of "the people that the public care about" there it feels much more natural (though still somewhat awkward).

What is the actual rule?


texts: Young and inexperienced, I thought the task (seemed) easy

texts:
this one is from "The Element of Style."

Young and inexperienced, I thought the task easy.

I think it should be "young and inexperienced, I thought the task seemed easy."

What are your thoughts?


texts: Is “I wouldn’t have got left” grammatical?

texts:
In American English, is the following sentence grammatical?

  If I had run faster, I wouldn’t have got left.


texts: Can one be "convicted" if one has a strong opinion?

texts:
Can "convicted" be used to qualify somebody who has a conviction (in the sense of strong opinion)? In that context it would be a close synonym of convinced or opinionated for example.

It possibly makes etymological sense but I don't know if it is (or has ever been) an accepted usage of that word in English.


texts:
I saw this sentence in a supplementary book:

"The food will be a couple of minutes"

I was wondering if I can use will be in other situations?
Like, when a landlord is trying to renovate a house and sell, they tell the buyer:

"The house will be in 3 weeks"


texts: Combine the two sentence into a single sentence

texts: I have some bills.I must pay them. how to combine this two sentence into one?


texts:
I've recently been told that Past Perfect and Past Simple tenses are interchangeable in AmE. I know that it is possible to use the Past Simple tense instead of the Present Perfect one in AmE but have never faced the use of the Past Simple tense instead of the Past Perfect one.
I've been provided with the following examples:

I have already typed 10 pages of my report (Present Perfect, typical for BrE)
I already typed 10 pages of my report (Past Simple, typical for AmE)
I had typed ten pages of my report by the time he returned. (Past Perfect, typical for BrE)
I typed ten pages of my report by the time he returned (Past Simple, typical for Ame).

Are these uses correct?


texts: Which acronyms are used for epochs? How are the acronyms placed?

texts:
For example, I usually use

560 BCE
1066 CE

As opposed to the traditional:

560 BC
AD 1066

Some people, when using AD, place it after the year:

1066 AD

How are epochs commonly denoted?


texts:
Which one is correct?

To put a predicate after nationality

  His nationality is Chinese.

To put a noun after nationality

  His nationality is China.


texts: The expression "off his rocker" is used to mean someone is mad (as in, bonkers mad, not angry mad). Does anyone know what a rocker is, and how being off one came to mean this?


texts: A person who goes to gymnastics school -- a 'student' or a 'pupil?'

texts:
I am trying to find an exact answer of this question:

Is a person who goes to gymnastics school a 'student' or a 'pupil?'


texts: Using contracted forms ("don't", "let's") in a formal text

texts:
How compelled should I feel to use non-contracted forms (do not rather than don't and so on) when writing in a rather formal text, say an academic paper? In one case I am afraid to seem too stilted, in the other, too casual. Are there good guidelines?

And are there differences in this regard between British and American English?

(In this previous question there was not much more than "Contractions are more frequent in informal than formal contexts".)


texts: 'When was the use of Þ diminished by the digraph 'th'?

texts:
Wikipedia does not mention the exact date, nor do any other sites that I have visited.

While no Shakespearean book that I have read ( later 16th Century ) has the use of Þ in it, and the 15th Century The Three Dead Kings uses Þ instead of 'th', I have been unable to find any other sources to pinpoint more precisely the time period beyond the span of a century to determine when the usage was abolished.


texts: In which dialects does "is wanting" work as an appropriate substitution for "wants"?

texts: I've recently seen a movie character regularly use this construction (for example, "the dog is wanting to be taken out for a walk"), and I am trying to figure out which dialect or cultural background the construction is meant to signal.


texts: Is the sentence ambiguous in "it had seemed like" part?

texts:
"she told me she was sorry, that there had been a special offer on sunbeds, and it had seemed like the right thing to say at the time"

To whom had it seemed like the right thing? The speaker, or the "she" at the beginning?


texts: The opposite of "communication on social media"

texts:
I'm looking for an expression for interpersonal communication which happens in the real life (for example, conversations at dinner table) as opposed to that which happens on the social media. The one that  I sense is probably close is offline communication, but I'm unsure about it.

Which expression best fills the following blank?

  Due to addiction to social media and lack of ____ , many people become unable to socialise with others offline.


texts:
This question, which I first posed on the ELL site a few weeks ago, remains effectively unanswered. Although there an answer did finally get
posted, it seemed to be more of a parody of an answer than a real one,
to me at least.

So here goes; please consider this sentence:

  I can barely see a foot in front of me in this fog.

As a standalone sentence, it can’t be the answer to a question starting
with “What can you...” because “a foot” is here a unit of the length of
vision, and so a question it may be the answer to might be “How far can
you see in this fog?"

Would I be right saying that *barely° in this sentence modifies can
whereas a foot modifies to see? If so, does it mean that it plays the
role of an adverb? But can a noun be an adverb? If so, what type of adverb
is it in that sentence?

P.S. There’s a related post on the ELL site dealing with the role of a
foot in a sentence, but it doesn’t seem to answer my question.


texts:
This question is related to these two posts (please read those answers too):
"Get to do something"
What is difference between GOT TO and HAVE TO

For example: "I got to spend time with my wife."
Does that sentence mean "I had the opportunity of spending time with my wife."? Or does it mean "Now I have to spend time with my wife."?
From what I know, I think it can be interpreted in two different ways, giving place to misunderstandings.

How do we avoid misunderstandings while using "get to" and "got to"? How can we use them correctly in American English? (A British English point of view would be welcome too.)

Edit: My title had some words in the wrong place, which gave it a very different meaning. My real question is about the difference between "get to" and "got to".


texts: interplay between vs. among vs. of -- best option?

texts:
In an academic paper, I would like to say that "I explore the interplay "between/among/of" (A) the representation of love in The Great Gatsby and (1) modern conceptions of love, (2) Biblical conceptions of love, and (3) Greek conceptions of love."

So, I explore A+1, A+2, A+3. Do I use between, among or of?

If I explored A+1+2+3, would the word choice be different?


texts: How to deal with abbreviations at the end of a question?

texts:
In a sentence like

  Should we host them on imgur et cetera?

where I want to abbreviate the "et cetera", what is the correct punctuation? Using a period after the "etc." like mid sentence usages seems wrong as it looks like a full stop when I read it.

  Should we host them on imgur etc.?

Or is this the correct usage?


texts: I'm a French man in my late 20s and I'm applying for a job for a prestigious American company. I've had a job interview with an American woman and she told me all was well but I'd have to be molded to be just like ''the rest of the girls and the rest of the skirts.'' It's true, it's mainly a female company. I don't understand this expression. Please explain. Should I be worried or was it a joke?


texts: “there are other worlds than these.” vs "there are worlds other than these"

texts:
There is this phrase from a Stephen King's book (source):

  “Go then, there are other worlds than these.”

To me, this phrase sounds like it's wrong, and the correct version (in terms of grammar) seems to be "there are worlds other than these".

"Other than" is very common.

My question is: which of these phrases are right? Are both of them right, or just the original one, or just the one I suggested?


texts: A tense problem about an auto reply model

texts:
I want to set an auto reply model when I'm holding an online chat room and dealing with some other things. Which of the following is correct:
1)If I didn't say hi, it means I am working.
2)If I haven't said hi, it means I am working.
3)If I don't say hi, it means I am working.


texts:
What would be another way to say something is "The new standard"? For example "We used to use blank1 but now we use blank2 which has become [phrase here in place of the new standard]"

Definition of new standard of which I refer is:"first in importance, order, or position; leading."


texts: Is "cut and come again" understood outside Australia?

texts:
Although I haven't read the Australian children's book "The Magic Pudding", I'm familiar with the phrase "cut and come again" being used in it.

Is the phrase understood outside of Australia?


texts: I wish to know meaning of phrase / expression wacky duck

texts:
I am writing a story at the moment about one villain from a horror movie and I often need rhymes. English is not my mother tongue. I read on Urban Dictionary that "wacky duck" means a hit to a man's genitals. There is one example. I gave him a wacky duck after he stepped on my foot.
Here is a source
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wacky%20duck
I wish to use wacky duck in my story but I can't use it before I am sure that it means as I read in Urban Dictionary. I wish to know is this expression correct, does anyone use it? Some area or city? Maybe it is new expression that not many people know? I asked few people but nobody ever heard about this expression :(. I hope somebody will know the answer. Thank you in advance :o).


texts: Is it ever correct to omit periods at the ends of paragraphs?

texts:
I encountered this claim from a user on cooking who seems to consistently remove periods at the ends of paragraphs:

  Never use them. They have no place on electronic media, they are a legacy device?

And later:

  End of paragraph periods were for bad typing/handwriting spacing. Computers format very cleanly, so no purpose, and they look weird on sentences that end in URL's or emoticons etc

Is there any broad or authoritative or "real" support for that idea?


texts:
I watched a video where the guy called the holes in ice trays "cuplets". I was sure this wasn't an official word, so I did a thorough Google search for what those were called but I could't find any definite answer.

What are the holes in ice trays called?


texts: Is it correct to say "I agree with his points made."

texts:
Some others told me it was correct, but I thought it is supposed to be "I agree with the points he made."

If yes, then how is it correct? I'm trying to see how it works, but I cannot see how this statement makes sense or is equivalent to the wording I'm used to.


texts:
When specifying a range of values that have a unit of measure associated with them, what is the best practice for where to include the unit of measure?

  1lb - 20lb

Or

  1 - 20lb

And how would this apply when using metric prefixes?

  1KΩ - 20MΩ

Or

  1K - 20MΩ


texts: Why is the plural acronym "CSS" treated as singular?

texts:
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets, which is a plural phrase. One would say:

  Cascading Style Sheets are used to provide a central location for all of the stylings of a project.

However, it seems to be the prevalent usage to say:

  CSS is used to provide a central location for all of the stylings of a project.

Why do we do this, and is this correct? Would anyone ever say "CSS are used to provide a central location for all of the stylings of a project"?


texts:
I'm trying to figure out what the correct past tense form of "he bears the weight" would be.

Wiktionary says that "bear" has a simple past "bore" and a past participle "borne", but I don't understand when one is used instead of the other.

So, would the correct form be

  He has bore the weight

or

  He has borne the weight

?

It would also be helpful if I could see example sentences for "borne" and "bore" to illuminate the distinction.


texts: Which one is better to use, Need or Needs?

texts:
I have two sentences

does this item need to be repaired?

and

does this item needs to be repaired?

which sentence is better, and why.

Thank you.


texts: "They told each other they had better leave" [reciprocity and distributivity]

texts:
Following the lead of Higginbotham (1985), Andrew Barss (1986) notes that examples like (1) are ambiguous.

(1a) They told each other they had better leave
(1b) John and Bill told each other they had better leave

Let's focus on (1b) for simplicity. Specifically, what is being claimed is that (1b) may convey both the distributive reading in (2a) and the collective reading in (2b).

(2a) [J told B that B should leave] & [B told J that J should leave]
(2b) [J told B that J&B should leave] & [B told J that J&B should leave]

I am not a native English speaker, but I wonder whether the availability of the distributive reading hinges on the fact that the embedded clause subject they is number-neutral, i.e. it may denote both an individual and a plurality of individuals. (Note also that each other is formally singular.)
My impression is that (3) lends itself less to such construal.

(3) We told each other we had better leave

What do you guys think?


texts: Where does this usage "and you" as in titles come from?

texts:
So I'm noticing there are some occurrences of a fixed usage of “and you,” mainly in titles of articles introducing something new or important to reader.

It goes like “object inheritance, polymorphism, and you.”
The repeating occurrences make me think it has special origins.
I Googled for a while but failed to figure out, because search results are full of explanations about “and you” as a trailing question or in other usages.

Is this a usage with sound origin, or just a common idiom?


texts: how to change Narration from direct to indirect

texts: The young girl said," if fashion do not change, many manufactures will have to sit idle."


texts: general purpose synonyms for terms sagittal, coronal and transverse

texts:
There are terms which are used for describing cross-sections of human anatomy:

sagittal (dividing into left and right halves),
coronal (dividing into front and back halves) and
transverse (situated at right angles to the long axis)

I want to describe a mechanical system using similar terms. What are some general purpose synonyms?


texts:
I was wondering if "filter by" and "filter according to" are both valid, and can be used in the all context or are there exceptions.

ie. Filtering a list of events by venue, or filtering a list of events according to the venue

Thank you.

EDIT:
I always used by as in a direct translation from French filtrer par; according to would be dépendemment de ou en fonction de which also works, but which one is more "common", or correct in that situation eludes me in English.


texts: Is there a noun(phrase) meaning 'the state' of being a masterpiece?

texts:
'Masterpiece' is a noun. I would like, however, to use a noun or a concise noun phrase which refers not to a masterpiece, but its state of being a masterpiece. I thought of using 'masterpieciness' as a neologism, but I don't know how digestible that would sound.

  For example:

  The 'masterpieceness' of the work lies in its . . .


texts: What is the opposite of widow? If A is the widow of B, then B is the ____ of A?

texts:
When one of a married couple dies, there's a word (widow or widower) to refer to the survivor, but there seems to be no word to refer to the deceased.

My wife was a widow when I met her.  How should I refer to her last husband?  Saying "ex-husband" implies they are divorced.  Saying "dead ex-husband" sounds gruesome, and implies that perhaps they were divorced when he died.


texts: Do people actually address their male child "Son" rather than a name, in real life English, or is this mainly a written English usage?

texts:
I regularly see films, books, stories and other English usages in which a person uses the term "son" where one might normally use a name. Usually, it's a father and they're portrayed in a reasonably good relationship with their teenage or adult child:

  “How was breakfast, son?”

I would expect a close family member to use the first name instead (not “How was school, daughter?” or “How was work, son?”, but “How was breakfast, Alan?” or “Are you okay, Joe?”)

I'm excluding uses of “son” where it's widely used in the UK, such as for emphasis ("Listen, son!") or other proper nouns such as "Father" used as an honorific.

I've never heard a person actually use “son” as one might use a name, but it seems quite widely used in English writing and scripts. Maybe it's a UK/US difference or present in some subcultures and not in others?

Can anyone shed light on whether this is actual usage, or just a writer's trope?


texts: How can I fix the passive voice error in this sentence?

texts:
To combat this, new security measures have been implemented such as
  identification checks and on-site police officers.

The error is in bold. I've been reading online about passive voice but every time I come up with a new sentence, it has another passive voice error somewhere else. Thanks.


texts: What is a word that means "usually overlooked yet critical to results"?

texts: I'm describing topics for exam preparation. "The seldom reviewed but always encountered" topics on the exam."


texts: Word designating something as being representative of a whole

texts:
I'm looking for a word similar to synecdoche, but without the literary-device meaning. It designates something as being representative of a whole. I believe I picked this up in a David Foster Wallace essay.

The word would be used, for example, to describe Kanye West as representing American egotism as a whole.


texts:
Can I omit "while" before -ing form? Are these two the same in terms of meaning?

I think while walking.
I think walking.

I can see a problem with different verbs:

I learn while walking.
I learn walking.


texts: What is a single word which can properly describe age, height, weight, and BMI?

texts:
I am completing a final assignment for a statistics course, and need a single word to describe age, height, weight and BMI (body mass index).

The best I've been able to come up with so far are physical characteristics which isn't actually a good explanation for those terms, characteristics by itself, and traits, neither of which fit very well in the title:

  The Effect of NFL Players’ __________ on Skill.


texts: progressive forms: participle or gerund?

texts:
Progressive forms of verbs consist of the form to be + participle. At least that is what most English grammars say or they are imprecise and speak of the -ing form. My question is what follows after the forms of to be?

  I'm working in the garden.

Is working here a present participle or rather a gerund?
I asked myself this question long after I had left school, simply because one accepts what grammar books say without much reflection. But the longer I think about this problem, the more I tend to see it as a gerund.

I stumbled upon this through a curious way of speaking in German dialects. Normally we don't use progressive forms in German, but some dialects make extensive use of forms such as

Ich bin am Aufräumen - word-for-word translation: “I'm at tidying up”.

Normally in English a preposition such as in "at tidying up" is omitted and it becomes:

I'm tidying up.

On another forum, a German language one, we noted the German dialects that made extensive use of such forms as beim/am Aufräumen—and we discovered that these forms are used extensively in areas along the River Rhine from Switzerland to the north, but  also in the east of Germany and in the south.  So it is reasonable to ask what form is used in English, participle or gerund? In German it is a gerund, a participle would be unusual. So it might be the same in English, but since participles and gerunds have the same form, it is really difficult to decide which form it is.

I derive the progressive forms from a formula with "in the act of doing":

I'm working in the garden means “I'm in the act of working in the garden.”

When you omit "in the act of" you get the normal progressive form.

I forgot to mention that the following archaic form also exist

  We were ahunting / went ahunting

where one may assume that the prefix a- is a relic of a preposition.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Plurals of foreign words

A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Since this type of a settlement is unique to Israel, its name is in Hebrew and it doesn’t have a translation in other languages.

The plural of kibbutz in Hebrew is kibbutzim, which is also the form that the Wikipedia uses. However, this is not a correct English form, and when a non-Hebrew speaker reads kibbutzim they don’t necessarily understand that it’s the plural form of kibbutz.

What form is the proper English plural form of kibbutz: should it be kibbutzim or kibbutzes?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "zero, zip, zilch, nada"?

texts:
In the TV show Batman: The Animated Series, the character of Joker said the phrase "zero, zip, zilch, nada". Looking at Google results for that phrase, it seems to be more widely used, so I assume the show didn't coin it.

So, the question is: how did this phrase came to be?

I understand that each of the four words means "nothing", and I'm not interested in the etymology of each word, only them being used together like this.


texts: "Fixed" vs "fixes" when things are already done

texts:
I work in a software company and I write daily reports. The format of my daily reports look more or less like below:

Today

Fixed bug in login page

Tomorrow

Fixes bug in logout page

My questions are:

Is Fixed bug XXX grammatically correct or not? If not, how should I write it?
Is Fixes bug YYY (in tomorrow) grammatically correct or not? If not, how should I write it in a correct form?


texts: "Accountability over" or "accountability for"?

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I want to talk about "teacher accountability __ their work within the classroom". I'm not sure which preposition follows accountability, for or over.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts: What AmE dialect has "et" as the past tense of "eat"?

texts:
In several books and TV shows, there have been characters who say "et" instead of "ate" (As in, "I et dinner yesterday at 6:00"). I looked it up on Wiktionary, which defines it but doesn't say where it's used:

et
(colloquial or dialectal) simple past tense and past participle of eat

I live in the Midwest and I've never heard anyone say this in real life. Is there a specific dialect of American English that this is common to?