texts: What is the difference between "unbeliever" and "disbeliever"?

texts:
I am asking this question because of this question from Islam.SE.

  It seems that "unbeliever" can be used for a person "who does not
  believe" whereas "disbeliever" can be used for a person "who is
  presented and rejected". The prefix "dis" can be used for rejection
  (compared to the prefix "un" which can be used for "not" without
  rejection). So "disbelieve" seems to imply "making a conscious
  decision" to reject/dismiss something.

How correct is above explanation. Can someone explain in more detail what is, if any, the difference between those two words?


texts: "Hi ladies" -- Is it rude to use this greeting for 3 people?

texts: In addressing three people in an email isn't it more polite to use their names rather than "Hi ladies"?  Also when you walk into a quad cubicle isn't it more polite to address people by their names?   Grouping people together when there are only three is treating them as interchangeable, and is disrespectful isn't it?


texts: If 'pre' is previous, 'post' is after, what is current?

texts: We were discussing something like pre-boss era, post-boss era. What word describes  the era where the boss is still there?


texts: Phrase for something that is always out or reach/you almost have but never can get

texts:
I believe there is a two-word phrase for something that is always just out of reach for you and which you cannot ever seem to get.  (It is not Tantalus or anything having to do with Tantalus, please).

It’s like a girl you like and want to date, and it almost happens a bunch of times but never materializes. You’d say, “She’s my __ __.”

I keep thinking dark horse, but that’s not it. Any help?


texts: Adele's pronunciation - Can't recognise some sounds in 'Rolling in the Deep'

texts:
I've listened to Rolling in the deep many times.
But I still can't hear the words being pronounced, even when I know what they are.

  Think of me in the depths of your despair .

In "in the depths of your" Adele seems to be producing different sounds, or maybe different words. Is she linking the words together so I hear different words?

So what is the normal production when these words link together? Why do they sound different? What are the phonological and phonetic processes involved?

I am not a native speaker.


texts:
I have a feeling the word starts with a d, and is used a lot in sports language. When a players or something could be traded, they (being media) would use this word.

Here’s a sentence...

“Among NFL teams which player(s) would be the most (d)_____ to be traded to a different team?”


texts: I am reading an article on this link, and in one part, it says 'patterns of thought and movement worn smooth with use'. I searched, and couldn't find a definition for 'wearing smooth'. Does it mean 'getting better'?


texts: What is the word of Spanish or Portuguese origin starting with "a" and meaning enthusiast?

texts: There is a word starting with "a" (along the lines of "afinados") meaning enthusiast, connoisseur or fan. What is it?


texts:
Is 'give a speech' idiomatic in English?

An instance I can think of would be “When that happened, my teacher gave a speech, and then said, "Now everybody wish Elbe a merry Christmas!"'

As a bonus question, can anyone suggest an alternative expression which renders the same emphasis?


texts: Title for retiring founder continuing with the company in a consulting role

texts:
One of our founding owners is retiring and selling his share of the business, which is a Sub S Corp. We want to retain him on a consulting basis to mentor the younger employees, and to allow him to maintain his relationships with clients, many of whom see him as the face and voice of the company.

This term should be formal / professional and should connote his favorable ongoing standing with the company.

Is there a good term that would accurately describe his continuing affiliation with the company?

Searches for "founder", "emeritus", "founding principal", "consulting principal",and "consulting" have been looked at. Emeritus gives the wrong connotation in my opinion, because it implies he's no longer involved with the company. "Principal" implies ownership, which he won't have.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Adjective used to mean “smellable”

What's the word for "able to be smelled"? Audible is for sounds, and visible for sights. Is there an equivalent word for smells? Smellable sounds wrong. (Related: what about taste and touch?)


texts: Meaning of "bobbed" in "hair bobbed from a ray of sunlight"

texts:
From The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford:

  Ed Miller: I was with a girl once. Wasn't a squaw, but she was purty. She had yellow hair, like uh... oh, like something.
  Dick Liddil: Like hair bobbed from a ray of sunlight?

What does bobbed mean in this context? I guess it means "cut", but I would like a native speaker to verify.


texts: What does "to leap intellectual chasms in a single bound" mean?

texts:
I saw this phrase in a book. The whole sentence is:

  Sergey was exuberant, mercurial, strongly opinionated, and able to
  leap intellectual chasms in a single bound.

I have no clue as to what that the meaning of that phrase is...


texts: What is the figurative meaning of "butting up against"?

texts:
From here:

In its quest to become a global superpower, China has regularly become entangled in territorial disputes with its neighbors, butting up against international law.

What word would you replace butting up against with to convey the figurative meaning of it?
Some of guesses are: clashing, colliding, opposing, confronting, defying...
Most definitions I found relate to the literal meaning of "two things being physically close to each other".
Thanks!


texts: What's the difference between inhuman and inhumane?

texts:
What's the difference in meaning between the adjectives: "inhuman" and "inhumane"?

Thefreedictionary defines both as: "lacking pity or compassion" but there has to be a slight difference in meaning between them since they are two separate words.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When should a singular word ending in “y” end in “ies” plurally?

Why is the plural of story, stories? Why not storys?

And also, why is the plural of boy, boys, not boies?


texts: Single word for the act of being susceptible?

texts:
I want a single word verb to express the action of actively having been the victim of susceptibilities.

For example, as a standard use of the word susceptible:

  Bob was a recovering alcoholic, and was susceptible to relapsing.

I want to word that describes that he actually did fall victim to the thing he was susceptible to.

  Last night Bob [supceeded] to his alcoholism and went on a bender.


texts: When your 10-year old boy says “It’s meta,” what does it mean? In what situation and of what sort of object they use this phrase?

texts:
I asked about the meaning and usage of meta a few days ago, quoting Maureen Dowd’s review of the movie, “J. Edgar” in New York Times.

I received six answers. But I still don’t get a clear idea of what “It’s meta” means because I don't understand (or have a total inability to comprehend) the concept of “self-referential.”

An answerer answered:
“Meta in this fairly recent, casual context is supposed to mean self-referential, or recursive in some way. This is the sense in which my teenagers would use this term.”

So let me resubmit the question on “meta” in simpler format.
When your teenager boy says “It’s (or this is) meta,” what does it mean? In what situation and of what sort of object they use this phrase?

I’m sorry for many users who lent me kind answers to my previous question. But I would like to get it fully on the meaning and usage of “it’s meta,” as a colloquial expression, not the meaning of meta as a prefix.


texts:
In a book review on a NPR site the word "civilian" is used to describe non-scientist people (emphasis mine).

  His new book, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?,
  is all about communication — and miscommunication — between scientists
  and civilians.

That formulation gave me the impression that the author wanted to show scientists like a tight group with a tendency to use brute force to impose their point of view (like the police and army are allowed to do by definition).
The definitions of civilian are all primarily related to the army or police fields, Webster, Collins.

Is there a word –not formed with negative suffix, such as non-scientist– that could replace civilian to describe non-scientist in the sentence below without any of the following:

any military/police force connotation,
"us against them" vibe
negative connotation against either "civilian" or scientist?

(Outsider does not fit either, it also feels too polarized.)

  His new book, is all about miscommunication between scientists
   and XXXXX


texts:
I found the following example that I'm unsure of its correctness.

  The goals of X are to establish a theoretically well-founded yet practical and comprehensible Y.

I've searched for the uses of yet and this one, albeit completely understandable, does not appear.


texts: Fronting of helping verbs for impossible probabilities

texts:
This is  from 'Landour Days' by Ruskin Bond where he dwells at length on writings by hand.

" A few years earlier, when Dickens and Balzac had submitted their hefty manuscripts in longhand, no one had objected. Had their handwriting been awful, their manuscripts would still have been read".

It is often found for unreal probabilities in a past event helping verbs like had, were and should are inverted  or fronted to capture conditional " IF ".  Under normal conditions with 'if' the structure is canonical.

If he had taken a little longer to get the load down, he might have been crushed under it.

Other examples:

Shoud you see Kate, say Hi from me.
Were I the Lord of Tatary, I would make my throne of beaten gold.

When and how did this sort of fronting of auxiliaries/ copular verbs come into being? Do they capture yes-no-polarity of interrogation embodied in IF particle.


texts:
The articles are confusing, look at these two sentences and tell me is there a difference in their meaning.
Assume ( a total of 5 windows in this case)

1a) My ball hit the window of our principal's office.
1b) My ball hit a window of our principal's office.

Both of these sentences are providing the same meaning then what exactly are "a" and "the" conveying?


texts: Where do I place the adverb "massively"?

texts:
Which of the two sentences sounds better to you?
I'm thinking "massively" should go AFTER the verb seeing that it is an adverb of manner (as per Cambridge English Dictionary)
The number of people with serious psychological problems due to overusing social media has been massively growing.
The number of people with serious psychological problems due to overusing social media has been growing massively.


texts: In the table published at this U.S. Postal Service Website, USPS compares different service classes in different aspects. One aspect is called "incentive". I wonder what it means? From Google, I guess it may mean "A payment or concession to stimulate greater output or investment", but this meaning doesn't explain the aspect in the USPS table well to me.


texts: Further vs. Farther in Cardinal Directions

texts:
I understand that typically in American English, farther is used for physical distance while further is used for metaphorical distance (i.e. farther to the restaurant vs. further in the book).
However, which word would you use when using cardinal directions? You need to head further north or farther north?


texts: Is there a term for a word that serves as its own antonym?

texts:
For example:

"transparent" can mean both "obvious" and "hidden"

"aught" can mean both "all" and "nothing"

Is there a term for a word which has multiple definitions that are antonyms?


texts: Why does "I ain't doing nothing" translate to "I am doing nothing"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “I ain’t got no money”

Why does the phrase "I ain't doing nothing" mean "I am doing nothing"?

According to me, "I ain't doing nothing" should translate to "I am not doing nothing", which implies that "I am doing something".


texts: What literary term is applicable to  "I can see pain in your eyes."


texts: What kind of punctuation marks to use in writing this?

texts:
We have something called dhikr in Islam.

We repeat the same word hundreds or thousands of times, e.g.

  Subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah

(It means far from any imperfection is Allah?).

Also,

  la ilahe ilallah   la ilahe ilallah  la ilahe ilallah   la lilahe ilallah la ilahe ilallah

(There is no deity worthy of worship other than Allah).

My question is: if I write in a notebook or format pages one hundred or one thousands of this words repeatedly one after the other example subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah..... until I reach the number one hundred or one thousand. What punctuation mark should I place between subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah subhanallah or la ilahe ilallah
  la ilahe ilallah   la ilahe ilallah?

Should I place a comma like this

  subhanallah, subhanallah, subhanallah, subhanallah

or a period like below ?

  subhanallah. subhanallah. subhanallah. subhanallah. subhanallah. subhanallah. subhanallah. subhanallah. la ilahe ilallah. la ilahe ilallah. la ilahe ilallah. la ilahe ilallah. la ilahe ilallah. la ilahe ilallah. la ilahe ilallah


texts:
'Cut one off, or loosen grip'.
Meaning if someone asks you to do something for them and you accept, but you then just don't do it. We have an idiom that translates something around the lines of 'he cut me off or he loosened his grip'. They come from the idea of one holding on to a rope and the other person is below him and he cuts the rope or loosens his grip and he just falls. (It may be down to the fact that the person is putting more weight on the rope or because you can no longer hold on, so it's pretty much the same thing that he's going to burden you with something, and at that time you didn't have the impropriety and indecency to disappoint him/ it felt hard to say it to his face etc. so you just had to accept although falsely). That person has entrusted you and put confidence in you and then you just completely disregard him and forget about him for some reason or another.
Similar idiom?


texts:
I am a university student. I submitted an essay and a professor told me I should avoid passive voice with examples. But some of those examples sounded weird to me. When I asked the professor about this, she sent me a reply as following:

Everyone is having [CH1] a hard time.
[CH1]Passive voice – try to
avoid if possible. Rephrase to active
This is a complete sentence, but it is passive voice, because it
combines a variant of the verb "to be" with another verb, in this case
"is" + the verb "have".
So, you could make this more active by re-writing like so: Everyone
has experienced a hard time.
-or- Everyone has had a hard time.
Notice how the verb "to be" has been eliminated from this sentence.
Arendt also mentioned that he had no motives at all, but never
realized what he was doing[CH1] , although it is still controversial
if he really did not know what he was doing apart from no evil
intention.
[CH1]PV
"was doing" is passive, because it mixes "was" + the verb "to do". You
can rewrite to active llike so:
Arendt also mentioned that had no motives at all, but never realized
what he had done, although controversy persists over whether he really
did not know what he had done.   Lankford (2009), however, argues that
brutal behavior expressed by the soldiers is not
[CH1] from their
dispositions, but it is the result of systematic and situational
factors.  [CH1]Passive – can you rewrite to active?
Here, it's not technically passive voice, but the use of the verb "is"
here is a bit weak. You can rewrite and make it more interesting by
eliminating the verb "is": Lankford, however, argues that brutal
behavior expressed by the soldiers derives not from their
dispositions, but results from systematic and situational factors.

Isn't passive voice be + p.p.? I thought be + -ing was active voice. Is there something I don't know about passive voice? Should I avoid using to be verb in essay regardless of active or passive voice?


texts: Is the infinitive in this sentence correct?

texts:
John was fortunate to receive the funding.

The statement uses the infinitive "to receive" instead of "to have received," which describes the state of having received something. "to have received" is correct because fortunate has the sense of describing a state instead of something dynamic like what is suggested by "to receive."

Is "to receive" correct grammar and why?


texts: Looking for a word similar to "custom-made", but stronger

texts:
I am looking for a word or phrase which can describe the situation in which you order a valuable thing (maybe unique) such as a Ferrari or jet or something else. My friend told me that it should be called a custom car (or jet). I agree about that but I know there is another word which sounds much stronger than custom...

Does anyone have any ideas?


texts: Is it ever correct to use "on" after "continue"?

texts:
Is it ever grammatically correct to use the word "on" after the word "continue"?

as in:

  "After this break, we will continue on with the broadcast."


texts:
What is the difference in use between "paradise" and "heaven"?

I feel that heaven is more spiritual, something that probably couldn't even be imagined. When you say paradise, you can denote something more real. Imagine a vacation on a tropical island; you can say, "I was in Bahamas. It was a paradise". But heaven is something even more unseizable.

Is my understanding correct?


texts:
Can I use word basically in an interview?

For example

  I basically belong to X but I am working at Y from last 10 years.

Or can I use

  I belong to X and I am working at Y from last 10 years.


texts: Word or idiom for 'when someone does something according to the regulation'

texts:
What's the word or idiom or expression for when someone does an activity or job according to regulations of the institute or situation.

Example: He won the match {abiding by or according to the rules}

Thanks in advance


texts:
A corpus (pl. corpora) is a collection of spoken or written texts to be used for linguistic analysis and based on a specific set of design criteria influenced by its purpose and scope. There are various, and sometimes conflicting, definitions in the relevant literature (...) as to what exactly constitutes a corpus, but for our purposes, we’ll adopt the relatively simple and straightforward one given above. This basically means that any collection of texts that has been systematically assembled in order to investigate one or more linguistic phenomena can be termed a corpus, even if it may only contain a handful of classroom transcripts, interviews, or plays.
Practical Corpus Linguistics: An Introduction to Corpus-Based Language Analysis

What is the definition of linguistic phenomenon in the context of a linguistic corpus? I don't know what they mean by a phenomenon.


texts: Should the word "question" be capitalised, when referring to, e.g., "question 2"?

texts:
I am writing a paper in which, in my answer to the third question, I have written a sentence which includes the clause:

", as referred to in my answer to question 2".

Should the word "question" be capitalised in the above sentence?  It feels as though "Question 2" is sort-of a proper noun in this context.

Of course, if I were setting the paper and listing the questions, I would always capitalise "Question 1", "Question 2", etc.  However, this would be partly because these would begin a partial sentence and so be capitalised on that basis.  This seems a subtly different situation.


texts: Terminology for the levels user programs go through to access hardware

texts:
I'm looking for the terminology to describe the stack between user level programs and the hardware.  For example, in a typical non-virtualized environment, this stack is:

User program <-> Application Binary Interface <-> Operating System <-> Hardware

User level programs access the system calls through the ABI, and the OS executes the operation on the hardware on behalf of the program.  In the other direction, data coming from the hardware is given to the OS, which passes it up to the program.

The terminology I've been using up to this point is application stack, but this term means something different.


texts: When we are at the restaurant is more correct for the waitress to ask '' what are you having madam?'' or ''what will you have?''


texts:
Are the following sentences acceptable to native speakers?

I want it so bad.
The children grew up happy and healthy.
Jimmy works hard.
He followed her quick.

What adjectives can be used as adverbs? Are there rules for that?


texts: Born to do something or born for doing something / Made for doing something or to do something

texts:
I was wondering if there is a difference between these 2 possibilities. In different songs I've heard:

'I was born for loving you',
or
'Born to be wild',

but I don't get if there's a real difference or not.

Also, I tend to think that to express purpose it is rather used 'to + infinitive' when you're referring to verbs and 'for + noun', but it doesn't apply in the sentences above. Another example,

'These boots are made for walking', or
'These boots are made to walk'

.
Can you please help me? Thanks in advance and greetings to all users!


texts: What is the difference between 'will' and 'would' in question form?

texts:
What is the difference in meaning between

  When will XYZ bank release the results of clerks?
  When would XYZ Bank release the results of clerks?

Please correct the above sentences if there are any errors. I request you to please explain the difference between 'would' and 'will' when used in question form with examples.

Thank you


texts:
I always see signs such as

  Men at work

or

  Children at play

I was wondering why we use "at" in this way. Is it just a formal way of saying Men Working / Children Playing?

Saying "At Lunch" seems sensible, yet even so I would only use this if I were out of the office etc, I wouldnt say "I'm at lunch" if I weren't changing location. If I were to say "I'm At Work" I would use this to inform someone I am at my workplace, not that I am actually working, and no one I know would say their children are "At Play" rather than "Playing".

At to me has always seemed more a word used with a location rather than an action.


texts: Does a pun require an explicit reference to the word being punned?

texts:
If one is referencing a prior comment in a conversation that uses a term with multiple meanings, using the alternate meaning to make wordplay, would this be considered a pun? (Note: poor software engineering joke to follow)

Person 1: "It's a stomach bug"

Person 2: "You should probably check the log file."

For some explicit context, bug was intended to reference a germ/sickness, whereas the following line references "bug" in terms of an issue with software - and checking a log file is a common way to solve the issue.

Person 1 did not intend to make a pun, but Person 2 explicitly exposed the dual meaning. Both parties are aware of the word's other meaning.

Should this be considered a pun? If not, is there a more appropriate and specific term for this?


texts: What is the difference between "likeness" and "resemblance"?

texts:
Even after look on Cambridge Dictionary I didn't get the difference between the words "likeness" and "resemblance".

Could someone help me with this?

Thanks.


texts: Is the phrase "it's just a matter of semantics" meaningless?

texts:
I hear this phrase from time to time, and I really don't know what it means.  Two people are debating, and one says "the difference between your position and mine is just a matter of semantics."   This would seem to me to be quite an important difference.  That is, if one person means one thing, and the other person means something else, then they really do have different positions.

If they said "it is just a matter of terminology" or "just a matter of phrasing" I would get it.  But if someone says "we differ only what we mean" ... it kinda makes me chuckle because it seems to be saying that their meaning is not important, as if the argument was primary and the positions they take a secondary consideration.

So I started looking around for examples of this. I guess it seems that there is a popular notion that semantics is about very fine distinctions, such as: I think it's just a matter of semantics, not so much a difference per se

Another interpretation seems to be that semantics is the difference between two ways of saying the same thing: I usually involve the students in the creation of classroom rules.  To me, we are just agreeing upon how we can make our classroom a safe and fun place to be. I don’t know if it’s really so different from a DWS approach of having procedures, but “no rules.”  Isn’t this just a matter of semantics?

Maybe it is just a way of stopping an annoying conversation: In ordinary conversations, when people debate a point and the words they are using for discussion they often backhand this disagreement with the phrase “It’s a matter of semantics.”

And then there is some usage that I simply don't understand:  I recently spoke at a mens' event in which one of the participants asked me if having a good and noble heart was just a matter of semantics. -- In other words, does it really matter?

And also: The Argument for and against the 6-3-3-4 system of education has raged on as stakeholders give conflicting position on whether it stays or not  ....  the 6-3-3-4 policy is just a matter of semantics, the government cannot take decisions without due consultations.

Still, to me it is just a meaningless phrase.  Am I missing an important meaning here?


texts: Can participial adjectives ever include any associated clauses, like objects, in attributive use?

texts:
This is correct:

The engaging, beautiful lady was wearing red.
The engaged, beautiful lady was wearing red.

But adding an object or a prepositional clause to engaging/engaged, I think, makes it invalid in attributive use:

The engaging me, beautiful lady was wearing red.
The engaged by me, beautiful lady was wearing red.

I speak several other languages, and know that, for example, in Russian the equivalent phrase is perfectly correct. But it looks like English grammar is more limiting in that regard. When I google phrases like that I don't get any hits in books.
My question is: is adding clauses like this to adjectives always invalid in attributive use, or are there some exceptions?


texts:
This a question about how to pronounce the "s" in "parmesan".

Where I come from (Australia), it's said as a "z", or almost an "s", with only the first syllable stressed. But a friend from the USA heard me say it like that, laughed, then confidently corrected me saying it is pronounced "zh" (like "je" in French) ie like "Parmezhan", and with primary stress on the last syllable (secondary on the first).

Searching Google, an American company, for "define paramesan" shows the "s" should be said as "z".

Which is it?


texts: A better word/phrase to describe "a more..." in a scientific paper

texts:
I am writing a scientific paper on how a cancer staging system may be improved. However, I am a non-native English speaker, and I am concerned that my current title reflects that too much.

Please, how may this sentence be rephrased or improved to encapsulate the meaning in a more elegant way?

Approaching a more patient-tailored N-staging of x cancer

Specifically, it is the a more part I do not like. In my research paper, I have evaluated three commonly applied approaches to cancer staging and introduced a new approach that includes specific patient parameters to a greater extent than seen in the previous approaches.

Thank you in advance. Best.


texts: Who and whom usage in single-word-sentence

texts:
I know that if you say something with only one person—for example "Look over there, it's Jack"—the correct response is "who?" (short for "who is Jack?"), or at least I'm pretty sure this is true.

Anyway, what I am asking is whether you can differentiate between the object/subject of a statement using either who or whom. In other words, if someone said, for example, "George just hit Jack!", could you respond with either "Who?" or "Whom?" to specify whom you are referring to?

So if someone said, "George hit Jack", could you say "Who?" as in "Who (hit Jack)?" or "Whom?" as in "(George hit) Whom?" to specify whom you are referring to?

Thanks.


texts: What is the difference between "English" and "British"?

texts:
As an American, I naively think of British and English as exact synonyms. I know I'm wrong, but I just don't know in what way. I am vaguely aware that people in the UK hold strong opinions about one or the other term and how it is applied, and using one instead of the other has dire social implications.

So there is geography (Britain vs. England), but more importantly the adjectives British and English, and those adjectives each one by themselves, may mean different things in different contexts, and depending on the speaker and the listener.

Can anyone explain the nuances of the differences as used by those who might consider themselves English (or British, if that's an acceptable usage)? How about by the non-English/non-British (again if it's appropriate to use such terms).

(What I am not asking: I had to hold back from asking exactly what the distinctions among UK, British Isles, Great Britain, etc are as well as things like are people from Northern Ireland considered Irish (or do you call them Irish).)


texts:
Which sentence makes sense, the first or the second?

  I am      legend.
  I am  a  legend.


texts:
I need a formal expression to designate the police siren and lights together. In Hungarian they are both called with the same name: distinctive signals which is different from what we call them when using one of them alone.
Is there a word or expression that I can use in an essay?
Thanks in advance for your answers.


texts: 'At' symbol vs multiplication symbol: adjectives or verbs or what?

texts:
I was reading about the origin of the @ symbol. It came on the scene in 1531. It has always meant “at” for pricing. New usages have been assigned to it as well as using “at” as a preposition, e.g.

"person at mail server gmail in top level domain com".

And of course twitter has cemented @ as also meaning “person”.

@person thanks for the meatloaf.

So I was thinking @ in a commercial context seems like a replacement for multiply. Or “x”. So I tried it out and wrote equivalent expressions.

A) 5 apples at $3.99 each
B) 5 apples times $3.99 each

It struck me that in A) at sounds more like an adjective. And in B) times or multiply sounds more like a verb. It also sounds like a command as in “do multiply and tell me the answer” but that must be from schooling.
Is @ an adjective? What about 'times'?


texts:
McWhorter, J. PhD  Linguistics (Stanford). The Language Hoax (2016). p. 59 Top.

  IT CAN BE SURPRISING to see how weak the connection is between language structure and people. Readers may justifiably sense an implication at this point in my argumentation that language has nothing to do with culture, or at least nothing important or interesting.
    Nothing could be further from the truth, and before I proceed with my case, I must make clear that I am referring solely to a particular argument [I bolded.] about language and culture, rather than, say, dismissing the entire field of linguistic anthropology.

What'd change, if 'argumentation' overhead were replaced with 'argument'?
In general, how does argumentation

  the action or process of reasoning systematically in support of an idea, action, or theory.

differ from argument

  2[.] A reason or set of reasons given in support of an idea, action or theory

?


texts:
What determines whether something is a "noun adjunct" or just a garden-variety adjective?  Does it matter in any meaningful way?

Here is my hypothesis, but I can't find any authoritative source to back it up. I'm hoping someone here can weigh in more definitively.

Classification of noun adjuncts is based subjectively on whether the word is in "common usage" as a noun.  "Book" and "chicken" are commonly nouns and would be considered noun adjuncts in "book collector" and "chicken soup"; "yellow", not so much.
Noun adjuncts may share some common qualities that differentiate them from other adjectives (like not being able to be inflected into superlative forms... one can't be a "book-est collector").  But they are still fundamentally adjectives and may even appear in the dictionary as such if the adjectival usage is common enough.

What I've found so far...

Wikipedia defines a "noun adjunct" as:

  an optional noun that modifies another noun; it is a noun functioning as an adjective.

But English words are not decreed to be nouns or adjectives by some higher authority.  So it seems strange that one can prescriptively conclude that something "is a noun" in the first place, let alone extrapolate that it "is a noun functioning as an adjective".

The wiki article cites "chicken soup" as an example of a noun adjunct, but at least one dictionary gives a definition for "chicken" as:

  adj. (of food) containing, made from, or having the flavor of chicken

So it seems that there are some differing points of view on how to categorize these words.

This question was spawned from some discussion in this question, this question and this other question.


texts: Proverb for Someone will work, but another will get the benefit

texts:
Can you suggest what would be a good proverb for "Someone will work, but another will get the result"? Like for the situation when one person does the hard work, but some other reaps the benefits.

EDIT:

Just wanted to mention that I just meant a single line proverb that is commonly used for the above situation in English speaking countries. For example a proverb like: "The opera ain't over till the fat lady sings."


texts: Term for systems of measure with arbitrary units

texts:
What is the term for systems of measure whose units are not simple scalings by magnitude, but instead "arbitrary" units, that is, units unrelated by magnitude?

I'd regard metric lengths scaling simply by magnitude.  For the purpose of this question, I'd regard imperial lengths (foot, yard, mile) and common time reckoning (hour, day, week, month, year) as arbitrary.


texts: What is the meaning of saying that say something is "like laguna beach"?

texts: I saw this video on YouTube. Mark Zuckerberg said that "whenever that [a peak on a traffic graph on an LCD] happens, it's like laguna beach." What does that mean?


texts:
I've just read a conversation on Facebook:

Boy: You should be a model!
Girl: It's all you tab!

What does she mean in the above context?
Update: I think i found the right answer, thanks @Janus Bahs Jacquet

That's all you talk/think about


texts: Is there a verb form for how an effigy relates to its target or referent?

texts: So an inanimate object in a story is representative of a person in the story. Anything that happens to the object represents something that happens to the person. So what’s the word for “The object ____ the person”. Sort of like symbolizes, represents, but not exactly it.


texts: May a linking verb be omitted in a sentence with compound subject?

texts:
Consider the sentence:

Our son, John, is 15 and our daughter, Mary, 11.

Is it grammatical? I have read such omission of the linking verb (especially is) in a sentence with a compound subject. I wanted to know if the linking verb attaches to both the subjects. Is the above preferred to the more straightforward (and grammatical) construction:

Our son, John, is 15 and our daughter, Mary, is 11.

?


texts: Does ", which" Correspond to the Noun just before the Comma or to the Whole Sentence before the Comma?

texts:
Harvey drinks from a bottle, which looks funny.

Is it enforced that "which" corresponds here to the bottle and not to the way in which Harvey drinks?

Can ", which" be used to correspond to the full meaning of the first part of a sentence instead of just the noun right before the comma? Is there a general rule?


texts: What is it called when you combine two distinct phrases with a common middle phrase or word?

texts:
Is there a term for when you combine two distinct phrases together with a middle term?

For example:

Big Band Aid (Big Band/Band Aid. Alternately, a benefit concert for swing musicians)
Insane Asylum Seekers (Crazy, but at least they're free)

I'm thinking it might be an apo koinou construction, but the examples of that I've found are more complex, and I'm not sure if they're really the same thing.

I found this thread, but it doesn't quite answer the question:
A figure of speech combining two phrases


texts: Steve Jobs’s Stanford speech: this is the closest I've ever **gotten** to a college graduation?

texts:
I'm watching Steve Jobs’s speech at Stanford: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
There is a sentence I'm not clear, which of following is correct?

and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation
and this is the closest I've ever got to a college graduation

PS: Although the text on that page is the first one, but to my ears, it sounds like the second one. Which one is it to your ear?


texts: Is "Not that we would have expected anything else, of course" sound?

texts:
In the GSMArena article Xiaomi denies any ties to the Chinese military in response to being blacklisted by the US, "would have" is used:

Today Xiaomi has issued the following statement on the matter:
.....
Not that we would have expected anything else, of course.

I am not a native speaker, and this feels odd. Why not just say the following?

Not that we expected anything else, of course.

Variant
My analysis

I expect you to do this and that.
Basically an order

I would expect you to do this and that.
What you're going to do or a subtle suggestion what to do

If you were injured, I would expect you to seek help.
A hypothetical situation in the future

I would have expected you to do this and that.
"If a past situation was different, this is what I think you would have done as a result."If you had been injured, I would have expected you to seek help.

I expected you to do this and that.
A disappointment. Seems like the choice for the article.

Not that I expected you to do this and that, of course.
"I didn't think you'd do it, and you didn't, confirming my prediction."


texts:
As I am a foreigner, I have great difficulty differentiating the sounds /æ/ and /e/ . When spoken softly, it becomes almost impossible for me to discern the sounds. Such as this one from movie Inception at 2:06 (...Saito knows. He's playing with us. Dicaprio: It doesn't "MATTER".)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D659PzLQDKk

Matter here almost sounds like "MEtter". As such, I am frustrated by such hardship.

Are /æ/ and /e/ always distinguished when spoken? I always make sure that I emphasize the vowel sound when I speak so as to achieve the best clarity I possibly can. However, it seems that when native speakers speak, the difference becomes extremely subtle or just indistinguishable. Is it only me? And if so, what should I do to attain the ability to hear such difference?


texts:
According to Wiktionary "string" is pronounced as /stɹɪŋ/. However, all of my acquaintances have split opinions about the 'g' at the end. I'm of a mind that the 'g' is pronounced, e.g. two strings, not two strinns.

I'm interested in which is the correct form and whether it's based on the language region, context, or perhaps something completely different.


texts:
On The New York Times I read the following sentence:

  The bad news here begins with the economy, which stinks. This is the
  epicenter of the dot-bomb, the edge of the ailing Pacific Rim and
  now a major casualty of tourist malaise.

What does dot-bomb mean?


texts:
I'm a non-native English speaker and sometimes it's hard for me to pick up the right word in some situations.

Could you, please, explain when it's better to use "goodbye" for ending a conversation, when "bye" fits well, and is it appropriate to use "bye bye" at all? When is it better to use other options, for example "see you soon", "see you later" and the like?


texts:
I'm making a game that has items inside it and each items has its own instances. Then I have a DB table that contains those instances. What should I name it to properly indicate my case? ItemInstances or ItemsInstances? Thanks!
Edit
My table might looks like this:
id | itemId | location
1  | 1      | New York
2  | 1      | San Fransisco
3  | 2      | New York
4  | 2      | New York

So this table can contain any type of items with possibility of multiple amounts (instances) of each items.


texts: ı have read a book and heard of it a lot.someone is talking and says"could not sleep last night" or "just preparing" sentences like that can we always do this or just only while speaking


texts: conditioning, conditions and circumstances

texts:
I am reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. And I come across the following saying that I do not quite understand.

They are page 71.

  They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior.
  ...
  Because we are, by nature, proactive, if our lives are a function of conditioning and conditions, it is because we have, by conscious decision or by default, chosen to empower those things to control us.

Could you please explain the meaning of circumstances, conditions and conditioning in the above?

Thanks.


texts:
As far back as I can remember, the usage went something like "Their jury was rigged, and that's how he got away." Or, "They Jerry-rigged the controller at the last moment and it worked!"

I used to cringe every time I saw something being jury-rigged, until I found it in the NY Times today.

Which one is it? Is the other one wrong?


texts: Word, elegant phrase or slang to describe doing something merely to pass the criteria?

texts:
For example: He's been punished to clean the floor but he just quickly skimmed it with a broom, with no actual care to how much cleaner the floor would become, and said he's done.
What did he do? - He _______ed it / he was ______ing it
or: How did he perform this task? - ______ly
or: "Clean the floor but don't just ________ it, make me proud!"

I have a few words in my mind but I don't think they fit what I mean or my style of expression: half-ass, skim, slacking...

Much obliged!


texts: Are there any words that mean "Competent to teach"?

texts:
Today I had a thought of a common situation.
"How would I say 'competent to teach' in one word?"

In fact, I went further than that. I ask how to say 'competent (Verb)'.
e.g. competent: to build, to perform surgery, to lead, etc.

I searched online but to no avail. This is my last hope. If I find nothing then could someone provide an alternative phrase that sounds good or create a useful word to explain the situation.


texts: What's the difference between the prefix "re-" and the adverb "again"

texts: For example, "I will reread this article" and "I will read this article again". Are they equivalent? When should I use a hyphen after the prefix "re"?


texts: Is backshift required in second conditionals (imagined scenarios) -- 'If I were you, I would go where my friends "were".'

texts:
I understand that second conditionals are used to express an imagined scenario with a low probability, eg 'if I were you' and 'if I had a billion bucks'.
But is backshift required in this context? Which of the below is grammatically correct?
Edit: let's assume that I'm trying to convey that I would go to the place where my friends currently are, rather than used to be.

'If I were you, I would go where my friends were.'

OR

'If I were you, I would go where my friends are.'

My gut feeling is that backshift is required. Eg 'If it the raining stopped, we could go for a walk'. But I have not been able to find an authoritative explanation for this.


texts: Is it appropriate to use "reunion" for meeting only one person after a long time? If not, what's the alternative?

texts:
I met a childhood friend after over 15 years. It was myself, my spouse (who had never met the friend), and this friend.

Would I use reunion for this situation, as it always makes me feel it's for a group of people, and LDOCE says:

  1 a social meeting of people who have not met for a long time, especially people who were at school or college together

  2 when people are brought together again after a period of being separated

    reunion with

    Joseph's eventual reunion with his brother

The example for the second definition seems to suit what I'm looking for, but I'm not sure yet.

Is it really odd to use the word for meeting only one person, or is it just my false assumption?

(From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/reunion)


texts: Is there a verb that is the antonym of the verb "to listen"?

texts: I've been looking for a single word that exactly means "to stop listening", but I haven't found anything. Is there such a word?


texts: What should be your response when your boss thanks you for using his own resource allotted to you and you respect your boss and cannot respond him like It's ok or you're welcome.


texts:
What does "can still own a room" mean in the following newspaper article?

Ichiro Suzuki sipped green tea, elicited a few laughs and turned the tables on a media member with three questions of his own during his introductory news conference with the Miami Marlins.
It was clear from the start that Ichiro can still own a room. The
Marlins are also betting the 41-year-old outfielder can still play a
little bit as well.


texts: In search of a word that means 'to make goodness manifest'

texts:
Does the English language contain a word that bears the meaning 'to make goodness manifest'?

I have found that 'condemn' holds a meaning in close opposite to this, but I have yet to find a suitable antonym.

Any and all help is very much appreciated!


texts: What's the one word for a person who generalizes everything?

texts:
I am searching for a word that qualifies a person as someone who makes sweeping generalizations on almost everything and tends to stereotype people.
He picks up one trait of a person (something which is dominant) and every other person with a similar trait becomes just a prototype of it. He fails to elicit difference in the other aspects of their character and in understanding them in a more detailed manner.


texts: What exactly does it mean to "mug somebody off" in British English?

texts:
I tried looking this up at the Urban Dictionary, but it gave only one net-upvoted definition, and that definition wasn't even clear.  The background for my question is coming my watching from a movie with lots of Cockney English sounding speakers; somebody says something to another a bar, and the person being spoken looks upset and yells back, "are you trying to mug me off?"

What does it mean?


texts:
Is this a sentence:
Seems we could use some shaping from our building practices today.


texts: My friend recently said "My parents got me the most ugly Sherry glasses I've ever seen". He is a native English speaker and said that 'most ugly' in this context is correct even though I've always only heard the superlative as "ugliest".


texts: Was it ever standard to pronounce "malinger" to rhyme with "ginger"?

texts:
In The Pronunciation of Standard English in America, by George Philip Krapp (1919), I found the following surprising statement:

  For malinger the standard pronunciation is [mə´lɪndʒə̉ɹ], though occasionally speakers are led to pronounce the word as though it were a variant form of linger [´lɪŋgə̉ɹ].

(p. 131; the "ə̉" is a placeholder for a character that I can't find in Unicode; it's like a schwa but the top part is curlier than usual)

I haven't found any other source (from any time period, about any variety of English) that confirms Krapp's description of [məˈlɪndʒəɹ] as "the standard pronunciation" of malinger. The 1918 pronunciation guide "Every-day pronunciation", by Robert Palfrey Utter (who lived in America), gives the pronunciation of "malinger" only as "mã̇lĭṇ´gêṛ", which corresponds more or less to IPA [məˈlɪŋgə(ɹ)].

Does anyone have any further information about the variant pronunciation of malinger with [dʒ], and why Krapp might have thought of it as the "standard pronunciation" of this word?


texts:
What is the right question tag (in British English) when we use the verb have?
I have interviewed a few native speakers and none of them could explain why sometimes they prefer "haven't/hasn't" and why other times they prefer "don't/doesn't".
Here are 4 different groups of sentences. Which ones are correct and which ones aren't and why?

Group 1

I've got a good voice, haven't I?
You've got a dog, haven't you?
She's got a new boyfriend, hasn't she?
We've got very good friends, haven't we?
They've got our address, haven't they?

Group 2

I have a good voice, don't I?
You have a dog, don't you?
She has a new boyfriend, doesn't she?
We have very good friends, don't we?
They have our address, don't they?

Group 3

I've got a good voice, don't I?
You've got a dog, don't you?
She's got a new boyfriend, doesn't she?
We've got very good friends, don't we?
They've got our address, don't they?

Group 4

I have a good voice, haven't I?
You have a dog, haven't you?
She has a new boyfriend, hasn't she?
We have very good friends, haven't we?
They have our address, haven't they?


texts: Fun and enjoyable ways to practice pronunciation?

texts:
English is not my native language and I'm really proud of being able to write it quite well. I have lots of problems with pronunciation though. In Finnish most words are pronounced the same as they are written and I've made a huge mistake by learning only how the words are written. I've now decided to become at least average speaker.

I'd like hear to better/more enjoyable ways to practice pronunciation than violently forcing my friends to speak English with me.


texts:
I would like to know an unambiguous term used to designate words that are spoken vanishingly rarely, if at all.

  Words that are never spoken, _________, illustrate the fundamental difference between spoken and written languages.

Such words as would be designated by the term might be scientific coinages, difficult to pronounce, prosodically awkward; whatever the reason, although the word can be pronounced, it is not; such a word is only encountered in written form.

When I attempted to recall the term, all I could come up with was

  dictionary word, n.
  (a) a word which may be found in a dictionary, a valid word;  (b) a word which has been listed in a dictionary but which is rarely or never used, an obscure or recondite word.

["dictionary, n. and adj.". OED Online. December 2015. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/52325?rskey=jj89IT&result=1&isAdvanced=true (accessed January 07, 2016).]

As can be seen, 'dictionary word', while it might be stretched to fit my use, is unsuitable in that (a) the first meaning given does not correspond to the meaning I intend, and (b) the second meaning given is inaccurate. The meaning in (b) is inaccurate and misleading because, for example, many scientific coinages are spoken rarely or never, but they will also never appear in a dictionary.

The term 'recondite word' might also be used, but it is inexact. 'Obscure word' suffers likewise.

Having failed to recall or discover the term, I am of course prepared to accept it does not exist; however, I seem to remember such a term being bandied about in some graduate English, Classics or Linguistics course in the early 1980s.


texts:
I've been practising for the coming SAT, and I got confused by this question from the writing section. It read something like this:

  John was one of the astronomers who devoted all their time to science.

It was in the error identification section, and the insidious error was in the pronoun "their". Could you please explain this to me?

UPD:

I'm sorry, my fault. I've found the original, and now I clearly see the error.
Here is the original sentence:

  George Thornton Emmons was one of a handful of ethnographers who
  committed their life to studying the Tlingit culture of Northwest
  Coast.

The error is obviously in "life". It should be "lives". I feel ashamed of myself. Sorry I bothered you, and anyway, thank you for your responses.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Who wants ice-cream?
  Which is correct to say: “It's me” or “It's I”?
  “This is her” or “This is she”

I'm reading a book and I found a sentence which made me have some doubts.

The sentence is:

  That was him on the phone.

I wonder whether the sentence would be as grammatically correct as 'That was he on the phone'. The reason I wonder is because when you answer the phone, for example, you say "yes, this is he" (meaning something like 'Speaking').

So are both grammatically correct? How can I know whether I should use he/him after verb to be?


texts:
I saw a tattoo like shown below.

Everything what you own
            owns you

To me it sounds better when you take out the word "what".
Does it matter whether you use it? Does the meaning change?
Also should there be a comma before the word "owns"?

Thanks.


texts:
When is it appropriate to use "Scar Tissue" vs. "Scar Tissues"

He applied ointment to the scar tissue.
He applied ointment to the scar tissues.

Are both correct or only the first one?


texts: Origins of the current meaning of stick-in-the-mud

texts:
A quick web search shows several pertinent results for the etymology of the phrase
stick in the mud, for example http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/stick-in-the-mud.html, which indicates early usages referring to people stuck in mud who were unable to help themselves, and thus either in trouble, or criminals.

This seems to me to be a distinctly different meaning from the way we use stick-in-the-mud nowadays, where it's taken to mean 'party pooper' or 'uninterested in change'. So where did the current meaning come from?

Also, I never realised it was unrelated to tree branches lying in the mud, 'til I started looking this up!


texts: "You can bust a kid for possession, but -try making it stick-"

texts:
In a sentence from the novel 'Mr.Mercedes', the ex-cop Hodges said:

  " You can bust a ten-year-old for possession, but try making it stick"

I don't understand what but try making it stick means.

I looked up some on-line dictionaries, but since my native language is not English, and the word 'stick' has so many different meanings, it is rather frustrating. I would appreciate it if i can find some help here.


texts: Why do we talk about a material or metal having magnetic properties (as opposed to having a magnetic property)?


texts:
I have seen this usage on Twitter and wonder what it exactly means. Is it just an informative exception or a common usage?

Thresa May to take her Brexit roadshow to the north-east

(https://i.stack.imgur.com/sLjXo.png)


texts: Omitting an implied article, or avoiding repetition

texts:
If I say "The boy and girl are..."

I think it's as correct as "The boy and the girl", as some natives told me that.

Do you confirm?

But what is the rule in English for non repeating the article?

And also, more generally, are there other rules for omitting the singular article? When could it be implied? (I don't mean the zero article, like in generalities, categories and plural, when we expect the zero article.)


texts: Is there a word for perceiving sexism/racism that isn't present?

texts:
In a recent conversation about Parent and Child parking spaces* one participant became offended at the sexism of comments like "they should just walk", or "why do they need 8 seat vehicles to go shopping in". They took that as being sexist to their position as a mother. The person stating it meant it in the manner of any parent, not just a mother. Thus, it was not sexist.

Is there a word or phrase for this kind of perceived but not present sexism/racism?

(* if you're not familiar this is an extra large parking bay near the shops so as allow Parents with Children more room to load/unload said children.)

NB: You may be tempted to disagree with the assumption/statement that this is not sexist. You could very well be correct but this is not the place to argue such so please don't. I was neither participant so please don't make assumptions about my own attitude.


texts: Difference between "architecture" and "structure" in the context of software

texts: In the software industry, we call a step to building a software "architecture". I always take "architecture" as "structure". So for me, software architecture = software structure. Is that right?


texts: "But most importantly, your philosophy is what is the most appealing to me." How do I avoid the repetition of "most"?

texts:
But most importantly, your philosophy of XXX is what is the most appealing to me.

I am doing some formal writing. I need to express both the meaning of "most importantly" and "most appealing" in this sentence, but I cannot find a way to avoid this repetition of "most".

Any help is appreciated.


texts: Why does "blue blazes" specify the color blue, and what is the origin of this expression as an intensifier/euphemism?

texts:
A recent question posted on English Language & Usage (What does "blazes" mean in "Stay the blazes home!") asks where "blazes" originated as an intensifier. In attempting to answer that question, I found instances of "hot as blazes" going back to 1823. But it occurred to me today that the expression "blue blazes" might be related to the emergence of "hot as blazes"—and this in turn led me to wonder where "blue blazes" came from.

Robert Chapaman & Barbara Kipfer, Dictionary of American Slang, third edition (1995) suggests that the term alludes to a chemical phenomenon:

  blue blazes early 1800s 1 n phr Hell: What in blue blazes are you up to? 2 adv phr Like hell: ... lying blue blazes—Ken Kesey {fr the sulfurous blue blazes of Hell, an extreme environment}

The Wikipedia article on sulfur confirms the flame color:

  Sulfur burns with a blue flame with formation of sulfur dioxide, which has a suffocating and irritating odor.

But is that the original rationale for "blue blazes"? Also, when and where did the earliest recorded instances of "blue blazes" and "blue blazes of hell" occur?


texts: Is "in joint work with X, we did ..." or "in joint work with X, I did..."?

texts:
I don't know which variant is correct:

  (I did this and that... and later on,) in joint work with Mrs. XY, we wrote ...
  (I did this and that... and later on,) in joint work with Mrs. XY, I wrote ...

Somehow the subject can either be we or I, even though the action was performed by Mrs. XY and myself.

I want to express no hierarchy, no tone that accidentally implies that we contributed in different amounts. Then I would choose (1). But, on the other hand, (1) could sound redundant, since "joint work" is then superfluous if one uses the plural form, and this makes me think that (2) might be an option.

Is any of the variants correct? Or are both correct but they convey a different intention?

EDIT: A key fact is that only two persons collaborated.


texts:
I am reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. When Eliza realizes she and her son will be split up by a business deal, she runs away with him during the night. In the ensuing commotion the next morning, a boy named Andy says to a man named Sam,

  "Why, you don't know, I s'pose, that Lizy's cut stick [emphasis added], and clared out, with her young un?"

In the source above the annotation to this quote cites "to cut stick" as meaning to make off, a term that can mean to depart in haste. Further, other sources offer the following definition for "to cut stick":

  to make off clandestinely or precipitately

I have my suspicions of etymology, the most defensible being that "to cut stick" has to do with making some piece of a runaway's paraphernalia, such as a bindle or walking staff. But I have been unable to find any sources to corroborate or contradict this possibility.

Do any formal sources shed light on how to cut stick is related to running away secretly and quickly?

Edit: After some more research, I think I may have come up with a more defensible suggestion. It may be that the idiom is similar to cut class, which has no physical imagery (i.e., the students are not literally cutting anything). A direct analogy with cut class seems unlikely, given the definitions I've found of stick, since the use of stick most likely to mean location or event is the pluralized form sticks (definition 14)

  sticks Informal

  A remote area; backwoods: moved to the sticks.
  A city or town regarded as dull or unsophisticated.

But stick can mean "a threatened penalty" by definition 12. It may be that the phrase to cut stick implies running away from a punishment, hence the haste and secrecy. But this seems like a reach because none of the definitions I found of to cut stick explicitly mention punishment.


texts: What is a good alternative for “stand in”?

texts:
I'm writing a sentence that currently reads: The question "What do you do" can be a proxy for a person's value.

I'm sure that proxy doesn't fit but I'm trying to find a way to say that a person's position is wrongfully used as a way to confer value.


texts: Is there such a term as "modern street food era"?

texts: I wonder if there is such a word as "modern street food era"? I do realize that street food was popular in ancient Rome and in Medieval Times, but can we just add the adjective "modern" to refer to our days when street food is so very popular?


texts: Can 'to be gone' be used in this sentence?

texts:
I am translating a text, and I am not sure whether I can use 'to be gone' in this sentence meaning 'not left', 'there weren't any of those items left', 'they run out of those things'?
Is there a better way to say it?

At 11 am, all cooked food, a large part of cold snacks and water, milk, plates, glasses were gone.


texts: Literary term for referring to a future event in the story line

texts:
Is there a literary term for when an author refers to something that is going to happen later?

I am referring to two usages of this technique.

The first is when an author says "as will be explained later" or some variation there-of.

The second, which I am more interested in, is when the author says "before XYZ changed all of that" when XYZ is something that happens later in the story.

An example of the second usage is in Genesis 13:10, which refers to the destruction of Sodom before it occurs.


texts:
What do you call somebody who asks a question and somebody who answers a question?

I have exhausted the thesaurus with no real luck... any ideas?

EDIT: It is in reference to this - or any other StackExchange - site in which the question is posed by X and answer is submitted by Y.

EDIT 2: In the context of StackExchange, and the fact I need plurality (something I neglected to mention oooops), I have decided upon "Posters" and "Respondents"...


texts: Having a laptop connected to the electrical socket

texts:
While asking a laptop related question over on Superuser, I wrote down a list of things I did trying to fix the problem.

One of the list items was that I tried running the laptop powered by its internal battery, and from an electrical outlet.

I used

  Running the laptop both off the battery and off the electrical socket

but especially the latter part doesn't feel natural to me. Is there a more elegant, colloquial way to express both modes of operation?


texts: I'm not English. What I want to know is whether 'appeasement' is generally felt negatively by British people. Thanks


texts: Silent consonants in words like lawn, dawn

texts:
Is it w or wn?I have no idea,kindly help me out?
What about in words like rogue,does ue or u count as silent consonants although they are clearly vowels?


texts:
Yesterday, one of my friend updated his status Eating lunch at a hotel.
I thought that Having lunch at a hotel is correct.

So, I did a quick search on Google and got mixed responses.
Google fetched about 15,90,00,000 results for eat lunch. While, for have lunch, it fetched around 42,50,00,000 results.
From these results, it is sure that both are used. But, Is it correct?
Can one eat lunch? Because, lunch is not food itself, one cannot eat it.


texts: I am using the words pro bono in a letter addressed to my line manager using MS Word. My query is: does pro bono needs to be typed using italics format?


texts: What is a word that means "unwilling to learn"?

texts: I train people in software and sometimes the students are resistant or unwilling to learn. I would like to know if there is a word to describe these people.


texts: Idiom/expression that means "to suddenly tell some news" to someone?

texts:
These were the first ones that popped up in my mind (disclaimer: I'm not a native English speaker):

He threw me the news a month ago.
He flung the news at me a month ago.
He dropped the news on me a month ago.

Thy don't appear on Google, so I suspect they are not grammatical or idiomatic. But I'm looking something along the lines. Any suggestions?


texts: First conditional only for future tense?

texts: Is the first conditional used  only for the future, or can it also be used for present tense? Could you please give some examples?


texts: The author writes that he “couldn't understand why..." — a comma needed before the quote?

texts:
Usually, if I am writing that a person said something, I would precede the quoted text with a comma, like this:

  Then he said, "I don't know why it happened."

However, in this sentence, an editor told me the comma after "he" wasn't necessary:

  The author writes, and I'm quoting his words exactly, that he,
  “couldn't understand why it happened."

Which would make it read like so:

  The author writes, and I'm quoting his words exactly, that he
  “couldn't understand why it happened."

I tried to look up the rules that cover this, but I'm still not clear if it's a matter of one version being more correct or not, or just a style preference. I fear it might be the kind of thing that pedants and would-be editors will complain about no matter which way I go.

Is either more definitively correct? If both are acceptable, is there a compelling reason I should choose one over the other?


texts:
Some political policies, such as a sugar-tax, can be described as 'paternalistic' meaning that they treat the population as children and the government as a parent that 'knows what's best for them'.
Note that this term isn't necessarily disparaging. I personally would describe a sugar tax as a paternalistic policy, and I also support them.
But paternal typically relates to 'being a father' rather than 'being a parent/being a caregiver'.
Is there an alternative word that means the same thing in a political context?
There is 'nanny-state', but this is typically always used to disparage such a policy, I'm looking for an objective, neutral term.


texts: Is 'empty chair', when used as a verb, literal or metaphorical?

texts:
The latest verb to have become all the rage in Britain is to empty chair.

It arises from the failure of the political parties, so far, to reach agreement with the broadcasters on the structure of the political TV debates, which will precede the General Election on 7th May.

The Prime Minister has made an offer to participate in one debate only, together with the leaders of at least six other parties. The main Opposition want there to be more debates and especially 'head-to-head' debates between the PM and the Leader of the Opposition.

There exists a vague threat which politicians are playing upon, that if Mr Cameron does not attend the debates, that he will be empty-chaired.

Does this mean that they will actually provide a chair for him to sit on and leave it empty during the course of the debates, thereby drawing attention to the fact that he has not chosen to participate. Or is the term empty chair being used metaphorically?

Has the verb  to empty chair been used elsewhere, e.g. in the USA, in such circumstances?


texts: An expression to define that "very little span of time"

texts: I am referring to the context where you miss or don't miss  something by a very short time, like when you miss or succeed in taking a train or a flight by just a few minutes or even a few seconds. What are the common expressions  or sayings that can be used in such cases?


texts: Definite or indefinite article in "the/a devil's advocate"

texts:
I can't quite figure out which of the following expressions is more correct:

He is the devil's advocate.
He is a devil's advocate.
He is playing devil's advocate.

The combination of an article with the possessive is what confuses me. Exactly which word(s) does the article apply to?

The first form seems to suggest either that he is an advocate of The Devil -- namely, Satan himself -- or even worse, that he is The Advocate of The Devil. (Kill him with fire!)

The second form seems to suggest that he is an advocate of a devil (but not necessarily of The Devil, nor the only advocate out there.) This seems to fit better with the way this idiom is commonly used, but I haven't seen this idiom used very often with the indefinite article. It's usually used with the definite article.

The third form suggests that he is playing a role named "devil's advocate", with no article attached to it.

Similar examples: The King's speech, the Indian's prayer, the mother's room, etc.


texts: Which is commoner here: Past Simple or Past Perfect?

texts:
For a native speaker of English, which construction is commoner ?

1- The interviewer asked me which university l went to.

2- The interviewer asked me which university l had been to.

Thanks.


texts:
In general, I'm aware that the term "to carry a spear" or "to be a spear carrier" means to be involved in a play or movie, usually in a role that is meaningless or small.

Here's the wiki article and the tvtropes article.

Is there any record of when we started using the term for actors that weren't literally carrying spears, but were in small roles?  Has the usage of the term increased or decreased over time?


texts: Is there an adjective describing that a word is in between "..."?

texts:
Lets say I want to tell someone

  just spell the word within the "...".

is there an adjective so I can say

  Just spell the ... word

?


texts: Is it bad to write "the rest of the gang"?

texts:
One person proposed something, then I told him my personal opinion. The I told him "...but I still need to discuss this issue with the rest of the gang". I mean my colleague and superiors.

Is this bad?


texts:
I sent an email to my manager with the information he asked and he responded back that "Thank you for the details and hope you are well".

Should I respond back that "I'm doing good and thank you for asking " or is it not needed?
I am just confused that "Hope all is well" is just an ending note or a question?

P.S- I donot get to meet my team/manager very often.


texts:
This is a summary of an error message. The author is trying to convey the meaning that something went wrong while trying to log in using a specific account.

Is this phrase, not sure it is a sentence, grammatically correct? If not, why not? If yes, how can it be improved? It does sound a bit awkward.


texts: Why "sovereignty" instead of "sovereignity"?

texts:
The common form of forming noun from some adjectives is to add the suffix "-ity" as in "verbose" -> "verbosity", "national" -> "nationality".

But why does "sovereign" becomes "sovereignty" instead of "sovereignity"? Is there some sort of etymological reason for this? And is this word the only one with this behavior?


texts:
When you hold something using pliers, do you call it holding with pliers, between pliers, by pliers or in pliers?
Context - "When I am heating a needle held ________ the pliers to poke holes in plastic, ..."


texts:
I have been stumbling with this phrase for a few days now. I read a book the other day called "Do More Faster". The title comes from a slogan about startups getting more work done than their competition, and getting work done faster.

However, to me the sentence sounds like it is talking about making the "more" faster instead of making the "do" both more and faster. The way I would write the phase would be to add a comma after more: "Do More, Faster".

Which Is Correct: "Do More Faster" or "Do More, Faster"?


texts:
Their style favors texture and timbre over more familiar and comforting musical elements; there is no beat, melody, or rhythm – only techno-cacophony.

Can I switch the dash for a colon, like this?

Their style favors texture and timbre over more familiar and comforting musical elements; there is no beat, melody, or rhythm: only techno-cacophony.


texts: What is a better way to say "computer person with a lot of experience in multiple parts of computer-related areas"?

texts:
I am trying to create a concise 'title' for my experience working in the computer field.

I have experience in multiple programming languages and multiple roles (manager, technician, programmer) and multiple applications (most mainframe based) and I have been at this for quite some time. But all I can come up with is this:

  Well rounded computer systems specialist

Any other ideas?


texts: A question concerning the use of "as" as conjunction

texts:
It was as you said.

When I first heard it, I was almost certain that it is grammatically wrong. But when I searched Google, I realized it is used frequently (at least according to the book section).

"As you said" is a dependent clause that needs an independent clause, for "as" in that case is used as a subordinating conjunction. I just do not understand how that subordinating conjunction can be used WITHIN an independent clause. Also, I think that "as you said" is working as a predicative adjective phrase (though it is a clause) and this doesn't make any sense to me.

Is the usage wrong, or am I wrong? And if I am, why?

Edit:

Well, subordinating conjunction CAN BE used in an independent clause. However, that's only when the subordinate clause introduced by a subordinating conjunction is a noun clause.

Ex: The reason is that I was sick yesterday.

You cannot say the reason is because I was sick yesterday. "Because I was sick yesterday" is not a noun clause.


texts: Is there a name for a rhyme scheme where the rhyming words have conflicting/twisted meaning?

texts:
I'm trying to analyse the Ballad of Serenity Valley which is the theme song for the tv series Firefly:

  take my love
  take my land
  take me where I cannot stand
  I don't care
  I'm still free
  you can't take the sky from me

My interpretation relies on the meaning of 'take' in the second line, being different from the third line, which are a rhyming pair.

Is there a name for this scheme or pattern?


texts: have i correctly identified the appositive phrase

texts:
She is thrilled to use her writing talents to support her favorite causes, education being chief among them all.

Is the italic part an appositive phrase?

Also, will it be equally fine to use 'with' before education?

She is thrilled to use her writing talents to support her favorite causes, with education being chief among them all.

Thanks.


texts:
In British English, it is common to use "Yours Sincerely", but in American English, "Sincerely".

In valediction, the meaning is not the key, but what is common in a writing style. What about using "Yours", is it odd?


texts:
To decry means

  Publicly denounce.

To call (someone) out means, especially in American English

  Draw critical attention to someone's unacceptable actions or
  behaviour.

As far as I am concerned, these two verbs are, based on these dictionary entries, synonymous with each other.

Is my interpretation correct?


texts: I guess "chapati" is foreign word and should be italicized in a text. But what about plural? The foreign word is actually chapati, and the plural is made using the English "s" (even if, maybe, chapati is like "bread", singular). What's correct?


texts: Stressing innovative studies has or have had?

texts: I am unsure whether the sentence would make grammatical sense as has or have had. Is this sentence fragment considered singular or plural? Is stressing a gerund that makes it singular? Because innovative studies is plural, so I assumed that this sentence was plural and I needed the use of have had.


texts: How can I say "Do something in exchange" in a different way?

texts:
I'd like to know alternative ways to say: "Do something in exchange" when someone helps me. If possible can you guys give me three or more examples?

For example,

  "Thanks for helping, what can I do in exchange?"

Could I say "Do something back" (I don't know if it's grammatically right) to show my appreciation.

Thanks in advance.


texts: What does "I’ve had a little bit too much" mean?

texts:
I don't understand this sentence:

  I’ve had a little bit too much.

What does it mean?

PS. My native language is Ukrainian (Russian)


texts: How to use "in respective of" and how does it compare to "in terms of"?

texts:
How to use the expression "in respective of" and how does it compare to "in terms of"?

What is their appropriate usage?


texts: Is it "bear the shame" or "bare the shame"?

texts:
Google returns results for both variations of this common phrase.

bear the shame
bare the shame

What is the meaning of this phrase, and which one is correct?  Is the speaker carrying their shame or are they exposing it?  Or is this just a case of two separate meanings?


texts: Better term to put on a label of a bottle of milk to describe that it's 'made' in a particular geographic location

texts:
While waiting for the kettle to boil this morning, I was idling and reading the label on the bottle of milk and was struck by the declaration: "Permeate free, made in WA". Here's a shot of the label for proper context:

It's clear that they want to state that the milk is produced in this state, but it sounds odd to me to say that milk is made — I've always associated that with products that require at least a nominal amount of manufacturing/processing (e.g. butter, cream, yoghurt).

For the raw produce though, I can't really recall anything using made but more specific terms like grown, harvested, farmed, raised, etc.

So in this context, does anyone has a suggestion what might be a more descriptive, or more appropriate word? The best I can come up with is milked but that sounds awfully clumsy.

Alternatively, if people have milk bottles from their side of the world that say something similar, then it could just be me that thinks it's a bit clunky.


texts: Is there a suitable antonym for 'Achilles heel'?

texts:
I'm trying to juxtapose antonyms in a effort to describe something.

The first draft of an excerpt reads something like this:

  I will tell of their triumphs and downfalls...

I would like to communicate a slightly more antiquated feel, however.

So I began to revise it:

  I will tell of their Achilles heel, and ___ .

And that's where I became stuck.

I definitely want to use 'Achilles heel', and I like the antiquated and archaic tone that it implies. The issue is that I'm having trouble finding a suitable opposing idiom.

I would like something that mirrors the triumphs/downfalls relationship, but matches the tone I'm trying to achieve with 'Achilles heel'.

Is there such a phrase that I can use?

Edit: I seem to have done a poor job of explaining the comparison I was trying to achieve.

A better way to describe it is that because I perceive 'Achilles heel' as connoting the subject's fatal flaw, I would like to find an antonym that describes or expresses my subject's contrasting unique advantage, ability or power.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to write "forgive my being late to this discussion" as an alternative to "sorry that I'm late to this discussion"?


texts:
It had been him and Nina that had decided years ago. Now it was her who had to clean up their mess.

or

  It had been he and Nina that had decided years ago. Now it was she who had to clean up their mess.

Which is correct


texts:
I've just started to translate BLOOD by Maggie Gee into my native language (Vietnamese). In the very first paragraphs of the book, I came across a difficult line, which reads

Dad is dead, and I’ve never liked him. Yes, it’s true, I was heard ‘making threats’

I am confused as to what it means in English the phrase I was heard ‘making threats’

Does anybody know? Any help would be appreciated.


texts:
Every spell checker I have, both ones that automatically spell check and those run after finishing a document or draft, seems to consider the word unironically to be incorrect. I have heard the word used in conversation plenty, and have seen it written or typed on at least several occasions that I recall immediately. Also, it feels natural to use it in a sentence, and its meaning appears relatively obvious at least as far as I'm concerned.

I looked it up online to find out that: at the very least, Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster consider it to be a valid word. I've also discovered that my spell checkers are bothered by the word unironic, but not of course by the word ironic. I feel fairly confident that unironic must be a word... However, it's also completely possible I'm simply mistaken.

So, what's the verdict English Language Stack Exchange Community? Is it a word that is just being incorrectly flagged, or is it commonly used but not technically valid?


texts: What is the origin of the colloquial term "bum" meaning a homeless person?

texts:
Just out of curiosity, I was wondering about the history of the term "bum" meaning a homeless person, not the UK version referring to someone's posterior.

Bonus: If you know the background on "Hobo" that would be interesting too, and does it have any relation to the town Hoboken, New Jersey?


texts: in this phrase (They are going to call him John - after John, his grandfather). what is meant by (after John,)?


texts:
There is a task from a textbook to choose the correct alternative in this sentence:

  Does a great deal/considerably wider accessibility inevitably mean a decline in the quest for serious reflection and deeper understanding?"

I know that the correct answer is considerably, but I have no idea what's wrong with a great deal. And not even sure it actually is wrong.

Attached grammar gives the following information:

  We can use the following words to intensify and modify comparatives:

  considerably/far/much/a lot/a great deal more/less interesting than

I've checked internet, different dictionaries and grammars, but still don't know why a great deal is inappropriate in this case. I've also asked few native speakers and they confirmed that a great deal actually seems to be inappropriate.

So could anyone, please, explain to me why considerably is better in this case?


texts:
It is 10 cm on the map. That is 100 km in real terms.

I am proofreading and it seems odd that the writer always uses that in these cases.
I would have said this.

Who is right and who is wrong?


texts: Are there figurative or idiomatic English expressions to mean hindering a person in achieving work / attempt?

texts:
When I said “Don’t pull my legs,” in English as a literal translation of Japanese idiom, “足を引っ張る-ashi o hipparu - pull one’s leg” meaning “trip a person up with a mistake” to my English enthusiast friend who pointed out my misspoken words in English Speaking Society, she retorted me that “Pull one’s leg” in English has totally different meaning from Japanese “pull one’s leg.” It means to play a joke on a person.”

I consulted a digital English Japanese dictionary on the spot. She was right.

“足を引っ張る- pull one’s leg” is very popular Japanese idiom that is used when somebody is nitpicking your error or misstatement. And I think it came from an analogy of pulling somebody down who’s trying to climb up the ladder of success by his / her legs.

Are there English idioms or figurative expressions equivalent to Japanese “Ashi o hipparu –pull somebody down by his / her legs from the ladder of success / achieving goal, by exposing or making most of his / her mistakes / fault / shortcomings?


texts: Is there a word or phrase to describe unnecessary details?

texts:
Preferably in a more idiomatic kind of way.

I was thinking 'chaff', as in 'to separate the wheat from the chaff' (to separate the important details from the unnecessary ones), but am I right in thinking that that's used more in terms of people?


texts: Adjective to describe how *you* feel when something is bittersweet

texts:
Here's what bittersweet means and how to use it (dictionary.com):

  both pleasant and painful or regretful: a bittersweet memory.

  pleasure mingled with pain or regret: the bittersweet of parting.

I'm looking for an adjective to describe how you feel when something is bittersweet.  For example, suppose you are happy to be graduating but sad about moving and closing an intense chapter of your life. You feel sad and happy at the same time.

Sample sentence:

  It was such an intense afternoon.  I was feeling so ________ .  I don't think I can handle another good-bye right now.


texts:
I'm Egyptian and I want to learn English for 3 months. What advice do you have for me?
I'm free for 3 months.
What is the solution?

Thank you.


texts: I am looking for a word which describes many in one in classic english. If possible please provide modern word ideas as well.


texts:
Some people told me that metaphor is a type of analogy. If so, is it too general if I consider a technique as an analogy at school when I have to find techniques and analyse them (provide names of the techniques, examples and effects)? Should I just consider an analogy as either a metaphor or simile or some other specific techniques (other types of analogy that I still don't know)?
Thank you so much!


texts: What is the name of the tree mentioned in this video?

texts:
Listening to this video for about 5 seconds (it should start playing at the right time):

https://youtu.be/5tuJvei2Uw8?t=12m5s

I can understand:

  He's ordered a magnificent piece of ____; the ideal wood for bow making.

Could someone tell me what is the name of the tree/wood mentioned there?


texts: Word that refers to efforts by people of all religions to develop closer relationships and better understandings

texts:
I am looking for a word like ecumenical:

  Ecumenism refers to efforts by Christians of different Church traditions to develop closer relationships and better understandings. Wikipedia

What I want is a word that means the same but encompasses all world religions instead of just Christian denominations.

I am convinced that the lack of such a word is at the root of so much of the world's conflict.  I expect I will have to coin a word which facilitates cooperation among the world's religions thus modeling the target behavior for their adherents.

I found: latitudinarian

  : not insisting on strict conformity to a particular doctrine or standard : tolerant; specifically : tolerant of variations in religious opinion or doctrine Merriam-Webster

Tolerant is not sufficient.  I want a word that connotes active engagement.


texts: What does it mean "Do not mistake my silence for a lack of grief"

texts: I tried hard to fond the meaning of this quotation but failed. Can somebody described it? Quote doesn't make sense to me


texts: How to rephrase 'questions that concern me'

texts:
I'm wondering how is the following statement could be improved and used in formal English:

I've added some questions that concern me.
I've added some questions I'm worried about.
I've added some questions which I'd like you to take into account.

Any suggestions?


texts: Does "expire" have to be followed by "on"?

texts:
I found this on someone's resume:

  expires 12/10/2017

Is this correct or should it be

  expires on 12/10/2017

If it makes any difference, this resume is from someone in Australia.


texts: Word for seeing both sides of an argument

texts:
This feeling can often be paralyzing in that you see valid points on either side; makes you not able to choose a side.

Seeing can also be understanding, supporting, taking active part in.

I'm looking for words that don't imply a "Janus"/traitor tone or the ambivalence tone, but the (property of the) process that precedes the paralyzing feeling and whose property is more reminiscent of walking a mile in another man's shoes.

Tag says single-word but multi-word adjectives can be okay. I usually shy away from just adding -y to make adjectives.

Sorry for the vague wording, I'll happily take suggestions on how to word this better. Thanks! :)

Usage:
"And above all, I hope __ will become the preferred method to prepare for debate, to: ..."

It's a two-sided process of analysis involving attacks and reconciliations of attacks.

I was hoping for an established academic term for this, but perhaps none exist. I will embrace an inventive new word for this! This is a paper for peer review, so the meaning should be apparent to academics.


texts:
I asked my friend who moved recently to Texas: "How's living there? A lot of Tacos, huh?"

She replied back: "Lol. Pretty much. Leaves scope for the imagination".

I know what scope means in dictionary, like "scope of work", but in this context I couldn't get it.


texts: Should you use "who" or "that" when talking about multiple people doing something?

texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  There were 10 people that went to the store.
  There were 10 people who went to the store.

Edit:

Which of the following is correct?

  There were 10 people that had brown hair.
  There were 10 people who had brown hair.


texts:
I'm really unsure how this type of sentence is categorised. My inclination is to replace the comma with 'that'. It certainly feels and looks like a comma splice to me.

The pigs are so confident in their control, they feel as if they don't need to justify their actions.


texts: "I have chosen," "I choose," or "I am choosing"?

texts:
In a week time I'm taking an exam. I want to know whether I can say 'I have chosen' or not. It is present perfect too.

The task is:

  You would like to go on a party. Look at the picture and decide which outfit would suit you best. Justify your opinion.

The problem is that English is not my native language, and my teacher said that "I have chosen is wrong," but (as far as I know) it also indicates finished action: "I have just done my homework, I have already seen the film." Why is it wrong then if it is at all? Other options have been suggested, e.g. I am choosing, I chose, or I choose.

Anyway, I'm not convinced, as they all refer to different tenses. Why would I've chosen be wrong?


texts:
When should one use "the" when referring to a language and when is just the noun appropriate?

e.g. At the end of a quote one may see "Translated from the German."
What about, "Joe translated the article from [the?] German."?

But we would also say: "Mike is fluent in Mandarin" not "Joe is fluent in the Mandarin".


texts: What is a word for 'the one thing' that you don't want someone to do?

texts: It's really hard to explain it, I remember someone using the word and then telling me what it meant about 2 years ago. I think the context that they used it in was in their relationship and their partner didn't want to be constantly asking for them to change, but they had the one thing that they didn't want him to do and it was to be friends with this other girl. I think they used the word like this: 'It was her [...], she didn't want me to be friends with blah blah'. The only way I can really think to explain the word is that I think it is sort of similar to 'one-off' but more specifically being about a specific one off that can't happen, almost like a request. The one thing that you don't want to happen or someone to do. Sorry, this explanation has been really bad. Thanks for your time.


texts: What is the synonym of "pixel pusher" for programmers?

texts:
"Pixel pusher" is the ironic expression denominating graphical designers (see this article).

What would be the similar expression for programmers?

I would like to emphasize the user interface aspect. I am thinking about the equivalent to the Russian expression "клепатель формочек", which can be loosely translated as "the person who makes GUI forms".


texts:
Is there a verb to the word science? Could you say sciencing (i.e. "in the Process of making/generating science")?

Of course there is the word research, which is both a verb and a noun. But in the noun form, "research" and "science" seem to differ a bit if you ask me.


texts:
Our espousal of modern learning mediums is an insignia of our
  progressive thinking.

Have i used the word 'insignia' correctly? What I want to convey is the fact that our acceptance of modern learning channels over the conventional mediums is a sign that effectively represents our progressive thinking and our ability to adapt to and accept change.


texts: Is there any difference between "has gone" and "went" in this context?

texts:
Is there any difference between these two sentences?

  Mirek went to Europe on business.
  Mirek has gone to Europe on business.


texts: What's the correct form of the negative subjunctive?

texts:
It is essential that [some parameter] be not reset during the day. (1)
It is essential that [some parameter] not be reset during the day. (2)

Which one is the correct form? I do know the easy way out, that is:

It is essential that [some parameter] is not reset during the day. (3)

But which is the correct form provided I want to stick with the subjunctive?


texts: Knocked up, two very different meanings. But why and how did the phrase split?

texts:
In American English, "Knocked up" means "pregnant."  I just found out via an article regarding jobs that no longer exist that in British English, they use use the phrase "Knocked up in a completely differnt way.  This due to the job of knocker-uppers being the tapping or knocking on windows to awaken people in the days before alarm clocks.  From "Knocked up" to mean "woken up", it appears that the meanings split somewhere between the 1920s and the 1940s.

Does anyone know the history of how the meanings split and exactly why and how it happened?


texts:
I'm looking for a phrase or an idiom to describe one's deep-seated passion for something, such as archaeology, Renaissance art, organized charity, Greenpeace, or similar to the following

Whatever makes you tick:
something that motivates someone; something that makes someone behave in a certain way (TFD)

E.g.,

Sailing and seamanship are _____________ for Bob.

Bob's _________ are sailing and seamanship.


texts: "Ask ourselves what is it that..." or "Ask ourselves what it is that..."

texts:
This is from an article about setting goals: 'We need to ask ourselves what is it that we want in order to feel truly accomplished.'

Compared with 'We need to ask ourselves what it is that we want in order to feel truly accomplished', which sentence sounds more natural? Are they both grammatically correct?


texts: Why is it "Anybody have...?" instead of "Anybody has...?" here?

texts:
See the text below:

  Let's hear it for Apple's very first touchscreen device, the Newton
  MessagePad. Anybody have one of these?

Notice the last sentence in the above snippet. Shouldn't it read "Anybody has one of these?" instead? Anybody is singular so using have there seems a tad out of place. Is it a colloquialism? Or just incorrect grammar?

To give you a bit of context, the text is from a MacLife magazine article about the history of Apple devices, recently shared on Facebook.


texts:
Why is holism named after some kind of nothing (a hole) and not after the whole, i.e. wholism?

That's the catchy way to ask the question. The serious way is: Does the "hole" have to do with the "whole" etymologically?

(Pun: A howl sounds best in a hole.)


texts: Can anyone explain please why we look at something but listen to it?


texts: Punctuating a phrase leading up to a question

texts:
In formal writing (like a technical paper), is there a generally accepted way to punctuate the break between an introductory phrase and a question in a sentence like this?

  Let's ask ourselves (--insert punctuation here--) what would a world without computers look like?

I know that you could reword it to avoid the direct question, but that's not what I'm asking about.

A few possibilities occurred to me:

  Let's ask ourselves: what would a world without computers look like?
  Let's ask ourselves - what would a world without computers look like?
  Let's ask ourselves... what would a world without computers look like?
  Let's ask ourselves, what would a world without computers look like?
  Let's ask ourselves, "What would a world without computers look like?"

Which would be the best to use and why?


texts: I'm looking for the possessive of 'boss'

texts: What is the possessive of boss; ie, how do you describe the son of the boss?


texts: Would you say "not of been" or "not have been"

texts:
I have just wrote out a sentence that ended, "this would not of been possible." but the more I look at it, the more it looks wrong.

Would the correct saying be, "this would not have been possible."?

Or do both apply?


texts: Is it correct to say that this element is both part of the predicate and is a complex subject?

texts:
"He was seen running down the street."
Is it correct to say that "running down the street" fulfills the predicate while also being part of the subject, a complex subject?


texts: Looking for a word - thing that wastes a lot of time

texts: I am looking for a words for a thing in which you invest a lot of time but don't gain anything. For example using whatsapp.


texts: Differences between "however", "although","albeit", etc

texts: What are the differences between albeit, although, howbeit, however, and though?


texts: What is wrong with saying hope you have a nice day? In the English language is it considerd rude in anyway? Please tell me your thoughts

texts:
Someone I know had told me hi hope you have a nice day then. quite talking
Rude, or not rude?


texts: How to use the term "carbon copy" in business emails?

texts:
How does one use the term "carbon copy" in an email setting?
Some options that come to mind are:

In carbon copy is my manager.
I'm leaving my manager in carbon copy.
My manager is in carbon copy.

Alas, none of these feel right to me.
What's the proper way of using this term to convey the idea that someone's email address is in the box named "Cc"?