texts: I need to know specific keyword who describes all room related services

texts: Could anyone help me to find out specific keyword for all room related services like light facilities, water facilities, gas facilities and many more.


texts: Which is proper use of "me or I" at end of sentence?

texts:
Sample sentence:

There's not a dad in the world who compares to you, and there's not a daughter in the universe who's more grateful than (me or I).


texts: Does "ducking" have anything to do with a canard?

texts:
Wiktionary has a passage explaining (no citation) an origin to the use of the word canard as a means of diverting aggression from vulnerability:

  Specifically, the term Canard refers to a tactic used by a parent duck to deceptively draw a predator away from its offspring or nest by quacking and feigning a broken wing

For canard, Dictionary.com offers "from French: a duck, hoax, from Old French caner to quack, of imitative origin". The passage on 'duck' (as a verb) is less explanatory and offers only the definition, however the Online Etymology Dictionary reads:

  "to plunge into" (trans.), c.1300; to suddenly go under water (intrans.), mid-14c., from presumed O.E. *ducan "to duck," found only in derivative duce (n.) "duck" (but there are cognate words in other Germanic languages, cf. O.H.G. tuhhan "to dip," Ger. tauchen "to dive," O.Fris. duka, M.Du. duken "to dip, dive," Du. duiken), from P.Gmc. *dukjan. Sense of "bend, stoop quickly" is first recorded in English 1520s. Related: Ducked; ducking. The noun is attested from 1550s in the sense of "quick stoop;" meaning "a plunge, dip" is from 1843

So when it comes to 'ducking the truth' or posing a canard in an argument (or resorting to trickery, deception, lying), are these two words only related by coincidence or did something give rise to their linked usage?


texts: Is this sentence correct: ''my father is my favorite personality.''

texts:
In the Indian subcontinent, we're accustomed to saying sentences like:

Who is your favorite personality?
My father is my favorite personality.
You are a dynamic personality.
You are a great personality.
He was a dynamic personality in the business world.
Abraham Lincoln is my favorite personality.

But I believe, the correct versions would be:

Who is your favorite person?
My father is my favorite person.
You have a dynamic personality.
You are a great personality.
He has a dynamic personality in the business world.
Abraham Lincoln is my favorite political personality.

Please help me with your thoughts and explanations. Thank you.


texts: Is the definite article needed in “(the) reports of animal abuse”?

texts: Reports of animal abuse are increasing. ( or) the reports of animal abuse increasing.  Which one is correct with 'the' or without 'the'


texts: Is "independent minded woman" a set phrase?

texts:
Is the phrase "independent minded woman" a set phrase which is used very frequently compared to an independent minded man or an independent minded person? If so, why?

I tried using Google ngrams, but the values were very low, possibly because of hyphenation issues.


texts: Does the Oxford comma apply to ampersands?

texts:
I came across this text on a shoe description:

Durable but light, & flexible enough to move with the foot.

I am well aware of the Oxford Comma, so the text would use durable but light, and flexible enough... if it was using and. However, does it also apply to the ampersand & in the referenced text?


texts: Do English speaking people jeer at big feet?

texts:
(Harry, Ron, and Hermione were walking through woods at night. Then Ron yelled with pain. When Hermione threw the light over him,)

Ron was lying sprawled on the ground.
“Tripped over a tree root,” he said angrily, getting to his feet again.
“Well, with feet that size, hard not to,” said a drawling voice from behind them.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned sharply. Draco Malfoy was standing alone nearby, leaning against a tree, looking utterly relaxed.
(p121, Harry Potter 4, US edition)

As a side note,

Draco Malfoy is on bad terms with them and always makes a fool of them.

Ron is a long and lanky boy. (So it seems that his feet are big.)

In my country, there is a phrase which has such a meaning that a fool has big feet. (Of course, it’s only a phrase, not truth!)
So, without thinking, I felt like taking ‘with feet that size’ as a derisive connotation. However, it suddenly occurred to me that the idea might be unusual in the English speaking world.
Is Draco expressing derisive feeling by referring to the size of feet?
Do English speaking people think the same way as me in terms of big feet?


texts: Is personal pronoun followed with "verb+ing" grammatically correct?

texts:
Is the sentence below correct? What type of pronoun is "You" in this case?
You staring won’t make me walk faster
Below is the result from an online grammar check on the sentence as shown:

Explanation and example sentences:

Your comments?


texts: Position of adverb 'globally' in sentence and meaning of sentence

texts:
Please help me make sense of this sentence with regards to 'globally'.

  In the global arena, xxxxxx has been
  described as the solution to the
  challenges facing the commodities market globally  as a result of the
  market situation caused by the current
  global economic crisis.

Would placing global in front of challenges change the meaning of the sentence?

  In the global arena, xxxxxx has been
  described as the solution to the
  global challenges facing the commodities market as a result of the
  market situation caused by the current
  global economic crisis.

Are there other ways of writing this sentence to make the different meanings clearer?


texts: Phonetic term for switching first two letters in a word

texts:
I read a grammar book a few years ago and remember coming accross a term for switching the first two letters in a word. I cannot for the life of me remember what the term is.

An example would be the name "Leo" being pronounced as "Elo".

I cannot remember if it was specifically involving the letter 'l', but I do know that it is not a spoonerism.

I do not remember it being classified as an impediment, more of a mispronunciation in early speech development since it is common in toddlers' speech.

Any help would be greatly appreciated — it is really bugging me now.


texts:
Is the arrangement of adjective correct in the sentence below?

  The man’s face was in a shade when big kind hands lifted me up and held me.

Also, is the sentence easy to understand? (The man with a face in shade is also the man that lifts the narrator up.)


texts: What do you call a student who always need to volunteer an answer to show off how smart they are?

texts:
I friend of mine, when teachers address questions to the whole class, always need to volunteer an answer to show off how smart they are.

Therefore, I'm looking for a term which define that my friend.

A bit of googling come up with 'suck', but Merriam-Webster doesn't have an entry which matches that description, being the best 'to act in an obsequious manner'.

So, what do you call a person like that student?


texts: Two imperative clauses joined by coordinating conjunction taken as a conditional

texts:
I would be inclined to parse the sentence "Nobody move and nobody get hurt" as two commands:

Nobody move.
Nobody get hurt.

In other words, this is equivalent to "Nobody move or get hurt" (for nitpickers: assume conjunctive/inclusive or). As long as I'm only reading and not in a bank with armed gunmen, in which case I would probably ignore any possible grammatical issues.

This answer suggests that this is equivalent to "Nobody move and nobody gets hurt", which in turn is equivalent to "If nobody moves, nobody will get hurt".

Other sentences with a similar construction that come to mind are "Nobody move and nobody say a word" or "Nobody move and nobody shoot anyone" (vs. "Nobody move and nobody shoots anyone").

Admittedly all these sentences have a very strong contextual inference. In the last example, "Nobody move and nobody shoots anyone" clearly means "if nobody moves, nobody will shoot anyone", while "Nobody move and nobody shoot anyone" should be directed to the ones holding the guns: "Don't move and don't shoot anyone". "Nobody move and nobody shoot anyone" directed at people not able to shoot anyone and having guns pointed at, clearly doesn't mean the latter, however, is it a grammatically correct replacement of "Nobody move and nobody shoots anyone"?

In summary, my question is: can "Nobody move and nobody get hurt" be grammatically taken to mean "If nobody moves then nobody gets hurt" instead of "Nobody move or get hurt". Why or why not?


texts:
Is it correct to say"I had left the place when he arrived"?
And what can be the other possible sentences we can frame referring to the same meaning


texts: What does "being that of" mean in "X being that of Y"?

texts:
I have the sentence below:

  It is clear that four items are responsible for the majority of the global total spending with the most prominent share being that of food.

Please explain "being that of food". Being is shown in dictionary.com as a noun or a conjunction, but neither seems to fit here.


texts: Why do we spell "eureka", not "heureka"?

texts: Why is the spelling "eureka" by far more preferable to "heureka" in English? Greek vocabularies give "heureka" for the perfect to "heurisko".


texts: A phrase, word, or idiom to describe the person who reviews as an outsider

texts:
I am looking for a phrase, word, or idiom to describe my current status in one scenario, which gave me the advantage in spotting a mistake and correcting it. I will give some example other than what we had in real:

I carry out some mathematical calculations spanning into two pages.
I end up with an impossible result, so I go back and check my steps.
I fail to see my own mistake, so I call for help.
Friend who came for help spots the mistake in a matter of seconds, which is immediately obvious to me as soon as it is pointed out.

Assume that my friend is not any more competent in mathematics than I am. The reason why my friend was able to spot the mistake I've made was, however counter-intuitive it is, that he was fresh in dealing with this problem and my mind was uncontrollably taking the shortcuts it had established in re-thinking this exact same problem.

I would use the phrase "foreign eye/perspective" to describe the quality my friend bears which allowed him/her to see what I couldn't. Unfortunately, no such phrase seems to be available in English.

If no such phrase or idiom is available, then the most concise way to put this would also be very appreciated.


texts:
I often utter the phrase 'Man up', or I talk about 'taking it like a man' or earning 'man points' (that last one, not so much, but I hear it still). I don't want to keep doing this, for obvious reasons; It's a bad habit, but I find myself saying it anyway.

Is there a better way of getting across that I'm 'manning up' or I expect someone else to 'man up'? Could I replace 'man' in those phrases with some other word, X and say something like 'Taking it like a(n) X'? Or should I just use a different phrase?


texts: Is a comma required between adjectives repeated for emphasis?

texts:
When repeating an adjective for emphasis, is a comma required between both words?

... somewhere far, far away ...
... a cold, cold day ...

The spell checker on MS Word complains if there isn't one, but I'm not sure if it's correct or just lazily programmed.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How do you handle “that that”? The double “that” problem

I sometimes seem to write myself into using 2 thats in succession, as in:

"Now that that issue has been resolved, we can move forward."

I am pretty sure that this is correct but is it bad form and should it be avoided?


texts: Is "thinks I" in Melville's Moby-Dick used in the sense of "thought I"?

texts:
The following is just one of the examples of thinks I being used by Melville:

When, at last, his mind seemed made up touching the character of his bedfellow, and he became, as it were, reconciled to the fact; he jumped out upon the floor, and by certain signs and sounds gave me to understand that, if it pleased me, he would dress first and then leave me to dress afterwards, leaving the whole apartment to myself. Thinks I, Queequeg, under the circumstances, this is a very civilized overture; but, the truth is, these savages have an innate sense of delicacy, say what you will; it is marvellous how essentially polite they are.

Thinks I occurs thirteen times, whereas thought I occurs thirty seven times in the novel. Methinks the phrase is used by Melville in the meaning of thought I. What puts me in doubt, though, is the lack of definitions of such meaning in dictionaries and the lack of any discussion in the Web, e.g. at ESE. I intend to edit Wiktionary's entry on thinks as soon as I learn from you all..


texts: How to understand "Please be sure to keep me posted as to your graduation date."

texts:
The hr manager emailed me with this sentence "Please be sure to keep me posted as to your graduation date."

what exactly the manage mean? Thanks.


texts: What is another word or phrase for "from ... onward"?

texts:
What is another word or phrase (other than "since") for "from ... onward"?

  From Beethoven onward, composers notated dynamics in a more direct and
  detailed manner.


texts:
Which of the following sentences are correct?

The relation between any two nodes is associated with a real number that indicates the probability.

The relation between two arbitrary nodes is associated with a real number that indicates the probability.

The relation between two nodes is associated with a real number that indicates the probability.


texts: What does the phrase "switched on" mean in this context?

texts:
Recently a colleague of mine said to me that the "Guys who are switched on really annoy me?". Since I am not a native speaker, I do not know what he meant by "switched on". Can you fine folks shed some light on this?

Thanks!


texts: How relevant is the experiential use of the present perfect to the present point of reference?

texts:
Oxford Modern English Grammar underscores the relevance of the action/state in the present perfect to the present point of reference (the moment when you speak of it), which I take as that that action/state is still relevant/important and/or still has effects / impacts / desired/expected (be it implicit or explicit) results on the very current situation.

E.g.:

I have finished the work that I had to do. (I can now take on new
work.)
I have been unwell for the past 6 weeks. (I haven't been productive as an aftereffect.)

Compare the past simple in which the action/state has no relevance to the present moment (over and done with).

E.g.:

I was unwell last week. (I'm totally okay now.)

The book lists such uses of the present perfect as continuative (leading up from the past to the present - thus still somewhat relevant), of the recent past (recent - thus relevant), of result (having identifiable results now - thus relevant). The last use is experiential.

E.g.:

I have toured the Voronezh.
Well, these damn plants have shot up in price so much over the last year or two.
Have you seen it before , Caroline?
Have you ever seen ‘Married with Children’?

The latter three examples can be categorized as continuative as they denote the fact that the "shooting up" and the "seeing" are arguably considered from a present reference point and still relevant at the moment of speaking. But the first example confuses me. In what way would the "touring" be relevant to the present moment? I've also heard similar experiential examples such as "I've been to Canada", "I've been there twice". Shouldn't such experiences be over and done with as they don't really have conceivable effects on the present and may not be recent at all, and therefore be in the past simple?

All examples noted here are from the book.


texts:
I'm writing a proposal and I require a substitute for the words "basic understanding" as I have already used it.
The sentence is:

  "Students who attend this lesson should walk away with ________________ (a basic
  understanding) of...".

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


texts: Girls Dance with Girls, Boys Scratch their Elbows

texts:
I'm Persian. I can't understand what does this sentence mean.
Is there any idiom like "scratching elbows"?
As far as I know, the writer of the book is talking about his memories of middle school dances.

Thanks


texts: Is there a conditional for a possible condition in the past?

texts:
If I look at some table of conditionals, such as one here, all past conditions are considered unreal.

But a past condition easily can be quite possible. For example, when the speaker simply doesn't know what actions were done or how they were done and is speculating about the possible variants.

Imagine the situation: You don't know which way was chosen by your friend, but depending on it, there could be different consequences. And you say something as:

  If she did chose the left way,
      she could have met the wolf and it is because of that she is not here yet.

  But if she did chose the right way,
      she could have met the woodcutter and now she is not here because of him.

Of course, both conditions here are bad, and I do not know how to write them, and the grammatical tables won't help. Really, I am not sure about the second halves, too.

I think, that it should look like the first conditional, only moved to the past, but the logic won't work here...

Disclaimer: Notice, it is not The Past Real Conditional, mentioned here, for

  it describes what you used to do in particular real-life situations.


texts: In the sentence "I have the hiccups", could the "the" article be omitted?

texts:
I work as a tutor for an online English school and one student asked me this:

"In this sentence: I have the hiccups

Could it be: I Have hiccups?"

I have done a lot of research on advanced article usage but I haven't found anything even close to that. I have no idea what to say.

Any help will be appreciated. Especially if you can suggest articles about this subject.

Thanks in advance.

Edit:

It is not a duplicate to a cold vs flu / the flu discussion because talking about having "hiccups" is not the same as talking about having "flu".


texts: Meaning of 'head screwed tightly to one's shoulders'

texts:
I came across a comment on The Economist article about hardships people working on lower wages or living off disability payments face. In one of the comments, one commentator narrates a story of a woman who has worked hard to provide for her daughter's education. The comment says,

  "She supports herself, works steadily, takes no guff and her daughter,
  now eighteen, has a head screwed tightly to her shoulders."

What does the phrase "has a head screwed tightly to her shoulders" mean? I would guess something like "keeping one's head down (because it is screwed to the shoulders) and working through one's problems quietly". Am I right?


texts: What would be the proper abbreviation for an event that has yet occur?

texts:
I am looking for an abbreviation for an event that is expected to occur in the future, but has yet to occur. Similar to TBD for to be determined and TBA for to be announced.

My events are a series of checkpoints and reviews that will occur in the life cycle of a product design at my company.

I am looking for an abbreviation to put into the date field before the actual checkpoint occurs.

UPDATE

To clarify, the term I am looking for is for something that will definitively happen. There is a chart that says things like : Initial review - (date), Secondary review - (date), etc. It is not an event that people will need to know in advance, but more of a this happened on this date kind of thing. I just want something to put in the date field instead of leaving it empty to indicate that it is not yet completed.


texts:
I am writing about the Wright Brothers.  If, later in the document, I shorten it to just "the Brothers", should I still capitalize brothers? It's seems that I should since I'm referring to a very specific pair of individuals, but it looks unusual.
Similar, but not the same as this question.


texts: "I think she is not right" - is this sentence correct?

texts: I know you can say "I don't think she's right" but I was wondering whether there is another way to say that.


texts:
I commonly hear statements like "the largest single contributor to..." and "the single largest factor...". It seems as though "largest single" and "single largest" should have slightly different meanings, possibly that one would indicate a majority while the other a plurality, yet I can't find a clear answer.
Please advise.


texts: A figure of speech as a replacement of 'evidence' or 'proof'

texts:
I'm not sure if it's an idiom, but I think it's like a person's name, that implies 'proof of guilt', or 'evidence to prove one is guilty'. I've heard it on many police shows.
"We have her ______, it's all we need to prove she did it.
It would be a "synonym" for a 'smoking gun'.


texts: Is there any difference between 'represent' and 'represent for'?

texts:
'Marriage represents love'
'Johnny represents for single men everywhere'

When should I use 'represent', and 'represent for'?


texts: Is "equals to," as in "one plus one equals to two," ungrammatical?

texts: I study mathematics alongside many Chinese students. They will often use the phrase "equals to," as in "one plus one equals to two." Is this usage incorrect?


texts: What does "Don't hesitate and call 911" mean?

texts:
Does it mean I should or shouldn't call 911?

Is it an implicit form of speaking?

It's ambiguous.


texts: Acceptability of the phrase "While yet others" in formal English

texts:
Is it acceptable to use the phrase "While yet others" at the start of a sentence in formal English? Are there any alternative phrases that I could use?

To put this into context, I wish to write something along the lines of:

  In certain countries, the debate surrounding austerity versus growth [...]. In others, [...]. While yet others, have decided upon [...].


texts:
'Cold-cock' is defined and attested in OED Online as

  cold-cock  v. (trans.) to knock (a person) unconscious (U.S. slang).
  1927   Amer. Speech 2 351/1   Cold cocked, to be knocked senseless. ‘Tom was cold cocked when that rock hit him.’
  1934   J. T. Farrell Young Manhood (1936) iv. 205   They cold-cocked him, and left him unconscious.

["cold, adj.". OED Online. June 2016. Oxford University Press.  (accessed August 02, 2016).]

An earlier attestation is internally redundant with the OED definition:

(The Topeka state journal. (Topeka, Kan.), 08 May 1919. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.)

Are there earlier examples of this term, 'cold-cock', in use and, if so, what evidence do they provide about its origin and development?

A similar but much earlier phrase, 'knock into a cocked hat', has a marked semantic and lexical relationship to 'cold-cock':

  to knock into a cocked hat. orig. U.S.
  1833   J. K. Paulding Banks of Ohio I. 217,   I told Tom..I'd knock him into a cocked-hat, if he said another word.
  ....
  1888   Pall Mall Gaz. 26 Jan. 9/1   A frigate of the modern type would knock a fort armed with obsolete guns into a cocked hat.
  1965   Listener 26 Aug. 314/3   The splendid earthworks and engineering structures of the railways today..knock the M.1 into a cocked hat.

["cocked hat, n.". OED Online. June 2016. Oxford University Press. (accessed August 02, 2016).]

Do early examples of 'cold-cock' (from 1, above) provide any direct evidence that the earlier phrase, 'knock into a cocked hat', influenced the development of 'cold-cock'?


texts: Do "worn out" and "worn" convey the same meaning?

texts:
I've seen the following sentences in a book.

The brake shoes are worn out.

The tires are worn.

I'm wondering when to use "worn" and when to use "worn out".

Longman Dictionary:

Worn: a worn object is old and damaged, especially because it has been used a lot

Worn out: too old or damaged to be used

It seems that "worn out" and "worn" have the same meaning. Do I need to be careful when using "worn out" and "worn"?


texts: What is one word for truncating a string and adding "..." at the end of it?

texts:
In software apps sometimes a string's length is greater than its container so the string is truncated.

Example:

  "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog"

becomes

  "The quick brown fox jum..."

There is a single word for this but I can't remember it.


texts: Does it sound too redundant to use "Rare anomalies" in a sentence to describe a rare occurance?


texts: Is "the" needed with the word "code" used in a general programming sense?

texts:
Basically, me and my colleagues (not native English speakers) had a discussion on whether we need "the" or not in this sentence:

  Administrative / system passwords shouldn't be used in the code.

I've read this and this, but these posts do not talk about "the" usage with the word. I've also inspected this MS article for occurrences of "code", but they do not necessarily talk about code in general sense.

In the sentence in question the word "code" is used as a programming jargon, so it's uncountable. We talk about coding practice in general (that applies to both, already written code and future coding). So that's a general type of recommendation.

Edit

The situation is that we found some code having this issue. So, this is the reason why we write the recommendation. But we never mention or by other means point to the exact code, we just know it is there. We want to make the recommendation sound like it is also for future coding.

Edit 2

As long as it might have some tint of "locality", as Useless states, this is a reasonable candidate for a universal rule! On this page it can be seen that in some cases the can be used while talking about the general case:

  We also use the definite article:

  • to say something about all the things referred to by a noun:

  The wolf is not really a dangerous animal. (= Wolves are not really dangerous animals)
  The heart pumps blood around the body. (= Hearts pump blood around bodies)

  We use the definite article in this way to talk about musical instruments:

  Joe plays the piano really well. (= Joe can play any piano)
  She is learning the guitar. (= She is learning to play any guitar)

  • to refer to a system or service:

  How long does it take on the train.
  I heard it on the radio.

This is EXACTLY why the question arose at the beginning, as we all agreed that this is a general recommendation for all the cases in the universe.

(Your answers did not touch on this type of "the" usage so far. If you did, this might solve the dilemma. Could it be the case that the examples I've just pasted are only applicable to countable things, therefore, would not apply to "code"?)


texts: Should we worry about what precedes a preposition?

texts:
Should we always worry about what precedes a preposition?

Many times we come across people concerned with what preposition comes after a certain word.

A preposition's raison d'être is qualifying what typically follows it, not add to what precedes it.

The Oxford Dict.:

  a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, as in ‘the man on the platform’, ‘she arrived after dinner’, ‘what did you do it for?’

merriam-webster:

  a function word that typically combines with a noun phrase to form a phrase which usually expresses a modification or predication

reference.com:

  used before nouns, pronouns, or other substantives to form phrases functioning as modifiers of verbs, nouns, or adjectives, and that typically express a spatial, temporal, or other relationship, as in, on, by, to, since.

[emphasis added]

Does the selection of the right preposition depend also upon what is said before it?

Right here on englishSE,
what preposition should one use with redundant
which one is more appropriate to use send you or send to you
proficient in at with what is the correct usage
what preposition should I use here written of me or written about me
which preposition should I use here thinking of or thinking about


texts: I am looking at the controlling system of an commercial ironing system. One of the terms used is "Delay off/On", I'm not sure what it means. Is it "the delay is off/on" or "the off/on is delayed"? Thanks


texts: Isn't OK, thanks a comma splice? What is the reason for this being the typical form?


texts: What is the correct pronunciation of the word "route"?

texts: I have always used both "root" as in route 66 and "rooter" as in the networking device. The latter has gotten me funny looks often, however I could not bring myself to accept the inconsistency. Today I heard "rowt"  used for a path of movement by a radio presenter. Which is correct?


texts: The name of an ejaculation in direct speech

texts:
Sometimes, when writing direct speech or a dialogue, there is a scenario where someone will respond with a word or a few words, that do not constitute a full sentence (no subject and no finite verb).

For example:

Person 1: "You can't do that."

Person 2: "Damn!"

The response given by person 2 is not a sentience. And yet, in direct speech, that is sometimes necessary to preserve the flow of regular speech.

Does that sort of language usage have a name to describe it?


texts:
I'm originally from Yorkshire and my family, especially my mum, used the verb 'chevel', in the context of "you're always cheveling sweets". I don't know what the exact spelling was. Does anyone know its origins? Her family originated from the northeast coast of England, Saltburn to Scarborough.
I'm new to this forum so have just realised the question became closed. The word was used to describe me 'chewing' sweets.


texts: Word for mirror reflecting mirror infinitely?

texts: Is there a word for a mirror reflecting another mirror infinitely? I.e. if two mirrors are put one against another, how would I call it (or if there is no word for it)?


texts: Noun for an experience you went through with others

texts:
I asked a similar question before, about what to call a group of people that went through the same class, semester of a program, club, spent a week cruising with each other, etc.

But what I want to know is, a word that captures that all of you went through the same ____________.

I'm building an app and I need this as a general term to denote the organized experience you went through together. It's part of an organized program, probably a section of it, recurring. It's going to be used quite often throughout the app once I select one. So I'm soliciting ideas.

Just to give you some terms we already use:

Community - refers to any sort of community, e.g. students and alumni of a university, or neighbors in a building, or people who are taking / have taken a cruise, etc.
Group - a group of people that forms on demand to do some activity, e.g. go get some sushi, watch a movie, take a trip, etc. You can join a group or start a group.

So this term would join the others, to denote a "subcommunity" of people that went through the same experience, organized by some organization.

To give you more context, this is our product: http://qbix.com/communities


texts: When do words like "Rewirable" keep the 'e' from "Rewire"?

texts:
I was spelling "rewirable" earlier and could've sworn it should be spelled 'rewireable' but google said otherwise.  Whats the deal here?  I never paid a lot of attention in my english classes throughout school so I don't always know the correct terminology or names for different parts of speech.

Thanks


texts:
I'd like to know whether the usage of 'about to' is correct in these sentences:

  I'm about to hate you.

and

  I'm about to start hating you.

Are either, or both, of these examples wrong?


texts: A phrase that means "to finally select (or decide) something"

texts:
I am looking for a phrase or an idiom that means that i have selected the one object from a group or settled on some solution out of many others. Let me provide some examples:

I went to the travel agency and they offered me a list of tours. I thought long and hard over the 2 hours and finally selected the most interesting tour among others proposed.
I asked for a word on ELU and other users kindly provided me with a bunch of words with requested meaning. I thought for a moment and finally selected the only word I really liked.
I developed some C++ library and ran into a problem. I tried many solutions and finally decided which one will work for the situation.

In Russian we usually use the idiom "ostanovitsya na" that means "to stop on something". What is the similar phrase (or idiom) in American and British English?

Update

I finally end up with "end up"! It is as close to Russian "ostanovitsya na" as it can ever be. Another 2 very similar phrases are "to decide on" and "to settle on".

I would like to deeply thank all those who have contributed to the discussion of this question!


texts: What are the rules for splitting words at the end of a line?

texts:
What are the rules in English language to split words at the end of a line?

Where exactly must the hyphen split the word?


texts:
Pronouns usually replace nouns or noun phrases. There are a few fuzzy examples where it's not as clear cut as that (e.g. "my" which refers to me but acts like a determiner, and "mine" which refers to both me and something else).

How are relative pronouns like that and which pronouns? What noun or noun phrase do they replace? If they're not strictly speaking pronouns, what would be a better description for them?

Examples from Wiktionary:

  The CPR course that she took really came in handy.
  The house that he lived in was old and dilapidated.
  We've met some problems which are very difficult to handle.

I'm not talking about other clearly pronominal uses such as:

  Which is which?
  That is that!


texts:
So, I absolutely use too many parentheses in my writing and yet, I have what I consider parenthetic things that I want to express.  So what exactly should I do?  I've been playing around with hyphens for quite a while now, but I'm still not certain which is better (if either), when and why.  I hope this hasn't already been answered - I don't think it has, but...  Here is an example of that with which I wrestle as regards this matter:

1)  Please do feel free (and safe, as far as I'm concerned) to text me anytime you'd like.

2)  Please do feel free - and safe, as far as I'm concerned - to text me anytime you'd like.

OR

1)  Please remember that I voluntarily admitted to you that I had been indirect (and thus, less than honest) in asking you the question in the first place.

2)  Please remember that I voluntarily admitted to you that I had been indirect - and thus, less than honest - in asking you the question in the first place.

Thanks, guys! :-)


texts: Which preposition should I use here: "thinking of" or "thinking about"?

texts:
Thinking of getting an external
keyboard
Thinking about getting an external
keyboard

Which one is grammatically correct and why?


texts:
I am a teacher and I am having a class right now. I have just forgotten what I taught in the last class . So I ask the kids:

Where did I leave off in the last class?

One of them said?

You left off on page 50 (of the book I'm teaching).

Is this sentence grammatically correct?

I would be glad if you answered my question. Thank you.


texts:
I read a book years ago in which one character described another succinctly in one or maybe two words.  Sadly, the book was lost in a flood and I cannot recall the vocabulary used. Nor can I recall The author of the book.

The characteristic being described is what I have labeled as a "serial monomaniac".*¹ This person had one area of interest, which he focused on to the exclusion of other interests.  But when he was satisfied with his experience with that interest he moved into another area of interest and focused exclusively on that area.

The hyperfocus and intensity of the interest are beyond what we would usually call flighty, fickle, or a dilettante.

I am not looking for Renaissance Man/Woman.  That might describe an extreme version of this person, such as someone who completes law school and then studies medicine, followed by a stint in politics or business.

I am also not looking for fanatic, enthusiast, aficianado, nor fanatic.

Can anyone suggest a word that describes this characteristic?
https://www.dictionary.com,  https://www.thesaurus.com,
https://www.merriam-webster.com, https://dictionary.cambridge.org,
https://psychologydictionary.org, https://allpsych.com
do not recognize the two word term.

As best as I  am remember the first character says something like:
"Remember the two years you spent learning ()?  And then you spent three years learning (). You focus so much I
whatever you are interested in. John,you are such a (       ).  I'm just not ready for that much intensity...about me."

*The term serial monomania has been used to describe this characteristic but I am looking for a simpler one word label.  (See https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/05/12/many-colored-glass-peter-schjeldahl)


texts:
I was wondering what differences there are between shaver, razor, trimmer and clipper?
For head hair cut that does not make head bald, what tools are used?
For shaving facial hair, what tools are used?
For shaving a beard, moustache or whiskers, what tools are used?


texts: What is the meaning of "award the envoy" in this sentence?

texts:
I read a sentence in a chapter named "The Ghat of the only World" which was:

  No one had a greater influence on Shahid's poetry than James Merill; indeed, in the poem in which he most explicitly prefigured his own death, he awarded the envoy to Merill: Shahid, hush, this is me, James, The loved ones always leaves.

What is the meaning of "awarded the envoy" in the sentence?


texts: Is it more formal to use words of Latin origin?

texts:
For example, cemetery instead of graveyard.

In which context would a word of Latin origin be more proper? Or is there no difference at all?


texts:
What is the more common word combination? Or do they mean different things?
It refers i. a. to explosion protection.

Example:

  hazard area plan

or

  hazardous area plan


texts:
I'm just starting to learn English and I'd appreciate an answer to my question.

What variant is correct? And why?

My wife or dog make me happy
My wife or dog makes me happy


texts: Lack of understanding another person's lack of understanding

texts:
"Understanding a concept so well, that the concept of someone else struggling to understand this concept seems foreign."

Example:
Person A is very familiar with a how to use a smartphone. They've known how to use one for as long as they can remember.

Person B asks person A for help with their smartphone (they are not as familiar with the concept of a smartphone, or how it operates).

Person A might struggle to understand what struggles person B is presented with. They might have deep knowledge of exactly how the smartphone works, but lack the understanding of how another person might misinterpret or misunderstand the smartphone.

Is there a word for this phenomena?

On the flip side of this example, a 'person C' might learn how to use a smartphone, have the same knowledge of how it works, but also understand what aspects are tricky to grasp for beginners/new users and how to teach people to use it.


texts: A quote from the introduction of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women

texts:
Here is a sentence from her introduction:

  I earnestly wish to point out in what true dignity and human happiness consists - I wish to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness, and that those beings who are only the objects of pity and that kind of love, which has been termed its sister, will soon become objects of contempt.

What are the siblings [sisters] in this long sentence? Here is the part of the sentence which I suppose should give the context. I replace "those beings" with women.

  Delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness, and that (women) who are only the objects of pity and that kind of love, which has been termed its sister, will soon become objects of contempt.

My guess is that the pair is "weakness" and "pity." Grammatically, how is "pity" associated with "weakness" in this sentence?


texts: When should Practical use or practical usage should be used and what are the differences?


texts: What is the definition of climate realism? I have to explain it to my friend as she claims that there is no definition of it in turkish, I searched it up and did not see a clear definition so I have wanted to ask it. I AM DETERMINED TO GET IT


texts:
Writing a financial software. looking for a word for the following situation

A voucher created for an expense, say transportation could be collected by either a branch or a team or an individual employee. Need a word to describe them. Thought of beneficiary, but since they're spending it for the company, it wouldn't be appropriate.


texts: What is the relationship between an adjective and an adverbial phrase?

texts:
In the sentence, "I have been sick for a week", I is the nominative, have been is the copula, sick is an adjective and for a week is an adverbial phrase.

Does the adverbial phrase "for a week" modify the adjective "sick", or is it "standalone"?

Would the answer change if you moved the adverbial phrase to the front, so that the sentence reads: "For a week, I have been sick"?


texts: Usage of comparative with a set of adjectives

texts:
Today I heard in a video a phrase that puzzled me a bit, specifically

  "...a more just and fair system..."

My previous understanding is that it should had been "fairer and juster" but now I have deep doubts having seen several similar combinations all over the internet.

Are both forms acceptable, and if not, why not?


texts: Going from a state to another state but passing through other intermediate states

texts:
Let's say I have states for a car:

designed, rejected, built, painted, sold, shipped, and used

Each state can only go to a limited subset of other states, e.g.:

Going from built to painted is a transition.

What would be the name of the action to go from built to shipped while recording all the intermediate states?


texts: Good words describing an action taken place after another

texts:
What are some good words that can be used to describe an action which has taken place after another?

Example: We baked the cakes. After that, we left the house.

I'm looking for some alternatives for the After that

Thanks.


texts: "Tactical Language" (from the Police) is from "Tactical Warfare" (from the Military) etymologically?

texts:
Tactical Language has specific meaning for the police, and Tactical Warfare has another possibly/suspiciously related meaning for the military [separately or equally?], with known use/abuse in laws, and seemingly limited definition.
(A) https://www.google.com/search?q=%22tactical+language%22+police+meaning is the best I can do because Wiktionary and actual Encyclopedias/Dictionaries lack clear explanation even though U.S. law seems to magically/perfectly understand how to use the word.
Snippet provided officially/algorithmically by Google search results as first result at top of page:

"Though many police officers may use profanity (sometimes referred to
as “tactical language”) as an additional use of force tool, its use
may lead to increased risk to the officer by way of subject
retaliation or backlash from the public due to a perception that the
officer is “out of control” (Baseheart & Cox, 1993)." —Christina L. Patton, PhD
https://www.apadivisions.org/division-18/publications/newsletters/public-service/2018/01/police-profanity#:~:text=Though%20many%20police%20officers%20may,Baseheart%20%26%20Cox%2C%201993) (archive of the doctor's quote from the American Psychological Association: http://web.archive.org/web/20200916104659/https://www.apadivisions.org/division-18/publications/newsletters/public-service/2018/01/police-profanity).

(B) The linking of https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tactical_warfare&redirect=no (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tactical_warfare&oldid=240056859) would say Tactical Warfare means Military Tactics. Based on the #REDIRECT function setting pointing/defining one phrase to the other there which is rather etymological?


texts: Another way of saying ‘electronic devices?’

texts: I am looking to refer to a collection of battery-powered objects in a more colloquial manner than ‘electronic devices’. This grouping will include hearing aids, watches and torches. I mention, as ‘gadget’ feels too informal for these sorts of things. ‘Gadget’, to me, feels like a less utilitarian electronic object, and would be incorrect to apply to a hearing aid.  Any suggests welcome.


texts: Where can I find a list of synonyms and hyponyms for different food types?

texts:
I'm trying to find a list of synonyms between various food types for a programming project I am working on with searching English language phrases. I was originally going to ask this on Stack Overflow, but this question wasn't necessarily related to programming.

In the list I'm looking for, I'd like to be able to know the synonyms and hyponyms for food types. For example:

Synonym: sandwich — sub
Hyponyms: Mexican — taco, burrito; fruit — orange, apple, banana

Are there any lists that exist that might help bootstrap my efforts?


texts: Is it common to drop "are" and "is" in informal English?

texts:
I've noticed that many native speakers drop the words "are" and "is" when writing informally. For example:

How you doing? (instead of "how are you doing")
What you up to? (Instead of "what are you up to")
What you doing? (Instead of "what are you doing")

How common is this and is it okay to speak like that in informal situations?


texts: In my example, how do I use an adjective and a verb to describe a plural noun?

texts:
In one of my graphs, I have label called "Aggravated Assault Arrests". Is it correct to say I do not need a hyphen between the words - "aggravated" and "assault"?

If I refer to this in my writing, is it correct for me to say "aggravated assault arrests" without any hyphen?


texts:
Obviously, you can't use the word "cook" sushi since it is served raw (in most cases).

What other verbs can I use to describe the action aside from make and prepare?

Example sentence:

  She __ a whole tray of sushi yesterday.


texts: a word for "getting many processes done in one place"

texts:
In my contract management system, I want to update the electricity usage for each contract. I can either enter this information manually in each contract by opening it, entering the information, then saving, or use a feature that can import information (in an Excel sheet, for example) and distribute it to each relevant contract.

What can I call this feature? The developers called it "consolidation", which is clearly the wrong word, because I'm not combining the values. The values remain and are linked to the relevant contracts.

In a sentence I would describe this as importing electricity usage in bulk. But is there a good single word for this act of combining individual small processes into one collective process?


texts: Is "there's no chance" the subject in "... there’s no chance she will change her mind"?

texts:
She’s very determined and there’s no chance she will change her mind.

I try to understand what is "there's no chance" in the sentence.
e.g. is that subject? etc.


texts: Preferred way to apostrophise in case of dual or multiple ownership by distinct entities

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “Nikki's and Alice's X” vs. “Nikki and Alice's X”

Consider describing the wedding of X and Y. If I want to avoid the overly-formal and poor-flowing "wedding of", it is more correct to say "X and Y's wedding" or "X's and Y's wedding"?

I acknowledge a very similar question has already been asked: What possessive forms are used for mutual 1st person ownership?

But unfortunately the example given is able to be easily phrased a different way and so respondents have been able to get away with avoiding the direct question.

Let's face it, we come across the need to get across the concept of mutual possession all the time and we don't always want to have to resort to the more tortured "Z of X and Y" as with the French language.

NB: In some cases, people get around this problem by dropping the apostrophes altogether and "adjectivising" the owners, especially if the owners are actually plural entities themselves. Eg. The "Mazda and Mitsubishi combined outputs" instead of the "Mazda's and Mitsubishi's combined outputs". Let's not let this muddy the waters though.


texts: What is the difference between "Hept-" and "Sept-" prefixes?

texts:
As I understand it, both the prefixes "Hept-" and "Sept-" are used to indicate seven of something.

We have examples of English words that use both:

e.g.

  Heptathalon, Heptagon, Heptane

vs

  Septuagenarian, September

I don't believe this is the case for other numbers- "Quad" is four, "Pent" is five, "Hex" is six, etc...

I believe "Sept" comes from the word "septem", which is Latin for "seven". So where has "Hept" come from? And why do no other numbers have an equivalent?


texts: What does "fully qualified" mean by itself and how it can be used?

texts:
I know this phrase from usage with DNS as Fully Qualified Domain Name but that's the only use case I'm aware of.

So, 1. I'm wondering what "Fully Qualified" means by itself and how it is applicable to other subjects.

and 2. is "fully qualified" and "unambiguous" interchangeable?


texts: Is it acceptable to use "to be" to describe possession?

texts:
I recently was explaining a couple of Marathi phrases to my friend, and I realized that the language doesn't have the word "to have". We have multiple different ways of expressing posession, but I found a particular one rather interesting: When I want to say "I have a pen", I instead say "My pen is" (literally translated).

The moment I translated it, I realized that this construct was pretty interesting. The verb "to be" is rarely seen without any object — if at all. The phrase "My <something> is" in English sounds a bit poetic to me. I've never heard it being used myself, but it may be something that's fallen into disuse.

My question is, is this a valid1 way of expressing possession? Is it OK to use "My pen is" in place of "I have a pen"?

A more general question2  is: When is it acceptable to use the verb "to be" without any object?

1. Poetic license aside

2. Which may be too broad, so this is a bonus question :)


texts:
Is there a concise list somewhere of terms used to describe a range of "brightness" or "luminosity"? Say from dim to blinding as an example. I tried Googling it and searching Wikipedia, but all I got were thesaurus and mathematical definitions.

The closest I've found is the luminosity charts for stars, but unfortunately they don't have word designations for each range.


texts: There is an old dictionary of the English language where words are defined from a pessimistic/skeptical/sadistic perspective. I seem to have lost the link to that dictionary in my bookmarks. I wonder if you know what I am talking about and are willing to refresh my memory.


texts: Is there any difference in the meanings of 'eternal' and 'everlasting'?

texts:
'Immortal' means having a beginning but living for ever.

I was under the impression that 'eternal' and 'everlasting' were synonyms and that both had the meaning of being timeless; existing irrespective of time; hence of having no beginning and no ending.

But I am discovering that some think the two words mean slightly different things.

Are they synonyms, in English usage ?
And how are they used ?

================================================

As encouraged, I have done some more research and the etymology of 'everlasting' appears to be that it is just English words strung together ever+lasting to make a new word.'Eternal' is from the Latin aeternus meaning 'of an age'.

This is reminiscent of the Hebrew 'olam' which is usually translated 'of the age'.

Greek has two words, aionos, again meaning 'of the age aion' and a specialised word aidiois which, approximately, has a meaning of 'perpetual'.

Throughout the English bible, the King James version, the Hebrew olam in the Old Testament is translated 'everlasting' and usually the Greek aionos in the New Testament is translated 'eternal'.

This was the reason that I had thought they were synonyms, one being chosen, for some reason, to translate Hebrew and one being used to render the Greek.

But I was interested to see what people thought, intuitively, about the actual usage in modern English.


texts: Meaning of "we are poised on the brink of dramatic changes"

texts:
What does "we are poised on the brink of dramatic changes" mean?

I thought it means we are calm and composed when it comes to making dramatic changes.


texts:
A friend of mine just posted this status on Facebook:

  Decisions, decisions - schoolwork...watch olympics....schoolwork...watch olympics......?? Olympics is so going to win this dilemma haha especially SEEMS the gymnastics is on later!

I said surely she meant seeing as, not seems, (she's used this word in a similar way before). She replied:

  'seems' is also grammatically correct - it is a synonym for 'because.' And 'seeing as' is actually an idiom and is no longer the preferred phraseology

Is she right?


texts: I am writing my PhD thesis, and I want to use the acronym "DOM" referring to "Domain Optimization Method", as I use a lot that expression throughout the document. At the moment of defining it (i.e. the first time I use it), I write something like: "...solved by using a Domian Optimization Method (DOM)..." My question is if here I should write "Domain", "Optimization" and "Method" starting with a capital letter.


texts:
What do you call a question that has correct or incorrect answer?

Example

What is your age?

Person can give correct or incorrect answer to this.

What do you think about global warming?

Can have answer but cannot categorised in correct or incorrect.


texts: Footnote and citation at the end of a sentence

texts:
According to this, footnote marks should come at the end of the sentence, after the punctuation, like

  The inner flow is then reflected at this boundary, leading to an oblique expansion shock (also named reflection wave).4

Sadly, I don't remember where, but I think that references go like this:

  The inner flow is then reflected at this boundary, leading to an oblique expansion shock (also named reflection wave)[8].

Now, assuming I have to put both of these,

  The inner flow is then reflected at this boundary, leading to an oblique expansion shock (also named reflection wave)[8].4

is this the correct way?


texts:
I saw an article titled ‘The Rise of Chinese Cheneys’, written by Nicholas Kristof, with a lead copy

  China today resembles the Bush era in America: Hard-liners are ascendant. Brace yourself

in today's New York Times.
I know the meaning of 'Brace for.' But as I was uncertain about the meaning of 'Brace Yourself,' I consulted with Urban dictionary, which defines it as ‘Prepare yourself mentally or emotionally for hearing something unpleasant, out of place or inappropriate.’

However, in this particular case, what does ‘Brace yourself’ mean? Is the author casting this word to Chinese, or Americans?

By the way, I found really amusing phrases ‘panda-huggers’ and ‘panda-muggers’ in relation with 'yin' and 'yang' concept in this article, which might not be any new to you, but new to me.

  Chinese-American relations are deeply strained and likely to get worse. American opinion tends to be divided between panda-huggers (‘China is fabulous!’) and panda-muggers (‘China is evil!’), but the truth lies between this yin and yang.


texts:
Lets say I have such a data in somewhere on my computer:

  HELLO WORLD NANO TECH YAHOOO OOO GOOGLE 1111 MICROSOFT

It is a .txt file and has the value above. I want to say:

  I scraped some of the data and wrote it on the screen, the result is :

  HELLO WORLD

I am wondering if the usage of "scrape" is correct in this context? Does it sound similar to "pull data from" ? Or what can I use instead of "scrape" if it sounds wrong here?


texts: usage of "Pack" : pack elements into containers or pack containers into elements

texts:
I came across a passage: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/7946668/Short-breaks-make-people-happier-than-one-long-holiday-psychologists-claim.html

In the last paragraph, the author, who I believed to be a native, states :"

  If you pack three times as many holidays into the same amount of
  leave, you can expect three times as much trouble. It's not obvious to
  me that it's worth it.

The clause in italics sounds weird and illogical to me.

My reasoning is that a holiday is more like an container possibly comprising more than one day leave, therefore one could only group several days together and make them a holiday, and such grouping i.e. holiday may be more than one.

I would then rephrase the original sentence into:

If you pack the same amount of leave into three times as many holidays

Am I wrong or the original sentence. And if I am wrong, is it because "pack" is just used as such or because it changes the original meaning.

Please help me out...


texts: Is there a term, preferably informal, for upper-tier white collar workers?

texts:
I'm looking for an informal term to describe investment bankers, big law corporate lawyers, high-end consultants, and the like. The closest I can come up with is "yuppie", but that's no good because 1) it refers only to young people, and 2) it's somewhat dated.

Example: They met at a ritzy lounge frequented by [word]s.


texts: "Although, the causes of..." or "Although the causes"?

texts:
I'm correcting something which my friend wrote. He wrote about incidents that had occurred while working in a mine, and stated that although the cause of each incident may have been different, they had in common a single reason: the workers did not follow the rules.

Here is the sentence:

  Although, the causes of each incident may have been different, the same common reason applies:...

I believe that placing a comma after although is incorrect. My friend believes that it is correct. Would you please shed some light on this?


texts:
Is the following question correct?

  What's wrong with taking interest?

I know taking AN interest or showing interest is better, but I would like to know if taking interest is also correct.


texts: What's a suffix that means to find something cute or adorable?

texts:
"Xenophobia" is being fearful of outsiders, and "xenophilia" would be to love outsiders.

To fit in with these words, I'm looking for a suffix to attach to the "xeno~" prefix to in order to create a word that means to find a person to be adorable or cute because they are foreign.

"Xenophilia" does not fit, because the implication of the "~philia" suffix is too accepting and desirous of the target. To say someone was a xenophile is more or less to say they would love it all the more if they were surrounded by foreigners all the time.

I'm very much looking for something where the object of adoration is simultaneously considered diminutive and not necessarily respected. Like how people might consider a foreign person to be cute because of their accent and behaviour, but still have a sense that they are alien to the host culture. People may laugh along with a foreigner's antics without malice, but still regard that foreigner as necessarily separate.

Does such a suffix that means "cute" in the sense of "diminutive" exist?


texts:
Would you say quixotic has more of a positive connotation or more of a negative connotation?
The definition for quixotic given by Merriam-Webster is:

hopeful or romantic in a way that is not practical

foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially :  marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action
capricious, unpredictable

[. . .]

Synonyms: idealist, idealistic, quixotical, romantic, starry, starry-eyed, utopian, visionary

Antonyms: clear-eyed, clear-sighted

Given that dictionary entry, it seems like quixotic can be interpreted in either of two ways:

positively (ambitiously idealistic)
negatively (unrealistic and not grounded in reality).

Which of those two possible connotations of quixotic is considered the more correct one for this word?
In other words, if someone were described as quixotic, would that be considered a good thing or a bad thing?


texts: Breaking a sentence over multiple paragraphs

texts:
I want to break a sentence into multiple paragraphs.  This is a simple example:

As the clock ticks down to the finish, only time will tell if Captain Bob —
Slubgob, the alien explorer —
and Boris, the spy, can save the Earth from certain doom.

Is this punctuation incorrect, or confusing?  If it is unacceptable, what would be a better way to do this?


texts: Is it grammatically correct to say "they left an empty spot" when referring to a departed person?

texts:
When someone you love is missing in your life (not necessarily dead), what is the correct way of saying they left an empty spot in your home?

"Kelly left an empty spot after she traveled"

Or

"Kelly's place is showing in this house" (which, I think, doesn't sound too grammatically correct)


texts: How does one correctly pronounce the letter 'H': "Aych" or "haych"?

texts: What is the correct sound of the letter H when reading the alphabet - is it 'aych' or 'Haych' ?


texts: What is the difference between the words negative and negatory? I looked up the definitions here and they are pretty much the same.


texts: A word or phrase replacing "As I was warning you earlier"

texts:
As indicated in the title, I would like to replace what's in the
parentheses in the following example with an amusing phrase:

You expected event A to happen.
(But as I was warning you earlier), instead, event B took place.


texts: Does "numeric" abbreviation eg i18n have a name?

texts:
In the computer programming context, several long words are commonly abbreviated using the formula first letter, number of letters between, last letter.

Eg internationalization --> i18n

Is there a name for this technique of abbreviation?

Is there a name for the abbreviation so created?


texts: Was I being impolite using this phrase "Add our John Doe in the copy :)" at the end of a business conversation?

texts:
Some context: English is not my native language and I had a chat with my colleague from a remote location. She asked my team lead to add two users in some system and since the team lead was off the office that day, I had to help her. So the dialog went like this:

She: Thanks John Doe! Have they also been added to Fake System?

Me: Hi Sara Connor,
John is out of office today. I will have a look.
If they are not added, should I add them?

She: Yes, please. Thanks Alex!

Me: I had a look - they have not been added. Unfortunately, we don't have the rights to add new users.
To do this there is a formal procedure:
Please send an email to some@fake.email with request and description of what needs to be done (usernames/permissions to create)

She: Thanks Alex! I'll email them.

She: Hi Alex - Sorry to bother you again, I'm getting an Outlook notification that the some@fake.email address is no longer valid. Is there a new address or process?

Me: Sorry, I have given you the wrong one.
The correct is - someother@fake.email

She: Perfect. Thanks!

Me: Add our John Doe in the copy :)

And I got a comment from one of my colleagues:
I am not sure that you phrase is really polite
It is imperative "add..."(it is an order), and it is unclear meaning of "our"

It got me confused, because technically it looks like he's right, but I feel that what I wrote was perfectly OK. Or am I mistaken and this last phrase can really be considered rude/impolite and might have offended the recipient?


texts: Why is "an" used for nouns that start with a vowel sound

texts:
When a noun starts with a vowel sound, one uses "an" instead of "a". That is reasonable since otherwise the vowels would get mixed.

The question is why did they "pick" "an"? There are 21 consenants in the alphabet. Is anything known why English uses "an" and for instance not "al"?


texts: What does 'hopeful' mean when referring to tennis player?

texts:
I wonder what does the word hopeful mean in the following context

  After Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Belarusian hopeful Olga Govortsova in straight sets during the second round of the Australian Open.'

I guess that the phrase to defeat sb in straight set means to win a game without losing a single set. Am I right?


texts: Is there any way, I can get to the brief history of any words or phrases?

texts:
It's hard to remember the word until I get to the history or until I feel the word.

I'm wondering any apps or sites to help me out with this.


texts: What is the correct adjective order for "unique" and "only"?

texts:
Which category of adjectives would "unique" and "only" (as in "only child") fall under? I'm asking with regards to where it would fit in terms of the adjective order on this graph.
For example, would I say "The unique small house" or "The small unique house" or even "The small, unique house"?


texts: Send a "smaller" message or send a "shorter" message?

texts:
I would like to know which comparative is correct when saying something like the following.

  The maximum size of a message is 150 words. Please send a [smaller|shorter] message.

Thank you very much.


texts: Is it acceptable to use "to ever happen" in future time, like "I don't want this to ever happen"

texts:
this is my first time posting here so excuse me if this is not the place to ask. I wanted to use the "She didn't want it to ever fade", but I'm not sure if this is grammatically proper. I have considered using "She didn't ever want it to fade" instead, but felt that in this case the meaning of "ever" includes the past, present and the future while in the previous example the meaning of "ever" is implied to only include the present and onwards. The meaning I'm going for is that of present and onwards because the thing spoken about (She didn't want it to fade) is a feeling previously unknown to the character, and thus including the past would not make sense.
I have two questions then:
1. Is the sentence "She didn't want it to ever fade" grammatically proper?
2. Is there an (implied) difference in the meaning of the word 'ever' between "She didn't want it to ever fade" and "She didn't ever want it to fade"?
I hope I had made myself clear, and I'll be happy to clarify if not.


texts: present progressive for general statements

texts:
"Global warming is forcing us to think about our energy consumption."
"People are producing more rubbish than ever before."

These are supposed to be general statements. Is it okay to use present progressive here? I did some research and pres. progr. can be used to describe changes and developments. But still, in my opinion simple present would be better. But is pres. progr. okay as well?


texts:
Is there a verb base-form with two semantics having different conjugations?

For example, given base-form "rise":

"rise" "rises" "rose" "rising" "risen";
"rise" "rises" "rosed" "rising" "rised";

the latter being fictitious of course.


texts: Can I say "it was a pleasure meeting you" after a phone call?

texts: Is it possible to say "it was a pleasure meeting you" after the phone call? Or should we better say ""it was a pleasure to talk to you"?


texts: Understanding Latin abbreviations in Papers and the Such

texts:
Preface:

I have begun reading over some of the documents from the Vatican II council to familiarise myself with the material for when I talk with people that I know that are catholic, and I am having troubles understanding the footnotes.

Question examples:

The first footnote in the first constitution (Called "The Word of God") is as follows: cf. St. Augustine, "De Catechizandis Rudibus," C.IV 8: PL. 40, 316.

I have deduced some of this as meaning: confer to "De Catechizandis Rudibus," however, it is the rest that throws me for a loop. Primarily, PL. and I believe C. means circa.

THESE ARE SOME MORE EXAMPLES:

f. Council of Trent, session IV, loc. cit.: Denzinger 783 (1501).

cf. Second Council of Nicea: Denzinger 303 (602); Fourth Council of Constance, session X, Canon 1: Denzinger 336 (650-652).

Cf. Ibid. 33, 35.

Perhaps some of these require an understanding of various other catholic texts, but is there a list where I can find abbreviations and shorthands like these?


texts: How to write past perfect forms of two verbs in one sentence

texts:
(1) Alex had quit his job and started a company before he won the lottery.
(2) Alex had quit his job and had started a company before he won the lottery.

I want to indicate that the act of quitting the job and starting a company happened before winning the lottery. I think (1) is grammatically correct and conveys the intended meaning. The word "had" before the word "started" in (2) seems unnecessary. Is my understanding correct?


texts: The meaning of "for" after the colon mark

texts:
What does "for" meaning in this sentence? I mean the word "for" after the colon mark.

  A second difference from Quine is also important: for the crux of the Legal Realist
  position (at least for the majority of Realists) is that non-legal reasons (e.g., judgments of fairness, or consideration of commercial norms) explain the decisions.

Full text here.


texts: refer a question 'to the knowledgeable' or 'to knowledgeable' persons

texts: Should I use 'THE' when saying that we should refer a certain question to knowledgeable people (or to the knowledgeable people)?


texts: "Points movement" or "Movement of points" or "Movement of the points"

texts:
I am working on a scientific paper and there is a graph in it showing how some points are moved.... The reviewer suggest me to change "Points movement" to "Movement of points". But I still could not get it why "Movement of points" is more preferable?

Isn't it the shorter the better?
Why not "Movement of the points"? (I feel quite confused too to see: some people use "Response to reviewers", some use "Response to the reviewers"!)


texts: The meaning of the words, "board demand"?

texts:
Could you help me about the meaning of the words, "board demand"?

I am now reading a document about power generating company of foreign country. In the document, I couldn't understand a sentence, "The electricity board demand of the district is March. "

I think the "highest demand", or the "demand used for the prediction of the next year", but I couldn't find out the correct answer.


texts:
Here is an excerpt from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge:

  The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
  Merrily did we drop
  Below the kirk, below the hill,
  Below the lighthouse top.

What does merrily did we drop below the kirk, below the hill mean? Or to be more precise, the expression to drop below in this context.

Does it mean "we left the kirk, the hill and the lighthouse over the horizon"?


texts: Statement : Govt asked about safety of northeast community.


texts: What is the best way of using By the time ? I searched in google where there wasn't exact example ?


texts:
I have the following sentence and I need your help:

"The results show that the developed methods(,) on average(,) lead to 10% less costs"

Do I need the commas before and after 'on average'? I'd appreciate every comment.


texts:
In email communication, people often use "can you do X" instead of "please do X". Is this a more polite form, or is this just an idiom which means exactly the same?
If I use "dig this hole" as an abstract example, I can write this in several forms:

Can you dig this hole?
Can you dig this hole.
Can you please dig this hole.
Please dig this hole.

Do these forms have some different but measurable level of politeness? I feel that (2) is a bit rude, but may be just careless spelling; is my feeling justified?
If I want to ask someone to "dig this hole", which is the most polite way to do that?
I am interested mostly in email communication, because this is the only way I use English now. But maybe considering spoken language can help.


texts: Meaning of a poetic phrase (in Melville's "Misgivings")

texts:
Herman Melville wrote the poem "Misgivings," which is impressive and, seemingly at least, about the American Civil War.

Its last line is, "The hemlock shakes in the rafter, the oak in the driving keel."

What does that mean?


texts: One word to describe the meaning of life?

texts:
I'm writing some literature, and I'd like to grab the reader's attention in the first sentence by asking what is the meaning of life. Except, I'd like to know the best word (or short phrase) to use to ask such a question.

For example, I'm asking the question "What do you think of your destiny?"

But is "Destiny" the best word to use here?


texts: "Leave the meeting room in order" or "keep the meeting room in order"

texts:
We're having a discussion at our office whether or not the phrase "Please leave the meeting room/kitchen/coffee corner in order" is correct.

What we're trying to convey is: please clean up dirty cups and dishes, empty the dishwasher, throw away any trash etc.

I have googled this extensively and found multiple occurences in university guidelines and other documents, so I'm assuming it is correct.

Is "please leave the meeting room in order" incorrect? Or might it be better to rephrase it to "please keep the meeting room clean" or "please keep the meeting room in order"?

Thank you!


texts: Past Simple and Progressive; depending on the sentence?

texts:
My question is based on Past Simple and Past Progressive.
I had a test a couple weeks ago, and there was this sentence with 2 verbs that you had to choose one to make the sentence true grammatically:

  She collected / was collecting stickers last year.

It turns out that the right answer is "collected".

~

Doesn't it depend on the verb? Because you can collect stuff for a continuous period of time. If you judge by the rest of the sentence, it's absolutely "collected" (Past Simple), because there is nothing mentioned about how she collected stickers for a continuous period of time.


texts: More formal word for "rich" used in the sarcastic sense

texts:
When someone has said something incredibly hypocritical, you might respond, "That's rich."  This helps you express how disgusted you are about the hypocrisy.

What's a formal alternative to rich used in this way?

Example of how I would like to use the word:

  It is __________ (adj) [or, it is the height of _________ (noun)] for the school to claim that such-and-so change to the student's 504 plan was made based on the parents' input.  In fact, the parents had strenuously objected to the change for the following reasons: ....

But hypocrisy isn't strong enough.


texts: Difference between "substantive" and "substantial"

texts: My professor has asked us to give a substantive presentation in order to complete a course. I needed to look up the dictionary as this was a new word for me. Dictionaries do not point to a clear difference between substantive and substantial. How do these words differ in terms of the usage? Their etymology is the same, so this is a matter of usage, I guess.


texts:
I am having trouble understanding the following:

"the achievable rate of the optimal AF scheme performs close to the cut-set like bound obtained in this paper"

I think that the word "like" (above) is intended to be used as a suffix to express the fact that the bound is "cut-set"-like.

My question is what to do in such a case to show the connection between the words. Is it
(a) "cut set-like"
(b) "cut-set-like"
(c) "cut set(en dash)like"
(d) something else

Please help me.


texts:
I've got a question. Tried to google it, but nothing came up.
So, there is a sentence:

"How often do you visit head office?"

Why don't we use "the" before "head office"? Sometimes I see examples with "the head office" but sometimes without.
Is there any rule?


texts: What are those who await something called?

texts:
I was wondering what are those who await an incident or a person called.

For example, if this is the original text:

  "I am one of those who await the return of Jesus Christ"

and I want to turn it into this format:

  "I am an ... of Jesus Christ."

what word can I use to complete the above sentence?


texts: heat - heat up, using the phrasal verb, spoken English

texts:
what is the correct one in spoken English?

she heats the soup

she heats up the soup

I saw a similar question in the forum but it didn't help me


texts: What was the phrase clean-slate originally used for? Or did it always refer to restart in something?


texts: Is "Motivate your answer" correct English?

texts:
Me and a friend were having an argument recently over "Motivate your answer". He said this:

  see it like this, motivate = force that drives you, okay? motivate your choices = arguments you considered that have driven you towards that choice

So it appears to be a more literal translation, like:

  Give reason to your answer.

Is this the case, or is just simply wrong?


texts: When is it correct to use "yourself" and "myself" (versus "you" and "me")?

texts:
I'm confused by why people use the following:

  It's up to yourself.

Rather than:

  It's up to you.

Another example of this would be:

  Please feel free to contact ourselves if you have any problems.

Rather than:

  Please feel free to contact us if you have any problems.

Are both of these correct?  Is there any reason for using the former?


texts: What is the word whose meaning is to "oversimplify a complex issue; often incorrectly?"

texts: I can't think of the word and it's been bothering me for some time now. I have attempted to reverse search it, to no avail. If someone could oblige me with the word whose definition means to oversimplify an often complex issue, I would most appreciate it!


texts: Would it be okay to use "would be" in if-clause?

texts:
Is it gramatically correct or not to include "would be" in the if-clause.

Your physician may recommend you to be evaluated if you would potentially be a candidate for this vaccine.


texts: What is the official noun of "to distinguish"?

texts:
I checked Wiktionary [1] but it does not reference to a noun for to distinguish.

[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/distinguish


texts: Is the use of the word "that" in the sentence below correct?

texts: A light fall of ash, that it may destroy one year's crop, often pays the farmer well in future years with the fertility it adds to the soil.


texts: How many syllables are there in the word "fire"?

texts:
We were making up Haiku, and there was some disagreement about the number of syllables in "fire."  Now granted Haiku isn't technically about syllables (see on), so technically it was a meaningless discussion.

However, I still do not know how many syllables are in "fire."

I understand an r-colored vowel might be at play.


texts: The noun "floor" is countable, is it not?

texts:
I found sentences using "floor" as if it is an uncountable noun and it seems as popular as usage as countable noun.

Google Search result of bbc "the ground and first floors" site:uk

Google Search result of bbc "the ground and first floor" site:uk

As far as I checked using dictionaries etc, the noun "floor" is a countable noun; therefore, I wonder if you actually use the word as uncountable noun, or if there are some other explanations.

Or do you say/write "the ground and first floors" or "the ground and first floor"?


texts: How did 'drone' come to mean both 'one who does no work' and 'one who spends most of his or her time doing menial work'?

texts:
Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) gives the following definitions for drone in senses derived from the word for male honeybee:

  drone \drōn\ n {ME fr. OE drān; akin to OHG treno drone, Gk thrēnos dirge} (bef. 12c) 1 : the male of a bee (as of a male honeybee) that has no sting and gathers no honey 2 : one that lives on the labors of others : PARASITE 3 : an unmanned aircraft or ship guided by remote control 4 a : DRUDGE 1 [one who is obliged to do menial work] b : DRUDGE 2 [one whose work is routine and boring]

It seems quite clear that definition 1 gave rise to definition 2 on the theory that bee drones are freeloading layabouts in an otherwise busy busy hive. But how and when did the connection to menial (especially) or routine and boring work arise?

I had thought that perhaps drone as "menial laborer" arose out of the noun drone in the sense of (according to MW) "a deep sustained or monotonous sound"—but the dictionary says no.


texts: How often do you go to "the" or "a" dentist?

texts:
I answered the below question and got it wrong. I wonder why? It was a fill in the blank type question.

  How often do you go to ______ dentist?

I wrote "How often do you go to a dentist?" The correct answer is "How often do you go to the dentist?" I have never been to the same dentist in my life. I have only been to the dentist five times and each time is a different one.

Why is "a" wrong?


texts: Use of the word "petrol" as a solvent in British English?

texts:
In the clip below from YouTube, the narrator refers to the can of liquid solvent shown below as "petrol":

However, this container looks like the type we use in America to store what is commonly known as "lighter fluid," and is actually naptha. Naptha can be used as a solvent. Is the practice in Britain to refer to naptha (or other organic solvents) as "petrol" or does the word in this use mean something else?


texts: A google search turns up results for either.  The two are seemingly interchangeable. Which is it?  Does one see sights or see sites?


texts: Is a movie played in a theater or at a theater?

texts: Do we say a movie is being played in a theater or at a theater?


texts: I can understand the meaning of the phrase off to hell..., but I was wondering why, of all the possible vehicles that may have been chosen, it came to be in a handcart?


texts: Which is correct? .....as from today or from today onwards

texts:
I have a water filter in my office. It is broken.  I wrote a reminder telling the staff.

The word I would like to highlight is "as from" or "from."

  Water filter can only be used as from 1st March, 2016.

Is it grammatically correct?


texts: Is there bad grammar in Cinemark's "No Texting" warning?

texts:
The sentence in question is "Do not be the person we ask to leave the auditorium, because we will."  It sounds very wrong to me, but I can't put my finger on the exact problem. Nobody on the Internet has jumped on this, so I'm wondering whether I'm right about it being wrong.

The sentence comes from an announcement which is shown before every movie at Cinemark theaters (at least the ones where I live).  It's also on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgU2ue37hgY. The objectionable sentence is at 0:26.

My best description of the problem is that one of the two ideas that "because" is linking is missing. The speaker means "Do not be the person we ask to leave the auditorium, (and don't think we won't) because we will.".


texts: Help identifying clasuses, sentence structure

texts:
I'm a first time poster, so please let me know if I am posting in the wrong place! I am trying to break down the sentence structure of this sentence. Specifically, how commas are used in the following sentence-

When Annemarie flailed, sleeping, I was the one who always shook her until she sat up, sheet-tangled, still half-caught in her dream.

This is what I have so far -

When Annemarie flailed - subordinate adverb clause
Sleeping - ???
I was the one who always shook her - independent clause
until she sat up - subordinate adverb clause
sheet-tangled - subordinate adverb clause modifying the "until" clause????
still caught in her sleep - ????

Any help would be appreciated! This is from R.O. Kwon's short shory Helping


texts:
In Stephen King's "Salem's Lot" there is following passage (my emphasis):

  Floyd put the paper down. 'Devil worshippers in the Lot? Come on, Dell. You've been into the cook's pot.'

What does "to be in the cook's pot" mean?


texts:
As I have had explained to me at great length, wonder is intransitive.

That's fine, but it can seem to take an object:

  Jim: Yesterday I wondered what that mark on the wall was made by
  Dave: I wondered the same thing this morning

There you see wonder taking the object the same thing. This can be shown to be an object because it can replace an object for use with a transitive verb:

  Jim: Yesterday I took a torch to the caves
  Dave: I took the same thing this morning

It is clearly not an adverb there because *"I took quickly this morning" doesn't make sense.

This seems to work similarly with other intransitive verbs:

  This plant ages quickly in sunlight and that plant ages the same way.

In the sentence "I walked the same way" is the same way an adverb or a noun phrase? How about "I walked the same route"?

So is "the same X" adverbial in some contexts and an object in others? Does this type of construct have a special name?


texts: We say that something is easy (in Australia at least) by saying that 'it's a soda?' What is the origin of this please? Why soda?


texts:
In education, teachers may use the term "the district" when referring to the school district. It often has a negative connotation.

An example may be: "I heard 'the district' is going to cut all of our benefits to save money." I am looking for a word that I could use in a sentence such as:

  "Other generations of teachers are left feeling they do not have a
  voice, their 'people focus' is not valued by the _________ district."

Ominous does not seem quite right. It would be a word meaning dark, presumed to intend harm, faceless, cold, and uncaring.


texts: What do you call a person who talks about nothing but himself?

texts:
How to describe a person in a word who keeps mentioning about his own life story or about himself for every topic that is being conversed? Be it interesting or boring, he has the ability to pick out something that has happened to him or he himself creates a chance to talk about himself.

Edit: The person is not selfish. He does care for others. I am just saying that the person relates everything to his life and talks about it, that too not even in a conceited way. This person is experienced enough to relate everything to things that has happened to him.


texts: If you had a list of common words from Middle and Modern English, how many words would have been replaced?

texts:
If you compiled a list of common Middle English words and their corresponding Modern English translations, how many entries would have been replaced by an etymologically distinct word in Modern English? It's difficult to Google, since I just get articles on the vocabulary changes from Old to Middle English, which is not what I want.

By 'common', I mean concepts you would expect people to have a word for in both eras, like go, hand or red, and by 'replace', whether the default word is a direct descendant of the Middle English word in both meaning and form or if it was replaced by another word, either native or loaned.

So, tongue would count as retained, since it existed with the same meaning and use in Middle English. While dog would be a replacement, since while hound exists today and dog existed then, dog is the default word now where hound was before.


texts: What’s the word for doing/learning something in the moment although we aren’t good at it?

texts: We just have to do it because the situation demands so


texts: Another way to say "the end of our relationship."

texts:
I want to say "it's getting close to the end of our relationship" without using the word "relationship."

Are these both equally valid?

"It's getting close to the end of us."

"It's getting close to the end for us."

I think that these both might be equally ambiguous, but I could be wrong. I think "the end" could be misinterpreted.


texts:
Just before Christmas or New Years (and maybe some other holidays), companies organise a party for their workers. What do you call a thing like that?

In Russia it is so common that they have a special word for that. Sounds totally like a loanword from English — ‘Korporativ’ (noun) — because the Russian words don't have this word-formation, we don't even use the root ‘corporate’ unless it's very business-y.

Why I am asking this is because I can't look it up in a dictionary, that word 'korporativ' is not in dictionaries yet. And I hope it won't be. But really for now there is no other proper way to call a party like that.

PS Not necessarily a Single word


texts:
I read the following sentence in an online article:
'It means that every new word or terminology can be added in the database of online dictionary.'
I just wonder why not 'added to' instead of 'added in' because in the Oxford dictionary I cannot find any other preposition after 'add' besides preposition 'to'. Moreover, is it correct to use 'online dictionary' alone? Or it should be 'an online dictionary' or 'the online dictionary' or 'online dictionaries'?
Please help me. Many thanks.


texts:
I saw him kick the stone.

According to my reference book this sentence is grammatically correct even though the verb 'kick' is in present tense while the action has already happened.

If I write like this:

  I saw him kicked the stone.

Is this sentence still grammatically correct? Or we must use kick in present tense since the verb saw already clarifies that this is a past action? Or are both right?


texts:
Ex.

He threw the grenade, but it blew off part of his leg. He wasn't expecting any case of _______ damage, but that's what you get when you're reckless.

Is it "collateral" damage?


texts:
I need two words to describe the quality of some items - one word describing items of worse quality than the other.

I read this question, Bad or Poor more severe.  I'm uncertain if I fully agree with the answer about "bad" being worse than "poor", since poor people still can be good though...  Being economically poor and criminally bad, is something different than being of poor quality and bad quality.

I need two words to describe the quality of items - one being items of worse quality than the other - both being items of "bad" quality.

I was thinking of using "low quality" and "poor quality" - but I guess "bad quality" may also be an option.  The problem is that I'm uncertain if "low" or "poor" is the worse of them (I thought it low was higher quality than poor, but I may be wrong)... In any case, it's not obvious what's what.

So, should I use "low" and "poor", "bad" and "poor", or "low" and "bad" ?

What would be the ranging within the two ?

Is there perhaps another better word to be used with "low" (or "bad") - or another set of words alltogether?


texts:
I've always used "gender" when I want to talk about whether a person is male or female. But I came across this comment on a similar question here:

  Correct usage is "sex" for humans and other animals. "Gender" is for things like connectors and pipe fittings. People are just squeamish about the word "sex."

So which one is more correct and more importantly which one should I use? It would be great if you can base your answers on facts, references, or specific expertise rather than just personal opinions.

Note: I've already seen the question What is the difference between "gender" and "sex"?
but it does not answer my question.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  "Got it at" or "Got it in?"

When referring to a place, when does one use the preposition "at" and when "in" (such as "at school" versus "in school")?


texts: What adjective would you use for "unexpectedly delicious"?

texts:
As in the situation when you are expecting your food to be average, but it is really good.  "Yummy" probably doesn't cover it.

On the flip side, what adjective would describe food that is unexpectedly bad?


texts: Nothing's getting done today - is it present or future?

texts:
Is the sentence "Nothing's getting done today" present continuous?

Why is the verb get ending in "-ing"?


texts: Proper English for "started shooting anywhere"

texts:
What's the proper word to describe someone shooting anywhere around in order to kill as many as possible:

  The terrorists entered the room and started shooting ________, 5 were killed, 1 injured.


texts: Fourth type of conditional (past and possible)?

texts:
I learn that there are 3 types of conditional sentences:

Type 1 (present and possible): If I have money (and it's possible one
day), I will donate.
Type 2 (present and impossible): If I had money
now (but I don't), I would donate.
Type 3 (past and impossible): If I had had money (but I didn't), I would have donated.

What if I want to express something in the past that is possible, eg. If he had money before (and I don't know if he did, but it is possible), then he would donate?


texts: What are the characters called in a book

texts:
In English, we have words for the characters in something/the people acting something. An example would be "The cast of the film was very talented."

Would it be right to say "The cast of the book was...", or would this be incorrect as the characters in a novel are fictional?


texts:
I am translating a technical report from Chinese to English regarding the use of a computer program. I want to remind users to store their data in a specific format. Which of the following instructions is correct?

Be sure that the data to be saved should be in a specific format.

Be sure that the data to save has to be in a specific format.


texts: Does a relative pronoun really combine the function of a pronoun with that of a conjunction?

texts:
Oxford Living Dictionaries defines 'relative pronoun' as follows:

  (Originally) a pronoun which refers to an antecedent, as a demonstrative or personal pronoun; (now) specifically a pronoun which combines the function of a personal or demonstrative pronoun with that of a conjunction, subordinating one sentence or clause to another (e.g. who, which, that).

It's not just dictionaries that think of 'relative pronoun' as functioning as a conjunction as well as a pronoun; many grammars do the same as well.

But how much truth is there to the claim that a relative pronoun functions as a conjunction? (Note that I'm not asking here if a relative pronoun can also be classified as a conjunction, which @JohnLawler said it can't in his answer to this question titled "A relative adverb or a conjunction or both?").

At first blush, this claim sounds logical, for a relative pronoun indeed can come at the beginning of a relative clause as follows:

  She was a remarkable woman [who dedicated her life to research].

But if that who can be thought of as functioning as a conjunction merely because it comes at the beginning of a clause, then what about this who?

  I forgot [who I was talking to].

Here, the who is an interrogative pronoun and also comes at the beginning of a clause. But I've never heard anyone claim that an interrogative pronoun can function as a conjunction merely because it comes at the beginning of a clause.


texts: Is this additional information restrictive or nonrestrictive to my sentence?

texts:
Apologies if this is a dumb question, but I need it answering.
I have this sentence:

During my time at school, I volunteered to help assist a student in class in order to stay focused and not get into trouble.

Now, is the phrase "in order to stay focused and not get into trouble" additional information, or is it essential to the meaning of the sentence?
The sentence does, however, make sense when you remove the additional information, so does this mean there should be a comma before "in order to stay"?
Thanks.


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In many parts of the globe, some urban dwellers have stereotypes about the villagers being stupid, rude, uneducated, uncivilized, poor, etc. In worst cases, this amounts to a feeling of superiority similar to racism. Is there a word for such kind of discrimination?

Example sentence:

  Calling people uneducated and uncivilized just because they come from small villages is nothing more than {this type of discrimination}.


texts: Add one more level of indirection in ownership description: "Peter teacher's car"?

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If I want to describe a car owned by Peter, I will say "Peter's car".

But how do I describe the car his teacher owns? "Peter teacher's car" or do I have to be descriptive: "the car of Peter's teacher"?


texts: The meaning of "popped harmlessly" in a baseball game

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What does "harmlessly" mean in the following context?

  The unnatural silence was broken by the crack of Pujols’ bat, but the ball popped harmlessly into right field.


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My question is: is there flexibility in how one can punctuate the phrase "Why not?"

The answer may seem obvious at first...it is a question after all. However, it's also a common idiom, and I am wondering if that offers a choice in how it's punctuated. I became curious about this after seeing dictionaries, including Cambridge and Collins, using the phrase in example sentences sans the question mark:

  "Do you want Italian food tonight?" "Sure, why not."

.

  I said we were, too, so he said why not let him take us to dinner somewhere and then all come together.

The second example sounds especially wrong, and as if it's missing quotation marks. Of course, most dictionary examples of the phrase in a sentence included question marks. So are the provided examples above errors?

Edit: The first comment suggesting this is a possible duplicate links to a statement, not a question.