texts: Where is the subject in "as was traditional for unmarried women"?

texts:
My senior English teacher was a tad bit confused where the subject for was is in this sentence:

  As was traditional for unmarried women, Jane lived at home her entire life.


texts: Idiom for "obligation to give answers when you do not believe you have to"

texts:
Is there an idiom for when someone thinks you should or have to provide an explanation for something (such as when your neighbor asks why you keep your lights on all the time) when you do not think you have such an obligation towards that person or consider that attitude annoying?

Can we say, for instance, "I do not owe you an answer."? I need an idiomatic expression along that line.


texts: Is it grammatically correct to use "we" or "us" as well as the name of a group? e.g. "A meeting of we employees went very well."

texts:
Is "we + [name of group]" a grammatically correct construction?

Example:
"A meeting of we employees went very well."

Also, what about this:
"They gave donuts to us employees at the meeting."


texts: In which countries are sentence diagrams used in teaching English?

texts:
Until I watched "Weird Al" Yankovic's Word Crimes, I hadn't encountered a sentence diagram. (I was born and raised in Australia)

Are they only used in teaching English in the United States, or in other countries as well?


texts: What is a new coinage to describe the style of articles that starts with number such as “7 Things happy people choose to do every single day."?

texts:
I saw a new compound word of something that related with “number” and “article” that describes the style of articles that start with number such as "7 Things happy people choose to do every single day," “10 paragraphs about lists you need in your life,” and “20 things you need to know about Einstein,” in an article of today’s NYT, or Time magazine, or New Yorker.

Wikipedia carries this word as a compound of ???+aricle. I forgot what ??? was.

In other word, it’s an itemized style of writing under, for instance, Rule 1, 2, 3..

I thought it a very convenient word to describe “X number reasons, things, ways, tips for sucess, a better bargain, and persons who ....” style articles now in fashion, but, I forgot to note it down.

Could you teach me the word, if you can think it up, or have read the article?


texts: Science Writing: Placement of Percentages and Numerical Raw Values

texts:
I am editing a biomedical review article for publication and the authors would like to display the percentage value with the corresponding raw values from the data. How do I format this?

Example: "According to X report, 5 of 400 (1.25%) patients recieving CMV prophylaxis developed encephalitis."

Is this format correct?

I have also seen:
"5 (1.25%) of 400 patients"
"5 of 400 patients (1.25%)"

Any advice is appreciated!


texts:
Many Japanese textbooks of English mention the "feminine 'so'": the use of "so" for "very" is more typical of a feminine speaker. I don't think this is true in the US (I learned English living in Southern California and have now lived in the US for 10 years), but is it at all true in the UK? In other parts of the world?

Most Japanese textbooks teach American English, by the way.

[edit (responding to Mitch)]
I don't have access to textbooks, but some finds online:

Yahoo! answer Japan: http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q139835853
To a question about feminine speech, the feminine 'so' is the only example given. I think the belief is relatively widespread.

A blog post: http://ameblo.jp/yoakemae2/entry-11040928287.html
"昔は　feminine soと　よばれ、論理的たるgentlemanは　そのような
表現を　使うべきではないとさえ　言われていたようです。"
(Translation: "In the past, it was called the feminine so, and it seems to have even been said that a rational gentleman should not use such an expression.")
So perhaps this is only in older Japanese textbooks (like the infamous recommendation of "had better do" as a polite suggestion). Still, I'd be interested to see if there's any basis for it.


texts: What is the term for shaking one's head when your hair is wet?

texts:
I'm not a native speaker and just can't seem to think of the right term.
What I want to describe is the movement when you're, for example, swimming and you come up for air and shake your head as if you wanted to get your wet hair out of the way or shake off the water running down your face if that makes sense.
Similar to what dogs do when they're shaking off water.
I don't know how to paraphrase that.
Thanks in advance.


texts:
I have several times come across this construction in which the verb have is followed by the verb be, although normally be is omitted as saying just have is enough to convey the meaning. Are the following valid sentences?

Can I make a new account and have it be approved?
The whole point of HART is to have it be independent of politics.
Have it be easy.
We just couldn't have it be like it was last time, which was almost complete domination by them.

Is the "be" necessary in these sentences, or even correct? Could you please explain?


texts: "Flash (one's attention/eyes)" for "focus/direct (one's attention/eyes)", and "flash one's eyes at" for "stare with lust or passion at"

texts:
As far as your English variety goes, is it acceptable in every which register of speech and writing, and rather common usage, to say "flash" for "focus/direct (one's attention/eyes)", but also for "display/expose (a certain feeling)"?

Likewise, is it okay to say "flash one's eyes at someone" to mean to stare at someone with a glow of fire in one's eyes?

E.g.

They flashed their eyes at one another like teens...

The tigers and wildcats glared and flashed their eyes at each other...

And flashed their eyes at cruel but fundamentally decent counts...

I flashed my eyes at him...

Grandma Terrant flashed her eyes on her watch...

Sissy and Mom flashed their eyes on me...

All the other cats flashed their eyes on him...

I was just sitting here working and flashed my eyes on your last...

Hutch flashed his eyes on the door...

Napoli and Bayern Leverkusen have flashed their interest in the player...

Both flashed their attention to the bird...


texts: "Well" and "good" as applied to the quality of photographs

texts:
These photos came out well.

or

  These photos came out good.

According to the proper usage of well and good, the former would be describing the quality of the taking and developing of the photo; the latter would be describing the state of the photo as a finished product.

Are both of these acceptable?


texts: What do you call Xo-Y words? (ex: Judeo-Christian)

texts:
Is there a special name to call words like Judeo-Christian, following the construction Xo-Y?

(Same question for French)


texts:
Two words A and B are synonyms if they mean the same thing, and antonyms if they mean opposite things. But is there a word to describe the relationship where A means "neither B nor its opposite"?

  For example: "Indifference" means "neither love nor hate".

I would like to be able to use it in sentences of the form:
"What is a `neutralnym' for love?"

(The wikipedia page for the -onym suffix says that "anonym" is already taken, sadly, as this would have been a good neologism. That's why I used "neutralnyms" even though it mixes Latin and Greek roots.)

Edit: A further more example to illustrate what I am asking.

  right and wrong are antonyms, and ambiguous is a neutralnym of both.


texts:
A paragraph from Redemption Road: A Novel, by John Hart:

  People filed out. The big patrolman waited until the end and brushed Elizabeth with a shoulder as he passed. The contact was swift, but she felt it all the way down, a large man using his size. She watched him go.

What does "but she felt it all the way down" mean?


texts: What is it called when an antecedent noun follows the pronoun?

texts:
Here is the example that raised the question in my mind:

  He was splashing, enjoying the jungle's great joys, when Horton the elephant heard a small noise.

Here, He refers to Horton; but one cannot see that until one reads the rest of the sentence.  This contrasts with the normal placement of the nounal referent before the pronoun:

  Horton the elephant was splashing, enjoying the jungle's great joys, when he heard a small noise.

Of course, now the meter isn't nearly as pleasant, so that is presumably why the former was preferred.  However, it doesn't occur only in poetry.  What is this form called?


texts: Could anyone explain the meaning of the following sentence?

texts: "Systems generally need to fail safe in the open position with local means of disconnecting the power supply to the lock so that escape can be assured even if other circuitry fails to release the door."  It's about the design of electrical locking systems.


texts: Is there a word for the feeling that something is “off” about an overly pleasant group activity?

texts:
Is there a single word for the eeriness that you might feel when you're in a group activity that seems so pleasant, cheery, and safe that you can't help but feel like something's wrong?
The word should fit in this phrase: "Everyone is way too happy, and these streamers only add to the ____."
For example, you attend a child's birthday party. Every single guest has a smile on their face, everyone's chatting with each other, everyone's lively and happy. But it quickly begins to feel so false, artificial or superficial, like an illusion of pleasure. You abstain from interacting with anyone because they all seem like robots programmed for the facade that this party is, unreal or inauthentic. You feel disconnected. Perhaps this is "depersonalization", but the word I'm looking for would imply that this feeling was prompted by the merriment of the event combined with the fact that it was a group activity.
As another example, you observe a concert from the outskirts of its audience. Everyone's jumping around, laughing, and having fun. They might feel like genuine, real people, but you can't shake the feeling that everyone ought to be doing something else, something important, even if you can't pinpoint what that something may be. It's like everyone there is experiencing Peter Pan Syndrome. The idea that they're tiring themselves out by moving around so vigorously invokes a sense of pointless self-harm.
A third example: a VTuber excitedly sings a major-key, upbeat song, giggling off their mistakes every now and then. You notice a count of tens of thousands of viewers under their stream, one of which, for some reason, is you. You begin feeling uncomfortable, like this is all weird to be doing. You feel like an adult/teenager in a playpen, and you close the stream.
Basically, I'm looking for a word that means "eeriness" or "uncanniness", which describes the mood of each situation above, but implies that the source of this uneasy mood is the elation that the group activity would generally be expected to be received with.
Note: The reason the activities I refer to are group activities and necessarily not single-person is that the perception of many others indulging in the activity contributes significantly to the triggering of the feeling I'm looking to describe. Say the above examples occurred without crowds, and it was just you enjoying a song or video by yourself. You might be able to just stop, turn around, and engage in another activity as soon as your subconsciousness asks to move on, and you wouldn't feel any noticeable unease. In group activities, not only are you forced to continue witnessing people indulging in the activity, you're forced to witness them indulging together, and there's always a sense of enthusiasm and immersion in group pursuit that one may cringe at if they feel the mood I'm talking about.
Edit: I'm asking for a feeling, a notion, a descriptor of what one's perspective imposes onto a given situation, not an assertion of the intrinsic qualities of the situation, if that makes sense. For example, "dumb" allows that the quality it refers to may be imposed by the speaker's perspective, because the concept of dumbness must be defined in relation to its opposite -- things outside of what is being described. "Insincere" is not like this, because it's centered on intent, which is an intrinsic quality.


texts: She was forced ... torture to testify that. What preposition to put in the blank?

texts:
She was forced ... torture to testify that.

What preposition is the best choice for the blank? Different suggestion, such as by, under, and with can be find in the literature, which by being the most common, it sounds like under is the most idiomatic. What do you think?


texts:
I always thought the phrase "old school" was a rather modern, hipster invention. It turns out the term itself is rather old-school, with Webster reporting the first recorded use in 1803. But I'm curious where the term came from.

I can imagine it might be a shortening of "old school of thought" or something similar.

I could also imagine it having more colloquial origins, as possibly implied by Wiktionary:

  That teacher's old school methods aren't effective, they're just annoying.

Do we know the etymology of this phrase?


texts: What does the word "lines" mean in the phrase "tenure track lines"?

texts:
The resources in the language department of most major research universities were assigned to different languages a very long time ago; resources such as budget, space, and tenure track lines.

My guess is that, there are several candidates for a tenure, and they have to reach all sorts of required standards, so the lines refer to the standards of all aspects the candidates must reach. Is my guess right?


texts: Is there any difference between these two sentences?

texts:
What is the difference between "not a bit" and "not one bit"?
I thought they both have the same meaning, but I was wondering if there could be a slight difference meaning between those phrases.

For example, in this excerpt from Steve Jobs' speech
"the turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit."
Can I change the phrase "not changed that one bit" to "not changed it a bit"?

Another question, is "that" equivalent to "it" in the sentence?


texts: How to add a plural to a lower case abbreviation?

texts:
The average Arizona home uses 1,129 kWh of electricity a month or
  13,548 kWh a year.

kWh is an abbreviation for kilowatt hour. How do I express kilowatt hours? Maybe kWh(s)? It would look strange as kWhs.

Also,

  The average retail price for residential electricity in Arizona is
  11.90 cents per kWh.

Do I need the "per" kWh? Is the word per already assumed?


texts: Origin/Usage of "[word] is a [number] dollar word"

texts:
I've often been wondering where the phrase in the title comes from - I always picture it as coming from an early television era game show, but more likely it has to do with pricing of telegrams or news paper advertisements?

In particular, I'd like to know if there is a more subtle meaning to the numerical value being used; at least, moreso than "higher value means more sophisticated."

From memory, I've seen it used (at least) with 0.10$, 2$, 3$, 4$, 5$ and 10$. Which values are commonly used to indicate what? Would a native speaker intuitively spot someone who's just making up numbers (e.g. "8$ word")?

I've searched ELU and found a few usages, but no discussion about it:

Should I use 10 cent words or $2 words?

Is "autodidact" too obscure to use in a résumé?

Numbers and units

Are these phrases too posh-sounding for conversational English?


texts:
Inspired by my own answer to How would deafening as punishment be carried out? at worldbuilding.se, I was thinking about the phrase "tin ear", meaning tone deaf, or (Collins) an inability to perceive differences in musical sounds. Merriam-Webster has a deafened or insensitive ear, which doesn't fit their example (My wife is a talented musician, but I have a tin ear) very well.

We've discussed the meaning before but not the etymology.  There's some speculation at that last link about ear trumpets, and more here. Dictionary.com  has a few historical records, but I can't find anything definitive.

So: Where does tin ear come from?  Speculation I've seen includes:

Ear trumpets made of tin (this would seem more logical if it just meant deaf)
Tin (plate) as cheap and nasty
Tin instruments or dropped items made of tin sounding horrible
A tale of using a piece of tin on a morse buzzer to amplify the sound
Tinnitus


texts: Are "come round" and "visit" interchangeable?

texts:
Some friends will come round for dinner.

  Some friends will visit for dinner.

  Some friends will visit me.

These are OK, but "some friends will come round me" isn't OK.

The answer is simple, but it needs some thought.


texts:
I use sarcasm quotes like so:

  Let's ask the "expert".

But with a possessive noun, is the following the correct way, or isn't there one?

  Let's ask for the "expert's" advice.


texts: Term for the mental state of a new recruit

texts:
Is there a word (probably slang), that describes the slight state of shock common to new recruits in the first days (weeks) of military training, or the recruit suffering from that mild state of shock? I'm looking for a term that's slightly pejorative, but used in the understanding that the speaker has been there too. (The terms used in the Israeli Defence Forces for what I'm trying to convey translate as 'young' and 'open-mouthed'. I'm trying to express the same in English.)

I think I've seen "green" used similarly, in a Wild-West context (in a translation of Karl May), but I'm not sure whether it's used like that today.


texts: A word to describe something that is desired only because it is rare

texts:
By rare I mean either nobody else has it or very few people possess it.
I have seen veblen goods and snob effect. I use them whenever I have the need for such a concept but do so when I have time to explain it to the listener.
Is there an adjective or noun that anyone here knows that would describe anything to be desirable only because of its exclusivity?
On a different note, is there a word for the desire to own such unusual, expensive or unique goods?


texts: What's the difference between "another" and "someone else"?

texts:
1: If Henry is busy, get another person to help you.
2: If Henry is busy, get someone else to help you.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines another this way:

not the same thing, person etc, but a different one

However, in Longman dictionary of common errors it says that when you mean a different person/thing/place, use someone else instead of another.


texts: What's a word for setting up a mechanism to prevent you from doing something in the future no matter what you may say or do then?

texts:
Suppose I've a tough exam tomorrow and I plan to study all day. Knowing that I'm usually great at procrastinating, I ask my family members to keep a tab on me and to do whatever is necessary to bring me back to my books the whole day. And I tell them that they should not fail this duty even if I may, at a later time, ask them to stop doing this.

Or suppose I set up guards to keep me inside my home for the whole day no matter what I may tell them later. So when later that day I change my mind and wish to go outside, these guards will not let me out no matter how hard I try to make them stop doing it.

Is there a specific name for such a situation?

I've tried using self-lock, but that mostly has to do with physical locks that lock automatically. I tried self-restraint, but that means controlling my desires or avoiding falling into temptation, not exactly about setting up external factors to stop me in the future.

EDIT:

Thanks to Mazura, here's a quote from Young Frankenstein that serves as a better example:

  No matter what you hear in there, no matter how cruelly I beg you, no matter how terribly I may scream, do not open this door or you will undo everything I have worked for. Do you understand? Do not open this door.


texts: I've been asked to approve a bronze plaque reading "Capital improvements and renovation to this organ were made possible by...." The organ builders objected that "renovation to" is a barbarism. It seems to me that part of the problem is trying to use one preposition with two nouns, but in this case I'm not sure that the preposition works well with either of them.


texts: What does "The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier" mean?

texts:
I initially thought this quote by Geroge Bernard Shaw had something to do with some traits being valued in some arenas, but discouraged in other arenas. E.g. aggression is probably valuable in war or boxing, but in many other parts of our lives is a negative quality.

But I read it was about capitalism. I can't quite figure out why. The only linking I can make is maybe the quote is talking about greed or maybe interest on lones? I.e. finance takes in other people's money through interest.


texts: Why doesn't the that-trace effect affect the sentence "Who that knows him doesn't love him?"?

texts:
In the entry that-trace effect in Glottopedia, the following sentence is shown as an ungrammatical example.

  *Who did you think that would win?

But, I believe that the next sentence is grammatical.

  Who that knows him doesn't love him?

What is the difference?


texts:
A friend of mine uses both an exclamation mark and a comma in his letter salutations, like so:

  Hi George!,

I have never seen this before, and was wondering if it's grammatically kosher. Thoughts?


texts: I believe a stepchild is a child to a former partner. So, if it's your former partner with someone else, right? If your former partner adopted a child? What if for some reason you have a child with your former partner? Is that your step child or your child? I don't really understand how stepchild is defined?


texts: Does using 2 Present Simple verbs create ambiguity in their ordering?

texts:
One of the Facebook configuration features has the following label:
"If you don't want a Facebook account after you pass away, you can request to have your account permanently deleted."

My friend claims that this phrase is ambiguous, with one possible interpretation implying that one can have worldly wishes after death, i.e. "after you pass away you can request X" or "after you pass away you may decide that you don't want X" are semantically equivalent to the given phrase  or parts of it (which he finds hilarious for this reason).

Is it possible? Can this phrase be interpreted semantically in such a ridiculous way in terms of grammar? Or, perhaps, it should use different tenses to warrant such an interpretation, e.g. "If you don't want a Facebook account after you [had] passed away..."


texts: What preposition should be used in "Moving something __ M meters"?

texts:
I have four guesses so far:

  none, "on", "for", and "by".


texts: The conflicting origin of a “piece of cake”

texts:
Finding the precise history of the idiom, a piece of cake, is no picnic as I discovered.

According to the websites: The idioms.com and Bloomsbury International (a British language school), its origins can be traced back to the late-nineteenth century US.

  It is believed that this phrase was invented in the 1870s during slavery in the southern states of America. As part of a dance or celebration organised by slave owners, black slaves would compete in ‘cake walks’, performing a dance which imitated and subtely [sic] mocked the elaborate and ostentatious gestures of the white slave owners. The most elegant couple/team would be given a cake as an award.

The “prize” for best dancing African American couple was a piece of cake, ergo...

  The piece of cake that was awarded as the prize to the best couple/team, came to be known among the blacks as something very easy to obtain. (A sort of underhand and hidden insult to unknowing white ruling class.)

Now, I'm dubious whether slave owners and their families would generously share their dinner desserts with human  "property", but it could be possible, and I admit I know next to nothing of the traditions that were held in Southern-American homes before the civil war, but according to History.com slavery was abolished in the US in 1865.  So weren't African American slaves freed by the 1870s? Would slave couples continue to dance, and ridicule their "owners" (or "employers") in front of their very eyes?

The reputable site, Phrase Finder, suggests a different story

  This phrase is of American origin. At least, the earliest citation of it that I can find is from the American poet and humorist Ogden Nash's Primrose Path, 1936:

    "Her picture's in the papers now, And life's a piece of cake."

  The choice of cake or pie as a symbol of ease and pleasantry is well represented in the language. Other phrases along the same lines include 'as easy as pie', 'a cake-walk', 'that takes the cake/biscuit'.

Vocabulary.com suggests that the origin of "cakewalk" is much older and includes the following definition

  The Americanism cakewalk, used to mean "something easy," came first, in the 1860's — piece of cake wasn't used until around 1936. Both cake and pie have a long history in the United States as metaphors for things that come easily.

The search continues, according to American Heritage Dictionary, the idiom is British!

  Something easily accomplished, as in “I had no trouble finding your house-a piece of cake”. This expression originated in the Royal Air Force in the late 1930s for an easy mission, and the precise reference is as mysterious as that of the simile easy as pie. Possibly it evokes the easy accomplishment of swallowing a slice of sweet dessert.

The following question, Idiom origins: "Piece of cake" and "Walk in the park" and "Close, no cigar"? is related but was closed for lack of research and also I suspect for being too broad. Furthermore, the only answer posted cites the 1870s origin written by Bloomsbury International as supporting evidence.

QUESTIONS

Which of the sources cited above is closer to the truth?
Is there an earlier citation than 1936, as cited by Phrase Finder?
Is the idiom “piece of cake” American or British?


texts: Why do we say "I do not like that" instead of "I dislike that"?

texts:
I've noticed that when people dislike something (myself included), they often say they "do not like" it.

"I don't like that car."

"I don't care for hip-hop music."

"No, I don't really like Megan's dress."

But to say you do not like something could mean you also do not particularly dislike something.  If to not like something can mean mere indifference, why are we not more specific when stating dislike?

This question came to mind because of a conversation I had earlier this week:
 - "Trevor, what do you think of that car?"
 - "Hmm, I don't really like it.  I don't dislike it, but it just doesn't do anything for me."


texts: What's the term for siblings born 1+ years apart on the same day?

texts: What is the term for two siblings born on the same calendar day, one or more years apart? I know there's a term, and I'd know it if I saw it, but I can't for the life of me remember it.


texts: "I feel my heart go boom " or "goes boom"?

texts:
Which one below is correct?:

  I feel my heart go boom
  I feel my heart goes boom

And why? Thank you in advance!


texts: "Country + Market" & "Nationality + Market"

texts:
The title says it all, recently I was asked by a co-worker if the below sentence is correct:

  ... are not provided on products for the Japanese market

Typically, a standard usage should be:

  ... are not provided on products for the Japan market

So can we combine country's nationality with the word "market" and the outcome still has the same meaning as "Country + Market"?


texts: What is the proper emphasis for the word "indent"?

texts:
Does indent carry an accent on the first or the second vowel?

I've seen both in IPA. My non-native ear would tend to favor the first.


texts:
I came across this expression today and found that the term means to endure the hardship phase a man is going through without whining which is what is stereo typically expected from a guy. I went through the wiki page (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suck_it_up) but did not find why the word 'suck'was used in this phrase. I suppose there's a reference behind it in analogy to drinking something unpleasant and then dealing with the irritation it might create in the body. Otherwise, one could use other verbs such as 'hear' or 'eat' and frankly I don't see anything wrong with them. I would like to know what was the inspiration behind using the word 'suck' and what was the origin of this phrase?

EDIT: The possible duplicate question(What does “suck it up and go” mean?) tries to answer about origin which may or may not be true. There is no definite answer to it. Besides the question is mainly about the meaning and not the origin per se.


texts: I was just wondering if there a single English word or term that means "trust breaker" (that is, a person who breaks a trust).


texts:
What is the correct version?

  They have contacted me and discussed

or

  They have contacted me and have discussed


texts: Different meanings of "supported" software

texts:
Let's say I write a computer program for Linux. People pay me, they get this computer program and my support staff will "support them" using it.

There is different (well, actually many) different Linux distributions, such as Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, et cetera.

I build and test my software on Debian. I know for a fact that it works, and I will guarantee that. My support staff will help you resolve any kind of problem, even if it means that I have to fix my software. Legal obligations and everything. So, the combination of Ubuntu and my computer program is supported. Debian supports my computer program.
I do not test my software on Ubuntu, but due to the similarities between Ubuntu and Debian, I can reasonably assume that it works. So, Ubuntu supports my computer program. My support staff will do their best to help you, and we have every expectation that this combination works, but if it comes down to it, we can't guarantee this combination to work.
Gentoo is very different than Debian, and my software is not expected to work on it. So, Gentoo does not support my computer program.

Much appreciated!

The confusion is about the first two scenarios here. What terminology can I use to distinguish the two? Currently, I often end up describing the distinction in a longer sentence, and I would love for there to be a more succinct way to indicate these.


texts: How do you pronounce "GUID?" Is it one syllable or two?


texts: Clock-related terms starting with "C" and "F"

texts:
Are there any clock-related terms starting with "C" and "F"?
I have a pocket watch with these letters at the bottom, see the picture.

Here I found more examples:

https://i.etsystatic.com/25146363/r/il/8be430/2715628756/il_1140xN.2715628756_5oim.jpg
https://i.etsystatic.com/16309891/r/il/8c3f83/2394967974/il_1140xN.2394967974_hczz.jpg


texts: How do you diagram a sentence that has a nominal phrase that is described by an adjective using the Reed-Kellogg system?

texts:
I have the following sentence:

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend.

My understanding is that "holiday weekend" is a compound noun nominal phrase, since it would be incorrect to say "a nice and holiday weekend," or "a holiday nice weekend." "Nice" is specifying what kind of "holiday weekend" it was.
But how would you diagram this sentence using the Reed-Kellogg system? I believe that this is how you would diagram the sentence without the nominal phrase:

I hope everyone had a nice weekend.

but I'm at a loss as to how you would diagram it with the nominal phrase, and I can't seem to find any examples.


texts: Why and when did 'hendiadys' change from its original 'hendiadyoin' spelling?

texts:
The expression 'hen dia dyoin' was not used by Greek grammarians, but it is frequent among Latin writers.

Why did it come into English usage in this corrupted form?

Can it be traced through English lexicons?


texts:
I run comedy shows, and at these comedy shows there is always an "open mike" section.

Frequently I get people saying to me, shouldn't it be "open mic", because "mic" should be the shortened version of "microphone".

My case is that "mic" is not a short form, it's an abbreviation, which is different. It's not really meant to be a word, it's only used in conditions where the display of the word does not accommodate all the letters.

With an abbreviation, it is sometimes conventional to place a period at the end to convey that this is just part of a word. Like one would use approx. for approximately.

Mike is the correct short form, the same way "bike" is short for bicycle.

Looking around on the net, there is a lot of discussion, mostly heated, and there are a lot of proponents for "mic".

However, I don't think this is a democratic issue.

I believe the only reason "mic" has bled into spoken English and is mistakenly thought to be more correct than "mike" is because electronic equipment is widely used and seen. The space above a microphone jack is limited, and thus it is shortened to "mic", not to follow any grammatical rules, but just for space.

There is no similarly common and parallel situation for "bicycle", which is why we never see "bic" in place of "bike".

In order to make my case that "mike" is the appropriate short form for "microphone", I feel that one can look to the conventions of English usage that support that.

I would like to know if there are formalized rules for the conversion of words like bicycle and microphone to bike and mike. Or nuclear to nuke would be another example.

Also, the difference between abbreviation and shortening of a word seem distinct to me, but I find that when explaining this issue they are too synonymous and people don't see a distinction. Is there a better way to convey the difference?

Please note I am firmly in the camp that thinks that "mic" is wrong, I am just looking for linguistic terminology and etymological roots to explain it. It would take a stunningly compelling argument to change my position.

... Or maybe I should just say to heck with it and call it "open stage"...


texts: Why is "that" unaccented in some sentences like "We knew that the next day would be difficult." and not in others?

texts: I don't understand why in some words, the word "that" is accented, such as in "it isn’t that urgent." and not in "We knew that the next day would be difficult". Could somebody explain please?


texts: Antonym of "time-critical" or "time-sensitive"

texts:
I'm looking for a word or phrase to indicate that something does not need to be rushed/expedited. That isn't to say the subject is unimportant, but merely not sensitive to time.

I am using this to talk about spacecraft transit times to other planets. Human-crewed spaceflights are time-critical, since they consume resources every day in space. Cargo, on the other hand, doesn't need a strict timeline, so long as it arrives in a reasonable time frame.


texts:
I got this expression from a job recruiter , Keep warm.
I am confused what it means, does it mean that I have hope of getting it? or indirectly telling me to move on?

The following is the actual reply:

  Hi James Bond,

  blah blah Please keep yourself warm. My apologies for the queen is still processing earlier MI6 candidates and they are moving very slow on the interviewing process due to internal projects.


texts:
A sentence from the History of Western Philosophy (by Russel):

  "Almost all the questions of most interest to speculative minds are such as science cannot answer"

I got the rough meaning of it, but failed to analyze the last part.

The whole sentence could be reduced to:

  "Questions are such as science cannot answer"

There seems to be a clause here.
But is there something like such-as-clause?


texts: Generic word for uni-, bi-, tricycle, etc.?

texts:
Is there a generic word for bicycle-like vehicles that may have 1,2,3,4 or more wheels?

I want motorcycles excluded; only pedal-driven vehicles should be included.


texts: What's wrong with this sentence: "Who am I doing this task with?"?

texts:
Imagine that you are in a class full of students and the teacher is forming couples to perform some task. Let's say, for some reason, you didn't hear the name of the person you are going to do the task with.

I would ask the teacher "Who am I doing this task with?" but Google shows me that there is no such a sentence out there.

How would you express yourself in this situation?

Thanks a lot!


texts:
Example sentence:

  However much in earnest he might be, he had
  nothing of the single-mindedness that belongs to a fanatic. (221, Nineteen Eighty-Four)

The word "single-minded" seem to suggest a complete and one dimensional self-devotion to a single motivation. (Which is a great way of creating a boring antagonist if I ever saw one)

I am wondering what would be some of its antonym?

The following would not work:

half-hearted
lackadaisical

They would not work because they are specific to a certain action but does not characterize a person in general, and they show a lack of motivation, rather than a diversity of motivations.

Sentence to apply the word to:

  "You may very well think that I am a single-minded fanatic, but I am in fact just as complex and ___ as you are."


texts: Is "Generally, when I am at home, I am doing my homework," a correct sentence?

texts:
I am confused between these two sentences and could not identify which one is correct to say.

  Generally, when I am at home, I am doing my homework.

or

  Generally, when I am at home, I do my homework.


texts: A word sort of like "newsreel" and sort of like "propaganda rag"?

texts:
I'm thinking of those old U.S. wartime movie-theater newsreels that celebrated victories, but combined with aspersions and taunts on the enemy. "We're great and those guys are idiots." Not necessarily in film format like a newsreel; maybe a printed publication.

Example: The Mouth of Sauron Magazine, the ??? of Mordor, celebrates its victory at Minas Morgul and continues to mock the armies of Minas Tirith.


texts: Is there a word for beings that will eat other Sentient beings?

texts:
This wouldn't by necessity include OR preclude cannibalism, but certainly would be predicated on there being aliens (though humans might well do this). Most humans won't eat Dolphin or any of the other smarter mammals.

In particular I'm more concerned with sentient beings eating other species/beings that are self-aware and have language. For example if aliens landed and were okay with eating humans, but not their own species, they wouldn't be cannibals, they would be... what?


texts: I think "The man who I thought was thoroughly honest proved to be a swindler" is acceptable. But my book says the answer should be "whom"

texts:
I got this question from a book. In opinion both whom and who sounds correct. The Question is. "The man whom i thought was thoroughly honest proved to be a swindler."
But my book says the answer should be "whom".


texts: Can "guilty" be used to express remorse without preceding it with "feel"?

texts:
Example:

  The affair left her emptier than she thought, guiltier than she thought.

I'm hesitant to write something like that. Because I think guilty in these situations is usually preceded with feel (e.g. ...feeling guiltier than...)?


texts: Why is "like" as in Facebook likes often put between quotes?

texts:
I often see people use the noun with quotes:

  We have received a lot of "likes."

rather than:

  We have received a lot of likes.

Why is this done?


texts:
Are these sentences correct?

  I have changed the language of the question, so that you may understand easily.
  I have changed the language of the answer, so that you may understand easily.

Is this use of the word language correct?


texts: Usage of hyphens with numeric measurements

texts:
What is correct:

two 1-Gb links;
two 1 Gb links; or
two 1Gb links?

I suspect the first, however I do not know the name of this situation, which makes it difficult to for me to find via Google. I have found some examples of typical units of measure (cm, inch, kg, etc.) but nothing for units such as Gb and KB -- I suspect they should follow the same rules, but in practice I rarely see such units hyphenated.

Related

HYPHEN - National Geographic Style Manual
Punctuation Guidelines


texts: When is it appropriate to end a question without a question mark?

texts:
Basically, if I ask a rhetorical question, it's not really prompting for an answer.  Does that mean it should not end in a question mark?

Here are two examples:

"What's New" used as a title for a section.
"Who wants to reinvent the wheel." This is meant to be rhetorical, so is a question mark correct?


texts: What is wrong with "Where should this car be parked?"?

texts:
Why does Microsoft Word 2010 show an error for the following sentence?

  1. Where should this car be parked?

Word 2010 also suggests changing the sentence to

  2. Where this car should be parked?

Is the sentence (1) wrong? If yes, why? What about sentence (2)?


texts:
Context of problematic understatding

Find code components and tools for <task1>, <task2>...

All tasks and targets are IT-related, not coding (where "code components" are usable and understandable term) per se.

For me "code components" != "key components" (and I know|understand the latter form)

Extended context

  ... services easily integrate with 3-rd party tools for:

  deploy apps
  Find code components and tools for /different development-related activities  here/
  /another advantages/


texts: Saxon Genitive vs. Adjective Noun (Model Parameters vs. Model's Parameters)

texts:
The suggestions in this same forum say that the use of the phrase "the car's antenna" is correct.

Questions:

Nobody mentioned the use of "the car antenna" -- which to me would be much more natural, although not perfectly precise. It is clear that the particular "car's antenna" may be borrowed from e.g. a transistor radio, so that in that case "the car's antenna is a transistor-radio antenna". [Please correct all that is wrong here, and comment the use of the hyphen.]
I want to write a short and elegant title in a computer program that would describe "the parameters of a model". Is it correct to use:
2.a  The Model Parameters, or for short, and because it is in the title: Model Parameters;
2.b  The Model's Parameters, or for short, in the title: Model's Parameters.

By definition of the Saxon genitive, the more precise would be 2.b, correct? But when you Google "model parameters" and "model's parameters", you get about 3 millions for the (a) choice and 30 times less (a hundred thousand) for the (b). And I bet that most of the people wanted to say the same thing: "the parameters of the model", and were trying to abbreviate it. Was there anybody who wanted to say something like "the model-like parameters", or "modelish parameters" -- I guess no one!

The same thing applies to:

3.a  The user password;
3.b  The user's password.

Please comment heavily on the question 2. It would be nothing strange that most of the people just write what is common or simpler, but what woul the experts suggest? In cases like this, where the distinction is almost negligible, is it OK to go for the simpler solution. It also concerns another example from this pages: "The ProductName's Desgin" or "The ProductName Design".

Thanks in advance.


texts:
I am looking for the correct American English expression and spelling.

My particular context is that I am responsible for something precious, which I give to somebody else, who is then responsible from that moment on, e.g., I handed over the diamonds.

Would you say

I handed something over, or would you rather say I handed something off?

Also, would this transaction then be a handover, a hand-over, a handoff or a hand-off?


texts: What is the proper way to add or correct a word in another person's quote?

texts: I am trying to add a missing word in another person's quote.  What is the proper way to do this?


texts:
What is the term given to a conflicted reply within the same response?

For example, “Maybe I stole the money, but then again, maybe I didn’t.”


texts: "The answer is in the positive" vs "the answer is positive" vs "the answer is ‘yes’"

texts:
Is there any difference in meaning or appropriate usage between the following expressions?

the answer is in the positive

the answer is positive

the answer is ‘yes’


texts: What did we gain in return for the loss of phonemic vowel length from Old English?

texts:
In Old English, vowel length was phonemic, but stress and certain kinds of consonant voicing were not. In Modern English, that situation is reversed: vowel length is no longer phonemic, but stress always, and consonant voicing in most cases now, is.

My main question is . . .

Is there any connection between losing one phonemic property but gaining another?  Is there some sort of “conservation of phonemic axes” principle at work here that requires another axis of distinction to appear when one is lost?  Did this cause other effects, such as for example stress or voicing or something else becoming phonemic?

Old English represented 14 simple vowels using just 7 letters (a, æ, e, i, y, o, u) in paired short and long variants. This reminds me of how Latin had 10 simple vowels using 5 letters, again in paired short and long phonemically distinct variants.  But in the transformation of Latin into Spanish, that 10-vowel system was lost, leaving only 5 vowels remaining.  And yet, Latin’s predictable stress was also replaced with a new phonemic stress in Spanish; for example, término, termino, terminó are a minimal triple.

Did the same thing happen to Old English as happened to Latin, as the short-vs-long vowel distinction was lost but phonemic stress was gained, or is it completely unrelated?

There is one particular similarity between the transformation of Old English to Modern English and the one from Latin to Spanish: in both cases, phonemic vowel length disappeared but phonemic stress appeared.  Is this pure coincidence?

In Old English, stress was not phonemic because the stress was always on the first syllable except for verbs like forsacan (forsake) or behydan (hide) with a leading particle.   But in Modern English, stress is phonemic (compare record as a noun and as a verb), but vowel length is not.  Was this new phonemic stress in any way compensatory for the loss of phonemic vowel length?

Other notes

It was these two postings that got me thinking about the matter:

In American English, vowel length is almost always allophonic. Generally stressed vowels before voiced consonants are held longer than those before voiceless consonants (e.g, great ~ grade pronounced [greⁱt] and [gre:ⁱd]), and that perseveres even after voicing neutralization, as in grating ~ grading, pronounced ['greⁱɾɪŋ] and ['gre:ⁱɾɪŋ]. As Neil says, real vowel length is one phenomenon which helps the listener to decode speech. But in school, everyone is taught about "long A" [eⁱ] and "short A" [æ], and this has nothing to do with Modern English speech.  – John Lawler yesterday
The IPA transcriptions are US /ænt/ and UK /ant/. One can use a macron /ā/ or colon /a:/ for the UK one, depending on transcription habits, but vowel length isn't phonemic in any dialect of English, so a simple /a/ will do. I do think that questions and answers about pronunciation in a written medium should try to use standard English phonemic symbols. Otherwise, how do we avoid confusion? – John Lawler 3 hours ago

I notice that we do use vowel length a bit phonologically, even in diphthongs, at least those of us with Canadian raising, such as in the otherwise phonemically identical pairs ice cream and I scream, or writing and riding, where in each pair, the first diphthong is shorter and higher than in the second.


texts: When did the phrase "eat sh*t" enter the English Language?

texts:
I'm reading a book, The Known World by Edward P. Jones. It is a very well written book about Black slave owners before the Civil War, that is, freed slaves who went on to own slaves themselves.
The book is written with a lot of Southern and Black vernacular which I find very convincing. But I was really jarred on reading the following exchange in chapter 7:

“Where he say?” the man asked the boy softly.
“Georgia. Where your damn ears?”
The man touched both his earlobes at once and said, “Where they always been.”
“Well, act like it. He said Georgia clear as the damn day and you didn’t even hear him. You closer to him than I am and you still didn’t hear him.” For the very first time ever, Counsel missed the evenings with his family, Laura playing the piano, Belle reading to the younger children. Make up your mind, God, that’s all I ask.
“You can go eat shit, boy,” the man said. “Pick up your goddamn spoon and eat shit.”

I first heard that phrase as a teenager, and just assumed it was made up sometime shortly before or during my lifetime. Reading it in a book set in the mid-1800s felt like I had stumbled on an anachronism. I wondered when the phrase was actually first used in English (and thought, "I know the place to ask.")
I knew shit was an old word (as a noun, since 1580s, as a verb, even earlier then that), but how old is the phrase "eat shit"?
Marginalia in illuminated manuscripts were sometimes very irreverent, and I
have seen some with eating of feces depicted, so it seems entirely possible that this was not an unknown phrase. Also, Sir John Harington in The metamorphosis of Ajax: a cloacinean satire (1596) makes a punitive fantasy of coprophagia, in feeding "poore hungrie fellowes” "all the fat offerings" made in London's privies. So... it is possible that it's very olde.
I don't like vulgarity; please forgive me. I was just really taken by surprise by coming across the phrase in a very well-written book. I don't mean to bring EL&U down. But if Jonathan Swift can use the word in a poem, I think it's fair game here.


texts:
I have just found the following sentence:

  Especially is this true in the field of psychology.

I know the rule that says that whenever a sentence begins with an adverb that expresses negativity, it should come first the verb and then the subject. However, in this case, it does not seem to be the case for a subject-verb inversion.
Can anyone explain the grammatical reason why this sentence is correct? Does this inversion have to do with the adverb especially?


texts: If widowed aunt remarries, is her husband "uncle"?

texts:
My mother's brother's wife Louise has always been Aunt Lou to me; her husband, my Uncle Bob, died young, but we still called her Aunt Lou.

After many years she has now re-married. Is her second husband my Uncle Jim or not?


texts: Punctuating an Initialized/Abbreviated Last Name

texts:
What is the proper method, in American English, to punctuate a name that's been abbreviated to an initial? I.e., "Dr. S," if the full last name was something like, say, "Syzlowski," or someone named, say, "Tiberius," who prefers to be simply called "T?"

Specifically, would there be a period after the initial?

--

  "Dr. S.," she called, "there's someone here to see you."

vs.

  "Dr. S," she called, "there's someone here to see you."

--

  "He's not here," T. answered.

vs.

  "He's not here," T answered.


texts: A word for approximating to the nearest multiple

texts:
I'm wondering if there is a word that means to approximate a number to the closest multiple of x. For example, if I'm approximating to the nearest multiple of 32, then 24.7 would be approximated to 32 and 70 would be approximated to 64, etc.

Is there a more specific word than approximate for this?

Example:

  ...then I ****** the value to the nearest multiple of 32 in order to...


texts: which is correct "to be as flexible as possible" or just "as flexible as possible"

texts:
On our website's homepage we have the following sentence:

  We make our software to be as flexible as possible so you can maintain and visualize the data that is important to YOU.

One of my friends insists it should be:

  We make our software as flexible as possible so you can maintain and visualize the data that is important to YOU.

Which one of these is grammatically correct and why? Are both wrong?

In case anyone's interested, our beta homepage is http://intellectpersonified.com/


texts: Alternative word usage for "I have a degree in"

texts: In my resume, I'd like to say something other than "I have a degree in"  Are there other ways to state this?


texts: Regarding usage of hyphens for numbers with preposition

texts:
Here are few examples of hyphen usage I found (albeit on internet) for numbers with preposition in between. At the same time I find these without hyphens in similar usage.

#-for-#

[Barry] "Bonds went 3-for-4 and scored three times" ESPN
[Barry] "Bonds went 3 for 4 and scored three times" WashingtonPost

#-of-#

"The forward posted 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the floor and a solid 2-of-5 behind the arc." NBA
[Damion] "Lee went 2 of 6 from 3-point range." NYTimes

#-to-#

"Andover Hall is the early favorite at 2-to-1 odds, ..." NYTimes
"For instance the latest betting lines for UFC Fight Night in Cincinnati have instilled the favorite at 2 to 1 odds." Fox

So my question is, are their any rules of hyphen usage for numbers that are glued together with a preposition? If there is a rule, then a reference to the rule will be greatly appreciated.
The only rule that seems to exist is ... when it is used to describe a noun and the description is before the noun with the unit involved always in singular form (e.g. inch) like so.

#-by-#-unit

"Line the bottom and sides of a 13-by-9-inch cake pan with foil, ..." LATimes

I believe #-by-#-unit case falls under Rule 4 of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: Hyphens but I wonder if anyone will raise an eyebrow if the above example was written without hyphens like: "Line the bottom and sides of a 13 by 9 inch cake pan with foil.


texts:
Here's the scene. Jack and Angelica are in the captain's quarters on Black Beard's ship. They're both looking at a shelf full of bottles that have ships inside them. One of them contains Jack's ship named Black Pearl

Jack asks "Why is the Black Pearl in a bottle?"

Why does he say a bottle? It's quite clear for both of them which specific bottle the ship is in because they're looking at it when asks the question.


texts: Are spelling, punctuation and capitalization part of grammar?

texts:
Before I start, I know this question already exists:
 Do capitalization and punctuation fall under the category of grammar?

However, I would like to follow-up on it. This definition from Oxford Online isn't very helpful:

  The whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics.

Someone in chat used the above definition as evidence that spelling is indeed part of grammar, and that the answers in the other Q&A are incorrect.

So, are those answers incorrect? Are spelling, punctuation and capitalization in fact part of grammar?


texts: Can “however” be used in middle of a single clause?

texts:
(Sorry if this is a duplicate, but I really couldn't find a proper answer to my particular problem—either because it's been never answered that way or I don't know the proper term to search.)

However is usually used at the beginning of a statement. But is it fine to use it in the middle, like an appositive or adverbial phrase? Eg.,

Accepted version:

  However, my family decided to stay back.

My version:

  My family, however, decided to stay back.


texts:
The phrase "Too Clever by Half" is used to criticize someone for being overconfident in their thinking.

What is the origin of this phrase?

I read somewhere that it started as a backhanded compliment meant to imply that they are only half clever, but I couldn't find any corroboration.


texts:
In the following sentence:

  Furthermore, the tools require intensity data provided by an external software which, along with possible file conversion, increases the total execution time.

Should increase(s) be singular or plural?


texts: Term for advancement through medical anomalies

texts: I'm looking for a term to describe when a medical advancement is achieved through, for example, a natural immunity to a disease. For example, the Berlin Patient, who is naturally immune to HIV may hold the cure to HIV.


texts: A better word for "obstacle" when referring to a conflicting entity

texts: In context, I am looking for a word that refers to something that is in our way and inevitable, a conundrum. The sentence runs "It was there where I survived the greatest obstacle we will ever know. It was there where I survived myself." Obstacle doesn't follow the flow of the rest of the literary style. I want to make the work personable, relatable, and inclusive. I've considered "enemy" and "darkness," but again I want something broad enough to relate to every perception. Just a single word that could convey to anyone that THING that we've all had to overcome. Everyone sweats, what makes them sweat?


texts: What do you call that annoying toddler that whines about everything?

texts: You know that kid you see in a supermarket with his/her mom, and the kid is all like: "I don't like that", and starts to scream? What is a good word or slang term for that?


texts:
What is the way to say that something "should be done" in the past?

I know there is a "should have" structure, but it is used for situations, when something was to be done in the past, but it wasn't. E.g. "You should have called me yesterday. Why didn't you?"

So, would it be correct to say "It should have been done" in a situation when something was to be done and in fact it WAS DONE?


texts: "That" – Which of the following sentences uses correct English grammar?

texts:
Which of the following sentences uses correct English grammar?

Don't make me play games I don't want to play.
Don't make me play games that I don't want to play.


texts: Meaning and Correctness of "to have masses said for someone's soul"

texts: What is the meaning of "to have masses said for someone's soul"? I failed to find it in my dictionary. And grammatically, is it correct to say, "to have masses (which are) said for someone's soul"?


texts: Is it wrong to pronounce the second "T" in word "potential"?

texts:
Why shouldn't we pronounce the second "T" in word "potential"?
Any english rule about "t" in words?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  I can run faster than _____. (1) him (2) he?

Is it correct to say, "She's older than me" or "She's older than I?" I almost always hear people say the former (me). If I remember correctly my grade school grammar, though, the test to apply is to say the sentence out in full: "She's older than I (am old)." In that case, the subject form I seems to be correct.

I've often wondered and would appreciate a definitive answer.


texts: Is there a verb in "Possibly the more possible possibility."?

texts:
I uttered the phrase "Possibly the more possible possibility." and wondered whether or not there was a verb in it, and therefore, whether or not it was actually a sentence at all?

Did I mean "It is possibly the more possible possibility." and, therfore, the verb is "is" or "to be"?


texts: Suitable word to express the sign created by the pressure of a rope on muscle

texts:
Is there any single word to express the sign on muscle created by the pressure of a strong rope?

What would be the noun form? I mean the name of the Sign and the name of this process too.

And what would be the verb form? As elaborately I can say, cutting muscle by rope's pressure or whatever!(not sure whether it makes any sense or not)


texts: What word means "like a machine" in the sense of "precise or disciplined"?

texts:
What is a word that means "like a machine"? By this, I don't mean "robotic", nor "mechanical"—that implies stiff and repetitive, and I'm thinking more along the lines of how one would behave and carry themself. I want a synonym for "machine-like" that can be used to describe someone who is precise, resolute, and stoic. For describing something like, say, an army.

Example sentence: "He was so  incredibly disciplined, many described him as [x]."


texts:
In the preface of the What is life? book of Schrodinger, he said this in the first sentence

  A scientist is supposed to have a complete and thorough I of knowledge

What does I of knowledge mean? Did he mean eye of knowledge?


texts: Guess, second-guess, and higher-order guesses

texts:
I'm having a hard time understanding the difference between guess and second-guess.

From Merriam-Webster's:

  guess means
  1: to form an opinion of from little or no evidence
  2: believe, suppose
  3: to arrive at a correct conclusion about by conjecture, chance, or intuition

and

  second-guess means
  1: to criticize or question actions or decisions of (someone) often
  after the results of those actions or decisions are known; also: to engage in such criticism of (an action or
  decision)
  2: to seek to
  anticipate or predict

What's the difference between "to seek to anticipate or predict" and "to arrive at a correct conclusion about (a future event) by conjecture, chance, or intuition"? If there's not much difference, why prefix "guess" by "second-"?

Or if the prefix "second-" indicates some kind of "theory-of-mind", then would the word "third-guess" be understood as "to seek to anticipate the anticipation of a person A by another person B", and similarly for higher order guesses?


texts: Is "no better than" more of a kind of comparison or more idiomatic?

texts:
In one of my tests at school, there was this multiple choice question which asked students to choose answer having the same meaning with this sentence "Men hold no better positions in society than women do."

The answers were:
A. Women are in better positions in society than men are
B. Women and men hold the same positions in society
C. Men are not as good as women in society

The correct answer was A, but I'm confused between A and B, because I think "no better than" refers to "the same", not acts as a comparative adjective.
Can someone explain why A is correct?


texts:
Positive economics, that is, value-free theory, is contrasted with normative economics which is value-laden.

What is the etymology of positive economics?


texts:
Which of the following is grammatically correct?

  Even if ____, I probably won't be able to ____.

Could it be rephrased this way and still remain grammatically correct?

  Even if ____, I probably can't _____.

Is there a difference?

How about this?

  Even if I find the keys, I probably can't start the car.


texts: Is there a term for extracting a cultural element from its originating environment and placing it in a foreign and contrived context?

texts:
I have a nagging feeling there’s a word or term for this practice. The example that lead to this question has to do with a food truck.  A bar/restaurant in my city has apparently had an actual truck lifted onto their roof deck and they are converting it into a street-food vendor type truck… on the roof.

It seems likely that just building a kitchen would be much easier if the bar wanted to be able to serve food upstairs. So I imagine the current local trendyness of food trucks was a factor leading them to go to the trouble of this out-of-context application of one.

Food trucks as I understand it, arose naturally to fill a particular need (location flexibility, lower operating costs, less stringent regulation making it easier than starting up a restaurant?), and in this case, the truck is completely removed from the needs that created the thing (food trucks) in the first place. It seems to have been applied in this new context for novelty or because they’re now cool among the bar/restaurant’s target demographic.

I grant this is a bit of a fuzzy example but hopefully it demonstrates the idea.  The closest word I can think of is “appropriation” but I’m not sure that quite captures it. Is there a term for this?


texts:
Can you recognize that her lover is a woman from this part of the sentence?

  A doctor’s daughter hides her lover--

I am afraid you cannot, or you automatically think it is a man.

In my language, we use a single word for male or female lover, which is what got me into this situation.

Would the next sentence be more understandable?

  A doctor’s gay daughter hides her lover--

Would it be better if I use:

  A doctor’s daughter hides her gay lover–

Any other suggestions how to write this without that it is too much on the nose? Is there another, single word for a female lover instead of writing her female lover or gay daughter?


texts: Is there an adverb in English, meaning "with an interest"?

texts:
I would like to translate in English a Chinese phrase, whose literal meaning is "to do some action, led by an interest in some goal". On this account, I have been wondering whether there exists an English adverb that expresses the meaning "with an interest"?

For example:

He is an expert in the field that I have a problem with, so I am expecting his talk "with a great interest"...

or:

I researched your company "with an interest" and thus I came across your advert for ...

PS: The phrase, I am struggling to translate, means something along the lines of "If you want your life to be beneficial, live with an interest" (i.e. have an interest in something, follow some goals, seek, etc).


texts: Formal alternative for "on the other hand, ... on the other other hand ..."

texts:
On Stack Exchange, I sometimes come across argument constructions that follow the pattern

(On (the) one hand ...) On the other hand, ... On the other other hand, ...

The argument construction "On (the) one hand ... On the other hand, ..." is perfect for contrasting two arguments, objects, etcetera. However, since I don't have prehensile feet, the addition of "on the other other hand ..." seems rather unnatural to me. On Science Fiction and Fantasy Stack Exchange, some people say "on the gripping hand", but that sounds just as unnatural to me.
Is there an alternative to this linguistic Mexican standoff that can be used in formal contexts such as academic papers?
Below is an example from Cross Validated SE (emphasis mine):

I usually follow hierarchy but depart from it in some situations. (...)
On the other hand, you might still want to test for a speed effect because it might indicate that "break-in" effects differ at different speeds. On the other other hand, an even better way to handle break-in would be to get data at zero and at very low mileage and then test for non-linearity. Note that removing the intercept term can be thought of as a special case of violating hierarchy.

Below is an example from Just putting it out there: I still buy MP3s by Georgina Ustik on TNW (18 August 2019) (emphasis mine):

Artists are making more money on tour and via brand partnerships, something they can get through the seamless webbed relationship between streaming platforms and social media, than ever before. On the other hand, algorithms amplify music that’s already picking up steam, so it’s easy for new music and smaller artists to get lost in the ever-growing crowd.

But on the other OTHER hand, streaming platforms stopped the rise in music piracy à la sites like Napster, because of its higher quality and the promises of AI-driven suggestions, so they kind of saved the industry. But on the other OTHER OTHER hand, it’s now being reported that thanks to too many streaming service options, piracy is getting hot again.

Other examples can be found on Mathematics Stack Exchange (four hands), Electrical Engineering SE (four hands), Database Administrators SE (four hands, with commas between "other"), Open Source SE (just three hands), Meta Stack Exchange (three hands), User Experience Stack Exchange (three hands) and Academia Stack Exchange (three hands).
I am looking for an alternative construction that fits such long lists of "contrasts" and that can be used in formal writing.


texts:
There is this Reebok ad, "Life puts never in its place." What does it mean?
Does it mean that in life you don't put anything in its place? that you don't take the easy way out?


texts: Why do we say "odd" when describing numbers?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Where did the “odd” in “N odd years” come from?

When we speak about numbers, we usually associate "odd" with it. For example, "We have 70-odd people working for our company". Why the word "odd"? Clearly, it is not associated with the odd/even value of the number it is describing. What's the etymology of it?


texts: Is it common to say X color filled Y shape?

texts:
I ask this because I couldn't find any instance on Google.

Here's an example to illustrate the usage:

  The logo featured a cartoon whale drawn as a lower half-circle. Blue
  filled the shape, with a white grid that made it look like a globe.

Is this a common usage or a strange one? If it's the latter, what's a better alternative?


texts: Word for examining purchasing behavior of customers

texts:
There is a basic principle in economics that says as follows: to find out what people demand, don't listen to their words (what they claim to want) but rather examine their actual purchasing choices.
What is the term for this?


texts: We might say that someone who is exceptionally chatty can "talk a blue streak."  What is the origin and meaning of this phrase?  Is it generally insulting, or a nice way of saying someone is a chatterbox?


texts: Can "prior" be synonymous with "former" in this context?

texts:
Earlier this week someone I was talking to insisted that it's acceptable to use "prior" interchangeably with "former" in the context of "former vs. latter," i.e. to mean the first item of two things listed.

For example, "I had to go to the store and pick up Jimmy from school, but I skipped the prior because the latter was more important." This didn't sound right to me, but the Oxford thesaurus lists "prior" as an antonym to the second definition of "latter," which is "denoting the second mentioned of two things." Thoughts?


texts: How would you make this sentence active?

texts:
A grammar checker is saying this sentence is passive:

When building a house, for example, you use a symbol for a door instead of drawing a detailed picture of the exact door you want, knowing details like that will be figured out later (probably after quite a few arguments).

I'm trying to keep a very casual tone for a very technical topic. "be figured" reads fine to me. I'm unable to come up with something I like better. I'm stumped. Anyone suggestions?
thanks


texts: In differentiation as in dy/dx what do you call y and x?

texts: Like numerator / denominator, but for differentiation.


texts:
"The match has got delayed" - Can we use "got" rather than "been" in this sentence?

Thanks


texts: What is a Word for a Story Which has a Large Fan-Base?

texts:
Lord of the Rings and Star Wars share many characteristics. They are stories, have richly developed worlds, and are backed by thousands of fans. Beyond the normal fans, you have nerds who can speak Elvish, or list the systems of a galaxy far, far away. But what do you call a story with such a following? What is a word for a story so popular that it can claim nerds amongst its followers, and interest in it only increases during a 32 year gap?

I would like to ask a question on Writers SE about if there are any tips for generating such a following. However, I would like to know what to call the kind of story I'm asking about. Hence this question.

Some example sentences (I've included two because the word could be a noun or an adjective):

  Star Wars is a ___ (story so popular interest never dies).

  Star Wars is a ___ story (one so popular interest never dies).

Note: In the event that there is no single word, I'm open to suggestions on how best to describe such a story.


texts:
On Wikipedia, there is a list of phonetic vowels and their average 1st and 2nd formants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formant#Formants_and_phonetics

Throughout the web are many more of such charts with varying frequencies.

So obviously some amount of tolerance exists, but I don't know what it is, nor do I think I could really come to a strong conclusion using the data I have.

What is the tolerance on formants?

P.S. if you know of a better formant chart than the one on Wikipedia, please share.


texts:
Here's a well-liked comment under a YouTube video, complimenting the creator:

This man is an absolute joy to watch do literally anything.

Although YouTube likes is not an indicator of grammatical accuracy, it got 600+ likes in 2 hours. The grammar isn't immediately jarring but the consecutive verbs "watch do" stood out to me. I looked up catenative verbs followed by bare infinitives but that wasn't satisfying -- most of the examples refer to a single person, for example

I helped pack her bags.

I can't go watch the movie.

However, in my example, the audience (or at least the commenter) is doing the "watch[ing]", while the YouTuber is "do[ing] literally anything".
Is it or is it not grammatical? Why? If so, how would you make sense of it? If not, how would you rephrase it without changing the meaning?


texts: Can I use 'rather adjective to' instead of 'too adjective to'?

texts:
My question is contained in the title: can I use 'rather (an adjective) to' instead of 'too (an adjective) to'?

To convey a weaker tone than a sentence such as 'Its implications are too various to outline in this short preamble', can I write like this: 'Its implications are rather various to outline in this short preamble'?

Thank you all in advance.


texts: "My dread lord" or "Dread my lord" in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2

texts:
Here's from Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2

What wouldst thou have, Laertes?
Laer.
My dread lord,
Your leave and favour to return to France;

This text is from the second quarto(Q2).
In the first folio(F1), "My dread lord" is replaced by "Dread my lord".
I checked three different annotated texts edited by Harold Jenkins, Philip Edwards, Dover Wilson respectively. All of them adopted "My dread lord".
I wonder why.
I think "What wouldst thou have, Laertes?" and "My dread lord" or "Dread my lord" make a (reverse) iambic pentameter.
If so, it seems to me that "Dread my lord" is more suitable.


texts: What does idiom 'hippo in a haystack' mean?

texts: I am aware of idiom 'needle in a haystack' which means something hard to get. Is 'hippo in a haystack' opposite of it?


texts: Listing quoted sentences: separate them with a semicolon, comma, period (or none)?

texts:
I am completing a manuscript for my recent book. I would love to know whether I need to put a comma, semicolon, or other form of punctuation (or none) in-between these quoted sentences.

The examples are below. Which one of these sentences is correctly punctuated?

  For example, you could choose to say, "Thank you, you are very kind. I
  will let you know"; "I appreciate your offer, but I've made a decision
  already"; "Thanks! I'll think about your offer for a few days and I'll
  get back to you."

  For example, you could choose to say, "Thank you, you are very kind. I
  will let you know," "I appreciate your offer, but I've made a decision
  already," "Thanks! I'll think about your offer for a few days and I'll
  get back to you."

  For example, you could choose to say, "Thank you, you are very kind. I
  will let you know." "I appreciate your offer, but I've made a decision
  already." "Thanks! I'll think about your offer for a few days and I'll
  get back to you."

Which of these are correct? Notice how the first paragraph has a semicolon, the second has a comma, and the third has a period within the quoted text.

I'd love to hear your expert knowledge!


texts:
I am considering writing a story whose narrator is a Siri-like AI device.  In other words like an automaton, but without a physical body or any ability to manipulate the physical environment (short of, say, adjusting a networked thermostat).

However, the definitions of automaton that I find describe it as meaning, first and foremost a mechanical device, vs being an "intelligence" with no overt physical form (outside of perhaps a cellphone case).  Robot, cyborg, et al suffer from the same problem.

So, what is a word (or simple phrase) that describes an artificial intelligence with no physical presence?


texts: Does anyone pronounce caricature with the emphasis on the 2nd syllable rather than the first?  Example:  caRIcature vs. CAricature


texts: Difference between "size" and "magnitude"

texts:
Following the comments to this answer to another question, what is the difference between size and magnitude?

I know there's a difference, but can someone put it in a nutshell for me?


texts:
Is it correct to place two commas in this sentence?

  New York City plays a significant, albeit previously neglected, role in the urban narratives of [...].


texts: Media writing: beginning sentences with coordinating conjunctions

texts:
I understand that in many contexts it is appropriate to begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction, and I am aware that variations of this question have been asked here many times. Mine, however, is specific to media writing style.
Do any of the common U.S. media writing style authorities (AP Style, When Words Collide, etc.) have a stance on whether or not this is acceptable? I feel like it would be acceptable in a less formal story like an op-ed or a feature, but not in hard news.
I found a blog post that explains pretty well when you should substitute a conjunctive adverb, but I'm not sure whether writing for a newspaper (let's assume it's an established daily) falls under the umbrella of the "very formal contexts" the author mentions.
I know a lot of this comes down to the publication/editor, and I would ask my editor instead of coming here, but I'm just a copyeditor at a student paper and I don't really have anyone to ask.


texts: What is the meaning of 'call out' in this sentence?

texts:
What is the meaning of 'call out' in the following sentence?

  [W]e must call out bad behavior, including that of the corrupt regime in Tehran.

from an article 'It's Official: North Korea is behind Wannacry' in WSJ.
Unfortunately, the dictionary I use, The New Oxford American Dictionary, does not give the usage of 'call (something) out' as in the above way though it has a section for 'call (someone) out'. To me, 'call out' seems an idiom.


texts:
Do and and or have any particular precedence as they do in programming languages?

What does the following sentence mean?

  Will it be cold and rain or snow today?

  Will it (be cold and rain) or snow today?
  Will it (be cold) and (rain or snow) today?

Is the sentence completely ambiguous?


texts: Why can't we geminate affricates in sentences when talking?

texts:
I read a book which said that if we link affricate sounds when talking, people would misunderstand the meaning of the sentence. But why?
For example:

"orange juice," the j sound should be pronounced twice.

"which chair"

Why can't we link two affricate sounds?
Why does linking two affricate sounds cause misunderstanding?

Ref mentioned the same thing.

The j sound /ʤ/ and ch sound /ʧ/ are the only affricate sounds in English. In a sequence of identical affricates, no special linking occurs and the sounds are pronounced twice in a row.


texts: What do you call your nephew's wife? My niece? My niece-in-law? My nephew's wife?


texts: Is "Sisyphean achievement" a contradicting statement? What does it mean?

texts:
I read someone use the term "Sisyphean achievement", and I wasn't sure what that meant so I found what "Sisyphean" means in modern language: "(of a task) such that it can never be completed."

Thus I thought maybe the person wanted to sound fancy and misused the word. However, a Google search shows up with books and other works using the term "Sisyphean achievement".

And so my questions are, I) Isn't "Sisyphean achievement" a contradiction? and if not, II) What does it actually mean?


texts: What is a "sounds like" thesaurus called?

texts:
A dictionary contains word definitions.

A thesaurus contains words that mean the same (synonyms).

I'm looking for a name for a word dictionary that will give you rhymes (or "sounds like") of a word.

For example:  rhyme -> crime, prime

or, "rhyme" with "lunchtime".

What is this called and are there dictionaries or software or databases that contain these linkages?  I'm aware (for computer programmers) there is an ability in MySQL to run a sounds like query.


texts:
Good afternoon!
In Spanish, some people tend to say: "fulanito es muy psicólogo". How would you say  in English that a person is "muy psicólogo o psicóloga"?
Thank you very much in advance.


texts: Better way of saying “national character”?

texts:
Is there a better way to express what is meant by “national character” or is there a good term that gets close to the German word “Volkscharakter”? I'm looking for a word that captures “the true identity (whatever that means) and ideosyncracies of a nation” or something like that, and I'm wondering if there actually is one.

If not, might it be that “Volkscharakter” does not need to be translated? Can you use it in English just like “Kindergarten” or “Schadenfreude”?


texts:
The belief that violence has increased suggests that the world we made has contaminated us, perhaps irretrievably. The belief that it has xxi decreased suggests that we started off nasty and that the artifices of civilization have moved us in a noble direction, one in which we can hope to continue.

The "XXI" in capitals mean 21 in Roman numerals, but I don't think the lower-case letters "xxi" here also refer to 21. It seems that the sentence is well understood if the "xxi" is removed. What does the very word mean here?
Thank you.


texts: "Component for growth" or "Component of growth"?

texts:
"Gaining funding is a key component for growth"

"Gaining funding is a key component of growth"

Which is correct? If they are both fine, which is better?

Thanks!


texts:
When I am referring to something that has occurred yesterday evening as I was falling asleep (continuous action, it took place while I was falling asleep), but it is no longer occurring and I am no longer falling asleep nor asleep, is it alright to use "having had fallen asleep"? It seemed correct when I used it, but I am having doubts now since it sounds so shabby.
Thanks!
to specify the sentence: "It's still healthier than my having had fallen asleep to this. [a link to an online debate]"
P.S.: I did try to look it up, but I am still uncertain.


texts: It's tough to find synonyms for whole phrases as opposed to single words. I'm trying to think of at least a couple for "walking on thin ice." So far the only one I've come up with is "playing a dangerous game" and it's a little more on the...harsh? side than what I'd wanted. Can anyone else think of anything?


texts:
Just curious, normally if a person is not appreciating another person that's helping him, the person can tell him to show some gratitude. But how about "grow some gratitude"? It implies the person has no gratitude at all and have to undergo natural development by changing physically or psychologically to develop the quality of being thankful.

Will people think I am strange if I tell them to "grow" some gratitude?


texts: Subject Verb Agreement when everyone in a group owns a collective noun?

texts:
If there is an uncountable noun, then a singular verb is used.

  The equipment was stolen.

What if everybody in a team has some equipment and some of the equipment was stolen?

  1a. The equipment of each team member was stolen.

sounds more right than

  The equipment of each team member were stolen.

What if only five team members had their equipment stolen?

  2a. The equipment of five team members was stolen.

or

  2b. The equipment of five team members were stolen.

Also, does it change if it becomes a countable noun instead of an uncountable noun?

  3a. The towels of five team members was stolen.

as opposed to

  3b. The towels of five team member were stolen.


texts: I believed I use to see that the symbols: " and ' were abbreviations for time... is that still the case? I am trained as an Engineer or it is possible that I am confusing it with the longitude/latitude. I know that they are symbols for height.


texts:
In order for us easier to perceive non-humans have agency...

Is this sentence correct? If not, what's the correct one? I am confused where I should put the word easier in that sentence.


texts:
I'm curious why a chunk of binary data is called image?

Like disk image, boot image, Linux image, flash image, etc.

In my brain, image is something two-dimensional, but binary data is a one-dimensional octet flow.


texts:
This is an IELTS Reading True/False/Not given questionpicture.

Steam ships posed a growing threat to clippers, as their speed and cargo capacity increased. In addition, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the same year that Cutty Sark was launched, had a serious impact. While steam ships could make use of the quick, direct route between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, the canal was of no use to sailing ships, which needed the much stronger winds of oceans, and so had to sail a far greater distance. Steam ships reduced the journey time between Britain and China by approximately two months.

If you read the paragraph, it states that steam ships "posed a growing threat to clippers" and "...the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the same year that Cutty Sark (this is a clipper) was launched, had a serious impact". Although the last sentence mentions that the journey time reduced by approximately two months, it does not state whether it made the steam ships faster than clippers. Therefore, I answered this as "Not given". However, the answer keys say that it is "True". I can't figure out why it is "True"?


texts: Acceptability of relative constructions that include relativized pronouns, e.g. "the man who I wasn't sure where he had gone"

texts:
In informal spoken English, one encounters sentences like this:

  ?That's the man who I wasn't sure where he had gone.

This construction doesn't strike me as quite right because it sentence includes not only the relative pronoun who but also the relativized pronoun he. In more typical relative phrases, the relativized element is deleted: _That's the man who was lost, not *That's the man who he was lost. In who I wasn't sure where he had gone, though, the relativized pronoun is in a nested relative clause introduced by where, which inhibits the deletion: *That's the man who I wasn't sure where had gone doesn't work. If the nested relative clause is introduced by that, one can't delete the relativized element and preserve that: That's the man who I thought was lost or ?That's the man who I thought (that) he was lost, but not *That's the man who I thought that was lost. But where, like most subordinators but unlike that, cannot be omitted when it introduces a relative phrase.

There's often no good alternative to these constructions, though. My ?who I wasn't sure where he had gone example might be recast as That's the man whose whereabouts I wasn't sure of, but this means something subtly different and requires turning the simple verb gone into the clunkier whereabouts. (Many alternatives to these constructions require changing the secondary relative clauses into verb nominalizations, similarly, and any good style manual warns against overuse of verb nominalizations.)

So, two questions: (1) Are constructions that repeat relativized elements in relative phrases ever acceptable in formal writing? (2) If not, am I missing a good standard method of recasting these constructions as something unambiguously grammatical?


texts: "Fresh water" and "Sweet water" - are these phrases completely equivalent?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  “Freshwater” as opposed to salty water

I know that non-salt water is called fresh water.
But also from time to time I've seen the expression sweet water, for example:

  Lake Geneva is smaller than many other European lakes, however, with
  its average depth of 153 meters, it is unusually deep, and happens to
  be, by volume, the largest sweet water reserve in Western-Europe.

Can we claim that these two expressions are completely equivalent?


texts:
I would appreciate your help phrasing the following:

  I am looking for elements
   which/whose/... size/sizes is/are relatively large.


texts: Can any old loud noise be called stentorian?

texts:
In his book about monsters, "The Foundling," D. M. Cornish describes the arrival of an ettin or giant: "Suddenly the whole forest seemed to burst with a stentorian cracking."

A voice can be stentorian, of course, and I could imagine a stentorian trumpet, or perhaps a heavy truck passing in a stentorian roar.

I'm not sure that pine trees snapping like matchsticks sound stentorian.

Can a loud sound of any quality be called stentorian?

For example, "A stentorian gun shot seized the rioters' attention."

Perhaps stentorian does not imply anything about the sound except that it can be heard over any accompanying din, even in the absence of a din, and perhaps that it commands attention.

"We were lolling about when our reverie was broken by a drinking glass striking the tiles with a stentorian crash."

To what extent are those accepted usages? (pun alert)

"You must have the angioplasty!" said Tom stentorianally. The Internets also like stentorially. "That tie is so loud it's stentorian."


texts: Single word for something that is 'sound producing'

texts:
I need a single word for "sound producing".

What do you call something that produces sound?

Example: Radio is ___________ (sound producing) but I need a single word.


texts: What does "life-sentenced quality" mean?

texts: All I hear is how they argue -- the spite and anger in the man's voice, the life-sentenced quality of the woman's voice.


texts: Why is the word "Cyrillic" pronounced with a soft "c"?

texts: Why is the word "Cyrillic" pronounced with a soft "c" at the start of the word, when the pronunciation of the word in Russian and Mongolian sounds more like a hard "c"?


texts: My manager is a pretty moody woman. Whenever she feels annoyed or doesn't like what you are doing, she would show her displeasure on her face right away. By reading her face, you would know immediately if she is happy or if you should stay away. If she "wears" a grumpy face, you better learn to behave. In Chinese, if someone has a grumpy look, we say he/she is showing the colour or his/her face. Is there something in English that has the same meaning?


texts: Is there an adjective that means "under development"? I need one for a document title

texts:
The title of a template document I'm translating is quite long and goes like this:

  Comparison of the formulations of the drug under development Trade name (INN), dosage form, strength, manufacturer, country and the reference drug product Trade name (INN), dosage form, strength, manufacturer, country.

In Russian it reads just fine, but I'm unsure about the "drug under development" bit in English. Isn't it clumsy? In Russian, the notion is expressed by a single adjective, разрабатываемый (razrabatyvayemyi = being currently developed). The drug is being developed by the company I'm translating the text for.

Is there a way of expressing it in an adjective or adjective phrase in English? The adjective developed would mean that the drug has already been developed, and this would be quite off the mark for my purpose.

I'm thinking of making the whole "drug under development" a parenthesis - for instance, by surrounding it with commas or round brackets.

  Comparison of the formulations of Trade name (INN), dosage form, strength, manufacturer, country (drug under development) and Trade name (INN), dosage form, strength, manufacturer, country (reference drug product).

The original title  in Russian:

  Сравнение составов разрабатываемого лекарственного препарата «Торговое наименование (МНН), лекарственная форма, дозировка», производитель, страна
  и референтного лекарственного препарата «Торговое наименование (МНН), ЛФ, дозировка», производитель, страна


texts:
What are the differences between the terms "How come ... we eat breakfast?" and "Why ... do we eat breakfast?"

The words phrase based in how seems really awkward to me, and I don't understand this convention.


texts:
I am not an English native speaker, and I have a question about the following sentences:

I believe that Mary will arrive tomorrow. (grammatical)
*I believe Mary to arrive tomorrow. (ungrammatical)

Why can't we say "I believe Mary to arrive tomorrow"?

I believed (that) he was honest. = I believed him (to be) honest.

My dictionary says that both sentences are grammatically correct, so I am really confused.
When can I use "S (subject) V (verb) O (object) OC (objective complement)" structure with the verb believe?


texts:
In a preview for an upcoming episode of the American TV show Graceland, it appears that one of the main characters is a heroin addict — but not of his own free will. What I mean by that is the original dose of drugs was forced upon him, causing the eventual addiction.

Is there a word for this? The first thing that came to mind was something like “Addiction Rape” or “Drug Rape”, but that feels more like rape committed on a drugged person. Any suggestions?


texts: Two company names joined with & - singular or plural

texts: AFMA & PFI invites you to attend the joint closing meeting... (or invite?)


texts:
In New York Times (March 22) article titled, “Palmy days for Jerry,” Maureen Dowd
interviews former California governor, Jerry Brown who was once the rival of Bill Clinton, and quotes his latest assessment of his old nemesis:

“In retrospect, after we see all the other presidents that came
afterwards, certainly, Clinton handled his job with a level of skill
that hasn’t been met since.”  And could he see his old nemesis Bill,
who endorsed Gavin Newsom for governor instead of Brown in 2009, as
First Lad?
“Wherever he is, he will fill up the room, that’s for sure,” he
replies. “He has a lot of  political energy.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/dowd-palmy-days-for-jerry.html?hp&rref=opinion

I see “first lady” and "first husband," but I can’t’ find the word, “first lad” in any of CED, OED, and Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
What does “first lad” mean? Is it the same with the first husband, or does it mean  a "top-notch person"? Is this a common word?


texts: Is there a word for "a variety of breakfast foods"

texts:
My native tongue has a word for a specific kind of breakfast where you ask for "a little bit of everything in the middle" or "breakfast of variety" and you get, for example, cooked eggs, jam, butter, honey, some olives, a few types of cheese, some slices of cucumber, cherry tomatoes, some bread and of course tea.

Yes there is a specific word for it ( for indexing purposes: serpme )

I'd like to know if there is a synonym for such a word in the English language.


texts: What words describe the relation between "dollars" and "cents"?

texts:
A dollar can be divided up into 100 cents.

A Swiss franc can be divided into 100 rappen.

What are the words that describe these units (dollar vs cents or franc vs rappen)? I found out that currencies that are based on the decimal system are called "decimalised" currencies. But I did not find a word to describe the "base unit" and the "sub unit" for arbitrary currencies.

Usage example: "This number describes <x>, but it needs to be converted to <y>".


texts: whats the part of speech of "gathered" in this sentence?

texts:
In this sentence:

  We are gathered here today.

What's the part of speech of "gathered"?

Is that sentence a simple present passive voice?
If yes why do we use "today"!?
Today is a signal word for present perfect.
And also simple present refers to routines, but in this case..?

Thanks for your help.


texts:
Is it wrong to say: "I had learnt that long back"?
Is it more apt to say "I had learnt that long ago"?


texts: As Charles Fillmore showed, deictic ambiguities abound, but some jokes are based upon them. There's Fillmore's own, "I read War and Peace while she talked to her mother on the phone," and with apologies to Fillmore there is Hannibal Lector's,  "I'm having an old friend for dinner." In terms of the dreaded SAT exams, my question is  "Pun : Conundrum :: a-joke-based-on-deictic-ambiguity : ______.


texts: How to say that someone views others through stereotypes?

texts:
Alan thinks all Chinese people are bad drivers.

How to complete the following sentence about Alan.

  Alan ------ to/toward/about Chinese people.

Is stereotypical, has stereotype, look stereotypically, or ?
Also about the preposition: to, toward, about, or ... ?

As far as I could research, none of the above suggestion are highly popular on the web. "to have stereotypical attitude" are used too, but I don't know if it is good. I want to know the most idiomatic way to say such a sentence using "stereotype" or related words.


texts: Is "Reverend" a title, honorific, style or merely an adjective

texts:
Is it proper to introduce a clergyman as Reverend Johnson or is it more proper to refer to him as the Reverend Mr. Johnson ... or the Reverend Dr. Johnson, as the case may be?  "This is Reverend John Johnson" or "This is the Reverend Mr. John Johnson"?

When speaking to a clergyman in conversation, does one address him as Reverend Johnson or as Mr. Johnson or as Dr. Johnson (as the case may be)?

Can "Reverend" be more than a descriptive adjective, describing an ordained clergyperson?


texts:
As in:

  Don't half-ass this project or I'll fire you.

  I don't want to half-ass this project or I'll be fired.

  I half-assed this project and was fired.


texts: English Philology vs English studies difference in meaning and connotations for Natives?

texts:
In Poland, English University major is called "English Philology" (pol. Filologia Angielska), and this is how it is usually translated and communicated. By the Poles.
When you google English philology, oddly enough, only sites of Polish Universities come up. After doing some old classic research I decided to entitle myself as an English Studies graduate, as it maybe says more about the scope. But I decided to maybe clash my understanding of the term with yours.

For me, English Philology does not carry the same meaning in English as it does in Polish, this is why I strive to find a more fitting term.

P.S To clarify: We're obviously not talking about ESL courses, but a fully-scoped education of the language arts, but boosted with linguistics (syntax, phonetics, morphology, phonology), the history of the language itself and the countries using it, and obviously English and American lit.

Your input is much appreciated <3.