texts:
In Swedish, the word for patricide (fadermord) is commonly used in a metaphorical sense for the act of the disciple, usually publicly, turning on their teacher or benefactor (which may be a person or an institution).

I have consulted several English dictionaries online, but none of them list an English equivalent of this metaphorical use of patricide, only the literal and judicial meaning of the word.

My question is therefore, if patricide is not generally used in this metaphorical sense in English, is there another word which conveys this specific nuance of treachery?

The Swedish usage usually implies a break with former convictions (passed down from one’s teacher or otherwise). It is not, therefore, a treachery for personal gain, but more often due to a change of convictions or beliefs.

In Swedish, it is also a fairly neutral term – fadermord in this sense is not morally despicable, though it may be tactless; it may even carry a note of enviable moral integrity.

Accepted answer: There are, of course, several ways in which this expression can be rendered in English. Among the answers below, "renegade" or "apostate" seem to be the closest single words, with "judas" a close third. By using an idiom, "the worm has turned to bite the hand that feeds it," though a bit quirky, can come quite close.

Since the word in Swedish has context dependent moral implications, which is not the case for the closest English equivalents, the appropriate word will have to be decided by the context.


texts:
I am confused about the word feedback. Because I saw one website My feedback means the feedback I got from others.

But when I saw this website title 3 Ways of Getting Student Feedback to Improve Your Teaching, the student feedback means student is the person who gives feedback.

So which of these four are correct? What are their meaning if any of them are correct?

learner feedback
learner's feedback
tutor feedback
tutor's feedback

Or should I use feedback for learner or feedback from learner? Because these are more clear?
Thanks


texts:
If one has a goal, then one can say that certain activities make progress towards that goal, lead to completion of the goal.

Is there a concise word for "is relevant to, makes progress towards [a goal]?"

Examples:

We can say something that does not make progress is "irrelevant," or "orthogonal."  But to say that something "is relevant to" a goal does not convey a strong sense of direct involvement and utility.

The ideal level of strength for the word is equivalent to "makes direct progress towards" if not "completes a necessary requirement of."

We want to say something like "I want to become a doctor, and going to medical school makes progress towards becoming a doctor.  Medical school is a (progressive?) activity."

Words like "advance" and "benefit" are close but seem too awkward or general:

"I want to become a doctor, and going to medical school advances becoming a doctor.  Medical school is an (...advanciful? Kidding.) activity."
"I want to become a dcotor, and going to medical school benefits becoming a doctor.  Medical school is a (benenficial?) activity.


texts:
What is the title of a person that studies random stuff? or a bit of everything?
For example,

A geologist studies the earth.
A _____ studies random stuff.


texts: "The difference in X between Y and Z" -?

texts:
Does anybody else besides me have a problem with the following formulation when used in formal writing, (e.g. research papers)?

The difference in x between y and z.

For instance, in a conversation:

"The difference in price between a Chevy and a Ford for a comparable model."
"The difference in intelligence between a donkey and a mule."

As a proofreader in social science, I encounter this formulation more and more in papers. Of course we say this in conversation - but in a research paper or book? (I wonder whether a top publishing house editor would permit this.)
For one thing, "difference" takes "in", but here, also "between". Should "difference" take two different prepositions at the same time in one sentence? Ultimately, I can't think of any situation where such a statement shouldn't be perfectly understandable.
So my objection must be down to elitist thinking (unless I maybe find the formulation in nearly every paragraph of a paper, that is). It just sounds to me like something from a "lower" language register (if I'm allowed to say that today).


texts: Are there any clear explanations for these trends?

texts:
I was curious earlier about the use of various pronouns / possessives in English (primarily first person), so I chose a selection of them and was surprised to discover that, among other oddities, "I" has apparently undergone a rather drastic shift in use over the last century. I was wondering whether any further statistical analysis of usage had been done to describe these trends. Specifically, whether there's any statistical (so, not anecdotal or simply convincing-sounding) explanation for what patterns of use of the word might be responsible?

What constructions fell out of use so markedly? What constructions have been revived, and which new ones are most responsible?

P.S: This may be too broad a question, but since (as per the help center) it does appear to fall under the site's remit, I thought I might as well ask. Plus, my own research was getting me nowhere; somewhat unsurprisingly, adding the most common words in the language to a search string doesn't really narrow down results significantly.


texts: "However difficult something is, …" or "However difficult something may/might be, …" ?

texts:
Does it make sense to follow an adjective phrase such as "however difficult" with the modal auxiliaries "may/might"? Isn't it a bit pleonastic, since "however" already contains the idea of either uncertainty, or irrelevance?

"However wealthy he was / However wealthy he might have been, she would not have married him if she had not been in love with him."

Does "he was" imply that his wealth was certain but irrelevant, and "he might have been", that it is/was a matter for conjecture and irrelevant, anyway?


texts: Meaning of "about all..." and "hold on to the hand of..." in the sentence

texts:
What are the meanings of "about all..." and "hold on to the hand of" in the sentence "There are many times in life when about all we can do is to hold on to the hand of the Divine Guide until we have run through the storm zone." ?

Thanks.


texts: what does it mean to "get set" What does get set mean?

texts:
What does it mean when we say "get set" in the phase "get ready get set go" or the phrase "on your marts get set go"?

This question focuses on the term "Get Set" not just in reference to a sport but in general.

Many times I hear people speaking about being set and ready as if they meant the same thing... however i do not believe so.. hence my question. while get ready, and go are obvious, if I were to tell someone get set.. what exactly am I saying to them?


texts: In a noun or idiom, what are public servants who only seek public office for the sake of income called?


texts: Why does this sound wrong: "This is my car that is broken."?

texts: I know that you can say "This is the one that is broken," or "This is my car, which is broken," but as written it seems odd.  Is it wrong?  My theory is that a restrictive clause cannot be used in combination with a possessive adjective unless you're referring to a person (E.g., "This is my nephew who is sick," would be okay.)


texts: In "You did me wrong", is "wrong" an adverb or some other part of speech instead?

texts:
Consider:

  You did me wrong.

In that sentence, is wrong an adverb or some other part of speech? I don’t understand the syntactic construction being used here.


texts: If an acquaintance of mine asks me to visit their house, can I say "Tomorrow, maybe?" to say "Maybe I can come tomorrow." in short? I think I've seen this usage before, but I'm not sure if it's correct.


texts: Correct prepositions to use with "treat" and "hold"?

texts:
Is the following conversation grammatically correct?

Both "treat" and "hold" use "to".

A: Do you cook yourself? What did you cook last?
B: I made salad, it's tasty, I will treat you to it later.
A: I will hold you to that.

Regarding the meaning, does "I will hold you to that" mean "I'll really go to have(eat) that"?


texts:
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (p 1236) marks ungrammatical the construction of "have something/someone + be + past participle":

*He had his son be examined by a specialist.

CGEL seems to say that the "be" needs to go to make it grammatical:

He had his son examined by a specialist.

Now, here's an excerpt from a Guardian article titled "Congress seeks to lift gun ban at military outposts despite army's concerns",

USARC, he added, would not be involved in changes to firearm policies and would continue to follow the directive issued by the military. But Lepley echoed Rooney’s view that recruiting stations must remain in high-traffic areas where young men and women could be easily recruited.
“We can’t have recruiting stations be like a fortress, we can’t have them be barricaded,” he said. “It’s not very welcoming. People need to be able to find us and come talk to us.”

The portion that Brian Lepley, a spokesman for the US army recruiting command (USARC), was quoted as saying includes the construction "have ... be". Is the construction well formed?
If so, how do I distinguish the ungrammatical CGEL example from the utterance of the USARC spokesman?


texts: Using the present tense in writing a biblical commentary

texts: In writing a commentary on the Gospels, which involves an elaboration upon what the characters did, would it be possible to use the present tense? For example, "Jesus arrives in Galilee and makes his way straight to Capernaum. Here he encounters a man in need of help... This text gives us an example of such and such a virtue..."


texts: Placing comma inside or outside of quotation marks in mid-sentence

texts:
When emphasizing a word with quotes in the middle of the sentence, do you put the commma before or after quotation marks?

Example:  heard a lot about the word "quarantine," referring to preventive


texts:
Well, I usually say "twenny" instead of "twenty" (not "twendy" even). I recently noticed that I never heard the same from any native english speakers during any talks I ever had with them.

Recently I had a brief search on the 'net and it seems that it is somehow okay to say "twenny", but it might look the least correct pronunciation for most of the people, or they might think you have strange accent, etc.

So, my question is, is there any good reference which clearly proves saying "twenny" instead of "twenty" is totally correct or wrong?

P.S. You're most welcome to write your very personal opinion if you don't know any good references.

Update

I've already looked at the major dictionaries and didn't find any of them lists "twenny" in their pronunciation's section, however I'm sure that I didn't made that up, but I heard that while ago. Maybe in a movie, maybe from someone, and that's why I'm looking for the answer.


texts: Adjective or adverb describing promotion of self or group one belongs to

texts:
Is there an adjective or adverb depicting self-promotion (or promotion of a group one belongs to)?

I am thinking of something that has a somewhat negative connotation, in the spirit of phrases

patting yourself on the back
shameless self-plug


texts: Why is there no auxiliary in the question "How many people study there"?

texts:
Why don't we use the auxiliary do in the following question:

  How many people study there?


texts: Please explain to me (non-native speaker) what the word "cinemaddict" means. What synonyms does it have?


texts:
I'm unsure when a subject is considered plural, and when not.

Especially here:

  Williams aim to win at the next race.

Here, Williams is a team, and I have always through this is considered plural, but I'm seeing different uses all over the place. What's the rule there?


texts:
Is there some time or place where the clubs card suit is called "flowers" in English?

This is their usual name in such languages as Italian ("fiori"), but has it ever been the case in English? I have found a mention of a "Jack of Flowers", but I suspect it to be spurious.


texts: The usage of 'as in' in a sentence starting with 'nor'

texts:
The Elantra Sport is a fun car to drive, even if there isn’t nearly as much front-end grip as the newest Civic Si, nor does aggressive trail-braking net any oversteer in tight turns as in the Ford Focus ST.

Does this sentence mean that the Ford Focus ST nets some oversteer in tight turns when this car does aggressive trail-braking?

Due to the presence of 'as in' in the sentence above, I finds it somewhat vague...

And does the writer view that character of the Ford Focus as something positive?


texts:
What would the word 'genuinely'
as in: 'genuinely I am being really funny'
be in early modern english, of Shakespeare era? ?


texts: over the years/thoughout the years/for years

texts:
What are the cases in which each of those is used? Can you give more detailed examples and differences in meaning and usage than the ones I found below if there are any?

Here's what Google says:

  over the years: during several/some/many years (Merriam-Webster)
  for years: for a long time (Cambridge)
  throughout the years: during the whole of [a certain] period (Collins)

For example, I have a sentence:

  "... after all the [lies] he's fed himself over the years."

Is that the appropriate usage?


texts:
It is common to speak of "elaborating on (or upon) a topic." However, I have been told that this is appropriate only when some explanation has already been given; if no information is yet known, then the proper usage would be "elaborating the topic." Is it true or false?

For example, if the president issued a statement, and I wanted to explain why he did so, I might say, "I would like to elaborate the motive behind the president's statement." It wouldn't be correct to say "elaborate on the motive," since nothing is yet known about the motive.


texts: What is the word that describes the group mentality against changing the status quo?

texts:
I am looking for a word that would be used to describe a person (better if a noun) or a group of people who refuse to even consider anything other than the status quo.

I would like something that conveys that the status quo may be iffy at best and that the person or population wouldn't even have dialogue other than disparaging anyone who questioned the current "rules" or operations.


texts: Is a final comma necessary when describing a description?

texts:
Sorry, the title is a bit confusing... basically, which of the following is correct?

Without a comma:

  Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother, the book you had me read during a camping trip which I loved for its realistic nature is quoted here.

With a comma:

  Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother, the book you had me read during a camping trip which I loved for its realistic nature, is quoted here.


texts: What would you call it when an aunt complains about her nephew in front of his mom to needle her?

texts:
Here is a situation:

Whenever a 2-year-old son does something wrong, his aunt always makes some remarks to her husband regarding that child's misbehavior and she does it deliberately in the presence of the child's mom obviously trying to needle her. For example, the mom told her child not to touch the remote control, but he just went ahead and grabbed it from the coffee table and accidentally dropped it on the floor - so the aunt right away told her husband, 'Look, he is so spoiled! Never listens to his parents!' Usually she doesn't do it loudly. She can't be accused of trying to start a fight with her sister-in-law (the child's mom) as she does have the right to tell her husband whatever she thinks, yet she never fails to do it audibly enough so that the child's mom could hear it.

What would you call the aunt's actions here? How would you describe what she is doing?

I am most interested in a noun or a verb: "What she is doing is called (noun)." or "She is simply (verb+ing)."

Examples:

What she is doing is called mockery.
She is simply ranting.


texts: What is the opposite of a "crown" (in the topographical sense)?

texts:
Streets are “crowned” (meaning slightly convex) to drain rainwater away from the center of the road and into the gutter.

What would you call a surface that is slightly concave?


texts:
Possible Duplicates:
  I can run faster than _____. (1) him (2) he?
  “like I” or “like me”?

Which of these is correct and why?

I always assumed it followed the rule of "which would be correct if you inserted the verb", eg. Smarter than I am vs. Smarter than me am, in which case the former would obviously be correct.

But thinking more about it, I'm not sure...


texts: What is the correct capitalisation of the following

texts:
Company name — "Mushroom Joinery"
Tag line — "Creation and restoration in wood"

Should capitals be used in the tag line? If so, where?


texts:
I was correcting a piece of writing by an EFL student and wondered whether this sentence was grammatically correct:

People are nowadays able to communicate with others from all over the world without having to leave their house.

Should it be their house or their houses, or are both acceptable?
Although it seems to be an easy question, it is difficult (if not impossible) to find a rule for it in grammar books.


texts: Is there a word for referring to yourself in the third person?

texts: Ed would like to know if there is a word to describe someone who refers to themself in the third person.


texts: Is there such a thing as an unvoiced vowel?

texts: I can't think of any and google has not been helpful.


texts: How to say that I am eating above something?

texts:
In my country we are used to saying I am eating above/over something.

Example: you are eating pizza at your desk where is a keyboard. You have it in your hand so it is not on the keyboard, but above... lifted.

What is the right word, or is there any other way to say it?

Is it at?


texts:
In the past few years I've started to do personal studies on different topics ranging all parts of life. They range in length from a week to a few months, on and off, but focus on understanding a particular subject more fully than I did at the start by reading, thinking, and writing about it.

I'm looking for a term (noun) to describe this or a verb to describe the act of doing the deep study on a particular topic. Are there any English words to properly describe this?


texts:
The original sentences:

  It was necessary first to arrive at that degree of sophistication
  where we no longer set our own belief against our neighbour's
  superstition. It was necessary to recognize that these institutions
  which are based on the same premises, let us say the supernatural,
  must be considered together, our own among the rest.

Two questions:

Is the last part as below if fully written out?

...must be considered together, [and] our own [must be considered] among the rest.
"the rest" means ours only, and it does not include those institutions sharing the same premises mentioned earlier.


texts: What do you call a person who does anything to get something?

texts:
I need an adjective to describe a person who does anything to get something.

  Macbeth's character is very ambitious but also ....


texts: Established as a rule through experimentation or statistics

texts: There's a word that's slipped my mind. It's used for example to qualify findings through tests or statistics as opposed to formulae or hard science. Any ideas?


texts:
I suggested you see a doctor.
I suggested you saw a doctor.

What is the difference between them as I know in noun clauses "that" and " should" may be omitted, but can we use "saw" after modal verb "should"?


texts: We have names for days in a week and for months in a year, but does a convention exist for weeks in the month? Alternatively, do we have names for weeks in the year other than, say, "The 34th week of 2018"?


texts: The word for last year school, first year university students?

texts: I'm looking for term to describe students which didn't study theoretical physics, but who learned physics in school. These are last years school and first years university students with major physics. Is there a word for this?


texts:
"This"is used to specify objects placed closer.
"It "is used for non living things
I have seen sentences like
This is a pen.
My question is
It is a pen. ..  .....   is correct?
Why can't we use" it" in place of "this" since " it " also refers to non living things.


texts: Should a different word be used when "what" is used as an object?

texts:
While speaking with a co-worker today, I asked

  "Who should I speak with?"

I quickly corrected myself saying

  "With whom should I speak?"

I followed with

  "What should I look at?"

To this, I considered a correction

  "At what should I look?"

My questions are these:

Is there a different word for when "what" is used as an object?

If so, what is it and why does nobody use it?

If not, why is a distinction made between "who/whom" but not "what/what?"


texts:
What's the difference between "in doing so" and "in so doing"? I believe they're interchangable -- but "in so doing" feels almost archaic to me.

Which one is most acceptable? Is there a difference?


texts: Word to describe short bursts of running?

texts:
Is there a word (in the context of exercise) to describe short bursts of running?

My first thought was to use the term "running circuits", but that involves other activities in between the running, whereas I'm looking for a term to describe short bursts of only running.

Example: Sprint for 60 seconds, walk for 60 seconds, sprint again for 60 seconds, etc.


texts:
which one of the following statement is correct:

I was informed that I will be joining this team
(or)
I was informed that I would be joining this team.

FYI: I am joining the team next week, and I am updating my teammate about this.


texts: Transitive and Intransitive verbs: is 'eat' transitive in 'Don't eat much'?

texts:
I do know the definition of transitive and intransitive verbs. But I have a doubt with respect to a specific example which is as follows:

Don't eat much.

I want to know whether in this sentence, the verb "eat" is transitive or intransitive. I have a doubt because "much" can be both a pronoun and an adverb. So, even without changing the meaning of the sentence, the verb "eat" can be interpreted as being a transitive verb, if "much" is assumed to be a pronoun, or alternatively if "much" is assumed to be an adverb, then "eat" becomes an intransitive verb. Or can "eat" be interpreted as being both transitive and intransitive in that one sentence?


texts:
I had written

  The effect of traumatic experience may be graver if...

and the editor has corrected it to

  The effect of traumatic experience may be more grave if...

Surely grave conforms to the regular rules for comparatives? Am I missing something? (I note that graver is also a tool for making engravings - but that's irrelevant.)


texts: I understand that the use of the word "pray"in the context of "pray tell" has been discussed on this site extensively. I was wondering whether I can use it in conjunction with the same word in its other meaning. For example, can I say "Pray, pray!" to enjoin a child to say his benedictions?


texts: Difference between "Please don't be long" and "Please don't YOU be long"

texts:
In the song "Blue Jay Way" from the Beatles, we've got the following lyrics :

Please don't be long
Please don't you be very long

I'm (obviously) not a native English speaker but the first sentence seems right to me but the second one seems pretty weird because of the subject of the imperative sentence being explicitly given.
Is the second one just as right as the first one? Is it just a songwriter trick to get the good number of syllables? Is it something specific to the scouse?
Does having an explicit "you" change anything in the meaning? Which one is the most usual?
(Also, one can find the same king of difference in "Don't ever change" :

So please don't ever change
Now don't you ever change
)


texts: What is the term for a situation where you need to do first in order to do second, but to do first you need to do second?

texts:
Practical example:

  In order to get a job you need experience. To have experience you need
  to get a job.

What is the right term to call this?


texts: Is it correct to say "We start tomorrow"? Shouldn't it be "We are starting tomorrow"? (present simple vs continuous for future event)

texts:
Here's an example of a short conversation between me and a native speaker via text messages:

A: I'm so exited for this app
B: Yeah, me too
A: We start tomorrow
B: OK

Shouldn't it be "We are starting tomorrow"?!


texts: Difference between "choose not to do 'x'" and "choose to not do 'x'"?

texts: If I have two sentences "You need to start choosing to not do bad things" and "You need to start choosing not to do bad things", is there a difference between the two?  If so, what is it?


texts: Is there a word that means "to give off an odor" (a non-stinky one)?

texts:
Most of the synonyms on Thesaurus refer to a bad odor.

Is there are word like reek which is used to describe good smells?

Example sentence:

  Mary dawdled toward Tom and buried her nose in his school uniform
  jacket. Despite being new, it already _ his musky scent.


texts: When listing species of plants, what does "var." mean?

texts:
Sometimes within the Latin names of plants, I will find the word "var.", which I assume is an abbreviation, e.g. Ursinia chrysanthemoides var. geyeri.

What is the meaning of this?
Is it sometimes abbreviated in other ways, such as "v."?
Should it be written in italics along with the other Latin information?


texts:
Do you know any words to summarize "to the point of my knowledge"?

  To the point of my knowledge, in the literature review there are three publications about this idea.

I want it to be like this:

  In the literature review there are three publications about this idea _______.

How can I replace To the point of my knowledge by one word at the end of the sentence?


texts: The past perfect without a simple past time clause. "I had eaten the day before."

texts:
While I was reading class material from a language school in Korea, I found a whole unit explaining use of the past perfect.

However, none of the sentences used a time clause with the simple past to go with the main clause with the past perfect.

All of the sentences just used the phrase "the day before".

  I had eaten the day before.

Is it correct to use the past perfect without a time clause with the simple past ?

EDIT 1

Ok, I found some other conversations.

  A: Did you have chicken for dinner yesterday ?
  B: No, I didn't. I had had chicken for dinner the day before.

Is this okay because there is a reference time ?


texts:
Being in a country where Spanish is spoken natively, when folks speak English, I often hear them using phrases of the form "for [infinitive]" (e.g., "for to ask").

It strikes me – somewhat hesitatingly – as ungrammatical and as being rooted in a literal translation of the "para [infinitive]" form in Spanish.

But at the same time, the form has a certain familiarity to it in English. (Perhaps this is simply because I've heard this mistake so often that I'm starting to habituate to it.)

To indicate purpose in this manner, the more common forms in English would be either infinitive ("to ask"), or for + gerund ("for asking"). For those folks who are learning English and are interested in feedback, I would generally guide them away from using "for [infinitive]" and towards these two forms.

And yet I've occasionally seen the "for [infinitive]" form used by folks who seem quite competent in their English (just noticed it here, which prompted me to ask the question).

Thus this question is for to ask: is such usage grammatical or not?


texts: A word or phrase that can categorize students that are either currently attending or have had attended sometime in the past

texts:
We need to create a new category that represents that a person has actually attended the school, whether that is current or historical. I proposed 'Once Student', which seems tense neutral, but also a little confusing. For addtional context this will need to result in three categories:

Student        (Is Attending)
Former Student (Has Attended)
Once Student   (Is Attending or Has Attended)

Can anyone give a better phrase for the third category?


texts:
What does dead as a door nail mean?
Is it used in set phrases, or is it normally used in any context?


texts:
Kayla and Rob are good friends, and they also happen to be taking a class together at a community college. The class is very small, so the professor knows all of the students by name. One day, Rob decides to play hookie. He texts Kayla and tells her that he "got really sick and won't be in class today." Kayla writes back an acknowledgement and a get-well-soon, and goes to class. The professor notices that Rob is not present, and casually asks the class if they have seen Rob. Kayla pipes up and says "He's sick today."

Eventually, the professor finds out that Rob was not actually sick, and just took the day off. He also happens to know that they are friends, so he is disappointed not only in Rob, but also in Kayla for "lying" to him about Rob.

Kayla did not tell the truth, but pragmatically she did not "lie." She merely forwarded false information that she believed to be true, as she was given that information in good faith by someone she trusted.

I'm looking for the most succinct, accurate phrase/expression/word to describe "giving someone false information while believing (and having good reason to believe) at that time that the information is true."


texts: Is "more mainstream" a valid thing to write?

texts: I'm writing a report talking about how a certain technique in my field has become 'more mainstream', but that phrase looks rather wrong. Is it a valid thing to say? Can something become "more mainstream" or are things either mainstream, or not? If it isn't a valid thing to say, how else should I phrase it?


texts: What is the preferred way to write "with a capital [letter]" kind of phrases?

texts:
In written text, which of these is correct:

That boy is crazy with a capital C!
That boy is crazy with a capital 'C'!
That boy is crazy with a capital c!
That boy is crazy with a capital 'c'!
That boy is Crazy!


texts: "It worked for me in high school and it's been a reflex ever since"?

texts:
A: Just go out with me one time.
   If you are miserable, I will never hint at the subject again.

B: I don't think it's smart.

A: I know that I am an asshole. It worked for me in high school,
       and it's been a reflex ever since.

Of this conversation, I don't get the meaning of this phrase.

  It worked for me in high school, and it's been a reflex ever since.

What does it mean by "worked for me" and "reflex" here?


texts: What is the name of this elevated street crossing thing (In Britain?)


texts: Verb for "to become bog/marshland/swamp"

texts:
Is there a specific verb in English (perhaps come into the language from the northern Canadian wetlands?) which would describe the process of an area becoming bog / marshland / swamp (combined or separate)?

I tried the Google options for each (a la "verb for to become swamp") and didn't get anything which would match.

The opposite, at least when an anthropogenic process and intended, exists, and is 'to drain':

cause the water or other liquid in (something) to run out, leaving it empty or dry.

Edit (Clarifications): I should note -- as the comments already did -- that appreciably, 'bog', 'marsh', and 'swamp' all describe different wetlands. I am most interested in 'bog', but I reasoned that either of the other two processes could also be helpful if described as a verb.


texts: What is the category/group for the typographical terms serif and sans-serif

texts:
I teach introductory typography to students studying graphic design.

While constructing a list of design factors that affect the appearance, readability, and legibility of a typographic letterform, symbol, glyph, etc.; I hit a wall.

I am looking for the collective term category/group name for the styles whose letterforms can be differentiated by the presence or absence of a design trait — serif, sans serif.

The definitions of each are well documented:

In typography, serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface that has serifs is called a serif typeface (or seriffed typeface). A typeface without serifs is called sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without”. Some typography sources refer to sans-serif typefaces as “grotesque” (in German “grotesk”) or “Gothic”, and serif types as “Roman”.

Here's the list I prepared to meet my deadline. I had to go with stroke. Can I do any better for my revision?

Here are factors that affect ease of reading.

case: upper & lower case mix is more readable than all caps
x-height: larger is more readable than smaller
leading: more is more readable than solid
line length: shorter (10-12 words) are more easily readable than longer
alignment: ragged-right is more readable than justified
weight: medium is more readable than light or bold
measure: normal is more readable than condensed or expanded
margins: moderate is more readable than tight
contrast: black (dark) on yellow (light) background is more readable than others
substrate: smooth backgrounds are more readable than textured ones
stroke: many agree that serifs are more readable than sans serifs


texts:
Word/phrase for "time-wise in-between"?

Say my arrival was time-wise in-between lunch and dinner.

Say I want to say that more idiomatically, how would I do that?


texts: Is there a special rule for using the word "Gild" and "Guild" as verb or noun?

texts:
I'm not exactly sure how to state my question but I'll try my best. While reading a biography of Dante, I stumbled upon the word "guild." I took a look at www.freedictionary.com to find its meaning, and I found out by looking at the definitions that the word "guild" and the word "gild" can be used interchangeably when they are used as a noun. However, my questions would be, why can't the words be used interchangeably as a verb as well? Is there a rule in English that could explain why some words can be used interchangeably while they are used as nouns but not as verbs?

And lastly, just out of curiosity, are there any other words similar to "guild" and "gild" that can only be used interchangeably when they are nouns but not as verbs, or vice versa, that can be used interchangeably as verbs but not as nouns?

  guild also gild  (gĭld)
  n.
  1.
  a. An association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards.
  b. A similar association, as of merchants or artisans, in medieval times.
  2. Ecology A group of species in a community that use similar environmental resources in a similar way, such as a group of songbirds that all glean insects from leaves.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/guild

  gild (ɡɪld)
  vb (tr) , gilds, gilding, gilded or gilt (ɡɪlt)
  1. to cover with or as if with gold
  2. gild the lily
  a. to adorn unnecessarily something already beautiful
  b. to praise someone inordinately
  3. to give a falsely attractive or valuable appearance to
  4. to smear with blood
  [Old English gyldan, from goldgold; related to Old Norse gylla, Middle High German vergülden]
  ˈgilder n
  gild 2  (gĭld)
  n.
  Variant of guild.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gild


texts: What is the meaning of "personnel"? What is its plural form?

texts:
From Wordweb:

Group of people willing to obey
orders
The department responsible for
hiring and training and placing
employees and for setting policies
for personnel management

The two are kind of clashing. One says group ready to obey, while other says group that would make someone obey. Are both meanings valid depending on context? That means, can service staff performing tasks like cleaning be considered as personnel?

Also, what is the word's plural form?


texts: "has long been" or "has been for a long time"

texts:
As far as I know, '(for) a long time' is preffered to 'long' in affirmative sentences unless 'long' is matched up with too, enough, as, so, before, after, and etc.

I read the following sentence on the website, however, and got a little confused:

  Smoking has long been linked to lung cancer.

http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/your-english/word-grammar/your-english-word-grammar-long/550209.article

This sounds perfectly natural to me, but I just wonder is it better to say "Smoking has been linked to lung cancer (for) a long time" because it is an affirmative sentece?

Please help. Thank you in advance.


texts:
Is there a word which means block of text, or section of text? I'm trying to describe how similar discontinuous parts of a paper are, in order to recommend that they be reorganized. Section doesn't work, because section would refer to the formal section that text is in (which includes the block I'm trying to reference, as well as lots of additional text--e.g. section 4.1).

To me, passage has too much of a literary connotation (or refers to something that is specifically singled out through indentation or quotes). But perhaps I'm misinformed. The text I'm referring to is part of a scientific paper. Any suggestions?


texts: Why is a license payment for intellectual property called "royalty"

texts:
I know there is a connection between "proper" royalty (nobility) and intellectual property. The statute of Anne is often cited as on of the first incarnations of modern intellectual property law. It can be interpreted as a "royal" guarantee of intellectual property. Around that time, similar royal decrees can be found in France and other countries.

Although I feel that these circumstances might be the origin of the term "royalty" in the context of intellectual property, I haven't been able to find a source for this connection. Also past experiences tell me that the obvious answer is not always the right answer when it comes to etymology.

I'd like to find some primary or secondary sources as to when and why the word "royalty" had come to mean:

  a payment to an author or composer for each copy of a work sold or to an inventor for each item sold under a patent -
  Webster Dictionary


texts: What is the opposite of a multi-tribal society? (I don't mean a single tribe society; I mean modern forms of societies that are not based on tribes any more). a nation? a modern society? a national society? or ...?


texts: Usage of "light years better..." over "light years ahead..."

texts:
I've heard the phrase "miles better than..." being used. A quick Google search will return results for "miles better than...", but there's no result where the phrase "light years better..." has been used.
As both are a unit of measuring distance, can "light years better..." be used as it is analogous to "miles better..." or is "light years ahead..." the only acceptable way?


texts: Etymological origin and earliest recorded occurrence of 'saunter' in English

texts:
Someone just sent me a quotation from the explorer/naturalist John Muir, in which he makes the following etymological claim:

Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It's a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply 'A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers.

The quotation goes back to Albert Palmer, The Mountain Trail and Its Message (1911), who reports that Muir said it to him in a conversation they were having about hiking. Palmer withholds judgment about "whether the derivation just given is scientific or fanciful"—but Merriam-Webster seems inclined to view it as the latter. From Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003):

saunter vi {prob. fr. ME santren to muse} (ca. 1667) : to walk about in an idle or leisurely manner : STROLL

The Online Etymology Dictionary likewise appears to be unimpressed by the "sainte-terre-er" explanation:

saunter (v.)
late 15c., santren "to muse, be in reverie," of uncertain origin despite many absurd speculations. Meaning "walk with a leisurely gait" is from 1660s, and may be a different word. Klein suggests this sense of the word derives via Anglo-French sauntrer (mid-14c.) from French s'aventurer "to take risks," but OED finds this "unlikely."

In an interesting extended discussion of the Muir quotation, Etymology Online traces the "à la sainte terre" origin theory to Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary of the English Language and beyond. Johnson has this entry for saunter, which he augments with instances of the word (in various forms) in literary use by L'Estrange, Dryden, Locke, Prior, Tickel, Gay, and Pope:

To SAUNTER v.n. [aller à la sainte terre, from idle people who roved about the country, and asked charity under pretence of going à la sainte terre, to the holy land, or sans terre, as having no settled home] To wander about idly ; to loiter ; to linger.

Etymology Online then traces the roots of Johnson's proposed etymology back to Nathan Bailey, An Universal Etymological Dictionary, second edition (1724), which actually proposes two possible derivations:

To SAUNTER, {of Sauter or Santeller, F. to dance, q. d. to dance to and fro, or of Sainte-Terre, F.} to go idling up and down. See to Santer.

Bailey's etymological entry for santer is quite elaborate:

To SANTER, {of Sancte Terre, F. or Sancta Terra, L. i. e. the Holy Land, because when there were frequent Expeditions to the Holy Land many idle Persons went from Place to Place upon pretence they had taken the Cross upon them, or intended to do so, and to go thither} to wander up and down.

I have three questions about the etymology of saunter:

What is the earliest source in English to make the connection between saunter and sainte-terre?
What is the earliest recorded instance in English of saunter/santer in the sense of "to wander or go idling up and down"?
What is the likeliest etymology of saunter?


texts: Displayed "onto" a monitor or "on" a monitor?

texts:
Would it be correct to say
"Text is being displayed onto my computer screen" or
"on my computer screen"?

This is more of a technical question than purely grammatical. I would argue that nothing is being displayed "onto" a monitor as it is a grid of lights that emits an image, and the image is "on" the screen but not "onto".

I would think that it would be "onto" if there were something like a projector, where light is being shone "onto" a wall or screen and is then bouncing into or eyes.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks!


texts: I didn't see him go there/I didn't see him going there

texts: Does the verb see accept an embedded clause with a bare infinitive verb like help or make(in the active voice)?


texts: Is there a word with a meaning in between 'desegregate' and 'integrate'?

texts:
Merriam Webster - Desegregate :

to free of any law, provision, or practice requiring isolation of the members of a particular race in separate units.

Merriam Webster - Integrate :

to form, coordinate, or blend into a functioning or unified whole : unite.

I am interested to find out a word which fits between the above two, and could be used in the following sentence :
Although not segregated, they did not dwell together in unity preferring to be _____________ .

This relates to matters of culture, race, ethnic origin, social choices and so on but the best way I can illustrate the concept (and the best way to avoid wandering into controversial issues) is to illustrate the idea with next door's cat.
Next door's cat comes in through my open patio door, nibbles at food which I leave out in the conservatory, sniffs around the kitchen ; then wanders into my bedroom and sleeps for a couple of hours between the suitcases under my bed. Then wanders out again, later.
Doesn't look at me. Doesn't hop up in my lap for a stroke. Very occasionally lets me tickle under his chin.
He has chosen not to integrate with my own occupation of my dwelling. But he does not wish to be segregated.
How should I describe the way in which Pudsey the cat wishes to relate to me ?


texts: Is “Alligators and Kangaroos” a set phrase to express an encounter with unexpected happening?

texts:
The Entertainment Movies section of Today’s (May 9) Time magazine introduces the Hollywood version of the children’s book, “The Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” under the title, “Watch The Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day trailer” with sub-headline:

  The worst day of your life apparently includes car crashes, fires,
  alligators and kangaroos http://time.com/92987/alexander-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day-trailer/

Though it seems a humorous and creative combination, is “alligators and kangaroos” a set, or frequently used phrase to describe an encounter with unexpected, shocking and ominous things? Can we replace it with other creatures at will, say, rabbit and bear, rhinoceros and tiger, and snake and carpenter bee?


texts: "Down for" something vs. "Up for" something?

texts:
Is there any difference between someone saying they're "down for" something as opposed to being "up for" something?

For example:

  I'm totally up for ice cream tonight!

vs.

  I'm totally down for ice cream tonight!


texts: Litotes: Always for Emphasis? Used for Non-committal Hedging? Any Authoritative Source?

texts:
My question is about litotes. I’m wondering if it is always for emphasis, or whether it can be a type of non-committal statement or hedging. And, is there an authoritative source that can be cited that explains how these are differentiated?

The Wikipedia entry (which, unfortunately, I cannot use as a source in my work) says “Litotes is a form of understatement, always deliberate and with the intention of emphasis”.

However, what if I describe some food as “not inedible” when it is pretty awful and just barely palatable.  Seems that would be just a step above inedible, not saying that is wonderful food.

For example, in the following sentence, is the “none . . . have not” for emphasis, or something else?

  None of the flowers appeared not to have bloomed at that time.


texts: Which past tense of "to light" should I use here?

texts:
I know that there are two ways to form the past tense of to light (i.e. lit/lighted). Which one is appropriate for the sentence below?

  His thoughts lighted our way.

or

  His thoughts lit our way.


texts: What's an introductory part of the title of an article/book called?

texts:
Some examples of article titles:

Taking the Leap: How Sociolinguists Can Handle Divergence
Closing the Gap: On Linguistic, Regional Convergence
Linguistics Revisited: A Statistical Approach to Linguistics

Obviously these are made up, but I do think they serve the purpose. What's the part in bold called? Scientific articles often have this headline which is then followed by an explanatory subtitle, but I'm wondering whether this kind of headline has a specific term to describe it.


texts: What is the meaning of "I'm" at the end of a song?

texts:
I've heard a christian song on YouTube which is "Mary did you know". At the end of this song they said: "The sleeping child you're holding is the great I am".
I do not understand the meaning of "I'm" in this case.
Here is the song, The sentence is at 2:49 .
Thank you very much,


texts:
Quite often (9 out of 10 times?), on radio (NPR), when the interviewer says "Thank you" to the interviewee, the reply is also "Thank you."

What has happened to "You're welcome?"  Why is "You're welcome" so uncomfortable to say?


texts: Question about use of Past Perfect Tense

texts:
Could you explain the difference between the two sentences in the quote?

Bates threw the grunt into the sky as soon as we'd made vacuum.
One of the surviving grunts grabbed the carcass and jumped ship as soon as we passed beneath the carapace...
— Blindsight, Peter Watts, pub Tom Doherty Associates 2006

As far as I understand, in the first sentence the author uses Past perfect to emphasize that the one event had happened before the another ("...threw the grunt into the sky as soon as we'd made vacuum" — they made vacuum before they threw the grunt).
However, in the second marked sentence it seems to me that we can see the similar structure and explanation, but still, the author doesn't use Past Perfect structure ("...the grunt grabbed the carcass and jumped ship as soon as we passed beneath the carapace...").


texts: Indefinite Plural VS Indefinite Singular for stating general facts, properties, etc

texts:
Is there any nuance in the two sentences below if I want to state a general fact about cars ?

A) Cars have 4 wheels.

B) A car has 4 wheels.

The question above is also a question to itself.

So can I say "...if I want to state a general fact about a car" instead of ".....cars"?


texts:
I've been encountering this more often lately. Two examples:

After witnessing an impressive athletic display (a spinning reverse dunk), the announcer says "Ohh I didn't know he had that."
Two radio DJs talking about how they're from the Bronx so they will always love Jennifer Lopez, even though she's sell-out: "Even when she said the N-word in that one song... she gets that."

Both struck me as unexpected and delightful. And more interesting than what I would have said ("I didn't know he could do that", and "she's allowed to do that").

My question is, has anyone encountered this before? What is the origin for this kind of construction? Is it standard in any other languages?


texts: "Pending" vs "Impending". Are they synonyms?

texts: They appear to me to mean almost if not exactly the same thing, but I am not sure. Are there differences in meaning between them?


texts: Why do we call excerpts of writing "passages"?

texts: My guess is that it has to do with the physical process of scanning, moving your eyes over the words, but I can't find any confirmation.


texts: Is the word "various" always followed by plural?

texts:
Various vegetation(s) in surrounding areas of cave XXX yield(s) various species.
Various vegetation(s) provide(s) food resources for various species in forest XYX.

Is the word various always followed by a plural noun?


texts: What is a good way to remind someone to reply to your email?

texts:
Sometimes some of the emails to people senior to you in the company are left unanswered.

What are the ways to politely remind the person that he needs to reply to your email (which he might have missed/forgotten about)?

I once used this as a reply to the sent mail

  Please let me know about this when you
  get a chance.

I had picked this up from somewhere and am not sure how exactly it conveys the message.


texts: What kind of inversion is this? "Out come the pocket calculators"

texts:
Please help me understand the grammar of this sentence:

  When the girls get their bills, out come the pocket calculators.

What connotations does this inversion add? Can "out come" here be analyzed as a phrasal verb? If so, what other phrasal verbs can be inverted this way so that the preposition precedes the verb?


texts:
Someone asked in the Math.StackExchange chatroom what a "more refined word for circlejerk" might be. UrbanDictionary defines this (in our desired usage) as:

[...] pompous, self-congratulatory discussion where little to no progress is made.

A group discussion or activity between like-minded individuals that validates mutual biases or goals in a non-confrontational environment.

Sometimes used to describe an internet forum thread where forum members all give each other kudos (Or rep where a rep system is present) for some non-event that has occurred.

I guess it's related to "intellectual masturbation" or "echo chamber" but these don't quite fit the bill.


texts: What is the origin and scope of usage of the phrase "So long...." used to bid goodbye?

texts:
We often colloquially use the phrase so long to say goodbye. For eg. So long, we'll see you next week or He said so long and left.

What is the origin of this phase? Rather, how did it come into being? I would also like to know the circumstances under which its usage would be deemed appropriate.

EDIT: Is this phrase some sort of corruption of any phrase in some other language(looking at the answers) or it has some meaning to it in English Language as well?


texts: When to use a hyphen to coin a new word and when to omit a hyphen?

texts:
Someone has asked for answer to these topics. However, I still want someone to provide me with simple and universal answers. I recently read a sentence from the English-speaking person. It is in an article. It is, ' The available options for mitigating pad cratering are not universally effective (see link below), but they may be helpful on a case by case basis until more crack resistant laminates are developed and become available.  '

If I am to write this, I will use 'a case-by-case basis until more crack-resistant laminates'

Can anyone tell me when to use a hyphen to coin a new word?


texts: What does the "over 8m fewer people" mean?

texts:
I've read a sentence from the economist,which is as follows

Over 8m fewer people are in work than before the pandemic.

I think it looks very strange because why people could be over and fewer at the same time?
So I think the normal order should be like this

People in work are fewer than before the pandemic,the number of which is over 8m.

But I wonder how to understand this kind of inverted sentence,bacause there is no initial negatives or other signs.


texts: How do you say when you let miss a letter in the middle of the word?

texts:
Example: somone (as a misstype for 'someone')

Whey I write I say 'misstype', but if I talk missing a letter, how do I say?

(in my native language, portuguese, there's an expression 'to eat the letter', I don't know in English)


texts: How to head off a legal reading of a term or phrase?

texts:
Terms like 'make whole', 'encumbered', etc have both non-financial/non-legal usages and financial/legal usages and, in some cases, explicit financial/legal definitions.

To avoid technical connotations, to avoid the possibility of a sentence being read as a legal statement, an obvious workaround is to swap in such a synonym.  But synonyms may not exist, or when one does exist, the sentence may unacceptably degrade.

Another remedy is to include a phrase such as 'colloquially speaking'.  But the deprecation could be inappropriate.

What are other ways to minimize the chance of a sentence from being misconstrued in this way?  Is there an adjective or modifer that accomplishes this?

EDITs: adding fictitious examples:

A divorce can make whole both parties. (google: "make whole" divorce. example: http://www.divorcecentral.com/lifeline/life_ans.html. Make Whole in the sense of closure, in the sense of getting on with their lives)

The VA is a monopoly on veteran healthcare.  (This sentence was spoken a few minutes ago by Senator Lindsey Graham at his Town Hall, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtzDvmLrK-s at about 40:00.  Monopoly in the sense the VA is immune from competition.)


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How to pronounce @ symbol?

In Spanish, @ is called arroba.

I saw this question, and it says it's called "commercial at" according to Wikipedia. A lot of languages have a single word name for this.

Is there any single word name for @?


texts:
Is it correct to say "people can agree to doing this work"?

I have always seen people saying "people can agree to do this work", I don't know if this sentence is correct because I think that to is a preposition in the sentence "people can agree to doing this work" and to should be followed by a gerund (doing). Am I right?


texts: Is there great difference between “Make a mountain out of a molehill” and “Much ado about nothing”?

texts:
I came across two approximate sayings “Making a mountain out of a molehill” and “Much ado about nothing” coincidentally in tandem in the home page of today’s (June 7) New York Times.

  Making a mountain out of a digital molehill: The revelations this week
  that the federal government has been scooping up records of telephone
  calls inside the United States for seven years, and secretly
  collecting information from Internet companies on foreigners overseas
  for nearly six years, have elicited predictable outrage from liberals
  and civil libertarians.
  Arguing their way into love : Joss Whedon’s adaptation of “Much Ado
  About Nothing” draws out the essential screwball nature of
  Shakespeare’s comedy.

I understand “Make a mountain out of a molehill” refers to exaggeration about an existing matter and “Much ado about nothing” refers to a fuss about a matter which doesn’t exist. But they look somewhat akin to me in actual usage.

Are they entirely different animals, i.e. expressions? Can’t I rephrase them interchangeably in conversation?


texts:
Suppose I invent a phrase to describe a particular thing, such as "the three-particle paradigm", which is a new paradigm that I have developed to think about a certain field within particle physics.

I'm looking for alternatives to the words phrase or term to describe "the three-particle paradigm". Is it correct to refer to this one phrase as a nomenclature? Or is nomenclature more for a collection of words encompassing a bigger body of knowledge?

If nomenclature is invalid, please provide alternatives.

The reason I'm looking for a word like this is that I want to explain why I chose these words, such as:

  Allow me to explain the nomenclature "the three-particle paradigm": First, there are three particles. Second, ...

Using phrase doesn't sound too good to me.


texts: What's a word for trust, trustworthy or credibility that starts with the letter "O"

texts:
As the title suggests im after a word that starts with O that means the same as trust, being trustworthy, being credible and other similar words. I need this to complete an acronym I am creating.

The context would be a sentence like, "Can you convey trust?" or "Are you credible" or "Are you trustworthy?", "Can you show credibility?".


texts: Alliteration Request: A word that starts with C and means “remarkable”

texts:
I am writing a YEAR 12 English assignment which is a feature article about the novel Girl With A Pearl Earring. I am working on my conclusion when I noticed I had a chance to add in some more alliteration; however, I am stumped trying to find a good word starting with C to replace 'remarkable' (the sentence is below). I have been looking for over an hour in both a thesaurus and online and most of the words I have come across do not start with the letter C or just don't fit.

I would be really grateful if you could give me some suggestions.

  “From luxurious language to remarkable characters ...”


texts:
English isn't my native language (Spanish is), so this question may be very basic, but it is worse not to ask.

Which of these two phrases is the correct one?

  I'm trying to wake and get up from my bed
  I'm trying to wake up and get up from my bed


texts:
"I know" is a ubiquitous statement commonly said in English. However, in some applications, it can be too harsh, or come off as rude.

For example, let's consider the following interaction. "Hey, Kyler, the Butterfly Festival is tomorrow." "I know, Finn." Phrases like "I understand" can be too formal and out of place, and "Thanks for reminding me" is situational and can only be used in instances similar to that.

I was wondering if there was a more polite, friendlier way to say the phrase whilst conveying the same meaning and can be used in any circumstance that "I know" can be used. Any thoughts?


texts: Word for doing something because you want to

texts: I forgot the name of an adjective which means that you do something because you want to. It has a complete anytonym which sounds similar (I think they just have different prefixes) but means you do it because of outside factors. Any help is appreciated :)


texts: Are there too many conjuctions in the sentence?

texts:
Although some studies find that hosting refugees may be economically beneficial because of their participation in the local economy, the largest benefits are in the long-term, whereas hosting costs are sustained immediately and are thus more politically salient"

It seems to that in the sentence, one of "Although" or "Whereas" is unnecessary and that makes it confusing and I couldn't understand the exact meaning.
Could you help me about the explaining of the sentence?


texts:
I once heard, I think it was on a TV program about searching for gold in Alaska, the phrase "panned out" used by someone who was panning for gold. He declared a specific area was "panned out" and I took his meaning to be there was no longer any gold to be found there.

Looking around, I found a user having a similar question here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pan%20out

Do anyone have an early reference for the use of the phrase and can we be sure its earliest usage referred to success?

There is the phrase "strike gold" that refers to success. The usage of "pan out" to mean the opposite seemed authentic to me.

Edit: Thanks for all the replies! I found early quotations here: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pan_out where it is used in the narrow sense of extracting gold. If anyone has any early quotes of other usage, that would be interesting. This link has a quote from Reagan: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pan%20out. I have not found the source, is this from his presidency? According to the usage trends here: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pan-out, the use of the term has increased substantially since the mid 80s. Did the usage change around that time to more generally refer to success, maybe in response to Reagan's usage of the phrase? More info would be interesting!


texts: Word for someone who always relates a topic of conversation back to their topic

texts:
I have a friend who consistently relates any conversation back to their set topics. Such as North Korea, nazis,soviet union, freemasons and greece. For example, I was talking about disney killing off big characters in their franchises they have bought. And he replies
"oh,hes doing a stalin"
And then lists times when stalin has killed some people for some reason or another. Most times it's like 10% related to what we are talking about, but if we go back onto the original conversation, he will find another way to relate back to one of his chosen topics.
It's quite annoying and I want to know what it's called so I can talk to him about stopping it. If we entertain it he wont stop!
Someone suggested "circular conversations"


texts:
Which would you use 'go for a swim' or 'going swimming'?

I am going swimming today.
I go for a swim today.


texts: "The Go Programming Language" - is the article necessary?

texts:
https://golang.org/

Not a native speaker. To me it sounds weird. I'd say "Go programming language".

Thanks


texts: What is the best punctuation mark to use before a list of adverbs?

texts:
In the essay I'm doing, I'm trying to conclude with the sentence

  As we can see, nuclear power is the most viable source of energy, economically, socially, morally and environmentally.

However, I'm not sure about what punctuation mark I should be using after the word "energy". The comma looks awkward, but I don't know of a more appropriate/natural punctuation mark.


texts:
"gourmand" means someone who is excessively fond of eating and drinking, while "gourmet" someone who is a connoisseur of food and drink.

Does "gour-" mean food?, "-mand" command and demand, and "-met" enjoy?

Etymology says "gourmand" is not connected with "gourmet".


texts: Is there a word for "thinking that you recognize everyone that you see"? I recently just transferred schools, and the first couple of weeks or so I thought that every stranger I saw was someone that I knew (until they got closer, of course). Googling seems to give me irrelevant results like "How to spot an idiot" and "how to recognize delusional disorders." Is this phenomenon common enough that someone bothered to create a word for it?


texts: What term describes something which is ubiquitous and consequently poor in quality, but occasionally exceptional and noteworthy?

texts:
That is, something which is especially remarkable in one isolated instance because it rises above being quintessentially mediocre, as is the case in every other example.

Consider the chocolate chip cookie.

Everyone bakes chocolate chip cookies.

They are so commonplace that there are rarely, if ever, any actually delicious chocolate chip cookies.  However, in the face of bland ubiquity, some people occasionally -do- bake a truly and breathtakingly excellent chocolate chip cookie.  Because it rises above what is otherwise widespread and bromidic, this one excellent chocolate chip cookie outshines the grandest and most ornate desserts specifically designed to be outstanding.

This concept can be applied in many places, and we often take it for granted without being able to reduce and articulate it with a formal term.  What word am I looking for?


texts: what is the meaning of "humanitarian grounds"

texts: What is the meaning of humanitarian grounds? I see it in the newspaper online, but I don't know the meaning of that.


texts: Why do people say "next Tuesday" for the Tuesday falling in the same week?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Which day does “next Tuesday” refer to?
  How did “next day” come to mean “day of next week”?

My employer told me on Monday that something was due "next Tuesday" so I assumed he was talking about the Tuesday next week. However, it turns out he was talking about today.

In  American English, does everyone refer to "next (weekday)" as the (weekday) that is closest to the present day? Usually, I am accustomed to calling the closest (weekday) as "this (weekday)" and when someone says "next (weekday)" I presume it falls in the next week or the week after.


texts: Is it correct to use "rescued to a place"?

texts:
I want to write a sentence in which someone is rescued and then taken to a safe place. Can I write it in following way: ?

The man was rescued to a safe place.


texts: Is this sentence grammatically valid. "It's been decades and centuries that people are hoarding money?"

texts: I'm confused between "it's been decades and centuries that people are hoarding money" and "it's been decades and centuries since people have been hoarding money." Which one is correct?


texts: Word for someone born in the 19th century

texts:
I read something about the oldest living people the other day. The article used a word that described someone born in the 19th century. I remember it distinctly because the definition stated that it included people born before December 31st 1900, and I found that interesting that it would include the first year of the new millennium (I get it, no year zero). I think it started with an “N”.

I have looked for an hour and a half now and for the life of me cannot find it anywhere.


texts:
EDIT: As Chris Taylor made note of, there are multiple types of quotes. I mean quotes as in phrases written/spoken by someone (not insurance quotes, etc.).

Is there a single word that describes someone who collects quotes? I've seen both quotologist and quotographer used, but I'm not sure if either of those is "acceptable" in any serious circle.

Thoughts?


texts: What does "either A or B" mean precisely, and how can I prove it?

texts:
I am in an argument about the phrase "either A or B". I believe it is necessarily exclusive, meaning it refers the possibilities of A or B but not both.
But, after scouring the internet, I can't find a reliable source to back me up. How could I definitively determine whether I am right or not?
(I found this by the way, but it refers to "either-or" and not the longer phrase "either [one thing] or [another thing]")


texts:
What does the following idiom mean: "Tinkle contest with a skunk". And where was this idiom first used ? Does anybody know the origin??
Example:

Yesterday, in an unsuccessful attempt to discuss government funding with President Trump, Vice-President Pence, and Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi sat down for a hellish 17-minute-long meeting. It was, in short, a mess — a fact that Pelosi conveyed to a reporter using a very interesting phrase.
“It was so wild,” she told CNN’s Manu Raju of the interaction. “It goes to show you: You get into a tinkle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you.”
Hmm … indeed. To many, this phrase seemed strange or unfamiliar; some, having misheard the first bit as “tickle contest,” were extremely confused about why being soaked in urine would be an inevitable outcome. “What,” wrote New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi. “Pelosi introduces world to new idiom,” proclaimed the Hill. But according to Anne Curzan, a linguist at the University of Michigan, Pelosi was simply trying not to be uncouth in her skunk metaphor.


texts:
"She realizes there is nothing to fear, not world travel alone to remote places, nor her own disease - and that letting go of identity is the only hurdle to leap before doing what you want."

I -think- the author (who I am advising) is invoking a trite phrase, 'doing what you want' which weakens the sentence. It changes the meaning to say 'doing what she wants'. Are either (you/she) correct?


texts: I am looking for a way to replace the word "being" in the phrase "being of poor character".  My instructor is very adamant that we not use being unless it is used as a noun.  In this particular case, I am having trouble replacing it.


texts:
The following is a verse from Daniel Powter's song Bad Day:

  You stand in the line just to hit a new low
  You're faking a smile with the coffee to go
  You tell me your life's been way off line
  You're falling to pieces every time
  And I don't need no carryin' on

What does off line mean in the third line of the verse?


texts: "Seeing visions" versus "having visions"

texts:
In the episode of Fringe called The Road Not Taken, the protagonist is having visions once in a while, seeing alternative realities for a few seconds. In one of the conversations, she asks:

  Why am I seeing these visions?

The grammar behind the question struck me as extremely strange. I think the proper way of forming such question would be:

  Why am I having these visions?

Are both correct? If yes, is there any difference between them?


texts: What are some of the earliest acronyms and did they know it was an acronym at the time?


texts: Is the following bit of dialogue correct orthographically/grammatically for American English?

texts:
After being interrupted by the character he is talking to, the nameless MC says the following line of dialogue, referencing a situation that the character he is currently speaking with acted in.

  「……さっきは何で、　あんなことを？」

  "......why do that sort of thing, from a while ago?"

The translation of Japanese to English doesn't sound truly right to my ears, even though it makes perfect sense when considering that the MC has no clue as to what is going on around him.

To break down the sentence so that those who are not learning or understand Japanese can help, the following are the basic semantics of Japanese that are used in the above sentence:

In

  「……さっきは何で、　あんなことを？」

は is a topic particle, the topic being denoted by whatever is before it; in the above case, that would be "さっき", or "A while ago".
で in this case, is added to the 何, forming 何で, which generally means "why" or "how". あんな I believe means this when considering the context of the MC not understanding what was occurring during the situation. Therefore, I translated あんな to the English equivalent -or as close to a equivalent I can make, as its impossible to translate perfectly from one language to another- of "sort of" or "such".  こと in this case can translate to "thing" or "situation" but I think it specifically means 'situation' in the above case. To make the English seem more natural, and to keep the vagueness of the original, I went with "thing", as "Why do that sort of situation?" is something a native English speaker would never say. The を (wo) at the end is something I myself am still trying to figure out, but this answer has providing some meaning to what its doing, I still don't know what that is in my specific case.

Maybe its because in America (as far as I'm aware) we don't ask questions that are vaguely questioning AND specific without some sort of emotional emphasis; such as, "What the hell was that?!" or "Why in the world would you do that?".

I'm trying to figure out a away to keep what I think is the subtle meaning of 'why did you (and others) do that sort of thing' in my translation, which is why my first translation attempt is vague in terms of the 'who' that is doing the 'thing'.


texts: Preposition choice when refererring to twins

texts:
Let's say I have 2 sets of twins and I grab 1 twin from each set.
If these 2 non-related twins introduced themselves both as being twins but not being related to each other, how would they say that?

Would they say "we're twins, but not...

to each other
with each other
...something else??

Obviously, they could say that "we're twins but we're not related." But I'm wondering more about preposition choice in this case, so please address that aspect of the question.


texts: "equalable", "equalizable", or none of them?

texts:
What is (or which are) the proper adjective to denote "two things that can be made equal (in a mathematical sense)".

Both the words "equalable" and "equalizable" have been used, but it is unclear to me whether they are correct (or at least admissible).

Which one is more advisable? Is there a better alternative to them?

Edit
The context is quite technical, but a reasonable approximation would be that of two formal expressions having a common variable, say x. Then, the two expressions are ''equalable'' if they are equal for at least one value of x. For example:

The expressions "x*x" and "2*x" are equalable (taking x=2).

The expressions "x*0" and "x/x" are not equalable.


texts:
How would I edit the following to be correct?

  He would hardly sleep. Sometimes just two hours a night, maximum – four, and no more.

Should a hyphen be used? I do not want to add any words, just change punctuation so that it reads correctly.


texts: Use of "Some" when referring to quantities

texts:
In journalistic and quasi-academic writing, I've recently noticed an increasing tendency to use "some" as an adverb when referring to quantities.

For example in the sentence:

  "In Indonesia, fish accounts for more than 50% of total protein intake
  and the fishing industry employs some 12 million people."

Is this good style? To my ear it grates. Why can't the writer just say "...employs 12 million people"?


texts: What are the specific names for clauses following a comma, dash and such punctuation marks?

texts:
Do the clauses which follow a dash, colon, open bracket, and such punctuation marks have specific names other than just being a clause?
Examples of what I mean with the "C"s representing the clauses in question:

xxxxxx - CCCCCC - xxxxxxx.
xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx - CCCCCC.
xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx: CCCCCC.
xxxxxxxx (CCCCCC) xxxxxxx.

Are they all just called clauses? Or does each example have specific name to indicate that they follow a certain punctuation mark?


texts: Is "listening this music album up and down" correct English? It's supposed to mean "listening over and over again", but I've never seen it used.


texts: Go or Get? Why 'get angry' but 'go crazy', 'go crazy' but 'get furious'?

texts:
To mean 'become + adjective', you sometimes have to say 'go + adjective' and sometimes 'get + adjective'. For instance,

He got angry.

not *'He went angry.'

He went crazy.

much more common than 'He got crazy.' But

He got furious.

not *'He went furious.'
ngram viewer: He went angry. He got angry. He went crazy. He got crazy. He went furious. He got furious.
Any reason for this, any rule, which would make it unnecessary – for the English learner, who does not have an instinct for this – to learn adjective by adjective which verb they collocate with?
Michael Swan's explanation in Practical English Usage, Oxford University Press, Second edition, Fourth impression, 1996, is not really satisfactory:

(page 129, n° 4 b changes of quality)
Go (and not usually get) is used before adjectives in a number of common expressions that refer to changes for the worse. People go mad/crazy/deaf/blind/grey/bald; […]. Note that we use get, not go, with old, tired and ill.


texts: How to correctly name the windows on a wristwatch?

texts:
Well, I know it can seem to be primitive, but I cannot find a sharp definition. I am working for a wristwatches catalog, and it must be stated right.

Some manufacturers call it a crystal, some call it glass, some call it window.
I know that it can be made of mineral glass or sapphire crystal, but which is correct?


texts: There's a word for cheap manufactured art but I can't remember it and it's almost impossible to search for a word like that.  Does anyone know what it is off the top of their head?


texts: Using the definite article "the" with Company Name + Group denominations

texts: Is it correct to use the definite article "the" with Company Name + Group denominations, like "the ExxonMobil Group", "the Total Group", "the General Motors Group"? Or is it better without, like "ExxonMobil Group", "Total Group", "General Motors Group"?


texts: Is there a word to describe something that is only capable of doing one thing?

texts: Something like a one-trick pony. In a limitation type of context. Unique ability, but it is the only ability capable of being done, so it is unique to itself.


texts: What do you call a number that is a power of 2?

texts: I know there is a term for a number that is the power of 2, such as 8, 32, 128, 4096 -- but it slipped my mind.


texts: In the following sentence: "It came into existence on or by 30 September." What does "by 30 September" mean?


texts: Did Shakespeare really mean meat pies by baked meats?

texts:
Here's from Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2(The Arden Shakespeare edited by Harold Jenkins).

Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral bak'd meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.

Jenkins interpreted "bak'd meats" as meat pies.
I wonder why it couldn't be, for example, roasted chickens.


texts: Use of valedictions in non-personal communication

texts:
Would it be proper to use a valediction ("complimentary close") in a newspaper or magazine message wholly devoted to congratulating the media's readers with the New Year or some other holiday?

An example message from the staff of a made-up media:

  Dear readers!

  From the bottom of our hearts we...

  Yours sincerely, Russian Industrial News' editorial staff.

Or are valedictions more fit for personal communication?

P.S. In Russia, such congratulatory newspaper messages are ended with a no-frills bottom-positioned line like "Editorial staff of [name of media]." I became curious whether this would work in an English-language media, or should one add something to embellish the ending.


texts:
What is the effect called when the person cares about something or someone (they don't know why), but they're trying to convince themselves that they don't care/shouldn't care?

Example -

Alice just met this man. They talked for a bit, but he really didn't spark any feelings. She also doesn't know much about him. He gets severely hurt that night unexpectedly from an accident. She gets worried about him, and she's contacted by police since she's the last person he talked to. Now Alice is trying to convince herself not to care because she doesn't know the guy.


texts:
When describing how much money is in a bank account, we'll often say that the account "has a balance" of a certain amount, as in:

  Your bank balance is currently £13,550.

Why do we describe this as a "balance", though?  If anything, it seems like an account imbalance, because more money has been paid into the account than has been taken out.  The only time an account would be "balanced" is if it was at zero.  So why the term "bank balance"?


texts: "ng" is pronounced normally [ŋ], but for some people it becomes [ng] when followed by a vowel. What's the phonological rule about this? Is it a common feature of all dialects of English?


texts:
Non-native english speaker here. The context is songwriting.
Can a tide "wash upon" someone or something?


texts: "Thought on" vs. "Thought about" vs. "Thought of"

texts:
I googled the exact phrase "He thought on" in quotes and get back mostly quotes from the Bible or old texts.

Does it sound antiquated to say, "He thought on his cat, how he would chase mice..." vs. "He thought about his cat, how he would chase mice..." vs. "He thought of his cat, how he would chase mice..."

Or to say, "He smiled when he thought on it." vs. "He smiled when he thought about it." vs. ""He smiled when he thought of it."

I want to use "thought on" but I'm not finding many modern examples. Just checking to see how it sounds to the community and if there are any real differences in meaning between the 3 options I've listed.

Thanks!


texts:
In the following sentence, should "are designed" be just "designed", and if so why?

  Our products are focused on the educational setting and are designed to work ...

To me, removing it makes the sentence read better.


texts: "I had chicken for dinner" vs "I ate chicken for dinner"

texts:
I had chicken for dinner.
  I ate chicken for dinner.

Is there any difference? Could anyone tell me the difference? Probably state vs action?

Which one is more colloquial?


texts: pharmaceutical Affair act. Why someone put Affair in the middle of two words?

texts: I don't get it why pharmaceutical affair act used AFFAIR in the middle of phrase. Because without affair, it does make perfect sense. maybe there will be some reasons????????


texts: Word or phrase that refers to whom I report to and who reports to me

texts:
I'm working on an application that allows a user to search through a directory of employees and display them within an org chart.

One way to view an employee is within the context of their whole department. For now, I'm referring to this as the "department chart".

Since some employees report to someone outside of their department, the other way to view an employee is with their immediate supervisor and their immediate subordinates only, regardless of department. I cannot for the life of me figure out what to call this view. I need a word or very short phrase that would describe where an employee sits between their supervisor and subordinates without getting confused with the view of the department hierarchy.

Thanks!


texts:
I want to insert a parenthetical phrase into a quotation as an editorial note. Since such notes are surrounded by square brackets to differentiate them from the original quote, I end up with this:

  “All reasonings concerning matter of fact  [(i.e., all objects of human reason or enquiry other than relations of ideas)] seem to be founded on the relation of Cause and Effect” (Hume 16).

This syntax looks silly, but is it correct?


texts:
Are the following sentences grammatically correct? I think #2 is correct, but I'm not sure.

My room always be clean
My room is always clean


texts: Understanding how to identify the parts of speech for 'all'

texts:
Webster's dictionary lists 'all' as an adjective, adverb, pronoun and noun. Swan's Practical English Usage (3rd edition) spends three pages talking about the usages, but I'm left unsure how to determine the part of speech for 'all.'

Webster gives "He spent his income all on pleasure" as an example of an adverb. If we rewrite it as "He spent all of his income on pleasure," is that still an adverb functioning the same way. Would both of them be adverbs of completeness?

Thanks for the help,
Revlis Lain


texts:
Is there any difference between the following sentences?

It would never have occurred to Stormgren, even a few days before, that he could seriously have considered the action he was planning now.

and

It would never have occurred to Stormgren, even a few days before, that he could seriously consider the action he was planning now.

I feel like the perfect infinitive in boldface in the first sentence is redundant since it moves the action further back into the past. I'd personally go with the second sentence.

The quote is taken from Arthur Clarke's book "Childhood's End".


texts: How to describe the face one makes when feeling sorry for someone?

texts: How to describe the face one makes - like pressing together of lips to form a straight line - when they feel sorry for a person but have no solution to offer? The kind of face that says, "sorry, mate. wish I could help." A phrase for it would also work.


texts: Is the term intellectual effrontery still in use? Does it sound clunky or stilted?

texts: I've encountered the term while reading an article on philosophy. I was wondering if it sounds clunky?


texts:
When I was watching TV, I heard the rugby manager say, "Are you cloud-ready?" in the commercial related to the computer.  I haven't heard "cloud-ready" before but I can guess its meaning.

My question is if you can change "cloud" to any other words such as "Are you exam-ready?", or "I am trip-ready."  How does it sound?  If you have any other examples using "-ready", please pick up some.


texts: I am 99% sure I am right but my colleagues don't believe me. Therefore the remaining 1% is starting to raise his voice

texts:
I am a Quality Manager for a Customer Services team. I recently sent out a  test to gauge the team's understanding of spelling and grammar and the majority of them had the sentence ‘I believe good communication is important to achieve good service,' as part of the answer. I flagged this up to the management team as a trend without questioning it as it just feels wrong. I was then questioned about this by a colleague and really struggled to explain my reasoning. I settled for this email:

  Something can only be important TO a noun such as a person, process or target. ‘Achieve good service’ is not a noun but sort of an elongated verb.
  Alternatives:
  Good communication is important in achieving good service.
  Good communication is important to the achievement of good service.
  It is important to target excellent service and good communication plays a key role in achieving this.
  To achieve good service, one must communicate well.
  A simpler equivalent:
  ‘Water is important to hydrate’ should be ‘water is important to the hydration process’ or ‘water is important to an organism due to its hydrating qualities’ or much more simply ‘water is important for hydration’.

Can someone reassure me/tell me that I am wrong and to therefore seek alternative employment?


texts:
I am confused as to whether this sentence should have a comma or semicolon.

  Walker was not only a trailblazer in the medical field (,/;) she was also a relentless visionary who bravely challenged many of the social prejudices of her day.


texts: Generalization of "player" and "team" in sports

texts:
In a programming context, I need to refer to players and teams interchangeably (in sports). I'm looking for a word - noun or adjective - that would be a generalization of those two terms. I can't seem to find one that would be appropriate at the moment.

The context that has me looking for a generic term is that both players and teams are capable of accumulating stats over a season (specifically, in hockey). Hence, they both share the common property of having stats.

Any suggestions?


texts: What is a good term to describe different ways to view the same data?

texts:
Software gives us different ways to view the exact same data with each "view" targeted at a specific task.

For example, in Stack Exchange, questions can be viewed in

The review queue where you only see questions listed which need to be reviewed
The main question list where everything is listed
Edit history pages where you can see and compare every version of a question
Mods have access to vote fraud tools
etc

Every one of those "views" is highly customized for the task at hand showing only those pieces of the data that matter at that moment.

Is there a good term to describe this feature without all the long winded explanation?


texts: Which is the direct object and which is the object complement in this sentence?

texts:
I was reading a book on English grammar and it stated that the object complement may also be an adjective. In the sentence "Roger called George heartless", Roger was the subject, called was the verb, George was the direct object and heartless is the object complement. But heartless is what receives the verb, and George should be the indirect object. If we change "heartless" to "a moron", we see that moron becomes the direct object while George becomes the indirect object?

Is there something wrong with my reasoning?

Edit: So what I meant when I said heartless is what receives the verb, is that with direct objects, the subject is performing the verb and the verb is performed on the direct object. For example, "You broke the window!". You is the subject, broke is the verb and window is the direct object. In this sentence, window 'receives' the verb.


texts: What's the semantic difference between "How did I  " and "How I  "?

texts:
Is there any difference between these two forms?

Examples:

"How did I take that picture" vs. "How I took that picture"
"How did I make the cake" vs. "How I made the cake"
"How did I meet my wife" vs. "How I met my wife"


texts: "More than ever" vs. "more than ever before"

texts:
Does the expression "more than ever" need the word "before" to make logical sense?

I'm grappling with a sentence that begins "More than ever, marketers require data ... to better understand their customers." But I've seen this expression used many times without the word "before," and it strikes me as incorrect or incomplete.

But maybe I'm wrong, and the word "before" is logically understood or assumed, and so it's just not needed.


texts: Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

texts:
The sentence I am unsure about is:

  A rigid adherence to the doctrine of precedent would have resulted in
  a country where segregation was lawful but minimum wages were not.

I'm confused by the subjunctive, and in particular the proper usages of 'was' and 'were'. Are they used properly above?


texts: 'Machine learning or robotics related' hyphenation?

texts:
How should 'Machine learning or robotics related technologies' be hyphenated?
Machine learning[en dash] or robotics[hyphen]related technologies?


texts: Is there a good way to group logical statements in plain writing?

texts:
I wanted to write something in plain English that reflects a logical statement with slightly complex conditions. I went with something like "A person requires extra security if they're trying to access at least one location which is not the third floor or on the daily list of allowed floors".

If I were grouping it like boolean logic in a programming language with parentheses, I might write it like:

  ... if they're trying to access at least one location which is not (the third floor or on the daily list of allowed floors).

But grouping with parentheses wouldn't be proper in plain english.

I could also translate the negation of a disjunction into the conjunction of two negations like:

  ... if they're trying to access at least one location which is (not the third floor and not on the daily list of allowed floors).

And this version might be unambiguous even without the grouping, but you could imagine a more complicated construct which would still be ambiguous (maybe one clause is negated and the other isn't).

I could use a list and write something like:

  ... if they're trying to access at least one location which is:

  not the third floor, and
  not on the the daily list of allowed floors

But in this situation, a bulleted list isn't possible, it's just a paragraph. Is there any way to present the logic unambiguously?


texts: Present and past participle in same sentence

texts:
Is anything wrong about this phrase "We build software solutions designed for scalability"?
I think there is, because the tenses are not consistent.


texts: What is "authorized signature competence"? (business language)

texts:
From a document I'm translating. The document lays down requirements for a company to comply with in order to pass certification:

Authorized Signature
A list of authorized signatures shall be kept including the name of the employee, the authorized signature and authorized signature competence and the backup of the person when absent. It shall be clearly defined how this list is managed and where it is kept.

I can't understand the meaning of "authorized signature competence". Does it mean "the range of documents that this particular person can officially sign"? This is my guess. I googled but found no clear definition.


texts:
In Italian there's a religious proverb:

  Chi è senza peccato scagli la prima pietra

Is it correct to translate it to the following:

  Who isn't without sin the first stone.


texts: How to express that you can understand the English that someone spoke?

texts:
"I can read English", "I can speak English", or "I can write English" are all correct uses of the word "English".

But is "I can listen to English" correct English?
Or should I say "I can hear English"?
Are there better ways to say that?

I want to know how to express that you can understand the English that someone has spoken.


texts: What is the difference between 'entry' and 'entrance', and 'admission' and 'admittance'?

texts:
This is what I have gathered from the dictionary and a few other websites:

entry: the act of entering, in a more formal way

entrance: the act of entering; a gate/door, etc

admittance: permission to enter a place,institution, etc

admission: the act of accepting sb into an institution, organisation,etc;
           the fee paid for entrance

But I'm still confused by a few sentences involving 'admission' and 'admittance'. According to the definitions above, are the two words inter-changeable in the following contexts?

You cannot just go into the club as admission is restricted to members only.
To go into a foreign country, one usually needs to have an admission visa.
Admittance to school depends on places available.

Similarly, for the following uses of 'entry' and 'entrance', I feel most of them are inter-changeable, too:

The burglars force an entry into the rich man's house.
He refused me entrance to his house.
The headmaster's sudden entrance frightened the pupils.
The villain makes his entrance in Scene III.
The entrance of the pop star was greeted with shouts and screams.
One is usually not allowed entrance to a room where dangerous things are to be found.
There are signs saying 'No Entrance' everywhere.
The refugees were not granted entry to any country.

Can anyone tell me whether I am correct? Thanks in advance : )


texts: Why is there a definite article before "Hague"?

texts:
Teaching definite and indefinite articles to Slavic students is very challenging because they don't have articles in their native languages. For instance, I have quite a few students who use "the" liberally, i.e., before names of cities ("I live in the Prague.").

I often tell my students that names of cities usually aren't preceded by the definite article. In fact, I can only think of two exceptions: The Hague and the Vatican (though the latter is probably short for the Vatican State).

Which leads me to my question: Why do we say "THE Hague"? Thanks a lot!


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The idea that nothing is true except what we comprehend is silly, and that ideas which our minds cannot reconcile are mutually destructive, sillier still.

To me, the second sentence is confusing.

I understand it as [The idea that  is sillier]
 -> If our minds cannot reconcile two different ideas then they are are all wrong => this idea is sillier (than the idea that nothing is true except what we comprehend)

Did I get it right?


texts:
In a song video made by an American acquaintance, there is a joke that I don't understand. Here is the context:

"Alfresco" and "Pentaho" are two non-competing software applications that can be used together. An Alfresco representative recently made a rap song where he talks about his "tricked out Pentaho". Is it a reference to rappers' pimped out cars? I am not sure I understand.


texts: What does the expression "Round up below the cut" mean?

texts:
Or what's its equivalent?

The whole sentence was: "Let me give you a round up below the cut"


texts:
a traveling man working over his order-blanks.

what does "order-blanks" mean?

I searched the Net and didnt find any.


texts: Etymology of "arse-smart" as a name for the water pepper

texts:
Today I learned that water pepper (Persicaria hydropiper, L. 1800) is otherwise called "arse-smart" in English:

  PERSICARIA, Arse-smart
   The Characters are;
  It is a Plant with an apetalous Flower having several Stamina or Chives which arise from the multisid Calyx: the Pointal afterward becomes an oval-pointed smooth Seed, inclosed in the Capsule, which was before the Flower-cup: to which may be added, It hath jointed Stalks, and the Flowers are produced in Spikes.

—The Gardeners Dictionary (1754)

I failed to find its etymology in OED or other sources.

What could be the etymology of this name?


texts: When to use "music" & when to use "musical"?

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In dictionaries,

  [only before noun] connected with music; containing music

  the musical director of the show

  musical talent/ability/skill

  musical styles/tastes

  a musical production/entertainment

  musical instruments

  music: the art of writing or playing music

  to study music

  a career in music

  music lessons

  the music business/industry

so, we got "music industry" but "musical production" & I heard people said "musical life"

Ok, The beautiful girl= the girl is beautiful

The musical life= the life is musical

My question is: why not "musical industry" or "music production" or "music life"?


texts: What is the word for a person who counts?

texts: What is the single word for a person who counts?