texts: "Can I Help You?" - Considerate Language, Polite Lead-Ins and Euphemisms

texts:
One day I tried to ask a question on a different StackExchange site and got a message:

  It looks like you might need a break - take a breather and come back soon!

What an awfully nice suggestion!  This sounds very polite, but it is a lead-in to more aggressive language.

  You've asked 3 questions recently, some of which have not been received very well by the community. Everyone learns at their own pace, and it’s okay to make some mistakes. However, the reception your questions have received thus far might ultimately block your account from asking questions entirely.

Starting out by suggesting I "need a break", the web site's automated message continues, they are going to close my account if I do not adhere to the web site policy.

Granted that I am curbing my behavior on that particular forum, what is the term for polite language they are using?  Starting out with a polite suggestion they make their way to the more serious topic at hand.

Another example is Can I help you? It sounds very polite, but it's often a euphemism for What are you doing here? or something else.

Here's an article I found on Forbes: The Absolute Worst Question To Ask: How Can I Help You?

  Before I got off any call, I would always ask people how I could help them. In my mind, it was simple.  I like building relationships that are meaningful — not just transactional — and some of the most valuable partnerships and client opportunities have materialized because I helped someone and formed a trusting relationship.

  However, I’ve realized this isn’t the best question to ask. While some people are receptive, most people assume I’m trying to sell them with that question. It’s unfortunate that the business world revolves around hidden agendas where asking someone how you can help immediately elicits the response, “What do you want from me?” or “What are you selling?”

What is the term for this type of polite segue?


texts: How to identify licit sequences of doubled prepositions

texts:
Is a phrase like "go out from the kitchen", which has two prepositions in a row, appears to be good English, and might be paraphrased as "go out, and go from the kitchen." but I have doubts about something like "go out in the kitchen."

Can "go out in the kitchen" be paraphrased as "go out and go into kitchen"? If this is so, could a meaning of "go out and go home" be shortened to "go out home"?


texts: Can 'property' (in the ontological sense) be modified into an adjective?

texts: I'm trying to describe the general concept of the scale of a property. By this I mean the order of magnitude of a property, like a mass being on the kg scale or the mg scale or whatever. I want to call this concept something like 'a propertal scale' rather than repeating the cumbersome 'scale of a property'. Is there any way to do this, or some closely analogous substitute? Thanks!


texts: The difference between for and over in terms of time

texts:
This is my first question. So please go easy on me if possible.

I can't understand the difference between 'for' and 'over' in terms of time.

For example, What is this difference: 'The birth rate has been increasing over ten years', and 'The birth rate has been increasing for ten years'.

If I can give you another example, what is the difference between 'for centuries' and 'over centuries'.

Maybe this is a very easy question but I can't find out the difference. Please help me.


texts:
generally I associate "seniority" in the workplace with where an employee in the organizational hierarchy, and not with the amount of time an employee has been with the company.

This term often comes up in board meetings. In the language of the land I live in, Hebrew, there are two distinct words used- ותק (vetek- the amount of time an employee has been employed at a company) and בכירות (bechirut- low-level vs high-level employees).

Are there two distinct terms in English for this?

Thanks!


texts:
Usage: "I would not like to eat that pie as it looks all festy since you dropped it on the ground."

Is the colloquial Australian term 'festy' actually a word?
Also, is it used elsewhere in the world?


texts: Phrase for focusing on unimportant details

texts:
I'm looking for an idiom or saying that I could use when people are focusing too much on small details and not seeing the big picture.

A couple that come to mind are "being penny-wise and pound foolish" and "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic". However, the former doesn't fit what I'm thinking of because the present activity might not be wise. The latter implies too much about impending doom.

For example, let's say some company is spending all their time refining a small detail in their product, while ignoring a major opportunity shift in the industry. What phrase could I use there?


texts: If "votable" means capable of being voted upon, then what word means capable of being used to vote?

texts:
If a legal matter is votable, it is capable of being voted upon. What, then, is a voucher, or a stock certificate, that is capable of being used to vote?

Is that thing still votable; i.e., is this another sense of that same word?


texts:
I am unsure about the use of commas in the following:

In this case study (,) only one method is investigated
To shift the load in time (,) heat pumps are needed.
Flexible loads (,) such as electric heating devices, refrigerators (,) and
freezers will be important for future energy systems.
The components can coordinate the generation (,) consumption and
storage of energy.
Algorithm A results in total costs of 20 € for that day (,) which is 5
€ lower compared to Algorithm B.
The electricity generation by renewable energy sources (,) like wind
turbines and photovoltaic systems, (,) challenges the energy system.
The results show that Algorithm A (,) on average (,) leads to 10%
improvement.
In the simulation of the previous and this chapter (,) every building
uses a gas heating system.
While in the current system (,) the supply follows the demand (,)
in future (,) the demand has to follow the power supply.
Fossil fuels mainly generated the energy for buildings (,) whereas
 renewable energy accounted for only 18%.

I do not expect one of you to answer all of these questions. However,I'd appreciate every comment to each of those sentences. I'd be quite thankful if you could help me on that.

Update: Thanks for all the answers so far. Can anyone tell me his/her opinion on sentence 7.? Below one answer was given but I do not really understand it. It is correct to use commas in this sentence?

Update2: That about sentence 4.? Does there have to be a comma before the 'and'(like it is done in sentence 3.)


texts: How does a non-dictionary word become a dictionary word

texts: There are so many dictionaries and so many words. How do new words appear in dictionaries? If a a word appears in one dictionary can it be counted to be a dictionary word, an official one that anyone can use?


texts:
It comes from the Latin musculus (meaning mouse) and Latin has only hard c's.  The "c" has somehow become soft or silent during evolution.  Why did this happen?

Also, if muscle is pronounced mussle, why isn't muscular pronounced mussular?


texts: How do I treat foreign words after its English counterpart?

texts:
I'm formatting a Bible study that includes Hebrew and Greek Words.
The PDFs of so many Bible studies were created long ago, and will be available as downloads on the site I'm REbuilding. I'm formatting the web text. I have a slight amount of leeway on correcting things.
Here are two examples:

"Notice that an overseer episkopos or pastor-teacher..."

"But an additional listed iniquity is the Hebrew word abomination toebah which is also..."

How should I treat this kind of thing? I plan to italicize the foreign word in any event. Should I enclose the foreign word in parentheses? Should I set it apart with commas or em dashes? The English word precedes the foreign word here, and the Chicago Manual of Style doesn't seem to address this situation.


texts: What is a term for words that are both homophones and homographs?

texts: While there are homophones like bear and bare, and homographs like sow, the pig, and to sow a seed, is there a term for words that cover both categories?  The example that comes to mind for me is to cleave.  Is there a term for when they overlap?


texts:
What is the best way to define a new object by using "Something is called [name]"? I have seen all three posibilities, that is:

  Fruit of this tree is called apple.
  Fruit of this tree is called an apple.
  Fruit of this tree is called the apple.

Which ones are correct and which is the most natural one?


texts: What is the meaning of "all zero at the bone"? I can't make it out

texts:
From The Shining, by Stephen King:

  Jack turned back, all zero at the bone.

What is the meaning of this expression?


texts: Professional ways of saying "to know something"

texts:
Usually, in our CV or resume, we will say that "I know this, I know that, blah blah". I think the verb "to know" is not formal enough in such situation. Is there a better way to say you know something, like this:

I know Japanese -> I have knowledge of Japanese


texts: In a sentence of imperative mood, can the verb end in -ing?

texts:
You might text these to someone:

Walking to school.

Driving there.

I believe that the main use of this type of sentence would be to describe what you yourself are doing in that moment. You might write this on a dating profile:

Seeking openminded, Christian, bowling fans.

So, my question is, are these full sentences that should start with a capital letter and then be terminated with a period? There are no subjects, and unlike usual imperatives, they don't give commands . . .


texts:
Which one is correct?
1) It's easier to draw than doing sports
2) It's easier to draw than do sports
3) It's easier to draw than to do sports


texts: Is there a term for the type of phrase being used in "far and wide"?

texts:
Can you categorise terms that use two related but possibly contrasting words together, to describe something like a totality?
Two examples I can think of:
"I searched far and wide" - meaning, you searched everywhere.
"I looked high and low" - meaning, again, you looked everywhere.
In both cases, the independent terms don't literally contribute to the final meaning, but you're putting these two terms together to make them more than the sum of their parts.


texts:
One person said that Electronic Arts Sports are based in the USA. A second person responded that they are located in Canada, and said "Get educated".

In my opinion 'educated' can only be used on broad topics which require some sort of learning/studying. Where EA is based is only a fact and not something you can 'get educated on'. Am I wrong? (English not my native language)


texts:
I'd like to ask the difference between "grow by age" and "grow with age". Which one is correct? If it's both correct, then what difference do they make?

Thank you!


texts:
My friend and I discussed some books and their authors the other day. And the question arose. Is it possible to say

Do you like what he writes about?

using Present Simple, although writer did that in the past and he is already dead?


texts: A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. Is there a name for two words with the same spelling but with different meanings? For example: Polish (someone from Poland) and polish (rubbing something to make it shiny).


texts: What do you call an "item" with all its "subsidiaries" in a museum?

texts:
Since I don't know the answer, I'm having a hard time writing the question...

An artifact is a specific object. I want the name of the artifact (if existent) and the plaque describing it, and the video, etc.

An exhibit, while used in courts (at least on TV) to describe one item, seems to be used in museums to describe a group of items.

A display?

Something else?


texts: Is a piece of electronic music a song or a track?

texts:
I've seen a song defined as:

  A short poem or other set of words set to music or meant to be sung.

And a track as

  A recording of one song or piece of music

A song clearly has connotations of singing and a track in my mind has connotations of a stored, recorded piece of music, not the abstract entity itself. In the context of an electronic piece of music with no singing, what is the appropriate term to use to refer to said piece of music?


texts:
I swear I've heard the term swaddles used before, but when I look it up, I only get definitions for swaddle. I believe it was used as a noun, but the definition of swaddle is throwing me off.
Here's how it would be used if I'm correct:

Her brother was born while she was still in swaddles.

So, it would be used as a term for the garments that a baby or toddler is being swaddled in.
The definition of swaddle from the Oxford Lexico is:

Wrap (someone, especially a baby) in garments or cloth.

Is swaddles really a word?


texts: What does the phrase "touch space" mean?

texts:
Recently some of my colleagues has started using the phrase "touch space" a lot, for example in sentences like "I just called you to touch space", or "I will touch space with him tomorrow".

I can deduce that it means something like "talk to" or "meet with", but what is the original meaning, what is the advantage of using "touch space", and where does it originate from ?


texts: Word for someone who thinks they can do anything, and believes everything they do is right but others are wrong

texts:
If someone thinks they are always doing the right thing, and believes others are wrong, what would I call them?

Say, for example, I did something that person considers wrong. But then on another occasion, the same person does the same thing I did and believes they are right. So they feel like they're an exception, but at the same time, others are wrong and can't act like that.


texts: How do you modify an adverb with another adverb?

texts:
This is the case I have in mind. I wish to express that impact acted in a way that was severely adverse.

  It impacted her severely adversely.

The proposed text above doesn't feel right at all, though.


texts: In the book, The Wealth of Nations, what does it mean to "receive money by tale"?

texts:
On Page 41, book 1 of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith writes:
(Second volume of The Glasgow Edition of the works and Correspondence of Adam Smith)

  [...] Abraham weighs to Ephron the four hundred shekels of silver which he had agreed to pay for the field of Machpelah. They are said, however, to be the current money of the merchant, and yet are received by weight and not by tale, in the same manner as ingots of gold and bars of silver are at present. The revenues of the ancient Saxon kings of England are said to have been paid, not in money but in kind, that is, in victuals and provisions of all sorts. William the Conqueror introduced the custom of paying them in money. This money, however, was, for a long time, received at the exchequer, by weight and not by tale. [bold styling added by me]

I take it that the context is to appraise the value of the money being received, i.e. "by weight (of the precious metal) and not by tale".
So then what does it mean to appraise the value of some quantity of money by tale?


texts:
Does "would have to" indicate the past, present, or future? What is the difference between "would have to" and "would have had to"?

To meet the challenge the public authority would have to be transformed into a public limited company. ( I think here it indicates "future")
But he said there would have to be a complete overhaul of the electoral system first. (Here it indicates past)
I think all the girls in the anime are awesome, but my favorites would have to be Nozomi and Umi! ( I can't understand what it indicates here)
As for the difference in meaning, I’d have to say it’s very subtle. ( I think here it indicates present)
It's not something I want to do, but it's something I'd have to do". (I think here it indicates past)
If he asked me to fix his car, I would have to do it tomorrow. ( here it indicates future)
It would not be something you'd have to do forever. (I think it indicates future)

8."Sorry, that's above my pay grade" is another way of saying this "you don't pay me enough to do X". But, as it's a lot more formal than "you don't pay me enough to do X" one would have to be careful of one's tone: as Karim said, it's jokey. (I think it indicates future)


texts: Is there a word for the definition of an acronym?

texts: I can describe "IMHO" as an acronym for "in my humble opinion."  How can I describe the reverse processes of translating the acronym into the actual phrase?  That is to say, if "IMHO" is the acronym, what do we call "in my humble opinion"?


texts:
I put laugh in quotes because the thing I'm referring to is less a laugh and more a short burst of sound, for lack of a term I hope answerers can come up with. I'm looking for a word meaning a single wry or mocking “chuckle” that you might hear with the interjection ha or bah. It'll be used in a sentence like this:

  " 'You, help me?' he [verbal form of desired word].”

The word must convey a sense of disbelief or contempt; for lack of a better term, you could call it bahing , which would denote the act of making a short sound with the tone of exclaiming “bah!”

If the word doesn't match the definition either very, very closely or exactly, please don't list it as an answer.


texts: How to concisely describe the act of engaging in pork barrel politics?

texts:
Is there a verb that means 'to engage in pork barrel politics'?

To give an example, suppose John, a legislator, tells the proponents of a bill that he will not vote for it unless they add a line item that allocates funding to an organization in his district.

Is there a concise way to describe what John is doing?


texts: "Savings Account" vs "Checkings Account"

texts: The correct form is "savings account". Why don't we say "checkings account"? Why is "checkings account" incorrect and why is "savings account" correct? We certainly wouldn't say "saving account". Please advise.


texts: "I'm flabbergasted!" - Old fashioned? Pedantic? Refined? Educated?

texts:
To flabbergast - to overwhelm with shock, surprise, or wonder.

"I'm flabbergasted!" - I have only one friend who uses this phrase, so I can't figure out what kind of person uses it.  Although NGram shows it to be on the rise, I never hear it from my acquaintances. Is it old-fashioned but coming back into usage? Pedantic? Refined? Educated? Gender-specific vocabulary?


texts: Where did “Dipped in sh*t” originate from? What does it mean?

texts:
I searched for this and was surprised to hear that “dipped in shit” meant a measure of surprise.

I’ve always heard it used as being lucky or untouchable.

“I blew through that speed trap and as the cop started coming after me, another car crashed into him.  I’m dipped in shit!”


texts: Can you Compare things you like and don't like

texts:
Can you compare liking and not liking something.
Example: I liked her yesterday but today I don't


texts: To what extent should figure legends within scientific literature describe trends in their figures?

texts:
How far should figure legends go in describing the trends within the figure (within a biology paper)?
I've seen some conflicting information on this and I'm unsure if legends need to fully describe trends in the figure, only give a partial description, or leave the reader to observe the trend themselves.
In the main body of the text that the figure will be placed and referenced in, the trend will be described.


texts: What's the opposite of withholding taxes?

texts:
I'm building a software for invoices for Mexico and we have the convention to name our variables in English only.

In Mexico there are two types (or categories) of taxes: Retenciones and Traslados.

Retenciones is an easy one: withholding taxes. But i can't find a word for the other type of taxes that are not withheld. Is there a word in English I could use before giving up and just use regularTaxes?

The main difference is that Traslados are taxes added to the total amount of the invoice, while Retenciones (withholdings) are subtracted.

Thanks a lot.


texts: Difference between "doing art" and "making art"

texts:
What is the difference between the usage of "doing art" and "making art"?

As far as I understand, the former represents involvement in any art related activity or process but the later denotes the creation of an artifact such as a painting or a sculpture. But "doing art" can also involve art creation, thereby having a broader meaning. Is there more to it?


texts: Is there an "article searcher" for a certain list of words?

texts:
If I want to practice some new English words, and I need to understand them in a better way- to read them in various articles, is there a tool for that?

For a set of very few words, search engines could manage that. However, if there are 20-30 words or more, basically what I can absorb in a day, I haven't find such a tool.

So far there are some AI-driven tools that can generate articles based on some settings, but I think human-written articles help me better, especially from the media and literature.

It would be great if there's such a tool. Imagine if I can make a search request based on my “new words vocabulary", then it returns article sections from different sources, while they include those words I need to memorize.

To be more specific, take this as an example:
1) I do a vocabulary test, to determine words that I know;
2) I pull a list from new words, say a list includes 40 words, then send a request;
3) It returns 2 sections from news, 1 section from a book. All the paragraphs contains mostly the words I know and the words from the list I pulled. Which means, it doesn't introduce too many new words that makes it too hard to read them.

In general I can verify what I know (step 1) and practice (step 2 and 3) regularly.


texts:
Consider

  I will call your office some time in the evening.

vs.

  I will call at your office some time in the evening.

Which is correct — the version with 'at', or the version with no preposition?


texts:
I am confused - what is difference between these words?
Breaking Bad, True Detective are they series or serial?

On popular streaming sites I can see only TV series or TV shows, does it mean that serial is wrong or just not used now?


texts: Is this highlighted phrase acting as a complete sentence by implying something?

texts:
Here is the beginning of  a paragraph from The Girl on the Train: A Novel by Paula Hawkins. (source):

  It’s going to be a lovely weekend, that’s what they’re telling
  us. Beautiful sunshine, cloudless skies. In the old days we might
  have driven to Corly Wood with a picnic and the papers, spent
  all afternoon lying on a blanket in dappled sunlight, drinking
  wine...

Can a phrase such as the one in bold really come between two complete sentences?


texts: Idiom/expression that means "to hastily make"?

texts:
Is there any idiom/expression for that?

Example sentence:

  Their dinner today was the curry rice she had __ after work.


texts:
I was reading a piece by a blogger who was reviewing some material from a particular industry. The author at a few points in the article made the point that the professionals in the topic industry "weren't trying" and were "making a poor effort" in their chosen field. Unfortunately, the author for the piece littered the article with grammatical mistakes (I stopped counting at 30 in a single post).

Seeing as how these types of mistakes could show that the author was "making a poor effort" I was thinking this could be described as an example of irony but the definitions I found from MW would seem to preclude that.

I felt it was important to get the right description since I am making a commentary about the author's lack of attention to basic English grammar. ;)


texts:
Let's not get too pedantic on the exact difference. What I'll stick with is this:

If it is still in the air, falling, it's a meteor.
If it has hit the ground, it's a meteorite.

In this case, which of the following is correct?

The meteor fell over there.
The meteorite fell over there.

This sets up a scenario where the object is now a meteorite, but was previously a meteor. The action we give to it, i.e., falling, corresponds to its state as a meteor, but it is a meteorite now; it is no longer a meteor.

If we're talking about an action of something that changes state, do we use the current state, or the state it was in at the time it was performing the action? Could it be that the verb form we pick affects this, i.e., that using "was falling" would cause "meteor" to be the correct choice, as falling in the present tense is something only a meteor can do, and that using "fell" would cause "meteorite" to be the correct choice, as only a meteorite can be done falling, mandating a past tense form?


texts:
Since one can use singular they to avoid sexism in a way or another, I got stuck trying to figure if there is a polite word meaning something like "a group of both Ladies and Gentlemen" that could be put in the following phrase without implying in sexism:

Do the Gentlemen need something?

I thought about using Gentlemen, however, I have no clue if it implies in a group of men only.

Can you help me out?


texts: Is there any lingual way to differentiate between the family that I’m a child of and the family that I am a parent of? (I.e., the first family consists of my parents, my siblings, and me; the second one consists of my spouse, my children and me.)


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How do I say “Our meeting is preponed”?

A friend of mine asked me this question, and it caught my curiosity.

Is there an explicit opposite of the word postpone?  As in, do something in advance?  Clearly what I just said is functionally equivalent to the answer I am seeking, but I was wondering if there was a single word that is the antonym.

More context: Bob was supposed to start work in July, but due to a work visa issue, he had to begin in advance.


texts: Word to describe a faint, feeble, and irregular sound?

texts:
I'm looking for a word (adjective) to describe a sound that is very weak and coming in and out. It may also be used to describe a dying heartbeat that is inconstant and indicative of imminent death. I initially thought the word was "feathery," but Google tells me that's totally off base; I mention it, nonetheless, on the off chance that the two words are similar and it may better facilitate your recall of the right word. Also, I'm fairly certain the word ends in -y.
The word should fit the following sentence -

The soldier's breath was _____ as he lay bleeding, dying.


texts: I hear a lot of people saying "Send me an invite". I always thought that it was an 'invitation'. Is "sending one an invite" accepted usage? Or is it incorrect? If I need to get my wedding invitation printed, should it read "Wedding Invitation" or a "Wedding Invite"? Is this a US/UK usage difference?


texts:
How do you pronounce 720p and 1080p?

Because I don't live in a country that uses English, I haven't heard it yet.

I guess it doesn't have a rule.

seven hundred twenty p
seven twenty p
seventy two zero p

What's the one which most people use? And how about 1080p?


texts:
1)Since i was unwell ,so i did not come.

2)Since i was unwell ,i did not come.

  My book said sentence 1 is not correct as we don't use so with since.
  Is it correct?


texts:
In this sentence

  Green tea contains the vitamins and healthy properties of the green tea leaf, which makes green tea popular among health-conscious people.

what is the "which" referring to?? Is it referring to the green tea leaf or the vitamins and healthy properties?


texts: Starting a cover letter with "By this letter,…": correct?

texts: In a cover letter (for a job application), is it correct to start the letter with "By this letter,…" (and then introduce the purpose of the letter)?  this sounds a little strange to me, but there are some example of it on the internet.  So, I would love to know whether this is correct, and if not, if there is a similar but more correct way of referring to the letter (as a form of gentle introduction) while introducing its purpose.


texts: "Like I said earlier" vs "I have said earlier"?

texts:
What's the difference in meaning between the two sentences?

Like I said earlier
I have said earlier

Are they both grammatically correct or wrong?


texts: Alternatives to "intoxicates" in formal writing

texts:
In the following sentence:

  Stephano intoxicates Trinculo and Caliban.

To me, the wording is awkward. I would like to find alternatives to intoxicates in formal writing, but I cannot discern what to use in this case without using to be.


texts: Difference in meaning of "congratulation" and "congratulations"

texts: What is the difference between congratulation and congratulations?


texts:
I am looking for a noun of the adjective "integrated", as in, "combining or coordinating separate elements so as to provide a harmonious, interrelated whole."

Integration describes the process that produces this state, rather than the actual state (I think).

Integratedness works but it is a bit clunky and not that widely used.

Example:

  The individual parts of the mechanical clock interact with each other and work together to keep track of time. The mechanical clock has high [word I'm looking for].


texts: Is "at least" a parenthetical expression requiring commas?

texts:
Is this sentence punctuated correctly with no commas surrounding "at least," or does it need them?

Why or why not?
Adverbial phrase? Essential or nonessential?
I have been looking at it too long and can't tell anymore!

  Well, there was the one time at least the mother had him in the store.

N.B. This is a transcript of actual testimony in a court case being transcribed, so the wording cannot be changed.


texts:
After a class-wide tangent about the nature of...

I haven't found the exact meaning of this word in dictionaries in this particular sentence


texts: "To know something" vs. "To know one's something"

texts:
Is there difference between, say, "He knows Shakespeare" and "He knows his Shakespeare?"

When should the former and the latter be used?


texts:
What are some synonyms of caveat? Interestingly, I wasn't able to find any in the four (approximately) thesauruses which I searched. I'm trying to use it in the following context:

  The emperor did further women's rights, however, his new laws
  contained certain ___ (caveats) which favored men.


texts:
Oojiboo:

  a thing whose name one forgets, does not know, or prefers not to mention

Since I don't have access to the OED, can someone tell me its etymology and whether it's commonly used nowadays?


texts: 'I am of big eye' means 'I am a person whose eye is big' ? Furthermore, how to understand the usage of 'somebody/thing is of something'?


texts: A term for "combining of related phrases"

texts:
Sometimes two related phrases are reached for simultaneously. I recently heard a newscaster combine "standpoint" and "point of view," so that his sentence began "from a football standpoint of view..." is there a name for this phenomenon?

Portmanteau is close but it usually applied to single words.


texts: What would the Rosetta stone be defined as?

texts:
What would something that shows you like the equivalent of something else in another language be defined as? Or a book that teaches you another language be called?

"The "Rosetta stone" show that apple is manzana in spanish."


texts: What are the parts of speech in this exclamatory sentence?

texts:
I am attempting to help a student with a particular sentence:

What an amazingly wise creature God made in the otter!

The exercise asks him to identify if the sentence is active or passive. That question has been answered (active), but we are attempting to determine the parts of speech and uses in a sentence for the rest of it. Here’s what we believe right now.
“God” is the subject. “Made” is the verb. “An amazingly wise” are adjectives modifying “creature,” which we believe to be the Direct Object. We are unable to determine what “what” is and how it is used in this sentence.


texts: Two year's experience or two years' experience or two years experience?

texts:
The title says it all; which is correct?

Two year's experience or
Two years' experience or
Two years experience?

Likewise,

One year's experience or
One years experience?

I was surprised I couldn't find a previous question on this; maybe I missed one.


texts: Is "whatsoever" a formal word in written English?

texts:
The authors make no mention whatsoever about...

Is this sentence appropriate for formal writing?


texts: Understanding Sentence -- blasting things off

texts:
I am having trouble in understanding the last sentence. Could you please simplify the sentence? Thanks!

IF HUMAN BEINGS should ever wish to build bases on the Moon, those bases will need
water. Residents will require it not only for their own sustenance but also as a raw
material for rocket fuel to power adventures farther afield—Mars, for example. Given
the cost of blasting things off the surface of Earth, however, such a base would be best
served by finding its water locally.

Source: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/10/26/there-is-now-cast-iron-evidence-for-water-on-the-moon


texts:
What does this idiom mean?

  too much time in trenches.

Example usage:

  This might just be bad bias on my part though. Expert practitioners can be terrible at forecasting. Too much time in trenches.


texts: OK, so we just passed Mothers' Day and I was curious as to why the card manufacturers all seem to think that the holiday is about one mother, i.e., mother's day vs. all mothers, mothers' day?


texts: Is the placement of the participial phrase correct here?

texts:
I am using a participial phrase to modify the noun. But instead of the more common way of starting the sentence with the participial phrase, I want to use a medial parenthesis:

So instead of this

  Decried by the Roman Church, one aspect of European moral decay was understood to be the engagement in internal conflicts.

I'd like to say:

  One aspect of European moral decay, decried by the Roman Church, was understood to be the engagement in internal conflicts.

I want the sentence to start with "one aspect" for emphasis purposes.


texts: Dialects where days of the week end with "dee"?

texts:
Someone recently posted a question about the pronunciation of Wednesday, which reminded me of a different question about pronouncing the days of the week I've had floating around in my head for a while.

In Standard American English, the word seems to be pronounced "Wensday" [wɛnzdeɪ]. However, I occasionally hear people say something like "Wensdee" [wɛnzdi], and in general the days of the week are Mondee, Tuesdee, Wensdee, Thursdee, etc.

What puzzles me about this is that I haven't been able to associate it with one particular dialect or region - I've hear people say it in (to give three examples) Arizona, Minnesota, and New York. My question is: What US dialects characteristically use this pronunciation - where does it come from? Also, I feel like I often hear older folks using it - could it have something to do with age?


texts: What is the name of someone who was something before you?

texts:
I've completely forgotten the word you say when someone had your job or something before you, and then you took over.

I'm trying to write a History Essay and my sentence is

  The legacy of German's defeat in World War One hung in the air for years after Hitler's ______'s signed the Treaty Of Versailles

I keep thinking its something like oppressor or something but I'm stuck.


texts: Single word describing elevators, escalators and stairs?

texts:
I'm wondering if there is a single word describing elevators, escalators and stairs?

The context is when grouping them in a category in a user interface.


texts:
Do I use by or with with fascinated?

  Fascinated by a chance to go there
  Fascinated with a chance to go there

Collins (at TFD) says...

  A person can be fascinated by or with another person or thing. It is correct to speak of someone's fascination with a person or thing; one can also say a person or thing has a fascination for someone

...which doesn't actually help to distinguish which preposition to use. Although Collins says either can be used, a change in preposition usually changes the meaning.

How do I decide which of by or with to use with fascinated?


texts:
I don't know if the word "number" before "bananas" of the following sentence could be omitted?

"The number of apples is 8 and bananas is 3" or
"The number of apples is 8 and the number of bananas is 3"

Is an article for apples and bananas needed?
Like "the apples" and "the bananas"?


texts: Is there a word that describes the act of trying to impose guilt on another party?

texts:
Context: an organization with which I am affiliated just sent an e-mail asking for donations. It was an obvious attempt to make everyone feel guilty about not donating. I wanted to send a message to a colleague: "this email is dripping with <enter word here>" -- but  I couldn't come up with a word.
I know the of the phrase "guilt trip", which describes the actual guilt imposition, but it doesn't quite fit the usage I was after. Is there a word that describes the act of trying to impose guilt, that would fit the usage above?


texts:
I have the following sentence:

"The methods can be used with every kind of flexible electrical loads "

Should load be in singular or plural?By flexible electrical loads I am referring to e.g. electric vehicles, heat pumps, dishwashers


texts: What proverb describes getting out from trouble but ending up in another one?

texts: I remember reading something like "out from something's mouth/jaws (like a dragon) and into another..."


texts:
We are losing our abilty/abilities to write.

Abilities is 100% a word.
True, it can be viewed as a shared thing in that we all have the one ability.
But I think you could also say that it can be viewed in plural in that each person's ability is very different.
Will either work? What is this disagreement called (technical name)?


texts: Causing catastrophe by the act of trying to avoid catastrophe

texts:
Is there a word in the English language which means either:

to cause a catastrophe by an act intended to avoid that very catastrophe, or
a catastrophe caused by an attempt to avoid that catastrophe?

(Note that the term "catastrophe" might represent any unfortunate outcome.)

For example, the case where someone knocks over and breaks a fragile item precisely because their desire to avoid knocking over that item was altering their behaviour (and not necessarily because of nerves).

This has been bugging me for months, and I've not been able to think of or find a word which fits this situation. If there's nothing in English, is there a word from another language which is a perfect match?


texts:
In a documentary there was a sentence in which it says "this is the city of more is more".

I already knew the meaning of less is more, but that was new to me.

And when I was trying to find out a good definition in dictionaries, to my surprise, there was nothing (not, at least, in ODO, TFT, Cambridge, MW).

The meaning, however, was quite clear for me from the context.

But I think it's worth asking the meaning of this phrase here.


texts:
We still haven't got a sponsor although the fact that we've written to dozens of companies.

What's wrong with ‘although’ in the sentence above?


texts: Why is the "ph" pronounced like a "v" in "Stephen"? Is this the only word like that?

texts:
While I know how my name is pronounced, I've run into many non-native english speakers who have stumbled over this unique exception to English.  Even in the female name, "Stephanie", the ph is pronounced as f.

What is the etymology of "Stephen" and is there any other instance of ph being pronounced as v in either American or British English?


texts: An adjective for a question that is right on the nail?

texts:
Is there any adjective in English that could describe a question (or a remark, an assessment) that is the perfect and the most pertinent question to ask in a given situation, hits the nail right on the head, thus steering the conversation onto the right track?

I'm looking for a clean way to express Japanese ズバリ (as in: ズバリな質問). The literal dictionary translation is: "1. decisively; decidedly; boldly; once and for all; unreservedly; frankly 2. precisely; exactly". I've tried looking up that word in the dictionary and scrolling through a bunch of example sentences, but I can't find a single word solution.

For instance: 彼の言葉はズバリ急所を言い当てた。=> "His remark hit home." The issue is that the word comes as a descriptor of his remarks here, so I'm looking for a single-word equivalent that fits that role: "His remark was ________"


texts: Is there a single word for "At least one"?

texts:
I want a single-word for a term that describes at least one ocurrency.

For example:

  I'll verify that the store has at least one access.

I thought of

  I'll verify the store's accessibility

But this possibility doesn't gives the context of one or more, just that there's access.

I want a sentence for

  I'll verify that the store has at least one access

With a single-word approach for at least one


texts: How can I write this in a more formal way?

texts: Is there a formal way to say "from the horse's mouth"?


texts: "A and B both are" vs. "A and B are both" vs. "Both A and B are" vs. "Both of A and B are"?

texts:
A and B both are very good;
  A and B are both very good.
  Both A and B are very good.
  Both of A and B are very good.

Are there subtle differences between the four sentences above?


texts:
Well, is there any formula for certainty such as the question tense and the answer tense must be the same or like if the first sentence is used (must) as a certainty word the latter would be the same
Why must they scold him ?!
He must have been done something wrong
Is that correct?


texts: I am writing a proposal on a rising area, which just starts to attract attention recently. I want to say there was not a lot work on this before, and thus under-explored.


texts: Is "Increase on last year" grammatically correct?

texts:
I find myself using phrases like "[such and such] saw an increase on last year" or "we are up on last year"

I would be inclined to use just "since last year", but that doesn't really work if comparing a specific month from last year to the same month this year.

Are these standard usage?


texts: If an action started in the past and lasted for some time, which tense should be used Past Simple or Past Perfect Continuous? For example, I worked out for two hours yesterday or I had been working out for two hours yesterday?


texts: What is the term for the part of a jingle that states the company name?

texts:
I have a vague recollection that there's a specific term for the way a company name is set to music in an advertising jingle.  The only examples I can find right now are at the end of this Youtube video or this one.

Wikipedia mentions "sound logo," but that's not quite right, that refers to the distinctive music, or tune, e.g. the 5-note McDonald's "I'm loving it!" sound.


texts:
The Berrys had been blessed, their last owner, Lucius Berry, being    one
of the rare true Christians salted among the ranks of the
so-called faithful. Lucius’s parents and siblings had died in the 1832
cholera   epidemic, leaving him sole ownership of the family tobacco
farm and the seven human beings who worked it. Interpreting the
epidemic as   divine confirmation of what his conscience already knew,
Lucius set    out to atone for his family’s sin: He sold off the rest of
his inheritance,  put his slaves into wagons, and escorted them safely
out west, where he    gave them not just their freedom but money and land
to make a new start. Proving that such an act was indeed possible.

Can anyone tell me what 'salted among the ranks of' means in here?


texts: What is the term for accusing a person of mischief through invented, twisting and changeable terminology?

texts:
What is the term for accusing a person of invented wrongdoing in such a way that he cannot respond or even clearly understand the accusations? For example, frequently reversing the definitions of the terminology used, or basing argumentation on hints and roundabout phrasings, metaphors, invented-on-the-fly floating definitions and rules to fit with the accusations.

Update:
I think inquisitorial is the most proper term for context in which the result does not depend on the argumentation of one of the sides.

Though, jargonaut was completely unheard by me and incrementally more useful.


texts: A phrase to claim the presence or existence of something or somebody

texts:
Suppose you live in a town near London. You always read/see/hear things about London. How can you claim the existence of your town in a phrase?

In spanish we can say "Teruel existe" and this phase has a strong affirmation that the town exists as itself and not as a small or irrelevant part of something greater. we look for some similar in english.


texts: What's the difference between version and edition?


texts:
We can talk about "the matter at hand" or "the matter at issue" and they seem to mean just about the same thing: something along the lines of "the matter currently under discussion." Is there a difference between these two phrases?

I think it's clear that "the issue at hand" is way better than "the issue at issue" but is there a reason for this?

Maybe you just want to avoid the confusion of using two meanings of a word so close to each other. Or maybe calling something an issue already implies that it is "at issue," so in that case saying "the issue at issue" would be redundant.


texts: What is the synonym for the word `non-technical`?

texts:
I want to say something like Non-technical introduction to Python. What word can replace non-technical?

I've fished out un-technical and general so far, but they don't really fit well.


texts: what does "assume" mean in this sentence?

texts:
Banks are already passing on increased costs to certain customers, and insurance companies are assuming incremental risks to compensate for negative yields.

source:http://www.businessinsider.com/global-negative-bond-yields-2016-5


texts:
I've run into the following sentence:

  [...] that we are building utopias in our virtualities that will finesse away the imperfections of human character.

I could not find in any place the meaning of "finesse away" as a phrasal verb.

Though I found this expression in some other contexts:

  Weak private investment means weak growth and bleak long-term employment prospects. There is no way to finesse away that fact.

  However, I think we can say with confidence that our awareness is rooted in the physical brain. This is where our conciousness exists, and I don't think we will ever be able to finesse away this fundamental dependency.

  However, rather than attempt to finesse away the concept of race, we should simply ask: in civic life, how much significance ought we to attach to racial difference?

  The dreaded alternative minimum tax, which was created to ensure that upper-income Americans would not be able to finesse away their tax obligations altogether, would be eliminated under the proposal.

  Together the EDGE architecture and its compiler finesse away much of the register renaming, CAMs, and complexity

  Let’s finesse away for the moment, exactly what “meanness” means.

  Follow up with McKee’s 37 Fast Polish to refine the finish, then finesse away any remaining blemishes and add the warm glow of carnauba with McKee’s 37 Jeweling Wax.

From uses above, I could guess "finesse away" could mean:

something close to "circumvent", "avoid" (in sentences 1 to 5)
"ignore" (in sentence 6)
"subtly remove" (in sentence 7)

Except for sentence 7 (the only one I can clearly understand the choice of "finesse away" - to imply delicacy, subtlety), does "finesse away" carries any additional meaning besides the interpretations above?

Thanks!


texts:
Do I need to use the definite article the in this case?

Copycats are Google's enemies.

Copycats are the Google's enemies.

There is no context, just a statement (these enemies aren't identified).


texts: What is the difference between "Whatever/What ever happened to Sandra?" and "What happened to Sandra?"

texts:
Sandra's been missing for a while, so we ask:

Whatever/What ever happened to Sandra?
What happened to Sandra?

Is there any difference between these two questions and the situation to ask them in?


texts: What is it called when you use the word 'you' like in this sentence to refer to any person and not just you specifically?

texts:
While having a conversation, I say: "When you say atheist, most people would imagine an anti-religious person". What I meant by 'you' is actually anybody. When I am using 'you' in such a manner, what am I doing? Is there a name/word for it? Is it using a 'figure of speech'?

Thank you


texts: What does "To" mean in a newspaper headline?

texts:
What does to mean in a newspaper headline, for example:

  Airline XY to cut cost of pilots' wages

Is it a shorter form of "Is going to" or "Is planning to"?


texts: Which one is right: "Some of the advantages of/to this technology"

texts: Which one is right,  "Some of the advantages of this technology" or "Some of the advantages to this technology"?


texts: Are prior, previous, and preceding interchangeable?

texts:
If I have four moments in time (A, B, C, D), where moment D is the present, would previous, preceding, and prior be interchangeable as adjectives to refer to moments A-C? Is one of them more likely to refer to moment C, the moment immediately before the present?

The sources I've been searching (excluding OED, which I can't access) call them synonyms and/or interchangeable when meaning "before". One stipulation I've read and whose veracity I can't attest, states (in comparing prior and previous) that

  usually 'prior experience' is experience of the same type.

That doesn't help me. My specific need is in referring to moments B and C but NOT moment A. I would say something like,

"Moment D is the same as the previous two moments", and the statement would unambiguously refer to moments B and C.

PS - I have very little space on the page to make this statement, which is why I can't be more specific.

Thanks for any usage advice or collocation stats on these terms.


texts: What is the word/noun that describes the concept of a process being 32-bit vs 64-bit?

texts:
I'm struggling to come up with the proper word to describe this concept. Like if I want to talk about whether a process is a 32-bit process or a 64-bit process, I want to talk about its ______?

"Bitness?" I don't know. "Bit size?"

Sorry if this isn't the correct StackExchange site for this, I wasn't sure which one to post in.


texts:
Considering these two sentences in the past tense, using "never":

The film has never been released
The film was never released

Are they both correct? If so, is there a difference in the meaning, or usage?


texts: Which is more correct: "burgled" or "burglarized"?

texts:
Which is more correct:

  We were burgled yesterday.

or

  We were burglarized yesterday.

I'm from the U.K. and never use burglarized but my friend from the U.S.A. seems to think it's OK.


texts:
is there any difference between these two words?

I understand that people often use "food waste" to talk about the issue of throwing away too many cooked food

However, it seems to me that it would be more accurate to describe it as "food wastage".

Another interesting point is about an implicit connotation.

  Dictionary.com states that: Waste and wastage are to some extent interchangeable, but many people think that wastage should not be used to refer to loss resulting from human carelessness, inefficiency, etc: a waste (not a wastage) of time/money/effort etc

however, when I refer to another book or, such connotation is not acknowledged.

  the Guide to English Usage states that: wastage = act or process of wasting; whereas waste  = unused remnant.

Can anyone explain to me the difference regarding the two words?


texts:
I have used the term and have heard the term anymore used in the positive. For example:

I use Apple anymore.
I use Windows anymore.

My co-workers "yelled" at me because I was using anymore incorrectly. I should use it as:

I don't use Apple anymore.
I don't use Windows anymore.

I'm from Pittsburgh originally but now live in Hawaii. Is this more common, just Pittsburghese, or is this just me?

Edit: Not a duplicate, I know the meaning, was asking about commonality and how widespread the usage is.


texts: What's the dinstinction between these intensifiers, such as very, quite, rather, pretty, extremely, etc.?

texts:
Word choice and usage:
I'm always curious about the the usage of intensifiers, such as very, quite, rather, pretty, extremely, etc.. I also remember my teacher told there was a turn of tone when using these words and some of them had a passive emotion several years ago. In these days, I see a website (https://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/Quite_rather_and_pretty_The_differences_between_Br_44738.aspx). I become thoroughly disordered. So, I want to know the distinction between these intensifiers, and where and when I should use them. Does they have a positive or negative emotion.


texts: Any difference between “Are you done?” and “Are you done yet?”

texts:
I see people in movies saying

  Are you done?

and

  Are you done yet?

And I wonder what that the addition of yet might mean or suggest in the second version which is absent in the first one.

Are those two versions completely equivalent, or is there some subtle distinction?


texts: Word to describe an engraved slogan or name for charity purposes?

texts:
I'm doing a fundraiser that allows a user to memorialize content, be it a phrase, picture, or emblem among other content with fixed dimensions (height & width).

Historically, people inscribed words into brass plates, names into cornerstones, or bricks.  The Walk of fame could be considered something similar.

Is there a word to describe this overall concept?

The word engraving doesn't imply the charitable nature, nor the fact it will co-exist with other engravings, nor the elite status the engraving represents.

Ideally there is a way to contrast the visual consistency (Hollywood boulevard) in contrast to the sponsor-defined engravings of a chair/bench in Bryant Park, vs a sponsor wall which may have little or no visual consistency.


texts: I am writing an email to a family member (in-law or brother/sister). While in the past I used "love" and signed off with my first name for closing, I usually wondered if there are better words I could use instead of "Love". For one thing, it sounds uncreative and a little trite. For another, it seems phony as I do not feel a close relation to some family members. What are the alternatives?


texts:
I was writing a report for an assignment and found myself wanting to write the following sentence.

The resulting landscape shows more relief.

In Dutch, "relief" only has the French meaning (cf. le relief) related to geography so it came natural to me. Then I realized that "relief" in English also (and probably mostly) refers to the feeling. I double checked if it could even be used with the French meaning and found this: https://www.thoughtco.com/relief-geography-definition-1434845.
My question is whether the sentence above makes sense or is there an other word I should use instead to describe the "non-flatness" of the landscape?
Additionaly, is the word pronounced differently when using it with its meaning in French?


texts:
When an adjective is preceding two nouns, the first one being an attributive noun, does it define the final noun or the attributive noun?

For example: Red car keys

Are they red keys that open a car, or are they keys that open a red car?


texts: Can the word "vector" be used in the context of non-infectious diseases?

texts:
According to one dictionary, vector (outside of physics, mathematics and computing)  means "any agent that carries out and transmits a disease." Does this mean the word is limited to infectious diseases (which can be spread through transmission) only? Would be it acceptable to use it in the following sentence:

"He thought many in the crack-infested neighborhood were vectors of addiction."

Thanks for your help.


texts:
We're using a textbook called "English for Management Studies" by Tony Corballis and Wayne Jennings at our English classes at university. I'm saying this so that you know that the following sentence should be viewed in managerial context. The sentence is:

Seasonal farm ___ are often employed to help bring in the harvest.

I'm expected to fill in the gap with the correct form of the verb WORD "hand". I Googled it and found out that there is a noun - farmhand - a person who works on a farm. It seems like it fits the context, but I don't see much of a managerial meaning here, that's why I'm asking (e.g., previous sentences were like "Start-up _ (capital) is available in ..." or "The human resources _ (manager) is in charge of ...", etc.). Another reason for doubting is that "farmhand" appears to be one word, while the gap in the sentence implies that there are two words. I would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.


texts:
From the book 100 year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared
" over land didn't seem much easier" :

The above sentence seems wrong to me .
As I learned, over land doesn't look like a  noun and should not be placed for the subject position .
Or is the sentence reversed?
Or is it just typical English expression?
Would you explain the usage of the words to me?
Thanks alot in advance :)


texts: Can a female proprietor be called as "proprietor"?

texts:
I know the female version of proprietor can be called as proprietress or proprietrix.

But I want to know whether a female proprietor can also be called a proprietor? Or does proprietor only indicate a male business person?


texts: Being honest with minor things but being dishonest about big issues

texts:
I was looking for a proverb or a saying that describes the hypocrisy of a local dictator at a non profit organization who held and managed fake elections in which he was running for the president position which he won. Everybody was laughing at its faulty procedures and the obvious conflict of interest. Interestingly, last week he asked people about their opinion about the color of the new carpet for the building and he had four different samples for the carpets and asked everybody to vote by putting a mark on the carpet sample they liked. He made it transparent and counted the votes and made a big deal out of a trivial issue.

I am looking for something that describes people people being honest with trivial things but being dishonest with bigger matters.


texts:
My friend and I are having a debate about the following sentence and what to slot into the gap:

______ we had finished the course, we received certificates. (Before/After)

To me it sounds correct to use either before/after in the sentence, like this:

"After we had finished the course, we received certificates".
(We finished the course and then received certificates after that).

"Before we had finished the course, we received certificates".
(We received certificates before the end of the course).

My friend, however, argues that the action expressed in the past perfect ("had finished") must always be the preceding action, followed by the past simple ("received certificates") and so it is ungrammatical to use "before" here.

Which interpretation of the grammar is correct here?


texts: Word for someone who thinks everything is about them

texts:
I have an ex, and the other day she asked why I was hiding my last seen on Whatsapp, and I assume she thinks it's because I'm trying to avoid her; but in reality I only do it to avoid other certain people if I don't feel like answering. Not about her at all. She's done this before with others things. I'm over her, and she's clearly not and still thinks she's the center of my universe.

What word would describe her or her behavior?


texts: What is the difference between "a query" and " a request"?

texts:
We often see both terms, query and request in multiple notions in computer science.
While the meaning of request is simple to a non-english native speaker, I don't seem to be able to find an analogy to query in Russian language (my native one), to deeply feel the difference between the meanings of two words.


texts: Looking for an adverb/adjective describing a person that gave up on something

texts:
Considering the context:

  She was stating the obvious, looking >insert descriptive adverb<

I am looking for an adverb/adjective that could describe like "looking like she gave up".

The closest ones I could come up with was dejectedly and lifelessly. Is there a word, that can describe exactly like stated above?

EDIT: I'm not looking for Depressed/Disappointed kind of meaning, it's more like: stuff like that happened before, so she is tired of that repetition/gave up on caring about it.


texts: Members of a set that will probably have a quality

texts:
Consider these statements.  What I want to convey is that most Alphas will die, that Tom, Dick, and Harry as Alphas are very likely to die, but it's not certain; and some Betas will die.  (We already know by this point that Tom, Dick, and Harry are Alphas.)

Almost every Alpha, Tom, Dick, and Harry, and some Betas, will die.

Does this mean that almost all Alphas and some Betas will die, and Tom, Dick, and Harry will die for sure?  What about the next?

Almost every Alpha, including Tom, Dick, and Harry, and some Betas, will die.
Almost every Alpha, including Tom, Dick, and Harry, and some Betas, will likely die.

(I think this last one seems to say that it's likely that most Alphas will die, but maybe nobody will, which is not what I intend.)


texts: Should I use present or past tense when referring to a (scientific) paper?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What (grammatical) tense to use when doing reference in a paper?

In the two examples below, which tense is preferred?

"Smith (2001) noted that ..." or
"Smith (2001) notes that ..."

"The paper established ..." or
"The paper establishes ..."

If both forms are equally valid, is it customary to use both forms within a text, or should I stick to one form?


texts: What does "spot basis" mean, in the sentence "what you want to be able to do is develop the skill to go and do this on a spot basis"?


texts: Why do we say 'if I were' but not ' if news were'?

texts:
If I WERE rich , I would buy a car.
If more good NEWS WAS reported, we would feel more hopeful.

For the former, because it is a hypothetical scenario, we bring 'were' instead of 'was' even though we have 'I'.
But why we say 'news was' and not 'news were'?
It is because news is uncountable?
Or 'were' only applies to 'I'?


texts: What do you call a wall at the center of a subway platform, displaying some information?

texts:
In the subway stations of Vienna there are "info-walls", on which

map of the city,
plan of the subway,
emergency communicator and
some other information (such as terms and conditions)

is displayed (see 2 red rectangles in the image below).

What are these things called in English?


texts:
In the following sentence which is correct, and why?

As homeschool moms, we know there (don't/doesn't) seem to be enough hours in the day to tackle all that we want to teach our girls.


texts: Who started the expression  "fake news"? Who or what historical episode made it popular?


texts: What does "buggy" mean in "a hot, buggy August morning"?

texts:
While reading a short story, I came across a use of the word "buggy" that I'm not familiar with:

  It’s a hot, buggy August morning, too early for lunch, so we find a deserted picnic table without much problem.

I found two definitions of buggy (Dictionary.com):

infested with bugs.
Slang. crazy; insane; peculiar.

To me, neither makes sense in this context. Why would anyone call a morning "buggy"? So I though maybe I'm missing something here. So my questions are:

If it means one of the above, is it in a good sense or a bad sense. Does the sounds of bugs make it a lively morning or an annoying one, etc. Is it a lovely morning or a gloomy one?
If it means/implies something else, how would you describe it?


texts: Is 'server', as used of restaurant server, only an AmE expression?

texts:
I noticed, in an article recounting the very robust and competent response of a young lady to inappropriate conduct, that she was described as a 'server'.

I have never seen this use of the word before and the OED seems to class it as 'rare' in the general sense of serving and has no modern references when used in this specific of table-waiting.

The Ngram of 'restaurant server' (the only disambiguation I could think of from the computer use of the word) shows rising usage in American English from the 1980s and escalating usage in the 21st century.

But the Ngram has zero return for BrE and I never remember hearing or reading of this context previously.

I assume it is a genderless way of referring to waitresses and waiters but it is closely related to the word 'servant' which I would have assumed to be a word that not everyone would wish to be described by.

Is the usage appearing in BrE at all ?
And is the word acceptable to use in this context ?

EDIT: The previous question did not deal with BrE usage which was my question.


texts:
Is there another word for 'replayability?' I keep reading that it is not a word; however, the Oxford Dictionaries recognizes it.

Thesaurus.com wasn't very helpful either.


texts: Which way is guys written in this sentence: "What are your guys favorite cars"? Should the word guys be written as guys, guy's, or guys' in this sentence?


texts: What is the meaning of the word “authority” in this context?

texts:
Here is an excerpt from the book called I’m right and You’re an idiot.

We need scientists to become more political because pure evidence—facts, figures and flowcharts—cannot form an adequate basis for public debate. Why? Primarily because the public is not equipped to get to the bottom of such a discussion, or analyze all these facts. “And having to work within a notion of consensus closes off argument and authority. We become completely mired in all the epistemology of getting the facts straight.” We must talk about concerns and interests instead.

In this context, what is the meaning of the word “authority”?


texts: Capitalization of Bayesianist and frequentist

texts: I wonder how Bayesianist and frequentist are correctly capitalized. I figure that Bayesianist is spelled with a capital B (named after Thomas Bayes), yet frequentist with a miniscule f as it doesn't contain a proper name. Am I right?


texts:
When is a comma after although correct and when it is incorrect? Which of these two sentences is correct?

"This could work as a great topic for a book, although I could also use it as a topic for a short newspaper article."

"This could work as a great topic for a book, although, I could also use it as a topic for a short newspaper article."

Please don't bother with any other grammatical errors in these sentences.


texts:
In these sentences below, does it makes a difference if I replace if with since?

1）If you are unemployed, why did you leave your last job?
 2）If you are innocent, why did you flee?
 3）If you are a Christian, why do you believe in a personal God like this?

My questions:

Does if here suggest a hypothesis, which means anyone who speaks these words is not sure or does not admit the fact?
Does replacing if with since make the clause a fact rather than a hypothesis?
If replacing if with since does make a difference, can if still be used if the context can imply that the clause is indeed a fact?

Thank you in advance!


texts: Why does Walt Whitman capitalise the words “personalities” and “are” in this sentence?

texts:
But sternly disregarding, shutting our eyes to the glow and grandeur of the general superficial effect, coming down to what is of the only real importance, Personalities, and examining minutely, we question, we ask, Are there, indeed, men here worthy the name?

I haven’t come across this usage before. Why does the writer use capitalisation with a common word and with the verb after a comma?


texts: Is it appropriate to write RIP for expressing grief?

texts:
I came to this question after I saw a Facebook post about someone who passed away with everyone posting rip as a comment. Wikipedia tells me the following about the abbreviation of RIP:

  "Rest in peace" (Latin: Requiescat in pace) is a short epitaph or
  idiomatic expression wishing eternal rest and peace to someone who has
  died. The expression typically appears on headstones, often
  abbreviated as "RIP".

Possibly it is just me, but is it really appropriate to write RIP to express grief? It seems not decent to use an abbreviation in this case—is there not enough time to write it at least out?

Granted, after all the three letters do not root from modern age and internet like LOL, but have a historic background, plus it eases international verbal communication as it is with the word OK.


texts: Eggs fried/scrambled "over easy" or "over hard" — refers to the pan, the egg, or something else?

texts: To me, "over easy" seems to refer to the pan, because I think of a pan sitting atop an easy flame.  "Over hard" makes me think it refers to the egg, because the liquid becomes solid.  Then again, maybe it's something else altogether.


texts:
My sister sighed "Oh, the humanity!" But she was talking about her cat. What is the right word if it's a cat?

Felinity?
Felixity?

Extra points for dogs...

Caninity?


texts:
Hunger Wall was a fortification project which had questionable strategical importance, but it allowed anyone to work there for food thus avoiding famine without handouts(might not be 100% historically accurate, but that's where the idiom comes from).

It is used as an euphemism for a work, which was only created for the purpose of employing people. The work itself doesn't necessarily have to to be boring or repetitive and I intentionally avoid the term "job", because it might be referring to a work you assign to your employees when you're in between paying customer projects and you don't want to lay off staff.

Up until recently I thought this term can be used in English, but apparently it's only used in Czech language.

Is there some similar idiom which is used in English? I guess I could say something like "useless work", but I'm looking for something more fitting and a little bit more punch.


texts: Single word for representing a person who guides at right time

texts: Please help me finding the single word for representing a person who guides at right time (at the time of need).


texts:
Are "ins", "hrs", "mins" and "secs" the technically correct plural abbreviations for "inches", "hours", "minutes" and "seconds"? I'm hoping that all examples below could possibly be correct.

Examples:

Plural: He finished the race in 4hrs 34mins 9secs.

Singular: His 4hr 34min 9sec finish was unprecedented.

Plural of 'inches': Garry was 5ft 10ins tall.

Singular of 'inches': Garry was a 5ft 10in man.


texts:
Could someone tell me the meaning of this following sentence:

"The importance of A is difficult to overestimate."

I am uncertain whether it means A is really important or means A is unimportant.


texts: Is "regardless of whether or not" proper grammar?

texts:
I have a sentence like this:

  I will go to the store regardless of whether or not it's raining

Meaning that the weather has no bearing on my intent to go to the store.  The "regardless of whether or not" is awkward, and it feels like bad grammar, but I can't think of a better way to say it.

What would the proper grammar be in this case?


texts:
I was playing an online game and I noticed a player on my team with username "4PP13". I asked him what should I call him. He said "apple".

I didn't have second thoughts until I Googled it. It turned out "4PP13" does means apple according to Free Dictionary.

So what's the deal? Is this a special case? If not, what is this called?


texts: Declarative Clause with Interrogative word order

texts:
This is a part of a song's lyrics:

  ... (previous lines in short: I don't like you, but)
  Then again it's good to get a call
  Now and then, just to say hello
  Have I said I hate to see you go
  I hate to see you go

I don't understand the clause in bold. It has an interrogative structure, but doesn't seem to be a question, does it? Generally the song says: "Although I don't like you much, give me a call sometimes". But why does that clause have a questioning word order? What is the underlying rule for that?

I have seen changes in the normal order of the words to convey conditional meaning (for example: Had you gone, I would've gone too), or after "neither" (for example: - I don't smoke. +Neither do I), but I don't know what does it mean in the quoted lyrics above.

I'd appreciate it if someone told me for what purposes I can change the common order of declarative clauses.

Thank you in advance.


texts: "Considering …, the middle-out approach" Is this a dangling modifier?

texts:
I am writing my thesis and I have the following sentence:

  [Considering its empirical complements together with the complexity, extensiveness and dynamics of the city logistic system,] the middle-out approach is thus adopted for the following hierarchy construction.

Now the subordinate phrase 'Considering ... logistic system' does not appear to be modifying the subject 'the middle-out approach'.

Do I need to rewrite this sentence? And if so, how could I rewrite it?


texts:
Dogs are often considered as man's best friend. However, the aforementioned phrase has a certainly negative meaning. The same phrase exists in French as well.

Other negative phrases with dogs include work like a dog, die like a dog, a dog's life, etc. How long ago in the English language does this negative connotation date?


texts:
I'm reading When Our Grown Kids Disappoint Us by Jane Adams. In the introduction, she talks about who this book is addressed to:

  ...here are the positive, life-affirming, burden-easing things you can
  learn from the experiences of hundreds of parents of kids who've let
  them down. That sounds like a self-centered way to describe those
  parents and the choices their kids have made, doesn't? After all,
  whose life is it, and who are we to judge how they should live it?
  Just because they didn't finish school, or marry the right person ...
  who are we to say they've failed? Only their parents, for whom
  coming to terms with our adult children's limitations also means
  facing our own. Although their names and the details of their lives
  have been changed, they are as real as you and I, with real kids and
  real disappointments...

I'm confused about the part of "Only their parents". Is it the answer to the question "who are we to judge"? So the author is saying that only the parents of those kids can judge them? But it also seems the author is implying that parents do not have the rights to judge their kids. Can anybody explain the idea for me?


texts: Meaning of " ‘Western’ world" and alternative terms

texts:
The discussion on the meaning and connotations of the world 'Oriental' got me thinking along similar lines on the usage of 'Western' world or 'the West' to denote North America and Europe. I find it interesting how in many situations Africa and Latin America aren't considered belonging to the 'West', even though in a strictly longitudinal sense they are to the west of 'the East' / 'Orient'.

Has anyone come across situations where using 'the West' is considered pejorative, and, if yes, what alternative terms are / can be used?


texts:
(From a foreign speaker : )
I'm lucky enough to live with the man I love, but we're not married, nor having any "official" marital life. How should I refer to him ?
He's a divorced man and will never be a "husband" again, and I don't feel like using the word "boyfriend" since both of us are over 50 ! The American "partner" sounds a bit too "raw" to me, and the Canadian "chum" doesn't befit the man either.
I sometimes need to refer to him when talking to British as well as American guests.


texts: What 's the grammatical point in this sentence?

texts:
Humans spend much of their conscious lives interacting with the world
  through electronics, the only barrier between brain and machine …(1)…
  the senses — sight, sound and touch — through …(2)… humans and devices
  interface.

  1- 1) being    2) is         3) to be            4) are

  2-  1) which   2) those    3) those of which     4) them

in the above question, the correct answer is 1, but why "being" is correct? why "is" is not correct?
Please justify the answer by explaining that.

In the second question, the correct answer is "which". Why "them is incorrect?

Please help me to find out these issues. and tell me some links to read more about.
thank you.


texts: Why did we merge "can" and "not" but not "do" and "not" to make *"donot"?

texts: This is very illogical. If I cannot write * donot to mean "do not", it annoys me greatly. Is there a good reason we do not say * donot, or is it simply by chance that we cannot?


texts: Is "blaring your nose into a tissue" an understandable/idiomatic sentence?

texts:
Instead of saying "blowing your nose into a tissue" is it also okay to say "blaring your nose into a tissue?"

Example sentence:

  I fished out a balled tissue from my blouse's pocket and blared my
  nose in it.


texts:
President Trump said "I always put justice now with quotes"
                                               -CNN

What does that mean?


texts:
It was as if he was messing around with him.

Is there an alternative for that sentence so the "double was" can be removed? I believe that it is grammatically correct, but it just doesn't flow well.


texts: "I don't want him knowing..." vs. "I don't want him to know... "

texts:
There is some dialogue in a movie I saw:

  I don't want him knowing about this.

I always thought it was

  I don't want him to know about this.

I've been confused for days. What is the difference between them, if any?


texts: Is 'thrive to become' used correctly in this sentence?

texts:
I came upon a sentence 'Thrive to become an efficient and adaptive IT organisation' describing future company goals.

It seems to me that 'strive' would be more appropriate word here.
Is 'thrive' used correctly in this sentence/context and can thrive/strive be used interchangeably?


texts:
A situation may arise, for example, when parents refuse to give the child something he asks for. Then the child won't speak to parents unless they try hard to convince him. What is the English word for this behavior? In Hindi/Urdu we call it roothna.

If my question is unclear, you could watch this video and give the word for how the Grandmother is acting:

Dadi Amma Dadi Amma Maan Jao


texts:
Which of the following has the closest meaning to "This makes no sense"?

"I do not understand this"
"This has no meaning"

Update I will try to explain: My friend has proposed a solution to some problem. I believe that his solution will not help. Is it possible to answer him with "This makes no sense"? Is that a correct usage of the phrase?


texts: Formality of 'but' at the end of the sentence?

texts:
I quite often use 'but' at the end of sentence, and I've seen it elsewhere.

for example:

  Yeah, it sounds like you guys had an awesome last night! I did get a lot of work done but.

Is this common? Is it formal English? Where else is it used?


texts:
I am currently writing an instructional document. I thought it'd be a good idea to use a readability tester for my dear future readers.

One sentence I put through the readability tester was detected as a passive sentence. The sentence is:
'All clients who are eligible to be reunited with their loved ones fall into one of the two following categories:'

The passive detector is picking up 'to be'.

I can't figure out how this is passive or how to change it.

I ended up re-writing the sentence: 'There are two categories for clients who are eligible for the program, as follows:'

But, I would like to know what I did wrong in the first place. I realise there is sometimes a place for passive sentences, but I've already used a lot of passive voice in my previous paragraphs.

Can anyone point out exactly what I was doing wrong and how to fix it?


texts: "Feel a poulpe in your throat!" Does it look like a sailor's swearing?

texts:
It's for my friend who is somewhat of a writer. One of his characters is a skipper, old sea dog swears like this: "Дохлый осьминог тебе в рот и чтоб попал туда через жопу!" [lit. (let) dead octopus (be) in your mouth and got there back asswards] I've translated it this way: "Feel squishy poulpe (or a cuttlefish or something) in your throat, through your guts, from your bottom!"

It should sound funny and english-sailor-curse like too. I doubt if my adaptation is good enough. Sorry if it's in a way rude.

I need to get a phrase of the same meaning I've literally translated alreday but in real english, not that weak thing I came with like.


texts:
I was having a conversation recently and used the word height. What stands out to me is that I pronounced it /haɪθ/ as opposed to /haɪt/. I realized that I pronounce it this way quite often.

Is this related to Grimm's Law or could it just be because of the pronunciations of width and length?

Follow up question:
Is this a common phenomenon; is it something that's catching on and starting to become part of the English language?

I am a native speaker from the U.S.


texts: Should we avoid using words that have alternate offensive meaning

texts:
There are many English words that could be used to refer to something innocent that also has a common slang meaning, such as pussy, ass, bitch, etc.

For convenience' sake, should we avoid using those words altogether in formal writing? Should we perhaps use synonyms or paraphrase them, instead of using the single word?


texts: What is the structure of the sentence 'const to the rescue'?

texts:
The following is the context:

  Despite my fastidious coding habits, I
  have made a silly mistake and typed +=
  when I meant to type +. As a result,
  when concatUnsafe is called, it will
  modify the arguments out and s1, which
  may come as surprise to the user who
  would expect a concatenation function
  to modify one of the source strings?

  const to the rescue.


texts: What does 'underwritten" mean in the following sentence?

texts:
I am asking about the meaning of 'underwritten' in the following sentence?
The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its visual effects and action sequences, but with criticism towards its underwritten human characters.
Thanks in advance.


texts: What is the body of a text preceding a postscript called?

texts:
A postscript may be added to the end of a letter or email (she explained knowing that people on english.stackexchange.com would be unfamiliar with the term).  An afterword can be appended to the end of a book.  I'm using "P.S." farcically at the end of a Facebook comment.
Is there a generic term for the bodies of letters, emails, books, and Facebook comments?


texts: Meaningful English sentences containing very few distinct letters

texts:
An English pangram is a sentence that contains each of the 26 letters used in English, the classic example being `the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.' What I am looking for is precisely the opposite. I am looking for meaningful English phrases or sentences that contain very few distinct letters, preferably 8 or less.

A small example is the computer science phrase `hello world' which is meaningful and contains only 7 distinct letters (h,e,l,o,w,r,d). Is there a repository containing examples of similar phrases, or can Stack Exchange users generate their own?

Why would you want such phrases?

I am mathematician and I plan to teach a group of high school about Huffman codes. A Huffman code is a code for converting letters into binary (0s and 1s). Given a sentence (or passage, or book) the coding is chosen so as to minimize the total number of binary digits needed. So for example, in English the letter E is very frequent and the letter Z is not; one might then assign the letter E the short binary sequence 110, and the letter Z the longer sequence 111100101. That way when you convert a book into binary you will use fewer digits than if, say, you had assigned 111100101 to E and 110 to Z.

In working through examples in class, the tediousness of generating the code is directly proportional to the number of distinct letters contained in the passage one is encoding. Roughly speaking, the fewer letters present, the shorter the code book needs to be. English sentences containing few distinct letters would, for this reason, be great examples to Huffman encode.


texts:
I'm writing a technical document about Linux and I wonder if I should type "tty driver" or "TTY driver" ? Which one, if any, is right and what is the general grammatic to follow in these cases?

My actual sentence with the expression is:

  The tty driver handles data that are sent between Linux’ tty and the modem card.


texts: Is 'long time no see' grammatically correct?

texts: I have researched and found out long time no see is a direct translate from the Chinese phrase, 好久不见. As much as we use it almost everyday in our lives, is it actually grammatically correct? Since it is a direct translate, is it grammatically approved?


texts: "One of my friend's father" vs. "one of my friends' father"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Possessive form of “one of [a list]”?

What is correct:

  One of my friend's father is serving in the Navy.
  One of my friends' father is serving in the Navy.

Or is it grammatically wrong to have such a possessive construct and the correct form is:

  The father of one of my friends is serving in the Navy.


texts: If X is positively correlated with Y, how do I write that down?

texts:
So I'm in the field of neural implants and it often happens that I wish to write down that responses increase when the stimulus level is increased.

Now what I basically would say in Dutch, my native language, and translated to English is:

  X increases with Y

so for example:

  The amplitude (size) of the auditory nerve response increases with current level.

Is this correct? Otherwise I have to write something like

  The amplitude is positively correlated with current level

which has too much of a statistical undertone in it (distracts from the message and may confuse readers). Or

  The amplitude increases when the current level is increased.

Here the sentence is, seemingly, needlessly long and 'increased' is used twice (reads a bit clumsy).


texts:
Do you know that he will be our coach?
Do you know if he will be our coach?

I think both sentences are grammatically ok, just meaning two different things.

In the first sentence, it's decided that 'he' will be the coach and the intention of the question is to see if the listener knows the information.

and in the second, the speaker is not sure if 'he' will be the coach, and wants to ask the listener about it.

Do I understand the sentences right?


texts: Use or omit ellipsis when using part of a quotation at the start of a sentence?

texts:
Full quotation: "I love the president and it's an honour to be here", said Anthony Scaramucci, President Trump's new White House communications director.

Example 1 (ellipsis): "...it's an honour to be here", said Anthony Scaramucci, President Trump's new White House communications director.

Example 2 (no ellipsis): "It's an honour to be here", said Anthony Scaramucci, President Trump's new White House communications director.

Which is correct? Thanks in advance.


texts: Same theme pictures( or paintings) merged

texts:
Is there an english word (substantive) that refers to a type of picture or painting where there are merged lot of pieces of a same theme?

So far I found 'mural' and 'collage', but not sure if they are precise enough.

Attached picture of what I meant

http://imgur.com/RGlu2jM


texts: Should I answer this question without question mark?

texts:
I recently received by email this sentence:

  Please tell me if the problem is now solved.

I usually answer any email I receive that have questions. This sentence is not a question because it does not have a question mark. However it seems legit to interpret this sentence as a question and then I should answer the non-question.

Is it syntactically correct to write this sentence without question mark?


texts:
Is these pens blue or green? or Are these pens blue or green?
Which one is true?


texts: Hypernym for "profile" and "preference" in the context of dating or match-making

texts:
The context is love-matching or match-making.

I am looking for one term/word to address a dating/mating condition that people would have when matching. It's more complicated and thorough than a simple mating condition because we are human so there are many many concerns both we have on others and other people have on us (who we are).

Whatever-the-word-is includes people's own profile (who they are) and people's expections/preferences (who they want). This is the thing that I want to address.

I kind of found a word, benchmark. But it's just too geeky I guess, and remote. I suppose the first response when people see this word is "what the...".

But to use other words like preferences, mate conditions or match criterion seems just not quite right.


texts: What pair of words can be combined with “worth every penny” as an idiom?

texts:
When I was listening to AP Radio News of Eagle 810 (Far East Network), the only English language public radio broadcasting service available in Japan, together with members of a local English Speaking Society, who wish to improve English hearing proficiency, there was the following line reporting 85th Anniversary of Coney Island’s Cyclone roller coaster:

“In honor of 85th Anniversary, ride is just a quarter for the first 85 minutes, the coaster was open. Michel Hamline says it is worth every penny and ...," followed by the word that sounds something like “men some” phonetically.

We couldn’t hear out the ending words sounding like “men some.” though we tried by replaying the tape a dozen times.

I could have passed by this part, but was haunted with the question. So I'm venturing to ask:

Is there a set of words that can be combined with “worth every penny” as an idiom?

I thought “worth every penny” is a self-completing idiom sui generi, and wondered why it should be followed by anything.

Can you guess what the part that sounded like “men some” would be?


texts:
Can I call a vacuum cleaner cleaner a vacuum cleaner?

This was written in a hallway. Can you help me dissect what's going on here, along with an appropriate response?

By dissect, I mean I'd like to identify what types of words we're dealing with here. Is "vacuum cleaner," as in the household appliance, a compound noun? If so, is the first word "vacuum" an adjective? What about the occupation of a "vacuum cleaner cleaner" - how would I classify these words? Also, does this sort of wordplay go by a specific name?


texts:
I would like to have an alternative phrase that is equivalent to kick your ass, but without using ass. What other words can I use instead?

Some friends suggested kick your bacon (but I am not sure if this means the same thing). I thought about using butt but this is another word I would like not to use. Can I be classy and have the same impact at the same time? Or at least not be that vulgar?

The context I am using the expression is

  I am gonna kick your ass out of the bed.


texts:
Can I use past perfect in conditional sentence?

Is this phrase correct?

  She could have helped him would she had known something about first aid.

If this is a complicated situation, how you feel about it? (kludgy/strange/etc). Thanks.


texts: What is a good word for "acudiente" in English?

texts:
In the context of a sports or arts academy, lots of students are children or teens, so they need a responsible older person who can be reached in an emergency. It could be the student's parent, aunt, uncle, cousin, neighbor, or another person responsible for that student, family or not.

In Spanish, that word is "acudiente": someone to reach out to ("acudir"). What would be the correct word in English? I can't find a correct translation.

I'm trying to find a single word. If there's not a single one, I could go with emergency contact.


texts: I’m confused. If it is said that “admission starts on [insert date here]”, does this mean I shall wait and apply on the given date of admission or am I supposed to apply as soon as possible and wait till the given date for admission perhaps would mean “application result” in this case. What does admission refer to in this context?


texts:
When talking about the source code of a program, my Computer Science teacher sometimes refers to single pieces of code as 'a code'. For example:

  For today's task, you need to write a code which outputs "Hello World".

I feel that this is terribly wrong as I would say 'some code' or 'a piece of code'. E.g.:

  For today's task, you need to write some code which outputs "Hello World".

Who is right, me, my teacher or both of us?


texts:
What is the correct order for combinations of suffixes -less and -ness?

Are they combined in any order, or is there any rule governing a proper usage?

  hopelessness
  helplessness

But:

  weaknessless

A side point; not sure if it is related to above. Although the suffixes -less makes an adjective while -ness makes a noun, it seems that people treat -nessless words as nouns:

Eventfulnessless. Guys, I was serious about my running out of ideas.
Office staff needs work, lack of timelinessless than expected follow through listening skills need attention...

What am I missing?


texts: Why my professor seems unhappy after I emailed her "thank you for the inculcation"

texts:
She is my professor in the laboratory. And she usually gives me helpful suggestions. What I really want to express is that I am grateful for her education.
I thought the word "inculcation" is a word referring to great education and instruction. But she says this word is very wrong.
Considering that I am an international student, I am wondering how a native speaker of English considers this word?
Thank you.


texts: I need an adjective to precede the word "commitment"

texts:
I'm looking for an adjective that has a close meaning to strong, undying, relentless...

  the school’s __ commitment to bring change.

I'm writing a personal statement for a school.


texts: Fragments in speech vs Fragments in novels?

texts: Why is it that authors will use fragments in writing to emulate speech, but it is considered grammatically incorrect?


texts: Why is the term "double-edged sword" used for something that can be favorable and unfavorable?

texts:
When something can have both favorable and unfavorable consequences, the term double-edged sword is often used to describe it.  Why?

Does a double-edged sword have unfavorable consequences?  Are double-edged swords known to accidentally kill the person wielding the sword?


texts: Where does the word "dub" come from? (voice recording)

texts:
When a film is dubbed it means the audio has been re-recorded in another language.

Often the options for "sub" (subtitle) or "dub" are given for a translated film which made me wonder if dub is short for something or what its origins are, and why it has come to specifically mean record in another language.


texts: Person who doesn't want to listen to others' personal feelings

texts:
What is the equivalent word for a person who doesn't want to hear/listen others' personal feelings/information. If not, the equivalent word for a person who are stubborn in listening to others' feelings/information.

Opposite to the meaning of the word reticent.


texts:
This question builds off of another question (Meaning of fck you) but my question pertains to the expression "you love it".  Here are three examples of its usage.

1] From Youth in Revolt (Youth in Revolt):

A boy named Nick met his colleague, a girl, in a music shop while purchasing a DVD and after a little talk, her boyfriend hugged her from behind in front of Nick. Then the girl chuckles and says: "Chad, fuck you". He replies — "Oh, fuck you, you love it."

2] From Bender (Bender):

"Shut up baby, you love it"

3] From the game Dragon Age 2 (Dragon Age 2):

Isabela: You know those stains never came out
Aveline: You are horrible, every inch
Isabela: You love it big girl, and you owe me for the bottle

This expression, "you love it", seems to be gaining popularity.  We've found other occurrences of it in songs.  It's also a popular hashtag on Twitter where we see variants such as #YouKnowYouLoveIt and #YouGottaLoveIt.  For those who really love to say "you love it", we now have a website at www.uluvit.com.

While its meaning may be obvious to some, its usage patterns seem to have something subtle going on.  Can we distinguish the different uses and explain when and how to employ them?

Another interesting question is WHO can use the expression "you love it"?  Can anyone use it or is it typically used by a certain type of person, for instance a certain personality type?  Or can it only be used between two people with a certain kind of relationship?  What are the prerequisites for the relationship in order for one person to be able to say "you love it" to another?  Appropriate for a pick up line?  Appropriate for a first date?  etc.


texts:
Which meaning of "impose" is "imposing" based on? From Wikionary,

"imposing" means "Magnificent and impressive because of appearance, size, stateliness or dignity."

"impose" means

  (transitive) To establish or apply by authority.

  (intransitive) to be an inconvenience

  to enforce: compel to behave in a certain way

  To practice a trick or deception.

  To lay on, as the hands, in the religious rites of confirmation and ordination.

  To arrange in proper order on a table of stone or metal and lock up in a chase for printing; said of columns or pages of type, forms,
  etc.


texts: What would be the adjective of plasma? I've heard both "plasmatic" and "plasmic", but which one refers to plasma in the medical sense, and which refers to the state of matter?