texts: What's a word for articulating something and making it sound worse?

texts:
Sorry for the poor title, but I can describe this better through an example.  A few weeks ago, one of my friends had a conversation with her boyfriend, and she said that she wouldn't necessarily marry him because he's "not smart enough".  The intention and feeling behind this statement is certainly not that he's stupid.  But when articulated, this sounds really mean despite the more moderate intent.

I'm looking for a word that describes this phenomenon: where a thought may really has a rather mild intent/emotion behind it while its in your head, but when articulated, the listeners tend to dramatize the statement and the emotion/intent comes across much stronger.

Another example was a friend was trying to describe his new housemates who are from the East Coast and attend Ivy League schools.  They're perfectly wonderful and pleasant people, but they're more willing to spend money on luxuries and fun experiences, and love to just constantly do interesting/crazy things.  I feel that when you articulate this, you give off the air that they just ball out of control, when the reality is much more subdued.  I'm trying to describe this idea -- that when you express something the emotion and imagery conjured unintentionally exaggerates reality.


texts: What is it called when someone says "like" or "alright"

texts:
I was talking with my friend and neither of us could think of the word for when someone says something similar to "And, like, we were totally, like, going to do this one thing."

To add to it, as requested, there are people that say things like "So, alright, this is what we're gonna' do, alright. First we need to (insert something here), alright."


texts: How do I choose between a noun and a participle when picking one to use as an adjective?

texts:
I know that I can use both a noun and a participle as an adjective but what do I have to ask myself when choosing between them?
For instance:

Talking points, talk points
Information technology, informing technology
Review session, reviewing session

Is there a difference between the participle and noun when using them as an adjective?
I know the left hand side is more natural and are actual words, but is there a list of things to consider when making the choice?


texts:
My students are writing a case study about Hawai'i and we'd like to use the diacritical mark, correctly. My searches so far are turning up both

  Hawai’i
  and
  Hawai‘i

Can anyone tell me a preferred form - should the apostrophe be "closing" as in the first form, or "open" as in the second form?
Thank you!


texts: How is /ɑ:/ realized in British English: [ɑː] or more relaxed than [ɑː]?

texts:
I know that /ɑː/ is open back unrounded vowel and is found a lot in British English. It is the vowel in bath, father, bar, car etc in British English. In American English, this vowel is found in bar, father, car (but not bath!).
But when I listen to the audio given in Wikipedia, IPA chart website and this IPA chart website, I feel that pronouncing the vowel exactly like /ɑː/ would sound stilted.
I listened to many British people when pronouncing this vowel and they do not sound like this at all to me (non-native). If I heard them correctly, they were pronouncing /ɑː/ as not [ɑː] but something more relaxed or at least not that back and long as the audios in the above websites suggest.
Bath: Cambridge Dictionary, Lexico powered by Oxford: the word "bath" is pronounced not with [ɑː] but something more relaxed than [ɑː]. I tried to pronounce it with [ɑː] but it sounds unnatural.
Question: Do British people usually pronounce /ɑː/ as [ɑː] or relaxed and shorter than [ɑː]? Am I hearing them correctly?


texts:
This phrase originated from The Court Jester (link to 2-second clip).

Hubert Hawkins: I'd like to get in, get on with it, get it over with, and get out. Get it?
Ravenhurst: Got it.
Hubert Hawkins: Good.

However, I have seen it being used as a phrase—"Get it? Got it? Good" (example on YouTube).
What does it mean as a phrase said by one individual, and what are some examples of when one would use this phrase?


texts: Difference between 'in order to', 'so as to,' 'to'

texts:
I'm a Korean and I learned in school that 'to' is equal to 'in order to' and 'so as to,' if they are used in expressing intent.

Are the sentences "I study in order to achieve my goal" and "I study so as to achieve my goal" same, in terms of nuance? If there's even the slightest difference when viewed by a native speaker, please elaborate! :)


texts:
How different is (1) 'I thought they must be poor' from (2) 'I thought they had to be poor'? Does (2) emphasize David did think so but that he does not think they are poor any more now that the counselor told him they are not? I think with (1) you can't tell whether he still thinks the drawings are terrible or not. Is this right? (And I think you hardly say 'I thought they had to be poor.')

Counselor: David, you are so bright. So sensitive! Just look at these drawings! How marvelous!
David: (whispering to himself) Gee, and here I thought they must be poor!
(A cartoon 'Stitches' by David Small)

Is he still thinking they are poor? Or, is he now convinced they are rather good? With 'must do/be' after 'thought,' is it always like so?

=recap of my question=

I want to know if the speaker still thinks the drawings are in bad quality in (1) and (2), and if you could extend that observation to other circumstances where 'must'/'had to' is used after 'thought.'


texts: Grammar: Is it correct to say 'irresistible to click'?

texts:
I want to convey that the marketing strategy of a particular website was highly successful because

  they always seem to email links which were irresistible to click on..

Is it a correct way of saying it?


texts: Antecedent of "it" in "dropped the amulet into the bag and hooked it"

texts:
Sentence is:

  Jim dropped the amulet back into the bag and hooked it through his belt.

Isn't there confusion here on the subject? It feels like 'hooked it' is still related to the amulet when it's actually referring to what he does with the bag.

An alternative would be:

  Jim dropped the amulet back into the bag, which he hooked through his belt.

Seems a bit clunky, though.

Am I stressing unnecessarily about this or does the sentence need work?


texts: Not able to understand the context for "such a reading on the basis of political unity would be inaccurate"

texts:
I am an English learner. Could you explain this statement, because I am struggling to understand the context:

  Considering that such groups have various definitions of separatism and have significant differences in their approach towards Kashmiri nationalism, such a reading on the basis of political unity would be inaccurate.

That is extracted from an article published on July 14 in The Hindu.

The particular phrase I am having trouble with is "such a reading on the basis of political unity would be inaccurate."


texts: "not near as drunk" vs "not nearly as drunk"

texts:
I actually looked at the "drive safe/ly" answers before I posted this question and remember, at the time, seeing how these were clearly two different questions.
Now, however, they seem the same. I guess I didn't think I was near as drunk as I actually was.

Solved.

  Near or nearly?

  Between "not near as drunk" and "not nearly as drunk", I can't think
  of a compelling reason to prefer one to the other. "Not nearly"
  sounds better, I think, but I wouldn't be able to say why.

  I imagine it comes down to whether "as" is an adverb or a preposition
  in this phrase, but I can't think of a compelling reason to decide
  even that one way or the other.


texts: I heard inspecific is not a correct English word, but I find in some circumstances it makes more sense than alternatives

texts:
For example, if you were to say that something is particular to only one race, you'd say the trait is "race-specific". So my question is, what is the opposite of this? I would say it's "race-inspecific", since that sounds correct to me and "race-unspecific" doesn't seem to make sense. Neither does "race-nonspecific".

Edit:
I think the word I was looking for is "dependent" and "independent".


texts:
Is there an expression like wanted the skinny on?

I can hazard a guess on the meaning of the phrase but will be grateful if anyone can tell me the exact meaning.

Here is the exact quote:

  I'm a faculty person and just wanted the skinny on how my students can best utilize your services?


texts: Word for a man who is not gay but wanted to be female?

texts:
I searched this site and can't find a word that expresses my sense that I have always thought I would have been better suited as female, and I am attracted to the opposite sex (so would switch if I was a woman). I am in the US, so I don't want a foreign language term that people would not be familiar with. Thank you.

EDIT: I was asked to indicate how the word would be used. As one commenter said, I will not go around introducing myself that way, but if there was a term that made me feel more like it was normative, then I would feel better. After all, we talk with ourselves as well. How many people in distress have said, "I am so glad there is a name for what I am experiencing"? So, words can categorize as well as communicate.


texts: What are some alternatives to "says quickly"?


texts:
For words that sit as placeholders for other words (and introduce subordinate clauses), is there a name?
For example,

The quick brown fox that jumped over the lazy dog.
The man who killed the cyclops.

What are these words called? (aside from "pronoun" or "demonstrative pronoun" for the case of terms like this and that [depending on usage])
They basically function as placeholders for other clauses or nouns.


texts: What is the space in between flights of stairs where you can see all the way down called?

texts: The space between flights of stairs that is kinda like a tunnel of sorts. Or a shaft. Does it have a name? It needs a name. Maybe this should be posted on a architecture page.


texts: "You need to undergo the medical tests within 6 months from the departure date"

texts:
I want to make a statement that means you need to undergo the medical tests not before 6 months from the date of departure.

In other words, the medical tests should not be taken earlier than 6 months or trying again "within 6 months period prior to the departure date".

I am confused as to which one is correct:

  You need to undergo the medical tests within 6 months from the departure date.
  You need to undergo the medical tests not before 6 months from the departure date.
  You need to undergo the medical tests within 6 months period prior to the departure date.

Please help with the correct wording. Emphasis used only to illustrate the troublesome part.


texts: As a color name, would "chili" or "chile" be the same as "chilli"?

texts:
The South African flag Wikipedia article consistently refers to the reddish color in the SA flag as chilli,
both outside of and within quotes from SA's official interim heraldic description and the SA Constitution's plain-English flag description.  (However, Heraldry#Tinctures does not list chilli among the common heraldry colors.)

I looked (not successfully) for references for chilli as a color, and am inclined to think the color would be the same whether called chilli, chili or chile.  Does anyone know different, or have access to an authoritative reference?

meta.cooking.SE considers the "Chilli, Chili or Chile?" debacle at great length, but implicitly treating chilies as foodstuffs, not colors.


texts: Questions that are not questions (on a test)

texts:
I prepare lots of assessments for my students. As much as possible, I write instructions instead of questions.

Instead of …

  What are the roots of equation 1?
  How are the roots of the equation related to the graph?

I write …

  Find the roots of equation 1.
  Explain how the roots of the equation relate to its graph.

Typically (as above) emphasising the action very (command word) in bold. A test, or any assessment, consists of a series of these ‘instructions’, sometimes with sub-parts.

Question

How should I refer to these … “questions”?

I see many books and tests from others simply keep referring to them as “questions”. On the front cover of assessments, I always have a short list of generic instructions related to the assessment. Like when and how to submit work. Investigations in our textbooks often refer to “Step 1” etc. But individual “questions” on a test are not ‘steps’, because they are not sequentially linked.

It doesn’t make sense to say:

  • Answer the questions on this test paper in the spaces provided.

And …

  • Respond to the instructions on this test paper in the spaces provided.

just sounds horrible.

I’m stuck.


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

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

You don’t choose what you believe; you believe what you believe because you are furnished with the kinds of evidence that impel a certain kind of cognition. People have what Kahan called a “commonwealth” of sensibilities, values and dilemmas that exert control over them and can cause them to misunderstand things.

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


texts: Word meaning "to startle someone by surreptitiously poking them in the sides, from behind"

texts:
I inadvertently caused a great deal of amusement among a group of friends by incorrectly using the word "goose" to describe the action of sneaking up behind a person and poking, tickling, or touching them simultaneously on both sides (above the hips, below the rib cage) in order to startle them.

The intended usage (that is to say, "the only relevant meaning of this word inside my head") additionally implies that the target of this action would be person who would not find the behavior objectionable or inappropriate.

As it turns out, the way my comment was interpreted by everyone present was consistent with the only American English definition for "to goose" that is even remotely similar to what I intended. It is a slang definition that refers to surprise contact occurring somewhat lower and toward the back (specifically, on or between the buttocks, like the surprise nipping of a goose), and often with a negative or invasive connotation.  British English appears to have a similarly negative and sexual – though perhaps less anatomically precise – slang definition.

Is there any genuinely plausible sense (or perhaps a regional vernacular, particularly in the United States) in which my usage was correct?  As a native speaker, I'm confused about how I came to believe that this usage of the word had a different meaning than it apparently does, and if there's a sensible explanation of how I inferred its meaning incorrectly (such as, "well, that is what people mean when they say it in Central Kansas") then I am curious to know.

I did find in informal definition "to prod or urge to action or an emotional reaction" but this seems like it might be a stretch, and in any event this is overshadowed by the fact that it is not the sense of the word that was obvious to any of the hearers.

I am inclined (now) to think there may not be a sense in which my usage could reasonably construed as correct, and if that is indeed the case, then is there actually a word to specifically describe using this tactic of surprise touch to the sides, from behind, in order to startle someone, particularly in a non-sexual sense among friends?


texts: What is the most appropriate preposition in the following sentence?

texts:
I had a tour of/in/to Norway. The sentence should mean I visited different places in the country.

Thanks in advance.


texts: What is the right way to write “2 sisters and one brother”?

texts:
I would like to write a sentence like this :

I dedicate this to all my sisters and my brother

I have 2 sisters and one brother.

Shoud I write : "my sisters and my brother" or "my sisters and brothers" or "my brothers and sisters" or "my brother and my sisters"


texts:
the other day I heard one of my colleague referring to another colleague "that poor bastard is stuck there". I was surprised to hear that. But when he was saying the bastard word, the person he was referring to wasn't present because we were looking at him through the window and he was busy shovelling his car out of snow. I have to say that the former colleague swears a lot, like "fuck me" which I don't even know what it means,etc.

I suppose it is some kind of common joking but just want to make sure of it.
Could someone give some explanation on how this word should be used ?
I am not a native English speaker and I live in eastern Canada.
Thanks


texts: Word for survival probability between ages

texts:
What is the term for the odds of someone dying by a given age if they are already some age?

For example, the odds of them living to 100 if they are currently 90, or the odds of living to 60 if they are currently 10.


texts: Single word which means 'suffix' or 'prefix'

texts:
I would like to get a single word which means suffix or prefix.
I am creating a database table, which has columns - 'suffix' and 'prefix.'
I would like to name the table in such a way that on seeing the table name one should understand that the table has a collection of suffixes and/or prefixes.


texts: What's a proper word to use for an item without any printed words, where pupils, for example, may write compositions?


texts: How should "red and blue coloured kingfisher" be hyphenated?

texts:
In the following sentence, what is the correct use of hyphens?

Should it be:

  A red and blue-coloured kingfisher.

Or

  A red-and-blue-coloured kingfisher.

Please assume that the 'coloured' is a necessity, i.e. I can't shorten to 'red and blue kingfisher'.

I know that if there were only one colour I should hypenate, i.e. red-coloured kingfisher'.

Fumble Fingers made the excellent suggestion to negate the problem by reordering the words to 'a kingfisher coloured red and blue', but I'm looking for the correct use of hyphenation with the words in the order above.


texts: Is "square" a synonym for "roundabout" (noun)?

texts:
I can't seem to find it in a dictionary, but every once in a while (although rarely) I do seem to come across examples, such as Bartel-Pritchard Square, that seem to indicate the two are synonyms.

Are they? Is it a regional thing (American/British/etc.)? Or is it a misunderstanding of the word?


texts:
Mary likes John a lot, but Cindy doesn't. She(Cindy) doesn't allow him to talk to her(Cindy), because she(Cindy) thinks he is annoying.

Although the pronouns in bold are intended to refer back to Cindy--not to Mary--it seems to me (and it might just be my impression) that the sentence sounds a bit ambiguous, since either of the pronouns in question could be interpreted as if they were referring back to Mary instead of Cindy, couldn't they? For example:

Mary likes John a lot, but Cindy doesn't. She(Cindy) doesn't allow him to talk to her(Mary), because she(Cindy) thinks he is annoying.
Mary likes John a lot, but Cindy doesn't. She(Mary) doesn't allow him to talk to her(Cindy), because she(Cindy) thinks he is annoying.

If the pronouns in bold in the example do sound ambiguous, how can I rewrite the sentence to make it clear that I'm talking about Cindy instead of Mary?

By the way, would examples 1 and 2 make sense if I replaced her with Mary in 1 and She with Mary and her with Cindy in 2?


texts: Word for working hard despite an easier way

texts: Is there a word that describes someone who works hard despite an easier way, but they aren't interested because they are too lazy or unmotivated to figure it out? I'm trying to specifically describe someone doing a task on a computer in a very convoluted way, but isn't interested in learning how to do it simpler and a lot faster.


texts: word for when you feel less than fearful, esp. when trying new experiences.

texts:
Sometimes when you are trying a new experience, you get 'concerned' as to how things will play out when doing anything outside of your comfort zone.

'Butterflies-in-stomach' is part of it but is there any other word which tells/shares the same emotion ?


texts: What is the meaning of "cooling relations"?

texts:
Sometimes relations between nations can be considered to be "cooling"?  What does this mean?
I can't tell if it means:

The relationship is getting better because it's "cooling-off" from "hot" threats.
or

The relationship is getting worse because the nations are becoming cool towards each other, i.e. cool in the sense that they have "cold" hearts.


texts: Can a sentence be syntactically correct but grammatically incorrect?

texts: In my opinion, since syntax tells us how to arrange words in a sentence to get meaning, it is not concerned with morphology. For example, "The cooler are off." will be a syntactically correct, grammatically incorrect sentence. Is there anything wrong with my approach?


texts: What is the best translation for 'Application Spontanée' (french)

texts:
I'm trying to find how I could translate 'Application Spontanée' from french.

Is there an expression in english to talk about when you apply at an employer, but without any attached open job offer?


texts: Correct punctuation for setting up these indirect questions?

texts:
I'm wondering what the correct way to deal with the indirect questions in the following sentence are. I work as a transcriptionist, so rearranging the sentences is unfortunately not an option. I also am unable to uses colons as it interferes with the software I do the transcriptions in.

Now, we're going to go through, what does this all mean for us.

There are various other companies that try to address this challenge of, how do we define our model.

And you can also rank these in terms of, what are the most urgent ones to test, what provides the most value, and what gets us moving the quickest.

In bold are the words where I'm unsure what the correct (or at least best, given the restrictions) punctuation to follow should be. Comma? Em dash? Nothing? I have commas in there as that's what I ended up using. Looking back at it now, I'm unsure if that was best. Thanks guys, any and all help is appreciated.


texts:
Is the comma used correctly in these two sentences?

In order to sign and return the documents to us with EchoSign, the two initial boxes marked in red will require your initials.

In any case, there are two initial boxes marked in red which will require initials, in order to sign and return the documents to us with EchoSign.


texts: Was "rooster" originally an AmE or a BrE term?

texts:
Rooster is a much more common term  in AmE than in BrE, the reason, apparently is that:

  1772, agent noun from roost (v.); earlier roost cock, c. 1600, in sense of "the roosting bird." Favored in the U.S. originally as a puritan alternative to cock (n.) after it had acquired the secondary sense "penis".

Cock meaning:

  "male chicken," is a very old term from Old English cocc "male bird," Old French coc.

while the obscene meaning:

  Slang sense of "penis" is attested since 1610s (but compare pillicock "penis," from c. 1300).

(Etymonline)

Though roost as a verb is from the late 16th century, rooster is from the late 18th century, and, as shown in Google Books, it soon became more popular in AmE.

Questions:

Was rooster originally an AmE or a BrE term?
Is there evidence that the term was coined within the puritan communities in the U.S.?


texts: Usage of the abbreviation resp. in scientific writing

texts:
Is it a good practice to use the abbreviation resp. for respectively in scientific writing ? Let consider the following sentence as example.
"The word size (resp., word length) is defined as the number of different values (resp., significant digits) that one word can store (resp., align)."


texts: Software Term for Someone Conditioned To Reporting Bugs

texts:
I'm a software developer so I'd prefer answers that are somewhat related to that field, but any general answer for this behavior is desirable.

Some testers of our products become conditioned to report too many bugs. Basically, they encounter enough bugs on a regular basis that they assume everything after that is a bug when it is most often (maybe 80-90% of the time) just user error.

Is there a term, word or phrase for this kind of conditioning, or false positive reporting?


texts: Why don't we use "do" in an interrogative object clause?

texts:
A friend of mine, an English learner (reasonably advanced), asked me to proofread the sentence "Could you tell me how many people you do have?" I told her to leave out the "do", but she was curious about the reason why, and after thinking about it for a while I'm not sure. I'm guessing it probably has something to do with using a clause as an object, since "How many people do you have?" is an entirely different issue, but that doesn't really give me much to go on.

Can someone here fill in the answer?

I've looked at a few related questions (1) (2) (3), but none of them seem to address the particular case of an auxiliary verb in an interrogative object clause. In fact the answer typically given elsewhere, that a question does require an auxiliary verb, clearly doesn't apply here.


texts: Is there an English word for "the cover of a group's photo" on which we can usually write names?

texts:
At school or at family events, we can sometimes get photos of the group we represent.

Such photos are often placed in a paper/card cover on which are lines ready to write the names of the persons that are on the photo.

Is there any single term to represent this object?


texts: What does “cocktail chatter wisdom” mean?

texts:
Jennifer Rubin’s article titled “Did the South win Pickett’s charge, Sen. Cruz?” in the Washington Post (July 30) begins with the following sentence:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/07/30/did-the-south-win-picketts-charge-sen-cruz/

  “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) isn’t about to let history stand in the way of
  a self-destructive fight. In support of his brainstorm to shut down
  the government over Obamacare funding, he declared: “The sort of
  cocktail chatter wisdom in Washington that, ‘Oh, the [1995-1996]
  shutdown was a political disaster for Republicans,’ is not borne out
  by the data.”

Ngram shows emergence of the usage of ‘cocktail chatter’ in mid 1930 followed by a sharp rise of its currency then after.

Though I surmise “cocktail chatter wisdom” implies a rash or still-not-refined idea / plans hatched through conversation during a cocktail party, what does it exactly mean? Is it something like the idea or hint coming up from what we call 井戸端会議 - water-fountain-side conference in Japanese?

Is ‘cocktail chatter wisdom (idea, plan)” a popular phrase? Can I reject it when someone brings up a half-boiled or unrealistic idea, by saying “Your idea is a sort of cocktail chatter wisdom - no back up."?


texts:
Is there a name for the device of writing in a disparaging tone while actually complimenting someone?

Suggested edit:
What happened is that I intended to compliment a writer, but to do so in a rough-and-tumble, masculine jousting, verbally sparring way, for humor, and to add some distance in a context of others' compliments becoming somewhat too much.

Sadly, another poster misunderstood my badinage, and suggested I was churlish for being so critical. I defended my good intentions as mere slagging, and was happily understood. Situation resolved. But in the process, I realized I was short a good solid noun to characterize the nature of my cack-handled compliment.

It went something like this: "Schwartz isn't that smart. He's just got a few cute tricks like a comprehensive understanding of history and how it affects a few philosophers like Aristotle, Kant, Nietschze, Freud, Marx and some others. along with a smattering of Psychology, politics and . . . " and so on, just for fun.

My thought was: "Mock criticism," But since posting, I have learned from many of the fine members of this site, many of the terms I've woven into my edit, as well as "thinly-veiled compliment" and "litotes," which I lacked the wit to work into this.

In retrospect, thank you, one and all!


texts: synonym of rounding off to the nearest whole number

texts: Hi can you please suggest a synonym of the following sentence "rounding off to the nearest whole number"


texts: Is there a single word for 'scaring a person for sake of fun'?

texts:
An example situation:

  My friend is watching a horror movie. He is lost deep into the movie. Taking advantage of this situation I wear a mask of a ghost and suddenly appear in front of him just to scare him for the sake of fun.

Does the act I did ie. 'scaring a person for sake of fun' have a single word equivalent?


texts: I am looking for a specific word, need help please

texts:
I am looking for the apropriate word to describe someone who made this remark "As I said I don't know street ghetto talk". This is not racist as ghetto refers to a poor living area (to sum it up), and street talk is not racist either since that meaning is a way to describe slang speech from the poor city areas where people of all ethnic backgrounds have or currently live. It is how ever a word that i can not seem to remember or think of at this time. This person was being _______.  This person was grouping a bunch of individuals who have or currently do live where street slang is used as a way of speaking, and making it sound as if the person has not heard of the words, because the person is not from the ghetto areas.

Thank You for Helping.


texts:
In the following examples:

Why would anyone want to eat something so horrible?
Who would live for forever?
Why would I ever lie to you?

Is 'would' being used to refer to time in future or past Or Is it just being used to form facts and reasons or arguments?


texts:
I got an email today:

  Medical will be sending some people over to give a talk, namely Joe Foo and Bob Bar.

I know the dictionary says namely means:

  adverb /ˈnāmlē/
  That is to say; to be specific (used to introduce detailed information or a specific example)
  - to me there is only one kind of rock, namely, loud rock

But I always thought it means "mainly" from context, e.g., "The students are rioting, namely the engineering students."

What does it mean to you?


texts: Is there another way to write Gasping and Panting sounds?

texts: I'm making a comic where a character is scared and is hyperventilating. What should I write to make it as if they're panting/gasping?


texts: Why did Obama use "a" in "... to hear a King proclaim that ..."

texts:
From Obama's second inaugural speech:

  We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

I know that he was referring to Martin Luther King, Jr. But why did he use the indefinite article "a" before "King"? Is it better, for example, to use "Dr. King" or just "King" instead? Does the use of the word "a King" provide a sense that Dr. King was the king of something, such as righteousness, justice, etc?


texts: In what context would I use the word "availabilities"?

texts:
In what context would I use the word “availabilities”?

I believe it is a valid English word, in how could it be used?

Many thanks


texts: "You may have been confused" vs "you may be confused"

texts:
I'm trying to construct a sentence that conveys the meaning that a second party was possible confused at some point in the past but not anymore.

Typically for verbs, a past tense would be perfect (heh.) but in this case "You may be confused" seems to indicate that the possibility that the second party is currently confused.

Would "You may have been confused" be more appropriate in this case?


texts:
As part of a rather haranguing passage I came across the following expression:
"Sheer! [i.e. Scram!] or I'll pitch into you like a shin of beef into a beggar's wallet." the consequences of which I have difficulties to  figure. (H.Melville, White-Jacket)


texts: Is "you have so many double standards" idiomatic and if not, why and what would be?

texts:
The noun double standard is countable. Looking at some ngram you can see the plural form used for titles (to mean something like the topic of...) or when there's a number preceding it (i.e. referring to a list: the 49 double standards...). But the results don't really show the plural in a sentence with a conjugated verb and a personal pronoun... For instance telling someone "you have so many double standards" doesn't feel completely right, or is it just me? I think I would use "different" here instead of double, and further explain what I mean by that (different standards for such and such thing/person, in this or that context etc. though I might end up using the singular form down the line: double standard this, double standard that).

Do you think a sentence like "you have so many double standards" is idiomatic (it has 2k hits on the search engines, don't know if that's a lot for something like this); is there a more natural way to phrase this (and if so how would you rephrase it)? If not, is this because there's something specific about this noun (is it just because it's not that much being used?) or is this more generally about the usage difference of the singular vs. plural form of the nouns/the way the verb to have is used (improperly/ambiguously?) with an object?


texts: Is there a word for made up verbs that end in "ing"?

texts:
One thing I love about English is that verbs can be easily created just by adding the suffix "-ing" and adjectives by adding "-ly".
How would you call this phenomenon?
Examples:

Googling, Youtubing

Pants-shittingly


texts: Is the use of "Elysial" acceptable / correct?

texts:
Based on the following definition:

  elysian

  adj

  (Classical Myth & Legend) of or relating to Elysium
  delightful; glorious; blissful

  Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged
  © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

Is it acceptable to apply the -al suffix to this word, as an adjective with the same meaning, or as an alternate form?

Use Cases:

The wedding was an elysial event of grand stature and beautiful scenery
The men were met by an elysial sight

I'm considering this form as part of the name of a business venture, and I am curious of the ramifications of using the word in this form.


texts: A single word noun for a "reusable object"

texts:
What is a single word noun that means "a reusable object"?

I'm looking for something with as few syllables as possible, that is English vernacular.

The word would also be abstract, so it encompasses any reusable object. For example humans, dogs, and cats are all animals.

A friend (and a SO user) mentioned the word "durables" describes reusable objects, but I would like a more commonly used term.


texts: What is the meaning of "every once in a while"?

texts:
I have read this sentence, but cannot understand the meaning of every once in a while:

  My dad, he's on Facebook every once in a while.

Can anyone explain it?


texts:
I winterize my car in preparation for the harsh winter.
I want to say I summerize my snow blower for summer storage.
But "summerize" seems not to be an English word, and in any case, it is
homophonous with summarize.


texts:
What's the intention of this sentence?

To argue around the edges

I heard it in the news that a senator should argue around the edges of some topic.


texts:
In actions that involve another person, we can structure sentences like the following examples:

I drove him home.
I cooked him a meal.
I gave him a spoon.
I threw him the ball.

I'm not sure of the name of this grammar pattern, but the use of the pronoun "him" is simply a shortening of "for him" or "to him" or "at him", depending.
Is there a reason why we can't (or at least, don't) say:

I opened/closed him the door.

to mean "I opened/closed the door for him"?  Is there a grammar rule, or is it just not idiomatic?


texts:
Back in grammar, one of the many rules we were given was to always avoid "get," "got," or "gotten" due to their ambiguity and tendency toward poor grammar as in:

  What happened to your arm?  It got broke.

rather than

  What happened to you arm?  It was broken.

and

  I got a ticket.

rather than

  I have a ticket. or I purchased a ticket.

Is there still a respectable place for this abundantly overused verb (such as the passive mood, which, while generally to be avoided, can be used to convey an otherwise unobtainable feel in phrase)?  Or is it ever condemned to literal taboo?


texts:
When I read the following sentence out loud to myself, it seems to me that there should be a brief pause before and after the word 'still,' based on how it is being used in the sentence. However, I am unsure as to how commas should be placed around this word (if at all) to create the correct effect:

"What initially motivated me to explore the field of robotics was the realization of the, still, countless opportunities for robots to play a role in people's lives, and have a significant positive impact in doing so."

Is my comma usage correct?


texts: I am trying to find alternative ways to refer to a very necessary thing or thing that someone  must have. Can I use the word needful for this purpose? A person said that needful means the thing needs something but not that somebody needs it.


texts: Is "substract" (versus "subtract") a proper word?

texts: I read an article recently where the author used "substract" instead of "subtract".  I'm more familiar with the latter word but after doing a bit of googling, it seems that both words are being used, although "subtract" seems more mainstream than the other. Which of the two is more appropriate? Is "substract" even acceptable?


texts:
Today I was reviewing some code on GitHub, and end up with the following sentence/question:

So, are you using a context to update a record? That makes no sense.

I know that verbs and subjects are "swapped" when used in questions. What about affirmations with a question tone? Should it be written like this?

So, you are using a context to update a record? That makes no sense.


texts: How to know what part of speech is "there" in some cases?

texts:
I've been doing some ELA homework and I noticed that 'there' is not always the same POS.

It seems to be an adverb, a noun, a pronoun, and several other POS in various contexts.

How would one know what part of speech the word 'there' is in a given case?


texts: Is there a word for an irrational feeling of wellbeing?

texts: Is there a word for an irrational feeling of wellbeing, for example, as may be experienced as a result of antidepressant medication?


texts: Does the word 'ensure' imply a requirement to act?

texts:
Faced with this sign on a train

  Please ensure this door is alongside the platform before alighting

Is there an implication that I should act to correct the situation if the door is not alongside the platform?

I understand that the intention is that I should check that the door is alongside the platform but is the word ensure appropriate?

If a government is mandated to ensure that all children are educated then they must act if some children are not educated. Ensure in this context implies a responsibility to make sure the situation is achieved not just to check that the condition is met.


texts: Can / Should you begin *and* end a sentence with a preposition

texts:
Here's the phrase in question which originally ended with a preposition:

  Who is the client currently residing with?

A way to rephrase to put the proposition at the beginning would be:

  With whom is the client currently residing?

I think this approach satisfies the inner grammarian, but shifts away from natural language.

Some users found it confusing (and what is language but a tool for  communication) and suggested the following alternative phrasing to have the preposition at both the beginning and the end:

  With whom is the client currently residing with?

I think this hodgepodge tries to satisfy grammarians while also being accessible to the masses.

But does it deliver on that?

Grammarians should take issue because I think this is the least gramatical of the three, and it seems cumbersome for average users.

In terms of language and clarity, which phrasing is preferential?


texts: Is it correct to say 'and as well' instead of 'as well as'?

texts:
Because I often see as well as or and in sentences, is the following sentence correct?

It is suitable for you and as well for me.

Thanks!


texts:
In some passage, I've noticed that the "the" article is used before some words at the first time but it is not used at the second time before the words.

As example, In this passage:

    You might be wondering about the origin of the C language and where it got its name. C was created by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1972. The language was created for a specific purpose: to design the UNIX operating system now known as Linux. From the beginning, C was intended to be useful—to allow busy programmers to get things done.

    Because C is such a powerful and flexible language, its use quickly spread beyond Bell Labs. Programmers everywhere began using it to write all sorts of programs. Soon, however, different organizations began utilizing their own versions of C, and subtle differences between implementations started to cause programmers headaches. In rresponse to this problem, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) formed a committee in 1983 to establish a standard definition of C, which became known as ANSI Standard C. With few exceptions, every modern C compiler has the capability to adhere to this standard.

    ow, what about the name? The C language is so named because its predecessor was called B. The B language was developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Labs. You can guess why it was called B.

  Ref: Teach yourself C in 21 Days. Bradley L. Jones, Peter Aitken, Dean Miller. 2013.

You may noticed in the passage that, "the" used before Bell Laboratories at the first time but the second time, the article "the" is not used. Why?

Is this is a rule of article? Or something else?


texts: What it the morphological classification of the ending -ump?

texts: Can someone tell me how to classify the morpheme -ump, such as can be combined with lump,slump, bump, etc.  (It's for a research I'm doing on onomatopoeia.) thanks


texts: Does responsibility come with consequences?

texts:
When somebody says to me that he “takes full responsibility for” his actions (or inactions), but then requests that I remove the consequences of those actions, it seems to me he does not actually take full responsibility.  Rather, he is merely admitting that he is at fault.

I looked in a few dictionaries and found liable as a synonym for responsible, which sounds like it implies acceptance of the consequences, but I'm interested in other informed opinions.  Is the more common usage of responsible closer to liable or at fault?


texts: Word for repeatedly reading a word incorrectly and assuming the spelling of the word is as read?

texts:
This is a bit of sideways entry into the question: A few years ago, I was watching a Russian television show and on it a teacher told his pupil that he’d repeatedly been reading and writing a word wrong – rearranging the letters just slightly. Namely, he read and wrote pleckstrin as plescktrin. An English analogue would be writing and reading discography as dicsography.

The teacher used a specific word to describe this, which I assume has an English equivalent since the subject discussed in the television show was poetry. I am asking for this English equivalent.


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

texts: I am writing a scientific article and I need to give an adjective to a method that I am describing. The method introduces fuzzy logic, which could be the basis for the adjective.


texts: What is the section in a business card that shows home contact details called?

texts:
On my business card I have the contact details of my office, however I want to include the contact details of my home.

I want to make it known that the above details are my home's. How can I write it? "Residence contact details"?


texts:
Please, help me understand the grammar behind "some" and "zero article".

As I know, we use zero article with plurals in the same cases when we use indefinite articles with singular -

making general reference
making mention for the first time

On the internet I couldn't find that "zero article + plural" is used while talking about something for the first time. Instead I could only find the rule that it is used for general reference.
Is it so?

Here is an example:

"(Some ?) Computers were brought to me. They were expensive"

Would it be correct to say without "Some"? I understand that this is not a very natural thing to say, but from the position of grammar can it be used for the first mention? I assume that the listener has not heard about me buying any computers.

I also read that "Some" is an analog of a/an for plural, maybe this is why I couldn't find the rule of using zero article for first mention - "some" should be used instead?

What do you think about these questions?

Thanks.


texts:
... and I should never have it to say that my mother was willing
  when my father was not.

This sentence is from Robinson Crusoe. Does "I should never have it to say" mean "I have never had the possibility to say it" or something else?


texts:
While watching the excellent 1972 picture "Cabaret", I came across an interesting quote using the expression "to make a pounce". The context it is used in can be found on subzin.com.

While I have never heard the expression, its meaning becomes somewhat clear from the context to mean "to make advances to/at someone". When googling it, however, it seems the expression is used very rarely and there is hardly any mentioning other than the quote from the movie itself.

"Cabaret" plays in 1931 and I was therefore wondering whether the expression is just outdated or if it really is not used at all. How does it sound to a native speaker? Would you use it in an every-day conversation?

Thanks!


texts: English word that means "a process that does not teach you anything"?

texts:
I am looking for a word that means “a process that you keep doing, hoping that you will learn something useful, but which you actually never learn anything from”. I'm quite sure that there is an English word for that: I read it once, but I cannot now remember it.

As an example:

Imagine your fridge keeps breaking and you keep fixing it, but you never learn anything new about fridges or about fixing them, since the whole fridge fixing process is "____".

The word that I am looking for is more about the skills and knowledge that you learn (or not) when you carry out a process, rather than about the success of the process itself.

Edit
The process is as following:
The fridge gets broken, lets call this failure-A, you as a good maintainer don't just fix the problem you also go very deep to understand what caused the problem and how you can prevent it again. After learning that, you hope that its going to help you in fixing the next issues.

However, when the fridge fails with failure-B you try to apply all the steps you learned from your previous fixes, nothing works. So you learn new skills from failure-B.

Repeat the following for failure-C, D, E .... and so on.
This word would describe the whole fridge problem-fixing process.


texts: Difference between "to posit" and "to postulate"

texts:
What exactly is the difference in meaning between the two words posit and postulate, besides the fact that the latter one is also used as a noun?

Both words are formal and their definition are quite equal; in some learners' dictionary they're even identical.

  postulate/posit: to suggest (something, such as an idea or theory) especially in order to start a discussion

Based on COCA both words are commonly used with theory but postulate is the appropriate word for Khazzoom–Brookes postulate. But since both words posit and postulate are not very regularly used, this is the only hint the corpora gives (and BNC contains even less material).

It doesn't look like there's a general tendency to use one word more commonly for a particular area of expertise, for instance science (e.g. astronomy) or religion (existence, God), except the Khazzoom–Brookes postulate, of course. At any rate, it seems like the words can be interchanged.


texts:
Long time no see is a typical example for Chinglish, though it is said that long time no see has been accepted by the mainstream English speakers.

Recently, there is a neologism movement in the Mainland, and a few new Chinglish words have been invented to demonstrate the characteristics of the Mainland.

The most outstanding examples (in my opinion) are:

shitizen - a citizen without citizen rights
freedamn - the freedom for shitizens (no freedom)
democrazy - the democracy for shitizens (no democracy)
smilence - the speeches under the freedamn of speech (ref)
z-turn - to make effort in vain (zheteng (Pinyin))

Here are my questions. Has there ever been any neologism movement in the history of English? What are the criteria to adopt new words into English?


texts: What preposition do I use  -- on, to, for, -- when writing "stand for election" for a group?

texts:
Hopefully this is a simple question, although possibly too simple for this site - if so I apologise!
Which, if any, are acceptable phrases:

...stand for election on a place on the group
...stand for election to a place on the group
...stand for election for a place on the group

I'm immediately drawn to the final option, but the use of 'for election for' bugs me somewhat - I don't know why.


texts: Meaning of the phrase "Relax Into The Pain"

texts:
Quite often I have come across this phrase - Relax into the pain.

We can treat a pain but how does one relax into the pain, especially if it's an emotional pain, for example grief?

Can anyone please explain what does this phrase mean?


texts: I want to use a verb for "perform thermocompression bonding." I have used "thermocompression bond" with/without a hyphen in the past as in "The component is typically thermocompression-bonded to the substrate." Are there any improvements?


texts: The difference between "to plunge", " to plummet" and " to slump"

texts:
I know they all  mean to sudden fall but what is the difference when it comes to context we use in?

  Industrial production fell to its weakest growth since the depths of
  the global financial crisis, while the property market, a pillar of
  the economy, slumped.

  This year profits plunged by 40%.

  The shot bird plummeted from the sky

  Share prices plummeted to an all-time low.

  Her spirits plummeted at the thought of meeting him again.

  The jet plummeted into a row of houses.

  Profits slumped to under $250 million.

  Car sales have slumped dramatically over the past year.

My question are :

1.In the business sense , do you think there is a difference in terms of severity? Can we say for example if we use the word plummet ,we mean the sales numbers fall to zero whereas if we use the word plump sales number fell but not that bad or zero.

2.I had read before that one of them has a meaning like falling by tumbling, I don't remember now.
 For example like in the video, not falling from a precipice directly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7vte1epVpE

For example :

  I lost my footing and tumbled down the stairs. ( from Cambridge Dictionary Online)

Can we say :

I lost my footing and plummet / slumped / plunged down from the stairs.

3.Which words would be appropriate to use for  the graphs below by assuming the fall in the graph in the right takes in a long period.


texts: 'to the contrary' - is this definition of 'but' correct?

texts:
Merriam-Webster lists 'to the contrary' as one of the senses of 'but.'

  3 :  to the contrary < who knows but that she may succeed>

Being worded like this, I'm having a bit of hard time understanding 'but' in this context. Is this just bad wording on M-W's part or am I not understanding something correctly, in which case I would greatly appreciate some spelling-out. For the record, I'm not a native speaker.


texts: How is "stripping such words as remained of orthodox meanings" meant to be understood grammatically?

texts:
I was wondering if someone could help me out with a certain phrase I want to grasp the meaning of. I have two different meanings in my mind, and I was hoping that someone could point out the right one.

  ...stripping such words as remained of orthodox meanings...

The context of the phrase is the process of the diminution of the English language by the ruling party, as depicted in the appendix to the novel 1984, designed to expurgate words of all their undesired meanings, so as to preclude the articulation of subversive thoughts by people.

The full sentence is as follows:

  This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of orthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever.

I'm wavering between reading "as remained of orthodox meanings" as

"so that they retain only orthodox meanings" (orthodox in party terms) and
"that had retained their original, conventional meanings (and are now ought to be revised)".

Which one is it?


texts:
From Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1936 Madison Square Garden speech:

  "For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing,
  see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government
  but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden
  calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the
  ticker and three long years in the breadlines!"

What does ticker mean in this context? Is it a stock ticker?


texts: Is there a hypernym for "expense" and "income"?

texts:
I have several expenses and incomes in the application I'm currently coding. What can I call an entity like that, that is either positive (income) or (negative)? It should be related to money, if possible.

Edit: Not sure if I expressed myself clearly. I'm looking for a word like "money-transfer", "stream" or "money that goes over the table" (no matter which direction). A word that fits in a financial context.


texts:
What is the correct preposition to be used in the blank? Is it to or on?

  My cousins have a claim __ our property.


texts: Can a person happen? Is "Zodanga happened" correct?

texts:
I was watching movie John Carter where there was some dialogue like this:

  — What happened here?
      — Zodanga happened.

Here Zodanga was a bad guy in the movie.

I don't understand how a guy can happen at some place, like it was said in that conversation? We generally use happened like this:

  — What happened to you?
      — Oh! I have been suffering from a head ache or
      met an accident or
      I haven't been sleeping lately,

but   we never say "Silvia happened to me" (as if Silvia was a bad person here).


texts:
The narrator is talking about charred papers in the begining, but then he says

  Look at this mass of charred paper in the corner.I'll save this burnt
  paper and look it over later.

I dont understand, was there just one leaf of paper? If yes, can just one leaf make a mass? I thought a mass consists of many things.
Please explain it to me.
Thank you


texts: Is the Christmas carol “We Three Kings” intentionally ungrammatical for artistic reasons, or does it use archaic grammar?

texts:
I was listening to the “We Three Kings” Christmas carol, and I ended up
taking note of the syntax. Given the use of the thou/thy/thee/thine
pronouns for the second-person singular and the vocative particle O, it
seems to be using a rather archaic form of English.
Having said that, I’m unfamiliar with some of the syntax, and I wondered
if, as a song, it is quite similar to Shakespeare’s works in that it was,
even at the time of writing, ungrammatical to arrange the words as they
were, but done anyways for aesthetic purposes (in the song’s case, to rhyme
and work with the music).
For punctuation and capitalization, I’ve referenced the John Henry
Hopkins collection Carols, Hymns, and Songs, using the 1st edition’s
1863 lyrics from the Wikipedia page. and the enlarged 2nd edition’s 1872
lyrics from Google Books.

We Three Kings of Orient are,
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
        Field and fountain,
        Moor and mountain,
Following yonder Star.

We Three Kings of Orient are has an SOV arrangement. Bearing gifts we
traverse afar seems like it has a punctuation issue — assuming
the bearing gifts part is a subordinate clause, there should be a comma
between it and we traverse afar. Following yonder Star has no subject.

O Star of Wonder, Star of Night,
Star with Royal Beauty bright,
        Westward Leading,
        Still Proceeding,
Guide us to Thy perfect Light.

I’m guessing that because of the capitalization, Royal is not really
considered an adjective in this and is part of a compound noun in Royal
Beauty. What confuses me about this is the fact that the adjective
bright comes after the noun.

Born a Kɪɴɢ on Bethlehem plain,
Gᴏʟᴅ I bring to crown Him again,
        King for ever,
        Ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.
                O Star, &c.

Gold I bring to crown Him again has an OSV arrangement. Over us all to
reign is an OV arrangement without a subject.

Fʀᴀɴᴋɪɴᴄᴇɴꜱᴇ to oﬀer have I
Incense owns a Deity nigh :
        Prayer and praising
        All men raising,
Worship Him Gᴏᴅ on High.
                O Star, &c.

Frankincense to oﬀer have I is an OVS arrangement.

Mʏʀʀʜ is mine ; its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom ; ⸺
        Sorrowing, sighing,
        Bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb.
                O Star, &c.

I’m confused about the punctuation of the second line — most of
the other lines end in commas or periods (I see it a lot in song lyrics and
poems), but this one ends in a semicolon followed by an em dash. Sealed in
the stone-cold tomb does not have a subject.

Glorious now behold Him arise,
Kɪɴɢ, and Gᴏᴅ, and Sᴀᴄʀɪꜰɪᴄᴇ  ;
Heav’n sings Allelujah :
Allelujah the earth replies.
                O Star, &c.

Glorious now behold Him arise is diﬀicult for me to
analyze — I can’t ﬁgure what is the subject, what is the
object, why glorious now is at the beginning, etc.
If I had to guess, I would say that many of “ungrammatical” things I
pointed out are were actually grammatical at one time, but there probably
are some elements that do forgo proper syntax in favour of artistic
expression as well. Still, I would like to know what things were accurate
parts of archaic grammar and how they work.


texts: What's the difference between "wasn't" and "hadn't"?

texts:
Simon was feeling exhausted because____

A) the baby wasn't sleeping all night

B) the baby hadn't slept all night

My book says choice "B" is correct, but I cannot understand why. Specifically, I want to understand it using the rules of verb tenses. The exercise is called "narrative tenses."


texts: By taking the public relations offensive - meaning

texts:
By taking the public relations offensive, the Russians have time and again been two steps ahead. U.S. and Western officials, not to mention the Kiev government, are left scrambling to debunk the rumors and fear-mongering. As a result they are frequently playing catchup for hearts and minds in the east.

How do you understand the phrase in a bold-type font? Does it mean that they take them (the public relations) as an offensive thing, they perceive the public relations as an offense to them?


texts:
I've noticed that some people say things like

  "one point seventy five" for 1.75.

I would always say

  "one point seven five."

Is the former correct and is it American English? It doesn't sound right to my ear that is used to British English.


texts: What is the syntax difference between "most" and "all" in this context_

texts:
Consider the following two sentences:

  1a) I eat dinner at home all of the time.
  1b) I eat dinner at home most of the time.

Both of these sentences would be viewed as grammatically correct by native speakers. In the case of 1a, 'of' can be elided and have the meaning remain the same. However the same cannot be said of 1b, as illustrated below.

  2a) I eat dinner at home all the time.
  2b) *I eat dinner at home most the time.

I'm curious to see the syntactic reason behind why the 'of' in the most-expression cannot be elided. I look forward to your feedback.


texts:
I want to ask a question whose meaning is "what is the exact way in which X works?". Where is the most appropriate place for the adverb "exactly"?

How exactly does X work?
How does exactly X work?
How does X exactly work?
How does X work exactly?


texts: Why in a word 'lecture' /k/ is unaspirated? Shouldn't it be weakly aspirated because of the fact that it's in unstressed syllable?


texts: What is an expression for a priest not wearing official attire?

texts:
Is there an English expression for a priest or monk not wearing his religious attire? (any Christian doctrine, or even more general).

Clarification: I'm trying to say that someone looks like an Orthodox priest who's not wearing vestments, not find a term/expression for priests who have, for any reason, no been wearing theirs.

I didn't include the Orthodox part in the original question since I was looking for a more universal expression, not a religious term, Orthodox or not.


texts: What does "Do I have to pull my forelock for you now?" mean?

texts: What does it mean when someone says to you (especially if you have recently been bestowed a new honor), "Do I have to pull my forelock for you now?"


texts:
Its not uncommon that you walk on the street you see there are big malls hanging big billboard containing only "Sale". Sometimes, Summer Sale, Winter Sale. In every case you get XX% price off there.

If I ask you Hey, is there any sale running on Nike? what do you think?

I asked you if Nike is currently selling products. -- well they always sell. So whats the point of this question then?
I asked you if Nike is currently selling products with discount. -- this might be a meaning.

I am not asking you to provide the meaning from dictionary. I know that. I just want to know the interpretation of that question to most people. In fact the practical meaning of Sale.


texts: Can I use "short of being exhaustive" in this case?

texts:
I'm making a list and want the reader to know that this list is not complete, that it is only a part of a larger list...
Is it correct to say "this list is short of being exhaustive" in this case?

Is there a better way to say it?

Thanks

PS: on another note, can I say "this list is anything BUT exhaustive"?


texts: A word for a poor student striving to attend his expensive dream college free of debt

texts:
Please resolve this argument I have been having with my brother:

A poor student wishes to attend his dream college, despite the yearly costs of $60,000. He has no scholarships and no money saved up to date, but he believes he can raise the money with private donors and scholarships before the fall and attend the school free of debt.

Would this student be considered an idealist? Or any other words to describe this student?

Example sentence:

He is a (an) ___________ who thinks it is possible to attend college free of debt even though he doesn't have any savings nor scholarship.


texts: What is the difference between impel and compel?


texts: An alternative, less casual phrase for 'been there, done that'?

texts:
Meaning:
To have experienced the topic under discussion, to the point of boredom or complacency.
Origin:
This phrase began life in the early 1970s, in the short form 'been there', which had the same meaning as 'been there, done that'.
Source: The Phrase Finder

We all have heard the phrase 'been there, done that' quite often on American sitcom shows. But obviously, this phrase sounds rather informal and necessitates a careful application. So, it may not be appropriate to use it in certain situations.
Is there an alternative phrase that sounds less laid-back but hits the nail at the same time?


texts:
To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of…

Should this phrase have a comma (or an em dash) before 'solely' and after 'race' or no punctuation at all?


texts:
from "Collectors" by Raymond Carver.

His(Aubrey's) eyes had lighted and then dimmed at the sight of the carpet. He shuddered. Then he took off his coat...
Aubrey Bell stared at the carpet. He pulled his lips. Then he laughed. He laughed and shook his head.
What's so funny? I said.
Nothing. Lord, he said. He laughed again. I think I'm losing my mind...

In this content, does "He pulled his lips" mean same as "He pursed his lips"?


texts: Why is it "have someone wrapped around your LITTLE finger"?

texts:
I just had occasion to write she's got him wrapped around her finger (under complete control).

I'd never really thought about this one before, but my guess would have been the idiom had some connection to wedding rings. On the other hand, intuition (and a Google Books search) tell me that the expression usually involves a little finger - not normally associated with wedding rings.

Does anyone know when/why the idiomatic usage arose? I can't find anything in OED or a cursory search online.


texts:
What's the meaning of "run over" in the following passage?

  Similar observations concerning the pitfalls associated with
  undertaking accounting research that operates on either center-margin
  have been offered before, and in much more convincing detail, by both
  mainstream (Merchant, 2008) and critical (Spence, 2009; Tinker,
  Lehman, & Neimark, 1991) accounting researchers. Mentioning them here
  is not intended to engender any academic sympathy. Given that
  quantitative SEA research is often considered by both mainstream and
  critical groups to operate in the ‘‘middle of the road’’, it comes as
  little surprise that a non-mainstream quantitative SEA project leads
  to either a ‘‘rock’’ or a ‘‘hard place’’, or at some point in the
  publication process, is ‘‘run over’’ from either direction.


texts: Order of Adjectives: "quantitative reverse transcription…" vs. "reverse transcription quantitative…"

texts:
This is a general question with no specific sentence in mind. If a string of 2 or 3 attributive adjectives (or attributive nouns?) are used in a sentence, they generally follow a particular order (e.g. a wonderful old Italian clock). I am currently reading a scientific article where the terms

  quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction
  and
  reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction

have been used interchangeably.

My question is, is there a construction where a change in the order of adjectives does not cause a meaning change or does not render the sentence grammatically incorrect?

Searching the Internet gives both results. Does the order have an impact here?


texts: What is the difference between the words "retort" and "riposte"?

texts:
I am little bit confused with the words: Riposte and Retort. When to use which one?

Oxford says that...

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/retort

retort: Say something in answer to a remark, typically in a sharp, angry, or witty manner.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/riposte

riposte: A quick, clever reply to an insult or criticism.

I don't understand whether:
1. retort means to snap back or riposte mean to snap back?
2. retort means to give witty reply or riposte means to give witty reply.
Please help and distinguish these two words.

Thank you in advance!


texts:
Dr Li: Okay, I'll take a look. It looks a little discolored. We'll get a set of X-rays today to get to the bottom of it.
Tina: X-rays? Will that be an out-of-pocket expense?
Dr Li: No, you're due for a set. It'll be covered by your insurance.

If you break it down what does "due"& "a set" mean and also overall meaning?


texts: What is that feeling when you feel peaceful but empty?

texts:
What do you call it when you feel peaceful but seemingly empty, it's really weird to experience. You know those days when you have those thoughts that are empty but peaceful and really, really deep, for example, a few of the thoughts I've had while feeling this way are: "What if nothing ever matters and everything is just an illusion." "If life on earth is just a pitstop how come some people have more than one?" and other things like feeling warm and fuzzy but at the same time cold and hard, or thinking back on memories wondering if any of them ever mattered then sometimes missing them, and just like reflecting on everything within minutes of thinking about it???
(Note: I'm only 13 so if you have a response please make it easier for me to understand thank you!)


texts: Should there always be a comma after "therefore","However" etc.?

texts:
Should you always type a comma after "therefore","however" etc. in the beginning of a sentence? Also, when these (and similar) words are used in the middle of a sentence, should there be a comma or semi-colon before and after the word?

Therefore, he must be killed!
That man is revolting, however, some find him attractive.

Sorry for the lousy examples. I couldn't think of any better.


texts: The NY Times uses both "on Mac OS X" and "in Mac OS X". Can someone explain which one seems more appropriate if there is no difference?


texts: How can I give a project quote politely?

texts:
Someone sent me an email, asking for a quote for the project. How can I reply to him in a more polite way?

  I can quote you $100 for this project.

  I charge you $100 for this project.

  I can do this with $100.

Can you give me more examples (formal/informal)?


texts: "(zero article) failure" but "the departure": articles before mass nouns

texts:
A quote from The Economist:

  In Iraq failure to reach a similar security agreement led to the
  sudden and premature departure of all American forces.

Here we have two nouns which may be either mass or count according to Oxford Dictionary. One has a zero article (failure), the other takes THE (departure).

Filling in articles (which were pre-cut in a text editor), I've committed two mismatches with The Economist's version, as follows:

  In Iraq *the failure to reach a similar security agreement led to *a
  sudden and premature departure of all American forces.

I thought that the noun "failure" here is a mass noun, yet modified enough (which failure? - "to reach a similar..") to merit the definite article.

Concerning the "departure", I'd consulted Oxford Dictionary which states that the word may be used as a count noun: "she made a hasty departure". Besides, the troops' departure may well be unknown to the reader, hence "A".

Assuming both nouns are mass nouns in this sentence, I have two questions:

Can we still use "THE" with "failure"? Or does it need to have an "of-phrase" modifying it in order to take THE? ("..the failure of the government to reach..")
Can we use zero article with "departure"? (despite the post-modification by an "of-phrase"; It seems to me that "of-phrases" are powerful inducers of THE-ification.)

And still it puzzles me why "departure" here cannot be a count noun, like in "she made a hasty departure".


texts:
"In this section, you can read what other Service Providers have to say about a client who has booked you."

OR

"In this section, you can read what other Service Providers have to say about the client who has booked you."

I'm not sure whether to use "the" or "a" here to describe this scenario in a grammatically correct way. Do they both work?


texts: Why “to” is here in this sentence? “please to ring the bell”

texts:
Among songs from Wee Sing for Baby, there is a song “To Babyland”

The lyrics begin as:

  How many miles to Babyland?
  Anyone can tell: Up one flight, to the right.
  Please to ring the bell”

I am not an English native and I think the lyric is right grammatically because it is written by English native. But I don’t know why “please to ~~” is used. I have learned that “please ring the bell” is right.

And on more question.
“up one flight” - here “flight” means “floor”??
(a dictionary says)
Is the 2-3rd line sentences mean “ If you go up one floor
and go to the right, you will find a door and you should ring the bell on the door.”?? Do I understand well??

Thank you in advance.


texts: What is the difference between "carry out a crime" and "commit a crime"

texts:
Do these both have the same meaning?

  John carried out a crime.
  John committed a crime.


texts: A phrase or a word for not practising what you are preaching

texts:
Can you please tell me the word, term or phrase for not practising what you are preaching.

Also, if possible, the word, term or phrase for someone who does so.

I am not looking for hypocrisy or hypocrite but something more specific.


texts: Is fermentation another word for excitement?

texts:
My grandma phoned me recently for some help with a crossword.  The clue was 'excitement', we had a few letters but couldn't think of anything.

Anyway the answers came out and she rang me back a little put out that the answer was 'fermentation'.

She has looked up in several dictionaries and doesn't feel that the clue is suitable for the answer.  I can maybe see it from a chemical sort of viewpoint with fermentation involving bubbling, frothing etc.  So is this a suitable clue?  Is there a definition of fermentation that could mean excitement?  Or the other way round?


texts: Is there a a word for "revealing himself to be foolish by attempting to appear intelligent"?

texts: Is there a word for "when one reveals himself to be stupid, ignorant, foolish by attempting to appear intelligent, smart, witty"?


texts: Difference between an 'Abstract' and an 'Introduction' in a feature article?

texts:
I have to write a feature article for school. However, I'm confused how an abstract [a summary of my points] is different to an intro [Where you outline the points you're going to be elaborating in the body paragraphs]

Original Example:

Title:  Single Mothers, ‘the damaged goods’ of society?

Abstract:

They’re the unrepresented minorities in our society. Victims of social prejudice, these women are marginalised in media as a whole different class of people. They’re irresponsible sluts; ‘the damaged goods’. They’re woefully incapable of raising a baby with morals. They’re dependent; Work-shy-unambitious class of beings who only live off well-fare. Sadly, they’re the Single Mothers of our society.

Introduction:
Confused! Shouldn't my 'abstract' text be my introduction paragraph?!

UPDATE: Remember that I am NOT writing a research paper, rather, a persuasive article, when writing your answers please.


texts: Is it possible to use "extraordinaire" instead of "extraordinary"?

texts: Since they are both adjectives, is it possible to use them interchangeably on various occasions? When is the right time to use extraordinaire?


texts: What is the word for a phrase repeated over and over?

texts:
I remember learning such a word in my studies of drama and poetry.

I am referring to the following example, I want to deconstruct the IBM commercial directed by Jim Henson. http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/03/tech-time-warp-henson-ibm/

The phrase "do the paperwork" is used again and again.

I leapt to "mantra" but that suggests a repetition for the purpose of summarising a belief and training one to believe it.

I also thought of "slogan" but that usually has an overt sometimes political message.

This is a word that would describe the fact that this phrase has been repeated frequently without suggesting much at all about the purpose of the phrase or its repetition.

Perhaps a technical or domain word from textual analysis or literary criticism. Something highly specific I believe is what may describe the word I am trying to find. Thank you.


texts:
In some eastern Indo-European languages like Persian specially in its northern accent Gilaki, the words "thou", "thee", "thy",... have a same meaning and pronunciation as English. But there is a difference. In these languages the usage of "thou" is much more frequent than English. They have no "you" (in singular forms) and they use "thou" everywhere. My question is about this ancient word.

Question: What are the main differences between the words "you" and "thou" in English language in usage, grammar, etc? Is there any difference in meanings of "thou" and "you" up to special circumstances? Can one use "thou" instead of "you" everywhere?


texts:
I heard a lot of non-native speakers said "I very like it".

I think "very" in this case is adverb and means "extremely" Source.

It can be written as "I extremely like it".

But I heard that people in some forums think it is wrong Forum

I personally prefer to say "I really like it".

SO, "I very like it" is right or wrong?


texts:
“I’m afraid I’ll have to take it away when you’ve finished”

Is this good English? Shouldn't we use simple present tense in "when" clause when the main sentence is simple future tense? Is “I’m afraid I’ll have to take it away when you are finished,” better?

Further more, in real life I often hear people say something like “I’m afraid I’ll have to take it away when you will be finished,”, is this grammatically wrong?


texts: Compound words/noun phrases in english with different number of words in plural/singular form

texts:
Are there any cases where the plural and singular form of an English compound word or noun phrase differ in the number of words contained?

In all cases I can think of, the actual words within the noun phrase will change based on the grammatical number, but the number of words will not.

Examples,

large red car becomes large red cars in plural form. Both phrases have 3 words
this apple becomes these apples - 2 words in each form

Are there any cases where the number of words will be different?

Background: I'm writing an app that performs basic natural language processing and, if my hypothesis is true, I can simplify its implementation significantly.


texts: What does "he's is not equal to the job" mean?

texts: I know about origin, which comes from the maths symbol ≠. But in this case it must be something else. What does it mean when someone is not equal to something?


texts: If “were tired” is correct grammatically, why is “was studied” not?

texts:
I was practicing english and I have a question.
Why is it correct to write:

We were so tired.

But it is not correct to write:

I was studied english.

I know that it is correct to write:

I studied english.

But I don’t know why in the first sentence, I can use the auxiliary "were" when the verb is "tired" and, in the second sentence I can't use the auxiliary "was" when the verb is "studied".
I am confused.


texts:
In this answer I see explained the fact that Americans (and other English speakers who have accepted some American usage) use the noun "store" in many situations where other English speakers would use "shop".

What etymological or historical reasons might explain why this usage does not seem to have extended to the verb? As the answer above notes, I can go to a shop or a store, but at either location I will be shopping, not storing. Why?


texts: What is a word for when you don't want to do something, but enjoy it when you do it?

texts:
I am trying to find a word to describe a situation where you don't want to do something, but enjoy it when you do it. For example, going to the gym, travelling a long distance to see a friend.

I have tried searching but no luck so far.


texts: What's a word for any two-dimensional art?

texts:
I am looking for a word for "artful pictures". It includes:

Paintings, sketches, drawings, etc.
Artistic photography (e.g. this)
Calligraphy

It does not include:

Technical models, blueprints, graphs
As-is photography meant to capture something objectively
Anything in more than two dimensions, such as statues or video
Literature, poetry

I could go either way on whether to include infographics or engravings. I would use the term for categorising a gallery of files that contains both art and non-art, and mostly in picture format. Some non-pictures are put in their own folders, but on the same level. So it would go:

Gallery

[word] (artful pictures)
non-[word] (pictures that are not art)
literature
video

A short phrase is acceptable, as long as it sounds idiomatic.


texts: Sentence with two clauses linked by "that"

texts:
How can I improve the sentence I have below in terms of grammar and clarity?

To my mind, the sentence has 2 problems:

It is quite long and possibly lacks clarity (I would like to test that).
It contains two clauses linked by 'that', which I think may be poor grammatical form (maybe I'm wrong about this?)

  In September 1882, the collective's system leaders submitted their
  application to the government, who subsequently invited them to submit
  a revised application that should provide more clarity on how the
  system will address the challenges that it faces.


texts: Using Have word to ask question related to past

texts:
Please check below sentence

  Have you setup desktop software and mobile app?

This type of question, where the event has already occurred in past, always makes me feel that the question is not correct.

The correct sentence for me looks like this:

  Have you setted-up desktop software and mobile app?

Of course, setted-up is not an actual word.

Can you please correct my actual English sentence, if it's not right, with same or similar words, not with totally different words which has same meaning. And I want to start the question with have you.


texts: Debate with a fellow writer: should I say "My email ID has been changed" or "My email ID has changed"?


texts:
While it may be obvious to you that you want the aggregate functions applied to each set of products found in the account table, this query fails because you have not explicitly specified how the data should be grouped. Therefore, you will need to add a group by clause to specify over which group of rows the aggregate functions should be applied...

I always tend to understand past participles used like that as something kind of like postpositive adjectival phrases that describe the word or words which directly precede them. For instance:

  He was a guy sold out to his enemies by his own friends.

This tells me what kind of guy he was in that situation - a guy who was sold out by his own friends.

So, basically I can go ahead and try to understand this sentence as follows:

  While it may be obvious to you that you want the aggregate functions that are applied to each set of products found in the account table, this query fails because...

Which does not sound right because the thought obviously sounds incomplete.

Therefore, it leaves me with only one option which is to understand it as a causative like in this example:

  I want my hair cut.

And I think this is the only way it should be understood. My first question: am I correct?

On the other hand, it seems like I can easily add the verb to be right after the aggregate functions, thus making it mean basically the same thing but, at the same time, making it much more easier to understand:

  While it may be obvious to you that you want the aggregate functions to be applied to each set of products found in the account table, this query fails because...

Which now does make perfect sense. So, my second question is this: by adding the verb to be, do I change anything as far as the meaning goes? If not, are the two completely equivalent then?

Much appreciated.


texts: Is using the present perfect old fashioned?

texts:
I was talking to a Singaporean (English is her native language. I think, closer to American rather than British) friend.
I learned in English class that you can use present perfect when there is a connection with present. So the discussion was something like that. I was trying to use present perfect correctly.

A: Have you been to French class today?
B: Yes I have. I went this morning.

But she told me it's an old fashion way of using present perfect. And no one uses it like that, at least not in the US and Singapore.
She would use past simple there.

A: Did You go to French class today?

Is it wrong to use the present perfect here or do I look stupid if I use it?


texts: Is there a word to replace the phrase for 'couldn't have been more different'?

texts:
I don't think the phrase is formal and academic enough, but I can't think of a word  to replace it.

I want to say something like this: The two frogs both agreed that they needed to fight, but their fighting strategies "couldn't have been more different."


texts: What do we call a group of stage actors?

texts:
What do we call a group of stage actors and actresses, who join together in one team to present theatrical performance?
An image is attached for illustration


texts:
Does "clicking the lock into place" in regard to a bicycle mean "to lock the bicycle"?

  A cyclist rattles by and I watch as the youngster riding it pulls up
  alongside the Memorial to the 65,000 Murdered Austrian Jews, hitches
  it up on to its stand, clicks the lock into place and disappears
  through a doorway. Somewhere to park your bike, obviously.


texts:
Which one is appropriate (context: I am sharing my computer screen say over Skype and asking others for conformation)
Can you see my screen?
OR
Could you see my screen?


texts: Writing one academic year to another academic year

texts: I am a bit confused. When do we write 2014-2015 and when do we write 2014-15? Are the two the same? If yes, which is more formal?


texts: "Would not pass" or "would not have passed"?

texts:
Here is a situation:

(Jack and Dorothy are in the car)

Silence. They pass Blumergton. Dorothy looks out of the window, her face is obviously surprised.

Silence again. They pass Himilgreens.

Silence again.

Jack: "I must tell you something"

Dorothy: "What is it?"

Jack: "We are not going to Darwinhill"

Dorothy: "I know that"

Jack: "How come you know that?"

Dorothy: "Otherwise we would've not passed Blumergton"

or should it be "Otherwise we would not pass Blumergton" or should it be some other way?


texts: Why do some people say 'Did you know that Earth is much smaller than Saturn? Why not 'Do you know that Earth is much smaller than Saturn?'?


texts: Is a dependent clause part of the superordinate clause's predicate?

texts:
Could you please help me determine what the complete predicate is in the following sentence?

  I get the willies when I see closed doors. — Joseph Heller, Something Happened.

At first I thought the complete subject would be "I" and the complete predicate would be "get the willies when I see closed doors" because that is giving information about what the subject does.  But now I am starting to doubt myself--mainly due to the adverb clause "when I see closed doors" which also contains a subject and predicate ("I" and "see closed doors").  Is it possible for this subordinate, adverb clause to be part of the entire sentence's complete predicate?  Or do I need to break the sentence up by clauses (in order to determine the complete predicate), and, if so, what becomes of the word "when"?

Thank you for your help.


texts: Difference between "socket" and "outlet"

texts: While translating a technical document I began thinking about socket and outlet. It seems like they're mostly interchangeable. Is that correct? Or is there a difference between the two?


texts: pronunciation: question about dictionary phonetic symbol

texts:
I was looking up the word "meditative", and in one dictionary, the fourth letter "i" is pronounced "ə", but in another dictionary it is  pronounced "ɪ".

I don't know which phonetic symbol I should follow (for British English). I listened to the voice samples in both dictionaries, and they all sound like "ɪ".

I need some guidelines.


texts: To refer to singular/plural items without knowing the actual quantity

texts:
Sometimes we need to refer to something without knowing will it be singular or plural. How to write such things in formal writing?

Version 1

  No valid input files found.

  Make sure the input field contains at least one ".adoc" file.
  Make sure this file (these files) does exist.

Version 2

  No valid input files found.

  Make sure the input field contains at least one ".adoc" file.
  Make sure this file(s) does exist.

Or something different?


texts: Idioms or expressions defining either getting paid fully or being appreciated

texts:
I am looking for a common English expression/idiom that defines a situation below:
I have done some work for someone, and in return, they are not going to pay me the full payment. Then I will tell them, "either pay me in full or express your gratitude" (or pay me nothing so that you are under my debt)
Thanks!


texts:
I am a technical writer, and often I find concluding a list of requirements with "as applicable" is useful, because not all items in a list of requirements are relevant in all cases.

Consider a sentence such as:

  In your application, please include your telephone number, cell phone number, e-mail address, names of maiden aunts, and a list of schools you have attended.

It calls for an "as applicable" at the end because you may not have a maiden aunt, for instance.

Should the phrase be written as:

  ...schools you have attended, as applicable.

or

  ... schools you have attended as applicable.

The first has the comma after the list, the second does not.  My intuition says you should use the comma, but I cannot think of a reason why.  I would like a reason, so I can convince another writer that the comma should be there.


texts:
I frequently read a column (or such) that begins the text by mentioning a particular item/person/anecdote or similar, and then continues to lay out the subject and in the end refers back to the "thing" in the beginning of the text. Is there a particular word or phrase to describe this concept?

Just to drop a single reference, see how "Steve  Jobs" is used in this article: I bought my Mom a Chromebook Pixel


texts: What's the right way of expressing a desire to meet with someone in the future on the multiple basis?

texts:
What's the right way of expressing a desire to meet with someone in the future on the multiple basis (unspecified number of times, but definitely more than once)?

  We should surely meet again and keep in contact.
  → This may mean that I want to meet only one more time and then just keep in contact.
  We should surely be meeting again and keep in contact
  → This will probably mean the same thing as 1.
  We should surely meet again — and not once — and keep in contact.
  → This may mean that I want to meet perhaps only two or three times and then just keep in contact.
  We should surely meet again in the future on the regular basis and keep in contact.
  → This may mean that I almost require a certain level of frequency of future meetings, while I am a far cry from putting such a burden on the person.

So, what should I say here?


texts: "Everyday an English word" or "Daily English word" or "An English word every day"

texts: I need to write an English word to the blackboard each day. Which title is correct? I need something that shows purpose instead of something like "word of the day". And should I use "everyday" or "every day"?


texts: How do I refer to a geographical area outside Britain (use article or not)

texts:
I am not a native English speaker. In a scientific paper I'm writing, I refer to geographical areas in Belgium: Kempen, Hageland.
In Dutch, an article is used when referring to these areas: "in de Kempen", "in het Hageland".
Is the article needed in English, or would one simply write: "in Kempen", "in Hageland"?


texts: What is the meaning of "All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds"

texts: Could you please explain this sentence to me? It is from Voltaire’s Candide.


texts: Is there a particular term for adjectives like "bovine", "ursine", "simian" etc?

texts:
I have long wondered if there is a term for adjectives like "bovine", "ursine", "simian": words which might be used to qualify characteristics of a class of objects, for example:

  ... with a focus on the role it plays in bovine physiology and health. (Context)

or

  The behaviour change suggests that global warming is responsible for this revolution in ursine behaviour. (Context)

Most of the examples I can think of for this are animal-related; as I don't know the term for this, I don't know if there are different animal-specific and non-animal-specific terms for such a word.

I have seen this described as a Collateral Adjective, for instance in Wikipedia's List of Animal Names. However, I think the definition of this doesn't quite fit in all cases:

  A collateral adjective is an adjective that is identified with a particular noun in meaning, but that is not derived from that noun.

An example of where this does not fit is "human": "human physiology", "human behaviour" would be equally correct in the quotes above. This is clearly derived from the noun (if you count being the same as derivation, of course).

An example of which does not relate to animals (and also where the adjective derives from the noun) would be:

  Rock 'n' roll music further encouraged unrestrained behavior that was so different from British sensibilities of self-control (Context)

Can anybody suggest an the correct term for such adjectives?


texts: I want to know which is the correct use of apostrophe s?

texts:
I want to know the correct use of apostrophe s?
Is the 's' used either in small or capital letter.
Which is right format either Ram's or Ram'S?
Please answer me soon.


texts: Why "live on campus" but not "live in campus"

texts: Why do we say he lives on campus but not he lives in campus? Technically we live in the boundaries of the campus.


texts: What's the word for converting a positive number to negative one and negative to positive?

texts:
What's a good word to describe the operation of taking the negative of a number?
For example, given x = 5, obtain -x = -5, and given y = -2, obtain -y = 2.

Is there a word for this?

I was thinking about "negation" or "negate". But according to Merriam-Webster, it means:

  to cause (something) to not be effective

  grammar : to make (a word or phrase) negative

It doesn't seem to cover "to make a number negative".


texts:
The words in headlines are capitalized. I'm interested in the history of this.

Where and why were capital letters first used in headlines? Where is this practice of capitalization of words in English titles derived from? Is it derived from German?


texts:
Basically as the question says. Is peppermint tea autological because it tastes pepperminty. I know they are different words but phonetically they are identical.

If not, is there another word which describes this phenomenon?


texts:
If someone asks "Can I not have a drink?", and someone else responds "No", is that considered as:

No = No, you can't not have a drink. = You can have a drink.

or

No = No, you can't have a drink. = You can't have a drink


texts: Is there a specific group of words that I can look for before/after "its/it's" to determine proper/improper usage?

texts:
Is there a specific group/category of words that I can look for before/after "its/it's" to determine proper/improper usage?

I'm asking this for the purpose of writing code that corrects the usage of "its/it's", however this isn't a question for programmers, but rather for English specialists.

I'm looking for some category or group or type of words that can accurately and reliably identify the proper usage.

For example:

  This bike is popular [because of] its [quality] | [but] it's [not]
  very affordable.

It seems that there may be a pattern / word-group that I can look for surrounding "its" or "it's" to determine that it's correctly / incorrectly used.


texts: Word to describe when you feel that there is so much going around you that you need to stop time to explore everything

texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe a person's feelings when visiting a city for the first time, or a beautiful and lively park. There's so much going on that they would like to stop time to explore everything.

Sample sentence: When visiting Paris for the first time, I was so ___ with all the sights and sounds that I just stood there until it was time for the coach to leave.


texts: Is the English phrase "I'm cool in, anyway" right?

texts:
I'm writing an English oral script for a test. In my script, there are three roommates in a dormitory.

A asks them: 'Guys, did you got any plan for this holiday?'
B replied: 'Not really, any idea? I'm cool in anyway.'

I want to express that 'B' feel good about whatever 'A' suggested; how should I express it like English native speakers? Don't pay attention to grammar; just do people use this expression in spoken English?


texts:
I was reading article that uses "thereto" a lot.

I searched its meaning and I found "to the thing just mentioned".

It's still not clear to me.

For example in this sentence:

  The government has the right to inspect any such establishment or any
  papers or records relating thereto.

What is the "thing that just mentioned" on that sentence? Is it the government or "the right to inspect"?


texts: What do “The great whatever this is,” “It can’t double dip if it never comes back up.”mean?

texts:
The surreal world in the New York Times article depicted by a seasoned editor at Harper’s Magazine who was laid off recently and experiencing bitter world, under the title, ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Unemployment’ was entertaining as well as relevant to me.

However I can’t understand phrases, “The great whatever this is,” and “It can’t double dip if it never comes back up.” the writer quoted in the following sentence. Are they 'so called' buzz words? Why do you need to place ‘up’ after ‘never come back’? Can somebody teach me what do these two phrases mean?

  Lately it seems people have grown inordinately fond of using the word surreal to describe circumstances and events that are in fact only new and confusing. Take for example last week, when I had the misfortune to be laid off after six mostly satisfactory years from my job at Harper’s Magazine. My friends and relatives insisted almost in unison that I admit to the surrealism of falling victim to what another friend has taken to calling “The Great Whatever This Is,” and which I like to refer to as the “It Can’t Double Dip if It Never Comes Back Up.”