texts: What do you call someone that helps you on one hand with the intent of trying to sell you something

texts:
Example: Joe spent an hour on the phone with me helping me solve a problem, but he only did it so that afterward he could pitch me on this crappy product he wanted to sell.

Words I've considered but don't fit: scammer, snake oil salesman, frenemy.

Illustration: someone who is patting you on the back with one hand (nice, free) while reaching into your back pocket with the other to get your wallet (not nice, costly).


texts: What does "We don't see things as they are – we see them as we are" mean?

texts:
Can someone please explain the meaning of the quotation

  "We don't see things as they are – we see them as we are."?


texts: "is" or "are" when dealing with a singular example of a plural concept?

texts:
The following just sounds odd to me.  I was wondering if there were a better/more correct way of saying it:

"A major component of my courses is to teach mathematics."

The "major component" is singular, while "my courses" are plural, so you get the awkward "plural-is" thing going on.


texts: Word or short expression for things that are meant to be stacked

texts:
I am looking for a word or expression for things that are meant to be stacked. Though there are several generic words for things, I could not come up with a good term for this purpose.

For example, "block" is too generic in the sense that it could be laid out in arbitrary fashion though by itself I could define it in advance just for the purpose of the context of stack. "module", "entity" and others also lack the right amount of specificity.

I am describing a logical unit of content which can include this thing(s) inside, which cannot stand side by side but only vertically. As it will be widely used in user documentation and so, I hope to come up with a better word than "module", "block", "box", "object" and so on.


texts: Is the article “a” required in this sentence?

texts:
Sailing is a serious job.
Sailing is serious job.

I found that job is a countable noun, so it look like "a serious job" is the right answer, but the other phrase doesn't sound wrong either.
Thank you.


texts:
What is the correct version of this common phrase?

  First come, first serve
  First come, first served

Gramatically, I believe 2. is the correct form. However, it seems that 1. is commonly employed in spoken and even written English.


texts: What was the original word used in the expression "studiously avoiding their glance"

texts: Formerly, there was a distinct word that sounded a lot like studiously and meant to pretend not to do or notice something. It hasn't been used much in a long time, but I remember John Fowles used it and so did Al Stewart, though I can't nail down either occurrence. The word ended up an orphan with it's only use being "X avoiding their glance", until it was superseded entirely by "studiously" which makes no sense literally. I thought it was something like strudiviously but I haven't ever found anything on the web. I do recall a discussion of this, possibly by William Safire, but again, I can't locate the source online.


texts: If there is a quote at the end of a sentence, does the period of the quote go before or after the end quotation mark? And if the quote is ended by a question mark does it replace the period that would be at the end of the main sentence?


texts: "Can you tell me where is the bank?" or "where the bank is."

texts:
Can you tell me which of the following sentences is grammatical?

"Could you tell me where the bank is, please?"
 "Could you tell me where is the bank, please?"

And please, explain why. Thank you in advance.


texts: "Have a nice class." Is this sentence correct?

texts: When you're saying goodbye to someone who's about to go to class and you want to tell them to have a good time in class, can you simply say "have a nice class"? My native language is Portuguese and I thought it was fine to say this, but my American friend told me it doesn't sound right.


texts: What is the word/phrase for your two friends, who are in a relationship?

texts:
The closest I could find was this ELL question.

My wife and I often hang out with our two friends, who are married (or another similar group who are not).  I'm looking for a succinct way to say:

  Oh, we're going to hang out with our [couple-friends], Bonnie and Clyde,
  this weekend.

except replacing couple-friends with a phrase that doesn't sound stupid and implies that the two persons are in a relationship.


texts:
A couple months ago I read a book with the statement When the sun goes down and today in a movie I saw the man said Let's wait for the sun to come down. I believe both are refering to the sunset.

But which of them is better to be used or are there any formal differences between the two sentences?


texts:
I’ve a question about the use of present perfect.
I know the present perfect can be used when we want to say that something happened but we don’t know or we don’t care when.
For example:

I’ve made beautiful things
I’ve studied English

My question is: can I write

I’ve broken my leg
even if my leg now is fine and I merely want to say that at some time in the past I broke it?

Or do I have to say “I broke my leg”?


texts: "That's great." Is "great" here an adjective or an adverb?

texts:
"I cleared the exam."
"That's great."

Is 'great' used here considered an adjective or an adverb?

An adjective defines a noun while an adverb is related to a verb.

My belief is that here it refers to the event of the person passing the exam so it must be an adjective.
Is this correct?


texts:
Are there any differences between "ascribe" and "attribute" when used as "because of"?

The following two sentences, which one sounds more natural?

  The fall in the number of deaths from heart disease is generally
  attributed to improvements in diet.

  The fall in the number of deaths from heart disease is generally
  ascribed to improvements in diet.

Thanks.


texts: Is "outside food" acceptable in formal English?

texts:
There are plenty of signs with the phrase "outside food", and even Disney states this in their FAQ:

  Can I bring outside food and beverages into Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park?

Is this term acceptable in formal English?

If not, is there anything more concise than "food not purchased from this establishment"?


texts: Why does Amy say "So needy" in this context?

texts:
I watched an episode of Big Bang Theory, here's a recap:

Subtitle of Big Bang Season 4 , Episode 17

I don't quite get it when Penny told a joke and then Amy said "So needy." over the phone holding by Sheldon.

Well from ODO, needy means poor or emotionally insecure.

I'm not sure if I'm right: Amy thought Penny is needy because Lenerd left her?

But from the previous conversation it doesn't sound like so.


texts: Which tense is correct? Or are they both correct?

texts:
The last few meetings HAVE BEEN good.
The last few meetings WERE good.


texts: Can a phrase be both a metaphor and an idiom?

texts:
A friend and I were discussing if the idiom 'rain check', as in 'taking a rain check' could be considered a metaphor.

We both agree that this phrase satisfies the common idiom and metaphor criteria when used in a position where it is not literally applicable, that it is still able to take on and express a legitimate, logical idea (i.e. have valid meaning.)

We agree that the difference between an idiom and a metaphor is that a metaphor requires consideration of its surrounding textual context in order to have meaning; while an idiom is a metaphor so commonly used that it has valid meaning to those unaware of its original context.

For example, a 'rain check' started off as a metaphor in local areas where the literal rain check for baseball games gave context to its use in situations outside of baseball games (e.g. I'd have to take a rain check on that BBQ). Outside of these areas, where literal rain checks in baseball set the context, the phrase 'take a rain check' would have no valid meaning.

However, once the metaphor become more popular and commonplace, many English-speaking culture began to use and understand the phrase, without the benefit of its original literal baseball context. At this point, we agree that the phrase has become an idiom.

Our point of disagreement is: does a phrase stop being a metaphor once it has become an idiom? Or do idioms retain their metaphor 'status' on promotion to an idiom?

(I tagged this post under both American and British English as I believe the phrase originated under the former, but spread to later become and idiom in the latter; British English is also what my friend and I speak and thus where we encountered this problem)


texts: What's the origin of the saying, "There's no accounting for taste"?

texts:
I hear it all the time in arguments over subjective judgements:

  There's no accounting for taste.

Where does this saying come from? Is it a quote or old proverb?


texts: Is there a word for "unable to communicate with"?

texts:
As in if you learn a language, then you're now able to speak with someone that you otherwise wouldn't be able to communicate with.

I'm writing a paper and that word as an adjective would be very useful. Using that whole phrase sounds clunky in an already lengthy sentence. Thanks!


texts:
Which of the following is grammatically correct, or are they both gramatically correct?

We use this product in order to increase work efficiency and to streamline testing.
We use this product in order to increase work efficiency and streamline testing.

I tried expanding the sentences, but I'm not sure if my expansions are correct either:
- We use this product in order (to increase work efficiency) and (in order to streamline testing).
- We use this product in order to (increase work efficiency) and (streamline testing).

Help is greatly appreciated!


texts:
I'm seeing an either/or in most dictionaries I've checked with regard to duffel and duffle when used to refer to coats and bags. It seems to come from a Belgian town spelled Duffel.

What's your take? I'd like to be definitive.


texts: "Money quote": Phrase Origin, metaphors involved?

texts:
My partner Kate asked me a question today that I could guess about, but not answer. It's a Phrase Origin search, which I'm pretty bad at (because I don't really care when a phrase originated; I'm much more interested in the metaphors it's involved with). So I decided to post it here for her.

She frequently encounters the phrase money quote on her favorite blog, and was unfamiliar with it. She'd like to know where and when it came from, and I'd be interested in any origin stories.

I am familiar with it, as it happens, and I'm pretty sure I've seen it for years if not decades, but it's probably been on the usage upswing for a while because of the penchant for labelling money quotes as such in blogs.

So, does anybody know?


texts: What's the word for describing days/months/years when comparing to something else?

texts:
Here's an example of the sentence I'm trying to write:

"Monday: the (x) equivalent of falling down a flight of stairs"

Some examples of other sentences that are similar to the one I'm trying to create:

Aloe vera: the botanical equivalent of drinking milk after eating a hot pepper

Moses: the biblical equivalent of a water bender

I hope that makes sense.


texts: How to write quotes and singing in dialogue

texts:
Ben stared into the distance, then rose from his seat and with his arms held wide, “By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.”
And as Jane followed his gaze, “My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart concealing it will break.”
“Though she be but little, she is fierce!” chuckled Victor.

Would it be correct to write the quotes in the dialogue in this way or would it be expected that the quotes should be centred in the page?

And as Jane followed his gaze, “My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart concealing it will break.”

The above is a subordinate clause. Would I get away with that, so I can avoid the rather tedious he said, she said that breaks flow in dialogue in writing? Or would I have to join it to the sentence above, which could cause confusion as to who the speaker is, or would it?
Would it be necessary to capitalise as in Something in the first quote as this would be a new line in the play script.
Secondly, would the same rules apply for singing dialogue in a narrative?

At this point Ben was swinging around the lamppost, “Slast Chlistmas, I gave you my heart.”

Is this okay without he sang?

Jenny joined tunelessly, “And the very next day, you gave it away.”


texts: What do you call a sibling who keeps calling 'mom?'

texts: That younger sibling who shouts 'mom' when you tease them. You hit or about to him/her and he/she yells 'mom' or 'dad.'


texts: INNER or INTERNAL thoughts; Inner or Internal beauty?

texts:
When talking about something ‘experienced in one's mind and not
  expressed or shown to other people’, which adjective do you tends to
  use? Inner or Internal?

  Do you see any difference between these two adjectives in this
  case?

To let the difference shining brightly, could you please tell us how each of the adjectives change the meaning of each sentence?

The following are examples of inner/internal + nouns (thoughts, feelings,doubts, struggle, tensions, conflicts, peace, voice, life, beauty).

She didn't want to be left alone with her dark inner/internal thoughts.
And they appreciate therapy, even though they are in businesses that traditionally scorned sharing inner/internal feelings.
Inner/Internal doubts can be managed, but external criticism in the social-media age is not so easy to curtail.
Broadman’s face looked as though some vast inner/internal struggle was going on.
Michael needed to express his inner/internal tensions.
She struggled with her own inner/internal conflicts.
Sarah seemed to have a profound sense of inner/internal peace.
An inner/internal voice told him that what he was doing was wrong.
A character who makes us wish to know more about his inner/internal life.
Mary might not be the prettiest girl around, but her inner/internal beauty shines through.


texts: canonical synonym for "parameter respect" in engineering

texts:
I thought about it couple of days ago and have uneasy feeling that my usage is not canonical, i.e. not common. Googling didn't really help.

I am looking for common way to say something like "System X respects parameter Y". Real-world example: "Domain name server respects TTL (time-to-live) parameter of the domain"

Another way to say it that I have seen on Internet, is to use "honor" instead of "respect". Googling yields same number of entries for DNS respect and honor.

Is there more canonical way to say it?

In other words, how do people in engineering say that system does what it says it will in respect to certain parameter?


texts: Is it correct to capitalize a pronoun's first letter after a punctuation mark in a dialogue?

texts:
"I wonder," I said to myself, "if there's a punctuation mark at the end of a dialogue, should I capitalize a pronoun's first letter?"

"I don't know," someone in my mind said, "should we?"

"Should we?" [Another/another] one asked.

With that question, everyone in my head—even I—wondered if we should, or should not.


texts: Indirect objects that answer the question "by whom"

texts:
Here is a sentence from Chapter Seventeen of Huckleberry Finn.  The sentence appears in a grammar worksheet:

  When I got to the three log doorsteps I heard them unlocking and
  unbarring and unbolting.

My English teacher stated that "them" was an indirect object, and unlocking and unbolting was a direct object, as that is what was being directly heard. She states that indirect objects can answer the questions "by whom", referring to the direct object. (The doing could be done by the indirect object.) This doesn't really make sense to me. My first impression was that them was the direct object and the participles unlocking and unbolting were modifying them. So, can an indirect object in a sense do the action of a gerund direct object? Any help is welcome!


texts: Meaning of "it isn't the initial cost, it's the humidity"

texts:
I was reading Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis and came across a quote I cannot understand:

  But they all felt that it was rather in bad taste for Orville Jones — and he not recognized as one of the wits of the occasion anyway — to say, "In fact, the whole thing about prohibition is this: it isn't the initial cost, it's the humidity."

I think it's meant to be funny but I just don't get "it isn't the initial cost, it's the humidity".


texts:
Is "time spent, places been," in the following sentence grammatically correct and if so, is that usage common?
I take it to mean "time she had spent and places she had been to."

  Maynard is survived by her husband and his family, her mother and
  stepfather. "While she had longed for children of her own, she left
  this world with zero regrets on time spent, places been, or people she
  loved in her 29 years," the obituary said.


texts: Why does "I got 'busted' for smoking weed" mean 'caught'?

texts:
How did the word 'busted' morph into a synonym for 'caught'?

Busted, down on Bourbon Street,
Set up, like a bowling pin.
Knocked down, it gets to wearin' thin
They just won't let you be....


texts:
What are the machines at the grocery store entrance called?

I'm talking about the 'CoinStar' machines specifically, but what is the general name for them?

I'm planning on creating one, but to do research on the topic, I'm pretty sure I need to know what it's called.


texts: Can the verb “tend” be followed by a bare infinitive (“tend be” v.s. “tend to be”)?

texts:
I thought tend (used to imply “regularly or frequently behaving in a particular way or having a certain characteristic – Oxford’s def; 1.1) always has to be used with the to-infinitive form of verbs.

Today, however, I encountered this example:

  Most meta-analyses show that, with some exceptions, well-established
  psychotherapies tend be approximately equivalent in efﬁcacy (Wampold,
  Mondin, Moody, Stich, Benson, & Ahn, 1997).

And while I couldn’t find anything regarding tend in regards to these two forms (with or without “be”), searching .edu domains precisely for "tend be" returns some 12,000 results. E.g.:

  Fungal-like protists and the Chytridiomycota tend be aseptate, except to delimit reproductive or specialized cells (such as sporangia and gametangia).

  The disadvantages of physical sunscreens is that they tend be thicker and look a little white on the skin.

  [The book] reveals that readers [...] tend be more open to diversity; politically tolerant; less authoritarian; less likely to support the use of deadly force or torture; more politically active; and are more likely to have a negative view of the Bush administration.

  It has long been appreciated that genes that perform core functions tend be more conserved in amino acid sequence over long evolutionary time periods.

So, is it ok to write “tends be” instead of “tends to be”?


texts:
In my thesis I have a part where I provide all the algorithms which I have developed. I want to introduce this part with a chapter containing the literature review regarding these algorithms, introducing the hardware I have worked with, discussing the input data for the algorithms and some other stuff (see below)...

Do you think I can use "Preliminary Considerations" as title for this chapter? I have some doubts due to the alternative meaning of "preliminary" which I would describe as "uncomplete" or "sketchy". Although "Preliminary Considerations" seems to be a proper title, "preliminary" has the taste of "has to be completed in further work".

I hope this makes sense to you.

(Coarse) structure of my thesis:

FRONTMATTER

PART I: Introduction

PART II: Models & Theory

PART III: Algorithms
  Chapter PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
    Section Literature Review
    Section Related Hardware
    Section Input Data
    Section ...
  Chapter Algo 1
    ...
  Chapter Algo N

BACKMATTER


texts: How to define the amount of "something" in activity?

texts:
I work on a dashboard and I need to label some grid columns.

Each row of the grid displays details about factories and one of the columns displays the number of factory in activity (in percentage).

For example, if the percentage is 75% and there are 4 factories, that means only 3 on 4 are active and produce something.

How can I label this column? What kind of word(s) could define "the percentage of factory in activity"?


texts: Confused of three deverbal nouns in dictionary

texts:
I have learnt something about deverbal nouns before.

a)These readings are quite interesting  (Here it means books,refers to something)
b)I did some reading of history books(Here it means the act, it has verbal characteristics)

But some words in dictionary are quite confusing, please help check the following sentences:

Dealing: business activities, the relations that you have with somebody in business;
eg: I knew nothing of his business dealings (Here the meaning of "dealing" should be the same with a)? refers to something?)
Greeting: something thay you say or do to greet people(here should be the same with a)?
Swimming: an activity or sport(Here should be the same as b)? Because it has some verbal characterisitcs)

Please help me to check my thought.


texts: Incorrect? “I only have one distinct memory from the movie, a scene where …”

texts: Should I say “I only have one distinct memory from the movie, that of a scene where …”, or would it work without the that of? If it wouldn’t work without the that of, what if I replace the comma with a colon? Would it be ok then?


texts: Is there a difference between "I am male" and "I am a male"?

texts:
Both versions seem grammatically correct to me, since the word "male" can be either a noun or an adjective, so it can be used with and without an article.

But I wonder, is there any difference in meanings of these two phrases? Maybe any difference in tone or style of speech, which is seen only to native speakers?


texts:
When you describe a hypothetical situation in the past, which is correct?

(1) If I were you, I would have done that.
(2) If I had been you, I would have done that.

Personally, I've heard native speakers speak (1) most of the time.
So it seems to me that at least in spoken English (1) is in use. But I'd like to know if this use is legitimate.


texts:
Think of this sentence:

According to critics, the theory does not mark the bar as a theory

I am trying to say: it barely comes close to what can be called a theory. I thought "clear the bar" connotes something capable of raising up over the challenge whereas "mark the bar" could indicate that it can not even reach there.

So, does this sentence seem a bit off to the reader or it can be understood in this context.


texts: Which verb do you use to refer to an email conversation?

texts: When you are having a conversation with someone through emails, are you "speaking | talking | chatting | ... "?


texts: The "wrought /wreaked havoc" misunderstanding

texts:
According to the American Heritage Dictionary:

  the past tense and past participle of the verb  to wreak is wreaked, not wrought, which is an alternative past tense and past participle of work.

In the  expression to wreak havoc ,  which means:

  to cause a lot of trouble or damage as in:  strikes have wreaked havoc on local businesses. (TFD)

wrought   has been used for decades before the alternative version with wreaked appeared as shown in  Ngram.

According to the Collins Dictionary:

  wrought is sometimes used as if it were the past tense and past participle of wreak as in the hurricane wrought havoc in coastal areas. Many people think this use is incorrect.

But according to the Oxford Learner's Dictionary the usage in the past tense of wrought (an archaic past tense of work) is idiomatic:

  wrought something (formal or literary) (used only in the past tense) caused something to happen, especially a change:

  This century wrought major changes in our society.
  The storm wrought havoc in the south.

Questions:

1)Isn't "wrought" in "wrought havoc" just misunderstood as the wrong past tense of "wreak"?

2) Isn't   "wrought havoc", as a consequence, grammatically and idiomatically correct as "wreaked havoc" is?

in other words, what happened to "wrought and wreaked"? Why do lexicographers think that people misunderstand their usage?


texts: "The Japanese are a hard-working people." Is this grammatically correct?

texts: I came across this statement. Is this correct? I am specifically confused at the part where "a" comes after "are".


texts:
I've encountered following phrase:

  a vocabulary of between 10,000 and 15,000 words

Is this phrase correct? Can of be followed by between in this case?


texts:
A paragraph goes like:

A cockroach was caught by a man.
About to be put to death, it snapped to the executioner its last words,
"Go ahead and kill me, you coward! You're just jealous, because I can have your wife spooked to scream while you can't."

In this scenario, is it okay if I use "make my day" instead of "kill me,"
as in Clint Eastwood's famous movie quote?

Thank you.


texts: Correct translation of "Sweet baking" and "Salty baking"

texts:
I am website developer from the Czech Republic. I`ve got local website with recipes in czech language. I am going to make english version of my website but I am struggling with translation of two main categories: "Sweet baking" and "Salty baking".

In czech language it sound perfectly normal but I have feeling that it is not correct translation to english. To let you know what I mean, there are examples of recipes in each category:

Sweet baking → all kinds of cakes, biscuits, apple strudel, gugelhupfs, sweet muffins
Salty baking → quiches, meat pies, yorkshire pudding etc.

Thanks for any ideas.


texts:
I could have asked this question personally to my respected colleague who gave me a valuable answer to the question, “Is the ‘tame the infinite becoming an idiom or a popular phrase,” which I posted yesterday, but I thought this deserves an independent question.

He, the answerer gave me the comment saying, “(It’s) 10-4. Copy. That's a good example of how the phrase could be applied, and would be well-understood," to the question, “Can I say ‘the Palestinian territorial issues is an effort in trying to tame the infinite’, “which I added to the yesterday’s question.

I saw the word “10-4 copy” for the first time. So I searched for its meaning on Google, and found a certain clue from the following text in www.answerbag:

“A lot of the 10 codes are different from city to city and state to state. For example a 10-50 in Indiana is a traffic accident, but in Texas it's a murder. I personally mix and match; sometimes I say "10-4", other times I say "clear".

It seems “10-4” refers to a call sign for something. But what does it represent for? Why "10-4" is combined with "clear"? Can I say “10-4 answer /message/ report/ plan” in describing clear answer /message/ report/ plan”?


texts: Stay tuned on or to? Which one is correct?

texts:
I have seen both usages.

Stay tuned on our Facebook page to know more
Stay tuned to our Facebook page to know more

But don’t know which one is more appropriate. Please help me figure it out. Thanks


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When should “into” be used rather than “in to,” and vice versa?
  Difference between “in” and “into”

I had to write a business plan the other day, and one of my coworkers found that I was using in to incorrectly in the sentence

  Data will be imported in to the database.

What is the difference between in to and into?


texts: Antonym for Trending (in the Twitter sense)

texts: If a topic is gaining in popularity on a website like Twitter, Instagram, etc. it is said to be "Trending". What about the opposite. If a topic is losing popularity, it is called...


texts: An already Spoken to customer issue that has been resolved

texts:
In a technical environment, what is the most suitable sentence to use when answering to someone about a problem that they had and we solved it for them:

The problem is solved
The problem has been solved


texts: Beginning sentences with a needless "So". How did this scourge become so popular?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When did the word “so” begin to be used to start a sentence?
  Garbage/stuff words

So many folks begin some narrative with "So". I see it everywhere especially in the past few years.

Ex: "So I was at the grocery store today and ran into John."

The sentence has the same meaning without it. Why do people do this?


texts: Detailed explanation: what is "dayspring"?

texts:
I am looking for information about the beautiful english word dayspring.

Exact meaning, with a link to the meaning in a dictionary. I know dayspring means "dawn or first ray of light" but I want to know the exact meaning — what shows, can you see a "daybreak" on the flat earth, and any other nuances.

Information about where dayspring came from and where it was first used.

Some examples of its use from the beautiful english literature.


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "I rest my case"?

texts: I hear this phrase quite often, but I've never heard the origin of it. It would be also nice to find out what it means, exactly.


texts: What can describe moments of consciousness before dying?

texts:
I am looking for a word or phrase or idiom that could describe the following situation:

Someone is about to die any moment and might be unable to think and talk properly. However, some time before he finally stops breathing, there appears a moment that he becomes super conscious and seems to be well again. It won't be long before he dies.

There can an expanded use of it for other non-human activities.

E.g. The factory had been undergoing great losses for several months and would probably go bankrupt by the end of the year. But they had got a big order and there were signs of hopes that the company could tide over the crisis. But unfortunately, it turned out to be a case of ______ and the company was destined to close down its business.

"______ " is what I am looking for.

After doing some research, I found "Dead Cat Bounce" which is used in trading stock market.  Here's the definition:

  A dead cat bounce is a temporary recovery from a prolonged decline or
  a bear market that is followed by the continuation of the downtrend.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/deadcatbounce.asp

I am not sure whether Dead Cat Bounce could be used outside of trading equities.

So  is  "Dead Cat Bounce" the right phrase that I have been looking for ?

Or Any there any other better recommendations ?


texts:
Hello to the English StackExchange community. I was going through the story Princess September and it appeared that the king in the story is a non-conformist. He also loves to hear praises about himself, as is made evident in the story. Just as a short example, the King of Siam in the story tells that he gets tired of hearing "Pretty Polly" from the royal parrots, however he is never tired of hearing "God Save the King" which he also receives as a compliment from his councillors.

The question is- even though we hear of it so very much, is there a single word/trait that defines a person who loves to hear compliments all the time? I guess the answer is really quite simple and it is making me crib as to why I can't recall such a thing. Thank you for taking the time to answer if you do.


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase: "to lean on the shovel"?

texts:
I have recently come accross this phrase in a movie called The Cube. Here is the excerpt:

I leaned on my shovel for months on this one. This was a great job!

I couldn't find any dictionary references that would explain this phrase.


texts: can a figure in a paper be titled "questions respective [topic] ?"

texts:
I am currently writing a scientific paper in cooperation with multiple co-authors, some of them being more experienced than me. In a figure, questionnaire results are shown.

One of my more experienced co-authors chose the title "questions respective [topic]", which I find somehow unsettling, even though I cannot think of a definite rule for this.

Is entitling a figure in this fashion correct use of the word "respective"?
If not, what kind of title would be appropriate?

Thank you in advance!

Edit: while being titled "questions ...", the figure actually contains answers to questions.


texts:
What is the difference between passive and permissive? They both seem to have the same meaning, in the sense that they both allow something to happen and not doing anything about it and if they are, which one is used more in everyday English?

Example:

  Jack you should do something about it or they are going to see you as a passive/permissive leader?


texts: Is there a grammatically need to hyphenate the compound words "dumb f*ck" within a novel?

texts:
Would I leave the space, hyphenate it, or combine the two works like its similar, less aggressive counterpart: "dumbass"

The quote from my novel is from dialogue

  "It's been six years, you dumb fuck," Gus muttered under his breath.

Which of these would be GRAMMATICALLY correct? If several are correct, which would be the most proper to use for writing planning to be published?

As is:

  dumb fuck

Hyphenated:

  dumb-fuck

One word; no space, no hyphen:

  dumbfuck


texts: When there stand two things, we call they stand “in parallel,” what do you call three or more things stand “in triangle”?

texts:
We have a word, “並立 - heiritsu” meaning “to stand / line up in parallel” and “鼎立 - teiritsu” meaning “to stand on three foot facing each other” in Japanese.

For example we say “三者鼎立 – three parties coexist or stand against each other,” when we describe three big countries of England, France and Germany go their own way or stand against each other.

What is the English word to describe “presence of three or more parties on their own way” as an alternative to “in parallel” for two parties?

Let me clarify my point:

My question lies on the point – the phrase “並立‐in parallel” applies to two straight lines facing each other keeping the same distance on both ends, but the word “parallel” wouldn’t apply to the lines linking three points that forms an equilateral triangle, then how we should call the status of three points / lines combining each other in the state which we call “鼎立” both in Japanese and  Chinese using the same characters and different pronuciation (teiritsu in Japanese, dingli in Chinese), in English”?

There should be the concept and word equivalent to “鼎立” vis a vis “並立" in Engllish. What will it be?


texts:
I am not sure how to correctly use the word bound in this context:

All partial sums of two given sequences are bounded by a positive constant.
All partial sums of two given sequences are bound by a positive constant.


texts: Combining Phrases and Independent Clauses

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to combine an independent clause with a phrase.  For example, "I live in California, specifically in San Francisco."

It sounds correct to my ear but I am unsure if I am "hearing" incorrectly.


texts:
I ran into an unfamiliar word recently: sycophant.  I am wondering now if phant means anything but simple google searches aren't leading me anywhere.

Hierophant - someone who shows sacred things
Phantasm - an image of someone, although it could be any image I would think.

Does anyone know if these are related or is this just coincidence?


texts: Term between 'mentoring' & 'rubber ducking'

texts:
This may be a Programmers Stack Exchange question, but I don't think so, because I don't believe there is an accepted term for this in the industry, so I turn to all of you for suggestions.

Say I'm at work, and a co-worker doesn't know what to do, and comes up to me to ask a question.

If they are explaining the question, and half way through, they suddenly realize what the answer is, we call that "Rubber Ducking" (because all I do is sit there and nod my head like a rubber duck in a bathtub, and by explaining, they have to think about the problem correctly).

If they finish explaining the question, and they don't have that moment of clarity, but I know what the answer is, then I'm being an "expert".

If I can see how they should have figured it out for themselves, and I make a suggestion like "In cases like this, I usually find it helpful to ask myself ...", then I'm being a "mentor".  Ideally, they get half way through answering the question and they once again have that moment of clarity, and they've not only answered the question but learned how to figure it out themselves next time.

The question for all of you is:  What do you call it when they ask their question, and you realize that the problem is too complex for you to figure out the answer, but you see a few ways forward, so you start this conversation consisting of questions, suggestions (feelers, really), stories, etc., all attempting to get them to have that moment of clarity when they answer their own question?  It's sort of an enabler, or a brainstormer, or something.  I'd love a phrase or a word for this.  I'd prefer that it makes it clear what I am talking about, but I'd accept a term that I can use in interviews that would trigger the interviewer to ask me what I mean by it, so I can describe the situation like I have above.


texts:
He sensed that his life was in danger, and so overhanging his mind, always was the dreadful notion that he may meet his end very soon.

In the bolded part of the above example, is fronting used correctly?


texts:
Is this correct? I am unsure if I should put a colon or semi-colon instead of a comma before "but" in the following sentence:

  In this appeal, the question is not “What would I have done had I been
  in the Respondent’s shoes?”, but rather “Was the Respondent’s decision
  patently unreasonable?”


texts: Is there a rule for “‑ance” vs. “‑ence”?

texts:
OK, so I’m ashamed to admit that as a native speaker I think I’ve missed something somewhere. I was typing up some documentation and spellchecker kept bugging me.  So I looked up some words and found this:

  The suffixes ‑ance and ‑ence mean
  “quality of” or “state of.” Words
  ending in these suffixes are usually
  nouns. There is no rule that governs
  whether a word ends with
  ‑ance or ‑ence.

Even the dictionary on my Mac goes so far as to say:

  ORIGIN from French ‑ence, from Latin
  ‑entia, ‑antia (from present participial stems ‑ent‑, ‑ant‑). Since
  the 16th cent. many inconsistencies
  have occurred in the use of ‑ence and
  ‑ance.

Is this for real?  There really is no rule?


texts:
Which is correct?

He does that when his wife is concerned

He does that where his wife is concerned.


texts: "We give brands access to..." or "We give Brands access to..."

texts:
Should the world "brands" be capitalized in the following sentence? If so why?

  We give Brands access to our database of 100 users.

"Brands" refers to advertisers such as Coca Cola and Pepsi.


texts: Verb for "frequently editing a post to make it appear at the top of the forum"

texts: Is there a word (Internet slang welcome) for "frequently editing a post to make it appear at the top of the forum"?


texts: Do "Shipping Tracking Code", "Consignment Number", "Shipping Code", "Shipping Number" share the same meaning?

texts:
do "Shipping Tracking Code", "Consignment Number", "Shipping Code", "Shipping Number" share the same meaning?

I want to use a very short term to express "Shipping Tracking Code" (is kind of unique code that locates the shipping item"

Can i use "Shipping Number" or "Shipping Code"?


texts: Why is "...and others" wrong in this sentence?

texts:
Somebody asked me about this sentence:

  My business is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and others.

I know that it should be "...and other holidays", but I'm struggling to explain why.

Is this sentence grammatically incorrect? If so, is there a specific rule that's being violated? Or is it grammatically correct but semantically nonsensical? Or something else?


texts: What is the correct way to quote (and cite) computer code using the Chicago style?

texts: I would like to quote from line 205 to 214 of a particular source code.


texts: What is the correct usage of the verb “extol”?

texts:
I know the meaning of the word extol as described in Merriam-Webster, and I have read the examples there, where the word is used for an act or virtue.

However, I have also seen some examples where the word is used in relation to a person; for example, "She extolled the Manager of the hotel".

So, do we use the word in relation to the virtue or the person or both?


texts: A verb for helping a criminal without knowing it

texts:
I wonder if there is a word for the situation (or the person involved) when someone is inadvertently helping a criminal without knowing that the person is, in fact, a criminal?

For example, you work as an office-boy in a company, and your boss is asking you to deliver cases to other parties, but you do not know the content of it. In reality, you are delivering suitcases filled with guns or narcotics.

Another example is when you are lodging your cousin who wants to stay with you for a few days but he is a convict, and you are not aware of it yet.


texts: "Thanks and Regards" vs. "Thanks and regards"

texts: I am almost certain that the R in regards must be in lower case because it follows a conjunction and is therefore a part of the same phrase/sentence. But I've been seeing a lot of emails of late that end in "Thanks and Regards," which got me wondering.


texts: Can the word "ilk" be used without an aforementioned group?

texts:
Is it grammatically correct to use the word ilk as in, for example, this sentence:

  Ilk regardless, whether of noblemen or blackguards, no man has ever. . . .

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ilk as kind or class of people, but the Google definition states ilk as an aforementioned group, that is, it has already been referred to. Is it ok to use the word ilk if the kind has not been mentioned yet?


texts: Is"peanut" is pronounced as "pienut" in Australian English?

texts:
This morning on NHK Japanese National TV there was a short feature on an Australian person who is running an English school, teaching language and cooking at the same time.

As a part of the scenario reporter was preparing an egg with spinach on a fry pan. At one moment the Australian teacher instructed him to put "pienuts" ([paɪnʌts]) into the frying pan.

The reporter seemed also confused and the word was repeated by both of them three times altogether. There was no chance of mispronouncing or mishearing. The dish could not be called a "pie" in any way either. The ingredient was a bowl of nuts of some kind.

Is it a regular pronunciation for "peanut" in Australian English or anywhere?


texts: What word describes people who consciously choose to accept what is natural and not alter it

texts:
Words that come to mind are:

zen-like
naturalist
accepting

but perhaps there is a more scholarly/accurate/electric word I can publish.  These people are not ignorant or unable; they are reasonably intelligent, logical and capable, they just believe 'live and let live' is a better option than 'make the best of every situation.'


texts:
In some British private schools the phrase "dob the pill" is a request that someone should throw the ball to you. The Internet is almost completely silent on this phrase with the only use I can find in the first comment at http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/pieces-of-the-power-puzzle/story-fn83zjlm-1226049635520 where it says "With his build Ebert would be a better back pocket where he could dob the pill deep over centre.".

What is the origin of this phrase?


texts:
I've had a debate with my friend about the "needing" usage. I know we can't use "needing" in continuous tenses but take a look at my example:

  That's the man needing some money.

Is the usage of "needing" here correct? What does it mean?

I'm sure I saw "needing" in a book I read two months ago.
Now I can't remember that book's title. My example may not be like exactly what I saw in the book.


texts: Is there a general thesaurus for conceptual fields?

texts:
My question is about ways to find out about, or remind oneself of, related concepts. Say I'm writing an article and I'm stuck finding the right expression.

I want to say that the author is confused about a concept, but I don't want to use the word "confused", for stylistic, syntactical or any other reasons. I would like to find other words like "muddle", "is not clear about", or "does not distinguish".
I want to say that I reject an objection to a given view. I would like to find other expressions like "riposte", "rejoinder", but also sentence templates such as "Contra N.N., I hold that"
What are different ways to express the concept opposition? "In contrast", "Whereas .., ...", "On the other hand".
What are different ways to make an enumeration of arguments? "First, ...; Second, ...", "For one thing, ...", "for another", ....

What I'm looking for is similar to a thesaurus, but many of these reference works (such as this one) only list expressions of roughly the same lexical category: "contrast" -- "comparison", but not "despite the similarities, ..." etc. "By contrast" is not even listed. Often what you need is just to be pointed in the right direction. Is there anything - a dictionary, thesaurus, list of schematic sentences, web site, ... - that fits my description?


texts: What is Poetry? What does not count as Poetry?

texts:
Background:

a google "define:poem" did not give me much closure:

  poem: a piece of writing in which the expression of feelings and ideas
  is given intensity by particular attention to diction (sometimes
  involving rhyme), rhythm, and imagery.

The deinition feels too vague I mean even this post could count as a poem then surely. I thought perhaps instead of a definition I could get more of a intuition by watching and reading several commentaries and critiques of Sylvia Plath's poems... but I am left with more questions than answers and I am not even sure what I heard yesterday was a poem anymore.

Questions:

What is a poem?
When it (whatever it is) does not rhyme how do I know it is a poem?
If I write my thoughts onto a page is that a poem?
If so then why call them poems? Why give them such a fancy name, why not just call them artistic thoughts?


texts:
TEXT.
The writer and his mother
sat in silence.
Question.
The writer and his mother sat
without ----
(1) speaking
(2) talking
Which one should be used ?
Why ?


texts: A word that describes the experience of pleasure at the sound of a word?

texts:
What word describes the experience of pleasure at the sound of a word?  This refers to the enjoyment of words being pronounced, rather than to the euphony, or pleasing sound, of a word.

I know that such a word exists describing this experience of pleasure, but I cannot remember it.
I've tried numerous sources, e.g. google.com, dictionary.com, but cannot find the word again. Can you think of the word, or tell me where it might be found (short of reading through every entry in the O.E.D.)?


texts: Apostrophe on Proper Nouns that end in -s. “Louis's” vs “Louis’ '’?

texts:
Though I see that many have asked the question of whether acronyms that ends with a "s" should be s' or s's, I have puzzled over whether nouns that ends in “s” should end in s's or s'.

Many sources online and in SAT books disagree with each other and I am confused because of all the disagreements.

If given the example:

  Louis’s scarf
  Louis’ scarf

One book stated that it was Louis's while another said that it should be Louis'.

I specifically looked for the answer what College Board's SAT would agree with and I would also like to know warrants to the answer as well.


texts: Can I start a sentence with 'about'? I am sending a mail to my professor and I was wondering How I should start the mail.


texts: What is the origin of surnames based on color?

texts: I understand the background of names such as Baker, Carver and Hammer but, what are the origins of names such as Black, Blue, Brown, Green and White? Are they based on some common structure or do they each have their own twisted tale?


texts: what's the meaning when "be" is followed by an infinitive

texts:
"If two Weeping Angels were to look at each other at the same time, they would be trapped in stone form until an outside force moves them apart."

My questions are about the phrase "were to look":

What's the meaning?
What's the differences between it and just one word "look"
In which section of my grammar book I can find this kind of usage?


texts: It'll perform checks "on" or "in" itself?

texts:
Which of the following sentences is correct and why:

  It'll perform checks on itself

or

  It'll perform checks in itself

I'm writing about a computer system that is going to perform checks in order to make sure it's not being modified.


texts:
Why does hadn't look out of place below?

I hadn't seen them for nearly ten years.


texts: Looking for word or phrase that describes something that is beneficial, enjoyable, and pleasing?

texts:
I'm looking for a word or phrase that describes several properties:

Very beneficial
Enjoyable (to do / to experience)
Pleasing (to view)

Related is panacea. However, this is cure-all, which is good, but it doesn't imply enjoyable. Another related phrase is apple of my eye, which is what I cherish above all (according to Wikipedia).

The context is a personal reflection and description where I outline some aspects of design that I think are important. The usage would be:

  Finally, typography is my ...


texts: Identical opening and closing curly single quotation marks

texts: I've recently read a fiction novel (Two Serpents Rise) published by Tor Books in which I've found something odd in the use of single quotation marks. The double quotation marks are standard curly types, with the opening and closing ones curved in opposite directions. However, when single quotation marks are used within them, the opening single quotation mark and closing single quotation mark are identical curly marks: they curl in the same direction—like standard closing quotation marks (i.e., like an apostrophe). This is done consistently throughout the text. Would this be considered a stylistically acceptable use of single quotation marks? Or is it just incorrect use of punctuation?


texts: “*the last thing we need*” means something you not want or avoid, however, occasionally it means oppositely the thing finally necessary.

texts:
“the last thing we need” means something you not want or avoid, however, occasionally it means oppositely the thing finally necessary.

Example: In an article of the Independent (Independent, Jan 4, 2016) introductory paragraph says ‘Rochdale is a town used to making the headlines for the wrong reasons. So the last thing it needs as it tries to rebuild its reputation is another sex scandal.’ and in three paragraphs later it says —”Rochdale already has a bad name,” said Donna Pearson, 28, a mother-of-three who was shopping in Yorkshire Street. “It needs improving and bringing back up. This is the last thing we need.”
Obviously these two “the last thing it needs” mean totally opposed as far as I perceive, confusing me as a non-native English speaker. So, could someone advise me about how they can be distinguished? Or should it be distinguished only in context?


texts: Can we use "bad" as an adverb in writing and formal speech?

texts:
Should a lecturer say

  "He felt bad" or "He felt badly"?
  "His tooth ached so bad he couldn't sleep" or "His tooth ached so badly he couldn't sleep"?

Are both forms acceptable in formal speech?


texts: Which verb should I use that means to have somebody's trust for a long time?

texts:
What is the right verb for when we want others' trust for a long period? Do we keep, retain  or  preserve their trust ... ?

Example:

  By speaking only the truth I can ... their trust for a long time.

For sure, all of the above suggestions are here or there used. Google Ngram seems to confirm this. But I want to know which one sounds the most idiomatic.


texts: Climb up/along/across-which one is correct?

texts:
Which one is correct/perfect and why(on the basis of difficulty level)?
"He climbed up/along/across a ledge."
"They climbed up/along/across a slope "
 we know "across"refers to the movement from one end to another,but is this movement horizontal or vertical or slope type?
And is there any other difference between up,along and across except the fact they refer to a specific type of movement?


texts: West Country Pronunciation 17th to 18th century

texts: I read somewhere that the West Country pronunciation of oi for words like fight and like would become foight and loik. Was this really more common in the 17th and 18th Century?


texts: Facing problem with a SAT Fill in the blanks type question

texts:
Professor Fernandez has been ____ about most of the purportedly humanitarian aspects of the colonial government and has insisted that its actions were on the contrary,___

I;m confused between the two options
A. dubious...self serving
B. disparaging...sporadic
Which one should be correct?

Professor Fernandez has been dubious about most of the purportedly humanitarian aspects of the colonial government and has insisted that its actions were on the contrary,self serving.
Professor Fernandez has been disparaging about most of the purportedly humanitarian aspects of the colonial government and has insisted that its actions were on the contrary,sporadic.

I mean neither seems wrong,compared to the other options:
C. enthusiastic...contemptible
D. excited...gratuitous
E. disillusioned...benevolent


texts: Omission of prepositions in modern English

texts:
It is my understanding that omission of prepositions used with certain verbs is becoming increasingly accepted. I was even corrected by a proofreader when I wrote "fleeing from country X" instead of "fleeing country X." Is this BrE/AmE difference, where AmE is more flexible than BrE? Is there a list of verb-preposition pairs whereby such an omission is accepted?
For example, in the following sentence, "Moore and many other evangelical Christians spared Trump their censure," would it be correct to put a preposition for or of between Trump and their, so that the sentence reads "spared Trump from/of their censure"?
Thanks!


texts: Are /gz ɨz/ pronounced voiced in normal speech? Why are they described as voiced consonants?

texts:
As in "dogs" and the suffix "-es".
I have learned later that the ending should be voiced, while everywhere I hear native speakers pronounce them voiceless. However, I followed the book and pronounce them voiced, but then people seems not understand me.


texts: A catchphrase to describe an over-protective subordinate

texts: Is there a catchphrase to describe a subordinate whose knee-jerk reaction is to aggressively verbally defend their boss from any perceived slight sometimes without actually understanding the issue or even when it's not unambiguously an attack on their boss or their boss himself probably wouldn't care? (Something historical maybe or borrowing on a fictional character?)


texts:
Which is correct comma usage in the following sentence?

  It is time to shake, rattle , and roll.
  It is time to shake, rattle and roll.


texts:
What are the differences between these two phrases?

For example, how would you qualify the difference between these two sentences: "What exactly is that book about?" and "Exactly what is that book about?".


texts: American English word stress What time is it?

texts: In the question "What time is it?" we only stress the noun "time". Am I right? The "is it" part at the end is unstressed. Right? I'm not sure if the word "what" needs secondary stress or not. I need your opinion about word stress in this question. Which words do you stress when pronounce it?  Thank you.


texts:
I am looking for the word to use when saying the opposite of expanded/expand/expansion. Here is an example of how I want to use the word:

  In the summer the wood expanded, now it is winter and the wood
  (________).

Also, if there are other antonyms for expand, please let me know.


texts: Single word or phrase for the irony of helping someone while they are taking advantage of you

texts:
While Bob was masking Linda's mistakes, Linda was informing everyone that Bob was not qualified for his position.
example; "Have you ever found yourself in a(an)________situation"


texts: If I want my salad to have more dressing, I’ll order it with extra dressing. Is there an adjective that would mean less-than-normal in this context?


texts: Is “Reading strong” a popular alternative to “Read a lot more”?

texts:
NPR (October 23) reported that 8 in 10 Americans under the age of 30 have read a book in the past year in comparison to about 7 in 10 adults in general, American adults under the caption “America's Facebook generation is reading strong.”

I don’t think I’ve head “He / she reads strong,” or “He / she is a strong reader” very often.

OALED shows “strong” as the adjective to mean “great in number” in its 14th definition from the top – 1. having a great power.

Is “Read strong” a popular way of saying “Read a lot (or hard)”?
Can I say “listen to strong,”
“Write strong,” or “eat / drink strong,” by the same token?


texts: Is there a verb for "Pass through a hoop?"

texts:
I am looking for a verb that means "To pass through a hoop", either figuratively or literally. Similar to what dolphins do in those water parks, or to someone having to do something he does not want to because of the situation he is in.
Is there something similar to what I'm looking for?


texts:
I would like to confirm the use of a dash in this sentence:

  My name is Mat, I am a Bristol based designer in the UK - I
  forge digital art, illustrations & websites

Is this the proper use of a dash, or do the clauses need to be two different sentences?


texts: Does the word "newbie" have a negative connotation?

texts:
Imagine that I'm running a friendly and informal online business. I would like to introduce my service to the new customers by a blog post that entitles, 'Are you a newbie to XYZ.com?'. Will that title make my customers feel intimidated?

My brother and I had a long argument about that word. I said that the word doesn't make such a bad meaning and it can be used anywhere in a friendly manner; but he said that it sounds derogatory and should be avoided. He also asked me to completely avoid that word. He believes it will make people angry.

Who is right and who is wrong here?


texts: What's it called when someone tries to stop you from doing something by telling you you to do it?

texts:
Sometimes when someone tells you to do something in a sarcastic but serious way so that you do not do it like: “yeah, go to the party on your own — maybe you’ll get hit by a car on your way back.”
Is there a word to describe this kind of speech or maybe there is a specific word you use to call the person who talks like this?


texts: The a/an/the article issue in different contextes

texts:
I would be happy to get some confirmation whether I understand the use of the articles correctly in my sentences:

Case:

sentence: I heard you've got a beautiful house.
context: I haven't seen the house yet.

Case:

sentence: You've got beautiful house. (no article at all)
context: I am now inside the house in question.

Case:

sentence: I heard you have sold the beautiful house.
context: I've seen the house and the receiver of this sentence is the owner.

I am pretty sure about 1 and 3 but what about Case 2? Can I omit the article when I talk about a specific thing which is just in front of me?


texts:
In my journal entries for my English class, I am trying to describe the relationship the man has with his son in The Road by Cormac McCarthy by saying that

  ...the man is terrified of losing his son, which is more apparent when he sees how thin the boy is."

Is this correct?


texts:
Don't know whether it's an English literature question or a psychology one but one may have witnessed a very frequent behavior associated with bosses or maybe teachers where they start asking you questions (assuming you are brilliant enough), you start answering them but they don't stop until they have got a question you can't answer...then ridicule you for not answering that last question forgetting the former ones..

Is there a word for the boss's or teacher's behaviour? Is there some named disease for it?


texts: I'm curious about if "I need a ten-minutes of 'SONG' to do sth." was right in English. Thanks for reading this quesiton


texts: What is called a special academic subject that is pursued by postgraduates after bachelor degree?

texts: In many countries, academics pursue a special field, typically a branch of their bachelor subject, as MS students. For example someone who has studied computer engineering in bachelor degree, might choose to study one of its branches like computer hardware architecture, computer software, IT, artificial intelligence, etc. for MS degree. What do you call this special field of study sought usually in post-graduate stage? Is is subject, field, discipline, specialty, or something else? Persians call it Gerayesh (=گرایش), literally meaning attraction, interest. But I am not knowledgeable of any English equivalent for this usage.


texts:
a) The train was left by then.

Or

  b) The train had left by then.

Could you tell me which alternative is correct?


texts:
We have a small start up and need a tag line for it. We deal in custom products that we make according to their requirements. We have come up with 'Customized Technology Solutions'. But, now we have a question, is 'Custom Technology Solutions' the correct usage or is it customized itself. Also, is it wrong to use 'Personalized Technology Solutions'?

Does customized make it seem that we modify products not actually make new ones?


texts: proper(more effective) verb location in passive sentence

texts:
I need put verb (developed) in proper place in that passive sentence:

First Option:
In that book were developed the basic ideas about the cell and its biological properties.

Second Option:
In that book the basic ideas about the cell and its biological properties were developed.

(
Proper order in English is Object - Verb (Second Option).
But in this sentence object contains 10 words and if we put Verb - Object (First Option) then sentence more easy to read.
)


texts: What does "high-capacity magazine clip" mean?

texts:
Washington Post (January 19 issue) carried an article reporting the latest results of Washington Post / ABC News poll, in which I came across the phrase high-capacity magazine clips.

My understanding of magazine clip was just a piece of article or its excerpt cut out from a magazine, like a tearsheet. What does high-capacity magazine clip actually mean?

  Poll shows high marks for Obama on Tucson, low regard for political dialogue. Like similar violent events in the past, the Arizona shootings did not generate greater support for tougher gun-control measures in general. But a majority — 57 percent — said they support a nationwide ban on high-capacity magazine clips such as the one the shooter in Tucson used.


texts:
I am writing a novel set in 12th century France in English. I have included, for flavor, only a sprinkling of French words commonly known to English readers.
 I'm questioning the typeset of "chevalier". Although I needn't italicize a noun identical in both languages, would doing so lead my reader to the French pronunciation of shə-ˈval-ˌyā rather than the English use of she-və-ˈlir? Or shall I consider myself guilty of overthinking and leave it to a standard font?
Your thoughts?
Thanks


texts:
Is it right to ask "how are you all doing?"?
Should I reply to a "How do you do?" with an "Am good" or should I say "How do you do" myself in return?


texts: What is the difference between "excitement" and "excitation"?

texts:
I know that the first one is usually used for describing emotional state and the second one in science e.g. in physics.

But why are these words different and what is the logic behind each of these forms?


texts: A word/word phrase meaning 'a tiny detail'/'a small thing"

texts:
I am looking for a word/word phrase native English speakers use as an expression for 'a tiny detail' / 'a small thing' (when mentioning something but adding that it is not so important). I came across the word 'a trifle' but am not familiar if and when it is used in this meaning. Do you say - 'such a trifle'?

Example: Such a tiny detail/such a small thing - I wish there was a night lamp in the room.

Thank you in advance!


texts:
Depeche Mode's song, "I Promise You I Will," contains the following lines:

I'm sorry, but I'm just thinking of the right words to say
(I promise you)
I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be

The third line, I assume, is intentionally poorly-worded to exemplify the artist's failure to speak eloquently; his awkwardly-worded sentence obviously does not "sound the way [he] planned" it to sound.
For general English usage, is there a word that describes this type of literary device, in which a word or phrase is descriptive and/or exemplary of itself?
The closest term I can think of is onomatopoeia, but it only applies to individual words, not phrases, sentences, or even entire bodies of meta-writing.


texts: compare 'in the eye of' vs 'in the eyes of'

texts: Is there any difference between 'in the eye of' vs 'in the eyes of'? In the eye of the beholder. In the eyes of him.


texts:
This is a chorus of a song called "Exercises in Futility VI" by a band called Mgła.

  Self crucified - missed the right tree. Tore the wrong eye
  out. The hissing of hellfire. Self crucified - missed the
  right tree. For this I've gained a victory. I burn as I
  ought to.

As we see, almost all words are in Past tense (Self crucified, missed, Tore and gained). It appears the author is talking about past events. However, there is an odd line which is not.

  I burn as I ought to.

My opinion is that the use of the phrase "I burn as I ought to." might be wrong. It should be "I burned as I ought to." to fit the whole paragraph and because all of it appears to already have happened.

My questions are:

Am I correct? Is this line wrongly phrased?
If I am wrong and this is indeed valid english, what does the line mean? Why is it in present tense?


texts: When did British and American English split on "in future" vs. "in the future"?

texts: I'm curious if it's possible to document roughly when the split happened, and also curious whether British or American usage diverged.


texts:
Can I say “across” in the next two situations?

  If I sailed the Pacific from Japan to America, making a detour by way
  of an island, can I say “I went my way across to America from Japan?”

  If I moved from a stand in a soccer field to the opposite side, making a detour along the round stands (circular path of the arena), can I say “I went my
  way across to the opposite stand from where I was.”


texts: Proper way to refer to someone that previously held an official title, but is no longer in said title

texts: I’m trying to figure out the best way to refer to someone in a resume. I once received an award from former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld when he was still the Secretary of Defense. I use this as part of my resume. I want to acknowledge that he is no longer the secretary of defense, but also want to convey that I received the award while he was actively serving. I dont want it to seem like I received some fake award from him by accidentally bumping into him at a baseball game and he gave me his left over unwanted crackerjack prize. Is there a easy way to give him a title that expresses this without actually using half a page on my resume to explain? There’s got to be a word for it, right?


texts: Which one is correct? "Would you have any question please contact us", or "Should you have any question, ...." Or none of the twoo , but there is a different solution.


texts:
"If you had seen him as a child, you would agree that he is extraordinary."

In this sentence, changing the past perfect to simple past strikes me as wrong, and changing the "would agree" to "would have agreed" also strikes me as wrong. But what I'm left with is something that looks like a hybrid conditional. Basically, the first part of the sentence talks about then, and the second talks about now.

I would like to know whether this sentence is grammatical to begin with, and if it is, whether conditional sentences must always be expressed as on of the three types of conditionals.


texts:
In Finland, there live 5.6 % Swedes (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fi.html). They have lived there for many generations, being standard Finnish citizens, just inheriting the Swedish language as their mother tongue.
Which of the following terms is better for them?

Finnish Swedes
Swedish Finns

Of course you may describe them by some more complicated phrase. What I am looking for is just what should be the adjective and what should be the noun.
Note 1
I expect that Americans might feel their citizenship as more important and hence use Finns as the noun, while Europeans might feel their mother tongue as more important and hence use Swedes as the noun, but I may be wrong?
Note 2
The interesting (for me as a native Czech) thing is that in English the word nationality has two very different meanings (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nationality):

a group of people who share the same history, traditions, and
language, and who usually live together in a particular country

the fact or status of being a member or citizen of a particular
nation

In other languages, these notions are often expressed by two different words and, most of all, they are perceived as two very different things.


texts: "With what [...]?" or "What [...] with?"

texts:
Making a comparison with Who/Whom I now have a question about the use of what with prepositions in questions. I'll explain by example:

These two sentences are correct, one is more formal than the other:

Who/Whom

Formal: With whom are you doing that?
Informal: Who are you doing that with?

But if I substitute Who/Whom with What, the "formal" one sounds a bit awkward and I'm not sure if it's correct or not:

What

With what are you doing that?
What are you doing that with?

So, are those last two questions grammatically correct?
Is one more formal than the other?


texts: Is there any differences between "I suggest doing" and "I suggest you do?"

texts: I know that both "I suggest doing this" and "I suggest you do this" are grammatically correct. But I wonder if they have same meaning or there are subtle difference between them.


texts:
A: They might slip up. Or he might slip up. Either way. They make him,
   my whole investigation goes south.

  B: Your 'whole' investigation?

  A: Some things shook loose, yeah. There are more moving pieces than
  expected. There might be more victims.

The speaker B though it's just 'an' investigation not 'whole' investigation.
But the speaker B thinks there might be more victims and they need to investigate lots of cases.

So, my question is...
1. Does 'some things shook loose' mean 'some things changed'?
2. Does 'moving pieces' mean 'variable'?

I want to know what the speaker B said exactly.
Please help me out! :-(
(My native language is not English. Please be kind to me.)


texts:
What term can be used to define the first day of the time interval where an item expires?
For example, my driving license expires on 2015.01.31; the date of 2015.02.01 is "first day of invalidity" or "first day after expiration date".


texts: Checklists for instruction - direct or second person?

texts:
For instruction within a professional org, we utilize checklists for the specific parties to self-assess their "products". Because there is some unfamiliarity with the subject matter, we initially approached the checklists using second person to feel more approachable.
Example: During keyboard testing, can you clearly see where the focus is on the page at all times?
However, I think it may be better to be more direct, removing second person as checklists are instructional and direct.
Example: During keyboard testing, is focus visible at all times?
Is there a rule of thumb that applies here?


texts: Why is the accusative case used for a "topic"?

texts: If I were to write a book about myself, Me would be a more natural-sounding title than I. Also, we say the us-vs.-them mentality instead of the we-vs.-they mentality.


texts: "The word has a negative tone to it"- why "to it"?

texts:
Why do we use "to it" at the end of a sentence of this kind?

  A. The word has a negative tone to it
  B. The word has a negative tone

Does A. indicate a focus on the intrinsic nature of the negative tone being talked about, or is it just unnecessary fluff at the end of a sentence? Do these two sentences have the same meaning?

What is the term for this type of usage? Is it the same as when one says, "She has an air about her" or "There's a sadness to it"?


texts: What is the meaning and usage of the abbreviation "v. a."?

texts:
At the time of this writing there is no explanation on wiktionary, and searching the web does not yield an answer, only more instances of its use:

A random entry at the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language:

  To KELE, v. a. To kill.

Random entry at latinlexicon.org:

  verbero, āvi, ātum, 1 [...], v. a. verber, to lash, scourge, whip ...

Examples section in Speijer's Sanskrit Syntax, 1886:

  Examples: Panc. 2 द्वादशभिर्वर्षौर्व्याकरणं श्रूयते  (v. a. grammar requires twelve years to be mastered), ...

My intuition is that this is an outdated Latin abbreviation similar to "e.g." and "i.e.". (Perhaps something like verbis aliis?)

Edit: More examples from the same book (Speijer, Sanskrit Syntax, 1886), pages 2, 32, and 43:

  शान्तं पापम्  (v. a. malum absit)
  उषिताः स्मो ह वसतिम्  (v. a. we have passed the night)
  कस्तेन सह तव स्नेह  (v. a. how are you his friend?)

The English gloss is more or less a translation of the Sanskrit. The only thing distinguishing these translations from others (without "v. a.") is that they are a tad less literal.

I am convinced that this is not a problem of Sanskrit or grammar but of academic language of the late 19th century. The text is riddled with Latin abbreviations that would have been instantly apparent to the contemporary scholar.


texts: How should I express large numbers with a combination of numerals and a word?

texts:
I am working on a translation of a document from Korean to English. There is a table containing large numbers (given in trillions and hundred millions), written like so:

So the number expressed above is 2 trillion, 474.5 billion (2 474 500 000 000).

The numbers should be expressed similarly in the translated document using a combination of the five numerals and a corresponding word (trillion or billion). The sticking point for me here is that I can only recall seeing large numbers followed by "million," "billion," or "trillion" written out to two (maybe three) decimal places:

  3.54 trillion

Taking that into consideration, I'm considering the following options:

2.4745 trillion (seems "cleanest" but the number of decimal places makes me uncertain)
2474.5 billion
*2 trillion 474.5 billion (seems unwieldy and unlikely to be a conventional form)

Of those three, the first one (2.4745 trillion) seems likely to be the most correct, but also seems a bit odd with four decimal places. This leads me to wonder if it's unusual but still an acceptable form.

I searched around online, but I couldn't find a credible source providing conventions/standards for how many digits out you can take a number when it's expressed this way, if in fact there are any.

How should a large number be expressed with a combination of numerals and a word when there would be four or more digits following the decimal? (Is there a standard for this?)

Note: I'm looking for an answer providing a credible source, not simply stating "write it this way."


texts: Words ending in -ht, words ending in -th

texts:
Look at the endings of the following words:

blight, bought, breadth, brought, caught, delight, depth, fifth, fought, fourth, fright, freight, height, light, plight, taught, thought, width, ...

As you may have already noticed, some of the words in that list end in ht, whereas the rest of them end in th. I have some questions regarding those endings:

I. Do all words of the English language that end with ht end, actually, with ght?

II. Is there any rule of thumb out there that helps one to recall (or determine) when the ending of a given word is th and not ht (or the other way around)?

Thanks in advance for your insightful replies!


texts:
For the heartbeat he dared to hope.

From a quick search of the dictionary, I was able to gather the meaning of sentence, but am still unsure. (It is from Game of Thrones Song of Ice and Fire.)


texts: How to ask "why would I have regretted it"?

texts: If someone asked me if I regretted something, how can I express if even his/her assumption that I regretted something surprises me? In my mother tongue I would answer with a question like "why would I have regretted it?", but in English it seems unnatural to me. What do you think?


texts: Just like the title says, when I say compare and contrast, what is the equivalent of the word contrast if I say comparison.


texts: How do you convert the sentence "George Washington was the first president." to a question?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How should I phrase a question that must be answered with an ordinal number (e.g., the third prime)?

How do you convert the sentence:

  George Washington was the first president.

into a question, preferably one in the form:

  ****Missing Phrase**** president is George Washington?

If no equivalent sentence that is not awkward sounding exists, why is there no English equivalent for the word how-many-th?


texts: "this drug induces sleeping" or "this drug induces sleep"?

texts:
I seem to have heard both structures before, but I don’t understand which it would be.
In other languages the second verb would be in the infinitive, but I have heard things like "Josh hates running" from native speakers, making the ‑ING version correct in at least that particular case. What about "Josh hates to run" with an infinite instead?
Could I get some clarification on whether one version sounds better than the other, or whether they have different meanings? Is there a general rule to be understood here, or is every valid verb combination of this sort idiosyncratic and unpredictable?


texts: Is an implied "I know" considered correct English in this type of phrasing

texts:
I often read or hear statements like "Joe robbed the bank because I saw him running away with the money."  Clearly, the literal interpretation is not the intended meaning and there is an understood "I know/state/believe this" before the "because."

Today I came across similar wording in a new ad campaign:

"If you have seen AT&T's recent advertising campaign, someone is obviously worried."

My first thought is, "well what if I haven't seen it?"  Here, "then you (should) know" is apparently implied.

I don't recall this topic coming up in school, but then I wasn't the best English student.  Is this implied phrasing (in formal terms) correct?  Is there a specific word to describe it?


texts: Pronunciation of /ə/ followed by /r/ in words such as "history", "accelerate", "memorize", etc.

texts:
For the word "history", every dictionary that I have consulted gives the pronunciation as /ˈhɪs tə ri/. However, my personal pronunciation of the word has always been /ˈhɪs tər i/, and for me this goes for every word which contains a similar sequence of /ə/ followed by /r/. For example, for me, "accelerate" is pronounced /ækˈsɛl ərˌeɪt/, not /ækˈsɛl əˌreɪt/, the latter nevertheless being prescribed as correct by most dictionaries. Likewise, I pronounce "memorize" as /ˈmɛm ərˌaɪz/, not /ˈmɛm əˌraɪz/.

At first, I thought this might just be a quirk of my dialect. But for other words, it seems my way of pronouncing this phonic sequence is preferred by most dictionaries. For example, for the word "general", the pronunciation is invariably given as /ˈdʒɛn ər əl/, as opposed to /ˈdʒɛn ə rəl/.

It gets even more confusing with pairs of words like "terrorist" and "terrorize." The former pronunciation is given by most dictonaries as /ˈtɛr ər ɪst/, while the latter is given as /ˈtɛr əˌraɪz/. Why does the /r/ belong to the end of the penultimate syllable in "terrorist", but to the beginning of the ultimate syllable in "terrorize"?

Is there some underlying rule here that I'm not grasping?


texts: Can linking verbs be used instead of BE in passive voice?

texts:
The window was broken.
The window got broken.
The window seemed broken.
The window ended up broken.
All these sentences look like passive voice examples to me.
But I have only found terms "passive" and "get-passive".
Can other linking verbs replace "be"?


texts: What would be next after minor, major, ....?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that would describe a third category following a "minor" and "major" category. (For compatibility reasons it won't do to insert a middle category of "moderate" or the like.) Example usage:

  After fighting past several minor encounters, and a few major
  encounters, the adventurers finally made contact with the _____ encounter.


texts: Is the following sentence punctuated correctly?

texts:
I feel like something is wrong with the ", notably" part, but I can't explain why! Is the following sentence grammatically correct?

  Employees give relatively low scores across a variety of characteristics, notably the quality of the Marketing department's decisions, compensation, and having sufficient people resources.

(My problem with grammar is that it's completely intuitive, and I often can't explain the rules behind why something is wrong.)


texts: Does emphasis ever change the fundamental pronunciation of a word?

texts:
A friend of mine has a theory that changing the emphasis from one syllable of a word to another never really affects the "core" pronunciation. So for instance, consider the word umbrella.

The emphasis usually falls on the second syllable: um · BREL · la. But if you decided to emphasize the first syllable instead: UM · brel · la, that doesn't really change what those syllables sound like; it just gives greater force to one of them. The first syllable is still a short-U sound in either case; it doesn't suddenly become a long-U sound because of an emphasis change.

Is my friend's theory correct? Or are there any counterexamples to this, where changing the emphasis actually does alter the fundamental sound of a syllable? (e.g. a legitimate emphasis change -- not a mispronunciation -- that changes a long-A sound to a short-A sound, for instance)


texts: Alternative in parenthesis before or after?

texts:
When a sentence describes there are multiple alternatives, but one specific is the common one, it can specify the common in parenthesis.  But there are multiple ways to do it.

For example, should it be

  The ion temperature may be different from (usually lower than) the electron temperature.

or

  The ion temperature may be different (usually lower than) from the electron temperature.

or

  The ion temperature may be different (usually lower than) the electron temperature.

or

  The ion temperature may be different (usually lower) than the electron temperature.

or, avoiding the parenthesis,

  The ion temperature may be different than the electron temperature. Usually lower.


texts: Is the usage of "labeled" preferred to the usage of "named"?

texts:
Considering the description of a method in a research paper, which is the most natural way to express how we refer to the method? Is there a rule about when to use named vs labeled?

In this paper, we will describe our new method named "KICK".
In this paper, we will describe our new method labeled "KICK".
In this paper, we will describe our new method called "KICK".
In this paper, we will describe our new method, "KICK".


texts: What is a word for "moving place to place, stopping at each to make a delivery"?

texts:
Ex.

"She _______ed around campus, stopping at each familiar classroom to deliver a farewell gift to her teachers."


texts:
But it is far enough away that early explorers had difficulty/difficulties finding it.

What should I choose completing the exam task?

There is the answer 'difficulty' in the keys but the authors do not give any explanations. Why 'difficulties' is incorrect if it is?


texts: Is "what has been discussed are..." a grammatically correct sentence?

texts: When concluding an essay, I wrote "what has been discussed are three major advantages of xxx". But I doubt if "what has been discussed is three major advantages of xxx" is more correct?


texts: Using "Wood" vs. "Woods", Plural or not?

texts:
There seems to be some ambiguity to the use of 'wood' in sentences. I have heard both of the following:

  I went into the woods
  I went into the wood

Which one should I use and when?


texts: What does All-star mean in for example Dota All Stars or All star Superman? I am russian speaker so i think it some kind of english idiom, because direct translation doesn't make any sense.


texts:
I'm reading a BBC article on ketamine abuse. In the article it says:

  The doors at the Baiyun drug rehabilitation clinic are always locked,
  betraying the fact that the patients inside aren't always there by
  choice.

It doesn't make sense to me that locked doors at a clinic betray the fact the patients aren't there by choice. I am from the United States and I know it's possible the United Kingdom may have some alternate meaning I'm not aware of. Or maybe I just don't understand the word's application here? Thanks


texts: What do the abbreviations L, NG, OT and Z on the lid of a cardboard drinking beaker mean?

texts: On the plastic lid of a cardboard drinking beaker manufactured by Huhtamäki are the abbreviations L, NG, OT and Z, each with a little spherical knob next to it. What do the abbreviations mean, and what are the knobs used for?


texts:
Which is preferred? Are both technically correct?

1. Mike scored 40 points; John, 17; and Victor, 2. (Is the added punctuation here [ie the semicolons and extra commas] unneeded?)

2. Mike scored 40 points, John 17, and Victor 2.


texts: Is 'contemporary' ambiguous and if so is there a better word?

texts:
It's not that I don't know what contemporary means.

It's just that in my specific sentence (below) I'm not sure if it could be ambiguous. If it is ambiguous, then I'm looking for a word or phrase to substitute for 'contemporary' that makes it clear that the pagan philosophers lived at a time when Christianity was still in its infancy. Here's the sentence:

  And that’s what the early modern readers of Celsus, Porphyry and
  Julian were bent on discovering: how early Christianity was
  perceived and judged by contemporary pagan philosophers.

'Contemporary' is meant to refer to the pagans of antiquity, not of the early modern period (and certainly not modern-day pagans).
Is this clear?
Would 'coeval' make it any clearer?

  And that’s what the early modern readers of Celsus, Porphyry and
  Julian were bent on discovering: how early Christianity was perceived and judged by coeval pagan
  philosophers.

Or do I have to completely changed the sentence to be unambiguous:

  And that’s what the early modern readers of Celsus, Porphyry and
  Julian were bent on discovering: how early Christianity was perceived
  and judged by the pagan philosophers who witnessed its birth and
  infancy.

(I would prefer not to have to use the last sentence, since my sentence is a translation from German and I would prefer to stay more closely to the original text.)


texts:
A simple online search gave me the impression that the phrase "designing wickedness" may be more or less archaic. Today, I came across it in a text by Bertrand Russell:

  What constitutes a nation is a sentiment and an instinct, a sentiment of similarity and an instinct of belonging to the same group or herd. The instinct is an extension of the instinct which constitutes a flock of sheep, or any other group of gregarious animals. The sentiment which goes with this is like a milder and more extended form of family feeling. When we return to England after being on the Continent, we feel something friendly in the familiar ways, and it is easy to believe that Englishmen on the whole are virtuous, while many foreigners are full of designing wickedness.

While the meaning of the paragraph is clear, I don't know how the word 'designing' modifies the meaning of 'wickedness' in this phrase.


texts: Is there a grammatical form that helps you to express that you don't believe the speaker? (reported speech)

texts: Indirect speech: Can you express that you don't believe the original speaker of a sentence (with the help of a tense or a verb form)?


texts: May I have some examples of “future perfect continuous” from fiction or literature, with references?

texts:
Question says it all and again it should be from literature or fiction.

I was told that the future perfect continuous does not exist. So I am looking for examples from “real published and acclaimed books”.


texts: Regarding the tense of that clause after "make sure"

texts:
As for the tense of that clause after "make sure", what is the difference between present tense or future tense.

Thank you so much!


texts:
From an academic standpoint, attending classes simply enables students to learn more.
what kind of grammar form does the word- "Attending" undertake?
V-ing (gerund) as a Noun?


texts: What is a good word/adjective for a protein jiggling and wiggling? VIBRANT?

texts:
I am writing up an essay about a protein macro-molecule inside the cell. This protein is extremely dynamic and constantly jiggles and wiggles. What is a good word/adjective to describe this feature?

Originally, I chose the word "vibrant", but an expert told me there might be a better word. Is "vibrant" OK in this context? Any idea for an alternative word?


texts:
Given the following sentences that use will in the if clause (which is seldom with if-clauses and therefore, I'm not sure they all are even grammatical or not).

  If you will/would kindly lend me your book, I will be thankful to you.
  If you will not/would not mind lending me your book, I will be thankful to you.
  If you will/would wait for a while, I will check it for you.

  If you will use it, you can have it
  If you will not arrive before six o'clock, I cannot meet you.

What if the last sentence is modified as follows?

  If you will not be arriving before six o'clock, I cannot meet you.

Once upon a time, it was found in a grammar book.

  If the play will not be finished until ten o'clock, I will have to spend the night at your place.

Can the following version of this sentence have a different meaning (or no meaning at all — a wrong sense)?

  If the play is not going to be finished until ten o'clock, I will have to spend the night at your place.

After all, the question is when is will used in if-clauses as the title implies?

Moreover, both the following sentences appear to indicate a probable condition.

  If he came, I should help him.
  If he came, I would help him.

Using should and would interchangeably in such contexts implies a significant difference in meaning?


texts: What purpose does capitalization serve in English today?

texts:
In another language, case may make a big difference in the interpretation of a sentence, but what about English?

i could understand if it had a semantic meaning, such as important words being capitalized, but we also start sentences with capital letters, suggesting that the first word is somehow important. if that is true, Why Do We Not Write Sentences Like This? all of those words could be used to start a sentence.

acronyms, which are really just special abbreviations anyway, are rendered in all caps, even when the letters themselves in the expanded . the context of a word determines its meaning, right?

the following two sentences use the same word in different contexts:

i hate aids. (acronym "AIDS" in place of "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome", which i have seen both in Title Case as well as all lowercase)
she aids him. ("aids" as in "assists")

and what about "she was a cancer with cancer"? why is the zodiac sign treated as a "proper" noun while the ailment is not?

is this just historical practice that has since lost meaning, or is it still useful in some way aside from helping sentences and Supposedly Important Words to stand out a bit more? some other languages get along just fine without it, even having multiple meanings for the same word/character as in my last example sentence, contrived though it may be. is case differentiation in english still relevant today or merely an antiquated practice that should be followed because to not do so would be considered bad form?


texts: Is it now considered offensive to say someone comes from good stock?

texts:
Showing my age perhaps but I recently referred to a young woman whose family I have known for several generations as being from good stock.

I considered it to be a compliment to her but the look on her face was one of confusion I think.

Has this phrase gone out of fashion to the point of being offensive?
I


texts:
I need to understand the correct use of 'continue' in the following.

  She would lose her job if she continue to behave like that.

Or

  She would lose her job if she continues to behave like that.


texts: English proverb or saying on "you can't have too many friends"

texts:
I'm curious if there's an English proverb or saying that has the meaning "you can't have too many friends". The matter is, we have such a saying in Russian ("Друзей много не бывает").
In other words, no matter how many friends you have, it's good to make additional friends.

A line or stanza from a poem will do, if proverbs are few. (0:

The literal translation of the Russian original is

  Друзей - (of) Friends (Genitive case)
  Много - Many (here, closer to "overmuch")
  Не бывает - Does not exist: negative particle "не" + verb "быть" (to be, to exist; cognate with English "to be")

Meaning, "there's no such thing as (too) many friends".


texts:
I use it all the time since I work with databases, but every time I write it somewhere with spell check I get the squiggly line below it.  I've seen other people spell it with an "s" instead of a "z" but neither have an entry in the Merriam Webster dictionary.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/denormalized
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/denormalised

Is this just technical jargon or am I misspelling it?


texts: How ephemeral does something have to be to be ephemeral? I think of mayflies (which only live one day), but maybe I am just destroyed by my knowledge of Classical Greek and that ἡμέρα means 'day'. Can you call a technology like the CD that only lasted for a few decades ephemeral?


texts:
I have kept the "Check Grammar" option in my browser On, so whenever I write anything wrong as per US English it gets underlined. This is also the case with "multi".

When I use this word in combination with other complete standalone words like multibillion, multimillion or multithreaded, the word "multi" gets underlined (in Red) which means it's not considered correct grammatically.

But it's not considered an error when used in words like multitude, multilateral, etc. Again lateral is a standalone word here but there seems to be no error.

Is "multi" a wrong word in US English?  (The said browser software was developed in the USA.)

This link here provides the details about the word "multi" but all of the words used above are considered correct here.


texts:
Is it "something " or "nothing "?
Are there any equal words or phrases?

Dr. Hu Shih (胡适) was one of the most important historical characters of modern China. The material is from Imperfect Understanding, an essays collection. The writer, a learning British-Chinese, was his friend and thought highly of Dr. Hu Shih.


texts: The right phrase for "stand with the name" for a product?

texts:
There is a well known german phrase:

  Dafür stehe ich mit meinem Namen

Which indicates, that a person or company promises quality of his/their product. And to underline it, they guarentee this with the good name.
It's tough to explain, but I hope you get it.

Now I would like to know a phrase in English language, which is likely to be known and has this meaning.

The direct translation doesn't sound right to me:

  This is what I stand for with my name.


texts: Can I say "disbursal of information"? Can one disburse anything other than money or assets?

texts:
So, as the title says:

Can I refer to the disbursal of abstract things like information?
Should I? If I were to write "the disbursal of information" to imply that people were being tightfisted with the information and treating it like an asset, would anyone get the intimation? Or would they just think that I meant to write dispersal?


texts: Ok, if we omit "It" in "It sounds fine", then it should be written as "Sounds fine" or "Sound fine"?

texts:
Here is a conversation in an English material.

A: You should take part in  a music club
B: Sounds fine

I am not sure "Sounds fine" is a correct writing way. I feel that it should be "Sound fine"

So "Sounds fine" or "Sound fine", which one is correct?


texts: Trump's pronunciation of "origins" as "oringes"

texts:
President Trump pronounced the word origins [ˈɔ:rɪʤɪnz] as oringes [ˈɔ:rɪnʤəz] in a meeting with NATO secretary general Stoltenberg at the White House on 3 April 2019.
See this clip on Youtube.
Question
What are the technical term and that term’s definition of the phonological process at play here, and how exactly does that term apply to the change in pronunciation from [ˈɔ:rɪʤɪn] to [ˈɔ:rɪnʤ]?