texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular?
  Is “staff” plural?

When a political candidate gets an endorsement from a newspaper, the sentence would be

  The Los Angeles Times gave Candidate x its endorsement.

Is it appropriate to use their instead of its if we rewrite the sentence to include editorial board?

  The editorial board of the Los Angeles Times gave Candidate x their
  endorsement.


texts: "Drink up": lost in translation: how can it be regained?

texts:
Articles on this issue periodically appear in literary essays. There are pros and cons, and the issue lives on, unresolved.

Here's the problem:

Translators of Russian classic novels into English oftentimes resort to using a dated English term to translate a fairly common (or so I'm told) Russian verb that means

  sell [noun] and use the proceeds to buy liquor and get hideously drunk once or a number of times.

Do feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I don't mind.

I'm further told that one can "[sell and use the proceeds, etc]" anything one can turn into cash quickly, including, but not limited to, one's estate, honor, faith in humanity, and one's sister's last pair of Parisian silk stockings.

Some translators insist on using the term "drink up."

I distinctly remember reading an article (it could have been a New York Times piece, but don't hold me to it) in which the author complained that, try as he might, he couldn't picture a man "drinking up his sister's stockings." Well, neither can I.

Here's what the OED has to say about the term so many translators resort to at the risk of being ridiculed:

drink up

  to spend or waste (money) on liquor.

One commentator notes (indignantly, I would imagine):

  It’s perfectly good English. There’s no need to replace it with a wordy explanation.

I (and a bunch of other people) beg to differ. To me, "drink up" means "finish the damn drink already, you stupid twit, we're about to miss the opening."

You can, if you like, read this lengthy and not very entertaining blog post on the subject; there are dozens of others, including a couple of racy pieces from the New York Jumping Times, or whatever. Most of them contain a lot of posturing and caustic asides, but not much else.

My question is ... is there a word or short phrase in English that would convey the meaning (as described above) without making the reader blink, raise his eyebrows and go, "Huh?"


texts: "Choose to" vs "make a conscious decision"

texts:
How does the phrase "I choose to do X" compare against "I make a conscious decision to do X"?

Does the latter serve to underline the point, or does it seem redundant? Especially when compared to the simple phrasing of the first.


texts:
In the following sentence, would you say that the word "or" is used the first 2 times instead of using commas?

"If a Partner shall retire or die or become permanently disabled or incompetent he shall be released from this lease."

If so, are the three future tense verbs, "shall retire," "shall die," and "shall become," three distinct eventualities such that one's retirement need not be permanent retirement?


texts: Why do we use the objective case pronoun "me" in "He can watch me clean the car"?

texts:
He can watch me clean the car.

In this sentence, the pronoun me is used as the object of the verb watch. But isn't me also acting as the subject of the verb 'clean' and therefore should be I instead? Obviously 'he can watch me clean the car' sounds correct but why is it this way?  Is there a rule that governs this?

Reopen note

This question has been linked to this question here:

"Heard me [infinitive]" vs. "heard me [present participle]"

However, that question is clearly about whether to use an infinitive or a gerund-participle form after the verb hear. This question is as described above. It is about the function of the pronoun me in sentences like the one described.


texts: to mistake sb1. for sb2. - who is sb1, who is sb2?

texts: When you mistook A for B, does that mean that you expected B, but it was A or that you expected A, but it was B?


texts:
Is the phrase "a high number of" considered correct? Or is it only correct to say "a large number of"?

Example:

  Japan has a high number of active volcanoes.


texts:
What is the name for a feeling (name of facial expression much welcome too) you'd experience, when facing someone apparently believing an obvious lie or scam?

"So, imagine this, the guy who came to install Internet, he said for twenty bucks he can add Google to my package, so that I can search the web for free. And for another ten bucks he installed Wikipedia!"
I checked his screen. Indeed, there were two shortcuts on the desktop, one opening the browser on Google.com, and the other on Wikipedia.org.
"Did you really pay thirty bucks for two shortcuts on your desktop?"

If I want to replace speech in the last sentence with just a description of what appears on that person's face, how would you phrase that?


texts: a large amount of the population speaks/speak?

texts:
Can you say "a large amount of the population" or should it be "a large number of the population?
And if you CAN say "a large amount of the population" is this amount considered singular or plural?


texts: Etymology of "cluster analysis" – why "cluster"?

texts:
I'm trying to track down the origins of the word "cluster" and its usage in the context of cluster analysis.

Please, does anyone know when and by whom it was first used? Perhaps there was a paper or a book which coined these terms?

Alternatively, maybe there is some literature describing the beginnings of the fields which work with the term "cluster" such as machine learning or statistics of some kind?


texts: The right way to at the same time talk of a modified adjective and its unmodified form?

texts:
We don't know how pervasive that is.

and

  We don't know how increasingly pervasive that is.

How to combine the above two sentences into one sentence? A popular way is to use parentheses, as:

  We don't know how (increasingly) pervasive that is.

How acceptable is that way and is there any other way?


texts: Personally I think stress is one of the hardest things. There are thousands of words around, so most likely I cannot remember all stress-marks of every word then pronounce them exactly. Is it so important? And how to deal with this problem efficiently?


texts:
I am wondering why we use a singilar noun in the following construction:

-The two brothers turned "terrorist".

Is there any explanation for using the singular form?


texts: What particular word is used for this doll?

texts:
A doll is created which looks like a human and is kept near or among crops in the farm to keep animals like deer away.

I don't know what it is called in English.


texts: Using the singular form of the word "subject" in a sentence

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I was told today that the following sentence was incorrect because the noun "subject" is countable and therefore should have been put in the plural.

"I have to change subject every time."

However, I disagree and feel that the singular form is acceptable since it can be seen as, "I have to change [the] subject every time.

This sentence was in reference to having to change the topic of discussion in different meetings.

Thoughts?


texts: Origin of the term "deadeye" meaning "expert marksman"?

texts:
The term deadeye means

  (informal, chiefly North American) An expert marksman

Oxford Dictionaries Online

(There is an apparently unrelated sense of the term referring to a specific type of nautical block.)

Numerous other online dictionaries give nearly identical meanings, and a few also list it as an adjective with an equivalent meaning. But none of these sources give an etymology.

A search on etymonline.com gives no results.

A quick review of ngrams shows the term being used as a name or nickname as early as 1829 and a character known as Dick Deadeye appears in Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, but none of these 19th century cites seem to relate to a marksmanship characteristic.

There also seems to be a series of dime novels featuring Deadeye Dick, but I cannot find any text to indicate if the name is associated with a sharpshooting skill.

So, can anyone assist with the origin of the term deadeye to mean marksman?


texts: Do "mens rea" and "actus reus" need an article?

texts:
In criminal cases, there exists two elements: a guilty mind (mens rea) and a guilty act (actus reus). Do these two Latin terms require a preceding article, and which would it be (definite/indefinite)?

Here is a contextual example:

  [The/An] actus reus can be proven in this instance; [the/a] mens rea, less so.


texts: What is the demonym for a citizen of Niger?

texts:
If a citizen of Nigeria is a Nigerian, what is a citizen of Niger referred to as?

The Wikipedia article on Niger and the online Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries say that the proper term is Nigerien, as Vogel612 points out below. But The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage (1999) and Merriam-Webster’s Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) say that the proper name is Nigerois. And Merriam-Webster online now lists both Nigerien and Nigerois as correct forms. Is this simply a terminological difference between U.S. (or North American) English and British English, or is one word truly more appropriate than the other?


texts:
Is there a word, medical or otherwise, for having a seizure?

The best I can come up with is convulsing or flailing.  Any better ones?


texts: What is the English word for the role of a person who betrays his master's attitudes?

texts:
A Polish diplomat gave Catherine the Great a little dog, then, by observing the little dog, he found out who was Catherine's secret lover.

In a hierarchical organization, people who are two layers above you always look nice, but the ones appointed immediately above you always betray their masters' attitudes.

I wonder if there is an English word for this role played by little dogs.

Thanks,


texts:
I can go there.
  I could go there.

In these sentences, when spoken, how is the meaning altered by putting stress/emphasis on the words can and could?


texts: Word used to describe a contradictory appearance for the intended meaning of a word?

texts:
I could be completely wrong, but I feel like there is a word for it.
To explain my meaning, let's use the word "Circular". This means "Round" or sometimes "Spherical". Writing it one way, to put a visual appearance of the word might be: (I just used an online font, so ignore the extra "bits")

However, if I wrote it a different way:

The appearance of the word (blocky and square-ish) contradicts the meaning of the word.
Is there a word for this (other than just "Contradictory")?


texts: 'Is' or 'are' – which is correct in this example?

texts:
Which is correct?:

"One in seven people worldwide is living on $x per day."

"One in seven people worldwide are living on $x per day."


texts: Generic word for any kind of unit inside the company

texts:
I'm translating a document template, to be filled out later for specific purposes. It has a table in the beginning which indicates who exactly produced a particular document. In the first line of the table, we have

Подразделение: наименование

"Подразделение" is literally "subdivision", which means "a company's unit of any size and type". Thus, the first line says "Subdivision: Name".
The company has units called "such-and-such department", "such-and-such division", ".. unit", ".. site", ".. laboratory" - and I need a catch-all term for this table.
Will Business unit suit the purpose? Can we call, say, a laboratory is "a business unit"?
I felt strange using it because a laboratory does not do any "business".


texts:
This sign is a very interesting one. I do not know where it originated in.
And why do we use it? How does $ sign relate to dollar?

Does it mean money? Sometimes I've seen it with double lines striking through it.


texts: What are the following words called: Am, Is, Are, Was, Were, Be, Being, Been?

texts:
Am, Is, Are, Was, Were, Be, Being, Been

What are the above words called? I think someone called them auxiliary verbs.

Edit: When I learned them, my curriculum called them "State of Being verbs" or just "Being verbs".


texts:
I have encountered a sentence ,which I’m not sure about.
This passage is about two people talking in the past. One of them is telling a story that happened before the time these two people met, so story is in past perfect.
The part I struggled is this sentence: “... Only later did they learn that corpse should have been kept for identification purposes...” I couldn’t understand why this is ‘should have been kept.’ Because it’s past perfect, I thought it should have been in past perfect. So how do we use should in past perfect?


texts: What do you call someone who is affected by an action, whether positively or negatively?

texts:
If someone benefits from an action, you might call them a beneficiary. If someone is harmed by an action, you might call them a maleficiary (although that's not a common word). For example, "The charity's beneficiaries are local homeless people"

Is there a word for the whole category of people who might be affected (either positively or negatively) by an action?

The context in which I'm trying to use this is "It is important to think of your business's most important groups of ____, and whether they're being helped or harmed".

"Stakeholder" is similar to this meaning, although it has connotations more of people who are interested or involved in something formally, rather than people who are simply affected by it.


texts: Present tense and conditional tense in a stated past tense

texts:
I have a question about using past and conditional tenses in a context that refers to something told in the past. I think I’ve seen both forms used in films/books, etc., but I'm not sure about it since it's really the only rule.
For example:

A.1. "You said if I can keep up you'll let me join in."
A.2. "You said if I could keep up you'd let me in join in."

The first version should indicate that "You" said to "I" in the past something that has the meaning (present) "if you can keep up I will let you join in", or better: something that when "You" told it had that meaning, so in the past was a first conditional.
The second version sounds better to me but maybe just because I'm not a native speaker.
The meaning sounds similar (and maybe it’s just the same in the end, just a different form of saying it) but maybe it reflects more a disappointment, like the one saying it understood that the possibility (join the group if he can keep up) is gone or it was a scam all along so it never effectively was.
The second example is this:

B.1. "He just told me that it's important and to give it to you when the time is right."
B.2. "He just told me that it's important and to give it to you when the time was right."

Both versions have the "told me that it is important". Like the first version of the previous example, here "He" told in the past that "it" is important, and it should still be in the present. For example, would it be a mistake to write "He said that it was important"? Or is it not a mistake but something that has a different meaning?
But my main question is about the difference preference "is" and "was".
Again, the second sounds better to me because in my language it would be something like that: a past tense followed by a conditional. Googling around I also found out that is the most used form for similar contexts.
The first version is like the previous example: someone said in the past something that at the time was in present tense. The "told me" it's like something that "bring us to the past" so it's not necessary to put "is" in the past too making it a "was". So whenever the time is right in the present, "it" can be given to "you"
The second version. I don't know, it just sounds better to me.
I don't know if I managed to explain my concerns. I hope a native speaker can enlighten me.


texts:
Is there a concise term for forgetting names?

I've found definitions for pathologically forgetting words in general (e.g. Anomic aphasia), but nothing that directly defines forgetting names specifically in healthy individuals.

For example, a term to describe when one is introduced to a group of people and does not remember all of their names.  Is there an alternative to 'forgetting their names'?

This can relate either to short term memory (forgetting their names right away) or long term memory (once knowing someone's name, but then forgetting it years later).


texts:
I'd like to know the steps that lead to the pronunciation of monitoring as /'mɑnəɹɪŋ/.

min 0:44 in the following video

https://genius.com/videos/A-linguist-breaks-down-the-emotion-behind-young-thug-s-vocal-style?utm_source=home_video_series


texts: Single word for "being too much like a student"

texts:
To clarify, being too much like a student can mean one of the following:

insistent on being "right" rather than flexible/diplomatic
(at workplace) passively waiting to be assigned "homework" rather than actively participate
(at workplace) overestimating what they can do with the knowledge gained at school
being too much of an idealist/perfectionist
....

Roughly speaking, anything that's related to the naive aspects of being a student can fall under this list. I know it might sound a bit vague, but you can think of it just like "childish" as to "child" and "girlish" as to "girl". However, as far as I searched there is no such word as "student-ish", so does there exist a word that means "student-ish"?


texts: "the left arm and the right arm" vs "the left and right arms" vs "the left and the right arms"

texts:
I did a lot of research over the internet to try to figure out the correct way. But I still don't have a definitely answer. I wonder which of the following are correct?

a. The left arm and the right arm are equally important

b. The left and right arms are equally important.

c. The left and the right arms are equally important.

d. The lengths of the left arm and the right arm are similar.

e. The lengths of the left and right arms are similar.

f. The lengths of the left and the right arms are similar.

g. The length of the left arm and that of the right arm are 20 inches and 20.5 inches, respectively.

h. The lengths of the left and right arms are 20 inches and 20.5 inches, respectively.

i. The lengths of the left and the right arms are 20 inches and 20.5 inches, respectively.


texts: Difference in meaning: "diplomacy" and "foreign affairs"?

texts:
In a general context, is there any difference in meaning or tone between "diplomacy" and "foreign affairs"? Consider the following case.

(at a speech) I will talk about effects the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership agreement) may have on Japanese diplomacy (or foreign affairs).


texts: Idiom/Phrase/Proverb to describe a scenario where a person who saved me from a bad habit has now fallen into the the same habit

texts:
I am facing a dilemma. Someone I know once (long time back) helped me get into a good habit, and abandon the accompanying bad habit, and now they have fallen into the same trap as me. I want to let them know of this, but I can't find the proper way to do this. I am looking for a proverb, idiom, phrase, or a historical reference which I could use to subtly remind that person of that fact.

Being direct might get me a quicker response, but I am afraid beginning from that might make the person less receptive to my advice. I am looking for something that I can use to get the other person thinking before I finally approach this topic.

Something suggestive, yet powerful.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts:
The best football (soccer) coach in the world for the past 12 years said:

Envy is the biggest tribute that the shadows do to the man.

Where does the phrase come from?


texts:
What is the accent of Mother Gothel in the movie Tangled?

In an interview with the voice actor (see here), she has a pretty neutral American accent (GenAm + father-bother + caught/cot, from what I tell), but she switches to an almost mid-Atlantic pronunciation for the character. Is this a mid-Atlantic accent? I think I've heard this type of pronunciation among storytellers in movies: It gives them a fanciful, but not posh, sound.

Here's an example of just the (as of now) unidentified accent, song.

Update: In contrast to the mid-Atlantic accent, Mother Gothel uses [iɐ] and [eɐ ~ ɛɐ], not [ɪə] nor [ɛə].


texts:
Is it incorrect grammar to say that someone "sent to say" something?
As in "Joe sent to say that he would love to join you all for the pic nic".
I know that I don't have the greatest grammar skills in the world, but I thought that that was a proper saying.


texts: lions/lioness hunt as a pack or as a pride

texts:
I know that a group of lions is called a pride.
In the context of hunting, should I say "they hunt as a pack" or "they hunt as a pride"?
Which one is the right usage ?


texts: How widely used is the "two-space-sentence-ending" convention?

texts:
I was reading a manual discussing about how a sentence should be properly ended by  convention. Here I quote:

  you follow the American typist's convention of putting two spaces at the end of a sentence. That is, a sentence ends wherever there is a ‘.’, ‘?’ or ‘!’ followed by the end of a line or two spaces, with any number of ‘)’, ‘]’, ‘'’, or ‘"’ characters allowed in between.

-Reference

I was not in American area and I study English as a second language. I have never heard about such convention before. Therefore I am a bit curious of how widely this convention is used.

Since the mentioned section of this manual was discussing about human language. It seems relevant to ask here.


texts: "than been married" vs "than being married"

texts:
I am having problem with how to use been and being properly in essays. I came across following sentence and would like to learn through this example about the difference.

It can be seen commonly in every part of the world that women tend to be alone than being married.
It can be seen commonly in every part of the world that women tend to be alone than been married.


texts: What should I call someone who has a tendency towards monologues?  Would "monologist" be a logical neologism?


texts: What is a single word for best known function? I'm trying to say, for example, that lumber has been the best known function of timber?


texts:
Would

  He had a large amount of sweat on his body.

work better, or would this:

  He had large amounts of sweat on his body.

Are they both grammatically correct, so it's up to preference, or are there more specific cases where "amount" would work better than "amounts"?


texts: Five-metre square, five-metres square -- which is correct

texts:
The sentence is: Her face was displayed on a five-metre square monitor. I want the area to be five square metres. Which is correct (or are they all wrong):

a five-metre square monitor
a five metres square monitor
a five-metre squared monitor

I know I could write 'a monitor with an area of five square metres', but people often use one of the above and I would like to know which is correct and why in terms of grammatical rules.


texts: Can we use "RSVP" interchangeably with "RRSP"?

texts:
I received an email with the "RRSP" abbreviation.

  "RRSP by 1 Nov 2011 to Willy Milly."

Upon checking with Thesaurus.com, it is a synonym of "RSVP".

Can one use "RRSP" and "RSVP" interchangeably?


texts: What's the opposite of the idiom 'red flag'?

texts:
A red flag often refers to a warning signal, usually used in medical diagnostics or for rating the creditworthiness of customers at a commercial bank. But what would be the (possibly idiomatic) opposite of it?

Let's say I want to explain that a cancer diagnosed person shows some symptoms during a therapy that may be seen as positive signals for the therapy leading to full healing.

  The patient shows symptoms that are positive signals for full
  recovery.

Or I want to acknowledge a person's marital status, yearly income, employment period as positive signals that increase the probability of finally granting them a loan.

  The customer's long-time employment is a positive signal for a high
  creditworthiness.

This is my first post on ELU. Please help me to make it better if I missed someting.


texts: "Communism is everyone's right to have other people's property"

texts:
I'm trying to translate a Russian idiom to English (see the title). The original was "Коммунизм это право каждого на чужое".
Does it sound right? Is it understandable? Any suggestions for a better translation?


texts:
I encountered the sentences someone posted on Facebook.

They posted: "I should be improved myself to be a better person."

I noticed that the sentence should be "I should improve myself to be a better person." instead. Since in this context, the verb should be non-reflexive, right?

And my questions are as followed,

Did they use the grammar correctly?
In which situations/contexts should "improve" be reflexive, or non-reflexive?

Could you provide examples of usage?


texts: Has the phrase "in principal" ever been used to mean "in chief"?

texts:
I should make clear before I begin that I fully understand the distinction between "principal" and "principle", and any answerers need not explain the difference between the two in their answers.

I'm in the process of building a fictional world, and, for reasons I won't go into here, I need more general officer ranks than the standard three to five. I want to retain the British titles - Major General, Lieutenant General, General - and so my solution is to add more ranks in between. I find adding the word "Brevet" to the front of these titles to be a satisfying way of indicating a slightly less important version thereof, as in Brevet Major General, and there is some historical precedence for this. (I know that, historically, a brevet rank was by definition not a substantive rank, but, for the purposes of my fictional world, that's a constraint we can ignore.)
But what's an elegant way of expressing a slightly more important version of a given rank? Senior Major General just sounds like corporate babble. Major General in Chief is the sort of thing I want, but it gives the impression that any given Major General in Chief is the only Major General in Chief, and thus has to be rejected. Major General in Ordinary does not sound grand enough. I really like Major General in Principal, but I can't convince myself that "in principal" is a legitimate English phrase.
I've googled "in principal" and varitions thereon, but all I get is pages mispelling "in principle", pages which concatenate "in" and "principal" but not as a phrase, and pages explaining why "in principal" is an incorrect variant of "in principle". Is "in principal" a legitimate English phrase? Has it ever been used by the army, the legal profession, or by some other state body?
Finally, I would gladly read any suggested alternatives to "in principal" in this context.


texts: using the word "meaning" in a sentence to explain

texts:
I have the following sentence:

  This process is circuitous, meaning, the responsibility returns to the Originator user after all is approved.

A few questions:

I know this would be a fully understood sentence in speech, but is it proper to write like this in a User Guide, for example?
Is the punctuation correct ?


texts: How to describe someone who likes to play word games *dissect every word you say - literally and/or non-literally*

texts:
Sometimes we use certain words out of habit and not really intend to mean what it intends to mean. We may encounter people who will try to play with your choice of words either for fun with no ill intent, or they intentionally use it to annoy you.

I can't think of any good examples right off the bat, below are what I can manage so far at the moment and I hope it illustrates what I meant.

Random Examples:

  I am trying to .....

The person will say: Do not say try, say you will

  I feel that .....

The person will say: You feel but you don't think?

  I am medium (referring to clothes size)

The person will ask: Where is large and small?

Is there a term/description for this person's act? or is there a term/description for such individual?

For instance, if we call someone a grammar nazi we know the person is very particular with grammar. I'm wondering if there is a term/word/description that specifically mean someone who likes to play with words.


texts: What rule does this violate?  I know that it's wrong, but what is this tense or of what tense is it not a proper form? I hear these a lot: we are needing or we are wanting instead of we need or we want.


texts: My English translator capitalizes every noun. Is it correct?

texts:
I'm developing an Android/iPhone application. My translator for English localization uses a lot of capitalization. For example, in the app menu, it suggests:

|Export Data to Folder|
|Prevent Screen Lock  |

I would simply use

|Export data to folder|
|Prevent screen lock  |

What is the best choice?


texts: How to descibe living at foot of mountain?

texts: Is it all right to say "I used to live in a town which is located at the feet of the mountains"or "at the foot of the mountains" .


texts: What's the difference between "the seat in front of you" and "the seat in front of yours"?

texts:
I came across an airline announcement and the following question arose. Which would you say it is THE correct sentence, and why?

For your comfort and safety, please stow the luggage labelled with the red tag and other small items under the seat in front of yours, except for the emergency exists and the first rows.
For your comfort and safety, please stow the luggage labelled with the red tag and other small items under the seat in front of you, except for the emergency exists and the first rows.


texts: Word or term for propaganda associating truth with crazy people

texts:
The corporate media often write pieces about people who are deemed crazy, then proceed to ridicule things these people say or believe, which typically include some very sensible things.

For example, I just read an "article" in the Inquisitr that focuses on a woman who allegedly lit up a cigarette aboard a commercial airliner. (Is this really news to begin with?) The author writes,

  "Her views include that the U.S. has declared War on Venezuela,
  something about Hugo Chavez being her great hero, the general evil
  existence of Exxon, and the assets of socialism."

The obvious implication is that anyone who believes any of these things must be crazy.

What are some words, terms or phrases that describe this kind of propaganda?


texts:
The product description of a titanium flask reads,

Appeals to anyone from the ounce-counting mountaineer to the snobby Scotch collector

What does "ounce-counting" mean here? I searched dictionaries but couldn't find a relevant result.


texts: The usage of "you" vs. "yourself" in an imperative sentence

texts:
In the sentence "Learn how to protect you and your property . . ." I believe that "you" should be changed to "yourself," since the understood imperative subject of the sentence is "you."
Your thoughts?


texts:
Cartoon video source: https://archive.org/details/merriemelodiescoalblackanddesebbendwarfs1943

Title: "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" (1943)

At 03:32, So White goes:

  Well, thanks for the boogy ride!

followed by something I can't make out.

What is a "boogy ride"? From the context, my assumption is "the pleasurable ride" or "the joyful ride", but I've never heard that term before and was unable to look it up.


texts: Why don't most sources classify "when", "where", and "why" as relative pronouns?

texts:
I am researching the use of relative pronouns and most websites, including the British Council, list only:

who, whom, which, that, and whose

What about here?

That's the house where I grew up.
January is when we go on vacation.
That broken window is why you are grounded.


texts: Is there a single word to say "modify with an adjective"?

texts: Adjectivize means to turn into an adjective, but is there a single word you can use to describe modifying a noun with an adjective?


texts: Is it correct to say 'We will do it when we got a decision'?

texts: Someone will make a decision, then we receive it, and do something according to it.


texts: A word to describe an empathetic employee in regards to their business

texts:
I'm a software developer and I'm looking for the correct business term that best describes an empathetic developer. More often than not, a developer is just a code monkey. They receive a set of business requirements and follow them to a T, regardless of whether the requirements make sense or not. However there are developers who take an empathetic approach to coding per business requirements. That is, the developer will analyze the requirements with respect to the business needs, the end user, design, and implementation, and then discuss potential issues with the business when they spot a requirement that doesn't make sense. One would think this type of mentality would be inherent in a developer, unfortunately it is not, so I'm searching for the best term that describes this.

To me it seems like “empathetic” would be the best term but I have never heard this term used in a business setting.


texts: Removing a comma from a comma-parenthesized subclause

texts:
I have written the following:

  The credentials, checked by the gatekeeper, take the form of...

But my wife says that "it would read better without the first comma". Is what she suggests allowed by the rules of grammar?


texts: Did "begged" used to have a different meaning?

texts:
I was reading the Wikipedia article about Bella Venezia

  A witch begged every day from the inn, and Bella Venezia promised her
  half her fortune if she could put an end to the daughter.

It would seem in this context "begged" would mean "take lodge" but after searching on the internet I couldn't confirm this. What does it mean? It doesn't make sense for it to mean "pleaded with". Is it just a typo in the wikipedia article?


texts: Words about words: When an old word describes a new thing

texts:
I'm wondering if there is a name for words which describe a function where the thing described doesn't relate to the reality of the function anymore. Examples:

dial, as a verb. "Dial the phone". Dial phones are largely unused now.
footage, used to describe a video recording. Large digital now.
filming, used to describe the act of making a video recording.

This is almost like a retronym, but is kind of the other side of that coin. An important aspect here is that there is an etymological disconnect. If in some distant future "dial" is still being used, someone studying the word itself might be completely baffled as to why it was being used unless told that phones used to have them.

"Holdover" is close. However, the definition of holdover as

  "a person or thing surviving from an earlier time, especially someone
  surviving in office or remaining on a sports team"

suggests that entity doing a job in the ways of those times. Consider the difference between "Karl" and "Karen" who are typesetters. Karl still sets brass sorts into lines and turns them into lead slugs, he's a holdover. Karen used to do that, but now she flows the text into InDesign. She's still called a typesetter, but she's not exactly a holdover, since she's moved forward with the technology.

I'll admit it's a fine point I'm making here.

Any ideas?

This might be a duplicate of Word that means "outdated name"


texts:
I am a english student passionate about learning the language but sometimes I find some contradictory meanings (in my humble opinion). yet is one of the cases.
Since I also research by myself, I have looked this up in the Collins dictionary and I have found this:

Definition
sentence connector

nevertheless; still; in spite of that   ⇒ I want to and yet I haven't the courage, she is strange yet kind

adverb

(usually used with a negative or interrogative) so far; up until then or now   ⇒ they're not home yet, is it teatime yet?

(often preceded by just; usually used with a negative) now (as contrasted with later)   ⇒ we can't stop yet

(often used with a comparative) even; still   ⇒ yet more potatoes for sale, yet another problem family

eventually, in spite of everything   ⇒ we'll convince him yet

See as yet

I have realised it has a lot of different meanings. Looking closely at the meanings in which the word acts as and 'adverb', the 1st meaning (which refers to already) is the opposite of the 3rd one. Despite the other meanings, and supposing I have understood the matter correctly and this is as I have explained (if not please leave a comment), how are these two meanings used and how can I easily mark the distinction between both (because since they mean different things, I don't want to express myself ambiguously)? Is it, as I think, depending on the context and whether the sentence is positive/negative/interrogative? Or is any other thing I am not aware of?
Could you please explain it to me, please?
Thank you very much for your time.


texts:
For example,

  Raimund Preußen didn't pace himself at all, and after a series of daring offensive runs he was too tired to help out in the defensive play.


texts:
I know what "for one thing" means. But sometimes idioms are used in such a way that gives non-native speakers a hard time to understand their meaning.

I encountered the following passage:

  She had never cared for the kind of tea on offer in her hometown, but in the two weeks she had spent in Assam she had developed an unexpected affinity for the tea on offer here. There were no spices in it for one thing, and this was more to her taste than the tea at home.

I guess the last sentence means "Her hometown's tea had no spices whereas the tea available in Assam has spices. And that is the one reason she likes Assam tea over her hometown's tea." Am I right? Please correct me if I'm wrong.


texts:
I was reading Scott's Woodstock the other day, and came upon the word outbearded. Searching with Google reveals nothing relevant and I am wondering what it means.

The context is that Everard and a youth, Kerneguy (King Charles in disguise) are quarrelling, and are barely able to remain civil to each other:-

  Everard, on the other hand, stung beyond his patience, and from the
  grace and composure of the youth's carriage, still conceiving him to
  be either Wilmot or some of his compeers in rank and profligacy,
  returned to the town of Woodstock, determined not to be outbearded,
  even though he should seek redress by means which his principles
  forbade him to consider as justifiable.


texts: What is the opposite of procrastination in one word?

texts: I thought of precrastination at first but that appears to be the act of planning to procrastinate.


texts:
Stephen Fry in his book Heroes describes how Gigantomachy started, by stating that Alcyoneus stole the cattle from Helios.
The passage goes as follows:

“The sun god Helios was jealous of his fine herd of cattle. Their theft by the giant Alcyoneus proved the final provocation...”

Which, as I understand it, implies that Helious was widely known for his cattle, thus OTHERS were jealous of SAID CATTLE.
That’s where the confusion lies, because in the sentence above it is worded as if Helios himself was jealous of his own cattle.
I cannot seem to find a similar example of this usage of jealous, so maybe I’m just understanding it wrong?
Would appreciate an explanation for this!


texts:
I want to make this question in passive
"Who had followed me?" I have this answer "Who had this been followed?"


texts: What does "to smack of one of your gags" mean?

texts:
Here is the full sentence:

  This whole story is starting to smack of one of your gags.


texts: How to form an interrogative possessive sentence?

texts:
A. Do you have a car?

Or

  B. Have you a car?

I always use the first form of the sentence but I noticed that the second one is also used. Which is correct?


texts: What is the difference between homemade and handmade? Can I use handmade when I talk about food?


texts: -ing forms after a comma: reduced participle phrase or gerund?

texts:
In sentences like
"the results show x, leading researchers to believe..."
or "..., indicating that further research must be done"
or "..., proving the validity of the theory..." etc

is the -ing form after the comma a reduced form of "which is leading/indicating/proving" or is it a gerund? It seems like it shouldn't be a gerund because the rest of the sentence feels like a complement to some kind of verb phrase, but saying "which is +-ing" sounds so unnatural.

I work at an academic language support service and a student asked me why the -ing form is so prevalent after commas and what the reason is for putting it there.

It feels like those -ing forms are almost adverbial, but I'm not really sure.


texts: Why is the word "foot" used as the basic form of poetic metre?

texts: Someone is making an analogy between "swift-footed Achilles" and poetic "feet". This makes me wonder why iambs, trochees, etc. are called "feet" and when this started. Can you help?


texts: How is Mark Nichol using the term "free modifier"?

texts:
In 8 types of parenthetical phrases, he includes

  Free modifier: A free modifier is an unspecialized interruption of additional information: “I stood up and, brushing off my pants,
  continued along my way.”


texts: How do you use the expression "among others"?

texts:
I know that you can say the following:

  "Einstein, among others, thought the sun revolves around the earth".

Can you say,

  "Einstein went to school with Dirac and Heisenberg, among others from ten countries"?


texts: Greetings after saying Hello in noon, afternoon and evening in formal visits

texts:
In morning we usually say Good Morning. But what about noon, afternoon and evening.

In informal visits we can use 'how u doing', 'what's up', 'how are you'. But what about formal situations? What could we say after hello to start the conversation?


texts:
So I read this sentence in a textbook but i don't know which subject, the bank or the corporate client, is having its foreign exchange risk decreased. I THINK its the corporate client...

"For example, a bank might enter into a derivatives transaction with a corporate client to help it reduce its foreign exchange risk."

i.e. is the "it" referring to the bank or the corporate client.


texts: When stating the conditions in which an experiment was done (no particular emphasis needed)... What's the correct word order "Plants were exposed to freezing temperatures for 2 hours" OR "Plants were exposed for 2 hours to freezing temperatures"? Are both correct?


texts: How to translate the german word "Motiv" (= Beweggrund)

texts:
I want to translate the german word "Motiv" (with the meaning "Beweggrund") to English.

A sentence in english would be

  People have various ... to do sport

What would be the most appropriate translation? I vary between "motive" and reason".


texts:
I was reading an article about Elie Wiesel's memoir( novel ? ), Night. It argues that his memoir( novel ? ), was falsified. His response was that it was "his ___".

The underlined is a word that when I searched up, was something along the lines of 'submission of evidence'. I cannot research, or trace my tracks, to find the word. Any help is welcomed.

Additionally, if anyone can help me clarify the genre (memoir or novel) of this, it would be good. I am hesitant to classify it as "novel" in my essay, as it could possibly be taken the wrong way as in holocaust-denying wrong way.

I have come to be a bit more emotionally vested into finding this word than I'd anticipated (1:58 AM and still looking, argh)

Cheers,


texts:
Joseph Conrad, "The Nigger Of The "Narcissus: A Tale Of The Forecastle":

  Donkin gulped greedily, glaring over the rim. Belfast made us laugh when with grimacing mouth he shouted:—“Pass it this way. We're all taytottlers here.”

So the sailors are passing the water to each other after the storm. And some of them are saying that it's better than rum.

I couldn't find the word on lexico.com or Merriam-Webster. When I googled it, it showed me the results with different versions of this same book and then another book in some strange English.

Any clues?


texts: The word for the gain in a race acquired by taking the inside track

texts:
When traveling around a turn, the inside track has the shorter path than the outside track. The racer who takes the inside track (car, runner, cyclist) will gain a lead compared to the racer who takes the outside track.

What is the word that describes this gain?

Chris had to over come the <WORD> gained by Sara as he passed her on the turn.


texts: What do you call it when the meaning of a word changes within a sentence?

texts: Here's an example from "The Hill We Climb," by Amanda Gorman (the poem that she read at Pres. Biden's inauguration):  "We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms."  The meaning of "arms" changes from the first to the second appearances.


texts: Idiom: to hesitate when something is nearly finished

texts: I have an idiom on the tip of my tongue, or at least I think I do — the meaning I want is roughly “to hesitate or falter on a task, when it’s almost completed”.  The phrase that first came to my mind was “to balk at the last jump”, but (while certainly serviceable) that doesn’t seem to be an established idiom, nor do any of the variations of it I’ve tried searching for.  Can anyone place such a phrase?


texts: Idiom request for describing an uncrowded or a deserted place

texts:
Is there any idiom for describing an uncrowded/ a deserted place? ( I mean a place with few or no people in there.)

We say in Persian :

  " not a single bird is/ was flying (there)".
  ( i.e. There is/ was so uncrowded/ vacant or empty/ deserted.)

Like in :

1- Yesterday I went to the movie theater but not a single bird was flying there in that time; actually I was the only audience!

2- My friend had invited me for dinner, when I arrived the main street, I noticed that not a single bird was flying there; it was so scary that I ran towards my friend's apartment hastily.

I have found "ghost town" for describing a town with few or no habitants, but I'm looking for an idiom or expression that could be used for describing other uncrowded/deserted places too.


texts:
"They weren't meant to see each other, but a wicked stunt forces them into a impossible union-holy matrimony."

Stunt means an action displaying spectacular skill and daring, or prevent from growing or developing properly. but still i can't relate them and i feel strange.


texts: I know the meaning of vocal, but I don't know what does a vocal customer mean. Does it mean a gadfly customer?


texts: All phrases, proverbs, parables, epigrams are adages?

texts:
Is it safe to assume what I just asked?

Like Adage is the superset that constitutes of all these things?

Or are there any exceptions?


texts: What is the etymology of the saying "talk is cheap"?

texts:
Google Ngram lists the first usage at around 1810 but a later book refers to it as an old saw.

Is there any way to know what the original context of this saying was? I understand that it probably goes along with the idea that actions are stronger than words or that actions are greater than words but I can't verify that.

I am curious where it was first popularized and maybe even the context that lead it to be coined in the first place.


texts: Is the phoneme /k/ in the word cube aspiated or unaspirated?

texts: I have a debate in class about the aspiration status of the phoneme /k/ in the word "cube". By the rule, it should be. However, some people's pronunciation with the sheet paper in front of the subject's mouth test make it move as if it is aspirated, but others don't, as it isn't. Does it depend on the dialect spoken by the subject? Does the subject's mother tongue (L1) have any influence? The tests were only performed on stand alone words, so there wasn't any conected speech.


texts: What a common abbreviation for two's complement code? I've searched on Google, and find "TCC" as a required abbreviation on thefreedictionary. Is it commonly recognized? Or may be there are some other suggestions?


texts: What could be a polite alternative to "shove"?

texts:
I want to convey something like "they don't shove it (the message), it's generally subtle".
What I considered replacing it with these, but they don't seem much suitable :

rub it in your face
thrust / push it on to you

What should I use to keep the statement polite yet emphatic?


texts: Is it common to call our mother with ma'am in the western U.S?

texts: Is it common to call our mother with ma'am in the western U.S.? Does it show how close our relationship is with our mother?


texts: Is "mail" still used for "international correspondence" in British English?

texts:
While pondering this question asked earlier today, I started to wonder why post (in the sense of correspondence) is used in British English but not American English.

So I looked up the etymology of mail in Etymonline, seeking information about when the usages diverged.

I found something really interesting that I hadn't known before:

  mail (n.1)

  "post, letters," c. 1200, "a traveling bag," from Old French male "wallet, bag, bundle," from Frankish *malha or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *malho- (cognates: Old High German malaha "wallet, bag," Middle Dutch male "bag"), from PIE *molko- "skin, bag." Sense extension to "letters and parcels" (18c.) is via "bag full of letter" (1650s) or "person or vehicle who carries postal matter" (1650s). In 19c. England, mail was letters going abroad, while home dispatches were post. Sense of "personal batch of letters" is from 1844, originally American English.

So at least up to 19th century, in England, post was domestic or local mail (from the original sense of sticking something to a post in the town square where all the locals could see it), and mail was international mail (because originally that was the stuff you had to give a guy who had a leather bag and wandered around a lot).

Does this distinction between post and mail still exist in contemporary BrE? If not, is there any current distinction between the words? When is each used in modern BrE discourse? If the distinction has waned or the senses merged, when did that happen, and what accounts for he change?

Also, side question: is a mailbox (or any variety)  referred to as simply a post (without the -box suffix) in any register of contemporary BrE?

 Notes:

 1. For clarification, I am not asking about the different uses of post and mail in AmE vs BrE; this question is solely concerned with BrE, and the distinction, if any, between these words in the UK. AmE is not relevant, here.

 2. I'm mostly thinking about England here, but would be interested to hear about usage in any of the other UK countries or Ireland.


texts: Someone really did something so great to me that thanks is simply not enough. I doubt there is such a construction "great thanks", but I really need something which has the same meaning. Also, I have no idea what to do, thank you, thank you very much and thanks are all expressions for well, thanking someone. Thanks for help!


texts: Punctuation for imagined/interpreted content in narrative

texts:
He had a look that said "I hate you".
He had a look that said 'I hate you'.
He had a look that said, "I hate you".
He had a look that said, 'I hate you'.
He had a look that said "I hate you."
He had a look that said 'I hate you.'
He had a look that said, "I hate you."
He had a look that said, 'I hate you.'

Which one/s is/are right?

I checked this Usage of imagined content in direct speech, but it was not very relevant as the content is not part of a dialogue or thought of the characters but perhaps of the narrator.


texts: AT and TO: Which is correct in the following scenario?

texts:
I want an item within the reach of my hands. Which one of the following sentences is correct? Please explain.

Keep it close TO hand?!
Keep it close AT hand?!


texts: Is there a name for adjectives that are based around someone's name?

texts:
Some examples would include:

Shakespearean
Christian
Mesmerized
Pavlovian
Newtonian
Boolean
Darwinian


texts: What does "diversity has more of a purchase" mean?

texts:
The following is an excerpt from the Japan Times article of June 15 regarding "hikikomori" (social recluses).

  According to U.S.-based journalist Makiko Iizuka writing for Yahoo News, new labels are always being introduced in Japan and they invariably create negative stereotypes: “parasite singles,” “freeters” (young part-timers who are not students), “hinkon joshi” (destitute girls) and so on. News outlets cling to these terms “with a sense of titillation,” she writes, making them “trendy” and establishing them as behavioral predictors that exacerbate prejudices. Such labels tend to be suspect in the U.S., where 〈diversity has more of a purchase〉. In Japan, however, the public is receptive to them, and they are sometimes used to describe people who may not display many of the attributes affiliated with a particular label, if only for the sake of convenience.

What does diversity has more of a purchase mean in this context?


texts: Is there a word analogous to 'shooting yourself in the foot'?

texts:
Specifically I'm wondering if there's a word that describes the phenomenon where some party takes some action to remedy a situation and the result of that action makes the original situation worse.

Recent examples that made me think about this:

The NFL suspended a journalist for editorializing a podcast in a way against the party line - the suspension brought the podcast into much more popular light and greatly increased public sympathy for the journalist.
On Sunday, the protests in Hong Kong were apparently quite civilized, but the police crackdown/pepper spray movement dramatically increased public support for the protestors and the protests have only swelled in size & support (to my understanding).

I'm wondering if there is a very succinct word for this phenomenon that has so far eluded me. I'm not even sure shooting yourself in the foot is a good saying to describe it.


texts: Word for the flavor of Listerine mouthwash

texts:
The other day I was talking with my girlfriend who is a non-English speaker. She told me she tried Listerine mouthwash but found it too "spicy." I went to correct her but realized that I didn't have a word for this flavor. Is she right: Can we describe the taste of alcohol-based mouth wash as "spicy"?

If not, what would be an appropriate word for this taste?

(I assume that taste is not purely subjective and that people's tastes of Listerine converge to some extent. I trust that those of you who have tried Listerine know the taste I'm referring to.)


texts:
I’m having some confusion about the word nostril. I always thought it was it actual channel or cavity or opening in the nose. But some people seem to refer to the outside part of the nose (left and right) as nostril, the two “flaps” for lack of a better word.

I mean this:

I’ve always called the B part nostrils, but I actually don’t know exactly what I would call the A part.

Another word that’s also associated with this is the nose’s vestibule, but as far as I can tell that also refers to the channel or opening, not to the outer or side part.

Who can shed some light on this? What are the right terms for the A part and the B as separate things?


texts: "I consider it true" or "I consider it to be true"?

texts:
Which one is correct or more correct?

  I consider it to be true.

or

  I consider it true.

Or maybe both?

According to Google Ngram Viewer both are used with the second being more common. Google Ngram Viewer


texts: What's the word in English for something that could have attachments to it?

texts:
I'm a programmer and making an attachment system.
Where you could have a weapon, and different components that you could attach to it, to give it extra behavior.

Example: an M16 and a: silencer, scope, laser, etc.

Now, I could call the components "attachments" - But what about the weapon? I thought I could call it "Attachee" but it didn't turn out to be an English word.

Also thought about "Attachable", but not sure about it... is it correct?

If not, then what is the right word?

Thanks.


texts: I would like to find a word to name the minima and maxima of a set of things. We have in French "extrêmes", but I don't find an equivalent in English, as far as my brief research is concerned.


texts: Why "meth-", "eth-", "prop-", when there is "uni-","di-","tri-"?

texts:
In chemistry, the homologous series for hydrocarbons uses the following prefixes:

  Meth-
  Eth-
  Prop-
  But-
  Pent-
  Hex-
  Hept-
  Oct-

Why are these prefixes used, instead of just using "uni-", "di-", "tri-"?

I looked up the prefixes, but there is no dictionary record of them. Still, I think "uni-", "di-", "tri-", were invented first.

Is there a specific reason why, instead of using the normal counting prefixes, new prefixes were used or made up, assuming they were made up for this specific purpose?


texts: Dampening meaning in: your output dampening is excellent?

texts:
I have this question and in the comment i have this texts:

  Also, unless your output dampening is excellent, it's usually a bad
  idea to put unsychnronized SMPS in parallel, unless their datasheet
  says that's possible. If you need more output current, get a larger
  inductor, and a switcher IC that can handle more current or one that
  supports an external MOSFET to handle the current. – Marcus Müller

So i want to know what is the meaning of dampening here :

unless your output dampening is excellent

Thanks.


texts:
I happened to meet her this morning.

I've learned 'happen to' means to do something by chance, so the sentence means I met her this morning by chance.

  A: I never seem to do anything right around here. B: I happen to think you do a lot of things right.

It's one of the lines in a movie, and someone told me 'happen to' here in the movie means "actually." I've looked up a lot of dictionaries, but I've never seen the meaning of "actually" for 'happen to.' What does it mean in that sentence, and if it means "actually," then is it used that way commonly?


texts: How to correctly express the subjunctive mood in future tense?

texts:
1. If the sun rise in the west, I would give you ten dollars.

2. If the sun rises in the west, I would give you ten dollars.

3. If the sun rose in the west, I would give you ten dollars.

4. If the sun were to rise in the west, I would give you ten dollars.

Which is the most common and natural?

What are the subtle difference between them if any?


texts: Is "and" necessary before the last item in the list of things after "such as"?

texts:
Could someone tell me whether "and" is necessary in the space:

I like different types of fruits, such as apples, oranges, bananas, [and] pineapples.


texts: Just curious as to where this expression came from and when it came into being. It's one that is commonly used (among other variations, e.g. "Oh for crying out loud!"), but where does it come from originally?


texts:
I'm reading The Great Gatsby and on the second page it says:

  As my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.

I know a snob is a person who wishes to be seen as a member of the upper classes, but I do not know what snobbishly means.


texts:
There is a mathematical model. Model can give a forecast for some duration (hours, days, years). But the forecast will not be equally accurate for different periods of time. How should I ask for what period of time the forecast is most accurate?

What is duration, the model can give most accurate forecast.
For whatduration....
What is duration for....

Which of the above is correct? Where can I read about this rule?


texts:
what's the meaning of "It is generally held that"?

e.g.
It is generally held that already during this period Egypt was losing some of its power and dominance


texts: Can "did not" be used instead of "should not"?

texts:
I'm trying to read "Harry Potter and Methods of Rationality" (Chapter 25), and I'm puzzled with the following phrase:

  And furthermore, Harry said, his voice emphatic and his right hand
  thumping hard on the floor, you did not start out immediately looking
  for solutions.

I wonder if here "did not" can be used instead of "should not" as it seems, that Harry
can't read minds; it seems he is giving directions. So can "did not" here be understood as "should not"?


texts: Word for people who assume the emotions of the people they're with

texts:
I'm looking for a word for someone who tends to assume the emotional state of people around them, not necessarily by will.  In most definitions that I can find online, being an empath usually implies a psychic ability to attain the emotional state of someone else.  I'm looking for a similar word that does not carry connotations of supernatural power, but rather a propensity for taking on the overt emotional atmosphere around them.
The word can be technical, but it doesn't have to be.
Example uses:

Even though I was aware of the tension in the room, I stayed calm.  Since Aaron is a(n) ___, he couldn't help but get upset.
I could tell Katy is a(n) ___ because her mood lit up when we joined the celebration.


texts: Subject-verb agreement. Subject is plural, but not really

texts:
Once again I have a line that I wrote for another site that has me a bit bugged.

  Months in the freezer is going to pretty much eliminate any risk of consuming a live parasite.

Months is obviously plural, but I'm pretty sure that the line is correct as written.

How?

Or potentially, why not?


texts:
I am aware of the usage of "lack thereof", but I was wondering whether it is valid to use "lack of it".
During a conversation with someone I used "lack of it" in a sentence, and she claimed that it is an error and that "lack thereof" should be used instead.
Example sentence:

  Do you think that accent (or lack of it) is a critical factor in
  obtaining a job?


texts: "If he is polite, then he gets the job", or "if he be polite, then he gets the job"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  When should I use the subjunctive mood?

Which sentence is grammatically correct? Which sentence make sense (apart from syntactical analysis)? First? Second? Both of them? Are they patterns of conditional statement about future (if something happen now, it will have an effect in future)?


texts:
I was wondering if an occupation can be used as a pronoun? Let me explain. If I were to say:

  The mayor is coming to town.

I believe that's a pronoun. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) But what about something like this:

  The mayor, John Appleseed, is coming to town.

Would 'the mayor' be considered a pronoun for the future?


texts: Equivalent word for 'overseas' for a non-island country?

texts:
In New Zealand, as an island country, 'overseas' is taken to mean 'any foreign country'.
eg.

I'm going overseas for holiday.
Overseas investors brought $1bn into the country last year.
Instead of buying clothes produced overseas, consider supporting local producers.

The question is - what word is used here when the foreign country isn't 'overseas' per se, for example, Germany talking about France.


texts: What would be a good quote or saying that says that "good quality is easily apparent?"

texts: I'm trying to express that it's easy to tell when something is high quality. What would be a word, or better yet, a quote from literature, that expresses this?


texts: Is there a word for liking something out of spite?

texts:
Basically, im trying to think of a word that means liking somsthing out of spite because someone you dislike hates something.

Closest I could come up with was vindictive. But that's not quite good enough.


texts: An adverb for when you're not exaggerating

texts:
I want to say,

  Your situation is, without exaggerating, more severe than mine.

However, I want to replace "without exaggerating" with an adverb. Something like "undoubtedly".

Now I know the word "unexaggeratedly" has not been born yet, and that I can always use the same sentence I mentioned above, but I love using adverbs in this fashion. I'm curious to know if there's an antonym for the word "exaggeratedly".

Update

I absolutely appreciate anyone taking time to answer and comment. I read the answers, and I accepted @Boneist's answer. But then I thought, that actually doesn't answer my question. I needed a single word (an adverb in this case) to state and refute the idea of exaggeration.

unarguably means:

  it cannot be argued

unquestionably means:

  not questionable

Both of these do not refute exaggeration.

Same goes for other answers as well, namely, the most up-voted answer so far by @Ubi hatt:

actually means:

  As the truth or facts of a situation; really.

It has nothing to do with exaggeration!

Now, I don't want to invent words (i.e. unexaggeratedly, as suggested by @Toothrot). But maybe that's the only option?


texts: A word or phrase for wildly overreacting against a legitimate wrongdoing

texts:
I'm not sure if the phrase I'm looking for would be combat related or not, but essentially I'm looking to describe a situation like the following examples:

A drunk man shoves a sober man to get past him, and the sober man reacts by knocking out the drunk man's teeth.

A wife cheats on her husband, so the husband kills her.

Dissident civilians throw rocks at soldiers, the soldiers shoot the civilians dead with machine guns.


texts:
Is it incorrect to say "Please do this before Tuesday"?

Is there a difference between that and "Please do this by Tuesday"?


texts: Word for singular boardgame or boardgame expansion, but not both

texts:
I'm writing an auction site specifically for selling board games, and I'm a big believer in ubiquitous language and that the right naming makes the code design stronger. This is why it is paining me so much that I'm struggling to think of a term for the abstract of an item in a lot.

An auction will have many lots. A lot will have one or many items. An item could be a boardgame or a boardgame expansion. When adding an item a user will look up from a list of boardgames and boardgame expansions. What is that a list of? At the moment I'm using the BGG term "thing" and I hate it.

The best alternatives I have are product and box. Both of which are improvements, but both vaguer than I'd like.

Edit: Trying to add a better example.
If I wanted to group things that could be cars or pick-up trucks, but not carrots, I could use the word vehicle.


texts:
What does seek out like water mean in the following sentence?

  The epitaph contained a final message from Maynard, who expressed a note of deep thanks to all of her supporters, whom she "sought out like water" during her life and illness.


texts: Attached is my thoughts. Plural or singular?

texts:
In an email I wrote :

  Attached is my thoughts.

And then thought about it.

My attachment is a singular attachment. My thoughts are in the plural, within the single attachment.

But the very fact that I thought about it makes me wonder if this is one of those occasions when, whatever the formal and technical condition may be, the psychology of the statement overrides.

Any thoughts ?


texts: When introducing an initialism for the first time in a paper, but the noun is possessive, do I make the initialism possessive as well?

texts:
E.G., "Mobile network operator's (MNO's) networks are overloaded."

Or

"Mobile network operator's (MNO) networks are overloaded."


texts: I watched a movie last night, A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence. In the movies, almost every character keep repeating this line: "I'm happy to hear you're doing fine." What is the meaning of that? They are talking in a phone so I don't know who they talked to, but what is "doing fine"?


texts: Is there a word or fixed phrase / idiom for a vicious circle of obtuseness?

texts: I recently told my father-in-law that I thought he was being obtuse, and he then acted as if he didn’t understand the concept of being obtuse. I feel like there’s a word for this. What would we call such a situation as this?


texts: What did it originally mean to 'bow and scrape'?

texts:
It is said, including in the OED, to refer to bowing, and at the same time drawing back the right leg so that it made a scraping noise.

I don't recall seeing anyone scraping. I lived in Japan for a couple of years and saw many bowing but never, as I recall, anyone 'scraping'.

Can anyone supply any more information about 'scraping'.


texts: Why is the plural form of "house" not "hice"?

texts:
The plural of mouse is mice, and the plural of louse is lice. Why is the plural form of house not hice?

According to Merriam-Webster, the word house is already longer in the language, just as mouse and louse, so it is not because it is a foreign word (loanword).

This question was marked to be a duplicate of "Goose"–"geese" vs. "moose"–"moose" and Why is the plural form of Moose not Meese?, but it is actually a duplicate of neither since they handle different words, and also different causes.


texts:
Some time back I came across an online exchange between two friends. It went something like this:
A: Sweetie, you are so beautiful! (Commenting on her pic)
B:Look who's talking!
Of course, B meant that A was more/ no less beautiful than A.
But I think we say look who's talking in reply to someone's critical remarks about someone else.
Can we use it in situations like this one? If not, what's an appropriate response in such cases?
Thanks!


texts: Antonym of "most recent" in a list of events when determining next in line

texts:
Having a list of people that rotate hosting an event with some exceptions to the rotations, I am looking for the phrase of saying that the next host should be person A because the longest time has passed since person A hosted the event out of all the hosts.
The issue is that the last event A hosted is A's most recent event, so it is the "least recent most recent event".
What would be a succinct way of referring to this ordering/sorting method?


texts: What a pronoun should one use: "you" or "yours"?

texts:
This document sets out the rights and responsibilities of [you || yours], the Company, and the concerned third parties.

If "the Client's rights" can be rephrased to "the rights of Client", then, I suppose, "your rights" can be rephrased to "the rights of you", but "the rights of yours" sounds greater.

So, is either variant appropriate and which should one better use?


texts:
In master's theses it is common to state two people who oversaw or should have overseen the project.

It is common that only one of these engaged himself with the student's work.
At my university these two are the same who decide the final grade of the work.

If only one of them was  regularly supporting you in your work and the other just participates in the grade-finding, does this this justify the use of the word "mentor" and if so, could both be stated "mentors" on paper ?

Or let's put it easier. Would you call these two within your thesis at the site they are just listed  "mentors" or "supervisors" ?

thanks a lot.


texts: I want to write "If left unticked ......" , but it seems like unticked is not a word(or is it?), what would the correct opposite of ticked because I use "If ticked ...." at the beginning of paragraph.


texts: Should taxonomy terms such as Crustacea be capitalized?  I think yes, but am unsure.


texts: How to cite a website where the author/publisher are not readily apparent?

texts:
I would like to quote information from this website.

There is a title "Battles:", a website name: "Napoleonsims", but almost nothing else.

How would I find the author/publisher/etc.?

Assuming I cannot find the proper citation information, how would I cite this information?


texts: What word would you use to describe this workflow?

texts:
I have a friend with an interesting workflow, and I wonder if there's any good English words that kind of describes it.

Basically if he makes a video-game he first quickly makes the game playable and finished but in extremely sloppy way, meaning you can play the entire game but the graphics looks like childrens doodles and stuff, then he gradually adds layers of polish to each part. So that at any month he can decide to ship it, the question is just that the quality will be higher the more months he spends on it.

Whereas the conventional workflow perhaps make one chapter of the game reasonably good, then move onto next chapter. the downside being that if he has to abandon the project the next day then he might have a game without an ending.

The closest word I can think of is "iterative workflow", but the way that word is used today means something very different, usually that word emphasizes that you listen to the results of the first iteration before moving to the second iteration. Whereas what I'm trying to describe is rather emphisized on the fact that at any time the product can be shipped. each interation may or may not involve playtesting.


texts:
While writing an answer to this question, I looked up the word ennui in the full version of the Oxford English Dictionary. (I'd give you a link, but I access the OED through my local library's proxy service, so it wouldn't work for you; if you have access, go to oed.com and search for "ennui" as a noun). Three senses are given. The first and third senses are normal dictionary definitions with the customary example sentences, but the second, in its entirety, is:
b. Personified.
What does this mean? I'm not asking about the word per se—yes, I know what personification is—I'm wondering why the word appears alone here, without elaboration or examples or a clue as to how it pertains to the rest of the entry.
A possible clue: Sense c ("A cause of ennui") is accompanied by four example sentences, the first two of which contain personifications of ennui:

1790   C. M. Graham Lett. Educ. 290   It would entirely subdue the dæmon Ennui.
1812   H. Smith & J. Smith Rejected Addr. 11   The fiend Ennui awhile consents to pine.

Have these two examples simply been attributed to the wrong sense, or is something else going on here? Does anyone have access to the print version to check?


texts: How common is the confusion between "affect" and "effect"?

texts:
I stumbled onto a US Congress representative’s website with what I think is a blatant and very visible mistake:

Namely, the sentence in yellow, “How does the population change effect our district”. I am surprised to see this error in such a high-profile and (probably) thoroughly checked webpage. So, I wonder: how common is this exact error (effect vs. affect)? Have the usage of the two really started to merge, so that we should consider them as equivalent?

PS: yes, I know the dictionary says they have different meaning; I'm asking about usage and the evolution of the language.


texts: Struggling in a CAE Question on a really confusing Key-Answer

texts:
Here is the question I'm asking about, taken from Grammar and Vocabulary for CAE and CPE by Richard Side and Guy Wellman (question 1e, p. 16):

  Given this sentence:

    Michael Owen is the best player I've seen so far in this competition.

  Finish the following sentence in such a way that it is similar in meaning to
  the one above.

    I've yet …

The answer given (p. 257) for the gap is:

  to see as (or: such a) good a player as Michael Owen in this competition.

The answer looks really strange for me since I have been studying English for three years now and I've never heard or read such a construction. Is there an error in the paper? Is this a possible answer:

  I've yet to see as good player as Michael Owen in this competition.


texts: Does the word "government" in English mean the courts as well?

texts:
Does the word "government" in English refer to the cabinet and the ministries, or the courts and legislature as well? Is there a difference in usage depending on country?

Can you say "the government resigned", "the party has three people in the government", "the government filed an appeal to the court" or can you replace the word "court" with the word "government"?


texts: Can the pronoun "one" precede the thing it is referring to in a sentence?

texts:
I give an example so you understand right away what I'm asking. Does the following sentence sound right:

Users are parts of not only the one being discussed right now, but the already-mentioned two other services of the system as well.

Or is this the only way to say it:

Users are parts of not only the service being discussed right now, but the already-mentioned two other services of the system as well.


texts: What are the spoon bit of a spoon, and fork bit of a fork, called?

texts:
A knife has a handle and a blade.  A spoon has a handle and a...  Bowl?  A fork has a handle and...  Spikes?  Prongs?

I guess this can be extended to more esoteric cutlery such as sporks.


texts:
"The new laws are seen as an attempt to gag the press."
In this sentence why the definite article 'the' is used before 'laws'(noun). I always get confused when to use 'the' and when not to. My teacher taught me, it is used when both speaker and listener are aware of what they are talking about i.e. both of them are familiar with that(noun). Can someone please clarify this?
I have a feeling that I should've used 'the' before 'speaker' and 'listener' in the above sentence. Am I right?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "blue moon"? Any alternate phrase for it?

texts: Was just wondering how this phrase came into being? Was it inspired from some natural or astronomical observation? or is it the result of poetic imagination?


texts:
When should I say "She is gone", and when should I say "She has gone" (and why)?

I think that when I mean "She went away and she's still there", it should be "She has gone". Are there exceptions where it should be "She is gone" ?


texts: Word for somebody who is excessively overprotective of one's own image or brand

texts:
Perfect example, Donald Trump. Somebody who will stop as nothing to dispel any presented threat to their image, name, or brand--usually aggressively. Even if their positive feedback vastly outweighs the negative, they will attack the negative one with all their might until it dissipates.

I know this is a textbook trait of narcissism, but I know a specific word is out there for this. Having 'Thin skin' is the best I can muster informally.

Thank you


texts: What is the provenance of this dialect, e.g. "coitainly" instead of "certainly," as often seen in old cartoons and Three Stooges films?


texts: "He had all the money in the world; [yet/but] he was sad"

texts: Which one is the correct option, knowing that there is only one correct answer?


texts: In the sentence "I must decide which English course to take," is "which English course to take" a noun clause?

texts:
I am hesitating to call it a noun clause because there is no conjugated verb (only the verbal "to take"). I am thinking that "which English course to take" is actually an infinitive phrase acting as the direct object.
If you rearrange the sentence, "I must decide to take which English course," this makes a bit of sense to me if you treat "which" as only an adjective and not a subordinating conjunction.
Is this correct, or is it actually a noun clause?


texts:
I was wondering if I want to say "No news, single-handedly / on it's own, is good news" is there any better way to say it?

Thanks alot in advance.


texts:
They have committed suicide.

It sounds too cold. I am not writing a report.

  They have ended their lives.

It sounds too boring.

So how can I phrase it such that there is a sense of beauty?


texts: Using "I don't think" to express an opinion

texts:
This morning, I used the phrase

  I didn't sleep very well, I don't think.

when speaking to my Colombian friend and he asked me what on earth I was talking about.

I thought about it and realised that this is idiomatic usage and that despite saying "I don't think" you are actually expressing what you do think.

Generally the form is [expression of negative opinion using negative grammar] + "I don't think".

For example:

  I didn't sleep very well, I don't think. => I think I slept poorly.

  I won't get there very early, I don't think. => I think I will arrive late.

The first part is an opinion about what something is not, rather than what it is, i.e. my sleep was not good; my arrival will not be early. You wouldn't say:

  I slept badly, I don't think.

It seems like "I don't think" is a way of intensifying the sentence, because it doesn't modify the meaning of the initial statement in any way. We seem to use it to express disappointment with a situation, but there might be more reasons.

Is there a name for this usage?
Do you use it to express anything other than disappointment?


texts: Differences in meanings between 'in to' and 'into'

texts:
What is the difference in meaning between 'into' and 'in to'?

Is there a difference in meaning or with usage?

I was unable to find anything on other websites.


texts: "perfect gerund" vs "perfect infinitive "

texts:
1) Jones is the latest player to have signed with Barcelona.

2) Jones is the latest player having signed with Barcelona.

I am confused with those sentences.  Are both sentences correct?  Is there any difference if both are correct?

I am giving one more example -

3) Marie curie is the only person to have won a Nobel prize in
two different disciplines.

4) Marie curie is the only person having won a Nobel prize
in two different disciplines.


texts: Singular noun + "or" + plural noun as a single unit

texts:
In a technical book, I have stumbled upon the following sentence:

  Here, resource-specification is a statement or statements that declares and initializes a resource.

I'm a bit confused about how the verbs declares and initializes are used here. Their form (third person singular) assumes that they are linked to a singular noun. But can statement or statements really be treated as some sort of a compound singular noun?

In other words, is everything correct with the example above, or one should modify it in some way to make it more grammatically consistent?


texts:
The following example is from an Italian Quiz book whose aim is to help candidates prepare for English multiple choice tests. In many government run “concorsi” (competitive exams) you might have to answer up to 100 questions in an hour or less. The fact is, you can't afford to spend time figuring out the answer, it's–as I see it–a way of testing someone's fluency without actually doing a speaking test.

So, I'm going through these examples with a private student, who tells me she got  question 146 wrong (the answers are at the back of the book)

  146 Don't eat all the cherries,…?

  A) do you
  B) will you
  C) shall you
  D) don't you

I make the classic mistake of not reading the question properly, and go on auto-pilot mode, the answer, I tell her, is A) because if the verb in the main clause is negative, the auxiliary in the question tag should be positive, e.g.

She doesn't like modern jazz, does she? (NB –doesn't she? would be considered a mistake in most English tests)
They don't believe in elves, do they?

Similarly, when the verb in the main clause is positive, the auxiliary used in a question tag, is often  negative. For example,

He writes poetry, doesn't he? (or –does he?)
They live in Guatemala, don't they?  (or -do they?)

The student then tells me that A) was also the answer she gave but it conflicted with the key. Oops!

I read the complete sentence aloud and my rushed solution sounds all sorts of weird.

  Don't eat all the cherries, do you?

Technically, it appears to be grammatical a bit like Chomsky's colourless green ideas sleep furiously, albeit a lot less fantastical.  The meaning of the sentence is confusing, as it appears the question tag follows the simplified "rule" mentioned above but its meaning is contradictory.

The correct answer, after a few moments of hesitation, is B) I tell my student, which the book confirms.

  Don't eat all the cherries, will you?

I explain why C) and D) do not work but I falter on A), until I surmise that the question tag -will you? is not really asking the listener to confirm a statement but to comply with the command ‘Don't eat all the cherries,…’ the ‘will you’ is the short version of “Will you do as told/instructed?” It has little or nothing to do with its future meaning, and it sounds passive-aggressive to my ears.

I think I'm right, aren't I?


texts: A sentence from Nietzsche's essay "On truth and lies in a Non-moral Sense"

texts:
I have read and reread following lines many times but can't seem to make sense out of it. Any help is appreciated.

  "And just as every porter wants to have an admirer, so even the proudest of men, the philosopher, supposes that he sees on all sides the eyes of the universe telescopically focused upon his action and thought."

I am having problem understanding after the word "suppose". I am confused who sees on all sides (sentence suggests that the proud men to me)? But then sentence doesn't appear to be well defined. Does it say that proud men thinks all the eyes of the world are fixated on him?


texts:
Which is right:

  Do you think it's a good idea to visit in mid August?

Or

  Do you think if it's a good idea to visit in mid August?

On one hand, if viewed as indirect question, if should not be omitted for clarity. But on the other hand, if viewed as objective clause, it's a good idea ... is the object of think, which makes if redundant. What's the correct grammar here?


texts:
What does it mean "It’s raining men"?  I got this in this paragraph:

Metaphor - Describing something by using a word that isn’t literally
relevant. For example, “It’s raining men”, “I’m feeling blue”, or “The
weather was bitterly cold”.


texts: Difference between "Can't you" and "Can you not"?

texts:
I've been wondering about the difference between questions that use can't you and can you not. Like:

  Can't you tell just by looking? [I read this from a comic-detective series]
  Can you not hear me? [I heard this from an animation movie]

So, does it make a difference when you use can't you and can you not? Or anything else like it, such as is it not and isn't it?

I also find that question tags often use those two types of tags, which in my mind are somewhat not interchangeable, such as:

  It's surprisingly hard to find, is it not?
  It's surprisingly hard to find, isn't it?

I think both forms are grammatically correct, but I can't figure how they differ each other.


texts: A word that means to add a small amount of into food (example in body)

texts:
I am thinking of something like infiltration or adulteration, but for food. For example consider these sentences that should be compatible with the word being sought (as different parts of speech, of course):

The food at the restaurant tasted so good that it seemed like the chef _______ it with crack.
Even _______ the cake from this recipe with a small additional amount of sugar made it taste too sweet to be palatable.
The cookies were _______ with a small amount of chocolate and this made them absolutely irresistible.

I suppose the word “lace” would work, but I am looking for something with less of a negative connotation.


texts:
I had always assumed that although I understood only about half of what Donald Duck says in his cartoons, Americans understood everything despite his comical pronunciation.

However friends have just offered me DVDs featuring Donald and one 1948 episode, "Donald's Dream Voice", hinges on the fact that he can't sell brushes—he is a sales representative—because nobody understands him (until he buys pills that give him a human voice).

So my question is: do native speakers in the USA actually understand Donald's  squawking (but delightful) English?


texts: If a university is named after a place, can I move the name to the name of place before "university"?

texts: If a university is named by a place, like "the Univerisity of Bonn". Can I call it "Bonn University"? When saying the former, is the mistake serious if without definite article "the" before "university"?


texts:
They may sound both correct but which one is more acceptable in standard written English?

  She is writing a letter now.

or

  She is now writing a letter.

Thanks


texts: Word for a portmanteau made of two synonyms

texts:
Is there a word for a (possibly accidental) portmanteau of two synonyms?

For example, say, you contract "liberty" and "freedom" to "liberdom".


texts: "because clause" verses "because of noun" verses "because noun"

texts:
I have been thinking about a feature of English that seems to have emerged very recently. "because" and "because of" really are two different words: the former a conjunction the latter a preposition.

I came inside because it was raining.

I came inside because of the rain.

However, there seems to be a cool, hip trendy way of speaking that sort of blurs the two:

I flunked my mid-term because covid.

I am absolutely soaking because rain.

I was wondering if this really is a new grammatical form in the English language, or if there is some history behind it, and if there are other conjunction/preposition pairs that have suffered the same fate.
I also wonder if there should be a comma after "because" in this novel form, it just seems to demand a rhetorical pause.


texts: Is “Who is he?” ok when we don’t know the sex?

texts: Suppose I see someone coming whose gender is unknown; how should I ask who the approaching person is? Should I say “Who is he?”


texts:
Assume that I am advertising that a payment will be asked only if we actually execute a given job right, and I say:

  "if we don't do it right, we have been working for free"

  "if we won't do it right, we have been working for free"

  "if we don't do it right, we would have been working for free"

Can you tell me what is the most effective and correct way to express (advertise) the idea (especially the correct choice of verbs), and are the above sentences wrong ?


texts: Using (be) as a main verb in this form (be) without using auxiliary verbs, is it correct?

texts:
There's no doubt that "Be happy" and "Don't be sad." are correct, and "They be happy" is incorrect.

But is it correct to say:

  Why don't you be more careful?

or

  "Why don't they be happy?" ?

Why is each of these wrong or right. Is it acceptable to use be and do together in this context?


texts: Should "it" be used in "There is a table that has a book on (it)"?

texts:
Is this sentence grammatically correct?:

  There is a table that has a book on it.

Can I say (or why can't I say if not?):

  There is a table that has a book on.


texts:
I recently wrote the following sentence:

  Please roll it back.

But if I were to describe the action on its own I would say:

  This rollback was due to objections by the original author.

If I want to use "rollback" as a verb I have to split it up with an "it". My best guess is that "rollback" seems to be a compound noun birthed from a verb+adverb but we never got a verb compound form. Thus, the following is still incorrect:

  Please rollback it.

Is there a term to describe the specific pair of "roll" and "back"? Describing this specific action will always need both words and the action itself now has an appropriate noun. But where did the combined verb form go?


texts: How to formally say that I am a handyman (in resume)?

texts: I wanted to add a word that says I am very good and comfortable with handling tools and equipment and can perform many works that require handcrafting, building, assembling, constructing, etc. I know that "handyman" is a good word, but not for a resume. Is there a synonym or an expression that would state this point? I want to emphasize on assertive handling of tools, rather than capable of performing kinds of jobs.


texts: Is there a specific term for imbuing abstract concepts with 'agency'?

texts:
I'm a biologist, and when we give scientific presentations it is often convenient to talk about evolution in the context of it trying to 'achieve something', like it has conscious 'agency'. We of course know that this isn't the case, it's just an easy way to frame a point.

We might say:

  The bacteria is trying to become more resistant to antibiotics.

So my question is: is there a specific word for giving abstract concepts (e.g. evolution) an agency?

The only one that springs to mind is personification, but to my mind that only applies if you are giving the subject people-like traits?


texts: I usually hear people incorrectly using are/is such as in the sentences "I don't know what is that" or "Do you know what are the examples?" What is the correct use of grammar called in these instances? Some sort of agreement?


texts: Term for intentionally blanking or blurring parts of images or videos

texts:
Names or other sensitive information in an official document, or in a previously secret document now made public, are often deleted to protect the privacy of the individuals. It's usually done visibly, with the parts of the text painted over by a thick black line, or by blurring it. I know this practice is called "redacting", even if the word has a different original meaning. I often see "[redacted]" written over a removed part of text.

However, what is the term used if parts of images or videos are hidden. For example, a face of a person in an interview is pixelated to keep viewers from recognizing the person. A technical drawing which might end up in a video is pixelated to keep people from stealing it. A license plate of a car is pixelated, or painted black, etc. Is the word [redacted] used in this case? I'm looking for a single word or a short phrase to print across a part of an image or video which is blanked, blurred, or pixelated intentionally to keep people from discovering any sensitive information. The point is for viewers to recognize that it's not a mistake, but intentional.

"Censored" would be an alternative, but I don't think it fits this situation, as that word is often used for the purpose of hiding details people might find shocking, embarrassing or taboo.


texts: Which prepositions to use with airline and flight number when speaking of arrival and departure?

texts:
I was filling a certain application form and wasn't sure which preposition to use:

Arrival via Lufthansa LH 470
Arrival with Lufthansa LH 470
Arrival by Lufthansa LH 470

I tried googling and all of them seem to be used equally.
Which preposition should be used here? Can the same preposition be used with Departure?


texts: What to call someone who contacts you after a while and pretends nothing had happened?

texts: What to call someone who, after you had a quarrel with him and later agreed you wouldn't talk to him again, contacts you after a while pretending as if not had happened before.


texts: What is the term used for a person who says something without processing the suitability/appropriateness of that thing according to the situation.I mean what he thinks is directly on his mouth ...


texts: What do you call something you've said so often you don't hear yourself speaking?

texts:
While at work I have to take a patient's consent in which I explain the plan and the risks to which they may be exposed.

I've given the same speech so often that my brain goes on automatic pilot and I don't even hear myself saying it anymore. In fact, at times I find myself wondering if I actually gave it as it's become so automatic.

I've heard John Oliver describe this phenomenon as mouth noise. (Unfortunately, I cannot find a link to this.) But to paraphrase:

  He's said this so often it's just mouth noise to him at this point.

Is there a more formal name for this phenomenon?  I'm not looking for by rote or similar. I'm seeking the phenomenon where you don't even notice your own words anymore.

I'd use it in a sentence such as:

  I've given this speech so many times it's become .......


texts: One word to describe experiencing a "lack of idea" or lack of subject, lack of topic etc

texts:
I am looking for a word that would denote the lack of an idea.

For example, I am experiencing a lack of ideas to write an essay about. Or a lack of ideas to make a cartoon about.


texts: How can you describe the inability to explain something without going off on several tangents?

texts:
I was watching a video of Richard Feynman, the physicist, and an interviewer asked him to explain magnetic repulsion. (The video can be seen here.) In the video, Feynman explains that he cannot actually answer the question because it keeps unraveling into further deeper questions.

Essentially, that in order to answer the question, there is a point where we must assume an axiomatic acceptance of the world around us, or we'll just keep becoming mired in further and further questions that underlie the original question.

As a parent, scientist, and general know-it-all, I frequently get asked questions like this.  They seem simple on their face, but cannot be adequately explained without a great amount of background.

Is there a word for this type of question?

I'd like to be able to warn people:

  I'm sorry, but your question is [word for not as simple to answer due to the above problem] ... Are you sure you want to know my answer?


texts: If I don't love him because he is tall, is he tall or not, according to context?


texts:
Which of the following is correct?

  How many sales do you expect to make more than $470?

vs.

  How many sales do you expect will make more than $470?

If both are correct, which is preferred in the context of a math test involving the normal distribution?

The intent of the problem is this: Given a normal distribution with a mean of 400 and a standard deviation of 70, find the probability that any randomly selected data value will be greater than 470.

EDIT:

By popular demand, I have now replaced the word "make" with the word "earn."

  How many sales do you expect to earn more than $470?

vs.

  How many sales do you expect will earn more than $470?


texts: word or phrase for "positive comments" or "positive review"

texts:
I am looking for a work that almost means "positive comments" or "positive review". It should be subtle, so it cannot be very explicit that the review is positive. Simply hint it.
Some examples where this word or phrase would be used:

The movie critic gave the actor 'positive comments'.
The journal editor gave the authors 'positive comments'.

The sentence I actually want to compose is the following:

The most recent, positive comments from the referee are included in this letter.

but it's too obvious that I'm emphasizing the word positive. I would like it to be more subtle.