texts: Is there a connection between Affront, Effront, Effrontery?

texts:
From the Oxford Dictionary

  Affront
  An action or remark that causes outrage or offence.

Effront is not in any of the major modern dictionaries including the Oxford dictionary, however it is cited in wiktionary from the 1913 Webster's dictionary as

  Effront
  To give assurance to.

Effrontery is listed in the modern day Oxford Dictionary as well as other dictionaries

  Effrontery
  Insolent or impertinent behaviour.

I came across this word as a crossword answer for the clue Brass Neck which made me assume that Effrontery was the action of Effronting or performing an Effront. However it does not seem to be the case and the historic definition of Effront appears to be something else entirely. I would not have been surprised to have seen the definition of Affront appearing as the definition for Effront because they seem connected.

Are these words all related somehow? I could not find much about the etymology.

Edit:

Thanks for the link to etymonline I haven't come across that before. It explains that there was an Effront but it disappeared. It says to compare Effrontery with Affront but it offers no explanation of how it came to be. Looking up Affront on there shows Related: Affronted; affronting. but no Affrontery and the meaning is worded differently perhaps they are considered interchangable.

I would like to know how we ended up with some words beginning with A and some beginning with E and why there are certain variations that do not exist in each set. Seems strange.


texts: Which term would be best to use: Falling asleep or Falling to sleep?

texts:
I'm tasked with filling a website with content and the client has used the term "Falling to sleep". This doesn't sound right in my head to me, I would much rather use "Falling asleep". After doing some browsing of the web, I can't find any information on which one is better to use in a formal context.

It is in a bullet point list and the sentence is:

  "Difficulty initiating (falling to sleep) or maintaining sleep (staying asleep)."

The website context is about Insomnia.


texts: If someone has passed away do we say "Her name was Jane" or "Her name is Jane"?


texts: Is there any difference between "footbridge" and "overhead bridge"? Which term is more suitable to describe a bridge for pedestrians crossing above a roadway? Thank you in advance for your advice!


texts: Can 'no-brainer' mean 'so we don't have to use our brains'?

texts:
Real life example: at work (software) we decided to use a tool (StyleCop) to ensure all coders conformed to the same set of coding style rules, using all the supplied rules out of the box. So, while we could have employed our collective brain-power (plus time and effort) to come up with our own rules and figure out a process to enforce them as much as possible, we instead decided to just deploy the off-the-shelf tool and get back to coding.

So was our decision to defer to a tool, rather than use our own brains, a 'no-brainer'?


texts: Why do words like "expectorate" sound more posh than words like "spit"?

texts:
I think English is unique in having a set of "bad words" each which has its "more refined" equivalent, e.g.:

  spit -> expectorate

  piss -> urinate

  shit -> defecate

  f*ck -> fornicate/copulate

and even:

  kiss -> osculate

What is the origin and etymology of this?


texts:
I saw a quote by Golda Meir

  Don't be so humble; you're not that great.

Can a non-great person claim to be humble?

I now wonder if I have misused "humble" in the past. I knew I wasn't great (but not too bad either), but I said I am humble and sincere in a self-evaluation.


texts: "This wine is drinking nicely" : does anything else drink nicely?

texts:
People tell me this phrase is only used in the context of wine. Even though my lack of knowledge of other phrases that are built similarly suggests these people must be right, my curiosity gets the better of me. After all, I can't claim to know of all the phrases out there.

Are there, though? Something along the lines of:

this pizza is eating nicely
this gum is chewing nicely

or even with another beverage:

this juice/whiskey is drinking nicely


texts: What is correct in this case, "probable" or "probably"?

texts:
I usually don't have trouble distinguishing when I should use an adjective and when an adverb. But today I wrote a sentence, and wasn't sure — actually, the longer I looked at it, the longer both variants looked wrong.

The sentence was about baking, and it said:

  While it is best to use a recipe designed for a big batch, using a multiplied by three small-batch recipe is no more probable to fail than using the small-batch recipe for a single small batch.

While there is probably a way to state the whole idea more clearly, what nags me is the probable. It qualifies using, and using is, of course, a form of the verb "to use" (my English classes are too far in the past to be able to name the form). So maybe it should be the adverb probably, because it is qualifying a verb.

But this is not what my intuition says, and after years of being exposed to almost always grammatically correct English, I have learned to trust my language intuition. Maybe in this case I am mixing it up with the grammar rules for some other language, but I feel that probable and not probably is correct here. Which, of course, is contrary to the rule above. My best explanation is that the phrase "using X" is describing a process, not an action, and is therefore somehow a replacement for a noun, and "using X is no more probable to fail than" is correct for the same reason that "the option of using X is no more probable to fail than...", but this could be just a poor rationalization of my already formed opinion.

So which form is correct, and why?


texts: What is a word that means "starting from one"?

texts:
I'm looking for an adjective that means "to start from the number one."

This is so I can describe a sequence that starts from the number one. I want to be able to say something like "Choose any [adj] sequence" where [adj] is the adjective in this question.

I know there aren't always words that exist for every combination of words, but can anyone think of a word that might work for this?


texts: How to describe a request that I'd prefer to avoid

texts:
Hello dear linguistics,

I am looking for a short phrase, a word if you may, that will describe the following: A request that I can fulfill but I am reluctant to as it involves some actions that I prefer to avoid (not because of effort).

Thank you,
K


texts: Word order for "What is... that ... called?"

texts:
I am having difficulty with finding the natural word order in the following passive construction:

What are people called who do a lot of unnecessary work?
What are called people who do a lot of unnecessary work?
What are people who do a lot of unnecessary work called?

If I change passive to active, the sentence becomes natural:

What do you call people who do a lot of unnecessary work?
What does one call people who do a lot of unnecessary work?

But what is the preferred/natural word order, if any, in such sentences, provided I want to stick with the passive?
I was unable to invent a more generic and to-the-point title. Please fell free to edit if you do.


texts: What does “The city (Ferguson) learned too late that the well was dry” mean?

texts:
I scratched my head in understanding the meaning of the following passage in the article titled, “The tragedy of Ferguson” of Time magazine (September 1 issue). [Some excerpts appear at mediabistro.com, and a teaser at time.com.]

  “Ferguson is no longer just the name of a township. It has become a
  stern lesson in the value of public trust - the city learned too late
  that the well was dry – and a painfully familiar one. When the shots
  rang out on Aug 9, the usual figures assumed the customary positions.
  Al Sharpton? Check. Cable-news anchors? Check. Activist in Guy Fawkes
  masks? Check."

What does “the well was dry” mean? What does "well" account for?
Additionally, What does “Check” mean? Does it mean “Yes / Possible”?


texts: What's the difference between "waste time" and "pass time"?

texts: In this sentence" If reading is to accomplish anything more than___time, it must be active. "Should I fill in "wasting" or "passing"? Thank you!


texts: What is the correct usage of hyphens with ranges (as in "a 5 to 10 minute rest")?

texts:
I'm having issues with figuring out which is correct:

"The teacher told the students to take a 5 to 10 minute rest."
"The teacher told the students to take a 5-to-10 minute rest."
"The teacher told the students to take a 5-to-10-minute rest."

Thank you.


texts: Can most native English speakers pronounce the alveolar trill? (The R in its most emphatic version)

texts:
Usually, in English, the R letter is pronounced either as alveolar approximant or retroflex approximant. The alveolar trill, while not incorrect is used only in a few dialects or, rarely, in emphatic speech.

In my mother tongue (Polish) R is always pronounced as the alveolar trill. Yet this consonant is notoriously difficult for children to learn; this is typically the last sound children manage to master. Also, while the majority pronounces this sound correctly, yet there are surprisingly many adults who have never learned it and substitute it for the "French R", "English R", L, or how English people would pronounce W, as in wabbit.

Because of the sound's apparent difficulty my assumption was that, barring these dialects where it is the usual version, the majority of native English speakers, have never learned how to pronounce the alveolar trill. After all, the sound seems so rare that, as I was assuming, most people have never had the incentive to learn it, nor were they pressured to do so.

Obviously I made this assumption completely a priori and have never had the chance to verify it. Thus it may be utterly incorrect.

Are native English speakers typically able to pronounce r as alveolar trill or not?


texts: Is there anything grammatically incorrect or wrong about this sentence?

texts:
SENTENCE: "The ministry of health warns from the consumption of melon fruits"

My colleagues and I are debating whether or not "warns from" is grammatically correct. I googled the phrase and although, "warned about", "warned of", and "warned against" popped up, "warns from" never did. But I'm thinking, maybe it's just not colloquially used but still grammatically correct?


texts: What are the capitalization / italicization rules for Betta fish?

texts:
I recently edited this question on Pets.SE regarding fish compatability.  The original author used mixed capitalization of "Betta" fish, but did not capitalize "neon tetra".

The Wikipedia entry on Betta states the following:

  There is often much confusion in terminology regarding these fish. Siamese fighting fish, B. splendens, are frequently sold in the United States simply as bettas. Fish fanciers are thus often unaware that, as of 2006, there are around 65 species classified within the genus Betta. A further source of confusion is that while the generic name Betta is italicized and capitalized, when used as a common name it is usually not capitalized.[4]

Yet, throughout the article and even the citation above, Betta is either lower-case or capitalized and infrequently italicized.  I'd like to chalk that up to poor article editing, but ultimately this leaves me confused.

How should {Betta / betta / Betta} be presented within the context of the question I linked, and likely standardized for future site questions?

I'm asking here, not on Pets Meta, because the language subject matter experts are here.


texts: Name for rooms overlooking a castle's great hall

texts:
I'm looking for a name for the rooms that you'd find overlooking a castle's great hall.

Somewhere between a balcony and a viewing gallery. Examples can be found in the top right and left of this image.

Any help would be really appreciated!


texts: My interest in 'x' CULTIVATED many years ago...?

texts:
Is there anything wrong with saying the following?

My interest in Japan cultivated many years ago after taking part in .....

I initially used the verb stemmed as I want to indicate that it began after taking part in '...', but I was told it did not make sense.


texts: I'm searching for a word describing the sound of blood drops falling on someone's shoulder. I found some describing the sound of liquids hitting a surface, such as tap, splat, and tuck. I was going for splat but can you give me some other suggestions.


texts: I need to describe someone giving "a brave smile" (for the benefit of others) but that phrase is such a cliche.  Is there an alternative that means the same? S.


texts: Word or phrase for the surface appearance of an artwork

texts:
My partner teaches college art classes. Commonly she has students exercise (1) describing the brute surface appearance of a work of art, and then separately, (2) giving an interpretation of what the work "means".

Surprisingly her students have a really hard time focusing on part (1) without slipping into interpretive aspects. In the hope of helping them distinguish the categories, she spends a lot of time working and talking about part (1). But it's a little awkward because neither of us can come up with a concise term-of-art that means that thing.

Example usage: "Please describe this artwork's _______, without giving an interpretation."

(To which a correct answer might be, "This painting is a black square, with a cracked surface, inside a whitish border", while an incorrect answer might be, "The artist is saying that human perceptions and feelings are more important than any concrete objects in the world that may or may not produce them".)

What would be the best word or short phrase for this classification?


texts: Stress pattern changes with noun and verb homographs: exceptions to the rule

texts:
We all know that  words that can be used both as nouns and verbs have a different stress pattern: http://www.wordstress.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Stress-Pattern-Change-noun-verb-pairs.pdf

As a non-native english speaker, I love rules. And, just like a young child, I make some (funny) mistakes when it comes to the exceptions. For instance, "award":

Because of the above-mentioned rule, I automatically pronounce the noun as "A-ward" and the verb as "a-WARd". I know that there is no "A-ward", but that's precisely my question:

Why do some pairs of verb/noun homographs not follow the stress change rules?


texts: "He recommended that they are separated" - is this valid?

texts:
I've seen and heard this kind of construction several times now and it always bugs me.  When someone recommends something, surely the verb used in the subclause should be infinitive, so:

  He recommended that they be separated.

... instead of:

  He recommended that they are separated.

Is there any grammatical legitimacy to the latter expression, or is it just a kind of grammatical misunderstanding that is unfortunately coming to be used commonly?

And, could the latter expression have any possibile alternative meaning or is it just incorrect?


texts:
The suit was altered superbly by the tailor, making the timid old man feel like a bold young lion.

I don't understand why the sentence is correct because the word "making" isn't placed after a form of 'be'. But I think it's not a gerund, and I think the word "was" in the beginning of the sentence is for the "altered superbly by the tailor". Please help me to understand the grammar involved here.


texts: What is the word for a situation where a person benefits from their own mistake and hopes you won't notice?

texts:
I'm not even sure how to phrase the question, but I'm looking for a word that describes a situation where a person doesn't necessarily act unethically, but in which the ambiguity they create benefits them when mistakes are made (and therefore they have no incentive to keep the mistake from happening again).

Consider the news from last month where Apple was found to have deliberately slowed down older iPhones through a software update.  Apple's argument was that old phones that have weak batteries can deplete very quickly if there's a sudden demand for power, and that they were trying to "preserve the user experience" by slowing the phone down to compensate.  Indeed, 3rd-party sources have confirmed that replacing an old iPhone's battery does, in fact, restore performance.  Apple maintains they did not intend to deceive anyone, but because they didn't disclose what they did, the slowdown caused some users to buy a new iPhone, and Apple makes more money from selling new iPhones than it does replacing batteries on old ones.

This could also apply to a lot of itemized bills one receives from service contracts; say a phone or utility bill.  The bills are long and contain lots of fees, taxes, and technical jargon that make it difficult to understand.  The company is not deceiving you intentionally, but the complexity of the bill makes it easy to accidentally overcharge you.

I'm pretty convinced there's a word or phrase for this.  Or perhaps an idiom.

I thought maybe obfuscation or plausible deniability, but both of those terms imply deliberate fraud.


texts: How do you refer to something you will go back in time and do?

texts: This is quite confusing for me, do you refer to it in future tense, past tense or would there need to be a new tense?


texts: Is there a word for being untruthful because you think you are right but you aren't?

texts:
Is there a word for the following action:

Presume that we have a person who has never eaten parsley.  He is speaking with another person who also has never eaten parsley.  He tells that person that he doesn't like parsley because it's too spicy.  He believes that it's true because someone else told him, so he's avoided parsley his whole life.

He's not lying, because that would imply he knows the truth but is intentionally saying otherwise.  However, he's not being truthful either.  Is there a word for this?


texts: Word for the opposite of a mistake -- an intentional act that goes against what you are trained to do (or even the law)

texts:
Not just a benign mistake, but an intentional act that goes against what you are trained to do or even the law.

For example, a police officer who arrests someone for an untenable reason.


texts:
Is it correct English to answer the question "are you free now?" with "enjoy me" and if it is correct, would it have more than one meaning?

I asked someone at work (face-to-face) if they were free to discuss a subject and they gave that answer, so was wondering if it even existed, since English was their native language and not mine.


texts: Coining the word "oblivience" as an obliviousness induced rather than ignorance induced state of obedience

texts:
I notice thesauruses do not list the word oblivience, yet I am one of those people who give a little extra meaning to "free speech", as in "it doesn't hurt pioneering as long as the intent is clear".

The context of usage is a dictatorship that has infiltrated its opposition ranks, funding and directing it to actually do its bidding while believing to be struggling against it. So the dictatorship is giving orders in "oblivience" (to the opposition), as in "the people who follow orders are oblivious to whom gives them.

Or maybe there is a more adequate choice that fits the context and diction? How to word it so that it is clear that what's oblivious is the implied but not mentioned opposition?

Naturally, I could simply go for "giving orders to the oblivious", however the nuance I am seeking is a lot more subtle. I want less of an emphasis on the "oblivious opposition" and more on the state of obliviousness. Which is why I think "the oblivious" doesn't cut it, because it stops just short of adding opposition.

I also notice that while oblivious implies general unawareness, its derivatives are far more specific, implying the act of forgetting in particular.

I am not a native speaker, which may be a factor, because there is a way to expressing this subtle nuance in my native language. A more verbose way to put it would be either "giving orders amidst obliviousness" but I kind of want it more concise.

So in the absence of of a better fit, and if I had to coin a term, how intuitive is it, not the word on its own, but in the context, outlined in the second paragraph? I should also probably note that one of the reasons to chose oblivience is its similarity to obedience, as in "oblivious obedience", a smoosh word if you will, and also with a ring of ignorance, but a form that doesn't involve ignoring information by choice but through obliviousness.


texts: “I can't be available” vs “I will not be available”

texts:
I had written “I can't be available from 9-10.” My friends suggested that I rewrite it as “I can't be available from 9-10”. Both answers were not satisfying me. I had searched on the internet for correct form sentence. The suggestion is I need to use the verb will rather than can.

  I can't be available from 9-10.
  I can't available from 9-10.
  I will not be available from 9-10.

Can anyone explain me in detail difference in three statements? How be effected tense of statement 1 & 2?  Where can I use can in the future sentence with detailed examples?


texts: What does the phrase "today's dollars" mean?

texts:
I do not completely understand the meaning of the phrase "today's dollars" in this sentence from a document on health care expenses:

  "... they will need almost $400,000 in today's dollars by the time they reach retirement age."

I suppose it is somehow related to price level growth and inflation, right? Could you give a more detailed explanation?


texts:
I believe buck, in this context, means fight.  So this would mean fighting traffic.  When one refers to traffic, it can be described as having a flow, so to fight it would be to go against it.  Or, it could be that you are stuck in traffic and fighting to get through the jam.

EDIT:
Here is an example:

  Person 1: Anywhere you go during rush hour, traffic will be bad.

  Person 2: Since I am coming from the south I will be bucking traffic

In this example, traffic is expected to be bad regardless of the direction you are going, as stated by person one.  Person 2 is reasoning that since they are essentially participating in a "reverse commute", i.e leaving the suburbs and heading back to the central district, they will be bucking traffic.

In this context it is being used more in the sense of "going against the flow", like one would be "bucking current" as they swam upriver.
/EDIT

Where did it come from and what does it mean?


texts: Why is one spelt with one t as in commitment where other stems of this word use two t's, such as committee and similar? Is there an etymological explanation for this difference?


texts: What sort of stress is isochronous in English?

texts:
English is oft said to be stress timed, so that strongly stressed syllables should occur at (roughly) the same intervals. For the purposes of this question, please assume that.

Is a syllable isochronous because it is stronger than its surrounding syllables? Or because it is absolutely strong?

Hopefully an example will help. Let 4 be strongest stress, 1 weakest. Imagine a sentence with the following stress pattern

1 2 1 1 4 3 4

Are the 2nd 5th and 7th syllables isochronous? Or the 5th 6th and 7th?

Stress is notoriously debatable, but what about the following sentence, would a native English speaker rush through the 1st four words, at a similar pace to each of the last three?

why do they all know their stuff?


texts:
I don’t even know how to accurately ask this question, but I need to know which of the following is correct:

  Tom Smith is an Arizona native and partner at the Law Offices of Smith & Smith.

Or

  Tom Smith is an Arizona native and a partner at the Law Offices of Smith & Smith.

Basically the question is can the “an” in the first part of the sentence be correctly applied to the word “partner” (which normally would require an “a”).


texts: What is the idiom/phrase for doing something to someone and the same thing will also happen to you?

texts: I know "karma is a b**ch", "what goes around, comes around", and "you reap what you sow", but I'm looking for a much more elaborate phrase that's very descriptive, which I had heard ages ago but can't recall it anymore.


texts: Is "including but not limited to" a redundant phrase?

texts: Doesn't "including" imply the "not limited to"?


texts: Present simple Passive - Change in the meaning when translate from active to passive or Vice versa

texts:
I know that passives can not be formed if we don't have direct object. Except that do we have any other situation in which we cant convert active into passive OR Passive into active.

From Active to Passive

I wash my car.

Active: I wash my car.(It means that I wash my car on my own everyday. I like music...kind of habit/something which I do everyday.)

Passive: My car is washed by me. (Now when I read this sentence what my understanding is That the car is in clean state which is done by me.)

In case, if my understanding is correct then by changing voice i also changed the meaning of the sentence.In my understanding, the meaning should not change. Generally, in passive voice the focus changes from doer of the action to object on which the action is done. But the meaning remains the same.

Please let me know how it works? Can we form passive keeping the same meaning for this sentence?

From Passive to active

For simple Past:

"The door was locked." There can be two interpretation:

1) It was a state. (Past participle)
2) It was done by somebody. (passive)

We decide from the context in those cases. If from context I decide that It was done by somebody. I will change the sentence into active voice which will be "He locked the door". Of course if it is past participle. I cant do it because it is not passive voice.

The door is locked. there must be two interpretation:

The door is locked. (Past participle)
The door is locked by him. (Passive)

The issue is I cant form Active tense even if i know it is passive voice. Because if I do then the sentence will be " He locks the door." which means he locks the door everyday which is not the meaning it should be conveying.

Please let me know how these things work.


texts: Does the word "apparently" imply that I personally do or don't believe the statement following it?

texts:
When I say "Apparently, xyz", does that imply one of the following, and if so, which one?

From observation, I believe xyz to be true, but I leave open the possibility that I might be wrong.
I believe xyz is not true, but I am aware that it may seem so, and want to point that out.

Merriam-Webster gives "open to view", "clear or manifest to the understanding" and "appearing as actual to the eye or mind", which to me seems to lean towards the first interpretation, but when discussing synonyms it also states

  apparent, illusory, seeming, ostensible mean not actually being what appearance indicates.

which sounds more like the second.

Can I use apparently for both situations, or is there a better word for one of them?


texts: Parenthetical pluralization of words ending in '-y'

texts:
Sentences constructed with a word written in the singular and parenthetically in the plural are straightforward when that word does not end in -y, e.g.:

  List all applicable employee(s).

How does one handle words ending in -y? Is this correct:

  I will attend the party(ies).


texts: Cadaver/corpse/body for a dead human body

texts:
Currently listening to the audio book "Digital Fortress", I came across the word "cadaver" in reference to a dead human body for the first time. Somehow it struck me as a degrading way of referring to it.

So I started wondering what governs the choice of the three words body, cadaver and corpse (and potentially stiff and lich) for a dead human body. I.e. would cadaver carry a more formal or medically correct connotation compared to body or corpse?


texts:
I've seen the word 'communication' as a verb. Going by the provenance of the document, I'm reasonably sure that the author meant to use it in this context and that it wasn't a typo. E.g.:

  How should we communication this?

I'm a British English speaker, and the author of the document is American. I'm used to seeing Americans use words in ways that seem 'novel' to me.

There are some AmEng words that, as far as I can tell, have been invented where the equivalent word already existed, and are similar to that word. E.g. 'normalcy' vs 'normality', 'specialty' vs 'speciality'.
There are some occasions where similar words have been re-purposed and the meaning conflated. E.g. 'utilize' vs 'use'.
There are occasions words where words have been invented but which have a subtly different meaning (or not, depending who you ask). E.g. 'competency' vs 'competence'.
Good old fashioned verbing. But surely this only happens when the word doesn't already exist? We already have 'communicate'.

Of course, sometimes we use a word in a way that no-one else ever has (to put it euphemistically).

Has anyone else seen 'communication' as a verb? I'm pretty sure the author has heard of the word 'communicate' so I doubt it's option 1 or 2. It could be option 3, in which case, what does 'communication' mean when it's a verb?

EDIT: I know that in standard AmEng 'communication' is a noun and 'communicate' is a verb. I'm not here to ask what the correct usage is, rather to see if anyone can shed light on the neologism by providing positive evidence.


texts:
Smith is lying there watched patiently by Jones.

Am I right that this is two clauses, and that the second is a dependent clause in the passive voice?

Should there be a comma between them, and if so why?


texts: A saying similar to "playing whack-a-mole"

texts:
My wife is  looking for a phrase or saying in English that is similar to...

Lo urgente no deja tiempo para lo importante

...which means  "Urgent matters do not leave time for what is really important", or more simply,

"The urgent does not leave time for the important"

I suggested "playing whack-a-mole", but she says that doesn't express the idea of "not having time for what is really important".
Any ideas?


texts: Can a "2x4" be referred to as a "board"?

texts:
On this question on Engineering.SE a poster calls something 2" thick by 4" wide by 2ft long a "board". He asserts in a comment that "we call 2x4s "boards" here in the midwest of the U.S.". Personally I would probably call it either a "two-by-four" or a "stud". It is possible that in my native British English there isn't a generally accepted term for pieces of timber with a width to thickness ratio less than 4:1.

My research on dictionary.reference.com yields "board" as:

  a piece of wood sawed thin, and of considerable length and breadth compared with the thickness

This agrees with my understanding of "board". Clearly a breadth of 4" is not "considerable" compared to a thickness of 2".

Merriam-Webster (the last word in US definitions as far as I understand) gives:

  a piece of sawed lumber of little thickness and a length greatly exceeding its width

Although this gives no comparison of the thickness compared to the width, it does say "of little thickness" and doesn't mention that the width must be little. I would therefore interpret this to mean something like a floorboard: say 3/4" by 6" by 25".

Can anybody find any research to back up the poster's assertion that a 2"x4" is termed a board in parts of the US?


texts: "Patch up holes along the way." Is this idiom common?

texts:
I'm not a native English speaker so I have no idea. Example:

  "I think I should I start my story from the beginning. That way you don't have to patch
  up holes along the way."

I worry that the meaning is too ambiguous. That's why I'm asking.


texts: What is "better" modifying in this sentence?

texts:
I'm not sure what "better" is modifying in a sentence with "had better":

"If there is a virus in your system, you had better hope that it responds to the appropriate treatment and therapy."

I know it's some sort of idiomatic expression, but what is it modifying in particular?


texts: Single word for a plant's fruit/vegetable?

texts:
I'm looking for a word that describes the green bulb of a pepper, banana or other mass a plant produces.
A word that encompasses the domains of fruits and vegetables, perhaps a Latin word that's root derives from the Godess of Foliage.
Ideally the word should be scientific and unambigious.

I thought of "appendages" but I interpret that as too alien to a plant, also too ambigious.
I wouldn't call them "extremities", nor would I use "tumor" or "growth" to describe them. The latter are too gross to be associated with edible items.
I feel there must be a better, more scientific, plant related term.

I cannot articulate my question enough for Google to interpret, therefore I come to SE.

Sample sentence: "I'm growing peppers and other edible _________" (Note: talking in the domain of plants)


texts: Is it correct to put a comma before an adverb?

texts: For example, in the sentence "The boys sat huddled together, trembling."


texts: What does the title "Whose line is it anyway?" mean?

texts:
Whose line is it anyway? is a comedy show in which participants are given a theme and they are supposed to come up with an act according to the theme given to them.

According to Oxford Dictionary, one possible meaning of anyway is to ask a question,
like

  What are you doing here anyway?

but I am not able figure out the meaning of anyway in this expression. Maybe it is because I am not able to imagine the context it has been said in.

What is the explanation?


texts: Attributive or Possessive noun: the Dell Company's staff. or the Dell Company staff?

texts:
In the following is it better to use a possessive noun with an apostrophe or an attributive noun without an apostrophe?

  The following list details the assumptions that have been made in
  conjunction with the Dell Company’s staff.

Or

  The following list details the assumptions that have been made in
  conjunction with the Dell Company staff.

Assume Company is the name of a company, such as Dell.


texts:
Is it possible/common to say:

  I'd like an apple two times.


texts: Which demographic of English speakers say "I've to" for "I have to"?

texts:
In a forum I frequent there are many times that contractions are used in a way that's unusual, and many users find to be ungrammatical:

"I've to" etc.

To me it's not ungrammatical but it sounds both old-fashioned and like something you might hear in certain rural areas of England, but I don't know where.

Do some of our English experts here have more information on who uses or used this structure? Which region or regions and which age groups etc?


texts: Is there an adjective for 'Ability to reset to a known state'?

texts:
Resettable seems to be the closest thing I can find, but it doesn't feel that good.

I have a list of three characteristics:

Programmatic access to data sources
Exclusive access to testing data when in use
Ability to reset testing data to a known state when finished

The third one is obviously the odd one out. It could be

Resettable to a previously known state

But that doesn't feel right either. Does anyone know of a nice way of saying 'Ability to reset ___ to a known state' that matches the pattern of the first two?

Or am I worrying about something that doesn't matter and the original third item is the best choice?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is there a word for an acronym which spells out one of its component words?

What's that figure of speech in which you use the same word to define its meaning, thereby not really defining it.

Like, "YAML Ain't Markup Language", the expanded form of the abbreviation YAML uses itself in its definition and thus doesn't really define the actual thing.

In this case, though, through negation, it restricts the purview of its meaning to a fairly ascertainable concept. But that's just one example.

In other usages, the definition may or may not convey meaning.

Like in this definition of the Internet, "The Internet, a backward formation of inter-network, is a network of networks."

It's not synecdoche, as I used to think.

For instance a elusive statement like "God is...well, only God can define God." exemplifies it.

It uses the word whose definition is sought in the definition itself, thereby abdicating the responsibility of providing meaning or justification.


texts: Is there a term to describe words missing in a document?

texts: The words are supposed to be there but have been left due to any reason. Is there a succinct term to describe such words?


texts: Word that mean "to hold" but something that you're already holding?

texts:
Example:

"I'm not in the mood for jokes," she said, [...] her fork and looking
at her plate again.

So in the example, the person was already holding the fork.
The two words that come to my mind are grip and clutch. I'm not sure, though, if they imply taking the thing first:

grip
take and keep a firm hold of; grasp tightly.
clutch
grasp (something) tightly.
grasp
seize and hold firmly.

Source: Google.
Is there a better word? Or I can use one of the options above? (Maybe one of the doesn't imply to take or seize so much?)


texts: What is the meaning of bold part in the following sentence

texts:
Long before ISI became a dreaded acronym courtesy the notorious Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan, it was associated with a (failed) economic strategy practiced by India and several other developing countries: Import Substitution
Industrialisation.


texts: "in the most unexpected way" vs "in the most unexpected of ways"

texts:
For instance, which one I should use in the following sentence?

  It wasn't until eight years later that I got to hear about the Johnsons again, though [...].

Are they the same? If not, how to they differ?


texts: synonym for "for lease" but free ("for lend"?)

texts:
I'm looking for a synonym like "for sale" but for lending.
Both, "for lease" and "for rent" sound like you have to pay, but I need a synonym for lending for free. Is "for lend" correct?


texts: I have a student whose name is 'Uriel' and I'm just wondering how I should pronounce it!


texts: Is saying "but nevertheless..." redundant?

texts: I've heard in many places, educated people saying "but nevertheless...". I think both but and nevertheless have the play the same role. Is their combination, as to emphasize that what follows is opposes to the previous statement(s), allowed? Is it considered redundant or uneducated?


texts:
I learnt a new word the other day: lalochezia:-

  The use of vulgar or foul language to relieve stress or pain. [English Wiktionary]

I have been indulging in this for in excess of fifty years without knowing this word, so I started to wonder, how is the word so rare when the thing it describes is so common? Is there a synonym for it that I can't think of?


texts:
I have a question as follows:

  Fill in the blanks using the most suitable form from the list given below

  "All visitors will be asked to register at the front desk prior to _____ the government building."

  enter
  entering
  be entered
  entered

I think 1. or 2. can be the correct answer, but can't decide which one is the best.
Could anyone tell me which one is the most suitable and why?


texts:
I've been trying to avoid using the two words "extreme/extremely" and "disgust/disgusted" in my sentences, but I can't find any appropriate substitute for "extremely disgusted".

I was thinking something along the lines of "abject horror" but that doesn't necessarily convey "disgust".  Is there a more specific word that describes extreme disgust?


texts: Is 'Some of y'all' grammatically correct?

texts:
Why or why isn't "Some of y'all" grammatically correct?
Example: "Some of y'all have too much free time"


texts: "Raising your voice". Correct definition and usage

texts:
Raising your voice is speaking loud and clear (with emphasis), to point something out, mostly in a discussion (e.g. out of excitement).
Raising your voice is speaking loud and clear, sharp, more of less angry/aggitated.

I strongly believe option 1 is the only correct definition. I refuse to believe you can only raise your voice in anger.

Enlighten me!


texts: Synonym of "walk" for this specific context

texts:
I was wondering if there is a more precise verb to express "walk" for a pedestrian who is moving around a city, someone who is not "enjoying a nice walk with her/his partner" or "wandering around" but moving with a clear purpose towards a direction. Something like "cruising" with your car when you are commuting to work.

Example sentence: you can see a difference in the navigation pattern of a subject who is simply enjoying social life outdoors from one that is walking as a mean of transportation to get from point A to point B; the first is slow and erratic, the second is fast and traces a neat trajectory


texts: Why does “something catch my eye” but not “both my eyes”?

texts:
I am not a native English speaker, I usually hear “something caught my eye” but never “something caught (both) my eyes”. This seems pretty strange to me.

Cambridge Dictionaries Online provide these examples but without any explanation

  catch sb's eye
  (i) to get someone's attention:
  A sudden movement caught my eye.

  (ii) to get someone's attention, especially by looking at them:
  I tried to catch the waiter's eye, so we could order.

  (iii) to be attractive or different enough to be noticed by someone:
  It was the unusual colour of his jacket that caught my eye.

Why is only one eye ‘caught”? Doesn't something catch our sight? We normally see with both eyes, not with one.


texts: The reason of the difficulties with .....were different values ...

texts: I wonder whether it should be "was different values" or "were different values"? Should it refer to "the reason" or "different values?"


texts: "I thought I'd never see you again" vs. "I never thought I'd see you again"

texts:
Why are those two sentences seemingly used in an interchangeable way? Example: A daughter is kidnapped. She's reunited with her father. Her father says "I never thought I'd see you again."

Now, to me, these sentences mean two very different things:

I thought I'd never see you again. - It occurred to me that I may never look upon you again.

I never thought I'd see you again. - It never occurred to me to think about seeing you.

Am I wrong in my assumptions on these phrases? If not, why are they used in such an interchangeable manner all the time?


texts: Specific term for perception bias of content

texts:
People from Rancho Cucamonga are special.

If a movie is filmed or set in their town, they unswervingly feel that the movie is better than others.  Especially since it is so rare and … special.

They argue online about its greatness, and do not understand how it is that other people don't see the movie's obvious magnificence.  They are genuinely perplexed.

It doesn't have to be a small town.  It could just as easily be ..Scotland, although the rarity of showing Rancho Cucamonga makes it just so obviously better, and perhaps what provides the perceptual extra gravitas.

What is the exacting term for this specific kind of bias?


texts: What do you call someone who holds other people to rules they don't believe in themselves?

texts:
Title.
This is a very mundanely used word, but I forgot it, and it has been bugging me for a while now and it just won't come back. Maybe someone can help me out quickly. I feel stupid for even asking.


texts: Why is an application called an application?

texts:
Sometimes it's nice to know where the words we use everyday as programmers actually come from. For example, I can explain how a computer screen relates to a flat material onto which diaporamas used to be projected. I can explain how a computer program relates to the word in the musical domain, where a "program" describes the list of pieces to be played during a show -- everything is planned, written, and unwinds as planned. And so on...

But I struggle to find the intention behind the word "application". I see two possibilities:

a theoretical or abstract concept is "applied" to a real-world domain
something is "applied onto" something else as a poster is applied onto a wall

So a computer application would be either the useful realization of an abstract/useless idea, or something which is glued onto something else, however neither explaination really makes sense to me.

What is the reason behind an application being called an application?


texts:
We can say "I'm of the opinion that ~" instead of "I reckon that ~" in a formal way.

Then, can I say "What opinion are you of?" in place of "What do you reckon?"


texts:
Can anyone please pile up the words related to reading?e.g read,browse and peruse.
simple explanation of the words welcome.
Thanks


texts: In "The Plague" by Camus, what does the author mean when he talks about ganglia?

texts:
In Gilbert's 1948 translation of Camus' La Peste, "The Plague", there are frequent references to "ganglia" as one of the symptoms of the bubonic plague (yersinia pestis).  The definitions I've found for ganglia seem to refer only to a bunch of nerve cells, which does not sound like what the author means here.  Below are some quotes from the book.  Is he really referring to swollen nerve cells?
"the ganglia of his neck and limbs were swollen"
"I have two cases with inflamed ganglia"
"The ganglia had become still larger and felt like lumps of solid fibrous matter embedded in the flesh"
"The ganglia in the neck were painful to the touch"
"His limbs spread out by the ganglia"
"The ganglia were much bigger"
"swell the mesenteric ganglia to the size of an orange and give them the consistency of gruel"
"Ganglia had formed under the burning skin and there was a rumbling in his chest"
"The ganglia had ceased swelling, but they were still there, like lumps of iron embedded in the joints"


texts: Word or a short phrase referring to the feeling of wanting to pinch someone cute, fluffy, chubby, etc

texts:
Whenever I see cute babies or animals, I oftentimes feel like pinching them, not to hurt them but to express how much I find them cute, fluffy, chubby, or adorable.

What word or short phrase can I use to describe that feeling?


texts: I have questions about the paragraph I can't understand

texts:
Of groups of atoms collected together and able to think, to look out in wonder at the universe that made us, and build machines that can revisit our origins in the Big Bang.

Question 1.
What is meaning of the 'of'?

Question 2.
Is it correct that 'and was able'? Was the 'was' omitted?

Thanks for reading.


texts: Formal alternative to 'can be seen in combination with'

texts: For a university course I had to write a scientific text about a certain topic and in the text I used a sentence of the form 'The relevance of X can be seen in combination with Y'. The teacher gave feedback on the text and stated that 'can be seen in combination with' was very wordy phrasing and that it would be better to use a formal alternative. I have looked on the internet but have only found synonyms to the word combination. Does anybody have an idea how to rewrite this in a more formal way?


texts:
I've been told that the prefix "para" means "against".

Parachute (against falling)
Paramilitary (against military)
Paraply/umbrella (against raining)

But, other words does not make much sense to me:

Paramedic (against medicine?)
Paraglider (against gliding?)

Pardon my Ausberger, but why isn't "para" used consistently?


texts:
For example, in "I see that you have a new car." the "I see" seems to imply something like "I am seeing now" or "I noticed", rather than the usual present simple tense connotation of a habit or something that's true in the past, present and future.

What tense are such sentences considered to be in? I briefly thought imperative but that implies something that will be true in the future but isn't true now. Is there something like a "declarative" tense?


texts: Can we use advanced instead of postponed in a sentence for communicating that a date has been postponed

texts:
I would like to know if

The training dates have been advanced by a day .

The training dates have been postponed by a day.

Do they mean the same?


texts: Is the following a gerund or participle in this sentence?

texts:
I'm not feeling myself today.

In the sentence above, is 'feeling' a gerund or participle? (I understand that the main verb is 'am', from which I can then ascertain that it is at least one of these two non-finite verb forms.) The phrase 'feeling myself' seems like something that could be swapped out for another adjective -'I'm not happy'; 'I'm not certain' - which makes me think participle. But the fact that it is functioning as the object of the sentence (I think? Or is this a verb without an object?) makes me think gerund.
For context:

"It's alright. You're probably right. I'm not feeling myself today. Ignore me."

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please be as technical as you can!


texts:
How do we describe "something that can be evaluated"? My first thought was "evaluatable", since we have

inflate  ->  inflatable
debate   ->  debatable
equate   ->  equatable

However, "evaluable" is apparently the word that means "able to be evaluated", not "evaluatable". Is there any particular reason for this apparent discrepancy, or is "evaluatable" actually okay?

Some quick notes

Interestingly, the top usage of the word "evaluatable" seems to be in the docs for Mathematica, as a setting to specify whether a cell can be evaluated.
I couldn't find "evaluatable" in any of the dictionaries I tried, although yourdictionary.com seems to have "unevaluatable"...


texts: Are 'Coincidental' and 'Deliberate' classifiers?

texts:
I'm not one hundered percent sure if these two adjectives in this phrase

"One coincidental evil begets other, often more deliberate evils"

are classifiers or descriptors. I don't think they are gradable (as in I don't think the use of 'very' and so on is optimal in this case, however I might be wrong) but they also seem like descriptive characteristics, so I'm a bit confused.
I am using Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, according to which: Descriptors are adjectives that describe color, size and weight, chronology
and age, emotion, and other characteristics. They are typically gradable.
(Tall, Black, Dead, Empty, Appropriate, Lovely, Thin,...)
Classifiers limit or restrict a noun's referent, rather than describing
characteristics in the way that descriptors do. They can
a)limit the referent of a noun in relation to other referents (additional, average, chief, complete, different, direct,)
b)identify the national or social group of a referent (Chinese, American,...)
c)topical - lother classifiers give the subject area or specific type of a noun
(Human, industrial, legal, sexual, mental, exponential...)
Some words may be both in different sentences (popular girl - desriptor, popular vote - classifier)


texts: In writing a paper in a Microsoft Word Document I wrote "omittance," which prompted an edit remark from the program telling me that I spelled the word incorrectly. I don't know why I felt like writing omittance when I know that the proper word is omission, but there it was on the page. And honestly the word looked like it should be a word considering I wanted to use omission in a future tense. In Google searching I found the use of omittance in the unabridged Merriam Webster dictionary; however I hesitate to accept anything from them. So I ask the experts here, is omittance ever an acceptable tense of omission or should I omit its use forevermore?


texts: Word for "a person who imitates their hero"?

texts:
And when I say hero, I mean like, anachronistic, fairy tale, knight in shining armor, fighting dragons, chivalric romance, kind of hero.

I need the word for a title for a piece of content that I made for game, (Dungeons & Dragons if you must know, though I don't think that has much to do with the question at hand) which I'd like to share with others in the gaming community I participate in. The title is the only thing I have to work with to get people's attention and communicate the theme without the audience actually clicking the link. (It will just appear as a single word in a massive list of other stuff other people have made) The name I give it is the only marketing tool I've got, so it's important that the word be accurate, or people will pass it over or click on it out of misunderstanding.

An example would be a person who idolizes Ghandi, and decides to model their values and life off of his actions, by becoming a civil rights activist. They don't dress like Ghandi, or use all of the same methods as him, or even necessarily agree with all of his ideas in detail, but they do pattern their life after his achievements. The example I was planning on using in the text is Don Quixote, despite him being fictional, delusional, and more than a little extreme.

Imitator and copycat give a juvenile impression- like a 6-year-old acting like his older brother. That would be thematically inaccurate.

I also do not want a word with religious overtones like idolator, zealot, or fanatic, as these would be misleading, giving the implication that the game element would make their character a cultist of some sort. (Cultists are a regular theme as enemies in these games, so it's not much of a leap.)

Romantic seems close, but with the contemporary common usage of that word, just seems off.

I am not sure if this word even exists. I think it does. It feels like it's on the tip of my tongue, but I've been thinking about it for two months now with no luck.


texts: Compelled and compeled - American English

texts:
As for the British English it's always taught - compel, compelled, compelling

Some of the books/dictionaries say that in American English you say compel, compeled, compeling instead, you simply don't double that l.

Moreover, Merriam Webster (11th Collegiate) doesn't mention "compeled" at all. With counsel - both options are listed.

Interestingly, ngram doesn't indicate much usage of "compeled". On the other hand, "counseled" is more popular than "counselled" in AmE

How is it really in American English?


texts: Why is it necessary to use the word *else* in this sentence?

texts:
I found a writing skills question in Barron's PSAT test guide that was confusing to me.

  Mary is as fast as, if not faster than, anyone in her class and should be on the team.

The book states that the sentence is erroneous and should be changed to:

  Mary is as fast as, if not faster than, anyone else in her class and should be on the team.

Why is it necessary to use the word else?


texts: ancient sort of designs and window types

texts:
I'd like to find references to certain types of objects, but, I don't know what particularly they are called, What do you call This particular type of architecture? and is there any name for the sort of curvy designs?

And what do you call this particular style of windows, this kind I usually recon seeing in castles of vampires in movies?


texts: Use of the 'bird' when referring to a young maiden

texts: In the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera 'The Mikado'  (mid-late nineteenth Century) - the words 'Yes, I knew the bird intimately' appear the circumstances which point to a pun meaning a young lady,  this predates the 1915 supposed 'new' use of the word in this context by 50 years  is it not fair then to assume this can be said to be a possible contender for the first use in modern times?


texts: Difference between “intelligent” and “clever”

texts:
I know that dolphins are intelligent creatures, and young people can be intelligent as well. Students can be clever. But can a student be intelligent and a dolphin be clever?

What's the difference between clever and intelligent?


texts:
QUESTION 1
I'm trying to figure out the seemingly subtle difference(s) between a sentence modified by a bare infinitive and one modified by a participle phrase. What do you get out of these:

I watched her run across the bridge --> verb of perception followed by bare infinitive
I watched her running across the bridge --> participle phrase

I don't get why and when I should choose a bare infinitive over a participle phrase.

QUESTION 2
Also, 'watch' is a verb of perception, isn't it, similar to 'see'. I have been reading this- I'm not sure if that explained the differences between watch and see, though; I might or might not have missed it.


texts: Word meaning "having the power to both create and destroy something"

texts:
I'm looking for a single word, noun or adjective, that conveys the meaning "having the power to both create and destroy" something specific. For example:

  The magician seemingly had < insert word here > over rabbits, able to pull them from thin air, and equally return them to nothingness

Or

  The network administrator can both create and delete user accounts, they have < insert word here > over/on/with user accounts.

Some words that I've considered but don't quite fit are

sovereignty (too specific to politics)
potency (not quite right)
omnipotence (implies non specific power)

To clear  some things up in response to comments.

the creation/destruction need not be physical.
there's no wizardry involved. Regarding the magician, think stage performer not wizard
the word should not be limited to power over a specific thing, e.g. sovereignty grants per to create and repeal laws, but not the power to create and destroy rabbits
the word should be modifiable in combination with a subject to indicate a single thing or concept to which the power applies
the word should not be too general, such as omnipotence meaning power over everything


texts: Is "po-TAH-to" an acceptable pronunciation for "potato"?

texts:
Immortalized in the George and Ira Gershwin song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" is the nitpicking of pronunciation differences:

  You like potato and I like potahto,
  You like tomato and I like tomahto,
  Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto!

According to Wikipedia and other sources, the English do pronounce tomato as tə-MAH-toh rather than tə-MAY-toh. But this doesn't seem to be the case when it comes to potato.

  (From the O.E.D.)

  tomato  –  Pronunciation: /təˈmɑːtəʊ/
  potato  –  Pronunciation: /pəˈteɪtəʊ/

Is "potahto" actually an acceptable way to pronounce potato? Or is the song just wrong?


texts: Addressing boys and girls differently in (Victorian?) English schools

texts:
In Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë I read:

  “Burns” (such it seems was her name:  the girls here were all called
  by their surnames, as boys are elsewhere)...

So my question is: were there (or are there) different rules for addressing
boys and girls in English schools? And if so, how were the girls usually
called if not by their surname?


texts:
I'm wondering about starting a sentence with a contraction while use a coordinating conjunction. Here is an example:

  I'm sorry you're hungry, Adam, and would like to feed you.

Would this sentence be correct since the contraction doesn't make sense with the second clause? Or would it need to be two separate sentences? For example:

  I'm sorry you're hungry, Adam. I would like to feed you.

Thanks for any input!


texts:
infix: implant or insert firmly in something, as in the particles of mercury will infix themselves in the structure of the other metal

How about the opposite? Is there something called outfix? I.e. encapsulate or surround firmly around something, as in the particles of mercury will outfix themselves around the structure of the other metal


texts: Why do we say "take a taxi", but we use "the" in "take the bus"?

texts: Why do we use "a" in "take a taxi" and use "the" in "take the bus"? What's the difference?


texts: Why is the past tense of text, as used by some people, pronounced "text-ted" and not just "tested"?

texts: Why is the past tense of text, as used by some people, pronounced text-Ted and not just tested? One wouldn't say risk-ked for risked, or ask-ked for asked?


texts: what does "showing the fly the way out of the fly-bottle" literally means?

texts:
I saw this expression:

"the aim of the activity is "to show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle". "

(It is connected with this other expression: "I don't know my way about".)

I grasped the general sense of the expression but I don't understand clearly how it is formed, i.e. it's logical analysis (e.g, is "fly" a noun in this case?).

Which are the logical analysis and the literal meaning of the expression "to show the fly the way out ot the fly-bottle"?


texts:
Is there an expression to refer to an argument / word fight between lovers (or any two people who are an item, whether married or single)? I'm thinking about those arguments that arise from small things and seem to raise hell for a few hours, or a few days, and end up vanishing into thin air because they were really about something silly or insignificant (or, more likely, because of some insecurity blowing insignificant matters into ungodly proportions).

Something in the sense of: They couldn't live apart for five seconds, constantly declaring their undying love, and yet every other week there they were in the throes of yet another 'lover's argument'.


texts:
In the following question, I need a verb (past participle):

Was the student questioned about bullying he had ______ ?

I realize one could say been subjected to, but that feels stilted to me.

"been on the receiving end of" has the right tone but I need something simpler.

Edit 8/31/16: I need something more emotionally neutral for my purposes.  "Experienced" seems to be working reasonably well so far.


texts: What do 'media hog' and 'sweet baby' mean, how offensive are they?

texts:
I happen to see the following three episodes in today’s Washington Post, all of which seem to me related to derogative usage of words or actions:

The Navy is expected to relieve Capt. Owen Owen Honors as commander of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise as a part of an investigation into a series of videos made by Honors that use anti-gay slurs and mimic masturbation.
Despite the fancy sounding name, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee has almost zero legislative authority. All they can do is hold hearings. While most members of Congress have no interest in being on the committee, it seems to be a dream post for media hogs like Issa and Joe Lieberman.
ESPN host calls reporter 'sweet baby': ESPN, the sports network where male announcers have repeatedly faced disciplinary action in high-profile episodes of sexist behavior, has benched yet another host for his remarks to a female colleague.

Although Quote 1. is self-explanatory, what does ‘media hog’ of Quote 2. mean? Does it mean “those who wish to stand out in media exposure? How derogatory the word is?

What kind of connotation “sweet baby “in Quote 3 have in this particular case? How offensive is it?

I’m afraid my questions are insensible, but it is difficult for non native English speaker like me to fathom exact degree of destructiveness of derogative English words.


texts:
Do I need to add ‘that’? Is it neccesary?

She demands that he go to the mall.

She demands he go to the mall.

Which one is proper?

I thought that he was tired.

I thought he were tired.

There are some instances where subjunctive ‘that’ is used - possible. Is ‘were’ preferred or ‘that’?  Please advise.


texts: Use of the word "that" in formal tone, technical writing

texts:
I need help settling a disagreement.  I have read many posts about the word "that" — probably too many, since I have gotten myself confused!  In this first example, there are two subordinate clauses, and I believe the first sentence (below) is correct.  Which of these is preferable, and why?

  Marine biologists at the University of Utah examined the louse genes and determined that their hosts split into three species 5–6 million years ago, and that these species were all equally abundant before whaling began in the 11th century.

vs:

  Marine biologists at the University of Utah examined the louse genes and determined their hosts split into three species 5–6 million years ago, and these species were all equally abundant before whaling began in the 11th century.

Here's a different example in which I'm again of the opinion that the word "that" is necessary, but once again, I know not why:

  During the winter months (July–October), southern right whales come so close to the shoreline that visitors can watch whales from strategically placed hotels.

vs:

  During the winter months (July–October), southern right whales come so close to the shoreline, visitors can watch whales from strategically placed hotels.

I might also note that we are aiming for a formal (encyclopedic) tone.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!


texts: using key in singular/plural in the expression 'key to ...'

texts:
What is the best answer?

'A low diet and exercising are key/the key/ the keys to success?'


texts: This is talking about a promise to meet at a certain place. However, is it grammatically correct? Is it badly phrased? It seems that it can be misinterpreted to mean that at a certain place a promise was made to meet, rather than promising to meet at a certain place later.


texts:
Everyone is always singular.  Most can be either singular or plural depending on the subject which it describes.  Most of everyone, for example, would be singular since everyone is still the subject.  I don't know if it is the same if we remove the of, since now the subject is a group of individuals, not the individuals as a single whole.

  Most everyone gets to keep their money.

- or -

  Most everyone get to keep their money.


texts: Is it correct to say 'two/three parter movie'?

texts:
I have been wondering about this for sometime now.

I often hear people say two-parter. Is it correct/formal?

I want to describe a documentary movies consisting of three parts. Three-parter movie? How about a trilogy?


texts: What is the right phrase describing a meeting in school with parents?

texts:
As a teacher, which of the following should I say?

  We have a teacher–parent meeting on Monday 9th.
  We have a teacher–parents meeting on Monday 9th.
  We have a parent–teacher conference on Monday 9th.


texts: What do you call a person who does not go out with his friends?

texts: What do you call a person who does not go out with his friends because he thinks he is superior to them?


texts: "You and me against the world" vs "You and I against the world"

texts: I have heard the first sentence in a song and there are also other songs that go something like "Me against the world" and "Me against the music". Shouldn't it be "You and I against..." since the phrase "You and I" is the subject? Or is it not?


texts: Does the word "function" in this sentence make grammatical sense?

texts:
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I honestly just want to confirm something and I need people who understand English grammar better than myself to help me out here to see if this makes grammatical sense.

Does the word "function" in the sentence "healing is a function of magic" make grammatical sense, when the intended meaning is that healing is something that magic can be used to perform, or that healing is an application of magic? If not, can reasons for this, and potentially a correct alternative, be provided so that I do not make the same mistake in the future?

Thank you.


texts: Is “the most amount of {countable things}” ever an acceptable replacement for “the greatest amount of {countable things}”?

texts:
A recent BBC article reads in part,

  Yellowstone officials say bison can run up to 30mph (50km/h) and are the animal responsible for the most amount of injuries within the park.

The phrase “the most amount of injuries” is like nails on a chalkboard to me. “Injury” is a count noun, so I feel it should be, “the greatest number of injuries.” Several grammar web sites agree.

Is there any national or regional variation that would make the BBC's sentence grammatical? (I am asking about prescription, not description. Is this an acceptable sentence in any standard variety of English?)


texts:
When holy cows are used in the phrases? Any sample phrases with holy cow.
Also, the meaning of those phrases.


texts: "I heard my life be told" vs. "I heard my life being told" (object+bare infinitive complementation)

texts:
You may have heard A Song They Won't Be Playing On The Radio by Molly Nilsson. I doubt this song will ever be considered the pinnacle of the English poetry, but it makes use of a passive simple (rather than the passive continuous) infinitive in object+bare infinitive complementation.

Now, what would be your thoughts on the following:

I heard the tea be served.
I saw him be beaten.
I noticed him be administered the painkiller.
We observed her be instructed.
I watched them be fed.
We had him be admitted to the hospital.
She let us be taken photos of.
We made him be regarded as an expert.
I have known John be accepted there regularly.
She helped you be taken to the hospital.

I understand that the continuous I saw him (being) beaten would be much more common.


texts:
Is it the word saboteuse considered archaic (or not fully added from French)?

Should all saboteurs be referred to as such regardless of sex?


texts: What is a single word for "build and maintain"

texts:
I've considered grow which doesn't quite fit the bill and neither does nurture. Incubate is probably wrong and seems a little too specialized for general usage anyway.

This is in the context of a business.

Eg. "Build and maintain new distribution channels"


texts: Does "clack" necessarily refer to sound?

texts:
I have a question about the verb clack in the following paragraph taken from Sandkings by George R. R. Martin.  In this paragraph, the protagonist, Simon Kress, is being shown a strange kind of creature by someone named Jala Wo.

  “Note the colors, if you will,” Wo told him. She pointed to the creatures that swarmed over the nearest castle. One was scrabbling at the tank wall. Kress studied it. It still looked like an insect to his eyes. Barely as long as his fingernail, six-limbed, with six tiny eyes set all around its body. A wicked set of mandibles clacked visibly, while two long, fine antennae wove patterns in the air. Antennae, mandibles, eyes, and legs were sooty black, but the dominant color was the burnt orange of its armor plating.

What does he mean by "clacked visibly"?  Clack is defined, for example, by Collins as

  to make or cause to make a sound like that of two pieces of wood hitting each other.

There is some disagreement over on Spanish SE about the meaning of clack in this context.  (See, for example, https://spanish.stackexchange.com/posts/comments/32165?noredirect=1.)  There are those who feel that "clack" is always about sound, and the visibility mentioned here just adds another type of perception.  But there are others who feel that the "clacking" in this case is purely visual.

Is it possible for "clacking" not to include sound in its meaning?

In other words, does the "visibly" knock out the "audibly" that is normally understood by the word clacking?


texts: Name for the phenomenon where only the top few priority levels are used

texts:
I work as a software developer, and we have a ticketing system. Tickets can have "priority levels", with labels like "Critical", "Highest", "High", "Medium", "Low" and similar.

It is my experience that such systems gravitate to using only three of them -- basically "Must Be Done Absolutely Right Now", "Normal" and "Will Never Be Done". And one day the first category grows too fast to get done, and the middle category also disappears.

There is a name for this phenomenon, as I recall reading about it, but I forgot what it is. "Priority compression" or something like it, but that's a useless search term as there are too many compression-related hits.

Does anybody know what it's called?


texts: When and where did "spanking" begin to be used as an adjective?

texts:
"That's a spanking car."

"A spanking little horse."

  Spank

  t.v. - To beat across the buttocks with the open hand, to strike especially on the buttocks with the open hand.
  i.v. - to move quickly, dashingly, or spiritedly

  Spanking

  1.remarkable of its kind, very good, excellent, smart in appearance. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spanking?show=0&t=1413215528
  2.brisk, fresh and strong http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spanking?show=0&t=1413216280


texts:
I am wondering about express something in the habitual voice over time.  As an example of something non-habitual, I might say:

I have been running through the park for 30 minutes.

I think that'd be interpreted by anyone to indicate for the last 30 minutes the speaker has been actively running through the park.
But what about?

I have been running through the park for two weeks.

Grammatically the same as above, but I think one has to take a habitual interpretation that maybe every day the speaker has ran through the park, but not all day and maybe not even at the time of speech.  That habbit extends from two weeks ago up until the time of speech.
I wonder, for this habitual sense, is it the same or better to say:

I have run through the park for two weeks.

I'm not sure how using the present tense (ran) here instead of be+[-ing] changes.  Does it make it clearly habitual?  Or is it indicating we don't know when the two week period ended (as opposed to knowing it referes to the last two weeks)?


texts: "Help in doing something" or "Help doing something"

texts:
Is the preposition in necessary or abundant?

To be specific, which of these two sentences sounds better/is correct?

  This helps in achieving better fuel economy.

or

  This helps achieving better fuel economy.

I know of this question, however I am not sure how much it applies to my problem.


texts: How to use a slash to describe two options, one of which is made up of two or more words?

texts:
I want to say:

Please, check out our handbook/knowledge base.

...but it can be interpreted in two ways:

Please, check out our (handbook/knowledge) base. — as if there is a "handbook base" and a knowledge base.
Please, check out our handbook/(knowledge base). — the meaning I'm after.

I thought that maybe I should put spaces around the slash to better separate the two choices:

Please, check out our handbook / knowledge base.

...but I'm not sure that does it. I checked out The Punctuation Guide on the topic and it didn't answer my question.

Is it possible to convey the right meaning with a slash, or should I just avoid it altogether?


texts: What about a sentence.like ...I like going to "new" places with "old" friends---

texts:
What can we call the above
I ENJOY GOING TO "NEW" PLACES WITH "OLD" FRIENDS
and can you think of other examples?


texts: Should either be followed with a single or plural noun?

texts:
Which statement is correct?

This figure does not appear in either textbook.
OR
This figure does not appear in either textbooks.


texts: When you want to do something but don’t because it hurts

texts:
What is it called when you should to do something but don’t want to because it hurts but doing it would make you hurt less.

For example,
You don’t want to be positive because you’re unhappy but being positive may make you less unhappy.

Would this be considered a double edged sword?


texts: I remember when I first came across this word, I thought it was pronounced /'sɜr-dʒint/ (SER-jeent).  Now I am curious as to why the first syllable is pronounced /sar/ rather than /sɜr/.  I looked at the etymology, and found that the word has always had either sir or ser at the beginning, never sar.  To top that off, sergeant comes from the Old French sergent, from Latin servientem meaning serving, the same root word that we get the word servant from.  To my knowledge, servant has never been pronounced /'sar-vənt/.  Why and since when has sergeant been pronounced sargent?


texts: I know the word "watch" is used as a synonym of spy. Are there other synonyms that are used by native speakers?


texts: "Former and Latter for upcoming list: "following latter" or "latter following", or just "latter"?

texts:
According to this page, they use former and latter in the following way:

  “I enjoy reading Entrepreneur and Inc, but prefer the latter over
  the former.”

The issue I'm having is how to structure a sentence with the list upcomming, such as if I rewrote their quote:

  Although I prefer the following latter over the following former, I
  enjoy reading both the Entrepreneur and Inc.

How should I phrase that part bolded above?  (Also, it may seem constrained, but in my actual use the two parts are more distant from each other.)


texts: What could "auditorily biased" possibly mean?

texts: Here is the full phrase: "The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic and failed musician, short-sighted, color-blind, auditorily biased, who has read the books that I have read". The speaker was an English writer born in 1917.


texts:
Which sentence is correct:

Why don't you try to give up candy if you want to lose some weight?
Why don't you try giving up candy if you want to lose some weight?


texts:
I am trying to formulate the following sentence:

  The general framework is composed of two independent and collaborative modules

What I mean is that the two modules work independently but their end result is used in common to make a decision.

I find that this sentence is really contradicting itself. How can I make it more understandable?


texts: Can a word "it" be used to refer to a person as well?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun (“his” versus “her” versus “their”)?
  Is it appropriate to refer to a person of unknown sex by “it”?

If so, could anyone give an example pls?


texts: In "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink", why is the horse a male?

texts:
In the proverb "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink", why is the horse a male? Is there an origin/backstory, similarly to how boats are considered female?
Also, I think "...make him drink..." is the original, rather than "...make it drink...". Does anyone know if this, or the opposite, is correct?
Edit: I found from my research that Old English Homilies, written in 1175, might have been where the proverb came from (the exact reference was "Hwa is thet mei thet hors wettrien the him self nule drinken"). However, this doesn't seem to explain why the horse is referred to as "him" in the proverb.
Thanks!


texts: Trying to understand the logic behind this sentence: The lecture will be given if at least ten people are there

texts:
I am not really sure whether my question is suitable here, but I will give it a try.
Consider the following sentence:

The lecture will be given if at least ten people are there.

From the perspective of everyday speech, which statement below will be equivalent to the sentence above:

"At least ten people" is a sufficient condition for the "lecture being given". (In other words, if there are at least ten people, the lecture will be given; if there are fewer than ten people, there is a possibility that the lecture will be given.)
"At least ten people" is a sufficient and necessary condition for the "lecture being given". (In other words, if there are at least ten people, the lecture will be given; if there are fewer than ten people, the lecture will definitely not be given.)

In math, the distinction is pretty clear:

“The lecture will be given if at least ten people are there” is equivalent to the first statement.
“The lecture will be given if and only if at least ten people are there” is equivalent to the second statement.

But as the author of How to Prove It suggests, in everyday speech, the situation is different:

One of the reasons it’s so easy to confuse a conditional statement with its converse is that in everyday speech we sometimes use a conditional statement when what we mean to convey is actually a biconditional. For example, you probably wouldn’t say “The lecture will be given if at least ten people are there” unless it was also the case that if there were fewer than ten people, the lecture wouldn’t be given. After all, why mention the number ten at all if it’s not the minimum number of people required? Thus, the statement actually suggests that the lecture will be given iff (iff is a abbrevation for "if and only if") there are at least ten people there.
Velleman, Daniel J.. How to Prove It (p. 53). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.

So my question is, if someone were to say “The lecture will be given if at least ten people are there”, would it be safe to assume that if there are fewer than ten people, the lecture won't be given?


texts:
I'm reading Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and I keep seeing these chronologic references to reigns of kings and queens in England:

By the 12th of Queen Anne, too, stat. 1, c. 18

What do "by the 12th", "stat. 1" and "c. 18" mean?


texts: In what contexts is the phrase "a recent point" used?

texts:
There are many kinds of point, but is there a recent point?

I can imagine this sort of phrase occurring in a discussion or lecture regarding subject matter that was referenced somehow not too long ago.  However, never heard it in speech, although it doesn't sound bad.
Does this phrase occur in English?


texts: That is what …. . This is what …. Can these be used interchangeably here?

texts:
I’ve been wondering if "That is what….," and "This is what ….," in the following passage (taken from Fieldfish.com) can be used interchangeably.

Imagine you are an unmarried couple who have been trying to conceive for years.  With the help of a well-established fertility clinic and donor sperm you undergo IVF treatment, and have your much desired child. In the course of the fertility process you are told both parents need to sign consent forms that once signed will confer on both the biological parent and the non-biological parent, the same rights of parentage without needing to go to court after the birth to get a declaration of parental responsibility, nor adoption orders. Then some months later the clinic calls you to tell you that due to an admin error, the forms were not completed correctly and the non-biological parent is not legally the child's parent, and probably the only solution is to go through the adoption process.
That is what happened to many couples in the UK who have had fertility treatment using donor sperm and eggs. This is what happened to a family in 2013 and it prompted the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (the HFEA) to require all clinics to audit their cases to see whether there were any other failures by clinics of having failed to get the family to sign both consent form or, having lost or misfiled these legal consents.

“That” and “This” here seem to be almost the same.
It is my understanding that “that” indicates a previously stated idea and “this” suggests the idea and something new about it. Is that correct? How does that affect how they are being used in the above passage?


texts:
What is the noun of forsaking somebody, that is, the act of forsaking?

Forsookenment? ;)


texts: Should I use "is" or "are" between two nouns (I think) in this phrase?

texts:
I'm not really sure what I should use in this case, normally I can identify the difference but this time for some reason i cannot.

sentence: "In this function stringify and parse is necessary"

Is necessary
or
Are necessary


texts: Is it possible to use Present Perfect here?

texts:
There is a dialog between mum and son.

Mum:Mike, there is no food in the fridge,where is it?

Mike:Sorry mum, I've eaten all the food.


texts: How to interpret this Cambridge, Blackheath here?

texts:
I’d like to ask about the following sentence from The Missing Three Quarter by Conan Doyle.

  I didn’t think there was a soul in England who didn’t know Godfrey
  Staunton, the crack three-quarter, Cambridge, Blackheath, and five
  Internationals.

This Godfrey Staunton is at the moment belongs to the rugby team at Cambridge University. So what the word Blackheath refers to here? I don’t think the relation between these words, Cambridge and Blackheath, is like “Los Angels, California”. If it’s not “Cambridge in (/ of) Blackheath”, I’m guessing Blackheath is the name of high school Godfrey went to.  So this part means as “Godfrey Staunton was an excellent three-quarter back at Blackheath high school and he is now an excellent three-quarter back at Cambridge University.” Am I right?
Can someone tell me? Thanks.


texts: Describing how to value an item or thing

texts:
Sorry for another one word request or whatever but it isn't just one word I am looking for, and it also is a bit more of a challenge as I am not looking for a word that best describes how to describe the act of placing value on an item using the English language, but yet a word or word combination that is most easily understood by a vast majority of people on how to place value on an item.

The phrase I am using it in is along the lines of -

'Buy, sell, and valuate your assets'

And the specific word I am looking to replace is valuate - I don't feel that the vast majority of visitors to my site will understand what it means to valuate and am looking for a great synonym that most people feel is best understood therefore I know the three most common synonyms (estimate, assess, and appraise) but I am looking for what the community feels is the most commonly understood answer.


texts:
Two women, both named Sarah, want to introduce themselves. What do they say? "Our name is Sarah"? This seems to make no sense.  "Our names are Sarah"?  This also can't be right.  What is the correct way?

I believe the correct way would be, "Our names are Sarah and Sarah."

Any thoughts on this?


texts: What exactly does "The guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit." mean?

texts:
Was watching Avengers: Age of Ultron. In that Nick Fury says this about Ultron,

  The guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit.

What does that mean?


texts:
My supervisor wrote an email:
''We've got feedback on how our journal paper went. It seems quite helpful feedback, in that it seems we'll get the paper over the line.''
Could anyone tell me what he meant by '' in that it seems we'll get the paper over the line?''
Thanks


texts: How was sexual intercourse referred to before 'sex'?

texts: It seems that the word "sex" in the context of sexual intercourse is a fairly recent development. How would sexual intercourse have been referred to before the 1920's? Coitus? Is there a more casual word, or was the word 'coitus' casual at the time?


texts: How to describe the "oil flying out of the pan" when cooking?

texts:
Hi native speakers I wanna ask about a word in English.

You know when you cook food with oil, such as frying the bacon, the oil could be heated so much that the tiny drops of it may suddenly "fly" out of the pan onto your hand and might even cause burn. What words are appropriate to describe this phenomenon/procedure that the oil drops suddenly "fly" out? "spill"? "splash"??

For example: "Oh I need gloves to protect my hands when cooking because the oil keeps spilling(or splashing) out. I don't want my hands burned."


texts: Is it correct to say "You are a path shower"

texts:
First of all, I am not a native English speaker and not very good in English too. I had a technical problem in my software project and thus took help of somebody. She helped me to find the right way to resolve my issue. Can I say her, "You are a path shower" to show my appreciation to her ?

UPDATE:
She always guides me when I am in trouble. Considering this, what more can I say her.


texts:
I'm working with a sentence that looks like this:

  John thinks that there is a problem with department X because "picking an item from department X and moving it to another department" will crash the system, but Mark claim's that's not the cases since "creating a new item, assigning it to department X, and moving it to another department" will not crash the system.

Here I am using double quotes to wrap the lists, but is there a better way to do this?


texts: How do metric-users casually describe intermediate distances?

texts:
I'm writing SciFi in a hypothetical future where we Americans have finally switched to metric (hey, it's my world, I can make believe).

But being myself acculturated in imperial-units America, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to describe certain kinds of distances.

If something is a couple centimeters, no problem. If it's a couple meters, no problem. But what about something in between?

For example:

  The ball bounced a few inches off the table.

I'm picturing six inches in my head. That's more like fifteen centimeters. If I said "a few centimeters" then it's not enough. But saying "it bounced fifteen centimeters" off the table is far too formal and precise.

So, how would a metric user conversationally describe a distance like that?

Another example:

  The box was a couple feet wide.

I'm picturing 18 - 30", or 45-76cm. Would a native metric speaker just say "about a half meter?"

That sounds better and makes more sense to me, so I guess it's not as much of a problem.

Still, for the non-Americans out there, what do you use, conversationally, to describe intermediate distances that are more in the range of 10-35 cm, or 65-85cm, where "a couple inches" or "a couple feet" would be pretty accurate but "a couple centimeters" or "a couple meters" would not be.

Do people ever say "decimeters?" I've never heard anyone actually say that one, though it does fit the use case.

Thanks!


texts: Terminology - What is the exact word to describe 'being skeptical of something/someone'?

texts:
What word do we use to define someone who is accusing someone/something for everything going around him or her.

For example, lets say Jack accuses Jill for everything happening to him. He falls off his bike, Jill sabotaged it. He caught fever, Jill poisoned food.

What do you call Jack's action towards Jill? Phobic or Skeptical or blaming? I don't get the exact word to precisely picture this character.


texts: What is a term for having a "small" name for something that's actually "large"?

texts: For example, referring to a 7 feet tall, 450 lb man with the nickname "Tiny".


texts: What is the actual word for Leaving Out an Examination?

texts:
I am from Nepal, our primary language is not English, so many times there are confusion on words which sound similar and have similar meanings sometimes.

Recently, I got into a situation, where I heard that a friend had left his exam paper writing "dropped" on it, but he got C Grade. Upon questioning the examiner, he replied that the actual thing to write is "draw up" and not "drop" the exam.

Please suggest me what is the actual thing to do? Is it "drop" or "draw up"?

Hoping for positive responses.

Regards.


texts:
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, page 98, reads

  Auxiliary do was used more widely in earlier stages of the language,
  and in certain genres one comes across archaic uses that go beyond our
  do-support constructions – e.g. in legal language (on or about the 14 th day of June, 1997, he did murder one James Robinson)

What type do-support does "did murder" represent?


texts: OED Appeals: Antedatings of "blue-arsed fly"

texts:
The OED has made a public appeal for help in tracing the history of some English words, including:

  blue-arsed fly

  noun earlier than 1970

  The first evidence for the metaphorical blue-arsed fly in the OED entry comes from a 1970 quote attributed to the Duke of Edinburgh:

  1970 Times 22 Apr. 7/3 The Duke of Edinburgh‥asked a photographer if he was getting enough pictures…  ‘You have been running around like a blue-arsed fly.’

  The r-less blue-assed fly, however, is attested from at least 1932.  Why such a discrepancy? Since our original OED entry was published in 2005, we’ve discovered an earlier example of blue-arsed fly in a dictionary of slang from 1949, but we suspect there may be evidence out there that is earlier still. Can you help us find it? Real-life examples dating from before 1970 and dictionary examples from before 1949 would both be welcome.

  For reference, here are the entries as currently published in OED Online:


texts: Advanced rules for shortening relative clauses with a participle?

texts:
Once again, a problem encountered while marking German pupils' exams.
We teach them the following rules:

  A present participle can be used to shorten an active relative clause:

  The boy who was driving the car didn't stop = The boy driving the red car didn't stop

  A past participle can be used to shorten a passive relative clause:

  Strawberries which are grown in California are delicious = Strawberries grown in California are delicious.

While marking, I encountered several problems.
For example, why does this not work:

  The girl who has black hair is in the corner
  NOT
  The girl having black hair is in the corner

or

  That's the man who is happy to be here
  NOT
  That's the man being happy to be here

Does this all have to do with:

the verbs have and be? (But "The girl, being happy, phoned her friend")
the continuous and simple forms? (But "We help people who live in ghettos = we help people living in ghettos")
the tenses?

Or what? I'm totally stumped by this problem and do not know how to explain the pupils' mistakes to them. The problem seems to occur mostly with the use of the present participle. Who can help with some explanations or even better, specific rules!


texts: Can the gerund be used after a form of "agree to" (e.g. "agrees to doing", "agree to going" and "agreed to leaving")?

texts:
He agrees to doing/do her work because she helped him earlier.
I agree to go/going there.
I agreed to leaving/leave home earlier.

In my opinion, gerunds shall be used after "to (preposition)" in the above sentences because it seems appropriate according to the rule of putting verb+ing after preposition. However, I am not sure if gerunds will be used in the above sentences because people don't say "I agree to going there". Is the usage of gerunds correct in the above sentences?


texts: Conversion of all-cap acronyms to first letter only; when did NASA become Nasa?

texts:
The BBC will often refer to well recognized organizations named by an acronym by capitalizing only the first letter. For example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration written as all capitals in the US as NASA is written as Nasa on the BBC news website as is Nato instead of NATO for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

When did it become commonplace to convert all capital acronyms to first-letter only? Has this been done for quite a while and I never noticed, or is this a more recent occurrence?

I noticed that it's not a universal practice, it's still written as NASA in

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

  Definition of NASA in English: (in the US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

https://public.oed.com/blog/september-2017-update-new-words-notes/

  An exoplanet is a planet which orbits a star other than the sun, also known as an extrasolar planet. The word is attested from 1992, around the time that the existence of the first exoplanets was confirmed. In the years since, advances in technology, and in particular the launch of the Kepler space telescope, have led to the discovery of thousands of exoplanets; according to NASA, the number now exceeds 3,500.


texts: Audio database is recorded under * conditions

texts: I want to describe a recorded speech database in an academic paper. It has been recorded via telephone. People call from their home / workplace, but not under very noisy conditions. Usual environmental noises (somebody talking behind, vehicular noise etc.) are present. I thought of describing it as "the database is recorded under realistic conditions". What are some better alternatives for the word realistic, if any?


texts: What is the vertical complement of side-by-side?

texts:
I searched on google and came up with over-under in an article about shotgun barrels comparison. Also, over-under image search yields mostly shotgun images. Is this the vertical equivalent of side-by-side? If not, what is?

I mean as far as I know that Tosca and Beryl Green squares are side by side. What are Beryl Green and Albescent White squares?


texts: Why the construction "They it was who..." is grammatically correct?

texts:
I just came across the following sentence on Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker:

  They it was who controlled our whole adventure...

I have the impression this a rather archaic, yet valid, construction. A contemporary writer would have favored the more standard:

  It was they who controlled our whole adventure...

I have two question regarding this construction:

Is it valid? Why?
Can this construction be used with other pronouns or is it restricted to they? E.g., he it was who... Are there other examples of this sentence structure been used by writers? I can't find or recall any.


texts: Words regarding different types of manipulations

texts:
I'm looking for words that describe specific types of manipulation.
The context is board games, but I'm actually looking for more generic words.

Specifically, I'm looking for words that describe manipulations between regions. Technically, everything is a type of "movement", but I want to describe the different directions of movement.

As an example, you have player A, player B, shared area S and vacuum 0 (i.e. create something from nothing).
S -> A: Acquire
A -> S: Place/Deploy
A -> B: Transfer
X -> X: Move
0 -> X: Generate/Produce
X -> 0: Dispose/Discard

Are there any more words that describe specific directions of movement?

I believe these words may work, but I also feel like they are not strict enough. If one hears "Acquire" they may think they can acquire elements from other players, which would be better described with another word (like Transfer)


texts: Opposite of "Squeaky wheel gets the grease"

texts:
I want a fun and playful retort to use against someone who says "The squeaky wheel gets the grease", which, according to the so-named Wikipedia1 article means:

  The squeaky wheel gets the grease is an American proverb used to convey the idea that the most noticeable (or loudest) problems are the ones most likely to get attention. It is alternately expressed as "The squeaky wheel gets the oil"

For example, if Alice warns her colleague Bob to tone down his criticism about the working conditions, then Bob might reply "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" to suggest that the criticism is necessary to see their problems solved.

What phrase, expression or possibly even slang terminology could Alice use in response to Bob to warn him that his approach may very well backfire?

1 The excerpted Wikipedia text is licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0 terms terms and conditions.