texts: How should I spell this made up word that's a combination of "squeeze" and "snuggle"?

texts:
I hesitate to call this a portmanteau but my husband and I have been using a word since we met that is a combination of "squeeze" and "snuggle". Unfortunately, due to the letters involved, a word that's exceedingly easy to say seems to be very complicated to spell.

The word is pronounced like what you'd expect from a portmanteau of squeeze and puzzle, if you ever had reason to combine them. [ˈskwʌzəl] would be the most likely phonetic way of spelling it.

I've mentally been spelling it "squzzle" but this looks wrong and, as my husband pointed out, it's missing a second u. We've also considered "squuzzle" but this looks very odd and very few words in English (if any) use a "quu" construction.

I've alternately considered "sqwuzzle" but this seems to be a major departure from the general requirement in English that q must be immediately paired with u and the kw option "skwuzzle" which still seems... well, awkward, and also departs from the root word's squ (squeeze).

Unfortunately, it seems like English may not have a good way of writing this set of sounds so that it's immediately obvious how to pronounce it without relying on odd, non-standard spellings. I've been told that skunk was once spelled squuncke but over time the "w" sound was lost... possibly for similar reasons to why it's so difficult to spell my word.

So, considering the root words, how can I spell my word in a way that is clear to readers who don't already know how to pronounce it?


texts:
There is the following sentence in the scene Director of FBI, H.A.L Tyson instructs his men in Jeffery Archer’s fiction, “Shall we tell the President”:

  “So they (assassins group) think you’re dead, Andrews, and they have
  now played their last card. So we must hold ours back, you’re going
  to remain dead – for a little while longer”

  Mark (Andrews) and O’Malley (both FBI agents) looked at each other,
  both puzzled. - Page 296.

I lightly took “hold one’s back” for a run-of-the mill idiom, but I couldn’t find this phrase in any of Cambridge, Oxford, and Merrimu Webster Dictionary as an idiom, nor does Google NGram Viewer include.

What does “We must hold ours back” mean? Isn’t “Hold one’s back” a common idiom?


texts: Passive, present perfect continuous, past simple

texts:
I have been going down my path for few years. I am still going down and find new things. And now I am telling a story about it and how my path started in the past. What to use?

how my path started?

how my path is started?

how my path has started?

how my path was started?


texts:
In this sentence:

  What’s the “elevator pitch” for our site?

What's the meaning of elevator pitch, and what its meaning in this sentence specifically?


texts: How could I change a sentence using as ... as?

texts:
The sentiments expressed in the tweets can be as accurate a measure as is found with precedental researches.

If I change this sentence into the following ones, which one would be correct?

The sentiments expressed in the tweets can be as accurate a measure as the sentiments that is found with precedental researches.
The sentiments expressed in the tweets can be as accurate a measure as a measure that is found with precedental researches.


texts:
Which of the following is the most acceptable construction in formal written English:

Think of words like sin, din, bin...the list goes on.
Think of words like sin, din, bin, the list goes on.
Think of words like sin, din, bin; the list goes on.

Also, should one use a comma before or after (if at all) "like" in this case?

P.S. If at all the flavor of English makes any difference, I am looking for American English.


texts:
Is below the sentence correct?

Information:

Mean of 'used to' shouldn't be 'past habits'. It should be passive sentence.

Sentence:

  This table used to define batch.

I want to say : I use the table for defining batch.


texts: A derogatory term for "a humiliating statement of surrender"

texts:
What do you call the statement someone, or some organization/entity/group, makes when surrending - and when the surrender and/or the statement and/or the circumstances of making the statement are particularly humiliating?

Usage example: That's a bit tricky, since use may differ based on the proposed words or phrases

  I was beside myself with indignation listening to the greek goernment's announcement it will accept the EU bailout condition despite the referedum results. It was an utter _______.

Edit: I would like something which sounds derogatory, the way you could, say, refer to a country's flag or to a newspaper as a "rag".


texts: Difference between "encampment" and "camp"

texts: I recently came across the term encampment. Although I could understand that the word must be very close related to camp, it bugs me that I don't understand why such a long word for the same thing exists. Is encampment a more sophisticated word than camp? The translation for both words refer to the same words in my mother tongue (german).


texts: What is the meaning of "is that of"? How to understand it?

texts:
I am reading Distributed Systems Concept And Design. I don't understand the following sentence on page 613, especially the is that of phrase.

  The state si in the global state S corresponding to the cut C is that of pi immediately after the last event processed by pi in the cut.

Can someone explain a bit how to understand is that of? I found another example:

  In all other states in the US, a domestic corporation's legal status is that of a foreign corporation.


texts: An adjective to describe a substance consisting of smaller-size grains

texts:
What adjective you would use to describe a substance consisting of grains of smaller size compared to those of another substance? For example, "Milk powder is ______er than sugar".

Addition:

And if it's possible, please, come up with an antonym of that word.


texts: What’s the connotation of stand in “stand corrected”?

texts:
Stand corrected:

  Agree that one was wrong, as in I stand corrected—we did go to Finland in 1985.

This set phrase is quite old and  dates back to the mid-17th century according di the AHD:

  This idiom was first recorded in John Dryden's The Maiden Queen (1668): “I stand corrected, and myself reprove.”

Stand has many connotations  as etymonline notes which have evolved or changed through the centuries:

  Old English standan "occupy a place; stand firm; congeal; stay, continue, abide; be valid, be, exist, take place; oppose, resist attack”

To my mind the expression conveys the image of standing (on one’s feet) admitting that one is wrong (about something).

What was the   connotation that the term had when was first used and that it most  likely still retains nowadays?


texts: Paradox ? I never understand this clearly

texts:
The sentence:

I want to finish this game but wish it never ends.

Also if possible can you explain what makes a sentence a paradox exactly ?


texts:
A murdering thief or a thieving murderer.

I have looked up all possible literary devices, and can't seem to find one...


texts: I recently shifted in UK and started to work, here people always say "you ok?" When I am in kitchen or I am working and they pass by. How should i respond to it. Is it rude to simply say I m good or fine instead of asking them back about if they are ok too? Or what to ask?


texts:
I'm a native Spanish speaker trying to understand this sentence:

  The it would be a dog-rodgering practices and the poisoning of badgers he would charge me with as lay cross-armed in the ruffled silk.

I looked for the rodgering's definition in two English dictionaries, in one English to Spanish dictionary, also in Google Translator and Wordreference without luck.

Hope this question is not off topic and that someone can help me.


texts: is there a word to represent once every nine months

texts:
is there a single word to represent "once every nine months"?
Since 9 months is a fraction larger than half a year, semi-annualy seems wrong.


texts: In an academic writing, is it correct to make reference to "the data itself", being that data is a plural noun and itself is a singular pronoun?


texts:
I'd like to know whether "over" is necessary or not in the following question:

  Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?


texts: How to use 'suspicious' as adverb and adjective

texts:
I have trouble with 'suspicious'. For example:

a."He looks at me suspiciously"

b."He gives me a suspicious look"

I can read both of these as meaning both "there is something suspicious in the way he is looking at me" and "he sees something about me that he finds suspicious".

I have a mild dyslexia, I'll admit. I am often confused when shop doors offer  'Entrance' and 'Exit' side by side. I can see 'Exit' to mean "this is the way to exit the street". So this problem with 'suspicious' may be all my own, but I don't know.

If it is a problem with the word, how do we resolve it?


texts:
As soon as he noticed that he had made a mistake, he informed his boss about it.

I mean for the past perfect tense, we have here 3 actions (verbs) in the past.  are the verbs' tense grammatically correct?

Thanks


texts: What does President Obama's joke, "Bucket taking executive action on immigration," "Bucket new climate regulation" mean?

texts:
There were the following lines in President Obama’s speech delivered in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner held on April 25 at the Washington Hilton Hotel:

  “Just this week, Michele Bachmann predicted I would bring about the
  biblical end of days. Now that’s a legacy. - - I am determined to make
  the most of every moment I have left.  After the midterm elections, my
  advisors asked me “Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?” And I
  said, “Well, I have something that rhymes with bucket list.” Take
  executive action on immigration. Bucket. New climate regulations.
  Bucket. It’s the right thing to do.”

I heard the word, “bucket” being used in this way for the first time. Does it mean “to keep” something in a priority to do-list, or just "Forget it"?

Is it a common usage of “bucket” as a verb (here in imperative form), or is it usable in this way only in connection with “bucket list”?


texts:
In the widely followed hearing on Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation to the United States Supreme Court, Senator Kamala Harris said to Kavanaugh's accuser of sexual assault;

  You have called for an independent investigation

  Judge Kavanaugh has not.

  You have called for independent witnesses

  Judge Kavanaugh has not.

  You have submitted yourself to a polygraph test

  Judge Kavanaugh has not.

Is there a term for this rhetorical technique, where a sort of refrain punctuates several statements?

I searched Google but couldn't find a word more suited than "refrain," though I suspect there is a more appropriate term out there.


texts:
The company puts profits above/over safety.
  The company values profits above/over safety.

Is it above or over?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why is 'to' not used before 'home'?

I have noticed that the "to" preposition is never used when one is heading home. some examples:

  I am on the way home
  Would you please give me a ride home?

But for other locations, "to" preposition is used:

  I am on the way to school
  Would you please give me a ride to school?

Is my understanding correct? If so, why no preposition is used for home?


texts: Which is the correct spelling: cognizant or cognisant?


texts: Is it possible to hyphenate the word "repack" (due to a line break)?

texts:
I would like to know if the word "repack" exists at least in one of the variants of the English language (i.e. British English, American English and so on), and if yes, if it can be hyphenated at the end of a line.

Personally, I believe that it exists, because I have read it several times in various articles. But I am completely unsure if it can be hyphenated at the end of a line. On one hand, Merriam-Webster does not know that word at all, Wiktionary knows it, but doesn't say anything about hyphenation, and no online hyphenation service I have tried does hyphenate it.

On the other hand, my personal feeling is that it might be possible to hyphenate it like "re-pack" at the end of a line.

Please note that I am not asking how to spell it when using it in normal text flow, i.e. if it is in one line. I am only interested in separating the word at a line end.

To make it absolutely clear, let's take another word as an example: You may hyphenate the word "power" like "pow-er", but not in normal text flow, i.e. if the word fits into the current line, but only at the end of a line, having the string "pow-" at the end of one line and the string "er" at the beginning of the next one. Of course, writing "pow-er" in the normal case, i.e. not at a line break, is wrong.

So, coming back to my actual problem, I would like to know if I can have "re-" at the end of one line and "pack" at the beginning of the next line even if no dictionary and no online hyphenation service does hyphenate that word.

Could anybody explain which rules apply here (of course, before asking, I have read some articles that gave some general guidance and that made me assume that the word in question could be hyphenated at line ends like shown above, so I just don't get why none of the online services hyphenates that word) or give a reference to a source where I can lookup correct line end hyphenations for English words (the word I have asked for is just an example - since I'm currently translating my website from German to English, there are hundreds of such cases, i.e. words whose line end hyphenation seemingly isn't shown at any source I know and which are not hyphenated by online services although I strongly believe they should).

All links I have seen in the comments so far are definitely not duplicates of my question. Without exception, they all deal with the question how you should write the respective word under normal circumstances, i.e. without a line break taking place.


texts:
In http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/what-exactly-is-piracy/

  Spoo avoids rehashing the labyrinthine history of the work’s publication except as it bears upon his larger point.

What is the function of "as" in except as?


texts: Expression that means something like "killing the sheep to keep them from being kidnapped"

texts: I'm looking for an expression that conveys an excessive risk management approach that ends up having a worse effect than what it is trying to protect against.


texts: Looking for a word meaning "where or who it came from"

texts:
I'm trying to describe feedback from a software system. I believe if the application's emails seems like they are from a person rather than an automated message it will get a better response from the user. When talking and writing about this I need a more formal word for this idea.

In an example sentence

  The [word] of the feedback makes a difference in user's response.

I originally thought locus. When I read definitions of it though, I don't think it's the right thing, but close.

Note: this isn't spam mail, it's analytics reporting to users identifying issues in their comprehension of topics to promote help-seeking remediation. I don't need information about how spam bots are dumb and ineffective.


texts: is "I've never said that nor thought it" correct?

texts:
"I've never said that nor thought it"

I don't think so, but I don't know how I can say it.


texts:
Could I say:

This woman likes to tell her stories, but at the same time KEEPS A LOT BETWEEN THE LINES ?


texts: "put as much effort as he could" vs "put effort as much as he could"

texts:
Is there any difference in meaning between the following two sentences?

"He put as much effort as he could into his work because he eagerly wanted to change the world with computers."

"He put effort into his work as much as he could because he eagerly wanted to change the world with computers."


texts:
I'm writing a story where my main character calls out for her mother, and I'm having trouble with what word I should be using.
The story is set around the 1660s London, my main character is of low class, and she's 17 years old.


texts:
Is there a difference between using "it seems" and "it seems that"
For example:

"It seems that automatic restart is not happening now"
"It seems automatic restart is not happening now"

Which one is correct?  Or are they both?


texts:
I read this sentence: "In all his writing (and, apparently, conversation) [Roy] Jenkins loved reputation-bibbing, loved all kinds of ranking, especially of politicians."

What does "reputation-bibbing" mean?


texts: Hyphen or no hyphen when modifying an adjective with a quantity?

texts:
I have a sentence which has an object that is described with an adjective:

  We need to inform our interested patrons of this change.

If I modify "interested" with "more" or "less", do I connect the words with a hyphen or not?  Example sentence:

  We need to inform our less-interested patrons of this change.

Also, please let me know if I have not used the correct terms for sentence parts in this question.


texts:
I already know what the word disturb means, but I do not understand what disturb not means. I’ve seen titles that start with this, like Disturb Not the Dream and Disturb Not the Sleep, etc.

What does disturb not mean? Why does not follow the verb? What does not apply to, the thing it follows or the thing it precedes?


texts: Relation name for my wife's sister's son's wife

texts: What is the relation name for my wife's sister's son's wife?


texts: Why is "didn't quite appreciate" right and "didn't so appreciate" wrong?

texts:
Probably they didn’t ____ appreciate the risks involved in entering
  the competitive world of automobile manufacture.

This question was asked in an exam. For the answer, we were given the following five options:

  A. too B. quite C. more D. so E. as

The answer was B) quite. Why can't so be used here?


texts:
Can I use "conduct" instead of "execute" at below sentence. Or are there any better alternatives for execute?

SQL injection vulnerabilities in in Joomla allow remote attackers to
execute arbitrary SQL commands.

EDIT:
Which one is more appropriate if you compare with execute:

SQL injection vulnerabilities in in Joomla allow remote attackers to
run arbitrary SQL commands.
SQL injection vulnerabilities in in Joomla allow remote attackers to
carry out arbitrary SQL commands.
SQL injection vulnerabilities in in Joomla allow remote attackers to
perform arbitrary SQL commands.


texts: Seeking etymological explanation of card game Euchre based on its spelling

texts:
Am seeking etymological explanation how, Euchre, the United States’ most popular card game in the late 19th century, might have come to be spelled in that manner. It is speculated that the game derived from an Alsatian card game, “Juckerspiel” or simply “Jucker.” What influences can one surmise that might have been involved in such a change in spelling?

Additional context:

Without reliance on etymology, researchers have maintained that Euchre was brought to North America by Germans (not necessarily German-speaking Alsatians) arriving in Pennsylvania or elsewhere on the mid-Atlantic coast in the late 18 or early 19th century (including by such means, perhaps, as the Hessian soldiers during the Revolutionary War).

On the other hand, through extensive newspaper research, I have discovered that the game was played in the lower South and lower Mississippi River valley in the early 19th century. From an etymologist’s perspective, is it possible that “Juckerspiel” might have undergone French influence, perhaps by its entry into North America via the port of New Orleans by early Alsatian German-speaking settlers who inhabited an area termed the German (Gulf) Coast or the lower Mississippi in the late 18 or early 19th century, and, of course, subsequent English-speaking individuals?

Alternative early spellings also include: ucre, eucre, uker, yewker, etc.


texts: Single word for "people with premonition"

texts: What do you call people who have great power of premonition?


texts: On TopGear, why is "Who would like to see. . . ?" replied to with "yes"?

texts:
I was always wondering, why is "Who would like to see [something]?" replied to with yes or yeah by the crowd on TopGear? Is it just for the sake of convenience or lack of better expression for this situation in English? Maybe the presenters are asking the "wrong" question? Or is this common?

Examples:

http://youtu.be/qexo0eI3eE4?t=2m2s
http://youtu.be/kFnVZXQD5_k?t=6s


texts:
I've come across the following expression:

  Europe is a sleepy place. And such of our men as do not manage to emigrate to the Tropics are tired and sleepy along with it.

  (I, Robot, Isaac Asimov)

I have never encountered this before and am having trouble parsing it. It seems like an archaic form meaning more or less "those among our men who do not manage [...]".

Is there more to it?


texts:
I love to dance and sing, to laugh and play.

Is this punctuated correctly? They are dependent clauses and all...


texts: why are they selecting our products or why do they select our products. Which one?

texts:
This one from Steve Jobs video, 00:42. He use "why are they selecting our products", could I use " why do they select our products"? what are the differences?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BNGMMc3Bgc


texts: Omitting the auxiliary 'have' before the past participle

texts:
In examples (1) and (2), the verb escaped is the past participle form, and the auxiliary 'have' seems to have been omitted before 'escaped'. Specifically, I think 'having' and 'he has' are omitted in (1) and (2), respectively.

(1) Now, escaped from the New York tumult, Anthony has an opportunity to show his priorities have shifted. (From an American news article "Carmelo’s choice and the potential Thunder superpower")
(2) Hanako’s anguished sister, Reiko (Kae Alexander), remains in Japan with the girls’ neat, distressed mother (Rosalind Chao) and with Tetsuo, the boy next door – played by Leo Wan with cartoon expressiveness, as though escaped from a manga comic. (From a Guardian article "The week in theatre: Macbeth; The Great Wave; The Plough and the Stars; Agnes Colander – review")

Are (1) and (2) grammatical and natural English?
Normally, you cannot omit the auxiliary 'have' like this. For example, omitting 'have' in (3) renders it ungrammatical.

(3) Now, having left political life, he advises Capital Group, the world's largest active fund manager, on important geopolitical issues.
(3') *Now, left political life, he advises Capital Group, the world's largest active fund manager, on important geopolitical issues.

So, if (1) and (2) are fine, how do you know when you can omit the auxiliary 'have' and when you can't?


texts: What does "let's go with that" mean here?

texts:
What does Howard from The Big Bang Theory mean when he says "let's go with that"?

I think the meaning was "let's just keep thinking it's true." Am I right?


texts:
I would like to ask, but in an original and funny way
"why haven't we been  texting/emailing/whatsapping etc..each other lately?"

This verb, "to ping", seemed the right one.

but I am not sure it is understandable and?or correct if I say
"Why haven't we been pinging lately?"


texts: "He got a new best friend [punctuation] himself"

texts:
First time asking a question here. I thought of this sentence just a few moments ago, and I can't figure out how to properly punctuate it so that it conveys the meaning I had intended.

He got a new best friend, [namely] himself"

How would this be punctuated properly? I'm personally leaning towards comma, but maybe semicolon or even full stop is a better idea? Thanks in advance, and sorry about what is probably a fairly simple question.


texts:
This is a letter which I received.

I keep coming back to Freud because I have always been interested in how people make sense of the past. This was Freud's great subject. I don't go to his work for answers, but I still find his answers "good to think with." Some years ago I curated an exhibition at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. (which traveled internationally) that attempted to make sense of Freud within cultural history. You can see much of the material of the exhibition here. In the exhibition there are film clips that show the impact of psychoanalysis on popular culture, and there is a voice recording of Freud made at the end of his life (in English).

This year I actually was interviewed as Sigmund Freud at a program at New York’s The Jewish Museum. I even got to see a cigar box from their collections!

The writer of this letter emphasized the 'as'. I suppose he intended something. But I don't know. Besides, I don't know what it means that 'he was interviewed as Sigmund Freud.' Does it mean that he was interviewed from interviewer as though he was a great psychologist like Freud?

I would be much obliged if you help me.:)


texts:
Which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

  “She still should’ve reached out to you when she needed help”
  “She should’ve still reached out”
  “I think you still should call her”
  “I think you should still call her”

Should still be in between or after the subject when we use “should” “would” etc. ?


texts: What is the name for a collective noun for a group of words or acronyms, that is a member of the group it describes?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  The same word used to define itself

For example TLA is a three letter acronym;
Antepreroxitone (words with the stress on the third from last sylable) is an antepreroxitone;
Noun is a noun.


texts: Is there another expression for "my manager's manager"?

texts:
As the title says, is there another expression for "my manager's manager"?

For example, in the large company I currently work for, there are 4 managers and the CEO above me.

If there is no single expression for the manager's manager, what do people use to refer to that person's manager? Is it just "manager's manager's manager"?


texts:
City A is famous for\ of planting melons and watermelons in summer.

I noticed somewhere in internet that using for is 66% while other prepositions that can be used after the term famous such as ( about, of, in, at ) are the rest 34%

Is this true in English grammar? I feel as if something went wrong while I say for examples:

  He is famous for saying the truth.
  He is famous for bravery.
  He is famous for saying poetry.

I think using famous of gives the phrase or the sentence more stress than famous for. I dislike using for in such circumstances! What do you say?


texts: Is there a pejorative word for an ethnic appeal?

texts: When ultra-conservative Jesse Helms ran against Congressman Nick Galifianakis in 1972, he is considered to have gained ground with the slogan, "Jesse Helms: He's One of Us," presumably referring to his opponent's Greek background. If his opponent were black, the slogan would be considered racist. What's the corresponding word for this situation? Ethnicist seems too mild but may be best.


texts:
Generally speaking, attach too much significance to [something] can be replaced overvalue, but that doesn't sit well with me in certain contexts.

For example, suppose I reached some conclusion after considering various factors, but it turns out later that I accorded too much weight to "Factor X" (causing me to reach the wrong conclusion).

"I attached/ascribed/assigned/etc. too much significance to X" conveys exactly what I want to say. I can't explain why "I overvalued X" doesn't cut it for me - that's just the way it is.

Words such as overstate, overplay, overemphasise all seem to imply I focused too much on X in a debate attempting to defend my (erroneous) conclusion. And overestimate implies mistakenly thinking X was bigger than it really was (rather than just "more important than it should be").

Ideally, I'm looking for "I xxxx'ed X", but even "I xxxx'ed the importance of X" would do.


texts:
Consider the following sentence:

  We consider a simple protocol as the base configuration and compare
  with it three other cases.

Which one is more correct, "compare with it" or "compare it with"?


texts: Is it okay to use the indefinite article before "week" in the phrase "Friday is a day of A week"?

texts: I mean, does some context exist, where the indefinite article can be used? I know that we say "a day of the week" and "a month of the year", because we talk about an item of the set, but still, can it be used the way I mentioned?


texts:
Can anyone help me with the meaning of the phrase "to take on a momentum of its own"? Does it mean "to start to continue its progress on its own without external assistance" or something like this?

Context:

"Artists will recognise how an artwork evolves from the first few tentative marks on a blank page, establishing constraints as it proceeds, out of which a more complex picture emerges, which then goes on to provide a narrower number of options until it seems to arrive at a kind of inevitability, one which may even take on a momentum of its own."


texts: Comma after or before "parenthetic" and?

texts:
After showing me the house, Nana led us to the living room, and with Mongai's Take Me Somewhere Nice playing on in the background, we started on the Scotch we'd bought at the 7-Eleven. The dim light and the soft

Is the comma correctly positioned before the italics in the example above? Or I should place the comma after and?


texts: The meaning of "feel my conversation in quotation marks"?

texts:
What does the last part of the below sentence mean? It looks to me grammartically incorrect.

Does it mean "The most familiar things (X,Y,Z) makes me feel at a remove, amd makes me feel that my participation is provisional and my conversation is in quotation marks." ?

And further more, what does "converstaion in quotation marks" mean? Please forgive me if this question sounds a dumb one but I am not a native Englis speaker.

  I never stopped feeling like an impostor, a New Yorker disguised in a
  sensible English raincoat. Even the most familiar things — Trafalgar
  Square; the food hall at Harvey Nichols; the best bookstore in the
  city, Hatchard’s on Piccadilly — felt at a remove, my participation
  provisional, my conversation in quotation marks.


texts: What does " 'Nation " stand for in this context?

texts:
I was reading the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. In Chapter 2, there are sentences like:

  “I hope there ain’t, but can’t make so ’Nation sure of that,” said the guard, in gruff soliloquy. “Hallo you!”

I don't know what that apostrophe in the word 'Nation stands for. I searched for it on the Internet and in dictionaries, but could not discover the answer. Or is this just a printing error? (In China, Google is banned, so the only PDF I can find is the Project Gutenberg edition, which has the same text in this spot.)

Can anybody help me with this?


texts: Why is it  "the day is young", not "still early"? What is the history of the phrase?

texts:
Mark Halperin’s article on the Missouri Congressman and Republican Senate nominee Todd Akin’s gaffe in August 20 Time magazine ends up with the lines:

  “So far, not publicly calling for Akin to leave the race, as Scott Brown did. But the day is young.”

I am interested in the phrase, “the day is young,” which I understand means it’s still early to tell what will happen next, or the end result.

Google Ngram shows this phrase emerged in 1840, and its usage has sharply declined after peaking during 1910–1940.

What is the history of “the day is young”? Do you say 'the day (or year) is old'?

By the way, we have a popular saying, “The day is long,” in Japanese. But it has a rather positive meaning of “You can do (achieve) still a lot of things before the day is over,” for example, “Let’s have another drink, Taro. The day is long,” after having one.

Can’t I use “The day is young” to this effect in English?


texts: How to precisely count words in my text?

texts:
Is there an official way to count words in a text? If so, is there an official website?

I need to write something EXACTLY a thousand words long, but every website I try gives me a different result...

Thank you!


texts: meaning of the at once in the below sentence

texts:
I am translating the book Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life by Adam Phillips. It has this passage:

There is, in other words, a difference between somebody saying
something that makes one feel understood and somebody saying something
striking. There is, or there can be, a difference between reading
something intelligible and reading something that has a powerful
effect; between words as procurers of experiences and words as
consolidators of knowledge. There is a difference between the wish to
comfort and assuage and the wish to provoke and unsettle. And we speak
to each other and read for both these opportunities, and for other
experiences as well. But it is the linguistic arts that seem at once
hospitable to the notion of intelligibility, and in which
intelligibility can be put into more or less intelligible question.

my problem is in this sentence:

But it is the linguistic arts that seem at once
hospitable to the notion of intelligibility, and in which
intelligibility can be put into more or less intelligible question.

please confirm if this is the correct understanding of the sentence:
1- the linguistic arts are at the same time are hospitable to the notion of the intelligibility and in them the intelligibility can be put into question
please note that the text is difficult and needs reflection to understand. It is not a novel or a news in which you get the meaning by just looking at the text. This book is written in philosophy/psychoanalysis field.


texts: What is a word that could imply both "surplus" or "deficit"?

texts:
I am looking for a generic word that could mean either surplus or deficit. It would be used in a sentence such as:

"The tank had a surplus or deficit in fuel."

But "surplus or deficit" is replaced with a single word.


texts: Gerund + noun(s) equals noun(s) + noun(s)?

texts:
Today, when I was reading some meme on 9gag, I saw a phrase, and I tried rephrasing it in my head, but it went confusing and gave me this question in return :(

  The never spoken rules of using escalators.
  The never spoken rules of escalators using.
  The never spoken rules of escalators usage.
  The never spoken rules of usage escalators.

a) Which are correct?

and

b) What are the differences?


texts:
In Spanish we've got something called "Oración unimembre" which refers to a sentence with only one kind of part (the one with the verb or the one with the subject). I don't know the way it is in English. I know you add subjects to things we don't, like the sentence  "It is raining". For us the sky can't work as a subject who rains.

I was writing in English when I came to this sentence "System shutdown in 60 seconds"
I didn't realize that something was missing. In fact, I continued typing till Word corrector told me I should change that.

I think the correct formulation may be "The system will shutdown in 60 seconds" or something with a verb in it. However, I don't get the grammar problem. I think you can get the meaning perfectly from the original.

My question: am I wrong? Am I missing something?

I've just saw the title of my question is also a kind of sentence like the ones I'm talking about and could be the answer to a question:

Children:  What are we learning today?
Teacher: Sentences with no verb.


texts: Could the idiom 'belt and suspenders' be used to refer to a woman?

texts: For example referring to an extremely cautious woman as a belt-and-suspenders kind of woman. Is it correct English (Am. English)?


texts:
Which one is correct?

"All the apples on the tree are ripe" or "All apples on the tree are ripe".


texts:
What is the best word for pain and health problems caused by a disease?

I want to use it as term for a collection of symptoms, that I gather.
For example: [headache, stomachache, nausea]
but without a diagnosis which disease caused it

In German I use the word Beschwerden for this. I checked different online translators, which gave these options:

discomfort, afflictions, ailment, disorders, complaints and trouble.

But I think complaints is mainly used when someone is disagreeing with something, right?

By the way, when should I use the plural form?

UPDATE:
I found these dictionary entries:
http://search.medicinenet.com/search/search_results/default.aspx?Searchwhat=1&query=complaints&I1=Search
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/complaints?s=ts
http://www.merriam-webster.com/medlineplus/complaint
http://www.medilexicon.com/medicaldictionary.php?t=19380

Does this mean I can still use complaints?


texts:
I remember learning about it (ha) in linguistics class at uni, but then I went to the pub.

I remember the idea was interesting. It had something to do with the undiscovered rules of language that we must know intuitively and/or subconsciously in order to learn language in the first place.


texts: Can "anachronism" refer to things that have not been done in the proper order?

texts:
I've looked in a few online dictionaries, and I don't see any definitions of "anachronism" that seem to encompass this situation. However, I feel like, etymologically, this term could be used in the following way:

  Since some construction was begun before the designs were truly complete, I have added four days to our estimate to account for the inefficiencies caused by these various anachronisms.

It seems like it should be able to be used this way, but I'm not aware of any precedent. If this cannot be a usage of "anachronism," can you suggest a word that could be used in this context? I'm mainly looking for a noun that refers to actions that occurred in an order other than the proper/established order.


texts:
Read this paragraph from this site

My question is:

How to identify "deictic center" for distinguishing "come" & "go"?

Let say I am at home & I say "I am going to the zoo this evening", so the "deictic center" in this case is my home & I move away my "deictic center".

But let say my friend Tom & I currently at my home & Tom said "Are you Coming to the zoo to see the lion?" & I said "Ok, I am coming to the zoo this evening". So, the "deictic center" in this case is "the zoo" & we move towards the "deictic center" (ie the zoo).

It feels like it is very arbitrary.

Note: See this link, it said the selection of "deictic center" could be due to sympathy & politeness.


texts:
In Indian languages I have seen the usage of the word 'fit' as being used to imply something is too-tight. In a Gujarati the sentence would use the word 'fit' to describe a garment that is too tight when worn. "Its too 'fit'  when I wear it" (spoken in a local language with 'fit' as the only English word).
I didn't think too much of this and dismissed it as an Indianism till I realized this word is used in the exact same way in Thai to describe the exact same thing.
This made me curious as to how in 2 similar but distant and different cultures a foreign word would get used to mean the exact same thing, while neither the local languages have this word nor does the word in the language of origin have this meaning.
(Reference for the Thai usage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3CyGvdky50&t=418s )


texts: How should a person holding a foreign military rank be addressed?

texts:
While researching how to call a person that holds a rank at a foreign (non English speaking) military, I came to very confusing results:

Wikipedia is not consistent on the issue:

it sometimes gives the rank in the native language alone, as in the case for Erwin Rommel, Heinrich Himmler, Heinz Guderian, and Gerd von Rundstedt, all of whom are German, and the current Israeli Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz.
In other cases, it gives the rank in the native language with an equivalent rank in English, as in the case for Israel Tal who was an Israeli general.
And sometimes it only gives the equivalent rank, as in the case of Israeli Medal of Valor  recipient Zvika Greengold and Japanese military aviator Minoru Genda.

Other sources are also confusing:

The Jewish Virtual Library, in their page about Erwin Rommel call Erwin Rommel, Heinz Guderian and Gerd von Runstedt Field Marshal, even though they have different ranks (Rommel and von Runstedt were Generalfeldmarschall and Guderian was a Generaloberst).
The site's www.auschwitz.dk page about Himmler give's his rank as Reichsfuhrer-SS, while the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum gives his rank as the translation to English with the German rank in parentheses:

  Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) was the Reich Leader (Reichsführer) of the dreaded SS of the Nazi party from 1929 until 1945

This article on rt.com about the letters of Erwin Rommel simply call him general.
The articles in the Independent, the English version of Haaratz, The New York Times and Israel's Armored Corps Memorial Site about Israel Tal's Death all call him Major-General without mentioning the Hebrew rank.

After all of this I'm left confused as I can't really see any pattern of proper use his,

Should the rank in the original language be used, the equivalent "English" rank be used, or a translation of the rank?
Is there any difference if the original language is a non-Indo-European language vs. an Indo-European language (Hebrew vs. German)?
In the case that an equivalent rank is used, what set of ranks is the standard (Wikipedia uses the NATO Code)?
Finally, since my rank is Rav Samal, should I call myself Rav samal, Sergeant First Class (the NATO corresponding rank) or Master Sergeant (the translation)?


texts: Should street numbers be written as cardinal or ordinal numbers

texts: When writing a numerical street, do you use a cardinal number (220 Street) or ordinal number (220th Street)


texts: Help transforming a sentence from pasive voice to active voice

texts:
I have trouble using the active voice on some sentences. For example,
The IOS version of the game will be developed using Swift.
I know that the verb is developed and the subject is Swift, but I can't rearrange the sentence to active voice.
I would appreciate any gudlines to help me convert these types of sentences to active voice.
Thanks,


texts: Equivalent expression to Spanish "cutting by the healthy part"

texts: What would be an equivalent expression to the Spanish "cortar por lo sano", probably something like "cutting by the healthy part", to convey the idea that to solve a problem from spreading, like gangrene, sometimes the solution chosen is to cut deep even through the healthy parts of the limb.


texts: Is there a real difference between "It was a while before..." "It was after a while that.." ? CAE exam

texts:
I am doing a CAE sample test and I am having a particularly hard time with Part Four of Reading and Use of English. Here, you have to find an alternative way to convey the thing said, using the word given, and I am always close but never close enough, for example (they also provide you with part of the second sentence):
It took me some time to understand fully what happened · the word is: WHILE
It was_______________ understood what had happened
My answer: It was after a WHILE that I fully understood what had happened.
Key answer: It was a while before/until I fully understood what had happened.
is there a different nuance in meaning?
· Another example that stumped me:
There's no point in arguing about this small detail, in my opinion. · the word is: WORTH
This small detail _____________, in my opinion.
my answer:  This small detail is not worth an argument, in my opinion.
key answer: This small detail is not worth arguing about, in my opinion.
now, these are merely sample test for practice only, the thing is with the real exam. I am truly concerned that I get these wrong when I can't really tell the difference between them. thank you in advance for clarifying this.


texts:
Even as legalistic an institution as the EU ought to be able to find a way around snags such as this.

Can anyone restructure the sentence to simpler ones as it is not  clear for me? For example, where is the subject? Thanks in advance.


texts:
When do we use one over another?

  I sent a letter.

  I sent off a letter.

  I sent out a letter.

Here I found a similar topic but I am still confused.

  sent = sent to one or more people

  sent out = sent to multiple people

More people and multiple people mean the same to me. So how do we distinguish which one is the right one to use?


texts: What's the difference between cunning, crafty and wily?

texts:
The definitions are quite similar, but what are the differences in meaning between them, exactly?

cunning: having or showing skill in achieving one’s ends by deceit or evasion
crafty: clever at achieving one’s aims by indirect or deceitful methods
wily: skilled at gaining an advantage, especially deceitfully


texts: Conjunction when one element contains another

texts:
I write a paper that defines a certain algorithm on geometric shapes. I have a sentence similar to the following:

  If the input to the algorithm is connected, convex or rectangular, then its output will also be connected, convex or rectangular, respectively.

What I mean is that:

If the input is a connected shape, then the output will be a connected shape.
If the input is a convex shape, then the output will be a convex shape.
If the input is a rectangular shape, then the output will be a rectangular shape.

Note that all rectangular shapes are also convex, and all convex shapes are also connected, so the elements in the conjunction contain one another. Therefore, the word "or" seems strange in this context. Can you suggest a better way to express this meaning?


texts: Can i say 'The system automates as predefined conditions'

texts: I'm trying to say that customers need to pre-define conditions to trigger automation of the system.  Can I say it this way as 'The system will operate automatically as predefined conditions'?


texts: Correct grammatical number for English money

texts:
Which of the following is correct or better?
A) Here's £5.
B) Here are £5.
In case both should be correct, could you explain why?
Thanks a lot in advance.


texts:
"I am not pretty sure about what to do" what does PRETTY exact meaning out here?

What places we can use it?


texts: What is the antonym of "capital" (in the sense of city of governmental seat)? A related question: is there a term for referring to the whole set of cities that are not the capital within a country (or state, province)?


texts:
Which is/are the correct and natural answer(s) to this question?

  It is ten miles far from here.
  It is ten miles far away from here.
  It is ten miles far away.
  It is ten miles away.
  It is ten miles away from here.


texts: How would one say make a situation feel less real? I'm referring to the situation when people create illusory world of theirs to shelter themselves from reality;


texts: Catchy phrase: looking at something from several different perspectives

texts:
What is the catchy phrase or an aphorism, or a buzzword, or an idiom with the meaning of looking at something from several different perspectives?

In particular, I am looking for something that is relevant to the context of measuring something using a range of methods.

For example (maybe not the best example), the outside temperature can be gauged:

Using a thermometer
Looking outside the window
Looking at the weather forecast
Using your own feeling of warmness/coldness
Etc.


texts:
What is the difference between/which is right:
"What I am doing wrong"
vs
"What am I doing wrong"
?


texts: Is "the" required in "Welcome to [the] premier issue of"?

texts:
In the premier issue of a new magazine I saw today, the first line reads "Welcome to premier issue of Vegas/Rated."

I was thrown by the lack of some other word preceding "premier". It could have an article like "the" for "the premier issue", or it could have also said "our", as in "our premier issue".

So is the sentence, as it stands, correct and simply an esoteric usage of grammar? Or is it an actual error?

In an answer below, a rule about not using the article before the name of a city is brought up. However, I'm not sure this applies as "Vegas/Rated" is a proper noun, and the name of a magazine, regardless of a portion of it being a city name.


texts:
I think that confronted with the statement:

  The claim is fictitious.

or even

  The claim is made up.

most people would interpret it to mean, "The claim was actually made, but its content is made up," but I think it could also be taken to mean, "The claim was never made; its existence was made up."

Is there some usage or variant of "fictitious" that unambiguously means the latter?

Of course you can get around it by using a completely different sentence, like the one I just did ("The claim has never been made"), but I'm wondering whether there's an accepted alternative that keeps the nefarious connotations of "fictitious":

The former ("fictitious content") could be a lie, invented to lend credibility to a weak argument. "I wasn't in the area on the night of the crime."
The latter ("fictitious existence") could be a claim maliciously invented in order to attribute it to someone. The claim itself was never made by anyone, and (even if true) is fictitious in the "existence" sense (although attributing it to someone else is of course fictitious in the "content" sense).

I wondered at first whether that might be why we have both fictional and fictitious, but it seems that fictional is intended to be reserved for works of fiction.


texts: Are there any differences between the words self-assured and self-confident?


texts: How do you call one part of a pitched roof

texts:
The pitched roof consists of two sloping sides that have some angle between them. So how would one call such a side?

I would like to replace side of the roof in the following sentence with one word:
"There is a chimney on one side of the roof and a dormer on another"


texts:
I've heard the phrase: have a bone to pick with sb ever since I was a kid. Cambridge defines it as:

  C2 to want to talk to someone about something annoying they have done:

But, I can't seem to fathom where a phrase like this would have ever possibly come from and Cambridge doesn't mention any etymology for the phrase.

Any ideas?


texts: Ending summation with "and" right before another "and"?

texts:
Let's say I have this sentence:

  This process uses [summation] and produces z.

Should it be written like this:

  This process uses w, x and y and produces z.

Or like this?

  This process uses w, x, y and produces z.


texts: For me, "saturated" implies there couldn't exist more of given quantity, like concentration of substance in a solution. So "over-saturated" (as in "over-saturated market") seems redundant.


texts:
Today, while reading an online article, I came across the following comment:

  Young people regret their mistakes. Old people regret not deciding. In
  the contest of prevaricating between which choices we predict we will
  one day celebrate and those we will one day regret and the alternative
  of taking decisive action now, it is the latter that should win. Go
  for it!

It seems to me that the word "prevaricate" is being used incorrectly here- my understanding is that the word denotes evasive behaviour. Am I correct in thinking that the above sentence makes no sense? I'm inclined to think that the poster should have used 'vacillate'instead.

Thank you.


texts: Difference between "signalize" and "signify"

texts:
Datasheets of controller chips frequently use the word "signify" to indicate the presence of something. However, I am more used to the word "signalize" and cannot tell the difference between both.

English Oxford Dictionary (EOD) definitions:

signalize:

  Mark or indicate (something), especially in a striking or conspicuous
  manner:"people seek to change their name to signalize a change in
  status that has taken place"

signify:

  Be an indication of:"this decision signified a fundamental change in
  their priorities"

Those two definitions + examples do not help me out, though.

So what is the difference between "signalize" and "signify"?


texts: Is "it shall be" the same as "it is"? Specific to the context of law?

texts:
The US constitution uses "shall be" in places where the German constitution (Grundgesetz) would use "is", and that makes sense to me, no problem so far.
But in a translation of the German law to the English language, I was surprised to see that the German "ist" was translated to "shall be".
It is the most official translation of the law, so I do not think it is for a trivial reason.
It caught my attention because the word is of essential importance in the sentence. It is the most important sentence of a constitution.
The sentences in German and the English translation are below:

Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar.

Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Artikel 1

Human dignity shall be inviolable.

Constitution of Germany, Article 1
I see no reason not to translate "ist" to "is", but translating it to "shall be" seems to change the meaning.
It is not about demanding that human dignity should be seen as inviolable.
It is directly stating that human dignity is inviolable, as a fact. It documents a fundamental assumption.
Even is "shall be" can have the exact meaning of "is", this is not the right place for ambiguity.
So how is "shall be" the right translation of "ist" in this place?


texts: Difference between "an application instance" and "instance of an application"

texts: What is the difference between "an application instance" and "instance of an application"? When we prefer the two words version and when the "of" version?


texts:
A hypochondriacal person is someone  who is excessively  preoccupied with and worried about his or her health.

Is there a term for the other end of the spectrum -- somebody extremely carefree, especially with regard to his or her health?


texts: Use of comma after "and" in "obsolete and, frankly pathetic"

texts:
Is the comma after the word and in this sentence correct?

  Social networks made having friends obsolete and, frankly pathetic.


texts:
Is this a correct sentence? Is the participle clause correctly used?

"The monastery consists of several buildings each bearing different purpose."


texts: Idiom/expression to describe an instance where one makes something seem bigger than it really is

texts: Looking for idiom/expression to describe an instance where one makes something seem bigger than it really is like if someone making things bigger than they are, exaggerating or overstating a situation.


texts:
Which of the two is grammatically correct?

  I will send an email to you.

OR

  I will send you an email.

In corporate organizations, I have seen people using both but am pretty much confused with these.

I was thinking send you is right only in a context like this:

  I will send you to my friend's company tomorrow.

Any suggestions please?


texts: What does "you can watch me whine it" mean?

texts:
In the song "Crew" by Raye, one of the lyrics is "So when you see me at the party, you can watch me whine it". What does this mean and why?

Edit (As someone voted to close as they think it's opinion-based): I'd be happy with any single possible explanation of this phrase. I have no idea what it could mean. This line is part of the chorus and repeated multiple times in the lyrics. Happy for someone to comment or propose an edit if they think my question could be made more specific.


texts: Is there a name for letters that follow a number, such as the "st" in 1st or "nd" in 2nd?


texts:
In The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien writes:

  The fireworks were by Gandalf: they were not only brought by him, but designed and made by him; and the special effects, set pieces, and flights of rockets were let off by him. But there was also a generous distribution of squibs, crackers, backarappers, sparklers, torches, dwarf-candles, elf-fountains, goblin-barkers and thunder-claps. They were all superb. The art of Gandalf improved with age.

He is obviously enumerating various sort of fireworks. All those words, or their pieces, are readily findable in the OED save for backarappers alone.  So I am betting it is a real word, just not listed yet.

Since the word is not in one of the Professor’s invented languages — it looks like it’s English — what then is a “backarapper”, and what is its etymology?


texts: Is there any easy way to detect assertive, interrogative and other sentences

texts: I am looking for any specific series of rules or structures to detect assertive, interrogative and other sentences like wh-type question + subject + be verb + obj. etc.


texts: Word about "considering a problem" or "considering the solutions to a problem"

texts:
Is there a word that describes the condition of thinking about a problem/the solutions to a problem?

For example, when a person has a dilemma, it means he is thinking about choosing between two possible solutions to a problem. Is there a word when there are no available solutions, or more than two?

I would like to avoid words that add unnecessary characteristics to the person, such as "quandary", which from what I can find means that the person is in a state of anxiety or confusion. In my case, the person is just thinking (hard) about the problem.

In Greek, the word I am describing is "προβληματισμός", which as far as I can gather with Google Translate is not translated accurately. OK, I know I can use "problematism" (direct transcribe of the Greek word), but how many English speakers use that?


texts: Word to describe required attitude for a comparison between circumstance

texts:
Jesus lives in a Venezuela. He saves 30% of his salary and lives lean without spending much money on himself. He practices what he read from his favorite American motivational books. Every year Jesus looks at how his country's currency depreciation devalues his savings and that his savings are less than it was the previous year in purchasing power despite him adding 30% of his annual salary to it.
Jesus comes to the realization that his previous belief of saving his money is counterproductive. He also realizes American motivation books on saving are not applicable to his situation. He instead needs to re-evaluate his deep seated belief of becoming wealthy through saving and find another way to achieve success as his current belief of wealth and goals is moving him one step forward but two steps back
An American women comments he should relax more like her? He replies he rather needs  perspective to adjust to a new plan of action due to the circumstance of his times which are not applicable to her. He says he has to adjust his attitude and work harder and smarter without being complacent and common sense complacency will lead him to failure and not being able to retire ever. He wants to tell her he has to work twice as hard as her to get a fifth of what she has. He wants a word to describe this.

The word perspective doesn't convey what I want to say as to me it feels like a personal change of attitude or view where as I want to convey it as he is adjusting to his situation of the day. Also it's not that his view of success was bad as saving is good for most people.
Foresight  or reflection also doesn't fit in as for him it is more common sense action but since losing money when saving is not common sense you can't call him common sense.
I couldn't think of a word where he has to work much harder than someone in the US. A word that conveys the attitude he needs to take. He has no choice. He has to take that attitude.


texts:
The sentence that confuses me:
It has taken so long for historians to focus on the civil law of early modern England.
At first, I thought it means that historians have been focused on the civil law for a excessive long period. After checking the translation in my first language, I was surprised that it actually means that there is an excessive long period before the historians start to focus on the civil law. That's quite counter-intuitive to me. Could anyone explain the mechanism behind this? Also, how will you say in English my wrong perception?


texts: A word that describes the act of running a company

texts: Is there a word that describes the act of running a company? Preferably a single word.


texts: What is the difference between sauce and dressing? Their purpose seems to be the same.


texts: He overcame his defects ________ sheer force of habit

texts: What is the correct preposition to be used in the blank?


texts: An epigram for when one bad thing happens, it causes a chain reaction of bad things

texts: I'm not talking about Domino Effect or Murphy's Law, it's something else. I used to know it, but for the life of me, I can't seem to remember. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I think it was "something" effect. Lol. Please help guys or I won't be able to sleep tonight.


texts:
If "lateral" can be phrased as "side-to-side", what would be the adjective for "front-to-back"?

For example, in a car, you feel lateral acceleration in a sharp turn, and _______ acceleration when hitting the brakes.


texts:
When listing proper nouns in a sentence, must I use "the" before each proper noun, or can the first "the" constitute for the remaining nouns?

Example:

...the Department of Transportation, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Institute on Standards and Technology, and the Food and Drug Administration.


texts: How did the words "petting" and "necking" come to mean kissing with passion?

texts: I'm sure most of you have heard "necking" to mean kissing with passion; however, before "necking" the popular word among American youth was "petting". From Flappers to Rappers: The Study of American Youth Slang by Dr. Thomas Dalzell states that by the middle of the 1920s folks overwhelmingly were using the word necking instead of petting. The book doesn't state when petting was first used. Nevertheless, I'm most interested as to why folks used petting and necking to describe one who is kissing with passion. Any thoughts?


texts: Is “purse-lipped mother-in-law” an established word representing for a woman who is censoriousness and nagging about everything?

texts:
I found an interesting phrase, “purse-lipped mother-in-law” in the following lines of the article titled “The newspaper that rules Britain,” which appeared in New Yorker magazine, April 2nd, 2012 issue.

The article deals with the way the Daily Mail treated the news of the defrocking from knighthood of former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Fred Goodwin:

  In the Mail’s cosmology, men are giants or pygmies, strong or weak. (Women are assessed by other metrics.) Such is the Mail’s censoriousness that British Esquire recently deemed it the nation’s “purse-lipped mother-in-law.” After the affair, Goodwin obtained from the High Court a gag order that forbade the British media from reporting it.

The phrase purse-lipped mother-in-law reminds me of a Japanese idiom, kojuto-no-yomeibiri – a universal habit of a mother-in-law fond of bullying her daughter-in-law (who married her son).

Does purse-lipped mother-in-law mean the same – a censorious woman who always chews out her daughter-in-law (or anyone around her)? Can I say "purse-lipped wife"? Is it a popular English phrase?


texts:
I've written the following phrase:
"The strategy generates impact over the service quality."

However, someone has corrected me. According to the correction, the appropriated preposition would be on in this case. So,
"The strategy generates impact on the service quality."

Why would be incorrect to use over in this phrase?


texts:
Is there a rule in the English language that governs the order of location specificity?
Once my English lecturer stated that in English locations are written from the smallest level up to the highest.
This would make these correct:

Magenta street, Rome, Italy

Institute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Centre, Vilnius University

And not these (or any other permutation):

Italy, Rome, Magenta street

Vilnius University, Life Sciences Centre, Institute of Biosciences

I have looked at several links, but there are no explicitly stated sources or any references to rules of the language.
These are the following:

Wikipedia - Address - Address format - ... addresses are written in order from most specific to general, i.e. finest to coarsest information ...
Engilsh Stack Exchange - What's the correct way to write the general location of someone in the USA? - city, then state, not the other way around
Quora - Why do we write the name of a city and then the name of the country when we're writing a location? - says that it is more comfortable for the post office to read in this order [why?]

But why finest to coarsest, and not coarsest to finest?
If it is a rule, I would like to see some links or references, so I could cite it while proofreading texts.


texts: I need a word that means to have great potential but won't go through with it?

texts:
Context: I'm a very good vocalist and I do want to be famous but not by pursuing myself as a musician because performing live at concerts is not my kind of thing.

I fear that although being a local artist isn't so bad, my songs will attract the attention of world tour artists who want to work together. That kind of fame comes with modelling, famous talk shows and so on but I feel really shy around cameras. Even though I feel I have a million-dollar-talent, I just don't feel “cut out” for appearing in public.


texts:
Some events are happening from time to time and I'd like a colleague of mine to notify me about the occurrence of those events next time they happen. So, I'm writing to that colleague:

  I'm looking forward to hearing from you about an event having happened again.

In response I'm expecting to receive a message of the following sort: "Hey, finally the event has happened again, log into the system and look at the consequences. "

My question is whether my message to the colleague is OK or not? What's wrong and how I could ask about the same in a grammatically correct way?


texts: what does 'live up to the buzz' stand for?

texts:
I recently read an article about honey

  As I was reflecting on all the health benefits of honey, it suddenly occurred to me: I don't think I've ever seen a sick bee. Coincidence? Probably. But honey may be one miracle cure that lives up to the buzz.

according to (www.thefreedictionary.com), it means "to fulfill expectations; to satisfy a goal or set of goals" but I hardly put that on the context here.


texts: What is the word for "the smell of rain"?

texts:
I've always noticed that sometimes rain can have a pretty distinct smell.

Do we have a word describing the smell of rain? How can we describe the smell of rain?

"The rain smelt like..."

"The rain had a ... scent."


texts: Why do we use "to" for "go to sleep", but do not use it for "go home"?

texts:
Why we say "go to sleep" and don't say "go sleep"?
Why we say "go home" and don't say "go to home"?


texts:
Could anyone help me with this question? What are the main types of contrast involved in contrastive analysis of syntax? Give examples.

I tried to find answer, but unfortunately I find nothing.


texts:
As a rule (unless this really is a case-by-case basis) what's the correct possessive form for a company name that is pluralized for the singular?

For example, the company "JetBrains" uses the plural "Brains" for the singular company entity, "JetBrains."

Should it be "JetBrain's product line," "JetBrains' product line" or something else besides?


texts: Is a comma needed before or after "which" and "such as"?

texts:
Is a comma needed before the word "which" and "such as" in the following examples?

Ethical clearance was essential which was obtained very early in the research process.
There are several reasons for this misconception such as a false belief in one's ability.


texts:
Here is the scene of the final fight between Buck and Spitz at the end of chapter 3 in The Call of the Wild by Jack London:

Spitz was untouched, while Buck was streaming with blood and panting
hard. The fight was growing desperate. And all the while the silent
and wolfish circle waited to finish off whichever dog went down. As
Buck grew winded, Spitz took to rushing, and he kept him staggering
for footing. Once Buck went over, and the whole circle of sixty dogs
started up; but he recovered himself, almost in mid air, and the
circle sank down again and waited.
But Buck possessed a quality that made for greatness—imagination. He
fought by instinct, but he could fight by head as well. He rushed, as
though attempting the old shoulder trick, but at the last instant
swept low to the snow and in. His teeth closed on Spitz's left fore
leg. There was a crunch of breaking bone, and the white dog faced him
on three legs. Thrice he tried to knock him over, then repeated the
trick and broke the right fore leg. Despite the pain and helplessness,
Spitz struggled madly to keep up. He saw the silent circle, with
gleaming eyes, lolling tongues, and silvery breaths drifting upward,
closing in upon him as he had seen similar circles close in upon
beaten antagonists in the past. Only this time he was the one who was
beaten.
There was no hope for him. Buck was inexorable. Mercy was a thing
reserved for gentler climes. He manoeuvred for the final rush. The
circle had tightened till he could feel the breaths of the huskies on
his flanks. He could see them, beyond Spitz and to either side, half
crouching for the spring, their eyes fixed upon him. A pause seemed to
fall. Every animal was motionless as though turned to stone. Only
Spitz quivered and bristled as he staggered back and forth, snarling
with horrible menace, as though to frighten off impending death. Then
Buck sprang in and out; but while he was in, shoulder had at last
squarely met shoulder. The dark circle became a dot on the
moon-flooded snow as Spitz disappeared from view. Buck stood and
looked on, the successful champion, the dominant primordial beast who
had made his kill and found it good.

In the last paragraph, after "Buck was inexorable.", who maneuvered for the final rush?
If it means that Buck maneuvered for the final rush that would finish Spitz, then, as it is written later on, why would "their eyes" be fixed upon him? "their eyes" should instead be fixed on Spitz, as he is the one about to be killed.
And if it means that Spitz maneuvered to get ready for the final rush, shouldn't that bold part later, then read "beyond Buck and to either side..."?


texts: If we say "Socrates", "Hippocrates", etc, why don't we say "Aristoteles"? Why "Aristotle"?

texts: If Σωκράτης is transliterated as "Socrates", and Ἱπποκράτης is transliterated as "Hippocrates", and other Greek names ending with -ης are transliterated as ending with "-es", why isn't Ἀριστοτέλης transliterated "Aristoteles" instead of "Aristotle"?


texts: Does the fragment "almost impossible to underestimate" make this sentence illogical?

texts:
I was interested in the following sentence which appeared in an article titled “In Rossellini’s War Movies, the Naturalism Survives" by Dave Kehr in The New York Times (January 22, 2010).

  It’s almost impossible to underestimate the importance of these
  movies, both for the impact that their startling realism had on the
  audiences and filmmakers of the time and for the influence they
  continue to exert on directors.

Can someone clarify if the fragment "almost impossible to underestimate" makes the sentence illogical?

I would reword "underestimate" with "overestimate", but I'm not quite sure on this correction because I'm not able to precisely identify the meaning of "underestimate" in this context, and the word "almost" that precede "impossible" makes the problem entirely incomprehensible (to me).

(Apologize in advanced if the question is not good for this site or if it is a dupe of another question. If so, please delete rather than close. Thank you.)


texts:
I would appreciate your help.

  He is not strong at all. He would not even lift me.

I would like to express that he would not even lift me, let alone heavier stuff.


texts: Highest Scholarship vs Biggest Scholarship

texts:
I want to convey that I received the highest amount of scholarship (For example: if scholarship amounts range from $1000 to $10000, I got $10000) given to the top 1 or 2% of the class. I want to write it as precisely as possible. What would be the apt sentence?

This is what I am thinking:

  Recipient of highest XYZ scholarship (Awarded to top 3% of incoming class)

Not sure if the word highest is appropriate.


texts: "possessive of" or "possessive towards"?

texts:
I would like to know if there is a difference between "to be possessive of someone" and "to be possessive towards someone".

I have seem both of them being used, but I'm not sure if there is a difference in meaning or use cases.
Any help would be appreciated.

Larger Edit:

Ok, after spending a few more hours searching Google I found a few interesting things. (I searched before, but didn't find anything helpful, that's why I initially came here.) I'll leave them here for anyone else with a similar question:

First of, there are quite a few websites that use "possessive towards" in the same sense as "possessive of/about". Among them a bunch of books that Google archived, but also some UK student website and some kind of Magazine.

Now, what's really interesting is the book "Machiavellian Intelligence II: Extensions and Evaluations", that answered my question.

In said book it is stated, that they used the expression "possessive towards" rather than the "more grammatically correct" (so "possessive towards" is just less correct and not incorrect?) "possessive near" or "possessive around" to make something clear.
[side note: So I was kind of right with an  assumption I had that "possessive towards" could mean something like "possessive around"]

Namely:
Animal A was "possessive of" animal B, but only towards animal C.
They used "towards" rather than "near" or "around" because there were other animals "around" to [like D,E ect], who A was not "possessive towards" in regard to their interactions with B.

So to put it simple:
A didn't like C "talk to" B, but was fine with others talking to B, whether C was around or not.
So A was only "possessive towards" C and not "possessive around/near" C.
They used that specific terminology to make the difference clear.

You can read up on it yourself in the book I mentioned if you want to check what I said. But let me tell you I had to read the paragraph several times to understand what I read. [maybe I'm just slow lol]

Conclusion:

"possessive of/about" = I want it/person all for me

"possessive around/near" = I am possessive of whatever, if person X is in my vicinity

"possessive towards"= Not 100% grammatically correct, but usable in special cases like the above. (And used wrongly as "possessive of/about" by a bunch of other people apparently.)

God finding that answer took forever. What an ordeal.
So, I'm going to stick with that conclusion for now unless someone wants to add anything to that.   Over and out.


texts:
I'm sorry if this question is already asked. I couldn't find an answer for this anywhere in the internet. My question is:

What are the common phrases with multiple auxiliary verbs which are used to make sentences??

Eg:
1. "have to do" - "You have to see a doctor"
2. "should have done" - "you should have attended the class"
3. "could have done" - "I could have gone to the movies, if I had cleaned the house"

I need a list of common phrases like this. Because learning this kind of phrases and its usage can really help English learners. It will be quote useful in the daily life.

I request all of you to please share the phrases you know.

Thanks


texts: What's the proper response when someone says something modest and underrated about himself

texts:
Recently when I told a British colleague of mine that he sent me the right assets earlier he told me this:

  Wow, me being efficient? Doesn't sound right

I understand that this is supposed to be modesty in a funny way but I'm not sure how to respond to this. And so I choose an awkward silence instead. We have the same thing in the my own culture but translating the proper response there wouldn't make any sense in English. I know I can respond like this:

  Oh! You're being too modest

But I don't want to sound like I'm from 18th century. So what could be the proper response to this sentence?


texts:
I have to solve a Rubik's cube, so I rearrange the stickers.

My friend asks me to remind her to read chapter five, so I immediately say, "Don't forget to read chapter five."

I have to find d such that f(x + d) - f(x) < 0.1, so I pick an infinitesimal d instead of solving the inequality.

I have to untangle something, so I cut the knot.

What do you call a technically correct solution that doesn't answer the question or solve the problem as intended?

(I'm bracing myself now for a bunch of words that meet that description but don't answer my intended question…)

Here's an example sentence:
I wrote a brute-force algorithm, Annette wrote a nondeterministic probabilistic algorithm, Yun wrote a recursive branch-and-bound algorithm, and Jen wrote a(n) ________ algorithm that just returned pre-calculated answers for every possible input.

(It's fine if the words aren't adjectives or don't relate to programming.)


texts: Hypernym for 'parallel' and 'antiparallel'

texts:
What is a word that includes both parallel and antiparallel ?

This bothers me all the time when I do my math or physics homework.


texts: A philosophy where technology is forsaken and nature embraced

texts:
There is a particular philosophy that I am trying to find the proper word to describe.

An exemple of this philosophy is from a short story I once read (From Jack London's short story "To Build a Fire") is where a man tries to build a fire in the winter, and in his confidence takes his boots off to warm them.  Whereupon snow falls from above, extinguishing the fire, soaking his foot, and we are left to presume dooming him to death.

Another example (that I cannot source sadly) is the story of a particular man who abandoned society and built himself a log cabin in the middle of the woods, and lived his entire life there.

The core concepts invovled are thus:

A reverence for nature
A desire to be self-sufficient
A belief that this state is the purest form of mankind
Not a fear of technology, but a desire to avoid it


texts: When did things like ‑fu start to spread?

texts:
I have looked at the answers to the question Can anyone tell me what the suffix “‑fu” stands for?, and I understand what it means.

When, though, did it come into use? Does its spread coincide with the spread of martial arts in the English-speaking world? Are there other examples that appear around the same time, or is this borrowing unique at this time?

I have read the Wikitionary article, and I could not find anything in Etymonline.


texts: More formal way of saying "taking almost all"

texts:
I am trying to revise the following statement:

A takes almost all the rewards which are usually given to clients contributing important attributes.

The takes almost all seems not very formal and concise to me. Is there any other verb that can be properly used here?

A [verb] rewards which are usually given to clients contributing important attributes.

Thank you!


texts: Relationship between my paternal aunt and maternal uncle

texts: I have an aunt by marriage on my dad's side who is his sister-in-law and an uncle by blood on my mom's side who is her brother. Would my aunt and uncle be considered sister-in-law and brother-in-law to each other?


texts: Is there any equivalent for 'amorous affairs' that is very informal?

texts: I'm looking for a way of saying “having amorous affairs”. Ideally it should indicate a married man fooling around with younger women, and the expression should be informal, humorous, in low register but yet not rude.


texts: What tense should I use after "to ensure" clause?

texts:
Debugged the codes to ensure the game works properly
Debugged the codes to ensure the game worked properly

Which one is correct? What tense should I use? Thank you


texts: Meaning of "___ does not pretend to speak for everyone"

texts:
"The committee does not pretend to speak for every member of the association"

What are some of the meanings behind the sentence above? Is this sentence used to suggest that the committee works hard to represent the association, or is it to merely emphasize that the committee cannot ever represent the whole?


texts: Is "doesn't count for squat" an impolite phrase?

texts:
I recently used the phrase "doesn't count for squat" (meaning worthless) in a StackExchange comment, and then wondered if I was being impolite.

I considered if "squat" was just a euphemism for "shit", then I probably should find another expression for polite company. (I wouldn't say to someone "it isn't worth jack" in polite company, for the same reason.)

Related: Where did the phrase "diddly-squat" come from?


texts: Military terminology for the outbreak of war, or events at the beginning of a World War?

texts: I wanted to know if there are any general terms for the outbreak of war, or ones which refer specifically to events near the beginning of the World Wars.


texts:
This is probably quite basic, but I can't think what it's called!
What is this 'rule' called, i.e. where you need two commas to separate this piece from 'they,' and finishing 'others,' from the rest of the sentence?  I need to know the formal name/rule.
It provides a place in which they, working together with parents and others, can gain a sense of achievement and which enables them to influence their lives and their own cultures.
Don't shout at me for using the word 'rule', please!


texts: Summarizing a paper to give a different meaning

texts:
A recent news article published an article based on certain research. They included the link to the research. However, both the title of the article, and the conclusions it drew, ran contrary to the researcher's findings. The article deliberately paraphrased certain minor aspects of the research to justify the heading and conclusions, taking them completely out of context.
Here is a fictional example:

Source: "Research shows modern vehicles are safer than those produced 50 years ago, except in extreme cases of manufacturer's defect or negligence".
Article: "Modern vehicles are just as dangerous as the vehicles of 50 years ago"

As dotsamuelswan mentioned, I could see it being bias, or possibly classified as sensationalism. My question is, would the intentional misquote/paraphrasing constitute a form of plagiarism?


texts: Is atmosphere a concrete or abstract noun?

texts: It can be sensed, obviously but its tangibility is often elusive. It is not something which necessarily be directly perceived, more a combination of factors.


texts: Word that means "the front side of a person"?

texts:
For example, to be used in a sentence like this:

  He always found it easier to recall his girlfriend's back rather than
  her [...].


texts: "He" or "she", "his" or "her" for an ambiguous name

texts:
In Finland Kari is boy's name and in Norway it is girl's name. Suppose I meet a Norwegian Kari. Which one is correct?

  First I heard his/her name I thought he/she is a boy but the I realized he/she is a girl.


texts: The choice of the verb "break" seems a strange choice for the phrase. Does anybody know where this phrase originated?


texts: Word to describe protocols which avoid infection/contamination

texts:
I used to know a word which has now evaporated from my brain and I hope this community can return it to me.  The word is used in medical or forensic contexts and describes practices which ensure that diseases are not spread, that samples of infected tissue do not release their pathogens, that proper hygiene is observed or (in the context of forensics) that evidence is not contaminated in a way that would invalidate it.

"Hygiene" is not the word I am looking for.  Hygiene is only one aspect of it.

I want to retrieve the word because I work in Software Engineering and often have to advise on security issues or best practice, where I believe this term would be useful.


texts: What does the sentence "Butter my butt, call me a biscuit" mean?

texts:
What does this sentence mean? How do I use it?

  Butter my butt, call me a biscuit.


texts: Does Clink Street take its name from the prison or vice-versa?

texts:
In Southwark, between the Cathedral and the Globe Theatre runs Clink Street. It is in that dark and dingy alley that such that remains of the notorious prison, which is now rebuilt as a museum, is found.

Narrow, dark, and cobbled, it is well-known for the chase-scene in the David Lean film Oliver Twist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clink_Street

Now the word 'clink' is widely used in Britain for prison. 'He did a year in clink', 'At this rate he will end up in clink' etc.

What I am unsure about, is whether 'clink' derives from onomatopoeia, the sound of metal doors closing, keys, chains and fetters etc. and in that way became an everyday term for prison. Does Clink Street take its name from the prison, or did prison become known as 'clink' because a notorious one (from the 12th to 18th centuries) was located in Clink Street.

It is not clear from the quotations in the OED.


texts: What is a word/verb or phrase that means "uniting to conquer a goal"?

texts:
An example could be:

  These participants are running together to raise awareness and money
  for cancer research. They are ____________ to conquering cancer.


texts:
I tried to reference this, but this doesn`t comport with the context, from P151, How the Law Works, Gary Slapper. I'd guess that as of = by, but please explain or refute?

  ‘Excusal as of right’ meant that certain classes of people,
  including MPs and doctors, could be excused from service without the need to refer to any
  particular reason.


texts: What is the ’s-possessive form of "the king of Troy, Priam"?

texts:
“This was brought about by the king of Troy’s, Priam’s, death.”

In this sentence, should the ’s be tagged on to “the king of Troy”, “Priam”, or both?


texts: It's neither a shoulder belt, a baldric, nor a sash. What is it, then?

texts: Aristotle never dreamed of wearing anything like it, but Rembrandt had to put it there to balance out the composition. What is that glittering thing, with some kind of medallion/pendant hanging from it halfway from Aristotle's left hand to Homer's head?


texts: Why do we say 'last Monday morning' but not 'last morning'?

texts:
There was a very similar question asked about 'last night' and 'yesterday night' here but I didn't really think the question was answered that definitively. Also, I thought about how we use other expressions that include last + date/time a bit more.

Is this because last Monday morning is unambiguous, and yesterday morning is also unambiguous whereas last morning is? Why doesn't last morning just mean the morning that passed if it is night time (and you are referring to a time in the same day), and if it is morning then it refers to yesterday's morning? I think this is still a probably with last Monday morning if you are using this expression on a Monday just after morning.


texts: Should there be a comma between 'you' and 'darling' here?

texts:
Should there be a comma after you in the following sentence?

  Here's to you darling.


texts:
The pirate song “Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest” from Treasure Island contains the expression yo-ho-ho.

  Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest—
  Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
  Drink and the devil had done for the rest—
  Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Does this signify laughter, a piratical variation of ho-ho-ho? It doesn’t seem like an amusing little ditty but then pirates probably would have a dark sense of humour. Or is it simply a more piratey song filler than na-na-na?


texts: History of "novelty" to refer to dessert items

texts:
The word novelty can be used to refer to hand-held desserts, such as ice cream sandwiches or ice pops. What is the history of this usage? Presumably the etymology is straightforward, but what is the first recorded usage and when did it become common parlance?

I found this link where the 1920s is referred to as when ice cream novelties were born, but there is no evidence there that the word was used at the time.


texts: What's the meaning of 'sheer' and 'times' in this context?

texts: “But then, when you’ve just come to the point when your reaction to the times is one of total and sheer acceptance, when your body has become somehow tuned into the insanity and you reach that point where it all makes sense"


texts:
The other day I stumbled upon a tricky English sentence:

'In a significant departure from the underlying ethos of the Thatcher era, Cameron declared, in his speech, that...'

I'm not too sure about the meaning of 'underlying' here. The dictionary claims four distinctive meanings

1) concealed, hidden
2) basic, fundamental
3) lying under
4) prior, taking precedence

How do I know which one is right? The first and the second one could, in my opinion, easily fit in there, changing the subtle meaning though. How do I figure out the meaning of a word, when several definitions fit it?

Thanks


texts: To convince someone to do something that they do anyways (idiom)

texts:
In my native language we have an ironic saying: "It is hard to convince a fish to jump into water", which is used when we convince for example an alcoholic to take a drink or an athlete to go jogging. The act itself doesn't have to be easy for the individual, only natural or expected.

Is there a similar saying in English?


texts: preposition + genitive vs non-genitive subjects + gerund

texts:
I was wondering which of the following phrases are correct?

"without their having to learn" or "without them having to learn"?

Any help is highly appreciated.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
Gender neutral pronoun.

In everyday use, I often use the pronoun "they" to refer to a unknown person if I do not know their sex. As in:

Bob: Who was it that emailed you
about the company cutting back?
Sally: I don't know. They didn't say.

I remember using "they" this way in a paper for my college English 101 class, and my teacher marked off for it, saying that it is incorrect. So is it? It's definitely much easier to say than "he/she"...
Perhaps it's considered correct (or at least accepted) in speech but not in written form?


texts:
I edit reports at work and often feel that sentences end up structured backwards, for lack of a better term. For example, this sentence:

  We designed a water diversion that also acts as a fish barrier to protect and prevent fish from entering an irrigation storage pond.

I think it sounds clearer to switch it around to

  To protect and prevent fish from entering an irrigation storage pond, we designed a water diversion that also acts as a fish barrier.

Is that correct, and is there a grammatical explanation/term for that fix, or is it simply a question of style?


texts: You really want to help someone, but that individual becomes suspicious of the nature of your help and questions it

texts: I don’t know what to call the behavior of those who don’t believe that anybody acts with good intentions, so I'm looking for a suitable word, idiom or expression.


texts: Single word for something that becomes progressively harder to succeed at

texts: I'm looking for a single word representing the effect of something becoming progressively harder to 'hit' or succeed at, such as a gambling game in which you become less likely to win after each successive spin. Another example may be a boxer who becomes more evasive as a fight progresses.


texts: Is someone informed on or of characteristics?

texts:
A friend asked me to look at their resume.  I saw this sentence:

  Ensured that referring physicians are informed on abnormalities and suggestions via letters

Is on the correct word to use, or is of?  Of sounds right to me, but I'm not sure.


texts: Recently, I've found myself talking about the use of pinching to zoom out on mobile devices, and I've been struggling with an opposite for the word 'pinch'.  In lieu of a better word, I've been saying 'unpinch'.  I'm wondering if there's a more appropriate word to use to describe the motion of spreading the fingers from a pinch position.


texts: "cheaper price" or "lower price" / "cheaper rate" or "lower rate"

texts:
English is not my first language, but I strive to speak it at its best.

Somehow it really grates me when people say that something is at a "cheaper/more expensive price" or "cheaper/more expensive rate". My understanding is that prices and rates can be lower or higher, whilst products/services can be cheaper/more expensive.

I lived by this rule for a while, however today I spot a phrase "cheaper rate" even in an article on BBC website. Look it up if you fancy, search for "Sony is set to sell the PlayStation 4 for a cheaper price than Microsoft's rival Xbox One." Argh!

Please correct me or affirm my understanding. Thank you.


texts:
I'm building a website and I need to choose between 'not too expensive' and 'affordable'. The sentence:

  Reliable, stable, secure, great support and of course not too expensive!

or

  Reliable, stable, secure, great support and of course affordable!

Which one is the best?


texts: What is the subject of the first sentence?what does "so that" means? What is the role of two last phrase, could you paraphrase it for me

texts: Just as painted designs on Greek pots may seem today to be purely decorative, whereas in fact they were carefully and precisely worked out so that at the time, their meaning was clear, so it is with Chinese pots.


texts: Term for sports in which the competition is directly against the actions of a rival

texts:
Is there a word or short phrase describing sports such as football, tennis, fencing, martial arts in which the competitors act directly against each other? I would like to distinguish these sports from others where the competitors try to do some activity better than their rivals (running faster, lifting more, throwing further, shooting more accurately).
In the "doing better" sports, competitors are not supposed to interfere with rivals and may get disqualified if they do so (tripping a fellow runner, blocking a cyclist, ramming a race car). In the "act directly against" sports, the whole point is to prevent the rival from doing something and do it to them instead (subject to some rules of the game).

The phrase should include contact sports, may or may not include team sports and non-physical contests (boardgames, video games).


texts: Is there a common or well understood word for 'a group with no shared members'?

texts:
I have two mathematical sets that have no common elements.

In mathematical terms, these are called 'disjoint sets', and together they are called a 'partition'.

What common or well understood word or phrase could I use to explain what these are, when speaking to someone who doesn't know what a disjoint set or partition is?

Edit: I am looking for an alternative to the answer found in this question. I am looking for a reasonably common word/phrase to replace "disjoint". The other answer found in the linked question, "orthogonal", is much too obscure for my purpose.


texts:
I'd like to know if all these sentences are correct, and if there is a difference between them in meaning:

I punched him in the face.
I punched him on the face.
I punched him to the face.

Thank you in advance.


texts: Word that encompasses a person's mood, activity, company, etc

texts:
I'm looking for a preferably short word that encompasses how a person is feeling, what they're doing, and who they're with. The list of things I want to represent will probably grow over time, so a somewhat generic term would be ideal.

The best I've been able to come up with is situation or circumstance. However, they're fairly bland words and also a bit long. Any ideas?


texts: A pause that may not signal another clause

texts:
I want to know if the last line of this stanza (in Frost's Tree by My Window) is enjambed. I want to pause after it, but would like to know whether that's because of the meter, or there can be a comma there.

  Vague dream-head lifted out of the ground,

  And thing next most diffuse to cloud,

  Not all your light tongues talking aloud

  Could be profound.

So far I've been working up. So trying to decide if the last line here is subordinate to the third. What I think I know:

"talking" cannot be the predicate in an independent clause because it is the gerund or present participle of the verb.
independent clauses always have a predicate.
the last line probably isn't a dependent clause, because it would then be missing a subject yet begins with "could".

However, I'm still wondering whether "light" could be the predicate in that third sentence. So my specific questions are:

Can subject and predicate be inverted like that?
Could that third line end with a comma? Perhaps because "talking aloud" is in effect in parentheses, or perhaps because the last line has the former proposition as its subject.


texts:
I want to say that a person (Egill Skallagrímsson, just for the record) committed his first killing of an enemy at the age of seven.

However, it seems to me that this phrase:

  When he was 7, he killed his first enemy

could possibly imply that at the age of seven he killed the man who happened to be his first enemy, and this might not be the first from his enemies who died from his hand.

Am I right? If I am, what would be the way to convey this meaning unequivocally?


texts: Structure with to infinitive or gerund or past participle

texts: I read a vocabulary book . There is a sentence which makes me confused. " The government had passed a bill outlawing  smoking while driving" . I wonder if why the author use "outlawing" here but not outlawed or outlaw. Can you explain this grammar structure for me. I am very bad at grammar


texts: Meaning of - "Miss the wrong period and it won't be the principal you have to see. "

texts:
I saw this in a movie and I'm trying to figure out the meaning. It looks like it says that if you miss the wrong class you won't be sent to the principal. I'm not sure whether I'm correct. Any help with clarification of the meaning would be much appreciated.

Its from the movie Lean on Me (1989) starring Morgan Freeman, and it's written on a school door.


texts: Idiom for the phrase "getting a good result from a bad situation or with a bad condition"?

texts:
Is there an idiom which expresses the idea of "getting a good result from a bad situation or with a bad condition"?
Thanks!