texts: Is there an etymological explanation for the silent ‘g’ in “paradigm”?

texts:
Whenever I come across the word paradigm, I have to make a small conscious effort not to pronounce the letter ‘g’.

In Italian, it is spelled paradigma and each letter is individually pronounced i.e. /pa·ra·dìg·ma/. But in English, paradigm is pronounced paradime, which is written phonetically as /ˈparədʌɪm/
(You can hear its pronunciation in this Oxford Dictionary video)

Its etymological roots are Greek; παράδειγμα (parádigma/parádeigma) meaning pattern, model, precedent, example, instance, and from   παραδείκνυμι (paradeiknynai) meaning show, present, compare/confront.

However, I could find no explanation as to why the letter ‘g’ is silent nor why the letter ‘a’ was dropped.

I know in English there are many, many words that have silent letters. For example, the silent ‘e’ in minute, mouse, goose, have, etc. is a vestige of Old and Early Middle English when the suffix denoted whether a word was a noun or an adjective, singular or plural, or if it was the subject of a sentence or an object. The ‘h’ was pronounced in the middle of a word in Old English and its spelling changed to ‘gh’ in Middle English when it was preceded by a vowel. Eventually, the ‘h’ sound was dropped but its peculiar spelling still persists in words such as night, sight and thought.

If we look at the etymology of the term phlegm (which also ends with ‘gm’) we find

  “Middle English fleem, fleume, from Old French fleume, from late Latin phlegma ‘clammy moisture (of the body)’, from Greek phlegma ‘inflammation’, from phlegein ‘to burn’. The spelling change in the 16th century was due to association with the Latin and Greek.”

Was there a similar change in spelling for paradigm? I didn't find anything. And why the /ʌɪ/ sound and not /ɪ/?

Other words of Greek origin such as gnomon, gnostic, and gnosis the ‘g’ is silent but in prognosis, the ‘g’ is instead pronounced.

Similarly,  the letter ‘g’ in paradigmatic is pronounced
 /parədɪɡˈmatɪk/ or /ˌpær.ə.dɪɡˈmæt.ɪk/ (BrEng) and /ˌper.ə.dɪɡˈmæt̬-/ (AmEng). Phonetic transcriptions courtesy of Cambridge Dictionary
(I don’t understand what happened to the missing k symbol in the American transcription but you can definitely hear it in the audio.)

Why was the last letter ‘a’ in the Greek word parádeigma omitted in English?
Why is the letter ‘g’ in paradigm (paradime) silent but not in paradigmatic?

Sources
Why is "night" spelled with "gh"?
Silent "e" at the end of words
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Old_English/Nouns


texts: What is a good word for the Exhale portion of a laugh?

texts:
I have the following sentence:

[She'd been laughing, then had a sudden panic attack]... Then all at once she hadn’t been able to breathe.
The room had plenty of air — she could feel it sucking in and out of
her lungs, thin and stale — but it had been no good.  She’d been
terrified.  Smothering and terrified and still strangling on the
tail-end of her breathless laughter in sharp lung-flattening...

This obviously needs some editing, but I'd really like to end it with a word that means "the short, sharp, exhalations of breath from the lungs caused by uncontrollable laughter."
You know, the kind of laughter where you fall out of your chair and start wheezing, "I can't breath!"
There must be such a word, but for the life of me, I can't think of it or coax it out of Google or Thesaurus.com.
Edit:
A couple good suggestions, but I'm thinking more of the act of involuntary exhale.  If you watch people laugh uncontrollably, they eventually they run out of breath, because he heaving of their belly and lungs will press air out with laughter even as they're trying to inhale.  I'm trying to capture that sort of involuntary exhalation.  I suppose I could go with sharp, lung-flattening exhalations.  I just figured there must be a more accurate word =o)  Thanks!


texts: "Whatever a Russian does, they end up making the Kalashnikov gun"? Are there any similar proverbs in English?

texts:
I'm translating a Russian blog post into English and got stuck with the proverb, "Whatever a Russian does, they end up making the Kalashnikov gun." (Humorously meaning it's hard or even impossible to get past established patterns of doing things.)

Are there any similar proverbs in the English language?

I was trying to omit the reference to a particular nationality and think about other ways to get the message across, e.g. use professions or animals. The only idea I managed to come up with was "What can you expect from a hog but a grunt." But it has negative connotations that are not implied by the original.

I'd greatly appreciate if you share your thoughts on this. Thanks in advance!

P.S. Here's this bit that I'm translating:

  A chunk of our budget was shelled out to buy game design documents prepared for us by two studios. The output was quite hefty. A great deal of work was done, no one's arguing. But what we got communicated a very different idea. Maybe even a good one, yet different. This proverb best describes the situation, “Whatever a Russian does, they end up making the Kalashnikov gun.” It was evident that people are used to and like doing things in a familiar way, based on their established practices for GDDs and without getting off the beaten track.

Source: habr.com/ru/company/uteam/blog/447310


texts: Is there a single word to describe a person who is constantly in need of help? I'm not looking for the word "helpless." Rather a person who acts helpless, possibly to just get attention. I thought possibly the word "waif" based on a very old Cosmo magazine article, but Websters doesn't agree.


texts: Difference between the words resulting and resultant

texts:
Can anyone suggest situations where resultant would be preferable to resulting, or vice-versa?
Dictionary definitions, noted down as a result of a telephone conversation but should be correct:

Resultant
Verb
Resulting from combination as of tones sounded together.
Noun
A resultant -- a force compounded of two or more forces.
Resulting
Adjective
Present participle of result.
Noun
As a consequence.
Result
Verb
To issue or to follow as a consequence; to rebound. To be the outcome.
Noun
As a consequence.


texts: "We invite you..." versus We are inviting you

texts: I am told to use "We are inviting you..." instead of "We invite you...". The reviewer mentions that this first option is progressive and more appropriate. In which cases do you use either one, for example, one case is inviting to a birthday party and the second case is inviting to a medical treatment.


texts: What is the exact meaning of “blood-dimmed (tragedy),” and how does it pass current among Anglophones?

texts:
I was drawn to the word, “blood-dimmed tragedy” in the following statement of Maureen Dowd’s article titled, “Peeping Barry” in June 8 New York Times:

  You could see the fear in his eyes, the fear that froze him in place,
  after Andy Card whispered to W. in that Florida classroom that a
  second plane had crashed into the twin towers. The blood-dimmed
  tragedy of 9/11 was chilling. But instead of rising above the fear, W.
  let it overwhelm his better instincts.

I know ‘blood-chilling’ and ‘blood-curdling’. But as I don’t know the word, “blood-dimmed,” I consulted English dictionaries at hand and online. None of OED, CED and Merriam-Webster includes this word and nor does Google Ngram register any incidence of “blood-dimmed.”

However, I found that “blood-dimmed tragedy” is a twist of “the blood-dimmed tide is loosed,” in William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming.”

  "Turning and turning in the widening gyre

  The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

  Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

  Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

  The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

  The ceremony of innocence is drowned;"

I wonder why Dowd – I know she loves flowery expressions - doesn’t plainly say ‘the tragedy of 9/11 was blood-chilling / curdling’ instead of ‘the blood-dimmed tragedy of 9/11 was chilling.”

How does the word “blood-dimmed,” which I cannot find in any of mainstream English dictionaries, pass current among average English speaking people? Will I be frowned on, or not, if I say “I saw a  blood-dimmed car accident in my neighborhood yesterday” to my English speaking friend?


texts: What are sensible dichotomies of "abstract"?

texts:
Which of the following dichotomies sound "natural" to the native English speaker?

abstract vs. real
abstract vs. real-life
abstract vs. real-world
abstract vs. concrete
abstract vs. physical
abstract vs. specific

I am especially interested in finding dichotomous namings for "abstract structures/systems" as represented e.g. by mathematical structures like graphs in the sense of networks. What sounds most "natural" and most appropriate:

real structures/systems
real-life structures/systems
real-world structures/systems
concrete structures/systems
physical structures/systems (which is too narrow)
specific structures/systems

Further suggestions are welcome!


texts: Does "retail" also mean something I don't understand?

texts:
The sale of goods directly to the consumer, encompassing the storefronts, mail-order, websites, etc., and the corporate mechanisms, branding, advertising, etc. that support them.

Retail price; full price; an abbreviated expression, meaning the full suggested price of a particular good or service, before any sale, discount, or other deal.

Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/retail#English
The way I hear it recently is like:

Institutions buy Bitcoin all the time. Retail don't have much say.

Here, they seem to refer to "retail" as being "the common man", or individuals, rather than having anything to do with a "retail store" or "full price".
Why do they call "non-institutions" retail?


texts:
I'm reading The Great Gatsby and there's one part when Tom Buchanan is arguing by phone with George Wilson about a car, and Tom says the next:

  Very well, then, I won't sell you the car at all ... I'm under no
  obligations to you at all ... and as for your bothering me about it at
  lunch time, I won't stand that at all!

the part:

  [...] and as for your bothering me [...]

has a structure like:

possessive adjective + gerund + object pronoun

I had never seen such a construction, so my question is:
Is there something elided in the sentence, and what's the meaning of the sentence?

Thank you in advance.


texts:
I would like to know if, in British English, if there is a question after emdash, do I need to start the question with a capital? for example
—Do you know what this means?
Also, what about a general sentence and not a question after the emdash?
I have the same question for a colon (but of course in not-so-formal writing colons are replaceable with emdashes).
thanks


texts: What is the meaning of "deserves a thorough airing"?

texts:
Which is correct? "deserves a thorough airing" or "deserves thorough airing"? Should "a" be there?

To put it into the content:
"This article deserves a thorough airing." To my understanding, it means we need to discuss or debate on this article. It does not indicate the article is wrong or correct. Am I correct? Or it indeed indicates something is wrong with this article?


texts: These sentences sound awkward, how can I fix them?

texts:
Blabbermouth blabbed for 5 min explaining what had happened in Kahani. The shadows had started rebelling. They were trying to disconnect from their people. It was causing massive havoc.

These sentences sound really awkward for some reason when I read them. Is there anything I can do to make them more interesting?


texts: Is there a term for a masked / veiled question to find sensitive information?

texts:
I came across a phrase for a type of question which is designed to discover someone's religious background, particularly in the context of sectarianism and divided societies but can't for the life of me remember it.

For example, if you are in Scotland and I ask you what football team you support, that may reveal your religion. Or in N.Ireland, if I ask what school you attend, likewise that may do the same.

It's like a 'veiled question' only that's not the term I'm looking for. Any help appreciated.  I've a feeling that the second part of the phrase is (question) as in, a INSERT TERM question, but not 100% sure.


texts:
In some languages, such as Italian, when addressing someone who is senior to you or at a higher level with respect to some social hierarchy, it is customary not to use the second-person singular pronoun but some other form to indicate deference.
In Italian for example, the second-person plural feminine is used (e.g. "How are you" becomes "How is she").
The closest phenomenon in English that comes to my mind is the use of "sir" or "madam" but of course this does not work in the same way grammatically.

My question is: what is the technical English term for this grammatical construction?


texts: Best word for mass of uninterrupted material

texts:
I'm debating with myself about what the best word is for a solid mass of uninterrupted homogeneous material. Usage would be as follows:

  Example: That giant slab of granite on top of the mesa is _____; the whole thing is of one piece.

  Counterexample: I can't say that brick wall is _____; it is made up of many separate pieces connected by mortar.

What would be the best word in the blanks there?


texts: Can we use "remain in the dark" in metaphorical sense?

texts:
I think, we can use "remain in the dark" when we communicate that we don't have light
and are kept being in the dark actually.

But, can we use the phrase as metaphor in the academic paper?

For example,
"The mechanism of the phenomenon remains in the dark."

Or, "remains unclear" is better?


texts: What's the word used to describe an "individual-like" entity?

texts:
Most people consider 'individual' to be roughly synonymous with 'person.' Specifically, they would not consider an organization an 'individual.'

However, it may be said that organizations possess beliefs, desires, responsibilities, etc. much in the same way that people do.

Is there a word that encompasses this trait of being "like an individual," and thus includes humans, organizations, etc.?


texts: What is a good term for a fake laugh or a laugh used to camouflage a snide remark?

texts:
I'm composing a message to a passive aggressive friend who is quite phoney - they constantly make nasty remarks with a fake laugh attached so as not to be blatantly obvious about their intentions. I would like some feedback on a good word used for that laugh. I could look in the thesaurus or urban dictionary but I prefer hearing other opinions.

I don't need advice on the relationship or test if the message just the word associated with the laugh.


texts: How to ask "Where are you going?" when event already passed?

texts:
If my friend went to somewhere on weekend but i didn't know where did he go? And if i want to ask him like "Where are you going?" on Monday which sentences should i ask him?

Where did you go?

Where have you gone?

Where had you gone?

or ...


texts: What word means "the sights, things, and activities that are special" in a place?

texts: Typically, each city or region has its own special sights, cuisine, crafts, festivals, and activities. These need not necessarily be fully unique to a place, but might be things which local people will hope tourists will take note of. Is there a single word which can refer to these "sights, foods, activities" altogether?


texts: "would appreciate hearing your thoughts" phrase

texts:
I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this ...

In what situations is this phrase usually used? Formal, informal...?

In contrast to:

  I would appreciate hearing your opinion on this ...


texts:
I've been searching thoroughly for both constructions, but I haven't been able to find out when to use each of them.
Some rules of thumb I've found:

This forum post and this one suggest publish in should be used when the place of publishing is a three-dimensional place and publish on should be used when it's a surface. This makes a bit of sense to me, but does not seem a very academical explanation; whereas there are some cases in which it would be hard to distinguish which kind of place it is.

When the place is virtual, on is used. Example: Publish on Google Play

My particular cases are the following:

To publish an application __ [in/on] Google Play

To publish an application __ [in/on] a virtual market

Is there a way to identify where to use publish in or publish on? Are they mutually exchangeable?


texts: When should you use "despite" over "inspite", and vice versa?

texts: Most dictionaries suggest that inspite and despite are synonymous, but are there any specific instances when their usage is not interchangeable?


texts: I need another way to label a cheval de frise for my book. The problem is, the story takes place in a fantasy setting that neither contains the French language, nor Frisians.


texts:
Is it okay to say

  Their aim  is to find which element(s) of the input  has(ve) the genuine impact on the output.

My question is concerned with the plural of  element(s) and has(ve).


texts: What is somebody who can "predict" or "see" into the future called?

texts: I always make intuitions regarding the future, sometimes good and sometimes bad, and most of the time they are likely to be proven true. So what would a person be called whose intuitions always become true and happen?


texts:
Sunday and Monday are named after the sun and moon (English < Germanic), and Tuesday through Friday are named after Anglo-Saxon/Germanic gods.  This seems consistent enough so far, but then we come to the oddbal;: Saturday.
Ignoring the mandatory -day, this is the only Latin-derived name of the lot.  Why are six of the week-day names Germanic and one Romanic?


texts:
Does anyone know the origin of the idiom 'shifting sands' please? I have struggled to find tis in idiom and phrase dictionaries.

Thanks in advance


texts: Infinitive's Part of Speech in "Scientists have struggled for so many years to find them."

texts:
Is "to find them" an adverbial of purpose or an adverbial of result?

In other words, which of the following two sentences is closer to the sentence in the subject line:

  Scientists have struggled for so many years and found them.
  In order to find them, scientists have struggled for so many years.


texts: How similar or different are "recant", "repudiate", "renounce"

texts:
Recant, repudiate, renounce are synonyms of abjure. I'm unclear as to how these terms may be utilized in different sentences. I will be delighted to see them all in one sentence.

I seek efficient and effective applications and examples, rather than mere citations that could appear to be too obvious or banal.


texts: "She tells me" versus "She is telling me"

texts:
I have just watched a movie and in particular moment in a movie (one person is standing outside the door, and there are three characters inside room: A, B and C. A is saying something in foreign language and B is translating it to the C) B is saying: "She tells me old man is standing outside the door". My question is: Shouldn't there be Present Continuous tense, like "She is telling me old man is standing outside the door"? Why there was Simple tense used in that sentence since that all happened in ona particular moment?

Thank you in advance


texts: Difference between ‘English school’ and ‘school of English’

texts: I'm a Spanish speaker and I need to know the difference between School of English and English School. Sometimes I see these phrases, and I don't know which one is the correct one.


texts: In what situations would a native English speaker omit the last g in an -ing verb?

texts:
Examples:

  I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later.

  -Mitch Hedberg

  The jazz boom was goin' on then so there was a lot happenin' in New York at that time.

  -Mose Allison

The first speaker left out the -g in the second going, but not in the first. Why? When would a native English speaker omit it and when not?

(I'm interested in both oral and written form. But I guess the written omission is just to represent the former?)


texts: American English Pronunciation of "o" sound long or short?

texts:
I'm always confused about how to pronounce words with letter o in spelling. For example, in the word boss, I always pronounce the o as short o, when in fact it is long o. Collar is short, but I always pronounce it the opposite way.

What's the difference between words like dog, top, caught and cost? /ɑ/ or /ɔ/ ?

Are there any rules or law to decide whether to pronounce long o or short o?


texts:
Etymology of orchard

As a German I would assume that orchard is related to German Obstgarten (a garden  with fruit trees), and as Obstgarten has a consonant group of four consonants bst+g the bst was somehow reduced and changed.

Etymonline states that the second word element is geard meaning garden/yard. As to the first element there seems to be some uncertainty. Etymonline says "perhaps reduced from wortgeard, from wort vegetable, plant root". That seems to be a bit doubtful as apples are no vegetable. Etymonline's affirmation that the first element is influenced by Latin hortus (garden) may be, though a word composition like "garden garden" or "enclosed garden" (a tautology) is not very logical.

Anyway, somehow an r was inserted however it may have happened, but I think the most plausible etymology is a relationship with Obstgarten.

I would guess obs- was reduced to long open o and written or- and -t+geard/yard became the sound /tsh/ written ch.

I would like to hear any comments.


texts: When I was learning SQL, I remember reading that it should be pronounced just like the word sequel; however, I worked with a bunch of techs who seemed to prefer S-Q-L. Is there a proper convention for this?


texts:
This question regards Vancouver referencing, though I suppose the issue could really arise regardless of what is contained in the in-text citation.

Consider the sentence:

  As dogs are mammals they give birth to live young.

Clearly this is better separated:

  As dogs are mammals, they give birth to live young.

But what if we feel the need to justify the statement that dogs are mammals?

  As dogs are mammals [1], they give birth to live young.

Or:

  As dogs are mammals, [1] they give birth to live young.

The former makes more sense to me - I intuitively would like the citation to be contained on the same side of the comma as the clause to which it relates.

But I have a feeling the latter is perhaps 'correct', and the comma should not surround the citation, just as it should not surround a parenthetical? (Which I do unashamedly anyway)


texts: Should I use a comma before a past participle clause?

texts:
I know that a present participle doesn't need a comma.
ex)  I swim splashing water
'I swim taught by a teacher?' is that also correct without a comma?


texts: Is "membership to an organisation" wrong?

texts:
I have been seeing increasing use of "membership to an organisation" (club, association etc.). The "to" makes my teeth grate, as I have always used "of". Should I continue to resist (I run a large membership organisation!) or give in and let my teeth wear down to the roots?

For example, I received an email headed "Membership to the XXX from Jan 1 2019 - Guidelines for Press Releases, Media, Websites etc" about our recent membership of an organisation and how we should communicate it in the press and online. I can think of more complex formulations where "to" would be appropriate. For example, "He attributed the success of his membership to the Mason's Chapter to which he belonged". These are somewhat forced examples, not simple references to X belonging to Y. My hope is that the simple statement "It is admirable that X is a member of Y", should never be legitimately appear as "It is admirable that X is a member to Y" nor be rewritten as "X's membership to Y is admirable", both of which usages I now see more frequently and strongly dislike (but perhaps I am wrong).


texts:
This expression is from the movie There's Something About Mary:

  She put a lot of weight, about a deuce and a half.

Is this used to refer to overweight people? The only reference I could find is from some American Army truck.


texts: Terminology for an "optical RGB image" in relation to more complex imagery like hyperspectral imagery?

texts:
I am currently writing the literature review portion of my dissertation and I find that I am being quite wordy when attempting to describe what a layman would conceptualize as an "image". That is, an optical RGB image, for example a picture of a dog. Specifically in relation to other forms of electromagnetically sensed imagery like multispectral, infrared, and hyperspectral imagery.
Throughout my work I make the distinction that electromagnetic radiation collected by an imaging sensor produces imagery. That imagery can be of a specific type e.g. multispectral, infrared, hyperspectral, optical RGB, etc. But I also wish to refer to the common conceptualization of a "plain old picture image" that anyone would understand.
To do so I have found myself using the term "optical RGB" quite often, it's the only terminology that seems to describe "a plain old picture" in relation to the other forms of imagery described.
Is there a better term I could use in this context to switch between the corpus specific imagery and layman specific image?
Example of usage: "The surfeit of research in deep learning aimed at semantic segmentation of optical RGB images naturally lends itself in applications to hyperspectral imagery"


texts: "Inasmuch" and similar compound words in English

texts: I have started to notice that a few words in English – largely in more formal or older works – have seemingly unnecessary compound words such as inasmuch or insofar. I assume that there are more words which follow a similar pattern, with "in" to start the compound, and "as" as the next word. Why is it that these words are compounded? Also, how did these compound words come into existence?


texts:
I was watching "Dad's army" trailer/teaser and at 0:58 one of the actresses says something like

  I saw that you just slipped over sausage(s)

What actually this means? Is it like other "slipped over" idioms or
not?
Could it be also an idiom that is translated from another language?
(for instance German)


texts:
Specifically, I mean a big budget film that casts famous actors and has a ton of staff and production crew. It should not matter whether the film is still in production or is already released.

A word that comes to mind is 'Blockbuster', but this word is only used for films that are a huge commercial success (i.e. already released).


texts: Whether this sentence constitutes the form "the more, the more"

texts:
Here is a sentence from one of the LSATs:

People are less likely to think they see something that is not actually present the less they expect to see it.

I was completely confused regarding its grammatical form.
For one thing, its pattern differs from "the more, the more."
And, I can't figure out why there is no comma before "the less they expect to see it."
Could someone explain to me, please?


texts: Can I call my close friends "Old Sport" nowadays?

texts: I wonder, can I call my close friends "Old Sport" nowadays? What about my close female friends?


texts: Ask about phrase "Planet Earth" without "the"

texts:
I believe that the Earth is unique, so we need an article "the" before "Planet Earth", i.e. "the planet earth".

But I found that it is popular to use "Planet Earth" without "the". I don't know why .


texts: Can "the fact that X" imply "X is a fact"?

texts:
A: How do I know if  my professor is good?

  B: Do you understand what he says?

  A: Yes, but that might be because I'm a natural genius, and not
  necessarily the fact that he is good at teaching.

  B: Oh, you said "the fact that he is good at teaching" - so you are
  already taking for granted that he is a good professor!

  A: You're an idiot.

This scenario was just made up - this never actually happened to me. However, I thought it is possible nonetheless (very rare though).

Can saying "the fact that X" imply "X is a fact"? What could A say instead to prevent B from using that logic?


texts: Less "aggressive" synonym for "left the company"

texts:
I am looking for a single word that you would use when someone has left a company. This can be because the person quit, they are fired, retired,...
I was thinking about Discharged but that seems like it only means fired.
I thought of other words like Out of service but that just feels like it's a machine.
Is there a single word that I can use to describe this status?

I really need it to be a single word.
I want to use it like a kind of “stamp”
to add over the person’s profile picture in our intranet.


texts: Better term than "off label" to describe something used other than as stated

texts:
In Australia, raw milk has been sold as "bath milk" (milk that's used for a milk bath), and labelled as not fit for human consumption. However, some people have deliberately consumed such milk, and the producer of the milk has posted on Facebook about how raw milk is better than pasteurised milk.

The only term I can think of for this state of affairs is "off-label", which is discussed in this question, and the consensus is that it's not exactly standard English. Wiktionary doesn't have any synonyms for the term.

Are there any good terms for describing something being used other than as stated? A term about something being used in a way explicitly denied would be ideal, if it exists.


texts:
Is "leading" a superlative adjective? In the following sentence, does "leading" mean "best"?

  China's leading singer, Xue is holding a concert today.

Should I necessarily say "one of China's leading singers" so that I do not end up meaning "China's best singer"?


texts: What does panegoric mean? Yes, it’s panegoric and not panegyric. The word is given in my module with the meaning “medicine that allays pain”, but I can’t find any reference. Is it correct?


texts:
I recently came across an article which read:
A guy I met off LinkedIn who is a lawyer explained to me...

It could also have been "A guy I met on LinkedIn who is a lawyer..."

Can someone explain the difference between these two and when to use them.


texts: What would be a good word to refer to beating an opponent in football (soccer)?

texts:
I would like to know a good word to refer to the skill of getting past an opponent with the ball during a match. In Brazil we call it drible, which is close to dribble, but from what I know dribble in english is: to move with the ball. I am looking for a reference word to the ability to beat your opponent; the closest thing i found was trick, but that is too generic.

Another problem is that there are names for the different ways to get past an opponent; what I want would be the simplest way, not some elaborate football trick.


texts: Two-word adjective to describe a university life that has just started?

texts:
For objects you can say things like a brand-new car. For beliefs you can write a new-born Christian. What about periods in life like university life?

Example:

  Emma has every reason to be happy. She had a trauma-free childhood, has an eccentric but caring mother, and is
  starting a [...] university life, .


texts:
Can you use the phrase 'with all due respect' and then follow it up with a name? Take this example:

With all due respect to Charlotte Brontë, I thought Jane Eyre was terrible.

I have never heard anyone use this construction before, but I am trying to figure out if it is technically wrong or if it is an accepted usage.


texts: What is the difference between 'being competent' and 'being skilled'?

texts: Is there any distinctive difference between being skilled and being competent?


texts: What is the word for a third idea/concept created, combining aspects from two opposing ideas

texts:
When there are two opposing ideas/concepts, and then a third idea/concept is created which combines aspects from both original ideas, what is that third idea called?

For example, in psychology, Freud's Psychoanalysis is in many ways opposed to Behavior Therapy, but Gestalt Therapy combines aspects of both, reconciles those aspects, and creates something new.

This is likely a word used in discussions of philosophy and worldview.


texts: How do you write "other users passwords"?

texts: Should I write "You are not authorised to change other users passwords" or "You are not authorised to change other user's password"? Which is correct?


texts: What's wrong with "her first devotion was to dancing"?

texts:
In Susan Sontag's review of The Last of the Nuba, Fascinating Fascism, by Leni Riefenstahl, one can read among other things:

  Could the publishers have let LR write the jacket copy herself? One
  hesitates to entertain so unkind a thought, although “her first
  devotion was to dancing” is a phrase few native speakers of English
  would be capable of.

What is wrong with that sentence?

Edit: As was pointed out in a comment it depends on context. The book spans over Riefenstahl's life so we can assume that it means "her [very] first devotion [when she was a child]".


texts:
Context: Research paper

Example:

  In some language-processing models, word knowledge is learned by abstracting over stored utterances.

I'd appreciate a synonym for the italicized phrase.


texts: What's the proper word for someone who keeps track of time and other events during a game?

texts:
I occasionally volunteer for our community's inline hockey club to keep time or record the events of a game, for example penalties and goals. We typically sit in a wooden hut next to the rink and enter the data in a computer, and manage a chronometer linked to the main public display.

I guess the part about keeping time could be called a timekeeper, but is there a proper term for both functions? In French we call this "officiel de table", but I have no idea what to call this in English.


texts: I think it must be a single word from something like "willful insistence on wrongdoing." What is that word? A lot of websites say "happiness" which seems obviously incorrect.


texts: "Crossed-referenced", "Crashed-landed", and other twice-inflected verbs

texts:
For about a month now, I've been cataloging every compound verb I encounter that, for whatever reason, causes some people to inflect both of its components in the past tense (see title for examples). I was originally driven to do this after reading a discussion on the word "slept-walked" and an associated blog post, leaving me to wonder what other doubly-inflected past-tense verb forms I could find decently well-attested on the internet. For instance: while "kicked-started" (or "kickedstarted") is technically incorrect, quote-searching it on Google nevertheless reveals thousands of people who have been mysteriously compelled to add '-ed' to both parts of the compound.
As should be obvious, this is all super interesting to me. So my question is as follows: Does any documentation currently exist for this phenomenon of over-inflected compounds in English? If nothing else, is there at least an agreed-upon term for what I'm describing? And lastly, I know it's a long shot, but if anyone knows of a complete list of verbs fitting the criteria in question, I'd also love a link to that as well.
There are still loads of little things on the matter that I want to dig into, like if this can happen with other parts of speech, whether a similar thing is seen in other languages, how it might be explained from different linguistic standpoints, and so on. But overall, I really just want to learn more in general about this specific little quirk of English, as admittedly insignificant as it may be.
Any help, guidance, or insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks~!


texts: What is another term for co-worker but for someone ranked higher?

texts: What is a term for a director of a program (or anyone ranked higher) that I don't directly report to, but I've worked with on various committees?


texts: Phrase for something that isn't as good as it once was

texts: Specifically a relationship which fell apart as time wore on.


texts:
About using and, I've learned it is usually used in lists, between the last two items.  For example:

  I like movies, traveling and going out with friends.

Please tell me if the use of and twice in this next example is correct. The first and is used between the last two items of the list, and the second is used to combine two things in the second part.

  I am a software developer who has permanent residence, Bachelor degree and 4 years experience in .net for developing new software and doing enhancements in existing once.


texts: How can I diagram the direct object placement in "... the watch that my uncle had given me."

texts:
Please consider:
"... the watch that my uncle had given me."

"my uncle" is the subject.
"had given" is the main verb (past perfect).

so...

"me" is an indirect object? or should it really be "had given to me" ? Either is ok, I think.
"that" is a relative pronoun? the antecedent is "the watch" ?
"the watch / (that)" must be the direct object of "had given" , so how can it precede "had given" ? Given the English sentence structure rules that I am aware of, I've no clue how to explain the placement of the direct object.

I'm a native speaker who teaches my friends by using sentence diagraming. I need some help. thanks.

addendum:
sorry. I should not have called " has given " the "main" verb. full sentence:

(full sentence):  "I lost the watch that my uncle had given me."
(1) "me" does not effect the grammar, so I'll drop it.
(2) "that" sounds like a conjunction (not a relative pronoun), and it is natural in English to drop "that" when it is a conjunction. This does not change the grammar.

(stripped down sentence) "I lost the watch my uncle had given."

can "watch" really be the direct object of two verb???
or, is "that" really a relative pronoun. If so, then "that" can be the direct object of "had given" and "watch" can be the direct object of "lost" . Further, dropping "that" , even though it sounds natural, creates an incorrect grammatical structure.


texts:
He said, "I was sad"

In indirect speech, the past tense changes to the past perfect. What will be the past perfect form of “was sad”? Is it “had been sad”? But that is past perfect continuous, right?


texts: Punctuating a parenthetical expression inside a quote (that uses ellipses)

texts:
Does this punctuation make sense, with the first half of the quote trailing off in an ellipsis and the second half starting with one?

  “Funny thing…”, he paused to puff the pipe alight, then squinted up at
  me, “…whole time nobody said a word.”


texts:
My English TA commented on my word choice of inured. Is the way I'm using it incorrect?

Given Lilith’s other choices, she attempts to become comfortable with his looks

versus

Given Lilith’s other choices, she attempts to become inured with his looks


texts: What's the difference between 'ask' and 'inquire'? Can I use them interchangeably?

texts:
For example, see the following reference:

Denison was interested, went over to him, and watched the swift, skilful manner in which the thin brown fingers worked.
"Where are you going to fish?" he inquired.
The broad, flat face lit up. "Outside in the dam deep water--sixty, eighty fa'am."

Can I also use "he asked" here? Where are the places I cannot use ask instead of inquire?


texts: Idiom for 'person who gets violent when drunk"

texts:
In Portuguese, the expressions "ter mau vinho" (have bad wine) and "ter mau álcool" (have bad alcohol) refer to people who become violent when they drink too much. Typically, these people are considered nice and even kind when sober, but become aggressive or violent after a few (or too many) drinks.

It's usually used in dialogue similarly too:

  Daniel? Oh, he 'has bad alcohol'. I wouldn't go drinking with him, if I were you.

or

  Daniel is such a nice guy! I'd never have thought he 'has bad alcohol'.

Is there a similar idiom in English?


texts: a different way to say "Some successful experiments on propagating.... " in a science paper

texts:
A peer reviewer of my manuscript from an International Journal, in his suggested corrections, wrote:
Pleas find a  a different way to say "Some successful experiments on propagating.... " in this sentence:

Some successful experiments on propagating ornamental plants have been conducted where peat was effectively replaced by biochar as the growing media.

Could you please share with me your ideas?

Thank you


texts:
I am wondering whether especially is always an adverb, specifically when used in this context:

  We must be wary of your surroundings, especially in the city.

I do not think that it modifies any verbs, so is this still an adverb in this context?


texts: Jameson whiskey commercial construction with implicit verb

texts:
While watching the Daily Show, a commercial came on. Here is the construction:

"...When the Hawk of Achill took a barrel of John Jameson's whiskey, well that was another matter. But Jameson was generous, the Hawk, greedy, very greedy..."

The issue is "Jameson was generous, the hawk greedy." There is no verb in the second construction, and we are asked to fill in the verb from context. This is a no-no in a generative description of English grammar.

Are these sentences acceptable English?

"The doctor put his gown on the table; the nurse, on the cabinet."
"The soldier eats his bread with cheese; the general, with caviar."
"The soldier eats his bread with cheese; the general, his pita with olives"
"The bum sleeps in the streets; the oil magnate comfortably, without snoring, in a bed with sheets."
"The maid spreads the sheet on the bed; my kitchen knife butter on the bread."
"He pitted the two contestents in battle; she, a date"
"He drove a car; she, a point home."
"The surgeon walks to surgery, quickly, and without thinking about all the patients that he lost over the years; John, on the beach."

Is there a discussion of the rules for mystery implicit verbs? Has anyone encountered an implicit verb construction in a newspaper context?


texts: Were the "wives" in the classic nursery rhyme actually the man's spouses?

texts:
In the nursery rhyme "As I was Going to St Ives", the protagonist encounters a man and his "seven wives".

  As I was going to St Ives
  I met a man with seven wives

Inspired by this answer on Literature:SE, is there any evidence to suggest that the typical use for the word "wife" (in the 1700s) would encompass those who weren't a person's actual spouse or partner?


texts: should one invert syntax for the verb "do" in a comparison?

texts:
Which sounds better:

When Canadians do initiate conversations, they tend to be more reserved than Americans do.

When Canadians do initiate conversations, they tend to be more reserved than do Americans.


texts: Relative pronouns usage when I am talking about myself

texts:
I don't know which one of these statements is correct:

  I am a hardworking person, who is always using the latest
  techniques and technologies as good as I can.

Or

  I am a hardworking person, who is always using the latest
  techniques and technologies as good as He(or She) can.


texts: What's the origin of the idiom "bust one's chops"?

texts:
The idiom is defined on Dictionary.com as:

  bust one's chops, Slang. to exert oneself.
  bust someone's chops, Slang. to annoy with nagging or criticism.

Looking it up on Google, I couldn't find much info on its origin. The only source I found that seems credible is this site, which mentions that the idiom's origin could possibly be the fashion for men to wear long side burns called the mutton chop in the 19th century and that these people often get punched in the face, thus their "chops busted"? I could see a connection between this and definition #2 of the idiom, but what about definition #1 of the idiom? I don't see how this could have anything to do with the sense to exert oneself?


texts:
What is the singular of this phrase?

  long lengths of adjustable shelves

Is the singular number of long lengths of adjustable shelves this?

  an adjustable shelf with long lengths

Please correct it.


texts: Believing someone vs believing in someone

texts:
I believe you.
  I believe in you.

Can 1 and 2 both be used to mean

  I believe that what you said is true.

I have seen 1 used to mean 3, but is that usage idiomatic. Also, I know that 2 sometimes is used to mean to trust someone because you think that they can do something well or that they are a good person, But can't it also be used to mean 3?


texts:
From legal-dictionary.com, kangaroo court is defined as such:

  [Slang of U.S. origin.] An unfair, biased, or hasty judicial
  proceeding that ends in a harsh punishment; an unauthorized trial
  conducted by individuals who have taken the law into their own hands,
  such as those put on by vigilantes or prison inmates; a proceeding and
  its leaders who are considered sham, corrupt, and without regard for
  the law.

What are some other terms or phrases that could be synonyms of 'kangaroo court'? I was thinking that in Gulliver's Travels there were parts where Gulliver found himself at the mercy of such "kangaroo courts" and knowing how Swift describes things with such phrases, I thought I could find a synonym of it but haven't been able to.


texts:
Wolves "look" gray, but their fur is actually made of hairs where each individual hair is one of several colors (black, white and red, IIRC) depending on if you look at the tip, middle, or root.

I'm recalling that I once came across a word that describes this, but can't find it again. Does anyone know the word? (IIRC there is a Wikipedia article on it.)

I believe it is not any of:

gray/grey (duh)
taupe
roan
tricolor
varicolor

...but it's possible I'm wrong. In any case, a source that matches the above description is appreciated. Googling has been... unhelpful; I either haven't hit on the right combination of terms, or am being buried in unrelated results.


texts: Why is "the half" wrong in this sentence?

texts:
I have a question about this sentence from my grammar book.
It says,
Half this money is mine, and half is yours. (not the half).

Why is it wrong to use "the half" in this sentence?

Could you say, "Half this money is mine, the other half is yours."?


texts: What is the correct form? "We have been in a dilemma" or "We have had a dilemma"? Or are the two of them incorrect? I'm a non-native English speaker discussing this with another non-native speaker.


texts: "Trust arrives walking and departs riding."

texts:
That is the translation (provided by Wikiquote) of the Dutch proverb "Vertrouwen komt te voet en vertrekt te paard." I don't like this translation very much for conversational use. It doesn't "feel" right. Neither does "Trust comes on foot, but leaves on horseback."

The actual, somewhat lengthy, meaning of the proverb is that a single stupidity can ruin trust or reputation that took years to build.

I tentatively prefer "Trust is hard to gain but easy to lose." However, I'm not native-English speaking.

What is the "best" way to succinctly express the idea behind the proverb in English?


texts: The use of the words "encountered, identified, existing" together with the word "type"

texts:
Which of the following verbs is correct in the phrase:

  the three types of children encountered/identified/existing in French society?


texts: What does this sentence mean ? "You know you're from Texas when you go back to visit and the first stop on your list is Whataburger"

texts:
I see this sentence but I don't really understand it.
What is the main mean of it ?

You know you're from Texas when you go back to visit and the first stop on your list is Whataburger


texts:
What's the second part of the saying "Give someone an inch"?

I've consulted a number of dictionaries, and they all say the second part is "and they'll take a mile."

This is while in real life I've also heard some alternatives. For example:

You give 'em an inch, and they'll walk all over ya!

You give them an inch, you give them a centimeter.

Give him an inch, he thinks he's a ruler.


texts: Is there any opposite of "Ground up" phrase? Something like "Top-down : Bottom-up"


texts:
I saw this headline today "Sushma Swaraj condoles death of Abdul Sattar".  I have always used the word only in the noun form as in "Sushma Swaraj expresses condolences on death of ..."

The free dictionary site says the word is usually followed by "with".

When I searched Google news with the string "condoles death" almost all the results were from Indian or other Asian newspapers.

So is this a regional usage?  Just seems awkward!


texts:
When developing software, we have servers for development and servers for real customers.

For the real servers environment, should I call it product environment or production environment?


texts: "How much X is in Y?" vs "How much X is there in Y?"

texts:
First:

  How much money is there in a bank?

Second:

  How much money is in a bank?

Honestly, both of them are the same for me, but who knows.. I am not a native speaker.


texts: What is the parent of a set of Synonyms referred to as?

texts:
The synonyms for "love" include: "affection", "passion", "yearning" and so on. In relation to its synonyms what would the word "love" be referred to as?

Example Sentence:

The synonyms of "love" are affection, passion and yearning.

Now the incomplete sentence:

The word "Love" is the [insert word here] of affection, passion and yearning.

I am trying to think of a word that would help me establish a reverse relation. However all I could come up with are words and phrases like "Source", "Target of synonyms" and so on.


texts: What's the simplest disapproving adjective a child would use?

texts:
In order to translate a story that I wrote in my mothertongue, I need to use a specific word, which I might not know.

I would describe the word as: the most innocent disapproving term used by a toddler to express disapproval of things. Those things can be anything: a boy, a girl, a sweater, the weather... etc. This term is one of the earliest disapproving words that a child learns. And they stick to using it until their brains have developed more, and they have learnt more accurate words.

What I am particularly thinking about is the following scene: A little girl, does not like playing with a certain boy (it might be because he once mistreated her). Now she sees him. And to express her disapproval, would she say: 'Stupid boy' and turn away. Or would she say something different? And the usage of the word is very innocent.

I'm certain, the term differs from child to child. The thing is, I have no idea what an example might be. The word has to be an adjective, would 'stupid' be appropriate?


texts: How to pronounce LINQ? Or should I just say L-I-N-Q? (LINQ is a .NET extension for queries.)


texts:
To believe a person is not necessarily to treat him as an original
authority. He is an original authority on what he himself has done
and seen and heard: I say an original authority because I only mean
that he does himself contribute something, e.g. is in some sort a witness, as opposed to one who only transmits information received. ... Thus a speaker may be a total original authority for the fact
that he gives, as would usually be the case if one of us said he had
eaten an apple, or an original authority, but not a total one, as if he
says he saw some of Leonardo’s drawings; or he may not be an original authority at all, as if he says that Leonardo made drawings for a
flying machine.

Is there a special usage of "an" at work here? Does it mean something like "not fully"?


texts: Grammatical analysis of "feared drowned"

texts:
What is the precise meaning of "feared drowned" in http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/south/6-gitam-students-feared-drowned-rushukonda-326.

I got the intended meaning, but I am confused in spotting the main verb. Is "fear" is the main verb and "drown" the past participle, or the other way round - "fear" is p.p and "drown" is main verb? I'd appreciate any broad explanation regarding this type of usage, which sounded odd to my ears.


texts: Can choosing "a something" over "the something" be natural even when that "something" is previously mentioned?

texts:
At 1:19 into this BBC news, the BBC reporter says:

But what pushed her from office was ___ constitutional court finding her guilty of crime in a country which has only been a democracy for 30 years.

Did he say "a" or "the" in the blank?
It sounds like "a" to my ears. But I think it may well be "the", because at the beginning of the video, the same court has been mentioned.
Now, my question is whether "a" is ever possible or even natural in this context?
And in general, can choosing "a something" over "the something" be natural even when that "something" is previously mentioned?
EDIT
FYI, there is only one constitutional court in South Korea.


texts: If ______ gets outlawed, only outlaws will ______

texts:
What is the common origin of these and similar phrases, and how are they used? I've seen them in both silly and serious contexts.

  If guns get outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
  If freedom gets outlawed, only outlaws will be free.
  If evolution gets outlawed, only outlaws will evolve.


texts: Is it “James and Paul come” or “James and Paul comes”?

texts:
Which is the correct way of writing:

  As an appointment, James and Paul comes tomorrow.

Or

  As on appointment, James and Paul come tomorrow.

I would also like to know why.


texts: Is there a phrasal verb with the meaning 'understand'?

texts: Find a phrasal verb which is similar in meaning to the word "understand"


texts: Present progressive meets past participle

texts:
I am trying to determine the verb-tense for the following sentence:
"If the worker is assigned to work for 1 year, they shall be given the standard longevity bonus."
On a practical basis, I see two ways to interpret this:  (1) On the first day of work, a determination is made as to the projected length of assignment and that determines the bonus.  This is suggested by the use of the past participle "assigned"; (2) the assignment length determination is continuously re-evaluated, and when it becomes likely that the assignment is for a year, the bonus will kick in.  This is suggested by the present progressive "is" + verb form.
On a grammatical basis, is this considered to be a perfect past, a present progressive, another verb form, or simply grammatically incorrect?


texts: Definite article usage: "I'm going to mosque" Or "I'm going to the mosque"?

texts:
AS Hornby says in one of his books that we should always use the before mosque, and temple unlike church. When we go to a church for prayer, we say

  I am going to church

while we say

  I am going to the church

when we go to a church to whitewash it.

I thought, until I read Hornby that the same rule applied to mosque and temple. But Hornby says that we should say

  I am going to the mosque

whether we are going there for prayer or not. To make it clear one should add a phrase with the sentence like for prayer or for whitewashing it.

Another British grammarian named Hewings says in his Advanced English Grammar that the same rule as that of church applies to mosque. In his opinion one should say

  I am going to mosque

when he is going there for prayer and

  I am going to the mosque

when he is going there for some other thing than prayer.
Both are British grammarians of English. Who is to be followed, Hornby or Hewings?


texts:
As I understand the word 'stupid' is used as a noun, an adjective and as an adverb.
However there is also the word 'stupidly' of which I think that's the proper adverb, but it is hardly used. Common is 'he is driving 'stupid' and not 'he is driving 'stupidly'. Which is correct ?

My second question is about the nouns stupid, stupidity and stupidness. I understand that one can call someone 'a stupid'. Please explain the difference between stupidity and stupidness, if any.


texts: "I am a big fan of you" or "I am a big fan of yours"?

texts:
Which one of them is correct?

"I am a big fan of you" or "I am a big fan of yours" ?**

I think the last one, but the first one seems ok.


texts:
A few months back I met a celebrity and seeing his glamour I felt that I have/had no past or future.

Which is to be used, had or have ?


texts:
I would like to ask you how to express the following regression analysis.

Y=a+bX+cZ+u
I want to mention that b is significant. In this case, which sentence in the following correct?

(1) The coefficient of X on which Y is regressed is significant.
(2) The regression coefficients of X to Y are significant.
(3) The regression coefficient of X and Y is significant.

The following is my manuscript. In the 4th row, you can find a sentence relevant to my question.

Contrary to these conventional views, recent research has demonstrated that fiscal policy is actually procyclical in most developing countries. The seminal study of Gavin and Perotti (1997) showed that the coefficient of real GDP growth on which the change in the ratio of fiscal surplus to GDP is regressed is significant and positive among industrial countries, as suggested by conventional wisdom, but insignificant in Latin America.

Thanking in advance for your trouble.


texts: Sentence Correction: Team - was or were?

texts:
In the sentence:
The team could not win the match because it was split into two groups.

The correction given is:
The team could not win the match because they were split into two groups.

According to me, "team" is a single entity which was split into two, so that should not be incorrect.
Am I missing something?


texts: Strange ''used to have + object (of subsequent) + p.p'' structure

texts:
Here's a passage of Freud:

  A lady reported that she very often dreamt when she was a child that God wore a paper cocked-hat on his head. What can you make of that without the dreamer’s help? It sounds completely nonsensical. But it ceases to be nonsense when we hear from the lady that she used to have a hat of that sort put on her head at meals when she was a child, because she could never resist taking furtive glances at her brothers’ and sisters’ plates to see whether they had been given larger helpings than she had. So the hat was intended to act like a pair of blinkers. This, incidentally, was a piece of historical information and was given without any difficulty. The interpretation of this element and at the same time of the whole short dream was easily made with the help of a further idea that occurred to the dreamer: ‘As I had heard that God was omniscient and saw everything’, she said, ‘the dream can only mean that I knew everything and saw everything, even though they tried to prevent me.’ Perhaps this example is too simple.

Then the French translation of the same passage:

  Une dame raconte qu’étant enfant elle a souvent rêvé que
  le bon Dieu avait sur sa tête un bonnet en papier pointu. Comment
  comprendre ce rêve sans l’aide de la rêveuse ? Ne paraît-il
  pas tout à fait absurde ? Mais il le devient moins, lorsque nous
  entendons la dame nous raconter que lorsqu’elle était enfant,
  on la coiffait souvent d’un bonnet de ce genre parce qu’elle avait
  l’habitude, étant à table, de jeter des coups d’oeil furtifs dans les
  assiettes de ses frères et soeurs, afin de s’assurer s’ils n’étaient
  pas mieux servis qu’elle. Le bonnet était donc destiné à lui servir
  pour ainsi dire d’oeillères. Voilà un renseignement purement
  historique, fourni sans aucune difficulté. L’interprétation de cet
  élément et, par conséquent, du rêve tout entier réussit sans
  peine, grâce à une nouvelle trouvaille de la rêveuse. « Comme j’ai entendu dire que le bon Dieu sait tout et voit tout, mon rêve
  ne peut signifier qu’une chose, à savoir que, comme le bon Dieu,
  je sais et vois tout, alors même qu’on veut m’en empêcher. »
  Mais cet exemple est peut-être trop simple.

The German translation:

  Eine Dame erzählt, sie habe als Kind sehr oft geträumt, der liebe Gott habe einen spitzen
  Papierhut auf dem Kopf. Wie wollen Sie das ohne die Hilfe der Träumerin verstehen? Es
  klingt ja ganz unsinnig. Es ist nicht mehr unsinnig, wenn uns die Dame berichtet, daß man ihr
  als Kind bei Tische einen solchen Hut aufzusetzen pflegte, weil sie es nicht unterlassen
  konnte, auf die Teller der Geschwister zu schielen, ob eines von ihnen mehr bekommen habe
  als sie. Der Hut sollte also wie ein Scheuleder wirken. Übrigens eine historische Auskunft und
  ohne jede Schwierigkeit gegeben. Die Deutung dieses Elements und damit des ganzen kurzen
  Traumes ergibt sich leicht mit Hilfe eines weiteren Einfalls der Träumerin. »Da ich gehört
  hatte, der liebe Gott sei allwissend und sehe alles«, sagt sie, »so kann der Traum nur
  bedeuten, daß ich alles weiß und alles sehe wie der liebe Gott, auch wenn man mich daran
  hindern will.« Dieses Beispiel ist vielleicht zu einfach.

The question is that what is the meaning of bold-face English sentence? As you see in the French it means they(on) put the so called hat on this lady's head. So how does used to have + p.p produces such a meaning?
Could you please help me gramatically and semantically?


texts:
In my textbook, it said

  "In an active sentence we need to include the agent as subject; using
  a passive allows us to omit the agent by leaving out the
  prepositional phrase with by"

Ex:
Jackson threw me into the dungeon
I was thrown into the dungeon

The prepositional phrase is still intact, so why does it say "leaving out the prepositional phrase"?


texts: What is the meaning and origin of the idiom 'once bitten twice shy'?


texts: Alternative phrasing to "getting work done"

texts:
I find myself using the phrase "I need to get some work done" in a misleading way.

At any given time, I'm working on projects for my employer, projects as a podcaster, projects at my home or just projects I've assigned myself that are more open ended research and development type.

That leaves me with the phrase "I need to get some work done," which gives an impression workaholism as opposed to a curious self-starter.

What's a single phrase or phrasing syntax that'd help me be more aligned with what I want people to convey?


texts: Meaning of "Having one foot in and one foot out wouldn't work"

texts:
What does it mean?

In an interview with Gayle King, Ivanka told her:

  When I spoke to “60 Minutes” it was I think five or six days following the election. And I was processing real time the new reality and what it would mean … I realized that having one foot in and one foot out wouldn’t work. … And the reality is that it all happened very organically for me.


texts: Avoiding confusion with multiple use of ibids, how would one do it?

texts:
I was thinking and researching about the use of Ibid in footnotes/endnotes etc. and found the following example in Wikipedia:

  [1] E. Vijh, Latin for Dummies (New York: Academic, 1997), p. 23
  [2] Ibid.
  [3] Ibid., p. 29.
  [4] Al Azif, The Necronomicon (Petrus de Dacia, 1994).
  [5] Ibid. 1, at 34

What would one do if there were multiple books of the same title (and no author is mentioned)? For example,

  [1] Interesting Book, p. 4
  [2] Interesting Book, p. 4
  [3] Ibid., at 5

What would happen if this occurred over multiple chapters? (Given that footnote numbers reset at the beginning of each chapter.) What would differentiate the chapters?  For example,

  Ch. 1

  [1] Interesting Book, p. 3

  Ch. 2

  [1] Interesting Book, p. 3 Note: This is a different book
  [2] Even More Interesting Book
  [3] Ibid. 1, at 4

Even worse, I was wondering what would occur if there were multiple books titled  “Ibid”  (where there was no author)?  For example,

  [1] Ibid, p. 3
  [2] Ibid., p. 4
  [3] Ibid, p. 5

How would one potentially clarify this? Just given the above example, it would be impossible to know which one would be a new one.


texts: When is it right to use 'to' and 'through'?

texts:
What's the right way to say the sentence:

  I counted from one to ten.

or

  I counted from one through ten.

When are the respective prepositions used?


texts: Word(s) to describe a set of things, which can't be empty

texts:
I'm a programmer, and in my case students need to pick from a set of exams. They get to choose which ones but they must select at least 2 and at most 3.

I've been trying to find a way to refer to such exams. I've thought of:

Elective Exams
Opt-in Exams

Given English is not my mother tongue, I was wondering if there is a better way to name these type of exams.

PS: The title of the post is a bit strange, I just couldn't explain this in another way.


texts: Can "backup" be used as a verb in the context of data management?

texts:
I have heard backup being used as a verb in the sense of

  I have to backup my hard disk

by non-native English speakers (the English noun backup is also used in other languages, for example in German, so it may be a false friend). The correct expression seems to be

  I have to make/create a backup of my hard disk.

I know that "to back up" is correct English, but has a different meaning.

Microsoft uses "back up" in the above sense, see here, but the Oxford and Miriam-Webster dictionaries do not seem to support this use.

Has to backup (or to back up) become part of the English language?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What does a single letter “J” mean in emailing?

To q question that I had asked I got a reply as below:
Correct! J

Is there an expression like this in English.
Just to clarify, neither my name nor the sender's name has the alphabet J embedded. The sender's entire reply was as follows:

Correct! J
-Sender Name

Also, this does not appear to be a typo since this is the second time I received this reply.


texts:
It is my understanding that you should use the relative pronoun "who" when addressing people. So what would be correct for a group of people?

"Jessica is the head of several teams which work on ..." or
"Jessica is the head of several teams who work on ..."


texts:
I was reading this paper and I came across this sentence, which I found quite odd.

  In the words of Bertrand Russell, the problem is this: “How comes it that human beings, whose contacts with the world are brief and personal and limited, are able to know as much as they do know?”

Shouldn't it be 'How come is it' ? It just doesn't sound right, maybe because I am not a native speaker.


texts: Is there a specific term for those words that are phoneticised letters of the English alphabet?

texts:
This post Phoneticised alphabet letters refers to "initialisms," a term that describes a word that has been formed by phoneticizing a set of initials that is in common usage, such as "emcee" or "deejay."

Is there an analogous term for those words that are formed by phoneticizing the names of the letters of the alphabet, such as "aitch" or "vee?"


texts: Server log shows normal activities OR Server logs show normal activities?

texts:
Where I am trying to collectively refer to server logs, should I say...

  Server log shows normal activities

or

  Server logs show normal activities


texts: "ignorance" can also mean a "willful disregard of something"?

texts:
I try to use the 2nd or 3rd definition of words (to slow down speed readers). However, I am not sure if "ignorance" has a 2nd definition.

(common meaning)  is "a lack of knowledge". With this meaning, no syllable is stressed.

My ignorance of hardware means I cannot build my own pc.

(2nd meaning?) If pronounced differently, I think that "ignorance" can also mean "a willful and careless disregard of something". The "nor" syllable in "ig-NOR-ance" must be stressed.

The French were aware of the strategic weakness of the Maginot Line, and their ignorance of it enabled the German blitz through the Low Countries.
My ignorance of my girlfriend's hourly text messages quickly caused our break-up.

In a dictionary, "ignorance" is only defined as "lack of knowledge". But, I am not talking about that "ignorance". I am talking about the "ignorance" that is derived from "to ignore" and thus pronounced just like "to ignore", and thus has the meaning of "to ignore". There is precedence for this:

"to accept" --- derive ---> "acceptance"
"to ignore" --- derive ---> "ignorance"
....

Anyone agree with me?


texts: Making up words - considered bad grammar, or bad spelling, or what?

texts:
If someone makes up a word, is it considered bad grammar, or bad spelling, or something else?

The word and phrase I have in mind is "housecolding party", but this is a general question.


texts: I would like to know the meaning of this sentence;

texts: Sentence is this:   For fifty years this approach has not been quite 'as blissful as ignorance'


texts: Can I use the phrase "initiate solutions throughout others"

texts:
Is this a valid English phrase?
I am trying to say - initiate solution snd build them by inspiring, supporting and encouraging others.

EDIT:
The full sentence is:

  Be able to manage my work better and to initiate solutions throughout
  others.


texts:
I am organizing a school magazine and on each photo we must put the name. I was wondering when you write the word by, do you need the colon after it?

Example:

  Photo

  By: Jane Doe
  By Jane Doe


texts: "Quote" vs "estimate" (business context)

texts:
I'm interested in the semantic implications of using the words quote and estimate in a business scenario.

Here's the situation: When someone wants to purchase a service that I provide, they can fill out a form on a Website with information about the work to be done. Based on that info, they are instantly given a predicted price. This is intended only to be a ballpark. Once I manually review the work order, I will contact them with a personalized, much more accurate guess at the price.

My instinct is to use estimate for the ballpark and quote for the more precise guess, but I'm interested in both your opinions and the more subtle distinctions and implications of the two words.


texts: Where does the -en come from in misshapen?

texts: We can say both misshapen and misshaped. Where does the misshapen form come from? What other words use this form?


texts: Addressing email to more than one person

texts:
Which ones are correct:

'Hi All' or is it 'Hi all'. (A)ll does not look right

'Hi Peter/John' or 'Hi Peter, John' when you want to specifically address the e-mail to two people, i.e. so they clearly know they are the main addresseess and appear in 'to' and all the rest, if any, are in the 'cc'.


texts: How do you understand "he is divine and is not at all human"

texts:
Sentence:

  When God became flesh, he is divine, and is not at all human.

What do you think is the meaning of this sentence? i am editing some religious translation writing. i just want to make sure if it is understandable and the meaning is same as source text.


texts: Why pronunciation of "Crooked" is "Crook-ked"?

texts:
I've noticed that the pronunciations of "picked" gives its sound like "pick" with final sound "d" but for "Crooked" and "Naked" Why do they pronounce them like "Crook-ked" and "Nake-ked"?

How can I know when i must pronounce the word like "picked" and when I must pronounce the word like "Crooked"?


texts: What does “media (news) disruptor” mean?

texts:
There is the following passage in the article titled, “Why disruptors are always white guys” in New York Magazine September 10 issue:

  It’s happening again. There’s a list of “media disruptors.” It’s predominantly white dudes. It need not be. And people are fed up. For, in the new-media renaissance of the past few years, there are women and minority “disruptors” everywhere if you only take the time to look. There’s Jane Pratt of xoJane; Ben Huh of Circa; Sharon Waxman of the Wrap; Sommer Mathis of CityLab.

And it goes on and on.

Coincidentally, there was an article titled “News Disrupters” in Vanity Fair (September 10) that began with the paragraph;

  Who needs a boss anymore? The latest vogue in journalism is to leave cushy jobs at established news organizations—or else establish an autonomous power center within one.”

I can’t find neither “media disruptor” nor “news disruptor” in English dictionaries at hand, nor the relative definitions on google search.

GoogleNgram doesn’t show incidence of “media, nor news disruptor.”

Are “Media/news disruptor” internet jargons or new words? What do they mean in a short word?


texts: What is the meaning of "drifting" in this context?

texts:
Beatrice was driving like a very slow lunatic. She went twenty-five
  miles an hour on the highway and kept drifting across lanes so the
  other cars honked and swerved and ran into guardrails and stuff.

Does "drift" mean a "slow steady movement from one place to another"? Well, I know that there is a motorsport that is called "drifting", but I think that this is not the case. But I believe that when you are in this motorsport, you drift the car, I suppose.


texts: How popular is the word ‘Lede’? Why should it be ‘Political Ledes,’ not ‘Political Catches / Leads ’?

texts:
I noticed that there is a column called the day of the week’s ‘Political Ledes’ written by  Mark Halperin in Time magazine. Today’s (August 17) ‘Political Ledes’ picks up headlines of

New York Times: “Romney Says He Paid at Least 13% in Income Taxes”

Washington Post: “Obama Steps Up Portrayal of Romney, Ryan as Out of Touch with Middle America”

Wall Street Journal: “Campaigns Seek Positives in Negative Tone,”
and three other news sources.

As I was unfamiliar with the word, ‘Lede’ I checked Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, and Oxford online dictionary. Only Merriam-Webster registers ‘lede’ with the definition - ‘the introductory section of a news story that is intended to entice the reader to read the full story’.

Google Ngram registers both ‘lede’ and ‘ledes.’ The usage of ‘lede’ continues to decline from the peak during 1840 – 1860, while the latter has been also consistently declining after the peak of usage during 1920 -1980.

Isn’t ‘lede’ an outdated word, or still is popular?

The choice of word of course belongs to the taste and up to the freedom of authors, but I wonder why the Time magazine is using ‘”Political ‘Ledes’” which isn’t registered in neither Cambridge or Oxford English Dictionary instead of simply saying “‘Political ‘Leads, (or Catches)’” which I think is easier to understand and is more current.

MicroSoft spell-checker keeps urging me to correct the spelling of ‘lede’ at this very moment I’m typing this question.


texts: Was it common in Shakespeare's time for adverbial phrases and objects to precede the verb in spoken English?

texts:
I'm trying to come up with a list of differences between Shakespeare's manner of writing and modern English, and one of the big differences I've noticed is that Shakespeare often seems to put adverbial phrases and objects before the verb, whereas in modern English we generally (always?) put them after the verb.
Examples from Hamlet:
Adverbial phrases preceding the verb:

If with too credent ear you list his songs; (...)
Youth to itself rebels, (...)
Do not as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, (...)
To thine ownself be true

Objects preceding the verb:

I shall th' effect of this good lesson keep, (...)
Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

My question is whether this was common in spoken English of the time, or if it was more of an artsy thing that would appear in plays and written English.


texts: Is it right to use the word "quotation" in this case?

texts:
I'm developing a software application that can automatically send quotations (as a PDF document) to the user's client. So the system sends an email with the text:

  Please find attached the requested quotation for your review.

And, in other parts of the software, there are sentences like this one:

  The quotation was created successfully!

I'm pretty confused if this word quotation is the right word to use in this kind of situation. For me, it sounds like quote.


texts: In agriculture, what do you call a section within an orchard?

texts:
I'm a software developer and I like to have my code in english.
I'm currently developing a software for fruit exporters and packing plants.

There are growers, orchards and orchards sections.

In spanish these are: productores, huertos and cuarteles.

Is there a word for "cuarteles"? (orchard section)

An orchard may have many sections. Typically, in each section you only have one commodity/variety (eg. apples/fuji)

Google translate gives me "barracks" but that is in a military context, I think.


texts: Should I use in or within in the following sentence?

texts:
In the following sentence, which preposition should I use and why?

“I was included within the Employer’s Agent team.”
OR
”I was included in the Employer’s Agent team.”

I would greatly appreciate some reasoning for choosing one over the other.


texts: Should there be a definite article here?

texts:
In the following, should there be a "the" in front of "standard of living"?

  Assess the extent to which the improvement of standard of living in Japan is dependent on the openness of the economy.


texts: Why a punctuation is used in this sentence?

texts:
I'm puzzled on why a comma is used in this sentence.

"He showed admirable restraint, and refused to be provoked."

Independent and Dependent clause logic doesn't work here. I saw this on Cambridge online dictionary for the word "restraint".


texts:
According to what I knew and I have found on the web, in general the word casual is the opposite of everyday. But in the special case when it refers to clothing, it has a similar meaning to "everyday clothing". And it definitely does not mean "special" or "formal".

This seems illogical to me. Could you please clarify? Is that really the case?

This is especially confusing to me, because in my native language (Hungarian), the literal translation of casual is the same word that is used to refer to formal clothing for special events. This seems to make more sense.


texts: Commas before non-restrictive subordinating conjunctions?

texts:
It's said that a comma shouldn't be placed before a dependent clause when it comes after the independent clause, but what about when the dependent clause is non-restrictive? For example:

  "I can't go shopping today, since I have no money."

In that sentence, "since I have no money" is the dependent clause but it's also a non-restrictive cause, right? If so, would it be wrong to have a comma before it? I've always heard not to place a comma before the dependent clause, but what about when it's non-restrictive? Would it be adviceble to have one? Somewhat like this sentence:

  "I'm a fan of his writings, though I don't really keep up with that he's doing."


texts: Words describing the pat acceptance of a thought or practice simply because "that's how it's done."

texts:
I believe that several words or phrases exist to describe the practice of thinking in a certain way or performing a certain action simply because "that's how it's always been done." Another way of phrasing this thought model is "We do this because it's best," with no proof of if that thing is in actuality the best. An absence of total failure or complete disaster is often given as support for the behavior. Also, the implied circular reasoning is "It's best because we do this." Ultimately, the actions are taken because the situation has never truly been studied and the best course of action has not yet been discovered.
I'm curious if there are

Words to describe a person who thinks or behaves in the manner above.
Phrases to describe the general thought process of the above manner.

Synonyms
I'll offer up my own phrase (that I only just now recalled as I typed the above paragraph):

Cargo Cult

Cargo Cult Programming (describing the thought process in general)
A person could be said to be a "Cargo Cultist" or to be "Cargo Culting."

Antonyms
Some possible antonyms to this concept would be:

Empirical / Empiricist
Didactic (Intended to teach as opposed to the above thought "intended to be a conformed to without thought")
Deductive (based on deduced premises)


texts: Should I add commas anywhere within this sentence?

texts: Our expert services range from preparing proposals of best practice designs to value added engineering service for post-bid projects to field service start-up.


texts: What part of speech is the word "entire" in "over the little garden field entire"?

texts:
The sentence is:
"After a while she got up from where she was and went over the little garden field entire."

A quote from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

I want to know if the word "entire" is a flat adverb, a postpositive adjective, a noun alternative for entirety, or some other part of speech in the bolded sentence above.

Thank you for reading. I hope you will respond and share your thoughts with me.


texts: How should one go about abbreviating (a)synchronous? Is the most correct form (a)sync. or (a)synch.?


texts:
Have you got a cold?
Have you got flu?
Have you got the flu?

Why can't we say a flu or the cold in the previous examples?


texts: Laughing somebody out of town/court/the room

texts:
I heard of this expression:

We were laughed out of the room

After googling for it, it seems there are 2 more variations to it:

laughing somebody out of town
laughing somebody out of court

I would like to know which one was the original.


texts: Sometimes in songs I see sentences in present progressive without verb to be, like - she getting down. Is it right?


texts: I'm trying to decide whether I should use "hold the hope" or "keep the hope" in a composition I'm preparing. It seems to me they are equivalent. Personally I like "hold the hope" better because sounds less common. Also, it seems to me "hold the hope" would be more suitable where that what I'm hoping for is less likely to happen and "keep the hope" would be either, more likely or equally probable of happening than not happening. Is this assumption correct?


texts: How would you say "written for a Latin population"?

texts:
I want to say that the author wrote for the Latin people (common folk of 1200 in Italy) as his main audience. That is, for the wide audience of general populace and not just for the scholars.

My current sentence (in context) is:

  He conceived his work for the Latin populace, that is for the wide audience, which is why it contains a lot of information on how to solve everyday problems, including those connected with business and commerce.

However, I do not like the "for the Latin populace" part. I have tried "for the Latins" and "for the Latin people", but neither sounds right.

Is there a common expression for this in English?


texts:
Another question asks for the written sounds of different levels of crying (wah-wah, boo-hoo), but I was wondering if there are names for different levels of crying.

For instance, is there any way to refer to mild crying besides "mild crying'?


texts: Is it correct to say " I have gone through all the way from a to b."?

texts:
For example, I am so proud myself that I have gone through all the way from Japanese language school to uni graduation.

Does it sound odd to English native speakers?


texts:
I often read "thank you to people who..." And "thank you to everyone..." On facebook.

I think it should be "thanks to people..." And thanks to everyone".

What do you think?


texts:
What are the rules for putting a full stop after an abbreviation.

For instance, I want to say the following on my business card.

Tel: xxx-xxx-xxx

Do I need to put a full stop after the Tel?

Tel.: xxx-xxx-xxx


texts: Ambiguity in the word order either adjective vs adverb

texts:
There's one ambiguous structure I would like to clarify.

...by righteously maintaining his solitude...

Must I use righteous instead of righteously or is it the word order that must be changed?

Already grateful for every answer.


texts: Which is correct: "we agree to notify you if any of our intentions has changed" or "we agree to notify you if any of our intentions have changed"?


texts:
Debonair seems to me to have disappeared from current English, and perhaps belongs in an age when they made films like Gone With the Wind.

Is it that the word has ceased to exist, and if so what is its modern equivalent?

Or do the debonair no longer exist? Is it simply unfashionable to be debonair, whatever that was?

Who in modern society might be described as debonair?


texts:
Which of the following  sentences is correct:

  Whichever  decision  you take I will agree  with you.
  Whatever  decision  you take I will agree with you.


texts:
Which of the two sentences is more proper/correct? Are both of them acceptable?

  This new course is part of the new Masters degree, and is only needed if the Masters degree is approved

or

  This new course is part of the new Masters degree, and it is only needed if the Masters degree is approved


texts:
From BBC News Report:

Leicester City Football Club, whose entire squad cost less than a single player at some of its better-known rivals, have won the English Premier League.
Leicester were 5000-1 outsiders to win at the start of the season, meaning bookmakers considered it more likely that Elvis Presley would be found alive.

Don't understand why "5000-1 outsiders" instead of "5000-1 outsider".


texts: What does “Commander-in-Soy” versus “alpha” mean?

texts:
Today’s (January 26th) Washington Post reported President Trump’s decision to end the government shutdown under the headline, “Trump caves” or “Genius.” : Right wing splits after Trump ends shutdown with no wall funding.

I came across a phrase I’m totally unfamiliar with – “Commander-in–Soy” in the following paragraph in the article:

  “Some is the key word here, however. While Mike Cernovich, a far-right
  online personality, tweeted that Trump was now the “Commander-in
  Soy” and that Pelosi was “alpha,” others rallied around the
  President.

Apparently the word, “Commander-in-Soy” seems to be used in negative or derogatory nuance vis-à-vis “alpha” for Nancy Pelosi, but I’m not able to relate soy to Commander-in-Chief.

Both online Oxford and Cambridge Dictionary I’ve checked provide definition of soy no more than:

Made of soy bean. - Cambridge Dictionary

Protein derived from the beans of an Asian plant.
Widely cultivated plant of the pea family which produces soya beans. – Oxford Dictionary

And I don’t see any headings of “Commander-in Soy” on google search.

"Alpha," I know what it means. But  What does "Soy" here mean?

Can the word, “soy” be acceptably used in such a way as “Commander-in–Soy,” or “Someone who's a kind of Soy.”?


texts: Word for not feeling part of a social or economic class

texts: Is there a word for a feeling or person that is part of a social class, but doesn't feel like they belong in that class? Say someone was poor their entire life and won the lottery. People they may associate with, and are friends with, poor people but may live around and attend functions with people in their economic class. In those cases they feel out of place.


texts: "as if Jane had wound it round a row of pokers" meaning

texts:
I'm reading a novel called "Howl's Moving Castle" and reached this part were people are mocking a character called Jane for her hair and couldn't understand what "wound" means in this context? and why did she use "round" and not "around"?

  Her hair did look a little strange, Sophie thought, peeping out of her alcove, as if Jane had wound it round a row of pokers.

thank you.


texts: I'm trying to understand the precise distinction between pagan and heathen. My immediate motivation is that I'm reading Sir Frank Stenton's Anglo-Saxon England. Online dictionaries have been imprecise, often offering the words as mutual synonyms. Some issues: are pagans/heathens necessarily polytheists? Did the Romans refer to pagans (as 'others') while having a multitude of gods themselves? Is either word derogatory? Does heathen imply a lower level of civilisation?


texts:
There is something that is puzzling me: how does etymology explains why the letter E has became a representative of plural?

Tooth - Teeth
Foot - Feet
Man - Men
Woman - Women
Goose - Geese

I understand that some of them can be explained by I mutation, but is this valid for every o/e word or is there a deeper explanation?


texts: Why do dictionaries transcribe the nasal in 'think' and 'language' with /ŋ/, yet 'input' and 'inbox' with /n/, not /m/?

texts:
In English, coda nasals assimilate to the following consonant, so 'n' in "in mail" and "own goal" is pronounced with [m] and [ŋ] respectively, right? If so, then why do most dictionaries transcribe sounds represented by 'n' in orthography with /ŋ/ before velar consonants (e.g. think, tinker, language, English), yet with /n/ before bilabial consonants (e.g. input, inpatient, inbox, inbred)?

I checked Oxford, Merriam-Webster, American Heritage, Random House, Collins, Cambridge, Macmillian, and Longman, and this is more or less the case in all these dictionaries.

It seems to be the case that assimilation beyond syllable boundaries (or maybe morphological boundaries) is usually not realized in dictionaries' transcription, hence include /ɪnˈkluːd/ and Vancouver /vænˈkuːvər/. This is evident in the case of increase, where the noun is /ˈɪŋkriːs/ and the verb is /ɪnˈkriːs/. But this still doesn't explain /ˈɪnpeɪʃənt/ or /ˈɪnpʊt/. Increase (n.), inpatient, and input all have the prefix 'in-' and stress on the first syllable.

Or is 'n' in words like input and include actually pronounced with [n]?

EDIT: I found the following summary on this matter in Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed., 2011; eds. Peter Roach et al.; pp. xvi–xvii), which indeed confirms Sumelic's answer:

  The assimilation of /n/ is a rather special case: many English words begin with the prefixes 'in-' and 'un-', and in a number of cases the /n/ of these prefixes is followed by a consonant which is not alveolar. In some cases it seems to be normal that the /n/ is regularly assimilated to the place of articulation of the following consonant (e.g. 'inquest' /ˈɪŋ.kwest/), while in others this assimilation is optional (e.g. 'incapable' may be /ɪnˈkeɪ.pə.bᵊl/ or /ɪŋˈkeɪ.pə.bᵊl/. Where it is clear that the prefix is attached to a word that exists independently, so that prefix and stem are easily separable, the assimilation is normally treated as optional. When it seems more like an integral part of the word, the assimilation is shown as obligatory.


texts: "Extremely appreciate": grammatically correct?

texts:
I've seen the word Extremely used to modify adjectives. Would it also be correct to use it to modify verbs? For example, "extremely appreciate", or "extremely enjoy".

Thank you.


texts: A word for "a combination of numbers that only involves addition and subtraction"

texts:
An arithmetic combination of numbers is any combination that involves taking a sum, difference, product, or quotient

I'm wondering if there is a word that satisfies:

  A(n) ________ combination of numbers is any combination that involves taking a sum or difference.


texts: What is the name of this keyboard music instrument?

texts:
I see a piano-like instrument on many of the fifties and sixties music videos.  One of the best ways to describe is to show it to you:

[Source: Youtube]

The Doors keyboard man also played it. It has a special sound and surely its name is not just 'Piano'.

What is ITS name?


texts: What do you call the individual enclosed defecating areas in toilets?

texts:
For example, in the picture above, there are three of them.

How should I refer to them?

As in a sentence like:

  I excused myself and went to the toilet, but all of the [...] were occupied.


texts: Is "myriad" not prevalent in "day to day speech"?

texts:
I have noticed people using "myriad" when they mean "uncountable" or simply many.

Is "Myriad" not prevalent in "day to day speech
Can it be used for definite but large amount of anything.


texts: I know that Mr. is short for Mister and Mrs. is short for Mistress. Is there any comparable way to abbreviate "Master" that is distinguishable from Mister? Or would it just be Mr. again?


texts: "The A and B structure" or "The A and B structures"

texts:
If I have two singular nouns, A and B, that consist of two words (and the second word is shared), should the second word be singular or plural?

For example:

(Both the bio structure and the request structure are singular)

First, the current kernel handles I/O operations using the bio and request structures.

Or

First, the current kernel handles I/O operations using the bio and request structure.


texts: Why Start Each Word in a Title with an Uppercase Letter?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Which words in a title should be capitalized?

I'm not a native speaker of English, and I've asked myself a lot why on many (most?) blogs, all  words in an article’s title (except some little words like "of", "for", "with", ...) start with an uppercase letter. From my point of view it makes it less readable. But maybe it's a grammatical rule I don't know.

Example:
http://nytimes.com/


texts: What is a "rolling correction"? What is the usage and meaning of the expression “rolling correction”?

texts:
What can a "rolling correction" mean, other than the let's say scientific meaning of correcting the rolling trajectory of a certain object.

See, e.g. CNBC:

  Boockvar said Wednesday's dramatic snap back in the market did not
  dissuade him from his view. "We've had a rolling correction. We're
  going to have buyers on the dip, as we did today, but I'm not changing
  my opinion that going into September, there's a very high chance of a
  correction," he said. The Dow was down more than 275 points Wednesday
  morning and ended the day just 40 points lower.


texts:
Is hoard of bugs to be treated as singular or plural?

  ...and what we mean by that is that a hoard of bugs were squashed relentlessly in this release

  ...and what we mean by that is that a hoard of bugs was squashed relentlessly in this release


texts: Is 'Japanese' in 'the Japanese' (people from Japan collectively) a noun or an adjective?

texts:
Oxford Dictionaries classify 'Japanese' in 'the Japanese,' meaning people from Japan collectively, as a noun although some people I consulted insist it is an adjective. They base it on the examples 'the French' and 'the Dutch.'

Who is right? Or, are they both right?

  It took them three hours to get to the Longhua Airport, used as an air force base for the Japanese.
  Apart from the American Indians, the Japanese make some use of lily bulbs in traditional dishes. (source: Oxford Dictionaries)


texts: Present perfect continuous in negative with period of time

texts:
Could you answer my question?

  1) I haven't smoked for years.
   2) I haven't been smoking for years.

In Raymond Murphy's book English Grammar in Use with Answers. A Self-Study Reference and Practice Book for Intermediate Learners of English (ex:11.1(9) The answer is No. 1 Why is
I haven't been smoking for years, not possible?

Could you please explain? Can I use the present perfect continuous negative with period of time: for 2 weeks, for years etc? And not with the verb to smoke but also with other verbs.


texts: Is there a similar expression to "pearl clutching" without the gender implications

texts: I generally like the expression "clutching their pearls" as an expression of exaggerated shock or scandal. However, its origins in women's jewelry gives it a sexist bent that I'd rather avoid. Is there a similar phrase with the same general implications, but without the gendered lens?


texts: What are the parts of class names in schools?

texts: For example we have a class: 2/b in a school. Afaik. 2 is the grade of the class. How should I call the b part?


texts: Bring a vast experience or Bring vast experience?

texts:
I have the following sentence:

"We supply products and bring vast experience to help you achieve positive outcomes."

Should the sentence be read like so?

"We supply products and bring a vast experience to help you achieve positive outcomes."

or should it be like this:

"We supply products and bring vast experiences to help you achieve positive outcomes."


texts: Is there a specific term for "tone of command" in English?

texts:
I'm wondering if there is a specific word that refers to a "tone of command." I'm putting it in double quotations because in my native language (Korean) we have a specific word called "myung-nyung-jo" (for some reason the website won't let me write Korean) which literally translates to "commanding tone" but I can't think of anything in English.
I initially thought that it may be related to causative verbs, but that doesn't seem accurate as well. For example:

Could you find my glasses for me?
Find my glasses for me.

The second sentence would be the type of sentence I'm interested in. Thanks.


texts: What is the source of "the smartest guys in the room"?

texts:
I love this phrase. I know about the book, and I've seen the documentary where Bethany McLean says "these guys were the smartest guys in the room."

But was it in common usage prior to the book and documentary?  I can't find any evidence of such, but the first time I encountered it (in the context of the book/film), I felt like I had seen it somewhere before.

Update (three years later)

I just remembered that I asked Bethany McLean about this on Twitter. She wrote the book "The Smartest Guys in the Room" about Enron which had originally got me thinking about the phrase.

My question:

  @bethanymac12 Did you coin the phrase "the smartest guys in the room," or was it in usage prior to your book?

Her response:

  I think it was in usage prior to the book, but truth be told, my wonderful publisher came up with the title!

Link to her tweet:https://twitter.com/bethanymac12/status/770721759192461312


texts: Order of importance , time order and space order

texts: Why can't I say "Importance order" while I can say "time order" or "space order".


texts: The placement of "only" in a sentence with perfect continuous tense and "been"

texts:
I was just wondering if there is a significant difference between placing "only" before and after the word "been".

Examples:

I've only been fixing cars since I was young.

vs

I've been only fixing cars since I was young.

What I wish to convey is that something has consumed someone so much that they haven't done anything else noteworthy in their life. Because "only" qualifies the object after it, I believe the latter is correct, but determining whether or not "been" affects its placement has proven difficult.

Thank you.


texts: Difference between "peak at" and "peak for"

texts:
I need to say that a variable Y reaches its maximum value when X=1.
Is there any difference between saying "its value peaks at X=1" and saying "its value peaks for X=1"?