texts: Is there a non-idiomatic word or phrase meaning the same as "on the fly"

texts:
I want to say that someone is quick at thinking on the fly, but need to communicate with non-English speakers. Is there an equivalent non-idiomatic word or phrase?

edit: I want it to imply instantaneous adaptation, "i.e. spur of the moment" but that is idiomatic as well.


texts:
'It was one of those dreams which,
while retaining the characteristic dream scenery, are a continuation of one’s intellectual life, and in
which one becomes aware of facts and ideas which still seem new and valuable after one is awake' - 1984

What? what kind of dream is the author trying to tell me? I feel like he's being purposely vague. Please help me understand.


texts: Meaning of 'to make a screen to' (1791 US)

texts:
Source: p 64, RIGHTS OF MAN: Being An Answer To Mr. Burke’s Attack On The FRENCH REVOLUTION, by Thomas Paine, 1791.
Paine's "Answer" above immediately follows:
p 64, The Revolution in France, by Edmund Burke, second edition (1790)

It will always happen, when a thing is originally wrong, that amendments do not make it right, and it often happens that they do as much mischief one way as good the other : and such is the case here ; for if the one rashly declares war as a matter of right, and the other peremptorily with-holds the supplies as a matter of right, the remedy becomes as bad or worse than the disease. The one forces the nation to a combat, and the other ties its hands : But the more probable issue is, that the contrast will end in a collusion between the parties, and be made a screen to both. (Kindly transcribed by Sven Yargs)
screen (noun) = 1.1. A thing providing concealment or protection

Am I right that Definition 1.1 applies here? What does the last sentence mean?
Does Paine mean that the collusion will conceal both parties? But (from?) what?


texts: Catenatives followed by infinitives and gerunds

texts:
What is the difference in meaning when the catenative verb “like” is followed by an infinitive, or by a gerund? For example:

  Do you like ski jumping?

vs.

  Do you like to ski jump?

Also, what is the difference between:

  My brother taught me to read and write.

vs.

  My brother taught me reading and writing.


texts: Is "is possible to achieve" good or not?

texts:
Is this a grammatical sentence?

  "XXX is possible to achieve."

It feels funny, but it has the same structure as:

  "XXX is difficult to achieve.

I can't tell if the first is grammatical but the second is perfectly normal for me. Especially if I put a subject in:

  Perfection is difficult to achieve.

That sounds good.

  Perfection is possible to achieve.

I can't tell about that one.


texts: Should I use the singular or plural verb in mathematical formulae ("Two and two make/makes four")?

texts:
I remember somebody correcting me once when I said, "Two and two makes four", since the conjunction and would imply the use of a plural verb. They would prefer I said:

  Two and two make four.

I've been thinking about it and wondering if one or the other is correct, or if both are. It would seem that using the plural verb is grammatical. However, I've heard the singular verb being used more often and feel that it is correct. Is there some exception about using the singular verb in logical statements and mathematical formulae?


texts: Word that means "more accepting of other cultures"?

texts:
Is there a word that means "more accepting of other cultures" that has a tone appropriate for use as a mild counter to "xenophobic"? Essentially a mild opposite of "xenophobic".

Example: "This organization outwardly claims to want to be more _____, but its actions lately have shown an unsettling xenophobic trend."


texts:
Do you pronounce the word like...

Ap-PLIC-a-ble

Or:

APP-lic-a-ble

And if so, is there a difference between the two?


texts: Does this sentence/statement imply something not obvious to a non english speaker

texts:
In a video game someone made me an offer for an item. He wrote

  1 Cred. You cant refuse because it's 1 cred more than what you currently have.

("Cred" being a currency in game)

I, a german, told him that his statement is wrong. His offer of ONE is not more than what i currently own in the video game. He kept arguing that i had to see it as an addition to what i "currently" own. He kept pointing out the "currently" part and insisted that his statement was correct.

At some point i wondered if the sentence implied something different to an english speaker than it does to someone who just translates it.

I read it as "I offer 1 and 1 is more (right now) than your millions." which is not true. He had to assume that i owned millions or at the very least more than zero.

(there is a chance he was trolling but nontheless, i am curious)


texts: 'Nonprobabilistic Sampling' versus 'Nonprobability Sampling'

texts:
I'm writing a research paper, and I need to translate it to English. I hired a translator and I'm not sure that the following sentence has the right structure:

  Interventions: It was performed nonprobability sampling using the technique of simple random selection.

I think that the right way would be:

  A nonprobabilistic sampling was performed using...

1) Should it be nonprobabilistic or nonprobablity ... sampling?
2) What is the right order of words?

The original text in Spanish is:

  Se realizó muestreo no probabilístico mediante la técnica de selección aleatoria simple.


texts:
Recently I was asked to evaluate my manager's work. One of the questions was whether he is a "tell and sell" person (I don't remember the exact phrase however). I'm not sure what this idiom means (or whether it is an idiom at all), but my initial understanding was that this means a kind of person who never accepts other points of view. Later I thought that this could mean something different, for example a person who does what he says.

I'm not a native speaker, so I would like to know, does the idiom exist, and what does it mean exactly.


texts: Is this sentence correct, or am I switching tenses incorrectly?

texts:
As my health improved, I began to get involved in the local community—participating in committees, organizing projects, and networking with others to effect positive change.

Is it okay to switch tenses in the context? Also, am I using the correct punctuation to transition?


texts: which is better, dead or deceased or passed away?

texts:
I was not able to serve the letter to Mario because he is dead.

I was not able to serve the letter to Mario because he is deceased.

I was not able to serve the letter to Mario because he passed away.


texts:
In a forum of a website, I read the following sentences (the writer is referring to a session in a conference):

  Makes lots of sense. Not sure what can I be of help (and I already have
  two sessions on the official schedule), but would be happy to be of
  help.

Is it correct to say what can I be of help?
Is it commonly used? Is it used in restricted groups?


texts: Is it offensive or unusual to use "Mongolian" in the sense of race?

texts:
It's nowadays generally considered offensive to use "mongoloid" or the like to refer to Down's Syndrome.

But what about with regards to race? Would it be offensive or unusual to talk about "the Mongolian race" (referring to East Asians in general, not people from Mongolia or ethnic Mongols), beyond any offence generated from talking about race in the first place?


texts:
I have been doing some French technical translations with the help of web translators and came across a term "d'abaque", which the translators translate as "abacus".  This didn't make sense so I queried and I was told it means "a measure based on past experience".

For instance:

a job takes two weeks, and x tons of concrete "d'abaque"
the installation will need 5 people and cost $10K "d'abaque"

Is there an English equivalent for "d'abaque".


texts: Phrase for "forced to do a lot of mental work"

texts:
Today I read a beautiful metaphor for being forced to perform more brain activity than needed if there would have been a proper and clear explanation:

  The essay lacked a proper structure: "The reader had to perform mental gymnastics to understand it."

I think it's a beautiful phrase but I would like to have a larger arsenal of similar phrases with a similar meaning.

Do you know any?


texts: Is it grammatical with the omission of the clause?

texts: I've heard many clauses like 'I don't know why', 'I know why' in lyrics in songs. In an indirect question clause, can I use a interrogative word without the following clause? E.g. 'I know how', 'I know where and when'.


texts: What does Bloomberg's 'concessionary tone' mean?

texts:
I found the phrase 'concessionary tone' in today's New York Times:

  Bloomberg Is Criticized on Storm Response as He Tours City Beyond Manhattan

  The mayor on Thursday delivered the message that every street had been plowed, but his concessionary tone was met with frustration in the boroughs beyond Manhattan.

What does 'concessionary' mean in this particular context? None of the translations in my English-Japanese dictionaries seem to fit the case. Can somebody give an appropriate interpretation?


texts: What does the idiom "That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise" mean?

texts:
I just watched the movie The apartment (by Billy Wilder, 1960) and hear the main character say:

  That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise

I kind of understand it as "that's life", as someone would say while sighing. But I wonder: what is the origin of it? Am I right about its meaning?


texts:
Could you please tell me whether the sentences below mean the same to you?

Group A:

I'm going to play basketball tomorrow.
I'm playing basketball tomorrow.
I'll be playing basketball tomorrow.

Group B:

I'm going to see a doctor tomorrow.
I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow.
I'll be seeing a doctor tomorrow.


texts: Difference between "consent" and "acquiescence"

texts: What is the difference between consent and acquiescence?


texts:
When someone to gives their opinion on a complex topic, is the phrase used "weighed in" or "wade in"? I thought it was the former, but I've been seeing the latter crop up more and more often.

Examples:

1a. Jack and Jill were having a fight and Mark weighed in on the matter to settle the dispute.

1b. Jack and Jill were having a fight and Mark wade in on the matter to settle the dispute.

2a. Mary and Jane were having a fight and asked Mark to weigh in on the matter.

2b. Mary and Jane were having a fight and asked Mark to wade in on the matter.


texts:
-When you going back to kindergarten, Otis?" some one had asked.

  -"Me? Day Bernice gets her hair bobbed."

  -"Then your education's over," said Marjorie quickly. "That's only a bluff of hers. I should think you'd have realized."

Source: Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I don't understand why the girl used "should think you'd have done" in the example. I understand that 'You would have realized' belongs to the third conditional. But why was it used with "should think".


texts: What is the purpose of (-s) in "Don't hurts us"?

texts:
Shouldn't verbs after "to do" always be infinitive?
If so, then what's the purpose of adding the suffix "-s" ?

Image from Middle Earth- Shadow of Mordor ||
Gollum says: Don't hurts us!


texts: Is it possible to use the verb "torture" in a figurative sense?

texts:
Is it possible to use the verb "torture" in a tropical sense? I mean not in a physical sense.

For example:

  Linda: "So what? Did you see Jack?"

  Tom: "Yes"

  Linda: "So did you talk to him about Betty?"

  Tom: "Well, he even met with Betty tonight himself"

  Linda: "He saw Betty tonight! So, did they arrive at any conclusion?"

  Tom: "Well, yes. They even called the office and received some
  additional information"

  Linda: "What kind of additional information?"

  Tom: "Well, I would say super important information. Not only so, but
  I myself on my way here found out something even more important"

  Linda: "Tell me everything"

  Tom: " Well, can I have a cup of tea first?"

  Linda: "Oh Tom, don't torture me like this"

Addition:

I used the word "tropical" here because the other day I was reading a book written by one Christian expositor (he died only in 1957) who was interpreting some versus from the New Testament in that book. He said there that some words in the scripture must be taken in their literal meaning, and some - only in their tropical meaning. Since he died only in 1957, I thought that using the word "tropical" in this way would still be okay in the modern English.

Also, while I was asking this question I had no idea that "torture" could imply only psychological sufferings. I thought it referred only to physical pain inflicted on someone by someone else in order to get some desired results (like getting some information from the one who is being tortured, some confession, etc.)


texts:
Consider:

I need to do this.
I need do this.

My English grammar knowledge tells me that "need" doesn't have the same status as the modal verbs "may", "can", "should" and what not. Hence the second usage where two verbs appear consecutively is incorrect.
But yesterday, my native English speaking friends (Americans) told me that "I need compute this." is a perfectly grammatical sentence, and one is simply omitting the "to". How can this be? Is it a colloquial usage but grammatically incorrect, or is it grammatically correct? If it is grammatically correct, is it because "need" is a semi-modal verb?
EDIT: in particular, is it okay to use "need compute" in a scientific paper?
EDIT2: the exact phrase that raised the question was "The advantage of this representation is that we need only compute sums and products"


texts:
I want to use the word since as because, but I don't know if I can add the word 'then' after it. For example, is the sentence 'since we have A and B, then there is no need for you to get C' correct? Is the word redundant in this case?

And I would like to say 'since A, and B, blablabla.. In this case A, and B are two reasons, should I add then before blablabla to make it more readable? or is this wrong


texts: What is the meaning of the phrase "we-find-each-other's-lame-jokes-funny vibe"?

texts:
I learned the specified phrase from the book "Revolution 2020" by "Chetan Bhagath".

  I didn't like the we-find-each-other's-lame-jokes-funny vibe between Raghav and Aarti

What is the meaning of we-find-each-other's-lame-jokes-funny vibe?


texts:
This phrase is found in "Stranger From a Strange Land"  (Robert Heinlein).

ONCE UPON A TIME when the world was young there was a Martian named Smith.
Valentine Michael Smith was as real as taxes but he was a race of one.

It is found in a different context here.

We are all welcome in Your fold.
We are all a flock of humble lambs
Every women, kid, and man.
Dear God, please bless your children all,
A race of one, both big and small.

The following dictionaries remain mute: Cambridge, Wiktionary, MacMillan, Lexico.
What is the meaning of "race of one", or more generaly of "of one"?


texts: How to better express "Dwayne Johnson has been given more footage than Jason Statham in the movie"

texts:
By footage I do not mean on screen time. I mean Dwayne Jhonson has been given scenes that show him to be better than Jason Statham. Although both were given roughly the same on screen time, Dwayne was given more scenes and heroic stunts what would appeal to audience.

How does one say that in a sentence? May be more concise one.


texts: Reversal of the meaning of the word "restive"

texts:
According to google etymology the word restive originally meant  inclined to remain still. But then it changed the meaning to the opposite.

I would like to know if such phenomenon of revresal happens often in English, especially with words that finish with "ive" (plaintive, fugitive,...)


texts:
My only email account has got unmanageably cluttered and it’s time for a change. Rather than go through the hassle of unsubscribing to hundreds of services I’ll just give a few friends a new address. I’ve therefore decided to fork my correspondence into two groups: work related and personal. I like the idea, but am not wild about the account name.

firstname.lastname.personal@gmail.com

It sounds like I use it for personal ads and am keeping my main email separate from strangers I’m trying to hook up with.

I don’t know if that’s just my perception or not though.

Is this connotation actually implied? (Maybe this is opinion based, however it isn’t really my main question).

Is there a better word to suffix this account that indicates it isn’t for work?

*tagged as single-word-request as that is preferable, but not, I guess, absolutely critical if the candidate is otherwise perfect.


texts: what is the proper interpretation of "or", does it mean earlier or later if not specified

texts: If a phrase say you may terminate an agreement in 10 years or when 12 units have been sold, does this mean that you may terminate on the earlier  of 10 years or when 12 units have been sold or the later of 10 years or when 12 units have been sold?


texts: Should I keep the ellipsis in this sentence?

texts:
I was wondering if I am using the ellipsis properly in this sentence. If not, what punctuation should I be using in place of the ellipsis?

  "This trick proved to be difficult at times because, as the years progressed, my tics became more and more obvious . . . People were noticing."

Please include any other advice you have for me. Thank you!


texts: "All purchase activity" or "All purchase activities"?

texts:
I am checking the grammar for my app and I find myself being unclear on which of those two I should use.
The original sentence runs as follows:

Once you start using your card, all purchase activity will be
displayed here.

I have conducted some research, and it looks as if either could be used.
Is there a difference between the two? If so, which one would be more appropriate and/or grammatically correct, for my app?
I would greatly appreciate any and all replies.


texts: Is it ok to say "something I will have come to learn later in the course"?

texts:
I have written

  It lacks exact references to the book, something about argumentative analysis I will have come to learn later in the course.

I wonder if this is correct and what this tense would be called.

Perhaps it would be called “future past future perfect”?


texts: What is the difference between an expression and a phrase?

texts: I'm trying to decide what tags I should be using and realized I did not know the difference between these terms.


texts: Punctuating a question containing quoted statement

texts:
How would I correctly punctuate the following:

Did you ever say, "Isn't that a cute puppy."

It's a question, evidenced by "Did you", but "isn't that a cute puppy" is not a question even though it is at the end of a question.


texts: Is the apostrophe mark named after the rhetorical device or vice versa?

texts:
As far as I can tell, without getting into the possessive apostrophe, they have related functions: The apostrophe mark denotes a missing character (or series of characters) in the contraction of a word or phrase and the rhetorical device represents turning away from addressing the audience and addressing someone or something that is (usually) not present.

I realise this is potentially a chicken vs egg question but recently I found myself wondering this: Assuming they are related, which came first or which was named after which?


texts: Which is the correct use of 'people' vs 'peoples'?

texts:
Which grammar is correct to ask?
Which people was Utah named for?

Or is it this...
Which peoples was Utah named for?

The answer being "Utes", is it correct to use "people" or "peoples" here in this example?


texts: "India's army, in numbers, is second only to China's and America's."

texts:
The odd sentence

  India's army, in numbers, is second only to China's and America's.

appeared in the article Contest of the Century in the current issue of The Economist (August 21-27, 2010). Should the author have written third instead of second, or is it fine as it stands?


texts: Capitalization of honorifics such as "your excellency", "your majesty", "your holiness"

texts:
When addressing an ambassador, is it

  I agree with your excellency.

or should your, excellency, or both be capitalized?

Likewise with "your majesty" and "your holiness".


texts:
I am looking to find the difference between possible and plausible.
Here is what Apple's dictionary gives for each word:

Possible: Able to be done; within the power or capacity of someone or something
Plausible: (of an argument or statement) seeming reasonable or probable

I mean, other than these definitions, are there any connotative differences?


texts: Describing facts in a story written in present tense

texts:
Could anybody tell me which is more appropriate?

"A day in Titan is about 383 earth hours"

or

"A day in Titan was about 383 earth hours"

when these words are used to describe the setting of the novel written in past tense?

I feel like "is" should be used because what it describes is an everlasting fact but using it makes it feel more like a response to a question than the description of the setting. Please excuse me as my first language is not English , I just want to use writing as a tool to improve my language.


texts:
I have a question about the verb in the sentence:
Which animal do you think _____ most?
1)weighs
2)weighing

I chose 2)weighing because I think it could be re-write as
"Which animal do you think that weighs most?" and then we can ignore the "that" in the following clause and change "weighs" to "weighing" as we do in the relative pronoun sentence.
Am I correct?

Thank you!


texts: What does “Clearasil-scented grammatical sloth” in casual American speech mean?

texts:
John McWhorter, associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University comments on the growing sophistication (or devolution) of English language among Americans in the article of the New York Times (April 5, 2014) under the title of “Like, Degrading the language? No way.”

He picks up prolific uses of the words, “like,” “totally,” “because X” in daily discourse and “lol” in texting as the noteworthy trends of the shift of language. He says:

  “Linguistically, underneath the distraction of incivility, America is
  taking a page from Dale Carnegie’s classic “How to win friends and
  influence people.” There’s, overall, an awareness of the states of
  minds of others in much of what is typically regarded as
  Clearasil-scented grammatical sloth.”

As I understand Clearasil is a pimple treatment medicine primarily directed to high-teen users, does “Clearasil-scented grammatical sloth” mean immature usage of language? What does it mean?

We say “It smells like Mentholatum” in Japanese in referring to the person / thing emitting an alien (not necessarily unpleasant) smell.

Is “Clearasil-scented” a popular phrase, or the author’s particular trope? Can we apply “Clearasil-scented” to other words, like “look, fashion, view, remarks, and infatuation”?


texts:
What is the word (or expression?) for an artificially introduced advantage for a player in a sport or a game, with purpose to level the chances?

I tried thesaurus for antonyms of handicap, but it gives only "advantage", "benefit" and "help" and none of them seem to fit the bill for this specific sense.

(or did I reject one of these antonyms wrongly maybe?)


texts:
Why is it dog eat dog?

It should be: Dog 'eats' dog

or

Dogs 'eat' dogs.

Why does it sound ungrammatical?


texts:
I do not understand "source" and "sink" in the following passage. I tried to look up a dictionary and google translate but it is not clear. Could anyone explain it for me? the passage:

  This application note describes how to use the EFM32 Current Digital to Analog Converter (IDAC), a peripheral that can source or sink a configurable constant
  current.

Thank you!


texts: Are there alternative words for 'subcomponent'?

texts:
I have a situation as follows:

In a score, there are 2 main components - Section A and Section B.
In each components, there are subcomponent. (Example: Section A have 2 subcomponents - Section 1 and Section 2.)

Are there any word(s) alternatives for the word 'subcomponent'?


texts: Traditional explanation for 'I don't remember whom is whom'

texts:
I'm looking for a traditional grammar explanation in regards to the sentence: 'I don't remember whom is whom.' Also I'll preface that I'm native speaker for whatever that's worth...

Now I understand that the most natural way to say this is, 'I do not remember who is who'. From that, because it's the accusative case, one should normally say:

'I do not remember him' -> 'I do not remember whom'

However, since 'is' is a copula or linking verb, the following explanation by Grammar Girl applies. My understanding is that it forces the same grammatical cases, so 'whom is whom' and thus:

'I do not remember whom is whom.'

In another 'who vs whom' question, one person suggests 'Who is who' is correct because it is a set phrase. Though I suppose I can accept that set phrases exist as a thing to torment learners (set phrase as it more means 'which person is which' or other things apparently), at the very least the why it isn't 'who is whom' can be explained by the Grammar Girl link earlier.

Also a side question: ignoring who vs whom, would it be more correct to say, 'I do not remember who being who', so leaving the verb in the infinitive form. As an example, 'I remeber him being another person.' Or perhaps the infinitive 'to be' is the most correct? At this point I don't trust my English enough to tell, and I might probably just analyzing this all wrong anyway...


texts: Is it appropriate to say "Can you borrow me your ax?" instead of "Can you lend me your ax?" I hear the prior usage in the Upper Midwest quite often.


texts: Does anyone really say "SAYS" rather than "SEZ"?

texts:
I've just heard Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, at 10:13 here (about a quarter of the way through Prime Minister's Questions, UK Parliament, Thurs 27 Oct) saying...

  Amnesty International SAYS, and I quote, [blah blah, wot they sed]

Apologies to anyone who can't access the video (it's a BBC link, which I suppose gets tricky if you're not a license payer), but obviously the point is he clearly says SAYS (/seɪz/), not SEZ (/sɛz/).

As it happens, while saying those words Corbyn is constantly looking down on what are presumably pre-written notes/quotes, so I'm inclined to suppose it's actually just a one-off enunciation error (because sometimes reading and talking is like walking and chewing gum! :)

But seriously, does anyone talk like that today if they're not distracted by orthography?

I don't want to get bogged down in how non-native speakers affect things. I'm only really asking if there might perhaps be a surviving "dialectal pocket" of some kind (assuming the orthography represents an original pronunciation). Or could it be an "emergent usage", reflecting the general tendency to "regularise" irregular verbs?


texts: How can I rephrase "the best tool that reaches every corner of the world"

texts:
I'm doing some proofreading of a text written by a non-native English speaker regarding a project. This text is in the project's mission statement, saying they want to create a tool that will be used globally, especially in underdeveloped countries.

I don't like this sentence, I think "the best tool that reaches every corner of the world" sounds translated, but I can't think of a better way to phrase it while conveying the same message. I thought of changing it to something like "an exceptional tool that reaches every corner of the world" but "exceptional" is not "the best". I thought of saying "the best tool for (whatever) that reaches every corner of the world" but I cannot sum up this huge program in one or two words as it has a huge number of features.

Ideally I want to be able to change "the" to "an" with an appropriate word, but any other suggestions are helpful.

Update: I wanted to upvote more answers but I apparently don't have enough reputation. There were some good suggestions, but I wanted to keep my language simple as it'll be mainly non-native speakers reading this text. Thank you all for your help.


texts: Omission of the article in this sentence

texts:
I'm wondering if the highlighted part of the following sentence from Fulton, Intersection Theory is correct or if it is a pun?

  Omission of topics or references which should be included may be attributed to lack of space, as usual, but is more likely due to incompetence of writer.


texts: Word for "to put something you earned into a project to make more money"

texts:
I forgot the word that means "to put something you have earned into a project to make more money". For example,

  ABC __ its profits into a new venture.


texts: "the timing of something" or "the timing of the something"

texts:
I have a question about these sentences:
(1) "This may impact the timing of the application submission."
(2) "This may impact timing of the application submission."
(3) "This may impact the timing of application submission."
Which is correct?
The reader understands which specific application is used.
My hunch is (2)? Timing refers to when, so there is no specific timing. The submission is specific, so it needs to have an article.
Thoughts?


texts: Is the expression "do not bother" polite?

texts:
I have a client who is a public figure in politics. I am working with her on writing some content for social media. I'd like to tell her that she doesn't need to send me 60 quotes, and that 30 is very enough.

Is it polite to say "30 is totally fine for now, do not bother making the whole 60"?

Is "do not bother" a polite expression, or is it too familiar ?

Thanks a lot !


texts:
Which of these is the correct form:

  techniques have been often used for post-processing

or

  techniques have often been used for post-processing


texts: Conventions for parenthetical inclusion of articles

texts:
Somewhat related: "A/An" preceding a parenthetical statement

When writing mathematics, one sometimes wants to write things like

  x is not contained in (the closure of) the space Y.

The typical interpretation of this is that the statement holds whether or not the parenthetical statement is read. In this case, x would be contained neither in the space Y nor in the closure of the space Y.

One could also shift the parentheses:

  x is not contained in the (closure of the) space Y.

Is there any convention as to which is better writing? I suspect that the first is preferred. It has the advantage that reading the parenthetical phrase does not change the referencing of articles to nouns. Of course, this implies that if the articles were different the second construction would not be an option. The second construction seems quite a bit stranger, but I have seen both in writing and occasionally the second one really did seem better in context.

Is there any strict convention on which should be used, or is it acceptable to choose based on stylistic concerns?

Admittedly I don't know of any context outside of mathematics where one would write a phrase like the ones I have quoted. It may be that this is entirely inappropriate use of parentheses in standard English; if this is the case feel free to close the question.


texts:
I realize a lot of English expressions derive from sports: "his presentation was a slam-dunk," "she really fumbled through that," or "that's pretty much par for the course."

I don't play golf, but I believe "below par" means really good.  But doesn't describing something as "below par" mean really not good?


texts: "Hidden layer sizes" vs "Hidden layers sizes"

texts:
I am writing a neural network application. In this application, a neural network can have one or more hidden layers, which can have different sizes (neuron counts).

Which label would be correct: "hidden layer sizes" or "hidden layers sizes" and why? I realize this is a more general grammar related question and I'd love to learn about it.

EDIT:
the label is for a text box, where user will enter numbers separated by commas.


texts: Word to describe the one before the last one

texts: I have a project that requires storing a latest file, previous file and 'one before the previous' file. Each will go in its own folder named: current, previous and {one before previous}. What do I call that third folder?


texts: What is the term that describes a group of animals; gaggle of geese, murder of crows

texts: I'm looking for the term, word and or phrase that describes groups of animals. I'd like to know all the words that refer to all groups of animals.


texts:
What does the following phrase mean?

In Soviet Russia, piracy pirates YOU.

What is implied by "piracy pirates YOU" and what by "IN Soviet
Russia"?
Update 1: My difficulty was because the term "pirate" and "piracy" are senseless to apply to Soviet Russia because there was no, strictly
speaking, author rights.   Nothing to pirate. Everything is already
belonged by everybody.
@Ed Guiness,    thanks for the link, I have never heard of them.
At my youth other themes were popular like:

American to Russian: 'In the USA, I can come to The White House and cry out: "Reagan is a moron"'
Russian to American: 'I also can come to Red Square and cry out: "Reagan is moron"'

And those in your link are somewhat unknownat my time and even less
now since currently everybody is is quite indifferent to politics.
Update 2:  Subjectively, I gave credibility to George Orwell's 1948's
1984, rather more universally known and earlier than Yakoff Smirnoff.


texts: Should I use a singular or plural "one" here?

texts:
Sometimes I get confused over how and when we should use plurals.

For example, should we say:

  They are the only one who is capable
  of doing this

Or

  They are the only one who are
  capable of doing this

When to use is/are? Why?


texts: What does "18 hours out, destination unknown, a military secret" mean?

texts:
18 hours out, destination unknown, a military secret.
The above is a line from a documentary.
I think this is related to some military because the screen shown in which this line is spoken has fighter airplanes flying and the next is about a military operation.
But still I don't get what this means and who speaks this(sounds like an announcer).
Please inform me about it.
Thanks.


texts: "Can hardly wait" versus "can't hardly wait"

texts:
This has been bothering me for a while and I'm finally at a forum where I feel like I might get an answer. I have heard people say "I can hardly wait for summer to get here" and I've also heard "I can't hardly wait" variation.

Which is correct? It seems to me like the double negative of "can't hardly" is incorrect but I'm unable to specify a clear reason as to why it is.

Is it just grammatically incorrect or does it mean something different than what I'm trying to convey?


texts: Word for an opinion on a subject which, by definition, divides a group of people

texts:
"Polarizes" is not the right word for this. If you can imagine a group of people being strictly divided in opinion, the ideological line which divided them would be the thing I am trying to generically name. I'm looking for a specific word that I know I've seen before but can't remember. I've googled this but have not been able to find the right word. This is the best definition I can provide.

An (poor) example is how a stance on taxes divides people into Democrats and Republicans


texts:
In a Math.SE question, I used the sentence:

  “some two of these propositions are true and the third one is false”, or in other words, “exactly 2 of 3 propositions are true”

Here I used “or in other words” to rephrase a statement for better comprehension, but I didn’t use a comma after “or”. On the Net, I see people both using and omitting the comma in that phrase. What is the correct punctuation in the phrase “or in other words” and why?


texts: How is everyone going with their/his/her assignment?

texts:
I wanted to email a group of students to check how they are going with their assignment and it occurred to me that "how is everyone going with their assignment" does not seem grammatically correct. Matching a singular subject "everyone" with a plural word "their" seems a bit odd. However, "how is everyone going with his/her assignment" sounds more off.

Thanks heaps! Any comment would be highly appreciated.

Wen


texts: "How do you do"--what does it mean and when did most of society opt to no longer say it?

texts:
What exactly does how do you do mean? I'm ashamed to admit I say it and I don't quite know what it means. I'm also very curious to know, and I suppose this is a question of opinion, when did folks stop saying it? When did "how do you do" meet it's demise within society? I suppose whenever it was it must have had a precipitious decline of usage on account of I personally don't know anyone, besides myself, who says it today; however, I know there must be folks who still say it.

Any thoughts?


texts: Why "missing", but not "needing" or "wanting"?

texts:
The following sentence is OK:

The table is missing a leg.

But the next two sentences sound a bit off (to my native ear, at least):

The campaign is needing support.
I am wanting an apple.

The verbs need and want are stative (i.e. denote a state), and so are generally incompatible with the Present Continuous. The verb miss in this context, however, denotes a state as well -- there is absolutely nothing dynamic going on.
Why, then, does the sentence "the table misses a leg" sound wrong?


texts:
The phrase 'deliberation related to emotions and values about what’s good and bad' has a potential ambiguity about whether 'emotions' is to be understood generally or as also being about 'what's good and bad.'
I want to know the best ways to disambiguate this sentence.

I see that is possible to disambiguate this if one intends the former meaning by using
'deliberation related to emotions and (related) to values about what’s good and bad,' (where I mean 'related' is optional I think)
and if one intends the later meaning by using
'deliberation related to emotions about what’s good and bad and values about what’s good and bad' or perhaps
'deliberation related to emotions and values each about what’s good and bad'.

Disambiguating when you intend the first meaning seems to work pretty well, but the second case seems a bit cumbersome.

What do you think about using a comma? I know its not really by the book, but it seems to get the meaning across well.
First meaning: 'deliberation related to emotions, and values about what’s good and bad'
Second meaning: 'deliberation related to emotions and values, about what’s good and bad'

Is there any other better way to disambiguate that I'm not thinking of?

Follow-up: On second thought, 'deliberations related to', which is the first part of the phrase in question, isn't important to my question and just adds unnecessary complication to the question. I would edit it out and change the sentence to something like this:

  I am talking about emotions and values about what's good and bad.

so that the sentence, besides the ambiguity I'm asking about, is clearer; however, I don't want invalidate the answers already given.


texts: Voiced sounds after voiced and unvoiced after unvoiced

texts:
Why do we need a voiced sound after another voiced sound and voiceless after a voiceless sound in English?
Explanation:
Often in inflected forms, we need to add a voiced sound after the preceding voiced sound (phoneme) and voiceless sound after voiceless sound (phoneme).
For example:
Pass -> passed (/st/)
Since /s/ is a voiceless sound so we add voiceless /t/ after it rather than voiced /d/.

Hug -> hugged (/gd/)
/g/ is voiced so we add voiced /d/.

Another example:
Bag -> bags (/gz/)

Bat -> bats (/ts/)

Why does that happen?
Thank you.

(Sorry if it's already present. I searched a lot but didn't find anything that could answer my question).


texts: What is a correct punctuation for a sentence starting with "One more thing"?

texts:
In the following sentence what would be the correct punctuation

  One more thing don't tell anyone about our conversation.

Should "One more thing" be separated by comma, dash or colon? Or perhaps nothing at all?


texts:
What's the difference between the following examples:

I noticed that the clock had stopped.

I noticed that the clock has stopped.

Some of them say that if the emphasis is laid on the subordinate clause then present perfect tense can be used, while some say if the emphasis is laid on 'noticing' then past perfect tense is to be used. How correct is this explanation?


texts: Should a period be placed within quotation marks if it would conflict with a punctuated item that should be used or typed verbatim?

texts:
Gee whiz!  Just when I thought I had the "period within quotation marks" rules set firmly in my personal punctuational code, I hit upon this sentence:

  All message IDs are pre-pended with the value “ID:”.

As a reviewer, should I advise my author to stuff that very American period inside the quotation mark?  Wouldn't that not only look rather ugly but also somewhat confuse the fact that the item within the quotation marks is to be typed verbatim by the reader?  What would be community-advised in this case?


texts: Correct or not: noun and adjective being predicative together

texts:
I'm thinking about such a sentence:

  He is a lawyer, arrogant and smart.

or

  He is an idiot, arrogant and short-sighted.

Please note that here I just want to list the noun and the adjectives altogether, no casual relation between the noun and the adjectives (like he is arrogant and smart because he is a layer).

Though I think I've seen similar ones before, I'm not 100% sure whether it's correct or not.

So put it formally, is it grammatically correct to put nouns and adjectives together as a predicate?


texts: Is this a sarcastic answer to "good to see you"?

texts:
In the movie Fallen, Denzel Washington's character, Det. Hobbes, is visiting a death-row inmate previously arrested by him. The inmate, Edgar Reese (played by Elias Koteas), greets him by saying "It's good to see you, Hobbes", and he answers with "It's good to be seen by you, Reese". I'm not a native speaker, but as far as I know, that's not a common answer, so I always understood that as sarcasm, as Hobbes saying that it was not good to see Reese at all, but answering in a way that sounds polite for someone who isn't paying a lot of attention.

However, I just watched an interview with Denzel Washington where he does the exact same thing with the interviewer. He's greeted with "Mr. Washington, it's great to see you", and he answers with "it's great to be seen by you", and because it reminded me of the scene, it got me puzzled.

So, is that a normal polite answer, and I'm seeing sarcasm in it because of the movie context? Is it actually sarcasm and Washington is being obnoxious, although there's no sign of that during the interview? Is it just a coincidence, or a pun?


texts:
I was able to find numerous examples of "Do you also..." type questions in The Bible, like:

  And Yeshua said to the twelve, “Do you also wish to leave?”

But I am wondering whether simply "Do you also?" as a question, if given proper proper context, is correct or not? E.g.:

  I like to live dangerously. Do you also?


texts: Is it okay to write an if statement just by itself in an email?

texts:
Could we write an if statement just by itself in an email? For example:

  I didn't receive the contract. *So if you could ask her to send me a copy,it would be great.


texts: Looking for the right word in this sentence. "He found the right environment at the academy to ____ his interest in art."

texts:
I have a few possibilities but I'm looking for a better word to describe how the person was helped by the environment in his pursuit of art.

He found the right environment at the academy to work on his interest in art.

He found the right environment at the academy to promote his interest in art.

He found the right environment at the academy to advance his interest in art.

hone doesn't seem to go here:
He found the right environment at the academy to hone his interest in art.


texts:
The site idioms.com suggests that the expression “on thin ice” has a European origin but, unluckily, it offers no evidence to support its view:

  the idiomatic expression  on thin ice  originated from Holland, now known as Netherlands. Skating originated from there and skating on thin ice was a phrase commonly used especially when seas/rivers/streams freeze during the winter and then people skate over them. In some areas, the ice is thin and can crack, causing the skater to fall into the freezing water and possibly die if not saved.

According to the AHD the idiomatic expression on thin ice was first used by a US writer:

  This idiom, which alludes to the danger that treading on thin ice will cause it to break, was first used figuratively by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay Prudence (1841): "In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed."

But search in  Google Books shows earlier usages such as:

From The Works of Confucius; Containing The Original Text, With a Translation.  (1809)

  Be constantly cautious! as when near a deep whirlpool, as though walking on thin ice .

Can anyone fix a more precise time period and geographical origin of the idiomatic expression?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  If I attain a Master’s degree, how do I refer to myself?

I am writing a Personal Statement on a CV and a lot of the samples have 'Graduate with experience in...' this, I believe, implies a BA or similar level of degree. What do you put when referring to a Masters Degree?


texts: Is there a clear preferred usage between *lifespan* and *life span*

texts:
I haven't been able to find any clear guidance on this.  To me, life span looks wrong, but I have no evidence to support my intuition.

A tentative look (webster vs oxford) suggests that perhaps BrE vs AmE may play a role in this, but it's not particularly clear.

Might there also perhaps be a small semantic difference between them meaning the usage depends on context?  I haven't managed to find anything which indicates this is the case.


texts:
I'm having trouble with this sentence:

Publisher wants to use:

  Mary has two passports and so she wants to know the protocols to follow when entering and exiting certain countries.

I think:

  Mary has two passports, therefore she wants to know the protocols to follow when entering and exiting certain countries.

Which is correct?


texts:
In George Orwell's 1984, Part 3, Chapter 4:

  He attempted more elaborate exercises, and was astonished and
  humiliated to find what things he could not do. He could not move
  out of a walk, ...

The previous sentences said:

  In a little while he could walk three kilometres, ...

What does move out of a walk mean? Does that mean he could not walk?


texts: Why is there no such word as "percentagely"?

texts:
If I want to use an adverb to say, for example:

  I'm not sure you could do it. I can say that percentagely / in percentage there are few hopes.

Is there a specific reason there is no such word in contemporary English?


texts: Which one is correct, "favourite song of all time" or "... of all times"?

texts:
Which one of these sentences is correct?

  That is one of my favourite songs of all time.
  That is one of my favourite songs of all times.

I am not a native English speaker.


texts:
Could anyone clarify once and for all the usage of suggest?
All the grammars I have consulted allow for only four possibilities:

Suggest + ing form
Suggest that + direct object + should + bare infinitive
Suggest that + direct object + bare infinitive
Suggest that + direct object + simple past

They all say that suggest must never be followed by an indirect object.
However, I keep finding sentences that seem to contradict these rules:

"We suggested to the committee that they review the case again." (Merriam-Webster online dictionary."
"Can you suggest to them that Company Name develop the Italian version of the website?" (this website's thread of some months ago)

to mention only a few.
Could anybody please help?


texts:
Is the following use of a semi-colon correct?

  I found examples of variability in temperature and in pressure; some strongly correlated.

I think that the words after the semi-colon have to be a sentence in their own right, but I'm not sure that these are.


texts: Does "discreet" mean "tactful" or "euphemistic"?

texts:
Could the word "discreet" be used to mean like "tactful" or "euphemistic"?

Example: Try to say no in a discreet way (i.e. say no in a careful and euphemistic way so as not to upset/offend someone even if you are rejecting them)
Say: Sorry I'm very busy recently. I'm afraid I couldn't help you.
Don't say: No, I won't help you.

Is it correct to use discreet in this case?

Discreet seems to mean more than just tactful/euphemistic to me. I searched on the Internet and couldn't find an example which is used to mean that.

I simply say no in a polite and euphemistic way. I didn't say no in a way which is not easily noticed. I wonder if it has to carry the meaning of tactful but in a way of keeping a low profile or keeping secret. You shouldn't use "discreet" if you are tactful in other ways.

It is not discreet of you to ask a female how much she weigh. (i.e. it is rude to ask a female directly how much she weigh)

Is it correct to use discreet in this case?

It would be more discreet if you don't come to the party. (i.e. your coming will lead to embarrassing situation. It is a smart and careful move not to show up in order to avoid such embarrassment)

Is it correct to use discreet in this case?

Thank you very much. :)

About the research that I have done

I'm afraid it might affect people's answers if I put my findings here. Anyway I looked it up in 5 dictionaries before I asked this question. None of them gave a clear answer to the questions I asked.

Dictionaries seem to suggest I could use the word in the above cases. It is what Collins dictionary says, "If you are discreet, you are polite and careful in what you do or say, because you want to avoid embarrassing or offending someone."

According to my own limited experience, I believe discreet means more than just that. I don't think native speakers will say it that way. It is wrong but this is what dictionaries say.

Are dictionaries wrong?


texts:
Here is the example sentence.

  Windows Azure Caching was developed from an on-premises Caching
  solution that shipped with Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server.

What does 'on-premises' mean?


texts: what is the right verb for the overall process of "conducting" a thesis?

texts:
What is the right verb for the overall process of a thesis, including not only the writing process but also the research activities?
Analogous to "conducting research" I'd like to say "conducting a thesis"?
Edit:
Maybe this context is useful:
I want to thank a company for the possibility of doing my thesis together with them (meaning support, money, infrastrcture, laboratories, etc.). So, might I say:

"I would like to thank NAME_OF_CHIEF for the possibility of conducting the thesis at NAME_OF_COMPANY"


texts: How to ask questions with "how many" in them?

texts:
I would like some guidance on how to ask questions with "how many" in them. For example, does one say

  From how many minutes is the train late?

or simply

  How many minutes is the train late?

or something else?

Similarly, is it

  From how many kilos does she slim ?

or something else?


texts:
There is a missing knowledge of Tenses in Modals in English grammar textbooks.

Ok, we know that "Present Perfect Continuous" is used to express a duration from the past until now.

Ex: They have been talking for the last hour. (the "talking" action happened 1 hour ago & continuously progress until now.)

Yeah, that's easy. But what about the structure "MODAL + HAVE BEEN + ING VERB"?

What meaning does the structure "MODAL + HAVE BEEN + ING VERB" carry?

See this example

The baby must have been sleeping when I passed by his room 2 hours ago.

Does that mean "I am very sure that the baby was sleeping at that time (2 hours ago), but he woke up 1 hour ago"

or

Does that mean "I am very sure that the baby has been sleeping for 2 hours, and he is still sleeping now"

This page says "The perfect continuous conditional can be used in type 3 conditional sentences. It refers to the unfulfilled result of the action in the if-clause, and expresses this result as an unfinished or continuous action."

But what does "an unfinished or continuous action" mean?.

Ex: If she hadn't got a job in London (but she did), she would have been working in Paris (maybe still she is working in Paris now) (but she wasn't).

So "MODAL + HAVE BEEN + ING VERB" expresses an ongoing action which finished or lasts from the past up to now?

Note: could you please include a referenced source in your answers?


texts: What do you call the people who live in condominiums?

texts: Here in Brazil the people whe live in condominiums are called "condômino", the people who represent all residents are called "síndico" (syndic). I want to translate "condômino". Thanks.


texts: What to do to control erroneous shift in verb tense?

texts:
According to Purdue OWL, the following paragraph is correct:

  By the time Tom notices the doorbell, it has already rung three times.
  As usual, he has been listening to loud music on his stereo. He turns
  the stereo down and stands up to answer the door. An old man is standing on the steps. The man begins to speak slowly, asking for
  directions.

But I have the temptation to write this:

  By the time Tom notices the doorbell, it has already rung three times.
  As usual, he has been listening to loud music on his stereo. He turns
  the stereo down and stands up to answer the door. An old man stood
  on the steps. The man begins to speak slowly, asking for directions.

Why is my version of stood incorrect? Can you recommend a good tutorial or practice at improving verb tenses?


texts:
I think this is a mispronunciation, but I'm not sure...

Is "To thoroughly vet something" to "flush it out" or "flesh it out"?

"flush" makes intuitive sense, but I've heard "fleshed out" plenty of times too.


texts:
Which sentence sounds better/more natural?

  She first became aware of it at the age of five.

or

  She first became aware of it at age five.


texts: Microsoft word and confusion about himself/he/him

texts:
I am writing a small essay and I am confused about how to how to properly express this particular sentence below:

Chapter 11 begins with the saint chastising the king who was thinking himself to be very intelligent.

My Microsoft Word 2010 said 'himself' should be 'he' like below:

Chapter 11 begins with the saint chastising the king who was thinking he to be very intelligent.

Once I changed it as above, the word then said it should be 'him' and not 'he':

Chapter 11 begins with the saint chastising the king who was thinking him to be very intelligent.

At this point it doesn't complain any more. Is this the right way to use? I want to express that the king was thinking himself to be intelligent but I am not sure if that meaning comes out with him. I would appreciate some explanation on the correct usage and if possible may be some general rules around this.


texts: Need help in fixing an ambiguous sentence

texts:
Need help in fixing the ambiguous sentence below:

  11 products are supported by single engineer

What I want to mean is that in the 11 product, each product is only supported by one engineer; not all of the 11 products are supported by a single engineer. What is the best way to express this idea without being too wordy but at the same time leave no room for ambiguity?

  11 products are supported by single engineer each

or

  11 products, each of them supported only by a single engineer


texts: Looking for a phrase similar to "outlive" but in alcohol drinking context

texts:
I'm wondering if there is a phrase that has similar meaning with "outlive" but in alcohol drinking context.

Example sentence:

"I have a very high alcohol tolerance, I will [phrase] you all". Meaning, "You all will get drunk before I do".


texts:
What does be it mean in this context and what kind of sentence is this? (grammatically)

  There is no one in our society who is not ethnocentric to some degree, no matter how liberal and open-minded he or she might claim to be. People will always find some aspect of another culture distasteful, be it practices, a way of treating or relatives, or simply a food that they cannot manage to get down with a smile.


texts: What do people really mean when they say "what's not to love"? Is there any context in particular to use this?


texts: Is "We used enough due diligence to prepare" the proper usage of the term due diligence?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the proper usage of the phrase “due diligence”?

There is another question that has been asked similar to mine but I didn't find any of the answers had completely answered my question. I have a friend who said, "I think we have used enough due diligence to prepare for this test," and it didn't quite seem right.

After some brief research on the proper definition of "diligence" and the meaning of the term/phrase "due diligence", I'm still convinced that she is incorrect in her usage. I am curious as to what the community has to say about her response to me. Keep in mind that she's a very arrogant individual who was trying to appear more intelligent than she very well may be.

If this is the incorrect usage then what, specifically, is faulty about her sentence structure? I'm trying to build up an arsenal here so that I am 100% correct once I correct her.


texts: "sample" vs "specimen" in a scientific document on condensed matter physics

texts:
I am searching for an appropriate headline in scientific document. The chapter is named "Investigated Specimen" at the moment. In the chapter I describe crystals that I have investigated.

I feel that "Investigated Specimen" is not clear or appropriately descriptive.  Would "Samples Used in the Experiments" be a common title or is there perhaps a better variant that is used in scientific papers?


texts:
In my understanding, determiners are categorized into three subgroups: predeterminers, central determiners and postdeterminers. Articles (a, an, the) and possessive determiners are identified as central determiners.

In my book, Is the following sentence is identified as correct?
I believe it is.

  This is the Tim's book.

However, this sentence does not sound right even though the two sentences used same determiner from the same group.

  This is the my book.


texts: What word denotes a belief that apparently inanimate objects actually express a malicious, autonomous will?

texts:
I came across this word a few years ago, but can't find it now.  I do not mean deodand, animism, pathetic fallacy, scapegoating, anthropomorphism, or personification (Word for attaching blame to inanimate objects).

If I recall correctly, this particular word sounded like a religion but looked like a phobia; it may well have been coined by the creator of the content in which I encountered it.  Any assistance is greatly appreciated.


texts: Why is 'an' used with 'an honour'? Isn't 'an' limited to the vowels?


texts: Suffix ‘-ium’ vs. ‘-um’ in element names

texts:
Many chemical elements have the suffix ‘-ium’. However, exactly four elements – molybdenum, tantalum, platinum, and lanthanum – have the suffix ‘-um’ instead.

Is there a difference between the two suffixes? Is there a reason for the different naming choice?


texts: Past continuous in a subjunctive mood sentence

texts:
I was doing some reviewing of the subjunctive mood when I stumbled on this:

  In the that-clause, use a past tense form of the verb even if your
  sentence has a present or future meaning:

  I wish he spoke French.

  I wish she was coming with me to Paris.

  I wish you hadn’t said that.

http://www.englishteachermelanie.com/advanced-english-grammar-the-subjunctive-mood/

My question is, why would the second example allow a "was" instead of a "were", being this a subjunctive mood example?
Is it because the past continuous requires the auxiliary verb to be conjugated according to the subject?

[*] Sorry if my grammar is not good, it's my first time here and English is not my first language nor my second.
[**] Feel free to correct any other mistake you may find in my redaction.


texts: Is the origin of L7 hand-symbols or typographic?

texts:
L7 (meaning boring, dull) could come from one of two sources,

In the (say) 1950s folks would make hand-symbols in the air.  (There's a retro example of this in the movie Pulp Fiction for example.) If you do an L and a 7 it's a "square" symbol.  Could be L7 came from those "50s style" hand symbols.

On a (I suppose) computer, or just in paper typesetting, "L7" looks like a square. Could be L7 came from typesetting / letter shapes.

Regarding 2, one would think it would be more like only in the computer/SMS era (perhaps from, say, 1990 onwards at the earliest) - however it may have been based on plain writing or typesetting.  Regarding 1, I really don't know when "hand symbol squares and similar" was first a thing ("the 50s" was a wild guess; could be much earlier or later).
Regarding L7, the earliest reference I know of is
1964
in the song Wooly Bully.
Does anyone have any firm actual references on whether "1" or "2" is the origin?
or indeed an earlier reference?
Please note that there are any number of online mentions of BOTH explanations. For example on the "wikipedia" page, some person has typed that L7 is a hand shape. This is completely unsourced and, just someone typing.  (Actually FWIW I'll remove it from wikipedia just now, since it's totally unsourced.)
You can find any number of mentions on the net of folks who think one or the other.
Does anyone have any sourced firm early explanations or references; or perhaps an earlier usage than 1964?
Note that for example Green's dictionary  says it is the (written, typed) letters L7 (but indeed they mention it can be "accompanied by" the hand shape). So unfortunately, absolutely no information there about origins or dates, only a description.


texts: Is this sentence wrong or right? why? "I am going to school by bus everyday"

texts:
We have this conversations here at our office about this sentence.

"I am going to school by bus everyday"

I said that this sentence is right and nothing is wrong about it.

but my friends says that it's completely wrong. because when you have everyday at the end you cannot have "going" and the right sentence is
"I go to school by bus everyday" ( which is also right in my opinion )


texts: Which is stronger: 'obsessed' or 'infatuated'

texts:
In colloquial speech, which word is stronger in describing romantic love: obsessed or infatuated? As in:

Alice is infatuated with Bob.
Alice is obsessed with Bob. [In a romantic context, not a stalking context.]

From a dictionary I can find the meaning of both, but can't really tell which one is the stronger, or whether they're equal in meaning.

Bonus question: Are there any more words on the scale of infatuation between the above?


texts: "Blind" is to "sighted" as "Deaf" is to..?

texts:
What is the opposite of the adjective deaf?

e.g.

  The seats close to the interpreter are reserved for the hearing impaired. It is
  imperative that all [not deaf] people sit in the remaining seats.


texts: What is a word that means one-based index?

texts:
As opposed to zero-based. This is in a context where index would certainly be interpreted as zero-based. Some possibilities: count, number, numbering, ordinal. But I'm not sure which of these, or another word altogether, would be the most clear.

Count also has the disadvantage of being easy to confuse with "number of entities inside or related to the referred entity" as opposed to "number of entities before the referred entity, plus one".

By way of explanation, in the following list [A, B, C, D, E], the zero-based index of C is 2, while the one-based index of C is 3.


texts:
Does the English language have a mechanism for expressing past, present and future tense simultaneously?

In other words, consider the following three sentences:

1) The force was with me.

2) The force is with me.

3) The force will be with me.

Is there way to construct a sentence in English, such that all three can be combined into:

4) The force x with me.

Where x is replaced with one or more English words?

[Secondary question: is there any language other than English that has such a word, or a mechanism for combining past present and future into one?]


texts: Difference between “is to do” and “is doing”

texts:
I saw below sentence:

  Her job is to clean the hall.

So can I also say like:

  Her job is cleaning the hall.

It's present participle or gerund?

What's the different meaning between these two sentences?


texts: Is the plural of virus "viruses" or "virii"?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "playing hooky"?

texts: What does the word "hooky" mean in the phrase "play hooky" (skipping class/truancy) and where did it come from?


texts: hear sb do / hear sb doing, what's the difference

texts:
I heard them sing.

  I heard them singing.

What's the different meaning of these two sentences?


texts:
These two phrases seem to be interchangeable in most cases.

But I found one case where it seems that "in order to" works, and "for the sake of" sounds like it's not as good a choice of words.

Example:

I've probably continued to sing in order to write these words.
I've probably continued to sing for the sake of writing these words.

To me, in order to seems to be a better choice. For the sake of doesn't seem to be as good a choice, because it doesn't seem to be a good choice in general for things that you're going to do in the future. For the sake of seems to be more appropriate for things that already exist, not actions that are going to take place in the future. For actions that are going to take place in the future, in order to sounds sort of more appropriate.

Am I right? Is there anything to what I'm saying?


texts: When we express the nearest past, can we use 'present perfect'?

texts:
In the various usage of present perfect, I heard that there is a usage of expressing the nearest past like 'I've kicked the dog.'
What percentage we used 'present perfect' to express 'the nearest past' in all usage of present perfect?


texts: What is the gender-neutral way of saying “gentlemen’s agreement”?

texts:
How can we refer to a gentlemen's agreement in a gender-neutral way in English?
In Spanish we use palabra de honor meaning “word of honor”, which carries no assumption about anyone’s sex.


texts: Why doesn't English have a word that means both Hello and Goodbye?

texts:
Multiple languages, including some from which England draws its words, have words that mean both "Hello" and "Goodbye":

French - Salut!
Italian - Ciao!
Hawaiian - Aloha!
German (Austrian) - Servus!

I understand that the answer might be simply "It just doesn't", but is there any history here? Was there such a word that fell out of favour?


texts: What is the meaning of "feed" in the following sentence?

texts: "If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find this strange phenomenon to be even more pronounced."


texts: Is "greetings" a good choice in this case?

texts:
I'm looking for an email salutation which is between informal and formal. The email will be addressed to a company, but instead of be a business-related email or job application, it is aimed to get information about the company.

Searching in Google, I came across with the term greetings. Is it an appropriate word for this case? I have the feeling like if it was out-of-date, sounds like if it was from the medieval age.


texts: I often see people write "get rekt" to someone when that person makes a mistake or when they beat the person to a goal. It's not immediately obvious what this is intended to mean. I assume "rekt" is Internet speak for "wrecked," but why should someone seek out being wrecked if they've lost at something? What does this Internet colloquialism actually mean?


texts: A comma before the noun when using coordinate adjectives?

texts: I have recently had multiple people, all of whom have back grounds in writing and ought to know the rules of punctuation, try to convince me that there should be a comma between a second coordinate adjective and the noun it modifies in a sentence. So instead of "It was a giant, ugly vase." they claim it would be correct to write "It was a giant, ugly, vase." This drives me nuts and I'm convinced it's incorrect. Is this EVER the correct way to write a sentence?


texts: which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?

texts:
"I play a drum."
"I play the drum."
"I play the drums."

My context book says it is the third one but I saw foreigners use the other choices before. So which one of the four choices is acceptable?


texts:
What is a useful word for the relationship of a door to a door which is "in" the same wall?

The best way I can think of to describe it is "the wall containing the door", but "containing" sounds very odd.

For example, I want to say "Two beds lie against the wall containing the door." How can I say this without using "containing"?


texts: A word which means "military-like" or "authoritative looking"

texts:
I ran into a word recently that I never knew existed and now it is killing
me that I forgot what it was.

It was a word that described what someone
is wearing that looks like it is military, or of an authority or official, but
isn't.  Something like perhaps what people sometimes wear from Salvation Army
when they ask of donations or maybe some dictators.

I think I perhaps saw
it in a New York Times article or even an Economist article.  Anyway,
I didn't know there was a word for it.  Any clues would be appreciated.

Other examples would be a doorman's uniform or Mariachi band member's uniform, seemingly military-like but not.  I don't remember the word as being with negative connotation, as in impersonation or masquerading.  It was more descriptive.


texts: Usage of "our" in sentences where we skip that/which are

texts:
We check our Facebook three times on the way to work on our smartphones more powerful than your computer.

Is this sentence correct? It sounds much better if we remove the our before smartphones but since:

  We check our Facebook three times on the way to work on big smartphones more powerful than your computer.

Is correct why should the original be wrong?

If it is wrong, what is it about our that makes it wrong?


texts: U.S Men's National Team or U.S Men National Team

texts: Can you explain which one is correct or if both are correct, under which scenario one is more suitable than the other? I have this doubt in general, when to use nouns as adjectives or possession like in this example. Can you give me some pointers?


texts:
I'm watching (an American) TV Show where one of the characters says: "[..] treacherous, despicable serpent. Hurling wicked insults at mine every turn".
I instantly noticed how they used an unusual "at mine" instead of "at me". I believe this is the first time I hear someone using that expression, so the question is: is it grammatically correct?


texts:
I want to use an ellipsis to indicate a sentence is being interrupted. That point of interruption happens to be right after an appositive which has commas around it. Does the second comma get omitted or does it stay?

A: The owner, Carl...
B: The owner, Carl,...

The second way seems more correct, but it looks funny.


texts:
Which one should I use?

Play music loud
Play music loudly

I think "play music loudly" is right but "play music loud" is used more. Please tell me your opinion and the reason why you choose it. Thank you so much.
Maybe my grammar is wrong 'cause I'm not good at English


texts:
How to describe two different objects:
(Assume: one apple and one banana here)
"There are an apple and banana here." or
"There are an apple and a banana here." ??


texts: When did "legend" stop being pronounced "LEE-gend"?

texts:
Nowadays, we pronounce the word legend as "LEDGE-end" (IPA: /ˈlɛdʒənd/). But it looks like at least some people used to pronounce "legend" as "LEE-gend." In A General Dictionary of the English Language, Volume 1, by Thomas Sheridan (1780), the word is transcribed as "le³′‑dzhe¹nd," with the same first syllable as legion "le³′‑dzhu¹n," and in contrast to leger which is transcribed as "le¹dzh′-u¹r".

This pronunciation is also described in Principles of English Etymology: The foreign element, by Walter William Skeat (1891), which lists it among other words from French with "long e":

  Le-gend-e, legend; le-gi-oun, legion; re-gi-oun, region.

I checked some modern online dictionaries, but I was not able to find any that mention this pronunciation. However, the Oxford English Dictionary did provide some indirect evidence, as it mentions that one obsolete meaning of the word, "A vast host or multitude," arose due to confusion with the word legion.

I'd like to know when the modern pronunciation first appeared, and when the pronunciation with a long vowel died out.


texts:
What is the generic name or collective adjective for things associated with wind and wind-generated electricity ?

solar, hydro, anemoi?


texts:
Is there a noun for the general, solely negative, discrimination of any kind of group?

Like, a word that encompasses misandry, misogyny, anti-semitism, the common use of both "racist" and "sexist", etc.

If there is no such word, that is a valid answer too.


texts: "Work on the field" vs. "work in the field"

texts:
Which of these is correct, or are both?

  The farmer works on the field.
  The farmer works in the field.


texts: Proof of concept or proof-of-concept, noun or adjective

texts:
From the Oxford English Dictionary at OED:

proof of concept n. evidence (usually deriving from an experiment or pilot project) demonstrating that a design concept, business idea, etc., is feasible; a piece of such evidence; freq. attrib.
1994  San Antonio Business Jrnl. (Nexis) 19 Aug. a4   "We built this center as a proof of concept."
2001  Today's Pilot Feb. 51/1  "Although the GA-200 is a totally new aircraft, some heavily modified Pawnees were used as proof-of-concept aircraft."

So is it both a noun and an adjective?
I wrote in a document "(...) successfully evaluated through a proof of concept prototype." and now I'm wondering whether I should change it into "(...) successfully evaluated through a proof of concept.". I left the dashes out in both cases.


texts: What do I call it when a word is "with the"?

texts:
Wiktionary's definition of "open" as a noun includes two that say:

  (with the) Open or unobstructed space; an exposed location.
  (with the) Public knowledge or scrutiny; full view.

What is that "(with the)" called? It's not a scope, is it?

Note that I know it means to use "open" with "the" before it, as in "the open". I'm asking what one would call that usage.


texts: What is a word or expression for a person who feels free?

texts: As in they feel unrestrained, like they could do anything?


texts: Can we omit "as" with verbs like "to classify"

texts:
For example, can we say "It has been classified a threat" in colloquial English, or do we have to use 'as'?

Second question: Is the question title correct? I'm not sure if that "with" is correct.


texts: What's another way to say the structure of something was broken apart?

texts:
To clarify, I'm trying to say that because of xyz, it became more difficult for ABC to be targeted and broken apart.

ABC is a business empire, so attacked and other military-related words aren't as helpful.

Thanks!


texts: The dog started barking after the thief had left the place six months ago

texts:
It is like a dog barking six months after the thief  left.

This  is an  Indian Idiom and is used when someone fails to do their duty at the right time and makes unnecessary fuss very late after the dangerous event happened long ago.

I believe that the question about the idiom has not been asked earlier.

I would like to know an almost equal idiom in English.

This is not at all a duplicate of the previous post and even the answers do not solve my problem. The previous post asked for something that means one needs to make a habit of doing things regularly otherwise they fail to  do things at the right time.

Dog stands for faithfulness but rarely fails to bark at a thief instantly but it surprisingly not only failed to do its duty but barked unnecessarily after the thief left the place long ago which is inexcusable.


texts: Mud is the root word. If I add -dy to make the word muddy, is that suffix a derivational or inflectional morpheme?


texts: worked on Wall Street vs worked in Wall Street?

texts: I was wondering whether it is worked on Wall Street or worked in Wall Street. I guess it is "on", I am not sure why.


texts: Phrase to express frustration towards the weather

texts:
I'm writing a short story set in England and looking for a proper word or phrase that can be uttered by the primary character (an old man) to show his frustration on the sudden rain.  In the scene, it starts drizzling just as he walks out of a coffee shop. I'm looking for a suitable response right here to express his frustration on the situation. Something like..."Damn it!", but in a British way. What would an Englishman say in such circumstance.

The character is so far a fairly unlikable man who is always irritated and hates just about everything.


texts:
Consider the sentence - "A fifty year old man is walking in the garden."
Shouldn't it be 'fifty years old'  or  'fifty-year old' or something else maybe? Is the original usage correct?


texts: Any difference between "The photographer clicked" and "The photographer clicked away"?

texts:
While clicked often seems to be followed by an object, I did find occurences of it being used alone, e.g. in The photographer clicked as Marilyn worked.

Clicked away, however, seems to be used mostly (only?) whithout any object.

But these considerations aside, are there any real differences between the two? I'm not a native speaker, so it's hard for me to tell.


texts: Repeating "the" with each item separated by "or"

texts:
If we have several items to mention, which should be separated with or, is this correct to use the for each one? Could it be possible to use one "the" to distribute among them?

For example, which of the following questions is proper?

  When we teach this unit, should we focus on the textbook or the presentation?

or

  When we teach this unit, should we focus on the textbook or presentation?

This question differs from the question put in the topic:
Is it necessary to use "the" multiple times?, since the separation by the conjunction or has not been addressed in this topic.


texts:
I live in South Africa where we call a two or four seater cabbed vehicle with a bin a bakkie. A truck which takes large loads is not a bakkie. Bakkies are always around the size of a car. However bakkie is a colloquial term.

I was looking for an international or universally recognised term for this.

Truck:

  noun

  1.
  a large, heavy road vehicle used for carrying goods, materials, or troops; a lorry.

  synonyms:  lorry, articulated lorry, heavy goods vehicle, juggernaut;

Lorry:

  noun BRITISH

  a large, heavy motor vehicle for transporting goods or troops; a truck.
  "a lorry driver"

  synonyms:  truck; juggernaut

Neither of the above are right and a juggernaut is not correct either.

So what is the correct term?


texts: Not sure if it's kosher to ask this here -- I was reading about Oliver Sacks and came across the name of a 19th century migraine expert he was inspired by, Edward Liveing.  How do you pronounce Liveing?


texts:
I would like to know which of the following is grammatically correct:

Another result of the crisis in 2001 were rising land and housing prices

or

Another result of the crisis in 2001 was rising land and
housing prices.


texts:
Prompted by this question (How old is “Bollocks!”?), I wonder why it's so often "old bollocks".

Where I live (South-East England), "giving it all that old bollocks" is a fairly common expression in certain circles. That's probably quite localised dialect, but googling the net suggests that a load of old bollocks, the same old bollocks and other old variants are quite common in the world at large.

When people say "Don't give me that old crap!", it normally means they've heard your line before, and don't want to hear it again. But I don't get that implication of repetition with old bollocks.

With "That's a load of old bollocks!" I can discard "a load of" and/or "old". None of the variants seem to imply I've heard it before. I don't feel quite so comfortable with "That's old bollocks!" though - maybe I only accept it at all because it sounds like "That's all bollocks!"

I hear plenty of "That's balls!", but they never seem to be old. Why is this?


texts: Word used to designate a group of sub-terms

texts:
Example:

I have the words red, blue, yellow, green.
The term enclosing all those words would be "color".

For computer, phone, laptop, that word may be electronic devices.

On top of most words, you have the word "thing".

In short, what do you call a word enclosing a specific group of words?

Right now, I am searching for a word enclosing words such as "beehive", "birdbox", and other spaces humans created for animals to live in, most often as a product.

Thanks.


texts: What evidence exists that "try and" is an older form than "try to"?

texts:
In the accepted answer to the question 'Difference between "try to do" and "try and do"', it is stated that "try and" is an older form than "try to".

Unfortunately, the evidence for this assertion was behind a link that is now broken, and I can't seem to find any convincing evidence myself.  What is the reasoning behind this theory?


texts: You are too smart for your own good - Meaning

texts: What does it mean when someone says "you are too smart for your own good"?


texts: Verbal agreement of "more of + plural noun"

texts:
Here Are More Of The Most Amazing Images Of Cars

Is the sentence grammatical?

Shouldn't it concoord is with the uncountable more (of), instead of its current plural are?

According to Microsoft® Encarta® 2009:

additional: indicates something additional or further (pronoun + singular or plural verb)

adjective: I need more light.

pronoun: There aren't any more of these.

pronoun: No more is expected.


texts:
Is there such a word as "drownded"? I would say "drowned" but I am hearing "drownded" so often I am beginning to wonder.

For example:

  He went into the deepest waters and drownded.


texts:
What's the difference between "tend" and "tend to" somebody/something? (concerning the meaning of the word in the sense of caring/attending)

I have read the definition by Oxford dictionaries, which state:
VERB
[with object]
"Care for or look after; give one's attention to"
Example:
"Varela tended plants on the roof"

[no object]
"ambulance crews were tending to the injured"

I have three questions about this verb.

When do you use "tend" and "tend to" respectively? What's the difference in meaning between them?
The Oxford dictionary gave one example with object and one without. When should you use object and when not for this verb?
What things can you "tend" or "tend to"? For example, can you tend / tend to a life / people's lives?

Thanks for any explanations!


texts:
Explain their differences if you like...

I wanted to ask when it is appropriate to use the conjunction 'that' in a sentence. For example:

The question I want to ask is...

Or

-The question that I want to ask is...

I can't think of more examples right now. But you get what I'm saying. Why do we sometimes use it and sometimes not use it? When is it correct to use??


texts:
What is correct? Looking forward to working at your organisation or in your organisation?

Thank you


texts:
Context:

I was examining and editing a group of sentences (for a video game) to check for any grammatical or spelling errors.
There were a series of levels featuring different zoo animals crossing a dangerous road, and each level had a preliminary cutscene.
In one of these scenes the sentence "Now the lion." appeared, and something possessed me to change that to "Now for the lion.".

I have since been asked if one is more 'correct' than the other and I now find myself questioning why I decided to make the change. Is "Now for the lion." more correct than "Now the lion." or is this simply a case of one sounding (subjectively) better than the other?

Question:

Does the phrase "Now the X." have a different meaning to "Now for the X."?

More precise context:

The exact original line (with formatting characters removed) is "Nice! I did it!, now the lion! be careful.", which I changed to "Nice! I did it! Now for the lion! Be careful.". It happens after completion of the level in which a player guides a monkey and before the level in which the player guides the lion. This line is spoken by the monkey.


texts:
I've noticed over the years that certain publications use 'al' in front of 'Qaeda' in certain situations, and others do not.

From the little I know, I understand that 'al' is the definite article in Arabic, so it stands to reason that one would use 'al' as we use 'the' in English, but we don't refer to groups with 'the' in front of them very often. Perhaps this is just an ignorance of Arabic on writers' parts, but it might be a rule in English.

So—when should one use 'al' in front of 'Qaeda'?


texts: "Further, ..." versus "Furthermore, ..." at the beginning of a sentence (meaning the same thing)?

texts:
I am not a native speaker (my mother tongue is German).

In the context of a technical paper (computer science), is there a difference between starting a sentence with Further, ... and starting it with Furthermore, ... ? It is used in the context of continuing a sentence.

I wasn't sure, so I asked an American English native speaker. He said to change the "Further" to "Furthermore".

Is it correct that the two phrases are not interchangable? My guess is, it would be safe to change all "Further, ..." to "Furthermore, ...", but the opposite is not true?

Also, is there a difference between British English and American English between "Further" and "Furthermore"?


texts: Why is “a” used here: “When a Mr. Andrews, the butler...”?

texts:
I posted a question several days ago about the significance of using “a,” in the sentence of Jeffery Archer’s novel, “False Impression” - “General Harry Wentworth was commanding his left flank when a defeated Napoleon rode off the battle field and into exile.

Most of answers from you were “a”, not “the” was used to reflect one of various aspects of Napoleon’s character, which I think I was sold.

With that said, what is the role of a in the following sentence that appears in the subsequent chapter (P.59):

  "When a Mr. Andrews, the butler at the Wentworth Hall, had rung the previous day to say that painting would be ready for collection in the morning, Ruth had scheduled one of her high-security air ride trucks to be at the hall by eight o’clock."

Is a necessary before Mr. Andrews in the above sentence? Or does it imply Andrews the butler is a member of the Andrews family known for serving the distinguished family of Earl of Wentworth for generations?

I’m asking this as I’m occupied with the significance and functions of article, because it is always a persistent headache for an English learner of a country devoid of the habit of using the article.


texts: What is the polite way to acknowledge a pregnant lady after a long hiatus?

texts: I knew her well, but I see her again when she's 7-months pregnant. Do I say, "Congrats on the upcoming baby?"


texts:
I was just typing up a document in MS word and it seemed to take umbrage with the following:

  Key tasks tackled by this group are understanding and allaying fears,
  determining suitable and unsuitable use cases and weighing advantages
  and disadvantages for certain classes.

Word underlined the word "understanding" and instead suggested I should try and use the simplest form of the verb: understand.

Can anyone explain this?


texts: Hypernymic term for specialization and generalization

texts: Does a hypernym for 'specialization' and 'generalization' exist? I.e. a term that describes the is-a relationship between one entity A and entity B, regardless of direction.


texts: What's the term for when a phrase is slightly changed for effect?

texts:
What is the name of the rhetorical device of slightly changing a standard phrase?

Here is an example:

  McDonald's Yuan Menu

The original word, "Dollar," has been replaced with "Yuan," giving the phrase a new meaning, but a recognizable context.

Here's another example:

  Clean Air Guitar Act

The word, "Guitar," has been inserted into the phrase, "Clean Air Act."

A near identical question has been asked here, "Changing a quotation so that the original is recognised, but has been given a new meaning."

Here are the answers that were provided to that question:

trope
reference
allusion
pop culture reference
play on a quote
snowclone
paraphrasing

None of these answers are good. Trope, reference, and allusion are very broad terms. More important, they don't actually describe the act of slightly altering a phrase, and instead are describing the mere mention of a phrase. Snowclone is not correct because a snowclone describes a template based on an idiom.


texts: Should it (always) be "contact me" or (sometimes) "contact with me"?

texts: I think it should always be "contact me" as contact is a transitive verb and should be followed by an object. But could someone clarifies? Is "contact with me" correct usage in some context?


texts:
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/separatists-seize-control-tv-hq-east-ukraine-city-140235399.html

  Pro-Russian separatists, some of them armed, have seized about a dozen official buildings in eastern Ukraine. They say they are rising up against a Ukrainian government they say is illegitimate, but Kiev says they are proxies of the Russian government bent on destabilizing Ukraine.

Why is there no that connecting the two parts of the sentence: everything before against a Ukrainian government and after they say is illegitimate?

So, I would rather prefer to read it like this:

  They say they are rising up against a Ukrainian government that they say is illegitimate...


texts: Is there a more accurate way to describe "short vowels" and "long vowels"?

texts:
I was taught in primary school about "short vowels" vs "long vowels". Although it is a simplistic way to teach children, it is also inaccurate, because the sounds are different, not just longer and shorter. According to Wikipedia these names are a hangover from before the Great Vowel Shift.

Long vowels pre and post the Great Vowel Shift:

Spelling   < 1350   > 1600
a..e       /aː/     /eɪ/
e..e       /eː/     /iː/
ea         /ɛː/     /iː/
i..e       /iː/     /aɪ/
o..e       /ɔː/     /oʊ/
oo         /oː/     /uː/
u..e       /uː/     /aʊ/ (like the "ow" in "how", or the "ou" in "loud")

Today:

Letter     "Short"  "Long"
a          /æ/      /eɪ/
e          /ɛ/      /iː/
i          /ɪ/      /aɪ/
o          /ɒ/      /oʊ/
u          /ʌ/      /juː/

As you can see from the table the "long" and "short" forms of the vowel bear almost no relation to each other anymore. I was also taught as a child that each vowel has a single sound value, when there are actually multiple sound values for each letter. I once tried teaching an ESL student about long and short vowels and they immediately became so confused because the long sounds are not predictable from the short ones that I stopped calling them "long" and "short" at once.

I can somewhat understand teaching children this way; getting them used to the sounds each combination of letters frequently makes is more important to their reading skills than getting the terminology spot on. When they're older, it's not worth going back and correcting the terminology. In fact, it could even be confusing.

Since the current description is over 400 years old and doesn't apply to English as it's spoken today (except that diphthongs are usually sounded for longer than monophthongs), what is an accurate way of describing these two groups of vowels that could be taught equally well to young native speakers as well as adult ESL learners?


texts: Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Chap. 2: what does "shy of being confidential on a short notice" mean?

texts:
In those days, travellers were very shy of being confidential on a short notice, for anybody on the road might be a robber or in league with robbers.

I understand the meaning in general which describes the fact that people didn't trust each other, and were confidential about their privacy. But Dickens uses "shy of being confidential" that seems contradicted to me, because people wanted to be confidential, then why does he use "shy of being confidential"? Also, does "on a short notice" mean people greeting each other at the first time they meet?


texts: How to express in physics if some value depends on a variable? Dependence, or dependency? And what about the plural?

texts:
In physics, people very often measure some values which depend on some variable, say the air temperature as a function of time. I think the verb depend is used correctly, since dictionaries define "dependent variables" and "independent variables". The resulting data (mostly shown in graphs) reflect something which mathematicians use to call a function (which would have a rigorous definition), but since the measurement involves often numerous parameters, physicists commonly call the result a dependence.
Is this correct? I have not found any dictionary definition of "dependence" which would express this relation between the imposed variable and the result.
The plural seems even more problematic. One may measure the air temperature and humidity in parallel. Is it then correct to say that the given graph contains these two dependences? Dictionaries say "dependence" is a mass noun, so there would be no plural. The plural can be found in Wiktionary, but without any explanation. Or should we use the word dependencies? For "dependencies" I can not find a suitable dictionary definition either.


texts:
I would like to ask two question regarding the use of " to promise". First one is that if I can make it clear by saying only one sentence that a promise was not kept by someone in the past.

For example, Jamie promised that he would give his car to Alex for last weekend but he did not. When Alex mention this to his another friend, do I need to explain he didn't keep the promise with another sentence or is there a way to say it in one sentence?

  Alex : Jamie promised that he would lent me his car for the last
  weekend.

How to make it clear Jamie didn't keep his promise.

Does Alex have to add that

  but he didn't keep his promise

My second question is that if I can use present future tense with past tense form of "to promise" for a promise made in the past to do something in the future.

For example :

Somebody says in June 2016 that she will visit her  friend after January 1, 2017. So because we haven't reach to January 1, 2017 yet, should I still use "would" for the action that will take place in the future.

Can I say :

  She promised last June that she will visit us on January 1, 2017.

Because I didn't this kind of structures in the dictionaries I looked up , I decided to ask it.


texts: Etymology and meaning of the word "snog"

texts:
Having looked to urban dictionary, witionary, online etymology, dictionary.com, Wikipedia and wordfreaks.tribe.net, I have found a wide variance in the etymology and definition of the word snog.  I believe this to be a British phrase meaning simply kissing, but several of the above references push it to the level of making out.

Does the OED, or a some specific example in common usage provide any insight or guidance to differentiate the connotation?


texts: The use of hyphen in consecutive compounds

texts:
I am not that punctuation-savy, so I have one question for my research title.

Currently it is

  Social crowdfunding:  individual- and project-related determinants of success.    Empirical investigation on Kickstarter

Here I have two questions.

Is it right to say individual- or just individual?
Should there be a period after "Empirical investigation on Kickstarter"?


texts: What is the technical difference between "Don't" and "Do not" and "Aren't" and "Are not" in a question?

texts:
When asking a question in English, it's common to use the contraction "don't" or "aren't." At the same time, though, you can also use "do not" and "are not"

For example, you can say "Aren't you coming to the party?" and you can say "Are you not coming to the party?" However, it seems like these two sentences are not conveying the same meaning when contracted vs. not being contracted. So, is there a semantical difference between contracting or not contracting, and why is there a difference if they're the same words?

Another example may be "Don't you like peanuts?" and "Do you not like peanuts?"


texts:
Without recasting and in lieu of unsightly suspensive hyphenation, could these work? The en dash (which means "to") is used between the figures, and the hyphens are used in the compound modifier. To me, the examples below are concise and clear.

Do you agree that the examples below are 100% punctuated correctly--yes or no?

45–50-year-old men

10–20-mile radius

$45–$55-million-per-year industry

$100,000–$150,000-a-year savings

10–15-degree temperature difference

$2–$5-per-day service fees

45–75-cent-a-week raises

55–65-mph speed zone

15–20-ounce steaks

20%–40%-a-year tax increases


texts:
What does "courting the paps" mean?

As in:

Paul Hollywood accuses Summer, 24, of ‘courting the paps’ and says he prefers a ‘quiet life’ after their split.

[The Sun]


texts:
Here is the text.

"A heavy gypsy with an untamed beard and sparrow hands..."

Would you explain that what kind of hands called the sparrow hands in English. is it  the hand like a sparrow's claw, skinny, grey or something else?


texts:
Im very curious about the difference meaning of these sentences the below. I know that there are several grammatical errors on them but if non-native English speakers speak those, how do they sound like to native English speakers? Please, help me out!

John and Steve are the enemy.
John and Steve are enemies.
John and Steve are Enemy.