texts: What is the meaning of "can u guess where my thumb is?"

texts:
I cannot understand the context of this sentence
Is it an idiom?
Or just guess the place of his thumb
I think it has sexual meaning.


texts:
What is the most common way to express 2:45, using quarter, in the US?

Quarter of three?
Quarter to three?
Quarter till three?


texts:
I was just talking to someone and the conversation went like this:

"I didn't get those shoes because they were pretty bulky. The pair I got is pretty bulky itself"

Now, I feel like "itself" isn't the correct word to use there, and I called them out for it, but I just can't think about the right way to say it. Can someone help me out please?


texts:
After researching the internet for a while now, I am still not sure whether it is true that one abbreviates Los Angeles by L.A. but New York City by NYC.

Is that true, if so, why the different punctuation?


texts:
I was wondering if this is correct:

  "First, we placed napkins under two spot-plates and labelled
  Temperature (0, 40, 60, 95 Celsius) across the top, Time (0, 2, 4, 6,
  8, 10 min) on the side, and Bacteria or Fungal on the bottom,
  respectively."

What I want to convey is that one spot-plate is labelled bacteria and the other is labelled fungal.


texts: Hyphen usage with expressions in compound adjectives

texts:
Compound adjectives are hyphenated, e.g. "data-to-field binding". But how is the hyphen used when one of the words in the compound adjective is an expression? For example, how would you hyphenate the following:

  (Data) (to) (service environment) binding?

  Data-to-service-environment binding?

  Data-to-service environment binding?


texts:
I was reading a French blog the other day and I came across the phrase l'huile de coude, meaning "elbow grease."  Since "elbow grease" is something I've known about in English all my life (parental exhortations to put a little elbow grease into my cleaning efforts), I was somewhat surprised to see the same expression in French.

That got me wondering about the etymology of the phrase and which language it occurred in first, and whether it transferred from one to the other. The online Etymology Dictionary states that the earliest English occurrence is circa 1670.

My French friends don't believe it is an anglicisme. Any thoughts on the matter?


texts: I know the hiring supervisor's name. Is it okay to open the cover letter with "Dear Sir Full Name"?


texts: Qualification title for French "diplôme d'ingénieur"

texts:
My Google-fu has maybe failed me, but I couldn't find an authoritative source about the correct English qualification title for a French diplôme d'ingénieur.

Some sources say the title is M.Sc., others MEng., so I'm not sure which one suits it best.


texts: Meaning of the phrase "to blow smoke up someone's arse"

texts:
I've long understood the phrase "blowing smoke up someone's arse" to mean lying.

I've since seen many online discussions and articles which seem to regard it to mean insincere flattery.

Have I been wrong all this time?  Or is the phrase used with both meanings?  Perhaps it's a US/UK thing?

(Most of the discussions I've seen are in the context of the phrase's purported origins in a quasi-medical practice used either to revive drowning victims or to test for signs of life.)


texts: What is the difference between and exact meaning of "stock" and "share"?

texts:
I found several explanations. The most common one seem to be that "stock" represents the ownership of any company while "share" represents the ownership of a specific company.
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/difference-between-shares-and-stocks/
https://www.quora.com/What-is-difference-between-stock-and-shares

Thank you


texts: How to describe a job done for a long time, with breaks?

texts:
I am writing my resume and I want to add that I did freelancing work for about ten years, with off and on periods. If I translate it directly from my first language, I would get:

  Freelance work with fluctuating intensity

I am not sure if this is correct and clear in English.


texts: Punctuation in a sentence "from A or B to C and even D"

texts:
Is there a need for punctuation in the following sentence: "Response time has reduced from weeks or days to hours and even minutes in some cases."

More generally, how should one use punctuation in a family of sentences:

" ..... from A or B to C and even D ....."?


texts: Is there a word that means, "Group with a distinguished member?"

texts:
A group can be defined as (link):

  a number of persons or things ranged or considered together as being related in some way.

Now suppose one of those persons is a distinguished member - like a leader, or a shaman, or a coach. Is there an alternative to the word "group" which would emphasize this?

I'm looking for a word that emphasizes that some particular member is "special", but not that they are necessarily "better",  nor that people are arranged in some sort of a hierarchy.


texts: How can "to have no illusions that something will happen" mean to be convinced/aware that something will happen?

texts:
I read the following sentence in a book:

  The U.S basketball team have no illusions that they can beat Lithuania.

Given that the U.S would have been red hot favourites for this game I found this sentence peculiar to say the least.

For me, the "illusion" is qualified by "that they can beat". To not have that illusion would suggest that they don't believe they could beat Lithuania.

Someone told me that "no illusion" must mean to be convinced or very aware but I do not understand how it could mean that. Can anyone help me?


texts:
Is it possible to omit the article in this phrase?

"I decided to run (a) $1000 giveaway"

Is the phrase correct by itself?


texts: When verbally expressing metric units do people use decimal places?

texts:
I am writing a script for an audio description, and am including an estimation of a statue that is 1.5 meters tall.  For metric users, would this be expressed in speech as:

"one point five meters" or
"one and a half meters"

If either works, then which is more intuitive?


texts: How to list people with a short explanation

texts:
Andy, Bob, Christine, his girlfriend, Debby and I are going for dinner
  tomorrow.

Christine is Bob's girlfriend. There are no other relations. There are five people altogether. Is the quoted sentence correctly punctuated?

It would be even more confusing if the adjacent name and explanation had the same gender:

  Andy, Bob, Chris, his brother, Debby and I are going for dinner tomorrow.

Is Chris Bob's brother or is the unnamed brother of Chris joining dinner? How to avoid the ambiguity here?

(I am aware of a related question but semicolons seem to be overkill here.)


texts: Is it correct to say "I go here", when referring to attending a school?

texts: I've often heard teens and grown ups saying "I go here" when referring to attending a school or an educational institution.  For some reason, I want to correct them and have them rephrase it as, "I attend here" or "I come here." Which is the right way of saying it?


texts: This is a passage from Samuel Beckett’s play Worstword Ho, 1983: “...All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better ...” Since I first read this passage, I’d always interpreted “fail better” to mean “to fail in way that is less of a failure.” But recently I read that by “fail better,” Beckett meant “to fail in a way that is even more of a failure,” and that this was Beckett’s true literary goal. Is there a verb that conveys the second interpretation?


texts: Literary Device for speech like: "I, ___"

texts:
Basically, is there a Literary Device or term for when a character or person goes (for example), "I, gifted with wisdom", "I, the one whom grants wishes" or "I, Peter Jordan the Third"

Thanks.


texts: What is it called when one believes to be superior but objectively is not?

texts:
On a television documentary, a small group of people declared and truly believed themselves to be superior to other groups.

They referred to themselves as "thoroughbreds" citing physical, mental and behavioral superiority.

Objectively speaking, it's clear that it is false - that other groups can outperform them in all those aspects. (or at least for this question, lets say they would not end up scoring first place on objective tests for those attributes).

What is this phenomenon called ?

(Please note, this question has nothing to do with any single group. This concept is actually seen across many different groups, which in itself, is a complete paradox).


texts:
I am reading Charlotte's Web with my daughter. I am glad to be reading E. B. White's book. We pay close attention to the construction of sentences so that we can learn from such exemplary writing. We are reading the 60th anniversary edition.
One sentence read,

The sheep lay motionless.

and after a while she asked whether it should be "The sheep lay motionlessly". We reasoned that since the word is telling us more about the sheep's action, we should choose an adverb.
We checked Merriam-Webster's dictionary and dictionary.com and they both defined motionlessly as the adverb, keeping motionless only as an adjective.
Was motionless once used as an adverb as well?


texts: Does "good" weigh a little bit more than "nice"?

texts:
I came across the descriptions of badges in this Q&A site, and was curious about which word weighs more, "good" or "nice"?
Here are the two descriptions that interested me:

"Good Answer":  Question score of 25 or more.
"Nice Answer":  Question score of 10 or more.

Seems like "good" weighs more than "nice", will that always be the case?
"a good person" will be a little better than "a nice person"?


texts:
Only boss a'me, is me.

What is the meaning of "a'me" in the above sentence?


texts:
I can hear a difference between the pronunciation of the /ɔ/ sound in words like "audio" and "law." In the former, the vowel in question sounds more like the /ä/ in "car" (other words containing this same sound are "automobile" and "audience"), while in the latter, it sounds more like /ɵ/ (more like the vowel sound in "dog" or "raw").

My understanding is—and I might be wrong—that there are two different sounds involved in the pronunciation of the two aforementioned words, and that they are allophones of the phoneme /ɔ/ (at least in American English).

Could you please explain to me the difference between the /ɔ/ sound in words like "audio" and "law," and how to pronounce these two different sounds correctly in American English?


texts:
Is there any difference in the pronunciations of poor and pour in American English?

I can't hear a difference (in my own pronunciation), at all.

Consulting the advanced English dictionary I'm finding two different IPA spellings:

poor: p'ʊr

pour: p'ɔːr

But I'm imagining this is based off of British English, where there is a clear difference in pronunciation of both words.


texts: Does "with the descriptive noun of other noun" count as a simile?

texts:
In school, we're taught that similes are analogies using "like" or "as".  This is clearly just a mnemonic for a comparison between two distinct objects.   Metaphors on the other hand combine the two objects being compared, stating them as one.  What I'm curious about is whether the construction "object one has the descriptive noun of object two" counts as a simile.  Example:

Simile:
He ran as fast as a tiger.

Metaphor:
When running at full speed, he was a tiger.

Questionable:
He ran with the speed of a tiger.

Hypocatastasis:
The tiger ran by me. (referring to a man)

Edit: Corrected mislabeled hypocatastasis and added true example of a metaphor.


texts: Term for mentioning X by saying "I will not say X"

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What is the origin of the phrase “not to mention …”
  Is there a name for “I don't mean to…, but” phrases?

Is there a term for the rhetorical device of making a statement by disguising it in the context of saying that you will not in fact make such a statement? I'm thinking of a politician announcing "I will not stoop to calling my opponent an adulterer" and, in effect, doing exactly that.


texts:
Do "What not", "what have you" and "so on" mean the same? Can they always be exchangeable?

For example

  A, B, and/or what not / what have you / so on


texts: Word for inaccessible neighbour of a node in a graph

texts:
If a node's (as in graph) neighbors are nodes connected to it with passable edges, what can I call nodes connected to a node with impassable edges? They would both be neighbors but only some would be "accessible neighbors" but I would like a more concise word.

Note that I have no real idea about proper terminology of graphs in maths, but would just like a word that an everyday man would understand.

EDIT: I realise I am not being clear; let me explain: I am a novice programmer trying to write some graph software and each node must store a list of nodes connected to it by an edge and this edge may be passable or impassable. All of the nodes are neighbors but only some of the nodes (those connected with a passable edge) are "accessible neighbors". Here is a very crude depiction:

Nodes 2, 3, 4 and 5 are "neighbors" but only 2, 5 and 4 are "accessible neighbors". If it remains unclear - please say! I guess I have not asked a very good question.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  English words that are their own antonyms
  What words have opposite meanings in different regions?

I was reading a book the other day when the author wrote:

  The contradiction is only apparent.

Meaning it was obvious only at first blush, but that some investigation would show the contradiction isn't apparent (the more common definition of the word.)

This got me wondering if there were other words in English that had multiple definitions that are opposites or contradict?


texts: Words similar to 'either' and 'neither' for 3 items

texts:
Given two options, we can use 'either and 'neither' to show no preference.

Do you want to watch A or B
Neither, I don't like either.

The only option I can see for more than two options is: 'any' and 'none'

Do you want to watch A, B, C ... ?
None, I don't like any.

Actual Question:
Is there, or has there ever been a word to show no preference for 3 options?

More Information
Sometimes we have an extra, sometimes uncommon, option for a 3-type question. This question is searching for a similar option for "either"

How many times have you eaten sushi?
Thrice

What is your phone number?
Oh, seven, double five, treble zero

9 is triple 3


texts:
I don't want to be vulgar here. But what does "crow" mean in their conversation:

Connie:  Then why are you so bitter?
Mellors: I'm not! If my cock gives its last crow, I don't mind!

When they talk about the extermination of mankind?


texts: Best link to forward to juniors re: correct use of apostrophes, possessives and contractions

texts:
I'm tired of my junior employees abusing, misusing and otherwise being cavalier about possessives and the use of apostrophes. I could wag my finger at them, point them to some Guide of Style or to any of a myriad of pedantic websites that come up in a simple Google Search.

What I'm looking for specifically is a good writeup, whose intended target audience is this younger generation who seem to neither know, nor care, much about grammar (nor spelling for that matter, but I digress).

If the article is humorous, or even sarcastic, so much the better. The goal is to make sure a young blase audience reads it through to the end, and retains the salient points.

Throw up your links, fellow pedants!

Tom


texts: Is there a word for "applying modern standards / morals to a past era"?  Something like "anachronism" but not quite.  An example of this would be to criticize a public figure from centuries ago for owning slaves.


texts:
Why can't I say  "staying alone" in this sentence:

  I like playing with my friends but I also like being alone

Why not like staying alone?


texts:
I'm an English teacher in Belgium and would like to know the following...
I gave my students the sentence 'There were a lot of people in the shop.' I asked my students to make a good question to get in the shop as the answer.
-> 'Where were there a lot of people?' A lot of my students wrote -> 'Where were a lot of people?'  Is that also correct?
Thanks in advance!


texts: ''A and B are the same'' vs ''A and B is the same''

texts:
I found these sentences below in my dictionary.

''His car and mine are the same''

''Is postman and mailman the same?''

Would you please teach me the difference between ''A and B are the same'' and ''A and B is the same''

Thanks in advance!


texts: Can I do anything else with aspersions other than cast them?

texts: My wife is always accusing me of casting aspersions and I'd like to do something else with them. Please advise.


texts: Is there a word for a job title that are based on doing busy work

texts:
Is there a word for a job title that doesn't actually contribute to increasing productivity in an organization and is redundant, wouldn't matter if this positions were vacant and even if you make them disappear.

A loose example would be document controller working for a very small valued and magnitude project where responsibilities of this position could have been easily accomplished by a coordinator in excess to his own. but a inexperience first timer project manager (nepotism) utilized his bookish idea to employee another inexperienced incompetent document controller.


texts:
what's the meaning of this phrase: " top to the bottom quintile"
e.g. "The ratio of expected retirement income of the top to the bottom quintile was 14 in 2007"


texts:
To suicide is an intransitive verb meaning “to kill oneself”. I’ve seen it sometime used it transitevly meaning “made to commit suicide” as in the following examples:

From “The Enigma of Ralph A. Blakelock” by
David Gebhard, Phyllis Stuurman, 1969

  A collective American tragedy as well as an individual one, Blakelock in a sense was suicided by society.

From “Arts in Society” by University of Wisconsin Extension Division., 1971

  Van Gogh was suicided by society. So, really, was Nijinsky. So was Artaud. They had awakened. (Blake survived pretty much as a bitter recluse.) These were the awakened ones amongst the sleeping millions. They had to be eliminated.

From “Eastern Europe ... Central Europe ... Europe” by Stephen Richards Graubard, 1991:

  World War II foreign minister of Czechoslovakia, apparently became the very first victim of Communist murder squads when he was suicided in 1948.

Is the transitive usage of suicide grammatical and commonly acceptable? I couldn't find any dictionary to suggest such usage.


texts:
"Would " & " Used to ".
They both are used for repeated action in the past tense. Then what is the difference between them?


texts: Why can we not use the pattern "If S will V, S will V"?

texts:
In English grammar, the following pattern is regarded as a wrong pattern.

  My parents will send me to a mental hospital if I will kill someone.


texts: The rationale behind "She is coming back next Wednesday" without "on"

texts: I have seen posts on this forum about how She is coming back next Wednesday. shouldn't have the preposition on before next Wednesday. What I want to know is whether anyone here can help provide the rationale behind this grammar rule? I would like to teach my ESL students in our next class about not having to use on before all of this Wednesday, that Wednesday, every Wednesday, last Wednesday etc., and I'd like to provide them an explanation instead of asking them to memorize it. Any help will be appreciated.


texts: Word describing an outdated and no longer updated software package

texts:
I am looking for a word describing a software package that has not been updated for a long time, and although it still works with new versions of the underlying software, bugs have not been fixed for years, and no new features have been added.

I found this similar question, however, none of the words from the answer really seem to match, because the software package still exists and works, but just has not been updated in a long time. So it was not retired, or replaced, or terminated, or deprecated, or sunsetted.

"Unsupported" would somewhat match, but this essentially applied to a huge number of similar packages which are typically not officially supported. "Abandoned" sounds a bit harsh to me, as I would use the word in a document that the original author of the package might get to see at some point.

I was thinking about something like "obsolete" or "outdated", but this sort of seems to imply that there exists something newer, or better replacing the old package, which is not the case.


texts:
Something that I noticed is that Canadians often use "Grade X", while Americans prefer "Xth grade". For example, Canadians would use "Grade 9" rather than "9th grade," while Americans use "9th grade" rather than "grade 9." (Source)
Although Canadians aren't the only ones to use "Grade x", they use it an overwhelming 97% of the time, which is higher than all other countries afaik (Source). As a result, a rule of thumb is that when I hear "grade x" in certain grammatical contexts, I can assume the speaker is Canadian and the assumption is usually true.
I tried to find some documentation on this phenomenon, but I found nothing. What might be the origin of this regional distinction?


texts: Why is "What color eyes does she have?" correct? Shouldn't it be "What eye color does she have?"?

texts:
I stumbled upon this expression in a video and thought it was wrong, but googling it I found that it is actually correct. It feels wrong to my non-native ears to hear "color eyes" instead of "eye color", and I wonder if you guys think this is natural.

Thanks.


texts:
I was editing a question about the alleged dangers of shaving a dog.

The associated pictures were like this:

To me, this dog hasn't been shaved, i.e. removing all of the hair down to the skin, especially with a blade. This dog has been shorn - removing most - not all - of the coat with clippers, or perhaps clipped.

Examining a dictionary didn't clarify this distinction, making me wonder if I am making it up.

Is it standard usage to describe clipping the coat from a dog as "shaving", or would correcting it to "shearing" be preferred?


texts: To "close the circle" or not to "close the circle"...?

texts:
For my thesis title, I'm thinking of using a phrase that underlines the work I do, which is to bridge the beginning and end of a workflow, to create a perpetual analytical process.

To give a bit more context; I do my research in the last steps of a long workflow that involves many steps from hypothesis, experiment design, experimentation and a large number of processing steps. The goal of my work has been to facilitate interpretation of the data, extraction of insights and hopefully to formulate new hypotheses, thus providing a feedback loop.

My first idea was to write "Closing the circle", however the phrase can also be understood as a way to "end" things, or to signify that nothing has been gained or no progress was made, like "back to square 1".

I like the "circle" idea since a circle has no beginning and no end, but I don't want to give the impression of a lack of progress.

Any thoughts on that? If my understanding of the phrase "closing the circle" is correct, are there any synonyms that could fit? Otherwise, what phrase would be better fit?


texts: Do sentences need to remain grammaticaly correct if text in parentheses is ignored?

texts:
This question is best explained by an example. Ignore the mathematical context, it doesn't really matter.

  ... as x tends to 0, the point P slides towards P', so cos x (and hence 1/cos x) both have a limit equal to 1. ...

Given that parentheses are usually meant as an aside, if I read the text ignoring the parentheses:

  ... so cos x both have a limit equal to 1 ...

the "both" here is grammatically incorrect (as, of course, cos(x) is a single "thing").

So here comes the question in the title: Do sentences need to remain grammatically correct if text in parentheses are ignored? And as a side question, what would be a better thing to use in the example?


texts: Word or phrase that refers to the person who is the "focus" in a video?

texts:
In the case of, for example,  birthday and wedding recordings, what do you call the people who are the main focus of the video (e.g. bride, groom and birthday boy/girl)?

Example:

  All the [……] of the videos shared something in common.


texts: 'Home' in 'Ben and Jen went home.' Can an adverb be a noun at the same time?

texts:
In this sentence:

  Ben and Jen went home.

Is home both an adverb and a noun?


texts:
(1) He had a specialist examine his son.
(2) He had his son examined by a specialist.

About this pair, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 1236) says:

we have equivalence between (1) and (2)

This I think means that we have equivalence in meaning between them.
But as for an apparently similar pair, Paul M. Postal says in his paper "On Raising" (page 320):

Thus, on one reading at least, the following are not semantically equivalent:
(86) a. Tom had Melvin interrogate the witness.
b. Tom had the witness interrogated by Melvin.

I don't see any reason for treating the examples in CGEL and 'On Raising' differently, so why is it that CGEL says the passivation doesn't change the meaning whereas Postal says it does change the meaning "on one reading at least"?
EDIT
In order to make it clear what Postal means by "on one reading", here's a summary of what Postal says in pages 318-320:

Right before the cited portion, Postal mentions "a dualistic analysis" found with "allow, permit, and order". By the "dualistic analysis" I think he means that these verbs of permission can have two different meanings, depending on whether to consider them to be 'raising verbs' or not.

So, I think Postal's "on one reading" refers to reading (86) as not having a 'raising' construction, because passivation wouldn't change the meaning in a 'raising' construction.
Apparently, Postal thinks that Postal's (86) can be construed as not involving a 'raising' construction, whereas CGEL thinks that CGEL's (1)/(2) can only be construed as involving a 'raising' construction.
Having said that, I think a more specific question is this:
Is there any reason for this different treatment?
Or is either Postal or CGEL mistaken?


texts: How to understand the phrase "compact majorities" in this context?

texts:
I'm reading Emma Goldman's essay "Minorities versus Majorities" where she quotes Thomas Stockman saying

  The most dangerous enemies of truth and justice in our midst are the compact majorities, the damned compact majority

This phrase "compact majority" appears in other parts of the essay, for example

  The majority, that compact, immobile, drowsy mass, the Russian peasant, after a century of struggle, of sacrifice, of untold misery, still believes that the rope which strangles "the man with the white hands" brings luck

The only meanings of "compact" that I can find relate to "things packed closely together", but here it is used in a pejorative way, meaning, I guess, "ignorant"? Where does this come from?


texts: can  (meaning also) come before the end of sentence?

texts:
I want to say:

  This challenge too gets resolved soon.

meaning this challenge also gets resolved. is it grammatically correct?


texts:
I am preparing a technical document for a new version of a web application I have created, and towards the beginning of the document I am going to list a few of the terms I will be using in the document, along with a short definition or explanation of how I am using the term.  This is just to make sure that the words are understood the way I intend.

There is a word for just such a list. I know there is.  I just can't come up with it.  Aarrgghh!


texts: "Well-loved use" vs "frequent and fond use"

texts:
What makes more sense, grammar-wise?

Mama admires the butter churn; the “sinks” in its “beautiful light yellow wood from … where Big Dee and Stash had lived” testify to its well-loved use.

Mama admires the dasher; the “sinks” in its “beautiful light yellow wood from … where Big Dee and Stash had lived” testify to its frequent and fond use.

Or do they both not make sense?
(For context, Mama's talking about how there's all these sinks in the wood because people would push their hands into it and such. The dasher has been used a ton over the last few generations in their family, it's almost an heirloom of sorts)


texts: Difference between “improvisation” and “extempore”

texts: What is the difference between improvisation¹ and extempore² and where should one use each of these terms?


texts: A question to ask about birth rank or serial number

texts:
Are you the third of your parents' children? or the second issue?

Or, you are the third guy, eh?

What is the question for which "he came third in the race" is an answer?.

Instead of resorting to such a questioning is there a single  word to interrogatively  seek information of placement on a  time marker line ?

All Indian languages have such a word, none in English afaik..


texts: Multiple possessives of a single object linked by 'or'

texts: In the sentence, 'NCA offers a tool to measure a country's or region's natural capital', are one or both of country and region possessive (country's or region's vs. country or region's)? Ownership is a bit ambiguous because of the inclusive 'or'.


texts: Correct wording/spelling for our company's new slogan

texts:
I work for a small company (located in Italy) which makes websites and sells/repairs computers.
Right now we are in the process of creating a new logo and updating our slogan / corporate design.

My colleagues / boss came up with the following idea for a slogan: (none of us are native english speakers)

[COMPANY NAME]

links the digital world

Now - I'm really not sure if "links the digital world" is correct or does even make sense at all. I think the idea was that we - as a company - link our clients to the digital world, but "linking you to the digital world" was apparently too long and/or clumsy. In my opinion, it should as least be "links the digital world TO something" or "linking the digital world".

I need your assistance as native english speakers: How does this slogan sound to you

Thanks!


texts: Difference between stipulation and postulation

texts:
What's the difference between stipulation and postulation?

I am a German native speaker and both words can be translated to the German 'Forderung'.

In what context can 'postulation' be used? Is it an antiquated word?


texts: Letter opening with name only--what does it convey?

texts:
I sometimes get emails (e.g. from professional contacts or people I don't know well) which simply start with

  FirstName,

  [ ... letter body ... ]

They don't use "Dear FirstName," or "Hello FirstName," just "FirstName,".

This always feels quite harsh to me.  (Omitting the opening completely in a quick email wouldn't feel that way, but using the name only does.)

Can this be considered impolite?  Is it bad form?  Is it usual?  What should I read into this (about the attitude of the writer)?

I realize that these things can depend more on the culture than the language.  I usually get these letters from Americans.  Is it the most usual way of opening an informal email in the U.S.?


texts: What does it mean when a piece of clothing cinches you in?

texts:
I've recently heard a girl saying:

"the shape (of a dress) cinches you in."

So the next day, I tried to look up the meaning of it but I've only found the word  a cinch which is supposed to be a strap that holds a saddle on a horse.

The dress was tight around the waist area so I thought it can either mean that the dress is tight enough to hold everything (you know what I mean) in place or it makes you look slimmer.

I'm still not quite sure about what she meant so I'd appreciate your answers. :)


texts:
Could you explain to me why there is no article before «parent» but there is the indefinite article before «meeting»? Is possible to use the article in the first case or omit it in the second?

  Say whether you feel the following remark/sentences are okay, too
  formal or too informal <...> 2 (Parent to another parent at a school
  parents meeting): How many offspring do you have at the school?

This is taken from an exercise in the book «English Vocabulary in Use».

Thank you for your time.


texts: What does "I have all but just forgotten" means?

texts:
This is from the song Rise Against - Savior:

  It kills me not to know this, but I've all but just forgotten ...

I am curious, is it some colloquial phrase, or is meaningless.


texts: Is there an idiomatic equivalent of "I really loved what you said"?

texts: In Armenian, we have an expression which literally can be translated as "You talked|told|said from my heart", and means "I really loved what you said", "I really excited about what you said, since I thought the same" and expresses an emotional solidarity. In English, what is the idiomatic equivalent for it?


texts: Online tools to look up words from pronunciation

texts: Are there online tools to look up words from their pronunciation? For example, when I hear /bεə/, I want it to tell me that there are words bear and bare that are pronounced /bεə/.


texts: How to describe a single point which is a subset of a timeframe?

texts:
I'm writing a modul of a programm with the purpose of painting a plot.
I try to realize strong descriptiv names for the variables, which are mostly indices of something. So names using "index" are to be avoided.

Actually I'm looking for a name that describes the index relative to a single "point" on the plotted timeframe.

But just naming it "timepoint" sounds incorrect to me.

I googled through a lot of wiktionarys looking for synonyms of words representing a state in a range of time. But nothing did really fit.

So what would be the best fit for this?
Or is timepoint not that incorrect and I should stay with it?


texts:
I wish to to know the correct usage of "than" in the following sentences

[1]. The melting temperature of solvent A is comparatively lower than those/than that of other binary solvents involving B and C manufactured by the firm.

[2]. Usain Bolt ran his 100 m final race at London 2012 faster than in 100 m race at Rio 2016.

How to modify [2] such that the second "100 m race" does not appear.

Thank you---Suddhasattwa Ghosh, India


texts:
I'm taking an online class from someone who has lots of typos in his course materials.  I found these sentences in the course materials:

  Finally, there is a "Current Events" discussion area to which I will post periodically. You should check it regularly and contribute to those discussions. I see those discussions as the types of things that we would chat about at the beginning of every carbon space class and like to bring it in here.

From the context, I think that by "carbon space class," maybe he means "traditional format class."  Is this a quirk of my instructor's?  Or is it a thing?  I couldn't find anything online about this.


texts: the term for a noun that is the act of doing a verb

texts:
What is it called when you have a noun that is either the act of doing a verb or the result of having done the verb, and is not a gerund, and usually has a suffix like "al" or "tion"?

Examples:

remove -> removal
add -> addition

And by extension, my actual problem is to find this form for the word "edit." Something that is not a gerund and means the equivalent of the pseudo-word "editation".


texts: Where does the term "to sock away s.t" originate?

texts:
I googled the words "to sock away" and came up with definitions aplenty, but no reference to the phrase's origin.  Surprisingly, at least to me, was the suggestion, from Oxford, that it was a North American usage. The Free Dictionary adds New Zealand to that small cluster.

I tried to imagine people hiding their money in a sock, either worn or hidden somewhere else.  What else to do with a single sock, once its partner has skipped town?  Then I remembered that Norwegian has the term "å sokke bort" which seems remarkably similar.

This information wasn't completely satisfying.  Why not just "sock it" or "put in a sock"? And did the Norwegians get it from English or vice versa? Or has it spread from/to elsewhere?

I don't know if it is just me, but the idea of socking something away does not sound like a gentle motion.  Perhaps with a little sleight of hand - so everyone doesn't know where you've put it.  That makes me wonder if it is related to "socking s.o" as in "I socked him in the eye".  It really forces me to think that this has nothing at all to do with socks.


texts: What is the difference in using" I want you to know..." versus "I wanted you to know..."?

texts:
Can anyone help me with this please?

"I want you to know" versus "I wanted you to know."

Are they both grammatically correct and pretty much one and the same?  I understand the difference of tense forms want/wanted, so please no lesson needed on that.  I am sending a letter to a friend and I would like to thank him for all of his help. So should I use "I want you to know how much I appreciate your help" or "I wanted you to know how much I appreciate your help"? Insight needed please.


texts: What kind of infinitive is it in “to come home to be killed”?

texts:
In this example:

  Agamemnon comes home to be killed by his wife and her lover.

We are quite sure that he didn't plan on dying, so comes home to be killed is not the “infinitive of purpose”. What is it then? Is there a grammatical term for that?

Edited, another example:

  She came home to pick her car.

Here,  to pick is the “infinitive of purpose”.  In contrast:

  She came home to find the house has burned to the ground.

Here, though, to find is not the “infinitive of purpose”, so what kind of infinitive is it?


texts: Correct verb for "removal" of a chess piece by opponent's action

texts: What is the correct verb to convey the meaning of expelling or removal of a chess piece, which is done by your opponent's action; i.e. when he or she moves one of his pieces to a square where one of your pieces is located?


texts:
English (uk) is my first language, however a few colleagues have picked up that my grammar could do with improvement.

How should I go about this? I think I need to go right back to the basics as I can't remember anything I was taught at school (it was a long time ago!).  Should I begin with books that are provided to children at primary school and work my way up from there?


texts: Capitalization of "diploma business informatics"

texts:
For an application I need to translate my resume. What is the right way spelling of my degree:

2010-2015 Diploma business informatics
2010-2015 Diploma Business Informatics
2010-2015 Diploma of Business Informatics


texts: What is the word for the double vowel in "coordinate"?

texts:
The word coordinate has two vowels in it, that would ordinarily make the /u/ sound. Probably because of the word's etymology (Latin co- (“together”) + ordinare (“arrange”)) it is not pronounced as such but as two separate sounds.

Usually, the word for a pair of vowels would be a diphthong or a digraph, however, those words are reserved specifically for two vowels which make one syllable.

  Two vowel sounds joined in one syllable to form one speech sound

(Merriam-Webster)

Is there a specific linguistic term for a pair of vowels that, when pronounced, for two speech sounds?


texts: preposition could be used after the word "resemble"? like "she resembles with her Mother"

texts:
Question 1. could we use "with" after the word"resemble".
like "she resembles with her Mother" or she resembles her mother.
Question 2. could we use "resemble" in Ing form? like
she is resembling her mother or she is resembling with her mother?


texts: What's the correct phrase to ask "from what something is made"?

texts:
Are following phrases correct?

1) What is it made of?
 2) What it is made of?

Thanks.


texts:
I am a non-native English language speaker.
I have been using curated as the word to describe something that has been selected from a larger set. Today when I was writing an article, I looked up the word and it doesn't look like it is used a lot.

What alternatives I can use? For example, I'd like to using a word similar to curate in the following sentence:

  Please select the best applications from all the ones that we've got.

Additional info from OP in comment:
The sentence is meant to be used on the internet as well as in general speaking. I meant to say select a subset from a larger set, maybe after careful examination. For eg, let's say there is a news app that shows me every news. But I only want to see specific news stories and not everything. So I would want the news app to  the news stories before showing to me. Hope this clarifies.


texts: Comparative... Marginally, Substantially and Exceedingly above average

texts: Is my understanding of the use of "Marginally", "Substantially" and "Exceedingly" correct as per the depiction below?


texts: Having trouble explaining why the coordinating conjunction for this sentence is "or", not "and". Please help?

texts:
My student's sentence:
Getting married before graduating from university is not a shrewd and sensible choice.

I've corrected their choice of coordinating conjunction "and" to "or" [i.e. Getting married before graduating from university is not a shrewd or sensible choice.] but I'm having trouble explaining my instinctual decision. I wonder if it has anything to do with the word "not" and how it might be drawn parallel in usage to the correlative conjunctions "neither... nor"? Or is it because shrewd and sensible are conditions that don't have to be simultaneously applied to the situation?

I would appreciate it if someone could shed some light on this question as I am properly discombobulated!


texts:
According to a grammar book (Advanced Grammar in Use,3rd Edition) we can use "will" in order to describe a particular habit in the present. e.g. Everyday he will wake up at 7 am and eat his breakfast.
Is this the case for the negative form of "will"? Or is "won't" used to express annoyance,  criticize a behavior and not to describe a habit?
Is "won't" used in a correct way in the following sentences?
 "Every time I ask him how he's doing, he won't answer me"
"Every time he drinks coffee, he won't have sugar with it."


texts:
While reading  J.L. Austin's book How to do things with words I found this (to me) curious sentence:

  ... and here I must let some of my cats on the table...

The context seems to imply that the author is about to discuss something openly, so I tried to google the sentences and besides pictures and links to blogs discussing whether kittens should be allow to eat on the table I found this link where it says the following:

  In Finland, when we want to have a conversation about a difficult topic we say: put the cat on the table!  This means talking openly and honestly, and being vulnerable.  We also put the cat on the table when we want to bring up an issue that may be uncomfortable to talk about, but needs to be discussed.

This definition matches quite well what I thought the sentence meant, although at the same time it prompted more questions to the matter.

Is this an everyday English idiom? What is its usage? Where does this idiom come from?


texts: The differences between "To" and "So that" in an "instrumental" function. When is one not interchangeable for the other?

texts:
I'm trying to think about "to" and "so that" when describing means and purposes and have come across this following problem.

I feel like the following sentence is pretty natural.

  "You have to try hard to succeed."

  Means: Try hard.
  Result: Succeed.

But although the following sentence adheres to the same structure and usage, it feels quite odd.

  "I'm trying to do all my work now to go home early."

  Means: Do all the work now.
  Result: Go home early.

When I ask friends if this sounds natural to them, they all unknowingly convert the sentence to...

  "I'm trying to do all my work now so that I can go home early."

  Means: Do all the work now.
  Result: Go home early.

On the other hand, using "to" feels much more natural in this sentence, which I feel is similar to the previous problematic sentence:

  "I can't believe you spent so much money to impress that girl."

  Means: Spending a lot of money.
  Result: Impressing that girl

My questions are:

Is that sentence which I feel to be odd grammatically acceptable?
Why is it that "so that" so naturally replaces to in the sentence?
Why does "to" feel more natural in the final sentence, whereas it felt odd in the previous sentence?

Answers to even one of these questions are appreciated.


texts: What do you call making a sound of derision or contempt by blowing through closed lips (but not using the tongue)?

texts:
In this clip of the movie 'Moana', at 13 seconds into the video, Moana says "Teach me to sail," to which Maui makes a sound of derision or contempt by blowing through closed lips without using the tongue.

What do you call Maui's act of making this sound?

Is it called "Bronx cheer" or "blowing a raspberry" or something else?

As I understand it, both Bronx cheer and blowing a raspberry would involve the use of the tongue as well as the lips. If so, Maui's act is not exactly Bronx cheer or blowing a raspberry, because he didn't use the tongue at all.

Is there a separate term for making the sound only with the lips? Or can Bronx cheer or blowing raspberry be used to describe the act of making such a sound only with the lips?


texts: What does "Combat bundled in cliché" mean?

texts:
There was the following sentence in Time magazine’s (November 18) article titled, “Chris Christie Was Born to Run”:

  Behind closed doors at a Westin hotel in Boston, where the governor
  laid out his not so  veiled pitch for the party's 2016 nomination.
  "I'm in this business to  win," he told the crowd of Republican
  leaders.

  It was pure Christie, combat bundled in cliché. Ever since he ousted
  Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine in 2009, he has run the Garden State
  with combustible passion, blunt talk and the kind of bipartisan
  dealmaking  that no one seems to do anymore.

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2156871,00.html#ixzz2k2blMOs4

I don’t get the idea of the word, “combat bundled in cliché.” What does it mean?

Does it mean Chris Christie was born to combat? Is “combat bundled” a cliché?


texts:
Say you corrected a few typos and grammar issues.

Is that considered as one change? Or several changes?

Would you say "I like my change to the story" or "I like my changes to the story"?


texts: Do "You know..." Questions need question marks

texts:
I'm not quite sure if the type of questions I'm asking about count as indirect questions, so I apologize if that's what I should have put in the title.
Do you need a question mark when you're phrasing something as a question, but it isn't a question? Particularly, questions when, if spoken, would have no upward inflection in your voice at the end. They can either be "you know... right?" or "you do know...?" or even have both. There are three particular types I can think of, so I'll give examples with the three forms of asking I just mentioned. Sorry if this whole jumble of text makes no sense. Anyway, here are the examples.

A question that's really an opinion: Someone says something stupid, so you say, "You know you sound like an idiot, right?"
A question that's stating the obvious: Someone wants to leave, so you say, "You do know there's a door right there?"
A question you know the answer to: Someone is sitting in your chair, and they know it's your chair. They can clearly see there's another chair right next to yours, so you say, "You do know there's another chair right here, right?"

In all of these cases, I either expect no answer, and/or I know the answer. In any (or all) of these situations, should the sentences not end with question marks? Like I said, if you spoke them aloud, you wouldn't have any upward inflection in your voice at the end.

Thanks, and I'm sorry if the format of this post is weird. It's my first time using this website.

EDIT: Ooh, sorry. Just remembered another; I knew I was forgetting something. It's when you know they don't know, basically; you're informing them of something. "You know, that's the fifth time that's happened today?" You're not really asking them if they knew. You're telling them.


texts:
What is another phrase that could be used to replace 'the same as'?

To be used in a sentence such as: He was walking around the area, the same as everyone else.


texts: Curious about the type of humour employed by Twitter's @AntiJokeCat?

texts:
Despite my general disregard for Twitter and its adherents, I very much enjoy AntiJokeCat's brand of humour. His/her gags are funny because they seem to subvert the notion of what a joke is and confound our expectations of what the punchline is going to be, usually in a dark way. Sometimes a genre joke e.g. a racist or sexist one is subverted at the last moment.
Some Examples

Yo momma's so stupid, she took an IQ test and scored pretty low on it.
Two muffins are in an oven. After ten minutes at 325 degrees, they were pulled out, allowed to cool, and then eaten.
What did the homeless man get for Christmas? Hypothermia.
What's yellow and good at Math? A yellow calculator.

More examples may be found at AntiJokeCat's Twitter page.
Can anyone provide a better more academic classification of this type of humour aside from 'anti-joke'? I am detecting some bathos there at the very least.
And where did this deconstructionist humour originate?


texts: How do I quote a quote that has quotes in it?

texts: The phrase I have to quote is "Did you never hear of the 'Fountain of Youth?' “. First of all, How do I quote this so people know I'm not stealing their work? The sentence I gave is what someone is saying in a short story. I know you can't remove any of the quotes because that is what someone is saying. I think that I would add another set of quotes or something but I'm at a loss. Please help. Thank you all in advance.


texts: Sight is to Visualisation as Sound is to?

texts: Unsure that the word exists, given our preference for sight to convey abstract information rather than sound, but I was hoping one of you might know?


texts: Can "be" be used with the modal verb "do"?

texts:
These two sentences are both valid

I write this sentence.
I do write this sentence.

Are these both valid?

I am writing this sentence.
I do be writing this sentence.


texts: What do you say when something is possible to parse or process?

texts: When you want to process or parse something and you say it can be done, how do you say that the right way? Is it parsable, parseable, or processable? Which is right? I can't find any of them in dictionaries.


texts:
Holder/owner of right./ The right is with me.
Is there a noun/or a compound noun in english?
Even an idiom or smth?

Examples:

We fight, because right is with us/holders/owners of right, and because of that we shall fight and we shall be victors.
I will not concede or cede my right, how do you want me to, and I am an owner of right.
Holders of right, no matter how long time stretches, will get their right.


texts: Difference between 'analogous to' and 'similar to'

texts:
I am having a hard time understanding the difference (if any) between 'analogous to' and 'similar to'. Take for instance these two sentences:

  High level cognition is performed in a way analogous to symbolic computation.

and

  High level cognition is performed in a way similar to symbolic computation.


texts: Is there an idiomatic 'to be desperate' usage (without 'for' or 'to')?

texts:
All dictionaries I have checked seem to agree on the basic meanings of 'desperate', but here are two instances I can't fit properly into any of the categories:

Situation 1: kid needs to go to the bathroom; mother asks:

Are you desperate? Can't you wait till we get home?

Situation 2: someone has no place to stay; friend says:

You can stay here for a couple of days if you're desperate.

It's not like these people are

'feeling or showing that they have little hope and are ready to do anything without worrying about danger to themselves or others' (Oxford Learners)
'very sad and upset because of having little or no hope' (MW)
'very worried and angry because they do not know how to deal with an
unpleasant situation' (Macmillan)
'willing to do anything to change a very bad situation, and not
caring about danger' (Longman)

Also, they are not 'violent', 'rash' or 'dangerous'.

The seemingly obvious solution is that they are

'needing or wanting something very much' (Oxford Learners / Macmillan / Cambridge)
'having a very great desire, need, etc.' (Longman)

However, all of these dictionary exclusively offer examples that have 'desperate for' and 'desperate to' in them. Not a single one reflecting the usage of my two examples, with a free-standing 'desperate'.

Are these unorthodox usages I shouldn't make much of, or something the dictionaries failed to include (either as a separate meaning, or a distinct kind of usage)?


texts: It's a idiom and i couldn't find the definition. It isn't even in a sentence so i'm really confused now..


texts: As far as I know summary is an aggregate function. When I have for example 2 files with 1-1MB of sizes, how should I talk about the summary of their size: 2MB. Should I talk about summary size or aggregate size or is there a better wording?


texts: Slang similar to "hitman", except they're hired to intimidate, not kill

texts: Is there a slang word for a hired gun, that is specifically not supposed to kill the subject, just intimidate them? For example, if a political candidate accepted help from a powerful person in order to get elected to office and promised to pay back the favor in the future and when it comes time for the favor, he doesn't want to do it, then the powerful figure might hire someone to intimidate the politician into keeping up his end of the bargain.


texts: What is the most idiomatic verb to use with ‘reading’?

texts:
In the following sentence, by ‘reading’ I mean ‘study’ or ‘research’. What is the best verb to use with it?
I —————— an ecological reading of the Japanese literary tradition.
Do, conduct, carry out, make (?) come to my mind, but I don’t know which one is the right word.


texts:
Across the street somebody had delirium tremens in the front yard and
  a mixed quartet tore what was left of the night into small strips and did what they could to make the strips miserable. While this was
  going on the exotic brunette didn't move more than one eyelash.

(Philip Marlow is interviewing the brunette. The wild party with the mixed quartet across from hers is part of the sitz im leben of the interview.)

I can't figure out the meaning of strip here.
(It's from "Red Wind" by Raymond Chandler.)


texts:
My friend was reading the book "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green and she found what seems to be a grammar mistake. The following sentence is found in the author's note:

  Neither novels or their readers benefit from attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story.

Isn't it grammatically correct to say "nor" instead of "or"?


texts: What does "uber-word" mean in particular context (see body of question)?

texts:
What does uber-word mean in the following context?
This question came up at Is "act like a mensch" too localized for ELU readers (U.S. and/or British English)?
Uber-word came up in this exchange:

English has always welcomed foreign jargon; it gives the locals
something new to grumble at.
You mean there’s no angst that imports from foreign jargon become
uber-words?

What I’ve tried so far: I looked up the definition of uber, and I asked my German spouse.


texts: There is this driver "who would go" or "who goes"

texts:
If you want to explain a situation where, for example, you want to talk about a bus driver who goes and take a coffee sometimes on the way, which one would be more appropriate:

There is this one driver, who goes and gets a coffee on the way and you have to wait like for 10 minutes.
There is this one driver, who would go and get a coffee on the way, and you would have to wait like for 10 minutes.


texts: Difference between "forget about it" and "forget it"

texts:
It seems they both mean never mind in the following examples:

  Sorry for what happened yesterday
  Forget it.

or

  Can I buy you a drink?
  Forget about it.

What are the differences between forget about it and forget it?


texts: I want say to somebody to try more in studying English. Is it right to say Try harder


texts:
I was reading about noun clauses and adverb clauses and I am a little confused about what follows:
One grammar claims that the clause in bold in the following sentence is a noun clause working as an adjective complement:
I’m happy that you’ve decided to come.
Another grammar says that the sentence in bold in the following sentence is an adverb clause:
Many English speakers today are surprised that Early English would be unintelligible to them.
I am confused, because both clauses follow an adjective and, because they start with “that,” I think they are, indeed, noun clauses.
Moreover, the second clause doesn’t seem to work as an adverb, once it doesn’t answer “when?”, “how?”, “why?”, “where?”, etc.
Can anyone help me, please?


texts: Comprehension - what was the author trying to convey here?

texts:
Given this passage:

  We are even farther removed from the unfocused newspaper reviews published in England between the turn of the 20th century and the eve of World War II, at a time when newsprint was dirt-cheap and stylish arts criticism was considered an ornament to the publications in which it appeared. In those far-off days, it was taken for granted that the critics of major papers would write in detail and at length about the events they covered.Theirs was a serious business, and even those reviewers who wore their learning lightly, like George Benard Shaw and Ernest Newman, could be trusted to know what they were about. These men believed in journalism as a calling, and were proud to be published in the daily press. "So few anthors have brains enough or literary gift enough to keep their own end up in journalism,' Newman wrote, 'that I am tempted to define 'journalism' as 'a term of contempt applied by writers who are not read to writers who are'.

Question: which of the following would Shaw and Newman most probably agree on?

It's a writer's duty to fulfill journalistic goals
Writers are likely to be tempted into journalism
Not all writers  are capable of journalistic writing.

Note: This was a reading comprehension exercise  but after I finished it I found myself didn't  follow the answer, which is 3 (I choose 1, because the word "calling" in the material has the meaning of duty(I am not sure whether the word has that meaning)) I need some help and thanks for donating your time to read the material.


texts: Putting a title in quotes -- is it still italicized?

texts:
When referencing the title of something (which is normally italicized) in quotes, is it written like this:

  David Guggenheim uses the title "Waiting for Superman"

or like this?

  David Guggenheim uses the title "Waiting for Superman"


texts: The name given to the trail of afterburn (of a jet perhaps?)

texts:
What is the name of the trail (of after burn) left by a jet?

I know it's something nearly like "after burn", but I can't be sure as I've not used it for quite a long time!


texts:
Sometimes, you come across someone saying something (usually tongue-in-cheek), which might go like this:

  Tom: I really love eating noodles while watching Star Trek.
  Linda: Wow, I do exactly the same thing all the time!
  Tom: Were we separated at birth or something?

What does "separated at birth" mean here, and what connotation is it trying to convey?


texts:
I was told not to use contractions in an essay.

My classmate wrote "the argument of Emily" but I preferred "Emily's argument".
He disagreed and claimed "Emily's" is a contraction.


texts:
Conversation :

A- I am reading the Harry potter series.
B- I am yet to read those.

or is it better to use  "I am yet to read them"
or is there a better alternative?


texts:
When addressing police or jail staff, a lot of times you address them as "[Rank] [Last Name]", such as "Sgt. Smith" or "Lt. Reynolds".  If you don't know their rank though, you can resort to "Officer [Last Name]".  (Again, I'm just referring to police and jail guards there, not military.)

What's the equivalent for firefighters?  They have military-style ranks, but what if you don't know a firefighter's rank?


texts: What is another way of saying "how" in a question context?

texts: For example, in the situation "How does a affect b?" I've come up with "In what way does a affect b?" and "What aspects of a make it affect b?" (although that has a slightly different connotation). Can anyone think of any more?


texts: Is there a single word that encompasses the act of both attaining and then maintaining a state or thing?

texts:
I'm looking for a single word (if possible) to express the idea of first establishing/attaining a state and then maintaining it (not breaking it or letting it deteriorate).

The word could be applied to any subject, but one example might be the idea of establishing then maintaining mutual trust in a relationship. Perhaps the word could also feasibly apply to things, such as acquiring an object/possession and then keeping it in good shape.

This term would be paired with whatever state or object is the subject of this term. Not sure if it would technically qualify to be a hypernym, if such a term exists, but it sounds like it might.


texts: Difference between "funny" and "strange"/"weird"

texts:
I noticed that in English the word funny is sometimes used in the meaning of strange or weird. What's the exact difference?

What is interesting for me is that you have a single word meaning at the same time causing laughter and odd or strange (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/funny). The examples given at Merriam-Webster can then have a funny connotation, such as:

  What are you laughing at? There's nothing funny about it.

Could you please give examples where using funny in the meaning of strange is better than strange itself?

I do not find the bare fact a single word having multiple meanings so interesting, every language has a lot of such words. However, for a non-native speaker it is interesting to compare with their own language. And it always shows something about way of thinking of the people who have given the words their meaning. In the case of the word funny it may sound kind of childish to laugh at something I do not fully understand, which is weird to me (and hence I perceive it as causing laughter).

N.B.: I am aware of the question What is the difference between "that's odd", "that' s weird", and "that's strange"?


texts: Which word is more appropriate to express "How it works"?

texts:
Context Description:

I'm a programmer. One day I find an interesting software IPFinder published by Fred, but I can't understand how it works. So, I want to write an email to ask Fred.

  A. What's the mechanism of IPFinder?
  B. What's the principle of IPFinder?

Which is more proper in such a context, mechanism or principle?


texts: Term for when someone falsely accuses another of misdeeds that they are actually guilty of themselves

texts:
This is similar to a previous question (... accuses another of doing something which they did ...) but more generalized. Two examples:
A German woman athlete falsely accused other women athletes of being men; it transpired that she was a man. Similarly, Trump repeatedly called Clinton "Crooked Hillary." Who was the real crook? In my personal experience, this is a very common phenomenon. One suggestion was "Projecting." Does this imply deflection?  One conclusion to the original question was that a new word needed to be coined. I propose the word "Gasblagging." (see Gaslighting and Blagging.)


texts:
In Spanish is very common to use present simple when you should use present continuous. For instance,

My father isn't working today because he's sick.
My father doesn't work today because he's sick.

Well, I'd like to know whether my second sentence is wrong or it could be misunderstood.

Thanks


texts: Is there a word for inanimate objects that look good to eat such as a cloud that looks like ice cream or cocking that looks like frosting?


texts: History of "different from", "different to", "different than"

texts:
Somehow I got the impression that "different to" (almost entirely unknown in America) is a locution that originated in the 20th century, and that "different from" is far older. Then I found "different to" in one of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Some (most?) of those were written in the 19th century, and all were written by a native speaker of English who reached adulthood before 1880. "Different than" seems like a far more recent locution, but again I don't know its history. I dislike "different than", but I've noticed that its use makes possible some efficient expressions that might not be possible otherwise (right now I can't remember any).

Is "different to" in fact a far newer locution than "different from"? If so, did it originate in the 19th century?
Has "different from" become non-standard usage in some places where the vernacular language is English?


texts: Is "I asked many questions that I had before" correct?

texts:
I would like to ask whether this sentence is grammatically correct or not:

  I asked her many questions that I had before.

I think it sounds better if I say "I asked her many questions that I have had before".


texts: What's the meaning of "turning the state of the art to the state of the practice"?

texts:
What's the meaning of "turning the state of the art to the state of the practice" in the following context:

"We have the resources, the professional experience and the background to deliver turnkey services starting from research and study to the provision of finished products and services and turn the state of the art into the state of the practice."


texts: Were American, Australian, and New Zealand English dialects ever spoken in Britain before the colonization of these lands?


texts: Is the phrase "Frustrated of feeling mute, .." correct?

texts:
I know that frustrated is usually paired with 'by'; however, in this case is does not sound right. Is the given phrase correct? If not, what would be an appropriate way to phrase it.

My sentence is structured like this:

"Frustrated of feeling mute, I decided to..."


texts: "To take in" and "to catch" in the sense "to attend and visit (or see) [the sights of (a city, etc.)] in AmE

texts:
Do these terms share the same degree of informality in the sense "to attend and visit (or see)" as of someone taking in/catching the sights of a place, or taking in/catching a show or a movie?
E.g.

When was the last time you caught [or take in] a movie at the drive in?
How's that, you spent three weeks in Paris and you didn't even catch [or take in] the night sights of that glittering city? You surely must have been off your head!

Also, can "to take in" in the sense [to attend and visit (or see)] encompass other things than sights [=anything worth seeing (the sights of London)] and shows (movies, plays, etc.)?


texts:
[credit for to this question goes to Ben Hocking, who posted it as an example that seemed to be disagreed upon in Is "certainly possible" an oxymoron? ]

Some web-references (e.g. this one) give the phrase "pretty ugly"
 as an example of an oxymoron. The meaning of 'pretty' and 'ugly' within the context of the phrase is not contradictory, but a different meaning of those two words is semantically contradictory, which seems to be enough to qualify under this definition for oxymoron:

  A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are
  combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.

(TFD)

Is the phrase "pretty ugly" an oxymoron?


texts: What's proper punctuation for a sentence ending with an abbreviation followed by a parenthetical phrase?

texts:
Other questions here address a sentence ending in an abbreviation, and when a sentence-ending abbreviation is followed by a question-mark.  But what about when a sentence-ending abbreviation is followed by a parenthetical phrase?  Do you put a period after the parenthetical?  Example:

  She was previously an engineer at the IBM Corp. (a well-known computer company).

My question is whether that last period is correct.  To me, it looks wrong either way.

I realize that this sentence could easily be rewritten to drop the abbreviation; or to expand it; or to replace the parentheses with, e.g., a comma or dash separator; or to make the parenthetical into a complete & separate sentence.  But those options were not possible in an earlier example I had.

Thanks.


texts:
It's not like Einstein knew everything, did he?

or

It's not like Einstein knew everything, didn't he?

What's the correct variant and why?


texts: What's the meaning of "a staple amongst the community"?

texts:
In this context:

  trying to become a staple amongst the
  community


texts:
Which one is correct?

  I was the person she'd always been waiting for?

or

  Was I the person she'd always been waiting for?

I'm not sure why, but both seem weird to me, unlike:

  Am I the person she'd always been waiting for?


texts: How does the placement of the word "not" affect its grammatical function, and why?

texts:
How does the grammatical function of the word "not" differ in these two sentences below?

He tried to not run.
He tried not to run.

It seems to me that in sentence 1 (1) the subject is positively trying to not run, but in sentence 2 (2), "not" is serving to negate "tried."

Am I thinking about this correctly?


texts: Reconstruction of the following sentence: "It activates the potential of the crowd to help..."

texts:
I need to reconstruct the following sentence in another way:
"It activates the potential of the crowd to help..."
Suggestions please!


texts:
I have always argued adamantly, as long as the issue has been around, that gift should never be used as a verb. However, someone whose English knowledge I quite respect disagrees.

I’ve done some searching and I haven’t found a consensus; should gifting be shunned?


texts:
Is there a context where envision is not a synonym of envisage, or vice versa?

Envisage's definition:

  contemplate or conceive of as a possibility or a desirable future event

Envision's definiton

  imagine as a future possibility; visualize:

Visualise's definition seems to be relevant to envision only in so far as it means imagine, which seems to me to be synonymous with "contemplate or conceive of".


texts:
Why is the comma before the infinitive?

  The Roman state was a parasite, draining men and wealth from the island while failing, or not even trying, to defend it from Picts, Irish and Saxons.


texts: "Close the light" — regionalism or mere oddity?

texts:
If I want the room in darkness, and wish to announce my intent, I would say

  I'm going to turn off the light.

But occasionally here in America I hear people say

  I'm going to close the light.

It's happened too often to chalk up to mistake or happenstance. I'm just wondering if anyone knows if this is a regional usage and, if so, what region?


texts: What's a good term for games which are not software?

texts:
I'm writing an article on games developed by Open Source principles.

The games are not software, as "Open Source" might suggest, but made from paper, wood or something else physical. My problem is that most readers who only look at the title would assume it's about software, not hardware.

What would be a good term for these games? So far I have thought about "physical games" or "hardware games", but I'm sure there is something more catchy.


texts: Distinguishing whether "up" is a preposition or a part of a phrasal verb in this case

texts:
In the sentences below, “bill” and “hill” are both nouns.

He ran up a big hill.
He ran up a big bill.

Can someone explain how one distinguishes whether “up” is a preposition or a part of a phrasal verb?


texts: "Left behind after class?" Is this sentence correct?

texts:
Is the following sentence correct?

"I left my book behind after class."

What I want to say is that my character left their book behind after class, so they went back to get it. I know I could say "I left my book behind in the classroom" instead, but I want to put emphasis on the timeframe instead of the location (which is the garden, in this case), if that makes sense.

Thanks in advance!


texts:
Question I: Which one is grammatically correct?
1. Does order A remain effective after object B gets removed?

or
2. Does order A remain effective after object B is being removed?

Question II: What kind of tense is this? Present perfect?


texts: How to determine if an attribute applies to a group or a specific individual

texts:
I am in the middle of an argument, and therefore trying to figure out the breakdown of the definition:

  a member of a military group devoted to engineering work

which appears in Merriam-Webster's entry for "engineer" (Definition 1).  The dictionary entry also includes this example sentence:

  Army engineers were called in to construct the canal.

I assume the definition means 'a member of a group in the military where the group is devoted to engineering work' while the person with whom I am arguing assumes the sentence means 'an individual who is devoted to engineering work who is also in a military group'.

I am looking for both what the definition means, as well as why it means what it does. This would ideally take the form of citing some official guide (MLA, Chicago, etc...), but if the explanation is cogent enough it will still be extremely useful.


texts:
A friend of mine (relevant detail, he grew up and learned cursive in India) recently remarked to me that he missed the way that cursive "p"s used to be written. An example of this can be seen in the following image:

I'm used to a p which doesn't have such a high rise on the left stem of the p. Another example of the p that I am used to is below.

Is anyone aware of the origin (time or location) of this style of p? Though my friend is from India, the example comes from the lectures of the Professor Dr. Richard Feynman, so it must have been taught in the United States as well.


texts: Usage of 'it has been' along with 'since' in this context

texts:
Is below syntax grammatically and logically correct?

It has been a more than a year since my grandmother's demise.

or I should say

It has been a more than a year to my grandmother's demise.


texts: Polite/professional alternative to 'It turns out'

texts:
I have been tasked with coming up with a nicer phrase to use than 'It turns out'.  It is to be used in situations like this one:

  'It turns out' that we cannot...
  'It turns out' that we don't...

I know those two examples are followed by negative words, but is there a nicer phrase that can be used?  Perhaps even one that may soften the message?

Edit: It is to be used in a spoken context (customer service).  Thanks for the suggestions so far.


texts: Technical term for `avoiding responsibility` with decision-makers?

texts:
Suppose a parliament that tries to "outsource" their responsibility in various ways (they take the gains but not wanting to take the risks). Of course, the situation cannot last: risks and gains should have a correlation, here arbitrages are surreal. For some reason, this video here about point 0:50 came to my mind about the situation. Artificial obfuscation and complexity are intentional, I think to hide something evil. Which vocabulary or phrases would you use and when to describe this kind of situation that some parties are trying to make more obscure?

Issue requiring more descriptive phrases or vocabulary

  A parliament may avoid responsibility in various ways such as

  does not underwrite official documents with signature or official stamp
  floods important documents with less important documents so the next parliament (particularly if it is opposition) cannot find them
  maintain the location to store and process important documents in an inferior quality so outsiders cannot realistically find there
  anything
  may censor public documents
  ...many other things

Some Analysis

  Most of the terms below have drawbacks. The denial of responsibility
  does not really grasp the reason -- the responsibility may be avoided
  so that controversial decisions can be made. Then again, it catches the
  intent where denial infers consciousness decision. The hard part is
  that decision-makers may just "forget" things such as underwrite
  things or be lazy to process the documents or more evil i.e. totally
  intended denial of responsibility (outlined above).

  A. Conventional terminology

    denial of responsibility
    obfuscating things but it may have some technical meaning like here

  B. literature-biased terms

    Orwellian or better totalitarian (but they are extremely loaded words)

      of or pertaining to a centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial
      control
      over many aspects of life.
      exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others; authoritarian; autocratic. (source)

    Kafkaesque

      "Marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity." (source)


texts: to-infinitive+infinitive+pronoun (e.g., to Help Keep You)?

texts:
I found the sentence of "to Help Keep You Safe and Secure" in a text and got confused. If I were to write it, I would use keep after pronoun, as "to Help You Keep Safe and Secure". Can anyone explain why the first format "to verb+verb+pronoun" is correct?

Thanks


texts: Why are the "donkey" and the "butt" both named "ass"?

texts:
Is there any similarity between them that they have the same name, or is the reason something different of having a physical similarity?

I found different meanings for both, but none of them clarified the matter of naming them the same in vulgar English speaking.


texts:
Is it acceptable to use "at this time" when referring to a specific point in time in the past? While in the process of telling a story, for example, that happens completely in the past?

To me it just does not sound right, and I used to correct a non-native speaker (even though I am one also, only more advanced). Since then, however, I have heard it a couple of times (I'm in the USA).

EDIT

After receiving couple of answers confirming my view, I would like to give a specific example I just found of that "incorrect" (I think) usage in this Wikipedia article on the Holy Roman Empire. (Please do a search in the text there for "at this time.")


texts:
I know the past tense carries the past tense in every dependent clause, but referring specifically to places or to things that are eternal, like the Earth, seems a bit weird and therefore we sometimes (I believe incorrectly) say

  He didn't know that New Jersey was actually on the East Coast.

Because it still is. Or

  He thought the Earth was round.

So is it square now?

Logically speaking, would you consider the use of past tense here a bit confusing in a day-to-day speech in these examples? Would you instinctively opt for using the present tense?


texts: Is "goodnight" the right wish to say in the evening, say 5 pm?

texts: In the evening, when we part after the day's work, my colleagues wish me "goodnight" and I don't feel it right. What is the right thing to say in the evening (5 pm) when we part with our colleagues?


texts: Does the comma go inside or outside the end quote when the subject speaks and then does an action

texts:
I have the following sentence and am struggling to work out where the comma goes. Should it be:

She said, 'I understand', and walked away.

or

She said, 'I understand,' and walked away.

Many thanks.
Jo


texts: "Mom was saying that dad wanted me to mow the lawn and asked what time I would be coming home?"

texts:
Mom was saying that dad wanted me to mow the lawn and asked what time I would be coming home.

In the sentence above, who is asking what time I would be coming home, mom or dad? If it's mom, why isn't it dad? And if it is the dad, why isn't it mom?

Basically which subject is the and for? Mom or Dad? What are the rules?


texts:
Googling didn't help.

Thanks in advance for your help.


texts: Is there a noun representing books, papers, magazines, and all the other things one might read?

texts:
I'm looking for a single word which would represent all of the things that one might read, such as books, academic papers, magazines, or even online articles if possible.

The only thing that comes to my mind is a readable (something that can be read), but that doesn't feels like a word one would use.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Specific usage of the word ‘but’

What does “It is but X” mean?

For example, as in “Yes; however, they are but thoughts.”


texts: Does "so far, so good" carry a negative connotation?

texts:
As a follow up to this etymology question, does "so far, so good" carry a negative connotation?

For example, after having her sonogram, my wife asked the technician if everything was okay.  The technician replied, "so far, so good."  My wife later remarked that she didn't like that the technician used the phrase because it sounded like things will be going wrong later.

I always thought this phrase was positive and that it was a replacement for the word "good."


texts:
Is it acceptable to spell it "spacebar" or must the word be spelled with a space in it? I'm using it to refer to a keyboard shortcut in my application's documentation.

Further, should it be capitalized? And if split into two words, should both be capitalized?


texts: "Break open" - what is "open"? An adverb, noun, adjective or verb?

texts:
In the phrases "break open" and "break [sth.] open", is "open" an adjective or an adverb? Is it an adverbial or a complement?
For example:

The pods broke open and the seeds scattered on the wind.
The police broke open the door.
The burglars broke the locked safe open.


texts: I'm trying to find a word I'd seen a bit ago in a textbook (I can't recall the textbook, maddeningly) that I found I quite liked. It is spelt something like pedagous, and it effectively means "written in a style suited for learning as opposed to a style more suited for use as a reference". Does anyone know what word it might be that I'm thinking of? Or alternatively a word that has a similar meaning?


texts: Is there a word to describe the combination of a table and a chart together?

texts: Is there a single, succinct term in English that would describe the grouping of a chart/graph and a data table displayed together in one place?


texts: Difference between "rip on someone" and "pick on someone"?

texts:
The free dictionary gives this definition for rip on:

  give someone a hard time; to hassle someone

and this one for pick on:

  to harass or bother someone or something, usually unfairly

It sounds pretty much the same to me, but maybe there's a slight difference I don't catch?


texts: Alternate word/phrase for "everything is up for debate"

texts:
Is there a synonym to the phrase (if 'synonym phrases' are a thing) "everything will be up for debate" ?

That phrase is commonly used in a collaborative sense, for example - maybe a business owner is creating a new building for his/her company and the design and layout is all open for feedback to the company's existing staff that will soon be moving in.  So this owner/boss might say "everything is up for debate" as a way to indicate that everyone can be involved in the design/layout of the new building.

I'm wondering specifically if there isn't a less aggressive; more creative word or phrasing; I feel like 'debate' implies politics but for a creative project like a design or artwork it might be better to say something that gives a 'free and open collaboration' type feeling.


texts:
Here is a usage and mechanics question that I need help understanding:

  Change the italicized portion with the best replacement, or choose A if correct.

    When light from a distant source, such as the sun, it strikes a collection of water drops, such as rain, spray, or fog, a rainbow many appear.

    A. such as the sun, it strikes

    B. like the sun's striking

    C. such as the sun, and striking

    D. such as the sun, strikes

    E. like the sun's strikes

For this question I chose E, because it seems as though light is being being expanded upon, so you would give the light from the sun as an example, rather than the sun itself. Also, strikes fixes the comma splice. Anyway, the correct answer is D. I think is so because the set off phrase within the commas is giving an example of a source, rather than an example of light.

Essentially, my question is how can I know when the set off phrase (by the way, what are those types of phrases called; the ones of the form "such as the sun"?) modifies the word "source" or "light"? I'm thinking that it modifies "source" because it is adjacent to it, but I want a deeper explanation than that.


texts: a word for a person who never attains a desire or goal

texts:
Is there a word in English that describes a person who never attains a desire or goal?

I have found loser or dud or flop but these all seem to be informal, is there a better, more formal word that describes such a thing?


texts: Equivalent phrase/single-word for `prognosis (without intervention)`

texts: Consider a situation when without any effort/intervention into the process consequences are predefined to be bad. How do you call such a bad-prognosis?


texts:
"Term has X search results"
"A search for term has X results*
"A search for term resulted in X results"

Is anyone else confused by this? A "search" generally "results" in something, but lacking an alternative to "results" (like "items" or "records") you end up with duplicity (#3). No. 2, the alternative, has "search" "contain" the results, which isn't more correct. What do you think?


texts: What's the meaning of "[...] steady tryna pick it up like a call."?

texts:
I'm from Brazil and my native language is Portuguese.
I study English listening to songs, watching TV, movies and series and, sometimes, it appears some difficulties. I'm not very familiar with slang, figures of speech, etc.

Anyway, I'd like to know what this phrase means:
"And I ain't gonna give it up, steady tryna pick it up like a call."


texts: Which of these is the correct usage of the words "listen", "hear"?

texts:
Which of these sentences is correct? Why?

  You must hear to this song.
  You must listen to this song.
  Have you heard to this song?
  Have you listened to this song?


texts: Is "take care" always a friendly utterance or can it sometimes be considered threatening?

texts:
A little while ago someone wrote to me, in a not-too-friendly internet exchange, "take care, man". I interpreted that as a threat, but now I realize that Americans often use this expression "take care" in a very friendly, benevolent way when leaving each other. So my two related questions are:

Considering this widespread usage, is it still possible (in the US) to use that expression in a threatening way?
If you wanted to threaten someone (!) what would you say? I'm thinking of some scenario in a film where a character approached by some suspicious guy would want to say "be careful [ I'm armed]". Is "be careful" right? Is some other expression more adequate?


texts: Is there a good and fast rule for when to the verb ‘gather’ versus ‘hunt’ for venturing out for food? I always thought that plants were gathered and animals were hunted. However  ‘mushroom hunting’ is common terminology. Is the exception that if a plant is hard to find then you are hunting for it?


texts: Verb forms in "Feelin' Myself" (will.i.am song)

texts:
I have been somewhat fascinated by this song recently, for various reasons, including the peculiar lyrics. I am especially wondering about the usage of infinitive-like verb forms in several lines, such as:

I be everywhere, everybody know me
Cause we be in the club
Look up in the mirror, the mirror look at me
The mirror be like 'baby [...]'

I recognized some of them as similar to "X be like Y" expressions, which I found to be classified as a combination of "habitual be" and "quotative like". But there are other verbs being used in an apparently similar way, and I'm wondering if they're habitual verb aspects, subjunctive mood (my first guess), artistic license, contractions, other forms of slang/vernacular or just bad grammar.

Edit: In case it wasn't painfully obvious from the above paragraph, I have already researched "X be like Y" and that is not what my question is about. Specifically (and repeating myself again), there are other verbs being used, which are not covered by the "habitual be" and "quotative like" explanations. Also, "AAVE" is not a suitable answer to either question (it's probably true but much too vague - I'm asking about the verb forms).


texts: Word for an antonym with a negative connotation?

texts:
I'm trying to remember a word which describes an antonym which has an unnecessary negative connotation.

When I try to remember it I think of a word similar to 'dysphemistic' in terms of the letters used and the syllables, if that makes any sense.


texts:
I want to ask that is using "at which" correct or not? For example, is the following sentence correct?

In my opinion, ABCDEF is the place at which I can gain invaluable experiences.


texts:
We are changing a process in our company and I'd like to convey the message below to my clients.
"We are trying our best to change this process without affecting dependent processes" . Is there a phrase or idiom I can use here to say that we are doing this process change with lowest impact to  other processes?


texts:
Hi, I'm bernk.
I'm here to make interacting with digital products a positive experience for us all.
Why are you here?

More importantly, does it read positive or negative to you?


texts: How popular is the slang usage of "toss" in British English?

texts:
We've already chosen the domain name for a new info blog website called InfoToss. In US English, it doesn’t have any crazy slang meaning, and we didn’t think to check for other regional meanings because we didn’t think we would expand, so we went ahead and designed the site and logo. Things have changed, and now we’d like to expand and target a UK audience as well.

However, after doing more research, we’ve learned that in British slang, toss can mean something other than just throwing something (see Urban Dictionary if you didn’t know).

So, my question is: How popular is this slang usage in British English? Would it be overly inappropriate for the domain to be InfoToss? Or would it be just a little edgy?


texts: What's a word that means "using emotionally charged language when neutral language could be used"?

texts:
There's a great word I discovered long ago that means using emotionally charged or unfairly pejorative language to describe a situation when there is a neutral word or phrase that could communicate the idea just as easily.

This may not be the best example, but a word to describe writing "Hillary and her cronies" instead of writing "Hillary and her advisers". I even used it in conversation a few times, but then forgot it! So frustrating, because it's a great word that comes in very handy in (e.g.) political or religious debates.

Any guesses?


texts: What's the meaning of the expression "gold-plated commandos"?

texts:
One guy is leading a bunch of weird guys. They are hunting monsters. The leader says:

  I'd be surprised if either one of them could dream up gold-plated
  Commandos.

The leader is talking about James Whale and Tod Browning.

I know that gold-plated means covered with a thin layer of gold, but I do not know exactly he means by saying gold-plated Commandos.

If the definition of commando is

  a member of a military assault unit or team trained to
  operate quickly and aggressively in especially urgent, threatening
  situations,  as against terrorists holding hostages.

then I think gold-plated commandos do not have a pejorative meaning. Am I right?


texts:
Like the definite article, recently I started to see what are traditionally known as demonstatives not as a group of words but rather as a single word.

If you analyze it as an inflected word with a variable function, it simplifies a lot of logic.

In other words, the demostrative inflects for number, singular and plural, and distance, near or far, producing the following four forms:

  this, that, these, those

In addition, the demostrative, can have one of two grammatical functions. It can function as a determiner:

  These books

Or it can funtion as a pronoun:

  This is better.

If inflected verbs can be thought of as one word, why not other words with a common stem and meaning?


texts: How do I pluralise a word that has a masculine and feminine singlar forms, for a mixed group?

texts:
This may be an ill-defined question since it arose from trying to pluralise a word that has come from French, I wanted to pluralise a pair flaneurs of different genders.

Flaneur comes from the French flâneur, which has the French feminine form flâneuse and plural flâneuses.

When pluralising in English, should I ignore gender, use one over the other or use the french pluralisation?

Is there an English rule for mixed gender noun pluralisations?


texts:
There are currently no employees assigned to this work center.
or
There are no employees currently assigned to this work center.


texts:
I am currently translating a book called "#GIRLBOSS" by Sophia Amoruso and there's a phrase I can't clarify its meaning.

"I was proud of my video project, which was a series of pans with Bad Religion's angst-ridden song "Infected" as the soundtrack. Bam, shot of the Nike factory outlet store. Bam, shot of money. Bam, shot of graveyard."

I've scanned each and every meaning of 'pan' to no avail. I think the word is describing the images of Nike, money, graveyard etc in whole, but I can't see the connection between them.


texts: Should a translated quote be delimited by double quotes?

texts:
My understanding is that all quotes must be delimited by double quotes, and that a quote must be exactly what was said. This raises the problem of how to handle quotes made in a foreign language.

My assumption is that a translated quote is never placed inside double quotes. All translations are interpretations, not what was actually written / spoken. So, is this a big deal? yes. When translating into one's native language, you can easily spin a translation to make it seem like it has meaning that is not really there. And then, by delimiting it with double quotes, you can make it look like that poisoned quote is exactly what a non-native speaker said. Readers don't stop to think about the possible agenda of the translator.

These days, I've started reading the news. And, I am seeing a lot of quotes in doubles quotes assigned to people who I assume cannot speak English at an advanced level.

When I read an article in The Economist, The New York Times, etc. and I see a quote, in double quotes, attributed to a foreign leader, was the leader speaking English, or is that double quoted quote really a translation? In my own translation work, might it actually be better to use double quotes to delimit translated quotes because that is the expected standard?


texts: Any reason why the collocation "the wound healed" is more common than "the injury healed"?

texts:
"The wound healed" gets 890,000 hits when googled, whereas "the injury healed" only gets 525,000.

Is there any reason for the difference?

Whether the damage to someone's body is deliberate – wound – or accidental – injury – does not make any difference to the healing process, does it?


texts: What does "most of all" mean in this context?

texts:
It's not that the idea of rape as a weapon of war is implausible.
  Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian, Polish and most of all German
  women were raped by Red Army soldiers as they advanced through eastern
  Europe in 1944/45. The Japanese army raped its way across Korea. The
  Americans, in their turn, raped a multitude of women after taking
  Japan.

Does it mean, Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian, Polish and [majority of all] German women were raped by Red Army soldiers...

Or, Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian, Polish and [especially] German women were raped by Red Army soldiers...

And, will adding a comma after "most of all" change its meaning in the above context?


texts: What is the meaning of telling a story transparently?

texts: What is the meaning of telling a story transparently, https://www.masterclass.com/classes/joyce-carol-oates-teaches-the-art-of-the-short-story ?


texts: Is it wrong to use 'As equally significant as'?

texts:
I was preparing for IELTS and I used an online correction service, which corrected the following sentence I had used.

Original:

"Due to the monetary benefits brought by careers, working has become as equally significant as the other aspects of life hence creating a balance between work and pleasure has become a farfetched goal."

Corrected:

"Due to the monetary benefits brought by careers, working has become equally significant to the other aspects of life. Hence creating a balance between work and personal life has become a farfetched goal."

I want to confirm if the usage of "as equally significant as" is wrong in my original sentence. Is it because I use "as __ as" and "equally" together, which means the same?


texts: I usually think of "oblivion" as referring to a state of being forgotten, as in the expression "consign to oblivion".  Wiktionary includes this definition, but also gives "The state of forgetfulness or distraction" as another definition.  Is this actually true?  Can someone give an example where "oblivion" is used to mean forgetfulness rather than forgotten-ness?


texts: "I left smoking", "I quit smoking", "I gave up smoking", "I stopped smoking" are these same?

texts:
For various such sentences in many cases I get confused, it seems different for different cases. I want to know if someone left doing something for permanantly then what should be used?
Also give some examples for different cases.
Suppose... "I left my bag" means "I forgot my bag".
but If I want to say the same for permanentaly "I left bringing my bag".
Where should we use "stop" and "quit" then?


texts:
Can I say we need the delivery of this order tomorrow?
Is it the same meaning as the following sentence？

We need this order to be delivered tomorrow.

If there is any other way to put it, please advise me, thanks.