texts:
Is there any word in the English language that contains the letter combination "-cy-" and pronounced with a hard 'c'?
I find it strange that all the common use words are pronounced with a soft 'c' if the 'c' is followed by a 'y', considering that Middle English pronounced the combination as 'ky'.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is there a subtle difference between “somebody” and “someone”, “anybody” and “anyone”?

Can "no one" and "nobody" be used interchangeably? If not, when is the correct time to use either one?
The same but for "someone" and "somebody".


texts: Why do we write the surname before the first name when writing someone's name?

texts:
I do not completely understand the reason behind why we write our surnames before our given names when listing them on documents, usually separated by a comma.

EX: Donald Trump would sign "Trump, Donald"


texts: Unvoiced /dʒ/ and /ʒ/ in word final position

texts:
It seems to me that both /dʒ/ and /ʒ/ become voiceless (or almost) when they occur in word final position. Is this true?

Examples:

age, wage, courage, judge

garage, sabotage, collage, mirage

Does this happen due to the process of devoicing? If so, and as a result of this process, do the example words above lose all of their vocal fold vibration, or do they only lose some of it?

If the words above are only partially devoiced (don't lose all of their vocal fold vibration), how should they be pronounced in consequence? Can they be compared to a musical note that has to be played piano or pianissimo?


texts: What is the meaning of "right back over my hill" in a poetic context?

texts:
Before he was gone - right back over my hill
Who now will find him?
Why, nobody will
Doom shall I bring to him, I that am queen
Lost forever, nine by nineteen.

What is the meaning of right back over my hill?


texts: What's the origin of this vulgar internet slang term?

texts:
The word fuckboy seems to have materialized from the aether somewhat recently and I can't get a grasp on what it's supposed to mean or where it came from.

I've heard one suggestion that it originated from rap, hip-hop, African-American communities or African American Vernacular English.


texts:
What's the difference between meet up, meet and hook up as a synonym of meet up?

The Free Dictionary has the following definitions:

  to meet up: to see and talk to someone familiar or someone you do not know: "Let's meet up for drinks after work."
  to hook up: to meet someone and spend time together: "I was traveling alone, but then I hooked up with another woman about my age."

These definitions are really similar.
What is the subtle difference between these three words?


texts: Is an unpleasant smile the same as an unhappy smile? What does an unhappy smile look like? If they're not the same then what does an unpleasant smile look like?


texts: Can we use verbs of perception in the present continuous?

texts: Title says it all. Kindly inform what other verbs can't be used with present continuous.


texts: Word for someone who is "pretentious", but without negative connotation?

texts: Pretentious is defined as "attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed." What if someone does impress others because they actually do have a greater importance, talent, culture, etc.? What would be a good word to describe such a person?


texts:
I got puzzled when putting the following pieces together. I checked it online but couldn't find a convincing explanation.

  In large supermarkets, management must decide (on) what to put on sale.

Is the "on" preposition necessary here? What difference would it make if we removed it?


texts:
Can we use "the" with outer space?
Which one is correct?

the outer space

outer space

Thanks a lot!


texts:
In which context do you use the stressed bʌt and when do you use the unstressed bət? How often is that?
If you know about the website www.forvo.com, I think it's a shortcoming that speakers use only one of the two versions.


texts: Should I capitalize a person's last name if their name starts with a lower case letter but it's the first word in the sentence?

texts:
I'm trying to cite someone in a paper I'm writing whose name is "[First-name] de Soya". In my field it's common to cite papers using the "et al." style ("In their seminal paper, de Soya et al. […] present…"), however, "de Soya" is opening the sentence.

In that case, should I write "de Soya et al. […]" or "De Soya et al. […]"


texts: What is a general name for things that are being measured?

texts:
Kilometere is a distance measurement unit.

Kilogram is a weight measurement unit.

The Gini index is measuring inequality.

distance, weight and inequality are all ... ?


texts: What is wrong with the word "performant"?

texts:
I keep getting the red underlining in Word whenever I write the word "performant". Here I intend to refer to something that performs well or better than something else (i.e., it's more performant).

Is there something wrong with that word? Does it mean what I actually want it to say?


texts: "Financier" in British and American English

texts:
I am teaching English to a group of university students whose major is Finance, and whose native language is not English. I have no background in economics in general or finance in particular. I am from Britain.
My students often refer to their future career as 'financiers'. This didn't seem right to me, as I has always understood financiers to be people who provide finance (ie capital) from their own resources.
The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary confirms my feeling, as it talks about "providing" money, though not explicitly from one's own resources:

financier (...) a person who provides money for businesses etc. on a large scale.

However, a trip to the Wikipedia article on financier made me wonder if there is a broader definition of 'financier' to include people who make a living out of finance, whether or not they are dealing with their own or others' money. I also wondered if the confusion might be because there is a difference in British and American usage.
Merriam-Webster is my usual go-to for American usage. Here I found:

1 one who specializes in raising and expending public moneys
2 one who deals with finance and investment on a large scale

The definitions here seem to be broader than that of the Oxford Learner's Dictionary, though the categories of 'public moneys' and 'large scale' seem to provide some limitation which might not cover all professional applications of a degree in Finance.
The link from that site to the Merriam-Webster learner's dictionary gave:

a person who controls the use and lending of large amounts of money

Again, quite broad, but again the limitation of "large amounts of money".
My question:
Are my students right to refer to their future career as 'financiers' even if they are not planning to finance things from their own resources? Is there a difference in American and British usage here?


texts:
Please check if there is a repitition of the here

The model can be used to investigate the frequency dependent behavior of the Sinusoidal signal

How about,

The model can be used to investigate the frequency dependent behavior of Sinusoidal signal

Since I am anchoring the at the behavior of the signal

Thanks


texts: Mouth Ballooned Up in Disgust - Alternative Word?

texts:
I was wondering is there a word for a "ballooned up mouth right before a vomit; or to suppress a vomit". The expression would be like holding your mouth shut to suppress a vomit.
I've searched and couldn't find anything. Or could be just that simple? (A ballooned up mouth)?
Here is a link to a picture


texts: Does lockdown mean lockout? What's the difference between lockout and lockdown?

texts:
Lockdown

An emergency impacting a school campus that prevents the safe evacuation of a school building and requires steps to shelter
students and staff from danger. Lockdown procedures may also be used to ensure the safety of students when an incident occurs
in the vicinity of a school.

Lockout

It is used to secure the school or building from a potential
threat taking place outside, such as law enforcement activity in the
neighborhood. During a lockout, access to the building is restricted, but
there may be controlled limited movement.


texts: "There were lots of other things on the menu he could’ve deterred me to."

texts:
I asked a food truck operator if a certain menu item was spicy. He told me that no, it was not. It turns out it was.

When speaking with my friends, I said that "there were lots of other things on the menu he could’ve deterred me to."

My friends argue that "deterred" is this sentence is wrong, that it should be "deferred".

Which is the correct word to use, and why?


texts:
I'm reading Kim and there are many lines like "Canst thou?".

Seems this is a conjugation of verbs on the 2nd person pronoun.

Nowadays seems English only has conjugation on the 3rd person pronoun. Was there conjugation on other person pronouns? and when did such conjugation go away?


texts: What's a word for making a weapon inoperable for public display?

texts:
Is there a word for making a weapons system (a rocket, a tank) inoperable when placed on public display, e.g. in a museum?

What comes to mind is defuse (this seems limited to bombs), disarm (perhaps OK, but I associate "disarmament" with a large scale political process), demilitarize (I think this applies more to territory).


texts: What is this time describing noun called?

texts:
A noun for when something happened is occasion. A noun for how long something took is duration.

But how would you describe an event that happened at a certain time after an occasion?

Example:

The movie started 7:15 pm on Sunday 15/3.
The duration of the movie was one hour 35 minues.
Three minutes into the movie a guy showed up.
45 minutes into the movie I left the cinema.

Is there a more general noun to describe into the movie?


texts: Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) UK - Meaning

texts:
My question is simple (hope not too simple):

Why this organization has chosen this name?  - DISCLOSURE AND BARRING SERVICE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclosure_and_Barring_Service

DBS enables organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain work, especially that involve children or adults, and provides wider access to criminal record information through its disclosure service for England and Wales.

I know disclosure means to reveal and Barring probably means to exclude (in this context). Does it simply mean a service that reveals information and exclude candidates based on that information?


texts: "Can't be bothered" equivalent without "can't"?

texts:
How do I change my statement of "I can't be bothered" to not include the word can't?
My family are trying to take can't out of our vocabulary.


texts: Is there a slang word for "electronic cigarettes" (e-cigarettes)?

texts:
An electronic cigarette (e-cig or e-cigarette), personal vaporizer (PV) or electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) is a battery-powered vaporizer which simulates tobacco smoking by producing an aerosol[1] that resembles smoke.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_cigarette

These e-cigarettes have been commercially available in some countries for a couple of years, the UK included.

Has any slang word already been coined for them? (e-smoke? e-fag?  e-dugans?)


texts:
Could you guys tell me which one is correct?

We are having an open house.
We are holding an open house?


texts: In India we frequently use this term as a substitute for 'By the way'. Is the usage as popular in other countries? Can someone throw some light on the etymology?


texts: How to distinguish between “however” and “whenever”?

texts:
I have this sentence:

  Even if it takes forever, I am going to speak English like a native.

What I want to know is whether the first part of the sentence would be better replaced by whenever or however:

  Even if it takes forever

My teacher says that whenever is the better option here, but I think it better to use however instead because I understand that the speaker wants to speak English at any price.

What is your opinion?


texts: A question for train lovers (a specific part of a steam locomotive)

texts:
I am currently translating a text concerning steam locomotives (from Slovak to English) and I am a little bit stuck on an issue with a certain part of a steam locomotive (in the red circle).

Is there a specific name for that part? Like some kind of plate which helps to rectify the steam?

My second question is directly connected with the first one. Thanks to this particular part, the locomotive got its name, with these parts symbolizing "ears", therefore, the locomotive is called "Ušatá" in Slovak, which can be literally translated as "The one with ears" or "The one with big ears". Is there a word in English that would perfectly describe this attribute?

Any kind of help/answer will be much appreciated. :)


texts:
I am wondering whether the paragraph below is correct? Mainly I am not sure about the following phrase: "..about whether..", is it correct?
Paragraph:

It is quite common to have a bad situation, however, nowadays there is an intense debate about whether it is better to keep trying until obtaining what you want, or just to accept the things as they are.


texts: Is this right "People must vote for someone to be executed"?

texts:
Is this right to say the following sentence?

  People must vote for one of these prisoners to be executed.

Is vote a bad verb for this sentence?


texts: If we say A is weaker than B by a factor of x, then should x be smaller or bigger than 1?

texts: In math, we always need to derive different algorithms to get a tighter error bound. It may be correct almost surely that: the error bound of B is better than that of A by a factor x (x is bigger than 1). However, I am not sure if it is right to say:  the error bound of A is weaker than that of B by a factor x (x is samller than 1)?


texts: What is the word between the first and last name called?

texts:
In German, and other languages, it is common to have a word between your first and last name.

For example, a typical Dutch name would be:
"Jan de Vries". Where "Vries" is the last name and "Jan" the first name.

"Charles de Gaulle" is a French example.

What would I call "de" in this case?


texts: Usage of "Breaking News" over "News Flash" in television news

texts:
I was recently reading a BBC News article regarding the 1989 Kegworth Air Disaster. In the embedded video in the article, I noted that the title card preceding the news bulletin used the term News Flash. While I'm aware that News Flash was at one time the choice term to describe a currently-unfolding news story, I'm also aware that the currently-preferred term (at least in the UK media) is now Breaking News.

To use the September 11th 2001 Terror Attacks as another example of a major developing news story at a future point in time, Breaking News had become the term of choice for both BBC News and Sky News in the UK. Subsequently it's fair to assume that the term Breaking News fell into favour during the 1990s, presumably alongside the advent of 24 hour rolling news coverage.

I was wondering if anyone else could provide some insight as to why the term News Flash was dropped, and at what point in the 1990s this happened.


texts: Is there a word or phrase for something that one might wish exists, but most certainly doesn't?

texts:
An example might be a car that is fast, luxurious, reliable, gets great gas mileage, and is very cheap. Clearly we'd all love to own such a car, but it doesn't exist, and probably never will. There's also some naiveté in assuming it would.

Is there a metaphor, idiom, or other phrase that connotes this?

"Gee, that sounds like a wonderful car, but unfortunately, it's a _____."

UPDATE:

With regard to the proposed dupe - that question has the same accepted answer, but it's not the same question. Two different questions can have the same answer. Please let me know if you disagree.


texts: Which of the following are gramatically correct when describing people's speech?

texts:
"I like horse," screams Hendry.

"I like horse," scream Hendry.

"I like horse," Hendry screams

"I like horse," Hendry screamed (why used past tense)

Say you are writing a story about people talking to each other. Which one will you use?

For example, in http://www.fanfiction.net/s/569887/1/Little-Red-Riding-Hood-The-Wolf-s-Version people use past tense to describe speech. In most stories I read people use past tense. I wonder why.

Here, another story also uses past tenses http://www.magickeys.com/books/noblegnarble/page9.html#pictop

Is there any stories that use present tense so it's easier to understand? Is using past tense the de facto standard in grammar?


texts: How do you combine these sentences using proper relative pronouns?

texts:
I have this sentence:
"She asked six of her employees to come to the meeting. Four of them turned up."

I tried combining the sentences this way:

"Six of her employees were asked to come to the meeting, four of whom turned up."

Apparently, it is wrong.

May anyone explain to me how should I proceed and where lies the mistake?


texts: What is antonym of changing in favour of something?

texts:
We may say The traffic light changed in favour of us, which means it changed from red to green for us.

How can I use a similar structure to say it changed from green to red?


texts:
Is it "the fine arts" or just "fine arts"?

Also, do I capitalize anything?


texts: "Online Chinese course" or "Chinese online course"?

texts:
I intend to teach Chinese online. But I was just wondering which course title would be appropriate and if there's any difference:

  Online Chinese course
  Chinese online course

They sound a bit different, but what's the difference specifically? In this case, which term should I use for the course title?

Thank you.


texts: How should I understand "I trade A for B"?

texts:
[ADDED:] Which of the following is the meaning of "I trade A for B"?

I give A so that I can get B.
I give B so that I can get A.

The following is an example from a piece of news on this site:

  The change comes as Chretien's Liberal Party is besieged by charges that it trades favors for campaign money. The announcement appeared intended to shore up his political standing with an increasingly restive electorate and within his own party to preserve his parliamentary leadership position.

I understand that "trade" means exchange and "favor" means "the support or approval of someone", which should refer to "the support of the Chretien's Liberal Party" here. But what does it mean that "it trades favors for campaign money" --- "the party exchange the support for campaign money"? How did they do they?


texts: What is the opposite to filter/filtering in search

texts:
I have multiple search criteria, for example country and city.

To filter (exclude results not matching the criteria), I can do: country=xxx AND city=xxx. But I can also do: country=xxx OR city=xxx. So how would you call the operation that is not excluding the results but instead broaden them? Is there some fitting verb for it like filter?

Thanks!

EDIT:

Accepted answer is probably easier to understand to any web user. However, for anybody interested, the more technical version of answer is: filter vs. join or combine.

Thanks again all for help!


texts: Term for "Group wants to do it, lets do it, but in reality no one wants to do it"

texts: Term for the situation where "No individual in the group wants to do an activity, but they all agree to do it anyway because everyone thinks everyone else likes it"


texts: What do following words/phrases mean? (2)

texts:
This is the continuation of the previous question: "What do following words/phrases mean? (1)".

I'd appreciate any suggestions on what the bolded texts mean.

  We can vouch for the sweeter proportions and prettier detailing
  because TopGear was invited up to Crewe for a secret audience with the
  new GT, and in the metal it makes a stunning impression. Those lower,
  faster haunches are almost 911-ish, and the oval lights come straight
  from the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept. ...

  Inside, wow. The dash has a party piece. Bored of the pin-sharp
  12.3-inch touchscreen? It’ll electrically rotate, exposing a triplet of old-school temperature gauges (with yet more digital readouts embedded in them). Short attention span? Then turn the
  Toblerone panel again, and a veneer section turns into view

  The cabin was designed by Bentley’s chief cabin artiste, and a
  gentleman with the greatest name in all of motoring: Romulus Rost.
  Among his past works is the very  rst Audi TT cockpit, which ranks as
  one of the most enduring, iconic car interiors of the past 25 years.
  He points out Bentley’s subtle deployment of real metal where the
  customer’s touchpoints lie, and tells us he voted for physical
  buttons rather than Panamera- style touch-sensitive glass to make the
  Continental more familiar and traditional to use.

I understand them to mean the following:

in the metal: in its simplest form (i.e. without any design)
Those lower, faster haunches are almost 911-ish: those motors situated at the lower back of the car are powerful, almost 911
horsepower.
oval lights: lights at the front and/or back of the car
party: different
triplet: group of
Toblerone panel: not really sure what this means... I understand "Toblrerone" to mean a Swiss chocolate bar brand.
cabin: the interior of the car
real metal: metal or iron, as opposed to the modern touch screen
touchpoints: the points where people's fingers touch the screen

I've first looked them up in the dictionary and the meanings I came up with their meanings with their context in mind.

Thank you.


texts: Is this sentence correctly constructed for the meaning one is trying to convey?

texts:
Here is the sentence:

  Techi's brother Data is Painting Dye's husband, Time Line's best friend.

The sentence before that establishes that Time Line is Painting Dye's husband. The meaning trying to be conveyed in this sentence by my friend is that Techi's brother Data is Time Line's best friend, and Time Line being Painting Dye's husband should be re-established.

After careful analysis of this sentence, I have been unable to see how this exact wording conveys the meaning. However, my friend doesn't believe that this sentence cannot convey the intended meaning. Does anyone have a way to convince him of that?


texts:
My girlfriend and I were discussing the following sentence:

"Curiosity and diversity were discouraged, at times, disciplined."

I feel that there is clearly a larger pause with the first comma than with the second, and so there should also be a difference in punctuation. I don't have the technical knowledge to explain why, but I would like to know the reasons why I am right or wrong. I would prefer any of the following variations:

"Curiosity and diversity were discouraged, at times disciplined." (Omitting the second comma)

"Curiosity and diversity were discouraged. At times, disciplined." (I know this is technically wrong, but authors do it all the time if it flows better)

"Curiosity and diversity were discouraged; at times, disciplined." (If we treat the second half as an independent clause ["At times, they were even disciplined."] with the subject implied, then a semi-colon should be okay I think)

Can anyone comment on these variations and the relevant grammar rules?

Thank you,
Ryan


texts: "Will arrive" vs. "does arrive"—which of these two sentences is correct or more usually used?

texts:
I usually ask people like this:

  what time will your bus arrive?

But I recently found a language book shows the question should be asked like this:

  what time does your bus arrive?

was I wrong?


texts: Expression: "If you can't bring A to B, bring B to A"

texts:
There's an expression that I seem to be "misremembering":

  If you can't bring the horse to the water, bring the water to the horse

The meaning of this phrase is that you should, instead of fighting against a difficult situation, find an easier solution.

Sadly, none of my coworkers agree that this is the correct formulation of the expression, and I can't find it on the internet.

Does anyone know the correct version of this expression?


texts: Is “disregard for semantics” an apt description of this?

texts:
If a person uses perfect grammar while speaking but doesn’t make sense to anyone but themselves, are they disregarding semantics?
If not, what exactly are they disregarding? I want to stress that what they say makes perfect sense to them in their mind.


texts:
What is the meaning of “heavier than heavenly”?

I googled that but I didn't find the meaning. Google said it's as same as “heavier than heaven” and it's the name of a 2001 biography of musician Kurt Cobain, the frontman of the grunge band Nirvana. So what's the meaning?

I also found this link. According to that, it means Not suitable for heaven (too good for heaven). Is this correct?

Update

By the way, I found this phrase in song called On Our Way by Lana Del Rey. Here.


texts:
How would these 2 quotes be considered as contradictory?

"The worst hell you will ever face is the hell you create with your own mind."

"I’m very capable of changing to anything I want to change to."


texts:
For the past several weeks, I've been trying to figure out the word for what a “handyman” does. Last night I heard someone on the TV downstairs say “this is my handiwork,” and the connection suddenly seemed so obvious.

Earlier today I did some research—looking through the dictionary definitions of both words and using Google Advanced Search to try to find cases in which the two words were used together—in hopes of confirming my theory. However, I was unable to find any reference to the words ever being used together.

So my question is twofold:

Are handyman and handiwork at all related?
If not, is there a word to describe the work that a handyman does?


texts: Correct usage of possessive personal pronouns

texts:
I have a question about the appropriate usage the possessive personal pronoun "mine" over the possessive determiner "my".
I have done some research and understood the differences between them, but my questions isn't quite about that. One of the main purposes of pronouns is to eliminate repetitions, yet I cannot be sure whether to use it or not if there isn't a possessive determiner such as my, your, her, their etc that establishes the noun being referred to.
For example, I thought of the sentence below:

Your dog attacked mine! ('Mine' used as a substitute for 'my dog', as 'your dog' established the noun in question)

The above is no doubt a better construction than:

Your dog attacked my dog! Which sounds somewhat awkward in comparison.

However, if there isn't a possessive determiner preceding it in a sentence:

A wild dog attack mine!
It sounds jarring and not as natural as:

A wild dog attack my dog or My dog was attacked by a wild one.

I don't know if there is a grammar rule that would explain my question, but fellow memebers, is it still correct to use the possessive personal pronoun (such as mine) in the case above, or can it only be used if a possessive determiner (such as your) is used before it?
Many thanks!


texts: How to understand this film name 'Tron: Legacy'?

texts:
I have checked a dictionary, 'tron' isn't a word in English. And someone translated into my native language:

  Creat: fight record


texts: Polite Answers to "What else can I do for you? "

texts:
Suppose that I call a company's call center for help.
And near the end of the conversation, the staff asks a question like "what else can I do for you ?".

How can I give a polite answer to this sort of question if that was the only problem I had and it is now solved so I need no more help ?

Can I say "that's it for now" ?


texts: What's the difference between a gerund and a participle?

texts: What is the difference between a gerund and a participle?


texts: No more than 3 is allowed or are allowed?

texts: I am wondering which is correct, is or are? Also 2 is allowed or are allowed?


texts: Is there a word that describes when two or more people have different understandings of the same word?

texts:
I'm asking this out of personal curiosity, it's not required for a document or anything. My friends and I often have interesting conversations or debates, and often times we get stuck on an issue merely because we have different understandings of the same word. I use the word 'semantics' to try to describe it, but I'm sure that isn't the correct word.

My 'research' leads me to the word ambiguity, which I guess makes sense, but I'd like to know if there's a better word for it.

I am NOT asking for the word defining a word that has multiple meanings. (For example, wind meaning the gusts and to turn and/or crank a mechanism.) All other prior research leads to this answer.

Example for my question:
If two people have the word 'justice', and each person knows the definition of the word, but take the meaning of the word differently, what is that called?

If my question doesn't meet some sort of preferred formatting, just tell me what I did wrong in posting this, and I'll rephrase it later.


texts: Informal way to address a woman (who you do not know) in the UK?

texts:
When addressing a man informally I tend to use "mate" or "my friend" however it has never been clear to me how to address a woman.  In London, where I live "dear", "luv" or "darlin" seem to be used frequently but I am not a fan of any of them.  I therefore don't use any term unless I happen to know the woman's name.
I quite like the way "lady" is used in the US so perhaps that is an option.
Any suggestions and what terms do you use(if any)?


texts: What is the output document of a proofreader?

texts: After a proofreader has compared a typeset manuscript with the original, and highlighted any discrepancies, what is the resultant document called? Is there a special term for a proofread document (especially one covered with proofreaders' marks)?


texts: Looking for a Verb / Idiom to Make a Wish Come True

texts:
Let say I wish to have a car, and somebody bought me that car.
Which verbs or idioms can describe the "somebody's" action?


texts: Does "dissimulation" have a positive, negative, or neutral connotation?

texts:
I tried checking a few online dictionaries and can't get a feel for whether the word is generally used in a positive or negative sense.

What is the connotation of "dissimulation"?


texts: Which syllable is primarily stressed in the word "television"?

texts: I was taught to stress the first syllable of "television", but some dictionaries stress the syllable before -sion. My other question is "Does stressing VI before -sion exist in AmE?


texts: What is a word that refers to the state of appearing only as a head without a body, as in the case of an apparition or God

texts:
I am looking for a word that refers to the state of appearing as only a head without a body, as in the case of an apparition or god.  I think the word would be used in a sentence something like this:  "The goddess Athena appeared [blank] to him and foretold his future."

I know I have run into the word in use before and had to look it up. But I have forgotten what the word is. I am pretty sure that I found the word on Dictionary.com. To my best recollection, it is a foreign-sounding word, most likely Latin[ish].


texts:
I have another questions which are:

  "I will be back into the office at 3pm."

or

  "I will be back in the office at 3pm"?

and

  "As you can read on my report"

or

  "As you can read at my report"?


texts:
A friend of mine said he would like to bring the word 'hip' back in to fashion. I thought of 'hip' as a body part, so I didn't understand him until he said," Riding horses is seriously great; I mean seriously hip."

What does 'hip' mean?

I've looked up www.dictionary.com , but it also defined it as I have always defined it.


texts: Rhyming in the 17th and 18th centuries. e.g. "eye" and "symmetry"

texts: I first ran across this problem in reading William Blake's the Tiger many years ago.  In the first stanza "eye" is obviously meant to rhyme with "symmetry."  Recently I ran across the same jarring rhyme in Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress, the word "try" (line 27) is meant to rhyme with "virginity."  In both cases, in modern American English this is like reconciling a long "i" with a long "e".  I don't buy the explanation that this was just poetic license on the party of either of these poets. I'm sure that in their time they would have not have accepted such a rattling dissonance.  When I learn a poem I read it aloud, but I'm at a loss how to pronounce this. I doubt the answer is either/or, but rather somewhere in between.  Can anybody come up with a likely way of reconciling these two vowels, with an example of how to pronounce it?


texts: Meaning of sentence with double negation

texts:
I'm a learner of English, and I got this sentence from a dating book which I find difficult to understand:

  We know a man who was horribly disfigured by fire who has a constant
  stream of women in his life, who would never dream of thinking of
  himself as sexually inadequate.

The word never is a negative word and inadequate also has a negative meaning. There are two ways I can understand this sentence:

(1) Negative plus negative gives positive (my Chinese grammar), so the sentence means the same as

  He would dream of thinking of himself as sexually adequate.

(2) Double negative strengthens the negation, so the sentence means the same as

  He would dream of thinking of himself as sexually inadequate

or

  He would never dream of thinking of himself as sexually adequate.


texts:
I was writing something along "... I could only read upto page 34" when my spell-check app Grammarly complained that I should rather use "up to".
So, what's the difference between the two and is there really any difference? Or is it that the condensation "upto" is not technically allowed?


texts: Single word to describe a person who works smart but not hard

texts:
What is the word for a person that works smart to achieve the target, but without exerting much effort?

Previous answers to similar questions were in 2011 and 2012, and were just in the software field. This question is about a word for everyone.


texts:
An ideal article should have the following:
  • Appropriate and Correct
  English Professional, but not over-formal, U.S. English.


texts:
Policy debate uses the word "inherency" in an unusual way. One side in the debate proposes a plan and part of what they are obliged to show is that the plan will not happen in the status quo. This is termed "inherency". Despite using the term this way for several years, this has never made sense to me.

A longer description of the concept of inherency in policy debate can be found on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherency

My thought had been that it was meant in the sense, "it is an inherent part of the status quo that the plan will not happen", but the Wikipedia link uses the word differently, "This plan is inherent because...".

Is this usage of the word inherency unique to policy debate? Is there any precedent for this usage?

11/20/14 I'd still like a good answer and will upvote and accept one if it shows up.


texts: Is “attempt” a durative or a punctual verb?

texts: I think it’s punctual because an attempt in my view is a specific action and not a process, but I’d appreciate your thoughts on it.


texts: what is the meaning of two streets 'over'?

texts:
I watched a movie and heard the following sentence:

   Skeeter: I parked way up on State Street and caught a cab here, like you asked. Aibileen : Got dropped two streets over?

If there is a situation like the below picture illustrates (A,B,C,D,E are the streets) - in the phrase 'two streets over', what is the exact meaning of 'over'?

Is the meaning that Skeeter got out of the taxi on A street or E street? I am wondering what is the context of 'over'? Could between, before or passing,  replace the word 'over'?


texts: What do you call someone with the same occupation as you, but works for a different company?

texts: What do you call someone who works in the same field or occupation as you do, but in a different company or organization?


texts:
Need help converting this sentence to passive voice:-

  The students will assemble in the hall.

I think it should be:-

The hall will be assembled by the students.

But it sounds like students are building the hall by putting together some pieces.

Should I change it to assembled in by the students? Or something else?


texts: Can anyone tell me the subtle difference between "All we do is hide away" and "All we do is to hide away"?

texts:
I thought these 2 sentences,  "All we do is hide away" and "All we do is to hide away", meant the same.
However, one day, a native English speaker told me there's a subtle difference in meaning between those two sentences.
I asked for an explanation but he said it was too subtle to explain.
Can anyone tell me what's the difference between those two sentences?


texts: What's the meaning of the word "brand" in the expression "brand new"?

texts: What meanings might be conveyed by something being called brand new, as opposed to it simply being called new? What's behind the word brand here?


texts: a quotation from the economist explanation

texts:
"if someone gave you a penny for your thoughts, would they get change?"

Could you explain the sentence completely?


texts: Who came up with this quote: Thomas Paine or Dean Alfange?

texts:
"I do not choose to be a common man,
  It is my right to be uncommon … if I can,
  I seek opportunity … not security.
  I do not wish to be a kept citizen.
  Humbled and dulled by having the
  State look after me.
  I want to take the calculated risk;
  To dream and to build.
  To fail and to succeed.
  I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
  I prefer the challenges of life
  To the guaranteed existence;
  The thrill of fulfillment
  To the stale calm of Utopia.
  I will not trade freedom for beneficence
  Nor my dignity for a handout
  I will never cower before any master
  Nor bend to any threat.
  It is my heritage to stand erect.
  Proud and unafraid;
  To think and act for myself,
  To enjoy the benefit of my creations
  And to face the world boldly and say:
  This, with God’s help, I have done
  All this is what it means
  To be an Entrepreneur.”

Though I first started off thinking this piece was by Theodore Roosevelt, while digging through various online and book sources I came across indications that the author of the original text was either Thomas Paine or Dean Alfange.

Some people think it is taken from Common Sense, by the Englishman Thomas Paine (1737-1809). This particular passage is referred to as "The Entrepreneur’s Credo".

Wikipedia says:

  Alfange is remembered for a short statement he wrote in the 1950s entitled "An American's Creed" or simply "My Creed". The creed originally appeared in This Week Magazine, and a condensed version appeared in Reader's Digest in both the October 1952 and January 1954 issues. The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge gave Alfange an award for the composition in 1952.

The piece isn't included in Paine's "Common Sense".

Does anyone have any idea of where and from whose hand the text actually originates? Could it have been written by someone else?


texts: Does this parallel structure need coordinated prepositions to avoid being a faulty parallelism?

texts:
...on Finnis's view all distinct instances of basic goods are incommensurable — none is of more, less, or equal value with any other. — Source

I expect to see more or less than any other, but then equal shows up, and is followed by with. But since with any other cannot replace than any other, do you think this sentence illegitimately omits something?


texts: I am looking forward to ....? (followed by a Gerund)?

texts:
I know, that

  I am looking forward to hearing from you.

is correct.
But I am not sure, if this holds also for other verbs?

So is

  I am looking forward to taste your cookies.

or is

  I am looking forward to tasting your cookies.

correct?


texts: If you aren't "immune", could you be "mune"?

texts:
In English, "immune", meaning "invulnerable", seems to be the antithesis of a hypothetical word "mune", which would logically mean "vulnerable".

Is there, or has there ever been a word "mune", to which "immune" would be the antithesis?


texts:
What do I call the person that redeems a certificate? Could it be a "redeemer"?

EDIT 1
For example, a gift certificate for a spa, like a voucher...


texts: Word for a person taking on a characteristic that isn't a natural one but is a consequence of their environment?

texts:
I was sure that I had come across a word, which I have now forgotten, that describes someone taking on a characteristic that isn't a natural one but is a consequence of their environment.

An example might be that of a person who isn't, by nature, a driven, deadline-oriented [Type A] person, but has become so because they became a newspaper editor. In such a circumstance one would say that

  The person is __________ a Type A person.

Reference to reverse thesauruses hasn't helped, which means that I have either been using the wrong search terms or the word I'm looking for doesn't exist.


texts: Why is 'worthy' pronounced with a /ði/ unlike 'healthy', 'wealthy' and 'stealthy'?

texts:
I don't know how 'worthy' came to be pronounced with a /ði/ whereas 'healthy', 'wealthy', 'stealthy' etc., are pronounced with a /θi/. I am aware that theories of pronunciation in English are far too complex and often seem illogical. But with a curious student in my front wanting to know why 'worthy' has the /ði/, my task becomes very difficult.

I would appreciate if you could let me in on something that might help.


texts: What alternatives are there for the popular and ubiquitous use of the word "iconic"?

texts:
In light of how frequently people seem to be using the word iconic today, what are some alternatives which are perhaps more apt and more accurate?  I've always associated the word with paintings in a church, which have that certain iconic look to them. I guess you'd call it a signature- or highly stylized look, and not very realistic.

I've provided a few "before and after" examples below, but I welcome suggestions for improvement; that is, better alternatives. Possibly you prefer the word iconic and would not seek to substitute another word for it. That's OK too.

  The O. J. Simpson trial is the iconic controversial trial from the 90s.

vs.

  The O. J. Simpson trial is representative of controversial trials from the 90s.

or

  Snowboarder Joe Schmo's performance in the 2014 Winter Olympics was iconic for that relatively new event.

vs.

  Snowboarder Joe Schmo's performance in the 2014 Winter Olympics was the quintessence of that relatively new event.

or

  The iconic romantic comedy from the 90s has to be "Four Weddings and a Funeral," starring Andie McDowell and Hugh Grant.

vs.

  "Four Weddings and a Funeral," starring Andie McDowell and Hugh Grant, is the epitome of romantic comedies from the 90s.

Perhaps the appropriate alternative word or expression varies from context to context. If so, could you also explain grammatically why that is so? I'm not much of a grammarian, so please be simplistic, if possible.


texts:
We all know that literally is being overused currently. I want to know if literally should only be used in contrast to situations which are normally figurative in common usage. For example:

  It literally took him an hour to get here. (not a figurative
  expression)

  I am literally starving to death. (Figurative expression made literal
  because the person is actually starving to death.)

Literally is used for the latter example, correct?


texts:
I want to know the difference between these two items:

  She couldn't stop herself laughing.
  She couldn't stop herself from laughing.

I assume that No. 2 is wrong, but it seems right!


texts: We did it at exactly the right time vs We did it at the exactly right time.

texts: I know the first example is correct and I'm pretty sure the second is incorrect, but I wonder why.  So, we can say "I saw an extremely angry dog", but not "I saw extremely an angry dog."  When do we put the adverb before/after the article?


texts: What's another phrase or metaphor that means "to fulfill your dream" or "make your dreams a reality?"


texts: Meaning of "Initial document committed to confluence"

texts:
What does the above highlighted phrase mean?

  Initial document committed to confluence


texts:
Which of the following is correct and why:

1 - There were 2,223 people aboard RMS Titanic

2 - There was 2,223 people aboard RMS Titanic


texts:
I am not sure about the tenses in the following sentences. Is it the right choice?

1) I am originally from XYZ, studied XYZ in XYZ and will stay in XYZ until the end of March 2020.

( maybe 'have studied' or 'having studied' ? )

2) The last year I have been working in a XYZ company being responsible for XYZ in the northeasterly part of Poland.

(I am not working there anymore, so probably it has to be: 'I worked' ?)


texts: What tense is "acknowledge" in "provided he acknowledge"?

texts: The Texas Constitution has a sentence that ends with the phrase "provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being." What tense is the verb "acknowledge" in here?


texts: Looking for a word that means the thrill of doing what is forbidden

texts: My google search has unearthed "La Douleur Exquise" but that seems to carry mainly erotic or romantic connotations.  I wonder if there is a term from psychology that is more general, or that refers to the phenomenon of a child who does something only because he has been told not to do it.


texts:
I have some problems in using the plural form of a uncountable noun. For instance:

"The density of all the solutions is measured."

or

"The densities of all the solutions are measured."

Is there any difference between these two sentences?

Sometimes I find that uncountable nouns are very confusing. I don't know when to use its plural form. (p/s:I'm not a native English speaker)

Thanks in advance.


texts: What part of speech is the word hair in 'hair spray'?

texts:
Consider the following sentence as an example. I used some hair spray. What part of speech is hair? Intuitively, I want to say it's an adjective modifying spray since hair spray is two separate words and not a compound noun. Hair spray however, as paired nouns, is something that we've decided to call a thing suggesting it might be a noun or maybe some other part of speech as part of a noun cluster (if such a thing exists). A dictionary entry for hair does not describe hair as an adjective. I can think of several more examples like this:

money order,
pocket comb,
tip money.

Are money, pocket and tip adjectives or something else?


texts:
I'm writing a mock business plan for a translation company. Alongside the text they have to translate, there is some accompanying media, so they can pull more information out of the sentences (plurals, etc, that vary in languages)

I want to describe these additional media as context c(l)ues, but I'm not sure of the correct spelling. I've seen both used online.

Which version is the most correct?


texts: Describe a highbrow individual who uses rarely used English meanings and Latin phrases incorrectly

texts:
There is a smart high brow individual who insists of using rarely used big/complicated English meanings and Latin phrases in his daily communication to look smarter

I'm looking for a word to describe the behavior or characteristic of this person who uses rarely used meaning/phrases incorrectly or out of context to sound more intelligent but the layman doesn't pick it up. The consensus is this person is highly intelligent by listening to him, although if I examine what he says I disagree. How do I describe this?

example

  John proclaims, I don't agree with Einstein's adhoc theory of relativity. Tony says he agrees with John's view.

and

  John asks Peter, "What's up?" Peter tells John his is sad as his mother passed yesterday. John replies. "I'm sorry. By your ad hominem response I can see how deeply her passing impacted you. Don't let your beneffectance get you down." Tony says he feels the same way as John.

In the above scenario. John is * . Tony is *.


texts:
2016 is drawing to an end, and nobody can say it was an unexceptional year. On the contrary, it was extraordinary and at the same time a year of great tragedies.

"Extraordinary" and "exceptional"  because hardly anyone in the news  predicted the victory of Brexit or Donald Trump in the US presidential election, and who knew that David Cameron would resign and be replaced by Theresa May, the second woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

But 2016 will also be remembered for the mass murders in Aleppo, and the subsequent refugee crisis; the evil acts of terrorism in Europe, and the mass killings in the US.

And if that were not enough, 2016 will surely be remembered as the year when musicians of the calibre of Bowie, Cohen, and Prince died. And movie legends such as Alan Rickman, Carrie Fisher, and her mother Debbie Reynolds,  passed away.

Is there a word or phrase that means extraordinary  and tragic at the same time?  I would like a word, an expression or short phrase  that sums up this historical year.

  2016 was the year of _______
  2016 will go down in history as  ______


texts:
Say my intention is to say
"I did this bad things to her, but you shouldn't do it".

-Don't do that mean thing to her like how I did.
-Don't do that mean thing to her like unlike how I did.

This is so confusing....
Please help!


texts: Is there word like "excruciating" but relating to pleasure rather than pain?

texts:
I was hoping for some help on this one. I'm looking for a word that carries all the connotations of "excruciating" (intense, prolonged, unbearable, torturous, etc) but relating to pleasure rather than pain.

I could potentially use "excruciating pleasure", applying it's lesser used meaning to imply "extreme/intense" - it might even be somewhat poetic, but there's an implication of masochism that doesn't really fit my narrative.

Any suggestions? I'm happy to to accept a clever protologism if no such word exists!

As an example:

  The slow, seemingly endless mingling of their bodies was _______.


texts:
Examples:

  I met Monica a year ago. At that time, I was living in New Work,
  in a middle-sized apartment overlooking the Mississippi River.

  I met Monica a year ago. At the time, I was living in New Work, in
  a middle-sized apartment overlooking the Mississippi River.

Do they mean the same? Which is more appropriate for the example above?


texts: What is the correct pronunciation of the word "missiles"  because some sites say "mis-uh l" while some others say "mis-i oh"


texts: It often happens that two or more similar values are distinguished with the ' symbol, e.g. a, a', a'' and similar. How is this pronounced?


texts: Seeking a noun for 'one who acts with the wellbeing of people and planet in mind'

texts:
I'm looking for a noun to describe a person who lives in a way that actively benefits people and planet, or at least lives in a way that does no harm.
 'Altruist' is the closest I've got so far, but a) perhaps it has anthropocentric connotations and b) I'd like a more commonly used word, that most readers would understand.


texts:
To borrow a phrase, every editor who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that propagating the myth of "objective journalism" is indefensible. A newspaper or radio program may try to hide or obscure the fact that the people responsible for its content have opinions, convictions, and biases. But it is impossible to function as a journalist without making subjective judgment calls about newsworthiness, relevance and emphasis, or covering issues about which you have an opinion. Pretending otherwise requires willfully misleading the public.

What does To borrow a phrase mean in the above paragraph?


texts: Is phrase "will you be needing ..." correct?

texts:
I'm curious about this phrase

  Will you be needing [...] ?

It seems gramatically correct; I am also fine with "need" used in continuous time. But I'm wondering if it is used in spoken language...

For example, I want to take a shower (which might take a while) so I ask my roommate if he is fine with that:

  Will you be needing the bathroom?

Is this the proper way to do it? Or would native speaker come up with something easier?


texts: Short sentence with adjective and adverb

texts:
I think that this is a problem of the usage of adjectives and adverbs (that's why I chose this title):

I have a sentence in my presentation, which clarifies that a procedure uses only observations which are known, so I write:

  Uses only known observations.

or do I have to write:

  Only known observations are used.

or is the long version necessary:

  Uses only observations(,) which are known.

(I'm not sure about the comma)


texts: How to write arithmetics inline in a sentence?

texts:
I'm trying to wrap my head around the following sentence (this is about maritime and ports):

  If you are fixing a 10 days port call in a month having a 0.5 ratio would result in (10 x 0.5 = 5 days) of rain stoppages.

My question is: what is the best approach on writing inline equations in english? This should be technical, but pleasent to read


texts: What is a word to describe the place or role which someone takes?

texts:
The word isn't occupation by the way, however, it is subsumed under the meaning of the word that I am looking for.
I'll give a few examples in order to elucidate the meaning:

'The gentleman reserved her ______'
'By having his uncle murdered, he could take up the long awaited ____ as King of England'.
'The man asked whether he could take my ____ in line, as his cat was in labour'.

To be precise on what am looking for, it's about someone who has some sort of right to a given position (physical or abstract), of varying degree (from the line at the cheque point, right up unto the throne).
This means that 'place', whilst it does work for all three examples, is not the word am looking for, since you can have a place in say, the middle of the ocean, but no one has right to it (Well to be honest someone probably does for some silly reason).


texts:
Could anyone please tell me what is this word means?

  The ISO 8601 is not language-neutral for the DateTime datatype.


texts: Is there a single word for two phrases which are synonymous with one another?

texts:
Is there a single concise word for two phrases which have the same or nearly the same meanings as one another? Lately, I have found myself Googling phrases like "loath to admit synonym" or "take for example synonym," in the hopes of findings phrases of a similar construction and of a similar meaning. This feels imprecise.
Though Webster's Dictionary defines a synonym as:
one of two or more words or expressions of the same language that have the same or nearly the same meaning in some or all senses
I can't help but feel as though I am not living up to my full Googling potential. Any help?


texts:
I haven't took your class for a long time.
  I didn't take your class for a long time.

Which one is more appropriate?


texts: Specific adjective to qualify a religion

texts:
I am looking for a word to describe a religion which is flexible or liberal enough to accept a variety of folk beliefs, magical practices, other demons etc.
The author (translator) of the text which I am editing used “absorbent religion” (the text was translated from Polish), but I am quite sure there is a much better word, which seems almost on the tip of my tongue, nevertheless I am unable to conjure it up. Some help would be much appreciated.
PS.This is an academic paper about an ancient religion.


texts: What is the difference between "characterized by" and "characterized in"?

texts:
The electrode is characterized by the chloride.

The electrode is characterized in, that the chloride comprises acid compounds.


texts: Can you be "in comradery" as you are "in friendship"?

texts: Because you can be in friendship with your friend, is it valid to say that you are in comradery with your comrade?


texts: In what varieties of English can "does not qualify" mean "disqualifies"?

texts:
Are there any (nonstandard?) varieties (dialects/registers/styles) of English where "does not X" can mean "does the opposite of X", either in general, or specifically for the transitive verb qualify, meaning "to make/declare qualified"? For example, where "A does not qualify B for C" could mean "A disqualifies B for C"?

As a native speaker of American English, I'm pretty sure that this is not how negation works in standard American English. But I'm aware that in other languages (and 'lects) negation can work in different ways. And there's at least one verb in standard English that can negate like this: "not accept" can mean "reject". For example:

  The journal did not accept your paper for publication

can be understood to mean

  The journal rejected your paper for publication

I'm wondering about the word qualify because a recent public statement from Killer Mike included the phrase

  a uterus doesn't qualify you to be president

and the reactions to it indicate that some people understand "doesn't qualify" to mean "disqualify" there. Some people seem to be saying* that to them, that phrase out of context means "a woman cannot be president", and needs more context or words to mean "not all women are qualified to be president". But this would only be the case, far as I can tell, if "does not X" meant "does the opposite of X".

So, are there any dialects or registers of English where "does not" can mean "does the opposite"? If so, in those varieties, is this its usual meaning or is it ambiguous?

*I've purposely said as little about the controversy as I felt necessary to ask my English question. Anyone interested in the event should research it before forming conclusions. In particular, I'm not asking about what was meant by Killer Mike's statement, or how people happened to understand it, unless that's relevant to answering my question above.


texts: Pronunciation: vowels before dark L (Any accent)

texts:
To native speakers of English, how do you compare a vowel before a dark L and one without a dark L. Example words:

gold, goal, sold, soul, hole, hold, bowl, bold
go, so, ho, bow(noun)

.

pool, school, cool, tool
poo, coo, too

.

ball, hall, wall, mall
awe

Is the vowel/(start of diphthong) rounder? It will be helpful if you also state how round it is without an "l".
Is it shorter?
Does an additional glide/vowel appear?
Is it further back in the mouth (does it sound deeper?)
Does a consonant after the "l" change any of the above? (soul, sold)
Is the "d" in 5 any different?
Is the syllable tenser(requires more effort?)
What happens when a dark L becomes a light L? ("soul and spirit", bowling, schooling, balling)

The above questions are merely there to help you if you get stuck, feel free to answer as you wish. Input is appreciated from all native speakers, regardless of accent, although I am currently trying to improve my American accent.
You can also use IPA to describe what you hear. You can also compare other vowels than those in the examples.


texts: what is the difference in usage of 'pertain' and 'appertain'?

texts:
In the dictionary the meanings of these two words seem interchangeable so why do the two words exist? Are there different contexts for their usage?
Definitions by Merriam-Webster:

Definition of PERTAIN
1

a (1) : to belong as a part, member, accessory, or product (2) : to belong as an attribute, feature, or function <the destruction pertaining to war> (3) : to belong as a duty or right <rights that pertain to fatherhood>
b : to be appropriate to something <which rule pertains?>

2

: to have reference <books pertaining to birds>

Definition of APPERTAIN

: to belong or be connected as a rightful part or attribute : PERTAIN


texts: Is there a single adjective equivalent to "oddly satisfying"?

texts:
I came across this typescale pictured below, and found the curve it makes to be quite satisfying in a way that reminded me of those "oddly satisfying" videos that go viral every now and then.

It made me wonder if there's a particular adjective that describes that feeling specifically? "Satisfying" feels a little too broad.


texts: Is there any difference between aspect and aspectuality? Do these words have the same meaning?


texts: Greeting in the elevator; can I ask the neighbor where she was as a greeting?

texts:
Here in my country, we usually use the expression "where are you coming from?" as a greeting. (It literally means where you were before you got here).

This is good manners to ask like this in our country, but I heard this is a really inappropriate expression as a greeting.

When we meet each other, and we are a little bit curious about where someone is coming from, what is better to use in the elevator or in the street?

How about the expression "Are you coming from work?"


texts: the company failure to comply vs the company's failure

texts:
I got into an argument with a British native speaker over the following phrase:

'the company failure to comply with its contractual obligations'

I'm a non-native speaker, therefore I can't be quite sure, but I really doubt this could be grammatically correct.

Am I wrong, are both 'company failure' and 'company's failure' correct? Context: website article for a law firm.

The whole sentence:

It is necessary to determine or at least assess the amount of damage, which may be caused by a Ukrainian company failure to comply with its contractual obligations.

Some other cases:

It is necessary to determine or at least assess the amount of damage, which may be caused by a Ukrainian partner failure to comply with an agreement.

An important factor is the possible introduction of legislative currency restrictions that may affect the Ukrainian company ability to buy foreign currency and transfer it to a foreign counterparty.

Such enforcement proceedings may signal the commencement of the counterparty’s financial problems.

Meanwhile, the company winding-up is possible through its reorganization or liquidation.

In the latter case, the Ukrainian law provides for a period within which Ukrainian counterparty creditors may file their claims against such a bankrupt company.

Thank you.


texts:
This is the sentence I have written:

  How often do you think that there is an important detail to which you have not woken up yet?

Here, I am not sure about "important detail". I think it does not represent what I mean. Also, I do not like the sentences like "there is a -something abstract-", it is common to use in my language but, in English, I am not sure. So I am asking for help, I need appropriate words to say what I mean.


texts:
Was "bicycle" ever pronounced "bi-cycle" and if so where and when?
What's the source?


texts: Should I use an infinitive or "in" plus a gerund?

texts:
Which sentence would be more appropriate?

"Scholars like John Smith are highly qualified to write professional essays."

OR

"Scholars like John Smith are highly qualified in writing professional essays."


texts: Another " would" usage to maintain the same tense in the sentence

texts:
Touché on  modify the joke to serve your best interest, although it'd probably lose its luster as you'd be disregarding traditionally Jewish stereotypes.

Is this sentence grammatically correct? Please elaborate.


texts: Prepositions used with "command line" and "shell"

texts:
I found the following variations on the use of "command line" and "shell" in computing and wonder which are correct and how to use them appropriately.

Command line: is it "at the command line" or "on the command line"?
Shell: is it "in a shell", inside a shell", "at a shell" or "on a shell"?

My English teacher once jokingly said that with prepositions it's not only knowledge but sometimes also a good portion of luck for those who aren't native speakers.


texts: What are the Differences in Meaning Between "Problem Solving" and "Solving Problems"

texts:
Problem Solving tells us what you do.

Solving Problems tells us what you do it to.

Is there any other difference in meaning in the context of math word problems?


texts: Can you negate a positive without implying the opposite?

texts:
I often stumble over the fact that in English, apparently, we imply the reverse when we negate a positive. For example,

  That wasn't very good. [⇒ That was bad.]
  That wasn't bad. [⇒ That was good.]

Sometimes I wish to convey a more literal meaning of "That was not very good.", i.e.: "That wasn't very good, but it almost was." (I think there are a couple more contexts in which this problem has arisen, but I can't think of them at the moment.)

Is there a proper way to do this? Or a more efficient way than explicitly outlining the precise measurement, as in "That was better than good, but not quite very good."?


texts: Word for disposable cutlery etc preferably without using "disposable"

texts:
Is there one word (or phrase) to describe all forms of disposable cutlery etc, such as paper cups, paper napkins, paper/plastic spoons and forks, plates, etc. ?

I thought of disposable cutlery itself, and apart from that the common synonyms such as tableware, but is there one word that describes this specifically, preferably without using the word disposable at all?

Edit:

I appreciate the answers I have got till now, but many of the solutions are of the form disposable < synonym of cutlery >. While that is fine, if possible, I would prefer to have a word or phrase not containing the word disposable. The idea is to remove the negative connotation that might arise with the word disposable. Thank you.


texts: Differences between "A beautiful photo of an X" and "A photo of a beautiful X"

texts:
Which phrasing should I use, and when?

  The article includes a beautiful photo of a waterfall

or

  The article includes a photo of a beautiful waterfall

Both wordings get hits in google ngrams, and on an ordinary google search.

My initial thoughts were "A photo can't be intrinsically beautiful, can it?", and therefore "A beautiful photo" doesn't make sense.

However, I suspect that using "Beautiful photo" means that the entire scene is beautiful, whereas "Beautiful waterfall" could mean that the waterfall is beautiful, whereas the rest of the photo might be ugly.

What differences are there in the two phrasings?


texts: Why are phonewords called vanity numbers?

texts:
A vanity number is a local or toll-free telephone number for which a subscriber requests an easily remembered sequence of numbers for marketing purposes.
While many of these are phonewords (such as 1-800-Flowers, 313-DETROIT, 1-800-Taxicab or 1-800-Battery), occasionally all-numeric vanity phone numbers are used.

Accorging to Google Books the expression  is from the late ’80s but why ‘vanity’?
Is vanity number the more common expression to refer to these  often  used numeric/alphanumeric numbers?
Is it only  AmE usage or  is it used also in British or other English dialects?


texts: Is 'keep someone across' a new phrasal verb?

texts: How common is the expression 'to keep someone across' the news. Is this a new phrasal verb? I've noticed it mostly in the last four years on British news programmes, such as the BBC. It seems to mean that they will try to keep us informed of any developments in a news story. Has it appeared in any dictionary yet?


texts:
We invoke something using an invocation.

Is the use of a k and a c in words of the same root like this unusual? Might I reasonably expect invocation to be spelled invokation?


texts: is it common to use " you done? " instead of " are you done? "

texts:
http://www.englishtown.com/community/channels/lesson2.aspx?ptn=memb&hash=bGVzc29uX2lkPTY4MiZ0YWI9MSZwdG49bm9uZSZzaWQ9MTk4MDE1NTImbGlkPTY4MiZlZD0yMDE0LTEyLTE5VDE3JTNhMzAlM2EwMCZjdHI9dWsmbG5nPWVuJmNjPSZldGFnPUUxMTM4ODBfbWVtYiZlZXZlcj000&etag=E113880_memb&eever=4

in the above video someone use " you done? " instead of " are you done " is it common in English?


texts: Is “sand off the sharp edge” a well-established idiom?

texts:
I came across the phrase “sand off the sharp edges” in the following sentence of Washington Post’s (January 23rd) article titled “Obama’s State of the Union is crucial balancing act.”

“Obama’s senior advisers say he does not intend to shy away from his recent attacks on Congress or of the economic policies promoted by his Republican rivals, although he may sand off the sharp edges he has employed outside the Beltway in recent weeks to make his case.”

Though I guessed “sand off the sharp edge” means “blunt the edge,” I checked the meaning of the phrase on Cambridge, Oxford, Merriam-Webster online dictionaries to make it certain. None of them registers this expression.

However, www.mojosells.com provides definition - The concept of “sanding off the edges” means that you decide to please some people less in order to please others more.

There is no entry of “sand off the sharp edge” or “sand off the edge “in GoogleNgram.

What is the exact meaning of ‘President Obama may sand off the sharp edge he has employed outside the Beltway? Does sharp edge mean straightforward, aggressive, and relentless rhetoric he used before? Is “sand off the sharp edge” relatively modern usage?


texts: Why do like loads of girls my age like saying "like" so much, like?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Is Valley Girl speak like entering the language?

Please can you explain the origins of where the annoying over-use of the word "like" came from?

Does this have anything to do with Facebook?

Example:

  Logan is so, like, stupid when he says, like, anything!
  He's like, he's like an idiot or something. I don't think I like him anymore, like.


texts:
I am translating a book from Romanian to English. There is a word in the former language that denotes a state of confusion in a human being which could be translated as "without compass".

Is there any word in English which denotes the same idea and through which I could retain the same mental image (being "compass-less")?

EDIT: Context (example sentence) added below:

  "We cut the tall bushes at every step with our machetes, forging our
  path with a thirst for blood. We are boiled up by the anticipation of
  the fight and psychically prepared. We aren’t anymore the confused
  prey from last night – vulnerable, frightened and __________ ("without compass").
  "

It is a philosophical and psychological novel. That extract is from a certain scene that is related to war.

EDIT 2: More context

The scene which is referenced by "last night" is below.

"During the night, I see shadows that ooze through the forest, close enough to us, the ones that are established on the shore. “Enemies!” I yell from the depths of my lungs and all the soldiers jerk with their weapons drawn and start shooting scaredly without even aiming. The lieutenant endeavours to spot any enemy through the dark and, finally, orders us to cease fire. Lacking experience, but with some instruction, his hands and knees tremble. He never participated in a conflict."


texts:
Is this passive sentence correct?

  I hope you find this article as interesting, as writing it was to me!

If not, how can I rephrase it to sound correct?


texts: What word did Middle English have in place of “light" as in: “light blue”, “light green” etc.?

texts:
In English, we often use the adjective light before another colour to express a whiter shade of hue. For example, light blue, light green, light brown, etc.
The term pale is used in a similar way, e.g.; pale grey, pale yellow, and pale red.

Etymonline dates this usage of light:

  light (adj.2) (see light (n.)). Meaning "pale-hued" is from 1540s.

and for pale early 1300s

  pale (adj.) early 14c., from Old French paile "pale, light-colored" (12c., Modern French pâle), from Latin pallidus "pale, pallid, wan, colorless," from pallere "be pale, grow pale,"

If we look at names for “light blue”, only azure predates Early Modern English

azure  early 14c., from Old French azur, asur, a color name...
sky blue  is said to have first appeared in print in 1704

  A Collection of Voyages and Travels (London: Awnsham and John Churchill, 1704), vol. 2, p. 322, where John Nieuhoff describes certain flowers: "they are of a lovely sky blue colour, and yellow in the middle" Wikipedia

cyan (originally called cyan-blue) meaning ‘light blue’ is dated 1879

To illustrate my point more clearly, here is a Google Ngram set at British English, which suggests that the combination, light + name of colour, began from mid 17th century.

Questions

How did Middle and Early Modern English speakers say that a colour was light?
Did they place  term white before a colour; e.g. whit blewe (white blue)?
What does whyte russet mean? Is it a ‘pale reddish-brown’?


texts: Is there a term that means temporary base camp?

texts: It seems like there should be a concise term meaning a temporary base of operations. The implication would be that it's where someone has established a transient headquarters in an area they do not intend to be long-term. Scientists may have a dig site, soldiers a temporary command center, a business traveler a hotel, explorers a base camp. What is a generic phrase for this? I'm assuming there's something more concise than "temporary base camp."


texts:
As verbs, what are the differences and relation between certify and certificate?

For example, in human resources, why is it effort certify not effort certificate?


texts: Should this noun used in a possessive sense be singular or plural?

texts:
Consider the following comment in a C++ source file:

/* These members are documented with their associated property. */

Should the word property be singular or plural? Each member is associated with exactly one property. However, because there are multiple members, there are multiple properties.


texts: someone who tricks you to hate someone else

texts: What is the term for a person who hurts himself but makes you think someone else did it so that you hate that other person?


texts: Why can’t we use the present continuous for the future with “be” itself by saying “I’m being there tomorrow”’?

texts:
The rule we were taught says that present continuous can be used for the future when the action implies “planning and arrangement”.
And yet if I planned to be somewhere tomorrow, I still couldn’t say:

I’m being there tomorrow. { ❌   ᴜɴɢʀᴀᴍᴍᴀᴛɪᴄᴀʟ﹗}

Instead, I’d have to use the form:

I’m going to be there tomorrow.

Why is that? Am I missing some important distinction or nuance in the rule we were taught?


texts: The difference between 'protect from' and 'protect against'

texts:
The Longman dictionary suggests two options regarding the word 'protect': protect somebody/something from something and  protect somebody/something against something/

Examples:
The cover protects the machine from dust.
Physical exercise can protect you against heart disease.

According to the examples, I believe that the verb 'protect' takes
against' when you are talking about something which is not tangible, whereas the preposition 'from' is used with words that can be seen or touch. Am I correct? If not, how to know which preposition is necessary?


texts: What's a word or phrase for a prearranged situation seeming otherwise?

texts:
What's a word or phrase for a situation in which, for example, people in authority pretend to be serious in selecting a new member, whereas they have already decided who to choose?

I googled it but to no avail.


texts: Expression to describe being profligate with small expenditures, foolishly thrifty with big ones

texts:
How would you describe someone who fritters away money on inexpensive, trivial things, like coffee, but refuses to spend money on expensive, necessary things, like a decent new laptop (buying a lousy one instead)?

Is there an expression? I want to say "penny foolish and pound wise", except that "pound wise" is inappropriate here, as skimping on the large outlay is a false economy.


texts: Why is the word "folks" pronounced [foʊks]?

texts: Why is the word folks sound like it’s pronounced [foʊks] rather than [fɔɫks]? It’s as though people are thinking it’s spelled fokes.


texts: Is the difference in "sake" in English and Japanese a form of semantic change?

texts:
In Japanese, "sake" means any alcoholic beverage, whereas in English, it means a particular beverage from Japan (Nihonshu, literally "Japanese alcohol").

Is this a case of semantic change, or is there a different term for it? The examples given in Wikipedia only list changes over time, not changes when it's taken from one language to another.

Edit: I may be mistaken - it looks like the Japanese used to say "sake" rather than "nihonshu", and the latter only occurred once western alcoholic beverages came into Japan.


texts: Adjective that simultaneously means fearless and hopeless?

texts:
I'm looking for an adjective or a noun that simultaneously means fearless and hopeless.

A word x, such that x = fearless + hopeless?

To elaborate, x is a feeling. I know I will die today and that its unavoidable, yet it only gives me energy to fight. So I continue on in a deranged fearlessness, abandoning myself to the endeavor. Having resigned myself to losing everything, and broken loose from any fear of loss.


texts: Singular or Plural (has/have vs was/were)?

texts:
1) There has been a funeral, two weddings and three thefts since you left.

OR

1) There have been a funeral, two weddings and three thefts since you left.

2) There was a boy and two girls inside the room.

OR

2) There were a boy and two girls inside the room.

3) Two girls and a boy was murdered.

OR

3)Two girls and a boy were murdered.


texts: Is "titular" the appropriate word for a song that only uses the album title in its lyrics, not title?

texts: Is a song on a music album considered to be the titular song if it doesn't share the title of the album, but incorporates it into the lyrics? If not, is there another appropriate term for this lyrical gimmick?


texts:
I have seen style manuals suggest that there be no space between emdash and the surrounding words.

The following NY times article has spaces in the first sentence:

  "An expression of concern by the environmental group Greenpeace about
  the carbon footprint was marred this week by real footprints — in a
  fragile, and restricted, landscape near the Nazca lines, ancient
  man-made designs etched in the Peruvian desert."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/13/world/americas/peru-is-indignant-after-greenpeace-makes-its-mark-on-ancient-site.html?ref=science

This despite there being an article in the same Ny times suggesting no space. What is correct?

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/mad-dash/

  First, make the thing the right way. There are a few ways to do it,
  but generally, on a keyboard, you can do as follows: previous word/no
  space/two hyphens/no space/following word. Word-processing programs
  turn the two hyphens into an unbroken line that’s roughly the width of
  a capital “M” — hence the official name of this punctuation mark, the
  em-dash. (Some publications, including this newspaper, add spaces
  around dashes.)


texts: What is the use of the word "there" in this sentence?

texts:
While working with my brother on his grammar, I saw the sentence:

  There were several good reasons for his mistake.

The question in his work was what part of speech is reasons (subject), but I am stumped as to what part of speech there is.

So, what part of speech is there in the above sentence?


texts: Can "to come/ get to grips with" be used in the following sentence to imply "to understand"?

texts: I want to come/get to grips with a lot of social issues like poverty and malnutrition.


texts: What's the origin of the phrase to "do one"?

texts:
The phrase to "do one" — essentially an insult meaning to "do a disappearing act" (if the Urban Dictionary's definitions* are anything to go by) — seems to be a fairly recent phenomenon. Where did it come from? Is there any particular usage of it (such as by a celebrity or on a TV show) that led to it gaining traction?

*warning: some of the definitions contain expletives


texts:
I'm writing an essay, and I need a bit of help with my comma placement. There is a series of short sentences that go like this:

  He seems angry, to some. He seems insane, to most. He seems resolute, to himself.

Should those commas be there? Generally, I put commas where I myself would pause while speaking unless I'm sure one shouldn't go there. However, here I'm not sure at all. What say you all?


texts:
I came across the word, “the produce aisle” for the first time in NPR’s news introducing 'Eating on the Wild Side – A field guide to nutritious food,” writen by Jo Robinson. It goes:

  “Our modern fruits, grains and vegetables aren't nearly as
  nutrition-packed as their wild counterparts were thousands of years
  ago, says health writer Jo Robinson. Her new book offers advice on how
  to shop the produce aisle to select for foods that offer the best
  nutritional bang for the bite.”

None of Cambridge, Oxford, and Merriam-Webster online English dictionary registers- “produce aisle.” But Google Ngram indicates that the word emerged in / around 1960 and its usage is on a sharp rise.

What does ‘produce aisle” specifically mean? Why has it come current? Isn’t it simply an in-store aisle?

Why is it ‘produce” aisle, not “product / merchandise aisle?


texts:
The words "spoken for" have an idiomatic meaning referring to things or people which have been "taken" in some sense.  Cambridge Dictionary defines spoken for:

If something is spoken for, it is not available because someone has already bought or asked for it
old-fashioned If someone is spoken for, they are not available for a romantic relationship because they are already having one with someone else

I haven't been able to find information on the phrase's origin.  It's difficult to judge an NGram of this pair of words, since the phrase "spoken for" can have other meanings besides this idiomatic sense.  But a glance at the results suggests at least that the pair of words have been commonly used together for centuries.

NGram

It seems to me like an odd construction to refer to something or someone that (or who) has been taken and is no longer available.  How did this pair of words come to take on such a specific meaning in English?


texts: Is there a word that describes something that is invisible when it is alone but in numbers it is visible?

texts:
Is there a word or slang word that can be used to describe something that is invisible on its own and in numbers it is visible?

For example:

  One bacterium is hard to see (invisible to the naked eye) but when there is a huge population of bacteria it can be seen (visible to the naked eye)

I used the concept of bacteria to further my point but I don't necessarily mean microscopic organisms.

Edit:

Another example:

  One star is hard to see from a distance but when you look at a galaxy (collection of stars) from the same distance visibility is significantly increased.

The use of the word would be in terms of population.

An individual alone in a population vs a large group in a population.


texts: Correctly say "I will let you know with further updates"

texts: How to say this correctly "I will let you know with further updates"


texts: "to vest" vs. "to invest (as a metaphor)"

texts:
With "to invest" used as a metaphor, the following sentence seems ok:

"Devolving decision making to the lowest level in corporations enables the individual to feel more invested in the overall success of the corporation."

In place of "to invest" I think you can say "to vest". But, no matter how many times I read the dict. def. I can't decide if the following usage of "to vest" is ok:

"Devolving decision making to the lowest level in corporations enables the individual to feel more vested in the overall success of the corporation."

Using a second definition of "to vest" seems clever to me. And, using "to vest" allows me to extinguish the stupid, consultant-like, metaphors such as "Team building is critical to get everyone invested in the strategy for success".

Can a bunch of people please validate that I am using "to vest" correctly in example sentence #2 above?


texts: I have a question about the difference between 'diagram' and 'graph'

texts:
I'm preparing IELTS exam and I got a problem with TASK 1 in writing part.
I want to explain about a flow chart using 'synonym of flow chart' and the synonym  was 'graph'. However, my English tutor said to me those are not synonyms at all. This is why I was getting confused what is the difference between the word 'flow chart' and 'graph'.

My question is this. Does the word 'graph' includes the definition (or meaning) of the word 'flow chart'? Or are they totally different words as my tutor mentioned earlier?


texts:
Is there word for entrepreneurship which is related to only IT(Software, Web Design, Online marketing, Blogging, etc)?

Can I use as 'IT Entrepreneurship'?


texts: Is there a single word for "turn a blind eye"?

texts:
I've heard the phrase "turn a blind eye" and I'm wondering if there is a single word to represent this. In my context, I'm looking to describe something negative, for instance:

She turned a blind eye to her child's behaviour when she discovered he was bullying other kids at school.
A bad supervisor will turn a blind eye to his or her employees' poor work habits.

Neglect doesn't seem appropriate in some of these contexts. I've thought about using disregard or ignore but I'm not sure if they convey the same meaning/what the differences are.
Is there a single verb to represent this phrase?


texts: Word that includes envelope and fax transmission

texts: I'm writing a document where I want to say "included in this ______ is a copy of x, y, z." I'm both mailing it and faxing it so I'm not sure what _______ should be. I've considered the words transmission, message, document but am not sure if they are appropriate.


texts: What is the meaning of "to look like a square"?

texts:
I read this on The Oatmeal:

  Hey, he is clapping along to the music! How
  quaint! I should too. I would not want
  to look like a square!

Another one:

  You Won't Look Like a Square With
  B-Side's Cubic, Steam-Punk Jewelry

(Emphasis added.) Now, what does it mean by looking like a square? Amazingly, Google doesn't know what that means.


texts: Word describing person who discourages somebody without evidence

texts:
I've been trying to think of a word but I failed.

Is there some word or phrase that describes person whose intent is to
discourage people of doing something without actual proof that it is
wrong but purpose of it is to save this person(they are scared they're going to hurt themselves)? Only thinking they know better.


texts:
I was doing a CAE Practice Test on Use of English (It is a multiple choice exercise) when I came across the following example:

  Her life was cut tragically short. She ______ a horrific accident at
  the National Air Show in Ohio in the USA, when her plane crashed
  through the roof of a building

In the gap you need to choose between underwent and suffered.

Both of these collocate with accident according to ludwig.guru: 1) suffered, 2. underwent

However, the answer key suggests suffered as the only possibility.

Why can't the latter work as well?


texts: We say entrepreneur and entrepreneurship, what is the verb?

texts:
For the word entrepreneur and entrepreneurship, I would like to know the corresponding verb, i.e the action of doing entrepreneurship, i.e the verb that should fit in the next sentence :

To be a good entrepreneur you should ________ this and that project.

What would be the verb that shares the same root ? entrep... ??


texts: Is this a complete sentence? Using colons

texts:
The sentence I saw: "The eggs benedict should include the following ingredients: poached eggs, English muffins, bacon, and hollandaise sauce."

But colons must follow an independent clause. So does that mean that "The eggs benedict should include the following ingredients." is a complete sentence?

Because I feel like its not a complete sentence if it is not followed by a list.


texts:
I want to use this phrase in an email to my previous supervisor to let her know that I will send her my essay in the near future.

Does the phrase "in the upcoming days" sound normal to a native English speaker and also convey the intended message?


texts: Repeating "I" in an enumeration of attributes

texts:
Since I like staying up until late at night, waking up late, and generally [I] am more of a nocturnal type of person…

Is the I in the square brackets necessary, or can it be omitted? Personally, I feel like it sounds better when left out, but some people told me otherwise. Please clear up the confusion, thanks!


texts: Bought in, bought on, bought from, bought at?

texts:
I bought this bike in|on|from|at an online store.

I bought this bike in|on|from|at November 13.

I bought this bike in|on|from|at a sale.

What is the appropriate situation where the words in, on, from, and at should be used?

I think something similar has been asked before, but I can't seem to find it in this SE site.


texts: Is there an standard English dialect to use for programming and documents?

texts:
This question came up today in one of my code reviews at work. Where I used colour (South Africa English/British English) instead of color.

Our company's opinion is to use American English for programming.
Which is fine if they want to do it that way, I just wondered if there is a standard dialect to use?


texts: Why are all acronyms accented on the last syllable?

texts:
When saying acronyms out loud, almost always the last syllable is accented (no matter how long the acronym is):  US*A*, U*N*, RSV*P*, etc.

Accenting any syllable but the last makes you sound silly (try it).  Why is this the case?


texts:
Red and black result [in] the same order when sorted alphabetically.
  ... because they result [in] the same exact definition.
  Doses of ... result [in] the same effect that control does.

Can (or should) 'in' be omitted in these sentence?

Google gives 1,300,000 results for "they result in the same" and 287,000 results for "they result the same". I thought that both are correct and that omitting 'in' is more appropriate in this context. Omitting 'in' appears to be quite common in academic papers. However, somebody corrected me and said that there should be an 'in'.


texts:
Is the verb "lead" used in the sense of "getting someone to do something by a cunning" Does the phrase "lead someone to say something" make sense? Also, would it make sense if I turned it around e.g. "Don't let be led into saying that!".
Would the preposition "on" change anything: "Don't let be led on into saying that!".


texts: Is it improper English to read the number 1100 as "eleven hundred"?

texts: For numbers between 1000 and 9999 is it proper English for the word "hundred" to be used? For example is it necessarily wrong to say "eleven hundred" when referring to 1100?


texts:
Correct usage of department director?
Example:

Director of Human Resources
Human Resources Director


texts: Difference between "presidentship" and "presidency"

texts: What's the difference between presidentship and presidency?  Please give examples to show the difference.


texts: Any idiom for someone who tends to do things in too much of a hurry?

texts:
"Were you born at six months?" is a kind of expression we use in Persian about someone who's not patient enough and tends to do things in too much of a hurry!

Is there anything like that in English? Any similar expressions?


texts:
Which one is correct?

The building was not recorded on the cadastral plan.
The building was not registered on the cadastral plan.
The building was not processed on the cadastral plan.

Or how can I make it correct in any way?


texts: What is it called when a word is used to refer to the word, not its meaning?

texts:
In this picture

The word 'yet' is being used as a noun, but 'yet' is a conjunction. Is there a term for this?

Transcript of the relevant part of this image, just in case it gets taken down:

  What is a word made up of 4 letters, yet is made up of 3. Although is written with 8 letters, and then with 4. Rarely consists of 6, and never is written with 5.


texts: "Would you mind if I use" vs. "would you mind if I used"

texts:
Would you mind if I use/used your mobile?

One of my friends said used is wrong here. But I think it's grammatical. Who is right?


texts: Can 'Dupe' be used as a verb instead of 'Duplicate'?

texts: I've seen this only in one scenario, 4 players on 2 teams are choosing which type of car they will use, and when both players on the same team choose the same car, player 1 says to player 2, 'Stop duping me!' or 'Don't dupe me'. The only source I can find to back up this usage is Dictionary.com, which presents no source or examples, but cites a Random House dictionary. Any thoughts?


texts: Is there a general term for small objects used in sewing/tailoring/knitting etc.?

texts: Needles, thimbles, hooks and so on. I feel like there should be some all-encompassing word for that but I can't find it.


texts: Unambiguous Way of Stating a Biconditional in Plain English

texts:
I am having a hard time understanding this section in Wikipedia's article on Logical biconditionals:

Colloquial usage
One unambiguous way of stating a biconditional in plain English is of the form "b if a and a if b". Another is "a if and only if b". Slightly more formally, one could say "b implies a and a implies b". The plain English "if'" may sometimes be used as a biconditional. One must weigh context heavily.
For example, "I'll buy you a new wallet if you need one" may be meant as a biconditional, since the speaker doesn't intend a valid outcome to be buying the wallet whether or not the wallet is needed (as in a conditional). However, "it is cloudy if it is raining" is not meant as a biconditional, since it can be cloudy while not raining.

My question is how can the plain English "if'" sometimes be used as a biconditional?
I'm OK with the word "biconditional."
I don't understand how the reader is to know the "speaker doesn't intend a valid outcome to be buying the wallet whether or not the wallet is needed (as in a conditional)"
especially how this amounts to "(as in a conditional)".


texts: Generic term for a thing that is versioned

texts:
Lots of things can have versions, where a version is an updated iteration of the thing, and the more recent iteration is considered to be a replacement of the former iterations, such that at any time at most one version is considered "current."  For example:

Software (Windows 7, Windows 8, etc.)
Books (4th ed. 5th ed., etc)
Cars (MY 2013, MY 2014, etc.)

Is there a generic term for "a thing that can be versioned"?

Is there a better term than "version," the way I define it above?


texts:
In writing a question for Programmers StackExchange, I wanted to write a sentence similar to "To my credit, I did foo, bar, and baz," except foo bar and baz are bad things so they are actually the opposite of being to my credit. What is a the opposite of the phrase "to my credit"?

Possibilities I considered:

"That said..." - This is what I used, but it required me to rework my sentence somewhat.
"Not to my credit..." - Awkward.
"Against my credit..." - Might work, but I've never heard it used before.
"To my debt..." - Takes the credit/debt metaphor too far.


texts: How do we refer to body odour delicately?

texts: Perhaps one of the most difficult things I ever had to do as a manager of staff was to talk to  someone about their 'body odour'. Can anyone think of a term to use and appropriate language in which the subject might be introduced in a private conversation?


texts: My intuition tells me that they are both 2 morphemes, where /t/ represents the superlative form.


texts:
What is the difference between long, yen, and crave, as verbs and nouns both?

Longman:

  Longing - a strong feeling of wanting something or someone
  Craving - an extremely strong desire for something (listing Longing as a direct synonym)
  Yen - a strong desire

They're used as:

Long to do something / for something or someone; Have a longing for someone, something/to do something
Crave something; have a craving for something
Yen for something, someone / to do something; have a yen for something, someone / to do something

Is seems to me craving is used mostly when you talk about food or something (or something immaterial, like attention). Both long and yen strike me as somewhat poetic.

What are the differences between them, which is used more often and in what contexts? Do any of them sound archaic / stilted / poetic?


texts:
I have a program for managing products and intermediate artifacts stored in a human concrete building somewhere. The program is not only manage the artifacts existed, but also the resource planning for non-existed artifacts. So, what should I call this program, an inventory manager, or a repository manager, or warehouse manager, or something else?

Personally, I feel that inventory is not intuitive, it's prefixed with invent-, however, there are also purchased artifacts which are not invented by ourselves in the repository. Though, most people/documents call this piece of program as inventory manager.


texts: What is the word for "job-hopper" with a positive connotation?

texts:
How do you call people who change jobs frequently but in a good way?

For example: Mary is a ______ who has acquired a wide range of skills from short stints of employment.


texts: Overview of comma and interpunctuation rules

texts: Is there any good summary of comma and interpunctuation rules? I know that English spelling traditionally requires fewer commas than, for example, German, however I am often unsure whether to use a comma or not.


texts:
Which one is the correct term, or can I use both?
I want to use it in a sentence like: "Please stay on/in the channel"


texts: Is the Subjunctive Mood always a conditional statement?

texts:
I had exam and they asked: I would go to the library every day, if I ____ you.

Options:

were
was

I came to know upon reading that question was in subjunctive mood. So, my question is

what is the difference between subjunctive mood and conditional statement?


texts: How to punctuate when using an introduction phrase

texts:
I’d like to know which kind of punctuation is needed if you want to express the following:

You see I no longer fear death.

Do I treat this as two sentences, ending both with a period (full stop)?