texts: "The key doesn't work" vs. "The key is not working"

texts:
Here's a situation. You go to your hotel room and the key that you have is not working. When you go back to the reception, should you say:

  The key is not working, can you fix it.

Or

  The key doesn't work, can you fix it.

The key is a card and the key used to work.


texts: When "and" is used two different ways in a sentence . . .

texts:
I know it is not correct to put a comma before "and" if the subject is the same but I feel like I should do so if "and" appears earlier in the sentence like this:

He was convicted of murder and human trafficking, and jailed.

or

She set aside the condom and lubricant, and turned her face away.

Should I keep the comma or drop it? I know I could reword it to use two separate sentences and avoid the issue altogether, but this happens to me a lot and I want to face the issue head-on.


texts: More specific antonym to "lodger" than "landlord"

texts:
You can distinguish between someone who's paying for a room and paying for an apartment or house with lodger versus tenant.

Is it possible to distinguish between someone who offers a room for rent and offers an apartment or house for rent? Are there any hyponyms for "landlord" that make this distinction?

I checked onelook.com's reverse dictionary, and the thesauri recommended on meta, and didn't find anything.


texts:
I'd need to translate into English an expression which describes somebody quite unlucky. Is the expression in the title (literal translation from my language) what would you say in English or please could you suggest any elegant expressions for it?
Thanks a lot!


texts: Is there a word for "a person from another race"?

texts:
I am searching for a word that means ‘of another race’ to be used in context of a sentence such as

"She was deeply protective to her [of other race] foster children."
"They shunned the [other race] people."

The definition of race that I am referring to can be best defined as follows(from Google definitions):

each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical
characteristics. "people of all races, colours, and creeds"
synonyms: ethnic group, racial type, (ethnic) origin "the school has
pupils of many different races"

Here the 'other race' may mean just one race, or several. Through my research I was unable to locate such a word, except directly using the racial identity e.g. white, Native American etc., which is not what I want to achieve.
To add further clarification, the 'other race' in this context does not necessarily refer to an ethnic minority. Actually first example was based on a contradictory situation in the tv series Strange Empire, where a Metis woman is foster mother to two orphaned white girls.
To answer several questions raised in the Meta discussion:
While 'people of another race' can be very well referred to by their race or nation, I want to emphasize on the distinction of race, not the particular race.
For example,

"The rich, white mining owner ruthlessly overworked the (people of other race) labourers."

vs

"The rich, white mining owner ruthlessly overworked the Black, Mexican and
Chinese labourers."

The standard words such as foreign, outsider, alien, etc. are not acceptable because a person from another race is not necessarily any of these. A Native American in the US is not a foreigner, outsider or alien.


texts: Which one would you prefer: "quick question" or "short question" for a question that you know is simple and will only take a moment to answer? Or maybe "simple question"? The problem I have with "quick question" is that I don't think a question may be "quick", because it is not moving anywhere.


texts: What does the phrase “sixteen to the dozen” mean?  I read it in a book concerning a couple of teenagers chatting.


texts:
In my experience...

Inhibition is commonly used in different ways, say to render
difficult, or to hide, to restrict or hinder, etc.
Exhibition can be something like making and art show, presentations, to display or demonstrate, etc.

However, can these be used as antonyms? When looking the construction of the words say the prefixes of "in" v.s. "ex" (generally in and out), I wonder if these words have evolved in a way where the direct use of the deconstructed can be used in the same literal sense as one would have it today, say the 21st century?

Particularly, if I use these words in the following sentence, would it be incorrect or somewhat ambiguous?

  Alcohol can cause reduced inhibition (behavioral). Alcohol allows the exhibition of one's true unfiltered personality.


texts: Is “Am I needing to. . . ?” grammatical?

texts:
In the course of answering this question (which is now deleted and may be viewed only by 10K+ community members), we have evoked some dispute over whether the phrase

  Am I needing to read this book?

is grammatical.  I think it is correct, although not common, but others think differently. Is this a correct grammatical structure, albeit perhaps a bit odd?

EDIT: I think I should clarify further.  I don’t disagree that this phrasing is unusual; in fact, that’s what I said in the other answer.  What I am interested in is whether it is correct or not. I think it is because of its uncommonness that I am not certain. It might be more straightforward to ask it this way:

  Is the sentence “I am needing to read this book” grammatical?  If not, why not?


texts: Syntactic function of "to kill him" in the sentence "I want you to kill him"

texts:
Is the sentence "I want you to kill him" grammatically correct?
What is the syntactic function of "to kill him" in the above sentence?


texts: "subject to" vs. "subject of" - What is better / What is correct?

texts:
I am not an English native speaker so please excuse me if the following is a dumb question.

If you want to express that something belongs to something it is commonly a good way to use the word subject, but do you say (for instance):

This procedure is subject to the syntactical analysis
or
This procedure is subject of the syntactical analysis.

?


texts: How can I break English L2 pronunciation habits?

texts:
I keep making attempts to help L2 English learners break their strange pronunciation habits with tools like phonetic charts, but it seems like they just relapse. One of the big issues I deal with with L2 English learners in Japan is that they finish words with "o". For example, instead of saying, "Can you get me that?" They say, "Can you geto me thato?" They're trying to enunciate.

I have a controversial way of teaching pronunciation that ends with consonants that seems to be effective, but people just relapse into the behavior of enunciating with the added o. One of my regular students often uses count pronouns with non-count words and says, 'It's a style of English speaking. So, it's okay.'

Let's look at a specific example: walk vs. work. If you have people sound out 'werk' and 'wok', they sound spot-on. Unfortunately, after about 5 minutes, they're right back to saying "WAHELK" and "WHORLK", which just sounds terrible.

How can I solidify their pronunciation?


texts: There is a discussion concerning how to translate the Norwegian expression ''Rene ord for Pengene" to English. The expression has the meaning that one has been quite forthright. Is it reasonable in this case to coin the neologism ''Clean Words for the Money'' by means of a literal translation.


texts: What does "stepping over the necks of peasants" mean here?

texts:
While a Chinese friend of mine was reading the story, The Standard of Living by Dorothy Parker, she came across this sentence:

  Annabel and Midge passed without the condescension of hurrying their
  pace; they held their heads higher and set their feet with exquisite
  precision, as if they stepped over the necks of peasants.

My friend asked me if “stepping over the necks of peasants” was some sort of idiom. I am not a native English speaker. And I couldn’t find such a phrase in any dictionary. I assume this is just a simile, but I failed to see the exact meaning behind this description. So could you please help analyze the phrase?


texts:
This all raises the question as to whether it is appropriate to look
  to athletic figures as role models and whether they should be held up
  to circumspect levels of conduct.

According to the dictionary, is held up as a passive structure means; 'pay attention to, single out'. That may be true,but don't you think that in this sentence it doesn't work? What do you think would be the best equivalent?


texts: Correct usage of "parallel" versus "in parallel" versus "parallelly"

texts:
I wish to know if any of the following sentences are incorrect:

  Using A and B parallel.
  Using A and B in parallel.
  Using A and B parallelly.

Now I suspect most people are going to simply recommend that I use "in parallel" since it is the most common. However, this is a question formulated to understand the underlying English theory. Apart from that, I'm mostly interested in using that theory to determine the use of parallelly and whether or not it is correct.

Now some research on my end. I've found the use of parallelly in several dictionaries:

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Century Dictionary

Along with that, Wiktionary is quite clear on the use of the word. Along with some rules on how to use -ly which do not mention that the use of a word such as parallelly may be incorrect. I don't know how Wiktionary is fact checked, so I have come here instead asking the question to professionals.

Being a non-native speaker and having no background in human language apart from high school (computer languages all the way) this question and the following debate interests me greatly. The answer I am looking for probably makes a distinction between variants of English. I'll flag the post which provides the most comprehensive answer as the accepted answer.


texts: Verb for giving others presents when you're happy

texts:
I am looking for a verb which is used in situations like these:

I got good grades and then, for example, I give my friends a piece of chocolate for my achievement.
When the owner of a restaurant is happy he says "The house pays"


texts: Can the ambiguity in the sign be removed while maintaining capitalization?

texts:
In a recent online BBC News item there is a photo of a warning note.

The problem here is that the acronym for Information Technology is also a word. Is there any way to write this without ambiguity without changing the words, or switching to mixed case? Right now it could be interpreted as just bad grammar and that one should wait until the computer itself indicates that it is OK.

Also, I'm wondering, should it be "has" instead of "have"?


texts:
If someone, called John, for example,  has two titles that include Dean and Professor, which of the following expressions is better?

Dean Professor John visits Oxford University.
Dean and Professor John visits Oxford University.


texts: Interchangeable use of "trimonthly" and "quarterly"

texts:
From my research, trimonthly and quarterly seem to be synonyms with an extremely close meaning.

From Merriam-Webster, trimonthly

  : occurring every three months

From Merriam-Webster, quarterly (in this particular meaning)

  : at 3-month intervals

Could there be any potential difference (context-wise, connotation, implied meaning) in using one versus the other? Can trimonthly and quarterly be used completely interchangeably (in their synonymic meaning)?

Sample sentence (passive voice justified by document structure—table—irrelevant to the question):

  Quarterly/trimonthly update of the website will be performed by N.


texts:
When do I use "aid" as a transitive verb and when do I use "aid in" (aid as an intransitive verb)?

According to Macmillan English Dictionary

  [INTRANSITIVE/TRANSITIVE] to help something to happen more easily or
  with fewer problems

  Gentle exercise aids the circulation of blood around the body.
  Vitamin C aids in the absorption of iron.

The two examples look similar to me. Why does the first one use "aid" and the second one use "aid in"?

One thread I have checked doesn't directly address my question.
Difference between aid and aid in


texts: AAVE grammar: Difference between "continue to/keep on" vs "steady"

texts:
For those who are speakers of AAVE or those who are relatively learned in this area, could someone explain to me the context in which one would use "steady" as an aspectual marker, and its difference with "keep on/continue" (beside, of course, certain obvious impossible constructions such as "to steady" compared to "to continue"). I think that I may have an understanding but not fully.
Example (in AAVE):

I see a man over there steady working.

which might be in standard English

I see a man over there, continuing to work.
I see a man over there who keeps on working.

P.S.: By the way, I am an African-American who is not a personal speaker of AAVE, though I live with parents who are and live amongst peers who do speak it. Thus, I do generally understand it and I have been recently studying it.


texts: Comma before "and" which is being used after a list of items containing other and/s

texts:
I am confused about whether one should put a comma before an "and" which is being used after a list of items containing at least one other "and".

I don't use the Oxford comma, and I feel it's not necessary to put a comma before an "and" which is before the last item. I do know that if one item has an "and" in it, then we have to put a comma before the "and" to clear any ambiguity. But I am confused about a particular sentence which is mentioned below:

  I will certainly go to university with a more motivated and mature attitude and contribute to its multicultural environment.

Here, I don't think a comma is necessary before the "and" which is before "contribute", as there is no ambiguity. So should I put a comma or not? If I do not put one, is it grammatically incorrect?


texts: What is the meaning of "happening cities"

texts:
I am looking for the definition of "happening cities" but I didn't find it anywhere, for example, "Which are the most happening cities of India" or "20 Reasons Tulsa Is Actually A Happening City". If someone can explain it and what synonyms could substitute the meaning?

Thanks


texts: How do you get from the literal meaning of "all bets are off" to the idiom?

texts: Most everyone knows what the common turn of phrase all bets are off means: "anything can happen." But all idioms have to start from somewhere, and the question I'm wondering is how did this one start. Google informs me it comes from a gambling context, and I'm inclined to believe that, having seen the movie Snatch, but what I'm not understanding is how the literal meaning of "all bets are off" -- that is, the house will not be taking any bets today -- would have evolved into "anything can happen." Can someone enlighten me to a plausible pathway?


texts: Can the word "backhanded" be easily misunderstood by a young kid?

texts:
In a recent question at Spanish Language it has been asked about the translation of "backhanded" into Spanish as "treacherous". I answered that that is an adaptation more than a translation because of a pun of words in the context of the original text to be translated, an excerpt of The adventures of Tom Sawyer, which goes like this:

  “Why, that ain’t anything. I can’t fall; that ain’t the way it is in the book. The book says, ‘Then with one back-handed stroke he slew poor Guy of Guisborne.’ You’re to turn around and let me hit you in the back.”

The argumentation for my answer starts by assuming that the kid that says that is misunderstanding the word "backhanded", giving it the sense of "stabbing someone in the back" instead of "stabbing someone in the direction of the back [of the hand]".

I would like to know:

Is my assumption correct?
If so, is "backhanded" really a word that can be easily misunderstood by a young kid in the way the novel depicts it? Or at least by a kid that lived in the 19th century? Or is it just a somewhat forced pun by author Mark Twain?


texts: When should I use "as part of", and when "as a part of"?


texts: Use "of" or "for" with Institute, Department, Office...?

texts:
When should which be used and what's the difference?

Department of XYZ
or
Department for XYZ

Institute of ABC
or
Institute for ABC

Federal Office of...
or
Federal Office for...

Is there any sort of rule for this?

The "problem" is that it's an ongoing debate in the Department (non-English-speaking country) on how to properly translate it into English.


texts: Is there a word or an idiom for people who only spend their families' money and fool around?

texts: Is there a word or an idiom for rich people who spend only their families' money and do not bother to work, just fool around?


texts: What does the title of the movie "A Scanner Darkly" mean?

texts:
I've seen the film (a long time ago) but I don't understand the title.

A noun followed by an adverb just doesn't make sense. What am I missing here?


texts: How to use rendezvous in its singular and plural forms?

texts:
While I was reading a book I encountered the use of the word rendezvous, this is originally a French word according to the dictionary. The usage in the book was plural followed by “are”. Let me constructs some sentences and see whether my usage of its majesty rendezvous is correct:

Used as a noun; spelled rahn-duh-voo

  I had a rendezvous with a friend.

Like saying:

  I had a meeting with a friend.

Used as a simple past tense verb; spelled rahn-duh-voo-ed

  I rendezvoused with a friend.

Like saying:

  I met a friend.

As an answer to an interrogative sentence; spelled rahn-duh-voo-ing

  What are you doing?
  I'm rendezvousing a friend right now.

Like saying:

  I'm meeting a friend right now.

Is my usage for the word rendezvous in the above sentences right?

Is the plural form of rendezvous, rendezvous?


texts: Is it conceivable that President Obama might use the word "queue"?

texts:
President Obama in a press conference, in London today, has said that if Britain votes to leave the European Union and makes separate application to the United States for a trade deal, she will be at the "back of the queue", behind the EU.

Some people assert that Obama has been prompted in his remarks by David Cameron, Prime Minister of the UK, and that the President is really only saying this to do Cameron a favour. (It will be a major political blow to Cameron if he loses the Referendum on 23 June.)

On the BBC programme Any Questions this evening, Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, and vehement supporter of Britain voting to leave the EU, said he thought it inconceivable that an American such as Barack Obama would use the word "queue". Americans, he asserted, say "line". So according to Farage, it was not Obama speaking, but, in effect the UK government had written his script for him.

Do Americans use the word "queue", and more specifically does President Obama say "queue"?

Added: A somewhat more complete context for the quote:

  He said there could be a US-UK trade agreement “down the line” but warned: “It’s not going to happen any time soon, because our focus is on negotiating with a big bloc, the EU. The UK is going to be in the back of the queue.”

(I can't vouch for the accuracy of the quote, of course. HL)


texts:
In the following sentence

This will prevent the user from submitting his verification less he has a username that complies to our requirement

Is this a correct usage of the word less. In searching for a definition, I found nothing that supports the above usage of the word less.

Is there a better word to use here?


texts: Should fewer or less be used when specific quantities are given?

texts: I know that fewer is used for countable nouns and less is used for uncountable nouns, but when a specific quantity is given, should I use fewer or less. For example would it be correct to say 'there are fewer than 5 apples' or 'there are less than 5 apples'?


texts: Which is correct: "What is" or "What are"

texts: How should I phrase "What is the first 5 digits of your home postal code" or "What are the first 5 digits of your home postal code?"


texts:
So, when we analyze language (spoken or written), we tend to classify words according to their syntactic roles or functions (right?): nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, and so on.
But what do we call that superset that contains all these subtypes?
I can't think what else to call them; so I've just been referring to them as types, word types, etc. But that seems way too ambiguous.
I feel like there's a technical term, or something more specific that I should know; on the tip of my tongue, but I'm drawing a blank.


texts:
What's the difference between "I am  busy right now" and "I am busy at the moment"?

I mean, is there any shades in meaning that would be implied in one, but not not in the other phrase?


texts:
I really like to speak using my own voice. It doesn't sound natural to write in a way that doesn't use my own voice, so I need to clarify a few things when it comes to connecting clauses.

Say I have a sentence: "This is comparative to someone who is rich, and in the top 1%."

How can I change that sentence so it sounds more like my own voice? I want something like:
"This is comparative to someone who is rich--in the top 1%"

Is that the correct way of doing so, or should I use a colon or semicolon? Generally speaking, I try to avoid colons in all cases except a list.


texts:
I'm trying to write up a specification for a bit of programming, but I'm at a loss on how to actually describe what the, well, things on the map are.

For context, this is a user-generated map that has the ability to have markers (points with icons), routes (lines defined by roads), paths (lines defined as-the-crow-flies), and shapes (circles and polygons).

So, my question is, is there a universal word or term to describe points, lines, and shapes on a map?


texts: Is saying that you will do something equivalent to saying that you promise to do something, such that not doing strictly what you said (e.g. late for 15 minutes with reasons) would be something as severe as breaking a promise?


texts: Is "facetious" unique, as the only English word with all vowels appearing once, and in alphabetical order? Or, if you count Y as a vowel (as some do) does the same apply to "facetiously"?


texts: Does the sentence "This bleak picture" makes sense?

texts:
i'm not an english native speaker and i'm writing lyrics in english.

I've came across the sentence "This bleak picture" but i'm wondering -even though it might be grammaticaly correct and that everybody gets the meaning of it- that this sentence might be some kind of poor translation and that it's not really said in common english language.

It has been used to describe a dark situation, like an aftermath. Someone would say "This bleak picture reminds us of......."
And might have a double meaning, to describe a dark painting.

And if it's not, do you think that it can fit in a poem, where you have more freedom about meaning and grammar?

Thank you.


texts:
A female dog can be called a bitch, but "bitch" is also used as a vulgar adjective (usually to describe women). The question is, which came first?

According to Dictionary.com and Etymology Online, "bitch" for a woman was used as early as 1400, but there was no mention of the time around which the word was used for a female dog (it just mentioned that it is derived from the Old English word "bicce").


texts: The meaning of “They were a few days into ....”

texts:
I was reading a passage from ielts book to improve my reading skill, but there is a sentence I couldn’t figure out what idea it is expressing because the grammar sounds unusual to me, here is the sentence:

  “On 24 July they were a few days into their descent of the valley.”

I am not sure the exact meaning of the phrase “they were a few days into”, does it mean they spent few days? I would be very grateful if someone can help me make it clear.


texts: How do you parse the sentence "He had Elizabeth read the letter aloud."?

texts:
The Stanford parser gave the following output. I think the word "read" should be tagged with VBN (past participle).

(ROOT
  (S
    (NP (PRP He))
    (VP (VBD had)
      (S
        (NP (NNP Elizabeth))
        (VP (VB read)
          (NP (DT the) (NN letter))
          (ADVP (RB aloud)))))
    (. .)))


texts: Is the word pomp ever used without being followed by circumstance? It seems as though the word is only ever used to denote pomp and circumstance. Are there other uses?


texts: The bigger the tree, the further the fruit falls

texts:
I overheard this once, but can't seem to find the origin of this quote. I checked Bartlet, Times, Yale, and Oxford, so I'm positive I heard it wrong. It might have been "the taller the tree." I am familiar with "the taller the tree, the deeper the roots," but in this context it was referred to as falling deeper into sin: The more potential a person has for greatness also makes one susceptible to fall even further.
No idea where they got this from.


texts: Trying to explain why the use of "sites" is plural in a specific phrase

texts:
I have written and feel that it is correct because it is relating to fixed location (The Terracotta Army).

This historical sites story is beautiful.

But I am unable to explain to a colleague why "sites" is plural. They feel it should read as:

This historical site story is beautiful.


texts:
I just read something where a phrase was described as ironical. To me the word ironical jars terribly. It just doesn't sound right at all. I would have said ironic.

Is ironical a feature of American English, or am I just missing something? Where would you use it over ironic?


texts: Can I say "They must get something right’" to indicate someone must have made some wise choices?

texts: Get something right is a very frequently used phrase, so I thought it should be some kind of usual usage. But I searched it in COCA, it turns out there are no records. So I wonder if it’s a good way to say someone must have made some smart choices.Or is there any good alternative to that?


texts: Is there an adjective that indicates two letters are used in the same word?

texts:
The context for this question is word games like Scrabble, but it seems like it might also have minor applications elsewhere. If I played "book" and "solid" we could say that S and D have this quality, because they are used in the same word, but S and K do not, because they are used in different words.

Stuck in my head is "co-literal", but I'm fairly certain it's a neologism.


texts:
Substantial progress has been made in the last years in order to answer the question what an optimal strategy for this network constitutes.
Substantial progress has been made in the last years in order to answer the question, what constitutes an optimal strategy for this network.

Which sentence should I use, the first or the second?


texts:
"I can have a cookie, can't I?"

(Please ignore the double quotes while reading)

What is this type of question called?

Also, is it grammatically correct under American English?


texts:
In the marketing copy for a cookbook, should "can" or "will" be used before enjoy:

  The Blood Type Cookbook: Easy, Healthy and Delicious Recipes for the Whole Family shows you how to quickly prepare scrumptious meals that all family members, regardless of blood type, can enjoy. Your family will rush to the table for meals bursting with flavor and supercharged with foods approved for the blood type dietary guidelines. Includes 50+ mouthwatering, mix-and-match recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert, Prep Tips and a Grocery Shopping List.


texts: Does "categorically" always mean "without question"?

texts:
I get the sense that "categorically" can imply "only in the strictest sense."

One way I see it being used as a qualifier: as if to say, according just to the means by which we regularly assign judgment.

This is strangely counter-intuitive use, but I felt it being used that way and that it does convey a distinction.


texts: Word or shorter term for "Possibly delayed", as in the capacity for unreliable timing

texts:
I'm looking for a word or shorter term for "possibly delayed". This is not expressing any probability of a delay, just the capacity to be delayed.

The specific usage I have in mind is: the displayed information may be up-to-the-minute, but if for some reason the connection fails, it will fail back to displaying yesterday's information.

Therefore, this is "possibly delayed information".

Another example would be: You should be sure to order a replacement cartridge well in advance of when you expect the current one to be depleted, since shipping could be possibly delayed.

Shipments are not currently delayed, but the nature of shipments is that they could be either timely or late.


texts: what is the opposite way of an expression of "win-win situation"?

texts:
I am just trying to find out an expression that is an opposite of "win-win situation?
when you are having problems or in troubles and trying to get out or to solve those problems in multiple way but none of them will work on these issues. What kind of an expression would fit? I thought was simply "lose-lose situation" but did not find it in the dictionary.

Thank you very much.


texts: English term for "forbidden/required/optional" as a system attribute, all in one word

texts:
Background

GothmoZulec is a home security robot for sale to consumers in the imaginary country of Serbia Nervada.

GothmoZulec has a special patented feature called "GZKillSpree," which when activated, causes the robot to go on a random killing spree until it is either destroyed or until its batteries run out.

Since this feature is extremely dangerous, it cannot be invoked without a password.

Moreover, the feature cannot be deactivated without the password, once it has been invoked.

Problem

Unfortunately, every GothmoZulec unit comes with the exact same factory-installed password.

Because of this, the Serbia Nervada legislature is currently debating whether purchasers of the GothmoZulec should be legally required to change the password, before using the robot for any purpose whatsoever.

There are currently three competing proposed bills to address this situation:

All customers should be legally forbidden to change the password before using GothmoZulec
All customers should be legally required to change the password before using GothmoZulec
All customers should be legally free to choose whether to change the password before using GothmoZulec

Each proposal has its own "camp" of vehement supporters, and each camp bitterly opposes the proposals of all the other camps.

Challenge

Tecap Tifek wants to write about this situation on his blog, and he wants to use a snazzy four-word title to attract readers:

The GZKillSpree __???__ Debate!

The problem is, Tecap Tifek does not know what word to use for __???__.

He wants to use:

The GZKillSpree Optarity Debate!

Where "Optarity" refers to the property of being either "required" "optional" or "forbidden".

But "optarity" is not an English word.

Question

What English word can Tecap Tifek use to fill in the blank?


texts: I am writing a scene where one of the characters screams, "H" and "O-H." I want to know the best to indicate that to the reader, that the distinct letters are being pronounced, not Oh, but O and H. I am also doubtful that "H!" might not be clear as the letter 'H' and might be taken as a mild interjection, like "hmmm." Hence I was considering "'H'!" but that looks just as messy and confusing. Also about O,H, should I present it as "O-H!", "'O', 'H!'" or is there some better convention? Any help is appreciated and this might just be a question on punctuation. I also want to emphasize the pronunciation of the letters, "H" as "Eechh," so is that a viable option or should I just describe that in the paragraph following the dialogue?


texts: Figurative language of walkabout by James Marshall

texts: Can anyone point out the figurative languages used in walkabout? Or is there any guide book for walkabout?


texts: Usage of "be" infinitive form with no modal verb

texts:
Could someone please explain why the verb "be" in the sentence below is in infinitive form? I was confused as there is no modal verb preceding the "be". Is it some sort of technique used in literature to emphasize or convey some message?

The lady said "Though that desired at last be come, because I go alone how gladly would I live!".


texts:
I'm new here (this is my first question :D)
I was memorizing a specific sentence in a passage about photography, and I accidently made a mistake of memorizing 'downward' as 'downwards'. I'm a non-English speaker so I'm not quite familiar with subtle distinctions like this. Is there any contextual&grammatical difference between these two?

Here's the sentence:
Using the camera at your own head height works well for photographing adults, but for children will be tilted downward.


texts: Does "to make a bed" mean "to prepare the bed sheets etc" only?

texts: I know that "to make a bed" means "to prepare, arrange the bed sheets for sleeping in the bed". But what about "constructing" and "assembling" a bed, say, by a carpenter? Is it alright to say "I work as a carpenter. I make beds and tables" or should I use another phrase/verb?


texts:
In India, the traffic Police officers usually stand (sometimes hiding) on roads to catch people who don't wear helmets or persons who violate any of the traffic rules. The places don't change much. One can always expect the officers to be standing there to catch the drivers.

I'd like to know if there is a word which captures the meaning of such a place.

The closest words which I could think of are hunting ground or patrolling area. But patrol usually means roaming around in a particular locality.

An example:

  It was no surprise when he got caught while driving without having a licence on Lavelle Road. It's the _________ for the police.

It needn't be a word which specifically denotes the places where police stand. It can also be a word where you can always find a person available.


texts: In what context is the plural of genius, "genii" acceptable to use in a sentence?

texts: How exactly can one acceptably use genii in a sentence? Can it be used in everyday language, or does it have a very specific ruleset about how and where it may be used?


texts: Tense choice in "the strategy was exploited so frequently before, that it has long lost its originality"

texts:
I am not sure if the Past Simple and Present Perfect tenses in the second part of the sentence are used correctly:

  Surely, we can experiment with various styles, combine genres and produce eclectic output, but let us face the truth: the strategy was exploited so frequently before, that it has long lost its originality.

I often have these doubts when it comes to using PS and PP in one sentence.


texts: How do i ask this question about trains?

texts: The answer should be 'This is the 7th train to Delhi'. How can I properly ask this question ? The keyword in the answer is '7th'.


texts:
What is the difference between "Deficiency" and "Imperfection"?

I am looking for a word to describe that in some difficult cases some piece of hardware or a software algorithm may fail and produce the wrong result. Is this a deficiency or an imperfection, and what would either choice imply?

(Assume that the developers have put in their best effort to make the hardware + software as good as possible within time / budgetary constraints. There is still room for improvement but the cost-benefit ratio is rather high.)

(Addendum: From the answers and comments I take it that I should give an example: Think of a face-recognition software. It identifies most faces correctly, but it will never achieve 100 %. So it's not so much a question of whether an algorithm was implemented correctly or whether the specifications are correct but rather a fundamental problem that 100 % cannot be achieved.)


texts: How does “out” function in “next time out”?

texts:
On the recent CBS’s Face the Nation, the anchor, Bob Schieffer asked former President Bill Clinton about whether his wife will run in next election:

  “Mr. President, I have to ask you about your wife. She’s getting ready to wind up her term as Secretary of State. Do you think she will run for president next time out? A lot of people think she ought to if Barack Obama’s reelected.”

What does out mean in the line, “she will run for president next time out”? What extra nuance is added to by adding out to “next time,” which can be self-complete?

I found the phrase, “next time out” in the lyric of Flogging Molly’s “Cruel Mistress":

  Next time out to sea, bring enough soil to bury me. For I don’t want my final jig in the belly of squid,

but out as used in “Run for president next time out” and as used in “Next time out to sea” must be different.

What does the speaker gain by adding out to “next time”?


texts: Looking for a word that means, "You have completed the work to my satisfaction"

texts:
I am building a customer request web site for our organization. When a user submits a request (for example, to get a new mobile phone), and that request is completed, the site sends them an email saying, "Click here to confirm that your request has been completed to your satisfaction".

So, when they follow the link, they see their request. I want to have a nice, big button they click that means "Yes, you have satisfied my request." I am trying to find ONE WORD to put on that button that is intiutive and obvious to any user. Any suggestions?


texts: When do you say "Earth" and when "The Earth"?

texts:
I'm reading the page on Wikipeda:

Earth [...] is the third planet from the Sun[...]
The Earth's human population is [...]

Then the University of Tennessee's page

The Earth is certainly the most familiar planet [...]
Apollo 11 shot of Earth
Galileo shot of the Earth and Moon

I think no other planets have this problem. Nobody would say "The Mars is certainly the first planet that humans will travel to", so what's happening here?

So what is the correct way of referring to the planet that i'm on right now? Does it require "THE" or not? How come English-speaking Earthlings keep changing the rules in the middle of a paragraph?


texts: "Inspection of A and B is/are already done"

texts:
My friend wrote:

  Inspection of Indian Embassy and Bangladesh Embassy is already done. Rest of the inspection is expected soon!

I think the first sentence is ungrammatical, the is must be an are instead. Am I right?


texts: Why are these 21st century autonomous vehicles called drones? Why was this zoology inspired name chosen for this kind of technology? And who was the first to call this technology by this name?


texts: Word to describe something that makes you lose a bit of eagerness?

texts:
What's the word to describe an aspect that mars the appearance/taste of something and makes you lose eagerness? Off-putting, maybe?

Example:

"Wow this drink is tasty! How unfortunate that the appearance is so ______"


texts:
I'm trying to cite a "P.S." section of a book, Green Grass Running Water by Thomas King, but the page numbers just start again from 1 at the start of the P.S. section (i.e. the next page after 430 is 1). How would I cite from that section? Would it be just (King 15)? That would conflict with the 15th page of the actual novel.

The content is actually taken from a journal as well, so should I cite that instead even though it's from the back of a book?


texts: Is ”what there is a reason to do” a valid construct?

texts:
From page 76 of Frederick Schauer’s Thinking Like a Lawyer:

  What there is a reason to do is different
  from what should be done, all things considered, just as what there is a
  right to do is different from what the right-holder actually gets to do, all
  things considered.

Is this subject correct? If so, would someone please explain and gloss it?

I can’t pinpoint why, but it sounds wrong. I guess its meaning is “What should be done due to a reason. . . .”

Supplementary: Thanks to the answer below, I now apprehend the meaning of my sentence, but I still find the construction confusing.  Would you please explain, in more detail, why this is 'essentially not (very) different from these examples'?


texts: What would you call a person being coached?

texts:
I am looking for an intuitive one word description for somebody that is being coached, as in enjoying the services of a coach.

I am thinking of something analogous to the oft used mentee as somebody being mentored, or enjoying the services of a mentor.


texts: Which term to use for electrical appliances burning

texts:
Continuous power fluctuation causes electric appliances burning. I would like to know what is the best term to be used with electric appliances burning due to high voltage or power fluctuation.

I would like to use the above mentioned term in my following application

  It is respectfully submitted that we are having continuous power
  fluctuation problem in our area 37/B Jamnagar varying between 150 to
  250 V causing different home electric appliances burning.
  It is therefore requested that our aforesaid problem please could be
  fixed at your earliest possibility.


texts:
What verb can I use to say that a mine produces ore? The ore is not produced at the mine site, however, so I need a word for describing the whole operation (excavation, processing, etc.).

The operation I want to describe is the following. The ore is excavated and processed to some degree (simple processes to separate valuable minerals from the gangue, comminution) on site.

Is there a verb that describes the generic operation of a mine?

Excavation sounds a bit too specific to me, but as I am a non-native, that might be a wrong impression.


texts:
Which reference to 'mum' in the following text shouild be capitalised, and which not capitalised? I'm confused...

...................................................................

What? Did you say you’d met a man? Mum…mum – crikey – really? Do tell. What’s he like? Never too late, mum, I’ve always told you that. I’ve also got news, but not as exciting as yours…wow!’
Jessica chose her words carefully. ‘Saffie, it’s not like that, really it isn’t.’ She heard giggles.
‘Come on, mum – what do you mean? You’ve fallen in love, haven’t you – admit it.’ Saffron giggled again.
..........................


texts: Formal word/phrase meaning enable something for the first time

texts:
I'm trying to think of a word or phrase for a formal document that has the meaning: "enable something for the first time." I'm unable to find anything suitable, unfortunately.

Consider the sentence:

  The culmination of which is likely to be seen in 2020, as initial
  business licenses _________ operations and expansion.


texts: Does "either A or B " preclude "both A and B"?

texts:
In mathematics, "A or B" includes "A and B".
Does "either" mean "A or B but not (A and B)" or does it include the possibility of "A and B"?
The context might be mathematics, formal logic or ordinary language.


texts: A stand-alone list of independent clauses as a sentence

texts:
Clearly, in some cases an isolated list cannot be a sentence.  For example,

  Apples, oranges, and bananas.

is not a sentence.  But what about a list of independent clauses following a declarative sentence?  Consider the following:

  Autumn is an excellent time to enjoy the outdoors.  The weather is
  warm, campsites are abundant, and insects are scarce.

Is it acceptable to let the second sentence above stand alone as such?  Or must it always be joined to the first sentence with a semicolon?  Other alternatives would be to append "...for several reasons" to the first sentence, or prepend "The reasons for this are that..." to the second sentence.

EDIT:  The original version of this question incorrectly identified certain clauses as "adjective phrases".

As EdwinAshworth pointed out, I am claiming that the first example above is not a sentence because it does not have a complete subject and a complete predicate.


texts: Idiom or proverb for "Productive members get punished for their hard work by getting dumped with more responsibilities

texts:
what is the idiom or proverb for

When good people/smart hard working people/productive employees are punished by pushing/dumping more responsibility on to them by the authority/management, etc because of their cognizant skills, alertness, diligence, sound judgement and/or overall productiveness while the lazy, delinquent, tardy, sloppy, unproductive receive less work or no work (for fear of bungling and still secure the post) for their same pay (as in a reward, bliss for wrong doing).


texts: I am using part of a quote for a book title. Do I need to put quotation marks around the book title and if so, do I need to include anything else to show that only part of the quotation is being used in the book title.


texts: Pronunciation of 's after word ending in "is", "es"

texts: Alexis's sister. Is it pronounced Alec sis sister or Alec sis sis sister?


texts:
Which statement is grammatically correct?
A: I am uninterested.
B: Me too./ So am I.

A: I am uninterested.
B: I am uninterested either./ Neither am I.


texts: What would you call a person who farts a lot?

texts: I came across one word that is "gas-bag." Are there any other specific (not slang) words?


texts: Can "then" be used as a coordinating conjunction?

texts:
Can the word "then" be used as a coordinating conjunction?

I am confused, because the word seems as if it works as a coordinating conjunction, but I did not see it is classified so. The Cambridge Dictionary Online grammar source classifies it as an adverb and puts it into groups in terms of meaning.

For example, in the following sentence it means "next" according to the website.

  He opened the door, then the lights came on and everybody shouted,
  ‘Happy Birthday’.

Yes, it means "next" in the sentence, but it also connects independent clauses. Because without the word then, the sentence comprises of three simple sentences and I am not sure if it would be grammatically correct as the following. I think in this case the sentence would be run-on (comma splice).

  He opened the door, the lights came on and everybody shouted, ‘Happy
  Birthday’.

Beside that, if we do not focus on what function the word then has in the sentence, how we can classify that sentence? Is it a simple, compound, or complex sentence? Or neither of them?

It is not simple nor complex. Because it does not have a dependent clause, but a University of Cambridge Grammar book also says a compound sentence must consist of two independent clauses. If there are more than two independent clauses then rewrite them as two sentences. But there are three independent clauses in the example sentence, so how does it work?

In the following example the word then means "in that case" and places in a complex sentence.

  If we buy Jason a present, then we’ll have to buy one for Isaac too.

I wonder if I can omit then, but keeping the meaning of the original sentence and would that be grammatically correct?


texts: Does it sound weird if I say I do do sports during the week?

texts: Would people use this sentence (I do do lots of exercises during the week) if they want to express that a person does exercises regularly during the week. I know the grammar is correct if I say she does do lots of exercises during the week, and the "does" emphasizes the fact that she do lots of exercises. However, "I do do lots of exercises" doesn't sound good to me. What sentence would you use if you want to express the same meaning?


texts:
Is it correct to use the word "itself" in the following cases. I have seen many people using "itself" in the following cases

I read the note yesterday itself (to mean - I already read the note yesterday)
I met the doctor in the morning itself. (to mean - I already met the doctor in the morning)

if the usage of "itself" is itself wrong, what would be the correct usage or alternative to express the meaning mentioned in the brackets


texts:
I know that collective nouns don't take the indefinite article as the one in the following construction:

They had 'duck' for lunch.

But is it Ok if we use it In the same construction, especially, to emphasize that they had only one duck?

They had 'a duck'  for lunch.


texts:
In the sciences there exists mathematical functions that are named after the British mathematician George Green.

People refer to them in various ways such as:

Green's function,
Green's functions,

Green function,
Green functions.

To me, Green's functions, suggests that he (Green) tested and investigated each and every one of these functions one way or the other. Doesn't Green functions sound much better? I.e. that these functions are related to work originally done or started by George Green.

For example, here is a little part from the wikipedia page about these functions

  In mathematics, a Green's function is the...

A Green's function sounds so wrong to my ears.
How should it be for singular and plural form?


texts: Which thesaurus best describes the differences between several similar words?

texts: Which thesaurus (online or paper) best describes the differences between several similar words? As a non-native English speaker, it is often difficult for me to distinguish the slightly different concepts in similar words. I'm looking for a good online dictionary or thesaurus that compares those synonyms word by word.


texts: Should this sign have the preposition at the end?

texts:
I created the following sign for my computer:

  "Please do not turn off this computer."

My office mate told me that this should be the correct way to do it:

  "Do not turn this computer off."

He said that the preposition should be at the end.
Is he correct?


texts: Imagine you want to say something like 'Men' are always inside 'Women'... and you want to add something like, character-wise or alphabetically speaking. How do you go about it? The problem with character-wise is, character is already associated with a person's character.


texts: What is the difference between "a dash" and "a dollop" of cream?

texts:
I was doing this
CPE vocabulary test when I came across the following sentence:

"If you say you'd like _______ of cream on your strawberries then you
don't want very much cream."

• a dash
• oodles
• lashings
• a dollop

According to the key, "a dash" is the right answer. Why not a dollop, though? Evidently, it exists as a structure.
Here are the Camridge Dictionary definitions:

Dash – a small amount of something, especially liquid food, that is
added to something else. Dollop – a small amount of something soft,
especially food.


texts: Chanterelle and Chantrelle, which is the correct name of the mushroom?

texts:
I always spell it as chanterelle until I bought a box of CHANTRELLE in Whole Foods Market. I looked up my dictionary, and yes, the word should be chanterelle. However, I also noticed that, the word has three syllables as "chan-te-relle", while most of people pronounce it as "chan-trelle" with only two syllables. Some online resources (link) also claim that the two spellings are both correct.
I'm so confused. May anyone tell me which one is correct? Is the spelling CHANTRELLE in Whole Foods market also acceptable?


texts:
Why is this statement correct Someone for president 2012 and not Someone for presidency 2012?

EDIT: So far my understanding is that neither of these statements are grammatically wrong. However, at this moment Google finds almost 2 million results for "Obama for president 2008" whereas the number for "Obama for presidency 2008" is only 40.


texts: Is the word "Customizable" a valid English word? Every time I write that word, the spell checker underlines it, and it suggests using "Customization" or "Customize". I'm not a native English speaker, but that word exists in online dictionaries so I wonder why the spell checker underlines it.


texts:
Gymtimidation appears to be a recent coniage meaning “the fear of working out in front of others.”
A 2017 entry in Urban Dictionary suggests that the term was coined by a famous operator of fitness centers but doesn’t provide any evidence. There are, however,  earlier usage instances which don’t appear to be related to any operator.
Google Books don’t show any usage evidence.
Can anyone suggest when the expression was coined and possibly by whom?


texts: Word for the feeling of thrill when doing something for the first time

texts: I want a funky word for the feeling of thrill when doing something for the first time. The word should contain 'first'


texts: What do you call a person who expresses strong opinions on things they know nothing about?

texts:
Is there a word to describe a person who habitually expresses strong opinions on a subject without having any facts or background knowledge to base their opinion on.
Examples include many politicians, the media when they don’t do research, and many loud opinionated people who “Like the sound of their own voice”.
With so many words in our language with very specific meanings it seems a single word to describe this [commonly occurring] situation would useful?


texts: What is the right term for "I have some issues new users usually have when doing something new"

texts:
When trying a new product / service, and having some "initial road bumps" when getting started, is there a term that describes this situation?

E.g. if I write to a support person - "Hi, I'm having some _______ when trying to ..."

I am looking for something other than "Difficulty", "Issues", "Problems", "Errors" and more of a "Stuff you usually get when trying something new", or even more accurately "Common issues every new product usually has and are not always the fault of the user".

e.g. I don't know if it is my fault or the new product has issues.

Is there a phrase / idiom / wording that conveys that?


texts:
In the context of someone working for an employer but one day doing their office work at home, rather than at the office, which one is the correct usage — "work from home" or "work at home"?

For example:

  Person 1: Are you working from office tomorrow?
  Person 2: Work [at/from] home.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How should I phrase a question that must be answered with an ordinal number (e.g., the third prime)?
  How to ask a question to get a cardinal number answer

  Neil Armstrong was the first man on the Moon.

I need to convert this into a question.
If "Neil Armstrong" was the answer, the interrogative form would be

  Who was the first man on the Moon?

How do you ask this as a question if "first" was the answer?

Another example would be

  Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States


texts: When to know if it's valid to hyphenate the words?

texts:
I remember when I was in high school, and we were told to write an essay of something. When our mentor was done checking our papers, a friend of mine raised his concern on why did our teacher put a big red X mark on the phrase porcelain-like skin. Our instructor explained that the used of hyphen was invalid.

Question is, when to know if it's valid to use hyphen of two or more words.


texts: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Is there a name for this kind of punny transference?

texts:
First came John Guare's play Six Degrees of Separation, which was later turned into a film. It was about the web of interconnections that binds all of humanity together.

Later came the well known trivia game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, which does for actors what Guare's creation did for the rest of us. But lately more people understand the idea behind "Six Degrees of Separation" through the Kevin Bacon game. The game has supplanted the inspiration for it.

Now, it seems obvious to me (though I could be wrong), that Kevin Bacon was chosen at least in part because his name metrically and phonetically rhymes with "Separation" (at least the vowels do). "Six Degrees of Jack Nicholson" or "Six Degrees of Lord Laurence Olivier" wouldn't have scanned as well (or at all).

So here's my question: Is there a term that succinctly represents the transformation of a word or phrase through assonance or rhyme into another word or phrase of similar meaning, but in which the latter version becomes more well known than the original? Failing that, perhaps this falls under a larger category of word or phrase substitution. I've been trying to think of more examples, but I can't at the moment, though I am sure they exist.

N.B. I am not asking about any "real" reason Kevin Bacon was chosen, about the origin of the game, its history or rules or any of that. That information is covered extensively elsewhere. I'm only interested in the term for such a transformation, if one exists.


texts:
What is the meaning of "lurid press" in the following context?

  In recent years lurid press reports have blamed mass poaching on rebel movements and armed militias, especially Somalia's Al Shabaab, tying two together two evils - poaching and terrorism. Source

I couldn't find its meaning as a separate expression, if it is a common one at all. Does it mean "sensational press"?


texts:
"Meet us on Summer Summit in New York and see why our innovative product is already considered the best-kept secret in the industry."

Is the and used correctly? Should I add a comma before it? Is the whole sentence correct this way?


texts: Is "testes" an inflectional reduplication?

texts:
I was supposed to ask this question 1 year ago and it is based on a discussion in this question that I answered:
What is a word called that consists of a repetition of one word?

I gave testes as an example of a full reduplication and a commentator told me that "testes is not reduplicated, but rather the plural form of testis".

I know that it is a plural form and it is chiefly in plural form but I thought we can consider testes both a plural form and a reduplication. It is not created by reduplication process but a pattern is reduplicated when you use the plural form. He also noted that testis, testes follows a specific Latin declension in which singular -is is replaced with plural -es. Some other nouns belonging to the same declension: axis, axes; thesis, theses; oasis, oases.

Wikipedia definition of reduplication:

  Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.

The definition says that the repeated part can even be part of the root or stem of a word. I know that the word testes is not created with the usual reduplication process but there is also a form called inflectional reduplication:

  A still stricter definition of reduplication would only include inflectional reduplication, i.e., only a
  reduplication which serves a clear-cut grammatical function, is to be considered an 'actual' form
  of reduplication, thereby excluding lexical reduplicate forms. Inflectional reduplication, is
  however probably the most uncommon of all forms of reduplication. Inflectional reduplication is
  manifested either as a full reduplication or as a partial reduplication, i.e., the copying of only a
  part of the base.

  Source: http://reduplication.uni-graz.at/texte/Other_Red_Phen.pdf

Can someone please shed light on this?

Note: Testes is also one of the plural forms of test meaning "The cupel used in treating gold or silver alloys or ore; now esp. the cupel, with the iron frame or basket which contains it, forming the movable hearth of a reverberatory furnace" [OED]

Another controversial word is tartar.

For the proper noun Tartar (meaning "a native inhabitant of the region of central Asia extending eastward from the Caspian Sea, and formerly known as Independent and Chinese Tartary." OED), the book "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland" has the following:


texts:
Should I use a singular or plural verb?

I got another dog because apparently three IS not enough.

Or

I got another dog because apparently three ARE not enough.


texts: Charge of or for - the cost of something

texts:
my question is: If person A says: Do I have to pay additional for the delivery service? and person B replies : Yes, there would be an extra charge FOR or OF that? (the delivery)

Thanks!


texts: Why is quixotic not Quixotic (a proper adjective)?

texts:
Adjectives derived from proper nouns are known as proper adjectives, and are capitalized:

A piece of writing could be Shakespearean, not shakespearean.
A person may be Canadian, not canadian.

Even Chrome's spellchecker sees these as correct and incorrect.

However, quixotic is written in lower case, despite coming from the name of the character Don Quixote.  Similarly, draconian laws are named for Draco, a particularly brutal senator from ancient Athens.

Does anyone know the reasoning behind some proper adjectives not being capitalized in common usage?


texts: Is it acceptable to use the phrase "potted history" in a US text

texts:
"Potted history" was defined nicely in this previous question. It seems that it is quite a British English phrase, though. Would its use in a US English book be comprehensible by the majority of US readers? If not, what phrase would be suitable? The writing is somewhat formal, i.e., a popular, non-fiction book.

Here's a sample sentence:
"Weikart gives a potted history of eugenics, linking it to the study of evolution, and mentions some of the areas of more recent research that need to be considered ethically."

Would a US reader be able to figure out the meaning from the context? Would it pull them out of the reading or distract them? What alternatives would people recommend? Brief history, as suggested in the comments is good. The other question suggested cliff notes, but I think that will be unfamiliar out side the US.


texts:
The acronym "SP" is first written in the document as:
"contained in widely used or long-standing special permits (SP)."

Next it appears in the singular:
"eliminate the need for numerous SP renewal requests."

Later it appears again in the plural form as:
"submitted by the regulated community related to certain SPs and..."

Is this the correct usage for all three instances?


texts: Terminology of roles in a Q&A: The "asker" and "answerer"?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What do you call somebody who asks a question and somebody who answers a question?

If you have one person in the role of asking questions, and another person in the role of answering questions, are there one-word names for their respective roles?

In other words:

The term for someone who asks a question = ('Asker', 'Questioner', ?)
The term for someone who answers a question = ('Answerer', ?)

They all seem like awful terms- is there another way to refer to them?


texts:
I have one question about the better use of this sentence below:

“Do it with one shot" or " Do it in one shot"

I really appreciate any help.


texts: km plural or singular, "out of which 100 km is motorway"

texts:
The sentence is

  The total length of the public road's network is 29151 km, out of which 1243 km are motorways, 6810 km of national roads and 21098 km of regional and local  roads.
  source: ASECAP

However, I saw a sentence where “out of which” was used in a phrase, such as “out of which 1000 km is motorway”.
I want to ask whether “is” or “are” should follow after the word kilometre(s) or abbreviation km?


texts: "Best Before" says "11 MA 23"; is it May or March?

texts:
I bought a bottle of juice today, and the "Best Before" date it's "11 MA 23". I always see "MA" as for March, but the store staff said that was May.

What is your opinion?


texts: "Does he go bowling?" or "Doesn't he go bowling?"

texts:
Let's say we know a boy called Jonny and he goes bowling twice a week. My daughter has asked me which of the following questions are correct.

  Does Jonny go bowling?
  Doesn't Jonny go bowling?

We are wondering, why is it that the answer to both questions is "yes", although the second question starts with a negative word?


texts:
One day at a bus stop near my office, a person asked me how to reach a shopping mall that is nearby. Since there recently is a new building site besides the bus stop, we cannot see the shopping mall directly from the bus stop. But It is just behind the new building site.
What is the best expression to give direction? Should I say “You should bypass the building site.”?


texts:
The phrase to flay a fox occurs many times in English translations of Rabelais. According to many sources, it means to vomit.
For example,

A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose (1796)

and

A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English by Eric Partridge (1937)

These and other sources also mention the variant to flea a fox.
Further, Partridge mentions whip the cat as an alternative (although I'm dubious given that whip the cat seems to have a completely independent meaning).
Here are some examples of flay the fox in Rabelais:

At the time of the paroxysm he used to flay a fox by way of antidote.
(Pantagruel Book 4, Ch. 44)

The definition meaning "to vomit" is corroborated by the above passage, as well as by the following passage, where a link is presumably drawn between flaying foxes and vomiting:

And all those fine folk were soon puking in front of everyone else as though they had been flaying foxes.
(Pantagruel Book 1, Ch. 12)

This passage suggests that the origin of the phrase comes from the actual practice of flaying (that is, peeling the skin off of) foxes, a presumably vomit-inducing activity. I've noticed that some translators of Rabelais actually use "skin the fox" over "flay the fox," suggesting removal of skin as the practice which originated the phrase.
But I am perplexed by the following passage, where it is not immediately obvious that flay the fox means "vomit":

With this he took him by the throat, saying to him, Thou flayest the Latin; by St. John, I will make thee flay the fox, for I will now flay thee alive.
(Pantagruel Book 1, Ch. 6)

Further, Partridge's listing of whip the cat as an alternative suggests that flay should be understood as "whip", rather than "peeling the skin off of", contradicting the above folk etymology. Further, we have many animal-beating idioms which, on analogy, suggests the "whip" etymology over the "peeling the skin off of" etymology. For example flogging the monkey and beating a dead horse.
flay

(1) Peel the skin off (a corpse or carcass):
(2) Whip or beat (someone) so harshly as to remove their skin

By googling I have also found a rather intriguing definition which reads:

flay (or flay the fox), verb, phr. (old). To vomit: "from the subject to the effect," says Cotgrave; "for the flaying of so stinking a beast is like enough to make them spue that feel."
Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, Anonymous

This suggests that to flay, more generally, can mean to vomit. It also corroborates the "removal of skin" folk etymology that I gave. Presumably "Cotgrave" refers to this Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (1611). But I found no entry for flay. It should be here, but isn't.
My questions are the following:
Q1. Where did the meaning of to flay the fox  as "to vomit" come from? It likely has to do with peeling the fur off of foxes, but is this really gruesome enough to warrant an idiom about vomiting?
Q2. What justifies the variant flea the fox? Is flea perhaps derived from a pronunciation of flay?
Q3. How does one reconcile the surely correct "vomit" interpretation with the final perplexing quote from Rabelais (the full context of which can be found here)? [Feel free to ignore.]
Given the mystery surrounding there's more than one way to skin a cat, I'm pessimistic there will be a definite answer to the etymology question, but I'm interested to hear people's thoughts.


texts: How can I rephrase compound sentences to make them simpler?

texts:
Following Martha's advise I am splitting up a question Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore.

Consider the following sentence:

  One of the items that needed a further development was a research on child nodes of a story representing its sub categories being updated the moment the list of sub categories is changed through edit page for stories.

While I indeed wanted to practice compound sentences (see a question Constructing compound sentences), another reason why this sentence is so complex is that I don't know how to split it into smaller parts.
Could you help me with it?

If you need the context please read a post from the second link.


texts:
Engrooved isn't a word, so I'm looking for something that carries its meaning. Engraved, accustomed, and other synonyms don't express the same meaning. I'm looking for a word that carries the meaning "fitted to something". E.g.,

  The keys were engrooved to the fingers.

Edit: so "adapted over time" is the best fit so far (thanks to FumbleFingers). If anyone has a better way to express this, I'd love to hear it.


texts:
I am looking for another word or idiomatic phrase for "monument" that would not connote memorialization, but  would connote that it is functions as a symbolic replacement for what it represents, more specifically, a demonstration of some future (or empty) promise.

E.g. In 1930s, Stalin built in Moscow 8 skyscrapers that were supposed to demonstrate socialist care for housing, but it did little to alleviate really-existing housing shortage; these houses were like monuments or idols (objects of worship) for the regime, distractions from reality with which Stalin could say: we have solved the housing crisis, let's move on. Another example could be Ceaușescu's metro in Bucharest in a country that was largely running on cart wheels up till the 1980s... It doesn't have to apply only to material structures, but also to institutions, artworks, etc.

Sample sentence: Rather than helping to solve the housing shortage, Stalin's skyscrapers functioned as _______ of/to/for an abstract socialist future.

P.S. I feel "window-dressing" does not really capture it


texts: How is the sentence "My mama don't like you, but she likes everyone" correct?

texts:
I just heard Love yourself by Justin Bieber. I thought I heard "My mama didn't like you but she likes everyone" from the song. Then later I found lyrics on some websites(listed bellow) but it's not what I heard, it was "My mama don't like you...".

Any idea about this?

http://genius.com/Justin-bieber-love-yourself-lyrics
http://www.directlyrics.com/justin-bieber-love-yourself-lyrics.html


texts:
Is this a correct usage of the word include?

Your dues includes your membership fee for the season, your Handbook, prize money, and birdie pins. You must maintain your annual GHIN Membership which is currently $15.00.  This must be renewed every year on January 1st at the Pro Shop.


texts: Why does English have so many words when the grammar doesn't allow for concatenating?

texts:
In English the words "mathematics professor" are 2:

mathematics
professor

We get 3 meanings from these 2 words: Mathematics, professor and mathematics professor. In Swedish the words are

matematik
professor

but "mathematics professor" is a 3rd word on its own i.e. matematikprofessor. So in Swedish we have 3 words for 3 meanings while in English the building blocks are just the 2 words. So in this case Swedish has more words than English. But on the whole, English has many more words than Swedish. Why when we in Swedish make new words in a way that English doesn't? Are there so many words in English that simply aren't translated?


texts:
Sometimes I ask for permission to perform a set of authorized operations on code repository.
How can I build a sentence for such request?
I'm thinking about something like: "Provide me permissions for/on/to repository"

I want to understand whether this sentence makes sense, and if so, which preposition to use?


texts: Selected for the/in first place for a scholarship

texts:
I got a scholarship some years ago and was selected in first place of the list. I don't now  what is the right way of writing this on the cv:
i) selected for the first place nationally
ii) selected in first place nationally
Maybe both are wrong, haha.
Thanks a lot in advance for any help :).


texts:
What's the meaning of brutal in this comment?

  I just had some mild food poisoning on Tuesday into Wednesday, sh-t was brutal but it was pretty much cleared up after I slept.

According to most dictionaries, the word brutal has three senses. The following are definitions of brutal from Google definitions:

  adjective /ˈbro͞otl/

  Savagely violent - a brutal murder
  Punishingly hard or uncomfortable - the brutal winter wind
  Without any attempt to disguise unpleasantness - the brutal honesty of his observations

Although definition #2 seems relevant, but based on the dictionaries I've looked up, its usage appears specifically applies to the weather. So how do you define brutal in this context?


texts: "along" in "the wolf passed something along to me"

texts:
Here is a quote by Jack Nicholson from the movie "Wolf":

  Since it happened I feel as though the wolf passed something along to me.

I wonder why is along needed in that sentence? What difference does it make? How would the whole sentence sound without it?


texts: What are the best alternatives to sentence structure "A, but B; therefore C?"

texts:
I'm stuck in a rut. Today I wrote, "I planned to reboot my computer once a week, but an update forced it, so I left it up the rest of that week."

I feel like I use that structure too much, but that's how my mind works. I think logically. What are the best alternatives for communicating this logical sequence?


texts: Using the apostrophe when referring to a group

texts:
Consider these sentences. The first is as I sent it to an editor. The second is as the editor sent it back, corrected as he saw it. I almost sent it back with my first version, then added the 'from' to it as well. Which of these, if any, is correct?

"It has been a pleasure to watch Nadal play tennis this year. Among his peers, the only name that comes to mind is Federer's."
"It has been a pleasure to watch Nadal play tennis this year. Among his peers, the only name that comes to mind is Federer."
"It has been a pleasure to watch Nadal play tennis this year. From among his peers, the only name that comes to mind is Federer's."


texts:
Suppose I need to talk about some specific action that was continuously happening in the past (and it has completed at some time, for example about my parents college studying period) but I even was not born at that time (i.e. I've never seen(or participated in) that action).

For example, I want to tell someone something like below:
When my father was going to college(every day), he was reading a newspaper on his way to the college (every day).
Seems my sentence is not constructed correctly. Maybe I need to use Past Perfect Continuous tense?

What tense should I use in such cases?


texts: 'police' and 'police officers' in American English

texts:
I'm wondering whether 'police' and 'police officers' are interchangeable in the following in American English:

Twelve police officers / police were killed in the shoot-out.
More than 20 police officers / police were called to the crime scene.
Several police officers / police were killed in the shoot-out.

The noun 'staff' cannot have the number specified as in 'the company has
20 staff' in American English. I'm not sure that's also true of 'police'.


texts: A word / idiom for "living a normal life, like everyone else"?

texts:
A4 is the standard size of a sheet of paper (anywhere but the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Dominican Republic).

In Norwegian, there's an idiom, "The A4 life". It means something like:

  You work 8-4 in a fairly common profession, have a house, one or two cars, a spouse, and one or more children. You don't do anything extraordinary, you've settled down, and live life like everyone else.

Note: It doesn't mean you live a boring life, and it's not necessarily negative. It means that on paper, your life is just like everyone else's. Note that the part about having a spouse and children is essential.

Is there a word, idiom or phrase that describes this in English?


texts:
I’m having a bit of trouble using the word magistricide in context. I’m leaning towards using the word suicide as reference, but I’m still not sure if it’s correct.

So given the model of “a failed suicide”  or “a successful suicide”,
does the model hold true for any -cide word, like magistricide?

After another failed magistricide attempt, Bob . . . .
After another failed attempt at magistricide, Bob . . . .
After another failed attempt of magistricide, Bob . . . .

or

After attempting magistricide, Bob . . . .

or

The master noticed Bob’s failed magistricide attempt.
The master noticed Bob’s failed attempt at magistricide.
The master noticed Bob’s failed attempt of magistricide.

What version is correct or more common? The first? Or are all of them wrong?


texts:
How do you mark a bulleted list with a common stem sentence? For example:

Do you capitalize each item and use a colon?

This Summer we should:

Go to the beach.
Eat a sandwich.
Visit the library.

Do you use ellipsis?

This Summer we should...

...go to the beach.
...eat a sandwich.
...visit the library.

I feel like I've seen it both ways, I don't know if there's a convention or not. Is it possibly a regional thing?

Edit: The possible duplicate, which funnily enough is marked as a duplicate itself, doesn't talk about ellipsis. Am I just making that part up?

Edit 2: The second possible duplicate does not address ellipses either


texts:
Unfortunately, I can only think of one example at the moment, but, sometimes a loan or borrowed phrase is redundant because it includes in it both the lending and borrowing languages' words for the same meaning.

The example: There is a famous street in Seoul named 가로수길, romanized as Garosugil. The Garosu part means lined with trees and gil means street. Yet, it is sometimes referred to in English as Garosugil Street--that's Garosu Street Street. It appears to be done to keep both the recognizable name as well as explain what it is more generally.

I'm sure there are other examples, and would appreciate some just for the sake of interest. I am, however, also searching for a term to describe this construction, if one exists.


texts: Is there a term for words like "wanna" or "gonna" which have been shortened from their originals of "want to" and "going to"?


texts: How to make a statement and then iterate through a list thereafter

texts:
I would like to state a fact, and then, if possible, in the same sentence, iterate over a list of properties related to that fact.
Here are a few examples:

The construction site had two entrances: one to the east, and one to the west.
or
The construction site had two entrances, one to the east; and one to the west.

Is either of these the preferred method?  Are there ways of saying this in a similar fashion that would be correct or 'more preferable'?
EDIT: I've recently found this >
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon < which suggests the semicolon method is the right way to go.  I'll leave the question here to invoke any comments.


texts: Word for the perception that the majority of people thinks about something the same way they do

texts: So for example, supposing that I believed in God then because of my own belief I would assume that most people everywhere necessarily also believe in God. Kind of bias in the thought because of one’s own beliefs.


texts:
"Starting from nothing but a tree, and less than one working day, John built a chair and a table."

Is the usage of "and less than one working day" correct here? I believe that it should be "in less than one working day."

If so, what grammatical rule dictates this?


texts: How do you identify a deuteragonist, tritagonist, etc

texts:
Forgive this probably simple question, but I have just recently come across the terms deuteragonist, tritagonist, and others like them. Do they refer to main characters or secondary characters, and how would you identify a character as being one of these terms?

For example, if we are looking at "The Lord of the Flies", would Piggy be the deuteragonist, since he is the second most prominent character in the book? And, by that logic, could you say Simon is the tritagonist?

Thanks in advance for any help.


texts: Bad things combining to make something good

texts:
I'm looking for a single word (or two words) that means something along the lines, "Two bad things coming together to make something good." When I say things it could mean events or objects or people or anything, that part is quite flexible. But it has to be a combination of two.

Alternatively I wouldn't mind a word that would mean something like, "two bad things combining to make something far far worse" either.
Thanks!

EDIT: It needs to be obvious that two bad things are combining. Also I can't use a phrase. I'm hoping to convert the word/2 words into a name, so that should help understand what I'm looking for.


texts:
The sentence is:

  She needs her glasses to find her glasses.

The inference that she doesn't have her glasses and she needs her glasses to find her glasses somehow sounds paradoxical, but is it really paradoxical? If not, is there a term that can be used to describe the seeming contradiction?


texts:
I know that by definition, 'triumphant' is an adjective and 'triumphantly' is the adverb form, but I've seen usages like the following sentence:

Napoleon returned triumphant to France after the war he fought and won in Italy

Here, the term 'triumphant' is being used as an adverb. I know by grammar, adjectives cannot be used to enhance verbs, but I've also heard about exceptions where general grammar doesn't work. I'm not sure whether this would be one of the exceptions.

Now, is this usage correct?


texts: "A number of positions , ___of which were exactly what he was looking for."

texts:
Mr. A was offered a number of positions in the company, _____ of which were exactly what he was looking for.

1) few
2) both
3) none
4) all

The correct answer for this question is 3 - none.

As for me, of the two answers, none and all, what is more natural for the above sentence is very confusing to me.

Can you explain why the "all" above does not match the answer?


texts: Another way of saying that 'the effect of A to B is double-edged'?

texts:
I am writing an essay describing the effect of water to aerosol scattering coefficients.

Water will increase the size of particles, thus increase scattering coefficients; while it may also reduce the refractive index which could decrease scattering coefficients. I want to summarize this phenomenon as:

  The effect of water to aerosol scattering coefficients is dual-edged.

I am not sure whether the word 'dual-edged' is used correctly and particularly looking for a properer replacement.

What would be a nicer way of saying this?


texts: Does "merge" imply that the source elements no longer exist after merging?

texts:
When I use the word "merge", I think of it as creating a new object with properties combined from several individual objects.

Does "merge" then also imply these individual objects no longer exist after they have formed the new singular object?


texts: What noun should I use when I want "seekability"?

texts:
This is programming lingo and apparently not a word in the dictionary and so I would like to be able to solve "this problem" with only dictionary primitives.  (If you allow me to speak that away.)

A desired property of random number generators is seekability.  What is it?  If you think of a procedure that produces a sequence of numbers, you can imagine some such procedures will allow you to say "jump ahead 100 hundreds, please" and others would not because they don't have this ability.

Some possibly relevant synonyms of "to seek" are "fun after", "go after".

Here's an attempt.

  A desired property in random number generators is seekability, the ability
  to skip ahead or jump back a certain number of elements in the sequence produced

As you can see, it seems unavoidable to explain what the word is because that is probably the right lingo among experts and I think I would commit a crime if I somehow avoid the word completely.


texts: Stating That Questions Are Mostly Technical

texts:
How to put it right? In this comment clause, we have to admit that the issues are technical, but we have to invite the international experts to resolve it:

'While these are mostly technical questions, we shall have to invite the international experts to resolve them'.


texts: "Drove to the main road," or "drove off to the main road?"

texts:
After helping with the dishes, Eri swung her purse on her shoulder and
  said goodbye to her mother, promising she'll come back to see her
  soon. Keys in hand, her dad led Eri to the car, and then they drove
  (off) to the main street.

Do I have to add off in that last sentence? I've seen examples like that before. When is neccesary and when not?


texts:
I have a phrase:
"The amount of junk is getting...".  Should I end it with "smaller" or "less".

What is the general rule for using them?


texts: Difference between "advantages of a car lease" and "car lease advantages"

texts:
It is hard for foreigners to understand the meaning of different English sentence constructions.

Do the phrases below mean the same?

  advantages of a car lease

  car lease advantages

When do we use one or the other?


texts:
The narrator, in the quote, said that things turned out to be
  horrible.

According to the question I previously posted, this parenthetical prepositional phrase "in the quote" is made possible by whiz deletion. But when I applied whiz deletion to it, it turned out to be a disaster.

  The narrator, who was in the quote, said that...

Surely, what I was trying to say was that narrator said something in the quote, not that narrator was PHYSICALLY in the quote.

Here is another example.

  They, (who were) after so much thinking, finally decided.

Now it is just not right.

So my another interpretation was that there was an absolute phrase with "being" deleted, but it brought about the same result. You can see what I mean if you substitute who was/were for being.

So, why is it possible to use parenthetical prepositional phrase in the middle of sentence? Is there anything deleted?


texts: When are 'each' and 'every' not equivalent?

texts: 'I gave each child an apple' and 'I go there every year' sound correct to me, while the same sentences with 'each' and 'every' swapped sound wrong. Why is this so?


texts: What is the word/philosophy to describe someone who is in charge of their own destiny?

texts: Perhaps opposite of fatalistic. My English Teacher is giving a prize to whoever can get this word next week and everything I found on google is not the answer!


texts: Can someone explain the rationale of adding TION to a verb.   In other words,  when I take a verb such as  LIMIT and turn it into a noun I can make it limit,  limiting, or limitation.   The word Limitation means something a little different than limit or limiting.   IS there a rule or explanation about this applies to all or at least most cases?


texts: Describing actions in a documentation: 3rd person ending or infinitive form?

texts:
I am documenting a REST API and I was wondering whether I should use the third-person ending when the rule is supposedly pretty simple: http://learnersdictionary.com/qa/third-person-singular-s-simple-present-tense

  The short answer is that, except for modal verbs, the third person singular in the simple present tense always ends in –s: she climbs, he runs, it rains, etc.

  Now for a more detailed answer: For the vast majority of verbs, the third person singular in the simple present is formed by adding –s to the main form. However there are a few spelling rules and irregular verbs to be aware of.

I checked a REST API documentation available online and it seems that it's rather irregular https://petstore.swagger.io and does not look like it follows any logic at all. I am wondering whether it has been written by a native English speaker.

pet Everything about your Pets
POST
/pet
Add a new pet to the store
PUT
/pet
Update an existing pet
GET
/pet/findByStatus
Finds Pets by status
GET
/pet/findByTags
Finds Pets by tags
GET
/pet/{petId}
Find pet by ID
POST
/pet/{petId}
Updates a pet in the store with form data
DELETE
/pet/{petId}
Deletes a pet
POST
/pet/{petId}/uploadImage
uploads an image
store

Access to Petstore orders
GET
/store/inventory
Returns pet inventories by status
POST
/store/order
Place an order for a pet
GET
/store/order/{orderId}
Find purchase order by ID
DELETE
/store/order/{orderId}
Delete purchase order by ID
user

Operations about user
Find out more about our store: http://swagger.io
POST
/user
Create user
POST
/user/createWithArray
Creates list of users with given input array
POST
/user/createWithList
Creates list of users with given input array
GET
/user/login
Logs user into the system
GET
/user/logout
Logs out current logged in user session
GET
/user/{username}
Get user by user name
PUT
/user/{username}
Updated user
DELETE
/user/{username}
Delete user

A REST API is often kinda imperative or directive (can't find the proper term to describe that) and not sure this would allow to use an infinitive form instead of a third-person-like conjugated verb.

Any idea about which form should be use?
Infinitive or 3rd person ending?


texts:
I'm looking for a word to describe milk that has not "gone off".

Does "on" or "viable" work?


texts: More formal phrase for "throw someone off"

texts:
Is there a more formal phrase with the same meaning of "throw someone off"?
I want to use the phrase exactly how I am sure everyone is used to it being used. I want to say that something unexpected caused someone to lose their focus or momentum.
For convenience, here is a description from TheFreeDictionary of the phrase "throw someone off":

Throw someone off - to interrupt and confuse someone; to mislead someone.
Example usage - The interruption threw me off, and I lost my place in the speech.
Example usage - Little noises throw me off. Please try to be quiet. Your comment threw me off.

Background
I was ironically writing an answer for another question on this site, when I wanted to use the phrase but in a more formal setting than I have normally heard it used.
The question was discussing talking with servers at restaurants, specifically while ordering drinks, so I'll use that example.
Let's say you are at a Denny's restaurant and the server asks, "What can I get you to drink?". You respond with, "A fizzy soup", which is of course the nickname for Coke where you're from. You've forgotten that you're out of town and the server has no clue what a "fizzy soup" is. She is thrown off by your response. After explaining yourself you might say, "Sorry that I threw you off!".
Now let's say you are at one of the best 5 star restaurants around, and you make the same mistake.. Your server is thrown off. You'd like to apologize, so what can you say? I feel like saying, "Sorry that I threw you off!" would actually also throw off the server because of how informal it sounds.

My attempts at substitutions
In a formal setting, I would probably substitute "Sorry, I didn't mean to throw you off." for "Sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you.". I might substitute "Were you thrown off?" for "Were you distracted?".
But I don't think either one of my substitutions carry the same meaning as "thrown off".
Confused and distracted adequately describe the state of someone who was "thrown off", but lack the description of the cause of the state that I would like my replacement phrase to have. "Thrown off" implies the cause of confusion or distraction was something unexpected such as an interruption.

Questions
Is there a more formal phrase with the same meaning of "throw someone off"?
Is there any phrase or wording that carries the same meaning as "throw someone off", even ignoring formality?


texts: What is the story behind "a-" prefix / suffix?

texts:
For example,

If this van's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'
Here We Come A-caroling (song title)
Come on-a My House  (song title)

I have a few related questions:

What is the "a-" or "-a" called?
Is there a function beyond a rhythmic one?
Why is "a-" attached to a word at all -- and why attach to a word at all?


texts: What do you call extended words like ‘Nooooo’?

texts: Is there a word or phrase for this? When you take a word and extend the sound of a letter - usually a vowel - to intensify it. Sometimes you might say Helloooo and stretch out the ‘o’ sound. What is this called?


texts:
In a college application essay, I am trying to write the sentence along the lines of:

  I have always strived to achieve my goals.

Should I say strived or striven?

According to this article at grammarist.com, striven is correct but strived is gaining popularity. Which is better in a formal essay?


texts: Does the term "mass hero" exist in Western Countries?

texts:
"Mass Hero" is a popular term in India, especially down south, which implies an actor who has the versatility to sing, dance, romance, fight, laugh, cry, make the audience laugh and cry, apart from great acting skills. And because of this "mass" appeal, they are idolised by hordes of fans and loved by the media.

I just want to know, whether or not "Mass Hero" is an already acceptable term in the West? If not, what is the equivalent term for "Mass Hero" in American and European countries?

Update: I'd like to clarify that this expression is limited to the scope of the cinematic world in my country and not real-life heroes.


texts:
Consider the following text: "It is a bicycle. How do we know it is a bicycle, though?". Would this be a reasonable use of though in formal writing (in an essay)?

What are the ways of avoiding this construction if one would want alternatives (except for skipping the though)? Would however, for example, work? The question doesn't really contradict what is stated, though.


texts: What does "deserve a good kicking" mean?

texts:
I encountered this expression in a passage and did not understand.
can anyone help explain? Thanks!


texts: A word or phrase to represent "I don't want to be exposed"

texts:
I am looking for a word or phrase that can convey the meaning

  I am reluctant to be exposed to the public domain.

For example, I don't want my photo, profile to be exposed on the university site, Newsweek,  etc.

If someone takes a picture of me or interviews me, just by saying "I am xxx", the person should understand that I don't want to be exposed.

So what is the xxx?


texts: What is the origin of the phrase "it's a horse apiece"?

texts: My wife from Wisconsin and her family use the phase "it's a horse apiece". This is used in place of something like "it doesn't matter either way" or "both are the same". Where does this come from?


texts: Is there a word for someone who helps others for their own benefit?

texts:
So, say you have a situation where a man helps someone else in order to forget all of his own problems in the world. Is there a word for something like that?
Edit 1: I'm asking about the man who is also doing the act.


texts: Usage of Graceful and Gracious (and Grateful)

texts:
Recently we came across a discussion (note: we are not native English speaker). In religious context (Christian to be specific), the Bible sometimes use the word graceful, and sometimes gracious. This confuses us, and looking at the Dictionaries and Google did not help at all.

  gracious: (in Christian belief) showing divine grace.

  graceful: having or showing grace or elegance.

  grace: (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

Could you please help us differentiate the two words? We also came across the word grateful, but we think we understand correctly, as grateful is used when we have something positive, and want to express our thanks.

About the details, when should we use graceful or gracious? Should we use God is gracious, or God is graceful?


texts: A word for how much of a sales target has been acomplished

texts:
Imagine the user interface of a sales commission management system.

You have clearly labeled Goal showing the amount in sales the sales representative has to sell in order to reach it.

Then there is another field that displays how much the sales representative has sold already. Let's say this field is labelled Status. It could also be labelled Sales Closed.

Finally, there is a field showing the percentage of the Goal that the sales representative has achieved (basically, the value of the Status field divided by the value of the Goal field).

The question is, how should this field be labelled?

Options that have already been considered:

Progress: looks weird when the user has already surpassed their goal (e.g. Progress: 120%).
Percentage: feels like it's missing context (i.e. "percentage of what?").

Ideally, it should be a single word or a couple of words, like Sales Closed.


texts:
Which of the following sentences are correct?

Calves require less medication and gain weight quicker than that those raised in consignment.

Calves require less medication and gain weight more quickly than that those raised in consignment.


texts: Should I use comma, or dashes, or braces here?

texts:
Should I enclose 'red and blue' inside comma, or dashes, or braces?

  He spent several days wandering and collecting flowers (red and blue),
  and analyzed the results to prove his point.

OR

  He spent several days wandering and collecting flowers -red and blue-
  and analyzed the results to prove his point.

OR

  He spent several days wandering and collecting flowers, red and blue,
  and analyzed the results to prove his point.

Update: Please note that it's not about this particular sentence. I am always confused between these three. I want to learn how to differentiate which one to use where.


texts:
I'm not sure about whether I should say

  what if fracture leads to a catastrophe?

or

  what if fracture led to a catastrophe?


texts: Is it correct to write "is done fully automatically" or "is done fully automatic"?

texts: Google gives me support from 19,200 on "is done fully automatically" and 35,200 on "is done fully automatic".